Jeremiah 32:31—Did God delight in Zion (Jerusalem) or did it provoke His anger?

Problem: The psalmist declared that “the Lord loves the gates of Zion.” (Ps. 87:2). In fact, “the Lord has chosen Zion ... as] My resting place forever” ([Ps. 132:13–14). But, in this text, Jeremiah quotes God as saying, “This city has been to Me a provocation of My anger and My fury from the day that they built it, even to this day.” Well, then, does God delight in Zion forever, or has He been provoked by it from the beginning?

Solution: Actually both are true, whether taken in a spiritual sense or in a literal sense. Some scholars take this spiritually, as a reference to God’s eternal blessing on His heavenly Zion, the church (cf. Heb. 12:22; Rev. 21–22).

Other Bible scholars understand this literally as yet to be fulfilled when Israel is restored to their land forever as God promised

Expanded from [Rom. 11:26](Romans_11.26-Genesis_8.1.php:
Problem: The fact that the text says that “God remembered Noah” seems to imply that He temporarily forgot him. Yet the Bible declares that God knows all things (Ps. 139:2–4; Jer. 17:10; Heb. 4:13) and that He never forgets His saints (Isa. 49:15). How then could He temporarily forget Noah?

Solution: In His omniscience, God was always aware of Noah being in the ark. However, after Noah was left in the ark for over a year, as if he were forgotten, God gave a token of His remembrance and brought Noah and his family out of it. But, God had never forgotten Noah, since it was He that warned Noah in the very beginning in order to save him and the human race (cf. Gen. 6:8–13). We often use a similar expression when we “remember” someone on their birthday, even though we had never forgotten they existed.

). Accordingly, the city of Jerusalem which was chosen by God as the capital of His people Israel was a perpetual pain to God. But, when the Messiah returns to set up His throne and reign there (cf. Zech. 13–14; Matt. 19:28), it will be a source of endless delight to God.

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