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The next small poem, when we take from it certain marks of a later date is
possibly Jeremiah's, though this is not certain; to the previous Oracles
on Ephraim it naturally adds one upon Judah.
Thus saith the Lord:(655) 23
Once more shall they speak this word.
In Judah's land and her towns,
When I turn again their captivity:
"The Lord thee bless, homestead of justice!"(656)
In Judah and all her towns shall be dwelling 24
Tillers and they that roam with flocks,
For I have refreshed the(657) weary soul, 25
And cheered every soul that was pining.
[On this I awoke and beheld, 26
And sweet unto me was my sleep.](658)
Behold, are coming the days-- 27
Rede of the Lord--
When Israel and Judah(659) I sow
With the seed of man and of beast;
And it shall be, as I was wakeful upon them 28
To tear down and do evil,(660)
So wakeful on them will I be,
To build and to plant--
Rede of the Lord.
These prophecies of the physical restoration of Israel and Judah are fitly
followed by two, in what is rather rhythmical prose than verse, which
define the moral and spiritual aspects of the new dispensation; both
laying stress on individual responsibility, the one in ethics, 29, 30, the
other in religion, 31 ff., the proclamation of The New Covenant. They are
no doubt Jeremiah's: we shall take them up in the last lecture.
The time of relief and fair promise, out of which we have supposed that
the Prophet conceived and uttered the preceding Oracles, came to a sudden
and tragic close with the assassination of the good governor Gedaliah by
the fanatic Ishmael. Had this not happened we can see from those Oracles
on what favourable lines the restoration of Judah might have proceeded
under the co-operation of Gedaliah and Jeremiah, and how after so long and
heart-breaking a mission]]>
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