Jeremiah Through the Centuries
Wiley Blackwell Bible Commentaries Series

Explores the interpretive history of the Book of Jeremiah, and highlights the various ways it has influenced the cultures in which it was read 

Jeremiah Through the Centuries explores the reception history of the sixth century B.C.E. prophet, providing original commentary on the texts and traditions that continue to deeply impact readers by exemplifying the spiritual struggle of the faithful. Focusing on the Book of Jeremiah, the text presents an original theory about the effects of Jeremiah on the developing idea of the self in Western history and culture, particularly over the last 400 years, in a wide range of liturgical, political, artistic, literary, and cultural contexts.

The book guides readers through various interpretations of Jeremiah?s poetry and prose, discussing the profound influence that Jeremiah and Western culturehave had on each other through the centuries. Significant texts from every chapter of Jeremiah are presented in a chronological narrative as both conversation and debate?enabling readers to encounter the prophet in the text of the Bible, in previous interpretations, and in the context of their own lives. Throughout the text, the receptions reflect historical contexts and highlight the ways they shaped specific receptions of Jeremiah. This book: 

• Illustrates how the Book of Jeremiah was adapted by readers to face new challenges, both in the past and present
• Includes examples of Jeremiah in social satire, Islamic tradition, political debate, and religious controversy
• Provides a detailed introduction that traces Jeremiah?s influence on events and traditions
• Offers insights into both celebrated texts and lesser-known passages that are relevant to contemporary readers
• Features numerous, previously unpublished, illustrations, demonstrating the influence of Jeremiah on traditions in Western art

Featuring engaging narrative and expert commentary, Jeremiah Through the Centuries is ideal for students, teachers, and general readers with interest in theology and biblical studies, Judaic studies, ancient literature, cultural criticism, reception history of the Bible, and the history of Western civilization.

List of Illustrations xiii

Series Editors’ Preface xix

Acknowledgments xxi

Testimonia xxv

Jeremiah the Man xxv

The Book xxvii

Actualizations xxix

Introduction 1

Theory and Practice of Reception History 3

Jeremiah in Three Guises 4

Jeremiah in Antiquity 5

Medieval Jeremiahs 17

Early Modernity 24

Nineteenth and Twentieth Centuries 47

Practical Notes for Using the Commentary 64

Jeremiah 1 67

Word of the Lord or Words of Jeremiah? (Jer 1:1) 67

Jeremiah Before Birth (1:4–5) 69

A Prophet to the Nations (1:5) 77

Resisting God (1:6) 77

Filling Jeremiah’s Mouth 81

The Job Description (1:10) 82

God’s Pun (1:11–12) 84

What’s Cooking? (1:13–16) 88

Jeremiah 2 93

God’s Lawsuit (2:1–13) 94

Leaky Cisterns or Living Water? (2:12–13) 95

A Puzzling Verb Becomes a Word of Salvation (2:20) 98

Prophetic Pornography (2:20–25) 99

Jeremiah in the Synagogue (2:4–28) 101

Jeremiah 3 103

A Rare Allusion to God the Father (3:4,19) 103

Holy Forgetting (3:15–18) 105

3:24–25 106

Jeremiah 4 107

A Subversive Translation (4:1–2) 107

The Circumcised Heart (4:4) 108

Reading Metaphor (4:7) 109

Does God Deceive? (4:9–10) 110

Body and Soul (4:19–22) 110

Apocalypse Now (4:23–28) 112

Contradiction as Problem and Opportunity (4:27) 113

Dressing Down a Gussied‐Up Female (4:29–31) 113

Jeremiah 5 115

Nothing Bad Will Happen to Us (5:12) 115

Divine Fire Consuming Human Wood (5:14) 116

An Appalling and Horrible Thing (5:30–31) 118

Contents ix

Jeremiah 6 119

Two Roads Diverged (6:16) 119

Buying Salvation (6:20) 120

Jeremiah as Fortress and/or Refiner (6:27) 120

Jeremiah 7 123

A Den of Thieves (7:1–15) 123

A Troubling Contradiction (7:21–24) 124

Jeremiah 8 127

Reading Jeremiah as Science (8:7) 127

The Balm of Gilead (8:22) 130

Jeremiah 9 135

A Fountain of Tears (9,1,18) 135

Internalizing the Prophet’s Cry (9:2) 140

Death Climbs in the Windows (9:21) 141

Jeremiah 10 145

Superstition and Science (10:2–5) 145

Who Will Not Fear You? (10:7) 147

Wise Fools (10:12–16) 147

Humans Are Not Masters of Themselves (10:23–24) 149

Correct Me, O Lord (10:24) 151

Pour Out Thy Wrath (10:25) 151

Jeremiah 11 153

Let Us Put Wood in his Bread (11:19) 153

Jeremiah 12 157

A Lawsuit Against God (12:1–4) 157

Shameful Revenues (12:13) 160

Jeremiah 13 161

Jeremiah’s Loincloth (13:1–11) 161

Jeremiah’s Tears (13:17) 164

Unsettling Images (13: 22–27) 164

Jeremiah 14 167

The Inn and the Manger (14:7–9) 167

Jeremiah 15 169

Saints Alive (15:1) 169

Woe is Me, My Mother (15:10) 170

Changing Fashions in Prayer (15:15) 171

Is Jeremiah Blasphemous? (15:18) 172

A Divine Reprimand Reconsidered (15:19) 174

Jeremiah 16 177

Prophetic Celibacy (16:1–4) 177

Hunters and Fishers (16:16–18) 179

Jeremiah 17 181

Misplaced Trust (17:5) 181

Is the Human Heart Deep, or Depraved? (17:9–10) 182

The Partridge (17:11) 185

Jeremiah 18 187

The Surprise of Divine Freedom (18:1–12) 187

Jeremiah 19 193

Jeremiah Smashes a Jug 193

Jeremiah 20–21 197

Jeremiah in the Stocks (20:1–6) 197

Divine Deception (20:7) 199

Whose Violence and Destruction? (20:8) 207

A Reproach and a Derision (20:8) 207

A Burning Fire (20:9) 208

Do Saints Curse? (20:13–18) 212

Jeremiah 22 219

The Burial of an Ass (22:18–19) 219

Jeremiah and the Lost Ark (22:29) 220

Jeremiah 23 223

The Righteous Branch (23:5–6) 223

False Prophets (23:9–40) 226

Jeremiah 24 229

Two Baskets of Figs (24:1–10) 229

Jeremiah 25 231

The Cup of the Wine of Wrath (25:15–31) 232

Jeremiah 26–28 235

Jeremiah’s Yoke (Jer 27:2; 28:1–17) 235

False Prophets 237

Jeremiah 29 239

Build and Plant (29:1–6) 240

Praying for the Enemy (29:7) 240

Seventy Years (29:10) 242

God’s Inscrutable Plans (29:11) 244

Jeremiah as Contemporary Prophet (Jer 29:19) 245

Jeremiah 30–31 247

Hope in the Midst of Trauma (30:1–3) 247

Rachel Weeps in Every Century (31:15–17) 248

Gender‐Bending (31:22) 250

The New Covenant (31:31–34) 252

Jeremiah 32–33 257

A Strange Real Estate Deal 257

Jeremiah 34 259

Taking Back the Gift of Freedom (34:8–22) 259

Jeremiah 35 261

Jeremiah 36 267

Free Will and Divine Omniscience (36:3, 7) 268

Word, Scroll, Book (36:2, 5, 18) 268

Jehoiakim as Perennial Tyrant (36:20–26) 269

Words and the Word (36:27) 272

Jeremiah 37–38 277

Dungeon and Cistern 277

Ancient Allegories (38:1–13) 278

A Model for Political Resistance (38:1–16) 280

The Cistern as Spiritual Prison (38:1–6). 285

Ebed‐Melek Rescues Jeremiah (38:7–13) 287

Jeremiah’s Lie (38:24–27) 295

Jeremiah 39 299

Zedekiah Captured (39:4–7) 299

Ebed‐Melech Becomes Abimelech (39:15–18) 301

Jeremiah 40–43 303

How Did the Prophet Escape the Burning City? (40:1–6) 304

The Murder of Gedaliah (40:7– 41:17) 305

How Long, O Lord? (42:7) 305

The Stones of Tahpanhes (43:8–13) 306

Jeremiah 44 309

Uppity Women (44:15–19) 310

Martyrdom of Jeremiah 312

Jeremiah 45 319

Jeremiah 46–51 323

Babylon, the Golden Cup in God’s Hand (51:7) 325

Jeremiah Speaks to a War‐Torn Twentieth Century (51:11) 326

Thus Far the Words of Jeremiah (51:59–64) 328

Glossary 329

Brief Biography 333

Bibliography 341

Index 357

Mary Chilton Callaway is Associate Professor and Department Chair in the Theology Department at Fordham University, New York. She is the author of several published essays on the reception of Jeremiah, particularly in relation to developing ideas of the self in early modern Europe.