“These are ancient things,” we may say, for even as far back as the days of Abraham, he whom Jehovah told to “Arise, walk through the land, in the length of it, and in the breadth of it, for I will give it unto thee” (Genesis 13:17), was, as to actual possession, a stranger in it, and bought a burying-place therein of “Ephron the Hittite,” one of the very nations whom his seed was to dispossess. The purchase-money, four hundred shekels of silver, current money with the merchant, was duly weighed and handed over, and then “the field, and the cave which was in it, and all the trees that were in the field, that were in all the borders round about, were made sure unto Abraham for a possession... of a burying-place, by the sons of Heth” (Genesis 23:17-20); and there Abraham buried Sarah. How strange a proceeding for “the heir of the world” (Romans 4:13)! Where those title deeds were deposited for safe custody one is unable to say. But we may be sure that the God of Abraham will see to it when He, “who is of the seed of David according to the flesh, and declared to be the Son of God with power,” comes to take up His earthly rights in connection with His ancient people.
There is another very striking transaction recorded in Jeremiah 32. To appreciate it we must remember what was recorded of Jerusalem at that time. “Behold the mounts, they are come unto the city to take it; and the city is given into the hands of the Chaldeans that fight against it, because of the sword, and of the famine, and of the pestilence: and what thou hast spoken is come to pass; and behold, thou seest it” (ver. 27). Jehovah had said also, “Zedekiah, king of Judah, shall not escape out of the hands of the Chaldeans, but shall surely be delivered into the hand of the king of Babylon.... And he shall lead Zedekiah to Babylon, and there shall he be till I visit him, saith Jehovah: though ye fight with the Chaldeans, ye shall not prosper” (vers. 4, 5). The captivity of all the men of might, craftsmen, and smiths, with those strong and apt for war, and the taking of Zedekiah himself and his being carried to Babylon, are all fully set out for us in 2 Kings 24; 25.
Now it was in view of all this, when naturally one would think the purchase of land in such a place to be out of the question, that Jeremiah was instructed of Jehovah to buy the field in Anathoth, of Hanameel his cousin, and this he carried out, weighing for its purchase seventeen shekels of silver. As he himself adds, “I subscribed the evidence and sealed it, and took witnesses, and weighed him the money in the balances.” We may observe that the payment is twice recorded; and it is not without interest to note the particularity displayed in connection with the title deeds. “So I took the evidence of the purchase, both that which was sealed according to the law and custom, and that which was open: and I gave the evidence of the purchase unto Baruch the son of Neriah, the son of Maaseiah, in the sight of Hanameel mine uncle's [son], and in the presence of the witnesses that subscribed the book of the purchase, before all the Jews that sat in the court of the prison. And I charged Baruch before them, saying, Thus saith Jehovah of hosts, the God of Israel, Take these evidences, this evidence of the purchase, both which is sealed, and this evidence which is open, and put them in an earthen vessel, that they may continue many days” (vers. 11-14). Here we are told of the custodian of the title deeds, and how they were to be preserved. We have met with “an earthen vessel” before. We have it in Leviticus 14 in connection with the cleansing of the leper-"the priest shall command that one of the birds be killed in an earthen vessel over running water” (ver. 5). May not this point to Him who coming into the world saith, “Sacrifice and offering thou wouldest not, but a body hast thou prepared me” (Hebrews 10:5), with all that it involved? “We are sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all” (ver. 10), and by the Holy Spirit (2 Thessalonians 2:13, 1 Peter 1:2), the efficacious power—the “running water,” we may say. For of that same Blessed One it is written, in connection with His precious blood, “Who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without spot to God” (9: 14). He through His own death and blood-shedding has made good the title deeds of far more than Jeremiah's field. We wonder not, therefore, that Jehovah said, “Houses and vineyards shall be possessed again in this land,” awful though the condition of the people was, as verses 29 to 35 fully bring out. But what cannot grace do where it reigns “through righteousness even through Jesus Christ our Lord”?
The people, alas, did worse than even Jeremiah describes. For when the “Son, whom he hath appointed heir of all things, by whom also he made the worlds,” came unto His own, “his own received him not.” Instead of reverencing “my beloved Son,” when they saw Him “they reasoned among themselves saying, This is the heir: come, let us kill him, that the inheritance may be ours. So they cast him out of the vineyard, and killed him” (Luke 20:13-15).
But His title deeds, His evidence of purchase, yea, of redemption, could not be in better custody. And so we read in Revelation 5:1, “I saw in the right hand of him that sat on the throne a book written within and on the back side, sealed with seven seals “-the evidence, surely, both sealed and opened, which He is worthy to come and take out of the right hand of Him that sat on the throne, and He alone. For He it was, the Lion of the tribe of Judah, the Root of David, who had prevailed to open the book. And to Him, as the Lamb that had been slain, shall we render the ascription of praise: “Blessing, and honor, and glory, and power, be unto him that sitteth upon the throne, and unto the Lamb, forever and ever,” and we too “fall down and worship.”
W. N. T.