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Commentary Index | Return to PrayerRequest.com | DownloadPaul Kretzmann Commentary - Jeremiah 30:12 - 30:24
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The Turn of Affairs and the Consummation of Salvation
v. 12. For thus saith the Lord, Thy bruise is incurable, and thy wound is grievous, the stroke delivered to the Jews as a nation is mortal, the hopes which they entertained of having their exile end soon were vain.
v. 13. There is none to plead thy cause, intercession could no longer be expected by them, that thou mayest be bound up, the wounds of their body politic being bandaged; thou hast no healing medicines, no remedies of bandages and plasters. Cf. Jer_8:22.
v. 14. All thy lovers, the former allied nations that had professed friendship for Judah, have forgotten thee, they seek thee not, not being at all concerned about Judah's welfare; for I have wounded thee with the wound of an enemy, with a sharp smiting, with the chastisement of a cruel one, for the multitude of thine iniquity, or with cruel chastisement for the greatness of thy guilt," Cf. Jer_5:6; Jer_13:22, because thy sins were increased. Although the Lord in Himself is incapable of enmity and cruelty, yet the grievous sins of the Jews challenged His avenging justice, so that He was obliged to act as though He were indeed cruel.
v. 15. Why criest thou for thine affliction? Thy sorrow is incurable, or, "that thy pain is malignant?" For the multitude of thine iniquity, because thy sins were increased, I have done these things unto thee. Whatever evil was descending upon Judah, its people had no one but themselves to blame; their punishment was strictly according to justice. But just when Israel was submerged in the evils descending upon it, the mercy of the Lord turned to His people, to vindicate His honor over against all the enemies.
v. 16. Therefore all they that devour thee shall be devoured, and all thine adversaries, every one of them, shall go into captivity, the fate of the oppressed Jews striking them in full measure; and they that spoil thee shall be a spoil, and all that prey upon thee will I give for a prey, so that they would be plundered in turn. The enemies were, indeed, the instruments for carrying out the punishment of God upon His people, but at the same time they were guilty before Him and were bound to suffer accordingly.
v. 17. For I will restore health unto thee, by means of healing plasters, and I will heal thee of thy wounds, saith the Lord; because they called thee an outcast, a wife put away by her husband, saying, This is Zion, whom no man seeketh after, because the Lord had, for the purposes of His mercy, forsaken His people for the time being.
v. 18. Thus saith the Lord, Behold, I will bring again the captivity of Jacob's tents, so that the time of oppression and exile would be a thing of the past, and have mercy on his dwelling-places, on the places where His holy congregation was wont to assemble; and the city shall be builded upon her own heap, to arise anew from its heap of' ruins, to be established on the hill of the Lord, and the palace shall remain after the manner thereof, to be inhabited as of old.
v. 19. And out of them, the palaces, the congregations of the Lord, shall proceed thanksgiving and the voice of them that make merry, their voices raised in psalms of rejoicing; and I will multiply them, and they shall not be few, the number of God's children being increased under His blessing; I will also glorify them, and they shall not be small, they will be honored and not despised in His sight.
v. 20. Their children also shall be as aforetime, at the time when the Lord's Church was in its most nourishing condition, and their congregation shall be established before Me, founded upon the Rock of Ages, and I will punish all that oppress them.
v. 21. And their nobles shall be of themselves, their most Glorious One being a member of their own nation, and their Governor shall proceed from the midst of them, namely, in the person of the Messiah, under whom the kingdom of David was restored in the best sense of the term; and I will cause Him to draw near, and He shall approach unto Me, consecrated to the Lord's service, as the great High Priest, entering in once into the most holy place of heaven, Heb_9:12; for who is this that engaged His heart to approach unto Me? saith the Lord. No mere man could take his life into his hands in approaching the holy God in the capacity of Redeemer and Mediator, because all ordinary men, being sinful creatures, would be destroyed by His holiness. Only in and through the Messiah is this approach possible.
v. 22. And ye shall be My people, in and through the Messiah, and I will be your God. Cf 2Co_6:18.
v. 23. Behold, the whirlwind of the Lord, a tempest of Jehovah, goeth forth with fury, or, "fury goes forth," a continuing whirlwind, a rolling and swishing tornado; it shall fall with pain upon the head of the wicked, bowling them over like leaves driven before a strong wind.
v. 24. The fierce anger of the Lord shall not return, not be abated or withdrawn, until He have done it, and until He have performed the intents of His heart, so that all His plans are executed, down to the smallest detail; in the latter days ye shall consider it, for then they would realize the object of the lesson which the Lord wanted them to learn, at the time when the Messianic period would reach its culmination, the supreme test coming with the Last Judgment.