'They Have Made My Pleasant Portion a Wilderness': The Prophetic Task of Shared Suffering in Jeremiah 11-12

Abstract

The personification of the land mourning as a result of Judah’s unfaithfulness to their covenant with Yahweh is attested to in Jeremiah 11-12. In this first confession the prophet’s own lament portrays that of the land itself. The land shares with Judah the role of Yahweh’s ‘inheritance’ or ‘heritage’ and is portrayed in terms drawn from Judah’s covenant theology. The prophet does not simply personify the land, but draws on an underlying understanding of the land as full covenant partner. In this context the Exile serves to call both Judah and, through her, the nations back to covenant fidelity with both Yahweh and the land.