Jeremiah has always held a special appeal. He is a vision of strength and commitment yet is a somewhat sorrowful character with whom it is easy to sympathize. Perhaps the reason Jeremiah has always found favor is that two basic factors have always defined life _ things always change and people don't like change. Nearly all people can look at their own age, their own times, and deplore the fact that they have been born into a period of tremendous upheaval and change. It always appears that past generations enjoyed a stability and continuity unknown in our own day.

For all who keenly feel the movement of the earth under them, Jeremiah is a greatly comforting and companionable prophet. Without a doubt, Jeremiah's prophetic life span covered some of the most tumultuous years in Israel's histo…