We have been continuing our series in Jeremiah. This week we reached Jeremiah 32. It has the somewhat uninspiring heading in the NIV: Jeremiah buys a field (which I find funnier than I should). But I was struck afresh at the strength of Jeremiah’s faith here.

At this point in time, Jeremiah has been imprisoned by the Judean king Zedekiah. He has been put in prison because he keeps prophesying that Zedekiah is going to be captured by the Babylonians and taken into exile. At the same time, the Babylonian army is outside the city walls about to invade Jerusalem. Not only is Jeremiah’s message unwelcome – it just isn’t what the king wants to hear – it sounds borderline treasonous.

Stepping into that situation, Jeremiah gets a visit from his cousin. A cousin who is clearly on the make. Israelite laws on land purchase, designed to stop land being lost to future generations of the same family, are in the background here. In effect, Jeremiah’s cousin Hanamel can see the writing on the wall for Judah. He seems intent on citing familial laws on land purchase because the Babylonians are clearly about to trash the city and he’s hoping to get some coin and get out of dodge. It is entirely likely – given that they’re already camped outside the city walls of Jerusalem at this point – that the field in question has already be ruined by the invading army. It is a worthless plot and Hanamel is abusing Israelite law and exploiting his cousin knowing the ludicrous nature of what he is offering.

But the most surprising element of the whole story is that Jeremiah agrees to buy this worthless bit of land at well over the cost of whatever it is worth. He probably used all the money he had left in order to buy it whilst he is currently in prison and the invading Babylonian army – that he has repeatedly prophesied will destroy Jerusalem and take its people into exile – are about to enter the city. There is no reason to this on any naturalistic grounds. VV14-15 supply the reason he did this:

This is what the Lord of Armies, the God of Israel, says: Take these scrolls—this purchase agreement with the sealed copy and this open copy—and put them in an earthen storage jar so they will last a long time. ¹⁵ For this is what the Lord of Armies, the God of Israel, says: Houses, fields, and vineyards will again be bought in this land.

What is most striking about this is not the faith Jeremiah has for the future of his people in the face of how everything around him appears, significant as that is. It is the faith he has in God’s Word concerning a future for his people that he most likely will not see himself. He acted in obedience to God’s Word, providing the acted visual prophetic Word for them, speaking to a future for his people which it seems apparent he will not live to see. That is some faith, isn’t it?

I don’t have anything specific to say about that. I just find it fascinating. Jeremiah committed to obedience, put his money where his mouth was, simply because God told him to do so. He acted in faith on the promise of a future, not so much for him personally, but a future for his people; a people who have spent his entire ministry mocking him, harming him, imprisoning him and altogether rejecting almost everything he had to say. Yet still, he weeps for them. Still, he hopes the best for them. Still, he has ultimate faith in God’s promise to do good to the people despite their sin.

It’s really quite something.