Year 2, Week 14, Day 1 Bible Reading Observations

Year 2, Week 14, Day 1

I have a brief observation for today’s reading of Jeremiah 32.

Today’s reading continues a segment of the Book of Jeremiah that serves as something of the central focus. While most of Jeremiah focuses on the sins of Judah and its punishment, chapters 30–33 describe a glorious, future salvation. This central segment divides into three major parts. The first section focuses on the new covenant (chapters 30-31). The second speaks of the redemption of the land that had been defiled by Judah’s sins (chapter 32). The third concerns a new David (chapter 33). The first and third sections parallel each other. Jeremiah 32 describes events that took place during Nebuchadnezzar’s last, lengthy siege of Jerusalem, at the end of which the Babylonians would destroy the city (586 BC.). While sin has brought about the siege and soon destruction of Jerusalem, the LORD promises restoration: “Just as I have brought all this great disaster upon this people, so I will bring upon them all the good that I promise them…for I will restore their fortunes, declares the LORD” (Jeremiah 32:42,44b). This same land that the LORD orders Jeremiah to acquire is described also in Jeremiah 37, but the two passages noting the same event is told from two very different vantage points: Jeremiah 32 shows how the land purchase points to the hope the LORD gives, while Jeremiah 37 shows how the land was defiled by sin.

One of the things that struck me from today’s reading is the LORD’s restatement of the New Covenant’s blessings: “Behold, I will gather them from all the countries to which I drove them in my anger and my wrath and in great indignation. I will bring them back to this place, and I will make them dwell in safety. And they shall be my people, and I will be their God. I will give them one heart and one way, that they may fear me forever, for their own good and the good of their children after them. I will make with them an everlasting covenant, that I will not turn away from doing good to them. And I will put the fear of me in their hearts, that they may not turn from me. I will rejoice in doing them good, and I will plant them in this land in faithfulness, with all my heart and all my soul” (Jeremiah 32:37-41). What is most pertinent is the timing of these stated promises: “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. 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 that was in the palace of the king of Judah” (Jeremiah 32:1-2). The times were bleak, for Jeremiah had been proclaiming the sure capture of Zedekiah and the sure destruction of Jerusalem at the hands of the Babylonians. It seemed that all hope was gone.

But at the exact moment that all appearances suggested that there was no future hope and salvation, the LORD gave Jeremiah a new message: “Jeremiah said, “The word of the LORD came to me: Behold, Hanamel the son of Shallum your uncle will come to you and say, Buy my field that is at Anathoth, for the right of redemption by purchase is yours” (Jeremiah 32:6-7). But Jeremiah, who at the time is jailed, is very perplexed over the purchase of the land and what it has to do with the LORD having Jerusalem besieged and soon destroyed: “Behold, the siege mounds have come up to the city to take it, and because of sword and famine and pestilence the city is given into the hands of the Chaldeans who are fighting against it. What you spoke has come to pass, and behold, you see it. Yet you, O Lord GOD, have said to me, “Buy the field for money and get witnesses”—though the city is given into the hands of the Chaldeans” (Jeremiah 32:24-25). The LORD explains to Jeremiah: “For thus says the LORD: Just as I have brought all this great disaster upon this people, so I will bring upon them all the good that I promise them. Fields shall be bought in this land of which you are saying, ‘It is a desolation, without man or beast; it is given into the hand of the Chaldeans.’ Fields shall be bought for money, and deeds shall be signed and sealed and witnessed…for I will restore their fortunes, declares the LORD” (Jeremiah 32:42-44). The purchase of the land would be a sign that the LORD was not finished with the land and His people.

The people of Jerusalem have served other gods rejecting God’s Word, and therefore they would experience a just punishment for their sins. Nevertheless, the LORD would bring them back and enable them to rebuild. Their return to the city, would be itself a sign for the future, permanent redemption of Israel under the new covenant: “I will bring them back to this place, and I will make them dwell in safety. And they shall be my people, and I will be their God. I will give them one heart and one way, that they may fear me forever, for their own good and the good of their children after them. I will make with them an everlasting covenant, that I will not turn away from doing good to them” (Jeremiah 32:37b-40).

What struck you in today’s reading? What questions were prompted from today’s reading?

Pastor Joe