Prayer Tents Bible References - Prayer Tents

JEREMIAH, LETTER OF

According to its superscription, a copy of a letter sent by the prophet Jeremiah to Judean prisoners who were about to be shipped to Babylon. The Letter survives in Greek and other ancient versions such as Syriac and Latin. Translation errors and linguistic usages indicate that it was translated into Greek from a lost Hebrew original. In some Greek manuscripts the Letter is separated from Baruch by Lamentations, but in others it follows Baruch. In the Vulgate, KJV, and Catholic Bibles it is included as ch. 6 of Baruch. The Letter of Jeremiah is recognized as canonical by Roman Catholics and the Orthodox communities, but classified among the Apocrypha by the Jewish and Protestant communities because it is not part of the Hebrew Bible.

The book’s introduction is similar in content and purpose to the letter to the exiles already in Babylon found in Jer. 29. The contents consist of satirical parodies and polemics against idols and prophetic admonitions and warnings, all of which have literary links with the Hebrew Bible, especially Jeremiah. Whether this work is regarded as an ancient letter or a tract against idolatry depends on how flexibly the letter genre is understood.

After the introduction (vv. 1-7, following NRSV) the polemics, instructions, and exhortations may be divided into 10 sections (vv. 8-16; 17-23; 24-29; 30-40a; 40b-44; 45-52; 53-56; 57-65; 66-69; 70-73), each of which is concluded by a refrain which argues that the statues of the gods are not really gods and/or should not be feared (vv. 16, 23, 29, 65, 69; cf. vv. 40, 44, 51, 56, 72). These refrains keep before the reader the main themes of the Letter: admonitions to eschew foreign religious practices and to worship only the Lord. The Letter addresses the danger of idolatry in exile (Deut. 4:27-28) by drawing upon the prophetic and cultic polemics against idols found in Jer. 10:1-16 and elsewhere (e.g., Isa. 44:9-20; Hab. 2:18-19; Ps. 115:3-8). The extensive attacks on the foreign gods are long, detailed, and repetitious, and the virulence of the author’s attack testifies to the attraction of the dominant polytheistic culture of the ancient Near East.

The Letter has been most frequently placed in the Hellenistic period (332-63 b.c.e.), a date supported by a Qumran Greek manuscript fragment of vv. 43-44 dating to ca. 100 b.c.e. A possible reference to the Letter in 2 Macc. 2:2 comes from the 2nd century. Although the polemics suggest the types of statues, processions, dressing, feeding, and care of the gods characteristic of Babylonian religion, the locus of these activities might also be the Babylonian or Judean Jewish community, and the content and purpose of the Letter are so general that they may pertain to any time in the Persian and Greek periods.

Anthony J. Saldarini

Prayer Tents Bible References - Prayer Tents

JEREMIAH, LETTER OF

Eerdmans Dictionary of the Bible (2000)