Good Figs Gone for Export (24:1-10) 233will give them a heart to know me, for I am Yahweh" in the larger rhetorical
structure and should be retained. Together these statements frame the cove-
nant formula (see Rhetoric and Composition).
their whole heart. Complete and unreserved action.
8-10. These verses are repeated with variation in 29: 17-19, where the judg-
ment on Judah's king and the remnant left in Jerusalem after 597 B.C. is in re-
sponse to their not having listened to Yahweh's word as it came via the
prophets.- And like the bad figs, which could not be eaten because they were so
bad ... So will I make Zedekiah, king of Judah .... Another ke ... ken com-
parison, as in v 5. One can only wonder whether this oracle came to the ears of
Zedekiah, and if it did, just when? It could have been received by Jeremiah
early in Zedekiah's reign and then made public at a later time. There was, after
all, a period of roughly seven years (594-588 B.c.) during which we know noth-
ing of Jeremiah's activities. It could be that Jeremiah's delivery of this oracle
made necessary his retirement from public view, which would have repeated
what happened in 604 B.C. when the prophet's first scroll was read publicly and
he became persona non grata with King Jehoiakim. The usual view of Zede-
kiah is that he was personally so weak that he could do little in the face of an or-
acle such as the present one. But would not others have been just as offended
by this oracle, since, as we mentioned, they would likely have attributed their
escape from exile to their own superiority?
indeed thus said Yahweh. Translating the kf as an asseverative: "indeed." The
LXX and Vg omit the particle, but many commentators (Giesebrecht; Cornill;
Volz; Rudolph; Weiser; Holladay; McKane) go further and delete the entire
formula. The kf appears to be required because the formula here interrupts
the opening words of the oracle. Its omission in the LXX could be due to hap-
lography (homoeoarcton: k ... k). The formula in its entirety should be re-
tained, because it alternates nicely with the formula in v 5 (see Rhetoric and
Composition).
the ones who remain in this land. Blayney says that one MS has "in this city,"
a reading that appears also in the S, Vg (in urbe hac), and GA. The parallel or-
acle in chap. 29 is spoken to those who dwell "in this city," i.e., Jerusalem
(29:16). But "land" here is the accepted reading.
and the ones who dwell in the land of Egypt. Already in 597 B.C. Jews are liv-
ing in Egypt, and more will go there before and after the fall of Jerusalem. Je-
hoahaz was taken there over a decade ago, in 609 B.C., and others likely went
with him. During the reign of Jehoiakim, Uriah the prophet fled to Egypt
(26:21-23), which does not prove that he sought refuge with Jews living in the
country but suggests it. Bright, along with others, favors a Jewish emigration to
Egypt during Jehoiakim's reign, saying that, if it did not occur when Jehoiakim
switched allegiance to Nebuchadrezzar ca. 604 B.C. (2 Kgs 24:1), it did when the
Babylonian king invaded Judah in 598-597 B.C. More Jews doubtless went south
during Zedekiah's reign, before the fall of Jerusalem. What is certain is that, by
the time Johanan son of Kareah and his group arrived in Egypt ca. 581 B.C.,