John Calvin Commentary Jeremiah 31:8

"Behold, I will bring them from the north country, and gather them from the uttermost parts of the earth, [and] with them the blind and the lame, the woman with child and her that travaileth with child together: a great company shall they return hither." — Jeremiah 31:8 (ASV)

The Prophet again confirms the same truth, but with amplification. For this oracle is not only presented as having come from God, but to make the address more powerful, God Himself is introduced as the speaker: Behold me restoring them from the land of the north. Babylon, as is well known, was north of Judea.

Whenever the prophets speak of the people's deliverance, they always mention the north, just as when they threaten the people, they say that an army or a calamity was to come from the north. They had previously been delivered from the south, for that was Egypt's location. The Prophet now intimates that God possessed the power to liberate them again from the land of the north.

Then he says, and I will collect them from the sides of the earth. By sides, he means the extremities or the corners, so to speak, of the earth, as though he had said that their dispersion would not prevent God from gathering His people.

Nearly the same promise was announced by Moses, though in other words:

Though thou wert dispersed through the four quarters of the world, I will yet from thence collect thee (Deuteronomy 30:4).

God means there that distance of places would be no obstacle to Him, but that as soon as the fitting time arrived, He would again gather His Church from its dispersion. Thus, we see what the Prophet understands by the sides of the earth. And he intended to obviate a doubt that might have depressed the minds of the people on seeing the body torn and deformed: “How can it be that we can come together again?” Therefore, to remove this doubt, the Prophet says that God would come to gather His people again, not only from one corner but also from the most distant regions of the earth.

He then adopts another way of speaking to show that no impediment would be so strong as to exceed God’s power when His purpose was to deliver His people: The blind, he says, and the lame, the pregnant, and the one in travail, shall come.

The blind cannot move a step without stumbling or falling; therefore, the blind are by no means fit to undertake a journey, for they can see no open way before them. And the lame, even when there is a way for them, cannot make any progress.

But God promises that their deliverance would be such that both the lame and the blind would participate in it. He then mentions the pregnant and women in childbed.

The pregnant, owing to the burden she carries, cannot undertake a long journey, and one who has recently given birth can hardly dare to leave her bed, being so weakened by childbirth.

But God promises that the pregnant and those recently confined shall return with the rest, as if He had said that there was no doubt God would restore His Church. His power was superior to all the impediments of the world, so He could strengthen the feeble, guide the blind, sustain the lame, and give strength to the pregnant and those recovering from childbirth.

Now, though the Prophet addressed this discourse to the ancient people, it still contains a doctrine that is perpetually useful. From this we gather that those who estimate God’s favor according to present appearances act preposterously. But this is a mistake almost ingrained in us by nature, and it consumes all our thoughts and feelings.

From this arises a lack of confidence in God, and from this it also happens that all God’s promises become cold to us, or at least lose their proper value. For when God promises anything, we look around us and inquire how it can be fulfilled; and if our minds cannot comprehend the way and means, we reject what has come from the mouth of God.

Let us then pay attention to this prophetic doctrine. When God seems to promise what surpasses our faith—indeed, what appears to us by no means possible—let this doctrine come to our minds. Let it serve as a corrective to check our false thoughts, lest we, with our minds preoccupied by a false and preposterous opinion, do injustice to the power of God.

If, then, the deliverance that God promises seems incredible according to our perceptions, let us remember that it is in His power to make the blind see, the lame walk, and the pregnant and those recovering from childbirth undertake a journey.

For He can by His power surmount all obstacles, so that we will find our faith victorious, provided we learn to rely on God’s promises and firmly rest on them. We now understand what use we should make of this prophecy. He continues: