Why will the Lord make a new covenant that is not like the old one?

Jeremiah 31:31–34 is not only the central passage of Jeremiah 31:1–40, but it is also the high point of the whole book. It is in fact a key passage in the Old Testament as it represents the deepest insight into the whole of the Old Testament¹. One could also argue that it provides vital insight into the person and work of Christ and the message of the New Testament.

The passage begins with the Lord saying, Behold, the days are coming, declares the Lord, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and the house of Judah. This is the only time in the Old Testament that a new covenant is mentioned. This new covenant will not be like the covenant I made with their fathers on the day when I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt, my covenant that they broke, though I was their husband. In the context of Jeremiah’s book, this passage should be read against the background of Jeremiah 11:1–17. In that passage the word covenant is used for the first time in the book, and the Lord reminds Judah that his relationship with them is based on the covenant that he made with them at Mt Sinai and that they have broken this covenant, just as their forefathers had done. All the many charges Jeremiah lays against the people of Judah, and the northern tribes, throughout the book are evidence of their covenant breaking. All the judgments that have come against the nation over the ages, including the immanent Babylonian invasion, are the consequences of unfaithfulness spelt out in the covenant curses (see Deuteronomy 28:15–68)².

Both the house of Israel and the house of Judah broke the covenant. The Hebrew word used for broke is para, and probably goes beyond just overstepping the terms of the covenant. It speaks of the covenant being rendered null and void by the people’s unfaithfulness³. Jeremiah has often compared covenant unfaithfulness to adultery in marriage. In Jeremiah 3:1, the implication of Judah’s unfaithfulness is that the marriage is essentially over. Moses had interceded for Israel when they broke the covenant at Mt Sinai (Exodus 32:1–33:23) and the Lord renewed the covenant. But, in the context of Judah’s covenant failures, in Jeremiah 11:1–17 the Lord instructs Jeremiah not to intercede for this people because he will not listen to their cry (Jeremiah 11:11b, Jeremiah 11:14)⁴. The covenant is broken; there will be no renewal again. Despite the fact that the Lord had been a faithful husband (Jeremiah 31:32) to his people, they were simply unable to be faithful to him.

It is for this reason that the Lord promises that the days are coming when I will make a new covenant. No precise timetable is given for the new covenant, but the implication is that what is to come has already been set in motion⁵. The Hebrew word translated as make is karatti and literally means cut. The Lord will make this new covenant sometime in the future. Other covenants in the Old Testament are formalized after a period of preparation (for example, Exodus 19:1–24:18), but no date is given for this new covenant, and nothing is said about how the people must prepare for it⁶.