Jeremiah and the Yoke Bars (27:1-22) 309
bassy would be appropriate whether the Jerusalem conference took place in
597 or 594-593 B.C.
(Jehoiakim). The defective spelling, yeh6yaqim, occurs here (cf. 52:2).
Josiah. The Kt preserves a spelling with an added waw: y'wsyhw.
Jeremiah. Hebrew yirmeya. This shortened spelling of the prophet's name
occurs only in chaps. 27-29 of the book (27: l; 28:5, 6, 10, 11, 12, 15; 29: 1 ); else-
where it occurs in Ezra 1:1 and Dan 9:2. In Jer 29:27, 29, 30 is the long form,
yirmeyaha.
- Thus Yahweh said to me. The LXX's omission of "to me" should not be de-
leted as an MT plus (pace Cornill; Holladay; McKane). Duhm eliminated the
first-person reference by suggesting that 'ly was an abbreviation for "to Jere-
miah." But T and Vg have "to me," and so does 4QJerc. This same introduction
occurs in 13:1; 17:19; and 25:15 (expanded); in chaps. 1-20 the more common
"and Yahweh said to me" occurs (see Note for 1:7). In the present chapter, first-
person narration continues in w 12 and 16, for which reason most commenta-
tors retain "to me."
Make for yourself straps and yoke bars. Hebrew motg is a wooden carrying
pole with bending action (1 Chr 15:15; cf. mot in Num 13:23) or else a
wooden crossbar with similar flexibility used in the construction of a yoke
(Lev 16:23; Ezek 34:27; cf. BOB). The term may also designate a yoke in its
entirety, perhaps by synecdoche (Jer 28:10, 12; Isa 58:6, 9; cf. KB^3 ). The Heb
term for "yoke" is otherwise 'al (28: 11 ). Here Jeremiah is told to make multi-
ple yoke bars (motot), which may anticipate the additional yokes to be pre-
sented to the foreign envoys (v 3); otherwise, a single yoke with two bars for
himself has to be assumed (Cheyne). The m6ser6t are leather straps to secure
the oxen in the yoke at the neck (2:20; 5:5; 30:8). The LXX has a somewhat
different picture, translating desmous kai kloious, "chains and (wooden) col-
lars." Zwickel (1991) argues, too, that the mota is a yoke harness ("Joch-
haken") used to attach the animal to the yoke. Modern yokes in use among
Palestinian Arabs have a single crossbar ca. 4.5 feet in length, with ropes that
tie under the animals' necks (Schumacher 1889; Turkowski 1969: 29-30).
Holladay, noting that these yokes contain vertical pegs projecting downward
in the crossbar, which along with ropes make collars around the neck of each
animal, argues that the "yoke bars" (motot) are in fact these smaller pegs. In
his view, Jeremiah is simply directed to wear a collar of pegs and rope, not a
full yoke, which would be far too cumbersome. It is reasonable that the yoke
be either partial or minature if Jeremiah is to wear it for long, but whether the
motot can be these smaller pegs is doubtful. In Egyptian paintings we see
yoke bars tied to the horns of oxen (Wilkinson 1878: 391-92, 420; BRL^2 , 255;
cf. Dalman 1932: 99-105). In antiquity the yoke symbolized servitude. In the
Amarna Letters we read: "the yoke of the king my lord is upon my neck and I
carry it" (EA 296: 38), and again, "my neck is placed in the yoke which I
carry" (EA 257: 15; f;ullu, CAD 6: 230). In the OT, see also Gen 27:40; 1 Kgs
12:9-11; and Hos 11: 7; in the NT, see 1 Tim 6: 1. In both the OT and NT the
yoke symbolizes the covenant bond (2:20; 5:5; Matt 11:29-30). In Isa 47:6,
