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What is New in Jeremiah’s New Covenant?
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Although disputed, most scholars
attribute Jeremiah 31:31-34 to the prophet Jeremiah, however some argue the
verses under examination are not his ipsissima
verba.[2] Jeremiah
is one of the most interesting characters in the Old Testament. What makes this
character a unique figure is the fact that he is the only prophet that writes before, during and after
the exile and destruction of the temple in 586 B.C. While it is a historian’s
job to explore the historic Jeremiah, for the objective of this paper and to
further develop its purpose, I will construct a general idea of the Prophet
through the Book of Jeremiah as it contributes to the examination of the verse.
The Book of Jeremiah tells us the following things about Jeremiah: He is a man
of God, he has been anointed, appointed and consecrated, he is called to a
celibate life for the sake of his mission, he has been sent on mission and he
is a man to whom promises have been made.
As a result of these promises and his
ministry, Jeremiah struggles, shows vulnerability and yet resiliency in his
mission.[3]
We learn that Jeremiah is a man that struggles with his calling from the start
and is often ready to resign from the task assigned to him. In the Book of
Jeremiah we also learn that he continually advocates for the people of Judah.
We learn that Jeremiah is a prophet in every sense of the word—a man destined
to suffer for knowing personally the will of Yahweh and Yahweh’s tender love
towards Israel. If we attribute Jeremiah 31:31-34 to this understanding of the Prophet Jeremiah, then the verse under
examination expresses words of pain and hope that are a result of a lived
experience from the prophet. First, this oracle may be a direct message from
Yahweh, but the oracle may speak of Jeremiah’s own personal struggle as well.
The story of Jeremiah tells us that he experiences the pain of Yahweh and
therefore the emphasis to have the Law in the minds and hearts of Israelites could
be Jeremiah’s own desires as a product of his own experience failing to rescue
them from destruction.
It is a difficult
task if not impossible, to date scripture with certainty. Scholars have
different opinions for the date of Jer. 31:31-34. Some think of an early time
in the prophet’s career with a final editing during or briefly after the exile,
while others offer strong foundations that it happened during an early exilic
date shortly after the fall of Jerusalem. Yet another group of scholars date
the verses to the late exilic or even post-exilic period.[4] As
Jeremiah’s words are not recorded chronologically in the book attributed to
him, it is only safe to say that the verse can be place sometime during his
long forty-five year ministry of preaching between 627 BC and 586 BC,
concluding that they are closer to the dates prior to the exile.[5]
Jeremiah follows a
long lineage of prophets that warn the people of Judah of the tragedy that will
fall upon them. Among them we can find Isaiah, Ezekiel, Micah, Zephaniah, Nahum
and Habakkuk.
As the prophets reiterated the upcoming devastation to fall on
Israel, the historical setting provides powerful insights about the nature of
Jeremiah’s ministry and preaching, including the oracle being examined. Prior
to the witnessing of his oracles of destruction, Jeremiah had witnessed the
failed attempt of reformation from King Josiah.[6]
In his oracles Jeremiah denounces idolatry as one of the most serious
grievances against Yahweh. Many believed that the defeat of Josiah was a sign
that other gods were angry since the people were worshiping Yahweh, which
turned the Judahites to the worshiping of idols, for protection of the next
generation.[7]
The ministry of Jeremiah then can be summed up as the destruction of old ways
and the re-construction of new,[8]
and in his effort he would make idolatry the center of his condemnation. And
while King Josiah would fail in his attempt to reform Judah through political
and cultural transformation, Jeremiah would fail in his attempt to provide
warning of worshiping of idols through prophecy.
Much can be said also about the Book of Jeremiah as
literature. For the objective of this paper, I will contemplate where the verse
in found in relation to the book and whether the verse stands alone or in
relation to other literature found in the book in order to provide better
understanding of the verse at hand. The Book of Jeremiah can be divided into
five sections that help organize the large text. First, Jer. 1-25 speaks of
oracles and accounts involving the evil of Judah under three kings: Josiah
(1-6), Jehoiakim (7-20), and Zedekiah (21-24). Second, Jer. 25-36 tells stories
about Jeremiah and oracles from the times of Jehoiakim and Zedekiah, (where we
find the verse under consideration) Third, Jer. 37-45 is where we find the
story of Jeremiah’s last days. Fourth, Jer. 46-51 reveals oracles against
foreign nations, and finally, Jer. 52 outlines an appendix describing the fall
of Jerusalem in 586 BC (taken from 2 Kgs. 25 to complete the story of
Jeremiah’s words).[9]
Also, Jer. 31:31-34 takes the form of a divine revelation to Jeremiah. This
text is completely independent of any other texts within The Book of Jeremiah.
The oracle does not have original connection with the sayings that precede it
and follow it.[10] Thus, the verse must be examined independently
from the chapter and only compared to other oracles of hope within The Book of
Jeremiah for context. Chapters 30-31 (with Ch. 32-33) are frequently referred
to as "The Book of Consolation." Jer. 31:31-34 is found here mainly
because of the hope it portrays after a series of oracles foretelling destruction.
While the oracles of hope are dispersed throughout the Book of Jeremiah, it
provides information on how Jeremiah’s mission and prophecy shifts. Here, the
prophet becomes an agent of hope and no longer a prophet that foretells of destruction.
[11]
In conclusion, Jeremiah is probably speaking shortly before
the exile (perhaps during the first major deportation in 594[12]),
or during the exile, while personally experiencing the doom that has fallen on
the people of Judah. Overall, Jeremiah had failed in his mission as a prophet
trying to have the people of Judah turn to Yahweh. He preached against the
worshipping of foreign idols and gods, against social injustice, and against
the personal immorality of his age.[13] He
was unable to prevent the destruction of Judah and the temple. Finally, this
oracle illustrates how Jeremiah transformed from a prophet of despair to a
prophet of hope.[14]
Now that a general external and
internal context has been provided to the verse, let us approach the issue at
hand. What makes this passage complex and ultimately profound is the notion of new. The term is only mentioned once in
the entire Old Testament.[15]
Hence, this paper raises the question: what is new about this particular covenant? The history of Israel had been
established and defined by covenants. Scholars agree that while the Israelite
history is full of covenants five are very significant: the Noahic Covenant,
the Abrahamic Covenant, the Mosaic or Sinai Covenant, the Davidic Covenant, and
the New Covenant of Jeremiah explored here.
In order to understand what is new
about Jeremiah’s covenant, I will outline a brief explanation of how Israelites
understood covenant-theology at the time. The word berit, often used to refer to a covenant in scripture, is unclear
and scholars debate about several possible meanings including: to shackle, to bond,
or to cut, although most agree that ultimately it came to refer to any form of
binding.[16]
For Jews then, berit meant to be one with the counterpart of the contract. The
analogy of a coin here is helpful. For Israelites, Yahweh’s covenant meant a
union of two sides of a coin, where the coin itself it’s the bonding and either
side reflect the statutes of each party.
It is far more precise to shift from etymology to theology here, in that
the belief of a covenant captured the Jewish faith and religiosity. For the
Jewish mind at the time, covenant referred to their story and Yahweh’s
relationship to them. For Israelites, a covenant alluded to how they were bound
to an unbreakable covenant-union with their God; how God had made known his
love and his mercy to them; how God had given them commandments to guide their
life; how they owed him worship, fidelity and obedience; and how they are
marked by the sign of that covenant-bond.[17]And
so, when Jeremiah begins with v31 and exclaims the coming of a new covenant,
these concepts would have come alive to the Israelites at the time,
particularly as they were experiencing the complete abolishment of the Sinai
covenant in the renouncement of the Promised Land where they had prospered for
so long.
Israelites had been exposed to
covenants in the Torah and embedded in their faith-experience years before
Jeremiah. How is this covenant new? In
order to answer this question, it is necessary to dissect the statues of the
covenant and examined them independently. In v33 the first condition of the
covenant reads: “I will put my law within them, and I will write it upon their
hearts”; followed by the next statute continuing in v33, “…and I will be their
God, and they shall be my people.” In v34, the next decree reads, “And no
longer shall each man teach his neighbor and each his brother, saying, ‘Know
the Lord,’ for they shall all know me, from the least of them to the greatest”
to the last statue also found in v34, “I
will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sins no more.’[18]
But of all the statutes in Jer.
31:31-34, only one may have been new to the Israelites at the time. The notion
of apprehension or engraving the Law in the heart mentioned v33 is already stated
in Deut. 6:67, Psalms 37:31, and in Ezekiel 36:26-27.[19] The
statue proclaiming Yahweh becoming Israel’s God, and Israel becoming His people
in v33 is a parallel to previous covenants. This statute goes back to Abraham
in the first covenant in Gen. 17:7 and is also echoed throughout the whole
Exodus in the Sinai Covenant.[20]
The notion of forgiveness of sins in v34 is also not new. Sometimes appropriated
by Christians, the promise has roots in Ex. 34:6, 7 and Ps. 103:8-12 and so
this notion of the covenant is also not new.[21]
However, the first promise in v34 referring to the knowing of the Lord is in
fact new to the Israelite. In this new covenant,
it is not the content of the covenant which will be different, but how it is learned. [22]
The nuance of the covenant proclaims
a prophetic imagining of a post-exilic community where knowledge of God
(through the internalized Torah) is shared by all without any intermediary
teaching authority.[23]
Jeremiah uses the faculty of a prophet to visualize a community of equals in
the understanding, comprehension and discernment of God. Jer. 31:31-34
proclaims a new covenant in that it
challenges the pre-established social and religious order in the accessibility
of knowing Yahweh, which was a radical thought for Judaism at the time. In this
oracle, Jeremiah is calling for a personal relationship with Yahweh that
excludes religious authority. In To
Build, To Plant, Brueggemann suggests that these verses imply that “there
will be common, shared access to this knowledge of God—which evidences
fundamental egalitarianism in the community; on the crucial matter of
connection to God, the least and the greatest stand on equal footing. No one
has superior, elitist access, and no one lacks what is required.”[24]
The notion of the knowing of God without intercessor is supported by the Pirke Aboth. In Ch. 3:3 it states,
"But when two sit and there are between them words of Torah, the Shechinah rests between them, as it is
said: 'Then they that feared the Lord spoke one with another....'" (3:3).[25]
The verses are product of a time when Jeremiah
had seen the fail attempts of Josiah and the ones before him to try to impose
the Law on the people. Jeremiah had lost hope for an institutionalized and
top-bottom religion and passing down of tradition: prophets, priests, kings and
courtiers had failed to use the responsibility they had been given.[26]
They had failed to teach the Torah and now Jeremiah envisions a community with
no need of these religious roles in order for Israelites to know Yahweh.
Thus, in Jewish theology, this new
covenant is much more a reiterated covenant. This prophetic oracle stands out
not only for its nuance but its relevance of hope and its radical claim
challenging religious authority. Jeremiah had undergone three failed kingdoms
in Judah that tried to impose the Law of Yahweh. He had seen Yahweh use the
Babylonians as a tool to chastise Israel. Now, he is proclaiming words of hope
by asserting that this knowing will
not require priests, kings, or prophets. In other words, the new covenant is new in that it embodies or
internalizes the Torah in lived experience. Jeremiah exclaims that no longer
will it be necessary for the religious authorities to teach it, because the
Israelites will know what it means to
hope in Yahweh. This knowing will be in the minds and in the hearts of the
Israelites: it will be in their personal exilic experience. This exilic
experience did not discriminate, but came down on all Israelites despite their
rank or social status. Consequently, Jeremiah’s clause on how the least to the greatest will know Yahweh is an equalizer that levels the playing field. As all
Israelites are equal in the knowledge of Yahweh, religious authorities are no
longer necessary. Thus, the newness of the covenant entails how of learning will be acquired,
through experience, and not on what will
be acquired, that is the content.
How is the new covenant relevant
today? What does it teach us in its original interpretation? The prophet
Jeremiah moved from a moment of grief and affliction to words of hope. He
writes them not because the Israelites needed to hear those words (and they needed
to), but instead because Yahweh reminds his people that he remains faithful to
his promise. For the Israelites, this is not a new covenant but a reiteration of the Sinai covenant with
one nuance. Jeremiah’s new covenant speaks to us in the same way that all
covenants in the Old Testament do, through the providential care from Yahweh
despite our unfaithfulness. As echoed throughout the Old Testament, Yahweh’s
promise remains true despite the poor efforts of Israelites to honor their part
of the covenant. However, Jeremiah’s New Covenant also brings about a new
understanding. Jer. 31-31-34 teaches the challenge of authority in that it
makes it possible for everyone to know Yahweh. Jeremiah’s covenant shows us
that painful experiences teach better than religious dogma. The destruction of
the temple and exile in 586 BC was the most painful experience of the people of
Israel and this event would affect all Jews alike—equally, from the least of
them to the greatest. In his oracle, Jeremiah claims that pain and suffering do
not discriminate but plague everyone. These experiences of pain and suffering,
however, can be a tremendous opportunity to know Yahweh and to tattoo his love
on our hearts and remember it in our minds according to the prophet. Jeremiah
teaches us that this type of knowing is not external, it is not dogmatic, it is
not intellectual and it is not a product of determination; rather this type of
knowing comes from painful experience. From a covenant perspective, Jeremiah
speaks of this source of bonding as one that goes beyond the Torah and the Law
itself. By rejecting religious authority, Jeremiah’s oracle envisions a
covenant that is deeply personal. He rejects institutionalized dogma and social
religious identity to emphasize an individualized relationship with Yahweh. The
covenant is new in this sense: Yahweh reveals who He is to us in our most
personal and painful experiences. The covenant explains that these painful
experiences are an equalizer to know Yahweh in that no one escapes suffering. And
while we all face suffering, our experiences of them are deeply personal and
offer us opportunities to immerse ourselves in the providential love of covenantal
partnership with Yahweh. This knowing is eternal, forever in our minds and
hearts.
[1] Bright, John. Exercise in Hermeneutics: Jeremiah 31:31-34
[2] Potter,
Harry D. The
New Covenant in Jeremiah 31:31-34
[3] Brueggemann,
Walter. The
Book of Jeremiah: Portrait of the Prophet.
[4] Becking, Bob. Text-internal
and text-external chronology in Jeremiah 31:31-34
[5] Boadt,
Lawrence. Reading the Old Testament: An
Introduction
[6] Boadt,
Lawrence. Reading the Old Testament: An
Introduction
[7] Gnuse,
Robert K. Phd., Thibeaux, Evelyn PhD., Ryan, Thomas F. The Jewish Roots of Christian Faith. Online
[8] Brueggemann, Walter. The Book of Jeremiah: Portrait of the
Prophet.
[9] Boadt,
Lawrence. Reading the Old Testament: An
Introduction
[10] Bright,
John. Exercise
in Hermeneutics: Jeremiah 31:31-34
[11] Gnuse,
Robert K. Phd., Thibeaux, Evelyn PhD., Ryan, Thomas F. The Jewish Roots of Christian Faith. Online
[12] Boadt,
Lawrence. Reading the Old Testament: An
Introduction
[13]Gnuse, Robert K. Phd.,
Thibeaux, Evelyn PhD., Ryan, Thomas F. The
Jewish Roots of Christian Faith. Online
[14] Gnuse,
Robert K. Phd., Thibeaux, Evelyn PhD., Ryan, Thomas F. The Jewish Roots of Christian Faith. Online
[15] Potter, Harry D. The New Covenant in Jeremiah 31:31-34
[16] Boadt,
Lawrence. Reading the Old Testament: An
Introduction
[17] Boadt,
Lawrence. Reading the Old Testament: An Introduction
[18] Didache Bible
[19] Wallis,
Wilber B. Irony
in Jeremiah’s Prophecy of a New Covenant.
[20] Wallis,
Wilber B. Irony
in Jeremiah’s Prophecy of a New Covenant.
[21] Wallis,
Wilber B. Irony
in Jeremiah’s Prophecy of a New Covenant.
[22] Jewish Study
Bible. Tanakh Translation.
[23] Rhymer, David.
Jeremiah 31:31-34
[24] Brueggemann, Walter. The Book of Jeremiah: Portrait of the
Prophet.
[25] Pirke Aboth (Avot) Sayings
of the Jewish Fathers
[26] Potter, Harry D. The New Covenant in Jeremiah 31:31-34
