Bible Lessons: Jeremiah 31:1-14

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IN our study of the book of Isaiah we learned much about the blessing that will be the portion of the children of Israel when reestablished by God’s power in the land of Palestine. What we find in that way in Jeremiah’s prophecies has a special interest to the believer because of the time the message was given, namely, when the times of the Gentiles (Luke 21:2121Then let them which are in Judea flee to the mountains; and let them which are in the midst of it depart out; and let not them that are in the countries enter thereinto. (Luke 21:21), Rom. 11:2525For I would not, brethren, that ye should be ignorant of this mystery, lest ye should be wise in your own conceits; that blindness in part is happened to Israel, until the fulness of the Gentiles be come in. (Romans 11:25)) were beginning: and God’s earthly people were just about to be (or were already being) transferred to Babylon as the captives of the first great Gentile power.
It was given to Jeremiah, as perhaps to no other prophet of the Old Testament, to tell of the love of God for Israel; this is the more striking because of the then state of the people—so bad that they were being cast out of the land that was their inheritance. It is the knowledge of the love of God, without cause and without measure (declared in the Old Testament and marvelously proved in the New), that draws forth the believer’s adoration and praise. Had it not been for His love, all without a single exception, would be in nature’s darkness and under condemnation, but “God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.” John 3:1616For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. (John 3:16). Precious truth!
Verse 1: “At the same time” is really “At that time,” referring to chapter 30; “all the families of Israel” takes in the lost ten tribes who are yet to be brought back and united with Judah. Verse 2 is also future, for the true reading is “when I go to give him rest”; it speaks, we believe, of the ten tribes and the way God will deal with them before bringing them into the land of their forefathers. (See Ezek. 20:35-88.)
Verse 3: The marginal reading “from afar” should be taken instead of “of old” “The Lord (Jehovah) hath appeared from afar unto me”; the people were in heart far indeed from Him. In accents of infinite tenderness, nevertheless, He addresses them— “Yea, I have loved thee with an everlasting love; therefore with lovingkindness have I drawn thee. I will build thee again, etc.” Why should love be thus felt and expressed by God for a people so wayward? we may ask; yet we need only consider that the Gentile world is at least equal with Israel in departure from the living God. “All have sinned and come short of the glory of God,” as says Romans 3:2828Therefore we conclude that a man is justified by faith without the deeds of the law. (Romans 3:28), which adds: for all that believe: “being justified freely by His grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus.” Because of His love, which nothing can turn away from its objects, utterly unworthy in themselves, He, with lovingkindness, draws them to Himself. Perhaps you beloved reader, have resisted Him in seeking to draw you to Himself. Yield yourself, if yet unsaved, to that loving Saviour; if now a child of God, to that compassionate Father who seeks to bless you; and taste to the full that everlasting love of which Jeremiah witnessed to the children of Judah twenty-five centuries ago.
Verses 5 and 6: “Samaria” and “Ephraim” both speak of the former home of the ten tribes; note the positive assurance in these verses, telling of what God in sovereign mercy will do.
Verse 8: “the coasts of the earth” means the uttermost parts of the world. Verse 9: Why is Ephraim called Jehovah’s first-born? Gen. 41:51, 5251And Joseph called the name of the firstborn Manasseh: For God, said he, hath made me forget all my toil, and all my father's house. 52And the name of the second called he Ephraim: For God hath caused me to be fruitful in the land of my affliction. (Genesis 41:51‑52) shows that Manasseh was the elder, Ephraim the younger of Joseph’s sons; yet in Genesis 48 Ephraim is given the firstborn’s blessing. A number of scriptures may be referred to in seeking the answer to the question, but we shall here refer only to Deut. 33:13-1713And of Joseph he said, Blessed of the Lord be his land, for the precious things of heaven, for the dew, and for the deep that coucheth beneath, 14And for the precious fruits brought forth by the sun, and for the precious things put forth by the moon, 15And for the chief things of the ancient mountains, and for the precious things of the lasting hills, 16And for the precious things of the earth and fulness thereof, and for the good will of him that dwelt in the bush: let the blessing come upon the head of Joseph, and upon the top of the head of him that was separated from his brethren. 17His glory is like the firstling of his bullock, and his horns are like the horns of unicorns: with them he shall push the people together to the ends of the earth: and they are the ten thousands of Ephraim, and they are the thousands of Manasseh. (Deuteronomy 33:13‑17), Psa. 108:7, 87God hath spoken in his holiness; I will rejoice, I will divide Shechem, and mete out the valley of Succoth. 8Gilead is mine; Manasseh is mine; Ephraim also is the strength of mine head; Judah is my lawgiver; (Psalm 108:7‑8) and Ezek. 37:15-1915The word of the Lord came again unto me, saying, 16Moreover, thou son of man, take thee one stick, and write upon it, For Judah, and for the children of Israel his companions: then take another stick, and write upon it, For Joseph, the stick of Ephraim, and for all the house of Israel his companions: 17And join them one to another into one stick; and they shall become one in thine hand. 18And when the children of thy people shall speak unto thee, saying, Wilt thou not show us what thou meanest by these? 19Say unto them, Thus saith the Lord God; Behold, I will take the stick of Joseph, which is in the hand of Ephraim, and the tribes of Israel his fellows, and will put them with him, even with the stick of Judah, and make them one stick, and they shall be one in mine hand. (Ezekiel 37:15‑19), bearing in mind that both Judah and Joseph are used in the Word of God to foreshadow Christ—one as possessor of the title to reign upon earth and the other as the once rejected, now exalted Kinsman, revealing Himself as their abundant Blesser when Israel is at extremity. Ephraim then, whose name means “double fruitfulness”, stands for the reborn nation of Israel in the passages referred to. As to what Ephraim was, historically, in the land of promise, the prophets speak with one voice and that of condemnation; but in Jer. 31 The blessed prospect through mercy of God, and not the dreadful past, is in view.
Verse 10: God has not forgotten Israel, and the nations will learn it to their astonishment and bewilderment and sorrow. He that scattered Israel will gather him, and keep him as a shepherd does his flock. In verses 12-14 is shown what the Millennium will bring to those who are spared through the judgments to be poured out on the earth at the Lord’s appearing; fulness of blessing in earthly things together with the joy of the ransomed. Satan; the deceiver, will be confined then, and all of Israel at least, will be children of God by faith. What a change that day will bring, from the times in which we are living! But for the Christian there is a prospect far more entrancing (Phil. 3:2020For our conversation is in heaven; from whence also we look for the Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ: (Philippians 3:20)).
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