A RHETORICAL ANALYSIS OF JEREMIAH 7: 1-151 (original) (raw)

A RHETORICAL ANALYSIS OF JEREMIAH 7:1-15

Tyndale Bulletin, 2006

This article is a rhetorical study of Jeremiah 7:1-15. It attempts to show that a rhetorical analysis of Jeremiah helps the reader to understand the different parts of the speech correctly, to discover what was mentioned and what was not mentioned in it, and to identify the target audience and the methods of persuasion used by the prophet. This is not merely a literary analysis of Jeremiah's speech, but primarily a critical examination of how Jeremiah planned to deliver his words to the audience. My analysis concludes that Jeremiah's speech is planned and well organised, and that all its parts logically interconnect. Jeremiah uses many traditions from the past, and on the basis of these traditions, presents new arguments.

Jeremiah's Laments as Effective Speech

JSOT, 2023

In his laments, the prophet Jeremiah moves beyond the typical prophetic role of spokesperson. Rather than mediating a divine message, the prophet speaks to the deity from his own suffering. Scholars tend to see Jeremiah's laments as presenting either a radically interior form of religion or a kind of community protest in which the "I" of the lament is a metonymy for the "we" of the nation. This paper will instead locate Jeremiah's laments within a discourse on the effective nature of prophetic utterance. Understood in this manner, these laments portray the prophet as praying effectively for the destruction of Judah.

An Analysis of Jeremiah 3:1-4:4

If one could sum up the book of Jeremiah, one could determine that its contents reflect judgment and restoration with an assurance that the wicked would be punished, but at the exact moment assures genuine salvation for God's people. Jeremiah is the second book of the latter prophets, following Isaiah and preceding Ezekiel. Rabbinic literature, however, reflects a different order: Kings, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, and Isaiah, based on the principle of "approximating destruction to destruction and consolation to consolation"-referencing the Babylonian Talmud Bava Batra 14b-15a. 1 According to this tradition, the Book of Kings ends with destruction, Jeremiah is fully focused on destruction, Ezekiel turns from destruction to consolation, and Isaiah is fully focused on consolation. Fundamental to attaining the comprehension of Jeremiah's book will be the procedure of rhetorical criticism, one method with several biblical processes that center on the rhetoric of the biblical text, the role of that rhetoric, and the effects of the rhetoric on Jeremiah's audience of that era and consequent audiences in succeeding eras, embracing today. Given Jeremiah 3:1-4:4, one will examine the graciousness of God in his invitations and encouragements to a sinful nation to return and repent, despite the abundance and extent of their depravity-sin abounded, but God's grace did much more abound. Although much of Jeremiah's content is poetry, and the character Jeremiah is a preacher of God's word, rhetorical criticism is a suitable method for focusing on this research and conveying its supplementary themes and propositions.

Getting Closer to Jeremiah: The Word of YHWH and the Literary-Theological Person of a Prophet

Martin Kessler, Hg., Reading the Book of Jeremiah. A …, 2004

In this essay, I attempt to define the dominant role that Jeremiah plays in the book by his name. The focus will not be so much on the biography of the historical prophet or his religiopsychological development but rather on his literary-theological function. Particular attention will be directed to the relationship betweenJeremiah and the word of YHwH, of which the prophet is both the first recipient and the proclaimer. I will also show that the so-called biographical portions (the biography by Baruch and the Confessions) are not extraneous additions but are essential to the book, since they are needed to underscore its central message.

A Critical Introduction to Jeremiah

Jeremiah, the prophet of Judah’s tumultuous last decades before exile, is listed among the classical or major prophets of the Old Testament. A writing prophet, two books of the canon are attributed to him, the book of Jeremiah, and the book of Lamentations. Jeremiah’s heart-wrenching prayers and laments, scattered throughout the text of Jeremiah and compiled in the “collection of funeral songs mourning the “death” of the city of Jerusalem” in Lamentations, give a glimpse into the anguish he experienced in fulfilling his call, and they lead to his reputation as “the weeping prophet.” Such an appellation hardly draws today’s readers to his writings, yet as one explores the complex text, related theological issues, and the chaotic historical context for Jeremiah’s ministry and message, parallels with today’s world rush to mind, bringing the text to life in powerful ways. This paper discusses authorship, historical context, date of composition, literary prophetic forms, theological themes, and provides an outline of the text.

The Question of LXX Jeremiah as a Tool for Literary-Critical Analysis

Vetus Testamentum, 2012

Those who disagree with the accepted theory that LXX reflects an ancient Hebrew version of Jeremiah usually point to the greater coherency of MT as proof of its primacy. This study shows the lack of coherency in MT, stemming from the complexity of the text from a literary-critical perspective, and attempts to answer the question of whether LXX can be used in the literarycritical analysis of MT. At least regarding the passage under discussion (Jer 25:1-14), this question must be answered in the negative. It appears that LXX reflects an adapted and "flattened" version of the text. Without the "rough" version found in MT, a version which preserves the tensions and the seams created in the course of the literary growth of the text, it would be likewise impossible to understand the lack of coherence found in LXX.

שָׁלוֹם proclamations in the Book of Jeremiah: The dilemma of Jeremiah 4:10 and 23:17

HTS Teologiese Studies / Theological Studies

The use of the noun ‫ָלֹום‬ ‫ׁש‬ in the Book of Jeremiah, as it occurs in prophetic proclamations, is of interest for this article. From an overview of a number of passages, it seems that the utterances in Jeremiah 4:10 and 23:17 are contradictory. In Jeremiah 4:10, Jeremiah utters the phrase ‫ֶם‬ ‫ָכ‬ ‫ל‬ ‫ֶה‬ ‫ְי‬ ‫ִה‬ ‫י‬ ‫ָלֹום‬ ‫,ׁש‬ but in 23:17 he rebukes prophets for proclaiming the very same message. The author argues that the prophet Jeremiah, as he is portrayed in the Book of Jeremiah, developed in his thinking and reaction to matters in correspondence to political and social changes that occurred in the history of Judah. A case is argued that 4:10 should be assigned to the prophet Jeremiah. Contribution: This article offers original research in the field of biblical studies, more specifically, in the field of the Old Testament. This is in line with the scope of HTS Theological Studies. The article aims at addressing a contradictory pronouncement in Jeremiah 4:10 and 23:17 regarding ‫ָלֹום‬ ‫ׁש‬ prophecies in the Book of Jeremiah. The issue of false ‫ָלֹום‬ ‫ׁש‬ prophecies and the danger of such proclamations are at the heart of the discussion.

“See and Read All These Words”: The Concept of the Written in the Book of Jeremiah

2009

Unusually for the HB, the book of Jeremiah contains a high number of references to writers, writing, and the written word. Written during the exilic period, the book demonstrates a key moment in the ongoing integration of writing and the written word into ancient Israelite society. Yet the book does not describe writing in the abstract. Instead, it provides an account of its own textualization, thereby blurring the line between the narrative and the audience that receives it and connecting the text of Jeremiah to the words of the prophet and of YHWH. To authenticate the book of Jeremiah as the word of YHWH, its tradents present a theological account of the chain of transmission from the divine to the prophet, and then to the scribe and the written page. Indeed, the book of Jeremiah extends the chain of transmission beyond the written word itself to include the book of Jeremiah and, finally, a receiving audience. To make the case for this chain of transmission, this study attends in each of three exegetical chapters to writers (including YHWH, prophets, and scribes), the written word, and the receiving audience. The first exegetical chapter describes the standard chain of transmission from the divine to the prophet to the scribe, demonstrating that all three agents in this chain are imagined as writers and that writing was a suitable conduit for the divine word. The narrative account of Jeremiah's textualization is set forth, with special attention to the way in which the narrative points beyond itself to the text of Jeremiah itself. The second exegetical chapter builds upon this argument by v attending to the written word in Jeremiah, pointing especially to Jeremiah's selfreferences (e.g., "in this book," "all these words") as a pivotal element in the extension of the chain of transmission beyond the words in the text to the words of the text. Finally, the third exegetical chapter considers the construction of the audience in the book of Jeremiah, concluding that the written word, as Jeremiah imagines it, is to be received by a worshiping audience through a public reading. vi