4 How long shall the land mourn, and the herbs of the whole country wither? for the wickedness of those who dwell therein, the animals are consumed, and the birds; because they said, He shall not see our latter end.
*Minor differences ignored. Grouped by changes, with first version listed as example.
Jeremiah confirms the former sentence and more strongly reproves the Jews, who still continued obstinately to despise what he had said: "What do you mean, he says? for God's judgment appears as to brute beasts and birds; and what have birds and sheep and oxen deserved? Ye know that there is no fault in miserable animals, and yet the curse of God is through them set before you; ye see that God is offended with brute animals, but the fault is doubtless in you. And will God spare you, when he has already begun, and long ago begun to inflict punishment on innocent animals? how can he hear with you to the end, who are full of so many and the most atrocious sins?" This then is a confirmation of his former doctrine. And hence we also learn that he did not speak for his own sake, nor express his own private feelings, but that he defended the doctrine which he had announced, that the Jews might know that God was angry with them, and that they were not to expect that he would always conceal himself, though he for a time connived at them. How long, he says, shall the land mourn? or, How long should the land mourn? for thus it ought to be rendered; and should every herb become dry? "What!" he says, "is not God's judgment visible in herbs and flocks and beasts and birds? Since it is so, and the whole fault is in you, shall ye be spared? Will God pour forth his whole wrath on herbs, on sheep, and on cattle? and shall you be at the same time exempted from his judgment?" And more clearly still does he express his meaning, when he says, Because they have said, He shall not see our end Here the Prophet briefly shews that the wrath of God was seen in herbs as well as in brute animals, because he was despised by the people. Since then evil proceeded from them, should it not return on their own heads? It could not surely be otherwise. But he speaks expressly of the end; for the Jews were so stupified by their prosperity, that they thought that God was no longer adverse to them: "Ha! what have we to do with God? we are already beyond the reach of danger." As then they thus perversely rejected God, he upbraids them with the thought, that they were to give no account to God. It is not indeed probable that they openly, or with a full mouth, as they say, vomited forth such a blasphemy; but we know that Scripture often speaks in this manner, "God shall not see;" "God will not look on Jacob." Though the ungodly did not speak so insolently, yet they no doubt thought thati they could set up many hinderances to prevent God's hand from reaching them. Hence Jeremiah, according to the usual manner of Scripture, justly lays this to their charge, -- that they thought that they were now as it were unknown to God and beyond the reach of his care, so that he would not see their end; in other words, that they had no concern with God, because they were on all sides so well fortified, that the hand of God could not reach them. [1]
1 - Both Gataker and Venema regard the meaning of the last clause differently. Here ends the expostulation of Jeremiah; and they consider that he mentions here what his persecutors said of him, that he would not see their end, or their ruin, which he had foretold. Were ky, as in the first verse, rendered "though," the connnection would be more natural, -- How long shall mourn the land And the grass of every field wither? For the evil of those who dwell in it, Swept away has been the beast and the bird, Though they have said, "Hewill not see our end." The third line connects better with what follows than with what precedes it; and it is so rendered in the Syriac. The word for "beast," though in a plural form, is used elsewhere as a singular, Psalm 73:22; and so it is here, and so rendered by the Vulgate and the Targum. -- Ed.
The Hebrew divides this verse differently. "How long shall the land mourn, and the herb of the whole field wither? Because of the wickedness of them that dwell therein cattle and fowl have ceased to be: for he will not see, say they, our latter end." The people mock the prophet, saying, In spite of all his threatenings we shall outlive him.
Jeremiah complained that at a time of great general misery powerful men throve upon the ruin of others: even the innocent cattle and fowl suffered with the rest. To him it seemed that all this might have been cured by some signal display of divine justice. If God, instead of dealing with men by general and slow-working laws, would tear (out some of the worst offenders from among the rest, the land might yet be saved.
How long shall the land mourn - These hypocrites and open sinners are a curse to the country; pull them out, Lord, that the land may be delivered of that which is the cause of its desolation.
How long shall the land mourn, and the herbs of every field wither, for the wickedness of them that dwell in it? the beasts are consumed, and the birds; because they said, (e) He shall not see our last end.
(e) Abusing God's leniency and his promises, they flattered themselves as though God would ever be merciful and not utterly destroy them therefore they hardened themselves in sin, till at length the beasts and insensible creatures felt the punishment of their stubborn rebellion against God.
How long shall the land mourn,.... The land of Judea, being desolate, and bringing forth no fruit, through the long drought that had been upon it:
and the herbs of every field wither; for want of rain to come upon it:
for the wickedness of them that dwell therein? this opens the cause, the reason of this dearth; it was the wickedness of the inhabitants of it: as the whole earth was originally cursed for the sins of men, so particular countries have had the marks of God's displeasure upon them, because of the sins of those that dwell in them. This clause, according to the accents, belongs to what follows, and may be read in connection with the next clause; either thus, "the herbs" of every field wither, I say, "because of the wickedness of the inhabitants of it, which consumes the beasts and the birds" (x); that is, which wickedness is the cause not only of the withering of the grass and herbs, but of the consumption of birds and beasts: or else, by repeating the interrogation in the preceding clause,
how long shall the earth mourn, &c.;
how long, for the malice of them that dwell in it, are the beasts and the birds consumed (y)? the one having no grass to eat; and the other no fruit to pick, or seeds to live upon; the barrenness being so very great and general.
Because they said; the Jews, the inhabitants of the land, the wicked part of them, and which was the greater:
he shall not see our last end; either the Prophet Jeremiah, who had foretold it; but they did not believe him, that such would be their end, and that he should live to see it; or such was their atheism and infidelity, that they said God himself should not see it; and so the Septuagint and Arabic versions read, "God shall not see".
(x) So Gussetius, Ebr. Comment. p. 564. (y) Thus Schmidt, after Luther.
land mourn--personification (Jeremiah 14:2; Jeremiah 23:10).
for the wickedness-- (Psalm 107:34).
beasts-- (Hosea 4:3).
He shall not see our last end--Jehovah knows not what is about to happen to us (Jeremiah 5:12) [ROSENMULLER]. So the Septuagint. (Psalm 10:11; Ezekiel 8:12; Ezekiel 9:9). Rather, "The prophet (Jeremiah, to whom the whole context refers) shall not see our last end." We need not trouble ourselves about his boding predictions. We shall not be destroyed as he says (Jeremiah 5:12-13).
Jeremiah 12:4 gives the motive of his prayer: How long shall the earth suffer from the wickedness of these hypocrites? be visited with drought and dearth for their sins? This question is not to be taken as a complaint that God is punishing without end; Hitz. so takes it, and then proposes to delete it as being out of all connection in sense with Jeremiah 12:3 or Jeremiah 12:5. It is a complaint because of the continuance of God's chastisement, drawn down by the wickedness of the apostates, which are bringing the land to utter ruin. The mourning of the land and the withering of the herb is a consequence of great drought; and the drought is a divine chastisement: cf. Jeremiah 3:3; Jeremiah 5:24., Jeremiah 14:2., etc. But this falls not only on the unfaithful, but upon the godly too, and even the beasts, cattle, and birds suffer from it; and so the innocent along with the guilty. There seems to be injustice in this. To put an end to this injustice, to rescue the innocent from the curse brought by the wickedness of the ungodly, the prophet seeks the destruction of the wicked. ספה, to be swept away. The 3rd pers. fem. sing. with the plural ות-, as in Joel 1:20 and often; cf. Ew. 317, a, Gesen. 146, 3. "They that dwell therein" are inhabitants of the land at large, the ungodly multitude of the people, of whom it is said in the last clause: they say, He will not see our end. The sense of these words is determined by the subject. Many follow the lxx (οὐκ ὄψεται ὁ Θεὸς ὁδοὺς ἡμῶν) and refer the seeing to God. God will not see their end, i.e., will not trouble Himself about it (Schnur., Ros., and others), or will not pay any heed to their future fate, so that they may do all they choose unpunished (Ew.). But to this Graf has justly objected, that ראה, in all the passages that can be cited for this sense of the word, is used only of that which God sees, regards as already present, never of that which is future. "He sees" is to be referred to the prophet. Of him the ungodly say, he shall not see their end, because they intend to put him out of the way (Hitz.); or better, in a less special sense, they ridicule the idea that his prophecies will be fulfilled, and say: He shall not see our end, because his threatenings will not come to pass.
He - They were bold to say, neither the prophet nor any other should see their last end.
*More commentary available at chapter level.