Jeremiah and "genocide" in the Bible

Reading the book of Jeremiah in Hebrew (or in any modern translation, since they all follow the Hebrew)— which is important because the Septuagint version is quite different, about 25% longer and arranged differently)— that is (and this too is important), reading the entire book in a fairly short time— you see that what first might appear a random collection of diverse oracles and historical snippets is actually a unified message of judgment and hope that is both striking and relevant to modern faith.

And in particular, the book seems to answer those who are tempted to find in the Bible only stories of wrath and genocide. It doesn't— but you have to read beyond a few chapters and get the story of the Bible as a whole (including both Joshua and Jeremiah to seee this. The answer to this objection is very clear in Jeremiah, the prophet of doom.

Jeremiah's life and activity spans the most interesting and decisive period of the whole history recounted in the Bible. He was working before, during, and after the destruction of Jerusalem, apparently well into the period of the Babylonian Exile. (There is some speculation that the two versions of the book found in the Hebrew and Greek texts represent recensions developed separately in Babylon and in Egypt during the Exile, respectively. Jeremiah was in contact with the exiles in Babylon at least from Jerusalem, Jr 29, and he himself ended up in Egypt, Jr 43 and 52.59ff. There is also some speculation that Jeremiah, and/or his nephew Baruch, son of Neriah, is responsible for the original canon of the Bible as we have it today— so that it is stamped altogether with his point of view.)

The Hebrew version of Jeremiah contains three sets of oracles: against Jerusalem, against the Nations, and against Babylon. It also contains a discussion of Jeremiah's own fate among the Judean refugees in Egypt, Jr 40-45, and concludes with a historical epilog, Jr 52-55, identical to the last chapters of 2 Kings, describing the capture of Jerusalem and the destruction of the Temple, the deportation of the king, his officers, and the people of skill, and finally the mercy shown to the king after some years in prison in Babylon— an image of mercy and hope, but at the same time, an image of the exceedingly humbled circumstances to which Israel has been reduced.

Apart from the historical material that provides setting and background, the purposes of the oracles and thus of the book as a whole seem to be three: to show that all that came upon Jerusalem was well deserved, to show that the nations who executed the judgment of God will themselves be judged for the evil they did, and to glorify Yhwh as God of the whole earth, so that all the nations will be shown as having been, all along, his servants, or rather, his tools, or rather, the weapons of his wrath.

51.5 ki lo-alman yisra'el vihudah
me'elohav, meywhw tseva'oth,
ki 'artsam mal'ah 'asham
miqqedosh ysra'el.

For Israel and Judah were not widowed
from their God, from Yhwh of hosts,
but their land was filled with guilt
before the Holy One of Israel.

51.20f mappets-atah li, k'ley milchamah,
v'nippatsti v'ka goyim
v'hishchati v'ka mamlakoth
v'nipatsti v'ka sus v rokvo,
v'nipatsti v'ka rekev v rokvo,
v'nipatsti v'ka 'ish v 'isshah
v'nipatsti v'ka zaqen v na'ar
v'nipatsti v'ka hachur uvthulah
v'nipatsti v'ka ro'eh v'edro
v'nipatsti v'ka 'ikkar v'tsimdo
v'nipatsti v'ka pachuth us'ganim
v'shillamti l'babel ulkol yoshke kashdim
'eth kol-ra'atham 'asher-'asu v'tsiyyon l''eyneykem
N'um yhwh.

You were My war club, My weapons of battle;
with you I clubbed nations,
with you I destroyed kingdoms,
with you i clubbed horse and rider
with you I clubbed chariod and driver,
with you I clubbed man and woman,
with you I clubbed greybeard and boy,
with you I clubbed youth and maid,
with you I clubbed shepherd and flock
with you I clubbed plowman and teacm,
with you i clubbed governors and prefects.
But i will requite Babylon
and all the inhabitants of Chaldea
for all the wicked things they did to Zion before your eyes,
declares Yhwh.

Jeremiah's message is that Yhwh is behind the vicissitudes of history. He responds personally to the arrogance and sin of nations— but also to their repentance and righteousness. History is not ruled by other gods, even if it seems that God has been overcome. In more modern terms, we would say that history is not an impersonal course of events, but that God, in person, rule all of it.

This is the stunning and, frankly, unexpected and perhaps even hard-to-believe revelation of the Bible: that not only behind the orderliness of nature but even behind the the fury of history there is a Person. His exact relation to history is not definable, not a one-on-one correspondence. He is not a "rain god" or a "history god". But he is God, and he creates and acts in his creation in a wisdom higher than we can understand but palpable to those who will walk with him in faith. Our lack of comprehension does not limit his action, and he allows us to glimpse it through his revelation to his prophets.

Now I want to go and read the Septuagint version of Jeremiah and see what it says. It will not say anything different, but the emphases are sure to lead in other interesting directions!