Jeremiah is a prophet, which brings us to the question of what a prophet was back in Jeremiah’s day.
Broadly, prophets were men and women who served as a communicator between the human and divine world. They were intricately woven in the ancient world. Prophets provided social, political, and religious…all of which were interconnected…analysis, guidance, and critique from both a divine and human perspective.
Popular Myths About Prophets
Prophets were not spooky otherworldly figures. They were not fortune tellers. They looked at what was going on in their world, in their nations, in their governing authorities and among their people through divine lens. Based on the realities they were observing, they predicted consequences and gave divine perspective on things that had already happened or was happening. For example, Jeremiah sought to give divine perspective to a people under siege by an advancing and far more powerful empire who would by the end of his ministry (and of his book) destroy the kingdom of Judah.
Some prophets worked within the royal/ government establishment. Some could be critical of injustice and corruption but generally these tended to support the status quo and advocate at most for gradual change. Those employed by kings tended to support the domestic and foreign policy of kings.
Some prophets worked within the royal/ government establishment. Some could be critical of injustice and corruption but generally these tended to support the status quo and advocate at most for gradual change. Those employed by kings tended to support the domestic and foreign policy of kings.
Other prophets, including most we read in the bible like Jeremiah, did their prophetic work outside the royal establishment. These prophets had the independence necessary to speak against royal policies that ran counter to what they heard from God and tended to advocate for radical change.
How Prophets Become Prophets
Prophets were not self-proclaimed. They received support from the community who affirmed and legitimized their prophetic status and message. There were no jack leg prophets. They lived in the community, were fully engaged in daily life, and had “real” jobs. Jeremiah was a priest, who become a prophet.
Prophets spoke to specific people about specific political, historical, and social situations. There office was most influential in times of national crisis.
Biblical prophets, while having a diversity of perspectives, traditions, and religious understandings, share some key beliefs:
- That the people of ancient Israel were the “elect” of God, who shared a special relationship with God due to God’s promise they would be a “blessing to all nations.”
- That because of this special relationship, or covenant, they had a special obligation to fidelity to the laws and regulations spelled out in the covenants; particularly those given at Sinai (Exodus 19-Numbers 10 and Deuteronomy, and that made with the house of David (2 Samuel 7).
- That the disasters that befell them in the military defeats, destructions of Israel and Judah, destruction, killings and lootings of Jerusalem and the temple described by Jeremiah, were not God failing them, but of them failing God. Much of the prophetic writings in the bible attempted to grapple with how the people failed God through lack of fidelity to the laws and regulations of covenant.
This is key: All these prophets pointed toward hope. If the people were the problem, then the people could be the solution. God will never utterly abandon them; therefore, they have opportunity and divine invitation to “get right with God." That in their suffering they discover new possibilities in the faithfulness grace and mercy of God. They discover with greater clarity the reality of God and the reinvention of their people. Over time they come to appreciate that the plans of God remained, even in the rubble. God's plan prevails to “proper them and not to harm them; to give them hope and a future.”
Did Prophets Improve Their Cultures?
The power of the Bible is its human relevance. Faith inspires us through suffering to hope in spite of it all. These human stories teach us that we find God in the grace of perseverance and resilience. Life goes on. Hope strengthens. We grow deeper, more compassionate, more grounded, down to earth.
The prophets teach us, as they did the ancients, how to be more fully human.