Commentaries and Other Bible Study Helps - Prayer Tents - Prayer Tents

31:1 At that time. In the latter days (30:24), God will reunite Israel with Judah under his covenantal leadership. my people. See note on 30:22.

31:2 Israel's exile experience mirrors the exodus era. In both, those who escaped death found grace and rest in the desert. After exile, Israel will again follow God (2:1-3).

31:3 You is feminine singular, referring to the whole people (cf. v. 4). everlasting love. God's love was always based on grace (Deut. 7:6-11), and even the involvement of the majority in Israel's rejection of that love cannot cause this covenantal, relational love to cease (Hos. 1:10-11; 2:14-23; 11:1-9).

31:4 virgin Israel. The northern kingdom (vv. 5-6). dance of the merrymakers. Women who celebrated military victories (Ex. 15:20; Judg. 11:34; 1 Sam. 18:6) and participated in religious ceremonies (Lam. 1:4).

31:5-6 Samaria (both a city and region in Israel) and Ephraim (both a tribe and a representative name for Israel) will plant vineyards again. More importantly, they will go up to Zion to worship the Lord again (contrast 1 Kings 12:26-33).

31:7 The dancers in v. 4 will raise shouts of joy for Israel's restoration. remnant of Israel. A term that can denote survivors of a catastrophe (8:3), faithful ones in Judah and Israel (Isa. 4:2), and faithful ones in all nations (Isa. 11:11). The second option applies here. Some Israelites will serve God (cf. Hos. 3:5).

31:8 gather them from the farthest parts of the earth. Where Israel was driven over time after Samaria fell in 722 b.c. (2 Kings 17:18; Isa. 7:8). the blind and the lame. Physical infirmity will not keep the remnant from returning.

31:9 God will provide for all their needs as the exiles return. father to Israel. See Ex. 4:22-23; Hos. 11:1-9.

31:10 God, Israel's great shepherd (Isa. 40:11), will gather and keep (guard) his sheep.

31:11 Ransomed suggests financial payment for a debt (Hos. 13:14). Redeemed implies a family member acting on behalf of a relative to remove from trouble, pay a debt, or avenge a wrong (e.g., Ruth 4:1). See also Deut. 9:26; 13:5.

31:12 See Isa. 35:10; 51:10-11. The people shall flourish as they eat food and enjoy the prosperity that God provides.

31:13 When God restores Israel's lives he will also restore its joy. God will comfort them. See Isa. 40:1.

31:14 abundance. Literally "fatness," which probably refers to the portions of sacrificial meats set aside for the priests (Lev. 7:31-36).

31:15 Ramah. 5 miles (8 km) north of Jerusalem and on the route to exile (40:1). Rachel. Jacob's second, yet favorite, wife (Gen. 29:30), the mother of Joseph, who was father of Ephraim and Manasseh (Gen. 30:22-24; 41:50-52). Rachel was buried near Bethlehem (Gen. 35:19-20). The focus in Jeremiah is on the grief of the exile, as if it touched Rachel herself. Matthew 2:18 applies this verse to Herod killing the innocent children in an attempt to kill Jesus. Thus, by Jesus' time the phrase had become proverbial for the mistreatment of Jewish children.

31:16-17 God promises that Rachel's children will return from exile.

31:18 Ephraim recognizes God's discipline (cf. Lev. 26:14-26; Deut. 30:1-10) and pleads for restoration (Lam. 5:21-22).

31:19 Ephraim explains his path back to God. struck my thigh. A physical act of remorse (Ezek. 21:12). disgrace of my youth. Past shameful actions against God (Jer. 2:2-5; 3:24-25; etc.).

31:20 Despite all God has had to do to discipline Ephraim, he never stopped loving his darling child.

31:21 Israel should mark the way they went out (to exile), for they will return on the same road.

31:22 How long will you waver, i.e., how long will you wait to fulfill the prophecy of v. 6? faithless daughter. What Ephraim has been in the past. a new thing. A new beginning (Isa. 43:19; 48:7). a woman encircles a man. A proverbial phrase, the meaning of which may well be lost. Several interpretations have been proposed. (1) It most likely means "the weak will overcome the strong," so that Israel's return will be the weak (i.e., Israel, whose soldiers had become like women; Jer. 30:6) overcoming the strong (its captors) through God's power. (2) "Encircles" may mean "embraces, clings to" and speaks metaphorically of the relationship between Israel ("a woman") and God ("a man"). (3) Israel's soldiers may so decisively defeat the enemy that on their return they would be surrounded by women without fear of attack from outside. (4) Ancient commentators saw a prediction of the birth of Christ, since he was "encircled" by Mary's womb until he was born, but most modern interpreters conclude that this goes beyond the intent of the passage.

31:23-25 Jeremiah addresses Judah, who will soon join Israel in exile. God will restore Judah and its rejoicing, just as he will Israel's (vv. 2-7).

31:26 At this I awoke may indicate that vv. 3-25 were a vision.

31:27-40 These verses, describing the new covenant, can be divided into three subsections, each introduced with "Behold, the days are coming, declares the Lord" (vv. 27, 31, 38). The days that are coming will involve the return from exile and repopulation of Jerusalem (vv. 27, 38-40) but will also extend into the unspecified future. Here Jeremiah (see also 32:36-44; 50:5) expresses a theme similar to that of Isaiah 40-66 and Ezek. 11:14-21; 16:60-63; 34:25; 36:22-32; 37:26; namely, that the return from exile will also mean a renewal of the covenant for Judah, with the expectation that the nation will get it right this time. The experience of the postexilic community is seen as a down payment on the promises; the time when "they shall all know me" (Jer. 31:34) looks forward to the consummation of all things.

31:27 God will plant (cf. 1:10) Israel and Judah in the land again and sow people and animals everywhere.

31:28 At that time God will be as determined to plant and build as he was to tear down and destroy (cf. 1:10).

31:29-30 sour grapes . . . teeth are set on edge. This proverb was apparently common (cf. Lam. 5:7; Ezek. 18:2); the negation of the proverb (they shall no longer say) means that no one will suffer for the sins of others, for national rebellion against God will cease. The remnant will become the majority.

31:31-34 God will finally remedy the long-standing problem of his people, namely, that they are circumcised in body but so few are circumcised in heart (i.e., truly know the Lord). The benefits that God will provide--knowledge of the Lord and forgiveness--were all offered in the OT but all-too-rarely appropriated. Two major interpretative issues for the Christian reader are: (1) What does the author of Hebrews mean by connecting this prophecy concerning the house of Israel and the house of Judah (Jer. 31:31) with the Messiah (Heb. 8:8-12)? (2) Do the terms in Jer. 31:27, 31, 36-37 focus the prophecy on ethnic Israel or on a redefined Israel (the Jewish-Gentile church)? The second question is much like the one faced in interpreting "all Israel" in Rom. 11:26.

31:31 The new covenant will provide a fresh start for Israel and Judah, the recipients of both the old and now the new covenant (though many interpret the new covenant as beginning entirely with Jews but going on to include Gentiles; see note on vv. 31-34). This is the only OT passage to speak of a new covenant; for NT uses of the phrase, see Luke 22:20; 2 Cor. 3:6; Heb. 8:8-12.

31:32 This new covenant will be different in that it will not be broken, as Israel and Judah broke the first one despite God's faithfulness as a good husband.

31:33 Rather than writing the law on tablets and scrolls (see Ex. 34:1; Deut. 31:9-13) and asking the people to internalize it (Deut. 6:4-9), God will write it on their hearts from the start. He will be the God of this new covenant, just as he was for the old covenant partners who loved him. In Rom. 11:27, Paul takes the words "this will be my covenant with them" from this verse.

31:34 There will be no need for a faithful remnant within the covenant people to teach the unfaithful majority to know God, for all covenant partners will know him. This covenant will include only those who know him, and he will remember their sin no more.

31:35-36 God gives a fixed order to the natural creation, and it is just as impossible for the new covenant (vv. 31-34) to cease as it is for the natural order to cease.

31:37 The full extent of creation is unfathomable, and it is equally unfathomable that God would cast off the Israel of this new covenant.

31:38-40 Jerusalem will soon be destroyed, yet God will eventually rebuild it. When it is totally sacred to the Lord (Zech. 14:20-21), it will not be uprooted or overthrown anymore forever. At that time it will be Zion, the new Jerusalem, the city where God lives with his people in the permanent absence of sin (Isa. 4:2-6; 25:6-12; 65:17-25).