Texts in Conversation
Jeremiah calls for his enemies’ sins not to be pardoned, invoking the language of erasure from the heavenly books to describe their potential forgiveness. Nehemiah uses the same expression when praying against opponents of the rebuilding effort, asking that their sin not be forgiven.
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Jeremiah 18:23
Hebrew Bible
21 So let their children die of starvation. Let them be cut down by the sword. Let their wives lose their husbands and children. Let the older men die of disease and the younger men die by the sword in battle. 22 Let cries of terror be heard in their houses when you send bands of raiders unexpectedly to plunder them. For they have virtually dug a pit to capture me and have hidden traps for me to step into. 23 But you, Lord, know all their plots to kill me. Do not pardon their crimes! Do not ignore their sins as though you had erased them. Let them be brought down in defeat before you. Deal with them while you are still angry!”
Date: 5th Century B.C.E. (based on scholarly estimates)
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Nehemiah 4:5
Hebrew Bible
3 Then Tobiah the Ammonite, who was close by, said, “If even a fox were to climb up on what they are building, it would break down their wall of stones!” 4 Hear, O our God, for we are despised. Return their reproach on their own head. Reduce them to plunder in a land of exile! 5 Do not cover their iniquity, and do not wipe out their sin from your sight, for they have bitterly offended the builders. 6 So we rebuilt the wall, and the entire wall was joined together up to half its height. The people were enthusiastic in their work. 7 (4:1) When Sanballat, Tobiah, the Arabs, the Ammonites, and the people of Ashdod heard that the restoration of the walls of Jerusalem had moved ahead and that the breaches had begun to be closed, they were very angry.
Date: 4th Century B.C.E. (based on scholarly estimates)
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Notes and References
"... As water comes in various forms, from life giving rain and oasis springs to dangerous seas and floods, it has both positive and negative connotations. In positive terms, water is a metaphor for creation, new creation, life, birth, transformation, cleansing, and purification, and in negative terms for death, chaos, and the grave. Sometimes these meanings are mixed together as in the story of Noah and the flood (Genesis 6-9). Wenham states that “the first creation returns to the watery chaos that characterized the earth before the separation of land and sea.” This is seen in Genesis 7:11 where the “great deep burst forth, and the windows of the heavens were opened.” The use is reminiscent of its use in the creation story in Genesis 1. In the flood story, the deluge sent by God cleansed the earth of all life forms which had the breath of life, except those saved in the ark. The term used for this cleansing/purging in Genesis 7:4 is 'blot out'. It occurs in 6:7 and twice in 7:23. This is the term used for completely removing sin in Isaiah 44:22, Jeremiah 18:23, Psalm 51:1, 9; 109:14; and Nehemiah 4:5. As this blotting out occurs through a deluge of water, the flood is seen as cleansing the earth of wickedness ..."
Mills, Lynn Elizabeth
Cleansing by Water and Spirit in the Dead Sea Scrolls and New Testament
(p. 75) Trinity College Dublin, 2022
* The use of references are not endorsements of their contents. Please read the entirety of the provided reference(s) to understand the author's full intentions regarding the use of these texts.
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