THE LOCATION OF JEREMIAH'S DEED
By Jim Barfield
Test Question. Is Jerusalem in the land of Judah or the land of Benjamin?
Jerusalem was under siege, Babylon had Judah’s army at a breaking point and Jeremiah was chained in the house of his King. The rusty chains cut into his wrists binding him to the wall, his punishment for prophesying the truth, a tragic end to Zedekiah and his kingdom. “Behold, I will give this city into the hand of the king of Babylon, and he shall take it; And Zedekiah king of Judah shall not escape out of the hand of the Chaldeans but shall surely be delivered into the hand of the king of Babylon, and shall speak with him mouth to mouth, and his eyes shall behold his eyes. You and all of Judah will not prevail and will suffer greatly at the hands of the Babylonians.” Jer 32:3 – 4
JEREMIAH LAMENTING
The Year of Jubilee was only a couple of months away and as you may know, the Year of Jubilee is a massive celebration of “Freedom” occurring every 50 years. Ironic or sign of the times? That special year was always announced on the Day of Atonement. On the Day of Atonement, the High Priest stands in perfect safety before Elohim, the God of Abraham “face to face,” mouth-to-mouth and eye-to-eye while the rest of the world outside the walls of Jerusalem stood judgment. Because of the kingdom’s disobedience, judgment would now be upon Judah and, their puppet King would stand “face to face” before his pagan god Nebuchadnezzar. The last thing he would see was the death of his sons, moments before his eyes were burned from his skull on, of course, the Day of Atonement. Make no mistake. The timing was no coincidence and the judgment for such an evil king was just.
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While in the court of that prison Jeremiah had a visitor, his cousin, sent by his uncle Shallum. He had brought paperwork for Jeremiah to purchase back the family fields in the land of Benjamin. Seventeen shekels were weighed out, documents signed, and the land was back under Jeremiah’s family trust. The prophet was acting as a redeemer as required before the special year began. Baruch, Jeremiah’s scribe, took the two copies of that deed, one open and one sealed, placed them in an earthen jar so they would “last for many days.” Just as the men of Qumran stored its documents, Jeremiah stored the deeds for the distant future. Other Jewish documents state that the deeds were buried; I wonder…could they be in the CS Cave? If those legal documents are found do you think the squatters around Israel will grab their bags and head back to the countries, they are from…mmm maybe not. Will the Copper Scroll Cave contain Jeremiah’s Deed?
JEREMIAH REDEEMS LAND
Potential Buried Opening to the Cave of the Copper Scroll
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“If” the Melchizedek priesthood was functioning at Qumran, creating the dual imagery mentioned in “Unexpected Benefits of the Copper Scroll,” there must be some indication of it in the Bible and certainly some in the DSS. A copy of a DSS document referred to as the “Melchizedek Fragment” [1] is available on-line and as a pop-up note on my TLM. [2] Take a few moments, read the fragment, compare it to the Timeline of the Messiah (soon to be posted) and consider the possibilities of the prophetic match the timeline presents. Another potential link of the treasury at Qumran and the Melchizedek Order is the note in the book of Genesis where Abraham pays tithes to the reigning Melchizedek, whose name, by the way was, Shem. Abraham is providing riches to Shem, one in a long line of Melchizedeks leading up to the community and treasury at Qumran. Admittedly, the comparison is a stretch, but a noteworthy stretch.
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Now is a good time to follow up on comments I made earlier about Jeremiah repurchasing Benjamite land and how it affected his priestly duties. If Jeremiah was a “Levitical” priest, why repurchase Benjamite land? In-fact, if Jeremiah was a priest, the scripture should read, “buying back land of the Levites in the allotted land of Benjamin.” Either way, the sale of Levite land was an illegal act according to Torah. In chapter 32 Jeremiah acts as “kinsmen redeemer” as required by the Torah in preparation for the Year of Jubilee. Torah forbids the selling of Levitical “fields.” [3] They can sell a home built in a Levitical city but not the land. Leviticus 25:33-35 makes that very clear and closes with, “But the fields [4] of the open land about their cities may not be sold; for that is their (the Levites) perpetual possession.” Jeremiah is redeeming “a field,” not a house. That being the case, Jeremiah’s family committed an intentional breach of the Torah, if they were Levites, something the righteous man’s family would “probably” never do.
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Every verse referring to the purchase in Jeremiah 32 refers to “fields” [5] being redeemed. In the closing verses of chapter 32, God makes a promise of restoration, building on the point of prosperity and the buying and selling of “Benjamite land,” which reinforces my point – “Levites” cannot sell their fields. So again, if Jeremiah is a priest, and priests are all Levites, how is it that Jeremiah could be a Benjamite area “Levite” and have no restriction on buying or selling family land?
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Jeremiah’s father was a priest [6] so he had to be Levite correct? Not necessarily. According to the Bible, there are two priesthoods: [7] the Levitical Priesthood and the obscure “Order of Melchizedek.” Each apparently had its own High Priest: one in Jerusalem and the other, at the mirror image of Jerusalem called Qumran “the Community of the Eternal Covenant.” [8] Since there is “no” restriction for the Melchizedek Order Priests, who were first-born and self-dedicated priests from every tribe, the land could be sold and redeemed at the designated time. To reiterate that Qumran had a separate priesthood, the CS even identifies one location by referring to the High Priest at Qumran calling the structure “the fountain of the High Priest.” [9] That fountain is constructed in the same room identified by the CS as the room for the “Teacher of Righteousness.” The room is called the “residence of the Righteous” named in location L46.
It is difficult for me not to envision the men of the Qumran community as anything other than the mirror image of the heavenly Jerusalem not just the city of Jerusalem. Repeatedly, the CS names buildings and places matching the structures at Qumran today, all damaged, but easy to recognize. One ostentatious building stands strong, withstanding the ages and the attacks of at least two pagan armies with its lower portion almost intact. That building is, or was, the treasury, the building at Qumran with the sloping walls.
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I cannot help but wonder if the deed referred to in Jeremiah chapter 32 is buried in the same cave described in L57 of the Copper Scroll. If it is, will the deed refer to a piece of land far more significant than is apparent? How awesome would it be if the deed were connected to the most important piece in Benjamite territory, in fact, the most important property on Earth…the Temple Mount.
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Answer to the Test Question…The Temple Mount is in the land of Benjamin!
[1] 11Q13 [2] Line 3583, Column AB [3] Strong’s number H7704 [4] Strong’s number H7704 [5] Strong’s number H7704 [6] Jeremiah 1:1 [7] Gen 14:18, Psalms 110:4, Hebrews 7:11 [8] Community Rule Col 5, line 5 [9] Copper Scroll L28