OT Notes Jer. 31:31-4

1) This is a short little war horse passage, isn’t it?
2) Without falling prey to supercessionism, interpret the new covenant. Without being anti-Judaic, interpret the new covenant.
3) What images come to mind when we read that god took the people by the hand? How could you work that for a congregation and/or an individual?
4) Work with the image of god as a husband to a people. Clearly we get a hint of why adultery was used to amplify the meaning of idolatry to God. Is God saying the people acted a divorce? What makes you uncomfortable with this marital image? What opens up for you with it?
5) What would it mean to have the law/teaching written on the hearts?
6) Notice that God is not accepting a divorce but is seeking reconciliation:they shall be my people. (Note that Hosea is told to call a child “not my people” lo ammi.’)
7) What would spiritual and social life look like if we knew God so well we would have no need of teaching or proclamation? In sports, we sometimes say that certain qualities or attributes can;t be taught.
8) Remember their sin no more is a powerful thing for the the Eternal One, the Omniscient One to say. remember in Hebrew has a sense of bringing the past into present awareness, so I assume that the past is being consigned to the past. Notice how often we say we may be told to forgive, but we can;t forget.