Jeremiah 31 Research Paper

In old testament days, God would call on men to portray and deliver His message to the people of Israel and Judah. These men were entitled prophets and they served God by delivering messages of blessings and curses, enforcing the covenant, and modeling in their speech and conduct God’s plans for both Israel and Judah. Frequently using poetic language, they spoke in oracles such as lawsuit oracles as found in Isaiah, woe oracles as found in Habakkuk 2, and promise oracles as found in Jeremiah 31. Though God would occasionally call on them to be more than just verbal deliverers of His message but to be living and physical examples of the coming judgment and future restoration that He had in mind for his people.
An excellent example of a prophet

God appointed him as a prophet to warn the Israelites of the coming consequences for breaking the covenant that they had made with Yahweh by worshipping idols and falling into sin. He was to deliver a message of judgment and a message of hope for both Israel and the nations (Jer. 1:10). Jeremiah modeled God’s message of justice and grace in several ways. First, God told Jeremiah to wear a cloth around his waist, not dipping it into water, and then to go hide it near the Euphrates river. Several days later, God told him to retrieve the cloth, but when Jeremiah went, he found it ruined. God designed this illustration as a picture of the pride of Judah that God would soon put to ruin (Jer. 13:1-9). Second, Jeremiah was told to make himself a yoke and to wear it around his neck. God designed this as an illustration to the Israelites to be submissive to the King of the Babylonian Empire, Nebuchadnezzar (Jer. 27). Yet, the people continued to listen to false prophets and did not heed the warnings that Jeremiah spoke. Since Jeremiah continued to speak against these false prophets, the Judean king, Zedekiah, had him imprisoned (Jer. 32:2-3). While Jeremiah was in prison, the Lord sent Hanamel, Jeremiah’s cousin, with a somewhat strange and untimely request: “Buy my field at Anathoth in the land of Benjamin, for the right of possession and redemption is yours.” (Jer. 32:8) Jeremiah, knowing that it was the Lord’s will, was obedient and bought the field, still, he questioned God as to why this was necessary. God responded, saying that He had already given the kingdom of Judah over to the Babylonians due to the people’s sins (Jer. 32:16-35). Nevertheless, God already had a plan of restoration for the Judeans. Buying the land from his cousin, God had Jeremiah portray a message of hope to the people that of one day returning they would return to the land and prosper (Jer. 32:36-44). Through the life of