Study notes
People often call these four chapters "The Book of Consolation," a highlight in Old Testament revelation. Unlike the many judgment messages Jeremiah gave his people, these messages are full of hope and promise a wonderful future restoration.
The messages of hope in these chapters are about God blessing his people. That would happen after the time of judgement was over. Jacob’s family line would be brought back to their land. They would live faithful to God as his people. He would be the only God they worshipped and served. This would allow them to enjoy the covenant blessings.
God would give them peace, rest, safety and security. God would heal them and give them health and success. He would freely share with them his tender and faithful love. Their king would be the Branch from David’s family line. This king would do what was fair and right. The people would worship God in the ways that he had taught them. The priests and Levites would make sure of this.
God had described how his people’s sin was carved on the tablet of their hearts. He had said this in a judgement message recorded in Jeremiah 17:1. In these messages of hope he said something else would be written on their hearts. God promised to write his law on their hearts. This was how God would make a new covenant with his people. The law of the Mount Sinai covenant had been written on stone tablets.
Having God’s law written on their hearts was a way of describing something. It meant that God’s people would truly know who God is. Knowing God would make them able to understand clearly what sin and evil were. Then they would make the choice to say no to evil and yes to God. They would worship, serve and obey him. This is what God had always wanted for human beings.
Sin and evil would remain a problem for God’s people. But they would trust God to take care of this problem. God would take care of it by forgiving their sins and their evil ways. Unlike the judgement messages, these messages of hope were pleasant for Jeremiah. He bought a piece of land as a sign. It was a sign that God’s people would buy and sell land again in the future. It was a sign that God’s promises in the messages of hope would come true.
Jews recognised that some of the promises came true after the exile. They came to understand that some of the promises would come true in the future. That would happen when the messiah came. New Testament writers showed that Jesus put the new covenant into effect. Jesus made it possible for people to be freed from the power of sin and evil.
Jerusalem had been under siege since January 588 BC (2 Kings 25:1).
Jeremiah supported surrendering to the Babylonians, but this idea angered many who believed they could resist the foreign army. To protect Jeremiah, Zedekiah imprisoned him in the courtyard of the guard (Jeremiah 37:21).
Resisting the Babylonians was hopeless. It would lead to disaster for the city and for Zedekiah.
Anathoth was the hometown of Jeremiah (Jeremiah 1:1).
According to Hebrew law, Jeremiah's cousin had to offer the land first to his closest relative (see Leviticus 25:25, 32; Ruth 4:1–4).
Many people might have thought Jeremiah acted foolishly when he agreed to buy the land. After Jerusalem fell and many people went into exile, the land's value would drop to almost nothing. Still, Jeremiah immediately bought the field.
Matthew 27:9–10 refers to the “what was spoken through Jeremiah the prophet,” which might allude to this event.
Jeremiah followed the legal steps to buy property. The purchase deed was a papyrus sheet with terms in Hebrew. Jeremiah signed, sealed the deed, and paid in front of witnesses (Genesis 23:3–18; 2 Samuel 24:20–24).
By tradition, they made a copy of the deed. Jeremiah's secretary, Baruch, took care of both documents. This happened publicly in the guardhouse courtyard.
By tradition, they placed two copies of the deed in a pottery jar to preserve them for a long time.
Jeremiah explained why he made the purchase: He was investing in the future that God had promised. Someday, exiled survivors from the destruction of Judah would return, and the worthless land would become productive and valuable again. Jeremiah had already predicted that the exile would last for seventy years (Jeremiah 25:11–12; 29:10). Jeremiah's purchase showed his faith in the Lord's plan to restore his people.
Jeremiah prayed after he bought the land.
This prayer of Jeremiah was different from his earlier ones. Those were full of anguish, despair, and even criticism of the Lord's treatment of Judah. This prayer was calm, affirming, and worshipful.
As the all-powerful Creator of everything, the Sovereign Lord could fulfill his promises to his people.
The Lord always showed his unfailing love, but he also held generations accountable for their sins, and their children faced the consequences. Through his mercy and judgment, the Lord showed his unlimited power. Jeremiah was confident that the Lord would show love to his people as he had promised.
The Lord knows what each person does and holds everyone accountable, judging their sins fairly.
The Lord performed great miracles in Israel's history, and he was active worldwide. As a result, everyone knew about Israel's God.
The first major miracle in Israel's history was the exodus from Egypt. This event was full of powerful signs and wonders. These divine acts caused fear in Egypt and among the desert tribes.
God gave Israel the fertile Promised Land.
After Israel entered the Promised Land, they soon stopped obeying the Lord. Each generation up to Jeremiah's time rebelled. This long history of sin caused the current disaster. Earlier, Jeremiah struggled to see this act of God as fair, but now he understood that the Lord's word was true.
Jeremiah was amazed by the Babylonians' skill. They used ramps to attack the walled city. Inside Jerusalem, he saw war, famine, and disease. It was clear the Babylonians would conquer the city. Jeremiah felt awe as he realized he was witnessing the fulfillment of the Lord's words.
Jeremiah was still confused about the Lord’s command to buy the field (Jeremiah 32:8). The Babylonian army would control that field, and Jeremiah used his savings to buy it. Since the Lord had said the city would be destroyed, the purchase seemed pointless from a human perspective.
The Lord declared that he is the ruler of all the world's people.
The Lord also asked a rhetorical question to show that nothing is too difficult for him.
The Lord answered Jeremiah's concern (Jeremiah 32:25) with several affirmations. The Lord had chosen his plan, set future events, and real doom threatened Jerusalem.
The Lord declared that Nebuchadnezzar's army would soon break through the walls. They would capture Jerusalem, and fire would burn everything flammable.
Baal worship involved families and the entire nation (see Jeremiah 7:17–18). All places used for idol worship, including individual houses, would be destroyed.
The people of Israel (the northern tribes) and Judah (the southern tribes) had worshiped idols for centuries, against God's ancient agreement with them. The Lord was very angry about these actions.
The Lord reaffirmed his plans, explaining that Israel and Judah had done wrong. They turned away from the Lord and made him angry with their sins.
This city was built during the reigns of David and Solomon, when Jerusalem became Israel's capital. In the northern kingdom of Israel, every king promoted the worship of false gods. In Judah, only a few kings encouraged worship of the Lord, but their efforts usually did not last (e.g., 2 Chronicles 14:3; 17:6; 29:5; 33:15–16; 34:3, 31–32). The northern kingdom was already destroyed (2 Kings 17:5–12), and now the Lord decided to remove the southern kingdom of Judah (see Deuteronomy 8:19–20).
The people sinned by defiling God's Temple with terrible idols (Ezekiel 8:3). The leaders of Judah also sacrificed their children to an Ammonite god named Molech (see Jeremiah 7:30–34).
Jeremiah repeated everything the Lord told him, even if the messages seemed contradictory. For years, Jeremiah said God would destroy the city. Now, he said God would rebuild it. Compare Isaiah 38:1–6.
The Lord assured that the destruction of Jerusalem would not stop his plans. After the immediate disaster, he planned salvation and restoration for his people.
God will bring his people back to Jerusalem, where they will live in peace and safety.
The new covenant (Jeremiah 31:31–34) would deeply influence the people's spiritual lives, both individually and as a community.
They will be My people, and I will be their God: A strong relationship between God and his people would finally happen, as intended by the covenant from the beginning (Jeremiah 7:23; Leviticus 26:12; Ezekiel 11:20; 37:23; Zechariah 8:8).
Under the new covenant, people will worship the one true God instead of idols.
rejoice: The Lord would no longer be angry at his people for worshiping idols or feel grief for punishing them for breaking the old covenant. He would not uproot them anymore (Jeremiah 1:10); instead, he would find joy in replanting them.
God's promises for good were as certain as the judgments happening while the Babylonians attacked Jerusalem.
fields will be purchased with silver: The Lord directly answered Jeremiah’s question (Jeremiah 32:25). Jeremiah signed, sealed, and witnessed a deed for his inherited property (Jeremiah 32:9–11). People would do the same throughout the land of Judah.
Verse notes: Adapted by Mission Mutual (Aquifer Open Study Notes) from Tyndale Open Study Notes © 2023 Tyndale House Publishers. CC BY-SA 4.0. Section notes: Biblica Study Notes © 2023 Biblica, Inc. CC BY-SA 4.0, via BibleAquifer. About the sources