310 TRANSLATION, NOTES, AND COMMENTS
Yahweh remembers how he gave his own people over to Babylon and how
Babylon put them under a heavy yoke.
then you shall put them upon your neck. I.e., one yoke consisting of straps
and a single crossbar, or one yoke consisting of straps and two crossbars. Of
what size the yoke was we do not know. A minature replica is likely. Wearing
the yoke was one of many symbolic acts that Yahweh commanded Jeremiah to
perform (see Note on 13:1). Compare Zedekiah son of Chenaanah's spectacle
with the horns of iron in 1 Kgs 22: 11 and Isaiah's going naked and barefoot in
Isa 20:2-6.
- You shall also send them to the king of Edom, and to the king of Moab, and
to the king of the Ammonites, and to the king of Tyre, and to the king of Sidon
by the hand of messengers who are coming to Jerusalem, to Zedekiah, king of
Judah. Envoys representing five neighboring kings have come to Jerusalem, or
will arrive shortly, to talk rebellion against Nebuchadnezzar. Zedekiah will
host the conference, but whether he presently is of a mind to rebel is unclear.
As an appointee of Nebuchadnezzar, with presumably pro-Babylonian sympa-
thies, he will likely have reservations about the wisdom of such action (Skinner
1926: 254). But Streane notes that in Ezek 17: 15 Zedekiah is seen taking the
initiative in negotiations with Egypt against Babylon. He could be doing the
same here. It is significant that Egypt is not represented at the conference.
Since the rebellion never took place, Comill thinks it was because Egypt was
not part of the plan. It could also be that Jeremiah's advice was heeded. Ash-
kelon and Ekron are not present because both were destroyed a decade earlier,
in 604 B.C. Kida ( 1993: 179) thinks that Jeremiah's message to the kings may
correlate with oracles spoken against foreign nations, which is possible. The
kings appear here in the same order as in 25:21-22.
You shall also send them. Hebrew wesilla~tam. I.e., the yokes duplicating
the one Jeremiah has made for himself. Doubts have been expressed about
Jeremiah's making six yokes, it being more likely that he made only one. But
the LXX, T, and Vg all have "them." Nevertheless, numerous commentators
(Hitzig; Giesebrecht; Duhm; Comill; Peake; Streane; Rudolph; Weiser;
Bright; McKane) omit the verbal suffix, with GL, and simply read wesala~ta,
"and you shall send," arguing that the verb by itself (pointed Qal) can refer to
the sending of a message (29:31; 2 Sam 12:25). Some of the modem Versions
interpret similarly: RSV, NRSV, JB [but not NJB], and NIV all read "send
word"; NSB has "Skicka bud." But Volz, Holladay, and Jones maintain that
Jeremiah could have presented each envoy with a yoke or the representation
of a yoke. And the NJV and NJB retain "send them." The messengers, in any
. event, will report Jeremiah's symbolic act and its meaning to their kings upon
return. How Jeremiah met the messengers we do not know, but we assume he
did meet them.
the king of Edom. Edam's presence at the conference indicates that for the
present, at least, it has common cause with Judah in opposing Babylonian su-
zerainty in the area. Edom will shift loyalty soon afterward, because the nation
is remembered bitterly by the Jews for helping in the destruction of Jerusalem
