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“Hear the word of the LORD, O nations, and declare it in the coastlands far away; say, ‘He who scattered Israel will gather him, and will keep him as a shepherd keeps his flock.’—Jeremiah 31:10 (ESV)
Why is the masculine pronoun "him" used to describe Israel in this passage? Why doesn't Jeremiah refer to the people of Israel with the plural pronoun "them"?
This answer offers a subtle but significant adjustment to Joseph's helpful offering.
OP's main question is:
Why is the masculine pronoun "him" used to describe Israel in this passage?
The central answer to this question is that "Israel" is always "masculine, singular" in biblical Hebrew. One of the basic studies of this phenomenon is by J.J. Schmitt, who writes:1
The Hebrew Bible does not know a feminine Israel. The dictionaries consistently and coherently give the gender of Israel as masculine. In the tradition the word 'Israel' names a people. Names of peoples are masculine, while names of countries are feminine.
And, it can be added, cities are "feminine", which accounts for the depiction of Jerusalem as "Daughter Zion" (among others) in the Hebrew Bible.2 This is often a helpful "diagnostic" when reading prophetic texts, in fact: cities have feminine referents (see, e.g., Ezekiel 16 and 23 for prominent examples), while masculine referents are used for "peoples" (what we would think of as "nations").3
So, in this sense, it does not matter that "Jacob" lies behind the name "Israel", although in this passage, there is as it happens a fair degree of alteration between these two in verses 1-14, the section in which this verse (31:10) appears.
Excursus - There is one apparent exception, the phrase בְּתוּלַת יִשְׂרָאֵל (bĕtûlat yiśrāʾēl) often translated "Virgin Israel", or the like. It is found only four times in the Hebrew Bible: Amos 5:2; Jer. 18:13; 31:4, and 21. Schmitt devotes some technical discussion to this (p. 119), considering it either to be an "appositional genetive" (cf. Gesenius-Kautzsch-Cowley, §128k) in which the gender of noun and adjective are not shared, or as extending the "city" imagery present in each context. However you slice it, it remains somewhat "novel", and in no way typical.
In sum, "Israel" will typically be referred to as "he", and even in this chapter there are quite a few other examples. Where English translations offer "them", it is because they are more interested in accommodating to English style (making concessions to the "target" language) than representing the pattern present in the Hebrew text (the "source" language).
Notes
Verse 10 starts a paragraph in the Hebrew, and the following verse (v. 11) mentions "Jacob" in parallel... That is, Israel = Jacob, which is a masculine name. So the context of verses 10-11 refers to the faithful remnant of Israelites in both the northern and southern kingdoms (="Jacob"), who will be reestablished through the New Covenant (Jer 31:31).
In other words, "Jacob" is masculine, which refers to the faithful remnant in both the northern kingdom and southern kingdom, and so the pronouns for "Israel" in that chapter are masculine in gender.
I think the use of the male pronoun casts Israel into an image of God's loved 'son'. It is the same but maybe more clearly used here:
When Israel was a child, I loved him, and out of Egypt I called my son. (Ho 11:1, ESV)
I am very surprised at your comment Israel is male , Hos 2:1-4 have the 10 tribes of Israel as the son Jezreel, then Judah as feminine , Hos 2;2 have israel as the mother , then in Hos 2;19-20 as the bride.
2 Kgs 19:21 This is the word that the LORD hath spoken concerning him; The virgin the daughter of Zion hath despised thee, laughed thee to scorn; the daughter of Jerusalem hath shaken her head at thee.
Math 21:5 Tell the daughter of Zion behold your King is coming John 12:15 Fear not, daughter of Sion: behold, thy King comes, sitting on an ass's colt. Luke 23:28 O daughters of Jerusalem do not weep for me but weep yourselves.
Are you saying that is not Israel, and then we have Israel as the bride of John 3:29
John 3:29 He who has the bride is the bridegroom; but the friend of the bridegroom, who stands and hears him, rejoices greatly because of the bridegroom's voice. Therefore this joy of mine is fulfilled.
That can only be Israel as there are no Gentiles at this stage, see Math 10:5-7 and 15:24
Hope to hear from you , Doug Belot .
Because men wrote the Bible. In Exodus 4:22 "Then you shall say to Pharaoh, 'Israel is my first born SON'".
Jeremiah 3:8 " Because Rebel Israel had committed adultery, I cast HER off and handed HER a bill of divorce..."
When Israel does right Israel is male, when Israel does wrong Israel is female. Hmmmmmmmm.....
Or perhaps: Hosea 11:1 "When Israel was a child I loved HIM, and called my SON out of Egypt...."
Contrasted with: Jeremiah 31:22 "How long will you wander Unfaithful DAUGHTER ISRAEL?"
