You are righteous, Yahweh, when I contend with you; yet I would like to reason the cause with you. Why does the way of the wicked prosper? Why are they all at ease who deal very treacherously?
Parallel Translations
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You are righteous, Yahweh, when I contend with you; yet I would like to reason the cause with you. Why does the way of the wicked prosper? Why are they all at ease who deal very treacherously?
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Righteous art thou, O LORD, when I plead with thee: yet let me talk with thee of thy judgments: Wherefore doth the way of the wicked prosper? wherefore are all they happy that deal very treacherously?
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Right wouldest Thou be, O LORD, were I to contend with Thee, yet will I reason with Thee: Wherefore doth the way of the wicked prosper? Wherefore are all they secure that deal very treacherously?
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Questions where the Bible appears to say two different things, with the passages on each side set together.
Cross-references (29)
Passages linked to Jeremiah 12:1 in the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge, ordered by reader-vote popularity; verse text shown in World English Bible.
- Malachi 3:15 Now we call the proud happy; yes, those who work wickedness are built up; yes, they tempt God, and escape.’
- Psalms 92:7 though the wicked spring up as the grass, and all the evildoers flourish, they will be destroyed forever.
- Psalms 37:1 Don’t fret because of evildoers, neither be envious against those who work unrighteousness.
- Psalms 37:35 I have seen the wicked in great power, spreading himself like a green tree in its native soil.
- Psalms 51:4 Against you, and you only, I have sinned, and done that which is evil in your sight, so you may be proved right when you speak, and justified when you judge.
- Psalms 73:3-28 For I was envious of the arrogant, when I saw the prosperity of the wicked. For there are no struggles in their death, but their strength is firm. They are free from burdens of men, neither are they plagued like other men. Therefore pride is like a chain around their neck. Violence covers them like a garment. Their eyes bulge with fat. Their minds pass the limits of conceit. They scoff and speak with malice. In arrogance, they threaten oppression. They have set their mouth in the heavens. Their tongue walks through the earth. Therefore their people return to them, and they drink up waters of abundance. They say, “How does God know? Is there knowledge in the Most High?” Behold, these are the wicked. Being always at ease, they increase in riches. Surely I have cleansed my heart in vain, and washed my hands in innocence, For all day long I have been plagued, and punished every morning. If I had said, “I will speak thus”; behold, I would have betrayed the generation of your children. When I tried to understand this, it was too painful for me, until I entered God’s sanctuary, and considered their latter end. Surely you set them in slippery places. You throw them down to destruction. How they are suddenly destroyed! They are completely swept away with terrors. As a dream when one wakes up, so, Lord, when you awake, you will despise their fantasies. For my soul was grieved. I was embittered in my heart. I was so senseless and ignorant. I was a brute beast before you. Nevertheless, I am continually with you. You have held my right hand. You will guide me with your counsel, and afterward receive me to glory. Whom do I have in heaven? There is no one on earth whom I desire besides you. My flesh and my heart fails, but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever. For, behold, those who are far from you shall perish. You have destroyed all those who are unfaithful to you. But it is good for me to come close to God. I have made the Lord Yahweh my refuge, that I may tell of all your works.
- Psalms 94:3-4 Yahweh, how long will the wicked, how long will the wicked triumph? They pour out arrogant words. All the evildoers boast.
- Daniel 9:7 “Lord, righteousness belongs to you, but to us confusion of face, as it is today; to the men of Judah, and to the inhabitants of Jerusalem, and to all Israel, who are near, and who are far off, through all the countries where you have driven them, because of their trespass that they have trespassed against you.
- Habakkuk 1:4 Therefore the law is paralyzed, and justice never prevails; for the wicked surround the righteous; therefore justice comes out perverted.
- Zephaniah 3:5 Yahweh, within her, is righteous. He will do no wrong. Every morning he brings his justice to light. He doesn’t fail, but the unjust know no shame.
- Job 12:6 The tents of robbers prosper. Those who provoke God are secure, who carry their god in their hands.
- Job 21:7-15 “Why do the wicked live, become old, yes, and grow mighty in power? Their child is established with them in their sight, their offspring before their eyes. Their houses are safe from fear, neither is the rod of God upon them. Their bulls breed without fail. Their cows calve, and don’t miscarry. They send out their little ones like a flock. Their children dance. They sing to the tambourine and harp, and rejoice at the sound of the pipe. They spend their days in prosperity. In an instant they go down to Sheol. They tell God, ‘Depart from us, for we don’t want to know about your ways. What is the Almighty, that we should serve him? What profit should we have, if we pray to him?’
- Jeremiah 5:27-28 As a cage is full of birds, so are their houses full of deceit. Therefore they have become great, and grew rich. They have grown fat. They shine; yes, they excel in deeds of wickedness. They don’t plead the cause, the cause of the fatherless, that they may prosper; and they don’t defend the rights of the needy.
- Jeremiah 11:20 But, Yahweh of Armies, who judges righteously, who tests the heart and the mind, I will see your vengeance on them; for to you I have revealed my cause.
- Habakkuk 1:13-17 You who have purer eyes than to see evil, and who cannot look on perversity, why do you tolerate those who deal treacherously, and keep silent when the wicked swallows up the man who is more righteous than he, and make men like the fish of the sea, like the creeping things, that have no ruler over them? He takes up all of them with the hook. He catches them in his net, and gathers them in his dragnet. Therefore he rejoices and is glad. Therefore he sacrifices to his net, and burns incense to his dragnet, because by them his life is luxurious, and his food is good. Will he therefore continually empty his net, and kill the nations without mercy?
- Genesis 18:25 May it be far from you to do things like that, to kill the righteous with the wicked, so that the righteous should be like the wicked. May that be far from you. Shouldn’t the Judge of all the earth do right?”
- Ezra 9:15 Yahweh, the God of Israel, you are righteous; for we are left a remnant that has escaped, as it is today. Behold, we are before you in our guiltiness; for no one can stand before you because of this.”
- Job 13:3 “Surely I would speak to the Almighty. I desire to reason with God.
- Psalms 119:137 You are righteous, Yahweh. Your judgments are upright.
- Jeremiah 5:11 For the house of Israel and the house of Judah have dealt very treacherously against me,” says Yahweh.
- Jeremiah 12:6 For even your brothers, and the house of your father, even they have dealt treacherously with you! Even they have cried aloud after you! Don’t believe them, though they speak beautiful words to you.
- Deuteronomy 32:4 The Rock: his work is perfect, for all his ways are just. A God of faithfulness who does no wrong, just and right is he.
- Psalms 119:75 Yahweh, I know that your judgments are righteous, that in faithfulness you have afflicted me.
- Psalms 145:17 Yahweh is righteous in all his ways, and gracious in all his works.
- Proverbs 1:32 For the backsliding of the simple will kill them. The careless ease of fools will destroy them.
- Isaiah 41:21 Produce your cause,” says Yahweh. “Bring out your strong reasons!” says the King of Jacob.
- Isaiah 48:8 Yes, you didn’t hear. Yes, you didn’t know. Yes, from of old your ear was not opened, for I knew that you dealt very treacherously, and were called a transgressor from the womb.
- Hosea 6:7 But they, like Adam, have broken the covenant. They were unfaithful to me, there.
- Romans 3:5-6 But if our unrighteousness commends the righteousness of God, what will we say? Is God unrighteous who inflicts wrath? I speak like men do. May it never be! For then how will God judge the world?
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John Calvin 1540 · Public Domain The minds of the faithful, we know, have often…
The minds of the faithful, we know, have often been greatly tried and even shaken, on seeing all things happening successfully and prosperously to the despisers of God. We find this complaint expressed at large in Psalm 73. The Prophet there confesses that he had well — nigh fallen, as he had been treading in a slippery place; he saw that God favored the wicked; at least, from the appearance of things, he could form no other judgment, but that they were loved and cherished by God. We know also that the ungodly become thus hardened, according to what is related of Dionysius, who said that God favored the sacrilegious; for he had sailed in safety after having plundered temples, and committed robberies in many places; thus he laughed to scorn the forbearance of God. And hence Solomon says, That when all things are in a state of confusion in the world, men’s minds are led to despise God, as they think that all things happen on the earth by chance, and that God has no care for mankind. (Ecclesiastes 9) But with regard to the faithful, as I have already said, when they see the ungodly proceeding in all wickedness and evil deeds with impunity, and claiming the world to themselves, while God is, as it were, conniving at them, their minds cannot be otherwise than grievously distressed. And this is the view which interpreters take of this passage; that is, that he was disturbed with the prosperous condition of the wicked, and expostulated with God, as Habakkuk seems to have done at the beginning of the first chapter; but he appears to me to have something higher in view.
We have said elsewhere, that when the Prophets saw that they spent their labor in vain on the deaf and the intractable, they turned their addresses to God as in despair. I hence doubt not but that it was a sign of indignation when the Prophet addressed God, having as it were given up men, inasmuch as he saw that he spoke to the deaf without any benefit. Here then he rouses the minds of the people, that they might know at length that he could not convince them that they were doomed to ruin by God. For when Jeremiah spoke to them, all his threatenlugs were scorned and laughed at; hence he now addresses God himself, as though he had said, that he would have nothing more to do with them, as he had labored wholly in vain. This then seems to have been the object of the Prophet.
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But lest the ungodly should have an occasion for calumniating, he intended so to regulate his discourse as to give them no ground for cavining. Hence he makes this preface, — that God is, or would be just, though he contended with him This order ought to be carefully observed; for when we give way in the least to our passions, we are immediately carried away, and we cannot restrain ourselves within proper limits and continue in a right course. As soon then as those thoughts, which may draw us away frc, in the fear of God, and lessen the reverence due to him, creep in, we ought to fortify our minds and to set up mounds, lest the devil should draw us on farther than we wish to go. For instance, when any one in the present day sees things in disorder in the world, he begins to reason thus freely with himself, “What does this mean? How is it that God suffers licentiousness to prevail so long? Why is it thathe thus conceals himself?” As soon then as these thoughts creep in, if we possess the true principle of religion, we shall try to restrain these wanderings, and to bring ourselves to the right way; but this will be no easy matter; for as soon as we pass over the boundaries, there is no restraint, no limitation. Hence the Prophet wisely begins by saying, Thou art just, though I contend with thee It is not only for the sake of others he speaks thus, but also to restrain in time his own feelings and not to allow himself more than what is right. We must still remember what I have said, — that the Prophet here directs his words to God, in order that the Jews might know that they were left as it were without hope, and were unworthy that he should spend any more labor on them.
He says, And yet I will speak judgments with thee; that is, I will dispute according to the limits of what is right and just. Some indeed take judgments for punishments, as though the Prophet wished the people to be punished; but of this I do not approve, for it is a strained view. To speak judgments, means nothing else than to discuss a point in law, to plead according to law, as it is commonly said. By saying, “I will legally contend,” he does not throw off the restraint which he has before put on himself, but asks it as a matter of indulgence to set before God what might seem just and right to all. ‘David, or the Prophet who was the author of that psalm which we have already quoted, (Psalm 73) even when he expressed his own feelings and ingenuously confessed his own infirmity, yet made a preface similar to what is found here. But he there speaks as it were abruptly, “Yet thou art just;” he uses the same word אך, ak, as Jeremiah does; but here it is put in the last clause, and there at the beginning of the sentence, “Yet good is God to Israel, even to those who are upright in heart.” The Prophet no doubt was agitated and distracted in various ways, but he afterwards restrained himself. But it was otherwise with Jeremiah; for he does not confess here that he was tried, as almost all the faithful are wont to be; but as I have already said, he advisedly, and by the guidance of the Holy Spirit, addressed his words to God; for he intended to rouse the Jews, that they might understand that they were rejected, and rejected as unworthy of having their salvation cared for any longer.
By saying then, Yet will I plead with thee, he doubtless intended to touch the Jews to the quick, as they were so extremely stupid. “Behold,” he says, “I will yet contend with God, whether he will forgive you?” We now see the real meaning of the Prophet; for the Jews in vain brought forward their own prosperity as a proof that God was propitious to them; for this was nothing else than to abuse his forbearance. Jeremiah intended in short to shew, that though God might pass by them for a time, yet the wicked ought not on this account to flatter themselves, for his indulgence is no proof of his love; but, on the contrary, as we shall see, a heavier vengeance is accumulated, when the ungodly increasingly harden themselves while God is treating them with indulgence. This then is the reason why the Prophet says, that he would plead with God; he had regard more to men than to God. He yet does not set up the judgments of men against the absolute power of God, as the sophists under the Papacy do, who ascribe such absolute power to God as perverts all judgment and all order; this is nothing less than sacrilege.
Now the Prophet does not call God to an account, as though there was no rule by which he regulated his works and governed the world. But by judgments he means, as I have said, what God had declared in his law; for it is written,
“Cursed is every one who continueth not,” etc., (Deuteronomy 27:26; Galatians 3:10)
Now then as the Jews were transgressors of the law, nay, as they ceased not to provoke God to wrath by their vices, they ought surely, according to the ordinary course of justice, to have been immediately destroyed. Hence the Prophet says here, I will plead with thee; that is, “Hadst thou dealt with this people as they deserved, they must have been often reduced to nothing.” At the same time he had no doubt, as we have said, respecting the rectitude of the divine judgment; only he had regard to those men who flattered themselves, and securely indulged themselves in their vices, because God diid not immediately execute those punishments with which he threatens the transgressors of his law.
Hence he says, How long shall the way of the wicked prosper? for secure are all they who by transgression transgress; that is, who are not only tainted with small vices, but who are extremely wicked. They then who openly rejected all religion and all care for righteousness, how was it that they were secure and that their way prospered? We now then more clearly understand what I have stated, — that the Prophet turned his words to God, that he might more effectually rouse the stupid, so that they might know that they were in a manner summoned by this expostulation before the celestial tribunal. It now follows, —
John Calvin's Commentaries (1540-1563) — public domain. Text from the Calvin Translation Society English edition (1840s-50s) via the Christian Classics Ethereal Library (ccel.org). Calvin's coverage is partial (roughly two-thirds of the Bible); uncommented books and verses are honest gaps, never fabricated. The 19th-century editor's footnotes and remarks are omitted so the notes are faithfully Calvin's own voice.
Geneva Bible translators 1599 · Public Domain The Prophet confesseth God to be just in all…
The Prophet confesseth God to be just in all his doings, although man be not able to give a reason of all his acts.
This question hath been always a great tentation to the godly, to see the wicked enemies of God in prosperity, and his dear children in adversity, as Job 21:7; Ps. 37:1 and 73:3; Hab. 1:3.
Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain.
John Trapp 1656 · Public Domain Jer 12:1 Righteous [art] thou, O LORD, when I…
Jer 12:1 Righteous [art] thou, O LORD, when I plead with thee: yet let me talk with thee of [thy] judgments: Wherefore doth the way of the wicked prosper? [wherefore] are all they happy that deal very treacherously?
Ver. 1. Righteous art thou, O Lord, when I plead with thee.] Or, Though I should contend with thee. This the prophet fitly sets forth the ensuing disceptation, that he might not be mistaken. Thy judgments, saith he, are sometimes secret, always just; this I am well assured of, though I thus argue. {a}
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Yet let me talk with thee of thy judgments.] Let me take the humble boldness so to do, that I may be further cleared and instructed by thee.
Wherefore doth the way of the wicked prosper?] viz., While better men suffer; as now the wicked Anathothites do, while I go in danger of my life by them. This is that noble question which hath exercised the wits and molested the minds of many wise men, both within and without the Church. See Job 21:7-13 Psa 37:1; Psa 73:1-12 Hab 1:4-5; Plato, Cicero, Seneca, Epictetus, Claudian against Ruffin, &c.
Wherefore are all they happy?] Heb., At ease. Not all either; for some wicked have their payment here, their hell aforehand. To this question the Lord, who knoweth our frame, {Psa 103:14} being content to condescend where he might have judged, calmly maketh answer, {Jer 12:5} like as Christ in like case did to Peter. {Joh 21:21-22}
{a} Est elegans , προθεραπεια.
John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Matthew Poole 1685 · Public Domain Righteous art thou, O Lord, when I plead with…
Righteous art thou, O Lord, when I plead with thee: the prophet begins hero with a recognition of God’s unquestionable righteousness and justice, in all his providential dispensations in the government of the world. Some read the latter part, should I plead with thee. But let it be should I plead; or, although or when I plead, that is, argue with thee; yet the prophet doth it not without a previous resolution to agree the Lord’s dispensations just, whatsoever he should say.
Yet let me talk with thee of thy judgments; yet, saith he, let me talk with thee, not by way of accusing thee, but for my own satisfaction concerning thy judicial dispensations in the government of the world.
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Wherefore doth the way of the wicked prosper? wherefore are all they happy that deal treacherously? by all they, he means many of them, and is thought to have spoken with a special relation to the priests at Anathoth, that had conspired against his life. The prosperity of the wicked hath in all times been a riddle, and a sore temptation to the best of God’s people; to Job, Job 21:7,13; to David, Psa 37:1; 73:3,12; 94:3,4; Hab 1:4,5. Lord, saith Jeremiah, I know thy ways of providence are just and righteous, but they are dark and hidden from me, I cannot understand why thou doest this.
Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Matthew Henry 1710 · Public Domain The prophet doubts not but it would be of…
The prophet doubts not but it would be of use to others to know what had passed between God and his soul, what temptations he had been assaulted with and how he had got over them; and therefore he here tells us,
I. What liberty he humbly took, and was graciously allowed him, to reason with God concerning his judgments, Jer 12:1. He is about to plead with God, not to quarrel with him, or find fault with his proceedings, but to enquire into the meaning of them, that he might more and more see reason to be satisfied in them, and might have wherewith to answer both his own and others' objections against them. The works of the Lord, and the reasons of them, are sought out even of those that have pleasure therein. Psa 111:2. We may not strive with our Maker, but we may reason with him. The prophet lays down a truth of unquestionable certainty, which he resolves to abide by in managing this argument: Righteous art thou, O Lord! when I plead with thee. Thus he arms himself against the temptation wherewith he was assaulted, to envy the prosperity of the wicked, before he entered into a parley with it. Note, When we are most in the dark concerning the meaning of God's dispensations we must still resolve to keep up right thoughts of God, and must be confident of this, that he never did, nor ever will do, the least wrong to any of his creatures; even when his judgments are unsearchable as a great deep, and altogether unaccountable, yet his righteousness is as conspicuous and immovable as the great mountains, Psa 36:6. Though sometimes clouds and darkness are round about him, yet justice and judgment are always the habitation of his throne, Psa 97:2. When we find it hard to understand particular providences we must have recourse to general truths as our first principles, and abide by them; however dark the providence may be, the Lord is righteous; see Psa 73:1. And we must acknowledge it to him, as the prophet here, even when we plead with him, as those that have no thoughts of contending but of learning, being fully assured that he will be justified when he speaks. Note, However we may see cause for our own information to plead with God, yet it becomes us to own that, whatever he says or does, he is in the right.
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II. What it was in the dispensations of divine Providence that he stumbled at and that he thought would bear a debate. It was that which has been a temptation to many wise and good men, and such a one as they have with difficulty got over. They see the designs and projects of wicked people successful: The way of the wicked prospers; they compass their malicious designs and gain their point. They see their affairs and concerns in a good posture: They are happy, happy as the world can make them, though they deal treacherously, very treacherously, both with God and man. Hypocrites are chiefly meant (as appears, Jer 12:2), who dissemble in their good professions, and depart from their good beginnings and good promises, and in both they deal treacherously, very treacherously. It has been said that men cannot expect to prosper who are unjust and dishonest in their dealings; but these deal treacherously, and yet they are happy. The prophet shows (Jer 12:2) both their prosperity and their abuse of their prosperity. 1. God had been very indulgent to them and they were got beforehand in the world: "They are planted in a good land, a land flowing with milk and honey, and thou hast planted them! nay, thou didst cast out the heathen to plant them," Psa 44:2, Psa 80:8. Many a tree is planted that yet never grows nor comes to any thing; but they have taken root; their prosperity seems to be confirmed and settled. They take root in the earth, for there they fix themselves, and thence they draw the sap of all their satisfaction. Many trees however take root which yet never come on; but these grow, yea they bring forth fruit; their families are built up, they live high, and spend at a great rate; and all this was owing to the benignity of the divine Providence, which smiled upon them, Psa 73:7. 2. Thus God had favoured them, though they had dealt treacherously with him: Thou art near in their mouth and far from their reins. This was no uncharitable censure, for he spoke by the Spirit of prophecy, without which it is not safe to charge men with hypocrisy whose appearances are plausible. Observe, (1.) Thought they cared not for thinking of God, nor had any sincere affection to him, yet they could easily persuade themselves to speak of him frequently and with an air of seriousness. Piety from the teeth outward is no difficult thing. Many speak the language of Israel that are not Israelites indeed. (2.) Though they had on all occasions the name of God ready in their mouth, and accustomed themselves to those forms of speech that savoured of piety, yet they could not persuade themselves to keep up the fear of God in their hearts. The form of godliness should engage us to keep up the power of it; but with them it did not do so.
III. What comfort he had in appealing to God concerning his own integrity (Jer 12:3): But thou, O Lord! knowest me. Probably the wicked men he complains of were forward to reproach and censure him (Jer 18:18), in reference to which this was his comfort, that God was a witness of his integrity. God knew he was not such a one as they were (who had God near in their mouths, but far from their reins), nor such a one as they took him to be, and represented him, a deceiver and a false prophet; those that thus abused him did not know him, Co1 2:8. "But thou, O Lord! knowest me, though they think me not worth their notice." 1. Observe what the matter is concerning which he appeals to God: Thou knowest my heart towards thee. Note, We are as our hearts are, and our hearts are good or bad according as they are, or are not, towards God; and this is that therefore concerning which we should examine ourselves, that we may approve ourselves to God. 2. The cognizance to which he appeals: "Thou knowest me better than I know myself, not by hearsay or report, for thou hast seen me, not with a transient glance, but thou hast tried my heart." God's knowledge of us is as clear and exact and certain as if he had made the most strict scrutiny. Note, The God with whom we have to do perfectly knows how our hearts are towards him. He knows both the guile of the hypocrite and the sincerity of the upright.
IV. He prays that God would turn his hand against these wicked people, and not suffer them to prosper always, though they had prospered long: "Let some judgment come to pull them out of this fat pasture as sheep for the slaughter, that it may appear their long prosperity was but like the feeding of lambs in a large place, to prepare them for the day of slaughter," Hos 4:16. God suffered them to prosper that by their pride and luxury they might fill up the measure of their iniquity and so be ripened for destruction; and therefore he thinks it a piece of necessary justice that they should fall into mischief themselves, because they had done so much mischief to others, that they should be pulled out of their land, because they had brought ruin upon the land, and the longer they continued in it the more hurt they did, as the plagues of their generation (Jer 12:4): "How long shall the land mourn. (as it does under the judgments of God inflicted upon it) for the wickedness of those that dwell therein? Lord, shall those prosper themselves that ruin all about them?" 1. See here what the judgment was which the land was now groaning under: The herbs of every field wither (the grass is burnt up and all the products of the earth fail), and then it follows of course, the beasts are consumed, and the birds, Kg1 18:5. This was the effect of a long drought, or want of rain, which happened, as it should seem, at the latter end of Josiah's reign and the beginning of Jehoiakim's; it is mentioned Jer 3:3, Jer 8:13, Jer 9:10, Jer 9:12, and more fully afterwards, ch. 14. If they would have been brought to repentance by this less judgment, the greater would have been prevented. Now why was it that this fruitful land was turned into barrenness, but for the wickedness of those that dwelt therein? Psa 107:34. Therefore the prophet prays that these wicked people might die for their own sin, and that the whole nation might not suffer for it. 2. See here what was the language of their wickedness: They said, He shall not see our last end, either, (1.) God himself shall not. Atheism is the root of hypocrisy. God is far from their reins, though near in their mouth, because they say, How doth God know? Psa 73:11; Job 22:13. He knows not what way we take nor what it will end in. Or, (2.) Jeremiah shall not see our last end; whatever he pretends, when he asks us what shall be in the end hereof he cannot himself foresee it. They look upon him as a false prophet. Or, "whatever it is, he shall not live to see it, for we will be the death of him," Jer 11:21. Note, [1.] Men's setting their latter end at a great distance, or looking upon it as uncertain, is at the bottom of all their wickedness, Lam 1:9. [2.] The whole creation groans under the burden of the sin of man, Rom 8:22. It is for this that the earth mourns (so it may be read); cursed is the ground for thy sake.
V. He acquaints us with the answer God gave to those complaints of his, Jer 12:5, Jer 12:6. We often find the prophets admonished, whose business it was to admonish others, as Isa 8:11. Ministers have lessons to learn as well as lessons to teach, and must themselves hear God's voice and preach to themselves. Jeremiah complained much of the wickedness of the men of Anathoth, and that, notwithstanding that, they prospered. Now, this seems to be an answer to that complaint. 1. It is allowed that he had cause to complain (Jer 12:6): "Thy brethren, the priests of Anathoth, who are of the house of thy father, who ought to have protected thee and pretended to do so, even they have dealt treacherously with thee, have been false to thee, and, under colour of friendship, have designedly done thee all the mischief they could; they have called a multitude after thee, raised the mob upon thee, to whom they have endeavoured, by all arts possible, to render thee despicable or odious, while at the same time they pretended that they had no design to persecute thee nor to deprive thee of thy liberty. They are indeed such as thou canst not believe, though they speak fair words to thee. They seem to be thy friends, but are really thy enemies." Note, God's faithful servants must not think it at all strange if their foes be those of their own house (Mat 10:36), and if those they expect kindness from prove such as they can put no confidence in, Mic 7:5. 2. Yet he is told that he carried the matter too far. (1.) He laid the unkindness of his countrymen too much to heart. They wearied him, because it was in a land of peace wherein he trusted, Jer 12:5. It was very grievous to him to be thus hated and abused by his own kindred. He was disturbed in his mind by it; his spirit was sunk and overwhelmed with it, so that he was in great agitation and distress about it. Nay, he was discouraged in his work by it, began to be weary of prophesying, and to think of giving it up. (2.) He did not consider that this was but the beginning of his sorrow, and that he had sorer trials yet before him; and, whereas he should endeavour by a patient bearing of this trouble to prepare himself for greater, by his uneasiness under this he did but unfit himself for what further lay before him: If thou hast run with the footmen and they have wearied thee, and run thee quite out of breath, then how wilt thou contend with horses? If the injuries done him by the men of Anathoth made such an impression upon him, what would he do when the princes and chief priests at Jerusalem should set upon him with their power, as they did afterwards? Jer 20:2; Jer 32:2. If he was so soon tired in a land of peace, where there was little noise or peril, what would he do in the swellings of Jordan, when that overflows all its banks and frightens even lions out of their thickets? Jer 49:19. Note, [1.] While we are in this world we must expect troubles, and difficulties. Our life is a race, a warfare; we are in danger of being run down. [2.] God's usual method being to begin with smaller trials, it is our wisdom to expect greater than any we have yet met with. We may be called out to contend with horsemen, and the sons of Anak may perhaps be reserved for the last encounter. [3.] It highly concerns us to prepare for such trials and to consider what we should do in them. How shall we preserve our integrity and peace when we come to the swellings of Jordan? [4.] In order to our preparation for further and greater trials, we are concerned to approve ourselves well in present smaller trials, to keep up our spirits, keep hold of the promise, keep in our way, with our eye upon the prize, so run that we may obtain it. Some good interpreters understand this as spoken to the people, who were very secure and fearless of the threatened judgments. If they have been so humbled and impoverished by smaller calamities, so wasted by the Assyrians, - if the Ammonites and Moabites, who were their brethren, and with whom they were in league, proved false to them (as undoubtedly they would), - then how would they be able to deal with such a powerful adversary as the Chaldeans would be? How would they bear up their head against that invasion which should come like the swelling of Jordan?
Matthew Henry's Commentary on the Whole Bible (1708–1710) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
John Gill 1763 · Public Domain Righteous art thou, O Lord, when I plead with…
Righteous art thou, O Lord, when I plead with thee,.... The six first verses of this chapter properly belong to the preceding, being of the same argument, and in strict connection with the latter part of it. Jeremiah appears to be under the same temptation, on account of the prosperity of the wicked, as Asaph was, Psa 73:1 only he seems to have been more upon his guard, and less liable to fall by it; he sets out: with this as a first principle, an undoubted truth, that God was righteous, and could do nothing wrong and amiss, however unaccountable his providences might be to men: he did not mean, by entering the list with him, or by litigating this point, to charge him with any unrighteousness this he took for granted, and was well satisfied of, that the Lord was righteous, "though", says he, "I plead with thee" (t); so some read the words. De Dieu renders them interrogatively, "shall I plead with thee?" shall I dare to do it? shall I take that boldness and use that freedom with thee? I will. The Targum is the reverse,
"thou art more just, O Lord, than that I should contend before thy word:''
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yet let me talk with thee of thy judgments; not of his laws, statutes, word, and ordinances, sometimes so called; but rather of his providences, which are always dispensed with equity and justice, though not always manifest; they are sometimes unsearchable and past finding out, and will bear a sober and modest inquiry into them, and debate concerning them; the people of God may take the liberty of asking questions concerning them, when they are at a loss to account for them. So the Targum,
"but I will ask a question of judgments before thee.''
The words may be rendered, "but I will speak judgments with thee" (u); things that are right; that are agreeable to the word of God and sound reason; things that are consistent with the perfections of God, particularly his justice and holiness; which are founded upon equity and truth; I will produce such reasons and arguments as seem to be reasonable and just.
Wherefore doth the way of the wicked prosper? or they prosper in all their ways? whatever they take in hand succeeds; they enjoy a large share of health of body; their families increase, their trade flourishes, their flocks and herds grow large and numerous, and they have great plenty of all outward blessings; and yet they are wicked men, without the fear of God, regard not him, nor his worship and ways; but walk in their own ways which they have chosen, and delight in their abominations. Some understand this, as Jarchi, of Nebuchadnezzar, to whom God had given greatness and prosperity, to destroy the house of God; but by what follows, in the latter part of the next verse, it appears that God's professing people, the Jews, are meant, and most likely the priests at Anathoth.
Wherefore are all they happy; easy, quiet, secure, live in peace and plenty:
that deal very treacherously? with God and men, in religions and civil affairs.
(t) "etiamsi contendam tecum", Cocceius, Gataker. (u) "verum tamen judicia loquar tecum", Pagninus, Montanus, Cocceius, Schmidt.
John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
John Wesley 1765 · Public Domain The prophet complains of the prosperity of the wicked:…
The prophet complains of the prosperity of the wicked: by faith sees their ruin, ver. 1-4. God admonishes him of his brethren's treachery against him, and laments his heritage, ver. 5- 13. A return from captivity promised to the penitent, ver. 14-17.
Talk with thee - Not by way of accusing thee, but for my own satisfaction concerning thy judicial dispensations in the government of the world. Wherefore - I know thy ways are just and righteous, but they are dark; I cannot understand why thou doest this.
John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.
Adam Clarke 1810 · Public Domain This chapter is connected with the foregoing. The prophet
CHAPTER XII
This chapter is connected with the foregoing. The prophet
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expostulates with God concerning the ways of Providence in
permitting the wicked to prosper, 1-4.
It is intimated to him that he must endure still greater
trials, 5,
from his false and deceitful brethren, 6;
but that still heavier judgments awaited the nation for their
crimes, 7-13.
That God, however, would at length have compassion on them;
restore them to their land; and turn his judgments against
those that oppressed them, if not prevented by their becoming
converts to the true religion, 14-17.
NOTES ON CHAP. XII
Verse 1. Righteous art thou, O Lord, when I plead with thee] The prophet was grieved at the prosperity of the wicked; and he wonders how, consistently with God's righteousness, vice should often be in affluence, and piety in suffering and poverty. He knows that God is righteous, that every thing is done well; but he wishes to inquire how these apparently unequal and undeserved lots take place. On this subject he wishes to reason with God, that he may receive instruction.
Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Joseph Benson 1811 · Public Domain Jer 12:1. Righteous art thou, O Lord — The…
Jer 12:1. Righteous art thou, O Lord — The prophet, being about to inquire into the reasons and meaning of some of the divine dispensations, first recognises a truth of unquestionable certainty, namely, that God is righteous, that is, just and holy in all his ways. Thus he arms himself against the temptations wherewith he was assaulted, to envy the prosperity of the wicked, before he begins to plead with God concerning it. And, in imitation of him, when we are least able to understand the intent of the divine counsels and proceedings, we must still resolve to retain just thoughts of God, and must be confident of this, that he never did and never will do the least wrong to any of his creatures; that even when his judgments are unsearchable as a great deep, and altogether unaccountable, yet his righteousness is as conspicuous and immoveable as the great mountains, Psa 36:6. Yet let me talk with thee of thy judgments — Not by way of accusing thee, but for my own satisfaction concerning thy dispensations in the government of the world. Wherefore doth the way of the wicked prosper? — Why are their designs and projects successful? Why are all they happy that deal very treacherously? — Why are the affairs and families of the perfidious and unjust in a prosperous state? Why dost thou permit this? What end of thy righteous government is to be answered by it? By all they, he means many of them, and is thought to have spoken thus with a special reference to the priests at Anathoth, who had conspired against his life. The prosperity of the wicked hath, in all ages, been a mystery, and hath served to furnish infidels with an objection against the providence of God, and, upon that account, hath been a source of temptation to many of God’s people.
Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Albert Barnes 1834 · Public Domain Yet let me talk ... - Rather, yet will…
Yet let me talk ... - Rather, yet will I speak with thee on a matter of right. This sense is well given in the margin. The prophet acknowledges the general righteousness of God’s dealings, but cannot reconcile with it the properity of the conspirators of Anathoth This difficulty was often present to the minds of the saints of the Old Testament, see Job 21:7 ff; Ps. 37; Ps. 73.
Happy - Rather, secure, tranquil.
Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Haydock's Catholic Bible Commentary 1859 · Public Domain Is just. Hebrew, "judgment." Septuagint, "I will make my…
Is just. Hebrew, "judgment." Septuagint, "I will make my apology to thee." Jeremias had been grievously persecuted by his countrymen: he therefore mentions a subject which has been the source of much perplexity. The success of the wicked is a temptation for weak souls. See Job xxi., Psalm lxxii. 3., and Habacuc i. 13. (Calmet) --- The prophets often speak in their names, not being ignorant or doubtful of the justice of divine providence. (Worthington)
George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).
Lange's Commentary on the Holy Scriptures 1864 · Public Domain 1 Thou maintainest justice, O Jehovah, when I plead…
5. THIRD STAGE OF THE CONSPIRACY: THE PLOT IN THE PROPHET’S OWN FAMILY
Jer_12:1-6
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1 Thou maintainest justice, O Jehovah, when I plead with thee.
Only on matters of judgment will I speak with thee.
Why is the way of the wicked prosperous?
Why do all live in peace, who practise knavery?
2 Thou hast planted them and they have taken root;
They grow up, they also bear fruit:
Thou art near in their mouth, but far from their reins.
3 But thou, O Jehovah, knowest me,
Regard me and prove my heart towards thee:1
Pluck them out as sheep to the slaughter,
And set them apart for the day of execution.
4 How long shall the land mourn,
And the green of the whole plain wither?
From the wickedness of those who dwell in it,
Beast and bird are consumed;2
For they say, he shall not see our end,
5 If thou hast run with footmen and they wearied thee,
How mayest thou contend3 with the horses?
And in a land of peace thou wast secure,
But how wilt thou do in the pride of Jordan?
6 For even thy brethren and the house of thy father,
Even they have practised knavery towards thee;
Even they with a loud cry4 have pursued thee.
Trust them not when they speak good to thee.
EXEGETICAL AND CRITICAL
This strophe attaches itself closely to the preceding, proving conspiracy even in the narrowest circle, in the family of the prophet, where it was the least to be expected. After the prophet had given the Lord to understand his dissatisfaction that the ungodly, of whom Jeremiah 11 treats, still pursue their course in safety (Jer_12:1-2) and after he has expressed the hope of his justification and their destruction (Jer_12:3) the more confidently, that these people infect the air, as it were, with the poisonous breath of their unbelief, and render the land uninhabitable (Jer_12:4), the Lord answers him: If even the enmity of those at a distance is so intolerable, what wilt thou do when the members of thine own family treacherously waylay thee (Jer_12:5-6)?
Jer_12:1-3. Thou maintainest justice … day of execution. The prophet (compare Jonah before Nineveh) has waited in vain for the performance of the threatenings pronounced in Jer_11:11-21, etc. He now ventures to speak to the Lord concerning it. He knows that the Lord will maintain the right (comp. Psa_51:6; Job_9:2-3 sqq.; Job 39:32; Rom_3:4; Rom_9:20) he will only therefore inquire into His judgments (Jer_1:16; Jer_4:12) in order to receive illumination. On אַךְ comp. Jer_5:5. Bring forth fruit, reference to Jer_11:17-18. Comp. Psa_37:35.—Near, etc. Refutation of the objection that these people serve Jehovah. It is only lip-service, while their hearts are alienated (Isa_29:13; Mat_15:8). The prophet on the other hand can appeal for the rectitude of his disposition to the knowledge of the Searcher of hearts, whom, moreover, for the sake of perfect satisfaction, he invites to a renewed observation and trial of his heart.—Pluck them out. On the subject matter comp. Job_21:27 sqq.; Psalms 7, 9, 10, 11, 73; Mal_3:13 sqq., etc.—נתק comp. Jer_6:29.—set them apart. Comp. Jer_6:4; Jer_22:7; Jer_51:27; Isa_13:3. In the words pluck them, etc., Jeremiah has expressed what in his opinion is to be done to the ungodly (comp. Psa_49:15 sqq.) In what follows he supports this opinion from another point of view.
Jer_12:4. How long shall the land mourn … not see our end. In this verse a contradiction has been found to the preceding, and Hitzig would therefore strike out the verse here and insert it at Jer_14:1-9. But Graf correctly remarks that the wicked (Jer_12:1) also appear as guilty in the curse of barrenness, as this calamity is ever regarded as a divine punishment (Jer_3:3; Jer_5:24-25; Jer_14:2 sqq.; Jer_23:10; Hos_4:3). I add to this, that it is not single wicked individuals who are designated as the authors of the adversity of all their fellow-citizens, but that the “inhabitants of the land,” the men generally (as in fact in Jer_11:9 the whole population is accused) are considered guilty of the destruction of innocent irrational creatures. 2. That by the sentence for they say, etc., their unbelieving scorn of the divine word proclaimed by the prophet is especially represented as the cause of this curse which has come upon the whole land. When in Jer_12:1 it is said “the way of the ungodly is prosperous; all they live in peace who practise knavery,” this is to be understood relatively. In the midst of the national calamity it is comparatively still well with them.—We shall not see. The subject must be the prophet. אַחֲרִית is the last, extreme end, the final fate (comp Isa_46:10). When they say that the prophet will not see their extremity, their final fate, they mean that they will survive him, that he will perish before them. Comp. on the subject Jer_5:13. [Henderson:—“I take this to be impersonal: No one shall see our end; that is, it shall not be realized, we shall not be destroyed. The worldly Jews flattered themselves that they might securely pursue their ungodly course, disbelieving all the predictions of calamity uttered by the prophet.”—S. R. A.]
Jer_12:5-6. If thou hast run with the footmen … when they speak good to thee. To the question of the prophet (Jer_12:1-2) the Lord makes no other answer than this: the power of the ungodly, of which thou complainest, is not the worst. Still worse is threatening thee, the enmity of the members of thine own family. Here is evidently the point of the climax begun in Jer_11:9, the conspiracy of his associates in the nation, the town and the family. The last is the most deplorable.—In a land, etc. Instead of wast secure, בּוֹטֵחַ, Hitzig would read בּוֹרֵחַfleeing. The expression would certainly be more correct. But the structure of the second member is not like that of the first. Here it is not admitted that the prophet has hitherto had an evil experience. The Lord says, thy condition hitherto has been comparatively secure, as of a man who lives in a peaceful country. The attacks previously made left thee in a condition of security compared with what is before thee. It is evident that here there is a climax, the second member of the sentence being stronger than the first.—Pride of Jordan, (בגאוֹן הי׳) Hitzig, Meier, Graf understand by this the bank of the Jordan overgrown with trees and tall reeds (comp. Raumer, Paläst. IV. Aufi. S. 68), which according to Jer_49:19; Jer_50:44; Zec_11:3 serves for the residence of lions (comp. Köhler, Sach. II. S. 109). Since nothing is known of inundations of the Jordan as particularly extensive and dangerous, this explanation may be correct, though the expression in itself (comp. Job_38:11) might certainly be used of inundations. In Jer_12:6 we perceive the traces of a conspiracy; on the one hand behaviour intended to awaken confidence, on the other בֶּגָד, treachery which manifests itself in this, that behind the back of him who is threatened (אַֽהֲרֶיךָ designates absence, removal to such a distance, as to be out of hearing of a call) they loudly cry and agitate against him.—On the subject matter comp. Mat_10:36; Mat_13:57.
Footnotes:
[1]Jer_12:3.—אִתָּךְ depends on לִבִּי. The meaning is as in 2Sa_16:17; Zec_7:9.
[2]Jer_12:4.—ספתה. On the construction comp. Naegelsb. Gr. § 105, 4 b.
[3]Jer_12:5.—תְּתַֽחֲרֶה Tiphel. Comp. Jer_22:15; Gesen. § 55, 5; Ewald, § 132 a; Olsh. § 255 a.
[4]Jer_12:6.—מָלֵא as adverb (Nah_1:10) = plene, plena voce. Comp. Jer_4:5; Jer_4:12.
6. THE CONSPIRACY OF ISRAEL PUNISHED BY THE CONSPIRACY OF THE NEIGHBORS AGAINST THEM
Jer_12:7-13
7 I have forsaken my house, repudiated my heritage;
I have given the desire of my soul into the hands of her enemies.
8 My heritage is become to me as a lion in the forest;
It has roared against5 me, therefore have I hated it.
9 Is my heritage to me a parti-colored bird?6 Birds round about it?
Go, assemble ye all the beasts of the field,
Fetch7 them to devour.
10 Many pastors have destroyed my vineyard.
They have trodden under foot my ground property,
Have made the ground property of my desire a barren waste.
11 They8 have made it a desert, it mourneth towards me as a desert.
Desolated was the whole land, for there was no one who took it to heart.
12 On all the heights in the desert are come spoilers:
For Jehovah has a sword, which devours from land’s-end to land’s-end.
There is no flesh that can find means to escape.
13 They have sown wheat and reaped thorns;
They have tormented themselves and will profit nothing:
So then—ye shall be ashamed of your revenue9
Before the fierceness of Jehovah’s wrath.
EXEGETICAL AND CRITICAL
As the undertakings of the conspirators against the prophet were virtually against the Lord also, so the prophet’s action is a symbol of the judgment which the Lord will inflict in larger and severer measure. Therefore what is said in Jer_12:7-8 of abandoning house and heritage applies at the same time to the prophet who leaves his paternal house in Anathoth, and to the Lord who forsakes Israel. The positive punishment, however, which will consist in the combination of many enemies against Israel (Jer_12:9-11) corresponds exactly to that triple combination against the Lord and His prophet, spoken of in Jer_11:9 to Jer_12:6.
Jer_12:7-8. I have forsaken my house … have I hated it. After what, according to Jer_12:6, his house has inflicted upon him, nothing is more natural than he should leave it. It is, therefore, a matter of course, to regard the prophet himself as the subject of the verb have forsaken. But in the course of the speech it certainly becomes evident that Jehovah is the forsaker and Israel the forsaken and abandoned house (Jer_12:9 sqq.). Zwingli and Bugenhagen regard Jer_12:7-8 as the words of the prophet. The former considers that Jehovah begins to speak at “Go.” I am of opinion, as already remarked, that the words are to be understood as having a double reference. The prophet declares that he has forsaken his father’s house in Anathoth, that he has abandoned his heritage, his beloved, to the hands of those, who from enmity towards its possessors would abuse it. Yea, he has been compelled to hate and shun his heritage, since it has become hostile to him, and no longer affords him any security. He, whose life the inmates of the house were seeking, was most threatened in the very house, which he was inhabiting with them. He therefore says that his heritage has become to him as a lion, which one meets in the forest; and that he does not fear the lion without reason, is seen from the fact that it has roared against him, in which is an evident allusion to “with a loud cry have pursued thee,” Jer_12:6. At the same time, as all the commentators recognize, these words are perfectly applicable to Jehovah. The point of connection is this, that the inimical relation of the prophet and his house is only a symptom of the enmity which Israel, as an entire nation, cherish towards the Lord their God. Hence it results, that the perfects in this entire passage are not altogether prophetic perfects. For they are based on the fact that the prophet is obliged to speak of that which has occurred between himself and his house as of past facts. He cannot, ex. gr., speak otherwise in Jer_12:7-8, than I have forsaken, repudiated, given, hated. But since this, at the same time, refers to Jehovah, these in so far still future facts are expressed by præterites, which yields the meaning that the action of the prophet as emblematical includes the action of Jehovah. Hence it is, that in accordance with the main fact in Jer_12:7-8, the whole discourse is presented as in past time. In so far as the words of Jer_12:7 refer to Jehovah, we may apply my house to the temple (comp. Jer_7:2-10, etc.), and my heritage to the people of Israel (comp. Deu_32:9), while the desire of my soul (יְדִדוּת, ἅπ. λεγ., comp. Jer_11:15; Psa_84:2) refers to the whole.
Jer_12:9. Is my heritage … to devour.—That עַיִט is a bird of prey, or collectively, birds of prey, is placed beyond doubt by Gen_15:11; Isa_18:6; Eze_39:4; Job_28:7. This meaning is therefore assured for this passage and Isa_46:11.—צָבוּעַ, according to צְבָעִים ,צֶבַע, Jdg_5:30 (comp. Aram. צְבַעtingere) can signify only the colored, variegated, as, from Jerome and the Syriac downwards, most of the commentators translate it: this parti-colored bird, which appears in their midst, is attacked by the other birds. Comp. the vouchers in Hitzig—לִיto me, is not equivalent to in relation to me, but merely expresses interest (Dat. ethicus). Whether the ה in the second הַעַיִט is an article or interrogative is doubtful. Grammatically the latter is preferable, but the former accords best with the sense. Olshausen, § 100, 1, maintains that it is grammatically admissible Taken as a question, it expresses astonishment (comp. Jer_7:9).—Go is affirmative and confirmatory: yea, not only the birds, all birds (i.e., all nations) shall fall upon the heritage of the Lord.
Jer_12:10. Many pastors … a barren waste. The same matter in a new form. Comp. Jer_6:3; Mic_5:4-5.—The ground property of my desire, comp. Jer_3:19.
Jer_12:11-12. They have made it a desert … find means to escape. Not only the inhabited country, but the plains which serve for pasturage with their hills (comp. Jer_3:2; Jer_3:21; Jer_14:6), are laid waste, so that the devouring sword has swept through the whole land from one end to the other (comp. Jer_6:25; Jer_25:29, Jer_46:10; Jer_46:14).
Jer_12:13. They have sown wheat. … Jehovah’s wrath. Total result:—No harvest, labor is vain,—weakness, shame. The thought is not, what a man soweth that shall he reap, but what a man soweth he shall not reap, the harvest shall fail, all the labor expended shall be lost. Of course it is a material harvest alone which is spoken of, comp. Deu_28:30 sqq.; Isa_65:21-22; Isa_62:8.—On tormented themselves, comp. Jer_10:19 : Eze_34:4; Eze_34:21.—On profit comp. Isa_48:17.
Footnotes:
[5]Jer_12:8.—The expression נָתַן בְּקוֹל is found also in Psa_46:7. Comp. rems. on Jer_10:13.
[6]Jer_12:9.—[Henderson: a speckled bird of prey. Noyes following the LXX.: a rapacious beast, a hyena; Blayney. the ravenous bird Tseboa.—S. R. A.]
[7]Jer_12:9.—On הֵתָיוּ as an imperative form comp. Olsh. § 256 b, S. 568.
[8]Jer_12:11.—The subject of שָׂמָהּ is formally undetermined (= they, comp. Naegelsb. Gr., § 101, 2) but from the connection it is the previously mentioned enemies. Observe the play upon words שָׂם ,נָשַׁמָּה ,שְׁמֵמָה ,שְׁמָמָה ,שָׂמָהּ. The last is used with reference to שָׂמָהּ, while שָׂמָהּ לִשְׁמָמָה corresponds to לֹא שָׂם עַל־לֵב.
[9]Jer_12:13.—It is not necessary to read מִתְּבוּאֹתֵיהֶם, after the LXX. The change of person need not offend (comp. Naegelsb. Gr., § 101, Anm.) nor the emphatic Vau before the imperative (comp. rems. on Jer_2:19).
7. SOLUTION OF ALL ANTITHESES BY THE FINAL UNION OF ALL IN THE LORD
Jer_12:14-17
14 Thus saith Jehovah against all my neighbors,10 the wicked,
Who attacked the inheritance which I gave to Israel, my people, to possess:
Behold I pluck them forth out of their land,
And the house of Judah I will pluck forth out of their midst.
15 And it shall come to pass, after I have plucked them out,
I will again have compassion upon them,
And bring them back11 every man to his heritage and every man to his land.
16 And it shall come to pass, if they learn the way of my people,
To swear by my name ‘Jehovah liveth,’
As they have taught my people to swear by Baal:
Then shall they be built in the midst of my people.
17 But if they hear not, I will utterly pluck up
And destroy such a nation, saith Jehovah.
EXEGETICAL AND CRITICAL
Even in these concluding words the fundamental idea is evidently that of association. The conspiracy of the nations against the covenant people who have conspired against their Lord (Jer_11:9; Jer_12:6) has for its first consequence, that the two are associated in punishment (Jer_12:14). But afterward when they have made common cause in penitence, and turning to the Lord, they are to be equally regarded in their redemption and re-establishment (Jer_12:16). In this only is there dissimilarity, that in the heathen nations a possibility of disobedience and consequent total destruction is assumed, which is not the case with respect to Israel (Jer_12:17).
Jer_12:14. Thus saith Jehovah … pluck forth out of their midst. The enemies who, according to Jer_12:9, combine against Israel, are here seen to be chiefly their neighbors; comp. 2Ki_24:2, to which passage, however, I refer not as the occasion, but as the, at least, partial fulfilment of our prophecy. The Syrians, Moabites and Ammonites, are here mentioned, and in Psa_137:7 the Edomites also, as auxiliaries of the Chaldees in the work of Judah’s destruction.—Judah and the neighboring nations will meet the same fate, because they have both sinned against Jehovah: Judah directly, the others indirectly; for what they did against Judah, was against Judah’s God.—Out of their midst refers to the geographical position of Judah, and at the same time to Jer_12:9.—The carrying away of Judah involves their liberation from the attacks of their neighbors. Comp. besides Jer_25:15 sqq.
Jer_12:15-17. And it shall come to pass … destroy such a nation, saith Jehovah. Every nation shall be brought back (comp. Jer_46:26; Jer_48:47; Jer_49:6; Jer_49:39), therefore also Israel. Consequently they are alike in this.—The highest and most glorious stage of the association is this, that the nations will be one among themselves and with Judah in the true worship of Jehovah, which is expressed as swearing by His name alone (comp. Jer_4:2; Jer_5:7; Deu_6:13; Deu_10:20). In this is, at the same time, given the unity of God with men; He in them, they in Him (Joh_17:21; Joh_17:23). It is noteworthy that the nations are to be built (בְּתוֹךְ עַמִּי) in the midst of my people. Before Israel was in their midst (Jer_12:7; Jer_12:9); now they are in the midst of Israel. Israel is now not merely the ideal, but the real stock which bears all. (Comp. Rom_11:17 sqq.—Isa_45:22 sqq.; Isa_56:1 sqq.; 65. and 66.).—In this only a dissimilarity between Israel and the nations comes fairly to light, that the possibility of resistance to the loving purpose of God is presupposed of the latter, but not of the former (comp. Jer_30:10-11).—On learn the ways, comp. Jer_10:2; Jer_2:33.
Footnotes:
[10]Jer_12:14.—שׁכני, transition to the first person, as in Jer_14:15. The connection with the preceding strophe is unmistakable. Comp. נַֽחֲלָה and נָתַשׁ with נַֽהֲלָה and נָטַשׁ, Jer_12:7, sqq.
[11]Jer_12:15—On אָשׁוּב ו׳. Comp. Naegelsb. Gr., § 95, g., Anm.
DOCTRINAL AND ETHICAL
1. On Jer_11:3. “The curse of the Law excites anger, but the curse of the covenant abashes. I have seen an atheist tremble at the words ‘If any man love not the Lord Jesus Christ, let him be anathema (1Co_16:22).’ He remarked it himself, and sought to excuse himself by saying ‘it was motus incoluntarii.’ But it was the words of the covenant, Thou shalt love.” Zinzendorf.
2. On Jer_11:5. “Hic παίδευμα a laiet et pro ministris verbi. et pro eorum auditoribus. Ministri exemplo prophetæ monentur, ut similem in officio promtitudinem et animi alacritatem Deo probent, quemadmodum etiam de Jesaja legitur, Jer_6:8. Auditores hic docentur, ut de voluntate Dei ex verbo moniti in corde suo dicant; amen, promti et parati ad obedientiam verbo præstandam.” Förster.
3. On Jer_11:14. “Intercession for all men has good reason for it in the love which is due to one’s neighbor, and it is also commanded, 1Ti_2:1-2, but on the part of those who offer it, a certain order is required so that it may be heard (Luk_13:8-9; Joh_9:31).” Langh Op. bibl.
4. On Jer_11:15. “It is a snare to a man to blaspheme the holy, and after that to seek vows [after vows to make inquiry] (Pro_20:24). For that is the manner of hypocrites, to offer St. Martin a penny and then steal a horse; and when they have opposed God and His word to the utmost, to turn afterwards to sacrifices, fasting and alms, and wish thus to exculpate themselves.” Cramer.
5. On Jer_11:16-17. “God has appointed us to be trees of righteousness, plants of the Lord for His glory (Isa_61:3). He, however, who bringeth not forth good fruit, is hewn down and cast into the fire (Mat_7:19).” Cramer. [“Every sin against God is a sin against ourselves, and so it will be found sooner or later.” Henry.—S. R. A.]
6. On Jer_11:18. “Although the human heart cannot be fathomed (Jer_17:9), yet nothing can be hidden from God, and He frequently reveals secret counsels, so that they are known and manifest, as in the case of Absalom and Ahithophel (Isa_8:10). Therefore do nothing in secret, in the hope that it will remain hidden, for the birds of heaven carry the voice, and the winged repeat it (Ecc_10:20).” Cramer.
7. On Jer_11:20. “The first New Testament vengeance was executed on the cross, when an evildoer who had mocked at Jesus, cringed on the cross, and asked for a gracious remembrance. The Lamb of God could scarcely wait the time of vengeance: To-day, said He, shalt thou be with Me in Paradise. According to this may the Jeremiahs of our times, the preachers of righteousness, take the measure of their holy desire for vengeance.” Zinzendorf. [“It is a comfort, when we are wronged that we have a God to commit our cause to: and our duty to commit it to Him, with a resolution to acquiesce in His definite sentence; to subscribe and not prescribe to Him.” Henry.—S. R. A.]
8. On Jer_11:20. “A teacher is advised to say this if he can, ‘I have ceased to concern myself about myself.’ Dr. Luther says,
Once I grasped too many things:—
None staid; they all had wings:
But since I’ve weary grown,
And all away have thrown,
Not one from me has flown.
And do you ask, how can it be thus?—
Because I’ve cast my all on Jesus.
Messengers and servants, who concern themselves about their own injuries must have bad masters.” Zinzendorf.
9. On Jer_11:22. When the people will not endure the rod of Christ’s mouth, with which He smites the earth (Isa_11:4), item His rods Beauty and Bands (Zec_11:7), God sends one with the sword to preach, which is followed by the red spice, and then we see what the smooth preachers have effected (Isa_30:10).” Cramer.
10. On Jer_12:1. “But can we conceive anything more humane and gracious than our dear Lord? We know beforehand that we are wrong; we do not doubt that He does all well, but it yet oppresses us. We should like to make a clean breast of it. Where shall we find one with whom we could do this? The fly on the wall, the domestic, the child, that comes in our way? Assuredly not! Straight to our Lord, the eternal and living God, with all our ill-humor, doubt, care, scruples! Pour out your heart before Him (Psa_62:8).” Zinzendorf.
11. On Jer_12:1-3. “It is a common grievance, to live and experience that the ungodly are prosperous and the godly are unfortunate (Psa_38:20; Psa_73:12; Job_21:7; Job_31:2), against which David wrote the 32. Ps. Have recourse to the testimony that there is another life, when the tables will be turned and the evil will be recompensed with evil and the good with good (Isa_65:13).” Cramer.
12. On Jer_12:3. “The prosperity of the ungodly should exhort them to repentance by the long-suffering of God (Rom_2:4). But when even this does not avail, there are still people of this world, who have their portion in this life, who fill only their belly (Psa_17:14) and carry nothing away. What profit then is there to them even if they had the whole world, and suffer injury to their souls (Mat_16:26. The rich man in Luk_16:23).” Cramer.
13. On Jer_12:4. “It is strange that even in the people of God the Epicurean opinion has found acceptance, that God sits idly in the heavens, caring nothing about what goes on below, doing neither that which is good nor that which is evil, (Zep_1:12), seeing not what men do (Eze_8:10; Eze_9:9), and that future things are altogether hidden both from him and his prophet. So powerful is the devil among the children of unbelief.” Cramer.
14. On Jer_12:4. “Tales hodie sunt Epicuri de grege porci, quibus sæpe est in ore, the devil is not so black, hell is not so hot, as the parson in the pulpit makes out. Sed his historia divitis epulonis occinenda (Luke 16). Nam ibi—Christ puts forth his hand into hell-fire, snatches a brand out therefrom, and holds it in the face of all Epicureans, as though He would say, Smell, smell, how hot hell-fire is.” Förster.
15. On Jer_12:5. “I have heard that an able preacher, when he had to deliver a trial sermon for the position of court-preacher, took this text. The exposition is plain. No servant of the Lord should long for more respectable, rich, discreet, sociable hearers. Let every one approve himself thoroughly in all changes, and be sure of his cause and lean not to his own understanding.” Zinzendorf.
16. On Jer_12:6. “Many must add to this, wife, child, colleague, domestics, and whatever more the Saviour mentions, which may be against a man. One is often offered by his mother to the dear God (i. e. dedicated to the pastoral office) but in an altogether different sense; and when he afterwards walks as becomes him, according to the gospel of Christ, those are his bitterest enemies, who hoped that he might comfort them in all their travail, and who not only do not gain anything from his labors as a witness, but must bear the shame and ridicule, that their son, brother, cousin, husband, father, friend, etc. will yet render them all unfortunate.” Zinzendorf.
17. On Jer_12:7, sqq. “They are sweet words and beautiful names with which the Lord baptizes and names His city, and it is so hard for it to be punished by God for its sins that we are long in learning to consider our own account.” (Rom_11:21). Cramer.
18. On Jer_12:7, sqq. “The heart of a believer is God’s most cherished abode, but if man corrupt it with wilful sin, God must forsake this house.” (Isa_59:2). Starke.
19. On Jer_12:10, sqq. “A servant of the Lord who should follow on twelve hirelings or wolves may depend on this, that he will find nothing else than a house, a vineyard of the Lord, but a desecrated house, an uprooted vineyard, in which many preparations are needed before he can proceed to his regular work.” Zinzendorf.
20. On Jer_12:14, sqq. “The Christian church has a triple consolation. 1. That its enemies will be punished; 2. That God again has mercy on it; 3. That it also converts a part of its enemies and gathers them into its little flock of believers.” Cramer.
21. On Jer_12:16. “Some time since I found in the so-called Herrnhut lot-book for the year 1737 the words in the vision of Isa_59:17 : Thy destroyer and they that made thee waste shall go forth of thee! Under them were these two lines, ‘let them rather remain and attach them to us.’ This is what Jeremiah says; they may yet come out right.—Paul has confirmed it by his example. Within three days he was a persecutor, a false teacher, a poor sinner, a justified sinner, a witness, an apostle. With joy would I bestow the same happiness on every one of those, whom I at this moment cannot regard otherwise than as the enemies, of the cross of Christ.” Zinzendorf.
HOMILETICAL AND PRACTICAL
1. On Jer_11:1-10 there is extant a homily of Origen (the 9th in Lommatzsch’s ed.) likewise on Jer_11:18 to Jer_12:9 (the 10th) and on Jer_12:11 to Jer_13:1 (the 11th.)
2. Förster remarks that Jer_11:19-20 accords with Mat_22:15 sqq. (XXIII. Sunday after Tr.) and that the persecution of Jeremiah corresponds to the sufferings of the Lord. Likewise that Jer_12:2 bears relation to Luk_16:19 sqq. (I. Sund. after Trin.) and Jer_12:7 to Act_6:8 sqq. (St. Stephen’s day, Sunday after Christmas), and to Luk_19:41 sqq. (X. after Trin.)
3. On Jer_11:16-17. The divine election is never intended to be a license from all discipline. Indeed when men break the covenant, the Lord interposes with punishment, which may proceed to instantaneous destruction. Surely God’s gifts and calling are without repentance. If the branches cut off abide not in unbelief they shall be graffed in; for God is able to graft them in again, Rom_11:23; Rom_11:29.
4. On Jer_11:21. That which the people of Anathoth say here to Jeremiah, the people of this world say everywhere and at all times to the preachers of the truth. Comp. 2Ti_4:3-4. It is important then to preach the word, to be instant in season and out of season; to reprove, rebuke, exhort, with all long-suffering and doctrine (2Ti_4:2).
5. On Jer_12:5. It is not becoming that we prescribe to God, to what extent He shall lay burdens upon us. Our patience and steadfastness are as elastic and extensible as our faith is firm and rock-like (Petrine, Mat_16:18).
6. On Jer_12:14-17. When mankind depart from God they lose the bond of unity and of peace. They are divided then into parties, which contend with and exterminate each other. But when these have again united themselves with the Lord, the unity of the members is restored. Therefore there is liberty, equality and fraternity only in the Lord.
Lange's Commentary on the Holy Scriptures (Critical, Doctrinal, and Homiletical), ed. John Peter Lange, English translation edited by Philip Schaff (1864–1880) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Daniel D. Whedon 1874 · Public Domain COMPLAINT AT THE PROSPERITY OF THE WICKED, Jer_12:1-6.
COMPLAINT AT THE PROSPERITY OF THE WICKED, Jer_12:1-6.
The opening verses of this chapter connect closely with the preceding. The language represents the attitude of Jeremiah’s mind when confronted with persecution and personal danger. Deserted and persecuted by those who Should be his friends, in that loneliness of spirit which is the necessary experience of every reformer, he betakes himself to God. His trial and complaint are such as speak forth in Psalm xxxiv, xlix, lxxiii, and in the book of Job. When we consider that the sanctions of the Mosaic law were largely, though not entirely, limited to this world, we can well understand how that temptation which has always been a severe and bitter one to good men should have been peculiarly so to him whose only reward seemed to be abandonment and temporal ruin. So completely was the heart of the prophet in sympathy with the divine indignation against the impiety of the wicked, that he is amazed at the slowness of God’s judgments.
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1. Righteous art thou, etc. — A true theistic faith, clinging to God amid difficulty and darkness.
Let me talk, etc. — The marginal rendering is better, let me reason the case with thee. He would bring his human weakness and his sore need to God, and plead for relief.
Happy — Safe, undisturbed, unpunished.
Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges 1878 · Public Domain 1. Righteous art thou] God’s justice is established as…
1. Righteous art thou] God’s justice is established as the result of every enquiry into His ways. Jeremiah, while admitting this, yet asks how it can be reconciled with (i) the prosperity of the wicked, (ii) his own adversity.
plead] See on Jer_2:9; Jer_2:29.
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the wicked] in this case the men of Anathoth. The general question was one which much exercised the men of the old dispensation, who had no clear view of any but temporal rewards and punishments. See Psalms 37, 39, 49, 73, and the book of Job, especially ch. Jer_21:7, etc.
Jer_12:1-6. See summary at commencement of section. Pe. points out that this passage is very important in religious history, since it is probably the first expression we have in Hebrew literature of the problem, Why do the wicked prosper? Habakkuk, who also deals with it (Jer_1:13 ff.), is likely to have been at the earliest a younger contemporary of Jeremiah. (See Intr. p. xxx.) Du. rejects the passage on the ground that (a) Jeremiah expected the immediate overthrow of rich and poor alike, and that the wicked are not known to have been more prosperous than the godly in his time. But these arguments are inconclusive except perhaps for the later portion of Jer_12:3, while the larger part of the passage seems to carry with it in point of style its own credentials.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers 1878 · Public Domain (1) Yet let me talk with thee.—The soul of…
(1) Yet let me talk with thee.—The soul of the prophet is vexed, as had been the soul of Job (Jer_21:7), of Asaph (Psalms 73), and others, by the apparent anomalies of the divine government. He owns as a general truth that God is righteous, “yet,” he adds, I will speak (or argue) my cause (literally, causes) with Thee. He will question the divine Judge till his doubt is removed. And the question is the ever-recurring one, Wherefore doth the way of the wicked prosper? (Comp. Psa_37:1; Psa_73:3.) The “treacherous dealing” implies a reference to the conspirators of the previous chapter.
Wherefore are all they happy . . .—Better, at rest, or secure.
A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Pulpit Commentary 1880 · Public Domain Painfully exercised by the mysteries of the Divine government,…
Painfully exercised by the mysteries of the Divine government, the prophet opens his grief to Jehovah. Righteous art thou, etc.; rather, Righteous wouldest thou be, O Jehovah, if I should plead with thee; i.e. if I were to bring a charge against thee, I should be unable to convict thee of injustice. (comp. Psa_51:4 Job_9:2) The prophet, however, cannot refrain from laying before Jehovah a point which seems to him irreconcilable with the Divine righteousness. The rendering, indeed, must be modified. Let me talk with thee of thy judgments should rather be, yet will I debate questions of right with thee. The questions remind us of those of Job in Job 21 Job 24. Thus to have been the recipient of special Divine revelations, and to be in close communion with God, gives no security against the occasional ingress of doubting thoughts and spiritual distress. Wherefore are all they happy, etc.? rather, secure. The statement must be qualified by what follows. In the general calamity the wicked still fare the best.
Vers. 1, 2. The prosperity of the wicked.
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I THE DIFFICULTY. The prosperity of the wicked was a difficulty of peculiar force to the Jews, since it seemed to contradict an item of their peculiar faith the doctrine of temporal rewards and punishments. The difficulty is less to us Christians; but it is idle to deny its existence. It is threefold.
1. The success of wickedness. The treacherous plans of the wicked often succeed. Their violent actions are often unchecked and produce fatal results. How is it that these evil things are not frustrated before they ripen to perfection? That wicked men should plot evil, should attempt evil, we can imagine; but that they should be allowed to carry it out often only because many accidents are favorable this is hard to understand. "Wherefore doth the way of the wicked prosper?
2. The security o/ the wicked. After they had succeeded we should expect that they would discover the vanity of their most prosperous efforts. But they not only attain their objects. They find these to be satisfactory, and are able to enjoy them with calm self-complacency. Here is the greater mystery: after completing their bad deeds the wicked are left in undisturbed enjoyment of the fruits of them. "Wherefore are all they secure that deal very treacherously?
3. The Divine blessing apparently enjoyed by the wicked. Not only does their own work succeed, but Providence bestows favors upon them. Outside events of life over which they have no control minister to their prosperity. Here is the greatest element of the difficulty. God has planted them, and they enjoy fruitfulness through his help.
II THE WAY TO TREAT THE DIFFICULTY.
1. Face it. Jeremiah boldly confronted his troublesome thoughts. People often try to hush up their doubts. The result is that a subtle spirit of skepticism spreads unconsciously through all their ideas, and its disintegrating influence undermines all solid faith. Suppressed doubt is fatal to sincerity. It begets indifference to truth. We cannot hold firmly the truths we know till we distinctly separate these from those we doubt. The suppression of doubt is cowardly. Doubt can only be conquered by being boldly confronted.
2. Do not charge God foolishly. Jeremiah did not accuse the justice of God. We are dim-sighted and weak in our judgment. Much of this great world must be a mystery to us. We must not assume that, because we cannot justify the ways of God, they admit of no justification. It is foolish as well as rebellious to presume to be the judge of God.
3. Bring the difficulty to God. Doubt should drive us to prayer. God only can enlighten our darkness. God graciously permits his children to plead and debate with him. (Isa_1:18) Doubt is not necessarily a result of any misconduct. But, however it arises, it is best to confess it to God.
III THE DIRECTIONS IN WHICH TO LOOK FOE A SOLUTION OF THE DIFFICULTY.
1. The righteousness of God. Jeremiah sees the difficulty, but it does not drive him from faith in the justice of God. Religion makes constant demands on faith the personal faith of trust in the character of God where appearances are against what we believe that character to be. Confidence in the unwavering righteousness of God will help us to look for certain indications of a solution of the difficulty occasioned by the prosperity of the wicked. Right must and will be done, and if it is not yet accomplished it will be ultimately. From the character of God we may thus reason to his certain action. (Gen_18:25)
2. Hence we have an argument in favor of future rectification. Jeremiah expects it to come even in this life, though it is long deferred (Ver. 3). The Christian looks for it in the great judgment, and the fruits of this in the life to come.
3. The difficulty may be lessened even for the present by the reflection that material prosperity is not real prosperity. It may be well for a good man to suffer. Prosperity may be an evil. True welfare consists not in success, not in security from calamity, but in inward peace, in progress in the Divine life.
HOMILIES BY A.F. MUIR Vers. 1-4. Moral difficulties with the providence of God.
The tone of this address to Jehovah is strikingly contrasted with that to the men of Anathoth. To them he is as a lion or a brazen wall. To Jehovah he is as a fretful child, ignorant, willful, perverse, and requiring to be corrected.
I THE PROSPERITY OF THE WICKED A STUMBLING-BLOCK TO FAITH. (Vers. 1, 2) David even is envious over this, and many a saint has felt its bitterness in his soul. That there are instances enough to make the idea plausible that wickedness is the best policy, we all know. The difficulties that beset the honest trader or the conscientious courtier and statesman are proverbial. And often just those measures which are most clearly condemned by Scripture and conscience appear to be the means most justified by the circumstances of the case. This view, however, is corrected by larger experience. It does not take all the facts within its scope, or it does not rightly interpret them. It is impossible for a mere outsider to judge of any one"s actual happiness, or the private conditions which most powerfully affect the possession and enjoyment of wealth or high position. The teachings of history and of individual experience will in the end lead to the conclusion, "Better is little with the fear of the Lord than great treasure and trouble therewith". (Pro_15:16)
II THE IMPULSE TO FORCE JEHOVAH"S HAND. (Ver. 3) This is the meaning of Jeremiah"s imprecation. To one who sees by supernatural aid the tendencies of things, it must be very hard to refrain from this. Judgments that are justified to the moral nature sometimes appear to be mysteriously delayed. What would be well done had better be done quickly. But this is the presumption of the creature, the promptings of ignorance and not of faith. God can afford to wait. It is his character to have long patience, and the results more than justify this in the end. He will work out his purposes in his own way and in his own time, notwithstanding the impatience of his servants inquiring, "What or what manner of time?" There is a species of tempting Providence closely connected with this in many spiritual men. They have the clearest conviction that certain things are right and proper for them to do, and, without consulting as to seasonableness or the best means for their accomplishment, they hasten to do them, and then expect that God will recoup them for the loss they incur or extricate them from the difficulties in which they have entangled themselves. This certainly is not waiting upon the Lord, but an arrogant assumption of his prerogatives. It was the principle that lay at the root of Moses" great transgression; and even the disciples had to be rebuked because they knew not what spirit they were of.
III THE TONE OF THE PROPHET"S PRAYER. Superficially it appears reasonable, considering the character and position of those to whom he refers. And there is at any rate a formal recognition of the righteousness of God to begin with. It is evident, too, that the conscience of the prophet is without offence in the sight of God, and yet there can be no doubt that the language he adopts is not to be justified. He is carried away by excess of zeal, but it is zeal without knowledge, and he himself will be the first bitterly to regret his presumption. It is a perilous thing for any man to attempt to judge his fellows by infallible standards. One thing in the behavior of the prophet was to be commended. He did not conceal these thoughts within himself. He says, "Let me talk with thee," conscious that in this openness of soul lay his moral safety. A few minutes" honest communion with God will tap many a festering sore and correct many a subtle error of spirit and life. The last lesson of Divine revelation is not severity but love. M.
HOMILIES BY S. CONWAY Ver. 1. Perplexing questions.
"Wherefore doth the way of the wicked prosper?" etc. Unquestionably they very often do. Some of the reasons are
I THEY ARE MORE SHREWD. "The children of this generation are wiser than the children of light." They give more heed to the laws of success, are more alert to seize opportunities and to guard against those men and things which would work them harm. No amount of piety will compensate for inattention to the laws of success.
II THEY ARE LESS SCRUPULOUS. Where success is thus won by some seemingly short cut which a godly man hesitates to take, it will not seldom Be found, after awhile, that the apparently long way round of the righteous was yet the nearest because the truest road. But meanwhile the ungodly appear to have the best of it.
III THEIR ATTENTION IS MORE CONCENTRATED AND UNDIVIDED. The godly man cannot say in regard to the pursuit of this world"s goods, "This one thing I do;" but the ungodly can. Whilst "not slothful in business," the Christian has also to "serve the Lord." Whilst a citizen of this world, he is also a citizen of another country, even a heavenly one, and by his faith he has avowed that he seeks that country. His attention must therefore be divided, as his who sows only to the flesh is not.
IV THE LONG-SUFFERING OF GOD. The ungodly are his children, though ungrateful ones, and the heavenly Father would woo and win them back. Therefore in all gentleness he deals with them, making his sun to shine and his rain to descend on them as on his faithful children. The long-suffering of God is to lead to repentance.
V TO TEST, IMPROVE, AND DECLARE THE FAITH OF THE GODLY. If righteousness were a royal road to riches, and faith infallibly led to fortune, where would Be the room for trust in God? How would such trust Be tested and deepened, and how would it ever be made manifest? The devil would have had reason for his taunt concerning Job, "Doth Job serve God for naught?" But that there may Be such men as Job, heroes of the faith, pure, noble, God-fearing souls, saints indeed, God does at times let such men serve him for naught so far as this world is concerned, and hands over this world"s wages to the devil, that he may with them bribe, as he in vain sought to bribe our Lord, those who will "fall down and worship him." But that these questions may not perplex us, let us live day-by-day in view of the unseen and eternal, walking with God, holding communion with him; so shall our estimates of this world"s prosperity be corrected, and we shall be able to behold with calmness the allotment of that prosperity to the ungodly rather than to ourselves. C.
HOMILIES BY J. WAITE Vers. 1-5. The prophet"s complaint.
The writings of the prophets are often as much historic as they are prophetic; historic of personal as well as national experiences, of inward thoughts and emotions as of outward incidents. In tracing the current of events, the writers disclose the workings of their own spirits, and in expounding and vindicating God"s ways with Israel or with other nations, they indicate the method of his dealings with themselves. This was singularly true of Jeremiah, and we have here a striking illustration of it. This passage probably marks the time when the people of his own native city of Anathoth, and even his kindred, his "brethren of the house of his father," could no longer bear his faithful rebukes, and he was compelled to take refuge in Jerusalem. (Jer_11:21 Jer_12:6) Consider
(1) the prophet"s state of mind as here made manifest;
(2) the meaning and force of God"s remonstrance.
I THE PROPHET"S STATE OF MIND. It contains a singular mixture of good and evil, thoughts and emotions both noble and base. So conflicting and even contradictory sometimes are the voices of the truest human heart. This outburst of hostility from the men of Anathoth has plunged his spirit in confusion. Like a ship checked in its course, with its sails taken aback by a sudden squall, its guiding principles and powers are for a while disturbed, and its balance lost. Note different elements of feeling.
1. Deep perplexity. He cannot reconcile the events that are taking place and the seeming prosperity of the wicked with the known rectitude of the Divine character. "Righteous art thou, O Lord; ... yet let me talk with thee of thy judgments," etc. Why this "yet "? If he is thus convinced of God"s righteousness, why this wish to reason with him? There is a conflict between unbelief and faith, between the disposition to judge by sensible appearances and the desire to judge by eternal principles. And the difficulty is aggravated by the fact that the designs of the wicked seem to succeed because God smiles on them. "Thou hast planted them, etc." This fact of successful wickedness under the wing of a Divine Providence is the deep and awful mystery that has been a source of perplexity and trouble to thoughtful men in every age. David felt the full force of it (Psalm 73). His "feet had well-nigh slipped" because of it, "until he went into the sanctuary of God," and then the problem was solved. It is when we get away from our carnal reasonings into the sanctuary of spiritual contemplation and the realm of faith that we can alone hope to understand these things. When God"s ways most perplex and confound us we must keep fast hold of right thoughts about himself. His judgments are a mighty deep. But as beneath the heaving, storm-tossed ocean there lie great mountains of the solid world, so does God"s righteousness underlie all the agitations and conflicting phases of human history. Faith in that will give us rest and peace.
2. The sense of his own rectitude. "But thou, O Lord, knowest me," etc. This is not the utterance of vain self-righteousness. A "conscience void of offense," the persuasion that our purpose is pure and our hearts right with God, is never to be con founded with spiritual pride. Without a shadow of vain-glory you may know well that you are better than many around you, and could not do as they do. There are times in a man"s history when nothing but the sense of personal rectitude can sustain him. When calamity comes upon him, when he falls, perhaps, from some high position and is cast forth upon the world homeless and friendless, what a bitter ingredient in his cup is an accusing conscience! On the other hand, he may defy everything to rob him of his peace, and, like Job, may preserve his soul in serenity in spite of blighted hopes and withered joys, a taunting world and scornful friends, if he can say, My witness is in heaven, and my record is on high". (Job_16:19)
3. The spirit of revenge. "Pull them out," etc. He would fain antedate the day of slaughter. This may have been an unguarded, momentary outburst of impatient resentment. But it was none the less evil and irreligious. Why was he rebuked for it if it were not wrong? (Similar examples in Moses, Elijah, Jonah, the disciples James and John.) Let us beware how we take God"s judgments into our own hands. "Vengeance belongeth unto me; I will recompense, saith the Lord". (Rom_12:19) Never let us speak as if the punishment of the wicked, which is the Lord"s "strange work," were regarded, by us with complacency.
4. Human sympathy. "How long shall the land mourn, etc.? The prophet is true to himself here. He grieves for the misery inflicted on the innocent by the wrong-doing of others. The humane heart groans with the "groaning creation," and sighs for the time when all shall be renewed. He who" endured the contradiction of sinners against himself" teaches us to take upon ourselves, as he did, the sins and sorrows of the world.
II THE DIVINE REMONSTRANCE. "If thou hast run with the footmen," etc. (For explanation of these references, see Exposition.) There is extreme gentleness in this rebuke. It is interesting to note how uniformly gentle the reproofs God administered to the prophets were. Two things are noticeable in this remonstrance.
1. It refers to Jeremiahs want of courage, and says nothing about his mental perplexity. We are reminded that the best cure for our morbid conditions of thought and feeling is that we should brace up the energies of our soul to bear whatever Providence may see fit to lay upon us, and valiantly to contend for the cause of truth and goodness in the face of all opposition.
2. It speaks of severer trials that are in store for him in the future. Life is for us all a course of Divine discipline, in which all lesser tests of faith and fortitude are intended to prepare us for sterner conflicts and nobler victories. W.
HOMILIES BY D. YOUNG Vers. 1-4. The prophet puzzled by the prosperity of the wicked.
I How THIS PUZZLE ARISES. It arises from the presence of a number of facts together, the coexistence of which the prophet finds it impossible to explain.
1. There is his assurance as to the character of Jehovah. He speaks confidently as to the Divine righteousness. Observe how it is the thing that he starts with. All our doubts will get cleared up in the end, however long the process may be, if only we start with the sure practical conviction that Jehovah is, and that he is righteous. "Thy righteousness is like the great mountains." And as one would not doubt the existence of them, so neither must one doubt the righteousness of God... Jeremiah could not. but become acquainted with the character of one who was so constantly manifesting himself to him. Besides, there was the history of Jehovah"s consistent and glorious dealings in the past to fall back upon, and it was presumed that Jeremiah was well acquainted with that history. If it had not been so, there would have been little use in referring him to Moses and Samuel. (Jer_15:1) It was no earthly governor swayed about by all sorts of motives with whom Jeremiah had to deal.
2. From the manifest wickedness of the wicked and their equally manifest prosperity. Jeremiah has no more doubt about the character and deserts of his enemies than he has about the character of his God. He speaks as if there were some close connection between the wickedness and the prosperity, and as if the unscrupulous man could boast himself without contradiction being possible as to the results of his audacity. It seems to the prophet as if there should be an instant and complete stoppage of all this pride and deceit.
3. From some special advantages they have had not of their own procuring. "Thou hast planted them." This is a way of indicating that all outward circumstances favored men when they started on their knavery. They were well placed for the attainment of prosperity, and the same kind of outward circumstances had continued. They had grown and brought forth fruit. It seemed that if they had been planted at random, planted anywhere else, these wicked purposes would have been comparatively fruitless. Probably Jeremiah"s notion was that God located every man in his starting-place, and if so, it is easy to see how such a consideration would increase his perplexity.
4. From the hypocrisy of the wicked. While Jeremiah sees only too plainly their wickedness, they pretend to be righteous and devout and God-honoring. The name of Jehovah is, perhaps, oftener on their lips than on the lips of the prophet himself. They may be full of zeal for the temple, for incense, for offering; they may even make capital by reproaching Jeremiah for his utterances on these subjects. (Jer_6:20 Jer_6:7)
5. From the suffering they inflict on the land. The wicked may prosper, and yet in their very prosperity suck away the lifeblood of a nation. That is no true prosperity where the rich get richer and the poor get poorer. The words of the prophet suggest that there was grinding and rapacity, and thus no encouragement to the tiller of the soil to do his best. Truly have the fruits of the earth been called "kindly," for they are kindly to one who will diligently cultivate. But no one will diligently cultivate if the fruits of his toil are to come to one who reaps where he has not sown, and gathers where he has not strawed.
6. From the scorn these wicked heap on the prophet himself. "They said, He shall not see our last end." Of course we are not to suppose that the prophet was influenced here by considerations of personal resentment. Doubtless what chiefly moved him was to maintain his sacred work. These wicked men were like the scoffers of whom Peter speaks, walking after their own lusts, and saying, "Where is the promise of his coming?
II HOW THE PUZZLE WAS TO BE DIMINISHED. By the time we reach the end of the Book of Jeremiah, God"s judgments on all the prosperous wicked are amply manifested. When Jeremiah came to close the roll of his prophecies, and reflect on all that God had said in them and done "even in Jeremiah"s own time and under his own eyes, and when further he recollected his own hasty complaints, he would surely feel that a trustful and patient waiting for the full event would have been much wiser. Perhaps no prophet ever saw more of the accomplishment of his own prophecies than Jeremiah did. He did see the end of those who, in their pride and fatness, had reviled him. Let us be true and faithful to what the Spirit of truth has made known to us as the will of God, and everything in the way of vindication will come if we only wait. We must not mistake precipitation and impetuosity for zeal. God"s people have to wait for their own perfection and their own reward; they have also to wait.for the execution of God"s judgment against his enemies. Through all the centuries that have passed since Jeremiah"s complaint here, oppression and robbery have continued, and they continue still. And as we think of such things, it will he well for us if we can end our thoughts where Jeremiah began: "Righteous art thou, O Lord. Y.
The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Biblical Illustrator 1887 · Public Domain Righteous art Thou, O Lord, when I plead with…
Jer_12:1-6
Righteous art Thou, O Lord, when I plead with Thee.
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Communion with God in affliction
I. Why God sees fit to afflict His children by the dispensations of His providence.
1. God sometimes afflicts His children to reclaim them from their delusions in religion. They are naturally bent to backsliding.
2. God sometimes afflicts His children to try their sincerity, and give them an opportunity of knowing their own hearts.
3. God sometimes afflicts His children for the purpose of displaying the beauty and excellence of true religion before the eyes of the world. In some cases, at least, we can hardly discover any other important end to be answered by afflicting His peculiar friends, than this, of displaying their superior virtue and piety.
II. Why they are disposed to converse with Him under His afflicting hand.
1. Because they want to know why He afflicts them.
2. They wish to know how they should feel and conduct themselves in their afflicted state.
3. They desire to obtain Divine support and consolation.
III. What methods they take to converse with God in time of trouble.
1. By meditating upon the history of His providence.
2. By reviewing the course of His conduct towards themselves through all the past scenes and stages of their lives.
3. By prayer, while they are suffering His fatherly chastisements. For this they are greatly prepared, by musing on His past and present dispensations towards themselves and others. These fill their mouths with arguments, and constrain them to draw near to God, and make known their wants and desires, their hopes and fears. This subject may teach the children of God--
(1) to restrain their unreasonable expectations of outward prosperity in the present life.
(2) That adversity may be much more beneficial to them than prosperity.
(3) This subject exhibits a peculiar and distinguishing mark of grace, by which everyone may determine whether he is or is not a real child of God. It is the habitual disposition of the true children of God to converse with Him from day to day, under all the various dispensations of His providence. (N. Emmons, D. D.)
Let me talk with Thee of Thy judgments.
The judgments of God a lawful subject of human study and consideration
1. It is lawful for the saints to enter into the mystery of Divine providence. Providence is the work of God. In its movement we may discern the actings of the Almighty, and if we are properly attentive to it, we may trace the marks of His power, wisdom, faithfulness, goodness, and holiness.
2. The saints are permitted to use familiarity with God in these inquiries. He permits them to state their objections, and to make replies to His answers, to plead with Him, in the language of our text. Let us plead together, says He, put Me in remembrance, state your objections to any part of My conduct, declare thou, that thou mayest be justified. Wonderful condescension!
3. It is of the first importance in the inquiries into the dispensations of Providence, that we retain on our spirits an abiding sense of the essential moral attributes of the Disposer of events. (T. MCrie, D. D.)
Wherefore doth the way of the wicked prosper?--
The reasons why the wicked are permitted to prosper
I. It discovers the ingratitude of the human heart, and shows the monstrous abuse which men often make of the Divine goodness. Wealth and influence, power and dominion, are the gifts of God, and if suitably improved, are valuable talents. They give individuals many opportunities of being extensively useful, and of doing much good. But, when influence and power are made subservient to gratify the pride, the vanity, and ambition of the sons of men, they are to be accounted the greatest evil. Yet, it will not be denied, that these are sometimes the sad effects which they have produced upon particular individuals. Have not some been guilty of oppression and tyranny, of plunder and robbery, of cruelty and murder? I acknowledge that it is natural enough to wish for prosperity and affluence, power and influence; but, if these blessings were to have the same effect upon us which they have produced in others, would we not account them the greatest curse with which we could be visited? But, though prosperity may not have so shocking an influence upon us as upon some others, if it should minister to covetousness, is it not to be dreaded? Are not these the dispositions which it sometimes excites? Instead of enlarging the heart, and making it more liberal, does it not render men sometimes narrow and contracted? Is not this defeating the end of providence, and perverting its gifts?
II. To be the means of chastising the rest of mankind. They are allowed to gratify their own bad passions, that they may inflict that punishment upon their fellow creatures which their irreligion and wickedness deserve. Though we may flatter ourselves that we do not merit correction at the hands of men, none will maintain that we do not deserve it at the hand of God. Have we not been froward and undutiful children? God hath told us, in His Word, that He doth not willingly grieve the children of men; but, when correction becomes necessary, a principle of affection leads Him to inflict it. He hath often made wicked men the instruments of His vengeance, to bring His people back to their duty, and to make them learn righteousness.
III. To aggravate their guilt and to heighten their condemnation. God often setteth the wicked on high and slippery places, that He may bring them down suddenly, and make their fall the greater. They may move heaven and earth with their ambition, and think that their mountain standeth strong; when, lo! their feet are made to stumble upon the dark mountains, and they go down to the silent grave, where there is neither work, wisdom, knowledge, nor device.
IV. That we may hold higher in esteem those good men who make their wealth and influence subservient to the glory of God and to the happiness of mankind. Blessed be God, there are not a few, who, instead of abusing their prosperity, employ it for the benefit of their fellow creatures! So far from gratifying their pride, and indulging in luxury, they exert themselves to promote works of industry and charity. They are ready to deny themselves particular enjoyments, that they may contribute to the comfort of those around them. Instead of being selfish and worldly, they are humane and generous. What a blessing is prosperity, when it is the means of doing good! Our goodness, it is true, cannot extend to God, and He can receive no benefit from it; but it may be exercised towards His necessitous creatures, and He considers a kind office done to them as done to Himself.
V. That those in inferior circumstances may be thankful and contented with the situation in which God hath placed them. Perhaps you are apt to envy those who live in ease and plenty. But are you aware of the temptations to which prosperous and rich men are exposed, and into which they are too apt to fall? What if affluence should lead you to indulge in pride and vanity, and make you think of yourselves above what you ought to think? What if it should attach you so much to the world, as in a great measure to overlook eternity altogether? Oh, never appear dissatisfied with your condition, or give way to discontent. The very meanest have cause for gratitude, because they have still more than they deserve. Let all of us aspire after being poor in spirit and heirs of the kingdom of God! This is the true riches, of which none can possibly deprive us. (D. Johnston, D. D.)
The prosperity of bad men and adversity of good men accounted for
I. Wicked men, how prosperous soever their outward condition in this life, are not in reality so happy as we are apt to imagine. The reason why those wicked men that prosper in the world are reckoned happy is, because the generality of men entertain a wrong notion of happiness. They fancy it consists in having abundance of riches. Whatever real satisfaction or comfort riches can afford, we are bound by the frame of our nature to seek after that satisfaction. But in reality do we not often see health of body, tranquillity of mind, dwelling in a cottage, whilst bodily pains and restless anxieties fly daily about the palaces of kings? Which shows that happiness is something distinct from riches, something which riches alone can never give us.
II. Supposing the wicked men are more happy, and meet with less trouble than other men, let us inquire upon what accounts God almighty may permit this, consistently with the character of a wise, just, and good Governor of the world. Besides the moral enjoyment which springs from virtue only, there are other delights accruing to us from the possession of riches, honour, and secular power. Of these, many wicked men have a greater portion than the virtuous.
1. And the reason is, because some good men are weak in their judgments, and imprudent or indolent in managing their secular affairs; which exposes them to many inconveniences, and hinders their rising in the world. Now, if we ask why the Almighty permits this to the disadvantage of good men, it is the same as if we should ask why He made men free agents. The disadvantages virtuous men labour under at present, will doubtless be recompensed, one day or other, by the just and merciful Governor of the world. In the meantime, the solid pleasure they enjoy as the immediate consequence of their goodness, is surely preferable to any external advantages the wicked may procure themselves by their superior cunning and sagacity.
2. Another reason why God may permit wicked men to prosper in the world seems to be the natural effect of His overflowing goodness. He would give them more time for repentance.
3. Perhaps another reason why the Supreme Being withholds some temporal benefits from good men, which the wicked possess, may be, because He foresees they will prove hurtful to them. Alteration of circumstances often creates a change of manners. And there are some tempers which, I believe, would keep steady to virtue in a scene of adversity, and yet run into open and extreme degrees of vice in a scene of prosperity.
II. The objection in the text should not in reason make us entertain any dishonourable thought of the Divine dispensations, but rather teach us to infer the reasonableness and necessity of a future state. To know the justness of any scheme, it is necessary to be acquainted with all its parts, and all their mutual relations. How, then, can we determine every particular in the scheme of Providence, of which we must confess ourselves utterly ignorant? Should a man take upon him to condemn a well wrought tragedy by only reading one of its scenes, without considering how it was interwoven with the main plot and contrivance of the work, would he not be justly blamed for his partiality! And is not he more inexcusably partial, who censures the beautiful drama of the Divine government, without knowing the secret contrivance by which it is carried on? I shall only add one observation more to justify Providence against the objection in the text, which is, that we are frequently mistaken who are really good, and who otherwise; and, consequently, are very incompetent judges when men are equitably dealt by. (N. Ball.)
The prosperity of the wicked
I. When you are repining at the prosperity of the wicked, and feel a consequent inclination to relax from your faith in Christ, remember that, in the revelation through Jesus Christ, we are nowhere led to expect that the wicked shall not be prosperous here. Ye will not come to Me that ye may have life, was the remonstrance of our Saviour. This do, and thou shalt live, the injunction everywhere implied:--live,--not amidst the joys of this transitory scene, but at the right hand of God forever! The treasures of earth were never mentioned by Him to the faithful, but to guard them against their danger, and remind them of a treasure in heaven. Christ knew the natural opposition of worldly prosperity to the lowly virtues of the Gospel; and, earnest for the everlasting interests of men, guarded them against the desire of things, the possession of which might be fatal:--and, if men would, by ways unwarranted by God, seek what God had forbidden, it was at the double peril of disobeying His commands, and disregarding His counsels.
II. The Gospel has not only forbidden us to be surprised, or envious, at the prosperity of the wicked, but has positively shown us that a life of tribulation for Jesus sake is the proper passport to heaven. Nothing can be so glorious as the scenes which the Gospel has opened to our faith; but nothing so solemn as those through which we must pass to reach them. We are, in this life, in a state of dangerous apostasy from God: and the glare of prosperity is a light but very ill suited for us to behold. The sufferings of our Lord are held out to our view, that, looking unto Jesus, who left us an example, that we should follow His steps, we might take up our cross to do it. Why, then, do you ask, does the way of the wicked prosper? Why, rather ought ye to ask, should the believer in Christ repine at it? Why should he sigh for a state the very opposite to that in which His Saviour walked, and, if gained by sin, gained by means which brought that Saviour to the Cross, and would now open His wounds afresh?
III. Another argument which I would use, to check repining at the outward prosperity of sin, is, that it is, at best, extremely overrated, and its nature very ill understood. It is by no means true that prosperity is confined to the treacherous dealer and the wicked. God has indeed told us, that, to enter into His kingdom, we must meet with opposition, wrestle with contending evils, and pass the time of our sojourning here in fear. But the path, even to temporal blessings, is open to the believer in Christ, though He commands us not to make them the object of our ambition, nor expect them as the consequences of our faith. But, even were this not so, were prosperity confined to sin alone, we surely mistake its nature if its attractions dazzle us, and think but imperfectly of God if we mistrust His goodness. He has not so balanced the good and evil, of this life as to make every attraction and every joy lie on the side of sin. There is no peace to the wicked. They may live in affluence,--but it is not peace. They may live in indolence,--but it is not peace. They may live in thoughtlessness,--but it is not peace. It is not that peace which a God of everlasting mercy can bestow, of which the soul of man, that was made for God, is capable, and for which it unceasingly longs. In talking of that peace of God, we talk of what it is impossible for those who have not experienced it to conceive.
IV. But the comprehensive argument, which closes at once all discussion and all doubts, is the disclosure and adjustment of all the ways of God in the great day of general retribution. If there be a subject of contemplation sublimer than another, or completely interesting to the soul of reasonable man, it is surely the thought of being led hereafter to behold all the glorious works of the great and eternal God:--to see how, through all the amazing vicissitudes of time, He has conducted the affairs of worlds on worlds; and kept distinct, through all the crossings and confusions of myriads of foes, the strait and narrow path to heaven:--how from the jarring elements He reared the goodly frame of nature, and settled it in peace; and, uniting the still more jarring passions and infidel contentions of mankind, made all conspire to His eternal glory, and cooperate for the universal good! (G. Mathew, M. A.)
The Biblical Illustrator, edited by Joseph S. Exell (c. 1880s–1900s) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Preacher's Complete Homiletical Commentary 1892 · Public Domain CRITICAL AND EXEGETICAL NOTES.—1. Chronology of the chapter. See…
CRITICAL AND EXEGETICAL NOTES.—1. Chronology of the chapter. See on chap. 11, Bleek’s theory; for which there is a weight of argument. All commentators agree to connect Jer_12:1-6 with the conclusion of the previous chapter. The following Jer_12:7-17, fall into two strophes, 7–13, and 14–17. Hitzig and Graf regard Jer_12:7-13 as a lament over Judah’s devastation consequent upon Jehoiakim’s defection from Nebuchadnezzar in the eighth year of his reign. And Eichborn, Dahler, and others hold section 14–17 to be a distinct oracle, belonging to the time of Zedekiah, or to the seventh or eighth year of Jehoiakim (cf. Keil). The “evil neighbours” mentioned in Jer_12:14 are taken by many to be hordes of Syrians, Moabites, Ammonites, Idumeans, and Philistines, by which the land was overrun, and who, in their alliance to Chaldean supremacy, undertook a war of spoliation against insurgent Judah in eighth year of Jehoiakim. Dr. Payne Smith and Keil preserve the chronological unity of the entire chapter, and contend that Jer_12:7-17 contain Jehovah’s answer to Jeremiah’s complaint, 1–6. 2. Cotemporary Scriptures. 3. National Affaire. 4. Cotemporary History: as in notes on chap. 11. See above, on “evil neighbours.”
5. Geographical References.—Jer_12:5. “Swelling of Jordan:” lit. the pride of Jordan. Ewald, Umbreit, and A.V. interpret it as the rise and overflow of the river; but Keil, Payne Smith, and Hend. as “the luxuriant thickets along its banks.” The river did overflow its lower banks in April and May, and fill the Ghor valley: this resulted from the melting of the winter’s snow on Hermon and Lebanon. The expression is not inappropriate to such an inundation (cf. Job_38:11); but, as nothing is known of dangerous overflows of the river, the comparison of the text, implying serious peril, is void of force or significance. On the other hand, taking the reference to the marshy banks, overgrown with shrubs, trees, and reeds, which were the natural haunts of lions, the comparison is most striking. Just as in the reedy thickets of the Euphrates lions hid themselves, so in the rank vegetation which abounded on the banks of Jordan, especially between the Sea of Tiberias and the Lake Merom, affording shelter for wild boars, tigers, bears, and lions. Maundrell says the banks are in some parts so wooded that the traveller cannot see the river at all until he has fought his way through the tangled and lofty growths. How would the prophet do in the wooded haunts of wild beasts! Jer_12:14. “Evil neighbours:” in 2Ki_24:2, are mentioned the Syrians, Moabites, and Ammonites; and in Psalms 137 the Edomites also. The Idumeans and Philistines likewise joined themselves to the Chaldean power; and all these nations, being in the vicinity of the Jews, made use of their opportunity for molesting Judah.
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6. Natural History.—Jer_12:9. “Speckled bird:” the interpretation of הַעַיִט צָבוּעַ is disputed. Gesenius and the LXX. render it hyæna; thus “a ravenous beast, the hyæna.” But עַיִט always elsewhere means bird of prey (cf. Isa_46:11; Isa_18:6, &c.). The word צָבוּעַ as an adjective is naturally derived from צָבַע, to tinge or dye. By this parti-coloured or speckled bird is probably meant a vulture. It is a familiar fact in natural history that birds, and especially birds of prey, will unite in attacking an intruder whose appearance is distinctive and peculiar. But birds of prey are not known thus to attack hyænas. Jer_12:12. “High places through the wilderness” (see notes on chap. Jer_3:2), i.e., “the bare-topped hills of the desert.” מִדְבָּר, is the name for such parts of the country as were suited only for rearing and pasturing cattle, like the so-called wilderness of Judah to the west of the Dead Sea” (Keil).
7. Literary Criticisms.—Jer_12:1. “Let me talk with Thee of judgments:” rather, Yet will I speak with Thee on a matter of right.—(Speaker’s Com.). “Wherefore are all they happy that deal very treacherously!” Rather, secure, tranquil, at ease; who “deal faithlessly” (Keil); “practise knavery” (Lange); “prevaricate prevarications” (Septuagint)—which is truer to the Heb. בֹּגְדֵי בֶגֶד. Jer_12:3. “Pull them out like sheep.” נָתַק, to tear, pull away with violence: although, in Jdg_20:32, the gentler significance of to draw or lead is given. Properly the word implies force and violence. Jer_12:4. “He shall not see our last end;” the LXX. refer the seeing to God, thus: οὐκ ὄψεται ὁ θεὸς ὁδοὺς ἡμῶν; and Rosen., Ewald, and others interpret the meaning as, God will pay no heed to our fate, so that we may act as we choose unpunished! Graf refers “he shall not see” to Jeremiah; because “they” (the wicked, Jer_12:1) intended to destroy him (Hitzig); or because his threatenings against us will not come to pass (Kail). Henderson takes the word as impersonal, and renders them, “no one shall see our end;” i.e., it shall not be realised, we shall not be destroyed. Jer_12:5. “Contend with horses:” from the root חָרָה, to burn; Hith., to be eager, be hot. The Vulgate has given “contend.” Jer_12:6. “They have called a multitude after thee:” מָלֵא (here rendered “multitude”) has been given as “in a troop,” “in a mass,” “with a full voice:” the last is most correct (as in Jer_4:5; see notes); loudly, lustily, vehemently: as being an adverb. “After thee:” i.e., behind thee. The sentence suggests that they would follow the prophet with a clamorous hue and cry. Jer_12:9. “Come to devour:” i.e., Cause them to come, bring them. Jer_12:11. “They have made it desolate:” the Heb. word is impersonal: One has set it for a desolation; or set it is an utter desolation. Jer_12:14. “That touch the inheritance:” נָגַע, to touch an enemy, to attack (cf. Zec_2:12). “I will pluck them out, … and pluck out the house of Judah:” a promise of two removals; the heathen from the land of Canaan, and the Jews from the land of the heathen.
HOMILIES ON SECTIONS OF CHAPTER 12
Section
Jer_12:1-6.
Complaint that treachery prospers; admonitory warnings given.
Section
Jer_12:7-13.
God’s faithless people abandoned to desolation.
Section
Jer_12:14-17.
Penalty for oppressors, mercy for penitents.
Jer_12:1-6. COMPLAINT THAT TREACHERY PROSPERS; ADMONITORY WARNINGS GIVEN
Affairs seemed to Jeremiah all discordant with God’s righteousness: he must plead with Him respecting them. He speaks to God humbly yet honestly about the difficulty he finds in interpreting God’s ways with men; letting the treacherous prosper, allowing the godly to suffer. Learn how to go “boldly to the throne of grace:” take all burdens, and open all our thoughts fully to God: “casting all our cares upon Him.”
I. A bewildered soul making complaint of wrong. For it seemed wrong to the prophet. 1. Impiety enjoyed every luxury and advantage: “the wicked prosper;” the treacherous are “happy” or at ease (Jer_12:1). 2. God Himself appeared to favour them. That was the blinding mystery: “Thou hast planted them;” and they continue to “grow” and “bring forth fruit” (Jer_12:2), as if God would allow nothing to harm them. It would have been different had there been no God to execute justice and judgment in the earth. 3. Hypocrisy was employed as a disguise. God was “near in their mouth, but far from their reins;” yet surely the All-seeing One could detect the blasphemous fraud; He would not be deceived, and reward this religious pretence with prosperity as if it were sincere! 4. Godliness seemed left unvindicated. Jeremiah could not attempt to exalt his own loyalty to God and love of truth against this prevalent hypocrisy; yet “Thou, O Lord, knowest me,” &c. (Jer_12:3.) Nevertheless, while God appeared to favour the wicked, he, His servant, was left to suffer! 5. Indignation against transgressors utters itself. “Pull them out like sheep,” &c. (Jer_12:3): the prophet’s incensed soul rises into impatience, he adventures to appeal to Jehovah as to what should be done to them. This seems daring, but observe that: 6. Holy patriotism impelled his remonstrance with God. “How long shall the land mourn?” &c. (Jer_12:4): the “wickedness” of these men was working havoc and ruin on his loved country; and while they revelled in iniquity they arrogated to themselves safety—“He shall not see our last end” (see Literary Criticism on words). All this “vexed his righteous soul.”
II. A wearied sufferer admonished of heavier trials. No word of comfort or explanation from God in return to this complaint: only prophecy of greater ills. It indicates: 1. That evil must be allowed to reach maturity ere God will interpose. These men would go on “from iniquity unto iniquity.” They may enjoy immunity for awhile, but their measure is being filled up. Malignity against God’s prophet was reaching more and more to the very heart of the nation (Jer_12:6); then no word from God through him would receive the faintest regard; not a willing listener would be left: God held back the vindication of His prophet, and His own righteousness, till the last hour of hope had been abused.
2. God’s witnesses must not expect immunity from hardships. Fidelity entails hostility. In every calling it is so. The more virulent the evil around, the more fidelity is needed, yet the more will the faithful have to endure. Jeremiah’s trials would enlarge (Jer_12:5), for the people’s wickedness was becoming more daring (Jer_12:6). We must expect the penalties of godliness, must not shrink from ordeals. “Endure hardness as good soldiers of Jesus Christ.”
3. Darker days are foretold so that preparation may be sought. That is the lesson of Jer_12:5. The evils from which you suffer, and of which you now complain, will grow more appalling: “how wilt thou do?” Is there in you a timid heart, a shrinking from the stern experiences incident to your holy work? More need of grasping God firmly, trusting Him implicitly, leaving all issues with Him, and drawing from Him “strength to be made perfect in your weakness.” “We may boldly say, The Lord is my helper, I will not fear what man shall do unto me.”
Jer_12:7-13. GOD’S FAITHLESS PEOPLE ABANDONED TO DESOLATION
Note here, that Jeremiah had complained to God of having suffered from the hostility of his people and even his own family: now, in turn, Jehovah tells His prophet that the nation had turned upon Him with an appalling malignity, as a “lion roaring against Him” (Jer_12:8). God had suffered more griefs and wrongs from His people than had Jeremiah. The enmity showed by his “house” (Jer_12:6) to Jeremiah was only a symbol of the enmity of God’s “house” (Jer_12:7) to Him. The sore penalty is, “I have given over the dearly beloved of my soul to her enemies.”
I. The downfall of the nation was occasioned by no want of love on God’s part for Judah. He may cherish a people still, may “love the world,” may yearn towards the sinner, and yet God’s love may not avail to shield the wicked from the consequences of guilt. Right cannot abdicate even to Love.
II. The abandonment of Judah to her foes was necessitated by her having become herself God’s foe. Though He loved her, she set herself against Him as a roaring lion (Jer_12:8). One whom God loves may therefore unite with God’s enemies: 1. In the attitude of defiance; 2. In the experience of God’s displeasure (Jer_12:8).
III. The penalties of Divine abandonment are utterly desolating. As God’s favour is life, so is His hatred death: Jerusalem’s punishment must be severe as if inflicted by one who held her in abhorrence. 1. Having ranked herself with God’s foes, she is given over to her enemies (Jer_12:7; Jer_12:9). 2. Having repudiated God’s minister (Jeremiah), alien “pastors” are called upon the sacred land (Jer_12:10). 3. Desolation without pity (Jer_12:11), and devastation without restraint (Jer_12:12), would ensue. 5. “The fierce anger of the Lord” would reduce the people to dismay and shame: their crops a failure; their defences against a siege, which had cost them “pain” to contrive, would prove profitless; and their “revenues” in which they relied would purchase them no protection from the devouring “sword of the Lord.”
Jer_12:14-17. PENALTY FOR OPPRESSORS, MERCY FOR PENITENTS
“The spoilers of the Lord’s heritage are also to be carried off out of their land: but after they, like Judah, have been punished, the Lord will have pity on them, and will bring them back one and all into their own land. And if the heathen, who now seduce the people of God to idolatry, learn the ways of God’s people and be converted to the Lord, they shall receive citizenship amongst God’s people, and be built up amongst them; but if they will not do so, they shall be extirpated. Thus will the Lord manifest Himself before the whole earth as righteous Judge, and through judgment secure the weal not only of Israel, but of the heathen peoples too.”—Keil.
Here is a message of mercy blended with judgment to the nations bordering upon the land of Judah, who had been, or would be, injurious to the peace of God’s people. Obs.
I. To touch with unhallowed hand the heritage of God’s people is criminal (Jer_12:14). 1. The godly are often closely pressed by ungodly neighbours. 2. God permits those whom we copy in wrong-doing to become our oppressors. 3. Yet He watches jealously over the possessions as well as the persons of His people. 4. And will hold them guilty of sacrilege who touch Israel’s inheritance. 5. Their oppression shall return in kind upon themselves: “I will pluck them out of their land.”
II. The compassion of Jehovah embraces peoples outside of His covenant (Jer_12:15). God has uncovenanted mercies to bestow, even on such as (1) had wronged His people—compare Saul of Tarsus; (2) had incurred Israel’s hate, as these “evil neighbours” did: yet God is not implacable even to the enemies of His people (Col_1:21). 1. God’s judgments are ever tempered and followed by compassion. 2. His graciousness to wrong-doers designs to restore to them all which their sinfulness forfeited. 3. The godly should cherish a comprehensive charity as wide as God’s compassion.
III. Preparation for the experience of Divine mercy is essential. 1. God discriminates and selects the objects of His compassion: not extended to all regardless of their state and conduct. 2. The sinner must make earnest efforts if he would avert judgment and inherit the mercy (Jer_12:16). 3. With what sacred favours God crowns the life that allies itself to Him: though “not of Israel,” united to Israel, “built in the midst of My people.” 4. But the rebellious shall receive judgment without alleviation (Jer_12:17). True equally for nations, families, individuals: grace is offered; abuse it, and only severity can ensue.
HOMILIES AND COMMENTS ON VERSES OF CHAPTER 12
Jer_12:1. Theme: GOD’S RIGHTEOUSNESS: ITS BAFFLING ANOMALIES.
This is the objection which unbelievers urge against Providence in all ages, and the difficulty which the godly often feel. Since the Mosaic covenant recognised the administrations of righteousness in this life, many Old Testament saints stumbled before the mysteries (cf. Job_12:6; Job_21:7; Psa_37:1; Psa_37:35; Psa_73:3; Mal_3:15).
I. The broad operations of Divine righteousness trustfully acknowledged. “Righteous art Thou, O Lord.” A firm conviction of the rectitude of God’s character; ergo, of His proceedings, despite anomalies. It is well that we get on to this broad rock when perplexities, like riotous waves around, make us afraid, and the spray blinds our eyes. When hard thoughts of God’s providence trouble us, rise up to this wide truth—He is righteous. To concentrate our thoughts on a narrow line of vision may mislead us: look over the ages, the course of human history, the laws which assert themselves in man’s experience, the Divine rule over the world, the vindication of His righteousness on Calvary, the witness of a righteous God in every conscience; and this broad view compels the acknowledgment.
II. The particular administrations of Divine righteousness anxiously questioned. “Wherefore doth the way of the wicked prosper,” &c. The worldly comfort and success of these Anathoth conspirators seemed to confute God’s righteousness. (See on Section of chapters, supra.) “It is a common grievance to live and experience that the ungodly are prosperous and the godly are unfortunate” (Cramer). “A difficulty to many wise and good men; they see the designs and projects of wicked people successful, their affairs and concerns prosper. Hypocrites are chiefly meant (as appears, Jer_12:2), who dissemble in their good professions” (Henry). These “dealt treacherously” not only with God’s servant, but with Jehovah Himself. Yet they were prosperous and happy. E.g., Dionysius is reported to have said that God favoured the sacrilegious; for he had sailed in safety after having plundered temples and perpetrated robberies. Wrong-doers seem “in their lifetime to receive their good things.” Sin looks the grand success.
III. A fuller acquaintance with the secrets of God’s righteousness solemnly entreated. He would “plead with God and talk with Him of judgments;” i.e., reason the case, inquire into the causes why the wicked are allowed to succeed, or ask for a clearer vision of the hidden workings of God’s providence, to “see the end of the Lord.” We have faulty sight; our gaze is clouded, partial, dim; we have limited sight; our eye does not travel far enough; we cannot see afar off along the years; we look at the near, at the present moment. Watch, wait: God is working out of our sight; His plans take in a longer time than our impatience reckons.
“Can we conceive anything more humane and gracious than our dear Lord? We know beforehand that we are wrong; we do not doubt that He does all well, yet it oppresses us. Straight to our Lord, the eternal and living God, with all our ill-humour, doubt, care, scruples! Pour out your heart before Him.”—Zinzendorf.
God allows our expostulations, indeed, welcomes us to such pleading; and the soul who “talks with” God of the perplexities and difficulties which beset him, will find that “light is sown for the righteous,” and that—
“God is His own interpreter,
And He will make it plain.”
Jer_12:3. Theme: A RIGHTEOUS SOUL PLEADING WITH THE RIGHTEOUS GOD
I. Value of conscious integrity. It enables the soul to go before the Lord unabashed, boldly, with filial trust, assured of acceptance.
II. Appeal to Divine omniscience. The “pure in heart” shrink not from the searching light of God’s eye. A joy to the sincere that the All-seeing knows his whole life and inmost thoughts.
III. Consolations of holy innocence. It flings off slander, is a shield from conspirators, sustains the soul in persecution, and gives inward comfort amid surrounding strife.
IV. Indignation against malevolent wrong-doers. They seemed to hinder and refute God’s providential righteousness, and to cast discredit upon His wise and beneficent rule. Let them “reap what they have sown,” and thus witness to God’s antipathy towards sin and His friendship towards innocence. A sufferer at the hands of sinners can lawfully entertain such feelings; yet the Gospel attitude towards persecutors is—“Pray for (not against) them that despitefully use you,” and leave God in His own way to vindicate His righteous providence, and show His approval of His loyal servants.
Jer_12:4. Theme: DISASTERS CONSEQUENT UPON SIN.
“The land mourned,” indicating general misery; probably a drought (see Jer_14:2, &c.). The cause of this was “wickedness,” i.e., wrong-doing, oppression, rapine, violation of the rights of property and sanctities of home; criminal doings which carried dismay and sorrow everywhere. “The wicked were in great power.”
I. What miseries sinners inflict on society. They can make a whole “land mourn.” Think of the devastations wrought by habitual intemperance, reckless speculations in commerce, circulation of obscene literature, profanation of religion, virulent assaults on faith, allurements of the young to evil courses of life, &c. Homes are invaded with evils worse than bereavement; society is infested with moral plagues which destroy virtue and honour and reciprocal faith; churches are robbed of the hopeful seekers after God. Sinners are cruel destroyers; they ruin not themselves alone.
II. What outrages sinners commit against Divine law. “Wickedness” interrupts the beneficent action of the ordained laws of Heaven. Personal happiness and social prosperity are the natural issues of God’s laws. “Wickedness” outrages those laws, works against them, breaks down the banks of flowing, fertilising rivers, and lets in a destructive inundation. Jeremiah recognised that this “wickedness” was an offence to God, as being a defiance of His kindly laws, as well as an outrage on society. Nations and societies and individuals secure their weal by respecting the right and obeying the will of God. Miseries—as now in Judah’s experience—follow upon the violation of God’s laws, which are ordained for human good.
III. What delusions sinners practise upon themselves. “They said. He shall not see our last end” (comp. Lit. Crit. on words). 1. God will not see, &c.: that affirms the theory that Jehovah does not notice and punish human sin. 2. Jeremiah will not see, &c.: the prophet’s threatenings are vapid and untrue; punishment will not follow upon our wickedness. 3. No one shall see (impersonal): our safety is in no wise imperilled by our sins; man’s conduct does not affect God, provokes no retributive Providence, nor influences human experience and destiny, so we need not be apprehensive of ill. And thus, in every age, self-beguiled sinners say, “Peace, peace, whereas sudden destruction cometh upon them.”
Note, that there is a “last end” to the career of “wickedness.”
Jer_12:5. Theme: THE BACKWARD GLANCE OF SORROW, AND THE FORWARD GLANCE OF FEAR. “If those hast run with the footmen and they wearied thee, how canst thou contend with horses? and if in land of peace, &c., how in swellings of Jordan?”
A contrast instituted between a state of comparative quiet and peace and one of great commotion and trouble; and from the remembrance of the prophet’s weariness amid auspicious circumstances, the inquiry arises as to results likely to follow when all is adverse and perilous. Applies to all who have found themselves weak in lesser trials, yet before whom rises the prospect of greater.
I. Sad recollections.
A review of the past with its humbling memories. 1. Weariness was experienced when conflicting difficulties were insignificant. Merely “running with footmen,” with whom our own strength and perseverance might forsooth be matched. 2. Weariness was felt when external circumstances were favourable. “In the land of peace they wearied thee.” Amid even life’s comforts experienced “vexation of spirit.” Even in youth “fainted and grew weary, and young men utterly fell.”
II. Anxious forebodings.
A glance at the future with painful misgivings. 1. Trials would be more overwhelming with circumstances less propitious. “Horses;” “swellings of Jordan.” Larger and more ominous. When storms lower, afflictions come, friends are gone, age upon us, death lays hand upon our heart, eternity looms before our gaze, with God and judgment-seat.—“How will thou do?”
2. This severer ordeal may come at a time when least expected. As came the inroads of the Chaldean army: cavalry “horses,” the “swelling,” or pride, perhaps the lions of Jordan. Heavy troubles, dreadful losses, desolating bereavements, the event of death—who can anticipate them?
III. Refuge desirable.
The need of a Helper suggested by the prospect. For the prophet would be unequal to the emergency. He would want God, His presence, succour, and hiding. So shall we, or how shall we do? Seek Him as
1. A Refuge suited to every emergency; whether “contending with horses,” or “in the swellings of Jordan.”
2. A Refuge accessible in every extremity.
Having Him, we can say: “I am persuaded that neither death nor life, &c., can separate me from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.”
Theme: THE SWELLINGS OF JORDAN.
Jeremiah had become impatient with his troubles. God says to him: “If you cannot stand these small trials and persecutions, what are you going to do when the greater come?” In a very practical way, ask
I. If it is such a difficult thing to get along without the religion of Jesus Christ when things are comparatively smooth, what shall we do amid the overpowering misfortunes and disasters of life that may come upon us?
If troubles, slow as footmen, surpass us, what do when they take the feet of horses? If now submerged with sorrows because we have not the religion of Jesus to comfort us, what do we when stand in death? A sad thing to see men, all unhelped by God, going out to fight the giants of trouble, no promise of mercy to soothe the soul, no rock of refuge in which to hide. How compete when the swift coursers of trouble come up for the race?
We have all yielded to temptation; been surprised afterwards that so small an inducement could have decoyed us from the right. But, if overthrown by small sins through lack of the religion of Jesus, how can we stand up against great ones?
II. The great tides of eternity will rise about us, and amid the swellings of Jordan we must all quit this life.
Our natural courage will not hold out then. The first dash of Jordan’s waves will swamp all natural resources for ever. We feel how sad it is for a man to attempt this life without religion; but how will he feel when the shadows of the last hour gather about his pillow? If the religion of Christ is so important for us amid life’s troubles and temptations, and in the hour of death, how much more important in the great eternity! You will want Christ. When the world is going away from your grasp, and all the lights that shine about you are going out, and friends around you can do you no good, and you feel your feet slipping from beneath you,—then you will want Jesus to stand close by you, and hold you up amid “the swellings of Jordan.”—De Witt Talmage.
Theme: THE CHRISTIAN’S TRIUMPH
One who had fought many battles, and seldom, if ever, lost any, was asked to what he attributed his remarkable success. He replied, “I owe it, under God, to this, that I made it a rule never to despise an enemy.” To what warfare is this so applicable as to the Christian’s? Those conflicts were best maintained which we counted most hazardous. Estimate your foes: “If run with footmen and wearied, how contend with horses?” The difficulty implied by this proverb appears in this—
I. That man is less a match for Satan now than when Satan, at their first encounter, proved himself more than a match for man.
Defeated in Eden, where can man now hope for success? Overcome in our state of innocence, what triumph can we effect in our state of guilt? None apart from Christ.
II. If we were overcome by sin ere it had grown into strength, we are now less able to resist it.
If we could not turn the stream near its mountain-cradle, how shall we turn the river that pours its flood into the sea? Sin gains power by time and habit. Some things weaken and wear away by use, but not the power of sin. All sinners, as well as “seducers, wax worse and worse.” Overcome by sin when it was weak, how hope to resist it when strong? By His grace alone, with whom nothing is impossible: “I can do all things through Christ who strengtheneth me.” Thus can “they that are accustomed to do evil learn to do well.”
II. How these contending forces are to be overcome.
Renew the combat, never surrender: “Hope in God.” Recall how Peter, “wearied by the footmen,” nobly and successfully “contended with horses”—a coward before the maid in the judgment-hall, yet bold before the judges, declaring he would not keep silence, but would “obey God rather than man.” God makes good His promises—“My grace is sufficient for thee;” “one man shall chase a thousand;” “he that is feeble among them shall be as David, and David shall be as God.” With His presence we may contend with greatest difficulties; and, clinging to Jesus, may go down undaunted even into “the swellings of Jordan.”—“Way to Life,” Thomas Guthrie, DD.
Note: “The argument is a fortiori. A proverbial phrase. The injuries done thee by the men of Anathoth (‘footmen’) are small compared with those which the men of Jerusalem (‘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? If in the campaign country alone thou art secure, how wilt thou do when thou fallest into the wooded haunts of wild beasts?”—Critical Bible.
i. While we are in this world we must expect troubles and difficulties.
ii. God’s usual method being to begin with smaller trials, it is our wisdom to expect greater than any we have yet met with.
iii. It highly concerns us to prepare for such trials, and to consider what we should do in them.
iv. In order to our preparation for further and greater trials, we are concerned to approve ourselves well in present smaller trials, to keep hold on the promise, keep in our way, and, with our eye on the prize, so run that we may obtain.—Henry.
Jer_12:6. Theme: TREACHERY CROUCHING BEHIND FAIR WORDS. In the perilous times nearing, Jeremiah’s own relatives would raise the hue and cry after him, or seek by “fair words” to allure him from his mission.
I. Godliness may estrange family relationships. “Even thy brethren, &c., dealt treacherously.”
II. Guilesome words will assay to decoy the faithful from his fidelity. “Speak fair words unto thee.”
III. Insidious speech from the ungodly is not to be believed. It is like the serpent’s voice to Eve. “Believe them not!”
IV. Refusal to heed guilesome words will provoke abusive raillery. “Cried loudly after thee.” (See Lit. Crit. on words.)
V. Treachery will attack the godly from most covert scenes. In the very “house of thy father,” and from thine own “brethren.”
VI. Ceaseless watchfulness and unswerving constancy must be maintained. “Watch and pray, lest ye enter into temptation.” Pause not to heed any “fair words,” even when loved ones of the home softly and gently “speak” them: heed God alone. “He that loveth father, mother, brethren, &c., more than Me, is not worthy of Me.” “A man’s foes shall be they of his own household.”
Note: “Even thy brethren.” Abel was slain by his own brother; Paul suffered most from his own countrymen; Christ found no little depreciation at the hands of those near akin.
“They have called a multitude after thee.” Trapp comments, “Or with full mouth—Clamant post te pleno gutture—as those did against Christ who cried, ‘Crucify Him, crucify Him;’ and those against Paul, ‘Away with such fellows from the earth;’ and those against the primitive Christians, ‘Christianos ad leones.’ ‘In Rhodanum, in Rhodanum,’ cried many at Geneva against Farellus, their faithful preacher, ‘Into the river with him;’ but God preserved him from their fury, for the good of many other cities after that converted by him.
Jer_12:7. Theme: CHERISHED TREASURES CONSIGNED TO FOES.
God seems here to use most endearing terms in order to mark the dreadful desolation about to overtake Judah. This heartless people boasted in the thought that they were God’s “heritage,” His “dearly beloved;” yet, instead of valuing their high estate in grace, they presumed upon it, trifled with it, and even set themselves lion-like (Jer_12:8) against their benignant spiritual Benefactor. And their lofty distinction as a people, which should have prompted them to proportionate jealousy to remain worthy of it and act in harmony therewith, led to spiritual pride and national degeneracy. Observe:
I. How God lingers fondly over the objects of His gracious regard. As if reluctant to think other than loving thoughts of them: enumerates all that was attractive, “house, heritage, beloved of My soul,” as if He would keep the good and beautiful in His sight, and thereby hide from Himself the loathsome.
“House” may mean Temple; “heritage,” the goodly land; “beloved,” the people whom God had chosen and cherished. Note how He—
1. Asserts His claim.” Mine house, mine heritage,” &c.
2. Reveals His love. Language instinct with affection: “The dearly beloved of My soul.”
“Loved us not with standing all.”
3. Laments His loss. Theirs would be the greater loss far; God alienated, themselves expatriated from their country, &c.; yet God grieves to lose His children: “How can I give thee up?”
II. How God necessarily withdraws from those who violate their sacred relationship.
1. He is not first, but last in alienating Himself. “Slow to anger, and of great kindness.” Separation between humanity and Jehovah began with humanity: Adam’s sin. Separation between the individual and God begins with the individual:
“Heaven lies about us in our infancy;”
but wickedness banishes God as the life advances. Separation between the heart and God begins with the heart; doubts and hard thoughts admitted, or “iniquity is regarded in the heart,” and hence the withdrawal of God. “Your sins have hid His face from you,” &c. (Isa_59:2).
2. He cannot perpetuate a violated relationship. It would be unrighteous in itself, and injurious in its results.
3. He wholly abandons the faithless. “I have given—into the hand of her enemies.” For there is no other alternative; either in God’s love, or in the grasp of foes.
III. How God permits those who revolt from Him to suffer appropriate penalties. The correlate fact to “I have forsaken,” is that Judah should be “in the hand of her enemies,” It was only by Jehovah keeping near that enemies were kept afar.
1. They forfeit His providential protection.
2. Enemies are alert to seize as prey those whom God does not defend and befriend.
3. Their own resources of security and strength are futile.
4. A melancholy reversion of their former estate of privilege. “The dearly beloved” of God in her enemies’ hand! Such repudiation of God’s love has but one alternative: “delivered over to Satan,” consigned to the foe of God and man.
Another outline:
I. Pre-eminent spiritual distinction. Raised into highest privilege, honour, and blessedness.
II. False grounds of assurance. Presumed upon her advantages, and violated the conditions of retaining them.
III. Glaring abuse of Divine grace. Her enjoyment of God’s tender love makes her faithlessness the more criminal and abominable.
IV. Merited retribution. The “dearly beloved” given over to those who hated her, “her enemies.” Even worse: the loving Jehovah Himself came to “hate His once cherished” “heritage” (Jer_12:8).
How repugnant is sin to God! What dire results ensue to determined and defiant wrong-doers! The brighter the light, the blacker the darkness of its shadows; so the more “dearly beloved,” the more terrible, the “outer darkness” of being “hated” by the Lord!
Starke comments: The heart of a believer is God’s most cherished abode, but if man corrupt it with wilful sin, God must forsake His house (Isa_59:2).
Comments:
Jer_12:8. “Mine heritage it unto me as a lion in the forest.” One’s heritage and patrimony is, we know, his delight. God shows that He was in His own heritage as though He was in a vast and wild forest, and the fields which ought to have been His delight were become places of the greatest horror, as though a lion were roaring and raging.—Calvin.
Judah has not merely refused obedience, but shown itself intractable and fierce like an untamed lion. It has roared against God with open blasphemy.—Speaker’s Com.
The reason why Jehovah gives up His people for a prey—it has behaved to God like a lion, i.e., has opposed Him fiercely like a furious beast. Therefore He must withdraw His love.—Keil.
Jer_12:9. The form of the verse is interrogative: Is My heritage unto Me as a speckled bird? Are birds of prey round about her? As around a strange bird—probably here a vulture—other carrion birds collect and cruelly abuse it, so would Judah’s foes surround and destroy her; for God summons also “all the beasts of the field” to “devour” her.
Jer_12:10-13. Theme: COMPLETE DEVASTATION OF THE LAND.
God speaks of this utter desolation of the land by the Chaldean army as a thing done; so near, so sure was it.
i. See with what a tender affection He speaks of this land, notwithstanding the sinfulness of it, in remembrance of His covenant, and the tribute of honour and glory He had formerly had from it. It is “My vineyard, My portion, My pleasant portion” (Jer_12:10). Note, God has a kindness and concern for His Church, though there be much amiss in it.
ii. See with what a tender compassion He speaks of the desolations of this land. “Many pastors have destroyed My vineyard,” without any consideration either of the value of it or of My interest in it; they have with greatest insolence and indignation “trodden it under foot,” and that which was a pleasant land they have made “a desolate wilderness.” The destruction was universal: “the whole land is made desolate” (Jer_12:11). It is made so by the sword of war; “the spoilers,” the Chaldean soldiers, “have come through the plain upon all high places” (Jer_12:12), made themselves masters of all the natural fastnesses and artificial fortresses. “No flesh shall have peace;” all have corrupted their way—none shall have peace.
iii. See whence all this misery comes. 1. From the displeasure of God: it is “the sword of the Lord that devours” (Jer_12:12). It was the “fierce anger of the Lord” (Jer_12:13), which kindled this fire among them, and made their enemies so furious. 2. It is their sin that has made God their enemy. Though the land “mourneth unto Me,” pouring out its complaint over desolation before God, the inhabitants are so senseless and stupid that “none of them lays it to heart,” unaffected by God’s displeasure, while the very ground they go upon shames them.
iv. See how unable they shall be to guard against it (Jer_12:13). “They have sown wheat,” i.e., have taken pains for their own security, but “shall reap thorns,” what shall prove grievous and vexatious to them. Instead of helping themselves, they shall but make themselves more uneasy. “Ashamed of your revenues,” that they have depended so much upon their preparations for war; and their silver and gold shall “not profit” them in the day of the Lord’s anger.—Henry.
Jer_12:11. Theme: UNPITIED MISERY. “The whole land is made desolate, because no man layeth it to heart.”
Applicable to any scene where evil thrives, where ruin goes on unchecked, where ignorance, sin, and oppression work human wretchedness and overthrow.
Applicable to any special national vice: intemperance, poisonous literature, polluted pleasure; by which homes are wrecked, youth betrayed, the country weakened, wasted, or degraded.
Applicable to the scenes of heathenism, where benighted souls droop, where “the habitations of cruelty” rear themselves, where outrages on homes and conscience and life are enacted in the name of idolatry.
I. National woes should move us to patriotic sorrow. We ought to “lay it to heart” when our “land mourneth.”
1. As being ourselves a part of the nation;” identified with it, therefore, in quick sympathy with what happens to it, feeling its sorrows and wrongs to be our own. “If one member suffers, all the members suffer with it.”
2. As being intrusted with responsibilities toward our nation. We each share the benefits of the commonwealth, its laws, its protection, its commercial and social security, &c., therefore, we should to our ability protect its interests, rectify its wrongs, take part in its struggles, enter deeply into its great woes and wants.
3. As being solicitous for our nation’s weal. Fired with the patriotic spirit, glowing with a sense of power to help and alleviate and bless; realising the service we can render to men and to God in a life of wise and benevolent enterprise, however lowly and obscure, or however public and imposing. What can be done for my people’s good?
II. Torpid indifference surrenders a land to spoilers. These “spoilers” were intent on their end (Jer_12:12); they would capture and desolate the land. Spoilers are still active and plotting, seeking the young, the gay, the ambitious, the intellectually vain, aiming at their moral, social, mental, and spiritual overthrow.
1. Indifference as to the menacing evils which were gathering. No foresight, no apprehension. Some sleep unsuspecting till the enemy is at the gate. “We are not ignorant of his devices.” “Watch and pray that ye enter not into temptation.”
2. Indifference as to the real cause of prevailing misery—irreligion. Many seek to remedy ills without recognising the spring and source. Neglect of God explains human woe. But, ignoring the fact that impiety is at the root, they bring superficial ameliorations.
3. Indifference as to the Divinely-sent calls to reform. God appealed by His prophet to the nation to turn again to Him. Had they complied, the desolation would have been averted; but they cared not to hear the sacred message. So still the people sink into the power of sin, pleasure, worldliness, atheism, which bring desolations, because they despite God’s messages, repudiate the Gospel of Christ, turn from the only Saviour of sinners, whose healing grace remedies human woes, and rectifies all the desolations sin has wrought.
III. Scenes of desolation summon us to holy endeavour. “Lay it to heart,” not as an idle sentiment, but an inspiration to help.
1. Christianity commissions its followers to helpful work. It is the meaning of the Saviour’s own example: “Seek and save that which is lost.” It is the teaching of the New Testament: “Go and do likewise,” i.e., as did the good Samaritan to the man who had fallen among thieves, find your neighbour in the first sufferer you meet. Christianity makes missionaries, philanthropists, patriots of its disciples.
2. Where the spoiler has desolated, there the Christian must go. With a heart pitying the fallen, the perishing, and the blighted. “Into all the world.” “To the help of the Lord against the mighty.”
Jer_12:14. Theme: A TRIPLE CONSOLATION. Equally true of the Church of Christ as of the kingdom of Judah.
I. God is watching, and will punish the adversaries of His people.
1. They environ her: “evil neighbours.”
2. They molest her: “touch the inheritance”—her truths, her sacred joys.
3. They invade her holy scenes: intrude upon sacred soil; her sanctuary, to spoil its services; the privacy of prayer, to mar the soul’s fellowship, &c.
4. Yet the Divine Friend of His people observes our foes; is “against” them, and therefore on our part; and will requite the evil done to them that are His.
II. God has purposes of grace for His suffering people.
1. Even though their own wickedness explains their being in the hand of foes.
2. Yet He will not abandon them to their “evil neighbours;” for our foes are not to be allowed the enjoyment of their successes. God has no favour towards His people’s enemies; they shall be dispossessed of “the inheritance which I have caused My people to inherit.” Though the guilty take our peace from us, they shall not enjoy it: “no peace to the wicked.” Though they deprive us of our hopes, they shall not inherit them: “having no hope.”
3. God will reclaim His people to Himself. “I will pluck out the house of Judah from among them.” He did this from the hands of Judah’s enemies, restoring her to her heritage again; and “He will pluck out our feet from the net,” deliver our souls from the spoiler, and save His Church from the sophistries of her foes (Jer_12:15).
III. God designs that even His people’s enemies shall be converted unto Him. It would eventuate in the good of Judah’s “evil neighbours” for her to be temporarily scattered into their lands, and for those neighbours to occupy Judah’s heritage.
1. It brought them into contact with Divine realities; gave them knowledge of the religion of Judah. Those who entered her land could “walk about Zion,” and learn something of the worship of Jehovah and the sacred oracles; whereas those people among whom Judah was dispersed could “diligently learn the ways of My people, to swear by My name” (Jer_12:16). It offered them opportunity.
2. The results proved a blessing to the heathen. Many were converted to the Lord. So our Lord’s crucifixion, His prayer for His enemies, availed to the conquest of some who saw and heard. The dispersion of the Early Church by Saul led to the conversion of many elsewhere. Foes are being won to-day even while assailing truth and ill-using Christ’s followers.
3. Converted enemies would then become united with God’s people: “Be built in the midst of My people” (Jer_12:16); a place given to them within her borders, and a share in her spiritual privileges: Gentiles gathered into Israel; sinners and even enemies drawn into Christ’s Church. “He who persecuted the Church in times past now preacheth the faith which once he destroyed” (Gal_1:23). (Addenda on verse.)
Jer_12:15. Theme: PROGRESSIVE ACTS OF REDEMPTION.
The complete work of Divine grace is not effected in one act; it distributes itself into distinct parts, sometimes into distant periods. As in the instance of these Jews and their neighbours, so in the experience of the sinner, God’s redeeming work is accomplished by progressive stages.
I. Rescue. “I have plucked them out.” Divine deliverance—from wrong scenes, alien countries; or “from the horrible pit and miry clay;” or “plucked as a brand from the burning;” or “delivered from the bondage of corruption;” or “translated from the power of darkness into the kingdom of God’s dear Son.” In any aspect of the experience, it is the initial incident in the process of redemption—rescue.
II. Reconciliation. “I will return, and have compassion on them.” The coming back of the alienated God to the rescued soul. Not in judgment, nor to mark iniquity, nor to chide, but to cover over the whole evil past with the fulness of Divine “compassion.” Blotting out transgression, drawing the rescued one near to the personal love of God in experience of renewed favour. “O Lord, I will praise Thee; though Thou wast angry with me, Thine anger is turned away, and Thou comfortest me.” “God was in Christ, reconciling the world unto Himself, not imputing their trespasses unto them.”
III. Restitution. “I will bring them again, every man to his heritage, and every man to his land.” What sin had forfeited grace will restore. All which we have lost by alienation from God—peace, purity, happiness, holiness, heaven, is restored by redemption. 1. Individual restitution: “every man;” for God overlooks none, not even “the least of all saints.” 2. Complete restitution: “to his heritage,” the blessings to which he was born; the comforts and joys and privileges which would always have remained man’s but for his self-impoverishing sinfulness: “Father, give me the portion of goods that falleth to me.” Also, “to his land,” the home and destiny for which his heart craves. And “our conversation is in heaven.” “Every one of them shall appear in Zion before God.”
Jer_12:16. Theme: ALIENS UNITED IN THE CHURCH.
And these were mutually antagonistic. 1. Politically: “Judah,” and “evil neighbours;” a historic antipathy estranged them, a national enmity separated them. 2. Religiously: each repudiated the other’s religion, and derided their object or objects of worship. They were determined, avowed, and implacable foes.
Is there any meeting-place of union, any common centre of reconciliation for such? Yes, in Christ; in the Church of Emmanuel. “Other sheep I have, which are not of this fold; them also will I bring, that there may be one fold and one Shepherd.”
I. The standard of qualification. All must “learn the ways” of God’s people, and “swear by Jehovah’s name.”
1. Renewal of life. “Cast off the works of darkness, and put on the armour of light.” To “learn the ways” of God’s people implies antipathy removed, the mind and heart allured to assent to a “newness of life,” and so full a reformation of conduct as to become assimilated to God’s people—(a.) In practical godliness; (b.) in homage and service of the Lord. For “the ways” of God’s people are these—holy living and godly service.
2. Allegiance to the Lord. “Swear by My name, the Lord liveth” (comp. notes on chap. Jer_4:2). This means (a) renunciation of other gods; (b) loyal attachment to Jehovah; (c) open profession of religion.
II. The process of preparation. “Learn.”
1. By observation. Seeing what Judah did. Men watch the righteous, and feel the force of example. The Christian life is as a “light shining in darkness;” men “see their good works,” are influenced by the piety of their walk; and antagonism dies as they observe their “ways.”
2. By imitation. From the example of the Jews among these “neighbours” there would be going out the continual call, “Come with us, we will do you good; for the Lord hath spoken good concerning His people.” Also, persuasive words of teaching and entreaty could be spoken to those who were without, inviting them to join with God’s people. And thus they would “learn the ways,” and adopt them. Even as these heathen had beforetime “taught Judah to swear by Baal,” and thus allured them from Jehovah.
Qualification is progressive: it is the issue of learning. The alien becomes transformed by a gradual process into a “fellow-citizen of the saints and of the household of God.”
III. The realisation of union. “They shall be built in the midst of My people.” The stranger and the citizen established in Zion. The foe of Christ united to His followers in the Church. “One in Christ Jesus.” “Gathered together in one.”
1. Alienations and distinctions are annihilated there. A sacred sympathy and a common heritage in God’s grace obliterate all antipathies. Nationality is lost in realisation of a heavenly citizenship: “there is neither Jew nor Greek, circumcised nor uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, bond or free, but all are one in Christ Jesus.”
2. A common Divine relationship unites all together. “Built in the midst of My people,”—i.e., identified with and included among “My people.” “All ye are brethren.” “One family, we dwell in Him.” The Church of Christ is on earth the meeting-place of all, irrespective of nationality or social gradation, who belong to the brotherhood and household of faith.
Jer_12:17. Theme: THE ISSUE OF PERSISTENT ALIENATION.
God opened the door of reconciliation to them: His people would have taught them their “ways;” they might have become partakers of all Judah’s privileges, and found a place within Zion. But repudiating all, nothing remained but complete overthrow and destruction. No place among God’s people means outcast, abandoned, destroyed.
I. A defiant will. Not powerless to “obey,” but determination “not” to obey: deliberate resistance of Judah’s persuasions, and rejection of Divine opportunity. Refused to “learn” or “obey.”
II. An alarming penalty. The issue of such defiance is made clear: no equivocation. “I have set before you life and death.”
III. A terrible punishment. “I will utterly pluck up and destroy.” “Punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord, and from the glory of His power.”
ADDENDA TO CHAPTER 12: ILLUSTRATIONS AND SUGGESTIVE EXTRACTS
Jer_12:1. Talking with God. Never shall we be lonely, never have to complain of want of companionship, if we acquire this blessed habit of talking with God. There was an old Scotchman sitting by his humble fire, and a visitor asked him if he was not lonesome sitting there all day, and he said, “Nae, nae; I just sit here clacking wi’ Jesus.” When we remember that “clacking” is with the Scotch the word for friendly talking, it will be seen there was no irreverence in the old man’s words, but something to be envied and admired.—Power.
Many, with the best intentions, propounded that God is too great to attend to our little things; and all kindred theories have one point at least in common, viz., the idea that close converse could not be held with God, that He could not be spoken to at all times by plain folk, in a plain way, about things.—Idem.
There is such a thing as talking with God. It is said, in that venerable old record, that “in the cool of the day God walked in the garden, and called to Adam.” I know one thing, that that same habit has continued to this day, for I have in the cool of the day, on the hillside, a hundred times talked with Him too. God is accustomed to come down; He makes Himself, by the power of the Holy Ghost, a guest. There is such a thing as communion with Christ, as one speaketh to a friend face to face.—Beecher.
“When one that holds communion with the skies
Has filled his urn where those pure waters rise,
And once more mingles with us meaner things,
’Tis e’en as if an angel shook his wings:
Immortal fragrance fills the circuit wide,
That tells us whence his treasures are supplied.”—COWPER.
God’s judgments. The heavier the cannon, with the more difficulty are they drawn; but when arrived, they recompense the slowness of their march by the fierceness of their battery. The longer the stone is in falling, the more it will bruise and grind to powder. There is a great treasure of wrath laid up by the abuse of patience.—Charnock.
Thy judgments, saith the prophet, are sometimes secret, always just; this I am well assured of, though I thus argue. Yet let me talk with thee of thy judgments; let me take the humble boldness so to do, that I may be further cleared and instructed by Thee. Wherefore doth the way of the wicked prosper, whilst better men suffer, as now the wicked Anathothites do, whilst I go in danger of my life by them? This question hath exercised the wits and molested the minds of many wise men, both within and without the Church. (See Job_21:7-13; Psa_37:1; Psa_73:1-12; Hab_1:4-5.) Plato, Cicero, Seneca, Epictetus, Claudian against Ruffin, &c.—Trapp.
Prosperity of the wicked. Satan with ease puts fallacies upon us by his golden baits, and then he leads us and leaves us in a fool’s paradise. The world hath by the glistering of her pomp and preferment slain millions; as the serpent Scytale, which, when she cannot overtake the fleeting passengers, doth with her beautiful colours astonish and amaze them, so that they have no power to pass away till she have stung them to death. Adversity hath slain her thousands, but prosperity her ten thousand.—Brooks.
It is the bright day that brings out the adder.… Too much sail is dangerous.… A coat too richly embroidered only encumbers the wearer.… Too much sunshine weakens the eyes.
Jer_12:3. GOD’S KNOWLEDGE OF THE HEART. There is a recent application of electricity by which, under the influence of its powerful light, the body can be so illuminated as that the workings beneath the skin can be seen. Lift up the hand and it will appear almost translucent, the bones and veins clearly appearing. It is so in some sort with God’s introspection of the human heart. His eye, which shines brighter than the sun, searches us and discovers us altogether.—Pilkington.
Jer_12:4. “HE SHALL NOT SEE OUR LAST END.” God shall not, and so they deny His providence and prescience; or the prophet shall not, though now he thunder out our punishment with so great vehemence.—Trapp.
Mercury could not kill Argus till he had cast him into a sleep, and with an enchanted rod closed his eyes; and the devil cannot hurt any man till he has lulled him asleep in security.—Playter.
Jer_12:5. “WHAT WILT THOU DO?” We should quit ourselves like men, and not be perturbed by little rivulets; for if these sweep us away, what shall we do when Jordan is swollen to the brim, and we have to pass through that? When one of the martyrs, whose name is the somewhat singular one of Pommely [Trapp gives it as William Cobberly,] was confined previous to his burning, his wife was also taken up upon the charge of heresy. The good woman had resolved to die with her husband, and she appeared, as far as most people could judge, to be very firm in her faith. But the jailor’s wife, though she had no religion, took a merciful view of the case as far as she could do so, and thought, “I am afraid this woman will never stand the test, she will never brave death with her husband; she has neither faith nor strength to endure such a trial;” and therefore, one day calling her out of the cell, she said to her, “Lass, run to the garden and fetch me the key that lies there.” The poor woman ran willingly enough; she took the key up and it burned her fingers, for the jailor’s wife had made it red hot; she came back crying with pain. “Ah, woman,” said she, “if you cannot bear a little burn in your hand, how will you bear to be burnt in your whole body?” and this brought her to recant the faith she had professed. I apply the story thus: If we cannot bear the trifling pangs which come upon us in our ordinary circumstances, which are but as it were the burning of our hands, what shall we do when every pulse beats pain, and every throb is an agony, and the whole tenement begins to crumble about the spirit that is so soon to be disturbed?—C. H. Spurgeon, comp. Trapp on verse.
“I have no hope in what I have been or done,” said Dr. Doddridge on his dying bed, “yet I am full of confidence; and this is my confidence: there is hope set before me. I have fled, I still fly, for refuge to that hope. In Him I trust, in Him I have strong consolation, and shall assuredly be accepted in this Beloved of my soul.”
Jer_12:14. Converted enemies. It is recorded of a Chinese emperor, that, on being apprised of his enemies having raised an insurrection in one of the distant provinces, he said to the officers, “Come, follow me, and we will quickly destroy them.” He marched forward, and the rebels submitted at his approach. All now thought that he would take the most signal revenge, but were surprised to see the captives treated with mildness and humanity. “How!” cried the first minister, “is this the manner in which you carry out your threat? Your royal word was given that your enemies should be destroyed, and behold you have pardoned them all, and even caressed some of them.” “I promised,” replied the emperor, with a generous air, “to destroy my enemies. I have fulfilled my word; for see, they are enemies no longer. I have made friends of them.”
Jer_12:15. “Every man to his heritage.” To the Church; for in every nation he that feareth God and worketh righteousness shall be accepted of Him, shall have a child’s part, even the reward of inheritance.—Trapp.
Jer_12:16. Union in the Church. When mankind depart from God, they lose the bond of unity and peace. They are divided then into parties, which contend with and exterminate each other; but when these have again united themselves with the Lord, the unity of the members is restored. Therefore, there is liberty, equality, fraternity only in the Lord.—Naegelsbach.
Jer_12:17. The issue of defiance.
“Alas! we were warned, but we recked not the warning,
Till our warriors grew weak in the day of despair,
And cur glory was fled as the light of the morning,
That gleams for a moment, and melts into air.”
—DALE.
The Preacher's Complete Homiletical Commentary (gen. ed. Joseph S. Exell; Funk & Wagnalls, c. 1892) — public domain (pre-1929). A full-Bible homiletical/sermon-outline anthology covering 65 of 66 books (2 John is absent from the source module). Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Sermon Bible 1900 · Public Domain The difficulty implied by this proverb appears—
Jer 12:5
The difficulty implied by this proverb appears—
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I. In this, that man is less a match for Satan now than when Satan proved himself more than a match for man. Beaten in Eden, where else can man look for success? Overcome in our innocence, what hope remains for us in this warfare now? Beneath a heaven that has empty thrones and in a world full of ruins, how may poor fallen creatures help to conquer an enemy who has won victories in the fields both of heaven and earth, and overcome the innocence both of angels and of men? We have been reduced to slavery—and did bondsmen ever win where freemen lost? But that we go to battle in the name of Jesus, backed by the Lord God of Hosts, we had had no answer to the question of the text.
II. If we were overcome by sin ere it had grown into strength, we are now less able to resist it. The difficulty of resisting our bad passions and corrupt nature, grows with man’s growth, and strengthens with his strength. The farther we go down the slopes of evil, it is the more difficult to return. Nor could we ever hope that, having been overcome of sin when it was weak, we should overcome it when it is strong, but that faith, undaunted by difficulties can say, "What art thou, O great mountain? before Zerubbabel thou shalt become a plain!"
III. Consider how these difficulties are to be overcome. Take two cases—those of Peter and Abraham—where they, who had been overcome by the lesser overcame the greater trial; and though wearied by the footmen, nobly contended with horses. It was God that made them strong; and what they did, they did through the power of His might. He strengthened them with all might by His Spirit in the inner man, and though these actors have left the stage for lesser men to fill, the might, the power, the promises remain—God remains behind. "One man shall chase a thousand." "He that is feeble among them shall be as David; and the house of David shall be as God."
T. Guthrie, Family Treasury, May 1861, p. 257.
Jer 12:5
The river Jordan was an eminent and appropriate type of death, as being the barrier which parted the wilderness of Israel’s sojourn from the promised land of their assured inheritance.
I. The reasonableness of the question in the text will be made manifest by pointing out certain circumstances which make death more appalling than any other calamity. (1) Death must be met alone. We are so constituted that in seasons of danger, difficulty, and alarm nothing is a more comfortable stay for the mind than a resort to the connections with which Providence has surrounded us—to the old familiar faces of our kinsmen or our friends. But in death every possibility of resort to human sympathy will be cut off from us; our spirits must encounter the last enemy alone. (2) There is a failure of every former confidence in the hour of death. Every plank of refuge shall be broken up, every mooring which held thee to the shore of life shall be loosened, and there shalt thou be launched alone upon the billows to meet the tempest of the wrath of God. (3) Another circumstance of terror attaching to death is that it ushers us into a new and strange world. The heart of man is constantly turning the energies of its attachments around the house of its pilgrimage. A future sphere of existence will be an untried sphere. Well may flesh and blood shrink from the prospect of being effectually unhinged from all that is usual and accustomed, divested of every material and earthly association. (4) Our great enemy, as in all our trials so in this especially, will be at hand to improve it to our ruin.
II. To every sincere believer in Christ the horror with which circumstances invest death is entirely dispelled. (1) The Christian is not left in the pitiful plight of the worldling and sinner, to encounter death alone. His Redeemer is in spirit with him, Christ’s rod and Christ’s staff they comfort him. (2) If all earthly stays and confidences be broken up, the Christian has an anchor of the soul sure and steadfast; it is the word and the work of Christ. (3) The Christian’s soul has, during life, contracted an acquaintance with the new sphere into which the swelling of Jordan bears him away. Death ushers him into no strange scene, and introduces him to no strange company. (4) The great enemy shall be defeated in his last assault upon the Christian. God shall prepare a table before His people in the presence of their enemies.
E. M. Goulburn, Sermons in the Parish Church of Holywell, p. 51.
References: Jer 12:5.—Spurgeon, Sermons, vol. xi., No. 635; G. Brooks, Outlines of Sermons, p. 293; G. Dawson, Sermons on Daily Life and Duty, p. 313; B. J. Snell, Christian World Pulpit, vol. xiv., p. 312; J. Pulsford, Old Testament Outlines, p. 246. Jer 13:1-11.—Spurgeon, Sermons, vol. xxix., No. 1706. Jer 13:13.—Outline Sermons to Children, p. 107. Jer 13:14.—Parker, Christian Commonwealth, Sept. 16th, 1886. Jer 13:15.—Outline Sermons to Children, p. 109; R. Newton, Bible Warnings, p. 239.. Jer 13:15-17.—Spurgeon, Sermons, vol. xxix., No. 1748; V. Hay Aitken, Mission Sermons, vol. i., p. 23. Jer 13:16.—W. T. Bull, Christian World Pulpit, vol. x., p. 97; J. Budgen, Parochial Sermons, vol. ii., p. 302. Jer 13:20.—A. Davies, Christian World Pulpit, vol. iii., p. 324; Plain Sermons by Contributors to "Tracts for the Times," vol. i., p. 3. Jer 13:22-25.—W. Hubbard, Christian World Pulpit, vol. xvi., p. 285.
The Sermon Bible, ed. William Robertson Nicoll (1888–1900) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
J. R. Dummelow 1909 · Public Domain 1-4. The prosperity of the wicked perplexes Jeremiah.
1-4. The prosperity of the wicked perplexes Jeremiah.
1. Wherefore, etc.] The question was one which much exercised men of pre-Christian times who had no clear view of any but temporal rewards and punishments. See Psalms 37, 39, 49, 73, and Job (specially Jer_21:7) The plots of his fellow-townsmen at Anathoth (see Jeremiah 11) were probably the occasion of this outburst of Jeremiah's.
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2. Near in their mouth, etc.] They honour God with their lips but their heart is far from Him.
4. A drought has been sent in punishment. He shall not see, etc.] Jeremiah's denunciations are derided by his enemies.
5, 6. God's answer to the prophet's appeal. By two proverbial expressions He shows him that he must prepare to endure worse things than any he has yet been called upon to face. He has been in danger at Anathoth, but greater dangers await him at Jerusalem. Let him therefore be strong and play the man.
5. Swelling] RV 'pride,' referring to the luxuriant vegetation on the banks, which formed a source of danger, as a covert for wild beasts.
7-13, A lament over the desolate land. Some scholars think that this passage belongs to the time after the first siege and capture of Jerusalem, where Jehoiachin was led into captivity.
8. The v. indicates the hostile attitude of the people to God.
9. The figures to represent the coming desolation are, first, that of birds assembling round one of their own kind and maltreating it, because its plumage attracts their attention as unusual, and then that of hungry beasts of prey.
10. Pastors] leaders of the invading armies: cp. Jer_6:3, where they axe called 'shepherds.'
12. High places through] RV 'the bare heights in': no spot shall escape.
13. And they shall be ashamed] RV 'And ye shall,' etc. Revenues] RV 'fruits.'
14. Mine evil neighbours] Syrians, Edomites, Moabites and others who would feel that Judah's difficulty formed their opportunity. Both they and Judah shall be punished by exile; but God will restore them in His mercy. If the heathen will but seek to serve God, they shall share in the blessings He has in store for Judah after they have suffered and repented.
J. R. Dummelow, A Commentary on the Holy Bible (Macmillan, 1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Arno C. Gaebelein 1922 · Public Domain The Prophet’s Prayer and the House Forsaken, Yet Compassion
CHAPTER 12
The Prophet’s Prayer and the House Forsaken, Yet Compassion
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1. The prophet’s prayer (Jer 12:1-6) 2. The house forsaken, yet compassion (Jer 12:7-17)
Jer 12:1-6. In his outburst of grief and in great mental perplexity Jeremiah states the old question, why does the righteous man suffer, why does the wicked prosper? And then the prayer for His intervention. Such will be again the case with the godly remnant in the end of this present age. They will suffer and be persecuted as godly Jeremiah was and pray as Jeremiah prayed: “Pull them out like sheep for the slaughter, and prepare them for the day of slaughter.” The imprecatory psalms are of the same prophetic meaning. Jehovah’s answer tells him that greater trials were in store for him (Jer 12:5-6) .
Jer 12:7-17. The house is to be forsaken. The dearly beloved is to be given into the hands of the enemies. The sword of the Lord would now devour them. But there is the warning to the nations who touch His inheritance. He will deal with them in judgment as He dealt with Judah. Then we find the promise, “I will return and have compassion on them.” This is still future. The compassion for Israel comes in the day of His return.
Arno C. Gaebelein, The Annotated Bible (1913–1922) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Paul E. Kretzmann 1924 · Public Domain The Conspiracy in the Prophet’s own Family
The Conspiracy in the Prophet’s own Family
v. 1. Righteous art Thou, O Lord, maintaining justice, when I plead with Thee, when he brings his case to the Lord’s attention; yet let me talk with Thee of Thy judgments, reasoning with Jehovah concerning a matter which seems incompatible with divine righteousness: Wherefore doth the way of the wicked prosper? Why is it that they seem to be fortunate in all their dealings? Wherefore are all they happy that deal very treacherously? How may the fact be explained that the very ones who are guilty of the worst perfidy, who practice the basest knavery, live in peace? The same question occasionally rises in the hearts of most children of God, and it is safe to be always armed with the firm conviction that the ways of the Lord are ever right and good.
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v. 2. Thou hast planted them, yea, they have taken root, apparently secure in their places, safe in their happiness; they grow, yea, they bring forth fruit, what they undertake is crowned with rich success. Thou art near in their mouth, they are very active in lip-service, and far from their reins, their hearts are far from Him. Cf Isa 29:13; Mat 15:8.
v. 3. But Thou, O Lord, knowest me, the prophet freely leaving the judgment regarding himself to the Searcher of hearts, secure in the testimony of a good conscience; Thou hast seen me and tried mine heart toward Thee, wherefore he freely invites a scrutiny on the part of the Lord. By the same token he can call upon the Lord to bring punishment upon the evil-doers: Pull them out like sheep for the slaughter, with violence, as though torn out by the roots, and prepare them for the day of slaughter, as animals set apart for sacrifice.
v. 4. How long shall the land mourn and the herbs of every field, of the entire cultivated plain, wither? For the wickedness of them that dwell therein the beasts are consumed and the birds, the very irrational brutes being placed under the ban of Jehovah on account of the hypocrisy of their masters, because they said, He shall not see our last end, the wicked Jews trying to persuade themselves that the Lord is blind toward their wickedness, that they may pursue their ungodly ways without interference, safe from the calamity which Jeremiah had threatened. But the Lord answers in such a way as to rebuke the prophet in a gentle manner for the impatience displayed by him, at the same time pointing out that he is due to experience still greater tribulations.
v. 5. If thou hast run with the footmen and they have wearied thee, then how canst thou contend with horses? If he could not endure the comparatively little trouble which had come upon him till now, he would assuredly never be able to stand the great sufferings which would come to him in the future. And if in the land of peace, wherein thou trustedst, they wearied thee, then how wilt thou do in the swelling of Jordan? literally, "And in a land of peace thou wast secure, how wilt thou do along the wooded banks of Jordan?" The comparison is between an inhabited district, with its comparative security, and a country of primitive forests and undergrowth, where wild animals abounded, the application being the same as in the first part of the verse.
v. 6. For even thy brethren and the house of thy father, even they have dealt treacherously with thee, his very closest relatives practicing perfidy against the prophet; yea, they have called a multitude after thee, pursuing him after the manner of a pack of dogs. Believe them not though they speak fair words unto thee. Thus the Lord warns His servant against hypocrisy and coming tribulation, at the same time intimating that the wickedness of the people had not yet reached its highest stage. But eventually the judgment would strike them.
Paul E. Kretzmann, Popular Commentary of the Bible (1921–1924) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
unfoldingWord translationNotes 2017 · CC BY-SA 4.0 General Information:
General Information:
Jeremiah speaks to Yahweh.
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the wicked
This refers to wicked people. AT: "wicked people" or "those who are wicked" (See: Nominal Adjectives)
You planted them and they took root. They continue to produce fruit
Here Jeremiah speaks of the wicked as if they were fruit trees. AT: "They are like fruit trees that you planted, that you allow to prosper and to produce lots of fruit" (See: Metaphor)
You are near to them in their mouths, but far away from their hearts
Here "mouths" represents what a person says. And, "hearts" represents what a person thinks or feels. Also, being loyal is spoken of as if it were being near a person, and being disloyal is spoken of as if it were being far away from a person. AT: "They always say good things about you, but they do not love or respect you" (See: Metonymy and Metaphor)
translationWords
righteous
Yahweh
evil
faithless
fruit
heart
unfoldingWord translationNotes — © Distant Shores Media and the Door43 World Missions Community, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: git.door43.org/Door43/en_tn.
Tyndale Open Study Notes 2022 · CC BY-SA 4.0 12:1-4 Jeremiah wondered why a just God did not…
12:1-4 Jeremiah wondered why a just God did not immediately punish the wicked. Jeremiah could not stand the continued wickedness, yet he also grieved for the terrible human suffering that he saw coming (10:19-25).
12:1 Jeremiah affirmed the Lord’s justice when dealing with him in the past. However, since he was obedient, he could not understand why his life was being threatened. By contrast, those who were wicked and evil seemed to be prosperous and happy.
Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.