{"id":72860,"date":"2020-04-05T14:37:41","date_gmt":"2020-04-05T11:37:41","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/?p=72860"},"modified":"2020-04-05T14:37:41","modified_gmt":"2020-04-05T11:37:41","slug":"the-end-comparison-and-contrast","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/the-end-comparison-and-contrast\/","title":{"rendered":"The End: Comparison and Contrast"},"content":{"rendered":"
<\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[281],"tags":[],"acf":{"old_id":"72860","type":"no","iframe":"","writer":34243,"related_cahpter":"452","type_929":"2","show_author_image":false,"old_create_date":"","old_url":"","post_main_content":{"description":"Foreshadowing the consolation of limited self-rule\u00a0\r\n\r\n","content":"

This final chapter in the Book of Jeremiah is nearly identical with 2 Kings 24:18-25:30; essentially, the last chapter in that earlier biblical book. Since we have already examined the duplication of material between the books of Isaiah and Kings (see <\/span>our comments to Isaiah 36<\/span><\/a>), it does not surprise us that a similar overlap exists between Kings and Jeremiah. Indeed, the Sages (Baba Batra 15a) even attributed the redaction of Kings to Jeremiah, noting that \u201cJeremiah wrote his own book, and the Book of Kings, and Lamentations\u201d (see<\/span> our comments to Jeremiah 36<\/span><\/a>).<\/span><\/p>\n

The two texts, however, are not entirely identical, and the several differences between them\u2014pertaining to the fate of King Zedekiah\u2014are instructive. <\/span>2 Kings 25 <\/span>states: \u201c<\/span>They captured the king and brought him before the king of Babylon at Riblah; and they put him on trial. They slaughtered Zedekiah\u2019s sons before his eyes; then Zedekiah\u2019s eyes were put out. He was chained in bronze fetters and he was brought to Babylon\u201d (6-7).<\/span><\/p>\n

In our chapter, however, several additional details appear:<\/span><\/p>\n

They captured the king and brought him before the king of Babylon at Riblah, in the region of Hamath; and he put him on trial. The king of Babylon had Zedekiah\u2019s sons slaughtered before his eyes; he also had all the officials of Judah slaughtered at Riblah. Then the eyes of Zedekiah were put out, and he was chained in bronze fetters. The king of Babylon brought him to Babylon and put him in prison, [where he remained] to the day of his death. (9-11)<\/span><\/p>\n

While the differences may appear, at first glance, to be minimal, the very last one is quite significant. While Zedekiah spent the rest of his life in prison (and we have no idea how long that was), his predecessor, Jehoiachin, fared much better, allowing the book that the Sages characterized as \u201cwholly catastrophic\u201d (<\/span>see our introduction<\/span><\/a>) to end on a note of consolation.<\/span><\/p>\n

In the thirty-seventh year of the exile of King Jehoiachin of Judah, on the twenty-seventh day of the twelfth month, King Evilmerodach of Babylon, in the year he became king, took note of King Jehoiachin of Judah and released him from prison. He spoke kindly to him and gave him a throne above those of other kings who were with him in Babylon. His prison garments were removed, and [Jehoiachin] received regular rations by his favor for the rest of his life. A regular allotment of food was given him at the instance of the king\u2014an allotment for each day\u2014all the days of his life. (27-29)<\/span><\/p>\n

As we noted in our concluding remarks to 2 Kings, \u201c<\/span>According to later Jewish sources, the descendants of Jehoiachin became the exilarchs (<\/span>Rashei Golah<\/span><\/i>), empowered by the Babylonians\u2014and, later, the Persians, Medes, Greeks, Romans, and Muslims\u2014to oversee whatever self-rule the Jews of Babylonia were granted by their overlords.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Image: An exhibit depicting Exilarch Huna at the Beit Hatfutsot, 2011 \/ wikipedia<\/span><\/p>\n","image":{"ID":72862,"id":72862,"title":"jer52-exilarch","filename":"jer52-exilarch.jpg","filesize":0,"url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/04\/jer52-exilarch.jpg","link":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/the-end-comparison-and-contrast\/jer52-exilarch\/","alt":"","author":"7","description":"","caption":"","name":"jer52-exilarch","status":"inherit","uploaded_to":72860,"date":"2020-04-05 11:37:30","modified":"2020-04-05 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