Lives of Scripture

Hanamel was the son of Jeremiah's uncle Shallum, making him the prophet's cousin (Jeremiah 32:7-8). He came to Jeremiah -- who was under arrest in the guard's courtyard during Nebuchadnezzar's siege of Jerusalem -- with a request tied to Israel's kinsman-redeemer laws: "Buy my field, please, that is at Anathoth... for you have the right of redemption to buy it" (32:7). Jeremiah recognized this as confirmation of a word already given him by the LORD, and bought the field for seventeen shekels of silver, carefully weighing the money, signing and sealing the deed before witnesses, and having Baruch store the documents in a clay jar "so that they may last a long time" (32:9-14). The purchase made no practical sense -- Jerusalem was about to fall, and the land would soon pass to Babylon's control -- which was exactly the point. Jeremiah explained that God had commanded the sign so His people would know: "Houses and fields and vineyards will again be bought in this land" (32:15). Hanamel himself appears only in this one transaction, but his ordinary request to a kinsman became the occasion for one of Jeremiah's most vivid acted-out promises of restoration after judgment.