Theological Themes:
The Cost of Prophetic Ministry: Jeremiah's suffering illustrates the loneliness and opposition faced by those who speak God's truth to a rebellious people.
Divine Sovereignty in Suffering: Even persecution (Pashhur's stocks) becomes an occasion for deeper prophecy and revelation of judgment.
Honest Lament Before God: Jeremiah's complaints are not sins but authentic expressions of human weakness, sustained by faith in God's ultimate justice.
The Power of God's Word: Like fire shut in the bones, the divine word cannot be suppressed; it compels proclamation despite personal cost.
Old Testament Piety: Knabenbauer carefully distinguishes the spirituality of the Old Covenant (where lament is legitimate) from the New (where glorying in tribulation is possible through Christ).
Scholarly Method:
Knabenbauer's commentary exemplifies late 19th-century Catholic biblical scholarship: rigorous textual criticism (comparing Hebrew, Greek, Latin versions), engagement with Jewish exegesis (Rashi, Targums), dialogue with patristic and medieval authorities, and a hermeneutic that balances historical-grammatical analysis with theological and spiritual application. His treatment of Jeremiah 20 is both academically precise and pastorally sensitive, recognizing the prophet's humanity while affirming the divine authority of his message.
The following post consists of two parts, Jer 20:1-6 and Jer 20:7-18. I've appended Knabenbauer's listing of textual variants to both sections at the end. The translation was done by Qwen.
Joseph Knabenbauer's Commentary on Jeremiah 20
The Prophet Persecuted: Jeremiah and Pashhur (20:1-18)
Introduction: The Fruit of the Prophet's Preaching
e. The prophet, struck and cast into the stocks (Jer 20:1-6)
And what fruit did these sermons bear? Behold another example of the obstinacy and hardening of the princes.
Je 20:1-2: Pashhur's Persecution of Jeremiah
Verse 1: "And Pashhur the son of Immer, the priest, who was appointed chief officer in the house of the Lord, heard Jeremiah prophesying these words."
Verse 2: "And Pashhur struck Jeremiah the prophet, and put him in the stocks that were in the upper gate of Benjamin, which was in the house of the Lord."
Pashhur's Office:
Pashhur was the chief officer or prefect of the temple, upon whom devolved the care of public discipline in the temple. Since Zephaniah, who afterward fulfilled the same office (Jer 29:25-26), is called "the second priest" (Jer 52:24), they conclude that this dignity was second to the high priest (cf. Nägelsbach, Keil, Graf, Troch, Schneider). Moreover, the temple prefect sometimes acted in the place of the high priest (Scholz). Pashhur therefore seems to have been a leader and prince with the same function as ὁ στρατηγὸς τοῦ ἱεροῦ ("the captain of the temple") in Acts 4:1 and 5:24.
"Son of Immer":
He is called by the Hebrew name by which also a priestly family was designated according to the order of the lot (1 Paralipomenon 24:14), the sixteenth. It is not clear whether by this designation he is only ascribed to that family (cf. 1 Esdras 2:37) or whether his father is truly designated. There are those who admit only the former (Graf, Nägelsbach), but from 21:1 (Zephaniah son of Maaseiah) you would rather gather the latter. Moreover, whatever is decided concerning that name, by it he is distinguished from others of the same name Pashhur (Jer 21:1; 1 Paralipomenon 9:12; 1 Esdras 2:38).
The Charge and Punishment:
He considered that Jeremiah had injured the honor due to the temple and had stirred up the people. Therefore, using—or rather abusing—his authority, he struck Jeremiah (who had already proved himself as a prophet sent by God and therefore, according to the law, Deut 18:15 seq., was to be heard and revered by all), that is, he took care that he be struck with blows; perhaps according to the law of Deut 25:3 he ordered him to be beaten with rods and chastised with forty stripes (Calmet, Schneider).
"And having struck him, he put him in the stocks":
Hebrew: properly "into distortion," "into the pillory." It was a double piece of wood into which the neck, hands, and feet of a captive were inserted in such a way that he was compelled to sit bent over, and could neither lift his neck nor move his hands and feet. Gesenius describes the thing thus in his Thesaurus, p. 388, and in a similar manner, following the opinion of the rabbis, Vatable, Maldonatus, Mariana, Malvenda (on 2 Paralipomenon 16:10), Lapide, Menochius, Calmet, and recent scholars propose it.
St. Jerome notes, after reciting the versions of others: "But we have said 'stocks' (nervum) according to common usage, which kind of torment we also read in the Acts when the apostles Paul and Silas were given into the custody of the prison" (Acts 16:24). Also from Job 13:27, a kind of torment of the feet is indicated.
The Location:
The place of this torment or prison was at the upper gate of Benjamin, which is called a gate of the temple so that it may be distinguished from the gate of the city of the same name (cf. 37:12; 38:7). This gate, from the name of Benjamin (if that is how it should be read, concerning which below), seems to have been toward the north. It is called "upper"; wherefore they think it was at the inner vestibule, which was also called "upper" (Jer 36:10: "the upper gate which looks toward the north"), and which is referred to the inner or upper court of the temple. Ezekiel also makes mention (cf. 8:3, 5, 14; 16:9, 2). By this gate, therefore, the court of the priests was separated from the outer court.
Since there were many chambers near the sanctuary destined for various uses (3 Kings 6:5 seq.; Josephus wishes there to have been thirty, Antiq. 8.3.2), it is easily understood how either a certain fixed place for punishing the turbulent existed, or one of those chambers could serve for that purpose.
Pashhur's Change of Mind:
But soon he released the prophet—perhaps conscious of having done wrong and, the impulse of anger having subsided, having returned to sounder counsels; or thinking that the prophet, having experienced the stocks, would speak more mildly in the future (from v. 3); or, stimulated by the counsel of friends, he seems to have inflicted the punishment. Vengeance, therefore, was exercised against the prophet by his adversaries.
It could also happen that the prefect of the temple, by his own authority and without a judicial sentence, could not inflict a longer punishment; or you may think the matter happened in the same way as when the prince of the priests, having beaten the apostles, released them (Acts 5:40). For it is characteristic of men conscious of wrong to have a timid conscience and to be inconstant in taking counsels, nor do they always dare to carry through to an end what they have badly begun. Something of this sort seems to be discovered in the silence of Pashhur, when, having been rebuked by the prophet, nevertheless he freely releases him.
Jer 20:3: The Prophecy of a New Name
"And when the morning came, Pashhur brought Jeremiah out of the stocks. And Jeremiah said to him: 'The Lord has not called your name Pashhur, but Terror on every side.'"
"Pashhur brought Jeremiah out": When it had dawned on the next day.
"Jeremiah said to him": Not Pashhur called the Lord your name, but "Terror on every side" (Pavor undique).
On the Meaning of the Name Change:
A name is said to be "called" when the thing declared by the name happens or is brought about. From the opposition, many have thought that the name Pashhur also expresses a happy and noble condition from which he is to be cast down, so that his punishment may be a horror and terror to all. Hence they have gone off into various conjectures for explaining the name, none of which, however, seems sufficiently probable.
Nor is there need, for the force or truth of the sentence, that Pashhur by the meaning of the word should signify "a happy man"; for nothing of the sort is found in other impositions of names. Thus, for example, from the fact that Jerusalem is to be called "the throne of the Lord" (3:17), or "My will is in her" (Isa 62:4), or "The Lord our justice" (Jer 33:16), it does not follow that in the voice "Jerusalem" a notion is to be sought by which the prior condition of the city, opposed to that other, is declared. Therefore, say the same concerning Pashhur.
Etymological Conjectures:
Behold how they have tried to explain Pashhur (Hebrew: Pashchur):
From Chaldean shuph ("to increase") and ruach ("nobility, abundance, brightness")—so Rashi; nor do Lyranus and Pagninus differ much, explaining it as "increase of candor."
Others, calling the Arabic dialect to their aid: "he has gloried in nobility" or "he is secure on every side."
Others, mindful that shuph signifies "to leap" (Hab 1:8; Mal 3:20), explain: "joy on every side" (Ewald), but "on every side."
Others derive it from hashaph, explaining: "liberty" or "liberation" (Fürst); otherwise in Hebrew concordances, p. 1289: "diffusion all around" (similarly in Malvenda).
Others: "he who by his authority causes men to grow pale far and wide" (in Malvenda).
Among recent scholars, Neumann: others, "the strength of a free man" (cf. in Nägelsbach).
Scholz refers us to chaphats (Lamentations 3:11: "to break, to tear apart") and to albus ("white, noble, prince"), by which name Baal is designated, so that the name ought to be explained: "Baal tears apart enemies" (rhexenor).
Knabenbauer's Conclusion on Etymology:
But from such manifold explanation it is now clear that the matter is very uncertain; for the very abundance of explanations renders us helpless and shows the matter to be unexplored. Whence I again infer that in the name Pashhur itself there is nothing singular to be sought pertaining to this event.
The New Name: "Terror on Every Side":
Recent scholars explain the new name imposed on him in the same way as St. Jerome teaches us concerning the acceptance of the ancients:
St. Jerome: For "pavor" (terror), which is written in Hebrew as magur, the LXX and Theodotion render μέτοικον ("a migrant"); Aquila's second edition: "a pilgrim"; the first: "one looking around"; Symmachus: "taken away" or "gathered and constrained."
For the notion of "migrating" or "pilgrim," see Genesis 17:8; 28:4; 36:7; 47:9; Psalm 149:54; and generally for the verb gur signifying "to gather," etc., see Psalm 56:7; 59:4; 1 Kings 17:20; Ezekiel 21:17; Haggai 2:19, etc.
Moreover, that Jerome's explanation is altogether to be retained is also plain from what follows; and magur and megurah are employed in that notion, as is established by suitable examples (see Jer 6:25); and concerning the verb, see Deut 1:17; 18:22; 32:27; 1 Samuel 18:15; Job 19:29, etc.
What "Terror on Every Side" Means:
What "terror on every side" means is explained in verse 4.
Jer 20:4-6: The Judgment Pronounced on Pashhur
Verse 4: "For thus says the Lord: Behold, I will make you a terror to yourself and to all your friends, and they shall fall by the sword of their enemies, and your eyes shall see it; and I will give all Judah into the hand of the king of Babylon, and he shall lead them captive to Babylon, and shall strike them with the sword."
Hebrew: "I will put you as a terror to yourself and to all who love you" (Vatable and recent scholars)—so that he himself may continually be in fear and dread, that by his lot he may be a terror to himself and his friends. For there will be terror for him when he sees his friends and supporters cut down by the sword.
The Progress of the Prophecy:
After the prophet has already often announced danger and has now designated the northern enemy by name, in the manner in which Micah (4:10) had already pointed with his finger to Babylonia, so the prophecy of Jeremiah becomes more and more explicit through the course of time. And lest any hope of escape remain, the prophet again affirms the common destruction; but by the common destruction of all, it is rendered quite credible that Pashhur also, and his friends and supporters and followers, will be involved.
Verse 5: "And I will give all the substance of this city, and all its labor, and all its precious things, and all the treasures of the kings of Judah into the hand of their enemies, and they shall plunder them, and take them, and carry them to Babylon."
"Labor": Understand that which is acquired by labor, riches acquired by toil (Vatable, Mariana, Malvenda); and God will hand over "all pomp" to the enemies (cf. 9:23-24).
Verse 6: "And you, Pashhur, and all the inhabitants of your house, shall go into captivity; and you shall come to Babylon, and there you shall die, and there you shall be buried, you and all your friends to whom you have prophesied a lie."
The Reason for Pashhur's Severity:
Since therefore Pashhur was reckoned among those false prophets concerning whom there was speech in 4:10 and 6:14 and 14:13, it is easily understood why he severely punished Jeremiah, stirred up with anger (cf. 28:1, 10); but also why soon he released him free, conscious of his own fraud and falsehood, and insecure concerning his own oracles.
When Did This Happen?
When all these things happened cannot be clearly defined. But since under King Zedekiah Zephaniah fulfilled that office (cf. 29:25-26), it is altogether probable that all these things were fulfilled when King Jehoiachin and others were led into captivity (cf. 29:2; 4 Kings 24:14-16).
St. Jerome on Jeremiah's Conduct:
Concerning Jeremiah's manner of acting, St. Jerome well notes: "The prophet's patience and prudence are to be observed: that, sent to prison, he is silent and conquers the injury by silence; yet he does not conceal what he knows is to come, so that at least thus the false prophet may cease to sin and implore God's clemency."
Jer 20:7-18: Jeremiah's Lament
What was Jeremiah's state of mind? (20:7-18)
He who before his adversary Pashhur exhibited himself so strong and intrepid, when left to himself and deprived of more abundant divine consolation, again feels grievously the heat and weight of the day.
What We Learn:
Whence we learn that Jeremiah was not endowed with a hard disposition or carried away by an impulse of mind, but was intimately touched by difficulties and contradictions and affected with grief and annoyance. Wherefore his fortitude and constancy are also splendidly revealed to have proceeded from God's help.
Moreover, he himself is an example that even the holy servants of God sometimes experience weariness of soul, desolation, and dejection, in which distress they pour forth their complaints before God and seek strength and readiness of mind from Him alone. Thus it happens that in this part also we may see the soul of Jeremiah excellently depicted and may be taught what was the nature of the prophetic office.
As God had already warned the prophet in chapter 12, so also in this place it is clear that through many tribulations one must strive for salvation. He laments, as St. Thomas says, the duty imposed on him on account of the ridicule and persecution that followed.
Jer 20:7: The Prophet's Complaint of Being "Enticed"
"You have enticed me, O Lord, and I was enticed; You were stronger than I, and You have prevailed. I have become a laughingstock all the day; everyone mocks me."
"You have enticed me…": The prophet indicates that he struggled against God and pleaded his youthful age and its impediments, that he might not be assumed to the prophetic office (1:6), but that at length he yielded to God inviting and promising help; that God with great force seized him as it were and compelled him to undertake the office. "You have prevailed": God, i.e., He imposed the office on one reluctant.
The Present Reality:
And now, after he has undertaken the office trusting in God's promises, not only is he not safe from adversaries, but he is continually assailed by their taunts and mockeries.
On the Mode of Speaking:
As Theodoret says, he uses liberty of speaking toward God: "I was fleeing," he says, "from the duty of prophesying; I was saying I was younger in age and far unequal to this ministry; and You promised me You would make me stronger than those attacking me and would make me like a brazen wall and an iron column. Now, however, I have been made ridiculous." (Sanctius, Maldonatus, Mariana).
Alternative View:
While others assert that he speaks from a human spirit of pusillanimity and anxiety (Lapide, Malvenda, Menochius)—which, provided it be not exaggerated, certainly can be said in some measure.
St. Jerome and St. Thomas:
St. Jerome and St. Thomas conceive the "enticement" too narrowly, explaining that Jeremiah thought he would be sent to the gentiles, while always he was sent to prophesy to the Jews up to that point.
Jer 20:8: The Reason for Mockery
"For since I began to speak, I cried out, crying out: 'Violence and destruction!' For the word of the Lord has become for me a reproach and a derision all the day."
Hebrew: "For as often as I speak, I cry out; I proclaim violence and destruction."
Explanation:
That is, all my manner of prophesying consists in this from the beginning: that I must say to my contemporaries that oppression and vastation and devastation are to come. And since such a subject of sermons is not pleasing to the people—because with it reproof of crimes is continually joined—the very office committed to him by God brings him nothing among the plebs but mockeries and ignominy.
St. Jerome's Observation:
Reproaches also arose from this, because, as St. Jerome observes, the people estimated that what had not come immediately would never come at all. And since all the orations which we have examined up to this point both sharply attacked the impiety of the people and described the penalties to be inflicted on them by fierce enemies, it is easily understood why the prophet now says he must continually cry out with great intensity and vehemence of voice, and why he cannot announce anything except violence and devastation.
Jer 20:9: The Fire in the Bones
"And I said: I will not remember Him, nor will I speak anymore in His name. And it became in my heart like a fire blazing, shut up in my bones; and I grew weary, unable to bear it."
"The word of the Lord is a fire": He was not able to contain it in his breast; a fire by necessity of nature leaps forth and bursts into a vast conflagration. So also Jeremiah, by divine impulse, was as it were unwillingly agitated so that again and again he might preach the annoying announcements.
In vain did he struggle against the divine command; in vain did he try to withdraw himself.
On the Meaning:
They warn that not so much a deliberate and firm counsel is signified, by which he had decreed within himself now not to prophesy, but that a human affection is declared and some slowness or hesitation in delivering oracles (cf. Maldonatus, Mariana, Lapide, Menochius), or timidity and pusillanimity (Tirinus).
And indeed, there was reason why he should seek more than once that he be permitted to cease from the office.
Jer 20:10: The Conspiracy of "Friends"
"For I heard the reproach of many, and terror on every side: 'Denounce him, and let us denounce him!'—from all my familiar friends, who watched my side: 'Perhaps he may be deceived, and we may prevail against him, and obtain revenge on him.'"
Hebrew: "I heard the detraction of many; terror on every side surrounded me. 'Denounce, and let us denounce him!'—that is, to the magistrate, as a turbulent and rebellious man. Every man who was my friend lay in wait at my side: 'Perhaps he may be deceived, and we may prevail over him, and take vengeance on him.'"
"At my side": Even those who ought to have been joined to him in friendship, and who boasted themselves to be such, employed this appearance of friendship so that they might lay snares for him—"at my side," i.e., standing near him, so that more safely they might push him into ruin and fall.
On the Latin Translation:
From the Hebrew it is easily gathered how the Latin version is to be explained: "from all"—refer or supply "I heard."
Jeremiah's Resilience:
But truly, although at times (vv. 7, 9) his spirit sank for a little while, nevertheless commonly he raised himself with firm hope in God, and experienced God to be present to him as a helper, in the manner in which it had been promised to him at his election to the office (1:18-19).
Jer 20:11: The Lord as a Mighty Warrior
"But the Lord is with me as a mighty warrior; therefore my persecutors shall stumble, and they shall not prevail. They shall be greatly ashamed, for they have not understood, with an everlasting disgrace that shall never be forgotten."
Hebrew: "Because they will not be wise; they shall be confounded with perpetual ignominy, which shall not be delivered to oblivion" (cf. 1:18-19; 15:20).
The Prophet's Confidence:
Behold with what confidence he is armed in the midst of straits! Surely, if God is for us, who can be against us? Wisdom fails his adversaries; otherwise they would recognize a true prophet and oracles sent divinely, and they would avert the impending ruin in the manner which the prophet had indicated.
The Height of Folly:
It is indeed the height of madness to wish to avert adverse things by this means: that they take out of the way the messenger of those things sent divinely.
The Outcome:
To them there will be confusion and ignominy if those things which the prophet threatened should happen; but they were unwilling in any way to believe (cf. 17:18). And the prophet is confident that such will be their lot because the oracles of God cannot be without effect if they remain in obstinacy.
Jer 20:12: Prayer for Vengeance
"And You, O Lord of hosts, who test the just, who see the reins and the heart: let me see Your vengeance on them, for to You I have revealed my cause." (cf. 11:20 and 17:10)
Explanation:
For God, who searches the innermost recesses of the soul, knows that His prophet announces the word committed to Him with all fidelity and piety. The prophet, constituted in God's office, pleads not his own cause but God's; whence he can justly expect that God will arise to be the vindicator of His cause.
St. Jerome:
The Lord alone is He who knows how to prove justice, just as He alone is He who beholds the inner things of the heart.
Jer 20:13: A Call to Praise
"Sing to the Lord, praise the Lord; for He has delivered the soul of the poor from the hand of the evildoers."
Explanation:
Behold, in the greatness of his affection, he does not conclude the desire that God be praised with encomiums within himself, but he invites all to sing praises to God with him; so that, as the Apostle also wishes, from the persons of many thanks may be given for that gift which is in us, through many, on our behalf (2 Corinthians 1:11).
St. Jerome commends the prophet's humility in calling himself "poor."
Jer 20:14-18: The Curse on the Day of Birth
Jeremiah's Anguish:
He has narrated how, having experienced God as a helper, he burst forth into praise and thanksgiving; nor does he conceal how greatly in the midst of dangers and persecutions his mind was disturbed, so that, affected with weariness of life, he desired death and lamented that he was miserable because he had been brought forth into the light.
Afflicted with Calamities:
Pressed down with miseries, he is not stronger than the prophet Elijah, who in a similar condition of affairs asked that his soul might die (3 Kings 19:4); but he assumes the feelings and mind of Job, and with almost his words manifests great grief of soul and horror of the evils and weariness of a most wretched life.
Verse 14: "Cursed be the day on which I was born; the day on which my mother bore me, let it not be blessed."
Verse 15: "Cursed be the man who brought tidings to my father, saying: 'A male child has been born to you,' and gladdened him with great joy."
Verse 16: "And let that man be like the cities which the Lord overthrew, and repented not; let him hear a cry in the morning, and an alarm at noon."
See what I have said concerning a similar malediction uttered by Job in my Commentary on Job, pp. 58 seq., 69 seq. Thus, indeed, he speaks who, oppressed with calamities, wishes he had never existed; who is persuaded that it is better for him not to be at all than to live in torments (St. Jerome).
Hyperbolic Language:
He who, on account of the straits which he suffers, speaking hyperbolically, gives to understand his horror and weariness of life (St. Thomas); who by such clamors and vociferations of most acute pain wishes both to testify to all the greatness of his suffering and to relieve his oppressed spirit by these wailings (St. Ephrem, Olympiodorus).
Psychological Interpretation:
It is in the open that such complaints cannot be exacted to the rigor of words, but are to be interpreted psychologically, i.e., according to that manner in which men, immersed in griefs and fixed in one meditation of calamities, are wont to wail.
Theodoret's Simile:
To which matter Theodoret uses this simile: Men, when they are vehemently anguished, are wont to seize those standing by and compress them with their hands; sometimes also, the pain pressing, to strike their hands together. Which also happened to the prophet, who, because of excessive grief, attacked the day—a thing by no means subsisting—and also him who had announced the birth to his father.
No Specific Person Designated:
But truly no certain person is here designated; as is probable, no one announced [anything]. What follows from verse 15 does nothing else, as Sanctius warns, than to amplify the nativity of a man from the circumstances: "Would that this man had not announced; likewise, would that such an hour had not been, as bringing with it these calamities" (Gordus).
On the "Curse" of the Messenger:
This malediction against a man they long ago tried to soften. Thus Olympiodorus brings these things: They say that Julius in his commentaries said that Ananias the false prophet announced to the father of Jeremiah that a son had been first born to him; therefore justly he curses him as one who was the cause of the people's destruction. Others wish that man to have been Pashhur. But these are commentaries and frivolous, as Lapide says; nor are they needed for softening the force of the words.
The Nature of Grief:
For it is the nature of grief hyperbolically to accuse and detest whatever in any way pertains to the matter concerning which one grieves, even if that thing is free from blame—indeed, from reason and soul—and to vomit forth its bitterness against it, as if it itself had been the cause of the blow received (Lapide).
Jeremiah Does Not Mean a Specific Man:
How little Jeremiah thinks of a certain man is shown by what follows.
Verse 17: "Because he did not kill me from the womb, so that my mother might be my grave, and her womb always pregnant."
For no one will say that Jeremiah here speaks of craniotomy or a similar experiment by which a fetus in the mother's womb is killed by a man; nor were men wont among the Hebrews to assist women in childbirth. Whence it is plain that only the exclamation is clothed: "Would that I had not been born."
Further Proof:
The same is shown from the manner of speaking: "my mother would have been my sepulcher, and her womb perpetually pregnant or heavy" (Hebrew; cf. Vatable); and from the following verse 18.
Verse 18: "Why did I come forth from the womb, to see labor and sorrow, and that my days might be consumed in confusion?" (cf. v. 8)
Sanctius:
Behold why Jeremiah calls himself miserable; behold why he loves darkness and the sepulcher, and dreads the light and life: because he seems to have been born for this one thing: that he might always grieve and undergo perpetual ignominy.
Public Calamities:
And that his grief was also increased by public calamities and the impending ruin of the kingdom, who would not think? Surely Jeremiah anticipated in his mind the words of Mattathias: "Woe is me, why was I born to see the destruction of my people and the destruction of the holy city, and to sit there when it is given into the hands of the enemies?" (1 Maccabees 2:7).
Theological Reflection: Old Testament Lament vs. New Testament Perfection
Not New Testament Perfection:
In complaints of this sort, it is clear that the perfection of the New Covenant is not to be sought. But it must be well noted that from the saints of the Old Testament that species of holiness is not to be exacted which has been made manifest to the human race only through God incarnate and clothed with human nature, by the example of the God-man Himself.
The Apostles' Example:
Surely, with such a form of holiness shining before them, the apostles learned to glory in tribulations and to esteem it all joy if they fell into many tribulations. But that example not yet having been exhibited, the saints of the ancient covenant groan and grieve over the weight of calamities, and declare and pour forth the sense of nature with vehement words—which, however, lest you should estimate them as too vehement and bitter, remember what St. Ephrem already warns: that it is the manner of Orientals to use more fervent words, just as they also manifest grief by signs, and by more numerous and sharper ones, e.g., by tearing garments, laceration of nails, plucking out of hair, beating of the breast, lying on the ground, sprinkling of ashes, calling in professional mourners for lamentations, etc.
Against Calvin's Accusation:
From which it is easily plain that they have erred shamefully who accuse Jeremiah of despair, of blasphemy against God, of sacrilegious fury—as Calvin accused, and as Foerster said this was a great and inexcusable sin of the prophet. Against which accusation, among other things, see Lapide, Tirinus, Sanctius, and others.
No Divine Reproof:
Since the prophet is not reproved by God concerning that weakness of soul and bitterness and concerning the sense of grief declared in that manner, it is equitable that interpreters also abstain from reproof.
On the Sequence of Praise and Lament:
Others have been offended that after the jubilation of soul and divine praises, this effusion of a sick soul follows. Wherefore Ewald places verses 14-18 before verses 7-13—but in vain. For in this part the prophet describes various feelings of soul which he experienced at various times.
No Need for Transposition:
But truly, if you attend, certainly no transposition is needed; nor is it indicated by the collocation of verses that immediately after the divine praises (v. 13) the prophet burst forth into complaints and lamentations (v. 14 seq.)—which indeed would be quite incredible. The prophet faithfully reports with what commotion and impulse of affections he was sometimes agitated.
A Spiritual Principle:
For as in the nature of things a storm arises, now serene, now troubled, so also the souls of God's friends are tried by various vicissitudes of affections, nor are they always strengthened by the same stipend of divine consolation.
Textual Variants (Jeremiah 20:1-6)
Textual Variants (Jeremiah 20:7-18)
CONTINUE
Comments
Post a Comment