Jeremiah 31:8

31:1-9 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.

Behold, I will bring them from the north country,.... As from Babylon, at the end of the seventy years' captivity, which lay north of Judea; so, in the latter day, from those northern countries, as ours, where they now are in great numbers: and gather them from the coasts of the earth; or "sides" of it; from all the parts of the world where they are: and with them the blind and the lame, the woman with child and her that travaileth with child together; signifying that no difficulties whatsoever should hinder them in their return to their own land; provision should be made for persons under these circumstances, so unfit to travel.

Jeremiah 31:8-9 . Behold, I will bring them from the north country — Here God himself undertakes to conduct home the remnant of his people from the countries through which they had been scattered; and the promise relates to the ten tribes, as well as to those of Judah and Benjamin; for Assyria and Media, whither they were removed, lay north of Judea as well as Babylon. And the following words speak of a general restoration of this people from their several dispersions; and with them the blind and the lame, &c. — God will compassionate their infirmities, and will conduct them with all imaginable care and tenderness, and furnish the feeble and indigent of them with suitable accommodations. The prophet alludes to the care and compassion which God manifested in conducting his people, of all ages and conditions, through the wilderness, compared to the care with which a parent or nurse carries a tender child, Deuteronomy 1:31 . See also Isaiah 40:11 ; Isaiah 49:10 . They shall come with weeping — The LXX. translate the words, Εν κλαυθμω εξηλθον , και εν παρακλησει αναξω αυτους , they went forth with weeping, but with comfort will I bring them back; which sense agrees exactly with the words of Psalm 136:5-6 , which was composed upon occasion of the return from captivity, He that sows in tears shall reap in joy: he that goeth forth weeping, shall come again with rejoicing.

Our translation, however, is much more agreeable to the original words, and is also confirmed by Jeremiah 3:21 , where we read, A voice was heard, weeping and supplications of the children of Israel; the prophet speaking upon the same subject, and in the same words here used. See also chap. Jeremiah 50:4 , where it is said, The children of Israel and Judah shall come together, going and weeping, and seek the Lord their God. All which words imply, that the Jews and Israelites, at the time of their general restoration, shall have their joy tempered with tears of repentance for their former miscarriages; which is more fully expressed Zechariah 12:10 , where God promises to pour upon them the spirit of grace and supplication. I will cause them to walk by the rivers of waters — So that they shall not be afflicted with thirst, or the want of any accommodation in their journey. The words allude to God’s miraculously supplying the Israelites with water in the wilderness. See notes on Isaiah 35:6-7 ; Isaiah 41:17-18 ; Isaiah 49:10 . In a straight way wherein they shall not stumble — This phrase is an allusion to God’s leading the Israelites through the Red sea, and afterward in the wilderness. See Isaiah 63:13 ; Isaiah 42:16 . For I am a father to Israel — The remembrance of former connections is here mentioned as the motive of God’s returning favour to Israel.

Verse 8. - The weakest among the Israelites will share the blessings with the strongest, even the blind and the lame (comp. Isaiah 33:23 , "The lame take the prey"). Elsewhere we are told that, in the Messianic age, "the eyes of the blind shall see," and "the lame man shall leap as an hart" ( Isaiah 35:5, 6 ). Shall return thither; rather, hither ; i.e. to Palestine, where Jeremiah writes this prophecy. The word for company is hahal , the proper word in the Pentateuch for the Israelitish national "congregation." Jeremiah 31:8

(8) And with them the blind and the lame . . . —The vision of restoration continues, and the prophet sees in the spirit the great company of those that return. Even those who are commonly left behind in such an expedition, as incumbrances hindering its march, the blind, the lame, the women with child or in the very pangs of childbirth, will be seen in that company. None shall remain behind. They are to come from the land of the North, the wide range of the term covering the exiles both of Judah in Babylon and of Israel in the cities of the Medes. For “the coasts of the earth” see Note on Jeremiah 25:32 . Shall return thither—i.e., to the land of Israel, as the goal of the company of travellers.

By the north country, is unquestionably meant Babylon, and the land of the Chaldeans, and those places which were northward of Jerusalem; and by the coasts of the earth, all other parts into which any of the Jews had been driven. The meaning of this is, that nothing should hinder such from returning as had a mind to return; blind men that could not see their way, and lame persons, who had no strength to walk in it, though they saw it, and women with child, in regard of their heaviness, and women travailing, in regard of their pain, are persons more unfit to travel long journeys than any others; but saith God, I will make such provision, that some under those circumstances shall come. That these phrases must be interpreted only into this general sense appears, because such persons in a literal sense could not come. And though some worthy interpreters understand it in a spiritual sense, of ignorant and impotent persons, and such as are laden with the burden of their sins, and of coming to Christ, it seems not to be the primary sense of the text.

8. north—Assyria, Media, &c. (see on [941]Jer 3:12; Jer 3:18; 23:8). gather from … coasts of … earth—(Eze 20:34, 41; 34:13). blind … lame, &c.—Not even the most infirm and unfit persons for a journey shall be left behind, so universal shall be the restoration. a great company—or, they shall return "in a great company" [Maurer].