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(Jeremiah 36). a Response to Friedhelm Hartenstein

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(Jeremiah 36). a Response to Friedhelm Hartenstein chapter 5 King Jehoiakim’s Attempt to Destroy the Written Word of God (Jeremiah 36). A Response to Friedhelm Hartenstein Lida Panov This paper provides a summary and commentary to Friedhelm Hartenstein pre- sentation “Prophets, Princes and Kings: Prophecy and Prophetic Books accord- ing to Jeremiah 36,” which was held at the Jeremiah conference on July 22–26, 2014 on the Monte Verità, Switzerland. The issues discussed by Hartenstein are outlined as follows: The process of innerbiblical reworking and interpretation in Jer 36, the structure of Jer 36, the importance of oral prophecy in Jer 36, the challenges of a messenger in maintaining loyalty to the king and to God, and the theological aspects arising in Jer 36. After summarizing these issues, three points of Hartenstein’s presentation are resumed and supplemented in this paper. First, the negative picture of Jehoiakim and its theological impact is examined. Second, the obligation of simultaneous loyalty towards the king and God is discussed with reference to a related case in the book of Isaiah. Finally, the structural feature of the balance between oral prophecy and writ- ten prophecy will be investigated. In the beginning of his paper, Hartenstein emphasizes the most widely discussed aspects of Jer 36 in past research. He emphasizes that the book of Jeremiah in particular demonstrates the phenomenon of innerbiblical inter- pretation and the reception of other biblical texts.1 This process of rework- ing concerns, first of all, textual exegesis inside the book of Jeremiah itself. It seems that the scroll mentioned in Jer 36 functions as a recapitulation of all the prophetic sayings in the book of Jeremiah when looking at v. 2: “Take a scroll and write on it all the words that I have spoken to you against Israel and Judah and all the nations, from the day I spoke to you, from the days of Josiah 1 Friedhelm Hartenstein, “Prophets, Princes, and Kings: Prophecy and Prophetic Books accord- ing to Jeremiah 36” in this volume, esp. 71. Cf. also Konrad Schmid, “Nebukadnezars Antritt der Weltherrschaft und der Abbruch der Davidsdynastie: Innerbiblische Schriftauslegung und universalgeschichtliche Konstruktion im Jeremiabuch, in Schriftgelehrte Traditionsliteratur. Fallstudien zur innerbiblischen Schriftauslegung im Alten Testament (ed. idem; FAT 77; Tübingen: Mohr Siebeck, 2011), 223–41 esp. 225. © koninklijke brill nv, leiden, ���7 | doi ��.��63/97890043�0�53_006 A Response to Friedhelm Hartenstein 93 until today.” It is striking that the text in Jer 36 does not say exactly what was written on the scroll. Another important element in Jer 36 appears in v. 32. The phrase “many similar words were added” hints at how the tradents of biblical texts understood themselves. Evidently, they saw it as a natural procedure to add words and comments to an existing text.2 Hartenstein begins by discussing the structure of Jer 36. Particularly out- standing are the passages in the beginning (vv. 1–8) and in the end (vv. 27–32) of the text. Both sections mention the divine command to Jeremiah to record everything that God has spoken to Jeremiah as well as Jeremiah’s transmis- sion of this task to Baruch. These circumstances may occur because Jeremiah is restrained and cannot enter the temple as is written in v. 5.3 Hartenstein then focuses on the main part of the story (vv. 9–26). In terms of content, we see that Baruch reads the scroll to all the people in the house of Yhwh, in the cham- ber of Gemaryahu (v. 10), then the son of Gemaryahu informs all the superi- ors about Baruch’s words (vv. 11–13). Upon hearing everything that was written on the scroll, they realize they must report everything to king Jehoiakim (vv. 14–16). According to Hartenstein, it is striking that on the one hand they feel the obligation to let the king know what has happened, while on the other hand they advise both Jeremiah and Baruch to hide, and they deposit the scroll in the temple (vv. 19–20). Later king Jehoiakim cuts and burns the scroll after it was read to him by the servant Jehudi. He also sends for Jeremiah and Baruch, but the text states that Yhwh hides them (vv. 20–26).4 In this interpretation of Jer 36, Hartenstein emphasizes how prophecy occurs through loud “recitation of the words—be it before the people, the princes, or the king.”5 Nonetheless, v. 32 speaks of prophecy as a written entity that could include many additions and interpretations during the process of redaction. On the other hand, the main part of Jer 36 introduces prophecy as a phenomenon whereby divinatory words are retold and become real in a new situation. The prophetic words are actually transmitted through the oral read- ing of a written document. As a result, the message can be reenacted by other people in different circumstances.6 Furthermore, Hartenstein follows Odil Hannes Steck’s explanation that prophets in the Hebrew Bible are depicted as messengers of the king Yhwh, while in the ancient Near Eastern world, many messengers appear as transmitters of the king’s words. For this reason, 2 Hartenstein, “Prophets, Princes, and Kings,” esp. 70–72. 3 Ibid., esp. 73–74. 4 Ibid., esp. 74–76. 5 Ibid., 76. 6 Ibid., esp. 76–77..
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