XII. The sequence of the several sections is not very clear, and possibly we have a series of detailed prophecies put together without system. Jeremiah 12:1 seem to continue the address to the men of Anathoth, Jeremiah 12:4 points to a drought, Jeremiah 12:12 to the invasion of the Chaldeans, Jerem... [ Continue Reading ]
YET LET ME TALK WITH THEE. — The soul of the prophet is vexed, as had been the soul of Job (Jeremiah 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_ ... [ Continue Reading ]
THOU HAST PLANTED THEM. — The words express, of course, the questioning distrust of the prophet. The wicked flourish, so that one would think God had indeed planted them. Yet all the while they were mocking Him with hypocritical worship (here we have an echo of Isaiah 29:13), uttering His name with... [ Continue Reading ]
THOU, O LORD, KNOWEST ME. — Like all faithful sufferers from evil-doers before and after him, the prophet appeals to the righteous Judge, who knows how falsely he has been accused. In words in which the natural impatience of suffering shows itself as clearly as in the complaints of Psalms 69, 109, h... [ Continue Reading ]
HOW LONG SHALL THE LAND MOURN... — The Hebrew punctuation gives a different division, _How long shall the land mourn, and the herbs of the whole field_ (_i.e.,_ all the open country) _wither? For the wickedness of them that dwell therein, cattle and birds perish, for, say they, he_ (_i.e.,_ the prop... [ Continue Reading ]
IF THOU HAST RUN WITH THE FOOTMEN. — The prophet is compelled to make answer to himself, and the voice of Jehovah is heard in his inmost soul rebuking his impatience. What are the petty troubles that fall on him compared with what others suffer, with what might come on himself? The thought is not un... [ Continue Reading ]
THY BRETHREN. — It is not certain whether we are to think actually of the sons of the same father, or only of the men of Anathoth (Jeremiah 11:23), as belonging to the same section of the priesthood. The language of Jeremiah 9:5 favours the more literal rendering. In any case, it is interesting to n... [ Continue Reading ]
I HAVE FORSAKEN MINE HOUSE. — The speaker is clearly Jehovah, but the connection with what precedes is not clear. Possibly we have, in this chapter, what in the writings of a poet would be called fragmentary pieces, written at intervals, and representing different phases of thought, and afterwards a... [ Continue Reading ]
AS A LION IN THE FOREST. — _i.e.,_ fierce, wild, untamed, uttering its sharp yells of passion. That mood was utterly unlovable, and therefore, speaking after the manner of men, the love which Jehovah had once felt for it was turned to hatred.... [ Continue Reading ]
MINE HERITAGE IS UNTO ME AS A SPECKLED BIRD. — The Hebrew is interrogative, _Is mine heritage..._? _Are the birds come round about against her?_ The word for “bird” in both cases means a “bird of prey” (Isaiah 46:11; _Genesis 15:11_), and the “speckled bird” is probably, but not certainly, some less... [ Continue Reading ]
MANY PASTORS HAVE DESTROYED MY VINEYARD. — The use of the word “pastors,” with all its modern spiritual associations, instead of “shepherds” (Jeremiah is the only book in the Old Testament, it may be noted, in which the word occurs), is peculiarly unhappy in this passage, where the “pastors” are rec... [ Continue Reading ]
THEY HAVE MADE IT DESOLATE. — The Hebrew is impersonal. “_One has made it...,” i.e., it is made desolate._ As in other poetry of strong emotion, the prophet dwells with a strange solemn iteration on the same sound — “desolate,” “desolate,” “desolate” — thrice in the same breath. The Hebrew word _she... [ Continue Reading ]
ALL HIGH PLACES. — _i.e._, the bare treeless heights so often chosen as the site of an idolatrous sanctuary. THE SWORD OF THE LORD. — As in the cry of “the sword of Jehovah and of Gideon” (Judges 7:18) all man’s work in war is thought of as instrumental in working out a Will mightier than his own.... [ Continue Reading ]
BUT SHALL REAP THORNS. — Better, _have reaped thorns;_ and so in the next clause _they have profited nothing._ This which is truer to the Hebrew is also truer to the Prophet’s meaning. The sentence of failure is already written on everything. The best plans are marred, the “wheat” turned to “thorns.... [ Continue Reading ]
THUS SAITH THE LORD. — The introduction of a new message from Jehovah, speaking through the prophet, is indicated by the usual formula. MINE EVIL NEIGHBOURS. — These were the neighbouring nations — Edomites, Moabites, Hagarenes — who rejoiced in the fall of Judah, and attacked her in her weakness (2... [ Continue Reading ]
I WILL RETURN, AND HAVE COMPASSION ON THEM. — The words refer, as Jeremiah 12:16 shows, not to Judah only, but to the “evil neighbours.” For them also there is hope, and that hope is bound up with the return of Judah. Strong as was the prophet’s desire for retribution, it is overpowered by the new l... [ Continue Reading ]
TO SWEAR BY MY NAME. — There is an obvious reference to the hopes expressed in Jeremiah 4:2. To acknowledge Jehovah in all the most solemn forms of adjuration (comp. Jeremiah 5:2; Psalms 63:11), and to do this, not hypocritically, but in the spirit of reverence and righteousness, was the ideal state... [ Continue Reading ]
I WILL UTTERLY PLUCK UP. — In this, as in the preceding verse, there is an obvious reference to the prophet’s calling as described in Jeremiah 1:10, the self-same word being used as that which is there rendered “root out.” The adverb “utterly” answers to the usual Hebrew reduplication of emphasis.... [ Continue Reading ]