\\INTRODUCTION TO JEREMIAH 12\\

This chapter contains the prophets complaint of the prosperity of the
wicked, and the Lord's answer to it; an account of the deplorable and
miserable estate of the Jewish nation; and a threatening to the
neighbouring nations that had used them ill; with a promise of
deliverance of the Jews from them, and settlement among God's people in
case of obedience. The prophet's complaint is in \\#Jer 12:1,2\\ in which he
asserts the justice of God, yet seems at a loss to reconcile it with the
prosperity of the wicked; and the rather, because of their hypocrisy;
and appeals to the Lord for his own sincerity and uprightness, \\#Jer 12:3\\
and prays for the destruction of the wicked, and that the time might
hasten, for whose wickedness the land was desolate, and herbs, beasts,
and birds, consumed, \\#Jer 12:3,4\\, the Lord's answer, in which he
reproves him for his pusillanimity, seeing he had greater trials than
those to encounter with, and instructs him how to behave towards his
treacherous friends, is in \\#Jer 12:5,6\\ the account of the miserable
condition of the Jewish nation is from \\#Jer 12:7-14\\, under the simile of
a house and heritage left by the Lord, given up to enemies, and compared
to a lion and a speckled bird, hateful to God, and hated by those about
it, \\#Jer 12:7-9\\ and of a vineyard destroyed and trodden down by
shepherds, and made desolate, \\#Jer 12:10,11\\ even as a wilderness through
the ravage of the sword; so that what is sown upon it comes to nothing,
\\#Jer 12:12,13\\ then follows a threatening to those who had carried the
people of Israel captive, with a promise to deliver the Jews out of
their hands, and bring them into their own land, and settle them among
the Lord's people, in case they use diligence to learn their ways,
\\#Jer 12:14-16\\, but in case of disobedience are threatened to be plucked
up and utterly destroyed, \\#Jer 12:17\\.