Jeremiah 17:12 - Meaning and Application

Here, as before, the prophet is alone with God, thinking and praying in private. Ministers who want comfort in their work must spend much time that way. In this quiet talk with God and his own heart, he moves from one point to another without strict order, as devout people often do in prayer.

He begins by praising God for the great gift of revealed religion among his people, and for honoring them with holy institutions: “A glorious high throne from the beginning is the place of our sanctuary” (Jeremiah 17:12). The temple in Jerusalem, where God showed his special presence, where his word was kept, where the people worshiped their King, and where they ran for safety in trouble, was their sanctuary. It was a glorious high throne because it was holy, and because it belonged to God.

Jerusalem is called the city of the great King, not only Israel’s King, but the King of the whole earth. In that sense, it could be seen as the world’s royal city. It was “from the beginning” in this sense, from the time David planned it and Solomon built it (2 Chronicles 2:9). It was a great honor to Israel that God set up such a throne among them. Some understand the line to mean, “A glorious high throne is the place of our sanctuary,” that is, heaven itself. The point is that godly people value God’s ordinances highly, and they treat the sanctuary as glorious and high.

Jeremiah says this either to ask God for mercy on the land, for the sake of the throne of his glory (Jeremiah 14:21), or to show how great the people’s sin was. They had abandoned God even though his throne was among them, and in that way they dishonored his crown and his sanctuary.

Next, he agrees with God’s justice in ruining those who leave him and turn away from their loyalty to him (Jeremiah 17:13). He speaks to God as one who fully agrees that it is true and right: “O Lord, the hope of Israel, all who forsake you will be put to shame.” That must happen, because they leave God for false things that only deceive them and end in shame. They bring shame on themselves, and they deserve shame because they have left the only one who can give them honor when trouble comes.

Some read the words as a prayer, “Let them be ashamed,” which would be a godly request for God’s judgment, or for his grace to lead them to repentance. When people turn from the prophet’s word, they are in effect turning from God himself. In the same way, those who return to God are said to return to the prophet (Jeremiah 15:19). Some also read it as, “Those who depart from you will be written in the earth.” That means they will soon be erased, like writing in dust. They will be trampled down and made to look worthless. They belong to the earth, and their place is among people who set their hearts on earthly things and whose names are not written in heaven.

They deserve to be marked out as fools in Israel, so that their folly is clear to everyone. They have forsaken the Lord, the fountain of living waters, and chosen broken cisterns instead. God is, for all who belong to him, a fountain of living waters. His comfort is full, overflowing, and always fresh. It is clear and clean like spring water, while the pleasures of sin are muddy water. His gifts are free, not locked away. Those who leave God deserve to be treated as Adam was, returned to red earth, because by sin they have joined themselves to it. They have left the garden of the Lord, which is so well watered. Those who turn from God are written in the earth.

Then Jeremiah prays for healing and saving mercy for himself. If those who leave God end so badly, then he wants to stay close to him (Psalm 73:27-28). So he says, “Lord, heal me and save me” (Jeremiah 17:14). Heal my backsliding, my tendency to drift away, and save me from being swept along by the stream into turning from you. He was wounded in spirit by many troubles. So he asks, “Lord, heal me with your comfort and make me calm.” He was also exposed to the hatred of unreasonable people. So he asks, “Lord, save me from them, and do not let me fall into their wicked hands.”

To be healed means to be made holy by God’s grace, and to be saved means to be brought at last to glory. Everyone who will be saved in the future is being made holy now. Unless the disease of sin is taken away, the soul cannot live. To strengthen his prayer, he gives two reasons.

First, he believes firmly in God’s power: “Heal me, and I will be healed; save me, and I will be saved.” If God takes the work in hand, the cure will certainly happen, and it will be complete, not partial. Anyone who comes to God for healing should be fully satisfied that their doctor is able to do it. If God saves us, then we will truly be safe, no matter how great our dangers or enemies are. If he holds us up, we will live.

Second, he cares about God’s honor: “For you are my praise.” He wants to be healed and saved so that he can live to praise God (Psalm 119:175). God is the one he praises, the one he gives credit to, and the one he boasts in, because he depends on him. God is also the one who keeps giving him reasons to praise. He has already thanked God for past blessings. Or, as some read it, “You shall be my praise.” That is, heal me and save me, and you will receive the glory for it. “My praise will always be of you” (Psalm 71:6; Psalm 79:13).

Finally, he complains before God about the unbelief and bold wickedness of the people he preached to. This deeply troubled him, and he lays that sorrow before the Lord, like a servant reporting the disrespect shown by those he had been sent to invite. He had faithfully delivered God’s message to them, but what answer did he receive from the One who sent him? “Look, they say to me, ‘Where is the word of the Lord? Let it come now’” (Jeremiah 17:15; Isaiah 5:19). They mocked the prophet and laughed at what he had spoken with the greatest seriousness.

They denied the truth of his message. If this really was the word of the Lord, then where was it? Why had it not happened? In this way they treated God’s patience as if it were proof that he had not spoken truthfully. They also defied the terror of the warning. In effect they said, “Let God do his worst. Let everything he has said happen. We will be fine.” They acted as though the lion were less fierce than people said it was (Amos 5:18). Jeremiah’s sorrow is plain: what is the use of speaking to people who will not believe and will not fear?

He then appeals to God about how faithfully he has done the work he was called to do (Jeremiah 17:16).

The people did all they could to wear Jeremiah out, upset him, and make him uneasy. They tried to push him into changing his message so he would not offend them. But he says, in effect, “Lord, you know I have not given in to them.”

He stayed faithful to his task. His work as a prophet, instead of bringing him honor and safety, brought him shame, contempt, and harm. Yet he says he did not run away from being a shepherd after God. He did not leave his calling or ask to be released from it. Prophets were meant to be shepherds for the people, feeding them with God’s word. But they were to be shepherds after God, following his heart and his directions, as in (Jeremiah 3:15). Jeremiah was such a shepherd, and even with great hardship and discouragement, he did not turn aside like Jonah did.

He also kept his concern for the people. They treated him badly, but he still had compassion for them. He says, “I have not desired the woeful day.” The day when his prophecies came true would be a terrible day for Jerusalem. So he did not long for it, even though it would prove him right and show that those who questioned him were wrong (Jeremiah 17:15). God does not desire the death of sinners, so his ministers must not desire it either. They should want people to turn and live. They must warn about judgment, but not wish for it. They should weep over it, as Jeremiah did.

He also stayed true to the message God gave him. He could have won people’s approval, or at least avoided their anger, if he had softened his warnings. But he chose to speak faithfully. That was a comfort to him. He could say, “Lord, you know that what came from my lips was right before you.” It matched exactly what he had received from God, so their anger against him was really an attack on God. If what we say and do is right before God, we can more easily ignore the criticism of people. Their judgment is a small thing.

Jeremiah then humbly asks God to stand by him, protect him, and keep him going in the work God clearly called him to do. He asks for two things. First, he wants comfort in serving the God who sent him, saying, “Do not be a terror to me” (Jeremiah 17:17). More is meant than is said. He is asking God to be his comfort, to fill his heart with joy, and to strengthen him when enemies try to frighten him or slow him down.

Even the best people have enough in them to make God a terror to them, as Job, Asaph, and Heman experienced for a time (Job 6:4; Psalm 77:3; Psalm 88:15). Good people who know the fear of the Lord dread that more than anything. No matter what trouble comes, or how threatening their enemies seem, they can endure if God is not against them. Jeremiah says, “You are my hope,” and then nothing else should make him afraid, even in a day of trouble. Those who trust God by faith will find him to be their comfort in the worst times, if they do not bring it on themselves.

Second, Jeremiah asks for courage in speaking to the people God sent him to (Jeremiah 17:18). The very people who should have welcomed him were persecuting him. He asks God to confound them, either by showing them their guilt through the word or by carrying out the judgments that had been threatened. At the same time, he asks that he himself not be put to shame or terrified by their threats, so that he would not betray his trust. God’s ministers have work to do that they should not be ashamed or afraid to keep doing, but they do need God’s grace to continue without fear.

Jeremiah had not wished for Jerusalem’s destruction in general. But with a holy anger against his persecutors, he asks God to bring the day of trouble on them. He hopes that if they are removed, the people may be better off. So he prays for a full destruction of them, root and branch, and for the very thought of that ruin to bring them to shame now. He is not asking this to get revenge or even mainly to ease his own pain. He wants the Lord to be known through the judgments he carries out.