Jeremiah

The name Jeremiah is pronounced in Hebrew as YIR-MEY-AHU. It is a word that means God

founds, exalts, loosens or throws. Jeremiah is known as the weeping prophet because much of

his writing is music in the form of lamenting. Jeremiah was only a boy about thirteen years of

age when he was called into the ministry of prophecy. The year was about 627 BC, and the king

ruling in Judah was King Josiah. Remember that the nation of Israel had split in two, forming

two different nations around 930 BC. The ten northern tribes became Israel, and the tribes to

the south (Judah and Benjamin, along with Simeon) became known as Judah, which is where

Jeremiah lived and ministered. It’s interesting to note that Jeremiah was born into a family of

priests living in Anathoth, a small town northeast of Jerusalem. These priests could have been

descendants of the priest banished by Solomon to Anathoth years before.