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For the children of Israel and the children of Judah have only done evil - They have all been transgressors from their earliest history.

For the children of Israel - The ten tribes.

Have only provoked me to anger with the work of their hands - They have been sinners beyond all others, being excessive idolaters. Their hands have formed the objects of their worship.

Verses 26-44

The answer is divided into two parts;

(a) Jeremiah 32:26-35, the sins of Judah are shown to be the cause of her punishment:

(b) Jeremiah 32:36-44, this punishment was not for Judah‘s destruction, but for her amendment.

Jeremiah 32:28

I will give - Or, I am giving.

Jeremiah 32:30

From their youth - God‘s mighty deeds for Israel began in Egypt Jeremiah 32:20, and so did Israel‘s sin.

Jeremiah 32:34, Jeremiah 32:35

These verses are repeated from Jeremiah 7:30-31, but with two important variations. Baal is put for Tophet, and to Molech instead of in the fire. Molech the king and Baal the lord are different names of the sun-god, but in altered relations. Molech is the sun as the mighty fire, which in passing through the signs of the Zodiac burns up its own children. It is an old Canaanite worship, carried by the Phoenicians to all their colonies, and firmly established in Palestine at the time when the Israelites conquered the country.

Jeremiah 32:39

One heart, and one way - Compare Jeremiah 3:13. Under the new covenant they will with one consent walk in the one narrow path of right-doing Matthew 7:14. Forever, i. e., every day, constantly.

Jeremiah 32:40

God‘s new covenant Jeremiah 31:31 is on God‘s side, I will not turn away from them to do them good, i. e., I will never cease from doing them good. On their side, I will put My fear in their hearts that they depart not from Me. In these two conditions consists the certainty of the eternal duration of the covenant Matthew 28:20.

Jeremiah 32:41

Assuredly - literally, in truth, i. e., in verity, in reality. It refers to God‘s firm purpose, rather than to the safety and security of the people. The new covenant is one of grace, indicated by God‘s rejoicing over His people, and “planting them with His whole heart.”

Jeremiah 32:43

Fields - literally, The field, the open unenclosed country Jeremiah 4:17. In Jeremiah 32:44 fields refers to the several portions of it which belonged to individuals, and of which the boundaries were shown by landmarks.

Jeremiah 32:44

Subscribe evidences - See Jeremiah 32:10. In order to bring the certainty of the return from exile more vividly before the mind, the prophet enumerates the several subdivisions of the territory of the kings of Judah.

God's answer discovers the purposes of his wrath against that generation of the Jews, and the purposes of his grace concerning future generations. It is sin, and nothing else, that ruins them. The restoration of Judah and Jerusalem is promised. This people were now at length brought to despair. But God gives hope of mercy which he had in store for them hereafter. Doubtless the promises are sure to all believers. God will own them for his, and he will prove himself theirs. He will give them a heart to fear him. All true Christians shall have a disposition to mutual love. Though they may have different views about lesser things, they shall all be one in the great things of God; in their views of the evil of sin, and the low estate of fallen man, the way of salvation through the Saviour, the nature of true holiness, the vanity of the world, and the importance of eternal things. Whom God loves, he loves to the end. We have no reason to distrust God's faithfulness and constancy, but only our own hearts. He will settle them again in Canaan. These promises shall surely be performed. Jeremiah's purchase was the pledge of many a purchase that should be made after the captivity; and those inheritances are but faint resemblances of the possessions in the heavenly Canaan, which are kept for all who have God's fear in their hearts, and do not depart from him. Let us then bear up under our trials, assured we shall obtain all the good he has promised us.