The Transaction (Jeremiah 32:7-15).
“Behold, Hanamel, the son of Shallum your uncle, will come to you, saying, ‘Buy you my field which is in Anathoth, for the right of redemption is yours to buy it'.”
YHWH prepared Jeremiah for the visit that was about to be made to him by telling him about his cousin Hanamel who was desirous of selling family land in Anathoth, Jeremiah's birthplace. We do not know details of why it was available because normally priestly land could not be sold. But this may have been extra land which had been bought by the family, or had come into it through a female who was of a non-priestly line. And the point was that being family land it had to be offered to the next of kin. As Hanamel's cousin Jeremiah appears to have been next of kin, Hanamel presumably being childless.
‘ So Hanamel my uncle's son came to me in the court of the guard in accordance with the word of YHWH, and said to me, “Buy my field, I pray you, which is in Anathoth, which is in the land of Benjamin; for the right of inheritance is yours, and the redemption is yours, buy it for yourself.”
Hanamel may have been desperate to sell the field in order to be able to buy food at the very expensive prices for which food was being sold in a siege ravaged city, and it may well be that he was making the offer as a legal formality, convinced in his own mind that Jeremiah would refuse. Or he may have been relying on the fact of Jeremiah's popularity with the Babylonians as making the offer seem worthwhile, at least to him. He may indeed have considered that, by selling it to Jeremiah, it would in the event of a Babylonian victory still be held in the family. (Knowing that conversely, if Jerusalem was delivered, Jeremiah's life would not be worth a moment's purchase). Whatever the reason, just as YHWH had said, he arrived in Jeremiah's cell in order to make the offer. The phraseology used may well have been a formal one used in such transactions, which would explain why full and seemingly ‘unnecessary' details of the land (but very necessary in a legal context) were given, with the details having to be fully specified to make the offer valid. It would be legally necessary to distinguish Anathoth in Benjamin from any other possible Anathoth for any who in the distant future might look into the matter.
‘Then I knew that this was the word of YHWH.'
Having been forewarned Jeremiah recognised in this the hand of YHWH. He knew that it was what YHWH had purposed through His word.
‘And I bought the field which was in Anathoth from Hanamel my uncle's son, and weighed him the money, even seventeen shekels of silver.'
So he went ahead and bought his deceased uncle's field, at a price agreed at seventeen shekels of silver (literally ‘seven shekels and ten' which was probably following a legal format, or may have been intended cryptically to indicate the seventy years of captivity). This was not strictly ‘money' (coins) but a certain weight of silver, which explains why it had to be weighed out. As we know nothing about the size of the piece of land, nor local land values, nor how long it was to the year of yubile, we cannot evaluate the price. But it does indicate that Jeremiah came from a fairly wealthy family and had a fair level of resources available to him even in prison.
‘And I subscribed the deed, and sealed it, and called witnesses, and weighed him the money in the balances.'
Jeremiah then wrote out the deed and solemnly sealed it, calling witnesses to witness to the payment of the correct price.
‘So I took the deed of the purchase, both that which was sealed, according to the law and custom, and that which was open, and I delivered the deed of the purchase to Baruch the son of Neriah, the son of Mahseiah, in the presence of Hanamel my uncle's son, and in the presence of the witnesses who subscribed the deed of the purchase, before all the Jews who sat in the court of the guard.'
It is apparent that two deeds were in fact completed ‘according to law and custom', one being left open and one sealed. They were then handed over to Baruch, in the presence of Hanamel, and in the presence of the witnesses mentioned above, and in front of all the Jews who were gathered in the court of the guard. These may well have been supporters of Jeremiah who had gathered there in order to demonstrate that support, and in order to encourage him (and themselves in the light of the siege). Their presence indicates the relative restricted freedom that Jeremiah enjoyed. The transaction was therefore well witnessed. The fact that Jeremiah was buying land may well have become the latest on dit, intriguing the people of Jerusalem, and it would encourage his supporters, even if they did not fully understand it.
Baruch was Jeremiah's faithful friend and secretary. His importance in a secular sense is brought out by the mention of two forebears, and the fact that his brother Seraiah held an important post in the court of King Zedekiah (Jeremiah 51:59). But his greatest importance undoubtedly lay in the support and help that he continually gave to Jeremiah. In Jeremiah 36:4 he is depicted as acting as his secretary and amanuensis, in Jeremiah 43:3 he is accused of encouraging Jeremiah to preach sedition, and in Jeremiah 36:26 he is seen as sharing his sufferings and perils.
‘And I charged Baruch before them, saying, “Thus says YHWH of hosts, the God of Israel, Take these deeds, this deed of the purchase which is sealed, and this deed which is open, and put them in an earthen vessel, that they may continue many days.'
Then he charged Baruch in the Name of YHWH of hosts to put them in an earthenware jar for preservation into the distant future. The jar would then itself be sealed with pitch in order to preserve the contents, and would have the contents written on the outside in case the deeds ever had to be consulted.
‘For thus says YHWH of hosts, the God of Israel, Houses and fields and vineyards will yet again be bought in this land.'
Finally he declared that by this ‘YHWH of hosts, the God of Israel' was indicating that one day fields and vineyards would once again be sold in the land. On Jeremiah's part it was a firm statement of faith in the future.