Jeremiah 32:7, commentary and pictures

The verse belongs to the history of Nebuchadnezzar's successive campaigns against Jerusalem under Jehoiakim, Jehoiachin and Zedekiah, ending with the year-and-a-half siege and capture of the city. That history includes the burning of the temple and the great houses, the breaking down of the walls round about, the carrying of Zedekiah and many people to Babylon, the leaving of only the poorest people under Gedaliah as governor, the murder of Gedaliah by Ishmael with ten men, and the flight of all the people small and great with the captains to Egypt for fear of the Chaldees. It belongs to the account of the two years before Jerusalem fell, in a section recording events during that period.

Anathoth near Jerusalem was Jeremiah's home, and when he attempted to go there he was arrested on the charge of trying to join the Chaldeans and was cast into prison, yet he continued to utter predictions that Jerusalem would fall into the hands of Babylon. The verse records the Lord's prediction that Hanameel the son of Shallum, Jeremiah's uncle, would come to Jeremiah offering him his field in Anathoth because the right of redemption to buy it was his. Hanameel's arrival and offer fulfilled that prediction, and Jeremiah recognized the fulfillment as confirmation that the message was the word of the Lord.

The right of redemption means that the nearest kinsman had the right to buy back a family's land. The law of redemption means that when a relative fell into adversity, a near kinsman was the proper person with the right to redeem him. Buying the field showed Jeremiah's faith that Israel would be restored to the promised land after the exile and would be so reclaimed from idolatry that it would not fall into it again. The purchase also showed his patriotism and confidence in that restoration.

This kinship right foreshadows Christ as humanity's Redeemer, in that the Son of God became human, sharing human nature and facing human trials and temptations. The kinship requirement explains why the Redeemer had to share the human nature of those he came to redeem, becoming the Son of man in order to redeem humanity while remaining the Son of God.