Peter Pett's Commentary on the Bible
Jeremiah 30:18-1
‘Jacob' Is To Be Restored To Its Former Glory By The Awesome Power Of YHWH. They Will Be His People And He Will Be Their God (Jeremiah 30:18 to Jeremiah 31:1).
The restoration of ‘Zion whom no man seeks after' is now abundantly guaranteed. The city and palace will be rebuilt, thanksgiving and merriment will ring out, and their numbers will multiply. But above all, and in one way or another it will be repeated three times (Jeremiah 30:22; Jeremiah 31:1; Jeremiah 31:33), He will once more be their God and they will be His people. And all this will be accomplished by the tempestuous power of YHWH.
‘Thus says YHWH,
“Behold, I will turn again the captivity of Jacob's tents,
And have compassion on his dwelling-places,
And the city will be built on its own hill,
And the palace will be inhabited after its own manner.
And from them will proceed thanksgiving,
And the voice of those who make merry,
And I will multiply them, and they will not be few,
I will also glorify them, and they will not be small.”
The picture here is of complete restoration for Judah/Israel through the activity of YHWH. ‘Jacob's tents' (the places where they dwelt) would be ‘turned again' and restored to their former glory. YHWH would have compassion on their forsaken dwellingplaces. Each city would be built on its own hill (tel, mound), especially Jerusalem, the symbol of them all, and the palace-complex would be re-inhabited as a palace, presumably signifying the restoration of the Davidic house. And from both city and palace would arise thanksgiving and merriment, the sign of a people restored both spiritually and physically. And their numbers would grow more and more so that they would not be few, and He would glorify them (by fruitfulness and prosperity) so that they would not be insignificant.
The fulfilment of this would take a century and more, commencing with the ‘few' who would return from Babylon, and growing as more and more exiles returned. A great landmark along the way would be the establishment of the Temple, and finally Jerusalem's own glory would be established by Nehemiah. Jerusalem would once again rule proudly as an independent city, with eventually their own rulers in their own palaces. What followed Nehemiah is mainly hidden from us, only to re-emerge, firstly in the successes of the Maccabees, and the reign of the Hasmonean kings, and then in a prosperous Judaea and Galilee in the time of Jesus, by which time ‘Israel' were a numerous people. And then the final Son of David came and established the true Israel and the beginnings of the everlasting Kingdom.
“Their children also shall be as beforetime,
And their congregation will be established before me,
And I will punish all who oppress them.”
All would be as before. Their young would again flourish and play in the streets as they had of old (Jeremiah 9:21), and the whole of the people (their ‘congregation') would be established before Him, while all who oppressed them would be punished. A new Israel would arise out of the old, but this time a chastened and at least partially responsive Israel. It was such a ‘congregation' that Jesus promised to establish, founded on the words of Peter about His Messiahship as the Son of the living God (Matthew 16:18).
“And their prince shall be of themselves,
And their ruler will proceed from the midst of them,
And I will cause him to draw near,
And he will approach to me,
For who is he who has had boldness,
To approach to me?
The word of YHWH.”
And you will be my people,
And I will be your God.”
Their rulers would be those whom they themselves chose from among them, and would be home-born, and would be one of themselves. And these rulers would approach YHWH directly. This would be something totally new for in previous times the king would approach through the priests. We can contrast how it was said of Joshua, “he shall stand before Eleazar, who will enquire for him in a matter of Urim before YHWH” (Numbers 27:21), and how even David and Solomon could not approach into the immediate presence of YHWH to ask His will, but stood outside the Sanctuary. However, the prerogative of the priests of YHWH would now also belong to those who ruled in Israel. This found a remarkable fulfilment in the Hasmonean priest-king rulers (it is noteworthy that this particular prophecy did not mention David), and even moreso in the twofold ministries of Jesus Christ, especially as portrayed in Hebrews. In Him we have the Priest-Ruler Supreme, One Who was from among themselves and Who had full access into the presence of His Father.
The question ‘who is He who has had boldness, to approach to me?' can be seen as similar to the later question of Jesus to the rich young ruler, ‘Why do you call Me good?' It is not denying that the One questioned about is good, or has the right to approach, but rather asking for all to consider the unique credentials of the One about Whom the question was asked.
And the end result will be that the true remnant of Judah/Israel will be His people and He will be their God. This could only ever be so for the remnant who returned to Him in repentance and trust, for all through the Old Testament it was they who formed the true Israel, the Israel within Israel. Thus there are always two Israels in balance, nominal disobedient Israel and true believing Israel. And the final promises are always to true Israel, not to cast-off Israel. The coming of Jesus would bring things to a climax, and the new believing Israel would arise out of the old, with the old cast off (Matthew 16:18; Matthew 21:43; John 15:1; Romans 11:17; Galatians 3:29; Galatians 6:16; Ephesians 2:11; 1 Peter 1:1; 1 Peter 2:9; James 1:1).
“Behold, the tempest of YHWH,
Wrath is gone forth,
A sweeping tempest,
It will burst on the head of the wicked.”
The fierce anger of YHWH,
Will not return,
Until he has carried it out,
And until he has performed the intents of his heart,
In the latter days you will understand it.”
For these words compare Jeremiah 23:19. All that was being described would be accomplished by ‘the Tempest of YHWH' as His wrath went forth, both against His own disbelieving people, and against their adversaries. Like a sweeping tempest it would burst on the head of the wicked, and it would not return or cease until He had carried out the intents of His heart. And towards the end, as it was coming into fulfilment, they would understand it. ‘The latter days' indicates the latter days of this period in which all this would happen. We, as God's people, of course understand it more fully for we have seen the arrival of the King, and await the everlasting kingdom.
“At that time,
The word of YHWH,
I will be the God of all the families of Israel,
And they will be my people.”
And the final consequence of all this, and this was the assured word of YHWH, was that YHWH would be God of all the families of Israel (an all-inclusive description taking in both Israel and Judah) and they would be His people. It would be true in the inter-testamental period of all who returned to the land from all the tribes of Israel, coming with a new trust in YHWH, and was seen also as true by the exiles who remained in ‘the dispersion'. God was seen as having re-established Himself as the God of His people. But there was still among them, certainly in the later days prior to Jesus' coming, (and within His days), bitter fighting and rivalry. It thus became even more true that God was the God of His people when out of the Old Israel a New Israel was born (Matthew 21:43; compare 2 Corinthians 6:16), founded on the Apostles and Prophets, its beginnings found in the continuingly expanding believing remnant of Israel in Judaea and Galilee, expanding further to the believers among the dispersion, and then bursting forth in the incorporating of Gentiles into ‘the household of God' as ‘fellow-citizens' (Ephesians 2:11), all making up ‘the families of Israel'.
Note. It is, of course, a myth to think of Israel as ever having been made up only of actual descendants of Jacob. From the beginning it included servants and retainers of the patriarchs. This was further added to by the ‘mixed multitude' (Exodus 12:38) who were incorporated into the families of Israel at Sinai, and other foreigners who joined with them in terms of Exodus 12:48. And ‘Israel', continued to gather up foreigners into the family of Israel all through its long life (e.g. Uriah the Hittite). The idea of ‘descent' was seen as very flexible, and was on the whole by adoption. Israel was therefore very much a cosmopolitan entity even in the time of Jeremiah, united by its rather frail belief in YHWH, than by ties of descent. The times of exile would result in many ‘Israelites' being lost to Israel, as they merged into the nations among whom they settled, and thus Israel was constituted more from then on of those who remained loyal to the concept of Israel's God, both in Palestine and among the dispersion. Thus when the Messiah came the whole of Israel was faced up to its final choice, and a new Israel was born out of those of Israel who truly believed and responded to Him. The rejection of the old while they were still in unbelief was signified by the destruction of Jerusalem and the Temple, and made clear by Jesus Christ Himself (Matthew 21:43) and by Paul (Romans 11:17). The true Jerusalem was now the Jerusalem that was above (Galatians 4:21), which was now ‘the city of the living God' (Hebrews 12:22), and the Temple was now Jesus Christ (John 2:19) and His people (1 Corinthians 3:16 and often). They were now the true Israel, believing Israel, and as always ready to accept into ‘the families of Israel' all who truly believed, whether Jew or Gentile.
End of note.