Bible Commentaries

The Glorious Future of the Nation (30-31)

CHAPTER 30

1. The time of Jacob’s trouble (Jeremiah 30:1-11)

2. Zion’s desperate condition and the promise of deliverance (Jeremiah 30:12-17)

3. Restoration and glory (Jeremiah 30:18-24)

Jeremiah 30:1-11. The critics have made havoc with this great prophecy. De Wette, Hitzig, and other rationalists, claim to have discovered that this chapter, and those which follow, are the work of the spurious “second Isaiah.” The critics, with their present day echoes in different colleges, reject these chapters as not being Jeremianic. They are totally wrong. This great prophecy, which begins with the thirtieth chapter, is quite in order after all these judgment messages, announcing the doom of Jerusalem and of the nation. What then about the future, that future which all their fathers had cherished, the promises which rested upon the covenant Jehovah made with David? Was now everything to be blotted out and no national hope left? The last siege of Jerusalem was in progress; soon all the threatened judgments would pass fully into history. How perfectly in order is it that now should be given a message of the glorious future of the nation.

Jeremiah is commanded to write in a book all the words Jehovah had spoken; quite sufficient evidence that Jeremiah is the author and that this book is not a patchwork of different supplementers, redactors and compilers.

The first promise in verse three (Jeremiah 30:3) is concerning the coming days in which the people Israel and Judah will return to their God-given land to possess it. Has this promise been fulfilled? Expositors generally say that it was fulfilled in the return from the captivity. But this is not so. Here is a promised return not only of the house of Judah, but a return of the ten tribes also. This has never taken place. In spite of the “British-Israel” hallucination, every sane Bible reader realizes that the house of Israel is still scattered among the nations. This restoration promise will be accomplished in the future. Then we hear what will precede that restoration. It will be a time of great trouble, even the time of Jacob’s trouble Matthew 24:1-51; Mark 13:1-37, the great tribulation revealed in other portions of the prophetic Word, notably in Daniel and Revelation. When that time comes “Jacob will be saved out of it.” The yoke of the last Gentile world-power (the revived Roman Empire, the ten-horned Beast of Daniel 7:1-28 and Revelation 13:1-18 will then be broken (Jeremiah 30:8) and they will serve the true David, David’s Lord and David’s Son, our Lord (Jeremiah 30:9). Then follows the message of comfort. How well history has confirmed this one sentence of Jeremiah 30:11 : “Though I make a full end of all nations whither I have scattered thee, yet will I not make a full end of thee.”

Jeremiah 30:12-17. Here is a reminder of Zion’s desperate condition and shameful history and how He had to chastise His people and wound them with the wound of an enemy. Such is still their lot and will be down to the end of this age, a people scattered and afflicted, devoured and spoiled by the nations. But when the time comes, the time of mercy for Zion, her enemies will be dealt with. In arrogant unbelief, these nations, so called “Christian nations,” said “Zion is an Outcast”--”whom no man seeketh after” (Jeremiah 30:17); but the Lord says, “I will restore health unto thee, and I will heal thee of thy wounds.”

Jeremiah 30:18-24. The city then will be built again. The voices of praise and joy will be heard once more. He will glorify and increase them. He will be their God and they shall be His people. The whirlwind will strike “the head of the wicked,” the wicked false king, the false Messiah, Antichrist. The next chapter is the continuation of this great prophecy.