Speaking of Prophets (23:9-40) 187Jerusalem's immoral Yahweh prophets are worse than Samaria's prophets of
Baal. In the allegory of 3 :6-11, the whole of Israel comes off less guilty than
self-assured Judah. Compare also Isa 28:7; Mic 3: 11; and the allegories in
Ezek 16:44-52 and 23:1-20. Jesus says that false prophets are known by their
fruits (Matt 7:15-20).
I have seen a horrible thing. The LXX has eoraka phrikta, "I saw a bristling
thing." The "horrible thing" (8a'arilra) in 5:30 is clergy misrule and prophets
prophesying by "The Lie," i.e., Baal. The "horrible thing" (8a'ariirit) in 18: 13
is burning incense to false gods, which appears to be the same covenant viola-
tion as that cited in Hos 6: 10. Here the "horrible thing" could conceivably be
walking after "The Lie," i.e., Baal, but more likely is walking by "the lie;'
which is false prophecy in the name of Yahweh. It is doubtful whether any
prophets are still speaking for Baal in Zedekiah's reign. The problem in Zede-
kiah's reign was Yahweh prophets speaking "lies" (chaps. 27-28), which is
probably what is indicated here. If we assume a more negative meaning for
8a'arilra than for tipla in v 13 (pace McKane), we have a distributio (see §In-
troduction: Rhetoric and Preaching: Argumentation). There are the bad Baal
prophets of Samaria on the one hand, and the even worse prophets of Jerusa-
lem on the other, who, if they are not all Yahweh prophets, are mostly so. The
remaining verses in the Prophet Collection literally teem with antitheses and
distributios (see vv 16, 21, 23, 28, 35-36, and 37-38), and we seem to have an-
other example here. Yahweh, it should also be noted, has "seen" other disturb-
ing sights in Jerusalem (7:11; 13:27b), there being no secret places where
people can hide or where he is unable to see (16:17; 23:24).
Committing adultery and walking by the lie. Here two infinitive absolutes
are combined: na'op wehalok ("committing adultery and walking"). In 7:9 is
a string of six infinitive absolutes in one of Jeremiah's Temple Oracles. If
kings are prone to injustice and inhumanity (21:12; 22:15-17), prophets and
priests seem to have the occupational hazard of falling victim to adultery and
lying (cf. 29:23). Adultery here is to be taken literally (KimQ.i; Rudolph;
Bright; Holladay; McKane), as also in v 10; it is not a metaphor for religious
apostasy (pace Berridge 1970: 34 n. 52). The mention of Sodom and Gomor-
rah in the verse also suggests sexual immorality (Loader 1990: 61; 1991: 13 ),
where the names of the two cities are brought up, not because of the judg-
ment they incurred, but rather to recall the evil that flourished there, which
was considerable (Duhm; cf. Gen 18:20). This verse is an indictment, a point
overlooked by Overholt (1970: 53); judgment does not come upon these
prophets until v 15.
and walking by the lie. Hebrew wehalok basseqer. Here seqer with the article
appears to mean simply "the lie"(= false prophesy), not "The Lie"(= Baal), as
in chaps. 1-20 (pace Thompson; Boadt; Holladay). On the latter, see Notes for
3:23 and 5:31. "The lie" is definitely required in 23:26, where Yahweh prophets
(v 24: "speaking in my name") are being contrasted to earlier prophets of Baal
(v 27). Prophesying the lie (seqer) here, in vv 25-26, 32, and nine times in