Crooked Finger (crookedfingers) wrote,
Crooked Finger
crookedfingers
  • Mood: contemplative

it will not be possible to breach the new covenant

"Chapter 30-33, which are a book of comfort and promise, begin with the assurance that Israel will return from exile after a time of punishment (30:1-11, 17-18). One of the dominant themes, as McConville notes, is that the plans of Yahweh for his people will be fulfilled. Israel will be full of praise and will be safe and secure in the land (30:19-20). A priest-king will come, a ruler, whom God will bring near to himself (30:21-22). God's covenant with his people will be a reality as he cares for them and rules over them as their God (30:22; 31:1). Yahweh could never take his love from Israel, for he "loved them with an everlasting love" (31:3). Music will resound, and vineyards will be planted when Israel is restored (31:4-5,7). Israel will come from the ends of the earth and will weep at the mercy of the Lord (31:8-10). It will then be clear that Yahweh ransomed and redeemed Israel (31:11). Weeping will be short-lived, for Israel "shall be like a watered garden" (31:12), and the young will dance and the old will rejoice (31:13). The greatest blessing will be the Lord's presence with his people. The Lord says, "My people shall be satisfied with my goodness" (31:14). They will see the King in his beauty! The grief of exile will be temporary (31:15-19), for Ephraim is Yahweh's "dear son," his "darling child" (31:20). Yahweh cannot reject his own, and so Israel will return from exile (31:21). A woman (the people of Israel) will encircle and conquer "a man"-that is, the pagan nations (31:22). Every person will be satisfied and refreshed by the Lord (31:25).

A new covenant is promised, which would be different from the Sinai covenant (31:31-32), for although the Lord was gracious to his people in liberating them from Egypt, Israel did not abide by the stipulations of the covenant. By way of contrast, "it will not be possible to breach the new covenant." The new covenant is of a different character, for now the Lord will write his law on the hearts of his people so that they will obey him (31:33). Israel would experience what it means for Yahweh to be their God and to live as his people. "The new covenant. . . is a way of solving the basic problem identified in earlier parts of the book. . . namely, the failure of the covenant people to be faithful."

Every member of the covenant people would know the Lord (31:34). Every member of the covenant family would have the law written on their hearts. . ." pg. 361,362 "The King In His Beauty: A Biblical Theology of the Old and New Testament" by Thomas R. Schreiner
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