Jeremiah 20:2

Jer 20:2 Then Pashur smote Jeremiah the prophet, and put him in the stocks that [were] in the high gate of Benjamin, which [was] by the house of the LORD.

Ver. 2. Then Pashur smote Jeremiah the prophet.] Either with his fist, as Zedekiah did Micaiah, {1Ki 22:24} and as Bonner did Hawkes and other martyrs, pulling off part of their beards; or else with a staff, as they dealt by our Saviour, {Mat 26:67} and as that Popish bishop, degrading a martyr minister, struck him so hard with his crosier staff as he was kneeling on the stairs at Paul’s, that he fell down backwards and broke his head. {a} Atqui lapidandi sunt haeretici sacrarum literarura argumentis, saith Athanasius. {b} But heretics are to be stoned with Scripture arguments; and men may a great deal sooner be cudgelled into a treaty than into a tenet.

And put him in the stocks.] As they did afterwards Paul and Silas; {Act 16:22-24} Clerinus the martyr, mentioned in Cyprian’s epistles; {c} Mr Philpot, in the Bishop of London’s coal house; and that good woman who, suffering afterwards for the same cause, rejoiced much that her leg was put in the same hole of the stocks where Philpot’s leg had lain before.

That were in the high gate of Benjamin.] Which might be a prison like Lollard’s tower in London whereunto were sent the martyrs, many of them for their zeal and forwardness. Action and passion go together - omne agens agendo repatitur - especially if men go a little faster than others do. "They who will live godly in Christ Jesus" - and be set upon it - "shall suffer persecution." This gate-house might well be the priests’ prison, whither they used to send such as they took for false prophets.

{a} Acts and Mon.

{b} Contra Arrian., orat. ii.

{c} Epist., lib. iv.

John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Jer 20:2. Then Pashur smote Jeremiah, &c. — He thought, no doubt, that Jeremiah’s speaking so plainly of the overthrow of Jerusalem, and of the miseries which should befall it, deserved that he should be arrested and put in confinement, to prevent his speaking thus freely: and accordingly he treats him as they treated, or rather, ought to have treated, the false prophets. And put him in the stocks — The word המהפכת, here translated the stocks, is rendered the prison by Houbigant, and the house of correction by Blaney. It occurs twice besides, namely, Jer 29:26, and 2Ch 16:10, in both which places it is rendered simply a prison, and is mentioned as a punishment due to, or inflicted on, one who assumed the character of a prophet, without a proper call, or was presumed to have behaved unbecomingly as such. The word which properly signifies the stocks, is סד: see Job 13:27; Job 33:11. It is very natural to understand here that Pashur, having caused Jeremiah to be beaten, or scourged, ordered him into confinement afterward; from whence he released him the next day.

Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Thus we see that the thing which neither the King, nor the princes, nor the people durst enterprise against the Prophet of God, this Priest as a chief instrument of Satan first attempted, read Jer. 18:18.

Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain. Text via Bolls.life.

The fact that Pashur was of the same order and of the same family as Jeremiah aggravates the indignity of the blow (Kg1 22:24; Mat 26:67).

stocks--an instrument of torture with five holes, in which the neck, two hands, and two feet were thrust, the body being kept in a crooked posture (Jer 29:26). From a Hebrew root, to "turn," or "rack." This marks Pashur's cruelty.

high--that is, the upper gate (Kg2 15:35).

gate of Benjamin--a gate in the temple wall, corresponding to the gate of Benjamin, properly so called, in the city wall, in the direction of the territory of Benjamin (Jer 7:2; Jer 37:13; Jer 38:7). The temple gate of Benjamin, being on a lofty position, was called "the high gate," to distinguish it from the city wall gate of Benjamin.

Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

Verse 2. Put him in the stocks] Probably such a place near the gate as we term the lock-up, the coal-hole; or it may mean a sort of dungeon.

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

(2) Then Pashur smote Jeremiah the prophet.—It is the first time that he has been so described, the office to which he was called being apparently named to emphasise the outrage which had been inflicted on him. Other prophets had, under Ahab or Manasseh, been slain with the sword, but none, so far as we know (with the one exception of Hanani the seer in 2Ch_16:10), had ever before been subjected to an ignominious punishment such as this. It was so far analogous to the outrage against which St. Paul protested in Act_23:2-3. The word “smote” implies a blow struck with the priest’s own hands rather than the infliction of the legal punishment of forty stripes save one (Deu_25:3). The English word “stocks” expresses adequately enough the instrument of torture which, like the nervus of Roman punishment, kept the body (as in Act_16:24) in a crooked and painful position. The word here used occurs in the Hebrew of 2Ch_16:10, as above, and in Jer_29:26, but the A. V. there renders it as “prison-house.” In that humiliating position the prophet was left for the whole night in one of the most conspicuous places of the city, the temple-gate of Benjamin (the upper gate) on the northern side of the inner court, probably the higher or northern gate of Eze_8:3; Eze_8:5; Eze_9:2.

A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

2. the stocks] Cp. Jer_29:26. See HDB. I. 527 for anything that is known with reference to this mode of punishment as applied then.

upper gate of Benjamin, which was in, etc.] the northern gate (built by Jotham, 2Ki_15:35) of the upper (inner) court of the Temple, and to be distinguished from the city gate of the same name (Jer_37:13, Jer_38:7).

The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Then Pashur smote Jeremiah the prophet,.... Either with his fist, or with a rod, while he was prophesying, to stop his mouth, and hinder him from going on, and to show his resentment, and influence, the people not to believe him; or he ordered him to be smitten and scourged by some inferior officer. This was very ill treatment of a prophet, a prophet of the Lord, and one that was a priest too, of the same order with himself;

and put him in the stocks; or ordered him to be put there; but whether it was such an engine or instrument as we call "stocks", in which the feet of prisoners are put, is not certain. Kimchi's father says, it was an instrument made of two pieces of wood, in which the necks of prisoners were put; and some say it had besides two holes for the two hands to be put in; and so the same with our "pillory". The Septuagint render it "a cataract", a ditch or dungeon. Jarchi interprets it a prison; and so our translators render the word in Jer 29:26; however, it was a place of confinement, if not of torture and pain;

that were in the high gate of Benjamin; here were these stocks, pillory, or prison; which was either a gate of the city of Jerusalem, so called, because it looked towards and led out to the tribe of Benjamin, Jer 37:13; or a gate of the temple, which stood on that side of it that belonged to the tribe of Benjamin; both the city and temple being partly in the tribe of Judah, and partly in the tribe of Benjamin; and it seems by this that there was an upper and lower gate of this name; and the following clause seems to incline to this sense:

which was by the house of the Lord; or, "in the house of the Lord" (w); the temple.

(w) "in domo Jehovae", Pagninus, Montanus, Vatablus, Piscator, Cocceius, Schmidt.

John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

Jeremiah the prophet - Jeremiah is nowhere so called in the first 19 chapters. In this place he thus characterizes himself, because Pashur’s conduct was a violation of the respect due to the prophetic office.

The stocks - This instrument of torture comes from a root signifying to “twist.” It thus implies that the body was kept in a distorted position. Compare Act 16:24.

The high gate ... - Rather, “the upper gate of Benjamin in the house of Yahweh (compare 2Ki 15:35);” to be distinguished from the city gate of Benjamin leading toward the north.

Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

Struck, or seized. (Grotius) --- Upper gate, nearer the temple. (Calmet)

George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).

Then Pashur smote Jeremiah; it is not said how he struck him, though some think it most probable that it was with his fist, as the false prophet struck Micaiah, 1Ki 22:24. We are as uncertain what is here meant by

stocks, whether such an engine as is in use amongst us to punish offenders, which we call by that name; or, as others. an engine like our pillory, where malefactors are fastened by the necks; or, as others, with three holes, one for the neck of the offender, one for each hand; or whether merely a prison, where he was kept all night a prisoner; the Hebrew word will not determine us further than that it was a place of restraint, and where that will not determine, other conjectures are as uncertain as needless. There is as much uncertainty as to the place where this prison or these stocks were; we are told it was near the temple, and

in the high gate of Benjamin; but whether this was a gate belonging to the temple that opened toward that part of the country which was the lot of Benjamin, or a gate of the city that opened that way, whether in the inner wall or outer wall, whether called the high gate, because nearer the temple, or upon some other account, are nice and curious speculations, the determination of which is of no moment for us to know.

Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

2. Jeremiah the prophet — This designation indicates that he had come to have a public recognition in his prophetical character. It occurs here for the first time.

Stocks — This word occurs besides only in Jer_29:26, and 2Ch_16:10. In this last passage it is translated “prison-house.” It comes from a root which means to twist, and was a contrivance for confining the body in a crooked and painful position. Paul and Silas were subjected to this mode of punishment. Act_16:24.

High gate of Benjamin — Further designated as a temple gate.

By the house of the Lord — The epithet “high,” or upper, implies that it was a gate to the inner court of the temple, which was raised above the outer court.

Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Pashur, being charged with the police of the temple, smites Jeremiah, i.e. causes stripes to be given him, (a legal punishment, Deu_25:3; comp. 2Co_11:24) and then orders him to be put into the stocks; literally, that which distorts some instrument of punishment which held the body in a bent or crooked position. (comp. Jer_29:26) The "stocks" were sometimes kept in a special house; (2Ch_16:10) these mentioned here, however, apparently stood in public, at the high or rather, uppergate of Benjamin, which was by or, atthe house of the Lord. The gate, then, was one of the temple gates, and is called "the upper" to distinguish it from one of the city gates which bore the same name. (Jer_37:13 Jer_38:7) It is presumably the same which is called "the new gate of the Lord"s house", (Jer_26:10 Jer_36:10) as having been comparatively lately built. (2Ki_15:35)

The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

and placed him in the prison the name of a place of a prison, and Jonathan rendered: לכיפתא (arvolud in O.F.), a vault.

Rashi on the Tanakh — English translations: “The Judaica Press complete Tanach with Rashi, translated by A. J. Rosenberg” (CC BY 4.0); “Pentateuch with Rashi's commentary by M. Rosenbaum and A.M. Silbermann, 1929-1934” (public domain); “The Metsudah Tanach series, Lakewood, N.J” (CC BY 4.0); and “The Book of Joshua, Metsudah Publications, 1997” (CC BY 4.0). Text via Sefaria.