Peter Pett's Commentary on the Bible
Jeremiah 12:1-4
Jeremiah Questions The Delay In The Punishment And Asks Why The Wicked Continue To Prosper, Seeking God's Judgment On Them (Jeremiah 12:1).
‘You are righteous, O YHWH, when I contend with you,
Yet would I reason the cause with you.
Why does the way of the wicked prosper?
Why are all they at ease who deal very treacherously?'
Jeremiah's response was to accept the justice of YHWH's decision in the face of his plea, but to demonstrate his dissatisfaction at the delay in the judgment. By this time he had been under constant threat of death, and had endured many trials. He comes before YHWH to ‘reason the cause' with Him. He is faced with the age-old problem as to why the wicked are allowed to continue flourishing. Why is it that those who are most treacherous still find themselves ‘at ease'. For other treatments of the same question compare Job 21:7 ff.; Psalms 73:3.
‘You have planted them, yes, they have taken root;
They grow, yes, they bring forth fruit;
You are near in their mouth,
And far from their heart.'
He describes their flourishing in the terms used earlier of the flourishing of the olive tree which had represented Israel in their earlier days (Jeremiah 11:16). They were YHWH's planting (compare Jeremiah 11:17), they took root and grew, they produced fruit, (they looked indeed like a green olive tree still flourishing), but all the while, whilst they honoured YHWH with their lips, their hearts were far from Him (compare Isaiah 29:13; Matthew 15:8). Their worship was not genuine.
‘But you, O YHWH, know me;
You see me, and try my heart towards you;
Pull them out like sheep for the slaughter,
And prepare them for the day of slaughter.'
In contrast Jeremiah's heart was firmly towards YHWH. He was confident that YHWH saw his ways and tried his heart, and ‘knew' him through and through, indeed as His chosen one (he was confident in his calling). And he therefore calls on YHWH to act against his adversaries, who have so treated a prophet of YHWH Let it not be him who is the pet lamb led to the slaughter (Jeremiah 11:19), but let that be true of his adversaries, not as pet lambs, but as sheep dragged out from the flock, and prepared ready for slaughter.
We should note here that this was not a cry for personal vengeance. It was a call on YHWH to act in defence of His prophet who was being sacrilegiously treated by those who should have paid him honour. Thereby they had sinned directly against YHWH and were acting in deliberate rebellion against Him. It was not for Jeremiah to consider forgiving them It was a sin that only God could call to account (and only God could forgive).
‘How long will the land mourn,
And the herbs of the whole country wither?
For the wickedness of those who dwell in it,
The beasts are consumed, and the birds;
Because they said,
“He will not see our latter end.”
He then supports his prayer with the evidence. It is because of these people and their attitudes and activities, in which in their complacency they think that they will be allowed to continue long after Jeremiah has gone (‘he will not see our latter end'), that the land was mourning and the vegetation was withering. It was because of them that the innocent animals and birds were being consumed by the disaster coming on the land. It was because they were self-confident and yet total hypocrites.
This plea assumes either that there had been great drought (compare Jeremiah 14:1), or that marauding invaders had already been present in the land. For quite apart from the activities of the great nations such as Assyria, Egypt and Babylon, and seemingly of the Scythians, they would be subject to quarrels with neighbouring countries, and raids by marauding bands of nomads. War of one kind or another was an ever present threat (compare 2 Samuel 11:1) quite apart from the regular incursions by Babylon.
‘He will not see our latter end.' This may indicate that this would be because he was dead, or be expressing the confidence that what he sees about their latter end is not true. After all, the other prophets were prophesying ‘peace'. Alternately the ‘He' might be YHWH in which case the idea is that they are being punished because they had assumed that like their chosen gods YHWH could not see what they were doing.