July 5

31 – The point here is that there will be restoration.  There is hope.  There is always hope.  The imminent captivity that must take place is no issue to God and His eternal plan to bring His people to Him and bless them with his love that never changes.  God will bless and give rest and supply even for those in Babylon.  They will be rebuilt.  They will dance. They will dine. They will not be in want.  They will worship. The return to the Promised Land will be the greatest of joys.  The bounty will be ecstatic!  It will be a party rooted in the goodness and the faithfulness of God.  There will be restoration and it will be astonishing

-the joy of it all.

The intrigue of the verse inserted about Rachel weeping for her children is prophetic as it refers to Herod frantically ordering all the 0-2 year old boys to be killed that were in Bethlehem almost 600 years later. He was doing a sweeping slaughter thinking that in the carnage he would obliterate the newborn king Jesus.  It didn’t work. It did spread an horrendous grief through the region however from all the lost young ones. And the double meaning of children being redeemed/found again/returned again is a matter of intrigue. It’s rather brilliant literature, looking at it in retrospect. It had to be awful and beyond to live through the loss before the restoration.  But be assured, restoration is coming.  A New Covenant is coming.  And there will be spiritual restoration as well.  We can be certain that God will do all He says and that He will protect His people; His land. This is also a double – focus passage about the end of captivity and the end of time when Christ reigns in the New Covenant.

32 – Jeremiah is told to buy property and do so publicly.  The deed is to be kept in a safe/safe place.  This is a statement that regardless of the ‘storm clouds gathering’, keep you hearts set on returning and tell your children to do the same.  Those who buy land have plans, big plans, long term plans that affect future generations. It’s important that this was one short year before the final invasion of Babylon. The Babylonians were packing their torches and sharpening their swords while getting fitted for their battle gear; getting briefed for imminent departure to march and raze the last of Jerusalem to the ground!  It was 587 B.C.  So for Jeremiah – this was a faith move of huge proportions.  But he had to take the lead and execute these plans of buying property. The statement was that the land will be held, preserved, and cultivated again when the Hebrews return. Jeremiah’s prayer while in custody after buying the property takes us right to his heart of prophecy, doesn’t it!?  Jerusalem was under siege by now and the war drums and saber rattling was going on.  God’s anger at centuries of their disobedience had lit the flames of war and there was no revoking the ugly battle that especially Manasseh; Judah’s most wicked king had done. Judah had become deliberately pagan beyond imagination and it was over for them now.  But God reminds them yet again, that there would be a return to here/Jerusalem again.  Can you say “wow” to the ways of God?!