Jeremiah 30:11, commentary and pictures

The chapter stands as part of the book Jeremiah was told to write after the exchange of letters with the captives in Babylon, to record all that had been revealed about the restoration of Israel. Its promise of return is sure and very plain. It was prayerfully studied by Daniel together with the prophecies of the twenty-fifth chapter during the first year of Darius the Mede, more than sixty years after it was written, and from it he understood the number of the years for the desolations of Jerusalem while perplexed over how the seventy years of captivity related to the twenty-three hundred years to pass before the cleansing of the sanctuary.

The verse gave comfort to the church in one of the darkest hours of her long conflict with the forces of evil, when Satan had seemingly triumphed in his efforts to destroy Israel. It means the Lord was overruling the events of the present, and that in the years to follow His people would have opportunity to redeem the past, with the assurance of His saving presence with them to save them.

The humbling and exile among the nations was measured correction for spiritual good, to teach the obedience necessary for future happiness, without which God could not do for His people all He desired. The chastening was limited and purposeful rather than a full end, because those once favored above all peoples were still the objects of tender love and were not forever set aside, and before all the nations of earth God would bring victory out of apparent defeat in order to save rather than to destroy. The verse shows that God deals with nations by retribution, correcting them in measure and not leaving them altogether unpunished.