Jeremiah 31:6

Jer 31:6 For there shall be a day, [that] the watchmen upon the mount Ephraim shall cry, Arise ye, and let us go up to Zion unto the LORD our God.

Ver. 6. The watchmen upon the mount Ephraim.] Such as are set to keep those vineyards. {Jer 31:5}

Shall cry, Arise ye, and let us go up to Zion.] As the ten tribes first made defection, so shall they be forwardest in the reformation. England was the like alate.

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_31:6

Arise ye, and let us go up to Zion unto the Lord our God.

The watchmans message to Israel

I. The message of the watchmen.

1. The Jewish people had been overthrown, taken captive, and dispersed. They were therefore to all appearance a forsaken people, their land bereft of its inhabitants was desolate, and they were removed from all they held most dear to them on earth, from the glory of their former national independence, and from the temple in which they and their fathers had worshipped through many generations. But they were to be restored to their old places, to the land of all others they held most sacred, to their former worship with all its wondrous beauty, and to the national distinctions and privileges which had so long marked their history. Some effort on their part was however necessary, they were to arise and then go up to Zion unto the Lord their God. And in Him too we find the motive of all our efforts to arise from thoughtlessness and folly, and the object worthy of our lifes battle and of our lifes journey. We pray you to think upon this. When you are asked to awake out of spiritual sleep,--when you are told the night is far spent and the day of Gods judgment is fast coming,--when any public or private duty is urged upon your attention,--when we utter warning voices, in the midst of homes and friends, at the most gladsome times,--it is that you also should arise, and go--not unto the priest alone, not unto the altar alone, not unto the Church alone, but that you first and chiefly should go unto the Lord your God.

2. It is true this message may be regarded in a prospective point of view. For, it is said, there shall be a day, &c. To us the message is a present one. At the birth of Christ a new era of life and liberty commenced for the Gentiles and for all the families of earth. We live amid the ruins of our own inherent depraved nature. We have the evidence within and around us that we are in bonds. But the cry of the watchman is sent to us now: and if we will be only wise enough to exercise our common senses, and rouse ourselves up from our spiritual lethargy, and seek for Gods help and mercy, we may arise, and go up among the congregations of His people, and realise in our hearts the great blessedness of His personal favour and presence of love.

II. Lessons.

1. One lesson to be inferred is the groundwork for the present aspiration of the Jew, and we may add, in another sense, the present aspiration of the Christian. The testimony of the prophecies of the Old Testament is supported by the testimony of providence. Even if the Jew should care but little, if anything, about the ancient prophecies, yet he is moved by the signs of the times. And more, he is influenced by feelings which he cannot account for, but which, when examined by the light of prophecy, receives an explanation in God s interposition by some means either direct or indirect. The Christian knows in a thousand ways that this earth, with all its gold, and honours and pleasures, is not our rest, and therefore how natural, like the Jew, that he should turn the eye of his faith to the city of his love, even in the heavens, the place which God has promised him for evermore. It is but reasonable that he should long for that.

2. Another lesson we are taught by the text is, namely, that the Almighty and Eternal Saviour of His people is to be found in the use of the ordinances of His Church. (W. D. Horwood.)

The Biblical Illustrator, edited by Joseph S. Exell (c. 1880s–1900s) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Jer 31:6-7. For there shall be a day, that the watchmen shall cry — By the watchmen are meant God’s prophets, or the ministers of his word, giving notice of his dispensations, and calling upon men to act suitably under them. The first reference may be to the leaders and teachers of the Jews, returning from Babylon, or to the general summons throughout all the ten tribes, for which Ephraim is put, to repair to Jerusalem, and join themselves to the true church, from which they had been so long separated; but, doubtless, in the full completion of the prophecy, by watchmen the preachers of the gospel are to be understood. The phrase, crying upon mount Ephraim, alludes to the custom of persons that had to publish any proclamation ascending to the top of some high hill, from whence their voice might be heard a great way off. See Jdg 9:7; 2Ch 13:4; Isa 40:9. The phrase, Arise ye, let us go up to Zion, &c, alludes to the Jewish custom of going in companies to Jerusalem at their three annual festivals. For thus saith the Lord, Sing with gladness, &c. — When ye see some dawning of these blessed times, express your joy for the restoration of Jacob’s posterity in the most public manner that can be; and shout among the chief of the nations — Namely, among the most potent nations from whence you are to be gathered. Or, persons belonging to the chief nations of the earth are here called upon to congratulate the Israelites on their restoration to their own land, and their conversion to the church of God, as Moses predicted, Deu 32:43, and the apostle exhorts, Rom 15:10, Rejoice, ye Gentiles, with his people; for when the promises made to the fathers are accomplished, the Gentiles shall glorify God for his mercy; as it is written, For this cause will I confess to thee among the Gentiles, and sing unto thy name, Rom 15:8. Publish ye, praise ye, and say, O Lord, save thy people — Publish these good tidings with the highest expressions of praise and glory to God; and likewise pray that he, who hath begun so glorious a work, would proceed and complete it.

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

31:6 In the fully restored nation, the kingdom would no longer be divided (1 Kgs 12:16-29; Ezek 37:16-22).

Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

The Ministers of the word.

They shall exhort all to the embracing of the Gospel, as Isa. 2:3.

Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain. Text via Bolls.life.

The watchmen stationed on eminences (types of the preachers of the gospel), shall summon the ten tribes to go up to the annual feasts at Jerusalem ("Zion"), as they used to do before the revolt and the setting up of the idol calves at Dan and Beer-sheba (Eze 37:21-22).

Mount Ephraim--not one single mountain, but the whole mountainous region of the ten tribes.

our God--from whom we formerly revolted, but who is now our God. An earnest of that good time to come is given in the partial success of the gospel in its first preaching in Samaria (John 4:1-42; Acts 8:5-25).

Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

Verse 6. For there shall be a day] Literally, for this is the day, or the day is come. The watchmen-the prophets.

Arise ye, and let us go up to Zion] Let both Israelites and Jews join together in the worship of the Lord.

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

The Prophet here amplifies the kindness of God, because he would not only restore the tribe of Judah, but also the ten tribes, who had previously been led into exile. He then promises here a full and complete restoration of the Church. The Prophets do not always speak in the same manner of the liberation of the people; sometimes they confine what they say to the tribe of Judah, as though the rest were in a hopeless state, but often they extend their prophecies to the whole body of the people. So in this place Jeremiah includes, together with the tribe of Judah, the ten tribes, and the half tribe of Benjamin, for some of the tribe of Benjamin had remained and had never revolted from the family of David. But they usually call the kingdom of Israel the ten tribes, and denote the kingdom of Judah by the name of that one tribe: thus the tribe of Benjamin, divided into two parts, is not mentioned.

The meaning, then, of the Prophet is, that when God redeemed his people, not only Judah would return, but also the Israelites, of whom there was hardly a hope, because they had been in exile for a long time; and as they had rejected the pure and legitimate worship of God, they might have been thought to have been excluded from the Church, for by their own perfidy they had shut out themselves, so that they were unworthy of so honorable a distinction. So the Prophet here declares that God’s favor would surpass the wickedness and perverseness of the people of Israel.

Hence he says that the day would come in which watch-men would cry on the mountain of Ephraim, etc. By Ephraim, as it is well known, are often to be understood the ten tribes, and that on account of Jeroboam, who first reigned over them. But we ought ever to remember, that under one tribe, in this case, are included all the ten tribes. When, therefore, the Prophet speaks of watchmen on Mount Ephraim, he means all the watchmen, placed on their watchtowers, through the whole kingdom of Israel. But the contrast ought to be noticed, for Jeroboam had closed up every passage by which the Israelites might ascend to Jerusalem; for he feared lest they should there hear of God’s covenant which he had made with David and his posterity. He was in at ease with himself, because he had obtained the kingdom by sinister means. God had, indeed, by his Prophet commanded him to be anointed a king; but it does not hence follow, that as to himself he had obtained the kingdom justly. It is true that God intended to punish Rehoboam and also the people; but he who had been the author of the revolt was perfidious in seeking to establish a kingdom for his posterity; he forbade any one to ascend to Jerusalem, and therefore he built altars in Dan and Bethel. (1 Kings 12:29-31) On this account the Prophet Hosea complains that they besieged the ways like thieves, and that many who ascended to Jerusalem to offer sacrifices to God were slain; and some were plundered and sent home. (Hosea 6:9) The contrast then is worthy of being noticed, when the Prophet says,

“Yet cry shall watchmen on Mount Ephraim, Arise, let us ascend to Zion to our God.”

For though in appearance they forsook only the posterity of David, they yet at the same time renounced the true and pure worship of God; and the religion which they followed under Jeroboam was spurious; for they ought to have offered sacrifices to God only in one place, for it is often found in the Law,

“Thou shalt come to the place which the Lord thy God shall choose.” (Deuteronomy 12:26)

But they having despised the place which God had appointed for himself, built altars elsewhere. Then their worship was nothing but superstition; and though they multiplied sacrifices, they did nothing but provoke God’s wrath; for it is not lawful for us to devise anything beyond what is prescribed in the Law.

The Prophet therefore says, Cry shall watchmen, Arise, let us ascend into Zion; that is, there will not be such a division among the people as there was formerly. For a few only worshipped God in the Temple which had beell built by his command, and the rest gave themselves up to numberless superstitions; but now they shall again unite in one body. In short, Jeremiah here teaches us, that all the children of Abraham would return to a fraternal agreement, and that there would be a bond between them, a unity of faith, for they would together unite in offering sacrifices, and no one would invent a god for himself.

Now this passage is especially useful; for we may hence learn what is the right state of the Church; it is when all agree in one faith. But we must, at the same time, see what is the foundation of this faith. The Papists indeed boast of this union, but yet they pass by what ought to hold the first place, that is, that all must have regard to the only true God, according to what they are taught by his word. Hence the Prophet here mentions Mount Sion, which had been chosen by God, that he might shew that no unity pleases God, unless men obey his word from the least to the greatest, and not follow their own imaginations, but embrace what he teaches and prescribes in his Law. This is the import of this passage. The Israelites shall then call him their God, from whom they had before wickedly departed. It follows —

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.

(6) The watchmen upon the mount Ephraim shall cry . . .—The special fact is given as the ground of the previous prediction. The two kingdoms should be united, and therefore the possession of the vineyards should be undisturbed. The city of Samaria stood on one of the mountains of Ephraim. The “watchmen” may be either the sentinels stationed in the towers of the city, or, more probably, those that were on the look-out for the first appearance of the crescent moon as the signal for the observance either of the Passover or the new-moon festival. What follows is all but decisive in favour of the latter view. What is implied is that the rival worship in Bethel and in Dan, which had so long kept the ten tribes of Israel from the Temple at Jerusalem, should cease, and that from the mountains of Ephraim there should be heard the cry which, with a solitary exception in the reign of Hezekiah (2Ch_30:11; 2Ch_30:18), had not been heard for centuries—“Let us go up to Zion.” The long schism which had caused the ruin of the nation would at last be healed. Unity of worship, at once the ground and symbol of national unity, should be restored.

A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

6. watchmen] giving signals for the pilgrimage.

let us go up to Zion] for the schism between the Northern and Southern tribes is at an end.

The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

For there shall be a day,.... The whole Gospel dispensation is "a day", made so by the bright rising of the sun of righteousness; here it seems to design some certain fixed period of time in that dispensation, when the light of the Gospel will break out most gloriously, and it will be a clear day; as it will be when the Jews will be converted:

that the watchmen upon the mount Ephraim; the same with the mountains of Samaria; for Samaria was the head or metropolis of Ephraim, Isa 7:9; and these are the watchmen that kept the vines there, Jer 31:5; for the allusion is not to watchmen of states and cities, but to watchers of vineyards, and to such the ministers of the Gospel are compared, Sol 1:6. Grotius thinks there is an allusion in the word "Notzerim" to the title of Nazarenes, given to Christ and his followers; and Abarbinel the Jew on the place observes, that the prophet, by the Holy Ghost, foresaw that the Romans would believe in Jesus of Nazareth, and therefore would be called Nazarenes from him; see Act 24:5; so that Christian ministers may be well thought to be here intended: who

shall cry, arise ye; lift up their voice like a trumpet, and cry aloud to persons as asleep, or in dead and lifeless frames, to awake, arouse, and rise up, and shake off their sloth and indolence, saying:

and let us go up to Zion unto the Lord our God; to the church of God, to attend the word of God, his worship and ordinances; to which sometimes there is a backwardness, arising from sloth, from a lukewarm frame of spirit, from a love of the world, and a vain conceit of their own sufficiency and knowledge; and it is the business of Gospel ministers to stir up persons to frequent the house of God, and attend public worship in it; since it is not only their duty, but their interest and privilege; here they have true pleasure, and real profit; and it is to their honour to continue here, and not forsake the assembling of themselves together: but they should not rest here, trusting to, and depending on, these things; but should go "to the Lord their God"; not only seek and pray unto him, but should be desirous of hearing of him, and from him; of seeing him, his power and his glory, and him in his beauty; and of having communion with him; and should exercise faith upon him as their own God. Christ seems to be intended; going to him is exercising faith upon him, for righteousness and strength, peace, pardon, life, and salvation; and saying, as Thomas did, "my Lord, and my God", Joh 20:28.

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

This verse anticipates a time when the schism caused by Jeroboam is over. Ephraimite watchmen equally with the tribe of Judah watch for the new moon that they may go up to Jerusalem to keep the appointed Feasts.

Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

Watchmen. Some were stationed on eminences to observe the first appearances of the moon, (Calmet) which was a sort of festival. (Haydock)

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).

That

Mount Ephraim was a part of the lot of the ten tribes is out of question. Whether by

watchmen be to be understood state sentinels set to give warning of dangers approaching, or keepers of vineyards, seemeth not much material. It is said they should call upon men to go up to Zion, that is, to the temple of the Lord at Jerusalem, to worship the Lord. The only question is, what time tills prophecy was fulfilled. For though Judah returned from the captivity of Babylon, yet the ten tribes (that we read of) never returned. Some think that it was fulfilled in the time of Ezra and Nehemiah, when though the body of the ten tribes returned not, yet many particular persons of those tribes did return and join themselves with those who returned out of the captivity of Babylon, and rebuilt both the city and the temple. Besides, it appeareth from Josephus, 1.13. cap. 5.8, that the Demetrii gave Samaria, Galilee, and Perea to the Jews. But the best interpreters judge that this prophecy was fulfilled under the gospel; for both Galilee and Samaria received the gospel, as appeareth from Act 8:1,5,9,14; 9:31.

Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

6. Watchmen — That is, for the new moon, as marking the beginning of the religious festival. Mount Ephraim is mentioned as another representative section of the territory of the ten tribes. That the cry should be heard here. Let us go up to Zion, betokens a restored unity.

Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

The termination of the schism between north and south will be shown by the anxiety of the Ephraimites (see on "Samaria," ver. 5) to take part with their brethren in the festival of the new moon. It was the custom, at any rate in later times, to station watchmen at elevated points to give notice of the first appearance of "the slender sickle, which shines so brightly in the clear Oriental heaven" Let us go up. Not with reference to the physical elevation of Jerusalem, for the phrase, "to go up," is used of an army withdrawing from Jerusalem. (Jer_21:2 Jer_34:21) This seems to indicate that the term was sometimes used in a weakened sense, to which parallels might easily be given. These words, "Arise ye, and let us go up," etc., were, at a later period, the formula with which the leader of the pilgrims from any particular district summoned the members of his caravan to fall into the procession.

The unity of the Church.

Ephraim represented the ten tribes of Israel, and Jerusalem the tribes of Judah and Benjamin, the sections of the divided kingdom. In days to come this division was to be healed, as the "watchmen" or prophets of Israel would lead their people to the temple at Jerusalem.

I THE IMPORTANCE OF UNITY AMONGST GOD"S PEOPLE IS SHOWN BY THE PROMINENCE GIVEN TO IT IN THIS PROPHECY. Dissension and strife between the followers of truth is not only an unseemly spectacle, it is productive of misery and ruin. Judah and the ten tribes were too jealous of one another to unite in works of defence or internal administration. The rival temples of Gerizim and Jerusalem were mischievous in their influence, and, as time would accentuate differences, there would be danger of the common truth being forgotten. The unity of the Church must ever be important to those whose hearts are filled with the love of God. Christ"s prayer (Joh_17:21) shows how dear the thought is to the purest and best. The children of God should be bound together in the closest bends of sympathy and love. Only thus will their efforts to evangelize the world be successful, and the glory of the kingdom of God be realized on earth.

II BY WHAT INFLUENCES WAS IT TO BE BROUGHT ABOUT? That there were various causes tending to this result is evident to every student of sacred history. But chief amongst these were:

1. The events of providence, by which they discovered, amidst exile and misery, a common brotherhood and faith, and attained to:

2. A more intense spiritual aim and life. The desire to meet with God overcame all prejudice and difference, and revealed the true unity of Israel. The nearer they were to God the nearer they became to one another, and the more they delighted in assembling together. (Ezr_3:1 Mic_4:2)

3. God was to manifest himself in the person of his Son at Jerusalem. To the temple, then, all eyes were increasingly turned as the appointed time drew on.

4. Through Christ"s connection with the temple, local holy places were abolished, and men sought God through him. (Joh_4:21) M.

The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Arise - This was fulfilled under the gospel; for both Galilee and Samaria received the gospel.

John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.

the watchers shall call The lookouts at the tops of the lofty towers to announce with a voice heard a distance away. Another explanation: נֹצְרִים is like “He keeps (נֹצֵר) lovingkindness” (Exod. 34:7), an expression of keeping. That is to say: There is a day when they will call those who kept the Torah and say, “Rise...” And so did Jonathan render: There are many days and much goodness that is destined to come to the righteous who kept My Torah from days of old.

Rashi on the Tanakh — English translations: “The Judaica Press complete Tanach with Rashi, translated by A. J. Rosenberg” (CC BY 4.0); “Pentateuch with Rashi's commentary by M. Rosenbaum and A.M. Silbermann, 1929-1934” (public domain); “The Metsudah Tanach series, Lakewood, N.J” (CC BY 4.0); and “The Book of Joshua, Metsudah Publications, 1997” (CC BY 4.0). Text via Sefaria.