Jeremiah Shepard

Jeremiah Shepard (August 11, 1648 – June 2, 1720) was an American Puritan minister and the youngest son of Thomas Shepard, a major figure in the founding generation of Puritan New England. He was an early graduate of Harvard University, in the class of 1669.

Shepard replaced his brother Samuel Shepard at the church in Rowley, Massachusetts and served at the church in Chebacco, later renamed Essex, Massachusetts, and at the church in Lynn, Massachusetts.

Like many ministers of his generation, Jeremiah Shepard encountered significant conflicts with his congregations. He was invited to give a monthly lecture at the church in Rowley, but after the election of several town Selectmen who opposed his appointment, the town government refused to pay his salary. Shepard later sued and a compromise was struck. Accepting a call to the church at Chebacco in 1678, Shepard encountered further opposition. The residents of Chebacco, who tired of the long trip to the church at Ipswich, Massachusetts attempted to withdraw from that church, but the members in Ipswich were unwilling that such a break be made. Shepard found himself caught in the middle and accepted a call at the church in Lynn in 1680.

Jeremiah

Jeremiah (/dʒɛrᵻˈmaɪ.ə/;Hebrew: יִרְמְיָהוּ, Modern: Yirmeyahu  [jiʁmeˈjahu], Tiberian: Yirmĭyāhū; Greek: Ἰερεμίας; Arabic: إرميا‎ Irmiyā) meaning "Yah Exalts", also called the "Weeping prophet", was one of the major prophets of the Hebrew Bible (Christian Old Testament). Jeremiah is traditionally credited with authoring the Book of Jeremiah, 1 Kings, 2 Kings and the Book of Lamentations, with the assistance and under the editorship of Baruch ben Neriah, his scribe and disciple.

Judaism considers the Book of Jeremiah part of its canon, and regards Jeremiah as the second of the major prophets. Christianity also regards Jeremiah as a prophet and he is quoted in the New Testament.Islam too considers Jeremiah a prophet, and he is listed as a major prophet in Ibn Kathir's Qisas Al-Anbiya (Stories of the Prophets).

About a year after King Josiah of Judah had turned the nation toward repentance from the widespread idolatrous practices of his father and grandfather, Jeremiah's sole purpose was to reveal the sins of the people and explain the reason for the impending disaster (destruction by the Babylonian army and captivity), "And when your people say, 'Why has the Lord our God done all these things to us?' you shall say to them, 'As you have forsaken me and served foreign gods in your land, so you shall serve foreigners in a land that is not yours.'" God's personal message to Jeremiah, "Attack you they will, overcome you they can't," was fulfilled many times in the Biblical narrative: Jeremiah was attacked by his own brothers, beaten and put into the stocks by a priest and false prophet, imprisoned by the king, threatened with death, thrown into a cistern by Judah's officials, and opposed by a false prophet. When Nebuchadnezzar seized Jerusalem in 586 BC, he ordered that Jeremiah be freed from prison and treated well.

Jeremiah (I)

R. Jeremiah (Hebrew: רבי ירמיה) was a Tanna sage of the last generation and an Amora sage of the first generation, active in the Land of Israel during the transition period between the Tannaic and Amora sages eras. In Tractate Sukkah it is storied that that one of his pupils was a sage called Hezekiah, R. Rabbi Yehudah be-Rabbi Kalonymus mi-Speyer, the author of Sefer Yiḥusei Tanna'im ve-Amora'im, raises the question whether it was Hezekiah the son of R. Hiyya or whether it was Hezekiah the son of the daughter of Rab.

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Jeremiah (III)

R. Yirmeyah (or R. Jeremiah (iii) or Jeremiah ben Abba;Hebrew: רבי ירמיה‎, read as Rabbi Yirmeyah) was a prominent Jewish Amora sage of the Land of Israel, of the fourth generation of the Amora era (4th century). He was born in Babylon and made Aliyah to the Land of Israel while he was still young. In The Land of Israel he learned under R. Yochanan bar Nafcha's disciples, mainly under Rav Zeira. He stood out with his many questions, many of which that were left unanswered. In the Talmud it is storied that he was once ejected from a Beth Midrash because of his questions concerning border line cases that required accuracy on determining the exact definition of the border line. His exceptional questions gained publicity, and some use the phrase a Jeremiah question to refer to rare or out of the ordinary questions. After he was taken out of the Beth Midrash, the prominent sages of the generation sent him Halakhahic questions, and his answers made them decide to return him back to the Beth Midrash. Yirmeyah was known for his love of the Land of Israel, and used to denounce the Babylonians. His Beth Midrash was located in Tiberias.