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Ancestors
Jeremiah 30:3 ‘And I will cause them to return to the land that I gave to their fathers, and they shall possess it.’ Some translations say, “their ancestors“. However, there is not a word in Hebrew for the direct translation “ancestor”. Everywhere where the translators have used the word ancestor, the Hebrew word actually says “Father”, Hebrew word Ab H1 – ‘āḇ, short for Abba.
The first time this word is used is in Genesis 2:24, where YHWH gave Adam a wife, and said, “Therefore a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and they shall become one flesh.” We even see where Abraham had to leave his father, and family in Genesis 12:1, “Get out of your country, from your family and from your father’s house, to a land that I will show you.”
YHWH declares Himself many times to be the Father of Israel, and they are His children, in the next chapter of Jeremiah 31:9 “I will be an Ab to Israel”. Even though genealogies are important in Scripture (click here to see our post from 1 Chronicles 1 on the meaning and importance of genealogy), recognizing your Father in Heaven is more important. Yeshua says in Matthew 23:9, “Do not call anyone on earth your father; for One is your Father, He who is in heaven.”
Reading Jeremiah 30:3 from Hebrew, translators can make sentences mean many different things. “I will cause them to return to the land I gave to their” – is not exactly what Hebrew says, instead there are only these words “Israel and Judah, Return, Land, that/which, Give/Deliver/Appoint, Father/Ab, Possess” – it doesn’t say their fathers, they possess it.. but what is clear, Israel and Judah will or must return to the land that Abba YHWH will give/possess, not necessarily our physical ancestors or fathers.
Rescue
Jeremiah 30:10 “For behold, I will save you from afar, and your seed from the land of their captivity.” And in Jeremiah 31:7 “O YHWH, rescue your people, the remaining few from Israel”
The Hebrew word for save and rescue is Yasa H3467 – yāšaʿ, meaning Saviour, and is the root word for Yeshua. The name Yehoshua (or the shorter version Yeshua) in Hebrew is H3091 – yᵊhôšûaʿ, which means “YHWH is Salvation“.
Teshuvah
Jeremiah 31:18-19 “‘You have chastised me, and I was chastised, Like an untrained bull; Restore me, and I will return, For You are YHWH my Elohim. Surely, after my turning, I repented; And after I was instructed, I struck myself on the thigh; I was ashamed, yes, even humiliated”
In the previous chapter, Jeremiah 30:12-17, YHWH explains that the sins have corrupted so much, no medicine or trick can heal them. The only cure is the chastisement from YHWH, even though it is hard, it has to be done, to cure the “spiritual disease” of sin. It explains that we should not complain about all the things going wrong around us, sickness, poverty, disasters, etc. because that is the curse of sin, and one have to take responsibility and bear the pain for it. But there is hope, just hang in there, YHWH does give promise of healing. But the healing starts in our hearts. The sentence “restore me, and I will return”, both the words restore and return is the same Hebrew word Teshuvah, or short Suv/Sub H7725 – šûḇ, which is the same word in english we use for “repentance“. Click here to learn more about Teshuvah/Repentance from a post in Psalm 51.
A Woman and a Man
Jeremiah 31:22 “For YHWH has created a new thing in the earth – A woman shall encompass a man“
Here is one little verse in the middle of nowhere, that has actually cause a lot of strange commentaries on what people think this could mean. Things like, “what the woman will do something without a man”, or “the woman will be sidestepping men”, or even as one translation says, “the woman will be protecting the man”.
Let’s look at the Hebrew word first, for encompass is Sabab H5437 – sāḇaḇ, meaning to turn around, to surround, to go about, circling, transforming or changing. Now the scriptures surrounding this verse, clearly talks about YHWH begging the people to return to Him, to look for the signs and the way back, how they wander around not going anywhere, being captive and not being home. And in the middle of this, YHWH says a miracle will happen.. like a woman that returns to her man, a woman that changes, circling back. You could even see it as she comes back to “court” the man, where instead it is always the man “courting” the woman. This is not all woman will suddenly chase after men, no.. this is Israel and Judah, that YHWH is calling back, and suddenly she will come back like a miracle!
New covenant
Jeremiah 31:31 “Behold, the days are coming, says YHWH, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah“
The terms “old testament” and “new testament” has caused a big lie and confusion. It is said, that everything before Yeshua, is called “old” and everything after Yeshua is “new”, and now we do not have to live by the “old” anymore. So, people don’t read the “old testament”, because they see it as worthless. They do not get to know or understand the “old”. Why does YHWH then say in Jeremiah 6:16, “Thus says YHWH: “Stand in the ways and see, And ask for the old paths, where the good way is, And walk in it; Then you will find rest for your souls. But they said, ‘We will not walk in it.’” He knew, they will call it the “old” ways, and decide not to walk in those ways.
So YHWH said, the “new covenant” that He makes, is not a change in the laws or instructions of Torah, instead it is the HOW. The Torah won’t be on stone tablets, it will be written on our “heart tablets”. Verse 32 continues, “not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers in the day that I took them by the hand to lead them out of the land of Egypt.. But this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, says YHWH: I will put My law in their minds, and write it on their hearts; and I will be their God, and they shall be My people”. Back in Jeremiah 3:16-17 we read about the ark of the covenant that will be gone, even the Temple will be gone – because the new covenant will be on your heart.
Amazingly verse 34 continues to say that no one will have to teach you, because it will be on your heart, “No more shall every man teach his neighbor, and every man his brother, saying, ‘Know YHWH,’ for they all shall know Me”. Yeshua even confirmed this in Matthew 5:17-18, “Do not think that I came to destroy the Law or the Prophets. I did not come to destroy but to fulfill. For assuredly, I say to you, till heaven and earth pass away, one jot or one tittle will by no means pass from the law till all is fulfilled.”
Law of sun and moon
Jeremiah 31:35-36 “YHWH provides the sun to be a light during the day. He orders the moon and stars to be lights during the night. .. only if these laws stop working, declares YHWH will Israel’s descendants stop being a nation in my presence”
This declaration is given directly after YHWH says He will create a new covenant, which is the same covenant except it will be written on hearts and not on stone. This covenant with all who wants to be part of Israel, will stand while the sun, moon and stars are still there. This is not talking about the “state of Israel” today, but YHWH’s people are called Israel.
Psalm 72:5 says, “May they fear him as long as the sun and moon endure, throughout all generations”. However from Genesis 1:14 we read the sun, moon and stars are given for, “let them be for signs and seasons, and for days and years”. Yeshua reminds us of this in Luke 21:25, “There will be signs in the sun and moon and stars, and on the earth dismay among nations, in perplexity at the roaring of the sea and the waves”. At least two prophets have warned, there will be a time that the sun and moon will cease. Joel 3:15, “The sun and moon will grow dark, and the stars will cease to shine” and Isaiah 60:20 “Your sun will no longer set, and your moon will not wane, for YHWH will be your everlasting light“. In the end in Revelation 21:23 we read, “And the city has no need of sun or moon to shine on it, for the glory of YHWH is its light, and its lamp is the Lamb”.
