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

The Cost of Prophetic Preaching (26:1-24) 301

like those of Jeremiah, and when King Jehoiakim and others in the royal house
heard of it, the king sought to kill him. Uriah got wind of the plot and fled to
Egypt. It was the wrong place to go. Jehoiakim sent Elnathan son of Achbor
and men with him to fetch Uriah, and they brought him to the king, who with
dispatch had him cut down by the sword. As a final indignity, the king cast his
body unceremoniously into the burial place of the common people. The nar-
rator closes by saying that Ahikam son of Shaphan, however, gave Jeremiah
protection after his trial, making sure that he was not delivered to the people to
be put to death.
This narrative fits well the date to which it is assigned, i.e., the beginning of
Jehoiakim's reign (609/8 B.c.). For those hearing it following the narrative and
supplement in chap. 25, the focus will shift from a judgment on the nations to
a judgment on Jerusalem and Judah, where chap. 26 will pick up once again
on Yahweh's cup of wrath being given first to Jerusalem and Judah. For those
hearing chap. 26 before chaps. 27-29, Jeremiah's conflict here with the proph-
ets and priests will anticipate conflicts of a similar nature that will take place a
decade or so later.
The NT Gospel writers drew clear parallels between this attack on Jeremiah
and what happened to Jesus after he prophesied against Jerusalem and the
Temple. Selwyn (1915) has pulled out parallels from all the Synoptics; what
follows are parallels drawn only in the Gospel of Mark:

Jeremiah 26

... then I will make this house like

Shiloh, and this city I will make a

swearword for all the nations of the

earth.

Jer 26:6

And the priests and the prophets

... heard Jeremiah speaking these

words in the house of Yahweh.

Jer 26:7

And it happened as Jeremiah fin-

ished speaking ... the priests and the

prophets and all the people then laid

hold of him, saying, 'You shall surely

die!'

Jer 26:8

And the princes ... came up from

the house of the king ... and they sat

at the entrance of the New Gate of

the house of Yahweh.

Jer26:10

Mark 13-15

Do you see these great buildings? Not

one stone will be left here upon another; all

will be thrown down.

Mark 13:2

And the chief priests and the scribes

were looking for a way to arrest him by

stealth and kill him.

Mark 14:1

And immediately, while he was still

speaking, Judas arrived ... and with him a

crowd from the chief priests and the scribes

and the elders .... And they laid hands on

him and seized him.

Mark 14:43, 46

And they led Jesus to the high priest; and

all the chief priests and the elders and the

scribes were assembled.

Mark 14:53