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Proberbs 10:1--22:16

One Volume

Gary M. Burge

... when interpreting each verse? Or should one view each proverb as an independent literary unit and interpret it as such? The second approach has dominated commentaries in the past and is adopted in the recent commentary by Tremper Longman III (see Longman 2006). For more than two decades, however, the first approach has been explored in numerous learned monographs and briefer studies and employed by most contemporary commentators, most fully by Bruce Waltke (see Waltke 2004–5). Those skeptical ...

2. Israel Forsakes God

Jeremiah 2:1-3:5

Understanding Series

Tremper Longman III

Former Bliss (2:1-3): 2:1–3 God again commissions Jeremiah to speak an oracle to the residents of Jerusalem. The oracle reminds the Judeans of their former intimate relationship with God. Jeremiah uses the metaphor of marriage to make his point here. The beginning of the relationship between God and his people was like a honeymoon—pure devotion. The bride, Israel, followed the groom, God, through hard places like the desert, also called a land not sown. This language reminds the hearers of the wilderness ...

3. Restoration of Israel

Jeremiah 30:1--31:40

Understanding Series

Tremper Longman III

30:1–3 The Book of Consolation begins with a general statement of hope for the people of Judah who have so far heard a message predominantly of judgment. It is identified as a divine oracle to Jeremiah (This is the word that came to Jeremiah from the LORD and This is what the LORD, the God of Israel says, vv. 1–2a). Jeremiah is further instructed not only to speak this message, but to write in a book all the words that God has spoken to him. Such a command underscores the importance of the message as well ...

4. At the Potter's House

Jeremiah 18:1--19:15, Jeremiah 20:1-6

Understanding Series

Tremper Longman III

Jeremiah’s First Trip to the Potter (18:1-23): Though observed by Jeremiah rather than performed by Jeremiah, we now hear of another prophetic action that illustrates the prophet’s verbal message. Jeremiah 18:1–4 narrates the action while 18:5–10 interprets the general significance of the action. Verses 11–12 apply the teaching of the general principle specifically to Judah and Judah’s negative response to God’s call for repentance. A poetic oracle registering surprise at the people’s unwillingness to ...

5. Jeremiah’s Complaint

Jeremiah 20:7-18

Understanding Series

Tremper Longman III

Jeremiah’s Lament: As we have just heard (20:1–6), Jeremiah’s message was not met with repentance but resistance. He is not proclaimed as a messenger of God come to save the nation from destruction, but he is met with violence because the religious and political authorities believed he was seditious and a false prophet. This complaint records the prophet’s reaction to his circumstances. Using the lament form familiar at least in general structure and tone to what we find often in the psalms of ...

6. Keeping the Sabbath Holy

Jeremiah 17:19-27

Understanding Series

Tremper Longman III

Observe the Sabbath: God now directs Jeremiah to issue a challenge concerning the Sabbath. To many modern readers, Sabbath observance may seem almost trivial in relationship to the other charges God through Jeremiah levels at Judah: murder, child sacrifice, idolatry. However, the Sabbath was considered the sign of the Mosaic covenant (Exod. 31:13, 17). In a sense it was the pinnacle of the law during the Old Testament period. It was established at creation (Gen. 2:1–3) and mandated as the fourth ...

7. God Rejects Zedekiah’s Request

Jeremiah 21:1-14

Understanding Series

Tremper Longman III

God Rejects Zedekiah’s Request for Prayer: The setting of Jeremiah’s next judgment oracle is more definitively described than some of the previous ones. Zedekiah, the last Judean king (597–586 B.C.), sends two individuals, Pashhur and Zephaniah (the second is a priest, but the first may be as well) to Jeremiah to request that the prophet intercede with the Lord for them. We can get even more specific about the date because the prophet’s response to the priests’ request includes a mention of “the ...

8. Judah to Serve Nebuchadnezzar

Jeremiah 27:1-22

Understanding Series

Tremper Longman III

Jeremiah Versus the False Prophet Hananiah: In the midst of a turbulent time, Jeremiah’s message was not the only one that was being heard in Jerusalem. Other prophets with different messages were also active. Hananiah is an example of a rival prophet, and in chapter 28, these two will almost come to blows. The book of Deuteronomy anticipated the presence of false prophets. False prophets are those who are not sent by Yahweh, though they might speak in his name. Deuteronomy 13 and 18 provide the people ...

9. How the Gold Has Lost Its Luster

Lamentations 4:1-22

One Volume

Tremper Longman III

The Luster Has Faded for the People of God: The fourth poem of the book is also an acrostic, but of a different structure than the previous three chapters. Each verse starts with a successive letter of the Hebrew alphabet, and in this way is similar to chapters 1 and 2. But a simple comparison of the verses in English or Hebrew shows that the verse-stanzas thus formed are much shorter (comprising two rather than three bicola per verse). Thus, this chapter is about a third shorter than chapters 1 and 2 and ...

10. A Message About Damascus

Jeremiah 49:23-27

Understanding Series

Tremper Longman III

Oracle against Damascus: The next oracle in the series moves north again, this time to Damascus, an ancient city and the capital of Syria. From the time of Solomon (1 Kgs. 11:23–25) to the mid-eighth century when Assyria, under Tiglath-pileser III, absorbed Damascus, there was fairly constant fighting between Israel and Syria. Occasionally, most notably at the battle of Qarqar in 853 B.C., Israel and Syria banded together to resist early Assyrian imperialist expansion. 2 Kings 24:2 mentions that ...

11. Sin and Punishment

Jeremiah 8:4--9:26

Understanding Series

Tremper Longman III

My Stubborn People (8:4-7): The next oracle denigrates God’s people for their foolish stubbornness. Through a series of rhetorical questions and comparisons, it emphasizes their unwillingness to restore their broken relationship with their God. 8:4–5 The oracle begins with two rhetorical questions. When someone falls they naturally get themselves on their feet again. When someone turns away, presumably from the right path, they try to return to go in the right direction. After these rhetorical questions, ...

12. The Call of Jeremiah

Jeremiah 1:1-19

Understanding Series

Tremper Longman III

Superscription (1:1-3): 1:1–3 Most prophetic books (Isa. 1:1; Hos. 1:1; Joel 1:1; Nah. 1:1) as well as some wisdom books (Prov. 1:1; Eccl. 1:1; Song Sol. 1:1) begin with a superscription that serves a similar function to a title page on a modern book. The superscription was likely added by an editor or later tradent, and in the case of Jeremiah identifies the genre, author, the author’s priestly status, and the time period in which he ministered. The genre assigned by the superscription is quite general. ...

13. Unfaithful Israel

Jeremiah 3:6-4:4

Understanding Series

Tremper Longman III

Israel More Righteous Than Judah (3:6-11): 3:6–11 We now have a prose oracle that is set during the reign of Josiah. Jeremiah 1:2 indicates that Jeremiah’s prophetic ministry began in Josiah’s thirteenth year (626 B.C.) Since Josiah’s reign came to a close with his death on the battlefield in 609 B.C., this oracle should be dated between these two dates. The oracles are not in chronological order so we cannot use this rare dating to fix the time of the surrounding oracles. Josiah was the first king to rule ...

14. Disaster from the North

Jeremiah 4:5-31

Understanding Series

Tremper Longman III

A Lion from the North (4:5-10): 4:5–6 The prophet announces future judgment by insisting that warnings of the impending attack be issued. Other prophets also utilized the call to battle to warn of impending judgment (see Nah. 2:1). He evokes a sense of urgency when he urges that the trumpet be sounded and a signal be raised. These were signs of an attack (see Amos 3:6). Warning of an attack from the north first appeared in 1:13-14 (see commentary and notes). 4:7–8 The threat is described as a lion coming ...

15. Not One is Upright

Jeremiah 5:1-31

Understanding Series

Tremper Longman III

Poor and Great, All of Jerusalem Depraved (5:1-9): This oracle is a dialogue between Yahweh and Jeremiah. Yahweh first challenges Jeremiah to go out into Jerusalem to discover a single righteous person (5:1–2). Jeremiah then argues that the good people are among the leaders, not the poor who are in the streets. He is quickly disillusioned (5:3–6), and finally, on this basis, God proclaims that his coming judgment is just (5:7–9). 5:1–2 The challenge goes out, presumably to Jeremiah in the light of the ...

16. Jerusalem Under Siege

Jeremiah 6:1-30

Understanding Series

Tremper Longman III

Jerusalem Attacked! (6:1-8): The oracles in chapter six continue the difficulty of distinguishing individual oracles. Fortunately, the major effect on the reader is not dependent on proper division of the text or accurate dating of the original setting of the oracles. A further difficulty is determining who is speaking. Subtle clues indicate whether it is Jeremiah or God. This too, however, is not a major obstacle to understanding the message, since Jeremiah, after all, is Yahweh’s spokesperson. We take 6: ...

17. False Religions Worthless

Jeremiah 7:1-29

Understanding Series

Tremper Longman III

Jeremiah’s Temple Sermon (7:1-15): Jeremiah’s temple sermon is one of his most famous speeches. The core of its message attacks those who appear religious by participating in religious ceremonies, while not backing up their apparent beliefs with ethical lives. In other words, this sermon is an attack on the hypocrites of his day. We do not know the exact time before the destruction of the temple when this sermon was delivered. However, its strong conditional tone holds out hope that God’s judgment might be ...

18. The Valley of Slaughter

Jeremiah 7:30--8:3

Understanding Series

Tremper Longman III

The Valley of Topheth (7:30-34): God now explains the extent of Judah’s disgusting idolatry, bringing home the appropriateness of his judgment. For judgment against the practices performed in Topheth, see also Jeremiah 19. 7:30–31 The Judaeans had set up idols in the temple itself and they engaged in child sacrifice at a place called Topheth, located in the Valley of Ben Hinnom. This valley was immediately to the south and west of ancient Jerusalem. We do not know for certain what the word Topheth means or ...

19. God and Idols

Jeremiah 10:1-16

Understanding Series

Tremper Longman III

The Supremacy of Yahweh: 10:1–5 The chapter begins with a diatribe against idolatry, which is reminiscent of the biting sarcasm used by Isaiah (40:18–20; 41:7, 29; 44:6–23; 46:5–7). After the admonition to listen to the divine oracle (vv. 1–2a) the passage begins with the call to avoid the ways of the nations, which are further defined as signs in the sky. The latter is a reference to astrology, the use of astral phenomenon to determine the future. This method was used to read the minds of the gods ...

20. Coming Destruction

Jeremiah 10:17-22

Understanding Series

Tremper Longman III

The Future Exile: 10:17–18 The oracle addresses those who live under siege. It is not clear whether they are presently under siege (either in 597 [more likely] or 586 B.C.), that is, the inhabitants of Jerusalem at the point when the Babylonian armies surround their city, or whether Jeremiah is addressing them prophetically as those who will be under siege in the future. In any case the message is clear; the siege will end badly. God (“I”) will hurl them out of the land. The verb hurl denotes an angry, ...

21. The Covenant is Broken

Jeremiah 11:1-17

Understanding Series

Tremper Longman III

Betraying the Covenant: At the heart of Jeremiah’s charge against Judah is the accusation that it has broken the covenant and now faces the impending implementation of the curses. In particular and most strikingly, it has broken the covenant by its worship of foreign gods as specified by the following oracle. 11:1–8 The Lord now instructs Jeremiah to accuse the people of Judah that they have broken the covenant. Prophets often functioned as lawyers of the covenant as God commissioned them to accuse his ...

22. A Linen Belt

Jeremiah 13:1-11

Understanding Series

Tremper Longman III

The Ruined Linen Loin Belt: This passage records the first of Jeremiah’s symbolic actions. While most of the prophet’s prophecies are verbal utterances pure and simple, a surprising number of times these words are accompanied by actions that illustrate the message (according to Fretheim, Jeremiah, p. 204, other symbolic actions include 16:1–9; 18:1–11; 19:1–15; 25:15–29; 27–28; 32:1–15; 43:8–13; 51:59–64). 13:1–11 This particular prophetic action begins with the divine command to Jeremiah to go and buy a ...

23. Wineskins

Jeremiah 13:12-14

Understanding Series

Tremper Longman III

13:12–14 God tells Jeremiah to go out to the people with a new message. This message begins with what would be taken as a rather stupid statement: Every wineskin should be filled with wine. The response would be incredulity. Of course, every wineskin should be filled with wine. After all, what other purpose were they made for? At this point there may be a subtle but devastating critique of God’s people, but the text does not bring it out. As the wineskin was obviously made in order to hold wine, so Judah ...

24. Threat of Captivity

Jeremiah 13:15-27

Understanding Series

Tremper Longman III

Light Turns to Darkness (13:15-17): 13:15–17 In this next oracle, Jeremiah begins by calling his hearers, the people of Judah, to pay attention. He claims to speak for the Lord, and calls on them to acknowledge the Lord by giving him his proper glory. But there is a time limit of unspecified duration for them to do this. Soon God will bring his judgment on the people, the judgment signified by a coming darkness. In this darkness, the people will fall down. The people expect light, but because of their ...

25. Drought, Famine, Sword

Jeremiah 14:1--15:21

Understanding Series

Tremper Longman III

The Drought (14:1-10): Boda (“From Complaint to Contrition: Peering through the Liturgical Window of Jer 14, 1–15, 4,” ZAW 113 [2001], pp. 186–97) has persuasively argued that the unit 14:1–15:4 reflects a transformation from lament to penitential prayer. He believes that the chapter reflects a public liturgy led by Jeremiah to unsuccessfully avert God’s coming judgment anticipated by a drought. While there are debates whether 14:1–16 and 14:17–15:4 are connected, he rightly points to the allusion to ...

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