Change of Direction

“How long will you go here and there, O faithless daughter? For the LORD has created a new thing in the earth – A woman will encompass a man.” Jeremiah 31:22

Encompass – The last step in understanding the role and status of women in the Old Testament is the discussion of the “new” covenant. Christian interpreters make a very big deal of the new covenant in Christ, but the idea is not quite a new as they would have us believe. Hundreds of years before the birth of Yeshua HaMashiach, Jeremiah gave us God’s description of the new covenant. In fact, the passages in Jeremiah are the only place in Hebrew Scripture where God speaks of a new covenant. But what God says is not quite what we have learned as Christians because God does not talk about an entirely new, novel arrangement. The word in Hebrew is hadash, an adjective that comes from the verb stem H-D-Sh. The verb means “to renew, to restore, to renovate or rebuild.” It is used to describe the restoration of the temple, the revitalizing of one’s spirit, the reconstruction of cities and the rebuilding of the earth. The noun form of the word is used of the “new” moon. Obviously, the moon is not created brand new. It is the same moon seen once again. While hadash can also mean new in the sense of never before, it is noteworthy to mention that the idea of the renewed moon occurs 280 times in Scripture, the verb only 10 times and the adjective 53 times including all of the occurrences where the word clearly means “renewed.” Obviously, the dominate theme is not brand new but rather renewed or restored. This dominance is substantiated by the translation in the LXX where the word carries the meaning of a measure of time governed by the lunar calendar.

But the real surprise comes in the use of hadash in Jeremiah. Westerman asserts “Only during the time of the exile was anything said in Israel about something new in its interaction with God – nowhere else in its whole history.” What this means is that if we are going to understand the “new” covenant from an Hebraic point of view, we will have to understand it from Jeremiah’s perspective. And what God reveals through Jeremiah is that He will change the modus operandi of His covenant instructions, not the content. When the “new” covenant becomes a full reality, the Torah will be written on the hearts of men, instruction will become unnecessary and all will serve the Lord. Nowhere does Jeremiah indicate that God will erase the “old” covenant and replace it with something brand new. The passage simply says that God will restore and renew His original through a different method. This is exactly what we would expect as Hebrews. God gave the Torah as THE words of life. There is no reason to think that God has changed in His character, purposes or directions. What is good for life is still good for life.

Now, if Jeremiah is talking about the restoration of the original, then the Lord’s statement in 31:22 takes us right back to Genesis 2:18. North sees the impact of such a radical shift. It is worth reading his analysis:

Jer. 31:22 speaks of a “new thing,” apparently cognate to the “new thing” in Jer. 31:31, which furnishes our chief clue to the theological value of newness in the Bible. V. 22 stands as the climax to several oracles: . . . [Combined attempts to translate the passage lead to] “Everything will be different, all values will be reversed, even things so profoundly rooted as the psychology of the sexes will be turned upside down.”

Jeremiah 31:22 reveals more than a declaration of a radical reversal of values. We see that the verse uses the word nekavah (female, woman). Remember that nekavah has a homophone that means “boundary”. This is the next thought of God’s declaration in Jeremiah. The nekavah (boundary setter) will “surround” or “enclose” the man. Sabab is the Hebrew verb for “to surround, go around and encircle.” But it also means “to turn back, to change, to turn around.” Do you suppose that in the renewed covenant, in the return to the original design plan of God, a woman will be the instrument to turn a man around? Will God now use a woman to enclose the man as his protector? Will He use the woman to change direction so that a man will come back to the original? Will she once more become the real ‘ezer kenegdo?

The word for “man” in this translation is not ish. It is not zakar (male, remember). It is geber. Why the change? Why don’t we find the usual opposing pairs: male-female, man-woman? The Hebrew word geber does mean “man” but it “often contains more than just a reference to gender by referring to the nature of man, unusually with overtones of spiritual strength or masculinity, based on the verb gabar, meaning to be mighty.” This is warrior language. The implication is that even the mightiest of men will now find protection and direction from the nekavah. Yes, the world will be turned upside-down. When God restores the original, the ‘ezer kenegdo will once again be the rescuer, the spiritual director and the one who keeps me face before the Lord.

Is that what’s happening in your marriage? Are you being renewed? If you’re looking for a mate, are these the characteristics that come at the top of your list?

Topical Index: ‘ezer kenegdo, nekavah, geber, new covenant, surround, Jeremiah 31:22