David A. Bosworth, «The Tears of God in the Book of Jeremiah», Vol. 94 (2013) 24-46
The article analyzes several passages in Jeremiah in which God weeps in order to understand the function of divine weeping in the book. Attention to the distribution of weeping in the book finds that God’s weeping (8,23; 9,9.17; 13,17; 14,17) gives way to divine anger and refusal to hear the petitions of the people (15,1; 16,5-7). LXX and many modern commentators have attempted to deny that God weeps in these passages. However, several texts clearly depict God weeping, and weeping deities are common in ancient Near Eastern literature.
The Tears of God in the Book of Jeremiah
Jeremiah has long been known as “the weeping prophetâ€. It is not
clear how this moniker came to be, although it might be connected
to several passages in the book (Jer 8,23; 9,17; 13,17; 14,17). The
substance of the title may be as early as LXX Lamentations, in which
Jeremiah is depicted as sitting and weeping as he composed the
laments contained in the book 1. Whatever the origin of Jeremiah’s
identity as “the weeping prophetâ€, crying appears as a frequent motif
within the book of Jeremiah, although Jeremiah is not always the one
weeping. Indeed, YHWH weeps more often than Jeremiah does, and
even Jeremiah’s tears embody the tears of YHWH. Many commenta-
tors, however, do not recognize the weeping of YHWH in Jeremiah
evidently because they assume that God does not experience emotion
and that Scripture should cohere with this assumption. The present
essay will argue that Jeremiah speaks of YHWH weeping and that this
book is not about “the weeping prophetâ€, but “the weeping Godâ€.
The motif of weeping in Jeremiah has never been a topic of previous
study, and weeping in the OT generally has not attracted much at-
tention 2. The present work will analyze divine weeping in Jeremiah
and examine the function of divine weeping within the book by cor-
relating the text with modern scientific study of weeping.
M.C. CALLAWAY, “The Lamenting Prophet and the Modern Self: On the
1
Origin of Contemporary Readings of Jeremiahâ€, Inspired Speech. Prophecy
in the Ancient Near East: Essays in Honor of Herbert B. Huffmon (ed. L.
STULMAN) (London 2004) 48-62, here 51.
The major exceptions are T. COLLINS, “The Physiology of Tears in the
2
Old Testament: Part I†and “Part IIâ€, CBQ 33 (1971) 18-38 and 185-97; G.A.
ANDERSON, A Time to Mourn, A Time to Dance. The Expression of Grief and
Joy in Israelite Religion (University Park, PA 1991); M.I. GRUBER, Aspects
of Nonverbal Communication in the Ancient Near East (Studia Pohl 12.1-2;
Rome 1980) I, 384-400 and II, 402-434.
BIBLICA 94.1 (2013) 24-46
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