Original Meaning

THE REST OF chapter 1 contains an account of Jeremiah’s call and appointment to prophesy (1:4–10), followed by two divine oracles (1:11–12 and 1:13–19) assuring the prophet that God is with him as he delivers a judgmental word to Judah.

Jeremiah’s call is cast in poetic form. Verse 5 has paired phrases indicating that God’s decision to use Jeremiah came prior to his birth. The phrase translated in the NIV as “set apart” is a rendering of the Hebrew verb qdš, whose basic meaning is to be holy. Holiness can be a property, like clean or unclean, and it can be related to ethical activity and spiritual dedication; but the term assumes that what God designates as holy is reserved for (i.e., set apart for) a particular task. Otherwise said, God’s choice of Jeremiah, his designation of him as prophet, is the reason he is sanctified. It is not the other way around, as if Jeremiah’s moral and spiritual attributes are the impetus for God’s selection of him as prophet.

Verse 5 concludes with the affirmation that God has appointed Jeremiah a “prophet to the nations.” Jeremiah’s protest that he is too young and inexperienced is countered by God’s assurances to be with Jeremiah, to deliver him, and to place his words in Jeremiah’s mouth. Each of these assurances is a way to define a prophet. He or she is designated by God for a task and is granted his presence and guidance, and what is spoken by the prophet is God’s word for the occasion in which it is given.

In the call’s conclusion, verse 10 offers an elaboration on the phrase “prophet to the nations,” with the comment that Jeremiah’s appointed activities are to tear down and to overthrow as well as to build and to plant. How might this young man become a prophet to the nations, since Jeremiah holds no political office and his words to kings are widely ignored? It seems that, in reality, Jeremiah’s “appointment” describes the function of the words God gives him to deliver. A prophet’s defining is functional: When the words from God do what they are called to do, they define what it is to be a prophet.

Through oracles the prophet will announce in the Lord’s name that nations will be judged and found wanting, that these nations will be overthrown by the Lord, and that beyond the judgment to fall on Judah as part of this process, the Lord will rebuild his people and replant them in the Promised Land. Jeremiah becomes a prophet to the nations by virtue of what he says, not through a job given him in Jerusalem or by popular vote. The book of Jeremiah does not offer a generic definition of what it means to be a prophet; instead, it describes who Jeremiah will be as the prophet to his generation.

The verbs of 1:10 describe succinctly what Jeremiah’s words will do. They will tear down much that his audience believes, and only after the terrible toll of Judah’s failures has been reckoned will his positive words begin to build up and plant. These verbs appear later in the book (12:14–17; 18:7–10; 24:4–7; 42:10; 45:4), although not all six of them together. Tearing down and building up is a leading motif in this book as it presents the prophet to readers and hearers.

The first oracle of assurance (1:11–12) is a pun in Hebrew. The Hebrew word for almond tree sounds like the Hebrew verb to watch (cf. NIV note). The almond tree becomes a sign to Jeremiah that God is watching over his word to bring it to fulfillment. This is another way to define the work of a prophet. The prophet is called to obedience, and God is responsible for using the word for his own purposes.

The second oracle (1:13–19) concerns the effects of an overturned pot of boiling liquid. The pot is a metaphor for the threat to come on Jerusalem and Judah because of the people’s disobedience. There is also an initial reference to those who will oppose Jeremiah (v. 19); there will be much more in the book about them. Finally, the repetition of the assurance from verse 8 reminds the reader that God will be with Jeremiah to deliver him from his opponents. As the book will eloquently display, Jeremiah is not immune from human suffering or doubt; his security does not reside in his cleverness or physical stamina, but in the fact that God is with him.

Bridging Contexts

THE CALL OF Jeremiah to a prophetic ministry has similarities to other accounts of persons called into God’s service. These similarities are no doubt intentional and communicate a pattern to both ancient and modern readers. God prevails on Moses in spite of the latter’s objections (Ex. 3:1–15), assuring Moses that he will be with him.1 Ezekiel swallows a scroll given him through divine revelation (Ezek. 2:1–3:11), clearly a sign that the prophetic words to come forth from his mouth have divine origin. Jeremiah 1:9 makes a similar point where the Lord touches Jeremiah’s mouth and declares: “I have put my words in your mouth” (cf. Isa. 6:1–8). Human frailty (e.g., youth or difficulty in speech) is no excuse before God’s expressed will to grant a person the words to say and the opportunities to deliver them.

Elements of this commissioning pattern can be seen in the New Testament as well. The risen Christ declares to his first followers that they are to teach his word to other disciples and that he will be with them until the end of the age (Matt. 28:18–20). The apostle Paul perceives his own life in light of God’s call and even more particularly describes God as One who has set him apart from his mother’s womb in order to preach Christ among the Gentiles (i.e., non-Jewish nations; see Gal. 1:13–17). There are clear parallels between Paul’s autobiographical description and the prophetic model of Jeremiah, set apart from his mother’s womb to be a prophet to the nations. John the seer is told by the risen Christ to write a prophecy in a book and not to fear the persecution to come (Rev. 1:9–19). The human fears and frailties common to those who are called are not ultimately barriers to their service because God has declared he will be with them.

Undergirding the commissioning pattern is the electing work of God, who sets people apart in order to use them as messengers of his Word. They are chosen on behalf of others. This is a primary implication of what is meant by “election” in the Bible: A person or persons are chosen by God in order to affect the lives of others. Such an emphasis should keep later readers from speculating unduly about Jeremiah’s personal characteristics or his psychological make-up (how he “felt” about his experience). The account of his call is given primarily to persuade people about the significance of the material that follows his call.

Contemporary Significance

GOD’S CALL. THE account of God’s call to Jeremiah is not meant as a model of God’s call to believers in the sense that we should all seek an experience with God like that of Jeremiah. Instead, Jeremiah’s call is narrated first of all to tell prospective readers why they should have any interest in the words that follow. Believers are asked to trust Jeremiah’s experience of God as instructive for them. Jeremiah is a chosen vessel, set apart before his birth, to deliver God’s words concerning the nations of his day. Jeremiah’s book likewise is a chosen vessel intended for the instruction of later generations. His call and commissioning come at the beginning of the book to indicate what kind of message and what kind of authority the book contains.

God does not call all believers to be prophets; some, however, are called to engage in prophetic activity, and all are called to trust the efficacy of the prophetic word in Scripture. Two related elements in Jeremiah 1 have continuing significance for understanding prophetic activity: dependence on God for vindication rather than popularity among one’s contemporaries, and the likelihood that such activity will result in opposition. Old and New Testament alike indicate that prophets face strong opposition from their contemporaries, that they owe the preservation of their words (and even their very lives) to God, and that future generations will often look on them differently from their own generation.

The value of human life. The account of God’s call of Jeremiah is also relevant to the contemporary debates over abortion, euthanasia, assisted suicide, and the “value of human life.” Let’s admit, of course, that the account of Jeremiah’s call is not intended initially as a polemic against abortion or euthanasia, nor does the text answer all the complicated questions facing modern societies over these and related issues. Nevertheless, Jeremiah is known to God even before his conception, and his preparation for prophetic work begins before his birth. Thus even in the womb Jeremiah is valued. Furthermore, the account assumes that God is the author of Jeremiah’s life and the One who shapes his historical destiny in spite of his reluctance.

These claims do function as powerful confessions that human life is God’s gift and subject to God’s discretion—more particularly, that the womb is the home of a person known to God. In Jeremiah’s case, his bitterness over treatment by his contemporaries and even his frustration with his treatment by God eventually lead him Job-like to curse the day of his birth (20:14–18; cf. 15:10) and to think that his life is worthless. God, of course, would not agree that Jeremiah’s life is worthless. Nevertheless, God’s call of Jeremiah and the assurance of protection does not mean that Jeremiah is spared the humiliation that often goes with the prophetic office or self-doubt; on the contrary, God’s power is made manifest through his human weakness.

Jeremiah is not being called to judge the effectiveness of his work or the significance of his life. He is called to deliver God’s word; God will see to its effectiveness as well as to the vindication of Jeremiah’s life in ways he himself will never see. In God’s good but inscrutable providence, this can be the experience of the saints in any generation. God not only works his will through their words and deeds, but he also uses their lives to touch future generations in ways the saints themselves would not know.

The following account of a convicted criminal was passed along to me by a friend engaged in prison ministry. This criminal, a relatively young man in his late twenties, had been the product of a broken home. Actually, he was born out of wedlock and learned early on that he was not particularly wanted by either his mother or his father (the latter he hardly even knew). After landing in prison for violent criminal activity, he was led by the grace of God, along with the sincere efforts of some lay Christians, to realize that he had been called by God, first to a saving relationship with Jesus Christ and then to a form of ministry to other inmates in prison. Part of his emotional and spiritual healing came in the tearful realization that God had called him and set him apart for the task of ministry. For him this meant that God wanted him, even if his biological parents did not, that God had set him apart for a task, and therefore that God would be with him as he carried out his new-found call.

In the case of this inmate, his incarceration did not end with his newly formed faith. He hoped his time in jail would end so that he could do some form of ministry, but then saw instead his incarceration as the place where God had put him and as the place where God would be with him in the difficulties (and joys!) ahead. One of his first tasks was to learn study habits, so that he might retain more effectively the things he read in the Bible and present them more effectively.