Houses, fields and vineyards will again be bought in this land. (Jeremiah 32:15)Times were bad in Jerusalem. The first (the best) and the second (the brightest) waves of exiles had already been transported to Babylon. Nebuchadnezzar was besieging the city, Jeremiah was imprisoned by the palace guard, and things were looking bleak. Then Jeremiah's cousin showed up and asked him to purchase his field in Anathoth (where Jeremiah was from - in the tribal holding of Benjamin - probably to the north, but not too far from Jerusalem).
While your city is being besieged and the country is being trampled underfoot by a vast army is probably not the best time to try and sell property - not exactly a seller's market. On the other hand, Jeremiah was the one who prophesied Jerusalem would be defeated while other prophets were saying it would be spared. Jeremiah would hardly be the most likely candidate to buy a piece of property... but he did.
In spite of their hard times, Jeremiah knew things were going to improve. Not right away... in fact things were going to get much worse before they got better, but things were eventually going to start looking up. He bought the field from his cousin, sealed the deed away in the 6th century BC equivalent of a safe deposit box, as a witness that one day things would once again be good in Jerusalem.
During hard times, how can you demonstrate your faith that things are going to improve?
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