Additional Reading from New Bible Dictionary

I have copied and pasted this from the New Bible Dictionary-Jeremiah

JEREMIAH
I. His background
Jeremiah’s history covered a span of 40 years — from his call in the 13th year of King Josiah (626 bc) until the fall of Jerusalem in 587 bc. In those 4 decades he prophesied under the last five kings of Judah — Josiah, Jehoahaz, Jehoiakim, Jehoiachin and Zedekiah. While he was preaching, important personalities and events were shaping history beyond his native Judah. It was one of the most fateful periods in the history of the ancient Near East and it affected Judah’s history too.
The Assyrian empire disintegrated and Babylon and Egypt were left to struggle against each other for the leadership of the E. The chronology of the last quarter of the 7th century bc has been greatly clarified by the publication of some tablets which were excavated years ago but which had lain in obscurity in the vaults of the British Museum in London. In 1956 D. J. Wiseman made these Chaldean documents available to students of the ancient Near East, thus making possible a reappraisal of the chronology of the last quarter of the 7th century bc. Further light has also been shed by the discovery of ostraca (letters on jar fragments) and bullae (seals), in some cases naming personalities known from the book of Jeremiah. The most interesting seal reads: ‘belonging to Berekyahu (Baruch) son of Neriyahu (Neriah) the scribe’. This is probably the very Baruch who helped Jeremiah record his prophecies (Je. 36:4), and who may indeed have written the third-person accounts of Jeremiah’s life. Other seals name Gemariah, the son of Shaphan (Je. 36:11) and ‘Jerahmeel, the son of the king’ (Je 36:26; see P. J. King, Jeremiah: An Archaeological Companion, pp. 93–99). For the ostraca, see IIe below.
Jeremiah’s life and times which fall within this all-important period are remarkably well documented, and the intimacies of his personality are more vividly portrayed than those of the more spectral Minor Prophets or even of Isaiah and Ezekiel.
When Jeremiah was called to the prophetic office he was still ‘a child’ (na˓ar, 1:6), an ambiguous term descriptive of infancy (Ex. 2:6) and advanced adolescence (1 Sa. 30:17). If the demure Jeremiah simply meant he was spiritually and socially immature the word might indicate that he was not the average age of a prophet, say between 20 and 30, if we may argue from the rules laid down for Levites (Nu. 8:24; 1 Ch. 23:24). Assuming, then, that at his call Jeremiah was in his early 20s his boyhood was spent in the reigns of Manasseh and Amon. When the call came to Jeremiah nearly a century had passed since the N kingdom of Israel (Samaria) had fallen to the Assyrians. Judah in the S, however, contrived to survive. By a miracle it weathered the storm of Sennacherib’s invasion as Isaiah had predicted. King Hezekiah initiated reforms in Judah’s religion and morals (2 Ki. 18:1ff.), but these had been nullified by the long apostasy of his son Manasseh (2 Ki. 21:lff.) and the short idolatrous reign of Amon (2 Ki. 21:19ff.). While Judah was wallowing in the slough of idolatry the Assyrians under Esarhaddon and Ashurbanipal conquered Egypt. Under Psammetichus (664–610 bc) Egypt reasserted herself and began afresh to intimidate Judah, who found herself vacillating between now the blandishments, now the menaces of the two world powers, Egypt and Babylon. In this atmosphere of international political tension and national religious declension Jeremiah grew up into boyhood.
Doubtless many in Judah yearned for the dawn that would end the night of 60 years’ moral degeneracy. Jeremiah grew up in a pious priestly home (1:1). His name, ‘Yahweh exalts’ or ‘Yahweh throws down’, might well symbolize both his parents’ prayers for the disconsolate nation and their aspirations for young Jeremiah. They would communicate to him their anxiety over the religious persecutions and apostasies of Manasseh and Amon, educate him in Israel’s laws, and fill his fertile mind with the teachings of Isaiah and other prophets of the previous-century.
II. The five reigns
a. Josiah
When God called Jeremiah, Josiah (640–609 bc), who had been on the throne of Judah for 12 years, had already introduced religious reforms (2 Ch. 34:4–7). But it was not until 621 bc, the 18th year of his reign, that he initiated a systematic reformation in Judah’s religion and morals (2 Ki. 23).
The impulse to reform was generated by the momentous discovery in the Temple of ‘the book of the law’ by Hilkiah. Jeremiah had already been a prophet for 5 years. Probably chs. 1–6 describe conditions in Judah before Josiah’s main reforms in 622–621 bc. The nation is incorrigibly corrupt, insensible to God’s offer of pardon, and oblivious to the menace of an invincible enemy. Apart from 11:1–8, which may contain hints of Jeremiah’s enthusiasm for Josiah’s reforms, the prophet has left no reference to the last 12 years of Josiah’s reign. In 609 bc the king was killed at Megiddo (2 Ki. 23:29) in an abortive attempt to resist Pharaoh Neco (610–594 bc), successor to Psammetichus. Naturally Jeremiah mourned the early death of Josiah (22:10a) of whom he thought kindly (22:15f).
b. Jehoahaz
Neco continued to meddle in the affairs of Judah. Jehoahaz (or Shallum, Je. 22:11) succeeded Josiah (609 bc) but 3 months later was deposed by Neco, who imposed on Judah a heavy tribute (2 Ki. 23:31–33) and appointed Jehoiakim (or Eliakim), brother of Jehoahaz, to the throne (2 Ki. 23:34; 2 Ch. 36:2, 5). Jeremiah lamented Jehoahaz’s deposition and exile to Egypt (22:10–12).
c. Jehoiakim
In this reign (609–597 bc) an event of great political significance occurred — the battle of Carchemish (Je. 46) in 605 bc. The Egyptians under Neco were crushed by the Chaldeans under Nebuchadrezzar at the battle of Carchemish, on the right-hand bank of the Euphrates NW of Aleppo, and at Hamath. Politically this event was pivotal because it marked the transference of the hegemony of the Middle East to Babylon. Therefore Carchemish also had considerable significance for Judah. Since all routes to the Egyptian border were now under Nebuchadrezzar’s control, it was inevitable that the whole Middle East should come under his rule (Je. 25:15ff.). From that moment, therefore, the prophet advocated Judah’s submission to Babylonian suzerainty. In 604 bc Nebuchadrezzar sacked the city of Ashkelon, against which Jeremiah (47:5–7) and Zephaniah (2:4–7) prophesy judgment. In Je. 36:9ff. a fast in Judah is proclaimed. This undoubtedly points to an approaching national calamity; and indeed the date of Nebuchadrezzar’s campaign against Ashkelon coincides with the date of this fast in Judah. Jeremiah anticipates that from Ashkelon Nebuchadrezzar will come against Judah; hence the fast and the proclamation of Jeremiah’s message in Jerusalem. But Jeremiah’s policy opposed Jehoiakim’s domestic and foreign strategy. The king favoured idolatrous usages (2 Ki. 23:37), and his selfishness and vanity aggravated Judah’s misfortunes (Je. 22:13–19). Jehoiakim had scant respect for the prophet’s person (26:20–23) or message (26:9). His vacillating policy of alliance with Egypt, then with Babylon, was probably due to the fact that the outcome of the fighting between Babylon and Egypt in the year 601/600 bc was inconclusive. Three years later he rebelled against Babylon, but failure only brought him under the Babylonian yoke more completely, and this exacerbated Judah’s anguish (2 Ki. 24:1f.). Jeremiah reprimanded the king, the prophets and the priests, and the hostility which this rebuke engendered is mirrored in his oracles. He was persecuted (12:6; 15:15–18), plotted against (11:18–23; 18:18), imprisoned (20:2), declared worthy of death (26:10f., 24; cf. vv. 20–23; 36:26). His prophecies in written form were destroyed (36:27). But in these depressing circumstances Jeremiah persisted in his ministry — interceding for Judah (11:14; 14:11; 17:16), expostulating with God (17:14–18; 18:18–23; 20:7–18), unmasking the time-serving prophets (23:9–40), predicting the destruction of the Temple (7:1–15) and nation (chs. 18f.), and lamenting the doom of his people (9:1; 13:17; 14:17). Eventually Jehoiakim’s life ended violently in Jerusalem at the close of 598 bc, the 11th year of his reign, as Jeremiah had foretold (22:18; cf. 2 Ki. 24:1ff.). On the other hand, 2 Ch. 36:6f. speaks of Nebuchadrezzar’s binding Jehoiakim in fetters to take him to Babylon. Dn. 1:1f. also speaks of Jehoiakim’s exile in the 3rd year of his reign.
d. Jehoiachin
Jehoiachin (or Coniah, 22:24, 28, or Jeconiah, 24:1) succeeded Jehoiakim in 597 bc and reaped what his father had sown. This immature youth of 18 reigned only 3 months (2 Ki. 24:8). The rebellion of Jehoiachin’s father compelled Nebuchadrezzar in the 7th year of his reign to besiege Jerusalem, and the youthful king of Judah ‘went out’ (2 Ki. 24:12), i.e. gave himself up. He, along with the majority of Judah’s aristocracy, artisans and soldiers, was exiled to Babylon (as Je. 22:18f. implies) and the Temple was plundered (2 Ki. 24:10–16). In the Babylonian Chronicle we now find for the first time confirmation of this information from an extra-biblical contemporary source. Jeremiah had already predicted Jehoiachin’s fate (22:24–30). 36 years later, however, he was released by the son and successor of Nebuchadrezzar (2 Ki. 25:27–30).
e. Zedekiah
Zedekiah, the new appointee of Nebuchadrezzar to the throne of Judah, was Josiah’s youngest son (Je. 1:3) and uncle of Jehoiachin (2 Ki. 24:17:2 Ch. 36:10). This OT account of Zedekiah’s appointment by Nebuchadrezzar to succeed Jehoiachin is fully verified by the Babylonian Chronicle. His reign (597–587 bc) sealed Judah’s doom (2 Ki. 24:19f.). He was weak and vacillating, and his officers of state were men of humble station. Having superseded the exiled aristocracy, they now looked upon them with contempt, but Jeremiah had his own convictions concerning the ‘bad’ and the ‘good’ figs (24:1ff.). It was to the latter that the prophet sent his famous letter (29:1ff.). But both in Babylon and Judah false prophets sought to have Jeremiah executed (28:1ff.; 29:24ff.). The main point at issue between them was the length of the captivity. Jeremiah foretold an exile of 70 years, while the false prophets argued that it would last only 2 years.
Jeremiah’s main conflict with Zedekiah was over the question of rebellion against Nebuchadrezzar. A revolt was planned in the 4th year of the reign in conspiracy with neighbouring states which the prophet violently opposed (chs. 27f). However, Zedekiah seems to have succeeded in allaying Nebuchadrezzar’s suspicions by visiting Babylon the same year (51:59).
Finally, however, in the 7th or 8th year of his reign Zedekiah compromised himself irrevocably in the eyes of Nebuchadrezzar by entering into treasonable negotiations with Pharaoh Hophra. The die was cast, and the Babylonians marched again into Judah. As the Assyrians had done in Hezekiah’s reign they reduced first the cities of Judah. Je. 34:7 comes from a point in proceedings when only the S outposts of Lachish and Azekah still held out, a moment that has been illuminated by the so-called Lachish ostraca, one of which records the lament of an officer in a remote station that the lights of Azekah have now gone out, and he looks in hope for the lights of Lachish (Ostracon 4; see P. J. King, Jeremiah: An Archaeological Companion, p. 82f.). In Zedekiah’s 9th year (589) the Babylonians besieged Jerusalem for the second time. But before (21:1–10) and during the siege (34:1ff., 8ff.; 37:3ff., 17ff.; 38:14ff.) Jeremiah had only one message for Zedekiah — surrender to the Babylonians, for Jerusalem must fall into their hands. Jeremiah’s interpretation of the battle of Carchemish 17 years earlier (605) was being fully vindicated. At one point during the siege, the Egyptian army’s advance compelled the Babylonians to withdraw, but hopes that Jeremiah was mistaken were quickly disillusioned. His warning that the Babylonians would annihilate the Egyptians was soon fulfilled and the siege was immediately resumed (37:1–10). The perfidy of some Jews towards their slaves at this juncture roused Jeremiah’s withering scorn and severest condemnation (34:8–22). Thanks to the cowardly vacillations of Zedekiah, the prophet was so rigorously maltreated by his enemies during the siege that he despaired of his life. Arrested on the charge of deserting to the enemy, he was thrown into a dungeon (37:11–16), but was later removed to a prison in the guard-court close to the palace (37:17–21). He was then accused of treason and thrown into a disused cistern, where he would have died but for the timely intervention of Ebed-melech. He was later transferred to the prison court (38:1–13), where the king secretly conferred with him (vv. 14–28).
During the last stages of the siege Jeremiah, in a great act of faith, bought the land belonging to his cousin in Anathoth (32:1–15). At this moment too he proclaimed promises of restoration (32:36–44; 33:1–26). To this period may be assigned his great prophecy of a new covenant (31:3 1ff.), ultimately fulfilled in Christ the Mediator of that covenant. But Judah’s cup of iniquity was now full and in 587 judgment engulfed the doomed city of Jerusalem (ch. 39). Here also it is instructive to notice that the account of the captivity of Jerusalem in the Bab. Chronicle agrees in general with the OT account in 2 Ki. 24:10–17; 2 Ch. 36:17; Je. 52:28. The destruction of Jerusalem is now to be dated 587 bc, not 586, calculating the new year from the spring rather than the autumn, according to the Babylonian calendar.
Nebuchadrezzar treated Jeremiah kindly, and when he appointed Gedaliah governor of Judah Jeremiah joined him at Mizpah (40:1–6). The murder of Gedaliah soon followed (41:1ff.), and the remnant in Mizpah resolved to flee into Egypt in spite of the earnest protestations of Jeremiah, who, along with Baruch his secretary, was compelled to accompany them (42:1–43:7). The last scene in the aged Jeremiah’s stormy ministry shows him at Tahpanhes in Egypt still unbowed. He prophesies the conquest of Egypt by Nebuchadrezzar (43:8–13) and rebukes the idolatrous worship of the Jews then residing in Egypt (44:1ff.). Of subsequent events in his life or the circumstances of his death nothing is known.
III. Jeremiah’s personality
Jeremiah’s personality is the most sharply etched of any of the OT prophets. Indeed, it is no exaggeration to say that in order to understand what the OT means by the term ‘prophet’ it is necessary to study the book of Jeremiah. Jeremiah’s call, his vocation as a bearer of the word of God, the authority which this communicated to him, the manner in which the word was revealed to him, his clear-cut distinctions between the true prophet and the false, his message and the agonizing dilemmas in which his fidelity to it entangled him — all are delineated in Jeremiah’s oracles with an authority that is irresistible. This is because of the correlation between the prophet’s spiritual and emotional experience and his prophetic ministry. For interpretations of Jeremiah’s inner life, especially in his so-called Confessions or prayers of lamentation, see Skinner and McConville (ch. 3).
It is impossible to plumb the depths of grief into which Jeremiah was plunged. Despairing of comfort (8:18, 21), he desired to dissolve in tears for doomed Judah (9:1; 13:17) and abandon her to her self-inflicted fate (9:2). Convinced of ultimate failure, he cursed the day he was born (15:10; 20:14–18), accused God of having wronged him (20:7a), complained of the ignominy that had befallen him (20:7b-10), invoked imprecations upon his tormentors (18:18, 21–23). It is in this sense that the emotional, highly-strung Jeremiah was a tragic figure. The tragedy of his life springs from the conflicts which raged within and around him — his higher self wrestling with the lower, courage conflicting with cowardice, certain triumph struggling with apparent defeat, a determination to abandon his calling defeated by an inability to evade it (cf. 5:14; 15:16, 19–21 with 6:11; 20:9, 11; 23:29). But these fierce internal conflicts and the ignominy in which his calling involved him (15:17f; 16:2, 5, 8) compelled him to find in God a refuge. Thus the OT ideal of communion with God comes to its finest expression in Jeremiah. And it was in this fellowship with God that Jeremiah was able finally to withstand the erosive effects of timidity, anguish, helplessness, hostility, loneliness, despair, misunderstanding and failure.
IV. His message
a. Jeremiah’s concept of God
God is Creator and sovereign Lord who governs all things in heaven and earth (27:5; 28:23f; 5:22, 24; 10:12f). While the gods of the nations are nonentities (10:14f.; 14:22), Israel’s God disposes all things according to his will (18:5–10; 25:15–38; 27:6–8). He knows the hearts of men (17:5–10) and is the fountain of life to all who trust in him (2:13; 17:13). He loves his people tenderly (2:2; 31:1–3), but demands their obedience and allegiance (7:1–15). Sacrifices to pagan gods (7:30f.; 19:5) and oblations offered to him by a disobedient people (6:20; 7:21f.; 14:12) are alike abominations to him.
b. Jeremiah and idolatry
From the outset the prophet was a proclaimer of judgment. The sinfulness of Judah made this inevitable. The particular evil against which Jeremiah inveighed was idolatry. His many references to the worship of heathen deities confirm that the practice was widespread and diverse. Baal, Moloch and the queen of heaven are mentioned. Idols were found in the Temple (32:34), and in the vicinity of Jerusalem children were sacrificed to Baal and Moloch (cf. 7:31; 19:5; 32:35). Josiah had suppressed the idolatrous practices which his grandfather Manasseh had promoted, but the nation had apostatized after Josiah’s death.
c. Jeremiah and immorality
Throughout the OT immorality was a concomitant of idolatry. This principle is powerfully exemplified in Jeremiah’s idolatrous generation (5:1–9; 7:3–11; 23:10–14). Inescapably moral corruption followed the elimination of the fear of God and reverence for his law. Profligacy and improbity were common even among the priests and prophets (5:30f; 6:13–15; 14:14). Instead of arresting immorality, they contributed to its spread. Ironically, idolatrous and immoral Judah was still zealously religious! This explains Jeremiah’s oft-reiterated contention that before God the moral law takes precedence over the ceremonial. This principle Jeremiah applies to Judah’s reverence for the ark (3:16), the tablets of the Torah (31:31f), the covenant sign of circumcision (4:4; 6:10; 9:26), the Temple (7:4, 10f; 11:15; 17:3; 26:6, 9, 12; 27:16) and the sacrificial system (6:20; 7:21f; 11:15; 14:12).
d. Jeremiah and judgment
Naturally, then, the inevitability of judgment was prominent in Jeremiah’s message. Judah’s punishment at the hands of God took many forms, such as drought and famine (5:24; 14:1–6) and invasion by a foreign power (1:13–16; 4:11–22; 5:15–19; 6:1–15, etc.). And inexorably the great day of doom dawned when God’s instrument for punishing apostate Judah appeared (25:9; 52:1–30). The history of the background against which these oracles of judgment should be set has become much clearer with the publication of Chronicles of Chaldaean Kings (626–556 bc), to which reference has already been made. It describes a number of international events which took place in Jeremiah’s lifetime, and hints of these are found in his oracles against the foreign nations. Doubtless his oracles against the nations in ch. 25 were written under the influence of Nebuchadrezzar’s first advance W (Je. 25:1; cf. v. 9). Ch. 46 opens with a reference to the battle of Carchemish in 605. Then comes an oracle relating to Nebuchadrezzar’s campaign against Egypt (46:13–26). The Bab. Chronicle also provides a factual basis for Jeremiah’s oracles against Kedar and Hazor (49:28–33) and Elam (49:34–39). It also relates how Nebuchadrezzar in 599 made raids against the Arab tribes (cf. Je. 49:29, 32), while in 596 he campaigned against Elam. Hitherto this oracle has had no historical basis. See further for the light shed by the Bab. Chronicle on the dating and authenticity of the oracles in Jeremiah 46–51 in JBL 75, 1956, pp.282f.
e. Jeremiah and the false prophets
Jeremiah’s elevated conception of, and total commitment to, his call evoked within him an uncompromising antagonism towards the professional prophets and priests, and they in turn were his sworn enemies. Jeremiah’s major polemic with the priests was over their policy of making gain of their office and their contention that the Jerusalem Temple would never fall to the Babylonians (6:13; 18:18; 29:25–32, etc.). The false prophets confirmed the duped people of Judah in this facile optimism (8:10–17; 14:14–18; 23:9–40, etc.).
f. Jeremiah’s hope
By contrast Jeremiah was an uncompromising preacher of judgment. However, his announcement of judgment was shot through and through with hope. Judah’s exile in Babylon would not last for ever (25:11; 29:10). Indeed, Babylon herself would be overthrown (50f). This word of hope concerning Judah’s survival of judgment was present in Jeremiah’s message from the start (3:14–25; 12:14–17), but as the situation became more ominous Jeremiah’s confidence shone brighter (23:1–8; 30–33). And it was this hope that gave birth to his great act of faith in the darkest days (32:1–15).
g. Jeremiah and Judah’s religion
Jeremiah could therefore anticipate the destruction of the Temple, the fall of the Davidic dynasty, the cessation of the sacrificial system and the ministry of the priesthood with perfect equanimity. He even proclaimed that the covenant sign of circumcision was largely meaningless without the circumcision of the heart (4:4; 9:26, cf. 6:10). Confidence in Temple, sacrifice, priesthood, was vain unless accompanied by a change of heart (7:4–15, 21–26). Even the ark of the covenant would be dispensed with (3:16). Knowledge of the law without obedience to the law was valueless (2:8; 5:13, 30f; 8:8). Jeremiah therefore sees the necessity of having the law written not on stone but on the heart, thus prompting all to spontaneous and perfect obedience (31:31–34; 32:40). The passing away of the outward symbols of the covenant signified not the end of the covenant but its renewal in a more glorious form (33:14–26).
h. Jeremiah and the ideal future
Thus Jeremiah looks far beyond Judah’s return from exile and the resumption of life in Palestine (30:17–22; 32:15, 44; 33:9–13). In the ideal future Samaria will have a part (3:18; 31:4–9), abundance will prevail (31:12–14), Jerusalem will be holy unto the Lord (31:23, 38–40), and be named ‘the Lord is our righteousness’ (33:16). Its inhabitants will return to the Lord penitently (3:22–25; 31:18–20) and with their whole heart (24:7). God will forgive them (31:34b), put his fear within them (32:37–40), establish the rule of the Messianic Prince over them (23:5f.) and admit the Gentile nations to a share of the blessing (16:19; 3:17; 30:9).
V. His oracles
The oracles in Jeremiah’s book are not presented to the reader in chronological sequence. His ministry was spread over five reigns, and the oracles emanate from all periods. For example, much of chs. 2–6 may come from Josiah’s reign; chs. 26, 35–36 are from Jehoiakim’s; and chs. 21, 24, 29, 37–39 come from the time of Zedekiah. Some commentators have attempted to date all the oracles (Bright, Holladay), but there are many uncertainties.
Since, then, the chapters are not arranged chronologically, probably their subject-matter has determined their present order. Ch. 36 would seem to confirm this suggestion. When Jeremiah’s oracles were first committed to writing in the 4th year of Jehoiakim (604 bc) they covered a period of 23 years — from the 13th year of Josiah (626 bc) until 604 bc. These oracles Jehoiakim destroyed in the 5th year of his reign, but Baruch rewrote them at Jeremiah’s dictation, and ‘many similar words were added to them’ (36:32). What these additions were is uncertain, as are also the contents of the original roll which Jehoiakim destroyed. But clearly the original oracles and the additions formed the nucleus of the book of Jeremiah as it has come down to us, although how the whole was given its final form can only be conjectured. But the disorderly arrangement of the oracles strengthens the conviction that they are the words Jeremiah’s inspired lips uttered and were then put together during days of danger and turmoil.
The question of the order of Jeremiah’s oracles is also bound up with the relation between the MT and lxx text of his book. The Gk. translation deviates from the Heb. text in two respects, (i) It is shorter than the Heb. text by approximately one-eighth (i.e. about 2,700 words). This is the more remarkable when it is recalled that on the whole the text of the lxx corresponds fairly closely to the MT. The main exceptions are Jeremiah, Job and Daniel, (ii) In the lxx the oracles against the foreign nations (46–51) are placed after 25:13, and their sequence is also altered. These divergences go back to Origen’s time, but it is difficult to believe that the Heb. and Gk. texts represent two different recensions of the book of Jeremiah. Because of Jeremiah’s prophetic stature and spiritual calibre, these two texts of his book must have existed from a very early date, since no text which differed so radically from the received text as the Gk. differs from the Heb. would have been able to gain a foothold if it had been produced centuries after Jeremiah’s death.
In the debate on the superiority of one text to the other those who favour the lxx version argue that it gives the oracles against the foreign nations a more natural context, and that some of the omissions (e.g. 29:16–20; 33:14–26; 39:4–13; 52:28–33, etc.) could not have been accidental. But the foregoing references to the Bab. Chronicle have shown how it now enables us to re-create the historical background against which some of these oracles have to be set, especially those against Kedar, Hazor, Elam and the Arabs. Those who support the claims of the Heb. text emphasize ‘the arbitrary character of the renderings’ (Streane), which according to Graf makes it ‘altogether impossible to give to this new edition — for one can scarcely call it a translation — any critical authority’. The impression too is that the omissions are not motivated by scholarly interests. And the fact remains that the men of the ‘great synagogue’ who did so much in determining the Canon of the OT preferred the Heb. text to the Gk. version.
VI. Conclusion
In summarizing the greatness of Jeremiah, several things should be stressed. He recognized that Josiah’s reforms were in reality a retrograde movement because they threatened to undo the work of the prophets. Reformation in worship without reformation of heart was useless. He also perceived that religion in Judah would continue even though the Temple and Jerusalem were destroyed. In his famous letter to the exiles in Babylon (ch. 29) he affirmed that in a pagan land Jews could still worship God although denied the ministry of priesthood and the service of sacrifice. Indeed, they could be closer to God in Babylon than were their brethren in Jerusalem, who made the outward trappings of religion a substitute for inward faith.
He saw too that, since religion was essentially a moral and spiritual relation with God (31:31–34), its demands must also be moral and spiritual. The essence of the new covenant was inwardness. This is not the same as ‘individualism’. Rather, Jeremiah’s rejection of the ‘sour grapes’ proverb (Je. 31:29–30) was intended to relieve a new generation of the burden of inherited guilt, while affirming its own responsibility for its standing before God. The new covenant people of God remains the ‘house of Israel and the house of Judah’ (Je. 31:31), i.e. a community.
In Christian terms this new community is to be understood as those who belong together in Christ. The new covenant is established by his death and resurrection, and by the dwelling of his Spirit among his people (Heb. 8:8–13; 10:16–17). In the life which he gives, enabling them to live in the Spirit, lies the way through the old impasse of a covenant which could not be kept (Je. 31:32).
Bibliography. J. Skinner, Prophecy and Religion, 1922; J. P. Hyatt, IB 5, 1956; D. J. Wiseman, Chronicles of Chaldaean Kings (625–556 bc), 1956; J. G. S. S. Thomson, The Old Testament View of Revelation, 1960, ch. 4; Commentaries by J. Bright, AB, 1965; J. A. Thompson, NICOT, 1980; W. L. Holladay, Jeremiah 1, 2, Hermeneia, 1986, 1989; D. R. Jones, Jeremiah, NCB, 1992; P. J. King, Jeremiah: An Archaeological Companion, 1993; J. G. McConville, Judgment and Promise, 1993. j.g.s.s.t.
j.g.mcc.
[1]

bc before Christ
cf confer (Lat.), compare
OT Old Testament
Arab Arabic
JBL Journal of Biblical Literature
MT Massoretic text
lxx Septuagint (Gk. version of OT)
IB G. A. Buttrick et al. (eds.), Interpreter’s Bible, 12 vols., 1952-7
AB Anchor Bible
NCB New Century Bible
j.g.s.s.t. J. G. S. S. Thomson, B.A., M.A., B.D., M.th., formerly Pastor of Rosyth Baptist Church, Fife.
j.g.mcc. J. G. Mc Conville, M.A., B.D., Ph.D., Senior Lecturer in Religious Studies, Cheltenham and Cloucester College of Higher Education.
[1]Wood, D. R. W., Wood, D. R. W., & Marshall, I. H. 1996, c1982, c1962. New Bible Dictionary. Includes index. (electronic ed. of 3rd ed.) . InterVarsity Press: Downers Grove