Introduction.
Jeremiah's prophecies are introduced in the usual way by naming the kings in whose reigns he prophesied. His initial call came in the thirteenth year of Josiah, at a time when the land was prospering materially. It was five years before the discovery of the Law Book in the Temple (2 Kings 22:8), and was at a time of rampant idolatry in Judah which had become so engrained that YHWH would warn Huldah the prophetess that even Josiah's reforms would only delay His wrath on Judah (2 Kings 22:16-20). However, the fact that Jeremiah was not the one consulted in respect of the Law Book (it was Huldah the prophetess who was consulted) suggests that he was still not established at the court as a prophet at the time when it was discovered. The very discovery of the Law Book undoubtedly gave impetus to the reforms that were already taking place under Josiah, but it must not be seen as commencing those reforms, for the very fact that it was discovered during major repairs to the Temple demonstrates that reform had already begun, as 2 Chronicles 14:3-4 makes clear. It was found, during this extensive repair work, within the fabric of the Temple. That being so it was almost certainly put within the structure at the time that the Temple was built, that is in the days of Solomon (for such was a general custom of the age), and its discovery therefore caused great excitement. It was a powerful voice from the past, and is quite possibly what was in Jeremiah's mind in Jeremiah 11:1-10. But although Josiah was a good king, and in responding to it made great efforts to restore Judah and Jerusalem to the true worship of YHWH, their roots had become so badly infiltrated with idolatry and immorality that his reforms were only a partial success. For the truth was that the people themselves were so firmly enamoured of idolatrous worship that they would not give it up easily. This was why Huldah had already warned that while Judah would be spared in Josiah's day it was already doomed to destruction (2 Kings 22:15-20). The rot had gone too far. It was therefore into such an atmosphere that Jeremiah first came.
It is also then made clear that he continued to prophesy throughout the reigns of Jehoiakim, Jehoiachin (three months) and Zedekiah, and up to (and beyond) the sacking of Jerusalem, which took place in the fifth month of the year 587 BC (2 Kings 25:8). These were turbulent days with both kings subjected at different times to either Egypt or Babylon and the general leadership divided on what route to take. In the view of many if independence could not be achieved Egypt offered a more ‘friendly' and less demanding control than Babylon's. They found it difficult to believe that Babylon was too powerful for Egypt to cope with. But Jeremiah knew it, and made clear that subjection to Babylon was YHWH's will for the next ‘seventy years', and while his message continued to make him decidedly unpopular, it would have been well if they had listened for he proved to be right in the end.
‘The words of Jeremiah the son of Hilkiah, of the priests who were in Anathoth in the land of Benjamin, to whom the word of YHWH came in the days of Josiah the son of Amon, king of Judah, in the thirteenth year of his reign.'
The prophecy commences by drawing attention to the fact that Jeremiah was the son of a priest named Hilkiah, but this Hilkiah was probably not the Hilkiah who was ‘the Priest' in Jerusalem, for he was ‘one of the priests who were in Anathoth in the land of Benjamin', and thus almost certainly descended from Abiathar (see 1 Kings 2:26-27) and not of the line of Eliezer, through whom the High Priestly descent now came. Jeremiah thus commenced prophesying in Anathoth, a local town north of Jerusalem, in the thirteenth year of Josiah, that is in c. 626 BC. The fact that his prophesying in the reign of Josiah is what is initially described, before going on to mention the later kings as an add-on, is an indication that a good number of his earlier prophecies should be dated in that reign, although apart from the reference in Jeremiah 3:6 it is not possible to discern with any certainty which ones.
‘In the thirteenth year of his reign.' It is probably no coincidence that this followed shortly on the death of Ashur-bani-pal, the strong Assyrian king who had taken Assyria to its greatest heights, and whose death introduced a rapid downward slide in times of great ferment which would result in the destruction of Nineveh and Assyria within twenty years. Meanwhile Judah would be left largely to itself, but only until the rising power of Babylon and a resurgent Egypt, began to make their presence felt.
Being in a small town in which there were many priests of the unfavoured line Jeremiah would have been brought up to be familiar with what was really true of the hearts of the people outside Jerusalem, and was thus aware that in spite of all Josiah's efforts, the hearts of the majority of the people were not with him, favouring rather the surreptitious worship of YHWH/Baal in the mountain shrines.
This does serve to bring out that in spite of all Josiah's genuine attempts to win the people back to YHWH, their hearts remained firmly attached to Baalism, with its excessive sexual overtones, no doubt practised discreetly in the mountain shrines, so that it only required a Jehoiakim for Baalism to become rampant once more. State worship had certainly been purified by Josiah, but it was another matter with the hearts of the people of ‘treacherous Judah' as God makes clear to Jeremiah (Jeremiah 3:6 ff.). Compared with the attractions of Baal worship, the stern demands of YHWH appeared to be too strict.
‘It came also in the days of Jehoiakim the son of Josiah, king of Judah, to the end of the eleventh year of Zedekiah, the son of Josiah, king of Judah, to the carrying away of Jerusalem captive in the fifth month.'
Jeremiah then continued to prophesy throughout the reigns of Jehoiakim and Zedekiah, when Baalism was allowed full expression, and right up to the sacking of Jerusalem (and beyond) in 587 BC. Thus he prophesied for over forty years, commencing in the thirteenth year of Josiah (626 BC) and continuing on until the flight into Egypt which followed some time after the sacking of Jerusalem in 587 BC.