Texts in Conversation
The Letter of Jeremiah describes idolatry and offerings to idols as if they were offerings to the dead, drawing on language from Psalm 106 where Israel is said to have eaten sacrifices to the dead at Baal of Peor.
Share:
2500 BCE
1000+ CE
Psalm 106:28
Hebrew Bible
26 So he made a solemn vow that he would make them die in the wilderness, 27 make their descendants die among the nations, and scatter them among foreign lands. 28 They worshiped Baal of Peor and ate sacrifices offered to the dead. 29 They made the Lord angry by their actions, and a plague broke out among them. 30 Phinehas took a stand and intervened, and the plague subsided.
Date: 600–201 BCE (based on scholarly estimates)
Letter of Jeremiah 1:27
Deuterocanon
25 Things in which there is no breath are bought at any cost. 26 Having no feet, they are carried upon shoulders. By this, they declare to men that they are worth nothing. Those who serve them are also ashamed, 27 for if they fall to the ground at any time, they can’t rise up again by themselves. If they are bowed down, they can’t make themselves straight; but the offerings are set before them, as if they were dead men. 28 And the things that are sacrificed to them, their priests sell and spend. In like manner, their wives also lay up part of it in salt; but to the poor and to the powerless they give none of it. 29 The menstruating woman and the woman in childbirth touch their sacrifices, knowing therefore by these things that they are no gods. Don’t fear them.
Date: 300–101 BCE (based on scholarly estimates)
Search:
Notes and References
"... The phrase of the second prohibition (Jubilees 22:16: “Do not act as they do”) is quite general. Possibly we should connect this phrase with the text a few lines further: “for their actions are something that is impure” (Jubilees 22:16). This is elaborated on as follows: offering to the dead (Jubilees 22:17a) (For the offering to the dead, see Deuteronomy 26:14; Psalm 106:28; Sirach 7:33; Tobit 4:17; Letter of Jeremiah 27, 71; Sibylline Oracles 3:84, 356, 588, 723. see also Wisdom of Solomon 14:15) worship of demons (22:17); eating in tombs; and idolatry (Jubilees 22:18). As we have already mentioned, in his indictment of the nations, the author of Jubilees is referring to idol worship. The prohibition against idolatry corresponds to the requirement to worship God alone. Many texts deal with impurity in relation to the nations, and often this is related to idolatry. When Israel sins and thus acts as the nations do, it becomes morally impure ..."
Jacques T. A. G. M. van Ruiten, Abraham in the Book of Jubilees: The Rewriting of Genesis 11:26–25:10 in the Book of Jubilees 11:14–23:8, JSJSup 161 (Leiden: Brill, 2012), 314.
* 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.
Your Feedback:
Leave a Comment
Anonymous comments are welcome. All comments are subject to moderation.
User Comments
,