B. Jeremiah is called, 627 BC.
Jer 1:1 introduces the book as "the word of the Lord came to him in the thirteenth year of the reign of Josiah son of Amon king of Judah, and through the reign of Jehoiakim son of Josiah king of Judah, down to the fifth month of the eleventh year of Zedekiah son of Josiah king of Judah, when the people of Jerusalem went into exile." Since Josiah ascended to the throne in 640, the "thirteenth" year would put Jeremiah's initial call to his ministry in 627, when Josiah's reforms had already begun.
While that is the most natural reading of the text, some commentators are puzzled by a number of important observations. If 627 was the year of his call, why is it then that we do not find any record of Jeremiah's own response to the finding of the Law Book in the temple when he would have been preaching for about five years? Just as important, we find no responses from Jeremiah to Josiah's reform in general and, in particular, his death some twenty years into his ministry. Out of this consideration, it has been suggested that, perhaps 627 is the date of Jeremiah's birth instead. Josiah's reforms, including the finding of the Law Book would have occurred while the prophet was only a child and, therefore, made no impression on him. This finds support, it is claimed, in Yahweh's words in v5, "before you were born I set you apart; I appointed you as a prophet to the nations."
While the suggestion takes care of one puzzle—why we hear of so little from Jeremiah from the time of Josiah—it creates others. Looking at v5 closely, we see Jeremiah responding, "Ah, Sovereign Lord, I do not know how to speak; I am only a child (na'ar." Surely this would be meaningless if this narrative relates to Jeremiah's birth. The word he uses to describe himself, na'ar, suggest rather that he was already self-aware even if he did not feel competent to take on such a responsibility to be God's spokesman.
There remains, of course, the puzzle of why Jeremiah remained silent for so many years afterwards during Josiah's reign. That is a task for the commentary to deal with.
©ALBERITH
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