Book of the Covenant (30:1-31:40) 397
not get better, which no physician understands or can cure by bandages,
and which, like the sting ot death, cannot be got rid of. May he continue to
lament over his (lost) manhood until his life is extinguished.
(Hillers 1964: 64;ANET^3 180; CS II 353)
In the curses of Deuteronomy 28, it is stated that a people guilty of covenant
disobedience will be smitten with the same maladies suffered by the Egyptians
at the time of the Exodus, and from these they will not be healed (Deut 28:27,
35, 59-61).
- All your lovers have forgotten you; you, they care not about. This is the
people's lament in Lam 1:2 and 19. "All your lovers" (kol-me)ahabayik) are not
the doctors but imagined friends who should be visiting Zion or sending some-
one on their behalf (cf. 2 Kgs 20: 12 = Isa 39: 1) but are doing neither. Political
allies from the distant and more recent past (22:20, 22; cf. Hos 8:9-10; Ezek
23:5-9, 22-23; J. A. Thompson 1977), these nations have either come them-
selves to a miserable end or will come to one shortly; at the present time they
care nothing about Zion. Egypt heads the list (37:5), and Assyria could be
added if we go back some years (KimJ:ii; Calvin), but its days as a world power
are over, and presently it is visiting no one. One might also imagine the solici-
tious nations who were represented at the Jerusalem conference in 594 B.C.
(27:3) but whose friendship was short-lived; they are now of no help to Zion.
Edom, in fact, has allied itself with Babylon and become Zion's enemy (see
Note for 27:3). Zion, to its great hurt, has forgotten the love shown by Yahweh
to his people from earliesttimes (Deut 7:7-8; 10:15; 23:6[Eng 23:5]; Hos 11:1),
but this love in 31:3 is nevertheless reaffirmed as an "eternal love," >ahabat
<a/am (cf. 1Kgs10:9; Isa 48:14).
you, they care not about. The LXX lacks "you" eatak), which may be due to
haplography (homoeoteleuton: k ... k). The verb drs, usually "seek," can also
mean "care for" (Deut 11:12; Ps 142:5[Eng 142:4]). See again v 17.
For the blow of an enemy I have struck you. Another cognate accusative (see
above v 13). Here it becomes clear that the enemy behind the enemy is Yah-
weh. The verb nkh ("strike down") is strong, often meaning "strike to kill."
Jeremiah says to Yahweh in 14: 19: "So why have you struck us down, that
there is no healing for us?" Earlier divine assaults on Judah were to no effect
(2:30; 5:3).
punishment of a cruel one. Hebrew masar can also be translated "discipline"
or "correction," which is what Yahweh attempted in times past but his people
refused to accept (see Note on 2:30). Now it becomes punishment, and the
people must accept it. The uncertainty here is whether Zion is victim of a
cruel punishment or a cruel foe. If the latter, then reference is to Nebucha-
drezzar or Yahweh, or both. The Babylonian enemy is described as "cruel"
Cakzarf) in 6:23 and 50:42. Calvin was uncomfortable about Yahweh being the
cruel foe; nevertheless, he conceded that this was in fact being said. This read-
ing follows MT, where m{lsar ) akzarf is taken as a construct chain: "punish-
ment of a cruel (one)." Note the construct chain makkat )6yeb ("blow of an
