A new covenant

THE NEW COVENANT OF JEREMIAH 31:33

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Dr. Paul Manuel—2003

God states in Jer 31 that He will make a "new covenant" with His people and will write His law on their hearts.¹

Jer 31:31 "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. 32 It will not be like the covenant I made with their forefathers when I took them by the hand to lead them out of Egypt, because they broke my covenant, though I was a husband to them," declares the LORD.

Some interpreters take this feature to be a (even "the") distinguishing innovation of the new covenant. God does indeed say that the new covenant will be unlike the old covenant. But in what way(s) will it be different? To highlight the contrast, He begins with elements common to both.²

Jer 31:33 "This is the covenant I will make with the house of Israel after that time," declares the LORD. "I will put my law in their minds and write it on their hearts. I will be their God, and they will be my people"³

Prominent in this description is Torah, which constitutes the terms of the covenant and distinguishes Israel as God's people.⁴

As generations after Sinai lapsed in their devotion to God, they failed also to transmit Torah and lost access to it, necessitating a review of the law prior to a renewal of the covenant. At two such times of national repentance, people listened to the reading of Torah, expressing astonishment and dismay over what they had missed. The first incident was in the time of Josiah, whose reign followed fifty-seven years of apostasy under Manasseh and Amon.

2 Kgs 22:11 When the king heard the words of the Book of the Law, he tore his robes. 12 He gave these orders to Hilkiah the priest, Ahikam son of Shaphan, Acbor son of Micaiah, Shaphan the secretary and Asaiah the king's attendant: 13 "Go and inquire of the LORD for me and for the people and for all Judah about what is written in this book that has been found. Great is the LORD's anger that burns against us because our fathers have not obeyed the words of this book; they have not acted in accordance with all that is written there concerning us.”

Regaining access to Torah made possible the covenant renewal that followed, which succeeded in delaying (though not eliminating) God's judgment against Judah.⁵

2 Kgs 23:3 The king stood by the pillar and renewed the covenant in the presence of the LORD—to follow the LORD and keep his commands, regulations and decrees with all his heart and all his soul, thus confirming the words of the covenant written in this book. Then all the people pledged themselves to the covenant.

The second incident was in the return from exile. Apparently, during the seventy-year interlude in the divine plan, all but a few lost touch with Torah, until Ezra brought it to their attention.

Neh 8:2 So on the first day of the seventh month Ezra the priest brought the Law before the assembly, which was made up of men and women and all who were able to understand. 3 He read it aloud from daybreak till noon as he faced the square before the Water Gate in the presence of the men, women and others who could understand. And all the people listened attentively to the Book of the Law. 4 Ezra the scribe stood on a high wooden platform built for the occasion. Beside him on his right stood Mattithiah, Shema, Anaiah, Uriah, Hilkiah and Maaseiah; and on his left were Pedaiah, Mishael, Malkijah, Hashum, Hashbaddanah, Zechariah and Meshullam. 5 Ezra opened the book. All the people could see him because he was standing above them; and as he opened it, the people all stood up. 6 Ezra praised the LORD, the great God; and all the people lifted their hands and responded, "Amen! Amen!" Then they bowed down and worshiped the LORD with their faces to the ground. 7 The Levites—Jeshua, Bani, Sherebiah, Jamin, Akkub, Shabbethai, Hodiah, Maaseiah, Kelita, Azariah, Jozabad, Hanan and Pelaiah instructed the people in the Law while the people were standing there. 8 They read from the Book of the Law of God, making it clear and giving the meaning so that the people could understand what was being read. 9 Then Nehemiah the governor, Ezra the priest and scribe, and the Levites who were instructing the people said to them all, "This day is sacred to the LORD your God. Do not mourn or weep." For all the people had been weeping as they listened to the words of the Law.

Again, regaining access to Torah made possible the covenant renewal that followed.

Neh 10:28 "The rest of the people—priests, Levites, gatekeepers, singers, temple servants and all who separated themselves from the neighboring peoples for the sake of the Law of God, together with their wives and all their sons and daughters who are able to understand—29 all these now join their brothers the nobles, and bind themselves with a curse and an oath to follow the Law of God given through Moses the servant of God and to obey carefully all the commands, regulations and decrees of the LORD our Lord."

Sometime before the Messianic Age, Israel will again lose touch with Torah, the terms of the old covenant, and God will have to restore it to prominence.⁶ "The days are coming" when such prominence will make possible yet another covenant renewal.

In Jer 31:33, God says that He will put Torah in people's minds and hearts. Some have understood this to be an innovation of the new covenant, meaning that Israel will have an internal, supernatural motivation to obey that was not present (or available) under the old covenant.⁷ Yet, this too is a concept that appears earlier in Israel's history. Heartfelt obedience to God's commands was what Moses promoted⁸ and what Solomon promised, suggesting that it was possible under the old covenant.

Deut 32:46 ...Take to heart all the words I have solemnly declared to you this day, so that you may command your children to obey carefully all the words of this law.

2 Chr 34:3 1 The king stood by his pillar and renewed the covenant in the presence of the LORD—to follow the LORD and keep his commands, regulations and decrees with all his heart and all his soul, and to obey the words of the covenant written in this book.

Later, through Ezekiel, God explains how such obedience is possible.

Ezek 36:24 For I will take you out of the nations; I will gather you from all the countries and bring you back into your own land. 25 I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you will be clean; I will cleanse you from all your impurities and from all your idols. 26 I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit in you; I will remove from you your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh. 27 And I will put my Spirit in you and move you to follow my decrees and be careful to keep my laws.

Like Jer 31, Ezek 36 treats the future condition of the faithful, presumably under the new covenant. If a heartfelt response to the law was possible for those under the old covenant, then the past condition of the faithful might have been similar. The fuller treatment of this subject in Ezek 36 indicates that having a heartfelt response to the law results not just from an empowering of God's Spirit but from the regenerating of God's Spirit.⁹ If so, then Jer 31 describes people whom God has justified and who are living lives that are sanctified, a state that is not unique to the new covenant.¹⁰

The next verse also contains familiar elements. First, there is the natural outcome of covenant renewal, which is an increased knowledge of God.

Jer 31:34a-b No longer will a man teach his neighbor, or a man his brother, saying, 'Know the LORD,' because they will all know me, from the least of them to the greatest," declares the LORD.

In the days of Josiah and Ezra, renewal followed a recovery of revelation, the primary source of information about God. The ceremony then included a reading of that revelation, enabling all those present to "know the LORD" as they had not previously. Second, there is the promise of pardon, so necessary when people have strayed from God.¹¹

Jer 31:34c "For I will forgive their wickedness and will remember their sins no more."

God's willingness to forgive was a prominent feature in the revelation of His character to Moses.

Exod 34:6 ...the LORD passed by in front of him and proclaimed, "The LORD, the LORD God, compassionate and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in lovingkindness and truth; 7a who keeps lovingkindness for thousands, who forgives iniquity, transgression and sin...

While neither of these elements is new, there is a sense of completion in Jeremiah's description that may indicate the distinctive feature of the new covenant. The inclusiveness of "they will all know me" and the exclusiveness of "I...will remember their sins no more" points to a finality in the plan of God with the advent of the Messianic Age. At that point, He will fulfill His promise to make Israel "a kingdom of priests and a holy nation" (Exod 19:6a).¹²

When God establishes the new covenant with His people, the terms of the agreement will not have changed from the old covenant.¹³ Neither will the distinguishing characteristic be a divinely enhanced capacity to keep those terms, although such an ability will attend the new covenant (as it did the old covenant¹⁴). What is new in the new covenant is infinitely more radical and far-reaching—the full and final restoration of God's people. Ezekiel addresses this issue and offers a similar description to that in Jeremiah, even using some of the same terminology.

Ezek 37:21b I will take the Israelites out of the nations where they have gone. I will gather them from all around and bring them back into their own land. 22 I will make them one nation in the land, on the mountains of Israel. There will be one king over all of them and they will never again be two nations or be divided into two kingdoms. 23 They will no longer defile themselves with their idols and vile images or with any of their offenses, for I will save them from all their sinful backsliding, and I will cleanse them. They will be my people, and I will be their God.... 26 I will make a covenant of peace with them; it will be an everlasting covenant. I will establish them and increase their numbers, and I will put my sanctuary among them forever. 27 My dwelling place will be with them; I will be their God, and they will be my people. 28 Then the nations will know that I the LORD make Israel holy, when my sanctuary is among them forever."

Although Ezekiel focuses on Israel's physical restoration to the land, whereas Jeremiah speaks of Israel's political restoration as a nation, the common element in God's future dealing with His people, including in His establishing the new covenant, is that He will ensure Israel's permanent restoration.

For the Bibliography and Endnotes, see the pdf here.