153 and Hope

1830 words long.

Published on 2024-03-30

Jeremiah’s inversion of meaning

Seventeen speaks more than judgment and destruction. One glimpse of hope is found in Jeremiah 32.

⁶ Jeremiah said, “The word of the Lord came to me:

⁷ Behold, Hanamel the son of Shallum your uncle

will come to you and say, ‘Buy my field that is at Anathoth,

for the right of redemption by purchase is yours.’

⁸ Then Hanamel my cousin came to me in

the court of the guard, in accordance with the word of the Lord,

and said to me, ‘Buy my field that is at Anathoth in

the land of Benjamin, for the right of possession and redemption

is yours; buy it for yourself.’

Then I knew that this was the word of the Lord.

⁹ And I bought the field at Anathoth from

Hanamel my cousin, and weighed out the money to him,

seventeen shekels of silver.

¹⁰ I signed the deed, sealed it, got witnesses,

and weighed the money on scales.

¹¹ Then I took the sealed deed of purchase,

containing the terms and conditions and the open copy.

¹² And I gave the deed of purchase to Baruch

the son of Neriah son of Mahseiah, in the presence of

Hanamel my cousin, in the presence of the witnesses who signed

the deed of purchase, and in the presence of all the Judeans

who were sitting in the court of the guard.

¹³ I charged Baruch in their presence, saying,

¹⁴ ‘Thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel:

Take these deeds, both this sealed deed of purchase and

this open deed, and put them in an earthenware vessel,

that they may last for a long time.

¹⁵ For thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel:

Houses and fields and vineyards shall again be bought in this land.’

¹⁶ After I had given the deed of purchase to

Baruch the son of Neriah, I prayed to the Lord, saying:

'Ah, Lord God! It is you who have made the heavens and

the earth by your great power and by your outstretched arm!

Nothing is too hard for you.'

- Jeremiah 32:6-17 ESV

Jeremiah paid seventeen (17) shekels for property in a land being conquered. He believed that nothing was too hard for the Lord to accomplish. This chapter in Jeremiah has unexpected connections to the Genesis Flood. Just as the flood purified the world of sin, the Lord was determined not to destroy Israel, but purify it.

Behold, I will gather them from all the countries

to which I drove them in my anger and my wrath

and in great indignation. I will bring them back

to this place and I will make them dwell in safety.

And they shall be my people, and I will be their God.

I will give them one heart and one way, that they

may fear me forever, for their own good and

the good of their children after them.

I will make with them an everlasting covenant,

that I will not turn away from doing good to them.

And I will put the fear of me in their hearts,

that they may not turn from me.

I will rejoice in doing them good,

and I will plant them in this land in faithfulness,

with all my heart and all my soul.

- Jeremiah 32:37-41

Beyond the similar themes, there is also a numerical correspondence. Two numbers are emphasized. Obvious is the seventeen (17) shekels. Less obvious is the number seen when we count mentions of the words “deed” and “deeds”. Those words occur eleven times in the ESV, but two are for usages that mean actions or accomplishments and in the Hebrew are a different word than the one used for a real estate title document. That leaves nine (9) usages that mean property deed. We again the see the subject of this chapter: 9 x 17 = 153. Coincidence? Consider how many times we see the singular of “deed” – seven times – and the plural form “deeds” – two times. The latter matches the start of the flood, the 17th day of the 2nd month. The former matches the end of the flood, the 17th day of the 7th month.

Despite the numerical connection, I can’t find any 153 year periods related to this prophecy. It speaks of the return of the Jews to their homeland after a long exile, but not the Babylonian exile alone. Other prophecies limited that shorter exile to seventy years. This prophecy speaks also to the longer exile using the number seventeen. What do we get if we count out seventeen of Solomon’s times of 120 years (which is 2,040 years)? From the start of the siege of Jerusalem (588 BC), add 2,040 years (properly accounting for the absence of year zero) and you get 1453 AD. What is special about that year?

In Daniel, four kingdoms were symbolically united into a single entity, a statue with a head of gold, chest of bronze, belly and thighs of silver, and legs of iron. Those four kingdoms, from Babylon to Persia to Greece to Rome, all oppressed Israel. The final fall of the final kingdom was in 1453, when Constantinople fell to the Ottoman Empire. Byzantium was the last surviving remnant of the old Roman Empire. However, the fall of that empire did not bring peace to Israel or a return from exile! Psalm 120 says something about this factor of 120:

What shall be given to you,

and what more shall be done to you,

you deceitful tongue?

A warrior's sharp arrows,

with glowing coals of the broom tree!

Woe to me, that I sojourn in Meshech,

that I dwell among the tents of Kedar!

Too long have I had my dwelling

among those who hate peace.

I am for peace,

but when I speak, they are for war!

- Psalm 120:3-7

Ishmael was a noted archer, so his descendants, the Arabs, and their spiritual descendants, Islam, are often signified by arrows. With the final traces of Rome removed from their neighborhood, the Jews still did not have peace. They still were not free to return to their land. A larger multiple of seventeen is needed. What about 149?

17 x 149 = 2,533

The previous calculation for 120 spanned the time from the beginning of the siege of Jerusalem in 588 BC to the end of the siege against Constantinople. For this calculation, we shall begin with the year of the fall of Jerusalem in 586 BC (when Jeremiah was writing), which gives us this:

586 BC + 2,533 years = 1948 AD

That carries us from the fall of Jerusalem to the rebirth of Israel in the twentieth century! Do we see any warrant for this in the Psalms?

For the Lord takes pleasure in his people;

he adorns the humble with salvation.

Let the godly exult in glory;

let them sing for joy on their beds.

Let the high praises of God be in their throats

and two-edged swords in their hands,

to execute vengeance on the nations

and punishments on the peoples,

to bind their kings with chains

and their nobles with fetters of iron,

to execute on them the judgment written!

This is honor for all his godly ones.

Praise the Lord!

- Psalm 149:4-9

That Psalm announces the victory that Israel waited an eternity to see. The Lord kept his word to Jeremiah. One other interesting piece of history is related to this 17th multiple of 149 years. Exactly halfway through the final 149 year period, the Ottoman Empire passed the Land Emancipation Act of 1873. Among other effects, this act permitted a Jewish person’s name to appear on a property deed. For centuries, no Jew living in Jerusalem or elsewhere in Palestine could register a deed in their name. Not only did Jeremiah’s prophecy come true, it even foresaw special legislation related to property deeds!

Jeremiah’s real estate deal is a turning point for the number seventeen, but Jesus had a better seventeen in store. The marvelous thing about John 21 is that God is victorious over the sins of desertion and denial committed by the disciples and Peter. That victory was won on the cross. That victory purchased more than a plot of land. It bought their forgiveness and ours. That victory restored Peter, calling him a second time and for a second time appointing him head of the church.

Let’s do a subtotal here. The seventeens of the flood destroyed the wicked and teach us fear. Jeremiah’s seventeen of faith amid destruction teaches us hope. Luke’s admonition to not fear teaches us that the judgments of God not only punish the wicked, they pave a path for the flock who fear God to enter the kingdom. John’s 153 fish is a large multiple of seventeen that shows us the grace of God to forgive and restore. When we get to Revelation, seventeen will spell doom for the wicked but at the same time fight for the rights of those who bear the mark of God.

The larger story of John 21 is about more than fish. It combines many images to convey its meaning. By casting our own net, we can find other Bible passages that make use of the same images. Because they share those images and themes, we know they are connected. Here are many of those ideas:

Nakedness
Nets
Fish
Boats
Water
Bread
Sheep
Shepherds
Judgment
Forgiveness
Salvation
Sunrise (when Jesus arrived on the scene)

Which Bible book tackles all these?

Habakkuk.

Links to the other articles in this section:

Connections to other books The scope of inquiry is given. The riddle is connected to Genesis, Psalms 34 and 119, Jeremiah 32, Habakkuk, John 21, Matthew 13, and Revelation 9.
Defining 153 Noah's Flood is shown to have lasted precisely 153 days.
Fear 153 is connected to the Fear of the Lord through Psalms 24 and 119, Luke 12 and 2 Kings 17.
Hope Jeremiah connects a related victory number, seventeen (17), to hope. Then the themes of John 21 are connected to Habakkuk.
Habakkuk: Part 1 Analysis of Habakkuk 1:1-4. Habakkuk puts questions to God.
Habakkuk: Part 2 Analysis of Habakkuk 1:5-11. God doubles down: the bitter and hasty Chaldeans are coming.
Habakkuk: Part 3 Analysis of Habakkuk 1:12-2:1. Habakkuk complains with three threes about innocent people caught in a cruel net.
Habakkuk: Part 4 Analysis of Habakkuk 2:2-5. God offers a fourfold assurance to the faithful.
Habakkuk: Part 5 Analysis of Habakkuk 2:6-20. Five woes are pronounced against lawbreakers.
Habakkuk: Part 6 Analysis of Habakkuk 3:1-16. Prophecy of God's coming six-ply war against the wicked.
Habakkuk: Part 7 Analysis of Habakkuk 3:17-19. Six laments over a barren harvest and a seventh praise of God in faith.
The Fifth Trumpet of Revelation The Revelation 9 Plague of Locusts lasts 153 Years.
Habakkuk's War Revisits the sixth section of Habakkuk with a final insight into God's battle plan.