Jeremiah 32

Selling a Field

Envisioning the Future

To be human means to hold the future in your heart. This is an aspect of the Imago Dei, of being made in God’s image. We are not God, but we do bear His image. God is not constrained by time or space and lives simultaneously in the past, present and future. We live in the present, but we hold the past AND the future in our heart.

One of the ways that Satan destroys people is to take away the future that lies in their heart. If an individual loses all hope for a future, it is akin to not having oxygen in their lungs or blood in their veins...no one can live long without hope. That is why it is listed, along with Faith and Love, as one of the most vital human traits. Hope is the word that signals a better future and we desperately need to believe in a better future for we know that this world is a broken place, full of sin and death.

Of course, Hope, just like Faith and Love, is needed, but there are thousands of false hopes, just like there are false faiths and false loves, that are just as damaging as having no hope, or no faith, or no love. One of the reigning false hopes in our culture today is the false hope offered by the so called technocrats- the Elon Musks and Mark Zuckerbergs and Sam Altmans of the world.

Recent advances in technology, particularly AI, robotics and space travel, have caused the technocrats to wax poetic about the potential of these technologies to save the human race.- to offer hope.

Musk is particularly interesting as he uses explicitly religious language to describe his hope for the future.

Salvation through Multi-planetary Life: Musk describes Mars not just as a backup drive, but as a way to "preserve the light of consciousness" from extinction. This is a form of technological salvation where space travel is the "ark."

The Devil of AGI: He frequently uses religious metaphors to describe Artificial Intelligence, famously saying that with AI, we are "summoning the demon." *

Neuralink as Transcendence: He frames his brain-chip company as a way to achieve "symbiosis" with AI, effectively arguing that humans must evolve into a "post-human" state to avoid being "left behind" or "condemned."

Sam Altman is a bit more grounded, if I can use that term. He fears that humans will destroy themselves in war and as such he has built for himself underground bunkers that will protect him in case of war, and he feels that only AGI will be able to keep humans from destroying themselves, so he sees hope as a race against time- will we develop AGI quickly enough or will we destroy the earth through war? However, Altman also believes that it is inevitable that at some point humans will merge with AI, or become an evolutionary dead end.

These are the prophets of our day. In terms of money and power and influence they are at the top of the pecking order and they have the largest loudspeakers. And it is hard to argue with their predictions because the technology we are creating is shocking in its potentialities and the speed at which it is developing. It would be naive to say that their predictions are just fantasies that will never come true. When I was a child we didn’t have computers- not in my home, not in my classrooms. They started to pop up when I was in high school and in college I bought my first computer.

And now I have Gemini Live Pro in my hand anytime I want it. I can ask it anything because it knows most everything. Occasionally it gets it wrong, but less and less so all the time. What DOES the future hold? I don’t know. I know that I don’t want to merge with AI. I WOULD actually enjoy going to Mars, but I know that being on Mars won’t save the human race from their sins- we will simply bring our sins to Mars. The technocrats offer hope and the package it is offered in is shiny, it is true, but it seems to me to be a soulless hope, a hope that does not protect humanity but rather consumes it.

I will tell you church, that I feel in my bones that technology in general, of every stripe, is slowly swallowing us up. It commands our attention and shapes our culture and our personalities and our motives and beliefs and it is clearly only going to grow more powerful and more pervasive. Truthfully I feel helpless before it. I genuinely feel trapped by it- even though I enjoy so many of its benefits.

But today we are all going to remember something together that will break the trap and loose the bonds. It is a strange little story and perhaps it feels pointless, irrelevant in days such as these. But it also seemed pointless when it happened 2500 years ago, but it ended up being a powerful witness and testimony. In this little story is a hope that Musk and Zuckerberg and Altman and all computers in the world cannot even begin to compete with. And it is not built on anything artificial. It is the future, it is hope.

What is this story? It sounds like a children’s book title: Jeremiah Bought A Field.

And perhaps it is appropriate to talk about it like a childrens book.

Once Upon A Time there was a man named Jeremiah. Jeremiah was a man called by God to give a difficult message to a lost people. You see, these were a blessed people, a people who had been called by God to be uniquely His, to be righteous and holy and compassionate and He gave them a land that was fruitful where they could live in right relationship with Him.

But the people struggled to remain faithful to God and they did terrible things and worshiped evil gods from the surrounding nations. The Lord gave them many warnings, and was patient for many years. But they only increased the wickedness of their sins and so the Lord allowed a foreign army under the banner of a foreign and false god, to destroy their city and their temple.

Jeremiah was in the city when the foreign army arrived and set siege to it. He had warned them for many years that this would be God’s righteous judgment upon them if they did not repent.

The King was quite angry with Jeremiah because he felt like Jeremiah only said negative and depressing things and he didn’t tell the King that everything would be OK, so he had Jeremiah locked up. And he was in prison while the foreign soldiers began to build a ramp that would be able to get them into the city to win the battle.

So there was Jeremiah, locked in prison by an angry King, abused by his own people, and a rampaging army just outside the city walls that was set upon destroying his people, his nation- and he knew that the foreign army was going to win this battle.

So God told Jeremiah that now was a good time to invest in some prime real estate.

Something doesn’t fit in this story, does it? Jeremiah 32:6 must be the most unexpected, out of place, bizarre verse in the entire Bible.

Consider the drama, the fear and suspense all contained in that first paragraph of Chapter 32.

Jeremiah 32:1–5 ESV

The word that came to Jeremiah from the Lord in the tenth year of Zedekiah king of Judah, which was the eighteenth year of Nebuchadnezzar. At that time the army of the king of Babylon was besieging Jerusalem, and Jeremiah the prophet was shut up in the court of the guard that was in the palace of the king of Judah. For Zedekiah king of Judah had imprisoned him, saying, “Why do you prophesy and say, ‘Thus says the Lord: Behold, I am giving this city into the hand of the king of Babylon, and he shall capture it; Zedekiah king of Judah shall not escape out of the hand of the Chaldeans, but shall surely be given into the hand of the king of Babylon, and shall speak with him face to face and see him eye to eye. And he shall take Zedekiah to Babylon, and there he shall remain until I visit him, declares the Lord. Though you fight against the Chaldeans, you shall not succeed’?”

Zedekiah has imprisoned Jeremiah for his stubbornly negative prophecies. And the army is at the gate. It is the height of drama. This is the point in the TV show when the protagonist breaks free, when the good things start to happen. This is the lowest point, as hope is concerned. What is God going to do?

Hey, Jeremiah, your cousin wants you to buy some of his land.

Jeremiah 32:7 “Behold, Hanamel the son of Shallum your uncle will come to you and say, ‘Buy my field that is at Anathoth, for the right of redemption by purchase is yours.’”

It’s such an outlandish non-sequitur that Jeremiah doesn’t even believe it at first. He can’t believe that this is what the Lord is telling him! We know this because it’s only when Hanamel comes and offers him the land that he believes it.

Jeremiah 32:8 “Then Hanamel my cousin 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.”

The story continues:

Jeremiah 32:9–15 ESV

“And I bought the field at Anathoth from Hanamel my cousin, and weighed out the money to him, seventeen shekels of silver. I signed the deed, sealed it, got witnesses, and weighed the money on scales. Then I took the sealed deed of purchase, containing the terms and conditions and the open copy. And I gave the deed of purchase to Baruch the son of Neriah son of Mahseiah, in the presence of Hanamel my cousin, 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. I charged Baruch in their presence, saying, ‘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 vessel, that they may last for a long time. For thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: Houses and fields and vineyards shall again be bought in this land.’

Explanation of what’s going on here-

This is not a Hanamel doing Jeremiah a favor. The city is under siege, the land is overrun, and likely food and supplies are running low in Jerusalem. Hanamel probably doesn’t care about the right of redemption, he just can’t find anyone to buy his land (he is cousin on his father’s side, that tried to kill jeremiah)

Jeremiah 12:6 “For even your brothers and the house of your father, even they have dealt treacherously with you; they are in full cry after you; do not believe them, though they speak friendly words to you.””

Please note- Jeremiah is in prison and already very unpopular. And Hanamel doesn’t ask Jeremiah to buy the land- he tells him- it sounds almost like a threat. Nor does Hanamel ask after Jeremiah’s welfare or condition.

So Hanamel thinks that he is taking advantage of Jeremiah and abusing him...but in reality this is yet another way that the Lord is going to foreshadow his mercy and kindness towards Israel using his prophet Jeremiah.

Jeremiah 32:15 “For thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: Houses and fields and vineyards shall again be bought in this land.’”

This is what the Lord is saying through this event- it is explicit, we don’t have to guess. It appears as though everything is over. It is all destroyed, but in fact it is a new beginning, not the end. Nearly every book of the Bible has this theme in one way or the other- it appears that all is over and done, but actually, it is those moments where the Lord is working most powerfully, with the ultimate over and done moment being the death of Jesus on the Cross when He utters those words from Psalm 22: it is finished.

But it is hard to believe, isn’t it? It is hard to believe in resurrection and the new heavens and the new earth when corruption envelopes us? When our bodies wear out and our souls feel weary or when we are suffering and God allows it to happen...our faith is tested in those moments. Jeremiah’s was. And so he goes to prayer.

Jeremiah 32:16–25 ESV

“After I had given the deed of purchase to Baruch the son of Neriah, I prayed to the Lord, saying: ‘Ah, Lord God! It is you who have made the heavens and the earth by your great power and by your outstretched arm! Nothing is too hard for you. You show steadfast love to thousands, but you repay the guilt of fathers to their children after them, O great and mighty God, whose name is the Lord of hosts, great in counsel and mighty in deed, whose eyes are open to all the ways of the children of man, rewarding each one according to his ways and according to the fruit of his deeds. You have shown signs and wonders in the land of Egypt, and to this day in Israel and among all mankind, and have made a name for yourself, as at this day. You brought your people Israel out of the land of Egypt with signs and wonders, with a strong hand and outstretched arm, and with great terror. And you gave them this land, which you swore to their fathers to give them, a land flowing with milk and honey. And they entered and took possession of it. But they did not obey your voice or walk in your law. They did nothing of all you commanded them to do. Therefore you have made all this disaster come upon them. Behold, the siege mounds have come up to the city to take it, and because of sword and famine and pestilence the city is given into the hands of the Chaldeans who are fighting against it. What you spoke has come to pass, and behold, you see it. Yet you, O Lord God, have said to me, “Buy the field for money and get witnesses”—though the city is given into the hands of the Chaldeans.’ ”

Jeremiah is praying from his prison. He just bought, at great price, and he can’t have been very rich, a field that a foreign army is currently encamped upon. And he knows the city will be destroyed soon, and he has every reason to believe that he will be killed too, if not by the King then by the Babylonians.

So he lays out his confusion, but he does so respectfully. He acknowledges that the Lord has saved Israel in the past and he acknowledges how sinful his people have been. And he says, but you have had me buy this land. He told the people, publicly, that the Lord had said that land would be bought and sold again in Judah. But did he believe it? He was full of doubts. After all, God had promised, through Jeremiah, through his whole life, that He, the Lord, was going to lay waste to Israel. That Jeremiah shouldn’t even pray for Israel because the judgment was certain. That God would “consume” them with sword and famine and pestilence.

But now the Lord is saying land will be purchased again? Jeremiah’s confusion is, it seems to me, reasonable.

What does God say in response to Jeremiah’s prayer and confusion?

Jeremiah 32:26–35 ESV

The word of the Lord came to Jeremiah: “Behold, I am the Lord, the God of all flesh. Is anything too hard for me? Therefore, thus says the Lord: Behold, I am giving this city into the hands of the Chaldeans and into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, and he shall capture it. The Chaldeans who are fighting against this city shall come and set this city on fire and burn it, with the houses on whose roofs offerings have been made to Baal and drink offerings have been poured out to other gods, to provoke me to anger. For the children of Israel and the children of Judah have done nothing but evil in my sight from their youth. The children of Israel have done nothing but provoke me to anger by the work of their hands, declares the Lord. This city has aroused my anger and wrath, from the day it was built to this day, so that I will remove it from my sight because of all the evil of the children of Israel and the children of Judah that they did to provoke me to anger—their kings and their officials, their priests and their prophets, the men of Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem. They have turned to me their back and not their face. And though I have taught them persistently, they have not listened to receive instruction. They set up their abominations in the house that is called by my name, to defile it. They built the high places of Baal in the Valley of the Son of Hinnom, to offer up their sons and daughters to Molech, though I did not command them, nor did it enter into my mind, that they should do this abomination, to cause Judah to sin.

The first thing the Lord says is that he reiterates how serious Israel’s sin is. In other words, the optimistic purchasing of land does not symbolize that the Lord has rethought how terrible their sin is, or somehow decided to overlook it. The judgment remains. And, always, in Jeremiah, the low point that God points to is the burning of children alive to Molech.

But what the Lord says next takes us back to the previous chapter and God’s mysterious words on a ‘New’ Covenant.

Jeremiah 32:36–44 ESV

“Now therefore thus says the Lord, the God of Israel, concerning this city of which you say, ‘It is given into the hand of the king of Babylon by sword, by famine, and by pestilence’: Behold, I will gather them from all the countries to which I drove them in my anger and my wrath and in great indignation. I will bring them back to this place, and I will make them dwell in safety. And they shall be my people, and I will be their God. I will give them one heart and one way, that they may fear me forever, for their own good and the good of their children after them. I will make with them an everlasting covenant, that I will not turn away from doing good to them. And I will put the fear of me in their hearts, that they may not turn from me. I will rejoice in doing them good, and I will plant them in this land in faithfulness, with all my heart and all my soul. “For thus says the Lord: Just as I have brought all this great disaster upon this people, so I will bring upon them all the good that I promise them. Fields shall be bought in this land of which you are saying, ‘It is a desolation, without man or beast; it is given into the hand of the Chaldeans.’ Fields shall be bought for money, and deeds shall be signed and sealed and witnessed, in the land of Benjamin, in the places about Jerusalem, and in the cities of Judah, in the cities of the hill country, in the cities of the Shephelah, and in the cities of the Negeb; for I will restore their fortunes, declares the Lord.”

The Lord provided Jeremiah with the reassurance he is looking for, the hope that he needs. There is a future for Israel and for his people and there is a future for Jeremiah, as hopeless as things look, God is the author of all things and He is writing a book of glory, not despair. And this glory will not depend on wayward nations or human willpower. God will give his people a new heart, and He will not turn away from doing good to them, ever.

And we who are in Christ are the recipients of this promise. And just like Jeremiah we have decisions to make about investing. We are all investors, whether you have money in the stock market or not, we are all investing of ourselves into this world. And hope is what the stock market runs on, yes? If people have hope that a stock will do well in the future then they will buy it and invest their money into it. If they have no hope in a company then they will not buy that stock. Investment is all about the future and hope.

The Lord was telling his people, through this interaction with his cousin, that to invest in Israel and its land was still a good thing, because there time in the land was not done, but only beginning. In fact, in the next chapter God indicates that there is an eternal investment in the land through David, because a son of David would reign in Israel forever.

But how does the Lord approach us today with investments? There is a whole parable about this, the parable of the talents. I don’t have time to summarize it here, but I will simply make this point- our temptation is always to not invest in God’s people, not invest in the church, not invest in the poor, not invest in radical, sacrificial love, because we aren’t sure those are safe, eternal investments. They seem risky, and they seem unstable, and they seem like we aren’t going to get anything back on them. And we are tempted to bury our talents in the ground because at least we know then that no one else will take them from us and they will remain ours.

We don’t know how much money Jeremiah had, but it couldn’t have been much. And whatever he had, it was ALL he had. He had no home, no family, and was literally in prison. But he gave what he had to his co

hose who don’t believe, much of what Christians do looks foolish. The Cross looks foolish.

1 Peter 2:6-8

For in Scripture it says:

“See, I lay a stone in Zion, a chosen and precious cornerstone, and the one who trusts in him will never be put to shame.” Now to you who believe, this stone is precious. But to those who do not believe, “The stone the builders rejected has become the cornerstone,” and, “A stone that causes people to stumble and a rock that makes them fall.”They stumble because they disobey the message—which is also what they were destined for.

Invest fully in worthless investments that the Lord has marked worthy of eternal glory. Hanamel came away satisfied with his silver, but Jeremiah came away with a word of comfort and hope from the Lord. One brought fleeting hope, and the other an eternal comfort. Choose wisely.