Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Jeremiah 31:37
Thus saith the LORD; If heaven above can be measured, and the foundations of the earth searched out beneath, I will also cast off all the seed of Israel for all that they have done, saith the LORD.
All the seed – Unworthy members of Israel may be cast away, but the race shall never entirely cease to exist.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
That is, I will never cast off all the seed of Israel, (which promise the apostle, Rom 11:1,2, proveth to have been by God made good, notwithstanding the rejection of the great body of that people,) for none but God can either measure the heavens, or pierce to the centre of the earth.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
37. (Compare Jer33:22).
for all that they havedonenamely, all the sins. God will regard His own covenantpromise, rather than their merits.
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
Thus saith the Lord, if heaven above can be measured,…. Either the space between the highest heavens and the earth; or the extent of the heavens, from one end of them to the other, which cannot be done by man; so the Targum,
“as it is impossible that man should know the measure of the heavens above;”
otherwise it is measured by the Lord, for he hath “meted out heaven with a span”, Isa 40:12;
and the foundations of the earth searched out beneath: so as to be known what they are, or on what they are fastened, since the earth is hung upon nothing, Job 38:6;
I will also cast off all the seed of Israel for all that they have done, saith the Lord; as the former cannot be, so neither the latter; when there was a very great rejection of the Jews for their disbelief of the Messiah, they were not all cast off; the Apostle Paul was an instance to the contrary, and so were others: “the remnant according to the election of grace”; and there is a time coming when all Israel shall be saved, Ro 11:5; nor shall any of the spiritual Israel be cast off by him, or cast away from him, so as to perish; the Israel, whom God foreknew, is chosen, redeemed, and whom he calls by his grace; no, not for all the sins and transgressions they have been guilty of, however they may deserve it. The reasons are, because of his unchangeable love to them; his unalterable covenant with them; the satisfaction his son has made for them; and the free and full pardon of their sins, which he has granted to them.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
He confirms the same thing by another comparison, even that it would be impossible for God wholly to forget his covenant, but that he would again gather his people. Exile might indeed appear as a permanent death; and thus the truth of God might have been brought to nothing; and the covenant could not have been made void without giving the people a sort of right to complain, that they had been deceived. For we know, that though a condition was added to the covenant, yet it was not founded on the integrity of men; and hence it is said, that God is not a liar, though all the Jews were perfidious. (Rom 3:3) Then the Prophet teaches us here, that though God had severely punished the sins of the people, and had resolved to punish them in future, even so as to destroy their city, there would yet be a place for mercy after the people had been chastised.
He had said before that God’s covenant with Abraham’s children could no more fail than the laws of nature: he now says, that if any could measure the heaven, and investigate the foundations of the earth, that is, penetrate into the very center of the earth, then, he says, I will reject the seed of Israel But God brings before us these strange and impossible things, that we may know that he will at length be reconciled to his people after having justly punished them. And this promise could not have afforded any consolation to hypocrites, because God does not include the whole seed of Abraham, but says, that he would not allow the whole seed of Abraham to perish, for some remnant would continue, according to what is said by Isaiah,
“
Though thy people were as the sand of the sea, a remnant shall be saved.” (Isa 10:22)
God then does not here affirm that he would be merciful to all, but that there would be still some remaining, so that the name of the people would continue immortal: in short, he promises that the Church would be saved, but that the number would be small.
We now perceive the design of the Prophet: he doubtless had regard to the faithful, who might have been overwhelmed with despair, on seeing themselves driven far away from their own country, and having no hope of a return. Then he testifies that God had such a care for the safety of the faithful, that he would gather the scattered seed.
But we must bear in mind what we have said, that this promise is to be confined to the elect alone, for they were alone capable of receiving this favor. As to the unbelieving, who were perverse in their wickedness, God might have wholly cut them off, and yet save the remnants of grace.
Now there is no need here to enter into a subtle discussion, whether the center of the earth can be found out. The philosophers do indeed bring some probable reasons as to the extent of the heavens, and the dimension of the earth is also conjectured by them. But the Prophet’s purpose was to declare, according to the common and popular mode of speaking, that God’s mercy would be perpetual and immeasurable towards the children of Abraham, like the immensity of the earth and the heavens, which exceeds the comprehension of the human mind.
He adds, On account of all the things which they have done; that is, though they have deserved to die eternally a hundred times, I will yet have a regard to my covenant and my mercy. The Prophet then designedly sets before us here the sins of the people, that we may know that God’s mercy would be very great, as that the whole mass of so many evils would not hinder God to forgive them. This is the reason why he says, on account of all the things which they have done. It now follows, —
Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary
(37) If heaven above can be measured . . .The thought of the preceding verse is reproduced with a slight modification of meaning. Over and above the idea, as stated above, that the stability of nature is a parable of the steadfastness of Gods laws and purposes in the spiritual world, there is implied a feeling, like that of Rom. 11:33, that mans finite intellect cannot fathom His modes of working out that purpose any more than it can measure what to the prophets mind were the illimitable heaven and the unfathomable earth.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
37. If heaven above can be measured, etc. The illimitableness of the material universe is a type of God’s inexhaustible and boundless love.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
YHWH Firmly Guarantees That Not All Of The Seed Of Israel Will Be Cut Off ( Jer 31:37 ).
The suggestion that ‘not all the seed of Israel will be cut off’ was an indication that some would be. And in the circumstances in which Jeremiah found himself that was a certainty. That was why such severe judgment had come on the two nations. It was because they had been cut off from God’s mercy. Thus the expectation was of a portion of Israel who would continue before God. In the words of Jesus, ‘fear not, little flock, it is your Father’s good pleasure to give you the Kingly Rule’ (Luk 12:32). Here was the ‘new nation’ spoken of in Mat 21:43. Its eventual fulfilment took place in the foundation and growth of the true congregation of believers in Jesus Christ.
Jer 31:37
Thus says YHWH,
If heaven above can be measured,
And the foundations of the earth searched out beneath,
Then will I also cast off all the seed of Israel,
For all that they have done,
The word of YHWH.”
The likelihood of God failing in His promise to Jacob/Israel was as tiny as the likelihood that the Heavens could be measured, or the foundations of the earth searched out. Neither is remotely possible to man (even in this modern scientific generation we are still feeling our way at the edges). Until that has happened we can be sure that some of the seed of Israel (although not necessarily the outward nation of Israel) will continue. For while many would be cast off, not all would be so. That casting off was declared by Jesus when He spoke of the ‘true Vine (Joh 15:1-6), ‘My congregation (of Israel)’ (Mat 16:18) and a ‘new nation’ (Mat 21:43); and in His forecasting of God’s judgment on the temple (Mark 13), and it was described by Paul in terms of the Israel within Israel (Rom 9:6), and the branches broken from the olive tree. But the physical seed continued in the Apostles and their followers, and hosts of converted Jewish Christians ‘world-wide’, and the spiritual seed continues in all Who are His.
Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett
Jer 31:37 Thus saith the LORD; If heaven above can be measured, and the foundations of the earth searched out beneath, I will also cast off all the seed of Israel for all that they have done, saith the LORD.
Ver. 37. If heaven above can be measured. ] By man; for God measureth it with his span. Isa 40:12
And the foundations of the earth be searched out.
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
Jeremiah
WHAT THE IMMENSE CREATION TEACHES
Jer 31:37
In the former sermon we considered the previous verse as presenting the stability of creation as a guarantee of the firmness of God’s gracious covenant. Now we have to consider these grand closing words which bring before us another aspect of the universe as a guarantee for another side of God’s gracious character. The immensity of creation is a symbol of the inexhaustibleness of the forgiving love of God.
I. A word or two as to the fact here used as a symbol of the divine long-suffering.
We thankfully avail ourselves of modern science to tell us something about the dimensions of this awful universe of ours. We learn to know that there are millions of miles between these neighbour orbs, that light which has been travelling for thousands of years may not yet have fallen on some portion of the mighty whole, that the planetary masses of our system are but tiny specks in the whole, that every fresh stride which astronomical observation takes but opens up new nebulae to be resolved, where suns and constellations and systems are dwarfed by distance into hazy brightness which hardly deserves the name of light. We know all this, and can find all about the distances in any book. So much for space. Then the geologist comes to bewilder us still more, with extension in time.
But while all this may serve to give definiteness to the impression, after all, perhaps, it is the eye alone, as it gazes, that really feels the impression. Astronomy is really a very prosaic science.
II. The effects which this immensity often produces on men.
III. The true lesson.
The creation proceeds from a greater Creator. That gigantic and overwhelming magnitude, that hoary and immemorial age, that complicated and innumerable multitude of details, what less can they show than ONE Eternal and Infinite?
The immense suggests the infinite.
Granted that you cannot from the immense creation rise logically to the Infinite Creator, still the facts that the soul conceives that there is an infinite God, and is conscious of the spontaneous evoking of that thought by the contemplation of the immeasurable, are strong reasons for believing that it is a legitimate process of thought which hears the name of God thundered from the far-off depths of the silent heavens. The heavens cannot be measured, no plummet can reach to the deep foundations of the earth. We are surrounded by a universe which to our apprehensions is boundless. How much more so from expansions of our conceptions of celestial magnitudes since Jeremiah’s days, and what is to be the lesson from that? That we are insignificant atoms in this mighty whole? that God is far away from us? that the material stretches so far that perhaps there is nothing beyond?
The thought of faith is that the material immensity teaches me my God’s infinity, and especially His inexhaustible patience with us sinners. It teaches us the unfathomed depths of His gracious heart, and the abysses of His mysterious providence, and the unbounded sweep of His long-suffering forgiveness. His forgiving forbearance reaches further than the limits of the heavens. Not till these can be measured will it be exhausted, and the seed of Israel cast off for what they have done.
He, the Infinite Father, above all creation, mightier than it, is our true home, and living in Him we have an abode which can never be ‘dissolved,’ and above us stretch far-shining glories, unapproached masses of brightness, nebulae of blessedness, spaces where the eye fails and the imagination faints. All is ours, our eternal possession, the inexhaustible source of our joy. Astronomers tell of light which has been travelling for millenniums and has not yet reached this globe; but what is that to the flashing glories which through eternity shall pour on us from Him? So, then, our confidence should be firm and inexhaustible.
God has written wondrous lessons in His creation. But they are hieroglyphs, of which the key is lost, till we hear Christ and learn of Him. God has set His glories in the heavens and the earth is full of His mercy, but these are lesser gifts than that which contains them all and transcends them all, even His Son by whom He made the worlds, and- mightier still-by whom He redeemed man. God has written His mercy in the heavens and His faithfulness in the clouds, but His mercy and His faithfulness are more commended to us in Him who was before all things, and of whom it is written: ‘As a vesture shalt Thou fold them up, but Thou art the same and Thy years shall not fail.’ God has confirmed the covenant of His love to us by the faithful witnesses in the heavens, but the love shall abide when they have perished. The heavens bend above us all, and over the head of every man the zenith stands. Every spot of this low earth is smiled upon by that serene apocalypse of the loving will of God. No lane is so narrow and foul in the great city, no spot is so bare and lonely in the waste desert, but that thither the sunlight comes, and there some patch of blue above beckons the downcast eye to look up. The day opens its broad bosom bathed in light, and shows the sun in the heavens, the Lord of light, to preach to us of the true light. The night opens deeper abysses and fills them with stars, to preach to us how fathomless and immense His loving kindnesses and tender mercy are. They are witnesses to thee, dear friend, whatsoever thy heart, whatsoever thy sins, whatsoever thy memories. No iniquity can shut out God’s forgiving love. You cannot build out the heavens. He will not be sent away; you cannot measure, you cannot conceive, you cannot exhaust, His pardoning love. No storms disturb that serene sky. It is always there, blazing down upon us unclouded with all its orbs. Trust Christ; and then as years roll on, you will find that infinite love growing ever greater to your loving eyes, and through eternity will move onwards in the happy atmosphere and boundless heaven of the inexhaustible, deep heart and changeless love of God.
Fuente: Expositions Of Holy Scripture by Alexander MacLaren
If heaven above, &c. Another asseveration as to the literal fulfilment of Israel’s restoration.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
If: Jer 33:22, Job 11:7-9, Psa 89:2, Pro 30:4, Isa 40:12
I: Jer 30:11, Jer 33:24-26, Jer 46:28, Rom 11:2-5, Rom 11:26-29
Reciprocal: 2Ki 17:20 – all the seed 2Ki 23:27 – out of my sight Job 38:18 – General Psa 18:15 – foundations Psa 74:1 – O God Jer 33:26 – will I Jer 51:5 – though Lam 3:31 – General Mic 6:2 – foundations Rom 11:1 – Hath God
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
31:37 Thus saith the LORD; If heaven above can be measured, {n} and the foundations of the earth searched out beneath, I will also cast off all the seed of Israel for all that they have done, saith the LORD.
(n) The one and the other is impossible.
Fuente: Geneva Bible Notes
If people could thoroughly explore the heavens above or the earth beneath, then the Lord would cast off future Israel because of her sins.
"Looking beyond national Israel for the fulfillment of this prophecy in the church, as a spiritual Israel, fails to grapple with the certainty of the statements in Jer 31:36-37." [Note: Idem, "Evidence from . . ." p. 113.]