Category Archives for "Jeremiah"

Egypt in the Bible

By Admin | Jeremiah , Joseph

The Bible names many different countries: Israel, Babylon, India, Ethiopia, Persia, Syria, Moab, Egypt, Italy, and many more.  The most common one is Israel – not surprisingly, since God says that for him it is the centre of the world, the land he promised to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob (whom he renamed “Israel”).^[1]Sometimes it is hard to separate God’s love for the land from his love for the people he chose to give it to: see Ezekiel 5:5; 20:6; 38:12; Isaiah 41:8-9; Zechariah 2:8 and Jeremiah 12:14.  When … Continue reading Continue reading

Jeremiah in Egypt: Tahpanhes

By Admin | Jeremiah

After Nebuchadnezzar destroyed Jerusalem, he appointed Gedaliah governor of Judah and left some soldiers to provide support for the new administration.  However, evil men assassinated Gedaliah and killed the soldiers.  Afraid, the people who lived in Judah decided to escape to Egypt to avoid any retribution from Nebuchadnezzar.  First they went to Tahpanhes (Jeremiah chapters 43-44), which was the closest major city of Egypt to Judah.

According to Wikipedia, it was later known as Daphnae and is now called Tell Defenneh.  At that time, it was located beside a lake on a branch of the Nile delta.  The site is now situated on the Suez Canal.  The meaning of the name “Tahpanhes” is uncertain. Continue reading

Washing in Bible times

By Mark Morgan | Jeremiah , Jesus

In the last two years we have all become familiar with calls to wash our hands frequently.  With COVID-19 leaving its mark all over the world, we are all encouraged to be vaccinated, but also to use soap, hand sanitiser and disinfectants.  How does our response to COVID-19 compare with cleansing and washing in Bible times?

Many people have observed that the Law of Moses concentrates heavily on cleanliness and frequently mentions washing – yet it is not the only part of the Bible where this is true.
Continue reading

Destroying Solomon’s Temple

By Admin | Jeremiah

Destroying Solomon’s Temple

Why is destroying things so much more fun than building them?

We can dimly appreciate how much time and effort it takes to build a tall brick chimney, yet when such an amazing edifice has outlived its usefulness, large crowds gather to watch the demolition.  No-one watched the long months of building as the chimney grew one round of bricks at a time, yet many will revel in the spectacular destruction as a carefully placed explosive charge brings those bricks crashing down.

Breaking down is always easier than building up – but that doesn’t mean it is always easy. Continue reading

Jeremiah in Egypt

By Admin | Jeremiah

Jeremiah in Egypt

Background

Nebuchadnezzar conquered the nation of Judah and destroyed Jerusalem and the temple in 587/586BC.  He captured King Zedekiah and killed his sons, then blinded him and took him away to Babylon, where he died in captivity. Continue reading

Words in Jeremiah

By Admin | Jeremiah

Individual languages will often have a characteristic sound, even to people who cannot speak the language at all. However, many of the interesting characteristics of a language can only be seen by people who are expert in the language. Most of the Old Testament is written in Hebrew, and the book of Jeremiah is no exception. What can we learn about words in Jeremiah?Continue reading

The book of Jeremiah in chronological order

By Mark Morgan | Jeremiah

The book of Jeremiah in chronological order – a suggestion

The book of Jeremiah includes dates which show us that the text is not in chronological order, as is discussed in the article “Why is Jeremiah out of order?”. While writing the series “Terror on Every Side!” I found it necessary to decide what the chronological order was, as far as possible. Although we can’t have much confidence in the conclusions for some parts, others we can be very sure of. The table below shows a possible chronological order for the book. In a while I hope to make the Book of Jeremiah available in this order – using the text of the World English Bible (or see the article in Wikipedia) which is available in the public domain. Continue reading

Oaths and Promises

By Admin | Jeremiah

Oaths and Promises: Zedekiah’s oath

In 2 Kings 24:20 we are told that Zedekiah rebelled against the king of Babylon.  On the face of it, that seems reasonable – why not rebel against an overlord if you think you can get away with it? But God did not view it that way: he saw it as a breach of promise. Oaths and promises are important to God…Continue reading

The Rechabites

By Mark Morgan | Jeremiah

The Rechabites

In the book of Jeremiah, God uses a family called the Rechabites as a parable to teach a lesson about faithfulness.

This story is told in the micro-tale “Have a Drink” which is included in Fiction Favours the Facts – Book 2, and was included in the Bible Tales newsletter back on 22 September 2017. Otherwise, you can read the true story in Jeremiah 35.

God told Jeremiah to ask the family of the Rechabites to go to the temple, but not to tell them what was to happen there. When the family arrived, Jeremiah offered them jugs full of wine and cups to drink from. Continue reading

Jeremiah: Family trees

By Mark Morgan | Family trees , Jeremiah

Family trees

The Bible reports the lives of many families, and God portrays himself as a father who invites people to be his children.

The people of Israel are called by that name because God gave their ancestor Jacob the name “Israel” almost 4,000 years ago.^[1]See Genesis 32:28; 35:10; 1 Kings 18:31; 1 Chronicles 16:13, 17; Isaiah 41:8; 45:3-4 Continue reading

Jeremiah: Maps and Locations

By Mark Morgan | Jeremiah , Maps

Maps make me feel more at home. I like Bibles with maps; I like text books with maps; I like novels with maps. Maps help me to know where a character, or a story, is headed – whether it is Paul on his missionary journeys or the hero of a novel.  However, making maps can take a lot of planning.  With the series Terror on Every Side! it was hard to include all the places of interest when some are only a hundred metres apart while others are scattered over thousands of kilometres.  Now, finally, I can present some “Jeremiah maps”.

First there is a list of places of interest in the story of the life of Jeremiah, and they are grouped in categories from the smallest area (Jerusalem) to the largest area (the Middle East). Three maps covering the same areas are included below.Continue reading

Timeline of the prophet Jeremiah’s life

By Mark Morgan | Jeremiah , Timelines

One of the most popular posts on the Bible Tales website is “Joseph: Timeline and family tree”, which presents a timeline of Joseph’s life, prepared as part of my research for the novel “Joseph, Rachel’s son”. Since it has been so popular, I decided to create a similar timeline of the prophet Jeremiah’s life.

This sounds  easy, but so many things about Jeremiah we don’t know – at least, not exactly. Continue reading