288 TRANSLATION, NOTES, AND COMMENTS7: 3-7 is conditional like the present one ( v 5 ), but positive, calling for concrete
acts of obedience to the covenant as formulated in the book of Deuteronomy.
Oracle II in 7 :8-11 and Oracle III (the Shiloh Oracle) in 7: 12-15 are uncon-
ditional, the former an indictment and the latter announcing judgment. The
oracle here appears to be a paraphrased summary of the three oracles in 7:3-
14, more negative than Oracle I but less provocative than Oracles II and III.
to walk in my law. Hebrew laleket betoratf. The present idiom appears also in
32:23; 44:10, 23; 2 Kgs 10:31; and Ps 78:10, where individuals or people in gen-
eral are faulted for not walking in Yahweh's law. See also Jer 9:12[Eng 9:13];
16:11; and 31:33; in the poetry, see 6:19, where, as here, Yahweh's "law/teach-
ing" balances Yahweh's "words" spoken by the prophets. In 6: 16 "walking the
ancient paths" means following the genuine ethical principles of the Mosaic
covenant. The "law" here refers not simply to Deuteronomy, although Deuter-
onomy is not to be excluded, but to stipulations at the heart of the Sinai cove-
nant that are spelled out with bold specificity in Oracle II of 7:8-11. For
"walking" as an expression of ethical behavior or conduct, see Note on 23:14.- to listen to the words of my servants the prophets whom I am sending to you,
constantly I am sending, although you have not listened. People hear about
walking in Yahweh's law from the priests, but it is the prophets who call for a
return to the law when the way has been lost. Jeremiah says here that the pro-
phetic call is going out continually, but people are not listening. The urgent
nature of this admonition is preserved in a present participial construction,
anokf soleab, "I am sending," not the usual "I sent to you all my servants the
prophets," which is past (see Note on 7:25). Similarly, the rhetorical idiom of a
repeated verb used together with skm is also past tense: "I sent to you ... con-
stantly I sent" (see Note for 7:13). But here Jeremiah is confronting a current
unwillingness by the people to hear the prophetic message. Others besides
Jeremiah were preaching it. The chapter, in fact, will go on to tell us about one
such prophet, Uriah of Kiriath-jearim, who preached Yahweh's word and paid
for it with his life (vv 20-23).
- then I will make this house like Shiloh, and this city I will make a swearword
for all the nations of the earth. The verse contains a syntactic chiasmus: "I will
make I this house ... II this city I I will make .... " See also v 9. "House" and
"city" are a common word pair, repeated in vv 9 and 12 and occurring elsewhere
in the Bible (1 Kgs 8:44, 48; 2 Chr 6:34, 38; 2 Kgs 23:27; Ps 127:1), and found
also in Sumerian and Babylonian literature (Fleming 1986). In the Babel story
of Gen 11:1-9, "city" and "temple" (migdal) are correlative terms (Lundbom
1983: 205). One should note also a wordplay here between soleab I saloab
("sent") and siloh ("Shiloh"). Mention of the ruined Shiloh sanctuary touched
a raw nerve and is doubtless what brought Jeremiah to trial. Shiloh was de-
stroyed sometime after 1050 B.C. by the Philistines (see Note for 7: 12). Oracle
I in chap. 7 pointed with specificity to a false confidence in the Temple on
the part of the people. Since the time of Isaiah, in light of the miraculous de-
liverance of the city from Sennacherib in 701 B.C., it had become virtual
dogma that Jerusalem and the Temple would not be destroyed (see Note for