Jeremiah 32-34
Original Post:  August 23, 2014

Two things I would like to mention today: 1.  God's view is often different from our view, so His commands to us don't seem to be good advice....but they always are.     2.  If you make a deal with God, then you'd better stick to it.

Okay, so Jeremiahs uncle shows up with a great deal for him....he has some land he would like to sell.  Never mind that Jeremiah is being held captive in the courtyard, and the land is polluted with Babylonians.   Never mind that in a few days (if you're alive) all the land will be available, because the people will be deported.  Never mind that even if you do buy it,  Nebuchadnezzer isn't going to honor your bill of sale.   Come on now, are you serious?   I think that uncle Hanamel must have been filled with the Holy Spirit as well as Jeremiah, because nobody would think this is the best time to sell their land.   Either that, or Hanamel thinks Jeremiah is really dumb.

In fact, Jeremiah doesn't want to buy it, that's why God appeared to him and told him to do so.   The lesson is simple, really.   God knows what the future holds, and He has infinite power of human and divine events.  God can MAKE it happen.   Buying land when your city is about to be overrun seems crazy...but wait.    God didn't tell Jeremiah to buy the land because it was a good investment, He told him to buy it because He wanted to demonstrate to the people that He still loved them.    The text tells the story.  God says "Jeremiah, buy the land because I want people to know that someday things are going to be even better than they were before.   The land will be filled with people again, it won't be desolate forever."    

This would give the Israelites great hope.   They would remember the promise to restore them that God made.  Perhaps that hope encouraged them to repent while they were held captive, and to instruct their children to always follow God's commands.  It would be their children that would go back to the land (along with some of the original exiles).   When Jeremiah's deed was uncovered, they would remember that what God says comes true.   It was a great lesson, and an act of love.   But it didn't seem to make sense at the time.    Remember that when God asks you to do something that doesn't seem to make sense.   A good rule of thumb is this:  God always makes sense...we are sometimes confused.     What we see is limited and often incorrectly interpreted.   God sees all, and He sees it clearly.     Which is why he wants to be honored by obedience.  

Second lesson:   The king looks out and sees that the city is surrounded.  It probably has been for many days.  He makes a decree that all slaves are now free.  His intent is that the slaves can help prepare and fight against the enemy.  What isn't said is that the slaves shouldn't have been captive in the first place.   The people were not allowed to hold fellow Israelites long term as slaves.   It was part of their original agreement with God.   So when the trouble seems to have passed (Egypt tries to come to the rescue, and their is a momentary lapse in the siege) Zedekiah goes right back to his old habits, and forces fellow Israelites into slavery once again.   In other words, good old Zedekiah hasn't really learned anything, or had any change of heart.

So God is angry, and says they will be punished for their disobedience.  The enemy returns, the siege is reinstated, and the city falls.   The people who had enslaved their countrymen were then taken away as slaves.  Those who had beaten others were now beaten.   God's punishment was just.  

The part about walking through a calf that has been cut in half is important.    In Genesis 15 we see the Lord making an agreement with Abram.   Here's how it works:  several animals were cut in half, and the blood of them ran toward the center.  The two people making the covenant would state their terms, and then each take a turn walking between the halves.  It was a graphic way of saying "let this mutilation happen to me if I break the terms of this covenant".   In Chapter 15 that's why Abram is reluctant to walk between the pieces.  He cannot keep the covenant, and he knows it.   But God shows us (smoking firepot) and walks between the pieces himself.   The promise has been made, and the bargain struck.   Keep my commands, and you will live.   Disobey them, and this violent end will also be your demise.    Guess what...the people disobeyed.  Now the Lord is recalling the vow they took and saying "it's going to happen to you just as we agreed".

Promising to do something for God is no small matter.   Marriage is a promise.   Repentance is a promise.   Dedicating your children is a promise.  Communion is a promise.
 These things are celebrated in the church, and should be taken very seriously.   God expects us to live in accordance with His laws.   If we do, we will be blessed.  If we don't, then we can expect to be punished.


PR