27 Behold, the days come, says Yahweh, that I will sow the house of Israel and the house of Judah with the seed of man, and with the seed of animal.
*Minor differences ignored. Grouped by changes, with first version listed as example.
We see that the Prophet brings forward nothing new, but only animates the Jews with confidence as to their deliverance and their return. He yet employs another similitude, even that God would again sow Judah in the land, that he might produce an increase of men, and also of cattle, and of all kinds of animals. We have said that the land was to be for a time dreary and forsaken. As God then thus condemned as it were the land, that all might regard it as given up to desolation and solitude, the Prophet says that God would cause it to be inhabited again by both men and beasts. But the similitude sets forth still more fully the favor of God. There is to be understood a contrast between a cultivated and a deserted land. It is as though one should say, "They shall sow and reap on mountains, where corn has never been, where a plough has never been seen." Were any one then to promise a sowing and a harvest in a desert land, it would be a new thing, and could hardly be believed. Even so does the Prophet now say, I will sow, etc., as though he said, "The land indeed shall for a time be accursed, so that it will not sustain either men or beasts; but it shall be sown again." I will sow it, he says, with the seed both of, men and of animals: and thus he meets a question, which might have been asked, "How can it be that the land will be again inhabited, since it is now deserted by its inhabitants?" even because God will sow it. In this way then, the Prophet answers the question. But at the same time he exalts the favor of God, as though he had said, that there would be no other remedy for the barrenness of the land, until God should cultivate it himself, and scatter seed on it: which is the same as to say, that the restoration of the land would not be the work of human industry or power, but of the wonderful power of God. [1] It follows, --
1 - I am disposed to render the latter part of this verse according to the Syriac, -- That I will sow, as to the house of Israel and the house of Judah, The seed of man and the seed of beast. I take 't as a preposition, which it often is. -- Ed.
The prophet shows that the happiness of Israel and Judah, united in one prosperous nation, will rest upon the consciousness that their chastisement has been the result of sins which they have themselves committed, and that God's covenant depends not upon external sanctions, but upon a renewed heart.
So rapid shall be the increase that it shall seem as if children and young cattle sprang up out of the ground.
I will sow - with the seed of man and with the seed of beast - I will multiply both men and cattle.
Behold, the days come, saith the LORD, that I will sow the house of Israel and the house of Judah (f) with the seed of man, and with the seed of beast.
(f) I will multiply and enrich them with people and cattle.
Behold, the days come, saith the Lord,.... Or, "are coming" (k); and will be here shortly:
that I will sow the house of Israel, and the house of Judah, with the seed of man, and with the seed of beast; that is, will multiply both man and beast, so that there shall be a great increase; whereas, through war, famine, pestilence, and captivity, their number was greatly reduced. The allusion is to the sowing of a field with seed, which in due time springs up, and produces a large increase. Some understand this of the spiritual blessing of regeneration; but that is not of corruptible seed, such as is here mentioned, but of incorruptible seed, by the word of God: though this may be a type of the fruitfulness of the church in Gospel times; since afterwards an account is given of the new covenant, which should take place in those times.
(k) "venientes", Montanus, Schmidt; "venturi sunt", Junius & Tremellius, Piscator.
The people of God shall become numerous and prosperous. In Hebrews 8:8, Hebrews 8:9, this place is quoted as the sum of the covenant of grace made with believers in Jesus Christ. Not, I will give them a new law; for Christ came not to destroy the law, but to fulfil it; but the law shall be written in their hearts by the finger of the Spirit, as formerly written in the tables of stone. The Lord will, by his grace, make his people willing people in the day of his power. All shall know the Lord; all shall be welcome to the knowledge of God, and shall have the means of that knowledge. There shall be an outpouring of the Holy Spirit, at the time the gospel is published. No man shall finally perish, but for his own sins; none, who is willing to accept of Christ's salvation.
He shows how a land so depopulated shall again be peopled. God will cause both men and beasts in it to increase to a multitude (Ezekiel 36:9-11; Hosea 2:23).
The renovation of Israel and Judah. - Jeremiah 31:27. "Behold, days are coming, saith Jahveh, when I will sow the house of Israel and the house of Judah with seed of men and seed of beasts. Jeremiah 31:28. And it shall be that, just as I have watched over them to pluck up and to break down, to pull down and to destroy and to hurt, so shall I watch over them to build and to plant, saith Jahveh. Jeremiah 31:29. In those days they shall no more say, 'Fathers have eaten sour grapes, and the teeth of the children become blunt;' Jeremiah 31:30. But each man shall die for his own iniquity: every man who eats the sour grapes, his own teeth shall become blunted."
After announcement has been made, in what preceded, that both portions of the covenant people will be led back into their own land and re-established there, both are now combined, since they are again, at the restoration, to be united under one king, the sprout of David (cf. Jeremiah 3:15, Jeremiah 3:18), and to both there is promised great blessing, both temporal and spiritual. The house of Israel and the house of Judah, as separate nations, are represented as a fruitful field, which God will sow with men and cattle. בּהמּה, "cattle," the tame domestic animals, contribute to the prosperity of a nation. That this seed will mightily increase, is evident from the fact that God sows it, and (as is further stated in Jeremiah 31:28) will watch over it as it grows. Whereas, hitherto, He has watched for the purpose of destroying and annihilating the people, because of their apostasy, He will in time to come watch for the purpose of planting and building them up. The prophet has hitherto been engaged in fulfilling, against the faithless people, the first part of the commission given him by the Lord when he was called to his office (Jeremiah 1:10); hereafter, he will be engaged in building up. As certainly as the first has taken place - and of this the people have had practical experience - so certainly shall the other now take place.
I will sow - That is, I will exceedingly multiply them, both with men and with cattle.
*More commentary available at chapter level.