Hey Bible readers, I'm Tara Lee Cobble, and I'm your host for the Bible Recap.

Jeremiah is in prison when we open today's reading. King Zedekiah, the last king of Judah,

didn't like some of Jeremiah's prophecies, so he's punishing him.

This feels completely irrational to me. Imprisoning the prophet doesn't stop the prophecy from coming

true. It's not like Jeremiah was saying he was going to personally overthrow Jerusalem.

Anyway, while Jeremiah is there, God gives him a heads up that his cousin is going to try to sell him some land.

Then, just like that, his cousin shows up with a deed and Jeremiah follows through.

What a boss move. Imagine buying real estate while you're in sell block A.

The fact that Jeremiah had access to this kind of money while he was in prison seems to

indicate that he was pretty wealthy.

The reason that is noteworthy is because he's been coming down pretty hard on the rich in his

prophecies. So is he a hypocrite? No. His problem with the rich isn't their bank accounts. Being

wealthy isn't a sin. The problem is that they're oppressing people in order to get and stay rich.

Jeremiah buys the field and tells his scribe Baruch to put the paperwork in his safe

deposit vase because he knows it's going to be 70 years before they're needed.

Jeremiah's boldness indicates that he really believes God is going to bring the people back to the land to

live on it. This wasn't a financial investment. This was an act of faith. But even Jeremiah is still

human, because immediately after this, he's like, God, I know nothing is too hard for you. You've done

everything you promised, but I'm struggling with this field purchase.

The Babylonians are already in the land I just paid for.

I love that Jeremiah takes his questions and his doubts to God.

God knows anyway, and he can be trusted to speak truth to our fears and our questions.

...