JEREMIAH Volume I Robert P. Carroll y SHEFFIELD PHOENIX PRESS 2006CCopytight © Rober. Carroll, 1986 Fics published in paperback in 1986 by SCM Press. “This edition published in 2006 by strangement with SCM-Canterbury Press Lis ‘Sheffield Phoenix Press Department of Biblical Studies, University of Sheffield ‘Sheffield S1O2TN, wove sheffeldphoenixcom All rights sere No part ofthis publication may be epoduced tant any fo oF Car including photocopying records oF syny mea eectonicor mechani “hey information slag o” retrial system, without Be persion in rng, pubihes! A.cIP catalogue record for this book {Sovalale fom the Brissh Library Printed on ald-ree paper by Lightning Source ISON 1908088.68-7PART ONE, 79-27 Thus said the Lono to me: “Go and stand in the Benjamin Gate, by Uvhich the kings of judab cater and by ehich they go out, and all the [ates of Jerusalem, 20 and say, “Hear the word ofthe Lomo, you kings o Fadah, and all Judah, and all dhe inhabitants of Jerusalem, sho enter by soeet ates 21 Thus says the Lonb Take heed for the sake of rour lives, oe etic beara burden on the sabbath day or bring tin by the gates of Jerusalem, 22 And donot carry» burden out ofyour houses onthe sabbath seein work, Dut keep the sabbath day holy, a5 T commarded our Fibers 23 Yeu they did not listen or incline their ea, ut stilned his neck, tat they sight ot hear and receive instretion But if you listen to me says the Loxo, and bring in no buen by the ates of this ety on che sabbath day, but kep the sabbath day hay and d seiepoek om it 25 then thee shall enter by the gates ofthis city kings ‘tom the throne of David riding in chariots and on horses, they and thee een he men of Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem; aed his ity Pet be inhabated ir ever, 26 And people skal eome fom the cis of ‘hah and the places cound about Jersalem, rom the lane of Benjamin ‘ittn the Shephela from the hill country, and from the Negeb, bringing Hern fferegs. and sacrifices, cereal offerings and frankincense, and pe ghar offerings the house ofthe LonB. 27 Buti youd not Fiaten Peas Keep the sabbath day holy, and hot wo beara burde aad enter by itera ferusarm onthe sabbuth day then Twill Kindle te i its eee Sha it shall devour the palaces of Jerusalem and stall not {19} G lacks to me’. MT baer bhi (Q), inthe gate ofthe sons an people's K. bey G fewn soy, “your people” = ‘amnekd. The gate is aoe but the text may be corrupt. RSW. NEB ‘in the Benjmin Gate JPSB cn the People's Gate, The Benjamin Gate is referred in 3718 spat unlit wo be the reference hee, Gescbrecht 102, rltes itt the fie forthe fay, ef 1 Chron. 35.5, 12-18. [25] G hos fer ow: pe Tai mre tha tit fathers, alter bt stillened their neck ef 7.26. K Gene ty ering BHS vocalizes Kas Sone? ATK HO Bye eG AS fabber may be mase. or fem., cher reading s coreect TRedelpl: 8, favours Kah). (25] AIT ecsérim, and princes’ hese would ee dn Denis throne, I may be a diiogeaphy of thc wet vi, tng. or front the next ine are, cand thee princes Psat, 13) For the lating they sd thei pipers, he men o-Judah and Ahcanhbitant of Jerusalem’ cf 2:20), (26) MT sh bi horky and ase hanicaffgengs 10 the house of Yahweh’ ef 33.11. The phras rag thank offering’ may bean expansion here, as it sits awkvardlywat PART ONE in9-27 in the text (Bright; Dum). (27) MT aba" bia'vé rian, ‘and enter at the gates of Jerusalem’ BHS inserts b after ib lst by haplography, ‘and bring ie: the burden, through the gates (Rudolph suggests an alternative wha, and bring») Thiel 1973, 203-9 here is no divine response to the lament, What follows itis a prose sermon about the sabbath presented in the redaction as a to the speaker (‘to me’ may be absent in G but the 10 and stand implies a recipient of the divine word). The sermon appears in wv. 20-27, but the introduction (v. 19) belongs to that strand of redactional instructions which indicates the speaker's movements about the city and among the people (cf. 7.2 11.6; 13.1; 18.2; 19.1; 22.1) The sabbath motif may be unique in the tradition here (of 348-22 for an analogous treatment ofthe law on slave release), but the format ofthe sermon belongs to the typically Deuteronomistic alternative sermons which appear in 7.1-15 and 22.15 (analysis in Thiel, 204; cf, Nicholson 1970, 65-6). Deutero- nomisticphraseology also dominates thesermon (ef. 7.23-6;11.7-8), "The central point ofthe sermon is the keeping ofthe sabbath (ive. ‘not bringing burdens into the city or working on the sabbath) and life of the community (v.21 hidnend bnaprtzkem, “ake heed for your lives’) is made dependent upon such sabbath observance. The ‘community's fathers had been commanded to keep the sabbath holy (ef. 7.22-6 fora similar motif, but with reference to obedience rather than sacrifice), but had refused to receive instruction. Nothing is said about the consequences of such disobedience, but the sermon ‘moves on to offer the contemporary society the possibilty of estab- lishing its future on a permanent basis by sabbath observance. As a result of keeping the sabbath day holy, the city will play host to kings ‘on the throne of David, their retinue and royal houses, and to the ‘hronging masses from all over the land of Israel who flock to the temple-city to offer a wide range of sacrifices. The anti-sacrifices polemic ofother strands in the tradition (e-g.6.205 7.22; 11-15; 14.12) isabsent here and the acceptability ofsacrificeis grounded in keeping the sabbath, The key to the stability of city and land, royal house ‘and people isthe sabbath. Failure o keep holy the sabbath will bring a divinely kindled fire against the city and its palaces, a fire which will not be extinguished (the same motifasin 15.14; 17.4 and possibly 367Ma-ira7 PART ONE, Was-27 the link between wy. 19-27 and vv. 1-18), Idolatry brings the divine Fire against the land (17.1~4),s0 docs sabbath-breaking ‘The world of vv, 19-27 is very different from that of the poems and laments, though it shares some family resemblances with F I-13 and esp. 22.1-5 (the movement of kings). The speaker moves (Grom where is nat stated, see on 22.1) co a particular gate (the people's gate?) and there addresses ‘ings of Judah, and all Judah, and all the inhabitants of Jerusalem’ (v. 20; the "kings' reference indicates the theoretical nature of the sermon; ef. 18.13; 19.3; 22.4) The central ‘charge of the sermon is that burdens (mati, ef. 23.3340 for this motif) must not be cartied on the sabbath nor brought into the city ‘The elements of parades and people entering the city by certain gates or bringing burdens through those gates suggest thatthe sermon is preached froma vantage point outside thecity among the deportees?, ef. Nicholson 1970, 123). The preservation oflifeand themaintenance ‘of stability on the basis of sabbath-keeping are also quite alien to a tradition whose dominant features relate security to other matters (idolatry, oppression, etc.) The sermon reflects a world of stabilized ‘movement of a commercial nature and not a society threatened by imminent invasion or under siege from powerful forees, People from the outlying districts come up to Jerusalem to offer sacrifice, and officials parade about the city and through its gates. The world of the sermon (allowing for a certain level of idslic representation characteristicofpreaching) is closertothat depicted in Neh. 1315-18 than to the society facing the catastrophe of 387. ‘The origins and development ofthe sabbath in ancient Israel are rnot known, but whatever its pre-exilic states may have been, most biblical scholars recognize a significant development in is importance after the fll of Jerusalem (ef, Ezek, 20.12, 21,24; 46,1- Isa. 56.1-8; 58.1314; Kraus 1966, 76-88). The sermon in 17.19-27 may represent an exposition ofthe prohibition against working on the sabbath (ef Ex. 20.8-11; Deut. 5.12-15) in terms ofa particular practice of bringing goods into the city (ef. Neh. 15.13-18) and reflecting the situation of post-eilie Jerusalem. Te certainly reflects that movement which elevated the sabbath into mark f the special relationship between Yahweh and Israel (cf. Ezek. 20,12-21) and which saw the exile as the enforced sabbath-keeping of the land (Lev. 2634-5; I Chron. 36.21). The fathers failed o keep the sabbath (and presumably suffered for it -a point not needing to be made in the sermon because the memory of Jerusalem's destruction 8x PART ONE nagar remained fresh in the collective memory for a long time); their descendants are offered in this sermon the opportunity to guarantee their own well-being and the acceptability oftheir sacrificial offerings bby making sacred that special day 360