By Eugene Garner

JEREMIAH - CHAPTER 20

JEREMIAH'S IMPRISONMENT AND COMPLAINT

    In this chapter one may clearly observe the testing, afflictions, perplexities, emotional openness, hopefulness, discouragements and despair of the man of God. Let those who are quick to condemn the prophet's "failings" stop to consider that they would never have known of his frustrations but for his own candor. And let it also be recognized that Chapter 20 does not describe the moods of a single day. Rather, this appears to be a collection of complaints from various periods and experiences during Jeremiah's prophetic ministry.

    Now Pashur the son of Immer the priest, who was also chief governor in the house of the LORD, heard that Jeremiah prophesied these things. 2 Then Pashur smote Jeremiah the prophet, and put him in the stocks that were in the high gate of Benjamin, which was by the house of the LORD. 3 And it came to pass on the morrow, that Pashur brought forth Jeremiah out of the stocks. Then said Jeremiah unto him, The LORD hath not called thy name Pashur, but Magormissabib. 4 For thus saith the LORD, Behold, I will make thee a terror to thyself, and to all thy friends: and they shall fall by the sword of their enemies, and thine eyes shall behold it: and I will give all Judah into the hand of the king of Babylon, and he shall carry them captive into Babylon, and shall slay them with the sword. 5 Moreover I will deliver all the strength of this city, and all the labours thereof, and all the precious things thereof, and all the treasures of the kings of Judah will I give into the hand of their enemies, which shall spoil them, and take them, and carry them to Babylon.

    1. Listening to Jeremiah's prophecy in the temple court (19:14-15) was Pashur, chief officer of the temple, and son of Immer, the priest, (I Chron. 24:14; Ezra. 2:37-38).
    2. Infuriated by what he heard, Pashur reacted with violence, (vs. 2-3a; 19).
      a. He beat the prophet - quite possibly laying on the full 40 stripes, which was as much as the law allowed, (1:19; comp. I Kings 22:27; 2 Chron. 16:10; 24:20-21; Amos 7:10-13).
      b. Then he had Jeremiah placed in stocks, near the north (Benjamin) gate of the inner court of the temple, as a spectacle and object of ridicule, (comp. Job 13:27; Jer. 37:11-15; 38:7-13; Acts 16:34).
      c. The next day, however, Pashur released the prophet from the stocks, (vs. 3a).
    3. But Pashur was not yet finished with Jeremiah: the prophet was not so humiliated as to forget whose servant he was; thus, he took up the prophecy of the previous day and expanded it, (vs. 3b-6).
      a. The Lord's name for Pashur is a symbolic one: "Terror on Every Side" (vs. 10; 6:25; Lam. 2:22).
        1) He will be a terror to himself and to all his friends, (vs. 4a; comp. Ezek. 26:21).
        2) They will fall by the sword of their enemies, (vs. 4b).
        3) And the eyes of Pashur will surely observe it all, (vs. 4c; comp. 29:21-23; 39:6-7).
        4) For the first time, Jeremiah specifically names the King of Babylon as the enemy into whose hands the Lord will deliver the whole of Judah, (21:4-10; 25:9) - some to be slain with the sword, and others to be taken captive to the land of the Chaldeans, (vs. 4b; 13:19; 52:24-27).
    4. The treasures of Jerusalem, Judah and her kings will be given into the hands of the Babylonians and transported to a foreign land, (vs. 5; 15:13-14; 17:3-4; 27:21-22; 2 Kings 20:17-18; Isa. 39:4-7).
    5. The household of Pashur and all the friends, to whom he has prophesied falsely about the security of Jerusalem, will go into captivity together, (vs. 6; 14:14; Lam. 2:14; Amos 7:17; 2 Pet 2:1); all of them will die and be buried in Babylon!
    6. Let no one doubt that God's faithfulness, in the execution of judgment threatened against unrepented sin, is as certain as His promise of blessing to obedience; whoever assumes that "all judgment is past for the Christian" assumes far more than the Word of God promises! (see Heb. 10:26-30).

    7 O LORD, thou hast deceived me, and I was deceived: thou art stronger than I, and hast prevailed: I am in derision daily, every one mocketh me. 8 For since I spake, I cried out, I cried violence and spoil; because the word of the LORD was made a reproach unto me, and a derision, daily. 9 Then I said, I will not make mention of him, nor speak any more in his name. But his word was in mine heart as a burning fire shut up in my bones, and I was weary with forbearing, and I could not stay. 10 For I heard the defaming of many, fear on every side. Report, say they, and we will report it. All my familiars watched for my halting, saying, Peradventure he will be enticed, and we shall prevail against him, and we shall take our revenge on him.

    Here is an unusual prophetic self-disclosure of profound emotional tension and conflict. The tender, compassionate, loving and heart of Jeremiah is overwhelmed by the sarcasm, ridicule and threatenings of his own countrymen to his faithful witness and warning as the messenger of Jehovah. This self-disclosure of Jeremiah's inner conflict is for our good. It is not a valid instrument for use in censuring the prophet himself. His enemies had no idea that such a conflict existed. Before them he stood as a "wall of bronze," (1:18; 15 though, within, was a boiling tempest of perplexity, fear and despair. But, he himself tells us of his open and honest complaint to Jehovah.

    1. The word "deceived," in verse 7, does not have an evil connotation; it is Jeremiah's way of saying that God has induced him to accept the prophetic office without a full disclosure of the misery he must endure as the result of his faithful witness, (vs. 7-8; 1:6-8 comp. Ezek. 3:14; Micah 3:8).
      a. He can only speak of "violence and spoil," (6:7; comp. Psa. 55:9-11; Ezek. 7:11, 21-25).
      b. Because his predictions of judgment have not found immediate fulfillment, he is made the object of daily derision and reproach. (Lam. 3:14; comp. Psa. 22:6-7).
      c. Instead of turning his beloved nation from their sins, it actually appears that his faithful warnings have only spurred them to more outrageous rebellion against the word of Jehovah; surely he has been a failure!
    2. Terror seizes him as he hears the whispers of once-familiar friends plotting his downfall - awaiting some unguarded word that they may use in charging him with treason, (vs. 10; 18:18, 22; comp. Isa 29:21; I Kings 19:1-2; 22:26-27; Psa. 41:9).
    3. But, it would be useless for him to try resigning his prophetic office - no longer speaking in the name of Jehovah; his heart would simply not permit it! (vs. 9; comp. I Kings 19:3-4; Jonah 1:2-3).
      a. The word of the Lord was like a fire shut up within his bones; he could not hold it in: he MUST SPEAK! (4:19; 23:9; comp. 39:1-3; Acts 4:18-20).
      b. His sense of duty, and his compassion for a people who were blindly rushing to destruction, compelled him to speak!

    11 But the LORD is with me as a mighty terrible one: therefore my persecutors shall stumble, and they shall not prevail: they shall be greatly ashamed; for they shall not prosper: their everlasting confusion shall never be forgotten. 12 But, O LORD of hosts, that triest the righteous, and seest the reins and the heart, let me see thy vengeance on them: for unto thee have I opened my cause. 13 Sing unto the LORD, praise ye the LORD: for he hath delivered the soul of the poor from the hand of evildoers.

    1. Though one cannot be certain that these verses chronologically follow the complaint that Jeremiah just poured out, they do demonstrate the fluctuating moods through which the prophet passed.
    2. Here is a new awareness of Jehovah's presence as a fear-inspiring warrior, (vs. 11; 1:8, 19; 15:20; comp. Isa 41:10).
      a. Jeremiah's persecutors will not prevail, (15:15; comp. Deut. 32:35-36).
      b. Having acted so unwisely, they will be put to shame; eternal dishonor will be their lot, (17:18; 23:40).
    3. Having recommitted his cause to the Lord of hosts (comp. Psa. 62:8), Who tests the righteous and sees the desires of their hearts (11:20; 17:10; Psa. 7:9), he now calls for divine vengeance upon his oppressors, (vs. 12; comp. Psalm 59:10).
    4. Then there actually bursts forth from his lips a doxology of praise for deliverance! (vs. 13; comp. 31:7; 15:21; comp. Psa. 34:6). He knows that God is faithful!

    14 Cursed be the day wherein I was born: let not the day wherein my mother bare me be blessed. 15 Cursed be the man who brought tidings to my father, saying, A man child is born unto thee; making him very glad. 16 And let that man be as the cities which the LORD overthrew, and repented not: and let him hear the cry in the morning, and the shouting at noontide; 17 Because he slew me not from the womb; or that my mother might have been my grave, and her womb to be always great with me. 18 Wherefore came I forth out of the womb to see labour and sorrow, that my days should be consumed with shame?

    1. The birth of a child in Israel was an occasion for great joy, and was considered an evidence of divine favor.
    2. In a mood of defeat and despair, however, Jeremiah does not so view the day of his own birth.
    3. Rather, he pronounced a curse upon:
      a. The day of his birth, (vs. 14; comp. Job 3:3-6), and
      b. The person who brought the news to his father.
    4. He even wishes that his life might have been extinguished while he was still within his mother's womb!
    5. Since life has brought him nothing but trouble, shame, reproach and perplexity, he wonders why he was ever born! (vs. 18; 15:10; comp. Psa. 102:1-11).
    6. Though one may be tempted to charge Jeremiah with cowardice, or lack of faith, he must remember that this secret of the prophet's innermost being would never have been known had he not chosen to confide in us!
    7. John Bright, in his excellent work entitled "The Kingdom of God" (p. 119-120), sets forth the real secret of Jeremiah's personality.

    "Here, indeed, we learn what faith really is: not that smug faith which is untroubled by questions because it never asked any; but that true faith which has asked all the questions and received very few answers, yet has heard the command, Gird up your loins! Do your duty! Remember your calling! Cast yourself forward upon God!
    "In this connection, it would seem, Jeremiah refutes the popular, modern notion that the end of religion is an integrated personality, freed of its fears, its doubts, and its frustrations. Certainly Jeremiah was not integrated personality ... But the summons of faith is neither to an integrated personality nor to the laying by of all questions, but to the dedication of personality - with all its fears and questions - to its duty and destiny under God."

    8. We do not know how God dealt with the prophet's complaint; we do know that, from this furnace of affliction, Jeremiah emerged a stronger and Christ like person: "a fortified city, an iron pillar, and a bronze wall" - never again to register such complaint against the Lord, (1:18; comp. Job 23:10). And we may well profit from his experience!