Year 9, Day 84: Jeremiah 31

Theological Commentary: Click Here

Jeremiah 31 begins with an interesting passage.  Jeremiah 31:3 says, “I have loved them with an eternal love.”  Of course, I take no issue with this verse.  Naturally, God’s love is eternal.

However, remember the historical context of this chapter.  Assyria marched on Israel and dragged them into captivity.  They marched on Judah and nearly dragged them into captivity, too.  Along comes Babylon and finishes the job.  Babylon conquers Judah, makes them a vassal, drains them of their natural resources and takes the wealth of the temple to Babylon.  Then, after a little political rebellion from the Hebrew people, Babylon comes back, finishes the task, and takes the people into captivity.  Both Israel and Judah are no more.  People are either starving, on the run, or captive.  It is this context into which God says, “I have loved them with an eternal love.”

The reason tat I love this passage is because it shows us the true breadth and depth of love.  Love is not simply making someone happy.  Love is putting people in a position to make them better.  Love isn’t appeasement and freedom from conflict.  In fact, when people get close enough too love there is often great conflict!  Love is pushing through the conflict and finding the places where all parties involved become better people.

That’s why the exile is God demonstrating His love for the people.  As was discussed yesterday, love is present at the start of the exile, not just at the end of the exile when people come home.  When God says that He has loved them with an eternal love, it means that God is always doing what is in the best interests of the people – whether they like it or not!  God isn’t there to make the people happy, He is there to make them better!

That is such a powerful statement about God and His love.  It is such a powerful statement about humans and how we show love, too.  True love makes people better, not appeased.

At the end of this chapter we come to the passage about the new covenant.  This new covenant will be written on people’s hearts.  It will dwell within us.  This passage wraps up the history of the Hebrew people nice and neatly.  Here’s how.

In the beginning, God had a covenant with Abraham.  It was based on what was in his heart.  However, that was great when it was just God and Abraham.  As the people grew, not everyone had the same heart.  To make an illustration, God gave them the Law.  He gave them His ways to live by.  However, the Law proved insufficient.  The people under the Law eventually fell away, rebelled, chased their own gods, and went into exile under Assyria and then Babylon.  To put it quite bluntly, while the Law of the Lord is perfect, you can’t legislate the human heart.  The Law was given so people could know God, but the Law is really only useful to those whose heart is also in the game.

That’s God’s point during the time between King David and the Babylonian exile.  The Law was great, but the people’s hearts weren’t.  Therefore, from this point going forward, God’s people will be defined by those whose hearts are in the game.  God’s people will not be those who are under His Law; God’s people will be those whose hearts are aligned with God’s heart.  God’s people will know them because their hearts know Him and His ways.

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