were originally composed not in view of the Scythian, but of the Chaldean
invasion of Palestine. So George Douglas (_The Book of Jeremiah_, London,
Hodder & Stoughton, 1903), who, while assigning Jeremiah’s call to 627,
relegates the two visions and all the Oracles in the first part of the
book to the years following Jehoiakim’s accession to the Jewish throne in
608; cp. Winckler, _Geschichte Israels_, I. pp. 112 f. and F. Wilke
(_Alttestamentliche studien R. Kittel zum 60 Geburtstag dargebracht_,
1913), quoted by John Skinner, _Prophecy and Religion_, pp. 42 f. n. 2.
This would be an easy solution but for the insuperable objections to it
that the Oracles in question far more closely fit the Scythian, than the
Chaldean, invasion; and that Jer. I. 2, as distinctly covers prophecies of
Jeremiah in the days of Josiah as v. 3 does his prophesying under
Jehoiakim.
POSTSCRIPT.
The date of Nineveh’s fall has hitherto been accepted as 607-606 B.C. But
in July of this year (1923) Mr. C. J. Gadd described to the British
Academy a Babylonian tablet, which dates the fall in the fourteenth year
of Nabopolassar’s reign in Babylon. This year was 612 B.C., if it be right
to reckon the reign from 626-25 B.C.; but as remarked above, p. 175,
Nabopolassar became in that year officially not king but only viceroy.
Dependent as I was on a newspaper summary of Mr. Gadd’s lecture I could
therefore do no more than offer for the fall of Nineveh the alternative
dates, 612 and 606; see above p. 175 and compare p. 162.
Appendix II.
NECOH’S CAMPAIGN (PP. 162, 163).
In addition to the accounts in the Books of Kings and Chronicles of
Pharaoh Nĕcoh’s advance into Asia in pursuance of his claim for a share of
the crumbling Assyrian Empire there are two independent records: (1)
Jeremiah XLVII. 1—_and Pharaoh smote Gaza_—a headline (with other
particulars) wrongly prefixed by the Hebrew text, but not by the Greek, to
an Oracle upon an invasion of Philistia not from the south but from the
north (see above, pp. 13, 61); (2) by Herodotus, II. 159, who says that
“Nĕcoh (Nekôs) making war by land on the Syrians defeated them at Magdolos
and after the battle took Kadŭtis, a great city of Syria.” Magdolos is
probably Megiddo, unless it stands for Megdel, which, as well as Rumman (=
Hadad-rimmon, the scene of the mourning for Josiah, Zech. XII. 11) lies
near Megiddo. If, as is usually held, Kadŭtis be Gaza, Herodotus has
reversed the proper order of Nĕcoh’s two actions; but Kadŭtis also
suggests _hak-Kôdēsh_, _the holy_, an epithet of Jerusalem (_Jerusalem_,
I. 270) which would suit Herodotus’ order, for it was after Megiddo that
Nĕcoh became master of Jerusalem and Judah. The suggestion, though worth
mentioning, is doubtful; the epithet is late, exilic and post-exilic; and
Herodotus’ phrase _took Kadŭtis_ is hardly equivalent to _became
paramount_ there as Nĕcoh became paramount in Jerusalem.
INDEX OF TEXTS.
Genesis—
xlix. 27; 69
Exodus—
xxi. 1-6; 235
Leviticus—
vi. 5; 152
xix. 27; 206
xxvi. 34 f.; 8
Numbers—
xxx. 2, 12; 313
Deuteronomy—
iv. 19; 136, 195
xvii. 3; 195
xviii. 6; 135
xxxii. 13; 222
Judges—
i. 16; 193
iv. 17; 194
v. 4; 222
24; 194
xi. 36; 313
I. Samuel—
x. 2; 302
xv. 6; 193
22; 156
I. Kings—
ii. 26 f.; 67
II. Kings—
x. 15, 23; 193
xxii. 12 ff.; 174
20; 259
xxiii. 5, 13; 195
8 ff.; 135
10; 196
28-30; 163
31; 66, 232
xxiv. 1-16; 176
6; 259
8, 15; 213
17; 232
18; 66
xxv. 7; 270
18; 246
21; 236
I. Chronicles—
ii. 55; 193
II. Chronicles—
xxxv. 20; 162
xxxvi. 21-23; 8
Ezra—
i. 1 f.; 8
Nehemiah—
xiii; 20
15-22; 221
Psalms—
v. 9; 122
xv; 232
xxiii; 9
xxvi-xxviii; 9
l. 13, 14; 158
li. 16, 17; 158
Isaiah—
vi; 351
x. 28-32; 70
xv. f.; 20
xl. ff.; 8, 20
xliv. 28; 8
lii, liii; 7
lvi. 2-7; 221
lviii; 20
13 f.; 221
lx. 5; 302
Jeremiah—
i.; 9, 28, 30, 42, 50, *78-88*
1-3; 9
5; 67
6; 82, 318
9 f.; 355
10; 14, 83, 319
11 f.; 351, 365
12 f.; 355
13-15; 62
17 f.; 14, 333
ii, iii; 355, 357
ii-xxv; 10
ii. 1-37; *91-98*
1-3; 44
2; 104
5; 106, 356, 362
5-8; 49
8; 355
9; 356 f.
11-13; 346, 356
13; 364
14 f.; 39, 40, 362
14-17; 47
17; 14, 105
18; 81
19; 12, 14, 360
21 f.; 107, 346
23 f.; 68
25; 346, 360
26; 18
28; 76
29; 12
30; 360
31; 47, 106, 346, 355, 362
32 ff.; 45
35; 346, 357, 363
37; 358
iii; 18
1-25; *98-103*
1-6; 52, 358
2; 77, 370
3; 358, 365
5; 40
6-18; 18
6 ff.; 358
20; 358
21-25; 361
22; 107
25; 107
iv. 1-4; *103*
3 f.; 43, 70, *108*, 346, 361
5-8; *112*
6; 355
8; 358
9 f.; *113*, 332
11-22; *114*, *115*
11-14; 60, 68, 69
15-18; 60, 72
18; 360
23-28; 61, *116*
28; 358
29-31; 45 f., *117*, *118*
v. 1-9; *119*, *120*, 134
1-6; 48, 357, 369
1; 370
3; 360
4; 12
6; 69
7-9; 357, 358, 369
10-14; *120*, *121*
13; 18
14; 84
15-17; *122*, 355
18 f.; *122*, *123*
20-31; *123-125*, 357
22; 365
24; 365
26; 370
29; 358
31; 343, 346, 360
vi. 1-8; *125-127*
9-15; *127-129*
11; 319, 330, 358
13-15; 200
15; 359
16-21; *129*, *130*
22-26; *130*, *131*
26; 359
27-29; *132-134*, 352
27-30; 360
vii-x; 17
vii. 1-15; *147-151*, 346
1-28; 18
3 ff.; 346, 357
12-15; 72
14; 367
15; 359
16-20; *195*
16; 358
19; 360
21-23; *155-159*, 346, 367
28 ff.; 50
30 ff.; 165, *195*
viii.; 50
1-3; *196*
4-12; 196, *198-200*
5; 13
7; 69
8 f.; *153*, *154*, 155, 369
10-12; 13, 261, 359, 360
13; *200*
14-ix. 1; 63 f., *200-202*
16; 12
19; 356
21; 12
22; 69
ix.; 50
1; *202*
2-9; *202-204*
2 f.; *341*, *342*
3, 7; 230
4 f.; 369
9; 358
10-12; 204
11; 359
13-16; 204, 208
15; 359
17 ff.; 58, 205
20-22; 58, *205*, *206*, 241
22 f.; 49
23-26; 18, *206*, *207*
24; 357, 371
x. 1-16; 18, 20, 207, 352
6-8; 13
11; 18
17 f.; *207*
19-22; *207-209*, 241, 370
23 f.; 49, *209*, 372
25; *209*, *210*
xi.; 30, 42
1-5; 18
1-8; 28, *143-145*, 155, 377
6-8; 13, 17, 18
13; 76
14; 358, 360
15, 16; *151-153*, 210, 346
18 ff.; 28
18-23; *323* f.
20; 330, 371
21; 146
22 f.; 329
xii. 1-6, 28; *339*, *340*, 351
1-2; *160*, *161*, 356
3; 14, 329, 373
5; 332
7-9; 362
7-13; *210-212*
8; 385
9; 230
11; 230, 362
xiii. 1-17; 28
1-11; *183-185*
1; 356
12-14; 55, 185, 358
15, 16; *59*
17; *212*
18, 19; *213*
20-27; *213-215*
22; 360
23; 108, 346
24; 359
25; 361
xiv; 50
1 ff.; *56** f.*
8 f.; 57, *348*, 364
11-16; *50** f.*, 360
12; 346
17-18; 51, *215*
19-22; *216*, *217*
21; 348
22; 356, 365
xv. 1-9; 52, 358
1-4; *217*
5-9; *217*, *218*
7 f.; 359
10; 319
10-21; *324-326*
13, 14; 13
15; 330
18 f.; 332, 347
xvi. 2-9; *326*, *327*
5-9; *219*
10-13; 219, 327
12; 346
14, 15; 18, 219
16-18; 219
19, 20; 220, 356
xvii. 1-4; 13, *220*, 346
5 ff.; *53** f.*, 353
7 f.; 372
9, 10; *108*, *109*, 371
13; 364
14-18; *328*
16; 237
18; 329
19-27; 20
xviii; 82
xviii. 1-12; 28, *185-190*, 355, 360
1; 356
7-10; 84
13-17; *221*, *222*
11 f.; 361
15; 356
17; 359
18-23; *328** f.*
20 f.; 332
xix; *191*
xix-xx. 6; 223
1; 356
xx. 1-6; *191*, *192*
2; 321
3 f.; 369
7; 82, 318, 353
7-18; 223
7-12; *330*, *331*
8; 318
9; 319
11; 353
12; 371
14-18; *331*, *332*
xxi. 1-10; 223, 267, *268*
7; 358
9; 229, *277-280*
11, 12; 223
13, 14; 223
xxii-xxiii. 8; 16
xxii. 1-5; 223
6 f.; *223*, *224*
8 f.; 224
10; *164*
11 f.; 223
13-17; *166*, *167*, 223, 369
15 f.; 75, 357
18 f.; *167*, *168*, 259, 321
20-30; *224-226*
25 f.; 355
26; 213
xxiii. 1-8; 20
7, 8; 18, 219
9-32; *253-258*
9-40; 16
14, 17, 22; 261
14-17; 361
15; 359
19, 20; 18, 358
21; 265
23 f.; 366, 371
27; 260
28; 264
31; 265, 370
32; 259
xxiv; 28
1; 356
1-9; *238-241*, 309
7; 378
8 ff.; 355
9 f.; 359
xxv; 22
1-11, 13; *179-181*
9; 355
12-14; 20, 181
13-15; 14, *181*, 358
15-38; *182*
26; 20
xxvi; 10, 147, *168-174*
1-9; 18
2; 165, 371
6; 72
13; 357
14, 15; 264
xxvii-xxxv; 10
xxvii, xxviii; 247
xxvii; 234, *248-250*
1; 13
2; 356
5, 6; 355
7; 13
9; 361
12-14; 13
17-22; 13
18; 264
xxviii; 10, 28
2-17; *251-253*
6; 264
xxviii. 11; 264
15; 361, 369
17; 322
xxix; 40
1-23; *241-245*
4-13; 367
14; 13
15; *245*
16-20; 13
21-23; *245*, 261
24-32; *246-247*, 322
29; 237
xxx-xxxiii; 286
xxx, xxxi; 293, 374 f.
xxx. 2; 293
5-9; *294**, **295*
10, 11; 13, 295
12-15; *295*
15; 13
16-17; *296*
22; 13
23, 24; 18, 358
xxxi; 30, 42, 286
1-6; *297-300*
6; 141
7-14; 20
7-9; *300**, **301*
10-14; *301**, **302*
15; 47, 70
15-17; *303**, **304*
18-22; *304**, **305*
20; 363
23-28; *305**, **306*
29, 30; 307, *371*
31-34; 307, *375-380*
35 f.; 365
xxxii; 10, 28, 286
1-5; *286*, 355
6-15; 285, 356
6-25; *287-289*
12; 12
16-25; 237
26-44; *289*
30; 356
xxxiii; *289-291*
1; 290
4-13; 290
14-26; 13, 289
xxxiv. 1-7; 267, *268-270*
2; 355
8-22; 235, *273-275*
22; 355
xxxv; *193**, **194*
2; 356
xxxvi-xlv; 10
xxxvi; 17, *22** ff.*, 26, *178**, **179*
2; 82, 356
9; 165
28; 356
32; 89, 110
xxxvii. 3-10; 267, *270**, **271*
5, 7; 234
11; 234
11-21; *275**, **276*
17-21; *284*
xxxviii. 1-3; *276-280*
2; 229, 277
4-6; *280**, **281*
7-13; *281*
14-28; *282-285*
19 ff.; 321
22; 369
28; 285, 291
xxxix. 3, 14; *291*, 292
4-13; 13, 291
7; 270
14; 174
15-18; *281**, **282*
18; 229
xl-xliv; 17, 18
xl. 1-6; *291**, **292*
5, 6; 174
xli, xlii; *307-309*
xliii. 1-7; *310*
8-13; *310*
xliv. 1-14; *311**, **312*
15-28; *312-316*
30; 234
xlv; 17, *226-229*
5; 27, 322
xlvi-li; 10, 14, 20, 181
xlvi. 26; 13
27 f.; 13
xlvii. 1; 13, 384
2, 3; *61*
xlviii. 40-47; 13, 20
xlix. 7-22; 20
34-39; 20
l. 1-58; 20
li. 59; 234
60; 20
lii; 10, 20
28-30; 13
Lamentations; 31, 318
Ezekiel—
i; 351
viii; 234
xi. 15; 234
xvi. 59; 232
xvii. 11-21; 232
xix. 14; 233
xxiii. 22; 213
xxix. 3; 234
Daniel; 292
Hosea—
vi. 1-4; 217
Joel—
ii. 1; 112
Amos—
iii. 2; 260
6; 112
v. 25; 158
ix. 2 ff.; 366
Obadiah; 20
Micah—
vi. 6-8; 75, 158
Zephaniah—
iii. 4; 258
Habakkuk—
iii. 7; 72
Matthew—
xviii. 23 f.; 189
xxvii. 7; 185
Luke—
i. 76; 79
vii. 39 ff.; 189
xiii. 6 ff.; 189
xix; 189
1 Corinthians—
i. 17; 157
INDEX OF NAMES AND SUBJECTS.
Ahikam, 157, 174, 291.
Amos, 3, 22, 112, 158, 260.
Anathoth, 66, 67, 287, etc.
Apocrypha, the, 8.
“Arabian Nights,” 36.
Ark, the, 101.
Assyria, 66, 77, 175.
Atonement, 7.
Baalîm, 76, etc.
Babylonian idolatry, 234.
Ball, C. J., his “The Prophecies of Jeremiah,” 9, 93, 184, 203, 210.
Baruch, 4, 8, 23, 26, 82, 178, 227.
Budde, Professor, 38.
Calvin, 278, 283, 315.
Carchemish, battle of, 175.
Chaldeans, the, 110, 121, 122, etc.
Cornill, 7, 38, 82, 166, 184, 190, 222, 268, 269, 276, 287, 298, 299, 301,
312, 329, 375, etc.
Corvée, the, 166.
Covenant, the new, 374 ff.
Dalman: “Palästinischer Diwan,” 36.
Davidson, Dr. A. B., 3, 5, 15, 26, 139, 186, 268, 354.
Deuteronomy, Book of, 135;
its cardinal doctrines, 136;
alleged connection of Jeremiah with its composition, 139.
Dirge on the drought, 56.
Douglas, G., 15, 145, 382.
Driver: “The Book of the Prophet Jeremiah,” 111, 133, 147, 181, 239, 296,
312.
Duhm, Professor, 8, 15, 37, 38, 40, 82, 83, 91, 98, 115, 166, 194, 222,
227, 243, 244, 257, 268, 269, 276, 287, 295, 300, 312, 329,
375, etc.
Ebed-Melech, 281.
Edghill, 159.
Egypt, 77, 105, 234, 310.
Ephraim, 72, 297, 299, 304.
Erbt, 38, 48, 133, 190, 227, 256, 268, 314.
Euphrates, 184.
Ewald, 184, 222, 268.
Farah, Wady, 184.
Freedom, the Divine, 186, 237.
Future Life, no hope of, 138, 240, 334, 340, 380.
Gedaliah, 276, 291, 292;
assassination, 307.
Gidroth-Chimham, 308.
Giesebrecht, 38, 48, 147, 155, 181, 227, 257, 268, 287, 312, 380.
Gilead, 68, 69, 201, 224.
Gillies, Rev. J. R., 111, 146, 147, 181, 190, 222, 268, 287, 294, 312,
324, 375.
God, man, and the new covenant, 350.
Grotius, 7.
Hananiah, 251.
Hebrew poetry, 33.
Heine, 36, 40.
Herder, 34.
Herodotus, 73, 206, 382.
Hilḳiah, 66.
Hinnom, 185, 191, 195 (Topheth).
Hosea, 4, 44, etc.
Hugo, Victor, 167, 230.
Isaiah, 4, 85, 266, 279, 319, 351.
Ishmael (the fanatic), 307.
Jeconiah (Konyahu), 224.
Jehoahaz, 164.
Jehoiachin, 176 (_see_ Jeconiah).
Jehoiakim, 144, 165, 195.
Jeremiah, personality, 4;
biography, 26;
as poet, 31;
as prose writer, 40;
his youth and his call, 66;
range of his mission, 79;
prophet to the nations, 79;
carrier of the Word of the Lord, 83;
charge in visions, 84;
in the reign of Josiah, 89;
his Oracles, 89;
alleged pessimism, 108;
Oracles on the Scythians, 110;
settlement in Jerusalem, 134;
alleged connection with the composition of Deuteronomy, 139;
attitude to its ethics and to the written law, and to sacrifices, 143;
difficulties as to “the Covenant,” 144;
conspiracy against, 146;
address rebuking the people, 147;
contrasts to the teaching of Deuteronomy, 153;
enmity of the priests, 168;
prediction of the ruin of the Temple, 168;
the Rolls, 178;
address prophesying judgment upon Judah, 179;
parables, 183;
arrest, 191;
Oracles on the Edge of Doom, 195;
hopeful prophecies, 236;
vision of the good and bad figs, 238;
Letter to the Exiles, 241;
treatment of the ’prophets’ in Jerusalem, 245;
removal and restoration of the sacred vessels, 250;
controversy with other prophets, 258;
his prophesying vindicated by history, 259;
arrested and flogged, 275;
controversy as to suggested surrender, 276;
charged with treason and cast into cistern, 280;
rescue by Ebed-melech, 281;
appeal by the King, 282;
“The Book of Hope,” 286;
what befel Jeremiah when the city was taken, 291;
carried off in chains to Ramah and there released, 292;
prophecies of the physical restoration of Israel and Judah, 302;
carried off to Egypt, 310;
Oracle concerning the Jews in Egypt, 311;
the story of his soul, 317;
“the Weeping Prophet,” 318;
voice of pain and protest, 318;
his irony and scorn, 321;
fluid and quick temper, 332;
poet’s heart for the beauties of nature and domestic life, 334;
no hope of another life, 334;
faith in his predestination, 335;
sacrifice of self, 341;
foreshadowing the sufferings of Christ for men, 349;
revelations of God subjective, 352;
a God of deeds, 354;
Jeremiah’s monotheism, 356;
brooding on the wrath of the Lord, 358;
the love of God, 361;
the Divine power in nature, 365;
man and the new covenant, 367;
readings of the heart of man, 370;
the individual as the direct object of the Divine grace and discipline,
372;
the prophecy of the new covenant, 374.
Jeremiah (Book of), 9;
questions of authorship, 19;
the Rolls, 23;
Exilic and Post-Exilic additions, 29;
poetical passages, 31;
critical text, 156;
evidence for revelation by argument, 161.
Jerusalem, 113, 125;
invested by Nebuchadrezzar, 234;
Temple and Palace burned, 235;
Jeremiah’s activity and sufferings during the siege, 267;
his pronouncements of surrender, 267.
Job, Book of, 49.
Johanan-ben-Kareah, 308.
Josiah, 75, 162, etc.
Knox, John, 266, 272.
König, 145.
“Kurzer Hand-Commentar,” 38.
Lees, Dr. John: “The German Lyric,” 33, 42.
Love, the Divine, 106, 348, 356, etc.
Lowth, Bishop: “De Sacra Poesi Hebræorum,” 33.
Magor-Missabib, 192.
Man and the new covenant, 367.
Marti, 155, 184.
McCurdy, 111.
McFadyen, J. E., 184, 222.
Megiddo, battle of, 163.
Metrical Questions, vii, 32-53 and _passim_.
Mispah, 292, 308.
Misraim (Egypt), 94, etc.
Nabopolassar, 175.
Nebuchadrezzar, 110, 126, 175, 292, etc.
Nebusaradan, 235, 291, 292.
Nĕcoh, 163, 175, 384.
Nineveh, Fall of, 162, 163, 175, 383.
Nineveh, 175.
Noph (Memphis), 94, 311.
Omnipresence, the Divine, 256, 366.
Oracles on the Edge of Doom, 60, 195.
Parable of the Potter, 82, 185.
Parables, 183.
Pashhur, 191.
Pathros, 311.
Patience, the Divine, 187-189, 217, 237.
Peake, Prof., 146, 147, 184, 222, 268, 273, 274, 279, 287, 293, 312, 375.
Predestination, 78, 186, 335.
Prophets. Personality of the, 3; _see also_ 245-266.
Qînah (metre), 37, 39, 44, 244, 283, 295, 297, etc.
Queen, or Host, of Heaven, 195, 234, 313, 314.
Ramah, 70, 292, 297, 303.
Rechabites, the, 193.
Renan, 308.
Rothstein, 222, 294, 312.
Sacrifice, 130, 152, 155-159, 299, 341.
Saintsbury, George: “History of English Prosody,” 36.
Schmidt, Professor, 24, 25, 111, 382.
Schweich Lectures, 34.
Scythians, the, 73, 82, 110, 381.
Ṣedekiah, 232, and _passim_ to 282.
Shakespeare, 36, 47.
Shiloh, 72, 149, 170.
Skinner, Rev. John, D.D.: his “Prophecy and Religion, Studies in the Life
of Jeremiah,” 7, 103, 111, 129, 133, 145, 146, 166, 169, 181,
190, 222, 227, 237, 268, 279, 284, 292, 307, 375, 383.
Slavery, 235;
proposed emancipation, 273.
Smith, H. P., 147.
Smith, W. Robertson, 15, 159.
Snouck Hurgronje: “Mekka,” 37.
Stade, B., 267.
Tahpanhes (Daphne), 94, 310, 311.
Tchekov, 198.
Thackeray, St. John: his “The Septuagint and Jewish Worship,” 14.
Thomson, Rev. W. R., 111, 140, 146, 268.
Torah, the, 153, etc.
Urijahu, 173.
Wady Farah, 184.
Wellhausen, 5, 146.
Winckler: “A.T. Untersuchungen,” 142, 176, 382, 383.
FOOTNOTES
1 A. B. Davidson.
2 A. B. Davidson. “Without Jeremiah,” says Wellhausen, “the Psalms
could not have been composed.”
3 Cp. e.g. Jer. xi. 19, with Is. liii. 7; and see Grotius, “Annotata
ad Vetus Testamentum,” on Is. lii-liii; Cornill, “Das Buch Jeremia
erklärt,” pp. 11-12; John Skinner, “Prophecy and Religion,” p. 351.
4 II. Chron. xxxvi. 21 (with a reference to Lev. xxvi. 34, 35) and 22,
23, the latter repeated in Ezra i. 1-2. Duhm, indeed, but on
insufficient grounds, thinks the former citation, because of its
reference to Leviticus, cannot be from our Book of Jeremiah but is
from a Midrash unknown to us; yet the chronicler’s was the very
spirit to associate a Levitical provision with Jer. xxix. 10; cp.
xxv. 9-12. The other quotation Duhm refers to some part of Is. xl.
ff. (xliv. 28?) as though this had at one time been attributed to
Jeremiah.
5 In the Apocrypha proper, (1) “Baruch” to which is attached (2) “The
Epistle of Jeremy” warning the Jews of Babylon in general and
conventional terms against idolatry. Apocalyptic writings, (3)
“Apocalypse of Baruch,” (4) (5) and (6) three other “Apocalypses of
Baruch,” (7) “The Rest of the Words of Baruch,” or “Paralipomena
Jeremiæ,” (8) “Prophecy of Jeremiah.” For particulars of these see
“Encyclopædia Biblica,” arts. “Apocalyptic Literature” (R. H.
Charles), and “Apocrypha” (M. R. James).
6 Following Hitzig, C. J. Ball (“The Prophecies of Jeremiah” in “The
Expositor’s Bible,” 1890, pp. 10 ff.) refers Pss. xxiii, xxvi-xxviii
to Jeremiah, and it is possible that in particular the personal
experiences in Ps. xxvii are reflections of those of the prophet.
But such experiences were so common in the history of the prophets
and saints of Israel as to render the reference precarious.
7 It has been calculated that the Greek has 2700 words fewer than the
Hebrew, i.e. about 120 verses or from four to five average chapters.
8 E.g. ii. 19, 29; iii. 1; v. 4_a_; viii. 16, 21; xxxii. 12, etc.
_ 9 nĕ’um Yahweh: utterance_ or _oracle_ of _Jehovah_.
10 E.g. the words _at his mouth_, xxxvi. 17; xxxviii. 16.
11 E.g. _Jerusalem_ in viii. 5, and in xxxvi. 22 _the ninth month_.
12 E.g. ii. 1-2; xxv. 1_b_; xxvii. 1; xlvii. 1; l. 1.
13 E.g. viii. 10_ab_-12; x. 6-8; xi. 7, 8; xvii. 1-4 (perhaps omitted
by the Greek, because partly given already in xv. 13, 14); xxv. 18
_and a curse as at this day_; xxvii. 1, 7, 12_b_, 13, 14_a_, 17,
18_b_, clauses in 19, 20, the whole of 21, and 22_b_; xxix. 14,
16-20; xxx. 10, 11 (= xlvi. 27 f.), 15_a_, 22; xxxiii. 14-26; xxxix.
4-13; xvi. 26; xlvii. 1 (except _to the Philistines_); xlviii.
45-47; lii. 28-30.
14 E.g. i. 10, 17, 18; ii. 17, 19; vii. 28_b_; xii. 3; xiv. 4, etc.
15 Verse 14 is not found in the Greek.
16 In his Schweich Lectures on “The Septuagint and Jewish Worship” (for
the British Academy, 1921) Mr. St. John Thackeray presents clear
evidence from the different vocabularies in the Greek Version that
this Version was the work of two translators, the division between
whom is at Ch. xxix. verse 7. The dividing line cuts across the
Greek arrangement of the chapters, which sets the Oracles on Foreign
Nations in the centre of the Book. This shows that it was not the
translators who placed them there, but that the translators found
the arrangement in the Hebrew MS. from which they translated.
Further, he thinks that the division of the Book into two parts was
not made by the translators, but already existed in their Hebrew
exemplar. For this the Hebrew text gives two evidences: (1) the
titles of the Oracles, (2) the colophons appended to two of them.
The titles are some long, some short. In the Hebrew order the
Oracles with long titles are mixed up with those with short, but in
the Greek order the six with long titles come together first and are
followed by the five with short. There are two colophons—one to the
Moab Oracle, the other to the Babylon Oracle; but the Moab Oracle
stands last in the Greek order and the Babylon Oracle last in the
Hebrew order.
From all this two conclusions are drawn: (1) when the titles were
inserted the chapters were arranged as in the Greek, which,
therefore, was the original arrangement; (2) they afford Hebrew
evidence for a break or interruption in the middle of the
Oracles—the longer titles cease about the end of Part I of the Greek
Version, which therefore follows a division of the Book into two
parts that already existed in the Hebrew original from which it was
made. The Hebrew editor who amplified the titles had apparently only
Part I before him.
17 E.g. Graf (“Der Prophet J. erklärt,” 1862), George Douglas (“The
Book of Jeremiah,” 1903) for the Hebrew; and Workman (“The Text of
Jeremiah,” 1888) for the Greek. For a judicial comparison of the two
editions, resulting much in favour of the Greek, see W. R. Smith,
“The O.T. in the Jewish Church,” Lectures IV and V.
18 “The Hebrew is qualitatively superior to the Greek, but
quantitatively the Greek is nearer the original. This judgment is
general, admitting many exceptions, and each passage has to be
considered by itself.”—A. B. Davidson. Cp. Duhm, “Das Buch Jer.,” p.
xxii.
19 Oracles on the King, xxii. 1-xxiii. 8 and on the Prophets, xxiii.
9-40.
20 The Oracles under Jehoiakim, chs. vii-x, before those on the
enforcement of Deuteronomy under Josiah xi. 6-8.
21 The Oracle for Baruch, dated in the fourth year of Jehoiakim, 604
B.C., is not given till ch. xlv, a long way off from ch. xxxvi to
which it belongs by date and subject, and only after chs. xl-xliv,
the story of Jeremiah’s life after the fall of Jerusalem.
22 So far as it is common to the Hebrew and the Greek.
_ 23 The end of_ is wanting in the Greek.
24 Chs. xl-xliv. And between them the title and its supplement ignore
the Oracles which Jeremiah uttered under Josiah after the thirteenth
year of the King, perhaps iii. 6-18, and certainly xi. 1-5, 6-8.
25 Ch. lii.
26 E.g. iii. 6-18; ix. 23-26 with x. 1-16; xxi. 11-12 with (probably)
13-14.
27 E.g. ii. 26; v. 13; x. 11, the last written in Aramaic.
28 Cp. xxiii. 7, 8 with xvi. 14, 15, and xxx. 23, 24 with xxiii. 19,
20.
29 x. 1-16; xvii. 19-27 (on the Sabbath—unlike Jeremiah, who did not
lay stress on single laws but very like post-exilic teaching, e.g.
Neh. xiii and Is. lviii), possibly xxiii. 1-8; xxv. 12-14 (the
obviously late _as at this day_ in verse 18 and verse 26_b_ are
omitted by the Greek).
30 Parts of xxx and xxxi, especially xxxi. 7-14, the spirit of which is
so much that of the Eve of the Return from Exile and the style so
akin to that of the Great Prophet of that Eve that some take it as
dependent on his prophecies.
31 xlvi-li, especially on Moab, xlviii. 40-47, which is based on the
earlier prophecy, Is. xv-xvi; on Edom, xlix. 7-22, based on Obadiah;
Elam, xlix. 34-39; and the long prophecy on Babylon, l. 1-58, which
reflects like Is. xl. ff. the historical situation just before the
Medes overthrew Babylon, and expresses an attitude towards the
latter very different from Jeremiah’s own fifty years earlier. The
compiler, or an editor of the Book, has (li. 60) erred in
attributing this long prophecy to Jeremiah. In all these there may
be genuine nuclei.
32 Ch. lii.
33 So Greek, Hebrew has _Israel_.
34 N. Schmidt in the “Encyclopædia Biblica.”
35 Professor Schmidt, in the article already quoted, takes this to mean
only that Jeremiah “retouched under fresh provocation” the contents
of the first Roll. This interpretation would imply that _words_
means nouns, verbs, adjectives and so forth, whereas _words_ can
only carry the same sense as it carries in the rest of the Book,
viz. _whole_ Oracles or Discourses. Note the phrase _words like
them_, viz. like _the words_ or Oracles on the first Roll.
36 Cp. A. B. Davidson, “Jeremiah,” in Hastings, “B.D.,” ii. 522.
37 Schmidt, _op. cit._
38 xlv. 5.
39 Chs. i., xi., 1-8, 18-xii. 6; xiii. 1-17; xviii. 1-12.
40 Chs. xxiv, xxviii, xxxii (except for the introductory verses 1-5).
41 “De Sacra Pœsi Hebræorum,” 1753.
42 Writing of the early German lyric, Dr. John Lees says in his volume
on “The German Lyric” (London, Dent & Sons, 1914): “In regard to the
length of the lines, their number, and the arrangement of the
rhymes, the poet has absolute freedom in all three classes;” and
again of the Volkslied “there is no mechanical counting of
syllables; the variation in the number of accented and unaccented
syllables is the secret of the verse.” And he quotes from Herder on
the Volkslieder: “songs of the people ... songs which often do not
scan and are badly rhymed.”
43 Dalman, “Palästinischer Diwan.”
44 Saintsbury, “History of English Prosody,” vol. ii. 53, 54.
45 Snouck Hurgronje, “Mekka,” vol. ii. 62.