Echoes of Psalm 1 in Jeremiah
From Transactions of the Philological Society:
Psalms and the Baptist
F. Gerald Downing
Journal for the Study of the New Testament, Vol. 29, No. 2, 131-137 (2006)Psalm 1 contrasts the righteous and the wicked, proclaiming the former blessed, and pronouncing a judgment of expulsion from the community on the latter. The former are likened to a tree that produces fruit in season, the latter to chaff blown away by the wind. Individually, these metaphors are common. Jeremiah 17.8 in particular apparently echoes (or prompts) much of Ps.1.3; and one may compare Num. 24.6, Job 29.19 and Ezek. 19.10. ‘Chaff’ as a slur or threat or both is found at Job 21.18, Ps. 35.5, Isa. 17.13, 29.5, 41.15, Hos. 13.3 and Zeph. 2.2. However, only Ps. 1.3-4 in the canon compares and contrasts them. And just such a contrast between fruitful trees and chaff that is to be blown away precedes the quotation of Ps. 2.7 in the accounts of the Baptist’s ministry as they appear in the Gospels of Matthew and Luke (Mt. 3.7-10, 12; Lk. 3.7-9, 17)
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