The Pedagogy of Jeremiah: A Teaching Model for Religious Educators

Abstract

Several scholarly commentaries concur that we know more about the life and character of Jeremiah than any other Hebrew prophet in the Old Testament. His personality, his mission, and his unwavering determination undergird his urgent message to the people of the declining southern kingdom of Judah to have their own encounter with the Divine so they might avoid destruction. Modern religious educators, whether in secondary or post-secondary settings, can increase their professional and ministerial effectiveness by thoughtfully considering the pedagogical practices and attributes that Jeremiah modeled.

Notes

Ithamar was the youngest son of Aaron (see Exodus 6:23; Numbers 3:2). After the rebellion and death of Nadab and Abihu (see Leviticus 10), the office of high priest passed into the family of Aaron's third son, Eliezar (see Numbers 20:25–29). However, the office of high priest passed into the family of Ithamar with Eli for a time (see 1 Samuel 1–4). During the reign of David, there appears to have been two high priests—Abiathar (of Ithamar) in David's camp and Zadok (of Eliezar) at Gibeon, officiating at the location of the tabernacle. Because of the rebellion of Abiathar, the high priest office was placed solely upon Zadok (see 1 Chronicles 6; 1 Kings 1), who was faithful to the monarchy. The high priest office then stayed with the descendants of Eliezar, where it remained until the time of Jeremiah and beyond (see 1 Chronicles 24:1–6).

It is difficult to say which parts of the book of Jeremiah pertain directly to the reigns of each of the kings from Josiah to Jehoahaz (Josiah's fourth son; also known as Joash, or Shallum in Jeremiah 22:11) to Jehoiakim (son of Jehoahaz) to Jehoiachin (son of Jehoiakim) to Zedekiah (third son of Josiah). Jeremiah prophesied the fate of Zedekiah (the first mention of a specific king of Judah after Josiah) in Jeremiah 21, and also the fate of Shallum in Jeremiah 22.

King Josiah learned from Huldah the prophetess that his efforts would not lead to the great transformation of the people that he hoped it would, but the Lord would honor and reward him for his valiant and faithful efforts (see 2 Kings 22:12–20). By the time Jeremiah comes on the scene in the Hebrew Bible (Tanakh, or Old Testament), the people in the southern kingdom of Judah have been steeped in the worship of forbidden idols and have disregarded significant portions of the Mosaic law for over 100 years. Only during the reign of Hezekiah (from c. 726 b.c. to c. 697 b.c.) was Jerusalem ruled by a monarch who sought to be faithful to the God of Israel and hearkened to one of His prophets, Isaiah. Except for these three exceptional decades, Ahaz, Manasseh, and Amon had led the people in idolatry and wickedness for the better part of eight decades.

This term may have also been an indication of Jeremiah's recognition that he was from the “second” family of priests, not the leading family of Eliezar; thus he lacked the prestige that someone from that family may have possessed.

In our study of Jeremiah, we found that Jeremiah used a lecture or teacher presentation approach in 35 out of 52 chapters.

Christian Smith and Melinda Lundquist Denton (2005) observed in their extensive recent study on youth and religion in the United States that many teenagers and youth experience a severe lack of open dialogue with adults on the subject of religion and religiosity, which they believed contributed to some of the religious illiteracy and lack of religious commitment among the emerging generation of youth in the 21st century.

“The word of the Lord came unto me” appears seven times in the book of Jeremiah (Jeremiah 1:4,11,13, 13:3,8, 24:4, 32:6) and the phrase “The word of the Lord came unto Jeremiah” appears an additional five times (Jeremiah 28:12, 33:1, 33:19, 39:15, 42:7). In addition, the phrase “the word of the Lord came to me” appears twice (Jeremiah 2:1, 18:5), and “the word of the Lord came to Jeremiah” appears three times (Jeremiah 33:23, 34:12, 36:27).