Since completing his 2,200-page, three-volume Anchor Bible commentary in 2004, Jack Lundbom has produced a series of short books on Jeremiah. The present ‘modest introduction’ aims to be ‘a representative discussion of material contained in the biblical book of Jeremiah’ (p. ix). Its twenty short, footnote-free chapters each display an aspect of Jeremiah’s message for a lay audience.

A few distinctive elements feature—in no fixed order—in most of the book’s chapters, beginning with a focus on context. This may consist of cultural and biographical context, depicting Jeremiah’s experience in its Israelite social setting; wider historical context, focusing on the international politics that were to shape Judah’s destiny; or literary context, sometimes consisting of citations from Mesopotamian or Greek documents, but usually pointing to relevant OT parallels. For example, Jeremiah 5 is set up by an extensive retelling of Genesis 17–18 (pp. 26–27); Jeremiah 20:14–18 is prefaced by a study of Job 3 and 10 (pp. 58f.); Jeremiah 27–28 is preceded by a survey of prophetic symbolic actions from Elijah to Ezekiel (pp. 91–95). This can feel indulgent at times, but it does have the effect of deeply rooting Jeremiah in time and place. Even when in exegetical mode, Lundbom is always trying to find the time, place and historical circumstances that make the best sense of each unit of text.

Lundbom’s second distinctive element is his presentation of the text. Almost every chapter contains extensive quotations in his own translation. The treatment this text receives harks back to Lundbom’s commentary, focusing on rhetorical devices, formal structures and setting in Jeremiah’s life. It is not systematic, however: in one chapter we might find a detailed discussion of compositional criteria (pp. 32–33); in another, rhetorical criticism applied to assign speakers to a passage (pp. 37–39); and in another, a textual reconstruction (pp. 60–61). On this level the book reads like a sampler for Lundbom’s approach to Jeremiah. It is peppered with small details and suggestions which reflect his decades of work in this prophet. Readers will not always agree with Lundbom, but this is beside the point of the book, which is to provide a broad-brush sketch.

The third element of each chapter is a retelling of Jeremiah, sometimes emerging through the exegesis, sometimes appended as a summary or conclusion. I personally found this the least satisfying aspect of the book. Lundbom tends to be more interested in locating oracles in Jeremiah’s ministry than in the unfolding logic of the finished book, and this makes his retelling rather flat and theologically sparse. For example, the oracles against the nations are thoroughly sampled and described, but their placement in the book is not discussed and the reason they were uttered in the first place is touched on in merely ten lines (pp. 89–90). Lundbom does make some nice connections, as in his integrated reading of chs. 19–20 (pp. 52–56); but on the whole his interest in historical setting leads him to break up units and comment on the parts in isolation rather than looking for the editorial logic of their arrangement. Theological sparseness is another result of this approach. For example, Lundbom’s parsing of God’s rebuke in Jer 15:19–20 as a piece of honesty designed to lower the people’s defences (p. 51) seems more rhetorical than theological; again, Lundbom’s discussion of Jeremiah’s laments (pp. 37–44) seems more interested in dating each oracle than in reflecting theologically on their characteristic blurring of voices. He does break the mould in his chapter on Jeremiah 30–33, however, providing some thoughtful reflection on the newness of the new covenant (pp. 116–17).

Instead of isolated reflections on the prophet’s overall message and theology, the ‘big idea’ of Jeremiah is conveyed through the unfolding logic of Lundbom’s book, which is organised around the successive ‘books’ Lundbom judges Jeremiah to have produced. (Lundbom’s views on colophons in Jeremiah and the window they open onto the growth of the book are set out in the last chapter.) Jeremiah’s ‘first book’ (Jer 1–20) tells the story of a prophet who remembers Israel’s idyllic beginnings (Jer 2); urges repentance (Jer 3); announces destruction from the north (Jer 4–5); shows Jerusalem’s unpardonable state (Jer 5); explains why covenant-breaking Judah must be exiled (Jer 7, 26); laments for the nation (Jer 8–9, 14); mourns with the nation (Jer 14–15); is persecuted by the nation (Jer 19–20); but was chosen for this task (Jer 20). In his ‘second book’ Jeremiah carries God’s wrath to every nation (Jer 25 + 46–51); he triumphs over the false prophets (Jer 27–28); he shows that the future lies with the Babylonian exiles (Jer 24, 29); by contrast, the faithless king and people in Judah will have no future (Jer 34–35); after the nation’s collapse there will be a future restoration marked by a new permanence (Jer 30–31, 32); and so Jeremiah looks to a better future in an attitude of prayerfulness (Jer 32). Finally, the ‘third book’ is completed by Jeremiah 37–44, where the final narrative of Jerusalem’s fall presents Jeremiah as a symbol, both in his sufferings and his preservation by God.

It is this overall vision of Jeremiah, distinctively Lundbom’s, and conveyed in an easily read 150 pages, which is the book’s greatest asset.

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