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Jer_33:14-18
The good word that I have spoken of the house of Israel and the house of Judah.
15 In those days and that time will I cause
The sprout of righteousness to spring to David,
And he shall execute justice and righteousness in the land.
16 In those days will Judah be saved and Jerusalem dwell safely,
And this will be her name, Jehovah our Righteousness.
17 For thus saith Jehovah, a man shall never be wanting to David,
Who may sit upon the throne of the house of Israel.
18 And to the priests, the Levites, a man shall not be wanting before me,
Who may offer burnt-offerings and kindle meat-offerings,
And offer sacrifices continually.
Jer_33:14-16. Behold, the days … our Righteousness. What is “the good word” in Jer_33:14? The expression occurs besides in Jeremiah only in Jer_29:10. There it refers, as is evident from the mention of the seventy years, to Jer_25:11. If the expression is to be taken there in a special sense, so also here. For here we have a still plainer reference to a former promise (Jer_23:5-6). The reference to the general salvation, i.e., to the most universal manifestation of salvation is thus not excluded. Though this view is favored by the circumstance that the prophet, as already remarked, proceeds in this chapter from the general to the special, yet the special salvation, to which Jer_33:15 sqq. refer, is the central point comprising all that has been said hitherto, being a condition of all salvation in the widest sense. Hengsenberg incorrectly accentuates the two prepositions àֵì and òַì . According to the usage of our prophet they are so like each other in signification, that one frequently stands for the other (comp. Jer_25:1 coll.; Jer_7:1; Jer_11:1 etc.; Jer_26:15), or by the side of the other with absolutely identical meaning (Jer_11:2; Jer_18:11; Jer_23:35; Jer_25:2; Jer_27:19; Jer_44:20).
Jer_33:15. In those days, etc. In these words the chronological statement in Jer_33:14 is resumed after the interruption, so that in sense this beginning coincides with that in Jer_23:5. The addition and that time here as in Jer 1:4, 20 possesses a merely rhetorical significance. It serves to render the declaration more solemn. The alteration from in his days (Jer_23:6) is unimportant. It is however important to note the change of Israel into Jerusalem, this being founded in the connection of the chapter. While the general object of the prophet, as is seen in Jer_33:14, is to show that the comforting prophecy given in former times, still holds good, notwithstanding the comfortless circumstances in which Jerusalem then was, being sorely pressed by the Chaldeans, yet he cannot avoid somewhat modifying the prophecy in accordance with the present occasion. This occasion according to Jer_33:4 is the sight of the houses thrown down in defence. In view of this mournful spectacle he had in Jer_33:6-7 to promise healing of wounds, rebuilding of the city. He has also here the city of Jerusalem especially in view, though he does not by any means forget Israel, but on the contrary diligently sets forth its share in the promise given to Judah (Jer_33:14). Hence the alteration to Jerusalem.—With this it is also connected that the last clause states the name which Jerusalem will bear as a significant symbolical inscription. Comp. rems. on Jer_23:6.
Jer_33:17-18. For thus saith Jehovah … continually. The principal statement refers neither to Jer_33:15 nor to Jer_33:16 exclusively, but to both. Improbable as it must then have appeared at the time of Zedekiah that the house of David, which was reduced so low both inwardly and outwardly, should send forth so excellent and glorious a scion, equally so must the happy condition promised to the people in Jer_33:16 have appeared. Both however are shown to be possible by the announcement in Jer_33:17 of the everlasting continuance of the house of David and of its dominion over Israel. Observe, moreover, that it is not said on the throne of David nor on his throne (Jer_33:21; Jer_13:13; Jer_22:4), but on the throne of the house of Israel. The house of Israel is evidently here the whole of Israel, and the eternal duration of David’s rule over it involves both the inner and outer rejuvenescence of the Davidic race, and the welfare of the people, which essentially depends thereon, since it may be subjected not to foreign rulers, but to their own native royal family.—A man shall never, etc. Comp. Jer_35:19. The sense of the expression is not, none shall ever be extirpated, but every one shall never be extirpated, so that none will be left. Herein is thus primarily contained only the promise of succession of rulers extending in perpetuum. Hengstenberg, however, calls attention to the circumstance (Christol., S. 516) [Eng. Tr., II., p. 461] that we are not to suppose a “perfectly uninterrupted succession,” but only one that is not broken off entirely. The prophet moreover reproduces almost verbatim the ancient promise given to the house of David, as it is repeated on the basis of 1Sa_7:16, by David in his parting words to Solomon (1Ki_2:4), and afterwards by the latter himself at his dedication of the temple (1Ki_8:25), and finally by the Lord Himself in His renewed promise to Solomon (1Ki_9:5).—And to the priests, etc. A second pillar on which rests the redemption and secure continuance of Israel (Jer_33:16) is the normal permanence of the national priesthood. This is the Levitic.—The Levites is therefore in apposition (comp. Deu_17:9; Deu_17:18; Jos_3:3; Eze_44:15 coll. Deu_21:5). The descendants of Levi, who according to the Mosaic law were alone eligible to the priesthood (Num_3:10; Num_16:40; Num_18:7), will be opposed to others who might possibly assume the priesthood to themselves. The question may here arise how this promise of the eternal continuance of the Levitic priesthood is related to other declarations, especially of the Epistle to the Hebrews, according to which this Levitical priesthood as only an inferior stage is to give way to a higher priesthood, viz., that after the order of Melchizedek (Hebrews 7-9. coll. Jer_3:16; Psa_110:4). I believe that this question must be decided according to the standard of Mat_5:17-18. As not a tittle of the law is absolutely abrogated, and thrown aside as worthless, but is kept by being fulfilled and thus being elevated to a higher potency, so also the Levitical priesthood being absorbed by a higher, is lost in its outward, temporal and local form, but in its ideal character is now first established. Hence the expressions of this passage (as well as the related ones in Ezekiel 40-42) neither contradict former declarations of Jeremiah (as Jer_3:16; Jer_31:31-33), nor the doctrine of the Epistle to the Hebrews. Comp. rems. on Jer_33:22 and my review of “Balmer—Rinck, The Prophet Ezekiel’s vision of the Temple” in Reuter’s Repertorium, 1860, Heft. III., S. 152.—Who may offer, etc. Comp. Exo_29:18; Lev_1:9; Lev_1:17; Lev_9:10; Num_18:17, etc.—The three species of offerings are mentioned also in Jer_17:26; Num_15:3-4.
2. On Jer_32:7 sqq. “Fundatur in hoc textu locus classicus de contractibus emtionis et venditionis, quos improbant Anabaptistæ, probat Scriptura, sicut ostendunt hæc quæ jam sequuntur documenta: Pro_31:14; Mat_13:3.”Förster.
3. On Jer_32:15. “The prophet had often enough declared the land lost to the Chaldeans. Here, however, he must testify that it is not lost forever: his purchase was to restore confidence in the future to other troubled souls. Thus the most afflicted servant of God must again be the most hopeful.”—“When we are outwardly prosperous, we think no one can take our prosperity from us, and when trouble comes upon us, we again think that no one can help us. Both courses are, however, equally ungodly. Therefore God’s servants must contradict both those who are at ease, and those who are in despair. The reverse is always right. In good days humble thyself, and in bad days let thyself be exalted, for then it is a great thing to do.” Diedrich.
4. On Jer_32:9; Jer_32:16; Jer_32:24-25. “Jeremiah also contends, but as a servant of the Lord. First he obeys and afterwards speaks about it. This is a noble way, by which every teacher, who knows the Lord, may prove himself. As soon as he observes that the Lord wishes this or that, it is not the time to expostulate, but to act, not to call anything in question, but to set to work. If then any hesitation is left, or one and another scruple, it is time afterwards to consult with the Lord about it, when one has first shown obedience.” Zinzendorf. [“Though we are bound to follow God with an implicit obedience, yet we should endeavor that it may be more and more intelligent obedience. We must never dispute God’s statutes and judgments, but we may and must inquire, What mean these statutes and judgments? Deu_6:20.” Henry.—S. R. A.]
5. On Jer_32:25. Tertullian (c. Marc, L. IV., c. 40) sees in the words “Buy thee the field for money,” the prophetic passage to which Mat_27:9 refers, regarding the reading Ἰåñåìßïõ as correct. Comp. Euseb. Demonstr. Ev., L. X., c. 4; Augustin, De consensu Evang., L. III., c. 7.
6. On Jer_32:27. To God there is no wonder [miracle]. There are wonders only on the lower stage of existence. Every higher stage is a wonder to the lower. Or is there only one stage of existence, and accordingly only one order of nature? When the North American savages cruelly murdered one of their number who had been on a visit to the Great Father in Washington, and told them of the wonders of civilization, as a demoniacally possessed liar, were they less in the right than our highly civilized savages, to whom it is a fundamental axiom, that there is no other world, but that which they can reach with their five senses? It is certainly not proved that there is a living, personal, omnipotent God. But this is not to be proved, it is to be felt from the heart. He who is born of God heareth His voice. To him also miracles cease to be aught irrational. He knows well how to distinguish between true and false miracles, but the former come to him like a voice from the higher world, in which he feels truly at home. For the stages of existence and orders of nature are not hermetically sealed towards each other, but the higher break through in order to lift the lower up to themselves.
7. On Jer_32:36 sqq. On the fulfilment of this prophecy comp. the Comm. on Jer_13:14, and the Doctrinal notes on Jer_3:18-25, No. 8. As the threatening that Israel should be dispersed among all nations from one end of the earth to the other (Deu_28:64-66) has been literally fulfilled, why should not this promise also be literally fulfilled, that they shall be collected from all lands whither the Lord has cast them out? Why cannot this people be destroyed? Why do they retain their peculiarities with such tenacity, that neither the most raging fanaticism, nor the most humane cosmopolitanism, which is much more dangerous than the former, can mingle them with other nations; so that we can follow the course of their national stream through the sea of nations, as it is said of the Rhine that its water flows unmingled through the lake of Constance? Assuredly this people must yet have a future. Only thus much is correct; that the real kernel of these prophecies is offered to us in a shell which the prophets prepared from contemporary events, but it is difficult to determine where the shell ceases and the kernel begins. Comp. Rinck, The Scripturalness of the doctrine of the Millennial reign defended against Hengstenberg. Eberfeld, 1866, S. 45 sqq.
8. On Jer_32:36 sqq. “Is the consummation of the redemptive work possible while Israel is rejected as a nation? According to the Old Testament this question must be unconditionally negatived. This knows only a temporary rejection of Israel, which at the same time has this result, that Israel does not perish as a nation, but is preserved for future restoration. Is this law aunulled since Israel despised the gracious visitation of the Messiah, the kingdom of God taken from them and given to a people which bring forth the fruits thereof? Are thus the predictions of the prophets, which treat of a glorification of Israel in the latter days, eternally abrogated on account of the nation’s sin? Or can their fulfilment be found only in a spiritual manner in the Christian church, the main trunk of which was formed by a chosen few from Israel? These questions are answered in the affirmative by Bertheau (Old Testament prophecy of Israel’s national glory in their own land. Jahrb. f. deutsche Theol., 1859 and 1860) in accordance with the older protestant theology (comp. especially Hollaz, Exam, theolog. ed. Teller, p. 1264 sqq.) as decidedly as according to our conviction they must, on the ground of Rom_1:25 sqq., be negatived. It seems to us to be irrefragably established that when the times of the world-nations are full (Luk_21:24), Israel will obey the gospel call, and thus be prepared to welcome the Messiah (Mat_23:39); that for this reason in its dispersion among the nations of the earth it has never been absorbed by them, but preserved in separate existence for its final destination, because God’s gifts of grace and calling are ἀìåôáìÝëçôá .” Oehler in Herzog, R.-Enc., XVII., S. 658, 9.
9. On Jer_33:3. “This is the Lord’s declaration to His obedient servant Jeremiah. My dear child, He says, thou hast acted according to my will, without knowing why. Thou hast done well. But I will make it clear to thee, so that thou wilt wonder no more; I will tell thee that and yet more, so that thou wilt at last say., ‘Yes, let it be so.’ We find such connections a few times elsewhere in the Scriptures. The Lord says, ‘ How can I hide from Abraham the thing that I do!’ (Gen_18:17.) And the same Lord declares to His disciples, whence comes this inclination or predisposition to tell something new to His disciples, ‘ Henceforth I call you not servants, for the servant knoweth not what his Lord doeth, but I have called you friends, for all things that I have heard of my Father, I have made known unto you’ (Joh_15:16). So also is it here with Jeremiah.” Zinzendorf.
10. On Jer_33:6. Healing, restoration, joy and permanent prosperity are promised by the prophet to Jerusalem at a time when all seemed lost, and it seemed impossible to regain them. How desolate must it have then appeared in Jerusalem when one house after another was thrown down to furnish means of defence! How wildly raged the tumult of war, and how comfortless was the condition of the city shut in by the enemy and completely cut off from the rest of the country! To the mind of him, who then thought of Jerusalem in the future, pictures of destruction alone presented themselves. Jeremiah, however, whose sight was sharpened by the divine anointing, sees beyond the present abomination of desolation in the far distant future pictures of peace and, moreover, of everlasting peace, such as no eye has ever seen, nor hath it entered into the heart of man. There was the patience and faith of the saints (Rev_13:10). ‘Impossible’ is a word, which does not occur in God’s language.
11. On Jer_33:8. “After the stubborn race has been partly annihilated and partly humbled, God will turn the captivity of the nation, as a whole. Israel cannot perish eternally. God will purify the people from their sins, by forgiveness, the only way in which men can be really freed from sin. Grace and forgiveness are the only ground on which we stand as Christians. This seems nothing to the world, and yet it is more than heaven and earth.” Diedrich.
12. On Jer_33:7-13. “An important doctrine meets us in these words, that it is not the gifts of God which we should seek to apprehend, but the love of God which is manifested in that He imputes not our sin to us. Otherwise we treat the Divine benefits like the fishes which swallow the hook with the bait.” Heim and Hofmann. The major prophets expounded for edification, 1839, S. 509.
13. On Jer_33:14-17. “All God’s promises are at the same time fulfilled by the true man, the Son of Man, the pure sprout of David. He will be a King, in whom we have perfect protection from all destructive agencies, for He will help us from sin, procuring and executing on earth justice and righteousness for all mankind. As we all together inherited sin and death from Adam, so Jesus by His righteousness has brought justification of life for all men, if we would now only take it with joy. Jerusalem will itself bear the King’s name, as he was called in Jer_23:6 : Jehovah our Righteousness, i. e., that Jehovah bestows on us the righteousness, which is the bond, which at the same time unites us to the citizens of His celestial city.” Diedrich.
14. On Jer_33:15-16. [The Lord our righteousness. “This is to be explained by the union of the Church with Christ (see Rom_12:4-5; 1Co_10:17; 1Co_12:12; Eph_1:22; Eph_4:12; Eph_4:15-16; Eph_4:25; Eph_6:23; Col_1:18; Col_1:24) so that what belongs to Him is communicated to her (Calvin, Piscator, Muenster).—Thus, by virtue of her mystical union with Christ, and by the imputation of His merits, and the infusion of His Spirit, the Name of the Church may be said to be ‘ The Lord our righteousness;’ she hides herself in Him, and is seen by God as in Him; she is clothed with Christ the Sun of righteousness (see Rev_12:1) and is accepted in the Beloved (Eph_1:6).” Wordsworth.—S. R. A.]
15. On Jer_33:17. [“When the First-begotten was brought into the world it was declared concerning Him, The Lord God shall give unto Him the throne of His Father David, Luk_1:32.” Henry.—S.R. A.]
16. On Jer_33:13-22. [“Four words, each of them full of meaning, comprise the conceptions which we attribute to the Paradisaical state. They are these: Innocence, Love, Rural Life. Piety; and it is towards these conditions of earthly happiness that the human mind reverts, as often as it turns, sickened and disappointed, from the pursuit of whatever else it may have ever labored to acquire. The innocence we here think of is not virtue recovered, that has passed through its season of trial, but it is Moral Perfectness, darkened by no thought or knowledge of the contrary. This Paradisaical love is conjugal fondness, free from sensuous taint. This Rural Life is the constant flow of summer days, spent in gardens and afield, exempt from our exacted toil. This piety of Paradise is the grateful approach of the finite being to the Infinite,—a correspondence that is neither clouded, nor is apprehensive of a cloud.” Isaac Taylor, Spirit of Hebrew Poetry.—S. R. A.]
17. On Jer_33:19-22. [“The richest promises are confirmed by the strongest assurances.” Cowles.—S. R. A.] “As God’s arrangements in nature do not fail, still less can His word fail in His kingdom of grace, and all His word refers to the divine Son of David and His eternal kingdom of grace. Yea, the whole innumerable Israel, Abraham’s spiritual posterity, shall become Davids and Levites, i. e., priests and kings, as was designed even at the beginning of Israel. (Exo_19:6; 1Pe_2:9; Rev_5:6).” Diedrich.
18. On Jer_33:18-22. [Wordsworth rejects Hengstenberg’s explanation that these words are to be applied to all Christians indiscriminately, and approves of the argument derived by the ancient Christian fathers from the passage in favor of the threefold order of ministers in the Christian church. He adds “The Gospel of Christ and the Church of Christ possess the spiritual essence of whatever was commanded in the Levitical dispensations. Whatever was local and personal in those dispensations has passed away. The Tabernacle, the Temple, their Sacrifices, their Sabbaths, their Annual Festivals, their threefold Ministry, all these have been spiritualized in the Gospel. Sinai is perpetuated in Zion. The glory of the Law has been absorbed into that of the Gospel. See Psa_68:17, the great Pentecostal Psalm.”—S. R. A.]
19. On Jer_33:23-26. “In the first place they will not be warned, and afterwards they will not be comforted. The true prophet however announces death to sinners according to the law, but afterwards grace for renovation and for life. Despair is blasphemy. God’s kingdom stands and will be perfected, but the fainthearted will not enter it. God answers: so long as heaven and earth are preserved by Me, it is for the sake of My kingdom, and as a pledge that it will not fail. Israel or, what is the same thing, David’s seed shall be a royal seed, and the captivity which the people must now endure is transient. It is however impossible for the worldly to comprehend this, who persist in carnal repose as though no God could punish them, and again in affliction are so despondent, as though there were no God to help them any more.” Diedrich. [“Deep security commonly ends in deep despair; whereas those that keep up a holy fear at all times have a good hope to support themselves in the worst of times.” Henry.—S. R. A.]
2. On Jer_32:17-25. The Divine promises our best consolation in every affliction. 1. There are promises of Divine help for every kind of distress in human life. 2. These promises often sound very wonderful (Jer_32:24-25). 3. Their fulfilment on the part of God is guaranteed by the perfection of the Divine nature (Jer_32:17-19). 4. Their fulfilment is on our part conditioned by faith.
3. On Jer_32:18-19. Harvest [Thanksgiving-day] Sermon. “To what should our admiration of the power and grace of God in the present harvest lead us? 1. To thank God. 2. To trust all to Him, that He has promised us. 3. To obey His voice.” Jentsch., Gesetz and Zeugniss, 1853.
4. On Jer_32:19. “The very serious and important truth, the eyes of the Lord are open to all the paths of the children of men. This should 1, shake us and awake us from our security, if some of our ways are sinful and such as the Lord must certainly disapprove; 2, humble us, if we are indeed under the discipline of God’s Spirit, and yet turn to our own self made courses, and have not yet allowed a fixed and sure heart to be imparted to us; 3, be for our comfort and encouragement, when we are often led in dark and difficult paths.” J. M. Mueller, Zeugnisse v. Christo. [Witnesses to Christ]. Neues Predigtbuch., Stuttgart, 1866, S. 757.
5. On Jer_32:19. [“The greatness of God’s wisdom and the abundance of His power. Proved from His nature. Rem. 1. God hath the power of making the deepest affliction of His children produce their highest happiness. 2. The contrivances of tyrants to oppress the church procure its establishment. 3. The triumphs of Satan turn to the destruction of his empire.” Saurin.—S. R. A.]
6. On Jer_32:39. Wedding-sermon, “The promise which the Lord gives to God-fearing couples. 1. One heart. 2. One way. 3. One blessing, which shall extend to their children.” Florey, 1862.
7. On Jer_32:40. Wedding-sermon. The nature and fruit of a true marriage. 1. Its nature: it is a covenant which a man and a woman conclude in the Lord, and with the Lord (put My fear in their hearts;—not depart from Me;—everlasting covenant). 2. Its fruit: good from the Lord without ceasing.
8. On Jer_32:40. [“Teachers may put good things into our heads, but it is God only that can put them into our hearts, that can work in us both to will and to do.” Henry.—S. R. A.]
9. On Jer_32:39-41. “The greatest and dearest of all the promises of God to a marriage in the highest degree happy and delightful.” G. Conr. Rieger.
10. On Jer_32:40-41. Baptismal Sermon. “The gracious promises of God, which He gives to a child of man in holy baptism.” Florey, 1862.
11. On Jer_32:42. “ In communion of suffering of pious Christians is also a blessed fellowship of consolation, since 1, when we as Christians bear with one another, we can also with each other and by each other obtain composure with respect to whatever has befallen us; 2, our heart is revived by what remains, viz., love on earth and hope in heaven; 3, we become strong for whatever duty is laid upon us, viz., labor and courage.” Florey, 1863.
12. On Jer_33:1. [“No confinement can deprive God’s people of His presence; no locks or bars can shut out His gracious visits, nay, oftentimes as their afflictions abound their consolations much more abound, and they have the most reviving communications of His favor then when the world frowns on them. Paul’s sweetest Epistles were those that bare date out of a prison.” Henry.—S. R. A.]
13. On Jer_33:6. “ The disease of our times is no other than a rebellious spirit, and the cause of this is no other than a want of reverence for God and His law.” Discourse on the Birth-day of the king by Deacon Hauber in Tübingen. Palmer, Ev Casualreden, 2te Folge, 1, 1850.
14. On Jer_33:14-16. “Jesus Christ a King. 1. From what a noble royal stock did He proceed! (Raised by God, descending from David, both by His deity and humanity heir of the throne). 2. How well has He exercised His rule with judgment and righteousness (He Himself is the Lord, who is our righteousness). 3. How far does His dominion extend! (From Jerusalem to the ends of the earth). 4. How safely does His people dwell by His help in peace !” Naumann, in Gesetz u. Zeugn., 1860, March.
15. On Jer_33:14-16. “Who is He announced to-day? 1. The long promised—with reference to His historical appearance. 2. The Son of David and at the same time God’s Son—this is His personal significance. 3. The Lord, who is our righteousness—this relates to His holy office and work.” Anacker, in Gesetz u. Zeugn., 1860, March.
Footnotes:
Jer_33:15.— àöîéç . In Jer_23:5 we find åַçֲ÷ִéîֹúִé . The former corresponds better with the following öֶîַç while the reading in Jer_23:5 is $$occioned by the preceding äֲ÷ִéîֹúִé , Jer_33:4. Instead of ö× öַãִé÷ we have here ö× öְøָ÷ָä , but the meaning is the same. The change shows in this case, as in that of most other differences, merely that the prophet quotes freely from memory.
Jer_33:15.— åòùׂä åâå× . Before these words åּîָìַêְ îֶìֶêְ åְּçִùְׂëִּéì is omitted. No essential alteration of the sense is thus produced, for the royal nature of the öîּç is clear even, besides this passage, from Jer_33:17; Jer_33:21; Jer_33:26.
Jer_33:16.—The divergence of this passage from Jer_23:6, which is very troublesome to many of the old expositors, they seek either to paralyze by taking æä as a nominative referring to öîç = and he who will call it (the Ecclesia. New Testament) is Jehovah, our righteousness (Förster)—or by supplying äåּà after æֶç and taking åִ÷ְøָà as passive and ìָäּ as ìְ auctoris, and he is the one who the city of Jerusalem will be called: the Lord, who is our righteousness (Cramer).