nd written at
different times; but still more at the views of _Movers_ and _Hitzig_,
who assert that a whole number of strange interpolations had been
introduced into the text; compare _Kueper_, Jerem. S. 170 ff.

With respect to the time of the composition, we must not allow
ourselves to be deceived by the circumstance that, as a rule, Judah
appears no less that Israel, already far away from the land of the
Lord, in captivity. The Prophet, taking his stand in the time when the
catastrophe has already taken place, speaks from an ideal Present. The
fact that the destruction of Jerusalem was indeed imminent, and
immediately in view, but had not yet taken place, becomes probable even
from the inscriptions in chap. xxxii. and xxxiii., according to which
these two chapters, which are so closely related to the two before us,
belong to the tenth year of Zedekiah, when Jerusalem was besieged by
the Chaldeans. This is rendered certain by chap. xxx. 5-7, where the
final catastrophe upon the covenant-people, which belongs to the time
of Jeremiah, is represented as still impending. Hitherto the
threatening had prevailed in the predictions of the Prophet; but now,
in the view of their fulfilment, when the thunders of the judgment were
already heard from the heavens, the promise flows in full streams. The
false prophets had prophesied prosperity and salvation, at a time when,
to the human eye, there was no. cause for fear; but Jeremiah just steps
forth to announce salvation, at a time when all human hope had
vanished.

The Prophet begins, in chap. xxx., with the promise of salvation for
_all_ Israel; and after a detailed description, he comprehends and sums
it up, in ver. 22, in the words, brief but infinitely rich and
comprehensive: "And ye shall be my people [Pg 425] and I will be your
God."[1] The majestic close of the promise for the true Israel is, in
vers. 23, 24, formed by the threatening against those who are Israel in
appearance only,--analogous to the words of Isaiah: "There is no peace
to the wicked." Let them not, in their foolish delusion, seize the
promise for themselves. The time of the highest blessing for the godly,
and for those who are willing to become godly, the [Hebrew: ahrit
himiM]. will be for them, at the same time, a time of the highest
curse. The climax of the manifestation of grace has the climax of the
manifestation of justice as its inseparable companion. "Behold the
storm of the Lord, glowing fire, go