Speaking of Kings (21:1-23:8) 135his upper rooms. Hebrew <alfyotayw. S. R. Driver (p. l 29a) describes these as
"chamber[ s] erected on the flat roof of an eastern house, with latticed win-
dows, giving free circulation to the air, secluded and cool" (cf. Judg 3:20; I Kgs
17: 19; Dan 6: 10). King Ahaziah fell through an upper-room lattice of his pal-
ace in Samaria (2 Kgs 1:2).
He makes his fellow serve for nothing, his wages he does not give to him. Je-
hoiakim robbed his subjects to pay Neco (2 Kgs 23:35); now he robs again to
build a sumptuous palace. It is assumed that this self-indulgent king got the job
done by resorting to forced labor (corvee), widely used in Egypt, and instituted
in Israel by David (2 Sam 20:24) and Solomon (1 Kgs 4:6; 5:28-29[Eng 5:13-
14]; 11:28), the latter employing it on a grand scale to build the Temple in
Jerusalem. Jehoiakim, then, had no intention of paying his workers anything.
The whole enterprise had to be highly unpopular, being perhaps another pen-
alty imposed on political opponents who supported Jehoahaz (Wilcoxen 1977:
159). A seventh-century B.C. seal of unknown provenance, belonging to an in-
dividual in charge of forced labor during the reigns of one of Judah's last kings,
has been found. Inscribed on both sides, it reads on one side, which is the per-
sonal side: "Belonging to PelaJyahu (son of) Mattityahu." On the reverse,
which is the official side, it reads: "Belonging to PelaJyahu who is over the cor-
vee (hms)." Avigad (1980; 1997: 28-29, 56-57) published the seal, and suggests
that perhaps its owner was in charge of the corvee during Jehoiakim's reign.
The claim is sometimes made that Jeremiah does not speak out against social
injustice as much as certain other prophets do, e.g., Amos, Micah, and Isaiah.
Holladay (II p. 595) says: "In contrast to the eighth-century prophets there is cu-
riously little emphasis on social injustice in the words of accusation uttered by
Jrm." However, social concerns-particularly those central to Deuteronomy-
are well represented in Jeremiah's preaching (see, e.g., 2:34-35; 5:1, 26-28; 6:7,
13 = 8: IOb; 7:8-11; 9:2-5 [Eng 9:3-6]; 17: 11; 21: 11; and 22:3-4, 13-17). Wessels
( 1992) maintains that the concern for a just society is a major issue in the book.
Drotts ( 1973: 197) compares Jeremiah's denunciation of King Jehoiakim for his
perfidious treatment of slaves with Martin Luther King Jr.'s prophetic words
and actions that served to bring "white backlash, unemployment, poverty, igno-
rance, and discrimination under the scrutiny of the moral will of God." It is not
that Jeremiah said little about social injustice; rather, it is that we hear this
prophet also addressing numerous other issues related to unbelief and covenant
disregard: worship of other gods, idol-making, harlotry, adultery, stealing, mur-
der, child sacrifice, lying, duplicity, empty oaths, Sabbath profanation, false
prophecy, and so on. All of these, needless to say, contribute mightily to injus-
tice and the breakdown of community well-being.
his fellow. Hebrew re<ehLJ. The term rea< simply means "another (fellow)" in
the present context (cf. KB^3 ), where assumptions about friendship or social par-
ity are not being made. Bright imagines an "extreme democracy" in which the
king and carpenter are like "neighbors" (Jones too), but this is unconvincing.
The person doing forced labor is a "fellow" of the king only in the sense that
both are members of the same covenant community, nothing more.