©John Yerkes
Chapter 20:7-18 (ESV) - O LORD, you have deceived me,
and I was deceived;
you are stronger than I,
and you have prevailed.
I have become a laughingstock all the day;
everyone mocks me.
For whenever I speak, I cry out,
I shout, “Violence and destruction!”
For the word of the LORD has become for me
a reproach and derision all day long.
If I say, “I will not mention him,
or speak any more in his name,”
there is in my heart as it were a burning fire
shut up in my bones,
and I am weary with holding it in,
and I cannot.
For I hear many whispering.
Terror is on every side!
“Denounce him! Let us denounce him!”
say all my close friends,
watching for my fall.
“Perhaps he will be deceived;
then we can overcome him
and take our revenge on him.”
But the LORD is with me as a dread warrior;
therefore my persecutors will stumble;
they will not overcome me.
They will be greatly shamed,
for they will not succeed.
Their eternal dishonor
will never be forgotten.
O LORD of hosts, who tests the righteous,
who sees the heart and the mind,
let me see your vengeance upon them,
for to you have I committed my cause.
Sing to the LORD;
praise the LORD!
For he has delivered the life of the needy
from the hand of evildoers.
Cursed be the day
on which I was born!
The day when my mother bore me,
let it not be blessed!
Cursed be the man who brought the news to my father,
“A son is born to you,”
making him very glad.
Let that man be like the cities
that the LORD overthrew without pity;
let him hear a cry in the morning
and an alarm at noon,
because he did not kill me in the womb;
so my mother would have been my grave,
and her womb forever great.
Why did I come out from the womb
to see toil and sorrow,
and spend my days in shame?
Question to consider: Why did Jeremiah feel deceived?
The first word that came to Jeremiah was during the thirteenth year of Josiah’s reign. Josiah reigned about eighteen more years, and today’s song would have been given during the reign of Jehoiakim so Jeremiah had been faithfully preaching the word of the LORD revealed to him for more than twenty years. Even though there were probably signs of tension between Judah and Babylon, the people rested comfortably in the words of priests like Pashhur and self-proclaimed prophets who assured them that they were the apple of God’s eye and no weapon formed against them would prosper.
When Jeremiah came in preaching that the LORD was estranged from them because of their idolatry, and that judgment was at hand if they did not repent from it and restore the Sabbath, he was beaten and carted off to the stockade and made to rue the day he was born.
There may be the temptation to be critical of Jeremiah’s feeling of being deceived, but I don’t know too many people who have endured twenty years of beatings and mockery for speaking truth to people who do not wish to hear it. I’d be curious to know whether his father, Hilkiah, supported him before discovering the Law in the treasury. There’s no mention of him ever standing up for his son— even after Josiah started making reforms in the kingdom.
Of course, the LORD didn’t actually deceive Jeremiah. He even warned him ahead of time that the message he was to preach would not be accepted. When the LORD said, “behold, I make you this day a fortified city, an iron pillar, and bronze walls, against the whole land,” (Jeremiah 1:18) I wonder whether Jeremiah thought he would also have an iron heart and bronze exterior that could easily endure what was to come? The worst part was that even his close friends shouted, “Denounce him!”, and waited for him to fall so they could take revenge on him.
Even though Jeremiah wanted to give up, he felt compelled to keep preaching. He could praise the LORD for continuing to protect him, but part of him wished he never was born.
Dear heavenly Father, thank You for protecting us from those who mean us harm. Please help us to focus on Christ when we encounter those who are eager to see us fall. Most of all, help us to see the truth in the midst of all of the world’s lies. Amen.