Charles Ellicott Commentary Jeremiah 31:20

"Is Ephraim my dear son? is he a darling child? for as often as I speak against him, I do earnestly remember him still: therefore my heart yearneth for him; I will surely have mercy upon him, saith Jehovah." — Jeremiah 31:20 (ASV)

Is Ephraim my dear son? — Literally, a child of delight — that is, fondled and caressed.

Is he a pleasant child? — We must ask whether an affirmative or negative answer is implied by these questions.

On the former view, the words express the yearning of a father’s heart toward the son whom he still loves in spite of all his faults. Jehovah wonders, as it were, at his affection for one who has been so rebellious.

On the latter view, they give prominence to the faults as having deprived him of all claim to love, even though the father’s heart yearned toward the prodigal in pity.

The former view, beyond all doubt, provides the best meaning. In every word, whether of reproof or invitation, a loving remembrance was implied.

For since I spake against him. — It is better rendered, As often as I speak to him. The preposition can hardly have the meaning of “against,” for which Jeremiah uses different words. Instead, it implies speaking with a view to win, as in “communed with” (1 Samuel 25:39) and “When she shall be spoken for” (Song of Solomon 8:8).

Some commentators (like Ewald) render the word for “speak” as “smite,” but the ordinary rendering provides an adequate meaning.

The original Hebrew uses an idiom of reduplication for both “earnestly remember” and “surely have mercy”: Remembering, I remember; pitying, I pity.

The thought expressed is that Jehovah could not bring himself to utter the sentence of rejection. His love turned to the penitent who turned to him. We find here something like a foreshadowing of the love of the father for the prodigal in Luke 15:20.