“Question & Answer”

Question:
Who was Jeremiah?
Answer:
Jeremiah was a Hebrew prophet, reformer, and author of a biblical book that bears his name. He was born probably after 650 BCE in Anathoth, Judah, and died around 570 BCE in Egypt. A prophet who foresaw and witnessed the destruction of Jerusalem by the Babylonians in 586 B.C.. In addition to his book of prophecy, he is also credited with writing the Books of Kings and Lamentations. He was called to prophesy around 626 BCE, and we know more about his life than any other prophet. According to the biblical Book of Jeremiah, he began his prophetic career in 627/626—the 13th year of King Josiah’s reign. It is told there that he responded to Yahweh’s (God’s) call to prophesy by protesting “I do not know how to speak, for I am only a youth,” but he received Yahweh’s assurance that he would put his own words into Jeremiah’s mouth and make him a “prophet to the nations.” A few scholars believe that after his call Jeremiah served as an official prophet in the Temple, but most believe that this is unlikely in view of his sharp criticism of priests, prophets, and the Temple cult.
Question:
Does BCE count backward?
Answer:
Yes, BCE is counted backward because it is a retrospective calendar with the start point at year 1 of the Gregorian calendar and must therefore count backward in order to make any sense, just like negative numbers. BCE/CE is a secular reskinning of BC/AD, and it uses the same date as the starting point for when to count forward and when to count backward, meaning the date is the same whether you use the secular or Christian abbreviation. The dating system was created before zero was in common use, so it jumps from 1 BC (or 1 BCE) to 1 AD (or 1 CE).