Lesson 10 - Jer. 32:1-15 - A TEST OF FAITH
INTRODUCTION: Last week, in Jer. 31:1-9 we heard Jeremiah deliver what Bible scholars classify as stage two of God's redemptive plan in a wonderful prophecy that foretold a time in the future when the Messiah King, Jesus Christ, would return during the end-times to re-gather all the widely dispersed "families of Israel"-I.e., Jews from both the Southern and Northern Kingdoms who are now scattered all over the world-when He establishes His Millennial Kingdom from Jerusalem. As to the Jews, this would be accomplished through God's promise of a New Covenant of grace that was instituted by the First Coming of Christ. In that lesson, we learned that God's promise of restoration to Jeremiah under the New Covenant is an invitation open not only open to the people of Israel, but to all people who will accept Jesus Christ as their personal Lord and Savior.
This week in Jer. 32:1-15, we will continue our study in Jeremiah's "Book of Consolation" (Chapters 30-33) in a lesson that focuses on the current plight of Judah and Jerusalem during the Babylonian siege that began in 587 B.C. during the reign of king Zedekiah. To understand the context, I'll give you a brief scenario of Judah's current situation: Even though Jerusalem is still protected by its walls, the countryside in Judah has since been conquered by the armies commanded by king Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon, who has now returned to besiege Jerusalem. Earlier, Zedekiah had tried to oppose Nebuchadnezzar by entering an alliance with Egypt, but the Egyptians had backed out. When, out of desperation, king Zedekiah asked for Jeremiah's advice, the prophet beseeched him to surrender the city to Nebuchadnezzar as a means of saving lives and avoiding further destruction, but the king stubbornly refused to listen, branding Jeremiah as a traitor and having him thrown into an empty cistern and left to die. However, at the urging of a servant, Jeremiah was removed from the cistern and placed under house arrest in the court of the king's guards. As we move into the lesson text, we'll see Jeremiah purchase a plot of land in a symbolic act that dramatized the future redemption God promised-which in this context, pertains to the near-term return of the captives from Babylon to Judah in 538 B.C. rather than the far future return that will occur after Jesus' Second Coming, which we covered in last week's lesson.
Read Jer. 32:1-3a - THE WORD THAT CAME TO JEREMIAH
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 Nebuchadnezzar. 2 Now at that time the army of the king of Babylon was besieging Jerusalem, and Jeremiah the prophet was shut up in the court of the guard, which was in the house of the king of Judah, 3a because Zedekiah king of Judah had shut him up,
v. 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 Nebuchadnezzar." - First, we should notice the often-repeated preface, "The word that came to Jeremiah from the LORD"-which reminds us that what the prophet says and does is not a reflection of his own personal desires or preferences but is entirely what the Lord has given him to say word-for-word, without embellishment. The tenth year of Zedekiah's reign would fix the date at about 588 B.C. Since the siege began in the ninth year of his reign, it means it's been going on for many months at the time of this writing.
v. 2: "Now at that time the army of the king of Babylon was besieging Jerusalem, and Jeremiah the prophet was shut up in the court of the guard, which was in the house of the king of Judah, - Bible scholars suggest say that "the court of the yard" would have been a place of confinement for special prisoners, as opposed to common criminals.
v. 3a: "because Zedekiah king of Judah had shut him up," - We might say that Jeremiah was "shut up" (v. 1), so that the king could "shut him up." Jeremiah was originally confined because a sentry thought he was trying to escape the city to surrender to the Babylonians, which was later determined to be a false charge (Jer. 27:11-16). Now, Zedekiah wants to keep the prophet silenced so that he can't stir up opposition among the people against the king's efforts to continue prosecuting the war.
Read Jer. 32:3b-5 - WHY DO YOU PROPHESY?
3b saying, "Why do you prophesy, saying, 'Thus says the LORD, "Behold, I am about to give this city into the hand of the king of Babylon, and he will take it; 4 and Zedekiah king of Judah will not escape out of the hand of the Chaldeans, but he will surely be given into the hand of the king of Babylon, and he will speak with him face to face and see him eye to eye; 5 and he will take Zedekiah to Babylon, and he will be there until I visit him," declares the LORD. "If you fight against the Chaldeans, you will not succeed"'?"
v. 3b: "saying, "Why do you prophesy, saying, 'Thus says the LORD, "Behold, I am about to give this city into the hand of the king of Babylon, and he will take it;" - This is the voice of King Zedekiah apparently speaking to Jeremiah. In these verses, Zedekiah very accurately restates what Jeremiah had prophesied to him, inadvertently turning himself into a bearer of God's word.
v. 4: "and Zedekiah king of Judah will not escape out of the hand of the Chaldeans, but he will surely be given into the hand of the king of Babylon, and he will speak with him face to face and see him eye to eye;" - The "Chaldeans" is an ancient name for the Babylonian people. You might remember that Ur of the Chaldees was the birthplace of Abraham (Gen. 11:28). As history would reveal, Jeremiah's prophecy was perfectly fulfilled. After the walls of Jerusalem were breached in 587 B.C., the city was captured and destroyed, literally torn down to the ground.
v 5: "and he will take Zedekiah to Babylon, and he will be there until I visit him," declares the LORD. "If you fight against the Chaldeans, you will not succeed"'? - When the city fell, the Babylonians captured Zedekiah as he was trying make an escape. And afterward, they slaughtered his sons and all of his high officials. As a final insult, they put out Zedekiah's eyes and took him to Babylon in shackles. We need to understand the lesson here: That Zedekiah suffered this brutal treatment because he deliberately disobeyed God's word. God simply allowed the Babylonians to accomplish His judgment. The phrase "he will be there until I visit him," meant that Zedekiah would die in exile. Would the Babylonians have been more merciful if he had surrendered? Maybe-we'll never know.
Read Jer. 32:6-8 - BUY FOR YOURSELF A FIELD
6 And Jeremiah said, "The word of the LORD came to me, saying, 7 'Behold, Hanamel the son of Shallum your uncle is coming to you, saying, "Buy for yourself my field which is at Anathoth, for you have the right of redemption to buy it."' 8 Then Hanamel my uncle's son came to me in the court of the guard according to the word of the LORD and said to me, 'Buy my field, please, that is at Anathoth, which is in the land of Benjamin; for you have the right of possession and the redemption is yours; buy it for yourself.' Then I knew that this was the word of the LORD.
v. 6: "And Jeremiah said, "The word of the LORD came to me, saying," - This is where the lesson starts getting a little strange, but trust me that it will begin to make sense when we get to the end. These verses are unusual in that they are a first-person account by Jeremiah, as opposed to a public proclamation. Nevertheless, they do affirm that Jeremiah wasn't acting by his own choice but was saying and doing things that the Lord specifically commanded him to accomplish.
v. 7: "'Behold, Hanamel the son of Shallum your uncle is coming to you, saying, "Buy for yourself my field which is at Anathoth, for you have the right of redemption to buy it."' - In this verse, the Lord simply alerts Jeremiah to expect contact from his cousin "Hanamel," and briefs him with a summary of the transaction that he should expect Hanamel to offer him. These and the following verses are the only place in the Bible where Hanamel is mentioned (vv. 7-12). "Anathoth," Jeremiah's hometown, was about three miles northeast of Jerusalem and consisted of land originally allotted to the tribe of Benjamin. Hanamel evidently owned some real estate there. Oddly enough, the people of Anathoth have been among Jeremiah's fiercest critics (Jer. 11:21-23), leaving us to wonder whether Hanamel had been one of them.
v. 8a: "Then Hanamel my uncle's son came to me in the court of the guard according to the word of the LORD and said to me, 'Buy my field, please, that is at Anathoth, which is in the land of Benjamin; - Hanamel show up exactly as God predicted and said exactly what he was expected to say. We should keep in mind the fact that overwhelming numbers of the Babylonian army are now camped all around Jerusalem and they are most likely occupying this very piece of land, thereby rendering it unusable as a practical matter and therefore worthless. We are left to wonder how Hanamel managed to get into the besieged city to meet with Jeremiah.
v. 8b: "for you have the right of possession and the redemption is yours; buy it for yourself.'" - The provisions for redemption are found in Torah Law (Lev. 25:25ff). They basically provide that if a Hebrew man gets into financial difficulties that force him to sell a piece of property, his nearest male relative is obligated to redeem the land and return it to the person, so that it will be inherited only by people to whom God allotted it. The bottom line is that God is really the title-holder to the land.
v. 8c: "Then I knew that this was the word of the LORD." - If Jeremiah thought he might have been imagining things, this clearly confirmed what God had told him to expect down to the smallest detail.
Read Jer. 32:9-10 - I BOUGHT THE FIELD
9 "I bought the field which was at Anathoth from Hanamel my uncle's son, and I weighed out the silver for him, seventeen shekels of silver. 10 I signed and sealed the deed, and called in witnesses, and weighed out the silver on the scales.
v. 9: "I bought the field which was at Anathoth from Hanamel my uncle's son, and I weighed out the silver for him, seventeen shekels of silver." - Coined currency was not in general use in those times, so Jeremiah must weigh out an amount of silver for the transaction. A shekel was about 0.4 ounces of silver, so seventeen shekels would add up to about seven ounces, which in today's market would add up to only about $225. But we really have no idea how real estate and silver were valued in Jeremiah's day and must assume that it would not have served God's purposes if the field sold had sold for less than its fare market value as arable farmland or pasture.
v. 10: "I signed and sealed the deed, and called in witnesses, and weighed out the silver on the scales." - Jeremiah tells us in specific detail the steps he took to formalize the transfer: (1) signed, (2) sealed, (3) witnessed and (4) the price paid as agreed-many of the same formalities that we follow today in conveyances of real estate. It's all done electronically now, but I remember not so many years ago when it was accomplished with hard-copy paper records, like Jeremiah's deed in this verse.
Read Jer. 32:11-12 - I GAVE THE DEED OF PURCHASE TO BARUCH
11 Then I took the deeds of purchase, both the sealed copy containing the terms and conditions and the open copy; 12 and I gave the deed of purchase to Baruch the son of Neriah, the son of Mahseiah, in the sight of Hanamel my uncle's son and in the sight of the witnesses who signed the deed of purchase, before all the Jews who were sitting in the court of the guard. 13 And I commanded Baruch in their presence, saying, 14 'Thus says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel, "Take these deeds, this sealed deed of purchase and this open deed, and put them in an earthenware jar, that they may last a long time." 15 For thus says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel, "Houses and fields and vineyards will again be bought in this land."'
v. 11: These verses list the steps required to complete the legal transaction: Two copies of the deed were made-a sealed copy to prevent changes and an open copy for reference. So we see Jeremiah make this a highly visible public event. We might characterize it as the prophet putting his money where his mouth is. The importance of this act is in the symbolism: When the Babylonians take the people into exile, they will find hope in Jeremiah's prophecy and remember this act.
vv. 12-15: Jeremiah gave the deeds to Baruch, who was his scribe and personal assistant. There is a Book of Baruch that gives great personal detail about Jeremiah's prophetic career, but it doesn't appear in the Bible because it's not canon-inspired by God. As was customary in those days, the sealed copy was placed and stoppered in an earthenware jar for preservation. This jar was probably similar to one ones in which the Dead Sea Scrolls were preserved and discovered two millennia later in remarkably good condition. What Jeremiah did signified that the people would again buy and sell land in Judah. In spite of the imminent captivity, they would return to the land and resume life.
APPLICATION-Having Faith in God's Promises, No Matter What!
