Most of the prophetical books begin with some indication of authorship and date to put them in their historical contexts, and this is true of the Book of Jeremiah.
1:1 The words (Heb. debarim, writings, prophecies, deeds, and events of his life) that follow are those of Jeremiah (meaning Yahweh founds, establishes, exalts, throws down, hurls, or loosens [the womb]).40His father was Hilkiah who may or may not have been the high priest who found the book of the Law in the temple during Josiah's reforms (1 Kings 2:26).41Jeremiah's father was a priest who lived in Anathoth, a village three miles northeast of Jerusalem in the territory of Benjamin where other priests also lived (cf. Josh. 21:15-19). Thus Jeremiah was a priest by ancestry.42
1:2 The word of Jeremiah was the word of the Lord (cf. v. 1). Jeremiah received his first instructions from Yahweh as a prophet in the thirteenth year of King Josiah of Judah's reign (640-609 B.C.), namely, 627 B.C. (cf. 25:3).43
1:3 He also received prophecies from the Lord during the reign of King Jehoiakim (609-598 B.C.) and until the eleventh year of King Zedekiah (597-586 B.C.), namely, 586 B.C., even until the exile of the residents of Jerusalem began in the fifth month of 586 B.C.44
"There is particular significance in the reference to the deportation (galut) of Jerusalem. This event was the climax to Jeremiah's preaching and a demonstration of his authenticity as a genuine prophet of Yahweh, for in that event the basic thrust of his prophecy was fulfilled."45
We know from elsewhere in the book that Jeremiah also prophesied after the fall of Jerusalem (cf. chs. 40-44). So the dates in this verse fix the period of Jeremiah's main ministry and set it in a historical context.
"We only begin to understand the power of Jeremiah's book if we grasp something of the chaos of his world."46
This preface sets the stage for what follows.
