An Exegesis of Jeremiah 20:7-13 PDF

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1 I. Introduction and Literary Context of Jer 20:7-13. ! Jeremiah’s penultimate confession (Jer 20:7-13) is a psalm of lament to the LORD, a wealth of theological insight, to be treasured by scholar and laity alike (see Appendix 1, Translation). While the original historical context of the lament is...

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I. Introduction and Literary Context of Jer 20:7-13. !

Jeremiah’s penultimate confession (Jer 20:7-13) is a psalm of lament to the

LORD, a wealth of theological insight, to be treasured by scholar and laity alike (see Appendix 1, Translation). While the original historical context of the lament is impossible to discern, its literary context is the encounter with Pashhur in the prose passage of Jer 20:1-6, linked thematically by the term bybsm

rwgm.1 The focus of the passage is not

Jeremiah’s public punishment but his bold assertion that the LORD has named Pashhur

bybsm rwgm “Terror All Around” (v. 3). This phrase also links the pericope with the rest of Jeremiah’s preaching. It signifies the impending judgment that God will wreak on Jerusalem (6:25) and the nations (46:5, 49:29). In the lament, the phrase is uttered sarcastically by Jeremiah’s opponents who ridicule him for his pronouncements of doom (20:10). In 20:1-6 the judgment is not leveled against Pashhur, personally, but against the temple,2 and so is consistent with his rhetoric against that institution (Jer 7, 26) and his prophecy of the impending Chaldean invasion in judgment against the nation of Judah. The lament of 20:7-13 must be understood considering this incident as representative of Jeremiah’s ministry experience. !

The lament captures a dilemma with Jeremiah caught in the middle. First, he

receives a word from the LORD of impending judgment and delivers it to the leadership in Jerusalem, enjoining them to repent to avert the disaster (19:1-20:1). In response, the leaders ignore that word, denounce or persecute Jeremiah, and continue unrepentant in

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Holladay believes the phrase originated with this incident before the battle of Carchemish in 605 BCE. William L. Holladay, “Covenant with the Patriarchs Overturned: Jeremiah's Intention in ‘Terror on Every Side,’ Jer 20:1-6,” Journal of Biblical Literature, 91/3 S 1972: 318-19. 2

Pashhur is a temple administrator (v. 1). Walter Brueggemann, A Commentary on Jeremiah: Exile and Homecoming, (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1998), 179.

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their activities (20:2). Finally, Jeremiah receives and delivers another word of judgment, consistent with the first but increasingly inexorable (20:3-6).3 The repetition of this pattern creates a vocational crisis for Jeremiah since his calling has placed him in a pincer move between the One who sends him and the ones to whom he is sent. II. Intra-textual Study: The Confessions of Jeremiah. !

The confessions of Jeremiah (11:18-23, 12:1-6; 15:10-21; 17:14-18; 18:18-23;

20:7-13; 20:14-18) comprise a sub-genre, unique in biblical literature. While they are similar in form and content to the anonymous lament psalms, the confessions are unique since their author is known. Among the prophets, Jeremiah offers the reader of the Bible a window into his interior grappling, a rare glimpse into the daily struggle of the man with the unenviable task of heralding the destruction of the kingdom of Judah. While some believe these confessions to be a sort of journal of Jeremiah’s private thoughts, separate from his public ministry,4 others have noted their proclamatory qualities and consistency with Jeremiah’s message.5 I offer below an analysis of some of the elements that link 20:7-13 with the other confessions !

The most common feature of the sub-genre is the petition for divine vengeance

against Jeremiah’s enemies. These “imprecatory” sections include a desire to see the retribution of the LORD (11:20, 15:15, 20:12), calling for his enemies’ shame (17:18, 20:11) and death (12:3, 18:21-23), while Jeremiah seeks his own vindication (12:3, 15:15, 17:18, 18:20). These sections are not simply curses that Jeremiah calls down

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This threefold pattern is found elsewhere in Jer 3:6-4:4/-/4:5-31; 18:11/18:12/18:13-17; 23:22/23:21/23:20 (in reverse); 27:1-22/28:1-11/28:12-17; 36:1-19/36:20-26/36:27-32. 4 5

John Skinner, Prophecy and Religion: Studies in the Life of Jeremiah, (Cambridge, 1930), 201.

Ellen Davis Lewin, “Arguing for Authority: a Rhetorical Study of Jeremiah 1:4-19 and 20:7-18,” Journal for the Study of the Old Testament, 32 Je 1985: 111-17.

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upon his enemies, but he appeals to the divine court, a theme often found in the prophets (Isa 3:13; 50:8; Jer 2:9; Hos 4:1-4; 12:2; Mic 1:2; 6:1-2). By committing his cause (byr in 11:20, 12:1, 20:12) to the LORD as righteous judge, he sets aside any personal vendetta and leaves vengeance to the LORD (Deut 32:35, Prov 20:22).6 Also, like the prophets, he endorses God’s word of judgment, assuming the God’s wrath as his own (e.g. Moses in Exod 32:10-20).7 Thus, Jeremiah is able to express his full anger while “resting” in wrath that is grounded both in God’s desire to see His people repent (Jer 4:4) and His anguish over their destruction incurred by their folly (4:19,22). !

The other common feature is the focus on the word. The very word the LORD

has given him to preach (1:9) has become the source of persecution. The confessions capture Jeremiah’s multifaceted experience of God’s word. Jeremiah ingests God’s words which are a “joy” and the “delight” of his heart (15:16). However, God’s unfulfilled word spoken through Jeremiah has become a source of mocking and terror to him (17:15-17; 20:8). Additionally, God’s word is Jeremiah’s only recourse of appeal. He petitions God to relieve his oppression based on his faithfully speaking his word (18:20), reminding God of his promise of protection and effectiveness (1:17; 15:19). However, all that Jeremiah speaks is encapsulated by the exclamation “Violence and destruction!” since God’s word has become the source of his mocking (v. 8). Still, God compels Jeremiah to speak, even when his persecutors have turned his prophecy into a sarcastic epithet bybsm

rwgm (20:10). “Jeremiah is caught between his overpowering

experience of the divine word and exposure to the nation's angry rejection of it—and

6 7

Brueggemann, 183.

Terence E. Fretheim, “Caught in the Middle: Jeremiah's Vocational Crisis,” Word & World, 22/4 Fall 2002: 356.

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him.”8 Thus Jeremiah finds himself between the word of God he was called to proclaim (Jer 1:7) and that of his oppressors. !

Another element is the testing or trying of God, featured in three of Jeremiah’s

confessions. Part of Jeremiah’s own call is “to test” Njb God’s people (Jer 6:27), a role generally reserved for God (9:7). There are two connotations of Njb. One is to gain knowledge about the obedience of people. This sense is intended in 11:20 and 12:3, where Jeremiah, convinced that the LORD knows who the righteous and the wicked are, petitions God to punish the wicked. The other connotation is a trial of suffering that purges the peoples’ sin to discipline and mold their character. This is the intended sense in 9:7 since the LORD uses “testing” as a last resort against his people entrenched in sin. While God may have meant Jeremiah to be a “tester” in the first connotation since the result of the testing is to know their ways (6:27), the following verses include metallurgy imagery, indicating that their testing has been a trial of suffering (6:28-30, cf. Zech 13:9). Furthermore, since they are “rejected silver” (6:30), Jeremiah has to announce that the refinement process has failed. The usage of Njb in 20:12 is nearly a word-for-word repetition of 11:20. The key difference between the two verses is that Jeremiah states that God “tests the righteous” in 20:12.9 Here Jeremiah may be referring to his own predicament between the word of God and the mocking words of his opponents which God has been using to discipline and refine his prophet, approaching “the point of responding to his own initial complaint.”10

8

Lewin, 108.

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And “sees the heart and mind,” whereas in 11:20, God “judges righteously” and “tests the heart and mind.” 10

Fretheim, 356.

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!

A final common element in the confessions is power and persuasion. From his

call Jeremiah is compelled to prophesy because he is overcome by God’s persuasive power. In his call, God promised Jeremiah that while he would experience opposition, God would be with him to deliver him (Jer 1:8). God promised to make Jeremiah a “bronze wall” tvjn

tmwj against which his enemies “would not prevail” lky al (1:18,19).

Whereas Jeremiah protests that he is too young to bear God’s word in chapter 1, in his confession of chapter 15, Jeremiah complains of the loneliness and futility of the prophetic office, the indignation he has received, and his pain at bearing that word (15:17,18). His conclusion is that God has deceived and failed him (15:18). In response to this escalated protest, God repeats and augments his promise (15:20-21)11. !

Jeremiah never questions God’s power over himself (12:1a), but he does ask

why God’s power does not prevail over those who resist God’s word yet prosper (12:1b). Such frustration perhaps compelled Jeremiah to exclaim, “LORD, you have enticed me!” (20:7). Scholars have labored over the meaning of the Hebrew htp, found twice in this verse and once in 20:10, which has been translated “to persuade,” 12 “deceive,”13 “entice,”14 or even “seduce.”15 While this word appears only here in the

Note the repetition of key phrases. God promised “to be with” Kta Jeremiah, to deliver him lxn, making him an unassailable bronze wall tvjn tmwj, against which his enemies would not prevail lky al. The augmentation is shown in additional phrases: the bronze wall is unassailable hrwxb and God promises to save ovy and redeem hdp, as well as deliver Jeremiah. 11

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David J. Clines and David M. Gunn argue for this meaning by de-emphasizing the particular contexts in which htp is found which can vary in “‘You Tried to Persuade Me’ and ‘Violence Outrage’ in Jeremiah 20:7-8.” Vetus Testamentum, 28/1 Ja 1978: 26. Leslie C. Allen follows this interpretation in Jeremiah: A Commentary, (Louisville, KY: Westminster John Knox Press, 2008), 230. 13

Thus the NIV, KJV, NASB, ESV

14

Thus the NRSV and JPS

15

Thus the NJB which maintains this translation even for v. 10. John Bright, Jeremiah, 2nd ed., (Garden City, NY: Doubleday, 1965), 132, following the scholarship of Abraham Heschel.

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book, Jeremiah also questions God’s truthfulness in 15:18. Here, God mandates “that he must purge himself of such sentiments”16 to continue prophesying, making his promises of protection and efficacy contingent upon his obedience (15:19-21). While the order of the confessions in the book of Jeremiah do not indicate a turning point,17 this rebuke raises the question of whether Jeremiah would question God’s integrity again. III. Inter-textual Study: The Psalms of Lament and Lamenting Prophets. !

While not all of Jeremiah’s confessions have the form of a lament psalm, Jer

20:7-13 exhibits several structural and thematic elements common to these psalms. The most prominent is the movement from lament to praise, so surprising yet common in the laments. Like Jer 20:7, Ps 13 opens with a complaint directly addressed to God, almost accusing God of the psalmist’s predicament. As in many lament psalms, three parties are involved—God, self, and the enemies.18 Jeremiah’s complaint to the LORD in 20:7a turns immediately into a complaint about his mocking opponents in vv. 7b-8. The connection between God’s provision and the success of one’s enemies is also clear in Ps 13:3-4, where the psalmist requires God’s provision to keep his enemies from “prevailing” lky over him.19 Finally, the desperate pleading of Ps 13:3-4, unexpectedly gives way to expressions of trust and resolve to sing praises for God’s salvation (Ps 13:5-6). Jeremiah, likewise, concludes with a statements of confidence (20:11-12) and a song to the LORD (20:13).

16

Bright, 111.

17

Bright, 112.

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In the three subjects of the lament, the same three parties which figure so prominently in the presentation of Jeremiah's ministry: God, the lamenter who suffers but remains faithful, and the community which the lamenter represents while yet bearing its hostility.” Lewin, 112. 19

This element is more acerbic in Ps 88:8, where God is portrayed as aiding the psalmist’s enemies.

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Jeremiah also uses vocabulary of other prophets who take up a lament. Like

Jeremiah (12:1-2), Habakkuk is disconcerted about the prosperity of the wicked. Habakkuk “cries out” qoz, “Violence!” smj to God (Hab 1:2; cf. Ps 22:5, 142:1,5) who apparently watches the destruction and violence smjw dv in Jerusalem idly (Hab 1:3). Jeremiah’s cry of 20:8, on the other hand, is more ambiguous. While he uses this vocabulary, Jeremiah specifies neither the precise reason for his cry nor his intended audience. Some scholars believe that a cry of smj is a cry for help, tantamount to shouting “Help!” or “Fire!” in English based on these two biblical examples as well as Job’s unanswered qox (a variant of qoz) of smj in Job 19:7. Thus, Jeremiah is crying out to the LORD for relief from his oppressors.20 This explanation agrees best with the particular usage of qoz suggested in these few instances. Other scholars argue that it is not a cry for help but the content of his preaching, either denouncing the oppression in Israel or announcing the nature of the impending judgment.21 The former is more consistent with the usage of dvw smj in Ezek 45:9 and Amos 3:10. Here the prophets are rebuking the leaders and people of Israel. The latter is more consistent with the usage of in Jeremiah, where the prophet warns the forthcoming siege of Jerusalem will be characterized by dvw smj (6:7). In this interpretation, the prophet is complaining that he draws reproach because the word he must deliver is always an oracle of doom. On the other hand, since Jeremiah’s predicament is brought about by God who has compelled Jeremiah to preach, Lewin argues that it is a cry against the LORD.22

20

Allen, 230, 231.

21

Fredrick C. Holmgren, “The Elusive Presence: Jeremiah 20:4-11,” Currents in Theology and Mission, 33/5 O 2006: 366 and Bright, 132. 22

Lewin, 114.

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Similarly, Clines and Gunn have argued that Jeremiah cries out because he feels trapped between God and his opponents.23 Thus, Jeremiah is crying out in exasperation. This explanation best fits the immediate context of 20:7-13. In v. 7b, Jeremiah bemoans that he has drawn the ridicule of everyone, leading to his desperate cry of v. 8a. The reason for the cry is given in v. 8b: the word that of the LORD that Jeremiah has been faithful to preach “has become a [source of] reproach and mockery” for Jeremiah. The dvw smj that Jeremiah laments is what he himself suffers. IV. Line-by-line Exegesis !

The lament can be broken into two divisions (see Appendix 2, Outline): Jer

20:7-10 is a complaint and 20:11-13 comprise a hymn of praise to the LORD. Within the complaint, vv. 7-8 specify the nature of the complaint against the LORD (7a) and against the opponents (7b), attributing the cause for complaint to the “word of the LORD” (8). In vv. 9-10, God’s word which prevails over the prophet appears in parallel with the mocking speech of the opponents who attempt to prevail over him. The hymn is divided into a statement of confidence that Jeremiah’s opponents will not prevail (11), a petition for divine retribution (12), and an invitation to sing to the LORD (13). [7-8] The prophet begins with “almost blasphemous”24 accusatory speech, directed to God. Using the same grammatical construction as a petition in one of his earlier confessions (17:14), Jeremiah intensifies his incrimination through repetition of the prominent verbs in this passage, htp and lky.25 The verb htp appears twice in this

23

Clines and Gunn, 25, 26.

24

Bright, 134.

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Both 17:14 and 20:7 begin with five words, four of them verbs, according to the following pattern: 1. Active of Verb(x)+1cs suff 2. YHWH 3. Passive of Verb(x) 4. Active of Verb(y)+1cs suff 5. Passive of Verb(y) (assuming qzj and lky essentially convey the same meaning).

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verse and once in v.10. Some scholars interpret it by allowing the particularities of its widely varying contexts throughout the Bible to determine its usage in Jeremiah. Based on its usage in the case law of the rape of a virgin (Exod 22:16), John Bright concludes that it should be translated “seduced.”26 However, Clines and Gunn argue that interpreting the word sexually is “illegitimate totality transfer.”27 Furthermore, they argue that deceit is not inherent to its meaning (see Prov 20:19, 25:15). They suggest a translation of “entice” or “cajole,” which emphasize persuasiveness while maintaining sufficient ambiguity regarding any sexual connotation.28 Jeremiah does not impugn God’s integrity with a blasphemous complaint at the outset of the lament then mysteriously leave this question unresolved. Jeremiah is not making a theological statement; rather, he is expressing his sense of entrapment by his commission to preach.29 His second accusation is that God has “overpowered” qzj him and has “prevailed”

lky clarifies that the issue is not deceit but power. The Hebrew term lky “to

be able” is thematic, appearing four times in 20:7-13. As in his call narrative, Jeremiah is overpowered and compelled to preach God’s word despite his protests. !

The vocabulary of the lament is introduced in the second half of verse 7, (qwjc

“laughingstock,” cf. Job 12:4, Lam 3:14; gol “to mock,” cf. Ps 22:7, 80:6), while verse 8 introduces the source of Jeremiah’s persecution: the word of God that he is compelled to speak. Here the Septuagint (LXX) diverges from the Masoretic Text (MT). Perhaps drawing a contrast to the sweet word that Jeremiah consumed in 15:16, v. 8 of the LXX 26

Bright, 132.

27

Allowing the context of one or two appearances of the word to govern its meaning in other contexts. Clines and Gunn, 21, cf. Allen, 230. 28

Clines and Gunn, 21, 22 and Lewin, 113.

29

Fretheim, 354.

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begins o¢ti pikrw◊ˆ lo/gwˆ mou gela¿somai “For with my bitter word, I will laugh.” Equally vague regarding the earlier discussion about dvw smj, it continues, aÓqesi÷an kai« talaipwri÷an e˙pikale÷somai “I will call upon faithlessness[?] and misery.” Given the variety of legitimate explanations, Jeremiah’s cry, “is perhaps the concise expression of that bitter irony, addressed to God on the one hand as a protest against the outrageous compulsion to prophesy and on the other as a cry for help in the face of the opposition which the prophet encounters.”30 [9-10]!Verse 9 further defines the power dynamics and the nature of Jeremiah’s struggle. In light of the mocking and persecution from vv. 7-8, Jeremiah deliberates on setting aside his prophetic calling. Even though Jeremiah tries to “resign,” he is unable and is overcome by the LORD. God’s word is so powerful that it cannot be shut up in his heart or bones, which represent the entirety of Jeremiah’s interior person. The outcome of his determination not to speak rbd

al God’s word is that he does not prevail lky al.

God’s word overcomes Jeremiah’s reluctance to speak it: “He suffers if he speaks the word of God and he suffers if he doesn't, and the God who called him from the womb is ultimately responsible for both realities.”31 Verse 10 continues with vocabulary typical of lament psalms. A hbd is a whisper o...