PASHHUR (Heb. פַּשְׁחוּר), son of Immer, priest and chief officer in the Temple during the last years of the kingdom of Judah (Jer. 20:1–6). Pashhur was deputy to the high priest and responsible for the maintenance of order in the Temple. In the narrative of Jeremiah 20:1–6 it is related that he beat Jeremiah and put him in the stocks as a punishment for his harsh prophecy against Judah and Jerusalem (Jer. 19:15). Jeremiah responded by declaring "The Lord does not call your name Pashhur, but Terror (Heb. magor) on every side." One interpretation of this play on words derives the name Pashhur from the Aramaic root pwš ("to rest") and the Aramaic word sehor ("round about"), i.e., where formerly there was peace and quiet, there will now be terror all about. Jeremiah prophesied that Pashhur would be taken into exile and would die in a foreign land: "And you, Pashhur, and all who dwell in your house, shall go into captivity, to Babylon you shall go; and there you shall die, and there you shall be buried…" (Jer. 20:6).
BIBLIOGRAPHY:
de Vaux, Anc Isr, 378–9; Waechter, in: ZAW, 74 (1962), 57–62.
Sources: Encyclopaedia Judaica. © 2007 The Gale Group. All Rights Reserved.