Jeremiah 32:10

And I subscribed the evidence,.... Or, "wrote in a book" (u); the instrument or bill of sale, the deed of purchase; which described the field sold, and expressed the condition on which the purchase

And I subscribed the evidence, and sealed it, and took witnesses, and weighed him the money in the balances. No JFB commentary on this verse.

I went through with the purchase, setting my hand to and sealing the deed, and taking witnesses to it, as is usual.

Jeremiah 32:10 And I subscribed the evidence, and sealed [it], and took witnesses, and weighed [him] the money in the balances.Ver. 10. And I subscribed the evidence.] Heb., I wrote in the book, and sealed it. Men love to be upon sure grounds in things temporal; oh that they were as wise for their souls!

(10) And I subscribed the evidence . . .—Literally, as in the margin, I wrote in the book—the last word being used for any kind of document, as for an indictment in Job 31:35, and here for a deed of conveyance. The minuteness with which the transaction is recorded is every way remarkable, partly as showing that the prophet was careful that no legal formality should be lacking to give validity to the purchase; partly, as the next verse shows, because there was a secret, unattested, unsealed (and in that sense “open”) document, which the witnesses did not subscribe, and with the contents of which they were probably not acquainted. The sealed document was one closed up as a safeguard against fraudulent alterations (comp. Isaiah 29:11). In the weighing of the money we see an indication of the old practice—probably consequent on the practice of “clipping” coined money—of dealing even with the current coin as if it were bullion, just as bankers weigh a parcel of sovereigns now before giving credit for the amount. (Comp. Genesis 23:16; Zechariah 11:12.)

Verse 10. I subscribed the evidence] We have here all the circumstances of this legal act: 1. An offer is made of the reversion of the ground, till the jubilee, to him who would then of right come into possession. 2. The price is agreed on, and the silver weighed in the balances. 3. A contract or deed of sale is drawn up, to which both parties agreeing, 4. Witnesses are brought forward to see it signed and sealed; for the contract was both subscribed and sealed. 5. A duplicate of the deed was drawn, which was not to be sealed, but to lie open for the inspection of those concerned, in some public place where it might be safe, and always to be seen. 6. The original, which was sealed up, was put in an earthen pitcher, in order to be preserved from accidents. 7. This was delivered by the purchaser into the hands of a third party, to be preserved for the use of the purchaser, and witnesses were called to attest this delivery. 8. They subscribed the book of the purchase, perhaps a town book, or register, where such purchases were entered. Baruch was a scribe by profession; and the deeds were delivered into his hands, before witnesses, to be preserved as above. Perhaps the law, in this case, required that the instrument should be thus lodged. But, in the present case, both the deeds, the original and the duplicate, were put into the earthen pitcher, because the city was about to be burnt; and if lodged as usual, they would be destroyed in the general conflagration. See Jeremiah 32:14.

10. And I subscribed the deed] The following will explain the particulars of Jeremiah’s action as given here and in the next vv. “Contracts stamped upon clay tablets have been found in Babylonia, enclosed in an envelope of clay, on the outside of which an exact duplicate of the contract was impressed (see an illustration in Maspero, The Dawn of Civilization, p. 732): if in course of time any disagreement arose, and it was suspected that the outside text had been tampered with, the envelope was broken in the presence of witnesses to see if the inside text agreed with it or not. Earthen jars containing such duplicate contracts have been excavated at Nippur (Peters, Nippur; II. 198).” Dr. ad loc. See further in Johns, Babylonian and Assyrian Laws, Contracts, and Letters, pp. 10 f. sealed it] not in our sense of adding a seal to a signature (“under one’s hand and seal”), but sealed up, closed securely.

Translate: And I wrote the particulars of the purchase in the deed ... And I took the purchase-deed, both that which was sealed containing the oiler and the conditions, and that which was open etc.

10. I subscribed the evidence, etc. — The marginal reading is better, “I wrote in the book,” that is, the particulars of the transaction. Here we have, with unusual fulness, the description of an important business transaction.