Jeremiah 32:28-35

2. God's plan for the present (Jeremiah 32:28-35)

TRANSLATION

(28) Therefore thus says the LORD: Behold, I am about to give this city into the hand of the Chaldeans, even into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, and he shall capture it. (29) And the Chaldeans who are fighting against this city shall come and they will burn this city and put it to the torch, even the houses upon roofs of which they have offered incense to Baal and poured out libations to other gods in order to provoke Me. (30) For the children of Israel and the children of Judah from the time of their youth have been doing nothing other than evil in My sight; for the children of Israel have only been provoking Me with the works of their hands (oracle of the LORD). (31) Surely this city has aroused My wrath and anger from the day when they built it, even unto this day; so that now it must be removed from My presence, (32) because of all the evil of the children of Israel and the children of Judah which they have done to provoke Methey, their king, their princes, their priests and their prophets, the men of Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem. (33) And they turned the back to Me and not the face; though I was teaching them earnestly and persistently none of them would listen to receive correction. (34) They put abominations in the house which bears My name with the result that it was defiled. (35) They built high places of Baal which are in the valley of the son of Hinnom in order to offer their sons and their daughters to Molech (which I never commanded nor did it enter My mind to do this abomination) in order to make Judah sin.

COMMENTS

The answer of God for Jeremiah continues with a reaffirmation of the fact that Jerusalem would fall to the Chaldeans (Jeremiah 32:28-29) and a summation of the reasons why this calamity must take place (Jeremiah 32:30-35).

Throughout his ministry Jeremiah had been preaching that the enemy from the north, the Chaldeans, would destroy Jerusalem. God now assures Jeremiah that these threats had not been negated by the promise of a new day for Judah. God would indeed give Jerusalem into the hands of Nebuchadnezzar (Jeremiah 32:28) and the Chaldeans would put the torch to the city (Jeremiah 32:29). The blinded Jews thought it impossible that the chosen place of the sanctuary could be destroyed (Jeremiah 7:4; Jeremiah 21:13). They did not stop to think that with the Lord nothing was impossible. But it is not the might of the enemy which will gain the victory; God would deliver the city into the hands of Nebuchadnezzar. Thus even though the people could not comprehend or accept what God was about to do, nonetheless God would still fulfill His word.

Following the reaffirmation of His intent to destroy Jerusalem, God discusses the reasons for His decision. The basic cause of the calamity was idolatry. From the very beginning of the nation, the people had provoked God with their idolatry (Jeremiah 32:30). What was true of the nation as a whole was also true of Jerusalemone continuous record of idolatrous practice from the day the city was built.[286] Because of its sin Jerusalem must be removed out of the sight of God (Jeremiah 32:31). Idolatry permeated every strata of society including the professional priests and prophets (Jeremiah 32:32). Time and again God tried to teach them, instruct them, discipline them but to no avail (Jeremiah 32:33). The last vestige of allegiance to God disappeared when they erected abominable images in the Temple (Jeremiah 32:34). Yahweh thereby became just another god and His Temple just one among many shrines. The climax of the apostasy came with the erection of high places in the valley of Hinnom and the institution of the rites of child sacrifice (Jeremiah 32:35). Could such sin be ignored? Surely Jerusalem must fall!

[286] The Israelites did not build Jerusalem; but when David captured the city from the Jebusites alterations and additions were made. The Hebrew verb used here (banah) is frequently used in the sense of enlarging and repairing.