Jeremiah 31:23-30

D. New Conditions Jeremiah 31:23-30

TRANSLATION

(23) Thus says the LORD of hosts the God of Israel: Yet they shall speak this word in the land of Judah and in its cities when I reverse their fortunes: May the LORD, the Habitation of Justice, bless you, O mountain of holiness! (24) And Judah and all of its cities will dwell there together, farmers and nomadic shepherds. (25) For I satiate the weary soul and every languishing SOU1 I fill up. (26) At this moment I awoke and looked, and my sleep was pleasant to me. (27) Behold, days are coming (oracle of the LORD) when I will sow the house of Israel and the house of Judah with the seed of men and the seed of cattle. (28) And it will come to pass as I have looked upon them to uproot, tear down, raze, destroy and do hurt, so will I look upon them to build and to plant (oracle of the LORD). (29) In those days they shall not say any more, The fathers have eaten sour grapes but the teeth of the children have been set on edge. (30) But every one shall die for his own iniquity; every man who eats sour grapes, his own teeth shall be set on edge.

COMMENTS

After the prophet has promised Ephraim, the ten northern tribes, an abundant material and spiritual blessing from God he does the same for Judah. -When God's people return from exile completely new conditions will exist throughout the land. Pure religion will be restored. The people will again pronounce blessings upon the sacred sanctuary and the holy city. Throughout the cities of Judah the people will say, May the Lord, the Habitation of Justice, bless you, O mountain of holiness (Jeremiah 31:23). In both the title for God[270] and the designation of the holy city[271] the people who return from exile seem to realize the important place of justice and holiness for the first time.

[270] On the basis of Jeremiah 50:7 the present writer takes the phrase Habitation of Justice to be a title for God. Others regard this as a title for Jerusalem and/or the Temple.

[271] The expression mountain of holiness or holy mountain is used both for the Temple mountain and for Jerusalem itself. See Psalms 2:6; Isaiah 11:9; Isaiah 27:13; Isaiah 66:20; Daniel 9:16; Zechariah 8:3.

Not only will idyllic conditions exist in the realm of religion but also among the various elements of society. Peace and harmony shall exist between farmers and nomads (Jeremiah 31:24). The weary world shall find rest and the sorrowful will find abundant comfort (Jeremiah 31:25).[272]

[272] In Hebrew the verbs are in the perfect or completed state. It is another example of the so-called prophetic perfect which represents future facts as already accomplished.

At this point Jeremiah says something rather unexpected. He declares that he awoke from a deep.[273] The question is whether real physical sleep is meant or some ecstatic condition resembling sleep. On the whole it is best to think in terms of real sleep for dreams were frequently the channels of communication for divine revelation to prophets.[274] Since the prophecies just enunciated were hopeful and comforting it is quite understandable why the prophet describes his sleep as sweet.

[273] There can be little doubt that it is Jeremiah who is speaking in Jeremiah 31:26 for the language would not be appropriate to God or to the exiles,

[274] Cf. Genesis 31:10-11; 1 Kings 3:5; 1 Kings 9:2; Joel 2:28; Zechariah 1:8.

It is impossible to tell whether or not an interval of time elapsed between Jeremiah 31:26 and Jeremiah 31:27. Perhaps Jeremiah at once fell asleep again much as a dreamer might go back to sleep after being awakened in order to continue a pleasant dream. At any rate the four verses which follow continue the picture of the new conditions which will exist in the Messianic age.

There is in these verses, first, a promise of fruitfulness. God will make the people and their cattle multiply so fast that it will seem as though they spring up like seed sown in fertile soil (Jeremiah 31:27). It is both Israel and Judah reunited into one people who are the recipients of this promise.

Secondly, there is here a promise of faithfulness. Just as God has been watchful over the fulfillment of the prophecies of judgment and destruction, so will He now be equally zealous in fulfilling his promises of restoration (Jeremiah 31:28). In this chapter Jeremiah is beginning to develop that more positive side of his message of which mention was made in his call (Jeremiah 1:10).

Thirdly, there is a promise of fairness. Apparently the people of Jerusalem and the exiles already in Babylon had complained that it was unfair for them to have to suffer for the sins of their fathers. A popular proverb expressed the mood of the people, The fathers have eaten sour grapes and the teeth of the children are set on edge. Such a proverb could only be uttered by a generation blind to their own sin and disobedience and utterly deluded in thinking that they were innocent of all wrong-doing. Ezekiel (chapter 18) attacks this proverb as a blasphemy of God's justice. On the other hand, Jeremiah is not so much concerned to refute this notion as to merely assert that in the Messianic age people will have no occasion to make such a complaint. There are certain implications and involvements in Jeremiah's prediction that the sour grapes proverb will no longer be used in the Messianic age.
a) The prophet may be suggesting that individuals in the Messiah's kingdom will be more sensitive to the sin in their own lives. Unlike the people of Jeremiah's day they will recognize that divine judgment is their just desert, Thus the prediction here would involve a change of attitude on the part of the people.
b) Similarly, the thought may be that in the Messianic age the absolute justice of God will come to be fully recognized by all members of the covenant people.
c) A further implication of the prediction might be that in the Messianic Age the emphasis will be more upon the individual than upon the community. Individual responsibility will be the mark of the new age. Heretofore the basic unit of responsibility before God was the nation; in the future it would be the individual.
d) Another possible implication of Jeremiah's prediction would be the holiness of Messianic Israel. The prophet may be saying that the moral level in the Messianic age will be so high that collective or corporate guilt will no longer be possible. Only individual transgression will occur as isolated exceptions from the rule. God will not allow the sins of individuals to permeate the whole. Each individual sinner will suffer the consequences of his own sin.