Jeremiah in Prison - Jeremiah 32

Jeremiah 32:2 "For then the king of Babylon's army besieged Jerusalem: and Jeremiah the prophet was shut up in the court of the prison, which was in the king of Judah's house. (See Nehemiah 3:25)

In these books of the Bible, the kings and the prophets, there is usually, if not always, two points of reference. In the Kings and Chronicles it most often tells the year of reign of the king of Judah and the king of Israel. In Jeremiah, it tells the year of the reign of the king of Judah and the king of Babylon. It is a double reference which takes care of the overlap and lapse of the king ships and leaves no doubt as to when the events took place. Refer back to chapter 24 where it was the first year of king Nebuchadrezzar's reign.

Zedekiah, king of Judah, is mad at Jeremiah because Jeremiah prophesied that the king would be carried away. As if to avoid the fulfillment of the prophecy, the king locked up the messenger.

v7 "Behold, Hanameel the son of Shallum thine uncle shall come unto thee, saying, Buy thee my field that is in Anathoth; for the right of redemption is thine to buy it." See also the book of Ruth.

I believe this is for a witness. The evidence of the purchase was to be done before witnesses and the evidence buried in an earthen vessel to 'keep for many days'. I believe until after the 70 years of captivity when it would show the confidence in Jeremiah's prophesy which was actually the Lord's words.

v9 "And I bought the field of Hanameel my uncle's son, that was in Anathoth, and weighed him the money, even seventeen shekels of silver."

After this was done, Jeremiah prayed to the Lord.

v17 "Ah Lord God! behold, thou hast made the heaven and the earth by thy great power and stretched out arm, and there is nothing too hard for thee:"

Those things which seem impossible when we face them are merely another act which the Lord can perform at his will.

v27 "Behold, I am the LORD, the God of all flesh; is there any thing too hard for me?"

Jeremiah answered that question for us. There is not.

So again we are given the reason why the captivity must take place.

v33 "And they have turned unto me the back, and not the face; though I taught them, rising up early and teaching the, yet they have not hearkened to receive instruction."

I know Israel went through a lot, as recorded in the Bible. It is good for us that those things were recorded for we learn a lot about God and his heart from reading the stories. How little we would know were it not for the Old Testament.