I have - set thee over the nations - God represents his messengers the prophets as doing what he commanded them to declare should be done. In this sense they rooted up, pulled down, and destroyed - declared God's judgments, they builder up and planted - declared the promises of his mercy. Thus God says to Isaiah, Isaiah 6:10; : "Make the heart of this people fat - and shut their eyes." Show them that they are stupid and blind; and that, because they have shut their eyes and hardened their hearts, God will in his judgments leave them to their hardness and darkness.
I have set thee over - literally, I have made thee Pakeed, i. e., deputy. This title is given only to these invested with high authority (e. g. Genesis 41:34; 2 Chronicles 24:11; Jeremiah 20:1; Jeremiah 29:26). From God‘s side, the prophet is a mere messenger, speaking what he is told, doing what he is commanded. From man‘s side, he is God‘s vicegerent, with power “to root out, and to pull down.”
Root out pull down - In the Hebrew, the verbs present an instance of the alliteration so common in the prophets, and agreeable to oriental taste. The former signifies the destruction of anything planted, the latter refers to buildings.
To throw down - More exactly, to tear in pieces. There are four words of destruction, and but two words of restoration, as if the message were chiefly of evil. And such was Jeremiah‘s message to his contemporaries. Yet are all God‘s dealings finally for the good of His people. The Babylonian exile was, for the moment, a time of chastisement; it also became a time of national repentance (see Jeremiah 24:5-7).
Of his call to the prophetic mission, Jeremiah himself wrote: “The Lord put forth His hand, and touched my mouth. And the Lord said unto me, Behold, I have put My words in thy mouth. See, I have this day set thee over the nations and over the kingdoms, to root out, and to pull down, and to destroy, and to throw down, to build, and to plant.” Jeremiah 1:9, 10. PK 409.1
Thank God for the words, “to build, and to plant.” By these words Jeremiah was assured of the Lord's purpose to restore and to heal. Stern were the messages to be borne in the years that were to follow. Prophecies of swift-coming judgments were to be fearlessly delivered. From the plains of Shinar “an evil” was to “break forth upon all the inhabitants of the land.” “I will utter My judgments against them,” the Lord declared, “touching all their wickedness, who have forsaken Me.” Verses 14, 16. Yet the prophet was to accompany these messages with assurances of forgiveness to all who should turn from their evil-doing. PK 409.2
As a wise master builder, Jeremiah at the very beginning of his lifework sought to encourage the men of Judah to lay the foundations of their spiritual life broad and deep, by making thorough work of repentance. Long had they been building with material likened by the apostle Paul to wood, hay, and stubble, and by Jeremiah himself to dross. “Refuse silver shall men call them,” he declared of the impenitent nation, “because the Lord hath rejected them.” Jeremiah 6:30, margin. Now they were urged to begin building wisely and for eternity, casting aside the rubbish of apostasy and unbelief, and using as foundation material the pure gold, the refined silver, the precious stones—faith and obedience and good works—which alone are acceptable in the sight of a holy God. PK 409.3
Read in context »