Jeremiah 20:7 - Exposition

Thou hast deceived me , etc.; rather, thou didst entice me , and I let myself be enticed . Jeremiah refers to the hesitation he originally felt to accepting the prophetic office ( Jeremiah 1:1-19 .). The verb does not mean "to deceive," but "to entice" (so rendered in verse 10, Authorized Version), or "allure." The same word is used in that remarkable narrative of "the spirit" who offered to "entice" (Authorized Version, to "persuade") Ahab to "go up and fall at Ramoth-Gilead" ( 1 Kings 22:21 ). In Ezekiel, too, the same case is supposed as possible of Jehovah's "enticing" a prophet ( Ezekiel 15:1-8 :9). The expression implies that all events are, in some sense, caused by God, even those which are, or appear to be, injurious to the individual. Was Goethe thinking of this passage when he wrote the words, "Wen Gott betrugt, ist wohl betrogon?" Applying the words in a Christian sense, we may say (with F. W. Robertson) that God teaches us by our illusions. Thou art stronger than I, and hast prevailed ; rather, thou didst take hold on me , and didst prevail . The expression is like "Jehovah spake thus to me with a grasp of the hand" ( Isaiah 8:11 ).