On Jeremiah 16:1-15, Keil writes, “Yet we must not fail to be sure that the prospect held out of a future deliverance of Israel from the lands into which it is soon to be scattered, and of its restoration again to the land of its fathers, has, in the first and foremost place, a comforting import….Because the Lord will, for their idolatry, cast forth his people into the land of the heathen, just for that very reason will their redemption not fail to follow, and this deliverance surpass in gloriousness the greatest of all former deeds of blessing, the rescue of Israel from Egypt.” (271)

In the midst of predictions of judgment on his people for their sin, this promise of restoration is stark.  The sin of Israel is compounded by the giving of Torah.  Indeed, the rabbis speak of the Golden Calf incident as the “fall of Israel.”  Because the sin is greater, the punishment is more severe–so the rescue will be that much more heroic.

Praise YHWH for the new exodus!