Jeremiah 31:1-26, Promise of Restoration, Part B

Jeremiah is still prophesying Israel’s return to the land from exile. And he is still speaking in terms of the Messianic age, not the immediate return that happened seventy years later. He apparently is receiving this prophecy in a dream, as verse 26 will show. The excitement of this restoration yet to happen is beyond ecstatic!

^31:1 “At that time,” declares Yahweh, “I will be the God of all the families of Israel, and they will be my people.” ² This is what Yahweh says: “The people who survive the sword will find favor in the wilderness; I will come to give rest to Israel.”

The words “at that time” push us into the Messianic age, the future millennial kingdom. This prophecy is for all the tribes of Israel, though the first part references the northern tribes, called by the name of their dominant tribe Ephraim, where the capital city was.

³ Yahweh appeared to us in the past, saying: “I have loved you with an everlasting love; I have drawn you with unfailing kindness. ⁴ I will build you up again, and you, Virgin Israel, will be rebuilt. Again you will take up your timbrels and go out to dance with the joyful. ⁵ Again you will plant vineyards on the hills of Samaria; the farmers will plant them and enjoy their fruit. ⁶ There will be a day when watchmen cry out on the hills of Ephraim, ‘Come, let us go up to Zion, to Yahweh our God.’”

Yahweh’s love for His people has never failed. It is an everlasting love displayed in cords of unfailing kindness that draw His people to Him. Though He has banished them from the land for their sin, He will once again build them up, His precious virgin daughter, in their own land that He gave them, where they will, in peace and safety, be able to plant their vineyards on the northern kingdom’s hills in Samaria. Even more thrilling is that the once idolatrous nation, which set up alternate Temples for worship when they separated from Judah and Jerusalem, will now make pilgrimage to Jerusalem to worship Yahweh with those of the southern kingdom.

⁷ This is what Yahweh says: “Sing with joy for Jacob; shout for the foremost of the nations. Make your praises heard, and say, ‘Yahweh, save your people, the remnant of Israel.’ ⁸ See, I will bring them from the land of the north and gather them from the ends of the earth. Among them will be the blind and the lame, expectant mothers and women in labor; a great throng will return. ⁹ They will come with weeping; they will pray as I bring them back. I will lead them beside streams of water on a level path where they will not stumble, because I am Israel’s father, and Ephraim is my firstborn son.

The order of the day is joy, even though it might be marked with tears of joy, because Yahweh is saving His people from their captors, wherever they are. Everyone will be brought back, from the blind and lame to the fertile mothers who will increase the population of Israel. The wadis that are often dry will be filled with water. God will make their journey back a smooth one. He will reaffirm Israel’s being chosen by Him, and He being father to His firstborn son. Ephraim was a son of Joseph and Joseph was considered the firstborn after Reuben forfeited that right (1 Chronicles 5:1,2). Joseph’s tribes, Ephraim and Manasseh, were the dominant tribes of the northern kingdom, but all of Israel may consider itself Yahweh’s firstborn.

¹⁰ “Hear the word of Yahweh, you nations; proclaim it in distant coastlands: ‘He who scattered Israel will gather them and will watch over his flock like a shepherd.’ ¹¹ For Yahweh will deliver Jacob and redeem them from the hand of those stronger than they. ¹² They will come and shout for joy on the heights of Zion; they will rejoice in the bounty of Yahweh—the grain, the new wine and the olive oil, the young of the flocks and herds. They will be like a well-watered garden, and they will sorrow no more. ¹³ Then young women will dance and be glad, young men and old as well. I will turn their mourning into gladness; I will give them comfort and joy instead of sorrow. ¹⁴ I will satisfy the priests with abundance, and my people will be filled with my bounty,” declares Yahweh.

It is important that all the nations know that as Yahweh exiled His people for their rebellion, so He will restore His people and provide them with abundance. They will be like the garden of Eden, and all, young and old, will dance with joy at God’s goodness to them. And as the people prosper, so will the priests, who were dependent on the people’s offerings and tithes for their own provision.

¹⁵ This is what Yahweh says: “A voice is heard in Ramah, mourning and great weeping, Rachel weeping for her children and refusing to be comforted, because they are no more.” ¹⁶ This is what Yahweh says: “Restrain your voice from weeping and your eyes from tears, for your work will be rewarded,” declares Yahweh. “They will return from the land of the enemy. ¹⁷ So there is hope for your descendants,” declares Yahweh. “Your children will return to their own land. ¹⁸ “I have surely heard Ephraim’s moaning: ‘You disciplined me like an unruly calf, and I have been disciplined. Restore me, and I will return, because you are Yahweh my God. ¹⁹ After I strayed, I repented; after I came to understand, I beat my thigh. I was ashamed and humiliated because I bore the disgrace of my youth.’

Ramah was a town north of Jerusalem in the territory of the northern kingdom, the hometown of Samuel, and the place where the Babylonians staged the removal of the captives from Israel to Babylon. Rachel, as Joseph’s mother, and hence the mother of Ephraim and Manasseh, the representatives of the northern tribes, is bereft of her children, but her weeping, though understandable, is to be restrained in light of the hope of Israel’s return to their land. Their return is facilitated by Ephraim’s repentance for his straying, by his acknowledging of the disgraceful way he rebelled against his Father. God blesses those who feel shame for their life of sin and who repent of it.

²⁰ Is not Ephraim my dear son, the child in whom I delight? Though I often speak against him, I still remember him. Therefore my heart yearns for him; I have great compassion for him,” declares Yahweh. ²¹ “Set up road signs; put up guideposts. Take note of the highway, the road that you take. Return, Virgin Israel, return to your towns. ²² How long will you wander, unfaithful Daughter Israel? Yahweh will create a new thing on earth—the woman will return to the man.”

Yahweh delights in His repentant son, His heart having yearned for him while he was in the throes of rebellion. He must note the road he traveled into exile because that is the way he is coming back home. The “new thing” Yahweh creates, the meaning of a woman returning to the man, is obscure to us.

²³ This is what Yahweh Almighty, the God of Israel, says: “When I bring them back from captivity, the people in the land of Judah and in its towns will once again use these words: ‘Yahweh bless you, you prosperous city, you sacred mountain.’ ²⁴ People will live together in Judah and all its towns—farmers and those who move about with their flocks. ²⁵ I will refresh the weary and satisfy the faint.”

Though all the emphasis has been on the northern kingdom which had already been conquered and exiled, Judah and Jerusalem, who is about to experience exile, is not left out of the blessing of return from captivity. The southern kingdom will also prosper once again in their homeland and be refreshed and satisfied by Yahweh’s provision.

²⁶ At this I awoke and looked around. My sleep had been pleasant to me. (Jeremiah 31:1-26)

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Discussion Questions:

1. What does this passage say to those who feel stuck in shame for their lives of sin?
2. Why should joy replace weeping for those who have been restored by God?
3. How have you experienced your greatest sorrows being turned to joy?
4. God will reunite the two nations in conflict, Israel and Judah. What reconciliations have you experienced because of God’s work in your life?