2 - THE THEOLOGY OF THE BOOK OF JEREMIAH

Summary

GOD AS SOVEREIGN

The Book of Jeremiah is preoccupied with a profound, long-term historical crisis that concerns both Judah (Jerusalem) and the international geopolitical milieu of Judah. That historical crisis, however, is outlined in the Book of Jeremiah with definitive reference to the will, purpose, action, and character of Yhwh, the God of Israel. Indeed, the effect of prophetic rhetoric in the prophets in general and in Jeremiah in particular is to link in decisive ways the rule of Yhwh and the lived reality of history. This connection is accomplished precisely through imaginative rhetoric that yields what Klaus Koch has termed “meta-history”; that is, public history understood and presented as an arena of God's purpose and activity. A theological exposition of the Book of Jeremiah therefore must begin with the character and action of Yhwh outlined in prophetic rhetoric.

It is clear in all parts of the Book of Jeremiah that Yhwh, the God of the long-established covenant tradition, is now seen to be the decisive agent in the Jerusalem of the seventh through sixth centuries bce in a way that the dominant opinion in Jerusalem could scarcely countenance. Of the much rich material on this subject, we may consider the following texts.

Near the end of the Book of Jeremiah, when Yhwh is juxtaposed with the overstated illicit power of Babylon (and the Babylonian gods), Yhwh's self-declaration offers a ringing, triumphal affirmation of Yhwh as incomparable in power and legitimacy:

For who is like me? Who can summon me? Who is the shepherd who can stand before me?[…]