From prophet to scribe: Jeremiah, Huldah and the invention of the book

Abstract

German historical-critical exegesis coined the term Schriftprophet to distinguish prophets whose names are attached to books (the three major and the twelve minor prophets) from prophets who only appear in narratives (Elijah, Elisha, etc.). e notion of Schriftprophet also implied that prophetic books were written by the prophets themselves or by their immediate disciples. is concept is still current in many Anglo-Saxon commentaries and also in the recent German commentary of W. H. Schmidt (2008). In the prophetic books of the Hebrew Bible, one nds indeed stories where God orders a prophet to write. Isaiah must write on a tablet or on a cylinder-seal (Nwylg, Isa. 3:25,1 a rather enigmatic expression). Later, he is told to write “this” (probably the following oracles) on a tablet (xwl) and inscribe it in a scroll (rps, Isa. 30:8),2 in order to guarantee a permanent validity to the prophetic word. Habakkuk is ordered to put in writing a vision (Nwzx cf. hzx in 1.1) and to “make it plain” (Hab. 2:2).3 e prophet Jeremiah is by far the most prolic “writer” among the prophets. In Jeremiah 29, he writes a sepher for the Babylonian golah and a deed of purchase in 32:10, 12, 44 (sepher). In 30:2 he is obliged to copy onto a scroll all the words Yhwh has spoken to him. Jeremiah 25:13 (mt) again mentions divine words written in a book, addressed via the prophet to all the people; these are the words addressed to the nations that in the lxx immediately follow this verse. Jeremiah 51:60 identies Jeremiah as the author of a book4 containing oracles uttered against Babylon, and, nally, Jeremiah 36 (see also 54:1) describes in detail the making of a scroll, its destruction and its replacement by a new edition (see below).

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