The Lord gave Jeremiah two visions to help him appreciate the nature of his calling. The first one stresses the ultimate effectiveness of his ministry and the second its negative emphasis. The first deals with the time of judgment and the second with the direction and nature of it.
1:11 The Lord directed the prophet to observe the branch of an almond tree. The almond tree is distinctive as the first tree to blossom in Israel. Many almond trees still grow in Israel, especially in the area of old Anathoth, so the tree was probably common to Jeremiah.
1:12 Yahweh explained that He would watch over His word to perform it. The connection with the almond branch is in a word play. "Almond"is shaqedin Hebrew, which also means "awake,"and "watching"is shoqed. The meaning seems to be that just as the blooming of the almond branch announced that spring was near, so the prophet's word would herald the imminence of what he predicted. The NEB translated the last part of the Lord statement in this verse, "I am early on the watch to carry out my purpose."
"Jeremiah's vision of the awake tree' reminded him that God was awake and watching over His word to make sure it came to pass."57
These two verses summarize a central theme of Jeremiah: the inevitable fulfillment of Yahweh's announcements concerning Judah and the nations.
This vision may have come to Jeremiah immediately after the preceding one or at some other time.
1:13 The Lord next directed Jeremiah to view a boiling pot (cauldron used for cooking or washing, Heb. sir) that was tipped so that it was about to pour its contents out to the south. The Hebrew clarifies that a strong wind was blowing thus making the fire under the pot hot and causing it to boil over.
1:14 The Lord explained that the contents of the boiling pot represented an evil that would overflow upon all the inhabitants of Judah from the north. Most of the commentators, and I, believe this refers to Babylon (cf. 25:9; 39), but a few think it refers to the Scythians.58The major threat to Judah when Jeremiah began his ministry was Assyria, but Assyria soon declined and Neo-Babylonia took its place. Whereas Babylon (and Assyria) lay to the east of Palestine, its invading armies would descend from the north since the Arabian Desert kept them from advancing directly from the east.
1:15 The evil from the north would be many families (peoples) of the kingdoms of the north; it would be a massive invasion. These enemies would invade Judah, besiege Jerusalem, and seek to conquer and rule the land.
1:16 The Lord would use these invaders to judge the Judahites for their wickedness, namely, forsaking the Lord and worshipping other gods and the idols they made with their own hands. These sins demonstrated Judah's covenant unfaithfulness for which God had promised curses (Lev. 26:14-39; Deut. 28:15-68).
1:17 Jeremiah was to get to work and announce all the Lord's messages to His people (cf. Exod. 12:11; 2 Kings 4:29; 9:1; Luke 12:35; Eph. 6:14; 1 Pet. 1:13). He was not to let fear discourage him from being obedient (cf. Deut. 31:6-8; Josh. 1:6-9; Eph. 6:14) because if he did the Lord would really give him something to fear. The disobedient believer not only fears people, but he or she also has God to fear because God becomes his or her adversary (cf. 12:5-6; 20:9).
1:18 The Lord promised that none of the people of Judah--the kings, the princes, the priests, or the ordinary citizens--would be able to destroy Jeremiah. He would make Jeremiah as impregnable as a fortress, as irresistible as a fortified city, as strong as an iron pillar, and as resistant to attack as a bronze wall.59Jeremiah would not be popular in his day. His greatness was "not his fame, but his faithfulness."60
1:19 The people of Judah would fight him and try to destroy him, but the Lord promised again to be with Jeremiah and to protect his life (cf. v. 8). The Lord would rescue him, as He had the Israelites in the Exodus (cf. Exod. 3:8; 18:4, 8-1; et al.).
". . . if you are a Christian looking for an easy ministry in a post-Christian culture where Christians are a minority, you are unrealistic in your outlook. It was not to be so in Jeremiah's day, and it cannotbe so in a day like our own."61
"For Jeremiah as for us, his [God's] way in general is not to stop the fight but to stand by the fighter."62
"The account of the vocation in Jer 1 has set the stage for reading with understanding the chapters of the book that follow. But now that the stage has been set, the reader must be careful not to forget this account of vocation, for its memory will return to haunt the prophet in later years (and subsequent chapters). The memory will emerge openly in the Confessions' that ensue from later trials, but still its shadow is felt in the last years of the prophet's life as a refugee in Egypt, cut off from the land in which the call came."63
Jeremiah's calling was not really that unusual. God has also chosen every Christian before the foundation of the world (Rom. 8:29-30; Eph. 1:4). He has chosen us to follow Him faithfully (1 Cor. 6:20). He has also called every Christian to announce His Word (Matt. 28:19). He has called us to follow Him as He leads us through life by His Spirit (Rom. 8:14; Gal. 5:25). And He has promised to be with us and to preserve us eternally (Matt. 28:20; Rom. 8:31-39).
