Jeremiah 12:2














The tone of this address to Jehovah is strikingly contrasted with that to the men of Anathoth. To them he is as a lion or a brazen wall. To Jehovah he is as a fretful child, ignorant, willful, perverse, and requiring to be corrected.

I. THE PROSPERITY OF THE WICKED A STUMBLING-BLOCK TO FAITH. (Vers. 1, 2.) David even is envious over this, and many a saint has felt its bitterness in his soul. That there are instances enough to make the idea plausible that wickedness is the best policy, we all know. The difficulties that beset the honest trader or the conscientious courtier and statesman are proverbial. 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. This view, however, is corrected by larger experience. It does not take all the facts within its scope, or it does not rightly interpret them. It is impossible for a mere outsider to judge of any one's actual happiness, or the private conditions which most powerfully affect the possession and enjoyment of wealth or high position. The teachings of history and of individual experience will in the end lead to the conclusion, "Better is little with the fear of the Lord than great treasure and trouble therewith" (Proverbs 15:16).

II. THE IMPULSE TO FORCE JEHOVAH'S HAND. (Ver. 3). This is the meaning of Jeremiah's imprecation. To one who sees by supernatural aid the tendencies of things, it must be very hard to refrain from this. Judgments that are justified to the moral nature sometimes appear to be mysteriously delayed. What would be well done had better be done quickly. But this is the presumption of the creature, the promptings of ignorance and not of faith. God can afford to wait. It is his character to have long patience, and the results more than justify this in the end. He will work out his purposes in his own way and in his own time, notwithstanding the impatience of his servants inquiring, "What or what manner of time?" There is a species of tempting Providence closely connected with this in many spiritual men. They have the clearest conviction that certain things are right and proper for them to do, and, without consulting as to seasonableness or the best means for their accomplishment, they hasten to do them, and then expect that God will recoup them for the loss they incur or extricate them from the difficulties in which they have entangled themselves. This certainly is not waiting upon the Lord, but an arrogant assumption of his prerogatives. It was the principle that lay at the root of Moses' great transgression; and even the disciples had to be rebuked because they knew not what spirit they were of.

III. THE TONE OF THE PROPHET'S PRAYER. Superficially it appears reasonable, considering the character and position of those to whom he refers. And there is at any rate a formal recognition of the righteousness of God to begin with. It is evident, too, that the conscience of the prophet is without offence in the sight of God, and yet there can be no doubt that the language he adopts is not to be justified. He is carried away by excess of zeal, but it is zeal without knowledge, and he himself will be the first bitterly to regret his presumption. It is a perilous thing for any man to attempt to judge his fellows by infallible standards. One thing in the behavior of the prophet was to be commended. He did not conceal these thoughts within himself. He says, "Let me talk with thee," conscious that in this openness of soul lay his moral safety. A few minutes' honest communion with God will tap many a festering sore and correct many a subtle error of spirit and life. The last lesson of Divine revelation is not severity but love. - M.

Thou art near in their mouth, and far from their reins.
By God's nearness we understand not His omnipresence (that neither comes nor goes), nor His love to His people (that abides), but the sensible, sweet manifestations and outlets of it to their souls (Psalm 145:18). Note the limitation of this glorious privilege; it is the peculiar enjoyment of sincere and upright-hearted worshippers.

1. Sincere souls are sensible of God's accesses to them in their duties, they feel His approaches to their spirits (Lamentations 3:57). The heart fills apace, the empty thoughts swell with a fulness of spiritual things, which strive for vent.

2. They are sensible of God's withdrawment from their spirits; they feel how the ebb follows the flood, and how the waters abate (Song of Solomon 5:6).

3. The Lord's nearness to the hearts and reins of His people in their duties is evident to them from the effects that it leaves upon their spirits. For look, as it is with the earth and plants, with respect to the approach or remove of the sun in the spring and autumn, so it is here as Christ speaks (Luke 21:29).(1) A real taste of the joy of the Lord is here given to men, the fulness whereof is in heaven; hence called (2 Corinthians 1:22), "The earnest of His Spirit." And in 1 Peter 1:8, glorified joy, or a short salvation.(2) A mighty strength and power coming into their soul, and actuating all its faculties and graces. When God comes near, new powers enter the soul; the feeble is as David (Psalm 138:3).(3) A remarkable transformation and change of spirit follows it. The sight of God, the felt presence of God, is as fire, which quickly assimilates what is put into it to its own likeness (2 Corinthians 3:18).(4) A vigorous working of the heart heavenward; a mounting of the soul upward.Infer —

1. Then certainly there is a heaven and a state of glory for the saints.

2. But, oh! what is heaven? And what that state of glory reserved for the saints? Doth a glimpse of God's presence in a duty go down to the heart and reins? Oh, how unutterable, then, must that be which is seen and felt above, where God comes as near to man as can be! (Revelation 22:3, 4.)

3. See hence the necessity of casting these very bodies into a new mould by their resurrection from the dead (1 Corinthians 15:41).

4. Is God so near to His people above all others in the world? How good is it to be near to them that are so near to God:

5. If God be so near to the heart and reins of His people in their duties, oh, how assiduous should they be in their duties!

6. What steady Christians should all real Christians be! For lo, what a seal and witness hath religion in the breast of every sincere professor of it!

( John Flavel.)

People
Jeremiah
Places
Anathoth, Jerusalem, Jordan River
Topics
Advance, Always, Bear, Bring, Forth, Fruit, Grow, Hast, Heart, Hearts, Lips, Mind, Mouth, Mouths, Planted, Plantest, Produced, Reins, Root, Thoughts, Yea, Yes
Outline
1. Jeremiah, complaining of the prosperity of the wicked, by faith sees their ruin.
5. God admonishes him of his brothers' treachery against him;
7. and laments his heritage.
14. He promises to the penitent return from captivity.

Dictionary of Bible Themes
Jeremiah 12:2

     4504   roots
     5017   heart, renewal
     5164   lips
     5166   liver and kidneys
     8767   hypocrisy
     8784   nominal religion

Jeremiah 12:1-4

     5265   complaints

Library
Calms and Crises
'If thou hast run with the footmen, and they have wearied thee, then how canst thou contend with horses? and though in a land of peace thou art secure, yet how wilt thou do in the pride of Jordan?'--JER. xii. 5, R.V. The prophet has been complaining of his persecutors. The divine answer is here, reproving his impatience, and giving him to understand that harder trials are in store for him. Both clauses mean substantially the same thing, and are of a parabolic nature. The one adduces the metaphor
Alexander Maclaren—Expositions of Holy Scripture

Are You Prepared to Die?
"There is a land of pure delight, Where saints immortal reign; Infinite day excludes the night, And pleasures banish pain." There everlasting spring abides, And never-withering flowers; Death, like a narrow sea, divides This heavenly land from ours." Taking "the swelling of Jordan" to represent the precise time of death, the question really is, what shall we do when we come to die? "How wilt thou do in the swelling of Jordan?" I. We notice, in the first place, that this is an EXCEEDINGLY PRACTICAL
Charles Haddon Spurgeon—Spurgeon's Sermons Volume 11: 1865

Synagogues: their Origin, Structure and Outward Arrangements
It was a beautiful saying of Rabbi Jochanan (Jer. Ber. v. 1), that he who prays in his house surrounds and fortifies it, so to speak, with a wall of iron. Nevertheless, it seems immediately contradicted by what follows. For it is explained that this only holds good where a man is alone, but that where there is a community prayer should be offered in the synagogue. We can readily understand how, after the destruction of the Temple, and the cessation of its symbolical worship, the excessive value attached
Alfred Edersheim—Sketches of Jewish Social Life

The Roman Pilgrimage: the Miracles which were Wrought in It.
[Sidenote: 1139] 33. (20). It seemed to him, however, that one could not go on doing these things with sufficient security without the authority of the Apostolic See; and for that reason he determined to set out for Rome, and most of all because the metropolitan see still lacked, and from the beginning had lacked, the use of the pall, which is the fullness of honour.[507] And it seemed good in his eyes[508] that the church for which he had laboured so much[509] should acquire, by his zeal and labour,
H. J. Lawlor—St. Bernard of Clairvaux's Life of St. Malachy of Armagh

Of the Trinity and a Christian, and of the Law and a Christian.
EDITOR'S ADVERTISEMENT. These two short treatises were found among Mr. Bunyan's papers after his decease. They probably were intended for publication, like his 'Prison Meditations' and his 'Map of Salvation,' on a single page each, in the form of a broadside, or handbill. This was the popular mode in which tracts were distributed; and when posted against a wall, or framed and hung up in a room, they excited notice, and were extensively read. They might also have afforded some trifling profit to aid
John Bunyan—The Works of John Bunyan Volumes 1-3

Jeremiah, a Lesson for the Disappointed.
"Be not afraid of their faces: for I am with thee to deliver thee, saith the Lord."--Jeremiah i. 8. The Prophets were ever ungratefully treated by the Israelites, they were resisted, their warnings neglected, their good services forgotten. But there was this difference between the earlier and the later Prophets; the earlier lived and died in honour among their people,--in outward honour; though hated and thwarted by the wicked, they were exalted to high places, and ruled in the congregation.
John Henry Newman—Parochial and Plain Sermons, Vol. VIII

The Justice of God
The next attribute is God's justice. All God's attributes are identical, and are the same with his essence. Though he has several attributes whereby he is made known to us, yet he has but one essence. A cedar tree may have several branches, yet it is but one cedar. So there are several attributes of God whereby we conceive of him, but only one entire essence. Well, then, concerning God's justice. Deut 32:4. Just and right is he.' Job 37:23. Touching the Almighty, we cannot find him out: he is excellent
Thomas Watson—A Body of Divinity

Jeremiah
The interest of the book of Jeremiah is unique. On the one hand, it is our most reliable and elaborate source for the long period of history which it covers; on the other, it presents us with prophecy in its most intensely human phase, manifesting itself through a strangely attractive personality that was subject to like doubts and passions with ourselves. At his call, in 626 B.C., he was young and inexperienced, i. 6, so that he cannot have been born earlier than 650. The political and religious
John Edgar McFadyen—Introduction to the Old Testament

Links
Jeremiah 12:2 NIV
Jeremiah 12:2 NLT
Jeremiah 12:2 ESV
Jeremiah 12:2 NASB
Jeremiah 12:2 KJV

Jeremiah 12:2 Bible Apps
Jeremiah 12:2 Parallel
Jeremiah 12:2 Biblia Paralela
Jeremiah 12:2 Chinese Bible
Jeremiah 12:2 French Bible
Jeremiah 12:2 German Bible

Jeremiah 12:2 Commentaries

Bible Hub
Jeremiah 12:1
Top of Page
Top of Page