Verse-by-Verse Bible Commentary
Jeremiah 12:9

Clarke's Commentary

Verse Jeremiah 12:9. Is unto me as a speckled bird — A bird of divers colours. This is a people who have corrupted the worship of the true God with heathenish rites and ceremonies; therefore, the different nations, (see Jeremiah 12:10,) whose gods and forms of worship they have adopted, shall come and spoil them. As far as you have followed the surrounding nations in their worship, so far shall they prevail over your state. Every one shall take that which is his own; and wherever he finds his own gods, he will consider the land consecrated to them, and take it as his property, because those very gods are the objects of his worship. The fable of the daw and borrowed plumes is no mean illustration of this passage.

Dahler translates the whole verse thus: -

Birds of prey! inundate with blood my heritage.

Birds of prey! come against her from all sides.

Run together in crowds, ye savage beasts!

Come to the carnage!

Bridgeway Bible Commentary

Jeremiah’s complaint; God’s answer (12:1-17)

As he thinks back on the treachery of the people of Anathoth, Jeremiah is prompted to complain to God. Innocent people suffer, whereas wicked people live at ease. Why is it, he asks, that God allows the wicked to prosper? God gives them life and food, and they grow fat and prosperous, though their hearts are far from God (12:1-2). Jeremiah, by contrast, remains true to God, yet he suffers. Indeed, the whole land suffers because of the sins of people who are arrogant and evil. Jeremiah wishes they could all be destroyed (3-4).
In reply God rebukes his servant with some challenging questions. If he is discouraged by the comparatively small opposition of the people of his home town, how will he overcome the far greater opposition that he will face from the nation at large? If he is running from the opposition of a few friends and relatives, how will he survive when he faces a jungle of wild animals (5-6)?
God then assures Jeremiah that there is justice, and in God’s time the wicked will be punished. Judah may be compared to God’s household and God’s beloved, but she has fought against God like a wild beast or a killer bird. God will therefore use other ‘wild beasts’ and ‘wild birds’ (enemy nations) to devour her (7-9). In another picture, Judah is likened to God’s vineyard. But the leaders of the nation have trampled down his vineyard, and the enemy will now come in and destroy it completely. Judah will reap the fruits of her sin (10-13).

Not only Judah will be conquered, but also the neighbouring nations. They took advantage of Judah’s weakened position to carry out raids against it (cf. 2 Kings 24:1-2), but they themselves will now be raided. Like Judah, they will go into captivity in Babylon (14). However, if any of these conquered nations renounces Baal and swears allegiance to Yahweh, then, like Judah, it will be brought back to its homeland (15-17).

Coffman's Commentaries on the Bible

GOD'S REJECTION OF THE CHOSEN PEOPLE

"I have forsaken my house, I have east off my heritage; I have given the dearly beloved of my soul into the hands of her enemies. My heritage is become unto me as a lion in the forest: she hath uttered her voice against me; therefore I have hated her. Is my heritage unto me as a speckled bird of prey? are the birds of prey against her round about? go ye, assemble all the beasts of the field, bring them to devour."

"I have forsaken my house" The word "house" in the Old Testament is almost invariably used of the temple; and we believe that is what it means here. R. Payne Smith declared the meaning here to be, "Not the temple, but Israel and Judah";Scribner's Bible Commentary (New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1898), p. 397. and since then, many scholars have followed his lead. Thompson attempted to justify the interpretation by pointing out that "it is parallel to `my heritage' in the next clause";J. A. Thompson, The Bible and Archeology (Grand Rapid, Michigan: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 1972) p. 357. and while it is true enough that adjacent clauses are indeed often parallel in the Bible, they are not always so. "Sharpen the arrows, take up the shields" (Jeremiah 51:11) is one of many examples; and we believe the parallelism here is another. Matthew Henry agreed with this and gave the meaning of "forsaken my house" as, "A reference to the temple, which had been his palace; but they had polluted it and forced God out of it."Matthew Henry's Commentary, p. 487.

It is certainly true that God did indeed forsake the temple; and God gives an account of his doing so in Ezekiel (Ezekiel 10:17). Furthermore, God never more returned to any earthly temple; but he did come with the rushing sound of a mighty wind on the day of Pentecost to dwell in his true temple, the Church of our Lord.

Thus the two teachings in Jeremiah 12:7 are (1) the Lord removed his presence, or Spirit, from the Jewish temple, and (2) he forsook the apostate nation, the "righteous remnant" alone being excepted.

"She hath uttered her voice against me" In context, this means that the Chosen People had roared like a lion against God Himself! "Judah had not merely become disobedient, but had become intractable and fierce like an untamed lion."Barnes' Notes (Grand Rapids: Baker Book House), p. 182. She had uttered vicious blasphemies against him and had preferred the reprobate worship of the Baalim to the way of the Lord.

"Is my heritage unto me as a speckled bird of prey? are the birds of prey against her round about" "The Hebrew word here rendered `bird of prey' in both places means `a carrion bird,'… probably some kind of vulture is meant."Scribner's Bible Commentary (New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1898), p. 397. "Birds attack other birds of unfamiliar plumage; so Israel, differing from other nations, is attacked by them."The New Bible Commentary, Revised, p. 636. At any rate, the total destruction of the Once Chosen nation is prophetically announced in the figure of the beasts of the field being called in to eat her remains.

Barnes' Notes on the Whole Bible

Yahweh shows that the downfall of the nation was occasioned by no want of love on His part, but by the nation’s conduct.

Left - More correctly, cast away.

Jeremiah 12:8

Judah has not merely refused obedience, but become intractable and fierce, like an untamed lion. It has roared against God with open blasphemy. As His favor is life, so is His hatred death, i. e., Jerusalem’s punishment shall be as if inflicted by one that hated her.

Jeremiah 12:9

Rather, “Is My heritage unto Me as a speckled bird? Are the birds upon her round about? Come, assemble all the wild beasts: bring them to devour her.” By “a speckled” or parti-colored “bird” is probably meant some kind of vulture.

Calvin's Commentary on the Bible

The beginning of this verse is variously explained, Some think that a kind of bird is here meant, which has various colors, one variegated, which excites all other birds against itself; but this is without meaning. Others are of the opinion, and the greater part too, that birds tinged with blood were against his heritage. They hence thus explain the words, “Is a bird, tinged,” that is; with blood, “my heritage,” that is, about my heritage; “is there a bird around it? They consider both clauses to be of the same meaning; and hence they think that the same thing is repeated in different words, that birds were flying against the Jews, like those which are drawn by the smell of carcases, and which come in great numbers, that each may have a part; and then, wild beasts follow them. But I approve of neither of these explanations; nor indeed have they even the appearance of being correct.

I therefore think that the people are now compared to foreign birds, as they were before to lions; as though he had said, — “I had chosen this people for myself, that they might be my friends, as birds which are wont to be gathered into their own cages, as sheep into their own folds, and as oxen, and other animals which are tamed, keep within their own enclosures. So when I gathered this people, I thought that they would be to me like domesticated sheep; but now they are like speckled birds; that is, like wild birds, or birds of the wood.” For I have no doubt but that by a speckled or colored bird is to be understood a strange bird, which by its novel appearance excites the attention of men. Is then a variegated bird, or a bird of the wood, become mine heritage? Questions, we know, were often used by the Hebrews; and the Prophet here simply affirms the fact; and as God had said before, that his heritage was become like a lion in the forest, so he adds now, that his heritage was like a speckled bird. A question has much more power and force than a simple declaration; for God assumes here the character of one in astonishment, — “What does this mean, that my heritage should become to me like some bird from the wood, or a foreign bird?” He then adds, All birds then shall be around and all beasts of the field ⁽⁶³⁾

We now see how fitly the words of the Prophet run; God had complained that his heritage was like a lion in the forest, and also like a wild and foreign bird; and now he says, Then all birds wiIl fly to the prey and all the beasts of the field; as though he had said, — “Since they have dared to act thus wantonly, and have dared to assail my servants like wild beasts, and have also become wild birds which cannot be tamed, I will shew what they will gain by their ferocity; for I will now send for all the birds of the air, and the wild beasts of the wood:, that they may fly together quickly, and that they may come together to the prey.” That we must thus understand the Prophet’s meaning, we learn from the very words; for God not only says, “A speckled bird has mine heritage become,” but he adds, to me, as he had before said, that his heritage had become to him as a lion, so he says now, Is not mine heritage become to me? etc This pronoun then ought to be carefully noticed; for we hence learn, as I have said already, that the intractable disposition of the people is here condemned, for they could by no means be tamed.

But the latter clause ought also to be especially observed; for it imports as much as though God had said, “As then your wickedness is such that ye are to me lions and wild birds, take your course; but I will yet check this your barbarous and untameable ferocity; for I have under my command all the birds of the air and all the wild beasts of the field; let them then come together to this one bird, and to this one beast. Ye are but one bird; ye are indeed terrible at the first view, for ye are worse than all the hawks; but ye are only one bird, and around you shall come all birds, which shall make war on you. Ye are as one lion in a forest, or one boar, or one wolf; but all the savage beasts of the wood shall come together against you, and shall come together to devour you.”

This place deserves special notice; for we hence learn how foolishly men deceive themselves when they oppose God and perversely shake off his yoke, and suffer not, themselves to be corrected by his word; they are lions, they are savage birds; but the Lord can easily destroy them, for all birds and all wild beasts are ready to obey him; and hence it follows: —

(63) The most literal rendering of the verse is as follows, —

9.Is not my heritage to me a stripped bird of prey? Is there not a bird of prey around against it? Come, assemble, every beast of the field; Hasten ye to devour.

The versions and the Targum all differ, and are wholly unsatisfactory. Some, as Venema, agreeably with our version, retain not the questionary form in the two first lines, and render them thus, —

A stripped bird of prey is my heritage to me; A bird of prey is around against it.

The meaning is the same; but the ה before “bird of prey,” or rapacious bird, seems to favor the interrogation. The צבוע, stripped or speckled, is a participle, and not the name of a ravenous bird,” as Blayney thinks, is evident from its location, for it follows the word עיט, a rapacious bird: it would have otherwise preceded it. The Vulgate renders it “discolored — diversely colored,” and the Syriac is the same. — Ed

Smith's Bible Commentary

Chapter 12

Now Jeremiah goes on and he is talking now about the situation, the wicked man Jehoahaz that is in power. And he begins by saying,

Righteous art thou, O LORD, when I plead with thee ( Jeremiah 12:1 ):

Starting from a base, from a foundation that is very important. Know this, that God is righteous and God is fair. Now, I will not always understand the righteousness of God or the justice or the judgment of God. You see, as a Christian we have problems. Because I believe that God is righteous, because I believe that God is love, I have difficulty understanding a lot of things that are happening in the world. Because it seems that if God is a God of love, then why would He allow these things to take place? If God is a fair God, if He is just, then why is it that wicked people oftentimes prosper, have great prosperity. And so many times good, righteous people are hurting, suffering. Now if I were God, I would bless all the righteous people and really put the thumb on the wicked, you know. But that would be because I'm stupid. Because then how would I really know that they loved me for me? They might just be, you know, mouthing words because they don't want the thumb to squash them out. If all righteous people were just blessed, had a great prosperity and everything else, then Satan could as he did with Job say, "Hey, does Job serve You for nothing? Look at the way You blessed that fellow. Why, anybody would serve You if You bless them like that. You don't know that Job really loves You. You don't know that Job is really faithful. He's a mercenary. He's just got good sense. The way You blessed him, he's just worshipping and praising You because of the prosperity You've given to the guy."

I was talking with a fellow the other day, very wealthy man. We were having lunch together and he was telling me of his difficulties. The difficulty lay in the fact that he was going with different young ladies but he really didn't know if they really loved him or not. He said he felt that he needed to go somewhere off somewhere and put on jeans and to put aside his fancy cars and yachts and everything else because he was looking for a woman who loved him, not his checkbook. And he said, "I really don't know." He said, "They all know me, they know who I am. They know what I've got. And so I don't know when they come smiling to me and making conversation if they are really interested in me or interested in my pocketbook, my checkbook."

Well, that would be a difficult problem. And it would be the same problem God would have if He cursed all the wicked and blessed all of the righteous. He wouldn't know if you really loved Him or not. But when here I'm seeking to live a good life and things go bad and I still love Him, I don't turn on Him and curse Him because things are suddenly going downhill and I made a foolish mistake and all and I say, "Oh God," and I begin to curse God. Then you see, He would know. So God lets me go through the fire and I still worship and praise the Lord. Say, "All right, you know, I still love You, Lord. I don't love You because I've been blessed. I just love You because I love You, because of You. Not because of Your blessings or whatever You've done. God, I just love You because You're You." And God knows that. When we in our adversities continue in our devotion and love to Him. So God allows us our adversity. God allows us problems. God allows us suffering. And He allows the wicked to prosper, because He doesn't want mercenaries. He doesn't want people just worshipping Him because of the fringe benefits, but because of Him Himself.

So Jeremiah is wrestling with this. "God, I know You're righteous. It's not a question of that. I'm not challenging." Now the mistakes that people often make is that they do challenge God. When they say, "If God is a God of love why does God... ?" And that's challenging God. If you come and say, "Now God, I know that You're a God of love, but I sure don't understand, you know, if You love me why You've allowed this to happen to me." That's all right, God accepts that. Just as long as you're not challenging His love for you. You can surely challenge the circumstances of your life. I mean, you can ask God why things are happening to you. "God, I know You love me. But Lord, why is this happening in my life? Why are things going wrong? Why?" And it may be that God will show you something that is not quite right that He's trying to correct. But it's wrong to challenge God. "I don't think God loves me."

You know, in Job in all that transpired against him, it said, "He did not curse God or charge God foolishly." Now many times you may not curse God but you may charge God foolishly. You may make foolish charges against God. And we've got to be careful about that, that we don't really charge God. "Well, God doesn't love me. I know He doesn't love me because look what's happened."

So God, I know You're righteous. No problem there.

but I want to talk to You about Your judgments, God: why do wicked men prosper? why are they so happy who deal so treacherously? [For it seems that] you have planted them, they've taken root: they grow, they're bringing forth fruit: you're near to their mouth, but you're far from their reins ( Jeremiah 12:1-2 ).

So Jehoahaz comes in on the throne, a wicked man. And it seems that he's been planted on the throne. "God, I don't understand it. Here is a good, righteous man Josiah. He's wiped out and you let this wicked Jehoahaz come upon the throne. He talks about God, but his life is not at all submitted. You're near to their mouth but far from the control center of their life."

But LORD, You know me: you've seen me, you've tried my heart toward thee ( Jeremiah 12:3 ):

Now, that's something that we can all say, "God, You know me. God, You've seen me." You remember in the messages of Jesus to His churches there in Revelation chapters 2 and 3. In each case He said, "I know thy works." "God, You know me. God, You've seen me. And God, You have tried my heart." And God does try our hearts. God does test the lot.

Now earlier in verse Jeremiah 11:19 of the previous chapter, Jeremiah said, "I was like an ox or a lamb that is being brought to the slaughter. Here I am, I love You, Lord, serving You, Lord; saying Your word, Lord, and I've become like a lamb that they're ready to kill. They told me if I prophesy anymore in Your name they're going to kill me. Now Lord, here's this wicked guy. Now set him up for slaughter. Not me."

prepare them for the day of slaughter. How long shall the land mourn, and the vegetables of every field wither, for the wickedness of them that are dwelling therein? the beasts are consumed, and the birds; because they said, He shall not see our last end ( Jeremiah 12:3-4 ).

They've ignored God. They've shut God out of their lives. God responds to him. "You think it's tough now? It's only going to get tougher, man."

And if you have run with the footmen ( Jeremiah 12:5 ),

If you got in a race with the footmen.

and they have wearied you ( Jeremiah 12:5 ),

How in the world are you going to race with horses? How, if you've been weary in these little things, how, what are you going to do when it really gets tough?

I do believe, I do know that things are going to get much, much tougher before they get better. I do think that our whole society has peaked as far as our standard of living, culture and all. I think that we have peaked and are on the way down. We cannot continue to use up the energy resources as we have in the past. We're going to have to start making sacrifices as far as our energy consumption is concerned. We are not producing enough food to feed the hungry world. And as more people get hungry, more demands are going to be made upon our food supplies. And we cannot ignore the Third World and its tremendous needs. And whether we like it or not, demands are going to be made upon us that are going to call for greater sacrifices and in the high standard that we've come to expect and to enjoy is over and we're on the way down. We're not going to be able to just go on forever gobbling up thirty-seven percent of the world's energy resources, because we're only six percent of the people. And it's over. The holiday, the picnic is over. Things are going to start getting tougher and they're going to get much tougher before they get better.

Now if you've run with the footmen and they have wearied you, what are you going to do when you start racing against horses? If on the level ground you've become tired, how are you going to run through the marshes of Jordan?

Now God doesn't really answer the question, "Lord, why do the wicked prosper and here I am a righteous man and they threaten to kill me? Lord, how come?" God doesn't answer. He just says, "Hey, it's not tough yet, Jeremiah. It's going to really get tough. What are you going to do then?"

Now God acknowledged that Jeremiah had been running. "You've been running with the footmen. You've been doing it." How have you been doing that? You've been doing it with the strength and the guidance of the Lord. And that strength and guidance that you've had in the past is the same way that you're going to be contending with horses. You've got to trust in the Lord. Now God has got all of us in training. The Bible says, "You are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto the good works, that God has before ordained that you should fulfill" ( Ephesians 2:10 ). God has each of us in training as He is preparing us for the future. God always prepares His children for whatever they will be facing. And God knows what you're going to be facing in the future and thus God has been training you to prepare you for it, because He'll never take you into anything by great shock and surprise. He'll never bring you to any place but what He hasn't already prepared you for that place. But I'll go one further. He's also prepared that place for you.

To the children of Israel after the wilderness experience He said, "Everywhere you pitched your tent I went before you and prepared the places for you to pitch your tent." I love that. God's gone before me, prepared every place for me to pitch my tent. I never arrive at any place but what God has not preceded me there and fixed it all up just for me. But He's also been working in me to prepare me for that place. So God is working in each of us, preparing us for the more difficult days that are to come. Teaching us to rely on Him. Teaching us to trust in Him. Teaching us the lessons of faith. Teaching us to know that God will not fail us. God will see us through. No matter what may come, the Lord will be with me and will help me. And He's been teaching me and training me because one of these days I'm going to be running with the horses. But if I haven't been running with the footmen I'll never be able to run with the horses. So God is working in your lives. So these little trials and testings that you're going through, they're all a part of God's work in His preparation of your life for things in the future that will be yet even more difficult than what we have experienced in the past.

So this is God's response to Jeremiah. The nation is going downhill. Jeremiah can see that the nation is going downhill and wicked men are in control and guiding it downhill. "God, why have You allowed the wicked to prosper? Why have You allowed the wicked to take over and to guide the people in this way of destruction?" And God just says, "Hey, fasten your seatbelt, man. It's going to really get tough. You've been running with the footmen. They weary you. But hey, you're soon going to be racing with the horses. You're just going to have to trust in Me. You're just going to have to hold on. I will see you through. I'll bring you through it, but you're going to have to have complete trust and reliance on Me."

For [Jeremiah] even your brothers, from the house of your father ( Jeremiah 12:6 ),

Your own brothers, flesh and blood.

even they have dealt treacherously with you; they have called a multitude after you: so don't believe them, though they speak fair words unto you ( Jeremiah 12:6 ).

Though they come and say, "Oh, Jeremiah, what a neat brother, you know." Don't believe them. They're conspiring against you.

God now declares concerning the nation Israel,

I have forsaken mine house, I have left my heritage; I have given the dearly beloved of my soul into the hand of her enemies ( Jeremiah 12:7 ).

Now notice how God still talks of Israel, "the dearly beloved of my soul." God still loves them. You remember the rich, young ruler that came to Jesus and said, "What do I have to do to inherit age-abiding life?" Jesus said, "Keep the commandments." He says, "Which one?" Jesus talked to him about the commandments that dealt with his relationship with his fellow men. And he said, "I've kept all these from my youth. What I lack yet?" Jesus said, "If you want to be perfect, go and take your goods and sell them and distribute them among the poor, your wealth. And then come and follow Me." And it said he went away sad because he had great riches. Now you thought that if you had great riches you'd be very happy. Here's a case where great riches made a man very sad. But it says Jesus looked upon him and loved him. This guy had a quality that was admirable. It drew out love from Jesus as He saw the sincerity in the guy's heart. Jesus looked upon him and loved him. But the guy couldn't pay the price. He went away sad. No sadder than Jesus, because Jesus loved him. And He speaks of the people though they have forsaken, though they are going down the tubes, though they have turned their back on God, God still calls them "the beloved of my soul." Oh, how great is God's love.

My heritage is unto me as a lion in the forest; it cries out against me: therefore have I hated it. My heritage is unto me as a speckled bird ( Jeremiah 12:8-9 ),

Now as a... birds or hens are very mean. If you have a chick that is deformed in some way or looks different, they'll peck it to death. That's where the term henpecking came from, not from wives, but from chickens. That a bird that is odd, they'll peck the thing to death. And so here, a speckled bird would be pecked by the other birds. And God says Israel has become like a speckled bird.

the birds round about are against her; come and assemble all the beasts of the field, come to devour. For many pastors have destroyed my vineyard, they have trodden my portion under foot, they have made my pleasant portion a desolate wilderness ( Jeremiah 12:9-10 ).

The shepherds have destroyed. I think today of how many men who take the title Pastor who are really destroying the fields, the flock of God, leading them astray.

They have made it desolate, and being desolate it mourns unto me; the whole land is made desolate, because no man lays it to heart ( Jeremiah 12:11 ).

I think that one of the greatest problems that we're facing today is that we are living in a desperate world. Things are really getting desperate. Look at the moral situation of our country. Look at the moral climate. It's getting desperate. Look at the economic situation. It's getting desperate. Look at the international situation. It's getting desperate. Look at this tremendous arms race, getting desperate. But God's people aren't desperate. I think the time has come when we really need to take it to heart and get desperate before the Lord. When we need to really gather together more and more. Assemble for prayer that God will send a revival that will really stir the nation at its very core, at its very heart, because we're going down the tubes fast. But no one's laying it to heart and God said this is the problem. Things are going down but no one's really laying it to heart. We say, "Oh my, isn't that horrible?" And that's it. We're not really getting desperate before God over the situation. No man is really laying it to heart.

The spoilers are come upon all high places through the wilderness: for the sword of the LORD shall devour from the one end of the land even to the other end of the land: and no flesh shall have peace. They have sown wheat, but shall reap thorns: they have put themselves to pain, but shall not profit: and they shall be ashamed of your revenues because of the fierce anger of the LORD. Thus saith the LORD against all my evil neighbors, that touch the inheritance which I have caused my people Israel to inherit; Behold, I will pluck them out of their land, and pluck them out the house of Judah from among them. And it shall come to pass, after that I have plucked them out I will return, and have compassion on them, and will bring them again, every man to his heritage, and every man to his land. And it shall come to pass, if they will diligently learn the ways of my people, to swear by my name, saying, The LORD liveth; as they taught my people to swear by Baal; then shall they be built in the midst of my people ( Jeremiah 12:12-16 ).

Now God promises He's going to take them out of the land. They're going to be out. Further on in Jeremiah he predicts that it will be for seventy years that they'll be out of the land. But God said,

But if they will not obey, I will utterly pluck up and destroy that nation ( Jeremiah 12:17 ),

If they come back and obey Me, then we'll set things up. But if not, then I'm going to destroy them.

"

Dr. Constable's Expository Notes

A lament about Yahweh’s ravaged inheritance 12:7-13

Many scholars believe this lament dates from the time when Jehoiakim revolted against Babylon after three years of submission (about 602 B.C.; cf. 2 Kings 24:1-2). [Note: Feinberg, p. 459.]

"The second part of God’s reply is remarkable, saying in effect, ’Your tragedy is a miniature of mine.’" [Note: Kidner, p. 61.]

Dr. Constable's Expository Notes

Judah was like a different, colorful bird, among birds of prey that had gathered all around her to attack her. Another translation possibility, represented by the Septuagint, is that Jeremiah described Judah as a hyena’s lair, surrounded by birds of prey ready to peck up the scraps that the hyenas left. The Lord instructed His servants (the angels?) to assemble all the wild animals that surrounded Judah to come and devour this bird.

Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible

Mine heritage is unto me as a speckled bird,.... Or, "is not mine heritage unto me as a speckled bird?" b as a bird of various colours, delightful to look at, as the peacock, so Jerom interprets it here; it was so formerly, but not so now; or as a bird of various colours, and unusual, which other birds get about, look on, hate, and peck at. Some think this refers to the motley party coloured religion the Jews had embraced, consisting of various rites and ceremonies of the Heathens; on which account they thought they looked beautiful and comely, when they were hated and rejected of God for them; but the word signifies rather to be dipped or stained, as with blood, and so denotes a bird of prey that is stained with the blood of others; a fit emblem of the cruelty of the Jews, in shedding the blood of the prophets. Some, because a word near akin to this signifies a finger, render it a "fingered bird" c; that is, a bird with talons or claws; like fingers, a ravenous bird, and it comes to the same sense as before. But the Septuagint take it, to be not a bird, but a beast, and render it by the hyena; and which Bochart d approves of, since the word in the Arabic language signifies such a creature; and Schindler observes, that צבע, with the Arabians, is the name of a creature between a wolf and a middling dog, which agrees with the hyena. The word here used, in the Talmudic e language signifies a she leopard or panther, so called from its variety of spots; and is the same, as Maimonides says f, which, in the Arabic language, is called אלצבע; with the Targumists it is used for a kind of serpents or vipers. So the valley of Tzeboim is rendered, in the Targum, the valley of vipers, 1 Samuel 13:18. And it is said g,

צבוע, the word in the text,

"this is from a white drop (or seed), and yet it has three hundred and sixty five kinds of colours, according to the number of the days of a solar year.''

The birds round about are against her; or, "are not the birds round about against her?" the birds of prey? they are; meaning the neighbouring nations, that under Nebuchadnezzar came up against Jerusalem to take and destroy it.

Come ye, assemble all ye beasts of the field, come to devour; this is an invitation to the enemies of the people of the Jews, comparable for their fierceness and savageness to the beasts of the field, to come and destroy them; and shows that their destruction was by divine permission, and according to the will of God. Compare with this

Revelation 19:18. The Targum interprets it of those that kill with the sword; kings of the earth, and their armies.

b So V. L. Pagninus, Montanus, Calvin, Jarchi, and Kimchi. c העיט צבוע "avis digtata", Junius Tremellius, Piscator, Gusetius "ales unguibus praedita", Cocceius. d Hierozoic. par. 1. l. 3. c. 11. col. 830, 838, 839. e T. Bab. Bava Kama, fol. 16. 1. f In Misn. Bava Kama, c. 1. sect. 4. g Bereshit Rabba, sect. 7. fol. 6. 2.

Henry's Complete Commentary on the Bible

      7 I have forsaken mine house, I have left mine heritage; I have given the dearly beloved of my soul into the hand of her enemies.   8 Mine heritage is unto me as a lion in the forest; it crieth out against me: therefore have I hated it.   9 Mine heritage is unto me as a speckled bird, the birds round about are against her; come ye, assemble all the beasts of the field, come to devour.   10 Many pastors have destroyed my vineyard, they have trodden my portion under foot, they have made my pleasant portion a desolate wilderness.   11 They have made it desolate, and being desolate it mourneth unto me; the whole land is made desolate, because no man layeth it to heart.   12 The spoilers are come upon all high places through the wilderness: for the sword of the LORD shall devour from the one end of the land even to the other end of the land: no flesh shall have peace.   13 They have sown wheat, but shall reap thorns: they have put themselves to pain, but shall not profit: and they shall be ashamed of your revenues because of the fierce anger of the LORD.

      The people of the Jews are here marked for ruin.

      I. God is here brought in falling out with them and leaving them desolate; and they could never have been undone if they had not provoked God to desert them. It is a terrible word that God here says (Jeremiah 12:7; Jeremiah 12:7): I have forsaken my house--the temple, which had been his palace; they had polluted it, and so forced him out of it: I have left my heritage, and will look after it no more. His people that he has taken such delight in, and care of, are now thrown out of his protection. They had been the dearly beloved of his soul, precious in his sight and honorable above any people, which is mentioned to aggravate their sin in returning him hatred for his love and their misery in throwing themselves out of the favour of one that had such a kindness for them, and to justify God in his dealings with them. He sought not occasion against them, but, if they would have conducted themselves with any tolerable propriety, he would have made the best of them, for they were the beloved of his soul; but they had conducted themselves so that they had provoked him to give them into the hand of their enemies, to leave them unguarded, an easy prey to those that bore them ill-will. But what was the quarrel God had with a people that had been so long dear to him? Why, truly, they had degenerated. 1. They had become like beasts of prey, which nobody loves, but every body avoids and gets as far off from as he can (Jeremiah 12:8; Jeremiah 12:8): My heritage is unto me as a lion in the forest. Their sins cry to heaven for vengeance as loud as a lion roars. Nay, they cry out against God in the threatenings and slaughter which they breathe against his prophets that speak to them in his name; and what is said and done against them God takes as said and done against himself. They blaspheme his name, oppose his authority, and bid defiance to his justice, and so cry out against him as a lion in the forest. Those that were the sheep of God's pasture had become barbarous and ravenous, and as ungovernable as lions in the forest; therefore he hated them; for what delight could the God of love take in a people that had now become as roaring lions and raging beasts, fit to be taken and shot at, as a vexation and torment to all about them? 2. They had become like birds of prey, and therefore also unworthy a place in God's house, where neither beasts nor birds of prey were admitted to be offered in sacrifice (Jeremiah 12:9; Jeremiah 12:9): My heritage is unto me as a bird with talons (so some read it, and so the margin); they are continually pulling and pecking at one another; they have by their unnatural contentions made their country a cock-pit. Or as a speckled bird, dyed, or sprinkled, or bedewed with the blood of her prey. The shedding of innocent blood was Jerusalem's measure-filling sin, and hastened their ruin, not only as it provoked their neighbours likewise; for those that have their hand against every man shall have every man's hand against them (Genesis 16:12), and so it follows here: The birds round about are against her. Some make her a speckled, pied, or motley bird, upon the account of their mixing the superstitious customs and usages of the heathen with divine institutions in the worship of God; they were fond of a party-coloured religion, and thought it made them fine, when really it made them odious. God's turtle-dove is no speckled bird.

      II. The enemies are here brought in falling upon them and laying them desolate. And some think it is upon this account that they are compared to a speckled bird, because fowls usually make a noise about a bird of an odd unusual colour. God's people are, among the children of this world, as men wondered at, as a speckled bird; but this people had by their own folly made themselves so; and the beasts and birds are called and commissioned to prey upon them. Let all the birds round be against her, for God has forsaken her, and with them let all the beasts of the field come to devour. Those that have made a prey of others shall themselves be preyed upon. It did not lessen the sin of the nations, but very much increased the misery of Judah and Jerusalem, that the desolation brought upon them was by order from heaven. The birds and beasts are perhaps called to feast upon the bodies of the slain, as in St. John's vision, Revelation 19:17; Revelation 19:18. The utter desolation of the land by the Chaldean army is here spoken of as a thing done, so sure, so near, was it. God speaks of it as a thing which he had appointed to be done, and yet which he had no pleasure in, any more than in the death of other sinners.

      1. See with what a tender affection he speaks of this land, notwithstanding the sinfulness of it, in remembrance of his covenant, and the tribute of honour and glory he had formerly had from it: It is my vineyard, my portion, my pleasant portion,Jeremiah 12:10; Jeremiah 12:10. Note, God has a kindness and concern for his church, though there be much amiss in it; and his correcting it will every way consist with his complacency in it.

      2. See with what a tender compassion he speaks of the desolations of this land: Many pastors (the Chaldean generals that made themselves masters of the country and ate it up with their armies as easily as the Arabian shepherds with their flocks eat up the fruits of a piece of ground that lies common) have destroyed my vineyard, without any consideration had either of the value of it or of my interest in it; they have with the greatest insolence and indignation trodden it under foot, and that which was a pleasant land they have made a desolate wilderness. The destruction was universal: The whole land is made desolate,Jeremiah 12:11; Jeremiah 12:11. It is made so by the sword of war: The spoilers, the Chaldean soldiers,have come through the plain upon all high places; they have made themselves masters of all the natural fastnesses and artificial fortresses, Jeremiah 12:12; Jeremiah 12:12. The sword devours from one end of the land to the other; all places lie exposed, and the numerous army of the invaders disperse themselves into every corner of that fruitful country, so that no flesh shall have peace, none shall be exempt from the calamity nor be able to enjoy any tranquillity. When all flesh have corrupted their way, no flesh shall have peace; those only have peace that walk after the Spirit.

      3. See whence all this misery comes. (1.) It comes from the displeasure of God. It is the sword of the Lord that devours,Jeremiah 12:12; Jeremiah 12:12. While God's people keep close to him the sword of their protectors and deliverers is the sword of the Lord, witness that of Gideon; but when they have forsaken him, so that he has become their enemy and fights against them, then the sword of their invaders and destroyers becomes the sword of the Lord; witness this of the Chaldeans. It is because of the fierce anger of the Lord (Jeremiah 12:13; Jeremiah 12:13); it was this that kindled this fire among them and made their enemies so furious. And who may stand before him when he is angry? (2.) It is their sin that has made God their enemy, particularly their incorrigibleness under former rebukes (Jeremiah 12:11; Jeremiah 12:11): The land mourns unto me; the country that lies desolate does, as it were, pour out its complaint before God and humble itself under his hand; but the inhabitants are so senseless and stupid that none of them lays it to heart; they do not mourn to God, but are unaffected with his displeasure, while the very ground they go upon shames them. Note, When God's hand is lifted up, and men will not see, it shall be laid on, and they shall be made to feel, Isaiah 26:11.

      4. See how unable they should be to guard against it (Jeremiah 12:13; Jeremiah 12:13): "They have sown wheat, that is, they have taken a great deal of pains for their own security and promised themselves great matters from their endeavors, but it is all in vain; they shall reap thorns, that is, that which shall prove very grievous and vexatious to them. Instead of helping themselves, they shall but make themselves more uneasy. They have put themselves to pain, both with their labour and with their expectations, but it shall not profit; they shall not prevail to extricate themselves out of the difficulties into which they have plunged themselves. They shall be ashamed of your revenues, ashamed that they have depended so much upon their preparations for war and particularly upon their ability to bear the charges of it." Money constitutes the sinews of war; they thought they had enough of that, but shall be ashamed of it; for their silver and gold shall not profit them in the day of the Lord's anger.