Slices
Prepare
Ask the Holy Spirit to speak to you in fresh ways and to make you attentive to his guidance however it comes.
Bible passage
Jeremiah buys a field
32 This is 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 The army of the king of Babylon was then besieging Jerusalem, and Jeremiah the prophet was confined in the courtyard of the guard in the royal palace of Judah.
3 Now Zedekiah king of Judah had imprisoned him there, saying, ‘Why do you prophesy as you do? You say, “This is what the Lord says: I am about to give this city into the hands of the king of Babylon, and he will capture it. 4 Zedekiah king of Judah will not escape the Babylonians but will certainly be given into the hands of the king of Babylon, and will speak with him face to face and see him with his own eyes. 5 He will take Zedekiah to Babylon, where he will remain until I deal with him, declares the Lord. If you fight against the Babylonians, you will not succeed.”’
6 Jeremiah said, ‘The word of the Lord came to me: 7 Hanamel son of Shallum your uncle is going to come to you and say, “Buy my field at Anathoth, because as nearest relative it is your right and duty to buy it.”
8 ‘Then, just as the Lord had said, my cousin Hanamel came to me in the courtyard of the guard and said, “Buy my field at Anathoth in the territory of Benjamin. Since it is your right to redeem it and possess it, buy it for yourself.”
‘I knew that this was the word of the Lord; 9 so I bought the field at Anathoth from my cousin Hanamel and weighed out for him seventeen shekels of silver. 10 I signed and sealed the deed, had it witnessed, and weighed out the silver on the scales. 11 I took the deed of purchase – the sealed copy containing the terms and conditions, as well as the unsealed copy – 12 and I gave this deed to Baruch son of Neriah, the son of Mahseiah, in the presence of my cousin Hanamel and of the witnesses who had signed the deed and of all the Jews sitting in the courtyard of the guard.
13 ‘In their presence I gave Baruch these instructions: 14 “This is what the Lord Almighty, the God of Israel, says: take these documents, both the sealed and unsealed copies of the deed of purchase, and put them in a clay jar so that they will last a long time. 15 For this is what the Lord Almighty, the God of Israel, says: houses, fields and vineyards will again be bought in this land.”
Explore
We find ourselves now in the dark, final days for Judah, with Jerusalem surrounded and Jeremiah a prisoner in the besieged city. King Zedekiah is totally intransigent. Even at the very last, the last king will not hear God’s word, preferring to lock up the true prophet. With Babylonian arrows flying and Israelite families starving, it seems an odd moment at which to focus on the details of an apparently pointless land purchase. However, God did sometimes inspire his prophets to perform symbolic enactments of his purposes in addition to spoken and written words. Remember the potter’s jar (chapter 19) and the yoke bars (chapter 27). For Jeremiah, at any rate, it was enough to know that ‘ … this was the word of the Lord,’ (v 8), and he did exactly as instructed.
It was the ancient custom to store important documents in clay jars. The famous Dead Sea Scrolls were discovered well preserved after they had been stored in this way for 2,000 years. The point is clear. The deed of purchase given to Baruch is intended as a permanent record (vs 12–15). To the desperate survivors in the city, this might have seemed a meaningless document. To those still trusting in God’s word, and his deeds, this purchase of land is an act of faith: God’s covenant with his people is for ever.
Respond
Pray for those in refugee camps, who feel no hope for the future today.
Deeper Bible study
Faithful God, give me the grace to hear your call today and obey you.
God had promised his people that when they entered the Promised Land they would find cities and houses ready for them to inhabit, with vineyards and olive groves ready for them to eat the fruit.1 Amos subsequently turned this promise on its head, announcing the time soon coming when they would no longer inhabit the houses they had built, nor would they drink the wine from the vineyards they had planted.2 In this chapter, Jeremiah reverses Amos’ prophecy of disaster: ‘[after the exile] houses, fields and vineyards will again be bought in this land’ (v 15).
Jeremiah was imprisoned for announcing that the besieging army of Nebuchadnezzar would capture the city and that king and people would be exiled. There he heard a word from the Lord that one of his relatives was coming to sell him a piece of land. It happened – and Jeremiah, recognising that the Lord had spoken, bought the land and with careful attention to detail deposited the title deeds in a safe place.
Of course, nobody can take land away, it is always there, but as Amos had said, it can pass into the hands of others to enjoy its benefits. Jeremiah was so convinced that in time God would end the exile and restore the people to their land that he was ready to put his money where his mouth was and buy a piece of land,3 believing God’s promise that in time he would again enjoy the benefits of land ownership. It is one thing to say that we believe that God keeps his promises; it is quite another thing to take a risk like Jeremiah did by acting on those promises, even when, humanly speaking, the outlook looks bleak.
God calls us to take risks in faith. Can you take him at his word and trust him for the outcome, knowing that life is uncertain, but God is faithful?
1 Deut 6:10–12 2 Amos 5:10–12 3 See John Goldingay, Jeremiah for Everyone, Westminster John Knox, 2015, p161–165
Bible in a year
Read the Bible in a year: Ezekiel 8,9; Psalm 119:121–144
Pray for Scripture Union
Pray for the ministry of the Central Region – for the staff team, Faith Guides, Local Mission Partners and volunteers – as they connect with the 95 and help them to understand more of God’s love for them.
