John Calvin Commentary Jeremiah 32:43-44

"And fields shall be bought in this land, whereof ye say, It is desolate, without man or beast; it is given into the hand of the Chaldeans. Men shall buy fields for money, and subscribe the deeds, and seal them, and call witnesses, in the land of Benjamin, and in the places about Jerusalem, and in the cities of Judah, and in the cities of the hill-country, and in the cities of the lowland, and in the cities of the South: for I will cause their captivity to return, saith Jehovah." — Jeremiah 32:43-44 (ASV)

He confirms the prediction concerning the return of the people and applies the vision that had been presented to the Prophet, for he had been commanded, as we have seen, to buy a field in the land of Benjamin. God now connects that sign to the prophecy.

For the purpose of signs is to secure faith in doctrine, which nevertheless deserves to be believed on its own merit, is fully authentic, and is in itself worthy of belief. However, it is granted to our weakness that signs are given to us, so that the promises may be more firmly established and confirmed in our hearts.

God now follows this order and says, Yet bought shall a field be in this land. The verb, קנה kone, means to acquire, to buy, and to possess; but as he says in the next verse, Buy shall they with money a field, the meaning ought not to be changed.

Bought then shall be a field (the singular for the plural) in this land, of which you say, Deserted it is by man and beast. The chief men did not say this, as we have elsewhere shown. Indeed, when Jeremiah declared this to them, he was ill-treated and cruelly dealt with by them, for it was difficult to believe that the land, which was, so to speak, the sacred dwelling place of God, should be laid waste by the Chaldeans. God had indeed called it His rest, and it had been given as a heritage to the children of Abraham.

The Jews, then, did not originate this saying; rather, it was God Himself. But this question has been solved elsewhere. They did not indeed speak of the desolation of the land in the same sense or manner as God did.

For when the Prophets threatened them with the desolation of the land, they always added the hope of deliverance and of a return. But they, when that calamity happened to them, cast aside every hope and gave themselves up completely to despair.

And it is a usual thing for the ungodly to ridicule all God’s threats as long as He spares them or postpones their punishment. But when God makes it known that He speaks in earnest, then they are swallowed up by despair and conclude that nothing remains for them.

This, then, is what Jeremiah upbraids his own nation for: that they cast off every hope from themselves, even though God had fixed for them the term of seventy years. While God was then stretching out His hand to them, they chose rather to sink in this way into the abyss of despair, so that nothing could alleviate their minds.

The Prophet justly condemns this ingratitude, for they considered their land as devoted to perpetual ruin, even though its restoration had been promised to them.

It is as though he had said, “The mercy of God and His faithfulness will surpass all your wickedness. But you, as far as you can, extinguish His promises, abolish His grace, and give no place to His promises. Nevertheless, He will complete what He has promised. For though the land is falsely considered by you to be given up forever to destruction, yet the Lord will cause it to be inhabited by its own legitimate heirs, even the children of Abraham.”

This is the reason why he intimates that the Jews had regarded the land as given up to perpetual desolation.

To show more fully what is said in the preceding verse, he adds, Fields with money shall be bought, and by writing (the verbs are in the infinitive mood) they shall write on tablets and sign by witnesses even if the land of Benjamin.

Then the Prophet mentions all the boundaries by which Jerusalem was surrounded. We know that a part of the city was in the lot of Benjamin, and even one gate was so called: in the land of Benjamin, he says, and also through the circuits of Jerusalem, even in the cities of Judah, those on the mountains, as well as those in the valley, and in the cities which are to the south (even Egypt, for the southern country was towards Egypt).

The reason is added, Because God would restore their captivity; that is, restore the captives so that they might again possess the land.