Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Jeremiah 12:7
I have forsaken mine house, I have left mine heritage; I have given the dearly beloved of my soul into the hand of her enemies.
7. mine house ] shewn by the parallelism of the clauses to mean, not the Temple, but the nation itself; so in Hos 8:1; Hos 9:15.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
Ch. Jer 12:7-17. Devastation of Judah to be wrought by hostile neighbours, who shall be punished by exile unless they submit to the God of Israel
Jehovah in pathetic language deplores the necessity of permitting the devastation of His land.
This section has no connexion with the preceding or subsequent context. It may safely be dated late in Jehoiakim’s reign, as relating to the attack upon Judah on the part of Chaldaeans, Syrians, Moabites, and Ammonites (see 2Ki 24:1 f.), under the figure of birds of prey attacking one whose plumage attracts their attention as unusual. Du. places Jer 12:14-17 in the 2nd cent. b.c. He considers “the evil neighbours” of Jer 12:14 to mean the persons of various nationalities who were living in the land in the time of John Hyrcanus and his son. He compares Zec 14:16 ff.; Isa 19:16 ff. as having a similar reference. But, as Pe. says, we do not in those passages, as here, read of exile followed by restoration, nor would a writer of the 2nd cent. b.c. have put into the mouth of Jeremiah a prediction which in fact was not realised.
The section may be subdivided thus.
(i) Jer 12:7-13. Jehovah’s heritage has turned as a savage beast against Him. Therefore He has given her over to be the prey of neighbouring nations. She is like a speckled bird attacked by her own kind. The country is laid waste, because its inhabitants took no serious thought. The culture of the land brings no produce, because of the wrath of Jehovah.
(ii) Jer 12:14-17. Judah’s foes shall themselves be driven into exile permanent, if they refuse to hear Jehovah; but, if they turn to Him, they shall be restored to their lands.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
Yahweh shows that the downfall of the nation was occasioned by no want of love on His part, but by the nations conduct.
Left – More correctly, cast away.
Jer 12:8
Judah has not merely refused obedience, but become intractable and fierce, like an untamed lion. It has roared against God with open blasphemy. As His favor is life, so is His hatred death, i. e., Jerusalems punishment shall be as if inflicted by one that hated her.
Jer 12:9
Rather, Is My heritage unto Me as a speckled bird? Are the birds upon her round about? Come, assemble all the wild beasts: bring them to devour her. By a speckled or parti-colored bird is probably meant some kind of vulture.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Verse 7. I have forsaken mine house] I have abandoned my temple.
I have given the dearly beloved of my soul] The people once in covenant with me, and inexpressibly dear to me while faithful.
Into the hand of her enemies.] This was a condition in the covenant I made with them; If they forsook me, they were to be abandoned to their enemies, and cast out of the good land I gave to their fathers.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
God by his
house here understandeth the temple, which God is said here to have forsaken with respect to his gracious manifestations in it to the people that came thither to worship him. By his
heritage he means the whole body of the Israelites, called Gods heritage not in this chapter only, but Jer 2:7; Joe 2:17; Mic 7:14; whom God threateneth to leave with respect to his special providence, by which he had taken care of them; upon which account Canaan is called the land which God cared for, Deu 11:12; that is, so cared for, as in comparison with them he might seem to neglect all other countries.
I have given the dearly beloved of my soul into the hands of her enemies; that is, he had given that nation which was once his dearly beloved into the hands or power of their enemies.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
7. I have forsakenJehovahwill forsake His temple and the people peculiarly His. The mention ofGod’s close tie to them, as heretofore His, aggravates theiringratitude, and shows that their past spiritual privileges will notprevent God from punishing them.
beloved of my soulimagefrom a wife (Jer 11:15;Isa 54:5).
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
I have forsaken my house,…. The temple, where the Lord took up his residence, and vouchsafed his presence to his people; this was fulfilled in the first temple, when it was destroyed by the Chaldeans; and more fully in the second, when Christ took his leave of it, Mt 23:38 and when that voice was heard in it, a little before the destruction of Jerusalem, as Josephus a relates,
“let us go hence.”
So the Targum,
“I have forsaken the house of my sanctuary.”
I have left mine heritage: the people whom he had chosen for his inheritance, whom he prized and valued, took care of, and protected as such; see De 32:9.
I have given the dearly beloved of my soul; whom he heartily loved and delighted in, and who were as dear to him as the apple of his eye:
into the hands of her enemies; the Chaldeans. This prophecy represents the thing as if it was already done, because of the certainty of it, and to awaken the Jews out of their lethargy and stupidity; and by the characters which the Lord gives of them it appears what ingratitude they had been guilty of, and that their ruin was owing to themselves and their sins.
a De Bello Jud. l. 6. c. 5. sect. 3.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
The execution of the judgment on Judah and its enemies. – As to this passage, which falls into two strophes, Jer 12:7-13 and Jer 12:14-17, Hitz., Graf, and others pronounce that it stands in no kind of connection with what immediately precedes. The connection of the two strophes with one another is, however, allowed by these commentators; while Eichh. and Dahler hold Jer 12:14-17 to be a distinct oracle, belonging to the time of Zedekiah, or to the seventh or eighth year of Jehoiakim. These views are bound up with an incorrect conception of the contents of the passage-to which in the first place we must accordingly direct our attention.
Jer 12:7 “I have forsaken mine house, cast out mine heritage, given the beloved of my soul into the hand of its enemies. Jer 12:8. Mine heritage is become unto me as a lion in the forest, it hath lifted up its voice against me; therefore have I hated it. Jer 12:9. Is mine heritage to me a speckled vulture, that vultures are round about it? Come, gather all the beasts of the field, bring them to devour! Jer 12:10. Many shepherds have destroyed my vineyard, have trodden down my ground, have made the plot of my pleasure a desolate wilderness. Jer 12:11. They have made it a desolation; it mourneth around me desolate; desolated is the whole land, because none laid it to heart. Jer 12:12. On all the bare-peaked heights in the wilderness are spoilers come; for a sword of Jahveh’s devours from one end of the land unto the other: no peace to all flesh. Jer 12:13. They have sown wheat and reaped thorns; they have worn themselves weary and accomplished nothing. So then ye shall be put to shame for your produce, because of the hot anger of Jahve.” Jer 12:14. “Thus saith Jahveh against all mine evil neighbours, that touch the heritage which I have given unto my people Israel: Behold, I pluck them out of their land, and the house of Judah will I pluck out of their midst. Jer 12:15. But after I have plucked them out, I will pity them again, and bring them back, each to his heritage, and each into his land. Jer 12:16. And it shall be, if they will learn the ways of my people, to swear by my name: As Jahveh liveth, as they have taught my people to swear by Baal, then they shall be built in the midst of my people. Jer 12:17. But if they hearken not, I will pluck up such a nation, utterly destroying it, saith Jahve.”
Hitz. and Graf, in opposition to other commentators, will have the strophe, Jer 12:7-13, to be taken not as prophecy, but as a lament on the devastation which Judah, after Jehoiakim’s defection from Nebuchadnezzar in the eighth year of his reign, had suffered through the war of spoliation undertaken against insurgent Judah by those neighbouring nations that had maintained their allegiance to Chaldean supremacy, 2Ki 24:2. In support of this, Gr. appeals to the use throughout of unconnected perfects, and to the prophecy, Jer 12:14., joined with this description; which, he says, shows that it is something complete, existing, which is described, a state of affairs on which the prophecy is based. For although the prophet, viewing the future with the eyes of a seer as a thing present, often describes it as if it had already taken place, yet, he says, the context easily enables us in such a case to recognise the description as prophetic, which, acc. to Graf, is not the case here. This argument is void of all force. To show that the use of unconnected perfects proves nothing, it is sufficient to note that such perfects are used in Jer 12:6, where Hitz. and Gr. take and as prophetic. So with the perfects in Jer 12:7. The context demands this. For though no particle attaches Jer 12:7 to what precedes, yet, as Graf himself alleges against Hitz., it is shown by the lack of any heading that the fragment (Jer 12:7-13) is “not a special, originally independent oracle;” and just as clearly, that it can by no means be (as Gr. supposes) an appendix, stuck on to the preceding in a purely external and accidental fashion. These assumptions are disproved by the contents of the fragment, which are simply an expansion of the threat of expulsion from their inheritance conveyed to the people already in Jer 11:14-17; an expansion which not merely points back to Jer 11:14-17, but which most aptly attaches itself to the reproof given to the prophet for his complaint that judgment on the ungodly was delayed (Jer 12:1-6); since it discloses to the prophet God’s designs in regard to His people, and teaches that the judgment, though it may be delayed, will not be withheld.
Jer 12:7-12 contain sayings of God, not of the prophet, who had left his house in Anathoth, as Zwingli and Bugenhagen thought. The perfects are prophetic, i.e., intimate the divine decree already determined on, whose accomplishment is irrevocably fixed, and will certainly by and by take place. “My house” is neither the temple nor the land inhabited by Israel, in support whereof appeal is unjustly made to passages like Hos 8:1-14; Hos 1:1-11; Hos 9:15; Eze 8:12; Eze 9:9; but, as is clearly shown by the parallel “mine heritage,” taken in connection with what is said of the heritage in Jer 12:8, and by “the beloved of my soul,” Jer 12:7, means the people of Israel, or Judah as the existing representative of the people of God (house = family); see on Hos 8:1. = , Deu 4:20, cf. Isa 47:6; Isa 19:25. , object of my soul’s love, cf. Jer 11:15. This appellation, too, cannot apply to the land, but to the people of Israel – Jer 12:8 contains the reason why Jahveh 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. To give with the voice = to lift up the voice, as in Psa 46:7; Psa 68:34. “Hate” is a stronger expression for the withdrawal of love, shown by delivering Israel into the hand of its enemies, as in Mal 1:3. There is no reason for taking as inchoative (Hitz., I learned to hate it). The “hating” is explained fully in the following verses. In Jer 12:9 the meaning of is disputed. In all other places where it occurs means a bird of prey, cf. Isa 46:11, or collective, birds of prey, Gen 15:11; Isa 18:6. , in the Rabbinical Heb. the hyaena, like the Arabic s[abu’un or s[ab’un. So the lxx have rendered it; and so, too, many recent comm., e.g., Gesen. in thes. But with this the asyndeton by way of connection with does not well consist: is a bird of prey, a hyaena, mine heritage? On this ground Boch. ( Hieroz. ii. p. 176, ed. Ros.) sought to make good the claim of to mean “beast of prey,” but without proving his case. Nor is there in biblical Heb. any sure case for in the meaning of hyaena; and the Rabbinical usage would appear to be founded on this interpretation of the word in the passage before us. , Arab. s[aba’a, means dip, hence dye; and so , Jdg 5:30, is dyed materials, in plur. parti-coloured clothes. To this meaning Jerome, Syr., and Targ. have adhered in the present case; Jerome gives avis discolor, whence Luther’s der sprincklight Vogel ; Chr. B. Mich., avis colorata. So, and rightly, Hitz., Ew., Graf, Ng. The prophet alludes to the well-known fact of natural history, that “whenever a strange-looking bird is seen amongst the others, whether it be an owl of the night amidst the birds of day, or a bird of gay, variegated plumage amidst those of duskier hue, the others pursue the unfamiliar intruder with loud cries and unite in attacking it.” Hitz., with reference to Tacit. Ann. vi. 28, Sueton. Caes. 81, and Plin. Hist. N. x. 19. The question is the expression of amazement, and is assertory. is dat. ethic., intimating sympathetic participation (Ng.), and not to be changed, with Gr., into . The next clause is also a question: are birds of prey round about it (mine heritage), sc. to plunder it? This, too, is meant to convey affirmation. With it is connected the summons to the beasts of prey to gather round Judah to devour it. The words here come from Isa 56:9. The beasts are emblem for enemies. is not first mode or perfect (Hitz.), but imperat., contracted from , as in Isa 21:14. The same thought is, in Jer 12:10, carried on under a figure that is more directly expressive of the matter in hand. The perfects in Jer 12:10-12 are once more prophetic. The shepherds who (along with their flocks, of course) destroy the vineyard of the Lord are the kings of the heathen, Nebuchadnezzar and the kings subject to him, with their warriors. The “destroying” is expanded in a manner consistent with the figure; and here we must not fail to note the cumulation of the words and the climax thus produced. They tread down the plot of ground, turn the precious plot into a howling wilderness. With “plot of my pleasure” cf. ‘ , Jer 3:19.
In Jer 12:11 the emblematical shepherds are brought forward in the more direct form of enemy. , he (the enemy, “they” impersonal) has changed it (the plot of ground) into desolation. It mourneth , round about me, desolated. Spoilers are come on all the bare-topped hills of the desert. 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. A sword of the Lord’s (i.e., the war sent by Jahveh, cf. Jer 25:29; Jer 6:25) devours the whole land from end to end; cf. Jer 25:33. “All flesh” is limited by the context to all flesh in the land of Judah. in the sense of Gen 6:12, sinful mankind; here: the whole sinful population of Judah. For them there is no , welfare or peace.
Jer 12:13 They reap the contrary of what they have sowed. The words: wheat they have sown, thorns they reap, are manifestly of the nature of a saw or proverb; certainly not merely with the force of meliora exspectaverant et venerunt pessima (Jerome); for sowing corresponds not to hoping or expecting, but to doing and undertaking. Their labour brings them the reverse of what they aimed at or sought to attain. To understand the words directly of the failure of the crop, as Ven., Ros., Hitz., Graf, Ng. prefer to do, is fair neither to text nor context. To reap thorns is not = to have a bad harvest by reason of drought, blight, or the ravaging of enemies. The seed: wheat, the noblest grain, produces thorns, the very opposite of available fruit. And the context, too, excludes the thought of agriculture and “literal harvesting.” The thought that the crop turned out a failure would be a very lame termination to a description of how the whole land was ravaged from end to end by the sword of the Lord. The verse forms a conclusion which sums up the threatening of Jer 12:7-12, to the effect that the people’s sinful ongoings will bring them sore suffering, instead of the good fortune they hoped for. , they have worn themselves out, exhausted their strength, and secured no profit. Thus shall ye be put to shame for your produce, ignominiously disappointed in your hopes for the issue of your labour.
Jer 12:14-17 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. By this discovery of His world-plan the Lord makes so complete a reply to the prophet’s murmuring concerning the prosperity of the ungodly (Jer 12:1-6), that from it may clearly be seen the justice of God’s government on earth. Viewed thus, both strophes of the passage before us (Jer 12:7-17) connect themselves singularly well with Jer 12:1-6.
Jer 12:14-15 The evil neighbours that lay hands on Jahve’s heritage are the neighbouring heathen nations, the Edomites, Moabites, Ammonites, Philistines, and Syrians. It does not, however, follow that this threatening has special reference to the event related in 2Ki 24:2, and that it belongs to the time of Jehoiakim. These nations were always endeavouring to assault Israel, and made use of every opportunity that seemed favourable for waging war against them and subjugating them; and not for the first time during the reign of Nebuchadnezzar, at which time it was indeed that they suffered the punishment here pronounced, of being carried away into exile. The neighbours are brought up here simply as representatives of the heathen nations, and what is said of them is true for all the heathen. The transition to the first person in is like that in Jer 14:15. Jahveh is possessor of the land of Israel, and so the adjoining peoples are His neighbours. , to touch as an enemy, to attack, cf. Zec 2:12. I pluck the house of Judah out of their midst, i.e., the midst of the evil neighbours. This is understood by most commentators of the carrying of Judah into captivity, since cannot be taken in two different senses in the two corresponding clauses. For this word used of deportation, cf. 1Ki 14:15. “Them,” Jer 12:15, refers to the heathen peoples. After they have been carried forth of their land and have received their punishment, the Lord will again have compassion upon them, and will bring back each to its inheritance, its land. Here the restoration of Judah, the people of God, is assumed as a thing of course (cf. Jer 12:16 and Jer 32:37, Jer 32:44; Jer 33:26).
Jer 12:16 If then the heathen learn the ways of the people of God. What we are to understand by this is clear from the following infinitive clause: to swear in the name of Jahveh, viz., if they adopt the worship of Jahveh (for swearing is mentioned as one of the principal utterances of a religious confession). If they do so, then shall they be built in the midst of God’s people, i.e., incorporated with it, and along with it favoured and blessed.
Jer 12:17 But they who hearken not, namely, to the invitation to take Jahveh as the true God, these shall be utterly destroyed. , so to pluck them out that they may perish. The promise is Messianic, cf. Jer 16:19; Isa 56:6., Mic 4:1-4, etc., inasmuch as it points to the end of God’s way with all nations.
Fuente: Keil & Delitzsch Commentary on the Old Testament
| The State of Judah and Israel. | B. C. 606. |
7 I have forsaken mine house, I have left mine heritage; I have given the dearly beloved of my soul into the hand of her enemies. 8 Mine heritage is unto me as a lion in the forest; it crieth out against me: therefore have I hated it. 9 Mine heritage is unto me as a speckled bird, the birds round about are against her; come ye, assemble all the beasts of the field, come to devour. 10 Many pastors have destroyed my vineyard, they have trodden my portion under foot, they have made my pleasant portion a desolate wilderness. 11 They have made it desolate, and being desolate it mourneth unto me; the whole land is made desolate, because no man layeth it to heart. 12 The spoilers are come upon all high places through the wilderness: for the sword of the LORD shall devour from the one end of the land even to the other end of the land: no flesh shall have peace. 13 They have sown wheat, but shall reap thorns: they have put themselves to pain, but shall not profit: and they shall be ashamed of your revenues because of the fierce anger of the LORD.
The people of the Jews are here marked for ruin.
I. God is here brought in falling out with them and leaving them desolate; and they could never have been undone if they had not provoked God to desert them. It is a terrible word that God here says (v. 7): I have forsaken my house–the temple, which had been his palace; they had polluted it, and so forced him out of it: I have left my heritage, and will look after it no more. His people that he has taken such delight in, and care of, are now thrown out of his protection. They had been the dearly beloved of his soul, precious in his sight and honorable above any people, which is mentioned to aggravate their sin in returning him hatred for his love and their misery in throwing themselves out of the favour of one that had such a kindness for them, and to justify God in his dealings with them. He sought not occasion against them, but, if they would have conducted themselves with any tolerable propriety, he would have made the best of them, for they were the beloved of his soul; but they had conducted themselves so that they had provoked him to give them into the hand of their enemies, to leave them unguarded, an easy prey to those that bore them ill-will. But what was the quarrel God had with a people that had been so long dear to him? Why, truly, they had degenerated. 1. They had become like beasts of prey, which nobody loves, but every body avoids and gets as far off from as he can (v. 8): My heritage is unto me as a lion in the forest. Their sins cry to heaven for vengeance as loud as a lion roars. Nay, they cry out against God in the threatenings and slaughter which they breathe against his prophets that speak to them in his name; and what is said and done against them God takes as said and done against himself. They blaspheme his name, oppose his authority, and bid defiance to his justice, and so cry out against him as a lion in the forest. Those that were the sheep of God’s pasture had become barbarous and ravenous, and as ungovernable as lions in the forest; therefore he hated them; for what delight could the God of love take in a people that had now become as roaring lions and raging beasts, fit to be taken and shot at, as a vexation and torment to all about them? 2. They had become like birds of prey, and therefore also unworthy a place in God’s house, where neither beasts nor birds of prey were admitted to be offered in sacrifice (v. 9): My heritage is unto me as a bird with talons (so some read it, and so the margin); they are continually pulling and pecking at one another; they have by their unnatural contentions made their country a cock-pit. Or as a speckled bird, dyed, or sprinkled, or bedewed with the blood of her prey. The shedding of innocent blood was Jerusalem’s measure-filling sin, and hastened their ruin, not only as it provoked their neighbours likewise; for those that have their hand against every man shall have every man’s hand against them (Gen. xvi. 12), and so it follows here: The birds round about are against her. Some make her a speckled, pied, or motley bird, upon the account of their mixing the superstitious customs and usages of the heathen with divine institutions in the worship of God; they were fond of a party-coloured religion, and thought it made them fine, when really it made them odious. God’s turtle-dove is no speckled bird.
II. The enemies are here brought in falling upon them and laying them desolate. And some think it is upon this account that they are compared to a speckled bird, because fowls usually make a noise about a bird of an odd unusual colour. God’s people are, among the children of this world, as men wondered at, as a speckled bird; but this people had by their own folly made themselves so; and the beasts and birds are called and commissioned to prey upon them. Let all the birds round be against her, for God has forsaken her, and with them let all the beasts of the field come to devour. Those that have made a prey of others shall themselves be preyed upon. It did not lessen the sin of the nations, but very much increased the misery of Judah and Jerusalem, that the desolation brought upon them was by order from heaven. The birds and beasts are perhaps called to feast upon the bodies of the slain, as in St. John’s vision, Rev 19:17; Rev 19:18. The utter desolation of the land by the Chaldean army is here spoken of as a thing done, so sure, so near, was it. God speaks of it as a thing which he had appointed to be done, and yet which he had no pleasure in, any more than in the death of other sinners.
1. 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, v. 10. Note, God has a kindness and concern for his church, though there be much amiss in it; and his correcting it will every way consist with his complacency in it.
2. See with what a tender compassion he speaks of the desolations of this land: Many pastors (the Chaldean generals that made themselves masters of the country and ate it up with their armies as easily as the Arabian shepherds with their flocks eat up the fruits of a piece of ground that lies common) have destroyed my vineyard, without any consideration had either of the value of it or of my interest in it; they have with the 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, v. 11. It is made so by the sword of war: The spoilers, the Chaldean soldiers,have come through the plain upon all high places; they have made themselves masters of all the natural fastnesses and artificial fortresses, v. 12. The sword devours from one end of the land to the other; all places lie exposed, and the numerous army of the invaders disperse themselves into every corner of that fruitful country, so that no flesh shall have peace, none shall be exempt from the calamity nor be able to enjoy any tranquillity. When all flesh have corrupted their way, no flesh shall have peace; those only have peace that walk after the Spirit.
3. See whence all this misery comes. (1.) It comes from the displeasure of God. It is the sword of the Lord that devours, v. 12. While God’s people keep close to him the sword of their protectors and deliverers is the sword of the Lord, witness that of Gideon; but when they have forsaken him, so that he has become their enemy and fights against them, then the sword of their invaders and destroyers becomes the sword of the Lord; witness this of the Chaldeans. It is because of the fierce anger of the Lord (v. 13); it was this that kindled this fire among them and made their enemies so furious. And who may stand before him when he is angry? (2.) It is their sin that has made God their enemy, particularly their incorrigibleness under former rebukes (v. 11): The land mourns unto me; the country that lies desolate does, as it were, pour out its complaint before God and humble itself under his hand; but the inhabitants are so senseless and stupid that none of them lays it to heart; they do not mourn to God, but are unaffected with his displeasure, while the very ground they go upon shames them. Note, When God’s hand is lifted up, and men will not see, it shall be laid on, and they shall be made to feel, Isa. xxvi. 11.
4. See how unable they should be to guard against it (v. 13): “They have sown wheat, that is, they have taken a great deal of pains for their own security and promised themselves great matters from their endeavors, but it is all in vain; they shall reap thorns, that is, that which shall prove very grievous and vexatious to them. Instead of helping themselves, they shall but make themselves more uneasy. They have put themselves to pain, both with their labour and with their expectations, but it shall not profit; they shall not prevail to extricate themselves out of the difficulties into which they have plunged themselves. They shall be ashamed of your revenues, ashamed that they have depended so much upon their preparations for war and particularly upon their ability to bear the charges of it.” Money constitutes the sinews of war; they thought they had enough of that, but shall be ashamed of it; for their silver and gold shall not profit them in the day of the Lord’s anger.
Fuente: Matthew Henry’s Whole Bible Commentary
Vs. 7-13: A DIVINE LAMENTATION
1. The historical background for this lamentation may be seen in 2Ki 24:1-2 (about 598 B.C.).
2. God is here (vs. 7-11) speaking TO Jeremiah.
a. He has forsaken His house (Jer 7:29; Jer 23:39; Isa 2:6), and cast off His heritage – delivering the beloved of His soul into the hands of her enemies, (vs. 7; comp. Jer 11:15; La 2:1; Hos 11:1-8).
b. As Jeremiah’s people have treated him, so has Judah treated her God – roaring with defiance and hostility against Him whom her fathers promised to obey; thus, necessitating His sorrowful rejection and repudiation of His heritage, (vs. 8; Isa 59:13; Hos 9:15).
c. Thus, Judah will be as a “speckled bird” whose unique plumage provokes the enmity of other predators (surrounding nations) who will show her no pity, (vs. 9; 2Ki 24:2; Eze 23:22-25; Jer 7:33; Jer 15:3; Jer 34:20).
d. Verses 10-12 describe the devastation and desolation of the Lord’s vineyard (Isa 5:1-7; Psa 10:8-16) as many shepherds (her own leaders) and destroyers (foreign rulers) – acting as the “sword of Jehovah” – have so devoured the land that none dwell in peace, (Jer 23:1; Jer 4:20; Jer 14:2; Jer 23:10; Jer 15:11; Jer 47:6; Isa 63:18; La 1:10; Amo 9:6).
e. Judah has sown wheat, but reaped thorns; brought pain upon herself, but to no profit; under the anger of Jehovah she will be brought to shame, (vs. 13; Jer 17:10; Jer 25:37-38; Hos 8:7; Gal 6:7).
Fuente: Garner-Howes Baptist Commentary
He confirms what I have already stated; he testifies that the people were either openly furious or acting perfidiously and deceitfully; nor has it been the object hitherto merely to say that wrong had been done to the Prophet, but regard has been had to what he taught.
He now adds, Forsaken have I my house and left my heritage God here declares that it was all over with the people. They were inebriated with vain confidence, relying on the covenant which God had made. with their fathers, and thought that God was bound to them. Thus they wished to treat God with contempt according to their own humor, and at the same time to allow themselves every kind of licentiousness. The Prophet makes here many concessions, as though he had said, “Ye are the house of God; ye are his heritage, ye are his beloved, ye are his portion and his richest portion; but all this will not prevent him to become your Judge, and at length to treat you with rigorous justice, and to vindicate himself.” We now perceive the meaning of the Prophet. But as I have before said, the words have more weight having been spoken by God, than if Jeremiah himself had said them. God then, as though sitting for judgment, declares thus to the Jews, Forsaken have I my house The Temple was indeed commended in high terms; but the whole country also was on account of the Temple regarded as the habitation of God; for Judah was overshadowed by the Temple, and was secure and safe under its shadow. This word then is to be extended to the whole land and people, when God says, “Forsaken have I nay house;” that is, “Though I have hitherto chosen for myself an habitation among the Jews, yet I now leave them.” He then adds, Left have I my heritage (The verbs עזב oseb, and נטש nuthesh, have nearly the same meaning; the one is to forsake, and the other is to leave) This distinction was a great honor to the Jews; and hence, how much soever they kindled God’s wrath against themselves, they yet, thought that they were safe as it were by privilege, inasmuch as they were the heritage of God. The Prophet. concedes to them this distinction, but shews how vain it was, for God had departed from them.
He then says, Given have I the desire or the love of my soul, (62) etc. The word ידידות, ididut, may be rendered love; but in Latin we may render it darling, (delitias:) the darling then of my soul have I put in the land of her enemies; for the pronoun is in the feminine gender. We hence see what is the subject here; for God intended to deprive the Jews of their vain confidence, and thus to humble and subdue them, so that they might know that no empty and vain titles would be of any help to them. These titles or distinctions he indeed concedes to them, but not without some degree of irony; for he at the same time shews that all this in which they gloried would avail them nothing when God executed on them his vengeance. But further, this passage contains an implied reproof to the Jews for their ingratitude, inasmuch as they were not retained in their obedience to God by benefits so remarkable; for how great was the honor of being called the heritage and the house of God, and even the beloved of his soul? They had deserved no such honor. As then God had manifested towards them such incomparable love, as he had rendered himself more than a father to them, was it not a wickedness in every way inexcusable, not to respond to so great a love, and that gratuitous, and also to so great a liberality? for what more could God have done than to call thenl the darling of his soul?
We hence see that the sin of the people is greatly amplified by these distinctions, on account of which they yet fostered their pride; as though he had said, “These words indeed are ready on your tongues, — that ye are God’s heritage, and sanctuary, and his love; but ye are for this very reason the more abominable, because ye respond not to God’s love and bountiful dealings: He has favored you with incredible love, he has raised you to very great honor, and yet ye despise him and perversely resist his teaching, nor can ye bear him to govern you.” We now then see what instruction may be gathered from these words. It follows —
(62) “My beloved soul” is the version of the Septuagint, Vulgate, and Arabic, but very improperly; the Syriac is “the beloved of my soul.” The three first versions betoken an ignorance of the construction of the Hebrew language. To express their idea, “beloved” must have followed “soul,” and not preceded it. Besides, the word for “beloved” is in the plural number, but used as delitice in Latin, to express great affection; and it ought to be rendered, the very dear, or the very beloved, of my soul. — Ed.
Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary
IV. THE PAIN OF GOD Jer. 12:7-13
TRANSLATION
(7) I have forsaken My house, I have left My inheritance; I have given the beloved of My soul into the hands of her enemies. (8) My inheritance has become to Me like a lion in the woods; she has raised against Me her voice; therefore I hated her. (9) Has My inheritance become to Me a many-colored bird of prey? Are birds of prey gathered against her? Go, gather all the beasts of the field, bring them to devour. Many shepherds have destroyed My vineyard; they have trodden underfoot My portion. They have made My pleasant portion a desolate wilderness. (11) He has made it a desolation, it mourns before Me being desolate; desolate is all the land, for there were none who took it to heart. (12) Upon all the bare heights in the wilderness the spoilers have come; for the LORD has a sword which devours from one end of the land unto the other: so there is no safety for anyone. (13) They have sown wheat and have reaped thorns; they pained themselves, they have not profited. Be ashamed because of your increases, because of the fierce anger of the LORD.
COMMENTS
Most commentators have failed to note how Jer. 12:7-13 is related to its context. The passage is usually wrenched from its connection with the preceding prayer and treated as a separate unit from a much later period of the prophets ministry. Cheyne, for example, feels that the passage is descriptive and not predictive and assigns it to the period of the guerrilla warfare against Jerusalem (2Ki. 24:1-2). The present writer believes that Jer. 12:7-13 is part of Gods answer to the prayer of Jeremiah and therefore is to be assigned to the early years of Jehoiakim. This, of course, means that the passage is predictive. God is describing the destruction and desolation which will shortly befall His people. The future is known to God and therefore He can describe in the past tense what to man is yet future.
One of the basic ways in which God deals with self-pity in the Scriptures is to place His heaviness of heart in contrast to the sometimes petty and inappropriate depression of His servants. By learning that God suffers because of the sin and consequent destruction of His people, the man of God comes to realize that the persecution and trial which he experiences is really nothing compared to what God must bear. In Jer. 12:7-13 one can feel the pain of God as He speaks of the ruination of My house, My inheritance, My pleasant portion, and the beloved of My soul. Jeremiah, wallowing in self-pity because his family and friends were opposing him, needed to learn how much God suffers when His beloved people rise up in open rebellion against Him. Jeremiah, who had called for the hasty execution of divine judgment upon his enemies, needed to realize how much it grieves God to pour out His wrath. Brash young preachers and discouraged old saints would do well to meditate long on this paragraph.
Only with great reluctance did God give His beloved nation over into the hands of their enemies (Jer. 12:7). As the lion in the woods challenges those who come near, so Judah has raised up her voice in open defiance against God. God therefore hates Judah, i.e., He treats Judah as though she were an object of His hatred. To interpret hate here in the absolute sense would be to contradict what has just been said, viz., that Judah is the beloved of God (Jer. 12:7). I hate her is the strongest possible way of saying that God withdrew His love for Judah when He gave her into the power of her enemies. In astonishment God asks if Judah has become in respect to Him a many-colored bird of prey. Other birds of prey would gather about such a queer looking bird and pluck it to pieces. All the scavenger beasts of the field are bidden to come and join in devouring the strange looking bird (Jer. 12:9). In Isa. 56:9 the wild beasts are symbolic of the heathen powers employed by God to chastise His people (cf. Eze. 34:5).
One can sense the pathos as God continues to describe what has and will befall the nation of Judah. Human shepherds, political rulers both foreign and native, have destroyed the vineyard of the Lord, Israel and Judah. By their actions they have made the pleasant portion of God, the land of Judah, a desolate wilderness (Jer. 12:10). Because he, i.e., the enemy, has made the land a desolation, the land mourns, unable to produce its fruit. The land mourns before Me, literally, upon me. Freedman suggests that this phrase be rendered to My grief.[195] God is grieved over the condition of His land. Yet none of the leaders of the nation are concerned about the impending disaster for there were none who took it to heart (Jer. 12:11). Even in the most remote areas of the land the sword of divine judgment wielded by the enemy will do its deadly work. No one is safe from the spoiler (Jer. 12:12). Why will all of this tragedy befall Judah? By use of a common proverb Jeremiah gives the answer: They have sown wheat, but they have reaped thorns. The leaders of Judah have plotted, schemed, planned, worked and invested in formulating what they believed to be an adequate national policy. Unfortunately they had planted their wheat without divine direction and consequently their harvest would be one of thorns, i.e., humiliation, ruin, destruction and death. Of such a harvest they would be ashamed for it clearly indicates that they are under the wrath of God (Jer. 12:13).
[195] Freedman, op cit., p. 90.
Fuente: College Press Bible Study Textbook Series
(7) 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 arranged without the devices of headings and titles and spaces with which modern bookmaking has made us familiar. So far as a sequence of thought is traceable, it is this, Thou complainest of thine own sufferings, but there are worse things yet in store for thee; and what after all are thine, as compared with those that I, Jehovah, have brought upon mine heritage, dear as it is to me?
I have left.Better, I have cast away.
Into the hand.Literally, the palm, as given over utterly, unable to resist, and not needing the grasp of the whole hand.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
ISRAEL’S CONSPIRACY PUNISHED, Jer 12:7-13.
7. The whole passage (Jer 12:7-17) is characterized by an obvious unity, and is throughout the language of Jehovah. Its connexion with what precedes is general rather than particular. The personal trials of Jeremiah had been foreshadowed, and here is set forth the general state of things out of which these trials would come.
I have forsaken These and the following perfects are used prophetically. It is done only in the divine purpose not actually executed.
House heritage dearly beloved All refer to the same subject, Judah. Language is too weak to carry the burden of God’s yearning tenderness for his people.
Into the hand Literally, the palm. The hand is the symbol of power; the palm of passive receptiveness.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
YHWH Has Forsaken His House And Rejected His Heritage Because Of What It Has Become, And Their Evil Neighbours Will Also Be Punished, But Even For Them There Will Be Hope In The Future If They Turn To YHWH ( Jer 12:7-17 ).
In Jer 11:15 YHWH had asked what right ‘His beloved’ had in His house when she had done evil deeds. Now He declared that He had forsaken His house and had rejected His heritage, and had in effect given the beloved of his soul into the hands of their enemies. As a result Judah would be invaded by her neighbours and devastated. But then He warned that those very neighbours would also be brought into judgment and would themselves be exiled, only to be restored later and given the opportunity to become worshippers of YHWH. This prophecy would appear to reflect the time towards the end of Jehoiakim’s reign when, after he had withheld tribute, Babylon urged all Judah’s neighbours to begin to ravage Judah, along with local Babylonian contingents (2Ki 24:2).
There is a reminder here that in all that YHWH did to His people, His final purpose was for them to be a witness to the nations, something later remarkably fulfilled at Pentecost and through the early Jewish church.
YHWH Has Forsaken His House And Rejected His Heritage.
Jer 12:7
‘I have forsaken my house,
I have cast off my heritage,
I have given the dearly beloved of my soul,
Into the hand of her enemies.’
It is an open question whether ‘I have forsaken My house’ is speaking about the Temple, as suggested by Jer 11:15, or whether it signifies the people of Judah in parallel with ‘My heritage’. In view of Jer 11:15, which clearly refers to the Temple, and with that being also the only other place where Judah are called YHWH’s beloved we would favour the former, but it makes little difference to the overall impact which is that Judah have been cast off and forsaken and will be handed over to their enemies. The idea of Judah being YHWH’s heritage looks back to their deliverance from Egypt (see verses below). The idea of Judah as the ‘dearly beloved of YHWH’s soul’ indicates just how much Judah’s desertion had cost Him, and how hard it was for Him to hand her over to her enemies. Because of His underlying compassion God’s judgments are not easy for Him to carry out.
This was an assurance, in the face of the warning that He had given Jeremiah that he would be forsaken by his own household, that He too was a loser in the situation. He too was losing His House and His people Whom He loved.
For the idea of Israel/Judah as ‘My heritage’ see Deu 4:20; Deu 9:29; Deu 32:9 ; 1Sa 10:1; 1Ki 8:51; 1Ki 8:53; Psa 33:12; Psa 78:62; Psa 78:71; Psa 94:5; Psa 94:14; Psa 106:5; Psa 106:40; Isa 19:25; Isa 47:6; Isa 63:17; Joe 2:17; Joe 3:2; Mic 7:18. It will be noted that the idea is not found in the traditionally later prophets, perhaps because the people were no longer seen in that way, having been ‘cast off’.
Jer 12:8
‘My heritage is become to me,
Like a lion in the forest.
She has uttered her voice against me,
Therefore I have hated her (loved her less).’
In this startling image Judah are seen as standing like a belligerent lion, roaring at YHWH as though He was their enemy. His heritage had so turned against Him and were so lost to all that was good, that she defied Him to His face. This was why YHWH’s love for her was waning (the word for ‘hated’ regularly means ‘loved less’, as Jacob loved Rachel and loved Leah less. He did not actually hate Leah – Gen 29:30-31). His case was similar to Jeremiah’s. God never calls on us to face what He has not faced Himself.
In Consequence His Heritage Is At His Behest Surrounded By Enemies Who Will One And All Press In On His Vineyard To Destroy It.
Jer 12:9
‘Is my heritage to me like a speckled bird of prey?
Are the birds of prey against her round about?
Go you, assemble all the beasts of the field,
Bring them to devour.
It is a well known natural phenomenon that when a strange bird which is different in some way from all the others comes among other birds they will pursue it with loud cries and even attack it. The distinction and strangeness of this particular bird is brought out here by describing it as ‘speckled’. In consequence the other unspeckled birds of prey (warrior nations) are seen as turning on speckled Judah. And to further her mortification the scavengers among the wild beasts (further war-like nations on the lookout for booty) are called in as well to assist in devouring her (compare Isa 56:9). Poor speckled Judah, she is to be the victim of them all.
Jer 12:10
Many shepherds have destroyed my vineyard,
They have trodden my portion under foot,
They have made my pleasant portion,
A desolate wilderness.
The picture now changes from birds of prey to shepherds, representing the kings of the nations, who often described themselves as the shepherds of their people (compare Isa 31:4; Isa 44:28; Mic 5:5; Nah 3:18). Many ‘shepherds’ will come in and tread YHWH’s portion, His land, under foot. Indeed they will make His pleasant portion desolate because His people have brought it on themselves.
Jer 12:11
‘They have made it a desolation,
It mourns unto me, being desolate,
The whole land is made desolate,
Because no man lays it to heart.’
The total desolation of the land that is coming is brought out by the threefold repetition. It is made desolate, it mourns because it is desolate, the whole land is made desolate. And this happens because no one cares, no one comes to Judah’s aid. All her alliances have collapsed in the face of her behaviour.
Jer 12:12
‘Destroyers are come on all the bare heights in the wilderness,
For the sword of YHWH devours,
From the one end of the land even to the other end of the land,
No flesh has peace.
The invasion will be so massive that every square centimetre of land will be covered, even the bare heights of the wilderness which, with their idol sanctuaries, have had their part to play in Judah’s sins. And there the sword of YHWH, wielded by their enemies, will devour the people from one end of the land to the other. No one will have peace and wellbeing. All will be targets.
Jer 12:13
‘They have sown wheat, and have reaped thorns,
They have put themselves to pain, and profit nothing,
And you will be ashamed of your fruits,
Because of the fierce anger of YHWH.’
In Jer 4:3 they had been warned not to sow among thorns. But they had not listened and had sown their wheat among the thorns. Now therefore when they went to reap they found themselves reaping thorns. The idea is of course parabolic. Because they had failed to purify their lives, they are reaping what is both useless and painful. Thus all the efforts that they had put into profiting their lives are now revealed to have produced nothing. All is despoiled. And what is more they will be ashamed of the fruits of their lives, their sin and idolatry, because they are aware that as a result the fierce anger of YHWH is directed against them.
However, it would be just as true physically. Shut up in their besieged cities their fields would become beset by thorns which would choke out the carefully sown grain. All their labours would be in vain, and there would only be shame when the harvest was considered, except that in the end there would be no harvest. For those who survived would be carried away captive when their cities were taken. What happens to us spiritually very often affects our physical lives in the same way.
But Those Invaders Will Themselves Also Be Called To Account And Will Be Exiled.
From this point on it is YHWH Who is speaking. It will be noticeable how often His words mingle with the words of Jeremiah. For the truth is that the two are one, because when Jeremiah speaks he speaks ‘the word of YHWH’.
The stress here is on the fact that it has to be remembered what these invaders have done. They have committed sacrilege. They have attacked YHWH’s heritage (Jer 12:7-8)! They have taken possession of His firstfruits (Jer 2:3)! They have thus given evidence that although physically circumcised they are not circumcised in heart (Jer 9:25-26). And as a result they have dared to ‘touch’ something sacred, the land which YHWH not only gave to Israel/Judah as an inheritance, but ‘caused them to inherit’. It had been YHWH’s will that Israel/Judah should inherit it. It will therefore be necessary for the invaders also to be punished because they have opposed YHWH.
Jer 12:14
“Thus says YHWH against all my evil neighbours,
Who touch the inheritance which I have caused my people Israel to inherit,
Behold, I will pluck them up from off their land,
And will pluck up the house of Judah from among them.”
Because they have done the things described above, the invading neighbours also will be plucked from their land and carried away into exile, just as Judah is to be plucked up. All will be treated in the same way, Judah because she had destroyed the covenant, the remainder because they had without compunction touched what was sacred, YHWH’s people. It is not said that they would all be exiled to Babylon, only that they would be turned out of their own lands, and there can be little doubt from their histories that this was literally fulfilled.
Some see ‘I will pluck up the house of Judah from among them’ as referring to Judah/Israel’s later deliverance from exile with the idea that the neighbouring nations will languish while the people of Judah are delivered. However, as in Jer 12:15 all are to be restored to their lands it appears to us more likely that it is the coming exile of the house of Judah that is in mind.
Afterwards, However, YHWH Will Have Compassion On Them And Restore Them To Their Lands.
But as happens so often in the prophets, after the judgment comes mercy. Some time in the future YHWH will have compassion on these neighbouring nations, and on Judah, and will restore them to their lands.
Jer 12:15
“And it will come about after I have plucked them up,
That I will return and have compassion on them,
And I will bring them again, every man to his heritage,
And every man to his land.”
YHWH’s compassion is not only for His people, it is for all peoples. Thus after these peoples have been plucked up, they will be returned again to the place of their inheritance and to their land. The decrees of Cyrus that allowed the Jews to return to Jerusalem and its surrounding areas also allowed for the return of other peoples to their own lands. And there would be an even greater fulfilment for those who respond to the call of Christ when they inherit their portion in the new Heaven and the new earth and are at peace with God.
Then If They Listen To His People And Turn To YHWH They Will Be Built Up Among Them, But If They Refuse To Listen They Will Be Plucked Up And Destroyed.
Jer 12:16-17
‘And it will come about, if they will diligently learn the ways of my people,
To swear by my name, ‘As YHWH lives’,
Even as they taught my people to swear by Baal,
Then will they be built up in the midst of my people.
But if they will not hear, then will I pluck up that nation,
Plucking up and destroying it, the word of YHWH.”
And once the people have returned to their own land they will once more have before their eyes the witness and testimony of Israel. Then if they will respond to that teaching, and will learn to swear by the living God (nations always swore in court by the god whom they saw as most important), in the same way as they had taught Israel to swear by Baal, then they would be built up in the midst of His people. This was initially allowing for the many proselytes who would later become Jews in the inter-testamental period, including both Edomites who had fled to southern Judah and had been forced to become Jews under John Hyrcanus, and Gentiles in and around Galilee who were similarly ‘persuaded’ to become Jews in the days of the Maccabees. It would also find fulfilment in the witness of the early Jewish church through which large numbers of the peoples responded voluntarily to YHWH, and to Jesus Christ, the son of David. The new Israel of God became the foundation on which they were built and the household of which they became a part.
Such response would depend on the faith of the hearers, and thus those who did not respond would again be plucked up and destroyed. And this was the word of YHWH. It will be noted how what is spoken of here lays the foundation for the preaching of the Gospel, when salvation will depend on responsive faith, and rejection of salvation will ensure judgment. It is promising a fulfilment of all YHWH’s promises of salvation for the Gentiles (see Isa 42:6; Isa 49:6).
Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett
Israel Spoiled by the Enemies
v. 7. I have forsaken Mine house, v. 8. Mine heritage is unto Me as a lion in the forest, v. 9. Mine heritage is unto Me as a speckled bird, v. 10. Many pastors, v. 11. They have made it desolate, v. 12. The spoilers are come upon all high places through the wilderness, v. 13. They,
Fuente: The Popular Commentary on the Bible by Kretzmann
I hope that I do not use any violence to this passage, neither strain the holy scripture, when I say, that after everything which may be said, in allusion here to Israel, I venture to consider somewhat infinitely higher, and more interesting is intended from it. May we not suppose, that it is the language of God the Father in respect to his dear Son given up into the hands of wicked men, for the purposes of redemption? At all events we know, that the Lord so speaketh, concerning Christ. Isa 42:1 ; Joh 3:16 .
Fuente: Hawker’s Poor Man’s Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
Jer 12:7 I have forsaken mine house, I have left mine heritage; I have given the dearly beloved of my soul into the hand of her enemies.
Ver. 7. I have forsaken my house. ] A man’s house is dear to him, dearer his heritage, dearest his well beloved wife. Jerusalem had been all this to God, but now for sin abandoned by him.
I have given the dearly beloved of my soul.
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
NASB (UPDATED) TEXT: Jer 12:7-13
7I have forsaken My house,
I have abandoned My inheritance;
I have given the beloved of My soul
Into the hand of her enemies.
8My inheritance has become to Me
Like a lion in the forest;
She has roared against Me;
Therefore I have come to hate her.
9Is My inheritance like a speckled bird of prey to Me?
Are the birds of prey against her on every side?
Go, gather all the beasts of the field,
Bring them to devour!
10Many shepherds have ruined My vineyard,
They have trampled down My field;
They have made My pleasant field
A desolate wilderness.
11It has been made a desolation,
Desolate, it mourns before Me;
The whole land has been made desolate,
Because no man lays it to heart.
12On all the bare heights in the wilderness
Destroyers have come,
For a sword of the LORD is devouring
From one end of the land even to the other;
There is no peace for anyone.
13They have sown wheat and have reaped thorns,
They have strained themselves to no profit.
But be ashamed of your harvest
Because of the fierce anger of the LORD.
Jer 12:7-13 This is written in a characteristic poetic form which has three beats followed by two beats, denoting a funeral dirge or lament. The VERBS, all mostly PERFECTS, denote a completed action. YHWH’s attitude is set on judgment because Judah’s attitude is set on sin! In this section God is described as a broken-hearted husband (i.e., I have come to hate her, Jer 12:8). This is very similar to Jer 8:18 to Jer 9:16 and Hos 11:8-9.
One wonders if Jer 12:7-8 is theologically related to Jer 12:5-6. As Jeremiah was painfully and loudly rejected by his own hometown, YHWH is rejected by His own. As Jeremiah’s hometown cries against him, YHWH’s people roar against Him. It is possible that Jer 12:6, line 3, is a hunting metaphor, if so, then the animals searching prey in Jer 12:9 are a literary parallel.
Notice the series of covenant terms used by God to describe Judah:
1. My house (cf. Jer 11:15; Hos 8:1; Hos 9:15)
2. My inheritance (cf. Jer 12:7-9; Jer 2:7; Jer 50:11)
3. Beloved of My soul (cf. Jer 11:15)
4. My vineyard (cf. Isaiah 5)
5. My pleasant field (cf. Jer 3:19)
Jer 12:7 Notice the parallelism of. Jer 12:7. YHWH has
1. forsaken – BDB 736, KB 806, Qal PERFECT
2. abandoned – BDB 643, KB 695, Qal PERFECT
3. given – BDB 678, KB 733, Qal PERFECT
His people into the hand (see Special Topic: Hand ) of foreign invaders!
Jer 12:8-9 YHWH has rejected them because
1. they became as a lion to Him, Jer 12:8
2. they became as a bird of prey, Jer 12:9
The result is that YHWH’s love, mercy, and care have changed to hate (cf. Hos 9:15; Amo 6:8).
Jer 12:9 My inheritance like a speckled bird of prey to Me The interpretive question is about the word speckled (BDB 840, KB 997), which is found only here. It can denote colored (BDB 840, cf. Jdg 5:30), therefore,
1. hyena
2. speckled bird of prey (NRSV, NKJV)
JPSOA translates the phrase as like a bird of prey [or] hyena (cf. NJB). The LXX translates it as a hyena’s cave. The UBS Text Project gives speckled an A Rating, but suggests translating it as (is my heritage to me) a hyena’s lair (with birds of prey [hovering] all about it, p. 214). This is how REB translates it.
The enemies described here seem to refer to the surrounding nations which were a part of the mercenary army of Neo-Babylon (cf. 2Ki 24:2).
The last two lines of Jer 12:9 have three IMPERATIVES which are the consequences of covenant violations (cf. Deu 28:64). The birds and beasts shall eat the flesh of the fallen of Judah (cf. Jer 7:33; Jer 15:3; Jer 16:4; Jer 19:7; Jer 34:20; Psa 79:2; Isa 18:6; Isa 56:9).
1. go – BDB 229, KB 246, Qal IMPERATIVE
2. gather – BDB 62, KB 74, Qal IMPERATIVE
3. bring – BDB 87, KB 102, Hiphil IMPERATIVE
Jer 12:10 Many shepherds have ruined My vineyard Shepherds refers to the spiritual leaders of Judah (cf. Jer 2:8; Jer 10:21; Eze 34:1-10). But, because of the context, it could refer to foreign alliances (cf. Jer 6:3).
Jer 12:11 it mourns before Me
The whole land has been made desolate There is a repetition of the root (BDB 1031, cf. Jer 12:10, line 4).
1. a FEMININE SINGULAR NOUN – BDB 1031
2. a FEMININE SINGULAR ADJECTIVE – BDB 1031
3. a Niphal PERFECT VERB – BDB 1030, KB 1563)
The NASB Study Bible (p. 1075, footnote) mentions that in Jer 12:11 there are seven s sound words and seven n sound words. See Special Topic: Hebrew Poetry .
Here again (cf. Jer 12:4) is the theological emphasis on the land (personified) being affected by human sin (cf. Leviticus 26; Deuteronomy 27-28; Rom 5:12-21; Rom 8:18-22).
Because no man lays it to heart This line can have one of two orientations.
1. Judah sinned and did not repent so the land suffered (cf. Isa 42:25).
2. There was no righteous person to intercede on Judah’s behalf (cf. Jer 5:1; Isa 59:16; Eze 22:30).
Jer 12:12 On all the bare heights in the wilderness This could refer to
1. judgment coming from the desert winds, cf. Jer 4:11-13
2. the place of Ba’al worship, cf. Jer 2:20; Jer 3:2; Jer 3:6; Jer 17:2; Deu 12:2-3
3. invaders capturing the caravan trails (see NASB, NJB footnote) or passes (heights, BDB 1046, cf. Jer 14:6) through the Judean highlands
a sword of the LORD is devouring Remember, this was not the power of the foreign invaders or their gods, but the punishing power of YHWH (cf. Jer 51:15-23; Isa 10:5).
There is no peace for anyone This may be a play on the message of the false prophets who said Peace, peace (cf. Jer 8:11). The term anyone is literally all flesh and could refer to animals and humans. All were suffering because of Judah’s idolatry.
Jer 12:13 They have sown wheat and have reaped thorns There have been three ways to understand this.
1. The farmers sowed but because of the invasion there was no one to work the fields so weeds and thorns flourished (cf. Lev 26:16; Deu 28:38).
2. There was a series of drought seasons (cf. Jer 12:4; Jer 14:2-4).
3. Human effort without God will come to naught (cf. Psa 108:12; Psa 127:1-2).
But be ashamed of your harvest This is a Qal IMPERATIVE (BDB 101, KB 116) which refers to their idolatry. They were reaping the results of willful, continual covenant violations (cf. Jer 11:20; Jer 17:10).
Fuente: You Can Understand the Bible: Study Guide Commentary Series by Bob Utley
the dearly beloved. Hebrew. love. Put by Figure of speech. Metonymy (of Adjunct), App-6, for one loved.
My soul = I Myself (emphatic). Hebrew. nephesh. App-13. Figure of speech. Anthropopatheia. App-6.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
Jer 12:7-13
Jer 12:7-9
GOD’S REJECTION OF THE CHOSEN PEOPLE
I have forsaken my house, I have cast off my heritage; I have given the dearly beloved of my soul into the hand of her enemies. My heritage is become unto me as a lion in the forest: she hath uttered her voice against me; therefore I have hated her. Is my heritage unto me as a speckled bird of prey? are the birds of prey against her round about? go ye, assemble all the beasts of the field, bring them to devour.
I have forsaken my house…
(Jer 12:7). The word house in the Old Testament is almost invariably used of the temple; and we believe that is what it means here. R. Payne Smith declared the meaning here to be, Not the temple, but Israel and Judah; and since then, many scholars have followed his lead. Thompson attempted to justify the interpretation by pointing out that it is parallel to ‘my heritage’ in the next clause; and while it is true enough that adjacent clauses are indeed often parallel in the Bible, they are not always so. Sharpen the arrows, take up the shields (Jer 51:11) is one of many examples; and we believe the parallelism here is another. Matthew Henry agreed with this and gave the meaning of forsaken my house as, A reference to the temple, which had been his palace; but they had polluted it and forced God out of it.
It is certainly true that God did indeed forsake the temple; and God gives an account of his doing so in Ezekiel (Eze 10:17). Furthermore, God never more returned to any earthly temple; but he did come with the rushing sound of a mighty wind on the day of Pentecost to dwell in his true temple, the Church of our Lord.
Thus the two teachings in Jer 12:7 are (1) the Lord removed his presence, or Spirit, from the Jewish temple, and (2) he forsook the apostate nation, the “righteous remnant” alone being excepted.
She hath uttered her voice against me…
(Jer 12:8). In context, this means that the Chosen People had roared like a lion against God Himself! Judah had not merely become disobedient, but had become intractable and fierce like an untamed lion. She had uttered vicious blasphemies against him and had preferred the reprobate worship of the Baalim to the way of the Lord.
Is my heritage unto me as a speckled bird of prey? are the birds of prey against her round about…
(Jer 12:9)? The Hebrew word here rendered ‘bird of prey’ in both places means ‘a carrion bird,’ … probably some kind of vulture is meant. Birds attack other birds of unfamiliar plumage; so Israel, differing from other nations, is attacked by them. At any rate, the total destruction of the Once Chosen nation is prophetically announced in the figure of the beasts of the field being called in to eat her remains.
Jer 12:10-13
Many shepherds have destroyed my vineyard, they have trodden my portion under foot, they have made my pleasant portion a desolate wilderness. They have made it a desolation; it mourneth unto me, being desolate; the whole land is made desolate, because no man layeth it to heart. Destroyers are come upon all the bare heights in the wilderness; for the sword of Jehovah devoureth from the one end of the land even to the other end of the land: no flesh hath peace. They have sown wheat, and have reaped thorns; they have put themselves to pain, and profit nothing: and ye shall be ashamed of your fruits, because of the fierce anger of Jehovah.
Desolate… desolation… Desolate. (Jer 12:10-11). This is the prophetic picture of the result of God’s punishment of his Once Beloved Israel. The destruction is so thorough that the very land itself is depicted as mourning over it.
Because no man layeth it to heart…
(Jer 12:11). This actually should be translated, ‘Because no man laid it to heart’; had the people laid it to heart this sad state of things would have been averted. It was the indifference and unconcern of the Chosen People that led to their ruin.
THE PAIN OF GOD Jer 12:7-13
Most commentators have failed to note how Jer 12:7-13 is related to its context. The passage is usually wrenched from its connection with the preceding prayer and treated as a separate unit from a much later period of the prophets ministry. Cheyne, for example, feels that the passage is descriptive and not predictive and assigns it to the period of the guerrilla warfare against Jerusalem (2Ki 24:1-2). The present writer believes that Jer 12:7-13 is part of Gods answer to the prayer of Jeremiah and therefore is to be assigned to the early years of Jehoiakim. This, of course, means that the passage is predictive. God is describing the destruction and desolation which will shortly befall His people. The future is known to God and therefore He can describe in the past tense what to man is yet future.
One of the basic ways in which God deals with self-pity in the Scriptures is to place His heaviness of heart in contrast to the sometimes petty and inappropriate depression of His servants. By learning that God suffers because of the sin and consequent destruction of His people, the man of God comes to realize that the persecution and trial which he experiences is really nothing compared to what God must bear. In Jer 12:7-13 one can feel the pain of God as He speaks of the ruination of My house, My inheritance, My pleasant portion, and the beloved of My soul. Jeremiah, wallowing in self-pity because his family and friends were opposing him, needed to learn how much God suffers when His beloved people rise up in open rebellion against Him. Jeremiah, who had called for the hasty execution of divine judgment upon his enemies, needed to realize how much it grieves God to pour out His wrath. Brash young preachers and discouraged old saints would do well to meditate long on this paragraph.
Only with great reluctance did God give His beloved nation over into the hands of their enemies (Jer 12:7). As the lion in the woods challenges those who come near, so Judah has raised up her voice in open defiance against God. God therefore hates Judah, i.e., He treats Judah as though she were an object of His hatred. To interpret hate here in the absolute sense would be to contradict what has just been said, viz., that Judah is the beloved of God (Jer 12:7). I hate her is the strongest possible way of saying that God withdrew His love for Judah when He gave her into the power of her enemies. In astonishment God asks if Judah has become in respect to Him a many-colored bird of prey. Other birds of prey would gather about such a queer looking bird and pluck it to pieces. All the scavenger beasts of the field are bidden to come and join in devouring the strange looking bird (Jer 12:9). In Isa 56:9 the wild beasts are symbolic of the heathen powers employed by God to chastise His people (cf. Eze 34:5).
One can sense the pathos as God continues to describe what has and will befall the nation of Judah. Human shepherds, political rulers both foreign and native, have destroyed the vineyard of the Lord, Israel and Judah. By their actions they have made the pleasant portion of God, the land of Judah, a desolate wilderness (Jer 12:10). Because he, i.e., the enemy, has made the land a desolation, the land mourns, unable to produce its fruit. The land mourns before Me, literally, upon me. Freedman suggests that this phrase be rendered to My grief.” God is grieved over the condition of His land. Yet none of the leaders of the nation are concerned about the impending disaster for there were none who took it to heart (Jer 12:11). Even in the most remote areas of the land the sword of divine judgment wielded by the enemy will do its deadly work. No one is safe from the spoiler (Jer 12:12). Why will all of this tragedy befall Judah? By use of a common proverb Jeremiah gives the answer: They have sown wheat, but they have reaped thorns. The leaders of Judah have plotted, schemed, planned, worked and invested in formulating what they believed to be an adequate national policy. Unfortunately they had planted their wheat without divine direction and consequently their harvest would be one of thorns, i.e., humiliation, ruin, destruction and death. Of such a harvest they would be ashamed for it clearly indicates that they are under the wrath of God (Jer 12:13).
Fuente: Old and New Testaments Restoration Commentary
have forsaken: Jer 11:15, Jer 51:5, Isa 2:6, Psa 78:59, Psa 78:60, Hos 9:15, Joe 2:15, Joe 3:2
I have given: Jer 7:14, Lam 2:1-22, Eze 7:20, Eze 7:21, Eze 24:21, Luk 21:24
dearly beloved: Heb. love
Reciprocal: 1Ki 9:9 – therefore 2Ki 21:14 – And I will Isa 6:12 – a great Jer 23:33 – I Jer 50:7 – have devoured Jer 51:19 – the rod Lam 1:5 – adversaries Zep 2:1 – O nation
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
Jer 12:7. This verse through the 13th should he marked as a bracket and labeled “the captivity,” then consider the comments on the several verses in their order. The captivity had not yet taken place but the Lord had actually forsaken his people and abandoned them to the enemy. It only remained for Babylon to carry out the program by coming against Jerusalem, and that great event was about due when this prediction was being written.
Fuente: Combined Bible Commentary
Jer 12:7. I have forsaken my house My temple, where I had placed my name. I have already withdrawn my favourable regard and presence from it, and shall withhold those manifestations of my power and goodness, which I have been wont to make to the people who come thither to worship me, and I will shortly give it up to utter desolation. I have left my heritage The whole body of my people, with respect to my special providence over them and care of them, which have been such that, in comparison with them, I might seem to neglect all other countries. I have given the dearly beloved of my soul, &c. That is, that nation, which was once my dearly beloved, precious in my sight, and honourable above any people; into the hands of her enemies I have determined to deliver her into their power, and they shall tyrannise over, oppress, and enslave her at their pleasure. God terms the Jewish nation his dearly beloved here, to aggravate their sin in returning him hatred for his love, and their folly and misery in throwing themselves out of the favour of one who had such a kindness for them, and was mighty to protect and save them.
Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
Jer 12:7-17. The Desolation of Judah by her Neighbours, and their Future.This isolated prophecy is most naturally referred to the events of 2Ki 24:1 f., when Jehoiakim had revolted against Nebuchadrezzar (c. 598). Yahweh laments His enforced abandonment of His house (a term here denoting the land rather than the Temple; cf. Hos 8:1; Hos 9:15), because Judah has challenged Him; now He sees hera speckled birdmarked out for the attack of her neighbours. Nomad invaders (the shepherds of Jer 12:10) have laid her waste, so that Yahweh Himself grieves; none has learnt the lesson in time. Jer 12:13 is difficult (read they shall be disappointed of their fruits, cf. mg.) because it does not suit the context; it must refer to the men of Judah. In Jer 12:14-17, Yahweh says that He will exile these neighbours (Syrians, Moabites, Ammonites), but they shall be brought back if converted to Judahs religion (for the oath in Jer 12:16; cf. Jer 4:2).
Jer 12:11. unto me: to my sorrow; cf. mg. of Gen 48:7 (Driver).
Fuente: Peake’s Commentary on the Bible
12:7 I have forsaken {g} my house, I have left my heritage; I have given the dearly beloved of my soul into the hand of her enemies.
(g) God wills the prophet to denounce his judgments against Jerusalem, even though they will both by threatenings and flatteries labour to silence him.
Fuente: Geneva Bible Notes
A lament about Yahweh’s ravaged inheritance 12:7-13
Many scholars believe this lament dates from the time when Jehoiakim revolted against Babylon after three years of submission (about 602 B.C.; cf. 2Ki 24:1-2). [Note: Feinberg, p. 459.]
"The second part of God’s reply is remarkable, saying in effect, ’Your tragedy is a miniature of mine.’" [Note: Kidner, p. 61.]
Fuente: Expository Notes of Dr. Constable (Old and New Testaments)
Yahweh mourned that He had forsaken the nation and abandoned His people to their captors (cf. Deu 9:29; Joe 2:17; Joe 3:2). [Note: ] He had turned over the nation-that He had loved like a husband loving his wife-to her enemies’ domination. The Hebrew verbs in this section are prophetic perfects, which view future events as already past. The "house" may refer to the people, the land, or the temple, but the meaning is the same in any case.