Jeremiah 30

Jeremiah 30:1-24 . RESTORATION OF THE JEWS FROM BABYLON AFTER ITS CAPTURE, AND RAISING UP OF MESSIAH.

2. Write . . . in a book--After the destruction of Jerusalem Jeremiah is not ordered as heretofore to speak, but to write the succeeding prophecy ( Jeremiah 30:4 , &c.), so as thereby it might be read by his countrymen wheresoever they might be in their dispersion.

3. bring again . . . captivity of . . . Israel and Judah--the restoration not merely of the Jews (treated of in this thirtieth chapter), but also of the ten tribes ("Israel"; treated in the thirty-first chapter), together forming the whole nation ( Jeremiah 30:18 , Jeremiah 32:44 , Ezekiel 39:25 , Amos 9:14 Amos 9:15 ). "Israel" is mentioned first because its exile was longer than that of Judah. Some captives of the Israelite ten tribes returned with those of Judah ( Luke 2:36 ; "Aser" is mentioned). But these are only a pledge of the full restoration hereafter ( Romans 11:26 , "All Israel"). Compare Jeremiah 16:15 . This third verse is a brief statement of the subject before the prophecy itself is given.

5. We have heard . . . trembling--God introduces the Jews speaking that which they will be reduced to at last in spite of their stubbornness. Threat and promise are combined: the former briefly; namely, the misery of the Jews in the Babylonian captivity down to their "trembling" and "fear" arising from the approach of the Medo-Persian army of Cyrus against Babylon; the promise is more fully dwelt on; namely, their "trembling" will issue in a deliverance as speedy as is the transition from a woman's labor pangs to her joy at giving birth to a child ( Jeremiah 30:6 ).

6. Ask--Consult all the authorities, men or books, you can, you will not find an instance. Yet in that coming day men will be seen with their hands pressed on their loins, as women do to repress their pangs. God will drive men through pain to gestures more fitting a woman than a man ( Jeremiah 4:31 , 6:24 ). The metaphor is often used to express the previous pain followed by the sudden deliverance of Israel, as in the case of a woman in childbirth ( Isaiah 66:7-9 ).
paleness--properly the color of herbs blasted and fading: the green paleness of one in jaundice: the sickly paleness of terror.

7. great--marked by great calamities ( Joel 2:11 Joel 2:31 , Amos 5:18 , Zephaniah 1:14 ).
none like it . . . but he shall be saved--( Daniel 12:1 ). The partial deliverance at Babylon's downfall prefigures the final, complete deliverance of Israel, literal and spiritual, at the downfall of the mystical Babylon (Revelation 18:1-19:21').

8. his yoke . . . thy neck--his, that is, Jacob's ( Jeremiah 30:7 ), the yoke imposed on him. The transition to the second person is frequent, God speaking of Jacob or Israel, at the same time addressing him directly. So "him" rightly follows; "foreigners shall no more make him their servant" ( Jeremiah 25:14 ). After the deliverance by Cyrus, Persia, Alexander, Antiochus, and Rome made Judah their servant. The full of deliverance meant must, therefore, be still future.