Why must Jeremiah hear the words of the covenant and speak to the inhabitants of Jerusalem?

This next section of Jeremiah (Jeremiah 11:1–13:27) is once again a compilation of both poetry and prose taken from different periods in Jeremiah’s ministry, but they have been brought together here because of their emphasis on the covenant. It is likely that the sermons in this section come mostly from Jeremiah’s ministry during the reign of Jehoiakim (609-597 BC) who reigned after his father, Josiah.¹

The first passage in this section is prose and what stands out is the very clear influence that the book of Deuteronomy has on Jeremiah’s writing and his understanding of Judah’s covenant relationship with the Lord.

The sermon is introduced as, The word that came to Jeremiah from the Lord. Jeremiah must first himself listen to the words of this covenant and then he must speak to the men of Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem.

 This is the first time that Jeremiah uses the word covenant in the book, apart from his reference to the ark of the covenant in Jeremiah 3:16. He refers to it again a number of times after this (Jeremiah 14:21; Jeremiah 22:9; Jeremiah 31:31–34; Jeremiah 32:40; Jeremiah 33:20–26; Jeremiah 34:8–22; Jeremiah 50:5).² The use of the word also introduces the main theme that brings unity to this section (Jeremiah 11:1–13:27).

The Hebrew word sama, which is translated as hear is also an important word throughout this passage (Jeremiah 11:1–17). Covenant faithfulness is about hearing what the Lord says and obeying.³