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

Book of the Covenant (30:1-31:40) 371

his call in 615 B.C. at 12 years of age, we must imagine Jeremiah preaching in
support of Josiah's reform while he was 12 to 18 years old, giving also his cele-
brated Temple oracles and standing trial at 18 years, which is simply too young
an age for these activities (Lundbom 1993: 60-62).
Early Jeremianic preaching to Northern Israel was imagined also by Karl
Gross ( 1930: 3 5-36), whose more important contribution was to show that in
both language and ideas Jeremiah owed a substantial debt to Hosea. Evidence
of this appears in the early chapters and in chaps. 30-31(Gross1930: 32-33;
1931). Since the time of Gross, it has become common therefore to look for
parallels in language and thought between Jeremiah and Hosea, not simply be-
tween Jeremiah and Second Isaiah. With the latter, it boils down to a question
of whether Second Isaiah was influenced by genuine poetry of Jeremiah or
whether influence went the other way (Holladay II 156). Scholars have ad-
vanced both points of view, although today there is little inclination (except in
the case of Carroll and McKane) to deny salvation preaching to Jeremiah. As
was stated earlier, Jeremiah's mission is to be seen from the outset as one of
"tearing down and building up." Most commentators since Volz have assumed
a core of authentic Jeremianic preaching in chaps. 30-31, many even a sub-
stantial amount originating with Jeremiah (Eissfeldt 1965: 361 ).
A list of verbal parallels between chaps. 30-31 and Second Isaiah was com-
piled by Cassuto (l 973b: 149-51 ), more extensive even than the earlier list of
Movers. The most complete study of words, phrases, and themes common to
chaps. 30-31 and Hosea continues to be that K. Gross ( 1930; 1931 ), whose work
continues to be of value. More recently, a list of verbal parallels between chaps.
30-31 and other material in the book has been compiled by G. Fischer (1993:
143-47), a comparison that also needs to be made, since parallels external to
the book of Jeremiah must be weighed against parallels within the book itself.
The most important parallels in language and theme between chaps. 30-31
and Second Isaiah, Hosea, and other Jeremianic discourse are the following:

A. Jeremiah 30-31 and Second Isaiah

1. 30:5: "and (there is) no peace" (we)en salom). See Isa 48:22 and 57:21,
   but the expression occurs also in Jeremiah (Jer 6: 14 [ = 8: 11 ]; and
   12:12).


2. 30: 10: "But you, do not you be afraid, Jacob my servant ... and do not
   you be broken, Israel." Second Isaiah makes frequent use of "do not be
   afraid I fear not," )al-tfra) (Isa 41:8, 10, 13-14; 43: 1, 5; 44: "2), but this re-
   assuring divine command occurs also in Jeremianic poetry and prose
   (Jer 1:8; 42: 11; 46:27, 28); the verb by itself is more common yet in Jere-
   miah. Found in Jeremiah often is also the verb l;tt, "be broken, be dis-
   mayed" (Jer 1:17; 8:9; 17:18; and elsewhere); yr) ("fear, be afraid") and
   l;tt ("be broken") occur together in Jer 23:4. "Servant" ('ebed) as an epi-
   thet for "Jacob/Israel" is found throughout Second Isaiah, with "Jacob
   my servant" occurring in Jeremiah only here and in 46:27-28. But "Ja-
   cob" referring to Yahweh's covenant people occurs often in Jeremiah