Jeremiah 31

This is an amazing chapter, so joyful and full of relief after the constant chastisement, wrath and grief of the earlier parts of the book. As I read it, I both take it at face value and wonder what the deeper meanings are, in terms of the cultural context in which it is written. The 'new covenant' is the covenant of Jesus' sacrifice for the forgiveness of our sins and the giving of the Holy Spirit to teach us and remind us of the Word. That seems pretty plain. But there are other things I wonder about, and a few sections that I will comment on here.

FIRST: The following passage is so energetic and visual, I want to make a song out of it.

4 I will build you up again
and you will be rebuilt, O Virgin Israel.
Again you will take up your tambourines
and go out to dance with the joyful.

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.'

(Song idea: Hear the word of the Lord, O nations
Tell it to distant lands, O nations:
He who scattered will gather his people,
Watch over them like a shepherd.
Dance! I will build you up again!
Dance! You'll be rebuilt, O Israel!
Dance! Take up your tam-bor-ine and
Go out to dance with the joyful..
(tune: very rhythmic and similar to What Shall We Do With the Drunken Sailor)


SECOND: I have been mulling over the horrific number of abortions and the existence of frozen embryos in today's world, ever since I read the earlier passage where God chastises Israel for sacrificing their children to false gods. Again I think about this, as I read the following passage. Who are the children that the Lord is referring to here? What is Ramah? I have always applied this passage to the slaughter of infants when Moses and Jesus were babies, although I suppose that the 'face value' of the passage is the sacrificed infants and those that died while Israel was in exile. And -- could it have yet another application, in reference to our modern infanticide? In any case, God tells 'Rachel' to stop weeping. Her work will be rewarded. The children will return from the land of the enemy to their own land. It is hard to get my head around the significance of return to the land, but I know it was huge in that culture. But obviously those exact children did not return from exile with their families. So it must have a symbolic meaning of some sort. Is it correct to read it with this meaning?: God will take care of those children, they do still exist and will in fact be a part of the coming Kingdom. There is no further need to mourn for them -- just repent and continue in your repentance, and you will be rewarded by being with those precious children once again.

15 This is what the LORD says:
"A voice is heard in Ramah,
mourning and great weeping,
Rachel weeping for her children
and refusing to be comforted,
because her children are no more."

16 This is what the LORD says:
"Restrain your voice from weeping
and your eyes from tears,
for your work will be rewarded,"
declares the LORD.
"They will return from the land of the enemy.

17 So there is hope for your future,"
declares the LORD.
"Your children will return to their own land.


THIRD: What does the second half of this verse refer to? The footnote gives alternates of 'will go about seeking' or 'will protect', but none of the options seem to mean very much to me. Could it possibly refer to Mary giving birth to the Savior?
22 How long will you wander,
O unfaithful daughter?
The LORD will create a new thing on earth—
a woman will surround [b] a man."


FOURTH: I've always wondered what exactly is the substance of the idea that God will 'put my law in their minds and write it on their hearts', and 'they will all know me from the least of them to the greatest'. Surely it doesn't mean we no longer need the Bible to tell us about God, because God has given a general revelation to all people... So what exactly does this mean? Has it already happened? Will in happen in the future, when Jesus returns? Is this what it is like in heaven, or is there some current phenomena that this refers to? After all, the new covenant is now in place. Did this come about when the Holy Spirit came at Pentecost, and does it occur when each person becomes a believer and the HS enters them?

31 "The time is coming," declares the LORD,
"when I will make a new covenant
with the house of Israel
and with the house of Judah.

32 It will not be like the covenant
I made with their forefathers
when I took them by the hand
to lead them out of Egypt,
because they broke my covenant,
though I was a husband to [d] them, [e] "
declares the LORD.

33 "This is the covenant I will make with the house of Israel
after that time," declares the LORD.
"I will put my law in their minds
and write it on their hearts.
I will be their God,
and they will be my people.

34 No longer will a man teach his neighbor,
or a man his brother, saying, 'Know the LORD,'
because they will all know me,
from the least of them to the greatest,"
declares the LORD.
"For I will forgive their wickedness
and will remember their sins no more."