Dates in Jeremiah

1
Dates in Jeremiah

• 645 Birth of Jeremiah
• 640 Josiah becomes king--at 8!
• 632 and 628 reforms? (2 Chr 343)
• 627/6 Call of Jeremiah 14-10
• 625 Nabopolassar came to power in Babylon
• 622 Great Reform Deuteronomy

2
Dates Continued

• 609 Death of Josiah then kings Jehoahaz,
  Jehoiakim Temple address (chaps 7, 26)
• 605 Nebuchadnezzar defeats Egypt at Carchemish
  first scroll (362)
• 601 Jehoiakim revolted (2 Kgs 241)
• 597 exile of Jehoiachin Zedekiah
• 594/3 revolt of western states Ezekiel
• 587 destruction of Jerusalem
• 582 Third deportation Jeremiah to Egypt

3
The Septuagint and Jeremiah

• One of every 8 words in Hebrew lacking in LXX
• Total of 2700 words missing
• 4QJer b and LXX omit Jer 106, 8-10
• Doublets (613-15//810b-12 latter lacking in
  LXX. In 3010-11//4627-28 and 4840b,
  41b//4922 the first passage is missing from LXX)

4
The Septuagint and Jeremiah (continued)

• Nebuchadnezzar (276-293 7 of 8 cases missing in
  LXX) Nebuchadrezzar?
• Divine names Original Thus says Yahweh became
  Thus says Yahweh, the God of Heavenly Armies,
  the God of Israel (or the like)
• Oracles against foreign nations--at 46-51 in MT
  or after 2513 LXX

5
Interpreting the Shortness of the LXX

• Is shortness abbreviation or original?
• Which words come from Jeremiah? The short
  version or the long version?
• Which version is canonical? Short or long?
• What is the inspired text?

6
Literary Critical Issues

• A words poetry
• B words biography
• C words prose sermons
• Alternate interpretation
• First edition The Historical Jeremiah
• Second edition The Deuteronomistic Redaction

7
The Ending of the Book

• 45 An oracle addressed to Baruch one individual
  survives when all others fall
• 46-51 MT Oracles against foreign nations the
  evil empire, Babylon, which destroyed Jerusalem,
  will finally be destroyed itself
• 52 ( 2 Kings 25) a different view of Zedekiah
  (cf. 341-5 37-38) and a different view of
  Jehoiachin--hes free (cf. 2224-30 where he is a
  despised broken pot)

8
The Call of Jeremiah

• Chosen before birth. Cf. Samson, servant, John
  the Baptist, Paul
• Prophet to the nations
• Objection--I am only a youth
• Reassurance--I am with you
• To pluck up, tear down, destroy, overthrow
• To build and to plant--Gods final word

9
Sequels to Jeremiahs Call

• Vision of almond branch in vv. 10-12 Watching
  over my word to fulfill it dqv
• Vision in vv. 13-15 Boiling pot from the north
• VV. 16-19 Jeremiahs lonely and impregnable
  position--they will fight against you but they
  will not prevail against you.

10
The Enemy from the North

• I am bringing evil from the north (46 61, 22)
• Scythians? Babylon?
• A people is coming from the north a mighty
  nation and many kings..against you, O Babylon
  (5041-43)
• Who lives in the north? (Ps 482 Mount Zion, in
  the far north)

11
Symbolic Actions

• 131-11 Linen waistcloth ruined by Babylonian
  invasion or by its influence?
• Trip to Euphrates? 400 miles to Parah? 4 miles
  away or does Parah symbolize Euphrates?
• I made them cling to mebut they would not
  listen I will ruin pride of Judah
• 1312-14 Every jug should be full of wine
• every inhabitant full of drunkenness they lose
  ability to act responsibly I will smash them
  like jugs they joke about

12
More symbolic actions

• 161-4 Jeremiah had no wife, no children
• No time for children since they will all die
• 181-11 At the Potters House
• Just as pots are reshaped by a potter, so a
  judged nation can be saved and vice versa
• Turn, Jerusalem, from your wicked ways

13
More symbolic actions

• 191-2, 10-13 You, Jeremiah, shall break the jug.
  Yahweh I will break this people as one breaks
  a potters vessel
• 241-10 Good and Bad Figs
• Good figs exiles in Babylon I will build up,
  plant
• Bad figs Zedekiah and the remnant left in
  Jerusalem

14
Another symbolic action

• 2515-29 acted parable
• Jeremiah offered cup of wrath to various nations
  Jerusalem, towns of Judah
• Pharaoh, kings of the Philistines, Edom, Moab,
  Ammonites etc.
• the king of Sheshach v. 26 sh-sh-k b b l
• vv lbb

15
Another symbolic action

• 272-2817 yoke bars and Hananiah
• Jeremiah Anyone who submits to Babylon will be
  spared
• Hananiah (282) God has broken the yoke of the
  king of Babylon Hananiah breaks the yoke
• Hananiahs credentials Name Yahweh is
  gracious Thus says Yahweh Yahweh did not
  send him criterion for truth word happens
• Jeremiah shows up with iron yoke

16
Another symbolic action

• 326-15 Buying property when Jerusalem was under
  a siege
• Hanamel, Jeremiahs cousin, tells him to buy his
  field at Anathoth
• Signed deed, sealed it, got witnesses, and paid
  money
• Filed deed with Baruch
• Houses and fields and vineyards shall again be
  bought in this land.

17
Jeremiahs Confessions

• You, Yahweh, are like a deceitful brook, like
  waters that fail 1518
• If you, Jeremiah, repent, Ill restore you to
  serve me once more 1519
• They have dug a pit for my life deliver their
  children to famine deal with them, God, while
  you are still angry 1818-23

18
Another Confession

• 207-12 Accuses God of violating him. Yahweh
  forces him to prophesy. All my close friends
  want me to fail. Yahweh is with me like a dread
  warrior!
• 2013 Sing to the Lord he has delivered the
  life of the needy from the hand of evildoers
• 2014-18 Damn the day on which I was born!