Chapter 20
Pashhur persecutes Jeremiah
Lecture 1
Pashhur imprisons Jeremiah
20:1 And Pashhur, the son of Emmer, the priest, who was appointed chief in the house of the Lord , heard Jeremiah prophesying these words.
20:2 And Pashhur struck Jeremiah the prophet, and put him in fetters, which were in the upper gate of Benjamin, in the house of the Lord .
20:3 The next day, when it was light, Pashhur brought Jeremiah from prison, and Jeremiah said to him: the Lord has not called your name Pashhur, but Terror.
20:4 For thus says the Lord : behold, I will make you a terror to yourself and all your friends; and they will run from the sword of their enemies, and your eyes will see it; and I shall give all Judah into the hand of the king of Babylon, and he shall carry them into Babylon, and strike them with the sword.
20:5 And I shall give the whole substance of this city, and all its labor, and all its value, and all the treasures of the kings of Judah, shall I give into the hands of their enemies, and they shall spoil them, and take them, and lead them to Babylon.
20:6 But you, Pashhur, and all those who dwell in your house, shall go into captivity; and you shall come to Babylon, and there you shall die, and there you shall be buried, you and all your friends, to whom you have prophesied a lie.
110 . Having finished the threat against the people, he begins the threat against the princes.
First is given the threat of the prophet against the princes;
second, the conspiracy of the princes against the prophet, as it says below: in the beginning of the reign of Jehoiakim, the son of Josiah, king of Judah (Jer 26:1).
Concerning the first, there are two points.
First, he makes a threat against the princes of the Judean people;
second, against them and others, as it says below: the word which came to Jeremiah from the Lord (Jer 25:1).
The first divides into two parts.
In the first, he makes a threat against the princes, as those established in the highest rank of dignity;
in the second, he makes a threat against everyone, as it says below: woe to the shepherds who scatter and tear in pieces the flock (Jer 23:1).
Concerning the first, there are two points.
First, he makes a threat against the highest in spiritual dignity, namely, the high priest;
second, against the highest in temporal dignity, namely, against the king, as it says below: the word which came to Jeremiah from the Lord (Jer 21:1).
Concerning the first, there are two points.
First, he gives the threat against the high priest;
second, because of the danger which threatened the prophet as a result of this, he give his own complaint, at O Lord , you have deceived me (Jer 20:7).
Concerning the first, there are two points.
First is set down the occasion of the threat from the persecution of the prophet, where the reason for the persecution is given: prophesying these words , against the city; for this was the duty of the high priest—to bring false prophets to trial. As it says below: the Lord has made you a priest in the place of Jehoiada the priest, that you may be the ruler in the house of the Lord over every madman and prophet, that you may put them in the stocks and in prison (Jer 29:26).
The persecution of the prophet: and Pashhur struck . . . and put him in fetters , in a prison, a kind of torture for detaining captives; Benjamin , the gate which led to the tribe of Benjamin, for the city was located in the confines of both tribes (Josh 15:8, 18:28); the upper gate —perhaps because there were many gates leading to that land; in the house of the Lord , for which reason, prophets and ministers of the temple were judged in that gate and there confined to prison. He has built against me round about that I may not go out; he has made my fetters heavy (Lam 3:7).
And the liberation of the prophet: the next day, when it was light, Pashhur brought Jeremiah from prison . It happened that next day that their princes gathered together in Jerusalem, both the elders and the scribes (Acts 4:5). Who brings forth the bound with strength (Ps 67:7).
Second, the threat is given:
and first, the punishment is designated by the changing of the name: and Jeremiah said to him ; he speaks after the manner of a fearful man who looks all about. Terror to those who work evil (Prov 10:29).
Second is placed the threat of the punishment: for thus says the Lord :
first, with regard to his friends: to yourself and all your friends . Their priests have fallen by the sword (Ps 77:64).
Second, with regard to his subjects, when he speaks of the captivity of the people: and all Judah . Judah has gone away because of her affliction, and the greatness of her bondage; she has dwelt among the nations, but has found no rest (Lam 1:3).
And the plundering of goods: and I shall give the whole substance of this city . Everything which is in your house, and which your fathers stored up until this day, shall be carried away to Babylon. Nothing shall be left, says the Lord (Isa 39:6).
Third, with regard to his own household: but you, Pashhur, and all those who dwell in your house, shall go into captivity . . . and all your friends, to whom you have prophesied a lie , promising them prosperity. The Lord will cast you like a ball in a wide and spacious land. There, you will die (Isa 22:18). Your sons and your daughters will fall by the sword, and your land shall be measured by a line; and you shall die in a polluted land, and Israel shall go from his land as a captive (Amos 7:17).
Lecture 2
Jeremiah’s complaint to the Lord
20:7 O Lord , you have deceived me, and I was deceived, you were stronger than I, and you prevailed; I have become a laughingstock all the day; everyone mocks me.
20:8 For I am speaking now this long time, crying out against iniquity, and I often proclaim destruction; and the word of the Lord has become a reproach to me, and a derision all the day.
20:9 And I said: I shall not remember him, neither shall I speak any more in his name; and there came something like a fire burning in my heart, shut up in my bones; and I failed, unable to bear it.
20:10 For I heard the reproaches of many, and terror round about: ‘Persecute him, and let us persecute him,’ from all men who were at peace with me, and guarded my side: ‘If some way he may be deceived, and we may prevail against him, and avenge ourselves on him.’
20:11 But the Lord is with me, as a mighty man of war; therefore, those who persecute me shall fall and be weak; they shall be greatly ashamed, for they have not understood the eternal reproach, which shall never be blotted out.
20:12 And you, O Lord of hosts, are a tester of the just man; you who see the reins and heart, let me see, I pray, my vengeance upon them, for to you have I revealed my cause.
20:13 Sing to the Lord , praise the Lord , for he has freed the soul of the poor from the hand of the wicked.
111 . Here is placed the complaint of the prophet.
First, he laments the duty which has been enjoined upon him.
Second, he laments his birth.
Concerning the first, there are two points.
First, he bewails the office enjoined upon him because of the consequent derision;
second, because of persecution, at for I heard the reproaches of many (Jer 20:10).
Concerning the first, there are three things.
First, he makes known, as it were, the manner of the injunction by complaining: you have deceived , that is, I have received an occasion for deception from your words for I believed that I would prophesy against the nations and not against the Jews, from whom I suffer persecution. He does not, however, wish to impute the crime of deception to God, because then he would blaspheme. You prevailed , in imposing the duty upon me when I resisted, as above in chapter 1. And this chiefly because he did not see the fruit of his own preaching. I have labored in vain, I have wasted my strength vainly and without cause (Isa 49:4).
Second, he sets forth the outcome of his preaching when he speaks of their derision: I have become a laughingstock . . . everyone mocks , with a wrinkling of the nose manifesting derision. I have become a laughingstock to my entire people, their song all the day long (Lam 3:14).
And he gives the reason when he sets out the substance of his preaching by which he openly reproved faults and threatened punishments: for I am speaking now this long time, crying out against iniquity, and I often proclaim destruction , which, nevertheless, has not yet come. To them which rejoice upon a wall of baked bricks, tell their stripes (Isa 16:7). And the consequent reproach: and the word of the Lord has become a reproach to me , that is, a cause of reproach. Festus said to Paul: much learning has made you mad (Acts 26:24).
Third, he rescinds the duty that was enjoined upon him: and I said .
First, he casts away the duty: I shall not remember , that is, I will think no more to speak to the people. For he did not wish to cast his pearls before swine. Do not give what is holy to the dogs (Matt 7:6).
Second, he again takes up the duty he cast off: and there came something like a fire ; for the more one abstains externally from the words, the more one feels the fervor of love internally. My heart grew hot within me, and in my meditation a fire shall burn (Ps 38:4). In my bones , in the innermost part of the mind, I failed , in my purpose, unable to bear , the fire within, for I heard the reproaches of many (Jer 20:10).
Here, he complains about the duty he has taken on, because he is enduring persecution.
First, the persecution of his adversaries is given.
First, he speaks of the multitude of those who persecute him: of many , whom he is not able to resist. Persecute , in which their conspiracy is observed. He even mentions their familiarity: from all men who were at peace with me , in which the imminent danger is observed. All the men of your confederacy have mocked you; the men of your peace have prevailed against you (Obad 1:7).
Second comes the comforting of the prophet when he speaks of divine assistance: but the Lord is with me , to defend. The Lord God is my help, and therefore I am not ashamed (Isa 50:7). And his duty: and therefore, those who persecute me shall fall , because they persecute him. Boys shall faint and labor, and young men shall fall from weakness (Isa 40:30). They shall be greatly ashamed , because they have spoken reproachfully; for they have not understood , that is, they did not wish to understand, the reproach , of eternal damnation, or of the coming captivity. Let them be confounded and afraid, who seek my soul, that they may take it away (Ps 39:15).
Third is placed the petition where he longs for kindness, and commends justice: a tester —that is, one who proves, or an investigator and examiner—of knowledge; who sees the reins , with regard to the emotions, and hearts , with regard to the thoughts. Above: I the Lord examine the heart, and test the reins; it is I who give to each one according to his way (Jer 17:10). He seeks vengeance: let me see, I pray, my vengeance upon them ; and he gives the cause: for to you have I revealed , not to one who did not know this, but putting my entire cause in you. Above: for to you have I revealed my cause (Jer 11:20).
Fourth is placed his thanksgiving: sing to the Lord . Because he has freed the poor from the powerful, the poor man who had no helper (Ps 71:12).
Lecture 3
Jeremiah curses his birth
20:14 Cursed is the day on which I was born; the day on which my mother bore me, may it not be blessed!
20:15 Cursed is the man who announced it to my father, saying: a man-child is born to you, and made him rejoice greatly.
20:16 Let that man be as the cities which the Lord has overthrown and has not repented; let him hear a cry in the morning and wailing at noonday,
20:17 who did not kill me from the womb, so that the grave might become my mother and her womb an everlasting conception.
20:18 Why did I come forth from the womb to see labor and pain, that my days may be consumed in shame?
112 . Here, he laments the origin of his birth.
But one may object to what is said here, for it is the duty of the saints to glory in tribulations, as it is said in Romans 5. Therefore, it seems that Jeremiah should not have burst forth in cursing because of his tribulations.
Furthermore, the day is a creature of God; but to curse a creature of God is a sin; therefore, etc.
Furthermore, a day is a transitory thing, and it is foolish to apply the punishment of a curse to it; therefore, etc.
Furthermore, no one should curse the innocent; but that man, insofar as he did not kill Jeremiah, was innocent; therefore, he sinned in cursing him.
To the first objection it is to be said that tribulations considered in themselves are an evil insofar as they are contrary to the nature of the good, as Augustine says; and thus to abhor them with a natural hatred is not a sin. If, however, because of them, an argument were to be drawn inductively from one’s own rectitude, this would be a sin. Considered, however, insofar as they move one toward the good, the saints glory in them as a sick man might in the amputation by which he is healed.
To the second and third objections, it is to be said that he does not curse the day considered as to its nature, because this would be foolish and a sin, but insofar as it is evil, in that something bad happened in it; just as, to the contrary, a festival day is celebrated because of something good which happened on that day; and this is what that curse signifies. Gregory, however, considering the nature of the day itself, says that it cannot be understood literally.
And one must respond similarly to the last objection, because he does not curse those men except insofar as they have a relation to their own action. Whence, by this, he gives us to understand his own sense of horror, hyperbolically speaking, and the weariness of his own life because of the difficulties which he was suffering.
Therefore, concerning this, he makes two points.
First, he mentions the curse against the time of his birth: cursed is the day . May the day perish on which it was said: a man is conceived (Job 3:3).
Against the messenger of his birth: cursed is the man who announced it to my father, saying, a man-child is born to you, and made him rejoice greatly . God has made joy for me, and whoever shall hear of it shall laugh with me (Gen 21:6).
And he explains the manner of the curse: let that man be as the cities which the Lord has overthrown . You have made the city a heap, the strong city a ruin (Isa 25:2).
And against the life of the servant, who saved his life: let him hear a cry , of death, so that the grave might become my mother , as though he had not been reckoned among men; an everlasting conception , which never came to its due delivery. Why did I not die in the womb, why did I not immediately die when I came out of the belly (Job 3:11).
Second is placed the reason for the curse: why did I come forth from the womb? Above: woe to me, O my mother! Why did you give birth to me, a man of contention, a man of discord in the whole land? (Jer 15:10). Woe to me that I was born to see the destruction of my people, and the destruction of the holy city, and to dwell there when it is given into the hands of the enemy (1 Macc 2:7).
Collations
A note concerning the verse: O Lord , you have deceived me, and I was deceived, you were stronger than I, and you prevailed (Jer 20:7), for the Lord seduces by drawing one along with persuasion: since I was clever, I caught you by guile (2 Cor 12:16); by alluring one with consolations: when I had eaten it, my stomach was made bitter (Rev 10:10); by comforting one with promises. Above: why have you deceived this people and Jerusalem, saying, ‘You shall have peace’? And behold the sword has come even unto the soul (Jer 4:10). But the Lord prevails by correcting: he taught me with his mighty hand, that I should not go in the way of this people (Isa 8:11); by drawing one back from what is harmful: I shall hedge your way with thorns, and I will stop it with a wall (Hos 2:6); by holding one fast with love: I shall draw them with the cords of a man, with the bonds of love (Hos 11:4).