Jeremiah 30:4-11

I. THE PROMISE OF RESTORATION Jeremiah 30:4-24

In Chapter 30 the focus is upon the promise of restoration to the homeland. Running throughout the chapter are four points of emphasis: (1) The yoke is removed from Jacob; (2) the wounds of Zion are healed; (3) the restored community is blessed; and (4) the pur poses of God are certain.[246]

[246] Hall (op. cit., pp. 273-75) has presented an appealing outline of this chapter: Divine Judgment (4-11); Divine Chastisement (Jeremiah 30:12-17); Divine Blessing (18-22); Divine Purpose (Jeremiah 30:23-24).

A. The Promise to Enslaved Israel Jeremiah 30:4-11

The deliverance of Israel from servitude to Babylon will be preceded by a period of great trouble for Israel. The day of distress must precede the day of deliverance.

1. The day of distress (Jeremiah 30:4-7)

TRANSLATION

(4) And these are the words which the LORD has spoken concerning Israel and Judah, (5) For thus says the LORD: We have heard a cry of terror, fear, and there is no peace! (6) Ask now and see! Can a male give birth? Why do I see every mighty man with his hands upon his loins like a woman in childbirth? and why have all faces turned pale? (7) How sad it is! For that day is great, and no other compares to it. It is a time of distress for Jacob, but he shall be saved from it.

COMMENTS

Jeremiah begins the prophecy which is to contain the promise of deliverance in a manner that will intensify the contrast that is coming. He describes in graphic terms the distress that Jacob, the entire covenant nation, is to experience. He hears the people saying, We have heard a voice (or sound) of trembling, of fear, and not of peace (Jeremiah 30:5). A great host is advancing. The people must submit themselves to the uncertainties and horrors of war and siege; they are scared. Convulsive pain grips the men of the nations so that they clutch their loins like a woman in travail (Jeremiah 30:6). That day of trouble which ushers in deliverance for the people of God will be great in suffering and distress (Jeremiah 30:7). This period of fearful tumult and upheaval is called the time of Jacob's trouble (Jeremiah 30:7). Although there are several periods of discipline, judgment, adversity and persecution of the people of God this is the only use of the term the time of Jacob's trouble in Scripture.

It is not easy to determine precisely what period of time is being described in Jeremiah 30:5-7. Three basic views can be found among the commentators. (a) Some regard the time of Jacob's trouble to be the Babylonian siege of Jerusalem in 587 B.C. According to this view Jeremiah is describing something that was presently taking place. (b) Others see here a prediction of confusion and fear that would grip the Jews at the fall of the Babylonian empire in 539 B.C. As this view would interpret it, the exiles in Babylonia would share the consternation of their captors when the Persians armies started marching south toward Babylon. (c) A third interpretation would regard the time of Jacob's trouble as a period that is yet future. It is not uncommon to find commentators who regard the prefillment of the passage in the events of 539 B.C. while regarding the fulfillment to be yet future.

The present writer is inclined to think that the period of Jacob's trouble began with the first deportation of Israelites to foreign soil in 733 B.C. This deportation certainly launched a day of distress for the covenant people. First they were oppressed by the Assyrians and then by the Babylonians. The calamity predicted by all the prophets had begun. With the final crushing blow in 587 B.C. the nation ceased to exist. Israel was a people without a land. The time of Jacob's trouble extended to 539 B.C. when Babylon fell to the Persians and the exiles were allowed by the benevolent Cyrus to return to their homeland. This was the act that saved Israel in the day of distress (Jeremiah 30:7).

2. The day of deliverance (Jeremiah 30:8-11)

TRANSLATION

(8) And it shall come to pass in that day (oracle of the LORD of hosts) that I will shatter his yoke from upon your neck, and I will snap his bonds; and strangers shall no more enslave him. (9) But they shall serve the LORD their God, and David their King, whom I will raise up for him. (10) And as for you, O my servant Jacob, Do not fear (oracle of the LORD), and do not be dismayed, O Israel; for behold, I will save you from afar, and your seed from the land of their captivity. And Jacob shall return, and rest and be secure, and no one shall disturb him. (11) For I am with you (oracle of the LORD) to deliver you; for I will make a full end of all the nations where I scattered You; but I will not make a full end of you. But I will correct You in measure, and I certainly will not regard you as innocent.

COMMENTS

In stark contrast to the time of Jacob's trouble is the glorious day of his deliverance. The yoke of the oppressor will be shattered and the bonds of captivity will be loosed. Foreigners would not subject Israel to bondage anymore (Jeremiah 30:8).

The question arises whether or not Jeremiah 30:8 refers exclusively to the deliverance from Babylonian bondage which occurred in 539 B.C. Two facts might lead one to think that the reference reaches beyond 539 B.C. First, the name of the oppressor is omitted. More weighty is the statement that foreigners would no more subject Israel to bondage. Of course, history records that Israel was subject to foreign powers after the fall of BabylonPersia, Greece, the Ptolemaic and Seleucid empires and finally the Romans. If Jeremiah 30:8 refers exclusively to the release from Babylonian captivity then the last clause must be taken to mean that never again would Israel experience a bondage such as they experienced under the Babylonians. Never again would they be carried away en masse to a foreign land. The other alternative is to regard Jeremiah 30:8 as a general prediction that God would shatter the yoke of any nation which tried to oppress Israel down to the time that Messiah would come.

Once the yoke of the Assyrian-Babylonian captivity is removed from the neck of Israel, once more they would be able to worship and serve the Lord in their homeland. Freedom of religion is the highest form of liberty. They would also serve David their king whom the Lord would raise up for them. In this verse Jeremiah is reiterating the prediction of Hosea 3:5. This verse does not imply that David will literally reappear to rule over Israel as some modern cults have alleged. Rather it is the Messiah about whom the prophet speaks. Elsewhere He is spoken of under the name David as well (e.g., Ezekiel 34:23-24; Ezekiel 37:24). There is obviously a time gap between the two halves of Jeremiah 30:9.[247] Frequently in predictive prophecy events which are separated by centuries of time are woven together as if they followed one another in immediate chronological order.

[247] As an alternative Laetsch argues that long before Bethlehem the Messiah was worshiped.

In view of the fact that God has promised a grand deliverance to His people they need not be terrified at the horrors of the present day. God will deliver them from the land of exile no matter how distant it may be. Jacob shall one day return to his own land there to dwell peaceably (Jeremiah 30:10). This deliverance will be possible for two reasons: (a) The Lord is with them to deliver them; and (b) God will utterly destroy the nations which had taken Israel captive (Jeremiah 30:11). Throughout the bitterness of the day of distress Israel should realize that God has not utterly rejected them. He is discipline them in measure, literally, according to what is just. In bringing judgment upon Israel God was not acting capriciously or merely to satisfy a feeling of revenge. Israel must be punished; but that punishment had a positive purpose. Through exile and suffering Israel would experience a national regeneration. The nation would be purged and purified from idolatry in preparation for the coming of Messiah.