The Babylonian World - Historia Antigua

— Baruch A. Levine —
The prophets who came before me and before you, from time immemorial,
prophesied over many lands and upon great kingdoms – for war, and for misfortune,
and for pestilence. (As for) the prophet who prophesies for peace – when the
word of the prophet comes about, that prophet will be acknowledged as one
whom Yahweh truly sent.
( Jer 28: 8–9)
I have placed an iron yoke on the neck of all these nations to serve Nebuchadnezzar,
king of Babylonia, and they shall serve him; even the beasts of the field I have
given to him.
( Jer 28: 14)
Jeremiah then condemns Hananiah as a false prophet and predicts his imminent
death, which actually occurs. Although there have been attempts to historicize this
episode, one wonders what realistic assessment of the international situation c.594
BCE would have induced Hananiah’s prediction. It has been suggested that reference
may be to the non-military voyage made by Psammetichus II to Palestine in 592,
aimed at showing his presence in the area (see Freedy and Redford 1970: 479–480).
But, even if Egyptian help was sought and hoped for, it could not under the best
circumstances bring about the return of the Judean exiles and of the Temple vessels!
That blessed event would have required the defeat of Babylonia, which would not
occur until Cyrus the Great conquered Babylon (cf. Ezra 1: 7–11). It seems, therefore,
that Jeremiah 28 is an allegory of sorts, an epitome on the issue of submission to
Nebuchadnezzar, Yahweh’s servant, and, as such, is probably of later composition
(pace Malamat 2001: 313–316; for background see Cogan and Tadmor 1988: 323,
and literature cited). It serves to dramatize the clash with court prophets who always
predict victory for the king who sponsors them. It curiously recalls the symbolical
clash on the issue of going to war between the prophet of Yahweh, Michaiu, son
of Jimlah, and the obsequious court prophet Zedekiah, son of Canaanah, as told in
I Kings 22.
There is much more that could be said about the image of Babylonia in the Book
of Jeremiah. Old themes and references to pre-destruction events continue to crop
up in the later chapters, as attention shifts to conditions in Jerusalem and Judah after
the final destruction of 586 BCE, and to the welfare of the exilic communities in
Egypt and Babylonia. We encounter oracles of doom against the nations, and dramatic
predictions of the downfall of Babylonia.
HABAKKUK QUESTIONS THE ROLE OF THE
CHALDEANS IN YAHWEH’S DESIGN
A century ago, the great British interpreter of the Hebrew Bible, S.R. Driver (1906)
contributed a commentary on Habakkuk to The Century Bible which has never been
surpassed for insight. Driver was able to pinpoint the difference between Habakkuk
and his contemporary, Jeremiah, precisely:
Jeremiah is so deeply impressed by the spectacle of his people’s sin that he regards
the Chaldeans almost exclusively as the instruments of judgement . . . Habakkuk,
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