Jeremiah 12:4

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. HOW LONG SHALL THE LAND MOURN - personification (; ). FOR THE WICKEDNESS - (, "A fruitful land (He turneth) into barrenness, for the wickedness of them that dwell therein"). BEASTS - (). HE SHALL NOT SEE OUR LAST END - Yahweh knows not what is about to happen to us (). (Rosenmuller.) So Septua...

Jeremiah confirms the former sentence and more strongly reproves the Jews, who still continued obstinately to despise what he had said: “What do you mean, he says? for God’s judgment appears as to brute beasts and birds; and what have birds and sheep and oxen deserved? Ye know that there is no fault in miserable animals, and yet the curse of God is through them set before you; ye see that God is offended with brute animals, but the fault is doubtless in you. And will God spare you, when he has already begun, and long ago begun to inflict punishment on innocent animals? how can he hear with you to the end, who are full of so many and the most atrocious sins?” This then is a confirmation of his former doctrine. And hence we also learn that he did not speak for his own sake, nor express his own private feelings, but that he defended the doctrine which he had announced, that the Jews might k...

1-6 When we are most in the dark concerning God's dispensations, we must keep up right thoughts of God, believing that he never did the least wrong to any of his creatures. When we find it hard to understand any of his dealings with us, or others, we must look to general truths as our first principles, and abide by them: the Lord is righteous. The God with whom we have to do, knows how our hearts are toward him. He knows both the guile of the hypocrite and the sincerity of the upright. Divine judgments would pull the wicked out of their pasture as sheep for the slaughter. This fruitful land was turned into barrenness for the wickedness of those that dwelt therein. The Lord reproved the prophet. The opposition of the men of Anathoth was not so formidable as what he must expect from the rulers of Judah. Our grief that there should be so much evil is often mixed with peevishness on account...

Verse Jeremiah 12:4. _HOW LONG SHALL THE LAND MOURN_] These hypocrites and open sinners are a curse to the country; _pull them out, Lord_, that the land may be delivered of that which is the cause of its desolation....

The Hebrew divides this verse differently. “How long shall the land mourn, and the herb of the whole field wither? Because of the wickedness of them that dwell therein cattle and fowl have ceased to be: for he will not see, say they, our latter end.” The people mock the prophet, saying, In spite of all his threatenings we shall outlive him. Jeremiah complained that at a time of great general misery powerful men throve upon the ruin of others: even the innocent cattle and fowl suffered with the rest. To him it seemed that all this might have been cured by some signal display of divine justice. If God, instead of dealing with men by general and slow-working laws, would tear (out some of the worst offenders from among the rest, the land might yet be saved....

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_....

HOW LONG SHALL THE LAND MOURN,.... The land of Judea, being desolate, and bringing forth no fruit, through the long drought that had been upon it: AND THE HERBS OF EVERY FIELD WITHER; for want of rain to come upon it: FOR THE WICKEDNESS OF THEM THAT DWELL THEREIN? this opens the cause, the reason of this dearth; it was the wickedness of the inhabitants of it: as the whole earth was originally cursed for the sins of men, so particular countries have had the marks of God's displeasure upon them, because of the sins of those that dwell in them. This clause, according to the accents, belongs to what follows, and may be read in connection with the next clause; either thus, "the herbs" of every field wither, I say, "because of the wickedness of the inhabitants of it, which consumes the beasts and the birds" x; that is, which wickedness is the cause not only of the withering of the grass and...

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 PROBLEM OF UNRIGHTEOUS PROSPERITY. Jeremiah raises (for the first time in Hebrew literature) the problem of the prosperity of the unrighteous, apparently in connexion with his experiences at Anathoth. He ventures to complain (rather than plead) unto Yahweh, since He should award adversity to the evildoers who dishonour Him in their inner man (reins, see on Jeremiah 11:20), and he appeals for their punishment. God answers Jeremiah (Jeremiah 12:5) with the warning that he has worse trials to face than the troubles at Anathoth Jeremiah 12:4 has little point in this context except for its close, He shall not see our latter end, which apparently means that Jeremiah will not live to see the vengeance desir

HOW LONG... ? Figure of speech _Erotesis_. WICKEDNESS. lawlessness. Hebrew. _rasha'._ App-44....