Hope and Resilience in the Books of Jeremiah

Abstract

Jeremiah is the only prophetic book that provides readers with a direct view of life in Jerusalem during the Babylonian siege and destruction of the city (588–586 bce). It also appears in two forms, the classic Masoretic Hebrew form of the text and the Septuagint Greek version of the text, each of which has its own distinctive understanding and presentation of material. Although both forms are especially concerned with destruction and exile, Jeremiah presents its vision of restoration in MT Jeremiah 30–31; 32–33 and in LXX Jeremiah 37–40. This chapter examines Jeremiah 30–33 / 37–40 in relation to the literary form and outlook of each version of the book. It begins with treatment of the formal structure and contents of the two major textual units. It then turns to the contextualization of these passages in relation to other passages that present hope, i.e., Jeremiah’s letter to the exiles in Jeremiah 29 / 36; the oracles concerning Babylon in Jeremiah 50–51 / 31–32; and the royal oracle in Jeremiah 23:1–8. The chapter proposes that each form envisions a distinctive model of hope for the future: MT Jeremiah envisions a future in which the Jerusalem temple and its Levitical priesthood constitute the future of YHWH’s eternal promise to the House of David, and LXX Jeremiah envisions a future in which the rule of a righteous Davidic monarch constitutes the future of Jerusalem and Judah in relation to the rebuilding of the Jerusalem Temple.