Prayer Tents Bible References - Prayer Tents

JEREMIAH, BOOK OF

The second book of the Latter Prophets following Isaiah and preceding Ezekiel in the Jewish canon of the Hebrew Bible, although some authorities place it as the first book (b. B. Bat. 14b). In the Christian OT it appears after Isaiah as the second book of the Prophets together with Lamentations. In some manuscripts the apocryphal book of Baruch and the Epistle of Jeremiah follow. The book presents the career and sayings of the prophet Jeremiah ben Hilkiah. According to the superscription in 1:1-3, Jeremiah was a priest from the village of Anathoth, who was active from the 13th year of the reign of King Josiah of Judah (ca. 626 b.c.e.) until the captivity of Jerusalem in 587. The book focuses especially on the reigns of Jehoiakim (609-598), Zedekiah (597-587), and the early years of the Babylonian Exile until the aftermath of the assassination in 582 of Gedaliah, the Babylonian-appointed governor of Judah. According to rabbinic tradition, Jeremiah was the author of his own book as well as 1-2 Kings and Lamentations (b. B. Bat. 15a).

The book of Jeremiah appears in two distinct but related forms: the Greek version of the LXX and the Hebrew version that is extant in the MT. The Greek version is approximately one eighth shorter than the Hebrew, and after 25:13a the two versions differ substantially in their order. The placement of the oracles against the nations constitutes a key difference between the two versions: in the MT they appear as chs. 46-51 whereas the LXX places them roughly in the center of the book where they appear as 25:14–31:44. The remaining material in MT chs. 25-45 appears for the most part as LXX chs. 32-51. Both versions conclude with the historical narrative concerning the Babylonian Exile in ch. 52. Most scholars maintain that the LXX version is a translation completed at some time between 250 and 150 of an earlier Hebrew version that was originally composed in Egypt. The Hebrew version on which the MT is based is generally believed to have originated in Babylonia. In general, the MT appears to be an expanded and rearranged version of the Hebrew underlying the LXX, but there are sufficient exceptions that point to independent transmission histories for both versions.

A particularly noteworthy aspect of the textual history of the book is the discovery of at least four Jeremiah manuscripts among the scrolls from Qumran Caves 2 and 4. The manuscript from Cave 2 (2QJer) contains fragments from Jer. 42-44 and 46-49 that date to ca. the 1st century c.e. Overall, these fragments correspond closely, although not entirely, to the MT and place the oracles against the nations at the end of the book. Among the three Cave 4 manuscripts, 4QJera is the oldest, dating to ca. 200 b.c.e. The scroll contains fragments of Jer. 7-15; 17-20; 22; 26, , with many corrections that apparently correspond to the MT. 4QJerb dates to the mid-2nd century b.c.e. and contains fragments of Jer. 9-10; 43; 50. Some see these fragments as three separate manuscripts. They are especially important in that the first two reflect the LXX text and verse order, and therefore testify to the Hebrew text underlying the LXX. 4QJerc dates to the Herodian period, ca. 30-1 b.c.e., and contains fragments from a proto-Masoretic version of Jer. 4; 8-10; 19-22; 25-27; 30-31; 33.

The structure of the two forms of Jeremiah is not well understood. Many maintain that the arrangement of the LXX version follows a tripartite pattern that was employed generally in the arrangement of prophetic books (e.g., Isaiah, Ezekiel, Zephaniah): oracles of judgment against Israel (chs. 1–25); oracles of judgment against the nations (LXX 26–31; cf. MT 46–51); and oracles of restoration (LXX 32–52; cf. MT 25–52). Unfortunately, this does not account for the portrayal of judgment against Jerusalem and Judah evident in the third major section of LXX Jeremiah, nor is the pattern so unambiguously apparent throughout the other prophetic books. Instead, it may point to a principle of arrangement in which the oracles of the prophet concerning Jerusalem/Judah and the nations are first presented and then followed by an account of the prophet’s activities through the Babylonian Exile that relates the process by which the oracles are to be realized. The order of MT Jeremiah includes a presentation of various visions, oracles, and laments of Jeremiah concerning Jerusalem and Judah in chs. 1–24; a narrative account of various speeches and events in the life of Jeremiah from the reign of Jehoiakim through the aftermath of the Babylonian destruction of Jerusalem in chs. 25–45; the oracles against the nations in chs. 46–51; and the narrative account of the Babylonian destruction of Jerusalem and deportation of captives in ch. 52, drawn from 2 Kgs. 24:18–25:30. The identification of this arrangement is based largely on thematic and generic grounds that may well reflect the literary history of the book. A chronological principle appears to stand behind this arrangement, although repetitions, such as the dual accounts pertaining to Jeremiah’s temple sermon in chs. 7 and 26, and other chronological inconsistencies disrupt the pattern. Overall, the book begins with the prophet’s call or vocation account in ch. 1, which identifies him as a prophet to the nations, and continues through ch. 45 with a presentation of his life that concludes with Jeremiah’s last years in Egypt. The following oracles against the nations in chs. 46-51 are to be realized at some point in the future, and the concluding historical narrative in ch. 52 summarizes the situation of Judah and Jerusalem at the conclusion of Jeremiah’s life.

It is clear that the present forms of the book, both LXX and MT, are heavily edited compositions that reflect the viewpoints and concerns of the writers and editors who produced them. There is a concerted effort, e.g., to present Jeremiah as a prophet like Moses, in that he was active for a period of 40 years (1:1-3), called for adherence to the instructions or Torah of Yahweh as the basis for the relationship between the people and Yahweh, suffered abuse and rejection from both Yahweh and the people in a manner analogous to Moses’ experience in the wilderness, and died outside the land of Israel. Overall, the presentation of Jeremiah in the book emerges as a sort of a theodicy, attempting to justify Yahweh’s decision to destroy Jerusalem as the result of wrongdoing by the people of Israel and Judah. Scholars have long pointed to various features of the book that suggest a complex editorial history: the narrative in ch. 36 that identifies Baruch ben Neriah as the scribe responsible for writing down Jeremiah’s oracles; the presence of both poetic oracular compositions, which may well constitute the words of the prophet, and prose accounts of the prophet’s words and activities that clearly must stem from a writer or writers other than the prophet; and the narrative prose style that corresponds closely to that of the Deuteronomistic history, especially the books of 1-2 Kings.

An extensive debate on this question has taken place throughout much of the 20th century that highlights the difficulties in reconstructing a picture of the historical prophet from the literary presentation in the book of Jeremiah. An early influential study in German by Sigmund Mowinckel identifies four major sources within the book. Source A is the poetic material in chs. 1–25 that represents the words of the prophet. Source B is the biographical prose material in 19:1–20:6; 26; 28–29; 36–44, written by an admirer of the prophet. Mowinckel and others later identify this writer as Baruch ben Neriah. Source C is the sermonic prose material in 7:1–8:3; 11:1-17; 18:1-12; 21:1-10; 25:1-11a; 32:1-2, 6-16, 24-44; 34:1–35:19; 44:1-14, analogous to sermonic material in Deuteronomy and the Deuteronomistic history. Also included are superscriptions throughout the book and material from 3:6-13; 29:1a, 3-9, 21-23; 45. Source D constitutes postexilic oracles of consolation in chs. 30–31. Together with chs. 46–51 and 52, the whole was edited and combined together in the postexilic period.

Subsequent discussion has tended to blur these distinctions, however, as scholars have noted a great deal of affinity between Mowinckel’s first three sources. John Bright maintains that there is no distinction between the B and C sources, and argues that they represent a single stream by which the words of Jeremiah are handed down. E. W. Nicholson argues that the B and C sources are both Deuteronomic, produced by Babylonian circles who employed the figure of Jeremiah in sermonic discourse as a means to convey Deuteronomic teachings in the postexilic Jewish community. A German study by Manfred Weippert argues that the Deuteronomic prose material is rooted in the poetic oracles of Mowinckel’s Source A, and therefore stems from Jeremiah and his disciples. William L. Holladay likewise notes affinities between the poetic oracles and prose materials, and argues that the prose sermons constitute Jeremiah’s counter-proclamations to the public readings of the book of Deuteronomy. Robert P. Carroll maintains that Deuteronomic influence is so pervasive throughout the book that it is impossible to reconstruct an accurate picture of the prophet, his words, or his ideas. According to Carroll, Baruch is the literary creation of the Deuteronomistic writers of Jeremiah, and the figure of Jeremiah as presented in the book should therefore be treated as a work of fiction. William McKane argues that chs. 1-20 contain oracles from Jeremiah, but that the book must be identified as a “rolling corpus,” the product of sustained, piecemeal accretion as later writers added their exegetical and editorial comments to the original Jeremianic “kernels.”

Clearly, scholarly discussion of Jeremiah points to a great deal of difficulty in reconstructing the historical figure and message of the prophet from the present literary forms of the book. Nevertheless, certain features of the prophet and his thinking, such as his priestly identity and his pro-Babylonian political stance, do emerge. Jeremiah is a priest of the Elide line that once served in the sanctuary at Shiloh during the premonarchic period (1 Sam. 1–3), but was later banished to Anathoth when Solomon replaced Abiathar with Zadok as high priest in Jerusalem (1 Kgs. 2:26-27). Jeremiah’s references in the temple sermon (7:1–8:3) to the destruction of Shiloh testifies to this background as do his references to Samuel and Moses as intercessory figures (15:1). Likewise, his visions of an almond rod (1:11-12), a boiling pot (1:13), and the baskets of good and bad figs (24:1-10) all indicate his priestly role; the blossoming almond rod is the symbol of the priesthood (Num. 17:1-11), priestly duties included boiling sacrificial meat in pots (cf. 1 Sam. 2:11-17; Ezek. 24:1-14), and the reception of fruit offerings was part of the tithe due to the Levites (Num. 18:1-32; Deut. 14:22-29; 18:1-5). Although some have argued that the “laments” or “confessions” of Jeremiah (11:18–12:6; 15:10-21; 17:14-18; 18:18-23; 20:7-18) cannot be authentic to the prophet because they employ the stereotypical language of the liturgical laments of the temple, the use of such language by a priest to address his own problems can be expected. Overall, Jeremiah expresses his frustration at both Yahweh and his enemies, including men from Anathoth, for the difficulties he faced in carrying out his prophetic calling and articulating a message that was not likely to win popular support. Jeremiah’s appearance in Jerusalem certainly would not win him allies among his brethren who did not come to Jerusalem after Josiah destroyed outlying sanctuaries (cf. 2 Kgs. 23:8-9). His continued call for submission to Babylon (chs. 27–28), even after the Babylonians had deported Jehoiachin in 597 (ch. 29), reflects the political stance of Josiah, who died at Megiddo in 609 in an attempt to stop the Egyptians from supporting Assyria against Babylon (2 Kgs. 23:28-30; 2 Chr. 35:20-27). Such a call would make him a natural enemy of Jehoiakim, who was placed on the throne by Pharaoh Neco as an Egyptian vassal, and Zedekiah whose revolt against Babylon led to the destruction of Jerusalem. Jeremiah’s close association with the family of Ahikam ben Shaphan (cf. 26:14; 29:3; 36:10-12; 39:14; 40:5), an official in Josiah’s court and the son of Josiah’s secretary who reported the discovery of the book of Torah that served as the basis for Josiah’s reforms, testifies to his association with the Josianic “pro-Babylonian” party in Judah. Finally, his call for observance of Yahweh’s Torah as the basis for the covenant relationship between Yahweh and the people, expressed in the temple sermon as a condensed version of the Ten Commandments (7:9; cf. 11:1-17), indicates his adherence to the religious norms of Deuteronomy.

Jeremiah clearly sees the human world of social and political events as the realm of Yahweh’s activity. Although Jeremiah takes a partisan stance in the Judean political world of his day, he does so out of sense of obligation, both to Yahweh and his people, to see that justice and righteousness prevail. Chs. 2–6 and 30–31 indicate that Jeremiah initially supported Josiah’s bid to return the people of northern Israel to Davidic rule, but he concluded that Josiah’s untimely death signaled Yahweh’s intention to punish Judah for abandoning Yahweh in a manner analogous to that of northern Israel. He calls for just treatment of the underprivileged in Judean society, and severely criticizes Jehoiakim for neglecting the welfare of his people while building a sumptuous palace for himself (ch. 22). He is equally capable of chastising Yahweh for abandoning him to enemies after proclaiming Yahweh’s word, and curses the day of his birth for his inability to resist his prophetic calling (20:7-18). He condemns Hananiah as a false prophet, even when Hananiah’s message of salvation for Jerusalem corresponds to that of Isaiah a century before (ch. 28). He condemns Zedekiah for reneging on the release of slaves when the Babylonians temporarily lifted their siege of Jerusalem (ch. 34). When the Babylonians offered to take Jeremiah back to Babylon for his own protection in the aftermath of Jerusalem’s fall in 587, Jeremiah chose to remain among his people. His redemption of family property in Anathoth during a lull in the Babylonian siege indicates his identification with his people and his confidence in the restoration of the nation following the punishment. The present form of the oracles of restoration in chs. 30-31 looks forward to the restoration and a new covenant between Yahweh and the people.

In sum, the book of Jeremiah presents Jeremiah as a priest and prophet who was heavily involved in the public affairs of his own society at a time of deep national crisis. As such, he represents a model of unswerving commitment to Yahweh, to his own people, and to the principles of righteousness and justice that stood at the foundation of Yahweh’s relationship with the people of Israel and Judah.

Bibliography. J. Bright, Jeremiah. AB 21 (Garden City, 1965); R. P. Carroll, Jeremiah. OTL (Philadelphia, 1986); Jeremiah. Old Testament Guides (Sheffield, 1989); W. L. Holladay, Jr., Jeremiah. 2 vols. Herm (Philadelphia and Minneapolis, 1986-1989); W. McKane, Jeremiah 1. ICC (Edinburgh, 1986); E. W. Nicholson, Preaching to the Exiles (New York, 1971).

Marvin A. Sweeney

Prayer Tents Bible References - Prayer Tents

JEREMIAH, BOOK OF

Eerdmans Dictionary of the Bible (2000)