Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Jeremiah 42:12
And I will show mercies unto you, that he may have mercy upon you, and cause you to return to your own land.
12. cause you to return ] better (seeing that they were already there), with a difference of vocalisation only in the original, cause you to dwell in.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
Or, I will give you compassion before (i. e., obtain pity from) the king of Babylon, and he shall have mercy upon you, and let you dwell upon your own soil.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
We are beholden to God for all the pity and compassion which we meet with from men, God inclineth their hearts, though we receive the kindness from their hands. The mercy which God here promiseth these men is, that the king of Babylon should give them a liberty to go every one of them to their own inheritances, for at present they were banished by their own fear, from their own houses, though not from their own country.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
12. show merciesrather, Iwill excite (in him) feelings of mercy towards you[CALVIN].
cause you to returnpermityou to return to the peaceable enjoyment of the possessions fromwhich you are wishing to withdraw through fear of the Chaldeans. Bydeparting in disobedience they should incur the very evils theywished thereby to escape; and by staying they should gain theblessings which they feared to lose by doing so.
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
And I will show mercies unto you,…. Bestow blessings of goodness upon them, out of pure mercy and compassion to them, and not according to their merits; or I will cause others to show mercy to them, even the king of Babylon, as follows: God shows mercy to men when he stirs up the compassion of others towards them:
that he may have mercy upon you; and not avenge the death of Gedaliah, or any way cruelly oppress them, but show them all the favour they could wish for or expect under such a government, and in such circumstances; giving them vineyards and fields, and allowing them to gather the fruits of them, and enjoy them:
and cause you to return to your own land: this is said, not of the captives in Babylon, as Kimchi and Abarbinel, since these were not to return till seventy years were ended; and when they did, it was not by the order and direction of the king of Babylon, but of the king of Persia: this is said of those who, from the time that Jerusalem had been besieged, had deserted their houses and fields, but should have liberty to return to them; or of those who more lately had been carried captive by Ishmael, from the places where they had settled, but should be returned to them again, and live peaceably and comfortably there under the government and protection of the king of Babylon.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
“I shall give you compassion,” i.e., obtain it for you, so that the king of Babylon will show pity on you; cf. Gen 43:14; 1Ki 8:50. J. D. Michaelis, Hitzig, Ewald, and Graf, following the lxx, Vulgate, and Syriac, would change into (make you dwell); but there is no necessity for this, since makes good enough sense, provided we refer it, not to the return of those who had been exiled to Babylon, but, as the connection requires, to the departure from Mizpah, after the half near Bethlehem, in the intended flight to Egypt; we must, besides, view this departure as a complete forsaking of their country, and the leaders in this emigration as being fugitives who had fled before the Chaldeans, and had returned only a short time before, for the purpose of settling down again in the country.
Fuente: Keil & Delitzsch Commentary on the Old Testament
He confirms the same thing in other words, I will shew mercies to you Some explain this as meaning, that God would be merciful towards them; and I allow that this is the first reason why they ought to have entertained hope; but I doubt not but that the Prophet refers here to Nebuchadnezzar, as though he had said, “I will turn the heart of the king of Babylon to mercy, so that he will deal mercifully with you.” For God is said to shew mercies, when he forgives, and when he reconciles those who have sinned to himself; but he is said also to shew mercies, when he inclines the hearts of men to mercy. For this reason Jacob says,
“
God will shew you mercies before the man.” (Gen 43:14)
But I abstain from other proofs on a point which ought to be well known.
The sum of what is said then is, that Nebuchadnezzar would be humane and merciful towards the Jews, because it was in God’s power to change his heart. For we know that God turns as he pleases the hearts of men; and he often changes wolves into sheep. The meaning then is, that though Nebuchadnezzar boiled with hatred towards the people, and was prepared wholly to destroy the remnant, there yet would be a remedy in God’s hand, for he could soften his hardness, pacify his wrath, and from a savage wild beast make him a father, merciful, as it were, towards his children.
Now this passage teaches us, that the hearts and purposes of men are governed by a power from above, so that enemies, even the worst, while they rage against us, are moved not only by their own feelings, but also by the hidden working of God, and according to his counsel, as he would have them thus to try our faith. For if God moderates those who boil with anger and wrath, and renders them placable to us; so also he lets loose the reins to those who rage against us, and not only so, but he also stirs them up, when his purpose is to punish us for our sins, according to the doctrine taught us everywhere in Scripture. So in Psa 106:0, it is said that God turned the hearts of the heathens to hate his people. But here, on the other hand, God promises, that Nebuchadnezzar would be kind and humane, so as to spare the Jews, because he would control his heart, and shew them mercy by inclining the king to forgive the people.
This then ought to be carefully noticed; for when we see ourselves surrounded on every side by the ungodly whom Satan drives to madness, so that they seek no other thing than to tread us under their feet, especially when they have the power to destroy us, except we feel fully assured, that their hearts, feelings, and all their thoughts are in God’s hands, we must necessarily be wholly disheartened. Hence to mitigate all our fears, it avails us much to hear that men’s hearts are turned and ruled according to the will of God. It now follows, —
Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary
(12) And cause you to return to your own land.The words admit of two interpretations(1) that they should be carried away to Babylon, as others had been, and should afterwards return to their own country; (2) that they (the remnant who had been allowed by Nebuzaradan to remain to till the soil) should at once be allowed to return each man to his own field and vineyard. The latter is clearly more in harmony with the prophets aim and temper, and it was probably in his purpose to intercede with their conquerors to this effect. The thought of a far-off exile as impending over them in the nearer future would hardly have induced them to remain where they were.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
Jer 42:12 And I will shew mercies unto you, that he may have mercy upon you, and cause you to return to your own land.
Ver. 12. And I will shew mercies unto you. ] Tender mercies, such as proceed from the heart, and of a parent, nay, a mother. This was more than all the rest.
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
land = soil.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
Neh 1:11, Psa 106:45, Psa 106:46, Pro 16:7
Reciprocal: Psa 85:7 – General
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
Jer 42:12. The particular ones to whom this message was given were yet in their own land, but the promise applied to their nation as a whole. The return of the nation from Babylon would mean a blessing to these individuals also.