Call To The Nations

[Jer. 1:4] Then the word of the LORD came unto me, saying,
Jeremiah's call to the prophetical office in Anathoth with Hilkiah the high priest, the prophetess Huldah, and the prophet Zephaniah. Jeremiah collected his prophecies and gave them to his countrymen to take with them to Babylon. From the long duration of his office (1:2, 3; 40:1, &c.; 43:8), it is supposed that he was at the time of his call under twenty-five years of age.
[5] Before I formed thee in the belly I knew thee; and before thou camest forth out of the womb I sanctified thee, and I ordained thee a prophet unto the nations.
G-d approved of Jeremiah as His chosen instrument (Ex 33:12, 17; compare 49:1, 5; Rom. 8:29). And separated him, the primary meaning is, "to set apart" from a common to a special use; hence arose the secondary sense, "to sanctify," ceremonially and morally.
G-d had ordained Jeremiah a prophet to the nations, or against the nations whom he must make to drink of the cup of the L-rd's anger, 25:17.
[6] Then said I, Ah, Lord GOD! behold, I cannot speak: for I am a child.
The same word “child is translated, "young man" (2 Sam. 18:5). The reluctance often shown by inspired ministers of G-d (Ex 4:10; 6:12, 30; John 1:3) to accept the call, shows that they did not assume the office under the impulse of self-deceiving fanaticism, as false prophets often did. Remember in the Hebrew you were considered a child or young man until you were thirty-three years old, to have enough life’s experience under your belt.
[7] But the LORD said unto me, Say not, I am a child: for thou shalt go to all that I shall send thee, and whatsoever I command thee thou shalt speak.
Such was the perversity of the rulers and people of Judea at that time that whoever would desire to be a faithful prophet needed to arm himself with an intrepid mind; Jeremiah was naturally timid and sensitive; yet the Spirit molded him to the necessary degree of courage without taking away his peculiar individuality.
[8] Be not afraid of their faces: for I am with thee to deliver thee, saith the
LORD.
There is a particular purpose and providence of G-d conversant about His prophets and ministers; they are by special counsel designed for their work, and what they are designed for they are fitted for: I that knew thee sanctified thee. G-d destines them to it, and forms them for it, when he first forms the spirit of man within him.
[9] Then 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.
“Touched my mouth” is a symbolical act in supernatural vision, implying that G-d would give him utterance, notwithstanding his inability to speak (1:6). So Isaiah's lips were touched with a living coal (6:7; Ezek. 2:8, 9, 10; Dan. 10:16).
[10] 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.
Set thee over means literally, "appointed thee to the oversight." He was to have his eye upon the nations, and to predict their destruction, or restoration, according as their conduct was bad or good. Prophets are said to do that which they foretell shall be done; for their word is G-d's word; and His word is His instrument whereby He doeth all things (Gen. 1:3; Ps 33:6, 9). Word and deed is one thing with Him. What His prophet says is as certain as if it were done. The prophet's own consciousness was absorbed into that of G-d; so closely united to G-d did he feel himself, that Jehovah's words and deeds are described as his. In 31:28, G-d is said to do what Jeremiah here is represented as doing (18:7; 1 Kgs. 19:17; Ezek. 43:3).
Everything that is not planted by G-d is to be pulled out. (Matt. 15:13) and pulled down (rooted out). Then to build and plant, restore upon their repenting. His predictions were to be chiefly, and in the first instance, denunciatory; therefore the destruction of the nations is put first, and with a greater variety of terms than their restoration.
These six mighty infinitives outline the scope of Jeremiah's commission, which was very largely one of destruction; but as indicated by the last two, giving ground for hope following judgment.
[11] Moreover the word of the LORD came unto me, saying, Jeremiah, what seest thou? And I said, I see a rod of an almond tree.
G-d commended him that he was so observant, and so quick of apprehension, as to be aware, though it was the first vision he ever saw, that it was a rod of an almond-tree, that his mind was so composed as to be able to distinguish. Prophets have need of good eyes; and those that see well shall be commended, and not those only that speak well.
[12] Then said the LORD unto me, Thou hast well seen: for I will hasten my word to perform it.
The rod is a shoot, or branch, and the Almond tree meant literally, "the wakeful tree," because it awakes from the sleep of winter earlier than the other trees, flowering in January, and bearing fruit in March; symbol of G-d's early execution of His purpose; "hasten My word" (Amos 8:3). "I will be wakeful as to My word.”
The great Creator knows what use to make of every person before He makes them. He has made all for Himself, and of the same lumps of clay designs a vessel of honor or dishonor, as He pleases, Romans 9:21.
The foreknowledge of G-d is clearly stated here, revealing that, long before Jeremiah was born, G-d knew him and selected him as the great prophet who would announce the final judgment upon Judah and condemn all of the wicked nations on earth.
We should not believe that Jeremiah's timidity and hesitation in the acceptance of so formidable a task was a sign of inability upon his part. They were due to recognition of the nearly impossible difficulty of the assignment.
He is still in his writings a prophet to the nations (to our nation among the rest); to tell them what the national judgments are which may be expected for national sins.
We know not what G-d intends us for, but He knows. Do not objects against it, as a work for which you are unqualified, it becomes us, when we have any service to do for G-d, to be afraid lest we mismanage it, and lest it suffer through our weakness and unfitness for it; it becomes us likewise to have low thoughts of ourselves and to be diffident of our own sufficiency. G-d was angry with Moses even for his modest excuses, Exodus 4:14. “Whatsoever I command thee thou shall have judgment, memory, and language, wherewith to speak it as it should be spoken." Remember Samuel delivered a message from G-d to Eli, when he was a young man.
"Be not afraid of their races; though they look big, and so think to outface thee and put thee out of countenance, yet be not afraid to speak to them; no, not to speak that to them which is most unpleasing. Thou speaks in the name of the King of kings, and by authority from him, and with that thou may face them down. Though they look angry, be neither afraid of their displeasure nor disturbed with apprehensions of the consequences of it. And thou hast cause both to be bold and easy; for I am with thee, not only to assist thee in thy work, but to deliver thee out of the hands of the persecutors; and, if G-d be for thee, who can be against thee?" If G-d do not deliver his ministers from trouble, it is to the same effect if he support them under their trouble.