John Gill Commentary Jeremiah 12:7

"I have forsaken my house, I have cast off my heritage; I have given the dearly beloved of my soul into the hand of her enemies." — Jeremiah 12:7 (ASV)

I have forsaken my house
The temple, where the Lord took up his residence, and vouchsafed his presence to his people; this was fulfilled in the first temple, when it was destroyed by the Chaldeans; and more fully in the second, when Christ took his leave of it, (Matthew 23:38) and when that voice was heard in it, a little before the destruction of Jerusalem, as Josephus ^F1 relates, ``let us go hence.'' So the Targum, ``I have forsaken the house of my sanctuary.''

I have left my heritage :
the people whom he had chosen for his inheritance, whom he prized and valued, took care of, and protected as such; see (Deuteronomy 32:9) .

I have given the dearly beloved of my soul ;
whom he heartily loved and delighted in, and who were as dear to him as the apple of his eye:

into the hands of her enemies ;
the Chaldeans.

This prophecy represents the thing as if it was already done, because of the certainty of it, and to awaken the Jews out of their lethargy and stupidity; and by the characters which the Lord gives of them it appears what ingratitude they had been guilty of, and that their ruin was owing to themselves and their sins.

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FOOTNOTES:

• F1: De Bello Jud. l. 6. c. 5. sect. 3.