ORDER MY STEPS IN THY WORD

God’s Order in Old Testament TimesThe Way of Life or DeathMan can do a lot of things; but there is oneAfter seeing the boldness of Jeremiah in thething he can’t do and get away with—and that isfirst six verses of Jeremiah 20, the next threeto mock God. It may look like he’s getting awayverses in the King James Version seem out ofwith it at times, but don’t be fooled. It lookedcharacter for him.that way here when Pashur was wielding authority.But circumstances change. Pashur’s life Verses 7-9:wasn’t over yet.O Lord, thou hast deceived me, and I wasdeceived: thou art stronger than I, and hastJeremiah had the boldness to look directly atprevailed: I am in derision daily, every onePashur and say, “Look, you can put me inmocketh me.stocks, you can beat me, that’s okay. But I wantto tell you something: You and all Judah are goingto suffer because you have not obeyed mylence and spoil; because the word of theFor since I spake, I cried out, I cried vio-warning.”Lord was made a reproach unto me, and aderision, daily.Verse 6:Then I said, I will not make mention of him,And thou, Pashur, and all that dwell in thinenor speak any more in his name. But hishouse shall go into captivity: and thou shaltword was in mine heart as a burning firecome to Babylon, and there thou shalt die,shut up in my bones, and I was weary withand shalt be buried there, thou, and all thyforbearing, and I could not stay.friends, to whom thou hast prophesied lies.Pashur could make a public mockery of theprophet. But in the end, the truth of God wouldindeed prevail. The prophesied end of Pashur,the powerful chief officer of the Temple, wasdeath in Babylon along with his friends. TheWord of the Lord was spoken clearly byJeremiah, and that’s exactly what happened.These three verses are hard to understand afterobserving Jeremiah’s forthrightness in the precedingverses. A much better and a clearer translationof verses 7,8, and 9 is found in Dr. GeorgeM. Lamsa’s Aramaic translation:Oh Lord, thou hast comforted me, and I amcomforted; thou art stronger than I, and196197