{"id":71365,"date":"2020-03-08T14:16:51","date_gmt":"2020-03-08T12:16:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/?p=71365"},"modified":"2020-03-08T14:16:51","modified_gmt":"2020-03-08T12:16:51","slug":"good-old-boring-bureaucracy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/good-old-boring-bureaucracy\/","title":{"rendered":"Good Old Boring Bureaucracy!"},"content":{"rendered":"
<\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[281],"tags":[],"acf":{"old_id":"71365","type":"no","iframe":"","writer":39778,"related_cahpter":"432","type_929":"2","show_author_image":false,"old_create_date":"","old_url":"","post_main_content":{"description":"Hope in the form of paperwork ","content":"

If you\u2019ve ever been fortunate enough to close on a home, you may have experienced a mixture of feelings: trepidation perhaps as you realized the responsibility you were taking on. Maybe the process felt lengthy and tedious. Or maybe you approached that paperwork with excitement, for what it signified: Hope for the future. Most of us don\u2019t approach legal matters with excitement, but the transfer of land looms large in the American imagination as part of the American Dream.<\/span><\/p>\n

This dream is not limited to our country. In Jeremiah chapter 32, God predicts that Jeremiah\u2019s cousin will come and ask him to purchase his field in Anathoth. We know from the book of Ruth that property must first be sold to blood relatives, to keep the inheritance in the family.<\/span><\/p>\n

While all this is happening, Jeremiah is in prison, the result of his prophecies running afoul of the Judean regime. Jeremiah is understandably saddened and his spirits need bolstering. God sends Jeremiah\u2019s cousin Hanamel to ask Jeremiah to buy his land, and Jeremiah agrees.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cSo I bought the land in Anathoth from my cousin Hanamel. \u2026 I wrote a deed, sealed it, and had it witnessed; and I weighed out the silver on a balance. I took the deed of purchase, the sealed text and the open one according to rule and law, and gave the deed to Baruch son of Neriah son of Mahseiah in the presence of my kinsman Hanamel, of the witnesses who were named in the deed…\u201d (10-12).<\/span><\/p>\n

This exchange is noteworthy in many ways. Jeremiah is unusually active; many verbs describe his purchase, writing, measuring, etc. We might worry that he is rotting in prison, but here he has things to do to make the purchase happen. This is also a lengthy exchange, and God\u2019s response is short: \u201cHouses, fields, and vineyards will again be purchased in the land.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

This prophecy pushes Jeremiah to the precipice, and his resulting prayer to God is full of the old symbols of the book of Exodus: marvels and wonders God has done, a strong hand, an outstretched arm, a land flowing with milk and honey. How can God tell Jeremiah to buy land when the Chaldeans are at the gates of the city? Jeremiah\u2019s question gets a response similar to the one Sarah got when she despaired of having a child: \u201cIs anything too wondrous for Me?\u201d asks God.<\/span><\/p>\n

Jeremiah perceives God\u2019s salvation as being a thing of miracles. God works in many ways, though. God\u2019s great epic does not need to end with drama and wonders. It can end with bureaucracy \u2013 people, returned to the land, buying, selling, filling out paperwork. We may like our TV shows exciting, but a good, harmonious society is probably better off boring. Each person buying land without incident, sitting under his or her own vine and fig tree. God can save God\u2019s people with land purchases and paperwork. After all, nothing is too wondrous for God.<\/span><\/p>\n","image":{"ID":71366,"id":71366,"title":"jer32-paperwork","filename":"jer32-paperwork.jpg","filesize":0,"url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/jer32-paperwork.jpg","link":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/good-old-boring-bureaucracy\/jer32-paperwork\/","alt":"","author":"7","description":"","caption":"","name":"jer32-paperwork","status":"inherit","uploaded_to":71365,"date":"2020-03-08 12:16:40","modified":"2022-03-29 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