Page:Catholic Encyclopedia, volume 8.djvu/392

 JEREMIAS

334

JEREMIAS

xxiii, 31), of the tribe of Juda. He was the father of Amital, or Hamutal, one of the wives of Josias and mother of Kings Joachaz (IV Ivings, xxiii, 31) and Sedecias (IV Kings, xxiv, IS). Cf. Jer., lii, 1 — Gr. text.

(2) Jeremi.\s, Jehemi.'^. p. V., I Par., v, 24 (A. V. Jeremiah, Chron.) ; Sept. lepe/i/a], a chief of the half tribe of Manasses east of the Jordan, about the time of the Assyrian deportation under Thelgathphalnasar (A. V. Tiglath-pileser).

(3) Jere.mias, one of the Benjamite bowmen and slingers who repaired to David's assistance at Siceleg {A. V. Ziklag) during the persecution by Saul (I Par., xii, 4).

(4) Jeremias {A.. V. and R. V. Jeremiah), a valiant warrior of the tribe of Gad, fifth in rank of those who went over to David when he had withdrawn into the desert of Juda to escape capture at the hands of Saul (I Par., xii, 10).

(5) Jeremi,\s, the tenth in reputation of the Gadite braves who threw in their lot with David's small army when he lay hitl in the wilderness (I Par., xii, 13).

(6) Jere.mias, son of Habsanias (R.V.Habuzziniah), and father of Jezonias (X. V. and R. V. Jaazaniah). The last-mentioned seems to have been the head of the Rechabites (Jer., xxxv, 3) in the time of the prophet.

(7) Jere.mi.\s, a priest who returned with Zorobabel and Josue to Jerusalem [II Esd. (A. V. Xehem.), xii, 1] after the Babjdonian Captivity — about 536 b. c. His name was given to one of the twenty-two courses [II Esd., xii, 1-7 — Vig., op. cit. below, here reckons only twenty-one; cf. Gr. text CSet/iia^), where the name is written 'Itptiuia. Hattus is omitted in v. 2, and a lacuna occurs after the Sechcnias of v. 3 as far as v. 7], into which were divided the four families of priests (I Es'.l., ii, 36-9).

(S) Jeremi.\s, head of one of the priestly families, who, together with the other leaders of the people, subscribed to the sacred covenant renewed in the time of Nehemias (about 444 B. c). A comparison of the priestly hst given in II Esd., x, 2-S, with the enumera- tion of xii, 1 sq., will show the name of Jeremias (lepefiia) placed in close ju.xtaposition to that of Saraias (Saraia), and both are mentioned, in either case, amongst the first three. For these and similar reasons some have been led, despite the seeming difficulties, chiefly chronological, to identify that Jeremias who " went up with Zorobabel " and the homonymous priest who swore on behalf of his breth- ren that " they would walk in the law of God ".

Ermoni in Vic. Did. de li Bihlc. s. v. Jeremie; Moss in Hast., Dici. of the Bible, s. v. Jeremiah.

P. J. MacAuley.

Jeremias (the Prophet) lived at the close of the seventh and in the first part of the sixth century before Christ; a contemporary of Draco and Solon of .\thens. In the year 627, during the reign of Josias, he was called at a youthful age to lie a prophet, and for nearly half a century, at least from 627 to 585, he bore the burden of the prophetic office. lie belonged to a prie.stly (not a high-priestly) family of Anathoth, a small country to\^"n north-east of Jerusalem now called .\nata; but he seems never to have performed priestly duties at the temple. The scenes of his pro- phetic activity were, for a short time, his native town, for the greater part of his life, the metropolis Jerusalem, and, for a time after the fall of Jerusalem, Masphath (Jer.. xl, 6) and the Jewish colonies of the Dispersion in Egj-pt (Jer., xliii, 6 sqq.). His name, I.TDT also iTOT, Sept. 'Upifilas, has received varying etymo- logical interpretations ("Lofty is Jahweh" or ' Jah- weh founds"); it appears also as the name of other persons in the ld Testament. Sources for the history of his life and limes are, fir.st, the book of prophecies bearing his name, and, second, the Books of Kings

and of Paralipomenon (Clironicles). It is only when taken in connexion with the history of his times that the external course of his life, the individuality of his nature, and the ruling theme of his discourses can be understood.

I. Period op Jeremias. — The last years of the seventh century and the first decades of the sixth brought with them a .series of political catastrophes which completely changed national conditions in Western Asia. 'The overthrow of the -Assyrian Em- pire, which was completed in 606 by the conquest of Ninive, induced Necliao II of Egypt to attempt, with the aid of a large army, to strike a crushing blow at the ancient enemy on the Euphrates. Palestine was in the direct route between the great powers of the world of that era on the Euphrates and the Nile, and the Jewish nation was rouseii to action by the march of the Egj-ptian army through its territory. Josias, the last descendant of David, had begun in Jerusalem a moral and religious reformation "in the ways of David ", the carrying out of which, however, was frus- trated by the lethargy of the people and the foreign policy of the king. The attempt of Josias to check the advance of the Egyptians cost him his life at the battle of Mageddo, 608. Four years later, Nechao, the con- queror at Mageddo, was slain by Nabuchodonosor at Carchemish on the Euphrates. From that time Nabu- chodonosor's eyes were fixed on Jerusalem. The last, shadowy kings upon the throne of David, the three sons of Josias — Joachaz, Joakim, and Sedecias — hastened the destruction of the kingdom by their un- successful foreign policy and their anti-religious or, at least, weak internal policy. Both Joakim and Sede- cias, in spite of the warnings of the prophet Jeremias, allowed themselves to be misled by the war party in the nation into refu.sing to pay the tribute to the King of Babylon. The king's revenge followed quickly upon the rebellion. In the second great expetlition Jeru- salem was conquered (5S) and destroyed after a siege of eighteeen months, which was only interrupted by the battle with the Eg^-ptian army of relief. The Lord cast aside his footstool in the day of his wrath and sent Juda into the Babylonian Captivity.

This is the historical background to the lifework of the Prophet Jeremias: in foreign policy an era of lost battles and other events preparatory to the great catastrophe; in the inner life of the people an era of un- successful attempts at reformation, and the appear- ance of fanatical parties such as generally accompany the last days of a declining kingdom. While the kings from the Nile and the Euphrates alternately laid the sword on the neck of the Daughter of Sion, the leaders of the nation, the kings and priests, became more and more involved in party schemes; a Sion party, led by false prophets, deluded itself by the superstitious be- lief that the temple of Jahweh was the unfailing talis- man of the capital; a fanatically foolhardy war party wanted to orgam'ze a resistance to the utmost against the great powers of the world ; a Xile party looked to the Egyptians for the salvation of the country, and in- cited opposition to the Babylonian lordship. Carried away by human politics, the people of Sion forgot its reUgion, the national trust in Gotl, and wished to fi.x the day and hour of its redemption according to its own will. Over all these factions the cup of the wine of WTath gradually grew full, to be finally poured from seven vessels during t he Babylonian Exile laid upon the nation of the Prophets.

II. Mission of Jeremias. — In the midst of the con- fusion of a godless policy of despair at the approach of destruction, the prophet of .\nathoth stood as "a pillar of iron, and a wall of brass". The prophet of the eleventh hour, he had the hard mission, on the eve of the great catastrophe of Sion, of proclaiming the decree of God that in the near future the city and temple should be overthrown. From the time of his first calling in vision to the prophetic office, he saw the