by Jacob Solomon
(G-d says to Jeremiah) "Look! I have appointed you today over nations and kingdoms, to uproot and pull down, to destroy and to demolish - and to build and to plant." (Jeremiah 1:18)
Guided Tour
The prophet Jeremiah lived during the end of the seventh and beginning of the sixth century BCE, and he lived to witness the destruction of the First Temple in 586 BCE. He was active in the Southern Kingdom of Judah during the reigns of five different Kings of Judah: Josiah, Jehoahaz, Jehoiakim, Jehoiachin, and Zedekiah - to four of whom he brought messages from G-d. The Northern Kingdom of Israel, containing the Ten Tribes, had already been forced into exile a century, under the Assyrian Empire.
From the text of his book, he appears to have had only one task, to which he applied himself single-mindedly. That was to warn the people that Judah would be destroyed unless they, the Jews, repented. With all the sincerity and devotion, he brought to his mission. However, he knew that he would not see success in his own lifetime. For G-d had already decreed that Judah would be destroyed following the activities of Josiah's grandfather, King Manasseh:
"Since King Manasseh of Judah has committed such abominations... and since he has caused Judah to sin with his idols, G-d, the L-rd of Israel says: "I will bring such disaster on Jerusalem and Judah that the ears of everyone who hears about it will ring! ... I will wipe out Jerusalem ... I will abandon the remnant of My inheritance and deliver them to their enemies. They will become spoil and plunder for all their enemies, because they have displeased Me and angered Me since the time when their ancestors left Egypt to this day." (Kings II 21:11-15).
And that decree remained in force despite the positive religious reforms and revival under King Josiah, during whose reign Jeremiah began his career as a prophet.
Jeremiah was neither allowed to marry (16:1-2), nor to commiserate with his people. His dramatic conveyance of the Word of G-d to the Jews did not win him popularity, and he was reviled, beaten, and imprisoned. He was threatened with death more than once, and his would-be assassins almost succeeded. He survived, only living to see the Temple destroyed, the wealthier classes exiled to Babylon, and himself dragged over the border to Egypt, where he remained until his death.
The text of the Haftara relates G-d's Call to the young Jeremiah to be His messenger. Like Moses, he was given no choice in the matter. "Go!" said G-d, "to wherever I send you. And speak whatever I command you!" (1:7) Indeed, those messages went from the mouth of the prophet to kings, nobles, and all the way down to the common people. Whilst false prophets were spreading false hope in a Judea replete with paganism, human sacrifices, and gross social injustices, Jeremiah was being prepared by G-d to remind them of things they preferred not to know about. And they would not welcome him with open arms. His deliveries would cause him to be ostracized, imprisoned, tortured, and narrowly escape with his life. "Have no fear of them," said G-d, "For I am with you to deliver you." (1:8)
The Book of Jeremiah is rich in symbolism, which starts within the text of the Haftara. Already during the spiritually positive period of Josiah, the youthful Jeremiah is warned that wholesale disaster was catching up fast with the Kingdom of Judea. This was reinforced through the powerful and memorable images of quickly-ripening almond trees, and boiling pots from the direction of the enemy.
As the Book develops, Jeremiah, learns that his career would virtually be a failure - at least within his own lifetime. He was to urge them to repent, but G-d told him advance that they would not take heed. For evil, presumably even back in the reign of Josiah, was deeply enough ingrained in the Jewish people for Jeremiah's word from G-d to declare: "Can an Ethiopian change his skin or a leopard his spots? You too (the Jews) are used to evil and cannot do good! Therefore, I will scatter you like straw flying before the desert wind." (13:23-4).
That, however, was later. After G-d dramatized His Call to Jeremiah through images awakening deepest fear and gloom, He put his relationship with the Jewish people - indeed the entire Israelite Nation, in a much wider context. The Jews were not pariahs; G-d loves them. No matter what they do, He will never forget that they chose Him - and placed their entire lives in His Hands as they accepted His Code and followed Him though desert conditions that normally would have cost their lives. The Chosen People of Israel became such because they, and only they, actually chose G-d by accepting the opportunity to follow Him under all conditions when He revealed Himself to them on Mount Sinai. They thus made themselves His special people - His permanent and exclusive people. Ultimately 'evil will come' (2:3) to whoever attempts to destroy them - as history has borne out time and time again.
