Jeremiah 15:10

BEGINNING OF JEREMIAH'S SECOND LAMENT

"Woe is me, my mother, that thou has borne me a man of strife and a man of contention to the whole earth! I have not lent, neither have men lent to me; yet every one of them doth curse me. Jehovah said, Verily, I will strengthen thee for good; verily I will cause the enemy to make supplication unto thee in the time of evil and in the time of affliction."

These verses and through the end of the chapter constitute "the second personal lament of Jeremiah,"[10] according to Ash; and this one appears to be the most serious because it actually constituted a denial of Jeremiah's commission, as we shall see a moment later.

"I have not lent, neither have men lent to me ..." (Jeremiah 15:10). What a glimpse of human nature is this! Yes indeed, one of the surest ways to make bitter enemies is either to borrow money from them or to lend it to them! Jeremiah refers to his having refrained from doing either as a grounds of his being unable to understand why everybody hated him!

Cheyne believed that this lament "belongs to a later period of the history of Judah"[11] but there is nothing certain about such a speculation. Hyatt stated that, "We do not know the occasion of this lament."[12]

"Woe is me, my mother that thou hast borne me" (Jeremiah 15:10). Many commentators equate this with "cursing" the day of his birth. "To curse the day of his birth was tantamount to a rejection of his very mission."[13] This seems to be going a little too far with such implications, because certainly there is a vast difference in what is said here from the account of what was said when Job cursed the day of his birth (Job 3:1-6). Still, Jeremiah's error, whatever it was, required his repentance (Jeremiah 15:19).

"I will strengthen thee for good ..." (Jeremiah 15:11). As Dummelow pointed out, Jeremiah's enemies, of whom was Zedekiah, would not only spare his life, but invoke his aid. An example of this is given in Jeremiah 21:1-7.[14]

""I will cause the enemy to make supplication unto thee ..." (Jeremiah 15:11). "This was literally fulfilled in Jeremiah 39:11. Nebuchadnezzar gave strict orders to his commander-in-chief to look well to Jeremiah, to do him no harm, and to grant him all the privileges he was pleased to ask."[15]