Jeremiah's Complaints: Observations on Jer 15:10-21

Abstract

ERHARD GERSTENBERGER YALE UNIVERSITY T HE Book of J eremiah has always been regarded as particularly open for historical and psychological study. There seemed to be sufficient material at hand for the compilation of a biography of the prophet; his inner and outward life has even been made the subj ect of nove1s and plays.' The apparent a bundance of data in J er has exercised an irresistible temptation on virtually all scholars and commentators regardless of their school of thought or method of a pproach' to focus their attention upon the prophet's curriculum vitae and experience. J eremiah is looked upon as a religious genius, the champion of personal, inner, and spiritual religion. The basic fallacy of this viewpoint is the presupposit ion that the "facts a nd fi gures" in Jer a re identical with "historical events," or, that they, a t least, permit easy access to tha t wh ich "really ha ppened" during J eremiah's Iifetime. 3 The ongoing discussion of wha t "history " is, a nd how it is intertwined with, even sustained a nd created by, later interpretation 4 should make us wary of the great difficulties which Iie in the path of any historical reconstruction on the basis of such collections of texts as that of Jer. The fundamental insight of form-critical research , moreover, must not be forgotten: Any given text in the OT more likely than not has been cast into the mold of some conventional The a uthor gratefully acknowledges the valuable help of the Reverend J a mes L. Pratt who made readable many a Germanic sentence in this essay. , The most important scholarly monographs in English were written by Th. K.

Jeremiah’s Laments as Effective Speech

“…See especially the work by Bezzel (2007: 7); O 'Connor (1988: 3-5); Diamond (1987: 177-89); So (2018: 126). The importance of a contextual reading of the laments was suggested already by Gerstenberger (1963: 393-408). 62.…”

The shift from lament to praise in the psalms: A psychodynamic phenomenon

“…11.21–23; 12.5–6; 15.19–21). See Gerstenberger, 1963; Eissfeldt, 1965, 117; Zimmerli, 1984; von Rad, 1984; O’Connor, 1988; Baumgartner, 1988; and Balentine, 1993, pp. 150–68, for treatments.…”

Arguing for Authority a Rhetorical Study of Jeremiah 1.4-19 and 20.7-18

“…4 4 This paper attempts to trace an argument by exploring the connection between the call narrative (1.4-19) and the final 'confession' (20. [7][8][9][10][11][12][13][14][15][16][17][18]. Both Holladay and Lundbom have identified these passages as forming an inclusio,s though neither has looked beyond the semantic level to ask how the frame fits the contents or functions within the book as a whole.6 This study will try to identify against whom and about what Jeremiah argues in this section, and how the inclusio functions not only to complete the argument at one stage but also to advance it to the next.…”

“…The close link between the second vision and the explanation which follows is effected by two repetitions: mijjfp6n/jfp6n § (vv. 13,14,15) and pth (vv. 14, 15).…”