And after I had given the writing of the purchase unto Baruch the son of Nerijah, I prayed unto Jehovah saying,
Jeremiah has just bought a field in a city under siege. He handed the paperwork to Baruch for safekeeping. Only then does he pray. The words that follow come from a man who obeyed first and asked his questions afterwards.
God told Jeremiah to buy the field, and he obeyed. One writer points out that this was no small thing to ask, and that the prayer shows how hard it was:
If there ever was a bad time to invest in land it was then. Jeremiah knew the outcome of the battle. The enemies would win and take the city and the land of Judaea. What use was it to buy a plot of land? We should not imagine that this was an easy thing for him to do (read his prayer in verses 17–25). But Jeremiah obeyed.
Jeremiah had already spoken publicly of a new covenant to come. What God asked next was aimed at the prophet himself:
In Jeremiah 32, a very striking incident follows this prophecy of the new covenant. It tests the prophet's faith in his own prediction. The Lord constantly allows His servants to be tested. If the Lord gives us some great truth to bear witness to, we will have to prove our own faith in that truth.
"The deed of purchase" was in fact two documents, and each had its own job:
Everything was done according to the custom of the law. The open document was for reference. The sealed one was the one everything depended on; it was proof that could not be challenged.
Baruch was not just a filing clerk. He held the deed as evidence for a future no one could yet see:
Then, according to the word of the Lord, Jeremiah handed the deed of purchase to Baruch. He was to keep it as a witness that property would be owned again in the land.
The prayer that starts in this verse opens by naming what God can do, then moves through the nation's story to the fall of the city:
What a beautiful prayer it is which came from the lips of the prisoner! First of all he acknowledges the power of God, as we all do in believing prayer: there is nothing too hard for the Lord. Then he speaks of the lovingkindness and righteousness of the God of Israel. He mentions the nation's past history. What the Lord had predicted against the city and the nation had been done; the city was given to the Chaldeans. "What you have spoken has come to pass, and behold, you see it." He then mentions that the Lord had told him to buy that field.
Jeremiah confesses God's unlimited power. He still cannot see how his money will ever come back to him. One writer sets the Lord's reply to him beside an older story:
"Is anything too hard for the Lord?" is the Lord's challenge to Jeremiah on this occasion, as it is to Sarah in Genesis 18. Sarah did not know how she could have a child, for her body was then dead. She did not know the resurrection-strength of God. Jeremiah did not know how he could ever get his money back. He was laying it out on a piece of ground that was then in the hand of the enemy. Like Sarah, he did not know the resurrection-strength of God.
Jeremiah bought the field at the worst possible moment. One writer sees God's own way of working in that timing:
At such a moment God shows His redemption and grace. He tells the prophet to buy the field of Hanameel, because "the right of redemption" belonged to Jeremiah. Just so it is with God — the right of redemption is His... "Man's extremity is God's opportunity!" Those who have proved His redeeming love know this.
The chapter sets faith against a double failure, one before trouble arrives and one after:
Before the threatened evil or judgment comes from the hand of the Lord, men do not believe it. They are always hoping for a deliverance where there is no deliverance, for peace where there is no peace. This is the first effect of unbelief — a fighting against Jehovah's discipline. When the discipline comes, then they are all plunged into despair... Now faith, on the contrary, believes the judgment before it comes, but believes in the goodness of the Lord.
- Obey, then ask. Jeremiah bought the field first. The prayer, with all its questions, came afterwards.
- Tested. The Lord gives a servant a great truth to proclaim, then asks him to prove he believes it himself.
- Sealed. Two copies went to Baruch — one open for reference, one sealed as the proof everything rested on. Both were kept as a witness that land would be owned again.
- Honest. The prayer confesses God's power and retells the nation's story. It still cannot see how the field will ever be worth anything.
- Answered. God answers with a question: "Is anything too hard for the Lord?" It points Jeremiah to a strength he had not counted on.
Alas, Lord Jehovah! Behold, thou hast made the heavens and the earth by thy great power and stretched-out arm; there is nothing too hard for thee
Jeremiah prays this as a prisoner, having just paid good money for a field that lay in enemy hands. He starts not with that problem but with the God who made the heavens and the earth — and God will hand those same words back to him as a question.
The prayer follows an act that made no financial sense. God had already promised a future for the nation, and then asked the prophet to stake his own money on it.
In all this there was a beautiful message of grace. God would put an end to the dominion of the Gentiles. A time of blessing would come. Land should be bought and sold again. Now God puts him to the test by making him buy the land. If Jeremiah believed his own prophecy he should act on it and "put his money where his mouth was", and he did.
Notice the order of the prayer. Before Jeremiah brings up the nation's history or his own errand, he settles who he is speaking to.
What a beautiful prayer it is which came from the lips of the prisoner! He acknowledges first of all, as we all do in believing prayer, the power of God. There is nothing too hard for the Lord. Then he speaks of the loving kindness and righteousness of the God of Israel, and mentions the past history of the nation. What the Lord had predicted against the city and the nation had happened. "What You have spoken has come to pass, and behold, You see it." He then mentions that the Lord had told him to buy that field.
Jeremiah's confidence rested on who God is, not on how things looked. God answered him with his own words, turned into a question. (Jehovah is an older English rendering of the Lord's name.)
Jeremiah had obeyed and bought the field for money when everything looked hopeless. God was his confidence. He had made the heavens and the earth. The Great, the Mighty God, Jehovah of hosts is His Name, says the prophet to Him, "There is nothing too hard for You!" God then asks, to reassure him, "Is there anything too hard for Me?" "Behold, I am Jehovah, the God of all flesh."
God had put the same question to Sarah in Genesis 18. Her case and Jeremiah's both needed a power that works where life has already gone.
"Is anything too hard for the Lord?" is the Lord's challenge to Jeremiah on this occasion, as it is to Sarah in Gen. 18. Sarah did not know how she could have a child, since her body was then dead. She did not know the resurrection-strength of God. Jeremiah did not know how he could get his money back. He was laying it out on a piece of ground that was then in the hand of the enemy. Like Sarah, he did not know the resurrection-strength of God.
God's power here backs one specific promise about the land, and that promise still waits.
The Jews have never yet inherited their land according to the new covenant. Still less have they inherited it according to the everlasting covenant. They are to inherit under both titles. The new covenant marks it off from anything that ever was before. The everlasting covenant shows that the new covenant will never go out of date or grow obsolete. It will always hold good for their possession and their blessing.
Jeremiah's confidence exposes a habit that spoils our own praying.
How often have we prayed for certain things while lurking at the back of our minds is the thought, "It will never be answered. It is too difficult"? The doubt is in our minds instead of faith. We doubt the ability of God to do the thing that we are asking. It really is an insult to God. If we pray to God we should pray to a known God, competent to do far more abundantly than all that we ask or think. If God is God, these matters are very, very small for Him to accomplish. Why, He has done the most wonderful things. Creation is the evidence of His extreme wisdom, power, strength, measurement, balance and all the things we like to think of. It stands as a witness to the greatness and majesty of God.
- Creator first. Jeremiah names the God who made heaven and earth before he mentions the field or the fear.
- Nothing too hard. God gives the prophet's own words back as a question, so that he rests in them.
- Resurrection strength. The same power gave Sarah a son from a dead body and can give back a field held by the enemy.
- Covenant backing. God has tied that power to a new and everlasting covenant for Israel that He has not yet kept in full.
- Prayer proved. Doubting God's ability while we ask Him for something insults Him, and creation answers the doubt.
who shewest mercy unto thousands, and recompensest the iniquity of the fathers into the bosom of their children after them, thou, the great, the mighty God, -- Jehovah of hosts is his name;
Jeremiah prays this while Jerusalem is under siege and he sits shut up in the prison court. He starts not with his trouble but with who God is. The verse then holds together two things we tend to keep apart: love that reaches thousands, and guilt paid back to the children of guilty fathers.
The prayer comes right after Jeremiah bought a field in a country about to be overrun. Nothing he owned mattered more to him than telling Israel what God had said:
Such was the faith and the patience of this holy prophet. Bearing a true testimony of the LORD's mind to His people, whatever it cost, was far dearer to him than goods, or honour, or life. When there was peace on the surface, he saw the coming ruin. When that ruin was near its worst, he acted on what he understood of the word of the LORD. He took steps toward a restoration that could not fail.
Jeremiah is echoing how God described Himself to Moses. Who God said this to shapes how we read it:
He was and is the eternal God — merciful, gracious, slow to wrath, great in goodness and truth. He keeps His goodness to thousands of generations. He pardons iniquity, transgression, and sin. Yet He holds no guilty one as innocent, but visits the iniquity of the fathers on the sons and on the sons of sons, to the third and the fourth generation. This is not His language to the Christian or the Church. It is simply His declaration of Himself to Moses the mediator for Israel, so that they should know His governing character and principles.
This is the hardest clause in the verse. Commentators tie it to how God rules the world now, not to the last judgment:
God is here showing how He deals with men on earth in His holy government. When it is a question of His judgment for eternity, God deals with the dead "according to what they had done" (Revelation 20:12-13). There is no thought of a child bearing the sin of his father. In the working out of God's government in this world, the way the iniquity of a father damages his children is a fact too obvious for any of us to overlook. The laws of heredity, which God has ordained, are very real.
The two halves of the verse belong together. Without the mercy in the first half, no nation would have been left at all:
What we find here is not law pure and simple. It is law with mercy, goodness, and patience in the government of God — His condescending love and long-suffering mixed in with law. Without it the guilty people could never have been spared, but must have perished root and branch.
Jeremiah has many names for God. This grand one is rare in his book:
Jeremiah uses "the LORD of hosts" over forty times. In keeping with his tender thoughts, he only once speaks of God as "The Great and Mighty El"; and just once likewise of "The Mighty and Terrible One."
The last title in the verse belongs to hard days. It turns up where God's people are at their weakest:
Many of the prophets use this name, especially in days of weakness and failure. It is good to know that, despite man's failure, there is an all-sufficient God, with unlimited resources at His disposal.
The repaying of guilt in verse 18 is not God's last word. Judgment on the city comes, and then a promise beyond it:
Judgment therefore must fall on their idolatries and their iniquities. If any deny Him, He must deny them. But He remains faithful; He cannot deny Himself... "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."
- Prison first. Jeremiah prays as a man who has just spent his money on a field in a doomed country. He valued a true testimony above goods, honour, or life.
- Name second. Jeremiah leans on God's names, not on his circumstances. He calls God "great and mighty" only once. "LORD of hosts" is the name for days of weakness and failure.
- Love reaches thousands. Steadfast love comes first in the verse. It kept a guilty nation from perishing root and branch. Law on its own could not have spared them.
- Recompense reaches children. Commentators read this as God's government of this world, where a father's sin damages his children. It is not a child bearing a father's sin at the last judgment.
- Covenant last. The same God who must judge idolatry binds Himself never to stop doing them good. He puts His fear in their hearts, so they will not turn from Him.
great in counsel and mighty in work, whose eyes are open upon all the ways of the children of men, to give every one according to his ways, and according to the fruit of his doings
Jeremiah bought a field while an enemy army held the land, and then he prayed. His prayer turned into a description of God: great in plan, mighty in act, with His eye on every human life.
The verse is one line in a long prayer, and Jeremiah prayed it under guard.
What a beautiful prayer it is which came from the lips of the prisoner! First he owns the power of God, as we all do in believing prayer: nothing is too hard for the Lord. Then he speaks of the loving kindness and righteousness of the God of Israel. He also recalls the past history of the nation. What the Lord had predicted against the city and the nation had been done; the city was given to the Chaldeans. "What you have spoken has come to pass, and behold, you see it." He then mentions that the Lord had told him to buy that field.
The two halves of that title belong together: God plans, and God performs.
So no one can defeat His counsels, however long He may wait to carry them out. And His purposes will not fall through by a change of mind in the One who formed them.
For Jeremiah this was not theory. It was why he could spend money on land the enemy already held.
Jeremiah had obeyed and bought the field for money when all looked hopeless. God was his confidence. He had made the heavens and the earth. The Great, the Mighty God, Jehovah of hosts is His Name, says the prophet to Him, "There is nothing too hard for you!"
An open eye means an active government — God watching and responding now.
We see that God acts consistently in His government here below. He cares for His own glory, and acts so as to show it. Not one action is unimportant. Even the smallest may cost us a blessing, because the government of God is always at work. It is true that someone who walks unfaithfully often receives many blessings, because God loves to show His mercy. Still, everything bears its fruit — either inside, in the soul, or outside, in chastisements.
God repays in this life, and He repays at the judgment to come.
God's present government takes account of how men behave. It makes them reap the due reward of their deeds even here. And Scripture, in many places, opens to our view the awful judgment to come. There it speaks of "books being opened," and tells us that God will judge each one according to what he has done. In short, we have close and accurate discrimination, and not a careless muddling together of men and things.
God's own people are not outside this reckoning. But the commentators mark where it stops.
If only we could trace them out, we would see how exactly God weighs every action of men in the balance of the sanctuary. We would see how He measures out a fitting and just chastisement to every offender. And though the sins of those in authority often fall on the people under them, each human being receives according to his works. In His government He makes no distinction between His own people and the godless world. The one difference is that the judgment may fall harder on His own people, for He had taught them better. But no judgment for His own reaches into eternity.
Repayment is real, and Jerusalem felt it. Yet judgment does not cancel God's faithfulness.
Judgment therefore must fall on their idolatries and their iniquities. If any deny Him, He must deny them. But He abides faithful; He cannot deny Himself.
- Name — Jeremiah prays by naming God: first His power, then His loving kindness and righteousness, then the nation's story.
- Counsel — Nothing can defeat what God has purposed, and delay is not a change of mind.
- Eye — His government never pauses. Not one action is unimportant, and everything bears fruit, in the soul or in chastisement.
- Measure — The reckoning is exact and personal, now and at the judgment to come. God never muddles men and things together.
- Mercy — His own people are not exempt, and may be judged more severely. But no judgment for His own reaches into eternity, because He cannot deny Himself.
who hast displayed signs and wonders unto this day, in the land of Egypt and in Israel and among [other] men; and hast made thee a name, as at this day.
Jeremiah prays this as a prisoner, while the judgment God foretold against Jerusalem is coming true. Before he asks God for anything, he recalls what God has done — and the rescue from Egypt stands at the centre of that memory.
The prayer moves in three steps: God's power, then His character, then His acts in Israel's history. This verse belongs to the third step.
What a beautiful prayer it is which came from the lips of the prisoner! First of all he acknowledges the power of God, as we all do in believing prayer: there is nothing too hard for the Lord. Then he speaks of the loving kindness and righteousness of the God of Israel. He also mentions the nation's past history. What the Lord had foretold against the city and the nation had come to pass; the city was given over to the Chaldeans of Babylon.
Some readers pull this verse out on its own and make it point to something still standing in Egypt today. The next verse settles the matter.
Some writers take two Scriptures out of their settings to support theories about the Great Pyramid. One is Jeremiah 32:20: "You have shown signs and wonders in the land of Egypt, and to this day in Israel and among all mankind." But the next verse explains what these signs and wonders were. They were the ones God gave when He brought Israel out of Egypt. They were the unforgettable signs of His power in the land that had oppressed His people.
The verse reaches wide: Egypt, Israel, and all mankind. God did not act in a hidden corner. He chose the place from which the news would travel furthest.
God separated a people to Himself out of these corrupting influences, and in doing this He made Himself known in a decisive public testimony that would reach far and wide. Egypt was both the leading centre of civilization and the land most full of animal gods. There God showed Himself in judgments that humbled its king and its many gods at the same time. "For this purpose I have raised you up," He says to Pharaoh, "to show you my power, so that my name may be proclaimed in all the earth." "And on all the gods of Egypt I will execute judgments," He says elsewhere to Moses.
Jeremiah says the wonders reach "to this day." The events were long past, but the name God won by them was still spoken of.
God knew the stubborn self-will and pride of Pharaoh. Working behind the scenes, He raised him up to where he could carry on the ill-treatment of His people, and even increase it, and so bring matters to a head. The time was now ripe for God to deal with him. In doing so He displayed His power in such a way that all the earth would hear His name. A Scripture like Joshua 2:8-11 shows how widely His name was spoken of in those days. And even in our day, 3,500 years later, the fame of it has not died away.
That rescue is what earned God the name Jeremiah appeals to.
Yet this great God has seen fit to bless one nation in an outstanding way. No other nation was like Israel, whom God had taken great pains to redeem from the bondage of Egypt in order to make them His own people. By this unusual work He had won a name of high honour for Himself, as well as doing great and awesome deeds for the sake of His land, in the sight of His people whom He had redeemed out of Egypt.
Jeremiah is not the first to reach back to Egypt when he is in trouble. Israel had always done it.
Every revival called the people back to this: the LORD had delivered them from slavery in Egypt. Every appeal to them recalled this mercy shown to the whole nation. And on their side, every confession of sin and plea to the LORD for mercy recalled His delivering hand in the land of Egypt — the pledge of every further rescue they would need.
The prayer opened by saying nothing is too hard for God. God replies by handing the sentence back as a question.
Jeremiah had said in faith, "Nothing is too hard for you." The Lord answered him, "Behold, I am the LORD, the God of all flesh. Is anything too hard for me?" Then He announces first of all the fate of the doomed city. After this comes the message of comfort and peace again. It looks forward to that blessed future when God gathers Israel out of all countries and brings them back to the land — when they shall be His people.
- Power — The prayer starts where faith starts: nothing is too hard for the Lord. From there it turns to His kindness and His dealings with Israel.
- Signs — The signs and wonders are the ones that brought Israel out of Egypt. The next verse says so. Read the two together.
- Name — God made Himself known in the world's leading civilisation, crowded with its own gods, so that everyone would hear of His name.
- Memory — That name has not faded. "To this day" is plain fact, not overstatement, and Jeremiah leans on it.
- Answer — Every plea for rescue leans on the first rescue as the pledge of the next. God answers Jeremiah with his own words: is anything too hard for Me? He then promises a gathering still to come.
And thou broughtest forth thy people Israel out of the land of Egypt by signs, and by wonders, and by a powerful hand, and by a stretched-out arm, and by great terror;
Jeremiah prays this as a prisoner, with the city about to fall to Babylon. He has just paid money for a field he may never walk on. Why recall the rescue from Egypt at such a moment? What does past power have to do with present ruin?
The verse sits inside a prayer that moves from who God is to what God has done.
What a beautiful prayer it is that came from the lips of the prisoner! First of all he acknowledges, as we all do in believing prayer, the power of God — that there is nothing too hard for the Lord. Then he speaks of the loving kindness and righteousness of the God of Israel, and mentions the past history of the nation.
The words name the second half of Israel's rescue: not the sheltering blood in Egypt, but the power that took them out.
As long as Israel stayed in Egypt they were not yet redeemed, though the shelter of the blood kept them completely safe. So the second part, the completion of their redemption, came when God brought them out of the land of Egypt through the Red Sea with a high hand and an outstretched arm. There He destroyed Pharaoh and all his army in its mighty waters. On the basis of the shed blood, God as Judge is satisfied, and now He can act for His people as their Deliverer. And so He brings them out of Egypt in power.
One set of events had two faces. Egypt felt wrath. Israel saw a sign.
In relation to Egypt, God's dealings were plagues. Each one displayed the wrath and power of God. By them He made His Name known throughout all the earth, and by them He overthrew Pharaoh, despite his stubborn and useless resistance. But to the people of God these "great judgments" were signs and wonders. By these God would bring His people out of the enemy's power, out of the house of slaves.
The rescue was not only for Israel's sake. God had something of His own at stake.
In wonderful grace, God had committed Himself to deliver His people out of the land that held them captive. The honour of His great Name was bound up with what He had said He would do. And God vindicated His Name when He poured out His judgments. They did not fall on Israel, who deserved them as much as the Egyptians did. They fell on those who had taught His people to serve their idols, and who would not let them go to worship the living and true God.
Why does a prisoner recite an old rescue? Because it became Israel's fixed measure of what God can do — and it points on to greater power still.
If they asked how God had stepped in for them most clearly, no doubt they remembered the power that brought them out of the land of Egypt. This was always their comfort in the middle of disasters and troubles. The God who divided the Red Sea, and brought them across the Jordan, could match any difficulty that might ever attack them again. In the prophets this always remains the standard, until God puts out His power in another way. Then people will no longer call Him the Lord who brought them out of the land of Egypt. They will call Him the Lord who brought them out of the north country into their land, where He will settle them for ever. … But the Christian is even now, with fellow believers, the object of the very same power, which can never be outshone — the power that raised up Christ from the dead.
after-note: DELETE
The prayer runs on to Israel's failure, and God answers with a question of His own.
Jeremiah turns to God at this moment and speaks of His former ways with Israel. He speaks of God bringing them out of Egypt with great power and giving them the land. But they had not obeyed His voice, and now the city was about to fall into the hands of the Chaldeans, the army of Babylon. Yet Jeremiah had obeyed and bought the field for money when everything looked hopeless, for God was his confidence. … "Nothing is too hard for You!" God then gives a reassuring reply: "Is anything too hard for Me?"
- Power — The strong hand and outstretched arm mean redemption by power. The blood sheltered Israel inside Egypt; this power carried them out through the sea.
- Signs — The same blows poured wrath on Egypt and gave signs to Israel. God judged one nation and brought the other out of the house of slaves.
- Name — God had promised to deliver, so His own honour was at stake. He vindicated His Name on those who kept His people from worshipping Him.
- Standard — The exodus became Israel's fixed measure of what God can do, and their comfort in every later disaster. Greater power was still to come — the power that raised Christ.
- Prayer — Jeremiah recalls the old power while the city waits to fall. God replies by asking whether anything is too hard for Him.
and didst give them this land, which thou hadst sworn unto their fathers to give them, a land flowing with milk and honey.
Jerusalem is about to fall, and Jeremiah prays — not starting with his own trouble, but with God's record: the exodus, and the land given just as He promised. If God gave that land by His own oath, what does that mean for a people about to lose it?
The verse sits inside a prayer. One writer follows that prayer from God's past dealings to the crisis at hand:
Jeremiah turns to God at this moment and speaks of His former ways with Israel. He tells how God brought them out of Egypt with great power and gave them the land. But they had not obeyed His voice, and now the city was about to fall into the hands of the Chaldeans. Yet Jeremiah had obeyed. He bought the field for money when all looked hopeless, for God was his confidence — He had made the heavens and the earth.
"You gave them this land" cuts against the obvious reading of Israel's history. They marched in, fought, and took it. But the deeper fact was a gift — and the tragedy was in how they went on to hold it:
We must bear in mind that Israel had the land of their possession from the Lord. No doubt they expelled or subjugated the Canaanites. As men would put it, they held it by right of conquest. But a deeper fact lay underneath the successes of Joshua. God gave them strength to put down the most corrupt race then on the face of the earth. That race had intruded into a land which He had from the first destined and given by promise to the fathers. Sadly, they did not take the blessing as promises received by faith, on the ground of God's grace. They took it on the condition of their own faithfulness to the law — and that condition is bound to be fatal to the sinner.
Jeremiah does not say God offered the land; he says God swore it. God gave that oath to Abraham, and confirmed it to Isaac and Jacob:
In Genesis 15 we have the promise founded on a covenant made with Abraham, also without condition; it is an absolute gift of the country. Here too God promises many descendants, and even gives the exact limits of the country. In Genesis 17:7-8 the promise of the earth is renewed. These are confirmed to Isaac and to Jacob. These are "the promises made to the fathers," and to Israel, "beloved for the fathers' sakes." God made them to Abraham without any condition, whether they are spiritual or earthly.
The two words are not decoration. Each one carries a meaning:
The land is a good land and a large, flowing with milk and honey. It is not a land of narrowness, as Egypt is. There is all "fatness," which the word for milk literally means, and all sweetness, as the honey implies.
Where did that fullness come from? Another writer compares the land with Egypt:
This is what Palestine was, as the spies confirmed in Numbers 13:27. It is what the land will be in a coming day, though for centuries it has lain desolate. The blessings of that land were earthly. But they came from the hand of God. The people did not win them by irrigation and hard work, as in Egypt.
Jeremiah recalls the gift while the city is falling. One writer weighs what that faith cost him:
Such was the faith and the patience of this holy prophet. To bear at all cost a true testimony of the Lord's mind to His people was far dearer to him than earthly goods, or honour, or life. When all still looked peaceful, he saw the coming ruin. When that ruin was nearly at its worst, he acted on his understanding of the word of the Lord and took steps toward a restoration that could not fail.
For one writer, that restoration is still ahead:
It is too plain to be mistaken that the Lord speaks of a day yet future for Israel. God has never yet gathered them out of all countries. Nor has He made them dwell safely in their land since they were scattered.
- Sworn — the land rested on an oath to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, an absolute gift with no conditions attached to it.
- Given — Israel took the land by conquest. But the real title under Joshua's victories was God's gift, not their sword.
- Rich — "milk" means fatness and "honey" means sweetness. God's hand filled that land, not human work.
- Forfeited — they held the blessing by their own faithfulness to the law instead of by faith in God's grace. So they lost what grace had given.
- Remembered — Jeremiah recites the gift while the city falls. He even buys a field there, because what God once gave He has promised to give again.
And they came in and possessed it but they hearkened not unto thy voice, neither walked in thy law; they have done nothing of all that thou commandedst them to do; so that thou hast caused all this evil to come upon them.
Jeremiah prays this from prison, having just bought a field while Jerusalem was under siege. In it he retells God's kindness to Israel, then admits why the enemy is now at the wall.
These words come in the middle of a prayer, not a sermon. One writer notes who is praying, and how the prayer opens:
What a beautiful prayer it is that came from the lips of the prisoner! First of all he acknowledges the power of God, as we all do in believing prayer: nothing is too hard for the Lord. Then he speaks of the loving kindness and righteousness of the God of Israel. He also recalls the past history of the nation.
Israel entered and took possession. God kept His side of the promise in full. But the land was never theirs to own. They received it to hold for the Giver:
Their hold on the land depended completely on their obedience to the Lord, their God. He made that as clear as it could be in all His words to them through Moses, His representative. He put them into it by His power to hold it for Him, just as He put Adam into Eden to keep it and work it. But they did not hold it for Him, they sold it away, as Adam sold Eden, which neither he nor they had any right to do.
Jeremiah traces the siege to one cause: they did not obey. He does not blame Babylon, politics, or bad luck. One writer names what that disobedience looked like, and what judgment could not undo:
They made His house the chief seat of their idols, and built the high places of Baal in the Valley of the Son of Hinnom, sacrificing sons and daughters to the god Molech. Judgment therefore must fall on their idolatries and their iniquities. If anyone denies Him, He must deny them. But He remains faithful; He cannot deny Himself.
To say "you have made all this disaster come upon them" is to take God's side against your own nation and yourself. Daniel prays the same way during the same exile, in wording from an older translation:
"Therefore," says Daniel, "the Lord has watched over the disaster and brought it upon us." … How solemn! We can better understand the Lord watching over His people to protect them. But here we find He watches over them for evil, and Daniel declares the Lord right in doing so. "The Lord our God is righteous in all His works which He does: for we did not obey His voice."
Such an admission does not close the door. It opens it:
Blessing is not far away when the soul bends to the rod and confesses that the punishment is just. … The surest way out from under God's disciplining rod is simple. Bow low before Him, and admit openly that the discipline was fully deserved.
Jeremiah admits the disaster was deserved, and in the same hour he buys land about to be overrun. Unbelief works the other way, in two forms:
Unbelief shows itself in two ways that are exactly the opposite of faith. Before the threatened evil or judgment comes from the hand of the Lord, men do not believe it. They are always hoping for a deliverance where there is no deliverance, for peace where there is no peace. … When the chastening comes, then they are all plunged into despair. … Faith, on the contrary, believes the judgment before it comes. But it also believes in the goodness of the Lord, and that mercy triumphs over judgment.
God answers in the same terms. The disaster Jeremiah admits becomes the measure of the mercy promised:
The Lord will yet pour out His heart of grace upon His people. He says: "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."
- Given — God kept His side of the promise in full. Israel entered the land and took possession, and only then does the prayer name their sin.
- Held — possession was never ownership. He put them in the land by His power to hold it for Him, and their hold on it depended on obedience.
- Lost — they did not obey His voice or walk in His law. Judgment had to fall on their idolatries. Yet the God who judged them remains faithful; He cannot deny Himself.
- Owned — Jeremiah names his people's sin as the cause of the siege. Bowing to the rod and admitting the punishment was just is the surest road out.
- Restored — the same hand that brought all this disaster promises to bring all the good. Faith believes the judgment before it comes, and still counts on mercy afterwards.
Behold the mounds, they are come unto the city for taking it; and the city is given over into the hand of the Chaldeans, that fight against it, by the sword, and the famine, and the pestilence and what thou hast spoken is come to pass; and behold, thou seest [it].
Jeremiah has just bought a field in Anathoth — land about to fall into enemy hands. Then he prays, and he starts with the plain facts. The siege ramps are at the wall. The city is as good as lost. God said it would happen, and it has.
The timing is what makes the task look impossible.
In chapter 32, Jeremiah is given a task that seems the most unreasonable of all. It was the tenth year of Zedekiah — just months before the final destruction of Jerusalem and the end of the kingdom of Judah. Jerusalem was besieged. The Chaldean army was encamped around the city. As Jeremiah himself knew: "Behold, the siege mounds have come up to the city to take it, and the city is given into the hands of the Chaldeans who are fighting against it" (v. 24). To make things worse, if that is at all possible, Jeremiah was a prisoner (v. 2) — a prisoner within an imprisoned city.
The pressure came from two directions at once, and the one that hurt most came from his own side.
The prophet was in a very bad case himself, and so was the city. Jerusalem was besieged and certain to be taken by the king of Babylon. Jeremiah was not only in danger from the Chaldeans but he was imprisoned in the city; that is, he was in double sorrow. He was in sorrow from the Jews even more than from the Gentiles.
Everything Jeremiah could see argued against buying land.
The capture of the city was near. But 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.'" What a time to buy a field! The city certain to be taken, the prophet himself in prison! By his own word, there was no escape from the Babylonian army. And there was no escape from the hostile power of the men who ruled Jerusalem, because his testimony was dead against their pride and their false patriotism.
The command was a test of whether he believed what he himself had been preaching.
In all this there was a beautiful message of grace. God would put an end to the dominion of the Gentiles. A time of blessing would come. Land should be bought and sold again. Jeremiah had spoken about the new covenant (31:31–40). He had spoken of how God would act with His people in grace, in a day that is still future, after a remnant of the people repents. Now God puts him to the test by making him buy the land. If Jeremiah believed his own prophecy he should act on it and "put his money where his mouth was", and he did.
Jeremiah obeyed, and then he prayed from prison.
What a beautiful prayer it is which came from the lips of the prisoner! He acknowledges first of all, as we all do in believing prayer, the power of God, that there is nothing too hard for the Lord. Then he speaks of the loving kindness and righteousness of the God of Israel, and mentions the past history of the nation. What the Lord had predicted against the city and the nation had been done; the city was given to the Chaldeans. "What You spoke has come to pass, and behold, You see it."
God's reply picks up the prophet's own words and turns them back to him as a question.
The answer the Lord gave to praying Jeremiah is twofold. Jeremiah had said in faith, "There is nothing too hard for the LORD." The Lord answered him, "Behold, I am the LORD, the God of all flesh; is there anything too hard for Me?" Then He announces first of all the fate of the doomed city. After this comes the message of comfort and peace. It looks forward to that blessed future when God gathers Israel out of all countries and brings them back to the land.
The city's own record was the reason judgment could wait no longer.
So nothing would hold back the swift carrying out of the sentence that had hung over them so long. From the beginning — for this is always how it goes with man — Jerusalem had stirred up His anger and His fury, right down to this day. They made His house the chief seat of their abominations. They built the high places of Baal in the valley of the son of Hinnom, with the horrible sacrifices of sons and daughters to Molech. So judgment had to fall on their idolatries and their sins. If any deny Him, He must deny them. But He stays faithful; He cannot deny Himself.
God's threats came true. That settles the question about His promises.
No prophecy about their sufferings has failed, and none ever will. God will never let His word fall to the ground. "You only have I known of all the families of the earth; therefore I will punish you for all your iniquities." Will He be any less faithful about the blessings He has promised them? Impossible. "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" (Jer. 32:42).
- Word fulfilled. The siege ramps at the wall were the visible proof that what God had spoken had happened exactly as He said.
- Word explained. The city fell because of long idolatry, including child sacrifice to Molech. Judgment had to come. Yet God stays faithful.
- Word obeyed. Jeremiah bought a field he could not reach, while he sat in prison. He acted on the prophecy he had preached.
- Word prayed. His prayer admits the disaster honestly and rests on God's power, and God answers with His own question: is anything too hard for Me?
- Word guaranteed. The same God who brought all this disaster promises to bring all the good. The threat He kept is the security for the promise still to come.
And thou, Lord Jehovah, thou hast said unto me, Buy for thyself the field for money, and take witnesses; -- and the city is given into the hand of the Chaldeans.
Jeremiah prays this from prison, where he has just paid silver for a field, while the Chaldean (Babylonian) army closes in on a doomed city. His words are the honest protest of a man who obeyed a command he could not yet explain.
The command came at the worst possible moment.
The capture of the city was close at hand… What a time to buy a field! The city was certain to be taken, and the prophet himself was in prison! By his own word there was no escape from the Babylonian army. There was no escape either from the hostile power of those who ruled in Jerusalem, for his testimony stood flatly against their pride and their false patriotism.
Notice the order of events.
But the prophet has nothing to do except obey the word the Lord had sent him. He does not stop to question the Lord's way in this strange business. He does not pause for a moment to argue it out in his own heart. The Lord had commanded it, so he weighs out the money, signs the deed, seals it, and takes witnesses, so that he may buy the field in Anathoth… Then, when his obedience was complete, but not till then, he asks the Lord, Why was all this?
The purchase made Jeremiah live by what he had preached.
In all this there was a beautiful message of grace. God would put an end to the dominion of the Gentiles. A time of blessing would come. Land should be bought and sold again. Jeremiah had spoken about the new covenant (31:31–40). He had spoken of how God would act in grace with His people, in a day that is still future, once a remnant of the people repents. Now God puts him to the test by making him buy the land. If Jeremiah believed his own prophecy he should act on it and 'put his money where his mouth was', and he did.
The verse dwells on legal detail: money, a deed, witnesses. The purchase produced two documents, and each had its own job.
All was done according to the custom of the law. The open document was for consultation. The sealed one was the document on which everything depended; it was the proof no one could dispute. Families often do something similar now. They place a will in the public registry, and there it always stays. No one may touch it. No one may remove it. It is the legal evidence on which everything turns. Besides that, the family have their lawyer make a copy, so they can check it if any question comes up about how the property is shared out.
In his prayer Jeremiah had said that nothing is too hard for God. God gives that word back to him as a question.
The answer the Lord gave to praying Jeremiah has two parts. Jeremiah had said in faith, "Nothing is too hard for the LORD." The Lord answered him, "Behold, I am the LORD, the God of all flesh; is anything too hard for Me?" First He announces the fate of the doomed city (verses 28–35). After that comes the message of comfort and peace once more. It looks on to that blessed future when God gathers Israel out of all countries and brings them back to the land, and they shall be His people (verses 36–44).
There are two ways to get this wrong, and both are unbelief.
Unbelief shows itself in two ways that are the exact opposite of faith. Before the threatened evil or judgment comes from the hand of the Lord, men do not believe it. They keep hoping for a rescue where there is no rescue, for peace where there is no peace. This is the first effect of unbelief — a fighting against the Lord's chastening. Then the chastening comes, and they all sink into despair. They think it is all over with the people, and that no blessing will ever come from the hand of the Lord again. Faith does the opposite. Faith believes the judgment before it comes, but it also believes in the goodness of the Lord, and that mercy will triumph over judgment.
- Command. God told Jeremiah to buy land at the worst possible moment: the city surrounded, the prophet in prison.
- Obedience. He paid, signed, sealed and called witnesses first; only afterwards did he bring his "why" to God.
- Evidence. One sealed deed and one open copy kept the proof: the sealed one settled the title, the open one was there to read.
- Answer. God answered the prophet's own words with a question: is anything too hard for Me? Then He named both the ruin and the return.
- Faith. Faith believes the judgment before it falls, and believes the mercy that follows. Unbelief denies the first and despairs at the second.