32:1 In the tenth year that Zedekiah was ruling over Judah the Lord spoke to Jeremiah. That was the same as the eighteenth year of Nebuchadnezzar.
Zedekiah was the last king of Judah. The year of this prophecy was 588–587 B.C., which was only one to two years before Jerusalem was destroyed by the Babylonians.
32:2 Now at that time, the armies of the king of Babylon were besieging Jerusalem. The prophet Jeremiah was confined in the courtyard of the guardhouse attached to the royal palace of Judah.
While the Babylonians were sieging Jerusalem, Jeremiah was imprisoned. This was the second year of the siege.
32:3 For King Zedekiah had confined Jeremiah there after he had reproved him for prophesying as he did. He had asked Jeremiah, “Why do you keep prophesying these things? Why do you keep saying that the Lord says, ‘I will hand this city over to the king of Babylon? I will let him capture it.
Jeremiah was imprisoned because of his negative prophecies. He was not a seeker-friendly pastor.
32:4 King Zedekiah of Judah will not escape from the Babylonians. He will certainly be handed over to the king of Babylon. He must answer personally to the king of Babylon and confront him face to face.
King Zedekiah did not like Jeremiah's message that he was going to lose the war and be captured.
32:5 Zedekiah will be carried off to Babylon and will remain there until I have fully dealt with him. I, the Lord, affirm it! Even if you continue to fight against the Babylonians, you cannot win.’ ”
Zedekiah did not like the message that he was going to be carried away to Babylon as a prisoner.
32:6 So now, Jeremiah said, “The Lord told me,
This prophecy was not Jeremiah’s personal opinion. It was God's revelation of truth. It was God's judgement upon Judah.
32:7 ‘Hanamel, the son of your uncle Shallum, will come to you soon. He will say to you, “Buy my field at Anathoth because you are entitled as my closest relative to buy it.”
Hanamel possibly wanted to sell his land and escape the doom of the Babylonian Captivity. Anathoth was a Levitical city in the territory of Benjamin. It was also the hometown of Jeremiah.
32:8 Now it happened just as the Lord had said! My cousin Hanamel came to me in the courtyard of the guardhouse. He said to me, ‘Buy my field which is at Anathoth in the territory of the tribe of Benjamin. Buy it for yourself since you are entitled as my closest relative to take possession of it for yourself.’ When this happened, I recognized that the Lord had indeed spoken to me.
Jeremiah was Anathoth's first cousin, so he would be the first kinsman redeemer to whom the land was offered.
32:9 So I bought the field at Anathoth from my cousin Hanamel. I weighed out seven ounces of silver and gave it to him to pay for it.
Jesus was betrayed for thirty pieces of silver. A dead slave was valued at thirty pieces of silver. As a result of the Babylonian invasion, Jeremiah bought the land at a very devalued price.
32:10 I signed the deed of purchase, sealed it, and had some men serve as witnesses to the purchase. I weighed out the silver for him on a scale.
All of the official procedures occurred at the city gate. The city gate was the courtroom of many ancient cultures.
32:11 There were two copies of the deed of purchase. One was sealed and contained the order of transfer and the conditions of purchase. The other was left unsealed.
Two copies of the document were created. One was sealed and the other was not.
32:12 I took both copies of the deed of purchase and gave them to Baruch son of Neriah, the son of Mahseiah. I gave them to him in the presence of my cousin Hanamel, the witnesses who had signed the deed of purchase, and all the Judeans who were housed in the courtyard of the guardhouse.
The documents were given to one of the witnesses in front of the other witnesses.
32:13 In the presence of all these people I instructed Baruch,
Baruch was Jeremiah’s secretary.
32:14 ‘The Lord God of Israel who rules over all says, “Take these documents, both the sealed copy of the deed of purchase and the unsealed copy. Put them in a clay jar so that they may be preserved for a long time to come.”
These property documents were placed in a clay jar for preservation. These were the types of jars that the Dead Sea Scrolls were kept and preserved. Do not be surprised if archaeologists dig up these documents some day.
132:5 For the Lord God of Israel who rules over all says, “Houses, fields, and vineyards will again be bought in this land.” ’
Jehovah declared that Israel would return, meaning that this property would once again possess value.
32:16 “After I had given the copies of the deed of purchase to Baruch son of Neriah, I prayed to the Lord,
In verses 16-25, Jeremiah prayed to Jehovah.
32:17 ‘Oh, Lord God, you did indeed make heaven and earth by your mighty power and great strength. Nothing is too hard for you!
Jeremiah began his prayer by praising Jehovah as the Creator of heaven and earth with His omnipotent power. Nothing is too difficult for Jehovah to accomplish. He speaks and it happens.
32:18 You show unfailing love to thousands. But you also punish children for the sins of their parents. You are the great and powerful God who is known as the Lord who rules over all.
God has a divine love for everyone. However, He is a God of high standards who will not allow any kind of sin in His universe. He is a righteous Judge who does not allow sin to go unpunished. God rules over everything.
32:19 You plan great things and you do mighty deeds. You see everything people do. You reward each of them for the way they live and for the things they do.
God is omniscient. He is sovereign over all things, meaning that He has already planned out everything in the universe even before the foundations of the world were created. He is omnipresent, meaning that He is everywhere at once. Therefore, He sees everything that people do. He even knows what they are thinking. God rewards those for they way they think and live. Thought life can be controlled by the study of Bible doctrine.
Some of the rewards for Israel were conditional. The eternal rewards for the saints are unconditional. Those who complete God’s works will receive crowns in heaven. Some Christians say they are not interested in receiving crowns. They should be. Earning crowns means that one is following God’s will. One cannot follow God’s will unless he knows bible doctrine from the entire counsel of the Word of God. Once a person knows bible doctrine, then he must obey it and apply it.
32:20 You did miracles and amazing deeds in the land of Egypt which have had lasting effect. By this means you gained both in Israel and among humankind a renown that lasts to this day.
The blessings and miracles of God can be found in recorded history. Centuries after the miracles of Egypt, nations still remembered the lasting effects of the power of Jehovah. The Jewish Passover today is celebrated on every continent of the world. This a testimony which points back to the reality of this actual historical event.
32:21 You used your mighty power and your great strength to perform miracles and amazing deeds and to bring great terror on the Egyptians. By this means you brought your people Israel out of the land of Egypt.
God blessed Israel through the Exodus. Jehovah proved to all of the world that He was the one true God. This historical event was passed by word of mouth to all of the nations of the world through the Silk Roads and the ships of the Phoenicians. Ancient mercantilism was used to spread the name of the one true God.
32:22 You kept the promise that you swore on oath to their ancestors. You gave them a land flowing with milk and honey.
God kept His promise to bring Israel back into the land of milk and honey. The land of milk and honey was a metaphor for a nation which is agriculturally wealthy. There is plenty of grass for the flocks and plenty of flowers for the bees.
32:23 But when they came in and took possession of it, they did not obey you or live as you had instructed them. They did not do anything that you commanded them to do. So you brought all this disaster on them.
Israel was a failure in keeping the conditional Mosaic Covenant. God kept His promises of the conditional Mosaic Covenant, but Israel did not.
32:24 Even now siege ramps have been built up around the city in order to capture it. War, starvation, and disease are sure to make the city fall into the hands of the Babylonians who are attacking it. Lord, you threatened that this would happen. Now you can see that it is already taking place.
God had already told Judah to submit to Babylon, so that Judah could avoid war, starvation, and disease.
32:25 The city is sure to fall into the hands of the Babylonians. Yet, in spite of this, you, Lord God, have said to me, “Buy that field with silver and have the transaction legally witnessed.” ’ ”
Jerusalem will fall to the Babylonians, but God has promised to restore the city.
32:26 The Lord answered Jeremiah.
Verses 26–44 recorded God’s answer to Jeremiah’s prayer.
32:27 “I am the Lord, the God of all humankind. There is, indeed, nothing too difficult for me.
God is the only true God of all humankind, including Jews and Gentiles. It is not difficult for Him to restore Jerusalem.
32:28 Therefore I, the Lord, say: ‘I will indeed hand this city over to King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon and the Babylonian army. They will capture it.
Many Jews thought that Jehovah would never allow Jerusalem to be destroyed, because His temple existed in this city. Jehovah confirmed that Jerusalem would be handed over to King Nebuchadnezzar.
32:29 The Babylonian soldiers that are attacking this city will break into it and set it on fire. They will burn it down along with the houses where people have made me angry by offering sacrifices to the god Baal and by pouring out drink offerings to other gods on their rooftops.
Jerusalem was offering sacrifices to Baal in the Jewish temple, so God would burn down the city and the temple.
32:30 This will happen because the people of Israel and Judah have repeatedly done what displeases me from their earliest history until now and because they have repeatedly made me angry by the things they have done. I, the Lord, affirm it!
Israel had never followed the Mosaic Law. Even when Moses was receiving the Law on Mount Sinai, they were worshiping the calf god out of Egypt.
32:31 This will happen because the people of this city have aroused my anger and my wrath since the time they built it until now. They have made me so angry that I am determined to remove it from my sight.
The people of Israel have been making Jehovah angry ever since the temple was built.
32:32 I am determined to do so because the people of Israel and Judah have made me angry with all their wickedness—they, their kings, their officials, their priests, their prophets, and especially the people of Judah and the citizens of Jerusalem have done this wickedness.
Israel had more light, yet they rejected it and worshiped idols.
32:33 They have turned away from me instead of turning to me. I tried over and over again to instruct them, but they did not listen and respond to correction.
Israel received instruction from both the written Mosaic Law and the verb prophecies of the prophets. God gave Israel more instruction than any other nation, but they rejected this instruction and turned to demons. The Hebrew word for “instruction” is מוּסָר (musar), meaning discipline. Israel rejected the discipline that she was receiving from God.
32:34 They set up their disgusting idols in the temple which I have claimed for my own and defiled it.
The Israelites worshiped demons in the Jewish Temple.
32:35 They built places of worship for the god Baal in the Valley of Ben Hinnom so that they could sacrifice their sons and daughters to the god Molech. Such a disgusting practice was not something I commanded them to do! It never even entered my mind to command them to do such a thing! So Judah is certainly liable for punishment.’
The Israelites sacrificed innocent children to Baal in the Valley of Ben Hinnom. This valley later became Gehenna, a burning garbage dump during the time of Jesus.
32:36 “You and your people are right in saying, ‘War, starvation, and disease are sure to make this city fall into the hands of the king of Babylon.’ But now I, the Lord God of Israel, have something further to say about this city:
War, famine, and pestilence were the three big judgments which were scheduled for Jerusalem. However, God had some other things to say as well. In verses 36-44, He will add that even though Jerusalem is to be judged, she will also be restored.
32:37 ‘I will certainly regather my people from all the countries where I will have exiled them in my anger, fury, and great wrath. I will bring them back to this place and allow them to live here in safety.
God will regather the Jews from all of the nations of the world. He will bring them back to literal Jerusalem. Amillennialists spiritualize this passage and interpret it to be the church. If taken literally, then God will regather all of the Jews from all of the nations of the world and bring them back into the city of Jerusalem. This prophecy will be fulfilled at the beginning of the Millennial Kingdom.
32:38 They will be my people, and I will be their God.
When God restores the Jews, there will be a national conversion of Israel. This is not the return from the Babylonian Captivity, because the Babylonian return was not worldwide and there was no national conversion. This cannot be the return of Israel in 1948. The 1948 return was only partial. Israel did not receive a national conversion. The majority of Jews in modern Israel are atheists and liberals. Amillenialists, postmillenialists, liberals, Democrats, Republicans, the United Nations, and Christ-rejecters will not be able to stop God from fulfilling this prophecy.
32:39 I will give them a single-minded purpose to live in a way that always shows respect for me. They will want to do that for their own good and the good of the children who descend from them.
The Jews who return during the Millennial Kingdom will become nationally converted and they will possess a single-minded purpose. They will be changed internally and externally. They will want to please their Messiah and serve Him. All of the Jewish children born during the Millennial Kingdom will become believers. This is why Paul recorded that “all Israel will be saved.” The “all Israel” means that all Jewish individuals who survive the Great Tribulation and enter into the Millennial Kingdom.
There will be some Gentile children born into the Millennial Kingdom who will not become believers. They will be executed at the age of 100 years.
32:40 I will make a lasting covenant with them that I will never stop doing good to them. I will fill their hearts and minds with respect for me so that they will never again turn away from me.
The lasting covenant with the Millennial Jewish believers is the New Covenant of Jeremiah 31:31‑34. All of these Jewish believers in the entire world will one day show respect for Jehovah and never turn against Him.
32:41 I will take delight in doing good to them. I will faithfully and wholeheartedly plant them firmly in the land.’
God will enjoy his relationship with the Jewish believers during the future Millennial Kingdom.
32:42 “For I, the Lord, say: ‘I will surely bring on these people all the good fortune that I am hereby promising them. I will be just as sure to do that as I have been in bringing all this great disaster on them.
God will restore the world to its previous Garden-of-Eden conditions. God will keep all of his promises which were offered to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.
32:43 You and your people are saying that this land will become desolate, uninhabited by either people or animals. You are saying that it will be handed over to the Babylonians. But fields will again be bought in this land.
The land of Israel would become decimated and vacated during the Babylonian Captivity, but it will be completely restored during the Millennial Kingdom.
32:44 Fields will again be bought with silver, and deeds of purchase signed, sealed, and witnessed. This will happen in the territory of Benjamin, the villages surrounding Jerusalem, the towns in Judah, the southern hill country, the western foothills, and southern Judah. For I will restore them to their land. I, the Lord, affirm it!’ ”
No one else would buy land during Jeremiah's day. Just as Jeremiah bought property immediately before the Babylonian Captivity, so will many Jews buy land after the Babylonian Captivity and during the Millennial Kingdom. Property in Judah will once again be valued and sold.