The Family of Shaphan

1
The Family of Shaphan

• Shaphan took book of the law to Josiah (2 Kgs 22)
• Ahikam (Shaphans son) saved Jeremiah from
  execution after temple sermon (2624)
• Elasah (Shaphans son) conveyed letter to exiles
  (293)
• Gemariah (Shaphans son)--Baruch read Jeremiahs
  scroll in his temple chamber urged Jehoiakim not
  to burn scroll.
• Gedaliah (Shaphans grandson, through Ahikam) was
  governor after the fall of Jerusalem (3914) and
  was asked to protect Jeremiah after Babylonian
  victory (405). Later assassinated (412)

2
Temple Sermon--609

• Chapter 7 C Chapter 26 B
• Relationship to Deuteronomic reform
• Temple of Yahweh
• Steal, murder, commit adultery, swear falsely
• Has this house become a den of robbers?
• My place at Shiloh

3
Temple Sermon--609

• Chapter 26 B
• Jeremiah is threatened with death saved because
  of precedent of Micah who said Zion shall be
  plowed like a field
• Then Hezekiah prayed and God changed his mind
• Was Micah unduly pessimistic, even wrong?
• Uriah killed by Jehoiakim (2623) per contra
  Jeremiah--saved by Ahikam son of Shaphan (2624)

4
Letter to the exiles 291-9

• Communication took place between exile and the
  land
• Build, marry, have children--seek shalom of the
  city
• Worship (without temple and sacrificial cult)
  possible in an unclean land
• Praying for Babylon is in Israels self-interest
• Praying for the enemy

5
Another letter to the exiles 5159-64

• Delivered by Seraiah the son of Neriah (brother
  of Baruch)
• Listed disasters that would come on Babylon
• Private rather than public
• Dealt with future not present
• Read it and cast it into Euphrates--thus shall
  Babylon sink, no more to rise

6
Jeremiahs Life (37-38)

• Kings Josiah, Jehoahaz, Jehoiakim, Jehoiachin,
  Zedekiah, (Gedaliah)
• Rescued by Ebed-melech, the Cushite
• If you, Zedekiah, surrender, your life will be
  spared.
• Zedekiah begs Jeremiah not to tell others of the
  disastrous fate that awaits the king

7
Jeremiahs Life (39-41)

• Zedekiah captured, witnesses murder of his sons,
  and is blinded.
• Jeremiah entrusted to Gedaliah the son of Ahikam
  the son of Shaphan.
• Word of deliverance for Ebed-melech.
• Baalis king of the Ammonites sends Ishmael to
  assassinate Gedaliah

8
Jeremiahs Life (42-44)

• Jeremiah advises against going to Egypt
• Jeremiah and Baruch forcibly taken to Egypt.
• Jeremiah Nebuchadrezzar will invade Egypt.
• Jeremiah denounces worship of the queen of heaven

9
Baruch in 605

• 36 Baruch writes words of first scroll and read
  it in the temple.
• 36 Baruch writes also a second scroll.
• 45 Baruch given life as a prize of war.
• Frames story of Jeremiah and the peril of the
  word of God in 37-44

10
Jeremiahs Messiah

• righteous or legitimate branch
• I am going to bring my servant the branch Zech
  38 612
• He shall rule as king and act wisely he shall
  practice justice and righteousness
• Judah will be saved and Israel dwell securely
• Yahweh is the source of our vindication.
  Zidqiyahu becomes Yahweh sidqenu

11
Deuteronomistic Phraseology in chapter 23 and
related passages

• Shepherds scatter sheep 231-2
• You (shepherds) drove them away 232
• You did not supervise (attend to) them 232

• I, Yahweh, will scatter them 916
• I drove them away 233, 8
• Behold I will supervise (punish) you 232

12
Deuteronomistic Reversals in Jeremiah

• I will gather the remnant that has been scattered
  233
• I will bring them back from the place where I
  have driven them 233
• I will carry out a saving visit of you who have
  been visited with punishment 2910

13
A Step beyond the Deuteronomistic History

• Deut 2863 and Josh 2315 Gods bad word is as
  certain as his good word. Just as the Lord took
  delight in making you prosperous, so the Lord
  will take delight in bringing you to ruin.
• Jer 3128 3242 Gods good word is as certain as
  his bad word. Just as I have watched over them
  to pluck up and break down, so I will watch over
  them to build and to plant.

14
A Reinterpretation of the Messiah, 3314-16

• God promises to establish the previous word
  (235-6)
• Judah will be saved and Jerusalem (not Israel)
  dwell securely
• Her (not his) name Yahweh is the source of our
  vindication
• 3314-26 lacking in the Septuagint

15
Later reinterpretation of this passage

• vv. 17-18 Davidic dynasty, not an individual
  Levitical priests also dynastic
• vv. 19-22 the covenant with Davidic and Levitical
  lines unbreakable.
• vv. 23-26 Yahweh has an unbreakable covenant with
  Jacob and David. One of David descendants will
  reign over seed of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.

16
Ancestral and Sinai Covenants

• Genesis 15 Covenant with Abram and Sarai
• Genesis 17 Everlasting Covenant with Abraham and
  Sarah
• Deuteronomy--ancestral covenant

• Fulfilled in David--Nile to Euphrates and
  covenant with David
• Genesis 17 ancestral covenant an end in itself
• Fulfilled on Horeb/Sinai

17
The New Covenant--Jer 3131-34

• Its an oracle of Yahweh! vv. 31, 32, 33, 34
• Both kingdoms--Israel and Judah
• New or renewed?
• Even though I was their husband? their baal?
  Ytlb

18
More on the New Covenant

• Gods law written on heart (cf. new heart in
  Ezekiel)
• What does it mean to know Yahweh?
• Josiah judged the cause of the poor and
  needy.Is not this to know me? 2215-16
• Basis for new covenant
• I will forgive their iniquity
• I will not remember their sin anymore