聖書注解書

この章で私たちは次の内容を見る。一、エレミヤの公の奉仕が続いた時期とともに、本書の一般的な銘あるいは表題（エレミヤ書1:1-3）。二、預言者職へのエレミヤの召し、それに対する彼の控えめな異論への答え、ならびにその職務を遂行するための十分な委任が彼に与えられたこと（エレミヤ書1:4-10）。三、カルデヤ人によるユダとエルサレムの近づく滅びを象徴する、アーモッドの枝と沸き立つ鍋の幻（エレミヤ書1:11-16）。四、神が彼とともにおられるという確約のうちに、恐れずにそのわざを続けるよう預言者に与えられた励まし（エレミヤ書1:17-19）。このようにして、彼は必ず彼を支えてくださる方によって働きに任じられるのである。

緒言

エレミヤは、ヒルキヤの子のひとり、アナトテ（ベニヤミン領）に住む一般の祭司である

(Jer 1:1)。

律法の書を発見した大祭司ヒルキヤ

(2Ki 22:8)

とは別人である。もし同一人物であったなら、「その祭司」あるいは「その大祭司」という呼称が用いられたはずである。さらに、アナトテに居住していたことは、彼がソロモンによって大祭司職から退けられた

(1Ki 2:26-35)

アビアタルの系統に属していたことを示しており、それ以降その職はザドクの系統にとどまった。エレミヤに関する言及は

2Ch 35:25; 36:12, 21

に見られる。

紀元前629年、ヨシヤ王の第十三年、まだ非常に若かった

(Jer 1:5)

頃、彼はアナトテで預言者としての召しを受け

(Jer 1:2)、

大祭司ヒルキヤ、女預言者フルダ、預言者ゼパニヤとともに、ヨシヤの宗教改革を助けた

(2Ki 23:1-25)。

彼に与えられた最初の命令のひとつは、エルサレムに行って神のことばを宣べ伝えることであった

(Jer 2:2)。

また、召しを受けてから五年後、神殿で見つかった律法の書の内容をユダの諸都市に告げ知らせるため、公式の巡回を行った

(Jer 11:6)。

アナトテに戻ると、同郷の人々は彼の責めのことばに怒り、彼の命を狙って陰謀を企てた。彼らの迫害

(Jer 11:21)

や、身内からの迫害

(Jer 12:6)

から逃れるため、彼はアナトテを去りエルサレムに住んだ。ヨシヤの治世十八年間、またエホアハズ（すなわちシャルム）の三か月の治世

(Jer 22:10-12)

の間も、彼は妨害されなかった。

エホヤキムが即位すると、ヨシヤの改革がもたらしたのは偶像礼拝の強制的な抑制と神礼拝の外面的確立にとどまったことが明らかになった。そこで祭司、預言者、民はエレミヤを当局の前に引き出し、都に対する悪への非難ゆえに彼を死刑に処すよう迫った

(Jer 26:8-11)。

しかし首長たち、とりわけアヒカムが彼を弁護し

(Jer 26:16, 24)、

彼は拘禁された、あるいは少なくとも公の場に立たないことが賢明と判断した。エホヤキムの第四年（紀元前606年）、彼は口頭で与えられた預言を書き記し、民に読み聞かせるよう命じられた。「閉じ込められて」いたため、彼自身は主の宮に行くことができず

(Jer 36:5)、

書記バルクに委ねて断食の日に公衆の面前で読ませた。首長たちはバルクとエレミヤに、王の不興を避けて隠れるよう助言した。その後、巻物は王に読まれたが、王は激怒して小刀でそれを切り裂き火に投じ、同時に預言者とバルクの逮捕を命じた。彼らはエホヤキムの暴力から逃れた。その暴力はすでに預言者ウリヤを殺していた

(Jer 26:20-23)。

バルクはそのことばを、さらなる預言を加えて別の巻物に書き直した

(Jer 36:27-32)。

エホヤキン（すなわちエコヌヤ）の三か月の治世には、彼は王と太后の捕囚を預言した

(Jer 13:18; 22:24-30;

参照

2Ki 24:12)。

この治世の間、彼は主の宮の総督パシュルによって短期間投獄された

(Jer 20:1-18)

が、ゼデキヤの即位とともに自由になった

(Jer 37:4)。

ネブカデネザルがエルサレムに攻め上ったとき、王は彼に「主に問う」よう遣わした

(Jer 21:1-3,

以下；Jer 37:3)。カルデア人はパロの軍勢が近づいたと聞いて引き揚げた

(Jer 37:5)

が、エレミヤはエジプトが王を見捨て、カルデア人が戻って来て都を焼き払うであろうと警告した

(Jer 37:7, 8)。

これに怒った首長たちは、戦況が小康を保つ間のエレミヤの都外出を口実に、彼がカルデア人に寝返ろうとしたとして投獄した

(Jer 38:1-5)。

エチオピア人エベド・メレクのとりなし

(Jer 38:6-13)

がなければ、彼はマルキヤの穴で死に絶えていただろう。ゼデキヤは密かにエレミヤに相談したものの、首長たちに促されてエルサレムが陥落するまで彼を獄中に置いた

(Jer 38:14-28)。

ネブカデネザルはその将校ネブザルアダンに、彼を自由にするよう命じ、バビロンに行くか、残りの民とともに留まるかを選ばせた。真の愛国者として、彼は国が四十年半にわたって彼の奉仕を無視と迫害で報いたにもかかわらず、ネブカデネザルがユダに任命した総督ゲダリヤのもとに留まった

(Jer 40:6)。

イシマエルによるゲダリヤの殺害の後、民の指導者として認められていたヨハナンは、ゲダリヤの殺害への報復を恐れ、民とともにエジプトへ逃れ、エレミヤとバルクにも同行を強いた。これは、民がエジプトへ行けば滅びるが、地に留まれば保たれるという預言者の警告に逆らうことであった

(Jer 41:1-43:13)。

タハパネス、ナイル川のタニス（あるいはペルシア）支流にある境界の都市で、彼はエジプトの転覆を預言した

(Jer 43:8-13)。

伝承によれば彼はエジプトで死んだ。『偽エピファニウス』によれば、彼はタフネ（タハパネス）で石打ちにされた。ユダヤ人は彼を深く尊び、彼が死人の中からよみがえってメシアの先駆けになると信じていた

(Mt 16:14)。

ハヴェルニックは、エレミヤの性格における諸特徴の組み合わせが彼の神からの遣わしを証明していると論じた。穏やかで、臆病で、憂鬱を受けやすい性質でありながら、預言者としての職務の遂行においては勇気を欠かず、最も身分の低い民と同様に君王をも容赦せず責めた。すなわち預言の霊が彼の生来の気質を統御し、その個性を損なうことなく危険な任務にふさわしい者として整えたのである。ゼパニヤ、ハバクク、ダニエル、エゼキエルが同時代人である。最後の者はエレミヤとの良い対比をなす。エゼキエルにおいては、霊がエレミヤの縮み上がるような繊細な感受性と同じくらい強く確固さを特徴とする気質に働いた。エゼキエルは国民の罪を義に対立するものとして見、エレミヤはそれを惨めさを生み出すものとして見た。前者は時代の悪を客観的に、後者は主観的に見た。エレミヤの文体は彼の性格に対応している。彼は特に哀感と、惨めな者への同情に特徴づけられ、『哀歌』がそれを裏付ける。一連の哀歌はただ一つの目的――没落した祖国への悲しみを表現すること――を持つが、その表現に用いる光景とイメージはきわめて多様であり、読者は単調さを感じるどころか、全篇を貫く哀調の変化に魅了される。その言語にはアラム語的特徴が見られ、それが「文体が粗野である」というジェロムの批難の根拠であったのだろう。ロースはこの批難を退け、彼をいくつかの箇所ではイザヤに劣らないとみなした。句を句に重ねること、定型表現の反復――しかもしばしば三度も――は、彼の深い感情と、その表現を強めようとする願いに起因する。他方で彼は、特に外国の諸国民に対する部分や韻文的な部分では、より簡潔で力強く荘厳である。

彼の預言の配列原理を確定するのは難しい。王の順序は次の通りであった。ヨシヤ（その治世に十八年間預言した）、エホアハズ（三か月）、エホヤキム（十一年）、エコヌヤ（三か月）、ゼデキヤ（十一年）。しかしヨシヤのもとでの預言（第一〜二十章）の直後に、ゼデキヤのもとでの部分（第二十一章）が続いている。また

Jer 24:8-10

のゼデキヤに関する記述が、エホアハズ、エホヤキム、エコヌヤに関する部分（第二十二、二十三、二十五章など）のただ中に置かれている。同様に、エホヤキムに関する第三十五・三十六章は、ゼデキヤに関する第二十七、二十八、二十九、三十三、三十四章の後に来る。さらに、エホヤキムの第四年と日付のある第四十五章は、エルサレムの陥落後にエジプトへ逃れたユダ人に関する預言の後に来る。エヴァルトは、現在の配列が本質的にエレミヤ自身のものであると考える。各部分は同じ定型句、「主からエレミヤに臨んだことば」によって始まる

(Jer 7:1; 11:1; 18:1; 21:1; 25:1; 30:1; 32:1; 34:1, 8; 35:1; 40:1; 44:1;

参照

Jer 14:1; 46:1; 47:1; 49:34)。

年代を示す注記が、多かれ少なかれ歴史的な他の区分を記している

(Jer 26:1; 27:1; 36:1; 37:1)。

ほかの二つの部分もそれ自体で区別される

(Jer 29:1; 45:1)。

第二章には連の始まりを示す短い導入があり、第三章は不完全と思われ、導入として単に「語って」とあるだけである

(Jer 3:1,

ヘブル語)。こうして詩の部分には、七〜九節からなる連に分けられた二十三の区分があり、「主はまた私に言われた」といった形で印づけられている。これらは五つの書から成る。第一に緒言、第一章。第二にユダへの責め、第二〜二十四章、七つの区分から成る。(1) 第二章、(2) 第三〜六章、(3) 第七〜十章、(4) 第十一〜十三章、(5) 第十四〜十七章、(6) 第十七〜十九・二十章、(7) 第二十一〜二十四章。第三にすべての国々の概観、二つの区分。第二十五章と第二十六〜四十九章で、三つの区分から成る歴史的付録、(1) 第二十六章、(2) 第二十七章、(3) 第二十八・二十九章。第四により明るい時の希望を描く二つの区分。(1) 第三十・三十一章、(2) 第三十二・三十三章、および三つの区分から成る歴史的付録。(1)

Jer 34:1-7、

(2)

Jer 34:8-22、

(3)

Jer 35:1-19。

第五に結び、二つの区分。(1)

Jer 36:2、

(2)

Jer 45:1-5。

その後、エジプトで、彼は以前のエジプトに関する預言に

Jer 46:13-26

を加えた。また、第三十七〜三十九章、第四十〜四十三章、第四十四章という三つの区分も加えた。第五十二章はおそらく（

Jer 51:64

を参照）、後代の編者による付録で、

2Ki 24:18

以下；2Ki 25:30

から採られた。

諸外国に対する預言は、ヘブル語聖書と七十人訳とで順序が異なる。また、ヘブル語（第四十六〜五十一章）におけるそれらに対する預言は、七十人訳では

Jer 25:14

の後に置かれ、第二十六・三十一章を形成している。ヘブル語の第二十五章の残りの部分が七十人訳の第三十二章である。ヘブル語のいくつかの箇所

(Jer 27:19-22; 33:14-26; 39:4-14

Jer 48:45-47)

は七十人訳には見出されない。ギリシャ語の翻訳者たちは異なるテキスト（おそらくより古いもの）を前に置いていたに違いない。ヘブル語はおそらくエレミヤ自身の手になる最も新しく最も完全な版であろう。

Jer 25:13

を参照。彼の預言の正典性は、新約聖書における引用によって確立される

(Mt 2:17; 16:14; Heb 8:8-12

を参照。

Mt 27:9

についてはゼカリヤの緒言を参照)。

また

Ecclesiasticus 49:7

の証言（これは

Jer 1:10

を引用する）、フィロン（彼のことばを「神託」として引用する）の証言、ならびにメリト、オリゲネス、ジェロム、タルムードにおける正典書のリストによる証言もある。

エレミヤ書序論

1. エレミヤは生まれながらの祭司であり、エルサレムの北約三マイルにあるベニヤミン部族の村アナトテに住んでいた。この名はダビデの時代まで見出されないが、その時には既に一般的なものとなっていたようである（1 Chronicles 12:4、1 Chronicles 12:10、1 Chronicles 12:13を参照）。その意味は、最も可能性が高いところでは「ヤハウェが高められる」であろう。

エレミヤの父ヒルキヤが、神殿で律法の書を発見したその名の大祭司であったかどうか（2 Kings 22:8）は、議論の対象となっている。少なくともそうであった可能性はある。エホヤキムとゼデキヤがこの預言者に対して抱いた並外れた敬意、またその他の理由は、エレミヤが高貴な生まれの人物であったという推定を裏付けている。

預言者の職への召しは、ヨシヤの第13年に来た。それは、危険が再び小さなユダ王国の周囲に集まりつつあった時代であり、彼に示された二つの象徴と、彼の任職の言葉そのものとが証明するように、エレミヤには「預言者たちの麗しい交わり」の誰にもまして直接的に政治的な立場が割り当てられたのである。先の歴史を振り返ると、ヒゼキヤ第14年（紀元前693年）におけるセナケリブの軍勢の壊滅は、この地を略奪的な侵入から解放してはいないものの、アッシリヤ人が、サルマナセルがサマリヤを陥れたのと同じ状態にこの地を陥れようと企てた一切の本気の企てに終止符を打ったことがわかる。ユダヤ地方の危険は、実のところ一方ではエジプトから、他方ではバビロンから起こっていた。エジプトでは、プサムテクがアシュルバニパルの第17年（紀元前649年）、すなわちマナセの第24年に国の分裂状態に終止符を打ち、唯一の支配者となった。彼は54年間統治したので、その生涯の最後の18年ないし19年の間はヨシヤと同時代人であったが、ヨシヤをメギドで殺したのは、その後継者ネコであった。その間、エジプトが力を増すにつれてニネベは衰退した。それは一部にはスキタイ人侵入の影響によるが、それ以上に、メディヤ人の勢力の増大と、バビロンが独立を成し遂げたことによるものであった。

メギドの戦いの2年後、ニネベは、キュアクサレスに率いられたメディヤ人と、ナボポラッサルに率いられたバビロン人の連合攻撃の前に陥落した。しかしナボポラッサルは、その他の点では好戦的な王ではなかったようであり、エジプトはエホヤキムの第4年まで支配的な勢力であり続けた。その年、紀元前586年に、円筒文書の記録によれば、ネブカデネザルはカルケミシュでネコを打ち破った。彼は平和のうちに父の後を継ぐと、ユダヤ地方に戻り、エホヤキムはその封臣となった。3年の隷属の後、エホヤキムは反乱を起こし（2 Kings 24:1）、死んだ。その3か月後、その子エホヤキン、太后、および多数の貴族と職人たちが、捕囚としてバビロンへ連れて行かれた。

プサムテクの下でのエジプトの一流強国への成長は（Jeremiah 2:18、Jeremiah 2:36）、エジプトとの緊密な同盟という問題を引き起こした。若いエレミヤはそれに反対の声を上げた。ヨシヤはその声を霊感によるものと認め、従った。その従順のゆえに、彼はメギドで命を失った。しかし4年後、ネコはカルケミシュでネブカデネザルに打ち破られた。その日、ユダヤ民族の運命は決定し、エレミヤの使命の第一の目的はその時終わった。

エレミヤの務めは、実のところヨシヤ治世の最後の18年間に属するものであった。その時ユダの試練の時はまだ続いており、その救いはなお可能であった。年ごとにユダの罪責は重くなり、その有罪の宣告はより確実になったとはいえである。しかし人の目には、その刑罰はかつてなく遠いものに思われた。エホヤキムは、最高権力であるエジプトの進んで従う封臣であった。無信心な人物であっただけに、完全でしかも近い破滅に関するエレミヤのあらゆる預言を彼が軽蔑したのも無理はない。彼がエレミヤの巻物を、単なる狂信のほとばしりの記録にすぎないとして滅ぼしたのも不思議ではない。それは彼の最後の機会であり、最後の憐れみの申し出であった。そして彼が巻物の裂かれた断片を火の上に投げ込んだとき、彼は象徴的に、彼の王家、破滅に定められた都、神殿、およびこの地のすべての民をそこに投げ込んだのである。このエホヤキムの第4年に、エレミヤは大胆にも、ネブカデネザルの帝国の偉大さと、それが及ぶ広大な版図を予言した。この預言（Jeremiah 25）は彼の命を危険にさらしたので、「主は彼を隠された」のであり、バルクも同様であった（Jeremiah 36:26）。エレミヤが再び姿を現すとき、ネブカデネザルはJeremiah 36:30-31にある預言を実行するためにエルサレムへ進軍していた。そしてエホヤキムの死とともに、ユダの歴史の第一の時代は終わりを告げた。エレミヤはゼデキヤとともに残り、彼に良い影響を及ぼそうとしたが、エレミヤの使命は終わっていた。エレミヤ自身、ユダヤの教会がエホヤキンとともにバビロンへ行ったことを証言している。ゼデキヤとエルサレムに残った者たちは、良いものがすべて選び取られた後の果物かごの残りかすにすぎず（Jeremiah 24:1-10）、その滅亡は当然の帰結にすぎなかった。エレミヤは彼らに対していかなる特別な職務も担っていなかった。

これが、エレミヤが契約の民に対するヤハウェの最後の訴えを携える任務を受けた悪しき日々における政治的状況であった。しかし、預言者の立場を十分に理解するためには、ユダヤ人に臨んだ道徳的な変化、すなわちこの民族の滅亡の真の原因となったものに注目しなければならない。

マナセの時代に至るまで、悪い王も良い王もあり、丘の上ではおそらく常に一定の自然崇拝や公認でない儀式が行われていたが、それでもヤハウェへの礼拝は、民の唯一の公認された、いや支配的な宗教であり続けていた。しかしマナセの即位とともに新しい事態が始まり、彼の悔い改めにもかかわらず、それは彼の55年に及ぶ長い治世を通じて続いた。偶像礼拝が公然と確立されたばかりでなく、恐怖政治が始まり、その間に預言者たちだけでなく、信仰と徳によって傑出していたすべての人々が残虐に殺されたのである。マナセの治世は、もう一つの点でも重要であった。その間にこの地は、アッシリヤ戦争の終わりにあった完全に疲弊した状態からゆっくりと回復しつつあり、ヨシヤが王位に就いたとき、民の間には大いなる繁栄があり、また心情の面でもより良い状態にあった。偉大で善良な人々が、国民の宗教と契約の神を守る指導者として立ち上がった。そして民族自身も、先祖がかつてヤハウェに満足しなかったのと同様に、バアルとモレクに満足しなくなっていた。第18年にヨシヤは心のすべてをもって国民の宗教を回復するわざに身を投じ、この地から偶像礼拝のあらゆる痕跡を除くために厳格な真剣さで労した。これはわざの半分であり、他の半分はエレミヤに委ねられた。王はこの地を清めることができたが、人の心を清めることができるのは、彼らの良心に語りかける神のことばだけであった。それゆえ、エレミヤの職務は、ヨシヤによって成し遂げられた公の改革には道徳の変化が伴わなければならず、そうでなければ受け入れられないことを示すことであった。

ヨシヤの第13年、政治の世界には完全な静穏が広がり、エレミヤ自身はまだ20歳をわずかに超えたばかりであったときに彼の任職が行われ、ヤハウェのことばがなぜ彼に託されたのかという主要な理由を彼が学ぶために、二つの象徴が彼に示された。第一のもの、アーモンドの木の枝によって、彼は、審判がこの地で目を覚まっていることを教えられた。ユダは直ちに、ヤハウェに仕えるのか、それともバアル（バアリム）に仕えるのかを決めなければならず、その選択は本物のものでなければならなかった。もしヤハウェを選ぶなら、純潔と聖さをもって主を礼拝することによって、それがその選択であることを証明しなければならなかった。第二に、煮えたつ釜の象徴によって、彼は、恐ろしい災いが自分の国の上に差し迫っていることを学んだ。

ユダヤの歴史には、二つの圧倒的な大惨事がある。第一はネブカデネザルによる聖なる都と神殿の破壊であり、第二はティトゥスによる聖なる都と神殿の破壊である。エレミヤの宣教によって、第一の惨事は選民にとって新たな誕生となった。キリストの宣教によって、第二の惨事からキリスト教会が生まれ出た。しかし、もし彼らの宣教がより広く聞き入れられていたなら、エルサレムはそのつど救われたかもしれない。人々が警告に心を留めずに通り過ぎたために、この民族はこうして二度も陥ったのである（Luke 19:42）。

しかしエレミヤは、「毛を刈る者の前で黙っており、その口を開かない者」（Isaiah 53:7）ではなかった。すべての預言者のうち、彼ほど率直に、思いに沈む憂鬱な性質を私たちに開き示している者はいない。彼は私たちに自分の最も内なる思いを明かしている。彼は、痛ましいほどに感じやすく、臆病で、内気で、望みを失い、意気消沈し、絶えず不平をこぼし、出来事の成り行きに、自分に押し付けられた職に、また神の摂理のなされ方に不満を抱いているのが見られる。エレミヤは、楽天的な気質のゆえに物事の明るい面を見る者ではなく、主人のみこころを行ううちにすみやかに平安と幸福を見出す者でもなかった。それでも、彼が責められているのを私たちは決して見いださない。彼は自分の力の極限まで義務を果たしていたからである。決断においては臆病であったが、実行においては不屈であった。全世界と直面しなければならないときには恐れを知らず、神と独りでいるときには気落ちして不平をこぼしがちであったのと同じことであった。彼は、道徳的な性質が身体的な性質に打ち勝つことの高貴な模範である。彼の力のすべては、いかなる代価を払っても正しいことを行うという決断にあった。彼は、良心が行うべきであると告げることすべてに、あらゆるものを従わせた。外からの危険、反対、嘲笑、内なる恐れ、意気消沈、失望は、彼の不動の心を揺り動かすには何の役にも立たなかった。義務の感覚は他のいかなる考慮にもまして勝り、パウロのことば（2 Corinthians 12:9）は、どの聖徒においても彼ほど見事に実証されてはいない。

同じ特徴の多くは、エレミヤの文体にも見ることができる。彼は雄弁家とする賜物を持っていなかった。

彼には、イザヤとミカを特徴づける力強さと活気、また想像力の温かさのいずれもなかった。彼の常の方法は、主要な思想を一連のイメージによって心の前に置くことである。それらが互いから生じることはまれで、単に一連の例解を成すだけであり、そのそれぞれは詩に満ちている。しかし注目すべき特徴として、エレミヤは自分の描いた絵をそのものとして用いることは決してなく、そこに、比喩にではなく、彼が説明している観念にふさわしいことばを混ぜ合わせるのである（例えば、Jeremiah 1:15、Jeremiah 6:3-5）。彼の直喩は、その意味を飾り気のない平明な散文で宣言するために、心に十分に提示される前に、ほとんど常に退けられてしまう。この例解の豊かさは、しばしば冗長で非連続的ではあるが、エレミヤの主題と正確に調和している。エレミヤのような強烈な愛国者にとって、祖国の滅亡が着実に近づくのを見、その進行の一歩一歩を記し、その原因を指摘しなければならず、唯一の救済策を知っていながら、自分のことばに耳を傾ける者が誰もいないことも知っていることほど、陰鬱な運命はあり得なかったであろう。捕囚の帰還を見ることができ、人間の言葉で言えばユダヤの教会の回復が自分のわざであることを知ることができたなら、彼の意気消沈は喜びに道を譲ったであろう。しかしそのような慰めは彼に与えられなかった。彼は、人生のすべての無垢の喜びを断つこと（Jeremiah 15:17）、ユダヤ人の最も大切にされた特権を放棄して独身で生きること（Jeremiah 16:2）、さらには社会の礼儀や同情からも遠ざかること（Jeremiah 16:5）を求められ、ただ万人の憎悪の対象となるだけであった。これがエレミヤの召しであった。詩人あるいは雄弁家となることではなく、道徳的品性の力によって人々を説き、苦しみによって勝利することであった。

そして彼の文体は、その人物と一致している。彼は考えるとおりに語った。民へのメッセージを絶えず思い巡らしていたので、それは多くの面から彼の心に臨んだが、実質は常に同じであった。彼の預言には主題の変更がない。彼にはただ一つの「わざわいだ」という叫びがあるだけである。彼にできることは、不変の語りを現存する事態に適合させ、新しいイメージの下にそれを提示することだけである。彼は真の詩人であるが、悲しみの詩人である。悲しみは時折しか来ないが、すべての人に来る。そのとき、苦しみの預言者エレミヤは、私たちにとって教えに満ちている。おそらく聖書のどの書も、正しいことと悪いこととに懸かる重大な帰結をこれほど平明に人々の前に置いてはいない。

2. エレミヤ書は、エホヤキムの第4年にバルクが預言者の口述に従って書き記し、第5年の第九の月に完成して王の前で読まれた巻物（Jeremiah 36）から生じたものであることは、ほとんど疑いを容れない。この巻物には、預言者の召し以来経過した23年間に、「神がイスラエルに対して、ユダに対して、またすべての国々に対してエレミヤに語られたすべてのこと」の記録が含まれていた（Jeremiah 36:2）。しかし、Jeremiah 21:1-14はゼデキヤの治世中に書かれたので、一種の付録として書かれた（おそらく）Jeremiah 20とともに、Jeremiah 19:1-15が、その集成の一部を成し得た最後の章である。したがって、外見上、私たちが持っているのはせいぜいエホヤキムの巻物の断片だけであり、その最大のものはJeremiah 2-10から成る。おそらくJeremiah 46-49の異邦人に対する預言も巻物に含まれていたが、ゼデキヤの第4年に書かれたバビロンに対する預言（Jeremiah 50-51）と結び付けるために、現在の位置に置かれたのである。同様に、Jeremiah 13を例外として、「陶器師の器」の預言（Jeremiah 19:1-15）に先立つ短い預言たちも巻物に含めなければならない。Jeremiah 20以降、いかなる全体的配列の兆候も消え去る。確かに、これらの後の章たちがある種の体系に従ってまとめられていることを示そうとする試みがなされてきたが、それらは牽強付会で不満足なものである。

したがって、心に迫る結論はこうである。エレミヤは自分の預言をすべて一巻に集めることを自ら企てており、それゆえエホヤキムの巻物は全体としては私たちに伝わらなかった。そして彼はその企てを成し遂げることができないままエジプトで死に、その死の時に、彼の著作を管理していた者（おそらくバルク）は、それらにいかなる配列を試みる自由も自分にはないと感じた、と。歴史を完全なものとするためにJeremiah 52が加えられた。それはエレミヤの死後20年余りの出来事に関する記述を含むので、この時よりはるかに以前から、彼の預言は現在のような無秩序な形で流通していたのであろう。エレミヤ書の標題は、繰り返された改変の明白な痕跡をその表面に帯びているので、前述の記述を注目に値する仕方で確証している。

七十人訳のテキストは、私たちのヘブル語聖書に含まれているマソラ学者のテキストとは、非常にかなりの相違を呈している。初めから終わりまで無数の異なりがあり、あるときは単なる文字・音節・語にのみ影響するが、あるときは節全体に及ぶ。他方、省略は重要ではなく、どちらのテキストの中にも、もう一方から完全に独立したものはどこにも見出されない。しかし、諸国に対する預言の系列全体に、注目すべき配列の乱れがある。それらは一般的に異なる位置を占めるだけでなく、相互の間でも異なる構想に従って配列されている。

七十人訳における異邦人の預言のより早い時点での位置は、おそらくエホヤキムの巻物において彼らが占めていた位置により近いものであった。

エレミヤが死んだのはエジプトにおいてであった。それならば、このエジプトの写本は、バルクがその国を去ろうとしていた時期にさかのぼり、エレミヤを真の預言者と信じていたユダヤ人たちの私的な用のために（もちろんヘブル語で）書き写されたものである可能性が、少なくともある。それは次第に流通し、繰り返し書き写され、やがてエジプトの捕囚たちの間でエレミヤ書の権威ある形態となったであろう。その批評上の権威は、消極的にはわずかである。というのは、その写しは必然的に極度の急ぎで作られ、また時の切迫の要求が、絶対に不可欠でないものすべての省略を求めたからである。積極的には、その権威は非常に大きい。両テキストに共通するすべてのものが、それらが最初に互いに分離した時期と同じくらい古いことを、それが私たちに保証するからである。Jeremiah 52がパレスチナで加えられたのがいつであれ、それはエジプトで長く知られないままであることはなかっただろう。新しい移住者たちは、付録の加えられたより完全なヘブル語テキストの写しを携えて行った。しかし、より短い形態の方が現地の権威を持つものとみなされた。愛国的なエジプトのユダヤ人たちは、疑いなくそれが真のテキストであると主張した。アレクサンドリアの翻訳者たちは、そのようなものとしてそれを優先したが、第52章のように有用な付加を自分たちの訳に加えることには何の異論も持たなかったであろう。

このエジプトのテキストの証拠から独立してなお、エレミヤ書のほぼすべての部分の真正性は非常に一般に認められているので、疑いを呈せられたいくつかの箇所についての散発的な脚注が必要なすべてである。二重テキストの価値はむしろ、預言者たちの書がいかにすみやかに一般に流通するようになったか、また、それらに挿入を行い、あるいは大規模な改ざんを持ち込むことがいかに不可能であったかを示すところにある。エレミヤ書の真正性が認められていることは、もう一つの点でも価値がある。これほど絶えず先行者たちのことばを引用する預言者はほかにいないからである。彼は明らかに他の聖書を暗誦しており、それらを絶えず再生するが、彼自身のやり方でである。彼はそれらを簡潔に、要領よく引用することは決してなく、自分自身の柔らかく豊饒な何かをそれらに与えるように展開する。しかし、それらが現在私たちが持っているのと同じ状態で存在することに対する彼の証言は、最も明確である。彼の引用で最も多いのはモーセ五経から、とりわけ申命記からである。それがつい最近発見されたばかりであったので（2 Kings 22:8）、これはまさに予期されるとおりである。彼の若い心は、2 Kings 23:1-3に記されているような光景に深く貫かれていたに違いない。そして、真正性が認められている書の中にあるそのような引用は、そこから取られた書物の批評にとって、最大級の価値を持つのである。

Introduction to the Book of the Prophet Jeremiah

The Prophet Jeremiah, son of Hilkiah, was of the sacerdotal race, and a native of Anathoth, a village in the tribe of Benjamin, within a few miles of Jerusalem, which had been appointed for the use of the priests, the descendants of Aaron, Joshua 21:18. He was called to the prophetic office when very young; probably when he was fourteen years of age, and in the thirteenth of the reign of Josiah, A.M. 3375, b.c. 629. He continued to prophesy till after the destruction of Jerusalem by the Chaldeans, which took place A.M. 3416; and it is supposed that about two years after he died in Egypt. Thus it appears that he discharged the arduous duties of the prophetic office for upwards of forty years.

Being very young when called to the prophetic office, he endeavored to excuse himself on account of his youth and incapacity for the work; but, being overruled by the Divine authority, he undertook the task, and performed it with matchless zeal and fidelity in the midst of a most crooked and perverse people, by whom he was continually persecuted, and whom he boldly reproved, often at the hazard of his life.

His attachment to his country was strong and fervent; he foresaw by the light of prophecy the ruin that was coming upon it. He might have made terms with the enemy, and not only saved his life, but have gained ease and plenty; but he chose rather to continue with his people, and take his part in all the disasters that befell them.

After the destruction of Jerusalem, Nebuchadnezzar having made Gedaliah governor of Judea, the fractious Jews rose up against him, and put him to death; they then escaped to Tahpanhes in Egypt, carrying Jeremiah with them; who, continuing to testify against their wickedness and idolatry, at length fell a victim to his faithfulness: they filled up the measure of their iniquity, as tradition reports, by stoning the prophet to death. God marked this murderous outrage by his peculiar displeasure; for in a few years after they were almost all miserably destroyed by the Chaldean armies which had invaded Egypt; and even this destruction had been foretold by the prophet himself, chap. 44: "They were consumed by the sword and by the famine until there was an end of them, a small remnant only escaping," Jeremiah 44:14, Jeremiah 44:27, Jeremiah 44:28.

The pitch of desperate wickedness to which the Jews had arrived previously to their captivity was truly astonishing. They had exhausted all the means that infinite mercy, associated with infinite justice, could employ for the salvation of sinners; and they became in consequence desperately wicked; no wonder, therefore, that wrath fell upon them to the uttermost. It seems that their hardness and darkness had proceeded to such lengths that they abandoned themselves to all the abominations of idolatry to avenge themselves on God, because he would not bear with their continual profligacy. Were ever people more highly favored, more desperately ungrateful, or more signally punished! What a lesson is their history to the nations of the earth, and especially to those who have been favored with the light of revelation!

I should have entered into a particular discussion relative to the history of those times mentioned by this prophet, had they not passed already in review in the Books of Kings and Chronicles; in which much of the historical parts of this prophet has been anticipated; and to which, in order to avoid repetition, I must refer my readers. What is farther necessary to be added will be found in the following notes.

As a writer, the character of Jeremiah has been well drawn by Bishop Lowth. On comparing him with Isaiah, the learned prelate says: "Jeremiah is by no means wanting either in elegance or sublimity; although, generally speaking, inferior to Isaiah in both. St. Jerome has objected to him a certain rusticity in his diction; of which, I must confess, I do not discover the smallest trace. His thoughts, indeed, are somewhat less elevated, and he is commonly more large and diffuse in his sentences; but the reason of this may be, that he is mostly taken up with the gentler passions of grief and pity, for the expressing of which he has a peculiar talent. This is most evident in the Lamentations, where those passions altogether predominate; but it is often visible also in his Prophecies; in the former part of the book more especially, which is principally poetical. The middle parts are for the most part historical; but the last part, consisting of six chapters, is entirely poetical; and contains several oracles distinctly marked, in which this prophet falls very little short of the loftiest style of Isaiah." It has often been remarked, that although several of the prophecies in this book have their dates distinctly noted, and most of the rest may be ascertained from collateral evidence; yet there is a strange disorder in the arrangement. "There is," says Dr. Blayney, "a preposterous jumbling together of the prophecies of the reigns of Jehoiakim and Zedekiah in the seventeen chapters which follow the twentieth, according to the Hebrew copies; so that, without any apparent reason, many of the latter reigns precede those of the former; and in the same reign, the last delivered are put first, and the first, last." In order to prevent the confusion arising from this, Dr. Blayney has transposed the chapters where he thought it needful, without altering the numerals as they stand in our common Bibles.

This defect has been noticed, and attempts made to remedy it, by others. Dr. John George Dahler, Professor of Theology in the Protestant seminary of Strasburg, has just now published the first volume of a work, entitled, Jeremie, traduit sur le Texte original, accompagne de Notes Explicatives, Historiques, et Critiques, 8vo., (antedated) Strasbourg, 1824. After a preface, and very judicious historical introduction, consisting, the first of twenty-two, the second of thirty-six pages, the text and notes follow. The poetical parts of the text are translated in the hemistich manner, as the original appears in the best copies; and the whole is divided into sections; each of which is introduced with judicious observations relative to time, place, circumstances, and the matter contained in that section. The discourses or prophecies delivered under a particular reign, are all produced under that reign in their chronological order. A table of this arrangement I shall here introduce, and refer to the use of it afterwards:

Table I Prophecies under Josiah 1:1-19 3:6-4:4 4, 5, Jeremiah 6:30 Jeremiah 17:19-27 -Jer 3:1-5 Jeremiah 47:1-7 Under Jehoiakim 7:1-9:25 Jeremiah 20:14-18 Jeremiah 26:1-24 Jeremiah 23:9-40 Jeremiah 46:2-12 Jeremiah 35:1-19 Jeremiah 10:1-16 Jeremiah 25:1-38 Jeremiah 14:1-15:21 Jeremiah 36:1-32 Jeremiah 16:1-17:18 Jeremiah 45:1-5 Jeremiah 18:1-23 Jeremiah 12:14-17 Jeremiah 19:1-20:13 Jeremiah 10:17-25 Under Jeconiah 13:1-27 Under Zedekiah 22:1-23:8 Jeremiah 34:1-7 Jeremiah 11:1-17 Jeremiah 37:1-10 Jeremiah 11:18-12:13 Jeremiah 34:8-22 Jeremiah 24:1-10 Jeremiah 37:11-21 Jeremiah 29:1-32 Jeremiah 38:1-28 Jeremiah 27:1-28:17 Jeremiah 39:15-18 Jeremiah 49:34-39 Jeremiah 32:1-44 Jeremiah 51:59-64 Jeremiah 33:1-26 Jeremiah 21:1-14 Jeremiah 39:1-10 After the destruction of Jerusalem Jeremiah 39:11-14 Jeremiah 42:1-43:7 Jeremiah 40:1-41:18 Jeremiah 30:1-31:40 Prophecies delivered in Egypt Jeremiah 43:8-13 Jeremiah 44:1-30 Jeremiah 46:13-28 Prophecies relative to strange nations Jeremiah 46:1 Jeremiah 49:23-27 Jeremiah 49:14 Jeremiah 49:28-33 Jeremiah 48:1-47 Jeremiah 50:1-51:64 Jeremiah 49:7-22 Historical Appendix 52:1-34

The kings under whom Jeremiah prophesied succeeded each other in the following order:

1Josiah;

2Jehoahaz;

3. Jehoiachin, or Jeconiah;

4. Jehoiakim;

5. Zedekiah.

To render the transpositions evident which have taken place in these prophetical discourses, we have only to look at those which bear the date of their delivery.

Table II Jeremiah 1:1. Delivered the thirteenth year of Josiah Jeremiah 35:1. Under Jehoiakim Jeremiah 3:6. Under Josiah Jeremiah 36:1. Under Jehoiakim Jeremiah 21:1. Under Zedekiah Jeremiah 37:1. Under Zedekiah during the siege of Jerusalem Jeremiah 24:1. After the carrying away of Jeconiah, son of Jehoiakim Jeremiah 37:11. Under Zedekiah Jeremiah 25:1. The fourth year of Jehoiakim Jeremiah 38:1. Under Zedekiah Jeremiah 26:1. The beginning of the reign of Jehoiakim Jeremiah 39:15. Under Zedekiah while Jeremiah was in prison Jeremiah 28:1. The beginning of the reign of Zedekiah Jeremiah 45:1. The fourth year of Jehoiakim Jeremiah 29:1. After the carrying away of Jeconiah Jeremiah 46:2. The fourth year of Jehoiakim Jeremiah 32:1. The tenth year of Zedekiah Jeremiah 49:34. In the beginning of the reign of Zedekiah Jeremiah 34:1. (Under Zedekiah) during the siege of Jerusalem Jeremiah 51:59. The fourth year of Zedekiah Jeremiah 34:8. (Under Zedekiah) when he had obliged his subjects to give liberty to the Israelites whom they had reduced to slavery

Taking into consideration the order of the reigns, a child may perceive that the above prophecies are not in the order of the times of their delivery; and that the sheets or skins on which the text of that MS. was written, from which the present copies have derived their origin, have been pitifully interchanged, huddled and tacked together, without connection or arrangement.

To remedy this defect, Dr. Blayney has arranged the chapters in the following order which he terms a new arrangement of the chapters in Jeremiah, from chap. 20, to chap. 46, inclusive: 20, 22, 23, 25, 26, 35, 36, 45, 24, 29, 30, 31, 27, 28, 21, 34, 37, 32, 33, 38, 39:15-18, 39:1-14, 40, 41, 42, 43, 44, 46, etc.

The preceding and subsequent chapters Dr. Blayney thought sufficiently correct for all the general purposes of chronology; and it is according to this order that he prints the text in his edition and translation of this prophet.

Dr. Dahler, as we have seen, is more circumstantial. Where he has dates, as are shown in the preceding table, he produces the text in that order; where there are not positive dates, he ascertains several by circumstantial intimations, which bear great evidence of accuracy; but there is a numerous class of discourses which he is obliged to insert in this work by critical conjecture. In such a case as this, when the arrangement of the common text is so evidently defective, and in many respects absurd, this procedure is quite allowable; for although the present text as to its arrangement has the sanction of antiquity, yet when a remedy is found, it would be absurd, if not sinful, to follow an order which we may rest satisfied never did proceed from the inspired writer.

I hope none will suppose that these observations detract any thing from the Divine inspiration of the book. The prophet delivered his discourses at particular times in select portions, during forty or forty-three years; these were afterwards gathered together and stitched up without any attention to chronological arrangement. Though the Spirit of the Lord directed the prophet, yet it would be absurd to suppose that it guided the hand of every collector or scribe into whose custody these several parcels might come. Suppose a man buy a copy of the Bible in sheets, and not knowing how to collate them, stitches the whole confusedly together, so that in many places the sense cannot be made out from a preceding to a following sheet, would it not be singularly foolish for any person to say, "As God is the Fountain of wisdom and Author of reason, such incongruities cannot proceed from him, therefore this book was not given by Divine revelation." A child in a printer's office might reply, "Cut the stitching asunder, that is man's work; collate the sheets and put them in their proper order, and you will soon see that every paragraph is in harmony with the rest, and contains the words of Divine wisdom." Many an ancient MS., which appeared mutilated and imperfect, I have restored to order and perfection by cutting the binding asunder, and restoring the sheets and leaves to those places from which the ignorance and unskilfulness of the binder had detached them. May we not be allowed to treat the dislocations in the writings of a prophet in the same way, when it is evident that in the lapse of time his work has suffered by the hand of the careless and ignorant.

But it may be asked, "After all the evidence I have, and the concessions I have made, why I have not transposed those disjointed chapters, and produced them in the order in which I think they should be read?" I answer, Were I to give a new translation with notes of this prophet separately, as Drs. Blayney and Dahler have done, I should feel it my duty to do what the objection states; but as my province as a general commentator requires me to take up all the books of the sacred volume in the order in which I find them in the present authorized version, though convinced that this arrangement is neither correct nor convenient; so I take up the parts of each, however transposed, in the same manner, directing the reader by tables and notes to regulate his use of the work so as to produce general edification with as little embarrassment as possible.

For general purposes, Dr. Blayney's chronological arrangement may be sufficient; but for greater accuracy Table I. may be preferred. These may at least be considered in the light of helps to a better understanding of these several prophecies; but no man is bound to follow either, farther than he is convinced that it follows what is specifically set down by the prophet himself, or fairly deducible from strong circumstantial evidence.

In my notes on this prophet I have availed myself, as far as my plan would permit, of the best helps within my reach. The various readings of Kennicott and De Rossi I have carefully consulted, and occasionally strengthened the evidence in behalf of those readings, more particularly recommended by collations from my own M,SS. I regret that I have not been able, for the reasons mentioned at the conclusion of the notes on Isaiah, to produce all the various readings of importance found in these ancient MSS., and especially in the Book of Lamentations, which is contained in five of them; but like the woman in the Gospels, I have done what I could, and must leave the rest to those who, with better abilities, may possess the greater advantages of youth and strength, with unimpaired sight.

Reader! God designs thee a blessing by every portion of his word: in thy reading seek for this; and if these notes be helpful to thee, give Him the glory.

A.C.

Eastcott, Nov. 1, 1824.

General title to the whole Book, Jeremiah 1:1-3. Jeremiah receives a commission to prophesy concerning nations and kingdoms, a work to which in the Divine purpose he had been appointed before his birth, Jeremiah 1:4-10. The vision of the rod of an almond tree and of the seething pot, with their signification, Jeremiah 1:11-16. Promises of Divine protection to Jeremiah in the discharge of the arduous duties of his prophetical office, Jeremiah 1:17-19.

INTRODUCTION TO JEREMIAH

The title of the book in the Vulgate Latin version is, "the Prophecy of Jeremiah"; in the Syriac and Arabic versions, "the Prophecy of the Prophet Jeremiah". According to a tradition of the Jews (a), this book stands the first of the Prophets, the order of which is, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, Isaiah, and the twelve. Kimchi makes mention of it in a preface to his comment on this book; and Dr. Lightfoot from hence concludes, that this is the reason why a passage in Zechariah is cited under the name of Jeremy, Matthew 27:9, because he standing first in the volume of the Prophets gave name to the whole; just as the book of Psalms, being the first of the Hagiographa, they are called the Psalms from it, Luke 24:44. The name of the writer of this book, Jeremiah, signifies, "the Lord shall exalt", or "be exalted"; or, "exalting the Lord"; being composed of "he shall exalt", and "Jehovah", according to Hillerus (b). Though others (c) take it to be a composition of and "the Lord shall cast down"; as he did his enemies, and also himself, he being greatly afflicted; and which suits with the argument of his book, foretelling the casting away of the people of the Jews. His style of writing, according to the opinion of Jerom (d), is more rustic than that of Isaiah and some other prophets, and which he attributes to his being born and brought up in a country village; and Abarbinel to his age, being a child when he began to prophesy. The duration of his prophesying was forty years and upwards. He began to prophesy in the thirteenth year of Josiah's reign; in 3375 A.M. or before the era of Christ 629, according both to Bishop Usher (e) and Mr. Whiston (f), and the Universal History (g); and according to Mr. Bedford (h) 627. If any credit can be given to Epiphanius (i), or to the writer that bears his name, he was stoned to death by the people at Taphnas in Egypt, and was buried where Pharaoh dwelt. Abulpharagius, an Arabic writer (k), says, that he went to Egypt, where some of the Jews took him and put him into a well, and afterwards took him out and stoned him, so that he died, and he was buried in Egypt; and was from thence removed by Alexander, in his time, to Alexandria, and buried there. And both Tertullian (l) and Jerom (m) affirm that he was stoned by the people. This prophecy contains several discourses delivered to the people of the Jews; charging them with many sins they were guilty of; exhorting them to repentance; threatening them with the destruction of their city and temple, and with captivity in Babylon; and comforting the saints, not only with a promise of deliverance from thence, but of spiritual redemption by the Messiah. And it also has in it several predictions of judgments upon other nations; and gives a particular account of the destruction of Jerusalem, and of the carrying of the Jews captive into Babylon; which he lived to see, as the fulfilment of his prophecies.

(a) T. Bab. Bava Bathra, fol. 14. 2.((b) Onomastic. Sacr. p. 326, 508. (c) Schmidt in loc. (d) Praefat. in Hieremiam, tom. 3. fol. 9. B, (e) Annales Vet. Test, A. M. 3375. (f) Chronological Tables, cent. 9. (g) Vol. 21. p. 56. (h) Scripture Chronology, p. 673. (i) De Vit. Prophet. c. 8. Vid. Isidor. Hispalens. de Vit. & Mort. Sanct. c. 38. (k) Hist. Dynast. p. 46. Vid. Elmacin. Hist. Eccl. p. 128, Apud Hottinger. Thesaur. Phil. p. 478. (l) Scorpiace, c. 8. (m) Adv. Jovinian. l. 2, tom. 2. fol. 32. I.

INTRODUCTION TO Jeremiah 1

This chapter contains the title or inscription of the book; the call of the prophet to his office, and the encouragement he had to enter upon it. In the inscription the prophet is described by his name, by his descent, by the place of his birth, and the time of his prophesying, Jeremiah 1:1, the appointment and ordination of him to his office, which was very early, and the signification of it to him, are in Jeremiah 1:4, his excuse, on account of his childhood and weakness, Jeremiah 1:6, the encouragement given him, notwithstanding this, from the mission and command he had from the Lord, and the promise of his presence with him, Jeremiah 1:7, and not only is he encouraged by words, but also by signs; by the Lord's touching his mouth with his hand, as a symbol of putting his words into his mouth, and setting him over nations and kingdoms, to publish in a prophetic way their destruction, Jeremiah 1:9, and by a vision of an almond tree, signifying the quick and hasty performance of the word of the Lord by him, Jeremiah 1:11, and by another vision of a seething pot northwards, intimating the coming of the Chaldeans from the north against Jerusalem, and their taking it, and carrying the Jews captive because of their wickedness, which was a principal part of the message he was sent with, Jeremiah 1:13 and the chapter is concluded with an exhortation to him to take heart, and be of good courage, and not be dismayed; since he was made a defenced city, an iron pillar, and brasen wall, against the whole land of Judea, its kings, princes, priests, and people; who, though they should fight against him, should not prevail, because God was with him, Jeremiah 1:17.

THE BOOK OF THE PROPHET

JEREMIAH.

Jeremiah.

BY

THE VERY REV. E.H. PLUMPTRE, D.D.,

Late Dean of Wells.

INTRODUCTION

TO

THE BOOK OF THE PROPHET

JEREMIAH.

I. Life.—The materials for a biography of Jeremiah are supplied in his collected writings with unusual fulness. We know more of his personal history than we do of that of Isaiah or Ezekiel, much more than of that of the minor prophets, who have left for the most part only a few chapters as the record of their work. With the help of inferences from acknowledged facts, and of a few fairly authenticated traditions, we are able to enter into the circumstances in the midst of which he worked, and into the joys and sorrows, the hopes and fears, of which they were the occasion. Of him it may be said, more than of any other of the goodly fellowship of the prophets, that his whole life lies before us as in an open scroll.

It will be convenient to arrange the main facts of the history thus laid open to us under the reigns of the several kings with whom he was a contemporary.

1. UNDER JOSIAH (B.C. 638-608).—In the thirteenth year of this king the prophet speaks of himself as still “a child.” That word is, however, somewhat vague in its significance, extending from infancy, as in Exodus 2:6; 1Samuel 4:21, to adult manhood, as in 1Samuel 30:17; 1Kings 3:7. All that it can be held to imply is that the prophet felt himself to be relatively young for the work to which he had been called, that he had not attained the average age of a prophet; and this, it may be inferred, was not far distant from that at which the Levites entered on their work, which varied, at different periods, from twenty to thirty (Numbers 4:3; Numbers 8:24; 1Chronicles 23:3; 1Chronicles 23:24). We may reasonably infer, then, from the way in which the prophet speaks of himself, that he was, at the time when he felt himself called to his high and perilous work, somewhere between twenty and twenty-five, i.e., that the first seven, or, it may be, the first twelve years of his life, were passed in the reigns of Manasseh and his son Amon.

He is described, further, as “being the son of Hilkiah, of the priests that were in Anathoth” (Jeremiah 1:1). That name, it will be remembered, was borne by the high priest who played so prominent a part in Josiah’s reformation. (2Kings 22:8.) There are, however, no sufficient grounds for identifying that Hilkiah with the father of the prophet. The manner in which the latter is named, without any mention of special dignity, is against it. The priests of Anathoth were of the line of Ithamar (1Kings 2:26; 1Chronicles 24:3), while the high priests, from Zadok downwards, were of the line of Eleazar. The identity of name may, however, be regarded as probably indicating some close connection of affinity or friendship. Other coincidences point in the same direction. The uncle of Jeremiah, Shallum (Jeremiah 32:7), bore the same name as the husband of Huldah the prophetess (2Kings 22:14). Ahikam, the son of Shaphan, the great supporter of Hilkiah the high priest and Huldah in their work (2Chronicles 34:20), was also throughout the protector of the prophet (Jeremiah 26:24). The strange Rabbinic tradition that eight of the persons most conspicuous in the history of this period (Jeremiah, Baruch, Seraiah, Maaseiah, Hilkiah, Hananeel, Huldah, Shallum) were all descended from the harlot Rahab (Carpzov, Introd. in lib. V.T. Jerem.) may possibly have been a distortion of the fact that the persons so named were united together, as by community of feeling, so also by affinity or friendship. With regard to two others of the number, we know that both Baruch and Seraiah, who appear as disciples of the prophet (Jeremiah 36:4; Jeremiah 51:59), were sons of Neriah, the son of Maaseiah, and that Maaseiah (2Chronicles 34:8) was governor of Jerusalem, acting with Hilkiah, Huldah, and Shaphan in the reforms of Josiah.

With these facts we can picture to ourselves some of the influences which entered into Jeremiah’s education, and prepared the way for his prophetic mission. The name given to him by his father, with its significance as “Jehovah exalts,” or “is exalted.” or “Jehovah throws down” (the latter meaning resting on the more accurate etymology), may fairly be looked on as embodying what was contemplated and prayed for as the ideal of his life. It may be noted that the name was common at that time, e.g., in the case of the father of the wife of Josiah (2Kings 23:31), and of one of the Rechabites (Jeremiah 35:3). That name may be thought of, accordingly, as not without its influence on the prophet’s early years. As he grew to boyhood he would hear of the cruelties and the apostasy of Manasseh and of Amon. For him, as for Isaiah, there would be a training in the law and literature of Israel, in whatever form it then existed, in Job, and Proverbs, and such of the Psalms and the writings of the earlier prophets as were then extant. The so-called Alphabetic Psalms (9, 25, 34, 37, 111, 112, 119, 145) may have helped to form the taste and style which afterwards displayed themselves in the alphabetic structure of the Lamentations. The writings of the greatest of his predecessors, Isaiah, at least, as far as Jeremiah 1-39 are concerned, could scarcely have been otherwise than familiar to him. His early manhood must have coincided with the earlier reforms of Josiah, whose life would seem to have run parallel with his own, each being apparently about the same age when the prophet received his call, Josiah having ascended the throne at the age of eight (2Kings 22:1). The reverence with which he looks on the Rechabites, the fact that one of those Rechabites bears the same name (Jeremiah 35:3), the probability that one trained in the household of a devout priest would not be unmindful of the teaching of Isaiah (Isaiah 28:7) and Amos (Amos 2:11-12), as to the perils of wine and strong drink, make it probable that he too was one of the Nazarites to whom the latter prophet looked as the strength of Israel, and whom Jeremiah himself names with reverence and admiration (Lamentations 4:7). To such an outward consecration to an ascetic life, the words which speak of him as having been “sanctified from his mother’s womb” (Jeremiah 1:5) naturally seem to point. The child was to be the father of the man, the priestly Nazarite boy was already half-way on the road to a prophet’s work, was already, by God’s calling and election, “ordained a prophet unto the nations (Jeremiah 1:5).

In such a character, reminding us, in many of its features, of the young Timotheus, we find, as might be expected, the notes of the ascetic temperament. He is devout, sensitive, easily depressed and made self-distrustful, kindling all too easily into a bitter and angry indignation, gifted, in a special measure, with the gift of tears. The circumstances of his call imply a previous preparation, as did those of Isaiah’s. He had mourned over his people’s sins, and yearned to bear his witness against them; but then there came the question, which has been asked a thousand times by men of like character, Who is sufficient for these things? The burden of the task of being a prophet of the Lord seemed too heavy to be borne. The answer to this feeling came in the special call, neither to be ignored nor resisted, for the circumstances of which the reader is referred to the Notes on Jeremiah 1. His weakness was to be fortified with a strength higher than his own. As in the case of Isaiah, so also here, it would seem that the call was not followed by immediate prophetic action. Jeremiah is not named in the history of Josiah’s reformation, which he must have watched, however, with intense interest, not, perhaps, without some misgivings, like those which Isaiah had felt during the like work of Hezekiah, as to its reality and inward thoroughness. The prophet’s keen eye, in this as in other things, saw below the surface, and discerned that something more was wanted than the breaking down of idol sanctuaries, or the abolition of the worship of the high places. He looked in vain for the righteousness without which national restoration was impossible. It can scarcely be doubted, too, that he must have seen with some disquietude the foreign policy which led statesmen and people to seek safety, as their fathers had done, in an alliance with Egypt (Jeremiah 2:36). For Josiah personally, who, acting on a different policy, opposed that alliance, and fell in battle against Pharaoh Necho at Megiddo (2Kings 23:29), he would naturally feel a warm and admiring affection, and it is probable that his first appearance as a writer was in the lamentations which he composed on that king’s death, but which are not now extant, their fame having apparently been overshadowed by the greater elegies that now bear that name. Possibly we may also refer to this period some of the earlier chapters of the prophet’s writings, which have the character of a general survey of the moral and religions condition of the people, and to which no specific date is assigned, as in the case of most of the later chapters.

2. UNDER JEHOAHAZ (OR SHALLUM).—The short reign of this king, who was chosen by the people on hearing of Josiah’s death, and deposed after three months by Pharaoh Necho, gave little scope for direct prophetic action. As representing an anti-Egyptian policy, and thus continuing in the line of action which Josiah had adopted, the prophet probably sympathised with and supported him, and the tone of respectful sorrow with which he speaks of him in his exile (Jeremiah 22:10), contrasts strikingly with the stern rebuke which he addresses to his successor (Jeremiah 22:13-19). It lies in the nature of the case, that most of those who were Jeremiah’s protectors in the reigns that followed—Shaphan, Ahikain, Maaseiah, and others—were supporters of his policy at this crisis.

3. UNDER JEHOIAKIM (B.C. 607-597).—The eleven years of this king’s reign were for the prophet a time of conspicuous activity. He found little ground for hope in the Egyptian alliance of which the king was the representative, still less in the self-indulgent and luxurious character of the king himself (Jeremiah 22:13-16), or in the priests and prophets, the Pashurs, Hananiahs, and the rest, who were dominant in his council and his court. For him the rising power of the Chaldæans under Nabopolassar and Nebuchadnezzar was to be accepted, not only as inevitable, but as appointed for the punishment, and therefore for the education, of his people. The King of Babylon was God’s servant doing His work (Jeremiah 25:9; Jeremiah 27:6). To resist him was to resist the ordinance of God. As he had foretold (Jeremiah 46), the short-lived triumph of Pharaoh Necho in the capture of Carchemish was followed by a crushing defeat, which placed Jehoiakim at the mercy of the Chaldaean king, and compelled him to renounce his dependence on the “broken reed” of Egypt, and to accept the position of a vassal king under Nebuchadnezzar. Some of the more striking incidents of this time of conflict call for a special notice. At the opening of Jehoiakim’s reign, the prophet foretells the desolation of the Temple. It should be laid waste, even as Shiloh had been (Jeremiah 26:6). Priests, prophets, people are enraged, and threaten him with death (Jeremiah 26:8), but are foiled by the influence of his lay protectors, who urge the precedent of a like prediction uttered by Micah in the days of Hezekiah, as an argument in his defence (Jeremiah 26:10-18). The fate of a contemporary prophet, Urijah, is recorded by him at this juncture, apparently as showing how narrow his own escape had been (Jeremiah 26:23). The catastrophe of Carchemish naturally led to a fuller utterance. He foretells the seventy years of the captivity (Jeremiah 25:11), and symbolically gives the cup of Jehovah’s wrath to all the nations which, one after another, were to fall under the Babylonian yoke, ending in predicting. under the cypher form of Sheshach, the fate of Babylon itself (Jeremiah 25:17-26). To this period, when the armies of the Chaldæans were driving those who lived in tents of villages to take refuge in Jerusalem, or other fortified cities, we must refer the interesting episode of the Rechabites in Jeremiah 35.

In the same year we have the first indication of the prophet’s work as the editor of his own prophecies. His secretary and disciple Baruch writes, as he dictates, a collection of his more striking prophecies, probably corresponding roughly with the earlier chapters of our present book. Jeremiah himself was hindered, we know not how, whether by illness or by prudence, from appearing in public, but Baruch solemnly read what he had written in the crowded courts of the Temple. Once again priests and prophets were stirred to wrath. The matter came to the ears of the king, who, in his impotent anger, burnt the parchment roll, in spite of the protest of Jeremiah’s friends. Orders were given to arrest the prophet and the scribe; but they again escaped, and re-wrote all that had been destroyed with many like words (Jeremiah 36). The contrasted characters of the two friends—one seeking great things for himself, eager to play a prominent part in the history of the time, the other content, and wishing to make his disciple content, if his life was “given him for a prey”—come out in the interesting episode of Jeremiah 45, which belongs probably to this period.

To this reign we may also probably refer the symbolic teaching which was presented in a somewhat startling form, when Jeremiah, having first been directed to learn the lesson of the potter’s work as a parable of God’s teaching with the nations of the world (Jeremiah 18), was afterwards told to go to the valley of Ben-Hinnom, and to warn king and people of the destruction that was coming upon them by breaking in their presence the potter’s vessel, which was condemned as worthless (Jeremiah 19). This was followed by another outburst of malignant rage on the part of Pashur the priest, from which this time the prophet did not escape. The painful and ignominious punishment of the stocks entered into his soul, and called forth a burst at once of denunciation and passionate despair which, except in Psalms 69, 109, has scarcely a parallel in the literature of the Old Testament (Jeremiah 20).

If we accept the received text and the literal interpretation of Jeremiah 13:1-11, we have to assign to this period of Jeremiah’s life the two journeys to Euphrates which are there narrated. Such journeys were not in the nature of the case improbable. Jonah, and probably Nahum, had already found their way to Nineveh (Jonah 3:3). Manasseh and other members of his royal household had been taken to Babylon (2Chronicles 33:11). Over and above the symbolism of the narrative there may have been a personal motive connected with such a journey, the desire to do what he could for his country’s welfare by becoming acquainted with its destined conquerors. Possibly we may trace the special orders which were given by Nebuchadnezzar for his protection (Jeremiah 39:11) to the acquaintance thus begun. If we might assign the visits to a period after the first deportation of Jewish captives to Babylon in the third year of Jehoiakim (Daniel 1:1), we might connect them with the desire to watch over the fortunes of the exiles, and to renew his intercourse with the prophet who was settled with his companions on the banks of Chebar (Ezekiel 1:1), or with Daniel and his friends in the court at Babylon. The fact that the former prophet was with him at Jerusalem during great part of the reign of Jehoiakim, and that his teaching shows many traces of Jeremiah’s influence (comp. in particular Ezekiel 18:2 and Jeremiah 31:29), may, at all events, be noted as throwing light upon the surroundings of the latter’s life, and on the influence which he exercised over his contemporaries.

4. UNDER JEHOIACHIN (B.C. 597).—The short three months’ reign of this king witnessed the fulfilment of Jeremiah’s predictions, in the captivity first of his predecessor, and then of Jehoiachin himself, together with all the officers of their courts and the wealthier part of the population. We may infer, from the fact of his being deposed by Nebuchadnezzar, that he was led by his counsellors (he himself was a mere boy) to enter into intrigues against the Chaldaean sovereignty; and the tone in which Jeremiah speaks of him (Jeremiah 22:24-30) implies that he and the queen-mother—probably the master-mind of the policy of the court (2Kings 24:15)—were disposed to reject his counsels. In him and in his childless age the prophet saw the close of the dynasty, in the direct line of succession, of the house of David. It is noticeable that Jeremiah, though a priest, escaped the doom of exile which probably fell on his friend and disciple Ezekiel, and the difference in their fortunes may be traced without much risk of error to the prominent part which the former had taken from first to last as counselling subjection, possibly to the personal favour with which he was already regarded by the Chaldæan rulers. The effect of the separation must, however, have added to his sense of loneliness. Not a few of his friends and protectors must have shared in the captivity. He had to fight the battle of his life during his remaining years more single-handed than before.

5. UNDER ZEDEKIAH (B.C. 597-586).—As might be expected from the fact that he had been appointed by Nebuchadnezzar, as likely to be a more submissive vassal than his predecessors, appointed possibly with Jeremiah’s approval, the prophet receives at the hands of this prince, on the whole, a better treatment than at those of his predecessors. The king respects him, keeps his counsel, endeavours to protect him (Jeremiah 37:3-17; Jeremiah 38:16). The very name which he adopted on his accession to the throne, “Righteous is Jah,” or “Jehovah” (2Kings 24:18), seems to have been intended to identify him with the acceptance of the prophet’s teaching that in “the Lord our Righteousness” (Jeremiah 23:6) was to be found the archetype and the source of all righteous government. The king, however, was weak and vacillating. The prophet felt keenly that only the most worthless remnant of the people, the “vile figs” of the crop, were left in Judah (Jeremiah 24:5-8). It was to the other remnant in the exile of Babylon that he turned with words of counsel in the letter, which more than any other Old Testament document seems to foreshadow the epistles of the New (Jeremiah 29). Even there also, however, there were false prophets, among whom Zedekiah, Ahab, and Shemaiah were conspicuous, who spoke of him as a “madman” (Jeremiah 29:26), and urged the priests at Jerusalem to more active measures of persecution, not knowing that they were thus drawing upon themselves a quick and terrible retribution.

Soon matters came to a crisis. The apparent revival of the power of Egypt under Apries (the Pharaoh-hophra of Jeremiah 44:30) raised false hopes in the minds of Zedekiah and his advisers, and drew Judah and the neighbouring nations into projects of revolt (Jeremiah 37:5). The clearness with which Jeremiah foresaw the ultimate destruction of Babylon, made him all the more certain that it was not to come at once or through the intervention of Egypt. He appeared in the streets of Jerusalem with bonds and yokes upon his neck, announcing that they were meant for Judah and its cities (Jeremiah 27:2). The false prophet Hananiah, who broke the offensive symbols, and predicted the destruction of the power of Babylon within two years, learnt that a yoke of iron was upon the neck of all the nations, and died himself while it was still pressing heavily on Judah (Jeremiah 28:3-17). The approach of an Egyptian army, however, and the consequent departure of the Chaldæans, made the position of Jeremiah full of danger, and he sought to effect his escape from a city in which he seemed powerless for good, and to take refuge in his own town of Anathoth (Jeremiah 37:12), the men of that city who had sought his life (Jeremiah 11:21) having probably been taken into exile after the first Chaldæan invasion. The discovery of this plan led not unnaturally to the charge of desertion. He was arrested, as “falling away to the Chaldæans,” as others were doing (Jeremiah 37:14), and, in spite of his denial, was thrown into a dungeon (Jeremiah 37:16). The interposition of the king, who still respected and consulted him, led to some mitigation of the rigours of his confinement (Jeremiah 37:21); but as this milder treatment left him able to speak to the people, the princes of Judah, bent on the Egyptian alliance, and counting on the king’s being unable to resist them, threw him into the prison-pit, and would have left him to die there in its foulness (Jeremiah 38:6). From this horrible fate he was delivered by the kindness of the Ethiopian eunuch, Ebed-Melech, and the king’s lingering regard for him, and was restored to the milder custody in the king’s house where Baruch and other friends could visit him (Jeremiah 32:16). The king himself sent Pashur (not the one already named) and Zephaniah, both, it would appear, friendly to the prophet (Jeremiah 29:29), to consult him. The prophet, as if touched by this humility, speaks to the king in gentler terms. Exile is inevitable, but he shall at least “die in peace,” and receive, in marked contrast with Jehoiakim, an honourable burial (Jeremiah 34:3-5). At no period of his life is the prophet truer to his calling. He had before to fight against false hopes of liberation. He has now to contend against the despair which made men lose all faith in the promises of God and in their own future. That danger the prophet was taught to meet in the most effectual way. With a confidence in that future which has been compared to that of the Roman who bought at its full value the very ground on which the forces of Hannibal were encamped (Livy xxvi. 11), he too bought, with all requisite formalities, the field at Anathoth, which his kinsman Hanameel wished to get rid of (Jeremiah 32:6-9), and proclaimed not only that “fields and vineyards should again be possessed in the lands,” but that the “voice of gladness” should once more be heard there, and that under “the Lord our Righteousness” the house of David and the priests the Levites should never be without representatives (Jeremiah 33:21-26). To this period also we may assign the prophecy of a New Covenant (Jeremiah 31:31), which was destined to have so marvellous a fulfilment, and which has fashioned, under the teaching of Him who came to be the Mediator of that covenant, the faith and the terminology of Christendom. His influence may also be traced in the renewal of the national covenant with Jehovah (Jeremiah 34:18-19), princes, priests, and people walking in procession between the two parts of the sacrifice (Jeremiah 34:19), and in the proclamation of liberty to the Hebrew servants and handmaids whom the oppression of the rich had brought into bondage (Jeremiah 34:9-14). The reformation thus effected was, however, only on the surface. Covenant and proclamation were alike disregarded. The law of the Sabbatic year was set at nought as that of the Sabbath day had been before (Jeremiah 17:21-27). The cup of iniquity was full, and the judgment came. The armies of Nebuchadnezzar besieged Jerusalem, and it was exposed to all the horrors of famine (Lamentations 2:12; Lamentations 2:20; Lamentations 4:9). At last the city was taken, and the Temple burnt. The king and his princes endeavoured to escape, but were taken prisoners in the plains of Jericho. Zedekiah had to see his children slain before his eyes, and, as if that were to be the last sight he was to look upon, was afterwards blinded, and taken, as Jehoiachin had been, to pass the remainder of his days as a prisoner at Babylon (Jeremiah 52:10-11).

6. AFTER THE CAPTURE OF JERUSALEM (B.C. 586—?)—The prophet and his protectors, who had all along counselled submission to the king of Babylon, had now the prospect of better treatment than their fellows. A special charge was given to Nebuzar-adan to protect the person of Jeremiah (Jeremiah 39:11), and after being carried to Ramah with the crowd of prisoners, he was set free, and offered his choice whether he would go to Babylon with the prospect of rising, as Daniel and his friends had risen, to an honourable position in the king’s court, or remain under the protection of Gedaliah, the son of his steadfast friend Ahikam, who had been appointed governor over the cities of Judah (Jeremiah 40:1-5). The prophet’s love for his people led him to choose the latter alternative, and the Chaldæan commander “gave him a reward,” and set him free. Then followed a short interval of peace, soon broken, however, by the murder of Gedaliah by Ishmael and his confederates. We are left to conjecture how the prophet himself escaped with life, but the fulness of his narrative of these events leads to the conclusion that he was among the captives whom Ishmael carried off to the Ammonites, and who were released by the intervention of Johanan (Jeremiah 41). Jeremiah was thus deprived of one of his most valued friends, but Baruch was still with him, and it is significant that the people turned to him for counsel. They wanted, it would seem, his sanction to the foregone conclusion that their only chance of escaping the punishment, likely enough to be indiscriminate, which the Chaldæans would exact for the murder of Gedaliah, was in an immediate flight to Egypt (Jeremiah 42:14). That sanction he refused, at the risk of bringing on himself and Baruch the old charge of treachery (Jeremiah 43:3), but the people, bent on following their own plans, forced him and his disciple to accompany them to Tahpanhes. There we have the last recorded scene of the prophet’s life. He once more rebukes the people vehemently for their multiplied idolatries, among which the worship of the Queen of Heaven had been the most conspicuous (Jeremiah 44), does not shrink from again speaking of Nebuchadnezzar as “the servant of Jehovah” (Jeremiah 43:10), and foretells that he will conquer Egypt as he had conquered Judah. After all this all is uncertain. If we were to accept Jeremiah 52 as the work of the prophet, we should have to think of him as living for twenty-six years after the destruction of Jerusalem. Probabilities are, however, against this conclusion, and there is greater likelihood on the side of the tradition, reported by Tertullian (adv. Gnost. c. 8), Jerome (adv. Jovin. ii. 37), and others, that he was stoned to death at Tahpanhes by the Jews whom he had provoked by his rebukes. Most commentators on the New Testament see a reference to this in Hebrews 11:37, just as they refer the words “were sawn asunder to the martyrdom of Isaiah. An Alexandrian tradition reported that his bones were brought to that city by Alexander the Great (Chron. Pasch, p. 156, ed. Dindorf), and up to the eighteenth century travellers were told that he was buried near the pyramid of Ghizeh (Lucas, Travels in the Levant, p. 28). On the other hand, there is the Jewish statement (quoted in Smith’s Dictionary of the Bible), that he and Baruch escaped to Babylon or Judaea, and died there in peace. Josephus is silent as to his fate. Other traditions have, at least, the interest of showing the impression which Jeremiah’s work and life left on later generations. His prophecy of the seventy years’ exile, which had at first been full of terror, came to be a ground of hope (Jeremiah 25:11; Daniel 9:2; 2Chronicles 36:21). The fulfilment of that prophecy probably impressed itself on the mind of Cyrus. On the return from Babylon his writings were received, probably under Ezra or the scribes of the Great Synagogue, among the sacred books of Israel, and in the Babylonian recension they, and not those of Isaiah, took the foremost place in the company of the prophets, Ezekiel coming between the two. The Jewish saying “that the Spirit of Jeremiah dwelt in Zechariah” bears witness to the influence which the one prophet was believed to have exercised on the mind of the other. The fulfilment of his prediction of the return of the exiles from the Babylonian captivity led to his being regarded, so to speak, as the patron saint of his country. It was believed that he had taken the tabernacle and the ark and the altar of incense, and had concealed them in a cave on Mount Nebo till the time when God should gather His people together once again (2 Maccabees 2:1-8). He appeared to Judas Maccabeus as “a man with gray hairs and exceeding glorious,” as one who “prayed much for the holy city,” and gave the hero a “golden sword” with which to “fight the battles of the Lord” (2 Maccabees 15:13-16). He is recognised as having a chief place among the prophets of Israel, sanctified from his mother’s womb (Ecclesiasticus 49:6-7). His authority is claimed for an apocryphal letter to the captives of Babylon, containing a long polemic against the follies of idolatry (Baruch 6). At a later period his name was attached, as in Matthew 27:9, to prophecies from another book in the sacred canon, either as having been their original author, or in the belief that he was the representative of all the prophets of the captivity. In the time of our Lord’s ministry, his re-appearance was expected, like that of Elijah, to prepare the way for the Christ. Some said of Jesus of Nazareth that He was “Jeremiah, or one of the prophets” (Matthew 16:14). Probably he was “that prophet” referred to in John 1:21. The belief that he was the prophet of Deuteronomy 18:18, has been held by later Jewish commentators (Abarbanel, in Carpzov, Introd. in V. T. Jerem). The traditions as to his re-appearance lingered even in the Christian Church, and appeared in the belief that he was one of the “two witnesses” of Revelation 11:3 (Victorinus, in loc.). Yet wilder forms of legends were found in Egypt. It was he who had foretold that the idols of that country should one day fall to the ground, at the presence of the “Virgin and her child. He had played the part of a St. Patrick, and had delivered the region of the Delta of the Nile, where he dwelt, from serpents (Epiphan. de Vit., proph. op. ii. p. 239). He had returned from Egypt to Jerusalem, and had lived there for three hundred years (D’Herbelot, Bibl. Orient., p. 499). The narrative of his sufferings was expanded into a history like that of a Christian martyrdom (Eusebius, Praep. Evang. ix. 39).

II. Character and Style.—In the popular description of Jeremiah as the “weeping prophet,” in the form in which Michael Angelo has portrayed him in the Sistine Chapel, as brooding, with downcast eyes, in sorrowful meditation, we have a true conception of the prophet’s character and life. Of all the prophets of the Old Testament, he would seem to have had the hardest lot of suffering. He was pre-eminently “the man who had seen affliction:” “no sorrow was like unto his sorrow” (Lamentations 1:12; Lamentations 3:1). His whole life was spent in what seemed a fruitless strife with the evils of his time. Cassandra-like, he had to utter warnings which were disregarded. Like Phocion, in the history of Athens, he had to counsel submission to an alien conqueror, and to incur the reproach of being treacherous and faint-hearted. Had the horizon of his hopes been that of his own times only, his heart must have shrunk back into despair. That which sustained him was the inextinguishable hope, which he had inherited from Isaiah, of the kingdom of God, the restoration of the true Israel of God, the new and better Covenant, the faith in “the Lord our Righteousness.” In his loneliness and his sorrows, in his susceptibility to intensest suffering and keenest indignation, his nearest parallel in the history of literature may, perhaps, be found in Dante. In him, at all events, the great Florentine found one of the founts of his inspiration, quotes him again and again, both in his poetry and his prose writings, and borrows from him the opening symbolism of the Divina Commedia. (Comp. Jeremiah 5:6 with Dante’s Inferno, c. i.)

To associate the name of Jeremiah with other portions of the Old Testament than those which bear his name, is to pass from the region of history into that of conjecture; but the fact that some commentators (e.g., Hitzig) assign not less than thirty Psalms to his authorship (sc., Psalms 5, 6, 14, 22-41, 52-55, 69-71), indicates at least what were the hymns in his national literature with which he had most affinity, and which exercised most influence on his thoughts and language. The hypothesis of some later critics (e.g., Bunsen, God in History, b. ii. c. 2), who assign the second part of Isaiah to the time of the exile, and to the authorship of Baruch, that Jeremiah was the Servant of the Lord, who is there conspicuous, has a like suggestiveness. Reference to others of the earlier books of the Old Testament canon show parallelisms with the Law, a special prominence being given to Deuteronomy, as, e.g.—

Comp. Jeremiah 11:3-5 with Deuteronomy 4:20; Deuteronomy 7:12; Deuteronomy 27:26.

Comp. Jeremiah 34:14 with Deuteronomy 15:12

Comp. Jeremiah 32:18 with Exodus 20:6

Comp. Jeremiah 32:21 with Exodus 6:6,

with Job (comp. Job 3 with Jeremiah 15:10; Jeremiah 20:14), with both parts of Isaiah.

Comp. Isaiah 4:2; Isaiah 11:1 with Jeremiah 33:15

Comp. Isaiah 40:19-20 with Jeremiah 10:3-5

Comp. Isaiah 42:16 with Jeremiah 31:9

Comp. Isaiah 13, 47 with Jeremiah 50, 51.

and with the earlier prophets.

The style of Jeremiah, if less conspicuous for its loftiness and majesty than that of Job or Isaiah, has yet a passionate intensity, a vividness of imagery, a capacity for invective or for pathos, which are not surpassed and scarcely equalled elsewhere, in this also reminding us of Dante. It was characteristic both of the man and of the time that this passionate temperament welcomed, when it uttered itself in the Lamentations, the artificial restraints of the alphabetic arrangement which had appeared before in some of the Psalms, and seems to have been a fashion of the times. (See Introduction to Lamentations.) Connected, perhaps, with this, as concentrating attention upon the alphabet and its possible uses, is Jeremiah’s use of a peculiar cypher writing, the use of an inverted alphabet, known among the later Jews as the Atbash (A standing for T, and B for SH), by which the Sheshach of Jeremiah 25:26 became for the initiated the symbol of Babylon; and the Hebrew letters of “in the midst of those who rise up against’ me” of Jeremiah 51:1, was equivalent to “the Chaldæans,” which accordingly takes its place in the LXX. version.

III. Arrangement.—It is a noticeable fact, as throwing light upon the chances to which even the writings of a prophet may be subject, that the order of the LXX. version of the greater part of Jeremiah is altogether different from that of the Hebrew. Up to Jeremiah 25:13 they agree. From that point onward to the end of Jeremiah 51 the divergency may be presented as follows :—

LXX.

Hebrew.

Jeremiah 25:14-18.

49:34-39.

Jeremiah 15

Jeremiah 27, 28.

50, 51.

Jeremiah 29:1-7.

47:1-7.

Jeremiah 29:8-22.

49:7-24.

Jeremiah 30:1-5.

49:1-6.

Jeremiah 30:6-11.

49:28-33.

Jeremiah 30:12-16.

49:23-27.

Jeremiah 31

48

Jeremiah 33-51

25:13-39.

Jeremiah 52.

26-45 .

It is obvious that the Alexandrian translators must have had before them a MS., or, more probably, a mass of MSS., arranged by them, or for them, in a different order from that adopted by the scribes of Judaea, to whom we owe our present Hebrew recension. It is a natural inference from this (1) that the prophet’s writings were left by him in a scattered, unarranged state, in the hands of his disciples, Baruch and others, and that two of these, or some later scribes, thought fit to arrange them in a different order. It was, so to speak, as if the sermons of an eminent preacher in later times had come to us as they were found in his drawers, unsorted. (2) That the large sections in which the order is the same in Jeremiah 1:1 to Jeremiah 25:13 (Heb.), and Jeremiah 26-45 (Heb.) represent two collections, which contained the chief prophecies that were connected with the prophet’s work in relation to Judah, while the others, bearing chiefly on the heathen nations, were left in a less continuous form, and were arranged by the two editors at their discretion.

It is to be noted that in neither case is the arrangement chronological. To read the prophet’s writings in the order of time, either as regards the facts to which they refer, or the date of their composition, we must adopt an arrangement different from both of those which are now before us. In regard to some of the sections where we have a definite note of time, specifying, if not the exact year, at least the reign to which they of right belong, the task is comparatively easy. In regard to the others, we are in the wider, and therefore more difficult, field of conjecture. Taking the dates given in the Authorised version as approximately right, the following gives the order in which Jeremiah’s prophecies ought to be read in connection with his life, and which has been practically followed in the preceding biography :—

B.C.

629

… Jeremiah 1, 2, 3 (probably written later).

B.C.

612

… Jeremiah 3-6

B.C.

610

… Jeremiah 22, 26

B.C.

608

… Jeremiah 11, 12

B.C.

607

… Jeremiah 35, 45

B.C.

606

… Jeremiah 25, 30, 31

B.C.

605

… Jeremiah 18, 19, 20

B.C.

602

… Jeremiah 13

B.C.

601

… Jeremiah 14, 15, 16, 17

B.C.

600

… Jeremiah 7, 8, 9, 10, 47, 48

B.C.

599

… Jeremiah 23, 29

B.C.

598

… Jeremiah 24, 26, 27 (Jehoiakim in Jeremiah 27:1 is clearly an error of transcription for Zedekiah).

B.C.

596

… Jeremiah 28

B.C.

595

… Jeremiah 50, 51

B.C.

591

… Jeremiah 34

B.C.

590

… Jeremiah 32, 33

B.C.

590-588

… Jeremiah 39, 40, 41, 42, 43, 44

B.C.

589

… Jeremiah 21, 37, 38

B.C.

587

… Jeremiah 44

B.C.

598-562

… Jeremiah 52 Appendix and historical summary.

The wide divergency of this order from that of either of the two recensions that have come down is not without its teaching (1) as showing that during the length of time over which the prophet’s work was spread but little care was taken by him to provide for their transmission in any definite order. Like a true prophet, he did his work for his own generation, thinking little of himself and his after-fame. Like the Sibyl of classical antiquity, he gave his writings, as it were, to the winds, careless of their fate, and left it to others, through his long career, to collect, copy, and arrange them as they could. (2) As suggesting the probability that what happened in his case may have befallen the writings of other prophets also, such as Isaiah, Ezekiel, Hosea, Amos, whose labours were spread over a considerable period of time; and, consequently, as leaving it open to us to deal freely with the order in which we find them, so as to connect them, as we best can, with the successive stages of the prophet’s life.

It need not be inferred, however, from this chronological dislocation, that the order of the chapters in the Hebrew, and, therefore, in the English version, is altogether without a plan. The following scheme gives, it is believed, an adequate explanation of the principles on which the Palestine editor may have acted :—

1. Jeremiah 1-21—Containing probably the substance of the book of Jeremiah 36:32, and including prophecies from the thirteenth year of Josiah (with a long interval of silence) to the fourth year of Jehoiakim. Jeremiah 1:3, however, indicates a later revision, and the whole of Jeremiah 1 may have been added as the prophet’s retrospect of his whole work from this its first beginning. Jeremiah 21 belongs to a later period, but may have been placed here, as connected by the recurrence of the name of Pashur with Jeremiah 20.

2. Jeremiah 22-25—Short prophecies against the kings of Judah and the false prophets. Jeremiah 25:13-14, evidently marks the conclusion of a series, and that which follows (Jeremiah 25:15-38), the germ of the fuller predictions of Jeremiah 46-49, has apparently been placed here, as a completion to that of the seventy years of exile.

3. Jeremiah 26-28—The two great prophecies of the fall of Jerusalem. Jeremiah 26 belongs to the earlier, Jeremiah 27, 28 to the later portion of the prophet’s work.

4. Jeremiah 29-31—The message of comfort to exiles in Babylon.

5. Jeremiah 32-44—The history of Jeremiah’s work immediately before and after the capture of Jerusalem. Jeremiah 35, 36 are remarkable as interrupting the chronological order, which would otherwise have been followed here more closely than elsewhere. The position of Jeremiah 45 as an isolated fragment, suggests that it may have been added by Baruch at the close of his narrative of his master’s life.

6. Jeremiah 46-51—The prophecies against foreign nations, ending with the great utterance against Babylon.

7. Jeremiah 52—Historical appendix.

IV. Text and Authenticity.—Over and above the variations in order, the LXX. presents some noticeable variations and omissions, which have led some critics to reject some portions of the present Hebrew text as being probably interpolations. Other passages have been questioned on grounds more or less subjective as prophecies after the event, or for other reasons. The limits of this Introduction will not admit of a full description of each portion, but a statement of the objections will, in the one case, direct attention to some striking variations, and in the other, in some instances at least, to parallelisms of some interest. To the present writer, who holds (1) that there are antecedent probabilities in favour of the Hebrew text as compared with the Greek, and (2) that the inspiration of the prophet implies, at least the possibility of a prediction before the event, neither ground of objection seems conclusive.

(a) Questioned, as omitted in the LXX.

-1Jeremiah 10:6-8; Jeremiah 10:10.

-2Jeremiah 27:7.

-3Jeremiah 27:16-21 (not omitted, but with many variations).

-4Jeremiah 33:14-26.

-5Jeremiah 39:4-13.

(b) Questioned on other grounds.

-1Jeremiah 10:1-16.—On being the work of a later writer, probably the so-called Deutero-Isaiah. The Aramaic of verse 11 is urged in favour of this view.

-2Jeremiah 27:14.

-3Jeremiah 47:7

-4Jeremiah 33:14-26.

-5Jeremiah 39:1-2; Jeremiah 39:4-13.

as having the character of prophecies after the event.

(6) Jeremiah 27-29—As showing, in the shortened form of the name (Jeremiah instead of Jeremiahu), and in the epithet “the prophet,” the work of a later writer.

(7) Jeremiah 30-33—As showing the influence of the Deutero-Isaiah.

(8) Jeremiah 48, for the same reason as (7).

(9) Jeremiah 50, 51.—As being a prophecy after the event, foreign in style and thought to Jeremiah’s writings.

(10) Jeremiah 52—As an historical summary compiled from 2 Kings 25 and other sources by the editor of the collection.

In the notes that follow I have been mainly indebted to Ewald, Hitzig, and Keil, and to the notes on Jeremiah by Dr. Payne Smith in the Speaker’s Commentary, and those by Nägelsbach in Lange’s Commentary, edited by Dr. Philip Schaff. The Introduction is mainly based upon an article on Jeremiah which I contributed to Dr. Smith’s Dictionary of the Bible, and on the very able dissertation by Nagelsbach in the Commentary just named.

Jer 1:1-19.

総題あるいは緒言。

Jer 1:1-3

はおそらく、エレミヤが自身の預言を集め、同胞がバビロンに携えて行けるように彼らに渡したとき、彼自身によって前置きされたものである［ミカエリス］。

1. アナトテ――ベニヤミン領の町で、エルサレムの北二十スタディア、すなわち二〜三マイルに位置し、現在はアナタである

(Isa 10:30、

およびその文脈

Isa 10:28-32

を参照)。

ベニヤミンに割り当てられたコハテ人への四つの都市のひとつ

(Jos 21:18)。

1Ki 2:26, 27

を参照。これ以降、そこに住む祭司の家系全体に汚名が着せられた。ここでの「アナトテに住む祭司」ということばはそれを指しているのかもしれない。神は「強い者を打ち破るために、弱い者、卑しい者、軽蔑される者」を選ばれる。

「エレミヤの言葉」――預言書の通常の表題は「主の言葉」であるが、アモス書とエレミヤ書という二つの書は、それらの預言者の言葉と呼ばれている。おそらくそれは、単なる預言だけでなく、著者たちの個人的歴史に属する多くの事柄の記録をも含んでいるからであろう。それゆえ、この表題は「エレミヤの生涯」あるいは「エレミヤの働き」と訳することもできようが、これによってエレミヤの預言集の意に解する者もある。エレミヤという名の一つの語源は「神は高く上げられる」である。

ヒルキヤは、その名で知られる大祭司であった可能性がある。

「いた」――あるいは「その者であった」、すなわち「住んでいた」の意。その意味するところは、エレミヤはアナトテに住んでいた祭司であったということである。