Background
The second of the Major Prophets, Jeremiah addresses the southern kingdom of Judah during its last decades as an independent nation and then the Hebrew exiles deported by their Babylonian conqueror. 2 Kings 22-25 and 2 Chronicles 34-36 outline the historical circumstances of Jeremiah's prophetic activity. His late-7th- to early-6th-century-B.c. prophetic contemporaries include Habakkuk, Zephaniah, and the exiled Ezekiel.
Background
Jeremiah's call from God launched a prophetic career that lasted four decades and spanned the reigns of Judah's last five kings (627/26-587/86). This priestly descendant lived a century after Isaiah in a time when the crumbling Assyrian Empire lost out to a resurgent Egypt and an increasingly powerful Babylon, whose conquest of both of these major rivals solidified its position as the new ancient Near Eastern superpower. At first, Jeremiah concentrates on calling for repentance by Judah to avoid divine judgment of the kingdom. When national contrition does not follow, the prophet declares the certainty of Judah's punishment, to culminate in exile.
At least two historical phenomena contributed to the widespread rejection of Jeremiah's unpopular message. First, Jerusalem's centuryold deliverance from defeat by the Assyrians, who succeeded in conquering the northern kingdom of Israel, undoubtedly reinforced the Judahites' belief that under no circumstances would God allow the overthrow of the capital, where lay his temple, or the disruption of God's promised perpetual Davidic dynasty seated there (2 Kings 18-19; 2 Sam. 7:16). Second, Jeremiah began prophesying during the reign of the righteous King Josiah, whose religious reforms began at least as early as the 621 discovery in the temple of the "book of the law" (2 Kings 22-23). Officially, Judah was moving in the right direction. But Jeremiah's insights penetrate the outward show of ritual reform and expose the insincerity and hypocrisy of Judah's religious and political leaders (except Josiah), who bear the responsibility for the spiritual shepherding of the people. The book of Jeremiah elaborates the intense physical affliction and emotional distress the prophet suffered by remaining faithful to his call. And like Job, Jeremiah freely complains to God about his plight.
After 22 years, the warnings of this prophet of doom started to materialize. The year 605 saw the beginning of the end for Judah, with conquering Babylon's initial exile of Judahites during the reign of the rebellious king Jehoiakim, followed by his successor Jehoiachin's surrender of Jerusalem in 597 and the deportation of Judah's elites (2 Kgs. 23:36-24:16). Jeremiah does not leave the exiled Hebrews hopeless, however. He proclaims the restorative purposes of their punishment and prophesies the eventual return of the Hebrew remnant to the promised land, where they will live under a new, permanent covenant (29:11).
Literary Form
Jeremiah contains a variety of literary forms in poetry and prose: laments and prophetic oracles of judgment and salvation, biographical vignettes from the life of the prophet, sermons, and a letter. That the book does not present this material in chronological order can make it difficult to follow. Generally, chapters 1-25 concentrate on prophecies against Judah and Jerusalem; chapters 26-45 contain biographical sketches that augment Jeremiah's prophetic message; chapters 46-51 present oracles against the pagan nations; and chapter 52 represents a historical postscript.
Authorship
Chapter 36 indicates that in 605/4 Jeremiah dictated to his personal scribe, Baruch, "all the words of the Lord that he had spoken to him." The resulting scroll covered the first 23 years of Jeremiah's 40-year prophetic career. The account also records King Jehoiakim's burning of the scroll and the subsequent re-creation and enhancement of the manuscript by Jeremiah and Baruch, who may have composed some of the material himself.
Text
The Hebrew (Masoretic) text of Jeremiah, on which translators base English versions, displays a long and complicated editorial history. Comparison of the Masoretic Text and the Septuagint (the Greek translation of the Old Testament) reveals that the Hebrew contains repetitions and additions in detail that the Greek omits. These omissions render the Septuagint's text approximately one-eighth shorter and strongly suggest that its translators worked from a briefer version of Jeremiah. A second significant difference between the Hebrew and Greek texts consists in the Septuagint's placement of the oracles against the nations (our chs. 46-51) immediately after the oracles against Judah and Jerusalem (chs. 1-25), rather than inserting the biographical material between the oracular sections. Chapter 52, which closely parallels 2 Kgs. 24:18-25:30, represents an editorial ending of the book that validates the whole of Jeremiah's message by demonstrating the historical fulfillment of his prophecy against Judah and Jerusalem.
1-25 Jeremiah's Call and Prophecies against Judah/Jerusalem
Jeremiah delivered the prophecies recorded in chapters 2-25 from 627/26-587/86, during the reigns of Judah's kings Josiah, Jehoahaz, Jehoiakim, Jehoiachin, and Zedekiah.
1 The Prophetic Call The opening verses of the book provide unusually detailed information about the prophet's pedigree and tenure. Jeremiah's hometown of Anathoth, set apart in Josh. 21:18 for Israel's priests, lay 3 miles northeast of Jerusalem. Called by God in the late 7th century (loo years after Isaiah), this priestly descendant prophesied during the reigns of Judah's last five kings.
As with other Old Testament prophets, Jeremiah's call and the accompanying visions confirm for his ancient audience the divine origin of his prophetic message. God's anointing Jeremiah as a "prophet to the nations" makes his call irresistible, despite Jeremiah's protest (vv. 6-8; cf. Exod. 3:11-4:17), based on his youth. God's promise to "be with" Jeremiah as he pursued his mission parallels the divine words of assurance given to Moses.
The power of God's spoken word is seen in verses 9-10, where Jeremiah receives the divine commission to overthrow and establish nations by means of his prophecies. Jeremiah's subsequent vision of an "almond tree" (Heb. shaqed) makes a wordplay with God's "watching" (shoged) over his word to ensure its effectiveness.
Jeremiah's appointment accomplished, his assignment emerges in a second vision, one of a south-facing "boiling pot" - a metaphor for the impending divine judgment by military advances from Judah's north, from where such successively dominant kingdoms as Assyria, Babylon, and Persia ruled Canaan. During Jeremiah's career, it was Babylon that boiled over in judgment of Judah for her disobedience to God's covenant with the Hebrew people at Mount Sinai. God tells Jeremiah to get to work, warns him of the opposition he will face because of the unpopular message he must deliver, and promises deliverance from his adversaries (vv. 17-19).
2:1-3:5 Israel: Unfaithful Wife, Promiscuous Harlot Jeremiah's message to Jerusalem remembers a honeymoon version of the Hebrews' relationship with God during their journey from Egypt to the promised land (2:2-3). This exaggerated overstatement serves to emphasize the vast difference between the generally faithful days of yore and the thoroughly unfaithful present. A blessed life in the promised land has not resulted in Israel's appreciation to God for deliverance from Egypt, but instead in callous disregard of their faultless, divine benefactor, whom they have forsaken for the Canaanite storm and fertility god, Baal. The sovereign God declares it appalling that, from peon to prophet to priest, his people have rejected him, the "fountain of living water" (2:13), and embraced powerless foreign deities, when even pagan nations, represented by Kittim (= Cyprus) in the west and Kedar (in Arabia) in the east, remain faithful to their useless gods (= "broken cisterns").
Through this foolishness, the chosen people have brought disaster on themselves. The "lions," probably Assyria, conquered the northern kingdom of Israel a century prior to Jeremiah's time (2:15; cf. Isa 5:29-30; 31:4). The "people of Memphis and Tahpanhes" represent Egypt, whose army killed Judah's king Josiah in 609. Yet instead of relying on God, his people appeal to these very same foreign governments for political security.
The metaphors mount, beginning with Jeremiah's intensified portrayal of the unfaithful wife, Israel, as a religious harlot. "High hill" and "green tree" (2:20) refer to outdoor shrines, where pagan rites rivaled legitimate worship at the temple. Jeremiah's picture of Israel as a formerly "choice;" now degenerate "vine" (2:21) recalls Isaiah's Song of the Vineyard (Isa. 5:1-7), but here the efforts of Jeremiah's audience to wash away the stains of sin prove futile (2:22). The sacrifice of human children in the Hinnom Valley (2:23) epitomized the depths of their undeniable faithlessness. The "trees" and "stones;" worshipped as creator-gods by Israel's religious and civil leaders, refer to carved and sculpted idols (2:26-27; cf. 3:9).
God acknowledges that punishing his people has not brought about their repentance (2:30). Because they persistently refuse to admit wrongdoing in the midst of flagrant unfaithfulness, further judgment awaits them in the form of subjugation and deportation (2:37). Israel, despite her religious promiscuity, unrepentantly holds her head high in blatant denial of her religious adultery (3:2-5).
3:6-4:2 A Bright Future, Contingent on Repentance "Israel" here refers to the northern kingdom, whose fall to the Assyrians (722/21) preceded by over a century the Babylonian conquest of Judah (587/86). God through Jeremiah communicates divine disgust that Israel's affair with paganism became a way of life. Judah followed suit, and her halfhearted return to God (an allusion to Josiah's reforms; 2 Kgs. 23:1-30) constituted false pretense, not true penitence.
As deserving of punishment as Israel's faithlessness was, still it pales in comparison to the treachery of Judah, who failed to learn the lesson of her northern sister's fate. Nevertheless, Jeremiah envisions Israel's eventual repentant return to the Lord in terms of a future reunification of the exiled Hebrew nation, with godly leaders to "shepherd" the people in the way of righteousness (3:15-18). Jerusalem will be the seat of divine rule, although the ark of the covenant, once "the throne of the "Lord," has been lost and forgotten. The end result of Israel's repentance will consist not only in blessings for her but for "the nations" also (3:19; 4:1-23).
4:3-31 Judah's Urgent Need to Repent God offers the people of Judah and Jerusalem a chance to avert his wrath by "circumcising" their hearts, repenting with heartfelt sincerity, not merely outward ritual. To drive home the urgency of Judah's need to change, Jeremiah again warns of approaching destruction at the hands of the Babylonian army - the "lion" from the north (vv. 6-7), the "hot wind" from the wilderness (v 11), the "besiegers from a distant land" (v. 16). Israel's northernmost tribe, Dan, which stands first in the Babylonian army's southward line of march, announces the advance of the oncoming invaders, who quickly proceed to the hill country of Ephraim, home to Jerusalem's defunct sister capital of Samaria (vv. 15-16).
Jeremiah is overwhelmed by the vision of utter disaster and the trumpet call to war (vv. 19-21). The extent of the coming destruction will stop just short of completely unmaking the earth, as the foreign nations, through whose alliances the seductive Judah continues to seek political security, turn on her with deadly intent (vv. 23-29).
5 Divine Restraint Holds Punishment in Check The unsuccessful search in Jerusalem for just one righteous person, whose identification would bring about God's forgiveness and avert the coming judgment, recalls Abraham's bargaining with God to save Sodom from destruction for the sake of io righteous inhabitants (vv. iff.; cf. Gen. 18:22-19:29). Evidently by overemphasizing the covenantal promises, discounting the curses, and underestimating their own responsibility to the covenant, the Hebrews cannot see their punishment coming (vv. 12-13). They ignore the warnings of the true prophets (v. 13), embrace the complacent message of the false prophets (v. 31), and pursue lives of selfish disregard for the socially disenfranchised (vv 27-28). Even the priests have become a law to themselves (v. 31). The people have given up serving their God, so now they will have to relinquish the land with which God associates himself (v. 19). Yet their thorough wickedness contrasts with God's punitive self-restraint. The "devouring" nation he sends to judge his people nevertheless will not destroy them completely (vv. 10, 14-18; cf. the "remnant" theme in Isaiah).
6 The Siege of Jerusalem Foreseen Jeremiah calls on the members of his own tribe, Benjamin, to abandon Jerusalem, south of which trumpet blasts warn of the impending invasion from the north. The prophet satirically pictures the siege of Jerusalem in the peaceful, pastoral imagery of nomadic shepherds pasturing their flocks outside the city walls (v. 3). Yet the very next verse transforms the scene into one of destructive attack, launched unexpectedly in the heat of the day. All Jerusalem will bear the punishment of its morally calloused society (cf. 7:17-18), whose priests and prophets have failed to teach and admonish the people (v. 14) and whose hypocritical offerings of even the choicest imports God categorically rejects (vv. 10-20). The vain refining effort in verses 27-30 underscores the unsuccessful scouring of Jerusalem for a righteous person in 5:1ff.
7:1-8:3 Jeremiah's Sermon at the Temple To dispel the false notion that the presence of the temple in Jerusalem guarantees perpetual,
unconditional divine protection, Jeremiah plants himself at the temple gates and declares the people's need to change their wicked ways (7:6). God may have saved Jerusalem and its inhabitants from the Assyrians in Isaiah's day, but the (presumed Philistine) destruction of Shiloh - original home of the temple's predecessor, the tabernacle - and the Assyrians' deportation of the northern kingdom (represented in 7:15 by its dominant tribe, Ephraim) demonstrate the potential for God to produce a very different outcome for persistently sinful Judah. In fact, her people's blatant, unabashed disobedience to the commandments given at Sinai invites a judgmental purge of the temple, where the Hebrews' hypocrisy reaches its height and transforms God's house into a robbers' den (7:11; cf. Matt. 21:13). In 7:9, Jeremiah accuses the Judahites of transgressing half of the Ten Commandments.
Incensed that the Judahites' worship of the "queen of heaven" (= Ashtoreth, a Canaanite consort of Baal) has become a family activity, God forbids the prophet to intercede for the people (7:16-20). Offerings and sacrifices garner God's favor only as sincere demonstrations of an obedient heart, which inspires righteous behavior outside the temple precincts (7:2126).
God warns Jeremiah that no one will listen to his message, yet he must deliver it (7:27). His admonishment to Judah to "cut off your hair," a sign of mourning imposed by conquerors on subjugated rulers, anticipates the consequences of Judah's rejection by God (7:29). Indeed, his people rejected him first. Detestable idols defile God's temple, and the Judahites sacrifice children as burnt offerings to pagan deities just outside Jerusalem (Topheth means "place of burning"; cf. 19:5ff.). The Hebrews' dishonoring of God will be met with the dishonor of their own unburied corpses, which will lie exposed to the unhindered ravages of wild beasts (7:30-34; cf. Deut. 28:26). The exhumed remains of Judah's religious and civil leaders will suffer similar disgrace (8:1-2). Jeremiah's ominous prophecy concerning Judah's choice of "death" recalls the parting admonition of Moses, which has gone unheeded (8:3; cf. Deut. 30:15-20).
8:4-17 Thorough Wickedness, Certain Judgment God's greedy, deceitful, unrepentant people have bought the lies of professional interpreters of the Law ("scribes"), the bad advice of "wise men," and the comforting words of deceitful prophets and priests, who merely tell the people what they want to hear. The "serpents" of verse 17 symbolize the enemy army that God will use to judge Judah, and God provides no means of "healing" from their bite.
8:18-9:26 Circumcised in Body but Not Heart The speaker in this section alternates ambiguously between Jeremiah, God, and the Hebrew people, but determining who utters what remains a matter of interpretation, as reflected by the different translations. It does seem clear, however, that Jeremiah shares both God's anguish and anger over his people's unfaithfulness. There is no "balm in Gilead" - the Transjordanian region long famous for its healing ointment - that can restore moral health to Judah (8:22). Neither neighbors nor kin can trust each other. Without repentance, Judah calls on herself certain destruction, symbolically brought about by God's feeding her the bitter "wormwood" plant, which represents sorrow, and "poisoned" water. So inevitable is the coming judgment that God commands the summoning of professional mourners to lead the grieving over the devastation of Judah (9:17).
God delights in "loving-kindness, justice, and righteousness." God himself observes these principles and requires human beings to follow suit (9:24). Circumcision was a physical sign of the people's commitment to abide by such divine laws (Genesis 17) and symbolized an inward attitude that resulted in corresponding behavior not only in one's religious conduct but in the whole of one's life. But in the Judah of Jeremiah's day circumcision has taken on the same hypocritical characteristics as offerings and sacrifices (9:25-26; cf. 6:20). Thus Judah has become no different from the surrounding pagan nations.
10 The Folly of Fearing Scarecrow Gods As does Isaiah, Jeremiah exposes the utter stupid ity of worshipping man-made idols. Though elaborately decorated with silver from Spain (Tarshish probably refers to Tartessus) and gold from Uphaz (perhaps Ophir) and clothed in the colors of royalty (violet and purple), these wood-cored creations possess no more power than a scarecrow. In contrast, the unrivaled Creator of the world controls the "signs of the heavens," which terrify the nations (vv. 2, 12-13).
Verse 17 switches to a picture of imminent exile. Jeremiah bemoans this "injury," the pain of which he shares with his Judahite compatriots, whose godless "shepherds" (= leaders) receive the lion's share of the blame (vv 19-21). Jeremiah humbly prays for God's just but merciful correction and also calls for judgment against the enemies of his chosen people, "Jacob."
11:1-17 Invoking the Covenantal Curses Jeremiah's undoubtedly unpopular message drives home that the impending devastation of Judah represents the legitimate, divine invocation of curses contained in the Mosaic covenant established at Mount Sinai and reaffirmed at the outset of Josiah's reforms (2 Kings 23). The curses are about to take effect because of a long history of the chosen people's covenantal transgressions, including their worship of the Canaanite fertility god Baal and other pagan deities. Once again God prohibits Jeremiah from vain intercession for the Judahites, metaphorically represented as an adulterous wife N. 15) and as a beautiful tree about to be burned by the one who planted it (vv. 16-17).
11:18-12:17 Jeremiah Faces Death Threats and Blackmail God responds positively to Jeremiah's call for divine vengeance against those (probably priests and prophets) of his hometown, Anathoth, who have hatched plots to kill him and used blackmail to try to silence him (11:18-23). Understandably disturbed, the prophet presses the issue with God by complaining about the prosperity of the wicked, and he again calls for their destruction (12:1-2). But God responds: If you can't handle this challenge, how will you cope with the treachery of your own family (12:5-6)? In ancient times, densely vegetated banks, roamed by wild animals, flanked the Jordan River. This hazardous habitat, the "thickets of the Jordan" (12:5), symbolizes the perilous threat Jeremiah faces from his deceitful, malicious kin.
God understands betrayal, for his own "house" (Israel) has "roared" against him (12:713). Several other references to the Hebrew people reveal God's attachment to them, though their unfaithfulness has engendered divine "hate." Again, the "shepherd" leaders bear the responsibility for making Israel a moral wasteland (12:10-11).
Clearly judgment against Judah and her enemies is on its way (12:14). In harmony with Isaiah's vision of global reconciliation to God, however, hope for all peoples surfaces in the promise of divine restoration to their lands after punitive exile. But unless the restored peoples demonstrate that they have learned to obey God, they can anticipate repeated punishment.
13 Prophecies in Word and Deed God calls on Jeremiah to deliver his message with actions as well as words (cf. ch. 27; Isaiah 20; Ezekiel 5; Hosea 1). Here he instructs the prophet to purchase and wear a waistband and then bury it near "Perath" (the river Euphrates, or perhaps Parah, a town 4 mi. northeast of Jeremiah's hometown, Anathoth). As divinely directed, Jeremiah later returns to retrieve a rotted, useless piece of cloth. The literary allusion to the Euphrates as the place of the waistband's ruination portends the approaching devastation of Judah by an enemy from the north, or perhaps Judah's imminent exile in Babylon, through which flows the Euphrates.
In verse 12, Jeremiah's statement of the obvious provides a platform for characterizing the process of Judah's judgment as a divinely orchestrated, drunken family brawl. Light and darkness (vv. 15-17) stand for deliverance and judgment. The "king and queen mother" (v. 18) probably refer to Jehoiachin and Nehushta, whose exile to Babylon 2 Kgs. 24:8-16 records. The deportation cleans out even the cities of Judah's remote, barren south (v. 19). Jeremiah likens to the pangs of childbirth Judah's distress over her domination by former allies (v 21). The removal of Judah's "skirts" signifies her humiliation, and the exposure of her "heels" (in the Hebrew) represents her vulnerability (v 22). Finally, God castigates Judah for her religious apostasy, portrayed in sexual terms, undoubtedly implying the Hebrews' participation in Canaanite fertility rites (v 27). The Judahites' religiously adulterous worship of foreign gods renders the nation figuratively "unclean," while their engaging in pagan sexual rituals, such as cultic prostitution, makes them ritually unclean.
14:1-15:9 Judah Past the Point of No Return In ancient Israel, natural abundance signified God's blessing; so when in the Judah of Jeremiah's day severe drought dried up the water sources and life-sustaining vegetation needed by both humans and animals, the people understood the phenomenon as divine punishment. In these dire straits, they finally confess their sinfulness and plead for God's help, but it is too late. God refuses to listen to his people, rejects their offerings, and instructs Jeremiah not to intercede on their behalf (14:11-12; cf. 7:16-20; 11:14-17). The prophet tries in vain to make excuses for his compatriots by blaming their waywardness on false prophets, but God also rejects this argument and disowns those prophets as deluded soothsayers. Judah will reap what she has sown, and her violent reward will culminate in the inability of Jerusalem to bury her dead (14:1-18), a particular dishonor in the ancient Near East.
More confession and pleading follow (14:1922), but God declares that not even the great prophets of old, Moses and Samuel, could change his mind (15:1). Again, the quintessentially unfaithful King Manasseh is blamed for ensuring Judah's eventual journey to exile (15:4; 2 Kings 21). A mother's bearing of seven sons represents complete blessing (cf. Ruth 4:15), so the "swooning away" of such a mother (15:9) epitomizes the absolute reversal of Judah's joy under the curse of God's unrelenting wrath.
15:10-21 Woe Is Me Apparently dejected by God's adamant rejection of Jeremiah's pleas on Judah's behalf and no doubt dreading having to deliver yet another oracle of woe to his compatriots, the prophet indulges in self-pity. He laments his birth and complains that everyone holds him in contempt, though he doesn't deserve it (v. io). God answers that in the coming disaster Jeremiah's present persecutors will find themselves turning to the prophet for help (v. 11). The "your" of verse ll refers to Jeremiah, whereas the "you/your" of verses 13-14 signifies Judah.
In verses 15-18, Jeremiah seeks divine vengeance on his "persecutors," whose hostility and alienation he blames on his pursuit of God's purposes. Recalling God's promise of "deliverance" at Jeremiah's call, noting the constancy of the opposition he faces, and perhaps anticipating intensified antagonism, the prophet expresses uncertainty about God's truthfulness and reliability (v. i8). God responds by restating the pledge he made at Jeremiah's commissioning and prods the prophet back to work (vv. 19-21; cf. 1:18-19).
16 No Family, No Sympathy, No Fun God's prohibition against Jeremiah's marrying and fathering children in Judah held greater significance in the prophet's culture than it does in modern Western society. While perhaps not an outrageous enactment of his prophetic message, Jeremiah's divinely mandated pursuit of the single life surely qualified as highly unusual behavior, since the means of ensuring the perpetual participation of one's family in the covenantal blessings consisted in the production of at least one heir. Indeed, God's withdrawal of "peace" (shalom) from his people signifies a disruption in (but not an irrevocable end to) the covenantal blessings (v. 5).
Jeremiah's ordered absence from both wakes and parties warns that widespread death will become the norm and gloom the prevailing mood in Judah prior to the ultimate punishment of exile (vv 5-13). The prospect of a later "second exodus" that restores the Hebrews to the promised land offers a temporary psychological reprieve before God vows to hunt down his unfaithful people from their remote, secret hiding places (vv. 14-18). Responding with renewed faith, Jeremiah applauds the future global recognition of the one and only God (vv. 19-20).
17 A Melange of Oracles The unifying theme of the distinct units in this chapter consists in the rewards of righteousness versus the penalties for wickedness. The opening oracle of judgment implies a contrast between the permanently sin-tainted tablet of Judah's heart and the stone tablets engraved with the Ten Commandments (vv. 1-4). By Jeremiah's day, forbidden worship before "Asherim" - carved wooden images of the Canaanite goddess of fertility - at outdoor, hilltop shrines called "high places" had become a regular practice throughout Judah (v. 2).
The following wisdom psalm uses metaphors from nature to contrast the person who trusts in fellow human beings and the one who trusts in God (vv. 5-8). Jeremiah has already chastised Judah for courting foreign, political alliances rather than turning to God for help (4:30-31). In verse 6, saltiness makes the land uninhabitable by rendering the water undrinkable.
Verse io emphasizes God's evaluation of human actions according to the attitudes that underlie them (cf. 9:25-26). Following the proverb in verse ll, Jeremiah offers a personal prayer in which he refers to the Lord as the "fountain of living water" (v. 13; cf. John 4:1014) and rises to the divine challenge, given at his prophetic commissioning, not to flinch in the face of opposition (v. 18; cf. 1:17). His persecutors' question, "Where is the word of the Lord?" (v. 15), mocks the youthful Jeremiah, whose prophetic authenticity they doubt in view of his yet unfulfilled prophecies regarding the doom of Judah and Jerusalem.
In ancient Near Eastern cities, gates in the encircling fortification walls not only regulated coming and going but also served as focal points for commerce, judicial proceedings, and other official business. Thus Jerusalem's well-trafficked gates were an appropriate place for Jeremiah's admonition to heed the commandment to keep the Sabbath (vv. 19-27). The Jerusalemites' promised reward was the perpetuation of the Davidic dynasty, continual habitation of the city, and enduring visitation of its temple by worshippers from all regions of Judah.
"I went down to the potter's house" (Jeremiah 18); Moabite bowl, bottles, and pitcher, ca. 8th century B.C. (Richard Cleave, Pictorial Archive)
18 God as Sovereign "Potter" The making and remaking of a vessel by a potter become a metaphor for God's absolute right to plant and uproot kingdoms, including Israel. The "ancient roads" (v. 15) refer to Mosaic law, whereas the "bypaths" signify the road of disloyalty.
Malicious opposition to Jeremiah by socially powerful, back-stabbing priests, sages, and prophets - the objects of much of the prophet's criticism - stirs up his righteous indignation (vv. 18-23). The shockingly violent and unforgiving divine vengeance for which he calls parallels God's own punitive plans.
19:1-20:6 From Topheth to Temple Court Descending to the Hinnom Valley, site of pagan child sacrifice (see 7:31-32), Jeremiah smashes a pottery jar as a sign of the impending, irreparable destruction of rebellious Jerusalem. God's announcement that the Jerusalemites will cannibalize their children and compatriots (v. 9) is not a command, but instead a prediction of one of the most devastating consequences of covenantal transgression.
Jeremiah travels directly from the Topheth to the temple court - venues that should have stood at opposite ends of the religious spectrum. This time the prophet's summary oracle of doom earns him a beating and the humiliation of public display locked in stocks. At his release, the prophet pronounces judgment on his punisher, a priest whom Jeremiah renames "Terror on every side" (cf. 6:25) and whom he accuses of false prophesy.
20:7-18 Mingling Self-Pity and Praise Jeremiah's public boldness masks his private self-pity. He laments his lot as a prophet wounded by the derision of others when he speaks out but is unable to keep quiet. Even Jeremiah's trusted friends conspire revenge on account of his religiously and politically offensive message. Though the plotting and reproach do not cause the prophet to lose sight of his faith in the Lord as his avenging champion or the inner fortitude to sing God's praises, still his hope does not cancel his despair. Under what for Jeremiah is the almost unbearable distress of a life "spent in shame;" he curses the day of his birth (vv. 14-18). But this strongest of Jeremiah's complaints is also the last to appear in the book.
21 Jerusalem under Siege With Jerusalem under siege by Nebuchadnezzar's Babylonian army (587), Judah's last king, Zedekiah, apparently remembers the capital's divine deliverance from the Assyrians over a century earlier (v 2; 2 Kings 19). No doubt hoping for a similar outcome, Zedekiah seeks a reassuring word from Jeremiah, whose message until now has quite obviously not gotten through. The prophet could hardly have responded more harshly. Far from God's delivering Jerusalem from her enemies, he will deliver the city to them (v. 5). The Jerusalemites' only hope for survival lies in voluntarily surrendering themselves into the arms of the Babylonian army - a much-diminished "life" compared to what they could have enjoyed through obedience to their covenant with God (vv. 8-9).
22 Decrying Judah's Last Kings This chapter is a mixed collection of oracles against the three wicked Judahite kings who preceded Zedekiah and against the seat of the monarchy, Jerusalem. The first oracle (vv. 1-9) does not name a particular monarch but concentrates on the ground rules for the perpetuation of the Davidic dynasty (the "house of the king of Judah"): fidelity to the covenant through the pursuit of justice, righteousness, and care for the socially powerless N. 3). The fertile fields of Transjordanian Gilead and dense cedar forests of neighboring Lebanon epitomized the lushness of nature, and their threatened transformation into "wilderness" dramatized the doom of a dynasty bent on disobedience (vv. 6-7).
Verse io introduces an oracle against Jehoahaz, or "Shallum" "The dead" probably refers to Jehoahaz's father, Josiah, whom Pharaoh Neco of Egypt killed in 609 (2 Kgs. 23:29-30). The one "who goes away," never to return, represents Josiah's immediate successor, Jehoahaz, who ruled for only three months before Neco captured him (cf. 2 Kgs. 23:31-33).
Jeremiah presents Josiah as a kingly model of) ustice and righteousness and paints his second successor-son, Jehoiakim, as the exact opposite - a lying, cheating, self-aggrandizing murderer, whose death no one will lament and whose body no one will bother to bury (vv. 13-19). A "donkey's burial" means a carcass left exposed to the elements of nature and ravages of wild animals - the ultimate dishonor N. 19).
Verses 20-23 rail against the capital, Jerusalem. The city's crushed "lovers" refer to fallen foreign nations with whom Judah's kings repeatedly courted forbidden political alliances. Lebanon, Bashan, and Abarim (Moab) neighbor Canaan to the north, northeast, and east, respectively.
Nebuchadnezzar deposed and deported Josiah's grandson Jehoiachin ("Coniah") after he had occupied the Judahite throne for only three months (597; 2 Kgs. 24:8-17). Not a son but a Babylonian-appointed uncle (Zedekiah) succeeded Jehoiachin on the Judahite throne. Following the Persian conquest of the Babylonian Empire, Jehoiachin's grandson Zerubbabel served as governor in postexilic Judah, but an independent monarchy never revived.
23 Denouncing False Prophets Jeremiah's oracle blames Israel's morally errant civil and religious leaders for the "scattering" of the Hebrews in exile. A promise of hope, how ever, communicates God's plans to gather the dispersed "remnant" of his people back to the promised land, where they will flourish under the kingship of a just and righteous Davidic descendant (the "Branch," V. 5; cf. Isa. 11:1). This "second exodus" will replace the Hebrews' deliverance from Egypt as the standardbearing attestation of God's faithfulness to his people.
Verses 9-40 castigate the false prophets of both the northern and southern kingdoms. "Adultery" in this context signifies religious disobedience, which undoubtedly included sexual sins involved in pagan fertility rites. The prophets of Samaria, the northern capital which has already fallen, spoke in the name of Baal, the Canaanite storm and fertility god. Jerusalem's prophets have helped mold a citizenry as offensive to God as Sodom and Gomorrah. God categorically disowns and vehemently opposes these fraudulent visionaries. God's nearness and omnipresence may be a comfort for the righteous, but the wicked - whether prophet, priest, or layperson - will not go unpunished.
24 The Good and Bad "Figs" Verse 1 summarizes 2 Kgs. 24:10-16, which records the surrender of King Jeconiah ("Coniah," more often called "Jehoiachin") and his deportation to Babylon along with the elite of Jerusalem (597). So far, Jeremiah's oracles have emphasized the inevitability of Judah's fall, and the prophet has informed the citizenry of Jerusalem that personal surrender to the besieging Babylonians (an indication of acceptance of God's punitive will) offers the only way to save themselves (21:8-10). Now, Jehoiachin's surrender represents an act of repentance that results in God's favorable plans for the future of the captives who accompanied the king into exile (the good "figs"). Jehoiachin's Babylonian-appointed successor, Zedekiah, and the remaining citizenry of Jerusalem, however, represent the unrepentant (the bad "figs") - the continuing object of God's righteous wrath. (In verse 8, the "remnant" designates those who remain in Jerusalem, whereas the term is normally reserved for the exiles.)
25 The Babylonians on the Move Reverting to the days of Jehoiakim, this account correlates the activities of Jeremiah with the rise of Nebuchadnezzar. After defeating the Egyptians in 605 at Carchemish, the Babylonian king led his forces southwest through Syria to Judah's doorstep. After 23 years of warning the southern kingdom about the coming judgment, Jeremiah finally sees it taking shape. He pronounces a 70-year sentence of servanthood to Babylon as punishment for the Judahites' failure to heed the prophets of God (v. ii).
A sweeping judgment of the pagan nations will accompany the punishment of Judah. (Expanded oracles against these nations appear in chs. 46-51.) Four of the five cities in the Philistine pentapolis (omitting Gath) are targets of God's wrath (v 20). After dealing with Judah, God will punish the very instrument of his judgment - pagan Babylon ("Sheshach," V. 26), which Cyrus the Persian conquered in 539.
26-45 Vignettes from the Life of Jeremiah
The biographical sketches in these chapters skip chronologically forward and backward with frequency. Historical notations aid in navigating the changes in date.
26 Jeremiah's Death Sentence Overruled This prose account records the events attending Jeremiah's sermon at the temple in the beginning of Jehoiakim's reign (609; 7:1-15). Verses 2-6 summarize the sermon, which urges religious reform to avert the divine devastation of Jerusalem and the temple. On the fate of Shiloh, see chapter 7. God's potential "repenting" of the punishment he is planning against Judah N. 3) demonstrates the biblical meaning of repentance as a deliberate about-face. The possibility that God may repent does not suggest his need for forgiveness from evil intentions toward Judah; rather, it demonstrates God's willingness to forgo justified judgment if Judah meets the moral demands of the covenant.
Jeremiah's message so angers the self-serving priestly and prophetic religious establishment that they arrest and try him. Their prescription of the death sentence follows the punishment required by Mosaic law for false prophecy (Deut. 18:20). But Judah's officials and general populace voice a different verdict, which rec ognizes Jeremiah as a true prophet of God. In protesting the prophet's execution, they cite Judah's earlier response to the prophet Micah - a response that thwarted the destruction of Jerusalem by the Assyrians (v. i8, quoting Mic. 3:12; cf. 2 Kings 19). Jeremiah evades death with the aid of Ahikam (v 24), who had earlier helped the reformer, King Josiah (2 Kgs. 22:12ff.).
A prophetic colleague, who corroborated Jeremiah's message of doom against Judah, lacked such influential connections, however. Fearing for his life, Uriah (not the Hittite husband of Bathsheba) fled to Egypt. Determined to silence the prophet permanently, King Jehoiakim sent henchmen to retrieve him for his execution.
27-28 Jeremiah Encourages Submission to Babylon Jumping forward to the early years of Zedekiah's reign (594/93; see 28:1), God calls on Jeremiah to dramatize a message urging continued submission to Babylon by Judah and her Transjordanian and Phoenician neighbors, who were apparently plotting rebellion. Nebuchadnezzar has recently forced the surrender of Jehoiachin (= Jeconiah, 27:20), whom he deported to Babylon along with many of the temple valuables, and appointed Zedekiah as a puppet-king in Jerusalem. Shackled as a slave to represent Judah, Jeremiah drives home to the new monarch that the kingdom's temporary submission to Babylon is part of God's plan - a plan being carried out by his "servant" Nebuchadnezzar. Acceptance of Babylonian rule will avert the disasters of war, the destruction of Jerusalem, and subsequent exile for the remaining Judahites. Jeremiah urges Zedekiah to reject the advice of false prophets and sorcerers, who encourage defying the Mesopotamian overlord.
One of these prophets, Hananiah, takes on Jeremiah's challenge directly by predicting that Nebuchadnezzar will fall within two years. Since the events prophesied by both lie in the future, at present neither can prove the other wrong, but Hananiah seizes the public opportunity to assert his prophetic superiority in a dramatic, symbolic act: he breaks the wooden yoke with which Jeremiah has shackled himself. But God then privately instructs Jeremiah to confront Hananiah with his fraudulently optimistic message. By misleading the people, the false prophet has made Judah's situation worse, and he will pay for the disservice with his life before the year's end. That this foretelling comes true confirms that Jeremiah is a true prophet of God - a proof not lost on the people of Judah.
29 Instructing the Exiles On the home front in Judah, Jeremiah urges submission to Babylon and by courier counsels the Judahites deported there after the surrender of Jehoiachin (597; 2 Kgs. 24:10-17). The prophet instructs the exiles to pursue a normal life in Mesopotamia, because doing so will demonstrate their contrite acceptance of God's punishment for their unfaithfulness. "Seventy years" as the length of the punitive period (v 10; cf. 25:12) may simply mean "a very long time." Jeremiah also encourages the exiles with divine promises of eventual restoration to Judah and, rejecting the advice of the false prophets, warns against resistance by outlining the awful judgment in store for their defiant compatriots back home. When such a prophet, Shemaiah, discredits Jeremiah in a letter to the priests in Jerusalem, God pronounces a most severe punishment on him: the obliteration of his entire family line.
30-31 The Triumph of Divine Redemption The strikingly hopeful tone of chapters 30-33 represents a departure from Jeremiah's otherwise overwhelmingly gloomy message, and this section is often called the "Book of Consolation." Jeremiah's portrayal of the glorious future in store for both Israel and Judah far surpasses the optimistic picture generated in the immediately preceding chapters by his prophetic adversaries, Hananiah and Shemaiah, but the theology undergirding Jeremiah's vision contrasts with theirs by emphasizing punishment as a sure and necessary step to restoration (e.g., 30:11, 12-15). Jeremiah likens this punishment (exile and enslavement) to the pain of childbirth, relief from which will come in the form of release from foreign oppression and of return to the promised land, where the Hebrews will serve God under a Davidic ruler and live in peace and security. God's earnest concern for the welfare of Israel (= "Ephraim," the most prominent northern tribe, in whose territory the capital of Samaria lay) emerges in two metaphors. The first pic tures their relationship as father and firstborn heir (31:9) and the second as shepherd and flock (v. lo). Jeremiah links Jacob's wife Rachel with Ramah (5 mi. north of Jerusalem) because she died there. He pictures Rachel, a matriarch of the Hebrew nation, as mourning the loss of her children (her descendants) to exile (31:15). Jeremiah's visionary dream culminates in a call for the exiles to return to Canaan (31:21, 26).
The mostly prose remainder of chapter 31 outlines the new covenant under which the restored Hebrews will live. The current generation is complaining about bearing the punishment for their ancestors' sins (v 29; cf. 32:18), but under the new covenant each individual will pay for his or her own transgressions N. 30). The essence of this covenant's "newness" will consist in its divine inscription on people's hearts, so that obedience will flow naturally from within (31:33). God establishes this new covenant as everlasting by citing impossible conditions for ending it (31:36-37). The rebuilding of Jerusalem and the redemption of the adjacent Hinnom Valley - representing the worst of pagan worship as the site of human sacrifice - crowns Jeremiah's prophecy concerning the regeneration of the Hebrew nation. The New Testament, which means "new covenant," extends this vision of restoration beyond the historical and political context of Jeremiah's day by viewing the ultimate fulfillment of his prophecy as the redemptive work and final goal of Jesus Christ on behalf of all humanity.
32 The Certain Resumption of Normal Life The year 588 found Jerusalem besieged by the Babylonians for King Zedekiah's rebellion against Nebuchadnezzar and Jeremiah incarcerated for prophesying the fall of the capital, the exile of Zedekiah, and the futility of resisting the Chaldean (= Babylonian) combatants. Undoubtedly, the prisoner-prophet did not find making a real estate investment in his already captured hometown of Anathoth a priority until God instructed Jeremiah's cousin Hanamel to sell him the family field. Jeremiah's exercise of his "right of redemption" in purchasing the cousin's land guaranteed that it would remain "in the family," although now the Babylonians surely considered the property theirs (vv. 7-8). Ignoring this technicality, the kinsmen conduct the transaction and observe the proper legal procedures with the aid of Jeremiah's secretary, Baruch. The prophet announces that his dutiful purchase of the land symbolizes the Hebrews' eventual return to normal life in Canaan (v. 15). But Jeremiah then confesses God's might, summarizes his faithfulness to Israel and their ungrateful rebellion, and notes Jerusalem's deserved, imminent fall to the Babylonians, all leading to the lingering question on Jeremiah's mind: Did the purchase really have a point (vv. 16-25)? After all, Judah is as good as fallen.
God answers by confirming not only the certain fall of Jerusalem but also its destruction. He rehearses the long history of idolatry and unfaithfulness by the whole of Hebrew society, from the leadership on down, including their abominable pagan practices in the Hinnom Valley N. 35). But God's unqualified resolve to return his people home and "restore their fortunes" after punishing them with exile justifies the soundness of Jeremiah's purchase. The people's future unwavering "fear" (= reverence) of God under a new and everlasting covenant will secure for them a life of resumed normalcy, symbolized by the buying and selling of land.
33 A Revival of Covenants Jeremiah remains in prison. The divine revelations he continues to receive there follow two biblical themes of redemption that began emerging immediately after the fall: the gracious initiative of God in salvaging sin-scarred humanity (vv. 6-9) and the divine goal of "recreating" a morally pristine world (vv 7, ii).
In foretelling the appearance of the "Branch of David" (v. 15), Jeremiah envisions the reestablishment in Jerusalem of a perpetual Davidic dynasty (cf. 2 Sam. 7:12-16; 1 Kgs. 6:12). Jeremiah's oracle places politics and religion on equal terms by also recalling the divine pledge to Aaron's grandson Phinehas of an enduring Levitical priesthood (v. 18; cf. Num. 25:12-13). The impossibility of disrupting the regularities of nature exemplifies the unbreakable character of these revived covenants (vv 20-21, 25-26). Verse 22 applies to David and the Levites the promise of innumerable progeny first made to Abraham (Gen. 15:5; 22:17). The two chosen but
rejected "families" of verse 24 most naturally refer to the descendants of David and Levi - the nation's political and religious leaders. Other possibilities include the northern and southern kingdoms of Israel and Judah, and the descendants of Jacob (the entire Hebrew nation) and David (cf. V. 26).
The Davidic monarchy never did revive as a political entity. According to the New Testament, however, Jeremiah's prophecies reach their fulfillment in Jesus, who embodies the ultimate and everlasting kingly "Branch of David" (Matt. 1:1-17) and trumps the Levites in his role as a priest according to the superior order of Melchizedek (Hebrews 7).
34 The Sabbatical Year Briefly Resurrected Zedekiah issues a hasty response to Jeremiah's prophecies concerning the success of the Babylonian siege and his own death in exile. The king, possibly to appease God and fend off his own downfall, reinstates the practice of releasing Hebrew unfortunates reduced to servanthood. But the desperate measure fails (perhaps because of the temporary withdrawal of the Babylonian army and the absence of an immediate threat) when masters soon re-enslave their fellow citizens. The Jerusalemites' mockery of God's law earns them the fate of a calf halved in a covenantal ritual to warn of the consequences of breaking the agreement (v. 18; cf. Gen. 15:9ii). Zedekiah will die in war, not peace (v 21; contrast W. 4-5). To see that he does, God will bring the Babylonian army back after it battles the advancing Egyptians (ch. 37).
35 Rechabite Faithfulness Puts Unfaithful Judah to Shame A flashback to the latter part of Jehoiakim's reign (609-597) finds the Rechabite clanspeople at the center of Jeremiah's prophetic attention. These members of an austere Yahwistic sect descended from Jonadab (Jehonadab), whom Jehu enlisted as a witness to his bloody purge of Baal-worshippers in Samaria some two centuries earlier (2 Kgs. 10:15-23). Now the avowed nomads have taken up temporary residence in Jerusalem for protection against the invading Babylonian army. Jeremiah escorts them to the temple, where he attempts to test their faithfulness to their vows. The Rechabites' obedience to a 20o-year-old ancestral command to abstain from strong drink puts the Judahites to shame for their constant dismissal of God's laws and disregard of repeated prophetic calls to repentance. The faithfulness of the Rechabites earns God's promise that their family line will endure.
36 Jehoiakim Burns Jeremiah's Manuscript This episode of Jeremiah's life occurs in 605/4, in the first half of Jehoiakim's reign. With Jeremiah banned from entering the temple precincts (perhaps to appease his would-be executioners; cf. ch. 26) and his access to both religious and political leaders and large crowds of commoners severely limited, the prophet turns from orator to author. A year after beginning to dictate two decades' worth of oracles to his personal scribe, Baruch, Jeremiah orders the faithful secretary to read the manuscript at the temple, where an unusually large crowd is observing a fast. Having learned of the prophetic recitation, important officials summon Baruch for a second reading. After establishing the authority of the oracles as the words of Jeremiah, the fearfilled officials believe it urgent to alert Jehoiakim to Judah's dire situation. For a third time that day the scroll is read aloud, this time to the king in his winter home. Much to the alarm of the fretful temple officials, however, Jehoiakim reacts irreverently by shredding and burning up the scroll. This contrasts sharply with his father Josiah's contrite response to the long-lost "book of the law" (2 Kgs. 22:8-13).
Jehoiakim's defiance hurts only himself, for Jeremiah and Baruch rewrite the scroll, with additions that include a condemnation of the king. His successor-son, Jehoiachin, surrendered to Babylon after only three months on Judah's throne (2 Kgs. 24:8-17).
37-38 Jeremiah Imprisoned This vignette takes place in 588/87, toward the end of Zedekiah's reign. With the siege of Jerusalem temporarily lifted while the Babylonians concentrate on repelling Judah's military backup from Egypt, Zedekiah solicits Jeremiah's intercession for Judah, apparently in hopeful anticipation that the Babylonian withdrawal will remain permanent. But Jeremiah replies that they will return to de
liver the deathblow to Jerusalem. Thus Jeremiah remains true to the divine prohibition against his praying on behalf of Judah (7:16; 11:14).
With the Babylonian army withdrawn, the prophet takes advantage of the opportunity to travel to and from Jerusalem. He sets out on a business trip, perhaps related to the later visit of his cousin recorded in chapter 32. But guards at Jerusalem's Benjamin Gate interpret Jeremiah's movements as an attempt to defect to the Babylonians - after all, the prophet had been openly urging surrender to them. Despite Jeremiah's protestations of innocence, the guards arrest, beat, and throw him into a makeshift jail, from which King Zedekiah frees him in hopes of coercing a positive word from God. For a second time, Jeremiah refuses to tell the king what he wants to hear.
Zedekiah, surely angered by the pessimistic prophet but still eager for his blessing, reimprisons Jeremiah in the court guardhouse. But the prophet continues to encourage surrender, and officials upset about the demoralizing effect on Jerusalems defense forces call for his execution. They carefully lower Jeremiah into an empty, mud-bottomed cistern, where he will starve to death on his own, perhaps in their minds relieving them of the guilt of murdering God's prophet. A eunuch named Ebed-melech (literally, "servant of the king") pleads the prophet's case and with the king's approval rescues him from the cistern.
Again Zedekiah secretly requests a word from God, but the message of the reimprisoned prophet has not changed. Jeremiah pleads with the king to spare himself and his kingdom a worse fate than surrender will bring. The prophesied takeover of the king's harem signified particular humiliation (cf. 2 Samuel 16). To save his own neck, Jeremiah lies to the officials about his conversation with the king. He remains in prison until the conquest of Jerusalem.
39:1-40:6 Jerusalem Conquered An anticlimactic account of the long-anticipated but briefly summarized conquest and destruction of Jerusalem appears in 39:1-10 (cf. 52:4-16; 2 Kgs. 25:1-12). Here the record gives Babylonian names and titles of several of the conquering officials (vv. 3, 9, 13). Probably advised of Jeremiah's campaign for surrender (by Judahite defectors?), Nebuchadnezzar orders special treatment for the prophet. Freed and given the choice between a protected, probably privileged life in Babylon and a home among the nonexiled poorest of Judah's poor, Jeremiah elects to remain in his homeland, where he lives with the newly appointed Hebrew governor of Judah, Gedaliah - another member of the religiously upstanding (and evidently pro-Babylonian) family of Shaphan (40:4-6; cf. 36:9-26; 2 Kgs. 22:8-13). A preconquest oracle in 39:15-18 promises survival to the Ethiopian eunuch who rescued Jeremiah from certain starvation in a cistern (38:7-13).
Attempting to claim his share of property in Benjamin, Jeremiah is accused of deserting and is imprisoned in an unused cistern (Jeremiah 37-38); cistern at BethShemesh dating from the time of the united monarchy. (www. Ho l yL an d Ph o to s. o rg)
40:7-41:18 Governor Gedaliah Murdered The seat of government in Judah moves several miles north of Jerusalem to Mizpah, site of a significant Israelite victory over the Philistines in the prophet Samuel's day (1 Sam. 7:3-17). Gedaliah urges submission to Babylon by the remaining Judahite military forces and encourages the pursuit of a prosperous postwar life. Returned Hebrew refugees from the Transjordanian regions of Ammon, Moab, and Edom contribute to a brief period of economic resurgence in Judah.
But one group also brings trouble. Gedaliah refuses to believe a warning about an imminent attempt on his life by an Ammonite prince. The surprise slaying, which also kills Babylonian soldiers, occurs while the two men and their associates share a meal - an event that in the ancient Near East normally symbolized the sealing of a friendship. To cover up his crime, the Ammonite assassin assumes Gedaliah's identity in welcoming to Mizpah 8o unsuspecting Israelite pilgrims. (Note that they mix pagan rituals - the shaving of beards and gashing of bodies - with prescribed Yahwistic practices - the offering of grain to God.) The attempted takeover continues with the slaughter of all but io of the pilgrims. A 400-year-old cistern dug by Judah's King Asa becomes a holding tank for the corpses, but loyalists of the late Gedaliah discover the treachery, rally their forces, and reclaim control at the pool of Gibeon, site of a bloody contest at the outset of David's reign (2 Sam. 2:12-17). The outnumbered Ammonites retreat, while the victimized Mizpahites set off toward Egypt for fear that the Babylonians will interpret the skirmish as Judahite rebellion and launch punitive reprisals.
42:1-43:7 An III-Advised Escape to Egypt While still in Judah, the fleeing Hebrew remnant asks Jeremiah to seek God's counsel concerning their departure for Egypt. The conquest and destruction of Judah has apparently freed the prophet to pray on behalf of the people (contrast 7:16; 11:14; 14:11). But their leaders, suspecting a conspiracy by Jeremiah and his scribe Baruch to betray them to Babylon, reject the prophet's warning to remain in Judah, where he claims they will prosper and enjoy divine protection from Babylonian retaliation. The roots of the leaders' skepticism probably lay in the preconquest, pro-Babylonian image the prophet projected by urging surrender to Nebuchadnezzar (ch. 36). The Judahite remnant proceeds to Egypt, despite the prophetic warning of Nebuchadnezzar's pursuit and destruction of them there. The people's preference of trusting foreign nations for protection still offends God (cf. 4:30-31; 22:20-23). No doubt reluctantly and perhaps forcibly, Jeremiah and Baruch go south with the group to the Egyptian city of Tahpanhes, in the eastern Nile Delta on the route to Canaan.
43:8-44:30 Apostasy in Egypt In Egypt, Jeremiah enacts his last recorded prophetic parable, which symbolically forewarns the extension of Babylonian rule there (43:8-13). Among the casualties of conquest, Jeremiah mentions four-sided stone pillars called "obelisks;" which recorded royal and religious inscriptions and which likely originated in Heliopolis, the Egyptian center of sun worship (v. 13; cf. Isa. 19:18).
Jeremiah follows with a reminder to the Hebrews, now settled in different parts of Egypt, about their ancestors' disobedience and the resulting divine judgment. He is perplexed by the current generation's thick-headedness in ignoring the lessons of the past and denounces their present worship of foreign gods. The "queen of heaven" refers to the Canaanite goddess Ashtoreth, a consort of Baal (44:17-19). The people's idolatry only seals their doom, which Jeremiah predicted before their flight to Egypt (44:11-14; cf. 42:13-17). Only a negligible number of refugees will survive God's purge and return to Judah.
But the ever-defiant Hebrews categorically reject Jeremiah's correction. Failing to grasp the covenantal consequences of idolatry, they claim that when they abandoned the worship of Ashtoreth in the past (e.g., 2 Kgs. 23:1-30), they gained nothing but grief and disaster. Unable to penetrate their faulty reasoning, Jeremiah gives up.
In 588, Egypt's fledgling pharaoh Hophra tried to help Judah fend off the Babylonians. The attempt, though thwarted, spurred the temporary lifting of the siege of Jerusalem (37:5). Deposed nearly 20 years later (569), Hophra soon joined forces with Nebuchadnezzar in attacking Egypt, where enemies of the former monarch captured and executed him (44:30; on Zedekiah's compared fate, see 2 Kgs. 25:1-7). Though Hophra perished, Nebuchadnezzar emerged victorious. According to the Jewish historian Josephus, the Babylonian deportation of captives from Egypt included Hebrews (cf. 43:11). Tradition maintains that Jeremiah remained in Egypt, where he was eventually stoned to death.
45 Assuring Baruch Recalling Baruch's intense scribal duties prior to the Babylonian conquest of Judah (ch. 36), this brief oracle scolds the secretary for his self-pity and selfish ambition and steels him for his shared task with Jeremiah. In an encouraging word, Baruch receives the divine promise that he will survive God's wrath in the imminent Babylonian onslaught.
46-51 Oracles against the Nations
The latter part of chapter 25 introduced in general God's coming punishment of the idolatrous non-Hebrew nations. In this last major section of Jeremiah, the oracles of judgment target every geographical region bordering Canaan, and then some.
46 Egypt Cf. Isaiah 19-20; Ezekiel 29-32.
Two oracles address separate victories over Egypt by Babylon - the initial instrument of God's judgment and its ultimate target (see chs. 50-51). The first oracle (vv. 3-12) speaks to the defeat of Pharaoh Neco at Carchemish (in northern Syria) in 605. Four years earlier, on the northward march through Canaan to assist the weakening Assyrians, Neco killed Judah's king Josiah, who tried to thwart the pharaoh's efforts at an alliance against Babylonian expansion (2 Kgs. 23:29-30). Verse 9 specifies the participation of mercenaries from various parts of the Egyptian Empire: Ethiopia (= Sudan), Put (= Libya), and Lud (possibly Lydia in westcentral Turkey). The Transjordanian region of Gilead (v. 11) produced a healing ointment, or "balm," long famous in the ancient world.
The second oracle (vv. 14-26) expands the preview in 44:30 of Egypt's defeat during the days of Pharaoh Hophra, who hosted the fleeing Judahite remnant after the murder of Gedaliah (41:1-43:7). This Babylonian conquest of Egypt on her own soil occurred in 568 and resulted in the deportation of Hebrew refugees, who had established settlements in the Egyptian cities of Migdol, Memphis, and Tahpanhes (v. 14; cf. 44:1). In verse 18, the geographical prominence in Galilee of the isolated Mount Tabor, which rises steeply from the floor of the Jezreel Valley, and the Carmel range, which dominates the surrounding landscape southeast of modern Haifa, symbolizes the unopposable might of Babylon. Verse 21 pictures the doomed Egyptian mercenaries as "fattened calves;" prepared for slaughter. The "daughter of Egypt" (v. 24) refers to Memphis (v. 19), then capital of the kingdom.
The oracle ends by casting in a hopeful light for the Hebrew remnant the divine judgment of Egypt, on whom the Israelites had disobediently and futilely relied for political security. When God restores the sufficiently punished people of Jacob (= Israel) to the promised land, no troubling Egyptian enemies will remain (vv. 27-28).
47 Philistia Cf. Isa. 14:28-32; Ezek. 25:15-17; Amos 1:6-8; Zeph. 2:4-7; Zech. 9:5-7.
Beginning in the 13th century, groups of Philistines migrated from Mycenae to Canaan's southern coastal plain, some by way of the island of Crete (= "Caphtor," V. 4). These indigenous Aegeans established five principal cities in Canaan: Ashdod, Ashkelon, Ekron, Gath, and Gaza. During the rise of David in the late uth century, Philistine strength was waning, and the young David began subduing these adversaries of Israel well before becoming king. In the late 7th century, Egypt dominated the Philistine territory in southern Canaan; Pharaoh Neco already controlled Gaza when in 609 he set out for Carchemish (v. 1; 46:3-12).
Jeremiah's portrayal of the subsequent northern conquerors of Philistia (i.e., the Babylonians) as torrential floodwaters proves appropriate for these seafaring inhabitants of the coast, where the mostly flat terrain favored chariot warfare (vv 2-3). The port cities of Tyre and Sidon, well north of Philistia on the Phoenician coast in Lebanon, forged economic alliances with their Philistine mariner-comrades (v. 4), but after Nebuchadnezzar's victory at Carchemish (605), Babylonian conquests southward along the eastern Mediterranean coast severely hampered the trade initiatives of these business partners.
48 Moab Cf. Isaiah 15-16; Ezek. 25:8-11; Amos 2:1-3; Zeph. 2:8-11.
A historic enemy of Judah, Moab encompassed the fertile plateau east of the Dead Sea and bordered Ammon to the north and Edom to the south. The tribe of Reuben received as its landed inheritance territory in the north of Moab (Numbers 32).
For its arrogance toward God, especially manifested in idolatry and the scorning of God's chosen people, Moab can expect the destruction of its cities, the devastation of its agricultural productivity, and the exile of its inhabitants. The combined disasters will humiliate the prideful people and produce nationwide mourning (cf. V. 37). Because worship at the illegitimate Israelite sanctuary at Bethel - rival of the Jerusalem temple - failed to save the northern kingdom from devastation by the Assyrians, Jeremiah compares Israel's shame of Bethel to the future Moabite shame of their chief god Chemosh, who will prove impotent to protect his worshippers (v. 13). The cutting off of Moab's "horn" (v. 25) symbolizes the sapping of the nation's strength. In the early 6th century, Moab participated in Judah's rebellion against Babylon, and Nebuchadnezzar's army defeated the Transjordanian troublemakers four years after its 587/86 destruction of Jerusalem (27:3). But the oracle ends on a hopeful note for Moab, whose fortunes God vows eventually to restore (v. 47).
The place names mentioned in this oracle cover Moabite territory from north to south. "Nebo" refers to the city, not the mountain from which Moses viewed the promised land (v. 1). During the Hebrews' postexodus journey toward Canaan, they defeated the Amorite army of King Sihon at Heshbon (v. 2; Deut. 2:26-37; cf. Num. 21:27-30). The east-west gorge cut by the Arnon River formed a natural geographical boundary in Moab; during the kingdom's periods of political and military weakness, the river marked Moab's northern border (v 20). Kir-heres (modern Kerak in Jordan) probably served as the original capital of Moab N. 31). Sibmah enjoyed ancient fame for the excellence of its wine N. 32).
49:1-6 Ammon Cf. Ezek. 25:1-7.
Ammon, where the tribe of Gad settled, receives both a sentence and a promise similar to those of bordering Moab (ch. 48). The cities of Heshbon and Rabbah, located in territory alternately ruled by the Ammonites and Moabites, sat opposite Ai, with the Jordan River lying roughly halfway between. Here the fall of Ai portends an imminent invasion into Transjordan from over the river N. 3). In the early loth century, King David made a desperate attempt to cover up his adultery with Bathsheba by sending the doomed Uriah to the front lines of battle during Israel's siege of Rabbah (2 Samuel 11) - the ancient capital of Ammon and modern Amman, Jordan. "Milcom" names the Ammonite national god (vv. 1, 3). Solomon transgressed the covenant with Yahweh by worshipping the gods of Ammon and Moab (1 Kgs. 11:5, 7).
49:7-22 Edom Cf. Isa. 21:11-12; Obadiah; see also Isaiah 34.
The picture of devastation and desolation continues with Jeremiah's oracle against Moab's southern neighbor Edom, homeland to the descendants of Esau (Gen. 36:8). Teman, the name of a grandson of Esau, is used as a poetic equivalent for Edom and probably signifies a region in the south of the kingdom (vv 7, 20). Dedan, an oasis inhabited by traveling merchants, lay in northwest Arabia (v. 8). Bozrah served as Edom's capital city (v 22). Jeremiah invokes the memory of the divine destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah (possibly located in Edomite territory on the southeastern shores of the Dead Sea) to convey the totality of the coming devastation (v. 18). The picture of God as a lion attacking the "flocl"' of ineffectively shepherded Edomites (vv 19-20) contrasts sharply with his image as the protective "good shepherd." Jeremiah projects that the outcry of the stricken Edomites will reverberate all the way to the Red Sea, some 200 miles southwest of Edom (v 21).
49:23-27 Damascus Cf. Isa. 17:1-3; Amos 1:3-5; Zech. 9:1.
The smaller states of Hamath and Arpad lay well north of Damascus, but their defeat portended doom for Syria and its crowning city at the hands of southerly marching conquerors (v. 23). The Assyrians subdued this region more than a century before Jeremiah's day, and Syria continued to suffer under Babylonian domination. Several Syrian kings bore the throne name Ben-hadad (v. 27).
49:28-33 Kedar and the Kingdoms of Hazor Nomadic descendants of Ishmael's son Kedar occupied the Syro-Arabian desert region between Canaan and Babylon (note Jeremiah's references to their tents and unfortified settlements; vv 29, 31). Leviticus 19:27 prohibits the trimming of beards, and the Kedarites' doing so marks them as covenantal outsiders (v. 32). The "kingdoms of Hazor" probably refers to seasonal settlements east of the impressively fortified stronghold in northern Galilee. Nebuchadnezzar conquered these independent desert peoples in 599/98.
49:34-39 Elam The introduction to this oracle dates it to 597, when Nebuchadnezzar exiled Jehoiachin and appointed Zedekiah as puppet king of Judah N. 34; 2 Kings 24:17). Jeremiah gives no reason for God's judgment against Elam, a powerful kingdom bordering Babylon east of the Tigris River, but Nebuchadnezzar's takeover of this region to his rear undoubtedly strengthened his forward political and military capabilities in faraway Canaan. Thus the overthrow of Elam aided Babylon as the instrument of God's judgment against Judah. Jeremiah's oracle ends with a divine promise to restore the fortunes of Elam N. 39). The Persian Empire, which in 539 succeeded Babylon as the reigning Mesopotamian superpower, established its winter capital at the Elamite city of Susa (Neh. 1:1; Esth. 1:2; Dan. 8:2).
50-51 Babylon Cf. Isaiah 13; 46-47.
In elaborating the doom of Babylon, these chapters provide great hope for the exiles by spelling out God's strategy for fulfilling the restorative promises of chapters 30-33. The concluding oracles also put the captives in Babylon on advance notice to abandon it while they can, once God sets in motion his plan for the destruction and desolation of their temporary habitation in Mesopotamia (51:6). In 539, the conquering Medo-Persian army of Cyrus earned Jeremiah's designation as destroyer from the north, which until now he had assigned to the newcomer's principal victim, Babylon. Much of the material in these chapters portrays the demise of the Babylonian Empire as accomplished fact - fulfillment of the prophetically symbolic act of Seraiah (brother of Baruch, Jeremiah's secretary) by his going to Babylon in ca. 594, between the first (597) and second (586) deportations of Judahites (51:59-64; 2 Kgs. 24:10-25:12).
Jeremiah expresses the defeat of the empire in terms of the proven impotence of its supposedly protective principal deities, the high god Marduk ("Merodach") and Bel ("lord"), a title that originally signified a separate god but eventually became identified with Marduk (50:2). Citing Babylon's arrogant irreverence for God and his chosen people as the root cause of its judgment, the prophet scorns the delight taken by the Babylonians in their punitive role against Judah and their presumption in pillaging the land God designated as the inheritance of the Hebrews (50:11). The example of Assyria, whom Babylonia defeated, should give fair warning (50:17-18).
Jeremiah envisions the exiles' return to Canaan (5o:4ff.), which he repeatedly expresses as a command (50:8; 51:45-51). The northern kingdom, earlier conquered and exiled by Assyria, will also enjoy anew the abundance of its landed inheritance on both sides of the Jordan (Carmel and Ephraim in Canaan proper; Bashan and Gilead in Transjordan; 50:19). On the "everlasting covenant" (50:5, 20) that will govern the life of the reunited, pardoned remnant of Israel and Judah, see 31:31-34.
Jeremiah's prophetic command ordering the annihilation of the land and the inhabitants of "Merathaim" and "Pekod" (50:21), regions in southern Babylonia, plays on the meanings of these names: "Double Rebellion" and "Punishment;" respectively. The oracle gives the Babylonians' 587/86 destruction of the Jerusalem temple as justification for the vengeful "utter destruction" of the entire "land of the Chaldeans;' here represented by these regions (50:28).
The reference to the Babylonian fighting force "becoming women" (50:37) reflects the attitude of a patriarchal society. The terrible onslaught by the conquerors of Babylon will render even its king incapacitated (50:43).
"Leb-qamai" (51:1) is a code name for Chaldea ("Kasdim") that means "the heart of those who rise up against Me [the Lord]." The divine judgment of Babylon gives evidence that God has not forsaken his chosen, though guiltridden, people (51:5). Jeremiah pits the power over nature of the all-wise Creator against the impotence of mindless, man-made idols (51:1519; cf. ch.1o). God himself constitutes the "portion of Jacob," the covenantal inheritance of the Hebrews (51:19; cf. Deut. 18:1-2; Josh. 13:33).
Jeremiah calls the nations to unite in devotion to judging Babylon, which built its empire by subjecting foreign kingdoms. He commands specific regions to join in the anti-Babylonian alliance: Ararat, Minni, and Ashkenaz (most likely the land of the Scythians), located from eastern Turkey to northwestern Iran, all of which fell under the control of the Medes, led by Cyrus (51:27). God will "dry up (the)sea" of Babylon, thereby devastating the Mesopotamian economy, which relied on an elaborate system of rivers and canals (51:36). That this same life-sustaining system of waterways will flood "Sheshach" (code name for Babylon, "Babel"; 51:41) represents waves of attackers. The ultimate disgrace of the empire comes with the picture of its sickened chief god, Bel (= Marduk), reduced to the indignity of vomiting (51:44). The oracles of Jeremiah end with chapter 51, but the New Testament book of Revelation recalls the fall of Babylon in symbolizing the final defeat of immorality at its worst (Rev. 14:8; 17:5; 18:2).
52 Jerusalem and the Temple: Destruction and Deportation
A historical postscript to the book of Jeremiah, chapter 52 closely parallels 2 Kgs. 24:18-25:30. Minor differences between the texts result from possible scribal errors and varying historical-theological emphases (e.g., Jeremiah's interest in Zedekiah). Jeremiah 52 omits the brief remarks about Gedaliah in 2 Kgs. 25:22-26, presumably because chapters 40-41 have already detailed the Babylonianappointed Judean governor's short-lived political career and untimely assassination. Verses 28-30 specify three separate deportations of Judahites to Babylon. The first took place in 597, when King Jehoiachin surrendered (2 Kgs. 24:10-16); the second occurred in 586, after the fiery destruction of Jerusalem and the temple (2 Kgs. 25:1-11); and the third came in 582/81, in response to the murder of Gedaliah (chs. 40-43). Daniel 1:1ff. records a prior deportation in 605, prompted by the rebellion of Judah's King Jehoiakim (cf. 2 Kgs. 24:1-3). See "Exile and Return" (281-83).