Sermon Jeremiah 32 Personal Property II

Rev. Jeffrey T. Howard

Sermon Jeremiah 32 Personal Property II

First Presbyterian Church of Ocean City

September 25, 2016

            This is my sixth sermon in my series entitled “Jeremiah - Prophet to the Nations”, and part two of my sermon on private property.  Jeremiah was called to his important work by God before he was even born, predestined as the Prophet to the Nations.  He warned the nations not to rely on false gods and material things, because in the long run all these things would prove to be unreliable.  He told the nations of the world that God created then and holds them in His hands just as potter holds a lump of clay.  The good news Jeremiah proclaimed was that God was not going to destroy the world and start over.  But obedience was still required.  Last week we saw that the Babylonian army was on its way to Jerusalem.  And today we will hear what happens, but first let’s pray.

“Grant unto us, O Lord, to be occupied in the mysteries of thy heavenly wisdom, with true progress in piety, to thy glory and our own edification.  Amen.”   (John Calvin)

            We saw last week the economic system that was developed by God and given to us is based on the principle of ownership of private property by families.  The Promised Land was given to Israelite families.  Each family was given its own inheritance.  And a family could never lose its land.  Land could be mortgaged, but all mortgages were forgiven every seven years.  Land could be sold, but all sales contracts were voided every fifty years.  Land was given to families generation to generation forever.   This was God’s economic plan.

            And this plan was part of a covenant between God and his people.  God gave families land so that they would love and serve Him and be a blessing to others.  This is the foundation of biblical law.

            But the people in Jeremiah’s day had abandoned the covenant.  They no longer kept their end of the contract.  They didn’t use the land to love and serve the Lord.  They didn’t use the land to bless others.  And so now with the contract broken God was about to take the land away.  Let’s pick up the story in Jeremiah 32.

            1 This is 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 The army of the king of Babylon was then besieging Jerusalem, and Jeremiah the prophet was confined in the courtyard of the guard in the royal palace of Judah.

            So, the Babylonians have arrived at the gates of Jerusalem.  The people have fled from their homes and farms to receive protection from the wall of the city.  The gates are closed.  The Judean army is stationed at the top of the wall to keep the Babylonians from coming over.  They hope there is enough water in the cistern, but as we know it is cracked and leaking.  They started out with enough food, but with a whole growing season trampled under the boots of Babylonian soldiers shortages will start soon.  The situation is bleak.  Jeremiah is in jail.  And King Zedekiah wants to have a conversation with his prophet.

3 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. 4 Zedekiah king of Judah will not escape the Babylonians[a] 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. 5 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.’”

            Zedekiah is angry as Jeremiah.  All the other prophets have prophesied that Zedekiah will succeed.  Egypt will be their savior.  Pharaoh will come and the Babylonian army will go home.  The people of Jerusalem have a temple and priests and they found the Book of the Law in a storage room.  Everything is great; there is nothing to worry about.  But Jeremiah has predicted disaster, and this has made the king angry. 

            Then we have one of the most surprising turn of events in all of scripture.   With the Babylonian army surrounding the city, and the Judean homes and farms under their control, it appears that the God given economic system of private property owned by families is coming to an end.  And if this is the case then what happens next could not have been expected.

6 Jeremiah said, “The word of the Lord came to me: 7 Hanamel son of Shallum your uncle is going to come to you and say, ‘Buy my field at Anathoth, because as nearest relative it is your right and duty to buy it.’

What did he just say?  This is really odd.  Jeremiah was just told that his uncle wants to sell his farm to him.  This fulfilled the private property economic system that King Zedekiah is supposed to be defending.  But with the Babylonians literally at the door that economic system is over.  The King of Babylon now owns Hanamel farm.  It is obvious why Hanamel wants to sell it.  It is worthless, but if he can convince his cousin Jeremiah to buy it, then at least he will have some cash.  But no one in his right mind would ever make deal like this.  Why would anyone purchase a farm that a powerful enemy now possesses?  But that is exactly what Jeremiah does.

8 “Then, just as the Lord had said, my cousin Hanamel came to me in the courtyard of the guard and said, ‘Buy my field at Anathoth in the territory of Benjamin. Since it is your right to redeem it and possess it, buy it for yourself.’

“I knew that this was the word of the Lord; 9 so I bought the field at Anathoth from my cousin Hanamel and weighed out for him seventeen shekels[b] of silver. 10 I signed and sealed the deed, had it witnessed, and weighed out the silver on the scales. 11 I took the deed of purchase—the sealed copy containing the terms and conditions, as well as the unsealed copy— 12 and I gave this deed to Baruch son of Neriah, the son of Mahseiah, in the presence of my cousin Hanamel and of the witnesses who had signed the deed and of all the Jews sitting in the courtyard of the guard.

13 “In their presence I gave Baruch these instructions: 14 ‘This is what the Lord Almighty, the God of Israel, says: Take these documents, both the sealed and unsealed copies of the deed of purchase, and put them in a clay jar so they will last a long time. 15 For this is what the Lord Almighty, the God of Israel, says: Houses, fields and vineyards will again be bought in this land.’

            With that God’s Prophet to the Nations proclaimed some really good news.  The biblical economic system of private property, land belonging to families, would not come to a permanent end.  Yes, the Babylonians have taken the land.  Yes, families will be removed from the land and taken into exile.  This is because they have forgotten the covenant and their responsibility to love and serve God, and to love and bless their neighbors.  But after a generation in exile the covenant with God will be restored and families will return to their land.

            Our nation was established by its founders on the biblical principle of private ownership of property.  The philosopher John Locke said in his book, The Two Treaties of Civil Government:

“The state of nature has a law of nature to govern it, which obliges every one: and reason, which is that law, teaches all mankind, who will but consult it, that being all equal and independent, no one ought to harm another in his life, health, liberty, or possessions… (and) when his own preservation comes not in competition, ought he, as much as he can, to preserve the rest of mankind, and may not, unless it be to do justice on an offender, take away, or impair the life, or what tends to the preservation of the life, the liberty, health, limb, or goods of another.”

            According to Locke, all people have a God given right to life, liberty and property.  The purpose of Government is not to own, take away or use our property.  The purpose of government is to preserve our biblical rights to own personal property.  Thomas Jefferson put it this way in the Declaration of Independence.

“We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.--That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, --That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness.”

            With that America was established on the biblical principle of privately owned property.  And according to Jeremiah, the Prophet to the Nations, God has given us the right to private property.  This right is permanent, but it is also conditional on us using our property to love and serve God and to bless others. 

            Today in our nation there are many people who want to hold onto private property but have forgotten the covenant with God.  Like the people of Jeremiah’s day, they no long love and serve the Lord.  They are no longer a blessing to others.  And so we run the risk of having our property taken away and given away.  There are other people in our nation who believe in the communal ownership of property.  They believe that Government should own property and use it for its own purposes.  But this is the opposite of the biblical economic system that was instituted by our founders.   The purpose of government is not to take our property but to preserve our God given right to own personal property.  So, like Jeremiah, I urge you to continue the covenant we have with God by using your property to love and serve the Lord and to bless all of His children.  The good news is that it you do this, God will continue to bless you with private property.  Let’s pray.

            Lord God we thank you for the blessing of private property.  Help us to use our property to love and serve you by blessing others.  Help us to always remember and obey the terms of this covenant.  This we pray in the name of Jesus.  Amen.