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33:14 The days are surely coming, says the LORD, when I will fulfill the promise I made to the house of Israel and the house of Judah. 15 In those days and at that time I will cause a righteous Branch to spring up for David; and he shall execute justice and righteousness in the land. 16 In those days Judah will be saved and Jerusalem will live in safety. And this is the name by which it will be called: “The LORD is our righteousness.” 17 For thus says the LORD: David shall never lack a man to sit on the throne of the house of Israel [cf. 2 Sam 7:11-14], 18 and the levitical priests shall never lack a man in my presence to offer burnt offerings, to make grain offerings, and to make sacrifices for all time. 19 The word of the LORD came to Jeremiah: 20 Thus says the LORD: If any of you could break my covenant with the day and my covenant with the night, so that day and night would not come at their appointed time, 21 only then could my covenant with my servant David be broken, so that he would not have a son to reign on his throne, and my covenant with my ministers the Levites. 22 Just as the host of heaven cannot be numbered and the sands of the sea cannot be measured [cf. Gen 15:5], so I will increase the offspring of my servant David, and the Levites who minister to me. 23 The word of the LORD came to Jeremiah: 24 Have you not observed how these people say, “The two families that the LORD chose have been rejected by him,” and how they hold my people in such contempt that they no longer regard them as a nation? 25 Thus says the LORD: Only if I had not established my covenant with day and night and the ordinances of heaven and earth, 26 would I reject the offspring of Jacob and of my servant David and not choose any of his descendants as rulers over the offspring of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. For I will restore their fortunes, and will have mercy upon them. The large plus 33:14-26 MT (above) expands the teaching in 23:5-6, namely, “The days are surely coming, says the LORD, when I will raise up for David a righteous Branch, and he shall reign as king and deal wisely, and shall execute justice and righteousness in the land. In his days Judah will be saved and Israel will live in safety. And this is the name by which he will be called: ‘The LORD is our righteousness.’” The plus 33:14-26 serves to connect the Davidic hope with the new covenant expectations (chap 31) in the book of consolation. Moreover, the inserted context accents the permanence of Yahweh’s covenant with Israel. The significance of the imagery of the branch in 23:5-6 also may signal the post-exilic perspective of the insert in 33:14-26. “Branch” (zemah) is a messianic title in Zech 3:8; 6:12. Zerubbabel (“branch of Babylon”), one of the post-exilic returning leaders, is noted as a Davidic heir (see Hag 2:20-23; 1 Chron 3:19; Ezra 2:3; 3:2; 5:2; [Isa 11:1 uses a different term for branch]).[1] Copyright © 2010 ScriptureWorkshop.com |