542 TRANSLATION, NOTES, AND COMMENTSMESSAGE AND AUDIENCE
In this oracle, Yahweh affirms the earlier covenants made to David and Phine-
has, that David's royal line and the priestly line of Aaron would continue in
perpetuity. A post-586 audience, no doubt, will wonder how such can be ful-
filled with kingship gone and the Temple in ruins. But the priestly line did sur-
vive the exile, and as for the promise to David that his line would continue, this
met a postexilic disappointment in Zerubbabel, surviving thereafter as a mes-
sianic hope in Judaism and finding fulfillment in claims made for Jesus by the
Christian Church (Matt 1:1-17; Luke 3:23-38).
This oracle is to be dated sometime following the destruction of Jerusalem.
When heard in tandem with the oracle in vv 14-16, the focus will now be not
so much on Jerusalem, but on the Davidic Shoot that Yahweh will cause to
sprout in coming days, to which is added a promise about the continuation of
the Levitical priesthood.6. Two Covenant Promises (33:19-26)
a) Covenants with David and Levi Remain Intact (33:19-22)
33 19 And the word of Yahweh came to Jeremiah:(^20) Thus said Yahweh:
If you could break my covenant of the day and my covenant of the
night, so daytime and night would not come at thf'.ir appointed time,
(^21) then could my covenant be broken with David, my servant, so there
would not be for him a son reigning on his throne, also with the Le-·
vitical priests, my ministers.^22 As the host of heaven cannot be num-
bered and the sand of the sea cannot be measured, so I will multiply
the seed of David, my servant, also the Levites who minister to me.
b) Seed of Jacob and David to Continue (33:23-26)
33 23 And the word of Yahweh came to Jeremiah:^24 'Have you not seen
what this people has said: "The two families that Yahweh chose-now he
has rejected them," so they have spurned my people from being any
longer a nation before them?'(^25) Thus said Yahweh:
If indeed I have not established my covenant of daytime and night-
statutes of heaven and earth-^26 then the seed of Jacob and David, my
servant, I will reject, not taking from his seed rulers unto the seed of
Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, for I will surely restorea their fortunes, and
I will show them mercy.
'Reading the Q, which is the H-stem 'asib, with 32:44; 33:11; 49:6, and 39; the Kt both here
and in 49:39 is the Qal 'asub.