Jeremiah 31

Notes

Ver. 1-6. I will manifest myself to the Hebrew tribes and gospel church as their God, and will cause them to acknowledge, worship, and serve me, as my people; as I formerly did in the Arabian desert, on the way to Canaan, when first I espoused the Israelites to myself as my peculiar people, and bestowed on them my ordinances and miraculous favours, after I had delivered them from the murderous cruelty of Pharaoh and of the Amalekites; for that ancient love manifested to them is neither ceased nor weakened. I will yet establish your government in both church and state; and ye shall have great ground of rejoicing, on account of both temporal and spiritual benefits. And ministers and others shall stir up their companions to join the church and attend the ordinances of God. 7-9. For, to the infinite joy and comfort of all the friends of the Jews, or of the gospel church, I will marvellously deliver them, and conduct them, however unfit in themselves, to their own land, or to the new-covenant state; render them penitent and prayerful, and in the most affectionate manner supply them with everything necessary. 10-14. All the nations around shall know and be affected with the marvellous salvation, temporal and spiritual, which I will work for them; they themselves shall, with great joy, repair to the temple and the ordinances of the gospel, in order to praise me for my diversified kindness. Universal shall be the joy and prosperity of all ranks; ministers and people shall be plentifully supplied, and be mutual blessings one to another. 15-17. The terrible mourning occasioned by the captivity in Babylon, the slaughter of the infants at Bethlehem, or rejection of the Jewish nation, shall be turned into joy, by the restoration of the Benjamites and other Jews, and by the accession of multitudes to the gospel church. 18-20. Deeply penitent for their sins, and earnestly desirous of spiritual blessings, shall the Jews return from Babylon, and especially from their present dispersion; and graciously will I receive them into favour, and abundantly bless them. 21-26. Return with the utmost care and despatch to your country, and erect marks by the way to direct such as may follow you: yea, though for your sinful apostasies ye have been long tossed to and fro, prepare for a return to your country, where the Messiah shall be born; and after your return, great shall be your reformation in righteousness and holiness; numerous shall be your flocks of cattle, and as numerous your worshippers of God; for I will refresh and supply you with every good thing.—Upon this Jeremiah awaked, and was delighted with the comfortable revelations which had been made to him in his dream or vision. 27-30. I will exceedingly multiply themselves and their cattle; and will manifest myself as eager to restore and bless them as ever I seemed to destroy them. Nor shall they have any more reason to complain that they are punished for their fathers' iniquities, but every one shall suffer for his own. 31-34. And I will renew my covenant with them in a more abundantly gracious form than I did at Sinai, and which they have so often transgressed by their idolatry and other wickedness, notwithstanding my kindness to them. But freely bestowing myself upon them as their God, adopting them as my people, and forgiving all their iniquities, I will clearly enlighten the minds of multitudes in the knowledge of the gospel, and renew their hearts, and dispose them to a holy and cheerful obedience to all my commandments.

Ver. 22. A woman shall compass a man. Pearson, Gill, and other learned expositors, interpret this expression of the miraculous conception of Christ. Boothroyd translates it 'a woman shall put to flight the mighty man;' and, with Willet, Gataker, and others, considers it an expressive mode of saying, that 'the weak and timid woman shall terrify and conquer the strong and courageous man.' See ver. 11. C.

Ver. 27. When, in healthfulness, peace, and prosperity, both men and cattle shall multiply as the corn. This promise acquires peculiar emphasis when it is remembered that, at present, many districts of Judea are nearly uninhabited. See Wylie's Modern Judea, p. 306. C.

Ver. 34. Since a time will come when 'they shall teach no more every man his neighbour, saying, Know the Lord,' and that because 'all shall (have come to) know him,' it follows that it is the right and duty of 'every man' to teach his neighbour; and that the right never ceases, and the duty never relaxes, but in proportion as the necessity ceases by the universal diffusion of religious knowledge in principle and practice. C.

Ver. 37. Until man can measure infinity in heaven above, or penetrate to the centre of the earth beneath, I will still, notwithstanding their ingratitude and rebellion, preserve a 'remnant' of Israel, a seed for the revival of the whole, 'according to the election of grace.' C.

Ver. 38. The prophecy includes the restoration of Jerusalem on earth to her former dimensions and glory, as the emblem of the 'heavenly Jerusalem,' the 'city that hath foundations,' and 'the kingdom that cannot be moved.' C.

Reflections.—Thrice happy are the families which have God for their God! Remembrance of our own and the church's former deliverances is of great use to prevent despondency under long and sore troubles. But all our comfort and holiness must flow from God's everlasting love, fixed on and exercised towards us. It is pleasant when those that were chief rebels against God become his most zealous subjects and servants. But if he build up his church, and restore to us the ordinances of his grace, all must issue to the praise of his glory. And praises to him for mercies bestowed must be attended with supplications for what he has promised. When he intends to deliver, no distance, no weakness, no paucity, no grief, no perilous passage, can stop or even retard his designs. If he calls us to follow him, he will either find or make us a plain way; nor will he allow us to want any necessary supply. Great is the goodness of God observable in common providences, but especially in new-covenant blessings. Thrice happy are they whose souls are richly supplied by the Holy Ghost from the all-containing fulness of God, and who taste his goodness in everything they receive. It is not the death, but the justly apprehended loss, of our relations, that should disquiet us; and solid hopes of the happy issue of troubles will make us bear them patiently. True repentance is a deep and thorough work; and renders a sinner very loathsome and wicked in his own view. Nor do sins of youth appear small under its influence. But all turning to God must be produced by his own Spirit in us; who introduces his grace, by making us to perceive gospel truths. And God is ever ready to give his most rebellious children a kind reception when penitent. His mercy cannot forbear working for them while he frowns; and at last it must break forth in unnumbered and everlasting blessings. But what an encouragement to faith and repentance is the incarnation and work of our Redeemer!—Thrice happy are societies and souls where righteousness towards men, and piety towards God, are closely connected. Refreshing is that sleep in which men are entertained with comfortable promises from God. And no prospect is more pleasant to gracious souls than the spiritual flourishing of God's church.—How delightful is it to have Jehovah rejoicing over us to do us good! And no wonder sin against him be bitterness in its latter end. But infinitely gracious is his covenant, and suited in form, in matter, in order, and in firmness, to our every need. And while all things in nature are pregnant with important instructions and comforts, it is holiness, connected with outward privileges, that renders them truly steadfast and durable.