Jeremiah 1:4-10 (II) and Jeremiah's Commissioning

I love the stark simplicity of v. 6. Jeremiah weakly objects to the commissioning. It is almost expected that he do so, sort of like someone who is scheduled to receive a special award. We shrink back at first because we don't think we are worthy (well, some of us don't, at least!). Listen to his words. The Hebrew reads: "Oh, Lord God, behold I do not know how to speak, because a boy I am." The "Oh" is a universal exclamation, pronounced "Ah" in Hebrew and tons of other languages. The emphasis in the language is on the "I." This passage is reminiscent of Saul's language to David when he wants to go out to fight Goliath:

"You are not able to go agains tthis Philistine to fight with him; for you are just a boy, and he has been a warrior from his youth," (I Sam. 17:33).

Youth disqualifies us in the mind of lots of people. We don't have the experience, the wisdom, the knowledge, the insight. Of course, you can only get the experience if you are no longer a youth. Paul told Timothy to let no one despise his youth (I Tim. 4:12). We may indeed be hesitant to engage in something because we fear we lack the right equipment or seasoning. But this is no obstacle to God. God brushes this objection away like with as much effort as we brush flies away on a hot summer day.

III. Speaking and Doing the Word(s) of God--vv. 7-10

God does three things to turn aside Jeremiah's objection. First, God repeats Jeremiah's precise words ("a youth I am") but precedes them with a negation. It is almost as if God's word "cancels" Jeremiah's words. Jeremiah can say, "Lord, I am only a youth," but then God's first words are, "Don't say, 'I am only a youth.'" The argument won't work because ultimately it is God who is calling the shots in our lives. Second, God gives a visible symbol of Jeremiah's being able to speak the Word of God by touching his mouth. The author never says how this is envisioned. What does it mean that God "touches" Jeremiah's mouth? It is much more boldly direct that Isaiah's vision in ch. 6, where one of the seraphim takes a coal from the altar and touches Isaiah's lips. It is even more direct than Ezekiel's vision where he hears God commanding him to eat the scroll, a scroll which tasted sweet as honey (3:3). The common idea behind all of these reception stories is that God is either placing in the prophet or the prophet is ingesting the Word(s) of God.

But Jeremiah's goes yet further still. God, in fact, touches Jeremiah's mouth. No angelic or scroll mediation is needed. Perhaps the emphasis on direct divine communication of revelation to Jeremiah is emphasized so strongly because there is some dispute over prophetic authority going on in the Hebrew community of the time. A passage from Deut. 18, thought to be contemporary with Jeremiah, deals with this uncertainty:

"The Lord your God will raise up for you a prophet like me from among your own people; you shall heed such a prophet..Anyone who does not heed the words that the prophet shall speak in my name, I myself will hold accountable. But any prophet who speaks in the anme of other gods...that prophet shall die," (Deut. 18:15, 19-20).

God for a Day

Finally, Jeremiah becomes "God for a day," as I entitled the first essay, through God's words to him in v. 10. Six verbs are used in the second half of the verse to describe what Jeremiah is to do. Four are verbs of destruction and two are of upbuilding. Interestingly enough, whenever each of these verbs is used throughout the rest of Jeremiah, it is God who is the subject of the verb. For example, Jer. 12: 14, 17 has the following:

"Thus says the Lord concerning all my evil neighbors who touch the heritage that I have given my people Israel to inherit: I am about to pluck (natash) them up from their land, and I will pluck (natash) up the house of Judah from among them...But if any nation will not listen, then I will completely uproot it (natash) and destroy (abad--used in 1:10, also) it, says the Lord."

One other passage will have to suffice. In Jer. 18, after the parable of the potter's house, God says:

"At one moment I may declare concerning a nation or a kingdom that I will pluck up (natash) and break down (natats) and destroy (abad) it....At at another moment I may declare concerning a nation or a kingdom that I will build (banah, also in 1:10) and plant (nataa--also in 1:10) it..., (18: 7, 9).

In other words, God is upping the ante in 1:10. Not only will Jeremiah's mouth be touched by the divine, so that he will speak God's words, but the things that Jeremiah does will be God's destructive and rebuilding work. In a word, Jeremiah will be "God for a day."

Conclusion

I think this passage is almost too much for us to bear if we listen to it closely. It suggests a far more dramatic role for the prophet than hitherto has been expressed in the Bible. But this won't eliminate conflict for Jeremiah, nor will it lead to happines in his life. The commissioning by God and the experience of personal peace might not both be possible in the same lifetime. That is the painful irony of life close to God.

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