Why did God tell Jeremiah to buy a field right before Jerusalem was invaded by Babylon? Let’s begin in Jeremiah 32.
Just as preaching God’s unpopular truth in certain countries today will get you jailed, was Jeremiah imprisoned?
This is the word that came to Jeremiah from Yahweh in the tenth year of Zedekiah king of Judah, which was the eighteenth year of Nebuchadnezzar. Now at that time the king of Babylon’s army was besieging Jerusalem. Jeremiah the prophet was shut up in the court of the guard, which was in the king of Judah’s house. (Jer 32:1-2 WEB)
Had king Zedekiah placed Jeremiah in prison because he believed the prophecies to be “fake news” or because he was just angry?
Judah’s King Zedekiah had Jeremiah sent there after questioning him: “Why do you prophesy, ‘This is what the Lord says: I’m handing this city over to the king of Babylon, and he will occupy it; and Judah’s King Zedekiah will be captured and handed over to the king of Babylon; he will speak to the king of Babylon personally and see him with his very own eyes. And Zedekiah will be carried off to Babylon to live out his days until I punish him, declares the Lord. If you make war against the Babylonians, you will fail.’” (Jer 32:3-5 CEB)
Did God tell Jeremiah to buy a parcel of family land that was available?
Later, when I was in prison, the Lord said: Jeremiah, your cousin Hanamel, the son of your uncle Shallum, will visit you. He must sell his field near the town of Anathoth, and because you are his nearest relative, you have the right and the responsibility to buy it and keep it in the family. Hanamel came, just as the Lord had promised. And he said, “Please buy my field near Anathoth in the territory of the Benjamin tribe. You have the right to buy it, and if you do, it will stay in our family.” The Lord had told me to buy it from Hanamel, and so I did. The price was 17 pieces of silver, and I weighed out the full amount on a scale. (Jer 32:6-9 CEV)
Was the deed to be preserved as a sign that Israel would return and things would be back to normal in the future?
I signed the deed, sealed it, got witnesses, and weighed the money on scales. Then I took the sealed deed of purchase, containing the terms and conditions and the open copy. 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. I charged Baruch in their presence, saying, ‘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. For thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: Houses and fields and vineyards shall again be bought in this land.’ (Jer 32:10-15 ESV)
What did Jeremiah pray to God regarding the sins of Israel and their consequences?
“After I had given the purchase agreement to Baruch, son of Neriah, I prayed to the Lord: Oh, Lord God! You Yourself made the heavens and earth by Your great power and with Your outstretched arm. Nothing is too difficult for You! You show faithful love to thousands but lay the fathers’ sins on their sons’ laps after them, great and mighty God whose name is Yahweh of Hosts, the One great in counsel and mighty in deed, whose eyes are on all the ways of the sons of men in order to give to each person according to his ways and the result of his deeds.
You performed signs and wonders in the land of Egypt and do so to this very day both in Israel and among mankind. You made a name for Yourself, as is the case today. You brought Your people Israel out of Egypt with signs and wonders, with a strong hand and an outstretched arm, and with great terror. You gave them this land You swore to give to their ancestors, a land flowing with milk and honey. They entered and possessed it, but they did not obey Your voice or live according to Your instructions.
They failed to perform all You commanded them to do, and so You have brought all this disaster on them. Look! Siege ramps have come against the city to capture it, and the city, as a result of the sword, famine, and plague, has been handed over to the Chaldeans who are fighting against it. What You have spoken has happened. Look, You can see it! Yet You, Lord God, have said to me: Buy the field with silver and call in witnesses—even though the city has been handed over to the Chaldeans!” (Jer 32:16-25 HCSB)
What was the Lord’s reply to Jeremiah’s prayer regarding the nation’s idolatry?
Then this message from the Lord came to Jeremiah: “Look, I am the Lord, the God who rules over all flesh. Is anything too difficult for me?” Therefore, this is what the Lord says: “I’m about to give this city into the hands of the Chaldeans and Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, and he will capture it. The Chaldeans who are fighting against this city will come, set this city on fire, and burn it along with the houses on whose roofs incense was burned to Baal and liquid offerings were poured out to other gods in order to provoke me. Indeed, the Israelis and Judeans have been doing only evil in my presence since their youth. Indeed, the Israelis have done nothing but provoke me by what they have made with their hands,” declares the Lord. (Jer 32:26-30 ISV)
What did God say about Jerusalem and idolatry and murderous child sacrifice in the valley of Hinnom?
For this city hath been to me as a provocation of mine anger and of my fury from the day that they built it even unto this day; that I should remove it from before my face, Because of all the evil of the children of Israel and of the children of Judah, which they have done to provoke me to anger, they, their kings, their princes, their priests, and their prophets, and the men of Judah, and the inhabitants of Jerusalem. And they have turned unto me the back, and not the face: though I taught them, rising up early and teaching them, yet they have not hearkened to receive instruction. But they set their abominations in the house, which is called by my name, to defile it. And they built the high places of Baal, which are in the valley of the son of Hinnom, to cause their sons and their daughters to pass through the fire unto Molech; which I commanded them not, neither came it into my mind, that they should do this abomination, to cause Judah to sin. (Jer 32:31-35 KJV)
What future covenant promises a renewed relationship between God and all Israel?
“So now, therefore thus says Yahweh, the God of Israel, concerning this city of which you are saying, ‘It is given into the hand of the king of Babylon by sword, by famine, and by pestilence.’ Behold, I will gather them out of all the lands to which I have banished them in My anger, in My wrath, and in great indignation; and I will cause them to return to this place and make them inhabit it in safety. And they shall be My people, and I will be their God; and I will give them one heart and one way, that they may fear Me always, for their own good and for the good of their children after them. And I will cut an everlasting covenant with them that I will not turn away from them, to do them good; and I will put the fear of Me in their hearts so that they will not turn away from Me. And I will rejoice over them to do them good and will truly plant them in this land with all My heart and with all My soul. For thus says Yahweh, ‘Just as I brought all this great evil on this people, so I am going to bring on them all the good that I am promising them. Thus fields will be bought in this land of which you all are saying, “It is a desolation, without man or beast; it is given into the hand of the Chaldeans.” Men will buy fields for money, sign and seal deeds, and call in witnesses in the land of Benjamin, in the surroundings of Jerusalem, in the cities of Judah, in the cities of the hill country, in the cities of the Shephelah, and in the cities of the Negev; for I will return their fortunes,’ declares Yahweh.” (Jer 32:36-44 LSB)
How will the new covenant differ from the old one written on stone tablets?
“This is the covenant which I will make with them After those days, declares the Lord: I will put My laws upon their hearts, And write them on their mind,” He then says, “And their sins and their lawless deeds I will no longer remember.” (Heb 10:16-17 LSB)
Why did God tell Jeremiah to buy a field right before Jerusalem was invaded by Babylon? You decide!
