Hanameël
Hanam'eël (Heb. Chanamel', חֲנִמאֵל, perh. i.q. Hananeel; Sept. Α᾿ναμεήλ,Vulg. lanameel),-son of Shallum and cousin of Jeremiah, to whom, before the siege of Jerusalem, he sold a field which he possessed in Anathoth, a town of the Levites (Jer 32:6-12). If this field belonged to Hanameel as a Levite, the sale of it would imply that an ancient law had fallen into disuse (Le 25:34); but it is possible that it may have been the property of Hanameel in right of his mother. Compare the case of Barnabas, who was also a Levite; and the note of Grotius on Ac 4:37. Henderson (on Jer 32:7) supposes that a portion of the Levitical estates might be sold within the tribe. Fairbairn (s.v.) suggests that as this was a typical act, the ordinary civil rules do not apply to it. The transaction, however, was conducted with all the forms of legal transfer, at the special instance of Jehovah, and was intended to evince the certainty of restoration from the approaching exile by showing that possessions which could be established by documents would yet be of future value to the possessor (Jer 32:13-15). B.C. 589.
