God spoke through the prophets not during times of great joy and abundance but during times of pain and suffering, when hope seemed lost. Jeremiah, known colloquially as “the weeping prophet,” came in the period right before the fall of the temple and Jerusalem itself. With all the bad news Jeremiah was asked to deliver, God also swore to, “raise up for David a righteous Branch,” to rescue His people. Out of this time of great despair, God delivered a hope beyond what they could imagine.