Jeremiah 31

The text simply says, “At that time.” It doesn’t say what time. But this interpretation presumes he’s referring to the punishment he just described in the previous verses, Jeremiah 30:23-24.

Some say this verse refers to Moses and the Hebrew ancestors of today’s Jewish people escaping slavery in Egypt. They spent “40 years” in the desert territory, which may simply have referred to a long time, or a generation. But there might be a second-layer reference to Israelites who escape the coming Babylonian invasion.

“Virgin” is what Israel was not. In Jeremiah’s day, Israel would spend a generation in timeout, just as their ancestors had done in the time of Moses, nearly 1,000 years before Jeremiah. But perhaps God was describing how he saw the nation, once they had atoned for their several centuries of idolatry with worship practices that seemed to include sex sins. Some native religions seemed to involve worshipers having sex with priests, to entertain the voyeur gods, such as Baal. He was the storm god who provided rain for this dry territory of Israel. As gross as it sounds, some thought of the rain as his semen. If worshipers could get him excited enough by doing the hokey pokey, he might make it rain.

Some cities had guard towers on hilltops, with lookouts watching for invaders.

“Zion” was another name for Jerusalem or for the ridgetop hill on which the city was built.

The two key theological words describing what God did for Israel was “ransom” and “redeem.” “Ransom” often meant to pay a price to get something back, like land or a slave. “Redeem” often meant to deliver or save someone from danger. They’re different words for the same result. God would free Israel to come home.

Some of the Temple sacrifices and offerings became the priests’ salaries. They got part of many sacrificed animals. Fat was considered the good part of them. It’s sweet and tasty.

“Ramah” was a short version of the city’s full name, Ramathaim—a bit like LA is short for Los Angeles and KC is short for Kansas City. Ramah is usually linked to ruins called Al-Ram. It’s about 5 miles (8 km) north of Jerusalem. Rachel was buried near there, according to 1 Samuel 10:2-3. Some scholars link Ramah to another ruin about five miles southwest, Nabi Samwil.

Rachel was Jacob’s favorite wife and the mother of Joseph and Benjamin. She died giving birth to Benjamin.

The text more literally says “Return virgin Israel.” See the note for 31:4.

The last line in this verse is translated more literally as “A woman will encompass (or surround) a man,” which probably wouldn’t have made sense to Shakespeare, let alone us. There are lots of theories about what the writer or editor meant. Maybe the woman was Mary protecting Baby Jesus from King Herod. Or maybe she represents Israel, often portrayed as a female, returning to God. Some say the context and word choices suggest that women in the new Israel will take the lead in work and sex, and act more aggressively, like you might expect Amazon women at a boy band convention. So, guesses are the best we can do here.

This odd verse doesn’t seem to fit. Scholars speculate that it’s part of a lost section in the book. It sounds like a dad ending a bedtime story early, with “and it was all a dream.” But there’s still almost half the chapter to go.

It was common in ancient times for a child or an entire family to suffer for the bad judgment or bad luck of the parents. A bad investment could enslave an entire family. In the Code of Hammurabi, a law code older than the laws of Moses, the law said a builder’s son could be killed if a house the man built for someone fell down and crushed a son of the homeowner: eye for eye, tooth for tooth, son for son.

The writer’s presumption is that these things will never happen.

Locations of Gareb and Goah are unknown. Jerusalem sits on a ridgeline of hills.

Which valley is uncertain. There are graves above the Kidron Valley, east of Jerusalem, on the Mount of Olives. But the writer may have been referring to the Hinnom Valley in the south. That’s where people sacrificed to idols and sometimes sacrificed humans. It was known as the city dump for a time. Some scholars suggest “graveyards” should be translated as “fields of death,” where people and animals went to die as sacrifices. “Killing fields” might describe the area, too.

Grease may have come from the fat of sacrificed animals burned on an altar. Ashes were discarded to a place outside the city walls.

Nehemiah 3:28 mentions the Horse Gate, possibly at the southeast corner of Jerusalem’s wall.