Buying Land Under Siege: A Word of Comfort in Suffering
With Babylon's army outside the walls and the prophet inside a prison court, Jeremiah still buys a field at God's word — comfort in suffering is often hidden in simple obedience to what the Lord has spoken.
The word that came to Jeremiah from GOD in the tenth year of King Zedekiah of Judah, which was the eighteenth year of Nebuchadrezzar. At that time the army of the king of Babylon was besieging Jerusalem, and the prophet Jeremiah was confined in the prison compound attached to the palace of the king of Judah. For King Zedekiah of Judah had confined him, saying, “How dare you prophesy: ‘Thus said GOD: I am delivering this city into the hands of the king of Babylon, and he shall capture it. And King Zedekiah of Judah shall not escape from the Chaldeans; he shall be delivered into the hands of the king of Babylon, and he shall speak to him face to face and see him in person. And Zedekiah shall be brought to Babylon, there to remain until I take note of him—declares GOD. When you wage war against the Chaldeans, you shall not be successful.’” Jeremiah said: The word of GOD came to me: Hanamel, the son of your uncle Shallum, will come to you and say, “Buy my land in Anathoth, for you are next in succession to redeem it by purchase.” And just as GOD had said, my cousin Hanamel came to me in the prison compound and said to me, “Please buy my land in Anathoth, in the territory of Benjamin; for the right of succession is yours, and you have the duty of redemption. Buy it.” Then I knew that it was indeed the word of GOD. So I bought the land in Anathoth from my cousin Hanamel. I weighed out the money to him, seventeen shekels of silver. I wrote a deed, sealed it, and had it witnessed; and I weighed out the silver on a balance. I took the deed of purchase, the sealed text and the open one according to rule and law, and gave the deed to Baruch son of Neriah son of Mahseiah in the presence of my kinsman Hanamel, of the witnesses who were named in the deed, and all the Judeans who were sitting in the prison compound. In their presence I charged Baruch as follows: Thus said GOD of Hosts, the God of Israel: “Take these documents, this deed of purchase, the sealed text and the open one, and put them into an earthen jar, so that they may last a long time.” For thus said GOD of Hosts, the God of Israel: “Houses, fields, and vineyards shall again be purchased in this land.” But after I had given the deed to Baruch son of Neriah, I prayed to GOD: “Ah, my Sovereign GOD! You made heaven and earth with Your great might and outstretched arm. Nothing is too wondrous for You! You show kindness to the thousandth generation, but visit the guilt of the parents upon their children after them. O great and mighty God whose name is GOD of Hosts, wondrous in purpose and mighty in deed, whose eyes observe all the ways of mortals, so as to repay each one according to their ways, and with the proper fruit of their deeds! You displayed signs and marvels in the land of Egypt with lasting effect, and won renown in Israel and among humankind to this very day. You freed Your people Israel from the land of Egypt with signs and marvels, with a strong hand and an outstretched arm, and with great terror. You gave them this land that You had sworn to their fathers to give them, a land flowing with milk and honey, and they came and took possession of it. But they did not listen to You or follow Your Teaching; they did nothing of what You commanded them to do. Therefore you have caused all this misfortune to befall them. Here are the siege mounds, raised against the city to storm it; and the city, because of sword and famine and pestilence, is at the mercy of the Chaldeans who are attacking it. What You threatened has come to pass—as You see. Yet You, my Sovereign GOD, said to me: Buy the land for money and call in witnesses—when the city is at the mercy of the Chaldeans!” Then the word of GOD came to Jeremiah: Behold I am GOD, the God of all flesh. Is anything too wondrous for Me? Assuredly, thus said GOD: I am delivering this city into the hands of the Chaldeans and of King Nebuchadrezzar of Babylon, and he shall capture it. And the Chaldeans who have been attacking this city shall come and set this city on fire and burn it down—with the houses on whose roofs they made offerings to Baal and poured out libations to other gods, so as to vex Me. For the people of Israel and Judah have done nothing but evil in My sight since their youth; the people of Israel have done nothing but vex Me by their conduct—declares GOD. This city has aroused My anger and My wrath from the day it was built until this day; so that it must be removed from My sight because of all the wickedness of the people of Israel and Judah who have so acted as to vex Me—they, their kings, their officials, their priests and prophets, and the citizenry of Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem. They turned their backs to Me, not their faces; though I have taught them persistently, they do not give heed or accept rebuke. They placed their abominations in the House that bears My name and defiled it; and they built the shrines of Baal that are in the Valley of Ben-hinnom, where they offered
Jeremiah 32:1–20 records the impossible moment when God's word to buy land arrives precisely while Jerusalem is under siege and Jeremiah is confined. The juxtaposition of national collapse and a real-estate transaction becomes the canvas on which God paints comfort for His people.