Chapter VIII

CHAPTER VIII.

PROPHECY FROM THE TIME OF HEZEKIAH UNTIL THE
CATASTROPHE.

§35. The Domain of Nahum's and Zephaniah's Vision.

A LTHOUGH Isaiah and Micah foresaw in Babylon the heiress of the Assyrian world-power, nevertheless they are the prophets of the Assyrian period of judgment. First Nahum and Zephaniah bring the Assyrian period to a conclusion. Nahum, from Assyrian Elkosh,¹ hence one of the Assyrian exiles, prophesies, as is apparent from i. 9b, 14, after the miraculous rescue of Jerusalem, whose destruction was threatened by Assyria (701 B.c.), and before Sennacherib's assassination in the temple of Msroch (681 B.C.), hence toward the end of the government of this king. He predicts the fall of Nineveh (about 607 B.C.), and beholds in this the fall of the world-empire simply, and afterwards the restoration of the unity and glory of entire Israel. The contents of the work of Zephaniah, who entered

¹ There was a Syrian poet, Israel of Elkosh, who died 793 (Zeitschrift der Deutschen Morgenlandischen Gesellschaft, xxxi. 65). The place lies on the east bank of the Tigris north of Mosul. The above reference is incorrect.—C.

upon his ministry after the beginning of the purification of the worship of Josiah, probably after his eighteenth year, is varied. He also predicts the judgment upon Nineveh, the metropolis of the worldempire at that time, but at the same time the judgment upon Judah and the surrounding peoples. He does not yet name the Chaldeans as instruments of punishment; but it is the Chaldean period of judgment which he describes as dies irae dies ilia. All which the prophet has previously said concerning the night of judgment and the light of salvation, and the transition from night to light, is compressed in his work to a mosaic picture. He, as well as Nahum, makes no mention of the person of the Messiah; but in the prophecy of the triumph of salvation, and the new period which dawns for Israel and the nations of the world, he emulates his predecessors. It is a fearful picture of the condition of morals in Jerusalem which he unrolls, because of which he threatens, and in view of the day of wrath near at hand calls to repentance. But even in the round of judgments upon the peoples (chap. ii.), the promise demands a place which concerns the rinNip, the remnant (Zeph. ii. 7, 9) who are preserved in the midst of judgment. A new Israel goes forth from this melting of the fire of wrath, and at the same time the conversion of the peoples to the God of Israel, who has secured for Himself universal recognition (Zeph. ii. 11): "Terrible is [shows Himself] Yahweh over them [Moab and Bene'-Ammon, whom the prophet had just threatened, and from whom his range of view was in general extended to the heathen]; for He has caused all the gods of the earth to disappear [properly, He has made them consumptive], and each shall pray to Him from his place, all the islands of the heathen."

In chap. iii. rebuke and threatening are renewed, but only in order that the intensity of the promise may break through all the more strongly. Penal justice is followed by mercy, for which it prepares the way. When the cup of wrath is drained, love is poured forth. This turning-point is fixed by TN, iii. 9: "For then [after judgment has been visited on the sinful peoples, and the no less sinful people whose capital is Jerusalem] I will turn to the nations a pure lip [that is, I will grant to those who previously called on the idols, and who spoke as idolaters, a purified, consecrated manner of speech], that they may all call upon the name of Yahweh, since they serve Him with one consent." As "in (emaciavit), ii. 11, said concerning the heathen gods, is otherwise an exceptional figure of speech of Zephaniah, so here in iii. 9 (mutabo populis labium purum) the future conversion of the heathen is expressed in a significant way which is peculiar to him. On the other hand, the prophecy concerning the return of the diaspora of Israel with the friendly help of the nations is as follows (Zeph. iii. 10): "From beyond the rivers of Ethiopia they bring my worshippers, the daughter [totality] of my dispersed, as my offering," exactly as if the prophet, who is pleased with such mosaic style, had blended in a miniature that which is prophesied in Isa. lxvi. 18-20 with the addition of Isa. xviii. 1.

In the description of Israel who are brought back judicially purified, he emphasizes the humility on account of which the congregation again prospers. Israel is blended together in a iflj ny, a spiritually poor people, and brought down from a false height, who can trust and rejoice in the name of Yahweh; for, as ver. 15 calls to this new true Israel, "Yahweh hath removed far away thy judgments, hath cleared away thine enemies—the King of Israel, Yahweh, is in the midst of thee, thou hast further to fear no misfortune." And then he describes (ver. 17) the loving relation of Yahweh to this congregation of the future in bold anthropomorphisms which remind us of the mystic erotic manner of Hosea: "Yahweh thy God is in the midst of thee as a helpful hero, He has blissful joy in thee, shall be dumb in His love [since it is unspeakable], shall rejoice over thee with shouting." Yahweh appears here to have become like a man. Beside the King of Israel presented in such a human way, condescending in such lowliness to men, there is neither room for, nor need of a human king.

§36. Habakkuk's Solution of Faith and Faith's Object.

Among the Old Testament loci illustres regarding faith are two in Isaiah (vii. 9, Luther: gldubet ihr nicht, so bleibet ihr nicht; and xxviii. 16, Luther: wer glaubt, der fleucht nicht). The latter passage belongs to the three, which in the New Testament are each cited three times: Gen. xv. 6; Isa. xxviii. 16; Hab. ii. 4. Habakkuk is one of the prophets who, as is said in 2 Kings xxi. 10—15, xxiii. 26 f., xxiv. 2—4, announces the judgment as henceforth unavoidable. His lamentation concerning the dominant corruption (Hab. i. 2-4) agrees with the fearful characterization of Manasseh and afterwards of Jehoiakira; and his connection with the Psalms, especially those of Asaph (proved in my Commentary, 1843), is to be explained by 2 Chron. xxix. 30. He prophesies the invasion of the Chaldeans and the afflictions which follow in their train, hence before the battle of Carchemish in the fourth year of Jehoiachin (606 B.C.), which decided the supremacy of the Chaldeans in Anterior Asia.

The fundamental thoughts of this book are as follows :—(1) There are two kingdoms in conflict: the kingdom of this world, whose ruler is the king of Chaldea, and the kingdom of God, whose ruler is God's Anointed; (2) the interference of Yahweh helps God's Anointed to the victory; (3) this completion of the work of God in the course of the world's history, when the time previously determined has come, is longed for by the believers; (4) it is faith which, in this conflict of the world against the kingdom of God, escapes the danger of destruction, and which in the midst of death participates in life. It is a theodicy, whose solution of the riddle of the world's history consists in this, that, although God makes use of the wicked for the punishment of the wicked, nevertheless the evil, which is serviceable to Him, finally falls under His judgments, and the good triumphs. These fundamental thoughts are expressed in the form of a dialogue with God. Upon the prophet's question and complaint concerning the secret sinful action (Hab.

i. 2—4), follows the answer of God announcing judgment through the Chaldeans (Hab. i. 5-11); and upon the prophet's question and complaint concerning the cruel dealings of the Chaldeans (Hab. i. 12-17), follows the answer of God, announcing judgment upon the Chaldeans (Hab. ii.). The prophet in suspense waits with inward watchfulness to see what answer he shall receive, and what answer he shall give to His question, why the All Holy One can witness so quietly the proud, godless behaviour of the enemy. The answer begins with the command to write it, and exhibit it, in writing which can be easily read (Hab.

ii. 2), and the motive of this command is (ver. 3): "for the beholding [that which is beheld] is kept back until the point of time [future fulfilment], and pants for the end [that is, strives for the expiration of the time determined until the consummation'], and shall not deceive; if it delays, wait for it, for it will come, yea, it will come, it will not stay away." The

¹ In my commentary, Der Prophet Habakkuk, ausgelegt von Franz Delitzsch, Leipzig 1843, the reasons for the translation: "It discourses of the end" seemed to me to predominate—one can be in doubt, but why then this formal expression? I now prefer anhelat ad finem, as I also translate Ps. xii. 6: "I will put him in safety, who pants [yearns] for it."

Septuagint translates: iav vareprjay vvofieivov ainov, Otl ipxpfievos rjgei real ov fit} yjpovLar/, and therefore refers & and that which follows, not to that which is beheld,—the redemption from the servitude through the world-power,—but to One who is given to be beheld—the Eedeemer from the world-power. Here it remains questionable whether the Lord or His Anointed is intended. But the Epistle to the Hebrews, which freely adopts the passage without citing it, and transforms the ip^ofievo? of the Septuagint, corresponding to the intensive infinitive K3 into 6 ipx6fi€vo<i, doubtless thinks of Christ appearing as judge in glory.

There begins with ver. 4 that which God gives the prophet to behold, the j udgment on the lords of the world: "Behold, puffed up, not upright is his soul in him: and the righteous, through his faith shall he live," or after another mode of accentuation—Tiphcha with inaioNa _:—"And the righteous through his faith— he shall live." We may accentuate this way or that, the meaning is always, that the righteous in the midst of judgment escapes death and remains preserved by means of his own naiDK as righteous, that is, of the confidence which holds fast on God and His word, by means of the confidence which builds firmly on the promise of God in spite of the contradictory present, by means of the faithfulness which hangs fast on him, with one word: of the faith which is called firmitas as firma fiducia; faith is therefore indicated as the fundamental characteristic which makes the righteous righteous, and by means of which he shall participate in life.

In Hab. ii. 6 ff. a woe ('in), in five strophes, put in the mouth of the mistreated people, announces to the world - conqueror his fall. The prophet means according to i. 6, the Chaldeans, but as representatives of the tyrannical idolatrous world-power which works in vain against the decree of God, "for [as is said, Hab. ii. 14] the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the glory of Yahweh, as the waters that cover the sea."

There follows in chap. iii. upon the two parts, consisting of a dialogue, a f^sri, a psalm written in the sublimest style,—as Judg. v. and Ps. lxviii.,— consisting of petitions and contemplations, which are the lyrical echo of the first and second divine answer. Here the prophet praises the appearing of Yahweh in judicial glory, and remembers also His Anointed, not as a mediator, however, but as an object of the redemption which is to be accomplished in judgment (ver. 13): "Thou wentest forth to the help of Thy people, to the help of Thine Anointed" (Septuagint: Tov acoaai Tov ypKTrov <rov; according to another reading: Tous XP^l<r~ Tow? ffov). It is indeed questionable whether 1|TE'ip"nK should not rather be translated " with Thine Anointed" (Aquila, Quinta: ativ -xpiarcp aov). Jerome considers this translation Christian, and the other Judaizing. But granted that the Messiah is intended in an eschatological sense, an appeal for the accusative construction can be made with equal propriety to

Zech. ix. 9 (where the Messiah is called W>3; one who has become helpful], as for the prepositional to Ps. cx. 5 (the Almighty at thy right hand). It is really probable that the prophet means by the divinelyanointed One, not the king of his time, but of the final period, for he continues, 1S6; "Thou breakest in pieces the head of the house of the wicked"—the divinely-anointed One is the antithesis of the worldruler, Christ and Antichrist are contrasted.

§ 37. Mediately Messianic Elements in Jeremiah's Announcement, until the carrying away of Jehoiachin.

Jeremiah, who was called, as he himself relates, in the thirteenth year of Josiah, is a contemporary of Zephaniah and Habakkuk, preceding both these in the time when he was called. The history of his call (Jer. L) is in all directions a prognostic of his official doing and suffering. His calling is directed rather to tearing down than to building up. In this sad office one suffering after another as a confessor befalls him; but notwithstanding the depth and tenderness of his susceptibility, strong in God, he bids defiance to all attacks. In his first address (Jer. ii.-iii. 5) ⁿW9 (Jer. iii. 4) indicates the religious transformation which had already begun after the twelfth year of Josiah (2 Chron. xxxiv. 3); and in the second (Jer. iii. 6-vi.), vi. 20 presupposes the purification of worship which was accomplished in the eighteenth year of Josiah. But the prophet sees behind the glittering restoration the ever dominant corruption of morals, and comforts himself with the hope of a final, true, and general conversion, embracing the Israel of both kingdoms, since he lays in the mouth of those who are converting the prayer of confession, entreating for mercy (Jer. iii. 22 f.), as an answer to the divine call to repentance. It can neither be proved, nor is it conceivable, that Jeremiah could have been opposed to the restoration of the worship of Yahweh and the establishment of the sacrificial service at the temple of Jerusalem, which was designed to prevent idolatrous degeneration; for as even private worship as a matter of necessity creates forms of worship, the divine worship of a congregation cannot exist at all without express forms of worship. But the prophetic calling was not especially directed to teaching and shielding these forms of worship, but to that which was essentially religious, with which they must be filled in order not to sink down to deceitful performances, to dead works. The first discourses of Jeremiah show that the people of his time, who boasted that they had the temple, the central seat of Yahweh, in the midst of them (Jer. vii. 4), were sunken in vices, and were always still idolatrous, were so corrupt beyond improvement, that he was not to pray for them. The reformation of Josiah, whose lever was Deuteronomy, restored the legal worship, but as we also see from Zephaniah, without being able to raise the people, who were deeply corrupted in their morals in all classes, including the priests and prophets. We must

M

take this into account in order to understand that Jeremiah could have no pleasure in the sacrificial service (Jer. vi. 20) which had again come into vogue, and in order not to misunderstand so bold an expression as vii. 22 f., in which his antipathy against the self-deception connected with the opus operatum of the burnt-offerings and sacrifices went so far that it seems as if he did not recognise a sacrificial torah resting upon divine revelation. The appearance is emphasized, since he says (viii. 8): "How can you say we are wise, and the torah of Yahweh is with us? Truly, behold, the deceptive styles of the scribes ¹ is active for deception." This sounds as if directed against priestly writings, which gave self-made laws the colour of divine sanction. But that the bringing of sacrifices in vii. 22 f., viii. 8 is lowered to an arbitrary institution, and even as displeasing to God, is disproved through the fact that even Jeremiah is not able to represent the divine service of the final period without sacrifices (see xxxiii. 18; or if one doubts the genuineness of this passage, see xvii. 26, xxxiii. 10),

¹ Not for the purpose of deception, but to deception, in a deceptive manner, as "IpE^ is also used in iii. 23, xxvii. 15;

and rtE>y without supplying an object, as a conception limited

T T

to itself, 2 Sam. xii. 12; Prov. xiii. 6. Jerome renders it correctly: vere mendaciwm operatus est (or operatur) stilus mendax scribarum. Jeremiah could not have had Deuteronomy in mind on account of the conformity of his language to this book. Nor can the legislation of the Priests' Code be intended, for could this have secured such an undisputed public acceptance if so great a prophet as Jeremiah had uttered his verdict against it?

—sacrifices, indeed, which would not satisfy the letter of the law, but which are the free symbolical expression of thankful worship.

All prophets represent, in opposition to the religion of the letter of the law, the religion of the freedom of the spirit; but none in such a cutting polemic, however, as Jeremiah. The most holy in the most holy place of the temple is the ark of the covenant, the earthly throne of God in the midst of His people; but Jeremiah, hoping for a future renewal of Israel, which shall be more thorough than the present (Jer. iii. 4), prophesies, at the same time, that there shall be no more an ark of the covenant (ver. 16): "In those days—utterance of Yahweb—they shall no longer say, 'The ark of the covenant of Yahweh'; and no thought shall arise concerning it, and ye shall no more think of it, nor miss it, and it shall not be made again." And why not? Because, as is said in ver. 17, all Jerusalem shall be the throne of Yahweh. The prophet is transported into this Messianic period without his mentioning here the Messiah. But it is of importance for the future fulfilment of Messianic prophecy, that in the threatening of Jechoniah (Jer. xxii. 24 if.) the dominant line of Solomon is deprived of the throne. For so ver. 30 seems to be intended, since the threatening (ver. 24): "Although Coniah, son of Jehoiakim king of Judah, wore the seal ring on my right hand, nevertheless I would tear him off." Its companion piece is found in a prophecy by Haggai (ii. 23): "I will take thee and put thee on as a seal ring," which pertains to Zerubbabel, to whom, according to Luke- iii. 31 (cf. Zech. xii. 12), the line of Nathan belonged.¹

§38. Immediate. Messianic Elements in Jeremiah's Prophecies under Zedekiah until after the Destruction of Jerusalem.

We meet the first immediate Messianic prophecy in

the woe upon the shepherds (Jer. xxiii. 1-8), which,

as we may conclude from ver. 3, was after the

deportation of King Jehoiachin to Babylon with ten

thousand of the kernel of the population. The

promise begins with the assurance that God will

awaken shepherds, according to His will, for His people

brought back from banishment, and then proceeds:

"Behold days come—utterance of Yahweh—that I

will raise up for David a righteous sprout (P^ ⁿ?-f),

and he shall rule as a king, and shall deal prudently,

and shall exercise justice and righteousness in the

land; and this is his name with which they shall

name him likewise with the most universal

subject, like (Isa. ix. 5), and with tiphcha

which excludes the connection, 'with which Yahweh

shall call him']: 'Yahweh our righteousness '" (nVrv

«tfix). This prediction will be considered in con

¹ See my article, "Die zwiefache Genealogie des Messias," No. xii. der Talmudischen Studien, in the Lntherische Zeitschrift, 1860, pp. 460-465, and the admirable explanation by Eusebiua of ag hofil^tro (Luke iii. 23) in the passage quoted by Credner, Einleitung, p. 68.

nection with its repetition in a later address. In the tenth year of Zedekiah, as the Chaldeans again lay before Jerusalem, and Jeremiah was held captive in the guard-house, falls the purchase of a piece of land, executed with ceremony, together with the rich promises, Jer. xxxii., which are continued during this imprisonment in chap. xxxiii. If we leave xxxiii. 17 ff. out of account,—because this passage, which is wanting in the Septuagint, is attacked as too ceremonially legal for Jeremiah,—there remains as the keynote of the consolations of these two addresses, that God will turn the captivity of His people, and will restore to them their land for a free possession and commerce.

In this connection there is repeated here, xxiii. 5 f., but with some changes (xxxiii. 14-16): "Behold, days come—utterances of Yahweh—that I will perform the good word which I have spoken to the house of Israel, and concerning the house of Judah [introductory reference to the promise, xxiii. 5 f.]. In that day and at the same time I will cause to sprout for David a sprout of righteousness (ⁿP^ ⁿ*?-0, ^an(i he shall exercise justice and righteousness in the land. In the same days Judah shall be redeemed, and shall inhabit Jerusalem safely; and this is the name with which they shall call it (Jerusalem): 'Yahweh our righteousness.'" From chap. xxiii. many interpreters draw the conclusion, because the promise concerning the awakening of right shepherds (ver. 4) precedes, that the sprout is intended collectively of an aftergrowth of Davidic rulers who are pleasing to God; but here in chap. xxxiiL this view is without support, the promise is with reference to one, and the progress from the nos of Isa. iv. 2 to the shoot from the stump of Jesse (Isa. xi. 1) makes it unquestionable that the post-Isaianic prophet means that the Messiah is the second David. Also a welcome light falls upon the name of the Messiah, Ujm njn'. f_rom the names ^UB? and "»3? fy, which the Messiah has in Isaiah. He is so called in Isaiah, because the strong victorious God is in him, represents Himself in him, makes Himself historically present in him to His people; and here in Jeremiah he is called MpIV ⁿjⁿ', because Yahweh, as our righteousness, that is, as the one making righteous, redeeming from the curse and bondage of sin, dwells in him, is called like Jerusalem ^i-HY HirP, because now Yahweh, as the one making righteous, forgiving sins (Isa. xxxiii. 24), and renewing morally, has his dwelling in her. The Messiah is called thus as the personal, and Jerusalem as the local revelation of the God¹ who

¹ The Septuagint translates: xcei Tosto To onoftx avroi S noihiati avrov 6 Kvpwi 'InwtSsx, that is, p*r)tf!V (see Workman, The Text

of Jeremiah, Edinburgh 1889, p. 239). The translation is absurd; for we do not expect a real historical nomen proprium, but an emblematical name. In the proper name Jehozadak: "Yahweh has or retains justice," the expression is the acknowledgment, mark, motto of the one that is to be named, and mediately of the one who is named; on the contrary, «p"1S ni!"P (whether we

translate it "Yahweh is our righteousness," or " Yahweh is our God"), as the name of the Messiah and as the name of Jerusalem demands, an actual characteristic relation to that which the name expresses.

transforms the unrighteous desiring righteousness into the righteous.

A year later, on the second of Tammuz of the eleventh year of Zedekiah, after a siege of eighteen months, Jerusalem became a prey of the invading Chaldeans. Jeremiah was compelled, in the midst of the other exiles, and, like them, to wander in fetters to Kama; but there, on account of a command of Nebuchadnezzar which had reached him, his fortune changed—the decision was left to him, he preferred to remain in the land, and went to Gedaliah, to the son of his friend, and the one who had rescued his life, Ahikam (Jer. xxvi. 24), as is related iii chap. xxxix. more briefly, and in chap. xl. more extensively.

In chap. xl. 1 a word of Yahweh received by Jeremiah, at that time in Eama, is introduced, but none follows. It is certain that this word of Yahweh is none other than the one introduced in xxx., xxxi. with the same formula, consisting in comforting predictions, written down by the prophet at the special command of God, among which the lamentation of Rachel in Eamah because of the departure of her children, and with reference to their future return, indicates the place where they were received.

Beginning with njnj "IDK nb_, one comforting picture follows another. We emphasize particularly, out of this floral chain of promises, those of a Messianic, and expressly of a New Testament, character.

1. The promise is made to the people (Jer. xxx. 21; cf. xxxiii. 20-22), that in the future they shall have glorious princes, who are privileged to exercise priestly functions, who are all overtopped by the one second David (Jer. xxx. 9): "And they shall serve Yahweh their God, and David their king, whom I will awake for them." It is certainly questionable whether also in ver. 21 the singular form of the word does not refer to a second David: "And their prince shall come from themselves [from the restored people], and their ruler shall go forth from the midst of them [this people, since foreign dominion has an end]; and I will cause him to approach me, and to draw near to me [so near, namely, as was previously permitted only to the priests]: for who might otherwise dare to draw near to me? Utterance of Yahweh." We see from this, which is also significant for Pentateuch criticism, that Jeremiah recognises the exclusive right of the priests to the arrangements of the divine service in the inner department of the sanctuary, but that he promises to the Israelitish kings of the period of consummation a participation in the priestly prerogatives. Since, however, this stands on a lower plain than the later prophecy, that the future Zemach shall be king and priest in one person, probably in the view of the prophet "1*16? as well as in the new legislation of Ezekiel is to be distinguished from the other David (Ds^p Tr, 96), and the expression is not meant exclusively of one.¹

2. An allegorical reference to the birth of the

¹ Cf. Baudissin, Die Geschichte des Alttestammtlichen Priesterthums, Leipzig 1889, p. 246.

Messiah appears to be contained in xxxi. 22: "How long wilt thou go hither and thither, thou backsliding daughter? For Yahweh hath created a new thing in the land: the woman shall shield the man." By means of '3 the reason is given for the interrogative "how long," from an impulse given by God through a new creation to conversion. The new creation, as is shown in the choice of the sexual expressions mp? and 133, consists in a transformation of the relation, which was otherwise according to nature, of both sexes to each other. With von Orelli we understand 331D according to Deut. xxxii. 10, Ps. xxxii. 10, but not so that napj indicates the naturally weak, helpless congregation, to which the people is indebted for its protection and preservation ;¹ but so that ropJ, like the nn^y of Isaiah and the mi* of Micah, indicates the mother of the Messiah: A woman shall be a protection, a wall, a fortress of men, since she shall bear the defender of Israel. Thus we understand the causal '3 better. In Micah v. 2 the birth of the one who bears is considered the turning-point for the conversion of Israel from the labyrinth of the exile.

3. Jeremiah is the prophet who combines the future renewal of the covenant in the conception, and ¹ If ri3pJ were to be referred to the congregation, it would be

preferable to explain: The woman shall go around the man; that is, the congregation to whom Yahweh is married, and who have become untrue to Him, shall surround Him, seeking to win His love,—the '3 which gives the reason is adapted to this explanation. But for what purpose is the investiture of this hope (cf. Hos. ii. 9) in such an enigmatical paradox?

the word nBnn rvn3 (Jer. xxxi. 31-34, cf. the Septuagint, Heb. viii. 8, Btadijicrj icaivq): "Behold days come—utterance of Yahweh—that I will make with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah a new covenant; not like the covenant which I made with their fathers, in the day that I took them by the hand, to lead them out of the land of Egypt; which covenant of mine they have broken, so that I was displeased against them \^FbBS=vbn3, Zech. xi. 8, if v6l'3 should not be read as in xiv. 19, Septuagint; Heb. viii. 9, icaya> r/fiejcra avr&v]— utterance of Yahweh. For this is the covenant which I will make with the house of Israel after those days—utterance of Yahweh: I will give my torah within them, and upon their hearts I will write it; and I will be their God, and they shall be my people. And they shall not teach any more one his neighbour, and one his brother, saying: Know Yahweh! For all together they shall know me, from the least among them even to the greatest: for I will forgive their guilt, and I will no more remember their sins." The new covenant is one held in equal honour with the Sinaitic, and which stands on the same plane with it. It is not to be a legal covenant, whose promises are conditioned through the consideration of rules established by documents. The foundation of this new covenant will be the forgiveness of sin as the foundation of the beginning of a new life. In place of the external letters of the law will be those written in the heart, from which the will of God shall determine the conduct; and while heretofore the deeper living knowledge was the possession of a few, especially of the prophets, it will then be a common possession, since as Jeremiah had immediately said before (xxxi. 28 f.), personality shall be established in its rights, and shall be removed beyond the consequences of family connection, in which hitherto it had been bound,—a theme which Ezekiel, proceeding from the same popular proverb (chap. xviii.), discusses more fully. The style of these comforting addresses (Jer. xxx., xxxi.) is in part quite Deutero-Isaianic. We see in xxx. 8-10 the beginning of the representation of Israel as nirp "nj?; "And it shall come to pass in that day—utterance of Yahweh of hosts: I will break his yoke from off thy neck, and will tear his bands in pieces, and it [my people] shall not again be slaves O"¹?}',!) to strangers. And they shall serve Yahweh their God, and I will

awake for them David their king. And thou, fear not, my servant Jacob (p\>^. Here, remarks

Hitzig, ^',!ttj> is introduced through VUjn. Further on in the appendix to the prophecy against Egypt (Jer. xlvi. 27 f.), which is partially Deutero-Isaianic (cf. Isa. xliii. 1—6), but has partially the characteristics of Jeremiah, 3pV'_ "njf occurs without any such introduction, just as in Isa. xli. 8, as a complete idea.