Deeper Commentary
Jeremiah 32:1 The word that came to Jeremiah from Yahweh in the
tenth year of Zedekiah king of Judah, which was the eighteenth year of
Nebuchadnezzar- The siege began in the ninth year (Jer. 39:1).
But the Babylonians temporarily left Jerusalem to deal with the Egyptians
(Jer. 37:5), and Jeremiah tried to leave Jerusalem. But he was arrested,
falsely accused and imprisoned, as Jer. 37 explains. The book of Jeremiah
isn't chronological; Jer. 32 speaks of his time in prison.
Jeremiah 32:2 Now at that time the king of Babylon’s army was besieging
Jerusalem; and Jeremiah the prophet was shut up in the court of the guard,
which was in the king of Judah’s house- Although the Babylonians had
generally left Jerusalem to fight the Egyptians (Jer. 37:5), they clearly
left some of their army outside Jerusalem. "The court of the guard"
doesn't mean that "the guard" were there; but rather that it was a section
of the Palace court where prisoners were guarded.
Jeremiah 32:3 For Zedekiah king of Judah had shut him up saying, Why do
you prophesy and say, Thus says Yahweh, Behold, I will give this city into
the hand of the king of Babylon, and he shall take it- The message of
Jeremiah was countercultural, and exactly the opposite of what people
wanted to hear; and therefore in direct collision with the message of the
false prophets. We are in a similar position with the message we speak in
the last days.
Jeremiah 32:4 And Zedekiah king of Judah shall not escape out of the hand
of the Chaldeans, but shall surely be delivered into the hand of the king
of Babylon, and shall speak with him mouth to mouth, and his eyes shall
see his eyes- Zedekiah's response to a message he didn't want to
accept was to shoot the messenger and discredit him. That is the same
basic human response to the incisive personal challenge of God's word.
That is why there is so much attempt to discredit the Bible. No matter how
politely worded and with what apparent sophistication and eloquence, this
is the same basic mindset as Zedekiah's desire to discredit Jeremiah.
Jer. 34:5 says that "You shall die in peace; and with the burnings of your fathers, the former kings who were before you, so shall they make a burning for you; and they shall lament you saying, Ah Lord!". It surely has to be recognized that the ‘prophecy’ that Zedekiah would die in peace was conditional upon his obedience to the word of Jeremiah- even though those conditions aren’t recorded (although they are implicit surely).
Jeremiah 32:5 And he shall bring Zedekiah to Babylon, and he shall be
there until I visit him, says Yahweh: though you fight with the Chaldeans,
you shall not prosper?- This 'visiting' was related to Zedekiah's
repentance. He had earlier been told he would be killed, but in fact he
died in peace and with respect (Jer. 34:5). This was presumably due to his
repentance. God's 'visiting' him, His involvement in his life, was in
response to that repentance; but it could also have been in giving him
repentance. See on Jer. 31:18. It's as if God's purpose is somewhat like a
navigation system; depending upon where we ourselves drive, the route to
the intended destination is continually recalculated.
Jeremiah 32:6 Jeremiah said, The word of Yahweh came to me saying-
The response to Zedekiah's opposition was not in further condemnation of
him, but rather in repeated reassurance that for those open to it, the
prophetic word of the restored kingdom was going to come about- no matter
how unlikely that might immediately seem.
Jeremiah 32:7 Behold, Hanamel the son of Shallum your uncle shall come to
you, saying, Buy my field that is in Anathoth; for the right of redemption
is yours to buy it- Jeremiah was a priest, so Hanamel also was likely
a priest. But they were forbidden to own property. This strange command
was therefore to demonstrate the degree to which truly the old covenant
had been ended because Israel had broken the contract, and those who
wished could accept the new one (Jer. 31:31,32). This would explain why in
:8 Jeremiah appears to have been given some special reassurance that "then
I knew that this was the word of Yahweh".
Jeremiah 32:8 So Hanamel my uncle’s son came to me in the court of the
guard according to the word of Yahweh, and said to me, Please buy my field
that is in Anathoth, which is in the land of Benjamin; for the right of
inheritance is yours, and the redemption is yours; buy it for yourself-
As explained on :7, this was illegal for Jeremiah under the old covenant,
for the priests were to have no "inheritance".
But that covenant had been broken and therefore ended. This is why
Jeremiah now receives special confirmation that truly, this request to buy
property was "the word of Yahweh". For God speaks to us through
situations.
Then I knew that this was the word of Yahweh- Peter knew that if it really was the Lord Jesus out there on the water, then He would bid him walk on the water to Him. Peter knew his Lord, and the sort of things He would ask men to do- the very hardest things for them in their situation. He knew how Jesus could be a demanding Lord. Likewise Jeremiah “knew that this was the word of the Lord” when he was asked to do something so humanly senseless- to buy property when he was in prison, when the land was clearly about to be overrun by the Babylonians.
Jeremiah 32:9 I bought the field that was in Anathoth of Hanamel my
uncle’s son, and weighed him the money, even seventeen shekels of silver-
This cheap price reflects the collapse of value in property due to
the war. We wonder from where the imprisoned Jeremiah had this money. He
presumably had access to some level of wealth, and had the silver brought
to him in the prison. We can imagine how many people would have remarked
upon his apparent foolishness. News of the transaction would have spread
widely, and would have been a powerful testament to his faith in the
fulfillment of his prophecies.
Jeremiah 32:10 I subscribed the deed, and sealed it, and called witnesses,
and weighed him the money in the balances- As noted on :9, this was
a major testimony to faith in the prophetic word of restoration. This
explains the emphasis in the record on witnesses and the public, legally
attested nature of the transaction. Our lifestyles likewise should be
public testimony to the fact that like Noah, we are living not for today,
but structuring our life decisions around the future realities we believe
in.
Jeremiah 32:11 So I took the deed of the purchase, both that which was
sealed, containing the terms and conditions, and that which was open-
“Contracts stamped upon clay tablets have been found in Babylonia,
enclosed in an envelope of clay, on the outside of which an exact
duplicate of the contract was impressed: if in course of time any
disagreement arose, and it was suspected that the outside text had been
tampered with, the envelope was broken in the presence of witnesses to see
if the inside text agreed with it or not. Earthen jars containing such
duplicate contracts have been excavated at Nippur". But see on :14. The
LXX gives a different possibility, speaking of "this book of the purchase,
and the book that has been read" (:14 LXX). The idea would be that the
record of the purchase was to be stored together with the prophetic word
of restoration. The prophetic word was to make the deed of purchase to
have value once again. The expectation was therefore that the exile would
be short, and Jeremiah and the Jews would return from it and enjoy a
period of great economic prosperity during which the property would become
very valuable. But this didn't happen. For the restoration was conditional
upon Judah's repentance, as the covenant agreement made clear in Lev. 26.
Ez. 4 speaks of a 40 year exile for Judah; Jeremiah speaks of a 70 year
period, but Daniel 9 explains that due to lack of repentance, this has
been extended to a 70 x 7 period, and Daniel would not live to see the
restoration. And yet Ezekiel's appeals to the first exiles to repent seems
to imply that they had they done so, further deportations need not have
happened, and the restoration would've happened sooner. So we see the
flexibility of God's purpose- conditional upon repentance. We see the same
with the death of Adam "in the day you eat" the fruit being delayed, and
the destruction of Nineveh being abrogated. God is open to man and so
sensitive to human repentance. And despite their impenitence, He sent with
a mighty arm to restore them anyway through the decree of Cyrus. But even
then they refused the Divine attempt to as it were almost force through
His saving purpose with His people. He is not passive nor indifferent,
despite the steely silence of the skies. He desperately wants our
salvation despite our weakness. And He at times deals with human sin and
impenitence in ways other than simply demanding our repentance. He
overlooks sin, remembers we are dust, a wind that passes away; pities us
as children. For any relationship in practice depends upon overlooking
failure rather than insisting upon specific repentance for every failure.
And we are to forgive others as we are forgiven. That is a foundation
principle of the believing life.
Jeremiah 32:12 And I delivered the deed of the purchase to Baruch the son
of Neriah, the son of Mahseiah, in the presence of Hanamel my uncle’s son,
and in the presence of the witnesses who subscribed the deed of the
purchase, before all the Jews who sat in the court of the guard- Adam
Clarke offers a slight variation upon the suggestion made on :11: "A
duplicate of the deed was drawn, which was not to be sealed, but to lie
open for the inspection of those concerned in some public place where it
might be safe and always to be seen. The original, which was sealed up,
was put in an earthen pitcher in order to be preserved from accidents.
This was delivered by the purchaser into the hands of a third party, to be
preserved for the use of the purchaser, and witnesses were called to
attest this delivery. They subscribed the book of the purchase, perhaps a
town book, or register, where such purchases were entered. Baruch was a
scribe by profession; and the deeds were delivered into his hands, before
witnesses, to be preserved as above. Perhaps the law, in this case,
required that the instrument should be thus lodged. But, in the present
case, both the deeds, the original and the duplicate, were put into the
earthen pitcher because the city was about to be burnt; and if lodged as
usual, they would be destroyed in the general conflagration". In this
case, we see again Jeremiah's faith in the fall of Jerusalem which he had
prophesied.
Jeremiah 32:13 I commanded Baruch before them, saying- As explained
on :12, this departure from usual custom was because Jeremiah believed
Jerusalem was about to be burnt and all such records would be lost. The
people apparently agreed to this, because it was tacitly obvious that
Jeremiah's words about Jerusalem were going to be fulfilled.
Jeremiah 32:14 Thus says Yahweh of Armies, the God of Israel: Take these
deeds, this deed of the purchase which is sealed, and this deed which is
open, and put them in an earthen vessel; that they may continue many days-
See on :11,12. However, the Hebrew translated "open" is the word for
"exile", literally 'to be denuded', and thence 'to go into captivity'. If
the need was simply to express the fact that a copy of the contract was
visible to all, a different word would have been more appropriate. But
this word is the one used for 'carrying away into captivity' (Jer. 29:7,14
and very often). So the idea may be that a copy of the deed was to be
taken into captivity, and the sealed copy left in Jerusalem. This witness
to faith in restoration was to be with the captives.
Jeremiah 32:15 For thus says Yahweh of Armies, the God of Israel: Houses
and fields and vineyards shall yet again be bought in this land- The
idea was that this would be the situation in the restored Kingdom of God
in Israel which Jeremiah was prophesying. But here we read of buying for
money, deeds, witnesses etc. The kingdom which was then possible was still
somewhat human; the ultimate restoration of the Kingdom will not feature
these things, and so we have to again conclude that the message of a
restored kingdom was reapplied, reinterpreted and rescheduled to the last
days. And not every detail of the original prophecies will therefore
literally come about.
Jeremiah 32:16 Now after I had delivered the deed of the purchase to
Baruch the son of Neriah, I prayed to Yahweh, saying- What follows,
climaxing in :24 and :25, is again Jeremiah's struggle with God. He had
been obedient, apparently for the sake of being obedient to a Divine
command, but he struggled with how ever this could come true. Despite all
the prophecies of the restoration which had already come through his
mouth. This tension between theoretical knowledge and personal,
enthusiastic belief in the truths contained therein remains the struggle
within every believer of all ages. And realizing this we marvel the more
at the Lord as "the word made flesh".
Jeremiah 32:17 Ah Lord Yahweh! Behold, You have made the heavens and the
earth by Your great power and by Your outstretched arm; there is nothing
too hard for You-
As
noted on :16, Jeremiah here struggles between what he knows theoretically,
and accepting that spending his money on something which seemed ludicrous
and fruitless was actually God's will. God will quote back his words to
him in :27, asking him to believe in practice what he knew theoretically
to be true. And we are invited to do so likewise through the
experiences brought into our lives. Perhaps with later reflection (see on
:25), Jeremiah realized that he had inadvertently quoted the words of
God in reminding a likewise doubting Abraham and Sarah: "Is anything too hard for the Lord?" (Gen.
18:14). And the Hebrew word translated "hard" is that usually translated
"wonder". In our moments of wonder, and as the afterglow of them permeates
our lives, it becomes easier to believe that nothing is too wonderful for
our God of wonders to do for us. For He
is the God who does wonders, He
is wonderful and awesome. Jeremiah
theoretically learnt the lesson from God's words to Abraham and Sarah; for
he alludes to it here. But God has to remind him
soon afterwards in Jer. 32:26,27: "Then came the word of the Lord unto
Jeremiah, saying, Behold, I am the LORD, the God of all flesh:
is there any thing too hard [wonderful] for me?". We think we
know all about wonder, when actually we don't. Our lack of total faith
shows that we do indeed think God's wonder is limited. Because something
is hard / marvellous in our eyes doesn't mean it is in God's eyes (Zech.
8:6).
Jeremiah 32:18 Who show loving kindness to thousands, and recompense the
iniquity of the fathers into the bosom of their children after them; the
great, the mighty God, Yahweh of Armies is His name- His mention of
the sins of the fathers affecting their children seems dangerously close
to the very complaint of Israel which he had rebuked in Jer. 31:30.
Jeremiah here himself has something of Israel's wrong attitude, even
though he theoretically knew that the children were suffering for
committing the same sins as the fathers. We can know such truths in theory
and yet struggle to accept them in practice.
Jeremiah 32:19 Great in counsel, and mighty in working; whose eyes are
open upon all the ways of the sons of men, to give each one according to
his ways, and according to the fruit of his doings- Jeremiah had no
problem in believing that God judges sin; but he finds it harder to
believe in grace, and in the promised restoration. For he seems to think
that God's judgment of sin surely precluded a restoration in which he
would actually own the property he had just bought. We likewise struggle
to believe the good news that seems too good to believe, preferring to
wallow in the things of sin and its judgment.
Jeremiah 32:20 Who performed signs and wonders in the land of Egypt, even
to this day, both in Israel and among other men; and made Yourself a name,
as it is at this day- This is powerful proof that the concept of the
Name of God is far more than simply a word, a lexical item, "Yahweh". It
is primitive to then argue about the pronunciation of that word as if that
is what the Name is all about. The Name was "made" progressively over time
and the experience of God in the lives of me. It is however more than
simply a reputation acquired in history. Verses 18 and 19 have listed some
of the characteristics of the Name as it was declared to Moses in Ex. 34.
It is the articulation of that Name in history, in the very human history
of individual lives and hearts as well as in the path of nations, which
progressively builds up the glory of that Name; and it came to its acme in
the death of His Son on the cross.
Jeremiah 32:21 And brought forth Your people Israel out of the land of
Egypt with signs, wonders, a strong hand, an outstretched arm and with
great terror- The exodus from Egypt was presented in Isaiah and by
allusion in Jeremiah as the template for Judah's restoration from Babylon.
But with the Babylonians outside the city gates, it all seemed too hard to
believe for Jeremiah; that he too would be exiled but restored. This is
the limitation of any total or misplaced focus upon true theology, correct
doctrine. It may all be true; but grasping correct theology is not the
same as personal faith- that this is and shall be true for me. The wonder
was that God brought Israel out from Egypt when they themselves didn't
want to leave [Ex. 14:12 "Isn’t this the word that we spoke to you in
Egypt, saying, ‘Leave us alone, that we may serve the Egyptians?’ For it
were better for us to serve the Egyptians, than that we should die in the
wilderness"]; just as the exiles in Babylon were settled and at ease (as
in the book of Esther), and had to be brought out by God almost forcing
through His purpose.
Jeremiah 32:22 And gave them this land, which You swore to their fathers
to give them, a land flowing with milk and honey- Jeremiah knew the
theoretical truth, that God could give His people the land as He had done
historically, by amazing miracles. But he was being asked to believe that
he personally would have an inheritance, a real tangible plot of land, in
the restored Kingdom. For he tacitly realizes that God could again give
Israel their land. But he falters when it comes to personally believing
that he will be there, and that it will be personally real to him. So it
can be for us. We may be able to fluently and confidently proclaim that
the Kingdom of God shall be established on this earth, furnishing clear
Bible proofs for it. But do we believe that we personally shall be there?
This was the struggle of Jeremiah at this point, and surely it is not
unknown to us.
Jeremiah 32:23 And they came in, and possessed it, but they didn’t obey
Your voice, neither walked in Your law; they have done nothing of all that
You commanded them to do: therefore You have caused all this evil to come
on them- It seems that Jeremiah considered the sins of Israel so
great that the promised restoration wouldn't happen, and therefore buying
a property in the hope of such restoration was foolishness. Israel were
obedient to parts of the Mosaic legislation, and yet here Jeremiah claims
that "they have done nothing of all that You commanded them". He correctly
understood that obeying bits and pieces of a religious code, subscribing
to some kind of spiritual culture in some parts of human life, is in fact
'nothing'. This will not save anyone; and that again is a challenge to us
all. For over time, our faith does have elements of religion and culture
within it. To break one part of the Mosaic law was to break all of it
(James 2:10). And so in fact nobody apart from the Lord Jesus did anything
of that which was commanded. The only way to salvation therefore was from
a new covenant- the very offer God had just made in Jer. 31:32,33.
Jeremiah 32:24 Behold, the siege mounds, they have come to the city to
take it; and the city is given into the hand of the Chaldeans who fight
against it, because of the sword, and of the famine, and of the
pestilence; and what You have spoken has happened; and behold, You see it-
"Behold" is asking God to 'see' the current realities as if He didn't
see them; but the sentence concludes with accepting that "You see it". The
theme of this section is that Jeremiah through his struggles with God, and
having the courage to articulate them in words, comes to the right
conclusions. God's response to him is merely confirming what Jeremiah had
already come to perceive. This happens in our lives too.
Jeremiah 32:25 You have said to me, Lord Yahweh, Buy the field for money,
and call witnesses; whereas the city is given into the hand of the
Chaldeans- Jeremiah stops short of charging God with folly, as we
should. But he openly expresses his struggle with being asked to spend his
money, perhaps all his savings and wealth, on what seemed to be pointless.
Perhaps he stops short here, in mid sentence almost, because the answer
was already clear to him- if indeed God could do all things, then He could
restore Judah so that this purchase would be worthwhile and Jeremiah could
enjoy his purchase. And as often happens with us, God's subsequent word to
him simply confirmed to him the truth of the conclusion he had internally
reached, unspoken, unarticulated as it was.
Jeremiah 32:26 Then came the word of Yahweh to Jeremiah saying- As
explained on :16,17, God is
asking him to believe in practice what he knew theoretically to be true.
Jeremiah 32:27 Behold, I am Yahweh, the God of all flesh: is there
anything too hard for Me?- See on :17.
God
quotes back Jeremiah's words of :17, asking him to believe in practice what he
knew theoretically to be true. And we are invited to do so likewise
through the experiences brought into our lives. See on Jer. 33:3.
Jeremiah 32:28 Therefore thus says Yahweh: Behold, I will give this city
into the hand of the Chaldeans, and into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar king
of Babylon, and he shall take it- God repeats word for word what was
in Jeremiah's mind. This is the way His word works, taking our thoughts
and fears right out of our minds.
Jeremiah 32:29 And the Chaldeans who now fight against this city shall
come and set this city on fire and burn it, with the houses on whose roofs
they have offered incense to Baal, and poured out drink offerings to other
gods, so as to provoke Me to anger-
The
rejected are witnesses against themselves (Is. 44:9; Mt. 23:31). Herein
lies the crass folly and illogicality of sin. Jeremiah pleaded with
Israel: "Wherefore commit ye this great evil against your souls [i.e.
yourselves], to cut off from you man and woman...that ye might cut
yourselves off" (Jer. 44:7,8, cp. how Jerusalem cut her own hair off in
Jer. 7:29). In the same passage, Yahweh is the one who does the cutting
off (Jer. 44:11); but they had cut themselves off. Likewise as they had
kindled fire on their roofs in offering sacrifices to Baal, so Yahweh
through the Babylonians would set fire to those same houses (Jer. 32:29).
Thus Israel were the ones who had kindled the fire of Yahweh's
condemnation (Jer. 17:4). Both Yahweh and Israel are described as kindling
the fire of judgment; He responded to what they had done (Jer. 11:16;
15:14; Lam. 4:11 cp. Jer. 17:4).
Jeremiah 32:30 For the children of Israel and the children of Judah have
done only that which was evil in My sight from their youth; for the
children of Israel have only provoked Me to anger with the work of their
hands, says Yahweh- God is agreeing with Jeremiah about the
sinfulness of His people. "They have only provoked me" agrees
with Jeremiah's claim that they had done nothing of that which was
commanded them (:23). God at great length portrays the sinfulness of His
people; but in order to lead up to the overpowering wonder of the way that
He, the God who can do anything, can forgive and restore even such people.
Jeremiah balked at this, just as we may encounter someone so mixed up in
their mind with addictions and other issues that we wonder whether they
can ever be psychologically healed. It's as if God goes through all their
problems, agreeing with us that they are indeed incurable- and then cures
them by His Spirit working in the innermost mind and heart of men.
Jeremiah 32:31 For this city has been to Me a provocation of My anger and
of My wrath from the day that they built it even to this day; that I
should remove it from before My face- Jerusalem was first built by
Jews at the time of David and Solomon, and it seems that even from that
time it provoked Him to wrath, and He wanted to remove it from His
presence. The historical record is therefore very gracious in not
recording all the idolatry which was ongoing there even in those times.
Jeremiah 32:32 Because of all the evil of the children of Israel and of
the children of Judah, which they have done to provoke Me to anger, they,
their kings, their princes, their priests, and their prophets, and the men
of Judah, and the inhabitants of Jerusalem- And therefore, the king,
princes, priests and false prophets were to be punished through the
Babylonian invasion.
A study of “the princes” of Judah at the time of the
final Babylonian invasion shows that they were not against Jeremiah nor
responding to God’s word (Jer. 26:16; 36:14,19); indeed at one stage they
pulled back from their path of refusing to respond (Jer. 34:10). But “the
princes” were the ones whom Zedekiah feared (Jer. 38:25), and that fear
led him to reject God’s word. And “the princes” were finally condemned for
their weakness (Jer. 32:32); it was they who imprisoned and sought to kill
Jeremiah because ultimately they could not abide his word (Jer. 37:15;
38:14). One person or a very small group can easily lead a whole group,
even of believers, into sin. And so it is that whole groups of people-
even God’s people- can be very fickle.
Jeremiah 32:33 They have turned to Me the back and not the face-
Israel were driven away from God's face / presence because they had
already hid themselves from His face by their sins (Is. 59:2; Jer. 32:33
cp. 33:5). "O Israel, thou hast destroyed thyself" (Hos. 13:9) says it
all.
And though I taught them, rising up early and teaching them, yet they have not listened to receive instruction- Several times God speaks of His rising up early in the morning through the ministry of the prophets, every single day since Israel left Egypt (2 Chron. 36:15; Jer. 7:13,25). The figure is stressed- God Himself rose up early every day to teach and appeal to His people (Jer. 32:33). Alarm clocks have changed our appreciation of this. Have you ever had to make yourself wake up before dawn, without an alarm clock? You can only do it by having a deep internal, subconscious awareness that you must get up early. You don't sleep well, you keep waking up and wondering if it's time to get up. So to make oneself rise up early was easily understood as a figure expressing great mental effort. And God did this every day for centuries...
Jeremiah 32:34 Instead they set their abominations in the house which is
called by My name, to defile it- Ezekiel was given a vision of how
within the holy place, idols were worshipped and even depicted upon the
walls.
Jeremiah 32:35 They built the high places of Baal, which are in the valley
of the son of Hinnom, to cause their sons and their daughters to pass
through the fire to Molech; which I didn’t command them, neither did it
come into My mind, that they should do this abomination, to cause Judah to
sin-
"Neither did it come into My mind" suggests God as it were surprised and
outraged that Israel did these things.
Although God is outside time, this mustn't lead us to conclude that He is
somehow static and unfeeling; He reveals Himself as accommodating Himself
to men to the extent that He has feelings of joy at the moment of our
repentance (consider the Father rushing out to the returning son) and
sorrow and anguish at the times of our apostasy (consider the Almighty
"rising early and sending" the prophets). Although He is outside time, yet
He limits His omniscience (as He evidently limits His omnipotence). It
could even be that although He could see every possible future and
foresee our behaviour well before our birth, He somehow ignores this
possibility. This is why He is described as being disappointed at Israel's
level of response to His love, shocked at their sins, surprised at their
perversions (e.g. Jer. 19:5; 32:35).
Jeremiah 32:36 Now therefore thus says Yahweh the God of Israel,
concerning this city, about which you say, It is given into the hand of
the king of Babylon by the sword, and by the famine, and by the
pestilence- Who is meant by "you" is discussed on :43. It was God who
had 'said' that the city would be given to the Babylonians. But He seems
to here rebuke Jeremiah for having said this to Him. Because His point
was, and is for us too, that focusing solely upon His judgment of sin is
so unbalanced as to be a lack of faith.
Jeremiah 32:37 Behold, I will gather them out of all the countries where I
have driven them in My anger, and in My wrath, and in great indignation;
and I will bring them again to this place, and I will cause them to dwell
safely- Dwelling safely in Jerusalem was a far cry from how things
were at that time, with the city besieged. God's message of restoration
includes within it a complete recognition of their sins and His resultant,
legitimate anger and fury with them. His 'indignance' is all
understandable given the extent of His love; for genuine love cannot exist
in a vacuum. The abuse of that love is going to provoke anger, otherwise
the "love" was not really legitimate and genuine.
Jeremiah 32:38 and they shall be My people, and I will be their God-
This alludes to the promises to Abraham (Gen. 17:8-10) which were the
basis of the new covenant God was now offering His repentant people (:40).
This covenant therefore involved the blessing not only of the land, but if
the new heart of :39. Thus Peter interprets the blessing promised to
Abraham is a turning away of men from their iniquities- far more than
forgiveness, but the power to spiritually change.
Jeremiah 32:39 and I will give them one heart and one way, that they may
fear Me forever, for their good, and of their children after them- As
explained on Jer. 31:33, the new covenant involves God doing a
psychological miracle on the spirit / heart of men through His
Spirit being mixed with their spirit. They were still envisaged as having
"children after them"; the possibility was that this situation could have
arisen for the exiles in a restored Kingdom of God in Israel. Earlier, God
had given His people "one heart" to be obedient (2 Chron. 30:12 s.w.). The
other reference to having "one heart" is when Judah had one heart to make
David their king (1 Chron. 12:38). "David your king" is how the Messianic
ruler of the restored kingdom is described (Ez. 37:24). God was willing to
give them one heart for him. But they didn't repent, and refused to accept
this new covenant. And so it didn't happen; but the essence of the promise
has been reapplied to a new Israel who now can enter this same new
covenant and receive the same gift of the Spirit, and it will come to its
ultimate fulfillment when the Kingdom is fully established on earth at the
Lord's return. But for now, the promise of the Spirit, the new heart which
makes us fear God for our good, is absolutely real. He will put the fear
of Him in our hearts (:40). Israel and Judah had previously taken the same
"way", portrayed in metaphor as the way of sexual addiction and adultery
against their God (s.w. Ez. 23:13). But now they would be given one way,
one worldview, one mindset, which would lead to the things of God's
Kingdom. This is not simply a case of confirming a person in the path they
choose- it is giving people that heart and way, that mental pathway. All
the exiles had to do was be willing to accept it, but they would not do
even that. The power of pride and dislike of change was such that they
didn't want this new heart and spirit; and that is why people today refuse
to accept the movement of the Spirit in their lives.
Jeremiah 32:40 And I will make an everlasting covenant with them, that I
will not turn away from following them, to do them good; and I will put My
fear in their hearts, that they may not depart from Me- See on :39.
God presents Himself in metaphor as following His people, perhaps alluding
to a shepherd following His flock (Am. 7:15). He presents Himself as
servile to His own people, so earnestly desirous is He to give us His fear
in our hearts and to keep us from departing from Him. This relentless
desire of God 'to do us good' is part of what it means to be in the new
covenant with Him. His effort is presented here as being particularly
concerning the state of heart of His people. He so wishes us to be
spiritually minded, and will work through every issue in our lives night
and day in order to achieve this.
Jeremiah 32:41 Yes, I will rejoice over them to do them good, and I will
plant them in this land assuredly with My whole heart and with My whole
soul- God solemnly promises "assuredly" that in truth, His whole
heart and soul is behind doing His people good and saving them into His
reestablished kingdom; see on :40. This is the huge activity operating
upon those within the new covenant. God's entire mental and emotional
activity is focused upon our salvation.
When Israel were so far from God, He foretold the day when "my people will
be gorged with my grace" (Jer. 31:14). The image of gorging upon grace is
yet another reflection of the super-abounding nature of it. And this part
of the new covenant to be made with Israel is true of us today, who have
already entered that same covenant; it's a thought we can dwell upon as we
eat at the Lord's table. And as we do so we can think of how God describes
His feelings in all this: "I will find joy in them and in doing
them good" (Jer. 32:41). God simply loves pouring out such grace.
Let's try to catch something of this spirit of the grace of God. Let's try
to adopt God's perspective. For what does He require more of a man, "but
to do justly, and to love mercy (as God does, Mic. 7:18), and to
walk humbly with your God" (Mic. 6:8)?
Jeremiah 32:42 For thus says Yahweh: Like as I have brought all this great
evil on this people, so will I bring on them all the good that I have
promised them-
Jeremiah 32:43 Fields shall be bought in this land- The power of the
incident would have been if the witnesses and Jeremiah saw Jeremiah
inhabiting the property he had bought, after the people had been restored
to the land. A property then bought dirt cheap during the siege would then
be worth so much more, and the power of the prophetic word would have been
declared. But the restoration didn't happen as was possible, and he died
in exile in Egypt, never receiving the property. He will in some form
receive it, therefore, at the resurrection; when like Daniel he will rise
to stand in his allotted inheritance (Dan. 12:13). So this incident again
serves to demonstrate how much potential was wasted, and the awful human
resistance to God's desire to do them good.
About which you say, It is desolate, without man or animal; it is given into the hand of the Chaldeans- The "you" could refer to Jeremiah, in which case we see him arguing with God, and his words being cited back to him by the God who knows every word and thought. If the "you" refers to the Jews, then we see how on one hand they believed Jeremiah's words about the Chaldean victory, evidence for which was all around them; and yet on the other, they desperately clung to their belief in their idols, hoping against hope that the obvious truth would in fact not be true. This is typical of human nature, and is the sad attitude and belief system which many carry with them to their grave planks.
Jeremiah 32:44 Men shall buy fields for money, and subscribe the deeds,
and seal them, and call witnesses, in the land of Benjamin, and in the
places about Jerusalem, and in the cities of Judah, and in the cities of
the hill country, and in the cities of the lowland, and in the cities of
the South: for I will cause their captivity to return, says Yahweh-
The idea was that this would be the situation in the restored Kingdom of
God in Israel which Jeremiah was prophesying. But here we read of buying
for money, deeds, witnesses etc. The kingdom which was then possible was
still somewhat human; the ultimate restoration of the Kingdom will not
feature these things, and so we have to again conclude that the message of
a restored kingdom was reapplied, reinterpreted and rescheduled to the
last days. And not every detail of the original prophecies will therefore
literally come about.
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