Jeremiah 31:8

Behold, I will bring them from the north country, and gather them from the coasts of the earth, and with them the blind and the lame, the woman with child and her that travaileth with child together: a great company shall return thither. FROM THE NORTH - Assyria, Media, etc. (note, ; ; ). I WILL GATHER THEM FROM THE COASTS OF THE EARTH - (; ; ). WITH THEM THE BLIND AND THE LAME ... - not even the most infirm and unfit persons for a journey shall...

The Prophet again confirms the same truth, but with amplification. For this oracle is not only prefaced as having proceeded from God, but that the address might be more forcible, he introduces God himself as the speaker, _Behold me restoring them from, the land of the north; _for Babylon, as it is well known, was northward from Judea. And whenever the Prophets speak of the deliverance of the people, they ever name the north; as, also, when they threaten the people, they say that an army or a calamity was to come from the north. They had before been delivered from the south, for such was the situation of Egypt. The Prophet now intimates that God was furnished with power to liberate them again from the land of the north. Then he says, _and I will collect them from the sides of the earth: _by _sides, _he means the extremities or the corners, so to speak, of the earth; as though he had said...

1-9 God assures his people that he will again take them into covenant relation to himself. When brought very low, and difficulties appear, it is good to remember that it has been so with the church formerly. But it is hard under present frowns to take comfort from former smiles; yet it is the happiness of those who, through grace, are interested in the love of God, that it is an everlasting love, from everlasting in the counsels, to everlasting in the continuance. Those whom God loves with this love, he will draw to himself, by the influences of his Spirit upon their souls. When praising God for what he has done, we must call upon him for the favours his church needs and expects. When the Lord calls, we must not plead that we cannot come; for he that calls us, will help us, will strengthen us. The goodness of God shall lead them to repentance. And they shall weep for sin with more bitte...

Verse Jeremiah 31:8. _I WILL BRING THEM FROM THE NORTH COUNTRY_] From Babylon. _FROM THE COASTS OF THE EARTH_] The ten tribes were carried away partly into Assyria by Tiglath-pileser, and partly into Mesopotamia and Media by Shalmaneser, 2 Kings 15:29; 2 Kings 17:6. Assyria and Media, being very distant from Palestine, might have been called, in prophetic language, _the coasts of the earth_. _THE BLIND AND THE LAME_] I will so effectually remove all difficulties out of the way, so provide for them on the journey, so supernaturally support their bodies and minds, that the veriest invalids shall safely proceed to, and happily arrive at, the end of their j

THE COASTS OF THE EARTH - See Jeremiah 6:22 note. THITHER - Really, here. Not to the north country, but to Palestine, where Jeremiah wrote. A company is the word constantly used of Israel at the Exodus Exodus 16:3 as an organized community....

EXPOSITION JEREMIAH 31:1 The promise of Jeremiah 30:22 is expressly declared to apply to both sections of the nation. Jehovah thus solemnly declares his purpose of mercy, and dwells with special Madness on the happy future of Ephraim. JEREMIAH 31:2 THE PEOPLE which were LEFT OF THE SWORD, etc.; literally, _the people of those left of the sword. _The expression clearly implies that the Jews at the time spoken of had escaped, or were about to escape, in some great battle or some other kind of slaughter. Hence the finding grace in the wilderness cannot refer to the sequel of the passage through the Red Sea, an

BEHOLD, I WILL BRING THEM FROM THE NORTH COUNTRY,.... As from Babylon, at the end of the seventy years' captivity, which lay north of Judea; so, in the latter day, from those northern countries, as ours, where they now are in great numbers: AND GATHER THEM FROM THE COASTS OF THE EARTH; or "sides" of it; from all the parts of the world where they are: [AND] WITH THEM THE BLIND AND THE LAME, THE WOMAN WITH CHILD AND HER THAT TRAVAILETH WITH CHILD TOGETHER; signifying that no difficulties whatsoever should hinder them in their return to their own land; provision should be made for persons under these circumstances, so unfit to travel. All this may be understood, in a figurative sense, of those who are spiritually "blind"; who are made to see their lost estate, and need of Christ; and are brought to him, and to his church, in a way they had not known, and in paths they knew not before: and...

Jeremiah 31:1. _At the same time, saith the LORD, will I be the God of all the families of Israel, and they shall be my people._ During the Israelites' banishment to Babylon, God's covenant with them had been as it were in abeyance, but in this promise of their restoration he brings it to the front again, and he gives a peculiarly gracious turn to it: «I will be the God of all the families of Israel.» What a mercy it is to have a family God, and to have our whole family in Christ! Brethren, you have a family Bible, and you have, I hope, a family altar; may your whole family belong to God! Jeremiah 31:2. _Thus saith the LORD, the people which were left of the sword found grace in the wilderness; even Israel, when I went to cause him to rest._ Pharaoh tried to kill

CHAPTER 31 _ 1. The home-going of the nation (Jeremiah 31:1) _ 2. The joy of salvation (Jeremiah 31:10) 3. The preceding tribulation, sorrow and repentance (Jeremiah 31:15) 4. Assurance (Jeremiah 31:22) 5. The new covenant (Jeremiah 31:27) 6. The everlasting nation (Jeremiah 31:35) Jeremiah 31

JEREMIAH 31:7 (suggestive of Deutero-Isaiah). Let there be joy that Yahweh hath saved His people, for He will gather all to Palestine (hither, Jeremiah 31:8), and they will come penitently to the Divine provision made for their need (Jeremiah 31:9 _mg.; cf._ Isaiah 49:10), made as for Yahweh's firstborn (1 Chronicles 5:1 f.). Let the nations make it known that Yahweh is the rescuing shepherd (Isaiah 40:11) of Israel, which is now gathered to the good th