Jeremiah 20.a. Something like a Burning Fire!"

 Under God’s orders, Jeremiah has been persistent in preaching warnings about sinful behavior and the effect of national sin on the fortunes of the kingdom of Judah. People don’t like what he is saying. The government doesn’t like to be reminded of how corrupt they are. Even his own family gets tired of it. So, some begin to take action against the preacher. “Justice must be served,” or so they say, but that depends on who is being prosecuted, doesn’t it? Why do those who demand a strict “law and order” project never apply that to the king?

Jeremiah 20: 1-2.  Now the priest Pashhur son of Immer, who was chief officer in the house of the LORD, heard Jeremiah prophesying these things. Then Pashhur struck the prophet Jeremiah and put him in the stocks that were in the upper Benjamin Gate of the house of the LORD. 

 What irony! The priest Pashhur is thought to have been an assistant to the high priest and specifically in charge of the temple organization. This means that Pashhur’s job was to keep order and to secure the flow of cash from tithes, fees, and marketing. Though it was centuries later, Jesus made the same assessment about the temple leadership (Luke 19: 45-46; Luke 20: 45–21: 4). 

 The Hebrew word used here means ‘struck’ but also may mean ‘beat’. Older translations use the popular 'smote', while some newer translations say that Pashhur “had Jeremiah the prophet beaten.” Surely it is not legal to have people beaten just to arrest them, is it?  

 The irony is that Jeremiah speaks because the Lord ordered him to prophesy. His words are the word of the Lord. The opposition comes from the priest who is in charge of the temple of the Lord. So, who is the true Jew? 

Jeremiah 20: 3-6. The next morning when Pashhur released Jeremiah from the stocks, Jeremiah said to him, “The LORD has named you not Pashhur but (Magor Missabib) ‘Terror-all-around.’ For thus says the LORD: I am making you a terror to yourself and to all your friends, and they shall fall by the sword of their enemies while you look on. And I will give all Judah into the hand of the king of Babylon; he shall carry them captive to Babylon and shall kill them with the sword. I will give all the wealth of this city, all its gains, all its prized belongings, and all the treasures of the kings of Judah into the hand of their enemies, who shall plunder them and seize them and carry them to Babylon. And you, Pashhur, and all who live in your house, shall go into captivity, and to Babylon you shall go; there you shall die, and there you shall be buried, you and all your friends, to whom you have prophesied falsely.”

 A new name, but not a happy name. It could also be translated as “Terror on-every-side.” Jeremiah has taken one of his preaching themes and applied it specifically to Pashhur, whose original name means, ironically, “Freedom” or “Liberty.”  That is exactly the kind of word play that both God and the prophet engage in. It makes the message stick in the memory. 

 There is evidence that Pashhur eventually was captured and exiled to Babylon, and that he died there. Both Pashhur and his father Immer are mentioned as ancestors of some priests who returned with Ezra after the exile (Ezra 2: 36-37). In fact, six sons of Pashhur are named specifically (Ezra 10: 22). By that time, they have surely would have heard someone read the scroll of Jeremiah out loud. Imagine how they felt about their family’s failure to interpret the word of God properly. How would you feel if your family used 'nationalism' as a frame for interpreting the Bible? “America First!”, “Israel First!” No, get it right: God first!

 Jeremiah’s prophecies are devastating. Goldingay suggests, for example, that we count the number of times that the word ‘all’ is used in the above passage (John Goldingay, The Book of Jeremiah, page 456). This is no ‘Well, they will burn the crops, but we will survive in our fortified cities’. This is ‘all’, including Jerusalem, including the temple, including the people, including the priests, and including the king. 

 The king and the people prefer another news station; they can’t handle the truth any more. So they beat Jeremiah and imprisoned him. How does Jeremiah feel about this treatment?  

Jeremiah 20: 7-9.  

O LORD, you have enticed me,   

and I was enticed;

you have overpowered me,   

and you have prevailed.

I have become a laughingstock all day long;   

everyone mocks me. 

For whenever I speak, I must cry out;   

I must shout, “Violence and destruction!”

For the word of the LORD has become for me   

a reproach and derision all day long.

If I say, “I will not mention him   

or speak any more in his name,”

then within me there is something like a burning fire   

shut up in my bones;

I am weary with holding it in,   

and I cannot.

 You can interpret this yourself. It’s pretty straightforward. ‘O Lord, why did you inveigle me? You inveigled me’. This is the translation that Goldingay prefers (p. 457). Wright tells us that “The word (pata) is translated in a variety of ways–’deceived, seduced, duped, made a fool of me’ are some options” (Christopher J. H. Wright, The Message of Jeremiah, Revised Edition, 2014, page 222). It is a pretty strong word implying that when God called Jeremiah, God deceived or tricked him into prophesying or preaching.

 In a sense, that is true. You never know what you are getting into. Twelve apostles, special disciples, were called: one betrayed Jesus and committed suicide, ten others were persecuted and then martyred. Only one, John, died a natural death. The disciples learned what they were getting into step by step, not all at once. The same is true for me with my call to ministry, and then my call to mission, and finally my call to teach in seminary. Have you found your call to be more complex and compelling as you walk with God?

 Jeremiah considers that it might be possible to just quit and keep quiet. But, it is too late. When the word of God comes to him, it builds a flame inside until a wildfire breaks out. He cannot help it. Neither can I. Do not expect me to be silent on what are called ‘political’ or ‘social’ issues. I see no walled categories in Scripture.

 Even Jesus’ famous saying, “Give to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s and to God the things that are God” is not a ‘separation of powers’ statement. Tell me, what doesn’t belong to God? That money that you covet, give it back to Caesar and along with it give up the oppressive economy that Caesar has built. God has a better idea: Give your wealth away until “the one who has much, doesn’t have too much, and the one who has little, doesn’t have too little” (I Corinthians 8: 15).

Jesus constantly criticizes the way that society was ordered and the way that rulers ruled. That’s why they killed him. That is why the priests and the king are after Jeremiah. The government wants to stop the true word of God because, if the whole Bible is really preached, including prophets like Jeremiah and Jesus, then the government and the people will be scorched. So be it.