Jeremiah 17:12-18

V. PROPHETIC PRAYER Jeremiah 17:12-18

TRANSLATION

(12) O throne of glory exalted from the beginning, the place of our sanctuary! (13) O hope of Israel, the LORD! All that forsake You shall be put to shame. Those who turn from me shall be written down in the land, for they have forsaken the fountain of living waters, the LORD. (14) Heal me, O LORD, and I will be healed! Deliver me and I shall be delivered! For You are the object of my praise. (15) Behold, they are saying unto me: Where is the word of the LORD? Let it come! (16) And as for me, I did not hasten from being a shepherd after you, and the incurable day I did not desire. You yourself know! That which came out of my lips was before Your face. (17) Do not be to me a terror! You are my refuge in the evil day. (18) Let those who persecute me be put to shame, but do not let me experience consternation. Bring upon them the evil day and with double shattering shatter them.

COMMENTS

It is difficult to know in Jeremiah 17:12 whether throne of glory and place of our sanctuary refer to Jerusalem or to God Himself. The American Standard and King James versions suggest the former interpretation; but the Hebrew would allow just as well for the latter view. If the reference is to Jerusalem it is difficult to see how the verse relates to the rest of the prayer. The verse fits well however as part of the address of the prayer. God is called the throne exalted from the beginning by metonymy. This title suggests that God from the beginning of time was the exalted ruler over all the earth. God is called the place of our sanctuary because true worship is grounded in Him. In Jeremiah 17:13 the Lord is called the hope of Israel and the fountain of living waters. It is interesting to note that the prophet who called God a deceitful stream in a recent prayer (Jeremiah 15:18) now refers to Him as the fountain of living waters. Jeremiah is confident that anyone who turns from God will be put to shame. So confident is Jeremiah that he is the true spokesman for God that he can equate turning from God with turning from himself. To depart from Jeremiahto refuse to hear his messageis to turn away from the Lord. Such as refuse to hear the word of God will be written in the land or ground. A name scratched in the dust of the ground is soon obliterated. So it is with the unbeliever. For a while he may hold the limelight; but in short order he fades from the scene and his name is forgotten.[209]

[209] M. J. Dahood has recently suggested another interpretation of this verse. On the basis of certain Ugaritic evidence he takes earth here to mean underworld or death. The apostates then will be listed for death. Biblica XL (1959) pp. 164-166.

From invocation and declaration of faith in the Lord Jeremiah moves in his prayer to petition. He cries out for healing but not the healing of the body; he yearns for the spiritual and mental healing. His heart is broken because the people he loves rejected the message. He cries out for deliverance from the sneers and jeers of the apostates. He knows that God can and will heal and deliver him and for this reason he makes God the object of his praise (Jeremiah 17:14).

Jeremiah moves on in his prayer to narrative. He describes to God his own situation. The people are mocking Jeremiah. They are demanding that his prophecies be fulfilled. According to Deuteronomy 18:22 one whose prediction did not come true was to be treated as a false prophet. SO far none of Jeremiah's dire predictions concerning the fate of Jerusalem had come to pass. No doubt this prayer dates to the period prior to the first Babylonian invasion of Judah in 605 B.C. For years Jeremiah had been predicting a calamity which would befall Judah at the hands of the enemy from the north. So far nothing had happened. Some, no doubt, were charging Jeremiah with being a false prophet. Others may have even gone so far as to question whether the Lord had the power to carry out His threats. The recent drought which God had sent upon the land had utterly failed to impress the hardened sinners of Judah. Instead of heeding the warnings issued by the prophet of God the inhabitants of Judah chuckled and said Let it come!

In his prayer Jeremiah defends himself and calls attention to his loyalty to God. He makes three points. (1) Jeremiah had not hastened or hurried away from his responsibility of being God's shepherd to Israel. Even though he faced opposition and persecution almost from the outset of his ministry he had not quickly abandoned his work. He did not quit when the going got tough. Rather he continued in his position as an undershepherd following after the Lord. Jeremiah walked in the footsteps of his God and sought to lead the flock of God in those old paths which the Lord had so clearly identified in His word. (2) Jeremiah did not desire the incurable (same word used in Jeremiah 17:9) day or woeful day. Here the day of Judah's punishment is metaphorically called sick or incurable. Jeremiah took no malicious delight in announcing the doom which was to befall Judah. He was not merely giving vent to his own hostilities. He preached judgment because that message was laid upon him by the Lord. In spite of the fact that the message brought was personally distasteful, Jeremiah kept preaching. (3) Jeremiah was utterly sincere in his ministry. God knew that. Every word which the prophet had uttered was known to the Lord. He had not diminished from nor added to the word which was laid upon his heart. He had been a faithful messenger.

Following the narrative portion of his prayer Jeremiah adds further petition. Many years earlier God had commanded Jeremiah not to be dismayed or terrified before his enemies (Jeremiah 1:17). But by delaying the punishment which the prophet had been threatening God was allowing Jeremiah to become the object of ridicule and harassment. Jeremiah therefore prays that God will keep His word, that He will not be a terror to his prophet. In effect Jeremiah is praying that he will not be embarrassed, dismayed or terrified because of his loyalty to God and His word. Jeremiah knows that he personally has nothing to fear in the evil day i.e., the day of divine punishment (Jeremiah 17:17). Therefore he calls upon God to utterly silence the sneering, scoffing enemies by sending the threatened judgment. He asks that his enemies be confounded and confused. He asks that they receive double destruction i.e., complete, total destruction.

Some commentators see a contradiction between what the prophet has previously said in his prayer and what he asks God to do in Jeremiah 17:18. In Jeremiah 17:16 Jeremiah said that he did not desire the evil day; here he calls on God to send the evil day. The solution to this apparent contradiction is simple. Jeremiah desired and prayed for the salvation of Judah as a nation. But within the nation are certain hard core, utterly perverse antagonists who are the enemies of God as well as the enemies of God's prophet. They deserve the punishment which Jeremiah has been threatening. When the prophet asks God to pour out his wrath upon these hardened sinners there is no personal animosity or vindictiveness. Rather here as in similar prayers Jeremiah is jealous for the Lord his God.