Jeremiah 31

20. Is Ephraim my dear son? &c.--The question implies that a negative answer was to be expected. Who would have thought that one so undutiful to His heavenly Father as Ephraim had been should still be regarded by God as a "pleasant child?" Certainly he was not so in respect to his sin. But by virtue of God's "everlasting love" ( Jeremiah 31:3 ) on Ephraim's being "turned" to God, he was immediately welcomed as God's "dear son." This verse sets forth God's readiness to welcome the penitent ( Jeremiah 31:18 Jeremiah 31:19 ), anticipating his return with prevenient grace and love. Compare Luke 15:20 : "When he was yet a great way off, his father saw him and had compassion," &c.
spake against--threatened him for his idolatry.
remember--with favor and concern, as in Genesis 8:1 , 30:22 .
bowels . . . troubled for him--( Deuteronomy 32:36 , Isaiah 63:15 , Hosea 11:8 )--namely, with the yearnings of compassionate love. The "bowels" include the region of the heart, the seat of the affections.

21. waymarks--pillars to mark the road for the returning exiles. Caravans set up pillars, or pointed heaps of stones, to mark the way through the desert against their return. So Israel is told by God to mark the way by which they went in leaving their country for exile; for by the same way they shall return.
highway--( Isaiah 35:8 Isaiah 35:10 ).

22. go about--namely, after human helps ( Jeremiah 2:18 Jeremiah 2:23 Jeremiah 2:36 ). Why not return immediately to me? MAURER translates, as in Solomon 5:6 , "How long wilt thou withdraw thyself?" Let thy past backslidings suffice thee now that a new era approaches. What God finds fault with in them is, that they looked hither and thither, leaning on contingencies, instead of at once trusting the word of God, which promised their restoration. To assure them of this, God promises to create a new thing in their land, A woman shall compass a man. CALVIN explains this: Israel, who is feeble as a woman, shall be superior to the warlike Chaldeans; the captives shall reduce their captors to captivity. HENGSTENBERG makes the "woman" the Jewish Church, and the "man" Jehovah, her husband, whose love she will again seek ( Hosea 2:6 Hosea 2:7 ). MAURER, A woman shall protect ( Deuteronomy 32:10 , Margin; Psalms 32:10 ) a man, that is, You need fear no foes in returning, for all things shall be so peaceful that a woman would be able to take man's part, and act as his protector. But the Christian fathers [AUGUSTINE, &c.]. almost unanimously interpreted it of the Virgin Mary compassing Christ in her womb. This view is favored:--(1) By the connection; it gives a reason why the exiles should desire a return to their country, namely, because Christ was conceived there. (2) The word "created" implies a divine power put forth in the creation of a body in the Virgin's womb by the Holy Ghost for the second Adam, such as was exerted in creating the first Adam ( Luke 1:35 , Hebrews 10:5 ). (3) The phrase, "a new thing," something unprecedented; a man whose like had never existed before, at once God and man; a mother out of the ordinary course of nature, at once mother and virgin. An extraordinary mode of generation; one conceived by the Holy Ghost without man. (4) The specification "in the land" (not "earth," as English Version), namely, of Judah, where probably Christ was conceived, in Hebron (compare Luke 1:39 Luke 1:42 Luke 1:44 , with Joshua 21:11 ) or else in Nazareth, "in the territory" of Israel, to whom Jeremiah 31:5 Jeremiah 31:6 Jeremiah 31:15 Jeremiah 31:18 Jeremiah 31:21 refer; His birth was at Beth-lehem ( Micah 5:2 , Matthew 2:5 Matthew 2:6 ). As the place of His nativity, and of His being reared ( Matthew 2:23 ), and of His preaching ( Haggai 2:7 , Malachi 3:1 ), are specified, so it is likely the Holy Spirit designated the place of His being conceived. (5) The Hebrew for "woman" implies an individual, as the Virgin Mary, rather than a collection of persons. (6) The restoration of Israel is grounded on God's covenant in Christ, to whom, therefore, allusion is naturally made as the foundation of Israel's hope (compare Isaiah 7:14 ). The Virgin Mary's conception of Messiah in the womb answers. to the "Virgin of Israel" (therefore so called, Jeremiah 31:21 ), that is, Israel and her sons at their final restoration, receiving Jesus as Messiah ( Zechariah 12:10 ). (7) The reference to the conception of the child Messiah accords with the mention of the massacre of "children" referred to in Jeremiah 31:15 (compare Matthew 2:17 ). (8) The Hebrew for "man" is properly "mighty man," a term applied to God ( Deuteronomy 10:17 ); and to Christ ( Zechariah 13:7 ; compare Psalms 45:3 , Isaiah 9:6 ) [CALOVIUS].

23. Jerusalem again shall be the metropolis of the whole nation, the seat of "justice" ( Psalms 122:5-8 Isaiah 1:26 ), and of sacred worship ("holiness," Zechariah 8:3 ) on "Mount" Moriah.

24. Judah . . . cities . . . husbandmen . . . they with flocks--Two classes, Citizens and countrymen, the latter divided into agriculturists and shepherds, all alike in security, though the latter were to be outside the protection of city walls. "Judah" here stands for the country, as distinguished from its cities.

25. The "weary, sorrowful," and indigent state of Israel will prove no obstacle in the way of My helping them.

26. The words of Jeremiah: Upon this (or, By reason of this) announcement of a happy restoration, "I awaked" from the prophetic dream vouchsafed to me ( Jeremiah 23:25 ) with the "sweet" impression thereof remaining on my mind. "Sleep" here means dream, as in Psalms 90:5 .

27. He shows how a land so depopulated shall again be peopled. God will cause both men and beasts in it to increase to a multitude ( Ezekiel 36:9-11 Hosea 2:23 ).

28. ( Jeremiah 44:27 ). The same God who, as it were (in human language), was on the watch for all means to destroy, shall be as much on the watch for the means of their restoration.

29. In those days--after their punishment has. been completed, and mercy again visits them.
fathers . . . eaten . . . sour grape . . . children's teeth . . . on edge--the proverb among the exiles' children born in Babylon, to express that they suffered the evil consequences of their fathers' sins rather than of their own ( Lamentations 5:7 , Ezekiel 18:2 Ezekiel 18:3 ).

30. ( Galatians 6:5 Galatians 6:7 ).

31. the days . . . new covenant with . . . Israel . . . Judah--The new covenant is made with literal Israel and Judah, not with the spiritual Israel, that is, believers, except secondarily, and as grafted on the stock of Israel ( Romans 11:16-27 ). For the whole subject of the thirtieth and thirty-first chapters is the restoration of the Hebrews ( Jeremiah 30:4 Jeremiah 30:7 Jeremiah 30:10 Jeremiah 30:18 , Jeremiah 31:7 Jeremiah 31:10 Jeremiah 31:11 Jeremiah 31:23 Jeremiah 31:24 Jeremiah 31:27 Jeremiah 31:36 ). With the "remnant according to the election of grace" in Israel, the new covenant has already taken effect. But with regard to the whole nation, its realization is reserved for the last days, to which Paul refers this prophecy in an abridged form ( Romans 11:27 ).

32. Not . . . the covenant that I made with . . . fathers--the Old Testament covenant, as contrasted with our gospel covenant ( Hebrews 8:8-12 , Hebrews 10:16 Hebrews 10:17 , where this prophecy is quoted to prove the abrogation of the law by the gospel), of which the distinguishing features are its securing by an adequate atonement the forgiveness of sins, and by the inworking of effectual grace ensuring permanent obedience. An earnest of this is given partially in the present eclectic or elect Church gathered out of Jews and Gentiles. But the promise here to Israel in the last days is national and universal, and effected by an extraordinary outpouring of the Spirit ( Jeremiah 31:33 Jeremiah 31:34 , Ezekiel 11:17-20 ), independent of any merit on their part ( Ezekiel 36:25-32 , 37:1-28 , 39:29 , Joel 2:23-28 , Zechariah 12:10 , 2 Corinthians 3:16 ).
took . . . by . . . hand--( Deuteronomy 1:31 , Hosea 11:3 ).
although I was an husband--(compare Jeremiah 3:14 , Hosea 2:7 Hosea 2:8 ). But the Septuagint, Syriac, and St. Paul ( Hebrews 8:9 ) translate, "I regarded them not"; and GESENIUS, &c., justify this rendering of the Hebrew from the Arabic. The Hebrews regarded not God, so God regarded them not.

33. will be their God--( Jeremiah 32:38 ).

34. True, specially of Israel ( Isaiah 54:13 ); secondarily, true of believers ( John 6:45 , 1 Corinthians 2:10 , 1 John 2:20 ).
forgive . . . iniquity . . . remember . . . no more--( Jeremiah 33:8 , 50:20 , Micah 7:18 ); applying peculiarly to Israel ( Romans 11:27 ). Secondarily, all believers ( Acts 10:43 ).

35. divideth . . . sea when . . . waves . . . roar . . . Lord of hosts . . . name--quoted from Isaiah 51:15 , the genuineness of which passage is thus established on Jeremiah's authority.

36. a nation--Israel's national polity has been broken up by the Romans. But their preservation as a distinct people amidst violent persecutions, though scattered among all nations for eighteen centuries, unamalgamated, whereas all other peoples under such circumstances have become incorporated with the nations in which they have been dispersed, is a perpetual standing miracle (compare Jeremiah 33:20 , Psalms 148:6 , Isaiah 54:9 Isaiah 54:10 ).

37. (Compare Jeremiah 33:22 ).
for all that they have done--namely, all the sins. God will regard His own covenant promise, rather than their merits.

38. tower of Hananeel--The city shall extend beyond its former bounds ( Nehemiah 3:1 , 12:39 , Zechariah 14:10 ).
gate of . . . corner--( 2 Kings 14:13 , 2 Chronicles 26:9 ).

39. measuring-line--( Ezekiel 40:8 , Zechariah 2:1 ).
Gareb--from a Hebrew root, "to scrape"; Syriac, "leprosy"; the locality outside of the city, to which lepers were removed.
Goath--from a root, "to toil," referring to the toilsome ascent there: outside of the city of David, towards the southwest, as Gareb was northwest [JUNIUS].

40. valley of . . . dead--Tophet, where the bodies of malefactors were cast ( Isaiah 30:33 ), south of the city.
fields . . . Kidron--so 2 Kings 23:4 . Fields in the suburbs reaching as far as Kidron, east of the city.
horse gate--Through it the king's horses were led forth for watering to the brook Kidron ( 2 Kings 11:16 , Nehemiah 3:28 ).
for ever--The city shall not only be spacious, but both "holy to the Lord," that is, freed from all pollutions, and everlasting ( Joel 3:17 Joel 3:20 , Revelation 21:2 Revelation 21:10 Revelation 21:27 ).