Jeremiah 32 - Buyers' Market

Chad Werkhoven
Nov 22, 2023
2 min read

Short prayers provide a comforting confidence when God's commands seem ridiculous to everybody else.

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Read Jeremiah 32

CONTEXT: This week we've been reading about how God allowed His people to be brought into exile as a punishment for not knowing Him the way they were commanded to. The Babylonians now have set up a siege around Jerusalem, and God gives Jeremiah a strange command: buy real estate in a country that will soon no longer exist.

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 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.’

16 “After I had given the deed of purchase to Baruch son of Neriah, I prayed to the Lord:

17 “Ah, Sovereign Lord, you have made the heavens and the earth by your great power and outstretched arm. Nothing is too hard for you. 18 You show love to thousands but bring the punishment for the parents’ sins into the laps of their children after them. Great and mighty God, whose name is the Lord Almighty, 19 great are your purposes and mighty are your deeds. Your eyes are open to the ways of all mankind; you reward each person according to their conduct and as their deeds deserve. 20 You performed signs and wonders in Egypt and have continued them to this day, in Israel and among all mankind, and have gained the renown that is still yours. 21 You brought your people Israel out of Egypt with signs and wonders, by a mighty hand and an outstretched arm and with great terror. 22 You gave them this land you had sworn to give their ancestors, a land flowing with milk and honey. 23 They came in and took possession of it, but they did not obey you or follow your law; they did not do what you commanded them to do. So you brought all this disaster on them.

24 “See how the siege ramps are built up to take the city. Because of the sword, famine and plague, the city will be given into the hands of the Babylonians who are attacking it. What you said has happened, as you now see. 25 And though the city will be given into the hands of the Babylonians, you, Sovereign Lord, say to me, ‘Buy the field with silver and have the transaction witnessed.’ ”

26 Then the word of the Lord came to Jeremiah: 27 “I am the Lord, the God of all mankind. Is anything too hard for me? 28 Therefore this is what the Lord says: I am about to give this city into the hands of the Babylonians and to Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, who will capture it. 29 The Babylonians who are attacking this city will come in and set it on fire; they will burn it down, along with the houses where the people aroused my anger by burning incense on the roofs to Baal and by pouring out drink offerings to other gods.

30 “The people of Israel and Judah have done nothing but evil in my sight from their youth; indeed, the people of Israel have done nothing but arouse my anger with what their hands have made, declares the Lord. 31 From the day it was built until now, this city has so aroused my anger and wrath that I must remove it from my sight. 32 The people of Israel and Judah have provoked me by all the evil they have done—they, their kings and officials, their priests and prophets, the people of Judah and those living in Jerusalem. 33 They turned their backs to me and not their faces; though I taught them again and again, they would not listen or respond to discipline. 34 They set up their vile images in the house that bears my Name and defiled it. 35 They built high places for Baal in the Valley of Ben Hinnom to sacrifice their sons and daughters to Molek, though I never commanded—nor did it enter my mind—that they should do such a detestable thing and so make Judah sin.

36 “You are saying about this city, ‘By the sword, famine and plague it will be given into the hands of the king of Babylon’; but this is what the Lord, the God of Israel, says: 37 I will surely gather them from all the lands where I banish them in my furious anger and great wrath; I will bring them back to this place and let them live in safety. 38 They will be my people, and I will be their God. 39 I will give them singleness of heart and action, so that they will always fear me and that all will then go well for them and for their children after them. 40 I will make an everlasting covenant with them: I will never stop doing good to them, and I will inspire them to fear me, so that they will never turn away from me. 41 I will rejoice in doing them good and will assuredly plant them in this land with all my heart and soul.

42 “This is what the Lord says: As I have brought all this great calamity on this people, so I will give them all the prosperity I have promised them. 43 Once more fields will be bought in this land of which you say, ‘It is a desolate waste, without people or animals, for it has been given into the hands of the Babylonians.’ 44 Fields will be bought for silver, and deeds will be signed, sealed and witnessed in the territory of Benjamin, in the villages around Jerusalem, in the towns of Judah and in the towns of the hill country, of the western foothills and of the Negev, because I will restore their fortunes, declares the Lord.”

Listen to passage & devotional:

Heidelberg Catechism Q&A 122

Q. What does the first

request mean?

A. “Hallowed be your name” means,

Help us to really know you,

to bless, worship, and praise you

for all your works

and for all that shines forth

from them:

your almighty power, wisdom,

kindness, justice, mercy, and truth.

And it means,

Help us to direct all our living—

what we think, say, and do—

so that your name will never

be blasphemed because of us

but always honored and praised.

Summary

You can imagine the tension present in Jerusalem. It was only a matter of time before the Babylonians would completely decimate the city. The market for real estate would have been zilch, since it's not very likely that the new Babylonian administration would have recognized the property deeds and titles issued by the kingdom they'd just defeated.

Because of this, Jeremiah was able to buy the land for cheap (17 shekels of silver would be worth $160 in today's money), but even still, most of the guys who witnessed this transaction probably thought Jeremiah was nuts and was wasting $160.

But this passage demonstrates Jeremiah's tremendous faith. Although he didn't know how or when, he had faith that someday God would restore His people, and that this land he'd just purchased would have value again.

God answers Jeremiah's prayer with the assurance that He would do just that: He would "assuredly plant them in this land with all my heart and soul (v41)."

Dig Deeper

It's Jeremiah's prayer in v17-25 that brings us to this passage today. Several things stand out about it.

First, notice that Jeremiah's prayer comes after he finalizes the land deal. I'm sure Jeremiah had lots of questions and doubt about why it was that God had given him such a strange command, but knowing it was the word of the Lord, he immediately obeyed and carried out God's orders.

Second, most of the prayer is taken up with acknowledging who God is. Jeremiah didn't pray these words because God needed to be reminded who He was, Jeremiah prayed these words because he needed to be reminded who God is and that he could trust God, even when God's command seemed ridiculous. In a sense, Jeremiah's prayer was answered by the very words he was praying.

Third, Jeremiah doesn't ask for anything in this prayer! Yet because Jeremiah is praying from the heart, God recognizes Jeremiah's unspoken confusion and provides him (and us) with a tremendously comforting reminder that as our covenant God, He will always restore His disobedient people.

AAA Prayer (About)

ACKNOWLEDGE WHO GOD IS: Our faithful covenant Father and sovereign Lord, nothing is too hard for you;
ALIGN YOUR LIFE WITH GOD'S WILL: Pray for faith like Jeremiah's, that you would be able to fully obey God even when you don't fully understand why;
ASK GOD FOR WHAT YOU NEED: