king of Babylon, in the first year of his reign, lifted up the head of Jehoiachin king of Judah, and brought him forth out of prison; and he spake kindly to him, and set his throne above the throne of the kings that were with him in Babylon. And he changed his prison garments, and did eat bread before him continually all the days of his life. And for his allowance, there was a continual allowance given him of the king of Babylon, every day a portion until the day of his death, all the days of his life. 216 BOOK I i. The last paragraph is of the nature of an epilogue: it recurs in general substance (though very much varied in details) at the end of I. ii and IV. i. ii. This is the most elaborate of the literary compositions of Jeremiah. I have entitled it The Prophet's Manifesto: as containing his prophetic message in all its fulness. In form it is a rhapsody, or spiritual drama [compare the Isaiah volume, pages viii-xii]; but while all literary forms are fused together in a rhapsody, the form of discourse has greater preponderance in this than in other rhapsodies. The whole falls into seven sections.—1. The first is made up wholly of God's pleadings with unfaithful Judah: artistically, it is made remarkable by a tour de force of imagery [see note below].—2. The second section holds up to Judah the example of Israel [that is, northern Israel: Jeremiah's usage of Israel' applies it sometimes to the northern kingdom only, at other times to the chosen people as a whole, now represented by Judah alone]. The close of the section dramatically presents this backsliding Israel repentant and accepted.-3. All the remaining sections are made up of the Divine word of remonstrance to Judah, and the judgment on Judah which with each section advances nearer. In this third section we have merely warnings: the Divine threats are in the future tense, and the scene dramatically presented is that of voices from a distance giving information of a coming foe, or panic terror at some unknown future. — 4. We now have a description of total destruction, but it is in a vision only: between the fragments of the poet's vision God is applying the judgment to the erring people. -5. At the last moment there is such an arrest of judgment as Abraham obtained for Sodom, arrest conditional upon finding one just man: the prophet seeks in vain.-6. With the sixth section the command is given to the enemy to go up, but not make a full end: take away her branches. This moment's respite is used for fresh remonstrances from God. The panic of the people now suggests an enemy drawing nearer and nearer they have started at noon, by dusk they are just upon the city. Yet the last word of the section is a cry Be thou instructed.-7. In the last section all arrest of judgment is abandoned: the very remnant is to be gleaned, and the panicstruck people find the sword of the enemy in every way. The Epilogue is personal to the prophet: compare I. i and IV. i. From Page 10. For my people have committed two evils, etc. this point there is a remarkable heaping together of the most widely sundered images, for the purpose of expressing the unfaithfulness or misery of the chosen people: cisterns (and broken cisterns) as contrasted with living fountains- the born slave as contrasted with the free son— - destruction by the lions [of Egypt] - the trained beast breaking the yoke — the wife playing harlot on every green hill — the noble vine degenerated into wildness-the vain washing with soap-the dromedary |