The Tribulations of Jeremiah

Nephi told his brothers about the people at Jerusalem, “They have rejected the prophets, and Jeremiah have they cast into prison” (1 Nephi 7:14).  This shows that Nephi and his family were familiar with Jeremiah and understood the difficulties he faced.  It may be that Lehi personally knew him, although Jeremiah did not know of their departure because “no one knew it save it were himself and those whom he brought out of that land” (3 Nephi 5:20).  Lehi and his group certainly faced some pretty serious trials over the decade they traveled as they wandered in the desert and suffered all manner of afflictions.  Despite that, their lot was still quite a bit better than Jeremiah’s who remained.  It is incredible to see how faithful he was even amidst the unimaginable difficulties that he faced amidst the wicked Israelites—alone.

               We get a sense of the intense struggles that Jeremiah faced in various passages of the book that bears his name.  His sorrow was so great for his people’s wickedness that he exclaimed, “Oh that my head were waters, and mine eyes a fountain of tears, that I might weep day and night for the slain of the daughter of my people!” (Jeremiah 9:1)  The people were against him, for they said, “Come let us devise devices against Jeremiah…. Come let us smite him” (Jeremiah 18:18).  On one occasion the chief governor of the temple “smote Jeremiah the prophet, and put him in the stocks that were in the high gate of Benjamin” (Jeremiah 20:2).  The persecution caused Jeremiah to exclaim: “O Lord, thou hast deceived me, and I was deceived: thou art stronger than I, and hast prevailed: I am in derision daily, every one mocketh me” (Jeremiah 20:7).  He spent time in prison and suffered there: “Then took they Jeremiah, and cast him into the dungeon of Malchiah the son of Hammelech, that was in the court of the prison: and they let down Jeremiah with cords. And in the dungeon there was no water, but mire: so Jeremiah sunk in the mire” (Jeremiah 38:6).  It was so bad for Jeremiah that he exclaimed, “Cursed be the day wherein I was born: let not the day wherein my mother bare me be blessed. Cursed be the man who brought tidings to my father, saying, A man child is born unto thee; making him very glad. And let that man be as the cities which the Lord overthrew, and repented not: and let him hear the cry in the morning, and the shouting at noontide; Because he slew me not from the womb; or that my mother might have been my grave, and her womb to be always great with me. Wherefore came I forth out of the womb to see labour and sorrow, that my days should be consumed with shame?” (Jeremiah 20:14-20)  Life was so bad for Jeremiah that he lamented the day he was even born. 

            Given all of the rejection and persecution that Jeremiah faced, it is surprising to me that it is of him that the Lord said, “Before I formed thee in the belly I knew thee; and before thou camest forth out of the womb I sanctified thee, and I ordained thee a prophet unto the nations” (Jeremiah 1:5).  The Lord had prepared and chosen Jeremiah to be the prophet he was to the Jews even before he was born.  His ministry was especially one of suffering, and so this suggests that he was ordained to come forth and suffer on earth.  And who knows if there aren’t many others today who face terrible trials who were likewise ordained even before coming to earth to have those very trials.