Read Jeremiah
46-48 & Hebrews
4
To discover:
As you read consider what
we learn about the LORD.
To ponder:
So far the focus
has been on Judah
and Israel . Now
God looks to the nations. First God speaks against the Egyptian army that was
defeated by Nebuchadnezzar at Carchemish
on the river Euphrates . His words may have come just
before the defeat, predicting it, or just after, describing it. He calls the
army to prepare and march out to war. God sees them terrified, retreating and
defeated, and declares neither the swift or strong can escape. He describes Egypt
like the surging Nile who says she will rise and cover
the earth destroying peoples. To this God urges her mercenaries on, but
declares that the day actually belongs to him and is a day of vengeance against
his foes – ie. Egypt ,
in which she will be offered like a sacrifice and the sword devour until
satisfied. He then tells the “virgin daughter of Egypt ”
(stressing vulnerability) to get healing ointment for her wounds, but says she
can multiply remedies but will not be healed. Rather, the nations will hear of
her shame and hear her cries as her warriors fall (46v1-12).
What follows is God’s message about
the coming of Nebuchadnezzar to attack Egypt .
Jeremiah is told to proclaim in three key areas of Egypt
that they are to prepare as the sword devours those around them – presumably
the army at the Euphrates . He states that their warriors
will not stand because God will push them down. And as they stumble they will
tell one-anther to get up and return to their own people and lands away from
their enemy, whose ambitions are just a loud noise and now a wasted opportunity.
The sense here is that mercenaries are in mind who would return to their
countries. At this point God declares that he is the king, the Almighty, and
that one is coming who is like two high mountains in Israel (ie.
Nebuchadnezzar). So he urges the Egyptians to back their belongings for exile,
and describes Egypt
like a beautiful heifer about to be stung by the large gadfly, with her
mercenaries fleeing like calves that have been fattened for the killing – the
day of disaster and punishment. He adds that she is like a fleeing serpent
(implying she is evil) and one whose forest will be chopped down (implying her
humiliation). The Babylonians are described as innumerable like locusts
(46v13-24).
46v25-26 gives the implication: God
is punishing Egypt ’s
gods and kings, and all who rely on Pharoah. He is therefore showing how
impotent they are before him, and by predicting these things through Jeremiah
revealing himself as the true God. No doubt by this means, a number of
Egyptians put their faith in him. But the key thing is that it showed the Jews
who had fled there for safety how misplaced their trust in Egypt
was. So although God promises the Egyptians that Egypt
would be inhabited again as in the past, the oracle ends addressing the
Israelites who had not fled to Egypt
but been taken to Babylon . God
tells them not to fear, promising he will save them from the place of their
exile so they enjoy peace and security, and all because he is with them. He
declares that even if he completely destroys the nations they have been
scattered amongst, he will not completely destroy them. Nevertheless, he will
discipline them with justice (46v27-28). It is here that we can be confident
that God the gates of hell will not prevail against the church, and all God’s
people will be saved on the last day.
Chapter 47 is a word against the
Philistines, looking to Pharoah’s attack on Gaza .
It describes the waters of Egypt
coming from the north like a torrent that will overflow the land causing people
to cry out in terror, and fathers not even to help their children. God declares
this the day to destroy all the Philistines, and the survivors of Egypt ’s
attack on Tyre and Sidon .
The towns are described as mourning and silent, cutting themselves – perhaps in
mourning or to gain the favour of their gods. Jeremiah imagines them asking how
long till the sword of the LORD rests, but states that it cannot as the LORD
has commanded it. Again, the point is that God’s judgement is certain and
terrible.
To Moab ,
God declares ruin, disgrace, conquest, silence and anguish. Instead of being
praised by other nations, the inhabitants of the Israelite city of Heshbon
will plot her downfall (48v1-5). The Moabites are urged to flee, as they, their
god and his priests and officials will be taken captive for trusting in their
deeds and riches. Every town will be laid waste, never to flourish again like
when salt is put on ground, and all because the LORD has spoken (48v6-9).
Jeremiah doesn’t shirk from the implications of what he is saying. He even curses
those in the enemy army who refrain from bloodshed as being lax in God’s work
(48v10)! These oracles reveal God as quite different from the sentimentalized
God of so much modern Christianity.
Jeremiah continues stating that Moab
will be poured out like previously unchanged wine, and will be ashamed of her
god because he proved false. The reference to Israel
trusting in Bethel may be their
trust in an idol they worshipped at Bethel
(48v11-13). Again, God declares himself king, undermining Moab’s confidence in
being worriors, stating their best will be slaughtered, and the mighty sceptre
who once wielded some power will be broken with those around her mourning
(48v14-17). So God commands her people to come down from their glory, and other
stand by the road asking those escaping what happened, and announce with
wailing that Moab
is destroyed under judgement (48v18-25). God calls for her to be made drunk and
wallow in her vomit – images of her reeling and falling under the cup of God’s
wrath. And this is because she defied the LORD and ridiculed Israel
when she suffered God’s wrath, treating her like a thief in need of punishment
(48v26-28). God tells her to leave her towns to find refuge in rocks, and
denounces her pride and boasting as accomplishing nothing. Astonishingly, the
LORD who wreaks such destruction then states how he weeps over it, as he causes
the joy of the vine harvest to cease, and cries rise up as he puts an end to Moab ’s
idolatry. He adds that his heart laments as he considers their lost wealth,
mourning and brokenness, as the nation becomes an object of ridicule
(48v29-39). This is the balance of God’s character we have seen throughout. His
judgement is more terrible than we imagine because sin is. Yet his love is more
extreme too, as he grieves over the justice he must execute.
As with previous oracles, God
declares that as the eagle of Babylon
swoops down, the hearts of Moab ’s
warriors will be like those of women in labour. The nation will be destroyed
for defying God, and any who seem to be escaping will only fall into another
danger so that Moab’s year of punishment is received. 48v45 pictures fugitives
standing in the shadow of the Israelite city of Heshbon ,
and suffering fire from the people there. This alludes to Num 21v21-31,
implying perhaps that just as the Amorites once conquered Moab
so Babylon now would, possibly with
Heshbon as their base. Whatever the case, God declares the Moabites will be
taken into exile, but that he will one day restore the fortunes of Moab
as he would Egypt
(48v46-47, see 46v26).
Praying it
home:
Praise God that he
is both extremely just and extremely loving. Pray that you would grasp
something of the seriousness of sin an the extent of his grace.
Thinking
further:
None
today.
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