Chapter 32
Per MSB outline, this chapter is still talking about the New Covenant that will come, and is the second part of that. This chapter is called "The faith in restoration" in that outline.
Another good time stamp about when this prophecy came. 10th year of Zedekiah, 18 year of Neb. It tells us what was going on at the time: Nebs army was outside, besieging Jerusalem, and Jeremiah was shut up in the King's Court. He was not free to roam around saying whatever he would. Particularly, Jeremiah was saying Babylon would win this one, that Jerusalem was about to fall, and that Zedekiah would be captured and brought before Nebuchadnezzar. Kind of thing that irritates Kings. MSB says the siege lasted 30 months from 588 BC until 586 BC. This was about a year before Babylon's "final takeover", which was the prophesied loss of the promised land. This is where it has all been going.
2021 - 586 BC was the final fall of Jerusalem itself. This is when the city was burned, the walls torn down. This is when the head of Neb's army was sent to insure that Jerusalem never was ever again the seat of rebellion against Babylon.
Once again, Chaldeans equated with Babylon. Somehow, I thought they were different. (2021 - They were different peoples at one time, but there has been a sort of merger. Or perhaps it is better to say that Babylonians live in the actual city of Babylon, in the Chaldean nation. Maybe that's the best way to think of it.) Maybe because Habakkuk uses Chaldeans exclusively, so I thought he was speaking of a different time.
Vs 6 seems to be an odd change of storyline. God tells Jeremiah that his cousin will offer to sell him some land at Anathoth - where Jeremiah is from. Jeremiah is to do so as the kinsman redeemer I believe. The cousin indeed shows up, and says the words God predicted. The last few words of vs 8 are "...Then I knew that this was the word of the Lord." So Jeremiah himself is still "testing" everything that he is given, to make sure it is from God and not some pretender/usurper/demon/Satan trying to stir up trouble. If Jeremiah was testing the prophecy he was getting after this long in his ministry, how much should we test what we believe God is saying to us? Good thought for FB.
Selling land in this way apparently required some elaborate steps to be valid. Witnesses were required for the signing, a "keeper" of the deeds, identified by still more witnesses was required. Jeremiah did all this, and instructs the keeper to put the deeds in an earthenware vessel, so they can be preserved a long time. BECAUSE, some day, buying and selling land will again be allowed in Judah.
2021 - Vss 11-15 have some interesting details. Two copies of the deed were required. An open copy, for all to see, as proof of ownership no doubt. There was also a sealed copy of the deed, which could be opened and compared if there was suspicion that the open copy had been altered. It may also be that certain "private agreements" could be included in the sealed deed that were no on else's business. In this case, both deeds were to be sealed in a clay jar. This is how the documents in Qumran were stored. Scrolls inside clay jars, limiting the oxygen available to oxidize and so "age" t hem. This was a very old practice indeed.
Jeremiah does not understand why God has done this. He prays for an explanation. He prays through the history of Israel from leaving Egypt right up the siege mounds being raised outside the city, and with knowledge that the city is to fall. So why, God, did we do this thing with that land at Anathoth?
And God answers Jeremiah. He starts by reaffirming that the city is about to fall. He goes on with the reasons for the current situation. There are several reasons, but vs 30 is a good summation:
30 For the children of Israel and the children of Judah have done nothing but evil in my sight from their youth. The children of Israel have done nothing but provoke me to anger by the work of their hands, declares the LORD. [Jer 32:30 ESV]
2023 - This verse:
31 This city has aroused my anger and wrath, from the day it was built to this day, so that I will remove it from my sight [Jer 32:31 ESV]. I think this "remove it from my sight" phrase is important. Jerusalem was still there after the Babylonian victory. They burnt it down, they broke down the walls, but they left it there. People were living there when Nehemiah came back in the time of Cyrus. I think, therefore, that this prophecy was not fulfilled until at least 70 AD, and perhaps it was in 136 AD that everything was razed to the ground. To corroborate this, Jesus said that not one stone would be left upon another. This seems to be in line with Jeremiah's prophecy here. So...has it yet come true? The Temple foundation is still there. It is stacked many stones high. It just makes me wonder if there is yet one more conquest in Jerusalem's future, one last time that the enemy comes and conquers the city and bulldozes it until there is nothing left, and THEN, only THEN, should we begin to look for the last days. Or perhaps that will happen only during the seventieth week, and Ezekiel's Temple will be the first step in rebuilding it so that Jesus may reign from there in the Millennial.
Then God says this:
37 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. [Jer 32:37 ESV]
Most definitely this was fulfilled after the 70 years had elapsed. (2023 - No. They have never dwelt in safety since the time of Isaiah.) It will be fulfilled even more fully and completely during the Millennial. We have seen that in Isaiah many times, and now we are seeing it over and over in Jeremiah. The fact that something beyond the return from Babylon is in view here is in this verse:
40 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. [Jer 32:40 ESV]
I don't think this verse has yet been 100% true. Note that God Himself says this future covenant - the one He will make but has not yet made - will be everlasting. When this one is done, it will never end, they will never again turn away from Him. He will do them good and good only from that point on. And he will "change" their thinking forever, so that they will fear him from then on, and not rebel ever again. This change in their thinking takes place in the Millennial I think...but might not be until the new heaven and earth. Because at the end of the Millennial will be one final battle, and those who fight must be coming from somewhere. But depending on where this covenant starts, those who fight against Christ at that time may not have any Jews among them at all. I don't know.
2021 - Also vs 39:
39 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. [Jer 32:39 ESV] Surely this indicates that children born in the Millennial kingdom to saved Jews will also be saved. I think this disproves the idea that the enemy army in the post-Millennial battle will include unsaved people born to saved people during the 1000 year reign. Vs 40 confirms this still further. "...they may not turn from me." What else cold that mean? Those who fight in that battle are going to be the goats from the sheep and goat judgement, for they have not yet experienced physical death, and it is appointed unto men ONCE to die! The only exception to this is those who are raptured alive, and Paul makes it clear that this is a very unusual and special exception to the ONCE rule. CotM.
2023 - It also says something about election doesn't it? God makes it clear that Jews and the children of those Jews gathered back to him will BE SAVED, and then their children after them will continue that way. God will make his people loyal to him, and he will "uphold them with his hand". We know this has not happened yet.
2023 - Then this:
41 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. [Jer 32:41 ESV]. God, in COMPLETELY dedicating himself to do good to the Jews, promises all his heart and soul. He only promises these two. There is no tripartite God here in the sense of how he is put together. Some may argue that Father, Son, Holy Ghost makes him three parts but it does not, because those three are one. And AS ONE, they promise with heart and soul. So either God is holding something back in this promise to them or heart and soul is all their is, with Him as with us. What a good verse.
I would also add that I don't really think this prophecy beginning in vs 37 is about the return from Babylon at all. This is about the return during t/gt, because they will return from ALL the nations, not just from Babylon, at that time.