Jeremiah 31:22 A New Thing Created

[Thal59]

Let me list Jer. 31:22 as it appears in my 1950s Catholic Bible.

“How long wilt thou be dissolute in deliciousness, O wandering daughter? For the Lord hath created a new thing upon the earth: A woman shall compass a man.” (Some bibles render that last sentence as a woman shall protect a man; which seems to me to be a poor translation.)

I would like to hear from Protestants and Catholics alike.

Who is the woman and who is the man?

Who or what is the “new thing created?”

Thal59

 

[Matt16_18]

Turn back, O virgin Israel, turn back to these your cities. [3] How long will you continue to stray, rebellious daughter? The LORD has created a new thing upon the earth: the woman must encompass the man with devotion.
Jeremiah 31:21-22 NAB

[footnote 3] The woman must encompass the man: the words “with devotion,” not in the Hebrew, are added for the sense. No fully satisfactory explanation has been given this text. Among the more probable are these: (a) Formerly the man (the Lord) encompassed the woman (Israel) with mercy and devotion; now in the spiritual religion of Israel which will follow on the restoration, this order will be reversed. (b) So secure will Israel be after the restoration that women will no longer need the natural protection of their husbands, but even weak women can protect men. (c) St. Jerome in his commentary on this verse understood it of Mary’s virginal conception of Christ. "The LORD has created a new thing on earth; without seed of man, without carnal union and conception, “a woman will encompass a man’ within her womb-One who, though He will later appear to advance in wisdom and age through the stages of infancy and childhood, yet, while confined for the usual number of months in his mother’s womb, will already be perfect man.”

 

[Todd_Easton]

In reference to this verse, the following appears in A Catholic Commentary on Holy Scripture, ed. by Bernard Orchard, et al., pub. by Thomas Nelson & Sons:1953, page 584:And then a great sign is promised, so great that it is even called a creation. The verb is in the perfect tense (‘hath created’), but it is generally admitted that this is merely another example of the well-known idiom, the ‘prophetic perfect’, a vivid manner of representing a prophecy as already fulfilled. The present writer [C. Lattey, S.J.] accepts Knabenbauer’s explanation in CSS [Cursus Scripturae Sacrae, Paris, 1890- ], which he regards as far more plausible than any other, but of course it presupposes that miracle and prophecy are possible. Instead of the initiative being taken by the man, as is usual in human generation, the physical process on the purely human side will be set on foot by the woman, who will ‘press round’ a man (a meaning given by BDB Hebrew and English Lexicon, ed. Brown, Driver and Briggs, Oxford, 1906] to the verb in this passage, but with a different implication). The miracle is emphasized by the word used for ‘woman’ being an unusual one, which stresses the sexual character. The word for ‘man’ (that found in Gabri-el ‘man of God’) is also an unusual one, implying strength and power; a cognate word (a fact significant in the present context) is applied as a name to the Messias in Is 9:6 [Isaiah 9:6] (‘God the Mighty’), and directly to God himself in Ps 23:8 [Psalm 23(24):8] (twice); Deut 10:17; etc. This explanation of the passage is confirmed by the fairly obvious reference which it contains to Is 7:14 [Isaiah 7:14: ‘Behold, a virgin shall conceive and bear a son’], which can reasonably be supposed to have been familiar to Jeremias’ hearers and readers, as to those of Mic 5:3 [Micah 5:3], immediately after the mention of Bethlehem. Like Isaias, Jeremias passes easily by a process of compenetration from the temporary deliverance to the full Messianic deliverence of which it is a type.

If, as the above commentary suggests, the man in the passage is the Messiah, Jesus Christ, then the obvious implication is that the woman in the passage is the Messiah’s mother, the Virgin Mary.

 

[Matt16_18]

How long will you waver,
O rebellious daughter?
(For the Lord has created something new on earth:
A woman courts a man)
Jeremiah 32:22 *Jewish Publication Society *

21-22: The image shifts to Israel, the bride who will return to God. The problematic phrase, a woman courts a man, lit. “a woman surrounds a man,” apparently employs the imagery of gender reversal (cf. 30.6) to portray the highly unusual nature of the restoration. The Bible elsewhere presents the brides who are brought to the man (Gen. 2.22; ch 24; 29.33). The statement provides a basis for the practice of a bride circling the groom seven times at a Jewish wedding.

Footnote from the Jewish Study Bible, Oxford University PressLiterally “a woman surrounds a man” – Jesus in the womb of Mary – the “highly unusual nature of the restoration"!And beginning with Moses and all the prophets, he interpreted to them in all the scriptures the things concerning himself.
Luke 24:37 RSV

 

[Thal59]

The posts so far are interesting, but unsatisfying.

How is any of this a “new thing created?”

The scripture implies a new act of creation by God; something that did not exist beforehand… “the Lord has created a new thing upon the earth…” The closest thing offered so far is:

“And then a great sign is promised, so great that it is even called a creation.” But this, to me, is very weak. “Great signs” had been given to the children of Israel before, but no scholar would consider such signs as a “creation.” Great signs from God are certainly not a “new thing upon the earth” even if one wants to accept it in a creative form.

For starts, let me say that I do not have an explanation for this prophecy myself. ( I have an idea, but not an explanation that I believe is irrefutable.)

So far, it is discouraging as to how many different wordings of this verse have been offered. It is as if the translators are changing words to fit their preconceived interpretations of the prophecy.

But look at what has been offered so far…

1. The order of the Lord encompassing Israel with devotion will be reversed.
2. So secure will Israel be after the restoration that women will no longer need the natural protection of their husbands, but even weak women can protect men.
3. St. Jerome in his commentary on this verse understood it of Mary’s virginal conception of Christ. "The LORD has created a new thing on earth; without seed of man, without carnal union and conception, “a woman will encompass a man’ within her womb-One who, though He will later appear to advance in wisdom and age through the stages of infancy and childhood, yet, while confined for the usual number of months in his mother’s womb, will already be perfect man.”
4. The quote by Todd Easton, which to be honest, I am not sure what it is trying to say.
5. Literally “a woman surrounds a man” – Jesus in the womb of Mary – the “highly unusual nature of the restoration!"

Again, How is any of this a “new thing created?”

Thal59

 

[LeHermitage]

The new thing created is the love that Israel will actually have for God, the result of God’s increasing revelation of Messiah.

The man with the Jewish Bible Society and Oxford quotes was bang on the money, except as much as I believe in the incarnation, I think Jerome was looking for another text when we already have Isaiah’s “Virgin shall be with child” prophecy.

As opposed to lip service, “This people honoureth me with their lips: but their heart is far from me” (Douay-Rheims Bible), the church, and a large believing Israel within that church, will love the LORD their God (Mark 12:30), so much that it will be comparable to a female suitor (suitress), Jer 31:22.

As far as the activity of God resulting in a new thing, God will also “work desolations” on earth (Ps 46:8), and Jesus said God has always been working. This is often God’s invisible work, the work of the Holy Spirit.

We can say we love God as a result of His work of regeneration, as a result of Christ’s work of Redemption. St John says in 1 John 19 – “We love because he first loved us” NAB. Therefore there is a new thing that didn’t exist before even in our own lives, hopefully we love God, but it is not created in us, but a result of the revelation of God’s great love for us individually, and for the church universal, “Because the Love of God has been poured out within our hearts by the Holy Spirit” (Rom 5:5), and “Nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature (nothing created), shall be able to separate us from the love of God (something uncreated), which is in Christ Jesus our Lord” (Rom 8:39.

Peace be with you, LeHermitage

 

[crazzeto]

Offering the Rev. George Leo Haydock

DRB

Jer 31:22 How long wilt thou be dissolute in deliciousness, O wandering daughter? for the Lord hath created a new thing upon the earth: A WOMAN SHALL COMPASS A MAN.

Haydocks Notes:

Jer 31:22 Daughter. Bury thy dead, and delay thy return no longer. The Israelites did not soon make use of the leave granted by Cyrus. (Calmet) — Man. Hebrew, “a hero.” (Tirinus) — The fathers generally explain this of the incarnation. (Calmet) — Christ had the perfect use of reason in the virgin’s womb. (Haydock) — He was the brightness of his Father’s glory, Hebrew i. 3. Even some ancient Jews apply this to the Messias. (Galatin. vii. 14.) But the moderns understand that women would offer themselves in marriage; the times would be so happy. This was not so unusual in countries where polygamy prevailed, Ruth iii. 9., Isaias iv. 1., and Canticle of Canticles viii. 1. (Calmet) — Hence this is hardly the meaning; for God promises something new. (Haydock) — “The Lord hat created a new thing in a woman.” (Aquila) — Symmachus agrees nearly with the Septuagint, “because the Lord has created thee by salvation a new plantation. Men shall go about in thy salvation.” This “might be explained, if it were not sacrilegious to argue respecting God’s word by human sense,” says St. Jerome; though this censure of “the Vulgate” (Septuagint) seems rather harsh. He complains here of his copy. Theodoret explains it of the apostles going through the world to spread the gospel. (Haydock) — Behold whence thy happiness must come, (Menochius) O thou who hast so long proved faithless, going astray after many lovers. (Haydock) — Christ, in his mother’s womb, was in stature small, but a perfect man (Worthington) in the use of reason, &c. (Haydock)

 

[LeHermitage]

I revel in the “opera ad extra Trinitatus individi sun” I “Gaudate, gaudate Christusus, natus, ex Maria, virganae” (pardon my choppy latin, I major on the content – the Work of God using the Trinity in the high points of creation and redemption, even now through the Holy Spirit, the Author and GIVER of Life… Praise Christ, born of the Virgin Mary… So I totally agree with the reading of the text that supports that truth, but I marvel at the ability of Scripture to have multiple meanings, symphonic like in fulfillment…

I do think the whole church, with a large believing remnant of Israelite believers, will be in unity, that we would fulfill the agonizing prayers of Christ for unity in St. John 17, and the dividing wall between Jew and Gentile will be actualized, that they will really know we are His disciples by the love we have for one another, so rather than reading the incarnation into this text, which is theologically accurate; Because we already have texts that say this more clearly (Is 7:14), and the clarity of the New Testament Virgin birth, my preconception is on the larger end or telos, the Eternal Council of the reason for the Virgin birth, to bring not only the Church to her First Love (Apocolyse of St. John [Revelation] 2:15), but also Israel to "the devotion of (her) youth / the Love of her betrothals / her following hard after (her Lover/ Husband, God), and to bring us back to the image of God in love and unity under our King. We all have our preconceptions. They are both right, Theologically, and I think God’s word, as much good poetry is even capable of, can have two meanings, St John 1:5 “the darkness could not comprehend/overpower (katalambano) it” has two meanings. Love you. Thanks for helping stretch my mind.

“It is good to take hold of one thing without letting go of another. He who is wise shall come forth with both of them” Ecc 7:18 and
“Certum est, quia impossibile - It is certain because it is impossible” ~ Tertullian

May the Peace of Our Lord Jesus Christ Be With You…