Good Figs Gone for Export (24:1-10) 229after Nebuchadrezzar, king of Babylon, had exiled Jeconiah son oflehoiakim,
king of Judah, and the princes of Judah, and the craftsmen and the smiths from
Jerusalem and brought them to Babylon. For historical background, see 2 Kgs
24:10-17. Zedekiah's accession year was 597 B.C. (Tadmor 1956: 230). This
contextual note and the one like it in 29:2 bind chaps. 24 and 29 together in an
earlier "Zedekiah Cluster" of narrative prose (see Rhetoric and Composition),
and the note here ought not be deleted as a gloss from 2 Kgs 24:14-15 (pace
Ehrlich 1912: 306; Volz; Rudolph; Weiser; Bright; Holladay; McKane). Volz,
however, does consider that the note might originate with Baruch.
Jeconiah. The spelling is yekonyahil, which occurs only here. The king's
name appears as "Jehoiachin" in 2 Kgs 24:6 and 12, and as "Coniah" in Jer
22:24, 28; 37:1; and 1 Chr 3:1. On other spellings in Jeremiah and the OT, see
Note for 22:24.
the princes of Judah. Hebrew we>et-sare yehilda. Here, as elsewhere in the
book, sarfm is rendered by the not-entirely-suitable term "princes;' which re-
flects earlier English usage, when the term had broader meaning. The AV used
"princes," and it was carried over into the RSV Today "prince" means largely a
"male member of the royal family," but earlier it also meant "principal person,
chief, head man, commander" (OED 12: 490-92). Some recent English Ver-
sions (NEB, NJV, NI!, NRSV, REB) translate sar as "official" or "officer;' but
saris more inclusive, meaning roughly "one of the king's men." These were in-
dividuals holding upper-level civil and military positions, which could be royal
or nonroyal. Some were scribes (36: 12) and others military commanders, pal-
ace guards, or members of the police force. The "princes of the troops" (sare
haf:zayalim) assuming leadership at Mizpah in the post-586 B.C. resettlement
were military or paramilitary figures, one of whom, Ishmael son of Nethaniah,
was a royal figure ( 41:1 ). The others were probably not royalty. J ezaniah son of
the Maacathite ( 40:8) was a foreigner. Princes of the king of Babylon were
doubtless a mix of upper-level officers (39:3). Bright thinks that among the
Judahite princes taken to Babylon were many who had intervened on Jere-
miah's behalf (chaps. 26; 36), since we hear no more of them. Those remain-
ing in Jerusalem were, almost without exception, hostile to Jeremiah.
the craftsmen. A f:zaras is a craftsman in wood, metal, or stone; an engraver
(T; 10:3; Exod 28:11; 1Sam13:19). The noun is a collective. The LXX has
technitas ("craftsmen"). These skilled workers are also listed among exile-
bound Judahites in 29:2 and 2 Kgs 24: 14, 16. Such people would be useful to
Nebuchadrezzar, and their loss to Judah would serve the Babylonian king ad-
ditionally by depriving a subjugated nation of a valued asset in maintaining in-
dependence and a defense.
the smiths. Hebrew hammasger. Another collective noun occurring else-
where in 29:2 and 2 Kgs 24: 14, 16, probably meaning "metalworkers" or "lock-
smiths" (Giesebrecht; Condamin). The term in postbiblical Hebrew means
"locksmith" (Diet Talm, 804), which is how T translates it here. The LXX has
taus desmotas ("the prisoners"), adding also another category of people, taus
plousious ("the wealthy"). The former can be explained as a derivation from