Bible Commentaries

Jeremiah 12:1-17. Continuation of the subject at the close of the eleventh chapter.

He ventures to expostulate with Jehovah as to the prosperity of the wicked, who had plotted against his life (Jeremiah 12:1-4); in reply he is told that he will have worse to endure, and that from his own relatives (Jeremiah 12:5, Jeremiah 12:6). The heaviest judgments, however, would be inflicted on the faithless people (Jeremiah 12:7-13); and then on the nations co-operating with the Chaldeans against Judah, with, however, a promise of mercy on repentance (Jeremiah 12:14-17).

(Psalm 51:4).

let me talk, etc. — only let me reason the case with Thee: inquire of Thee the causes why such wicked men as these plotters against my life prosper (compare Job 12:6; Job 21:7; Psalm 37:1, Psalm 37:35; Psalm 73:3; Malachi 3:15). It is right, when hard thoughts of God‘s providence suggest themselves, to fortify our minds by justifying God beforehand (as did Jeremiah), even before we hear the reasons of His dealings.

grow — literally, “go on,” “progress.” Thou givest them sure dwellings and increasing prosperity.

near in … mouth … far from … reins — (Isaiah 29:13; Matthew 15:8). Hypocrites.

knowest me — (Psalm 139:1).

tried … heart — (Jeremiah 11:20).

toward thee — rather, “with Thee,” that is, entirely devoted to Thee; contrasted with the hypocrites (Jeremiah 12:2), “near in … mouth, and far from … reins.” This being so, how is it that I fare so ill, they so well?

pull … out — containing the metaphor, from a “rooted tree” (Jeremiah 12:2).

prepare — literally, “separate,” or “set apart as devoted.”

day of slaughter — (James 5:5).

land mourn — personification (Jeremiah 14:2; Jeremiah 23:10).

for the wickedness — (Psalm 107:34).

beasts — (Hosea 4:3).

He shall not see our last end — Jehovah knows not what is about to happen to us (Jeremiah 5:12) [Rosenmuller]. So the Septuagint. (Psalm 10:11; Ezekiel 8:12; Ezekiel 9:9). Rather, “The prophet (Jeremiah, to whom the whole context refers) shall not see our last end.” We need not trouble ourselves about his boding predictions. We shall not be destroyed as he says (Jeremiah 5:12, Jeremiah 5:13).

Jehovah‘s reply to Jeremiah‘s complaint.

horses — that is, horsemen: the argument a fortiori. A proverbial phrase. The injuries done thee by the men of Anathoth (“the footmen”) are small compared with those which the men of Jerusalem (“the horsemen”) are about to inflict on thee. If the former weary thee out, how wilt thou contend with the king, the court, and the priests at Jerusalem?

wherein thou trustedst, they wearied thee - English Version thus fills up the sentence with the italicized words, to answer to the parallel clause in the first sentence of the verse. The parallelism is, however, sufficiently retained with a less ellipsis: “If (it is only) in a land of peace thou art confident” [Maurer].

swelling of Jordan — In harvest-time and earlier (April and May) it overflows its banks (Joshua 3:15), and fills the valley called the Ghor. Or, “the pride of Jordan,” namely, its wooded banks abounding in lions and other wild beasts (Jeremiah 49:19; Jeremiah 50:44; Zechariah 11:3; compare 2 Kings 6:2). Maundrell says that between the Sea of Tiberias and Lake Merom the banks are so wooded that the traveler cannot see the river at all without first passing through the woods. If in the champaign country (alone) thou art secure, how wilt thou do when thou fallest into the wooded haunts of wild beasts?

even thy brethren — as in Christ‘s case (Psalm 69:8; John 1:11; John 7:5; compare Jeremiah 9:4; Jeremiah 11:19, Jeremiah 11:21; Matthew 10:36). Godly faithfulness is sure to provoke the ungodly, even of one‘s own family.

called a multitude after thee — (Isaiah 31:4). Jerome translates, “cry after thee with a loud (literally, ‹full‘) voice.”

believe … not … though … speak fair — (Proverbs 26:25).

I have forsaken — Jehovah will forsake His temple and the people peculiarly His. The mention of God‘s close tie to them, as heretofore His, aggravates their ingratitude, and shows that their past spiritual privileges will not prevent God from punishing them.

beloved of my soul — image from a wife (Jeremiah 11:15; Isaiah 54:5).

is unto me — is become unto Me: behaves towards Me as a lion which roars against a man, so that he withdraws from the place where he hears it: so I withdrew from My people, once beloved, but now an object of abhorrence because of their rebellious cries against Me.

speckled bird — Many translate, “a ravenous beast, the hyena”; the corresponding Arabic word means hyena; so the Septuagint. But the Hebrew always elsewhere means “a bird of prey.” The Hebrew for “speckled” is from a root “to color”; answering to the Jewish blending together with paganism the altogether diverse Mosaic ritual. The neighboring nations, birds of prey like herself (for she had sinfully assimilated herself to them), were ready to pounce upon her.

assemble … beasts of … field — The Chaldeans are told to gather the surrounding heathen peoples as allies against Judah (Isaiah 56:9; Ezekiel 34:5).

pastors — the Babylonian leaders (compare Jeremiah 12:12; Jeremiah 6:3).

my vineyard — (Isaiah 5:1, Isaiah 5:5).

trodden my portion — (Isaiah 63:18).

mourneth unto me — that is, before Me. Eichorn translates, “by reason of Me,” because I have given it to desolation (Jeremiah 12:7).

because no man layeth it to heart — because none by repentance and prayer seek to deprecate God‘s wrath. Or, “yet none lays it to heart”; as in Jeremiah 5:3 [Calvin].

high places — Before, He had threatened the plains; now, the hills.

wilderness — not an uninhabited desert, but high lands of pasturage, lying between Judea and Chaldea (Jeremiah 4:11).

Description in detail of the devastation of the land (Micah 6:15).

they shall be ashamed of your — The change of persons, in passing from indirect to direct address, is frequent in the prophets. Equivalent to, “Ye shall be put to the shame of disappointment at the smallness of your produce.”

Prophecy as to the surrounding nations, the Syrians, Ammonites, etc., who helped forward Judah‘s calamity: they shall share her fall; and, on their conversion, they shall share with her in the future restoration. This is a brief anticipation of the predictions in the forty-seventh, forty-eighth, and forty-ninth chapters.

touch — (Zechariah 2:8).

pluck them out … pluck out … Judah — (Compare end of Jeremiah 12:16). During the thirteen years that the Babylonians besieged Tyre, Nebuchadnezzar, after subduing Coelo-Syria, brought Ammon, Moab, etc., and finally Egypt, into subjection [Josephus, Antiquities, 10:9.7]. On the restoration of these nations, they were to exchange places with the Jews. The latter were now in the midst of them, but on their restoration they were to be “in the midst of the Jews,” that is, as proselytes to the true God (compare Micah 5:7; Zechariah 14:16). “Pluck them,” namely, the Gentile nations: in a bad sense. “Pluck Judah”: in a good sense; used to express the force which was needed to snatch Judah from the tyranny of those nations by whom they had been made captives, or to whom they had fled; otherwise they never would have let Judah go. Previously he had been forbidden to pray for the mass of the Jewish people. But here he speaks consolation to the elect remnant among them. Whatever the Jews might be, God keeps His covenant.

A promise, applying to Judah, as well as to the nations specified (Amos 9:14). As to Moab, compare Jeremiah 48:47; as to Ammon, Jeremiah 49:6.

swear by my name — (Jeremiah 4:2; Isaiah 19:18; Isaiah 65:16); that is, confess solemnly the true God.

built — be made spiritually and temporally prosperous: fixed in sure habitations (compare Jeremiah 24:6; Jeremiah 42:10; Jeremiah 45:4; Psalm 87:4, Psalm 87:5; Ephesians 2:20, Ephesians 2:21; 1 Peter 2:5).

(Isaiah 60:12).