Yirmiyahu is commanded by God to buy the land of his cousin, Hanamel, despite the fact that the destruction is imminent. At the beginning of the story, Yirmiyahu acted as a prophet – a messenger of God who fulfills His word without hesitation. But after the fulfillment of the words of the prophecy in the presence of all the people, Yirmiyahu turns to God as a person with a turbulent prayer and challenges God.

Yirmiyahu's objection does not refer to the contrast between the real situation and the utopian prophecy. This is a theological objection that focuses on a contradiction in God's ways, for the prophecy of consolation contradicts the entire course of Yirmiyahu's prophecies from the beginning of his path as a prophet until the present. According to the principles of reward and punishment established by God, calamity must now befall the people; why then does he speak of redemption and consolation? The focus of the prayer is not found in the practical unreasonableness, but rather in the theological aspect of the deed, and this is an objection against God's ways of governance.

God’s response to Yirmiyahu stresses that He is not only the Maker of heaven and earth, but also the God of all flesh, and therefore, God has the power to turn the hearts of His people toward Him in the future and to thereby ensure the redemption.

Courtesy of the Virtual Beit Midrash, Yeshivat Har Etzion