Jeremiah 20:2

“Then Pashur smote Jeremiah the prophet, etc.] Either with his fist, or with a rod, while he was prophesying, to stop his mouth, and hinder him from going on, and to show his resentment, and influence, the people not to believe him; or he ordered him to be smitten and scourged by some inferior officer. This was very ill treatment of a prophet, a prophet of the Lord, and one that was a priest too, of the same order with himself; and put him in the stocks; or ordered him to be put there; but whether it was such an engine or instrument as we call “stocks”, in which the feet of prisoners are put, is not certain. Kimchi’s father says, it was an instrument made of two pieces of wood, in which the…”

“The fact that Pashur was of the same order and of the same family as Jeremiah aggravates the indignity of the blow (Kg1 22:24; Mat 26:67). stocks--an instrument of torture with five holes, in which the neck, two hands, and two feet were thrust, the body being kept in a crooked posture (Jer 29:26). From a Hebrew root, to "turn," or "rack." This marks Pashur's cruelty. high--that is, the upper gate (Kg2 15:35). gate of Benjamin--a gate in the temple wall, corresponding to the gate of Benjamin, properly so called, in the city wall, in the direction of the territory of Benjamin (Jer 7:2; Jer 37:13; Jer 38:7). The temple gate of Benjamin, being on a lofty position, was called "the high gate," to…”

“Jeremiah the prophet - Jeremiah is nowhere so called in the first 19 chapters. In this place he thus characterizes himself, because Pashur’s conduct was a violation of the respect due to the prophetic office. The stocks - This instrument of torture comes from a root signifying to “twist.” It thus implies that the body was kept in a distorted position. Compare Acts 16:24. The high gate ... - Rather, “the upper gate of Benjamin in the house of Yahweh (compare 2 Kings 15:35);” to be distinguished from the city gate of Benjamin leading toward the north. return to 'Top of Page'”

“smote: Jer 1:19, Jer 19:14, Jer 19:15, Jer 26:8, Jer 29:26, Jer 36:26, Jer 37:15, Jer 37:16, Jer 38:6; Kg1 22:27; Ch2 16:10, Ch2 24:21; Amo 7:10-13; Mat 5:10-12, Mat 21:35, Mat 23:34-37; Act 4:3; Act 5:18, Act 5:40, Act 7:52, Act 16:22-24; Heb 11:36, Heb 11:37; Rev 2:10, Rev 17:6 the stocks: Hammahpecheth from haphach "to overturn, subvert, distort," generally denotes an overthrow ( Deu 29:22. Isa 1:7; Isa 10:19), and seems to signify here a sort of stocks, by which the limbs were distorted into uneasy postures. So the Chaldee, keephtha and Jerome, nervus which he explains in his comment as "a kind of wooden fetter, into which the feet were thrust, vinculi lignei genus, cui pedes inseruntuṙ…”