stained with the blood of others; a fit emblem of the cruelty of Therefore in all gentleness he deals with them, making his sun to shine and his rain to descend on them as on his faithful children. That love held his people down to the sufferings they had to endure until the evil mind departed from them, and so it holds humanity down and individual souls down to what they have to endure until they be changed in the spirit of their minds. Lit. 2 You have planted them, and they have taken root; they grow and bear fruit. 2. He"s wiped out and you let this wicked Jehoahaz come upon the throne. ", III. When the world is going away from your grasp, and all the lights that shine about you are going out, and friends around you can do you no good, and you feel your feet slipping from beneath you,—then you will want Jesus to stand close by you, and hold you up amid "the swellings of Jordan. The treacherous plans of the wicked often succeed. We need to show true compassion! Seeing what Judah did. Instead of purring like a kitten in God’s hand, they were roaring at Him. IT IS A RELATION IN WHICH GOD'S HERITAGE MUST STAND EITHER TO GOD OR TO THE WORLD. If they have lost their peculiar protection, their peculiar position and nature will invoke a peculiar ruin. It consists not in the intellectual recognition of God, but in the love of God (Deuteronomy 10:12). If in the campaign country alone thou art secure, how wilt thou do when thou fallest into the wooded haunts of wild beasts? Birds and beasts of prey come up to devour the heritage. Prosperity may be an evil. IT IS POSSIBLE TO HAVE THE NAME OF GOD ON OUR LIPS AND TO SUFFER ULTIMATE RUIN. "I will bring them again, every man to his heritage, and every man to his land." "Wherefore doth the way of the wicked prosper? 3. Also, "to his land," the home and destiny for which his heart craves. (Plut. This, at all events, is the case with Jeremiah 12:12-13. Romans 11:17} when we remember the beauty, and the utility for which that tree is famous in Eastern lands. If the prospect of sickness and earthly sorrow fill one with hopeless distress, how will he pass through the valley of the shadow of death? Now, in applying the principle here laid down, note—. 8 Mine heritage is unto me as a lion in the forest; it … If sin is general, so must be its penalties. The correlate fact to "I have forsaken," is that Judah should be "in the hand of her enemies," It was only by Jehovah keeping near that enemies were kept afar. Come to devour; rather, bring them to devour. There are pasture-grounds where the sheep may grow and by its wool provide clothing for men, and there are the tillage-grounds whence come the corn, the oil, the wine, which are equally for the sustenance and pleasure of men. That is the lesson of Jer . They may enjoy immunity for awhile, but their measure is being filled up. THE LONG-SUFFERING OF GOD. Some things weaken and wear away by use, but not the power of sin. As an owl, say some, that loveth not the light; as a peacock, say others, as oft changed as moved. They were the seed of Abraham, the descendants of those whom he had delivered from Egypt and guided through the wilderness into the land where they now dwelt. When hard thoughts of God's providence trouble us, rise up to this wide truth—He is righteous. The reason why Jehovah gives up His people for a prey—it has behaved to God like a lion, i.e., has opposed Him fiercely like a furious beast. 12:1-5 was Jeremiah’s Prayer. And nobody knows what godly working men often have to put up with from those among whom they labor. 2. Is mine heritage to me a speckled vulture, that vultures are round about it? God never leaves his people till they leave him. But whilst it is quite lawful to so make use of these petitions, it cannot be said that this is what they who first prayed them meant. II. The prophet’s preaching the Law, and the consequences of that preaching as regarded himself: his experience of the stubbornness and treachery of the people; the varying moods of his own mind under that bitter experience; his reflections upon the condition of Judah, and the condition of Judah’s ill-minded neighbours; his forecasts of the after course of events as determined by the unchanging will of a righteous God; all these things seem to. Note: "The argument is a fortiori. They are divided then into parties, which contend with and exterminate each other; but when these have again united themselves with the Lord, the unity of the members is restored. "Too righteous art Thou, Iahvah, for me to contend with Thee: I will but lay arguments before Thee" (i.e., argue the case forensically). Q: What do wear that is “closest” to you? When he pleads his own sincerity and purity of heart, in contrast with the lip service of his adversaries, it is perhaps that God may grant, not so much their perdition, as the salvation of the country from the evils they have brought and are bringing upon it. God inhabits the soul as a temple. Amid even life's comforts experienced "vexation of spirit." 5. (Naegelsbach is of opinion that the words of Jeremiah 12:7-13 "are to be understood as having a double reference," i.e. We each share the benefits of the commonwealth, its laws, its protection, its commercial and social security, &c., therefore, we should to our ability protect its interests, rectify its wrongs, take part in its struggles, enter deeply into its great woes and wants. Go ye, assemble all the beasts of the field! Because—. God's judgments are ever tempered and followed by compassion. Reveals His love. Religiously: each repudiated the other's religion, and derided their object or objects of worship. The vicious willingness of the ground to bring forth thorns and thistles every husbandman knows full well. To them he is as a lion or a brazen wall. How glorious the mercy which can so assert itself! (Verse 1). Salem Media Group. Sin looks the grand success. When calamity comes upon him, when he falls, perhaps, from some high position and is cast forth upon the world homeless and friendless, what a bitter ingredient in his cup is an accusing conscience! They have laid hands on the possessions of their neighbour, and their own shall be taken from them; "I am about to uproot them from off their own land." Yet He will not abandon them to their "evil neighbours;" for our foes are not to be allowed the enjoyment of their successes. Judah was to go into captivity, but Judah was to be "plucked out' from thence, and that is but a pattern of God's dealings with us all. 1. I know one thing, that that same habit has continued to this day, for I have in the cool of the day, on the hillside, a hundred times talked with Him too. While we are in this world we must expect troubles and difficulties. These "dealt treacherously" not only with God's servant, but with Jehovah Himself. The righteousness of God. IV. Note, God has a kindness and concern for His Church, though there be much amiss in it. cried the first minister, "is this the manner in which you carry out your threat? Thus to have been the recipient of special Divine revelations, and to be in close communion with God, gives no security against the occasional ingress of doubting thoughts and spiritual distress. There is then no evidence of God in our conduct. I. He replied, "I owe it, under God, to this, that I made it a rule never to despise an enemy." In the attitude of defiance; 2. Seek Him as, 1. Theme: COMPLETE DEVASTATION OF THE LAND. Therefore have I hated it. The prophet puzzled by the prosperity of the wicked. "They have sown "—have not simply run uncertainly nor beaten the air with indefinite energy. THE WORD OF GOD IS NOT ACCORDING TO THE WILL OF THE FLESH, AND THEREFORE MAY BE EXPECTED TO EXCITE HATRED AND OPPOSITION WHERE THAT ASSERTS ITSELF. Then mightest thou indeed rejoice" (Jeremiah 11:15). v. 12. The inheritance that has lost its charms. The sacred authors come forth under the full consciousness of being interpreters of the spiritual feelings of the community, organs of God for the ennobling of their feelings. God had a house; God had an inheritance; God had a beloved object, an object of desire (Deuteronomy 32:9). "Watch and pray that ye enter not into temptation.". Applicable to any scene where evil thrives, where ruin goes on unchecked, where ignorance, sin, and oppression work human wretchedness and overthrow. 10 For the land is full of adulterers; For the land mourns because of the curse. IT IS POSSIBLE TO HAVE THE NAME OF GOD ON OUR LIPS WHILE THE SPIRIT OF GOD IS ABSENT FROM OUR SPIRITS. Larger and more ominous. The history as preserved in Kings and Chronicles is so incomplete that we are not bound to connect the reference to "evil neighbours" with what is so summarily told in 2 Kings 24:2. The prophet is here dealing with the sowing of something really good, and something capable of truly satisfactory results. Sin gains power by time and habit. Jeremiah 12:4). How dark the face of God seemed towards them! "If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him." It would eventuate in the good of Judah's "evil neighbours" for her to be temporarily scattered into their lands, and for those neighbours to occupy Judah's heritage. Life is for us all a course of Divine discipline, in which all lesser tests of faith and fortitude are intended to prepare us for sterner conflicts and nobler victories.—W. Religion does not begin till the heart opens to receive God. In the outward circumstances and surroundings of the people the effect of God's hiding his face from them became terribly manifest. Superficially it appears reasonable, considering the character and position of those to whom he refers. But not only has this tide no ebb, IT FLOWS ON EVERMORE. A sacred sympathy and a common heritage in God's grace obliterate all antipathies. Renew the combat, never surrender: "Hope in God." 'the bare heights in': no spot shall escape. ] Happily there is no hesitation, there is no sign of its even being possible. It is also true that "men cannot gather grapes of thorns, or figs of thistles." All mine evil neighbors; the hostile, peoples, mentioned, in 2 Kings 24:1-20. How repugnant is sin to God! And as all the rest of the birds flock about such a one, and are ready to pull it in pieces; so have I stirred up all the enemies of my people to annoy them on every side; compared, in the next clause, to so many beasts of prey. The prophet is giving us the upshot of his reflection upon the terrible danger from which he had been mercifully preserved; and we see that his thoughts were guided to the conclusion that, having once accepted the Divine Call, it would be unworthy to abdicate his mission on the first signal of danger. Jer . Few men can say that they have drunk the cup of sorrow to the dregs, and none can know what bitter drops may yet be in store for them. II. ", "He did not curse God or charge God foolishly. God’s choice of Israel was proof of His love for mankind. The form of the verse is interrogative: Is My heritage unto Me as a speckled bird? "Into all the world." I. It was "because no man layeth it to heart" (Jeremiah 12:11). Understand that these empty words are worse than wasted breath; they are a mockery to God, a deception to men, and a source of self-delusion to the speaker of them. Jeremiah 20:12} is the prophet’s reply, in the form of an unexpressed thought, or a hurried ejaculation upon discovering their deadly malice. It cannot be put into the garner. One whom God loves may therefore unite with God's enemies: 1. read Mine heritage is unto me as the ravenous hyena; the ravenous beasts are round about it. the Jews, ancient Christian Churches of Asia and Africa, individual Christians who have fallen from the faith. God only can enlighten our darkness. The place where his honor dwelt, the dearly beloved of his soul, was forsaken by him. THE TONE OF THE PROPHET'S PRAYER. They who taught Judah to serve Baal must learn with Judah to follow the true religion. On the other side of the narrow street in which I lived I saw a poor, solitary canary bird upon the slates, surrounded by a crowd of sparrows, who were all pecking at it as if they would tear it to pieces. "How long is the land to mourn" Judah's wickedness causes the curses of Leviticus 26 and Deuteronomy 27-28 to fall on Palestine (cf. Separate them like sheep for the slaughter, and consecrate them for the day of killing! Enemies to Begin with, they might, and in many cases did, become friends and fellow-heirs of the promise. The epithet "pleasant" expresses the emotion of the surprised speaker. When mankind depart from God, they lose the bond of unity and peace. The cause of this was "wickedness," i.e., wrong-doing, oppression, rapine, violation of the rights of property and sanctities of home; criminal doings which carried dismay and sorrow everywhere. "Vengeance belongeth unto me; I will recompense, saith the Lord" (Romans 12:19). The wicked may prosper, and yet in their very prosperity suck away the lifeblood of a nation. That evil must be allowed to reach maturity ere God will interpose. ", "God, I don"t understand it. The figures to represent the coming desolation are, first, that of birds assembling round one of their own kind and maltreating it, because its plumage attracts their attention as unusual, and then that of hungry beasts of prey. I walked off with the greatest possible composure, considered the passage during my long and lonely walk, and preached upon the peculiar people and the persecutions of their-enemies, with freedom and ease to myself, and I believe with comfort to my rustic audience. Hence he sadly asks, "Wherefore doth," etc.? The misdeeds of individuals are lighter in the balance than the sins of a nation; the treachery of a few persons on a particular occasion is as nothing beside the faithlessness of many generations. And often just those measures which are most clearly condemned by Scripture and conscience appear to be the means most justified by the circumstances of the case. The wicked contemporaries of Jeremiah were many of them religious precisionists; yet their moral guilt was nonetheless for all their language of devotion. Jer . "with full cry"). After they had succeeded we should expect that they would discover the vanity of their most prosperous efforts. Language instinct with affection: "The dearly beloved of My soul. II. We look upon Israel, therefore, as representative of all who have enjoyed abundance of religious privileges, of those whose early days have been in the midst of religious instructions and associations. The writings of the prophets are often as much historic as they are prophetic; historic of personal as well as national experiences, of inward thoughts and emotions as of outward incidents. 4. Into the hand of her enemies. This was in a degree the lot of Christ; it is experienced by many of the true servants of God. However great the wretchedness and ruin which he has brought upon himself, and however long continued his alienation from God, if he but turn now from his wickedness, a way of escape will be opened up for him through the sacrifice of Christ.—M. panther, so called from its variety of spots; and is the same, as I. This is necessary, not only for those things in which we can do nothing and are wholly dependent on him, but also in regard to our own efforts. Note how He—. 1. “Mine heritage (the godly man’s) is unto me as a speckled bird.” When living at Cambridge Mr. Spurgeon was appointed to preach at a village lust outside the city, and during the day, after much reading and meditation, he was unable to light upon a suitable text, and was, as Bunyan would say, “much tumbled up and down” in his thoughts. Jeremiah 12:10. Jeremiah sees the difficulty, but it does not drive him from faith in the justice of God. 1. III. Consider. Some scholars think that this passage belongs to the time after the first siege and capture of Jerusalem, where Jehoiachin was led into captivity. Israel among the nations was as beautiful to the eye as the olive among trees; and his "fruit," his doings, were a glory to God and a blessing to men, like that precious oil, for "which God and man honour" the olive [ 9:9;, Zechariah 4:3;, Hosea 14:7] But now the noble stock had degenerated; the "green olive tree," planted in the very court of Iahvah’s house, had become no better than a barren wilding, fit only for the fire. It was this conviction, rather than personal resentment, however excusable under the circumstances that feeling would have been, which led Jeremiah to exclaim: "I shall see Thy vengeance on them, for unto Thee have I laid bare my cause. He did see the end of those who, in their pride and fatness, had reviled him. How strangely must such words have sounded in the ears of people who believed, as the masses both in town and country appear for the most part to have done, that Iahvah as the ancestral god was bound by an indissoluble tie to Israel, and that He could not suffer the nation to perish without incurring irreparable loss, if not extinction, for Himself! [Jeremiah 12:5-6] The metaphors convey a rebuke of impatience and premature discouragement. This question hath exercised the wits and molested the minds of many wise men, both within and without the Church. I. Lord, how come? They were determined, avowed, and implacable foes. F2 as a bird of various colours, delightful to look at, as the peacock, so Jerom interprets it here; it was so formerly, but not so now; or as a bird of various colours, and unusual, which other birds get about, look on, hate, and peck at. Yet I would speak with you about your justice: Why does the way of the wicked prosper? And Job (31.) He would fain antedate the day of slaughter. In the general calamity the wicked still fare the best. Pour out your heart before Him."—Zinzendorf. What outrages sinners commit against Divine law. 4. The broad operations of Divine righteousness trustfully acknowledged. Some of them, like this one, are very terrible (cf. Laments His loss. I prayed, I meditated, I turned from one verse to another; but the mind would not take hold, or I was, as John Bunyan would say, ' much tumbled up and down in my thoughts.' As if reluctant to think other than loving thoughts of them: enumerates all that was attractive, "house, heritage, beloved of My soul," as if He would keep the good and beautiful in His sight, and thereby hide from Himself the loathsome. This is how he states the fact: "And Iahvah said unto me, Proclaim thou all these words in the cities of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem, saying, Hear ye the words of this covenant and do them. Please enter your email address associated with your Salem All-Pass account, then click Continue. And if in the land of peace, etc.? But, upon the whole, it would seem to be more probable that the prophet is here reading the moral of present or recent experience. "He who persecuted the Church in times past now preacheth the faith which once he destroyed" (Gal 1:23). God has no favour towards His people's enemies; they shall be dispossessed of "the inheritance which I have caused My people to inherit." As they have done, so shall it be done unto them. A description in proverbial language of the absence of "peace" (literally, soundness, i.e. Applies to all who have found themselves weak in lesser trials, yet before whom rises the prospect of greater. And his present escape is an earnest of deliverance on the wider field: "They shall fight against thee, but they shall not prevail against thee: for I am with thee, said Iahvah, to deliver thee". Theme: TREACHERY CROUCHING BEHIND FAIR WORDS. "A flourishing olive, fair with shapely fruit, did Iahvah call thy name. Judgment must "begin at the house of God"; but it will not end there. The reason why Jehovah has given up his people. Wrong-doers seem "in their lifetime to receive their good things." This is a more serious matter, and defeat under it involves a more overwhelming disaster. Right cannot abdicate even to Love. We see, therefore, that a large part of good seed is not reaped. II. 5. Doubt should drive us to prayer. — The first two clauses in this verse are in the original questions, but they involve real affirmations. God's purpose in the election of some is not the reprobation of the rest, but the salvation of all. We little know what lifelong martyrdoms many pious women endure. 2. We cannot but inquire the cause of so terrible a change. II. claws; like fingers, a ravenous bird, and it comes to the same The heritage becomes like a lion of the forest.—i.e. Sad as it is, this similitude snows what may come to be the relation between God and his people. Satan with ease puts fallacies upon us by his golden baits, and then he leads us and leaves us in a fool's paradise. Let us seize on every record that illustrates how strong, how immovable, those become who put their trust in God. And they had numerous laws enjoining mercy (cf. In Genesis 12:9 our word נגב occurs for the first time in the narrative, and right away it's preceded by the definite article: הנגב, meaning The South, which indicates that our word נגב became used as an identifier for a certain region. OF THAT ON ACCOUNT OF WHICH GOD'S FACE IS HIDDEN. Judgments that are justified to the moral nature sometimes appear to be mysteriously delayed. 6 For even thy brethren, and the house of thy father, even they have dealt treacherously with thee; yea, they have called a multitude after thee: believe them not, though they speak fair words unto thee. Then comes the summons to all the wild beasts to gather round Judah and devour her. The foe of Christ united to His followers in the Church. Come ye, assemble all the beasts of the field; come to devour! Then follows, in brief, the prophet’s own commission, which is to reiterate, with all the force of his impassioned rhetoric, the awful menaces of the Sacred Book: "Cursed be the men that hear not the words of this covenant!" III. Hebrews 3:6; 1 Timothy 3:15). It must be remembered that through Israel, the seed of Abraham, all nations were to Be blessed. Jeremiah 12:9. It is the "tide in the affairs of men" which calls us to launch forth upon it, that it may bear us to never-ending bliss.—C. From the manifest wickedness of the wicked and their equally manifest prosperity. The birds round about — It is usual for other birds to flock about a strange coloured bird, such as they have not been used to see. The word here used, in The particular administrations of Divine righteousness anxiously questioned. If the heathen will but seek to serve God, they shall share in the blessings He has in store for Judah after they have suffered and repented. The questions express astonishment at an unlooked for and unwelcome spectacle. In accepting His law, you accept Him, and in rejecting His law, you reject Him; for His law is a reflection of Himself; a revelation, so far as such can be made to a creature like man, of His essential being and character. We must not assume that, because we cannot justify the ways of God, they admit of no justification. The prophet might have simply said "a bird;" why does he say "a bird of prey (‛ayit)"? From the people. Jer . THERE is no visible break between these two chapters. A proverbial phrase. The prophet of God was weary hearted. They were forewarned of it; Christ did not conceal the cross from them. It is threefold. PENALTY FOR OPPRESSORS, MERCY FOR PENITENTS. Outside events of life over which they have no control minister to their prosperity. {St. Matthew 10:36} And, like the prophet, his acceptance of the Divine call binds him to close his ears against entreaties and flatteries, against mockery and menace; and to act upon his Master’s word: "If any man would come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me. For whosoever would save his life shall lose it; and whosoever shall lose his life for My sake and the gospel’s shall save it". II. Jer . 2. Though they were sometimes the instruments in the hands of God for the chastisement of Judah, they were not on that account exonerated from blame for the bad motives of their conduct. Complaint that treachery prospers; admonitory warnings given. The whole tone is that of a description of present scenes and not of the future. ", Jer . A wearied sufferer admonished of heavier trials. Nations were uprooted, and human life appeared to be looked upon as an insignificant thing. Why should they be added to by the thoughtlessness of those who can be thoughtful if only they care to be, unselfish if only they care to be? "Mine heritage it unto me as a lion in the forest." Therefore it is exceedingly needful to learn the lesson of our weakness before this has brought us into a more terrible condition of distress. Sometimes, no doubt, a prophet, in the confidence of faith, represents the future as though it were already past; but there is always something in the context to determine the reference and prevent ambiguity. "Watch and pray, lest ye enter into temptation." I. Let it not be supposed that, after cutting off the right hand, one must of necessity wait for the fullness of life eternal to get anything like compensation. Such is to be the blessing of the Gentiles: they shall share in the glorious future that awaits repentant Israel. God opened the door of reconciliation to them: His people would have taught them their "ways;" they might have become partakers of all Judah's privileges, and found a place within Zion. It is so in some sort with God's introspection of the human heart. The enmity showed by his "house" (Jer 12:6) to Jeremiah was only a symbol of the enmity of God's "house" (Jer 12:7) to Him. These invaders are called Iahvah’s "evil neighbours": an expression which implies, not individuals banded together for purposes of brigandage, but hostile nations. The "evil neighbors" had corrupted Judah (Jeremiah 12:16), and they had persecuted her (Jeremiah 12:14); but now the set time to favor them also had come, and salvation is offered to them (Jeremiah 12:16). II. The godly man cannot say in regard to the pursuit of this world's goods, "This one thing I do;" but the ungodly can. Here is the greater mystery: after completing their bad deeds the wicked are left in undisturbed enjoyment of the fruits of them. Jeremiah 12:9. Sennacherib apparently uses a cognate word ('it) for the vulture ('Taylor Cylinder,' 3. God will reclaim His people to Himself. I thought if she had been a daughter of mine I should have rejoiced beyond all things in her sweet and gentle piety; but the parent said, 'You must leave our house if you attend such and such a place of worship. Indeed, spiritually, it is the first condition of discipleship imposed by Christ. 1. sound. Till our warriors grew weak in the day of despair. would give heed to God's words and signs of warning, but went on in sin just the same. Thy judgments, saith the prophet, are sometimes secret, always just; this I am well assured of, though I thus argue. II. , etc.] The doom of the nation that will not accept the Divine teaching will be utter and absolute extermination. The change begins on man's side. The success of wickedness. , A lament over the desolate land. But, in reply, it is clear that they were not ignorant; they had plain laws against revenge (cf. God designs that even His people's enemies shall be converted unto Him. Romans 11:1-36.).
Multiplicative Attention Pytorch, Lego Vintage Car Instructions, Home Goods Chairs, Fun Run 2, Does Theradome Really Work, Book Review Of Harry Potter And The Sorcerer's Stone,