John Gill Commentary Jeremiah 30

The word that came to Jeremiah from the Lord
The word of prophecy, as the Targum. Some make this to be the "thirteenth" sermon of the prophet's; it is a consolatory one, as Kimchi observes: saying ;
as follows:

Thus speaks the Lord God of Israel Who is their covenant God; has not forgotten them; still has a regard for them; and speaks after the following comfortable manner concerning them: saying, write you all the words that I have spoken to you in a book;

being things of consequence, that they might remain to after ages; and be read to the use, comfort, and edification of the Lord's people, in times to come; and be a support to their faith and hope, as well as be a testimony of the truth and faithfulness of God.

Some think this charge refers to all the prophecies that go before, as well as follow after, to put them all together in a book or roll, that they might be preserved; though others think it refers only to the present prophecy; and so Kimchi interprets it, write all the words "that I am now speaking to you" ^F15 in a book; which should come to pass in the latter day. So John is bid to write in a book what he saw; the things that are, and shall be hereafter, (Revelation 1:11Revelation 1:19) .

FOOTNOTES:

• F15: (Kyla ytrbd rva) "quibus alloquor te", Junius & Tremellius; "quae locutus fuero ad te", Piscator.

For, lo, the days come, says the Lord. And they are yet to come; the prophecy is not yet fulfilled. Kimchi says this belongs to the days of the Messiah; but not to his first coming, or to his coming in the flesh, which the Jews vainly expect; but to his spiritual coming in the latter day: that I will bring again the captivity of my people Israel and Judah, says the Lord.

Which cannot be understood of their return from the Babylonish captivity; for, as Kimchi rightly observes, only Judah and Benjamin returned from thence; and though there were some few of the other tribes that came with them, especially of the tribe of Levi, yet not sufficient to answer to so great a prophecy as this, which refers to the same time as that in (Hosea 3:5); as appears by comparing that with (Jeremiah 30:9); and when, as the Apostle Paul says, "all Israel shall be saved", (Romans 11:25).

And I will cause them to return to the land that I gave to your fathers, and they shall possess it. The land of Canaan, given to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob; and which shall be again possessed by the Jews their posterity; for, without that the Jews upon their call and conversion shall return to their own land, in a literal sense, I see not how we can understand this, and many other prophecies.

And these are the words that the Lord spoke concerning Israel ,
and concerning Judah .
] Which follow in this chapter and the next; first concerning Israel, the ten tribes; and then concerning the two tribes of Judah and Benjamin, even concerning all Israel; whereas, if this prophecy only respects the return from the captivity in Babylon, there is very little in it which concerns the ten tribes, or but a very few of them. The words may be rendered, "unto Israel, and unto Judah"; as being the persons to whom they were directed, as well as were the subjects of them.

For thus says the Lord
Yet what follows are the words of others; therefore some supply it, "for thus says the Lord, the nations shall say" ^F16; so Kimchi and Ben Melech interpret it as what the Gentiles will say in the times of the Messiah; but it might be better supplied, "you shall say"; that is, Israel and Judah; to whom the words of the Lord are spoken in (Jeremiah 30:3); or else the Lord here represents his people, saying:

we have heard a voice of trembling, fear, and not of peace;
which is to be understood, not of the fear and dread injected into them by the Babylonians when they besieged their city, and burned that, and their temple; nor of the fear and dread which came upon the Babylonians at the taking of their city by Cyrus, upon which followed the deliverance of the Jews.

Kimchi interprets this of something yet future, the war of Gog and Magog, which he supposes will be when their Messiah comes; and Jarchi says it is so understood in their Midrash Agadah.

This distress, I think, refers to the slaying of the witnesses, and to that hour of temptation which shall come upon all the earth to try the inhabitants of it; and which will be followed with the destruction of antichrist; and that will make way for the call and conversion of the Jews.

FOOTNOTES:

• F16: "Gentes dicturae sunt", Vatablus.