Jeremiah Buys a Field

In the days of King Zedekiah, the Babylonian army was surrounding Jerusalem. Jeremiah the prophet was being kept in the court of the guard at the king’s house. Zedekiah had shut him up because Jeremiah kept announcing that the city would be handed over to Babylon, and that fighting would not save Judah.

While Jeremiah was there, he said that Yahweh’s word came to him. God told him that Hanamel, his uncle’s son, would come and ask him to buy a field in Anathoth, because Jeremiah had the family right to redeem it.

Then it happened just as God had said. Hanamel came to Jeremiah in the court of the guard and asked him to buy the field in Anathoth, in the land of Benjamin. When Jeremiah heard the same message God had already given him, he understood that this truly was Yahweh’s word.

So Jeremiah bought the field from Hanamel. He weighed out seventeen shekels of silver, signed the deed, sealed it, and called witnesses. He took both copies of the purchase document, the sealed one with the terms and conditions and the open one as well.

In front of Hanamel, the witnesses, and the Jews sitting in the court of the guard, Jeremiah gave the deeds to Baruch son of Neriah, son of Mahseiah. He told Baruch to place them in an earthen vessel so they would last a long time.

This purchase was a sign. Even with the city under siege and danger all around, Yahweh said that houses, fields, and vineyards would once again be bought in that land. What do you notice about trusting God when circumstances look hopeless?