570 TRANSLATION, NOTES, AND COMMENTSdelivered to the people of Judah and Jerusalem, and one delivered to the
Rechabites (vv 12-19). In the concluding narration of v 18, no command is
given to Jeremiah to address the Rechabites, but we can assume that one must
have been given; otherwise the command in v 2 has to cover this action.
Whether or not the latter is intended, the narrative taken as a whole begins
and ends with Jeremiah addressing the Rechabites. The Rechabites were
probably on hand when Oracles I and II were spoken to the people of Judah
and Jerusalem, perhaps in the outer courtyard of the Temple, although a
location is not specified. But it can be assumed from the separate command in
v 13 and by the larger audience now being addressed that the action has
moved outside of the Temple chamber.
The narrative is delimited at the top end by a superscription in v 1, before
which is a petubah in MA, ML, and MP and also the chapter division. Delimi-
tation at the bottom end is by a petubah in MA and ML and a setumah in MP
after v 19, which is another chapter division. The ML and MP separate Oracle
I from Oracle II with a setumah after v 16. The MA and Cambridge Genizah
fragment A 14.2 lack this section. The ML has another setumah after v 18,
which separates the narrative from Oracle III. The MA, MP, and two MSS in
the Cambridge Genizah Collection (A 14.2; NS 58.13) lack this section.
This narrative belongs to an original "Jehoiakim Cluster," comprising chaps.
25, 26, 35, and 36. In that structure it balances another Temple incident in
chap. 26 (see Rhetoric and Composition for 25: 1-14). The present sequence of
narratives in the book is not, in my view, "something of a mistake," as alleged
by Knights ( 1997-98: 208); it is a later arrangement made with another purpose
iu mind (Lundbom 197 5: 110-11 [-1997: H 1-15]; see also "Excursus III: The
Composition of Jeremiah 24-36" at the end of 25: 1-14). On the juxtaposition
of the present chapter with chap. 34, see Rhetoric and Composition for 34: 1-7.
The historical character of the incident reported is generally admitted, with
only Carroll and McKane repeating the earlier doubts of N. Schmidt (190lb:
2387), who, among other things, could not imagine Jeremiah praising the
Rechabites when their entrance into Jerusalem was in violation of the com-
mand laid upon them by their ancestor. Schmidt suggested for chap. 3 5 a date
in the Persian period (1901 b: 2391). This view was dismissed early on by Peake,
who simply pointed out that tents could have been pitched inside the city. No
one since has much questioned the Rechabite presence in Jerusalem, which
came about for obvious reasons. The detail that the chapter provides, which
will be seen again in chap. 36, is either the report of someone who had inti-
mate knowledge of what went on or else a fabrication. It can be said with con-
fidence that this is not the stuff of which legend is made, where the field of
vision admits no more than two persons at any one time, and single persons
become bigger than life (Olrik 1908). Here we are told exact locations within
the Temple, chambers next to and below the one that Jeremiah and the Rech-
abites entered, the names and patronyms of two of the chambers' occupants,
one of whom was the doorkeeper of the Temple, and the name and patronym
of the Rechabite leader.