Against Wise Men and Scholars (8:8–9)
8How can you say, We are wise men
and Yahweh’s law is in our custody?
Undoubtedly it has been changed to falsehood
by the falsifying pens of scribes!
9The wise are in disarray,
they will be broken and ensnared.
They have rejected Yahweh’s word
and what wisdom is left to them?
Verses 8–9 are directed against the claim of the חכמים or ספרים to be official interpreters of the תורה. They constitute evidence of the existence of a learned class with this kind of status in the late pre-exilic period (cf. W. McKane, PWM, 1965, pp. 102–112), and of a conflict between the interpretation and development of תורה associated with this class and the דבר spoken by a prophet in the name of Yahweh. The speaker could be either Yahweh or the prophet Jeremiah, for his own part, but if the former, we have to assume that Yahweh refers to himself in the 3rd person as in v. 7. The reference to the false pen of the scribes (reading עָשָׂהּ) suggests that we have to reckon with a process of editorial elaboration and development of written law, or even the drafting of new laws, but too exclusive reliance ought not to be placed on the allusion to the ‘pen’ of the scribes. We do not necessarily for example, have an indication of the unfavourable attitude of the prophet to the ‘second law’—the code of Deuteronomy. A more general interpretation of the allusion should also be allowed, namely, that the prophet is concerned with what he regards as false rulings in connection with contemporary issues which he believes to be crucial. The learning and expertise of those who make these rulings do not save them from error or triviality.
The wise men will be disconcerted and demoralized and their reputations as intellectual and spiritual leaders will be destroyed. The precise sense of חתו וילכדו is not clear. That חתו has the sense ‘terrified’ is the view of Sept. (ἐπτοήθησαν) and Vulg. (perterriti). The versions understand וילכדו as a threat that the wise men will be carried off as prisoners (cf. Sept. ἑάλωσαν), perhaps as a consequence of a military defeat (Vulg. capti sunt). Both Pesh. (w˒ttbrw) and Targ. (איתברו) have taken חתו in the more literal sense of ‘shattered’. Even if the sense ‘shattered’ were retained for חתו, we should envisage a shattering of morale rather than a shattering defeat, and וילכדו may simply indicate the onset of Yahweh’s judgement rather than a reference to particular, external events by which they will be overtaken: they will be caught in a trap from which there is no escape. It is improbable that וילכדו means ‘and have lost their wits’ (NEB). (William McKane, A Critical and Exegetical Commentary on Jeremiah, volume 1: Jeremiah I-XXV [Edinburgh: T&T Clark International, 1986], 185-86
