41 THE TEARS OF GOD IN THE BOOK OF JEREMIAH by a human (“the wine was in your vats”). Within MT, the issue of speaker is complicated by the third-person hghy in v. 31. Most com- mentators read hkba with one MS and the eastern Qere 53. A final textual problem concerns “more than weeping for Jazer” (ykbm). The parallel text in Isa 16,9 reads ykbb (“with the weeping of Jazer”) and LXX reads ὡς κλαθµόν (“as the weeping of Jazer”) 54. MT renders the sense that the weeping over the vine of Sibmah will exceed that over Jazer, whereas the other readings suggest the two weepings will be the same. The language of YHWH’s weeping may indicate insincere tears, and this show of weeping and lamenting is part of mocking Moab and an expression of Schadenfreude. The view that YHWH’s weeping is sarcastic assumes that the text is ironic because it is part of the “oracles against the nations”. As this genre label indicates, these texts are un- derstood as mocking or taunt-songs in which no genuine lament may occur. J.B. Geyer, however, argues persuasively that these texts should be called “oracles about the nations” 55. These passages include ma- terial that is clearly positive concerning the nations (e.g., Jer 48,47; 49,6.39). Geyer further argues that these texts derive from liturgical use and employ mythological motifs and therefore traditional attempts to coordinate the oracles with specific historical events are misguided. The genre includes lament as a basic element, and these laments may be read as sincere since there is no reason to suspect sarcasm 56. I am inclined to concur with Geyer and most commentators that the divine tears in Jer 48,32 are sincere 57. Interestingly, many commentators See MCKANE, Jeremiah II, 1184, who notes creative attempts to make 53 sense of MT and argues for reading the first person. For analysis of the relationship between Isaiah 15–16 and Jeremiah 48, 54 see WOODS, Jeremiah 48, 67-98. J.B. GEYER, Mythology and Lament. Studies in the Oracles about the 55 Nations (SOTS Monographs; Hants, UK 2004) 3-7. B.C. JONES, Howling over Moab. Irony and Rhetoric in Isaiah 15–16 56 (SBLDS 157; Atlanta, GA 1996) makes the most detailed case for reading Isaiah 15–16 as ironic, but see the critique of GEYER, Mythology and Lament, 151-154. Similarly, WOODS, Jeremiah 48, 265-269; STULMAN, Jeremiah, 364; 57 FRETHEIM, Jeremiah, 602, 604-605; FRETHEIM, Suffering of God, 143; HOL- LADAY, Jeremiah II, 354-355; FISCHER, Jeremia, 503-504.527. RUDOLPH, Jer- emia, 261, sees the lament as ironic; and MCKANE, Jeremiah, II, 1192-1193; LUNDBOM, Jeremiah, III, 291, and ALLEN, Jeremiah, 478, remain cautiously uncommitted. Of these scholars, only Allen thinks these tears are Jeremiah’s and not YHWH’s. © Gregorian Biblical Press 2012 - Tutti i diritti riservati