Jeremiah, Prophetic Conflict, and the Catastrophe of 587/6 BCE

The main thrust of the following study is the Babylonian devastation of Jerusalem and exile of 587/6 BCE which resulted in the disintegration of Judah, and the contribution of prophetic conflicts between Jeremiah and his opponents to this national tragedy. The book that bears his name provides considerable information concerning the events of this period and portrays Jeremiah as a prophetic colossus that played a prominent role in the decades that climaxed in the calamity of 587/6 and its aftermath. The book seems to argue that the conflicts between himself and his prophetic opponents were not only prevalent in this period of political turmoil, but that they also played a decisive role in the unmitigated disaster that befell Jerusalem. In its final form, the book apparently makes the case that the šālôm prophets were partly responsible for the national tragedy, thereby warning the post-587/6 community about the disastrous consequences of false prophetic activity. And because this also appears to be the theme of the Deuteronomistic History, it is commonly posited that parts of the book of Jeremiah were the product of exilic Deuteronomistic redactors which, according to some scholars, is meant to reflect the Dtr ideologies concerning the disaster of 587/6; a proposal that calls for fresh critical assessment.

What follows will be a critical investigation of the period surrounding the calamity of 587/6, the roles of Jeremiah and his rivals in the duel for prophetic legitimacy during this decisive period, and their divergent interpretations of the prevailing historical situation. Within this spectrum, the question of criteriology for distinguishing true from false prophet/prophecy will be reassessed. Against contrary scholarly opinions, it will be argued that the denunciation of rival prophets in the book of Jeremiah presents some consistency for discerning the authenticity of one who claims to be Yahweh’s spokesperson, a point that will be corroborated by the Greek tradition’s exegetical intervention. Finally, we will examine the literary evaluation of the disaster in the aftermath of 587/6 in two biblical literature from the exilic and postexilic periods, namely Lamentations and Zechariah respectively.