The Yoke on the Prophet's Neck
1 In the beginning of the reign of Jehoiakim the son of Josiah, king of Judah, this word came to Jeremiah from Yahweh, saying, 2 Yahweh says to me: “Make bonds and bars, and put them on your neck. 3 Then send them to the king of Edom, to the king of Moab, to the king of the children of Ammon, to the king of Tyre, and to the king of Sidon, by the hand of the messengers who come to Jerusalem to Zedekiah king of Judah. 4 Give them a command to their masters, saying, ‘Yahweh of Armies, the God of Israel says, “You shall tell your masters: 5 ‘I have made the earth, the men, and the animals that are on the surface of the earth by my great power and by my outstretched arm. I give it to whom it seems right to me. 6 Now I have given all these lands into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon, my servant. I have also given the animals of the field to him to serve him. 7 All the nations will serve him, his son, and his son’s son, until the time of his own land comes. Then many nations and great kings will make him their bondservant. 8 “‘“‘It will happen that I will punish the nation and the kingdom which will not serve the same Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, and that will not put their neck under the yoke of the king of Babylon,’ says Yahweh, ‘with the sword, with famine, and with pestilence, until I have consumed them by his hand. 9 But as for you, don’t listen to your prophets, to your diviners, to your dreams, to your soothsayers, or to your sorcerers, who speak to you, saying, “You shall not serve the king of Babylon;” 10 for they prophesy a lie to you, to remove you far from your land, so that I would drive you out, and you would perish. 11 But the nation that brings their neck under the yoke of the king of Babylon and serves him, that nation I will let remain in their own land,’ says Yahweh; ‘and they will till it and dwell in it.’”’” 12 I spoke to Zedekiah king of Judah according to all these words, saying, “Bring your necks under the yoke of the king of Babylon, and serve him and his people, and live. 13 Why will you die, you and your people, by the sword, by the famine, and by the pestilence, as Yahweh has spoken concerning the nation that will not serve the king of Babylon? 14 Don’t listen to the words of the prophets who speak to you, saying, ‘You shall not serve the king of Babylon;’ for they prophesy a lie to you. 15 For I have not sent them,” says Yahweh, “but they prophesy falsely in my name; that I may drive you out, and that you may perish, you, and the prophets who prophesy to you.” 16 Also I spoke to the priests and to all this people, saying, Yahweh says, “Don’t listen to the words of your prophets who prophesy to you, saying, ‘Behold, the vessels of Yahweh’s house will now shortly be brought again from Babylon;’ for they prophesy a lie to you. 17 Don’t listen to them. Serve the king of Babylon, and live. Why should this city become a desolation? 18 But if they are prophets, and if Yahweh’s word is with them, let them now make intercession to Yahweh of Armies, that the vessels which are left in Yahweh’s house, in the house of the king of Judah, and at Jerusalem, don’t go to Babylon. 19 For Yahweh of Armies says concerning the pillars, concerning the sea, concerning the bases, and concerning the rest of the vessels that are left in this city, 20 which Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon didn’t take when he carried away captive Jeconiah the son of Jehoiakim, king of Judah, from Jerusalem to Babylon, and all the nobles of Judah and Jerusalem— 21 yes, Yahweh of Armies, the God of Israel, says concerning the vessels that are left in Yahweh’s house, and in the house of the king of Judah, and at Jerusalem: 22 ‘They will be carried to Babylon, and there they will be, until the day that I visit them,’ says Yahweh; ‘then I will bring them up, and restore them to this place.’”
Jeremiah walks into a summit of rebel kings wearing an ox yoke and tells them all to surrender, on the ground that the earth belongs to the one who made it.
The occasion is a diplomatic gathering. Envoys from Edom, Moab, Ammon, Tyre and Sidon have come to Jerusalem to see Zedekiah, and the only reason five small kingdoms send delegations at once is a coalition. Into that meeting Jeremiah comes wearing bonds and bars on his own neck. He sends a set to each king by the hand of his own ambassador. The message is delivered in the form of the thing being recommended. The heading names an earlier king, while the events belong to Zedekiah's reign, and the oldest copies divide over the name. Nothing in the passage depends on it.
The argument put to these foreign courts does not appeal to Israel's covenant, which would have meant nothing to them. It appeals to creation: I have made the earth, the men, and the animals... by my great power and by my outstretched arm. I give it to whom it seems right to me. Territory is described as belonging to its maker and lent at his discretion. That is the only premise on which a prophet of one small nation could tell five others what to do. From it follows the grant to Nebuchadnezzar, and with it a limit. The arrangement lasts for him, his son and his son's son, until the time of his own land comes.
The counsel is then given to each audience in turn and it is always the same: put your neck under the yoke and live. What makes it hard is that the prophets, diviners, dreamers and sorcerers of every one of these nations are saying the opposite, and so are the prophets of Judah. The united religious opinion of the entire region is on one side, and Jeremiah is on the other. His account of that is not that they are foreign but that they are lying. The consequence he names is precise: their message will get their hearers driven out of the land they are promising to save.
The dispute then narrows to an object. The false prophets are saying the temple vessels already taken will shortly come back, and Jeremiah says the rest of them are going too. The test he proposes is the sharpest thing in the chapter: if they are prophets, and if Yahweh's word is with them, let them now make intercession that the remaining vessels not go to Babylon. Men who claim access are invited to use it, on a matter they themselves have raised, with a verifiable result. And his own prediction ends with a promise attached. The vessels will be carried away. They will stay there until the day God visits them, and then they will be brought back. He is more willing than his opponents to say what will happen and when.
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