12:1 Lord, you have always been fair whenever I have complained to you. However, I would like to speak with you about the disposition of justice. Why are wicked people successful? Why do all dishonest people have such easy lives?
The stress of the assassination attempt on Jeremiah was beginning to discourage him. He offered a complaint against Jehovah. He wanted to take God to court. His question was, “Why do the wicked prosper?” This same question was asked by Job, David, Asaph, and many other believers throughout history.
12:2 You plant them like trees and they put down their roots. They grow prosperous and are very fruitful. They always talk about you, but they really care nothing about you.
Jeremiah complained that God planted the wicked like trees. They grew prosperous from their wicked deeds. They often talked about God, but they want nothing to do with Him.
12:3 But you, Lord, know all about me. You watch me and test my devotion to you. Drag these wicked men away like sheep to be slaughtered! Appoint a time when they will be killed!
Jeremiah was devoted to God. These wicked men were not. He prayed that Jehovah would remove these wicked men from the earth. It is interesting to note that God will purge evil men out of this world during the Great Tribulation, but this time has not yet come.
12:4 How long must the land be parched and the grass in every field be withered? How long must the animals and the birds die because of the wickedness of the people who live in this land? For these people boast, “God will not see what happens to us.”
As long as the wicked remained in Judah, then the land was to be cursed. This curse not only effected the land, but it effected the people, livestock, and birds as well.
12:5 The Lord answered, “If you have raced on foot against men and they have worn you out, how will you be able to compete with horses? And if you feel secure only in safe and open country, how will you manage in the thick undergrowth along the Jordan River?
Jehovah told Jeremiah that the worst was yet to come. If Jeremiah cannot run with these men, then he surely will not be able to run when the horses get faster and tougher. If he does not feel safe in open country, then how will he fare when God sends him into the jungle with lions?
12:6 As a matter of fact, even your own brothers and the members of your own family have betrayed you too. Even they have plotted to do away with you. So do not trust them even when they say kind things to you.
Jeremiah was not to question God on how He runs His universe. It was Jeremiah’s responsibility to be patient and wait upon the Lord. He was to keep the faith and allow God to handle the rest of his problems. God then let Jeremiah know that even his own family members are plotting his death. Those who seriously teach the Word of God will often receive problems from their internal family. Adam, Abraham, Job, Moses, David, and Hosea all had problems with their wives. Jesus had problems with his brothers.
12:7 “I will abandon my nation. I will forsake the people I call my own. I will turn my beloved people over to the power of their enemies.
God sings His own lamentation for Judah. He will abandon the nation. He will forsake His chosen people. He will turn His people over to their enemies.
12:8 The people I call my own have turned on me like a lion in the forest. They have roared defiantly at me. So I will treat them as though I hate them.
Israel has turned against God like a ferocious lion in the forest. They have roared in defiance against God. Therefore, God will treat Judah as though He hates them.
12:9 The people I call my own attack me like birds of prey or like hyenas. But other birds of prey are all around them. Let all the nations gather together like wild beasts. Let them come and destroy these people I call my own.
Judah has become a speckled bird of prey. A speckled bird of prey was a very strange looking bird. It was attacked by other birds of prey, because of its strangeness. Jews are somehow different from Gentiles (because of their special calling), so they will be attacked. The Gentiles fear the Jews, because the Jews will one day rule over them.
12:10 Many foreign rulers will ruin the land where I planted my people. They will trample all over my chosen land. They will turn my beautiful land into a desolate wasteland.
Judah was the vineyard of God. For many centuries, God cared for His vineyard. Now, He will allow Gentile rulers to trample His vineyard.
12:11 They will lay it waste. It will lie parched and empty before me. The whole land will be laid waste. But no one living in it will pay any heed.
The Gentle rulers will turn Israel into a desolation. No one will live there.
12:12 A destructive army will come marching over the hilltops in the desert. For the Lord will use them as his destructive weapon against everyone from one end of the land to the other. No one will be safe.
Babylon will become this destructive army from the north who desolates Judah.
12:13 My people will sow wheat, but will harvest weeds. They will work until they are exhausted, but will get nothing from it. They will be disappointed in their harvests because the Lord will take them away in his fierce anger.
The land of Judah will be cursed. Judah will sow wheat, but harvest weeds. What Judah does sow will be eaten by the Babylonian armies.
12:14 “I, the Lord, also have something to say concerning the wicked nations who surround my land and have attacked and plundered the land that I gave to my people as a permanent possession. I say: ‘I will uproot the people of those nations from their lands and I will free the people of Judah who have been taken there.
Jehovah sent a message to the surrounding Gentile nations. When Judah is deported to Babylon, then the surrounding Gentile nations are not to move into the land.
12:15 But after I have uprooted the people of those nations, I will relent and have pity on them. I will restore the people of each of those nations to their own lands and to their own country.
The land still belongs to Israel. They will just temporarily be removed from the land. God will completely restore Israel during the Millennial Kingdom.
12:16 But they must make sure you learn to follow the religious practices of my people. Once they taught my people to swear their oaths using the name of the god Baal. But then, they must swear oaths using my name, saying, “As surely as the Lord lives, I swear.” If they do these things, then they will be included among the people I call my own.
During the Millennial Kingdom, all of Israel will not swear by the name of Baal. Instead, they will swear by the name of Yeshua.
12:17 But I will completely uproot and destroy any of those nations that will not pay heed,’ ” says the Lord.
If any of the surrounding Gentile nations move into the land of Israel, then God Himself will uproot them. If any of the Gentile nations do not take heed and follow Israel during the Millennial Kingdom, then they will be uprooted as well. There will be some unbelieving and rebellious Gentiles during the Millennial Kingdom. This is why Jesus must return with a rod of iron.