Verse-by-Verse Bible CommentaryJeremiah 12:12
"On all the bare heights in the wilderness Destroyers have come, For a sword of the LORD is devouring From one end of the land even to the other; There is no peace for anyone. Jump to: Clarke Commentary • Barne's Notes • Gill's Exposition • Commentary Critical and Explanatory • Wesley's Notes • Calvin's Commentary • Trapp's Commentary • Poole's Annotations • Whedon's Commentary • Constable's Expository Notes • Bullinger's Companion Bible Notes • Commentary Critical and Explanatory - Unabridged • Ellicott's Commentary • Treasury of Knowledge Other Authors
Adam Clarke CommentaryThe sword of the Lord shall devour - It is the sword of the Lord that has devoured, and will devour: this is what no man layeth to heart. They think these things come in the course of events. Copyright Statement Bibliography Albert Barnes' Notes on the Whole BibleThrough - in. Even these remote scaurs do not escape, polluted as they had been by the nation‘s idolatries. Shall devour - Or, devoureth. These hosts of war come as Yahweh‘s sword. No flesh shall have peace - “Flesh” in Genesis 6:3 means mankind as sinners; here, Judah. “Peace” in Hebrew has the wider signification of “welfare, happiness.” Hence, their salutation in life was, “Peace be to thee,” and in death “In Peace” was engraved upon their sepulchres. Copyright Statement Bibliography John Gill's Exposition of the Whole BibleThe spoilers are come upon all high places through the wilderness,.... Of Judea; or which lay between Chaldea and Judea, through which the Chaldean army came; called here the "spoilers", because they spoiled and plundered all places where they came; nor could the high, strong, and fortified places withstand them, or escape their ravage and fury. De Dieu renders it, "upon all the plains in the wilderness"; where was pasture, land for cattle, as Kimchi serves; which were trodden down and spoiled by the soldiers, and made forage of. For the sword of the Lord shall devour from the one end; of the land even the other end of the land; the sword of the Chaldeans is called the sword of the Lord, because it was drawn by his order and appointment, and was succeeded by him to do execution; and the calamity which it brought upon the land reached from one end of it to the other, so general and; extensive it was. No flesh shall have peace; no inhabitant of Judea shall be in safety, but be exposed to the sword, or to captivity. Copyright Statement Bibliography Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Biblehigh places — Before, He had threatened the plains; now, the hills. wilderness — not an uninhabited desert, but high lands of pasturage, lying between Judea and Chaldea (Jeremiah 4:11). Copyright Statement Bibliography Wesley's Explanatory NotesThe 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. Are come — The prophet, as usual, speaks of a thing as already done, which was very shortly to be done. No flesh — No rank or order of men. Copyright Statement Bibliography Calvin's Commentary on the BibleJeremiah here proceeds farther — that no corner of the land would be exempt from the attacks of enemies. Desert is not put here for solitude not inhabited, but for high places; and as such places fbr the most part are fit for pastures, there is no doubt but that he means here secluded places. It is, however, sufficient for our present purpose to consider, that the desert; here is put in opposition to the level parts of the country. When, therefore, the enemies had rambled through the plains, the Prophet says, that no recesses, however hidden, would be safe; for there also the violence of the enemies would penetrate. And this is what he states more clearly at the end of the verse when he says that there would be no peace to any flesh: for he intimates, no doubt, that all, from the least to the greatest, would be rendered miserablei as God’s vengeance would reach every one without exception; and he says this, because those who sought hiding — places might have hoped to escape, thinking that the enemy would be satisfied with a limited victory; but the Prophet declares, that God’s wrath would so burn as to consume all, and to leave no part of the land without involving in ruin the rich and the poor, the country people and the citizens. After having then threatened the plains, which were more open and accessible, he now adds, that neither the mountains nor the hins would escape the outrage of their enemies; and at the same time he reminds them that God would be the author of all their calamities; for had he only spoken of the Chaldeans, the Jews would not have thought that they were given up to punishment by God on account of their sins: it would have therefore been without any good effect had they thought that they had a contest only with the Chaldeans. Hence he calls their attention to God’s judgment, and shews, that though ambition, avarice, and cruelty instigated and influenced their enemies, they were yet conducted by a divine power, because the Jews had for a long time provoked against themselves the vengeance of God. He, in short, intimates that the Chaldeans would fight for God and do his work, as he would be the chief commander in the war; and this he intimates lest the Jews should think that such great calamities happened to them by chance: hence he says, The sword of Jehovah hath devoured, etc. He indeed speaks of future things; but he uses the past tense, which is commonly done by the prophets. (65) It now follows — 12.On all heights in the wilderness have wasters come, For the sword has for Jehovah devoured; From one end of the land to the other end of the land No peace has been to any flesh. The third line reads better with the last. No doubt, the past, as Calvin says, is used for the future. The same is the case in the next verse. — Ed. Copyright Statement Bibliography John Trapp Complete CommentaryJeremiah 12:12 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. Ver. 12. For the sword of the Lord,] i.e., Of the enemy set on by the Lord; for whencesoever the sword cometh, it is bathed in heaven. [Isaiah 34:5] See Ezekiel 14:17. Copyright Statement Bibliography Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy BibleThe prophet (as very usually) speaketh of a thing as already done which was very shortly to be done; he saith they were come up because they should come up, and no places should be so high but they should climb them, none so strong but they should subdue them. The sword of the enemy is called the sword of the Lord, because he ordereth and succeeds it, though the enemy manageth it; and he saith it shall be against all, of all ranks and orders, no flesh should have peace; by no flesh he meaneth no ranks, no orders of men. Copyright Statement Bibliography Whedon's Commentary on the Bible12. No flesh… peace — See Genesis 6:12. The term “flesh” is here used in the same way, but with narrower application. Copyright Statement Bibliography Expository Notes of Dr. Thomas Constable
The Lord would bring "destroyers" against His people from the wilderness, who would act as His "sword" and "devour" them. The whole land would experience war. Copyright Statement Bibliography E.W. Bullinger's Companion Bible Noteshigh = eminent. Copyright Statement Bibliography Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible - UnabridgedThe 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. The spoilers are come upon all high places - before he had threatened the plains; now the hills. Wilderness - not an inhabited desert, but high lands of pasturage, lying between Judea and Chaldea (Jeremiah 4:11). Copyright Statement Bibliography Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers(12) All high places.—i.e., the bare treeless heights so often chosen as the site of an idolatrous sanctuary. The sword of the Lord.—As in the cry of “the sword of Jehovah and of Gideon” (Judges 7:18) all man’s work in war is thought of as instrumental in working out a Will mightier than his own. The sword of the Chaldean invader was, after all, His sword. The thought was more or less the common inheritance of Israel, but it had recently received a special prominence from Deuteronomy 32:41. No flesh shall have peace.—The context limits the prediction to the offenders of the cities of Judah. As peace was for the Israelite the sum and substance of all blessedness, so its absence was the extremest of all maledictions. “Flesh” is used, as in Genesis 6:3, for man’s nature as evil and corrupt. Copyright Statement Bibliography Treasury of Scripture KnowledgeThe 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.
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