Jeremiah’s 70-Year Prophecy 515 and those deported to Babylon in 597. The Biblical writers and audiences of the later 6th century and beyond were apparently not conversant with the Esarhaddon inscription; all subsequent references to Jeremiah’s 70-year prophecy view it strictly as a Jeremianic prediction concerning the duration of the exile (43). This, however, was not the case with the audience to which the Esarhaddon references were initially addressed (44). The deportation of 597 targeted the elite of Judah and the policy makers of the Jerusalem royal court, many of who would have been among the scribal circles behind the composition of the Deuteronomic and Deuteronomistic literature (45). It was these scribes who had reacted so dramatically to Jeremiah’s Urrolle, which had cast Babylon, “the enemy from the north”, as Assyria incarnate (46). To the prophet and the audience of his Urrolle, —————— evidence for its grounding in history or a connection to the Deuteronomic legislation. The Josianic narrative, however, is structured point-for-point upon Deut. 17,8-13 (LEUCHTER, Jeremiah, 69-73), and archaeological evidence has demonstrated the historicity of the scribes named in Jer 36, who have strong ties to the scribal figures named in the Deuteronomistic narratives (DEARMAN, “My Servants The Scribes”, 417-420). The parallels observed by Handy would therefore seem to have an historical Sitz. This, when coupled with Weinfeld’s astute observations concerning the commonalities between the Deuteronomic material and VTE, suggests quite strongly that Esarhaddon’s official texts were circulated among the elite governing class in the vassal states of the Assyrian empire, and it is likely that they were disseminated broadly throughout the leadership of Judah via the lines of communication that existed as part of the Judean political system. See N. NA’AMAN, “The Distribution of Messages in the Kingdom of Judah in Light of the Lachish Ostraca”, VT 53 (2003) 169-180. (43) Cf. Hag 1,2 (implicitly); Zech 1,12; Ezra 1,1; 2 Chr 36,22; Dan 9,2. Significantly, there is no discussion whatsoever concerning the atbash codes in these subsequent Biblical texts. (44) Both Biblical and onomastical evidence suggests that first-hand knowledge of neo-Assyrian inscriptions would have been typical of the learned class in Judah. J. BÖRCHER-KLÄHN, Altvorderasiatische Bildstelen und vergleichbare Felsreliefs (Mainz am Rhein 1982) 202-203, identifies an abundance of inscriptions dating from the neo-Assyrian period that were erected in the wake of military conquests in the west-Semitic regions. (45) That Jeremiah’s audience would have been familiar with the Esarhaddon inscription is even more likely considering the makeup of the 597 community, which consisted of priests, royal figures and scribes. See N. LOHFINK, “Die Gattung der ‘Historischen Kurzgeschichte’ in der letzten Jahren von Juda und in der Zeit des Babylonischen Exils”, ZAW 90 (1978) 333-342. (46) See DEARMAN, “My Servants The Scribes”, 403-427, for a thorough examination of the connection between the scribes named in Jer 36 and those involved with the Deuteronomic reform of Josiah.