Shaphan

April 5, 2017

The idol worship service of the seventy Jerusalem elders (Ezek 8:10-8:11)

“So I went in.

I looked.

There portrayed

On the wall,

All around,

Were all kinds

Of creeping things,

Loathsome animals,

With all the idols

Of the house of Israel.

Before them

Stood seventy

Of the elders

Of the house

Of Israel,

With Jaazaniah,

The son of Shaphan,

Standing among them.

Each had his censer

In his hand.

The fragrant cloud

Of incense

Was ascending.”

Ezekiel went into the worship service room on the other side of the wall. He saw various inscriptions or pictures all around the walls that included creeping things, despicable animals, and all kinds of idols from the house of Israel. This must have indicated some kind of Egyptian or Babylonian idol gods, perhaps the god Osiris. However, this might be a mishmash of various idol gods. Even more shocking was to see the 70 Jerusalem elders of Israel, including Jaazaniah, the son of Shaphan, standing there with lit censers in their hands as the fragrant smell of incense ascended in the air. This was a shocking sight to see.

January 7, 2017

Jeremiah stays in Judah (Jer 40:5-40:6)

“‘If you remain,

Then return to Gedaliah,

The son of Ahikam,

The son of Shaphan.

The king of Babylon

Has appointed him governor

Of the towns of Judah.

Stay with him

Among the people!

Or go wherever

You think it right to go.’

So the captain of the guard

Gave him an allowance

Of food

With a present.

He let him go.

Then Jeremiah went

To Gedaliah,

The son of Ahikam,

At Mizpah.

He stayed with him

Among the people

Who were left in the land.”

Nebuzaradan, the captain of the troops, told Jeremiah that if he stayed in Judah that he would be better off with Gedaliah, the son of Ahikam. The King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon had appointed Gedaliah the governor for the towns of Judah, since there was no longer a king. As mentioned in the previous chapter, Gedaliah’s father and grandfather, Ahikam and Shaphan had been loyal to the various prophets. Shaphan went back to the days of King Josiah (640-609 BCE) and his religious reform. Ahikam had protected Jeremiah during the reign of King Jehoiakim (609-598 BCE) as in chapter 26 of this book. His brother Gemariah had helped Jeremiah in chapter 36. Thus Ahikam’s son Gedaliah seemed like the right person to protect Jeremiah. Still Jeremiah was free to go wherever he wanted. The captain of the troops gave Jeremiah some food and a present, maybe some money. Jeremiah then went to Gedaliah, who was at Mizpah, about 6 miles north of Jerusalem, in the Benjamin territory. Thus Jeremiah stayed with all these people who were left in Israel. These were either the so-called poor people or collaborators with the Babylon king and his emissaries.

January 6, 2017

Jeremiah is sent to Gedaliah (Jer 39:13-39:14)

“So Nebuzaradan,

The captain of the guard,

Nebu-shazban the Rabsaris,

Nergal-sharezer the Rabmag,

With all the chief officers

Of the king of Babylon

Sent for Jeremiah.

They took him

From the court of the guard.

They entrusted him

To Gedaliah,

The son of Ahikam,

The son of Shaphan.

They brought him home.

So he stayed

With his own people.”

Nebuzaradan, the captain of the guard, and presumably the man in charge on the ground in Jerusalem, gathered the other Babylonian officials together. Two are named here. One is the same as mentioned at the beginning of this chapter, Nergal-sharezer the Rabmag, who was in charge of the Assyrian priests or religious element of Babylon. On the other hand, Nebu-shazban the Rabsaris has the same title as Sarsechim, Rabsaris, earlier in this chapter. The Rabsaris was in charge of the eunuchs, but the name is different here. Are they the same people with different names or two different people? Anyway, they take Jeremiah from the royal prison, presumably before they burn the royal palace down. They hand him over to Gedaliah. His father and grandfather, Ahikam and Shaphan had been loyal to the various prophets. Shaphan went back to the days of King Josiah (640-609 BCE) and his religious reform. Ahikam had protected Jeremiah during the reign of King Jehoiakim (609-598 BCE) as in chapter 26 of this book. His brother Gemariah had helped Jeremiah in chapter 36. Thus Ahikam’s son Gedaliah seemed like the right person to protect Jeremiah.

January 2, 2017

Micaiah informs other officials (Jer 36:11-36:13)

“When Micaiah,

The son of Gemariah,

The son of Shaphan,

Heard all the words

Of Yahweh

From the scroll,

He went down

To the king’s house.

He went into

The secretary’s chamber.

All the officials

Were sitting there.

That is

Elishama the secretary,

Delaiah the son of Shemaiah,

Elnathan the son of Achbor,

Gemariah the son of Shaphan,

Zedekiah the son of Hananiah,

With all the officials.

Micaiah told them

All the words

That he had heard,

When Baruch read

The scroll

In the hearing

Of the people.”

Apparently not everyone was listening to Baruch in the Temple. Micaiah, the son of Gemariah and grandson of Shaphan, was there listening to Baruch. When the reading of the scroll was over, he went to the royal palace to meet with all the other royal officials in the secretary’s chamber. All the officials were there, since they had not been at the reading in the Temple, including Elishama, Delaiah, Elnathan, and Gemariah himself. Elnathan may have been the same one who King Jehoiakim sent to Egypt to get the prophet Uriah in chapter 26 of this work. Micaiah then told them everything that he heard during Baruch’s reading of the scroll in the Temple courtyard. It is hard to believe that he memorized everything, so he must have just presented the highlights.

January 2, 2017

Baruch reads the scroll at the great fast (Jer 36:8-36:10)

“Baruch,

The son of Neriah,

Did all

That the prophet Jeremiah

Ordered him

About reading

From the scroll

The words of Yahweh

In Yahweh’s house.

In the fifth year

Of King Jehoiakim,

The son of King Josiah,

Of Judah,

In the ninth month,

All the people in Jerusalem,

With all the people

Who came from the towns

Of Judah to Jerusalem,

Proclaimed a fast

Before Yahweh.

Then,

In the hearing

Of all the people,

Baruch read

The words of Jeremiah

From the scroll,

In the house of Yahweh,

In the chamber of Gemariah,

The son of Shaphan,

The secretary,

Which was in the upper court,

At the entry

Of the New Gate

Of Yahweh’s house.”

Baruch did exactly as Jeremiah had told him to do. He read the scroll of Jeremiah that had the words of Yahweh that had been dictated to him by Jeremiah, in Yahweh’s Temple. This occasion was a great fast that had been called to ward off the king of Babylon. This was about a little over a year after the original oracle of Yahweh to Jeremiah, about 604 BCE. Thus at this assembly, Baruch read from the scroll in the chamber of Gemariah, the son of a friend of Jeremiah, Shaphan, who was a secretary. All this took place in the upper court at the entry to the New Gate at the Temple.

December 14, 2016

Messengers brought the letter to Babylon (Jer 29:3-29:3)

“The letter was sent

By the hand of Elasah,

The son of Shaphan,

With Gemariah,

The son of Hilkiah,

Whom King Zedekiah

Of Judah

Sent to Babylon

To King Nebuchadnezzar

Of Babylon.”

There two official messengers took this letter of Jeremiah from King Zedekiah or King Mattaniah (598-587 BCE) of Judah to King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon (605-562 BCE). The two messengers were named Elasah and Gemariah. Elasah whose father was Shaphan may have been the brother of Ahikam mentioned earlier in chapter 26 who had helped Jeremiah, since they both had the same father named Shaphan. Perhaps Gemariah was the son of the high priest Hilkiah. Anyway, King Zedekiah trusted them with the letter of Jeremiah to bring to the king of Babylon, King Nebuchadnezzar. They would be well received in Babylon.

December 9, 2016

Jeremiah was protected (Jer 26:24-26:24)

“But the hand of Ahikam,

The son of Shaphan,

Was with Jeremiah.

Thus he was not given over

Into the hand of the people

To be put to death.”

Based on the story of Uriah, Jeremiah was lucky to get away. Ahikam, the son of an important official and friend of Jeremiah, named Shaphan, protected Jeremiah. He then made sure that Jeremiah was not turned over to the people to be killed.

January 21, 2015

The effect of reading the book (2 Chr 34:19-34:21)

“When King Josiah heard the words of the law, he tore his clothes. Then the king consulted Hilkiah, Ahikam son of Shaphan, Abdon son of Micaiah, the secretary Shaphan, and the king’s servant Asaiah. ‘Go! Inquire of Yahweh for me and for all who are left in Israel and Judah, concerning the words of this book that has been found. The wrath of Yahweh that is poured out on us is great. Our ancestors did not keep the word of Yahweh, to act in accordance with all that is written in this book.’”

Once again, this is practically word for word from 2 Kings, with a few minor changes. After listening to the reading of this book, King Josiah tore his clothes, the sign of anguish, being upset, or mourning. He then called and consulted with a group of people to find out more about this book from Yahweh. This group included the priest Hilkiah, the king’s secretary Shaphan, his son Ahikam, who will later be governor of Judea and a friend of Jeremiah the prophet, as well as Abdon and Asaiah. He mentioned both Israel and Judah and not just Judah as in 2 Kings. The king felt that the wrath of Yahweh was upon them because they and their ancestors had not followed what was written in this book.

January 20, 2015

The discovery of the Book of the Law (2 Chr 34:14-34:18)

“While they were bringing out the money that had been brought into the house of the Yahweh, the priest Hilkiah found the book of the law of Yahweh given through Moses. Hilkiah said to the secretary Shaphan. ‘I have found the book of the law in the house of the Yahweh.’ Hilkiah gave the book to Shaphan. Shaphan brought the book to the king. He further reported to the king. ‘All that was committed to your servants they are doing. They have emptied out the money that was found in the house of the Yahweh. They have delivered it into the hand of the overseers and the workers.’ The secretary Shaphan informed the king. ‘The priest Hilkiah has given me a book.’ Shaphan then read it aloud to the king.”

This is almost word for word from to 2 Kings, chapter 22. When the secretary Shaphan was talking with the priest Hilkiah about the money for repairing the temple, Hilkiah told him that he found this book of the law in the Temple. Then when Shaphan reported back to the king about the money being spent on the Temple, he told the king that he had gotten this book from Hilkiah. He then read the book out loud to the king. This was probably the first edition of Deuteronomy. This book was really a scroll. In fact, this may be the beginning of biblical literature, perhaps even written at this time. Writing itself was not common. Remember that all books or scrolls were hand written, since this proceeds the time of the printing press or computers by about 2,000 to 2,500 years.

January 20, 2015

The work in the Temple (2 Chr 34:8-34:13)

“In the eighteenth year of his reign, when he had purged the land and the house, he sent Shaphan son of Azaliah, and Maaseiah the governor of the city, and Joah son of Joahaz, the recorder, to repair the house of Yahweh his God. They came to the high priest Hilkiah and delivered the money that had been brought into the house of God, which the Levites, the keepers of the threshold, had collected. They had collected money from Manasseh, Ephraim, and from the whole remnant of Israel as well as from all Judah, Benjamin, and the inhabitants of Jerusalem. They delivered it to the workers who had the oversight of the house of Yahweh. These workers, who were working in the house of Yahweh, got it for repairing and restoring the house. They gave it to the carpenters and the builders to buy quarried stone, timber for binders, and beams for the buildings that the kings of Judah had let go to ruin. The people did the work faithfully. Over them were appointed the Levites Jahath and Obadiah of the sons of Merari, and Zechariah and Meshullam, of the sons of the Kohathites, to have oversight. Other Levites, all skilful with instruments of music, were over the burden bearers and directed all who did work in every kind of service. Some of the Levites were scribes, officials, and gatekeepers.”

This section is based on 2 Kings, chapter 22. All this happens in the 18th year of King Josiah, which would put him at age 26. I wonder why he took so long to try to repair the Temple. Shaphan, the secretary of King Josiah plays a major role here in 2 Kings. Instead of a military leader or a religious leader, it is this secretary who carries out the orders of King Josiah. There are 7 biblical figures with the name of Hilkiah, but this is the high priest who is responsible for many of the religious reforms under King Josiah. Instead of the money collected only from those who went into the Temple as in 2 Kings, here the money has been collected from all over Israel. This money, in turn, was to be given to the workers at the Temple, the house of Yahweh. Thus the carpenters and builders were to get timber and stones to repair the house of Yahweh. There is no mention about loose accounting as in 2 Kings. Instead there is mention of the various Levite groups in the Temple and their oversight responsibilities.