364 TRANSLATION, NOTES, AND COMMENTSBright; Jones; McKane) as an indication that Shemaiah sent only one letter to
Zephaniah, the priest. But the omission of "to all the people who are in Jeru-
salem and" is likely due to haplography. The MT, which states that multiple
letters were sent, should be read. The plural separfm, cited often in 2 Kgs 10: 1;
19: 14; and 20: 12, denotes not a single letter (pace Holladay) but a single com-
munication in multiple letters (Bright). Zephaniah, the priest, reads to Jere-
miah from his own letter in v 29.
to all the people who are in Jerusalem, and. The LXX omits, which is doubt-
less another loss due to haplography (whole word: >l ... >l). See also 34:8.
Theodotion, T, and Vg have the words.
25-26. to Zephaniah son of Maaseiah, the priest, and to all the priests saying,
Yahweh made you priest under Jehoiada, the priest, to be overseers in the house of
Yahweh. Zephaniah is probably successor to Pashhur, the Temple's "chief over-
seer" (paqfd nagfd) who imprisoned Jeremiah for his Topheth oracle (20: 1-6),
and may have been exiled to Babylon in 597 B.C. (cf. v 6). Zephaniah, being
newly installed, is more kindly disposed to the prophet than his predecessor,
extending the courtesy of reading to him Shemaiah's letter and not disciplin-
ing him, as Shemaiah would like. The Jehoiada referred to is the famous
Jehoiada, the priest, who set up the office of Temple overseer (pequddot) after
Athaliah's infamous reign and a Temple cleansing after her death (2 Kgs
11:17-18; 2 Chr 23:16-18). On the function of the Temple "overseer," see
Note for 20: 1. The phrase "Yahweh made you priest under (ta~at) Jehoiada,
the priest" means that Zephaniah follows in a line of priestly overseers begun
under Jehoiada (Kim}:ii; Hitzig; Giesebrecht; Peake, and others). Jehoiada is
not an otherwise unknown predecessor of Zephaniah's (pace Calvin). In the
NT, a similar idea is expressed in Matt 23:2, where the scribes and Pharisees
are said to "sit on Moses' seat." See also "you are a priest forever, after the order
of Melchizedek" in Ps 110:4; cf. Heb 5:6, 10; 6:20; and elsewhere. On
Zephaniah son of Maaseiah, his role as associate priest, and his inglorious end
following the fall of Jerusalem, see Notes for 21:1 and 37:3. On the names
"Zedekiah" and "Maaseiah," see Appendix I.
and to all the priests. The LXX omits, and many (Duhm; Peake; Cornill;
Volz; Rudolph; Weiser; Bright; Holladay; McKane) delete the words, with a
view to making Zephaniah the sole recipient of Shemaiah's letter. Giesebrecht
retains, with CL, T, and Vg. Read the MT; the letters are multiple.
- overseers. Hebrew peqidfm. The Versions have a singular. The plural may
exist because priests other than Zephaniah filled the office of overseer after it
was instituted by Jehoiada.
in the house ofYahweh. The be is omitted by ellipsis, but many Heb MSS and
the Yrs read bebet. The preposition le ("to") is often omitted by ellipsis in Jere-
miah prose (see Note for 24:1).
every madman and one prophesying away. Holscher ( 1914: 294) believed
that ecstatic prophecy prevailed during the entire OT period and that Jeremiah
is described here as an ecstatic prophet, mad and disturbed, who because of