CHAPTER XXXII _Jeremiah, now confined for his faithful admonitions, foretells_ _the fate of the king and city_, 1-5. _According to the direction of God, he buys of his cousin_ _Hanameel a field in Anathoth; the contract, or deed of sale,_ _being subscribed, sealed, and witnessed, and delivered... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Jeremiah 32:2. _THEN THE KING OF BABYLON'S ARMY BESIEGED JERUSALEM_] The siege had commenced the _year before_, and continued a _year after_, ending in the _fifth_ month of the following year; consequently, the siege must have lasted about _eighteen_ months and _twenty-seven_ days. See 2 Kings... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Jeremiah 32:4. _AND SHALL SPEAK WITH HIM MOUTH TO MOUTH_] He shall be reduced to a state of the most abject servitude. The _slave_ was obliged to fix his eyes on every motion of the master whilst giving his orders, who often condescended to give them only by _dumb signs_.... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Jeremiah 32:7. _THE RIGHT OF REDEMPTION_ IS _THINE_] The law had established that the estates of a family should never be alienated. If, therefore, a man through poverty was obliged to sell his patrimony, the _nearest relative_ had a right to purchase it before all others, and even to redeem i... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Jeremiah 32:8. _THIS_ WAS _THE WORD OF THE LORD._] It was by his appointment that I was to make this purchase. The whole was designed as a symbolical act, to show the people that there would be a _return_ from Babylon, that each family should re-enter on its former possessions, and that a man... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Jeremiah 32:9. _WEIGHED HIM THE MONEY_] It does not appear that there was any _coined_ or _stamped_ money among the Jews before the captivity; the Scripture, therefore, never speaks of _counting_ money, but of _weighing_ it. _SEVENTEEN SHEKELS OF SILVER._] The shekel at this time must have b... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Jeremiah 32:10. _I SUBSCRIBED THE EVIDENCE_] We have here all the circumstances of this legal act: 1. An offer is made of the reversion of the ground, till the jubilee, to him who would then of right come into possession. 2. The price is agreed on, and the silver _weighed_ in the balances.... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Jeremiah 32:15. _HOUSES AND FIELDS - SHALL BE POSSESSED AGAIN_] That is, this is an evidence that the captivity shall not last long: houses, c., shall here be possessed again, either by their present owners or immediate descendants. The _young_ might return at least, all _under ten years_ of a... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Jeremiah 32:16. _I PRAYED UNTO THE LORD_] And what a prayer! What weight of matter, sublimity of expression, profound veneration, just conception, Divine unction, powerful pleading, and strength of faith! Historical, without flatness; condensed, without obscurity; confessing the greatest of cr... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Jeremiah 32:19. _THINE EYES_ ARE _OPEN UPON ALL THE WAYS OF - MEN_] Thou art omniscient, and knowest all things; thou art omnipresent, and seest all things.... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Jeremiah 32:24. _BEHOLD THE MOUNTS_] The huge terraces raised up to plant their engines on, that they might throw darts, stones, c., into the city. _BECAUSE OF THE SWORD, AND OF THE FAMINE, AND OF THE PESTILENCE_] The city was now reduced to extreme necessity and from the siege continuing nea... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Jeremiah 32:29. _WITH THE HOUSES, UPON WHOSE ROOFS_] As it is most probable that _Baal_ was the _sun_, they might have chosen the _tops_ of the houses, which were always flat, with battlements around, to offer incense and sacrifice to him at his _rising_, and while he was _in sight_ above the... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Jeremiah 32:30. _FOR THE CHILDREN OF ISRAEL AND THE CHILDREN OF JUDAH_ _HAVE ONLY DONE EVIL_] They have all been transgressors from their earliest history. _FOR THE CHILDREN OF ISRAEL_] The ten tribes. _HAVE ONLY PROVOKED ME TO ANGER WITH THE WORK OF THEIR HANDS_] They have been sinners beyo... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Jeremiah 32:33. _THOUGH I TAUGHT THEM, RISING UP EARLY AND TEACHING_ THEM] From the frequent reference to this, we may naturally conclude that _morning preaching_ prevailed much in Judea.... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Jeremiah 32:37. _BEHOLD, I WILL GATHER THEM OUT OF ALL COUNTRIES_] A promise often repeated. See Jeremiah 29:14, and Jeremiah 31:8, c.... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Jeremiah 32:39. _I WILL GIVE THEM ONE HEART_] And that a _clean one_. _AND ONE WAY_] And that a _holy and safe one_: and to have this _clean heart_, and to _walk in this good way, will be for the good_ _of them and their children after them_. God's blessing is a profitable inheritance. They s... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Jeremiah 32:41. _YEA, I WILL REJOICE OVER THEM TO DO THEM GOOD_] Nothing can please God better than our coming to him to receive the good which, _with his whole heart_ and _his whole soul_, he is ready to impart. How exceedingly condescending are these words of God!... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Jeremiah 32:42. _WILL I BRING UPON THEM ALL THE GOOD THAT I HAVE_ _PROMISED_] God's word cannot fail. The Jews have never yet received the good that God has promised. Nothing like the fulfilment of these promises took place after their return from Babylon; therefore there remaineth yet a _rest... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Jeremiah 32:44. _MEN SHALL BUY FIELDS FOR MONEY_] This is a reference to the symbolical purchase mentioned at the beginning of the chapter; _that_ may be considered by them as a sure sign of their restoration, not only to the _same land_, but to their respective inheritances in that land. This... [ Continue Reading ]