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40 Structure and the Book ofZechariah
say a little about their methods, criteria and results. 1
Lundbom's thesis is a response to Muilenburg's call for rhetorical
criticism. 2 He appreciates previous work done in literary criticism and
attempts to build on it and to go beyond it. 3 He believes that inclusio
and chiasmus are the features that control the structure of the book of
Jeremiah and presents some persuasive examples, for example, '"QT
VPQT: the first words of 1.1 and the last words of 51.64 which enclose
the whole of the book of Jeremiah up to the historical appendix in
1. J.R. Lundbom, Jeremiah: A Study in Ancient Hebrew Rhetoric (Missoula,
MT: Scholars Press, 1975); W.L. Holladay, The Architecture of Jeremiah 1-20
(Lewisburg, PA: Bucknell University Press, 1976); idem, Jeremiah, I (Hermeneia;
Philadelphia: Fortress Press, 1986). The introduction to Holladay's Commentary is
to appear in volume 2, as is his bibliography. There is surprisingly little cross reference
to Lundbom's work, or even his own. He notes both works in the his commentary
(p. 125), but he has obviously changed his views of Jeremiah between
1976 and 1986. Although he speaks of inclusios as integrating factors, the detailed
results are quite different in a number of particulars. For example, in Architecture he
wrote about: 2.2-3 = seed oracle; 2.5-37, 3.1-5,12b-14, 19-25 = harlotry cycle; and
4.1-6.30, 8.4-10a, 13 = foe cycle (pp. 30-34, 35-54, 55-101). In the commentary
he talks in terms of: 2.4-9, 3.1-2, 4-5, 12, 14-15, 18b, 19, 21a, 22-23, 24-25*, 4.1-
2 = early recension to the north (* = poetic core); 2.1-3, 10-25, 29-37, 3.13, 21b,
4.3-4 = additions in the First Scroll; and 2.26-28, 3.3, 20 = additions in the Second
Scroll (pp. 62-77).
He does not seem to offer an explanation of how his two systems are related,
although he acknowledges the parallels between 4.5-6.30 and 8.14-10.25 discovered
in Architecture, pp. 108-109 (Holladay, Jeremiah, p. 133 n. 1). It is disconcerting
that McKane does not include Lundbom's book, nor Holladay's Architecture
of Jeremiah, in the bibliography of his commentary.
A book that promises to further our understanding of at least part of the book of
Jeremiah, with regard to the structure intended by the redactors, is A.R. Diamond,
The Confessions of Jeremiah in Context: Scenes of Prophetic Drama (JSOTSup, 45;
Sheffield: JSOT Press, 1987). In dealing with the 'Confessions' he considers both
Typical Form' (which relates primarily to results obtained by form critics) and
'Particular Form' which attempts to present (briefly) the structure of individual
sections, noting progression of thought, key words, literary devices such as chiasmus,
etc. It is this that I have sought to investigate more rigorously. His interaction
with Lundbom and Holladay is surprisingly small. Diamond deals much more fully
with 'Redaction', 'Setting', 'Interpretation'and the implications of his exegetical
results for the meaning of the parts studied in their historical and literary context.
2. Lundbom, Jeremiah, pp. 1-2.
3. Lundbom, Jeremiah, pp. 2-16.