325; Cornill's "The Prophets of Israel," pp. 91-107; the two volumes ("The Expositor's Bible ") by Ball, Chaps. I-XX and Bennett, Chaps. XXI-LII; Chambers' "The Hebrew Prophets," pp. 132-168; articles on Jeremiah in Bible dictionaries and encyclopedias.

CHAPTER XV

POLITICAL POLICIES OF JEREMIAH

The preceding study attempted to give emphasis to the social ethics of Jeremiah; the present study will attempt to analyze his political message as influenced by the larger social conditions of the times. While this division is somewhat arbitrary, it is convenient in a treatment of the prophet's teaching from this point of view. However, there is a sense in which there is justification for this division. Jeremiah's approach to the purely social problem was radically different from his mental reaction concerning political questions. His attitude toward social questions was that of a radical, while on all political questions he was a conservative. He manifested his willingness to obey the Lord in "rooting out, pulling down, and destroying," 1 if by doing so he could substitute social justice and religious purity for injustice and moral decay, but he was equally willing, in political affairs, to advise his people to "ask for the good old paths." 2 We may naturally ask: Is such a thing possible in practical life? Can a man be both a conservative and a radical at the same time? Possibly not in our day, when political action is the goal of social reform, but in the days of Jeremiah no such relationship existed.

1 Jer. 1: 10.

2 Jer. 6: 16.

The political conservatism of Jeremiah was not that of stagnation or retrogression. He was not a man who revered an old thing merely because it was old. This would have been both narrow and stupid, and no true prophet could be either. His statesmanship was guided by vision and principle, and both of these led him to contend for established order and a tried-out public policy. The wisdom of this course is easy to see in the light of the discussion of political events of his time and of the consequences brought upon his nation by its failure to follow his political advice.

NATIONAL POLICIES

The national policies advocated by Jeremiah were opposed by both the ruling princes and popular prophets. It was inevitable that he should come in conflict with the state authorities and popular priests. Much of his public ministry was conducted in opposition to one or the other of these two classes, and sometimes his national policies ran counter to the wishes of both of these classes. This was true of the most fundamental principles advocated by the prophet.

In the eager years of youth, Jeremiah advocated a new nationalism that would reunite Israel and Judah. He hoped to see Jerusalem the capital of the nation as of old 3 and then, "Judah shall walk with the house of Israel, and they shall come together out of the land of the north to the land that I gave for an inheritance unto your fathers." 4 Out of the scattered population of Israel and the demoralized

3 Jer. 3: 17.

4 Jer. 3: 18.

conditions in Judah, the prophet hoped to see welded together a nation that would be strong enough to withstand the invasions of Babylon and Egypt. His later foreign policy was forced upon him when he realized that his dream of national reorganization was impractical and futile.

POLICY TOWARD BABYLON

Jeremiah reveals a clear conception of a state policy in his earliest public utterances — a policy not only involving public welfare but national existence." In chapter twenty-seven we have an outline of Jeremiah's political program, and an account of his contention with the princes and prophets of his day. He consistently contended that allegiance to Babylon was the imperative duty of Judah. The first public and outspoken announcement of this policy came in the fourth year of the reign of Zedekiah. At this time embassies were sent by the states of Palestine, which had for their purpose the forming of a coalition against Nebuchadnezzar. Jeremiah appeared while they were deliberating, bearing five yokes, one for each of the states represented, which included Edom, Moab, Ammon, Tyre, and Sidon with the following message from Jehovah: "And it shall come to pass, that 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, that nation will I punish with the sword, and with the famine, and with the pestilence, until I have consumed them by his hand."

It seems that this was the beginning of a series of

5 Jer. 2: 14ff. Jer. 27: 8.

public debates between Jeremiah on one side, and certain popular prophets on the other. One such debate is recorded in chapter twenty-eight. In this instance Hananiah, one of these political prophets who was contending with Jeremiah, took a yoke which the true prophet was carrying around as a symbol, and broke it, saying, "Even so will I break the yoke of Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, within two full years from off the neck of all the nations.” 6 Jeremiah's answer was simple and direct, "Thou hast broken the bars of wood; but thou hast made in their stead bars of Iron." The verdict of the nations seems to have been made in Jeremiah's favor, for the deliberations came to naught, and no outbreak against Babylon followed.

But the work of the popular prophets did not end here, for about this time the exiles in Babylon were stirred up by this advocacy of rebellion by the popular prophets. This condition caused Jeremiah to write a letter to the exiles in Babylon in which he condemned these prophets and pleaded with these exiled people to abide in peace and await the time of the Lord of restoration.

8

This, however, was not the end of this political agitation. For the next five years we hear no more of this great political question, but the whole matter was to come up again under rather remarkable conditions. It seems that Zedekiah came to believe sincerely in the political wisdom of Jeremiah, but at the same time the Jews who remained in Jerusalem were coming more and more to distrust his statecraft. At this crisis, Egypt tendered her aid to

6 Jer. 29: 11.

7 Jer. 28: 13.

8 Jer. 29