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Jer_31:15-22
Lamentation and most bitter crying;
Rachel weeps for her children,
Refusing to be comforted for her children, for they are no more.
16 Thus saith Jehovah: Restrain thy voice from weeping,
And thine eyes from tears:
For there is reward for thy work, saith Jehovah;
And they shall return from the land of the enemy.
17 There is also hope for thy future, saith Jehovah;
And children shall return to their border.
18 I have surely heard Ephraim bemoaning himself;
Thou hast chastised me,
And I allowed myself to be chastised like an untrained bullock.
Turn thou me again, that I may turn;
For thou art Jehovah my God.
19 For after my revolt, I repent;
And after I have learned to know myself, I smite on the thigh:
I blush, I am also ashamed
That I have borne the reproach of my youth.
20 Is then Ephraim a favourite son to me or a bosom-child,
That whenever I speak against him I must still remember him?
Therefore my bowels heave towards him;
I must have pity on him, saith Jehovah.
21 Erect for thyself signals, set up for thyself poles,
Turn thy mind to the highway, the way thou wentest!
Return, O virgin Israel,
Return to these thy cities.
22 How long wilt thou turn hither and thither, thou backsliding daughter?
For Jehovah has created a new thing on earth:—
The woman shall turn the man.
Jer_31:15. Thus saith Jehovah … they are no more. With respect to Ramah and the grave of Rachel the greatest obscurity still prevails. My view is as follows: 1. The tomb of Rachel was near Ramah. This definitely follows from this passage and 1Sa_10:2. Delitzschremarks (Comm. on Genesis , 2 te Aufl. ter Theil., S. 53) that Rachel’s weeping is heard in Ramah not because her tomb is in the neighborhood, but because, according to Jer_40:1, the exiles assembled there, but to this it is opposed (a) that according to 1Sa_10:2 the tomb of Rachel was positively near Ramah; and (b) that Rachel’s weeping does not refer to the exiles mentioned in Jer_40:1; for these were Jews, while according to the whole connection of this passage, Rachel bewails the exile of the Ephraimites. 2. Ramah, near which was Rachel’s tomb and where Samuel dwelt (1Sa_10:2) was in Benjamin, in the vicinity of Gibeah, north of Jerusalem. This is seen from Jdg_19:13; Isa_10:29; Hos_5:8. In Jos_18:25 it is expressly said that Ramah was in Benjamin. The original and complete name is Ramathaim Zophim ( øָîָúַéִí öåֹôִéí ), 1Sa_1:1 coll. Jer_31:19. The statement that Ramah was situated on the mountains of Ephraim (Jdg_4:5; 1Sa_1:1) is not in contradiction to this, for the southern slopes of the mountains of Ephraim extended thus far. (Comp. Herzog, R.-Enc. XII. S. 515 [Robinson, Bibl. Researches, II. 315–317; 331–334; Thomson, The Land and the Book, II., 503.—S. R. A.]). It has been objected to the identity of the Ramah of Samuel and the Ramah near Gibeah that Saul in seeking the she-asses took three days in going from Gibeah to Ramah (1Sa_9:20), and that David fleeing from Gibeah took refuge in Ramah (1Sa_19:18). Even Raumer (Paläst. S. 219) lays some weight on these objections. [Comp. also Smith, Bible Dict., s. v. Ramah.—S. R. A.]. As to the first, however, it is clear from 1Sa_9:4-5 that Saul did not follow the direct road, but seeking or pursuing the track of the asses, reached Ramah by a very circuitous route. With respect to the second Ruetschi (Herz. R.-Enc., ut sup.) has replied that David did not seek (temporary) protection from the city of Ramah but from Samuel. 3. There is also a Ramah in Gilead (Ramoth, Ramath Mizpeh, Jos_13:26; Jos_20:8; Jos_21:38, etc.); another south-west from Jerusalem, west of the mountains of Judea (Ramathlebi, Jdg_15:17=Eleutheropolis. Comp. Raumer, Paläst, S. 185, 6); a third in Naphtali (Jos_19:36); a fourth in Asher (Jos_19:29). A fifth place, which sometimes occurs under this name is Ramlah, a city which is not mentioned at all in the Old Testament (unless perhaps in Neh_11:33), of later origin, and very probably identical with Arimathea, and situated to the west of Jerusalem in the plain of Saron near Lydia (Diospolis). Comp. Raumer, Paläst., S. 217, 8, 448. There is then no Ramah in the vicinity of Bethlehem! 4. Bethlehem is doubtless also called Ephrath or Ephratah (Mic_5:1; Rth_1:2; 1Sa_17:12). Now if Rachel’s tomb is in the neighborhood of Ramah it cannot be near Bethlehem, and the Ephratah near which (Gen_36:16; Gen_36:19 coll. Jer_48:7) Rachel bore Benjamin and was buried, cannot be Bethlehem.
Now we read in 2Ch_13:19 of a place in the neighborhood of Bethel, the name of which according to the, Chethibh is òֶôְøåֹï but according to the Keri òִôְøַéï . The latter reminds us of Ἐöñáῖì or ἘöñÝì , a little town, which, according to Jerome, lay 20 m. p. north from Jerusalem, where Christ remained for some time after the resurrection of Lazarus (Joh_11:54). Josephus also relates (B. Jud. VI.9, 9) that Vespasian destroyed Âçèçëᾶ ôå êáὶ Ἐöñáῖì ðïëß÷íéá , and then rode to Jerusalem. In Jos_18:23 òָôְøָä is mentioned among the cities of Benjamin. The same name recurs in 1Sa_13:17. Eusebius in his Onomast., s. v. Aphra, says: “est et hodie vicus Effrem in quinio milliario Bethiis ad Orientem respiciens.” The distances given point to the identity of Ephraim (Ephron) and Ophra. (Comp. Robinson, II., S. 333 sqq. [3:124]; Raumer, S. 189 and 216). Now it is remarkable that the Alexandrian translators in 1Sa_13:17 render the name òָôְøָä by ÃïöåñÜ , and on the other hand in Jos_18:23 by ἘöñáèÜ (Cod. Alex. ἈöñÜ ). From this it seems to follow that even in very ancient times òôøä and àôøú were interchanged, and that hence not only the äåà áéú ìäí , Gen_35:19; Gen_48:7, but also the name àôøúä , Jer_35:16; Jer_35:19; Jer_48:7, is to be regarded as a corruption of the original reading. I had reached this result before Graf’s treatise on the situation of Bethel and Rama (Stud. u. Krit., 1854, 4., S. 86S) became known to me.—The prophet goes back in spirit to the time when the inhabitants of the kingdom of the ten tribes were led away to Assyria into captivity. Since that time, he says, making use of figurative language, may be heard in Ramah, the greater city near Rachel’s tomb (1Sa_20:2), nightly wailing and bitter weeping (Jer_6:26). It is Rachel who is weeping for her children. The inhabitants of the kingdom of the ten tribes may be designated children of Rachel, because at their head stands the tribe of Ephraim, which is frequently mentioned as a representative of the kingdom of Israel, Isa_7:2-5; Isa_7:8-9; Isa_7:17; Isa_11:13; Hos_4:17, etc.; Jer_7:15; Jer_31:9; Jer_31:18; Jer_31:20. The mother of the ruling tribe appears thus as the personification of the kingdom ruled by it. The spirit of Rachel is the genius of the kingdom of the ten tribes, whom the prophet represents by a bold poetical figure as rising from her tomb by night and bewailing the misery of her children.—Are no more. Comp. Isa_17:14; Eze_26:21.
Jer_31:16-17. Thus saith Jehovah . . . their border. The Lord comforts Rachel by promising her a glorious reward for her maternal labor and care, (on restrain thy voice comp. guard thy foot, Jer_2:25. On there is reward comp. 2Ch_15:7) viz. her children shall be redeemed from the land of captivity—and by setting before her the consolatory hope for the future, that the children will also return to their native land. On there is also hope comp. Jer_31:11.
Jer_31:18-19. I have surely . . . of my youth. These verses give the inner reason of that joyful change: Israel will fulfil the condition required of him by the Lord (Jer_3:13 sqq.). First the people express their acknowledgment that the chastisement was necessary for them, for they were like an untamed and untrained bullock (the prophet evidently has in mind Hos_10:11), but they have also let themselves be chastened and accepted the chastening (Jer_5:3). As Jeremiah here generally moves in the same circle of thought as in Jeremiah 3, so especially in what follows, where also as there the idea of turning forms the central point or pivot of his re-presentation.—Turn thou me, etc. The knowledge gained as the result of the chastisement produces a double effect: a positive and a negative. The positive effect consists in the desire to return to Jehovah. Meanwhile the people are well aware that willing is not performing. They therefore pray the Lord that He Himself will turn their hearts to Him, who alone is Israel’s God. (This is the sense of the causal sentence. For thou art, etc.). Then only will they really return. The bodily return is connected with the spiritual in the closest causal relation. Comp. Rems. on ùׁåּáé , Jer_31:19, and Lam_5:21.—Lam_3:40; Psa_80:4; Psa_80:8—The negative effect, which on their part forms the psychological condition of the positive, and is therefore introduced by for, is the inner turning and cutting loose from all that which had allured Israel, but had yet only brought him to hurt and shame.—The smiting on the side ( éְøֵëַéִí , éָøֵêְ duo femina cum natibus, comp. Eze_21:17) was a sign of mourning. Comp. Winer and Herzog, R.-Enc., s. v. Trauer.—I blush, etc. Comp. Isa_45:16-17.—The connection of this passage is then as follows: Ephraim has taken the chastening to heart. In consequence he addresses the prayer for power to return to Jehovah, for he has now learned to repent of his turning away from Him, and to be ashamed of the consequences.
Jer_31:20-22. Is then Ephraim . . . the man. Jehovah grants the moving petition. Astonished at surprising Himself, as it were, in such tender feelings towards Ephraim, Jehovah asks Himself if then Ephraim is his favorite son, his darling child (enfant gâté), since often as he has been obliged to bring the severe judgment of rejection upon him, he has yet never been able to forget him.—Speak against. We may compare 2Ch_22:10, where it is said of Athaliah that she arose and åַúְּãַáֵּø all the seed royal. But apart from ãִּáֵּø being here construed with a single accusative, we have in the parallel passage (2Ki_11:1) åַúְּàַáֵּã so that it is easy to suspect a mistake. Now ãִּáֵּø and ðִãְáַּø in the sense of “speak,” are frequently connected with áְּ in different meanings: loqui per aliquem (Num_12:2), de aliquo (Deu_6:7; 1Sa_19:3; Psa_119:46 coll. 23), ad aliquem (Num_12:8; Hab_2:1; Zec_1:9, etc., Num_12:2, etc., 1Sa_25:39; Son_8:8). But it also signifies loqui contra aliquem, Num_21:7 coll. Jer_31:5; Psa_50:20; Psa_78:19. This last meaning corresponds perfectly to the connection here:—Often as I ( îִãֵé as in 1Sa_18:30; 1Ki_14:28) speak against him, i. e., cast him from me by a sentence of reprobation, yet I cannot forget him. I am always reminded of him again, and then the old feelings of love and pity are excited anew.—Mybowels. Drechsler, correctly remarks on Isa_16:5, that îֵòִéí does not like óðëÜã÷íá , viscera, include the nobler entrails (the heart). The word does not therefore designate the innermost source of the feelings, but only a place of the external organism where these make themselves specially noticeable. Comp. Son_5:4; Job_30:27; Lam_1:20; Lam_2:11; Isa_63:15; Jer_4:19.—The immediate effect of this excitation of love, is that Israel receives directions to make preparations for the journey homewards. Thus persons are to be sent in advance to set up stone pillars as way marks for the coming train, öִéֻï cippus, monumentum; comp. 2Ki_23:17. Eze_39:15.—Israel’s returning by the same road which he came is comforting in two respects, first in itself, second because it is known and easier to retrace.—-The word these, before thy cities, shows unquestionably that the author has his point of view in Palestine, and not in the lands of the captivity. Comp. Graf, S. 387, Anm.
Turn hither and thither. Hitzig finds in this not incorrectly the collateral idea of delay. This accords well with how long? which expresses a certain degree of impatience. Israel does not respond quickly enough to the invitation to return. The Lord has to drive him. The expression backsliding daughter, occurs besides only in a much later passage, of the people of the Ammonites.—It is surprising, that the Lord in the midst of this assurance of His tenderest love, and after Israel in Jer_31:18-19, has manifested such sincere and deep penitence, should utter another word of harsh censure. In this passage there appears to me to be a play upon words. In the section Jer_3:1-4; Jer_3:2 namely, to which this discourse is most closely related in matter as well as in form, the prophet gives as many variations of the theme ùׁåּá as possible, sometimes applying the idea to Israel and Judah in a physical, at others in a spiritual sense. A similar variation though in abbreviated measure is found in Jer_8:4-5. In this passage also from Jer_31:19 onwards, the idea of ùׁåּá forms the main thought. It is, however, variously modified: in Jer_31:16-17 the word is referred to bodily return, in Jer_31:18 to spiritual and bodily turning, and in Jer_31:19 to spiritual alienation, in Jer_31:21 again to bodily conditioned by spiritual turning. Now when the prophet in Jer_31:22 calls Israel ùׁåֹáֵáָä , would he not thus wish to say that Israel is a person, who makes much of turning, who applies the idea of ùׁåּá in every possible way? It appears to me that the prophet with the following sentence goes back again to the conceptions of Jeremiah 3. In the beginning of this chapter he designates it as a crime profaning the land that a man return to his rejected wife, who has meanwhile been another’s. Notwithstanding that Israel is such a wife, Jehovah yet calls her back to Himself. This is the repentance of which our passage speaks. For when the Lord does something which, according to His own law, has been hitherto regarded as inadmissible, this is certainly an exception to the rule, therefore something new and extraordinary. If now we ask how the Lord comes to make such an exception?—the answer is given in Jer_31:20. Israel has done this to the Lord, he is His darling child, whom he cannot forget. Israel is like a magnet which irresistibly attracts the Lord. Israel, the woman, here mentioned by the specific name of the sex ðְ÷ֵáָä , causes the Lord to turn to herself, who is also antithetically designated by the word ðֶáֶø which sets forth the specific distinction of the male sex. Thus the weak is victorious over the strong. It is not only a new thing that the Lord returns to his desecrated wife, but that this power to bring back proceeds from the weak, so that the strong succumbs to the weak. I therefore take úְּñåֹáֵá in the sense of “ to turn round, to cause to turn back.” Although no passage can be shown where ñåֹáֵá is really used in this sense (everywhere where it occurs, it means either circuire, Psa_26:6; Psa_55:11; Psa_59:7; Psa_59:15; Son_3:2, or circumdare; Deu_32:10; Psa_7:8; Psa_32:7; Psa_32:10; Jon_2:4; Jon_2:6), this is only accidental, for there is nothing in the radical meaning which excludes this sense. The root ñá which is radically related to ùׁåּá has the meaning of turning or returning in the widest sense. And that it may also stand for reverti is shown by the passage, Psa_71:20-21, where the verb is interchanged with ùׁåּá . It cannot then be denied that úñåáá may mean reducit. úִּùׁåֹáֵá would certainly be more suitable, especially as corresponding more exactly to ùׁåֹáֵáָç , and it is not indeed impossible that the prophet did originally write úùåáá . Neither the ùׁåááä , nor in general the importance of the idea ùׁåּáּ for the explanation of the whole passage, and particularly the reference to Jer_3:1 being understood, may have occasioned the change into úñåáá , unless indeed it is an error of the copyist. It is not, however, at all necessary to alter the reading, since even this, as we have shown, gives the sense required by the connection. It is exceedingly difficult to give the play upon words in the translation, since we have no corresponding word with the same variety of meanings. I know no better rendering now than “thou turn-coat daughter,” though the phrase is not particularly suitable as applied to a nation. This explanation is not a new one. It is essentially that of most of the Rabbins: “Proinde Hebræi hunc locum sic legendum contendunt: femina reducet virum, et hoc est novum in terra, at mulier, quæ passim aliis viris se prostituit, veteris mariti cupida, illum iterum sui amantem obtineat.” Muenster. My explanation of ùׁåֹáֵáָä only is new, so far as I know, for all the commentators take the word as simply equivalent to ùׁåֹáָáָä . The other explanations of the passage whose number is legion, all do violence either to the language or the connection. To mention only the principal ones—the old orthodox explanation, which refer the words “a woman shall compass,” etc., to the birth of the Saviour from a virgin, must take ð÷áä in the sense of virgin, a meaning which the word never has nor can have. Abarbanel explains “feminœ viros circumdabunt, i. e., superabunt,” understanding by the women the weak Israelites, by the men their strong enemies. But neither is this a new thing, nor has ñåáá this meaning. “Femina vertetur in virum” is the translation of Abulmalid, R. Tanchum, who are followed by Luther (in the first editions of his Bible till 1538) and by Ewald among the moderns. The alteration of úְּñåֹáֵá into úְּñåֹáַá , however, or the rendering of the former in a passive sense is forced: the sense also must be such as to agree with the context. The explanation proposed by Schnurrer, which is adopted by many modern commentators, is “the woman will protect the man,”—but neither corresponds to the connection, nor is it satisfactory in itself. When women protect men, either the men are become women and the women men, or there is no need of any protection.—The explanation given by Hitzig, “femina ambibit virum,” which is found also in Castalio and Clericus (Vid. Graf, S. 389) is not inappropriate in meaning, but cannot be justified grammatically. Hengstenberg, to whom Graf attaches himself for want of a better, takes ñåֹáֵá in the sense of “to keep one’s self near, to persist in dependence, seeking protection” (Christology, Eng. Tr., II., p. 429). But this rendering is developed from the idea of “surrounding” which cannot be declared of a single person with respect to another. The sense thus obtained is also the reverse of the primary meaning of the words, on which the rendering is based. Radically the explanation of Hengstenberg is no other than that the man will surround the woman with his protection, as Meier also actually renders the words in his translation. Besides the larger commentaries, there are many monographs on this passage. Lists of them are found in Seb. Schmidt, Starke, J. D. Michaelis, Observ. in Jer., p. 248; Rosenmueller; Dietelmair in the Engl. Biblework, Tom. IX., S. 543. I add Andr. Dan. Habichhorst, Diss, de femina circumdante virum, 1670 and 1677.
[Of English and American commentators, Blayney fenders “a woman shall put to the rout a strong man.” Henderson: “Woman shall encompass man,” following however Blayney and Calvin in his explanation, “Jehovah would make the feeblest of them more than a match for the most powerful of their foes.” Wordsworth retains the interpretation of the words, which refers them to the miraculous conception of the Virgin, quoting in favor of this view S. Jerome and Jackson and Pearson on the Creed, with references also to Justin Martyr, Cyprian, Augustine, Luther, Œcolampadius, Chemnitz, Galatinus, Calovius, Huetius, etc. Noyes translates “the woman shall protect the man,” with the note, “there shall be a state of peace and security, so that those who are regarded as feeble and defenceless, and unfit for war, shall be competent to the defence of the country.” Cowles agrees most closely with Naegelsbach, referring “the woman” to the Virgin Israel, the people of God, who “instead of perpetually going about after other lovers, will go about (in the sense of seeking to win the love of) her own divine Lord."—S. R. A.]
2. On Jer_30:1-3. The people of Israel were not then capable of bearing such a prophecy, brimming over with happiness and glory. They would have misused it, hearing to the end what was promised them, and then only the more certainly postponing what was the only thing then necessary—sincere repentance. Hence they are not yet to hear this gloriously consolatory address. It is to be written, that it may in due time be perceived that the Lord, even at the time when He was obliged to threaten most severely, had thoughts of peace concerning the people, and that thus the period of prosperity has not come by chance, nor in consequence of a change of mind, but in consequence of a plan conceived from the beginning and executed accordingly.
3. On Jer_30:7. The great and terrible day of the Lord (Joe_3:4) has not the dimensions of a human day. It has long sent out its heralds in advance. Yea, it has itself already dawned. For since by the total destruction of the external theocracy judgment is begun at the house of God (1Pe_4:17), we stand in the midst of the day of God in the midst of the judgment of the world. Then the time of trouble for Jacob has begun (Jer_30:7), from which he is to be delivered, when the fulness of the Gentiles is come in (Romans 11.)
4. On Jer_30:9. Christ is David in his highest potency, and He is also still more. For if we represent all the typical points in David’s life as a circle, and draw a line from each of these points, the great circle thus formed would comprise only a part of the ðëÞñùìá given in Christ. Nevertheless Christ is the true David, who was not chosen like Saul for his bodily stature, but only for his inward relation to God (comp. Psa_2:7), whose kingdom also does not cease after a short period of glory, but endures forever; who will not like Saul succumb to his enemies, but will conquer them all, and will give to his kingdom the widest extent promised; all this however not without, like David, having gone through the bitterest trials.
5. On Jer_30:11. “Modus paternæ castigationis accommodatus et quasi appensus ad stateram judicii Dei adeoque non immensus sed dimensus.” “Christus ecclesiam crucis suæ hæredem constituit. Gregor. M.” Förster.
6. On Jer_30:14. “Cum virlutem patientiæ nostræ flagella transeunt, valde metuendum est, ne peccatis nostris exigentibus non jam quasi filii a patre, sed quasi hostes a Domino feriamur. Gregor. M. Moral. XIV. 20, on Job_19:11.” Ghisler.
7. On Jer_30:17. “Providentia Dei mortalibus salutifera, antequam percutiat, pharmaca medendi gratiâ componit, et gladium iræ suæ öéëáíèñùðßᾳ acuit. Evagr. Hist. Ecc_4:6.”—“Quando incidis in tentationem, crede, quod nisi cognovisset te posse illam evadere, non permisisset te in illam incidere. Theophyl. in cap. 18 Joh.” Förster.—“Feriam prius et sanabo melius. Theophyl. in Hosea 11.” Ghisler.
8. On Jer_30:21. “This church of God will own a, Prince from its midst—Jesus, of our flesh and blood through the virgin Mary, and He approaches God, as no other can, for He is God’s image, God’s Son, and at the same time the perfect, holy in all His sufferings, only obedient son of man. This king is mediator and reconciler with God; He is also high-priest and fulfilled all righteousness, as was necessary for our propitiation. What glory to have such a king, who brings us nigh unto God, and this is our glory!” Diedrich.
9. On Jer_31:1. “There is no greater promise than this: I will be thy God. For if He is our God we are His creatures, His redeemed, His sanctified, according to all the three articles of the Christian faith.” Cramer.
10. On Jer_31:2. “The rough heap had to be sifted by the sword, but those who survived, though afflicted in the desert of this life, found favor with God, and these, the true Israel, God leads into His rest.” Diedrich.
11. On Jer_31:3. “The love of God towards us comes from love and has no other cause above or beside itself, but, is in God and remains in God, so that Christ who is in God is its centre. For herein is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us (1Jn_4:10).” Cramer. “Totum gratiæ imputatur, non nostris meritis. Augustine in Psalms 31.” Förster. “Before I had done anything good Thou hadst already moved towards me. Let these words be written on your hearts with the pen of the living God, that they may light you like flames of fire on the day of the marriage. It is your certificate of birth, your testimonial. Let me never lose sight of how much it has cost Thee to redeem me.” Zinzendorf. “God says: My chastisement even was pure love, though then you did not understand it; you shall learn it afterwards.” Diedrich. [“I incline to the construction given in the English version, both because the suffix to the verb is more naturally, ‘I have drawn thee,’ than ‘I have drawn out toward thee,’ and because there seems to be a tacit allusion to Hos_11:4, ‘With loving kindness have I drawn thee.’—-A great moral truth lies in this passage so construed, viz., that the main power which humbles man’s pride, softens his hard heart and makes him recoil in shame and sorrow from sinning, comes through his apprehension of God’s love as manifested in Christ and His cross. It is love that, draws the fearful or stubborn soul to the feet of divine mercy.” Cowles.—S. R. A.]
12. On Jer_31:6. “It is well: the watchmen on Mount Ephraim had to go to Zion. They received however another visit from the Jewish priests, which they could not have expected at the great reformation, introduced by John, and which had its seat among other places on Mount Ephraim. The Samaritans were not far distant, and Mount Ephraim had even this honor that when the Lord came to His temple He took His Seat as a teacher there.” Zinzendorf. [“God’s grace loves to triumph over the most inveterate prejudices… No words could represent a greater and more benign change in national feeling than these: Samaria saying through her spiritual watchmen, ‘Let us go up to Zion to worship, for our God is there.’ ” Cowles. “ ‘Ascendamus in Sion, hoc est in Ecclesiam’ says S. Jerome. According to this view, the watchmen here mentioned are the Preachers of the Gospel.” Wordsworth.—S. R. A.]
13. On Jer_31:9. “I will lead them. It is an old sighing couplet, but full of wisdom and solid truth:—
‘Lord Jesus, while I live on earth, O guide me,
Let me not, self-led, wander from beside Thee.’ ”
—
Zinzendorf.
14. On Jer_31:10. “He who has scattered Israel will also collect it. Why? lie is the Shepherd. It is no wolf-scattering. He interposes His hand, then they go asunder, and directly come together again more orderly.” Zinzendorf.15. On Jer_31:12-14. “Gaudebunt electi, quando videbunt supra se, intra se, juxta se, infra se. Augustine.”—“Præmia cœlestia erunt tam magna, ut non possint mensurari, tam multa, ut non possint numerari, tam copiosa, ut non possint terminari, tam pretiosa, ut non possint æstimari. Bernhard.” Förster.
16. On Jer_31:15. “Because at all times there is a similar state of things in the church of God, the lament of Rachel is a common one. For as this lament is over the carrying away captive and oppressions of Babylon, so is it also a lament over the tyranny of Herod in slaughtering the innocent children (Mat_2:1-7.)”Cramer. “Premuntur justi in ecclesia ut clament, clamantes exaudiuntur, exauditi glorificent Deum. Augustin.” Förster.—With respect to this, that Rachel’s lament may be regarded as a type of maternal lamentation over lost children, Förster quotes this sentence of Cyprian: non amisimus, sed præmisimus (2Sa_12:23). [On the application of this verse to the murder of the innocents consult W. L. Alexander, Connexion of the Old and New. Testament, p. 54, and W. H. Mill in Wordsworth’s Note in loc.—S. R. A.]
17. On Jer_31:18. The conversion of man must always be a product of two factors. A conversion which man alone should bring about, without God, would be an empty pretence of conversion; a conversion, which God should produce, without man, would be a compulsory, manufactured affair, without any moral value. The merit and the praise is, however, always on God’s side. He gives the will and the execution. Did He not discipline us, we should never learn discipline. Did He not lead back our thoughts to our Father’s house which we have left (Luke 15) we should never think of returning.
18. On Jer_31:19. “The children of God are ashamed their life long, they cannot raise their heads for humiliation. For their sins always seem great to them, and the grace of God always remains something incomprehensible to them.”Zinzendorf. The farther the Christian advances in his consciousness of sonship and in sanctification, the more brilliantly rises the light of grace, the more distinctly does he perceive in this light, how black is the night of his sins from which God has delivered him. [“It is the ripest and fullest ears of grain which hang their heads the lowest.”—S. R. A.]
19. On Jer_31:19. “The use of the dear cross is to make us blush (Dan_9:8) and not regard ourselves as innocent (Jer_30:11). And as it pleases a father when a child soon blushes, so also is this tincture a flower of virtue well-pleasing to God.” Cramer. “Deus oleum miserationis suæ non nisi in vas contritum et contribulatum infundit. Bernhard.”Förster.
20. On Jer_31:19. The reproach of my youth. “The sins of youth are not easily to be forgotten (Psa_25:7; Job_31:18). Therefore we ought to be careful so to act in our youth as not to have to chew the cud of bitter reflection in our old age. It is a comfort that past sins of youth will not injure the truly penitent. Non nocent peccata præterita, cum non placent præsentia. Augustine. To transgress no more is the best sign of repentance.” Cramer.
21. On Jer_31:20. “Comforting and weighty words, which each one should lay to heart. God loves and caresses us as a mother her good child. He remembers His promise. His heart yearns and breaks, and it is His pleasure to do us good.” Cramer. “lpsius proprium est, misereri semper et parcere.” Augustine.—“Major est Dei misericordia quam omnium hominum miseria.” Idem.
22. On Jer_31:23. The Lord bless thee, thou dwelling-place of righteousness, thou holy mountain. “Certainly no greater honor was ever done to the Jewish mountains than that the woman’s seed prayed and wept on them, was transfigured, killed and ascended above all heaven.” Zinzendorf. “ It cannot be denied that a church sanctifies a whole place …. Members of Jesus are real guardian angels, who do not exist in the imagination, but are founded on God’s promise (Mat_25:40).” Idem.
23. On Jer_31:29-30. “The so-called family curse has no influence on the servants of God; one may sleep calmly nevertheless. This does not mean that we should continue in the track of our predecessors, ex. gr., when our ancestors have gained much wealth by sinful trade, that we should continue this trade with this wealth with the hope of the divine blessing…. If this or that property, house, right, condition be afflicted with a curse, the children of God may soon by prudent separation deliver themselves from these unsafe circumstances. For nothing attaches to their persons, when they have been baptized with the blood of Jesus and are blessed by Him.” Zinzendorf.
24. On Jer_31:29-30. “In testamento novo per sarguinem mediatoris deleto paterno chirographo incipit homo paternis debitis non esse obnoxius renascendo, quibus nascendo fuerat obligatus, ipso Mediatore di cente: Ne vobis patrem dicüis in terra (Mat_23:9). Secundum hoc utique, quod alios natales, quibus non patri succederemus, sed cum patre semper viveremus, invenimus.” Augustine, contra Julian, VI. 12, in Ghisler.
25. On Jer_31:31. “In veteribus libris aut nusquam aut difficile præter hunc propheticum locum legitur facta commemoratio testamenti novi, ut omnino ipso nomine appellaretur. Nam multis locis hoc significalur et prænuntiatur futurum, sed non ita ut etiam nomen lega’ ur expressum.” Augustine, de Spir. et Lit. ad Marcellin, Cap. 19 (where to Cap. 29 there is a detailed discussion of this passage) in Ghisler.—“In the whole of the Old Testament there is no passage, in which the view is so clearly and distinctly expressed as here that the law is only ðáéäáãáãüò . And though some commentators have supposed that the passage contains only a censure of the Israelites and not of the Old Covenant, they only show thus that they have not understood the simple meaning of the words.” Ebrard. Comm. zum Hebräerbr. S. 275.
26. On Jer_31:31, sqq. “Propter veteris hominis noxam, quæ per literam jubentem et minantem minime sanabatur, dicitur illud testamentum vetus; hoc antem novum propter novitatem spiritus, quæ hominem novum sanat a vitio vetustatis.” Augustine, c. Lit. Cap. 19.
27. On Jer_31:33. “Quid sunt ergo leges Dei ab ipso Deo scriptæ in cordibus, nisi ipsa præsentia Spiritus sancti, qui est digitus Dei, quo præsente diffunditur charitas in cordibus nostrio, quæ plenitudo legis est et præcepti finis?” Augustine, l. c. Cap. 20.
28. On Jer_31:34. “Quomodo tempus est novi testamenti, de quo propheta dixit: et non docebit unusquisque civem suum, etc. nisi quia rjusdem testamenti novi æternam mercedem, id est ipsius Dei beatissimam contemplationem promittendo conjunxit?” Augustine, l. c. Cap. 24.
29. On Jer_31:33-34. “This is the blessed difference between law and Gospel, between form and substance. Therefore are the great and small alike, and the youths like the elders, the pupils more learned than their teachers, and the young wiser than the ancients (1Jn_2:20 sqq.). Here is the cause:—For I will forgive their iniquities. This is the occasion of the above; no one can effect this without it. Forgiveness of sins makes the scales fall from people’s eyes, and gives them a cheerful temper, clear conceptions, a clear head.”Zinzendorf.
30. On Jer_31:35-37. “Etsi particulares ecclesiæ intotum deficere possunt, ecclesia tamen catholica nunquam defecit aut deficiet. Obstant enim Dei amplissimæ promissiones, inter quas non ultimum locum sibi vindicut quæ hic habetur Jer_31:37.” Förster.
31. On Jer_31:38-40. “Jerusalem will one day be much greater than it has ever been. This is not to be understood literally but spiritually. Jerusalem will be wherever there are believing souls, its circle will be without end and comprise all that has been hitherto impure and lost. This it is of which the prophet is teaching, and which he presents in figures, which were intelligible to the people in his time. The hill Gareb, probably the residence of the lepers, the emblem of the sinner unmasked and smitten by God, and the cursed valley of Ben-Hinnom will be taken up into the holy city. God’s grace will one day effect all this, and Israel will thus be manifested as much more glorious than ever before.” Diedrich.
2. On Jer_30:10-12. Consolation of the church in great trial. 1. It has well deserved the trial (Jer_30:12); 2. it is therefore chastised, but with moderation; 3. it will not perish but again enjoy peace.
3. On Jer_30:17. [“The Restorer of mankind. 1. Faith in the Christian Sacrament and its attendant revelation of divine character alone answer the demand of the heart and reason of man for a higher state of moral perfection. 2. Christianity offers to maintain a communication between this world and that eternal world of holiness and truth. 3. It commends itself to our wants in the confirmation and direction of that principle of hope, which even in our daily and worldly life, we are perpetually forced to substitute for happiness, and 4. By the adorable object, which it presents to our affections.” Archer Butler—S. R. A.]
4. On Jer_31:1-2. Gesetz and Zeugniss (Law and Testimony) 1864, Heft. 1. Funeral sermon of Ahlfeld.
5. On Jer_31:2-4. lb. 1865. Heft 1. Funeral sermon of Besser, S. 32 ff.
6. On Jer_31:3. C. Fr. Hartmann (Wedding, School, Catechism and Birth-day sermons, ed. C. Chr. Eberh. Ehemann. Tüb. 1865). Wedding sermon. 1. A grateful revival in the love of God already received. 2. Earnest endeavor after a daily enjoyment of this love. 3. Daily nourishment of hope.
7. On Jer_31:3. Florey. Comfort and warning at graves. I. Bändchen, S. 253. On the attractions of God’s love towards His own children. They are, 1. innumerable and yet so frequently overlooked; 2. powerful and yet so frequently resisted; 3. rich in blessing and yet so frequently; unemployed. [For practical remarks on this text see also Tholuck, Stunden der Andacht, No. 11.—S. R. A.]
8. On Jer_31:9. Confessional sermon by Dekan V. Biarowsky in Erlangen (in Palmer’s Evang. Casual-Reden, 2 te Folge, 1 Band. Stuttgart, 1850.) Every partaking of the Lord’s supper is a return to the Lord in the promised land, and every one who is a guest at the supper rises and comes. 1. How are we to come? (weeping and praying). 2. What shall we find? (Salvation and blessing, power and life, grace and help).
9. On Jer_31:18-20. Comparison of conversion with the course of the earth and the sun. 1. The man who has fallen away is like the planet in its distance from the sun; he flees from God as far as he Song of Solomon 2. Love however does not release him: a. he is chastened (winter, cold, long nights, short days); b. he accepts the chastening and returns to proximity to the sun (summer, warmth, light, life). Comp. Brandt, Altes und Neues in i extemporirbaren Entwürfen. Nüremberg, 1829, II. 5. [The stubborn sinner submitting himself to God. I. A description of the feelings and conduct of an obstinate, impenitent sinner, while smarting under the rod of affliction: He is rebellious—till subdued. II. The new views and feelings produced by affliction through divine grace: (a) convinced of guilt and sinfulness; (b) praying; (c) reflecting on the effects of divine grace in his conversion. III. A correcting but compassionate God, watching the result, etc., (a) as a tender father mindful of his penitent child; (b) listening to his complaints, confessions and petitions; (c) declaring His determination to pardon. Payson.—S. R. A.]
10. On Jer_31:31-34. Sermon on 1 Sunday in Advent by Pastor Diechert in Gröningen, S. Stern aus Jakob. I. Stuttg. 1867.
11. On Jer_31:33-34. Do we belong to the people of God? 1. Have we holiness? 2. Have we knowledge? 3. Have we the peace promised to this people? (Caspari in Predigtbuch von Dittmar, Erlangen, 1845).
12. On Jer_31:33-34. By the new covenant in the bath of holy baptism all becomes new. 1. What was dead becomes alive 2. What was obscure becomes clear. 3. What was cold becomes warm. 4. What was bound becomes free (Florey, 1862).
Footnotes:
Jer_31:15.— îàðä . Comp. Jer_3:3; Jer_5:3; Jer_8:5; Jer_15:18.
Jer_31:15.— ëé àéððå . As in Jer_11:4 the plural pronoun is referred to a singular, regarded collectively, so here, the case being reversed, the singular pronoun is referred to a plural, regarded as a unity. Comp. Naegelsb. Gr., § 61, 1; Psa_5:9; Job_24:24; ëֻּìּä Job_8:6, etc.
Jer_31:17.—The article is wanting before áָּðִéí , comp. Naegelsb. Gr., § 71,3.
Jer_31:19.— àçøé ùׁåáé . This ùׁåáé has been commonly taken in the same sense as in Jer_31:18 [A. V.: Surely after that I was turned], which has given rise to great obscurity and to arbitrary attempts to avoid it, as e.g. by Venema, who takes ùׁåּáּé at once for ùׁåּá ìִé i. e. after I had come again to myself. The only correct rendering is that of Hitzig and Graf. They take ùׁåּá in the sense of se avertere a Jove. They are justified in this by îְùׁåָּáä (Jer_3:6; Jer_3:8; Jer_3:11-12, etc.), ùׁåֹáַá (Jer_3:14; Jer_3:22), ùׁåֹáְáָä , ùׁåֹáֵáָä (Jer_8:6; Jer_31:22), and by the expression ùׁåּá îàַäֲøַé é× (Jer_3:19), which does not indeed occur without the îàçøé in Jer_8:4, but it does in Jos_23:12. It seems as though the prophet, here also as well an in Jeremiah 3, were endeavoring to bring the idea of ùׁåּá into application in as great a variety of meanings as possible.
Jer_31:19.— äåøòé . Many commentators take this word in the sense of the passive of äåֹãִéòַ , edocere = to be made wise, to he instructed. But Niph. is only the reflexive or passive of Kal. It means therefore only to be acknowledged or to acknowledge one’s self. The latter signification, in which it moreover appears to be used in no other passage of the Old Testament but this, corresponds perfectly to the connection.
Jer_31:20.— é÷éã Hebrew here only; Chald. Ezr_4:10; Dan_2:11. It denotes, like éָ÷ָø (Jer_15:19; Lam_4:2, etc). and éְ÷ָø (Jer_20:5), what is precious, a jewel.
Jer_31:20.— ùׁòùׁåòéí . Comp. ðְèַò ùֵׁ ֽòֲùׁåּòָéå , Isa_5:7 coll. Pro_8:30-31.
Jer_31:21.— úַּîְøåּøִéí from úָîַø , prominuit, related to úֹּîֵø , palmæ truncus, Jer_10:5, and úְּîָøָä , columna, Joe_3:3, occurs here only. All other preparations are comprised in the brief phrase ùָׁúִé ìִëֵּê åâåֹ× , Comp. Exo_7:23; Psa_48:14.
Jer_31:22.— úúּçî÷éï . The verb is found only in Son_5:6 and connected with òָáַã . The connection requires the meaning of “to turn one’s self away,” with which the only noun derived from it çָîåּ÷ (Son_7:2) accords. This can only signify “winding, rounding” (Delitzsch: the swinging of thy loins). According to the etymology then the Hithp. must have the sense of turning one’s self hither and thither.
Jer_31:22.— äáú äùæááä . Observe that it is ùׁåֹáֵáָä , not ùׁåֹáָáָä , as in Jer_3:14; Jer_3:22; Isa_57:17. The passive form has doubtless the meaning of “turned away, alienated.” The active form must primarily have an active meaning. The Pilel from ùׁåּá is primarily objective causative and signifies to make some one or something return, bring back (Jer_50:19), restore (Psa_60:3; Psa_23:3), to render alienated (Isa_47:10). It may also have a subjective causative meaning: to make a turn, back or away, i. e. to turn one’s self back, to desert. Hiphil has primarily this signification. (Comp. Naegelsb. Gr., § 18, 3; 1Ki_8:47). But the Piel forms also have it (Ew., § 120, c). As now it is decided by the connection in what sense the verb ùׁåֹáֵá is to be taken, the meaning of the N. verbate is also thus decided. It may then mean one who brings back, restores, alienates, and also one who turns, deserts. It has the latter meaning in Jer_49:4 and Mic_2:4.—The Pilel of hollow roots includes also the significance of the Piel (Ewald, § 121 a, coll. § 120). Especially does this word seem to me to involve the idea of ùׁåּá in the causative sense, which corresponds to the following úְּñåֹáֵá , i.e., in the sense of reducens (comp. îְùׁåֹáֵá , Isa_58:12; Olsh., S. 552).
2. On Jer_30:1-3. The people of Israel were not then capable of bearing such a prophecy, brimming over with happiness and glory. They would have misused it, hearing to the end what was promised them, and then only the more certainly postponing what was the only thing then necessary—sincere repentance. Hence they are not yet to hear this gloriously consolatory address. It is to be written, that it may in due time be perceived that the Lord, even at the time when He was obliged to threaten most severely, had thoughts of peace concerning the people, and that thus the period of prosperity has not come by chance, nor in consequence of a change of mind, but in consequence of a plan conceived from the beginning and executed accordingly.
3. On Jer_30:7. The great and terrible day of the Lord (Joe_3:4) has not the dimensions of a human day. It has long sent out its heralds in advance. Yea, it has itself already dawned. For since by the total destruction of the external theocracy judgment is begun at the house of God (1Pe_4:17), we stand in the midst of the day of God in the midst of the judgment of the world. Then the time of trouble for Jacob has begun (Jer_30:7), from which he is to be delivered, when the fulness of the Gentiles is come in (Romans 11.)
4. On Jer_30:9. Christ is David in his highest potency, and He is also still more. For if we represent all the typical points in David’s life as a circle, and draw a line from each of these points, the great circle thus formed would comprise only a part of the ðëÞñùìá given in Christ. Nevertheless Christ is the true David, who was not chosen like Saul for his bodily stature, but only for his inward relation to God (comp. Psa_2:7), whose kingdom also does not cease after a short period of glory, but endures forever; who will not like Saul succumb to his enemies, but will conquer them all, and will give to his kingdom the widest extent promised; all this however not without, like David, having gone through the bitterest trials.
5. On Jer_30:11. “Modus paternæ castigationis accommodatus et quasi appensus ad stateram judicii Dei adeoque non immensus sed dimensus.” “Christus ecclesiam crucis suæ hæredem constituit. Gregor. M.” Förster.
6. On Jer_30:14. “Cum virlutem patientiæ nostræ flagella transeunt, valde metuendum est, ne peccatis nostris exigentibus non jam quasi filii a patre, sed quasi hostes a Domino feriamur. Gregor. M. Moral. XIV. 20, on Job_19:11.” Ghisler.
7. On Jer_30:17. “Providentia Dei mortalibus salutifera, antequam percutiat, pharmaca medendi gratiâ componit, et gladium iræ suæ öéëáíèñùðßᾳ acuit. Evagr. Hist. Ecc_4:6.”—“Quando incidis in tentationem, crede, quod nisi cognovisset te posse illam evadere, non permisisset te in illam incidere. Theophyl. in cap. 18 Joh.” Förster.—“Feriam prius et sanabo melius. Theophyl. in Hosea 11.” Ghisler.
8. On Jer_30:21. “This church of God will own a, Prince from its midst&md