Part 5
This was very wide—not for Judah only, but _a prophet to the nations had I set thee_. The objection has been taken, that it is too wide to be original, and the alternative inferences drawn: either that it is the impression of his earliest consciousness as a prophet but formed by Jeremiah only after years of experience revealed all that had been involved in his call; or that it is not Jeremiah’s own but the notion formed of him by a later exaggerating generation. It is true that Jeremiah did not dictate the first words of the Lord to him till some twenty-three years after he heard them, when it was possible and natural for him to expand them in terms of his intervening experience. And we must remember the summary bent of the Hebrew mind—how natural it was to that mind to describe processes as if they were acts of a day, done by a fiat as in the story of the Creation; or to state a system of law and custom, which took centuries to develop, as though it were the edict of a single lawgiver and all spoken at once, when the development entered on a new and higher stage, as we see in the case of Deuteronomy and its attribution to Moses.
Yet the forebodings at least of a task so vast as that of _prophet to the nations_ were anything but impossible to the moment of Jeremiah’s call; for the time surged, as we have seen, with the movements of the nations and their omens for his own people. Indeed it would have been strange if the soul of any prophet, conscious of a charge from the Almighty, had not the instinct, that as the meaning of this charge was gradually unfolded to him, it would reveal, and require from him the utterance of, Divine purposes throughout a world so full even to the uninspired eye of the possibilities both of the ruin of old states and of the rise of new ones—a world so close about his own people, and so fraught with fate for them, that in speaking of _them_ he could not fail to speak of the _whole of it_ also. If at that time a Jew had at all the conviction that he was called to be a prophet, it must have been with a sense of the same responsibilities, to which the older prophets had felt themselves bound: men who knew themselves to be ministers of the Lord of Hosts, Lord of the Powers of the Universe, who had dealt not with Israel only but with Moab and Ammon and Aram, with Tyre and the Philistines and Egypt, and who had spoken of Assyria herself as His staff and the rod of His judgment. Jeremiah’s three contemporaries, Ṣephaniah, Nahum and Habakkuk, all deal with the foreign powers of their day—why should he in such an age not have been conscious from the first that his call from the Lord of Hosts involved a mission as wide as theirs? I am sure that if we had lived with this prophet through his pregnant times, as we have lived through these last ten years and have been compelled to think constantly not of our own nation alone—concentrated as we had to be on our duties to her—but of _all_ the nations of the world as equally involved in the vast spiritual interests at stake, we should have no difficulty in understanding how possible and natural it was for Jeremiah to hear his mission _to the nations_ clearly indicated in the very moment of his call.
And in fact Jeremiah’s acknowledged Oracles—some of them among his earliest—travel far beyond Judah and show not merely a knowledge of, and vivid interest in, the qualities and fortunes of other peoples, but a wise judgment of their policies and therefore of what should be Judah’s prudent attitude and duty towards them. For long before his call she had been intriguing with Egypt and Assyria.(120) Just then or immediately later the Scythians, after threatening the Medes, were sweeping over Western Asia as far as the frontier of Egypt, and in his Scythian songs Jeremiah(121) shows an intimate knowledge of their habits. In his Parable of the Potter (for which unfortunately there is no date) he declares God’s power to mould or re-mould _any_ nation.(122) And Baruch, writing of Jeremiah’s earlier ministry, says that he spoke _concerning all nations_.(123)
No wonder that Jeremiah shrank from such a task: _Ah, Lord God, I know not to speak, I am too young._(124) His excuse is interesting. Had he not developed his gift for verse? Or, conscious of its rustic simplicity, did he fear to take the prophet’s thunder on lips, that had hitherto moved only to the music of his country-side? In the light of his later experience the second alternative is not impossible. When much practice must have made him confident of his art as a singer, he tells us how burning he felt the Word of the Lord to be. But whatever was the motive of his reluctance it was overcome. As he afterwards said:—
Ah, Lord, Thou didst beguile me, And beguiled I let myself be; Thou wast too strong for me And hast prevailed.(125)
The following shows how this came about:—
And the Lord said unto me, Say not I am too young, for to all to which I send thee thou shalt go, and all I command thee thou shalt speak,
Be not afraid before them For with thee am I to deliver,
Rede of the Lord. And the Lord put forth His hand and caused it to touch my mouth, and the Lord said to me, Lo, I have set My Word in thy mouth,
See I appoint thee this day Over the nations and kingdoms, To pull up and tear down and destroy,(126) To build and to plant.
To this also objection has been taken as still more incredible in the spiritual experience of so youthful a rustic. It has been deemed the exaggeration of a later age, and described as the “gigantic figure” of a “plenipotentiary to the nations,” utterly inconsistent with the modest singer of the genuine oracles of Jeremiah, “a hero only in suffering, not in assault.”(127) Such an objection rather strains the meaning of the passage. According to this Jeremiah is to be the carrier of the Word of the Lord. That Word, rather than the man himself, is the power _to pull up and tear down and destroy, to build and to plant_(128)—that Word which no Hebrew prophet received without an instinct of its world-wide range and its powers of both destruction and creation.
Two visions follow. To appreciate the first we must remember the natural anxiety of the prophets when charged with pronouncements so weighty and definite. The Word, the ethical purpose of God for Israel was clear, but how was it to be fulfilled? No strength appeared in the nation itself. The party, or parties, loyal to the Lord had been in power a dozen years and effected little in Jerusalem and nothing beyond. The people were not stirred and seemed hopeless. Living in a village where little changed through the years, but men followed the habits of their fathers, Jeremiah felt everything dead. Winter was on and the world asleep.
Then the Word of the Lord came to me saying, What art thou seeing, Jeremiah; and I said, I am seeing the branch of an almond tree. And the Lord said to me, Well hast thou seen, for I am awake over My Word to perform it.
The Hebrew for almond tree is _shākēdh_, which also means _awakeness_ or _watchfulness_,(129) and the Lord was _awake_ or was _watchful_—_shōkēdh_—the difference only of a vowel. In that first token of spring which a Palestine winter affords, the Prophet received the sacrament of his call and of the assurance that God was awake! That the sacrament took this form was natural. That of Isaiah of Jerusalem was the vision of a Throne and an Altar. That of Ezekiel, the exile, shone in the stormy skies of his captivity. This to the prophet of Anathoth burst with the first blossom on his wintry fields. The sense of unity in which he and his people conceived the natural and spiritual worlds came to his help; neither in the one world nor in the other did God slumber. God was watching.
The Second Vision needs no comment after our survey of the political conditions of the time. The North held the forces for the fulfilling of the Word. The Vision is followed by a charge to the Prophet himself.
And the word of the Lord came to me the second time, What art thou seeing? And I said, A caldron boiling and its face is from (?) the North.(130) And the Lord said unto me:—
Out of the North shall evil boil forth(131) On all that dwell in the land; For behold, I am calling All the realms(132) of the North. They shall come and each set his throne In the openings of the gates of Jerusalem, On all of her walls round about, And every township of Judah. And My judgments by them(133) shall I utter On the evil of those who have left Me, Who have burned to other gods And bowed to the works of their hands.
But thou shalt gird up thy loins, Stand up and speak(134) all I charge thee. Be not dismayed before them, Lest to their face I dismay thee. See I have thee set this day A fenced city and walls of bronze To the kings and princes of Judah, Her priests and the folk of the land; They shall fight but master thee never, For with thee am I to deliver— Rede of the Lord.(135)
Jeremiah was silenced and went forth to his ministry—the Word upon his lips and the Lord by his side.
Two further observations are natural.
_First_, note the contrast between the two Visions—the blossoming twig and the boiling caldron brewing tempests from the North. Unrelated as these seem, they symbolise together Jeremiah’s prophesying throughout. For in fact this was all blossom and storm, beauty and terror, tender yearning and thunders of doom—up to the very end. Or to state the same more deeply: while the caldron of the North never ceased boiling out over his world—consuming the peoples, his own among them, and finally sweeping him into exile and night—he never, for himself or for Israel, lost the clear note of his first Vision, that all was watched and controlled. There is his value to ourselves. Jeremiah was no prophet of hope, but he was the prophet of that without which hope is impossible—faith in Control—that be the times dark and confused as they may, and the world’s movements ruthless, ruinous and inevitable, God yet watches and rules all to the fulfilment of His Will—though how we see not, nor can any prophet tell us.
_Second_, note how the story leaves the issue, not with one will only, but with two—God’s and the Man’s, whom God has called. His family has been discounted, his people and their authorities, political and religious, are to be against him. _He_ is to stand up and speak, _He_ is not to let himself be dismayed before them, lest God make him dismayed. Under God, then, the Individual becomes everything. Here, at the start of his ministry, Jeremiah has pressed upon him, the separateness, the awful responsibility, the power, of the Single Soul. We shall see how the significance of this developed not for himself only, but for the whole religion of Israel.
Lecture IV.
THE PROPHET IN THE REIGN OF JOSIAH. 627-26-608 B.C.
This period of the Prophet’s career may be taken in three divisions:—
_First_, His Earliest Oracles, which reflect the lavish distribution of the high-places in Judah and Benjamin, and may therefore be dated before the suppression of these by King Josiah, in obedience to the Law-Book discovered in the Temple in 621-20 B.C.
_Second_, His Oracles on the Scythians, whose invasions also preceded that year; with additions.
_Third_, Oracles which imply that the enforcement of the Law-Book had already begun, and reveal Jeremiah’s attitude to it and to the course of the reforms which it inspired.
We must keep in mind that the Prophet did not dictate his early Oracles till the year 604-03, and that he added to them on the Second Roll _many like words_.(136) We shall thus be prepared for the appearance among them of references to the changed conditions of this later date, when the Scythians had long come and gone, the Assyrian Empire had collapsed, its rival Egypt had been defeated at the Battle of Carchemish, and Nebuchadrezzar and his Chaldeans were masters of Western Asia.
1. His Earliest Oracles. (II. 2-IV. 4.)
These bear few marks of the later date at which they were dictated by Jeremiah—in fact only a probable reference to Egypt’s invasion of Palestine in 608, Ch. II. 16, and part, if not all, of Ch. III. 6-18. The general theme is a historical retrospect—Israel’s early loyalty to her God, and her subsequent declension to the worship of other gods, figured as adultery; along with a profession of penitence by the people, to which God responds by a stern call to a deeper repentance and thorough reform; failing this, her doom, though vaguely described as yet, is inevitable. The nation is addressed as a whole at first in the second person singular feminine, but soon also in the plural, and the plural prevails towards the end. The nation answers as a whole, sometimes as _I_ but sometimes also as _We_.
Before expounding the truths conveyed by these early Oracles it is well to translate them in full, for though not originally uttered at the same time, they run now in a continuous stream of verse—save for one of those “portages” of prose which I have described.(137) There is no reason for denying the whole of this passage to Jeremiah, whether because it is in prose or because it treats of Northern Israel as well as Judah.(138) But on parts of it the colours are distinctly of a period later than that of the Prophet. All the rest of the Oracles may be taken to be from himself. Duhm after much hesitation has come to doubt the genuineness of Ch. II. 5-13, but his suspicions of deuteronomic influence seem groundless, and even if they were sound they would be insufficient for denying the verses to Jeremiah.(139)
II. 1, 2, And he said, Thus sayeth the Lord:(140)
I remember the troth of thy youth, Thy love as a bride, Thy following Me through the desert, The land unsown. Holy to the Lord was Israel, 3 First-fruit of His income; All that would eat it stood guilty, Evil came on them. Rede of the Lord— Hear the Lord’s Word, House of Jacob, 4 All clans of Israel’s race! [Thus sayeth the Lord] 5 What wrong found your fathers in Me, That so far they broke from Me, And following after the Bubble(141) Bubbles became. Nor said they: 6 Where is the Lord who carried us up From the land of Miṣraim?(142) Who led us through the desert, Land of waste and chasms, Land of drought and barren,(143) A land which nobody crosses, Nor mankind settles upon it. And I brought you into a garden, 7 To feed on its fruit and its wealth. But coming ye fouled My land, My heritage turned to loathing. The priests never said, 8 Where is the Lord? They who handle the Law knew Me not, The rulers(144) rebelled against Me; By Baal the prophets did prophesy, And followed the worthless. So still with you must I strive,(145) 9 And strive with your sons.(146) For cross to the isles of Kittîm and look 10 Send to Kedár, and think for yourselves,(147) And see, was ever like this? Have any nations(148) changed their gods, 11 And these no gods at all? Yet My people exchanged their(149) Glory For that which is worthless. Be heavy,(150) O heavens, for this, 12 Shudder and shudder again! Twain the wrongs My people have wrought— 13 Me have they left, The Fount of live water, To hew themselves cisterns, Cisterns broken, That cannot hold water!
Israel a slave! 14 Or house-born serf! Why he for a prey? Against him the young lions roar, 15 Give forth their voice, And his land they lay waste, Burned are his towns and tenantless. The sons, too, of Noph and Taḥpanḥes have forced, 16 Have abused thee.(151) Is not all this being done thee 17 For thy leaving of Me?(152) And now what to thee is the road to Miṣraim,(153) Nile’s waters to drink? Or what is to thee the road to Asshúr, 18 To drink of the River? Be thy scourge thine own sin, 19 Thy doublings convict thee! Know and see how sore for thyself, How bitter to leave Me! But never was awe of Me thine— Rede of the Lord thy God.(154)
From of old thou hast broken thy yoke, 20 Hast burst thy bonds, Saying, “I will not serve!” While upon every high hill, And under each rustling tree, Harlot thou sprawlest! Yet a noble vine did I plant thee, 21 Wholly true seed; How could’st thou change to a corrupt,(155) A wildling grape? Yea, though thou scour thee with nitre, 22 And heap to thee lye, Ingrained is thy guilt before Me, Rede of the Lord, thy God.(156) How sayest thou, “I’m not defiled, 23 Nor gone after the Baals.” Look at thy ways in the Valley, And own thy deeds! A young camel, light o’ heel,(157) Zig-zagging her tracks, A heifer, schooled to the desert— 24 In the heat of her lust, Snapping the wind in her passion, Who is to turn her? None that would seek her need strain them, In her month they shall find her. Save thou thy feet from the peeling, 25 Thy throat from thirst! But thou sayest, “No use!(158) For with strangers I’m fallen in love, Them must I after!” Like the shame of the thief when he’s caught, 26 Shall Israel’s sons(159) be shamed. [They and their kings and their princes, Their priests and their prophets](160) Who say to a stock “Thou my Father!” 27 To a stone “Thou hast borne me!” Their(161) backs they have turned to Me Never their(162) faces. Yet in time of their trouble they say “Rise up and save us!” Where be thy gods thou hast made thee? 28 Let them rise, if so they may save thee In time of thy trouble; For as thy townships in number,(163) So be, O Judah, thy gods! What quarrel have you against Me? 29 All you are the sinners;(164) Against Me you all have rebelled— Rede of the Lord. In vain have I smitten your sons 30 Ye(165) took not correction Your(166) sword has devoured your prophets, Like a ravaging lion. O generation—you!—look at the Word of the Lord!(167) 31 Have I been a desert to Israel, Or land of thick darkness? Why say My folk “We are off, No more to meet Thee!” Can a maiden forget her adorning, 32 Or her girdle a bride? Yet Me have My people forgotten, Days without number! Why trimmest thou still thy ways 33 To seek after love? Therefore thou also to evil Thy ways hast trained:(168) Yea, on thy skirts is found blood 34 Of innocent souls, Not only on felons(?) I find it But over all these.(169) Yet thou said’st, “I am assoiled, 35 Sure His wrath turns from me!” Behold I am going to judge thee For saying, “I’m sinless!” How very light dost thou take it, 36 To change thy ways! E’en of Miṣraim shalt thou be ashamed(170) As ashamed of Ashshúr. Out of this too shalt thou come 37 With thy hands on thy head, For spurned hath the Lord the things of thy trust, Not by them shalt thou prosper!
III. 1. [Saying]:—If a man dismiss his wife and she go from him and become another man’s, shall she return to him?(171) Is that woman(172) not too polluted? But thou hast played the harlot with many lovers and—wouldest return unto Me? Rede of the Lord.
Lift to the clearings thine eyes, 2 Where not wast thou tumbled? For them by the roads thou hast sate, Like an Arab in desert, Thou hast fouled the land with thy whoredoms And with thy vices; With thy lovers so many 3 It has meant but thy snare.(173) The brow of a harlot was thine, Shame thou hadst done with. But now—thou callest me “Father, 4 Friend of my youth!” “Bears _He_ a grudge for ever, 5 Stands on His guard for aye?”(174) Lo, so thou hast spoken, yet done Ills to thine utmost.
6. And the Lord said unto me in the days of Josiah, the king,(175) Hast thou seen what recreant Israel did to Me(176) going up every high hill and under each rustling tree, and there playing the harlot. 7. And I said, After she has done all these things can she return to Me?—and she did not return. 8. And her treacherous sister Judah saw, yes she saw,(177) that, all because recreant Israel committed adultery, I had dismissed her and given her the bill of her divorce; yet her sister treacherous Judah was not afraid, but also went and played the harlot. 9. And it came to pass that, through the wantonness of her harlotry, she polluted the land, committing adultery with stones and with stocks. 10. And yet, for all this, treacherous Judah(178) has not returned to Me with all her heart, but only in feigning.(179) 11. And the Lord said to me, Recreant Israel hath justified herself more than treacherous Judah. 12. Go and call out these words toward the North and say,
Turn thee to Me,(180) recreant Israel, I frown(181) not upon thee; For gracious am I (Rede of the Lord), Nor for ever bear grudge. Only acknowledge thy guilt, 13 That defying the Lord thy God, Thou hast scattered to strangers thy ways Under each rustling tree, And hast(182) not obeyed My voice— Rede of the Lord.
14. [Return ye backsliding children, Rede of the Lord, for I am your Baal,(183) and I will take you, one from a city and two from a clan, and will bring you to Ṣion. 15. And I will give you Shepherds after My heart, and they shall shepherd you with knowledge and with skill. 16. And it shall be, when ye multiply and increase in the land in those days (Rede of the Lord), they shall not again say, “The Ark of the Covenant of the Lord!” It shall not come to mind, it shall be neither remembered nor missed,(184) nor shall it be made again. 17. At that time they shall call Jerusalem the Throne of the Lord and all nations shall gather to her,(185) nor walk any more after the stubbornness of their evil hearts. 18. In those days the House of Judah shall walk with the House of Israel, that together they may come from the land of the North to the land which I gave their(186) fathers for a heritage.]
But I(187) had declared the How(?) 19 I should set thee(188) among the sons, And should give thee a land of delight, Fairest domain of the nations. And said, Thou would’st call Me Father, Nor from after Me turn. As a woman plays false to her fere,(189) 20 So to Me ye played false! [O House of Israel, Rede of the Lord.]