Jeremiah 20:7

O LORD, thou hast deceived me, and I was deceived: thou art stronger than I, and hast prevailed: I am in derision daily, every one mocketh me. O LORD, THOU HAST DECEIVED ME. Jeremiah's complaint, not unlike that of Job, breathing somewhat of human infirmity, in consequence of his imprisonment. Thou didst promise never to give me up to the will of mine enemies, and yet thou hast done so. But Jeremiah misunderstood God's promise, which was not that he should have nothing to suffer, but that God would deliver him out of sufferings (Jeremiah 1:19). DECEIVED - others translate, as margin, 'thou hast enticed,' or 'persuaded me'-namely, allured me to undertake the prophetic office, 'and I was persuaded' - i:e., suffered myself to be persuaded to undertake what I find too hard for me. So the Hebrew word ...

Some think that these words were not spoken through the prophetic Spirit, but that Jeremiah had uttered them inconsiderately through the influence of a hasty impulse; as even the most eminent are sometimes carried away by a hasty temper. They then suppose the Prophet, being overcome by a temptation of this kind, made this complaint, to God, “What! Lord, I have followed thee as a leader; but thou hast promised to me what I do not find: I seem, then, to myself to be deceived.” Others give even a harsher explanation, — that the Prophet had been deceived, according to what is said elsewhere, “I the Lord have deceived that Prophet.” (Ezekiel 14:9.) But there is no doubt but that his language is ironical, when he says that he was _deceived _He assumes the character of his enemies, who boasted that he presumptuously prophesied of the calamity and ruin of the city, as no such thing would take p...

7-13 The prophet complains of the insult and injury he experienced. But ver. Jeremiah 20:7 may be read, Thou hast persuaded me, and I was persuaded. Thou wast stronger than I; and didst overpower me by the influence of thy Spirit upon me. So long as we see ourselves in the way of God, and of duty, it is weakness and folly, when we meet with difficulties and discouragements, to wish we had never set out in it. The prophet found the grace of God mighty in him to keep him to his business, notwithstanding the temptation he was in to throw it up. Whatever injuries are done to us, we must leave them to that God to whom vengeance belongs, and who has said, I will repay. So full was he of the comfort of God's presence, the Divine protection he was under, and the Divine promise he had to depend upon, that he stirred up himself and others to give God the glory. Let the people of God open their ca...

Verse Jeremiah 20:7. _O LORD, THOU HAST DECEIVED ME_] Thou hast promised me protection; and, lo! I am now delivered into the hands of my enemies. These words were probably spoken when Pashur smote him, and put him in prison. I think our translation of this passage is very exceptionable. My old Bible reads, _Thou laddist me aside Lord; and I was lad_ _aside_. The original word is פתיתני _pittithani_, thou hast _persuaded me_, i.e., to go and prophesy to this people. I went, faithfully declared thy message, and now I am likely to perish by their cruelty. As the root פתה _pathah_ signifies to _persuade_ and _allure_, as well as to _deceive_, the above must be its meaning in this place. Taken as in our Version it is highly irreverent. It is used in the same sense here as in...

In the rest of the chapter we have an outbreak of deep emotion, of which the first part ends in a cry of hope Jeremiah 20:13, followed nevertheless by curses upon the day of his birth. Was this the result of feelings wounded by the indignities of a public scourging and a night spent in the stocks? Or was it not the mental agony of knowing that his ministry had (as it seemed) failed? He stands indeed before the multitudes with unbending strength, warning prince and people with unwavering constancy of the national ruin that would follow necessarily upon their sins. Before God he stood crushed by the thought that he had labored in vain, and spent his strength for nothing. It is important to notice that with this outpouring of sorrow Jeremiah’s ministry virtually closed. Though he appeared again at Jerusalem toward the end of Jehoia

EXPOSITION JEREMIAH 20:1 The continuation of the preceding narrative. PASHUR THE SON OF TRAINER. This man belonged to the sixteenth of the sacerdotal families or classes (1 Chronicles 24:14). Another of the same name is referred to in Jeremiah 21:1 (see note). The one here mentioned was "chief overseer" (there were several inferior overseers, 2 Chronicles 31:13); the eminence of the position appears from the fact that Zephaniah, Pashur's successor (Jeremiah 29:26), is s

O LORD, THOU HAST DECEIVED ME, AND I WAS DECEIVED,.... What follows from hence to the end of the chapter is thought to have been said by the prophet, when in the stocks, or in prison, and shows mixture of grace and corruption in him; a struggle between flesh and spirit, and the force of a temptation under which he laboured, arising from difficulties and discouragements in his work; and he not only complains to God, but of him; that he had deceived him, when he first called him to be a prophet, by telling him that he should be set over nations and kingdoms, to pull them down, Jeremiah 1:10; which he understood of foreign nations, but now found his own people were meant, so Jerom; or in not immediately executing the threatenings he sent him with; as was the case of Jonah; or by giving him reason to expect honour and ease, whereas he met with nothing but disrespect and trouble; and that he...

CHAPTER 20 Pashur.-Jeremiah's Perplexity and Complaint _ 1. Pashur and Jeremiah (Jeremiah 20:1) _ 2. Jeremiah's great perplexity and complaint (Jeremiah 20:7) Jeremiah 20:1. A great scene now follows the message in connection with the broken bottle. The great Pashur, the chief governor in the house of the LORD had heard of the message. He smites Jeremiah and puts him in the stocks, which must have been some form of cruel torture by which the victim was rendered helpless, besides being exposed to the vulgarity of the people who passed by and would taunt him. In this position Jeremiah remained all night before the high gate of Benjamin. In the morning he was released. He then speaks a

THE PROPHET'S TROUBLES, HOPES, AND DARK DESPAIR. In passionate protest against his lot (possibly occasioned by the incident just related) Jeremiah complains that Yahweh has beguiled him into the work of a prophet, only that he may incur bitter shame, and suffer violence. Yet the inner compulsion of the prophetic word will not allow him to restrain it (_i.e._ forbear, Jeremiah 20:9), though it subjects him to the charge of treasonable utterance (Jeremiah 26:11). Jeremiah 20:11 (if originally here) mark a change of mood, and express Jeremiah's confidence that Yahweh will avenge him. The depth of his despair is reached in...

DECEIVED. induced, or persuaded. Hebrew. _pathah,_ in. good sense: Genesis 9:27 ("enlarge"). Proverbs 25:15 ("persuade"). Hosea 2:14 ("allure"). The adjective _Petthi_ means _persuasible,_ and generally in. good sense: Psalms 19:7. and is rendered "simple": (Psalms 19:7; Psalms 116:6; Psalms 119:130;...