The New Covenant

Chapter 31 starts with “At that time…”

To find out what time we have to go back to Chapter 30. Remember that 30-31 is a single prophecy.

“Behold the storm of the Lord! Wrath has gone forth, a whirling tempest; it will burst upon the head of the wicked. The fierce anger of the Lord will not turn back until he has executed and accomplished the intentions of his mind. In the latter days you will understand this.”
‭‭Jeremiah‬ ‭30‬:‭23‬-‭24‬ ‭ESV‬‬

Wrath. Fierce anger. Latter days. THAT seems to be the time in view as chapter 31 opens.

“At that time, declares the Lord, I will be the God of all the clans of Israel, and they shall be my people.”
‭‭Jeremiah‬ ‭31‬:‭1‬ ‭ESV‬‬

The “latter days” (for Jeremiah’s readers) may also be referring to the end of the 70 years of captivity. Because that’s when the rest of this prophecy begins to unfold.

Verses 1-14 are just beautiful. You have dancing maidens and even the elderly making merry. There is an abundance of food, wine, and oil. The pastures are filled with happy sheep. For people in 70 years of exile, this is something to cling to and hope for. It’s kinda like how the Church today in the midst of hardship clings to the hope of heaven and the reign of Christ.

Then (kinda outa nowhere) in verse 15 we have Rachel weeping for her children. The immediate reference is to the dead and exiled people of Israel and Judah. It’s as if great-grandmother Rachel was seeing from the grave what had become of her descendants (which would specifically be Ephraim, Manasseh, and Benjamin). And she bawled her eyes out.

Ephraim & Manasseh were part of the northern kingdom of Israel. Benjamin was in the south with Judah.

This is important because in verses 16-17 the Lord tells Rachel not to cry because He is going to bring her children from exile back into their own land. That’s both the northern and southern tribes. In fact, verses 18-20 are focused on Ephraim. That was the tribe where the very capital of the northern kingdom stood.

There is no such thing as “the lost ten tribes.” Grant it, not many were left who came back after the captivity, but the Lord promised to bring BOTH groups back- Judah AND Israel. To deny that is to call God a liar.

This message is all about returning. The strange phrase in verse 22- “a woman encircles a man” is probably better understood from the Septuagint. It reads:

“How long, O disgraced daughter, wilt thou turn away? For the Lord has created safety for a new plantation: men shall go about in safety.”

You wouldn’t go back to a land if it was in chaos and unsafe. The Lord is going to make it possible for them to return.

EATING SOUR GRAPES 🍇

I’ve never eaten a sour grape but I have tasted a green persimmon. That’s close enough. It’ll definitely set your teeth on edge. 😝

A maxim that has all but completely fallen out of use in the US is “no eating sour grapes,” or simply “no sour grapes.” This is something Ma Ingalls or June Cleaver might’ve said to their children to correct a pouty, jealous, or bitter attitude.

So far in our reading of the OT, we’ve seen a lot of generations that have gone off the ranch in a fairly short time. (Think Uzziah and Manasseh.) The parents have a disappointment and turn away from Yahweh, (they “eat sour grapes”) and their kids take up an offense against Yahweh (their teeth are set on edge), and consequently they are punished for something that started with their parents. But that’s going to change.

“But everyone shall die for his own iniquity. Each man who eats sour grapes, his teeth shall be set on edge.”
‭‭Jeremiah‬ ‭31‬:‭30‬ ‭ESV‬‬

The way God deals with people is going to become less collective and completely personal.

And it is on the heels of that declaration that Yahweh drops the biggest bomb since the time of King David…a NEW covenant!!

“Behold, the days are coming, declares the Lord, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and the house of Judah, not like the covenant that I made with their fathers on the day when I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt, my covenant that they broke, though I was their husband, declares the Lord. For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, declares the Lord:

I will put my law within them, and I will write it on their hearts. And I will be their God, and they shall be my people. And no longer shall each one teach his neighbor and each his brother, saying, ‘Know the Lord,’ for they shall all know me, from the least of them to the greatest, declares the Lord. For I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more.”
‭‭Jeremiah‬ ‭31‬:‭31‬-‭34‬ ‭ESV‬‬

This will be something new. Not like the old broken covenant of Moses- where the Law was written on tablets of stone. This time, Yahweh is going to write His law on the heart. And it’s going to be intensely personal. Everyone will know Yahweh directly. They won’t have to go through a guru or a priesthood. Direct access. And forgiveness!! All sin forgotten!

Yes, please. Where do I sign up?

And look what else…

“Thus says the Lord: If the heavens above can be measured, and the foundations of the earth below can be explored, then I will cast off all the offspring of Israel for all that they have done, declares the Lord.”
‭‭Jeremiah‬ ‭31‬:‭37‬ ‭ESV‬‬

God is never ever going to throw away the descendants of Israel. Even though, based on what we’ve read (idolatry, perversion, violence, oppression, child sacrifice), they deserve to be cast off.

God is just and He is very aware of what people deserve. But His mercy triumphs over judgment, (James 2:13), and He does not deal with people in a petty tit-for-tat, score-keeping way. He delights in showing mercy.

I did a quick search of “delights in mercy.” Here’s a bit of what I got:

That’s a pretty good spot to end right there. Can’t do better than John 3:16.