I have indeed heard Ephraim bemoaning himself [thus] Thou hast chastised me, and I was chastised as a bullock not trained turn thou me, and I shall be turned; for thou art Jehovah my God.
Jeremiah 31 promises restoration. At verse 18 God repeats what He has overheard: a broken man talking to himself about the rod that struck him. Two things sit side by side in his words. He admits that he needed the beating. And he asks God Himself to bring him back.
Ephraim stands for the ten tribes that had gone furthest from God. Jeremiah takes up the image of the firstborn and sets that name inside a promise of return.
Later in their history, Jeremiah used this same beautiful image when he foretold that the nation of Israel would be restored from their scattering among the nations. The Lord pours out His "everlasting love," even on the ten tribes that had turned away from Him. He says, "I will bring them" back, "for I am a Father to Israel, and Ephraim is My firstborn." … Ephraim was not the "eldest" of the tribes of Jacob. "Firstborn" showed a position compared with others. This privilege was not based on being born first, but on the favour and choice of God.
The chapter also shows where this groaning leads.
Ephraim has repented, and God will cause him to feel that He has never forgotten him. The Lord has always remembered His erring child.
Earlier in the chapter Israel suffers at the hands of enemies. What arrives at verse 18 is not that.
But sorrow from man's oppression and cruel suffering is not all. There is a needed discipline from the Lord which is next brought before us.
Ephraim compares himself to an animal that has never carried a yoke. It is a picture of a will that fights the very thing meant to train it. (Older translations read "a bullock unaccustomed to the yoke.")
We are so often like a bullock that is not used to the yoke. We struggle restlessly instead of submitting patiently. Our senseless and useless efforts to shake the yoke off only make it chafe and hurt more.
Ephraim does not say the discipline turned him. He asks God to turn him — older translations render his words, "Turn me, and I shall be turned." One writer shows why that request is needed at all.
Mere discipline in itself does not turn to God. It may break the will, humble where God is working, and so do a preparatory work; but it does not turn to God. So they are brought here, in the desolations of Ephraim and Judah. They are down to the lowest, because nothing less would do. Then they say, "Turn me," "Turn us again." … There is the sense of belonging to God, being God's people, and the rebuke of God being upon them.
That explains the last words of the verse. Ephraim feels the rod as God's rod, and still calls Him "my God."
The next verse follows on from this request. One writer traces the order: what God does first, and what the man does after.
In Jeremiah we have first, "Turn me and I shall be turned." So the first thing is God's action in grace, turning the sinner round and converting him. He was looking away from God, had turned his back on God, and now in heart and will turns round towards Him. Repentance comes after this: "surely after I was turned I repented."
So what is repentance? Another writer gives a plain answer.
Now, repentance is a judging of one's self and of one's ways, and a turning from them. A change of mind? Yes. About whom or what? About God? No; about myself and my ways.
The verse opens with God saying He has heard. What follows in the chapter shows what such words do when they reach Him.
The language of repentance prevails. "I have surely heard Ephraim bemoaning himself," says the Lord. Then came His compassion: "Is Ephraim my dear son? Is he a pleasant child? For since I spoke against him, I do earnestly remember him still."
- Rod. The blow Ephraim feels is not enemy cruelty. It is needed discipline from the Lord.
- Resistance. The untrained calf is the picture of a struggling will; fighting the yoke only makes it hurt more.
- Limit. Discipline can break a will and humble a man, but by itself it does not turn him to God.
- Turning. So Ephraim asks God to do it. God turns the sinner round first. Repentance — judging my own ways — comes after.
- Mercy. God says He has heard, and such words prevail with Him. He never forgot His erring child.
Surely after that I was turned, I repented; and after I knew myself, I smote upon [my] thigh. I was ashamed, yea, even confounded, for I bear the reproach of my youth.
Commentary for this verse has not been generated yet.
Is Ephraim a dear son unto me? is he a child of delights? For whilst I have been speaking against him, I do constantly remember him still. Therefore my bowels are troubled for him I will certainly have mercy upon him, saith Jehovah.
This verse is God's reply to a son who has come home broken. Ephraim — the northern tribes of Israel — has groaned under God's discipline and asked God to turn him back. Does correction mean God has stopped loving him?
Ephraim's words just before this verse show what real repentance is.
But what is repentance? How many have been confused about this, through lack of simplicity, and, it may be, from poor teaching. Repentance is judging yourself and your ways, and turning from them. A change of mind? Yes. About whom or what? About God? No; about myself and my ways. But that is not all. Scripture insists on works worthy of repentance.
In verse 18 Ephraim asks God to turn him. Only after that does he say he repented. Darby, quoting an older wording, shows why the order matters:
In Jeremiah we have first, "Turn me and I shall be turned." So first we have the action of God in grace turning the sinner round, converting him. He was looking away from God, had turned his back on God, and now in heart and will turns round towards Him. Repentance comes after this: "surely after that I was turned I repented."
William Kelly reads Ephraim's grief as God's own work in him:
Then comes the repentance of Ephraim. The Lord shows that this work of contrition certainly begins in their souls, and He carries it on to its end.
Older Bibles read "my bowels are troubled" here. The two pictures do the same work.
We use the heart as the symbol of love, but people in the East more often used the bowels as the symbol of the deepest feeling of love, pity and compassion.
The verse asks, "Is he my darling child?" An early English Bible answered in warmer words still.
Did you ever come across the beautiful rendering of Jer. 31:20, in Tyndale, I believe: "Ephraim, my dear son! the child with whom I have had all delight and pastime, since I first talked with him I have him ever in remembrance. My very heart drives me to him. Most lovingly and gladly will I have mercy on him, says the Lord of hosts."
God speaks against Ephraim and remembers him in the same breath. The same holds for anyone He disciplines.
When someone is truly under the rod of discipline, God chastens him, makes him feel the rod, but supports him under it. And it is always so with "the Father of spirits." He chastens, He disciplines; but the moment He has put the soul under discipline, it is as with Ephraim: "As often as I speak against him, I do remember him still."
God's love here is not only a feeling. It sets Israel moving.
The Lord shows His feeling of love for the repentant one… "Set up road markers for yourself, make yourself guideposts; consider well the highway, the road by which you went. Return, O virgin Israel, return to these your cities" (verses 20, 21). It is the final return of Israel to their own land after long wandering.
The return gives back more than a place to live:
Restored and made alive, Israel will have communion with their Lord. They will know that relationship and enjoy it freely, by grace — a relationship of the dearest, nearest kind!
- Turned — God moves first. He turns the sinner round, and repentance follows.
- Repented — repentance means judging yourself and your ways, and turning from them. It must show in works.
- Remembered — God speaks against Ephraim and remembers him at the same moment. Discipline never stops His remembering.
- Yearned — the older wording "my bowels are troubled" points to the deepest seat of pity and love. Tyndale put it: "My very heart drives me to him."
- Restored — mercy ends in a road home and a close relationship, not just a rescue.