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8/9/2019 Javelin Book)

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JEREMIAH JEREMIAH

that nations from the N. would invade Palestine. Theseecstatic experiences were doubtless preceded by eager.observat ion of the signs of the times and stifled impulsesto speak. Jeremiah had in waking hours seen themovements in history of that mysterious hand which inthe vision brought the cauldron from the N. and dedi-cated him as a prophet. A similar experience mdy havecome in Zedekiah's reign when, hearing the murmurs ofthe approaching storm, and reflecting upon the de-generacy of the present generation, he had his vision ofthe figs (24). Th at Yahwl: had actuallyrevealed himselfto him, he never seems to have questioned ; nor that theword of judgment he announced was actually YahwB'sword. The events justified his faith. Whet her theScythian invasion passed so harmlessly by the territory.over which Josiah reigned as is generally supposed,cannot, with our scanty information, be determined.There is no intimation of a disenchantment like that ofEzekiel in regard to Tyre. Th e capture of Jerusalemin 597 and the deportation of Jehoiachin must have been

-understood by Jeremiah as a vindication of YahwB's-word.

Another source ofassurance was the character of the.oracles he felt divinely impelled to utter. He wasimpressed' by their similarity to the oracles of trueprophets in the past. Like them he prophesied, not.smooth things, but coming judgment. Like theirs, his

.oracles were immediate, spontaneous utterances. Hecontrasted them with the oracles also delivered in thename of Yahwl: by the prophets opposed to him, andwas struck by the difference in tone, the cheerful tenor,the failure to go to the root of the evil, the lack of,originality ( 23 98 )) . He noticed their use of popularphrases, and accused them of stealing oracles.one fromanother (v. 3 0 ) , while his own communion with YahwBbrought him ever fresh supplies of thought and speech,.and prevented him from copying even the words of the.earlier prophets that had come down to him. Hewatched their easy acceptance of the pleasures of life,while his own moral earnestness and sense of impendingeatastrophe enjoined upon him absolute celibacy andbade him keep aloof even from the ordinary expressions.of sympathy; and he accused them of immoral conduct.His spiritual isolation in such an environment becamet o him a n evidence of the genuineness of his experience.Ifhe was right, his opponents were wro ng; if he wasinspired, they put forth false claims, proclaiming in the

nam e of Yahwl: oracles that they had themselves thoughtaut. He even forbade the use of the word ' orac le,'Nvn (2336 see PROPHECY). While all prophethood,even that of Jeremiah's less radical colleagues, mustultimately rest on a sense of personal communion with.adivine being, this sense seems to have been speciallykeen in his case. Th e snatches of poetry, elegies,psalms, dialogues, frequently adduced to show that inthis respect Jeremiah anticipatvd the type of piety thatmeets us in the Psalter, may indeed be later additionsto the bo ok ; but the individualistic character of hisreligions life is abundantly evident.

This prophetic consciousness is influenced by, and in-turn reacts uuon. his conceution of Yahwl:. Yahwl: is

Israel's god. He is Israel's father to4' conception whom the nation owes its existence,Of YahwB* and therefore its allesziance. Like"

Hosea, Jeremiah also conceives of Israel as YahwB'swife. But while Yahwl: has remained faithful, thenation has broken its marriage vows. By its adulterywith strangers

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Le., its worship of the gods of othernations

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it has forfeited its rights. Unlike HOSEA,Jeremiah deems it impossible that the adulterous wifeshould be taken back again (318). The noble vinehas become a degenerate plant (221). This abandon-ment of YahwB is all the more amazing, as other nationsremain faithful to their gods (211: o& R S ncnl [2 IIR]has the appearance of a later gloss), though these are but"broken cisterns as compared with a fountain of living

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waters (213) . However numerous these gods may be,they can give no aid in times of trouble (228). Theyare as impotent as their sacred symbols, the aEyas andthe ~ R @ R S , to which the worshippers address suchendearing terms as ' my father' and ' my begetter'(227). Whether Jeremiah actually identified the godsof the nations with stocks and stones, may be doubted.But it is possible that his words paved the way forthe positive and distinct utterances of 2 Isaiah (cpIDOLATRY).

Hehas absolute power over its destiny (186). He sendsthe northern hordes into Palestine; he subdues thenations to Nebuchadrezzar. Yahwl: is not a numen 'limited to the neighbourhood .of his shrine, but a godwho can betake himself to distant places, whether inheaven or on earth, so that no man can escape fromhim ( 2 3 2 3 x 1 . He is just in all his dealings with thenations, treat ing them according to their merits ( 1 8 7 3 )

YahwB's purposes are in harmony with his nature.He reveals them to his servants. 'W ha t is Yahwkabout to do?' is the question that bids the prophet'seyes pierce the darkness of the future, and makes him asoothsayer. Jeremiah's predictions were not based onshrewd political observations, but on his impressions,present with him, whether he was waking or sleeping,ofwhat such a god as he conceived Yahwi: to be wouldnecessarily have in mind to do, when historical circum-stances showed that he was ready to act. Tha t it wasYahwB's purpose to put Judah, as well as the surround-ing nations, into the hand of the growing Chaldeanpower, was the burden ofJeremiah's message during aperiod of almost forty years. But the ulterior divinemotive was to him the moral reformation of the people.

Only through foreign oppression could that rebelliousdisposition (25 iiqa, 724)which showed itself in idolatryand unrighteousness be overcome. This oppressionmust last qntil the reformation has taken place. HenceJeremiah indulges in no vain speculations as to thelength of the Chaldean suzerainty; hence he is abso-lutely convinced of .the impossibility of resistance andexhorts Zedekiah and his people to willing submission ;hence he lays down as a criterion of true prophethoodthe preaching ofjudgment to come with its tendency tolead men away from their evil doings (288 2322).Beyond this he seems to have had no eschatology. Ifthe nation should repent, Yahwl: would also change his

treatment of the people (1878). But there being asyet no evidence of repentance, the Chaldean yokemust continue and should be quietly carried rather thanaggravat ed by rebellion. Those who by the preachingof repentance worked for the reformation of character,proved themselves in the midst of their labours tobelong to the true prophetic order (288). Like hispredecessors, Jeremiah believed in the power of YahwB's

judgments to touch the springs of action and lead to achange of conduct. In this he differed widely from thegreat writer, who might be designated a Second Jeremiah(Jer. 30f.), who believed that the grace of Yahwl:,shown in the restoration of national independence andprosperity, could alone accomplish that thorough re-formation which foreign oppression and propheticpreaching had failed to effect.

YahwB's supreme demand is purity within, a circum-cision of ear and heart, a removal of the carnal dis-position preventing Yahwe's voice from being heard an dhis will from being understood and accepted ( 4 4 14 610).Th e outward forms of the cult have not been ordainedby Yahwb. ' I spake not unto your fathers nor com-manded them when I brought them up from the land ofEgypt, concerning burnt-offerings and sacrifices ' (7 22).This is the prophet's declaration of independence. Th elaw promulgated in 620 commanded in YahwB's namenumerow burnt-offerings and sacrifices. Howeverfavourably Jeremiah may have beep impressed at theoutset by the moral tone of the Deuteronomic law, its

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Yahwl: determines what shall befall his people.


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