Jeremiah 12 - ESV - Bible Reading / Study Notes

Jeremiah 12

Jeremiah’s Complaint

12:1   Righteous are you, O LORD,
    when I complain to you;
    yet I would plead my case before you.
  Why does the way of the wicked prosper?
    Why do all who are treacherous thrive?
2   You plant them, and they take root;
    they grow and produce fruit;
  you are near in their mouth
    and far from their heart.
3   But you, O LORD, know me;
    you see me, and test my heart toward you.
  Pull them out like sheep for the slaughter,
    and set them apart for the day of slaughter.
4   How long will the land mourn
    and the grass of every field wither?
  For the evil of those who dwell in it
    the beasts and the birds are swept away,
    because they said, “He will not see our latter end.”

The Lord Answers Jeremiah

5   “If you have raced with men on foot, and they have wearied you,
    how will you compete with horses?
  And if in a safe land you are so trusting,
    what will you do in the thicket of the Jordan?
6   For even your brothers and the house of your father,
    even they have dealt treacherously with you;
    they are in full cry after you;
  do not believe them,
    though they speak friendly words to you.”
7   “I have forsaken my house;
    I have abandoned my heritage;
  I have given the beloved of my soul
    into the hands of her enemies.
8   My heritage has become to me
    like a lion in the forest;
  she has lifted up her voice against me;
    therefore I hate her.
9   Is my heritage to me like a hyena’s lair?
    Are the birds of prey against her all around?
  Go, assemble all the wild beasts;
    bring them to devour.
10   Many shepherds have destroyed my vineyard;
    they have trampled down my portion;
  they have made my pleasant portion
    a desolate wilderness.
11   They have made it a desolation;
    desolate, it mourns to me.
  The whole land is made desolate,
    but no man lays it to heart.
12   Upon all the bare heights in the desert
    destroyers have come,
  for the sword of the LORD devours
    from one end of the land to the other;
    no flesh has peace.
13   They have sown wheat and have reaped thorns;
    they have tired themselves out but profit nothing.
  They shall be ashamed of their¹ harvests
    because of the fierce anger of the LORD.”

14 Thus says the LORD concerning all my evil neighbors who touch the heritage that I have given my people Israel to inherit: “Behold, I will pluck them up from their land, and I will pluck up the house of Judah from among them. 15 And after I have plucked them up, I will again have compassion on them, and I will bring them again each to his heritage and each to his land. 16 And it shall come to pass, if they will diligently learn the ways of my people, to swear by my name, ‘As the LORD lives,’ even as they taught my people to swear by Baal, then they shall be built up in the midst of my people. 17 But if any nation will not listen, then I will utterly pluck it up and destroy it, declares the LORD.”

Footnotes

[1] 12:13 Hebrew your

Commentary

v1: Why does the way of the wicked prosper? Ps 10.5-13; 12.3-4. Jeremiah had confidence in the God who is righteous. He knew that there was an answer to his prayers. His questions were to do with his observation of life around him. It is a common question from the righteous, who struggle to understand why the wicked appear to prosper.

v2: The wicked enjoyed prosperity and security, although their religion was only superficial. God on their lips, but not in their hearts, Matt 15.8.

v3: Jeremiah had been faithful, a man of sincerity and integrity. As in 11.20, he prayed for God's judgment upon the ungodly.

v4: The confidence of the ungodly; that God was ignorant of their schemes. The ‘practical atheist’ lives as if there were no God. And men prefer to have it that way.

v5: The Lord answered Jeremiah’s prayer, although perhaps not in the way the prophet hoped! There were even harder times to come. He had never been promised an easy time. Sometimes, God trains us for harder times ahead.

v6: He would have to stand alone. Even his brothers and family would turn against him, see 11.21. He had to be discerning, watching for their smooth words, and to rely totally on the Lord.

v7-9: The prosperity and happiness (v1) were deceptive; compare the example of Laodicea (Rev 3).

v7: God had forsaken His house, and left His heritage, having given up His beloved one into the hands of her enemies.

v8: Judah cried out against God, rebelled against His rule and authority. Therefore He hated her.

v9: The vultures and beasts, referring to Gentile nations, surrounding Judah, ready to attack and to devour.

v10-13: Destruction from within and from outside. The rulers (shepherds) had destroyed God's vineyard; prophets and priests and kings, all weighed in the balance and found wanting. The coming desolation was their fault. The sword of the Lord was about to come, His fierce anger, His judgment upon the ungodly. This is not the natural consequence of sin, but God's righteous anger.

v14-15: The future restoration of Israel and Judah;

those who seized the land of Israel and Judah will be uprooted;
Judah to be uprooted from those who captured them;
God will have compassion upon Judah;
Judah will return to the land.

However much the people of Israel and Judah departed from God, and suffered punishment, the door to return was always open.

v16-17: Blessing upon those Gentiles who learn the right ways of His people, but judgment upon those who do not.