Jeremiah 32:38

And they shall be my people, and I will be their God:

EXPOSITORY (ENGLISH BIBLE)

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary

32:26-44 God's answer discovers the purposes of his wrath against that generation of the Jews, and the purposes of his grace concerning future generations. It is sin, and nothing else, that ruins them. The restoration of Judah and Jerusalem is promised. This people were now at length brought to despair. But God gives hope of mercy which he had in store for them hereafter. Doubtless the promises are sure to all believers. God will own them for his, and he will prove himself theirs. He will give them a heart to fear him. All true Christians shall have a disposition to mutual love. Though they may have different views about lesser things, they shall all be one in the great things of God; in their views of the evil of sin, and the low estate of fallen man, the way of salvation through the Saviour, the nature of true holiness, the vanity of the world, and the importance of eternal things. Whom God loves, he loves to the end. We have no reason to distrust God's faithfulness and constancy, but only our own hearts. He will settle them again in Canaan. These promises shall surely be performed. Jeremiah's purchase was the pledge of many a purchase that should be made after the captivity; and those inheritances are but faint resemblances of the possessions in the heavenly Canaan, which are kept for all who have God's fear in their hearts, and do not depart from him. Let us then bear up under our trials, assured we shall obtain all the good he has promised us.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

These verses are repeated from Jeremiah 7:30-31, but with two important variations. Baal is put for Tophet, and to Molech instead of in the fire. Molech the king and Baal the lord are different names of the sun-god, but in altered relations. Molech is the sun as the mighty fire, which in passing through the signs of the Zodiac burns up its own children. It is an old Canaanite worship, carried by the Phoenicians to all their colonies, and firmly established in Palestine at the time when the Israelites conquered the country.

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary

38. (Jer 30:22; 24:7).

Matthew Poole's Commentary

I will renew my covenant with them, and keep my covenant towards them; they shall serve me more faithfully, and I will own them, and take care of them, and bless them.

Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible

And they shall be my people, and I will be their God. A comprehensive summary of the covenant of grace, which shall be made known to the Jews at the time of their conversion, and the blessings of it applied to them, and bestowed on them; though now a "loammi", Hosea 1:9, is written upon them; see Jeremiah 30:21.

Geneva Study Bible

And they shall be my people, and I will be their God:

EXEGETICAL (ORIGINAL LANGUAGES)

Jeremiah 32:38

Keil and Delitzsch Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament

Jeremiah 32:38, Jeremiah 32:39 are to be understood like Jeremiah 31:33. They must in very deed become the people of the Lord, for God gives them one heart and one way of life, to fear Him always, i.e., through His Spirit He renews and sanctifies them (Jeremiah 31:33; Jeremiah 24:7; Jeremiah 11:19). "One heart and one way" that they may all with one mind and in one way fear me, no longer wander through many wicked ways (Jeremiah 26:3; Isaiah 53:6). יראה is an infinitive, as often in Deut., e.g., Jeremiah 4:10, from which the whole sentence has been derived, and Jeremiah 6:24, to which the expression לטוב להם points. The everlasting covenant which the Lord wishes to conclude with them, i.e., the covenant-relationship which He desires to grant them, is, in fact, the new covenant, Jeremiah 31:33. Here, however, only the eternal duration of it is made prominent, in order to comfort the pious in the midst of their present sufferings. Consequently, only the idea of the עולם is mainly set forth: "that I shall not turn away from them, to do them good - no more withdraw from them my gracious benefits;" but the uninterrupted bestowal of these implies also faithfulness to the Lord on the part of the people. The Lord desires to establish His redeemed people in this condition by putting His fear in their heart, namely, through His Spirit; see Jeremiah 31:33-34. ושׂשׂתּי, "And I shall rejoice over them, by doing them good," as was formerly the case (Deuteronomy 28:63), and is again to be, in time to come. בּאמת, in truth, properly, "in faithfulness." This expression is strengthened by the addition, "with my whole heart and my whole soul." - So much for the promise of restoration and renewal of the covenant people. This promise is confirmed, Jeremiah 32:42-44, by the assurance that the accomplishment of deliverance shall follow as certainly as the decree of the calamity has done; the change is similar to that in Jeremiah 31:38. Finally, Jeremiah 32:43, Jeremiah 32:44, there is the application made of this to the purchase of the field which the prophet had been commanded to fulfil; and the signification of this purchase is thus far determined, that after the restoration of Judah to their own land, fields shall once more be bought in full legal form: with this, the discourse returns to its starting-point, and finishes. The article is used generically in השׂדה; hence, on the repetition of the thought, Jeremiah 32:44, the plural שׂדות is employed instead. The enumeration of the several regions of the kingdom, as in Jeremiah 17:26, is a rhetorical individualization for strengthening the thought. The land of Benjamin is here made prominent in relation to the field purchased by Jeremiah at Anathoth in the land of Benjamin. The final sentence 'כּי אשׁיב also serves for further proof. The Hiphil in this expression does not mean the same as the usual אשׁוּב: "I turn the captivity," i.e., I change the adversity into prosperity. השׁיב expresses restitutio in statum incolumitatis seu integritatis more plainly than שׁוּב - not merely the change of misfortune or misery; but it properly means, to lead back or restore the captivity, i.e., to remove the condition of adversity by restoration of previous prosperity. The expression is analogous to קומם or בּנה חרבות, to build or raise ruins, Isaiah 44:26; Isaiah 58:12; Isaiah 61:4, and קומם שׁממות, to raise up desolate places, Isaiah 61:4, which does not mean to restore ruins or desolate places, but to build them up into inhabitable places (cf. Isaiah 61:4), to remove ruins or desolations by the building and restoration of cities.