Why "Jeremiad"?

A Jeremiad is defined as a "long mournful complaint or lamentation; a list of woes". Based on the prophecies of Jeremiah, especially the Book Lamentations (ascribed, wrongly, by tradition, to him), the term also denotes a literary genre, where one berates the contemporary world and its decadence.

I therefore thought it an appropriate title for my new blog, in which to indulge my pessimism and negative take on the world. Jeremiah’s ministry was a faithful, countercultural, protest against the apostasy and injustice of a society which had abandoned the covenant with Yahweh.

The prophet’s oeuvre has therefore provided fodder for Christian commentators in their anti-establishment invectives, whether from conservative right (Francis Schaeffer) or liberal left (Walter Brueggemann). My friend HettyLalleman has also recently published a commentary on both the Book of Jeremiah and Lamentations.

Jeremiah operated through that period of decline which led inexorably to the destruction of Jerusalem by the Babylonians, and the exile of the upper classes in Babylon itself. At times, he was moved to tears by the suffering of his people, even though it was brought on by their own sin (Jer. 9.1; Lam. 13.17).

Sometimes he felt betrayed, deceived by God, tricked into proclaiming his word, that would not be listened to (Jer. 20.7-8). Actually, he had no reason to feel like this. From the moment of his original call as a prophet, God had made it clear what the eventual end-game would be: the destruction of Jerusalem (Jer. 1.4-19).

His message to his contemporary world thus runs counter to the optimism of much charismatic prophesying today, with its naïve revival hopes. During my PhD research on prophetic ministry, I interviewed one charismatic ‘prophet’, who was surprised when I said my favourite Biblical prophet was Jeremiah.

Jeremiah himself ended up in exile, not in Babylon, which was at least the proper, prophesied, place to be exiled! His exile was on the margins even of exile itself, out of the limelight, in Egypt (Jer. 43.4-7). But his message was not wholly negative. How could it be, when he was spokesperson for the God of Hope?

To the exiles, he wrote a letter, pessimistically realistic about immediate expectations of going home, but promising an eventual return. In the meantime, he encouraged them to settle down there, not as resentful refugees, but as active agents for the blessing even of their Babylonian enemies (Jer. 29. 1-14).

He also bought a field, counter-intuitively, in face of Babylonian occupation, as a proleptic sign that there would a future in the land once again (Jer. 32.6-44). He also spoke of ultimate hope through the New Covenant (Jer. 31.31-34), picked up by the author of the Letter to the Hebrews (He. 8.7-13 & 10.15-17).

So, I can’t really use Jeremiah to indulge my own depressive tendencies. But it’s still a useful term, I think, to highlight my thoughts, I daren’t call them ‘prophecy’, about today’s culture and the church. And also, perhaps, to hold out some signs of hope.