Jeremiah 12 Study Notes

12:1-4 This is another of Jeremiah’s “confessions” (see note at 4:19-22).

12:1 Even though God is righteous in all his actions and judgments, Jeremiah pressed the age-old question, Why does the way of the wicked prosper? Asaph wanted the same question answered (Ps 73), and so did David (Ps 37).

12:5-6 The Lord responded to Jeremiah’s complaint (see vv. 1-4). If running refers to the false prophets who “ran” even though the Lord did not send them (23:21), how did Jeremiah hope to compete with horses? This may be an allusion to the Babylonian horses that would soon descend on Judah and the prophet. Or it may be that if Jeremiah thought his family and friends in Anathoth were hard to deal with, he would not know what to do when the wicked (riders on horses) were turned loose on him.

12:7 God still referred to the nation of Judah as my house . . . my inheritance, and the love of my life. But these descriptions he must now abandon and give Judah into the hands of her enemies. The word inheritance or “heritage” occurs five times in this chapter, usually of God’s gift of the land of Canaan to Israel (vv. 7,9,14-15), but in v. 8 it refers to the people.

12:8-9 The phrase I hate her is the language of rejection. God determined to treat his people as his enemy.

12:10-11 Similar to the picture of 2:6-8, the good land will be desolate, suffering from drought, neglect, invaders, and divine judgment.

12:12 On the Lord’s sword, see Dt 32:41-42, which speaks of “my flashing sword” that “devours flesh.”

12:13 The image of planting and harvesting thorns is both literal and metaphorical. Thorns grow up on neglected land, and Judah will experience the “thorny” effect of an invasion.

12:14-17 This section deals with Israel’s evil neighbors, who will be uprooted (cp. 1:10) just as Judah will be. The nations that ransack Israel will themselves be overrun by the Lord. But like Judah, they will be built up by God (cp. Jr 10) if they will repent and turn to the Lord.