The Development of the Jeremiah Figure: From Destruction To Restoration

Jeremiah scholars agree that what we find in the book of Jeremiah is a literary tradition of Jeremiah that grew over time through the traditioning process of scribal reading, interpreting, composing, redacting and transmitting Jeremiah materials. Hence, they also acknowledge that the textually-presented Jeremiah is not a faithful portrayal of the historical prophet but a literary-theological character developed in keeping with the growth of the tradition. However, there has been little discussion of how Jeremiah’s historical and theological significance was constructed and promoted through the ongoing development and expansion of the Jeremiah tradition across and beyond Second Temple times. Hence, Jeremiah was often reduced to stereotypical images associated with destruction, suffering and exile. In this dissertation, I consider the Jeremiah tradition, that is, literary traditions tied to the prophet Jeremiah that participated in the continued development of the Jeremiah figure. And I argue that Jeremiah developed as the major prophet of exile and restoration with a strong pro-Jerusalem and pro-Temple Tendenz. Literary evidence shows that Jeremiah and his legacy played an important role in the ongoing Jewish reflections on, and interpretations of, the changing fate of God’s people, city and Temple, and that Jeremiah’s significance for the unfolding fate of Jerusalem and the Temple continued to be acknowledged and affirmed in the ongoing Jewish conceptualizations of exile and restoration. Although Jeremiah’s historical association with the destruction and exile was an essential part of the people’s memory and perception of this ancient figure, Jewish authors turned to Jeremiah, not merely to account for their experiences and ideas of ‘exile,’ but also to articulate those of ‘restoration’ centred on Jerusalem and the Temple. The expanding traditions of Jeremiah testify to Jeremiah’s enduring significance and relevance for the unfolding history of the people paradigmatically understood as the history of exile and restoration. By examining the ways in which the memory and perception of Jeremiah were shaped, reshaped and reinforced over time, we may be able to see that an afterlife of a ‘biblical’ figure is crucial to an understanding of how the tradition associated with that figure became a living tradition and why.Doctor of Philosophy (PhD