Jeremiah (1-31) 20:9 Commentary and Bible Study

Jeremiah was in the thick of it; his reaction was to go back on his calling: ‘Then I said, I will not make mention of him, nor speak any more in his name’, the Lord’s name. I will not preach these things, these warnings, nor speak any more in his name, because I am not getting the promised comforts, and it is not turning out well. But he couldn't keep that up. For how long did he try? A day, a week, a month? We are not told. Then he reveals to us that he is in prayer to God; he confesses that he determined not to mention God any more. ‘But his word was in mine heart as a burning fire shut up in my bones, and I was weary with forbearing, and I could not stay.’ Isn't that intriguing? He was a reluctant prophet at first; he didn't want to be a prophet at all; he didn't want to speak for God. But once called, God’s word was in his heart as a burning fire. ‘And I was weary with forbearing.’ I couldn't hold it back anymore. I could not stop myself. I could not stay. So in his depression, he is fearfully mixed up. He is tempted to doubt the Lord. He is tempted to doubt the promise of deliverance, but he could not stop speaking. Nevertheless he goes back to his complaint. ‘I heard the defaming of many, fear on every side.’ They muttered against him. They said, we will watch out for every possible slip, so that we can take our revenge, which presumably means that they are going to take action against him, have him arrested for whatever he is alleged to have done. ‘Report, say they.’ They are saying to each other, watch him like a hawk, and if he does anything amiss, accuse him; report him to the authorities; tell us, and we will report it. ‘All my familiars’, his friends, his acquaintances. Actually ‘my familiars’ means something like this: all my people of grace, and our translators have assumed that that means people who outwardly say the typical greeting: grace be your unto you, peace be unto you, and grace. The people who are courteous and polite to me; actually they are the very people who are watching for me to make a slip, to say the wrong thing, to do something unworthy of my prophetic office, and they are waiting to pounce. I can't trust anyone. So our translators say, not ‘all my gracious people’, but ‘all my familiars’, people who appeared friendly and ‘watched for my halting, saying, Peradventure he will be enticed, and we shall prevail against him, and we shall take our revenge on him.’ Jeremiah is so conflicted. But in the midst of all this time of severe temptation and depression, and even an attempt to give up, he comes back to the original promise of God. He consoles himself, and he triumphs over it; the Lord enables him. ‘But the LORD is with me as a mighty terrible one.’ He has gone right back to chapter 1 and the great promise. ‘I am with thee’ (Jeremiah 1:19). That is the answer to everything. ‘The LORD is with me as a mighty terrible one: therefore my persecutors shall stumble.’ They will falter; they will miss a step. Literally, the Hebrew, they will kind of wobble and have no strength to stand. Certainly in the invasion, but even on occasions before. ‘And they shall not prevail: they shall be greatly ashamed; for they shall not prosper: their everlasting confusion shall never be forgotten.’ What will happen to them will be an event so mighty it will be scored into the pages of history, as the fall of Jerusalem and Judah was, of course.