Jeremiah 26:1-10

PART THREE
CHAPTER THIRTEEN

JEREMIAH FACES OPPOSITION

Jeremiah 26:1 to Jeremiah 29:32

The material in Chapter s 26-29 is primarily biographical in character and written in the third person. Some autobiographical material is also included here (see Jeremiah 27:1 to Jeremiah 28:4). The most unique literary feature of this section is chapter 29. This chapter contains the complete text of a letter sent by Jeremiah to the captives in Babylon (Jeremiah 29:1-23) and also parts of two letters, one of which was sent to Shemaiah, and the other sent by him (Jeremiah 29:24-32). The materials in this section come from two different periods of the prophet's ministry. The events in chapter 26 take place in the early days of Jehoiakim. Chapter s 27-29 cover events about fifteen years later, in the fourth year of king Zedekiah when there was general unrest throughout the Babylonian empire. False prophets in Judah and in Babylon were encouraging Jews to join in the rebellion against Nebuchadnezzar. In continuing to counsel submission to Babylon Jeremiah aroused the hostility of the civil as well as the religious authorities of the nation.