Jeremiah · chapter 32 of 52
Updated on
Jeremiah 32 tells how Jeremiah, imprisoned in the court of the guard while the Babylonians besiege Jerusalem, buys his cousin Hanamel's field at Anathoth at God's command. The act, with deeds sealed and kept in a jar, is a sign that land will one day be bought again in Judah. Jeremiah then prays, and God answers with immediate judgment and the promise of an everlasting covenant.
It is the tenth year of King Zedekiah, when Nebuchadnezzar's army surrounds Jerusalem and Jeremiah is shut up for announcing the city's fall. In this grim setting, within the Book of Consolation, God asks his prophet for a financial act that seems absurd and becomes one of the clearest signs of hope in the book.
The Babylonian army besieges Jerusalem, and Jeremiah is confined in the court of the guard, in the palace of the king of Judah, because Zedekiah was angry at his message that the city would fall. The Lord warns him that his cousin Hanamel will come to offer him the field at Anathoth, and it happens. Jeremiah recognizes it as the word of the Lord and buys the field for seventeen shekels of silver, with witnesses and a signed, sealed deed.
He then gives the deeds to Baruch son of Neriah in front of the witnesses and tells him to put them in a clay jar so they will last many days. The Lord explains the meaning of the act: houses, fields and vineyards will again be bought in this land. But Jeremiah struggles to understand, and prays to the Lord: he recalls God's power as Creator, his love and his judgment, and admits that the city will be given to the Babylonians and that God himself told him to buy a field.
The Lord answers that nothing is too hard for him. He will give the city to Nebuchadnezzar because of the people's sins, for they provoked his anger with idolatry. But afterward he will gather them from everywhere, let them live in safety and make an everlasting covenant with them: he will give them one heart and one way so they will fear him. Finally, fields will be bought again in Judah and in Benjamin, and in due time the Lord will restore the people's fortunes.
References follow ESV book names and verse numbers. Read each verse in your Bible before the explanation.
Jeremiah buys his cousin's field at Anathoth for seventeen shekels of silver. With Jerusalem surrounded, buying land seems madness, but it is an act of faith: he invests in the future God promised.
In his prayer Jeremiah acknowledges that the Lord made the heavens and the earth with great power, and that nothing is too hard for him. Before raising his doubt, he begins by remembering who God is.
The Lord answers with a question: he is the God of all flesh, is anything too hard for him? He almost repeats Jeremiah's own words, showing that his plan of judgment and restoration lies within his power.
God promises an everlasting covenant in which he will never stop doing them good and will put the fear of himself in their hearts so they do not turn from him. Their future obedience depends on his inner work, as in the new covenant promise of chapter 31.
6 questions with answers and references, ready for Sunday school, small group or a Bible quiz night.
Answer: Imprisoned in the court of the guard, in the palace of the king of Judah. — Jeremiah 32:2
Answer: His cousin Hanamel, son of his uncle Shallum, with a field at Anathoth. — Jeremiah 32:7-8
Answer: Seventeen shekels of silver. — Jeremiah 32:9
Answer: He gave them to Baruch, who put them in a clay jar so they would last a long time. — Jeremiah 32:12-14
Answer: That houses, fields and vineyards will again be bought in this land. — Jeremiah 32:15
Answer: Whether anything is too hard for him, the God of all flesh. — Jeremiah 32:27
Jeremiah 32 teaches us to act in faith even when everything seems lost. Buying a field under siege was not a practical decision, but it was a way of saying: I believe God will do what he said. In a small group you can ask what small act of obedience or hope God is asking of you today, even if circumstances do not support it.
It also shows how to pray when we do not understand. Jeremiah does not hide his bewilderment: he remembers who God is, and then raises his confusion. The Lord does not rebuke him for it but answers. That is a pattern for our own prayers, honest and anchored in God's character.
The purchase of the field at Anathoth is a sign that God's judgment is not his last word. In chapter 33, still from the court of the guard, Jeremiah receives a new word of hope that includes the promise of a righteous Branch from David's line.
Because God commanded it as a prophetic sign: the judgment would be real, but the land would again belong to his people. The deed kept in the jar was a testimony that restoration would come, even if Jeremiah did not live to see it.
It is a rhetorical question affirming that nothing exceeds God's power. In context it answers both Jeremiah's doubt about the purchase and the people's despair: the God who allows judgment can also restore.