According to Ginzberg's retelling in Legends of the Jews, as a young man, Jeremiah received the call to be a prophet. But unlike some heroes who leap at the chance, Jeremiah hesitated. He flat-out refused! "O Lord," he argued, "I cannot go as a prophet to Israel! When was there ever a prophet whom Israel didn't want to kill?"

Think about it. Moses and Aaron? They were nearly stoned! Elijah the Tishbite was mocked for his long hair. They taunted Elisha with "Go up, thou bald head!" (Ouch.) And Jeremiah? He felt like just a kid. “No, I cannot go to Israel, for I am still naught but a lad."

Now, here’s where it gets interesting. God replied, and His response is so tender. "I love youth," God says, "for it is innocent." He even recalls carrying Israel out of Egypt and calling them a "lad." And when He thinks of Israel with love, He speaks of them as a lad. "Say not, therefore, thou art only a lad, but thou shalt go on whatsoever errand I shall send thee."

But the task God then gives him? It's no easy one. God continues, "Now, then, take the 'cup of wrath,' and let the nations drink of it."

Jeremiah, understandably, wants to know the order. Which land is to drink first from this "cup of wrath"? The answer? "First Jerusalem is to drink, the head of all earthly nations, and then the cities of Judah."

Can you imagine hearing that? According to the text, when Jeremiah heard this, he began to curse the day of his birth.

He laments, "I am like the high priest who has to administer the 'water of bitterness' to a woman suspected of adultery, and when he approaches her with the cup, lo, he beholds his own mother!" (This imagery alludes to the ordeal of the suspected adulteress described in Numbers 5, where a priest administers a potion to determine guilt or innocence).

"And I, O Mother Zion," Jeremiah cries, "thought, when I was called to prophesy, that I was appointed to proclaim prosperity and salvation to thee, but now I see that my message forebodes thee evil." Talk about a heavy burden.

The image of the "cup of wrath" appears throughout the prophetic literature, a potent symbol of divine judgment. As we find in Midrash Rabbah and other sources, it represents the consequences of straying from God's path.

Jeremiah's reluctance, his feeling of inadequacy, his anguish at having to deliver such a devastating message… it all makes him incredibly human, doesn't it? It reminds us that even the greatest prophets wrestled with their calling, with the weight of responsibility, and with the pain of witnessing suffering. What do we do when our calling is not what we expected, or when we must deliver a difficult message? Food for thought.