Jeremiah 20
20
Jeremiah Persecuted
1Pashhur # 20:1 The name Pashhur is derived from Egyptian. It means “son of Horus” or “portion of Horus.” Pashhur in Hebrew means “surrounded with prosperity [nobility, liberty].” son of Immer was a priest and the temple overseer. When he heard what Jeremiah had prophesied, he became angry. 2So he arrested Jeremiah, beat him, # 20:2 See Deut. 25:3. and put him in stocks # 20:2 The stocks were a form of punishment made from a wooden frame that held the person immobile. It was an unusually severe punishment that was designed to inflict pain and discomfort. The holes of the stocks were for the head, feet, and arms and would be placed far apart in order to intensify the pain and discomfort. The Hebrew word for “stocks” (mahpeket) means “causing distortion” because of how the body was forced into a cramped position. at the upper Benjamin Gate # 20:2 The upper Benjamin Gate was likely on the north side of the Temple Mount facing the territory of Benjamin and was built by King Jotham (see 2 Kings 15:35). of Yahweh’s temple. 3The next morning, when Pashhur released Jeremiah from the stocks, Jeremiah said to him, “Pashhur, Yahweh has given you a new name—Terror Everywhere! # 20:3 See Jer. 6:25; 20:10; 49:5, 29. 4For Yahweh says to you: ‘I am making you a terror # 20:4 Or “I am going to hand you over to terror.” to yourself and to all your friends, who will be killed in battle while you look on. I will give all Judah into the hands of the king of Babylon. He will take them captive to Babylon or kill them with the sword. 5I will give all the wealth of this city—her resources, her prized possessions, and all the treasures of the kings of Judah—into the hands of their enemies, who will seize all the plunder and carry it off to Babylon. 6You, Pashhur, and all your household will go into captivity as prisoners to Babylon. # 20:6 This prophecy was likely fulfilled at the deportation of Jehoiachin (597 BC). Shortly afterward, Zephaniah took Pashhur’s position (see 29:25–26). You will die there and be buried there, you and all your gullible friends to whom you have prophesied falsely.’ ”
Jeremiah Complains to God
7Yahweh, you pushed # 20:7 Although the Hebrew word patah can mean “deceived” or “enticed,” “compelled” and “pushed” are also within the universe of meaning for patah. It is hard to imagine the God who is Light deceiving anyone. me into being a prophet,
and I let you do it.
You overpowered me, # 20:7 The prophet felt violated by God. He felt like he was pushed, coerced, and overpowered. Jeremiah, a true prophet, felt that he was emotionally violated by a divine, irresistible power. When you ask God to take over your life, you, too, may be ridiculed and mocked. The response of others to your ministry can never be the validation or rejection of what you do for the Master. See Abraham Heschel, The Prophets (Peabody, MA: Hendrickson Publishers, 1962), vol. 1, 113.
and now I am overcome.
I have become nothing but a joke all day long,
with everyone mocking me.
8Whenever I prophesy,
you have me speak, “Violence and destruction!”
I am ridiculed every time I proclaim your word.
I get nothing but trouble and insults all day long.
9When I tell myself,
“I’m not going to speak his message ever again
or prophesy any more in his name,”
then all at once you are within me
like a burning, consuming fire deep in my bones. # 20:9 A consuming fire is an ancient Semitic metaphor for passion. As Jeremiah joined his heart to God’s heart, he experienced the power of God’s consuming passion. God’s passion burned within Jeremiah so that he could not abandon God’s call on his life. The fire of God’s word burned in the bones of the prophet. God had placed his words in Jeremiah’s mouth (see 1:9), and here, those words are burning in his bones. The realization of his call and commission overpowered him and moved him to speak the words of God to people who would not receive them. Today, we need true prophets who are fearless to speak the authentic words of God.
I try my best to hold your word inside,
but I can’t hold it back any longer!
10For I heard them whispering behind my back:
“Terror everywhere! That’s all he prophesies.”
All my close friends watch for me to fall.
“Let’s turn him in to the authorities,” they say.
“Perhaps we can set a trap for him.
Finally, we will prevail over him
and take our revenge on him.”
Yahweh, a Mighty, Fearless Warrior
11But Yahweh is a mighty, fearless warrior standing at my side.
My persecutors are the ones who will fall down and fail;
disgraced by their failure, they will not succeed.
Their shame will stick to them forever.
12O Yahweh, Commander of Angel Armies,
you test the righteous.
You probe my deepest thoughts and motives.
I have committed my cause # 20:12 Or “dispute,” “trouble,” or “quarrel.” to you,
so let me watch as you take revenge on my enemies.
13Sing! Sing praises to Yahweh, # 20:13 What caused this outburst of praise from Jeremiah’s lips? It was because he had finally “committed [his] cause to [Yahweh]” (v. 12). True praise and joy flow when we take our burdens, our “cause,” and lay them at Jesus’ feet. At times, the weakness of our own heart is our worst enemy. When we lay our weakness at his feet and commit ourselves to God, we can then sing and rejoice.
for he rescues the soul of the needy
from the power of the wicked.
14Cursed be the day on which I was born!
The day when my mother bore me,
may that day never be blessed!
15Put a curse on the man
who made my father glad by saying,
“Good news—it’s a boy! You have a son.”
16Let that man be like the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah
that Yahweh destroyed without pity.
Let him hear shouts of alarm in the morning
and battle cries at noon.
17For he did not kill me before I came from the womb,
making my pregnant mother’s womb my grave forever. # 20:17 Or “so my mother might be to me for my grave and her womb eternally pregnant.” See Job 3:1–19.
18Why was I even born?
Was it just to experience toil and sorrow
and spend my days in shame? # 20:18 The emotions of Jeremiah are exploding from the depth of his soul. In this chapter alone he had endured a public beating and been placed in the stocks; he was humiliated, mocked, and slandered. His best friends deserted him, and his enemies wanted him gone and out of the way—all because he spoke the truth and prophesied the doom that was to befall Jerusalem and Judah. Yet, through it all, Jeremiah knew that Yahweh stood beside him as a “mighty, fearless warrior” (v. 11). God is also next to you in all your struggles.
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Jeremiah 20: TPT
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