Jeremiah 20:1

XX.

(1) Pashur the son of Immer. — The description must be remembered as distinguishing him from the son of Melchiah of the same name in Jeremiah 21:1. We may probably identify him with the father of the Gedaliah named in Jeremiah 38:1 as among the “princes” that at a later date opposed the prophet’s work, and with the section of the priesthood, the sixteenth, named in 1 Chronicles 24:14, as headed in the time of David by Immer. The name here (like that of “the sons of Korah”) may indicate simply the fact that he belonged to this section; or, possibly, the name of the patriarch (so to speak) who gave its name to it may have re-appeared from time to time in the line of his descendants. The name of Pashur appears again, after the Captivity, in Ezra 2:37.

Chief governor. — Better, deputy-governor. The word for governor is Nâgid, and this office was assigned to the high priest as the “ruler of the house of God” (1 Chronicles 9:11; 2 Chronicles 31:13). In the case of Zephaniah, who appears as Nâgid in Jeremiah 29:26, it was given to him as the “second priest” (2 Kings 25:18; Jeremiah 52:14). Next in order to him was the Pakid, the deputy, or, perhaps, better, superintendent. Here Pashur is described by the combination of the two titles, possibly as implying that he was invested, though a “deputy,” with the full powers of the “governor.” By some commentators, however, the relation of the two words is inverted, the Nâgid being added to the Pakid, to imply that Pashur was the chief warden or overseer. As such, on either view, the act and the words of Jeremiah came under his official notice. That such words should be spoken in the court of the Temple to the multitude assembled there was, we must believe, something new, and Pashur was resolved at any cost to prevent its repetition.