Jeremiah 31
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CHAPTER 31
The New Covenant (31:1–40)
1–2 In this chapter, Jeremiah continues with his message concerning the restoration of Israel. According to verse 26, it appears that he first received this message from the Lord in a dream.
Jeremiah begins: “At that time ...” “That time” refers to the restoration of Israel after the Exile and also to a future Messianic age when there would be a new kind of Israel under a new covenant (see Jeremiah 30:1–3 and comment). In verse 1, the Lord (through Jeremiah) repeats the covenant formula: He will be the God of all the clans of Israel (all twelve tribes, both northern and southern kingdoms) and they will be His people (see Leviticus 26:12; Jeremiah 30:22).
The restoration after the Exile will involve those who survive the sword (verse 2), the sword of the Babylonians. These survivors will make up the faithful remnant; they will return to their land and find rest (see Deuteronomy 12:10; Jeremiah 6:16; Hebrews 4:1,9–11). This restoration, this “rest,” will be both physical and spiritual; the returned exiles will enjoy security and prosperity in the land and they will also enjoy renewed fellowship with God, now that they have been cured of their idolatry.
3–6 Here the Lord pictures the restored Israel. In verses 5–6, He particularly mentions Samaria and Ephraim, two alternate names for the northern kingdom,88 which had been conquered by Assyria over a century earlier (2 Kings 17:1–23). The northern kingdom too would be restored along with Judah, and those living in the north would again come to Zion (Jerusalem) to worship at the Lord’s temple.89
7–9 The Lord calls Jacob (all Israel) the foremost of the nations (verse 7); this was so not because of Israel’s own merit but because God in His grace had chosen Israel to be His treasured possession (Exodus 19:5; Deuteronomy 7:7–8). God will restore Israel because He is Israel’s father (verse 9), and Ephraim (here representing all Israel) is His firstborn son (see Exodus 4:22).
10–14 The Lord invites the nations to observe what He’s about to do for His people:He will redeem90 them from their powerful enemies (verse 11), just as He redeemed them from bondage in Egypt centuries earlier (Exodus 6:6). And in verses 12–14, He describes the joyful state of His redeemed people as they resettle their land.
15–17 Here the Lord turns from joyful visions of the future to Israel’s present condition: the northern kingdom has been conquered and its people scattered, and now the southern kingdom is about to be conquered. Israel is soon to lose its “children.” Thus Rachel91 represents Israel in mourning, weeping for her children (verse 15).
The Lord then bids Rachel (Israel) to stop weeping, because she can now have hope that her children will return; her work—her work of childbearing and child rearing—will be rewarded (verse 16). Her sorrow will be turned to joy (verse 13).
18–20 If Rachel was figuratively weeping for her children, what were the children doing? The children were repenting. In these verses, Ephraim represents the children—all Israel. “Ephraim” acknowledges that the Lord has disciplined him (verse 18), and he asks to be restored—forgiven—so that he might return to the Lord again. God first reaches out to us in grace; then we are enabled to return to Him (see Lamentations 5:19–22 and comment).
Ephraim was ashamed because of the disgrace of his youth (verse 19)—the sins accumulated throughout Israel’s history. But God, as always, longs for the return of His son Ephraim (verses 9,20). Like the father in Jesus’ parable of the lost son, God never forgets and never stops loving His children (Luke 15:11–24).
21–22 But we the children have our part to play: we must take note of the highway and we must return; we must respond to God’s grace. Only then will the Lord create a new thing on earth (verse 22)—a new creation, a new man 92 (2 Corinthians 5:17; Ephesians 2:15).
23–28 Here the Lord describes further what He will do for the restored Israel. Once again Jerusalem (the righteous dwelling) and the temple mount (the sacred mountain) will be established as the center of Israel’s religious life (verse 23).
29–30 In the new Israel, the children will not blame their fathers (parents, forefathers) for their sins; each individual will answer for his or her own sins (verse 30). In verse 29, Jeremiah quotes a proverb suggesting that the sins of the fathers produce inevitable consequences in their children. The exiles in Jeremiah’s day tended to blame their forefathers for their troubles rather than putting the blame where it belonged—on their own sins. It was they who had eaten sour grapes (sinned) and caused their teeth to be set on edge; they were merely suffering the consequences of their own sins.93
31–33 In these verses we have one of the most important passages in the entire Old Testament, one that is quoted in full in Hebrews 8:8–12. Here the Lord announces the making of a new covenant with Israel and Judah (verse 31). This covenant would replace the old covenant, just as a new will replaces an old will (Hebrews 8:7,13). The old covenant wasn’t defective; it was the people who were “defective.” They broke God’s covenant (verse 32).
The old covenant didn’t simply end; it was “renewed”—with one important change: it would no longer be a covenant written on tablets of stone (Exodus 24:12); rather, it would be written on men’s hearts (verse 33).
“The time is coming,” says the Lord, “when this new covenant will go into effect” (verse 31)—that is, at the time of the Messiah. True, a renewed covenant did go into effect after the exiles returned to Judah in 539 B.C., but that was only a partial fulfillment of this prophecy. The complete fulfillment would take place at the coming of Christ.
Just as the old covenant had been ratified by the blood of animals (see Genesis 9:1–7; 15:9–16 and comments), so the new covenant would be ratified by the blood of Christ (1 Corinthians 11:25). Just as the old covenant sealed Israel’s physical deliverance from bondage in Egypt, so the new covenant would seal mankind’s spiritual deliverance from bondage to sin and death. Through the blood of Christ, eternal salvation would be made available to all who believed in Him. This is the essence of the new covenant.94
The new covenant would not be like the covenant [God] made with their forefathers (verse 32)—that is, the covenant made at Mount Sinai (Exodus 19:1–8). Rather, the new covenant would be written in the people’s minds and hearts (verse 33); it would be internalized. It would empower people to live according to its requirements (see Deuteronomy 6:6; 30:14). This would happen through the indwelling of the Holy Spirit in each believer. Whereas before, the people did not have the power to obey God’s covenant commands, now under the new covenant they would have both the power and the longing to obey. Obeying God’s law would no longer be just a duty; it would be a delight (Psalms 1:2; 119:14,47). The people would obey as a child obeys his loving father; they would obey because the Lord was their God and they were His people (verse 33).
From these verses, we see that the most important provision of the new covenant is the gift of a new heart, a heart indwelt by the Holy Spirit (2 Corinthians 3:3), a heart longing to do the will of God. A “new heart” comes from a “new birth,” which is the work of God’s Holy Spirit (John 3:3,5). No wonder believers in Christ have a message to tell to the world! Keeping God’s covenant is no longer a burden; it has become a joy (John 15:10–11).
34 Under the new covenant, believers know the Lord in a personal way; their knowledge of Him doesn’t come secondhand, it comes directly through the Holy Spirit. Of course, books and teachers are still necessary to refine and broaden that knowledge, but we can know God firsthand, just as a child comes to know his parents.
Under the new covenant, all believers from the least . . . to the greatest have equal access to God, for He has forgiven them all. “For I will forgive their wickedness,” says the Lord, “and will remember their sins no more.” The Lord remembers their sins no more because Christ has borne the penalty for their sins. Forgiveness wipes the slate clean; because we are forgiven, we are welcomed into God’s presence, into a covenant relationship with Him. Forgiveness is the basis of the new covenant. And for this forgiveness we thank Jesus Christ who, through His sacrifice of ATONEMENT on the cross, has taken away our sin once for all and granted us eternal salvation95 (Romans 3:21–26; Hebrews 10:10–18).
35–37 In these verses, the Lord says that Israel will exist as a nation as long as the sun, moon and stars exist. This means that the Lord’s covenant with Israel is permanent. And through faith in Christ, Israel’s Messiah, we Gentiles also become members of that same covenant. Indeed, the Apostle Paul teaches that we Gentiles have been grafted into the stock of Israel, the stock of Abraham (Romans 11:17–24). Under the new covenant, we too share in the blessings of being God’s covenant people (Ephesians 2:11–13).
38–40 The Lord has just said that the nation of Israel will be permanent (verse 36); here He says that a permanent nation needs a permanent capital:Jerusalem is to be rebuilt96 (verses 38–39). The whole valley—the Valley of Ben Hinnom (Jeremiah 7:31–33)—will be holy to the Lord (verse 40); even the most defiled place in Judah will be made holy under the new covenant.97
As we look back on this great chapter, we can see that God’s deliverance of the faithful remnant of Israel from captivity in Babylon is a foreshadowing of the much greater deliverance offered by Christ to all believers today. And just as the restored Israel of the Old Testament was God’s witness attracting men and women to Him, so the church of Christ is God’s witness today, offering men and women new life and new hope under a new covenant written on their hearts.