Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Jeremiah 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.
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).
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
Jeremiah the prophet – Jeremiah is nowhere so called in the first 19 chapters. In this place he thus characterizes himself, because Pashurs 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.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
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.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
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.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
2. The fact that Pashur was ofthe same order and of the same family as Jeremiah aggravates theindignity of the blow (1Ki 22:24;Mat 26:67).
stocksan instrument oftorture with five holes, in which the neck, two hands, and two feetwere thrust, the body being kept in a crooked posture (Jer29:26). From a Hebrew root, to “turn,” or”rack.” This marks Pashur’s cruelty.
highthat is, theupper gate (2Ki 15:35).
gate of Benjamina gatein the temple wall, corresponding to the gate of Benjamin, properlyso called, in the city wall, in the direction of the territory ofBenjamin (Jer 7:2; Jer 37:13;Jer 38:7). The temple gate ofBenjamin, being on a lofty position, was called “the high gate,”to distinguish it from the city wall gate of Benjamin.
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
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.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
(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 priests 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.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
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.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
Jer 20:2. And put him in the stocks Houbigant renders the whole verse, This Pashur apprehended Jeremiah the prophet, and put him into the prison which lieth near the upper gate of Benjamin, which is near, &c. Our translators have rendered hammahpeketh, the stocks; but I think without sufficient ground; for the word, which properly signifies that instrument of punishment, is , sad, see Job 13:27; Job 33:11. The word hammahpeketh, occurs twice besides; chap. 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.
Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke
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.
That were in the high gate of Benjamin.
a Acts and Mon.
b Contra Arrian., orat. ii.
c Epist., lib. iv.
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
smote. Perhaps according to Deu 25:3.
high = upper. Probably north of the Temple, which looked toward the gate of Benjamin.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
smote: Jer 1:19, Jer 19:14, Jer 19:15, Jer 26:8, Jer 29:26, Jer 36:26, Jer 37:15, Jer 37:16, Jer 38:6, 1Ki 22:27, 2Ch 16:10, 2Ch 24:21, Amo 7:10-13, Mat 5:10-12, Mat 21:35, Mat 23:34-37, Act 4:3, Act 5:18, Act 5:40, Act 7:52, Act 16:22-24, Heb 11:36, Heb 11:37, Rev 2:10, Rev 17:6
the stocks: Hammahpecheth from haphach “to overturn, subvert, distort,” generally denotes an overthrow (Deu 29:22. Isa 1:7; Isa 10:19), and seems to signify here a sort of stocks, by which the limbs were distorted into uneasy postures. So the Chaldee, keephtha and Jerome, nervus which he explains in his comment as “a kind of wooden fetter, into which the feet were thrust, vinculi lignei genus, cui pedes inseruntur Some learned men understand it as merely signifying a place of confinement, or house of correction; but the word is never used for any of the prisons into which the prophet was afterwards cast; and the punishment seems to have been public and ignominious.
in the high: Jer 37:13, Jer 38:7, Zec 14:10
Reciprocal: 1Ki 13:4 – Lay hold 2Ch 18:23 – Zedekiah 2Ch 18:26 – Put 2Ch 27:3 – high gate Job 33:11 – putteth Pro 7:22 – the correction Jer 11:21 – thou Jer 36:5 – General Mat 26:67 – and others Mar 12:3 – they Luk 12:45 – to beat Luk 20:10 – beat Joh 18:22 – struck Act 5:20 – stand Act 16:24 – and made Act 23:2 – to smite
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
Jer 20:2. A familiar argument (?) of men who cannot answer an unpleasant exposure of their sins in old times was a resort to physical violence. Pashur having a sort of public office took undue advantage of it and persecuted Jeremiah, He first smote him then put him into the stocks. This was an instrument of torture used in ancient times, made in various ways and used for the purpose of revenge in many instances. Smith’s Bible Dictionary describes them as follows: Stocks. (An instrument of punishment consisting of two beams, the upper one being movable, with two small openings between them, large enough for the ankles of the prisoner.-Ed.) The term ‘stocks is applied in the Authorized Version to two different articles, one of which answers rather to our pillory, inasmuch as the body was placed in a bent position, by the confinement of the neck and arms as well as the legs, while the other answers to our stocks, the feet alone being confined in it. The prophet Jeremiah was confined in the first sort., Jer 20:2, which appears to have been a common mode of punishment in his day, Jer 29:25, as the prisons contained a chamber for the special purpose, termed ‘the house of the pillory. 2Ch 16:10 (Authorized Version “prison-house). The stocks, properly so called, are noticed in Job 13:27; Job 33:11; Act 16:24. The term used in Pro 7:22 (Authorized Version stocks) more properly means a fetter.” The prophet was kept in this state of torture until the next day.
Fuente: Combined Bible Commentary
Jer 20:2. Then Pashur smote Jeremiah, &c. He thought, no doubt, that Jeremiahs 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 , 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 : 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.
Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
20:2 Then Pashur struck Jeremiah the prophet, and put him in the {a} stocks that [were] in the high gate of Benjamin, which [was] by the house of the LORD.
(a) Thus we see that the thing which neither the king nor the princes nor the people dared to undertake against the prophet of God, this priest as a chief instrument of Satan first attempted, read Jer 18:18 .