Jeremiah 32:21, commentary and pictures

This is Jeremiah's prayer after buying the field at Anathoth, when the outlook for Judah was discouraging and his faith was sorely tried. He wondered whether in trying to encourage Judah he had acted presumptuously and given false hope. Perplexed over whether the promises to the chosen nation could ever be fully fulfilled, and bowed with sorrow over the sufferings of those who refused to repent, he appealed to God for further light on the divine purpose for mankind. The prayer in Jeremiah 32 rewards careful consideration.

It recalls how God brought forth His people Israel out of the land of Egypt with signs and with wonders, and with a strong hand and with a stretched-out arm, and with great terror. That deliverance was to give them the land sworn to their fathers, a land flowing with milk and honey, and by it He made Himself a name. The signs and wonders by which He made Himself a name were worked in Egypt and in Israel and among other men. The great terror in that deliverance was directed against the adversary.

The deliverance proves that nothing is too hard for Him as Lord, the God of all flesh. He is the One who made heaven and earth, who shows loving-kindness to thousands, who recompenses iniquity, and who watches over all people to give to each according to his ways. Jeremiah set that deliverance and gift against Israel's disobedience in voice and in walk and in deed, confessing that God therefore caused this evil to come upon them. This was while Nebuchadnezzar's armies were about to take Jerusalem by sword and by famine and by pestilence.

Though Jerusalem was soon to fall to the Chaldeans by fire and its people to be carried captive for disobedience, God's eternal purpose for Israel was yet to be fulfilled. He would gather them from all the countries where He drove them in anger, and bring them again to this place to dwell safely as His people. He would give them one heart and one way to fear Him forever, make an everlasting covenant to do them good and put His fear in their hearts, rejoice over them and plant them assuredly. He would bring upon them all the good He promised as surely as the evil, causing captivity to return so that fields would again be bought for money with sealed evidences and witnesses throughout Benjamin, Jerusalem, Judah, the mountains, the valley, and the south.