Book of the Covenant (30:1-31:40) 429He who scattered Israel will gather him. The verb zrh means "to winnow, scat-
ter" and is used metaphorically in the OT to describe the separation and dis-
persion of people (see Note for 49:32). The reference here is to Northern
Israel's dispersion, applied later to the dispersion of all Israel. On the theme of
Yahweh's gathering the people that he scattered, see Note for 31:8.
and will keep him as a shepherd his flock. Shepherding is another widely used
metaphor in the Bible and throughout the ancient world, describing the rule
of kings and royal appointees (see Note for 2:8) and the rule of God or the gods.
The last years of both Israel and Judah saw shepherds unfit for royal office,
which led to the demise of the two nations. Jeremiah had harsh words for
Judah's kings, through whose negligence the flock (=subjects) was scattered
(10:21; 13:20; 23:1-2; 50:6; cf. Ezek 34:1-10). But Yahweh is the good shep-
herd, leading and watching his flock, feeding it, and gathering the lambs in his
arms (Psalms 23; 77:2l[Eng 77:20]; 80:2[Eng 80:1]; Isa 40:11). Here he prom-
ises to shepherd Northern Israel, a promise made later also to Judah (23:3-4;
cf. Ezek 34:11-16). In the NT, Jesus is the good shepherd (John 10:1-18).
I I. For Yahweh has ransomed Jacob and redeemed him from a hand stronger
than his own. Here another great biblical theme occurs: God's redemption of
people from slavery and every other form of oppression. In the OT it is mainly
the redemption of Israel; in the NT it is the redemption of the world (Matt
20:28; I Tim 2:6; cf. John 3:16), which returns to pick up a theme from OT pre-
history (Genesis 6-9). Now Yahweh declares as an accomplished fact his re-
demption of Jacob, i.e., Northern Israel. The two verbs, pdh ("ransom") and g>[
("redeem"), are used interchangeably in the OT (Hos 13: 14; Ps 69: l 9[Eng
69: 18]) and in theological contexts mean roughly the same thing. The verb pdh
is more general, referring simply to the redemption of persons and other living
beings; g>[ has its origin in the sphere of law, where it denotes the collective
responsibility to heal or restore balance within the kin-group. A go>e[ is some-
one obligated to perpetuate the line of a deceased kinsman (levirate marriage),
avenge the murder of a kinsman (Num 35:19-21), redeem a kinsman's for-
feited property (Lev 25:25; Ruth 4:1-6; Jer 32:6-15), or redeem a kinsman him-
self if he has fallen into slavery (Lev 25:47-5 5; cf. A. R. Johnson 195 3; Den tan,
"Redeem, Redeemer, Redemption," IDB R-Z, 21). This redemption from sla-
very is what assumes such theological importance in the OT: Yahweh, as go> el,
takes it upon himself to redeem Israel, his firstborn, from Egyptian slavery
(Exod 6:5; 15: 13; Deut 7:8; 9:26; cf. Exod 4:22). Here in the present verse, Yah-
weh is redeeming the remnant of Northern Israel from its servitude in Assyria,
and later on, he will redeem the remnant of Judah from its servitude in Baby-
lon (50:34; Isa 41:14; 43:1, 14; 44:6, 22-23; 47:4; 48:17, 20; and often). There is
nothing indicating that Israel's repentance is a determining condition for this
redemption, as Unterman claims for the early Jeremianic preaching ("Re-
demption," ABD 5: 654). Repentance does seem to be present in 31:9, which
he cites, but only by implication. Things are less clear with respect to the ora-
cles in 3 l:l 5-22, where Ephraim asks for restoration (sub) and is genuinely
sorry (n~m) about having turned away (vv 18-19). But there, nothing explicit is