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Tyndale Open Bible Dictionary

LETTER OF JEREMIAH

The Letter of Jeremiah is a book accepted as part of the Deuterocanonical works. It was originally written in Hebrew or Aramaic by an unknown Jewish author. The work is no longer extant in the original but has come down to us in the Greek Septuagint. The book cannot be clearly dated; most scholars agree that the Letter was composed between the third and first centuries BC.

The Letter aims at demonstrating the folly of idolatry. Its claim to have been written by Jeremiah to the captives in the Babylonian exile is spurious. Rather, it was written by a pious Jew for Jews who, living in the Diaspora, were challenged by the dangers of idolatry—“So take care not to become at all like the foreigners. . . . But say in your heart, ‘It is thou, O Lord, whom we must worship’ ” (Letter of Jeremiah 6:5-6). Ridicule is heaped on the gods made by craftsmen out of raw materials. The idols tarnish and may easily be burned up in a fire. They collect dust, are blackened by the smoke of the temple, and are a resting place for animals. They cannot speak and are impotent to protect themselves against offenders and pillagers. They cannot see the lamps lighted in the temples. The idols cannot receive the sacrifices brought by the devotees and are also not in a position to bless or help those who believe in them. Since the idols are frauds, fashioned by craftsmen, they are incapable of providing people’s needs and of delegating divine authority to kings. The Letter concludes with several comparisons: the idol’s protection is likened to a scarecrow in a plot of cucumbers and to a thornbush in a garden, or to a corpse cast out in the dark (vv 70-71).

The Letter was printed as chapter 6 of the book of Baruch in the Latin Vulgate. See also Baruch, Book of.