(Psa 51:4).
let me talk, &c.--only let me reason the case with Thee: inquire of Thee the causes why such wicked men as these plotters against my life prosper (compare Job 12:6; Job 21:7; Psa 37:1, Psa 37:35; Psa 73:3; Mal 3:15). It is right, when hard thoughts of God's providence suggest themselves, to fortify our minds by justifying God beforehand (as did Jeremiah), even before we hear the reasons of His dealings.
near in . . . mouth . . . far from . . . reins-- (Isa 29:13; Mat 15:8). Hypocrites.
tried . . . heart-- (Jer 11:20).
toward thee--rather, "with Thee," that is, entirely devoted to Thee; contrasted with the hypocrites (Jer 12:2), "near in . . . mouth, and far from . . . reins." This being so, how is it that I fare so ill, they so well?
pull . . . out--containing the metaphor, from a "rooted tree" (Jer 12:2).
prepare--literally, "separate," or "set apart as devoted."
day of slaughter-- (Jam 5:5).
for the wickedness-- (Psa 107:34).
beasts-- (Hos 4:3).
He shall not see our last end--Jehovah knows not what is about to happen to us (Jer 5:12) [ROSENMULLER]. So the Septuagint. (Psa 10:11; Eze 8:12; Eze 9:9). Rather, "The prophet (Jeremiah, to whom the whole context refers) shall not see our last end." We need not trouble ourselves about his boding predictions. We shall not be destroyed as he says (Jer 5:12-13).
horses--that is, horsemen: the argument a fortiori. A proverbial phrase. The injuries done thee by the men of Anathoth ("the footmen") are small compared with those which the men of Jerusalem ("the horsemen") are about to inflict on thee. If the former weary thee out, how wilt thou contend with the king, the court, and the priests at Jerusalem?
wherein thou trustedst, they wearied thee--English Version thus fills up the sentence with the italicized words, to answer to the parallel clause in the first sentence of the verse. The parallelism is, however, sufficiently retained with a less ellipsis: "If (it is only) in a land of peace thou art confident" [MAURER].
swelling of Jordan--In harvest-time and earlier (April and May) it overflows its banks (Jos 3:15), and fills the valley called the Ghor. Or, "the pride of Jordan," namely, its wooded banks abounding in lions and other wild beasts (Jer 49:19; Jer 50:44; Zac 11:3; compare Kg2 6:2). MAUNDRELL says that between the Sea of Tiberias and Lake Merom the banks are so wooded that the traveller cannot see the river at all without first passing through the woods. If in the campaign country (alone) thou art secure, how wilt thou do when thou fallest into the wooded haunts of wild beasts?
called a multitude after thee-- (Isa 31:4). JEROME translates, "cry after thee with a loud (literally, 'full') voice."
believe . . . not . . . though . . . speak fair-- (Pro 26:25).
beloved of my soul--image from a wife (Jer 11:15; Isa 54:5).
assemble . . . beasts of . . . field--The Chaldeans are told to gather the surrounding heathen peoples as allies against Judah (Isa 56:9; Eze 34:5).
my vineyard-- (Isa 5:1, Isa 5:5).
trodden my portion-- (Isa 63:18).
because no man layeth it to heart--because none by repentance and prayer seek to deprecate God's wrath. Or, "yet none lays it to heart"; as in Jer 5:3 [CALVIN].
wilderness--not an uninhabited desert, but high lands of pasturage, lying between Judea and Chaldea (Jer 4:11).
they shall be ashamed of your--The change of persons, in passing from indirect to direct address, is frequent in the prophets. Equivalent to, "Ye shall be put to the shame of disappointment at the smallness of your produce."
touch-- (Zac 2:8).
pluck them out . . . pluck out . . . Judah--(Compare end of Jer 12:16). During the thirteen years that the Babylonians besieged Tyre, Nebuchadnezzar, after subduing CÅ“lo-Syria, brought Ammon, Moab, &c., and finally Egypt, into subjection [JOSEPHUS, Antiquities, 10:9.7]. On the restoration of these nations, they were to exchange places with the Jews. The latter were now in the midst of them, but on their restoration they were to be "in the midst of the Jews," that is, as proselytes to the true God (compare Mic 5:7; Zac 14:16). "Pluck them," namely, the Gentile nations: in a bad sense. "Pluck Judah": in a good sense; used to express the force which was needed to snatch Judah from the tyranny of those nations by whom they had been made captives, or to whom they had fled; otherwise they never would have let Judah go. Previously he had been forbidden to pray for the mass of the Jewish people. But here he speaks consolation to the elect remnant among them. Whatever the Jews might be, God keeps His covenant.
built--be made spiritually and temporally prosperous: fixed in sure habitations (compare Jer 24:6; Jer 42:10; Jer 45:4; Psa 87:4-5; Eph 2:20-21; Pe1 2:5).
Many of these figurative acts being either not possible, or not probable, or decorous, seem to have existed only in the mind of the prophet as part of his inward vision. [So CALVIN]. The world he moved in was not the sensible, but the spiritual, world. Inward acts were, however, when it was possible and proper, materialized by outward performance but not always, and necessarily so. The internal act made a naked statement more impressive and presented the subject when extending over long portions of space and time more concentrated. The interruption of Jeremiah's official duty by a journey of more than two hundred miles twice is not likely to have literally taken place.