Jerusalem was under siege and King Zedekiah wished Jeremiah the prophet would prophesy a happy ending to the story.

“Jeremiah the prophet was confined in the courtyard of the guard in the royal palace of Judah. Now Zedekiah king of Judah had imprisoned him there, saying, ‘Why do you prophesy as you do? You say, ‘This is what the Lord says: I am about to give this city into the hands of the king of Babylon, and he will capture it. Zedekiah king of Judah will not escape the Babylonians but will certainly be given into the hands of the king of Babylon, and will speak with him face to face and see him with his own eyes. He will take Zedekiah to Babylon, where he will remain until I deal with him, declares the Lord. If you fight against the Babylonians, you will not succeed.’” Jeremiah 32:2-5

The only answer a prophet can give to the question, why do you prophesy as you do? is that God told him what to say. Jeremiah knew Zedekiah hated what he heard, but he couldn’t change God’s words.

A Reason for Optimism

The Lord told Jeremiah that he was going to be offered the chance to buy some property in his hometown and before long a cousin came to see him in the courtyard of the palace guard, wanting to sell him a field in Anathoth.

“I knew that this was the word of the Lord; so I bought the field at Anathoth from my cousin Hanamel and weighed out for him seventeen shekels of silver.” Jeremiah 32:8-9

Jeremiah signed and sealed the deed, along with a record of all the terms and conditions of the sale and gave it to his assistant Baruch to put into a safe place. His cousin Hanamel, the witnesses to the signing, and the rest of the Jews sitting in the courtyard all saw what he did.

He asked Baruch to put the documents into a clay jar that would protect them for a long time – because it was going to be a long time before the business of buying and selling property happened again in Israel. It took faith to buy land that was about to become part of the Babylonian Empire, but Jeremiah believed God when he said, “Houses, fields and vineyards will again be bought in this land.” (Jeremiah 32:15) So he secured his deeds and waited to see what the Lord would do.

Jeremiah Prays

A prophet doesn’t just talk to people about God; he also talks to God about people.

Jeremiah wrote down a conversation he had with God trying to make sense of past and current events in Israel. He recalled how God had displayed his power to his people in the past and how they responded to him. The Lord gave Israel a land flowing with milk and honey and they gladly took possession of it, but the relationship broke down when the people wouldn’t obey God’s laws.

Now disaster struck Israel.

“See how the siege ramps are built up to take the city . . . What you said has happened, as you now see.” Jeremiah 332:24

Yet, God wanted Jeremiah to buy property in that doomed country.

“You, Sovereign Lord, say to me, ‘Buy the field with silver and have the transaction witnessed.’” Jeremiah 32:25

It didn’t make any sense, but Jeremiah went through with the property deal entirely by faith in the word of the Lord.

“This is what the Lord says: ‘As I have brought all this great calamity on this people, so I will give all the prosperity I have promised them. Once more fields will be bought in this land of which you say, ‘It is a desolate waste, without people or animals, for it has been given into the hands of the Babylonians. Fields will be bought for silver, and deeds will be signed, sealed and witnessed in the territory of Benjamin, in the villages around Jerusalem, in the towns of Judah and in the towns of the hill country, of the western foothills and of the Negev, because I will restore their fortunes,’ declares the Lord.” Jeremiah 32:42-44

A Man on David’s Throne

King Zedekiah was the last king in David’s royal line. Before long he would be carried off to Babylon and die there, leaving no successors. Yet God had promised that there would always be a man from David’s line on the throne of Israel and he was going to keep that promise.

“‘The days are coming,’ declares the Lord, ‘when I will fulfill the good promise I made to the people of Israel and Judah. In those days and at that time I will make a righteous Branch sprout from David’s line; he will do what is just and right in the land. In those days Judah will be saved and Jerusalem will live in safety. This is the name by which it will be called: The Lord Our Righteous Savior.’ For this is what the Lord says: “David will never fail to have a man to sit on the throne of Israel.’” Jeremiah 33:14-17

God said that if his covenant with day and night and the laws of heaven and earth were ever broken, he would reject the descendants of Jacob and David. But God is not a covenant breaker with these things in his creation. They obey his laws in every way and he keeps his covenant with them.

Unfaithful Israel had broken the covenant with God, but he was going to win them back and redeem them from their sins through a son of David named The Lord Our Righteous Savior.

In a few weeks we will begin reading about Jesus and we will see him called the Son of David. Then we will know that this prophecy and God’s promise have been fulfilled.