In those days, and at that time, saith the Lord
When Babylon shall be taken and destroyed, then what follows
shall be accomplished; which, as it respects the conversion of
the Jews, shows that this prophecy is not to be restrained to
literal Babylon: the children of Israel shall come, they
and the children of Judah
together:
upon the taking of Babylon, in a literal sense, by Cyrus, the
children of Israel, or the ten tribes, carried away by the
Assyrians, did not return; only the children of Judah, or the
tribes of Judah and Benjamin, with the Levites, and a few of the
other tribes, that might be mixed among them: but when mystical
Babylon is fallen, then the whole body of the Jews will be
converted, and return to their own land, Israel and Judah; which
is foretold in other prophecies, as here, which speak of their
general conversion; see ( Jeremiah
30:3 Jeremiah
30:9 ) ( Ezekiel
37:16-25 ) ( Hosea 1:11 ) ;
going and weeping;
which is another circumstance, which shows that this does not
respect the return of the Jews from the Babylonish captivity; for
that was attended with joy, and not with tears; see ( Psalms 126:1
Psalms
126:2 ) ; unless it is to be understood of weeping for joy,
and of tears of joy, as Kimchi interprets it; but it is better to
understand it of that godly sorrow and mourning for sin, which
will appear in the Jews at the time of their conversion;
particularly for their fathers' ill treatment of the Messiah,
their unbelief and rejection of him, and their continued
obstinacy and perverseness, and other sins; see ( Jeremiah
31:9 ) ( Zechariah
12:10 ) ; they shall go and seem the Lord their
God;
even David their King, the true Messiah, who is Lord and God; to
him they shall seek for peace, pardon, righteousness, and eternal
life; and acknowledge him to be the Messiah, their Lord, and
their God; embrace his Gospel, and submit to his ordinances; see
( Jeremiah
30:9 ) ( Hosea 3:5 ) . The Targum
is,
``when they were carried captive, they went weeping; but when they return from the land of their captivity, they shall seek the worship of the Lord their God.''