CHAPTER 30
Jacob's Trouble, and His Salvation
WITH chapter 30 we enter upon a new phase of Jeremiah's prophecy. It is an emphatic pronouncement of God's gracious purpose in Israel notwithstanding all their sins, and of the New Covenant in the person of David (the Beloved) their king, and his subsequent immortal reign in Zion when "the palace shall remain after the manner thereof".
"The word that came to Jeremiah from the Lord, saying, Thus speaketh the Lord God of Israel, saying, Write all the words that I have spoken in a book. For, lo, the days come saith the Lord, that I will bring again the captivity of my people Israel and Judah, saith the Lord: and I will cause them to return to the land that I gave to their fathers, and they shall possess it" (verses 1-3).
The first thing that challenges us here is the fact that the message is the word of the Lord: "All the words that I have spoken". Who but God could have spoken all these things? We are now some 2,530 years beyond the date of the writing, and are in a position to judge whether the things have so far come to pass according to the scripture.
Has Jacob been in trouble since the day when these things were written? Has David their king (the Beloved their king) been raised up unto them? Has there been a full end made of Jacob? Has he been divinely punished? Is there "a tempest of the Lord" arising in these "latter days", which contemporary witnesses are "considering"? Has there been, and is there now, "trouble" for Jacob in the north country? Has Rachel wept for her children? Does she still weep? Has the Lord created "a new thing in the earth" so that "a woman hath compassed a man"? Hath he made "a new covenant" with the house of Israel? Hath the city Jerusalem arisen in the latter days from the dust of ages? And are there signs of her rebuilding unto the Lord? Will the prophet "awake and behold"?
To ask these questions is to answer them, at any rate in the eyes of those who know the Bible and history. From B.C. 600 to the present day the purpose of God upon earth has been and is being attested in the history of Israel and of the Gentiles. And, as Daniel said to Nebuchadnezzar, "the dream is certain, and the interpretation sure" (Dan. 2: 45).
Obediently to the word of the Lord, the prophet begins to write: "And these are the words that the Lord spake concerning Israel and concerning Judah. For thus saith the Lord: We have heard a voice of trembling, of fear, and not of peace. Ask ye now, and see whether a man (a male) doth travail with child? Wherefore do I see every man with his hands on his loins, as a woman in travail, and all faces are turned into paleness? Alas! for that day is great, so that none is like it : it is even the time of Jacob's trouble; but he shall be saved out of it " (verses 4-7).
What "day" is this? The answer in the very terms of the context is "the time of Jacob's trouble". The scripture expressions "the day", "that day", "the day of the Lord", do not connote a literal day of twenty-four or any other number of hours; but rather a change of dispensation in relation to the "time of the end", of which the angel spoke to the prophet Daniel (11: 40). The phraseis used in what is called "an eschatological sense", i.e., a sense related to the end as determined by God for this present evil world, for the time of the Gentiles, that the world to come, or future habitable, may be introduced, which is by contrast the time of the Jews, the time of Jacob, the day of the Lord in the sense of "the day of Christ" of the apostolic allusions.
The day of the Lord of the New Testament allusions is not Sunday, though it is a sabbath. In the language of the Lord Jesus Christ himself it is the day of the post-resurrectional manifestation of the Son of Man "like lightning" (Luke 17: 24); in "the day of our Lord Jesus Christ" (1 Cor. 1: 8), in which the apostle Paul hoped that, with the brethren, he might be found "blameless".
This "day of the Lord" implies a time of judgment, by which this present evil world will be punished and subdued, so that the Kingdom of God may come, and God's will may be done upon earth as it is in heaven. For God has appointed such a day (Acts 17: 31) as Paul told the Athenians. God had overlooked the "times of ignorance", but by the apostolic preaching of Christ he "commanded all men everywhere to repent", in view of the coming "day of Christ". This day would be ushered in by fiery judgments (Mal. 4:1) long foretold in the scriptures, and typified by the judgments of God that had fallen upon Egypt, Midian (Isa. 9: 4 with Judges 7), Babylon (Isa. 13) and other powers. It is coming upon "all the nations" (Obad. verse 15), and the particular crisis in relation to Jacob is the subject of the striking prophecy of Ezekiel (chapters 38, 39). In chapter 39: 8 we read, "Behold, it is come, and it is done, saith the Lord God; this is the day whereof I have spoken". So if we study paticularly Ezekiel's prophecy of the resurrection of the dry bones of the whole house of Israel (ch. 37), and the two following chapters in connection with history that is now being made, something like an adequate understanding of Jer. 30: 7, 8, will begin to dawn upon the mind.
"For it shall come to pass in that day, saith the Lordof hosts, that I will break his yoke from off thy neck, and will burst thy bonds, and strangers shall no more serve themselves of him" (verse 8).
"His yoke" in this place, is by the parallelism explained to mean the yoke of "strangers". Buttheexpression really goes back to the very beginning of the national history. Jacob was the "younger" twin brother of Esau. The apparent paradox is explained by the circumstances narrated in Gen. 25: 24-26.
When Rebekah "went to enquire of the Lord" concerning her tumultuous pregnancy ("the children struggled within her”) the Lord said unto her, ''Two nations are in thy womb, and two manner of people shall be separated from thy bowels; and the one people shall be stronger than the other people; and the elder shall serve the younger" (verses 22, 23). The apostolic comment upon this is, that it illustrates "the purpose of God according to election" (Rom. 9: 11). But at the outset it looked as if the younger should serve the elder, for Jacob, having secured the birthright which Esau despised, was hated by his brother and had to flee the country. And this notwithstanding the emphatic blessing of Isaac recorded in Gen. 27: 29. As to Esau, what "blessing" remained to him is recorded in verses 37-40: "By thy sword shaft thou live, and thou shalt serve thy brother; but it shall come to pass that when thou shalt have dominion (break loose, R.V.) thou shalt break (shake, R.V.) his yoke from off thy neck”.
So the ultimate dominion was for Jacob; but there would be a temporary subjection of Jacob to Esau. And as this represented "two manner of peoples", the ultimate dominion would be for "the holy seed" (Isa. 6: 12), but the temporary dominion for the profane or "the Gentiles". So "the house of Jacob shall be a fire... and the house of Esau for stubble... and saviours shall come up upon Mount Zion to judge the Mount of Esau ; and the kingdom shall be the Lord's" (Obad. verses 18, 21).
This is the great climax of "that day". In the world-war of 1914-18, Germany proclaimed "the Day", and sought to found a Teutonic world-empire upon the ruins of the British Empire and all others. It was not to be; it only prepared the way for "that day" of this prophecy, the outstanding sign ofwhich is the immense change which has come over the Holy Land and Israel by reason of the great world-war.
"They shall serve the Lord their God, and David their king, whom I will raise up unto them" (verse 9).
This is the Saviour who shall come up upon Mount Zion, the "Chief Shepherd" of the new order of Shepherd-kings in Israel. It need scarcely be explained that the word David means Beloved, and that the very name itself is prophetic of Messiah, the "Beloved Son" of God (Matt. 3: 17) and of David (Luke 1: 32). In both Jer. 30: 9 and Hos. 3: 5 the expression, "the Lord their God and David their king" denotes a theophany and a theocracy. "The day" of the former passage is also the day of the latter: "Afterward shall the children of Israel return, and seek the Lord their God, and David their king; and shall fear the Lord and his goodness in the latter days". In Ezek. 34: 23, 24 Messiah is described as God's "One shepherd", and as his "Prince": "And I the Lord will be their God, and my servant David a Prince among them; I the Lord have spoken it". And in chapter 37: 22, 24, 25, this "One king" is said to be "David my servant", and "their Prince for ever".
This "for ever" is implied in the expression of Jer. 30: 9, "whom I will raise up unto them". The "raising up" goes beyond the manifestation in the flesh, though that is included. This is the apostolic teaching of both Peter and Paul: "This Jesus hath God raised up (from the dead) whereof we all are witnesses" (Acts 2: 32). "As concerning that God raised him up from the dead, now no more (being about) to return to corruption, he said on this wise, I will give you the sure mercies of David" (Acts 13: 34).
"Therefore fear thou not, O my servant Jacob, saith the Lord; neither be dismayed, O Israel: for lo, I will save thee from afar, and thy seed from the land of their captivity; and Jacob shall return, and shall be in rest, and none shall make him afraid.. For I am with thee, saith the Lord, to save thee: though I make a full end of all nations whither I have scattered thee, yet will I not make a full end of thee; but I will correct thee in measure, and will not leave thee altogether unpunished" (verses 10, 11).
We must remember that "Jacob" and "Israel" here mean primarily the redeemed, for whose sakes are all things. They are "the holy seed" who are "the substance" of the nation. Secondarily the national aspect comes in; and, as concerning this, we have the most abundant proof that Jeremiah's prophecy is the word of God; for we have more than 2,500 years of a history to look back upon, and "a full end" has been made of Babylon and all the other "Great Powers" whither God has scattered Israel, but "Jacob" is with us still, and is "returning" to the land of his original divine settlement, being the subject of a divine national resurrection (Ezek. 37).
As to the "correction in measure", what a "measure" it has been! Those 2,500 years' history of the Jews testify to "the goodness and severity of God" in a way that is not to be found in any other nation upon earth.
The reason of all this is given in verse 12: "For thy bruise is incurable, and thy wound is grievous"..."Thy sorrow is incurable for the multitude of thine iniquity: because thy sins were increased, I have done these things unto thee" (verse 15). These were the "causes of banishment" of which Jeremiah spoke in Lam. 2:14: persistent apotasy and giving heed to the false prophets.
But in spite of it all there was a divine remedy: "Therefore all they that devour thee shall be devoured.... For I will restore health unto thee, and I will heal thee of thy wounds, saith the Lord; because they called thee an Outcast, saying, This is Zion, whom no man seeketh after" (verses 16, 17).
But if Jacob thus suffered all this punishment, were the nations to escape? By no means, as indeed Jeremiah had already foretold (ch. 25). The turn of the Gentiles should come, as Jeremiah further said in Lam. 1: 21, "Mine enemies have heard of my trouble; they are glad that thou hast done it: thou wilt bring the day that thou hast proclaimed, and they shall be like unto me".
"Thus saith the Lord, Behold, I will bring again the captivity of Jacob's tents, and have mercy on his dwelling-places; and the city shall be builded upon her own heap, and the palace shall remain after the manner thereof" (verse 18).
"Tents", "dwelling places", "city", "heap" (tell), "palace"—all these terms are challenging, the central idea being the temple-throne of the Lord God of Israel. In the beginning of the nation's history God commanded the construction of the tabernacle in the wilderness, saying unto the children of Israel, "Let them make me a sanctuary that I may dwell among them" (Exod. 25: 8). But because of Israel's apostasy God "greatly abhorred" him, "so that he forsook the tabernacle of Shiloh, the tent which he had among men" (Psa. 78: 60). And later he gave the whole city Jerusalem over to destruction at the hands of the Babylonians and the Romans.
But Jeremiah in this place foretells a reversal of all this. A tent of God will be once more pitched upon Mount Zion (Ezek. 41: 1). (The R.V. margin here correctly says, "Heb. tent", with a reference to Exod. 26 and the construction of the tabernacle.) In a later place in Ezekiel (ch. 43: 12) we read, "Upon the top of the mountain the whole limit thereof round about shall be most holy". Psalm 48, contemplating this "mountain of God's holiness", says, "God is known in her palaces for a refuge"... "This God is our God for ever and ever; he will be our guide for evermore" (R. V. marg.). "Peace be within thy walls, and prosperity within thy palaces. For my brethren and companions' sakes I will now say, Peace be within thee" (Psa. 122: 8). This is the spirit of Christ speaking in theprophet. Jesus once said the like in Jerusalem just after hisresurrection from the dead (John 20: 19, 21, 26). He will say the like again in Jerusalem presently.
He is the individual illustration of the "manner" of the new divine "Palace", seeing this will be the abode of the Immortals, who, like him, and because of him, will be able to say, "We live, who were dead; and behold, we are alive for evermore, Amen; for thou, O Lord, hast liberated us; for thou hast the keys of Hades and of death" (Rev. 1: 18).
The "heap" (Heb. tell) is the original site of Jerusalem, which has been the subject of so many sieges that the rubbish of the ruins is in places nearly a hundred feet deep. The Hebrew word is derived from a verb meaning "to heap up, to make high", and Gesenius says it denotes "especially a heap of ruins". Because cities were commonly built upon hills, the word enters into many compound names in the Bible. The name Tel-abib (Ezek. 3: 15), the Jewish settlement of the captives near the River Chebar, now so well-known from its application to the wonderful new Jewish city of the restoration near Jaffa, is prophetic and memorial of the divine purpose here on record in the book of Jeremiah.
Already we almost hear some sort of distant murmur of the glorious song of rejoicing promised in the text here :—
"And out of them shall proceed thanksgiving and the voice of them that make merry: and I will multiply them, and they shall not be few: I will also glorify them, and they shall not be small. Their children also shall be as aforetime, and their congregation shall be established before me, and I will punish all that oppress them"(verses 19, 20).
"And their nobles shall be of themselves, and their Governor shall proceed from the midst of them; and I will cause him to draw near, and he shall approach unto me; for who is this that engaged his heart to approach unto me? saith the Lord. And ye shall be my people, and I will be your God" (verses 21, 22).
Here the R.V. has "Prince" (singular) for "nobles", and "Ruler" for "Governor". The Hebrew word forPrince is addeer, which signifies mighty, illustrious, prince; and in a moral sense, noble, excellent. It is found in the first and last verses of Psalm 8 where David by the spirit, celebrating his own victory over Goliath, and speaking more remotely of the excellence and greatness of the Christ (Heb. 2: 6-9), says, "O Lord, our Lord, how excellent is thy name in all the earth", In Psalm 16, where David is again speaking by the Spirit concerning Christ, it is found in the plural with reference to "the saints" ("the holy seed"):— "I have said unto the Lord, Thou art my Lord, I have no good beyond thee. As for the saints that are in the earth, they are the excellent in whom is all my delight". And, as is well known, the psalm goes on to speak of the resurrection of Christ. Over all these "excellent holy ones" is His Excellency "the Governor" of this prophecy of Jeremiah.
"I will cause him to draw near, and he shall approach unto me." In the visions of Daniel, he saw that "One like the Son of Man came with the clouds of heaven, and came to the Ancient of days, and they brought him near before him; and there was given him dominion, and glory and a kingdom" (7: 13, 14). And when the disciples, at the first appearing of Jesus, "thought that the kingdom of God should immediately appear", he spoke to them the parable of the nobleman who "went into a far country to receive for himself a kingdom and to return" (Luke 19: 11-27). He thus identified himself with Daniel's vision.