Jeremiah 30:4

Jer 30:4 And these [are] the words that the LORD spake concerning Israel and concerning Judah.

Ver. 4. And these are the words.] These are the contents of this precious book; every leaf, nay, line, nay, letter whereof, droppeth myrrh and mercy.

That the Lord spake.] See on Jer 30:1.

John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Jer 30:4-7. And these are the words that the Lord spake — And which God ordered to be written: and those promises, which were written by his order, are as truly his word as the ten commandments, which were written with his finger. We have heard a voice of trembling — Such a one as discovers great fears and apprehensions of impending evils. Ask ye now and see, &c. — Make diligent inquiry, and ask every one, whether they ever knew or heard of any such thing as a man’s travailing with child? Wherefore then do I see every man with his hands on his loins — As if he were going to bring forth, and felt all the pains of a woman in travail? Alas! for that day is great — The word day in Scripture often comprehends a succession of time, in which a whole series of events is transacted: so it here contains the whole time of the siege and taking of Jerusalem, the destruction of the city and temple, and the carrying away of the people captive. This is described as a time of great tribulation, in which it was an earnest of the day of judgment, the great and terrible day of the Lord.

Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

The judgment on the nations for the deliverance of Israel. - Jer 30:4. "And these are the words which Jahveh spake concerning Israel and Judah: Jer 30:5. For thus saith Jahveh: We have heard a cry of terror, fear, and no peace. Jer 30:6. Ask now, and see whether a male bears a child? Why do I see every man with his hands on his loins like a woman in childbirth, and every face turned to paleness? Jer 30:7. Alas! for that day is great, with none like it, and it is a time of distress for Jacob, but he will be saved out of it. Jer 30:8. And it shall come to pass on that day, saith Jahveh of hosts, that I will break his yoke from upon thy neck, and I will burst thy bonds, and strangers shall no more put servitude on him; Jer 30:9. But they shall serve Jahveh their God, and David their king, whom I shall raise up to them. Jer 30:10. But fear thou not, O my servant Jacob, saith Jahveh, neither be confounded, O Israel; for, behold, I will save thee from afar, and thy seed from the land of their captivity; and Jacob shall return, and be at rest, and be secure, and there shall be none making him afraid. Jer 30:11. For I am with thee, saith Jahveh, to save thee; for I will make an end of all the nations whither I have scattered thee, yet of thee will I not make an end, but I will chastise thee properly and will not let thee go quite unpunished."

With Jer 30:4 is introduced the description of Israel's restoration announced in Jer 30:3. This introduction is not absolutely necessary, but neither is it for that reason spurious and to be expunged, as Hitzig seeks to do; it rather corresponds to the breadth of Jeremiah's representation. The כּי in Jer 30:5 is explicative: "Thus, namely, hath Jahveh spoken." With the lively dramatic power of a poet, the prophet at once transports the hearers or readers of his prophecy, in thought, into the great day to come, which is to bring deliverance to all Israel. As a day of judgment, it brings terror and anguish on all those who live to see it. קול חרדה, "A voice (sound) of trembling (or terror) we hear," viz., the people, of whom the prophet is one. פּחד does not depend on שׁמענוּ, but forms with ואין שׁלום an independent clause: "There is fear and not peace" (or safety). Jer 30:6. What is the cause of this great horror, which makes all men, from convulsive pains, hold their hands on their loins, so as to support their bowels, in which they feel the pangs, and which makes every countenance pale? In Jer 30:7 the cause of this horror is declared. It is the great day of judgment that is coming. "That (not hits) day" points to the future, and thus, even apart from other reasons, excludes the supposition that it is the day of the destruction of Jerusalem that is meant. The words "that day is great" refer to Joe 2:11, and "there is none like it" is an imitation of Joe 2:2; in the latter passage the prophet makes use of a judgment which he had seen passed on Judah - its devastation by locusts - and for the first time presents, as the main element in his prophecy, the idea of the great day of judgment to come on all nations, and by which the Lord will perfect His kingdom on this earth. This day is for Jacob also, i.e., for all Israel, a time of distress; for the judgment falls not merely on the heathen nations, but also on the godless members of the covenant people, that they may be destroyed from among the congregation of the Lord. The judgment is therefore for Israel as well as for other nations a critical juncture, from which the Israel of God, the community of the faithful, will be delivered. This deliverance is described more in detail in Jer 30:8. The Lord will break the yoke imposed on Israel, free His people from all bondage to strangers, i.e., the heathen, so that they may serve only Him, the Lord, and David, His king, whom He will raise up. The suffix in עלּו is referred by several expositors (Hitzig, Ngelsbach) to the king of Babylon, "as having been most clearly before the minds of Jeremiah and his contemporaries;" in support of this view we are pointed to Isa 10:27, as a passage which may have been before the eyes of Jeremiah. But neither this parallel passage nor צוּארך (with the suffix of the second person), which immediately follows, sufficiently justifies this view. For, in the second half also of the verse, the second person is interchanged with the third, and מוסרותיך, which is parallel with עלּו, requires us to refer the suffix in the latter word to Jacob, so that "his yoke" means "the yoke laid on him," as in Kg1 12:4; Isa 9:3. It is also to be borne in mind that, throughout the whole prophecy, neither Babylon nor the king of Babylon is once mentioned; and that the judgment described in these verses cannot possibly be restricted to the downfall of the Babylonian monarchy, but is the judgment that is to fall upon all nations (Jer 30:11). And although this judgment begins with the fall of the Babylonian supremacy, it will bring deliverance to the people of God, not merely from the yoke of Babylon, but from every yoke which strangers have laid or will lay on them.

Jer 30:9

Then Israel will no longer serve strangers, i.e., foreign rulers who are heathens, but their God Jahveh, and David the king who will be raised up to them, i.e., the Messiah, the righteous sprout that Jahveh will raise up to David; cf. Jer 23:5. The designation of this sprout as "David their king," i.e., the king of the Israelites, points us back to Hos 3:5.

Jer 30:10-11

Israel the servant of Jahveh, i.e., the true Israel, faithful and devoted to God, need thus fear nothing, since their God will deliver them from the land of their captivity, and stand by them as their deliverer, so that they shall be able to dwell in peace and undisturbed security in their own land. For Jahveh will make a complete end of all the nations among whom Israel has been scattered; Israel, on the other hand, He shall certainly chastise, but למּשׁפּט (according to what is right, in due measure), that they may be made better by their punishment. As to the expression יסּר למּשׁפּט, see on Jer 10:24; for לא עשׂה כלה, see on Jer 4:27 and Jer 5:18 (אתך for אתּך, Jer 5:18); and lastly, on נקּה לא אנקּך, cf. Ex. 34:47, Num 14:18, Nah 1:3.

Jer 30:10 and Jer 30:11 are repeated in Jer 46:27-28, though with some slight changes.

(Note: The general strain of these verses is the same as that of the second portion of Isaiah; hence Hitzig, following Movers, views them as an interpolation made by the reviser. But this view is most incorrect, as Graf has already pointed out. The only expression which, besides the repetition made in Jer 46:27, occurs nowhere else in Jeremiah, but frequently in the second Isaiah, is, "my servant Jacob;" cf. Isa 44:1-2; Isa 45:4; Isa 48:20 and Isa 41:8; Isa 44:21; Isa 49:3. All the rest is not characteristic of Isaiah. "Thus, 'Fear not, I am with thee,' is certainly found in Isa 43:5, but also in Gen 26:24; 'Fear not, neither be afraid,' is found in a like connection in Isa 51:7, but also in Jer 23:24; Deu 1:21; Deu 31:8; Jos 8:1; cf. Isa 44:2; Jer 1:8, Jer 1:17; Jos 1:9. יעקוב occurs also in Jer 30:7, Jer 30:10, 25, Lam 2:3. For מושׁיעך, cf. Jer 14:8; for מרחק, cf. Jer 23:23; Jer 31:3; Jer 51:50. In the second part of Isaiah, שׁאנן occurs as seldom as ואין; on the other hand, cf. Jer 48:11; Jer 7:33. The expressions found in Jer 30:11 are as rare in the second part of Isaiah as they are frequent in Jeremiah. Thus, 'For I am with thee to save thee" is found in Jer 15:20; Jer 42:11; 'to make a full end' occurs also in Jer 4:27; Jer 5:10, Jer 5:18; 'I shall certainly not let thee go unpunished,' which, like Nah 1:3, seems to have been taken from Exo 34:7 or Num 14:18, is not found at all in the second part of Isaiah; הפיץ, which is found in Jer 9:15; Jer 13:24; Jer 18:17; Jer 23:1., appears only in Isa 41:16; and while יסּר is used in the same meaning in Jer 10:24, יסּר occurs nowhere in the second part of Isaiah, and למּשׁפּט is found in Isa 41:1; Isa 54:17; Isa 59:11, in quite a different connection and meaning." (Graf.))

Keil & Delitzsch — Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament (1861–1891) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API. (Old Testament only.)

II. The Deliverance of Entire Israel (Jer_30:4-22)

1. The great day of judgment of the world and deliverance of Israel

Jer_30:4-11

4          And these are the words which Jehovah hath spoken concerning1Israel and concerning Judah;

5          For thus saith Jehovah:

We have heard a cry of terror,2

Fear and no deliverance.

6     Ask ye now and see if a male is parturient?

Why do I then see every man with his hands on his hips like a parturient,

And all faces turned into paleness?3

7     Alas! for great is that day, with none like it,4

And it will be a time of trouble to Jacob,

But—he shall be delivered from it.

8     And it shall come to pass on that day, saith Jehovah Zebaoth,

I will break his yoke off from thy neck,

And I will tear asunder thy bonds,

And strangers shall no longer enslave him:5

9     But they shall serve Jehovah their God,

And David their king, whom I will raise up6 for them.

10     But fear thou not, my servant Jacob, saith Jehovah,

And be not dismayed, O Israel.

For behold, I will deliver thee from afar,

And thy seed from the land of their captivity;

And Jacob shall return and rest,

And be tranquil and undisturbed.

11     For I am with thee to deliver thee, saith Jehovah.

Though I make a full end7of all the nations,

Whither I have scattered them,

I will not make an end of thee;

But I will chastise thee according to justice,

And not leave thee unpunished.

EXEGETICAL AND CRITICAL

What was summarily comprised in Jer_30:2 is now set forth in detail (Jer_30:4). Cry of terror, fear without a possibility of deliverance (Jer_30:5); all the men have their hands on their thighs like women in travail, all faces have become pale (Jer_30:6), for the great day of the Lord, a day with none like it, is breaking, a day which will be a time of dread even for Jacob, but yet at the same time the day of redemption (Jer_30:6), for on this day an end is to be put to Israel’s servitude (Jer_30:8). Israel is from thenceforward to serve only his God and his king David (Jer_30:9), Judah and Israel are then to be brought back from the lands of their captivity to a peaceful habitation of their home (Jer_30:10), for while the Lord will execute on all the Gentiles a judgment of destruction, He will indeed chastise Israel so as not to leave him unpunished, but will not destroy him.

Jer_30:4-7. And these … delivered from it. Apart from some brief intimations (Jer_9:25; Jer_11:10-17; Jer_13:11; Jer_23:6; Jer_50:4) the prophet makes Israel and Judah, the two great halves of the Israelitish nation, the subject of his longer discourses, only here (Jer_30:3; Jer_31:27), and in the second discourse (chs. 3–6), which belongs to the time of Josiah.

Jer_30:5. This for, which is logically indeed superfluous but not incorrect (Jer_30:4 announces the entirety of the following discourse as God’s word and כי, Jer_30:5, introduces the particulars), has rhetorically the character of a certain solemn breadth. With dramatic vividness the prophet transports us into the midst of the future, which he describes, causing those who are concerned to be the speakers together with himself. It is clear that the day of terror which he describes cannot be the day of Jerusalem (Psa_137:7). For (1) the day of the destruction of Jerusalem by the Chaldeans cannot be represented as at the same time a day of salvation for all Israel; (2) “ the great day of the Lord like which there is no other” always designates the divine judgment in its highest and most comprehensive sense. For even when Joel, who is the first to speak of the great and fearful days (Jer_2:11), understands by it primarily the day of the devastation by locusts, he yet beholds in this special act only the first act of the great drama of judgments (Jer_3:4), with which he first connects the idea of the redemption and restoration of Israel (Jer_4:1; Jer_4:7). After him Hosea speaks of the great day of Jezreel (Jer_2:2), on which Judah and Israel will return again united under their common head. Afterwards the judicial activity of God is mirrored before the eyes of Isaiah in the judgment on Babylon (Jer_13:6), the return of the whole people being again connected with it (Jer_14:1 sqq.). Next before Jeremiah finally, the idea of the “day of the Lord” forms the central point of Zephaniah’s prophecy, and if he also understands primarily by the “ great day “ (Jer_1:14) the day of the judgment of Jerusalem, yet he also regards all the judicial acts of God as elements or stages of the whole, and to him also the consummation of the judgment is the turning-point of the deliverance and restoration of all Israel (Jer_3:10 sqq,; 20). After Jeremiah there is Malachi only who speaks in express words of “ the great and dreadful day of the Lord “ (Jer_4:5 ).—No deliverance. Comp. Jer_6:14; Jer_8:11; Eze_7:25; Eze_13:10„ 16.—Ask now, etc. Comp. Jer_18:13. The prophet portrays with drastic vividness the effects of the terror by saying that he saw men behaving like women in the pangs of childbirth—pressing their hands on their loins. Comp. Isa_21:3; Jer_6:24; Jer_22:23; Jer_49:24; Jer_50:43.—That day. From that (ההוא) we see (1) that the prophet means a day not immediately impending, but (2) the same as was spoken of in Jer_30:5-6—And it will be a time of trouble, etc. Israel also is not unaffected by the sufferings of that time (comp. Mat_24:21-22); but for them it is only a crisis, which leads to salvation.

Jer_30:8-9. And it shall come to pass … raise up for them. The deliverance announced in the concluding words of Jer_30:7 is described more particularly. It has its negative and its positive side. The nation will no longer serve strangers (Jer_30:8) but their God alone, and the King granted them by God, the Messiah (Jer_30:9).—Thy bonds. Comp. Jer_2:20; Jer_5:5.—Enslave. Comp. Jer_27:7; Jer_25:14.—Serve Jehovah. For Israel to serve his God is at the same time his first duty and the fundamental condition of salvation. This salvation is to be communicated by the anointed of the Lord, the (second David. The Messiah is called David, not merely as a descendant of David still called by his name, but as a real David in the highest degree. As David was the founder of the earthly throne of David, so the Messiah as the fulfiller is the founder and occupant of the eternal throne of David. Jeremiah supports himself here chiefly on Hos_3:5, coll. Isa_55:3, while after him Ezekiel Eze_34:23-24; Eze_37:24-25) leans on his predecessors, especially Jeremiah. The conception of the second David is analogous to that of the second Adam (1Co_15:45 sqq.) It is therefore altogether different from the Rabbinical doctrine of a double Messiah, Ben Joseph and Ben David, (comp. Oehler in Herzog, Real.-Enc., IX. S. 440; BuxtorfLex., p. 1273) with which Haevernick seems (Coram, on Ezek., S. 557) to confound the Christian conception. It is accordingly clear that we must protest against the lower view, that Jeremiah it here speaking of a Davidic dynasty (Sanctius), or of Zerubbabel (Grotius; is David vocatur et hic et Ezech. Eze_34:23; Eze_37:24, nimirum sicut a Ptolemsæo orti Ptolemæi, a Cæsare Cæsares), or indeed of a personally resuscitated David (V. Ammon, Fortd. d. Chr. I., S. 178; Strauss, Glaubensl. II., S. 80). This latter conception is imputed by Hitzig to Ezekiel (ad loc. S. 245) as having thus interpreted the אָקִם of Jeremiah. As to the rest comp. Comm. on Jer_30:21; Jer_23:5; Hengstenberg, Christol. [Eng. Tr. II., p. 413 sqq.]

Jer_30:10-11. But fear thou not . . unpunished. Graf has called attention to the circumstance that these words are addressed to the people living in exile “in opposition to those delivered in Jer_30:9.” More strictly we should say, that Jer_30:8-9 announce the salvation objectively (whence also Israel is spoken of predominantly in the 3d person), but in Jer_30:10 the subjective application follows in the exhortation to be comforted and not to fear, but yet with a repetition of the objective basis. It is not however to be denied that the adversative rendering “thou however” is not appropriate. Meier translates “so fear thou nothing,” evidently not accurately, but in the correct feeling that the connection requires an inferential rather than an adversative sentence. Comp. Isa_44:1-2, which passage certainly occurred to the prophet, the words “fear not my servant Jacob” being taken from it verbatim, and we are thus led to think that instead of וְאַתָּה here we should read וְעַתָּה with which the passage in Isa. commences. The latter certainly would correspond better with the connection. Hitzig and Movers find in these two verses the idiom of Isaiah 2, and would therefore regard it as an interpolation by him. Graf however has satisfactorily shown that with the exception of the expression עבדי יעקב (I say, with the exception of אל־תיראע׳ י׳) all the rest betrays the older, and specifically Jeremiah’s, idiom. Why should not that evident quotation from Isa_44:2 be just as good an instance for the priority of the alleged Isaiah 2, in relation to the genuine Jeremiah? The union of Judah and Israel, which is here spoken of from Jer_30:3 onwards, may have reminded the prophet of that passage in Isaiah, which declares this union. Other declarations of Isaiah, as Isa_51:7, may also have been in the mind of our prophet. Perhaps also passages like Isa_49:12; Isa_60:4; Isa_60:9.—Rest and be tranquil. Comp. Jer_48:11.—Undisturbed. Comp. rems. on Jer_7:33.—For I am with thee. Comp. Jer_15:20; Jer_42:11.—Chastise thee. The expression is found in Jer_10:24 in the same sense. Whether in Isa_28:26 also is disputable. On לִ comp. Naegelsb. Gr., § 112, 5, b.—And not leave thee, etc. From Exo_34:7; the expression is found in Num_14:18, in Nah_1:3, and here.—Comp. further Jer_46:27-28, where these two verses are reproduced.

DOCTRINAL AND ETHICAL

1. Joh. Conr. Schaller, pastor at Cautendorf, says in his Gospel Sermons, (Hof. 1742, S. 628), “These chapters are like a sky in which sparkle many brilliant stars of strong and consolatory declarations, a paradise and pleasure-garden in which a believing soul is refreshed with delightsome flowers of instruction, and solaced with sweetly flavored apples of gracious promise.”

2. On Jer_30:1-3. The people of Israel were not then capable of bearing such a prophecy, brimming over with happiness and glory. They would have misused it, hearing to the end what was promised them, and then only the more certainly postponing what was the only thing then necessary—sincere repentance. Hence they are not yet to hear this gloriously consolatory address. It is to be written, that it may in due time be perceived that the Lord, even at the time when He was obliged to threaten most severely, had thoughts of peace concerning the people, and that thus the period of prosperity has not come by chance, nor in consequence of a change of mind, but in consequence of a plan conceived from the beginning and executed accordingly.

3. On Jer_30:7. The great and terrible day of the Lord (Joe_3:4) has not the dimensions of a human day. It has long sent out its heralds in advance. Yea, it has itself already dawned. For since by the total destruction of the external theocracy judgment is begun at the house of God (1Pe_4:17), we stand in the midst of the day of God in the midst of the judgment of the world. Then the time of trouble for Jacob has begun (Jer_30:7), from which he is to be delivered, when the fulness of the Gentiles is come in (Romans 11.)

4. On Jer_30:9. Christ is David in his highest potency, and He is also still more. For if we represent all the typical points in David’s life as a circle, and draw a line from each of these points, the great circle thus formed would comprise only a part of the πλήρωμα given in Christ. Nevertheless Christ is the true David, who was not chosen like Saul for his bodily stature, but only for his inward relation to God (comp. Psa_2:7), whose kingdom also does not cease after a short period of glory, but endures forever; who will not like Saul succumb to his enemies, but will conquer them all, and will give to his kingdom the widest extent promised; all this however not without, like David, having gone through the bitterest trials.

5. On Jer_30:11. “Modus paternæ castigationis accommodatus et quasi appensus ad stateram judicii Dei adeoque non immensus sed dimensus.” “Christus ecclesiam crucis suæ hæredem constituit. Gregor. M.” Förster.

6. On Jer_30:14. “Cum virlutem patientiæ nostræ flagella transeunt, valde metuendum est, ne peccatis nostris exigentibus non jam quasi filii a patre, sed quasi hostes a Domino feriamur. Gregor. M. Moral. XIV. 20, on Job_19:11.” Ghisler.

7. On Jer_30:17. “Providentia Dei mortalibus salutifera, antequam percutiat, pharmaca medendi gratiâ componit, et gladium iræ suæ φιλανθρωπίᾳ acuit. Evagr. Hist. Ecc_4:6.”—“Quando incidis in tentationem, crede, quod nisi cognovisset te posse illam evadere, non permisisset te in illam incidere. Theophyl. in cap. 18 Joh.” Förster.—“Feriam prius et sanabo melius. Theophyl. in Hosea 11.” Ghisler.

8. On Jer_30:21. “This church of God will own a, Prince from its midst—Jesus, of our flesh and blood through the virgin Mary, and He approaches God, as no other can, for He is God’s image, God’s Son, and at the same time the perfect, holy in all His sufferings, only obedient son of man. This king is mediator and reconciler with God; He is also high-priest and fulfilled all righteousness, as was necessary for our propitiation. What glory to have such a king, who brings us nigh unto God, and this is our glory!” Diedrich.

9. On Jer_31:1. “There is no greater promise than this: I will be thy God. For if He is our God we are His creatures, His redeemed, His sanctified, according to all the three articles of the Christian faith.” Cramer.

10. On Jer_31:2. “The rough heap had to be sifted by the sword, but those who survived, though afflicted in the desert of this life, found favor with God, and these, the true Israel, God leads into His rest.” Diedrich.

11. On Jer_31:3. “The love of God towards us comes from love and has no other cause above or beside itself, but, is in God and remains in God, so that Christ who is in God is its centre. For herein is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us (1Jn_4:10).” Cramer. “Totum gratiæ imputatur, non nostris meritis. Augustine in Psalms 31.” Förster. “Before I had done anything good Thou hadst already moved towards me. Let these words be written on your hearts with the pen of the living God, that they may light you like flames of fire on the day of the marriage. It is your certificate of birth, your testimonial. Let me never lose sight of how much it has cost Thee to redeem me.” Zinzendorf. “God says: My chastisement even was pure love, though then you did not understand it; you shall learn it afterwards.” Diedrich. [“I incline to the construction given in the English version, both because the suffix to the verb is more naturally, ‘I have drawn thee,’ than ‘I have drawn out toward thee,’ and because there seems to be a tacit allusion to Hos_11:4, ‘With loving kindness have I drawn thee.’—-A great moral truth lies in this passage so construed, viz., that the main power which humbles man’s pride, softens his hard heart and makes him recoil in shame and sorrow from sinning, comes through his apprehension of God’s love as manifested in Christ and His cross. It is love that, draws the fearful or stubborn soul to the feet of divine mercy.” Cowles.—S. R. A.]

12. On Jer_31:6. “It is well: the watchmen on Mount Ephraim had to go to Zion. They received however another visit from the Jewish priests, which they could not have expected at the great reformation, introduced by John, and which had its seat among other places on Mount Ephraim. The Samaritans were not far distant, and Mount Ephraim had even this honor that when the Lord came to His temple He took His Seat as a teacher there.” Zinzendorf. [“God’s grace loves to triumph over the most inveterate prejudices… No words could represent a greater and more benign change in national feeling than these: Samaria saying through her spiritual watchmen, ‘Let us go up to Zion to worship, for our God is there.’ ” Cowles. “ ‘Ascendamus in Sion, hoc est in Ecclesiam’ says S. Jerome. According to this view, the watchmen here mentioned are the Preachers of the Gospel.” Wordsworth.—S. R. A.]

13. On Jer_31:9. “I will lead them. It is an old sighing couplet, but full of wisdom and solid truth:—

‘Lord Jesus, while I live on earth, O guide me,

Let me not, self-led, wander from beside Thee.’ ”

—Zinzendorf.

14. On Jer_31:10. “He who has scattered Israel will also collect it. Why? lie is the Shepherd. It is no wolf-scattering. He interposes His hand, then they go asunder, and directly come together again more orderly.” Zinzendorf.

15. On Jer_31:12-14. “Gaudebunt electi, quando videbunt supra se, intra se, juxta se, infra se. Augustine.”—“Præmia cœlestia erunt tam magna, ut non possint mensurari, tam multa, ut non possint numerari, tam copiosa, ut non possint terminari, tam pretiosa, ut non possint æstimari. Bernhard.” Förster.

16. On Jer_31:15. “Because at all times there is a similar state of things in the church of God, the lament of Rachel is a common one. For as this lament is over the carrying away captive and oppressions of Babylon, so is it also a lament over the tyranny of Herod in slaughtering the innocent children (Mat_2:1-7.)”Cramer. “Premuntur justi in ecclesia ut clament, clamantes exaudiuntur, exauditi glorificent Deum. Augustin.” Förster.—With respect to this, that Rachel’s lament may be regarded as a type of maternal lamentation over lost children, Förster quotes this sentence of Cyprian: non amisimus, sed præmisimus (2Sa_12:23). [On the application of this verse to the murder of the innocents consult W. L. Alexander, Connexion of the Old and New. Testament, p. 54, and W. H. Mill in Wordsworth’s Note in loc.—S. R. A.]

17. On Jer_31:18. The conversion of man must always be a product of two factors. A conversion which man alone should bring about, without God, would be an empty pretence of conversion; a conversion, which God should produce, without man, would be a compulsory, manufactured affair, without any moral value. The merit and the praise is, however, always on God’s side. He gives the will and the execution. Did He not discipline us, we should never learn discipline. Did He not lead back our thoughts to our Father’s house which we have left (Luke 15) we should never think of returning.

18. On Jer_31:19. “The children of God are ashamed their life long, they cannot raise their heads for humiliation. For their sins always seem great to them, and the grace of God always remains something incomprehensible to them.”Zinzendorf. The farther the Christian advances in his consciousness of sonship and in sanctification, the more brilliantly rises the light of grace, the more distinctly does he perceive in this light, how black is the night of his sins from which God has delivered him. [“It is the ripest and fullest ears of grain which hang their heads the lowest.”—S. R. A.]

19. On Jer_31:19. “The use of the dear cross is to make us blush (Dan_9:8) and not regard ourselves as innocent (Jer_30:11). And as it pleases a father when a child soon blushes, so also is this tincture a flower of virtue well-pleasing to God.” Cramer. “Deus oleum miserationis suæ non nisi in vas contritum et contribulatum infundit. Bernhard.”Förster.

20. On Jer_31:19. The reproach of my youth. “The sins of youth are not easily to be forgotten (Psa_25:7; Job_31:18). Therefore we ought to be careful so to act in our youth as not to have to chew the cud of bitter reflection in our old age. It is a comfort that past sins of youth will not injure the truly penitent. Non nocent peccata præterita, cum non placent præsentia. Augustine. To transgress no more is the best sign of repentance.” Cramer.

21. On Jer_31:20. “Comforting and weighty words, which each one should lay to heart. God loves and caresses us as a mother her good child. He remembers His promise. His heart yearns and breaks, and it is His pleasure to do us good.” Cramer. “lpsius proprium est, misereri semper et parcere.” Augustine.—“Major est Dei misericordia quam omnium hominum miseria.” Idem.

22. On Jer_31:23. The Lord bless thee, thou dwelling-place of righteousness, thou holy mountain. “Certainly no greater honor was ever done to the Jewish mountains than that the woman’s seed prayed and wept on them, was transfigured, killed and ascended above all heaven.” Zinzendorf. “ It cannot be denied that a church sanctifies a whole place …. Members of Jesus are real guardian angels, who do not exist in the imagination, but are founded on God’s promise (Mat_25:40).” Idem.

23. On Jer_31:29-30. “The so-called family curse has no influence on the servants of God; one may sleep calmly nevertheless. This does not mean that we should continue in the track of our predecessors, ex. gr., when our ancestors have gained much wealth by sinful trade, that we should continue this trade with this wealth with the hope of the divine blessing…. If this or that property, house, right, condition be afflicted with a curse, the children of God may soon by prudent separation deliver themselves from these unsafe circumstances. For nothing attaches to their persons, when they have been baptized with the blood of Jesus and are blessed by Him.” Zinzendorf.

24. On Jer_31:29-30. “In testamento novo per sarguinem mediatoris deleto paterno chirographo incipit homo paternis debitis non esse obnoxius renascendo, quibus nascendo fuerat obligatus, ipso Mediatore di cente: Ne vobis patrem dicüis in terra (Mat_23:9). Secundum hoc utique, quod alios natales, quibus non patri succederemus, sed cum patre semper viveremus, invenimus.” Augustine, contra Julian, VI. 12, in Ghisler.

25. On Jer_31:31. “In veteribus libris aut nusquam aut difficile præter hunc propheticum locum legitur facta commemoratio testamenti novi, ut omnino ipso nomine appellaretur. Nam multis locis hoc significalur et prænuntiatur futurum, sed non ita ut etiam nomen lega’ ur expressum.” Augustine, de Spir. et Lit. ad Marcellin, Cap. 19 (where to Cap. 29 there is a detailed discussion of this passage) in Ghisler.—“In the whole of the Old Testament there is no passage, in which the view is so clearly and distinctly expressed as here that the law is only παιδαγαγός. And though some commentators have supposed that the passage contains only a censure of the Israelites and not of the Old Covenant, they only show thus that they have not understood the simple meaning of the words.” Ebrard. Comm. zum Hebräerbr. S. 275.

26. On Jer_31:31, sqq. “Propter veteris hominis noxam, quæ per literam jubentem et minantem minime sanabatur, dicitur illud testamentum vetus; hoc antem novum propter novitatem spiritus, quæ hominem novum sanat a vitio vetustatis.” Augustine, c. Lit. Cap. 19.

27. On Jer_31:33. “Quid sunt ergo leges Dei ab ipso Deo scriptæ in cordibus, nisi ipsa præsentia Spiritus sancti, qui est digitus Dei, quo præsente diffunditur charitas in cordibus nostrio, quæ plenitudo legis est et præcepti finis?” Augustine, l. c. Cap. 20.

28. On Jer_31:34. “Quomodo tempus est novi testamenti, de quo propheta dixit: et non docebit unusquisque civem suum, etc. nisi quia rjusdem testamenti novi æternam mercedem, id est ipsius Dei beatissimam contemplationem promittendo conjunxit?” Augustine, l. c. Cap. 24.

29. On Jer_31:33-34. “This is the blessed difference between law and Gospel, between form and substance. Therefore are the great and small alike, and the youths like the elders, the pupils more learned than their teachers, and the young wiser than the ancients (1Jn_2:20 sqq.). Here is the cause:—For I will forgive their iniquities. This is the occasion of the above; no one can effect this without it. Forgiveness of sins makes the scales fall from people’s eyes, and gives them a cheerful temper, clear conceptions, a clear head.”Zinzendorf.

30. On Jer_31:35-37. “Etsi particulares ecclesiæ intotum deficere possunt, ecclesia tamen catholica nunquam defecit aut deficiet. Obstant enim Dei amplissimæ promissiones, inter quas non ultimum locum sibi vindicut quæ hic habetur Jer_31:37.” Förster.

31. On Jer_31:38-40. “Jerusalem will one day be much greater than it has ever been. This is not to be understood literally but spiritually. Jerusalem will be wherever there are believing souls, its circle will be without end and comprise all that has been hitherto impure and lost. This it is of which the prophet is teaching, and which he presents in figures, which were intelligible to the people in his time. The hill Gareb, probably the residence of the lepers, the emblem of the sinner unmasked and smitten by God, and the cursed valley of Ben-Hinnom will be taken up into the holy city. God’s grace will one day effect all this, and Israel will thus be manifested as much more glorious than ever before.” Diedrich.

HOMILETICAL AND PRACTICAL

1. On Jer_30:5-9. Sermon on one of the last Sundays after Trinity or the second in Advent. The day of the judgment of the world a great day. For it is, (1) a day of anxiety and terror for all the world; (2) a day of deliverance from all distress for the church of the Lord; (3) a day of realization of all the happiness set in prospect before it.

2. On Jer_30:10-12. Consolation of the church in great trial. 1. It has well deserved the trial (Jer_30:12); 2. it is therefore chastised, but with moderation; 3. it will not perish but again enjoy peace.

3. On Jer_30:17. [“The Restorer of mankind. 1. Faith in the Christian Sacrament and its attendant revelation of divine character alone answer the demand of the heart and reason of man for a higher state of moral perfection. 2. Christianity offers to maintain a communication between this world and that eternal world of holiness and truth. 3. It commends itself to our wants in the confirmation and direction of that principle of hope, which even in our daily and worldly life, we are perpetually forced to substitute for happiness, and 4. By the adorable object, which it presents to our affections.” Archer Butler—S. R. A.]

4. On Jer_31:1-2. Gesetz and Zeugniss (Law and Testimony) 1864, Heft. 1. Funeral sermon of Ahlfeld.

5. On Jer_31:2-4. lb. 1865. Heft 1. Funeral sermon of Besser, S. 32 ff.

6. On Jer_31:3. C. Fr. Hartmann (Wedding, School, Catechism and Birth-day sermons, ed. C. Chr. Eberh. Ehemann. Tüb. 1865). Wedding sermon. 1. A grateful revival in the love of God already received. 2. Earnest endeavor after a daily enjoyment of this love. 3. Daily nourishment of hope.

7. On Jer_31:3. Florey. Comfort and warning at graves. I. Bändchen, S. 253. On the attractions of God’s love towards His own children. They are, 1. innumerable and yet so frequently overlooked; 2. powerful and yet so frequently resisted; 3. rich in blessing and yet so frequently; unemployed. [For practical remarks on this text see also Tholuck, Stunden der Andacht, No. 11.—S. R. A.]

8. On Jer_31:9. Confessional sermon by Dekan V. Biarowsky in Erlangen (in Palmer’s Evang. Casual-Reden, 2 te Folge, 1 Band. Stuttgart, 1850.) Every partaking of the Lord’s supper is a return to the Lord in the promised land, and every one who is a guest at the supper rises and comes. 1. How are we to come? (weeping and praying). 2. What shall we find? (Salvation and blessing, power and life, grace and help).

9. On Jer_31:18-20. Comparison of conversion with the course of the earth and the sun. 1. The man who has fallen away is like the planet in its distance from the sun; he flees from God as far as he Song of Solomon 2. Love however does not release him: a. he is chastened (winter, cold, long nights, short days); b. he accepts the chastening and returns to proximity to the sun (summer, warmth, light, life). Comp. Brandt, Altes und Neues in i extemporirbaren Entwürfen. Nüremberg, 1829, II. 5. [The stubborn sinner submitting himself to God. I. A description of the feelings and conduct of an obstinate, impenitent sinner, while smarting under the rod of affliction: He is rebellious—till subdued. II. The new views and feelings produced by affliction through divine grace: (a) convinced of guilt and sinfulness; (b) praying; (c) reflecting on the effects of divine grace in his conversion. III. A correcting but compassionate God, watching the result, etc., (a) as a tender father mindful of his penitent child; (b) listening to his complaints, confessions and petitions; (c) declaring His determination to pardon. Payson.—S. R. A.]

10. On Jer_31:31-34. Sermon on 1 Sunday in Advent by Pastor Diechert in Gröningen, S. Stern aus Jakob. I. Stuttg. 1867.

11. On Jer_31:33-34. Do we belong to the people of God? 1. Have we holiness? 2. Have we knowledge? 3. Have we the peace promised to this people? (Caspari in Predigtbuch von Dittmar, Erlangen, 1845).

12. On Jer_31:33-34. By the new covenant in the bath of holy baptism all becomes new. 1. What was dead becomes alive 2. What was obscure becomes clear. 3. What was cold becomes warm. 4. What was bound becomes free (Florey, 1862).

Footnotes:

[1]Jer_30:4.—אֵל=in reference to, of, concerning, as in Jer_29:16; Jer_29:21; Jer_22:11.

[2]Jer_30:5.—קּול חרדה. חרדה is found here only in Jeremiah. The terror is not occasioned by the sound of war, but the apprehension of judgment. Comp. Luk_21:25-26.

[3]Jer_30:6.—לירקון. Abstr. for concrete. Comp. Naegelsb. Gr., § 59, 1. The expression is found here only.

[4]Jer_30:7.—מאין. Comp. rems. on Jer_10:6-7; Naegelsb. Gr., § 106, 5.

[5]Jer_30:8.—The words from וְהָיָה to צַוָּארֶךָ are a quotation almost verbatim from Isa_10:27 coll. Isa_14:25. This explains the suffix in עֻלוֹ, which, as the passage in Isaiah, is to be referred to the inimical tyrants. If, with Graf, we refer it to יעקב, Jer_30:7, צוארדֽ immediately afterwards is intolerably harsh. It is true the person changes in יעבדו בו, yet this is at least a new sentence, in which case the change has nothing surprising in it. Comp. Naegelsb. Gr., § 101, 2, Anm.

[6]Jer_30:9,—אָקִים is used here in the same sense as in Jer_6:17; Jer_23:4, etc.

[7]Jer_30:11.—אֶֽעֱשֶׂה כָלֽה. This expression is found in Jeremiah (besides in Jer_46:28, as a quotation from this passage) only in Jer_4:27; Jer_5:10; Jer_5:18. The construction with the accus. is the prevailing and original construction: Nah_1:8-9; Zep_1:18; Eze_11:13; Eze_20:17; Neh_9:31. With בְּ it is found here only. It appears to signify in this connection: to cause destruction among, etc.

Lange's Commentary on the Holy Scriptures (Critical, Doctrinal, and Homiletical), ed. John Peter Lange, English translation edited by Philip Schaff (1864–1880) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Both Jews and Christians pervert this passage, for they apply it to the time of the Messiah; and when they hardly agree as to any other part of Scripture, they are wonderfully united here; but, as I have said, they depart very far from the real meaning of the Prophet.

They all consider this as a prophecy referring to the time of the Messiah; but were any one wisely to view the whole context, he would readily agree with me that the Prophet includes here the sum of the doctrine which the people had previously heard from his mouth. In the first clause he shews that he had spoken of God’s vengeance, which rested on the people. But it is briefly that this clause touches on that point, because the object was chiefly to alleviate the sorrow of the afflicted people; for the reason ought ever to be borne in mind why the Prophet had been ordered to commit to writing the substance of what he had taught, which was, to supply with some comfort the exiles, when they had found out by experience that they had been extremely perverse, having for so long a time never changed nor turned to repentance. The Prophet had before spoken at large of the vices of the people, and many times condemned their obstinacy, and also pointed out the grievous and dreadful punishment that awaited them. The Prophet then had in many a discourse reproved the people, and had been commanded daily to repeat the same thing, though not for his own sake, nor mainly for the sake of those of his own age, or of the old. But after God had destroyed the Temple and the city, his object was to sustain their distressed minds, which must have otherwise been overwhelmed with despair. This, then, is the reason why the Prophet here touches but slightly on the vengeance which awaited the people. There is, however, as we shall see, great force in this brevity; but he is much fuller as to the second part, and for this end, that the people might not succumb under their calamities, but hope in the midst of death, and even begin to hope while suffering the punishment which they deserved.

John Calvin's Commentaries (1540-1563) — public domain. Text from the Calvin Translation Society English edition (1840s-50s) via the Christian Classics Ethereal Library (ccel.org). Calvin's coverage is partial (roughly two-thirds of the Bible); uncommented books and verses are honest gaps, never fabricated. The 19th-century editor's footnotes and remarks are omitted so the notes are faithfully Calvin's own voice.

And these are the words that the Lord spake concerning Israel,

and concerning Judah. Which follow in this chapter and the next; first concerning Israel, the ten tribes; and then concerning the two tribes of Judah and Benjamin, even concerning all Israel; whereas, if this prophecy only respects the return from the captivity in Babylon, there is very little in it which concerns the ten tribes, or but a very few of them. The words may be rendered, "unto Israel, and unto Judah"; as being the persons to whom they were directed, as well as were the subjects of them.

John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

To Juda. All the race of Abraham are concerned. The kingdom was no longer divided.

George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).

General Information:

Jeremiah often wrote prophecy in the form of poetry. Hebrew poetry uses different kinds of parallelism. (See: Poetry and Parallelism)

We have heard

Possible meanings are 1) that these are the words of Yahweh referring to himself as "we." AT: "I have heard" or 2) that these are the words of the people of Jerusalem. AT: "You people of Jerusalem say, 'We have heard"

a trembling voice of dread and not of peace

Possible meanings are 1) "people cry out in dread because there is no peace" or 2) "you cry out in dread because there is no peace."

translationWords

voice

peace

unfoldingWord translationNotes — © Distant Shores Media and the Door43 World Missions Community, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: git.door43.org/Door43/en_tn.