Behold, Hanameel, the son of Shallum thine uncle, shall come unto thee, saying, Buy for thyself my field which is in Anathoth; for thine is the right of redemption, to buy [it].
Jeremiah hears this word in prison, while Babylon's army camps around Jerusalem and the city's fall is certain. God tells him in advance that his cousin will arrive with a sales offer — and that the right to redeem the land is his.
The instruction comes at the darkest possible moment, and that is the point of it.
God gave these precious promises at a moment marked by the imprisonment of His prophet. Jerusalem was then under siege by the king of Babylon's army. Zedekiah tried to stop prophetic speech, God was shut out, and everything looked very black — despair and desolation faced them. At such a moment God illustrates His redemption and grace. He tells the prophet to buy the field of Hanameel, for "the right of redemption" belonged to Jeremiah. Just so it is with God — the right of redemption is His... He promises that houses and fields and vineyards will be owned again in this land (v. 15), and that in the right of redemption and according to "an everlasting covenant" (v. 40). "Man's extremity is God's opportunity!"
Buying land in a doomed country made no business sense.
The capture of the city was imminent. Yet the word of the LORD came to Jeremiah, telling him that his uncle's son would come and say, "Buy my field that is at Anathoth." What a time to buy a field! The city was certain to be taken, and the prophet himself was in prison. By his own word, there was no escape from the Babylonian army. There was no escape either from the hostile power of those who ruled in Jerusalem, for his testimony was dead against their pride and their false patriotism.
The order of events is what settled the matter for Jeremiah.
"So Hanameel, my uncle's son, came to me in the court of the guard, according to the word of the LORD... Then I knew that this was the word of the LORD" (verse 8). The LORD had first told the prophet to buy the field, and then Hanameel came to offer his field for sale.
The right of redemption was not invented for this moment. It came from Israel's law on family land.
God announced beforehand that his cousin would come and ask him to buy his field in Anathoth. The right of redemption was Jeremiah's. (See Leviticus 25:25.) Hanameel came, and Jeremiah, realizing that it was of the Lord, bought the field, paying seventeen shekels of silver for it.
The law also set a limit on how long the buyer kept the land:
The rule in Leviticus 25 teaches us that an Israelite could redeem or buy back the inheritance of a poor relative from whoever had bought it. He could then hold it until the year of Jubilee. At that point, as we further learn, it was to return to the original owner.
The same crisis pulled cousin and prophet in opposite directions.
It seems Hanameel thought it was better to sell his inheritance and have money instead. Captivity was near. It showed that he valued money rather than the inheritance God had given him. Is there not a similar spirit in the Christian world today, when men are lovers of self, lovers of money, and lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God? (2 Tim. 3:1-4).
Buying the field made Jeremiah's own preaching cost him something.
If Jeremiah believed his own prophecy he should act on it and "put his money where his mouth was," and he did.
The purchase also carried a message for everyone watching:
But it was the LORD who told him to do it. Buying the field was a testimony of the greatest value. Despite the desolation, despite the destruction of the city, Jeremiah believed the Jews would return to their possessions. He believed people would still farm that land and build houses there.
Writers link this purchase with Boaz in the book of Ruth. Both acted as a kinsman — a close relative — and both point to someone greater.
But there is more than this. These actions of Boaz and of Jeremiah look ahead, as pictures and patterns, to the ways of our Lord Jesus. He made Himself our Kinsman, and He has done a Kinsman's part in ways that outshine all comparisons... And like a better Jeremiah, He has waited a long season, through an age of deep rejection, for the inheritance He bought with His own blood on the day of Calvary.
- Right — by law the nearest relative could buy back family land. Jeremiah was not grabbing a bargain. He was using a claim that was already his.
- Word — God named the visitor and the offer before Hanameel arrived. That is how the prophet knew this was the Lord speaking.
- Price — seventeen shekels, paid in prison while the enemy held the land. It bought a field he could not yet enter.
- Contrast — Hanameel sold the inheritance for money; Jeremiah bought it for the promise. The same pressure shows what each man values most.
- Pattern — a relative with the right, paying the price, then waiting long to take possession. Writers see in it the outline of Christ's own redemption.
And Hanameel, mine uncle's son, came to me in the court of the guard according to the word of Jehovah, and said unto me, Buy my field, I pray thee, that is in Anathoth, which is in the land of Benjamin; for the right of inheritance is thine, and the redemption is thine buy [it] for thyself. Then I knew that this was the word of Jehovah.
Babylon's army surrounds Jerusalem, and Jeremiah sits under arrest in the prison yard. There his cousin offers to sell him farmland, and Jeremiah knows at once that God had named this visit in advance.
God spoke first. The visitor came second. That order let Jeremiah hear God behind a family business deal.
The Lord had first told the prophet to buy the field, and then Hanameel came to offer his field for sale.
King Zedekiah had locked Jeremiah up to stop him prophesying.
As an old writer remarks, if the prophet was bound, the word of God was not bound.
Hanamel came to Jeremiah because of who he was in the family.
God announced ahead of time that his cousin would come and ask him to buy his field in Anathoth. The right of redemption was Jeremiah's. (See Leviticus 25:25.) Hanameel came, and Jeremiah, seeing that it was from the Lord, bought the field.
Everything about the timing was wrong: the prophet in prison, the enemy at the gate, the land as good as lost.
He is in prison, as he was in King Zedekiah's reign, for the truth's sake. The Chaldean army camps before Jerusalem, threatening its doom and the captivity of its people. Then Hananeel, his uncle's son, comes to him. He tells Jeremiah, as his kinsman, to buy his field in Anathoth, the city of their fathers. This was a strange request to make at such a time to such a man. But Jeremiah does not hesitate. He knew it was the Lord's will. So he pays down his money and buys, or redeems, the field of Hananeel his uncle's son. Yet he knew that, left to circumstances, it might prove a worthless bargain. At the very least, a very distant day must come before he could take possession of what he had bought. This was a great act of faith, and another fine and noble example of a kinsman doing his part.
Jeremiah had announced the desolation of this land and the destruction of this city. Then he signed a deed for a field in it.
But it was the Lord who told him to do it. The purchase was a testimony of the greatest value. Despite the desolation, despite the destruction of the city, it showed that Jeremiah believed the Jews would return to their possessions. He believed the land would still be farmed and houses built there.
His confidence looked to two different points in the future:
He bought it because he had confidence in the restoration of Israel. He looked for the final restoration, and also for the partial one after the seventy years had passed.
One writer takes the verse's phrase about the right of redemption past Jeremiah's family.
Jerusalem was then under siege from the king of Babylon's army. Zedekiah tried to stop the prophet speaking. God was shut out, and everything looked very black — despair and desolation faced them. At such a moment God shows His redemption and grace. He tells the prophet to buy the field of Hanameel, for "the right of redemption" belonged to Jeremiah. Just so it is with God — the right of redemption is His. Here is a fine subject for gospel preachers.
- Word first. God named the visitor and the errand before Hanamel reached the prison yard. The match is why Jeremiah knew the Lord had spoken.
- Prison second. Zedekiah shut the prophet up to stop the message, yet the message kept arriving — the man was bound, the word was not.
- Right third. The law of redemption gave the nearest relative the claim to buy family land back. That claim rested on Jeremiah, so the offer came to him.
- Money fourth. He knew it was the Lord's will, so he paid for ground the invading army was about to take. Without God's promise, the money was thrown away.
- Land last. The deed was public testimony that the people would come back and farm this soil. Behind it stands the God who holds the right of redemption.
And I bought of Hanameel, mine uncle's son, the field which is in Anathoth, and weighed him the money, seventeen shekels of silver.
Babylon's army surrounds Jerusalem, and the prophet sits in the palace prison. There he counts out silver for a field in a land about to fall — the worst-looking buy in the Bible, and God told him to make it.
Everything about the timing argued against the sale. Jeremiah had no way out of the city and no friends among its rulers.
The capture of the city was near. But Jeremiah said, "The word of the LORD came to me: Behold, Hanamel the son of Shallum your uncle will come to you and say, 'Buy my field that is at Anathoth.'" What a time to buy a field! The city certain to be taken, the prophet himself in prison! By his own word, there was no escape from the Babylonian army. There was no escape either from the hostile power of those who ruled in Jerusalem, for his testimony was completely against their pride and their false patriotism.
The order of events is the point. God named the visitor and the errand before the visitor arrived.
"So Hanamel my uncle's son came to me in the court of the guard, according to the word of the LORD, and said to me, 'Buy my field that is at Anathoth in the land of Benjamin, for the right of possession and redemption is yours; buy it for yourself.' Then I knew that this was the word of the LORD" (verse 8). The LORD had first told the prophet to buy the field, and then Hanamel came to offer his field for sale.
Jeremiah was not a speculator picking up cheap land. He was the family member with the legal first claim, acting under an old provision of the law.
God announced ahead of time that his cousin would come and ask him to buy his field in Anathoth. The right of redemption was Jeremiah's. (See Leviticus 25:25.) Hanamel came, and Jeremiah realised that this was of the Lord. So he bought the field and paid seventeen shekels of silver for it.
He weighed out the money, but the sale did not stop there. It followed a legal custom that called for two copies of the deed, each with its own use.
All was done according to the custom of the law. The open document was for consultation. The sealed one was that on which everything depended; it was the proof that could not be contested. Something similar often happens in a family today. The family lodges a will in the public registry, and there it always stays. No one can touch it. No one may remove it. It is the legal evidence on which everything turns. Besides that, the family keep a copy made by their lawyer, so they can check it if any question comes up about how the property is divided.
Jeremiah had promised that land would be bought and sold in that country again. Paying for the field tested whether he believed his own preaching.
Land should be bought and sold again. Jeremiah had spoken about the new covenant (31:31–40). He had spoken of how God would act in grace with His people in a day that is still future, after a remnant of the people repents. Now God puts him to the test by making him buy the land. If Jeremiah believed his own prophecy he should act on it and "put his money where his mouth was", and he did.
That courage rested on nothing in himself or in his nation.
His own people made him suffer, and he himself admitted that God had stretched out His hand against Jerusalem. Even so, he acted in this calm and striking way on the simple faith of God's word. He had not the smallest confidence in his own power, and he made no show of confidence in Zedekiah or in the people of the Jews. He faced the crushing weight of the Chaldean power that God had raised up to trample down the proud and rebellious city.
The seller and the buyer looked at the same field and wanted opposite things.
Hanamel seems to have thought it better to sell his inheritance and have money instead, since captivity was near. It showed that he valued money more than the inheritance God had given him. Is the same spirit not at work among those who call themselves Christians today, when people love themselves, love money, and love pleasure more than they love God? (2 Tim. 3:1–4).
One writer carries the sealed and open documents forward to a greater evidence of purchase — the sealed scroll of Revelation 5.
But His title deeds, His evidence of purchase — yes, of redemption — could not be in better keeping. And so we read in Revelation 5:1, "I saw in the right hand of him who was seated on the throne a scroll written within and on the back, sealed with seven seals." This is surely the evidence, both sealed and open, which He alone is worthy to come and take out of the right hand of Him who sat on the throne.
- Word first. God announced the visit and the offer before Hanamel arrived. So Jeremiah knew the offer came from the Lord.
- Right next. As the near relative, Jeremiah held the right of redemption (Leviticus 25:25). He was buying back family land.
- Price then. He weighed out seventeen shekels with the city about to fall. He paid on the strength of God's word alone.
- Deed after. The sealed copy was the proof no one could contest. The open copy was there for consulting.
- Land at last. Hanamel sold his inheritance for money. Jeremiah bought it, because God had said land would be bought and sold in that country again.