2019-04-28T11:00:00-05:00
32:1 The word that came to Jeremiah from the LORD in the tenth year of Zedekiah king of Judah, which was the eighteenth year of Nebuchadnezzar. 2 At that time the army of the king of Babylon was besieging Jerusalem, and Jeremiah the prophet was shut up in the court of the guard that was in the palace of the king of Judah. 3 For Zedekiah king of Judah had imprisoned him, saying, “Why do you prophesy and say, ‘Thus says the LORD: Behold, I am giving this city into the hand of the king of Babylon, and he shall capture it; 4 Zedekiah king of Judah shall not escape out of the hand of the Chaldeans, but shall surely be given into the hand of the king of Babylon, and shall speak with him face to face and see him eye to eye. 5 And he shall take Zedekiah to Babylon, and there he shall remain until I visit him, declares the LORD. Though you fight against the Chaldeans, you shall not succeed’?”
6 Jeremiah said, “The word of the LORD came to me: 7 Behold, Hanamel the son of Shallum your uncle will come to you and say, ‘Buy my field that is at Anathoth, for the right of redemption by purchase is yours.’ 8 Then Hanamel my cousin came to me in the court of the guard, in accordance with the word of the LORD, and said to me, ‘Buy my field that is at Anathoth in the land of Benjamin, for the right of possession and redemption is yours; buy it for yourself.’ Then I knew that this was the word of the LORD.
9 “And I bought the field at Anathoth from Hanamel my cousin, and weighed out the money to him, seventeen shekels of silver. 10 I signed the deed, sealed it, got witnesses, and weighed the money on scales. 11 Then I took the sealed deed of purchase, containing the terms and conditions and the open copy. 12 And I gave the deed of purchase to Baruch the son of Neriah son of Mahseiah, in the presence of Hanamel my cousin, in the presence of the witnesses who signed the deed of purchase, and in the presence of all the Judeans who were sitting in the court of the guard. 13 I charged Baruch in their presence, saying, 14 ‘Thus says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel: Take these deeds, both this sealed deed of purchase and this open deed, and put them in an earthenware vessel, that they may last for a long time. 15 For thus says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel: Houses and fields and vineyards shall again be bought in this land.’
16 “After I had given the deed of purchase to Baruch the son of Neriah, I prayed to the LORD, saying: 17 ‘Ah, Lord GOD! It is you who have made the heavens and the earth by your great power and by your outstretched arm! Nothing is too hard for you. 18 You show steadfast love to thousands, but you repay the guilt of fathers to their children after them, O great and mighty God, whose name is the LORD of hosts, 19 great in counsel and mighty in deed, whose eyes are open to all the ways of the children of man, rewarding each one according to his ways and according to the fruit of his deeds. 20 You have shown signs and wonders in the land of Egypt, and to this day in Israel and among all mankind, and have made a name for yourself, as at this day. 21 You brought your people Israel out of the land of Egypt with signs and wonders, with a strong hand and outstretched arm, and with great terror. 22 And you gave them this land, which you swore to their fathers to give them, a land flowing with milk and honey. 23 And they entered and took possession of it. But they did not obey your voice or walk in your law. They did nothing of all you commanded them to do. Therefore you have made all this disaster come upon them. 24 Behold, the siege mounds have come up to the city to take it, and because of sword and famine and pestilence the city is given into the hands of the Chaldeans who are fighting against it. What you spoke has come to pass, and behold, you see it. 25 Yet you, O Lord GOD, have said to me, “Buy the field for money and get witnesses”—though the city is given into the hands of the Chaldeans.’”
26 The word of the LORD came to Jeremiah: 27 “Behold, I am the LORD, the God of all flesh. Is anything too hard for me?
The Holy Bible, English Standard Version copyright (c)2001 by Crossway Bibles, a division of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved. http://www.esv.org
The Gospel according to Matthew opens with a genealogy where Jesus is called “the son of David, the son of Abraham” (Matthew 1:1). In this same genealogy David is subtly described as “David the king,” and then as “the father of Solomon by the wife of Uriah” (Matthew 1:6).
Here we have a paradox. David is named king. We know from the story so far that David was a much better replacement for Saul as king. We also see the testimony of the psalmists building quite a large consensus that David is the Lord’s favored recipient of an eternal covenant and promises which come along. There was a palpable Jewish consciousness that David not only represented the ideal king, but ultimately pointed towards that ideal king who was to finally come into their history, as God had promised them.
But David is also named as one who had a child by another man’s wife. This instance alone means he could never be, for Israel, the ideal king they longed for. David was a warrior-king. But he didn’t go to battle this time. This was not an exclusively physical action. It was primarily a matter of the heart. And that is really what makes a king.
What happened in his heart on the roof? Whatever it specifically was, it happened not in the morning, but in the afternoon, which implies he was not busy with another task but probably dozing or even sleeping. He then lounges about on the roof. After that, the events descend rather rapidly into darkness. The apostle Peter says to “be sober-minded” and to “be watchful” (1 Peter 5:8). David is neither. He then exhorts the church to “resist the devil” (5:9). The apostle James commands the same—“resist the devil”—promising that, if we do, “he will flee from you” (James 4:7). The practical reason David falls is that he did not resist the devil, and so the devil did not flee from him.
Jesus, on the other hand, was led by the Spirit directly into the wilderness for the express purpose of handling the oppressive weight of temptation (Luke 4:1-2), and he did not fall. Why? Because he resisted the devil. Peter connects the idea of resisting with the idea of being “firm in your faith” (1 Peter 5:9). We are told elsewhere that Jesus is full of faith (Hebrews 12:2; Romans 3:22). Jesus’ resistance was intimately bound up with the words of God—really an eating of his Father’s words (Matthew 4:4). Righteously aggressive with the adversary, Jesus finally tells him to go away (“Be gone, Satan!”) and connects this command to the following command from his Father: to love the Lord your God and serve him only. And “then the devil left him” (4:11), fled him. So the promise of James and the exhortation of Peter find their "Yes" in Jesus (2 Corinthians1:20).
We are told to “put on the Lord Jesus Christ” because, without him, we, just like David, will certainly fail to “make no provision for the flesh, to gratify its desires” (Romans 13:14). But, conversely, “if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live” (8:13). “If we are faithless, he remains faithful” (2 Timothy 2:13). “There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus” (Romans 8:1).