Approaching studies within Jeremiah, instead of trying to follow chronologically, which is difficult with this book, for roughly the first half of the book, the first 29 chapters, we will instead only produce studies within their appropriate chapters, theming them as follows:

• Jeremiah’s Calling                     Ch.1
• Jeremiah’s Main Message        Ch.2,3,5,7,21,22
• Jeremiah’s Action Parables      Ch.13,18,19,27
• Jeremiah’s Opposition              Ch.11,12,14,18,20,26,28
• Jeremiah’s Message of Hope   Ch.3,23,24,25,29

For those who may wish to ‘study’ this chapter, and the particular theme, as with studies elsewhere, each passage has a four-Part approach to help you take in and think further about what you have read on the main Bible page.

Jeremiah’s Opposition: 5. Jeremiah Imprisoned

Jer 20:1-6

 When the priest Pashhur son of Immer, the official in charge of the temple of the Lord, heard Jeremiah prophesying these things, ² he had Jeremiah the prophet beaten and put in the stocks at the Upper Gate of Benjamin at the Lord’s temple. ³ The next day, when Pashhur released him from the stocks, Jeremiah said to him, “The Lord’s name for you is not Pashhur, but Terror on Every Side. ⁴ For this is what the Lord says: ‘I will make you a terror to yourself and to all your friends; with your own eyes you will see them fall by the sword of their enemies. I will give all Judah into the hands of the king of Babylon, who will carry them away to Babylon or put them to the sword. ⁵ I will deliver all the wealth of this city into the hands of their enemies—all its products, all its valuables and all the treasures of the kings of Judah. They will take it away as plunder and carry it off to Babylon. ⁶ And you, Pashhur, and all who live in your house will go into exile to Babylon. There you will die and be buried, you and all your friends to whom you have prophesied lies.’”

A. Find Out :

1. Who was Pashhur? v.1
2. What did he do to Jeremiah? v.2
3. How long was Jeremiah there? v.3
4. Who did Jeremiah say was renaming Pashhur? v.3
5. What did Jeremiah say Pashhur would see? v.4
6. What had Pashhur been doing? v.6

B. Think:

1. List all the things this passage tells us about Pashhur?
2. Why did Jeremiah say Pashhur would become a terror to others?
3. What did Jeremiah say Pashhur’s end would be?

C. Comment:

After Jeremiah has stood in the temple courts and prophesied disaster for Jerusalem, Pashhur, a priest of influence in the temple, took action against Jeremiah. In return Jeremiah brings him God’s word.

Pashhur’s father is the chief officer of the temple and Pashhur obviously has much authority in the temple itself because of this. It is difficult when people around us oppose us, but it is doubly so when people of position speak out against us.  Pashhur, obviously, has also been declaring that all Jeremiah has been saying is untrue, and that Jerusalem will be safe.  As we saw in a previous study, opposition soon moves from rejection to action, and Pashhur not only rejects and speaks against Jeremiah but he also acts against him.

When Jeremiah is released in the morning he has a word from the Lord for Pashhur. So far Pashhur has been in a place of authority and prestige but soon he will be in a place of terror, for where he is (the temple) there will be destruction and terror from the enemy.  His friends who have been listening to him will want to get away from the temple and from him as quickly as possible.

D. Application?

1. Ask the Lord to give you grace to still be His mouthpiece when people abuse you.
2. Thank the Lord for Jeremiah’s example that even in discomfort he could still hear the Lord.

Jeremiah’s Opposition: Jeremiah’s Lament

Jer 20:7-18

⁷ You deceived me, Lord, and I was deceived,
    you overpowered me and prevailed.
I am ridiculed all day long;
    everyone mocks me.
⁸ Whenever I speak, I cry out
    proclaiming violence and destruction.
So the word of the Lord has brought me
    insult and reproach all day long.
⁹ But if I say, “I will not mention his word
    or speak anymore in his name,”
his word is in my heart like a fire,
    a fire shut up in my bones.
I am weary of holding it in;
    indeed, I cannot.
¹⁰ I hear many whispering,
    “Terror on every side!
    Denounce him! Let’s denounce him!”
All my friends
    are waiting for me to slip, saying,
“Perhaps he will be deceived;
    then we will prevail over him
    and take our revenge on him.”

¹¹ But the Lord is with me like a mighty warrior;
    so my persecutors will stumble and not prevail.
They will fail and be thoroughly disgraced;
    their dishonor will never be forgotten.
¹² Lord Almighty, you who examine the righteous
    and probe the heart and mind,
let me see your vengeance on them,
    for to you I have committed my cause.

¹³ Sing to the Lord!
    Give praise to the Lord!
He rescues the life of the needy
    from the hands of the wicked.

¹⁴ Cursed be the day I was born!
    May the day my mother bore me not be blessed!
¹⁵ Cursed be the man who brought my father the news,
    who made him very glad, saying,
    “A child is born to you—a son!”
¹⁶ May that man be like the towns
    the Lord overthrew without pity.
May he hear wailing in the morning,
    a battle cry at noon.
¹⁷ For he did not kill me in the womb,
    with my mother as my grave,
    her womb enlarged forever.
¹⁸ Why did I ever come out of the womb
    to see trouble and sorrow
    and to end my days in shame?

A. Find Out :

1. What is happening to Jeremiah? v.7c
2. What also is he receiving? v.8c
3. What happens if he tries to hold God’s word in? v.9
4. What were people hoping for? v.10
5. But what does he know? v.11-13
6. Yet what does he feel? v.14-18

B. Think:

1. How do people feel about Jeremiah?
2. Why is he “stuck” with this ministry?
3. How is he seen to be in an “up and down” state?

C. Comment:

Jeremiah feels very down!  He is, first of all, very conscious of what the people think of him as they mock him, ridicule him or threaten to tell the authorities what he is saying when he is prophesying destruction. Everyone is against him and he feels entirely alone!  It is difficult to stand alone against public opinion. Second, he tries to stand in a place of faith, proclaiming the truth that the Lord is with him and that the Lord is Almighty, that the Lord will uphold him. However, having done that he subsides into a state of despair again, wishing that he had never even been born.

It is sometimes easier to talk about faith than stand in it when all are against you.   Jeremiah shows us the very real feelings of desperation that he sometimes felt while exercising this ministry. Just in case we might have felt, “Well why don’t you give it up then?” Jeremiah explains what so many men of God feel, that God has placed something in them which just cannot be bottled up. This is the mark of the true calling, that even when all is desperate, when you feel alone, when you feel everyone is against you,  you cannot lay down the task, it is just too deep within you! The truth within sometimes cannot be resisted.

D. Application?

1. Be honest and acknowledge to the Lord when you feel like Jeremiah felt in today’s passage.
2. Thank the Lord that He IS with you in it, even when you feel alone.