Verse-by-Verse Bible CommentaryJeremiah 12:10
"Many shepherds have ruined My vineyard, They have trampled down My field; They have made My pleasant field A desolate wilderness. Jump to: Clarke Commentary • Barne's Notes • Coffman Commentaries • Gill's Exposition • Geneva Study Bible • Commentary Critical and Explanatory • Wesley's Notes • Calvin's Commentary • Trapp's Commentary • Coke's Commentary • Poole's Annotations • Whedon's Commentary • Haydock's Catholic Commentary • Bullinger's Companion Bible Notes • Commentary Critical and Explanatory - Unabridged • Ellicott's Commentary • Treasury of Knowledge Other Authors
Adam Clarke CommentaryMany pastors have destroyed my vineyard - My people have had many kinds of enemies which have fed upon their richest pastures; the Philistines, the Moabites, Ammonites, Assyrians, Egyptians. and now the Chaldeans. Copyright Statement Bibliography Albert Barnes' Notes on the Whole BibleNebuchadnezzar and his confederate kings trampled Judah under foot, as heedless of the ruin they were inflicting as the shepherds would be who led their flocks to browse in spring upon the tender shoots of the vine. Copyright Statement Bibliography Coffman's Commentaries on the Bible"Many shepherds have destroyed my vineyard, they have trodden my portion under foot, they have made my pleasant portion a desolate wilderness. They have made it a desolation; it mourneth unto me, being desolate, because no man layeth it to heart. Destroyers are come upon all the bare heights in the wilderness; for the sword of Jehovah devoureth from one end of the land even to the other end of the land: no flesh hath peace. They have sown wheat, and have reaped thorns; they have put themselves to pain, and profit nothing: and ye shall be ashamed of your fruits, because of the fierce anger of Jehovah."; "Desolate... desolation... Desolate ..." (Jeremiah 12:10-11). This is the prophetic picture of the result of God's punishment of his Once Beloved Israel. The destruction is so thorough that the very land itself is depicted as mourning over it. "Because no man layeth it to heart ..." (Jeremiah 12:11). This actually should be translated, "`Because no man laid it to heart'; had the people laid it to heart this sad state of things would have been averted."[13] It was the indifference and unconcern of the Chosen People that led to their ruin. Copyright Statement Bibliography John Gill's Exposition of the Whole BibleMany pastors have destroyed my vineyard,.... This is a metaphor which is often used of the people of Israel and Judah; see Psalm 80:8, the pastors that destroyed them are not their own governors, civil or religious, but Heathen princes, Nebuchadnezzar and his generals. So the Targum paraphrases it, "many kings slay my people;' so Kimchi and Ben Melech. They have trodden my portion under foot; the people of the Jews, that were his portion, and before called his heritage; whom the Chaldeans subdued, and reduced to extreme servitude and bondage; and were as the dirt under their feet, greatly oppressed and despised. They have made my pleasant portion a desolate wilderness; by pulling down stately edifices, unwalling of towers, and destroying men; so that there were none to manure the fields, to dress the vineyards, and keep gardens and orchards in good case; but all were come to ruin and what before was a delightful paradise was now like an heath or desert. Copyright Statement Bibliography Geneva Study BibleMany shepherds have destroyed my k vineyard, they have trodden my portion under foot, they have made my pleasant portion a desolate wilderness.(k) He prophecies of the destruction of Jerusalem, by the captain of Nebuchadnezzar, whom he calls pastors. Copyright Statement Bibliography Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Biblepastors — the Babylonian leaders (compare Jeremiah 12:12; Jeremiah 6:3). my vineyard — (Isaiah 5:1, Isaiah 5:5). trodden my portion — (Isaiah 63:18). Copyright Statement Bibliography Wesley's Explanatory NotesMany pastors have destroyed my vineyard, they have trodden my portion under foot, they have made my pleasant portion a desolate wilderness. A wilderness — They have caused God to turn the country which he had chosen for his portion, into a wilderness. Copyright Statement Bibliography Calvin's Commentary on the BibleHe explains by another comparison what we have just observed; he calls those pastors or shepherds whom he had before compared to wild beasts; for by saying, “Come ye, all the wild beasts of the wood,” he doubtless meant the same as those of whom he now speaks; and yet he calls them pastors. But he touched the Jews to the quick, for they could not bear him to discharge the office of a pastor towards them. God ought to have been the pastor of his chosen people; but they were wild beasts. “Forsaken them have I,” he says, “for they were wholly unworthy. What now then? Other pastors shall come, but those of a very different character, being fiercer and more cruel than wolves or any savage wild beasts.” Though then the Prophet blends various comparisons, we yet see that he handles the same subject; we also see why he thus changes his expressions, for there is a meaning in every word he uses. It is indeed certain that those also are called pastors who would come as leaders or chiefs from Assyria and Chaldea; but there is no doubt here an implied antithesis, such as I have referred to, as though he had said, “I have hitherto been a shepherd to you, and was wining to continue to be so perpetually; but as ye can no longer bear me, other shepherds shall come, who will treat you according to their own will and disposition.” Copyright Statement Bibliography John Trapp Complete CommentaryJeremiah 12:10 Many pastors have destroyed my vineyard, they have trodden my portion under foot, they have made my pleasant portion a desolate wilderness. Ver. 10. Many pastors have destroyed my vineyard.] Those who before were called beasts, [Jeremiah 12:9] are here called pastors - viz., Nebuchadnezzar’s captains. See Jeremiah 6:3. Copyright Statement Bibliography Thomas Coke Commentary on the Holy BibleJeremiah 12:10. Many pastors— Many eaters, or devourers. The same persons here are meant as in chap. Jeremiah 6:3 namely, Nebuchadnezzar and his army. Copyright Statement Bibliography Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy BibleBy pastors most here think civil persons, not ecclesiastical officers, are meant; but they are divided, some interpreting it of the rulers and princes of Nebuchadnezzar’s army, who took Jerusalem, and destroyed Judah, called God’s vineyard, Isaiah 5:1,2; others understanding it of the rulers of the Jews, who by their wicked government, and as wicked example, had ruined their country, and caused God to turn the country which he had chosen for his portion, and declared such a pleasure in, into a wilderness, and such a wilderness as was not. only thinly inhabited, but wholly desolate. Copyright Statement Bibliography Whedon's Commentary on the Bible10. Many pastors — Rather, shepherds. Pastor, in the sense of shepherd, is never found in any book of the Old Testament except Jeremiah. The enclosure of the vineyard is broken down, letting in the shepherds with their flocks to browse upon the tender vines. Copyright Statement Bibliography George Haydock's Catholic Bible CommentaryPastors; princes of my people, as well (Haydock) as of the Chaldeans, chap. vi. 3. Copyright Statement Bibliography E.W. Bullinger's Companion Bible Notespastors. Used of rulers. See note on Jeremiah 2:80; Jeremiah 3:15. My portion. One Codex (Dr. Ginsburg"s "G. 1") reads "My possession". pleasant portion. Hebrew portion of desire = my desired portion. Copyright Statement Bibliography Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible - UnabridgedMany pastors have destroyed my vineyard, they have trodden my portion under foot, they have made my Many pastors have destroyed my vineyard, they have trodden my portion under foot, they have made my pleasant portion a desolate wilderness. Pastors - the Babylonian leaders (cf. Jeremiah 12:12, "the spoilers;" Jeremiah 6:3). Destroyed my vineyard - (Isaiah 5:1; Isaiah 5:5). Trodden my portion - (Isaiah 63:18, "Our adversaries have trodden down thy sanctuary"). Copyright Statement Bibliography Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers(10) Many pastors have destroyed my vineyard.—The use of the word “pastors,” with all its modern spiritual associations, instead of “shepherds” (Jeremiah is the only book in the Old Testament, it may be noted, in which the word occurs), is peculiarly unhappy in this passage, where the “pastors” are reckless and destructive. Here the image (as in Jeremiah 6:3) is that of the shepherds of a wild, nomadic tribe (who represent the Chaldean and other invaders), breaking down the fence of the vineyard, and taking in their flocks to browse upon the tender shoots of the vine. The thought is the same as that of the “boar out of the wood” of Psalms 80:13, but the “shepherds” are introduced to bring in the thought of the organisation and systematic plan of destruction. Copyright Statement Bibliography Treasury of Scripture KnowledgeMany pastors have destroyed my vineyard, they have trodden my portion under foot, they have made my pleasant portion a desolate wilderness.
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