BIBLE STUDY LESSON 07

SERIES P --- YHVH’S PROPHETS

JEREMIAH BUYS A FIELD

From Jeremiah 32

Adonai spoke to Jeremiah again when he was a prisoner in the dungeon of King Zedekiah’s palace. It was a difficult time in Judah, for the army of Babylon had besieged Jerusalem. This was during the tenth year of Zedekiah’s reign and the eighteenth year of the reign of King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon. Zedekiah had thrown Jeremiah into prison because of his prophecies. [Why do you tell people that Adonai is giving this city to the king of Babylon?] the king asked Jeremiah. [Why do you tell them that I will be captured and brought face to face with Nebuchadnezzar for trial? Why do you prophesy that I will be imprisoned in Babylon for many years until I die? And why do you tell them that they cannot win against the Chaldeans, no matter how hard they fight against them?] About this time Adonai spoke again to Jeremiah while he was in prison. [Your cousin Hanameel the son of your uncle Shallum will visit you here in prison and will offer to sell you his field at Anathoth, for you are next in line to buy it,] Just as Adonai had said, Hanameel came to visit Jeremiah in prison. [When Hanameel told me why he had come,] said Jeremiah, [I was sure that Adonai had spoken to me.] [You have the first right to buy my field,] said Hanameel. [Do you want to do it?] Accordingly {continued Jeremiah}, I bought the field at Anathoth from Hanameel. Before witnesses which we had gathered, I signed the deed and sealed it, and weighed seventeen shekels of silver as payment. Then I took the two copies of the deed which contained the terms and conditions of the purchase, one sealed and the other unsealed and gave them publicly to Baruch the son of Neriah and grandson of Maaseiah, while Hanameel and the witnesses who had signed the deed of purchase and the prison guards watched. While all these witnesses listened, I said to Baruch, [Adonai of hosts Commands you to take these two copies of the deed, the sealed deed of purchase and the open copy, and place them in a clay vessel, so they will remain for a long time. For Adonai assures us that houses, fields, and vineyards will someday be bought here in this land again.] After I had given the copies of the deed to Baruch, I prayed to Adonai. [O Adonai YHVH, by Your great power and Your outstretched arm You have made the heavens and the earth,] I prayed. [There is nothing too difficult for You to do. You have shown Your abiding love to thousands while You cause a man’s children to share the guilt of their father’s sins. O Adonai YHVH of hosts, great and mighty in wisdom and deed, You see all that men do and reward men according to their lives and their deeds. You performed great miracles in the land of Egypt which we remember even to this day. Today also You have worked great miracles in Israel and throughout the world, bringing great honour to Your Name. With great miracles by Your strong hand and outstretched arm You brought Israel from Egypt and gave them this land flowing with milk and honey, which You had promised to their ancestors. They entered the land and possessed it, but they failed to obey You and follow Your Commands, almost completely. This punishment has come from You, and siege mounds have been built against Jerusalem by the Chaldeans, and they will capture the city with sword, famine, and plague. All that You have said has come to pass. Yet now, Adonai, You have instructed me to buy this field and pay money for it before witnesses, even though the city will be captured by the Chaldeans.] Then Adonai spoke to Jeremiah, saying, [I am Adonai YHVH of all people. Is anything too difficult for Me to do? I am about to let the Chaldeans and Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon capture this city. Even now they are outside the walls, and they will soon come into Jerusalem and burn the city with all the houses on whose roofs incense was burned to Baal and drink offerings poured out to foreign gods, provoking Me to anger. Ever since this city was built, the people of Israel and Judah have angered Me with their deeds, so I plan to destroy it. Yes, the sins of the people and their leaders -- kings, princes, priests, and prophets -- have stirred My anger against this city, for they have turned their backs to Me instead of looking to Me with their faces. Even though I have faithfully taught them, they have refused to listen and learn from Me. Instead, they have set up their evil idols, even in My temple. They have built the high places for Baal in the Hinnom Valley and have burned their own children there as offerings to Molech, even though I never told them to do this or ever thought of such an evil. They have brought to Judah terrible evil by doing these things. Now I am telling you that this city of Jerusalem will be captured by the king of Babylon by means of the sword, famine, and plague. But some day I will let My people return to this place from all the lands where I will scatter them in My anger. I will let them return to Jerusalem, and they will at last live here in safety. They shall be My people, and I will be their YHVH. I will unite their hearts and minds to worship Me forever, for their own sakes and for the sake of their descendants. I will make a Covenant with them which shall endure forever, and I will never desert them or cease doing good to them. I will put a desire for Me in their hearts so that they will not turn away from Me. I will plant them again in this land with great joy in My whole heart and soul. As I have brought all this trouble to them now, so I will bring them much good, as I have promised. Once more, fields will be bought and sold, and deeds will be signed and sealed and witnessed, both in the land of Benjamin and in the land around Jerusalem, as well as the cities of Judah, the hill country, and even to the Negeb and the plains of the Philistines. As I restore their lands, so will I also restore their fortunes.]

COMMENTARY

WEIGHTS AND MEASURES

At first, people paid each other in goods like cattle, barley or oil. This system was replaced by the use of gold, silver and copper in the form of dust, lumps, objects or bars. Their value was determined by their weight. But neither balances nor weights were precise, and weights and measures varied from one city to another. The Israelites used the same system of weights as the Canaanites and Babylonians. The basic unit of their weight system was called the [shekel.] It was also the basic unit of their money system, which developed later. There were three different kinds of shekels. The first -- the commercial or common shekel and weighed more than the second; temple shekel -- and less than the third -- royal shekel. Fifty shekels made up a {minah,} and sixty minahs a {talent.} Half-shekels were called {bekahs.} The lightest weight was a {gerah,} which meant {grain.} Pharmacies still weigh items in grains. The Hebrews used parts of the body to measure length. A {cubit} stretched from elbow to wrist. Half a cubit, called a {span,} ran from thumb to little finger with the hand stretched wide. A handbreadth, or {tepah,} stretched across the palm. The smallest measure, a digit, survives today as the inch. Obviously, none of these measures was very exact. For solids and liquids, the Israelites used measures similar to modern bushels and gallons. Merchants loaded their donkeys with {homers} of grain -- probably several bushels. A woman drew a {bath} of water from a well -- a jug that is thought to have held close to six gallons. Priests used a small potful, or {hin,} of liquid for religious rituals, and a tiny bit, or {log,} to purify lepers. No one knows the precise amounts of any of these measures.