The following commentary covers Chapters 19 and 20.
Judgment
announced: the priest's opposition and Jeremiah's
sufferings
Chapters 19 and 20 shew us
the judgment of Jerusalem announced in terms that require
little explanation; and we have in chapter 20 a sample of
the opposition of the priests, and of Jeremiah's
sufferings. But this does not prevent Jeremiah's
denouncing the priest himself, and repeating that which
he had said of Jerusalem. Nevertheless we see the effect
of these sufferings on his heart. He was compelled, as it
were, by the Lord to bear this testimony. He has not (and
it is the same with the remnant) the willing spirit that
rejoices in tribulation by the power of the Holy Ghost.
He was the subject of constant mockery. They watched for
his halting, so that he would gladly have been silent;
but the word of Jehovah was like fire in his bones. Alas!
we understand all this—the deep iniquity of the men
who are called the people of God; the way in which the
feeble heart recoils before this iniquity, that has
neither heart nor conscience; and how on these occasions
the word is too strong in us to be shut up in our heart.
Nevertheless with all this fear he had also the
consciousness that Jehovah was with him, and he again
asks for vengeance (which, in fact, is deliverance, and
the only deliverance of those who have the testimony of
Christ in such a position). This deliverance is
celebrated in verse 13; but in verses 14-18, we see to
what a point personal grief may drive those who are
subjected to such a trial as this.
See the same thing in
Job—a picture of the same condition, that is to say,
of a soul tried by all the malice of Satan, without the
full knowledge of grace, in the sense of its own
nothingness, and in the forgetfulness of self. This will
be precisely the state of the remnant in the last days.
Christ is the model of perfection in what answered to
these circumstances of trial, the reality of which He
thoroughly experienced and felt, when He had yet to
undergo for others what laid the foundation of grace for
them.
Jeremiah 20 Bible Commentary
John Darby’s Synopsis
Judgment announced: the priest's opposition and Jeremiah's sufferings
Chapters 19 and 20 shew us the judgment of Jerusalem announced in terms that require little explanation; and we have in chapter 20 a sample of the opposition of the priests, and of Jeremiah's sufferings. But this does not prevent Jeremiah's denouncing the priest himself, and repeating that which he had said of Jerusalem. Nevertheless we see the effect of these sufferings on his heart. He was compelled, as it were, by the Lord to bear this testimony. He has not (and it is the same with the remnant) the willing spirit that rejoices in tribulation by the power of the Holy Ghost. He was the subject of constant mockery. They watched for his halting, so that he would gladly have been silent; but the word of Jehovah was like fire in his bones. Alas! we understand all this—the deep iniquity of the men who are called the people of God; the way in which the feeble heart recoils before this iniquity, that has neither heart nor conscience; and how on these occasions the word is too strong in us to be shut up in our heart. Nevertheless with all this fear he had also the consciousness that Jehovah was with him, and he again asks for vengeance (which, in fact, is deliverance, and the only deliverance of those who have the testimony of Christ in such a position). This deliverance is celebrated in verse 13; but in verses 14-18, we see to what a point personal grief may drive those who are subjected to such a trial as this.
See the same thing in Job—a picture of the same condition, that is to say, of a soul tried by all the malice of Satan, without the full knowledge of grace, in the sense of its own nothingness, and in the forgetfulness of self. This will be precisely the state of the remnant in the last days. Christ is the model of perfection in what answered to these circumstances of trial, the reality of which He thoroughly experienced and felt, when He had yet to undergo for others what laid the foundation of grace for them.