Jeremiah 32:44

Men shall buy fields for money, and subscribe evidences, and seal them, and take witnesses in the land of Benjamin, and in the places about Jerusalem, and in the cities of Judah, and in the cities of the mountains, and in the cities of the valley, and in the cities of the south: for I will cause their captivity to return, saith the LORD.

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

Subscribe evidences - See Jeremiah 32:10. In order to bring the certainty of the return from exile more vividly before the mind, the prophet enumerates the several subdivisions of the territory of the kings of Judah.

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary

44. Referring to the forms of contract (Jer 32:10-12):

Benjamin—specified as Anathoth; Jeremiah's place of residence where the field lay (Jer 32:8), was in it.

Matthew Poole's Commentary

Now, Jeremiah, thou understandest wherefore I commanded thee to buy the field offered thee by Hanameel in Anathoth in the lot of Benjamin; it was to assure thee, that though at present the Chaldeans shall prevail against Jerusalem, and the Jews shall be carried into captivity, and the Jews shall neither buy nor sell here at present, yet fields shall here be bought again; men shall buy, and sell, and seal evidences in all parts of Judea, as they were wont to do in former times, for they shall return again out of the captivity of Babylon into their own land, and have commerce one with another as formerly.

Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible

Men shall buy fields for money,.... They shall have plenty of money, and they shall lay it out in land, and carry on husbandry, cultivate the ground, which had lain long untilled, but now should be manured for public as well as private good. This some understand of particular churches planted in Judea, and out of it, throughout the whole world; and of men's gathering and joining themselves to them by a profession of that faith which is more precious than gold or silver:

and subscribe evidences, and seal them, and take witnesses; as Jeremiah had done before, when he bought the field of his uncle's son, Jeremiah 32:10. This is spiritually understood by some of the word of God laid hold on by faith; of the sealing of the Spirit, and of the ordinances of the Gospel:

in the land of Benjamin; where Anathoth was, and Jeremiah's field lay; and where the same should be done by others as was done by him:

and in the places about Jerusalem; in the suburbs of it, and in the villages round about it:

and in the cities of Judah; throughout the whole country, divided into the three following parts:

and in the cities of the mountains; in the hilly country of Judea, where was Hebron, and other cities, Luke 1:39;

and in the cities of the valley. The Septuagint retains the Hebrew word "sephela", or the plain, in which were Emmaus, Lydda, Sharon, places mentioned in the New Testament:

and in the cities of the south; or Nagab, the south part of Judea, which led to Gaza, Acts 8:26. This division of Judea into the mountains, valley, and south, exactly agrees with the account of it in Joshua 15:21. Some understand this of the Gospel going out of Jerusalem after the day of Pentecost, not only to the places near that city, but to Samaria, and the cities of the south towards Egypt, and so into all the world:

for I will cause their captivity to return, saith the Lord; their temporal captivity from Babylon, and their spiritual captivity from sin, Satan, and the law.

Geneva Study Bible

Men shall buy {x} fields for money, and signed deeds, and seal them, and take witnesses in the land of Benjamin, and in the places about Jerusalem, and in the cities of Judah, and in the cities of the mountains, and in the cities of the valley, and in the cities of the south: for I will cause their captives to return, saith the LORD.

(x) This is the declaration of that which was spoken of in Jer 32:8.

EXEGETICAL (ORIGINAL LANGUAGES)

Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

44. in the land of Benjamin, etc.] See on Jeremiah 17:26.

Pulpit Commentary

Verse 44. - Subscribe evidences; rather, write (particulars of their purchase)in the deed (as ver. 10). In the land of Benjamin, etc. The catalogue of the districts of the Jewish kingdom heightens the realistic effect (see on Jeremiah 17:26). Everywhere the old social system will be reproduced in its entirety. The land of Benjamin is mentioned first, on account of the property of Jeremiah at Anathoth.



Jeremiah 32:44

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.