Глава 20

“And when Pashor the son of Emmer the priest, who was appointed ruler of the house of the Lord, heard Jeremiah prophesying these words. And Passor struck Jeremiah the prophet and threw him into the treasure” (Jer. 20:1-2). Paschor was a priest in the rank of builder, but he hated Jeremiah because the prophet denounced his fellow priests, and Paschor was sad that Jeremiah in the royal city openly taught against the will of the priests, who forbade him to do so. So the priests and high priests of the Jews rebelled against John, and against our Lord, and against His disciples. “And Jeremiah said to him, ‘Your name is not called Passover, but a stranger from everywhere’” (Jer. 20:3). Jeremiah said this about him, because Paschor had to go and move to Babylon, and suffer there the need for even a piece of bread, like the offspring of the high priest Eli (1 Sam. 2:36). “And I will give all the strength of this city... and they will plunder and conquer them” (Jer. 20:5). Since the prophet said that the entire people of Judah would be betrayed to the Babylonians, he adds here that, after the destruction of Jerusalem and its strongholds, the cities surrounding it and serving as its protection will also be destroyed. “You have deceived me, O Lord, and I am deceived” (Jer. 20:7), that is, deceived either by what was said to Jeremiah: “Behold, I have made you... over the nations and over the kingdoms” (Jer. 1:10), or by the promise that they would argue with him and not prevail, whereas the deed did not correspond to the word, for the prophet, looking at his present oppression situation, did not see any end to disasters in the future. But, fearing that by saying this, he seems to be deviating from the proper path, Jeremiah turns and proclaims the good deeds of the Lord, saying: “Praise the Lord, for you have delivered the soul of the poor from the hand of the evil ones” (Jer. 20:13). He calls himself poor because he has no human help, although God’s help has not ceased for him. “Cursed is the day in which I was born.” The prophet curses the day on which the judgment of God determines captivity, famine, deadly plague and other disasters for the wicked people. “Cursed is the day... when my mother gave birth to me, let it not be blessed” (Jer. 20:14). Such will be the day, even if the prophet did not curse. “Cursed is the man who told my father, a river: be born unto you a manly child” (Jer. 20:15). The prophet did not even know whether there was anyone who actually announced this to his father. But just as he cursed the day, so he curses the messenger, who, perhaps, never existed. Therefore, these words do not show strong anger in the prophet (for there is no anger at something that does not exist), but express only cruel grief (just as you, in severe grief, usually utter empty and reckless words that only show that you are in grief). Here we must repeat what we said before: what Jeremiah says here was also said by the righteous Job, about whom the Holy Spirit testified that “he did not sin, and did not blaspheme God with his mouth” (Job 1:2). Many similar expressions are found in the Psalter, written according to the inspirations of the Holy Spirit, Who taught the prophet and guided him. For the words of the prophets should not be confused with the words of ordinary and foolish people. And it is indecent to assert that Jeremiah desired revenge, like a man angry with his neighbor. On the contrary, as we have already said, he either, as a prophet, predicted future disasters for others, or revealed his own grief for reasons that were not reprehensible, but hidden from us and exceeding our understanding, and expressed it in words that the Holy Spirit Himself composed and defined for the prophets. You might be interested in: