Jeremiah 12:16

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...

We see that this refers to the Gentiles, who were previously aliens to the grace of God; nay, they entertained the most dire hatred towards his chosen people. In short, God declares that he would be merciful and propitious to these miserable nations, of whose salvation no hope was entertained, for they had been rejected by him, and they had oftell and long, and in various ways, provoked his vengeance; and though he speaks of neighbors, as we have seen, yet this prediction belongs generally to the whole world, and was at length fulfined in the call of the Gentiles; for God then gathered a Church indiscriminately both from the Jews and the Gentiles. But a condition is here laid down — If the Gentiles, who had hitherto opposed the true worship of God, received his law. We indeed know how much hated was true religion, especially by the neighboring nations; for their hatred was increased, bec...

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....

The accomplishment of this blessing depends upon both Judah and the Gentiles reversing their past conduct. Then shall the believing Gentile be admitted within the fold of the true, because spiritual, Israel - Christ’s Church....

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_....

AND IT SHALL COME TO PASS, IF THEY WILL DILIGENTLY LEARN THE WAYS OF MY PEOPLE,.... Not their evil ways of sin or superstition, they sometimes stray into; but the ways which God has prescribed to them, and has directed them to walk in, and in which they do walk; and which are to be learned of the Lord, by a diligent attendance with his people on his word and ordinances; see Isaiah 2:3: TO SWEAR BY MY NAME, THE LORD LIVETH; that is, to worship and serve the living God, a self-existent Being, who has life in himself, and of himself, and not another; and is the fountain, author, and giver of natural life to all creatures, and spiritual and eternal life to his true worshippers: swearing is here put for the whole of religious worship, as in Deuteronomy 6:13: (as they taught my

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....

AS. according as. rk; but. type of Christ's ascension, as is clear from Ephesians 4:8. LED. led in proc on. CAPTIVITY. Put by Figure of speech _Metonymy_ (of Adjunct), for captives. RECEIVED GIFTS FOR MEN. The Hebrew _lakah_ has. twofold meaning, i.e. _receiving_ and _giving._ Here the _Ellipsis_ must be supplied by the second, "received [and given] gifts among (or for) men". In Ephesians 4:8 the _Ellipsis_ must be supplied by the former, "Thou hast [received] and given gifts among (or for) men". "Among" is one of the recognized renderings _of Beth_ (= B) with. plural noun. (See Psalms 99:6;...

Jeremiah 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 2 Kings 24:1 f.), under the figure of birds of prey attacking one whose plumage attracts their attention as unusual. Du. places Jeremiah 12:14 in the 2nd cent. b.c. He considers "the evil neighbours" of...