"And the Land shall not be permanently sold, for the Land is Mine." -- Vayikra 25:23
This week's parsha begins with Avraham Avinu purchasing land to bury his wife, Sarah. It ends with Yitzchak and Yishmael burying Avraham beside Sarah in that cave. Why is the Torah so concerned with Avraham's burial plot purchase? Why must we know about the multi-stage negotiation process and price tag?
This story has parallels in other parts of Tanach. King David purchases the orchard of Arnon the Hittite and uses the land for the Temple. Later on, shortly before the Temple's destruction, Yirmiyahu purchases land in Anatot from his cousin while imprisoned in a cistern and entrusts the deed to his scribe, Baruch ben Neriah, for safekeeping. The third example helps explain why the Tanach stresses the importance of land purchases. The book of Yirmiyahu tells us the story:
(6) Jeremiah said, "The word of Hashem came to me, saying, (7) 'Behold, Hanamel the son of Shallum your uncle shall come to you, saying, 'Buy my field that is in Anatot; for the right of redemption is yours to buy it.' (8) So Hanamel my uncle's son came to me in the court of the guard according to the word of Hashem, and said to me, 'Please buy my field that is in Anatot, which is in the land of Benjamin; for the right of inheritance is yours, and the redemption is yours; buy it for yourself.' Then I knew that this was the word of Hashem. (9) I bought the field that was in Anatot of Hanamel my uncle's son, and weighed him the money, even seventeen shekels of silver. (10) I subscribed the deed, and sealed it, and called witnesses, and weighed him the money in the balances. (11) So I took the deed of the purchase, both that which was sealed, containing the terms and conditions, and that which was open; (12) and I delivered the deed of the purchase to Baruch the son of Neriah, the son of Mahseiah, in the presence of Hanamel my uncle's son, and in the presence of the witnesses who subscribed the deed of the purchase, before all the Jews who sat in the court of the guard. (13) I charged Baruch before them, saying, (14) 'Thus says Hashem of Hosts, the God of Israel, 'Take these deeds, this deed of the purchase which is sealed, and this deed which is open, and put them in an earthen vessel that they may continue many days. (15) For thus says Hashem of Hosts, the God of Israel, 'Houses and fields and vineyards shall yet again be bought in this land.'" ... (42) For thus says Hashem, "As I have brought all this great evil on this people, so I will bring on them all the good that I have promised them. (43) Fields shall be bought in this land, about which you say, 'It is desolate, without man or animal; it is given into the hand of the Chaldeans.' (44) Men shall buy fields for money, and subscribe the deeds, and seal them, and call witnesses, in the land of Benjamin, and in the places about Jerusalem, and in the cities of Judah, and in the cities of the hill country, and in the cities of the lowland, and in the cities of the South, for I will cause their captivity to return," says Hashem. -- Yirmiyahu 32
Why did Hashem tell Yirmiyahu to purchase land from his cousin? According to the verses, he anyway stood to inherit this land. Part of the reason for this strange mission was that Yirmiyahu would anyway inherit the land eventually, but if so, why purchase it? Additionally, Hashem's stated reason for this command was that eventually land would once again be bought and sold in the Kingdom of Judea after the Jews were returned following exile. Why was it necessary to conduct a first purchase now?
Hashem did not want Yirmiyahu to do anything with the land in Anatot. As far as we know, Yirmiyahu never even visited it. Instead, the purchase seems to have been to create a written record of Yirmiyahu's family's tie to the land. In the next few years, most high-ranking Jews would be taken to Babylon in chains with the king, Tzidkiyahu. Yirmiyahu himself was forced to flee to Egypt after Gedalyahu ben Achikan, the Babylonian governor of Judea after the destruction, was assassinated. All who knew about Yirmiyahu's claim to the land were gone. Hashem wanted that claim documented.
The Torah greatly values our ancestral ties to the Land of Israel. It takes steps to prevent land from even leaving specific families, like mandating that land be returned to its seller or their inheritor during the Jubilee year. However, the experience of conquest and exile disrupted both the connections of individual Jews to their ancestral lands and all of our connections to the National Home in the Land of Israel. Hashem wanted to reinforce our historical bond with the Land, and He promised we would return to it in time. Even when unnecessary, land purchases provide an easy way to produce written documentation confirming our bond to the Land.
Furthermore, commanding Yirmiyahu, while in great distress in prison with the promise of destruction of all he loved hanging over him, to purchase land was a hopeful act. In such circumstances, it is easy to despair. It is effortless to assume that there is no future and that things will never improve. Hashem told Yirmiyahu to purchase the land in Anatot as a sign that would be a meaningful act in the future. In time, the Jews would return and again purchase land and work it, as Hashem intended when He took us out of Egypt.
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