Restored Sounds
This chapter picks up directly after the previous with Jeremiah still imprisoned during the siege of Jerusalem. In the midst of everything falling apart, God again promises that restoration will come. There will be “sounds of joy and gladness, the voices of bride and bridegroom” (Jeremiah 33:11), reversing the prophecy of their silencing earlier (see Jeremiah 7:34, 16:9, 25:10). A new sound will be heard, too: “the voices of those who bring thank offerings to the house of the LORD”.
The Covenant-Keeping God
“Have you not noticed that these people are saying, ‘The LORD has rejected the two kingdoms he chose’? So they despise my people and no longer regard them as a nation. This is what the LORD says: ‘If I have not made my covenant with day and night and established the laws of heaven and earth, then I will reject the descendants of Jacob and David my servant and will not choose one of his sons to rule over the descendants of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. For I will restore their fortunes and have compassion on them.’ ”
Jeremiah 33:24-26
The Hebrew for “kingdoms” is מִשְׁפָּחָה (miš·pā·ḥā), which is literally “families” or “clans”. It’s an extended family from a common ancestor. The two clans referred to are the northern kingdom of Israel and the southern kingdom of Judah. We tend to think of the northern kingdom being lost, but that doesn’t appear to be God’s view.
Despite the unfaithfulness of the people, God will remain faithful. God promised to Noah after the flood that the seasons and the days would continue as long as the earth was around (Genesis 8:22). He then references the “laws of heaven and earth”, pointing back to the beginning of creation. Similarly, God’s promises with Abraham (Genesis 15:5) and with David (2 Samuel 7:12-16) would not be broken. As surely as the sun will rise tomorrow, so too they would endure.
That doesn’t mean their sins didn’t have consequences. God also promised disasters due to disobedience and restoration after exile. Their exile meant that he was keeping his promise and that the covenant was still intact. Just as they would be punished for their sins, they would also be restored.
I find it interesting that despite millennia of being scattered across the earth, the Jewish people have retained their identity. The Jewish people were without a land for 1900 years. Only some of the people returned after the exile from Jeremiah’s time. The Jewish revolts of the first and second centuries AD only made this worse. Remarkably, in the past century, they’ve been returning. While many have physically returned, most are sadly still spiritually in exile. May they find the Lord.
To Ponder…
- Do you believe that God keeps his promises, even if their fulfilment isn’t in your lifetime?
- Pray for the Jewish people, that they may seek and find the Lord and his Messiah.