Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Jeremiah 24:6
For I will set mine eyes upon them for good, and I will bring them again to this land: and I will build them, and not pull [them] down; and I will plant them, and not pluck [them] up.
6. I will plant them ] Cp. Jer 31:27 f., Jer 32:41.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
Jer 24:6-7
For I will set Mine eyes upon them for good, and l will bring them again to this land.
Gods regard for His people
I. The nature of Gods declaration respecting Himself, I will set Mine eves upon them for good.
1. This denotes–
(1) His omniscience over them (Job 34:21, compared with 31:4).
(2) His providence for them (2Ch 16:9).
(3) His grace to save them (Rom 8:29).
2. It implies–
(1) Divine personality–For I (Eze 34:11).
(2) Divine attention–Will set Mine eyes (Psa 32:8).
(3) Personal affection–Upon them (Eze 16:5-6).
(4) Great kindness–For their good (Isa 54:8).
II. A description of the deliverance here declared, I will bring them into this land
1. Here we have the idea of distance (Eph 2:17).
2. How He brings them back.
(1) By the death of His Son (Rev 5:9).
(2) By the obedience of His Son (Rom 5:19).
(3) By virtue of His intercession (Heb 7:25).
3. This is–
(1) A rich land.
(2) A large land.
(3) A peaceful land.
(4) A land of security.
III. The blessings designed fob them on their return.
1. Negatively Not pull them down.
(1) Not condemn them (Rom 8:1).
(2) Not visit their sins upon them (Heb 8:12).
2. Positively–I will build them up.
(1) The foundation of the building (1Co 3:11).
(2) The dimensions (Rom 11:5).
(3) The materials (Eph 2:1).
(4) The cement by which this building is united (Col 2:2-3).
(5) The instruments employed in building (2Co 4:7).
3. These plants had been–
(1) Fruitless.
(2) Cumberers.
(3) Injurious. Yet God did not pluck them up.
4. But He transplanted them to a superior soil: I will plant them.
(1) In a delightful situation (Psa 48:2).
(2) In a good and fertile soil (Psa 1:3).
(3) Where there is plenty of sun and rain (Psa 84:11).
IV. The results of all this.
1. And I will give them a heart to know Me.
(1) As a gracious God.
(2) A covenant-keeping God.
(3) A faithful God.
(4) A mighty God.
(5) And a God of salvation to His people.
2. And they shall be My people. As proved by their–
(1) Studying the Bible.
(2) Offering up prayers and praises.
(3) Attendance on His house.
(4) Living to God.
(5) And simply believing on Christ.
3. And I will be their God.
(1) By ruling in their understandings.
(2) Subduing their wills.
(3) And living in their hearts.
4. For they shall return unto Me with their whole heart.
(1) Positively-Nothing shall prevent them, for they shall return.
(2) Cordially–Their heart shall be delighted in returning.
(3) Personality–Each and all shall return in the same person, unto Me.
(4) Dissatisfaction–They return from all things sinful to God. (T. B. Baker.)
I will give them a heart to know Me, that I am the Lord.—
Heart-knowledge of God
By this great promise of the text is not merely meant that God will lead the converted to know that there is a God, because that may be known without s new heart. Any man possessed of reason may know that there is a Supreme Being, who created all things and preserves the universe in existence. The text promises that the favoured ones shall know that God to be Jehovah. Man fashions for himself a god after his own liking; he makes to himself, if not out of wood or stone, yet out of what he calls his own consciousness, or his cultured thought, a deity to his taste, who will not be too severe with his iniquities, or deal out strict justice to the impenitent. The Holy Spirit, however, when He illuminates the mind, leads us to see that Jehovah is God, and beside Him there is none else. He teaches His people to know that the God of heaven and earth is the God d the Bible, a God whose attributes are completely balanced, mercy attended by justice, love accompanied by holiness, grace arrayed in truth, and power linked with tenderness. When the heart is content to believe in God as He is revealed, and no longer goes about to fashion a deity for itself according to its own fancies and notions, it is a hopeful sign. The main stress of the promise lies, however, in this: I will give them a heart to know ME; that is, not merely to know that I am, and that I am Jehovah, but to have a personal knowledge of Myself. It is not enough to know that our Creator is the Jehovah of the Bible, and that He is perfect in character, and glorious beyond thought; but to know God we must have perceived Him, we must have spoken to Him, we must have been made at peace with Him, we must have lifted up our heart to Him, and received communications from Him. If you know the Lord your secret is with Him, and His secret is with you; He has manifested Himself unto you as He does not unto the world. He must have made Himself known unto you by the mysterious influences of His Spirit, and because of this you know Him. I the seat of this knowledge I will give them a heart to know Me. Observe that it is not said, I will give them a head to know Me. The first and primary impediment to mans knowledge of God lies in the affections The heart is the seat of the blindness; there lies the darkness which beclouds the whole mind. Hence to the heart the light must come, and to the heart that light is promised.
1. I understand by the fact that the knowledge of God here promised lies in the heart, first, that God renews the heart so that it admires the character of God. The understanding perceives that God is just, powerful, faithful, wise, true, gracious, longsuffering, and the like; then the heart being purified admires all these glorious attributes, and adores Him because of them.
2. The heart-knowledge promised in the covenant of grace means, however, much more than approval: grace enables the renewed heart to take another step and appropriate the Lord, saying, O God, Thou art my God, early will I seek Thee. All the saved ones cry, This God is our God for ever and ever; He shall be our guide even unto death
3. All true knowledge of God is attended by affection for Him. In spiritual language to. Know God is to love Him. He that loveth not knoweth not God, for God is love. It is the great passion of the renewed soul to glorify God, whom he knows and loves; knowledge without love would be a powerless thing, but God has joined this knowledge and love together in a sacred wedlock, and they can never be put asunder. As we love God we know Him, and as we know Him we love Him. Admiration, appropriation, affection are crowned with adhesion. To know a thing by heart is, in our common talk, to know it thoroughly, Memories of the heart abide when all others depart. A mothers love, a wifes fondness, a sweet childs affection, will come before us even in the last hours of life; when the mind will lose its learning and the hand forget its cunning, the dear names of our beloved ones will linger on our lips; and their sweet faces will be before us even when our eyes are dim with the shadow of approaching death. If we can sing, O God, my heart is fixed, my heart is fixed, then the knowledge which it possesses will never be taken away from it.
II. The necessity of this knowledge.
1. To know God is a needful preparation for every other true knowledge, because the Lord is the centre of the universe, the basis, the pillar, the essential force, the all in all, the fulness of all things. You may learn the doctrines of the Bible, but you do not know them truly till you know the God of the doctrines. You may understand the precepts in the letter of them, and the promises in their outward wording, but neither precept nor promise do you truly know until you know the God from whose lips they fell. The ancient sage said, Man, know thyself. He spake well, but even for this man must first know his God. I venture to say that no man rightly knows himself till he knows his God, because it is by the light and purity of God that we see our own darkness and sinfulness.
2. The knowledge of God is necessary to any real peace of mind. Suppose a man to be in the world and feel that he is right every way except with regard to God, and as to Him he knows nothing. Hear him say, I go about the world and see many faces which I can recognise, and I perceive many friends upon whom I can trust, but there is a God somewhere, and I know nothing at all about Him. Whether He be my friend or my foe I know not. If thoughtful and intelligent he must suffer unrest in his spirit, because he will say to himself, Suppose this God should turn out to be a just God, and I should be a breaker of His laws! What a peril hangs over me. How is it possible for me to be at peace till this dreadful ignorance is removed? He is the God of peace, and there can be no peace till the soul knows Him.
3. That this knowledge of God is necessary is clear, for how could it be possible for a man to have spiritual life and yet not to know God? If you do not know Him you are not a partaker of His grace, but you abide in darkness Into His heaven you can never enter till He has given you a heart to know Him; do not forget this warning, or trifle with it.
III. The excellency of this knowledge.
1. One of the first effects of knowing God in the soul is that it turns out our idols. God so enamours the soul of the converted man, so engrosses every spiritual faculty, that he cannot endure an idol, however dear in former times; and if perchance in some back-sliding moment an earthly love intrudes, it is because the man has withdrawn his eye from the splendour of the Deity.
2. The second good effect of the knowledge of God is that it creates faith in the soul; to prove which I might give a great many texts, but one will suffice (Psa 9:10): They that know Thy Name will put their trust in Thee. We cannot trust an unknown God, but when He reveals Himself to us by His Spirit, then to trust Him is no longer difficult; it is, indeed, inevitable.
3. This knowledge of God creates good works also (1Jn 2:3). A heart to know the Lord begets and nurtures every virtue and every grace, and is the basis of the noblest character, the food which feeds grace till it matures into glory.
4. To know God has over us a transforming power. Remember how the apostle writes (2Co 3:18). Every thought which crosses the mind affects it for the better or the worse, every glance is moulding us, every wish fashions the character. A sight of God is the most wonderfully sanctifying influence that can be conceived of. Know God, and you will grow to be like Him.
5. The knowledge of God causes us to praise Him. In Judah is God known; His name is great in Israel. It is not possible for us to have low thoughts of Him, or to give forth mean utterances concerning Him, or to act in a miserly way towards His cause, when we practically know Him.
6. The knowledge of God brings comfort, and that is a very desirable thing in a world of trouble. What saith the Psalmist? God is known in her palaces for a refuge.
7. To know God also brings a man great honour. Because he hath set his love upon Me, therefore will I deliver him: I will set him on high, because e hath known My name. Think of it–set on high, and set on high by the Lord Himself, and all as the result of knowing the name of the Lord.
8. The man who knows the Lord will have usefulness given him (2Co 2:14). We cannot teach others of things which we do not know ourselves. If we have no savour in us there cannot be a savour coming out of us. We shall only be a drag upon the Church in any position if we are destitute of the knowledge of God in Christ Jesus; but if we are filled with a knowledge of Christ, then the sweet savour of His name will pour forth from us as perfume from the flowers.
IV. The source of this knowledge. None but the Creator can give a man a new heart, the change is too radical for any other hand. It would be hard to give a new eye, or a new arm, but a new heart is still more out of the question. The Lord Himself must do it.
1. It is evidently a work of pure grace. He freely gives to whomsoever He wills, according to His own declaration, I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy.
2. It is evidently a work which is possible. All things are possible to God, and He says, I will give it to them. He does not speak of it as a blessing desirable, but unattainable; on me contrary He says, I will give them a heart to know Me
3. It is a work which the Lord has covenanted to do (Hos 2:19; Jer 31:32-34). (C. H. Spurgeon.)
A believing knowledge of God
The manner of knowing the difference between believers and unbelievers as to knowledge, is not as much in the matter of their knowledge as in the manner of knowing. Unbelievers, some of them, may know more and be able to say more of God, His perfections and will, than many believers; but they know nothing as they ought, nothing in a right manner, nothing spiritually and savingly, nothing with a holy, heavenly light. The-excellency of a believer is not that he hath a large apprehension of things, but that what he doth apprehend, which may perhaps be very little, he sees it in the light of the Spirit of God, in a saving, soul-transforming light: and this is that which gives us communion with God, and not prying thoughts, or curious raised notions. (J. Owen.)
To know God-a new, a gladdening experience
A touching story is told of the child of a French painter. The little girl lost her sight in infancy, and her blindness was supposed to be incurable. A famous oculist in Paris, however: performed an operation on her eyes and restored her sight. Her mother had long been dead, and her father had been her only friend and companion, when she was told that her blindness could be cured, her one thought was that she could see him; and when the cure was complete, and the bandages were removed, she ran to him, and, trembling, pored over his features, shutting her eyes now and then, and passing her fingers over his face, as if to make sure that it was he. The father had a noble head and presence, and his every look and motion were watched by his daughter with the keenest delight. For the first time his constant tenderness and care seemed real to her. If he caressed her, or even looked upon her kindly, it brought tears to her eyes. To think, she cried, holding his hand close in hers, that I had this father so many years and never knew him!
They shall return unto life with their whole heart.
The whole heart must be given to God
Suppose a mother gave her child a beautiful flower-plant in bloom, and told her to carry it to a sick friend. The child takes it away, and when she reaches the friends door she plucks off one leaf and gives it to her, keeping the plant herself. Has she obeyed her mothers command? Then afterwards, once a day, she plucks off another leaf, or a bud, or a flower, and takes it to the friend, still retaining the plant. Did she obey the command of her mother? Nothing but the giving of the whole plant could fulfil the mothers direction. Now, is not that a simple illustration of what we give to God? He commands us to love Him with all our heart and with all our being, and we pluck off a little leaf of love now sad then, a little bud or flower of affection, or one cluster of fruit from the bending branches, and give to Him; and we call that obeying. (J. R. Miller.)
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Fuente: Biblical Illustrator Edited by Joseph S. Exell
I will set mine eyes upon them for good; the soul looking out at the eye, discovereth its inclinations and affection, whether of love or wrath. Hence we read of Gods setting his eyes upon people for evil, Amo 9:4, as here of his setting his eyes upon them for good. Or else it may signify Gods setting himself to do them good, as a man when he sets upon doing a thing, sets his eyes upon it in order thereunto.
I will bring them again to this land; some of them probably returned before the end of the captivity, some at the end of the seventy years.
I will build them, and not pull them down; and I will plant them, and not pluck them up: the meaning of these metaphorical expressions is, I will prosper them, and provide for them. We read, 2Ki 25:27,28, that Evil-merodach, king of Babylon, in the thirty-seventh year of the captivity of Jehoiachin, lifted his head up out of prison, spake kindly to him, &c.; but this prophecy was also fulfilled in Daniel, Ezra, Nehemiah, Mordecai, and others, who are thought to be carried away with Jeconiah; or the prophecy may be understood of the posterity of those who were at this time carried away.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
6. (Jer12:15).
not pull . . . down . . . notpluck . . . uponly partially fulfilled in the restoration fromBabylon; antitypically and fully to be fulfilled hereafter (Jer 32:41;Jer 33:7).
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
For I will set mine eyes upon them for good,…. His eyes of omniscience, providence, and grace; to communicate good things to them; to take care of them in the furnace of affliction, that they were not lost, but made the better; to watch over them, protect and defend them; to deliver them out of their troubles, and to bring them into their own land; as follows:
and I will bring them again into this land: the land of Judea, and city of Jerusalem, where Jeremiah now was, and saw this vision: this was accomplished when the seventy years’ captivity was ended:
and I will build them, and not pull [them] down; and I will plant them, and not pluck [them] up; alluding to the building of houses, and planting of vineyards; signifying that they and their families should be built up and continue; yea, that they should be a habitation for God, and the vineyard of the Lord of hosts, of his planting, and which should remain: this will be more fully accomplished in the latter day; though it had in part a fulfilment upon the Jews’ return from captivity.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
He confirms what he said in the last verse, but in other words, for it was difficult to persuade them that they were happier who were apparently lost, than those who still enjoyed some measure of safety. He had said that he would acknowledge them; but he now adds, I will set my eye upon them He uses a metaphor which often occurs in Scripture, for God is said to turn away his face when he hides his favor; and in the same sense he is said to forget, to depart, not to care, to despise, to cast away. Then, as God might have seemed to have no more any care for this people, he says, “I will set my eyes on them.” But he goes even farther, for he refers to the sentence announced in the last verse — he had said that he was the author of their exile, “I have cast them into the land of the Chaldeans” but he now confirms the same thing, though in other words, when he says, “Mine eyes will I set on them for good.” For God is said to visit men, not only when he manifests his favor towards them, but also when he chastises them and punishes them for their sins. He had then set his eyes on them to execute punishment; he says now that he would act differently, that he would kindly treat the miserable.
He afterwards says, I will restore them For, as he had sent them away, it was in his power to restore them. As, then, he could heal the wound inflicted by his own hand, this promise ought to have been sufficient to dispel every doubt from the minds of the captives as to their return; and further, the Jews, who as yet remained in Jerusalem and in the land of Judah, ought to have known that they in vain boasted in their good lot, as though God treated them better than their captive brethren, for it was in his power to restore those whom he had banished.
And he adds, I will build and not pull them down, I will plant and not pluck them up This mode of speaking would not be so significant either in Latin or in Greek; but such a repetition, as it is well known, often occurs in Hebrew. But whenever a negative is added to an affirmative, such form of expression is to be thus interpreted, “I shall be so far from plucking them up, that I will plant them; I shall be so far from pulling them down, that I will build them up;” or, “since I had pulled them down, I will now build them up; since I had plucked them up, I will now plant them:” or a perpetuity may be meant, as though God had said, “I will plant them, so as not to pluck them again; I will build them, so as not to pull them down again.” But the most frequent import of such expressions is what I first mentioned, “I will not pull them down, but on the contrary build them up; I will not pluck them up, but on the contrary plant them.”
The meaning of the whole is, that however sad might be the calamities of the people in Chaldea, they being as exiles reduced to a desolate condition, yet God could collect them again, like one who plants a tree or builds a house. The metaphor of building is common in Scripture, and also that of planting. God is said to plant men, when he introduces a certain order among them, or when he allots to them a certain place to dwell in, or when he grants them peace and quietness. God is said in Psa 44:2, to have planted his people; but I will not refer to the many passages which are everywhere to be met with. God often says that he had planted his vineyard. (Isa 5:2, etc.) And then well known is this passage,
“
The branch of the Lord, and the planting for his glory.” (Isa 60:21)
This is said of the preservation of the Church.
The meaning then is, that though God severely chastised the exiles who had been led into Chaldea, yet their condition was not to be estimated by one day, or a month, or a few years, but that a happy end was to be expected. And as God intended at length to shew himself reconcilable and propitious, it follows that the calamity which had happened to them was lighter than that which awaited the rest, who resolutely despised God and his prophets, and thus increased the vengeance which had been already denounced on them. It follows, —
Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary
(6) I will set mine eyes upon them for good.The state of the Jews at Babylon at the time of the return from exile was obviously far above that of slaves or prisoners. They had money (Ezr. 2:69), they cultivated land, they built houses (Jer. 29:4; Jer. 29:28). Many were reluctant to leave their new home for the land of their fathers, and among these must have been the families represented at a later date by Ezra and the priests and Levites who accompanied him (Ezr. 8:15). They were not subjected, as many conquered nations have been, to the misery of a second emigration to a more distant land. The victory of Cyrus manifestly brought with it every way an improvement in their condition; but even under Nebuchadnezzar they rose, as in the case of Daniel and his companions, to high honour.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
6. Set mine eyes upon them Namely, for good, that is, to do good to them, not only by preparing their way before them, thus making their abode in the land of exile tolerable, but especially by bringing them into more full possession of their spiritual heritage.
Will bring them again These words contain a meaning deeper and richer than a mere literal return to Palestine. For, as a matter of fact, to the great mass of the people this promise, in this sense, had no fulfilment at all. A mere remnant of those carried away came back, but, for the great body of the people, the captivity was the beginning of a dispersion which has continued till this present time.
The higher and more universal import of these words was spiritual. By going away into exile, and submitting to the hard discipline of the captivity, they came into the land of promise. God cast down the scaffolding of their political life, in order that the temple of spiritual truth might stand forth in all its divine beauty. He removed the merely mechanical and earthly pressure which held the people together, in order that the forces of life might have freer play. He destroyed them as a nation to exalt them as a people. That this is the sense here intended is evident from the seventh verse words, the full blessedness of which can never be exhausted.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
Jer 24:6. I will build them, &c. Though this prophesy has its completion in part in the restoration of the Jews from the Babylonish captivity, yet both this and the following verse will have their perfect completion only in the conversion of the Jews to Christianity.
Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke
Jer 24:6 For I will set mine eyes upon them for good, and I will bring them again to this land: and I will build them, and not pull [them] down; and I will plant them, and not pluck [them] up.
Ver. 6. For I will set mine eyes upon them for good. ] I will see to their safety, and provide for their necessities. See Psa 34:15 . See Trapp on “ Psa 34:15 “
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
For I will set Mine eyes = And I will set Mine eye. Some codices, with Septuagint, Syriac, and Vulgate, read “eyes” (plural) with Authorized Version.
build . . . plant. Compare Jer 1:10; Jer 18:7-9.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
For I will: Jer 21:10, Deu 11:12, 2Ch 16:9, Neh 5:19, Job 33:27, Job 33:28, Psa 34:15, 1Pe 3:12
and I will bring: Jer 12:15, Jer 23:3, Jer 29:10, Jer 32:37, Eze 11:15-17, Eze 36:24
I will build: Jer 1:10, Jer 18:7-9, Jer 32:41, Jer 33:7, Jer 42:10
Reciprocal: Gen 44:21 – that I may Deu 8:16 – to do thee Deu 28:63 – plucked from 2Sa 7:10 – plant them 2Ki 25:27 – it came to pass 1Ch 17:9 – plant Isa 14:1 – set Jer 11:17 – that Jer 16:15 – that brought Jer 31:28 – so Jer 39:12 – look well to him Jer 50:19 – bring Eze 11:16 – Thus saith Amo 9:4 – set Amo 9:15 – they shall Zec 12:4 – I will open
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
Jer 24:6. Good is used in the sense of something pleasant or favorable and not as the opposite of wrong. The good was to consist of their return to their native land, and being rebuilt as a nation with Jerusalem as its capital. Not pluck them up was an assurance that the nation would not again be taken into captivity as before.
Fuente: Combined Bible Commentary
He would watch over them and return them to the Promised Land. He would cause them to flourish, like a building under construction or a plant that grows. No one would tear them down or uproot them (cf. Jer 1:10; Jer 12:14-17; Jer 18:7-9; Jer 31:27-28).
Fuente: Expository Notes of Dr. Constable (Old and New Testaments)
CHAPTER XXXI
RESTORATION II
THE NEW ISRAEL
Jer 23:3-8; Jer 24:6-7; Jer 30:1-24; Jer 31:1-40; Jer 33:1-26
“In those days shall Judah be saved, and Jerusalem shall dwell safely: and this is the name whereby she shall be called.”- Jer 33:16
THE Divine utterances in chapter 33, were given to Jeremiah when he was shut up in the “court of the guard” during the last days of the siege. They may, however, have been committed to writing at a later date, possibly in connection with Chapters 30 and 31, when the destruction of Jerusalem was already past. It is in accordance with all analogy that the final record of a “word of Jehovah” should include any further light which had come to the prophet through his inspired meditations on the original message. Chapters 30, 31, and 33 mostly expound and enforce leading ideas contained in Jer 32:37-44 and in earlier utterances of Jeremiah. They have much in common with 2 Isaiah. The ruin of Judah and the captivity of the people were accomplished facts to both writers, and they were both looking forward to the return of the exiles and the restoration of the kingdom of Jehovah. We shall have occasion to notice individual points of resemblance later on.
In Jer 30:2 Jeremiah is commanded to write in a book all that Jehovah has spoken to him; and according to the present context the “all,” in this case, refers merely to the following four chapters. These prophecies of restoration would be specially precious to the exiles; and now that the Jews were scattered through many distant lands, they could only be transmitted and preserved in writing. After the command “to write in a book” there follows, by way of title, a repetition of the statement that Jehovah would bring back His people to their fatherland. Here, in the very forefront of the Book of Promise, Israel and Judah are named as being recalled together from exile. As we read twice {Jer 16:14-15; Jer 23:7-8} elsewhere in Jeremiah, the promised deliverance from Assyria and Babylon was to surpass all other manifestations of the Divine power and mercy. The Exodus would not be named in the same breath with it: “Behold, the days come, saith Jehovah, that it shall no more be said, As Jehovah liveth, that brought up the Israelites out of the land of Egypt: but, As Jehovah liveth, that brought up the Israelites from the land of the north, and from all the countries whither He had driven them.” This prediction has waited for fulfilment to our own times: hitherto the Exodus has occupied mens minds much more than the Return; we are now coming to estimate the supreme religious importance of the latter event.
Elsewhere again Jeremiah connects his promise with the clause in his original commission “to build and to plant”: {Jer 1:10} “I will set My eyes upon them” (the captives) “for good, and I will bring them again to this land; and I will build them, and not pull them down; and I will plant them, and not pluck them up.” {Jer 24:7} As in Jer 32:28-35, the picture of restoration is rendered more vivid by contrast with Judahs present state of wretchedness; the marvellousness of Jehovahs mercy is made apparent by reminding Israel of the multitude of its iniquities. The agony of Jacob is like that of a woman in travail. But travail shall be followed by deliverance and triumph. In the second Psalm the subject nations took counsel against Jehovah and against His Anointed:-
“Let us break their bands asunder,
And cast away their cords from us”;
but now this is the counsel of Jehovah concerning His people and their Babylonian conqueror:-
“I will break his yoke from off thy neck,
And break thy bands asunder.”
Judahs lovers, her foreign allies, Assyria, Babylon, Egypt, and all the other states with whom she had intrigued, had betrayed her; they had cruelly chastised her, so that her wounds were grievous and her bruises incurable. She was left without a champion to plead her cause, without a friend to bind up her wounds, without balm to allay the pain of her bruises. “Because thy sins were increased, I have done these things unto thee, saith Jehovah.” Jerusalem was an outcast, of whom men said contemptuously: “This is Zion, whom no man seeketh after.” But mans extremity is Gods opportunity; because Judah was helpless and despised, therefore Jehovah said, “I will restore health unto thee, and I will heal thee of thy wounds.”
While Jeremiah was still watching from his prison the progress of the siege, he had seen the houses and palaces beyond the walls destroyed by the Chaldeans to be used for their mounds; and had known that every sally of the besieged was but another opportunity for the enemy to satiate themselves with slaughter, as they executed Jehovahs judgments upon the guilty city. Even at this extremity He announced solemnly and emphatically the restoration and pardon of His people.
“Thus saith Jehovah, who established the earth, when He made and fashioned it-Jehovah is His name:
Call upon Me, and I will answer thee, and will show thee great mysteries, which thou knowest not.”
“I will bring to this city healing and cure, and will cause them to know all the fulness of steadfast peace . . .
I will cleanse them from all their iniquities, and will pardon all their iniquities, whereby they have sinned and transgressed against Me.”
The healing of Zion naturally involved the punishment of her cruel and treacherous lovers. The Return, like other revolutions, was not wrought by rose water; the yokes were broken and the bands rent asunder by main force. Jehovah would make a full end of all the nations whither He had scattered them. Their devourers should be devoured, all their adversaries should go into captivity, those who had spoiled and preyed upon them should become a spoil and a prey. Jeremiah had been commissioned from the beginning to pull down foreign nations and kingdoms as well as his native Judah. {Jer 1:10} Judah was only one of Israels evil neighbours who were to be plucked up out of their land. And at the Return, as at the Exodus, the waves at one and the same time opened a path of safety for Israel and overwhelmed her oppressors.
Israel, pardoned and restored, would again be governed by legitimate kings of the House of David. In the dying days of the monarchy Israel and Judah had received their rulers from the hands of foreigners. Menahem and Hoshea bought the confirmation of their usurped authority from Assyria. Jehoiakim was appointed by Pharaoh Necho, and Zedekiah by Nebuchadnezzar. We cannot doubt that the kings of Egypt and Babylon were also careful to surround their nominees with ministers who were devoted to the interests of their suzerains. But now “their nobles were to be of themselves, and their ruler was to proceed out of their midst,” {Jer 30:21} i.e., nobles and rulers were to hold their offices according to national custom and tradition.
Jeremiah was fond of speaking of the leaders of Judah as shepherds. We have had occasion already (Cf. chapter 8) to consider his controversy with the “shepherds” of his own time. In his picture of the New Israel he uses the same figure. In denouncing the evil shepherds he predicts that, when the remnant of Jehovahs flock is brought again to their folds, He will set up shepherds over them which shall feed them, {Jer 23:3-4} shepherds. according to Jehovahs own heart, who should feed them with knowledge and understanding. {Jer 3:15}
Over them Jehovah would establish as Chief Shepherd a Prince of the House of David. Isaiah had already included in his picture of Messianic times the fertility of Palestine; its vegetation, by the blessing of Jehovah, should be beautiful and glorious: he had also described the Messianic King as a fruitful Branch out of the root of Jesse. Jeremiah takes the idea of the latter passage, but uses the language of the former. For him the King of the New Israel is, as it were, a Growth (cemah) out of the sacred soil, or perhaps more definitely from the roots of the House of David, that ancient tree whose trunk had been hewn down and burnt. Both the Growth (cemah) and the Branch (necer) had the same vital connection with the soil of Palestine and the root of David. Our English versions exercised a wise discretion when they sacrificed literal accuracy and indicated the identity of idea by translating both “cemah” and “necer” by “Branch.”
“Behold, the days come, saith Jehovah, that I will raise up unto David a righteous Branch; and He shall be a wise and prudent King, and He shall execute justice and maintain the right. In His days Judah shall be saved and Israel shall dwell securely, and his name shall be Jehovah Cidqenu, Jehovah is our righteousness.” Jehovah Cidqenu might very well be the personal name of a Jewish king, though the form would be unusual; but what is chiefly intended is that His character shall be such as the “name” describes. The “name” is a brief and pointed censure upon a king whose character was the opposite of that described in these verses, yet who bore a name of almost identical meaning-Zedekiah, Jehovah is my righteousness. The name of the last reigning Prince of the House of David had been a standing condemnation of his unworthy life, but the King of the New Israel, Jehovahs true Messiah, would realise in His administration all that such a name promised. Sovereigns delight to accumulate sonorous epithets in their official designations-Highness, High and Mighty, Majesty, Serene, Gracious. The glaring contrast between character and titles often only serves to advertise the worthlessness of those who are labelled with such epithets: the Majesty of James I, the Graciousness of Richard III. Yet these titles point to a standard of true royalty, whether the sovereign be an individual or a class or the people; they describe that Divine Sovereignty which will be realised in the Kingdom of God.
The material prosperity of the restored community is set forth with wealth of glowing imagery. Cities and palaces are to be rebuilt on their former sites with more than their ancient splendour. “Out of them shall proceed thanksgiving, and the voice of them that make merry: and I will multiply them, and they shall not be few; I will also glorify them, and they shall not be small. And the children of Jacob shall be as of old, and their assembly shall be established before Me.” {Jer 30:18-20} The figure often used of the utter desolation of the deserted country is now used to illustrate its complete restoration: “Yet again shall there be heard in this place the voice of joy and the voice of gladness, the voice of the bridegroom and the voice of the bride.” Throughout all the land “which is waste, without man and without beast, and in all the cities thereof,” shepherds shall dwell and pasture and fold their flocks; and in the cities of all the districts of the Southern Kingdom enumerated as exhaustively as in Jer 32:44 shall the flocks again pass under the shepherds hands to be told. {Jer 33:10-13}
Jehovahs own peculiar flock, His Chosen People, shall be fruitful and multiply according to the primeval blessing; under their new shepherds they shall no more fear nor be dismayed, neither shall any be lacking. {Jer 23:3-4} Jeremiah recurs again and again to the quiet, the restfulness, the freedom from fear and dismay of the restored Israel. In this, as in all else, the New Dispensation was to be an entire contrast to those long weary years of alternate suspense and panic, when mens hearts were shaken by the sound of the trumpet and the alarm of war. {Jer 4:19} Israel is to dwell securely at rest from fear of harm. {Jer 23:6} When Jacob returns he “shall be quiet and at ease, and none shall make him afraid.” {Jer 30:10} Egyptian, Assyrian, and Chaldean shall all cease from troubling; the memory of past misery shall become dim and shadowy.
The finest expansion of this idea is a passage which always fills the soul with a sense of utter rest.
“He shall dwell on high: his refuge shall be the inaccessible rocks: his bread shall be given him; his waters shall be sure. Thine eyes shall see the king in his beauty: they shall behold a far-stretching land. Thine heart shall muse on the terror: where is he that counted, where is he that weighed the tribute? where is he that counted the towers? Thou shalt not see the fierce people, a people of a deep speech that thou canst not perceive; of a strange tongue that thou canst not understand. Look upon Zion, the city of our solemnities: thine eyes shall see Jerusalem a quiet habitation, a tent that shall not be removed, the stakes whereof shall never be plucked up, neither shall any of the cords thereof be broken. There Jehovah will be with us in majesty, a place of broad rivers and streams; wherein shall go no galley with oars, neither shall gallant ship pass thereby.” (Isa 33:16-21; Isa 32:15-18.)
For Jeremiah too the presence of Jehovah in majesty was the only possible guarantee of the peace and prosperity of Israel. The voices of joy and gladness in the New Jerusalem were not only those of bride and bridegroom, but also of those that said, “Give thanks to Jehovah Sabaoth, for Jehovah is good, for His mercy endureth forever,” and of those that “came to offer sacrifices of thanksgiving in the house of Jehovah.” {Jer 33:11} This new David, as the Messianic King is called, {Jer 30:9} is to have the priestly right of immediate access to God: “I will cause Him to draw near, and He shall approach unto Me: for else who would risk his life by daring to approach Me?” {Jer 30:21, as Kautzsch.} Israel is liberated from foreign conquerors to serve Jehovah their God and David their King; and the Lord Himself rejoices in His restored and ransomed people.
The city that was once a desolation, an astonishment, a hissing, and a curse among all nations shall now be to Jehovah “a name of joy, a praise and a glory, before all the nations of the earth, which shall hear all the good that I do unto them, and shall tremble with fear for all the good and all the peace that I procure unto it.” {Jer 33:9}