"How long will you go about, O you backsliding daughter? for the Lord has created a new thing in the earth. "A woman shall/will compass/surround a man." Jeremiah 31
Many Bible scholars and theologians are confused as to what God is speaking here that" a woman will compass or surround a man." So what say you on this passage?
Jeremiah 31:22, 31: "A woman will surround a man." The NIV has this footnote "Or will go about seeking or will protect." In Jeremiah 31:1-30 God is talking about what will happen when Israel comes back from captivity in Babylon {Jer 31:23} Then in Jeremiah 31:31 we read : "The time is coming," declares the Lord, "When I will make a New Covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah. It will not be like the Covenant I made with their forefathers."
What is the New Covenant??
Hebrews 8:6-8,13: But the ministry Jesus has received is as superior to theirs as the Covenant of which he is a Mediator is SUPERIOR to the old one, and it is founded on better promises. For if there had been nothing wrong with the first covenant, no place would have been sought for another. But God found fault with the people and said, "The time is coming declares the Lord, when I will make a NEW COVENANT with the house of Israel...By calling this Covenant "NEW," He has made the first one OBSOLETE; and what is obsolete and aging will soon disappear.
Hebrews 9:15,26b-28: Christ is the mediator of a NEW COVENANT so that those who are called may receive the promised eternal inheritance--now that He has died as a ransom to set them free from the sins committed under the first covenant...But now He has APPEARED once for all at the end of the ages to do away with sin by the SACRIFICE of Himself... so Christ was SACRIFICED ONCE to take away the sins of many people, and He will *APPEAR* a second time, not to bear sin, but to bring salvation to those who are waiting for Him when Jesus will bring in Everlasting Righteousness on the Last Day of the Last 7.
Hebrew 10:8-10: Jesus said, "Sacrifices and offerings, burnt offerings and sin offerings you did not desire, nor were you pleased with them"Although the law required them to be made. The He {Jesus} said. "Here I am, I have come to do your will." He {Jesus} set aside the first {Covenant} to establish the second. And by that will, we have been made holy through the sacrifice of the body of Jesus ONCE FOR ALL!!
Isaiah 53:5,6: "But He was pierced for our:rolleyes: transgressions, He was crushed for our:rolleyes: iniquities; the punishment that brought us:rolleyes: peace was upon Him, and by His wounds we are healed. We all like sheep have gone astray, each of us turned to his own way; and the Lord has laid on Him the iniquity of us all!!"
In the old covenant God's commandments were only preached to Jews but in the New Covenant Jesus commands us to preach to every nation in the world teaching them to obey *EVERYTHING* He commanded and everything would also include all of the approximately 400 NT commandments also taught in Acts to Revelation {See 2 Timothy 3-16 to 4:2.}
There were 613 OT commandments and Jesus changed many of them including all of the strict Sabbath commands and all of the commands to stone someone for sinning {Jesus says that he who is without sin should cast the first stone} Jesus also eliminated all the strict Levitical dietary laws declaring that all foods are now clean. And Jesus also commanded us not to make any vows or oaths {Matt 5:33-37}on anything Just let your Yes be yes and your no no.
Jesus also eliminated the eye for an eye laws and commanded us to always offer up the other cheek and to love {See Matt 5:38-48} our enemies and of course Jesus eliminated all sacrifices and offerings for sin by the sacrifice of Himself. Jesus also eliminated the earthly rewards for faithful service and commanded us to sell our possessions and give to the poor and get treasures in heaven and THEN to come follow Him.
But one of the biggest changes was an addition to the OT Law love your neighbor as you love yourself which was replaced by
John 15:9-14:
Jesus says, "As the Father has loved Me , so I have loved you. Now remain in MY LOVE. **IF** you obey My commands, you will remain in MY LOVE...My command is this: **LOVE** each other AS I HAVE LOVED YOU!!! Greater love has no one than this, that he lay down his live for his friends."
All of the approximately 400 NT commands differ from the OT Covenant in that they must all be kept *IN LOVE* just as Jesus loved us!!
John 14:23,24: Jesus says, "If anyone loves Me, He will obey my teaching. My Father will love him, and We will come to him and make Our home with Him. He who does not love Me will not obey My teaching." {See I John 2:3-5}
The New Covenant also promises countless unseen eternal heavenly rewards for faithful and loving service.*****
Ephesians 2:8,9: "For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith--and this is not from yourselves, it is the **GIFT** of God--not by works, so that no one can boast. For we are God's workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do!"
Hebrews 11:1,6: Now faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see{Satan says you can have your pie now and God says you can have your UNSEEN pie in the sky by and by!}....And without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to God must believe that He exists and that He **REWARDS** those who earnestly seek Him."
Ephesians 6:7,8: "Serve wholeheartedly...because you know that the Lord will *REWARD* everyone for whatever good he does!"
2 John 1:8: "Watch out that you do not lose what you have worked for, but that you may be *REWARDED* fully!"
I Corinthians 3:6-9: Paul said, "I planted the seed, Apollos watered it, but God made it grow. So neither he who plants nor he who waters is anything, but only God makes things grow. The man who plants and the man who waters have one purpose, and each will be *REWARDED* according to his own labor. For we are God's fellow workers!"
Daniel 12:3: "Those who impart wisdom will shine like the brightness of the heavens, and those who lead many to righteousness, like the stars for ever and ever!"
Matthew 5:11,12: Jesus says, "Blessed are you when people insult you, persecute you and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of Me. Rejoice and be glad, because great is your *REWARD* in heaven!" {See Luke 6:35}
Revelation 22:12: Jesus says, "Behold, I am coming soon! My *REWARD* is with Me, and I will give to everyone according to what he has done!"
2 Corinthians 5:9,10: "So we make it our goal to please Him..For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, that each one may receive what is due him for the things done while in the body, whether good or bad!"
Matthew 16:27: Jesus says, For the Son of Man is going to come in His **FATHER'S GLORY WITH HIS ANGELS:angel::angel::angel:**{See Matt 24:30-31;25:31-40 & 2 Thess 1:6-10}, and **THEN**{NOT NOW} He will *REWARD* each person according to what he has done.":applause:
Ella: Ok, Richard, let's fucus here. My question is what to you think God means when He says, "A woman shall/will compass/surround a man."
Richard said: Jeremiah 31:22, 31: "A woman will surround a man." The NIV has this footnote "Or will go about seeking or will protect."
Ella: Sso lets discuss what you have posted, because you still have not given any detail information as to what you think this means. And what do you mean by to "go about seeking to protect" ... seeking to protect who and what?" Explain what you mean by this.
All those scripture passges you posted as pretaining to this prophecy by Jeremiah, A woman shall compass a men, I don't see how they relate to this statement. Those passages you posted, have nothing to do with this passage He speaks about, He speaks about the restoration of Judah, and then the New covenant in those passages you posted.
But this A woman shall compass a man, so how does this passage relate or fit in with all those other passages you posted?
The point is that the command that a woman shall encompass a man whatever that means is really not that important since the old covenant is obsolete and we are now under the New Covenant with new commands such as:
Ephesians 4:22-24: "Wives, submit to your husbands as to the Lord. For the husband is the head of the wife as Christ is the head of the church, His body, of which He is the Savior. Now as the church submits to Christ, so also wives should submit to their husbands in everything."
1 Timothy 2:11,12: A woman should learn in quietness and full submission. I do not permit a woman to teach or to have authority over a man; she must be silent."
I Corinthians 33-35: "As in **ALL** the congregations of the saints, women should remain silent in the churches. They are not allowed to speak, but must be in submission as the Law says. If they want to inquire about something, they should ask their own husbands at home; for it is disgraceful for a woman to speak in the church."
So would you say that a woman who preaches to men in the church is contradicting the inspired Words of God in the New Covenant??
However according to Acts it is OK for a woman to teach a man in her home as per Acts 18:26: When Priscilla and Aquila heard HIM, they invited him to their home and explained to him the way of God more adequately."
Richard said: The point is that the command that a woman shall encompass a man whatever that means is really not that important since the old covenant is obsolete and we are now under the New Covenant with new commands such as: Ephesians 4:22-24: "Wives, submit to your husbands as to the Lord. For the husband is the head of the wife as Christ is the head of the church, His body, of which He is the Savior. Now as the church submits to Christ, so also wives should submit to their husbands in everything."
Ella said: Richard, again, the focus is on what God said in Jeremiah's prophecy. Therefore, anything that God says in His word is of importance. And this has nothing to do with a wife submitting to her OWN husband, the sentence says, A woman shall compass/surround a man. And since when does is the Old Testament not important to understanding the New Testament. Where in scripture does it tell us that the Old Testamen is obsolete? Please provide scripture to support your comment.You cannot understand the new unless you understand the old...becasue the new was prophsied in the old, and the standards are of the old..
Once again,you have provided scipture passages which have not one thing to do with this prophecy, A woman shall compass/surround a man. So why are you including these other passages about wife submitting to her OWN husband, and women preachers?. Plus, you provide scriptures but you don't explain what the passages mean, so how is one to understand with knoweldge what is being said.
Also, understanding the context inwhich Paul is writing is important about women preaching in the church or anywher for that matter, and why he said what he said. And if women were allowed to pray in the church and prophysy in the church, then to say women are to keep silent in the church doesn't make much sense does it?
And since you have brought up these passages about women preaching in the church, but you have been unable to relate them to this prophecy by Jeremiah in 31:22, don;t forget these are God's words not according to what Paul says, but according to what God declares that "A woman shall compass a man" and God overrules everything Paul and every man has to say.
Paul said "he" did not allow women to teach or preach, all of this is related to what the women were doing in the churches at Corinthian and Ephesius causing disorder in the church. Paul does not say God said it, just as other places he makes a distinction and says I, or he will say the Lord, not I, but he says I do not allow, these are Paul's words as to what he did not allow becasue the women were tring to take over the services talking out in the church during service asing questions, cause a disturbance.
Now as far as women preachers go, the very first words from the mouth of Jesus Christ Himself, the risen Savior before He had said a word to anyone including His apostles, were spoken to a woman, to be carried to the apostles. And she carried the Words of God to the men of God , before the men even knew Jesus was alive. Words given to her about the risen Savior to the men because they failed to do as Jesus had asked of them to do, meet HIm at the tomb at sunrise. So never forget it was a woman who carried the first words of God to the men and they still did not believe and sat in doubt.
This is what an old 80 year old country preacher, no high school education, and only reads the Bible, trained by God in the word of God, very wise and ha much spiiritual insight into the word. He told me today about this passage, and it makes more sense than anything you've said and anything what other scholars or theologian have written about the prophecy.
A woman shall/will compass a man... this old pewacher said to him this means a word of warning to men who have allowed their egos and pride to boster them a little too high, in thinking they are more important to God than they really are. And they think that God is not watching them in all things as concerning His appointed and ordained position of leadership given to the man as head of the household and His church, which men have fallen abck and are not taking care of...
He says this prophecy simpley means that becasue men are fearful and lazy and are not taking their leadership positions serious, and many have fallen by the way side into all kinds of sexual sins with men and women in the church, drugs and acohol and they are not leading the flock as they should, and they are teaching all kinds of strange gospels, and because men have completely destroyed the family, and taken the things of God lightly. God is going to allow the women to take over during a period near the time of Christ's return, to teach men a lesson and let them see that He is not pleased with them, and this will bring men to repentance of their sins and back to God..
This old country preacher said, that a majority of men are doing just as Adam, sitting back and allowing women to take charge of the household, and are getting divorced going from woman to woman and some have changed God's order and are going from men to man all kinds of corruption in God's house. And men are allowing women take over the church, and the home and God is allowing this to happen. He said that women are more concerned about the things of God and God''s people, and the family than the men. And men have waxed cold and complacent when it comes to worship and ministering the word of God in truth, and Bible study and going to church.
He said there is not a church anywhere, that women are not in charge, even if the church has more men than women, you will find women in charge, and every time the church doors open, it is the women who are attending church, or taking care of the church business, and in Bible study or prayer meeting. And if it were not for women, the church doors would be closed, and no money would be given,no work with the porr if it were not for women, because women are the ones carrying the church while men sit back looking on, and are out of place.
He said this is not how God planned things to be, and men are more worried about what please themselves with their cars and football games and other sports, than studying Gods word, or what pleases God, and women are going on studying and learning the things of God more than men. Men will not like it and some will not care, just are they are today they don't care if women take over, but God is going to allow the woman who is suppose to be under the authority of men, to take over and surroundor surpass the men, and the women are going to be the ones to be over men in the last days for a period, because the women have proven to be more faithful and trustworthy in the things of God than men. And God does not like this.
And women are going to be the ones to bring the men back to God spiritually, becasue the men will grow jealous and things will get hard for the men. But they will come to their sense and get themselves together, before the end of this period and the time before Christ's return. He said some really good words, but it would be too long to post everything.
But this makes more senes to me than what you are saying and what other theologians have written about this word of prophecy, becasue what this old preacher said is so very true, most men refuse to accecpt the truth that women are already surpassing them in many things in caring for the houshold, on jobs, and others things, and in the word of God and in the church. And this is most likely what God is saying..." A woman shall/will compas a man."
Where does it say that the old Covenant is OBSOLETE??
Jeremiah 31:22, 31: "A woman will surround a man." The NIV has this footnote "Or will go about seeking or will protect." In Jeremiah 31:1-30 God is talking about what will happen when Israel comes back from captivity in Babylon {Jer 31:23} Then in Jeremiah 31:31 we read : "The time is coming," declares the Lord, "When I will make a New Covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah. It will not be like the Covenant I made with their forefathers."
What is the New Covenant??
Hebrews 8:6-8,13: But the ministry Jesus has received is as superior to theirs as the Covenant of which he is a Mediator is SUPERIOR to the old one, and it is founded on better promises. For if there had been nothing wrong with the first covenant, no place would have been sought for another. But God found fault with the people and said, "The time is coming declares the Lord, when I will make a NEW COVENANT with the house of Israel...By calling this Covenant "NEW," He has made the first one OBSOLETE; and what is obsolete and aging will soon disappear.
The point is that the quote in Jer 31:22 that a woman shall surround a man with a NIV footnote "Or will go about seeking, or will protect" after Israel returns from the Babylonian captivity is really not that important since the old covenant is OBSOLETE and we are now under the New Covenant with new commands such as:
Ephesians 4:22-24: "Wives, submit to your husbands as to the Lord. For the husband is the head of the wife as Christ is the head of the church, His body, of which He is the Savior. Now as the church submits to Christ, so also wives should submit to their husbands in everything."
1 Timothy 2:11,12: A woman should learn in quietness and full submission. I do not permit a woman to teach or to have authority over a man; she must be silent."
I Corinthians 33-35: "As in **ALL** the congregations of the saints, women should remain silent in the churches. They are not allowed to speak, but must be in submission as the Law says. If they want to inquire about something, they should ask their own husbands at home; for it is disgraceful for a woman to speak in the church."
However according to God's Word it is OK for a woman to teach a man in her home as per Acts 18:26: When Priscilla and Aquila heard HIM, they invited him to their home and explained to him the way of God more adequately."
ET has stated:
this prophecy simpley means that becasue men are fearful and lazy and are not taking their leadership positions serious, and many have fallen by the way side into all kinds of sexual sins with men and women in the church, drugs and acohol and they are not leading the flock as they should, and they are teaching all kinds of strange gospels, and because men have completely destroyed the family, and taken the things of God lightly. God is going to allow the women to take over during a period near the time of Christ's return, to teach men a lesson and let them see that He is not pleased with them, and this will bring men to repentance of their sins and back to God..
This old country preacher said, that a majority of men are doing just as Adam, sitting back and allowing women to take charge of the household, and are getting divorced going from woman to woman and some have changed God's order and are going from men to man all kinds of corruption in God's house. And men are allowing women take over the church, and the home and God is allowing this to happen. He said that women are more concerned about the things of God and God''s people, and the family than the men. And men have waxed cold and complacent when it comes to worship and ministering the word of God in truth, and Bible study and going to church.
He said there is not a church anywhere, that women are not in charge, even if the church has more men than women, you will find women in charge, and every time the church doors open, it is the women who are attending church, or taking care of the church business, and in Bible study or prayer meeting. And if it were not for women, the church doors would be closed, and no money would be given,no work with the porr if it were not for women, because women are the ones carrying the church while men sit back looking on, and are out of place.
He said this is not how God planned things to be, and men are more worried about what please themselves with their cars and football games and other sports, than studying Gods word, or what pleases God, and women are going on studying and learning the things of God more than men. Men will not like it and some will not care, just are they are today they don't care if women take over, but God is going to allow the woman who is suppose to be under the authority of men, to take over and surroundor surpass the men, and the women are going to be the ones to be over men in the last days for a period, because the women have proven to be more faithful and trustworthy in the things of God than men.
This prophecy simply means that becasue men are fearful and lazy and are not taking their leadership positions serious, and many have fallen by the way side into all kinds of sexual sins with men and women in the church, drugs and acohol and they are not leading the flock as they should, and they are teaching all kinds of strange gospels, and because men have completely destroyed the family, and taken the things of God lightly. God is going to allow the women to take over during a period near the time of Christ's return, to teach men a lesson and let them see that He is not pleased with them, and this will bring men to repentance of their sins and back to God..
This old country preacher said, that a majority of men are doing just as Adam, sitting back and allowing women to take charge of the household, and are getting divorced going from woman to woman and some have changed God's order and are going from men to man all kinds of corruption in God's house. And men are allowing women take over the church, and the home and God is allowing this to happen. He said that women are more concerned about the things of God and God''s people, and the family than the men. And men have waxed cold and complacent when it comes to worship and ministering the word of God in truth, and Bible study and going to church.
He said there is not a church anywhere, that women are not in charge, even if the church has more men than women, you will find women in charge, and every time the church doors open, it is the women who are attending church, or taking care of the church business, and in Bible study or prayer meeting. And if it were not for women, the church doors would be closed, and no money would be given,no work with the porr if it were not for women, because women are the ones carrying the church while men sit back looking on, and are out of place.
He said this is not how God planned things to be, and men are more worried about what please themselves with their cars and football games and other sports, than studying Gods word, or what pleases God, and women are going on studying and learning the things of God more than men. Men will not like it and some will not care, just are they are today they don't care if women take over, but God is going to allow the woman who is suppose to be under the authority of men, to take over and surroundor surpass the men, and the women are going to be the ones to be over men in the last days for a period, because the women have proven to be more faithful and trustworthy in the things of God than men.
Than you ET for your unbiased and perfect appraisal of all the men in the present church. An Thank you for your brilliant quote:
"And since you have brought up these passages about women preaching in the church, but you have been unable to relate them to this prophecy by Jeremiah in 31:22, don't forget these are God's words not according to what Paul says, but according to what God declares that "A woman shall compass a man" and God overrules everything Paul and every man has to say."{???????}
Where does it say that the old Covenant is OBSOLETE??
Jeremiah 31:22, 31: "A woman will surround a man." The NIV has this footnote "Or will go about seeking or will protect." In Jeremiah 31:1-30 God is talking about what will happen when Israel comes back from captivity in Babylon {Jer 31:23} Then in Jeremiah 31:31 we read : "The time is coming," declares the Lord, "When I will make a New Covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah. It will not be like the Covenant I made with their forefathers."
What is the New Covenant??
Hebrews 8:6-8,13: But the ministry Jesus has received is as superior to theirs as the Covenant of which he is a Mediator is SUPERIOR to the old one, and it is founded on better promises. For if there had been nothing wrong with the first covenant, no place would have been sought for another. But God found fault with the people and said, "The time is coming declares the Lord, when I will make a NEW COVENANT with the house of Israel...By calling this Covenant "NEW," He has made the first one OBSOLETE; and what is obsolete and aging will soon disappear.
The point is that the quote in Jer 31:22 that a woman shall surround a man with a NIV footnote "Or will go about seeking, or will protect" after Israel returns from the Babylonian captivity is really not that important since the old covenant is OBSOLETE and we are now under the New Covenant with new commands such as:
Ephesians 4:22-24: "Wives, submit to your husbands as to the Lord. For the husband is the head of the wife as Christ is the head of the church, His body, of which He is the Savior. Now as the church submits to Christ, so also wives should submit to their husbands in everything."
1 Timothy 2:11,12: A woman should learn in quietness and full submission. I do not permit a woman to teach or to have authority over a man; she must be silent."
I Corinthians 33-35: "As in **ALL** the congregations of the saints, women should remain silent in the churches. They are not allowed to speak, but must be in submission as the Law says. If they want to inquire about something, they should ask their own husbands at home; for it is disgraceful for a woman to speak in the church."
However according to God's Word it is OK for a woman to teach a man in her home as per Acts 18:26: When Priscilla and Aquila heard HIM, they invited him to their home and explained to him the way of God more adequately."
ET has stated that:
Where does it say that the old Covenant is OBSOLETE??
Jeremiah 31:22, 31: "A woman will surround a man." The NIV has this footnote "Or will go about seeking or will protect." In Jeremiah 31:1-30 God is talking about what will happen when Israel comes back from captivity in Babylon {Jer 31:23} Then in Jeremiah 31:31 we read : "The time is coming," declares the Lord, "When I will make a New Covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah. It will not be like the Covenant I made with their forefathers."
What is the New Covenant??
Hebrews 8:6-8,13: But the ministry Jesus has received is as superior to theirs as the Covenant of which he is a Mediator is SUPERIOR to the old one, and it is founded on better promises. For if there had been nothing wrong with the first covenant, no place would have been sought for another. But God found fault with the people and said, "The time is coming declares the Lord, when I will make a NEW COVENANT with the house of Israel...By calling this Covenant "NEW," He has made the first one OBSOLETE; and what is obsolete and aging will soon disappear.
The point is that the quote in Jer 31:22 that a woman shall surround a man with a NIV footnote "Or will go about seeking, or will protect" after Israel returns from the Babylonian captivity is really not that important since the old covenant is OBSOLETE and we are now under the New Covenant with new commands such as:
Ephesians 4:22-24: "Wives, submit to your husbands as to the Lord. For the husband is the head of the wife as Christ is the head of the church, His body, of which He is the Savior. Now as the church submits to Christ, so also wives should submit to their husbands in everything."
1 Timothy 2:11,12: A woman should learn in quietness and full submission. I do not permit a woman to teach or to have authority over a man; she must be silent."
I Corinthians 33-35: "As in **ALL** the congregations of the saints, women should remain silent in the churches. They are not allowed to speak, but must be in submission as the Law says. If they want to inquire about something, they should ask their own husbands at home; for it is disgraceful for a woman to speak in the church."
However according to God's Word it is OK for a woman to teach a man in her home as per Acts 18:26: When Priscilla and Aquila heard HIM, they invited him to their home and explained to him the way of God more adequately."
And then ET made this brilliant comment:
"And since you have brought up these passages about women preaching in the church, but you have been unable to relate them to this prophecy by Jeremiah in 31:22, don't forget these are God's words not according to what Paul says, but according to what God declares that "A woman shall compass a man" and God overrules everything Paul and every man has to say."{???????}
Jeremiah 31 is speaking of Israel, her backslidden state, and her future restoration and reconciliation to God. "How long wilt thou go about, O thou backsliding daughter?" The backsliding daughter is Israel. How one can come to the conclusion that the second part of this verse, "for the LORD hath created a new thing in the earth, A woman shall compass a man", as saying women will take over the role of men because they are lazy, complacent or whatever, is poor exegesis and has nothing to do with the context of this chapter or what Jeremiah is saying, unless one wishes to flatter themselves into thinking God has given them authority "to be over men in the last days for a period, because the women have proven to be more faithful and trustworthy in the things of God than men." What those thoughts have to do with Israel is beyond me and beyond what Jeremiah is speaking. There are a couple of thoughts on the meaning of "a woman shall compass a man", none of them having to do with women taking over the role of men.
OK, some say this is not what this prophecy is speaking about as in relationship to men and women, but no one still can't explain what it does means A woman will compass or cycle or surround a man.
So I went in search of some commentaries on this passage, and this is one that is rather interesting that I found from Ancient Hebrew Poetry, which speaks about the role reversal of men and women in Jeremiah's prophecy. And this is rather close to what the old preacher man is talking about in his interpretation of this prophecy as I understand it.
Hear in part what this authorof this piece says, "How long will you turn one way and then the other, o wayward daughter? For the Lord has fashioned a new thing on earth: the woman will press the man." Jer 31:22
The verbs associated with the daughter / woman in this verse are all about movement and direction of movement. If this is not carried over in translation � and most translations fail to do so � it is easy to miss the point of what God is saying according to Jeremiah. According to the first half of this verse, the story of Jeremiah�s generation and its relationship with God is one of waywardness. Like a headstrong teenage daughter � I have one, I know � Israel runs hot one day and cold the next vis-�-vis its God. The second half of the verse transforms the �how long� of the first half into a promise that the waywardness will come to end. It is anticipated that the Lord has brought about a new situation in which � the metaphor is changed somewhat � the woman will press the man. The woman will encircle and surround.
The verb used is a strong one and can also be used in a negative sense, as when the waters �press round� Jonah and nearly suffocate him (Jonah 2:4, 6). To reuse an image that was applied to another generation, it is as if God wanted to encompass his children, the way a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, and they were unwilling. But God fashions a new thing on the earth. The woman will press the man. The wayward one who went one way and then the next will circle round and encompass the one who for so long circled round and encompassed her. The text refers to this as a �new thing on the earth.� A role reversal is described. The cultural template that will be reversed is the one that expects, in courtship, that the cockpresses the hen.
To this day in many cultures, in courtship, it is expected that the male take the initiative and the female be coy and play hard-to-get. The cultural template, of course, may remain so even if it hardly corresponds to reality. It is interesting that in the Song of Songs, the courtship proceeds with the girl, not the boy, taking the lead. And this, too, in traditional exegesis, is a mirror of the relationship of Israel (the girl) and its God (the boy).
So this amazing prophecy of Jeremiah, on a par in every way with other prophecies in the context (note 31:33), imagines a reversal of the usual situation in which God must beg his people for attention, and they do not respond. Now his people will take the initiative. Now they will court him. They will circle round him fixedly, rather than wander hither and thither. In terms of the image employed above, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, the people will gather God under their wings. Jeremiah 31:22 is the basis for the practice of the bride circling the groom seven times at a Jewish wedding. Understood in terms of its biblical subtext, the symbolism is breathtaking.
The bride�s encompassing of the groom is a sign and symbol of the prophecy of Jeremiah being fulfilled in every generation. Like the Shullamite in the Song of Songs, who is the image of Israel, the initiative lies with the bride, not the groom. Her proactive love for her groom becomes the means by which the relationship reaches its intended goal. In light of Jer 31:22 and the traditional interpretation of Song of Songs, it is possible to model marriage after the relationship of God with his people as it is meant to be. Or so it seems to me, and that it is the exegetical tack I will take at the wedding I will do this Saturday.
The bride, I�ve noticed, is already doing what the text of Jeremiah says vis-�-vis her groom with quiet determination. She creates a space for her husband-to-be and their relationship, not the other way around. She might as well know that as she does so, she is sign and symbol of the fulfillment of the prophecy of Jeremiah. She fulfills the prophecy in fact, within the larger set of covenant relationships God ordained for his people.
