Jeremiah
31 – A Testament to Jewish Survival (Part II)
Ø Perspective of A Contemporary Jew (Continued)
Ø
Summary
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31:21 |
Until
when will you slip away, O you wayward daughter? For the L-rd has created something new on the earth, a woman
will court a man. |
31:22 |
How
long will you wander, O unfaithful daughter? The LORD will create a new thing
on earth-- a woman will surround a man." |
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31:22 |
So
said the L-rd of Hosts, the G-d of Israel, "Again they shall say this
thing in the land of Judah and in its cities, when I return their captivity,
'may the L-rd bless you, O dwelling of righteousness, the mountain of
holiness.'" |
31:23 |
This
is what the LORD Almighty, the God of Israel, says: "When I bring them
back from captivity, the people in the land of Judah and in its towns will
once again use these words: `The LORD bless you, O righteous dwelling, O
sacred mountain.' |
Comments:
Israel will return to the L-rd their G-d, and He will redeem them (a
similar theme is found in Hosea 3:5).
And, how interesting! While
Paul's new religion completely and utterly ignores the significance of the Land
of Israel, there is Jeremiah, in this prophetic chapter that is used to justify
and validate Pauline Christianity, who makes its possession, bounty, return,
and beauty a central theme of critical importance to Judaism.
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31:23 |
"And
Judah shall dwell therein and [in] all its cities together, farmers and those
who travel with the flocks." |
31:24 |
People
will live together in Judah and all its towns--farmers and those who move
about with their flocks. |
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31:24 |
"For
I have sated the weary soul, and every worried soul have I replenished." |
31:25 |
I
will refresh the weary and satisfy the faint." |
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31:25 |
Thereupon
I awoke, and I had seen; and my sleep was pleasant to me. |
31:26 |
At
this I awoke and looked around. My sleep had been pleasant to me. |
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31:26 |
"Behold
days are coming," says the L-rd, "and I will sow the house of
Israel and the house of Judah [with] seed of man and [with] seed of beast." |
31:27 |
"The
days are coming," declares the LORD, "when I will plant the house
of Israel and the house of Judah with the offspring of men and of animals. |
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31:27 |
"And
it shall be, as I have watched over them to uproot and to break down, and to
demolish and to destroy and to afflict; so will I watch over them to build and
to plant," says the L-rd. |
31:28 |
Just
as I watched over them to uproot and tear down, and to overthrow, destroy and
bring disaster, so I will watch over them to build and to plant,"
declares the LORD. |
Comments:
Judah and Israel – a unified Jewish nation that will flourish. From a Jewish population of a mere 650,000
at its birth in 1948, Israel has now a population of nearly 5,000,000 Jews, out
of a total population of some 6,250,000.
And today, a per-capita Gross Domestic Product of $17,000, places Israel
is in the top 10% of 200 countries worldwide (reminiscent of Pr 12:11).
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31:28 |
"In
those days, they shall no longer say, 'the fathers have eaten unripe grapes,
and the children's teeth will be set on edge.'" |
31:29 |
"In
those days people will no longer say, `The fathers have eaten sour grapes,
and the children's teeth are set on edge.' |
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31:29 |
"But
each person shall die for his own iniquity; every person who eats unripe
grapes, his teeth shall be set on edge." |
31:30 |
Instead,
everyone will die for his own sin; whoever eats sour grapes--his own teeth
will be set on edge. |
Comments:
Think a little about this passage!
Everyone will die for their own sin – this speaks of accountability –
personal responsibility, national responsibility; personal reward, national
reward (reminiscent of Deut 24:16 &
Ezek 18:4,20). These concepts are alien
to Christian theology and, therefore, to Christians. Yes, we know! And we'll
take Jeremiah; you can have Paul.
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31:30 |
"Behold,
days are coming," says the L-rd, "when I will form with the House
of Israel and with the House of Judah a new covenant." |
31:31 |
"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. |
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31:31 |
"Not
like the covenant that I formed with their forefathers on the day I held them
by the hand to take them out of the land of Egypt, for they broke My covenant,
although I was a husband unto them," says the L-rd. |
31:32 |
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 them," declares the LORD. |
Comments: Not
only does Jeremiah mention a new covenant, he tells us how it will be new. We will not break it. G-d is constant - we
have not been. But Jeremiah is saying
that we will be. Our renewal and our
repentance and our return will anchor it, as G-d intends, and we will adhere to
it.
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31:32 |
"For
this is the covenant that I shall form with the House of Israel after those
days," says the L-rd; "I will place My Torah within them, and I
will inscribe it upon their heart; and I will be their G-d and they shall be
a people for Me." |
31:33 |
"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. |
Comments:
There is nothing new about this sentiment. In Exodus 19:6, G-d said, "And
you shall be to Me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation.", and in Deuteronomy
6:6 He said "And
these words, which I command you this day, shall be in your heart;"
This is the same as what is being said here. The difference is, as Jeremiah points out, that we will not break
it because the Torah that was given at Sinai – the original covenant and not a
new and different one - will be inscribed [by G-d] upon our hearts, since we
failed to do that on our own, and the words were merely in our mouths (Exod
13:9).
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31:33 |
"And
no longer they shall teach, each man his fellow, and each man his brother,
saying, 'know the L-rd,' for they shall all know Me, from their smallest to
their greatest," says the L-rd, "for I will forgive their iniquity,
and their sin I will no longer remember." |
31:34 |
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." |
Comments:
When we stop fooling around with non-Jewish concepts that have crept
into our common vocabulary, and solely apply the knowledge and wisdom that the
Torah says we should have, then we will have fulfilled this in spite of the
"muddying of waters" going on around us. And, once again, the notion of the forgiveness of sins upon T'shuvah
(the return to knowing the G-d of Israel) is brought up by Jeremiah (and the
absence of any hint of the Christian requirement of the blood of Jesus must be
noted as well!).
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31:34 |
So
said the L-rd, Who gives the sun to illuminate by day, the laws of the moon
and the stars to illuminate at night, Who stirs up the sea to make its waves
roar, the L-rd of Hosts is His name: |
31:35 |
This
is what the LORD says, he who appoints the sun to shine by day, who decrees
the moon and stars to shine by night, who stirs up the sea so that its waves
roar-- the LORD Almighty is his name: |
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31:35 |
"If
these laws could depart from before Me," says the L-rd, "so will
the seed of Israel cease being a nation before Me for all time." |
31:36 |
"Only
if these decrees vanish from my sight," declares the LORD, "will
the descendants of Israel ever cease to be a nation before me." |
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31:36 |
So
said the L-rd, "if the heavens above will be measured and the
foundations of the earth below will be fathomed, so too will I reject all the
seed of Israel because of all they did," says the L-rd. |
31:37 |
This
is what the LORD says: "Only if the heavens above can be measured and
the foundations of the earth below be searched out will I reject all the
descendants of Israel because of all they have done," declares the LORD. |
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31:37 |
"Behold,
days are coming," says the L-rd, "and the city shall be built to
the L-rd, from the Tower of Hanan'el to the Corner Gate." |
31:38 |
"The
days are coming," declares the LORD, "when this city will be
rebuilt for me from the Tower of Hananel to the Corner Gate. |
Comments: G-d
reiterates his promise to maintain the people of Israel as His nation, in spite
of what they have done in the past, and that Jerusalem will be rebuilt. All the Pauline version of the Christian
lord and savior was able to promise is that the city (Jerusalem) will be
destroyed, and he was even wrong about the timeframe for its destruction. We like the rebuilding of Jerusalem better
than its destruction, and we have witnessed, in our times, the rebuilding of
not only the new city of Jerusalem, but its reunification with the old city.
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31:38 |
"And
the measuring line shall once again be stretched out over Gareb Hill and around
to Goah." |
31:39 |
The
measuring line will stretch from there straight to the hill of Gareb and then
turn to Goah. |
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31:39 |
"And
the entire valley of the corpses, and of the ashes, and all the fields as far
as the stream of Kidron, to the corner of the Horses' Gate toward the east,
shall be holy to the L-rd; it shall not be uprooted and it shall not be demolished
again forever." |
31:40 |
The
whole valley where dead bodies and ashes are thrown, and all the terraces out
to the Kidron Valley on the east as far as the corner of the Horse Gate, will
be holy to the LORD. The city will never again be uprooted or
demolished." |
Comments: A verse
that speaks of dead bodies and ashes reminds many of us Jews of the Inquisition's auto-da-fe, of the burnt
Shetl in Eastern Europe, of the nazi extermination camps at Auschwitz, etc. Jeremiah knew of what he was talking! The prophet was speaking about the Jewish
people of all times – Pharisees and their descendants – some who were Torah
observant and others who may not have been. All of them imperfect people who were, and are, in need of what G-d
offers, and each will be responsible and accountable for their own iniquity,
and many who, if given the opportunity to choose, chose, and would choose, death
rather than give up Judaism.
So, what was all this about? This prophetic chapter, one of the most beautiful chapters in the entire Hebrew Bible, proves to be resilient to the passing of time. Although, in a more literal sense, it deals with two major items on the messianic agenda - the ingathering of the Jewish people and the universal knowledge of G-d - this exposition also demonstrates how well Jeremiah's words testify to the resilience and, therefore, the guaranteed survival of the Jewish people. All of us Jews can draw comfort from the prophet's words that, no matter what others try to perpetrate against us, be it aggression that tries to physically destroy us or spiritual terrorism that aims to destroy Judaism, we will survive and triumph in the end. We have all been witnessing the fulfillment of this promise in our own times.
(Special thanks go to my dear colleague
LOJ for permitting me to use his material as the basis for this
presentation.)
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