Jeremiah 1:4-10

II. THE CALL EXTENDED Jeremiah 1:4-10

TRANSLATION

(4) Then the word of the LORD came unto me saying, (5) Before I formed you in the belly I knew you, and before you were born I set you apart; a prophet to the nations I have appointed you. (6) Then I said, Ah, Lord GOD! Behold, I do not know how to speak, for I am only a youth. (7) But the LORD said to me, Do not say, I am only a youth; but unto whomever I send you, go! and all which I have commanded you, speak! (8) Do not be afraid of them; for I am with you to deliver you (oracle of the LORD). (9) Then the LORD put forth His hand and touched my mouth; and the LORD said unto me, Behold, I have placed My words in your mouth. (10) See, I have made you an overseer this day over the nations and kingdoms to uproot, tear down, destroy, and raze; to build and to plant.

COMMENTS

The call of Jeremiah is disappointing to those who love the spectacular and melodramatic. The account of how Jeremiah became a prophet of God is marked by stark simplicity. He was not privileged to see the grandeur of the heavenly throne room and hear the majestic praises of celestial beings as was Isaiah. Nor was he granted a vision of the throne-chariot of God with its flashing and intriguing wheels within wheels as was Ezekiel. The call of Jeremiah seems to have occurred on an ordinary day and in an ordinary place.

Jeremiah's call is presented in the form of a dialogue between the Lord and his prospective prophet. First comes the divine summons (Jeremiah 1:4-5) and then, as is Usual in such call narratives, the hesitant human response (Jeremiah 1:6). This in turn is followed by divine assurance to the reluctant prophet (Jeremiah 1:7-10).

A. The Divine Summons Jeremiah 1:4-5

The change from the third person used in the preface to the first person in verse four is striking and indicates that the following verses are autobiographical. The preface was probably prefixed to the book by Baruch the faithful secretary of Jeremiah. But the account Of the prophetic call was either written by or dictated by the prophet himself. TWO matters are of interest in considering the divine summons: (1) the time and manner of it (Jeremiah 1:4) and (2) the content of it (Jeremiah 1:5).

1. The time and manner of it (Jeremiah 1:4)

Jeremiah 1:4 indicates that, from the human standpoint, the call and appointment of Jeremiah occurred in 627 B.C., then referring back to Jeremiah 1:2, the thirteenth year of Josiah. Looking on the call of Jeremiah from the divine standpoint, Jeremiah 1:5 indicates that his appointment long antedated the birth of the prophet. Scholars differ as to whether or not Jeremiah is here describing a visionary experience. The prophet does not say that he saw the Lord; rather he simply says the word of the Lord came unto me. Did he hear the word of God with his mind or with his ears? The question can never be answered.

It must be emphasized that this was a genuine experience on the part of Jeremiah and not an imaginary one as claimed by some critics. It is God and not Jeremiah who took the initiative in this passage. The tasks to which God calls men are often unpleasant and arduous. Men are not eager to assume the responsibilities. Jeremiah claimed that God had spoken to him and amid the tumult and clamor of four decades he never wavered in that claim. One may open the book at random and find the same theme note repeated time and again with only slight variation: The word of the Lord came unto me; Thus said the Lord to me;[97] The word that came to Jeremiah from the Lord. Jeremiah was called upon again and again to suffer for that claim. No one in his right mind would endure what this man endured unless he knew that God had spoken.

[97] Of the 359 occurrences of this phrase in the Old Testament, 157 are in the Book of Jeremiah. See J. G. S. Thomson, The Word of the Lord in Jeremiah (London: Tyndale, 1969), p. 6.

2. The content of it (Jeremiah 1:5)

The divine summons contained two essential elements: (1) an affirmation concerning the past; and (2) an intimation concerning the future.

a) An affirmation concerning the past. In the first part of Jeremiah's call experience the divine purpose for his life was revealed to him. God informs the prophet that before he was born he had been selected for the task to which he is now called. A similar concept appears in one of the grand Servant poems of Isaiah. The Servant, none other than the Messiah himself, declares to the nations: The LORD called me from the womb, from the body of my mother he has mentioned my name (Isaiah 49:1 b). The Psalmist David declared much the same thing when he wrote: My unformed substance your eyes saw; in your book all of them were written, even the days that were ordained when as yet there was none of them (Psalms 139:16). Samson was to be a Nazarite from the womb (Judges 13:5); John the Baptist was to be filled with the Holy Spirit, even from his mother's womb (Luke 1:15); Paul declared that God had separated him from his mother's womb (Galatians 1:15).

At first glance, verse five seems to involve an almost mechanical notion of predestination. But this cannot be what is meant, otherwise the whole dialogue between God and the prophet would have no point. Jeremiah is being told that God has had His eye upon him for a long timeeven before he was bornwhen he was still just a thought in the mind of God.[98] Jeremiah's ordination had taken place in the mind of God before the prophet was born.

[98] Walter Harrelson, Jeremiah: Prophet to the Nations (Philadelphia: Judson, 1959), p. 17.

The distinction must be drawn between personal predestination and professional predestination.[99] It is the latter that is involved in this passage. The predestination here has nothing to do with eternal salvation. Professional predestination is illustrated by the case of Samson in the Book of Judges. Prior to Samson's birth specific instructions were given as to how this lad should be reared and definite predictions were made as to what this lad would accomplish (Judges 13:2-5). This was professional predestination. Samson was the right man, at the right time and the right place in the plan of God. So also with Jeremiah, Even before his birth God had been directing affairs in such a way as to make this man uniquely qualified to perform the work to which he was now being called.

[99] The concept of professional predestination also appears in literature outside Israel. Assurbanipal in the opening of his annals declares that the gods made him to rule Assyria while he was still in the body of his mother.

Jeremiah needed to know at the outset the identity of the One who was commissioning him. In the four verbs of Jeremiah 1:5formed, knew, set-apart, appointedGod identified Himself as the rightful sovereign of Jeremiah's life. Each of these verbs is rich in theological overtones. Here in turn are the concepts of creation, election, consecration and installation.[100]

[100] Hall, op. cit., p. 185.

(1) Creation: I formed you. The birth of Jeremiah was no accident. God takes credit for forming him in the belly of his mother, This verb formed is used here as in Genesis 2:7 where God formed man from the dust of the earth. God's creative activity is like that of a potter whose handiwork reveals his design (see Jeremiah 18:1-4). The fact that God formed Jeremiah in the womb of his mother does not mean that his birth was supernatural like that of Jesus. Rather the thought is that God needed a prophet and so providentially planned that one should be born who could fulfill such a ministry. The implication is that God gave the child the character, the temperament, the gifts, and the talents which would qualify him for the office of a prophet.

(2) Election: I knew you. The verb to know involves intellectual knowledge. In the case of Jeremiah this would be foreknowledge. Since the future is always the present to the Omniscient One, God knew the fact that Jeremiah would be born. But the Hebrew word is not limited to mere intellectual knowledge; it embraces also intimate knowledge. This is the word which is used of the most intimate of all human experiences, the relationship between husband and wife. Thus God did not merely know about Jeremiah; He knewintimately knewJeremiah himself. God knew his strong points and his weak: nesses, his abilities, his deficiencies and his potentialities. It was as though God had met him and fellowshiped with him for long years before he was ever born. But the Hebrew verb to know involves still more. It involves selective knowledge. Through Amos the prophet God said to Israel, you only have I known of all the families of the earth (Amos 3:2). The verb to know is part of the terminology of election.[101] When the Lord said I knew you it was virtually equivalent to His having said I selected you. Finally, the verb to know implies commendatory knowledge. In Nahum 1:7 God knows those that trust Him. In Psalms 1:6 God knows the way of the godly. In both passages the implication is that God knows and approves of the godly ways of the righteous. Thus God knew Jeremiah intellectually, intimately and selectively and approved of his life before he was ever born.

[101] Kenneth L. Barker, Jeremiah's Ministry and Ours, Bibliotheca Sacra CXXVII (July 1970), 226.

(3)Consecration: I set you apart. God had separated, sanctified or set apart Jeremiah for holy service before he was born. Here is the only use of this term in connection with a prophet in the Old Testament. While the word here primarily involves vocational sanctification, the idea of ethical sanctification is not altogether absent. God alone is holy. When the Old Testament speaks of a man being made holy or sanctified it means that a person is to be exclusively devoted to God for His purposes and in His service. It is interesting that Jesus speaks of Himself as sanctified and sent into the world by the Father (John 10:36).

(4) Installation: I have appointed you. The word translated appointed literally means to give, to put or place. Implied in the meaning is an appointment that carries with it the impartation of spiritual gifts which would enable one to perform the tasks for which he was appointed.[102] Did the Lord appoint Jeremiah to his prophetic office prior to his birth or at the very time this statement was made? This is the only verb in Jeremiah 1:5 which is not positively antecedent to the birth of Jeremiah, Nevertheless, in the light of the implications of the preceding three verbs it seems highly likely that the appointment also took place in the mind of God before the prophet's birth.

[102] Barker, op. cit., p. 226.

From the time of his call there is planted in the heart of this young man the conviction that a combination of things happened even before his birth that were to be determining factors in his becoming a prophet. The endowments, and all the influences of heredity and education have shaped, molded and prepared his life for his prophetic career. Jeremiah came to realize that everything that he had received or that had happened to him worked together under the hand of God to prepare him for the work to which he was being called. The consciousness that he had been planned of God before his birth must have stirred the sensitive young man from Anathoth to the depths of his being. In the opinion of Freedman, This consciousness must have sustained him and enabled him to triumph over the moods of despondency to which he was subject.[103] It is useless to speculate as to whether Jeremiah could have refused the call of God. As a matter of fact he did not; and God in his infinite knowledge knew that Jeremiah would not spurn the summons to service. However the principle which is affirmed by Biblical revelation in general may be confidently affirmed viz., prescience on the part of God does not demand compulsion on the part of man.

[103] Harry Freedman, Jeremiah (Soncino Books of the Bible; London: Soncino Press, 1949)., p, 2.

b) An intimation concerning the future. A great deal is said later in the chapter concerning the future ministry of the prophet. Yet even here in the divine summons there is an intimation of the role that Jeremiah is to play in the divine scheme of things. Jeremiah is called to be a prophet. The Hebrew word translated prophet occurs some three hundred times in the Old Testament. The precise etymology of the word is uncertain. As the term is used in the Old Testament it means one who is qualified, called, and commissioned to speak God's truth to men.[104] A prophet was a mouthpiece, a spokesman. He was one who stood in the divine inner council of God and then went forth to speak of what he had seen and heard.[105] A prophet was a man who spoke to men on behalf of God and to God on behalf of men.

[104] K. M. Yates, Preaching from the Prophets (Nashville: Broadman, 1942), p. 2.

[105] Gray, Op. cit., p. 321.

By virtue of its position in the Hebrew sentence the phrase a prophet to the nations receives emphasis. Here is something unique about Jeremiah for he is the only prophet to be designated as a prophet to the nations. His ministry was to embrace in a special way nations other than Judah. But since Jeremiah only left his native land on one occasion how can he be said to have performed an international ministry? The verse need not mean that Jeremiah is to go to the nations to proclaim his message. It may only mean that he is to include the nations within the scope of his prophecies.[106] He was to be the exponent of God's world plan in that age of convulsion and upheaval. It is completely unnecessary, then, to follow those critics who dismiss the phrase prophet to the nations as not being originally part of the text, or who emend the text in any way. Jeremiah was to become a prophet to the nations and this intimation of his future work is a genuine part of his call experience.

[106] W. Vischer, The Vocation of the Prophet to the Nations, Interpretation, IX (1955), 310-17.

Several observations with regard to the title prophet to the nations need to be made:

1. Prophetic concern with foreign nations can be traced back through Isaiah and Amos to Elijah and Elisha and even to Samuel himself. Samuel commissioned Saul to destroy the Amalekite nation (1 Samuel 15). Elijah was commissioned by God to anoint Hazael as king of Damascus (1 Kings 19:15) and this task was discharged by his successor Elisha (2 Kings 8:7-15). Jonah was sent on a mission to Nineveh to proclaim the doom of that city. Amos and Isaiah uttered numerous oracles against foreign nations. Both of these eighth century prophets developed the theme that mighty Assyria was but a tool in the hands of God. Jeremiah himself described his prophetic predecessors as men who had prophesied against many lands and great kingdoms (Jeremiah 28:8).

2. The issues with which Jeremiah was to deal would of necessity involve the nations of his day. In the late seventh and early sixth centuries before Christ it was no longer possible to treat Judah as though that nation existed in a political vacuum. A judgment upon Judah would involve an international upheaval in which some powers would go down and others be built up.[107] These were the political realities of that day.

[107] Skinner, op. cit., p. 30.

3. A large portion of the Book of Jeremiah is devoted to oracles of doom against the nations. These oracles have been collected in Chapter s 46-51. In Jeremiah 25:15-29 Jeremiah addresses the small states of Syria-Palestine warning them that they must submit to the authority of Nebuchadnezzar or be destroyed.

4. Jeremiah foretold blessings which would come upon the nations through the advent of the Messiah (e.g., Jeremiah 23:5; Jeremiah 33:15). Those commentators who limit unto the nations to pronouncements of judgment on the heathen are proved to be wrong by the fact that positive as well as negative terms are used in Jeremiah 1:10 to describe Jeremiah's ministry to the nations.

5. Jeremiah did on one occasion address foreign nations directly in the person of their ambassadors in Jerusalem (Jeremiah 27:1 ff.). On another occasion he sent a scroll to be read in Babylon and then sunk in the river Euphrates as a symbolic portrayal of the fall of that empire (Jeremiah 51:59-64).

6. Hebrew prophecy was universalistic in its scope. God's message is to all people and for all times.[108] Again and again Jeremiah emphasized that the sovereignty of the Lord extends to the ends of the earth. Jeremiah has lessons, then, for the present nations of the world.

[108] Freedman, op. cit., p. 2.

B. The Human Response Jeremiah 1:6

In Jeremiah 1:6 the hesitation of Jeremiah is placed over against the decisiveness of God in the previous verses. Those called to special service by God were always humbly hesitant to accept their commission. Jeremiah was no exception. His response to the divine call was both emotional and logical.

1. The emotional response

Staggered by the responsibility of his call Jeremiah, relates that he heaved a deep sigh to God, Ah!. It is the same desperate sigh uttered by Joshua after the disaster at Ai (Joshua 7:7)and by king Jehoram when he saw his army fainting for lack of water in the wilderness (2 Kings 3:10). Ah! is not an entreaty that God should change the circumstances but is a lament that circumstances are what they are. It is a cry of alarm and pain. It is hesitation, not rebellion. Jeremiah was fond of the word and used it in three other passages (Jeremiah 4:10; Jeremiah 14:13; Jeremiah 32:17). The weeping prophet was acquainted with the vocabulary of lamentation.

2. The logical response

Jeremiah's response to the divine summons is not purely on the emotional level. In the latter part of Jeremiah 1:6 he disclaims any adequate preparedness for the task to which God is calling him. To Jeremiah the call seemed impractical for two reasons: (1) his age, and (2) his lack of natural gifts.

a) His age. In the Hebrew word order the emphasis is on the youth of the prophet. The Hebrew word translated youth or child has a wide range of usage in the Old Testament. It is used of an infant (e.g., Exodus 2:6), a small boy (e.g., Genesis 21:12) or a young man of marriageable age (e.g., Genesis 34:19). The same word is used of Joshua at age forty-five (Exodus 33:11) and of Solomon when he succeeded his father as king (1 Kings 3:7). The Jewish Rabbis defined the word as referring to a youth of his fourteenth year. Estimates on the age of Jeremiah at the time of his call range from 17 to 25. Jeremiah is not rejecting the heavenly call in this verse but is, in effect, pleading for delay. It is as if he had said, May I not wait till I can speak with the wisdom and authority that comes with years?[109] He was not saying I will not, but I cannot; not now at any rate.

[109] Skinner, op. cit., p. 34.

Jeremiah may have mentioned his youth because he had not yet reached the age when he, as a priest, would be permitted to serve the Lord. During the wilderness wandering the years of service for the Levites were fixed from the twenty-fifth to the fiftieth year (Numbers 8:23-25). Later this age restriction was changed by David from twenty to fifty (1 Chronicles 23:24-32). One family of Levites, the Kohathites, could only serve from ages 30 to 50 (Numbers 4:3; Numbers 4:23; Numbers 4:30-35; Numbers 4:47). Could it be that Jeremiah was still a youth in the sense that he had not yet reached the age of priestly service? Still this was not a legitimate excuse as far as the prophetic ministry was concerned. The office of prophet was not limited to any definite number of years. God called men when He pleased and retained them as long as He desired.

b) The lack of natural abilities. Because of his youth Jeremiah felt a keen sense of inadequacy. Literally he says, I do not know to speak (i.e., I do not know how to speak). The word know in Hebrew frequently means to be skilled or experienced in doing anything. Like Moses he felt he did not have the powers of oratory which would win the attention of vast throngs. He did not have the persuasive abilities necessary to sway the conduct of hostile multitudes. A youth in antiquity was expected to be seen and not heard. Who would listen to him if he presumed to preach the word of God?