How will the Lord make Jeremiah like a “wall of bronze” and deliver him “out the hand of the wicked” and redeem him from the “grasp of the ruthless”?

The Lord does not simply call on Jeremiah to repent of his words that question the Lord’s faithfulness (Jeremiah 15:19), but he also reassures Jeremiah that he will deliver him and restore him as his prophet. The Lord uses the language of salvation in Jeremiah 15:20–21. The Hebrew word yasa is translated as deliver and is the most general term used of taking someone out of danger and bringing them to safety. The Hebrew word nasal, save means to snatch away, removing someone form a powerful predator and the word redeem is the Hebrew word pada, which means to buy back, setting someone free from slavery.¹ The Lord will not remove opposition and persecution, but he will stand with Jeremiah through it. The Lord will make Jeremiah a fortified wall of bronze to the people of Judah. A bronze wall would have no gaps between the stones into which a crowbar could be inserted to compromise it.² This is the same language the Lord used when he first commissioned Jeremiah (see Jeremiah 1:18). The Lord’s promises then of his presence with Jeremiah in the face of opposition are what strengthens him now as the Lord reminds him of these promises and effectively recommissions him in his calling.

This passage (Jeremiah 15:10–21) describes a conflict between Jeremiah and the Lord that threatens their relationship. But this conflict is an important part of Jeremiah’s message to the people of Judah. Perhaps those who were seeking to be faithful to the Lord were just as confused and bitter as Jeremiah was, because they, like Jeremiah, had to suffer the consequences of the Lord’s judgment. The message to them would be that they too must repent of their doubts in the Lord’s faithfulness in order to be restored as the Lord’s chosen people.³