B76
JEREMIAH
JEREMIAH
can be formed are the chapters dictated to Bamch, chs. 1-17, and any other passages which appear to come directly from Jeremiah's own hand. Even the dictated passapes are mere outlines and skeletons ; the prophet's object was to preserve and present to otliors the matter, tlie relifjious contents of his oracles, — he was little solicitous about the form. No doubt somctliin^ of Jeremiah's literary manner will be reflected m these frag- ments, but they represent verj' iniulcquately what he was capable of sus a writer. We liave no litera- ture from Jeremiali in tlie sense in which we have literature from Isaiah. The flowers of Jeremiali's diction and thought have reached us only after being cut and pressed ; the bloom and fragrance yet remaining with them suggest faintly what tliey were when fresh. The monotonousness and repeti- tion, both of ideas and language, of wliich writers comphiin, are owing in good degree to the fact that, in dictating his outline, it was the prophet's purpose to impress strongly certain great ideas, and the same ideas naturally carry with tliem the same language, though it will always remain a question how many of the repetitions are due to himself. The literarj' remains of Jeremiah dilFer from the writings of Isaiah in being formally less perfect : the poetical rhythm is not so regular, losing itself often in elevated prose. Yet even formally there is much true poetical parallelism, and there are many examples of the Kiiuth or Elegy, artistically beautiful and full of pathos, e.g. 9». % 13181. jof. isuif. oosir.. The language of Jeremiah wants the condensed energy of tliat of the earlier prophets. He belonged to a later literary age, and the progress of lan<ruage is alwaj's towards analy.sis, gaining in lucidity, but losing in com- pression. Much of the power of the earlier prophets arises from the fact that their age was a creative one, and they project their religious conceptions with an energy and completeness that can never again be imitated. Jeremiah is tlieir heir, their principles already run in his blood, and what in them was intellectual power is transmuted in him into spiritual life. So far as style can be spoken of in Jeremiah, his style perfectly reliects all the articulations of thought and all the hues of emotion of his mind. He was a nature characterized by simplicity, reality, pathos, tenderness, and a strant;e piety, but subject to his emotions, wliich were liable to rise into passions. His mind was set on a minor key, and his temper elegiac. And to all this his language is true. Could sadness be expressed in sadder words than these, ' The harvest is past, the summer is ended, and we are not saved"; His phrases haunt the ear : 'Before your feet stumble on the dark mountains.' ' Is there no balm in Gilead?' 'A voice was heard in Ramah.' ' If thou hast run with the footmen and tliej' have wearied thee.' 'Surely I have heard Ephraim bemoaning himself.' ' Return, ye backsliding chil- dren.' The quaint simplicity of his words to God provokes a smile : ' O Lord, wherefore are all they nappy that deal very treacherously ? ' Usually his address is lofty and touching : ' O the hope of Israel, the saviour thereof in time of trouble, why dhouldst thou be as a stranger in the landV' (14*'- lgi»j-i2ir.) jn sombre realism he has no match among ine prophecs ; witness such terrible pas- sages as 15'*^ 4-^''- (cf. the symbol aS""-, and such descriptions as 5""- ?!"••'). He was sent to be the prophet of doom and death, and his soul revolted against the task. He gloats over life, its human activities (S'i""-), its sounds and mirth and all its music (7*^ 16") ; and he recoils from death, and shudders as he sees the shadow enter in at the windows, and feels the awful silence, when there is no sound of a mill and no shimmer of a candle. There is one peculiarity which gives a charm to
his style, a certain unconscious draraatizin", when, after describing a situation, he makes those in- volved in it 8])eak directly, without the word 'say- ing,' e.g. 2-» 3" 4'»-" e*-"" 9"-'» 10'» ll'» l'2*-» 14" 15'» 17".
Joremiah'8 lon^oge haa Bome marks of the later stylo : words In -lUA are Dot lafreaucat, and he begins to Araniaizo ; ciises occur of pap cap. with pert., and the nt of direction is otiose (113). Certain phrases and expressions are often rt-jieated ; #.y. to brtak the yoke and burst the t/andt (2'^ 6^) ; to turn the back and twt the /ace f2« 18") ; to receire correction (2™ 6> 7**) ; to come into mind (3J Sy nSy 3'» 7"! 19») ; the evil of your doingt (i* 21H 23» «2) ; great destniction (-gy 4' el 1417) ; the refrain, shall I not visit for these thiiujs t etc. (5» » 0») ; heat the hurt slightly (01* 811) ; the phrase, rising up early, and sending, speaking, etc (a:-^V 7" 2» 20» 2»1») ; to iitclim the ear (?«■ » 11* 172)) ; (As voice of mirth and gladness, etc. (7*' lO" 2610) ; a( (/i« time that 1 rt»i( them (61» 8l» lis 23") ; terror round about (025 203- 10) ; oii«r which my namt has been called (T'" "■ i-" so) ; the sword, the famine, and the pestilence (with a variety of order, If' 163 21') ; and others. See Driver's full list, p. 276. It is doubtful if to make a full end (.iB'y .npj) ought to be reckoned ; it seems extraneous in 4^7 610' lf(301i = 46^). Neither should the contorted syntax 141 46I 471 4(>M be ascribed to Jeremiah. Peculiar are TpiJ used of God (3") ; B*i<h) hopeless 1 in the mouth of the people (22» 18"); .IKS 'Xliip shorn on the (CTi;)i<«(92»(Eng.»12523); DX} lOKJ' (2331) ; '< •^';n slain of J" (25:0): the hiph. of oSn dream (1;9») ; the phrase n:nri Vsn present niippliration (38=8 409, Qal 36' 37M 42», cf. l)n fl20).