Introduction
‘When the priest Pashhur son of Immer, the official in charge of the temple of the LORD, heard Jeremiah prophesying these things, he had Jeremiah the prophet beaten and put in the stocks at the Upper Gate of Benjamin at the LORD’s temple.’ Jeremiah 20:1-2
JEREMIAH AND PASHHUR
We are now getting near the end of Jeremiah’s tragic ministry, nearing the end of the ministry of warning and we have seen the vain calls for repentance. There are two divisions in this chapter. First, there is Jeremiah’s imprisonment and then there is what some scholars consider to be the fifth and final lament of Jeremiah.
For over forty years Jeremiah spoke for God to Judah and for over forty years he found his life to be difficult. Often, he was disappointed. In Jeremiah’s day, there was a priest who was extremely positive. So, let’s look at what happened after Jeremiah’s sermon and after the breaking of the jar in the Valley of Ben Hinnom.
Barnes, in his commentary, says the following.
‘Pashhur was the father of Gedaliah, Jeremiah 38:1. There was another Pashhur, Jeremiah 21:1, but he belonged to the fifth course of priests belonging to the sons of Melchiah, this Pashhur belonged to the sixteenth course and was the son of Immer. Both of these families were strongly represented in the returnees from Babylon, Ezra 2:27 / Ezra 2:38.’
After hearing Jeremiah preach, Jeremiah 20:1 / Jeremiah 19:14-15, Pashhur, the priest had Jeremiah beaten and put in stocks, Jeremiah 20:2. This priest was also the chief officer of the temple, the top official. Here is a top priest, a top official, someone who we would expect to be interested in what was in Judah’s future. But rather than hear the message of the Lord, he persecuted the messenger and he rejected the message, Jeremiah 20:1-2.
Pashhur was one of the priests who said peace, Jeremiah 6:14, and Jeremiah said there is no peace, the city of Jerusalem is under siege, Jeremiah 6:14. The people have forgotten God and the people are going to be carried away, into captivity.
Note the expression ‘Jeremiah the prophet’, Jeremiah 20:2. This expression has not appeared so far in this prophecy. It is believed that it is used here to show that Pashhur’s conduct was in violation of the respect that was due to the prophet’s office. This is one of many sad scenes in the Old Testament. We have this crooked false prophet, Pashhur, torturing and beating God’s true prophet.
Pashhur would not have struck the prophet himself, Jeremiah 20:2, he would have got his henchmen to do that. This action against Jeremiah would not have been allowed by Josiah because of his reforms and service to God. This action by Pashhur is believed to have taken place between 609 and 605.
Pashhur had Jeremiah beaten and put into stocks which was a terrible punishment as it was designed more for torture than for restraint. Their intention was to inflict cruel and inhuman torture upon him. It is said that this was a wooden frame in which the feet, neck and hands were fastened so that the body was in a cramped and painful position.
Feinberg, in his commentary, says the following.
‘Many expositors think that Pashhur ordered Jeremiah to be beaten with ‘forty stripes save one,’ as in Deuteronomy 25:3.’
‘The next day, when Pashhur released him from the stocks, Jeremiah said to him, ‘The LORD’s name for you is not Pashhur, but Terror on Every Side. For this is what the LORD says: ‘I will make you a terror to yourself and to all your friends; with your own eyes you will see them fall by the sword of their enemies. I will give all Judah into the hands of the king of Babylon, who will carry them away to Babylon or put them to the sword. I will deliver all the wealth of this city into the hands of their enemies—all its products, all its valuables and all the treasures of the kings of Judah. They will take it away as plunder and carry it off to Babylon. And you, Pashhur, and all who live in your house will go into exile to Babylon. There you will die and be buried, you and all your friends to whom you have prophesied lies.’ Jeremiah 20:3-6
When Pashhur released him from the stocks Jeremiah tells this high official what is going to happen to him because of what he has done to the prophet. His name will be ‘Terror on every side,’ Jeremiah 20:3. This is the first time that the force from the north is identified as Babylon on Pashhur will be taken with his friends into captivity, Jeremiah 20:4.
All their possessions and wealth will become the property of the Babylonians, Jeremiah 20:5. The priest is going to have to live and die in captivity along with the people he has been lying to, Jeremiah 20:6.
JEREMIAH’S COMPLAINT
‘You deceived me, LORD, and I was deceived; you overpowered me and prevailed. I am ridiculed all day long; everyone mocks me. Whenever I speak, I cry out proclaiming violence and destruction. So, the word of the LORD has brought me insult and reproach all day long. But if I say, ‘I will not mention his word or speak anymore in his name,’ his word is in my heart like a fire, a fire shut up in my bones. I am weary of holding it in; indeed, I cannot. I hear many whispering, ‘Terror on every side! Denounce him! Let’s denounce him!’ All my friends are waiting for me to slip, saying, ‘Perhaps he will be deceived; then we will prevail over him and take our revenge on him.’ Jeremiah 20:7-10
Jeremiah is assessing the situation here and says, God deceived him and overpowered him, Jeremiah 20:7. The word ‘deceived’ is a word that means ‘persuaded’. You will probably find a footnote in your Bible to this effect. Basically he’s saying you have persuaded me, God, probably because of the trials, the prison, the stocks, the beating, the torture, Jeremiah 20:7. All he preaches is violence and destruction and as a result all he receives is insults and reproach, Jeremiah 20:8.
Jeremiah needed encouragement and he should have received encouragement from the priests and the kings but he found no encouragement from them. The very place he thought that he would find those who would support him, he didn’t find it. It would seem from Jeremiah 20:9, that there was a time when Jeremiah was determined to stop speaking for God, to keep his mouth shut, 1 Corinthians 9:16.
But now he had to tell the story, ‘I am weary of holding it in, indeed, I cannot,’ Jeremiah 20:9. He just had to keep on speaking because of this fire in his bones, Jeremiah 20:9 / Jeremiah 1:6. For those us who preach and teach God’s Word, we too may feel like quitting at times but we must continue to preach and teach His Word, 2 Corinthians 5:20 / 2 Timothy 4:2 / 1 Peter 4:11.
Jeremiah hears the people whispering against him, hoping for his downfall and they clearly condemn him and look for revenge, Jeremiah 20:10. It’s clear that he feels as though like God has let him down.
‘But the LORD is with me like a mighty warrior; so, my persecutors will stumble and not prevail. They will fail and be thoroughly disgraced; their dishonour will never be forgotten. LORD Almighty, you who examine the righteous and probe the heart and mind, let me see your vengeance on them, for to you I have committed my cause. Sing to the LORD! Give praise to the LORD! He rescues the life of the needy from the hands of the wicked.’ Jeremiah 20:11-13
Jeremiah’s encouragement comes from God as he says God was with him as a mighty warrior, Jeremiah 20:11. This gives the impression of someone running around with a sword and no one could stand in his way. Notice how his mindset has changed when he focuses on what God can do instead of what he can do, Matthew 5:4. His persecutors will stumble and will not prevail, they will fail and be thoroughly disgraced and their dishonour will never be forgotten, Jeremiah 20:11.
He knows that it is God who examines the righteous and probes the heart and mind, Hebrews 4:12, and so he asked God to allow him to see His vengeance on them because He has committed to God’s cause, Jeremiah 20:12. Previously he wasn’t very sure of himself but now it seems that Jeremiah is now convinced that he can stand up for the Lord and the result is sings and praising God, Jeremiah 20:13.
Many a soul has been delighted at God’s strength in a similar fashion. You have to be involved, and your own limitations show up, to feel the closeness of God. This is a man complaining about his lot in life but it still shows his submission, loyalty, and obedience to God’s will.
Clarke, in his commentary, says the following.
‘He was so completely delivered from all fear, that although he remained in the same circumstances, yet he exults in the Divine protection and does not fear the face of any adversary.’
‘Cursed be the day I was born! May the day my mother bore me not be blessed! Cursed be the man who brought my father the news, who made him very glad, saying, ‘A child is born to you—a son!’ May that man be like the towns the LORD overthrew without pity. May he hear wailing in the morning, a battle cry at noon. For he did not kill me in the womb, with my mother as my grave, her womb enlarged forever. Why did I ever come out of the womb to see trouble and sorrow and to end my days in shame?’ Jeremiah 20:14-18
Some scholars believe it would be a mistake to say that Jeremiah was cursing his birth. These false prophets were saying everything would be good but it won’t. Jeremiah is saying it wasn’t a good time to be born and talk about the good news, Jeremiah 20:14-15 / Job 3:1-19.
It was against the Law of Moses for a person to curse one’s parents, Exodus 21:17, and Jeremiah carefully avoided doing that. He didn’t actually curse his mother, he cursed the day that he was born, he didn’t curse his father but the man who brought news of his birth to his father, Jeremiah 20:14-15 / Leviticus 20:9 / Leviticus 24:10-16.
Jeremiah says, may that man be like the towns God overthrew without pity and may he hear wailing in the morning, a battle cry at noon, Jeremiah 20:16. For he did not kill me in the womb, with my mother as my grave, her womb enlarged forever, Jeremiah 20:17. Jeremiah ends by asking a question, why did he ever come out of the womb to see trouble and sorrow and to end his days in shame? Jeremiah 20:18 / Ephesians 3:13.
The words in this final section are so radically different from the trust and confidence expressed in previous verses. Because of this, scholars are at a loss as to know how to interpret them.
Henry, in his commentary, says the following, concerning Jeremiah 20:14-18.
‘Seems to be Jeremiah’s relation of his thoughts while he was in the ferment he had experienced in the stocks, and out of which his faith and hope had rescued him, rather than a new temptation into which he later fell.’
Coffman, in his commentary, says the following, concerning Jeremiah 20:14-18.
‘Perhaps we should understand that these words of Jeremiah relate to what he said to himself whilst in the torture of the stocks, Jeremiah 20:1-2.’
I can just imagine that Jeremiah, as he looked back on the many years of pleading and preaching, to God’s people that he felt that, in one sense, he had totally wasted his life. And it was probably that sense of failure that caused his depression and despondency when he thought about it, Psalm 31:22.
We must note that the way Jeremiah felt doesn’t mean it was the reality. He may have ‘felt’ that way but just like Christ as a human was on the cross, it ‘felt’ like God had abandoned Him, Matthew 27:46, the reality was that God didn’t turn His back on Him, Psalm 22.