Husband, Father, Shepherd, Savior

I. Introduction

Jer 31:1-30.

Unable to be dated, as before, but likely given as a message of hope during the seige of Nebuchadnezzar.

This continues the same oracle of Ch 30, likely the same “dream.” (vs26).

Different structure, hence the chapter break.

Five portions deliniated by “Thus says the Lord.”

Here, God represents himself in three metaphorical roles, and then we see the repentance of Ephraim.

God as Husband (vs 1-6).

God as Father (vs 7-9)

God as Shepherd (vs 10-14)

Repentance of Ephraim (vs 15-22).

There is transitional material from vs 22-30.

II. Body

God as Husband.

“At that time” continues to point to a near fulfillment, but more importantly to the eschatological “Day of the Lord.”

Jer 30:3, 7, 8, 24.

Jer 31:1, 27, 31.

Continues to emphasize the redemption of all of Israel, but the emphasis in this passage is on the assumptive lost 10 northern tribes.

“all the clans..” vs 1

Samaria (vs 5)

Ephraim (vs 6)

Israel (vs 7)

Israel, Ephraim (vs 9)

Ephraim (vs 18)

Ephraim (vs 20)

Israel (vs 21)

Israel, Judah, Holy Hill (vs 23)

Judah (vs 24)

Israel, Judah (vs 27)

Vs 2 is intentionally vague.

Uses language that looks back to the Exodus: escaping to the wilderness.

Doesn’t perfectly fit, though (sword), and so causes them to look forward as well to escaping the current seige (probably).

Jer 51:49-50 “Babylon must fall for the slain of Israel, just as for Babylon have fallen the slain of all the earth. “You who have escaped from the sword, go, do not stand still! Remember the Lord from far away, and let Jerusalem come into your mind:”

God is very clear that the distance between Himself and His people is not on His end. His love has endured, despite their abandonment of Him. (vs 3)

Tender language of a husband to a wife.

Causes us to recall the imagery of Hosea.

All pronouns here are sing. fem. Directed to “Virgin Israel.” (vs 4).

“Again” 3x in vs 4-5.

Just as God brought them into the promised land in the Exodus and gave them a good land, he will one day bring them back after their captivity.

Restoration of both agricultural success and the life of worship.

Vs 6. Watchmen:

Not defensive against invaders.

Looking for new moon to call Israel to go to Jerusalem to worship.

Exactly what Jeroboam was afraid of. 1 Kings 12:25–30 “Then Jeroboam built Shechem in the hill country of Ephraim and lived there. And he went out from there and built Penuel. And Jeroboam said in his heart, “Now the kingdom will turn back to the house of David. If this people go up to offer sacrifices in the temple of the Lord at Jerusalem, then the heart of this people will turn again to their lord, to Rehoboam king of Judah, and they will kill me and return to Rehoboam king of Judah.” So the king took counsel and made two calves of gold. And he said to the people, “You have gone up to Jerusalem long enough. Behold your gods, O Israel, who brought you up out of the land of Egypt.” And he set one in Bethel, and the other he put in Dan. Then this thing became a sin, for the people went as far as Dan to be before one.”

God’s heart is to be restored in a right relationship with his estranged bride.

God as Father(vs 7-9)

If God is king over all the earth, then his son, Israel, is “chief of the nations.” (vs 7).

Echoes the hope of Deuteronomy 28:13 “And the Lord will make you the head and not the tail, and you shall only go up and not down, if you obey the commandments of the Lord your God, which I command you today, being careful to do them,”

This realization should cause Israel to rejoice and worship. 5 Imperatives

Sing, proclaim, give praise, and say.

Vs 8-9. Restoration is promised not only from Babylon (proximal) but from the “ends of the Earth” (ultimate).

God called Israel his firstborn in Exodus 4:22–23 “Then you shall say to Pharaoh, ‘Thus says the Lord, Israel is my firstborn son, and I say to you, “Let my son go that he may serve me.” If you refuse to let him go, behold, I will kill your firstborn son.’ ””

This exodus will not be like the first Exodus, when the sin of the people caused all who left Egypt to die in the wilderness.

Here, all will make it, even the weakest.

No one will be forgotten, “blind, lame, pregnant, babies”

The first exodus was through a dry place with no water. This will be along streams (lit? Euphrates?)

The first exodus was a wandering path. This will be a straight path.

Vs 10-14, God as Shepherd.

Vs 10, God is the good Shepherd (John 10).

Ultimate regathering is more specifically the intention here (coastlands) vs 10.

This section focuses on the agrarian restoration of Israel

Vs 12:

Three principal crops of Israel were grain (wheat, barley), wine, and olive oil.

Keepers of sheep and cows (flocks and herds).

Vs 13-14

Worship is the rightful response of those in this reality, as before (vs 4, 7).

The exchange of hardship for tranquility is matched by the exchange of mourning to joy, sorrow for gladness.

God as Redeemer.

This section focuses on the transformation of metaphorical Ephraim.

God’s love doesn’t change, but Ephraim’s heart will.

Begins with Rachel weeping in Ramah.

Ramah not where she died. Genesis 35:16–20 “Then they journeyed from Bethel. When they were still some distance from Ephrath, Rachel went into labor, and she had hard labor. And when her labor was at its hardest, the midwife said to her, “Do not fear, for you have another son.” And as her soul was departing (for she was dying), she called his name Ben-oni; but his father called him Benjamin. So Rachel died, and she was buried on the way to Ephrath (that is, Bethlehem), and Jacob set up a pillar over her tomb. It is the pillar of Rachel’s tomb, which is there to this day.”

Ramah is where the captives of Jerusalem, after the seige, were sorted and staged for deportation to Babylon. Jeremiah 40:1 “The word that came to Jeremiah from the Lord after Nebuzaradan the captain of the guard had let him go from Ramah, when he took him bound in chains along with all the captives of Jerusalem and Judah who were being exiled to Babylon.”

Rachel is the mother of Joseph, the grandmother of Ephraim (and Manasseh) , who has been the metaphorical head of the 10 tribes throughout this passage.

Rachel was weeping in history because she would not see her child grow up. She is weeping here because her children are being taken into captivity.

Matthew quotes this passage and sees in it a prophecy of the destruction of the infants of Bethlehem by Herod. Matthew 2:16–18 “Then Herod, when he saw that he had been tricked by the wise men, became furious, and he sent and killed all the male children in Bethlehem and in all that region who were two years old or under, according to the time that he had ascertained from the wise men. Then was fulfilled what was spoken by the prophet Jeremiah: “A voice was heard in Ramah, weeping and loud lamentation, Rachel weeping for her children; she refused to be comforted, because they are no more.””

Vs 16-17. Jeremiah comforts metaphorical Rachel by saying that her “work” of bringing forth the children lost to captivity will not be in vain. They will return.

In ch 30, there were promises of restoration because of the unilateral saving work of God.

There was no sense that the Jews contributed at all to their salvation.

In vs 18-20, there is the first fruit of repentance shown in the entire book of Jeremiah, and it is future, in the eschatological day of the Lord.

“Turning” is a huge idea throughout these four chapters, but here especially.

“Restoring the Fortunes,” Turn the turning (30:3, 18; 31:23, etc.)

Same root word (swb).

“they shall come back” vs 16

“shall come back” vs 17

“bring back” and “I may be restored” vs 18

“I had turned” KEY vs 19

“Return,” “return” vs 21

“encircles” vs 22

“Restore their fortunes” vs 23

It was the “turning away” of Ephraim under Jeroboam that caused this (vs 19).

That is the “turning” that God will “turn back” in the creation of the New Covenant.

God’s love has not wavered, Ephraim’s sin got in the way (vs 20-21).

The way back is clear, it’s the same way you left (vs 21).

Road markers were not a Jewish thing. The Romans installed them throughout the land when they took over.

God is calling them to remember what they did the leave (idolatry in place of His worship) and go backward through that experience.

Unturn the turn.

The climax event of this restoration is vs 22, a “new thing.”

“A woman encircles a man.”

“The most obscure and enigmatic statement in all of Jeremiah” Several commentators.

An estranged wife embraces her husband? Would be simple and answer the first metaphorical picture, but that isn’t new.

A woman defends (in a military sense) a man? That’s new but totally doesn’t fit the context.

A woman shelters (provides for the physical needs of) a man? New? Doesn’t fit the context, but does go with Deuteronomy 32:10 ““He found him in a desert land, and in the howling waste of the wilderness; he encircled him, he cared for him, he kept him as the apple of his eye.”

“Virgin Israel with a man child” Augustine, Jerome, and many who followed.

“Virgin Israel” has been a common metaphorical subject in this chapter (vs 4, 21).

Women bearing children is certainly not new, but if it is “Virgin Israel” with child, that’s new.

Answers Genesis 3:15 “I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and her offspring; he shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise his heel.””

Not the same language, but echoes Isaiah 7:14 “Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign. Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel.”

Certainly not demanded by the text, but Augustine’s interpretation was accepted by most scholars of the early church. Not commonly supported today.

A transitional section ends this portion (vs 23-30).

Restatement of the turning of turning.

Recapitulation of many of the agricultural themes.

Closing of the dream narrative (vs 26).

Restatement of the main verbal ideas of Jeremiah in vs 28 (Jer 1:10).

Statement against the idea that the children suffer for the sins of their parents (vs 29-30).

Counteracts a misunderstanding of Exodus 34:6–7 “The Lord passed before him and proclaimed, “The Lord, the Lord, a God merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness, keeping steadfast love for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, but who will by no means clear the guilty, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children and the children’s children, to the third and the fourth generation.””

Each generation suffers for their own sins.

We all have sin in our own lives.

More clearly ex posited in Ezek 18.

“In those days” the redeemed generation will understand this more clearly.

III. Conclusion/Application

We stand on the other side of this pursuit, but this portion of Jer 31 helps to illustrate the Passion of God to redeem a people that didn’t want to be redeemed.

Ephraim, as a representative of the 10 tribes, went into judgment after hundreds of years of warnings.

God’s heart for them did not waiver.

Ultimately, their descendants will return in repentance and faith.

This passage illustrates for me the immutable will, love, and decree of God to prepare for himself a people (all 12 tribes), despite the hardness of their heart.