Behold, I bring them from the north country, and gather them from the uttermost parts of the earth; [and] among them the blind and the lame, the woman with child and her that travaileth with child together a great assemblage shall they return hither.
Jeremiah 31 sits inside a long promise of restoration. Verse 8 shows how that restoration happens: God Himself brings His scattered people home from the ends of the earth. Who is gathered? When does it happen? And why does the list of travellers start with the weakest people in it?
Israel did come back from Babylon once. But commentators say the company described here is far larger than that return.
Another important distinction is set out at the start of Jeremiah 31. This is not a return of Judah only, but of the twelve tribes. How different from the small remnant of Jews, with a few stragglers from other tribes, who came back under Ezra and Nehemiah! Here all the families of Israel are in view. … Who can claim that this has come true either in the Jews or in the gospel, much as the gospel goes beyond it?
Commentators differ on how narrowly to read verse 8. Some take it of all twelve tribes. Others split the chapter, giving verse 8 to the northern tribes and later verses to the southern ones. The writer below quotes verse 1 from an older translation; the ESV reads "clans of Israel".
There is the promise that the Lord will be "the God of all the families of Israel, and they shall be My people" (verse 1). Verses 31 to 34 give the terms of the new covenant that will form the basis of that relationship. Then what is said here of the ten tribes will come true … (verse 8), and what is said of the two tribes as well … (verses 16 and 17).
One writer places this gathering after the return of Christ. The ten tribes had no share in the rejection of Christ, so their path differs from Judah's.
The ten tribes will be restored after the Lord has taken His kingdom. They had no part in the rejection and crucifixion of Christ. So, although they will be judged for their own sins, they will be spared the terrible and peculiar trials their fellow Israelites must pass through. Those trials come from accepting the antichrist and siding with him. It is therefore not until after the return of Christ that He will bring to light and restore this long-lost portion of His people.
The heart of the verse is its list of travellers: the blind, the lame, the pregnant woman, the woman in labour.
It is a complete deliverance, so that even the suffering and the sick will be brought safely back by God's command and care. He will bring them safely into the holy land. If anyone were likely to be left behind when God gathers Israel, it would of course be the sick and helpless described here. But no — He brings them all back. The Lord will forget none.
Some readers lift these words out of their setting and apply them to the church. Commenting on a similar promise of a gathering out of the north country earlier in Jeremiah, one writer draws a firm line.
Plainly enough, the passage speaks of the deliverance of the whole earthly people, both the ten tribes and the two tribes, and of nothing else. We may take the principle of the promised restoration of Israel to show how good the Lord is towards us, but nothing more. The truth is that we have never been driven out of our heritage, as Israel was.
Another writer makes the same point about the wider prophecy. He rests it on the way the text names its subject.
Some would spiritualise these prophecies and explain them away, trying to apply them to the Church and to Christianity. As though to guard against that, we are told, "And these are the words that the Lord spoke concerning Israel and concerning Judah."
Behind the promise stands a bond God made with this people long before.
This tie, once formed, God never broke or disowned. The failure of the people could not dissolve it, and God will never forget it. Hosea 11:1 reminded them of it in the past; Jeremiah 31:8-9 predicted what will give them joy from it in the future. … It was not, and it is not, a question of deserving. The question is one of God's sovereignty. He formed the tie of His own will. He will never break it, and He will never stop owning it.
- Gathered by God. He brings, and He gathers. The exiles do not organise this return; God does.
- Gathered from everywhere. From the far north to the ends of the earth. This company is far larger than the group that returned under Ezra and Nehemiah.
- Gathered without exception. The blind, the lame and the woman in labour head the list. The very people most likely to be left behind are the ones named as coming.
- Gathered as Israel. Commentators warn against reading the promise as a picture of the church. It speaks of God's earthly people, both the ten tribes and the two.
- Gathered because of a tie God never dropped. Israel's failure did not dissolve the bond. That is why a scattered people still has a homecoming ahead.
They shall come with weeping, and with supplications will I lead them; I will cause them to walk by water-brooks, in a straight way, wherein they shall not stumble; for I will be a father to Israel, and Ephraim is my firstborn.
Jeremiah 31 promises a homecoming still ahead — a whole people led back by God Himself. Verse 9 shows how they come: in tears, on a road God clears, because of a tie He formed and never broke.
Ephraim stands for the ten tribes who turned away from God. They are the people this promise names.
Later in their history, Jeremiah used this same beautiful image when he foretold the restoration of the nation of Israel from their scattering among the other nations. Out of Jehovah's "everlasting love," reaching even the ten tribes who had turned away from Him, He says, "I will bring them" back, "for I am a Father to Israel, and Ephraim is My firstborn."
The promise is far wider than the small return from exile led by Ezra and Nehemiah.
It is not a return of Judah, but of the twelve tribes. How different from the small remnant of Jews, with a few stragglers from other tribes, who came back under Ezra and Nehemiah! Here all the families of Israel are in question.
The verse opens with tears. They show how Israel comes home — and how they do not.
Israel will not return with vainglory and pride, as if their own arm had delivered them. Their salvation in that day will not be due to the influence of money or to diplomacy, or to anything of man. "With weeping they shall come, and with pleas for mercy I will lead them back." It will be a real work of God in them and for them. A work of repentance in their souls will accompany their restoration.
The middle of the verse pictures a road God chooses. The One who leads has walked it first.
The Shepherd leads, though often by paths we do not know, until He brings us into the path of righteousness. He has walked the path of faith before us. The good shepherd, as the Gospel of John says, goes before His sheep and meets the enemy first. They follow in His footsteps, so they must expect a thorny path, though one He has already walked. Their Shepherd is with them, and His presence makes darkness light and crooked things straight. The foolish sheep are only wise when they hand themselves over to His guidance and follow wherever He leads. He will make them walk in a straight way where none will stumble and be hurt, for He rejoices over His people to do them good.
God calls Himself Father to this nation while they are still scattered and still guilty.
This tie, once formed, God never broke nor disowned. The failure of the people could not dissolve it, nor will God ever forget it.
"Firstborn" here cannot mean first in time. Ephraim was Joseph's younger son.
The word "firstborn" is often used in Scripture, as with ourselves, to signify priority in time — the one who comes first. Scripture also uses the word to signify pre-eminence and dignity. God speaks of Ephraim as "My firstborn," though Manasseh was in fact the son born to Joseph first.
The same is true when the word describes the whole nation.
So "firstborn" Israel was not the first nation to exist, for Egypt and many other nations came before it. Nor was "firstborn" Ephraim the oldest of the tribes of Jacob. In each case, "firstborn" marked a position held in relation to others. That privilege did not rest on who existed first, but on God's favour and choice.
Israel held this title long before Christ came. Yet it did not mean they knew God as Father.
Israel was God's son, His firstborn; the children of the Lord their God. Jehovah was a Father to Israel, and Ephraim was His firstborn. Yet they never worshipped Him as the Father; for no one can know the Father except those to whom the Son will reveal Him.
- Love first. The gathering flows out of an everlasting love that reaches even the tribes that walked away.
- Tears next. They arrive weeping and pleading, not boasting. God works repentance in them as He brings them home.
- Leading throughout. God chooses the road, walks it ahead of them, and keeps them from stumbling on it.
- Family, not merit. "Father" names a tie God formed and refuses to dissolve, whatever the people have done.
- Rank by grace. "Firstborn" means honoured place, not first birth. Ephraim was the younger son, and the title rests on God's choice.