Jeremiah 32:15

For thus saith the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel; Houses and fields and vineyards shall be possessed again in this land.

EXPOSITORY (ENGLISH BIBLE)

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers

(15) Houses and fields and vineyards . . .—It is a natural, though, of course, not a certain inference, that the land which Jeremiah had purchased included the three items that are thus specified.

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary

32:1-15 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.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

Possessed - bought.

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary

15. (Compare Jer 32:24, 25, 37, 43, 44).

Matthew Poole's Commentary

Here is nothing of any seeming difficulty in these verses, but only why the prophet commandeth Baruch to put the evidences in an earthen vessel, which himself also expounds, that they might continue many days, that is, not defaced: had they been hid many days in the earth, they would have been rotten; had they been above ground in a box or chest, they might have been lost, or taken away by the soldiers plundering houses, or at least burnt with fire. Jeremiah 32:15, the prophet expounds God’s meaning in this command to him, and his own design, in so formal a buying of so small a purchase, especially considering, that, very probably, Jeremiah was no great purchaser, nor very greedy of purchases. He lets them know that all this was for a sign of the truth of what God had revealed to him concerning the people’s return, though after many days, (sixty years from this time,) and also of the firm assent he gave to that Divine revelation, that purchases should one day be enjoyed again in Judea, and houses, fields, and vineyards in it should be again possessed.

Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible

For thus saith the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel,.... Who is the Lord God Almighty, and can do what he pleases; and is the covenant God of his people, and therefore will do them good by all his providences in the issue of things:

houses, and fields, and vineyards, shall be possessed in this land; or "bought" (y) in it; of which the prophet's buying this field was a pledge and earnest; signifying, that though the city now besieged should be taken, and the people carried captive, yet they should return to their own land, and purchase and enjoy houses, fields, and vineyards again, as at the present time.

(y) "ementur", Cocceius, Piscator; "vedentur", Schmidt.

Geneva Study Bible

For thus saith the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel; Houses and fields and vineyards shall be possessed again in this land.

EXEGETICAL (ORIGINAL LANGUAGES)

Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

15. “It is not the only time in the history of States and Churches that he who has been denounced as a deserter and traitor [see note on the tenth year of Zedekiah, Jeremiah 32:1] becomes in the last extremity the best comforter and counsellor. Demosthenes, who had warned his fellow countrymen in his earlier days against their excessive confidence, in his later days was the only man who could reassure their excessive despondency. Stanley’s J. Ch. II. 465.

For an illustration of the above transaction from Roman history see Intr. p. xviii.

Pulpit Commentary

Verse 15. - Shall be possessed; rather, shall be bought. Jeremiah 32:15

Keil and Delitzsch Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament

The purchase was concluded in full legal form. "I wrote it (the necessary terms) in the letter (the usual letter of purchase), and sealed it, and took witnesses, and weighed out the money on the balance" (it was then and still is the custom in the East to weigh money). חתם means here, not to append a seal instead of subscribing the name, or for attestation (cf. 1 Kings 21:8; Nehemiah 10:1; 2), but to seal up, make sure by sealing (Isaiah 29:11, etc.). For, from Jeremiah 32:11, Jeremiah 32:12, we perceive that two copies of the bill of purchase were prepared, one sealed up, and the other open; so that, in case the open one were lost, or were accidentally or designedly injured or defaced, a perfect original might still exist in the sealed-up copy. Then "Jeremiah took the bill of purchase, the sealed one," - the specification and the conditions - "and the open one." The words המּצוה והחקּים are in apposition with 'את־ספר וגו. The Vulgate renders stipulationes et rata; Jerome, stipulatione rata, which he explains by stipulationibus et sponsionibus corroborata. מצוה, usually "a command, order," is probably employed here in the general sense of "specification," namely, the object and the price of purchase; חקּים, "statutes," the conditions and stipulations of sale. The apposition has the meaning, "containing the agreement and the conditions." Both copies of this bill, the prophet-before the eyes of Hanamel, his cousin (דּדי, either in the general sense of a near relation, since the relationship has been stated exactly enough already, or בּן־ has been inadvertently omitted), and before the eyes of, i.e., in the presence of "the witnesses, who wrote in the letter of purchase," i.e., had subscribed it as witnesses in attestation of the matter, and in the eyes of all the Jews who were sitting in the court of the prison, and in whose presence the transaction had been concluded - delivered up to his attendant Baruch, son of Nerijah, the son of Mahsejah, with the words, Jeremiah 32:14 : "Thus saith Jahveh of hosts, the God of Israel: Take these letters, this sealed-up letter of purchase and this open letter, and put them into an earthen vessel, that they may remain a long time there. Jeremiah 32:15. For thus saith Jahveh of hosts, the God of Israel: Houses, and fields, and vineyards shall still be bought in this land." - The second utterance of the Lord (Jeremiah 32:15) declares the reason why the letters were to be preserved in an earthen vessel, in order to protect them from damp, decay, and destruction, namely, because one could make use of them afterwards, when sale of property would still be taking place. There is also implied the intimation, that the present desolation of the land and the transportation of its inhabitants will only last during their time; and then the population of Judah will return, and enter again on the possession of their land. The purchase of the field on the part of Jeremiah had this meaning; and for the sake of this meaning it was announced to him by God, and completed before witnesses, in the presence of the Jews who happened to be in the court of the prison.