Jeremiah’s Purchase
Think of all the important documents that have touched your life. Insurance policies offer assurance to file claims in time of distress. You may keep some honorary degrees or certificate of credentials in a safe place to be used to acquire employment. Power of Attorney and letters of authorization empower you to act on behalf of another in the eyes of the law. Your passport is necessary to cross certain international borders.
Your auto title of ownership is essential in the event of a sale. Your mortgage documents on your home are a very important set of papers, that is until you have paid back the loan. However, then the Deed or Title to the home becomes a very important document to be kept in a safe place, should you ever want to sell your house. A Land Deed identifies you as the owner and entitles you to pass the property to another generation or to whomever you will.
So it is that official papers play an important part in our lives. Consider also their role in state, national and international affairs. How much more important were those documents touching Israel when guided by the finger of God!
Just such a document was produced only months before the nation of Israel was overrun at the hand of Nebuchadnezzar. It is found in Jer. 32:6-15. This was a rather private agreement. In the earlier verses Jeremiah was commanded to prophesy the destruction of Jerusalem. The king and remnant of Judah would be delivered into the hand of the Chaldeans by Nebuchadnezzar’s army.
At the same time, God here commands Jeremiah to purchase a field in Anathoth, the city where he was born and his cousin now lived. The name of the village today is Anata. It is just beyond the suburbs of Jerusalem, about one mile northeast of the city, just beyond Mt. Scopus. It is within easy walking distance of Jerusalem. Jeremiah was told to make credentials of the purchase, place them in an earthen jar, and bury it in the earth, to be recovered after many days, or years (vs. 14). Here is a command so very opposite to the import of the prophecy that Jehovah sent a direct word to Jeremiah to prepare him for it. Whoever heard of buying a field that was soon to pass into the hands of enemies!
Jeremiah purchased the field from his cousin, Hanameel. Under the circumstances of economic collapse, Hanameel probably needed money for bread and asked him to buy the field, yet leaving ownership in the family line. The price of 17 shekels of silver was next to nothing but provided Hanameel with the necessities to span the next few months. But why then was Jeremiah instructed to make such a legal formality about recording the purchase, and to secure a copy “for many days? ” The transaction was made so public that as many as possible were made aware of it.
It was a custom in regard to land deeds to make two copies of major land transactions. One was for public files, and a duplicate signed and hidden. In a future time, if there should be contention over land rights or if the public files had been doctored, modified or lost, the family heirs could produce the hidden original. Such clay jars with documents have been found at Qumran, Engedi and elsewhere throughout the Holy Land.
But here is even a stranger fact for such a small purchase. Jeremiah knew full well that the end of the nation was at hand. He was exiled to Egypt and died there, while the rest were removed to Babylon. In chapter 43 Jeremiah begins to deliver his prophecies from Egypt and there is no record for Jeremiah’s descendants upon the return under Ezra and Nehemiah. But God gave this instruction specifically to a prophet who chose never to marry. He had no children, no one else to claim the inheritance. There is no further reference to this land deed that God gave Jeremiah to so specially record and hide. No one ever found the jar, produced the documents or laid claim to the field.
The chapter itself seems to give the clue to its purpose in 32:15. “Houses and fields and vineyards shall be possessed in this land.” In Jer. 32:24-25 God says to buy and record the purchase even though the city should be handed over to the Babylonians, with the assurance in Jer. 32:27 that nothing is too hard for the Lord.
The latter part of the chapter looks to a future restoration, beyond that of the return by the decree of Cyrus. Jeremiah 32:37 speaks of gathering them from “all countries” to dwell safely. In Jer. 32:39 they are given a new heart. In the final two verses, God says fields will once more be purchased and they will record the documents. This clearly points to the regathering we have been witnessing in this last generation. Specifically Jer. 32:44 says from the NIV-
“Fields will be bought for silver, and deeds will be signed 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 in the Negev, because I will restore their fortunes, declares the Lord .”
Since Jeremiah had no natural progeny, we hold that as God instructed him personally to record the deed, that Jeremiah will return as a resurrected Ancient Worthy to claim it! He will be recognized as the Jeremiah of old, for only he knows where the deed is hidden. Since it will match the biblical record and all other deeds and accords.
This is in the spirit of Acts 7:4-5 where Stephen says Abraham was promised in the land, but was not given so much as to set his foot on. Hidden within this statement is the idea that the promise is assured, waiting for Abraham’s resurrection. So it is also with Jeremiah.
Now notice something peculiar about the city where this field is located. You will notice on a map of Israel that there is what is called the “green line” just northeast of Jerusalem that marks what faithful citizens of Israel call Judea and Samaria and what politicians call the “West Bank.” Anathoth, now called Anata, lies just east of this line, in the territory that Yitzhak Rabin negotiated into the hands of Palestinian autonomy. The Palestinians, who now hold such a close margin to Jerusalem, look with ambition upon the Holy City itself as their next possession.
In this manner Isaiah prophesied in Isaiah 8:9-10. “Associate yourselves, O ye people, and ye shall be broken in pieces … Take counsel together, and it shall come to nought; speak the word, and it shall not stand: for God is with us.”
Among the last words spoken by Jeremiah are the words found in Jeremiah 50:19: “I will bring Israel again to his habitation, and he shall feed on Carmel and Bashan, and his soul shall be satisfied upon mount Ephraim and Gilead.”
It will not surprise us if Jeremiah’s land deed will yet be used to annul the claims of foreigners and strangers. Who knows if the early demise of Rabin will delay the transfer of this land until the rightful owner appears to lay claim to this God-given inheritance!
– Jerry Leslie