by Paul Ice
D.A. Carson just wrote an article about Jer 23 last month
for the Gospel Coalition. Here are just
a couple of excerpts that I thought were really good regarding this passage.
“MUCH OF JEREMIAH 23 IS A denunciation of the
“shepherds” destroying and scattering the sheep of God’s pasture (Jer. 23:1;
compare Jer. 10 and meditation for July 14). The long section denouncing the
lying prophets (Jer. 23:9-40) is one of the most penetrating presentations
of the differences between true prophets and false in all of holy Scripture. .
. .
But here I want to focus on the first six verses. In the
light of the abysmally immoral and idolatrous kings condemned in the previous
chapter, and in the light of the destructive shepherds introduced in this
chapter, God presents the ultimate solution. It has three components:
(1) God will destroy the destructive shepherds (Jer. 23:2).
That is a theme we have seen before, and one that takes up a fair bit of this
chapter.
(2) More importantly, God himself will gather the remnant of
the flock from where they have been scattered, and he will bring them back to
their pasture. “I will place shepherds over them who will tend them, and they
will no longer be afraid or terrified, nor will any be missing” (Jer. 23:4),
the Lord declares. In other words, the promise of an end to the exile and a
return of the remnant is now cast in the categories of a scattered flock being
returned to its pasture. But there is also an element of expectation that
transcends the historical end of the exile: the Lord himself will provide a
quality of “pastors” (i.e., “shepherds”) who will transcend what the people
have experienced in the past.
(3) In particular, God “will raise up to David a righteous
Branch” (Jer.
23:5). The Davidic line will be little more than a stump, but a new
“Branch” will grow out of it, “a King who will reign wisely and do what is just
and right in the land” (Jer. 23:5). His days will bring safety and salvation for
the covenant people of God. “This is the name by which he will be called: The
LORD Our Righteousness” (Jer. 23:6). Just so: for by him, God will be both just and
the One who justifies the ungodly, vindicating them by the life and death of
the Branch from David’s line (Rom. 3:20-26).
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