Reflections on Jeremiah 32

Jeremiah 32 (Contemporary English Version)
1. The LORD spoke to me in the tenth year that Zedekiah was king of Judah, which was the eighteenth year that Nebuchadnezzar was king of Babylonia.
   
2. At that time, the Babylonian army had surrounded Jerusalem, and I was in the prison at the courtyard of the palace guards.
   
3. Zedekiah had ordered me to be held there because I told everyone that the LORD had said: I am the LORD, and I am about to let the king of Babylonia conquer Jerusalem.
   
4. King Zedekiah will be captured and taken to King Nebuchadnezzar, who will speak with him face to face.
   
5. Then Zedekiah will be led away to Babylonia, where he will stay until I am finished with him. So, if you people of Judah fight against the Babylonians, you will lose. I, the LORD, have spoken.
   
6. Later, when I was in prison, the LORD said:
   
7. Jeremiah, your cousin Hanamel, the son of your uncle Shallum, will visit you. He must sell his field near the town of Anathoth, and because you are his nearest relative, you have the right and the responsibility to buy it and keep it in the family.
   
8. Hanamel came, just as the LORD had promised. And he said, "Please buy my field near Anathoth in the territory of the Benjamin tribe. You have the right to buy it, and if you do, it will stay in our family." The LORD had told me to buy it
   
9. from Hanamel, and so I did. The price was seventeen pieces of silver, and I weighed out the full amount on a scale.
   
10. I had two copies of the bill of sale written out, each containing all the details of our agreement. Some witnesses and I signed the official copy, which was folded and tied, before being sealed shut with hot wax. Then I gave Hanamel the silver.
    
11. (SEE 32:10)
    
12. And while he, the witnesses, and all the other Jews sitting in the courtyard were still watching, I gave both copies to Baruch son of Neriah.
    
13. I told Baruch that the LORD had said: Take both copies of this bill of sale, one sealed shut and the other open, and put them in a clay jar so they will last a long time.
    
14. (SEE 32:13)
    
15. I am the LORD All-Powerful, the God of Israel, and I promise you that people will once again buy and sell houses, farms, and vineyards in this country.
    
16. Then I prayed:
    
17. LORD God, you stretched out your mighty arm and made the sky and the earth. You can do anything.
    
18. You show kindness for a thousand generations, but you also punish people for the sins of their parents. You are the LORD All-Powerful.
    
19. With great wisdom you make plans, and with your great power you do all the mighty things you planned. Nothing we do is hidden from your eyes, and you reward or punish us as we deserve.
    
20. You are famous because you worked miracles in Egypt, and you are still working them in Israel and in the rest of the world as well.
    
21. You terrified the Egyptians with your miracles, and you reached out your mighty arm and rescued your people Israel from Egypt.
    
22. Then you gave Israel this land rich with milk and honey, just as you had promised our ancestors.
    
23. But when our ancestors took over the land, they did not obey you. And now you have punished Israel with disaster.
    
24. Jerusalem is under attack, and we suffer from hunger and disease. The Babylonians have already built dirt ramps up to the city walls, and you can see that Jerusalem will be captured just as you said.
    
25. So why did you tell me to get some witnesses and buy a field with my silver, when Jerusalem is about to be captured by the Babylonians?
    
26. The LORD explained:
    
27. Jeremiah, I am the LORD God. I rule the world, and I can do anything!
    
28. It is true that I am going to let King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylonia capture Jerusalem.
    
29. The Babylonian army is already attacking, and they will capture the city and set it on fire. The people of Jerusalem have made me angry by going up to the flat roofs of their houses and burning incense to Baal and offering wine sacrifices to other gods. Now these houses will be burned to the ground!
    
30. The kings and the officials, the priests and the prophets, and everyone else in Israel and Judah have turned from me and made me angry by worshiping idols. Again and again I have tried to teach my people to obey me, but they refuse to be corrected. I am going to get rid of Jerusalem, because its people have done nothing but evil.
    
31. (SEE 32:30)
    
32. (SEE 32:30)
    
33. (SEE 32:30)
    
34. They have set up disgusting idols in my temple, and now it isn't a fit place to worship me.
    
35. And they led Judah into sin by building places to worship Baal in Hinnom Valley, where they also sacrificed their sons and daughters to the god Molech. I have never even thought of telling them to commit such disgusting sins.
    
36. Jeremiah, what you said is true. The people of Jerusalem are suffering from hunger and disease, and so the king of Babylonia will be able to capture Jerusalem.
    
37. I am angry at the people of Jerusalem, and I will scatter them in foreign countries. But someday I will bring them back here and let them live in safety.
    
38. They will be my people, and I will be their God.
    
39. I will make their thoughts and desires pure. Then they will realize that, for their own good and the good of their children, they must worship only me. They will even be afraid to turn away from me. I will make an agreement with them that will never end, and I won't ever stop doing good things for them. With all my heart I promise that they will be planted in this land once again.
    
40. (SEE 32:39)
    
41. (SEE 32:39)
    
42. Even though I have brought disaster on the people, I will someday do all these good things for them.
    
43. Jeremiah, when you bought the field, you showed that fields will someday be bought and sold again. You say that this land has been conquered by the Babylonians and has become a desert, emptied of people and animals.
    
44. But someday, people will again spend their silver to buy fields everywhere--in the territory of Benjamin, the region around Jerusalem and the towns of Judah, and in the hill country, the foothills to the west, and the Southern Desert. Buyers and sellers and witnesses will sign and seal the bills of sale for the fields. It will happen, because I will give this land back to my people. I, the LORD, have spoken.

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When a building has outlived its usefulness and is torn down to build a new one in its place, would we not say, even during the demolition phase, that a new building is being built? So was the case with Judah at the time Jeremiah 32 was written. Babylonian siege ramps were about the city of Jerusalem and the nation of Judah was about to fall. This was happening because of God's judgment for Judah's idolatry. But as is illustrated in this chapter, this is not about the demolition of Judah, but about the building of a new Israel. The old must be torn down so that a new and better nation can be built in its place. The old was beyond restoration. God had tried to restore Judah and Israel numerous times and any improvement made was only temporary. Therefore, both nations must be torn down completely and one new and unified nation built in their place.

To illustrate God's intentions, he had Jeremiah buy his cousin's land. Jeremiah had been imprisoned by Zedekiah king of Judah because of his "treasonous" prophecies against Judah. Meanwhile, siege ramps had been built against the city for its capture. The fall of Jerusalem, and thus of Judah, was inevitable. With Jeremiah in prison, God told him his cousin Hanamel would come and ask him to redeem his land by buying it. And as predicted, the cousin came to him in prison making this request, and Jeremiah bought the land, going through the usual legal procedures of the time. At the time of Jeremiah's purchase, the land was useless. The cousin's land was in Anathoth which had already been taken by the Babylonians. Jeremiah could not take possession of the land he bought. But the point was that one day he would take possession of it. God said of this land that was being handed over to Babylon, "I am about to gather them (Israelites) from all the lands where I have banished them in My wrath, rage, and great fury, and I will return them to this place and make them live in safety. They will be My people, and I will be their God. I will give them one heart and one way so that for their good and for the good of their descendants after them, they will fear Me always. 'I will make with them an everlasting covenant: I will never turn away from doing good to them, and I will put fear of Me in their hearts so they will never again turn away from Me. I will rejoice over them to do what is good to them, and I will plant them faithfully in this land with all My mind and heart.'" (32:37-41)

God was tearing down the old so He might make a new covenant with Israel. Under this covenant all of the expectations of the old covenant that were never fulfilled would finally be realized. We are so prone to be angry with God when problems come into our lives. But whatever the problem and whatever God's role might be regarding the cause of the problem, one thing we can depend on. If we seek God and His purposes in our life, an even better life will replace whatever loss is brought on by the problems we encounter.