And the whole valley of the dead bodies, and of the ashes, and all the fields unto the brook of Kidron, unto the corner of the horse gate toward the east, shall be holy unto the LORD; it shall not be plucked up, nor thrown down any more for ever.
The whole valley of the dead bodies - Tophet, where the bodies of criminals were cast (Isaiah 30:33), south of the city.
The fields unto the brook of Kidron - so 2 Kings 23:4. Fields in the suburbs, reaching as far as Kidron, east of the city.
The horse gate - through it the king's horses were led forth for watering to the brook Kidron (2 Kings 11:16; Nehemiah 3:28).
Forever. The city shall not, only be spacious, but both "holy to the Lord" - i:e., freed from all pollutions-and everlasting (Joel 3:17; Joel 3:20); the earthly model of the final and heavenly city (Revelation 21:2; Revelation 21:10; Revelation 21:27).
Remarks:
(1) God's promises of restoration and renewal of His favour to Israel hereafter are grounded upon His "everlasting love." It was from this source flowed His past favour to them in Egypt, and "in the wilderness, when God went to cause them to rest" (Jeremiah 31:2). Hence, also was derived the "loving-kindness" wherewith He "drew them" to Himself (Jeremiah 31:3).
(2) The ground of hope to the spiritual Israel is the same: the past favours and grace which the believer has received from God are a pledge to him that the same Lord "who hath begun a good work in him, will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ" (Philippians 1:6). The love of God in Christ to believers, and His choice of them in Christ, were "before the foundation of the world" (Ephesians 1:4). In due time He, by His Spirit, has "drawn" them to Himself (John 6:44); He will not then "forsake the works of His own hands," but "will perfect that which concerneth" them (Psalms 138:8). For "His gifts and calling are" unchangeable (Romans 11:29).
(3) God's way of conve rting sinners to Himself answers to the mode here described of His future restoration of Israel. Since the watchmen upon Mount Ephraim are represented as crying, "Arise ye, let us go up to Zion, unto the Lord our God" (Jeremiah 31:6), so the ministers who faithfully watch for souls are made the instruments of awakening the unconverted, and turning them from the broad way to the narrow way which leads to heaven and to God. Though awakened sinners at first "come with weeping," yet it is "in a straight way" that they are led, a way in which "they shall not stumble" (Jeremiah 31:9), and wherein, when filled with joy of the Holy Spirit, they shall "sing with gladness" (Jeremiah 31:7). Their chastisements are sanctified to them: as "He that scattered Israel will gather him, and keep him, as a shepherd doth his flock." So the God who smites His believing people at times for their offences, will also heal them, and "keep them by His power through faith unto salvation, ready to be revealed at the last time" (1 Peter 1:5). In vain Satan opposes, "for the Lord hath ransomed them from the hand of him that was stronger than they" (Jeremiah 31:11). And though now the people of God mourn at times in their present wilderness journey, "the Lord will" ere long "turn their mourning into joy, and will comfort them, and make them rejoice from their sorrow" (Jeremiah 31:13). Then shall "the soul's" large aspirations and capabilities of happiness be fully and everlastingly "satisfied" and replenished" with the goodness of the Lord." himself (Jeremiah 31:14; Jeremiah 31:25): their weariness of spirit shall cease, and the redeemed "shall not sorrow anymore at all" (Jeremiah 31:12).
(4) The believing mother, who has lost by death her darling children, ought not, like Rachel weeping for her children in the prophet's poetical picture, to weep as one who has no hope, and who therefore "refuses to be comforted for her children, because they are not" (Jeremiah 31:15). Faith tells us they still are, and that they shall at the resurrection "come again from the land of the enemy" (Jeremiah 31:16): so that we "sorrow not" for the departed ones "as others who have no hope" (1 Thessalonians 4:13). Blessed be God, "there is hope in the believer's end" (Jeremiah 31:17), a hope that maketh not ashamed: His end is peace.
(5) The first step in Israel's future restoration will be, the spirit of penitent supplication shall be poured upon her. The teachings of God's Spirit shall accompany the chastenings of His providence. So she shall "bemoan" her past perversity and refractoriness, and acknowledge the wisdom and love that characterized God's chastisements of her. Feeling her own inability to turn to the Lord, she will pray, "Turn thou me, and I shall be turned." Repentance is not our work, but the work of God's grace in whomsoever He will. No man is ever converted to God until God has first turned him to Himself: and it is not until "after that" the sinner has been so "turned" by God that he truly repents, with heartfelt indignation at himself, and with remorse and grief because of his past sin (Jeremiah 31:19).
(6) Then, indeed, God, who has been long waiting to be gracious, hails with joy His penitent son: "Is Ephraim my dear son? Is he a pleasant child?" Ephraim's repentance is followed by an expression on God's part of the pleasure which He has in him as His dear son, though Ephraim's past rebellion might seem to disqualify him from being an object of God's pleasure. Not that Ephraim's repentance moved God to have mercy on him; but God's "mercy," flowing from His "everlasting love," which never lost sight of him, in the first instance "turned" Ephraim to his heavenly Father, and then welcomed the returning prodigal with open arms, and with bowels of compassion which long yearned over him (Jeremiah 31:20). Ephraim is encouraged to return by the promise of a NEW, unheard-of, unprecedented thing, Messiah's birth of a pure virgin (Jeremiah 31:22). The gift of the Saviour is the strongest incentive to repentance of our past backslidings from God, and wanderings here and there (Jeremiah 31:22) after earthly objects of trust.
(7) The new covenant in Christ, made by God with both literal and spiritual Israel, provides for all the needs of men's souls-pardoning grace for the removal of their past guilt, and sanctifying grace, whereby the Spirit of Christ writes the law in their hearts, that so their may sin no more (Jeremiah 31:32-34). In the Old Dispensation the law was written only on tables of stone; it was but an external rule, affording no power for its fulfillment: but now, under the Gospel, God himself is the teacher of believers, and inscribes the law of love, which is the fulfillment of the law of the decalogue, inwardly on the will and conscience. As yet, the realization of this is limited to the elect few, and even in their case sanctification is but partial here. But the full accomplishment of the prophecy is still future, and belongs to literal Israel first, and then through her instrumentality it shall extend to all the earth. The Lord's promise, His covenant, and His oath, are all pledged for the future blessing of Israel as a nation (Jeremiah 31:36), and that universally; then, and not until then, "shall the earth be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the Lord, as the waters cover the sea" (Habakkuk 2:14). The ordinances of the sun and the moon can sooner depart than the promises of God's unsearchable love to His people be broken (Jeremiah 31:36-37).