Jeremiah, Lamentations

Michael L. Brown, PhD, Paul W. Ferris, Tremper Longman III, David E. Garland

• Publisher: Zondervan Academic
• Year: 2017
• eBook ISBN: 9780310531876
• Topic: Théologie et religion
• Subtopic: Critique et interprétation bibliques

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Text and Exposition

OVERVIEW

There is a famous rabbinic dictum concerning the Torah that exhorts the faithful to “turn it over and turn it over again, for everything is in it” (m. ʾAbot 5:22; the saying concludes, “Contemplate it and wax gray and old over it, and do not stir from it, for you can have no better lot [or ‘standard’] than this”). As far as the book of Jeremiah is concerned, the same counsel can be given for the first chapter: Turn it over and turn it over again, for everything is in it! A careful study of the contents of these nineteen verses opens up the unique dimensions and contours of the fifty-one chapters (totaling 1,345 verses) that follow. The historical framework is laid out clearly, the daunting, challenging call of the prophet is set forth, the nature of the opposition is sketched out, the tenor and thrust of the message is vividly described, and the emotional and spiritual interplay between the Lord and his servant is established.

This chapter, then, really serves as the basic, summarizing introduction to the whole book. First, the opening formula (“the words of Jeremiah”) underscores the intensely personal nature of the book; second, the chronological references to the first year of Josiah’s reform and then to Jerusalem’s exile provide the historical and spiritual framework; third, Jeremiah’s calling and commissioning are recounted, followed by two visionary words thematic of the chapters that follow; fourth, the primary tone of the book—impending judgment, yet with hope for restoration—is established; and fifth, the opposition Jeremiah will experience throughout his life is promised, yet with the assurance that the Lord will deliver him.

I. PROLOGUE: JEREMIAH’S DIVINE CALLING AND COMMISSION (1:1–19)

A. Superscription and Historical Background (1:1–3)

1The words of Jeremiah son of Hilkiah, one of the priests at Anathoth in the territory of Benjamin. 2The word of the LORD came to him in the thirteenth year of the reign of Josiah son of Amon king of Judah, 3and through the reign of Jehoiakim son of Josiah king of Judah, down to the fifth month of the eleventh year of Zedekiah son of Josiah king of Judah, when the people of Jerusalem went into exile.

COMMENTARY

1 The opening clause, “The words of [the particular prophet],” is rare in the prophetic books, being found elsewhere only in the book of Amos. At once it identifies the highly personal, at times even anecdotally biographical, nature of the book. The more common opening to prophetic books is, “The word of the LORD that came to X” (cf. Hos 1:1; Joel 1:1; Jnh 1:1; Mic 1:1; Zep 1:1). The present introductory clause emphasizes Jeremiah’s close involvement with the contents of the book, making it, in a sense, his own.

The LXX renders the opening clause with, “The word [rhēma] of God that was to Jeremiah,” emphasizing that these words of Jeremiah were of divine origin (cf. Targum). This is stated explicitly in the beginning of v.2 of the LXX: “to whom the word of God came.” So the words that follow are Jeremiah’s words, but Jeremiah’s words are God’s words. Compare further 1 Peter 4:11a for a general application of this principle of inspired speech, albeit referring to a lesser level of inspiration.

The word dābār (here rendered “word”) occurs with disproportionate frequency in Jeremiah (207 times, compared with 82 times in Ezekiel, 47 times in Isaiah, and a total of 56 times in the Minor Prophets); related to this is the high number of occurrences of nābî ʾ (“prophet”) in Jeremiah (95 times in Jeremiah, compared with a total of about 61 times in the rest of the prophetic books; for recent discussion of the etymology of nābî ʾ, see John Huehnergard, “On the Etymology and Meaning of Hebrew ‘nābî ʾ,’” ErIsr 26 [1999]: 88–93).

As for Jeremiah’s personal life, virtually nothing is known about the precise year (let alone date) of the prophet’s birth (see comment on v.3, refuting the view that he was born in the thirteenth year of Josiah), though there are Jewish traditions claiming that he was born on the ninth of Av (Tisha B ʾAv; see Introduction), the day of national tragedy on the Jewish calendar as the day on which tradition states that both the first and second temples were destroyed (586 BC and AD 70), Bar Kochba’s armies were defeated at Betar (AD 135), and the Jews were expelled from Spain in 1492, among other tragic events. And it is on this day that Lamentations, traditionally ascribed to Jeremiah, is read in the synagogues. (Compare Michael L. Brown, “Lamentations, Theology of,” NIDOTTE, 4:884–85; as expressed by S. J. D. Cohen, “The Destruction: From Scripture to Midrash,” Proof 2 [1982]: 20, cited in ibid., 4:884. Lamentations, read on the ninth of Ab, became “the eternal lament for all Jewish catastrophes, past, present, and future.”) How appropriate, then, that tradition assigns this day for the weeping prophet’s birth.

We also know nothing of Jeremiah’s father, Hilkiah, certainly to be distinguished from the high priest of the same name who was intimately involved with the Josianic reforms that took place in Jeremiah’s day (see 2Ki 22–23; 2Ch 34–35), despite the speculation of several rabbinic commentators and other scholars (see H. H. Rowley, “The Early Prophecies of Jeremiah in Their Setting,” BJRL 45 [1962–63]: 198–234 [see Perdue and Kovacs, 33–61; see specifically 199–203 = 33–37] for references). The name was fairly common (in both its full and short forms, ḥilqîyāhû and ḥilqîyâ), belonging to no fewer than six persons in the OT (cf. HALOT). Jeremiah, like Ezekiel, was a priest, but whereas cultic aspects dominate much of Ezekiel’s thinking (culminating in Eze 40–48), they play a relatively minor role in Jeremiah (see Introduction; cf. further Zohar 2:148b; see also Pesiq. Rab Kah. 13:116).

2–3 These verses, though chronological in nature, provide a spiritual overview of the whole book. The standard prophetic formula used here (“the word of the LORD came to him”) makes virtually impossible to countenance the suggestion of Holladay that Jeremiah was born in the thirteenth year of Josiah, as opposed first to receiving his initial prophetic message. (Rashi claims that “to whom the word of the Lord came” indicates that at that time the shekinah began to rest on him.) The oft-repeated introductory clause always speaks of the actual reception of the prophetic word (see passim in Jeremiah [up to 43:8] and Ezekiel, as well as frequently in the other prophetic books). In fact, this is the very formula used to introduce the first oracle received by Jeremiah in 1:4–5. Note also 25:3, dated in context there to the fourth year of Jehoiakim, where Jeremiah says: “For twenty-three years—from the thirteenth year of Josiah son of Amon king of Judah until this very day—the word of the LORD has come to me and I have spoken to you again and again, but you have not listened.”

The superscription agrees with these words, noting that Jeremiah received his prophetic calling in Josiah’s thirteenth year (627 BC), a year of great spiritual significance, though this is often missed. Commentators relying on the description of Josiah’s reform as recorded in 2 Kings 22–23 (e.g., Feinberg) find nothing of significance there: Josiah became king at the age of eight and began to restore the temple in his eighteenth year (2Ki 22:1, 3). But the Chronicler provides some important additional details: “Josiah was eight years old when he became king, and he reigned in Jerusalem thirty-one years. . . . In the eighth year of his reign, while he was still young, he began to seek the God of his father David. In his twelfth year he began to purge Judah and Jerusalem of high places, Asherah poles, carved idols and cast images” (2Ch 34:1, 3, emphasis added). His reformation movement began in the twelfth year of his reign; one year later, Jeremiah receives his calling. Thus, when the Josianic revival is still in its infancy, God calls Jeremiah to challenge the nation to go deeper.

The initial year [of Jeremiah’s ministry] was a significant one in that it was just one year after the beginning of Josiah’s reform activity and one year before Babylon’s declaration of independence from Assyria. [This was also the year in which Ashurbanipal, the last great king of Assyria, apparently died.] Both the political world and the religious world were about to see dramatic changes.” (IVPBBC)

At that critical juncture in history there was still hope for the people of Judah; the door of national mercy and forgiveness had not yet been clo...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Contents
• Contributors
• Preface
• Abbreviations
• Jeremiah
• Introduction
• I. Prologue: Jeremiah’s Divine Calling and Commission (1:1–19)
• II. Oracles, Anecdotes, Prophetic Prayers, and Laments (2:1–20:18)
• III. Dated Oracles and Anecdotes Leading up to the Destruction of Jerusalem (21:1–39:18)
• IV. Historical Anecdotes and Prophetic Oracles after Jerusalem’s Fall, and a Message for Baruch (40:1–45:5)
• V. Oracles against the Nations (46:1–51:64)
• VI. Historical Epilogue (52:1–34)
• Lamentations
• Introduction
• I. Lady Zion’s Pain and Plea (1:1–22)
• II. Zion’s Helplessness (2:1–22)
• III. Zion’s Hope in Spite of Despair (3:1–66)
• IV. Zion’s Downfall Remembered (4:1–22)
• V. Zion’s Lamentation Prayer (5:1–22)