Yirme-yahu (Jeremiah) 31: 22

A wonderful prophetic reference to Yeshu‘a and to how God created something entirely new, using Mariam’s receptive attitude

André H. Roosma
21 November 2015

Via e-mail I got a question about Yirme-yahu (Jeremiah) 31: 22. When I went to read this verse in the original Hebrew version, there appeared to be such precious gems in it, that I would like to share my findings with all of you here. Below I first give the rich text of this verse; both the Hebrew origi­nal, and an accurate English translation. Naturally, as usual, I did not replace the wonderful and significant Name of the God of Isra’el arbitrarily by a title such as Lord, but transliterated this grand Name as YaHUaH, in accordance with the oldest deducible pronunciation.¹

Yirme-yahu (Jeremiah) 31: 22

It happens seldomly that I discuss just one verse, because in general, I find the context important. Here, I make an exception, because this one verse is in fact already a complete story in itself. The context is that of a prophecy, directed to the people of Isra’el, at the time of the last kings. God YaHUaH directs Himself to His people as virgin or as His Bride. He has earlier reprimanded her for her unfaithfulness and told her that this has serious consequences! But, now, after a time of exile, dispersion and oppression, He will gather His people again into the fellowship with Himself. The entire prophecy is a strong appeal to answer to God’s grace, to leave sin and idolatry behind, and return to Him. The 22nd verse is pivotal in this prophecy. It tells how God will find a way around the unruliness of His people via creating a new thing.

What is remarkable immediately in the Hebrew text is the structure, which is strongly determined by an anti-parallel between the disloyal daughter who turns to and fro evasively on the one hand, and the woman who encloses on the other hand. The verbs used in Hebrew for turning to and fro and enclosing both have a meaning like: circling or revolving around something. Turning to and fro is chamaq and comes close to our to divert, to direct one’s attention away from someone, to defect, to evade, to beat around the bush. It is turning in the sense of evading, keeping distance, not wanting to commit oneself. Enclosing, on the contrary, is sabab, which is derived from how in ancient times in and around Isra’el a hut was often build of palm fronds woven together around a palm tree trunk. So, such a hut derived its structure and sturdiness from the trunk of the palm tree. It was a tribute to the sturdy palm tree that it enclosed. It symbolized protection and closeness. So, exactly the opposite of that turning to and fro.
The negative sound of the turning to and fro is emphasized further by the adjective disloyal. This word is based on the root shubh - to turn oneself away from something. Isra’el had had turned itself away from God and was beating around the bush; she did not want to turn towards Him and away from the idols, but just turned away from YaHUaH.
Opposing this is the woman from the second part of this verse. The Hebrew does not use the most common word for woman here, but the word neqébah. The old script shows the original essence of this word:²    . She is a house () of joy and awe () for a baby/seed () who/which grows up from a very small start to spread light (). So, it is a woman as someone who lets a baby grow up from a small seed in her womb, with joy and awe.

Then there is the Man who is enclosed in this special way by this nurturing mother. It is not just any man (Hebrew: ’adam), and neither is it a man as a mortal being (Hebrew: ’enosh). The Hebrew text names Him a gabher -    - literally: a walking () earthly tent () for God (). The Bible speaks this way especially about Yeshu‘a. In Him God walked and tabernacled in a human body - an earthly tent - among us. Even within Judaism it has always been recognized that this text speaks about the Messiah.³ This all is why I printed Man with a capital M.

That immediately shows as well who was that neqébah: Mariam (Mary)! Indeed, she did not turn away from God, on the contrary! She received and encompassed Him with great humility, awe and joy into her womb! Nine months she was a house for Him Who is The Life – precisely what the word sabab originally represented.⁴
Amidst all disloyalty and all beating around the bush within His people Isra’el, God YaHUaH started something totally new via her motherhood.
Remarkable in this context I find that it says that God has created a new thing in the earth/land. Since creation in Genesis 1 we have not heard of this at any other moment. That verb to create in the Hebrew original is bara’ -   , which probably refers to the earth with all on it and around it as a dwelling place or a place to live () that God () brought into existence in the beginning with power (). How aptly formulated, regarding what I mentioned already around meaning of the words neqébah and gabher.

In the end the objective is that we all, with a similar joy and awe as Mariam had, become a dwelling place for God in the Spirit, a temple in which He lives by His Spirit (Eph.2:22; 1 Cor.3:16; 6:19), and thus give shape and form to His Kingdom, now already here on earth. In that Mariam left us a superb example by her thankful and receptive attitude, full of awe for the way of God with her (Luke 1: 26-56).

Hallelu YaH !

Notes

1	For more background information on the glorious Name of God, YaHUaH, see: André H. Roosma, ‘The magnificent and most lovely Name of the God Who was there, Who is there, and Who will be there’ , extensive Accede! / Hallelu-YaH! study, July 2009.
2	For more about this script, see: André H. Roosma, ‘The Written Language of Abraham, Moses and David – A study of the pictographic roots and basic notions in the underlying fabric of the earliest Biblical script’ , Hallelu-YaH Draft Research Report, 1st English version: 18 April 2011 (1st Dutch original: January 2011).
3	Concerning this, the Treasure of Scripture Knowledge refers to Bereshith Rabba - Parash 89, and the Midrash Tillim on Psalm 2.
4	The two-letter root sab of the word sabab (translated by encompassed) is in the old script:   – literally a palm tree tent/hut. Also explainable as a house of life, or a house for new life. See a.o. the reference in the previous note. In there and in ‘The Palm Tree in the Bible (4) Moses and the Big Fire in the Palm-Top’ (Hallelu-YaH!, 3 Feb. 2012), I show that according to the Bible the crown of the date palm tree was also used by God Himself as a dwelling place in ancient times. The Greek text of the New Testament wrote the name of Mary as Mariam. Transliterated back into the old script, this name represents that God gave a mother. Note that this aptly represents both Mary, the mother of Jesus, and Miriam, the sister of Moses, who offered to seek a nursing mother for Moses when he was found by the Egyptian princess.

Reactions

Derek Townsend

As with Adam - he was enclosed by the garden in fellowship with His Creator, but was driven out due to disobedience - the consuming fire of the sword (the Word/Messiah) turning to and fro - deflecting anyone away from the entrance. Only until Miriam, through humility, belief and obedience, became the enclosure, surrounding the Tree of Life Himself, would the entrance to the garden – into the fellowship of the Creator – be opened and restored. Man could no longer live surrounded by the presence of the Creator, so Yahuweh, in order to restore that lost privilege, did something new: A woman would surround and protect, through her humility, the presence of the Creator. The only way back through the garden gate and into the presence of the Creator again, is to encompass and surround – an act of guarding and keeping the very presence of Life within us — just as Miryam became that example.

---

André (author)

Thanks Derek Townsend!
Yes, and none other than our magnificent heavenly Father – His glorious Name be praised forever Hallelu YaH! – could come up with, or devise and execute, such a marvelous plan!! And indeed, it includes a great appeal to guard and keep, i.e. to cherish, the very presence of Yeshu‘a, Who is our Life, in us, like Mariam did!
Shalom & blessings!

home

,  news index

,  articles index