Speaking of Kings (21:1-23:8)The reign will diminish (in power); another man, whose
name is not mentioned (as successor) will arise ...
(ANET^3 606)175Lambert makes no attempt to name the rulers, but D. N. Freedman suggests
that the first ruler of 18 years may have been Sargon II, who reigned from ca.
722-705 B.C. and was killed in battle. For another dynastic prophecy of the
same type, one that refers to the fall of Assyria and the rise of the Chaldean dy-
nasty, see Grayson 1975b: 24-37; CS I 481-82.
one will call him. Hebrew yiqre>o. A few Heb MSS, T, and Vg (vocabunt
eum) have "they will call him." The MT reading is called a mixed form in
GKC §60c; 74e. But the LXX has a singular verb and supplies kurios ("the
Lord") as subject, supposing that the Lord is giving the name. In the MT the
name will presumably be given by the people collectively. It will not, in any
case, be given by a foreign ruler, as happened with both Jehoiakim and Zede-
kiah (see Note for 22: I la).
'Yahweh is our righteousness.' Hebrew yhwh ?idqenu. A deliberate play and re-
versal on the name "Zedekiah," ?idqfyahu, which means "My righteousness is
Yahweh." The future king will be a turnaround from Zedekiah, embodying in
name and being the precious commodity of "righteousness," something the
present king has not! The King Collection as a whole is structured in such a
way as to make the same point (see Rhetoric and Composition for 21: 1-7).
This collective confession is then a sharp censure of Judah's last king: not a
positive word about him. Klausner ( 1956: 104-6) made the suggestion, restated
along similar lines by Carroll, that the present verse is a positive word about
Zedekiah, spoken by Jeremiah about this "kindly and gentle son of a king" be-
fore he was put on the throne. The hope at the time was that he would be this
"righteous shoot," and so he was called by the name "Yahweh is our righteous-
ness." When made king by Nebuchadnezzar, the young Mattaniah was given
the throne name "Zedekiah," which was similar. Klausner concedes that this
pious hope went unfulfilled, and suggests therefore that the prophecy had to be
set aside for a later fulfullment. This rather fantastic thesis is to be rejected.
Zedekiah is alluded to in the verse but indirectly and in an entirely negative
way. The LXX transliterates the present phrase as a proper name: Iosedek.MESSAGE AND AUDIENCE
Yahweh in the present oracle says that in future days he will raise up for
David a righteous Shoot, perhaps meaning a rightful Shoot, and that this king
shall enjoy a prosperous reign and do justice and righteousness in the land-
precisely what ought to happen. It is not said when this happy event will
come about, but the references to a "righteous" Shoot and "do[ing] justice
and righteous in the land" are unmistakable censures of King Jehoiakim,
which the audience might be expected to pick up. Yahweh goes on to say that