Year 3, Day 85: Jeremiah 32

The Price of Being a Prophet

In chapter 32 we understand that Jeremiah is imprisoned by Zedekiah.  Jeremiah had been telling Zedekiah that nothing he tries will work.  There is no escaping Nebuchadnezzar.  God had ordained Nebuchadnezzar to come and punish the Hebrew people.  To resist Nebuchadnezzar would be to resist God.

As you might expect, Zedekiah didn’t particularly appreciate this message.  I don’t know many of us who would, to be fair.  We talk all the time about how much we need people in our lives to correct us.  But that does not mean that we look forward to it.  None of us look forward to the time when someone tells us about the consequences of our actions.  So, Zedekiah punishes Jeremiah by throwing him in prison.

Purchasing the Land

While in prison, the Lord gives Jeremiah a message.  The Lord told Jeremiah that his cousin was going to come to him with a request to redeem his land.  This was done according to the law of God.  When a person was forced to sell their land heritage, the duty of buying the field (or even buying the field back for the relative) fell upon someone within the family.  That way the land would never leave the possession of the family and tribe to which it was given.

You might be wondering why it is that God sent a message to Jeremiah regarding this.  After all, Jeremiah certainly knew the law, right?

Here’s the deal.  Remember that Jerusalem was under siege.  Anathoth – the village from which Jeremiah came – was outside Jerusalem.  Thus, it was already in Babylonian control.  Essentially, Jeremiah’s cousin was going to come to him and ask him to buy land that wasn’t ever going to be able to be used by Jeremiah.  This is what makes Hanamel’s request so absurd.  This is why God tells Jeremiah ahead of time to follow through on the request.  The Babylonians had already seized the land that Hanamel looked to sell.

Explanation of the Purchase

Jeremiah goes to the court officials and makes the purchase official.  Again, this might seem silly.  Why would Jeremiah make official the purchase of land that he’ll never use?  The reason is so that Jeremiah can make a statement about the future.  Jeremiah is saying that while they may be headed into captivity there will come a time and a day when the Hebrew people will return to the land.  There will come a day when the Hebrew people will once again work the land and live on the land.  They are headed into captivity, but all hope is not yet lost.

Jeremiah and God Have an Exchange

Jeremiah and God then trade exchanges.  Jeremiah prays humbly to God.   He acknowledges God’s omnipotence.  He acknowledges God’s justice.  He declares both God’s love and His punishment of sin.  Jeremiah acknowledges everything that has happened and clearly states sin as the reason for the unraveling of the people of God’s Promised Land.

Then God speaks.  God declares that everything is within His power.  God declares that Nebuchadnezzar will ravage the city.  Because of their idolatry, God would burn the city to the ground.  Because they offered up their children – their inheritance – as sacrifices to foreign gods they would be destroyed.

Everlasting Covenant

For the second chapter in a row, we also hear God’s promise of a new covenant.  This time, we hear God declare that it will be an everlasting covenant.  He will be God.  His people will have a heart for His ways.  His people will know the true meaning of fearing the Lord because He Himself will put it within them.

God reminds Jeremiah that although the Babylonians are now in control of the land, it will not always be so.  There will be a time and a place for fields to be bought once more.  Deeds shall change hands and be witnessed.  God will restore the fortune of the Hebrew people.

I love this ending.  What it demonstrates is God’s ability to see into the future.  It also demonstrates our short-sightedness.  We think about the here and now.  We might occasionally think about the near future.  But we seldom if ever think about the distant future.  How often do we make a decision based on what could happen seventy years from now?  We think that absurd.  God does it regularly.

Those last two sentences really convicted me as I typed them.  It made me wonder even more deeply:  How many other things do we regard as absurd that God does regularly?  Just how different is the character of God from us?  How much of God’s character do we simply not understand because we cannot see – or choose not to see – with the perspective of the Father?

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