So...God, eloquently, shapes a message for the people, using visual aids and repeated prophesies via his prophet Jeremiah. In this chapter, the people respond. They did NOT understand the assignment.
One of the leading officials in the house of the Lord, a priest in charge of law and order in the Temple, has Jeremiah beaten.
Yep. They beat him for sharing God's message. 40 lashes to the feet.
And then they put him in stocks. Which a painful and shaming and leaves you vulnerable to public abuse. It put them in a position almost doubled over and secured at the neck, hands, and the 40 that had just been beaten. Terribly, terribly painful. Put simply, they tortured him.
When he gets out of the stocks the next day, he let's the official know that although his name is Pashhur, the Lord knows him as Magor-missabib. Fun fact...this means "terror on every side". The message was that Babylin was coming and this guy was going to get to see all of the terror of his friends and family while they were either murdered or hauled off.
Then the Lord, via Jeremiah, tells the officer that God is going to give away all of Judah's wealth when Babylon plunders it. And, finally, he assures Pashhur that he and his family and friends, to whom he falsely prophesied will go captive into Babylon and die and be buried there.
Starting in verse 7, Jeremiah then turns his heart to the Lord and cries out in pain and humiliation because of the way he is being treated for bringing God's message. And when he tries to stop speaking for the Lord, the message burns in him. Even his friends are plotting against him. Jeremiah said his nickname had become Magor-missabib, terror on every side- like the name the Lord warned Pashhur about.
Maybe Jeremiah seemed like Debbie Downer with a constant message of terror; but they were about to live actual terror.
But like David, Jeremiah comes back around to his faith in the Lord in verse 11:
But the Lord is with me like a dread champion;
Therefore my persecutors will stumble and not prevail.
They will be utterly ashamed, because they have failed,
With an everlasting disgrace that will not be forgotten. Jeremiah 20:11
In verse 12 he reiterates that the Lord tests the righteous, but does bring vengeance to those who come against His people. He even praises the Lord in verse 13 for delivering the needy from the hands of the wicked.
However, in verse 14 the mood changes again and he curses the day he was born. He continues this elaborate fantasy about his stillbirth through the end of the chapter.
Poor Jeremiah. He has the faithfulness and obedience of Joseph and Daniel, but suffers greatly.
We know the Lord is just; so I'm sure eternity will be filled with joy and peace for Jeremiah; but it's hard to watch him suffer.