The prophet Jeremiah spoke to the people of Judah and Jerusalem during the forty years leading up to the destruction of Jerusalem in 587 BC. The book of Jeremiah is addressed to exiles, particularly those in Babylon, in the years following the catastrophe.
There we meet a prophet who, from his youth to his old age, announces the Word of God to a people who are experiencing one of the most terrible moments in their history. Understanding the context in which Jeremiah lives is essential if we want to understand his life and his message. Then we must try to understand how this imposing book, the longest in the Bible after the book of Psalms, was constituted. And finally, if Jeremiah spoke in his time, and if the book that bears his name continues to speak today, it is thanks to God who called this man to be his spokesperson and ensured that his words are put into writing. Therefore, it is the God of Jeremiah that we must encounter: an encounter that will be both deeply troubling and ultimately comforting, as it was for the prophet.
Ultimately, Jeremiah is the book of the victory of God's love and grace. The divine work of redemption and reconstruction, the book announces, finds its fulfillment in the New Testament, through the life, death and resurrection of Jesus the Messiah. We discover the portrait of a God who will come to dwell with his people forever, in the new creation.
Christopher Wright , director of Langham Partnership International, is the author of several books translated into French such as Le Salut (Farel), Ethics and the Old Testament , The Mission of God and God, I Don't Understand (Excelsis).
ISBN: 9782853310697