Charles Ellicott Commentary Jeremiah 3:16

"And it shall come to pass, when ye are multiplied and increased in the land, in those days, saith Jehovah, they shall say no more, The ark of the covenant of Jehovah; neither shall it come to mind; neither shall they remember it; neither shall they miss it; neither shall it be made any more." — Jeremiah 3:16 (ASV)

In those days. — No time had been named, but the phrase had become familiar for the far-off better time of the true king of the Messianic kingdom.

They shall say no more, The ark of the covenant of the Lord. — This is noteworthy both for its remarkable boldness and as containing the germ, or more than the germ, of the great thought of the New Covenant developed in Jeremiah 31:31.

The ark, the very center of the worship of Israel—the symbol and, it might seem, more than the symbol, of the Divine presence—that, too, should pass away, just as the brazen serpent had become Nehushtan (2 Kings 18:4), and take its place as belonging only to the past. Foremost among the prophets, Jeremiah was the one to perceive and proclaim that:

“God fulfils Himself in many ways.”

The legend of 2 Maccabees 2:4–5, that Jeremiah had hidden the tabernacle and the ark in a cave that they might be restored in the latter days, presents a singular contrast to the higher thoughts of the prophet.

Neither shall it come to mind. — Literally, come upon the heart, which throughout the Old Testament implies the intellect rather than the affections.

Neither shall they visit it. — Better, shall they miss it, as people miss what they value. The words probably refer to the feelings with which the ark had been restored to its place by Josiah (2 Chronicles 35:3) after its displacement by Manasseh (2 Chronicles 33:7).

Neither shall that be done any more. — Better, neither shall it [the ark] be made any more. It will be left to decay and perish, and no one will care to reconstruct it.

These words had, of course, a fulfillment in the ritual of the second Temple, where there was no ark in the Holy of Holies. That loss was probably what Jeremiah foresaw most clearly, and for which he sought to prepare his people, just as the writer of the Epistle to the Hebrews (Hebrews 8:13) prepared those of his time for the more complete destruction of the Temple and its worship.

But even within this horizon, the thought was bold in itself and pregnant with yet greater truths.