👑 The Sons of Becher: Becher is listed as one of Benjamin’s three sons (along with Bela and Jediael). This verse names his nine sons: Zemira, Joash, Eliezer, Elioenai, Omri, Jerimoth, Abiah, Anathoth, and Alameth.
👑 The Sons of Becher: Becher is listed as one of Benjamin’s three sons (along with Bela and Jediael). This verse names his nine sons: Zemira, Joash, Eliezer, Elioenai, Omri, Jerimoth, Abiah, Anathoth, and Alameth.
Anathoth was a city located in the tribal inheritance of Benjamin, situated about three miles northeast of Jerusalem. Its fame in Scripture rests almost entirely on its association with the prophet Jeremiah and the prophetic events that took place there.
🏛️ A Priestly City
Anathoth was one of the thirteen cities in the territories of Judah, Simeon, and Benjamin that were specifically designated for the priests, the sons of Aaron (Joshua 21:18, KJV). This meant that the town was inhabited by priestly families, whose function was to serve the Lord and instruct the people in the Law.
This priestly heritage provided the setting for the birth and upbringing of one of Israel’s most significant prophets:
“The words of Jeremiah the son of Hilkiah, of the priests that were in Anathoth in the land of Benjamin:” (Jeremiah 1:1, KJV)
The town was a place that should have represented spiritual faithfulness and devotion to the Lord, given its priestly inhabitants.
🛑 A Place of Opposition
Despite its sacred calling, Anathoth became a place of bitter rejection and persecution for its most famous resident. When the prophet Jeremiah began delivering God’s harsh message of impending Babylonian judgment, his own neighbors—the priests and leaders of Anathoth—turned against him violently.
Jeremiah received a divine warning about the conspiracy against him:
“Therefore thus saith the Lord of the men of Anathoth, that seek thy life, saying, Prophesy not in the name of the Lord, that thou die not by our hand: Therefore thus saith the Lord of hosts, Behold, I will punish them: the young men shall die by the sword; their sons and their daughters shall die by famine:” (Jeremiah 11:21-22, KJV)
This opposition from his own priestly kin made Anathoth a painful symbol of the nation’s deep spiritual rebellion against the word of God.
🔑 A Prophetic Sign of Restoration
Anathoth is also the site of one of the most powerful and hopeful symbolic acts in all of Jeremiah’s ministry. While the prophet was imprisoned and the Babylonian siege was underway—a time when all seemed lost—God commanded Jeremiah to purchase a field in his hometown of Anathoth.
Jeremiah obeyed the strange command, buying the field from his cousin Hanamel and signing the transaction with great legal formality:
“And I bought the field of Hanameel my uncle’s son that was in Anathoth, and weighed him the money, even seventeen shekels of silver. And I subscribed the evidence, and sealed it, and took witnesses, and weighed him the money in the balances.” (Jeremiah 32:9-10, KJV)
This purchase, done at the moment of national destruction, was a prophetic sign of the Lord’s promise to ultimately restore the people to the land after the exile:
“For thus saith the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel; Houses and fields and vineyards shall be possessed again in this land.” (Jeremiah 32:15, KJV)
Thus, Anathoth serves as a dual symbol: a place of intense rejection of the prophet, and a sign of the unbreakable hope in God’s ultimate plan of restoration.