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Jeremiah 12

Main Idea: We can respond to God when we feel forgotten.

1. Jeremiah Has an Honest Complaint (12:1-4).
2. God Has an Honest Response (12:5-17).
   1. Personal response (12:5-6)
   2. Corporate response (12:7-13)
   3. Future response (12:14-17)

As of this writing, the most widely used social media platform is (still) Facebook. One of the early pioneers of the platform was Justin Rosenstein. Rosenstein, now in his early thirties, has the distinction of being the engineer who created the “like” button. This seemingly innocuous creation is now a source of joy for many addicted to the app and to the devices that facilitate it.

This is why Rosenstein does not have the app on his phone. He purchased a new phone and told his assistant to apply settings that keep him from downloading apps. The problem was that he found his own invention too alluring, too distracting, too addictive. He told the guardian, “It is very common for humans to develop things with the best of intentions and for them to have unintended, negative consequences” (Lewis, “Our Minds Can Be Hijacked”). It seems that one of the people who helped create a potentially addictive tech is weaning himself off his own product. The “unintended consequence” is that it’s too distracting. Fixating on it can distract you from reality.

Jeremiah is distracted. Perhaps Jeremiah has forgotten the overall plan. He has forgotten that this is what God set him on this course to do. Jeremiah’s attention was so diverted by his present problems that he has forgotten that, embedded in his call, he would uproot and tear down, destroy, and demolish (1:10). Not a position for those who need “likes.”

Jeremiah has forgotten his purpose and become distracted from his mission. Interestingly, this is what he is accusing God of doing. God, Jeremiah concludes, must have a short attention span. God has already forgotten him. He is ignoring him. And God’s amnesia is wearing thin on Jeremiah. How long will God go on like this (12:4)? Jeremiah is losing patience with God’s inaction.

Is Complaining to God Ever Justified?

Is complaining justified? Well, God did not exclude complaints from Scripture. The book of Jeremiah is filled with them, and Jeremiah wrote a whole songbook of complaints in Lamentations! One third of the psalms are songs of complaint. God knows where we are, and he allowed the human authors of Scripture to identify with their human readers in this way.

Jeremiah’s complaint reminds us of Psalm 13:1-2, where David wrote,

How long, Lord? Will you forget me forever?

How long will you hide your face from me?

How long will I store up anxious concerns within me,

agony in my mind every day?

How long will my enemy dominate me?

The question is one of time. How long will God go on ignoring the wrong and those who do it? The answer, as David saw and as Jeremiah will see, is that God is far more concerned with the ultimate than the immediate. God has activated an entire plan by which he will use Judah to bring the Messiah. The Messiah will be rejected and killed but then raised and ascended. Followers of the Messiah will take the message to the whole earth. And in the end the Messiah will come back and be exalted in a new heaven and a new earth.

For me it’s easy to get so distracted with today that I forget that. My hard season is a drop in the great fountain of mercy that God is pouring on the earth. We are free to complain, after which we should run to Scripture so that all things can be put in perspective.

This chapter lays out Jeremiah’s honest complaint in verses 1-4 and God’s honest response in verses 5-17. The honest confession gets an honest answer. Let’s look at his complaint and God’s threefold response: a personal response to Jeremiah, a corporate response to Judah, and a future response to both Judah and their persecutors.

Jeremiah Has an Honest Complaint

Jeremiah 12:1-4

Jeremiah begins by framing the complaint in the correct way. He acknowledges that God is sovereign over all things. He wants God to know that he knows God is the source of all that is right. In this way his complaint is justified. After all, God is the only one who can do anything about it.

His complaint is simply this: the wicked are prospering. His complaints sound similar to the psalmist’s in Psalm 94:1-7.

Lord, God of vengeance—

God of vengeance, shine!

Rise up, Judge of the earth;

repay the proud what they deserve.

Lord, how long will the wicked—

how long will the wicked celebrate?

They pour out arrogant words;

all the evildoers boast.

Lord, they crush your people;

they oppress your heritage.

They kill the widow and the resident alien

and murder the fatherless.

They say, “The Lord doesn’t see it.

The God of Jacob doesn’t pay attention.”

Jeremiah’s description of the wicked is similarly accusatory toward God (v. 2). “You planted them.” This is an interesting choice for a metaphor, and it has a trajectory all over Scripture. Notably, Jesus used the metaphor to describe the true believer. They were the ones who, unlike the rejecting soil, were receptive of the word, bore fruit, and remained (Matt 13:17-23). In the same chapter true believers were described as wheat in the field (Matt 13:36-43), and in John 4:34-38 potential believers were described as a ready harvest. The receptive soil was a metaphor for both God’s favor and for those who were truly in him.

Most telling is Jeremiah 2:2-3.

“Go and announce directly to Jerusalem that this is what the Lord says:

I remember the loyalty of your youth,

your love as a bride—

how you followed me in the wilderness,

in a land not sown.

Israel was holy to the Lord,

the firstfruits of his harvest.

All who ate of it found themselves guilty;

disaster came on them.”

This is the Lord’s declaration.

Is Jeremiah reflecting back on this passage? If so, what a strong condemnation: “Why, God, are you treating them like you should be treating us? Why are you blessing them when we, Judah, are your choice vine? So, you are planting them?!”

The question of the prosperity of the wicked always troubles believers. As we wonder about the prosperity of the wicked in our time, we can take comfort in the angst Jeremiah felt when he saw others prosper. This is why we are warned repeatedly not to envy evil people (Prov 23:17). We are further reminded that a fool does not understand that God raises up the wicked, but only for the day of destruction:

A stupid person does not know,

a fool does not understand this:

though the wicked sprout like grass

and all evildoers flourish,

they will be eternally destroyed.

But you, Lord, are exalted forever.

For indeed, Lord, your enemies—

indeed, your enemies will perish;

all evildoers will be scattered. (Ps 92:6-9)

Then Jeremiah gives God a directive: slaughter them (12:3). What Jeremiah cannot understand is that God’s unwillingness to annihilate them does not have anything to do with God’s ignorance of the situation. Neither does it have anything to do with his ability. God is not ignorant; he knows everything. God is not impotent; he can do anything.

The issue is God’s plan and God’s timing. This is fascinating. God did not surprise Jeremiah with this assignment. From the start he promised it would be a hard road. I do not at all blame Jeremiah, but his statements are a little cringeworthy, like those of a child who yells at his own parents. How can he talk to someone like that? How can he talk to God like that? Yet God is not fazed, even when Jeremiah accuses him of treating the pagan nations better than Judah. He knows what Jeremiah is thinking and does not chastise him for verbalizing it.

In fact, God, in his remarkable patience, gives an honest response to the honest complaint. There is a practical lesson here in being honest with God: to receive an honest answer we need to pray honest prayers.

God Has an Honest Response

Jeremiah 12:5-17

Personal Response (12:5-6)

God begins by challenging Jeremiah. What a great metaphor! Jeremiah, if you can’t keep up with mere men, how will you compete against horses? In other words, God is saying, “Jeremiah, if you can’t handle the persecution that is on you now, how will you handle the persecution that is coming?” In a way, this is an encouraging word. It’s good to know God has confidence in Jeremiah. It’s good to be told every once in a while to right yourself.

Jeremiah is facing persecution, but it’s at least a footrace, not a horse race. He has at least a chance of success. It’s a race that is small compared to what is coming. And that’s where the metaphor is negative. This is God’s way of saying, “Well, OK, but this is just the beginning of the persecution that is to come.” How are you going to run with horses?

He is calling for personal resolve and personal endurance. In 1914 Earnest Shackleton attempted to cross Antarctica from sea to sea. This had never been done. Before he and his men could reach the starting point for the trek, their ship, Endurance, was trapped in pack ice. While the crew disembarked, this was the end of the attempt, as the ice eventually crushed the ship and it foundered. In what is now known as one of the most heroic rescues in naval history, Shackleton set out in a small lifeboat to seek help, leaving the majority of his men on the small Elephant Island. He traveled 720 miles in an open boat to find help. After reaching help he went back and rescued each man (Lansing, Endurance). God is calling for this type of endurance. Jeremiah needs to run with the horses later, so he must learn to run with men now.

Following his personal response, God now gives a corporate response.

Corporate Response (12:7-13)

God’s response to Judah is that they have abandoned him. He describes it in vivid terms using word pictures.

God counters that he has abandoned his people, his “inheritance.” This is a significant word and a favorite one of God’s to describe his people. They are his heritage, his portion. They are what he treasures. Yet his love for them is met with disdain. He explains this disdain with vivid word pictures.

God’s people as a nation have been like a lion roaring at God. His inheritance has been like a hyena howling at him. They have been like birds of prey swooping down toward him (vv. 8-9).

He then, in a passage reminiscent of Ezekiel 34, describes his shepherds, his leaders, as those who have trampled the vineyard. Remember that the nation is God’s choice vine (2:1-2). This mixed metaphor is provocative. The shepherds charged with keeping the sheep have trampled God’s vine. The outcome is tragic (12:10-12). As a result, they have stimulated the anger of God (v. 13).

After a personal response to Jeremiah and a corporate response to Judah, God then gives a future response to both Judah and the nations.

Future Response (12:14-17)

God promises to uproot those who had gone against his people (v. 14). Perhaps God is picking up on the metaphor first used by Jeremiah. “Oh, you thought I was planting your enemies? Well, I am actually promising to uproot them!”

He says that Judah will be plucked up as well. However, the implication is that they will be plucked from the foreign land and placed where they belong in their own land. The first plucking is negative, and the second is positive. Or, in a way, they are both positive. One will be extracted as a way of punishment; the other will be extracted to fulfill God’s covenant promise to bring his people back to himself.

However, this restoration was contingent on obedience. And there is a strange twist to the end of the story. God promises to offer hope to the nations that persecuted his people! However, this is only if they will repent and turn to him (vv. 16-17). In this way God is not only restoring Judah; he is offering hope to a nation that is against him. He is so compassionate! Even though Jeremiah can’t feel it at the moment, God’s logic is airtight and his compassion is clear. He is restoring Judah and even offering hope to the nations that persecuted Judah. You can’t fault a God like that.

Conclusion

In summary, Jeremiah’s honest complaint is met with an honest response: a personal response for Jeremiah to endure, a corporate response to Judah’s explaining his own people’s revulsion of him, and a future warning to the nations that while God was going to uproot them, there was still hope.

Jeremiah, an Early Pharisee

In the messianic prophecy of Isaiah 49:6, Isaiah prophesied that it would be too small a thing for the Messiah to redeem Judah back to God. What God really wanted was for the Messiah to be a light to the Gentiles. The significance of this passage is huge. When Mary and Joseph took Jesus to be dedicated in the temple, Simeon quoted this passage of Scripture. Clearly he believed Jesus was to be that light to the Gentiles. Later, in Acts 13:47, Paul quoted this passage to explain why he was taking the gospel to the Gentiles. It seems that this had a dual fulfillment. Christ was not just for Judah but for the nations. Paul was not just to go to his fellow Jews, but he was also to bring the light to the nations.

Now we understand how Jesus was more than peeved at the Pharisees. Their chief criticism of Jesus was that he was a friend of sinners. But, hello, that was the point! No shocker. This was the prophecy and point from the beginning. The path of the Messiah has a trajectory toward Judah and beyond Judah. Their myopic vision of a one-nation God was too small. It would still include Judah, of course, but it would also fulfill the promises of the gospel—namely, that Christ would be slain for sin (Isa 53:5), bear the sins of many (Isa 53:12), and eventually conquer (Isa 53:12). This Messiah King is our King and is the Lord of all. The message of his death and resurrection is the message of the gospel.

This has everything to do with Jeremiah’s complaint. God’s plan was always to take those who were far away from him and bring them close. Jeremiah needed to endure because this plan was unfolding. His impatience with the wicked was in reality his impatience with God’s unfolding his plan.

Jeremiah thought God had forgotten him. God had not. In fact, God’s actions reflect how much God remembered Jeremiah. God said that he was going to uproot and destroy (12:17). This was exactly the call on Jeremiah’s life (1:10). God is carrying out what he said he would do, and Jeremiah, as predicted, is all caught up in this. The challenge, the struggle of Jeremiah, seems to be how God is doing this. He was using the pagan nations to accomplish his ultimate plans. In the meantime, God was calling him to endure as God worked out the plan—to learn how to run with the horses.

The metaphor of running with horses is distressing. It signaled that more persecution was coming. Yet it’s encouraging, and I need to hear it from time to time. When I experience discomfort, being treated unfairly, or any number of forgettable offenses, this is God’s way of saying, “Look, if you want to run with the horses, you have to at least run with men first.”

Reflect and Discuss

1. Is it possible for God to be distracted and forget us? Explain your answer.
2. Is it wrong to complain against God? Why or why not?
3. What did God mean that Jeremiah could not run with the horses (12:5)?
4. What did God mean that he had abandoned his house (v. 7)?
5. Why is Israel referred to as God’s inheritance (v. 7)?
6. Who are the shepherds who destroyed the vineyard (v. 10)?
7. Notice all the agricultural metaphors. What does that say about God’s desire to communicate with us?
8. When we complain honestly to God, what should we expect in response?
9. Is there a connection between God’s actions (v. 17) and Jeremiah’s call (1:10)? Explain.
10. Could we speculate that Jeremiah’s emotions are related to a forgetfulness of his call?