Meaning
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 (1Chr 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. 2Cor 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 (1Chr 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).
