Thomas Aquinas Commentary Jeremiah 12

1. Here, the prophet discusses the justice of the one who punishes. First, the prophet's argument is considered. Second, the Lord’s response is considered, which begins with the words, I have left my house (Jeremiah 12:7). Concerning the prophet's argument, there are three points to be made.

First, he strives to gain a favorable hearing from the judge by affirming God's character: indeed, you are just, O Lord. As the psalmist says, You are just, O Lord, and righteous is your judgment (Psalms 118:37). He also argues from the integrity of his case: yet I will speak what is just to you, similar to Job who said, I would speak to the Almighty, and I desire to contend with God (Job 13:3). In this way, both prophets take on the role of an opponent. Habakkuk, however, takes up the role of one who waits for a response: I will stand over my watch, and I will set my foot upon the rampart (Habakkuk 2:1).

Second, he presents the case regarding the adversaries, pointing out their prosperity in worldly abundance. He asks why the way—that is, the course of life—of the wicked prospers. These are the ones who are wicked because of their unfaithfulness, who transgress by acting against the Law, and deal unjustly with their neighbor. This recalls other scriptures: The tents of robbers abound, and they boldly provoke God, although it is he who has given everything into their hand (Job 12:6), and, I was jealous of the wicked, when I saw the peace of sinners (Psalms 72:3).

He continues the argument from prosperity, using the analogy of a tree. God has planted them in worldly goods, and they sent out roots once their prosperity was established. They grow, like a tree, through increasing prosperity, and bear fruit, fulfilling in action what they had proposed in their minds. This is like the question in Job: Why do the wicked live, raised on high, and strengthened with riches? (Job 12:7).

Then he exposes their wickedness, noting that you are close to their mouth, and far from their hearts. These two facts—their prosperity and their wickedness—seem to oppose divine justice. As Isaiah says, This people honors me with their lips, but their heart is far from me (Isaiah 29:13). From this, we may understand that for their imperfect good works, they receive an imperfect reward.

Moreover, Jeremiah appeals to God's justice from the standpoint of his own integrity: and you, O Lord, have known me from eternity; you have seen me and how I walk uprightly before you. He adds that even while saying these things, he does not find in them an inducement to sin, recalling God's word: Before I formed you in the womb, I knew you (Jeremiah 1:5). He also refers to his own testing by God: you have tested me. Through this trial by hardship, he has been found to walk with God, as the psalmist says: You have tried my heart, and visited me in the night; you have tested me with fire, and there was no iniquity found in me (Psalms 16:3).

Third, he calls for punishment through his prayer. First, he prays for punishment to be inflicted: gather them. It is as if he were saying, “Because you are just, it is impossible for you not to punish the wicked.” For this reason, God exalts them with success, just as someone fattens a flock for the slaughter. Therefore, Jeremiah prays, gather them from the things that made them fat and unjust. This signifies that they were besieged at the time of Passover, when they had come into the city. He also prays, Sanctify them, speaking by analogy to animals being killed for sacrifice, as in Isaiah: The sacrifice of the Lord in Bozrah, and a great slaughter in the land of Edom (Isaiah 34:6).

He argues against delaying the punishment, because it is time for them to be punished in their own persons, not merely in their possessions or in the produce of the earth: how long shall the earth mourn? The psalmist describes a similar judgment: I have turned rivers into a desert, and springs of water into dry ground; fruitful land into a field of salt, for the wickedness of those who dwell in it (Psalms 106:33–34). The punishment also extends to their animals: the beast is consumed. This happens because the wicked think, The Lord has forsaken the land, and the Lord does not see (Ezekiel 9:9).

Second, as if having overheard a reply, the prophet speaks a taunt against those who are to be punished. This taunt has two parts. First, concerning the enemy's power: if you have labored running with footmen, how shall you be able to contend with horses? It is as if he were saying, “If the neighboring peoples who fight on foot have given you much trouble, how will you be able to resist the Chaldeans and Egyptians who are mighty with horses?” The commentary adds a reference: The snow shall rush upon them that fear the frost (Job 6:16).

Regarding the land of their future captivity, the taunt continues: although you were secure in a land of peace—that is, even though you always had peace in your land—what will you do when you are across the Jordan, with its swollen and proud waters? As Sirach says, Let him who glories in his substance, fear poverty .

Second, regarding those connected by blood, he recalls their past injustice, citing for both your brothers (the Edomites) and the house of your father (the Moabites and Ammonites). This is like the lament, The sons of my mother fought against me (Song of Solomon 1:6). He then gives a word of caution: do not believe them, when they speak good to you, as if they wish to form an alliance with you to resist the Chaldeans. Instead, God's word is: Make bands and chains for yourself and put them on your neck, and send them to the king of Edom, and to the king of Moab (Jeremiah 27:2–3). For this is their nature: Each one guards himself from his neighbor, and has no confidence in any brother; because every brother shall surely supplant, and every friend shall walk deceitfully. And a man shall deride his brother, and they will not speak the truth (Jeremiah 9:4–5).

1. Here, the author presents the Lord’s response.

First, he addresses the threat of punishment.

Second, he offers consolation regarding the punishment, beginning at Jeremiah 12:14 with the words, thus says the Lord.

Concerning the first point, there are two aspects.

First, he threatens punishment through the loss of divine assistance: I have left my house, the temple, which I will no longer defend, and my inheritance, the people of Israel. My inheritance is Israel (Isaiah 19:25). I will leave my people and depart from them. For they are all adulterers, an assembly of transgressors (Jeremiah 9:2). He also threatens punishment through the oppression of the enemy: I have given my beloved, that is, the Jews, whom I loved as my own soul.

Second, he speaks of their guilt.

He first signifies the magnitude of their guilt: my inheritance, the people, has become for me like a lion, fierce enough to attack me. She gave forth her voice in blasphemy. He lies in wait in secret, like a lion in his den (Psalms 9:30).

He then marvels at their fickle minds: is my inheritance as a speckled bird to me? It is as if God were saying, “Sometimes they cling to me, and sometimes to idols.” The word dyed refers to being stained with the uncleanness of sin throughout, because they are all evil. How long will you waver between two opinions? If the Lord himself is God, follow him; but if Baal, follow him (1 Kings 18:21).

Alternatively, the phrase could express sentiment. Does God not hold them as dearly as a beautiful, multicolored bird, so that He will not ultimately cast them away? In this case, the various colors refer to beauty. I have clothed you with many colors, and shod you with blue (Ezekiel 16:10).

As another alternative, when he says, I have left my house, these could be the words of the prophet. To announce the word of God, he exposed himself to mortal danger. Having left his home and native land, he endured snares from his own countrymen, who were like lions, diverse in their treachery and filled with malice. Mystically, these are the words of Christ, who is said to leave his home and native land by coming into the world. He presented himself in the form of one leaving when he hid his majesty in weakness. His inheritance is his celestial homeland.

Collations

The wicked prosper (Jeremiah 12:1) for several reasons:

• Because of the loss of their inheritance: Abraham gave all that he had to Isaac his son, but to the sons of the concubines he gave gifts (Genesis 25:5).
• Because their reward is incomplete: amen I say to you, they have received their reward (Matthew 6:2).
• Because they are not worthy of divine correction: my indignation shall rest upon you, and my zeal shall be taken from you (Ezekiel 16:42). And, I will not punish your daughters when they fornicate, or your wives when they commit adultery (Hosea 4:14). Also, If you are without discipline, of which you have all been made partakers, then you are illegitimate and not true sons (Hebrews 12:8).
• Because of the hopelessness of their spiritual illness: your wound is great like the sea. Who shall heal you? (Lamentations 2:13). Your breach is incurable, your wound very grievous (Jeremiah 30:12).
• Because of their downfall: but for treachery you have put it to them, you have cast them down while they were being lifted up (Psalms 72:18).Heb. אַ֣ךְ בַּ֭חֲלָקֹות תָּשִׁ֣ית לָ֑מֹו הִ֝פַּלְתָּ֗ם לְמַשּׁוּאֹֽות: surely you have set them in slippery places, made them fall to ruin. Because of this God handed them over to a reprobate mind, that they might do what is not fitting (Romans 1:28).

1. Here, he threatens a particular punishment.

   1. First, he threatens the punishment of captivity.
   2. Second, he threatens the punishment of the land’s sterility, as in they have sown wheat, and harvested thorns (Jeremiah 12:13).

   Regarding the first point, there are three aspects.

   1. He specifies the punishment, describing the great number of the slain: to devour, meaning the multitude of dead bodies. Thus says the Lord God: Speak to every fowl and every bird, and to all the beasts of the field: Assemble together and make haste; run together from every side to my sacrifice, which I offer for you—a great sacrifice on the mountains of Israel, that you may eat flesh and drink blood. You shall eat the flesh of the strong and drink the blood of the princes of the earth (Ezekiel 39:17–18).

      He then describes the affliction from the enemy with regard to the slain: many shepherds, that is, the princes of the Chaldeans. Shepherds and their flocks shall come to her (Jeremiah 6:3). The Vineyard is the house of Israel. For the vineyard of the Lord is the house of Israel (Isaiah 5:7). Alternatively, the shepherds are the princes of the people, who have torn down the vineyard by slaughter. Regarding those oppressed by slavery and captivity, it says, they have trampled. I will take away its hedge, and it will be destroyed (Isaiah 5:5). And regarding the desolation of the land: they have made my field... and it has mourned for me (Jeremiah 12:10–11), although too late. And she will say: I will go, and return to my first husband, because it was better for me then than now (Hosea 2:7).

   2. Second, he states the cause of their punishment: the whole earth is desolate with desolation, because there is no one who considers the commands and benefits of God. For this my people is led captive, because they had no knowledge (Isaiah 5:13).

   3. Third, he describes the extent of the punishment.

      1. First, he shows the multitude of the enemy: upon every way—it is as if he were saying, “They fill all the roads”—of the desert, which is between Jerusalem and Babylon. A burning wind is on the roads, which are in the desert of the way of the daughter of my people, not to winnow, or to cleanse (Jeremiah 4:11).
      2. Second, he shows the multitude of the slain: because the sword, either of illness or of the Chaldeans. My sword shall devour flesh (Deuteronomy 32:42).
      3. Third, he shows the lack of consolation: there is no peace; it is as if he were saying, “No one will be exempt.” There is no peace for the wicked, says the Lord God (Isaiah 48:22).

Here, he threatens the punishment of sterility.

1. The futility of the seed: they have sown. It is as though he were saying, “The seeds will be corrupted.” Did you not sow good seed in your field? (Matthew 13:27). I waited for it to produce grapes, and it brought forth wild grapes (Isaiah 5:4).
2. The loss of their inheritance: they have received an inheritance, and it did not profit them, because it was stolen by the enemy. Our inheritance has been turned over to strangers (Lamentations 5:2).
3. He introduces shame: you shall be ashamed, because of the failing of your crops. The vintage has mourned, the vine is weakened, and all who were joyful in heart have sighed (Isaiah 24:7).

Here, he speaks of the comfort that will arise from the punishment of the enemy, addressing three points.

1. He speaks of their removal to another country. This refers to those who touch the inheritance by harming it. He who touches you is like one who touches the apple of my eye (Zechariah 2:8). See, I have established you this day over nations and over kingdoms, so that you may root up and pull down, lay waste and scatter, build and plant (Jeremiah 1:10).

2. He speaks of their deportation: and when I have uprooted, I will bring you back from the nations (Ezekiel 36:24).

3. He speaks of their instruction. This includes the promise of good things if they do well: and it shall be, if they will diligently learn the ways of my people . . . they shall be built up. This is as if to say, “They shall be counted among my people,” because it pertains to conversion. It also includes the threat of punishment: but, if they will not hear, I shall uproot that nation with utter destruction and ruin, that is, eternal ruin. If you are willing and will obey me, you shall eat the good things of the earth (Isaiah 1:19).

Collations

Note that the rulers destroy (Jeremiah 12:10)In Jeremiah 12:10, the Latin has the verb, demoliri, rather than destruere, but the meaning is synonymous. the people through the perversity of their works: for the shepherds have done foolishly, and have not sought the Lord; therefore, they have not understood, and their whole flock is scattered (Jeremiah 10:21).

They also destroy the people because of the falseness of their doctrine: My people have been a lost flock, their shepherds led them astray, and have made them wander in the mountains (Jeremiah 50:6).

They destroy them because of their timid fear: O shepherd, and idol that forsakes the flock; the sword is upon his arm and upon his right eye (Zechariah 11:17).

They destroy them because of the austerity of their rule: you commanded with austerity and with power, and my sheep are scattered (Ezekiel 34:4–5).

Finally, they destroy them because of a slackening of care: I will raise up a shepherd in the land who will not visit the forsaken, nor seek the lost, nor heal the wounded, nor nourish what stands, but he shall eat the flesh of the fat, and break their hooves (Zechariah 11:16).