Reflections on Jeremiah 20

Jeremiah 20 (Contemporary English Version)
1. Pashhur son of Immer was a priest and the chief of temple security. He heard what I had said,
   
2. and so he hit me. Then he had me arrested and put in chains at the Benjamin Gate in the LORD's temple.
   
3. The next day, when Pashhur let me go free, I told him that the LORD had said: No longer will I call you Pashhur. Instead, I will call you Afraid-of-Everything.
   
4. You will be afraid, and you will bring fear to your friends as well. You will see enemies kill them in battle. Then I will have the king of Babylonia take everyone in Judah prisoner, killing some and dragging the rest away to Babylonia.
   
5. He will clean out the royal treasury and take everything else of value from Jerusalem.
   
6. Pashhur, you are guilty of telling lies and claiming they were messages from me. That's why I will have the Babylonians take you, your family, and your friends as prisoners to Babylonia, where you will all die and be buried.
   
7. You tricked me, LORD, and I was really fooled. You are stronger than I am, and you have defeated me. People never stop sneering and insulting me.
   
8. You have let me announce only destruction and death. Your message has brought me nothing but insults and trouble.
   
9. Sometimes I tell myself not to think about you, LORD, or even mention your name. But your message burns in my heart and bones, and I cannot keep silent.
   
10. I heard the crowds whisper, "Everyone is afraid. Now's our chance to accuse Jeremiah!" All of my so-called friends are just waiting for me to make a mistake. They say, "Maybe Jeremiah can be tricked. Then we can overpower him and get even at last."
    
11. But you, LORD, are a mighty soldier, standing at my side. Those troublemakers will fall down and fail-- terribly embarrassed, forever ashamed.
    
12. LORD All-Powerful, you test those who do right, and you know every heart and mind. I have told you my complaints, so let me watch you take revenge on my enemies.
    
13. I sing praises to you, LORD. You rescue the oppressed from the wicked.
    
14. Put a curse on the day I was born! Don't bless my mother.
    
15. Put a curse on the man who told my father, "Good news! You have a son."
    
16. May that man be like the towns you destroyed without pity. Let him hear shouts of alarm in the morning and battle cries at noon.
    
17. He deserves to die for not killing me before I was born. Then my mother's body would have been my grave.
    
18. Why did I have to be born? Was it just to suffer and die in shame?

---

Jeremiah had previously experienced ridicule from the people of Judah because of his prophesying, but on the occasion of this chapter the abuse is physical. His abuse comes at the hand of Pashhur, the chief officer in the temple, who had Jeremiah beaten and put in stocks overnight. What reason might Pashhur have conjured up in his mind to justify his actions? Obviously he did not like Jeremiah's message, especially since he spoke out against leaders of the nation, including religious leaders. But what reason might he have used to give justification to what he did? Did he accuse Jeremiah of being a false prophet against whom he needed to defend God's honor? Whatever the reason, one who feels compelled to use abuse against those with whom they disagree or even those who are obviously opposed to God, needs to examine their own heart and motives. God does not need nor desire us to protect Him. He is quite capable of protecting Himself and can do so in true justice.

Following this experience Jeremiah seems to have been emotionally vulnerable. First, he complained to God about having to act as His prophet to deliver this message of doom to Judah because of the ridicule it brought on him. The word of the Lord he delivered was for him a "constant disgrace and derision." (20:8) He had considered not delivering these messages from the Lord, but when he tried to hold back the message, it became "a fire burning in my heart, shut up in my bones. I become tired of holding it in, and I cannot prevail." (20:9)

Following his complaint to the Lord, Jeremiah then praised the Lord. He knew that the Lord was his personal warrior, providing protection for him, and so his persecutors had not succeeded in killing him. Thus he sang praise to the Lord for rescuing "the life of the needy from the hand of evil people." (20:13) But then Jeremiah's emotions swung back to the depths of despair and he cursed "the day on which I was born." (20:14) The reason for this cursing of his birth is given in verse 18, "Why did I come out of the womb to see only struggle and sorrow, to end my life in shame?"

Jeremiah seemed to be legitimately thankful to God for protecting him in the mission or calling God had given him, but was not particularly thankful for the calling itself. The message he had to deliver was constantly one of doom and brought continual ridicule to Jeremiah, and, it was obvious the mission he was given would not succeed. It would be only "struggle and sorrow" as he watched Judah persist in her defiance of God resulting in her demise. Since we are prone to measure success on outward signs, we would all, no doubt, feel similar to Jeremiah if given a mission by God that saw no outward positive results. But is that failure? Is it failure when we have faithfully carried out the calling God has given us even when we can see no positive outcome? I think not. I think God measures our success on our faithfulness to Him and the task He gives us. After all, if it is His mission to which we are called, then the outcome is dependent on Him and not on us.