Chapter Twenty

1–6. A threat of God’s judgment against Pashhur, who insulted the prophet. 7–18. The prophet’s lament over the hardship of his condition and the consolation which God provides.

(Jer 20:1-6) Pashhur, an overseer in the temple, hearing Jeremiah’s prophecy, struck him and put him in the stocks for a whole day. For this Jeremiah prophesied to him personally that he would be carried captive to Babylon and would die in captivity, while repeating the prophecy of the carrying away of the entire Jewish people into captivity.

Jeremiah 20:1. When Pashhur the son of Immer, the priest who was chief officer in the house of the Lord, heard Jeremiah prophesying these things, “Pashhur” was the son of Immer and thus a priest from the sixteenth priestly course (1 Chr 24:14). His office was very important. At the same time he claimed prophetic authority for himself (verse 6) and thus looked upon Jeremiah as his rival.

Jeremiah 20:2. Pashhur beat the prophet Jeremiah and put him in the stocks that were in the Upper Gate of Benjamin, which was by the house of the Lord. The gate of Benjamin is called the upper gate, probably because it led from the inner, priestly courtyard to the outer courtyard, and the first courtyard was situated higher than the second. Or perhaps it was named thus in distinction from the city gates, which also bore the name “gate of Benjamin” (see Jer 17:19).

Jeremiah 20:3. But the next day, when Pashhur released Jeremiah from the stocks, Jeremiah said to him: The Lord does not call your name Pashhur, but Magor-Missabib. *** The Lord now mysteriously proclaims to the wicked priest a new name, one which fully corresponds to his sad fate awaiting him. This is a sign that the fate of Pashhur, indicated in the meaning of his new name, can no longer be changed. Jer 20:7-18 The insults to which the prophet was subjected compel him again to complain about his fate. He even resolved to cease prophesying altogether, but could not carry out his resolve. The Lord urges him to continue his ministry and, in reliance on His help, the prophet expresses his assurance in the destruction of his enemies. But soon human weakness again makes itself felt and the prophet curses the day of his birth.

Jeremiah 20:7. You have seduced me, O Lord, and I was seduced; You are stronger than I, and You have prevailed, and I am a laughingstock all day long; everyone mocks me. More precisely from the Hebrew: “You persuaded or talked me into it, O Lord; am I acting against my will?”

Jeremiah 20:8. For whenever I speak, I cry out; I shout, “Violence and destruction!” For the word of the Lord has become to me a reproach and derision all day long. The prophet, at each time he comes forward to preach, must complain of the violence and insults inflicted upon him for his preaching. He indeed must proclaim such words of God as are deeply displeasing to his countrymen, and for which the prophet continually pays the price.

Jeremiah 20:14. Cursed be the day on which I was born! The day when my mother bore me, let it not be blessed! Jeremiah 20:15. Cursed be the man who brought the news to my father and said, “A son has been born to you,” and made him very glad. The curses which the prophet hurls upon the day of his birth and the man who brought news of his birth to his father should be understood in the sense that it had become unbearable for the prophet to live in the world.

Jeremiah 20:16. Let that man be like the cities that the Lord overthrew without pity; let him hear a cry in the morning and an alarm at noon, Since that man, who brought news of Jeremiah’s birth to his father, can scarcely be compared to the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah, which Jeremiah has in view here, and since it would be unnatural to suppose that a stranger could have access to the woman giving birth and especially that he could have killed Jeremiah while still in his mother’s womb, it is better to acknowledge (with Duhm) that in verse 16, the word “isch” (man) should read “jom” (day), which looks quite similar to it. In that case both here and in verse 17 the sense and expression become clear. The prophet wishes that his birthday be an unfortunate day, that no more children be born on that day: it will be deprived of life like Sodom and Gomorrah: and only lamentation will be heard on that day. Moreover, that day could actually have killed Jeremiah, so that he would have been born dead, and in this sense the expression of verse 17 becomes natural. Special remarks. The symbolic action in the valley of Hinnom and the event recorded in Chapter XX probably took place before the fourth year of Jehoiakim’s reign, when the prophet could still come forward with preaching in the temple, which was not allowed to him later. —Jeremiah’s prophecy about Pashhur was probably fulfilled when Nebuchadnezzar carried some Jews captive to Babylon in 607 BC. In fact, in Jer 29:25-26 verse, an overseer of the temple named not Pashhur but Zephaniah is mentioned. * * * Notes Terror all around.