Jeremiah 32
February 8, 2024 5:32 PM
Solitary Man
solitaryman.substack.com
20240208
Jer 32:1 The word that came to Jeremiah from the LORD in the tenth year of Zedekiah king of Judah, which was the eighteenth year of Nebuchadrezzar.
The siege of Jerusalem began in Zedekiah’s 9th year, 10th month (588 BC). It ended in the 11th year, 4th month (Jer 39:1-2). The siege was to last 18 months. There was a delay before the final siege began, as Egypt had come to help, but had now withdrawn, leaving Judah all alone.
Jer 32:2 For then the king of Babylon’s army besieged Jerusalem: and Jeremiah the prophet was shut up in the court of the prison, which was in the king of Judah’s house.
The prophet spent most of the siege in jail. The main charge was anti patriotism. His doom and gloom prophecies were said to have been discouraging the fighters. As these doomed people desperately tried to hang on to what little freedom and autonomy that they had, they were never going to shoob (turn around) and start listening to the word of the Lord. They were all in. It was too late to change course.
I believe that there are millions and millions in the world that have thrown their lot in with the beast system. Perhaps at the start of 2020, they felt a twinge or a check in their hearts that what they were being asked to do was not right. Regardless of profession, almost all occupations were being ordered to act unethically. Most capitulated due to fear. Some gave in due to bribes. Others simply got tired of trying to stand firm. It was costing them too much personally.
The prison was most likely the space occupied by the royal guard, a sort of house arrest. Jeremiah’s friends were still allowed to visit him (Jer 32:12, 38:13, 28). The rebellious don’t want to hear the word during judgment, they want the word locked up.
Jer 32:3 For Zedekiah king of Judah had shut him up, saying, Wherefore dost thou prophesy, and say, Thus saith the LORD, Behold, I will give this city into the hand of the king of Babylon, and he shall take it;
Jer 34:2 was most likely the specific word that Zedekiah was referring to. We shall see in later chapters that Zedekiah was the ultimate politician. He was not totally corrupt like Manasseh, but was open to hearing the word of the Lord. Yet he seemed to be more of a puppet in the hands of the elite that remained in the city. His political power seemed to depend on the princes in the city. More than once he seemed to of been favorably disposed to Jeremiah’s prophecies, only to reverse course under pressure from his powerful advisors in the court.
Can anyone spell rino?
At least he did what he felt his tenuous political situation allowed him to do, in that he made Jeremiah’s imprisonment as comfortable as possible. If it was up to the cabal behind the throne, Jeremiah would not be breathing.
This brings up to a very difficult topic. Exactly how much can we compromise what we know is the right thing to do before it simply is a bridge too far to cross? Millions upon millions of people have been forced to make gut wrenching moral decisions during the worldwide fake pandemic, lockdown, and forced jabs. For most of us, we would tend to agree that being directly involved in killing people with the needle and hospital protocols is a non starter. How about the policeman who was told to give out tickets for masking violations? While distasteful, should every officer of quit over it? Or would some feel that at least if they stayed, maybe they could exercise some good, and help someone a little bit, just like Zedekiah was able to help Jeremiah in location of imprisonment? Or how about the teacher that sees the gross immorality being taught to their kids. They may teach a neutral subject, like math. Should they quit too?
I do not pretend to have all the answers. Each believer must strive to grow up in the Lord. Now is the time where many are forced into making choices that they would of never thought they would have to make. I have a tendency to quickly judge these compromisers. Yet I personally did not have to face the choice of continuing to do something distasteful in my job versus feeding my family. It’s easy to say, ‘just trust God for all your needs’, but maybe your spouse threatened to leave and take their kids with them if you decided to act on principle and throw away your career.
This is one of the reasons I so dislike the trite and glib comments of those freedom fighters who keep saying that this is the most exciting time ever to be alive. What is so exciting about facing these terrible moral dilemmas? What is so great about having to choose to participate in unlawful orders, or walk away from your house because there is no money to continue to pay the mortgage? What is so wonderful to have all your family hate you because you’re a grandma killer as you refused to inject yourself with poison? What is so wonderful when welfare services takes your children away from you because you refused to allowed them to be jabbed?
Zedekiah is described by God as an evil man. Making decisions based on political expediency is always wrong. Making decisions based on fear is wrong. However that does not mean that every single decision he made was evil. God still used him even in the midst of his moral compromising to provide some level of comfort for the prophet at this critical end time of Jerusalem, when everyone would behave more and more irrationally as the enemy closed in.
Jer 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 behold his eyes;
Jer 32:5 And he shall lead Zedekiah to Babylon, and there shall he be until I visit him, saith the LORD: though ye fight with the Chaldeans, ye shall not prosper.
Zedekiah recounts the word. The word ‘visit’ can carry either a positive or negative connotation. While not being put to death, he would have his eyes put out by the Babylonian king.
Many patriots and freedom fighters of today cannot tolerate the words of judgment and shut their ears to it, thinking it’s defeatist talk, and that it will stop people from resisting. They react to words like these with no regard as to whether they may be true or not. If they would put repentance before all that they do, then perhaps their actions would have a better chance of succeeding.
How many of us eagerly seek a personal word? What if God sent a prophet to you and told you that you will not escape the cabal, nor the government. You will be taken to a quarantine camp. You will be interrogated there. You will be taken from your home permanently. You will stay in that camp until I decide to visit you and decide your fate. You can prep and pull all your money out of the bank and do whatever you think you have to do to stay off the radar, it will avail you nothing. How would you react to that? I think most of us would blurt out for satan to get behind us!
God is not obligated to tell us what we want to hear.
Jer 32:6 And Jeremiah said, The word of the LORD came unto me, saying,
Verses 2 to 5 were something of an insertion, explaining his current circumstance of why he was locked up. It was due to a specific prophecy, which will be shared later in the book. He now gets to the main event of this chapter. We shall discover that God will ask him to do a very strange thing.
Jer 32:7 Behold, Hanameel the son of Shallum thine uncle shall come unto thee, saying, Buy thee my field that is in Anathoth: for the right of redemption is thine to buy it.
God needs to warn Jeremiah about what is about to take place, as he will ask Jeremiah to do something that on the surface will make no sense.
Hanameel is the first cousin of Jeremiah. Nothing more is known of him. Anathoth would of been one of the Levitical cities (Josh 21:18), having one thousand cubits of land attached to it (Num 35:4-5). The prohibition of selling this land (Lev 25:34) applied to not allowing them to be sold to another tribe outside of Levi, according to one commentator. Thus this land sale does not seem to contravene that ordinance. If the year of Jubilee was being observed, then this would entail use of the land only until the year of jubilee. However, there is no real evidence that is was obeyed, so this would be a permanent land sale, from one family member to another.
I don’t agree with the above theory. According to Num 18:20, no Levite could possess land. These special Levitical cities were given within each tribe for the use by the Levites in their area. The most likely explanation is that Levites may have some small possession, though no ploughed land. They might have houses, orchards, or gardens, in cities and suburbs. Yet Lev 25:34 indicates they weren’t to be sold. So the only lawful way this transaction could occur is if this land was left to Hananeel from one of his ancestors. This is more likely as he speaks of the right of redemption, so this would refer to some ancient plot that was passed down before all the land may of been divided in Anathoth.
We know the general state of lawlessness in Judah at this time, so you could argue that Levitical land sales were taking place in contradiction to the law. Yet I don’t like to think that God would of asked Jeremiah to engage in something that would violate Torah. Therefore an ancestral plot, passed down many generations, would be the most likely explanation.
The main point to take away from all this is that we can spend hours and hours speculating and debating these jots and tittles while missing the mountains of spiritual truth that is in front of us. Yes, it is good to try and understand all the intricate details of some ancient practice, as sometimes great spiritual revelations are contained within. Yet let us always focus on the main thing, which is what God is asking Jeremiah to do.
Jer 32:8 So Hanameel mine uncle’s son came to me in the court of the prison according to the word of the LORD, and said unto me, Buy my field, I pray thee, that is in Anathoth, which is in the country of Benjamin: for the right of inheritance is thine, and the redemption is thine; buy it for thyself. Then I knew that this was the word of the LORD.
Such a wonderful feeling to have a confirmation that God had indeed spoken unto us! Even Jeremiah felt that it was important enough to mention that this word was really God. Why would he want the reader to know that God really spoke to him this time, when every other time he simply assumed you would believe him? Because of the illogical thing that God would ask him to do.
Jer 32:9 And I bought the field of Hanameel my uncle’s son, that was in Anathoth, and weighed him the money(keh-sef – silver), even seventeen shekels of silver.
There is disagreement as to how much money this actually was. Some say only 2 pounds, some say over 52. If it was a trivial sum, it would take away from the impact of the story. I will not bog us down into a technical detail of the value of 17 shekels of silver, or the typical land values of Judean real estate at the time.
The big point of this story is that Hanameel could see the writing on the wall. Jerusalem was surrounded. He was a realist, unlike so many people today who refuse to see the inevitability of destruction all around us. He knew that once the siege was over, all land would be utterly worthless as it would be taken by the enemy. Your land title would not be worth the paper it was written on. Here was a guy that was trying to squeeze every last dollar out of this relative before the economic collapse was complete. If Jeremiah was dumb enough to buy this soon to be worthless piece of property, then that was on him.
First of all, let’s examine the attitude of Hanameel. If we know something about something we are trying to sell that would materially affect the fair market value of it, would we disclose it to the buyer, or would be gloat in the killing we made? I can vividly recount our acreage purchase of a couple of years ago that I have disclosed in great detail in previous writings. About how many spiritual lessons were learned through that fiasco. One of the memorable things was the former owner’s wife’s reaction when we actually signed the purchase contract. She rejoiced like she had just won the lottery. At that moment, God had not yet opened our eyes to the horrible mistake that we had made. And to add to her greed, she refused to budge on some other acreage items that we purchased outside of the land itself. A couple weeks later when we went to take possession, that was when God took the scales off our eyes and that sinking feeling of dread washed over us, as we suddenly realised the magnitude of the mistake we made. We then recounted her behavior when we had signed the papers earlier. We now recognized it for what it was, a dark moment of glee, knowing that she had cheated us out of a significant amount of money. We had the challenge of placing her before the Lord, and choosing to forgive her, which we did. The point was is that she thought that she had screwed us out of so much money, and she had, and she couldn’t of been happier. She certainly got her reward in full that day. For us, it was the beginning of a very long, difficult year that taught us so many valuable eternal lessons. Even though we lost money, we gained priceless wisdom. I wonder if Hanameel felt the same dark joy in having just cheated his cousin Jeremiah out of some hard earned money, which I am sure was needed during the siege and subsequent famine.
On Jeremiah’s behalf, I don’t believe he was blinded by God as to the ramifications of what God was asking him to do. God told him to buy this land. Jeremiah knew all the prophecies that he had been giving over the course of the last several years. He knew that no Jew would have any real access to the land for at least 70 years. That means God was asking him to purchase something that he would never use in his lifetime. Thus, the commentators arguments about if the year of Jubilee was in effect, or the actual value of the purchase price is quite moot. God was asking Jeremiah to throw away his money. As he obeyed this step, God would speak to him as to what he was to do next, and perhaps why he had him to such an unreasonable thing.
I am completely convinced that we were also led (but in a different way, with different circumstances) to do what we did when we purchased that acreage by God himself. While a disaster in the natural, it helped to mould and shape us into the people we are today. I do not believe this commentary would of been written, and certainly not in the way it is being written, without that personal experience of loss, judgment, and the acquisition of godly wisdom that resulted from it.
Let us not so quickly judge every negative experience in our lives as simply from the devil, having no positive worth. It is almost always through pain that the greatest lessons are acquired.
Jer 32:10 And I subscribed (engraved) the evidence (document), and sealed it, and took witnesses, and weighed (paid) him the money (silver) in the balances.
Jer 32:11 So I took the evidence of the purchase, both that which was sealed according to the law and custom, and that which was open:
Jer 32:12 And I gave the evidence of the purchase unto Baruch (blessed) the son of Neriah (light of Jah), the son of Maaseiah (refuge in Yah), in the sight of Hanameel mine uncle’s son, and in the presence of the witnesses that subscribed (engraved) the book (document) of the purchase, before all the Jews that sat in the court of the prison.
Jeremiah records that he did everything that God asked him to do, all legal like. Sounds like the legal custom of the time was to make 2 copies – one sealed and one open. The open one would be witnessed in public, so there would be no dispute later on if the purchaser presented his private copy of the purchase deed, the public one meant to be stored somewhere. Even in prison he still had the freedom to conduct business and receive multiple visitors.
We are introduced to Jeremiah’s sidekick, Baruch. His brother Seraiah (Jer51:59) held a high position in the court of Zedekiah. He acted as Jeremiah’s scribe, writing and rewriting his prophetic words, as circumstances would later dictate. His name and his ancestors names all reflected their piety and devotion to Yahweh.
Jer 32:13 And I charged Baruch before them, saying,
Jer 32:14 Thus saith the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel; Take these evidences, this evidence of the purchase, both which is sealed, and this evidence which is open; and put them in an earthen vessel, that they may continue many days.
Jer 32:15 For thus saith the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel; Houses and fields and vineyards shall be possessed again in this land.
Now we begin to get an insight into what this is all about. Jeremiah commands Baruch publicly. He doesn’t try to obey God in secret. God wants all these witnesses to know. Know what? That even though I have pronounced disaster upon you, I am now also pronouncing restoration sometime in the future. I am not done with you yet. You may suffer for your transgression for a season, but I have also planned a future and a hope for you. As you can take my pronouncements of judgments to the bank, so you can take my promise of future blessing. Just as I made Jeremiah purchase a currently worthless piece of land, and save that evidence so that it lasts a long time, so I will take what is a currently worthless people due to their abominations and I will seal you up in judgment, until you have learned your lesson and it is time to bring you out of hiding back into my favor. Right now it looks hopeless. After many days, I will revisit you and restore you.
Jer 32:16 Now when I had delivered the evidence of the purchase unto Baruch the son of Neriah, I prayed unto the LORD, saying,
After Jeremiah completely obeyed the Lord, he immediately turns to prayer. We shall see that his heart is troubled and perplexed. He does not know what God is doing in his life. When we face the same problem, the prayer closet is the only place to be.
God had just caused a significant financial loss in a time of great hardship. Yet obedience to God always triumphs every other circumstance in our life. Regardless of the cost, God demands our trust and obedience.
Jer 32:17 Ah Lord GOD! behold, thou hast made the heaven and the earth by thy great power and stretched out arm, and there is nothing too hard for thee:
I love the fact that Jeremiah first recounts the wonder of God as creator. We have lost the importance of this, being marinated in evolutionary blasphemies all our lives.
Jer 32:18 Thou shewest lovingkindness (che-sed) unto thousands, and recompensest the iniquity of the fathers into the bosom of their children after them: the Great, the Mighty (gibbor) God (el), the LORD of hosts, is his name,
We need to learn how to approach the throne of grace. It is not a good idea to just barge in there like you own the place. Would you barge into the president’s office without even knocking? Why do we show so much more deference to man than to God? We should continually recount his goodness to the sons and daughters of men. We need to also remind ourselves that no sinner is getting away with his sin. Sooner or later, the bill comes due, whether in their lives or their children’s lives. How many times you hear the sinner say that they’re only hurting themselves? That is never true.
God has many names. He is the mightiest of all the so called gods of the earth.
Jer 32:19 Great in counsel (purposes), and mighty in work: for thine eyes are open upon all the ways (deh-rek) of the sons of men: to give every one according to his ways (deh-rek), and according to the fruit of his doings (works):
Often our prayers are simply recounting the great and mighty truths of the Lord that we all need reminding of. God’s purposes are so high and beyond ours. His power is unmatched. He sees all, and no one can plot and scheme without God knowing exactly what they are doing. His perfect mishpat will deal out the appropriate reward for every action, both good and bad. He will reward us not according to what we believe, but in what sort of fruit that belief actually produces.
Jer 32:20 Which hast set (gave, put) signs and wonders in the land of Egypt, even unto this day, and in Israel, and among other men; and hast made thee a name, as at this day;
We are all aware of God’s famous signs and wonders in Egypt of old. What could be meant by the phrase ‘even unto this day’? The simplest explanation is that these signs are still remembered in Jeremiah’s day. Jeremiah does his best anti cessationist teaching yet, in that not only has God performed miracles in the distant past, but in Israel and even among other Gentile nations, God manifests himself supernaturally.
Let us remember Joshua, and the sun standing still. Of Hezekiah, who asked and God made the sundial go back 10 degrees, a sign of which Babylon sent envoys to inquire what had happened, so it must not of simply been a local phenomenon. Of the walls of Jericho, or the angel of the Lord smiting 185,00 Assyrians in one night. And on and on. God has not left man without witness.
We think cessationism is something the Baptists or some recent group thought up. The Sadducees were the cessationists in Jesus day, believing in nothing supernatural. This is an old heresy. Jeremiah states the fact of God’s will and ability to intervene in the natural order of things at any time, and in any place. It is a special irritation when I read devotionals or commentaries that are so full of wisdom, until we get to their blind adherence to their ridiculous belief that God has somehow prohibited himself from ever acting supernaturally after the years that were recorded in the bible. Why are men so idiotic? We have run out of time. Either you will throw in your hope of eternity on the word of God, and the word of God alone, or you won’t. Good luck reading out of that denominational seminary textbook as you present your case in front of the judgment seat as to why you didn’t take God at his word when he kept asking you to while on earth!
Jer 32:21 And hast brought forth thy people Israel out of the land of Egypt with signs, and with wonders, and with a strong hand, and with a stretched out arm, and with great terror (mo-raw – fear, dread);
All of this talk is supernatural talk. Fearful, unbelieving, denominational bound believers love to speak of the divine providence of God. The fact that God’s hand may be seen through the natural, mundane events of our daily lives. All this is true, but most of those who speak of this are implicitly denying that God speaks any way else. Because we grew up under spiritual losers, we have been subconsciously trained to doubt the explicitly supernatural workings of God in our lives. Our expectations are low, so our experiences are few and far between. Instead, we start seeing God in every little thing. We see the number ‘5’ in 5 different things in our daily life, and we feel we must share a belief that God is sending us some otherworldly extra dimensional message. We begin to drift further and further from the genuine over into the absurd.
If we would simply start with a clean slate, wipe our minds of all religious hindrances, and get back in the word and read it as if it’s the first time, we may be pleasantly surprised what God starts to make real to us. God may show us wonders. He may display his power and might. We will have our eyes open to actually catch a glimpse of the true fear of the Lord – not a holy awe or a reverential goosebump, but genuine, knee knocking, heart pounding, brain freezing, fall over as if dead holy terror. If we could just catch a real glimpse of God’s unapproachable throne, where the strange creatures guard it night and day, singing his eternal praises, we would very quickly find our attitude adjusted in a fashion that would enable us to perform God’s will with alacrity and utter thoroughness.
Jer 32:22 And hast given them this land, which thou didst swear to their fathers to give them, a land flowing with milk and honey;
Jeremiah keeps recounting all of God’s past blessings. This is something we need to continually keep coming back to, when the darkness and confusion closes in.
Jer 32:23 And they came in, and possessed it; but they obeyed (shama) not thy voice, neither walked in thy law (torah); they have done nothing of all that thou commandedst them to do: therefore thou hast caused all this evil (rah) to come upon them:
So the people received all the good things that God had promised. But like all generations, they quickly turned away from his holy commandments. Jeremiah may use a bit of hyperbole to describe their behavior, but upon closer inspection, perhaps not.
Israel did not start by breaking all the commandments at once. Yet as James says in Jam 2:10, if you break one law, it’s as if you broke them all. In God’s eyes, break one command, and it is just the same as if you broke them all, at least in the sense in that now you are not fit for his presence anymore. If you begin by breaking one instruction from God, without repentance, the next one will be slightly easier to break. It will eventually lead to breaking them all. Just look at our nations today. We tolerated one or two sins, then a couple more. In the last 4 years it seems that there is no sin that hasn’t been broken. As Israel failed to really keep any of the law, so the Laodicean church finds itself in a similar situation. Remember how even when apostate Israel kept some of the sacrifices and fasts, yet God would count those activities sin, because their hearts were far away from him.
The end result is always the same, God sends evil upon his people. Not the devil, not wicked men, but ultimately God, through whomever and whatever means he chooses to do. You see, if you refuse to believe that it is ultimately God that sends our calamities, you will always keep fighting against the evil thing. You will fight and fight and fight until you are spent, thinking you’re fighting the devil. But if you acknowledge that God has sent this trouble our way, then you will first stop and find out exactly why he has done this to us. You will find out that it’s more often than not something his church (and/or yourself) has done. You will seek him as to how to get this fixed. You will find out what his solution is. You will then go and turn around and do what you’re supposed to do. Then, and only then, can you effectively resist the evil unleashed, which by now has run amok, as it always does, going far beyond God’s original intent of correction and punishment. Without that crucial first insight, you cannot hope to stand.
Jer 32:24 Behold the mounts (ramparts of the besiegers), they are come unto the city to take it; and the city is given into the hand of the Chaldeans, that fight against it, because of the sword, and of the famine, and of the pestilence: and what thou hast spoken is come to pass; and, behold, thou seest it.
Jeremiah has recounted a very short history lesson that takes him right up to the present. Although the city has not officially fallen, he has received enough words to know that it is only a matter of time. He has no illusions that the false prophets can’t stop yammering about, that God will swoop in at the last minute and save them, as in the great bible stories of old. This is why it is foolish to simply let a pastor read you a random story of deliverance and you then embrace that drama as a guarantee that God will do exactly the same thing for your current calamity. I think we all understand now that first, you need to find the right pattern for your situation. And second, you need to pay the price and seek God for yourself, and learn exactly what his word is for your particular situation.
Jeremiah then recounts the exact mechanism of destruction. In this instance, he will use the sword, famine and pestilence, the big three. These are the 3 go to weapons in God’s bag of judgments. If he is feeling especially judgy, he may also pull out weapon number 4, the evil beasts.
Jeremiah finished by saying this is what you’ve done. I can see it, and of course, you can see it.
Jer 32:25 And thou hast said unto me, O Lord GOD, Buy thee the field for money, and take witnesses; for the city is given into the hand of the Chaldeans.
Now we get to the nub of the matter – why Jeremiah has made this long, flowery prayer and history lesson in the first place.
God, you are powerful and you judge sin. You’ve always judged sin. Our time is no different. In fact, we’re about to be utterly destroyed because you have decreed it to be so. I see it, and you most certainly see it. Therefore why, oh why, did you have me buy a completely worthless piece of land? What is the sense of that? Why did you have me throw my money away? How in your sweet holy name does this make any kind of sense?
God knows Jeremiah has suffered a significant financial loss. He knew this would be the case when he gave him the command to purchase the land. Note that God does not promise that he will ever pay him back. God has the power to do so. If it serves his purpose, he will do so. But if he doesn’t, Jeremiah is expected to continue to obey whatever God tells him to do, regardless of the personal loss that he suffers.
This is a great practical example of the fact that it will cost you personally to follow Jesus. Here, it cost Jeremiah money. For you, it may cost you your family. Your friends. Your reputation. Your freedom. Your future plans. Your health. Even your life. Any and every thing must be on the table if you truly want to be a disciple of Jesus. All that we have is really his. Even the very air that we breathe. If he allows the wicked to poison the air with chemtrails, well it is God’s air. If it bothered him enough, I am sure that he has all the power needed to make them stop.
No, nowhere in the bible does it say God helps those who help themselves. That is a saying to justify the self will of the wicked, who only have a form of godliness, but deny the power thereof. Did it make sense for God to genuinely lead me to make a disastrous acreage purchase? Knowing the financial loss that would occur? To him, it did. Did I like it? No, of course not. Was it God’s will for us? I believe it was. Did I learn something valuable? I believe I did. Did I question the whole affair, like Jeremiah is doing? You bet your boots!
Jer 32:26 Then came the word of the LORD unto Jeremiah, saying,
Jer 32:27 Behold, I am the LORD, the God of all flesh: is there any thing too hard for me?
Verse 17 had Jeremiah stating that nothing is too hard for God. God answers by repeating his words back at him. Exactly how this response answers Jeremiah’s query as to what was the purpose of the silly land purchase, is not immediately clear.
It could be that God is saying that any loss you have experienced obeying me can be easily made good. Or, that the future restoration, though seemingly impossible at this moment, will most certainly take place, thus making the land purchase sensible, with a practical purpose in the future.
Either way, this is one of those fundamental, eternal truths that no believer should have any trouble embracing. When a promise of God made to you seems impossible, just remember this verse.
Jer 32:28 Therefore thus saith the LORD; Behold, I will give this city into the hand of the Chaldeans, and into the hand of Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon, and he shall take it:
God once again reiterates the inevitability of the fall of this city. Of course, this does not comfort Jeremiah as far as him having any hope that maybe his investment could still pay off! I wonder if he’s acting like those who had purchased Nortel or Enron stock at its height, only to watch it crash and burn when the true corruption in those companies was exposed. Many refused to sell, believing in a magical fairy tale kingdom where somehow something would come along and restore the share price before the truth had come out. How many believers today have the same mindset – they’ve seen the headlines that our nations have fallen, just like those companies were shown to be fraudulent. Yet we still hold on to our increasingly worthless empty promises of victory and restoration, even as those pummelled shareholders kept holding on to their increasingly worthless shares, until they went bankrupt.
Jer 32:29 And the Chaldeans, that fight against this city, shall come and set fire on this city, and burn it with the houses, upon whose roofs they have offered incense unto Baal, and poured out drink offerings unto other gods, to provoke me to anger (rage, wrath).
There is always a reason why God smites. Note that God’s people not only provoked him to anger, but it also means rage and wrath. Anger is anger. Don’t try to sugarcoat God’s retribution, as if his wrath is never on his own. In some ways, I think God’s wrath would be naturally fiercer on his own rebellious people, because they should know better. Who would you be more angry at – your 2 year old if they broke your favorite vase, or your careless 15 year old son, who was horsing around in the house and knew better? To whom more is given, more is required. Pagans will do what pagans do. They will worship idols. Why are Christians worshipping idols? What possible excuse can a disciple of Jesus have in giving their hearts to anyone or anything other than Him?
In any event, God is not giving Jeremiah any hope that any property will survive this siege.
Jer 32:30 For the children (bane – sons) of Israel and the children of Judah have only done evil (rah) before me from their youth (naw-oor – juvenility): for the children of Israel have only provoked me to anger (troubled me, made me wroth with them) with the work of their hands, saith the LORD.
God is not remembering any of their good, since their end is only evil. Ezekiel 18:24 speaks of this very thing. If a righteous soul turns from his righteousness and commits evil, all his righteousness shall not be remembered. Don’t think that heaven is like a bank account. You can’t store up credits of good deeds, and then wilfully go out and commit evil and expect the good to take care of and cover the bad. Religion works that way, heaven does not.
Notice also that God first mentions both Israel and Judah, so that there is no mistaking that all 12 tribes are still his, but that also he is speaking about all all Israel. Once he has established that fact, then the 2nd mention of Israel now refers to both Judah and Israel. He doesn’t need to keep using both names to identify the whole.
God says all they have done is provoke him. Sounds harsh, doesn’t it? Doesn’t God have anything positive to say about his people? Aren’t we always told that we must sandwich a negative between 2 positives when we are trying to help someone? Perhaps God missed that public relations class.
Jer 32:31 For this city hath been to me as a provocation of mine anger and of my fury (hot displeasure) from the day that they built it even unto this day; that I should remove (turn it off) it from before my face,
God is getting wound up again. While Jeremiah is worried about a little but of cash, God brings his thoughts back to what is really important. Jeremiah had to bring up his complaint. He has set God off once more.
We should be careful about the things we complain about. God might just give you a reality check like he is giving Jeremiah. God is saying that for all intents and purposes, Jerusalem has been nothing but a place where their main activity seems to be provoking their God. He is saying from the day they built it they were sinning against him. This is a hard truth, as didn’t David and Solomon (at least in the beginning) really please him? I think what God is demonstrating here is the principle laid out in Eze 18:24. Sin long enough and hard enough, and all your former righteous deeds are forgotten.
Is this not reasonable to accept? Does not God forget all our former sins, when we come to the cross? Should we decide to shoob (turn away) from that very same cross, then all our righteousness up to that point will also be forgotten. Something to think about.
What I see here is God once again teaching us about the concept of haram – something devoted to destruction. Jericho and other cities in Canaan came under the ban – were declared to be haram. The idea is that something had become so defiled, so worthless, that it must be completely destroyed. That is why certain cities had to have every one and every thing killed within it in Joshua’s time. The real reason would of been the illicit mixtures found within. Animal, angelic, and human dna were all intermixed. Such an abomination had to be destroyed. The children were as corrupted as everyone else. They could not be saved. After several thousand years, we are engaging in the same practices today. What do you think our sentence will be?
Sometimes God’s wrath can only be pacified if the abomination is made to entirely disappear.
I wonder if in measure God feels this way about Washington, DC. The city was built by Masons, full of Masonic symbolism. Has it been a provocation in God’s nostrils since day one?
Jer 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.
Every strata of society is to blame. The king, his advisors, the guys in charge of the temple, the men who were to proclaim the word of the Lord (who were all false), then all the males, who were in charge of their households, then all the citizens. We like to think that it’s only our evil politicians that are to blame for our downfall. I believe God is holding all of us accountable. That is why we should be praying like Daniel prayed in Dan chapter 9. He lumped himself in with all the sinners in Israel.
Jer 32:33 And they have turned unto me the back, and not the face: though I taught them, rising up early and teaching them, yet they have not hearkened to receive instruction.
They chose to deh-rek – walk in the opposite direction of God’s commands. What is contained in men’s hearts, that is so contrary to God’s will? We all (at least before 2020) looked down upon the Jews as a special kind of stubborn and wicked race. How could they so continually shoob away from the correct deh-rek? Now we know. When there is a commandment to be broken, our depraved hearts take perverse delight to go out of our way to disobey. What miserable wretches are we, the human race!
Jer 32:34 But they set their abominations in the house, which is called by my name, to defile (befoul, contaminate, pollute) it.
Ahaz and Manasseh had deliberately placed the detestable heathen idols right in Yahweh’s temple. What have we placed in our temple, our bodies, where the precious Holy Spirit resides. Have we placed the idols of bitterness, self justification, self pity, even unforgiveness?
Jer 32:35 And 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 unto Molech; which I commanded them not, neither came it into my mind, that they should do this abomination, to cause Judah to sin.
‘The fire’ is in italics, causing some commentators to think they only held their children over the fire, as if in dedication. I highly doubt that softening of the horrific reality, that some squeamish commentators try to employ. This passage is almost identical to Jer 7:30-31. God is extremely enraged at these practices. No, they were most assuredly burning their children alive. Drumming loudly to cut off the screams. Throwing the remains into the valley of Hinnom, a place specifically mentioned for that purpose. If there were no dead babies, why mention this place of burning refuse? They were throwing babies in there. The Canaanites believed Moloch was the sun god, who traversed the zodiac, burning up his children as he went along. Satan has his generals that work tirelessly to destroy God’s people by getting God to stop protecting them and start judging them.
Any horror you can imagine, you can’t imagine deep enough. Look at today. Are we not continually shocked at the wickedness that continues to be revealed, almost on a daily basis?
Jer 32:36 And now therefore thus saith the LORD, the God of Israel, concerning this city, whereof ye say, It shall be delivered into the hand of the king of Babylon by the sword, and by the famine, and by the pestilence;
God has just finished explaining the reality of Israel’s spiritual condition, and the unchangeable consequences thereof. Nevertheless, this is not the final chapter. You may be upset that I asked you to throw your money away on a ridiculous investment, but keep listening. My plans and purposes do not end here.
Jer 32:37 Behold, I will gather them out of all countries, whither I have driven them in mine anger, and in my fury, and in great wrath; and I will bring them again unto this place, and I will cause them to dwell safely (securely):
So you see, Jeremiah, it’s not all about you and your finances. Let go of your current woe and embrace the big picture. Though you are in for a tough time, I want you to have hope for the future. God brought them out of Egypt once, he can do it again. This time out of Babylon.
Believe that God by his power and might will bring you out of Babylon today. You may be under siege, you may be surrounded, but God will bring you out. He has rescued you before, he can and will do it again.
Your purchased land will some day once again be enjoyed by your people. You might not live to see it, but it’s not all about you. This message is so in opposition to the typical prosperity preacher, who makes it all about you and your money. All our resources are really God’s. If he needs to take something of ours to make a point or to further his plan, then of course he is entitled to it and we should be humbled and honored that he is choosing us to do something through.
There is no safety unless God is protecting you. Prep all you want. Without God in the middle of it, you can have all the perimeter guards you want, there is no guarantee.
Jer 32:38 And they shall be my people, and I will be their God:
There is a principle of the law of getting it right the second time. I do not want to go into detail at this time, but there are numerous instances where the second time people get it right. Joseph’s brothers did not recognize him the first time, but the second. Israel did not recognize Moses as the deliverer the first time when he killed the Egyptian, but the second time after 40 years tending herds. The Jews not recognizing Jesus as Messiah the 1st time, but they will when he returns the second time. The Mosaic law ultimately failing to procure a permanent people of God, but the new covenant enabling the creation of the eternal body of Christ.
So in this passage we see another strong hint of this new covenant about to be revealed. God has always wanted a people of their own. The law could not do it. A day is soon coming when it would. Yet even when he does reveal this new covenant several hundred years later in Christ, it was going to be another 2000 years after that before God could finally draw the remnant of the Jewish people fully to himself, never to have to let go again.
Jer 32:39 And I will give them one heart, and one way (deh-rek), that they may fear (yaw-ray – revere, be in dread of, be affrighted) me for ever, for the good of them, and of their children after them:
It seems there are so many streams in the body of Christ in this day. While I acknowledge that this is how it seems like it must be at this time, in eternity we will all truly be one.
God says there is only one road. Of course, that road is Jesus. But yet it seems there are so many side passages or cul-de-sacs on this one road. So many of us just can’t seem to fellowship together. Our differences are just too deep. Perhaps we just haven’t fully embraced that one heart that Jesus longs to give us. The one way is most certainly the word of God. It is our individual understanding of that word that keeps tripping us up.
What is the purpose of this one heart and one road? To create an eternal fear of the Lord. That’s what it’s really all about. Not only for you, but for your offspring. How many of us can truly say that we reflected a genuine, biblical fear of God before our children? And then those children rebelled? I am sure it has happened, but I am also sure that the odds of your children serving God faithfully go way up if they see the real fear of God practised before them.
And going back to the previous chapter, where does a genuine conversion begin? In judgment. A proper response to judgment will not only bring proper salvation, but an indispensable fear of the Lord.
Jer 32:40 And I will make an everlasting covenant with them, that I will not turn away from them, to do them good; but I will put my fear in their hearts, that they shall not depart from me.
Again and again God talks about the fear of God, so again and again I shall speak of it. You can never over fear God. Fearing God simply means that you’re too scared to ever cross him. Not because he’s like some psychotic husband who beats you black and blue every night. No, you have a revelation of his absolute goodness, his ultimate perfection, the all encompassing holiness. You are in the presence of everything. He is the only one that truly matters in all of creation. Let us look at Rev 4:11:
Rev 4:11 Thou art worthy, O Lord, to receive glory and honour and power: for thou hast created all things, and for thy pleasure they are and were created.
All things were created for God’s pleasure. We weren’t created so that God could pleasure us. That has nothing to do with it. We are here solely to pleasure him. That is it. That is reality summed up in one sentence. You may not like it. Like satan, you may rebel against this. You may think that you are important enough in the scheme of things that you should have some say as to your destiny. You can wish that reality were different all you want.
Yet you are absolutely powerless to change this. You can’t decide to go and tell God: “I’m sorry, I don’t agree with why you created me. I am filing a formal complaint. I request an immediate transfer to a universe of my choosing, where I get to play God. I get to choose the reason I was created.’
The only choice that you are actually given is whether or not you want to spend eternity with this being. If so, then you must follow the rulebook. That rulebook is the bible. You don’t get to create your own rulebook, or use someone else’s.
If you decide that ok, I will accept reality and get with God’s program, then you must allow him to put his holy fear in you, so that you will be his forever.
I can think of worse fates, can’t you?
Jer 32:41 Yea, I will rejoice (be glad) over them to do them good, and I will plant them in this land assuredly with my whole heart and with my whole soul.
Should you make the only wise decision that you can possibly make, then you will give your creator great joy. Isn’t that awesome, that little ole you can give the creator of heaven and earth great joy?
God, who is all knowing, did not come up with the plan of creation over dinner one day, hastily scribbling it down on a napkin. He made a perfect creation, with us as the very center of it. Thus, you can rest assured that the plans and purposes he has for you are perfect. So why would you fight it? Why not embrace it? If you serve him whole heartedly, God promises to return the favor. He will take care of you will all his heart and with all his soul.
Jer 32:42 For thus saith the LORD; Like as I have brought all this great evil (rah) upon this people, so will I bring upon them all the good (tobe – favor, kindness, prosperity) that I have promised them.
A very clear and straightforward passage that equates the same level of truth to God bringing good vs God bringing evil. All the chapters that we have waded through describing all the evil in so many different forms and so many different ways. This verse says that in equal measure, he will pour out goodness on those who truly give all their hearts to him.
Jer 32:43 And fields shall be bought in this land, whereof ye say, It is desolate without man or beast; it is given into the hand of the Chaldeans.
Jer 32:44 Men shall buy fields for money, and subscribe evidences, and seal them, and take witnesses in the land of Benjamin, and in the places about Jerusalem, and in the cities of Judah, and in the cities of the mountains, and in the cities of the valley, and in the cities of the south: for I will cause their captivity to return, saith the LORD.
At the end of this word, God touches on Jeremiah’s initial concern. Even though you won’t be able to buy and sell any more property today, land sales will once again take place.
Of course, it would not take place for at least 70 years. While that may be a crucial point for Jeremiah, it is not so for God. Performing a prophetic act that would be recorded and studied for all eternity was worth far more than 17 shekels of silver! When you look at it from that perspective, it’s not really that much of a sacrifice, is it?
Solitary Man
https://solitaryman.substack.com/
Photos courtesy Depositphotos
