HarperCollins Study Bible
Page 282
22.13–14 Woe, a cry that derives from funeral lamentation (see the repetition of the word in v. 18, where it is translated “alas”). It announces the “funeral” of the one or ones addressed and was commonly used by prophets in introducing judgment oracles (see Isa 10.5; 17.12; 28.1; Am 5.18; 6.1; Hab 2.6, 9, 12, 15, 19; Zech 11.17). Unrighteousness and injustice. See 21.12;22.3–4. House, probably the palace, a project of renovation and expansion. Compulsory labor, without remuneration, was used by Solomon in building the temple, palace, and other projects (see 1 Kings 5.13–18; 9.15–22). Paneling it with cedar calls to mind Solomon’s palace (1 Kings 7.7). Vermilion, red ocher (hematite).
22.15–17 The just reign of Josiah contrasted with the oppressive rule of his son Jehoiakim. The language throughout this speech indicates that Jehoiakim attempted to rule in the manner and style of his famous ancestor Solomon instead of imitating the good and just king Josiah. Shedding innocent blood, one of the twelve curses associated with violating the Mosaic covenant (Deut 27.25).
22.18 For Jehoiakim there will be no public ritual of lamentation, in which mourners weep over the deceased. Brother, sister, lord (father), and majesty indicate that the king symbolically fulfilled various family roles on behalf of his people.
22.19 Burial of a donkey. Jehoiakim’s carcass will be dragged out of the city and dumped in the open to rot and provide food for scavengers (see 36.30). The denial of burial was a horrible curse (see 8.1–3; Deut 28.26). 2 Kings 24.6 simply mentions the death of Jehoiakim, while 2 Chr 36.6 indicates that he was put in fetters by Nebuchadrezzar to be taken to Babylon. Neither mentions his burial.
22.20–23 This poetic judgment oracle calls upon the city of Jerusalem, personified as an adulterous woman, to lament over her approaching humiliation (see 4.8; 9.17–22; 14.1–10).
22.20 Lebanon, Bashan, Abarim, mountainous locations (north, northeast, and southeast of Israel) from which Jerusalem is to wail over her fate (see Jephthah’s daughter in Judg 11.37–38; Rachel in Jer 31.15). Lovers, either false deities (Hos 2) or allies (Ezek 23.5, 9) who promised Jerusalem protection. See also 30.14.
22.21 Your youth. See 2.2; Ezek 16.22, 43, 60; Hos 2.17.
22.22 Shepherds. See note on 3.15.
22.23 Inhabitant of Lebanon, lit. “one enthroned in Lebanon,” here the city of Jerusalem (see note on 21.13–14).
22.24–30 Jehoiachin, the throne name of Coniah, the king who succeeded Jehoiakim to the throne in the final days of the Babylonian siege of Jerusalem. Jehoiachin ruled for only three months before the city fell (598/7 BCE). Deported to Babylon along with the people of Jerusalem, including his royal family and important leaders (2 Kings 24.6–17), Jehoiachin died in exile. However, 2 Kings ends with the hopeful report that in the thirty-seventh year of Jehoiachin’s exile (560), he was released from prison by the Babylonian king Evil-merodach, given a place of honor above the other exiled kings, and provided with both food from the king’s table and a regular allowance. This passage consists of a prose judgment speech that includes a divine oath (vv. 24–27) and a poetic judgment speech (vv. 28–30). The two speeches are directed against the popular hope of the return of Jehoiachin and his children from exile to rule over Judah (28.4). A pro-Jehoiachin political party looked to the exiled king as the legitimate ruler, and not his uncle, Zedekiah, placed on the throne by Nebuchadrezzar. The Babylonian Jewish community calculated their calendar by reference to the exile of Jehoiachin (e.g., Ezek 1.2). Babylonian texts call Jehoiachin “King of Judah” and indicate that he received a pension from Nebuchadrezzar. Inscriptions on jar handles from the period indicate that royal property belonged to Jehoiachin. Contrary to this popular view, Jeremiah’s argument was that Jehoiachin’s legal right to kingship expired with his exile. Indeed, Jeremiah predicted that the exiled king would never return home.
22.24–27 A prose judgment speech, deriving from the exile, announcing that Jehoiachin and his mother, the queen (see note on 13.18), will not return from exile. As I live introduces an oath (see notes on 4.2; 22.5). Signet ring points to the authority of the king as God’s representative, since the bearer of the king’s seal has the authority to stamp documents with the royal signature (see Hag 2.20–23, where Zerubbabel, a Davidic descendant, is likened to the Lord’s signet ring).
22.28–30 A judgment speech dispelling any hope that Jehoiachin will rule again in Judah. The same is true of his offspring. It is as though Jehoiachin were childless (actually he had seven sons; 1 Chr 3.17–18).
JEREMIAH 23
Restoration after Exile
1Woe to the shepherds who destroy and scatter the sheep of my pasture! says the LORD. 2Therefore thus says the LORD, the God of Israel, concerning the shepherds who shepherd my people: It is you who have scattered my flock, and have driven them away, and you have not attended to them. So I will attend to you for your evil doings, says the LORD. 3Then I myself will gather the remnant of my flock out of all the lands where I have driven them, and I will bring them back to their fold, and they shall be fruitful and multiply. 4I will raise up shepherds over them who will shepherd them, and they shall not fear any longer, or be dismayed, nor shall any be missing, says the LORD.
The Righteous Branch of David
5The days are surely coming, says the LORD, when I will raise up for David a righteous Branch, and he shall reign as king and deal wisely, and shall execute justice and righteousness in the land. 6In his days Judah will be saved and Israel will live in safety. And this is the name by which he will be called: “The LORD is our righteousness.”
7Therefore, the days are surely coming, says the LORD, when it shall no longer be said, “As the LORD lives who brought the people of Israel up out of the land of Egypt,” 8but “As the LORD lives who brought out and led the offspring of the house of Israel out of the land of the north and out of all the lands where hea had driven them.” Then they shall live in their own land.
False Prophets of Hope Denounced
9Concerning the prophets:
My heart is crushed within me,
all my bones shake;
I have become like a drunkard,
like one overcome by wine,
because of the LORD
and because of his holy words.
10For the land is full of adulterers;
because of the curse the land mourns,
and the pastures of the wilderness are dried up.
Their course has been evil,
and their might is not right.
11Both prophet and priest are ungodly;
even in my house I have found their wickedness,
says the LORD.
12Therefore their way shall be to them
like slippery paths in the darkness,
into which they shall be driven and fall;
for I will bring disaster upon them
in the year of their punishment,
says the LORD.
13In the prophets of Samaria
I saw a disgusting thing:
they prophesied by Baal
and led my people Israel astray.
14But in the prophets of Jerusalem
I have seen a more shocking thing:
they commit adultery and walk in lies;
they strengthen the hands of evildoers,
so that no one turns from wickedness;
all of them have become like Sodom to me,
and its inhabitants like Gomorrah.
15Therefore thus says the LORD of hosts concerning the prophets:
“I am going to make them eat wormwood,
and give them poisoned water to drink;
for from the prophets of Jerusalem
ungodliness has spread throughout the land.”
16Thus says the LORD of hosts: Do not listen to the words of the prophets who prophesy to you; they are deluding you. They speak visions of their own minds, not from the mouth of the LORD. 17They keep saying to those who despise the word of the LORD, “It shall be well with you” and to all who stubbornly follo
w their own stubborn hearts, they say, “No calamity shall come upon you.”
18For who has stood in the council of the LORD
so as to see and to hear his word?
Who has given heed to his word so as to proclaim it?
19Look, the storm of the LORD!
Wrath has gone forth,
a whirling tempest;
it will burst upon the head of the wicked.
20The anger of the LORD will not turn back
until he has executed and accomplished
the intents of his mind.
In the latter days you will understand it clearly.
21I did not send the prophets,
yet they ran;
I did not speak to them,
yet they prophesied.
22But if they had stood in my council,
then they would have proclaimed my words to my people,
and they would have turned them from their evil way,
and from the evil of their doings.
23Am I a God near by, says the LORD, and not a God far off? 24Who can hide in secret places so that I cannot see them? says the LORD. Do I not fill heaven and earth? says the LORD. 25I have heard what the prophets have said who prophesy lies in my name, saying, “I have dreamed, I have dreamed!” 26How long? Will the hearts of the prophets ever turn back—those who prophesy lies, and who prophesy the deceit of their own heart? 27They plan to make my people forget my name by their dreams that they tell one another, just as their ancestors forgot my name for Baal. 28Let the prophet who has a dream tell the dream, but let the one who has my word speak my word faithfully. What has straw in common with wheat? says the LORD. 29Is not my word like fire, says the LORD, and like a hammer that breaks a rock in pieces? 30See, therefore, I am against the prophets, says the LORD, who steal my words from one another. 31See, I am against the prophets, says the LORD, who use their own tongues and say, “Says the LORD.” 32See, I am against those who prophesy lying dreams, says the LORD, and who tell them, and who lead my people astray by their lies and their recklessness, when I did not send them or appoint them; so they do not profit this people at all, says the LORD.
33When this people, or a prophet, or a priest asks you, “What is the burden of the LORD?” you shall say to them, “You are the burden,b and I will cast you off, says the LORD.” 34And as for the prophet, priest, or the people who say, “The burden of the LORD,” I will punish them and their households. 35Thus shall you say to one another, among yourselves, “What has the LORD answered?” or “What has the LORD spoken?” 36But “the burden of the LORD” you shall mention no more, for the burden is everyone’s own word, and so you pervert the words of the living God, the LORD of hosts, our God. 37Thus you shall ask the prophet, “What has the LORD answered you?” or “What has the LORD spoken?” 38But if you say, “the burden of the LORD,” thus says the LORD: Because you have said these words, “the burden of the LORD,” when I sent to you, saying, You shall not say, “the burden of the LORD,” 39therefore, I will surely lift you upc and cast you away from my presence, you and the city that I gave to you and your ancestors. 40And I will bring upon you everlasting disgrace and perpetual shame, which shall not be forgotten.
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a Gk: Heb I
b Gk Vg: Heb What burden
c Heb Mss Gk Vg: MT forget you
23.1–8 Three prose sermons about the future: return from exile and faithful rulers (vv. 1–4), the righteous Branch (vv. 5–6), and return from the north country (vv. 7–8). These three sermons may have originated during the exile or shortly thereafter.
23.1–4 Return from exile and faithful rulers. This prose sermon combines a judgment oracle against faithless rulers with a prophecy of salvation that speaks of faithful rulers after the return from captivity. Vv. 1–2 are modeled on the form of a “woe oracle”(see note on 22.13–14). Shepherds, kings (see note on 3.15) who are condemned for their evil rule.
23.3 Be fruitful and multiply. See the promises to Abraham and Jacob, the two great ancestors of Israel, in Gen 17.1–8, 20; 28.3;48.4.
23.5–6 Righteous Branch. This prose sermon, repeated with modifications in 33.15–16, predicts the coming of a future king who will rule wisely and establish justice (see Isa 11.1–9). Branch is a messianic title in Zech 3.8; 6.12 (Isa 11.1 uses a different Hebrew word for “branch”). One of the leaders of the return from exile was Zerubbabel (whose name in Hebrew means “branch/shoot of Babylon”), a descendant of David. Hag 2.20–23 identifies him as the heir to kingship. Here the future ruler will bear the name The LORD is our righteousness, perhaps a wordplay on the name Zedekiah, in Hebrew “Yahweh is righteousness.” Nebuchadrezzar gave this name to Mattaniah when he was appointed king (2 Kings 24.17). Zedekiah was the last king of Judah (597–587/6 BCE). Hebrew tsedeq, “righteousness,” also means “legitimate.” Although Jeremiah did not oppose Zedekiah, his legitimacy as ruler was questioned by many, even within Judah. The implication may be that the future king will rule in such a way as to demonstrate that “The LORD is our legitimate (ruler).”
23.7–8 Return from the north country. This passage is a prose prediction of salvation that makes use of the oath formula (as the LORD lives; see note on 4.2). The exodus from Egypt was central to Israel’s ancient faith (see Deut 26.5–9; Josh 24; Pss 78; 105; 106; 135; 136; Neh 9). In the future the return from captivity in Babylon will replace the ancient creed’s emphasis on the exodus. The “new exodus” is a major theme in Second Isaiah (the anonymous prophet of the exile whose oracles are collected in Isa 40–55; see Isa 43.15–21; 51.9–11).
23.9–40 This collection of various materials about prophets divides into a largely poetic section in vv. 9–22 and a prose sermon in vv. 23–40. The poetic section includes: a description of general wickedness that priest and prophet share (vv. 9–12), a judgment oracle against the prophets of Samaria and of Jerusalem (vv. 13–15), a warning in prose not to pay heed to the false prophets (vv. 16–17), rhetorical questions and a vision report about the failure of the false prophets to see the coming judgment of the Lord (vv. 18–20), and a rejection of the false prophets (vv. 21–22). The prose section consists of a sermon stating God’s opposition to false prophets (vv. 23–32) and a midrash, an interpretive commentary, on the meaning of the burden of the LORD (vv. 33–40). The problems involved in distinguishing between true and false prophets were considerable (see ch. 28; 1 Kings 13; 22). Deut 18.15–22 provides the most detailed attempt: false prophets spoke in the name of false gods, prophesied good fortune instead of judgment, lied in claiming to speak in the name of God, and predicted things that did not come to pass. Jeremiah adds his own tests: false prophets are immoral, speak at times in the name of Baal, see visions and dreams of their own mind, prophesy weal not woe, tell lies, and have not stood in the council of the LORD (v. 18). Even so, Jeremiah had a very difficult time convincing others he was a true prophet and that his prophetic opponents were false prophets.
23.9 A lamentation (see note on 11.18–23) that mentions prophetic ecstasy, i.e., the physical and mental state of one who receives a divine revelation (see 4.19–21; 1 Sam 10.1–13; 19.23–24).
23.10 The land is full. See Gen 6.13; Lev 19.29.
23.12 Slippery paths. See Ps 35.6.
23.13 For a description of Baal prophecy, see 1 Kings 18.25–29.
23.14 Sodom, Gomorrah (Gen 18–19). See Jer 20.16 and note; Isa 1.10.
23.16–17 For an example of a prophet of good fortune, see Hananiah in ch. 28.
23.18 The council of the LORD, an assembly of divine beings over which God presides (1 Kings 22.19–23; Job 1–2; Pss 82; 89.7; Isa 6.1–8). In this assembly God issues divine edicts for governing the cosmos and history.
23.19–20 These verses are almost duplicated in 30.23–24. Storm of the LORD, an image taken from theophanic judgment scenes in which the Lord as warrior comes to execute judgment against the wicked (25.32; Job 38.1; 40.6; Hab 3).
23.21 Prophets ran in the sense tha
t they were messengers of God.
23.23–24 God is both immanent and transcendent (see Ps 139.7–12; Am 9.1–4).
23.30–32 Note the threefold occurrence of I am against, a challenge formula issued to opponents (see 21.13).
23.33 This verse, in a question and answer form (5.19; 9.12–16; 13.12–14; 15.1–4; 16.10–13; 22.8–9), identifies the people, priests, and prophets as the burden of the LORD. Hebrew massa’, “burden,” also means “oracle” (see Nah 1.1; Hab 1.1; Mal 1.1). Hence the verse involves a wordplay: when Jeremiah is asked for an oracle from God, he is to respond: “You are the ‘burden’ of the LORD.”
23.34–40 A later pointed commentary, or midrash, that prohibits the use of the term burden for a revelation from God.
JEREMIAH 24
The Good and the Bad Figs
1The LORD showed me two baskets of figs placed before the temple of the LORD. This was after King Nebuchadrezzar of Babylon had taken into exile from Jerusalem King Jeconiah son of Jehoiakim of Judah, together with the officials of Judah, the artisans, and the smiths, and had brought them to Babylon. 2One basket had very good figs, like first-ripe figs, but the other basket had very bad figs, so bad that they could not be eaten. 3And the LORD said to me, “What do you see, Jeremiah?” I said, “Figs, the good figs very good, and the bad figs very bad, so bad that they cannot be eaten.”
4Then the word of the LORD came to me: 5Thus says the LORD, the God of Israel: Like these good figs, so I will regard as good the exiles from Judah, whom I have sent away from this place to the land of the Chaldeans. 6I will set my eyes upon them for good, and I will bring them back to this land. I will build them up, and not tear them down; I will plant them, and not pluck them up. 7I will give them a heart to know that I am the LORD; and they shall be my people and I will be their God, for they shall return to me with their whole heart.