It was Jeremiah who had the insight to understand that paganism was fated for destruction. All through his life he struggled against idolatry. It was a losing battle, but in losing the battle he may well have won the war. Because he gave his people – the Jews – a reason, not only for surviving but for overcoming the pain of exile and the next 2,500 years of suffering, persecution, and Holocaust. It's argued that the whole shape and character of post-biblical Judaism is indebted to Jeremiah more than any other Israelite.
