Chrysostom Bible Jeremiah

The Chrysostom Bible Commentary Series is not so much in honor of John Chrysostom as it is to continue and promote his legacy as an interpreter of the biblical texts for preaching and teaching God’s congregation. In this volume, the author, Paul Nadim Tarazi, argues that “The Books of Jeremiah and Ezekiel stand at the center of the Hebrew Old Testament canon…both prophets were active around the time of the fall of Jerusalem to the Babylonians ca. 587 B.C., and their missions were to declare that the city succumbed to such a shameful end due to its negligence of God’s law.

What makes Jeremiah’s message more ominous in the hearer’s ears than that of Ezekiel is that he carried out his mission while living in Jerusalem…in Jeremiah, other “prophets” named by name and endorsed by the majority of the people and leadership challenge Jeremiah at every step. Even an inattentive hearer can feel the “pain” of Jeremiah and thus tends to empathize with his frequent complaints. In this sense, the Book of Jeremiah stands alone in scripture as the book of God who implements his punishment in spite of any entreaty…it is the book where God “alone” stands “over the nations and over the kingdoms” of his entire earth (Jer 1:10) in his office of sole supreme judge of all, including the deities of the nations (Ps 82).