A GREAT THRONG OF RETURNING EXILES.
Jeremiah 31:7-9.
This song calls us to gladness for Jacob (Jeremiah 31:7).
Jacob is referred to as the chief - or foremost - of the nations (Jeremiah 31:7). This did not square with the present experience of either Ephraim or Judah - scattered and in exile - but gifts them with a prophetic hope based in God’s view of things: after all, they are the ‘apple of His eye’ (Zechariah 2:8). The verse ends with a call to prayer for the remnant of Israel.
The voice of homecoming: a new exodus (Jeremiah 31:8-9).
The Jebusites had once mocked David, saying that they would defend Jerusalem with their blind and their lame (2 Samuel 5:6). Now the exiles were returning “with the blind and the lame” (Jeremiah 31:8). This points forward, too, to the blind and the lame who came into the Temple to be healed by Jesus (Matthew 21:14).
Not only was the nation going to be rebuilt, but also repopulated. The Assyrians in particular had been exceedingly cruel towards the women with child: now the women with child, and those in labour, joined the great throng of returning exiles (Jeremiah 31:8).
Again the LORD would lead His people through the wilderness: a thousand mile journey that would be completed via “a straight way” in which He would lead them (Jeremiah 31:9), as opposed to the circuitous wanderings of the rebellious children of Israel in Moses’ days. For us as Christians, Jesus is the only Way (John 14:6).
Neither would there be any lack of water to refresh them for the journey (cf. Psalm 23:2). The stumbling and the thirst of their past wanderings would not be repeated (Jeremiah 31:9). The LORD would now become Father to Israel despite their prior failure to embrace Him as their Father (Jeremiah 3:19). Through our Lord Jesus Christ both Jews and Gentiles, by the one Spirit, may have direct access to the Father (Ephesians 2:18).
