“On the day I Took Them out of the Land of Egypt”: A Non-Deuteronomic Phrase within Jeremiah’s Conception of Covenant

Abstract

This paper proceeds in three stages, and sets three goals. First, through the careful study of one prose passage in Jeremiah (11:1-14), I aim to complicate our sometimes simplistic perception of the use of Deuteronomic expressions in Jeremiah. One crucial phrase clearly draws on Priestly style and covenant conceptions, and is repeated in another four prose prophecies within the book (Jer 7:21-28 [22]; 11:1-14 [4, 7]; 31:31-34 [32]; 34:8-22 [13]). Thus, the second goal of this paper is to consider this (Priestly) phrase’s contribution to Jeremiah’s conception of covenant. Third, the proximity of both Deuteronomic and Priestly pentateuchal materials in a single prophetic context moves us beyond questions of authorship to literary strategies of allusion to and exegesis of both Deuteronomic and Priestly pentateuchal materials within the prophecy. The tendency within the book to harmonize diverse pentateuchal traditions has far-reaching implications for the study of both Jeremiah and the Pentateuch.