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.
And it shall come to pass in that day, saith Jehovah of hosts, I will break his yoke from off thy neck, and will burst thy bonds, and strangers shall no more reduce him to servitude.
A broken yoke, burst chains, and no foreign master left — this promise belongs to one particular day. Commentators press one question above all: has that day come, and if not, when will it?
The promise opens with "in that day." That points back to the day of trouble the chapter has just described, and the link settles the timing.
So we find that the deliverance and restoration foretold here come at the moment of Israel's worst trouble — a day like no other. This has surely not happened yet. The next verse also proves the event is still future… Has anything like this ever been accomplished yet?
One writer holds the promise up against Jewish history and asks whether the yoke has ever come off.
"Foreigners shall no more make a servant of him" — that is, Jacob. Why, strangers have been making Jacob serve them right up to this hour! The Jews have never yet gained their national independence — never.
Someone could point to the many hard times the Jews have already come through. The same writer answers that none of them ended the way this prophecy does.
So while there have been many times of trouble for the Jews, there has never yet been an unequalled trouble after which they were saved. All the large-scale troubles they have passed through so far have only ended in further troubles. Things have always gone against the Jew, with the one exception of the Maccabean risings, and their results were very small indeed compared with the terms of this prophecy.
The chapter names the people it is about, and it names them plainly.
The language here is so precise that comment is almost unnecessary. "Alas! that day is great; so that none is like it." It is impossible that there should be two periods of unequalled trouble. What is more, the trouble ends in final and complete deliverance for the people of God… But who are the people the prophet has in mind? Whose appalling sufferings will end in deliverance and blessing? Verse 4 gives the answer: "These are the words that Jehovah spoke concerning Israel and concerning Jerusalem."
The name Jacob covers a man as well as a nation. One writer takes the promise back to the man's own story.
It was so with Jacob himself; it shall be so with his descendants. One certain night 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, but the heaviest weight will fall upon the Jews… Still, just as Jacob was freed from serving another, so verse 8 tells us that Israel also shall be freed from the future yoke of Babylon.
Freedom is not the whole promise. The deliverance moves Israel from one service to another, under a king this writer names as Christ.
Yet it is the day of deliverance for Israel: "…they shall serve the Lord their God, and David their king [Christ] … but I will not leave you altogether unpunished," Jer. 30:8-9, 11. These promises have clearly never yet been fulfilled, for it will be a final deliverance.
Later in the chapter God says who will govern the restored people.
"Their nobles also shall be of themselves, and their governor shall come from among them" (verses 17-21). Usually the case was the very opposite: the governor came from the conquering power. And Jehovah added, "You shall be My people and I will be your God," This shows the restoration would be more than revival as a nation. It would bring communion with God in worship and service.
- Dated — The promise belongs to one day, the day of trouble like no other.
- Unfulfilled — Past troubles have only led to further troubles, and strangers keep their hold on Jacob to this hour.
- Unique — There cannot be two periods of unequalled trouble. This one ends in complete deliverance for Israel and Jerusalem.
- Personal — Jacob himself came through a night of anguish and went free from serving another. His descendants will too.
- Transferred — The yoke breaks so that service changes hands. Israel will serve the Lord their God and David their king, with a ruler from among their own people.
But they shall serve Jehovah their God, and David their king, whom I will raise up unto them.
This promise comes at the turning point of the chapter: God breaks the yoke off Israel and gives them a Master and a King to serve. Two questions follow: when does this happen, and who is the "David" raised up long after David himself died?
Commentators say this promise has not happened yet. The reason is how far it reaches: the whole people, not a part of them.
"But they shall serve the LORD their God and David their king, whom I will raise up for them" (verse 9). These will be the days of the Messiah: "the LORD their God and David their king." The prophecy certainly applies to the Jewish people as one whole, undivided nation. So the prophecy is still future.
The chapter names who it is talking about. That blocks any attempt to read Israel as a picture of something else.
Some explain such prophecies away by applying them to the Church and to Christianity. As if to guard against that, we are told, "And 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.
The name David has a meaning of its own, and that meaning explains its use here.
In all prophecies we have to tell two things apart. One is the near event that the prophet hangs his prophecy on. The other goes in spirit far beyond that immediate prophecy. For instance, in Jeremiah 30:9 and 33:21 we find mention of David. The name means "beloved," and there it clearly refers to Christ.
One writer states the point plainly, after quoting the promise of freedom that comes just before it.
"In that day, says the LORD of Hosts, I will break his yoke from your neck, and I will burst your bonds, and strangers shall no longer make him serve them" (Jer. 30:8). There is hardly a need to say that David their king, raised up here, is none other than David's greater Son, the Lord from heaven.
This service begins at the darkest hour of the chapter. God rescues His people at their lowest point, and because God Himself acts, the rescue is complete.
This deliverance finds Israel at the height of the distress. That is the first thing shown to the prophet. No day could be compared to this day of Jacob's trouble… But at this extreme point God comes to help His people, and He will deliver them. God has now carried out His judgment and has acted according to His own purposes in grace. So this deliverance will be full and complete. Israel will serve the LORD their God and David their king… Israel will be the people of the LORD, and the LORD will be their God.
David began as a shepherd. One writer follows that picture to Christ, and to resurrection.
David the king started out as David the shepherd. From childhood he grew in the skills that fitted him to be the shepherd of Israel. But David is only a faint picture of the true David, the true Shepherd, "great David's greater Son", the Lord Jesus Christ. It is in resurrection that the Lord Jesus holds this relationship to us, just as Psalm 23 follows Psalm 22. And it is in resurrection that He will fulfil this new and everlasting covenant relation with Israel.
Serving a king is only good news if the king is good. David and Solomon both failed the people who served them.
What a King Christ will be to them! David and Solomon both pictured Him, but how faintly! David sinned, and so brought a plague on the poor sheep. Solomon dazzled them with glory and splendour, but his yoke was heavy and his oppression was harsh, and the bright season of glory ended in gloom and disaster. But the true David will bring peace and blessing to His people. The true Solomon will show them a brighter glory, and His rule will be in righteousness and fairness, with no failing on His part at the end.
- Trouble. God sets this promise at Israel's worst hour. Deliverance meets them at the height of the distress, not before.
- Freedom. God breaks the yoke so that service changes hands: no longer strangers, but the LORD their God.
- King. "David" means beloved. The name points past the shepherd of Bethlehem to Christ, David's greater Son, whom God raises up for them.
- Reach. The promise covers the Jewish people as one undivided nation, named in the text. That is why writers say it is still future.
- Rest. This King rules in righteousness and never fails. David and Solomon did fail. So under Him the blessing lasts.