Pashur
release. (1.) The son of Immer (probably the same as Amariah,
Neh. 10:3; 12:2), the head of one of the priestly courses, was
"chief governor [Heb. paqid nagid, meaning "deputy governor"] of
the temple" (Jer. 20:1, 2). At this time the _nagid_, or
"governor," of the temple was Seraiah the high priest (1 Chr.
6:14), and Pashur was his _paqid_, or "deputy." Enraged at the
plainness with which Jeremiah uttered his solemn warnings of
coming judgements, because of the abounding iniquity of the
times, Pashur ordered the temple police to seize him, and after
inflicting on him corporal punishment (forty stripes save one,
Deut. 25:3; comp. 2 Cor. 11:24), to put him in the stocks in the
high gate of Benjamin, where he remained all night. On being set
free in the morning, Jeremiah went to Pashur (Jer. 20:3, 5), and
announced to him that God had changed his name to
Magor-missabib, i.e., "terror on every side." The punishment
that fell upon him was probably remorse, when he saw the ruin he
had brought upon his country by advising a close alliance with
Egypt in opposition to the counsels of Jeremiah (20:4-6). He was
carried captive to Babylon, and died there.
(2.) A priest sent by king Zedekiah to Jeremiah to inquire of
the Lord (1 Chr. 24:9; Jer. 21:1; 38:1-6). He advised that the
prophet should be put to death.
(3.) The father of Gedaliah. He was probably the same as (1).
Pashur, that extends or multiplies the hole; whiteness