134 TRANSLATION, NOTES, AND COMMENTSenlarging of a palatial structure, where the use of forced labor would have
made his Egyptian suzerain proud. Jehoiakim withheld wages from workers
who had earned them, and as the indictment proceeds, we learn that this ori-
ental despot was also remiss for not prosecuting cases of the poor and needy in
court and for reprehensible behavior generally-being consumed with per-
sonal greed, shedding innocent blood, oppressing his subjects, and then run-
ning from responsibility as cowardly souls are wont to do. Jeremiah might
have compared this king to the "partridge that brooded but did not bring
forth," whom he likened to "one raking in riches but not by right" (17:11).
Other prophets raised their voices in protest against such abuses of royal office
(Mic 3:9-10; Isa 5:8; Hab 2:9-12). Ben-Barak (1975) has suggested that Jeho-
iakim's selfish luxury, exploitation of subjects, and disregard of covenant Law
runs parallel to the admonition in Deut 17: 14-20, which although having
Solomon in mind, warns Israel's future king not to multiply horses, wives, or
riches for himself, not to rise arrogantly above his brothers, and not to disregard
the commandments. If the king heeds this warning, he will live long in the
land. It does not follow, however, that this admonition must therefore postdate
Jeremiah, as Ben-Barak alleges, for it could just as well predate the prophet, in
which case it would have inspired oracles such as the present one. This denun-
ciation of a king by a prophet is one of the sharpest in the Bible, ranking with
Nathan's rebuke of David (1 Sam 12:1-15) and Micaiah's judgment oracle
against Ahab (1 Kgs 22:15-23). Volz ranks Jehoiakim as Jeremiah's greatest
enemy. Among Judah's kings he certainly was.
Woe to him who builds his house without. ... The Heb has alliteration in
boneh beta belo'.
Woe. Hebrew hay (and also the very similar 'oy) appear often in Jeremiah,
sometimes as a genuine cry of lament (4:13, 31; 6:4; 10:19; 15:10; 22:18; 34:5;
45:2), sometimes as a prophetic invective (13:27; 22:13; 23:1), and sometimes
as an outcry in which there is a little of both, particularly if used ironically or
against a foreign nation (30: 7; 47 :6; 48: 1, 46; 50:27). Here hoy is a prophetic in-
vective. The term appears to have its origin in funeral laments (Clifford 1966:
459; W. Janzen 1972: 39). According to Janzen, hay (also 'oy) originated in fu-
nerary laments but then underwent "a metamorphosis from grief and mourn-
ing to accusation, threat, and even curse." Thus, in oracles such as the present
one and the one in 23:1, also in the preaching of certain other prophets (Amos
5:18; 6:1; Mic 2:1; Isa 5:8, 11, 18, 20, 21-22; Hab 2:6, 9, 12, 15, 19; Jer 48:1;
50:27; Ezek 13:3, 18; 34:2), hay is an invective portending disaster. Gersten-
berger (1962: 261) thinks hay (like 'oy) contrasts with 'a8re, "happy," and that
both terms originated in the wise man's reflections about conditions in the
world. Only later did the prophets use hay to unleash Yahweh-centered indict-
ments for covenant apostasy. But Gerstenberger must emend to get the con-
trasting terms into his two parade examples, Ecc 10: 16-17 and Isa 3: 10-11,
which considerably weakens his argument (Clifford 1966: 458-59). W. Janzen
( 1972: 62 n. 76) also discounts the Gerstenberger thesis because it assumes too
much of a connection between covenant breaking and sapiental instruction.