Picture this scene: Jerusalem is burning while Babylonian siege engines smash the city walls. Inside the royal compound, a prophet sits locked in prison, condemned for speaking truth to power, watching his prophecies of destruction unfold with terrible precision. The king despises him, the people have rejected his warnings, and destruction looms over everything he holds dear. Then, in the midst of this catastrophe, God appears to him with the most bizarre instruction imaginableābuy real estate.
This is not fiction but the incredible account recorded in Jeremiah chapter 32, one of the strangest stories in the entire Bible. The prophet who had spent decades warning of impending doom was suddenly commanded to invest in the very land about to be devastated. Jeremiah himself recognized the seeming absurdity of the situation, crying out to God:
What could possibly drive the Almighty to demand such an apparently senseless act at the darkest hour of Israel’s history?
Jeremiah made a very good and logical point. The horrific reality of a Jerusalem about to be completely devastated dictated flight, not investment. This was a moment for despair, not hope. Every visible sign pointed toward total destruction and permanent exile. Yet God responds with certainty:
This rhetorical question contains the key to the entire episode. Jeremiahās purchase of that field was an incredible declaration of faith. When someone invests money, they demonstrate faith in future returns. By commanding Jeremiah to buy land in a doomed territory, God was embedding an unshakeable promise within the transaction itself. The prophet carefully documented every detailāwitnesses signed, silver weighed, deeds sealed in clay jars for preservation. The very act proclaimed that “houses and fields and vineyards shall be purchased again in this land” (Jeremiah 32:15).
For thousands of years, generations of Jews maintained their connection to the Land of Israel despite exile, persecution, and seemingly impossible odds. They held onto property deeds, studied agricultural laws that seemed irrelevant to their exile existence, and prayed daily for return to a homeland they had never seen. To outside observers, this behavior appeared as irrational as Jeremiah’s field purchase. Yet it reflected the same deep understanding that divine promises operate on timelines that dwarf human planning.
What happened that day in Jerusalem proves something important about how God operates. When His instructions make no sense to us, there’s usually a reason we can’t understand it yet. God is working on a timeline we don’t understand, with information we don’t have. The wise approach is not to demand explanations but to trust that our Father in Heaven knows what He’s doing.
Fast forward to our time. A visitor to Jerusalem and to the Western Wall plaza will see things today that Jews for close to two thousand years could only dream of. We see the multitudes of people, the magnificent buildings in the Jewish Quarter, and even the high prices of real estate that local Israelis complain about. This vision would have astonished not only Jeremiah but also generations of Jews who longed for this day, and certainly the nations who mocked them.Ā
The lesson extends beyond real estate to every area where faith conflicts with apparent facts. When believers invest their lives in causes that seem hopeless, when they maintain hope despite overwhelming evidence of failure, when they act on promises that contradict visible circumstances, they follow the pattern established by Jeremiah in that prison courtyard.
Today, Israel is under attack again. October 7 brought terror, war, hostages, and enemies on every border. Yet the bustling Western Wall plaza and thriving neighborhoods that would have astonished Jeremiah prove that God’s promises outlast every enemy’s plans. The same God who commanded that impossible investment is still writing Israel’s story, and He’s not done yet.
