Jeremiah 21-36 A New Translation with Introduction and Commentary by (Anchor Yale Bible Commentaries)

330 TRANSLATION, NOTES, AND COMMENTS

Hananiah son of Azzur. Hebrew ~ananya ben-<azzilr. "Hananiah" was a

common name in Judah, occurring often in the OT and confirmed now from

numerous extrabiblical sources. In the book of Jeremiah two other individuals

bear the name (36:12 [long form]; 37:13). The spelling here is the short form,

~ananya, which occurs throughout the chapter. The name has turned up on

the Arad ostraca and on seals, bullae, and jar handles from other archaeologi-

cal sites (see Appendix I). Of particular interest is the inscription of the name

on 22 jar handles found at Gibeon, which happens to be Hananiah's home vil-

lage. "Hananiah" means "Yahweh is gracious," a fitting summary of the

preaching of this Hananiah. On the correlation of names with the individuals

who bear them, see Note for 1:1. The name "Azzur" (="helper") occurs two

other times in the OT, in Ezek l l:l and Neh 10: 18.

the prophet. The LXX has pseudoprophetes ("false prophet") here and eight

other times in the book, seven of which are in chaps. 26-29 (see Note for 6: 13).

In the rest of the chapter it omits "the prophet" as a title for both Jeremiah and

Hananiah. In T, Hananiah is designated "the false prophet" throughout the

chapter; Aq and Symm have simply ho prophetes, "the prophet." A Dead Sea

Scroll fragment has turned up ( 4Q3 39) on which are listed eight false prophets

who arose in Israel (Broshi and Yardeni 199 5: 3 3-3 7). The text is Aramaic, writ-

ten on leather, and damaged. Although only two letters are preserved of the

name "Hananiah son of Azzur," it seems fairly certain that this name is at-

tested. The final name is in doubt, but all the other names are easily recogniz-

able. The list reads:

1 [Fa]lse prophets who arose in [Israel]:

2 Balaam [son of] Be or

3 [And the] Old Man [who] was in Bethel

4 [And Zede ]kiah son of Che[ na Janah

5 [And Aha]b son of K[ola]iah

6 [And Zed]ekiah son of Ma[a]seiah

7 [And Shemaiah the Ne]helamite

8 [And Hananiah son of Azz]ur

9 [And J ohanan son of Sim Jeon

On the list are four false prophets featured here in chaps. 28-29: Ahab, Zede-
kiah, Shemaiah, and Hananiah. On Balaam, see Numbers 22-24; on the old
prophet from Bethel, see l Kgs 13: 11-3 2; and on Zedekiah son of Chenaanah,
see 1 Kgs 22: 11-28. Broshi and Yardeni point out too that this document is the
earliest Semitic source to use the expression "false prophets" (nby'y [s]qr').
The maligning of Hananiah reaches a feverish pitch in Calvin, who views
him as a grand impostor. The man, he says, was given to lies and immorality
and even conscious of his own wickedness. Although Hananiah used the same
messenger formula as Jeremiah, it was easy for people to decide between the
two, one announcing commands from God, the other courting applause and
human favor. The contrast is considerably overdrawn. Correctives have thus