Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Jeremiah 30:11
For I [am] with thee, saith the LORD, to save thee: though I make a full end of all nations whither I have scattered thee, yet will I not make a full end of thee: but I will correct thee in measure, and will not leave thee altogether unpunished.
11. I will correct thee with Judgement ] See on Jer 10:24.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
Jer 30:11
I will correct thee in measure.
Correction in measure
I. The text gives us Gods law of correction; and remember, first of all, that it is a law. It is not a passion; it is not a surprise on the part of the Ruler Himself: it is part of His very goodness; it is quiet, solemn, inexorable, everlasting. The steadfast law of the universe is, that though hand join in hand, the wicked shall not go unpunished. This is s law, it is not a caprice; it is a necessity of goodness, and not a burst of passion. All things fight for God; they are very loyal to Him. The stars in their courses utter His testimony; the winds as they fly are vocal with His name; the earth will open her mouth with eager gladness to swallow up the populations that lift their hands against Him. Let us begin with things known, with the patent and indisputable facts of life,–and amongst those facts you will find the hell which follows broken law, the earth that casts out the sour that is not holy,–and thence proceed step by step into the holy place where the altar is, and the speaking blood, and the Father, and the strange light of eternity. There is but one true line of progress: it begins with Moses, it ends with the Lamb–Moses and the Lamb: Law and Grace; and in the last eternal song we shall find in one grand line, Moses and the Lamb, a marvellous harmonisation, the up-gathering and reconciliation of all things; the old ark built again; the law within, the mercy-lid covering it. Law and Mercy–Moses and the Lamb–these combine the whole purpose of the movement of the Divine mind and love.
II. So far we have looked at the stern fact of law: we now come to what is said about it. It is a law of measured correction: I will correct thee in measure. At this point grace gets hold of law and keeps it back. Law can never stop of itself. The law is the same at the end as at the beginning. It cannot palter, it cannot compromise, it cannot make terms; it grinds, bruises, destroys. If a sinful world were left absolutely to the operation of law, it would be crushed out of existence. But the law is under mercy. We are spared by grace, by grace we are saved. The grace was accomplished before the sinner was created. The atonement is not the device of an afterthought: the Lamb was slain from before the foundation of the world. Have we penetrated the gracious meaning of that astounding mystery? Before we can understand anything of the atonement, we must destroy the very basis and the relations of understanding, as it is too narrowly interpreted; we must think ourselves back of time, of space, of foundations, worlds, sinners. Great is the mystery of godliness–God manifest in the flesh. Correction in measure is Gods law now. May the time not come when the measure will be withdrawn and the correction will take its unlimited course? That will be hell, that will be destruction.
III. What is the meaning of this measure? It is the Gospel. There is a higher law than the law of death. The law of life is not changed: it is enlarged over all the sins and shortcomings and crimes of life. Where sin abounds, grace doth much more abound. Grace says, There has been great sin: now for my enlargement. And she enlarges her offers of mercy, and her signs of pity, and her opportunities of return, until the sin flee away–that which is great becomes little. Life is more than death, as the heaven is high above the earth. Death is only a partial law; the universal law is life, and it is for God to set that infinite law in motion. Here we enter upon the mysteries of Deity; here we touch the altar of the atonement. I will accept my chastening; I deserve it. This is my sweet, great faith–that no punishment ever overtakes me that is not a sign of Gods watchfulness, and of Gods care over my life. I have never suffered lose, social dishonour, inward compunction, without being able to say, This is the Lords doing, and not mans. The man did not know what he was doing to me; he was seized by God and set to do this work for my punishment–my education. Let us have no whining, no complaining, no retaliation. The man that smote you was sent to smite you. Avenge yourself by deeper confession, by larger, loftier prayer. (J. Parker, D. D.)
Fuente: Biblical Illustrator Edited by Joseph S. Exell
Verse 11. Though I make a full end of all nations] Though the Persians destroy the nations whom they vanquish, yet they shall not destroy thee.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
To save thee with a temporal salvation and deliverance, and those of thee who are Israelites indeed with a spiritual and eternal salvation; but the first is what is here principally intended. God puts a difference betwixt the chastisements of his people, and the punishments of their enemies; the latter he destroyeth with an utter and total destruction, to make an end of them; but he chastens his people like a father for their profit, and will not bring them to utter ruin. He corrects them
in measure; the Hebrew word signifieth, in judgment; that is, not in equity only, but in wisdom, or with moderation, whereas he is said to punish his enemies in fury. There are many texts of Scripture that mention this difference which God puts betwixt his punishing his people and his punishing their enemies, Isa 26:14,19; 27:7,8. But yet God will not let his own people go altogether unpunished, that by it they may be reclaimed, and the world may take notice that God is of purer eyes than that he can, in any persons, behold iniquity.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
11. though . . . full end of allnations . . . yet . . . not . . . of thee (Am9:8). The punishment of reprobates is final and fatal; that ofGod’s people temporary and corrective. Babylon was utterly destroyed:Israel after chastisement was delivered.
in measureliterally,”with judgment,” that is, moderation, not in the full rigorof justice (Jer 10:24; Jer 46:28;Psa 6:1; Isa 27:8).
not . . . altogetherunpunished (Ex 34:7).
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
For I [am] with thee, saith the Lord, to save thee,…. Not only from temporal enemies, but from spiritual ones, sin, Satan, and the world; and to save them with a spiritual and everlasting salvation, which the presence and power of God, through his rich grace, will bring all his people to:
though I will make a full end of all nations whither I have scattered thee, yet will I not make a full end of thee; a full end has been made of the Assyrians, Chaldeans, and Egyptians; these people and their names are no more; and of Rome Pagan, which, upon the opening of the sixth seal, departed as a scroll that is rolled together; and so will all the antichristian states be made a full end of, when the vials of God’s wrath are poured out upon them; and yet the people of the Jews, a poor, mean, and despicable people, have been continued a distinct people, notwithstanding their dispersion so many hundreds of years; and will continue so until they are called and converted:
but I will correct thee in measure; or “in”, or “according to judgment” u; as in Jer 10:24; wisely, moderately, and with clemency; which the Targum paraphrases “judgment remitted”; which is not strict and rigorous, but is abated of its rigour, and is mixed with mercy:
and will not leave thee altogether unpunished; or, “let thee go free”; from correction and chastisement in a merciful way. The Targum is,
“in destroying I will not destroy thee;”
or utterly destroy thee. And Kimchi and Ben Melech interpret it of cutting off, from the use of the word in Zec 5:3.
u “in judicio”, Pagninus, Montanus; “secundum, [vel] juxta judicium”, Piscator, Schmidt.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
He repeats in other words what we have already stated, but for the purpose of giving fuller support to trembling and wavering minds. God then promises that he would be present with his people to save them. Now as this could not easily be believed, and as the Jews looking only on their state at that time could not but despair, the Prophet added this comparison between them and the Gentiles. The Chaldeans and the Assyrians flourished seventy years in every kind of wealth, in luxuries, in honor — in short, they possessed every thing necessary for an earthly happiness. What, then, could the Jews have thought, but that unbelievers and God’s enemies were happy, but that they were miserable, being oppressed by hard servitude and loaded with many reproaches, and living also in poverty, and counted as sheep destined for the slaughter? When, therefore, all these things were plain before their eyes, what but despair must have laid hold on their minds? Therefore God obviates this evil; (7)
And he says that he would make a consummation among the nations, as though he had said, “When I begin to punish the Gentile nations, I will destroy them with an utter destruction, no hope will remain for them. But as to thee, I will not make a consummation.” Thus he makes a difference between the punishment inflicted on the reprobate and ungodly and that by which he would chastise the sins of his people; for the punishment he would inflict on the wicked would be fatal, while the punishment by which he would chastise his Church would be only for a time; it would therefore be to it for medicine and salvation.
We now, then, perceive what the Prophet had in view: he mitigated the bitterness of grief as to the faithful, for God would not wholly cast them away. And he shews that their scourges ought to be patiently borne, because they were to hope for an end of them; but that it would be different when he visited the reprobate, because he would leave them without any hope. In short, he says, that he would be a severe judge to the last degree as to the unbelieving, but that he would chastise his own people as a Father.
Other passages seem, however, to militate against this view; for God declares that he would make a consummation as to his chosen people, as in Isa 10:23, and in other places. But the explanation is obvious; for there he refers to the whole body of the people, which were alienated from him; but here his word is addressed to the faithful,
“
the remnant of grace,”
as Paul calls them, (Rom 11:5) We ought, therefore, ever to consider who those are whom the Prophets address; for at one time they refer to the promiscuous mass, and at another time they address apart the faithful, and promise them salvation. Thus, then, we have before seen that God would make a consummation as to his people, that is, the reprobate; but the Prophet here turns his discourse to the Church and the seed which God would preserve in safety among a people apparently cut off and lost. Whenever, therefore, the devil would drive us to despair, whenever we are harassed in our minds when God deals with us more severely than we expect, let this consolation be remembered, that God will not make a consummation with us; for what is here said of the Church may and ought to be applied to every individual believer. God, indeed, handles them often roughly when he sees it necessary for them, but he never wholly consumes them.
I will not make, he says, a consummation with thee, but I will chastise thee in judgment Here the copulative ought to be taken as an adversative particle, and “judgment” has the sense of moderation, as we have seen in Jer 10:24,
“
Chastise me, O Lord, but not in thy wrath;”
he had mentioned “judgment” before. In this sense is judgment used here, that is, for that moderation which God adopts towards his chosen, for he is ever mindful of his mercy, and regards not what they deserve, but what they can bear. When, therefore, God withholds his hand and gently chastises his people, he is said to punish them in judgment, that is, moderately. For judgment is not to be taken here for rectitude, because God never exceeds due limits so as to be subject to the charge of cruelty; judgment is also opposed to just rigor, and it is often opposed to injustice; but in this place we are to understand that the contrast is between judgment and the just rigor of God. Then judgment is nothing else but the mitigation of wrath.
At last he adds, By cleansing I will not cleanse thee, or, “by cutting down I will not cut thee down.” The verb, נקה , nuke, means sometimes to cleanse, or to render innocent; and it means also intransitively to be pure and harmless; but it is to be taken here transitively. It cannot, then, be rendered otherwise than “by cleansing I will not cleanse thee,” or, “I will not cut thee down;” for it has also this meaning, and either of the two senses is suitable. If we read, “I will not cut thee down,” it is the continuation of the same subject; “I will chastise thee in judgment, and I will not therefore cut thee down,” that is, I will not make a consummation. It would then be, as it is evident, a very suitable connection, and it would run smoothly were we to read, “I will not cut thee down.” But the other version is also appropriate, though it may admit of a twofold meaning; some take it adversatively, “Though I shall not make thee innocent;” that is, though I shall not spare thee, but chastise thee moderately; and this intimation was very seasonable; for the flesh ever seeks impunity. Now God sees that it is not good for us to escape unpunished when we offend; it is then necessary to bear in mind this doctrine, that though God will not allow us to be exempt from punishment, nor indulge us, but smite us with his rods, he is yet moderate in his judgment towards us. But others refer to this passage in Isaiah,
“
I made thee to pass through the furnace and refined thee, but not as silver, otherwise thou wouldest have been consumed.” (Isa 48:10)
God then tries his people, or cleanses them with chastisements; but how? or, how long? — not as silver and gold, for that would wholly consume them. For when silver is purged from its dross, and also gold, the purer and clearer portion remains; but men, as there is nothing in them but vanity, would be wholly consumed, were God to try them as silver and gold. But as this interpretation is too refined, I am more disposed to adopt one of the two first, that is, that God would not wholly cut them down, though he would chastise them, or, that though he would not count or regard them wholly innocent, nor so indulge them as to let them go unpunished, he would yet be merciful and propitious to them, as he would connect judgment with his chastisements, that they might not be immoderate. (8)
(7) There is no verb in the first clause, “Because I with thee.” The context shews that the future is meant; then the rendering ought to be, “Because I shall be with thee;” that is, at the restoration of the people to their own land, mentioned in the preceding verse. So Calvin understood the clause, though the early versions, like our own, gave the verb in the present tense, which is by no means correct. — Ed.
(8) This clause is rendered by the Vulg., “that thou mayest not seem to thyself innocent;” by the Syr., “but I will not suffer thee to be wholly unpunished;” and by the Targ., “and destroying I will not destroy thee.” Both Venema and Blayney follow the meaning of the Targum; the later version is, “And will not make thee altogether desolate.” The phrase occurs in Jer 25:29, and also in Exo 34:7; Num 14:18; Nah 1:3; in which places the idea of the verb is, to hold guiltless or innocent, to acquit, to let go unpunished, and not to make desolate, to cut off or to destroy. That the former is its meaning in Exo 34:7, is evident from the explanation which follows, “holding guiltless he will not hold guiltless, visiting the iniquity of the fathers,” etc.; visiting the fathers’ iniquity proves that it is not held guiltless or suffered to go unpunished. The verb, נקה means to be free, or to count one free, from pollution, crime, guilt, or punishment. To let free from punishment, is the idea most suitable here; God would chastise them in some measure, and would not suffer them to be wholly unpunished. — Ed.
Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary
(11) Though I make a full end of all nations.On the phrase, see Notes on Jer. 4:27; Jer. 5:10; Jer. 5:18. It is eminently characteristic of the prophets of Jeremiahs time (Eze. 11:13; Eze. 20:17; Nah. 1:8-9). Here the thought, implied elsewhere, and reproduced in Jer. 46:28, is expressed more fully than before, that while the destruction of the national life of the heathen nations on whom judgment was to fall should be complete and irreversible, so that Moab, Ammon, Edom, should no more have a place in the history of the world, the punishment of Israel should be remedial as well as retributive, working out, in due time, a complete restitution. In correcting in measure we trace an echo of Psa. 6:1 (see Note on Jer. 10:24). That thought sustains the prophet in his contemplation of the captivity and apparent ruin of his people. To be left altogether unpunished would be, as in the let him alone of Hos. 4:17, the most terrible of all punishments.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
11. Yet not make a full end of thee See Jer 4:27; Jer 5:18. The calamities of God’s people are not for their destruction, but their correction. “Whom the Lord loveth he chasteneth.” So, in a broader sense, all physical evil is in the interest of the kingdom of God. Pain and sorrow, sickness and death, are all sent on an evangelical mission.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
Jer 30:11 For I [am] with thee, saith the LORD, to save thee: though I make a full end of all nations whither I have scattered thee, yet will I not make a full end of thee: but I will correct thee in measure, and will not leave thee altogether unpunished.
Ver. 11. For I am with thee. ] To preserve thee, and to provide for thee; to support thee, and to supply thee.
Though I make a full end of all nations.
But I will correct thee in measure.
And will not leave thee altogether unpunished.
a Aliqui reddunt mundando non mundabo te, id est, non excoquam te exacte ad purum putum.
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
in measure = to the due measure.
unpunished = guiltless. Reference to Pentateuch (Exo 20:7; Exo 34:7. Num 14:18). App-92.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
I am: Jer 1:8, Jer 1:19, Jer 15:20, Jer 46:28, Isa 8:10, Isa 43:25, Eze 11:16, Eze 11:17, Mat 1:23, Mat 28:20, Act 18:10, 2Ti 4:17, 2Ti 4:18, 2Ti 4:22
though: Jer 4:27, Jer 5:10, Jer 5:18, Jer 46:27, Jer 46:28, Eze 11:13, Amo 9:8, Amo 9:9, Rom 9:27-29, Rom 11:5-7
but I: Jer 10:24, Psa 6:1, Isa 27:7, Isa 27:8
Reciprocal: 2Sa 7:14 – I will Est 4:14 – then shall Psa 38:1 – rebuke Isa 43:5 – Fear not Isa 44:8 – neither Isa 65:8 – General Jer 3:12 – and I will not Jer 25:29 – Ye shall Jer 31:37 – I Jer 48:42 – from Jer 49:12 – they whose Jer 50:4 – the children of Israel Eze 6:8 – General Eze 12:16 – I will Eze 14:22 – therein Eze 39:26 – they have borne Hos 11:9 – not execute Mic 1:9 – her wound is incurable Hab 1:12 – we Hag 1:13 – I am Zec 8:3 – I am Zec 13:8 – but Rev 3:19 – many
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
CORRECTION IN MEASURE
I am with thee, saith the Lord, to save thee: though I make a full end of all nations whither I have scattered thee, yet will I not make a full end of thee: but I will correct thee in measure.
Jer 30:11
There are two kinds of punishments. There is the punishment which is punishment and nothing else. This was what befell the Kingdom of Israel. It was simply extinguished by the righteous judgment of God.
But there is another kind of punishment besides this. There is the punishment which is punishment and something more. In the great mercy of God by far the greatest part of the punishments which fall either upon men or nations are punishments of this kind. Men do wrong. Then the wrong which they have done brings some calamity upon them. Then the calamity drives them away from their wrong courses, and turns them into better ways. This is usually the order of Gods Providence. This is what befell the Kingdom of Judah. It had sinned, but it had not sinned past all cure. So its punishment was intended to be punishment and cure in one. I will not make a full end of thee. But I will correct thee in measure.
I. What we notice, then, in this case, is, first, the great fact that God does thus apportion His punishments.So long as there is hope of a mans amendment Gods punishments of his sins are for his goodfor correction, not for destruction. They are in measurethat is, the punishments are measured out so as to be proportioned to what a man can bear without being overwhelmed by them: they are measured out so as to serve the double purpose of punishing the fault, and yet leaving the sinner able to mend, while they also serve the purpose of turning him back into good ways. Such was the case with the Jews.
II. Then, secondly, we see in this history an example also of the good effects of this kind of punishment when people take it rightly.Before their captivity we all know that the Kingdom of Judah had been continually falling into idolatry. This was what had brought down Gods anger upon them. But during the years of their captivity they learned the lesson which God intended them to learn, and after the return, whatever sins they fell into, this, at least, they never fell into again. Never more did idolatry defile Jerusalem as it had done, alas! in the latter days even of Solomon himself. And whatever troubles befell the nation after the return from captivity, God always saved it from being swept away again as it had been by Nebuchadnezzar. So the chastisement did its work, and the nation was the better for it, not the worse. Thus, too, we are taught, whenever we are afflicted by any loss or trouble, not to murmur as if any strange thing happened to us, but rather to examine ourselves and see whether there be not something wrong in our course of life which this particular trouble may not be the means of correcting. In the days of the Jews, God sent inspired Prophets to tell His people what He meant by His judgments. Now He teaches us, partly by the Bible, partly by His Holy Spirit. God treats us exactly by the same rules which He followed in old time. What was true of His dealings with the Jews is true also of us, and we may judge of His dealings with us now by what we read in the Bible of what He did then. Moreover, besides this God teaches us by the invisible warnings and guidance of the Holy Spirit, and, whenever we are in doubt, if we pray for the teaching of the Holy Ghost, we are sure to have it. This is His special promise, that He would put His Spirit into our hearts in order to teach and guide us, so that whenever we are in doubt what Gods providences or punishments mean, we may pray for the light of the Holy Ghost to guide us right, and then we shall be guided. And then, too, we may also feel certain that if we pray to use Gods chastisements properly, the punishment is sure to be no heavier than we can bear: not one whit heavier than is just necessary to drive us back into the right path from which we had gone astray. Even as He made the Babylonian captivity lighter to the Jews than it might have been, so also God will temper our punishment to us. It is His promise and He will surely keep it, just as He says elsewhere that He has no pleasure in the death of a sinner, and that He doth not willingly afflict the children of men.
III. For thirdly, observe that this very thing of which we speak, this softening of the troubles of the Jews in their captivity, is the exact thing which Solomon had prayed for in that wonderful prayer which he made, and which God accepted, when the Temple of Jerusalem was first dedicated to His service.Solomons prayer was answered to the very letter, and compassion was extended to the captive Jews among the people who had been their conquerors. Truly one may be reminded of the Scripture saying, that with God a thousand years are but as a single day, and a single day as a thousand years. Here is a prayer which had been offered to God some three or four hundred years before. And now that the first time comes when it can be answered, it is answered so exactly that the very words of the prayer read like a history of what took place. And who of us, therefore, may not be encouraged thereby to feel that, if Solomons prayer was thus remembered by God all those centuries and then answered at the last, surely God will in our case be true to His own promises written down in the Bible, when we too, in our turn, come to want His help? If God was true to Solomons prayer, surely He will be true to His own Word.
Illustrations
(1) My Lords love would be harmful if He did not correct me when I stray. In loves temple the holy of holies is holiness itself. Love is stricken at the heart whenever it tolerates the unclean. True love is like a sea of glass mingled with fire, and its pervading flame is the sworn destructive of all filth. Love is heat as well as light, and in its burning presence all sin must be consumed. Therefore, when my Saviours love touches my sin, it does not bathe it in soft, soothing sunshine, it plunges it in the everlasting burnings. Whom the Lord loveth He chasteneth. Our God is a consuming fire. But my Lord will correct me in measure. His fire is not a capricious flame, blazing beyond control. It is kept under hand, and it is graciously applied where it is needed, and for just so long as it is required. Our Lord sits as a refiner. He carefully burns out the alloy, the dross, and the fire is withdrawn when the silver is pure. And so when Gods fire kindles upon me I will not fear. It is the only severe side of infinite love, and its tender purpose is to endow me with loveliness, even with the beauty of the Lord. If His fire were never hot I could never be pure and sanctified.
(2) I heard the other day of a young father who was walking to and fro in the dining-room of his house with his first-born babe in his arms. His wife noticed that two or three times he carried his precious burden into a large dark closet at the end of the room, and asked him the reason. He answered that every time he went into the dark, the little one gave a tiny start and clung closer to him, and he found it so delightful to feel the tiny nestling movement, which gave him the chance to press the nurseling nearer him. Perhaps God often carries us into the dark, that we may cling closer to Him, and that He may have the better opportunity of speaking His tender words of reassurance.
Fuente: Church Pulpit Commentary
Jer 30:11. Some of the predictions pertain to the release from captivity in general. This verse concerns a special condition that will exist at the end of that experience and that is about the remnant that was to he saved from the ravages of that period. The nation numbered some millions when it went into the captivity but was reduced to a much smaller number according to Ezr 2:64. However, this reduction had a favorable significance for the severity of the captivity might have completely snuffed out the nation had it not been for the care and oversight of God.
Fuente: Combined Bible Commentary
30:11 For I [am] with thee, saith the LORD, to save thee: though I make a full end of all nations where I have scattered thee, yet will I not make a full end of thee: but I will correct thee in measure, and will not {h} leave thee altogether unpunished.
(h) In this is commanded God’s great mercy toward his, who does not destroy them for their sins, but corrects and chastises them till he has purged and pardoned them and so burns the rods by which he punished them, Isa 33:1 .
Fuente: Geneva Bible Notes
The Lord would chasten His people with punishment for their sins, but He would not destroy them completely. He would, however, completely destroy the nations that had oppressed them in their captivity (cf. Jer 46:27-28; Isa 41:8-10; Isa 43:1-6; Isa 44:2-5).
"These passages cannot refer to the destruction of Jerusalem in A.D. 70, for the Davidic monarchy was not restored after that date and the Jews were not saved out of it, but were killed by the thousands and many were carried away." [Note: Kaiser, p. 112.]