Jeremiah believes that God is righteous, but deceptive people are prospering. Smooth talkers are happy while those who speak for God are uncompensated.
“You have planted them, yes, they have taken root; they grow, yes, they bear fruit. You are near in their mouth but far from their mind.” Jeremiah 12:2
God planted and cultivated them. They knew how to speak God lingo, but their hearts and minds were not about loving God or loving their neighbor.
In Habakkuk 1:13, the prophet Habakkuk asked the Lord, “Why are You silent when the wicked swallow up those more righteous than they?”
In Psalm 92:7, the Lord gave to King David a word about the wicked. He wrote, “Though the wicked spring up like grass and all evildoers flourish, they will be destroyed forever.”
The prosperity of the wicked is a sign of God’s longsuffering and patience. Their destruction is a sign of His righteous judgment. In Galatians 6:7, Paul wrote, “Do not be deceived: God cannot be mocked. A man reaps what he sows.”
Jeremiah’s fellow priests and prophets were suppressing and denying the truth, by saying, “Peace, peace,” when there was no peace.
“But You, O Lord, know me; You have seen me, and You have tested my heart toward You. Pull them out like sheep for the slaughter and prepare them for the day of slaughter.” Jeremiah 12:3
Jeremiah reminded God of his heart toward Him. He yearned for God to deal with the princes, priests, and prophets who sabotaged his efforts, humiliated him and planned to kill him.
“How long will the land mourn, and the herbs of every field wither? The beasts and birds are consumed, for the wickedness of those who dwell there, because they said, ‘He will not see our final end.’” Jeremiah 12:4
Land, herbs, animals, and birds were suffering due to sin. In Romans 8:19, 21, the Lord says, “The creation eagerly waits for the revealing of the sons of God. …because the creation itself also will be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God.”
As in Revelation, so in Jeremiah, nations are at war with one another. People are dying. Plants and animals are being destroyed. Rivers are bloody. The instigators press forward with their delusion that God will not stop them.
“If you have run with the footmen, and they have wearied you, then how can you contend with horses? And if in the land of peace, in which you trusted, they wearied you, then how will you do in the floodplain of the Jordan?” Jeremiah 12:5
The injuries done to Jeremiah by his neighbors in Anathoth (footmen) are small compared with the injuries the men of Jerusalem (horsemen) are about to inflict on him. The floodplain of Jordan refers to the overwhelming army of Babylon that is about to destroy Jerusalem.
Jeremiah needed God. In Philippians 4:7, 19, Paul wrote of the “Peace of God which surpasses all understanding” and of God supplying all his needs according to God’s riches.
Hebrews 12:3 says to “consider Him who endured such hostility from sinners against Himself, lest you become weary and discouraged in your souls.”
“For even your brothers, the house of your father, even they have dealt treacherously with you; yes, they have called a multitude after you. Do not believe them, even though they speak smooth words to you.” Jeremiah 12:6
According to 1 Chronicles 6:13-14, Ezra 7:1, and Jeremiah 29:3, Jeremiah had a brother named Azariah and a brother named Gemariah. The Lord warned Jeremiah not to believe their smooth talk. They rallied people against Jeremiah. Their father was Hilkiah the high priest. Hilkiah is never mentioned as affirming, supporting or protecting Jeremiah. The Lord was his helper.
Brother against brother stories abound in the Bible. In Genesis 4:8, Cain killed his younger brother Abel. In Genesis 37:18-28, the brothers of Joseph planned to kill him but his brother Reuben stopped them. In 1 Samuel 17:28, Eliab the oldest brother of David falsely accused him, saying, “I know your pride and the insolence of your heart.” In John 7:5, the brothers of Jesus did not believe in Him. In Matthew 10:21, Jesus warned His disciples, saying, “Brother will betray brother to death...” Brothers need God to help them love one another.
“I have forsaken My house I have left My heritage; I have given the dearly beloved of My soul into the hand of her enemies.” Jeremiah 12:7
What is tough love? It is to let a beloved bear the consequences of bad choices to come to the place where he/she recognizes his/her intolerable ways and repents. Real love is tough love.
In Luke 21:24, Jesus spoke of harsh experiences for those who refused to turn to the Lord. In Hosea 9:15, the Lord spoke of driving people out of His house, and of loving them no more due to their wicked deeds.
“My heritage is to Me like a lion in the forest; it cries out against Me; therefore, I have hated it.” Jeremiah 12:8
Long ago, they loved God and He loved them, but now they were like ravenous lions toward God and His servants. Their one reliable attribute was unreliability. The Promised Land became a field of weeds in their hands.
In Matthew 25:45, Jesus said, ““Truly I tell you, whatever you did not do for one of the least of these, you did not do for me.” The spiritual leaders of Jerusalem opposed Jeremiah, and they also opposed Jesus. They wanted to destroy Him. Jesus called them to listen to what He said.
“My heritage is to Me like a speckled vulture; the vultures all around are against her. Come, assemble all the beasts of the field, bring them to devour!” Jeremiah 12:9
Judah and the nations around her were like scavenging vultures to God. God called for devouring beasts (armies) to consume them.
In Revelation 19:17, John “saw an angel standing in the sun, and he cried out with a loud voice, saying to all the birds which fly in mid-heaven, ‘Come, assemble for the great supper of God.’” God also uses the imagery of scavenger birds consuming the dead in Ezekiel 39:17 and Matthew 24:28.
Revelation 19:21 says, “The remnant were slain with the sword of Him that sat upon the horse, which sword proceeded out of His mouth: and all the fowls were filled with their flesh.”
“Many rulers have destroyed My vineyard they have trodden My portion underfoot; they have made My pleasant portion a desolate wilderness.” Jeremiah 12:10
In Luke 20:18, Jesus used a similar metaphor to Jeremiah’s when He spoke of wicked vineyard tenants who beat and killed the owner’s representatives. Jesus said that the owner would kill those tenants. Jerusalem had an abundance of rich rulers at time of her collapse. They were serving themselves not God or His people.
Revelation 11:2 speaks of people trampling underfoot the outer court of the temple of God. “Leave out the court which is outside the temple and do not measure it, for it has been given to the nations; and they will tread underfoot the holy city for 42 months.” This act symbolizes the arrogant pride of rulers against God.
“They have made it desolate; desolate, it mourns to Me; the whole land is made desolate, because no one takes it to heart.” Jeremiah 12:11
Psalm 29:2 says, “Honor the Lord for the glory of His Name. Worship the Lord in the splendor of His holiness.” In Malachi 2:2, the Lord says to us, “If you do not listen, and if you do not take it to heart to give honor to My Name, says the Lord of hosts, then I will send the curse upon you and I will curse your blessings; and indeed, I have cursed them already, because you are not taking it to heart.”
“The plunderers have come on all the desolate heights in the wilderness, for the sword of the Lord shall devour from one end of the land to the other end of the land; no flesh shall have peace.” Jeremiah 12:12
War and plundering wealth are works of the flesh. If they would have humbled themselves before God, repented of their evil deeds, and asked for His intervention, God would have intervened and gave them new hearts capable of loving Him and loving one another.
“They have sown wheat but reaped thorns; they have put themselves to pain but do not profit. But be ashamed of your harvest because of the fierce anger of the Lord.” Jeremiah 12:13
In Matthew 13:22, Jesus explained, “The seed falling among the thorns refers to someone who hears the Word, but the worries of this life and the deceitfulness of wealth choke the Word, making it unfruitful.”
In Haggai 1:6, when the people neglected God for material things, they were never stisfied. “You have sown much, and bring in little; you eat, but do not have enough; you drink, but you are not filled with drink; you clothe yourselves, but no one is warm; and he who earns wages, earns wages to put into a bag with holes.”
“Thus says the Lord: against all My evil neighbors who touch the inheritance which I have caused My people Israel to inherit—behold, I will pluck them out of their land and pluck out the house of Judah from among them. Then it shall be, after I have plucked them out, that I will return and have compassion on them and bring them back, everyone to his heritage and everyone to his land.” Jeremiah 12:14-15
The prophecy is accordance with God’s promise in Deuteronomy 30:2-3, “When you and your children return to the Lord your God and obey Him with all your heart and with all your soul according to everything, I command you today, then the Lord your God will restore your fortunes and have compassion on you and gather you again from all the nations where He scattered you.”
Praise God for plucking His people like grapes from their bondages. Praise God that He has compassion on both His people and the Gentiles as well. God promised if they honored Him, He would honor them and establish them in the midst of His people.
“And it shall be, if they will learn carefully the ways of My people, to swear by My Name, ‘As the Lord lives,’ as they taught My people to swear by Baal, then they shall be established in the midst of My people.” Jeremiah 12:16
The Lord confirms that Gentile believers are now coheirs in Christ in Ephesians 2:19-20. “You are no longer strangers and foreigners, but fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God, having been built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ Himself being the chief cornerstone.”
“But if they do not obey, I will utterly pluck up and destroy that nation, says the Lord.” Jeremiah 12:17
In Romans 11:17-21, warns Gentile believers saying, “If some of the branches have been broken off, and you, though a wild olive shoot, have been grafted in among the others and now share in the nourishing sap from the olive root, do not consider yourself to be superior to those other branches. If you do, consider this: You do not support the root, but the root supports you. You will say then, ‘Branches were broken off so that I could be grafted in.’ Granted. But they were broken off because of unbelief, and you stand by faith. Do not be arrogant, but tremble. For if God did not spare the natural branches, he will not spare you either.”
The law God wants nations to learn is to love one another. “For the commandments, ‘You shall not commit adultery,’ ‘You shall not murder,’ ‘You shall not steal,’ ‘You shall not bear false witness,’ ‘You shall not covet,’ and if there is any other commandment, are all summed up in this saying, namely, ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’”
In John 16:11, Jesus said that the Holy Spirit convicts the world about judgment because the prince of this world has been judged. Revelation 12:12 says that the devil’s time is short. That is why it is all the more important for us to tell people the good news of Christ’s atoning sacrifice for sin, and of Holy Spirit’s indwelling presence which God gives to believers in Christ.
May the Heavenly Father grant each of us to be prophetible people for Him by the power of His indwelling Holy Spirit within us, in the Name of Jesus, I pray, amen.”
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