Jeremiah – The Covenant of Deuteronomy

Jeremiah embraces the book of the law that was discovered, the book of Deuteronomy. Meredith Klein, in ”The Treaty of the Great King”, says that Deuteronomy follows a well-defined formula of a Hittite treaty from a subject to his ruler. These treaties go over the history of the relationship, the conditions of the treaty, and the consequences of breaking it. (Some of these curses can be found in Deuteronomy 27).

Jeremiah takes the people to task for failing to meet that covenant, and his kinsmen turn on Jeremiah. It can be confusing at times to read as it is unclear if it is Jeremiah or God speaking, and some sections of things to come are described as having happened already, as God’s assurance that they will happen is every bit as real as having been completed already.  Even though God will punish the people for their infidelity, God promises that He will have compassion on them.