FIRST AND SECOND COLLECTIONS OF SERMONS [JER. 4523 columns, the king cut it with a paperknife, and threw it into the fire that was on the brazier, until the entire roll was consumed in the fire that was on the brazier. 24But they were not alarmed nor tore their garments-neither the king nor any of his servants who heard all these words. 25 Moreover, although Elnathan and Delaiah and Gemariah besought the king not to burn the roll, he would not hear them. Then the king commanded Jerahmeel the king's son and Seraiah the son of Azriel and Shelemiah the son of Abdeel to seize Baruch the scribe and Jeremiah the prophet, but Jehovah kept them concealed. 27 Then after the king had burned the roll, that is, all the words which Baruch The wrote at the dictation of Jeremiah, the word of Jehovah came to Jeremiah new as follows, 28 Take again another roll and write in it all the words that were in mand the first roll, which Jehoiakim the king of Judah burned. com de tion 29 And concerning Jehoiakim king of Judah thou shalt say, 'Thus saith Je- Proph hovah, “Thou hast burned this roll saying: Why hast thou thus written there- ecy of in: The king of Babylon shall assuredly come and destroy this land and shall struc remove from there man and beast ?" 30Therefore thus saith Jehovah concerning Jehoiakim king of Judah, "He shall have none left to sit upon the throne of David and his dead body shall be exposed to the heat by day and to the frost by night. And I will visit upon him and his descendants and his servants their iniquity, and I will bring upon them and the inhabitants of Jerusalem and the men of Judah, all the evil that I have pronounced against them, but which they heeded not.' 31 roll 32 Then Jeremiah took another roll and gave it to Baruch the scribe the son The of Neriah, who wrote on it at the dictation of Jeremiah all the words of the new book which Jehoiakim king of Judah had burned in the fire. And there were also added to them many other similar words. § 89. Exultation Over Necho's Defeat at Carchemish, Jer. 461-12 Jer. 46 The word of Jehovah which came to Jeremiah the prophet concerning the Superarmy of Pharaoh-Necho king of Egypt, which was by the River Euphrates, in Carchemish, scripwhich Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon defeated in the fourth year of Jehoiakim, the son tion of Josiah, king of Judah: § 89 The occasion of this prophecy is the most significant event in the history of this period: the overthrow of the Egyptian king Necho by the Chaldeans under Nebuchadrezzar. The decisive battle was fought in 605 B.C. at Carchemish beside the Euphrates. The result was the complete overthrow of the Egyptian rule in Asia. This overthrow meant that Jehoiakim lost his chief foreign support. The true prophets welcomed with enthusiasm the prospect of any change, for the Egyptian rule had proved onerous and had brought to Judah a period of religious reaction and moral decline. In the present section Jeremiah sings a taunt song in commemoration of the overthrow of the Egyptian power. Again Jehovah was beginning to assert himself in behalf of his faithful followers. The poem is in Jeremiah's characteristic fivebeat measure and is full of local color. The long introductory superscription is from a later editor; but there is every reason for regarding his testimony as authentic and for regarding the poem as a whole as the work of Jeremiah. In the remainder of the oracle regarding Egypt, beginning with the new superscription in 13, an entirely new point of view is reflected. Egypt, instead of assuming the aggressive, is about to be conquered and carried into exile. The date would seem to be about 568 B.C., when it would seem that Nebuchadrezzar was actually taking measures to invade Egypt. This part of the prophecy, therefore, is a later appendix to the original Jeremian oracle. The date and authorship of the remaining foreign prophecies regarding Phoenicia, Moab, Ammon, Edom, Damascus, Kedar, Elam, and Babylon, found in chaps. 46-51, are much disputed. Their position suggests that they are all a later appendix to the work of Jeremiah, and this position is maintained by many scholars. Many passages certainly reflect events of the post-exilic period. References elsewhere in his prophecies, however, indicate that Jeremiah Sum mons to battle Flight of Egypt's warriors Set in line the buckler and shield and draw near to battle! 'Harness the horses and mount, ye riders, and take your stand with your helmets! Polish the lances, put on the coats of mail! m "Why are they terrified and turning backward ?n They flee in wild flight and look not back; terror on every side!o "The swift cannot flee away nor the mighty warrior escape! Northward beside the River Euphrates they have stumbled and fallen! Egypt's "Who is this that riseth up like the Nile, whose waters toss themselves like vain boasts of conquest Jeho vah's judg ment on Egypt Egypt's overthrow final the streams? And he saith, I will rise up, I will cover the earth, I will destroy its inhabi- Go up ye 10But that day is Jehovah's day of vengeance, that he may avenge himself on his adversaries; And the sword shall devour to satiety and shall drink its fill of their blood, t 11Go to Gilead and take balm, O virgin daughter of Egypt! up In vain hast thou employed many medicines; there is no healing for thee: 12 Nations have heard thy wail," and the earth is full of thy outery, For hero hath stumbled against hero, they are fallen both of them together! himself did not limit his vision to Judah, Egypt, and Babylon. It is probable, therefore, that a nucleus in these prophecies comes from him, but that these original utterances have been expanded until they are really products of a later period. While they possess a certain literary and historical value, they are unimportant compared with parts of the book and have been omitted in the present volume. The editor of the Gk. vs. of the book of Jeremiah introduces the foreign prophecies immediately after 2513, where they logically belong. A later editor has added to the superscription which introduces the oracle regarding Egypt the phrase concerning the nations: concerning Egypt in order to adapt it as a title to the foreign prophecies which follow. Removing these additions which interrupt the context, the original superscription remains. i 463 Gk. and Syr., lift up. k 46 Possibly this word is secondary. 146 Gk., take up. Possibly this is original. m 465 So Gk. Heb. adds the awkward expression, I have seen, which interrupts the context and destroys the metrical symmetry of the vs. n 465 Heb. adds the phrase, their mighty men are broken up, but this is not in keeping with the metrical form of the vs., and is either secondary or else a fragment of a lost line. 465 Again a scribe has apparently inserted the incongruous phrase, it is the oracle of Jehovah. P 468 Through a scribal error the greater part of 7 has been repeated with variations at the beginning of . Only part of the repetition is found in the Gk. The second half of is obviously the original sequel of 7. q 468 So Gk. A scribe has added in the Heb. the incongruous words, a city and. 469 Removing the word handle, which is but a scribal duplicate of the word bend. 4610 So Syr. Heb., to the Lord Jehovah of hosts. Gk. omits, of hosts. The same phrase occurs in the last line of the vs. Here the Gk., which has been followed, has simply Jehovah. The fuller Heb. form entirely destroys the metrical form of the vs. and is a result of the scribal tendency to expand found in Jeremiah and Ezekiel. 46 As in 82, the balsam of Gilead is referred to because of its far-famed curative qualities. In Gen. 431 Israel sends, among other gifts, balsam as a present to the Egyptians. 4612 Correcting the Heb. with the aid of the Gk. 4612 Again following the superior Gk, text. 15-2 emiah's mes Judah § 90. The Conquest of Judah by Nebuchadrezzar, Jer. 251-11, Jer. 25 'The word that came to Jeremiah concerning all the people of JerJudah, in the fourth year of Jehoiakim son of Josiah king of Judah (the same was the first year of Nebuchadrezzar, king of Babylon), which Jeremiah sage to the prophet spoke to all the people of Judah and to all the inhabitants of Jerusalem: From the thirteenth year of Josiah, son of Amon king of Judah, even to this day, now twenty-three years, I have spoken to you faithfully and earnestly and have said, "Turn each from his evil way and from your evil deeds, that ye may dwell in the land which Jehovah hath given to you and your fathers, from of old and even from evermore.' 7But ye have not heeded.a "Therefore Jehovah saith, 'Because ye have not heeded my words 'I am The about to send and take a race from the north and bring them against this judgland and its inhabitants, and all the people round about; and I will utterly menhe destroy them and make them an object of horror and hissing and a per- Chalpetual reproach, 10and I will cause to disappear from their midst the sound of g § 90 The Jeremian authorship of this section has been seriously questioned. There is much in the chapter which clearly comes from the exilic or post-exilic period. The Heb. and Gk. vss. also differ widely, indicating that this twenty-fifth chapter has been subjected to a much later revision. The question, however, is not whether all the chapter is from Jeremiah, but whether or not there is a Jeremian nucleus. The evidence, on the whole, points to the conclusion that there is, and that here we have Jeremiah's interpretation of the advent of the Chaldeans as that event affected the fortunes of Judah and of the other nations along the eastern Mediterranean. While the prophet hailed the overthrow of the Egyptians, he saw clearly that the new conquerors would prove agents of judgment upon his own people and their immediate neighbors. They, like Assyria (cf. Nah, 3), should be obliged to drink the intoxicating cup of Jehovah's wrath at the hand of the Chaldean conquerors. The Gk. translators of the O.T., in introducing the oracles regarding the foreign nations now found in the Heb. Bible, 45-51, immediately after 2513, showed their appreciation of the fact that these oracles were closely connected with the present chapter. In their original form, however, the first thirteen vss. of chap. 25 do not properly introduce foreign oracles, but rather foretell the doom awaiting Judah at the hands of the Chaldeans. The latter part of the chapter, with its vivid picture of the cup of Jehovah's fury which the nations must drink, furnish, as Cornhill has clearly shown (Jeremia, 286-9), a fitting introduction to the foreign oracles. Of this second part of the chapter, 15-24 evidently contain the original Jeremian nucleus. They deal not with some distant fate but present in general terms the immediate effect of Chaldean conquest. Like the opening vss. of the chapter, their contents are in perfect harmony with the superscription, which dates the prophecy in 605 B.C., the memorable year when Nebuchadrezzar overthrew Necho and established his title to southwestern Asia. As has already been said, note § 89, it seems exceedingly probable that we have in vss, 15-24 nearly all that Jeremiah had to say regarding foreign nations. The remainder of this chapter certainly represents the work of later hands. The same is apparently true of the oracles in 46-51. Inasmuch as Jeremiah had spoken in his original utterances of the fate awaiting these foreign nations, it was natural that later spiritual disciples of the prophet should feel justified, either in expanding, in the light of later history, this earlier nucleus or else in adding to the collection of Jeremiah's sermons later anonymous oracles regarding these nations. Logically they belong immediately after chap. 25, but probably their position in the Heb. VS. of the Ŏ.T., as appendices to the book of Jeremiah, is the more original. 25 This explanatory clause is lacking in the Gk. and O. Lat. * 253 So Gk. Heb. adds the words, Jehovah spoke to me and. y 253 So Gk. Heb. adds, which he did not hear. This clause and the following vs., which reads, and Jehovah sent to you all his servants the prophets, early and late, but ye did not hear, interrupts the close connection between 3 and 5 and is a later scribal expansion based on 75, 26 255 Vs. is the immediate and logical sequel of 5. Vs. 6, like, has all the characteristics of a scribal note, a part of the expansion of the original text which characterizes this chapter. It reads, and do not follow after other gods to serve them and to worship them, and vex me not with the work of your hands and I will do you no hurt. The last clause is clearly based on 76b. 257 So Gk. and O. Lat. A scribe has added in the Heb., is the oracle of Jehovah, that ye might vex me with the work of your hands to your own hurt. 6258 So Gk. Heb. adds, of hosts. 25 So Gk. Heb., all the families of the north. d 259 So Gk. rezzar, my servant, Heb. adds, is the oracle of Jehovah, namely the king of Babylon, Nebuchad 259 So Gk. and Lat. Heb., these people. Heb., lit., I will devote them. divine deans 16 k mirth and gladness, the voice of the bridegroom and the bride, the sound of the hand-mills and the light of the lamp. "And the whole land shall become an object of terror, and they shall serve among the nations' seventy years.' 15 For thus saith Jehovah, the God of Israel to me: Take the cup of the wine of this fury from my hand, and cause all the nations to whom I send thee, to drink it. And they shall drink, and reel to and fro, and be mad because of the sword which I am sending among you. So I took the cup from Jehovah's hand, and caused to drink all the nations to whom Jehovah had sent me: 18namely, Jerusalem, the cities of Judah, both its kings and its princes,m 19Pharaoh, king of Egypt, and his servants and princes, and all his people, 20 and all the foreign peoples," and all the kings of the land of Uz, and all the kings of the land of the Philistines, and Askelon, Gaza, and Ekron, and the remnant of Ashdod,P 21Edom, and Moab, and the Ammonites, 22and all the kings of Tyre and all the kings of Sidon, and the kings of the coast-lands which are across the sea,q 23Dedan, and Tema, and Buz,' and all those who have the corners of their hair shorn, 24and all the kings of the Arabians who live across the desert. 8 h 2511 So Gk. Heb. adds, this to a waste. secondary. 25 So Gk. The editor who revised the the king of Babylon. Possibly the first part of this vs. is entirely Heb. has prefixed these to nations and added 2511 The number 70 seems to be original. It recurs again in 2910, which comes from a later period in Jeremiah's work. It is equivalent to a round number and means more than a generation. It corresponds with Ezekiel's estimate of forty years for the same period. It is in harmony with Jeremiah's advice to the exiles in 29 to build houses and rear families for the exile was to endure for a considerable period. That Jeremiah firmly believed in the future restoration of his people is shown by his later symbolic acts. k 25 Vss. 12-14, which follow, are purely editorial additions, intending to connect the fate of Judah with those of foreign nations. Part of 12 and all of 14 are lacking in the Gk. Vs. 13 assumes that the book of Jeremiah is in its final form. Vss. 12, 13 read in the Heb., when the seventy years are completed I will punish the king of Babylon and that nation, saith Jehovah, for their iniquity, and the land of the Chaldeans; and I will make it desolate forever; and I will bring upon that land all my words which I have pronounced against it, even all that is written in this book, which Jeremiah hath prophesied against all the nations. 12516 Possibly this last clause is secondary. m 2518 A later scribe has expanded this vs. by adding, to make them a waste, a fright, and a hissing, and a curse, as it is this day. The latter part of this scribal gloss is lacking in the Gk. n 2520 The reference is probably to the mixed foreign population settled in Egypt. • 2520 An Aramean tribe somewhere to the northeast of Edom. Cf. Gen. 103, 2221, 3628, Lam. 421, Job 11. P 2520 Ashdod had for many years been besieged by the Egyptians. The reference evidently is to those that survived." q 252 1. e., the Phoenician colonies along the shores of the Mediterranean. 2523 Three important tribes of Northern Arabia. Cf. Is. 214, Gen. 107, 2221. 2523 The members of many of these Arabian tribes were distinguished by a peculiar cutting of the hair, which appears to have constituted the tribal mark. 254 Through a scribal repetition, the Heb. text is corrupt. The Gk. has preserved the more original reading. IV THE SERMONS OF HABAKKUK § 91. The Justice of Jehovah's Rule, Hab. 11-4, 128, 13, 21- Why dost thou make me look upon wickedness and behold trouble? a The Prophecy of Habakkuk. The prophecy of Habakkuk presents one of the most difficult problems in the O.T., for it bears the simple superscription, The burden which Habakkuk saw, and contains little decisive evidence as to when it was delivered. The result is that a great variety of dates have been assigned to this little book. A recent writer, Betteridge, Am. Jour. of Theol., Oct., 1903, VII, 644-61, assigns the whole book to the year 701 B.C. G. A. Smith, in his Bk. of the Twelve Prophs., finds in 12-24 an appeal from either an Assyrian or Egyptian tyrant, from whose power the Chaldeans will deliver Jehovah's people. Peiser, in his monograph on Habakkuk, maintains that the book is a unit and that it was written by a Hebrew prince about the year 609 B.C. Peake regards 15-11 as a misplaced, pre-exilic prophecy and assigns the rest of chaps. 1, 2 to the exile. Marti, in his Dodekapropheten, argues strongly that the original prophecy is to be found in 15-11, 12b, 14-17. Vss. 12-4, 12, 13, 21-4 he regards as a psalm coming from either the fifth or second century B.C. The woes of 25-19 he dates from 540 B.C., when the Chaldean empire was nearing its fall. Duhm, in his commentary on the book, regards the foe in 15- as the Kittim, or Greeks, and urges that the description does not fit the Chaldeans. He finds himself obliged, however, to make many arbitrary changes in order to adjust the text to his theory. Happel would date the prophecy in the age of Antiochus IV about 170 B.C. These differences of opinion suggest the difficulties of the problem and tend to shake confidence in the widely divergent positions maintained by the various scholars. The decisive points in the problem are the references to the Chaldeans in the first chapter and the problem of why the righteous are oppressed by the wicked. The violence and wickedness referred to in the opening vss. seem to be within as well as without the community to which the prophet spoke. Justice is perverted by those in authority, as in § 81, Jeremiah's complaint. The problem is one that involves the justice of Jehovah's rule. The Chaldeans were also just beginning to appear on the scene. They are the agents of Jehovah's judgment upon the guilty oppressors of the righteous both within and without the community. Their motive, however, is the mere lust of conquest and their victories introduce a new problem, even though they overthrow the present oppressors. In the light of the preceding sections, it is evident that the situation is precisely similar to that described by Jeremiah; and Habakkuk's teachings are closely parallel to those of Jeremiah in the same period. The rule of Jehoiakim, under Egyptian supremacy, represented injustice and violence to the true followers of the prophets. Habakkuk, as well as Jeremiah, recognized that the fate of the faithful seemed, for the moment at least, to implicate the very justice of Jehovah himself. At the same time, after the great victory at Carchemish, the advancing Chaldeans were recognized as Jehovah's agents, commissioned to overthrow the existing regime of violence and oppression. Hence there is good reason for dating the original sections of Habakkuk in 605-4 B.C. Budde and Marti have contributed materially to the solution of the problem of Habakkuk by distinguishing between 124, 123, 13, 214, which deals with the question of Jehovah's justice, and 15-11, 12b, 14-17, which interprets the significance of the advent of the Chaldeans. Separating the two groups of passages, the logical unity of each and their relation to each other becomes clear. With this rearrangement the reasons which have been urged against Habakkuk as their author disappear, and the year 605 B.C. furnishes by far their most satisfactory background. The authorship and date of the woes in 25-20 are by no means so certain. It is evident that this passage has been supplemented by many later scribal glosses. When these have been re § 91 In this passage Habakkuk shatters the false hopes of Jehoiakim and his supporters, who trusted that, with the overthrow of Assyria and Egypt, they would be free from foreign interference. For more than a century the Chaldeans had lived in obscurity in the swamps of lower Babylonia. Suddenly, under the leadership of Nabopolasser, they united with the Medes in the conquest and overthrow of Nineveh and, as a result of their great victory over Necho, entered, within two or three years, into the possession of the western empire. The description is probably based on rumor rather than actual knowledge. Many of the figures were appar ently drawn from the well-known characteristics of the Assyrians to whose position and prestige the Chaldeans had succeeded. a 13 Omitting there is, which is superfluous and destroys the metre of the vs. b 13 Slightly revising the Heb. as the context requires. The problem in Judah |