More on Restoration and Covenants (33:1-26) 525It is foolish in terms of dollars
For the land has no economic value
But as a sign of Jeremiah's hope in the New Covenant
The action makes great sense
The prophet puts his money
Where his mouth is.
(Steele 1985-86: 476)C. More on Restoration and Covenants (33:1-26)
- I Will Tell You Great and Hidden Things! (33:1-3)
33 1 And the word of Yahweh came to Jeremiah a second time, while he was
still confined in the court of the guard:(^2) Thus said Yahweh who made it
Yahweh who formed it to establish it
Yahweh is his name!
(^3) Call to me and I will answer you
and let me tell you great things and hidden things
you have not known.
RHETORIC AND COMPOSITION
MT 33:1-3 = LXX 40:1-3. In chap. 33 are eight oracles, the same number as
in chap. 32; however, here there is no narrative but simply expanded oracle for-
mulas and brief introductions that provide the oracles with background (vv 1,
4-5, 19, 23-24). Oracle I (vv 2-3) addresses Jeremiah (singular suffixes) and is
introductory: first to Oracle II (vv 6-9), then later to all the oracles in the chap-
ter. Oracles II through VIII address a broader audience of Judahites facing a
destruction of the city in which they are now imprisoned and, afterwards, a
remnant of the same, who remain in the land or have been taken into exile.
This collection is linked to chap. 32 by the phrase, "And the word of Yahweh
came to Jeremiah a second time, while he was still confined in the court of the
guard" (v l; cf. 32:1-2). A first revelation came to Jeremiah when Hanamel ap-
proached him with the request to buy his field. A second comes now when
Yahweh promises to unveil hidden things to Jeremiah if he will but call upon
him (vv 2-3). Both revelations came when Jeremiah was shut up in the court of
the guard. There is no reason to view this linking statement as simply a "literary
device" without historical value (pace Volz; Carroll; McKane). This prejudges
chap. 33 as "an imitation and secondary elaboration of chap 32" (McKane, cit-
ing Thiel 1981: 37, who says chap. 3 3 is "post-deuteronomic"). Weiser and
Holladay take v 1 as a serious historical notice, which it must be. A statement