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It is certainly remarkable that all four of the major covenants are present in the texts of Jeremiah 31 and 33. The texts from Jeremiah 31 and 33 shed a great deal of light on the understanding of the future New Covenant, and its functioning relationship with the other three great covenants between the LORD and His people. The Abrahamic Covenant is presented as the foundation for the New Covenant and in connection with the fulfillment of the Davidic Covenant. The Mosaic Covenant which served to administer the Abrahamic Covenant on a national scale to Israel would be replaced in "days which are coming." The New Covenant would then replace the Mosaic Covenant as the means for administering the Abrahamic Covenant to the people of God. These texts from Jeremiah form a summary explanation of the Lord's work with His people.

The promises of the Abrahamic covenant are referred to in chapter 31 and in chapter 33. These promises are the underlying foundation for the message of both of these chapters. The passage from chapter 33 will be discussed in connection with the Davidic Covenant later.

Jeremiah 31:35-37

(35) Thus says the Lord,

Who gives the sun for light by day,

And the fixed order of the moon and the stars for light by night,

Who stirs up the sea so that its waves roar;

The Lord of hosts is His name:

(36) "If this fixed order departs from before Me," declares the Lord,

"Then the offspring of Israel also shall cease from being a nation before Me forever."

(37) Thus says the Lord,

"If the heavens above can be measured,

And the foundations of the earth be searched out below,

Then I will also cast off all the offspring of Israel for all that they have done,

"declares the Lord.

Clearly the message that the Lord was delivering to the nation through Jeremiah was that nothing could cause the Lord to abandon His people. The coming destruction was not to be seen as evidence of an abandonment of the Lord. Rather it was the direct discipline of the Lord to a rebellious people. To further make this point the Lord stressed the eternal nature of the unconditional Abrahamic covenant.

The promise of a future for the nation is repeated twice for added emphasis. There also is no ambiguity in the language. As long as the fixed order of the heavens and the earth continue, so will the nation of Israel will continue in a favored position before the Lord. These promises are clearly built upon the Abrahamic covenant.²

Two elements are necessary to have a "nation". The first element is specifically addressed in verse 37 above. That is a population to people the nation as citizens. The second element is equally necessary to have a nation. That is land. No population can legitimately be called a nation if it does not have a land area over which it exercises some degree of autonomy. Both of these elements are promised and are specified in the Abrahamic Covenant and both are present in this passage as well. Thus, we have further witness that the Abraham Covenant is an eternal unconditional covenant which serves as the foundation for all of the Lord's relationship with the Jewish nation.

Scripture knows no greater guarantee for the validity and permanence of the covenant than that stated here. As unchangeable as the laws of nature is God's covenant with the deathless nation. The concept of nation carries with it geographical location, government, and other ethnic features to be fully realized in the end time. In short, it is utterly impossible that Israel should cease to be a nation before God.³

The Davidic Covenant

The entire context of Jeremiah 33:14-26⁴ is the reaffirmation of the Davidic Covenant. The following five passages from this section should serve to summarize.

33:15

(15) "In those days and at that time I will cause a righteous branch of David to spring forth and He shall execute justice and righteousness on the earth.

33:17

(17) For thus says the Lord, "David shall never lack a man to sit on the throne of the house of Israel;

33:19-21

(19) And the word of the LORD came to Jeremiah saying, (20) Thus says the Lord, "If you can break My covenant for the day and MY covenant for the night, so that day and night will not be at their appointed time, (21) then My covenant may also be broken with David My servant that he shall not have a son to reign on his throne,

33:22

(22) "As the host of heaven cannot be counted, and the sand of the sea cannot be measured, so I will multiply the descendants of David My servant"

33:25-26a

(25) Thus says the Lord, "If My covenant for day and night stand not, and the fixed patterns of heaven and earth I have not established, (26) then I would reject the descendants of Jacob and David My servant, not taking from his descendants rulers over the descendants of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.

Again there is no ambiguity in the language. Again the parallel is made by the Lord between the surety of His continued covenant faithfulness and the surety of the fixed pattern of creation. Certainly there is a connection being sought with the passage in Jeremiah 31. The point of the message of the Lord to His people through Jeremiah is the same. The Lord is not abandoning the descendants of Abraham. The coming time of distress is the discipline of the Lord to an obstinate people. To emphasis that point the Lord refers to the Davidic Covenant which more specifically than the Abrahamic gave witness to a still future dynasty of David ruling over a nation in the land. Here again, the message is emphasized by repetition. Both verses 20-21 and 25-26 stress the eternality of this unconditional covenant.

The only conditional element in this covenant was whether or not the descendants of David would continually occupy the throne or exercise the right to rule. It is apparent that within the stipulations of this covenant, disobedience might bring about chastening, but is would never abrogate or nullify the covenant.⁵

It is in Jeremiah 33:25-26, in the repetition of the statement on eternality of the Davidic Covenant, that more of the relationship of the Davidic Covenant to the Abrahamic Covenant is seen. In the closing verse of chapter 33 a clear connection is made between these two covenants which have just been discussed by the Lord through Jeremiah.

In the first passage the continuation of the fixed order of the creation is the guarantee of the continuation of the Abrahamic Covenant as expressed in physical descendants. Then, in the second passage the very same analogy of the continuation of the fixed order of creation is used to guarantee the continuation of the Davidic Covenant. Both are externally secure, being guaranteed by the continuation of creation itself. Then in the final passage both the Abrahamic Covenant and the Davidic Covenant are both, together in the same context, guaranteed by the continuation of the creation.

There is a concerted effort by the author to tie these two covenants together theologically and this is done through the literary development of the text. Both the Abrahamic and the Davidic Covenants are shown to have the same eternal unconditional nature. What is seen especially in 33:26 is that the Davidic Covenant is built upon the Abrahamic. The promise of a Davidic dynasty presupposes a people to rule. These people are the descendants of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.⁶

The Mosaic Covenant

The Mosaic covenant is referred to in the passage which introduces the New Covenant to the people of Israel. The New Covenant will be discussed later. It is the testimony of the Lord about the Mosaic Covenant here that must draw attention.

31:31-32

(31) "Behold, days are coming," declares the Lord, "When I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah, (32) not like the covenant which I made with their fathers in the day I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt. My covenant which they broke, although I was a husband to them," declares the Lord.

The Lord's word is that the nation of Israel "broke" the Mosaic Covenant. The Hebrew verb used is " ". In the fifty three uses of the verb in the Old Testament, it is used twenty three times as the direct object of "" - "covenant". The force of the verb, however, is not to brake in the sense of to cancel the covenant. The force is that the terms of compliance were violated bringing punitive actions.⁷ This is similar to the violation of our laws today. "Breaking the law" does not cancel the law codes, but it does bring the punitive stipulations to bear upon the law breaker.

Therefore the disobedience of the Jewish nation need not be seen as a forfeiture of their Covenantal blessings. Their failure need not be interpreted as rendering the Mosaic Covenant null and void. It will be seen in the discussion of the New Covenant that the Mosaic Covenant was not to be an eternal covenant. Unlike the Abrahamic and Davidic Covenants, there is no affirmation of any kind in the text here that the Mosaic Covenant was eternal in nature.

However, perhaps it can be said that there is also no evidence from these selected texts to require an interpretation of the Mosaic Covenant as being conditional in nature. Not even the terrible abominations of the Jewish people could remove them from the Mosaic Covenant relationship and responsibilities.

It should have been obvious to the nation about to go into captivity that the Mosaic Covenant would not keep men from sin. It was not designed to. The nation had "broken" the covenant. The punitive actions that the Lord was about to initiate were in response to that continual violation. If the descendants of Abraham as a nation, ruled by a Davidic descendant, were to truly live in a harmonious covenant relationship with the Lord, then there was an obvious need for a new type of arrangement whereby the nation could be administered in the absence of sin. More was needed than just a provision for sin when it occurred. Sin needed to be removed from the life of the nation. A covenant, different in nature from the Mosaic Covenant that has served to administer the provisions of the Abrahamic on a national scale, was needed. This would be a New Covenant.⁸

The Consideration of the Quoted Text

Both references to the New Covenant in the selected texts are from chapter 31.

31:31

"Behold, days are coming," declares the Lord, "when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah,

 

31:33-34

"But this is the covenant which I will make with the house of Israel after those days," declares the LORD, "I will put My law within them, and on their heart I will write it; and I will be their God, and they will be My people. (34) "And they shall not teach again, each man his neighbor and each man his brother, saying `Know the Lord,' for they shall all know Me, from the least of them to the greatest of them," declares the Lord, "for I will forgive their iniquity, and their sin I will remember no more."

The phrase, "Behold, days are coming," is used in Jeremiah as an introductory declaration for future eschatological events. This declaration is used fifteen times in Jeremiah.⁹  Not all of the prophecies which follow the phrase are still future events. However, at the time of their declaration they were. Of the fifteen uses of this phrases four occur in the two texts from Jeremiah under consideration in this paper, which illustrates the eschatological nature of these passages. The words "behold days are coming" were used to describe the coming judgments (7:32, 9:25, 16:14, 19:6). Beginning in 25:5 these word are used to introduce sections dealing with a future restoration of Israel and the blessings to follow, (30:3, 31:27, 31, 38, 33:14). In other words, its is within the Book of Consolation that these occurrences of this eschatological introduction refer to future blessing instead of judgment.

The stipulations of this new covenant were not to be inscribed in stone as the Mosaic Covenant was (Exod. 19:3-8; 24:3-8; 31:18; Deut. 4:13, 29:1-29). Scribes would not be needed to preserve the written stipulations of the covenant. Unlike the Mosaic Covenant, the requirements of the Lord for harmonious relationship between the nation and the Lord, and between the individual and the Lord would be written not in scrolls, but on the hearts of the people (cf. Ezek. 36:25-27). The Lord's law would be placed within them.

This is more than just an increased sensitivity to the conscience. The text says further that knowing the Lord will be universal. The Hebrew root "" which is translated "know", has a number of different shades of meaning. One of them is that of intimate knowledge. The meaning of the passage then could refer to regeneration. A man will not need to persuade another to enter the regenerate state, be in a redeemed covenant relationship with the Lord. The reason is that all participants in this New Covenant will "know" the Lord. The very language of the passage seems to suggest a regenerate people living in relationship with the Lord.¹⁰

"for they shall all know Me, from the least of them to the greatest of them," declares the Lord, "for I will forgive their iniquity, and their sin I will remember no more."

Thus, the New Covenant will solve the problem which the Mosaic Covenant never could. Participants in the New Covenant will be regenerated. Under the New Covenant the promises of the Abrahamic Covenant will be administered to the people by means of a regenerated citizenry. The presence of sin will be removed. Finally, a harmonious relationship will exist between the Lord and His people, "I will be their God, and they will be My people."

The basis of the hope Jeremiah held out to a nation about to undergo discipline was not that they would become strong in themselves and would be able to obey the Lord, but rather that God would give then a New Covenant that will provide the divine enablement necessary for them to walk in obedience and experience the blessings of the covenant.

This covenant - which the prophet says is a new covenant - stands in sharp contrast to the covenant God gave to the nation at Sinai. That covenant (the LAW) defined the obedience God required as a prerequisite to blessing, but it provided no enablement (Rom 8:3).

This New Covenant, on the other hand, is an unconditional covenant. ... Moreover, this New Covenant is an eternal covenant.¹¹

After giving a description of the New Covenant in 31:31-34, the Lord then speaks of the abiding promises of the Abrahamic Covenant in verses 35-37. Even though the promises are not specifically attached to the Abrahamic Covenant in this passage it is clear that they are based on it. That the Abrahamic promises follow immediately after the introduction on the New Covenant demonstrates to the hearers of Jeremiah that the Lord's faithfulness to Abraham will one day be witnessed in a New Covenant. The New Covenant thus should be seen as a covenant with the people of the Lord which will administer the provisions of the Abrahamic Covenant to the nation. It will replace the Mosaic Covenant as the administrator of the Abrahamic promises. But the New Covenant will accomplish more than the Mosaic did or could. Through the New Covenant the Lord will remove their sin, something that the Mosaic Covenant could not do.

The Davidic Covenant is not diminished by the administration of the New Covenant. The eternality of the Davidic Covenant was witnessed above. Thus, "days are coming" in which the New Covenant will be the means for the Abrahamic Promises to be administered to the nation of Israel in their land. The population of the nation will all "know" the Lord. And the Davidic dynasty will be restored.

To summarize then,

This New Covenant, then - which is an unconditional, eternal covenant based on the shedding of blood - guarantees the preservation of Israel as a nation and her ultimate restoration to the land originally given by God to Abraham and Abraham's descendants. It provides for forgiveness of sin and the removal of all uncleanness from the nation. It provides for a new mind so that the nation as a nation may know God, and for a new heart so that those in the nation may love God. It promises the indwelling of the Holy Spirit who will enable them to walk in obedience to the demands of God. And as a result of this covenant, the blessings Israel never found through the Law will at last be experienced.¹²

Having examined in some detail the Jeremiah passage with some of is theological implications the next step is to look at the passage in the New Testament in which this quotation if found. Dr. Feinberg provides a good transition to the consideration of the New Testament passage in Hebrews when he says,

The whole covenant is for the whole nation. Significantly, the new covenant will be with God's chosen people, as was the old. It could not be made with the church because no former (old) covenant had been made with her. Does this mean that believers today have no part in this new covenant? Surely not, for the same death of Christ that implemented the new covenant for Israel does so for all sinners for all time. The testimony of the entire New Testament is too clear on this point to be misunderstood. Because Israel rejected the covenant in the first advent, Gentiles availed themselves to it's provisions (cf. Rom 9:30-33); and Israel will yet ratify it at the climax of her history (cf. Zech 12:10-13). Thus it is correct to say that all believers in Christ are by virtue of this covenant grafted in to the stock of Abraham (cf. Rom 11:16-24).¹³

(continued on next page)

² For further information on the promises of the Abrahamic Covenant see also Genesis 12:2-3, 7; 13:14-17, 15:5-7, 18; 17:1-8, 22:15-18.

³ Feinberg, "Jeremiah," p. 578.

⁴ This entire passage, Jeremiah 33:14-26, is not in the LXX. However, the LXX version of Jeremiah differs widely from the MT in many places. This alone, should not cause us to seriously doubt the originality of the MT here. Nevertheless some commentators feel that they must doubt the genuineness of the passage. As will be demonstrated, however, the literary unity of this passage with the text in Jeremiah 31 should eliminate any remaining doubt concerning the genuineness of the text here.

⁵ Dwight Pentecost, Thy Kingdom Come, (Wheaton Il: Victor Books, 1990), p. 143.

⁶ That the Davidic Covenant is built upon the Abrahamic is not universally acknowledged. "We agree with various scholars who hold that this covenant is closely connected to the Sinai covenant. It is not to be regarded as a new covenant, but as a further extension of the Sinai covenant." New Bible Dictionary, S.v. "Covenants," by F.C. Fensham.

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Copyright © 2000 by Lowell B. Hudson.                                                                              Revised: 26 December, 2006
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