Jeremiah 12:5
If thou hast run with the footmen, and they have wearied thee, then how canst thou contend with horses? And if in the land of peace, wherein thou trustedst, they wearied thee, then how wilt thou do in the swelling of Jordan?
a. NLT: “If racing against mere men makes you tired, how will you race against horses?
If you stumble and fall on open ground, what will you do in the thickets near the Jordan?
If you stumble and fall on open ground, what will you do in the thickets near the Jordan?
b. NIV: “If you have raced with men on foot and they have worn you out, how can you compete with horses? If you stumble in safe country, how will you manage in the thickets by the Jordan?
c. Amplified Bible: [But the Lord rebukes Jeremiah’s impatience, saying] If you have raced with men on foot and they have tired you out, then how can you compete with horses? And if [you take to flight] in a land of peace where you feel secure, then what will you do [when you tread the tangled maze of jungle haunted by lions] in the swelling and flooding of the Jordan?
d. Septuagint: Thy feet run, and they cause thee to faint; how wilt thou prepare [to ride] upon horses? and thou hast been confident in the land of thy peace? how wilt thou do in the roaring of Jordan?
e. Stone Edition Torah/Writings/Prophets: If when you race with footmen they exhaust you, how can you compete with horses? [If] in peaceful territory, where you are secure, [you are endangered,] how will you cope in the heights of the Jordan?
1.”If thou hast run with the footmen, and they have wearied thee, then how canst thou contend with horses?
a. If thou hast run [7323 * ruwts] [Strong: a primitive root; to run (for whatever reason, especially to rush):--break down, divide speedily, footman, guard, bring hastily, (make) run (away, through), post.]
b. footman [7273 * ragliy] [Strong: from 7272; a footman (soldier):--(on) foot(- man).]
c. wearied [3811 * la’ah] [Strong: a primitive root; to tire; (figuratively) to be (or make) disgusted:--faint, grieve, lothe, (be, make) weary (selves).]
d. contend [8474 * tacharah] [Strong: a facitious root from 2734 through the idea of the heat of jealousy; to vie with a rival:--close, contend.]
e. horses [5483 * cuwc] [Strong: from an unused root meaning to skip (properly, for joy); a horse (as leaping); also a swallow (from its rapid flight):--crane, horse((-back, -hoof)).]
1). If we cannot contend with circumstances which are common everyday circumstances, how are we going to contend with circumstances that are overwhelmingly severe? The comparison is from running with men to running with horses. The Apostle Paul wrote in his first epistle to the Corinthians how we are to run the race, with all our might
a). 1 Corinthians 9:24-27 Know ye not that they which run in a race run all, but one receiveth the prize? So run, that ye may obtain.
9:25 And every man that striveth for the mastery is temperate in all things. Now they do it to obtain a corruptible crown; but we an incorruptible.
9:26 I therefore so run, not as uncertainly; so fight I, not as one that beateth the air:
9:27 But I keep under my body, and bring it into subjection: lest that by any means, when I have preached to others, I myself should be a castaway.
2). Although the question is predominantly rhetorical, there is an example in Scripture where a man did outrun horses, but only because the Spirit of the LORD came upon him.
a). 1 Kings 18:44-46 And it came to pass at the seventh time, that he said, Behold, there ariseth a little cloud out of the sea, like a man’s hand. And he said, Go up, say unto Ahab, Prepare thy chariot, and get thee down, that the rain stop thee not.
18:45 And it came to pass in the meanwhile, that the heaven was back with clouds and wind, and there was a great rain. And Ahab rode, and went to Jezreel.
18:46 And the hand of the LORD was on Elijah; and he girded up his loins, and ran before Ahab to the entrance of Jezreel.
a). To give some perspective, Mount Carmel, where the confrontation with the prophets of Baal happened, and where Ahab left to ride to Jezreel is about 25 miles.
2). To walk and run in the supernatural we must walk with the Lord.
a). Isaiah 40:28-31 hast thou not known? Hast thou not heard, that the everlasting God, the LORD, the Creator of the ends of the earth, fainteth not, neither is weary? There is no searching of his understanding.
40:29 He giveth power to the faint; and to them that have no might he increaseth strength.
40:30 Even the youths shall faint and be weary, and the young men shall utterly fall:
40:31 But they that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings of eagles; they shall run, and not be weary; and they shall walk, and not faint.
b). Psalm 18:29 For by thee I have run through a troop; and by my God have I leaped over a wall.
3). Under the New Covenant it is the same. We can do nothing by ourselves, it is only by the grace of God.
a). 1 Corinthians 15:10 But by the grace of God I am what I am: and his grace which was bestowed upon me was not in vain; but I laboured more abundantly than they all: yet not I, but the grace of God which was with me.
2. “…and if in the land of peace, wherein thou trustedst, they wearied thee…”
a. land [776 * ‘erets] [Strong: from an unused root probably meaning to be firm; the earth (at large, or partitively a land):--X common, country, earth, field, ground, land, X natins, way, + wilderness, world.]
b. peace [ 7965 * shalowm] [Strong: from 7999; safe, i.e. (figuratively) well, happy, friendly; also (abstractly) welfare, i.e. health, prosperity, peace:--X do, familiar, X fare, favour, + friend, X great, (good) health, (X perfect, such as be at) peace(-able, -ably), prosper(-ity, -ous), rest, safe(-ty), salute, welfare, (X all is, be) well, X wholly.
1). [NIV note] “The Lord warns Jeremiah that in the future his troubles will increase. The Hebrew word for ‘stumble’ which usually means “trust” has a negative meaning in a few passages…”
2). [NRSV note] “…God , by two proverbs, informs him [Jeremiah] that the present is but a preparation for a more demanding future.”
3). The land of peace seems to me a land of no resistance, a land where basically no one is opposed to what I am doing. It reminds me of say life as a Christian in the US compared to say life in China as a Christian, or in Indonesia, or in Nigeria where on July 16th, 50 Christians were burned alive in their Pastors house. In those and many more countries it is not a land of peace. It is God’s will for us to live in a land of peace, a peace produced because the preaching of the gospel flourishes and men come to a knowledge of the truth.
a). 1 Timothy 2:1-4 I exhort therefore, first of all, supplications, prayers, intercessions, and giving of thanks, be made for all man;
2:2 For kings, and for all that are in authority; that we may lead a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and honesty.
2:3 For this is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Saviour;
2:4 Who will have all men to be saved, and come to the knowledge of the truth.
b). Acts 17:26, 27 And hath made of one blood all nations of men for to dwell on all the face of the earth, and hath determined the times before appointed, and the bounds of their habitation;
17:27 That they should seek the Lord, if haply they might feel after him, and find him, though he be not far from every one of us.
c). But if we are wearied in our faith living for God in America where there is little in the way of physical opposition compared with other countries, how can we expect to live by faith when our lives are in danger and obedience will be demanded for the supernatural to be manifested. I phrased it that way because of the next part of the verse in Jeremiah.
c. trustedst [982 * batach] [Strongs: to trust, be confident.]
1). A similar proverb was spoken by Jesus on his way up to Golgotha.
a). Luke 23:31 For if they do these things in a green tree, what shall be done in the dry?
b). Luke 23:31 NIV For if men do these things when the tree is green, what will happen when it is dry?
c). [NIV note] “If they treat the Messiah this way when the “tree” is well watered and green, what will their plight be when he is withdrawn from them and they suffer for their rejection in the dry period?
d). The bottom line in this study is if we can’t live for God or believe God when things are good, when circumstances are advantageous, then how will we live for God when things are not good, when circumstances are not advantageous. If I can’t believe God for relief from a headache, how can I believe him for something major?
3. “…then how wilt thou do in the swelling of Jordan?”
a. do [6213 * ‘asah] [Strong: a primitive root; to do or make, in the broadest sense and widest application (as follows):--accomplish, advance, appoint, apt, be at, become, bear, bestow, bring forth, bruise, be busy, X certainly, have the charge of, commit, deal (with), deck, + displease, do, (ready) dress(-ed), (put in) execute(-ion), exercise, fashion, + feast, (fight-)ing man, + finish, fit, fly, follow, fulfill, furnish, gather, get, go about, govern, grant, great, + hinder, hold ((a feast)), X indeed, + be industrious, + journey, keep, labour, maintain, make, be meet, observe, be occupied, offer, + officer, pare, bring (come) to pass, perform, pracise, prepare, procure, provide, put, requite, X sacrifice, serve, set, shew, X sin, spend, X surely, take, X thoroughly, trim, X very, + vex, be (warr-)ior, work(-man), yield, use.
b. swelling [1347 * ga’own] [Strongs: arrogancy, excellency, majesty, pomp, pride, proud, swelling.] [AMG: A masculine noun designating pride, majesty, arrogance, excellence…It is used in a neutral sense to describe the proud high waves of the sea (Job 38:11). [And, Or] the thick growth or thicket around some areas of the Jordan (Jeremiah 12:5).
1). [NIV] “…how will you manage in the thickets by the Jordan?”
2). [NIV note] regarding “thickets”: “If the Hebrew for this word means “flooding” here, an ancient example is described in Joshua 3:15.”
3). The search that I did regarding this Hebrew word did not find any use of it in the KJV for ‘thickets’. In the NASB it is used 44 times, but in only 3 examples it is used for ‘thickets’; Jeremiah 12:5, Jeremiah 49:19, Jeremiah 50:44. In light of that I believe that the KJV use of it in the sense of the flooding or “swelling” of Jordan is correct.
c. Jordan [3383 * Yarden] [Strong: from 3381; a descender; Jarden, the principal river of Palestine:--Jordan.]
1). This incident is about Israel crossing the Jordan River to conquer Jericho and the rest of the nations that comprised the inheritance God had given them. Before we get to that point we need to look at some background first. The morning after the spies came back from Jericho, Joshua moved Israel from Shittim to the river Jordan.
a). Joshua 3:1 And Joshua rose early in the morning; and they removed from Shittim, and came to Jordan, he and all the children of Israel, and lodged there before they passed over.
2). Shittim was about 7 miles from the Jordan river and Israel had been at Shittim for about a year, having arrived there immediately after the battles with Sihon and Og in Numbers 21.
a). Turn to Numbers 22 and hold your finger there and turn to Joshua 3. All the material in between your fingers comprise about one year of time and everything that occurred in that time occurred about 7 miles from the Jordan river.
b). Now take your finger and put it in Exodus 12 and go to Numbers 14. Everything that occurred in between those pages took place more or less in about one years’ time. The year immediately after the exodus from Egypt.
c). The rest of the 38 years of wandering of Israel happen in between Numbers 15 and 20; that was a very eye opening revelation for me.
d. Before Israel crossed the Jordan, Joshua gave Israel the final instruction.
1). Joshua 3:9-13 And Joshua said unto the children of Israel, Come hither, and hear the words of the LORD your God.
3:10 And Joshua said, Hereby ye shall know that the living God is among you, and that he will without fail drive out from before you the Canaanites, and the Hittites, and the Hivites, and the Perizzites, and the Girgashites, and the Amorites, and the Jebusites.
3:11 Behold, the ark of the covenant, even the LORD of all the earth passeth over before you into Jordan.
3:12 Now therefore take ye twelve men out of the tribes of Israel, out of every tribe a man.
3:13 And it shall come to pass, as soon as the soles of the feet of the priests that bear the ark of the LORD, the Lord of all the earth, shall rest in the waters of Jordan, that the waters of Jordan shall be cut off from the waters that come down from above; and they shall stand upon a heap.
2). This miracle was different than the parting of the Red Sea in that the Red Sea was parted completely before they even began to walk through it.
a). Exodus 14:21, 22 And Moses stretched out his hand over the sea; and the LORD caused the sea to go back by a strong east wind all that night, and made the sea dry land, and the waters were divided.
14:22 And the children of Israel went into the midst of the sea upon the dry ground: and the waters were a wall unto them on their right hand, and on their left.
b). Here at the Jordan, the river did not part until the soles of the feet of the priests carrying the ark hit the water.
e. One of the factors in the parting of the Jordan River is that the Jordan River at this time of year which was harvest, always overflowed its banks. Whenever a river overflows it s banks, it complicates the matter of crossing it, sometimes making it humanly impossible. But in reality, in the case of Israel, the depth or the power level of the flow of the river was irrelevant when it came right down to it, but faith in the Almighty Covenant keeping God is the bottom line.
1). Joshua 3:13-17 And it shall come to pass, as soon as the soles of the feet of the priests that bear the ark of the LORD, the Lord of all the earth, shall rest in the waters of Jordan, that the waters of the Jordan shall be cut off from the waters that come down from above; and they shall stand upon an heap.
3:14 And it came to pass, when the people removed from their tents, to pass over Jordan, and the priests bearing the ark of the covenant before the people;
3:15 And as they that bare the ark were come unto Jordan, and the feet of the priests that bare the ark were dipped in the brim of the water, (for Jordan overfloweth all his banks all the time of harvest,)
3:16 That the waters which came down from above stood and rose up upon an heap very far from the city of Adam, that is beside Zaretan: and those that came down toward the sea of the plain, even the salt sea, failed, and were cut off: and the people passed over right against Jericho.
3:17 And the priests that bare the ark of the covenant of the LORD stood firm on dry ground in the midst of Jordan, and all the Israelites passed over on dry ground, until all the people were passed clean over Jordan.
2). The distance from the city of Adam to Jericho was about 15 miles and the distance from Jericho to the Dead Sea was about 5 miles. The whole area that was affected was about 20 miles.
f. God also promised that when the soles of the feet of the priests that carried the ark left the water that the river returned to overflow its banks
2). Joshua 4:15-18 And the LORD spake unto Joshua, saying,
4:16 Command the priests that bear the ark of the testimony that they come up out of Jordan.
3:17 Joshua therefore commanded the priests, saying Come ye up out of Jordan.
3:18 And it came to pass, when the priests that bare the ark of the covenant of the LORD were come up out of the midst of Jordan, and the soles of the priests’ feet were lifted up unto the dry land, that the waters of Jordan returned unto their place, and flowed over all his banks, as they did before.
g. The effect of the miracle of the crossing of the Jordan River upon the neighboring nations Interesting
1). Joshua 5:1 And it came to pass, when all the kings of the Amorites, which were on the side of Jordan westward, and all the kings of the Canaanites, which were by the sea, heard that the LORD had dried up the waters of Jordan from before the children of Israel, until we were passed over, that there heart melted, neither was there spirit in them anymore, because of the children of Israel.
2). The phrase “neither was there spirit in them anymore” is also used in 1 Kings 10 when the queen of Sheba witnessed for herself the glories of Solomon’s court.
a). 1 Kings 10:4, 5 And when the queen of Sheba had seen all Solomon’s wisdom, and the house that he had built.
10:5 And the meat of his table, and the sitting of his servants, and the attendance of his ministers, and their apparel, and his cupbearers, and his ascent by which he went up unto the house of the LORD; there was no more spirit in her.
b). The difference of what happened to the neighboring nations and the Queen of Sheba was she got right with God as a result of what she saw and the neighboring nations armed themselves for war.
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