More Than Just Words

Jeremiah 32:1-15

Many people call Jeremiah the “Weeping Prophet.” He certainly had a hard go of it. He was called by God to minister to Judah at one of the most difficult times in their history, the years immediately before and after the destruction of Jerusalem and the start of the Babylonian Exile.

The Exile was God’s judgment on his people for their persistent rebellion, idolatry, and imitation of the ways of the world around them instead of following God’s ways. Jeremiah had to tell the people this was the situation, and, obviously, many did not want to hear that. There’s a reason he’s a prisoner at this time.

By this point, Israel, the northern kingdom of ten tribes, had been gone for more than 100 years. They had been taken into exile by Assyria. And Judah is teetering on the brink of destruction. They had already been defeated by Babylon a generation earlier. The best and brightest young people of the land had already been taken into exile to serve the King of Babylon. And a puppet regime had been installed in Jerusalem.

But King Zedekiah revolted against their Babylonian overlord. At this time, which is 587 BC by the way, most of Judah has already been recaptured by the Babylonians. They are at the gates of Jerusalem. The city is under siege. Within a year, it will fall. But before it does, things will get much, much worse. People resorted to cannibalism in the last days of the siege.

When Jeremiah told people not to resist, to surrender and accept exile as a punishment from God, Zedekiah did not want him spreading that message. First he imprisoned Jeremiah in the courtyard of his royal guard. Later he threw him into a prison. Finally, he dropped him into one of the empty cisterns in the city. But in the end, Jeremiah’s words proved true. The city fell. The prophet was released. And King Zedekiah was forced to watch the execution of his sons before they gouged out his eyes.

It was not a good time. No wonder Jeremiah’s words were so full of laments. No wonder he was the weeping prophet.

But in the midst of all this doom and gloom, the word of God comes to him with a message of hope. God says, “Your cousin Hanamel will come to you and ask you to buy his field.”

Hanamel, like Jeremiah himself, was from the village of Anathoth. Anathoth was one of the Levitical cities, those set apart for the Levites to live in. It was in the territory of Benjamin. Benjamin was the only tribe that stayed loyal to the throne of David and

stuck with the tribe of Judah when the nation split after Solomon’s death. Benjamin was a very small tribe though, the second smallest. If you look up a map of the tribal allotments, you’ll see that Judah had a very large territory, from Jerusalem all the way to the coast of the Mediterranean, to the Dead Sea, and then all the way down to the southern end of the land of Canaan. Benjamin just got a little sliver of land between Jerusalem, Gibeon, and Jericho. Anathoth was only about two miles to the northeast of Jerusalem.

In this case, Jeremiah is the GOEL, a Hebrew word that meant “kinsman redeemer.” In the Old Covenant, ownership of land was tied to the covenant. It was not to be bought or sold permanently outside of one’s family. If for some reason, a person just had to sell their land, it was the responsibility of the GOEL to buy it and keep it in the family until the person was able to recover financially and buy it back.

Why is Hanamel selling? Well, maybe he is in debt. But given the situation, it also seems very likely that he wants to “take the money and run.” Many people were fleeing Jerusalem at this time. Most went down to Egypt in the hopes of escaping the horrors of the siege and to start a new life. It’s likely that’s what Hanamel wants to do.

The better question is, “Who would buy this land?” Anathoth is under Babylonian control. Who would buy land in the middle of a war? This would be like buying land in Donbas, the Russian controlled territory in the southeast of Ukraine. Or this would be like buying stock in a company that just declared bankruptcy. It’s a bad investment.

But Jeremiah buys it. Jeremiah bets on the future. Bad investment or not, he bets that God will restore the land to his people in the future. Jeremiah puts his money where his mouth is. He has been telling people that God will let them be taken into exile for a time. But eventually, they will be allowed to return to the land of the promise. He’s been saying that, but talk is cheap. Does he really believe it? Yes, he does. He pays in silver.

The price of the field is 17 shekels of silver, a little less than half a pound. That represents about one-and-a-half years of wages for a common laborer. That’s not chump change!

In accordance with the ways of that world, the deal is done in front of witnesses. In this case, in the courtyard. Public places, like the city gate, were the proper place to do business deals in that world. The silver is weighed out on a scale. Standardized coins didn’t really come along for another century or so, so you had to weigh out sums.

And then two copies of the deed were written up, one sealed and one unsealed. The sealed copy was a permanent record, and the unsealed copy was available for public scrutiny. We sort of do the same thing today by publishing legal matters like births, deaths, marriages, and real estate transactions in the newspaper.

Finally, the two copies of the deed were placed in a clay jar to preserve them. The famous Dead Sea Scrolls, written in the first century BC and first century AD by the Essene sect of Qumran were preserved by placing them in clay jars, which were then hidden in caves in the wilderness of Jeshimmon, between Jerusalem and the Dead Sea. Those scrolls survived almost 2000 years before their discovery.

Jeremiah has faith that someday life will return to normal in the Promised Land. And he doesn’t just say it, he acts on it.

People of faith are called to acts of faith, not just words of faith. It’s easy to say we have faith in God. Do we show it by our actions?

We may say that we trust God’s direction for our lives. But what if God calls us to a big change? Quit your job? Go back to school? Start a new career? Go into ministry? Move to a new place? Will we do it? Will we show our faith by our actions?

We may say we trust God’s justice. But do we still seek out opportunities for revenge on our enemies?

We may say we trust God’s word. But do we still try to make our own rules for right and wrong, truth and falsehood, good and evil?

We may say we trust God to provide. But do we still cling to our riches? Are we reluctant to give? Reluctant to share with those in need?

Talk is cheap, as we say. Real faith and obedience are costly. Will we be like Jeremiah? Will we “bet on the future” and “put our money where our mouth is?”