Jeremiah 12:5
If thou hast run with the footmen, and they have wearied
thee,
&c.] The Targum introduces the words thus,
``this is the answer which was made to Jeremiah the prophet,
concerning his question; a prophet thou art, like to a man that
runs with footmen, and is weary.''
Then how canst thou contend with horses?
or with men on horses: the sense is, either as Kimchi gives it,
thou art among men like thyself, and thou art not able to find out
their secrets and their designs against thee (see (
Jeremiah
11:18 Jeremiah
11:19 ) ); how shouldest thou know my secrets in the government
of the world, as to the prosperity of the wicked, and the
afflictions of the righteous? be silent, and do not trouble thyself
about these things: or rather, as thou hast had a conflict with the
men of Anathoth, and they have been too many for thee; they have
grieved and distressed thee, and have made thee weary of my work
and service; and thou hast been ready to give out, and declare that
thou wilt be no longer concerned therein; what wilt thou do, when
thou comest to be exercised with greater and sorer trials, and
shalt have to do with the king of Judah and his court, with his
princes and nobles, the sanhedrim at Jerusalem, and the priests and
inhabitants thereof? The Targum interprets the footmen of
Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, and of the good things done to him;
and the horses of the righteous fathers of the Jews, who run like
horses to do good works, and of the much greater good reserved for
them; but very improperly: much better might it be applied, as it
is by some, to the Moabites, Ammonites, and Edomites, who gave the
Jews much trouble; and therefore what would they do with the
Chaldean army, consisting of a large cavalry, and which would come
upon them like an impetuous stream, and overflow, as the swelling
of Jordan, as follows?
and if in the land of peace, wherein
thou trustedst, they wearied thee;
if in his own native country, where he promised himself much peace,
safety, and security, he met with that which ruffled and disturbed
him:
then how wilt thou do in the swelling of
Jordan?
when it overflowed its bank, (
Joshua 3:15 ) and may
denote the pride and haughtiness of the king and princes of Judea,
and of the inhabitants of Jerusalem; and the difficulties that
would attend the prophet's discharge of his duty among them; and
the same thing is signified by this proverbial expression as the
former.