The Book of Jeremiah
Lesson 10
Jeremiah 20
Introduction
To carry a burden is to carry one’s goods to the marketplace to sell/trade; the prohibition not to work on the sabbath is a prohibition against commerce. The story of the potter shows us that God can issue a decree and then change God’s mind depending upon human action. Our either following or disobeying God can have a direct effect on God’s actions. Just as the potter broke a piece of pottery and remade it, Jeremiah broke a jug at the entrance of the temple to show what God intended to do to Israel.
I. How was Jeremiah violated?
a) “O LORD, you have enticed me, and I was enticed; you have overpowered me, and you have prevailed (v. 7).” The words used here have strong sexual overtones and therefore the translation can be controversial. The key words are enticed/deceived (pata/patah); overpowered (chazaq); and prevail (yakol).
b) The NRSV translates pata/patah as enticed. Both the CSB and the NIV (pew bibles) translate this as deceived. There is a strong difference in connotation between the two. To entice is, tempt/induce a person into sex; it is a seduction. To deceive is to mislead or to lie. So, has God mislead or lied to Jeremiah, or has God seduced Jeremiah? Both the NIV and the NRSV translate chazaq as overpowered; while the CSB translates it as seized. Did God seize Jeremiah, or did God overpower Jeremiah? If God seized or overpowered Jeremiah, was Jeremiah raped? All three translations (CSB, NIV, NRSV) translate yakol as prevail. What does it mean to say that God prevailed over Jeremiah?
c) Clearly, both the CSB and the NIV want to stay away from the sexual connotation of enticed. However, to be seized or overpowered have their own connotation. Commentaries written on this passage are mixed; you can find a commentary to give you either connotation; but which do you prefer: that God deceived and/or lied to Jeremiah; or that God overpowered (raped) Jeremiah? One clue towards the stronger sexual interpretation is this: v. 9 says, “If I say, ‘I will not mention him, or speak any more in his name,’ then within me there is something like a burning fire shut up in my bones; I am weary with holding it in, and I cannot.” In our modern language/understanding, Jeremiah has removed his consent; he no longer wishes to speak God’s words, but God overpowers him such that Jeremiah cannot hold God’s words in, they are like fire in his bones.
II. Why does Jeremiah seek vindication?
a) Let us first remember that when Jeremiah complained to God in 12:1-4 that the wicked seemed to prosper, God responded in 12:5-6 that his situation was going to get worse. Let us also remember that the people of his own hometown (Anathoth), his own family threatened his life (11:21). In chapter 17:18 Jeremiah seeks vindication from his persecutors; and this chapter begins with Pashhur, the chief officer, putting Jeremiah in jail.
b) Jeremiah sought vindication previously in chapter 15 when he said, “O LORD, you know; remember me and visit me, and bring down retribution for me on my persecutors (v. 15).” Jeremaih is constantly persecuted for proclaiming the word of the Lord. Here in chapter 20, Jeremiah says that the people are denouncing him and even his close friends wait for him to stumble. “Perhaps he can be enticed, and we can prevail against him, and take our revenge on him (v. 10).”
c) To this persecution Jeremiah calls on God: “O LORD of hosts, you test the righteous, you see the heart and the mind; let me see your retribution upon them, for to you I have committed my cause (v. 12).” Jeremiah seeks retribution (vindication) because he is being persecuted due to his proclaiming God’s word.
III. Why does Jeremiah curse the day he was born?
a) “Cursed be the day on which I was born! The day when my mother bore me, let it not be blessed (v. 14)!” Jeremiah has become a “laughingstock” among the people because he has proclaimed violence and destruction, and it hasn’t come to pass (vs. 7-8). Everyone ridicules him and therefore to Jeremiah, God’s word has become a disgrace and contempt.
b) We have also seen that Jeremiah feels that God has deceived and even “overpowered” him into proclaiming a word that he no longer wishes to proclaim (he has withdrawn his consent). For this word, he is persecuted, jailed, and his life is threatened.
c) Yet, while he has withdrawn his consent, he is compelled to speak/proclaim anyway, “…there is something like a burning fire shut up in my bones; I am weary with holding it in, and I cannot.” Because he is compelled (forced) to proclaim that which he no longer wishes to proclaim, and for so doing he is ridiculed, persecuted, jailed, his life is threatened, and to him God’s word has become a disgrace; Jeremiah curses the day that he was born.
Next Month, September 10: Jeremiah 21 - 22
Questions for the week:
1. What does Nebuchadrezzar believe God will do, and why?
2. What does it mean to execute justice?
3. Who was Shallum and what did he do?