Jeremiah 12:14

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. Prophecy as to the surrounding nations, the Syrians, Ammonites, etc., who helped forward Judah's calamity; their shall share her fall; and on their conversion they shall share with her in the future restoration. This is a brief anticipation of the predictions in Jeremiah 47:1; Jeremiah 48:1; Jeremiah 49:1. Verse 14. Thus saith the Lord against all mine evil neighbours that touch the inheritance which I have caused my people Israel to inherit...

The Prophet now begins to mitigate what might have beyond measure exasperated the minds of the people; and this he did, not so much for the sake of the people in general, as for the sake of the elect, a few of whom still remained. We have indeed seen that it was all over with the body of the people; for it had been said to Jeremiah, “Pray not for them, for I will not hear them,” (Jeremiah 11:14) The Prophet then knew the immutable purpose of God as to the mass of the people. Nor did he intend here to soften what might have appeared grievous in what he had taught. But as we have said elsewhere, and indeed often repeated, the prophets used reproofs only as to the whole community, and then spoke as it were apart to the elect; for there ever was a remnant among that people, inasmuch as God never suffered his covenant to be made void. As then the Church was stil

14-17 The Lord would plead the cause of his people against their evil neighbours. Yet he would afterwards show mercy to those nations, when they should learn true religion. This seems to look forward to the times when the fulness of the Gentiles shall come in. Those who would have their lot with God's people, and a last end like theirs, must learn their ways, and walk in them....

Verse Jeremiah 12:14. _AGAINST ALL MINE EVIL NEIGHBOURS_] All the neighbouring nations who have united in desolating Judea shall be desolated in their turn: they also are _wicked_, and they shall be punished. If I make them executors of my justice, it is to them no proof of my approbation. God often uses one wicked nation to scourge another; and afterwards scourges the scourger by some other scourge. In some places a felon who was condemned to be hanged is made the common hangman for the county; he himself being still under the sentence of death, - Till soon some trusty brother of the trade Shall do for _him_ what _he_ has done for _others_....

The prophet addresses the spoilers. EVIL NEIGHBORS - The Syrians, Edomites, Moabites, Ammonites, and Philistines, who at all times took advantage of Judah’s weakness. The special mercy to Judah was the prelude to mercy to the whole Gentile world....

EXPOSITION JEREMIAH 12:1 Painfully exercised by the mysteries of the Divine government, the prophet opens his grief to Jehovah. Righteous art thou, etc.; rather, _Righteous wouldest thou be_,_ O Jehovah_,_ if I should plead with thee_;_ i.e._ if I were to bring a charge against thee, I should be unable to convict thee of injustice (comp. Psalms 51:4; Job 9:2). The prophet, however, cannot refrain from laying before Jehovah a point which seems to him irreconcilable with the Divine righteousness. The rendering, indeed, must be modified. LET ME TALK WITH THEE OF THY JUDGMENTS should rather be, _yet will I debate questions of right with thee_....

THUS SAITH THE LORD AGAINST ALL MINE EVIL NEIGHBOURS,.... Or, "concerning" h them; the Egyptians, Philistines, Moabites, Ammonites, Edomites, Tyre, and Sidon; whom the Lord calls his "neighbours", because they were near the land of Canaan, where his people dwelt, to whom he vouchsafed his presence, and where the temple was in which he took up his residence; and his "evil" neighbours, because they often distressed and afflicted his people. THAT TOUCH THE INHERITANCE WHICH I HAVE CAUSED MY PEOPLE ISRAEL TO INHERIT; meaning not only that they bordered on the land of Canaan, and so might be said to touch it, but that they did hurt unto it; in which sense the word touch is used, Psalms 105:15, the land of Canaan was an inheritance which was distributed by lot to the children of Israel, who were a people dear unto the Lord, as this shows; and therefore they that touched them

CHAPTER 12 The Prophet's Prayer and the House Forsaken, Yet Compassion _ 1. The prophet's prayer (Jeremiah 12:1) 2. The house forsaken, yet compassion (Jeremiah 12:7) _ Jeremiah 12:1. In his outburst of grief and in great mental perplexity Jeremiah states the old question, why does the righteous man suffer, why does the wicked prosper? And then the prayer for His intervention. Such will be again the case with the godly remnant in the end of this present age. They will suffer and be persecuted as godly Jeremiah was and pray as Jeremiah prayed: “Pull them out like sheep for the slaughter, and prepare them for the day of slaughter.” The imprecatory psalms are of the same prophetic meaning. Jeh

THE DESOLATION OF JUDAH BY HER NEIGHBOURS, AND THEIR FUTURE. This isolated prophecy is most naturally referred to the events of 2 Kings 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._ Hosea 8:1; Hosea 9:15), because Judah has challenged Him; now He sees her a speckled bird marked out for the attack of her neighbours. Nomad invaders (the shepherds of Jeremiah 12:10) have laid her waste, so that Yahweh Himself grieves; none has learnt the lesson in time....

NEIGHBOURS. Egypt, Edom, Philistia, Amnion, and Moab. TO INHERIT. Reference to Pentateuch (Exodus 32:13). App-92....