This is another section that contains one of Jeremiah's "confessions."Evidently there were several separate plots against the prophet's life (cf. 11:18-23; 12:1-6). People hated him because he brought bad news and called them to repent and to return to Yahweh and His covenant, which most of the people did not want to do. But really the people were rejecting Yahweh (cf. 1 Sam. 8:7).
18:18 Some of the Judahites plotted to kill Jeremiah. They justified their action by noting that even if they killed him, the Mosaic Law and the counsel of other wise men and other prophets would still remain. Thus they rationalized their sin.
"The proverb suggests that nothing can shut up a prophet--he always has a word (the last word?)."282
They did not believe that their lives would change radically because of their failure to repent. They did not really believe that they were heading for exile. They believed Jeremiah's prophecies were false.
"To disturb a complacent leadership or a misguided populace was only to invite serious repercussions. Human society in every age bears eloquent testimony to the fact."283
18:19 Jeremiah became aware of the plot and went to the Lord in prayer about it. He asked God to listen to him and to what his opponents were saying (cf. 11:18-20).
18:20 Would Yahweh allow evil to come to him since he had done good to these opponents but telling them what was good for them? He had urged them to repent with the promise that they could avoid calamity by turning back to the Lord.
18:21-22 The prophet asked the Lord to bring calamity on them for calamity they planned to bring on him. Since they refused to repent and had tried to kill Yahweh's messenger, let the invasion and all its horrors overtake them. Jeremiah was not requesting some special visitation of judgment on the people. He was asking the Lord to allow the threatened judgment, which he had been urging the people to avoid by repenting, to descend. They refused to repent. His strong request did not spring from wounded pride as much as from his identification with Yahweh and the demands of the covenant (cf. Lev. 26; Deut. 28). The Judahites had rejected God, and for this they deserved judgment.
18:23 The Lord knew all that they were planning. Jeremiah believed that He should not forgive them but allow them to experience God's anger in the coming invasion.
What Scripture commands us elsewhere regarding loving and blessing our neighbors rather than cursing them does not contradict Jeremiah's practice here (cf. Prov. 25:21-22; Matt. 5:44; Rom. 12:20). While his motivation may have been wrong--we cannot evaluate that--what he said was appropriate. He was really asking God to fulfill His promise to curse those who departed from His covenant in the ways the Lord had said He would.
