Jeremiah Unterman

Another scholarly work that is definitely above my head, but with enough banging of head on the wall, I was able to understand it. For the non-technical brain (including mine) I would advise not reading it unless you want to stretch your understanding to the breaking point (as I always love to do).

Unterman's work is an exhaustive and in-depth analysis of the relationshipship between divine redemption and human repentance, which he concludes reflects Jeremiah's thought in three stages: (1) his vascillation between concepts of justice and mercy in tension; (2) his depair of the people ever returning to God in repentance; and, finally, (3) his abandonment of Israel's ability to repent and sole reliance on God to redeem this fallen nation.

Unterman's method, as he describes it and faithfully follows, is to (1) review the scholarship of certain relevant passages, (2) analyze the meaning of those passages and any pertinent extra-biblical texts, and, finally, (3) make the appropriate conclusions based on the analysis presented. Unterman provides "a rigorous investigation of the text via objective methods [that] results in a rational explanation of the development of Jeremiah's thought on the relationship of repentance and redemption" (p.21).

True to the form of any work that seeks to be thorough and serious, his investigation into the texts is rigorous and minutely detailed. Of course, knowledge of Hebrew and familiarity with the scholarship he engages would be most helpful to the student taking this book on to study Jeremiah. Nevertheless, I think even the novice can get much out of this work if he would put the time and effort to understand what the author seeks to bring out in his analysis.

If in-depth books do not excite you, for sure, skip this one. Otherwise, if you want to be challenged and seek to understand what may have transpired within the mind of the prophet Jeremiah as he declared God's word to the people of Israel, then by all means, expect a work-out and the get the book.… (mere)