The Babylonian World - Historia Antigua

— Baruch A. Levine —
punishment on that nation, the word of Yahweh, with war, and with famine and
with pestilence, until I hand them over completely into his power.
( Jer 27: 5–8)
There is nothing ambiguous about this oracle, which is said to have been delivered
at a projected gathering of invited, neighboring nations in Jerusalem – Edom, Moab,
Ammon, Tyre, and Zidon – with Zedekiah present. This meeting (some have called
it a “summit”) would have probably occurred c.594 BCE. Its background is informatively
discussed by David Vanderhooft (2003) in a study of Babylonian “strategies of control.”
The assembled nations faced a fateful choice, but we may assume that they all made
the wrong decision. Jer 27: 9–22 expands the core prophecy, warning king and people
against being misled by the false prophets and diviners of various sorts who encouraged
rebellion, and most likely advocated reliance on Egyptian assistance. Jeremiah’s counsel
was that the only way to survive was by learning to live under Babylonian domination.
There is reference to the temple vessels plundered during the reign of Jehoiachin.
These will not be returned until God’s own good time, when Babylon, too, will fall.
As Tadmor (1999) has shown, the theme of ‘ad bô’ ‘ēt “until the time has come,”
basic to Jeremiah 27: 7 resonates in Haggai 1: 2 within the post-exilic community.
“This people has said: ‘It is not the time of coming (lô’ ‘ēt bô’), the time for the temple
of Yahweh to be built’.”
A corollary of the doctrine of submission to empire and the notion that
Nebuchadnezzar is Yahweh’s servant is the idea, already noted above, that it is the
God of Israel who is destroying Judah and Jerusalem, not the Babylonians, who are
merely doing his will. In fact, one of the themes that links Second Kings to the Book
of Jeremiah is usage of the Hebrew Hiphil participle mēbî’ “bringing,” more precisely
the construction: mēbî’ ‘al (alternatively mēbî’ el) “bringing upon, against.” Thus, 2
Kings 21: 12: “Therefore, thus says Yahweh, God of Israel: Behold, I am bringing
a catastrophe upon Jerusalem and Judah, such that anyone who hears of it, both of
his ears will tingle!”
The numerous attestations of this discrete idiom are concentrated in the Book of
Kings (1 Kings 14: 10, with respect to Jeroboam I; 2 Kings 22: 16, 20) – with
respect to the Babylonian destruction of Judah and Jerusalem; in Jeremiah ( Jer 4: 6;
5: 15; 6: 19, 11”11; 19: 3; 35: 17; 42: 17; 45: 5; 49: 5; 51: 64), and in Ezekiel (Ezek
6: 3) – against Judah or parts thereof; in Ezek 26: 7; 28: 7 – against Tyre; in Ezek
29: 8 – against Egypt (cf. Lev 26: 25; 2 Chron 34: 24, 29). It is a virtual Leitmotif,
which identifies Yahweh as the force bringing misfortune upon his people.
An application of this theme appears in Jeremiah 21: 1–10, yet another Zedekiah
prophecy, where a horrendous scene is projected: Yahweh will bring the weapons of
the defenders of Jerusalem inside the walls, and turn them against the people,
themselves. He will do battle with them and destroy them, effectively becoming the
enemy! One’s attention is immediately drawn to the Book of Lamentations, traditionally
attributed to Jeremiah, and for good reason. “He strung his bow like an enemy; he
raised his right arm like an opponent . . . The Lord was like an enemy; he destroyed
Israel” (Lament 2: 4–5, with deletions).
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