Investing in the Future of the Nation—Lectionary Reflection for Pentecost 16C (Jeremiah 32)

Jeremiah 32:1-3a, 6-15 New Revised Standard VersionUpdated Edition

32 The word that came to Jeremiah from the Lord in the tenth year of King Zedekiah of Judah, which was the eighteenth year of Nebuchadrezzar. ² At that time the army of the king of Babylon was besieging Jerusalem, and the prophet Jeremiah was confined in the court of the guard that was in the palace of the king of Judah, ³ where King Zedekiah of Judah had confined him.

⁶ Jeremiah said, “The word of the Lord came to me: ⁷ Hanamel son of your uncle Shallum is going to come to you and say, ‘Buy my field that is at Anathoth, for the right of redemption by purchase is yours.’ ” ⁸ Then my cousin Hanamel came to me in the court of the guard, in accordance with 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.

⁹ And I bought the field at Anathoth from my cousin Hanamel and weighed out the silver to him, seventeen shekels of silver. ¹⁰ I signed the deed, sealed it, got witnesses, and weighed the silver on scales. ¹¹ Then I took the sealed deed of purchase containing the terms and conditions and the open copy, ¹² and I gave the deed of purchase to Baruch son of Neriah son of Mahseiah, in the presence of my cousin Hanamel, in the presence of the witnesses who signed the deed of purchase, and in the presence of all the Judeans who were sitting in the court of the guard. ¹³ In their presence I charged Baruch, saying, ¹⁴ “Thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: Take these deeds, both this sealed deed of purchase and this open deed, and put them in an earthenware jar, in order that they may last for a long time. ¹⁵ For thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: Houses and fields and vineyards shall again be bought in this land.”

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                When is it a good time to buy land? Some risk-taking investors buy when the future looks uncertain, even bleak. If you bet correctly, you can make a mint. If things don’t work out well, you might lose big. There are lots of stories about the next great thing. It might be a new city that is going to be built out in the desert of California. Word has it that the Los Angeles Airport Authority is going to build a new international airport there. So, get in while you can. Of course, this next big city and its international airport never happened. Then again, my father could have purchased desert land outside of Phoenix back in the late 1940s for a dollar an acre. It didn’t invest, and that land is now part of the city. You never know how an investment is going to work out. Now, as an investor myself, considering my stage in life, I need to be cautious, especially in moments like the present. Sure, the stock market continues to surge, but the future is uncertain. I can’t afford to lose big!

                The prophet Jeremiah is known as the weeping prophet. He wept for his nation because he’d received the message that before long, the nation would be conquered by a foreign power. Its king would be led away in chains along with the leading members of the nation. As for the city of Jerusalem, it would be destroyed along with the beloved Temple. So, why invest in land when the future looks so bleak? That’s a good question, but here in Jeremiah 32, we learn that Jeremiah does just that. He buys some land because he believes that eventually things will get better.

                Putting this reading from Jeremiah in context. We’re told that Jeremiah received a word from the Lord during the tenth year of the reign of Zedekiah of Judah. It’s also the eighteenth year in the reign of the Babylonian king Nebuchadnezzar. At this point, Jerusalem still stands, but not for long. That’s because the Babylonians are besieging Jerusalem. It won’t be long until the city falls. Oh, and Zedekiah, who was supposed to be a Babylonian puppet king, had rebelled, which led to the destruction of the city in 586 BCE (2 Kings 24:20). While Zedekiah tried to hold off the Babylonians, he imprisoned Jeremiah, perhaps because he annoyed the king with his continual bad news (Jer. 32:1-3).

                The lectionary omits verses 3b through verse 5, which describes the fate of Zedekiah, king of Judah. We pick up the story again in verse 6, when Jeremiah again receives a word from God. This word directs Jeremiah to buy/redeem land from his cousin, Hanamel ben Shallum, in Anathoth, a Levitical city in Benjamin, not far from Jerusalem. It was also Jeremiah’s hometown. As to why Hanamel would come to Jeremiah is not fully laid out. What Hanamel does is let Jeremiah know that he has the right to redeem the land. The wording also suggests that this might be a familial transaction, taking possession of land that may have belonged to his father. Of course, when this conversation and transaction took place, Jeremiah was imprisoned by the king, and the city was surrounded by the Babylonian army. Nevertheless, it appears that Yahweh had directed Jeremiah to take possession of the land.

                In verse 9, Jeremiah records that he bought the field at Anathoth from his cousin, paying him seventeen shekels of silver. What that amount translates to is uncertain. Besides, we don’t know how Jeremiah got the money. However he came by the money, he took possession of the land. He signed the deed, which was witnessed by those with him, and the money was weighed. Then Jeremiah gave the deed to his aide, Baruch, in the presence of Hanamel, his cousin, along with the other witnesses to the signing of the deed that took place in the court of the guard (prison). He then, at the insistence of Yahweh, directed Baruch to place the document in an earthen jar so it would last a long time.

                The final verse in this story about a land purchase reveals why Yahweh might be interested in a familial land exchange. Jeremiah records that Yahweh of Hosts, the God of Israel, declares that “Houses and fields and vineyards shall again be bought in this land.” In other words, this land transaction must have symbolic value. Why else would Jeremiah, who is not as young as he was when Yahweh called him to prophetic duty back during the reign of Josiah, is now in prison, and the city is surrounded by an enemy army that will soon take possession of it, need a piece of land in his hometown? By purchasing the land and then placing the deed in an earthen jar so it might last a long time, Jeremiah is letting the people know that while things do look bad, there is hope that a new day will come. Someday, Judah will be restored by Yahweh. After all, the land belonged to Yahweh. It is worth noting that this word from Yahweh follows on the earlier word found in Jeremiah 31 about a new covenant. Surely Yahweh will fulfill this promise of establishing a new covenant by restoring the land.

                Jeremiah is known for his laments over his nation. He didn’t sugarcoat things, which is why he ended up in Zedekiah’s prison. However, he didn’t leave the people without hope, even if it might be a while before they saw their hopes bear fruit. After all, the jar needed to last a long time. Walter Brueggemann points to the economic dimensions of this land purchase, noting the symbolic value of the recording of the deed and placing it in this earthen jar.

The invasion by the Babylonians will indeed cause the economy to come to a halt. A time will come when there will be no market for fields, houses, or vineyards, because people lack money or nerve. The invasion causes the economy to come to a standstill. But the land will be “born again.” “Bought again” means that the economy will resume and regain its health. The community will begin to function again, and when the economy resumes Jeremiah will have staked out a crucial point of access for himself. The entire process of vv. 6–15 holds together the theological reality of God’s promise and the restoration of an economic infrastructure. [Walter. A Commentary on Jeremiah: Exile and Homecoming (Kindle p. 403), Eerdmans].

 There is a future for the people of God. They just have to stay faithful for the long haul.

                As we ponder this story that speaks of hope in difficult times, perhaps it might speak a word of hope for us as well. These are difficult times, not that there is anything unusual about such things. But we have wars in Ukraine and Gaza, along with civil wars in places like Sudan. Millions of people around the world are being displaced, even as some of the wealthier nations, like the United States, seek to cut off aid to those in need (and the very people who call the United States a Christian nation are at the forefront of such efforts). As bad as things look at the moment, we can stay faithful to our calling as people of God. So, let us put down our roots and stay focused on the task at hand, bearing witness to the path of justice and mercy, knowing that the way forward won’t be easy. But it’s not a future without a sense of hope. So, let us invest in that future.