{"id":69062,"date":"2020-01-25T09:59:31","date_gmt":"2020-01-25T07:59:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/?p=69062"},"modified":"2023-08-20T13:18:56","modified_gmt":"2023-08-20T10:18:56","slug":"jeremiah-a-literary-overview","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/jeremiah-a-literary-overview\/","title":{"rendered":"Jeremiah: A Literary Overview"},"content":{"rendered":"
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In today’s Jewish bibles, the Book of Jeremiah is the sixth of the books of the prophets, and the second of the “latter prophets” (<\/span>nevi’im aharonim<\/span><\/em>) between Isaiah and Ezekiel. This order reflects the understanding that Jeremiah prophesied after Isaiah and before Ezekiel.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Viewed broadly, the Book of Jeremiah consists of three basic units held together between chapters 1 (Jeremiah’s call to prophecy), 25 (the pivotal chapter that announces the role of Nebuchadnezzar and Babylon), and 52 (the prose conclusion that confirms Jeremiah’s prediction of Judah’s destruction). The first unit (chapters 2\u201324) contains mainly prophecies written in poetry. The second unit (chapters 26\u201345) contains mainly narrative prose, including both prophecies and biographical stories. The third unit (46\u201351) contains only poetic prophecies about foreign nations. Chronological notices occur throughout the book, indeed more than in any of the other books of the “literary prophets.” Nevertheless, style, rather than strict chronology, is the main organizing principle.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

There are subunits that may have circulated independently before their incorporation into the book as we have it. For example, the polemics against false prophecy in chapters 27\u201329 are marked by idiosyncratic language, such as the use of the name Nebuchadnezzar (with \/n\/) instead of Jeremiah’s typical “Nebuchadrezzar” (with \/r\/). Similarly, the introduction to prophecies of consolation in chapters 30\u201333 designates the unit as a separate “scroll” (30:2\u20133). The story of the book’s history (36) suggests that other versions preceded the current text.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The book shares themes with other books of prophecy. These include: the prophet’s “call” (1); God’s “lawsuit” against Israel (2); a critique of the sacrificial cult (7); satire of idolatry (10); prophetic intercessory prayer (14); prophetic symbolic actions and visions (18\u201319; 24; 28; 32); and critiques of leadership (22\u201323). Unique to the Book of Jeremiah is the nearly overwhelming shadow cast by the Kingdom of Judah’s impending downfall. Thus, Jewish tradition remembers Jeremiah as a book that is “entirely about destruction” (BT Baba Batra 14b).\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The book vividly depicts the prophet himself. God’s promise at Jeremiah’s commission– “They will attack you, but they will not succeed, for I am with you to save you” (1:19), foretells the antagonism between the prophet and his fellow Judeans. To the kings, he is a traitor because he counsels submission, rather than resistance, to Babylon. The community, for its part, cannot ignore Judah’s decline from its last highpoint under King Josiah, remembered for his religious reform. This historical trajectory leads them, quite understandably, to question religious commitments to God, and, consequently, faith in Jeremiah, God’s prophet (44). Even God rejects Jeremiah’s attempts to defend the nation (14:11, 14; 15:1\u20134).\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Social ostracism combine with communal trauma to make Jeremiah a bitter man. He is angry at God for commissioning him, for “overpowering” and “enticing” him into being a prophet (20:7). Jeremiah’s complaint-prayers resemble those of Job, with allusion to a lawsuit against God (12:1\u20133) and lines like “Accursed be the day I was born” (20:14).<\/span><\/p>\n

Image by: Ben Schachter<\/span><\/p>\n

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