Better it is to be of an humble spirit

 Back to the Bible daily by disciple John

Proverbs 16:19 

Better it is to be of an humble spirit with the lowly, than to divide the spoil with the proud.

We are often more concerned about what others think of us, then what God wants from us. The scripture Galatians 1:10 says that a servant of God is a person that wants to please God, not please men.

The reason many will not lift their hands up in praise to God is because they think others will look at them. Many will not kneel in the Church again because of pride. It is self that holds many back from their full potential to be used by God. When I sense that self is trying to take over then I will stand up in the Church and say I am a sinful wretch who has been saved by Lord Jesus who came to save sinners, and now I have a new life and I'm walking with God.

Sometimes when we are worshipping I sense the Holy Spirit prompting me to kneel, I don't always feel like kneeling, but know I can't argue with God. If I had the choice where I sat then it would be at the back of the Church as I don't want to draw attention to myself.

In 1 Peter 5:5 it tells us that God resists the proud and gives grace to the humble. We must of course guard against false humility, which is not real humility but forced, with wrong motifs. It is always better to be humble, then to be proud. Pride says look what I have done, but Christian humility says look what God has done.

Prayer: Thank you Lord our God for showing us the importance of humility and we pray you will convict us by your Holy Spirit when we are too proud so we can humble ourselves and always give you the glory. That your will be done and your kingdom come on earth as it is in heaven. Through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

He restored Temple worship.

He restored Temple worship.

John Francis

Back to the Bible daily by disciple John

2 Chronicles 23:19 And he set the porters at the gates of the house of the LORD, that none which was unclean in any thing should enter in.

A new King called Joash was made ruler in Judah, at the age of seven, and the priest took authority and saw that the idols and priests of Baal were destroyed. Then he restored the temple worship, with the tribe of Levite supplying the priests, and once again they offered burnt offerings of the Lord and it says there was singing and rejoicing in the temple.

What would the missionaries of past generations think, if they saw this land today, they would be in despair, because of all the temples, and mosques, and seeing that so many churches have closed down. What is being done to convert these people that come to our land, that are worshipping false Gods?

What would missionaries of one hundred years ago think of "Christians" of today? How they no longer think obeying God was important. They were mostly Sabbath breakers. They would see there was no reverence for God. People did not bother to study the word of God in their own homes. In most cases there was not much difference between the life style of sinners and those calling themselves Christians.

Prayer: Lord Jesus you are the king of kings and Lord of Lords, and we pray that you will raise up someone in this land who can turn the tide, so your light shines everywhere again, and your kingdom come your will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Through your mighty name. Amen

THE SECRET PLACE OF PRAYER

THE SECRET PLACE OF PRAYER
"But when you pray, go into your most private room, and closing the door, pray to your Father Who sees in secret will reward you in the open. "-- Mat_6:6.

IN PRAYER there must be deliberateness, the secret place, the inner chamber, the fixed time, the shut door against distraction and intruders. 
In that secret place the Father is waiting for us. He is as certainly there as He is in Heaven, Be reverent, as Moses when he took the shoes from off his feet! Be trustful, because you are having an audience with One who is infinite sympathy and love! 
Be comforted, because there is no problem He cannot solve, no knot He cannot untie!

God knows even better than we do what we need and should ask for. He has gone over every item of our life, every trial, every temptation--the unknown and unexpected, the glints of sunshine on the path, and the clouds of weeping. He listens to our forecast and requests, and rejoices when they accord with His infinite foreknowledge; or He may give us something better and more appropriate to our case.
"He will recompense thee." If He does not remove the cup, He will send an angel to strengthen; if the thorn remains unremoved, He will give more grace. You may be sure that, in some way or other, your Heavenly Father is going to meet your particular need. It is as certain as though you heard Him say: "Go your way, your prayer is heard: I will undertake, trust Me, leave all in My hand!" When you have once definitely put a matter into God's hands, leave it there. Do not repeat the committal, for that suggests that you have never made it. Your attitude thenceforward is to look into God's face, not to ask Him to remember, but to say: "Father, You know, and caringly  understand! I know whom I have trusted, and am persuaded that You will not fail."
There is a prayer which is without ceasing; but surely that is not the reiterated request for the same thing, but the blessed interchange of happy fellowship. Use not vain repetitions, as do the heathen, who think that they will be heard for much speaking, but count Him faithful that promised! This reckoning of faith is probably the loftiest attribute of prayer, for faith is the quiet assurance of things not yet seen!

PRAYER
Lift us into light and love and purity and blessedness, and give us at last our portion with those who have trusted in Thee, and sought in small things as in great, in things tempered and things eternal, to do Thy Holy Will. AMEN.

GOD'S CONDESCENSION TO MAN

GOD'S CONDESCENSION TO MAN
"When I consider Thy heavens, the work of Thy fingers, the moon and the stars, which Thou hast ordained; What is man, that Thou art mindful of him, and the son of man, that Thou visitest him?"-- Psa_8:3-4.

A CERTAIN writer ridiculed the idea that the Almighty Ruler, who inhabits the stellar spaces, can have any knowledge of such a cheese-mite as man. He says: "Put yourself in the planetary space, a mere dot, and do you think that the Almighty Maker can have discernment of thee!" But bigness is not greatness! The infant in the cradle is worth more to the parents and the nation than the royal palace in which he was born. The age which discovers the telescope, with the infinite abyss above, discovers also the microscope, with the infinite abyss beneath.
How absolutely different is the outlook of the Psalmist! He stands under the Eastern heavens, blazing at midnight with myriads of resplendent constellations, and cries: "O Jehovah, my Lord, how excellent is Thy Name in all the earth, who has set Thy glory above the heavens! They are Thy heavens, the work of Thy fingers; as for moon and stars, Thou hast ordained them. How great Thou art!" Then he turns to think of man, and says: There must be something more in man than a superficial gaze is competent to discover. He must surely possess an unrealized dignity and worth, since the great God, the Maker of these worlds, stoops to call him friend.
But the question arises: How can God find pleasure in visiting, i.e. in having fellowship with a race so full of evil as ours? Granted that He might have fellowship with Moses or Elijah, with Daniel or John, but how can He stoop to intercourse with ordinary people like ourselves? What is Zaccheus, that the Son of Man should visit at his house--is he not a publican? Yes, but of late he had been restoring his ill-gotten gains, and Jesus sees in him the possibility of a son of Abraham! 
What is Simon Peter, that Christ should visit him? He, but he will one day become the rock-man, the foremost leader of the Church! 

So does Christ our Lord see what we may become, and He stands at the door of our life, seeking admission. Let us heed His knock and bid Him come in.

PRAYER
O God, may our whole nature be consecrated for Thine indwelling and use. Let there be no part in us dark, but may the clear shining of Thy Presence dispel all shadows, and fill us with peace and joy. AMEN.

GENESIS - DAVID PAWSON

The purpose of the book of Genesis is to tell how and why Yahweh came to choose Abraham's family and make a covenant with them. The covenant is the foundation of Israelite theology and identity, and its history is therefore of understandable significance. The book continues the tale of how the covenant was established by detailing the various obstacles to the covenant. Finally, we discover how the Israelites ventured to Egypt, thus setting the scene for the exodus.

The message of the book has several aspects. First of all, it provides an appropriate introduction to the Israelite God, Yahweh. We find that he is the sovereign creator of a world made especially for human habitation. Already in this we can identify an intentional contrast to Mesopotamian theology developing. In the ancient world, something was believed to exist by virtue of having a defined role in an ordered system. Consequently, creation was seen primarily as determining roles and functions for everything in the cosmos. In Mesopotamia this means that creation texts were not as interested, for example, in the material origins of the moon. Instead, the creation of the moon involved its being assigned the role it performed in the cosmos. Since its role was intertwined with the role of the moon god, the origins of both the moon god and the moon itself were linked. Creation referred primarily to this sort of origins. The gods came into being through procreation and as they came into being that to which their role was attached also took its place in the cosmos.

In Israel they shared the belief that creation pertained most importantly to assigning roles (note the description of the roles of the sun, moon and stars in Genesis 1:14). The key difference is that in Israel there was no belief that individual gods were associated with each of the functional aspects of the cosmos. Instead, one God was responsible for establishing all the roles in the cosmos and as a result all of the functionaries of the cosmos become the instruments by which he establishes and maintains order, rather than being viewed as his colleagues or subordinates to whom jurisdiction is delegated.

A second aspect of the message of Genesis concerns the role of people in the newly created world, and again a contrast to Mesopotamian thinking is present. A key message of Genesis is that humans were created in the image of God. The world was created for them and with them in mind. The roles of everything in the cosmos are seen in relation to human beings and they are assessed as being "good" when they satisfactorily meet this criterion. When the first human pair are created, they are accorded dignity and entrusted with responsibility (i.e., given their roles). Genesis insists that all this was the design and intention of God. This is a stark contrast to the Mesopotamian mythology that understands humanity as an afterthought of the gods. In Atra-Ḫasis, for instance, people are created to take over the labor that the gods have tired of doing. There is no sense that all creation was undertaken with people in mind, and there was little dignity to offer when slave labor was the only motivation.

Amid this contrast with Mesopotamian theology, it is not the intent of Genesis simply to debate. The point of the Genesis narrative is to establish that Yahweh was sovereignly pursuing a plan of history. People were created with every advantage and were placed lovingly by God in an ideal situation. This is important, for it moves us to the next point of the message of the book. It was this man and woman, not God, who disturbed the equilibrium and brought about the sad state of our present existence.

It was the continuing failure of humanity as a whole that led Yahweh to send the flood, scatter the people from the plain of Shinar, and eventually work through one man and his family, Abraham. The message of the book is to offer the first eleven chapters as the explanation of why Yahweh has chosen to work through a particular people. It is through them that he plans to reveal himself. Furthermore, it is demonstrated that it was not because of any merit on the part of Abraham that God chose him. Rather, it was an act of God's sovereignty. To Abraham's credit, he responded in obedience and exercised faith that Yahweh would honor his promises.

The message of the patriarchal narratives is that through many difficult situations the patriarchs and, more so, the Lord persevered to result in the establishment of Abraham's family. The text does not hesitate to show the shortcomings of Abraham and his family, but God is faithful and, in his providence, consistently brought good out of intended evil (cf. 50:20).

• 
  
• 
  
• 
  

Holy Spirit Power to be Witnesses!

Holy Spirit Power to be Witnesses
You shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be witnesses to Me in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.  (Act_1:8)

After the cross and the resurrection, the Lord Jesus taught His disciples for forty days before He ascended to the Father. One of His strategic messages of preparation concerned the Holy Spirit enablement they would need to fulfill their ministry. "You shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you." After this vital promise was given, Jesus was taken up into heaven to the right hand of the Father. Ten days later, on the day of Pentecost, this promise was fulfilled by the outpouring of the Spirit. "And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit" (Act_2:4). The grand result of this empowering would be the spread of the gospel, region by region, throughout the entire world. "You shall be witnesses to Me in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth" (Act_1:8). 
Their success is documented in the scriptures. The religious opposition admitted that Jerusalem was promptly reached. "Did we not strictly command you not to teach in this name? And look, you have filled Jerusalem with your doctrine" (Act_5:28). Soon thereafter, Judea was being touched. "At that time a great persecution arose . . . and they were all scattered throughout the regions of Judea . . . Therefore those who were scattered went everywhere preaching the word" (Act_8:1, Act_8:4). Next, the message of Jesus entered Samaria. "Then Philip went down to the city of Samaria and preached Christ to them. And the multitudes with one accord heeded the things spoken by Philip" (Act_8:5-6). Finally, the gospel of grace poured out around the world. "The word of the truth of the gospel, which has come to you, as it has also in all the world" (Col_1:5-6). 

This worldwide outreach was an astounding development, considering the unimpressive human credentials that characterized Jesus' followers. "Now when they saw the boldness of Peter and John, and perceived that they were uneducated and untrained men, they marveled. And they realized that they had been with Jesus" (Act_4:13). 
The explanation for their effectiveness was contained in the last phrase. These men had spent time with Jesus, had been impacted by Him, and were now walking in the spiritual strength of His Spirit. 
In order for any disciple (then or now) to be an effective demonstration of the reality of the risen Christ, they must live by the power of the Holy Spirit.

O Lord, my strength, make my life a daily witness, declaring in word, deed, and attitude that Jesus is alive. Lord, my own abilities will never be sufficient to accomplish this. So, I humbly pray, empower me by Your Holy Spirit, in Jesus name, Amen.

THE NEW COVENANT

Jerimiah:31v31  "That's right. The time is coming when I will make a brand-new covenant with Israel and Judah. 
Jer 31:32  It won't be a repeat of the covenant I made with their ancestors when I took their hand to lead them out of the land of Egypt. They broke that covenant even though I did my part as their Master." GOD's Decree. 
Jer 31:33  "This is the brand-new covenant that I will make with Israel when the time comes. I will put my law within them--write it on their hearts!--and be their God. And they will be my people. 
Jer 31:34  They will no longer go around setting up schools to teach each other about GOD. They'll know me firsthand, the dull and the bright, the smart and the slow. I'll wipe the slate clean for each of them. I'll forget they ever sinned!" GOD's Decree. 
Jer 31:35  GOD's Message, from the God who lights up the day with sun and brightens the night with moon and stars, Who whips the ocean into a billowy froth, whose name is GOD-of-the-Angel-Armies: 
Jer 31:36  "If this ordered cosmos ever fell to pieces, fell into chaos before me"--GOD's Decree-- "Then and only then might Israel fall apart and disappear as a nation before me." 
Jer 31:37  GOD's Message: "If the skies could be measured with a yardstick and the earth explored to its core, Then and only then would I turn my back on Israel, disgusted with all they've done." GOD's Decree. 
Jer 31:38  "The time is coming"--it's GOD's Decree--"when GOD's city will be rebuilt, rebuilt all the way from the Citadel of Hanamel to the Corner Gate. 
Jer 31:39  The master plan will extend west to Gareb Hill and then around to Goath. 
Jer 31:40  The whole valley to the south where incinerated corpses are dumped--a death valley if there ever was one!--and all the terraced fields out to the Brook Kidron on the east as far north as the Horse Gate will be consecrated to me as a holy place. "This city will never again be torn down or destroyed." Msg

 Jeremiah 31:31-40

The new covenant. - Jer_31:31. "Behold, days are coming, saith Jahveh, when I will make with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah a new covenant; Jer_31:32. Not like the covenant that I made with their fathers on the day when I laid hold of their hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt, which covenant of mine they broke, though I had married them to myself, saith Jahveh; Jer_31:33. But this is the covenant which I will make with the house of Israel after those days, saith Jahveh: I will put my law within them, and on their heart will I write it; and I will become to them a God, and they shall be to me a people. Jer_31:34. And they shall no more teach every man his neighbour and every man his brother, saying, Know ye Jahveh, for all of them shall know me, from the least of them to the greatest of them, saith Jahveh; for I will pardon their iniquity, and their sins will I remember no more. Jer_31:35. Thus saith Jahveh, [who] gives the sun for light by day, and the ordinances of the moon and stars for light by night, who rouses the sea so that its waves roar, Jahveh of hosts is His name: Jer_31:36. If these ordinances move away from before me, saith Jahveh, then also will the seed of Israel cease to be a people before me for ever. Jer_31:37. Thus saith Jahveh: If the heavens above can be measured, and the foundations of the earth below can be searched out, then will I also reject all the seed of Israel because of all that they have done, saith Jahveh. Jer_31:38. Behold, days come, saith Jahveh, when the city shall be built for Jahveh, from the tower of Hananeel unto the gate of the corner, Jer_31:39. And the measuring-line shall once more go out straight over the hill of Gareb, and turn round towards Goah. Jer_31:40. And all the valley of the corpses and of the ashes, and all the fields unto the valley of Kidron, unto the corner of the gate of the horses towards the east, [shall be] holiness to Jahveh; it shall not be plucked up nor pulled down again for ever.
The re-establishment of Israel reaches its completion in the making of a new covenant, according to which the law of God is written in the hearts of the people; thereby Israel becomes in truth the people of the Lord, and the knowledge of God founded on the experience of the forgiveness of sins is such that there is no further need of any external means like mutual teaching about God (Jer_31:31-34). This covenant is to endure for ever, like the unchangeable ordinances of nature (Jer_31:35-37); and in consequence of this, Jerusalem shall be guilt as the holy city of God, which shall never be destroyed again (Jer_31:38-40).
Jer_31:31-32
כָּרַת בְּרִית does not mean "to make an appointment," but "to conclude a covenant," to establish a relation of mutual duties and obligations. Every covenant which God concludes with men consists, on the side of God, in assurance of His favours and actual bestowal of them; these bind men to the keeping of the commands laid on them. The covenant which the Lord will make with all Israel in the future is called "a new covenant," as compared with that made with the fathers at Sinai, when the people were led out of Egypt; this latter is thus implicitly called the "old covenant." The words, "on the day when I took them by the hand," etc., must not be restricted, on the one side, to the day of the exodus from Egypt, nor, on the other, to the day when the covenant was solemnly made at Sinai; they rather refer to the whole time of the exodus, which did not reach its termination till the entrance into Canaan, though it culminated in the solemn admission of Israel, at Sinai, as the people of Jahveh; see on Jer_7:22. (On the punctuation of הֶחֱזִיקִי, cf. Ewald, §238, d, Olshaus. Gramm. §191,f.) אֲשֶׁר is not a conjunction, "quod, because," but a relative pronoun, and must be combined with אֶת־בְּרִיתִי, "which my covenant," i.e., which covenant of mine. "They" stands emphatically in contrast with "though I" in the following circumstantial clause, which literally means, "but I have married them to myself," or, "I was their husband." As to בָּעַלְתִּי, see on Jer_3:14. Hengstenberg wrongly takes the words as a promise, "but I will marry them to myself;" this view, however, is incompatible with the perfect, and the position of the words as a contrast with "they broke."
(Note: In the citation of this passage in Heb_8:8., the words are quoted according to the lxx version, κᾀγὼ ἠμέλησα αὐτῶν, although this translation is incorrect, because the apostle does not use these words in proving any point. These same words, moreover, have been rendered by the lxx, in Jer_3:14, ἐγὼ κατακυριεύσω ὑμῶν.)
The two closely connected expressions indicate why a new covenant was necessary; there is no formal statement, however, of the reason, which is merely given in a subordinate and appended clause. For the proper reason why a new covenant is made is not that the people have broken the old one, but that, though Jahveh had united Israel to Himself, they have broken the covenant and thereby rendered it necessary to make a new one. God the Lord, in virtue of His unchangeable faithfulness, would not alter the relation He had Himself established in His love, but simply found it anew in a way which obviated the breaking of the covenant by Israel. For it was a defect connected with the covenant made with Israel at Sinai, that it could be broken on their part. This defect is not to exist in the new covenant which God will make in after times. The expression "after those (not these) days" is remarkable; הָהֵם is not the same as הָאֵלֶּה, and yet the days meant can only be the "coming days;" accordingly, it is "those days" (as in Jer_31:29) that are to be expected. The expression "after these days" is inexact, and probably owes its origin to the idea contained in the phrase "in the end of the days" (בְּאַחֲרִית, cf. Jer_23:20).
Jer_31:33-37
The character of the new covenant: "I (Jahveh) give (will put) my law within them, and write it upon their heart." בְּקִרְבָּם is the opposite of נָתַן לִפְנֵיהֶם, which is constantly used of the Sinaitic law, cf. Jer_9:12; Deu_4:8; Deu_11:32; 1Ki_9:6; and the "writing on the heart" is opposed to writing on the tables of stone, Exo_31:18, cf. Jer_32:15., Jer_34:8, Deu_4:13; Deu_9:11; Deu_10:4, etc. The difference, therefore, between the old and the new covenants consists in this, that in the old the law was laid before the people that they might accept it and follow it, receiving it into their hearts, as the copy of what God not merely required of men, but offered and vouchsafed to them for their happiness; while in the new it is put within, implanted into the heart and soul by the Spirit of God, and becomes the animating life-principle, 2Co_3:3. The law of the Lord thus forms, in the old as well as in the new covenant, the kernel and essence of the relation instituted between the Lord and His people; and the difference between the two consists merely in this, that the will of God as expressed in the law under the old covenant was presented externally to the people, while under the new covenant it is to become an internal principle of life. Now, even in the old covenant, we not only find that Israel is urged to receive the law of the Lord his God into his heart, - to make the law presented to him from without the property of his heart, as it were, - but even Moses, we also find, promises that God will circumcise the heart of the people, that they may love God the Lord with all their heart and all their soul (Deu_30:6). But this circumcision of heart and this love of God with the whole soul, which are repeatedly required in the law (Deu_6:5; Deu_10:12, Deu_10:16), are impossibilities, unless the law be received into the heart. It thus appears that the difference between the old and the new covenants must be reduced to this, that what was commanded and applied to the heart in the old is given in the new, and the new is but the completion of the old covenant. This is, indeed, the true relation between them, as is clearly shown by the fact, that the essential element of the new covenant, "I will be their God, and they shall be my people," was set forth as the object of the old; cf. Lev_26:12 with Exo_29:45. Nevertheless the difference is not merely one of degree, but one of kind. The demands of the law, "Keep the commandments of your God," "Be ye holy as the Lord your God is holy," cannot be fulfilled by sinful man. Even when he strives most earnestly to keep the commands of the law, he cannot satisfy its requirements. The law, with its rigid demands, can only humble the sinner, and make him beseech God to blot out his sin and create in him a clean heart (Psa_51:11.); it can only awaken him to the perception of sin, but cannot blot it out. It is God who must forgive this, and by forgiving it, write His will on the heart. The forgiveness of sin, accordingly, is mentioned, Jer_31:34, at the latter part of the promise, as the basis of the new covenant. But the forgiveness of sins is a work of grace which annuls the demand of the law against men. In the old covenant, the law with its requirements is the impelling force; in the new covenant, the grace shown in the forgiveness of sins is the aiding power by which man attains that common life with God which the law sets before him as the great problem of life. It is in this that the qualitative difference between the old and the new covenants consists. The object which both set before men for attainment is the same, but the means of attaining it are different in each. In the old covenant are found commandment and requirement; in the new, grace and giving. Certainly, even under the old covenant, God bestowed on the people of Israel grace and the forgiveness of sins, and, by the institution of sacrifice, had opened up a way of access by which men might approach Him and rejoice in His gracious gifts; His Spirit, moreover, produced in the heart of the godly ones the feeling that their sins were forgiven, and that they were favoured of God. But even this institution and this working of the Holy Spirit on and in the heart, was no more than a shadow and prefiguration of what is actually offered and vouchsafed under the new covenant, Heb_10:1. The sacrifices of the old covenant are but prefigurations of the true atoning-offering of Christ, by which the sins of the whole world are atoned for and blotted out.
In Jer_31:34 are unfolded the results of God's putting His law in the heart. The knowledge of the Lord will then no longer be communicated by the outward teaching of every man to his fellow, but all, small and great, will be enlightened and taught by the Spirit of God (Isa_54:13) to know the Lord; cf. Joe_3:1., Isa_11:9. These words do not imply that, under the new covenant, "the office of the teacher of religion must cease" (Hitzig); and as little is "disparity in the imparting of the knowledge of God silently excluded" in Jer_31:33. The meaning simply is this, that the knowledge of God will then no longer be dependent on the communication and instruction of man. The knowledge of Jahveh, of which the prophet speaks, is not the theoretic knowledge which is imparted and acquired by means of religious instruction; it is rather knowledge of divine grace based upon the inward experience of the heart, which knowledge the Holy Spirit works in the heart by assuring the sinner that he has indeed been adopted as a son of God through the forgiveness of his sins. This knowledge, as being an inward experience of grace, does not exclude religious instruction, but rather tacitly implies that there is intimation given of God's desire to save and of His purpose of grace. The correct understanding of the words results from a right perception of the contrast involved in them, viz., that under the old covenant the knowledge of the Lord was connected with the mediation of priests and prophets. Just as, at Sinai, the sinful people could not endure that the Lord should address them directly, but retreated, terrified by the awful manifestation of the Lord on the mountain, and said entreatingly to Moses, "Speak thou with us and we will hear, but let not God speak with us, lest we die" (Exo_20:15); so, under the old covenant economy generally, access to the Lord was denied to individuals, and His grace was only obtained by the intervention of human mediators. This state of matters has been abolished under the new covenant, inasmuch as the favoured sinner is placed in immediate relation to God by the Holy Spirit. Heb_4:16; Eph_3:12.
In order to give good security that the promise of a new covenant would be fulfilled, the Lord, in Jer_31:35., points to the everlasting duration of the arrangements of nature, and declares that, if this order of nature were to cease, then Israel also would cease to be a people before Him; i.e., the continuance of Israel as the people of God shall be like the laws of nature. Thus the eternal duration of the new covenant is implicitly declared. Hengstenberg contests the common view of Jer_31:35 and Jer_31:36, according to which the reference is to the firm, unchangeable continuance of God's laws in nature, which everything must obey; and he is of opinion that, in Jer_31:35, it is merely the omnipotence of God that is spoken of, that this proves He is God and not man, and that there is thus formed a basis for the statement set forth in Jer_31:35, so full of comfort for the doubting covenant people; that God does not life, that He can never repent of His covenant and His promises. But the arguments adduced for this, and against the common view, are not decisive. The expression "stirring the sea, so that its waves roar," certainly serves in the original passage, Isa_51:15, from which Jeremiah has taken it, to bring the divine omnipotence into prominence; but it does not follow from this that here also it is merely the omnipotence of God that is pointed out. Although, in rousing the sea, "no definite rule that we can perceive is observed, no uninterrupted return," yet it is repeated according to the unchangeable ordinance of God, though not every day, like the rising and setting of the heavenly bodies. And in Jer_31:35, under the expression "these ordinances" are comprehended the rousing of the sea as well as the movements of the moon and stars; further, the departure, i.e., the cessation, of these natural phenomena is mentioned as impossible, to signify that Israel cannot cease to exist as a people; hence the emphasis laid on the immutability of these ordinances of nature. Considered in itself, the putting of the sun for a light by day, and the appointment of the moon and stars for a light by night, are works of the almighty power of God, just as the sea is roused so that its waves roar; but, that these phenomena never cease, but always recur as long as the present world lasts, is a proof of the immutability of these works of the omnipotence of God, and it is this point alone which here receives consideration. "The ordinances of the moon and of the stars" mean the established arrangements as regards the phases of the moon, and the rising and setting of the different stars. "From being a nation before me" declares not merely the continuance of Israel as a nation, so that they shall not disappear from the earth, just as so many others perish in the course of ages, but also their continuance before Jahveh, i.e., as His chosen people; cf. Jer_30:20. - This positive promise regarding the continuance of Israel is confirmed by a second simile, in Jer_31:37, which declares the impossibility of rejection. The measurement of the heavens and the searching of the foundations, i.e., of the inmost depths, of the earth, is regarded as an impossibility. God will not reject the whole seed of Israel: here כֹּל is to be attentively considered. As Hengstenberg correctly remarks, the hypocrites are deprived of the comfort which they could draw from these promises. Since the posterity of Israel are not all rejected, the rejection of the dead members of the people, i.e., unbelievers, is not thereby excluded, but included. That the whole cannot perish "is no bolster for the sin of any single person." The prophet adds: "because of all that they have done," i.e., because of their sins, their apostasy from God, in order to keep believing ones from despair on account of the greatness of their sins. On this, Calvin makes the appropriate remark: Consulto propheta hic proponit scelera populi, ut sciamus superiorem fore Dei clementiam, nec congeriem tot malorum fore obstaculo, quominus Deus ignoscat. If we keep before our mind these points in the promise contained in this verse, we shall not, like Graf, find in Jer_31:37 merely a tame repetition of what has already been said, and be inclined to take the verse as a superfluous marginal gloss.
(Note: Hitzig even thinks that, "because the style and the use of language betoken the second Isaiah, and the order of both strophes is reversed in the lxx (i.e., Jer_31:37 stands before Jer_31:35.), Jer_31:35, Jer_31:36 may have stood in the margin at the beginning of the genuine portion in Jer_31:27-34, and Jer_31:37, on the other hand, in the margin at Jer_31:34." But, that the verses, although they present reminiscences of the second Isaiah, do not quite prove that the language is his, has already been made sufficiently evident by Graf, who points out that, in the second Isaiah, הָמָה is nowhere used of the roaring of the sea, nor do we meet with חֻקֹּות and חֻקִּים, יִשְׁבְּתוּ מִהְיֹות, כָּל־הַיָּמִים, nor again הָקַר in the Niphal, or מֹוסְדֵי אֶרֶץ (but מֹוסְדֹות  in Isa_40:21); other expressions are not peculiar to the second Isaiah, since they also occur in other writings. - But the transposition of the verses in the lxx, in view of the arbitrary treatment of the text of Jeremiah in that version, cannot be made to prove anything whatever.)
Jer_31:38-39
Then shall Jerusalem be built up as a holy city of God, and be no more destroyed. After יָמִים, the Masoretic text wants בָּאִים, which is supplied in the Qeri. Hengstenberg is of opinion that the expression was abbreviated here, inasmuch as it has already occurred before, several times, in its full form (Jer_31:27 and Jer_31:31); but Jeremiah does not usually abbreviate when he repeats an expression, and באים has perhaps been dropped merely through an error in transcription. "The city shall be built for Jahveh," so that it thenceforth belongs to Him, is consecrated to Him. The extent of the new city is described as being "from the tower of Hananeel to the gate of the corner." The tower of Hananeel, according to Neh_3:1 and Zec_4:10, was situated on the north-east corner of the city wall; the gate of the corner was at the north-west corner of the city, to the north or north-west of the present "Jaffa Gate;" see on 2Ki_14:13; 2Ch_26:9; cf. Zec_14:10. This account thus briefly describes the whole north side. Jer_31:39. The measuring-line (קָוֶה as found here, 1Ki_7:23 and Zec_1:16, is the original form, afterwards shortened into קָו, the Qeri) further goes out נֶגְדֹּו, "before itself," i.e., straight out over the hill Gareb. עַל does not mean "away towards, or on" (Hitzig); nor is the true reading עַד, "as far as, even to," which is met with in several codices: the correct rendering is "away over," so that a part, at least, of the hill was included within the city bounds. "And turns towards Goah." These two places last named are unknown. From the context of the passage only this much is clear, that both of them were situated on the west of the city; for the starting-point of the line spoken of is in the north-west, and the valley of Ben-hinnom joins in at the end of it, in the south, Jer_31:40. גָּרֵב means "itching," for גָּרָב in Lev_21:20; Lev_22:22 means "the itch;" in Arabic also "the leprosy." From this, many expositors infer that the hill Gareb was the hill where lepers were obliged to dwell by themselves, outside the city. This supposition is probable; there is no truth, however, in the assumption of Schleussner, Krafft (Topogr. von Jerus. S. 158), Hitzig, and Hengstenberg, that the hill Bezetha, included within the city bounds by the third wall of Agrippa, is the one meant; for the line described in Jer_31:39 is not to be sought for on the north side of the city. With Graf, we look for the hill Gareb on the mount which lies westward from the valley of Ben-hinnom and at the end of the valley of Rephaim, towards the north (Jos_15:8; Jos_18:16), so that it is likely we must consider it to be identical with "the top of the mountain" mentioned in these passages. This mountain is the rocky ridge which bounds the valley of Ben-hinnom on the west, and stretches northwards, on the west side of the valley of Gihon and the Lower Pool (Birket es Sultân), to near the high road to Jaffa, where it turns off towards the west on the under (i.e., south) side of the Upper Pool (Birket el Mamilla); see on Jos_15:8. It is not, as Thenius supposes (Jerusalem before the Exile, an appendix to his commentary on the Books of Kings), the bare rocky hill situated on the north, and overhanging the Upper Pool; on this view, Goah could only be the steep descent from the plateau into the valley of Kidron, opposite this hill, towards the east. Regarding Goah, only this much can be said with certainty, that the supposition, made by Vitringa and Hengstenberg, of a connection between the name and Golgotha, is untenable; lexical considerations and facts are all against it. Golgotha was situated in the north-west: Goah must be sought for south-west from Jerusalem. The translation of the Chaldee, "cattle-pond," is a mere inference from גָּעָה, "to bellow." But, in spite of the uncertainty experienced in determining the positions of the hill Gareb and Goah, this much is evident from the verse before us, that the city, which is thus to be built anew, will extend to the west beyond the space occupied by old Jerusalem, and include within it districts or spots which lay outside old (i.e., pre-and post-exile) Jerusalem, and which had been divided off from the city, as unclean places.
Jer_31:40
In Jer_31:40, without any change of construction, the southern border is described. "The whole valley of the corpses and of the ashes...shall be holy to Jahveh," i.e., be included within the space occupied by the new city. By "the valley of the corpses and of the ashes" expositors generally and rightly understand the valley of Ben-hinnom (פְּגָרִים are the carcases of animals that have been killed, and of men who have been slain through some judgment of God and been left unburied). Jeremiah applies this name to the valley, because, in consequence of the pollution by Josiah of the place where the abominations had been offered to Moloch (2Ki_23:10), it had become a sort of slaughtering-place or tan-yard for the city. According to Lev_6:3, דֶּשֶׁן means the ashes of the burnt-offerings consumed on the altar. According to Lev_4:12 and Lev_6:4, these were to be carried from the ash-heap near the altar, out of the city, to a clean place; but they might also be considered as the gross deposit of the sacrifices, and thus as unclean. Hence also it came to pass that all the sweepings of the temple were probably brought to this place where the ashes were, which thus became still more unclean. Instead of הַשְּׁרֵמֹות, the Qeri requires הַשְּׁדֵמֹות , and, in fact, the former word may not be very different from שַׁדְמֹות קִדְרֹון, 2Ki_23:4, whither Josiah caused all the instruments used in idolatrous worship to be brought and burned. But it is improbable that שְׁרֵמֹות is a mere error in transcription for שְׁדֵמֹות. The former word is found nowhere else; not even does the verb שָׁרַם occur. The latter noun, which is quite well known, could not readily be written by mistake for the former; and even if such an error had been committed, it would not have gained admission into all the MSS, so that even the lxx should have that reading, and give the word as  ̓Ασαρημώθ, in Greek characters. We must, then, consider שְׁרֵמֹות as the correct reading, and derive the word from Arab. srm, or s]rm, or s[rm, "to cut off, cut to pieces," in the sense of "ravines, hollows" (Arab. s]arm), or loca abscissa, places cut off or shut out from the holy city. "Unto the brook of Kidron," into which the valley of Ben-hinnom opens towards the east, "unto the corner of the horse-gate towards the east." The horse-gate stood on the site of the modern "Dung-gate" (Ba=b el Mogha=riebh), in the wall which ran along from the south-east end of Zion to the western border of Ophel (see on Neh_3:28), so that, in this verse before us, it is the south and south-eastern boundaries of the city that are given; and only the length of the eastern side, which enclosed the temple area, on to the north-eastern corner, has been left without mention, because the valley of the Kidron here formed a strong boundary.
The extent of the new city, as here given, does not much surpass that of old Jerusalem. Only in the west and south are tracts to be included within the city, and such tracts, too, as had formerly been excluded from the old city, as unclean places. Jeremiah accordingly announces, not merely that there will be a considerable increase in the size of Jerusalem, but that the whole city shall be holy to the Lord, the unclean places in its vicinity shall disappear, and be transformed into hallowed places of the new city. As being sacred to the Lord, the city shall no more be destroyed.
From this description of Jerusalem which is to be built anew, so that the whole city, including the unclean places now outside of it, shall be holy, or a sanctuary of the Lord, it is very evident that this prophecy does not refer to the rebuilding of Jerusalem after the exile, but, under the figure of Jerusalem, as the center of the kingdom of God under the Old Testament, announces the erection of a more spiritual kingdom of God in the Messianic age. The earthly Jerusalem was a holy city only in so far as the sanctuary of the Lord, the temple, had been built in it. Jeremiah makes no mention of the rebuilding of the temple, although he had prophesied the destruction, not only of the city, but also of the temple. But he represents the new city as being, in its whole extent, the sanctuary of the Lord, which the temple only had been, in ancient Jerusalem. Cf. as a substantial parallel, Zec_14:10-11. - The erection of Jerusalem into a city, within whose walls there shall be nothing unholy, implies the vanquishment of sin, from which all impurity proceeds; it is also the ripe fruit of the forgiveness of sins, in which the new covenant, which the Lord will make with His people in the days to come, consists and culminates. This prophecy, then, reaches on to the time when the kingdom of God shall have been perfected: it contains, under an old Testament dress, the outlines of the image of the heavenly Jerusalem, which the seer perceives at Patmos in its full glory. This image of the new Jerusalem thus forms a very suitable conclusion to this prophecy regarding the restoration of Israel, which, although it begins with the deliverance of the covenant people from their exile, is yet thoroughly Messianic. Though clothed in an Old Testament dress, it does not implicitly declare that Israel shall be brought back to their native land during the period extending from the time of Cyrus to that of Christ; but, taking this interval as its stand-point, it combines in one view both the deliverance from the exile and the redemption by the Messiah, and not merely announces the formation of the new covenant in its beginnings, when the Christian Church was founded, but at the same time points to the completion of the kingdom of God under the new covenant, in order to show the whole extent of the salvation which the Lord will prepare for His people who return to Him. If these last verses have not made the impression on Graf's mind, that they could well have formed the original conclusion to the prophecy which precedes, the reason lies simply in the theological inability of their expositor to get to the bottom of the sacred writings.