Adam Clarke Bible Commentary

Introduction

This and the following chapter must relate to a still future restoration of the posterity of Jacob from their several dispersions, as no deliverance hitherto afforded them comes up to the terms of it; for, after the return from Babylon, they were again enslaved by the Greeks and Romans, contrary to the prediction in the eighth verse; in every papistical country they have labored under great civil disabilities, and in some of them have been horribly persecuted; upon the ancient people has this mystic Babylon very heavily laid her yoke; and in no place in the world are they at present their own masters; so that this prophecy remains to be fulfilled in the reign of David, i.e., the Messiah; the type, according to the general structure of the prophetical writings, being put for the antitype. The prophecy opens by an easy transition from the temporal deliverance spoken of before, and describes the mighty revolutions that shall precede the restoration of the descendants of Israel, Jer 30:1-9, who are encouraged to trust in the promises of God, Jer 30:10, Jer 30:11. They are, however, to expect corrections; which shall have a happy issue in future period, Jer 30:12-17. The great blessings of Messiah's reign are enumerated, Jer 30:18-22; and the wicked and impenitent declared to have no share in them, Jer 30:23, Jer 30:24.