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Scott's Reference Library
January 5, 2003 | January 4, 2004 | January 2, 2005 | January 3, 2010
Jeremiah 31:7 through Jeremiah 31:14 (NIV)
7This is what the LORD says:
“Sing with joy for Jacob;
shout for the foremost of the nations.
Make your praises heard, and say,
‘O LORD, save your people,
the remnant of Israel.’
8 See, I will bring them from the land of the north
and gather them from the ends of the earth.
Among them will be the blind and the lame,
expectant mothers and women in labor;
a great throng will return.
9 They will come with weeping;
they will pray as I bring them back.
I will lead them beside streams of water
on a level path where they will not stumble,
because I am Israel’s father,
and Ephraim is my firstborn son.
10 “Hear the word of the LORD, O nations;
proclaim it in distant coastlands:
‘He who scattered Israel will gather them
and will watch over his flock like a shepherd.’
11 For the LORD will ransom Jacob
and redeem them from the hand of those stronger than they.
12 They will come and shout for joy on the heights of Zion;
they will rejoice in the bounty of the LORD—
the grain, the new wine and the oil,
the young of the flocks and herds.
They will be like a well-watered garden,
and they will sorrow no more.
13 Then maidens will dance and be glad,
young men and old as well.
I will turn their mourning into gladness;
I will give them comfort and joy instead of sorrow.
14 I will satisfy the priests with abundance,
and my people will be filled with my bounty,”
declares the LORD.
Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary on the Whole Bible
VERSES 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 bitterness, and more tenderness, when delivered out of
their captivity, than when groaning under it. If we take God for our Father, and
join the church of the first-born, we shall want nothing that is good for us.
These predictions doubtless refer also to a future gathering of the Israelites
from all quarters of the globe. And they figuratively describe the conversion of
sinners to Christ, and the plain and safe way in which they are led.
VERSES 10-17
He that scattered Israel, knows where to find them. It is comfortable to observe
the goodness of the Lord in the gifts of providence. But our souls are never
valuable as gardens, unless watered with the dews of God’s Spirit and grace. A
precious promise follows, which will not have full accomplishment except in the
heavenly Zion. Let them be satisfied of God’s loving-kindness, and they will be
satisfied with it, and desire no more to make them happy. Rachel is represented
as rising from her grave, and refusing to be comforted, supposing her offspring
rooted out. The murder of the children at Bethlehem, by Herod, Matthew 2:16-18,
in some degree fulfilled this prediction, but could not be its full meaning. If
we have hope in the end, concerning an eternal inheritance, for ourselves and
those belonging to us, all temporal afflictions may be borne, and will be for
our good.