Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary on the Whole Bible
Jeremiah Ch.20 / 52 Ch.s
JER:20
* The doom of Pashur, who ill-treated the prophet. (1-6)
Jeremiah complains of hard usage. (7-13) He regrets his ever
having been born. (14-18)
#1-6 Pashur smote Jeremiah, and put him in the stocks. Jeremiah
was silent till God put a word into his mouth. To confirm this,
Pashur has a name given him, "Fear on every side." It speaks a
man not only in distress, but in despair; not only in danger,
but in fear on every side. The wicked are in great fear where no
fear is, for God can make the most daring sinner a terror to
himself. And those who will not hear of their faults from God's
prophets, shall be made to hear them from their consciences.
Miserable is the man thus made a terror to himself. His friends
shall fail him. God lets him live miserably, that he may be a
monument of Divine justice.
#7-13 The prophet complains of the insult and injury he
experienced. But ver. #7| may be read, Thou hast persuaded me,
and I was persuaded. Thou wast stronger than I; and didst
overpower me by the influence of thy Spirit upon me. So long as
we see ourselves in the way of God, and of duty, it is weakness
and folly, when we meet with difficulties and discouragements,
to wish we had never set out in it. The prophet found the grace
of God mighty in him to keep him to his business,
notwithstanding the temptation he was in to throw it up.
Whatever injuries are done to us, we must leave them to that God
to whom vengeance belongs, and who has said, I will repay. So
full was he of the comfort of God's presence, the Divine
protection he was under, and the Divine promise he had to depend
upon, that he stirred up himself and others to give God the
glory. Let the people of God open their cause before Him, and he
will enable them to see deliverance.
#14-18 When grace has the victory, it is good to be ashamed of
our folly, to admire the goodness of God, and be warned to guard
our spirits another time. See how strong the temptation was,
over which the prophet got the victory by Divine assistance! He
is angry that his first breath was not his last. While we
remember that these wishes are not recorded for us to utter the
like, we may learn good lessons from them. See how much those
who think they stand, ought to take heed lest they fall, and to
pray daily, Lead us not into temptation. How frail, changeable,
and sinful is man! How foolish and unnatural are the thoughts
and wishes of our hearts, when we yield to discontent! Let us
consider Him who endured the contradiction of sinners against
himself, lest we should be at any time weary and faint in our
minds under our lesser trials.