And the word of Jehovah came to Jeremiah the second time, while he was still shut up in the court of the prison, saying,
Jeremiah is shut up in the palace guardhouse — older translations call it "the court of the prison" — while the king of Babylon's army closes in on Jerusalem. God speaks to him there a second time, which raises the question the chapter answers: why do the best promises come at the worst moment?
Notice when these promises came.
The precious promises in these two chapters were given at a moment specially marked out by the imprisonment of the prophet of God (see Jeremiah 32:2 and 33:1). Jerusalem was then besieged by the king of Babylon's army; Zedekiah tried to stop prophetic speech, God was shut out, and everything looked very black — despair and desolation faced them. At such a moment God illustrates His redemption and grace... "Man's extremity is God's opportunity!" Those who have proved His redeeming love know this.
One writer gives Jeremiah a title that belongs to every believer.
A prisoner of hope is one of the Spirit's titles, I would say, for all God's saints. Jeremiah was such a person in his day. Jeremiah was shut up in "the court of the prison, which was in the king of Judah's house," and this, too, for Christ's sake. He was God's prisoner, and such a one is always hope's prisoner. Jeremiah is told to buy Hananiah's field, and that was food for hope, like the olive leaf in the mouth of the dove. It told the prophet of good days to come. Yet at that moment he was in prison, the Chaldean army was at the city gates, and the whole land lay deserted.
There are two ways to get a coming judgment wrong, and one way to meet it right.
Unbelief shows itself in two ways that are exactly in contrast with faith. Before the threatened evil or judgment comes from the hand of the Lord, men do not believe it. They are always hoping for a deliverance where there is no deliverance, for peace where there is no peace. This is the first effect of unbelief — a fighting against the Lord's chastening. When the chastening comes, they are all plunged into despair. Then they think it is all over with the people, and that no blessing will ever come from the hand of the Lord. Faith does the opposite. It believes the judgment before it comes. But it also believes in the goodness of the Lord, and that mercy triumphs over judgment.
This second word to Jeremiah is more than information. It comes with an invitation.
Verses 1-5. Jeremiah is still in prison, as we learn from the first verse. The siege of Jerusalem is on. Then the Lord said, "Call to me and I will answer you, and will tell you great and hidden things that you have not known." What an offer and what an assurance! Then the Lord speaks of the great and mighty things, announcing first the overthrow of Jerusalem.
This message is not an add-on.
This chapter completes the part of the prophecy meant to assure the people that they will be restored at last to their land, out of captivity and dispersion. That is why it is remarkably full and clear.
The promises here reach beyond Israel to the church today.
Chapters 30-33 are linked together. They contain truths of outstanding excellence, truths so new and so important that they reach further than one nation. They affect the nation of Israel, whose glorious restoration and revival in Christ is directly in view. They also affect those who belong to the assembly today... Jeremiah 33 shows us that the glory and gladness and greatness of that day of blessing will last. That is because of the Branch of righteousness, the Man of the house of David, our Lord Jesus Christ.
- Extremity — The siege was at its worst, the prophet was locked up, and the king had tried to silence him. That is the setting God chose for His best promises: man's extremity is God's opportunity.
- Opportunity — Confinement did not cut Jeremiah off. He was God's prisoner, and so he was hope's prisoner too. News of good days reached him while the army stood at the gates.
- Invitation — The message does not stop at information. "Call to me and I will answer you" gives the prisoner an open line to God. God's first answer is that the city will fall.
- Assurance — Unbelief refuses the judgment before it lands and despairs after it lands. Faith does the opposite. It believes the judgment before it lands, and still trusts the Lord's goodness.
- Fulfilment — What starts in a guardhouse ends in the Branch of righteousness. He is the Man of David's line, and His reign makes the blessing last.
Thus saith Jehovah the doer of it, Jehovah that formeth it to establish it, Jehovah is his name
God speaks these words to a prophet under arrest, in a city surrounded by the army of Babylon. Before He says anything about the future, He says who He is. That is the ground of all that follows. The God who made the earth and formed it also has the power to establish it, and His name stands behind the promise.
The setting matters. The promise came when there was no human hope left.
God gave the precious promises in these two chapters at a moment marked by the imprisonment of His prophet (see Jer. 32:2 and 33:1). The king of Babylon's army was besieging Jerusalem. Zedekiah tried to silence the prophet's message, God was shut out, and everything looked very black — despair and desolation faced them. At such a moment God shows His redemption and grace by telling the prophet to buy the field of Hanameel, because the right of redemption belonged to Jeremiah. It is just the same with God — the right of redemption is His. … "Man's extremity is God's opportunity!" Those who have proved His redeeming love know this.
Ruin does not delay God's promises; it draws them out:
But when they are brought low — above all in hopeless ruin before their enemies — the Lord answers at once with an assurance of blessing. He promises to bring them health and healing, to cure them, and to reveal to them abundant peace and truth. They would be built up once more in their land as at the beginning, and far beyond what they were at first.
God introduces Himself the same way elsewhere. There the verbs describe work that goes on, not work that stopped:
These verbs, "stretches out," "lays" and "forms" have a continuing force. We are dealing with a God who brought everything into being. He also keeps that creation going, according to His own sovereign will. Some think that after God's first work of creation He left the scene and let everything evolve by itself. That is completely false! His power holds up the heavens and the earth without a break… Israel had grown indifferent to God's claims. They needed the reminder that God was still dealing with them.
Forming and keeping safe belong together, as one writer draws out:
The One who orders all things is the security of His people. Several senses seem tied together in the word: forming, refuge, and salvation. So Peter speaks of entrusting our souls to Him, as to a faithful Creator. It carries the security held in the words "formed for Myself." That purpose of care is certain, and with it comes the "formed all things" — all of it aimed at this same purpose.
after
"The LORD is His name" is not a formality. That name — Jehovah in older translations — means that God does not change. Israel's whole future hangs on it.
God connected Israel with Himself under His Name Jehovah: He appeared to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob as God Almighty, but by His Name Jehovah He was not known to them (Ex. 6:2-3). This Name expresses the fact that He never changes, as Mal. 3:6 shows. So that Name holds the restoration of the people, however guilty and undeserving they are. They have changed towards God. But — blessed be His Name — He has never changed towards them. Their sins and unbelief did oblige Him to hide His face from them, as it were, for a time.
The self-introduction leads straight into an invitation.
Then the Lord said, "Call to me and I will answer you, and will tell you great and hidden things that you have not known." What an offer and what an assurance! Then the Lord speaks of those great and hidden things, announcing first the overthrow of Jerusalem.
What He "formed to establish" is not a short-term rescue. The chapter runs on past the return from captivity to a King.
Jeremiah 33 teaches what happens when the Lord brings the captives of Judah and Israel back. There will be prosperity like nothing before it. More than that, Messiah, the Branch of Righteousness, will carry out judgment and righteousness in the land, and Jerusalem itself will be called Jehovah-tzidkenu, the LORD our righteousness. As with the king, so with the priesthood. And all of this lasts for ever.
- Prison — God gave this promise while the prophet sat in prison and an army surrounded the city; "man's extremity is God's opportunity."
- Maker — the God speaking is still at work upholding what He made, not a Creator who withdrew after starting things off.
- Former — forming, refuge and salvation belong together; the God who forms His people also keeps them safe.
- Name — "the LORD" means the One who does not change, and Israel's restoration is bound up in that name.
- Establish — what He formed He will settle for ever, ending in Messiah, the Branch of Righteousness, ruling in the land.
Call unto me, and I will answer thee, and I will shew thee great and hidden things, which thou knowest not.
Jeremiah is in prison, enemy armies have closed in around Jerusalem, and the word that reaches him is not a plan of escape but an invitation to ask. What are these "great and hidden things," and does the invitation still stand for anyone who prays?
The invitation lands at the worst possible moment. The first thing God shows is not comfort but the fall of the city.
Jeremiah is still in prison, as we learn from the first verse. The siege of Jerusalem is on. Then the Lord said, "Call to me and I will answer you, and will tell you great and hidden things that you have not known." What an offer and what an assurance! Then the Lord speaks of the great and mighty things, announcing first the overthrow of Jerusalem. The people are pulling down the houses of Jerusalem to use them in the defense against the siege mounds and the sword. There will be great slaughter.
(The older translation he works from reads "great and mighty things, which you know not.")
The revealed things do not stop at the siege. They run forward to a restoration that history has not yet matched.
The next great and mighty things revealed are the future blessings and glory. God promises health and healing, plenty of peace and truth, a full return from captivity for both Judah and Israel, cleansing from all their iniquity, and complete forgiveness. Remember that none of these promises has come true yet… The delay may be long, put off according to His eternal purposes. But at the appointed time these days will come.
The timing is not accidental. The lower the nation sinks, the fuller the promise becomes. And that promise goes past anything Israel had known before.
But when they are brought low — above all, when they lie in hopeless ruin before their enemies — the Lord at once gives them the assurance of blessing… He would build them up again in their land as at the beginning, and far beyond what they had at first. At that time the Lord did not cleanse them from all their iniquity, and He did not pardon their sins against Himself. Their sacrifices were a witness that good things were coming. But He had not yet freed them from the law, which for sinners could only bring condemnation and death.
People have a habit of believing neither half of a message like this. The same writer sets that habit against what faith does with it.
Before the threatened evil or judgment comes from the hand of the Lord men do not believe it. They are always hoping for a deliverance where there is no deliverance, for peace where there is no peace. This is the first effect of unbelief — fighting against the Lord's correction. Then the correction comes, and they fall into despair. They think it is all over for the people, and that the Lord will never bless them again. Now faith, on the contrary, believes the judgment before it comes, but believes in the goodness of the Lord and that mercy shall rejoice against judgment.
Read alongside the rest of the chapter, the call to pray is the doorway into everything that follows it.
In chapter 33 the Lord urges the heart to call to Him. He will show great things, too deep to work out, that they had never known. He will cleanse and pardon those who had sinned against Him. He will bring health and plenty of peace and truth to the city that was once wicked (vv. 1-8)… He will bless both houses together, Israel and Judah, and give them one heart and one way.
Commentators writing on prayer elsewhere describe the gap between what God is ready to do and what we actually ask for.
Oh! we have but little idea of what our God would do for us if we only honoured Him. Our thoughts are too narrow and our prayers too formal… So in every difficulty, let us honour the Lord by bringing Him into it. We can be sure He will give us full victory over it, whether it is great or small. His power can reach the greatest — His love will stoop to the smallest.
One of the things worth asking for is understanding of what God has already written.
Go to God in prayer for a key to unlock the mysteries of His word. It is not the plodding but the praying soul that will get this treasure of Scripture knowledge. God often hands a Christian a truth as an answer to prayer — a truth he had long hunted for in vain, with much labour and study.
- Prison. God's invitation came to a man locked up while enemy armies closed in. The worst circumstances shut no one out from asking.
- Call. God offers to answer and to tell what the hearer could never work out alone; the asking comes first, the showing follows.
- Judgment. The first "great things" shown were the city's fall — God tells the truth about ruin before He speaks of mercy.
- Cleansing. The promised blessing goes past any earlier return: full pardon, full cleansing, health, peace, and one heart for both Israel and Judah.
- Faith. Unbelief refuses the warning, then despairs when the blow lands. Faith takes both the judgment and the promise from the same hand, and prays with thoughts as large as God's offer.
For thus saith Jehovah the God of Israel concerning the houses of this city, and concerning the houses of the kings of Judah, which are thrown down because of the mounds and because of the sword
In verse 3 God tells Jeremiah to call on Him and promises great and mighty things. Verse 4 begins the answer, and it opens at a demolition site. Ordinary homes and the houses of Judah's kings are coming down inside a city under siege. Why does the answer start here, and whose hand is pulling the houses down?
One writer sets the scene, and warns that the Hebrew of these verses is hard to translate:
Jeremiah is still in prison, as we learn from the first verse. The siege of Jerusalem is on. Then the Lord said, "Call to Me, and I will answer you, and show you great and mighty things, which you do not know." What an offer and what an assurance! Then the Lord speaks of the great and mighty things, announcing first the overthrow of Jerusalem. The demolished houses of Jerusalem are coming to be used in the defence to serve against the mounds and the sword. There will be great slaughter. (The Hebrew text of verses 4 and 5 has many difficulties.)
So the wrecking was defence work. It is also where God's great and mighty things begin: the first one announced is the overthrow of Jerusalem.
The defence was useless. Everyone who came in to fight only added to the dead:
After this opening Jehovah warns them of the emptiness of self-defence against the king of Babylon. Whoever might come in, it would only be to swell the ranks of those killed by the Chaldeans. "…they come to fight with the Chaldeans, but it is to fill them with the dead bodies of men, whom I have slain in My anger and in My fury, and for all whose wickedness I have hid My face from this city."
So the deaths are not only Babylon's work: God calls them His own act. One writer traces both the ruin and the restoring to the same hand:
He points out the sin of the people and of the city from the beginning. But now their ruin seemed to them certain, and sin had driven them to despair. At that point Jehovah declares not only a return from captivity, but the full power of His grace… It was He who had brought all this evil in judgment, and it was He who would bring all the good which He had promised.
The rubble is not the end. Ruin is what draws out the promise of healing, cleansing and pardon:
A low state brings out an instant assurance of blessing from the Lord, and hopeless ruin before their enemies most of all. "Behold, I will bring it health and cure, and I will cure them, and will reveal to them the abundance of peace and truth. And I will cause the captivity of Judah and the captivity of Israel to return, and will build them, as at the first. And I will cleanse them from all their iniquity… and I will pardon all their iniquities…"
The chapter opens with torn-down houses. It ends with the Messiah and a throne that is never empty:
Jeremiah 33 repeats the testimony to these blessings in full and rich measure, and dwells especially on the presence of the Messiah. It announces that the branch of righteousness will grow up to David, doing judgment and righteousness in the land. Judah will be saved and Jerusalem will dwell safely. Her name will be "Jehovah our Righteousness." David will never lack a man to sit on the throne of the house of Israel (not only Judah), and the tribe of Levi will never lack a priest.
- Setting — God speaks to a prisoner in a besieged city, where people pull down their own houses for material to defend it.
- Ruin — Self-defence against Babylon was useless. Everyone who came in to fight only added to the dead.
- Hand — The God who speaks about the wrecked houses also promises to rebuild. The judgment and the grace come from one hand.
- Reversal — Hopeless ruin draws out an instant promise of health, cleansing and pardon.
- End — The chapter begins with wrecked houses. It closes with the branch of righteousness, a safe Jerusalem, and David's throne always filled.
They come to fight with the Chaldeans, but to fill them with the dead bodies of the men whom I have slain in mine anger and in my fury, and for all whose wickedness I have hid my face from this city.
Jerusalem is under siege. Jeremiah is in prison. The verse lists wrecked houses, a hopeless defence, dead bodies, and a God who has turned His face away. Yet it stands inside one of the most hopeful chapters in the book. So why does God hide His face, and what does He plan next?
One commentator sets the scene. He also notes that verses 4 and 5 are hard to translate from the Hebrew.
Verses 1-5. Jeremiah is still in prison, as we learn from the first verse. The siege of Jerusalem is on. Then the Lord said, "Call to Me and I will answer you, and will tell you great and hidden things that you have not known." What an offer and what an assurance! Then the Lord tells him those great things. He announces first the overthrow of Jerusalem. The demolished houses of Jerusalem are being used in the defence, against the siege mounds and the sword. There will be great slaughter. (The Hebrew text of verses 4 and 5 has many difficulties.)
The timing matters. God gave His richest promises when everything looked hopeless.
God gave the precious promises in these two chapters at a moment marked out by the imprisonment of His prophet (see Jer. 32:2 and 33:1). The king of Babylon's army was then besieging Jerusalem. Zedekiah tried to stop the prophet from speaking, God was shut out, and everything looked very black — despair and ruin faced them… "Man's extremity is God's opportunity!" Those who have proved His redeeming love know this.
They tore down houses to shore up the walls. The effort was worse than useless. Every man who joined the fight only added to the dead.
After this opening Jehovah warns them that defending themselves against the king of Babylon is useless. Whoever came in to fight would only add to the number killed by the Chaldeans.
The reason sits in the phrase "whom I shall strike down in my anger and my wrath." The Babylonians were the enemy they could see. God Himself was handing the city over.
To fight it out was to resist the Lord Himself. Nebuchadnezzar was not the only one taking Jerusalem. Jehovah was giving up the city and their king from the house of David — a very solemn sign of His displeasure.
The verse names the cause: "because of all their evil." One commentator traces the same principle in an earlier moment of Israel's history. It shows why sin leaves a people with no strength against their enemies.
As long as Israel's sin stayed unconfessed, it stayed unforgiven, so they had no strength to fight for Jehovah. He was not with them, because the sin in their camp had come between them and their God (Isa. 59:2). But now that they had confessed and given up their sin, God had put it away… unconfessed sin interrupts God's communication of His mind to us, and it is why we lack divine power.
Jeremiah kept telling his people to submit to Babylon. To them that sounded like treason. The real difference was not courage but faith.
In a day of ruin faith always recognises God's discipline and bows to it. Unbelief always resists, and calls its opposition patriotism, or perhaps religion. This is why the men of Judah saw Jeremiah as a very false Jew. He always advised them to submit to the king of Babylon. They thought themselves much better Jews, because they were willing to fight against the king of Babylon.
The verse does not end the story. The very next words in the chapter answer it, and the timing is the point.
But a low condition — especially hopeless ruin in front of their enemies — draws an instant promise of blessing from the Lord: "Behold, I will bring to it health and healing, and I will heal them and reveal to them abundance of prosperity and security… I will cleanse them from all the guilt of their sin against Me, and I will forgive all the guilt of their sin and rebellion against Me." They would be built up once more in their land as at the first, and far beyond what they had at first.
- Cause. The face is hidden for a stated reason — wickedness. Sin, not divine indifference, is what breaks contact and drains a people of strength.
- Consequence. With God's face turned away, defence is futile. Tearing down houses to fight the Chaldeans only fills the city with more of its own dead.
- Culprit. Behind Nebuchadnezzar stood the Lord Himself. To fight on was to resist God, not merely Babylon.
- Choice. Faith bows to God's chastening; unbelief resists and calls the resistance loyalty. His own people called Jeremiah a traitor for taking the first path.
- Cure. God speaks His greatest promises at the lowest point — health, cleansing and pardon come right after the hidden face. Man's extremity is God's opportunity.
Behold, I will apply a healing dressing to it and cure, and I will heal them, and will reveal unto them an abundance of peace and truth.
Judah's capital lies in ruins under God's anger, and into that scene comes a promise of healing. When has God ever done this, and how deep does the healing go?
The promise is not attached to any sign of recovery in the people. One writer notes what triggers it: the depth of the ruin itself. The rebuilding he sees goes far past anything Israel had known before:
But a low condition, especially hopeless ruin before their enemies, draws out an immediate assurance of blessing from the Lord… He would build them up once more in their land as at the beginning, and far beyond what was there at first.
The ESV promises "health and healing" and "abundance of prosperity and security." Older translations render the same words "health and cure" and "abundance of peace and truth." Either way, the cure goes deeper than circumstances. The passage moves straight on to cleansing and pardon, and that is its measure. One writer points to what the earlier restoration never supplied:
For at that time Jehovah did not cleanse them from all their sin. He did not pardon their sins and rebellion against Himself. In their sacrifices He gave them a witness of good things to come. But He had not yet freed them from the law, and to sinners that law could only bring condemnation and death.
One writer finds the same cleansing pictured when Jesus healed a leper. That disease made a person unclean and shut them out of the community:
Leprosy is a picture of man's natural defilement, in the single person and in the nation. By cleansing the leper of Galilee, the Servant of Jehovah showed that He had come to purify the sinner from his sins. He would purify Israel too, if the nation would take up the language of repentance… Then Jehovah would keep His promise to His people: "I will cleanse them from all their guilt of sin against me, and I will forgive all the guilt of their sin and rebellion against me" (Jer. 33:8). This will happen in a day still to come.
Some read the chapter as fulfilled when the exiles came home from Babylon. Against that reading, one writer sets the exiles' own testimony after their return:
If you insist on applying this chapter to the restoration from Babylon, I would quote Nehemiah 9:36-37: "Behold, we are slaves this day… and we are in great distress," That shows how little the return from Babylon fulfilled all these promises we have been reading. Was that restoration the whole heart and the whole soul of God in favour of His people? … No: these promises of God were not fulfilled at that time.
Another writer lists the promises of this passage one by one and reaches the same conclusion:
Health and cure, abundance of peace and truth, a complete return from the captivity of both Judah and Israel, cleansing from all their iniquity, complete forgiveness — God promises all of it. And remember: none of these promises has come true. The delay may be long, still put off according to His eternal purposes. But at the appointed time these days will surely come.
One writer ties this abundance of peace to a person, not a policy. He also sees it pictured now, in people who belong to heaven:
As to Christ's future reign, the government will be on His shoulder (Isa. 9:6). He will be King and Priest on His throne and the counsel of peace will be between them both (Zech. 6:13). So there will be an abundance of peace (Ps. 72:7; Jer. 33:6). This covenant of peace for days to come (Ezek. 34:25; 37:26) is pictured in advance in God's heavenly people as they live in this world. But that practical experience of it depends on the Prince of peace. All comes from Him, all will be for Him.
The cure does not end with the patient. What God does for the city becomes His own praise, and nations far outside Jerusalem hear of it:
He will grant cleansing and pardon to those who had sinned against Him. He will bring health and abundance of peace and truth to the once wicked city (vv. 1-8). "And it shall be to Me a name of joy, a praise and an honour before all the nations of the earth, which shall hear all the good that I do to them" (v. 9)… Many voices will blend together in blessing the Lord, while peace and prosperity will be on every side.
- Ruin first. God promises healing while the city lies hopeless before its enemies; its low condition itself draws out the assurance.
- Cure deeper. Verse 8 sets the depth of the cure: cleansing from all guilt and full pardon — what the old sacrifices could only picture.
- Not yet. The return from Babylon fulfilled none of this; those who came back still called themselves slaves in great distress.
- Peace personal. Abundance of peace waits on the Prince of peace, King and Priest on His throne — all of it comes from Him.
- Praise wide. The healed city becomes God's own name of joy, heard and honoured among all the nations of the earth.
And I will turn the captivity of Judah and the captivity of Israel, and will build them, as at the beginning.
The Babylonian army was battering Jerusalem, and Jeremiah sat locked in the court of the guard. There God promised to rebuild both Judah and Israel. Who is included? When is the promise kept? And how could God say this over a city He was judging?
David's line of kings had run out in a wicked king. That is the setting of the promise.
Zedekiah, the last king to sit on David's throne, was a wicked and evil king, and the rule of the seed of David, historically, ended in him. But God was not defeated. How could He be? A God who cannot perform His Word is not a true and living God. It is in this context that the prophecy of Jeremiah 33 is so beautiful and encouraging. After the remnant of Judah returned from Babylon, as God's Word had said, no king from David's line came to the throne of Judah. Clearly Jeremiah's prophecy has a future application and will be fulfilled in the Lord Jesus, the Son of David.
Ruin is what draws the promise out.
But a low estate, especially hopeless ruin before their enemies, brings out an instant assurance of blessing from the Lord.
The phrase looks backwards, but the promise goes past anything the nation had known. The old order never gave cleansing and pardon.
God would build them up once more in their land as at the beginning, yes, much beyond what it was at first. For the LORD did not then cleanse them from all their iniquity, nor pardon their sins and transgressions against Himself. He gave them a witness of good things to come in their sacrifices, which pictured what was coming. But He did not yet free them from that law, which for sinners could only be a ministry of condemnation and death.
Judah faced Babylon at the time. The verse names Israel, the ten tribes, beside it, and the pairing runs on through the chapter.
"Behold, the days come, says the LORD, that I will perform that good thing which I have promised to the house of Israel and to the house of Judah." So both are included. That is conclusive proof that no past return, and no revival of quiet life under Gentile rule, meets the terms of scripture. The prophecy still waits for its fulfilment.
A group did come home from Babylon, and that was real mercy. But the facts fall short of this verse in several ways at once.
Only very few returned. Most of the nation stayed in Babylon and in the countries where they had been scattered. The ten tribes never returned at all. A second temple was indeed built, but no ark of the covenant stood in its holy of holies, and there was no sign of the glory of the presence of Him who once lived between the cherubim. The returning captives held the land again. But they did not hold it as an unconditional gift from God; they held it by the permission of their Gentile masters.
The people who came back said as much themselves.
If you insist that this chapter applies to the restoration from Babylon, I would quote Nehemiah 9:36-37: "Behold, we are servants this day … and we are in great distress." That shows how little the return from Babylon fulfilled all these promises we have been reading.
The promise does not stop with the people. Deliverance reaches everything they had lost.
However deeply the people might sink into despair, the Lord would never cast off Jacob, or His servant David. He would bring them back from captivity and have mercy on them. Notice how complete this revelation of deliverance is in what it covers: first Judah, who was then the immediate question, then all Israel, then the land, then Messiah and the priesthood.
- Prison. God gave the promise through a prophet under guard, in a city about to fall.
- Ruin. Hopeless ruin before their enemies is what draws God's instant promise of blessing.
- Rebuilding. "As at the first" is the floor, not the ceiling. The old order never gave this cleansing and pardon.
- Reach. The promise names Judah and Israel together. No partial return has ever filled that scope.
- Result. The people are only the first item. The land, the Messiah and the priesthood complete it, so the promise still stands open.
And I will cleanse them from all their iniquity, whereby they have sinned against me, and I will pardon all their iniquities, whereby they have sinned against me, and whereby they have transgressed against me.
Jeremiah is in prison, and the Babylonian army is battering Jerusalem. At that worst moment God promises to wash the nation clean of everything it has done against Him. Two questions follow: what is this forgiveness, and when does it come?
The timing is part of the message. God gives His largest promises to a man in prison while the enemy surrounds the city.
Jeremiah is still in prison, as we learn from the first verse. The siege of Jerusalem is on. Then the Lord said, "Call to me and I will answer you, and will tell you great and hidden things that you have not known." What an offer and what an assurance!
Their hopeless position is what draws this answer out of God.
But being brought low, especially to hopeless ruin before their enemies, brings out an instant assurance of blessing from the Lord.
The verse uses two verbs — cleansing and pardoning. The Hebrew behind "pardon" carries its own weight and has a restricted use in the Old Testament.
salach, 'to pass over,' forgive; used only of God's forgiveness. Ex. 34:9; Num. 14:19-20; Ps. 25:11; Isa. 55:7; Jer. 33:8; Lam. 3:42.
Israel already had sacrifices and the law. One writer explains what they could not do.
They should be built up once more in their land as at the beginning, yes, far beyond what was at first. For the Lord did not then cleanse them from all their iniquity, nor pardon their sins and transgressions against Himself. In their sacrifices, which were pictures, He gave them a witness of good things to come. But He did not yet free them from that law. For sinners that law could only be a ministry of condemnation and death.
Some say this promise was met when the exiles came home. One commentator answers from the people's own words after their return.
If you insist that this chapter applies to the restoration from Babylon, I would quote Nehemiah 9:36-37: "Behold, we are slaves this day … and we are in great distress." That shows how little the return from Babylon fulfilled all these promises we have been reading. Was that restoration the whole heart and the whole soul of God in favour of His people? … No: these promises of God were not at that time accomplished.
A second signal points the same way: the promise covers both parts of a divided nation, not one returning group.
"Behold, the days are coming, declares the Lord, when I will fulfill the promise I made to the house of Israel and the house of Judah." So both are included. That is conclusive proof that no past return, and no revival of quiet under foreign rule, meets the terms of Scripture. The prophecy awaits its fulfilment.
A promise of full forgiveness to a guilty people raises a question of justice. One writer asks how God could make it.
How could He acknowledge that Israel had failed? They had forfeited their blessings, broken the covenant, and lost their right to the land. How could He then simply promise blessing all the same? What was the basis for God's "I will", especially for His "I will forgive" and "I will remember their sin no more"? How could God be righteous and yet "remember no more"? Centuries later the Lord Himself answered this question. He said: "This is my blood of the covenant." He was about to do the work of redemption and so lay the basis for the new covenant: His own blood.
The full promise is still ahead. But the writers observe that what it describes was already being demonstrated in Jesus' ministry, on individuals.
By cleansing the leper in Galilee the Servant of the Lord showed that He had come to purify the sinner from his sins. He would do the same for Israel, if the nation would speak the language of repentance and say, "We have all become like one who is unclean, and all our righteous deeds are like a polluted garment" (Isa. 64:6). Then the Lord's prophetic promise to His people would be fulfilled … That day is still to come. But if Israel had known, even then a fountain stood open for the house of David and the people of Jerusalem, for sin and for uncleanness (Zech. 13:1).
- Ruin first. The promise comes while Jeremiah sits in prison and the siege closes in. The lowest point brings out God's instant assurance of blessing.
- Forgiveness defined. The word means to pass over an offence, and Scripture uses it of no one but God. This is forgiveness only He can give.
- Never done before. The old sacrifices pointed to good things coming. But God did not then cleanse the nation from all its sin, and the law still condemned.
- Never done yet. After the return from Babylon the people still said, "we are slaves this day." The promise names both Israel and Judah, so its fulfilment is still ahead.
- Paid for already. "I will forgive" waited centuries for its ground. It came at the cross: "This is my blood of the covenant." The fountain He opened is for anyone who takes the place of the unclean.