The scope of this chapter is much the same with that of the foregoing
chapter--to confirm the promise of the restoration of the Jews,
notwithstanding the present desolations of their country and
dispersions of their people. And these promises have, both in type and
tendency, a reference as far forward as to the gospel church, to which
this second edition of the Jewish church was at length to resign its
dignities and privileges. It is here promised,
I. That the city shall be rebuilt and re-established "in statu quo--in
its former state,"
Jeremiah 33:1-6.
II. That the captives, having their sins pardoned, shall be restored,
Jeremiah 33:7,8.
III. That this shall redound very much to the glory of God,
Jeremiah 33:9.
IV. That the country shall have both joy and plenty,
Jeremiah 33:10-14.
V. That way shall be made for the coming of the Messiah,
Jeremiah 33:15,16.
VI. That the house of David, the house of Levi, and the house of
Israel, shall flourish again, and be established, and all three in the
kingdom of Christ; a gospel ministry and the gospel church shall
continue while the world stands,
Jeremiah 33:17-26.
Encouraging Prospects.
B. C. 589.
1 Moreover the word of the LORD came unto Jeremiah the second
time, while he was yet shut up in the court of the prison,
saying,
2 Thus saith the LORD the maker thereof, the LORD that formed
it, to establish it; the LORD is his name;
3 Call unto me, and I will answer thee, and shew thee great and
mighty things, which thou knowest not.
4 For thus saith the LORD, the God of Israel, concerning the
houses of this city, and concerning the houses of the kings of
Judah, which are thrown down by the mounts, and by the sword;
5 They come to fight with the Chaldeans, but it is to fill
them with the dead bodies of 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.
6 Behold, I will bring it health and cure, and I will cure
them, and will reveal unto them the abundance of peace and truth.
7 And I will cause the captivity of Judah and the captivity of
Israel to return, and will build them, as at the first.
8 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, and whereby they have transgressed
against me.
9 And it shall be to me a name of joy, a praise and a honour
before all the nations of the earth, which shall hear all the
good that I do unto them: and they shall fear and tremble for all
the goodness and for all the prosperity that I procure unto it.
Observe here,
I. The date of this comfortable prophecy which God entrusted Jeremiah
with. It is not exact in the time, only that it was after that in the
foregoing chapter, when things were still growing worse and worse; it
was the second time. God speaketh once, yea, twice, for the
encouragement of his people. We are not only so disobedient that we
have need of precept upon precept to bring us to our duty, but
so distrustful that we have need of promise upon promise to bring us to
our comfort. This word, as the former, came to Jeremiah when
he was in prison. Note, No confinement can deprive God's people
of his presence; no locks nor bars can shut out his gracious visits;
nay, oftentimes as their afflictions abound their consolations much
more abound, and they have the most reviving communications of his
favour when the world frowns upon them. Paul's sweetest epistles were
those that bore date out of a prison.
II. The prophecy itself. A great deal of comfort is wrapped up in it
for the relief of the captives, to keep them from sinking into despair.
Observe,
1. Who it is that secures this comfort to them
(Jeremiah 33:2):
It is the Lord, the maker thereof, the Lord that framed it, He
is the maker and former of heaven and earth, and therefore has all
power in his hands; so it refers to Jeremiah's prayer,
Jeremiah 32:17.
He is the maker and former of Jerusalem, of Zion, built them at first,
and therefore can rebuild them--built them for his own praise, and
therefore will. He formed it, to establish it, and
therefore it shall be established till those things be introduced which
cannot be shaken, but shall remain for ever. He is the maker and former
of this promise; he has laid the scheme for Jerusalem's restoration,
and he that has formed it will establish it, he that has made the
promise will make it good; for Jehovah is his name, a God giving
being to his promises by the performance of them, and when he does this
he is known by that name
(Exodus 6:3),
a perfecting God. When the heavens and the earth were finished, then,
and not till then, the creator is called Jehovah,
Genesis 2:4.
2. How this comfort must be obtained and fetched in--by prayer
(Jeremiah 33:3):
Call upon me, and I will answer them. The prophet, having
received some intimations of this kind, must be humbly earnest with God
for further discoveries of his kind intentions. He had prayed
(Jeremiah 32:16),
but he must pray again. Note, Those that expect to receive comforts
from God must continue instant in prayer. We must call upon him, and
then he will answer us. Christ himself must ask, and it shall be
given him,
Psalms 2:8.
I will show thee great and mighty things (give thee a clear and
full prospect of them), hidden things, which, though in part
discovered already, yet thou knowest not, thou canst not
understand or give credit to. Or this may refer not only to the
prediction of these things which Jeremiah, if he desire it, shall be
favoured with, but to the performance of the things themselves which
the people of God, encouraged by this prediction, must pray for. Note,
Promises are given, not to supersede, but to quicken and encourage
prayer. See
Ezekiel 36:37.
3. How deplorable the condition of Jerusalem was which made it
necessary that such comforts as these should be provided for it, and
notwithstanding which its restoration should be brought about in due
time
(Jeremiah 33:4,5):
The houses of this city, not excepting those of the kings of
Judah, are thrown down by the mounts, or engines of battery, and
by the sword, or axes, or hammers. It is the same word that is used
Ezekiel 26:9,
With his axes he shall break down thy towers. The strongest
stateliest houses, and those that were best furnished, were levelled
with the ground. The
Jeremiah 33:5
comes in in a parenthesis, giving a further instance of the present
calamitous state of Jerusalem. Those that came to fight with the
Chaldeans, to beat them off from the siege, did more hurt than
good, provoked the enemy to be more fierce and furious in their
assaults, so that the houses in Jerusalem were filled with the dead
bodies of men, who died of the wounds they received in sallying out
upon the besiegers. God says that they were such as he had slain in
his anger, for the enemies' sword was his sword and their anger his
anger. But, it seems, the men that were slain were generally such as
had distinguished themselves by their wickedness, for they were the
very men for whose wickedness God did now hide himself from
this city, so that he was just in all he brought upon them.
4. What the blessings are which God has in store for Judah and
Jerusalem, such as will redress all their grievances.
(1.) Is their state diseased? Is it wounded? God will provide
effectually for the healing of it, though the disease was thought
mortal and incurable,
Jeremiah 7:22.
"The whole head is sick, and the whole heart faint
(Isaiah 1:5);
but
(Jeremiah 33:6)
I will bring it health and cure; I will prevent the death,
remove the sickness, and set all to rights again,"
Jeremiah 30:17.
Note, Be the case ever so desperate, if God undertake the cure, he will
effect it. The sin of Jerusalem was the sickness of it
(Isaiah 1:6);
its reformation therefore will be its recovery. And the following words
tell us how that is wrought: "I will reveal unto them the abundance
of peace and truth; I will give it to them in due time, and give
them an encouraging prospect of it in the mean time." Peace
stands here for all good; peace and truth are peace according to
the promise and in pursuance of that: or peace and truth are
peace and the true religion, peace and the true worship of God, in
opposition to the many falsehoods and deceits by which they had been
led away from God. We may apply it more generally, and observe,
[1.] That peace and truth are the great subject-matter of divine
revelation. These promises here lead us to the gospel of Christ, and
in that God has revealed to us peace and truth, the method of
true peace--truth to direct us, peace to make us easy. Grace and
truth, and abundance of both, come by Jesus Christ. Peace
and truth are the life of the soul, and Christ came that we might
have that life, and might have it more abundantly. Christ
rules by the power of truth
(John 18:37)
and by it he gives abundance of peace,
Psalms 72:7,85:10.
[2.] That the divine revelation of peace and truth brings health and
cure to all those that by faith receive it: it heals the soul of the
diseases it has contracted, as it is a means of sanctification,
John 17:17.
He sent his word and healed them,
Psalms 107:20.
And it puts the soul into good order, and keeps it in a good frame and
fit for the employments and enjoyments of the spiritual and divine
life.
(2.) Are they scattered and enslaved, and is their nation laid in
ruins? "I will cause their captivity to return
(Jeremiah 33:7),
both that of Israel and that of Judah" (for though those who returned
under Zerubbabel were chiefly of Judah, and Benjamin, and Levi, yet
afterwards many of all the other tribes returned), "and I will
rebuild them, as I built them at first." When they by
repentance do their first works God will by their restoration do his
first works.
(3.) Is sin the procuring cause of all their troubles? That shall be
pardoned and subdued, and so the root of the judgments shall be killed,
Jeremiah 33:8.
[1.] By sin they have become filthy, and odious to God's holiness, but
God will cleanse them, and purify them from their iniquity. As
those that were ceremonially unclean, and were therefore shut out from
the tabernacle, when they were sprinkled with the water of
purification had liberty of access to it again, so had they to
their own land, and the privileges of it, when God had cleansed them
from their iniquities. In allusion to that sprinkling, David prays,
Purge me with hyssop.
[2.] By sin they have become guilty, and obnoxious to his justice; but
he will pardon all their iniquities, will remove the punishment
to which for sin they were bound over. All who by sanctifying grace are
cleansed from the filth of sin, by pardoning mercy are freed from the
guilt of it.
(4.) Have both their sins and their sufferings turned to the dishonour
of God? Their reformation and restoration shall redound as much to his
praise,
Jeremiah 33:9.
Jerusalem thus rebuilt, Judah thus repeopled, shall be to me a name
of joy, as pleasing to God as ever they have been provoking, and
a praise and an honour before all the nations. They, being thus
restored, shall glorify God by their obedience to him, and he shall
glorify himself by his favours to them. This renewed nation shall be as
much a reputation to religion as formerly it has been a reproach to it.
The nations shall hear of all the good that God has wrought in
them by his grace and of all the good he has wrought for them by
his providence. The wonders of their return out of Babylon shall make
as great a noise in the world as ever the wonders of their deliverance
out of Egypt did. And they shall fear and tremble for all this
goodness.
[1.] The people of God themselves shall fear and tremble; they shall be
much surprised at it, shall be afraid of offending so good a God and of
forfeiting his favour.
Hosea 3:5,
They shall fear the Lord and his goodness.
[2.] The neighbouring nations shall fear because of the prosperity of
Jerusalem, shall look upon the growing greatness of the Jewish nation
as really formidable, and shall be afraid of making them their enemies.
When the church is fair as the moon, and clear as the
sun, she is terrible as an army with banners.
Encouraging Prospects.
B. C. 589.
10 Thus saith the LORD; Again there shall be heard in this
place, which ye say shall be desolate without man and without
beast, even in the cities of Judah, and in the streets of
Jerusalem, that are desolate, without man, and without
inhabitant, and without beast,
11 The voice of joy, and the voice of gladness, the voice of
the bridegroom, and the voice of the bride, the voice of them
that shall say, Praise the LORD of hosts: for the LORD is good;
for his mercy endureth for ever: and of them that shall bring
the sacrifice of praise into the house of the LORD. For I will
cause to return the captivity of the land, as at the first, saith
the LORD.
12 Thus saith the LORD of hosts; Again in this place, which is
desolate without man and without beast, and in all the cities
thereof, shall be a habitation of shepherds causing their
flocks to lie down.
13 In the cities of the mountains, in the cities of the vale,
and in the cities of the south, and in the land of Benjamin, and
in the places about Jerusalem, and in the cities of Judah, shall
the flocks pass again under the hands of him that telleth them,
saith the LORD.
14 Behold, the days come, saith the LORD, that I will perform
that good thing which I have promised unto the house of Israel
and to the house of Judah.
15 In those days, and at that time, will I cause the Branch of
righteousness to grow up unto David; and he shall execute
judgment and righteousness in the land.
16 In those days shall Judah be saved, and Jerusalem shall
dwell safely: and this is the name wherewith she shall be
called, The LORD our righteousness.
Here is a further prediction of the happy state of Judah and Jerusalem
after their glorious return out of captivity, issuing gloriously at
length in the kingdom of the Messiah.
I. It is promised that the people who were long in sorrow shall again
be filled with joy. Every one concluded now that the country would lie
for ever desolate, that no beasts would be found in the land of
Judah, no inhabitant in the streets of Jerusalem, and
consequently there would be nothing but universal and perpetual
melancholy
(Jeremiah 33:10);
but, though weeping may endure for a time, joy will return. It was
threatened
(Jeremiah 7:34,16:9)
that the voice of joy and gladness should cease there; but here
it is promised that they shall revive again, that the voice of joy
and gladness shall be heard there, because the captivity shall
be returned; for then was their mouth filled with laughter,
Psalms 126:1,2.
1. There shall be common joy there, the voice of the bridegroom and
the voice of the bride; marriages shall again be celebrated, as
formerly, with songs, which in Babylon they had laid aside, for their
harps were hung on the willow-trees.
2. There shall be religious joy there; temple-songs shall be revived,
the Lord's songs, which they could not sing in a strange
land. There shall be heard in their private houses, and in the
cities of Judah, as well as in the temple, the voice of those that
shall say, Praise the Lord of hosts. Note, Nothing is more the
praise and honour of a people than to have God the glory of it, the
glory both of the power and of the goodness by which it is effected;
they shall praise him both as the Lord of hosts and as the God
who is good and whose mercy endures for ever. This,
though a song of old, yet, being sung upon this fresh occasion, will be
a new song. We find this literally fulfilled at their return out of
Babylon,
Ezra 3:11.
They sang together in praising the Lord, because he is good, for his
mercy endures for ever. The public worship of God shall be
diligently and constantly attended upon: They shall bring the
sacrifice of praise to the house of the Lord. All the sacrifices
were intended for the praise of God, but this seems to be meant of the
spiritual sacrifices of humble adorations and joyful thanksgivings,
the calves of our lips
(Hosea 14:2),
which shall please the Lord better than an ox of bullock. The
Jews say that in the days of the Messiah all sacrifices shall cease but
the sacrifice of praise, and to those days this promise has a
further reference.
II. It is promised that the country, which had lain long depopulated,
shall be replenished and stocked again. It was now desolate, without
man and without beast; but, after their return, the pastures shall
again be clothed with flocks,
Psalms 65:13.
In all the cities of Judah and Benjamin there shall be a habitation
of shepherds,
Jeremiah 33:12,13.
This intimates,
1. The wealth of the country, after their return. It shall not be a
habitation of beggars, who have nothing, but of shepherds and
husbandmen, men of substance, with good stocks upon the ground they
have returned to.
2. The peace of the country. It shall not be a habitation of soldiers,
not shall there be tents and barracks set up to lodge them, but there
shall be shepherds; tents; for they shall hear no more the alarms of
war, nor shall there be any to make even the shepherds afraid. See
Psalms 144:13,14.
3. The industry of the country, and their return to their original
plainness and simplicity, from which, in the corrupt ages, they had
sadly degenerated. The seed of Jacob, in their beginning, gloried in
this, that they were shepherds
(Genesis 47:3),
and so they shall now be again, giving themselves wholly to that
innocent employment, causing their flocks to lie down
(Jeremiah 33:12)
and to pass under the hands of him that telleth them
(Jeremiah 33:13);
for, though their flocks are numerous, they are not numberless, nor
shall they omit to number them, that they may know if any be missing
and may seek after it. Note, It is the prudence of those who have ever
so much of the world to keep an account of what they have. Some think
that they pass under the hand of him that telleth them that they
may be tithed,
Leviticus 27:32.
Then we may take the comfort of what we have when God has had
his dues out of it. Now because it seemed incredible that a people,
reduced as now they were, should ever recover such a degree of peace
and plenty as this, here is subjoined a general ratification of these
promises
(Jeremiah 33:14):
I will perform that good thing which I have promised. Though the
promise may sometimes work slowly towards an accomplishment, it works
surely. The days will come, though they are long in coming.
III. To crown all these blessings which God has in store for them, here
is a promise of the Messiah, and of that everlasting righteousness
which he should bring in
(Jeremiah 33:15,16),
and probably this is that good thing, that great good thing,
which in the latter days, days that were yet to come, God would
perform, as he had promised to Judah and Israel, and to which their
return out of captivity and their settlement again in their own land
was preparatory. From the captivity to Christ is one of the
famous periods,
Matthew 1:17.
This promise of the Messiah we had before
(Jeremiah 23:5),
and there it came in as a confirmation of the promise of the shepherds
whom God would set over them, which would make one think that the
promise here concerning the shepherds and their flocks, which
introduces it, is to be understood figuratively. Christ is here
prophesied of,
1. As a rightful King. He is a branch of righteousness, not a
usurper, for he grows up unto David, descends from his loins,
with whom the covenant of royalty was made, and is that seed with whom
that covenant should be established, so that his title is
unexceptionable.
2. As a righteous king, righteous in enacting laws, waging wars, and
giving judgment, righteous in vindicating those that suffer wrong and
punishing those that do wrong: He shall execute judgment and
righteousness in the land. This may point at Zerubbabel, in the
type, who governed with equity, not as Jehoiakim had done
(Jeremiah 22:17);
but it has a further reference to him to whom all judgment is committed
and who shall judge the world in righteousness.
3. As a king that shall protect his subjects from all injury. By him
Judah shall be saved from wrath and the curse, and, being so
saved, Jerusalem shall dwell safely, quiet from the fear of
evil, and enjoying a holy security and serenity of mind, in a
dependence upon the conduct of this prince of peace, this prince of
their peace.
4. As a king that shall be praised by his subjects: "This is the
name whereby they shall call him" (so the Chaldee reads it, the
Syriac, and vulgar Latin); "this name of his they shall celebrate and
triumph in, and by this name they shall call upon him." It may be read,
more agreeably to the original, This is he who shall call her, The
Lord our righteousness. As Moses's altar is called
Jehovah-nissi
(Exodus 17:15),
and Jerusalem Jehovah-shammah
(Ezekiel 48:35),
intimating that they glory in Jehovah as present with them and their
banner, so here the city is called The Lord our
righteousness, because they glory in Jehovah as their
righteousness. That which was before said to be the name of Christ
(says Mr. Gataker) is here made the name of Jerusalem, the city of the
Messiah, the church of Christ. He it is that imparts righteousness to
her, for he is made of God to us righteousness, and she, by
bearing that name, professes to have her whole righteousness, not from
herself, but from him. In the Lord have I righteousness and
strength,
Isaiah 45:24.
And we are made the righteousness of God in him. The inhabitants
of Jerusalem shall have this name of the Messiah so much in their
mouths that they shall themselves be called by it.
Security of God's Covenants; The Covenant of Priesthood.
B. C. 589.
17 For thus saith the LORD; David shall never want a man to sit
upon the throne of the house of Israel;
18 Neither shall the priests the Levites want a man before me
to offer burnt offerings, and to kindle meat offerings, and to do
sacrifice continually.
19 And the word of the LORD came unto Jeremiah, saying,
20 Thus saith the LORD; If ye can break my covenant of the day,
and my covenant of the night, and that there should not be day
and night in their season;
21 Then may also my covenant be broken with David my servant,
that he should not have a son to reign upon his throne; and with
the Levites the priests, my ministers.
22 As the host of heaven cannot be numbered, neither the sand
of the sea measured: so will I multiply the seed of David my
servant, and the Levites that minister unto me.
23 Moreover the word of the LORD came to Jeremiah, saying,
24 Considerest thou not what this people have spoken, saying,
The two families which the LORD hath chosen, he hath even cast
them off? thus they have despised my people, that they should be
no more a nation before them.
25 Thus saith the LORD; If my covenant be not with day and
night, and if I have not appointed the ordinances of heaven and
earth;
26 Then will I cast away the seed of Jacob, and David my
servant, so that I will not take any of his seed to be
rulers over the seed of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob: for I will
cause their captivity to return, and have mercy on them.
Three of God's covenants, that of royalty with David and his seed, that
of the priesthood with Aaron and his seed, and that of Peculiarity with
Abraham and his seed, seemed to be all broken and lost while the
captivity lasted; but it is here promised that, notwithstanding that
interruption and discontinuance for a time, they shall all three take
place again, and the true intents and meaning of them all shall be
abundantly answered in the New Testament blessings, typified by those
conferred on the Jews after their return out of captivity.
I. The covenant of royalty shall be secured and the promises of it
shall have their full accomplishment in the kingdom of Christ, the Son
of David,
Jeremiah 33:17.
The throne of Israel was overturned in the captivity; the crown had
fallen from their head; there was not a man to sit on the throne of
Israel; Jeconiah was written childless. After their return the
house of David made a figure again; but it in the Messiah that this
promise is performed that David shall never want a man to sit on the
throne of Israel, and that David shall have always a son to
reign upon his throne. For as long as the man Christ Jesus sits on
the right hand of the throne of God, rules the world, and rules it for
the good of the church, to which he is a quickening head, and glorified
head over all things, as long as he is King upon the holy hill of
Zion, David does not want a successor, nor is the covenant with him
broken. When the first-begotten was brought into the world it was
declared concerning him, The Lord God shall give him the throne of
his father David and he shall reign over the house of Jacob for
ever,
Luke 1:32,33.
For the confirmation of this it is promised,
1. That the covenant with David shall be as firm as the ordinances of
heaven, to the stability of which that of God's promise is compared,
Jeremiah 31:35.
There is a covenant of nature, by which the common course of providence
is settled and on which it is founded, here called a covenant of the
day and the night
(Jeremiah 33:20,25),
because this is one of the articles of it, That there shall be day
and night in their season, according to the distinction put between
them in the creation, when God divided between the light and the
darkness, and established their mutual succession, and a government to
each, that the sun should rule by day and the moon and
stars by night
(Genesis 1:4,5,16),
which establishment was renewed after the flood
(Genesis 8:22),
and has continued ever since,
Psalms 19:2.
The morning and the evening have both of them their
regular outgoings
(Psalms 65:8);
the day-spring knows its place, knows its time, and keeps both,
so do the shadows of the evening; and, while the world stands,
this course shall not be altered, this covenant shall not be broken.
The ordinances of heaven and earth (of this communication
between heaven and earth, the dominion of these ordinances of heaven
upon the earth), which God has appointed
compare Job xxxviii. 33),
shall never be disappointed. Thus firm shall the covenant of redemption
be with the Redeemer--God's servant, but David our King,
Jeremiah 33:21.
This intimates that Christ shall have a church on earth to the world's
end; he shall see a seed in which he shall prolong his days till time
and day shall be no more. Christ's kingdom is an everlasting
kingdom; and when the end cometh, and not till then, it
shall be delivered up to God, even the Father. But it
intimates that the condition of it in this world shall be intermixed
and counterchanged, prosperity and adversity succeeding each other, as
light and darkness, day and night. But this is plainly taught us, that,
as sure as we may be that, though the sun will set tonight, it will
rise again tomorrow morning, whether we live to see it or no, so sure
we may be that, though the kingdom of the Redeemer in the world may for
a time be clouded and eclipsed by corruptions and persecutions, yet it
will shine forth again, and recover its lustre, in the time appointed.
2. That the seed of David shall be as numerous as the host of
heaven, that is, the spiritual seed of the Messiah, that shall be
born to him by the efficacy of his gospel and his Spirit working with
it. From the womb of the morning he shall have the dew of their
youth, to be his willing people,
Psalms 110:3.
Christ's seed are not, as David's were, his successors, but his
subjects; yet the day is coming when they also shall reign with him
(Jeremiah 33:22):
As the host of heaven cannot be numbered, so will I multiply the
seed of David, so that there shall be no danger of the kingdom's
being extinct, or extirpated, for want of heirs. The children are
numerous; and, if children, then heirs.
II. The covenant of priesthood shall be secured, and the promises of
that also shall have their full accomplishment. This seemed likewise to
be forgotten during the captivity, when there was no altar, no temple
service, for the priests to attend upon; but this also shall revive. It
did so; immediately upon their coming back to Jerusalem there were
priests and Levites ready to offer burnt-offerings and to do
sacrifice continually
(Ezra 3:2,3),
as is here promised,
Jeremiah 33:18.
But that priesthood soon grew corrupt; the covenant of Levi was
profaned (as appears
Malachi 2:8),
and in the destruction of Jerusalem by the Romans it came to a final
period. We must therefore look elsewhere for the performance of this
word, that the covenant with the Levites, the priests, God's ministers,
shall be as firm, and last as long, as the covenant with the day and
the night. And we find it abundantly performed,
1. In the priesthood of Christ, which supersedes that of Aaron, and is
the substance of that shadow. While that great high priest of our
profession is always appearing in the presence of God for
us, presenting the virtue of his blood by which he made atonement
in the incense of his intercession, it may truly be said that the
Levites do not want a man before God to offer continually,
Hebrews 7:3,17.
He is a priest for ever. The covenant of the priesthood is called a
covenant of peace
(Numbers 25:12),
of life and peace,
Malachi 2:5.
Now we are sure that this covenant is not broken, nor in the least
weakened, while Jesus Christ is himself our life and our peace. This
covenant of priesthood is here again and again joined with that of
royalty, for Christ is a priest upon his throne, as Melchizedek.
2. In a settled gospel ministry. While there are faithful ministers to
preside in religious assemblies, and to offer up the spiritual
sacrifices of prayer and praise, the priests, the Levites, do
not want successors, and such as have obtained a more excellent
ministry. The apostle makes those that preach the gospel to come in
the room of those that served at the altar,
1 Corinthians 9:13,14.
3. In all true believers, who are a holy priesthood, a royal
priesthood
(1 Peter 2:5,9),
who are made to our God kings and priests
(Revelation 1:6);
they offer up spiritual sacrifices, acceptable to God, and
themselves, in the first place, living sacrifices. Of these
Levites this promise must be understood
(Jeremiah 33:22),
that they shall be as numerous as the sand of the sea, the same
that is promised concerning Israel in general
(Genesis 22:17);
for all God's spiritual Israel are spiritual priests,
Revelation 5:9,10,7:9,15.
III. The covenant of peculiarity likewise shall be secured and the
promises of that covenant shall have their full accomplishment in the
gospel Israel. Observe,
1. How this covenant was looked upon as broken during the captivity,
Jeremiah 33:24.
God asks the prophet, "Hast though not heard, and dost thou not
consider, what this people have spoken?" either the enemies of
Israel, who triumphed in the extirpation of a people that had made such
a noise in the world, or the unbelieving Israelites themselves,
"this people among whom thou dwellest;" they have broken
covenant with God, and then quarrel with him as if he had not dealt
faithfully with them. The two families which the Lord hath
chosen, Israel and Judah, whereas they were but one when he chose
them, he hath even cast them off. "Thus have they despised my
people, that is, despised the privilege of being my people as if it
were a privilege of no value at all." The neighbouring nations despised
them as now no more a nation, but the ruins of a nation, and
looked upon all their honour as laid in the dust; but,
2. See how firm the covenant stands notwithstanding, as firm as that
with day and night; sooner will God suffer day and night to cease then
he will cast away the seed of Jacob. This cannot refer to the
seed of Jacob according to the flesh, for they are cast away, but to
the Christian church, in which all these promises were to be lodged, as
appears by the apostle's discourse,
Romans 11:1,
&c. Christ is that seed of David that is to be perpetual dictator to
the seed of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob; and, as this people shall never
want such a king, so this king shall never want such a people.
Christianity shall continue in the dominion of Christ, and the
subjection of Christians to him, till day and night come to an end.
And, as a pledge of this, that promise is again repeated, I will
cause their captivity to return; and, having brought them back,
I will have mercy on them. To whom this promise refers appears
Galatians 6:16,
where all that walk according to the gospel rule are made to be
the Israel of God, on whom peace and mercy shall be.
Matthew Henry "Verse by Verse Commentary for 'Jeremiah' Matthew Henry Bible Commentary".
.