Jeremiah 33:3

Call unto me, and I will answer thee, and shew thee great and mighty things, which thou knowest not.

EXPOSITORY (ENGLISH BIBLE)

Benson Commentary

Jeremiah 33:3. Call unto me, and I will answer thee — An expression manifesting God’s favour and loving kindness; that he was ready to comply with the first intimations of his servant’s desires. Compare Jeremiah 29:12. God, by thus directing his discourse to Jeremiah, not only signified his kindness toward him, but likewise the affection he still bore to his people, for, whom this prophet so earnestly interceded, and whose welfare he had so much at heart. And show thee great and mighty things — That is, give thee a clear and full prospect of them. Hebrew, גדלות ובצרות, great and abstruse, or, hidden things, as some render the words; which thou knowest not — And canst not know without further revelation, meaning, probably, not only what related to the return of the Jews from the Babylonish captivity, but likewise the blessings to be conferred upon them in the times of the Messiah.

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary

33:1-13 Those who expect to receive comforts from God, must call upon him. Promises are given, not to do away, but to quicken and encourage prayer. These promises lead us to the gospel of Christ; and in that God has revealed truth to direct us, and peace to make us easy. All who by sanctifying grace are cleansed from the filth of sin, by pardoning mercy are freed from the guilt. When sinners are thus justified, washed, and sanctified in the name of the Lord Jesus, and by the Holy Spirit, they are enabled to walk before God in peace and purity. Many are led to perceive the real difference between the people of God and the world around them, and to fear the Divine wrath. It is promised that the people who were long in sorrow, shall again be filled with joy. Where the Lord gives righteousness and peace, he will give all needful supplies for temporal wants; and all we have will be comforts, as sanctified by the word and by prayer.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

Mighty things - Or, as in the margin. The words are probably a quotation from Isaiah 48:6.

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary

3. Call … I will answer—(Jer 29:12; Ps 91:15). Jeremiah, as the representative of the people of God, is urged by God to pray for that which God has determined to grant; namely, the restoration. God's promises are not to slacken, but to quicken the prayers of His people (Ps 132:13, 17; Isa 62:6, 7).

mighty things—Hebrew, "inaccessible things," that is, incredible, hard to man's understanding [Maurer], namely, the restoration of the Jews, an event despaired of. "Hidden," or "recondite" [Piscator].

thou knowest not—Yet God had revealed those things to Jeremiah, but the unbelief of the people in rejecting the grace of God had caused him to forget God's promise, as though the case of the people admitted of no remedy.

Matthew Poole's Commentary

God either speaketh to the people to pray unto him, or to the prophet on the behalf of the people to pray, promising him he would show him great things.

Object. But how doth God say that Jeremiah did not know them, when God before this time had revealed them to the prophet, and the prophet had revealed them?

Solut. He did not know them before God had revealed them, and though God had revealed them, yet by his prayer in the former chapter it appears he did not fully understand them, or firmly believe them as he ought to have done.

Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible

Call unto me, and I will answer thee,.... This is spoken not to Jerusalem, and the inhabitants of it; but to the prophet, encouraging him to seek the Lord by prayer, promising an answer to him. So the Targum,

"pray before me, and I will receive thy prayer:''

and show thee great and mighty things; or, "fortified ones" (p); which are like fortified cities, that cannot easily be come at, unless the gates are opened to enter into; and designs such as are difficult of understanding, which exceed human belief, and which reason cannot comprehend and take in; and such are the great things of the Gospel. Some copies read it, "things reserved" (q); as the Targum; and so Jarchi, who interprets it of things future, of things reserved in the heart of God, and which he purposed to do; and very rightly:

which thou knowest not; until revealed; and from hence it appears, that by these great and hidden things are not meant the destruction of Jerusalem, and the seventy years' captivity, and return from that, things which Jeremiah had been made acquainted with time after time, and had prophesied of them; but spiritual blessings hereafter mentioned, some of which the deliverance from Babylon were typical of Ben Melech interprets these of comforts great and strong.

(p) "munita", Vatablus, Paganinus, Montanus; "fortia", Tigurine version. (q) "abstrusa", Junius & Tremellius, Piscator; "recondita", so some in Vatablus.

Geneva Study Bible

Call unto me, and I will answer thee, and shew thee great and mighty things, which thou knowest not.

EXEGETICAL (ORIGINAL LANGUAGES)

Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

3. great things, and difficult] mg. Heb. fenced in. The word means lit. cut off, inaccessible. But certain MSS. of MT., not apparently supported, however, by LXX, read probably rightly (differing only by one letter, nĕtsûroth for bĕtsûroth) hidden, as in Isaiah 48:6.

Pulpit Commentary

Verse 3. - Mighty things; rather, secret things (literally, inaccessible). It must be admitted that this introduction hardly corresponds to the sequel, which does not contain any special secrets, as we should have thought. Either vers. 2, 3 have been inserted by a later (inspired) editor, whose mind was absorbed in high thoughts of the latter days - for this view may be urged the style and phraseology, which are hardly those of the surrounding chapters, hardly those of Jeremiah; or else we must adopt Hengstenberg's perhaps over subtle suggestion, which, however, does not touch the question of the phraseology, "that throughout Scripture dead knowledge is not regarded as knowledge; that the hope of restoration had, in the natural man, in the prophet, as well as in all believers, an enemy who strove to darken and extinguish it; that therefore it was ever new," or, in the words of Jeremiah, "great and secret things, which thou knowest not." Jeremiah 33:3

Keil and Delitzsch Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament

Introduction. - Jeremiah 33:2. "Thus saith Jahveh who makes it, Jahveh who forms it in order to establish it, Jahveh is His name: Jeremiah 33:3. Call on me and I will answer thee, and tell thee great and hidden things which thou knowest not." The reference of the suffixes in עשׂהּ, אותהּ, and הכינהּ is evident from the contents of the propositions: the Lord does what He says, and forms what He wants to make, in order to accomplish it, i.e., He completes what He has spoken and determined on. יצר, to frame, namely, in the mind, as if to think out, just as in Jeremiah 18:11 : the expression is parallel with חשׁב; in this sense also we find Isaiah 46:11. הכין, to establish, realize what has been determined on, prepare, is also found in Isaiah 9:6; Isaiah 40:20, but more frequently in Jeremiah (Jeremiah 10:12; Jeremiah 51:12, Jeremiah 51:15), and pretty often in the Old Testament generally. On the phrase "Jahveh is His name," cf. Jeremiah 31:35. The idea contained in Jeremiah 33:2 reminds us of similar expressions of Isaiah, as in Isaiah 22:11; Isaiah 37:26; Isaiah 46:11, etc.; but this similarity offers no foundation for the doubts of Movers and Hitzig regarding the genuineness of this verse. The same holds as regards Jeremiah 33:3. The first proposition occurs frequently in the Psalms, e.g., Jeremiah 4:4; Jeremiah 28:1; Jeremiah 30:9, also in Jeremiah 7:27; Jeremiah 11:14; but קתא with אל is unusual in Isaiah. The words בּצרות לא are certainly an imitation of נצרות ולא ידעתּם, Isaiah 48:6; but they are modified, in the manner peculiar to Jeremiah, by the change of נצרות into בצרות. The combination גּדלות וּבצרות noit is elsewhere used only of the strong cities of the Canaanites, Deuteronomy 1:28; Deuteronomy 9:1; Joshua 14:12, cf. Numbers 13:28; here בּצרות is transferred to things which lie beyond the limits of human power to discover, and become known to men only through divine revelation. There is no good reason for Ewald's change of בצרות in accordance with Isaiah 48:6. - On the contents of these verses Hengstenberg remarks: "It may seem strange that, though in the opening part the prophet is promised a revelation of greater, unknown things, for which he is to call on God, yet the succeeding announcement contains scarcely anything remarkable or peculiar." Graf also adds the remark of Hitzig, that the command to pray, addressed to Jeremiah, cannot have the effect of keeping us from the conclusion that the verses are an addition by a later hand. Ngelsbach replies that the mode of expression presents nothing specially unlike Jeremiah, and that what is most calculated to give the impression of being unlike Jeremiah's, namely, this introduction in itself, and especially the peculiar turn of Jeremiah 33:3, "Call unto me," etc., is occasioned by the prayer of the prophet, Jeremiah 32:16-25. To this prayer the prophet had received an answer, Jeremiah 32:36-44; but he is here admonished to approach the Lord more frequently with such a request. The God who has the power to execute as well as make decrees is quite prepared to give him an insight into His great thoughts regarding the future; and of this a proof is at once given. Thus, Jeremiah 33:1-3 must be viewed as the connecting link between Jeremiah 32; 33.

Yet these remarks are not sufficient to silence the objections set forth against the genuineness of Jeremiah 33:2, Jeremiah 33:3; for the specializing title of our chapter, in Jeremiah 33:1, is opposed to the close connection which Ngelsbach maintains between Jeremiah 32; 33. The fact that, in Jeremiah 32, Jeremiah addresses the Lord in prayer for further revelation regarding the purchase of the field, as commanded, and that he receives the information he desired regarding it, gives no occasion for warning to the prophet, to betake himself more frequently to God for disclosures regarding His purposes of salvation. And Ngelsbach has quite evaded the objection that Jeremiah does not obey the injunction. Moreover, the succeeding revelation made in vv. 4-26 is not of the nature of a "proof," for it does not contain a single great leading feature in God's purposes as regards the future. - Hengstenberg also points out the difficulty, "that the Scripture everywhere refuses to recognise a dead knowledge as true knowledge, and that the hope of restoration has an obstacle in the natural man, who strives to obscure and to extinguish it; that, consequently, the promise of restoration is always new, and the word of God always great and grand;" but what he adduces for the solution of the difficulty contained in the command, "Call on me, and I will show thee great and unknown things," is insufficient for his purpose. The objection which expositors have taken to these verses has arisen from an improper application of them; the words קרא אלי have been understood as referring to the request that God should give some revelation regarding the future, or His purposes of deliverance, and ענה as referring to the communication of His purposes for increasing our knowledge of them. But "to call on God" rather signifies to pray to God, i.e., to beseech Him for protection, or help, or deliverance in time of need, cf. Psalm 3:5; Psalm 28:1; Psalm 30:9; Psalm 55:17, etc.; and to "answer" is the reply of God made when He actually vouchsafes the aid sought for; cf. e.g., Psalm 55:17, "I call on God, and Jahveh answers me (saves me);" Psalm 4:2, Psalm 4:4; Psalm 18:7; Psalm 27:7, etc. Consequently, also, "to make known" (הגּיד) is no mere communication of knowledge regarding great and unknown things, no mere letting them be known, but a making known by deeds. The words עשׂהּ and יוצר אותהּ, ascribed to the Lord, suggest and require that the words should be thus understood. With the incorrect reference of these words to knowing and making known there is connected the further error, that the command, "Call unto me," is directed to the person of the prophet, and gives an admonition for his behaviour towards God, for which the text affords on foundation whatever; for it does not run: "Thus saith Jahveh to me" (אלי), and the insertion of this אלי is unwarranted, and inconsistent with the use of כּי which introduces the announcement. Hitzig, Graf, and others have passed by this כּי without remark; and what Ngelsbach says about it is connected with his view, already refuted, as to the essential unity of Jeremiah 32; 33. Lastly, Ewald has enclosed Jeremiah 33:3 within parentheses, and considers that the introductory formula of Jeremiah 33:2 is resumed in Jeremiah 33:4 : "Yea, thus saith Jahveh." This is a conclusion hastily formed by one who is in difficulty, for Jeremiah 33:3 has not the nature of a parenthesis. If we allow the arbitrary addition "to me" after the words, "Thus saith the Lord," Jeremiah 33:2, and if we take the words in their simplest sense - the invocation of the Lord as a call to God for help in need - then Jeremiah 33:2, Jeremiah 33:3 do not contain a mere prelude to the revelation which follows, but an exhortation to the people to betake themselves to the Lord their God in their calamity, when He will make known to them things unattainable by human discernment; for (כּי, Jeremiah 33:4) He announces, in reference to the ruined houses of the city, that He will repair their injuries.