V. JEHOVAH MULTIPLYING ISRAEL
Jehovah will multiply Israel, so that they will not be few. He will cause them to be honored, so that they will not be small (30:19b).
A. Their Children Being as They Were of Old
According to verses 20 and 21, their children will be as they were of old, and their assembly will be established before Jehovah. Their leader will be one of them, and their ruler will come out of their midst. Jehovah will bring him near, and he will approach Him.
Here Jehovah speaks of one leader, not of many leaders. If there were more than one leader, there would be different opinions, and these opinions would cause divisions. According to God’s ordained way, there will be one leader. Thus, there will be no more opinion and no more division.
B. The Seed of Israel
Not Ceasing from Being a Nation
before Jehovah Forever
Jeremiah 31:35 speaks of Jehovah as the One who gives the sun for light by day and the order of the moon and the stars for light by night and who stirs up the sea so that its waves roar. In the next verse Jehovah says, "If this order departs / From before Me, declares Jehovah, / Then the seed of Israel will also cease / From being a nation before Me forever." However, the seed of Israel will not cease from being a nation before Jehovah forever, just as the ordinances of the sun, the moon and the stars, and the roaring of the waves of the sea will never depart. We have a similar word in 33:25 and 26. "Thus says Jehovah, If My covenant with respect to day and night does not stand, if I have not established the statutes of heaven and earth, then I will also reject the seed of Jacob and David My servant and will not take rulers from his seed to be over the seed of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob; for I will turn their captivity and will have compassion on them." Both portions use the same illustration to indicate that from the time of restoration, that is, the coming millennium, Israel will exist forever. They will not cease from being a nation.
C. Jehovah Not Casting Off
All the Seed of Israel
for All They Have Done
Jeremiah 31:37 is a word of assurance that Jehovah will not cast off all the seed of Israel for all they have done. "Thus says Jehovah, / If the heavens above can be measured, / And the foundations of the earth below can be examined carefully, / Then I will also cast off all the seed of Israel / For all they have done." This verse indicates that their descendants will never be cut off.
(Life-Study of Jeremiah and Lamentations, Chapter 24, by Witness Lee)
