Jeremiah 20:1 - Meaning and Application

Here we see, first, Pashur’s unfair anger toward Jeremiah, and what came from it (Jeremiah 20:1, 2). Pashur was a priest, so one would expect him to protect Jeremiah, who was also a priest and even more, a prophet of the Lord. The priests, as God’s servants, should have cared about God’s messenger and his work. Instead, this priest became a persecutor of the very man he should have supported.

Pashur was the son of Immer, which means he belonged to the sixteenth priestly division, since Immer was the head of that line when David arranged the priestly courses (1 Chronicles 24:14). This helps identify him, since another Pashur is named later (Jeremiah 21:1), and that one belonged to a different priestly course. This Pashur was the chief governor in the temple, perhaps only for a time, or as an assistant to the high priest, or perhaps as captain of the temple guard (Acts 4:1). He became Jeremiah’s chief enemy. Often, the strongest hostility toward God’s prophets has come from people who claim to care most about holiness and the church.

We should not assume Pashur was among the older priests who had gone with Jeremiah to the valley of Topheth to hear his prophecy, unless he went there with a hostile purpose. More likely, he either heard Jeremiah speak in the temple courts himself, or else others reported it to him. The phrase can be understood either way. In either case, he could not endure Jeremiah’s words, especially that Jeremiah would preach in the courts of the Lord’s house without asking his permission. When power in the church is abused, it becomes one of the most dangerous tools against the church.

In his anger, Pashur struck Jeremiah, probably with his hand or with the staff of authority. Perhaps it was only meant to shame him, like the blow the high priest ordered against Paul so he would stop speaking (Acts 23:2). Or perhaps it was a harsh beating, meant to hurt him as if he were a criminal. The action was unlawful. The high priest and the other priests should have been consulted, Jeremiah’s credentials should have been examined, and the matter should have been fairly investigated. Instead, justice was cast aside, and Jeremiah had to be crushed, whether he was right or wrong. Those who oppose godliness rarely want to be ruled by fair standards.

Pashur also put Jeremiah in the stocks. Some understand this as simple confinement, but it seems more likely to have been a device that caused both pain and shame. It may have been a pillory for the neck and arms, or, as here, stocks for the legs. However it worked, Jeremiah remained there all night, in a public place, at the upper gate of Benjamin, which was in or near the Lord’s house. Pashur wanted to punish him so he would stop prophesying, and also to make him look foolish so people would ignore him if he kept speaking. The best people have often received the worst treatment from this ungrateful world, and the greatest blessings of their time have been treated like refuse. It would stir holy anger in us to see a man like Pashur in authority and a man like Jeremiah in the stocks. It is a comfort that there is another life, where people and events will be seen more clearly.

Second, we see God’s just anger against Pashur, and the signs of it. The next day Pashur released Jeremiah and brought him out of the stocks (Jeremiah 20:3). He likely kept him there as long as such punishment usually lasted. Then Jeremiah received a message from God for him. We do not read that Jeremiah protested while he was being abused. He seems to have submitted quietly and without threats. But when he was brought out, God gave him a word that would trouble Pashur’s conscience, if he had one. When the Lord’s prophet was bound, the word of the Lord was not bound.

Whatever Pashur hoped to accomplish by beating and humiliating Jeremiah, God shows that he failed. Did Pashur think he could make himself secure and comfortable by silencing a man who exposed his faults and lowered his standing with the people? He would not succeed. Even if the prophet were silent, his own conscience would still trouble him. To show this, God gives him a new name, Magor-missabib, meaning “terror all around” or “fear on every side” (Jeremiah 20:4). God himself gives him this name, and that will make it true. It is a saying that describes a person not only surrounded by trouble, but also filled with fear and despair.

This is more than ordinary danger. A person may be in danger all around and still not be afraid, as David was when he trusted God (Psalm 3:6, Psalm 27:3). But Pashur would be the opposite. He would be afraid even where there was no real threat. The wicked flee when no one pursues them, and they are full of fear where there is no cause. God says, in effect, “I will make you a terror to yourself.” His own thoughts and imagination would keep him in constant unease. God can make the boldest sinner afraid of himself, and he knows how to frighten those who try to frighten his people out of doing their duty.

Those who will not hear their faults from God’s prophets, who speak in the public place, will hear them from conscience, which speaks inside them and will not be silenced. It is a miserable thing to be made a terror to oneself. And it is not only that. Some people are deeply troubled inside, yet hide it from others and seem cheerful. But God says, “I will make you a terror to all your friends.” On every occasion, Pashur would show such fear and horror that even his friends would be afraid to be near him and would keep their distance from his misery. People in deep sadness and confusion can become a burden and fear to themselves and to everyone around them. This is a strong reason to thank God while he gives us clear minds and peace in our consciences.

Pashur’s friends, whom he trusted and likely tried to please by opposing Jeremiah, would all fail him.

God does not strike Pashur dead at once for what he did to Jeremiah. Instead, he lets him live in misery, like Cain, wandering in fear and shame. Everywhere Pashur goes, he will stand as a sign of God’s justice. When people ask why he is always so terrified, the answer will be plain: God’s hand is on him for putting Jeremiah in the stocks.

His friends, who should have comforted him, will be taken away. They will fall by the sword of the enemy, and Pashur will see it with his own eyes. That horrible sight will only increase his fear. In the end, he will learn that his fear was not empty. God’s judgment is waiting for him (Jeremiah 20:6), and he and his family will go into captivity, even to Babylon. He will not die before the trouble comes, like Josiah, nor will he live on after it, like some others. He will die as a captive and, in effect, be buried in his chains, along with all his friends. Let persecutors read this and tremble, and let them tremble toward repentance before they are made to tremble in ruin.

Did Pashur hope to keep the people calm and stop the destruction Jeremiah had warned about? Did he try to destroy Jeremiah’s reputation so his message would fall flat? That is likely, because Jeremiah 20:6 shows that Pashur had set himself up as a prophet too, telling the people they would have peace. He was prophesying lies. Since Jeremiah’s message contradicted his and woke up people he wanted to keep asleep in sin, Pashur turned against him.

But did he succeed? No. Jeremiah stood by what he had said against Judah and Jerusalem, and God repeated it through him. People gain nothing by silencing those who warn and correct them, because God’s word still runs its course. So it happened here.

The whole land of Judah will be ruined (Jeremiah 20:4). God says, “I will give all Judah into the hand of the king of Babylon.” Judah had long been God’s own land, but now he will hand it over to Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon. He will rule the country and do as he pleases with its people, sending some to the sword and some into captivity, and none will escape him.

The city itself will also be ruined (Jeremiah 20:5). The king of Babylon will plunder it and carry its treasures to Babylon. He will take their stockpiles and military supplies, called the strength of this city, and turn them against them. They trusted these things to protect them, but how could they help once they had put themselves outside God’s protection, and once the one who truly was their strength had left them?

He will also carry off their goods and merchandise, called their labors, because these were the things they worked for and gained by hard work. He will plunder their fine houses and take their rich furnishings, called their precious things, because they valued them and set their hearts on them. Happy are those who have secured precious things in God’s precious promises, which soldiers cannot reach.

He will also strip the treasury and take away the jewels of the crown and all the treasures of the kings of Judah. This was one part of the disaster first threatened long before to Hezekiah, king of Judah, as punishment for showing his treasures to the king of Babylon’s messengers (Isaiah 39:6). The treasury seemed like their protection, but it betrayed them and became an easy prize for the enemy.