The Epistle of Jeremiah, a sermon against idolatry pretending to be a letter of the prophet of that name, currently exists as a deutero-canonical book in the Catholic and Orthodox Bibles. In Catholic bibles, it is the sixth chapter of Baruch; for the Orthodox, it follows Lamentations on its own. It was known to 2 Macc 2:1-3 (second century BCE), and vv. 43-44 appear (in Greek) in Qumran as 7Q2.
I think this document is older than it looks. What we have here is a witness to a time before even the sources of Daniel were written, when Jeremiah was scripture but the Torah was not. In fact, this is the final vindication of the nineteenth century source critics - some laws of the Torah existed, but others did not.
The Study Bible cites Jeremiah 10:1-16; Psalm 115:3-8; (Second) Isaiah 40:18-20, 44:9-20, 46:1-7; Deuteronomy 4:27-28; and Psalm 135:15-18 as similar OT denunciations of idolatry (p. 1627). To this we could add 2 Isaiah 41:21-24 and Habakkuk 2:18-20.
The first place to look for analogies to an Epistle bearing Jeremiah's byline, one would think, would be in the book of Jeremiah itself. Already by the time of Deuteronomy, Jeremiah 10:1-16 was read alongside Jeremiah 2:27 and 3:9. As it happens, one will not be disappointed.
With respect to the Epistle's formula "gods of silver and gold and wood
" and
"gods made of wood and overlaid in silver and gold
", Jeremiah 10:4 ridicules
idols by noting how they are made of exactly those materials: fashioned by wood,
inlaid with silver and gold, and finally nailed in place (implying wood again).
Jer 10:9 reiterates 10:4's "artisan" and adds a "goldsmith". Epistle v. 45
follows Jer 10:9 with "goldsmiths [and] artisans
", adding "carpenters
" implied by Jer 10:4's "hammer and nails
" (and stated in LXX Jer 10:3).
The order, "silver and gold and wood
", goes against biblical practice. Where there is a list of valuables in Torah, gold heads it. It is "gold, silver,
and bronze
" in Ex 25:3, 31:4, 35:5, 35:32, and Num 31:22 goes even
further: "gold, silver, bronze, iron, and tin
". Absent a list, the
biblical phrase is "silver and gold" (as U2 noticed in Rattle & Hum):
Gen 13:2, 24:35, 24:53 (contra NIV), 44:8; Ex 3:22, 11:2, 12:35, 20:23; Num 22:18, 24:13; Deut 7:25, 8:13, 17:17. Ex 20:23 and Deut 7:25 are lists of gods to boot. Above all, note Deut 29:17, "You saw among them
their detestable images and idols of wood and stone, of silver and
gold
", which, contrary to the Epistle, kept the silver-gold order while at
the same time ordering the less precious materials correctly.
This shows that Deuteronomy did not consult the Epistle for its lists of gods. It also shows that the Epistle for this purpose did not consult any of the Torah, but Jeremiah alone.
The Epistle v. 8, like Jer 10:5a, states that the
idol cannot walk and must be carried. The Epistle, in v. 26, repeats this,
exaggerating by saying that it has no feet.
Jer 10:5b states that one must not fear idols, because "they cannot do evil, nor is
it in their power to do good
". The Epistle v. 64b-65 exorts: "they are not able
to ... do good to anyone... do not fear them
". The helplessness of idols is the major theme of the work.
Epistle v. 61 speaks of lightning and wind for the power
of God (not the "Lord" of v. 6). Jer 10:13 states that 'El - as opposed to YHWH - creates the lightning and the wind. Epistle v. 62 tells how God commands the clouds to move over the earth;
Jer 10:13 states that God "makes the mist rise from the ends of the earth
".
The Epistle v. 60 has God ruling over the signs of Heaven; Jer 10:12 that God made the
heavens. (Jer 10:2, which mocked the signs of Heaven, was ignored.)
Epistle v. 25 uses Jer 10:14's "there is
no breath in them
". Verse 51 harmonises that with the preceding "works of the hands
", throwing in the contrasting 10:9 and 10:13 as well: "there is no work of God in them
". Epistle vv. 12, 72 use Jer 10:9's "purple", elsewhere unattested
in Jeremiah. The idols will be destroyed: Epistle v. 72 = Jer 10:15.
First, Jer 51 - Jer 28 if you're Orthodox - is identical to the second half of Jer 10:1-16. Both start with the exhortation not to fear/worship idols. Might the apparent dependence on Jer 10:1-16 actually be on LXX Jer 10:1-10 and Jer 28?
I think there is no need to assume this. Jer 10:1-16 is in chapters 1-25, an older and more stable part of Jeremiah than is Jer 28/51. In Jer 10:1-16, Jeremiah 10:12-13 breaks up the polemic to discuss the greatness of YHWH. Likewise the Epistle has vv. 60-63 between the thematically-identical 8-59 and 64-69. The Epistle uses the whole of Jer 10:1-16 as a work of Jeremiah in that rough order.
But Jeremiah 1-25 is not perfectly stable either. In the Epistle of Jeremiah, MT Jer 10:6-8,10 are not represented; God receives his due in 60-63 alone. Also, the Epistle of Jeremiah does not mention hammer or nails. The idols are set up by others and may topple over of themselves (v. 27). The Epistle is not aware of the MT's understanding that one nails an idol to keep it in place; it views the craftman's work as overlaying metals onto wood.
In the "Septuagint" translation and in Qumran scroll 4QJerb verses 6-8,10 are absent, the end of verse 4 ("that it move not
") is independent of hammer and nail, and verse 9 appears in the midst of a much-changed verse 5. In particular, the Epistle could have described God as "king of the nations", "true god", "living god", "eternal king", "mighty in power", or as one who can shake the earth - but didn't. It didn't even ask if anything might be compared with God (MT Jer 10:6,7).
Depending on your translation, MT Jeremiah 10:5a also uses the simile of the scarecrow in the cucumber field, seen in Epistle v. 72 but not in the LXX (or King James, or Jerusalem Tanakh...) translation of Jeremiah itself. Unfortunately this verse cannot be reconstructed from 4QJerb one way or another. It is also the only place in the Bible it appears. Either this verse is foreign to the original, and a case of an editor shunting an Epistle comment back into Scripture; or else the verse came into Scripture prior to 10:6-8,10, and the Epistle is just our first witness.
I vote for the former option. The Epistle has the muteness of the idol at the opposite pole from the scarecrow (verse 8 and 72, respectively). The scarecrow metaphor is explained in verse 72: it "guards nothing", presumably in reference to some long-lost Levantine proverb. In other words, the scarecrow has nothing to do with being mute in the Epistle. It is more likely that modern-day translators read the Epistle and inserted the scarecrow.
As for the muteness in MT Jer 10:5a: that much is not the fault of modern translators. However, it is still an open question whether the Epistle read it there. The LXX transmitted a different verse concerning movement, not speech; and movement better fits the context. We will revisit this topic later.
Clifford thinks this pseudepigraphon dates to the fourth to second centuries BCE. Brenton in 1851 dated it even later. The apparent dependence on the Septuagint from the rear and the apparent late attestation to the fore have led many great scholars to date the Epistle to the Hellenistic period.
But after 4QJerb, we no longer have to ascribe the Epistle's source to a Greek translation. In fact there are indications of a Semitic-language origin for the Epistle. To give an example from Richard J Clifford's commentary in the Harper Collins Study Bible, v. 55 talks of the helplessness of "crows" between heaven and earth. This would be hard to understand, but in Aramaic and Hebrew the word for "clouds" looks very similar to "crows". The Study Bible suggested that it was "clouds" in the original, that the translator misread it, and that later editors and copyists did not notice this mistake. If the Epistle be Semitic, it more likely relied on a Semitic Jeremiah.
Also the attestation may not be as late as they think. I argue elsewhere that the Prayer of Nabunai - a Babylonian diaspora document if there ever was one - depends on the Epistle.
The Epistle not only parallels pre-LXX Jer 10:1-16, but makes its words into stock formulae, and uses these formulae in preference even to the Torah. If any book was scripture to the Epistle, it was Jeremiah.
The Epistle was not alone in retelling Jeremiah 10:1-16. The Book of Jubilees, although probably written soon after the Maccabean struggle, incorporated a wealth of pre-Hasmonean literature. In the Ethiopic translation, Jubilees 12:3-5 runs:
12:3 For there is no spirit in them because they are dumb. There are an error of the mind. Do not worship them.
12:4 Worship the God of heaven who makes the rain and dew fall on the earth and makes everything on the earth. He created everything by his word; and all life (comes) from his presence.
12:5 Why do you worship those things which have no spirit in them? For they are made by hands and you carry them on your shoulders. You receive no help from them, but instead they are a great shame for those who make them and an error of the mind for those who worship them. Do not worship them.
The Book of Jubilees translated by James VanderKam, 1995 The Missouri Review
Fragments of copies of Jubilees have been found among the Dead Sea Scrolls (1Q17-18; 2Q19-20; 3Q5; 4Q216, 219-221, 227; 11Q12). These fragments are in Hebrew, presumably the book's original language. Although not in these fragments, 12:3-5 exists in the Ethiopic version, and abbreviated in the Syriac.
In the case of Ethiopic, O.S. Wintermute holds that Jubilees came by way of a
Greek translation. 12:3 and 5 comprise one of the classic demonstrations of
this: "there is not any spirit in them
". The actual Biblical phrase is "there is
no breath in them" (Jeremiah 10:14, Psalm 135:17). In Greek, "spirit" and
"breath" are both pneuma, as can be seen in the Epistle
of Jeremiah v. 25b and the Septuagintal translations of Jeremiah and Psalm 135.
Jubilees 12 slips from a one-on-one dialogue with a second-person singular in v. 2 into a one-to-many poem, using imperative and second-person plurals, in vv. 3-5. O.S. Wintermute also noted:
Certain poetic features appear if the unit is divided into stanzas in the following manner: (1) vs. 3; (2) vss. 4-5a; (3) the remainder of 5. Stanzas 1 and 3 begin with "because" and end with the refrain "Do not worship them"; they describe the worthlessness of idols. Stanza 2 provides an internal contrast by describing the creative and providential power of God.
(Old Testament Pseudepigrapha, Vol 2 p. 80)
I conclude that the Ethiopic version of Jub 12:3-5 was not a creation of the author of Jubilees; it came from another source. Either the author of Jubilees quoted it and a Syrian translator shortened it, or else a Greek-speaking later editor added it where the Syrian had preserved something else (as per the Mount Athos insertions of the older Aramaic Levi into the Testament of Levi). Since the title is lost, and since there is no reason to assume that this was attributed to Abraham before this version of Jubilees, I will grant this a neutral title, "The Litany Against Idols".
The Litany, like the Epistle, is ultimately a retelling of Jeremiah 10:1-16 and not Jer 28/51. In all three, "there is no spirit in them", the idols are false (Jer 10:3,5; Epistle v. 8b; Jub 12:3,5), they cannot help (Jer 10:5; Epistle v. 35-38; Jub 12:5), and there is "shame" (Jer 10:14, Epistle v. 26d, 39b; Jub 12:5) for those who made them / worship them. In the Litany, YHWH is God of Heaven; as in the Epistle v. 60 and (essentially) Jer 10:12.
There are parallels in structure as well. All start with the exhortation not to fear/worship idols. For Jeremiah 10:12-13's paean to the greatness of God, the Litany has verse 4 between the thematically-identical 3 and 5. And in that fourth verse of the Litany, the "God of Heaven" sends down "rain and dew" (Jer 10:13 - tumult of waters, mist, lightning for rain; Epistle v. 53- rain, v. 61 - lightning and mist).
Once again, MT Jer 10:6-8,10 are not represented; there is only one place where God is praised, Jer 10:12. However, MT verse 5a does appear in the opening comment - there is no breath because they are dumb (no scarecrow or cucumbers here, nor even palms). A decision on whether the MT or LXX has it right isn't yet required. I will note in passing that the MT verse is not endorsed by the LXX; that it only makes sense in the context of the MT and not the LXX; and that the Litany and Epistle otherwise side with the LXX against the MT's inclusion of vv. 6-8,10.
The Litany and Epistle share structural features beyond Jeremiah 10,
even discounting the questionable clause "they do not speak". Where
the Epistle has the refrain: "From this you will know that they are not gods, do
not fear them
" (vv. 16, 23, 29, 65, 69), the Litany Against Idols has, flatly,
"Do not worship them
" at the ends of v. 3, 5. In between the parallel 8-29 and
64-69, the Epistle switches to a rhetorical-question mode, starting with v. 30:
"For how can they be called gods?
" and carrying on to vv. 40, 44b, 47a, 49a, 52,
and 56b. This feature also exists in the Litany, v. 5a: "Why do you worship
those who have no spirit in them?
", between the refrains. Verse 3 says the idol is dead (no spirit) and mute, while verse 5 has the
idol's inability to help others. In the Epistle, 8-29 first touches on the
idol's muteness and then immobility, and 30-56 (the question section) introduces the idea that the
idol cannot act on others either (starting at v. 34). The two also agreed not to
relate 10:2's dismissal of astrology; if YHWH was the god of heaven, then a God-fearing astrology might be acceptable (c.f. the Astronomical Book of Enoch). Interestingly, in the
Epistle the question section precedes the sermon on God's greatness.
The two also share developments from Jeremiah 10 that do not literally appear
in that chapter. The Epistle verse 6 reads: "But say in your heart, 'It is thou, O Lord, whom we must worship.'
" Any explicit mention of worship is absent from Jer 10:1-16, but it is the theme of the Litany, particularly v. 4. Verse 5 has the idolater "carrying them on your shoulders
"
(Epistle v. 4b, 26); there are no shoulders in Jer 10:5. "Works of the hands
"
appears in the Litany v. 5 and the Epistle v. 51, a common abbreviation of Jer
10:9's "work of the artisan and of the hands of the goldsmith
".
In Jeremiah, God's greatness is in 10:12-13 between 10:2-10 and 14-16; "there is no breath in them
" appears after God's greatness.
The Epistle has its first "there is no breath in them
" (v. 25) before the
rhetorical-question section (vv. 30-56), which in turn is before the digression
on the greatness of YHWH in vv. 60-63. Likewise, the Litany has its first "there is no
spirit in them
" by itself in verse 3, before God's greatness in verse 4.
The Epistle's second (albeit interpolated) instance, in verse 51, is still before vv. 60-63. However, it is in the rhetorical-question section, which is exactly where the Litany puts it in verse 5.
There is also a triple-line unit shared by each: "There is no breath" followed by "they must be carried on shoulders", followed by "shame". This is followed by Jub 12:5 and Epistle 25-26, scrambled in Jeremiah (14b, 5, and 14a, respectively).
| Jeremiah 10:2-16 | Jubilees 12:3-5 | Epistle of Jeremiah | |
|---|---|---|---|
| No breath (2) | 14b | 5a | 25 |
| Must be carried (on shoulders) | 5 | 5c | 26a |
| Shame | 14a | 5e | 26b |
The Epistle says that there is shame for the ones who worship idols (v. 26d, 39b); Jeremiah 10:14b agrees with the Litany against the Epistle that shame belongs to the ones who make them. Rain appears in Jub 12:4 and Jer 10:13 within the hymn to God's power; in the Epistle, rain is mentioned outside 60-63 (in 53). In the Litany, God "makes everything upon the earth ... by his word". The God who makes the world by his power and makes all things in the world is a sentiment of Jeremiah 10:12 and 16b (respectively), one that does not appear explicitly in the Epistle. The Litany also did not cite the harmonised form of "there is no breath in them" found in Epistle v. 51, and did not add those metaphors at the end (including the scarecrow).
Also, the Litany and Jer 10:1-16 in context make no mention of Babylon. Jer 9 refers to the circumcised nations, especially Egypt. LXX Jer 28:15-19 recites Jer 10:12-16 (intrusively) in a Babylonian context. Babylon is a development of ideas away from Jer 10:1-16 and the Litany.
In a case where the Epistle deviates from the Litany, and there is a parallel in the biblical book, the Epistle expands, corrects, or harmonises the Litany form. The Litany for its part will tend to follow the pure form of Jeremiah against the Epistle. I conclude that the Epistle used the Litany.
It is likely the Epistle saw in the Litany a good base to make a logical argument. He would have made the Jub 12:3 third the centrepoint for a discussion of how idols couldn't help themselves, kicking off with 12:3b, "they are mute" (which, I argue, was not part of this version of Jeremiah). After working this vein for awhile, he would have to move the related Jub 12:5a2ce == Jer 10:14,5 material above Jub 12:4 == Jer 10:12-13 == Epistle 60-63. In a short time, he'd be left with Jub 12:5a1bdf, namely - Why do you worship them-They have no breath, they are works of the hands, unable to help others, and misleading the worshippers. The author would then have expanded these themes as part of a rhetorical question section, starting with Jub 12:5a1 = Epistle v. 30.
The Litany, then, owes nothing to the Epistle, but is primarily a variant of the poem Jer 10:12-16. Verse 3 is not a summary of Jer 10:1-10 but of 10:14: "without knowledge... His images are a fraud; they have no breath in them
". The muteness reference is closer to Habakkuk 2:18-20 than to the disputed MT Jer 10:5a; the latter more likely derived from the Litany and from Habakkuk than vice versa. The Litany did use (pre-LXX) Jer 10:1-10 for Jub 12:5, though.
Finally, the Epistle may even preserve a memory of this litany's common usage in verse 6: "But say in your heart, 'It is thou, O Lord, whom we must worship.'
" The believer was supposed to murmur these words to stave off the temptation to assimilate.