Speaking of Kings (21:1-23:8) 119
where Jeremiah is told to deliver his celebrated Temple Oracles of 609 B.C.
Here the prophet is at the Temple, instructed to "go down" (red) because the
palace is on lower ground (Kim}:ii; J. D. Michaelis 1793: 174; Giesebrecht;
Hyatt; and others; cf. 36: 12; 2 Kgs 11: 19). From the palace to the Temple, one
"goes up" (26:10).
2. And you shall say, 'Hear the word of Yahweh, king ofludah ... .'Although
pertaining to the entire royal house, this word is to be addressed directly to the
king. The king will probably not hear it, since Jeremiah goes only to the palace
gates. The oracles in 21: 11-14 address the royal house more broadly, being de-
livered before a general audience at some unspecified location.
who sits on the throne of David. The mention of David here and in v 4 has the
same function as in 21: 12, to refer indirectly but intentionally to a king of Israel
who did justice (2 Sam 8:15). There is no allusion to the Davidic covenant of
2 Samuel 7 (pace Boadt; Jones); the covenant at issue is the Sinai covenant,
which is conditional and concerned largely with land tenure.
and your servants. Hebrew wa'abadeyka. The LXX has kai ho oikos sou, "and
your house." Royal "servants" are important people in the employ of the king
(see Note for 21:7).
and your people who come through these gates. The LXX has "and your
people, and they who enter these gates," which introduces a redundant cate-
gory of people. Since these are the gates to the palace (Giesebrecht; Cornill;
Holladay), those passing through will only be members of the royal house or
people having legitimate business with the royal house, both of whom could
properly be called the king's people. The Temple Oracles were delivered at
the gates of the Temple (7:2), which cannot be indicated here since, as
Kim}:ii points out, no one will likely ride a horse or chariot through these
gates (cf. v 4).
- Do justice and righteousness, and rescue the robbed from the oppressor's
hand. A variation of the admonition in 21: 12 (see Note there), adding to mispat
("justice") the correlative term ~edaqa ("righteousness"). Boadt notes that "jus-
tice and righteousness" are terms denoting covenant responsibility in Amos 5: 7
and Isa 1:21; also Psalms 72 and 89. According to Snaith (1983: 72-73), both
~edeq (masculine) and ~edaqa (feminine) originally meant "straightness," for
which reason the terms came to be used "for what is or ought to be firmly es-
tablished, successful, and enduring in human affairs." The terms can also
mean deeds not obligatory upon the doer (Berkovitz 1969: 196), "rightness" as
opposed to refo', "wickedness" (Ps 45:8[Eng 45:7]), and "rescue" or "salvation,"
as indicated here and elsewhere (Isa 51: 5).
the sojourner, the orphan, and the widow. According to Deuteronomy, these
individuals in society require special care (Deut 10:18-19; 14:29; 16:11), with
the prophets issuing stern reminders should the mandate go unheeded, which
it often did (Isa 1:17; 11:3-4; Jer 7:5-6). Psalm 72:4 places the burden of care
squarely on the king. The motif of doing justice to the needy appears repeat-
edly in Ugaritic literature, e.g., in the Keret Legend, where Ya~~ib upbraids his
ailing father for not judging the cause of the widow, the orphan, and the poor
