Jeremiah 32:1-15 Commentary

“A Little Book of Consolation”

For those who have been tracking in Jeremiah with me through this season of Lectionary readings, be warned! This week’s lectionary text switches from poetry to narrative and left me quite disoriented.  How can both the apocalyptic lament and the story of a land purchase both be Jeremiah? Let me offer a quick recap while you get your bearings.

Remember that Jeremiah was a prophet during the final century of the Southern Kingdom of Judah.  This text places the action at 587 B.C. (v.1), which is a year before the destruction of Jerusalem. He called people out for their idolatry and injustice, which was seen as a reasonable cause for his imprisonment (v.2). He forecasted the exile in Babylon as punishment for the people’s sins. In chapter 36, we learn that God called Jeremiah to pull together all his writings, etc. into one book.  He employed a scribe to do so (fun fact: he is named in this week’s passage in verses 12 and 16.) In addition to editing his written works and transcribing his oral ones, the scribe also added in stories about Jeremiah that underscore the same messages that we find in his writings.

This chapter—Jeremiah 32—is kind of the center of the center of the book of Jeremiah.  Before this, Jeremiah is calling the people to repentance.  In the concluding chapters of the book, the realization of God’s judgment is chronicled for us: Jeremiah being carried off into exile, the fall of Jerusalem, the political shenanigans of God’s people left behind in Judah scrambling for supremacy.  The book begins in dire warning and ends in grim consequence for Judah but also for its enemies.  But this little section of a handful of chapters (chapters 30-33) holds out promises of comfort and restoration.

Given that things like bolded and underlined font did not yet exist, one way the scribe pulling together the book of Jeremiah could draw our attention to the importance of this text is by offering it in a different genre.  Think of it a bit like the inverse of the way Paul, after a particularly dense stretch of argumentation, lapses into liturgy or hymns to the mystery of God’s purpose and plan (Rom. 11, Ephesians 3).

A Redemption Story

Many will be more familiar with the story of Ruth, as told in a book of Hebrew Scripture by that name. The restoration of hope and future to Naomi comes by way of a “Kinsman Redeemer,” a near relative who could marry Ruth and carry on the lineage in the name of Ruth’s dead husband and sons.  When this passage, in verse 8, refers to Hanamel, he is speaking of one like Ruth and Naomi, in need of patronage from his family.  In this cases, he needs money, not descendants.  According to The CEB Study Bible, “As set down in Leviticus 25:25-28, when a family member has to sell part of the family land, it can be reclaimed by a family member in order to keep the property in the clan.”

Not unlike the story of Ruth and Naomi, according to Robert Alter, the use of the kinsman redeemer in this case is also  “directed by God” only with a different purpose: “of having the prophet purchase the land as a symbolic act, signifying that after the impending destruction a time will come when the Judahites will again possess their lands.” The CEB Study Bible corroborates this intention behind the story. “The story serves as sign of God’s resolve to transform a land destroyed by war into livable space. It shows God’s intent to bring Judean refugees back home after years of Babylonian captivity.”

Tangible Hope

The kind of hope that would sustain God’s people through an agonizing period of exile, the painful realization of their failure to keep covenant. And their steadfast belief that God would provide rescue, redemption and restoration requires more than nice words.  Platitudes can only do so much to buoy hope.  A sturdier hope is one that is built on God’s previous actions, God’s character and, in particular, in God’s faithfulness. All of this makes sense of the insertion of a narrative in the midst of all the poetry.

Interpretation: Jeremiah refers to this exchange as a sacrament (ie a tangible sign of spiritual reality.) It is, indeed, remarkable that Jeremiah, who has been forecasting the imminent demise of Judah, would purchase land there.  In all likelihood, the deed would be defunct in about a year’s time. “The passages are couched in readily discernible Deuteronomistic language and fill out the picture of hope first proclaimed so dramatically at such a seemingly hopeless time. The message is all the more striking because it came when militarily and politically the situation had reached a point where no human resources of hope remained credible. In history, and yet grounded in a God who reigned above history, there was a reason for hope.”

Jeremiah does what God instructs, he fulfills the righteousness demanded by the covenant and this becomes a sign of hope to all those watching. Again, from Interpretation: Jeremiah, “Jeremiah took a step of faith in believing that there would be a return to normal commercial and social life in the land which would make such an acquisition of benefit to him. In doing so, he perceived that his action had taken on a sacramental significance as a sign more widely relevant concerning God’s future intentions for his people (v. 15). The profundity of the sign is in fact almost masked by its simplicity as a straightforward commercial transaction.”

Illustration:

I’m mindful of the quiet confidence of God’s people in the congregations I was blessed to serve.  The business owners who, at great financial loss to themselves, kept on employees during the economic downturn of 2008. The civil servants who—regardless of administration—kept doing good science for public health, for a greater understanding of the earth, developing grants for sustainability in shrinking towns, demolished by the loss of jobs, etc.  Your congregation holds stories like these: quiet, simple, straightforward faithfulness that speaks to trust in God’s provision and hope of God’s restoration, against every evidence to the contrary.  The best illustration would be a local one.  If that is impossible to come by for some reason, Who is Government? is a series of essay profiles of government workers who let their faithfulness stand in the gap.