@Jer 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 (@Jer 12:1-4); in reply he is told that he will have worse to endure, and that from his own relatives (@Jer 12:5,6). The heaviest judgments, however, would be inflicted on the faithless people (@Jer 12:7-13); and then on the nations co-operating with the Chaldeans against Judah, with, however, a promise of mercy on repentance (@Jer 12:14-17).
1. (@Ps 51:4).
let me talk, &c.--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 21:7 Ps 37:1,35 73:3 Mal 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.
2. grow--literally "go on," "progress." Thou givest them sure
dwellings and increasing prosperity.
near in . . . mouth . . . far from . . . reins--(@Isa 29:13 Mt 15:8). Hypocrites.
3. knowest me--(@Ps 139:1).
tried . . . heart--(@Jer 11:20).
toward thee--rather, "with Thee," that is, entirely devoted to Thee;
contrasted with the hypocrites (@Jer 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"
(@Jer 12:2).
prepare--literally, "separate," or "set apart as devoted."
day of slaughter--(@Jas 5:5).
4. land mourn--personification (@Jer 14:2 23:10).
for the wickedness--(@Ps 107:34).
beasts--(@Ho 4:3).
He shall not see our last end--Jehovah knows not what is about
to happen to us (@Jer 5:12) [ROSENMULLER].
So the Septuagint. (@Ps 10:11 Eze 8:12 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 (@Jer 5:12,13).
5. 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 (@Jos 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 (@Jer 49:19 50:44 Zec 11:3; compare
@2Ki 6:2). MAUNDRELL says that between the Sea of Tiberias and Lake
Merom the banks are so wooded that the traveller cannot see the river at
all without first passing through the woods. If in the campaign country
(alone) thou art secure, how wilt thou do when thou fallest into the
wooded haunts of wild beasts?
6. even thy brethren--as in Christ's case (@Ps 69:8 Joh 1:11 7:5;
compare @Jer 9:4 11:19,21 Mt 10:36). Godly faithfulness is sure to
provoke the ungodly, even of one's own family.
called a multitude after thee--(@Isa 31:4).
JEROME translates,
"cry after thee with a loud (literally, 'full') voice."
believe . . . not . . . though . . . speak fair--(@Pr 26:25).
7. 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 (@Jer 11:15 Isa 54:5).
8. 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.
9. 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
(@Isa 56:9 Eze 34:5).
10. pastors--the Babylonian leaders (compare @Jer 12:12 Jer 6:3).
my vineyard--(@Isa 5:1,5).
trodden my portion--(@Isa 63:18).
11. mourneth unto me--that is, before Me.
EICHORN translates, "by
reason of Me," because I have given it to desolation (@Jer 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 @Jer 5:3 [CALVIN].
12. 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 (@Jer 4:11).
13. Description in detail of the devastation of the land
(@Mic 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."
14-17. Prophecy as to the surrounding nations, the Syrians,
Ammonites, &c., 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--(@Zec 2:8).
pluck them out . . . pluck out . . . Judah--(Compare end of
@Jer 12:16). During the thirteen years that the Babylonians besieged
Tyre, Nebuchadnezzar, after subduing Coelo-Syria, brought Ammon, Moab,
&c., 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
@Mic 5:7 Zec 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.
15. A promise, applying to Judah, as well as to the nations specified (@Am 9:14). As to Moab, compare @Jer 48:47; as to Ammon, @Jer 49:6.
16. swear by my name--(@Jer 4:2 Isa 19:18 65:16); that is,
confess solemnly the true God.
built--be made spiritually and temporally prosperous: fixed in sure
habitations (compare
@Jer 24:6 42:10 45:4 Ps 87:4,5 Eph 2:20,21 1Pe 2:5).
17. (@Isa 60:12).