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

576 TRANSLATION, NOTES, AND COMMENTS

Wahhabis, a puritanical movement in Islam that began in the mid-eighteenth

century and flourished into the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries (cf.

Encls 11: 39-47). A comparison has also been made to the Nabataeans, about

whom Diodorus of Sicily (xix 94) writes in the first century B.C.:

They live in the open air, claiming as native land a wilderness that has nei-

ther rivers nor abundant springs from which it is possible for a hostile army

to obtain water. It is their custom neither to plant grain, set out any fruit-

bearing tree, use wi11e, 11ur cumtrud auy house.

(Loeb)

Parallels between the two groups have been overdrawn (cf. Knights 1993 );
nevertheless, the two ways of life are in many ways similar.
fonadab son of Rechab, our father. Jonadab may be a distant ancestor of the
Rechabite clan, although "father" ('ab) could simply mean "founder" of the
movement (Hyatt; Abramsky 1967), as the prophet becomes "father" to the "sons
of the prophets" (2 Kings 2). "Father" is also used in the OT as a strictly hon-
orific title (2 Kgs 5:13; 6:21).
you shall not plant, nor. The LXX omits, which can be attributed to haplog-
raphy (whole word: l' ... !'). Giesebrecht says the omission is wrong.
in order that you may live many days on the face of the earth where you are so-
journing. This represents an interesting twist on Deuteronomic theology, in
which obeying the Sinai covenant means long life and continued settlement
in the l:mrl (Oe11t 4:40; 5: 16, 33). The Rechabites, however, see themselves as
sojourners in the land, which may mean they are resident aliens (so Calvin).
on the face of the earth. Hebrew 'al-pene ha'adama. The LXX omits "face,"
which is present in T and Vg. For the full idiom, see elsewhere 25:26, 33;
and 28:16.

8. fonadab son of Rechab, our father. The LXX omits "son of Rechab," which
   is probably another loss due to haplography (homoeoteleuton: b ... b). The T
   and Vg have the patronym. The LXX otherwise has the patronym in the chap-
   ter, except in v 10, where it is lacking in both MT and LXX. Inv 18, where LXX
   and MT readings vary, the LXX even adds the patronym! There is no reason
   then to omit "son of Rechab" in the verse (pace Holladay).
   in all that he commanded us. The LXX omits, which can be another loss due
   to haplography (homoeoteleuton: nw ... nw). The T and Vg have the words.


9. So we dwell in tents. The Rechabites may now be living in tents within
   the city.


10. But it happened when N ebuchadrezzar, king of Babylon, came up into the
    land, then we said, "Come, and let us enter ferusalem because of the army of the
    Chaldeans and because of the army of the Aramaeans." So we are dwelling in
    f erusalem. Wherever the Rechabites had been living before, they are now re-
    siding in Jerusalem because of the military threat posed by Nebuchadrezzar
    and the allied "Aramaeans" ( = Syrians, which is the modern name for this an-
    cient people). Following the Battle of Carchemish, Syria was doubtless re-