DtrH Must Die! Jeremiah, Jehoiachin and the Prophetic End of the Deuteronomic History in Jeremiah 22:24-23:6 (original) (raw)
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This essay presents a reconstruction of the Vorlage of the LXX for Jer 25:1-7, the indictment phase of an oracle that comprises vv. 1-14 (LXX vv. 1-13). I contend that the interpretive difficulties this text poses in the Old Greek are best understood as a function of its Vorlage's early editorial history. A tradent encountered two parallel literary encodings of an original prophetic oracle and combined them to form the basis of the extant LXX witness. When viewed as a synthetic, consensus document, the serious problems of literary continuity in the LXX are resolved, and new purchase on the complicated structure of the MT of Jeremiah 25 is gained. Further, the nature of the discrepancy between the two traditions hypothesized here concerns the personal authority of the prophet himself. Hence, this reconstruction also provides valuable empirical data for considering the differing perspectives on prophecy and prophetic authority that were current in the period subsequent to the fall of the house of David.
Biblical Theology Bulletin, 2019
Late 19 th-early 20 th-century German biblical scholarship, because of its connections with Protestant liberal theology and the search for myth in modern Germany, lost the category of disempowered king in its treatment of one of the final kings of Judah, Jehoiachin, in the book of Jeremiah. While current scholarship has already moved beyond Protestant liberalism, it has not yet recovered the hermeneutical category of disempowered king as a way to understand Jehoiachin and later expectations of kingship. I suggest ways for contemporary critical scholars to build on the work of more recent scholarship and engage the canonical shape of Jeremiah.
This paper examines the redactional intentions of Jer-MT concerning the oracles against the nations (OANs) by comparing the OANs in Jer-MT with those in Jer-LXX. Since the OANs are the most conspicuous difference between Jer-MT and Jer-LXX, this study will contribute to the understanding of the formation and messages of the book of Jeremiah. In light of space limitations, this paper focuses on three major differences: (1) different placement of the OAN block, (2) different ordering of the nations within the OAN block, and (3) the redactions closely related to the OANs in Jer-MT 25 (Jer LXX 25:1-13, 32:1-24) and 45 (LXX 51:31-35). The three areas of comparison show that the Jer-MT redactor repositioned, rearranged, and redacted the OANs and relevant chapters in order to promote a more positive outcome at the end of the book and create the tripartite structure of judgment against Jerusalem (chs. 26-44) – the nations (45-49) – Babylon (50-51). The move towards an emphasis on the judgment of the nations and finally of Babylon, the destroyer of Jerusalem, at the end of the book leads to a hopeful expectation for Judah’s restoration. Within the positive immediate literary context, the release of the king Jehoiachin at the very end of the book functions as a more explicit sign of future restoration.
Jeremiah 26-29: A not so Deuteronomistic Composition
This article addresses the issue of so-called Deuteronomistic influence on the book of Jeremiah. The article posits that in the case of Jer 26-29 it would be far more prudent to concentrate on the implicit definition of prophecy found in the text rather than to analyse the linguistic and compositional features used to create the definition. In this essay it will be argued that once the presumed Deuteronomistic influence that has often directed scholar’s opinions is removed, it becomes clear that even at the times when the texts seem to be linked to the Deuteronomistic works, it is by way of contrast and not by way of allusion. The unit Jer 26-29 differs both from the only legal treatment of prophecy in Deuteronomy in Deut 13:1-5 and 18:18-22, as well as from the narrative in the Deuteronomistic History 1 Kgs 22:1-38, which perfectly fits the criteria of the legal treatment with regard to its theology surrounding true and false prophecy.
True and False Prophecy: Jeremiah’s Revision of Deuteronomy
Journal for The Study of The Old Testament, 2011
Deuteronomy 18.15-22 offers a criterion of predictive accuracy for judging prophets. It is argued here that Jeremiah takes up this criterion and renders it problematic. A critical examination of three passages from Jeremiah reveals the nature of the critique: Jer 18, 26 and 28. One key aspect of this critique involves Jeremiah's accent on YHWH potentially changing his mind ( ). The conclusion is reached that Jeremiah de-emphasizes the role of prophet as prognosticator in favor of the view that a prophet's role is to spur moral, social, and religious change. As a postscript, a brief examination of Jonah's understanding of this matter demonstrates that not all prophets were in agreement on the value of Jeremiah's change.
‘But Fear not, O Jacob my Servant!’ Place and Function of the Salvation Oracle Jeremiah 46:27–28 MT
‘“But Fear not, O Jacob my Servant!” The Place and Function of the Salvation Oracle Jeremiah 46:27-28 MT’, in: Koert van Bekkum, Gert Kwakkel en Wolter H. Rose (eds.), Biblical Hebrew in Context. Essays in Semitics and Old Testament Texts in Honour of Professor Jan P. Lettinga , 2018
The historical novel Höret die Stimme (1937) of the Austrian-Jewish author Franz Werfel sketches, in a vivacious way, the life and ministry of the prophet Jeremiah.2 In his literary imagination, the author even let Jeremiah visit the power centers of his world, in Memphis and Babylon. Although the Book of Jeremiah does not mention any such journey, it does make clear that the final decades of the history of the kingdom of Judah were overshadowed by the imperial ambitions of both superpowers, Egypt and Babylon. Egypt and Babylon: these two theo-political entities have a pivotal role in the Book of Jeremiah, against the background of Judah's history in the closing seventh and the beginning sixth centuries bce. The main line of this history is as follows. The decline of the Neo-Assyrian Empire (fall of Haran, 609) leaves a power vacuum in Syria-Palestine, which is initially filled by Egypt. Pharaoh Necho II, having defeated king Josiah in the battle at Megiddo (609), enthrones Jehoiachim as his vassal-king. Within a few years, however, Egypt's dominion comes to an end, when the Babylonian Nebuchadnezzar II defeats the Egyptian army in the battle at Carchemish (605). Some time later, king Jehoiachim submits to Nebuchadnezzar as his new suzerain (in 604, cf. 2 Kgs 24:1). In 601, the situation seems to change, when Necho stops the Babylonian army at the border of Egypt; the next years, Nebuchadnezzar does not interfere with Egypt. In this period, Jehoiachim rebels, breaking his vassalage with Babylon. This leads to a forceful reaction from Babylon: in 597 Jerusalem has to surrender to Nebuchadnezzar, who deports king Jehoiachin, together with a large group of exiles, to Babylon. Eventually, his successor decides to again rebel against
Vengeance of Yahweh: A Study on the Oracle Against the Nations in Jeremiah 46-51
2015
Prophetic speeches against the foreign nations became ubiquitous in the Later Prophets, and this raises several questions: Why would prophets in Judah and Israel speak against powerful empires and smaller neighboring nations? What did they seek to achieve through their prophecies? Where do these prophecies fit in the redemptive-historical storyline of Bible? This paper unravels these questions, from analyzing Jeremiah’s Oracles Against the Nations.