Matthew2:17

1: “by the prophet Jeremiah”

The following quote is found in Jeremiah 31:15. Various other times in this story the text has simply said “the prophet” without naming him, and the reader is expected to know which prophet it was. But Isaiah and Jeremiah are mentioned by name; that is because their names fit well with the intent of the story. The name Jeremiah means “YHVH loosens.” It implies that the item being loosened has been bound up and needs to be loosened. This type of terminology was often used of a womb that has remained closed and has refused to “open.”

In this case the idea of “loosened” could be taken by the Jews of that era in a number of different directions. While Herod had “let loose” on Bethlehem a string of violence and death, God will some day let loose on Herod the punishment he deserves. God is also “letting loose” a series of desirable things that have been waiting, “bound up,” for a long time. God promised Abram that He would bless the world through Abram’s descendants; the fulfillment of that “word” will now commence. God has always shown mercy and grace to humankind, but the demonstrations of His grace and mercy are about to reach their climax, about to be “let loose” for real. God chose many small ways to reveal Himself to man in the past, and many of these are recorded in the Old Testament, but now God is going to really “cut loose,” and reveal Himself to man in a way that is “all out,” “wide open,” “no holds barred.” We read that God’s “word” was made flesh and set up His tent in the middle of our tents (Jn 1:14). In fact the way God was beginning to reveal Himself at this point in our collective stories was beyond what anyone could have imagined. For the Almighty God to take on human form, and start out as a helpless baby who was totally dependent on others for His daily needs, was too much for any human to have thought up ahead of time. God really was “cutting loose” on this one. Thus the name Jeremiah provides an important positive note to balance the deep pain and anger brought on by Herod’s unthinkable cruelty.