Jeremiah 30

Jer. 30:21. "Their nobles shall be of themselves, and their Governor shall proceed from the midst of them; and I will cause him to draw near, and he shall approach unto me; for who is this that engaged his heart to approach unto me?" This, as Dr. Ridgley, in his Body of Divinity, vol. 1, p. 366, 367, observes, seems to be a prophecy of Christ. The chapter is evidently a prophecy of the gospel times of the church, the times when the spiritual David was to be their Noble and Governor, as appears by Jeremiah 30:9. "They shall serve the Lord their God, and David their King, whom I will raise up unto them." And what is in this verse translated nobles, is in the Hebrew in the singular number, their noble; it is the more probable that this is to be understood of Christ, and not of Zerubbabel, or any other governor after the Babylonish captivity, because the supreme governor of Israel was very rarely of themselves after the captivity, even till after their destruction by the Romans." They scarcely ever had this privilege in this sense to so great a degree as before their captivity. But when we look on this chapter, we cannot think it is a prophecy of less prosperity to God's people than what they now enjoyed; and then what is said here of this governor or noble, agrees particularly with Christ, and particularly that clause, "For who is this that hath engaged his heart to approach unto me!" The word translated engaged is, to become, or act, the surety for anyone; to mingle himself with another, or unite himself to another, as a surety; and so the word is commonly used in Scripture, as Genesis 43:9; Genesis 44:32; Proverbs 11:15; Job 17:3; 2 Kings 18:23, and elsewhere. See Buxtorf. So that the words might well have been translated, "Who is this that hath mingled or united his heart as a surety to approach unto me!" It is here inquired with a note of admiration, Who is this that hath engaged his heart in suretyship to approach unto me! probably for two reasons, viz. because of the wonderfulness of his person, and because of the greatness of the undertaking; and whether we understand by the Israel, whose prosperity is here prophesied of, the Israelitish nation, or God's spiritual Israel, yet Christ, their Governor, is of themselves; he has taken on him the human nature; he is of the human race, and is our brother, and he is a child of the church; he has sucked the breasts of our mother; he is one of the holy nation, the spiritual seed of Abraham, and he is also of the Israelitish nation, and he took on him the seed of Abraham in a literal sense. In the following verse is mentioned the consequence of Christ's approaching to God as his people's surety, viz. their covenant interest in God, "And ye shall be my people, and I will be your God."

Jer. 31:33