Zedekiah hardly died “in peace”
(39:5–7); for the implied condition see Structure and Form. (William
Lee Holladay, Jeremiah 2: A Commentary on the Book of the Prophet Jeremiah, Chapters
26–52 [Hermeneia—a Critical and Historical Commentary on the Bible
(Minneapolis, MN: Fortress Press, 1989], 235)
Concerning Jer
34:1-7:
Structure and Form
Verses 1–7 make up a unit of their own, a word through Jrm to
Zedekiah; v 8 is parallel with v 1, introducing another word given to Jrm, this
time not to Zedekiah but about him. For the placement of this unit here see
Introduction, sec. 22.
Verses 1–5 are the report of Yahweh’s command to the prophet to
deliver a divine word to the king; vv 6–7 are the report of the execution of
that command.
Form-critically the divine word does not fit any standard category. It
concerns both the city in general (v 2) and the king personally (vv 3–5); and
the word to the king is evidently both a judgment speech (v 3) and at the same
time a contingent prophecy of (moderate) salvation (Heilsweissagung): if
the king responds to the exhortation to heed the word (v 4a), then there is an
implied promise that he will die peacefully (vv 4b–5). The situation is
complicated still further by the fact that the text was evidently later
expanded at several points to conform with the actual fate of both the city and
Zedekiah. Thus the end of v 3 indicates that Zedekiah will go to Babylon,
whereas v 5 at least implies that the king will die like his fathers in
Jerusalem.
It is best to begin with the expression “in Jerusalem,” which makes no
sense at the end of v 6; where else, one might ask, would Jrm speak to Zedekiah
except in Jerusalem? I therefore accept Rudolph’s suggestion that the
expression is displaced from a position after “in peace” at the beginning of v
5; haplography of the sequence שׁלם
would explain its loss in v 5, but the fact that Zedekiah did not die in
Jerusalem (39:7; 52:11) may have played a part in its displacement.
Verses 4–5 thus attract attention as offering material most
contrastive with the ultimate turn of events.
The general message that Jrm was giving Zedekiah in the siege of
Jerusalem was that if he surrendered, he would live, but if he did not
surrender, he would die: the choice is implied in 21:8–9 and is explicit in
38:17–18. It is best then to see a similar choice implied in vv 4–5: the
striking particle אַךְ
before שְׁמַע
דְּבַר־יהוה,
and the position of that clause within vv 2–5, suggests that the clause means
“heed the word of Yahweh” rather than simply “hear the word of Yahweh”; the
clause will then be an implied protasis, and vv 4b–5 will be the implied
apodosis (so Rudolph; but his suggestion of inserting וְ before לֹא
in the last clause of v 4 is not necessary—see Ps 139:18a). The urgency of the
choice is underlined by the curious expression at the end of v 5; it is not
“for I have spoken the word” (RSV)—the
Hebrew is literally “a word”—but “a promise I have spoken” (so Duhm). The
contingent good news, though unlikely, is guaranteed by Yahweh.
Verses 2–5 divide into two sections, a shorter one pertaining to the
city (v 2) and a longer one pertaining to the king himself (vv 3–5: note the
emphatic וְאַתָּה, “as for you,” v 3); but the sequence is
united by the fact that both the city and the king will be given into the
“hand” of the king of Babylon, and both will be “captured” (if that verb is
correctly restored at the end of v 2). Then the longer section, pertaining to
the king, is itself divided into the moderate bad news, “you will be captured”
(v 3), and the moderate good news, “If you heed the word of Yahweh, you will
not die violently.”
Given this shape to the passage, the clauses at the end of v 2 and at
the end of v 3 must be secondary (so also Rudolph): “and he will burn it with
fire” contradicts the word of Jrm to Zedekiah in 38:17, and “to Babylon you
shall go” contradicts the promise of vv 4–5; but both reflect the events
recorded in 39:7–8. (William Lee Holladay, Jeremiah 2: A
Commentary on the Book of the Prophet Jeremiah, Chapters 26–52 [Hermeneia—a
Critical and Historical Commentary on the Bible (Minneapolis, MN: Fortress
Press, 1989], 233-34)
