JEREMIAH
Pashhur,
the
Temple
overseer
(ch.
20),
when,
to
stop
his
mouth,
the
prophet
was
scourged
and
put
in
the
stocks.
He
breaks
out,
'
O
Jehovah,
thou
hast
befooled
me,
and
I
have
been
befooled
1'
and
ends
by
'cursing
the
day
of
his
birth'
(vv.'-").
Jehovah
has
used
His
almighty
power
to
play
with
a
weak,
simple
man,
and
to
make
him
a
laughing-stock
1
Jehovah's
word
is
'a
fire
in
his
bones';
he
is
compelled
to
speak
it,
only
to
meet
ridicule
and
insult!
His
warnings
remain
unfulfilled,
and
God
leaves
him
in
the
lurch
I
He
desires
nothing
but
the
people's
good;
yet
they
count
him
a
traitor,
and
put
down
his
terrifying
visions
to
malignity!
This
last
reproach
cut
Jeremiah
to
the
heart;
again
and
again
he
had
repelled
it
(IS'"
17"
182").
The
scene
of
ch.
20
was
Jeremiah's
Gethsemane.
It
took
place
not
long
before
the
crisis
of
'the
fourth
year
of
Jehoiakim,'
—
the
occasion
when
the
roll
of
doom
was
prepared
(ch.
36)
which
was
read
to
the
people
and
the
king,
and
when,
after
the
battle
of
Carchemish,
Nebuchadrezzar
was
hailed
as
Jehovah's
servant
and
exe-cutioner
(ch.
25).
At
this
juncture
the
conclusive
breach
with
Jehoiakim
came
about,
when
the
faithless
king,
by
running
his
knife
through
Jeremiah's
book,
severed
the
ties
which
had
bound
prophecy
to
the
secular
throne
of
David
since
Samuel's
day.
Recalling
at
this
date
his
misgivings
and
inward
fightings
against
God,
the
prophet
virtually
tells
us
that
they
are
past.
From
the
years
605-4
he
marches
with
firm
step
to
the
goal;
he
sees
the
end
of
God's
kingdom,
and
the
way.
Jeremiah
is
at
last
equal
to
his
office,
ready
'to
pluck
up
and
to
break
down
the
nations,
and
to
build
and
to
plant.'
Master
of
himself,
he
is
master
of
the
world.
(d)
Chs.
30-33
(33"-«
are
wanting
In
the
LXX;
the
remainder
of
33,
along
with
32"-",
lies
under
grave
critical
suspicion)
contain
a
distinct
'word
of
Jehovah,'
committed
to
a
separate
'book.'
This
is
'the
Book
of
the
Future
of
Israel
and
Judah'
(Duhm),
and
the
crown
of
Jeremiah's
life-work.
Like
the
Christian
prophet
who
wrote
the
Epistle
to
the
Hebrews,
Jeremiah
fled
to
the
ideal
and
eternal
from
the
horrors
of
the
national
downfall;
as
the
earthly
Zion
sinks,
the
image
of
God's
true
city
rises
on
his
soul.
The
long
foreseen
catastrophe
has
arrived;
Jeremiah
meets
it
bravely,
for
'days
are
coming,'
Jehovah
tells
him,
"when
I
will
restore
the
captivity
of
my
people
Israel
and
Judah,
and
I
will
cause
them
to
return
to
the
land
of
their
fathers'
(30"*).
The
prophet
adds
deeds
to
words:
he
takes
the
opportunity
of
buying,
before
witnesses,
a
field
at
Anathoth
offered
during
the
siege
by
his
cousin
Hanameel,
in
token
that
'houses
and
fields
and
vineyards
shall
yet
again
be
bought
in
this
land'
(32").
But
the
restoration
means
something
far
better
than
recovery
of
the
land;
it
will
be
a
spiritual
renovation,
a
change
of
heart
going
deeper
than
Josiah's
renewal
of
the
old
covenant.
'
They
shall
be
my
people,
'
Jehovah
promises,
'
and
I
will
be
their
God;
and
I
will
give
them
one
heart
and
one
way,
that
they
may
fear
me
for
ever.
.
.
.
And
I
will
make
an
everlasting
covenant
with
them,
and
/
will
put
my
fear
in
their
hearts
'
(32"-
'«;
vv."-"
of
this
disputed
chapter
are
full
of
Jeremianic
traits).
The
announcement
of
the
'new
covenant'
in
ch.
312i-«
is
the
kernel
of
the
'Book
of
the
Future';
this
is
Jeremiah's
greatest
contribution
to
the
progress
of
the
Kingdom
of
God.
This
passage
touches
the
high-water
mark
of
OT
prophecy;
it
was
appropriated
by
the
Lord
Jesus
at
the
Last
Supper,
and
supplied
the
basis
of
the
NT
doctrine
of
salvation
(see
He
10"-").
To
deprive
Jeremiah
of
the
New-Covenant
oracle
(as
B.
Duhm,
e.g.,
would
do)
is
to
remove
the
top-stone
of
his
life's
edifice;
it
is
to
make
his
rOle
one
of
'
plucking
up
and
breaking
down,
'
with
no
commensurate
'
building
and
planting'
(l"i)
upon
the
desolated
site.
Jeremiah
had
read
first
in
his
own
heart
the
secret
thus
conveyed
to
Israel.
The
mission
which
he
had
borne
for
long
as
a
painful
yoke,
he
learnt
to
rest
in
with
entire
con-
JEREMIAH
tentment.
He
is
able
to
say,
'
I
delight
to
do
thy
will,
O
my
God;
yea,
thy
law
is
within
my
heart';
and
he
prophesies
that,
under
the
new
covenant,
every
man
shall
say
this.
Jeremiah's
style
and
powers
as
a
writer
have
been
underestimated;
better
justice
is
done
to
them
by
recent
scholars.
The
gloom
overshadowing
many
of
his
pages
has
been
repellent;
and
the
mistaken
attach-ment
of
his
name
to
'Lamentations'
has
brought
on
him
the
disparaging
epithet
of
'the
weeping
prophet.'
Much
of
the
book
comes
to
us
from
other
pens;
in
its
narrative
parts
we
recognize
the
hand
of
Baruch;
and
allowance
should
be
made
for
editorial
glosses
and
additions,
here
and
there
interrupting
the
flow
and
impairing
the
force
of
the
original.
Jeremiah's
language
is
touched
with
occasional
Aramalsms,
and
shows
some
falling
oft
from
the
perfection
of
the
classical
Hebrew
of
the
8th
century.
Jeremiah
has
neither
the
sublimity
and
sustained
oratorical
power
of
Isaiah,
nor
the
pungency
of
Amos,
nor
the
poignancy
of
Hosea,
nor
the
fire
and
verve
of
Nahum,
nor
the
subtlety
of
Habakkuk;
but
in
richness
of
imagery,
in
fulness
of
human
Interest,
in
lucidity
and
naturalness.
In
his
command
of
the
various
resources
of
poetry,
eloquence,
pathos,
and
practical
appeal,
by
virtue
of
the
combination
of
excellences
he
presents
and
the
value
of
his
total
output,
Jeremiah
Is
the
greatest
of
the
writing
prophets.
3.
The
Book.
—
We
owe
the
Book
of
Jeremiah
to
his
collaborator
Baruch
(ch.
36).
In
fairness,
this
should
be
entitled
'The
Book
of
Jeremiah
the
prophet
and
Baruch
the
scribe.'
With
Baruch's
help
Jeremiah
issued
in
604
'a
roU
of
a
book,'
containing
the
sum
of
his
public
teaching
up
to
that
date.
This
volume
was
not
too
large
to
be
read
to
the
assembled
people,
and
read
aloud
twice
more
in
the
course
of
the
same
day.
In
size
and
contents
it
corresponded
to
chs.
2-12
of
the
existing
book
(the
two
fragments
of
S^-'"
seem
to
be
a
later
Jeremianic,
and
10'-"
a
post-Jeremianlc
insertion;
some
would
also
refer
12'-"
to
a
subsequent
date).
The
destruction
of
the
first
roll
by
Jehoiakim
called
tor
a
new
edition,
containing
'many
like
words,'
which
added
to
the
bulk
of
the
first
publication:
chs.
1
and
14-20,
with
(possibly)
25,
may
be
taken
to
contain
the
supplementary
matter
referred
to
in
36'^,
ex-tending
and
Illustrating
chs.
2-12
(ch.
13
is
out
of
place,
since
it
bears
in
the
allusion
of
w."-
"
manifest
reference
to
the
captivity
of
597).
With
the
exceptions
named,
and
some
others
of
less
moment,
chs.
1-20
may
be
read
as
the
re-written
roll
of
Jer
36*',
which
dated
from
the
winter
of
B.C.
604.
In
chs.
21"-23'"
we
find
a
distinct
collection
of
oracles,
relating
to
the
kings
(down
to
Jeholachin)
and
prophets,
associated
under
the
designation
of
'shepherds';
it
is
prefaced
by
a
story
(in
3rd
person:
21'-'°)
about
king
Zedekiah,
germane
to
the
later
collection
of
chs.
37-39.
Chs.
13
and
24
and
27-29
are
reminiscences
of
Jeremiah
relative
to
the
early
years
of
Zedekiah's
reign,
subsequent
to
the
First
Captivity
(597)
—
surely
ch.
35,
the
story
of
the
Eecha-bites
(In
1st
person),
relating
to
Jehoiakim's
closing
years,
should
come
in
here.
This
added
matter
may
have
gone
to
make
up
a
third
edition
of
Jeremlah-Baruch's
work,
published
about
this
date,
extending
over
chs.
1-29,
with
the
deductions
and
addition
previously
noted
(ch.
26
is
mentioned
below).
Chs.
30-33
form
a
totally
distinct
work
from
the
Book
of
Doom
thus
far
analyzed;
this
is
Jeremiah's
book
of
promise
or
consolation,
recording
the
revelation
of
his
people's
future
given
to
him
during
the
last
siege
of
Jerusalem.
Chs.
37-39,
to
which
21'-'"
should
be
attached,
and
40-44,
are
two
distinct
memoirs,
bearing
on
Jeremiah's
history
(a)
in
the
final
siege,
and
(6)
after
the
capture
of
Jerusalem;
the
authorship
of
his
secretary
is
indicated
by
the
fact
that
the
short
oracle
concerning
Baruch
(ch.
45)
is
set
at
the
end
of
these
narratives,
though
the
event
related
took
place
