While Jeremiah was still in confinement in the court of the prison belonging to the palace (see Jeremiah 32:2), the word of the Lord came to him the second time. This word of God is attached by שׁנית to the promise of Jer 32. It followed, too, not long, perhaps, after the other, which it further serves to confirm. - After the command to call on Him, that He might make known to him great and hidden things (Jeremiah 33:2, Jeremiah 33:3), the Lord announces that, although Jerusalem shall be destroyed by the Chaldeans, He shall yet restore it, bring back the captives of Judah and Israel, purify the city from its iniquities, and make it the glory and praise of all the people of the earth (Jeremiah 33:4-9), so that in it and in the whole land joy will again prevail (Jeremiah 33:10-13). Then the Lord promises the restoration of the kingdom through the righteous sprout of David - of the priesthood, too, and sacrificial worship (Jeremiah 33:14-18); He promises also the everlasting duration of these two ordinances of grace (Jeremiah 33:19-22), because His covenant with the seed of Jacob and David shall be as enduring as the natural ordinance of day and night, and the laws of heaven and earth (Jeremiah 33:23-26). - The promises thus fall into two parts. First, there is proclaimed the restoration of the people and kingdom to a new and glorious state of prosperity (Jeremiah 33:4-13); then the re-establishment of the monarchy and the priesthood to a new and permanent condition (Jeremiah 33:14-26). In the first part, the promise given in Jeremiah 32:36-44 is further carried out; in the second, the future form of the kingdom is more plainly depicted.
Introduction. - Jeremiah 33:2 . "Thus saith Jahveh who makes it, Jahveh who forms it in order to establish it, Jahveh is His name: Jeremiah 33:3 . Call on me and I will answer thee, and tell thee great and hidden things which thou knowest not." The reference of the suffixes in עשׂהּ , אותהּ , and הכינהּ is evident from the contents of the propositions: the Lord does what He says, and forms what He wants to make, in order to accomplish it, i.e., He completes what He has spoken and determined on. יצר , to frame , namely, in the mind, as if to think out, just as in Jeremiah 18:11 : the expression is parallel with חשׁב ; in this sense also we find Isaiah 46:11. הכין , to establish, realize what has been determined on, prepare, is also found in Isaiah 9:6; Isaiah 40:20, but more frequently in Jeremiah (Jeremiah 10:12; Jeremiah 51:12, Jeremiah 51:15), and pretty often in the Old Testament generally. On the phrase "Jahveh is His name," cf. Jeremiah 31:35. The idea contained in Jeremiah 33:2 reminds us of similar expressions of Isaiah, as in Isaiah 22:11; Isaiah 37:26; Isaiah 46:11, etc.; but this similarity offers no foundation for the doubts of Movers and Hitzig regarding the genuineness of this verse. The same holds as regards Jeremiah 33:3. The first proposition occurs frequently in the Psalms, e.g., Jeremiah 4:4; Jeremiah 28:1; Jeremiah 30:9, also in Jeremiah 7:27; Jeremiah 11:14; but קתא with אל is unusual in Isaiah. The words בּצרות לא are certainly an imitation of נצרות ולא ידעתּם , Isaiah 48:6; but they are modified, in the manner peculiar to Jeremiah, by the change of נצרות into בצרות . The combination גּדלות וּבצרות noit is elsewhere used only of the strong cities of the Canaanites, Deuteronomy 1:28; Deuteronomy 9:1; Joshua 14:12, cf. Numbers 13:28; here בּצרות is transferred to things which lie beyond the limits of human power to discover, and become known to men only through divine revelation. There is no good reason for Ewald's change of בצרות in accordance with Isaiah 48:6. - On the contents of these verses Hengstenberg remarks: "It may seem strange that, though in the opening part the prophet is promised a revelation of greater, unknown things, for which he is to call on God, yet the succeeding announcement contains scarcely anything remarkable or peculiar." Graf also adds the remark of Hitzig, that the command to pray, addressed to Jeremiah, cannot have the effect of keeping us from the conclusion that the verses are an addition by a later hand. Nägelsbach replies that the mode of expression presents nothing specially unlike Jeremiah, and that what is most calculated to give the impression of being unlike Jeremiah's, namely, this introduction in itself, and especially the peculiar turn of Jeremiah 33:3, "Call unto me," etc., is occasioned by the prayer of the prophet, Jeremiah 32:16-25. To this prayer the prophet had received an answer, Jeremiah 32:36-44; but he is here admonished to approach the Lord more frequently with such a request. The God who has the power to execute as well as make decrees is quite prepared to give him an insight into His great thoughts regarding the future; and of this a proof is at once given. Thus, Jeremiah 33:1-3 must be viewed as the connecting link between Jer 32; 33.
Yet these remarks are not sufficient to silence the objections set forth against the genuineness of Jeremiah 33:2, Jeremiah 33:3; for the specializing title of our chapter, in Jeremiah 33:1, is opposed to the close connection which Nägelsbach maintains between Jer 32; 33. The fact that, in Jer 32, Jeremiah addresses the Lord in prayer for further revelation regarding the purchase of the field, as commanded, and that he receives the information he desired regarding it, gives no occasion for warning to the prophet, to betake himself more frequently to God for disclosures regarding His purposes of salvation. And Nägelsbach has quite evaded the objection that Jeremiah does not obey the injunction. Moreover, the succeeding revelation made in vv. 4-26 is not of the nature of a "proof," for it does not contain a single great leading feature in God's purposes as regards the future. - Hengstenberg also points out the difficulty, "that the Scripture everywhere refuses to recognise a dead knowledge as true knowledge, and that the hope of restoration has an obstacle in the natural man, who strives to obscure and to extinguish it; that, consequently, the promise of restoration is always new, and the word of God always great and grand;" but what he adduces for the solution of the difficulty contained in the command, "Call on me, and I will show thee great and unknown things," is insufficient for his purpose. The objection which expositors have taken to these verses has arisen from an improper application of them; the words קרא אלי have been understood as referring to the request that God should give some revelation regarding the future, or His purposes of deliverance, and ענה as referring to the communication of His purposes for increasing our knowledge of them. But "to call on God" rather signifies to pray to God, i.e., to beseech Him for protection, or help, or deliverance in time of need, cf. Psalms 3:5; Psalms 28:1; Psalms 30:9; Psalms 55:17, etc.; and to "answer" is the reply of God made when He actually vouchsafes the aid sought for; cf. e.g., Psalms 55:17, "I call on God, and Jahveh answers me (saves me);" Psalms 4:2, Psalms 4:4; Psalms 18:7; Psalms 27:7, etc. Consequently, also, "to make known" ( הגּיד ) is no mere communication of knowledge regarding great and unknown things, no mere letting them be known, but a making known by deeds. The words עשׂהּ and יוצר אותהּ , ascribed to the Lord, suggest and require that the words should be thus understood. With the incorrect reference of these words to knowing and making known there is connected the further error, that the command, "Call unto me," is directed to the person of the prophet, and gives an admonition for his behaviour towards God, for which the text affords on foundation whatever; for it does not run: "Thus saith Jahveh to me" ( אלי ), and the insertion of this אלי is unwarranted, and inconsistent with the use of כּי which introduces the announcement. Hitzig, Graf, and others have passed by this כּי without remark; and what Nägelsbach says about it is connected with his view, already refuted, as to the essential unity of Jer 32; 33. Lastly, Ewald has enclosed Jeremiah 33:3 within parentheses, and considers that the introductory formula of Jeremiah 33:2 is resumed in Jeremiah 33:4 : "Yea, thus saith Jahveh." This is a conclusion hastily formed by one who is in difficulty, for Jeremiah 33:3 has not the nature of a parenthesis. If we allow the arbitrary addition "to me" after the words, "Thus saith the Lord," Jeremiah 33:2, and if we take the words in their simplest sense - the invocation of the Lord as a call to God for help in need - then Jeremiah 33:2, Jeremiah 33:3 do not contain a mere prelude to the revelation which follows, but an exhortation to the people to betake themselves to the Lord their God in their calamity, when He will make known to them things unattainable by human discernment; for ( כּי , Jeremiah 33:4) He announces, in reference to the ruined houses of the city, that He will repair their injuries.
Repair of the injuries and renewal of the prosperity of Jerusalem and Judah. - Jeremiah 33:4. "For thus saith Jahveh, the God of Israel, concerning the houses of this city, and concerning the houses of the kings of Judah, which are broken down because of the besiegers' mounds and because of the sword, Jeremiah 33:5. While they come to fight with the Chaldeans, and to fill them with the corpses of men, whom I have slain in my wrath and in my fury, and for all whose wickedness I have hidden my face from this city: Jeremiah 33:6. Behold, I will apply a bandage to it and a remedy, and will heal them, and will reveal to them abundance of peace and truth. Jeremiah 33:7. And I will turn again the captivity of Judah and the captivity of Israel, and will build them up as at the first. Jeremiah 33:8. And I will purify them from all their iniquity by which they have sinned against me, and will pardon all their iniquities, by which they have sinned and have transgressed against me. Jeremiah 33:9. And it (the city) shall become to me a name of joy, a praise, and an honour among all the people of the earth that shall hear all the good which I do them, and shall tremble and quake because of all the good and because of all the prosperity that I show to it. Jeremiah 33:10. Thus saith Jahveh: Again shall there be heard in this place-of which ye say, 'It is desolate, without man and without beast,'-in the cities of Judah, and in the streets of Jerusalem, which are laid waste, without men, and without inhabitants, and without beasts, Jeremiah 33:11. The voice of gladness and the voice of joy, the voice of the bridegroom and the voice of the bride, the voice of those who say, 'Praise Jahveh of hosts, for Jahveh is good, for His mercy is for ever,' who bring thank-offerings into the house of Jahveh. For I will turn again the captivity of the land, as in the beginning, saith Jahveh. Jeremiah 33:12. Thus saith Jahveh of hosts: In this place, which is laid waste, without man and beast, and in all its cities, there will yet be pasture-ground for shepherds making their flocks lie down in. Jeremiah 33:13. In the cities of the hill-country, in the cities of the plain, and in the cities of the south, in the land of Benjamin, and in the environs of Jerusalem, and in the cities of Judah, the flock shall yet pass under the hand of one who counts them, saith Jahveh."