1) Notice that the ruler has confined Jeremiah.I assume it is due to the predictions of doom and exile. Where does "Babylon" besiege people now?

2) Buying the field back in the old hometown, in Benjamin territory of Judah just north of Jerusalem, but a Levitical city, seems to fly in the face of economic reality. think of some other stands one could take that fly in the face of economic, political, or social reality. Max Weber said that politics is the slow boring of hard boards. I think of the antislavery movement, the struggle for women's suffrage, the push for civil rights as example of Jeremiah-like behavior.

3) Notice how different this is than the purchases of symbolic products in 13:1 and 19:1

4) Land continuity was important to Israel (see Lev.25:23-8) In Indiana we honor 100 year family farms

5) In a way this action is a down payment on a different future. Every time farmers plant a field it is a possibly reckless act of trust.

6) Miller (822-NIB) speaks of this as an act of grace to effect "a new spirit, a new life, a new way...when we fear to go the way ourselves."

7) this leads us to consider when the future is in our hands and when it is not, when it follows old patterns, and when it changes course.