Jeremiah 21-36 A New Translation with Introduction and Commentary by (Anchor Yale Bible Commentaries)

Indictment ofludah and the Nations (25:1-38) 247

also to Nebuchadrezzar, king of Babylon, my servant. This bold metaphor

occurs two other times in 27:6 and 43:10. It is an oxymoron, since "my ser-

vant" in the mouth of Yahweh is otherwise a term of endearment (e.g., "my

servants the prophets" in 7:25; 26:5; 29:19; 35:15; 44:4; "Jacob my servant" in

30:10 [= 46:27]; and "David my servant" in 33:21, 22, 26). Smelik (1997) says

the term means to be provocative. Never in the Bible except here is an enemy

of Israel given this title. Cyrus is called "my shepherd" (ro'f) in Isa 44:28, and

"his [Yahweh's] anointed" (mesfbo) in Isa 45:1, but the Persian king figures

prominently in Israel's future salvation. The LXX omits the present phrase

along with the "oracle of Yahweh" formula, which has led a train of scholars

beginning with Graf and Kuenen to delete. In their view, the original text was

without a reference to Nebuchadrezzar, who in being added to the MT be-

comes an adjunct to the tribes of the north. Hebrew we>e[ ("also to") before

Nebuchadrezzar does in fact read poorly after the two verbs beginning the

verse. However, if the "oracle of Yahweh" formula was missing in the LXX's

Vorlage, the loss of "also to Nebuchadrezzar the king of Babylon, my servant"

could be attributed to haplography (homoeoarcton: w ... w). The MT may

then be the better text. Its two verbs and two objects form a chiasmus, where

the first verb goes with the second object, and the second verb goes with the

first object (D. N. Freedman):

Look, I am sending

and I will take

all the tribes of the north

also to Nebuchadrezzar, king of Babylon, my servant

Yahweh is sending to Nebuchadrezzar, and will take all the tribes of the north.
Even with this unusual grammatical sequence, the tribes of the north should
probably still be understood as coming into the land before Nebuchadrezzar.
But reading the text in this fashion helps explain the difficult >e[ ("to") before
"Nebuchadrezzar." On "my servant" having possible theological and political
overtones in this present usage, see Note for 27:6.
against all these nations round about. As noted in v 8 above, this phrase
ought not to be deleted simply to do away with "the nations." The LXX has
"the nations," lacking only "these."
I will devote them to destruction. Hebrew habaramtfm. The verb brm (sacred
ban = genocide) is unusually strong for use against Israel, even if other nations
are included. The term derives from holy war, referring to the ban (berem)
placed on a captured city's inhabitants (sometimes also cattle and other spoil) for
the purpose of devoting(= destroying) them as a gift to Yahweh (50:21, 26-27;
51:3; cf. Deut 2:34-35; 13:16-17[Eng 13:15-16]). Israel in taking the Promised
Land carried on holy war against its enemies, but now Yahweh is turning the
tables and will declare holy war on Israel, or what is left of Israel. But Mc-
Kane says the verb here may mean nothing more than "destroy." The readings of
the Versions vary. The LXX has exeremoso autous ("I will utterly desert them");