Jeremiah 26-52: To Build, To Plant (review)

Hebrew Studies 34 (1993) 117 Reviews one did not already know that Jonathan is the son of Saul from the earlier story of the battle of Michmash (chaps. 13-14), one would be unable to identify Jonathan in chap. 18 in relation to Saul. Not once is he called the "son of Saul" until we reach chap. 19. At that point the narrative once again focuses attention on Jonathan as Saul's son (19:1-4). In chap. 20, the dialogue between David and Jonathan repeatedly draws attention to "my father" and "your father" in reference to Saul. It is not until 24:11, however , when David confronts Saul outside the cave at Engedi, that the point becomes clear. David addresses Saul with the words "my father"! And Saul responds with the words: "Is this your voice, my son David" (24:16)? The repetition of the scene, when David spares Saul at Ziph in chap. 26, drives the point home with force. "Is this your voice, my son David (26:17)? Saul goes one step further this time: "Return, my son David ... I have played the fool, and have erred exceedingly (26:21)." In one sense, then, David is indeed the son of Jesse, but David is also the son of Saul-by God's choice. He is the one God has chosen to succeed Saul as king in Israel. When I first saw this point in an M.A. thesis defense at the Graduate Theological Union in Berkeley, I was moved to write a sermon which I have preached on a number of occasions under the title "Kingship Mediated Through Sonship." Obviously, that particular sermon moves beyond the story of David in the Samuel narrative to another "Son of David" who mediates "kingship" on yet another level to those who enter his family as his "sons and daughters." What my student saw on that particular occasion in her interpretation of this remarkable narrative is a beautiful illustration of the kind of surprises that welcome the reader on virtually every page of Brueggemann's delightful reading of the Hebrew text of 1 and 2 Samuel. Duane L. Christensen Christian Witness Theological Seminary Berkeley, CA 94707 JEREMIAH 26-52: TO BUILD, TO PLANT. By Walter Brueggemann. International Theological Commentary Series. Pp. xi + 298. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1991. Paper, $15.95. This volume, which completes Brueggemann's exposition of Jeremiah, carries forward the basic hermeneutical approach of the first volume (Jeremiah 1-25: To Pluck Up, To Tear Down. Eerdmans, 1988). For Hebrew Studies 34 (1993) 118 Reviews Brueggemann, sociological analysis plays a key role. By surmising the many voices that appear to be present in the situation of the text, he discerns that the Jeremiah tradition, that finds reality in covenant-Torah, represents a theological posture that is in distinct tension with the royalpriestly ideology espoused by the Jerusalem establishment. Thus Brueggemann envisions behind the book of Jeremiah a social setting that centered in a critical dispute between covenantal and non-covenantal approaches to life and left the Jerusalem community hopelessly divided. Brueggemann develops his perspective on the book of Jeremiah around three crucial standpoints related to the social situation that are to be held in tension: (I) Israel's covenant with Yahweh-rooted in the memories and mandates of the Sinai tradition with its attendant blessings and cursings; (2) the pathos of Yahweh-providing a basis for the Lord's continuing relation with a disobedient Israel; and (3) the royal-temple ideology of Jerusalem's king and temple priests-holding that God's promises to Israel of the perpetuity of his residence in Jerusalem guaranteed the permanence of the monarchy, the temple worship, and Jerusalem itself. For Brueggemann, Jeremiah's view of the events surrounding Jerusalem's fall in 587 B.C. is related to God's covenantal claims upon his people. In spite of the prevailing view of the Jerusalem establishment, God's judgment will fall upon the city. Out of that process, however, God will give the existence of a new community of grateful followers as a free gift (33:1-11; pp. 92-97). These themes, articulated in the first volume (pp. 2-19), find further elaboration...