Hast thou not seen what this people have spoken, saying, The two families that Jehovah had chosen, he hath even cast them off? And they despise my people, that they should be no more a nation before them.
God points Jeremiah to a rumour going round: the two families He chose are finished. The rest of the chapter is His answer to it.
One commentator reads these closing verses alongside the promise God has just made to the royal line and the priesthood.
So rich and precise is the divine guarantee to His people in their darkest hour. Nor is this all. The confirmation runs on: as for the successor to the throne of David, and for the Levites, the priests (verses 19-22), so for the two families of the people (verses 23-26).
Which two families? The same writer looks back to an earlier promise in the chapter that names both, and draws out when it can be kept.
"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 houses are included. That proves something beyond doubt: no past return, and no season of peace under Gentile rule, meets the terms of Scripture. The prophecy awaits its fulfilment.
One writer sets two things side by side: why judgment fell on the nation God chose, and why it does not end them.
God says, "You only have I known of all the families of the earth; therefore I will punish you for your iniquities." Anything else would have been impossible for a holy God. And yet it is of Israel and their election that Scripture says, "The gifts and calling of God are irrevocable" (Rom. 11:29). Even now, scattered as they are, the apostle argues, they are still "beloved for the sake of their forefathers." Their rejection as a nation is not final. Through Jeremiah, God flatly rejects what many Christians still think.
God's answer looks past the people's record to what He will restore, and to the King under whom He will restore it.
This prophecy clearly foretells a full restoration under the Messiah — of the religious order, and of the civil rule as well. The nation will have royalty in the line of David, and priesthood in the line of Aaron the Levite. Then Jehovah pledges this: He will break His covenant with Israel no sooner than He will break His covenant of day and night.
What becomes of the two families — the ten tribes and Judah — and what holds the promise up after they have forfeited every claim? One writer answers both.
Once the ten tribes are brought back, we are told further that they will be united with Judah under the happy and glorious rule of their Messiah. They will be two nations no longer, never again divided into two kingdoms, and God's servant David — the true David, Christ — will be their Prince for ever (Ezek. 37:21-28). So we see that God has not forgotten His covenant with Abraham (Gen. 17:4-8). While Israel failed in responsibility and forfeited all claim on God, He still, in faithfulness to His own word and in the wonders of His grace, will perform all that He has spoken.
The same writer grounds that faithfulness deeper still — in God's own character, and in one death.
But God, whatever the sin of His people, cannot deny Himself. His ancient people rejected Him, yet He died for that nation (John 11:52). In that death He laid the foundation for their future restoration and blessing.
Centuries have tested the words "no longer a nation" — and so has deliberate effort to make them true.
Everyone knows the declared aim and cherished policy of nations great and small, near and far: to cut them off from being a people. It has reappeared again and again through the ages. The power of Rome took away their place and scattered them as captives over the earth. Even then it could not destroy their nation. For a long, long time they have lived with no king and no prince, no sacrifice, no pillar, no ephod and no household idol. Yet scattered in this strange way, they are perhaps as numerous as ever.
One commentator rests the whole answer on a single word God uses of His people.
Note the word "foreknew," for it covers everything. It explains all God's dealings with Israel from first to last. Since He "foreknew" His people, He knew, when He pledged Himself to Abraham, how ungrateful and evil his offspring would be. Yet He gave Abraham both His word and His oath. His purposes therefore stand postponed, undoubtedly, but not abandoned.
- The rumour — the saying God quotes is that His two chosen families, Israel and Judah, are finished. That is not only an ancient error. It is, one writer notes, "still the thought of many Christians."
- The refusal — God does not soften the claim. He contradicts it: their rejection as a nation is not final.
- The pledge — God ties the guarantee to day and night. He will break that covenant no sooner than this one.
- The ground — the people forfeited every claim. The promise rests on God's own word, secured in the death of the One that nation rejected.
- The proof — postponed, not abandoned. Scattered, without a king, targeted again and again, they are still here — and still waiting for the restoration this chapter promises.
Thus saith Jehovah If my covenant of day and night [stand] not, if I have not appointed the ordinances of the heavens and the earth,
Jeremiah speaks these words while Jerusalem is under siege and people around him are saying that God has finally finished with the two families He chose. His answer does not argue the point. It ties Israel's future to the running of day and night, and to the fixed order of heaven and earth. The promise can only fail if creation fails first.
The verse answers a claim that outlived Jeremiah's own generation. One writer notes that many still draw the same conclusion about the Jewish people:
Even now, scattered among the nations, they are still — as the apostle argues — "beloved for the sake of their forefathers." Their rejection as a nation is not final. Through Jeremiah, God utterly rejects what many Christians still think: "Do you not see what these people are saying, 'The two families that the LORD chose, He has cast them off'? In this way they have despised My people, so that they are no longer a nation in their sight."
The promise covers more than a journey home. God backs it with a standard anyone can check every morning and evening:
Judah and Israel will not only return from captivity, buy and sell, build and plant, and be a nation again. The LORD also promises to cleanse them from all their sin and to pardon all their wrongdoing. This prophecy foretells the full restoration of the religious order as well as the civil rule under the Messiah. The nation will have royalty in the line of David, and priesthood in the line of Aaron the Levite. Then the LORD gives them a pledge. He will no more break this covenant with Israel than He will break His covenant of day and night.
The pledge reaches to a Person and a city. It holds because God cannot lie:
Christ, raised from the dead as David's seed, will come again to take guilty Jerusalem for Himself. This is the city that stoned the prophets, that put Jeremiah in a dungeon, that refused the Lord. Yet it will be His centre of government on earth, and it will bear His Name and His character. We are told this is as sure as the fixed order of the heavens and the earth. God will keep His covenant with David His servant (v. 21), because the ever-blessed God cannot lie.
The promises made to David reach beyond one nation:
In the "everlasting covenant" God assured David that, through his seed, He would establish his kingdom and throne for ever (see 2 Samuel 7:12–17; Psalm 89:34–37; Jeremiah 33:19–32). In Acts 13:34 the Spirit of God shows that Christ is the promised seed of David, and that the sure mercies of David are made good in Christ risen from the dead. So the grace of God flows out to Jew and Gentile in righteousness, on the firm foundation of the death and resurrection of Christ.
Some read this chapter as already settled by the return from Babylon. One commentator tests that reading against what the returned exiles themselves said:
Suppose you insist that this chapter applies to the restoration from Babylon. Then I would quote Nehemiah 9:36-37: "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. 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.
The waiting shows on the map today:
Christ's redemption of His people includes the land as well. It is striking that today we have not only a people without a land, the Jews, but also a land without a settled people. Each is waiting for the other, and both — yes, all things — wait His time who surely will fulfil all His word.
Everything here rests on God's own word, not on Israel's record:
We see that God has not forgotten His covenant with Abraham (Genesis 17:4-8). Israel failed in its responsibility and forfeited all claim upon God. Yet God is faithful to His own word, and in the wonders of His grace He will do all that He has spoken. The time draws near when Israel, restored again to their own land, will blossom and bud, and fill the face of the world with fruit (Isaiah 27:6).
- The taunt. People said God had cast off the two families He chose. Many still think the same. Jeremiah's answer rejects it.
- The measure. God stakes His covenant with Israel on the covenant of day and night — He will no more break the one than the other.
- The guarantee. Throne and priesthood both stand on this pledge. It holds because God cannot lie, and God makes the sure mercies of David good in Christ risen from the dead.
- The timing. The return from Babylon left the people "servants this day … in great distress." These promises were not fulfilled then. A people without a land and a land without a settled people still wait.
- The ground. Israel forfeited all claim. What remains is God's faithfulness to His own word, which ends with Israel restored to their land and fruitful.
[then] will I also cast away the seed of Jacob, and of David my servant, so as not to take of his seed to be rulers over the seed of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob for I will turn their captivity, and will have mercy on them.
The people around Jeremiah looked at the ruins and decided God was finished with the two clans He once chose. This verse is His answer. It ties Israel's future to David, to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and to one word at the end: mercy.
The verse before it records what people were saying about the two clans God had chosen. One writer hears the same despair in Christians today.
Even now, scattered as they are, the apostle argues that they are still "beloved for the sake of their forefathers." Their rejection as a nation is not final. Through Jeremiah, God utterly rejects what many Christians still think: "Have you not observed that these people are saying, 'The Lord has rejected the two clans that He chose'?"
Verse 26 opens with "then" — it is the second half of a sentence whose "if" is the sun and the sky. God stakes His keeping of Israel on something no one can unfix.
This prophecy plainly foretells the full restoration of the religious order as well as the civil rule under the Messiah. The nation will have royalty in the line of David, and priesthood in the line of Aaron the Levite. Then the Lord pledges that He will no more break this covenant with Israel than His covenant of day and night.
The verse does not point back to the law. It names Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and that choice carries the whole argument. One writer draws the line between two kinds of promise.
God's gifts and calling never change and are never set aside. Israel is His, by gift and calling, as a people… loved as a people in connection, not with law, but with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. The law gave blessing on a condition: "If you will indeed obey My voice… you shall be My treasured possession." With Abraham, and Isaac, and Jacob, it was purpose, and unconditional gift and calling. This difference runs through scripture. … Israel's final restoration will rest on the promises made to the fathers, "for His mercy endures for ever."
A natural reading is that the promised return happened when the exiles came back from Babylon. Commentators here argue that Nehemiah's words rule that out.
If you insist that this chapter applies to the return 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.
The promise is not only that a people will come home. A ruler from David's line will govern them. One writer rests the whole matter on this: God cannot lie.
Christ, raised from the dead and of David's line, will come again to take guilty Jerusalem for Himself. This is the city that stoned the prophets, that put Jeremiah in a dungeon, that refused the Lord. Yet it will be His centre of government on earth, and will bear His Name and His character. Scripture tells us this is as sure as the ordinances of the heavens and the earth. God must fulfil His covenant with David His servant, for it is impossible for the ever blessed God to lie.
The verse ends with God's mercy, not with anything Israel brought to Him.
So we see that God has not forgotten His covenant with Abraham. Israel failed in responsibility and forfeited all claim on God. Yet God is faithful to His own word. In the wonders of His grace, He will perform all that He has spoken.
- Failure — Israel failed and lost every claim on God. The promise stands because it never rested on what Israel did.
- Faithfulness — God ties the future of Jacob's seed to the covenant of day and night. The promise holds as long as the sky does.
- Fathers — The names Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob point back to gift and calling, not to law. Law promised blessing only if Israel obeyed.
- Future — The return from Babylon left the people still slaves in great distress. So commentators look ahead for the fulfilment, not behind.
- Mercy — The verse closes on mercy. Christ, of David's line, will rule the restored nation, and it will hold everything as a gift.