Jeremiah 32:13

_AND I CHARGED BARUCH BEFORE THEM, SAYING,_ No JFB commentary on this verse....

1-15 Jeremiah, being in prison for his prophecy, purchased a piece of ground. This was to signify, that though Jerusalem was besieged, and the whole country likely to be laid waste, yet the time would come, when houses, and fields, and vineyards, should be again possessed. It concerns ministers to make it appear that they believe what they preach to others. And it is good to manage even our worldly affairs in faith; to do common business with reference to the providence and promise of God....

EXPOSITION Jeremiah was far from wishing to depress his fellow countrymen to the point of disbelieving in the inalienable promises of God to Israel, He fully recognized an element of truth in the preaching of the "false prophets," viz. that Jehovah was still the God of his people Israel, though for wise purposes he chose to hide his face for a time. His own faith was intense, to the pitch of an even Roman heroism (see Livy, Jeremiah 26:11). The opportunity (or rather—see below—the fight) of purchasing a piece of ground at Anathoth was the occasion which called forth the most striking proof of his sublime confidence in God. Not that he understood how it could be God's will that he, in the besieged city, should constitute himself a landed proprietor. He had his difficulties; but instead of brooding over them, he laid them Before Jehovah in prayer. And the Divine revelation

AND I CHARGED BARUCH BEFORE THEM,.... Before his kinsman, the witnesses of the deed, and the Jews that were in the court: SAYING, as follows:...

Jeremiah 32:1. _The word that came to Jeremiah from the Lord in the tenth year of Zedekiah king of Judah, which was the eighteenth year of Nebuchadnezzar. For then the king of Babylon's army besieged Jerusalem : and Jeremiah the prophet was shut up in the court of the prison, which was in the king of Judah's house. For Zedekiah king of Judah had shut him up, saying. Wherefore dost thou prophesy, and say, Thus saith the Lord, Behold, I will give this city into the hand of the king of Babylon, and he shall take it; and Zedekiah king of Judah shall not escape out of the hand of the Chaldeans, but shalt surely be delivered into the hand of the king of Babylon, and shall speak with him mouth to mouth, and his eyes shall behold his eyes; and he shall lead Zedekiah to Babylon, and there shall he be until I visit him, saith the Lord: though ye fight with the Chaldeans, ye shall not prosper._...

CHAPTER 32 Jeremiah in Prison _ 1. Shut up in the court of the prison (Jeremiah 32:1) _ 2. The revelation of the Lord concerning Hanameel (Jeremiah 32:6) 3. The prophet's prayer (Jeremiah 32:16) 4. Jehovah's answer (Jeremiah 32:26) Jeremiah 32:1. The siege of Jerusalem began in the ninth year of Zedekiah's reign. It was in the tenth year, a year later (Jeremiah 39:1) that we find Jeremiah in prison.

Jeremiah, after a premonition of the coming opportunity (subsequently confirmed as being of Divine origin, Jeremiah 32:8) uses the right of redemption belonging to the next-of-kin (Leviticus 25:25; Ruth 4:3 ff.) to buy family property in Anathoth (Jeremiah 32:11) from his cousin Hanamel; he duly executes the purchase with all legal precision. By this prophetic act, he exhibited his confidence that land now in the enemy's occupation would ultimately be restored to Israel (_cf._ Livy 26:11 for a similar incident). Jeremiah 32:9. The weight of un

See introd. summary to the section....

B. The Purchase of a Field Jeremiah 32:6-15 TRANSLATION (6) And Jeremiah said: The word of the LORD came unto me, saying, (7) Behold, Hanamel the son of Shallum your uncle shall come unto you, saying, Purchase for yourself my field which is in Anathoth, for you possess the right of redemption to purchase it. (8) And Hanamel my cousin came unto the Court of the Guard just as the LORD had spoken, and said unto me, Purchase my field, please, that is in Anathoth in the land of Benjamin; for You have the right of possession and redemption. Purchase it for yourself! And I knew that it was the word of the LORD. (9) And I purchased the field which was in Anathoth from Hanamel my cousin and I weighted out to him the silver, seventeen silver shekels. (10) Then I wrote a deed and sealed it and had men witness it and weighed out the silver on the scales. (11) And I took the deed of

This chapter forms the introduction to the most continuously historical part of the book, which describes incidents in the two years preceding the final destruction of Jerusalem, viz. chs. 34-43. The first of these incidents is here given, viz. Jeremiah's purchase with all legal formality of a field of which he had the right of redemption, in order to encourage the people while the Chaldeans were investing the city by showing thus his faith in the return which he foretells in these chs. 1-5. The general position....