In Jeremiah chapter 31 the word "again" comes up 3 times. The word "again" speaks of repetition and fresh beginnings. Commentators point out that this passage is all about promise. It is God giving promises and only promises to Israel. There are no instructions to hear---no conditions to meet---no laws to obey---no requirement for the people to renew the covenant with God. It's all about what God will do for them---again
Our lives continue to need God's love and care. We continue to need the reminder of God's victory. We continue to seek out renewal, restoration and fresh beginnings with the Lord. How is it that almost every animal except man renews its beauty and youth at particular seasons? Birds moult their plumage, snakes slough their skins, even the cockroach casts off its old covering, and all come forth bright and beautiful as in the days of their youth; but we grow uglier and more discoloured every year, and the same skin must serve until our dying days.Jeremiah lived through the demise of his civilization when the Babylonians invaded Judah, assaulted Jerusalem, and reduced the temple to rubble, exiling, or killing the royal family, priests, prophets, and majority of the population. The resulting chaos may be unimaginable to readers who have not lived through war and its aftermath in their own land. Here in the United States, those who survived the attack on Pearl Harbor or the attacks on the World Trade Center will have experienced some of what the citizens of Judah saw and felt. However, in neither case did the US government - or even those of Hawaii or New York - fall. In fact, in both cases governmental, religious, and social organizations responded immediately demonstrating the preservation of American institutional life.
In Judah in 586 BCE, broken families would have been ravaged by grief and loss; those left behind would have had to scramble to find surviving relatives and a place to sleep if their homes had been destroyed. Produce and food animals were either destroyed or taken. Every object of value was plundered. Anyone with any authority or skill to help rebuild the society was dead or gone.
Again God speaks through Jeremiah to a broken people, "I took them by the hand" and "I married them" in verse 32. (The latter phrase is translated "I was their husband" in the NRSV.) God is willing to start over with them and make it easier for God's people to keep the covenant; this time God will engrave the Torah ("revelation," "teaching," and "law") on their hearts (verse 33). They will not have to be told (or taught) to (get to) know the LORD; for the knowledge of the LORD will be implanted within them.
The passage ends with a commitment from God to forget their sin for all time. These words promised desperately-needed hope to the survivors of the invasion. The God of Creation would re-create them. The God of Exodus would embrace them again. The merciful, tender loving God would forgive all their sin and absolve them of the sins of their ancestors. The sin that led God to surrender Judah and Jerusalem to the Babylonians would be forgiven.
Jeremiah's words were recorded and remembered, preserved, and reckoned as scripture. They have come down through time to us as living words of God in part because they nourished famished souls at their most desperate hour.
Action Step: Read Jeremiah chapter 31 out loud today and be encouraged God has not forgotten you and you can begin again.
In Judah in 586 BCE, broken families would have been ravaged by grief and loss; those left behind would have had to scramble to find surviving relatives and a place to sleep if their homes had been destroyed. Produce and food animals were either destroyed or taken. Every object of value was plundered. Anyone with any authority or skill to help rebuild the society was dead or gone.
Again God speaks through Jeremiah to a broken people, "I took them by the hand" and "I married them" in verse 32. (The latter phrase is translated "I was their husband" in the NRSV.) God is willing to start over with them and make it easier for God's people to keep the covenant; this time God will engrave the Torah ("revelation," "teaching," and "law") on their hearts (verse 33). They will not have to be told (or taught) to (get to) know the LORD; for the knowledge of the LORD will be implanted within them.
The passage ends with a commitment from God to forget their sin for all time. These words promised desperately-needed hope to the survivors of the invasion. The God of Creation would re-create them. The God of Exodus would embrace them again. The merciful, tender loving God would forgive all their sin and absolve them of the sins of their ancestors. The sin that led God to surrender Judah and Jerusalem to the Babylonians would be forgiven.
Jeremiah's words were recorded and remembered, preserved, and reckoned as scripture. They have come down through time to us as living words of God in part because they nourished famished souls at their most desperate hour.
Action Step: Read Jeremiah chapter 31 out loud today and be encouraged God has not forgotten you and you can begin again.
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