Jeremiah 1:10

See, I have this day set thee over the nations and over the kingdoms, to root out, and to pull down, and to destroy, and to throw down, to build, and to plant. SET THEE OVER - literally, appointed thee to the oversight. He was to have his eye upon the nations, and to predict their destruction or restoration, according as their conduct was bad or good. Prophets are said to do that which they foretell shall be done; for their word is God's word: and His word is His instrument whereby He doeth all things (Genesis 1:3; Psalms 33:6; Psalms 33:9). Word and deed are one thing with Him. What His prophet saith is as certain as if it were done. The prophet's own consciousness was absorbed i...

God having now shewn that Jeremiah’s mouth was consecrated to himself, and separated from common and profane use, proceeds to invest him with power: _See_, he says, _I have set thee this day over nations and over kingdoms _By these words God shews how reverently he would have his word received, even when conveyed by frail mortals. There is no one who pretends not, that he desires to obey God, but yet hardly one in a hundred really receives his word. For as soon as he speaks, almost all raise a clamor; or if they dare not furiously, and in a hostile manner, oppose it, we yet see how some evade it, and others secretly oppose it. The authority, then, which God ascribes to his own word, ought to be noticed by us: _Behold, I have set thee over nations and kingdoms _ Farther, by saying, _See, I have set thee, _he encourages the Prophet to be magnanimous in spirit. He was to remember his callin...

1-10 Jeremiah's early call to the work and office of a prophet is stated. He was to be a prophet, not to the Jews only, but to the neighbouring nations. He is still a prophet to the whole world, and it would be well if they would attend to these warnings. The Lord who formed us, knows for what particular services and purposes he intended us. But unless he sanctify us by his new-creating Spirit, we shall neither be fit for his holy service on earth, nor his holy happiness in heaven. It becomes us to have low thoughts of ourselves. Those who are young, should consider that they are so, and not venture beyond their powers. But though a sense of our own weakness and insufficiency should make us go humbly about our work, it should not make us draw back when God calls us. Those who have messages to deliver from God, must not fear the face of man. The Lord, by a sign, gave Jeremiah such a gift...

Verse Jeremiah 1:10. _I HAVE - SET THEE OVER THE NATIONS_] God represents his messengers the prophets as doing what he commanded them to declare _should be done_. In this sense they _rooted up, pulled down_, and _destroyed_ - declared God's judgments, they _builded up_ and _planted_ - declared the promises of his _mercy_. Thus God says to Isaiah, Isaiah 6:10: "Make the heart of this people fat - and shut their eyes." Show them that they are _stupid_ and _blind_; and that, because they have shut their eyes and hardened their hearts, God will in his judgments leave them to their hardness and darkness....

I HAVE ... SET THEE OVER - literally, I have made thee Pakeed, i. e., deputy. This title is given only to these invested with high authority (e. g. Genesis 41:34; 2 Chronicles 24:11; Jeremiah 20:1; Jeremiah 29:26). From God’s side, the prophet is a mere messenger, speaking what he is told, doing what he is commanded. From man’s side, he is God’s vicegerent, with power “to root out, and to pull down.” ROOT OUT ... PULL DOWN - In the Hebrew, the verbs present an instance of the alliteration so common in the prophets, and agreeable to oriental taste.

EXPOSITION AN ACCOUNT OF THE CALL AND CONSECRATION OF JEREMIAH TO THE PROPHETIC OFFICE, FOLLOWED BY TWO EXPRESSIVE SYMBOLS OF THE MATTERS WHICH HE HAS TO ANNOUNCE. JEREMIAH 1:1 There are some indications that the original form of the heading has been somewhat modified. Notice (1) that the words with which Jeremi

SEE, I HAVE THIS DAY SET THEE OVER THE NATIONS, AND OVER THE KINGDOMS,.... Not as a prince, but as a prophet over them, to prophesy things concerning them, whether good or evil, which should certainly come to pass as he predicted: TO ROOT OUT, AND TO PULL DOWN, AND TO DESTROY, AND TO THROW DOWN; that is, to foretell that such a kingdom and nation should be rooted out, as a tree or plant that is plucked up by the roots; and that such an one should be pulled, and thrown down, and destroyed, as a building is. The whole may be understood of the destruction of the Jews by Nebuchadnezzar, of their temple, city, and nation; though the Targum and Jarchi interpret all this of the Gentiles only, and the following, TO BUILD, AND TO PLANT, of the house of Israel; which may be applied to the building of the temple, and the planting of the Jews in their own land, after their return from captivity, w...

Jeremiah 1:1. _The words of Jeremiah the son of Hilkiah, of the priests that were in Anathoth in the land of Benjamin: to whom the word of the LORD came in the days of Josiah the son of Amon king of Judah, in the thirteenth year of his reign. It came also in the days of Jehoiakim the son of Josiah king of Judah, unto the end of the eleventh year of Zedekiah the son of Josiah king of Judah, unto the carrying away of Jerusalem captive in the fifth month._ Jeremiah was a young man when he was called to the prophetic office; and he was sent of God, as a young prophet, to help the young king, Josiah. His public life, therefore, opened somewhat happily. But, after the death of Josiah, wicked kings sat upon the throne, and it was the painful lot, and yet in some respects the choice privilege, of this weeping prophet to be sent upon his Master's errand, time after time, to a disobedient

ANALYSIS AND ANNOTATIONS I. THE CALL TO REPENTANCE, THE IMPENITENCE OF THE PEOPLE, AND THE JUDGMENT ANNOUNCED CHAPTER 1 The Call of the Prophet _ 1. The introduction (Jeremiah 1:1) _ 2. The divine call (Jeremiah 1:4) 3. The renewed call and the first visions (Jeremiah 1:11) Jeremiah 1:1. The first three verses introduce us to the person of the prophet, to the time the Word of the Lord came unto him, and to the sphere of his ministry. Jeremiah's father, Hilkiah, was a priest of the line of Ithamar; his home was Anathoth of Benjamin. (See general introduction.)...

THE PROPHET'S CALL. The account of this should be compared with similar accounts of the calls of other prophets (see Isaiah 6, Ezekiel 1:1 to Ezekiel 3:3; Amos 7:12 ff.) and the characteristic differences should be noted. Probably all such experiences, whilst ultimately due to moral and religious conviction, involved abnormal psychical elements; _e.g._ Jeremiah believed that he heard an external voice, and felt an outward touch. On the general nature of the prophetic consciousness, see H. W. Robinson, _Religious Ideas of the OT,_ pp. 113ff, and the article on Old Testament Prophecy in the present work. Jeremiah is told that Yahweh predestined him for a particular life-work before he existed; he was a thought of God (Duhm) befor