Empires Fall, Yhwh Reigns: Concluding Performance Readings in Jeremiah

This work completes Billingham’s performance reading of selected passages in the book of Jeremiah, following two previous volumes: The Great Drama of Jeremiah: A Performance Reading and A Distraught Prophet and Other Performance Readings in Jeremiah. Employing her established methodology that includes rhetorical analyses of her own translations, she discusses ten scenes selected from Chaps. 34-52 according to their scripts, actors, audiences, settings, and improvisations of traditional narratives and customs. Ancient Near Eastern historical accounts are enlivened as they are viewed as dramas.

– In a life and death struggle between the word of Yhwh and the king, the scroll is read and burnt by King Jehoiakim. However, the divine word is indestructible as it is recomposed by Jeremiah and rewritten by Baruch to produce an enhanced version.

– During the Babylonian siege of Jerusalem, Jeremiah is incarcerated in various prisons. However, he is rescued from a dungeon by the Ethiopia eunuch Ebed Melech. The unexpected and unsolicited kindness he experiences provides a hopeful paradigm for Yhwh’s care for the exilic community.

– The Oracles against the Nations demonstrate Yhwh’s international power and covenantal commitment to Judah.

– In a sign-act Jeremiah ties Yhwh’s judgment oracle to a stone and flings it into the Euphrates River in the heart of Babylon. There, as a silent symbol, it awaits Yhwh’s fulfilment, providing hope for the captive Judeans.

– A tale of two kings and the toppling temple embody the dismantling of Judah’s royal-priestly support structures.

– The conclusion of the book remains open-ended, allowing for the possibilities of survival, return to Judah, and faith in God. While empires fall, Yhwh reigns.

Billingham’s set of performance readings in Jeremiah provide illuminating resources for students, teachers and clergy alike.