12 - Jeremiah and the wise

Summary

The wise against whom the pre-exilic Judahite prophets conducted a polemic were statesmen in the service of the kings of Judah on whose expertise and sagacity ('ēṣâ) the kings relied for advice and policy. The book of Jeremiah contains chapters which set out Jeremiah's conflict with both kings and statesmen, especially on a matter of foreign policy, namely the kind of response which should be made to the imperial ambitions of Nebuchadrezzar.

The ‘princes’ or ‘counsellors’ as statesmen are certainly one class of the ‘wise’ or ‘scribes’, but they do not exhaust the class, and one (viii 8–9) or perhaps two (ii 8) passages in the book of Jeremiah refer to ‘wise’ or ‘scribes’ who are Torah-scholars and specialize in the interpretation of the law. The ‘wise’ were an educated class equipped for different professions, and so their pursuits might be religious or literary (Proverbs) rather than political. Why bray expressed doubt about the attempt to turn ‘wise’ into a class title, but the antithesis which the pre-exilic prophets construct between ‘word’ and ‘counsel’, between the revealed word and the concerting of policy by specialists, makes it clear that they are directing their criticism against a claim to know-how and sagacity and are opposing it with a prophetic claim. It is the prophet informed by Yahweh who is the authentic source of the policy which Judah should follow.