So Hanameel mine uncle's son came to me in the court of the prison according to the word of the LORD, and said unto me, Buy my field, I pray thee, that is in Anathoth, which is in the country of Benjamin: for the right of inheritance is thine, and the redemption is thine; buy it for thyself. Then I knew that this was the word of the LORD.
Then I knew - not that Jeremiah previously doubted the reality of the divine communication, but the effect following it, and the prophet's experimentally knowing it, confirmed his faith, and was the seal to the vision. The Roman historian Florius (2: 6) records a similar instance: during the days that Rome was being besieged by Hannibal, the very ground on which he was encamped was put up for sale at Rome, and found a purchaser; implying the calm confidence of the ultimate issue entertained by the Roman people.