Section II Jeremiah's Induction
Jeremiah 1:4-19
In v. 4 there is a change from the third person to the first person, indicating that the following verses are autobiographical. Here we find Jeremiah relating the simple facts of his initial encounter with God. His experience at this point is similar to other Old Testament prophets. In Hebrew religion it was expected that any true spokesman of God would come to that “special moment” when he was inducted into divine office.1 This moment was more dramatic with some than with others.
The prophet's call did not have all the transcendant features and apocalyptic detail of Isaiah's or Ezekiel's summons to the prophetic office. Yet there is a definiteness and clarity to his call that is a fundamental characteristic of Hebrew religion: The word of the Lord came unto me, saying (4). There is a divine-human confrontation depicted here. Jeremiah does not say that he saw God, but God came very near, so near that at one point the hand of the Lord was laid upon the mouth of the prophet. The manifest nearness of God is stressed here in contrast to the transcendence of God in the call of Isaiah (Isa. 6:1-8). Here we find God in close personal conversation with a man. A dialogue ensues between Deity and humanity. Here is seen the intimacy that can exist between God and men. But there is no absorption of one's personality into God as some mystics teach. In this encounter God is God and man is man. Jeremiah here, as elsewhere in the book, maintains his own identity in relation to God.
The vividness of this confrontation is revealed by the transitive verbs with which God lays claim to the service of His man. I formed thee … I knew thee … I sanctified thee … I ordained thee a prophet unto the nations (5). One can almost see the words sink into the consciousness of the young prophet. Jeremiah is face-to-face with divine demands upon his life. Also, in this dramatic moment, we can see the decisiveness of God in contrast with the hesitation of Jeremiah. He is staggered by the responsibility that faces him. In surprise and consternation, he cries, Behold, I cannot speak: for I am a child (6).2 His hesitation at this point is to be characteristic of him throughout his career. By nature he is timid and retiring. His sensitive nature is ill-fitted for the superhuman task that is to be his. The awful presence of God was overpowering; the terror of “complete abandonment” of self and future to God could not but shake the bravest of hearts.3 His natural reaction was to protest; this he did vehemently. Yet his protestations only reveal the humility of his mind, his feelings of unworthiness, and the knowledge of his own limitations. While Jeremiah shrank from a most unpleasant task, we do not find him refusing. There is no element of rebellion in his hesitation.
God brushed aside the young man's objections, saying, I ordained thee a prophet unto the nations. … thou shalt go to all that I shall send thee, and whatsoever I command thee thou shalt speak (5, 7). The word translated “ordain” means literally “to give”; consequently, there is in it the idea of being “chosen” or “sent.” Jeremiah is, therefore, appointed a prophet to the nations. He is no longer his own; the call of God is inescapable. Jeremiah's ordination had taken place in the mind of God before the prophet was born, but at this point the long-range purposes of God have become actual in flesh and blood. With the ordination of Jeremiah the plan of God for His coming kingdom is one step closer to realization.
B. JEREMIAH'S CONSECRATION, 1:5, 9
This aspect of Jeremiah's induction into prophetic office can be described under two heads.
1. Sanctification(1:5)
God declared, before thou camest forth out of the womb I sanctified thee (5). In this expression we see the fundamental meaning of sanctification in the Old Testament. In the foreknowledge of God, Jeremiah was set apart for service to the holy God, who alone is holy per se. To be holy in the Old Testament is primarily to belong to the holy God by His redemptive action. For a person or a nation to be holy meant that they were to be exclusively devoted4 to God for His purposes or His service.
Jeremiah's experience might be described as the sanctification of a holy calling—“vocational sanctification.” The question may be asked, Does such sanctification have any ethical qualities? The answer is that the ethical content depends upon the nature of the God with whom an individual (or nation) stands in dynamic personal relation. A holy calling is the primary emphasis in Jeremiah's case, but ethical sanctification naturally follows. It is impossible for a person to belong to a holy God without that relationship being reflected in holy living. This is the essence of the biblical idea of holiness. Thus vocational sanctification and ethical sanctification are two sides of the same coin. You cannot have one without the other.
2. Implementation(1:9)
God always implements His own plans. Jeremiah was not left alone to perform the command of God in merely human power. Then the Lord put forth his hand, and touched my mouth. God's purpose to set Jeremiah apart for a special service is now implemented by the divine touch. It was at this point that he was officially inducted into the prophetic office. From this time forward the divine anointing would impel him to speak forth the word of God: Behold, I have put my words in thy mouth. Jeremiah is now qualified to carry out his prophetic task. God thus implements His purposes by the power of His Spirit.
C. JEREMIAH'S COMMISSION, 1:4-10
In the Old Testament when a prophet received a call he was also given a commission. God always calls people from something to something.
1. To Serve as a Mouthpiece(1:5, 7, 9)
Jeremiah was appointed a prophet not only to Judah but also to the nations (5). The Hebrew word nabi is translated “prophet” some three hundred times in the Old Testament. Apparently the word originally meant “to announce” or “to speak.”5 Gradually it came to mean, in Old Testament usage, one who is “qualified, called, and commissioned to speak God's truth to men.”6 The nabi of the Old Testament was primarily a preacher, a proclaimer of sacred truth. Under divine compulsion he spoke words to men, but words filled with divine authority. It is in this tradition that Jeremiah finds himself commissioned of God. It was to be his task to stand in the divine inner council and then to go forth and speak of what he had seen and heard. He was commissioned with these words, Whatsoever I command thee thou shalt speak (7); Behold, I have put my words in thy mouth (9). Jeremiah's faithfulness to this task brought against him the fierce opposition of his own family, his neighbors, his king, and his friends. Although he faltered at times, he never once failed his divine commission.
2. To Deliver a Message(1:4-5, 8, 10)
The idea of serving as a mouthpiece presupposes a message. Jeremiah states several times in this chapter, The word of the Lord came unto me (4). The outline of a message to Judah and the nations (5) is gradually taking shape. The writers of the Bible believed that God's word was full of divine power. They were confident that His word would not return unto Him void, but would accomplish His purpose (Isa. 55:11).
What then is the message that is being given to Jeremiah for the people? Even in c. 1 some of the basic elements can be seen. There is strong inference that all men are guilty and stand accountable before God (5, 10). Judah is accountable because she has forsaken the Lord to serve false gods (10, 15-16). The nations stand under judgment because their conduct falls below the standard of ordinary human justice. Destruction and trouble await guilty men (10, 15-16), for God is surely Coming in judgment. When He comes, kingdoms and peoples will be rooted up and thrown down (10). God is not asleep as men suppose, but is watching and alert to carry out His word (11-12). Finally, this timely warning is followed by a word of hope: God's punishment and judgment are redemptive; that is, He afflicts to heal (10). Beyond judgment there is hope of a restoration—a redeemed people and a new day.
3. To Execute a Master Plan(1:10)
In communicating His message to Jeremiah, God revealed His plan of operation. In the process the prophet was given an insight into both the past and the future. God, who had made plans for the redemption of His prodigal world, had seen His plans broken on the rocks of man's freedom.7 The children of Israel, a chosen instrument, were to have been “a light to the nations” (Isa. 49:6, RSV). Instead they had rebelled against their Deliverer, and had become like the heathen nations around them. The Northern Kingdom had sustained its punishment and had been gone from the pages of history for one hundred years.
Now Judah, which had known the patience and long-suffering of God, had passed “the point of no return” in her stubbornness and sin. The hour of judgment had come. Jeremiah is now commissioned as an overseer (set means “to be made”) to put God's plan into operation. Judah and other nations are to be shaken to their foundations and overthrown. Perhaps through the refining fires of suffering and sorrow they will find the way of obedience and peace. God said to Jeremiah, See, I have this day set thee over the nations and over the kingdoms, to root out, and to pull down, and to destroy, and to throw down, to build, and to plant. It may seem strange that God's plan involves such negative measures. But there seems to be a law in the universe that some things must die in order for others to live and grow. Evil must go in order for good to flourish. Our hands must turn loose of that which is evil, so that they may be free to receive that which is good. The “old, evil, wicked Judah” must be swept away so that a “purified remnant shall return to build the new Jerusalem.”8 But God ends on a positive note: to build, and to plant. There is hope of a better day. When the negative element is eliminated, the positive can flourish with vigor.
D. JEREMIAH'S CONFIRMATION, 1:11-19
After commissioning the prophet, God confirmed His word to Jeremiah by two visions, a command, and a promise. What Jeremiah was shown have been called “inaugural visions”9 by some scholars; however, we cannot be certain that they followed immediately upon his call. If, however, they did not come immediately, they were given very early in Jeremiah's prophetic career, for God seems to use them to assure him of his prophetic call.
The first vision is that of the rod of an almond (wake-up) tree (11). God explains the meaning of the vision: “I am watching [wakeful] over my word to perform it” (12, RSV). There seems to be a pun on the Hebrew word for “almond tree” ( shaqed ) and the verb ( shoqed ) “to watch” or “to wake” (a change of one vowel point makes the difference). The almond tree was well ahead of all the other trees to “wake up” in the spring. God was saying to Jeremiah by this vision, “I am wide-awake, alertly watching over My word to see that it is promptly executed.” Apparently Judah had been acting as though God was asleep and did not know about her sin.
In Jeremiah's experience we see some of God's ways of dealing with men. (1) God's concern about man's sin, 11-12; (2) God's condemnation for wrongdoing, 14-16; (3) God's command to His prophets, 17a; (4) The divine consolation, 17b -19.
The vision speaks of God's concern. Its purpose is to assure Jeremiah that God is keenly alert to the situation, that He is watching with persistent care to see that His word is performed. It also speaks of God's assistance in carrying out His plans. He is “wakefully determined” that His judgments will be accomplished in the earth. Men can always work with the assurance that God is watching with unfaltering vigilance to see that His plans are carried out, whether they are works of judgment or of mercy.
The second vision speaks of God's condemnation of Judah and the other nations of that day. He asks: What seest thou? And I said, I see a seething pot; and the face thereof is toward (or “from,” marg.) the north (13).10 Judah may expect trouble and judgment: Out of the north an evil shall break forth upon all the inhabitants of the land (14).
In 626 B.C., Ashurbanipal, the last strong king of Assyria (see map 1), died. With his death the forces of decline set in, and before long the whole Fertile Crescent was seething with plans for revolt. The Assyrian Empire was soon tottering. “The times indeed were ominous.”11 The Neo-Babylonian Empire was rising like a threatening cloud on the horizon. God gave Jeremiah insight into the international situation of his day; and his prophetic intuition saw the approach of the Babylonian hordes against his beloved land. I will call all the families (clans) of the kingdoms of the north, saith the Lord (15). The armies of the Babylonian king were to be made up of mercenary soldiers of all the kingdoms of the north country which Babylon had conquered. Jerusalem would be besieged as well as all the cities of Judah. They shall set every one his throne means that the kings would camp there. The hand behind this was the hand of God, and His reason was plain. I will utter my judgments against those who have forsaken me, and have burned incense unto other gods (16). Judah's idolatry and sin had sealed her doom.
Jeremiah was painfully conscious of how his own people would react when he delivered this message. He knew that he would be personally attacked and hated. His sensitive soul recoiled in horror, but God fortified him for what he must face. “But you! You shall gird up your loins! You shall arise, and you shall speak to them” (17, lit.). Although the verbs can be translated as the Hebrew imperfect, they have here the force of the imperative. Be not dismayed (terrified) at their faces. God's command came as a powerful stimulant to the timid and apprehensive prophet. Jeremiah faced up to his task with new faith and courage. There are times when every man of God needs to hear the “ring of iron” in the voice of the Eternal. It enables one, as it did Jeremiah, to regain the divine perspective.
When dealing with His timid and brokenhearted ones, divine severity is always followed by God's consolation; His commands are followed by His promises. He makes a definite promise to the young and inexperienced prophet: Behold, I have made thee this day a defenced city, and an iron pillar … against the whole land … they shall fight against thee; but they shall not prevail … for I am with thee … to deliver thee (18-19). Courage and inspiration flowed into the soul of Jeremiah; God's word could be trusted. Divine inspiration gripped him. His induction into the prophetic office was complete. He was the bearer of the word of the Lord—a spokesman of God—a full-fledged prophet. He turned to his task under the power of the Spirit.