Lesson 3: Learning Our Hermeneutic from the Bible
Example 2
Let’s explore a second case study to bolster our argument that the Bible expects us to seek a biblical hermeneutic.
Circumcised hearts
As Jeremiah prophesied to the people of his own day, he preached from existing Scripture. The manner in which Jeremiah quotes Moses is evidence that the latter prophet looked back to Moses’ writings in order to trace Messianic themes. His study follows an interpretive principle established by the Bible itself: we should look for (and expect to find) Messiah throughout the OT. (We will unpack this interpretative principle in Lesson 7).
Indeed, the prophet Jeremiah exemplifies what Peter referred to when he wrote that the OT prophets, “searched and inquired carefully, inquiring what person or time the Spirit of Christ in them was indicating…” (1 Peter 1:10-11) The wealth of connections Jeremiah makes to previous OT texts is clear evidence that he carefully examined earlier Scripture searching for Christ as he received new revelation.¹ For example, consider the following passages.
For thus says the Lord to the men of Judah and Jerusalem: “Break up your fallow ground, and sow not among thorns. Circumcise yourselves to the Lord; remove the foreskin of your hearts, O men of Judah and inhabitants of Jerusalem…” —Jeremiah 4:3-4
In calling his contemporaries to repentance, Jeremiah directly quotes Deut 10:16, employing the idiom, “circumcise the foreskin of your heart.” But Jeremiah’s use of this idea runs deeper than merely quoting a sharp word picture. He understands that Moses clearly prophecies Israel’s rebellion and the judgment that will come in consequence.
Then, in Deuteronomy 30, Moses speaks of a time of restoration that will come about by the unilateral, gracious work of God. Moses uses the same heart circumcision word picture, but this time it is God alone who is sanctifying and setting apart a people for himself.
And when all these things come upon you, the blessing and the curse, which I have set before you, and you call them to mind among all the nations where the Lord your God has driven you, and return to the Lord your God, you and your children, and obey his voice in all that I command you today, with all your heart and with all your soul, then the Lord your God will restore your fortunes and have mercy on you, and he will gather you again from all the peoples where the Lord your God has scattered you... And the Lord your God will bring you into the land that your fathers possessed, that you may possess it. And he will make you more prosperous and numerous than your fathers. And the Lord your God will circumcise your heart and the heart of your offspring, so that you will love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul, that you may live. —Deuteronomy 30:1-3, 5-6, emphasis mine
Now compare that text to Jeremiah’s prophecy.
Then you will call upon me and come and pray to me, and I will hear you. You will seek me and find me, when you seek me with all your heart. I will be found by you, declares the Lord, and I will restore your fortunes and gather you from all the nations and all the places where I have driven you, declares the Lord, and I will bring you back to the place from which I sent you into exile. —Jeremiah 29:12-14, emphasis mine
As one author notes:
Jeremiah was given a beautiful revelation of the restoration of Israel, full of hope, all under the banner of a new covenant that God would establish with his people through Messiah (Jer 29-33). Yet he recognizes that Moses had already pointed to these new covenant realities, and so he openly draws lines of connection back to Deut 30. —Seth Postell, pp. 35–36 (see below)
The examples above specifically demonstrate OT writers quoting/referencing earlier OT passages in order to develop Messianic themes. The resurrected Lord would demand that all Bible interpreters follow this very same principle:
For if you believed Moses, you would believe me; for he wrote of me. —John 5:46
Then he said to them, “These are my words that I spoke to you while I was still with you, that everything written about me in the Law of Moses and the Prophets and the Psalms must be fulfilled.” Then he opened their minds to understand the Scriptures, and said to them, “Thus it is written, that the Christ should suffer and on the third day rise from the dead, and that repentance and forgiveness of sins should be proclaimed in his name to all nations, beginning from Jerusalem.” —Luke 24:44-47
Jeremiah and Jesus follow and teach the biblical principle that we should look for (and expect to find) Messiah throughout the OT (John 5:46; Luke 24:44-47). We will unpack this principle in much greater detail in Lesson 7. For now, we need only observe that Jeremiah and Jesus both follow the Bible's own hermeneutic in interpreting earlier Scripture and demand that we do the same.
The Old Testament’s Use of the Old Testament for Messianic Jewish ApologeticspdfFor further study on how the Old Testament uses the Old Testament, consider this resource. This article is found on p. 30-40 of the linked PDF.