27 THE TEARS OF GOD IN THE BOOK OF JEREMIAH miah indicate a weeping deity. I will return to the theological dis- cussion and its impact on the interpretation of Jeremiah at the end of this essay, but first I will examine the frequently denied presence of divine tears in Jeremiah. I will argue that these texts have been misread, most likely due to theological convictions. II. Weeping Deity in the Book of Jeremiah and in Ancient Near East The grief and lament heard early in the book (3,21; 4,19; 6,26; 7,29) achieve their height in “the weeping poems” (Jeremiah 8–9). K. O’Connor identifies Jer 8,23–9,10 as “the weeping poems”, al- though she includes 9,16-21 in her discussion 8. Elsewhere, she iden- tifies 8,18–9,21 as a unit concerning “the weeping God” 9. Since the lament beginning in 8,18 is grounded in the suffering described in 8,10-17, which is a result of the sin condemned in 8,4-9, it might be desirable to refer to Jeremiah 8–9 (or 8,4–9,21) as the weeping poems. Discussion of these chapters has often centered around who the speakers are, and in particular whether YHWH speaks in 8,23; 9,9 or 9,16-17. If God speaks in any of these verses, then God weeps (or at least wants to weep in 8,23 and 9,17). Broadly speaking, there ap- pear to be two schools of thought: those who see God weeping in one or more of these verses, and those who deny that God weeps in any of them 10. K. O’Connor suspects that those who prefer that God not weep in any text are wed to an image of an invulnerable Almighty K. O’CONNOR, Jeremiah. Pain and Promise (Minneapolis, MN 2011) 8 60. Note that some English translations diverge from the MT versification of Jeremiah 9 (MT 8,23 is numbered as 9,1 and MT 9,1-25 as 9,2-26). All ref- erences in the present work are to the MT. K. O’CONNOR, “The Tears of God and Divine Character in Jeremiah 2– 9 9”, God in the Fray. A Tribute to Walter Brueggemann (eds. T. LINAFELT – T.K. BEAL) (Minneapolis, MN 1998) 172-195, here 179. Commentators who think YHWH does not weep in the weeping poems 10 include: W. RUDOLPH, Jeremia (HAT 12; Tübingen 1968); J.A. THOMPSON, The Book of Jeremiah (NICNT; Grand Rapids, MI 1980); W. MCKANE, Jer- emiah. 2 vols. (ICC; Edinburgh 1986); R.P. CARROLL, Jeremiah (OTL; Philadelphia, PA 1986); J.R. LUNDBOM, Jeremiah. 3 vols. (AB 21A-C; New York 1999-2004); W.H. SCHMIDT, Das Buch Jeremia. Kapitel 1–20 (ATD 20; Göttingen 2008); L.C. ALLEN, Jeremiah (OTL; Louisville, KY 2008). Most admit that YHWH weeps in Jer 48,32. © Gregorian Biblical Press 2012 - Tutti i diritti riservati