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NOTES for Jer 12:1-17

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1 Righteous art thou, O LORD, when I plead with thee: yet let me talk with thee of thy judgments: Wherefore doth the way of the wicked prosper? wherefore are all they happy that deal very treacherously?
2 Thou hast planted them, yea, they have taken root: they grow, yea, they bring forth fruit: thou art near in their mouth, and far from their reins.
3 But thou, O LORD, knowest me: thou hast seen me, and tried mine heart toward thee: pull them out like sheep for the slaughter, and prepare them for the day of slaughter.
4 How long shall the land mourn, and the herbs of every field wither, for the wickedness of them that dwell therein? the beasts are consumed, and the birds; because they said, He shall not see our last end.
5 If thou hast run with the footmen, and they have wearied thee, then how canst thou contend with horses? and if in the land of peace, wherein thou trustedst, they wearied thee, then how wilt thou do in the swelling of Jordan?
6 For even thy brethren, and the house of thy father, even they have dealt treacherously with thee; yea, they have called a multitude after thee: believe them not, though they speak fair words unto thee.
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.
14 Thus saith the LORD against all mine evil neighbours, that touch the inheritance which I have caused my people Israel to inherit; Behold, I will pluck them out of their land, and pluck out the house of Judah from among them.
15 And it shall come to pass, after that I have plucked them out I will return, and have compassion on them, and will bring them again, every man to his heritage, and every man to his land.
16 And it shall come to pass, if they will diligently learn the ways of my people, to swear by my name, The LORD liveth; as they taught my people to swear by Baal; then shall they be built in the midst of my people.
17 But if they will not obey, I will utterly pluck up and destroy that nation, saith the LORD.
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The question Jeremiah asks constantly arises for many, many people who over the centuries have watched the visible prosperity of the wicked, though, if you think about it, their prosperity is unreliable in the long run. And it is not only that the position of such people is unstable in itself, since today they are rich and tomorrow, for all anyone knows, they may be ruined; the prosperity they have achieved can also last a long time. But even the very duration of prosperity, if it is founded on sin, becomes a tense, drawn-out pause that will only underscore the inevitable collapse.

The Lord can put off the time of collapse, perhaps to give sinners time to come to their senses, or perhaps to give the innocent, like Lot leaving Sodom, the chance to get out from under the ruins in time. Yet sooner or later, what has appeared through evil and sin will receive the retribution that has grown out of the same evil and sin by which it was created. But even then sinners will still have the chance to repent and return to the Lord.

Other notes

 
For Jer 12:1-17
1 Righteous art thou, O LORD, when I plead with thee: yet let me talk with thee of thy judgments: Wherefore doth the way of the wicked prosper? wherefore are all they happy that deal very treacherously?
2 Thou hast planted them, yea, they have taken root: they grow, yea, they bring forth fruit: thou art near in their mouth, and far from their reins.
3 But thou, O LORD, knowest me: thou hast seen me, and tried mine heart toward thee: pull them out like sheep for the slaughter, and prepare them for the day of slaughter.
4 How long shall the land mourn, and the herbs of every field wither, for the wickedness of them that dwell therein? the beasts are consumed, and the birds; because they said, He shall not see our last end.
5 If thou hast run with the footmen, and they have wearied thee, then how canst thou contend with horses? and if in the land of peace, wherein thou trustedst, they wearied thee, then how wilt thou do in the swelling of Jordan?
6 For even thy brethren, and the house of thy father, even they have dealt treacherously with thee; yea, they have called a multitude after thee: believe them not, though they speak fair words unto thee.
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.
14 Thus saith the LORD against all mine evil neighbours, that touch the inheritance which I have caused my people Israel to inherit; Behold, I will pluck them out of their land, and pluck out the house of Judah from among them.
15 And it shall come to pass, after that I have plucked them out I will return, and have compassion on them, and will bring them again, every man to his heritage, and every man to his land.
16 And it shall come to pass, if they will diligently learn the ways of my people, to swear by my name, The LORD liveth; as they taught my people to swear by Baal; then shall they be built in the midst of my people.
17 But if they will not obey, I will utterly pluck up and destroy that nation, saith the LORD.
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Jeremiah’s grief merges with God’s grief: in this tragic lament of one rejected by his own people, it is difficult to distinguish...  Read more

Jeremiah’s grief merges with God’s grief: in this tragic lament of one rejected by his own people, it is difficult to distinguish God’s voice from the prophet’s own. The most terrible thing is happening: the people closest to them reject His faithfulness and love (and the prophet’s), reject their desire to draw nearer, and gladly destroy everything that has been built. God and man want to love, but receive hatred in return; this is an injury they share... Yet something is astonishing: Jeremiah urges God to show justice, punish the apostates as they deserve, and shatter the peace of his treacherous offenders. At the same time, he knows that God is more just than he himself, and this contradiction leaves him perplexed. What kind of God is this, whose love and judgment are so like—and at the same time so unlike—those of human beings?

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For Jer 12:7
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.
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In the Book of Psalms the sinners are very often compared with the stubble carried away by the wind. Such a comparison is completely justified, if we take into consideration his spiritual meaning: for, it is about what we usually call the spiritual fulfillment of man. And life itself is generally perceived in the Bible...  Read more

In the Book of Psalms the sinners are very often compared with the stubble carried away by the wind. Such a comparison is completely justified, if we take into consideration his spiritual meaning: for, it is about what we usually call the spiritual fulfillment of man. And life itself is generally perceived in the Bible, on one hand, as the breath, that God " breathed " the man " into nostrils" at the creation, and from the other part as the power filling man, while he is alive (in the King James Version translation it is generally called "the soul", although the Jewish corresponding word has few links with what we generally call today soul, having in mind the beginning of the personality of man).

When this power leaves the man, he dies, becomes a shadow, it remains from him only an empty shell of what he was before, in the world of the living. And however the fallen man (and people having a spiritual experience always felt it) involved in life not in such fullness, which would have been accessible to him, even in the state of non-transformation, whether he is free from sin.

The way of righteousness, bringing man closer to God, is called in the biblical books the way of life, and reason for which: it brings man closer to the Source of life and gives hope that one day, the one walking on this way will obtain life in all its fullness. The author of Ezra’s Book transfers these same representations on people in general.

But if it is applied to a concrete person, it will be necessary to speak about his earthly path, which ends with the death and the resurrection on the day of the Judgment, and if it is applied to a nation then it will be necessary to speak about its history, which has to end with the coming of the messianic Kingdom of the Messiah. But will the nation live until this day? Will it not scatter on the earth?

As we see, here also everything depends on the spiritual fullness. The historic death of the nation, quite as the physical death of a man, depends on this living power that God gives him, as well as He gives it to a concrete person. And quite as in the case with a concrete person, it depends only on the nation itself, how it will dispose of this gift of God.

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