Jeremiah 14:12

14:10-16 The Lord calls the Jews this people, not his people. They had forsaken his service, therefore he would punish them according to their sins. He forbade Jeremiah to plead for them. The false prophets were the most criminal. The Lord pronounces condemnation on them; but as the people loved to have it so, they were not to escape judgments. False teachers encourage men to expect peace and salvation, without repentance, faith, conversion, and holiness of life. But those who believe a lie must not plead if for an excuse. They shall feel what they say they will not fear.

When they fast, I will not hear their cry,.... Or, "though they fast" (k); very probably on account of the want of rain, and the dearth or famine, a fast was proclaimed; see Jeremiah 36:9 , when they prayed and cried aloud, and made a great noise; but their prayers being hypocritical, and not arising from a pure heart, or offered up in faith and love, were not heard and accepted by the Lord: and when they offer burnt offerings and an oblation; or a meat or bread offering, which went along with the burnt offering; thinking by those outward things to atone for their sins, without true repentance for them, or faith in the atoning sacrifice of Christ: I will not accept them; neither their offerings, nor their persons: but I will consume them by the sword, and by the famine, and by the pestilence; the Lord not only determines the continuance of the famine, notwithstanding the prayers of the prophet; but adds two other judgments, the sword and pestilence, by which he was resolved to consume them; and therefore it was to no purpose to pray to him on their behalf, he was inexorable. (k) "quamvis jejunant", Gataker.

12 . oblation ] mg. meal offering , Heb. minḥah , sometimes, specially in the Levitical laws, in this narrower sense, as accompanying a sacrifice of animals, but also generally, of a present to procure the favour of a superior ( Genesis 32:20 ; Genesis 43:11 ), and so used of an offering (including animals) to God ( Genesis 4:5 ; 1 Samuel 2:17 ; 1 Samuel 2:29 , etc.). See Dr. p. 359.

Verse 12. - Their cry . The word is very forcible; it is the shriek in which an unsophisticated man gives vent to his pain and grief. An oblation . It is the vegetable offering (Authorized Version, "meat offering;" Luther, "speisopfer") which is referred to in the so-called minkhah (literally, gift ). Though sometimes offered separately, it regularly accompanied a burnt offering. I will not accept them . Dr. Payne Smith tries to soften the rejection of these worshippers by the remark that "there is a time when the most genuine repentance avails nothing to avert the temporal consequences of sin." But the analogy of other similar passages (e.g. Isaiah 1:15 ) warrants the view of Keil that the ground of the rejection of the worship is its heartless formalism and insincerity, which was equally a bar to Jehovah's favor and the prophet's intercession. Jeremiah 14:12

(12) An oblation. —The minchah or meat-offering of Leviticus 2:1 . We need not assume that the fast and the sacrifice were necessarily hypocritical, though doubtless much of this mingled itself with the worship of Israel now as it had done in the days of Isaiah, and met with a like rejection ( Isaiah 1:15 ). The lesson here is rather that they came too late to stay the discipline of chastisement. By the sword, and by the famine, and by the pestilence,—The history of the world shows how constantly the latter plagues have followed in the wake of the former, and the union of the three has become proverbial (Leviticus 26:25-26; Ezekiel 5:12). In Ezekiel 14:21 the “noisome beast” is added to make up the list of the four sore judgments of God.

Their cry i. e - prayer offered aloud. Oblation - A meat-offering Leviticus 2:1. The sword, famine, and pestilence - The two latter ever follow upon the track of the first Ezekiel 5:12, and by these God will consume them, yet so as to leave a remnant. The chastisement, which crushes those who harden themselves against it, purifies the penitent.

When they fast, I will not hear their cry; the like threatening we have Proverbs 1:28 Isaiah 1:15 Jeremiah 11:11 Ezekiel 8:18 Micah 3:4 . When they offer burnt-offering and an oblation, I will not accept them: men may so long despise God’s calls, exhortations, and counsels, as their case may be desperate, as to the prevention of temporal judgments by such religious applications to God as ordinarily have their effect to prevent and remove judgments. See Jeremiah 15:1 Ezekiel 14:14,20 . But I will consume them by the sword, and by the famine, and by the pestilence; he threateneth to add to their plague three sore judgments, ordinarily accompanying one another, both in God’s threatenings, and in the execution of them, Jeremiah 29:17,18 34:17 , &c.

12. not hear—because their prayers are hypocritical: their hearts are still idolatrous. God never refuses to hear real prayer (Jer 7:21, 22; Pr 1:28; Isa 1:15; 58:3). sword … famine … pestilence—the three sorest judgments at once; any one of which would be enough for their ruin (2Sa 24:12, 13).

The Lord's answer. - Jeremiah 14:10 . "Thus saith Jahveh unto this people: Thus they loved to wander, their feet they kept not back; and Jahveh hath no pleasure in them, now will He remember their iniquities and visit their sins. Jeremiah 14:11 . And Jahveh hath said unto me: Pray not for this people for their good. Jeremiah 14:12 . When they fast, I hear not their cry; and when they bring burnt-offering and meat-offering, I have no pleasure in them; but by sword, and famine, and pestilence will I consume them. Jeremiah 14:13 . Then said I: Ah Lord Jahveh, behold, the prophets say to them, Ye shall see no sword, and famine shall not befall you, but assured peace give I in this place. Jeremiah 14:14 . And Jahveh said unto me: Lies do the prophets prophesy in my name: I have not sent them, nor commanded them, nor spoken to them; lying vision, and divination, and a thing of nought, and deceit of their heart they prophesy to you. Jeremiah 14:15 . Therefore thus saith Jahveh concerning the prophets that prophesy in my name, when I have not sent them, who yet say, Sword and famine shall not be in this land: By sword and famine shall these prophets perish. Jeremiah 14:16 . And the people to whom they prophesy shall lie cast out upon the streets of Jerusalem, by reason of the famine and of the sword, and none will bury them, them and their wives, their sons and their daughters; and I pour their wickedness upon them. Jeremiah 14:17 .

And thou shalt say to them this word: Let mine eyes run down with tears day and night and let them not cease; for with a great breach is broken the virgin-daughter of my people, with a very grievous blow. Jeremiah 14:18 . If I go forth into the field, behold the slain with the sword; and if I come into the city, behold them that pine with famine; for prophet and priest pass into a land and know it not." To the prophet's prayer the Lord answers in the first place, Jeremiah 14:10, by pointing to the backsliding of the people, for which He is now punishing them. In the "thus they love," etc., lies a backward reference to what precedes. The reference is certainly not to the vain going for water (Jeremiah 14:3), as Chr. B. Mich. and R. Salomo Haccohen thought it was; nor is it to the description of the animals afflicted by thirst, Jeremiah 14:5 and Jeremiah 14:6, in which Ng. finds a description of the passionate, unbridled lust after idolatry, the real and final cause of the ruin that has befallen Israel. Where could be the likeness between the wild ass's panting for breath and the wandering of the Jews? That to which the "thus" refers must be sought for in the body of the prayer to which Jahveh makes answer, as Ros. rightly saw.