Speaking of Kings (21:1-23:8)(^23) You who dwell" in Lebanon
you who are nestedb in the cedars
How you will be favored when pangs come upon you
pain like a woman in labor.
RHETORIC AND COMPOSITION
147
There is little doubt that the present verses constitute a unit. The upper limit is
indicated by a petu~ah in 4QJer^0 (reconstructed; Tov 1997: 181) and a setumah
in MA and ML before v 20. The MP has no section there. After v 23 there are no
section markings in any of the medieval codices or in 4QJer°, but a shift from po-
etry to prose and the beginning of a new unit about Jehoiachin in v 24 makes a
division between vv 23 and 24 virtually certain. Duhm noted that vv 20-23 speak
generally about the destiny of Judah's kings and suggested that originally these
verses may have concluded the sayings about Jehoahaz and Jehoiakim. The rhe-
torical structure delimiting 22:6-23 (see Rhetoric and Composition for 22:6-9),
suggesting a one time independent collection, indicates much the same.
Commentators typically remark that this poetry seems to interrupt an other-
wise focused attack on Judah's kings, for which reason it is said to be a later in-
sertion. As for location, this is adequately explained by the larger rhetorical
structure, for which it is the conclusion. Being a divine speech to Jerusalem, it
complements 22:6-7, which is a divine speech to the royal palace. Both
speeches are riveting judgments, and it is fitting that the whole of Jerusalem
should be asked at the end to lament, for judgment against kings and royal
buildings will inevitably mean judgment on the entire city, and following judg-
ment will come the weeping of bitter tears.
There is no debate about whether the present poetry is Jeremianic. Both
Giesebrecht (p. xxi) and Mowinckel ( 1914: 20) assign it to the prophet, and
more recently Holladay (p. 601) and Jones (p. 292) have pointed out certain
similarities in vocabulary and phraseology with the poetry in chaps. 2-3 (Hol-
laday: chaps. 2-6). What we have here, basically, is a judgment oracle, even
though there is no messenger formula. Yahweh is the speaker in v 21 ("I spoke
to you in your good times") and without difficulty can be shown to speak the
entire poem (Volz).
The poem has an inclusio made from "Lebanon" and "cedars" (Condamin
notes "Lebanon"), the same key words that make an inclusio in 22:6-7. Both
passages I analyzed earlier, although the present one with a slightly different
interpretation (Lundbom 1975: 48-50, 57 [ = 1997: 67-69, 77-78]):
............... Lebanon and scream
......................... your voice
v 20"Reading the Q yofobt, or the more usual yosebet (10: 17; 46: 19); the Kt with the yod is strange,
perhaps attaching a second feminine singular perfect proniminal form to the participle (cf. GKC
§90n).
bReading the Q mequnnant; Kt and 4QJer' again have the strange yod termination (see prior
Footnote).