Jeremiah 9:12

"Who is the wise man, that may understand this? and who is he to whom the mouth of Jehovah hath spoken, that he may declare it? wherefore is the land perished and burned up like a wilderness? And Jehovah saith, because they have forsaken my law which I set before them, and have not obeyed my voice, neither walked therein, but have walked after the stubbornness of their own heart, and after the Baalim which their fathers taught them; therefore thus saith Jehovah of hosts, Behold, I will feed them, even this people, with wormwood, and give them water of gall to drink. I will scatter them also among the nations, whom neither they nor their fathers have known; and I will send the sword after them, till I have consumed them."

These verses "are often referred to as the work of Deuteronomic editors";[12] but this critical fembu is unworthy of any attention. All of the redactors and editors of the radical critics are shadowy creatures of imagination, for whom there exists no dependable evidence whatever. They are the self-made crutches upon which unbelievers lean in their vain efforts to cast doubt upon the Word of God.

The purpose of this paragraph is clearly that of giving God's reasons that required his severe punitive action against the remainder of Israel. The answer is specific and sufficient: (1) they had revolted against their legitimate sovereign, a great truth that denies the non-existence of the Mosaic Law at that time; (2) they had not only withdrawn their obedience from God, but they had also taken up arms against him; (3) they were worshipping the idols which their own hands had manufactured; (4) they were worshipping the fertility cults of the various Baalim, wallowing in the vulgar, sensuous rites of that orgiastic religion. It was for all of these things that God would destroy the nation and send the remnant of it into captivity, from which the vast majority would never return.

"The King of Kings never made war against his own subjects except when they had treacherously rebelled against him and had made such punishment necessary."[13]

"Who is the wise man, that may understand this ..." (Jeremiah 9:12)? Keil tells us that this question is given in the negative form, indicating that "There is no wise man"[14] who was either able or willing to tell them the Word of God; and that the word `wherefore' in this same verse makes that the fundamental reason behind God's punishment of his people.

"They have forsaken my law which I set before them ..." (Jeremiah 9:13). The law mentioned here is the complete Law of Moses, not some small fragment of it found in the temple. Note also that God had set this law before the people, not Hilkiah who found that copy of it. It was the basic constitution of the nation of Israel; and their rebellion against the Covenant of God which was built into and around that law was the reason for the punishment coming upon them.

"Ye have ... walked after the Baalim ..." (Jeremiah 9:14). "Many of the Ugaritic texts regarded the fertility god Baal as the actual head of the Canaanite pantheon,"[15] and so is he regarded in this commentary. There is absolutely nothing in the Holy Bible that supports the notion advocated by some that a certain "[~'El]" was that head. It was Baal. This is proved by the fact that Baal's name is linked with dozens of lesser gods, often associated with various local areas as in, "Baal-hazor, Baal-peor, Baal-sidon, Baal-lebanon, Baal-haram, Baal-berith; it is clear from the Ugaritic texts that many of the cultic practices associated with the Baal fertility cults were heavily oriented toward sexual immorality."[16] This shameful worship was exceedingly attractive to the Jewish people, beginning with the tragic conduct of the whole nation at Baal-peor (Numbers 24-26).

"Wormwood... water of gall ..." (Jeremiah 9:15). "Wormwood is a plant having a very bitter juice, and gall was a poisonous bitter herb. The terms were often used together to indicate bitter afflictions."[17]

"I will scatter them also among the nations ..." (Jeremiah 9:16). "This verse comes from Leviticus 26:33."[18] If, as some critics assert, the Pentateuch as we know it did not then exist, where on earth does one suppose that Jeremiah came up with this? Remember that our chapter here has already stated that God had given Israel his Law (the whole Pentateuch), a fact proved by this verse.

The Dean of Canterbury's comment on this is, "The captivity of Israel and the scattering of them among the heathen (the nations) was a fulfillment of this passage in Leviticus as the appointed determinate penalty for the violation of God's covenant; and this is one of the most remarkable facts in proof that prophecy was something more than human foresight."[19]