Jeremiah 12:14-17

V. THE PREDICTION CONCERNING THE NATIONS Jeremiah 12:14-17

TRANSLATION

(14) Thus says the LORD concerning all my wicked neighbors who lay their hands on the inheritance which I caused My people Israel to inherit: Behold, I am about to pluck them up from their land, and the house of Judah I will uproot from their midst. (15) And it shall come to pass after I have plucked them up I shall again have compassion upon them and I shall cause them to return each one to his in heritance and each man to his land. (16) And it shall come to pass if they completely 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 the midst of My people. (17) But if they do not hear, then I will uproot that nation, uprooting and destroying (oracle of the LORD).

COMMENTS

At the time of his call Jeremiah had been appointed a prophet to the nations. He was commissioned through his preaching to pluck up and. to build (Jeremiah 1:10). To Jeremiah God was no respecter of persons, He would bring destruction on Judah as well as on the foreign nations; he would show compassion to the foreign nations as well as to Judah, In the present passage God speaks of the deportation (Jeremiah 12:14) and restoration of the foreign nations (Jeremiah 12:15). He then sets forth the alternative of conversion or condemnation which these nations will face (Jeremiah 12:16-17). The main thrust of this brief paragraph is that one day in the future foreign peoples will have the opportunity of being incorporated into the Covenant people.

What is the relationship of Jeremiah 12:14-17 to its context? Once again most commentators see no connection whatsoever between these words about foreign nations and what precedes. However it would seem that Jeremiah 12:14-17 is in fact a continuation of God's answer to the prayer of Jeremiah. The prophet had called for God's wrath to be poured out on the wicked (Jeremiah 12:1-4). God had revealed that He would punish the wicked, but only with much personal sadness and suffering (Jeremiah 12:7-13). In Jeremiah 12:14-17 God goes a step further. Jeremiah was greatly concerned about justice and judgment. God wants him to see the ultimate objective of that judgment. God wants Jeremiah to realize that judgment is not an end in itself but a means to an end. The judgment will cleanse the nation of Judah. They will again be the people of God. Even the heathen, the most wicked, will have an opportunity to become part of the community of faith. Jeremiah wants the wicked destroyed immediately, permanently; God wants them cleansed, restored, redeemed. Thus in response to Jeremiah's bitter prayer of complaint the prophet came to learn much of God's judgment, the pain of it and the purpose of it.

God's neighbors who border on the land of Judah will not escape divine judgment. Judah's land belongs to God and therefore Judah's neighbors are God's neighbors. The various states of Syria-PalestineEdom, Moab, Philistia and the resttime and again had made encroachments upon the territory of God. For this they will be plucked up i.e., deported, carried away into captivity. Judah too shall experience this deportation at the hands of the Babylonian armies (Jeremiah 12:14). But God's purpose in bringing this judgment upon both Judah and the nations is that they might experience His salvation. After the judgment God will have compassion upon these displaced peoples and will restore them to their native lands. Specific prophecies of the restoration of Moab and Ammon are found in Jeremiah 48:47 and Jeremiah 49:6. When Cyrus the Great conquered Babylon in 539 B.C. it was his policy to allow all the captive peoples to return to their native lands. The Jews were just one of the beneficiaries of his generosity (cf. Ezra 1:2-4). A great deal is said today about the restoration of Israel to the Holy Land. Here neighboring nations are included in a restoration passage.

Not only does the Lord promise the nations restoration, but He also holds out to them the prospects of conversion. If these heathen people completely and thoroughly learn the right ways of God's people, if they are truly converted to the worship of the living God, they will be recognized and blessed by Him. They will dwell in the midst of My people for by their conversion they actually become part of the people of God. One specific criteria of their conversion is named: They must swear by the name of the Lord. To use the name of a deity in an oath implied recognition of the claims of that deity. These heathen must be as zealous for the claims of the Lord as they once were for their god Baal (Jeremiah 12:16). On the other hand, if these nations refuse to hear, i.e., obey the Lord then God will uproot and continually bring destruction upon them (Jeremiah 12:17).