The Correct Meaning of Jeremiah 31:22

Jeremiah 31:22  •  2 min. read  •  grade level: 8
"How long wilt thou go about, O thou backsliding daughter? for the LORD hath created a new thing in the earth, A woman shall compass a man." Jer. 31:2222How long wilt thou go about, O thou backsliding daughter? for the Lord hath created a new thing in the earth, A woman shall compass a man. (Jeremiah 31:22).
This verse has often been ignorantly alleged to refer to the incarnation, when the virgin conceived and bore a Son, but it is not so. The context clearly looks on to the gathering of all the families of Israel, not to gathering a mere remnant of Jews provisionally. In that day Jehovah will be their God, and they will be His people. He that scattered Israel will gather him and keep him as a flock, when priests and people shall be satisfied with His goodness (vv. 1-14). Rachel's tears are to be no more; her children, instead of perishing, shall come to their own border. Ephraim will turn and repent, and Jehovah says He will surely have mercy on him (15-20). Then, as filling up the beautiful picture of Israel's return, we hear the call to set up waymarks and signposts, yea to set their heart toward the highway, once of sorrow, now of joy; for Jehovah bids the virgin of Israel, forgiving all past delinquency, to "turn again to these thy cities." "How long wilt thou go about, 0 thou backsliding daughter?" What has one word of all this to do with the miraculous conception, all-important as it is, in Isa. 7:1414Therefore the Lord himself shall give you a sign; Behold, a virgin shall conceive, and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel. (Isaiah 7:14)? "For the LORD hath created a new thing in the earth, A woman shall compass a man." No matter what Israel's weakness, they will have no need to fear the strong, but shall go round about him. The word here used is never employed to express any such idea as is assumed, but is suitable for a phrase that imports one out of weakness made strong. And this is confirmed by all that follows to the end of the chapter.
The incarnation rests on grounds so plain and solid as to need no forced construction. For a woman to compass a mighty one has nothing in common with the idea of giving birth, but rather to freedom and exemption from the power of the strong, however weak in herself. Usage quite agrees with the force of the words. Where is the phrase applied to gestation? Scripture speaks similarly where any strikingly divine intervention wholly distinct appears; as, for instance, of the earth opening its mouth to swallow the apostate rebels, Korah, Dathan, and Abiram (Numb. 16:3030But if the Lord make a new thing, and the earth open her mouth, and swallow them up, with all that appertain unto them, and they go down quick into the pit; then ye shall understand that these men have provoked the Lord. (Numbers 16:30)). The phrase employed therefore embraces a far wider range than the incarnation, to which the terms of a woman compassing a man are in themselves wholly alien.