“Do not say, ‘I am a youth,’
For you shall go to all to whom I send you,
And awhatever I command you, you shall speak.
“Behold, I have bput My words in your mouth.
To broot out and to pull down,
To destroy and to throw down,
To build and to plant.”
| << Jeremiah 1:8 | Jeremiah 1:10 >> |
What Does Jeremiah 1:9 Mean?
Jeremiah 1:6-10
Above all others, Jeremiah is the "Axial Man," prepared by God. God told him that he was a prophet not only to Israel and Judah, but to many other nations and kingdoms, and his job was to root out, pull down, destroy, throw down, build, and plant. Jeremiah 25:15-30 greatly fleshes out Jeremiah's commission.
John W. Ritenbaugh
Prophecy and the Sixth-Century Axial Period
Jeremiah 1:9-10
Jeremiah 1:9-10 recounts God's commission to Jeremiah, at the time a teenager.
Jeremiah's task was so important that God had prepared him for it from his conception (verse 5). He encouraged Jeremiah by telling him not to fear those to whom he would be sent, "for I am with you to deliver you" (verse 8). He ends His commission in verse 19, assuring Jeremiah that the people to whom he would be sent will "fight against you, but they shall not prevail against you. For I am with you, . . . to deliver you."
Jeremiah was destined to carry on God's work over the objections of entire nations and kingdoms (note the plurals). As Solomon writes in Ecclesiastes 3:2-3, God knows full well that there is "a time to plant, and a time to pluck what is planted; . . . a time to break down, and a time to build up." God did not only use Jeremiah in His purpose to root out, pull down, destroy, and overthrow the Perez-centered monarchy, but also to plant and build a Zerah-Perez monarchy.
Charles Whitaker
Searching for Israel (Part Nine): The Migration of a Monarchy
Jeremiah 1:6-10
Above all others, Jeremiah is the "axial" man prepared by God. God told Jeremiah, a prophet not only to Israel and Judah but to the nations and kingdoms, to root out, pull down, destroy, throw down, build, and plant. Many of us understand this verse in light of Jeremiah's influence on the destruction of Judah and the replanting of David's dynasty in Ireland. However, Jeremiah 25:15-29 shows that his responsibility extended much farther than Israel and Judah.
John W. Ritenbaugh
Prophets and Prophecy (Part Three)
Other Forerunner Commentary entries containing Jeremiah 1:9:
| << Jeremiah 1:8 | Jeremiah 1:10 >> |
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