Jeremiah 32:15

Jer 32:15 For thus saith the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel; Houses and fields and vineyards shall be possessed again in this land.

Ver. 15. Houses and fields and vineyards, &c.] However unlikely it may seem, like as it did to Moses, that the people should eat flesh a month together. He thought that God had made an unadvised promise, and prays him to consider that the people were six hundred thousand footmen, and that the flocks and herds would not suffice them. Jeremiah seemeth to object some such matter in his following prayer, especially Jer 32:25. But God answereth them both alike - viz., that his hand was not waxen short, that nothing was too hard for him, that he was never nonplussed, &c. See Jer 32:27 Num 11:23.

John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Here is nothing of any seeming difficulty in these verses, but only why the prophet commandeth Baruch to put the evidences in an earthen vessel, which himself also expounds, that they might continue many days, that is, not defaced: had they been hid many days in the earth, they would have been rotten; had they been above ground in a box or chest, they might have been lost, or taken away by the soldiers plundering houses, or at least burnt with fire. Jer 32:15, the prophet expounds God’s meaning in this command to him, and his own design, in so formal a buying of so small a purchase, especially considering, that, very probably, Jeremiah was no great purchaser, nor very greedy of purchases. He lets them know that all this was for a sign of the truth of what God had revealed to him concerning the people’s return, though after many days, (sixty years from this time,) and also of the firm assent he gave to that Divine revelation, that purchases should one day be enjoyed again in Judea, and houses, fields, and vineyards in it should be again possessed.

Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

32:15 Jeremiah explained the reason for his purchase: He was making an investment in the future that God had promised. Someday exiled survivors of the destruction of Judah would return, and worthless land would again become productive and valuable. Jeremiah had already predicted that the exile would last for seventy years (25:11-12; 29:10). Jeremiah’s purchase was a declaration of faith in the Lord’s plan for restoring his people.

Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

(Compare Jer 32:24-25, Jer 32:37, Jer 32:43-44).

Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

Verse 15. Houses and fields - shall be possessed again] That is, this is an evidence that the captivity shall not last long: houses, c., shall here be possessed again, either by their present owners or immediate descendants. The young might return at least, all under ten years of age: there was no natural impossibility that they should not live till they should be fourscore.

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

(15) Houses and fields and vineyards . . .—It is a natural, though, of course, not a certain inference, that the land which Jeremiah had purchased included the three items that are thus specified.

A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

15. “It is not the only time in the history of States and Churches that he who has been denounced as a deserter and traitor [see note on the tenth year of Zedekiah, Jer_32:1] becomes in the last extremity the best comforter and counsellor. Demosthenes, who had warned his fellow countrymen in his earlier days against their excessive confidence, in his later days was the only man who could reassure their excessive despondency. Stanley’s J. Ch. II. 465.

For an illustration of the above transaction from Roman history see Intr. p. xviii.

The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Now when I had delivered the evidence of the purchase unto Baruch the son of Neriah,.... When he had finished his worldly business, and which yet was by a divine order, and to answer a divine purpose, then he betook himself to prayer; and it is proper we should be quite free from worldly cares and concerns when we enter upon religious duties, particularly prayer to God; when the soul ought to be separated from the world and the things of it, and wholly devoted to God:

I prayed unto the Lord; either for further information in this matter, of the use and design of buying the field; and how this part of the prophecy, signified by it, concerning the Jews buying and possessing houses and fields, can be made to agree with the other prophecy, that the city should be delivered into the hands of the Chaldeans; or, at least, that he might be able to answer the cavils and objections made by the Jews to it: that he was in some puzzle, perplexity, and distress, appears by his prayer, which begins,

saying, as follows:

John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

Possessed - bought.

Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

15. Possessed — Literally, bought. The impending ruin would not be permanent, but there would be a restoration, and hence title deeds would be important.

Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Shall be possessed; rather, shall be bought.

The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

For so says the Lord They will ultimately purchase houses.

Rashi on the Tanakh — English translations: “The Judaica Press complete Tanach with Rashi, translated by A. J. Rosenberg” (CC BY 4.0); “Pentateuch with Rashi's commentary by M. Rosenbaum and A.M. Silbermann, 1929-1934” (public domain); “The Metsudah Tanach series, Lakewood, N.J” (CC BY 4.0); and “The Book of Joshua, Metsudah Publications, 1997” (CC BY 4.0). Text via Sefaria.