I. In his relation to his sdbjeots. 1. He was to b& of the same kindred, A stronger guarantee of the Divine favour could not bo given. No foreigner was to hold permanent sway over the Israel of God. In one of themselves the holy people would find a legitimate centre for loyal attachment and patriotic devotion. That from their own midst their Prince should spring was proof that their independence, liberty, and national individuality should be preserved. He would therefore represent its honour, and secure for himself the strongest personal attachment. The ho(es of the race would be embodied in such a personage, who would vitally perpetuate its glory. 2. He was to be allied to them in their experience and sympathies. As their fellow- countryman he will understand their aims and aspirations. By the vicissitudes oi their fortune his sympathies will bo drawn forth, and he will share the enthqsiasni of their future. In Jesus Christ these conditions were fulfilled.
OH. XXXI. 1—40.] THE BOOK OP THE PROPHET JEBEMIAH. 9
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n. In hib mediatobial qiflcbnoe. "To draw near" is used in > priestly or mediatorial sense. Israel as a people, or as represented in its ruler, wag to have this privilege conferred upon it. A Divine as well as a human qualification is therefore requisite for the perfect governor ; he must not only belong to the people but he must please God. 1. The grace of Ood will rest upon, him and work within him. Oi' Zerubbabel in the first instance, but much more of Christ, is this statement true. He was " full of grace and truth." He is the great Temple-builder and Restorer of the kingdom ; and he is the Accepted of God : " Thou art my beloved Son ; in thee I am well pleased " (Luke iii. 22). 2. His oum natv/re wilt respond to the Divine influence. He is to be one who " engages his heart to npproach unto " God. Responsi- bility drives him to no rash or illegitimate expedients, but to a Divine trust and a desire to please his God. In all this tliere is evinct^d the utmost freedom (cf. Matt. iv. 1 ; xvi. 22 ; Luke xii. 50 ; John xii. 27 ; Matt, xxvii. 42). 3. 2%e admiration and delight of God are to be called forth by him. " Who is this," etc. ? is no inquiry for the sake of information, but an expression of complacency and satisfaction. This feeling finds frequent expression in the prophets, and is noticed in the Gospels. It is for the subjects of such a King to yield themselves to his rule, and Identify themselves with his pripstly intercession. It should be their great desire to be in him, " who of God is made unto us wisdom, and righteousness, and sanctification,and redemption " (1 Cor. iL 30).— M.
EXPOSITION.
CHAPTER XXXI
Ver». 1 — 6. — The promise of ch. ixx. 22
is expressly declared to apply to both eeo- tions of the nation. Jeliovah thus solemnly declares his purpose of mercy, and dwells with special kindness on the happy future of Ephralm.
Yer. 2. — The people which were left of the sword, ttc. ; literally, the people of those left of the sword. Tlie expression clearly implies that the Jews at the time spoken of had escaped, or were about to escape, in some great battle or some otlici' kind of slaughter, Hence the " finding grace in the wilderness " cannot refer to the sequel of the passage through the Bed Sea, and we must perforce explain it of the second great deliverance, viz. from the Babylonian exile. This view is strongly confirmed by ch. li. 50, where the Israelites who escape the predicted slaughter itt Babylon are called " escaped ones from the sword," and exhorted to remember Jehovah and Jerusalem " afar off." The " wilderness " of the present pass.ige, like the "afar off" of ch. li. (and of the next verse) seems to mean Babylon, which was, by comparison with the highly favoured Judah, a " barren and dry laud " (comp. Ps. Ixiii. i), a spiritual Arabia. It may be objected that the tense here is the perfect ; but there is abundance of analogy for ex- plaining it as the prophetic perfect. The restoration of the chosen people to favour is as certain in the Divine counsels as if it were already an event past. (It seems less appropriate to understand " the wilderness " of the country which separated Assyria from Palestine. It was in Ba^)ylon that
the covenant of Sinai was renewed to God's repentant people.) Even Israel, when I went to cause him to rest; rather, when 1 went to cause Israel to rest (literally, to cause him — Israel — to rest ; but the pleonastic pro- noun need not be represented iu the English), Another possible and perhaps preferable rendering is, J will go to cause, etc. " Best " could only be had in the consciousness of God's favour. With all the outward pros- perity of many of the Jews in Babylon, there was no true " rest." Oomp. oh. vi. 16, " Ask for the old paths . . . and walk therein, and ye shall find rest for your souls " (the same verbal root in the Hebrew for "rest " in both passages).
Yer. 3. — The Lord hath appeared of old unto me. The Church of the faithfullsrael is the speaker. "From afar" (so we ought to render,ratherthan "of old ")shesee8 Jehovah, with the eye of faith, approaching to redeem her ; comp. Isa. xl. 10 and lix. 20 (only that in these passages it is to Jerusalem, and not to Babylon, that Jehovah " comes " as the Redeemer) ; also the premise in ch. xxx. 10, " I will save thee from afar," and ch. li. 50, quoted above. (Septuagint reads " unto him ; " but an abrupt change of person is not uncommon in Hebrew.) Saying, Yea, I have loved thee, etc. " Saying " is inserted to make the connection plainer. The genius of Hebrew does not require such a distinct indiuatiou of a change of speakers as our Western languages. For other instances of this, see Gen. iv. 25 ; xxvi. 7 ; xxxii. 81 ; 1 Kings XX. 81. With loving-kindness have I drawn thee ; rather, do I continue luving-hindness unto thee- " To continue " is literally, to draw out at lengtk. Tht
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THE BOOK OF THE PROPHET JEREMIAH, [oh. ttti , i_4a
Idea Ib the same as that in the great pro- phecy which follows that of the suffering SaTiour, " With everlasting l^indnesa will I have meruy on theu " (Isa. lir. 8 ; comp. ▼er. 10).
Ver. 4. — I will build thee. A nation, like a family, is frequently compared to a building (so ch. xii. 16; xxiv. 6; comp. Eph. ii. 22). virgin of Israel. The people of Israel is personified as a virgin (corrjp. ch. xiv. 7). Adorned with thy tabrets. The expression will nut, of course, bear to be logically criticized, for it was not the whole people who wint out with " tabrets " or ** timbrels," but the " damsels," who, it is true, formed an important part of religious processions (Ps. Ixviii. 25), and doubtless of secular ones also (comp. Judg. xi. 34). Joyousness is an essential part of the Biblical ideal butli of religion and of a normal state of society : " The joy of the Lord is your strength."