Chapter 30
Looking back, Jacob's trouble is only used here in the Bible, in Jer. 30:7. ESV calls it a time of distress for Jacob. NIV says a time of trouble for Jacob. NASB the time of Jacob's distress. The whole verse:
7 Alas! That day is so great there is none like it; it is a time of distress for Jacob; yet he shall be saved out of it. [Jer 30:7 ESV] One commentary said if it is so great there is none like it, then it hasn't happened yet, and will happen only once. That one concluded this is equivalent to some time in the Great Tribulation.
But then this verse from Daniel, who was in captivity in Babylon during much of Jeremiah's time:
12 He has confirmed his words, which he spoke against us and against our rulers who ruled us, by bringing upon us a great calamity. For under the whole heaven there has not been done anything like what has been done against Jerusalem. [Dan 9:12 ESV]
Daniel is speaking of the worst day ever in the past tense.
21 For then there will be great tribulation, such as has not been from the beginning of the world until now, no, and never will be. [Mat 24:21 ESV]
These words spoken by Jesus.
There are many many additional cross references, some seem connected, some I just don't see. MSB says the time just before Christ's second advent - so the last seven years before the Millennial. Given the superlatives used, I think this must refer to Trib and Great Trib. The whole earth will be shaken in those days, from peoples to mountains to oceans. The earth will be unrecognizable in those days. Nothing up to now, and nothing "expected", nothing "natural" can ever meet the standard of "so great there is none like it".
2025 - In KJV this also the time of Jacob's trouble. That one is more familiar.
7 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. [Jer 30:7 KJV]. "Shall be saved" is the verb and it is of imperfect type. The meaning of the imperfect has more to do with how an action took place than with when it took place. It may also, in this case and in my opinion, indicate that as God saves both Israel and Judah in Jeremiah's time, he will also save them at the end. It does not seem though that Israel's time in Babylon could be considered Jacob's trouble. They were told to enjoy it, to live and not fret while there, and even to pray for the city in which they were enslaved. It is hard to cast the flight to the desert in Revelation in that light at all. That's a good argument that this prophecy is only about the end times. But...would that have had any meaning at all in Jeremiah's time? Ahh...maybe that is why this one was to be written down! Because it would mean far more to future Jews than to these!
Yes, reading further, it is hard to make the "happy days' about the return from Babylon. They had no real King on David's throne at that time, and they were in constant peril from those around them. There was no quiet and ease and is vs 10. Not in Jeremiah's time or since then.
For now, Chapter 30 starts a whole new section of the Book of Jeremiah. No more messages, though in the outline this is still part of Jeremiah's proclamations to Judah. This section runs on through Chapter 33. Per the MSB outline, 30 and 31 - today's total reading - forecast the restoration of Judah.
Verse 1, interestingly, starts with "The word that came to Jeremiah from the Lord..."
God tells Jeremiah to write all He's told him in a book, because someday, He will bring Israel back.
Format switches to prose/poetry, and we are in a time when men clutch their stomachs in panic and terror as a woman does when in labor. And we get the verse discussed above - verse 7, about the "greatest" day ever. Sure seems like the wrong term for it. Wouldn't it be the worst day ever?
2021 - This verse:
3 For behold, days are coming, declares the LORD, when I will restore the fortunes of my people, Israel and Judah, says the LORD, and I will bring them back to the land that I gave to their fathers, and they shall take possession of it." [Jer 30:3 ESV]
If there was any doubt about the "10 Lost Tribes" being permanently lost, this ought to be the end of that. It is inclusive here, both Israel and Judah to be restored. Israel has never yet, not to this day, been restored. So this tells us these prophecies are still future - t/gt, Millennial, or new heaven and earth. I believe He will bring them back during t/gt, and will assume that's where we are until I see otherwise.
2021 - This one:
7 Alas! That day is so great there is none like it; it is a time of distress for Jacob; yet he shall be saved out of it. [Jer 30:7 ESV]. When would this be? I think these next verses from Revelation are a good candidate:
12 When he opened the sixth seal, I looked, and behold, there was a great earthquake, and the sun became black as sackcloth, the full moon became like blood, 13 and the stars of the sky fell to the earth as the fig tree sheds its winter fruit when shaken by a gale. 14 The sky vanished like a scroll that is being rolled up, and every mountain and island was removed from its place. [Rev 6:12-14 ESV]
The sun has NEVER been black, the moon never red like blood, and the stars have not fallen like winter figs. Every island and mountain moved? That's a world-wide cataclysm. We have never had one of those - at least not since Noah. I believe this is also when the rapture will take place. Another unique occurrence. And surely Israel will repent, recognize their Messiah at last, and return to Jerusalem to worship and serve him.
Then these verses, in regular format:
8 "And it shall come to pass in that day, declares the LORD of hosts, that I will break his yoke from off your neck, and I will burst your bonds, and foreigners shall no more make a servant of him. 9 But they shall serve the LORD their God and David their king, whom I will raise up for them. [Jer 30:8-9 ESV]
A prophesy of the Millennial, with Jesus as King.
2023 - Verse 10:
10 "Then fear not, O Jacob my servant, declares the LORD, nor be dismayed, O Israel; for behold, I will save you from far away, and your offspring from the land of their captivity. Jacob shall return and have quiet and ease, and none shall make him afraid. [Jer 30:10 ESV]
The last phrase of this book tells us beyond a doubt that this prophecy is yet future. When Israel came back from Babylon, they lived in fear. They rebuilt the wall with one hand working and one on their swords. They feared AEIV, they feared the Romans, they were run completely out of the land by the Romans, and they were kept out for 2000 years. Today, all day every day, they live in fear, and they are today still scattered all over the world, and anti-Semitism is prevalent, maybe even the rule instead of the exception these days. This prophecy has not come true, and we have no reason to expect that associated prophecies in this part of Jeremiah have come true either. This is a Millennial prophecy. Then vs 11, quoted below, tells us why it is not yet time to fulfil this. Just measure...still in progress.
vss 10, 11 are very long verses, shown in poetry/prose format. Verse 11:
11 For I am with you to save you, declares the LORD; I will make a full end of all the nations among whom I scattered you, but of you I will not make a full end. I will discipline you in just measure, and I will by no means leave you unpunished. [Jer 30:11 ESV]
A full end of all the nations where the Jews are located. The end of nations. MSB focuses on the salvation of Israel and not the meaning of the full end. This must refer to the return of the Jews leading up to the Millennial though, as far as the return. The destruction - the full end - of all the nations comes at the end of the Millennial, when the New Heaven and New Earth come about. All that was here before will be destroyed by fire, and we will occupy the new versions.
2021 - Or, this is a reference to end of the Age of the Gentiles. End of Gentile domination of the earth. If the rapture is here, as I believe, the end of the Church Age and the Gentile Age are coincident here.
Vs 11 ends with "I will by no means leave you unpunished". Vss 12-17 expand on that, telling us that God's wrath on Israel in Jeremiah's time - the scattering to many nations - is a mortal blow. Enough to destroy any other nation forever. Even in this, God shows us his power because He will keep them pure, keep them "Jews", through all the history from that time to this. He will still know where they are, and who they are, and will still at some future time bring them home.
vss 12-17 contain the next section, in p/p format. God tells Israel that what He's done to them is as the blow of an enemy and from which they cannot recover. This has happened because:
14 All your lovers have forgotten you; they care nothing for you; for I have dealt you the blow of an enemy, the punishment of a merciless foe, because your guilt is great, because your sins are flagrant. [Jer 30:14 ESV]
That is, the punishment - the anger of God - is the just result of their sin. God says only He can heal this kind of wound. This would be the end of any people - scattered and in captivity - unless God intervenes to restore them. And that is exactly what God says He will do. Further, He says that all who have participated - Judah's captors, those who plundered her, - will receive for themselves what they did to Judah. I think we can make a distinction here between sins that we all succumb to in our daily lives, and the kind of sins the nation of Israel had committed. They knew they were committing sins, and they not only didn't condemn them but embraced them. These were flagrant. These were like kissing another woman in front of your wife. There was just no overlooking what they were doing with their idols, their ubiquitous evil, their cheating and lying to take advantage of either other. They thought only evil. Surely we are not yet to a point like this is the US in 2020. We have problems, but we are not to this point yet, surely? I hope we are not...
Vss 18-22 are the next section. We saw the promise of punishment in 10, 11, the reasons for it in 12-17, and now we will see the restoration in 18-22:
The city (Jerusalem) will be rebuilt in the same place, and the palace will stand where it used to be. Full restoration. Concludes with this verse:
22 And you shall be my people, and I will be your God." [Jer 30:22 ESV]
Wasn't this the promise made in the desert? Referring back to the very first conditional covenant that God made with them? Yes...x-refs in BLB found this one:
7 I will take you to be my people, and I will be your God, and you shall know that I am the LORD your God, who has brought you out from under the burdens of the Egyptians. [Exo 6:7 ESV] There are several more verses where this was repeated, but this verse in Exodus seems to be the first place. God says this after Pharoah has the people make brick without straw, and Moses questions God. Says the people's plight has gotten worse not better since Moses went to free them. The verse above is included in God's answer to Moses.
I read somewhere that God shifted His "methods" with Israel. Man was too evil to save them all. That's why the flood happened. God had no favorites then, there was only God and mankind. But after the flood, we got Abraham, and a covenant with one man, his descendants, and one people - Israel. God preserved and kept that people - has, continues to do so, and will forever do so - showing them that He is God, and maintaining a remnant through history that also stays faithful to Him. A permanent relationship with a sub-group of humanity. Israel is special. Eventually they will behave like it. I believe these verses reference the Millennial.
2022 - Looking more closely at vs. 18:
18 "Thus says the LORD: Behold, I will restore the fortunes of the tents of Jacob and have compassion on his dwellings; the city shall be rebuilt on its mound, and the palace shall stand where it used to be. [Jer 30:18 ESV]. Here's the thing. The city and the palace will be rebuilt, but the temple is not mentioned. It notably does NOT say that the temple will be rebuilt on it's former foundations. Why is that? Could it be that the future temple will be in a different place, more along the lines of Ezekiel's description?
2021 - This verse:
18 "Thus says the LORD: Behold, I will restore the fortunes of the tents of Jacob and have compassion on his dwellings; the city shall be rebuilt on its mound, and the palace shall stand where it used to be. [Jer 30:18 ESV]. Hmm. Jerusalem was rebuilt after Nebuchadnezzar. It was rebuilt after 70 AD also. But I cannot help but wonder if this refers to another time, still future? What palace is this about? David's? Solomon's - more likely I think. And if the palace, why isn't the Temple mentioned? Perhaps because it is to be built in another place - as n Ezekiel?
The early chapters of Jeremiah had very few Trib or Millennial prophesies. But as we've gone on, they've started to show up. Here, in 30, they become prevalent. Will this continue? Have we left Jeremiah's present behind, and now need to interpret all that he says in future terms?
2021 - This very interesting verse:
21 Their prince shall be one of themselves; their ruler shall come out from their midst; I will make him draw near, and he shall approach me, for who would dare of himself to approach me? declares the LORD. [Jer 30:21 ESV]
I think I have seen references to this prince before, again maybe in Ezekiel, as the one who will rule Jerusalem on earth during the Millennial. Christ will be King but there is also a prince, a human "from out of their midst" that will see to the day to day. Is this right or am I confused here. I am sure I've seen references to this prince before, but was it in this verse, or elsewhere. I've never head a preacher talk about this guy. Just like they don't preach on Ezekiel's temple. But I do think he is there, and I'm starting a tag for the "Prince of Future Jerusalem", the PFJ.
vss 23, 24, Last of the chapter, still in p/p format:
These start with "Behold the storm of the Lord! Wrath has gone forth..." This seems pretty clearly to refer to the Bowl Judgements, the final wrath of God poured out on the world. Then a word to the doubters to close vs 24 and the chapter:
"...In the latter days you will understand this." Eventually, all will recognize that it is God alone orchestrating those end time events, and that it has been God all along, not themselves, that were in control.
Second time we've seen this phrase also. A day of understanding, still future.
2022 - The latter days start with the birth of Jesus. So we have a lot more understanding of these passages now than was possible in Jeremiah's day, and we have the NT to help. Even so, I believe that understanding will continue to increase, until we truly have a good grasp on end times - t/gt - events.