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"Procreation still takes place during this era of time because those who survived the tribulation hour enter the Millennium with human bodies. The believers upon the thrones possess resurrected bodies and do not bear children, but the others do."
-- Jack Van Impe
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Exclusive: The Marriage Covenant of Jeremiah 31:31-34
Posted on Wednesday, July 20 @ 13:44:29 PDT by Jared Coleman |
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by Jared Coleman
In Jeremiah 31:31-34, the Lord described a new covenant that he would make with his people at some point in their future, and the language used to describe this covenantal relationship was that of marriage. Jeremiah, however, did not explicitly call this a marriage covenant, and this has caused some to miss this important fact and subsequently to fail to see the pervasiveness of the divine marriage motif in scripture. In this column, I would like to briefly examine Jeremiah 31:31-34 to show that it does indeed portray the new covenant as one of marriage.
"Behold, days are coming," declares the LORD, "when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah, not like the covenant which I made with their fathers in the day I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt, My covenant which they broke, although I was a husband to them," declares the LORD. "But this is the covenant which I will make with the house of Israel after those days," declares the LORD, "I will put My law within them and on their heart I will write it; and I will be their God, and they shall be My people. "They will not teach again, each man his neighbor and each man his brother, saying, 'Know the LORD,' for they will all know Me, from the least of them to the greatest of them," declares the LORD, "for I will forgive their iniquity, and their sin I will remember no more." Jer 31:31-34 (NASB®)
The reader will no doubt have noticed that the word “husband” does indeed appear in the text (indicating the presence of a marriage covenant), though this only has reference to God’s relation to his people under the old Mosaic covenant, and not to the relationship which would be based upon the new covenant. It should also be noted that the new covenant was said to be different from the old one (v.32). Could this indicate that the new covenant would be different in that it would not be a marriage covenant? Contextually, I do not think so. The emphasis of the prophecy is on the superiority of the new covenant over the old, so the new covenant could be nothing less than a marriage. The new covenant would be superior in that it would result in an unadulterated relationship between Yahweh and his bride, while the old Mosaic covenant had been unable to prevent the adultery of Israel and Judah. It is, therefore, implied in the context that the new covenant would be a marriage covenant.
Another reason to consider the new covenant of Jeremiah 31:31-34 as a marriage covenant is the appearance of the statement, “I will be their God, and they shall be my people.” Hosea, who more than any other prophet applied the language of marriage to the covenantal relationship between Yahweh and his people, recorded what has been called a “divorce formula”1, which would be written on a certificate of divorce, in the statement, “she is not my wife, and I am not her husband” (Hos 2:4). This is parallel to the statement in Hos 1:9, “you are not my people, and I am not your God.” Jeremiah’s reversal of the divorce formula indicates marriage, or in this case remarriage.
There is yet another contextual reason to understand that this prophecy speaks of a covenant of marriage: the provisions promised to God’s covenant people would have been understood by the Hebrews as the type of provisions that a husband would provide to a wife. At least a partial glimpse at what was expected of a Hebrew husband can be seen in looking at what has been called the “threefold maintenance clause”2 of Exodus 21:10, which reads, “If he takes to himself another woman, he may not reduce her food, her clothing, or her conjugal rights” (NASB®). While the passage is speaking specifically in regard to the rights of a slave wife, it is likely that this instruction is protecting for slaves the rights that were common to all wives, rather than extending additional rights to slave wives that were not enjoyed by free wives.3 Can these three elements of husbandly provision be found in Jeremiah 31:31-34? Indeed they can, though in a spiritual rather than physical form.
The first element of husbandly provision, food, can be seen in the reference to the law which was to be given to the new covenant people. According to Jeremiah, under the new covenant Yahweh’s law would be written on the heart of his people (as opposed to on tablets of stone). How would it get there? This law, which in a more general sense can be called his word, would be like bread; it would be ingested as food and it would sustain the new covenant people. This analogy is not uncommon in scripture (Ps 19:10; Mt 4:4; Heb 5:13-14). Yahweh would indeed provide food for his bride… the food of his word.
The second element of husbandly provision, clothing, can be seen in the reference to the forgiveness which was to be experienced by the new covenant people. Sin is said in scripture to soil one’s garments (Rev 3:4). Who would not describe the spiritual clothing of the old covenant people (or man apart from Christ) as nothing but “filthy rags”? Yet Christ is given as a clothing of righteousness to the new covenant people (Gal 3:27; 2 Cor 5:21). Yahweh’s bride would be clothed with his own righteousness and hence would be sinless.
The third element of husbandly provision, conjugal rights, can be seen in the reference to how the new covenant people would “know the Lord”. Knowledge of someone is used in Hebrew scripture to refer to sexual intercourse (Gen 4:1), and so it connoted the most intimate of relationships. This is the type of knowledge that is obtained (normally) only by dwelling with someone in the same house, and this is exactly where the new covenant people would dwell (Ezek 37:27-28; 1 Pet 2:5). This is the language of continual presence and intimate relationship, and it is the description of what Yahweh would provide his bride.
What we have seen is that though Jeremiah never explicitly called the new covenant of which he wrote a marriage covenant, there is much in the context to warrant such a conclusion. The new covenant would be superior to the old, which was itself a marriage covenant. The superiority would come in the pure and unadulterated nature of the marital relationship to be enjoyed. Additionally, a formulaic wedding vow is found, as are the three husbandly provisions of Exodus 21:10. It is clear to me that the Hebrews would have understood this prophecy as descriptive a marriage covenant, and that we therefore should understand it as such as well.
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1 Friedman, Mordechai A. “Israel’s Response in Hosea 2.17b: ‘You Are My Husband.’” Journal of Biblical Literature 99 (1980): 199-204.
2 Paul, Shalom M. “Exod. 21.10: A Threefold Maintenance Clause.” Journal of Near Eastern Studies 28 (1969): 48-53
3 Instone-Brewer, David. “Divorce and Remarriage in the Bible: The Social and Literary Context.” William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, Grand Rapids: 2002. Exodus 21:10 is discussed on pgs. 8-11. I am deeply endebted to this work for most of what has been written here.
Scripture quotations marked (NASB®) are taken from the New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977, 1995 by The Lockman Foundation Used by permission. (www.Lockman.org)
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Jared Coleman is a columnist for PlanetPreterist.com.
View Jared Coleman archives
Note: Opinions presented on PlanetPreterist.com or by PlanetPreterist.com columnists may not necessarily reflect the position of PlanetPreterist.com, or reflect the beliefs, doctrine or theological position of all other preterists. We encourage all readers to first and foremost carefully analyze all articles in the light of God's Word.
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Re: The Marriage Covenant of Jeremiah 31:31-34 (Score: 1)
 by Virgil on Wednesday, July 20 @ 15:50:59 PDT
(User Info | Send a Message) | | Good thoughts Jared - I never really did an indepth study of marriage (Biblically speaking) so your column is a welcome new addition here on the site. |
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- by jaredcoleman on Wednesday, July 20 @ 16:59:19 PDT
Re: The Marriage Covenant of Jeremiah 31:31-34 (Score: 1)
 by dkpret on Wednesday, July 20 @ 16:12:23 PDT
(User Info | Send a Message) | Jared, I appreciate your thoughts. I am convinced that this theme of the marriage--and its eschatological significance-- is one that is greatly ignored in the evangelical world. As I pointed out in my Who Is This Babylon book, the marriage theme was one of Jesus', as well as Paul's favorite themes. And what seems to be lost on so many students is that the promise of the marriage belonged to Israel, not the church divorced (pun intended), from Israel. Growing up in the church, I never heard a word about the marriage promises of the N. T. being God's promise to Israel. It was all about the church, and how the church would be married to Christ at his parousia. How sad that this incredibly beautiful and amazingly important theme continues to be misplaced by the evangelical world...to the detriment of our appreciation and understanding of God's scheme of Redemption!
Don K |
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- by jaredcoleman on Wednesday, July 20 @ 16:58:43 PDT
Re: The Marriage Covenant of Jeremiah 31:31-34 (Score: 1)
by Shadow_Warrior on Friday, July 22 @ 15:39:59 PDT
(User Info | Send a Message) | Excellent Jared. There is so much here. I'm curious if the prophecy of Joel per the New Covenant reveals more of the mystery of marriage.
The NC is packed with insight into true, powerful, biblical marriages. Our marriages should be awesome to behold, as NC practitioners. As preterists, our marriages have the potential to shine even brighter, as we are no longer waiting for the wedding of Christ to His church -- we are married!
Even so, the disciples couldn't fathom marriages without divorce. When Jesus taught on the New Covenant, he not only made divorce harder, He upped the ante of lust from the act to the entertained thought. He turned marriage into what it was supposed to be from the beginning -- a heart issue.
Eagerly awaiting part two,
-Dana ;o) |
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- by jaredcoleman on Friday, July 22 @ 15:53:28 PDT
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