Jeremiah 12

This chapter belongs to the oracles of judgment against Judah in the early part of the book of Jeremiah. At the end of chapter 11, Jeremiah learns that the men of his hometown, Anathoth, are plotting to kill him, and chapter 12 opens with a complaint that follows from that discovery.

Outline

• Verses 1-4 Jeremiah acknowledges that the LORD is righteous, yet asks why the wicked prosper and live at ease. He says that they are near to the LORD in their mouths but far from Him in their hearts, asks for judgment upon them, and laments a land that mourns, where even the beasts and the birds are consumed.
• Verses 5-6 The LORD replies that if Jeremiah has grown weary running with footmen, he cannot hope to contend with horses, thereby foretelling greater trials to come. He also warns him not to trust even his brothers and his father's house.
• Verses 7-13 The LORD laments that He has forsaken His house and given His heritage (the portion handed down from generation to generation) into the hands of its enemies. The people are likened to a lion in the forest and to a speckled bird of prey, and many pastors have trodden down the vineyard and made it a desolate wilderness. The people have sown wheat but reaped thorns.
• Verses 14-17 The LORD declares that He will pluck the evil neighbors who struck Israel's inheritance out of their land and pluck Judah out from among them, and that afterward He will have compassion on them and bring each nation back to its own land. If they swear by the name of the LORD instead of by Baal, they will be built up; if not, they will be plucked up and destroyed.

Key Verses

• Jeremiah 12:1 "Wherefore doth the way of the wicked prosper?" The verse squarely raises the long-standing question of faith concerning the prosperity of the wicked.
• Jeremiah 12:5 "If thou hast run with the footmen, and they have wearied thee, then how canst thou contend with horses?" The LORD answers the complaint not with comfort but with a warning of greater trials.
• Jeremiah 12:16 The verse shows that a way is open even for the Gentile nations to be built up in the midst of the LORD's people.

People and Places

• Jeremiah: the prophet who brings the complaint.
• The LORD: answers the prophet's question and laments over His people.
• Baal: the god by whose name the neighboring nations taught the people of Judah to swear.
• Jordan River: used in verse 5 as an image of a dangerous place.

Points for Reflection

• The question in verse 1 is read alongside Psalm 73, Job, and Habakkuk 1.
• Some interpreters regard the prayer in verse 3, which asks God to prepare the prophet's enemies for the day of slaughter, as an honest complaint, while others see it as a sign of the prophet's human limitations.
• Interpreters differ on whether the "many pastors" of verse 10 are the foreign rulers who invaded Judah or Judah's own leaders. The vineyard image invites comparison with Isaiah 5:1-7.
• Some scholars treat 11:18-12:6 as one of the "confessions," the passages in which Jeremiah pours out his own suffering.
• Some interpreters connect verses 14-17 with the New Testament theme of the salvation of the Gentiles.

In the Korean Church

Verse 5 is often cited in sermons on suffering and spiritual refinement.