Jeremiah 20

NOW Pashur the son of Immer the priest The course of Immer was the sixteenth course of the Priests, as we read in 1 Chron. 24.14. Pashur was his Son, that is descended from him through many Generations., who was also chief governour in the house of the LORD It is neither much material for us to know, nor very easie to determine in what sense he is called the chief Governour of the Temple, whether he was Deputy to the High Priest, or the head of his course, which at that time waited in the Temple, or had some place as Captain of the Temple, to take notice of any disorders should be committed there, contrary to the Law. Certain it is he was no High Priest for then he could not have been one of the course of Immer., heard that Jeremiah prophesied these words Either he heard Ieremiah himself (which is most probable) or some body told him what Ieremiah had prophesied in the Temple which was within his charge, and jurisdiction..

Then Pashur smote Jeremiah the prophet It is not said how he struck him, though some think it most probable, that it was with his fist as the false Prophet struck Micaiah, 1 King. 22.24., and put him in the stocks We are as uncertain what is here meant by stocks, whether such an Engine as is in use amongst us to punish Offenders which we call by that name. Or as others, an Engine like our Pillory, where Malefactors are fastned by the necks. Or, as others, with three holes one for the neck of the offender, one for each hand; or whether merely a Prison where he was kept all night a Prisoner the Heb. word will not determine us further then that it was a place of restraint, and where that will not determine other conjectures are as incertain as needless. that were in the high gate of Benjamin, which was by the house of the LORD There is as much uncertainty as to the place, where this Prison or these stocks were; we are told it was near the Temple, and in the High-gate of Benjamin, but whether this was a gate belonging to the Temple that opened toward that part of the Country which was the Lot of Benjamin, or a Gate of the City that opened that way, whether in the inner Wall, or outer Wall, whether called the Higher-gate, because nearer the Temple, or upon some other account, are nice and curious speculations, the determination of which is of no moment for us to know..

And it came to pass on the morrow, that Pashur brought forth Jeremiah out of the stocks Possibly by this time the mad-brain'd Priest, thought he had done more than he could justifie by law, for if he were a false Prophet, the Judgment of him belonged not to him but to the Sanhedrim. He had nothing to do to smite him, possibly he brought him forth in order to bring him before the Sanhedrim; but it does not appear that he did so, tho' Ieremiahs following words to him might reasonably be thought provocative enough if he had designed any formal charge against him.. Then said Jeremiah unto him, The LORD has not called thy name Pashur, but Magor-missabib He had it seemeth no more to say to Ieremiah, but Ieremiah (to whom God had appeared in the Prison that night, while he was separated from communion with men, and revealed to him, what end this hot-headed Priest should come to) had something to say to him. Gods meaning was not that he should by men be no longer called Pashur for doubtless after this he was called by the same name he had before, but his state and condition should not answer the name Pashur, which signifies, as some say, a noble flourishing Priest; or, as others, one who by his Authority maketh others to tremble; but Magor-missabib, that is fear, and terror on all sides..

For thus says the LORD, Behold, I will make thee a terrour to thy self, and to all thy friends, and they shall fall by the sword of their enemies, and thine eye 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 God now expoundeth the name of Magor missabib, threatning to fill this wicked Priest with Terrors, that he and all his friends should be affrighted reflecting upon his most miserable state, and condition, and his friends from whom he might possibly expect some relief should be as miserable as he, and it should be an addition to his misery, that his eyes should see it, and see his whole country ruined, some being slain by the sword of the King of Babylon, others by him carried into Captivity..

Moreover, I will deliver all the strength of this city This is but the repetition of what God had often threatned, viz. The perfect ruine of Hierusalem, and the land of Iudah. Their Military men, or rather their Riches., and all the labours thereof And all the fruit of their Labours., and all the precious things thereof, and all the treasures of the king of Judah, will I give into the hand of their enemies, which shall spoil them, and take them, and carry them to Babylon The Babylonians should make a spoil, and a prey of them all..

And thou Pashur, and all that dwell in thine house, shall go into captivity, and thou shalt come to Babylon, and there thou shalt die, and shalt be buried there, thou and all thy friends, to whom thou hast prophesied lies Those that teach others to disobey the Commandements of God, seldom escape that Vengeance which cometh upon them who are seduced by them. Pashur was one whose office it was to have taught others the Fear of the Lord, and obedience to his Will, he teacheth them what was false, and is not patient to hear the Will of God. Ieremiah tells him he should feel the Truth of it, for he himself should be one of those who should be carried into Captivity, and should dye there, out of his own Country, and be buried there, and this also should be the portion of all his friends whom he had seduced by his false and lying Prophesies..

¶ O LORD, thou hast deceived me, and I was deceived The following part of the Chapter to the end of it, containeth a complaint or prayer of the Prophet unto God, made (as some think) during his imprisonment by Pashur, but the certain time is not known. Our Translators here might have translated the word more favourably than thou hast deceived me. It might have been thou hast persuaded me, Or thou hast allured, or enticed me, as it is translated, Iud. 14.15. 1 King. 22.21, 22. Exod. 22.16. Prov. 1.10. & 16.29. Psal. 78.36. The word signifies no more than by words to remove a man from his own opinion. That is doubtless the sense here, Lord, I was not fond of this employment as a Prophet, by thy words I was removed from my own opinion of my self, which might be spoken by the Prophet without any reflection upon God, it only signifieth his undertaking the office of a Prophet at Gods command, not out of any ambition of his own.: thou art stronger than I, and hast prevailed But thou prevailedst against me. Ieremy at first excused himself to God, as we read, chap. 1.6. He said, Ah Lord God, behold I am a child, and cannot speak; but the Lord prevailed upon him, replying, ver. 7. Say not, I am a child, for thou shalt go to all that I shall send thee, and whatsoever I command thee thou shalt speak, ver. 9. The Lord put forth his hand, and touched his mouth, and said, Behold I have put my words in thy mouth. This is all that is here meant by deceiving, viz. Gods over-ruling of him contrary to his own inclinations.: I am in derision daily, every one mocketh me He complaineth that now he was in this office, every one mock'd him and derided him, and that for the faithful discharge of that office, to which God had called him..

For since I spake, I cried out If the particle be translated since, as we translate it, the meaning is, since I first began to be a Prophet, I have faithfully discharged my Prophetical Office, and that with some warmth and zeal., I cried violence, and spoil Some understand it of the violence which he himself experienced; others understand it of those Acts of injustice and violence which were found amongst the People, he cried out against them. Others understand it as a denunciation of judgment. He prophesied that violence and spoil was coming upon them., because the word of the LORD was made a reproach unto me, and a derision daily Because of that scorn and derision with which they treated him. But others think that it were better translated surely than because, as it is in many texts, Isa. 60.9. & 63.16. &c. It is not much material which way we translate it, for it appeareth from 2 Chron. 36.16. That this peoples mocking of Gods messengers, despising his words, and misusing his Prophets, was one great cause of the wrath of God coming upon them: and it is certain that Ieremy was made such a scorn and derision to them..

Then I said, I will not make mention of him, nor speak any more in his name This daily scorn and reproach which the Prophet saw himself exposed unto, for preaching against the sin and wickedness of the people, was a sore Temptation upon him to lay down his imployment as a Prophet, he did not speak this openly, but he spake it in his heart, he had (as he confesseth) many such thoughts in his breast.. But his word was in my heart as a burning fire shut up in my bones, and I was weary with forbearing, and I could not stay But he says he was not able to do what he thought to do, he found in his heart a constraint to go on, that when a Revelation came at any time from God unto him it was like a fire in his bones which he must quench, by uttering what God had revealed to him..

¶ For I heard the defaming of many, fear on every side The Prophet here rendereth a reason why he thought of giving over his work as a Prophet, his ears were continually fildle with the Obloqu es and reproaches of such as reproached him, and besides he was afraid on all hands there were so many Traps laid for him, so many devices devised against him. They did not only take all advantages against him, but they sought advantages and: Report, say they, and we will report it invited others to raise up false stories of him. They said to men like themselves, Raise but you the report, we will blow it abroad.: all my familiars watched for my halting Not only strangers, but those that I might have expected the greatest kindness from, those that pretended most courteously, watched for opportunities to do me mischief, and lay in wait for my halting., saying, Peradventure he will be enticed, and we shall prevail against him Desiring nothing more then that I might be enticed to speak or do something which they might make matter of a colourable Accusation., and we shall take our revenge on him That so they might satisfie their malice upon me. This has always been the genius of wicked men; Iob and David both made complaints much like this, Iob 19.19. Psal. 3.13. & 55.12, 13, 14. Thus it fared with Christ himself. The same Spirit which yet possesseth wicked men, was found in wicked men in all former times. And this ought to be a great relief to the people of God under the like measures, to consider that the Servants are not above their Lord, and wicked men thus of old persecuted the Prophets..

But the LORD is with me as a mighty terrible one The Prophet recovering himself out of his fit of Passion, incourageth himself in his God, whom he calls the mighty and terrible one, so declaring his faith in the power of God, as one able to save him, and in the promise and good will of God toward him; therefore he says, the Lord is with me, such was the promise of God to this Prophet when he first undertook the Prophetical Office, chap. 1.8. Be not afraid of their faces, for I am with thee to deliver thee says the Lord.: therefore my persecutors shall stumble, and they shall not prevail From hence he concludeth, that though he had many that pursued after his life, yet they should stumble in their wayes of violence, and should not prevail., they shall be greatly ashamed That they should either be ashamed of, what they had done or be brought to shame for, what they had done., for they shall not prosper For prosper they should not, or they acted like Fools, and did not deal prudently for themselves (so this word is translated Isa. 52.13.), their everlasting confusion shall never be forgotten They should come to a reproach and ignominy, and their reproach should not be like his for a time, but it should be a lasting, perpetual reproach that should not be forgotten. This was not only written for that generation, but for all generations that are yet to come, and has been made good in the experience of all ages past. The persecuters of Gods Ministers have found that God has been with his Ministers according to his Promise, Matth. 28.20. and that they have stumbled in their way, and not at last prevailed, that they have not acted prudently for their own good, and the good of their Families; that a perpetual ignominy clave to the memory of those who have been employed in this work. There stands to this day a blot upon the memory of them who persecuted Isaiah, Ieremy, &c. The Apostles, and such faithful Ministers as have been since their time..

But, O LORD of hosts, that triest the righteous, and seest the reins and the heart The Prophet had chap. 17.10. spoken unto God under this notion; here he appealeth to him as such, and therefore must needs see as well the Prophets sincerity as his Enemies Malice., let me see thy vengeance on them For his Prayer against his Enemies, it is of the same nature with what we met with chap. 11.20. indeed this whole verse is the same with that David, Psal. 58.10. prophesieth that the righteous should rejoyce when they see the vengeance which God brings on his Enemies; but yet the Prophet seems in this Petition to have showed himself a man (as the Apostle speaks of Eli ah) subject to like Passions with other men, for although God sometimes in his Providence, causeth Vengeance to come upon his, and his Peoples Enemies in their sight, yet whether they may absolutely pray for it is, a question. See the notes on chap. 11.20.: for unto thee have I opened my cause k.

Sing unto the LORD, praise ye the LORD, for he has delivered the soul of the poor from the hand of evil doers The Prophet here riseth higher, from Prayer to Praise; it is not certain whether this was a rejoycing of faith, or of sense; a thanksgiving to God, upon his deliverance out of the hand of Pashur, or some other Enemies, or a rejoycing in the sure belief that God would deliver his life out of the hands of these wicked men. If we take it in the latter sense, it teacheth us our duty, to give God the honour of all our deliverances from the hands of wicked men. If in the former sense it shows us the power of faith, which being the sub ance of things not seen, and evidence of things but hoped for, shows us things to come as if already present, and teacheth us to re oyce in the hope of those things of which we have no present possession..

¶ Cursed be the day wherein I was born: let not the day wherein my mother bare me be blessed This sudden change of the Prophets stile, maketh both Mr. Calvin, and some other good Interpreters, think that these words proceeded from Ieremiah rather as a repetition of a former passion into which the abuses of his Enemies had put him, then as the immediate product of his Spirit at this time. When ever they were spoken, they speak a very extravagant passion to show us that though Ieremiah was a great man, yet he was but a man, encompassed with infirmities, and subject to like Passions with other men. We find Iob in the like passion, chap. 3.3. These great failures of Gods people stand in Scripture, as Rocks in the Sea appear, to mind Marriners to keep off them, not to run upon..

Cursed be the man who brought tidings to my father, saying, A man-child is born unto thee, making him very glad Parents are usually rejoyced when a Son is born to them..

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 noon-tide By the Cities he means those Cities mentioned, Gen. 19.25. Sodom and Gomorrah, by the cry in the morning and shouting at Noon, he means the shouts, and noises that Enemies make when they break in upon a place, in an hostile manner..

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 These various expressions do only let us see to what a tide passion swelled in this good mans heart, and teach us how much need we have to pray to be delivered from our own passions; Ieremiahs leaving these things recorded by himself is one instance of what is brought as a rational argument to prove that holy men wrote the Scriptures by inspiration from God, they would never else have recorded their own gross failings, men commonly writing for their own honour, not to their own defamation..

Wherefore came I forth out of the womb to see labour and sorrow, that my days should be consumed with shame? These words let us know the Prophets Temptation to these extravagant eruptions of passion, it was the reproach and shame, and affliction which he indured for the faithful discharge of his Ministry, which both lets us see the goodness of God towards those whom he spareth as to these Trials, and what need we have under them to keep a watch upon our own hearts. These Records also of Holy Writ are useful to us if at any time we be overtaken with such errors, to comfort us, in that they are not such spo s but have been found in the faces of Gods fairest ones: and to make us charitable towards such as we may see sometimes overborn with the like Temptations..