Jeremiah 20:7

JEREMIAH'S FINAL LAMENT

Some find two confessions or laments in this passage, but we can discover only one. The only basis for making two out of it is the unexpected appearance of the reassuring verses (Jeremiah 20:11-13), but we believe the latter verses (Jeremiah 20:14-18) are also built around and related to Jeremiah 20:11-13, giving only one confession and lament in this chapter. We shall assign further reasons for this understanding of the chapter in the discussion under Jeremiah 20:13-14.

"O Jehovah, thou has persuaded me, and I was persuaded; thou art stronger than I, and hast prevailed: I am become a laughing-stock all the day, everyone mocketh me. For as often as I speak, I cry out; I cry, Violence and destruction! because the word of Jehovah is made a reproach unto me, and a derision all the day. And if I say, I will not make mention of him, nor speak any more in his name, then there is in my heart as it were a burning fire shut up in my bones, and I am weary with forbearing, and I cannot contain. For I have heard the defaming of many, terror on every side. Denounce, and we will denounce him, say all my familiar friends, they that watch for my fall; peradventure he will be persuaded, and we shall prevail against him, and we shall take our revenge on him."

This is indeed a pitiful complaint on the part of Jeremiah. All of his close neighbors and friends preferred to believe the false prophets such as Pashhur rather than the terrible warnings of Jeremiah; and it appears here that they confidently expected him to be destroyed rather than themselves and their city. How wrong they were!

"This paragraph reveals at what terrible personal cost God's word was faithfully delivered by Jeremiah."[14] Note that Jeremiah, on occasion, had tried to refrain from delivering such sorrowful news to his beloved people and their city; but he had found it impossible to hide God's message, unpopular as it surely was.

"The word of Jehovah is made a reproach unto me ..." (Jeremiah 20:8). Several things had contributed to this. The message was not one of blessing, but of punishment and destruction. Furthermore, the years had slipped away, and the false prophets were screaming that the true prophecies of men like Isaiah and Jeremiah were false. No destruction had yet come upon Jerusalem; and they were shouting that the prophecies were false because they had not yet come to pass. The people, who strongly preferred to put their trust in the false prophets, took up all of the cries of violence and destruction, of terror on every side, etc., and affixed them to Jeremiah as a nickname. "Here comes old `Violence and Destruction'; here comes old `'Terror on Every Side'"!

Jeremiah here responds to his situation with words that are little short of blasphemy. He accused God of "persuading him." "The literal Hebrew word here is `deceived,' and it actually means `to seduce,' as a virgin is seduced (Exodus 22:16)."[15] Jeremiah was saying that, "He was unwilling to take the prophetic office at first, but that God had over-persuaded him with promises, as in Jeremiah 1:8,17,18. However, Jeremiah had simply misunderstood the promises, for God had promised no immunity from persecution and hatred of men, but that Jeremiah would prevail."[16] God certainly knew his man; because despite Jeremiah's bitter lament, he did indeed prevail.

The whole paragraph here, "Depicts a man loudly complaining about his lot in life, yet showing that he is still submissive, loyal and obedient to God's will."[17]