A Tale of Two Jeremiahs: The Loveable Bullfrog and the Weeping Prophet

According to the Three Dog Night song, Jeremiah was a friendly bullfrog with a reputation for sharing his delicious wine. Because of these qualities, he always had plenty of buddies.


The Jeremiah of the Old Testament wasn’t quite so popular. The problem was he had a message that nobody wanted to hear. But that didn’t stop him from telling people what was on his mind. Day after day. Year after year. The result? He spent years in prison and was one of the most despised people of his time.

So, the morale of this story is if you want to make friends, you should never tell people things they don’t want to hear and instead just give them lots of tasty wine.

Wait a minute . . . that can’t be the morale to the story! Let’s dig a little deeper into these fellows’ stories.

By all accounts, being the Lord’s prophet was a tough gig during Jeremiah’s time. Through Jeremiah, God repeatedly warned the Israelites that if they didn’t change their ways, they were headed for some deep doo doo. Instead of listening, the people’s response was pretty much, ‘shut up Jeremiah or we’ll kill you.’

What’s that you say? Jeremiah the bullfrog’s life still sounds like more fun? Well, here are a few more tidbits about Jeremiah the prophet.

By obeying God, Jeremiah experienced a closeness with his maker that few people in that time ever did. He lived a life full of passion. In fact, Jeremiah had this to say about his fervor for the Lord, “His word is in my heart like a fire, a fire shut up in my bones. I am weary of holding it in; indeed, I cannot.”

Jeremiah may have been mocked by those around him, but God never forgot him or his promises to the people of Israel. One of the most comforting passages in the Bible was spoken by the Lord through Jeremiah. “For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.”

Even though Jeremiah experienced rejection and hardship because of his relationship with the Lord, he also received the passion and hope he needed to carry on with the work the Lord gave him to do.

Now back to the story of the other Jeremiah: the easy-going, heavy-drinking amphibian who made friends wherever he went.

One day, Jeremiah the bullfrog was hanging out with his rock star buddies at a barbeque and got a little too close to the fire pit. In his inebriated state, he slipped and fell on top of the hot coals, right next to the weenies and burgers. His friends observed his tumble, but they were too busy writing songs and chugging Jeremiah’s special brew to help him out. So instead of rescuing him, they enjoyed a delightful meal of fricasseed frog that evening.

While Jeremiah the bullfrog may have had lots of “friends” and a catchy song written about him, Jeremiah the prophet had a bond with the one friend that really matters – the only friend who can keep a person (or frog) from catching fire when their butt hits the (literal or figurative) flames. (See the story of Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego).