Abstract
The focus of this article is on one aspect of the raging conflict between the prophetic parties addressed in Jeremiah 23:9-15. In this section the aspect of disloyalty to Yahweh is raised as hampering factor for being a true prophet. The research investigates the relationship between doing evil (cf. words such as adultery and ungodly/profane conduct) and the effect on the land (cf curse on the land, the land mourns, pastures drying up – 23:10-11). The research also entertains the relation with the next set of verses (23:13-15) which explicitly mentions the worship of Baal, the vegetation god, as reason for the disloyalty. The false prophets, with their adulterous way of living, are part of a leadership that failed the people of Judah and Yahweh.
Highlights
The composition and redaction history of the Book of Jeremiah is, as every theologian knows, a complicated matter
It seems from the discussion above and from engaging the book of Jeremiah in general that social and moral conditions in Judah were, dire
The ongoing threat of other religious practices such as Baal worship encouraged people to indulge in syncretistic worship practices
Summary
The composition and redaction history of the Book of Jeremiah is, as every theologian knows, a complicated matter. The first passage commences in verse 9 with an emotional statement by Jeremiah on how Yahweh’s holy words affect him in person His body reacts like that of a person who is jittery because he has drunk too much alcohol. In the verses he describes the ethical demise in the land of Judah and the resulting disastrous consequences for the land and nature itself The key to this disaster, Jeremiah says, is the prophets who are seriously “off track”: they abuse their power and they are morally depraved. The second pericope, consisting of 23:13-15, is another indictment (cf Fretheim 2002:331) It explicitly states the transgressions of the prophets in Jerusalem.
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