Thoughts from Mark "Hat" Rackley

To read Jeremiah 31:1-40, click this link HERE.

To read Jeremiah 32:1-44, click this link HERE.

While Jeremiah was still confined in the courtyard of the guard, the word of the Lord came to him a second time: “This is what the Lord says, he who made the earth, the Lord who formed it and established it—the Lord is his name: ‘Call to me and I will answer you and tell you great and unsearchable things you do not know.’ For this is what the Lord, the God of Israel, says about the houses in this city and the royal palaces of Judah that have been torn down to be used against the siege ramps and the sword in the fight with the Babylonians: ‘They will be filled with the dead bodies of the people I will slay in my anger and wrath. I will hide my face from this city because of all its wickedness.
“‘Nevertheless, I will bring health and healing to it; I will heal my people and will let them enjoy abundant peace and security. I will bring Judah and Israel back from captivity and will rebuild them as they were before. I will cleanse them from all the sin they have committed against me and will forgive all their sins of rebellion against me. Then this city will bring me renown, joy, praise and honor before all nations on earth that hear of all the good things I do for it; and they will be in awe and will tremble at the abundant prosperity and peace I provide for it.’
“This is what the Lord says: ‘You say about this place, “It is a desolate waste, without people or animals.” Yet in the towns of Judah and the streets of Jerusalem that are deserted, inhabited by neither people nor animals, there will be heard once more the sounds of joy and gladness, the voices of bride and bridegroom, and the voices of those who bring thank offerings to the house of the Lord, saying,
“Give thanks to the Lord Almighty,
    for the Lord is good;
    his love endures forever.”
For I will restore the fortunes of the land as they were before,’ says the Lord.
“This is what the Lord Almighty says: ‘In this place, desolate and without people or animals—in all its towns there will again be pastures for shepherds to rest their flocks. In the towns of the hill country, of the western foothills and of the Negev, in the territory of Benjamin, in the villages around Jerusalem and in the towns of Judah, flocks will again pass under the hand of the one who counts them,’ says the Lord.
“‘The days are coming,’ declares the Lord, ‘when I will fulfill the good promise I made to the people of Israel and Judah.
“‘In those days and at that time
    I will make a righteous Branch sprout from David’s line;
    he will do what is just and right in the land.
In those days Judah will be saved
    and Jerusalem will live in safety.
This is the name by which it will be called:
    The Lord Our Righteous Savior.’
For this is what the Lord says: ‘David will never fail to have a man to sit on the throne of Israel, nor will the Levitical priests ever fail to have a man to stand before me continually to offer burnt offerings, to burn grain offerings and to present sacrifices.’”
The word of the Lord came to Jeremiah: “This is what the Lord says: ‘If you can break my covenant with the day and my covenant with the night, so that day and night no longer come at their appointed time, then my covenant with David my servant—and my covenant with the Levites who are priests ministering before me—can be broken and David will no longer have a descendant to reign on his throne. I will make the descendants of David my servant and the Levites who minister before me as countless as the stars in the sky and as measureless as the sand on the seashore.’”
The word of the Lord came to Jeremiah: “Have you not noticed that these people are saying, ‘The Lord has rejected the two kingdoms he chose’? So they despise my people and no longer regard them as a nation. This is what the Lord says: ‘If I have not made my covenant with day and night and established the laws of heaven and earth, then I will reject the descendants of Jacob and David my servant and will not choose one of his sons to rule over the descendants of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. For I will restore their fortunes and have compassion on them.’”

• Jeremiah 33:1-26

Noted Biblical Scholars, Teachers, and Preachers Comments

Jeremiah 30-33 ‘book of consolation’: ”Bible scholars often call these four chapters the ‘Book of Consolation.’ In them, the Lord amplified the wonderful promise He gave to His people in the letter Jeremiah sent the Babylonian exiles: ‘For I know the plans I have for you,’ declares the Lord, ‘plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future (Jer. 29:11 NIV).”

• Warren W. Wiersbe, Be Decisive

Jeremiah 30-33 ‘The Book of Consolation’: “The prophetic discourse in Jeremiah 30-33 is called the Book of Consolation because that is its main theme: the consolation of Israel. Through most of his book, Jeremiah has been majoring on judgment and minoring on blessing. In these four chapters, he majors on blessing and minors on judgment.”

• Tim LaHaye and Ed Hindson, Exploring Bible Prophecy

Jeremiah 30:1-31:25 ‘The promised return’: ”Jeremiah received the words recorded in 30:1-31:25 while he was asleep (31:26), for God sometimes spoke to His servants through dreams (Dan. 10:9; Zech. 4:1). God instructed Jeremiah to write His words in a book (scroll) so the nation would have a permanent record of the promises God was giving to His people (see ]er. 36:1-4).
“In His instructions to Jeremiah, God stated the theme of His message: Israel (the northern kingdom, taken by Assyria in 722 BC) and Judah (the southern kingdom) will eventually return to their land as a united people (30:3). While this promise refers ultimately to the regathering of the Jews at the end of the age, it certainly was an encouragement to the exiles in Babylon, for if God can gather His people from all the nations of the world, surely He can deliver Judah from the captivity of one nation.”

• Warren W. Wiersbe, Be Decisive

Jeremiah 31:1 ‘God works out mercy.’: “These people had rejected God, yet he says, ‘They will be my people’—not only some of them but all of them. There are no ifs and no buts here. It is ‘I will’ and ‘they will.’ God knows how to work out mercy.”

• Charles H. Spurgeon, from sermon notes

Jeremiah 31:2-6 ‘God’s Promise to Israel’: “In Jeremiah 3:12, God promises that no matter how bad Israel’s situation may get, Israel will survive: ‘The people who survived the sword’—that is, the Jews who survive the Tribulation—’found grace in the wilderness.’ This ‘wilderness’ is the same as the wilderness of Ezekiel 20:35 and of Revelation 12:6,13-14. It is the wilderness where the city of Bozrah or Petra is located and where Israel is going to be saved. Indeed, God clearly identifies who He means: Israel. The people are going to find favor and grace from God the day God moves to cause Israel to ‘find its rest.’ The rest here is the rest of salvation.”

• Tim LaHaye and Ed Hindson, Exploring Bible Prophecy

Jeremiah 31:3 ‘beyond human understanding’: “Perhaps the greatest mistake we humans make is in our insistence upon trying to measure the love of God by our own human standards of love.
“As men and women, is it not true that we are most likely to love people for what they are-often for their good behavior?
“Let me describe for you what is likely to happen when you tell a sinner that ‘God really loves you!’
“That person will say, ‘I don’t believe that.’
“You see, he can only measure the love of God by his own kind of love.
“ ‘l know better than to believe that,’ he will say. ‘l know what I am on the inside. l have lied. I have cheated. I have stolen. There probably is not a sin that I have not committed, either overtly or in my heart.
“ ‘l am worse than anyone knows, so if God is the moral God the Bible says He is, He cannot love me!’
“At this point, we must say that he is right, and also that he is wrong.
“He is right if he believes that God cannot love him for his sin‘s sake. But he is wrong because he fails to see that he is loved of God and for God’s own sake.
“He is wrong if he fails to believe that God can love anyone, no matter how sinful, for His own sake and for His Son’s sake”

• A. W. Tozer, Tozer Speaks

Jeremiah 31:3 ‘everlasting love’: “There is the source of everything that is good and gracious—’everlasting love.’ When God has once set that love on his people, anything and everything that is for their good may come out of it. All temporal good and all eternal blessings will come out of everlasting love.”

• Charles H. Spurgeon, from sermon notes

Jeremiah 31:7-8 ‘doing it throughly’: “Whatever God does, he does thoroughly. When he restores his ancient people, he will not leave the weak ones behind.”

• Charles H. Spurgeon, from sermon notes

Jeremiah 31:9 ‘rivers of waters’: “Hear this, you mourners. God will supply your need with rivers of waters, and he will make you walk in a straight way. Sometimes we are perplexed because the road seems to wind in and out like a labyrinth, but God can lead us in a straight way.”

• Charles H. Spurgeon, from sermon notes

Jeremiah 31:11 ‘Redemption’: “Redemption lies at the bottom of every favor we receive from God. He blesses us because he has redeemed us. He has bought us with so great a price that we are too dear for him ever to lose us. Because he has bought his flock, he will, therefore, keep it away from the power of the enemy.”

• Charles H. Spurgeon, from sermon notes

Jeremiah 31:15-22 ‘The Comforting of Rachel’: “Jeremiah 31:15-22 begins with a promise of comfort for Israel (verses 15-17). In verse 15, Jeremiah describes the weeping of Rachel: ‘A voice is heard in Ramah.’ The voice is one of ‘lamentation and bitter weeping.’ Jeremiah describes Rachel as ‘weeping for her children.’ Rachel, whose tomb was near the town of Ramah, is a symbol of Jewish motherhood. The children of this verse are the sons that are about to be taken into captivity, and Rachel is a symbol of Jewish mothers weeping for sons they will not see again. Rachel refused to be comforted ‘because [her children] are no more.’ The statement, ‘they are no more’ could be taken in one of two ways. First, Rachel may be weeping because her children are going into captivity. Or, it may be because they are dead. Either way, the statement is accurate.”

• Tim LaHaye and Ed Hindson, Exploring Bible Prophecy

Jeremiah 31:15 ‘a prophecy of Herod’s tyranny’: “Here a prophetic allusion to the massacre of the infants by Herod at the time of the birth of our Lord (Mt 2: 17-18). It was a time of sorrow indeed.”

• Charles H. Spurgeon, from sermon notes

Jeremiah 31:18 ‘never a sigh’: “God is speaking here. There is never a moan, or a sob, or a cry, or a sigh of a penitent sinner that God does not hear. Do not think a single penitential cry ever rises unneeded from a contrite heart. That cannot be. God has a quick ear for the cries of sinners.”

• Charles H. Spurgeon, from sermon notes

Jeremiah 31:19 ‘God forgives in a pure way’: “When a person has sown his wild oats and God in mercy helps him come back from such a dreadful life as that, he recollects what he has been, and he is ashamed of himself. Sometimes he is more than half ashamed to mingle with God’s people, for he is afraid they will have nothing to do with such a wretch as he has been. But he is, most of all, ashamed to come near to his God because of the sins of his youth. Yet the Lord speaks gracious words concerning him.”

• Charles H. Spurgeon, from sermon notes

Jeremiah 31:20 ‘God longs to have mercy on sinners’: “You might expect the answer to be, ‘No, he has lost the rights of childhood. He has been displeasing and provoking to God.’ Yet God does not give such an answer as that to his own question. The Lord says, ‘My inner being yearns for him. ’The infinitely blessed God represents himself as longing to have mercy on sinners.”

• Charles H. Spurgeon, from sermon notes

Jeremiah 31:21 ‘create signposts’: “In crossing the desert, travelers raise little mounds of stone so they may be directed on a future occasion across that pathless sea of sand. And so God bids them set up signs and make high heaps so they may know how to come back to him. All believers should raise signs along the road at various points to let other travelers know the way they should go.”

• Charles H. Spurgeon, from sermon notes

Jeremiah 31:23-26 ‘The Future Prosperity of Israel’: “Jeremiah 31:23-26 announces the future prosperity of Israel, and three points are made. First Jeremiah prophesies of the return of an old saying: ‘Once again they will speak this word in the land of Judah and in its cities’ (verse 23). By Jeremiah’s time this saying apparently had ceased to be used. It may have seen usage in the days of David and Solomon and then died out after the kingdom split after the death of Solomon. In the future that saying will return, at a time ‘when [God will] restore their fortunes.’ In other words, when the final restoration of Israel takes place, the people will again say, ‘The LORD bless you, O abode of righteousness, O holy hill.’”

• Tim LaHaye and Ed Hindson, Exploring Bible Prophecy

Jeremiah 31:26 ‘Jeremiah’s comfort’: “Jeremiah, who so often wept over the woes of Israel, was refreshed when he heard from God that he would visit his people in mercy and bring them back to their own land.”

• Charles H. Spurgeon, from sermon notes

Jeremiah 31:27-30 ‘The Planting of Israel’: “In Jeremiah 31:27, the prophet states that God will ‘sow’ both houses of Israel, for both houses are destined for restoration into one nation. The words ‘Behold, the days are coming’ put this passage into the prophetic future, and God goes on to say that He ‘will sow the house of Israel and the house of Judah.’ The concept of sowing was a figure of both judgment and blessing. Just as God has sown the houses of Israel and Judah in judgment, he will also sow them in blessing. Both of those concepts are also described in Hosea 2:21-23. Verse 28 emphasizes the watching of God, building upon God’s earlier words to Jeremiah: ‘I am watching over my word to perform it’ (Jeremiah 1:12). Jeremiah points out that God will watch over His word of judgment against Israel: ‘to pluck up, to break down, to overthrow, to destroy and to bring disaster.’ Now that is going to change. Now God is going to watch over His word of blessing as well, ‘to build and to plant’ the houses of Israel.”

• Tim LaHaye and Ed Hindson, Exploring Bible Prophecy

Jeremiah 31:28 ‘God deals sternly with rebellion’: “God’s way of dealing with his people when they wander away from him is stern. They must be brought back, but it will be over a rough road. And then in the same measure he declares that he will watch over them to do them good. As our tribulations abound, so also will our consolations abound by Christ Jesus. If you have been bitterly convicted of sin, you will be sweetly convicted of pardon. Those who are brought to him in great affliction often afterward know more of Christ and more of the love of God than any others.”

• Charles H. Spurgeon, from sermon notes

Jeremiah 31:30 ‘You cannot get godliness from heredity’: “There is no such thing as hereditary godliness or salvation by proxy. Every person must for him- or herself repent and believe. Vain and foolish is the idea that because we have had Christian parents, therefore, we also are Christians.”

• Charles H. Spurgeon, from sermon notes

Jeremiah 31:31-33 ‘God writes on our hearts’: “This is the central truth of all Scripture. It is the basis of all Scripture. When Paul desired to set forth the gospel, he appealed to this passage (2 Co 3:6). Twice in Hebrews the author based his argument on it (Heb 9:15; 12:24). Under the first covenant we are ruined. There is no salvation for us. But under this new covenant God writes his teaching on our hearts.”

• Charles H. Spurgeon, from sermon notes

Jeremiah 31:34 ‘God gives of himself’: “God gives to all his people knowledge of himself. Though they differ as to their growth in grace, yet ‘they will all know me, from the least to the greatest of them.’ ”

• Charles H. Spurgeon, from sermon notes

Jeremiah 31:35-37 ‘the new covenant’: ”The basis for the new covenant is the work of Jesus Christ on the cross (Matt. 26:27-28; Mark 14I22—24; Luke 22:19-20).
The Lord affirmed the permanence of the nation and the faithfulness of His relationship to His people (Jer. 31:35-37). It would be easier for the sun to stop shining and the moon and stars to go out than for God to break His promises to His people Israel. Just as Jerusalem was rebuilt after the Babylonian captivity, so it will be restored after the time of Jacob is trouble and be holy to the Lord. Because of its ancient associations with Israel, Islam, Jesus, and the church, Jerusalem is called ‘the Holy City,’ but it will not truly be holy until the Lord restores it and reigns in glory at the end of the age”

• Warren W. Wiersbe, Be Decisive

Jeremiah 32 ‘The Purchase of Hanamel’s Field’: “Jeremiah 32:1-14 is historical and documents God’s command to Jeremiah to redeem the property of his nephew even though property was of very little value because of the Babylonian invasion. Then comes the explanation for this command in verse 15: ‘Houses and fields and vineyards will yet again be bought in this land.’ The prophecy is of Israel’s final restoration. A time will come when people will once again see the land and fields as worthy of being bought. Jeremiah’s action is a test of faith. Even though the land was of little value, Jeremiah was willing, at God’s command, to spend money on this land because of the assurance it would become valuable in the future.”

• Tim LaHaye and Ed Hindson, Exploring Bible Prophecy

Jeremiah 32:1-5 ‘Jeremiah in prison’: “Jeremiah was shut up in prison at the time here mentioned. Zedekiah, the king of Judah, had treated him very harshly because of his faithful utterance of the word of the Lord. Jeremiah was a true servant of the Lord, yet he suffered much at the king’s hands.”

• Charles H. Spurgeon, from sermon notes

Jeremiah 32:2-5 ‘shut up in … prison’: “Judah’s final king put Jeremiah into prison on the charge of preaching treason against both nation and king, whereas Zedekiah savored positive talk to spark new resolve to hold out against the Babylonians.”

• John MacArthur, John MacArthur Commentary (quoted Scripture without bold/italics)

Jeremiah 32:2 ‘Babylon’s Army Besieged’: “The siege, set up in the tenth month (January) of 588 B.C., lasted at least thirty months to the fourth month (July) of 586 B.C. (39:1, 2). Cf. 34:1; see note there. The events of the chapter occurred in this setting of Judah’s imminent loss of her land, only about a year before Babylon’s final takeover detailed in chapters 39; 40; and 52.”

• John MacArthur, John MacArthur Commentary (quoted Scripture without bold/italics

Jeremiah 32:6-10 ‘purchasing seemingly worthless land’: ” This was, in every respect, an extraordinary transaction. The Chaldeans already were besieging Jerusalem, and they were all over the land, carrying fire and sword into every part of it. Jerusalem was shut up so that none of the inhabitants could get out of the city. Yet here is Jeremiah, himself a prisoner, buying land that was virtually worth nothing whatever. But he believed so firmly that the Chaldeans would permit the Jews to live peacefully in that land that he paid down the purchase money for the field and saw to the legal execution of the deed of transfer. This is a notable instance of the triumph of faith over unfavorable surroundings and also of the prophet’s obedience to the 5 word of the Lord.”

• Charles H. Spurgeon, from sermon notes

Jeremiah 32:11-12 ‘Faith done in the light’: “Jeremiah did all this openly. What they may have thought to be an absurd action, he did not do in private but in the presence of them all. True faith in God does not go in for hole-and-corner transactions. Faith can do its business in the light of the sun. Faith believes God under all circumstances and believes that the truest common sense is to obey God’s Word.”

• Charles H. Spurgeon, from sermon notes

Jeremiah 32:16 ‘Faith and Prayer’: “Faith cannot live without prayer. When faith has performed its most heroic deeds, it turns to God and humbly asks for renewed strength.”

• Charles H. Spurgeon, from sermon notes

Jeremiah 32:17 ‘the power of prayer’: “When Tennyson wrote ‘More things are wrought by prayer than this world dreams of,’ he probably uttered a truth of vaster significance than even he understood. While it is not always possible to trace an act of God to its prayer-cause, it is yet safe to say that prayer is back of everything that God does for the sons of men here upon earth. One would gather as much from a simple reading of the Scriptures.
“What profit is there in prayer? ‘Much every way.’ Whatever God can do faith can do, and whatever faith can do prayer can do when it is offered in faith. An invitation to prayer is, therefore, an invitation to omnipotence, for prayer engages the Omnipotent God and brings Him into our human affairs. Nothing is impossible to the man who prays in faith, just as nothing is impossible with God. This generation has yet to prove all that prayer can do for believing men and women.”

• A. W. Tozer, The Set of the Sail

Jeremiah 32:17 ‘God is Almighty’: “Is not that a grand sentence? He who could make the heaven and the earth can do anything. Can anything be too difficult for the Almighty?”

• Charles H. Spurgeon, from sermon notes

Jeremiah 32:20 ‘the benchmarks of the Exodus and the Cross’: “Those ancient Jews, in the time of their trouble, always looked gratefully back to the wonders worked by the Lord in Egypt. That great deed of God, when he struck the might of pharaoh, was always present to the Hebrew mind; and the people, in every season of tribulation, refreshed themselves with the remembrance of it. As they sang the song of Moses, will we not sing the song of the Lamb? Will we not go back in thought to the glorious triumphs of our Redeemer and recount again and again, for the encouragement of our faith, what Christ did for us on the cross, even as the Jews thought often, for the strengthening of their confidence, of their wondrous deliverance from Egypt by the high hand and the stretched out arm of the Lord?”

• Charles H. Spurgeon, from sermon notes

Jeremiah 32:24-25 ‘in anxiety, bring your questions before the Lord’: “I suppose that, although Jeremiah, with unquestioning faith, had done as God commanded him, yet afterward, when he was alone in his prison cell, he began to think the whole matter over. And though he may not have had any actual doubts, yet he probably had some anxieties as to the issue of the whole affair. He could not understand it so he wisely put it before the Lord. Some of us who truly have trusted God may yet become perplexed with anxiety of one kind or another. We should tell it to the Lord. Go at once into his presence and spread the case before him, as Jeremiah did.”

• Charles H. Spurgeon, from sermon notes

Jeremiah 33:1-9 ‘The Future Restoration of Jerusalem’: “While Jeremiah was still a prisoner in the royal court, the Word of God came to him a ‘second time’ (33:1), the first time being in chapter 32. In verses 2-3, a call is issued for the people to turn to God. In verses 4-5, Jeremiah describes once again the present judgment of Jerusalem. Then in verses 6-9 he prophesies the future blessings of Jerusalem and states four things. First, there will be a restoration of health (verse 6). Second, there will be a return of the captives (verse 7), which includes both houses of Israel. Third, there will be a national forgiveness of all of the people’s sins (verse 8): I will cleanse them from all their iniquity by which they have sinned against Me, and I will pardon all their iniquities by which they have sinned against Me and by which they have transgressed against Me.”

• Tim LaHaye and Ed Hindson, Exploring Bible Prophecy

Jeremiah 33:3 ‘Call … I will answer’: “God invited Jeremiah’s prayer, which appeals to Him to fulfill the aspects of His promises which He guarantees to keep (as 29:11-14; Dan. 9:4—19; cf. John 15:7). His answer to the prayer was assured in verses 4-26 (cf. v. 14).”

• John MacArthur, John MacArthur Commentary (quoted Scripture without bold/italics)

Jeremiah 33:10-11 ‘The Return of Peace to Jerusalem’: “Jerusalem’s past was characterized by judgment—a city that was lying in waste ‘without man and without beast’ (verse 10). What was true of Jerusalem was true of the other cities of Judah. The streets of Jerusalem were ‘desolate, without man and without inhabitant and without beast.’ The future of Jerusalem will be characterized by blessing, and Jeremiah lists several things that will once again be heard in the streets of Jerusalem (verse 11). These blessings are going to mean the removal of specific, previous judgments (recorded in Jeremiah 7:34; 16:9; 25:10). There is going to be a return of peace and joy to Jerusalem.”

• Tim LaHaye and Ed Hindson, Exploring Bible Prophecy

Jeremiah 33:12-13 ‘The Flocks Will Flourish Once Again’: “In Jeremiah 33:12, the prophet points out that once again there is going to be ‘a habitation’ where the shepherds can rest their flocks. In the first part of verse 13, Jeremiah again gives a detailed geographical division of the land. The blessings mentioned in this passage will be true for all parts of the land that he lists. At the end, Jeremiah concludes with a promise: the flocks will ‘pass under the hands of the one who numbers them.’ The flocks will flourish rather than die out on account of the desolation of the land.”

• Tim LaHaye and Ed Hindson, Exploring Bible Prophecy

Jeremiah 33:15 ‘from the stem of Jesse’: “The dynasty of David seemed like a tree cut down, whose stock was buried under the ground, but, at the glorious appointed time, Jesus Christ would grow up like a branch out of the stem of Jesse ‘and he will administer justice and righteousness in the land.’ ”

• Charles H. Spurgeon, from sermon notes

Jeremiah 33:17-18 ‘kingdom that can never be moved’: “This shows there is a kingdom that can never be moved, and our Lord sits on that throne. There is a priesthood that is everlasting; it is held by that great high priest who has offered one sacrifice for sins forever and who remains a priest forever after the order of Melchizedek.”

• Charles H. Spurgeon, from sermon notes

Jeremiah 33:22 ‘who can count them?’: “So numerous are they at this day, the spiritual descendants of Jesus, the Son of David, who can count them? Who but he can number the company of those he has made to be kings and priests to God?”

• Charles H. Spurgeon, from sermon notes

Jeremiah 33:24-26 ‘covenant of grace fulfilled’: “This will be literally fulfilled in the latter days, I have no doubt, but it is even now being fulfilled to the spiritual descendants of Jacob and David. The covenant of grace is made sure to all who have believed on Christ’s name.”

• Charles H. Spurgeon, from sermon notes

 

My Thoughts

Jeremiah 31 starts with those that escape the sword will find favor in the wilderness.  This might specifically be the wilderness areas within the Promised Land.  These areas had caves.  And while there were two groups in Judah that were sent into exile, not everyone went into exile.  The Babylonians needed people to tend the fields.  They left the poor and the farmers and shepherds.  Thus, some who escaped the sword could hide among them.

And if you were wondering, part of Jeremiah is written before the first exile, between the first and the second, and then after the second when Jeremiah and Baruch joined the few remaining government people and took their exile to Egypt.  The first exile took people like Daniel and his friends and Ezekiel into exile – the elite, powerful, noted for intelligence, and nobility.  The second exile included the survivors of the siege of Jerusalem, leaving a few to govern.

But then, we have the often-repeated promises of the restoration of all twelve tribes.  God will save and return a remnant.  The blind, lame, and pregnant women will come.

Then God states that Ephraim is his firstborn.  This is an odd statement in that Manasseh was the firstborn of Joseph.  Israel, when blessing the children, switched his hands, giving Ephraim the greater blessing.  But even then, their father, Joseph was the eleventh son of Israel, yet the firstborn of Rachel.  But in this case, Ephraim is often used as the name of the rebelling tribes that broke away from Israel.  There were a couple of key towns in the Ephraim territory, Shiloh, where the tabernacle had been and Samaria, the capitol for the northern tribes.  Thus, Ephraim is probably being used as an all-inclusive which would include Reuben, who was the firstborn of Jacob.

In Jeremiah 31:15, we see the Scripture that Matthew 2:18 used to describe the slaughter wrought by Herod the Great in trying to kill Jesus, who had been taken to Egypt.  Notice that the woman crying is Rachel.  Only one of the twelve sons of Israel was born in the Promised Land, Benjamin.  It is the location where Rachel died, soon after giving birth.  She named him, Ben-Oni, but Israel changed the name to Benjamin.  Where did all this occur?  In Ephrath, which later became Bethlehem, the central site of Herod’s massacre.

The term “sour grapes” refers to the feeling of having been wronged, what looked like a good thing turned sour and the attitude of those who felt wronged was sour.  This comes from the Aesop Fable of the Fox and the grapes, unable to reach the grapes made the fox feel that the grapes were unripe, thus sour.  But in spite of the volumes and volumes on the internet that state Aesop was the origin, it is used in Jeremiah 31:29.  Aesop and Jeremiah lived, in different locations, about the same time.  But with so many vineyards, the concept of sour grapes predates both the fabulist and the prophet.  Yet, Jeremiah’s use is a little different.  In the New Jerusalem and nation surrounding it, there will be no sour grapes, but those who eat the sour grapes (those with a heart for themselves and their own desires instead of the Will of God) will die.  The meaning is similar to that of Aesop, but the subtle difference is important.

In Jeremiah 32, Jeremiah is imprisoned, but those who categorize this as being “in prison” are mistaken.  He is in the king’s courtyard, in chains.  It is uncertain whether he is in view of the general public or if he is only in view of king Zedekiah and members of the court.  I am sure Zedekiah could look out a window to see Jeremiah baking in the sun, enjoying every minute of it, but maybe that is just me.  Yet, in a prison cell, no.  In a prison cell, he could at least move around.

But while Jeremiah is “imprisoned” he received a message that he would be offered a worthless piece of property.  It was “worthless” in that Jeremiah would die in Egypt and not ever see this piece of property in his own hands, but, with the returned people to Israel, this becomes another object lesson.  He is offered the land and Jeremiah buys the land, using Baruch, his assistant, who is obviously not in chains, to pay for the property, get the deed signed and make all the transactions.  He even places the deed and other paperwork in a clay jar where it will survive the test of time.  This might seem silly, but with such discoveries as the Dead Sea Scrolls, the deed could survive centuries in a general arid climate inside a clay pot.

The rest of Jeremiah 32 talks of the promise that deeds will be bought and sold.  The people will go into exile, but the remnant will have everything back to normal once God’s discipline is complete.  But the chapter also speaks of the need for the discipline.  God made Himself known by the great wonders in Egypt to have the Israelites released.  God was a big part of them taking the land God had promised, but the people did not obey God, which led to the ongoing siege by Babylon.

Yes, Jeremiah bought a field in his hometown, while imprisoned in the king’s courtyard while the city was under siege.  Yet, Jeremiah did as God instructed, as an object lesson for the people.

The go-to example of God’s greatness and love for the Israelites is the great wonders in Egypt, but Jeremiah 33 starts with God, the Creator of the universe.  God made the universe, but He has removed His protective hand from Jerusalem.  Jerusalem will be burned to the ground.  It will become a wasteland with no one living there nor any animals.  In other references, it talks of jackals roaming, looking for food.  The comments about no animals may be referring to flocks and herds, opposed to scavenger birds, reptiles, and mammals that seem to always move in when humans move out.

Yet, even in this discussion about the devastation of Jerusalem, Jeremiah talks about a branch will sprout from David’s line that will serve as king for all time.  This must be referring to Jesus.  All human life is limited.  But in the language of this one passage, it ties the Branch to Isaiah 4:12 and David’s line to 2 Samuel 7:12.

And since I love philosophy, especially Logic, God ends the chapter with a logical argument.  God basically says, “Only if I revoke the covenant with day and night could I ever revoke the covenant with Jacob and David.”  God starts this chapter by reiterating the basic concept of Genesis 1.  God created everything.  Thus, God entered a covenant that keeps the day and night going in the manner that it has since Creation.  But God would have to revoke that covenant to revoke the covenant with Jacob and David.

In other words, The Book of Consolation ends with God saying that He promised Jacob, Isaac before him, and Abraham before him, that they were the fathers of a great nation and that nation would reside in the Promised Land.  God also promised that someone in the line of David would rule eternally.  And since the covenant with day and night has lasted for millennia, God is saying, “You can count on it!”

Note:  This does not refer to the present nation of Israel.  When they originally wrote their constitution, they did not clearly make a statement about a nation under God.  This new nation of Israel will be in the millennial reign of Jesus.

Some Serendipitous Reflections

“Jeremiah 31: 1. How and when is the promise of the new covenant put into effect (see Mt 26:28; Heb 9:16-18)? How would you explain the difference between the old and new covenants to a friend? Pair off within your group, role play your answer, and critique each other
“2.Which covenant are you living under: Law or grace? How do you know for sure? What does it mean to you to truly ‘know the Lord’ as Jeremiah intended? What is God’s part? What is yours?
“3. Jeremiah’s new covenant promises: (a) Ready forgiveness of sins (30:34)? (b) Freedom from the sins of the parents (30:29)? (c) Internal working of the Spirit (31 :33-34)? (d) All of the above? (e) Other: __? Which aspect means the most to you? Why?
“Jeremiah 32: 1. Of what comfort to you are long-range assurances of prosperity, when your present financial outlook is precarious (at best) or bankrupt (at worst)?
“2. What lessons of hope have you learned that could only have been taught you through adversity, doom and gloom?
“3. God gave Jeremiah advance confirmation of his will regarding Jeremiah’s purchase of the field from his cousin. Has God ever told you in advance what he wants you to do when a certain situation arises? What role does God have in your decision-making process?
“4. Where do you think the world will be in seventy years? ls it hard to put stock in the present when the world looks so grim? What investment would God want you to make in the future of your world, as a testimony of your radical faith in God?
“5. When have you stepped out on faith and then had seriously reconsidered, even rescinded, your actions? It you ever challenge God about the way things work out for you, how does God answer? What kind of answers do you expect?
“Jeremiah 33: 1. Have you ever doubted God’s faithfulness? Why? What hope do you have in the times when you are unfaithful to God?
“2. Jewish people have mixed thoughts on these promises of a Messiah. Do you wonder why God seems to wait so long to act? What answers seem to satisfy you for the time being?
“3. Israel needed constant reassurance. Why do you need to be reminded of God’s promises? Which promise, recorded in Jeremiah, do you need to remember right now?
“4. This may be a good time to take inventory of your group’s loyalty to its covenant. Where have you found covenant faithfulness in your group? Where has the group let you down? Where have you let the group down? How can you renew your covenant?”

• Lyman Coleman, et al, The NIV Serendipity Bible for Study Groups

Each chapter has one set of questions.

Substitute whatever group for any reference to a small group or ask who could come to your aid.

If you like these Thursday morning Bible studies, but you think you missed a few, you can use this LINK. I have set up a page off the home page for links to these Thursday morning posts. I will continue to modify the page as I add more.

Soli Deo Gloria.  Only to God be the Glory.