From: "Harold R. Holmyard III" <hholmyard AT ont.com>
To: b-hebrew AT lists.ibiblio.org
Subject: Re: [b-hebrew] Syntax of Jeremiah 15:12
Date: Tue, 4 Jan 2005 11:58:36 -0600
Dear Darrell and Christopher,
The NIV version also makes it more clearer when taken allegorically:
can man prevail against God's mandates (northern or 'heavenly' iron)
and His judgement (the bronze)?
HH: What textual warrant is there for identifying God's mandates with
northern iron and His judgments with bronze?
HH: Keil said the following: "The attribute "from the north" points
manifestly to the iron sway of the Chaldean empire (Ros., Ew., Maur.,
and many others); and the meaning of the verse can only be this: As
little as a man can break iron, will the Jewish people be able to
break the hostile power of the north (13:20). Taken thus, the
pictorial style of the verse contains a suggestion that the
adversaries of the prophet will, by the crushing power of the
Chaldeans, be reduced to the condition of turning themselves in
supplication to the prophet."