Midrash sa Jeremias 31:8: Devarim Rabbah, Kohelet Rabbah, Aggadat Bereshit & Midrash Tanchuma

Another matter: “You will return to the Lord your God” – there is nothing greater than repentance. There was incident where our Rabbis, Rabbi Eliezer, Rabbi Yehoshua, and Rabban Gamliel, were in Rome. The Emperor’s ministers issued an edict, saying: Within thirty days there will not be a Jew in the entire world.⁵¹This decree, which was not announced to the public, was set to take effect in thirty days. One of the ministers of the king feared Heaven. He came to Rabban Gamliel and revealed the matter to him. The Rabbis were very upset. That one who feared Heaven said to them: ‘Do not be upset. Within thirty days, the God of the Jews will stand with them.’ After twenty-five days, he revealed the matter to his wife. She said to him: ‘Twenty-five days have passed.’ He said to her: ‘Five more days.’ His wife was more righteous than he. She said to him: ‘Do you not have a ring?⁵²The ministers wore rings with a hollow containing poison (see Matnot Kehuna). Suck on it and die. The ministers’ [meetings] will be suspended for thirty more days in your [honor], and the edict will be annulled.’⁵³The Romans had a policy that if one of the ministers died, their meetings would be suspended for thirty days, and any edicts that had been decreed but not yet put into effect would be cancelled (Etz Yosef). He heeded her, sucked his ring, and died. Our Rabbis heard and went to his wife to console her. Our Rabbis said: ‘Pity for a ship that set sail and did not remit the tariff’; in other words, this righteous man was not circumcised. His wife said to them: ‘I know what you are saying, but, as you live, the ship did not pass before it remitted its tariff.’ She immediately entered an inner room and brought out to them a box containing the foreskin with blood-soaked rags placed upon it. Our Rabbis read this verse in his regard: “Ministers of the peoples have assembled, the people of the God of Abraham. For the shields of the earth belong to God; He is greatly exalted” (Psalms 47:10). What is “shields of the earth”? The Holy One blessed be He said to Abraham: ‘I have become a powerful shield,’ as it is stated: “I am a shield for you” (Genesis 15:1) – for this one, I will become many shields.⁵⁴The Rabbis said this as though from God’s perspective, about the deceased minister, thereby comparing him favorably to Abraham. How so? The Holy One blessed be He said to Abraham: “I will render you a great nation and I will bless you and I will render your name great” (Genesis 12:2), and then he circumcised himself, but to this one I promised nothing. What is, “he is greatly exalted”? He is more greatly exalted than Abraham.
Another matter: “You will return to the Lord your God” – Rabbi Shmuel Peragrita said in the name of Rabbi Meir: To what is the matter comparable? It is to a king’s son who took to evil ways, and the king would send his tutor after him and say to him:⁵⁵The tutor would speak to the prince on behalf of the king. ‘Repent, my son.’ The son would send him, and said to his father: ‘How can I have the audacity to return? I am ashamed before you.’ His father would send [the tutor] and [have him] say to [his son]: ‘My son, is there a son who is ashamed to return to his father? If you return, will you not be returning to your father?’ So, the Holy One blessed be He sent Jeremiah to Israel when they sinned, and He said to him: ‘Go and say to My children: Repent.’ From where is this derived? As it is stated: “Go, and proclaim these matters…[repent, deviant Israel]” (Jeremiah 3:12). Israel would say to Jeremiah: ‘How can we have the audacity to return to the Holy One blessed be He?’ From where is this derived? As it is stated: “We will lie in our shame, and our humiliation will cover us, [as we have sinned to the Lord our God]” (Jeremiah 3:25). The Holy One blessed be He would send [Jeremiah] and say [to Israel]: ‘If you repent, will you not be returning to your Father?’ From where is this derived? “For I have been a Father to Israel…” (Jeremiah 31:8). Rabbi Azarya said: The Holy One blessed be He said to Jeremiah: ‘Go and say to Israel: As you live, I am not renouncing you. You said to Me at Sinai: “My innards yearn for Him” (Song of Songs 5:4); this is what I too say to you.’ From where is this derived? As it is stated: “Is Ephraim a dear son to Me…[My innards yearn for him]” (Jeremiah 31:19).

“And the earth abides forever” (Ecclesiastes 1:4). Rabbi Yehoshua ben Korḥa said: The verse should have said only: “The earth passes and the earth comes, but the generation abides forever.”²⁸This would indicate that the earth is transient, and the people last forever. Which was created for the sake of the other, was the earth created for the sake of the generation, or was the generation created for the sake of the earth? Was it not the earth [that was created] for the sake of the generation? Rather, because the generation did not perform the duties [assigned to it by] the Holy One blessed be He; therefore, it wastes away. The earth, because it performs the duties [assigned to it by] the Holy One blessed be He; therefore, it does not waste away.
Rabbi Shimon ben Yoḥai said: It is written: “For like the days of the tree will be the days of My people” (Isaiah 65:22). Tree means nothing other than Torah, as it is stated: “It is a tree of life for those who grasp it” (Proverbs 3:18). Which was created for the sake of the other; the Torah for the sake of Israel, or Israel for the sake of the Torah? Was it not the Torah [that was created] for the sake of Israel? Rather, the Torah that was created for the sake of Israel exists for ever and ever; Israel, for whose sake [everything] was created, all the more so. Rabbi Yitzḥak said: A kingdom enters and a kingdom leaves, but Israel stands forever; that is: “The earth abides forever.” Rabbi Shmuel in the name of Rabbi Pelatya of Naveh derived it from this verse: “Yehonatan son of Gershom son of Menashe, he and his sons were priests for the tribe of Dan until the day of the exile of the land” (Judges 18:30). Does a land go into exile or wander? Rather, these are Israel, who are called land, as it is stated: “All nations will praise you; as you will be a land of delight” (Malachi 3:12) – you will be called a land of delight.
Rabbi Berekhya said in the name of Rabbi Shimon ben Lakish: Everything that the Holy One blessed be He created in man, He created its parallel for the earth. Man has a head and the earth has a head [rosh], as it is stated: “[He had not yet made earth and fields, or] the beginning [rosh] of the dust of the world” (Proverbs 8:26). Man has eyes [einayim] and the earth has eyes, as it is stated: “They will cover the face [ein] of the earth” (Exodus 10:5). A person has ears and the earth has ears, as it is stated: “Listen, earth” (Isaiah 1:2). Man has a mouth and the earth has a mouth, as it is stated: “The earth opened its mouth” (Numbers 16:32). Man eats and the earth eats, as it is stated: “A land that consumes its inhabitants” (Numbers 13:32). Man drinks and the earth drinks, as it is stated: “[But the land]…by the rain of the heavens it drinks water” (Deuteronomy 11:11). Man vomits and the earth vomits, as it is stated: “So the land will not vomit [you out]” (Leviticus 18:28). Man has hands and the earth has hands [yadayim], as it is stated: “The land is spacious [raḥavat yadayim]” (Genesis 34:21). Man has thighs and the earth has thighs [yerekhayim], as it is stated: “I will gather them from the ends [miyarketei] of the earth” (Jeremiah 31:8). Man has a navel [tabbur] and the earth has a navel, as it is stated: “Dwellers in the middle of [betabbur] the earth” (Ezekiel 38:12). Man has nakedness and the earth has nakedness, as it is stated: “To see the nakedness of the land you have come” (Genesis 42:9). Man has feet and the earth has feet, as it is stated: “And the earth abides [omadet] forever” (Ecclesiastes 1:4).²⁹The term omadet literally means standing, implying that it has feet.
What is omadet? Ma’amedet. Rabbi Aḥa and the Rabbis, Rabbi Aḥa said: It fulfills [ma’amedet] its duties. The Rabbis said: It produces [ma’amedet] its food. Rabbi Shimon ben Yosei ben Lakoneya said: Because in this world a person builds a building and another spends time in it, [a person] plants a sapling and another eats [its produce]. But in the future, they will not build and another will settle, they will not plant and another will eat, as it is stated: “For like the days of the tree will be the days of My people, and My chosen will outlive their handicraft” (Isaiah 65:22).

[3] And another explanation: The son Ephraim is dear to me [said God]. All of Israel is called by the name of Ephraim, as it is said, "For I have become a father to Israel, and Ephraim is my firstborn" (Jeremiah 31:9). And so in many places, the Holy One, blessed be He, says, "Ephraim is dear to me; they are held in high esteem before me." Our Rabbis said that even if Pharaoh had demanded a hundred talents of silver for every Jewish soul, the Holy One, blessed be He, would have given it to him, and if He had not, He would have taken vengeance on their behalf, as it is said, "Lest you try to purchase [protection from the nations]" (Deuteronomy 7:2). And when they made the Golden Calf, the Holy One, blessed be He, wanted to do to them what He had done to the generation of the Flood, as it is said, "Let me alone [so that I may destroy them and blot out their name from under heaven]" (Exodus 32:10). And in the generation of the Flood, it is written, "I will blot out man [whom I have created] from the face of the earth" (Genesis 6:7). And He was speaking to Moses about how to destroy them, but once Moses said to Him, "Remember Abraham" (Exodus 32:13), the Holy One, blessed be He, remembered and said, "If so, then I will return." Immediately, "the Lord relented [from the evil that He had planned to do to His people]" (Exodus 32:14), and the ministers of the nations came close to Him and said, "If you disappoint [us], You have said that You would blot out their name from under heaven like the generation of the Flood who corrupted their ways," as it is said, "And God saw the earth, and behold, it was corrupt" (Genesis 6:12). And [the ministers of the nations said], "They did the same thing; You told Moses to go down, for Your people have become corrupt" (Exodus 32:7), yet You do not do what You say. He [God] said to them, "No." And Moses said, "The Lord also listened to me at that time" (Deuteronomy 9:19), even though I said that I would return to You, from whom do I have anything to fear and who will absolve [me]? As it is said, "I will not execute the fierceness of My anger" (Hosea 11:9). And why is Ephraim called "my son, my firstborn" (Jeremiah 31:9)? Because I said to Moses, "Let Me alone," but I remembered him and remembered his ancestors and forgave [Israel] for their sake. Therefore, Habakkuk said, "I have heard Your report and am awed, O Lord" (Habakkuk 3:2).