Chapter 32. A bit of a strange chapter…So Jeremiah is in prison for his doom and gloom prophecies which the King did not like. His cousin comes to sell him land. Strange right?? NOT AT ALL. The Babylonians were already attacking the land (burning the fields, plundering anything of value..) so this land was worthless! Was it?? Jeremiah was a man of FAITH. He knew that God would restore the land with the restoration of His people just as He promised. It is called TRUST….FAITH…in God’s promises. If you were Jeremiah would you have bought the land? He was in prison, he couldn’t even inspect the land. Was it already in the hands of the enemy? It did not matter to Jeremiah….He trusted the Lord that a remnant would come back and reclaim the land! What is worthless today will be restored by God. Think about that in your own situation.
The chapter then summarizes the sins of Israel and Judah. Will they be given Salvation too??
Chapter 33- Yup….there it is. Restoration!
“Give thanks to the Lord Almighty,
for the Lord is good;
his love endures forever.”
For I will restore the fortunes of the land as they were before,’ says the Lord.
Anytime I see a Messianic Prophecy as clear as this I get goosebumps.
14 “‘The days are coming,’ declares the Lord, ‘when I will fulfill the good promise I made to the people of Israel and Judah.
15 “‘In those days and at that time
I will make a righteous Branch sprout from David’s line;
he will do what is just and right in the land.
16 In those days Judah will be saved
and Jerusalem will live in safety.
This is the name by which it[f] will be called:
The Lord Our Righteous Savior.’
17 For this is what the Lord says: ‘David will never fail to have a man to sit on the throne of Israel, 18 nor will the Levitical priests ever fail to have a man to stand before me continually to offer burnt offerings, to burn grain offerings and to present sacrifices.’”
Jesus the Messiah:
- From David’s line
- Just and Right
- Saves us
- Called the Lord Our Righteousness
- FULLY MAN
- Our chief priest before me that will my continual offering and sacrifice
So during the scary time of people surrendering to the Babylonians, how can we be sure that WE won’t do something so bad that God says….“I am done with these people, I give up on them!”
In verse 19 the Lord gives us a sign of how certain we can be about this. IF we (you and I) can mess with the sun and the moon-basically, if we can get them to rearrange their schedule THEN the Lord will break His Covenant!
“The salvation announcements in chap. 33 answer at least two questions left from chap. 32 (and 30—31):
- How can people who persistently rebelled and even offered their children to Molech, remain in God’s Covenant? The LORD will heal, cleanse, and forgive them out of mercy for them.
- What will life be like for the people whom God will plant in the land? Families will grow again, worship will resume, and God will always provide a righteous ruler so that people can live in safety.
All this will be accomplished by the Creator, for whom nothing is too difficult!!
Chapter 34
So here is what is happening…The Lord is bringing the Babylonians to attack the people of Judah. So the Lord tells them to free their slaves. IF you jumped in late, I did a whole post on what God’s plan for ‘slavery’ is verse what ‘man’ made it. This is a PERFECT example of what ‘slavery’ was supposed to be.
When a person fell into debt so deeply another person would take them in and allow them to save up to get out of debt. After 6 years they were to release them free even if they had not paid it off. It was a loving act! HOWEVER, they did not follow God’s law (for hundreds of years). God instructed them to release them. They DID! Well, they really didn’t care they were about to be taken into captivity anyway so they might as well…
BUT suddenly the scene changed…The Babylonians STOPPED their attack on Jerusalem when they heard Egypt was coming up…So the people said “Psych! You’re not free, come back here my slaves!” They recanted setting them free. Well of course they did, when the Babylonians left they figured Jeremiah’s prophecy was wrong and they were safe…they needed their slaves back!
Hmmmm. A lot to think about there.
Reading the Bible - 2021 