Investing in God's Future

Jeremiah 32 is set in the tenth year of Zedekiah king of Judah, which was the eighteenth year of Nebuchadnezzar (32:1). Babylon's siege ramps surrounded the city, and Jeremiah was confined in the court of the guard by Zedekiah. In that hopeless moment God gave him a strange instruction. Under the law of redemption, Jeremiah was the relative entitled to buy his cousin Hanamel's field in Anathoth. Hanamel came just as God had promised, and Jeremiah knew that this was Yahweh's word.

Jeremiah carried out the purchase with legal care. He weighed seventeen shekels of silver, signed and sealed the deed, and had it witnessed. He told Baruch to put both the sealed and open copies in an earthen vessel so that they may last many days. The reason was a promise. Houses and fields and vineyards will yet again be bought in this land. Buying land in occupied territory was a public investment in God's future.

Jeremiah's prayer began with praise for the Creator. There is nothing too hard for you. He recited God's mighty acts in Egypt and admitted Israel's disobedience. Then he honestly voiced his puzzlement over buying a field while the city was falling. God echoed Jeremiah's own words back to him. Behold, I am Yahweh, the God of all flesh. Is there anything too hard for me? Judgment would come, but so would restoration. God promised one heart and one way, an everlasting covenant, and that he would rejoice over them to do them good.