Leaders strengthen their visionary power when they improve their communication skills. Communicating in imagery that people can remember is a skill worth developing.
Jeremiah uses vivid analogies and metaphors to describe how Israel had turned away from God. He used images such as a woman who first goes to her husband and then runs away from him again; a man who digs a cistern; a slave who has lost his freedom.
Jeremiah was commissioned by God to speak to people who did not want to listen. That challenged him to become a better communicator, since his task was anything but easy. As with other prophets in the Old Testament, there is a five-part pattern in Jeremiah's life.
- Strong start. Jeremiah wasted no words and got straight to the point to capture people's attention.
- Simple language. Jeremiah did not try to impress anyone with intellectual words.
- One theme. Jeremiah only ever proclaimed one theme per appearance, never 15.
- Vivid language. Jeremiah used images, metaphors, and objects to get his message across.
- Emotional ending. Jeremiah ended his speeches with an appeal that spoke to both heart and mind.
Jeremiah 2:1-17
The unfaithful people of God
1 Moreover the word of the LORD came to me, saying,
2 Go and cry in the ears of Jerusalem, saying, Thus saith the LORD; I remember thee, the kindness of thy youth, the love of thine espousals, when thou wentest after me in the wilderness, in a land that was not sown.
3 Israel was holiness unto the LORD, and the firstfruits of his increase: all that devour him shall offend; evil shall come upon them, saith the LORD.
4 Hear ye the word of the LORD, O house of Jacob, and all the families of the house of Israel:
5 Thus saith the LORD, What iniquity have your fathers found in me, that they are gone far from me, and have walked after vanity, and are become vain?
6 Neither said they, Where is the LORD that brought us up out of the land of Egypt, that led us through the wilderness, through a land of deserts and of pits, through a land of drought, and of the shadow of death, through a land that no man passed through, and where no man dwelt?
7 And I brought you into a plentiful country, to eat the fruit thereof and the goodness thereof; but when ye entered, ye defiled my land, and made mine heritage an abomination.
8 The priests said not, Where is the LORD? and they that handle the law knew me not: the pastors also transgressed against me, and the prophets prophesied by Baal, and walked after things that do not profit.
9 Wherefore I will yet plead with you, saith the LORD, and with your children's children will I plead.
10 For pass over the isles of Chittim, and see; and send unto Kedar, and consider diligently, and see if there be such a thing.
11 Hath a nation changed their gods, which are yet no gods? but my people have changed their glory for that which doth not profit.
12 Be astonished, O ye heavens, at this, and be horribly afraid, be ye very desolate, saith the LORD.
13 For my people have committed two evils; they have forsaken me the fountain of living waters, and hewed them out cisterns, broken cisterns, that can hold no water.
14 Is Israel a servant? is he a homeborn slave? why is he spoiled?
15 The young lions roared upon him, and yelled, and they made his land waste: his cities are burned without inhabitant.
16 Also the children of Noph and Tahapanes have broken the crown of thy head.
17 Hast thou not procured this unto thyself, in that thou hast forsaken the LORD thy God, when he led thee by the way?
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