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Jeremiah 20 (ESV)
1 Now Pashhur the priest, the son of Immer, who was chief officer in the house of the Lord, heard Jeremiah prophesying these things. 2 Then Pashhur beat Jeremiah the prophet, and put him in the stocks that were in the upper Benjamin Gate of the house of the Lord. 3 The next day, when Pashhur released Jeremiah from the stocks, Jeremiah said to him, “The Lord does not call your name Pashhur, but Terror on Every Side. 4 For thus says the Lord: Behold, I will make you a terror to yourself and to all your friends. They shall fall by the sword of their enemies while you look on. And I will give all Judah into the hand of the king of Babylon. He shall carry them captive to Babylon, and shall strike them down with the sword. 5 Moreover, I will give all the wealth of the city, all its gains, all its prized belongings, and all the treasures of the kings of Judah into the hand of their enemies, who shall plunder them and seize them and carry them to Babylon. 6 And you, Pashhur, and all who dwell in your house, shall go into captivity. To Babylon you shall go, and there you shall die, and there you shall be buried, you and all your friends, to whom you have prophesied falsely.”
REFLECTION:
Pashhur was the official responsible for maintaining order in the temple, and he was also a priest and pretending to be a prophet. After listening to Jeremiah’s words, instead of thinking about it seriously and repenting by action, he beat Jeremiah and put him in the stocks. Although the truth sometimes irritates people, how to treat the truth reflects a person’s character. We can deny the accusations of the truth, eliminate the evidence of mistakes, or accept the facts humbly and honestly, and let the truth transform us. Pashhur thinks he is a mighty leader, but in fact he is just a coward. The name “Pashhur” originally meant “Prosperity All Around”, but it became “Magor-missabib”, which means “Terror on Every Side”. Jeremiah’s prophecy that he said to Pashhur about the subjugation of the kingdom was finally fulfilled when Babylon invaded Judah three times in 586 BC, and Pashhur was also taken into captivity with King Jehoiakim. God’s words will never fail. We should use Pashhur as a negative example, and receive all God’s words to us with awe, including the words that we are not willing to hear. If you despise or disobey the word of God, you will have serious consequences.
PRAYER:
Come to God quietly and ask God to examine your heart. Ask God to give you greater faith and more wisdom, so that you can understand all God’s guidance in your life, including those that hurt you. Trust that God’s words and arrangements that you are unwilling to listen to are all for your benefit. Ask God to give you deeper humility so that you can obey all God’s guidance in your life.
HYMN:
Speak O Lord – youtu.be/ubRlJj8xkds
