Jeremiah 31 Study Notes

31:1-6 In these verses God declared that he will reunify all Israel. His words of comfort are addressed to all the families of Israel.

31:2 The combining of the wilderness with those who survived the sword links the exodus and wilderness experience with the return from exile in Babylon. Survivors of both events enjoy God’s favor and grace.

31:3 God’s love for Israel has continued up to the present (Dt 7:8; 10:15; Hs 11:1). It is an everlasting and faithful love.

31:4-5 With a threefold repetition of again, Israel’s future will parallel her past. God pictures his love for Israel by calling her his virgin bride (2:1-3; Hs 2:14-23), recalling the early days in the wilderness.

31:6 The assumption is that the temple will be rebuilt in Jerusalem. Ephraim, standing for the ten northern tribes of Israel, will again go up to Zion to worship.

31:7 Israel is called the foremost of the nations (cp. Dt 26:19; Am 6:1) because they are God’s elect. Five imperatives (sing . . . shout . . . proclaim, praise . . . say) are given to Israel to celebrate the great deliverance of God for the remnant of Israel.

31:8 God’s future restoration will come not only from the northern land (Assyria and Babylon), but it will come from remote regions of the earth. This refers to a worldwide regathering in which no one will be excluded.

31:9 The phrase Ephraim is my firstborn means not first in chronology (Ephraim was Joseph’s second son), but first in rank and priority just as Israel was called God’s “firstborn” (Ex 4:22). Jacob (Israel) was God’s “firstborn,” even though he was Isaac’s second son. David, eighth son of Jesse, is called a “firstborn” in Ps 89:27, and Jesus is called “the firstborn over all creation” (Col 1:15; Rv 1:5), both signifying first in rank and importance, not chronology.

31:10 The nations, all Gentiles, are to be told that the one who scattered Israel will gather them.

31:11 The Lord ransomed Jacob, as if he had paid the ransom price (Hb padah; cp. Ex 13:13,15; 34:20). The words redeemed him recall the practice of a family redeemer (Hb ga’al; cp. Lv 25:25,48; Nm 35:12,19; Ru 2:20; 3:9,8,14), a man who was expected to rescue a close relative from danger or hardship.

31:12-14 The harvests will grow, with the result that the priests’ portion will increase with an abundance.

31:15 Rachel, Joseph’s mother, is pictured as weeping in Ramah, a town five miles north of Jerusalem. Ramah served as the staging grounds for the deportation to Babylon (40:1-4). Rachel was Jacob’s favorite wife. She died giving birth to Benjamin (Gn 35:18). She is also referred to as the mother of all ten northern tribes of Israel since her descendants Ephraim and Manasseh were heads of the two leading tribes in that region. The citation in Mt 2:17-18 depicts Rachel as the embodiment of all Israel’s mothers weeping for their slain children, a tragedy that Herod’s atrocities called to mind once more.

31:16-17 Rachel is twice told to stop weeping, because your children will return.

31:16 The reward for Rachel’s work is that her children will come back from exile from all over the world, just as Jacob and Rachel returned from serving Laban with all their children as their “reward.”

31:18-20 Ephraim, representing the ten northern tribes, finally saw how he had acted as an untrained [or “undisciplined”] calf (cp. Hs 10:11) and as a rebel against God. But now chastened and repentant, he struck his thigh . . . ashamed and humiliated. Ephraim will be forgiven and, like the prodigal, will return home. God’s love will triumph over Israel’s rebellion (Hs 11:1-11).

31:21 These road markers and signposts would lead Israel back home from Babylon and function as signposts of the “ancient paths” they had traveled with God (6:16).

31:22 Virgin Israel is called a faithless daughter—an apostate, backsliding turnabout. The phrase a female will shelter a man is perhaps the most obscure phrase in all of Jeremiah. Some see this as a prophecy of the virgin birth of Christ. But the word “female” does not have a definite article with it, and such a general word for “woman” cannot be made to mean a virgin. Further, “to shelter” does not mean conceiving, nor does any of this fit the context. No one interpretation satisfies all difficulties since the intention of the verb “to shelter” is uncertain. Something new may mean that “woman” refers to Israel and “man” to the Lord, so a new relationship between Israel and her God will arise in the latter days.

31:23-25 Holy mountain refers to Zion. It occurs twenty-three times in the Prophets and Psalms. Even the lowest classes are promised security.

31:26 Some people take this verse to be a contradiction of 23:25, where Jeremiah criticized revelatory dreams. But there he spoke only of the dreams of false prophets (see note at 23:25-29).

31:27-28 Look, the days are coming occurs fourteen times in Jeremiah, and seven times elsewhere in the OT. Here it echoes the use in 30:3 (see note there). Verse 28 recalls Jeremiah’s commissioning in 1:10,12.

31:29-30 The proverb about the fathers eating sour grapes, and the children’s teeth being set on edge reflects the widespread belief that they were being unfairly punished for the sins of the previous generation, but Moses taught that this was not true (Dt 24:16). Ezekiel also refuted this proverb (Ezk 18:2-4).

31:31-34 The NT frequently used this passage about the new covenant (Lk 22:20; 1Co 11:25; 2Co 3:5-14; and Heb 8:8-12, the longest quote from the OT in the NT). It is a classic text that has shaped much of Christian theological reflection.

31:31 The new covenant is set in eschatological times of the Messiah and the consummation of history (the days are coming). The name of this new covenant suggests a radical break from past covenants. But the word for “new” in Hebrew can also mean “renewed covenant,” especially since three-fourths of the contents of this covenant recall the Abrahamic-Davidic covenants. The principal parties of the covenant are the house of Israel and the house of Judah. While there has been a cleavage between the ten northern tribes and the two southern tribes, both parts are included here, suggesting a rejoining of the two parts. This new covenant also applies to the church because Gentiles were part of this continuing Abrahamic-Davidic new covenant when God promised that in Abraham’s seed all nations would be blessed. Among the other names given to this new covenant in the OT is permanent covenant (32:40; cp. Heb 13:20) which speaks to its duration.

31:32 The problem with the old covenant was not with its Maker or its contents, but with God’s people who broke their marriage vows to him (cp. 11:10). God said this covenant would not be like the covenant I made with their ancestors at the exodus or on Sinai, but it would be made “after those days” (v. 33) when the people of Israel are restored to their land.

31:33 God will still place his law within them and write it on their hearts. This law or instruction is a point of continuity between the old and new covenants, only this time God would write the law internally rather than externally on tablets. Gone would be the evil will and heart of the people, which had characterized Israel in the past (13:10; 18:12; 23:17).

31:34 Once the merely external law is a thing of the past, no longer will one teach his neighbor or his brother, saying, ‘Know the Lord,’ for they will all know me. Teaching will also be a thing of the past. From the least to the greatest of them indicates all people no matter their social class (“great” to the “poor,” cp. 5:4-5) or age (“youngest” to the “oldest,” cp. 6:13). The phrase I will forgive . . . and never again remember their sin reflects the grace of God that forgives sin and the omniscience of God that chooses not to call it to mind or to hold it against us.

31:35-37 The permanence of God’s promise to Israel is compared to the durability of the cosmos: If this fixed order departs . . . only then will Israel’s descendants cease . . . will I reject all of Israel’s descendants. It is impossible for Israel to disappear, or to cease existing.

31:38 Once again in days connected to the consummation of history, Jerusalem will be rebuilt from the Tower of Hananel to the Corner Gate. The Tower of Hananel was in the northeast corner of Jerusalem (Neh 3:1; 12:39; Zch 14:10), and the Corner Gate was probably at the northwest corner of the city wall (2Kg 14:13; 2Ch 26:9).

31:39 The hill of Gareb and Goah are unknown to us today. Since the other places mentioned were on the north side of Jerusalem, it may be assumed that these unknown places were on the south.

31:40 The valley, presumably composed of corpses and ashes, must be the Ben Hinnom Valley (see note at 7:31), where Israel buried the dead. The Horse Gate apparently was on the eastern wall of the city at the northern end of the Kidron Valley (Neh 3:28).