Commentary on Jeremiah 20:7-13

The book of Jeremiah revisits his calling—not to celebrate it, but to wrestle with it. Jeremiah 20:7–13 offers one of the most honest and troubling reflections on prophetic ministry in all of Scripture. In this passage, the task and call of a prophet again come into stark outline. The book of Jeremiah contains a set of laments sometimes called the “confessions” of Jeremiah (11:18–12:6; 15:10–21; 17:14–18; 18:18–23; 20:7–13; 20:14–18). The historical context and literary message of Jeremiah informed the believing community of the sixth century BCE, and they inform a 21st-century audience as well.

Historical context

The original audience of Jeremiah lived between nostalgia and fear—looking back to a “golden age” under David and Solomon, while facing the rising threat of Babylon. Feelings both of nostalgia for a glorious past and of anxiety, confronted by the realities of an oncoming Babylonian colonization, encircled the audience of the book of Jeremiah in the past and even today. The dreaming past remembered a time of unity and prosperity in David and Solomon. 

However, the ugly “now” of the sixth century BCE was more shaped by the two communities of Israel and Judah. The northern kingdom of Israel is absorbed into the Assyrian Empire. Jeremiah’s ministry as a prophet with priestly credentials begins during the reign of King Josiah. The community thought this would be the return to the glory years of David and Solomon. 

When empires began to lose power, their colonized clients maneuvered for a better deal either with the old empire or with the emerging ones. The Assyrian Empire conquered the northern kingdom. The southern kingdom survived but was caught in nostalgia and anxiety about a new political world.

Genre

The sheer amount of first-person prophetic narratives that Augustine called confessions and laments of Jeremiah separate it from other biblical prophetic books. The narratives of his ministry, such as his call (Jeremiah 1) and conflicts (Jeremiah 27–29), are more extensive than in Isaiah. The book also includes the genre of personal lament, like those found in Psalms and Lamentations. These laments express personal trials and devotion to God. 

Close reading

A close reading of Jeremiah 20:7–13 indicates a five-part structure. Jeremiah 20:7a begins with an accusation that God does three things: entices, overpowers and prevails.  The verb translated “entice” in the New Revised Standard Version Updated Edition can mean “to lead astray” (Ezekiel 14:9) or even “to seduce” (see Exodus 22:16). The language resembles personal lament (Psalm 44:14–15). 

The next section of the first-person description, verses 7b–9, testifies to the inner struggle of the prophet. The prophet accuses God of making him a laughingstock (a similar passage occurs in Lamentations 3:14). The prophet trades in honor, which is discredited when one becomes a laughingstock, a person or thing that is ridiculed by others. A laughingstock is the same as the butt of a joke. An insult in English is “You are a joke!”  

A prophet trades in respectability. In the honor/shame culture of the Bible, the true prophet has honor. False prophets are covered with shame. The historian Evelyn Brooks Higginbotham coined the term “politics of respectability” to describe the ways privileged members of a marginalized group promote themselves as supporting the social norms of the dominant groups. The ancient prophet could benefit from respectability politics, but for Jeremiah. 

Respectability values certain behaviors and communication strategies. Jeremiah speaks but it comes out as a cry, or lament. The speech becomes a loud cry, violence and destruction. The writer sets up an “if…, then…” sentence. If speaking becomes shouting, making him a joke, he tries a different strategy: silence (Jeremiah 20:9). Silence leads to another symptom that occurs in individual lament, a fever (Psalm 102:4; see also Job 30:30).

The next section quotes the social opposition (verse 10). The loud volume of prophetic speech contrasts with the prophet hearing the whispering. The word for “whispering” has the connotation of subversive speech, an accusation against the prophet by enemies (verse 10a). Descriptions of friends/enemies in verse 10b express terror and locate the prophet as central to the terror. The “terror everywhere” occurs elsewhere in Jeremiah (6:25; 46:5; 49:29). The response of the mob is calling for the denunciation of the prophet. 

The group “all my close friends” makes clear that not all the opponents are at socially distant. Respectability politics also comes home to close friends. They look for the failure of the prophet. The writer returns to the language of “entice.” The enticement of the prophet allows enemies—even friends—to have the social advantage that earlier in the passage is allotted to God. 

Statement of trust in God (verses 11–12): The prophet affirms the Lord as a “terrifying warrior.” The friends and enemies will not receive the honor they aspire to, but shame that is never extinguished, eternal dishonor.

Instruction to praise (verse 13): The unit ends with a psalm-like conclusion. The call to sing and praise occurs often in biblical psalms, as does God saving the needy from the hands of evildoers. 

Key theological themes/Pastoral implications for preachers

There are three themes with preaching and pastoral implications. First, God has a profound power over the prophet. The free will of the prophet is not an option in the book of Jeremiah. The passage begins with an accusation of persuasion. However, the lament by using the term “entice” is a more subtle persuasion, as well as the term “overwhelm” or “overpower” as a militant persuasion creates a view of God as beyond the normal niceties we like to think about when it comes to call and human commitment. 

Second, the relationship with God sets all other relationships on edge in the political context of the passage. The loyalty to God organizes everything else. Disobedience in silence creates a fire in the bones. The prophet cannot be constrained by politics of respectability.

Finally, does Jeremiah become typical for every believer, ancient and contemporary? The book of Jeremiah proclaims the message that God is big enough to use our enemies, even our imperial colonizing enemies, to do God’s will.