Jeremiah at the Palace in Jerusalem

Illustration

The story of Jeremiah spans from 626 to 587 BC during the time of the two kingdoms of the ancient Israelites: While the Northern Kingdom of Israel has already been conquered by Assyria in 722 BC, the Southern Kingdom of Judah finds itself wedged between the hostile empires of the Assyrians, Egyptians and Babylonians. A complex set of political, economical and spiritual downfalls have lead to this nerve-racking situation. Under king Josiah - regarded as the greatest king of the Jewish people since the passing of king David - a series of national and religious reforms happen and for a while it seems as if the country is on the right track. But Josiah dies too soon and the Southern Kingdom falls into the hands of his sons Jehoahaz, Jehoiakim and Zedekiah - all of whom are either foolish or corrupted.

Into this scene enters Jeremiah, a young prophet from a family of priests. Over the span of 30 years he keeps on proclaiming warnings after warnings to his people about the impending doom that will befall them. Yet his words fall upon deaf ears. Ultimately, all of this culminates in the historic Fall of Jerusalem in 587 BC when the forces of the Babylonian king Nebuchadnezzar tear down the walls of the Holy City, destroy the Temple, and take the Jewish people into exile.
Seeing the disaster, Jeremiah weeps over the fall of his people and proceeds to write the most heartbroken piece of literature within the Bible: "The Book of Lamentations". Yet as he weeps, he also prophesizes that God will bring his people back to the very land he promised to their forefathers to rebuild the Holy City and its Temple - though the aged prophet won't see it during his own lifetime...

70 years later, a man named Ezra returns from exile and with him a group of visionaries carrying shovels, blueprints and lots of mortar. Their task? Rebuilding Jerusalem! But that's another story entirely...