Jeremiah 32:6

⁵He will take Zedekiah to Babylon, where he will stay until I attend to him, declares the LORD. If you fight against the Chaldeans, you will not succeed.’”⁶Jeremiah replied, “The word of the LORD came to me, saying:⁷Behold! Hanamel, the son of your uncle Shallum, is coming to you to say, ‘Buy for yourself my field in Anathoth, for you have the right of redemption to buy it.’

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Summary

In this verse, Jeremiah is instructed by God to buy his cousin's field in Anathoth. This act symbolizes hope and restoration for the future, despite the current circumstances of war and exile. By purchasing the land, Jeremiah demonstrates faith in God's promise that houses, fields, and vineyards will again be bought in the land of Judah. This action serves as a prophetic sign of God's faithfulness and the eventual return of the people to their homeland.

Commentary

Keil-Delitzsch
Jamieson-Fausset-Brown
John Gill
Tyndale

Carl Friedrich Keil and Franz Delitzsch Old Testament Commentary

The purchase of the field. - In Jer 32:6, the introduction, which has been interrupted by long parentheses, is resumed with the words, "And Jeremiah said," etc. The word of the Lord follows, Jer 32:7. The Lord said to him: "Behold, Hanamel, the son of Shallum, thine uncle, cometh to thee, saying, 'Buy thee my field at Anathoth, for thou hast the redemption-right to purchase it.' " According to a mode of construction common elsewhere, דּדך might be taken as in apposition to חנמאל: "Hanamel, son of Shallum, thine uncle." But Jer 32:8, Jer 32:9, in which Jeremiah calls Hanamel בּן־דּדי, son of my uncle, show that דּדך is in apposition to שׁלּם: "son of Shallum, [who is] thine uncle." The right of redemption consisted in this, that if any one was forced through circumstances to sell his landed property, the nearest blood-relation had the right, or rather was obliged, to preserve the possession for the family, either through pre-emption, or redemption from the stranger who had bought it (Lev 25:25). For the land which God had given to the tribes and families of Israel for a hereditary possession could not be sold, so as to pass into the hands of strangers; and for this reason, in the year of jubilee, what had bee sold since the previous jubilee reverted, without payment of any kind, to the original possessor or his heirs. (Cf. Lev 25:23-28, and Keil's Bibl. Archol. ii. 141, p. 208ff.)

John Gill Bible Commentary

And Jeremiah said, the word of the Lord came unto me, saying. Not that he said this to Zedekiah; but the prophet, after the above preface, returns to declare what the word of the Lord was, which came to him at the time before mentioned. And Jeremiah said, the word of the Lord came unto me, saying. Not that he said this to Zedekiah; but the prophet, after the above preface, returns to declare what the word of the Lord was, which came to him at the time before mentioned. Jeremiah 32:7 jer 32:7 jer 32:7 jer 32:7Behold, Hanameel the son of Shallum thine uncle shall come unto thee,.... Hilkiah, the father of Jeremiah, and this Shallum, were own brothers; so that Jeremiah and Hanameel were brothers' sons, or own cousins: this coming of Hanameel to Jeremiah being a contingent event, with respect to second causes, and yet foretold as what would certainly be, shows that such events are foreknown by the Lord, and are sure to him: saying, buy thee my field that is in Anathoth; the place from whence Jeremiah came, and was but about two or three miles from Jerusalem, and therefore must be now in the possession of the Chaldean army; wherefore it may seem very strange in Hanameel to propose it to sale, and stranger still in Jeremiah to buy it: though something of this kind was done at Rome, while Hannibal was besieging it; the field where Hannibal pitched his camp was offered to sale at Rome, and found a buyer (t); but then he that bought it was in high spirits, and in a strong belief that the city would not be taken, and that the enemy would be obliged to quit the siege; but Jeremiah knew, and firmly believed, on the other hand, that the city of Jerusalem, and all the country round it, would fall into the hands of the king of Babylon. Moreover, Anathoth was a city of the priests, and the fields adjoining to it belonged to them; as some of them did to Abiathar the priest in his time, Kg1 2:26; and such fields as belonged to the priests and Levites were not to be sold, according to the law in Lev 25:34; to which it is answered, that this was not arable land, which the Levites might not possess; but some meadow, orchard, or garden, in the suburbs of the city, which though it might not be sold to strangers, yet might be sold among themselves; though it is more probable that this was a field that came fro, in some of his ancestors by his mother's or grandmother's side, and so might be disposed of; as it seems certain to be lawfully done, not only as it was the will of God, who could indeed dispense with his own law, was that in the way, but since it was a matter of right, and incumbent on him, as follows: for the right of redemption is thine to buy it; that is, had it been sold to another, it would have lain upon him to have redeemed it, as being next of kin, that so it might not pass to another tribe and family. (t) Florus, l. 2. c. 6.