Why must the people set up “road markers” and “guideposts” and “consider well the highway by which you went”?
In the previous poem (Jeremiah 31:18–20), the Lord’s people are referred to as Ephraim and all references were male. The verbs now change in the next poem (Jeremiah 31:21–22) to female and the Lord refers to his people as O virgin Israel
and O faithless daughter.
1 In response to Ephriam’s prayer of repentance the Lord now invites virgin Israel to return to the land.
The Lord’s exiled people are to prepare for their return to the land as they actively respond to the Lord’s promise to bring them home. The road back to the land is the same highway
that took them into exile. Isaiah also speaks of a highway leading the Lord’s people home (Isaiah 35:1–10;Isaiah 40:3–5,Isaiah 40:11;Isaiah 41:18–20;Isaiah 42:16;Isaiah 43:1–7; Isaiah 44:3–4;Isaiah 49:9–13). It is an image of a well-built, secure road that will safely bring Israel back. There is also a play on words. The Hebrew word siyyun, translated as road markers
sounds like Zion
and the word tamrurim, translated as guideposts
sounds like the Hebrew word for bitterness.
The people are about to move from the bitterness of exile back to Zion, the place of blessing and freedom.2 The whole image speaks of repentance and renewed trust in the Lord. They are to leave behind their old ways of wandering from the Lord and follow the secure way back that he has prepared for them.
The final verse (Jeremiah 31:22) of this poem is notoriously difficult to interpret. The first line is clear; the Lord is urging faithless Israel to stop hesitating and to return to him. The second line begins with the word for
which means that the Lord is showing why Israel should return to him without hesitation. But it is not easy to understand what this motivation is. It is clear that the Lord has created a new thing on earth (or in the land).
The motivation to return to the Lord is based on the fact that he will bring into existence something that was not there before. This new thing is described as a woman encircles a man.
The meaning of this final phrase is not clear at all. Several suggestions have been put forward:3
It refers to the virgin birth of Jesus; but the text does not support this interpretation.
It refers to a reversal of Jeremiah 30:6 where the nation’s fighting men are portrayed as weak, vulnerable women in labour. The Lord will transform his people into a strong nation able to withstand their enemies.
A third possibility is that it refers to the Lord reversing the sorrow of Rachel who had been deprived of offspring (Jeremiah 31:15–17). The Lord will open the womb of the nation so that they can grow and multiply in the land.
A fourth, and preferable understanding is that it refers to the Lord’s people embracing him in covenant faithfulness. In the past, the Lord had faithfully embraced his unfaithful people, but he would now create in them a faithfulness to him. He would do a new work in them so that his people have a new devotion to him, the way the covenant had always intended. This interpretation fits well with the new covenant that is spoken of in Jeremiah 31:1–40.
21 “Set up road markers for yourself; make yourself guideposts; consider well the highway, the road by which you went. Return, O virgin Israel, return to these your cities.