Speaking of Kings (21:1-23:8) 167a prophetic invective (see Note for 22:13). "Shepherds" is a general term for
leaders in the ANE (see Note for 2:8) but here refers primarily to Judah's kings
(Rashi; KimJ:ii). The indictment is kept general but focuses indirectly on the
royal houses of Jehoiakim and Zedekiah. The claim has been made by Cornill
(p. 265) and others that nowhere in the entire book does Jeremiah attack Zede-
kiah personally, which may need to be qualified in light of Jeremiah's rebuke
to the Jerusalem hierarchy in chap. 34. There was nothing to admire in the
man, weak soul that he was, and Jeremiah had reason enough to attack others
in his royal house, some of whom wanted to put him to death. Cornill, Weiser,
Rudolph, Hyatt, and others nevertheless think the present verse reflects condi-
tions in the time of Zedekiah, which is probably on target. Volz and Holladay
date it at the end of Zedekiah's reign, but I would prefer a date at the begin-
ning, just after the exile of 597 B.C. The "scattering" refers to this exile (pace
McKane), which would also make Jehoiakim the real villain. In 10:21 Jere-
miah says that due to stupid shepherds the flocks of "their pasture" (mar'ftam)
were scattered.
who destroy. Hebrew me'abbedim. Calvin finds a basic contradiction in the
idea of pastors ( = shepherds) who destroy, but it is nevertheless a well-docu-
mented fact that failed leadership reaps bitter fruit for those living under that
leadership. Cheyne says: "If it is true of all sin that no one can calculate its
issues, this is specially true of the sins of rulers" (cf. Isa Q:l 5 [Eng 9: 16]). Klein
( 1980: 171) also remarks that one lesson to be learned from this passage is that
the leaders of God's people are particularly accountable, because their failures
bring about failures in the people. Horace (Epistles i 2 14) is credited with a fa-
mous quotation: Quidquid delirant reges, plectuntur Archivi ("Whatever folly
the kings commit, the Achaeans pay the penalty"). Here judgment comes be-
cause of the royal injustices warned against in 22:3-4 and said to have been
committed in 22:13-17.
my pasture. Hebrew mar'ft is a grazing place for sheep. The LXX has "their
pasture" (cf. 10:21; 25:36), possibly because it omits the messenger formula
and takes someone other than Yahweh to be the speaker. In 25:36, the shep-
herds are heard crying loudly because Yahweh is devastating their pasture. Ei-
ther reading is acceptable here. The sheep belong to the shepherd (=king) and
also to Yahweh, and the pasture too(= land) belongs to both: On people being
"sheep of (Yahweh's) pasture," which is a recurring metaphor in the Psalms,
see Pss 74:1; 79:13; 95:7; 100:3; Ezek 34:31.
- against the shepherds who shepherd my people. Hebrew 'al-haro'fm haro'fm
'et-'ammf. The LXX reads: epi taus poimainontas ton laon mou, "against those
who feed my people," which omits the first haro'fm, "the shepherds,'' and trans-
lates the second as a participial "those who feed" (from r'h). The omission, as
Janzen (1973: 117) notes, can be attributed to haplography (whole-word). The
Vg reads similarly: qui pascunt populum meum, "who feed my people." Calvin
reads "feed," the translation carried over also into the AV See again v 4. Influ-
ence may be from 3:15 and Ezekiel 34. Here, however, haro'fm haro'fm is a
play on words: "the shepherds who shepherd" (NAB; NRSV; NJB).