What Does Jeremiah 32:7 Mean?

(7) **Behold, Hanameel the son of Shallum . . .**—The teaching of the narrative that follows lies almost on the surface, and is brought out distinctly in Jeremiah 32:44. “With all the certainty of desolation, misery, exile in the immediate future, the prophet was to give a practical proof that he was as certain of the ultimate restoration. It was worth while to buy a field even for what might seem the contingency of that remote reversion. Roman history records a parallel act of patriotic faith in the purchase of land at Rome at its full market value, at the very time when the armies of Hannibal were marching to the gate of the city (Livy, xxvi. 11). Nothing more is known of the Hanameel who is here mentioned than that he was the first cousin of the prophet (Jeremiah 32:8-9). The word “uncle” in this verse therefore applies strictly to Shallum. As the lands belonging to the priests and Levites as such could not be alienated (Leviticus 25:34), we must assume either that the land in question had come into the family by marriage and was private property, or that the law had been so far relaxed as to allow of the transfer of land within the limits of the family, and up to the date of the next year of jubilee. In such a case, as in Ruth 3:12; Ruth 4:4, the option of purchase was offered in *the *first instance to the next of kin (the *Goël, *or “redeemer,” of the family), so that it might still be kept in the line of succession (Leviticus 25:24; Leviticus 25:32). The prophet naturally lays stress on the fact that he was warned beforehand of the visit of Hanameel and of its object. The coincidence was to him what the arrival of the messenger of Cornelius was to Peter (Acts 10:19-21).