Jeremiah 20:7 - Meaning and Application

Pashur’s doom was to become a terror to himself. Jeremiah is not in that condition here, even in this time of testing, but he is clearly stirred up and troubled within. Good people are only human at their best. God is not overly strict in marking every wrong word and deed, so we should not be harsh either, but try to judge fairly.

In these verses, Jeremiah is wrestling in his heart between grace and sin. Because Pashur treated him so cruelly, Jeremiah speaks from a troubled mind and heart. His words are a bit confused, so let us put them in order. First, he gives a sorrowful account of the wrong done to him and the insults he suffered. This account is no fault on his part, because it is true, and it was right for him to bring it to the one who sent him, who would surely support him.

He says, first, that people mocked him and laughed at him. They made a joke of everything he said and did, which is a deep hurt to an honest person (Jeremiah 20:7, Jeremiah 20:8). They treated him as a fool, good only for amusement. This happened constantly, day after day, and it came from all sides. The great forgot their own dignity, and the lowly forgot his. In this, he was like the Lord Jesus, who was mocked on the cross by both priests and common people, and both kinds of insult added to his shame.

What brought him into this contempt was nothing but his faithful work as a prophet. They could not find any real fault in him except his preaching (Jeremiah 20:8). The word of the Lord itself became the thing they mocked. The very reason they should have honored him, that he carried God’s message to them, was the reason they despised him. He never preached a sermon without staying close to his instructions, yet they still found something to attack.

It is sad that divine revelation, one of the greatest gifts and honors ever given to the world, has often become a reason for faithful preachers and believers to be mocked. They made fun of him in two ways. First, they mocked the way he preached. Since he spoke, he cried out. He had always been a warm, earnest preacher, and once he began speaking for God, he spoke with strong feeling. He cried aloud and did not hold back, neither for himself nor for his hearers. People who are cold toward God often laugh at those who are deeply moved by him. Earnest preachers are often the target of careless and unbelieving listeners.

Second, they mocked the message he preached. He cried, “Violence and spoil.” He rebuked them for the violence and robbery they were committing against one another, and he also warned them of the violence and destruction that would come on them as punishment for that sin. For the first, they mocked him as too strict. For the second, they mocked him as too gullible. In both cases, he offended them, and so they decided to put him down.

That was bad enough, but Jeremiah goes on. He says he was plotted against, and his ruin was planned. He was not only laughed at as a weak man, but slandered and described as a bad man, one dangerous to the government. He mourns this in Jeremiah 20:10. Being laughed at hurts a person’s honor, but it can sometimes be taken with a measure of strength, because it is no shame to be laughed at, only to deserve it. Still, there were some who acted more wickedly and more cleverly.

They spoke against him behind his back, when he had no chance to defend himself, and they worked hard to spread false stories about him. He says, “I heard the slander of many, fear on every side” (Psalm 31:13). Some understand this as many people, like Pashur, who should expect the same doom. Others take it to mean that they accused Jeremiah of spreading fear everywhere, making the people uneasy under the government and stirring them toward rebellion. Or it may mean that he felt so hated that he could not help fearing trouble from every side, because he had reason to watch for informers everywhere. In that way, they made him almost a “fear on every side” himself.

Jeremiah uses the same words David used before him, which is a comfort, because it shows that other good people have suffered the same kind of abuse. It also teaches us to use the Psalms in our own lives when our trouble matches David’s. Whatever we need to say, we may often find words there. His enemies had a set plan: “Report, and we will report it.” They wanted to fasten some ugly charge on him, and even if it was false, they would repeat it and spread it everywhere. If someone could make up a plausible story, or claim some acquaintance with Jeremiah, they would take it and pass it along in every gathering. One would speak it, and the rest would swear to it. Those who started the lie and those who spread it were equally guilty. The one who receives a slander is as bad as the one who steals.

They also flattered him to his face, hoping to catch something from his own mouth that they could use against him, like the spies who pretended to be honest people when they questioned Christ (Luke 20:20; Luke 11:53, Luke 11:54). His close companions, the people he spoke freely with and trusted, watched for him to slip. They listened for anything he said that they could twist into a bad meaning and carry to his enemies. It was a very sad case when those he thought were his friends betrayed him.

They said among themselves, “If we approach him kindly and work our way into his confidence, maybe he will admit that he is on the enemy’s side and takes money from the king of Babylon. Or we may trick him into saying something treasonous, and then we can bring him down and get revenge for rebuking us and warning us of God’s judgment.” This shows that neither a dove’s innocence, nor even a serpent’s wisdom, can keep people from unfair criticism and false accusations.

Jeremiah now tells us about the temptation he faced under this suffering. He was almost driven off course, like the psalmist who nearly slipped (Psalm 73:2). That is one of the greatest dangers in affliction, being pushed by pain into sin (Nehemiah 6:13). First, he was tempted to quarrel with God for making him a prophet. He begins with this in Jeremiah 20:7: “O Lord, you have deceived me, and I was deceived.” As we read it, that sounds very harsh.

God’s servants have always been ready to say that he is a faithful Master, who never cheats them. So this is really Jeremiah’s own weakness and sin speaking. If, when God called him to be a prophet and said he would set him over kingdoms (Jeremiah 1:10) and make him a fortified city, Jeremiah expected universal honor as a messenger from heaven and a life that was safe and easy, then the fault was his own. He knew how the prophets before him had been persecuted, so he had no reason to expect better treatment. God had plainly told him that the princes, priests, and people of the land would fight against him (Jeremiah 1:18, Jeremiah 1:19). If he had remembered that, he would not have blamed God in this way. Christ also told his disciples what opposition they would face, so they would not be shocked by it (John 16:1, John 16:2).

Yet these words can also be read in a better sense: “You persuaded me, and I was persuaded.” It is the same kind of word used elsewhere, where God is said to persuade or draw someone (Genesis 9:27, margin), and where a prince is persuaded by patient words (Proverbs 25:15), and where God says, “I will allure her” (Hosea 2:14). That fits the next words best: “You were stronger than I, you over-persuaded me with your arguments, yes, you overcame me by the power of your Spirit, and you prevailed.” Jeremiah had been very unwilling to take the prophetic office. He had pleaded that he was too young and not fit for it. But God overruled his excuses and told him to go (Jeremiah 1:6, Jeremiah 1:7). So Jeremiah is saying, “Lord, since you put this office on me, why do you not stand by me in it? If I had forced myself into it, I might justly be mocked. But why am I mocked when you forced me into it?” It was Jeremiah’s weakness to complain as if God had put a hardship on him by calling him to be a prophet. He would not have done that if he had thought about the lasting honor God had given him, which was enough to outweigh his present shame.

As long as we know we are in God’s path and doing his will, it is weakness and foolishness to wish we had never started when trouble comes. He was also tempted to give up his work altogether, partly because he suffered so much in it and partly because the people he was sent to did not improve at all. Instead of being helped, they became more angry (Jeremiah 20:9). He said, in effect, “Since preaching in the Lord’s name brings me no benefit, only shame and disgrace, I will not speak in his name anymore. If my enemies want to silence me, I will silence myself. I may as well speak to stones as to them.” This is a strong temptation for poor ministers when their preaching is ignored and seems to do no good.

People should be careful not to push their ministers into that temptation. Let not their work be useless among us, or we may make them say they will do no more for us, and even stir God to say, “They shall take no more.” Yet ministers themselves must not listen to that temptation. They should keep going in their duty, even when discouraged, because that is the more worthy and thankful path. Even if Israel is not gathered, they will still be honored.

Jeremiah also shows his faithful clinging to his calling and his glad trust in God. God’s grace was strong in him, holding him to this work even when he was tempted to quit. “I said in my haste, I will speak no more in his name. I will hide and suppress what is in my heart to say.” But he soon found that the message was like a burning fire shut up in his bones. It burned inside him and had to come out. He could not smother it. He was like a man with a burning fever, restless and in constant pain. While he kept silent about what was good, his heart burned within him, and it was painful and distressing until he spoke and found relief (Psalm 29:2, Psalm 29:3; Job 32:20). “While I kept silent, my bones grew old” (Psalm 32:3).

See how strong the spirit of prophecy was in those who were moved by it. In the same way, holy zeal for God can so fill a person that he forgets himself. “I believed, therefore I have spoken.” Jeremiah soon grew weary of holding back and could not contain himself. Nothing pains faithful ministers more than being silenced, and nothing frightens them more than silencing themselves. Their convictions will soon rise above temptations like this, because “woe to me if I do not preach the gospel,” whatever it may cost me (1 Corinthians 9:16). It is truly a mercy when God’s word is so strong in us that it overcomes our sinful desires.

He was also sure of God’s presence with him, and that was enough to defeat all his enemies’ efforts against him (Jeremiah 20:11). They said, “We shall prevail against him. The day will be ours.” But Jeremiah knew they would not prevail, and they would not succeed. He could safely defy them all, because the Lord was with him, on his side, and ready to defend him against every evil plan (Romans 8:31). God was with him to support him and help him carry the burden that pressed him down. He was with him to make the preached word accomplish God’s purpose, even if not Jeremiah’s own hopes. He was with him as a mighty and terrible one, able to strike fear into his enemies and overcome them.

Even what is terrible in God is comforting to his servants who trust him, because that same power will be turned against those who try to terrify his people. God’s greatness as a mighty God means he is also a fearful enemy to all who rise up against him, or against anyone like Jeremiah whom he has sent.

How terrible God’s anger will be for those who try to frighten everyone around them, while they themselves fear nothing! The strongest enemies look weak when we see that the Lord is on our side as “a mighty and awesome one” (Nehemiah 4:14). Jeremiah now speaks with confidence: “If the Lord is with me, my persecutors will stumble. When they chase me, they will not catch me” (Psalm 27:2). Then they will be deeply ashamed of their useless hatred and empty attacks.

Their shame will last. Their disgrace and humiliation will not be forgotten. They will not be able to forget it themselves, because it will keep hurting them whenever they think of it. Others will not forget it either, and it will leave a lasting stain on their name.

Jeremiah then appeals to God as the righteous Judge, and asks him to decide his case (Jeremiah 20:12). He sees God as the one who examines the righteous, that is, the one who looks closely into their lives and every cause that matters to them. God does not favor them blindly. He tests them, and when he finds that they are in the right and that their persecutors are hurting them, he gives judgment for them.

The God who tests the righteous also tests the wicked, and he is fully able to judge both. He sees the mind and the heart. He knows people’s thoughts, feelings, goals, and motives, so he can give a perfectly fair judgment on their words and actions. This is the God to whom the prophet turns. “I have laid out my case before you,” he says. God already knows the case completely, but we still need to bring it before him. He knows it, but he wants to hear it from us. We should speak plainly and fully, not to inform him, but to help ourselves. When we are oppressed and weighed down, it is a comfort to open our case to God and pour out our complaints before him.

Jeremiah also looks to God for justice: “Let me see your vengeance on them,” meaning the judgment God sees fit to give for their guilt and for Jeremiah’s vindication. He asks for the kind of justice God gives to persecutors. We must not try to take revenge ourselves for any wrong done to us. We must leave that to God, to whom vengeance belongs, and who has said, “I will repay.”

Then Jeremiah breaks out in praise, fully trusting that God will deliver him (Jeremiah 20:13). He is so sure of God’s presence, protection, and promise that he calls others, and himself, to sing to the Lord and praise him. A great change has taken place since the start of this passage. The clouds have lifted. His complaints have turned into thanksgiving.

He now trusts the very God in whom he had once felt doubtful (Jeremiah 20:7). He is praising the name he had said he would mention no more (Jeremiah 20:9). This happy change came through active faith, which turned his sighs into songs and his fear into victory. It is right to show our hope in God by praising him, and to praise God by singing to him.

The reason for the praise is this: God has delivered “the soul of the poor” from the power of evil people. Jeremiah means especially his own poor soul. God had delivered him before, when he was in trouble, and lately from the hand of Pashur, the priest who opposed him. He will keep delivering him also (2 Corinthians 1:10). He will deliver his soul from the sin he might fall into through this persecution. God has rescued him from evil men, so they have not succeeded and have not had their way.

Those who are faithful in doing good do not need to fear those who are eager to do evil. They can trust a God who keeps well-doers under his care and evil-doers under his restraint.