2. The age in which he lived and prophesied, and the history of the Kings under whom he prophesied.
A knowledge of the times in which Jeremiah lived and preached aids understanding of the prophecy. Now, he lived בִּימֵ֛י יֹאשִׁיָּ֥הוּ, in the days of Josiah, the son of Amon, and afterwards also under Jehoahaz, Jehoiakim, Jehoiachin, and Zedekiah, unto whose eleventh year he prophesied, Jeremiah 1:2, 3. Now, Josiah succeeded Amon, who imitated the impiety of his Father Manasseh, but not his repentance; Josiah restored the fallen religion and worship of GOD, both in Judah and in Israel, and extirpated idolatry: but afterwards, he, fight against Pharaoh, unhappily fell, with his impious son Jehoahaz succeeding him, whom the King of Egypt removed, and carried off to Egypt, with his brother Jehoiakim constituted as King.[1] He, also conducting himself impiously, being bound in fetters by Nebuchadnezzar, so that he might be removed to Babylon: died in the midst of the journey and was buried with the burial of an ass.[2] His son also, Jehoiachin, or Jeconiah, was carried off as a captive by the same, with Zedekiah given as his successor, under whom the temple was burned and Jerusalem overthrown.[3] Now, a great many Jews were addicted to idolatry, and, because they had ceased to practice it, to that they attributed their calamities, Jeremiah 44:17, 18.