Prophetic experience is the experience of direct revelation. When God tells a prophet that He has put His words into his mouth, the words of God must be understood literally. The uniqueness of prophetic experience lies precisely in the fact that the prophet quite literally...
Prophetic experience is the experience of direct revelation. When God tells a prophet that He has put His words into his mouth, the words of God must be understood literally. The uniqueness of prophetic experience lies precisely in the fact that the prophet quite literally hears the voice of God and bears witness to what he has heard.
But this does not mean that God uses His prophets solely as a mouthpiece. The experience of a prophet is far from the mediumism that was so popular in educated circles at the beginning of the nineteenth century. A medium really does become nothing more than a mouthpiece for the forces that use him: it is no accident that during a seance a medium is always in a trance and afterward does not remember what he said.
Nothing like this ever happened with the prophets. Even in cases when their ecstasies were stormy and even violent, even when it seemed that in their ecstasies they were somewhere in another dimension, so that the reality of our world ceased to exist for them, even then the prophets, unlike mediums, retained the fullness of consciousness. The proof of this was the fact that however violent the ecstasy, when it ended the prophets always remembered what they had experienced during it and could tell others about what they had seen and heard.
This distinction between a medium and a prophet is not accidental: God needs a person not as an instrument, not as a tool for carrying out His plans, but in himself, as a unique and unrepeatable person. That is why God never deprives His servants of personality, preserving for them both memory and the fullness of consciousness. More than that, God makes His servants His genuine coworkers.
When we speak of the prophetic word as the word of God, we must still remember that this word is divine-human, divine-human in all its fullness. For God the prophet is not only not a speaking machine, he is not even a secretary. For God, the prophet is a full participant in His plans. God does not dictate a ready-made text to the prophet; He reveals to him the meaning of what He wants to reveal, and to express the meanings revealed by God, to embody them in words, is the prophet's task.
That is why every prophetic book has its own unrepeatable face, and that face is human. There is nothing surprising here: God does not want simply to use people; He wants to save them, to bring them into the life of His Kingdom. And in order for that to become possible, He draws each of them into creativity, in which He Himself is the chief Creator.
1 The pedigree, time, and calling of Jeremiah, confirmed against his excuses, Jer 1:1-10.
His visions of an almond - rod and seething pot, Jer 1:11-14.
His heavy message against Judah, Jer 1:15-16.
God promises him his assistance, Jer 1:17-19.
1:1 Anathoth - Was a city three miles from Jerusalem, allotted out of the tribe of Benjamin for the priests.
1:2 The word - That commission from God that authorized him to his prophetic work, for the space of forty - one years successively in Judea, viz. from the 13th year of Josiah to the 11th year of Zedekiah, besides the time that he prophesied in Egypt. In the days - During his reign. Thirteenth - By which it appears that Jeremiah prophesied the last eighteen years of Josiah's reign; for he reigned thirty - one years, Ki2 22:1.
1:3 It - The word of the Lord. Jehoiakim - Called at first by Josiah, Eliakim. Jehoahaz and Jehoiakin, whereof the former reigned before him, the latter succeeded, are conceived not to be mentioned, because they reigned each of them but three months, and therefore not considerable. Of Jerusalem - The inhabitants of Jerusalem, under Zedekiah, during all which time Jeremiah prophesied. Captive - This does not terminate the time of his prophecies; for he prophesied also both in Judea, and in Egypt afterwards: but only relates to what he prophesied while the city and temple were standing, the rest seeming to be added as a supplement.Fifth month - Of that present year; for, tho' the year end not at the fifth month, yet it might end the year of Zedekiah's reign, because he might begin his reign at the fifth month of the year.
1:4 Then - When he was first called to his office.
1:5 I sanctified - I ordained thee for this public service. He speaks thus to Jeremiah, not to the other prophets, because he stood in need of greater encouragement than they, both in respect of the tenderness of his years, and the difficulties which he was to encounter with.The nations - To other nations besides the Jews.
1:7 Thou shalt speak - Fear not, I will make thee eloquent and courageous.
1:9 Then - God having excited the prophet by command and promise, now in a vision confirms him, either by the hand of an angel, or by himself in some visible shape.
1:10 The kingdoms - Having now received his commission, he is directed to whom he is to go; to the greatest, not only single persons, but whole nations, as the Babylonians, Persians, and Egyptians.To pull down - That is, to prophecy that I will pull down; which I will as certainly effect, as if thou hadst done it thyself: for, according to scripture - usage, the prophets are said to do that which they foretell shall come to pass. To plant - Metaphors taken from architects and gardeners: either the former words relate to the enemies of God, and the latter to his friends; or rather to both conditionally: if they repent, he will build them up, he will increase their families, and settle them in the land; if they do not, he will root them up, and pull them down.
1:11 Came unto me - This and the boiling caldron, ver. Jer 1:13, is thought to be at the same time, and in the same vision, when he was first appointed to the work. Almond - tree - That had leaves, and probably blossoms on it like Aaron's. This is a tree that blossoms early, and speedily, and so it may point at either God's readiness, to smite, ver. Jer 1:12, or Israel's ripeness to be smitten; this rod being like a portentous comet, shewing to Jeremiah the miseries that were at hand, at the death of Josiah, which soon followed this vision, the taxing them by Pharaoh Necho, presently after the breaking in of the Chaldees, Syrians, Moabites, and Ammonites, and then the Babylonian captivity.
1:12 Well seen - Or thou hast seen and judged right. Hasten - Word for word, I will almond - tree it, that is, I will be upon them speedily, in a short time. My word - My threatening against Judah and its inhabitants.
1:13 Seething - Pot - I see a pot coming, meaning the Babylonian army, who would besiege Jerusalem as a fire plays round the pot, when it is to be made boil; and reduce the inhabitants to miserable extremities. Face - Or front of the pot, or furnace, the place where the fire was put in, or blowed up to make it boil. North - Indicating from whence their misery should come, namely, from Chaldea, which lay north from Jerusalem.
1:14 North - From Babylon.
1:15 The families - Those nations that were under one lord.Kingdoms - The Babylonians, and their assistants; the Medes also being in confederacy with them, whose king's daughter Nebuchadnezzar married. His throne - Their seats, pavilions or tents shall be pitched, which shall be as so many thrones. Entering - Of the gates, or way leading to them.
1:17 Gird up - It is a speech taken from the custom of the countries where they wore long garments; and therefore they girt them up about them, that they might not hinder them in any work that required expedition.Consume thee - Lest I destroy thee even in their sight, to become their reproach.
1:18 This whole land - All its inhabitants in general; intimating, that though men of all degrees should set themselves against him, yet God would support him against their all, and would carry him thro' his work, tho' his troubles would not be only great, but long; passing thro' several king's reigns.