The word that came to Jeremiah from Jehovah, saying,
Chapter 30 opens with God speaking and Jeremiah receiving. After chapters of warning and ruin, this word turns to promise — and Jeremiah is told to write it in a book, so why did it have to last?
Read against what comes before, this opening marks a shift in the book's whole direction.
Jeremiah 25 begins the judgment of the nations, or rather the judgment which extends over all the earth. He gives the cup to drink to all nations (v. 15). From Jeremiah 30 there are promises of restoration, and warning that sets out their sin.
The command to write comes before anything else in the chapter. One writer asks why these words had to be kept on record.
You can tell how important the coming message is from the opening words: "Thus speaks the Lord God of Israel, saying, Write all the words that I have spoken to you in a book." (v. 2.) Why did they have to be put on permanent record? "For, behold, days are coming, declares the LORD, when I will restore the fortunes of my people, Israel and Judah, says the LORD, and I will bring them back to the land that I gave to their fathers, and they shall take possession of it." (v. 3.)
The same command also answers a question about who wrote the book.
Jeremiah is commanded to write in a book all the words the LORD had spoken. That is enough evidence that Jeremiah is the author, and that this book is not a patchwork put together by various later contributors, editors and compilers.
Jeremiah was told to write more than once, and each command names the same material — the words God had spoken to him.
No other prophet was so frequently commanded to write as Jeremiah was. "Write all the words that I have spoken to you in a book" (30:2). "Take a scroll and write on it all the words that I have spoken to you" (36:2).
The next verse names who the message is about. One writer sees that naming as a guard against turning the names into symbols.
Some explain such prophecies away by spiritualizing them, trying to apply them to the Church and to Christianity. As if to guard against that, we are told, "These are the words that the LORD spoke concerning Israel and concerning Judah." They are not words about something else pictured under the names of Israel and Judah. They are words the Lord spoke (a solemn thought!) about Israel and about Judah.
Has this promise already come true? One writer tests it against Israel's history.
No one can say that this promised restoration of both Israel and Judah has already happened. This time of suffering is like no other. It will be the worst sorrow Israel has ever known, and yet out of that very time they will be saved. "It is the time of Jacob's trouble, but he shall be saved out of it" (v. 7). Trouble like this, with deliverance out of it for Israel and Jacob, has never happened from Jeremiah's day to this.
The book Jeremiah writes is not one short message. One writer groups chapters 30 to 33 together and finds their reach going beyond Israel.
Chapters 30-33 are linked together. They contain truths of outstanding excellence — new things of such unmatched importance that they affect more than the nation of Israel, whose glorious restoration and revival in Christ is directly in view here. They also affect those who belong to the assembly, the church, today. It is in Jeremiah 31 that the "New Thing" is spoken of, and likewise the "New Covenant."
- Word. The chapter starts with God, not with the prophet. Jeremiah passes on what the LORD spoke to him.
- Written. God tells him to put it in a book. The command itself shows how much weight the message carries.
- Why. Verse 3 gives the reason. Days are coming when God will bring His people back to the land He gave their fathers, so the promise had to outlive the people who first heard it.
- Whom. The words are about Israel and Judah by name. One writer warns against turning those names into symbols for something else.
- When. The full restoration of Israel and Judah has not happened yet. The chapters that follow carry the promise on to the New Covenant.
Thus speaketh Jehovah the God of Israel, saying, Write thee in a book all the words that I have spoken unto thee.
Jeremiah is told to take up a pen and fix in a book the words he has been speaking. What follows that command reaches far past his own lifetime — so why record these words, and who are they for?
The chapter opens with the command to write. One writer takes those opening words as the measure of how much weight the message carries.
You can judge the importance of what is coming from the opening words, "Write in a book all the words that I have spoken to you." (v. 2.) Why did these words have to be recorded for good? "For behold, days are coming, declares the LORD, when I will restore the fortunes of my people, Israel and Judah, says the LORD, and I will bring them back to the land that I gave to their fathers, and they shall take possession of it." (v. 3.)
The timing matters. God orders this record just as the nation is collapsing, and one writer explains why He works that way.
It is God's way to give prophecy in a time of ruin. Those who sin get a last warning. Those who believe find support in the hope of "some better thing" in His grace, which is greater than all the powers of evil. It went that way with His people Israel. They mocked Him in His messengers and despised His words, though He kept sending them again and again, because He had compassion on the Jews and on His dwelling-place — until there was no remedy. His anger then rose and fell on them. That was the very time when the prophets wrote: no longer content to speak their predictions, they set them down more fully and more formally.
Verse 4 names who the written words are about. One writer sees that line as a guard put there on purpose.
There is a way of reading prophecy that explains such promises away by applying them to the Church and to Christianity. As if to guard against that, we are told, "These are the words that the LORD spoke concerning Israel and Judah." They are not words about something else pictured under the names of Israel and Judah. They are words the Lord spoke about Israel and about Judah — a solemn thought.
The promise in verse 3 covers Israel and Judah together, not just one of them. One writer applies that to our own day:
Does the modern state of Israel match this? No, it is a Jewish state only — the ten tribes of the kingdom of Israel are missing. But God does not fall short when He fulfils His promises, so we can be sure they will be included.
The words Jeremiah writes down carry judgment first, and then rescue.
In Jeremiah 30 God commands Jeremiah to write in a book all the words of the judgment which he had heard, for God would restore the people. Now this deliverance found Israel at the height of the distress. This is the first thing presented to the prophet. No day could be compared to this day of Jacob's trouble. It is the day spoken of in Matthew 24 and Mark 13. But in this extremity God comes to the help of His people, and they will be delivered. God has now carried out His judgment and acted according to His own counsels in grace. So this deliverance will be full and complete.
The command to write comes back again and again in this book. One commentator counts the times and draws a conclusion about the author.
No other prophet was so often commanded to write as Jeremiah was. "Write in a book all the words that I have spoken to you" (30:2). "Take a scroll and write on it all the words that I have spoken" (36:2). Then Baruch, his secretary, testified that he wrote in a book all these words that came from Jeremiah's lips (36:18). After that scroll was burned, the Lord said, "Take another scroll and write on it all the former words that were in the first scroll" (36:28). "So Jeremiah wrote in a book" (51:60). Who are the men who try to make us believe that Jeremiah did not write these words?
- Written — the command to write comes first, and it marks the weight of all that follows.
- Written in ruin — God gives prophecy while judgment falls. It warns those who sin and holds up those who believe.
- Written about whom — verse 4 names Israel and Judah, so no one can quietly hand the promise to someone else.
- Written for later — today's state of Israel does not match the promise. The ten tribes are still missing, and God does not fall short of His own words.
- Written to be trusted — no prophet received the order to write as often as Jeremiah, and what he wrote ends in full and complete rescue out of the worst trouble.
For behold, the days come, saith Jehovah, when I will turn the captivity of my people Israel and Judah, saith Jehovah; and I will cause them to return to the land that I gave to their fathers, and they shall possess it.
God tells Jeremiah to write a promise down while his nation is falling apart: He will bring His people back and settle them again in the land He gave their fathers. The question is when. Did the return from Babylon fulfil this, or is it still ahead?
Verse 3 comes attached to a command in verse 2: write it in a book. That command marks Jeremiah out among the prophets.
No other prophet was told to write as often as Jeremiah was. "Write all the words that I have spoken to you in a book" (30:2). "Take a scroll of a book and write in it all the words that I have spoken" (36:2).
A spoken word can die with those who hear it. One writer weighs the way this chapter opens.
You can judge the importance of what comes next from the opening words… Why did these words have to be recorded permanently?
The verse names two peoples, and the next line names them again: Israel and Judah. One writer sees that repeat as a guard against reading the names as symbols for the church.
It is as though God were guarding against the spiritualizing way of reading, which would explain such prophecies away by trying to apply them to the Church and to Christianity. So we are told, "And these are the words that the LORD spoke concerning Israel and concerning Judah." These are not words about something else pictured under the names of Israel and Judah. They are words the Lord spoke — a solemn thought! — about Israel and about Judah.
A small group of exiles did come home from Babylon. One writer reads that homecoming as far too small to match this promise.
The partial return, under Ezra and Nehemiah, clearly does not fulfil this prophecy. It looks on to days still future.
The chapter ties this restoration to a time of deep anguish. What stands out is how it ends.
No one can say that this promised restoration of both Israel and Judah has already happened. This time of suffering is like no other. Here is what makes it so: it will be the worst sorrow Israel has ever known, and yet out of that very time they will be saved. "It is even the time of Jacob's trouble, but he shall be saved out of it" (verse 7). Trouble like this, with deliverance out of it, has never come to Israel and Jacob from Jeremiah's day to this.
Another writer points to the man behind the name. He holds the land promise and the coming anguish together.
God had given the land to their fathers, and they will yet possess it, just as God's Word says. But right away we are reminded of a moment of great anguish that must come just before this is fully accomplished… It was so with Jacob himself, and it will be so with his descendants. One particular night stands out in Jacob's history. In the same way, one particular time of tribulation — great tribulation — will stand out in Israel's history.
The verse rests the future on something already done in the past. God does not say He will give them a land; He says He gave it to their fathers. One writer measures the land's actual history against what was promised.
These promises have never really been fulfilled. Israel has never lived in the whole extent of the land described here. True, it was all paying tribute in the days of Solomon, but that was not a good enough answer to the promise of God. His purpose was that they should inherit the land themselves and enjoy it with no stranger present. And it is plain to everyone that they have not yet had any of it as an everlasting possession. What they did take, they lost after a while because of sin, and they were scattered among the nations. Let no one think that, because this happened, they have no future glory. They have been unfaithful to God, but He will not be unfaithful to them. He will make good all His word.
The promise is not cold administration. One writer sets this verse beside a later line in Jeremiah to show the warmth in it.
The word of the Lord shall stand fast forever: the mere theories of men shall come to nothing… And again, "I will rejoice in doing them good, and I will plant them in this land in faithfulness, with all my heart and all my soul" (Jer. 32:41). Then, surely, shall the banner of God's unchanging love wave over them. What must be the blessing of that people whom God shall assuredly bless with His whole heart and His whole soul!
Andrew Miller (older translations read "assuredly… with my whole heart, and with my whole soul")
- Written — God had the promise put in a book, so it would outlive the people who first heard it. No other prophet was told to write so often.
- Whole — Israel and Judah are named, and named twice. One writer reads that as a guard against turning the names into symbols for something else.
- Unfulfilled — the return under Ezra and Nehemiah was only partial. Commentators judge it far too small to answer this promise.
- Through trouble — the rescue comes at Israel's worst hour, not before it. They are saved out of the time of Jacob's trouble, just as Jacob came through his own night.
- Guaranteed — God gave the land to their fathers long ago. So the promise rests on His faithfulness, not on theirs. They failed Him, but He will not fail them.
And these are the words that Jehovah hath spoken concerning Israel and concerning Judah;
Jeremiah has spent chapter after chapter announcing ruin, and here the tone changes: a short line of introduction announces that what follows is a message addressed to both parts of a divided nation. Everything in the four chapters that follow hangs on how seriously we take those two names.
The placing of this prophecy matters. It arrives at the point where the nation's whole future looks cancelled, and one commentator sets out the question it answers:
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.
The verse looks like a mere heading, but commentators treat it as one of the most decisive sentences in prophecy. It names the parties, and it names them twice:
As if to guard against the "spiritualizing" way of reading, which explains such prophecies away by applying them to the Church and to Christianity, we are told, "These are the words that the LORD spoke concerning Israel and Judah." They are not words about something else pictured under the names of Israel and Judah. They are words the Lord spoke — a solemn thought! — about Israel and about Judah.
Another writer draws the same line, and adds who is not in view:
But who are the sufferers contemplated? Not the Church, of which Jeremiah knew even less than the disciples who sat with the Lord on the Mount of Olives… When God says "Israel" and "Judah," we may be assured that He means what He says.
Since both names appear, the promise cannot be limited to the small group that came home from Babylon. Both houses are covered, and only one of them ever returned:
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… 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.
Two later candidates are also weighed and rejected — the return from Babylon, and the Roman destruction of Jerusalem under Titus:
The return from Babylon in no way meets such a description; for their return from that captivity was preceded by the day of the Lord on the proud city of the Chaldeans, and in no sense the time of Jacob's trouble. Again, the siege of Titus, however severe a time of trouble to the Jew, cannot possibly be regarded as the time; for Jacob was led captive and scattered more than ever, instead of being then delivered.
The words announced here open with terror before they offer relief, and the name chosen for the sufferers is deliberate:
Jacob, "that worm Jacob," is the name used for the people regarded in their weakness, as Israel is their name of power… We have Israel and Judah in question, called by the name that expresses their weakness as exposed to every kind of calamity from without. It is a day of unparalleled trouble, and the Israel of that day are to be delivered.
The pattern is read as the nation repeating its ancestor's own story — Jacob, who wrestled through one terrible night before his name was changed:
Like his, the nation's way to the glory is through trial and trouble… It was so with Jacob personally: it shall be so with his descendants. There was a certain night which stands out in Jacob's history: there will be a certain time of tribulation, of great tribulation, which shall distinguish Israel's history.
That wording of verse 7 comes from an older translation.
If these promises belong to Israel, Christians are not to claim them — and lose nothing by not claiming them:
Israel's is an earthly calling… When, in days to come, grace shall restore and save them, and when they shall stand in grace, no longer holding their blessings on the tenure of their own obedience, their blessings — the blessings distinctive of their calling and position — will still be earthly. Ours is a heavenly calling.
- Named. The verse names Israel and Judah on purpose, so that the promises cannot be quietly transferred to somebody else.
- Timed. It comes after the judgment messages, when the nation's hope looked finished, to answer whether God had cancelled His covenant with David.
- Unfulfilled. Neither the return from Babylon nor the fall of Jerusalem under Titus matches it; the ten tribes have never come home.
- Weak, then delivered. They are called by Jacob's name — the name of weakness — and, like Jacob, they pass through one terrible night on the way to blessing.
- Distinct. Israel's promised blessings are earthly; readers who belong to Christ have a heavenly calling and need not borrow another people's portion.
for thus saith Jehovah We have heard a voice of trembling, there is fear, and no peace.
God tells Jeremiah to write his words in a book, because they reach far past his own lifetime. The first sound in that future is not comfort but panic. That raises three questions: whose fear is this, when does it come, and why does a promise of restoration open with terror?
Why put the message in a book at all? Trotter finds the answer in the promise that follows, and in a rescue that has not happened yet.
Jeremiah 30 is full of instruction on our present subject. You can judge the importance of what is coming from the opening words: "Thus says the Lord God of Israel, Write in a book all the words that I have spoken to you." Why were they to be recorded so permanently? "For behold, days are coming, declares the Lord, when I will restore the fortunes of My people, Israel and Judah… and I will bring them back to the land that I gave to their fathers." We then hear of a time of terrible, widespread panic… So the deliverance and restoration foretold here come at the moment of Israel's worst trouble — a day that nothing matches. Surely this has not happened yet.
This is not ordinary fear. Kelly matches it with the unequalled time of trouble in Daniel, and says why the people are called Jacob and not Israel.
This is a state of things beyond anything that is normally reasonable. Men are filled with the deepest anguish, and it shows in their faces. Their courage is gone in the face of dreadful trouble… As in Daniel, it is a time never seen before. Jacob, "that worm Jacob," is the name used for the people seen in their weakness, as Israel is their name of power.
If this panic had already come, history could name it. Kelly tests the two obvious candidates — the return from exile in Babylon, and Jerusalem's fall to the Roman general Titus — and finds that neither fits.
One strange feature of it is this. It is the day of their greatest trouble, yet it is at once their complete and, as we shall see, final deliverance. The return from Babylon in no way meets such a description. The day of the Lord fell on the proud city of the Chaldeans before that return, and the return was in no sense the time of Jacob's trouble. Again, the siege of Titus was a severe time of trouble for the Jew, but it cannot be the time. Jacob was led captive and scattered more than ever then, instead of being delivered.
The panic has a purpose. One writer calls it labour — pain that ends in a birth. It comes before the appearing of the Lord Israel rejected.
But before He appears, Israel will be getting ready to recognise and receive her rejected Lord. This happens in the middle of a time of trial such as the world has never seen, and will never see again… It is indeed the labour-time of Israel's new birth.
The name Jacob points back to the man himself. One writer sets a single night in Jacob's life beside the time of trouble still waiting for his descendants.
It was so with Jacob personally; it shall be so with his descendants. There was a certain night that stands out in Jacob's history. In the same way, a certain time of tribulation, of great tribulation, will mark Israel's history… The whole world will feel it, yet the heaviest weight will fall upon the Jews. Even they, who have suffered so much, will never have known before such "a time of trouble" (Daniel 12:1).
The panic is not where the chapter ends. Darby notes what the prophet is shown first, and how complete the rescue turns out to be.
Now this deliverance found Israel at the height of the distress. This is the first thing presented to the prophet. No day could be compared to this day of Jacob's trouble. It is the day spoken of in Matthew 24 and Mark 13. But in this extremity God comes to the help of His people, and they shall be delivered. God has now carried out His judgment and acted according to His own counsels in grace. So this deliverance shall be full and complete.
- Written — God had the words written down because their day had not yet come. The fear belongs to a future still ahead.
- Panic — the terror goes past anything reasonable: courage gone, anguish showing in every face.
- Jacob — that weak name marks the people at their most helpless, right before their rescue.
- Travail — the pain is labour pain. It ends in a birth: a nation that welcomes the Lord it once rejected.
- Saved — deliverance lands at the very height of the distress, and it is full and final, not a partial reprieve.
Ask ye now, and see, whether a male doth travail with child? Wherefore do I see every man with his hands on his loins, as a woman in travail; and all faces are turned into paleness?
Commentary for this verse has not been generated yet.
Alas! for that day is great, so that none is like it it is even the time of Jacob's trouble; but he shall be saved out of it.
Jeremiah has just promised full deliverance for Israel and Judah. Then, before that joy, he sets down a shadow: one day so terrible that nothing in history matches it. The verse holds two things at once — an unequalled trouble named after Jacob, and a certain rescue out of it.
The prophet does not say Israel's trouble. Commentators say the two names carry different weight, and Jeremiah picks the weaker one on purpose.
Jacob, "that worm Jacob," is the name used for the people regarded in their weakness, as Israel is their name of power. So far it is the same train of thought, in the mind of the Spirit, as we have in Daniel. Israel and Judah are in view here, called by the name that expresses their weakness, open to every disaster from outside.
Jeremiah is not the only writer to say this day has no equal. Only a few passages speak of it directly, and they agree.
There will be at the close a tribulation, a time such as there has never been, till the Lord's coming brings deliverance. Which Scriptures tell us that there will be such tribulation? I know of no other direct ones than these: Jeremiah 30:7; Daniel 12:1; Matthew 24:21; Mark 13:19. These four passages prove that there will be a time of tribulation such as never was since there was a nation.
Some say this already happened when Rome destroyed Jerusalem. The second half of the verse rules that out: the promise is not just that trouble comes, but that Jacob comes out of it.
We find this time of tribulation in Jeremiah 30:7; but in the trouble which came upon the nation at the destruction under Titus the Jews were not saved. In Daniel 12 we find again deliverance and the intervention of God by means of Michael; and this will happen at Christ's second coming.
The name is more than a label. Jacob himself once spent a night alone in terror. He came out of it crippled, clinging to God, and carrying a new name.
He appeared in that memorable night as Jacob's enemy and opponent... The Lord overcomes that stubbornness by touching Jacob's hip-joint and dislocating it. In this way He completely crippled his strength and now Jacob could wrestle no more. In utter weakness and helplessness he could only cling to Him and ask for a blessing... His name changes. From then on it is "Israel" — a Prince with God. And the descendants of Jacob, at the time of Jacob's trouble (Jer. 30:7), will go through a similar experience and have their own Peniel.
Another writer draws the same line from the man to the nation.
"Alas!" cries the prophet... "it is A TIME OF DISTRESS FOR JACOB; yet he shall be saved out of it" (v. 7). It was so with Jacob personally: it shall be so with his descendants... though it will come on the whole world, the heaviest weight will fall on the Jews. Even they, who have suffered so much, will never have known such "a time of trouble" before (Dan. 12:1).
The trouble here has a purpose. One writer says what this pain is producing.
Israel will be preparing to recognize and receive her rejected Lord... "it is a time of distress for Jacob; yet he shall be saved out of it, and … they shall serve the Lord their God, and David their king, whom I will raise up for them" (Jer. 30:6-7, 9). It is indeed the travail-time of Israel's new birth.
Daniel 12 speaks of the same day. One writer sets the two passages side by side.
In the time of Michael it will be a time of distress. This is the second thought in the chapter, and it is the same in Jeremiah 30:7. There could be only one such time — none is to be like it: "For the day of the Lord is great and very terrible; and who can endure it?" (Joel 2:11). Still, it is the day of deliverance for Israel... Clearly these promises have never yet come true, for it will be a final deliverance.
The verse names who suffers. Commentators insist that name is not a code word for the church.
The teaching never changes anywhere: it is not the Church, but Jacob, that we see in this disaster. And just as surely, he is saved out of it... There is no hint of a Christian being there — except in circles that hold the strange illusion that "Jacob," "Israel," "Zion," "Jerusalem," and almost everything else mean the Christian or the Church.
- Named — the verse calls the trouble Jacob's, the name of the people in weakness, not Israel, their name of power.
- Unequalled — only four passages describe this day: Jeremiah 30:7, Daniel 12:1, Matthew 24:21 and Mark 13:19. All agree it has no parallel.
- Future — Rome's destruction of Jerusalem cannot be it. There the Jews were not saved; here Jacob is.
- Personal pattern — Jacob was broken in the dark, clung to God and rose with a new name. His descendants will meet God the same way, in their own Peniel.
- Deliverance — the day of distress is the day of rescue. It is the labour pain of Israel's new birth, ending with them serving the Lord their God and David their king.