Jeremiah 31:35-37 - Joseph Benson’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments

Thus saith the Lord, who giveth the sun for a light by day All the acts here mentioned are such as manifest the divine, almighty power of him who is the Lord of all the hosts of the creation. Which divideth, or, who did divide, the sea Namely, as the words are generally interpreted, the Red sea, to give the Israelites passage. The original words, however, רגע הים, which occur Isaiah 51:15, where they are translated as here, are by Bishop Lowth rendered, who stilleth the sea, a sense which accords better with the words immediately following, when the waves thereof roar That is, even when the waves are most tumultuous, and roar most dreadfully, he, with infinite ease, quiets them, and produces a perfect calm. In this sense the same word is interpreted Jer 31:2 of this chapter, and also Jeremiah 50:34. If these ordinances Hebrew, החקים, these appointments respecting the heavenly bodies and their motions and uses; depart from before me Be altered or suspended in their operations; then shall the seed of Israel cease from being a nation, &c. Thus God makes the continuance of the laws of nature a pledge of the continuance of Israel as a people. The prediction implies, 1st, That God would preserve a remnant of them in the country to which they were led captive, and would restore them to their own land; 2d, That there should be another remnant of them, at the beginning of the gospel, called οι Σωζομενοι, the saved, (Acts 2:47,) who, by embracing the faith of Christ, should escape those terrible judgments that should be inflicted upon the main body of that nation; and 3d, That Providence would still preserve them in a body distinct from all other people in the world, in order to their conversion in God's due time. To this place St. Paul, speaking of the conversion of the Jews in the latter times, seems to refer when he says, The gifts and calling of God [to the Jews] are without repentance, Romans 11:29. If heaven above can be measured, &c. If the height and extent thereof can be ascertained by men, which is impossible, I will also cast off all the seed of Israel, &c. That is, I will never cast them all off a promise which the apostle, (Romans 11:1-2,) proves to have been made good by God, notwithstanding the rejection of the great body of that people.