606 TRANSLATION, NOTES, AND COMMENTS
tearing (qr<) his garments. There is a clear allusion here to what happened
when the newly found law-book was read before King Josiah: great alarm over
the impending wrath of Yahweh and the king tearing (qr<) his garments
straightaway (2 Kgs 22:11-13). No such response from this king!
all his servants. Hebrew wekof-<abadayw. "Servants" of the king are impor-
tant royal officials (see Note for 21:7). The LXX lacks "and all."
- However, Elnathan and Delaiah and Gemariah strongly urged the king
not to burn the roll. Hebrew wegam is an adversative meaning "however" or
"nevertheless" (Calvin; Giesebrecht; Ehrlich 1912: 3 36). Three individuals
among those present urge the king not to burn the scroll. The LXX text is
defective, omitting "and Gemariah," which can be attributed to haplography
(homoeoteleuton: yhw ... yhw), and misreading Delaiah as Godolias (= Ge-
daliah). The two individuals here are urging the king to burn the scroll. Hol-
laday in support of the LXX imagines a division of the house: Elnathan and
Gedaliah urging the king to burn; Delaiah and Gemariah urging him not to
burn. But such a reconstruction is too hypothetical, and one should stay with
the MT (Duhm; Cornill; pace McKane).
but he did not listen to them. The LXX omits, which can probably also be at-
tributed to haplography (homoeoarcton: w ... w).
- And the king commanded Jerahmeel, the king's son, and Seraiah the son of
Azriel and Shelemiah son of Abdeel to seize Baruch, the scribe, and Jeremiah, the
prophet, but Yahweh hid them. Jehoiakim acted similarly in response to the
preaching of Uriah, whose extradition from Egypt was a simple matter (26:20-
23). Here Yahweh hides the prophet and his friend.
Jerahmeel, the king's son. Hebrew hammelek shnu ld be translated "the king,"
not as a personal name (Vg and AV rendered ben-hammelek as "son of Ham-
melech"). A seal impression from the same hoard as the one naming Baruch
contained the inscription, "Belonging to Jera}:ime)el, the king's son" (Avigad
1978a; 1986b: 27-28 #8; 1997: 175 #414; cf. ABD 3: 684). This impression
probably belonged to the royal officer mentioned here, and if so we have three
individuals in the chapter whose actual seal impressions have been found:
Baruch son of Neriah, Gemariah son of Shaphan, and now Jerahmeel, the
king's son. Numerous other seal impressions have turned up with "the king's
son" after the name (Avigad l 986a: 51; l 986b: 25-26 ##6-7; 1997: 174-75 ##412-
15), and in 38:6 there is mention of a certain "Malchiah, the king's son." In an-
cient Sumer, Kramer ( 195 l: 241) reports that no scribe was ever designated
"son of the king." These recent bullae finds have also revived the old debate as
to whether "the king's son" means a son of the reigning king, a son of another
king, or simply an officer in the king's employ. It has been argued that "the
king's son" may simply designate a low-rank officer not of royal blood (de Vaux
l 965b: 119-20). Gorg ( 1985) says similar titles for court functionaries appear in
Egyptian chronicles. Jerahmeel, because he is assigned police duties, could
argue for a broader interpretation of the term. But many have rejected the
broader interpretation, arguing that "son of the king" means just what it says, a
