The following verse sets up a comparison between Pashhur and Jeremiah in which the issue of true and false prophecy emerges. "Terror on every side," the nickname given by Jeremiah to Pashhur, is here cast back in his face as a taunt.31 This mockery goes beyond the messenger. Michael Avioz writes: "Jeremiah ... speaks not only for himself, trying to prove that he is God's prophet, but also in the name of God: It is the honor of God that is at stake, so if they despise Jeremiah, they are really despising God. Hurting the messenger means hurting the sender."32 This juxtaposes two sorts of prophet: one prophesies lies to his friends and keeps peace; the other prophesies the word of the Lord and turns friends into enemies. In the background is Jeremiah's condemnation of the false prophets who promise an empty shalom:

Small and great alike, all are greedy for gain; prophet and priest, all practice fraud. They have treated lightly the injury to my people: "Peace, peace!" they say, though there is no peace. (6:13-14)

The true prophet, commissioned by the Lord "to uproot and to tear down, to destroy and to demolish, to build and to plant" (Jer 1:10), cannot offer such soothing falsehoods. The portrayal of a true prophet-revealed by his dedication to truth even at great personal cost-is thus a key concern of the lament. What distinguishes the true from the false prophet, according to Muffs, is the false prophet's indifference to the people's plight and moral disrepair. He thus has no motive to "stand in the breach to push away the divine enemy by means of the power of prayer in his mouth."33 Jeremiah, however, stands watch over the people and, by his admonition and prayer, attempts to mediate their conversion. Because of his consecration to truth, he cannot conveniently avoid proclaiming "violence and outrage" when this is the Lord's message. In fact, as a form of inter-

31 For useful discussion of how the figure of Pashhur lends precision and depth to the form of Jeremiah's lament, see Patrick D. Miller, "Trouble and Woe: Interpreting the Biblical Laments," Interpretation 37, no. 1 (January 1983): 32-45.32 Michael Avioz, "The Call for Revenge in Jeremiah's Complaints (Jer xi-xx)," Vetus Testamentum 55, no. 4 (2005): 434.33 Muffs, "Who Will Stand in the Breach?" 35.

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Audemus Lugere: The Prophetic Hope of Christian Mourning

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