Jeremiah showed the faith in the future of Judah, even while Jerusalem, the capital city, was on the verge of failing to the Babylonian army. He bought a plot of land in his hometown of Anathoth, confident that the land would be useful again after the Jewish people returned from the exile in Babylon.

In Jeremiah’s time two duplicate deeds to a plot of land were prepared. One copy was buried in a sealed jar in a corner of the property, and the other was left unsealed in a public place for viewing by any interested person.

But the prophet was told by the Lord to place both deeds in a jar for burial on the property. All public records would be destroyed in the Babylonian invasion of Jerusalem. The deeds in the ground would be the only proof of Jeremiah’s ownership of the land.

JEREMIAH 32:14 – Take these evidence [documents, NIV], this evidence of the purchase, both which is sealed, and this evidence which is open; and put them in an earthen vessel [clay jar, NIV], that they may continued many days [last a long time, NIV].