Jeremiah 15:12

THE DESTRUCTION OF JUDAH INEVITABLE

"Can one break iron, even iron from the north, and brass? Thy substance and thy treasure will I give for a spoil without price, and that for all thy sins, even in all thy borders. And I will make them to pass with thine enemies into a land which thou knowest not; for a fire is kindled in mine anger, which shall burn upon you."

The last two verses here simply state that all of the treasures and riches of Judah shall God cause to be taken away from them because of their sins. Those treasures shall not be paid for, but shall leave "without price," and be carried away by Judah's enemies into a country they do not know.

"Can one break iron ..." (Jeremiah 15:12)? There are several different views about what this means. Dummelow believed that it meant, "Judah is not tough enough to withstand the Chaldean power."[16] "The prophet is protesting that he is not strong enough to stand against the hardness and stubbornness of the people."[17] "Jeremiah's prayers are not strong enough to break the iron will of the divine purpose to destroy Judah."[18] Jellie also saw Jeremiah 15:12 as teaching that, "There is a limit to prayer,"[19] quoting also this passage from John Milton's "Paradise Lost":

"Prayer against God's absolute decree

No more avails than breath against the wind,

Blows stifling back on him that breatheth forth;

Therefore to His great bidding I submit."

The critical allegation that these verses do not fit is rejected. They clearly predict the exile, which prophecy surely emphasizes the negative answer God had already given in the first paragraph of the chapter to Judah's appeal for mercy; and if the application of Jeremiah 15:12 is to the inability of Jeremiah's prayers to break God's determination to destroy Judah, then this passage is indeed in context. There are no legitimate grounds here for moving these verses or for calling them a gloss. Such allegations are almost certainly incorrect.

Robinson called Jeremiah 15:13-14 "Irrelevant";[20] Cheyne called them "a digression";[21] but a much more discerning scholar declared that, "They can hardly be regarded as simply an intrusion into the text; but they may be seen as a significant part of the total picture."[22]