In the tenth year of Zedekiah, Babylon's army was besieging Jerusalem. Jeremiah was locked in the court of the guard because the king did not like his warnings. Then God told him that his cousin Hanamel would ask him to buy a family field in Anathoth, a town already under enemy control.

Hanamel came, and Jeremiah knew this was God's word. He bought the field for seventeen shekels of silver, signed the deed, and had witnesses sign it. He gave the deeds to Baruch, who placed them in an earthen jar so they would last. Ah Lord Yahweh! Behold, you have made the heavens and the earth by your great power and by your outstretched arm. There is nothing too hard for you.

Yet Jeremiah also wondered why God had asked him to buy land that was about to be lost. God answered, Behold, I am Yahweh, the God of all flesh. Is there anything too hard for me? The city would fall because of the people's sin. But God would gather them again, give them one heart and one way, and make an everlasting covenant with them.

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.