We learn from the Book of Jeremiah that his prophetic career overlaps the days of King Josiah. Jeremiah first hears the word of the LORD in the 13th year of Josiah’s reign, and his prophecies extend until the captivity. The Books of Kings and Chronicles say that during Josiah’s days, a significant revival/reform took place, going so far as to report that the people followed the righteous King Josiah in his renewed commitment to the covenant (II Kings 22:3; II Chronicles 34:31-33). But Jeremiah never mentions this revival among the people. He seems to be unaware of this mass turning to the covenant. He reports that the people have refused to listen to the word of the LORD despite prophets rising early and proclaiming a divine message. When God commanded Jeremiah to write his scroll, he told him the scroll’s goal. It happens to be the same goal as the famous but rarely understood New Covenant. The same goal, it seems, can be traced back to a request that Moses made of God when the covenant was engraved upon two stone tablets. According to the biblical texts, what was the goal of the scroll and of the covenants – Old AND New?

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