Jeremiah 3:14-18

Much here is probably a later editorial insertion (see Intr. iv. § 8), for (i) the picture (Jeremiah 3:14) of a very limited number of the captives returning from Assyria, and settling in Jerusalem, while afterwards (Jeremiah 3:16) spreading over the land, is inconsistent with Jeremiah 31:7 ff., (ii) we have no warrant for thinking that Jeremiah (Jeremiah 3:17) expected all nations to gather at Jerusalem to worship, (iii) Jeremiah 3:18 contemplates a return of Judah and Israel together from exile, but the earlier part of the ch. emphasizes the difference of treatment to be accorded to the two. Is the reference to the Ark (Jeremiah 3:16) also late? After Solomon's time its history is obscure. Was it carried off by Shishak (1 Kings 14:26), or removed by Manasseh (as suggested by 2 Chronicles 33:7) to be replaced, according to the Chronicler's tradition (2 Chronicles 35:3), by Josiah, though there is no confirmation of this in the parallel account in 2 Kings 23. We therefore cannot be sure that it existed in Jeremiah's time. The post-exilic Temple had no Ark (Josephus, Wars, V. Jeremiah 3:5). But whether the Ark was still in existence or not, this part of Jeremiah 3:16 is probably a genuine fragment, though displaced, for the prophet's attitude towards the Ark, as symbolical of the old Covenant which was destined to yield to the new one for which he looked (Jeremiah 31:31 ff.), is paralleled by his view as to the Temple (Jeremiah 7:4).