Jeremia 20:7 Kommentar

Such plain dealing as Jeremiah used in the foregoing chapter, one might easily foresee, if it did not convince and humble men, would provoke and exasperate them; and so it did; for here we find, I. Jeremiah persecuted by Pashur for preaching that sermon (Jer 20:1, Jer 20:2). II. Pashur threatened for so doing, and the word which Jeremiah had preached confirmed (Jer 20:3-6). III. Jeremiah complaining to God concerning it, and the other instances of hard measure that he had since he began to be a prophet, and the grievous temptations he had struggled with (Jer 20:7-10), encouraging himself in God, lodging his appeal with him, not doubting but that he shall yet praise him, by which it appears that he had much grace (Jer 20:11-13) and yet peevishly cursing the day of his birth (Jer 20:14-18), by which it appears that he had sad remainders of corruption in him too, and was a man subject to like passions as we are.

Pashur's doom was to be a terror to himself; Jeremiah, even now, in this hour of temptation, is far from being so; and yet it cannot be denied but that he is here, through the infirmity of the flesh, strangely agitated within himself. Good men are but men at the best. God is not extreme to mark what they say and do amiss, and therefore we must not be so, but make the best of it. In these verses it appears that, upon occasion of the great indignation and injury that Pashur did to Jeremiah, there was a struggle in his breast between his graces and his corruptions. His discourse with himself and with his God, upon this occasion, was somewhat perplexed; let us try to methodize it. I. Here is a sad representation of the wrong that was done him and the affronts that were put upon him; and this representation, no doubt, was according to truth, and deserves no blame, but was very justly and very fitly made to him that sent him, and no doubt would bear him out. He complains, 1. That he was ridiculed and laughed at; they made a jest of every thing he said and did; and this cannot but be a great grievance to an ingenuous mind (Jer 20:7, Jer 20:8): I am in derision; I am mocked. They played upon him, and made themselves and one another merry with him, as if he had been a fool, good for nothing but to make sport. Thus he was continually: I was in derision daily. Thus he was universally: Every one mocks me; the greatest so far forget their own gravity, and the meanest so far forget mine. Thus our Lord Jesus, on the cross, was reviled both by priests and people; and the revilings of each had their peculiar aggravation. And what was it that thus exposed him to contempt and scorn? It was nothing but his faithful and zealous discharge of the duty of his office, Jer 20:8. They could find nothing for which to deride him but his preaching; it was the word of the Lord that was made a reproach. That for which they should have honoured and respected him - that he was entrusted to deliver the word of the Lord to them was the very thing for which they reproached and reviled him. He never preached a sermon, but, though he kept as closely as possible to his instructions, they found something or other in it for which to banter and abuse him. Note, It is sad to think that, though divine revelation be one of the greatest blessings and honours that ever was bestowed upon the world, yet it has been turned very much to the reproach of the most zealous preachers and believers of it. Two things they derided him for: - (1.) The manner of his preaching: Since he spoke, he cried out. He had always been a lively affectionate preacher, and since he began to speak in God's name he always spoke as a man in earnest; he cried aloud and did not spare, spared neither himself nor those to whom he preached; and this was enough for those to laugh at who hated to be serious. It is common for those that are unaffected with and disaffected to, the things of God themselves, to ridicule those that are much affected with them. Lively preachers are the scorn of careless unbelieving hearers. (2.) The matter of his preaching: He cried violence and spoil. He reproved them for the violence and spoil which they were guilty of towards one another; and he prophesied of the violence and spoil which should be brought upon them as the punishment of that sin; for the former they ridiculed him as over-precise, for the latter as over-credulous; in both he was provoking to them, and therefore they resolved to run him down. This was bad enough, yet he complains further. 2. That he was plotted against and his ruin contrived; he was not only ridiculed as a weak man, but reproached and misrepresented as a bad man and dangerous to the government. This he laments as his grievance, Jer 20:10. Being laughed at, though it touches a man in point of honour, is yet a thing that may be easily laughed at again; for, as it has been well observed, it is no shame to be laughed at, but to deserve to be so. But there were those that acted a more spiteful part, and with more subtlety. (1.) They spoke ill of him behind his back, when he had no opportunity of clearing himself, and were industrious to spread false reports concerning him: I heard, at second hand, the defaming of many, fear on every side (of many Magor-missabibs, so some read it), of many such men as Pashur was, and who may therefore expect his doom. Or this was the matter of their defamation; they represented Jeremiah as a man that instilled fears and jealousies on every side into the minds of the people, and so made them uneasy under the government, and disposed them to a rebellion. Or he perceived them to be so malicious against him that he could not but be afraid on every side; wherever he was he had reason to fear informers; so that they made him almost a Magor-missabib. These words are found in the original, verbatim, the same, Psa 31:13, I have heard the slander or defaming of many, fear on every side. Jeremiah, in his complaint, chooses to make use of the same words that David had made use of before him, that it might be a comfort to him to think that other good men had suffered similar abuses before him, and to teach us to make use of David's psalms with application to ourselves, as there is occasion. Whatever we have to say, we may thence take with us words. See how Jeremiah's enemies contrived the matter: Report, say they, and we will report it. They resolve to cast an odium upon him, and this is the method they take: "Let some very bad thing be said of him, which may render him obnoxious to the government, and, though it be ever so false, we will second it, and spread it, and add to it." (For the reproaches of good men lose nothing by the carriage.) "Do you that frame a story plausibly, or you that can pretend to some acquaintance with him, report it once, and we will all report it from you, in all companies, that we come into. Do you say it, and we will swear it; do you set it a going, and we will follow it." And thus both are equally guilty, those that raise and those that propagate the false report. The receiver is as bad as the thief. (2.) They flattered him to his face, that they might get something from him on which to ground an accusation, as the spies that came to Christ feigning themselves to be just men, Luk 20:20; Luk 11:53, Luk 11:54. His familiars, that he conversed freely with and put a confidence in, watched for his halting, observed what he said, which they could by any strained innuendo put a bad construction upon, and carried it to his enemies. His case was very sad when those betrayed him whom he took to be his friends. They said among themselves, "If we accost him kindly, and insinuate ourselves into his acquaintance, per-adventure he will be enticed to own that he is in confederacy with the enemy and a pensioner to the king of Babylon, or we shall wheedle him to speak some treasonable words; and then we shall prevail against him, and take our revenge upon him for telling us of our faults and threatening us with the judgments of God." Note, Neither the innocence of the dove, no, nor the prudence of the serpent to help it, can secure men from unjust censure and false accusation. II. Here is an account of the temptation he was in under this affliction; his feet were almost gone, as the psalmist's, Psa 73:2. And this is that which is most to be dreaded in affliction, being driven by it to sin, Neh 6:13. 1. He was tempted to quarrel with God for making him a prophet. This he begins with (Jer 20:7): O Lord! thou hast deceived me, and I was deceived. This as we read it, sounds very harshly. God's servants have been always ready to own that he is a faithful Master and never cheated them; and therefore this is the language of Jeremiah's folly and corruption. If, when God called him to be a prophet and told him he would set him over the kingdoms (Jer 1:10) and make him a defenced city, he flattered himself with an expectation of having universal respect paid to him as a messenger from heaven, and living safe and easy, and afterwards it proved otherwise, he must not say that God had deceived him, but that he had deceived himself; for he knew how the prophets before him had been persecuted, and had no reason to expect better treatment. Nay, God had expressly told him that all the princes, priests, and people of the land would fight against him (Jer 1:18, Jer 1:19), which he had forgotten, else he would not have laid the blame on God thus. Christ thus told his disciples what opposition they should meet with, that they might not be offended, Joh 16:1, Joh 16:2. But the words may very well be read thus: Thou hast persuaded me, and I was persuaded; it is the same word that was used, Gen 9:27, margin, God shall persuade Japhet. And Pro 25:15, By much forbearance is a prince persuaded. And Hos 2:14, I will allure her. And this agrees best with what follows: "Thou wast stronger than I, didst over-persuade me with argument; nay, didst overpower me, by the influence of thy Spirit upon me, and thou hast prevailed." Jeremiah was very backward to undertake the prophetic office; he pleaded that he was under age and unfit for the service; but God over-ruled his pleas, and told him that he must go, Jer 1:6, Jer 1:7. "Now, Lord," says he, "since thou hast put this office upon me, why dost thou not stand by me in it? Had I thrust myself upon it, I might justly have been in derision; but why am I so when thou didst thrust me into it?" It was Jeremiah's infirmity to complain thus of God as putting a hardship upon him in calling him to be a prophet, which he would not have done had he considered the lasting honour thereby done him, sufficient to counterbalance the present contempt he was under. Note, As long as we see ourselves in the way of God and duty it is weakness and folly, when we meet with difficulties and discouragements in it, to wish we had never set out in it. 2. He was tempted to quit his work and give it over, partly because he himself met with so much hardship in it and partly because those to whom he was sent, instead of being edified and made better, were exasperated and made worse (Jer 20:9): "Then I said, Since by prophesying in the name of the Lord I gain nothing to him or myself but dishonour and disgrace, I will not make mention of him as my author for any thing I say, nor speak any more in his name; since my enemies do all they can to silence me, I will even silence myself, and speak no more, for I may as well speak to the stones as to them." Note, It is a strong temptation to poor ministers to resolve that they will preach no more when they see their preaching slighted and wholly ineffectual. But let people dread putting their ministers into this temptation. Let not their labour be in vain with us, lest we provoke them to say that they will take no more pains with us, and provoke God to say, They shall take no more. Yet let not ministers hearken to this temptation, but go on in their duty, notwithstanding their discouragements, for this is the more thankworthy; and, though Israel be not gathered, yet they shall be glorious. III. Here is an account of his faithful adherence to his work and cheerful dependence on his God notwithstanding. 1. He found the grace of God mighty in him to keep him to this business, notwithstanding the temptation he was in to throw it up: "I said, in my haste, I will speak no more in his name; what I have in my heart to deliver I will stifle and suppress. But I soon found it was in my heart as a burning fire shut up in my bones, which glowed inwardly, and must have vent; it was impossible to smother it; I was like a man in a burning fever, uneasy and in a continual agitation; while I kept silence from good my heart was hot within me, it was pain and grief to me, and I must speak, that I might be refreshed;" Psa 29:2, Psa 29:3; Job 32:20. While I kept silence, my bones waxed old, Psa 32:3. See the power of the spirit of prophecy in those that were actuated by it; and thus will a holy zeal for God even eat men up, and make them forget themselves. I believed, therefore have I spoken. Jeremiah was soon weary with forbearing to preach, and could not contain himself; nothing puts faithful ministers to pain so much as being silenced, nor to terror so much as silencing themselves. Their convictions will soon triumph over temptations of that kind; for woe is unto me if I preach not the gospel, whatever it cost me, Co1 9:16. And it is really a mercy to have the word of God thus mighty in us to overpower our corruptions. 2. He was assured of God's presence with him, which would be sufficient to baffle all the attempts of his enemies against him (Jer 20:11): "They say, We shall prevail against him; the day will undoubtedly be our own. But I am sure that they shall not prevail, they shall not prosper. I can safely set them all at defiance, for the Lord is with me, is on my side, to take my part against them (Rom 8:31), to protect me from all their malicious designs upon me. He is with me to support me and bear me up under the burden which now presses me down. He is with me to make the word I preach answer the end he designs, though not the end I desire. He is with me as a mighty terrible one, to strike a terror upon them, and so to overcome them." Note, Even that in God which is terrible is really comfortable to his servants that trust in him, for it shall be turned against those that seek to terrify his people. God's being a mighty God bespeaks him a terrible God to all those that take up arms against him or any one that, like Jeremiah, was commissioned by him. How terrible will the wrath of God be to those that think to daunt all about them and will themselves be daunted by nothing! The most formidable enemies that act against us appear despicable when we see the Lord for us as a mighty terrible one, Neh 4:14. Jeremiah speaks now with a good assurance: "If the Lord be with me, my persecutors shall stumble, so that, when they pursue me, they shall not overtake me (Psa 27:2), and then they shall be greatly ashamed of their impotent malice and fruitless attempts. Nay, their everlasting confusion and infamy shall never be forgotten; they shall not forget it themselves, but it shall be to them a constant and lasting vexation, whenever they think of it; others shall not forget it, but it shall leave upon them an indelible reproach." 3. He appeals to God against them as a righteous Judge, and prays judgment upon his cause, Jer 20:12. He looks upon God as the God that tries the righteous, takes cognizance of them, and of every cause that they are interested in. He does not judge in favour of them with partiality, but tries them, and finding that they have right on their side, and that their persecutors wrong them and are injurious to them, he gives sentence for them. He that tries the righteous tries the unrighteous too, and he is very well qualified to do both; for he sees the reins and the heart, he certainly knows men's thoughts and affections, their aims and intentions, and therefore can pass an unerring judgment on their words and actions. Now this is the God, (1.) To whom the prophet here refers himself, and in whose court he lodges his appeal: Unto thee have I opened my cause. Not but that God perfectly knew his cause, and all the merits of it, without his opening; but the cause we commit to God we must spread before him. He knows it, but he will know it from us, and allows us to be particular in the opening of it, not to affect him, but to affect ourselves. Note, It will be an ease to our spirits, when we are oppressed and burdened, to open our cause to God and pour out our complaints before him. (2.) By whom he expects to be righted; "Let me see thy vengeance on them, such vengeance as thou thinkest fit to take for their conviction and my vindication, the vengeance thou usest to take on persecutors." Note, Whatever injuries are done us, we must not study to avenge ourselves, but must leave it to that God to do it to whom vengeance belongs, and who hath said, I will repay. 4. He greatly rejoices and praises God, in a full confidence that God would appear for his deliverance, Jer 20:13. So full is he of the comfort of God's presence with him, the divine protection he is under, and the divine promise he has to depend upon, that in a transport of joy he stirs up himself and others to give God the glory of it: Sing unto the Lord, praise you the Lord. Here appears a great change with him since he began this discourse; the clouds are blown over, his complaints all silenced and turned into thanksgivings. He has now an entire confidence in that God whom (Jer 20:7) he was distrusting; he stirs up himself to praise that name which (Jer 20:9) he was resolving no more to make mention of. It was the lively exercise of faith that made this happy change, that turned his sighs into songs and his tremblings into triumphs. It is proper to express our hope in God by our praising him, and our praising God by our singing to him. That which is the matter of the praise is, He hath delivered the soul of the poor from the hand of the evil-doers; he means especially himself, his own poor soul. "He hath delivered me formerly when I was in distress, and now of late out of the hand of Pashur, and he will continue to deliver me, Co2 1:10. He will deliver my soul from the sin that I am in danger of falling into when I am thus persecuted. He hath delivered me from the hand of evil-doers, so that they have not gained their point, nor had their will." Note, Those that are faithful in well-doing need not fear those that are spiteful in evil-doing, for they have a God to trust to who has well-doers under the hand of his protection and evil-doers under the hand of his restraint.

INTRODUCTION TO JEREMIAH 20 This chapter gives an account of the usage that Jeremiah met with from many for his prophecies, and the effect it had upon him. He was smitten and put in the stocks by Pashur the priest, who released him the next day, Jer 20:1; upon which he prophesies again of the delivery of the city of Jerusalem, with all its riches, and of the whole land, to the Chaldeans; and particularly that Pashur should be a terror to himself and all his friends; and that both he and they should be carried captive into Babylon, and die, and be buried there, Jer 20:4; and then he complains of his being mocked at by the people for the word of the Lord; which he therefore determined to make no more mention of, but was obliged to it; and of the defamations of him, and snares that were laid for him, Jer 20:7; under which he is supported with the consideration of the Lord's being with him, and that his enemies should not prevail, but be confounded; and appeals to him, and calls for vengeance from him on them; and, in the view of deliverance, not only praises the Lord himself, but calls upon others to join with him in it, Jer 20:11; and yet, after all, the chapter is concluded with his cursing the day of his birth, and the man that brought his father the news of it, Jer 20:14.

O Lord, thou hast deceived me, and I was deceived,.... What follows from hence to the end of the chapter is thought to have been said by the prophet, when in the stocks, or in prison, and shows mixture of grace and corruption in him; a struggle between flesh and spirit, and the force of a temptation under which he laboured, arising from difficulties and discouragements in his work; and he not only complains to God, but of him; that he had deceived him, when he first called him to be a prophet, by telling him that he should be set over nations and kingdoms, to pull them down, Jer 1:10; which he understood of foreign nations, but now found his own people were meant, so Jerom; or in not immediately executing the threatenings he sent him with; as was the case of Jonah; or by giving him reason to expect honour and ease, whereas he met with nothing but disrespect and trouble; and that he should have divine protection and success against his opposers, Jer 1:18; whereas he was now delivered into their hands, and used in the most reproachful manner; but be it so, this was all a mistake of the prophet, and no deception of God. Calvin takes it to be ironically spoken, expressing the sense of his enemies, who charging him with a deception, tacitly charged God with being the author of it. Others, to soften the expression, render the words, "if thou hast deceived me, I am deceived"; or, "thou hast deceived me if I am deceived" (y). But it seems best of all to translate them, as they will hear it, "O Lord, thou hast persuaded me, and I was persuaded" (z); so the word is used of God in Gen 9:27; "God shall enlarge" or "persuade Japheth"; see also Hos 2:14, where it is rendered allure; and then the sense is, thou hast persuaded me to take upon me the prophetical office against my will, and against remonstrances made by me; and I was persuaded by thy words and promises, and by thy spirit and grace, to enter upon it; to which sense the following words incline: thou art stronger than I, and hast prevailed; so strong were the arguments, motives, and inducements the Lord made use of; so pressing his injunctions and commands; so forcible the constraints of his spirit; that the prophet was obliged to yield unto them, and was made willing in the day of his power to comply, though first it was sore against his will; but he could not withstand the divine call, and therefore might have hoped, since it was so manifest that he was sent of God, and did not run of himself, that he should have met with a better reception, and more success; but so it was not: I am in derision daily, everyone mocketh me; he was the laughing stock of everyone of the people of Israel, from the highest to the lowest; princes, priests, and people, all derided him and his prophecies, and that continually, every day, and all the day long, and especially when he was in the stocks; though it was not only his person they mocked, but the word of the Lord by him, as appears from Jer 20:8. (y) "Domine si ego sim seductus, tu es qui me seduxit", Genevenses; "pellexisti me, quando pellectus sum", Junius & Tremellius; sic Syr. "tu decepisti me, si deceptus sim; quidam" in Gataker. (z) "Persuasisti mihi, O Jehovah, et persuasus sum", Luther, Piscator, Schmidt.

How then does the prophet say, “You deceived me, Lord, and I was deceived”? Can God deceive? I am at a loss how I can accommodate the word. For if through God and his Word I do see something in it, what will be said requires suitable accommodation.…It suffices to express a single useful example for what has been presented. When guiding children, we speak to children; and we do not speak to them as we do to mature people, but we speak to them as children who need training, and we deceive children when we frighten children in order that it may halt the lack of education in youth. And we frighten children when we speak through words of deceit on account of what is basic to their infancy, in order that through the deceit we may cause them to be afraid and to resort to teachers both to declare and to do what is applicable for the progress of children. We are all children to God, and we need the discipline of children. Because of this, God, since he cares about us, deceives us, even if we do not perceive the deceit beforehand, lest as those who have gone beyond the infant we may no longer be trained through deceit but through acts. In one way the child is led into fear, in another way into progressing in age and crossing beyond the age of childhood.

Perhaps then, as a father wishes to deceive a son in his own interest while he is still a boy, since he cannot be helped any other way unless the boy is deceived, as a healer makes it his business to deceive the patient who cannot be cured unless he receives words of deceit, so it is also for the God of the universe, since what is prescribed has to help the human race. Let the healer say to the patient, “It is necessary that you have surgery, you must be cauterized, but you must suffer severely,” and that patient would not continue. But sometimes he says another thing, and he hides that surgery, the cutting knife, under the sponge, and again he conceals, as I shall call it, under the honey, the nature of the bitter and annoying drug, wanting not to mislead but to heal the one who is cured. With such remedies the whole divine Scripture is filled, and some of what is concealed is pleasant, but some of what is concealed is bitter. If you see a father who threatens as if he hates the son, and who says to the son frightful things and who does not show affection but who conceals love for the son, one knows that he wants to deceive the child. For it is not fitting for the son to be assured of the love of the father, the goodwill of his devotion. For he will be set free and will not be disciplined. That is why he hides the sweetness of the affection and exhibits the bitterness of deceit.By analogy to the father and the healer, such is something of what God does. There are certain bitter things with which he cures the most righteous and wise. For it is necessary to punish every sinner for his sins. “Do not be misled, God is not mocked,” “neither the immoral nor the adulterer nor homosexual nor thief nor drunkard nor reviler nor robber will inherit the kingdom of God.” If this was understood and viewed carefully by those who cannot see the surgical knife beneath the sponge, by those who are unable to understand the bitter medicine beneath the honey, a person would become faint-hearted. For who among us has not been conscious of himself drinking without purpose and getting drunk? Who among us is pure from theft and from the desire to take what is necessary, not as one ought? But see what the Word says, “Do not be misled, for these persons will not inherit the kingdom of God.” It is necessary that the mystery in this passage be concealed, so that most people may not become faint-hearted lest when learning the facts they may expect the final departure not as a rest but as a punishment.… For I know that if I leave, it is necessary that my “wood” be burned in me, and I have reviler wood, and I have the wood of drunkenness, the wood of theft and many other woods built up in my building. You know that all of these things escape the notice of many of those who have believed, and it is good it escapes the notice. And each of us thinks, since he has not been an idolater, since he has not been immoral—would that we were pure in such areas—that after he has been set free from this life, he will be saved. We do not see that “all of us must appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each one may receive either good or evil according to what he has done in the body.”

So since the healer sometimes keeps hidden the surgical knife under the tender and soft sponge, and also the father conceals the affection through the appearance of threat, and the deceits—some of which take away the tumors and varicose veins and whatever else weakens the condition of the body … something then such as this is what the prophet has understood that God does in mystery, and he says, when he sees in what ways he was deceived for good reason by God, “You deceived me, Lord, and I was deceived.” It brought him to so great a grace that he prayed and said to God, “Deceive me, if this is beneficial.” For the deceit from God is one thing, the deceit from the Serpent another. See what the woman says to God, “The serpent deceived me, and I ate,” and the deceit from the serpent caused Adam and his woman to leave the paradise of God. But the deceit that happened to the prophet, who said, “You have deceived me, and I was deceived,” brought him to a very great grace of prophecy, by increasing in him power, by bringing him maturity and by being able to serve the will of the word of God without fearing people.Thus, when we also consider these things, for the present and for the future, let us also pray to be deceived by God, and let not the serpent deceive us.

We must understand that the deceit of God is of another kind from our deceit with which we deceive.… God does not tyrannize but rules, and when he rules, he does not coerce but encourages, and he wishes that those under him yield themselves willingly to his direction so that the good of someone may not be according to compulsion but according to his free will.… In sum, God seeks a way, in a manner of speaking, whereby one would want to do with free will what God wishes. The tradition then also was saying to me something like this: He wants to send Jeremiah who prophesies to all of the nations and before all of the nations to the people, but since the prophecies have had something quite gloomy—for they imparted punishments with which each according to his deserts will be punished—and he knew the choice of the prophet, who does not want to prophesy to the people Israel what is bad, for this reason he arranged to say, “Take this cup, and make all the nations to whom I commissioned you drink.” God then ordered Jeremiah to take the cup, but when he urged him in taking the cup of unmixed wine, he says, “And I commission you to all of the nations with this cup of unmixed wine.” But after Jeremiah heard that he was sent to all of the nations as one who supplied them a cup of anger, a cup of punishments, since he did not guess that also Israel was about to drink from the cup of punishment, since he was deceived, he took the cup from which all of the nations drink. After he took the cup, he heard, “And cause Jerusalem to drink first.” Since then it seemed to be one way and happened to him in another, for this reason he then said, “You deceived me, Lord, and I was deceived.”

The prophet says that he was deceived by the Lord because, when he heard the Lord say in the beginning, “I gave you as a prophet to the nations,” and, again, “Behold, I establish you today over nations and over kingdoms, that you may uproot and destroy and overthrow and dissolve and build and plant,” he believed that none of this was spoken against the people of Judea, but only against the various nations surrounding them, thus leading him to accept his prophetic mission willingly. To the contrary, however, as it turns out, he found himself preaching to a captive Jerusalem that suffered persecution and imprisonment. He also adds, “I have become an object of derision all the day; everyone mocks me,” because they all judged him to be a liar and everything that he had prophesied to them to be a lie. For, as the prophet thought that the future that the Lord predicted was to be realized immediately, the people also expected nothing further to be coming that did not arrive at once. And he continues, in effect, “I announce destruction at the hands of Babylon and the iniquity of the army through which my people are to be oppressed.” Yet, if we follow the Septuagint, which reads, “I will laugh with my bitter message, I will invoke falsehood and misery,” this is the meaning: “I know that the present sorrow is to be exchanged for future joy, according to what is written, ‘Blessed are those who weep now, for they will laugh.’ ” For this reason, I willingly endure misery and iniquity and affliction now, so that I can invoke and even desire them and the brevity of their injury in exchange for eternal happiness.

(Verse 7, 8.) You have deceived me, Lord, and I have been deceived (or you have beguiled me, Lord, and I have been beguiled). You were stronger than me and prevailed (or you obtained and were able to). I have become a mockery all day long, everyone mocks me; because now I speak, crying out injustice and devastation (or because with bitter words I will laugh at transgression and call upon misery). The Prophet says he was deceived by the Lord, because from the beginning hearing: I have appointed you as a Prophet to the nations (Jeremiah 1:5). And again: Behold, I have appointed you this day over the nations and over the kingdoms, to root out, and to pull down, and to destroy, and to throw down, to build up, and to plant (Jeremiah, 1:10), thinking that he would say nothing against the people of Judah, but rather against the various nations around. Therefore, he gladly accepted the prophecy; and it happened contrary, that while predicting the captivity of Jerusalem, he endured persecutions and hardships. And he accomplished it. I have become a laughingstock all day long, everyone mocks me, because they think that he has been lying about everything and that all the things he predicted would happen were lies. And the Prophet immediately thought that what the Lord had threatened would come true, and the people thought that it would not come any more because it had not come immediately. And I cry out about the destruction of Babylon and the wickedness of the enemies through which my people will be oppressed. But if we follow the Seventy in what they said, that with bitter words I will laugh at their prevarication and call upon their misery, this is the meaning: I know that present sorrow will be exchanged for future joy, according to what is written: Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted (Matthew 5:5); and therefore I willingly endure misery, wickedness, and affliction, so that I may desire and invoke them, and compensate for the brevity of the injustice with the eternity of happiness.

JEREMIAH'S INCARCERATION BY PASHUR, THE PRINCIPAL OFFICER OF THE TEMPLE, FOR PROPHESYING WITHIN ITS PRECINCTS; HIS RENEWED PREDICTIONS AGAINST THE CITY, &c., ON HIS LIBERATION. (Jer. 20:1-18) son--descendant. of Immer--one of the original "governors of the sanctuary and of the house of God," twenty-four in all, that is, sixteen of the sons of Eleazar and eight of the sons of Ithamar (Ch1 24:14). This Pashur is distinct from Pashur, son of Melchiah (Jer 21:1). The "captains" (Luk 22:4) seem to have been over the twenty-four guards of the temple, and had only the right of apprehending any who were guilty of delinquency within it; but the Sanhedrim had the judicial power over such delinquents [GROTIUS] (Jer 26:8, Jer 26:10, Jer 26:16).

Jeremiah's complaint, not unlike that of Job, breathing somewhat of human infirmity in consequence of his imprisonment. Thou didst promise never to give me up to the will of mine enemies, and yet Thou hast done so. But Jeremiah misunderstood God's promise, which was not that he should have nothing to suffer, but that God would deliver him out of sufferings (Jer 1:19). deceived--Others translate as Margin, "Thou hast enticed" or "persuaded me," namely, to undertake the prophetic office, "and I was persuaded," that is, suffered myself to be persuaded to undertake what I find too hard for me. So the Hebrew word is used in a good sense (Gen 9:27, Margin; Pro 25:15; Hos 2:14). stronger than I--Thou whose strength I could not resist hast laid this burden on me, and hast prevailed (hast made me prophesy, in spite of my reluctance) (Jer 1:5-7); yet, when I exercise my office, I am treated with derision (Lam 3:14).

Jer 20:1-3 When the chief overseer of the temple, Pashur, heard this prophecy, he had the prophet beaten, and put him over-night in the stocks at the upper gate of Benjamin in the temple. Pashur is by the appellation: son of Immer, distinguished from other priests of this name, e.g., Pashur, son of Malchijah, Ch1 9:12. It cannot be determined whether Immer is here the name of the 16th class of priests (Ch1 24:14) or of one of the greater priestly clans (Ezr 2:37; Neh 7:40). Pashur held the office of פּקיד נגיד, chief overseer in the house of God. נגיד is an official name attached to פּקיד to explain it. In the latter word lies the idea of overseeing, while the former denotes the official standing or rank of the overseer. The position of נגיד was a high one, as may be seen from the fact that the priest Zephaniah, who, according to Jer 29:26, held this post, is quoted in Jer 52:24 (Kg2 25:18) as next to the high priest. The compound expression without article implies that there were several נגידים of the temple. In Ch2 35:8 there are three mentioned under Josiah; which is not contradicted by Ch2 31:13; Ch1 9:11; Neh 11:11, where particular persons are called 'נגיד. As chief overseer of the temple, Pashur conceived it to be his duty to take summary magisterial steps against Jeremiah, for his public appearance in the temple. To put this procedure of the priest and temple-warden in its proper light, Jeremiah is designated by the name of his office, הנּביא. (Note: As this official designation of Jeremiah is not found in Jer 1-19, but occurs frequently in the succeeding chapters, recent critics have taken it to be an idle addition of the editor of the later prophecies, and have laid stress on the fact as a proof of the later composition, or at least later editing, of these pieces; cf. Graf, S. xxxix. Ng., etc. This assumption is totally erroneous. The designation of Jeremiah as הנּביא occurs only where the mention of the man's official character was of importance. It is used partly in contradistinction to the false prophets, Jer 28:5-6, Jer 28:10-12, Jer 28:15, to the elders, priests, and false prophets, Jer 29:1, Jer 29:29; Jer 37:3, Jer 37:6,Jer 37:13; Jer 42:2, Jer 42:4, to the king, Jer 32:2; Jer 34:6; Jer 37:2, and partly to distinguish from persons of other conditions in life, Jer 43:6; Jer 45:1; Jer 51:59. We never find the title in the headings of the prophecies save in Jer 25:2, with reference to the fact that here, Jer 20:4, he upbraids the people for not regarding the sayings of all the prophets of the Lord; and in the oracles against foreign peoples, Jer 46:1, Jer 46:13; Jer 47:1; Jer 49:34, and Jer 50:1, where the name of his calling gave him credentials for these prophecies. - There is no further use of the name in the entire book.)