Commentaries:
Jamieson, Fausset, and Brown
Upon the grace manifested to Israel "in the wilderness" God grounds His argument for renewing His favors to them now in their exile; because His covenant is "everlasting" (Jeremiah 31:3), and changes not. The same argument occurs in Hosea 13:5, Hosea 13:9-10; Hosea 14:4-5, Hosea 14:8. Babylon is fitly compared to the "wilderness," as in both alike Israel was as a stranger far from his appointed "rest" or home, and Babylon is in Isaiah 40:3 called a "desert" (compare Jeremiah 50:12).
I went to cause him to rest—namely, in the pillar of cloud and fire, the symbol of God's presence, which went before Israel to search a resting-place (Numbers 10:33; Isaiah 63:14) for the people, both a temporary one at each halt in the wilderness, and a permanent one in Canaan (Exodus 33:14; Deuteronomy 3:20; Joshua 21:44; Psalms 95:11; Hebrews 3:11).
Other Jamieson, Fausset, and Brown entries containing Jeremiah 31:2:
Jeremiah 31:3
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