Jeremiah 12:7

7 “I have abandoned my people, my special possession. I have surrendered my dearest ones to their enemies.

Jeremiah 12:7 Meaning and Commentary

Jeremiah 12:7

I have forsaken my house
The temple, where the Lord took up his residence, and vouchsafed his presence to his people; this was fulfilled in the first temple, when it was destroyed by the Chaldeans; and more fully in the second, when Christ took his leave of it, ( Matthew 23:38 ) and when that voice was heard in it, a little before the destruction of Jerusalem, as Josephus ^F1 relates,

``let us go hence.''

So the Targum,

``I have forsaken the house of my sanctuary.''

I have left mine heritage:
the people whom he had chosen for his inheritance, whom he prized and valued, took care of, and protected as such; see ( Deuteronomy 32:9 ) . I have given the dearly beloved of my soul;
whom he heartily loved and delighted in, and who were as dear to him as the apple of his eye: into the hands of her enemies;
the Chaldeans. This prophecy represents the thing as if it was already done, because of the certainty of it, and to awaken the Jews out of their lethargy and stupidity; and by the characters which the Lord gives of them it appears what ingratitude they had been guilty of, and that their ruin was owing to themselves and their sins.

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FOOTNOTES:

F1 De Bello Jud. l. 6. c. 5. sect. 3.

Jeremiah 12:7 In-Context

5 “If racing against mere men makes you tired, how will you race against horses? If you stumble and fall on open ground, what will you do in the thickets near the Jordan?

6 Even your brothers, members of your own family, have turned against you. They plot and raise complaints against you. Do not trust them, no matter how pleasantly they speak.

7 “I have abandoned my people, my special possession. I have surrendered my dearest ones to their enemies.

8 My chosen people have roared at me like a lion of the forest, so I have treated them with contempt.

9 My chosen people act like speckled vultures, but they themselves are surrounded by vultures. Bring on the wild animals to pick their corpses clean!