Jeremiah 32:1-15--Jeremiah Buys a Field During the Siege

Jeremiah 32:1-15
English Standard Version

Jeremiah Buys a Field During the Siege
32 The word that came to Jeremiah from the LORD in the tenth year of Zedekiah king of Judah, which was the eighteenth year of Nebuchadnezzar. 2 At that time the army of the king of Babylon was besieging Jerusalem, and Jeremiah the prophet was shut up in the court of the guard that was in the palace of the king of Judah. 3 For Zedekiah king of Judah had imprisoned him, saying, “Why do you prophesy and say, ‘Thus says the LORD: Behold, I am giving this city into the hand of the king of Babylon, and he shall capture it; 4 Zedekiah king of Judah shall not escape out of the hand of the Chaldeans, but shall surely be given into the hand of the king of Babylon, and shall speak with him face to face and see him eye to eye. 5 And he shall take Zedekiah to Babylon, and there he shall remain until I visit him, declares the LORD. Though you fight against the Chaldeans, you shall not succeed’?”

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.’

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We are now well into the reign of King Nebuchadnezzar.  The exile started the first year of his reign, and it is now the tenth year of his reign (talk about a drawn-out war, but he is intent on conquering all of his neighbors and the whole world, if possible).  It is at this time that Nebuchadnezzar returns to besiege Jerusalem.  Jeremiah is in the court of the king's guards because the king had imprisoned him because he spoke the Word of the LORD, and the king did not like what the LORD had to say.  The king is angry that the LORD told the king he would be captured, taken away into exile, would have to look the king of Babylon in the eye and answer to him, and then would remain in captivity until the LORD visited him to deal with him.

In the midst of this you can imagine that many people have forgotten the idea of the Land being an eternal inheritance that was supposed to stay in their families.  People were pretty sure this was the end for them and the Land, so they wanted to sell their land and try to escape with what little they had.  The LORD told Jeremiah his uncle was going to come to him and offer him a piece of land, a field, at for the proper redemption price.  Jeremiah was to accept and buy this piece of land, even as Babylon was in the midst of conquering the city.  Why?  Because it would show that Jeremiah believed that his descendants would return and that the Land would be there and even that the records would be there in the future to show that this land belonged to his family and everything happened according to the Word of the LORD.

Jeremiah completed all the legal requirements for the land to be deeded to him, and he asked the clerk to take both the open deed and sealed deed and to keep them in earthenware (clay) pots for safekeeping so they would be protected from the siege.  This was to be a sign to the people that houses and fields and vineyards would once again be bought (and sold) in the Land when people would return there.