General Heading To The Whole Section.

Jer 49:1

‘The word of YHWH which came to Jeremiah the prophet concerning the nations.’

We have repeated this verse here so as to put what follows in context. Here we have an indication of what this final main section, commencing at Jer 46:1, is all about. It deals with YHWH’s ‘powerful word’ (dbr YHWH) against all the nations which were affecting Judah/Israel at that time. It indicated that YHWH’s judgment would be active against such nations. It must be remembered that during the time of Jeremiah’s prophecies following Josiah’s death in 609 BC, Babylon was the dominant nation in the ancient Near Eastern world, and we therefore learn from these prophecies how their tentacles would embrace all the nations round about, bringing YHWH’s judgment on them. None would escape their attention. But the final important point is that in the end Babylon itself would succumb, overtaken by judgment from the north. In contrast God’s people would arise triumphantly from the ashes. Jeremiah’s message was thus that against all appearances it was to be recognised that God was still in control.

Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett

Judgment Against Ammon ( Jer 49:1-6 ).

Ammon were a fierce, half-civilised nation beyond the eastern borders of Israel and Moab, with their further borders connecting with the deserts of Arabia with their ferocious, wandering tribes and oasis ‘cities’. They were the chief worshippers of Molech (Melech, Malcom), their fierce, child-sacrifice demanding, tribal god, (although his worship spread much wider and was well known in Canaan) and were very much a tribal society. They regularly joined with their more sophisticated neighbours Moab in joint-alliance (e.g. Judges 3, 11), eponymously enjoying descent from a similar source through Lot (Gen 19:37-38).

In Ammon’s case a charge is brought against them of having wrongly infringed against Judah/Israel in that they had taken advantage of Israel’s misfortunes by seizing land in Gad (southern Gilead), east of the Jordan, possibly after Gad was partially depopulated by the transfer of many of its inhabitants elsewhere by Tiglath Pileser III and the Assyrians (2Ki 15:29). They also later joined with Nebuchadrezzar in helping to put down Judah’s rebellion in 600-597 BC (2Ki 24:2), although they probably then had little choice. They were a subject nation. The fact that there is no mention of the part their king played in the assassination of Gedaliah (Jer 40:13 to Jer 41:15) serves to confirm that the prophecy is earlier than that event. So they were a constant thorn in the side of Israel/Judah. But their main fault was in exalting Molech at the expense of YHWH.

Jer 49:1

‘Of the children of Ammon. Thus says YHWH,

“Has Israel no sons?

Has he no heir?

Why then does Malcam (Molech) possess Gad,

And his people dwell in its cities?”

Ammon could not deny its belligerence against Judah/Israel for it was firmly encamped on their territory. It was on land that would not have been totally denuded of its inhabitants by the exile of its leading citizens, and it had not therefore been totally uninhabited. Thus Ammon’s act was an act of seizure. But worse was the fact that they were treating it as though it was Molech’s land, the possession of their evil god, and no doubt boasting that it was theirs because Molech was more powerful than YHWH. Thus YHWH enquires as to what right they have to be settled there, acting as though it was their possession, dwelling in its cities, and denying YHWH’s right to decide ownership, when there were currently Israelites available to possess it. By force of arms they had replaced YHWH by Molech, and then given the credit to Molech. It was now therefore necessary for Molech’s inadequacy to be exposed.

Jer 49:2

“Therefore, behold, the days come,

The word of YHWH,

That I will cause an alarm of war to be heard,

Against Rabbah of the children of Ammon,

And it will become a desolate heap,

And her daughters will be burned with fire,

Then will Israel possess them,

Those who did possess him,

The word of YHWH.”

As a result of this the future was not bright for Ammon. The day was coming, as revealed in the prophetic word of YHWH (neum YHWH), when the alarm would be sounded against the capital city of Ammon. And, as the destructive invaders advanced, this would result in its becoming a desolate heap, along with its daughter towns, which would be burned with fire. And after this Israel would possess those who had once possessed them, in accordance with YHWH’s prophetic word. What they had done to Israel, Israel would do to them. Gad would once more be Israel’s. Rabbah was situated on the Jabbok, fourteen miles north-east of Heshbon, and was the capital city of Ammon.

We have in this a reminder that God is so gracious that He watches over even His erring people. He may chasten them for a time, even severely, but it is in order that they might be restored and brought back within the promises. On the other hand those who misuse God’s people will themselves be misused.

Jer 49:3

“Wail, O Heshbon, for Ai is laid waste,

Cry, you daughters of Rabbah,

Gird yourselves with sackcloth,

Lament, and run to and fro within the fences,

For Malcam will go into captivity,

His priests and his princes together.”

Heshbon was a fortress city which had been the capital of Sihon’s empire (Num 21:26-27; Num 21:34; Jos 13:10) and had been taken over by Israel (Jos 13:10; Jdg 11:26). It had probably become a Moabite city, taken from the Israelites (Jer 48:34; Jer 48:45). But at this point it was apparently in Ammonite hands (compare Jer 48:2). It would appear, therefore, that it was not only on Israel that Ammon was preying. Ammon had become strong and was taking advantage of its neighbours.

The idea here may be that of the standpoint of the people in Heshbon as they will run around in panic within their strong walls at what they learn concerning what is happening around them, especially to the city of Ai. Neighbouring Ai (which means ‘a ruin’ and is not the Ai of Joshua 7) has been laid waste. But the word for ‘fences’ is not usually used of city walls. It rather indicates the fences and walls around sheepfolds and vineyards. There may therefore be in this a hint both of their prosperity (many sheepfolds and vineyards) and of their vulnerability (what protection was offered by sheep fences and vineyard walls against the great invader from the North?). It is a reminder that our wealth cannot help us in the day of calamity.

The ‘daughters of Rabbah’ (Rabbah being the capital city of Ammon) are either the womenfolk of Rabbah, or alternatively its surrounding towns and villages looked on as offspring (compare the use in Jos 15:45; Jos 15:47; Jdg 11:26). Either way the Ammonites are called on to wail at what is coming on them, and especially on their god Molech (Malcam). The mighty Molech would be humbled by being dragged off into captivity (compare the vivid picture in Isa 46:1-2 of when the Babylonian gods were humbled by the Assyrians), along with his priests and princes. His helplessness, and the helplessness of those who had trusted in him, would be apparent to all.

Jer 49:4

“Why do you glory in the valleys,

Your flowing valley, O backsliding daughter?

Who trusted in her treasures,

Saying, “Who shall come to me?”

Like Moab Ammon had also declared her own invulnerability. Such had been her self-confidence, and her certainty of her own strength (a strength partly based on her remoteness), that she had declared, ‘Who shall come to me?’, confident that no one could or would touch her. But now she is warned not to trust in her prosperity and wealth, her fruitful valleys and her treasures (much of it gained by raiding her neighbours), for on the horizon a dark shadow is looming. We are reminded here of the words of Jesus Christ concerning the need to seek treasure in Heaven rather than to trust in earthly treasures (Mat 6:19 ff).

On the basis of a parallel Ugaritic word it has been suggested that the word for ‘valley’ should be translated ‘strength’. But the idea is the same whichever we accept, for her prosperity was her strength.

Jer 49:5-6

“Behold, I will bring a fear upon you,

The word of the Lord, YHWH of hosts,

From all who are round about you,

And you will be driven out every man right forth,

And there will be none to gather together the fugitives,

But afterward I will bring back the captivity of the children of Ammon,

The word of YHWH.”

For in accordance with the prophetic word of YHWH (repeated twice, once with a special emphasis on His sovereignty) they who had been so arrogant would be in fear of all their neighbours, and would be driven out, every one of them, straight before them. The haste with which they would leave, and the completeness of the desertion, is made apparent in the fact that none of them will be available to help other fugitives in the face of the invaders. In the face of the invaders from the north none would be able to stand firm. It is a reminder of the devastation of such warfare. The cruel enemy raped and slew all whom they came across. There was no alternative but to flee, some to the mountains, others to neighbouring countries which would provide refuge..

But as with Egypt and Moab, once their punishment is over they will be restored. God will not make a full end of them. His mercy is made apparent. Afterwards the exiles would return, and in Neh 2:10; Neh 2:19; Neh 4:7 we learn of their existence under Persian rule under their local governor Tobiah.

Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett

Prophecy Of Judgment On The Nations Continued ( Jer 49:1 to Jer 51:64 ).

Having learned that judgment was coming on Egypt, Philistia and Moab, we now go on to learn that it will also visit Ammon, Edom, Damascus, Arabia, Elam and then Babylon itself. None are immune from God’s judgment.

Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett

Jer 49:1-6 Prophecy Against the Ammonites Jer 49:1-6 is a prophecy against the Ammonites.

Jer 49:7-22 Prophecy Against Edom Jer 49:7-22 is a prophecy against Edom.

Jer 49:19 Behold, he shall come up like a lion from the swelling of Jordan against the habitation of the strong: but I will suddenly make him run away from her: and who is a chosen man, that I may appoint over her? for who is like me? and who will appoint me the time? and who is that shepherd that will stand before me?

Jer 49:19 “Behold, he shall come up like a lion from the swelling of Jordan” Comments Perhaps the lions inhabited the banks of the Jordan River, waiting for animals to come and drink, similar to the way lions prey upon animals in Africa today.

Jer 49:23-27 Prophecy Against Damascus Jer 49:23-27 is a prophecy against Damascus.

Jer 49:28-33 Prophecy Against Kedar and Hazor – Jer 49:28-33 is a prophecy against Kedar and the kingdoms of Hazor.

Jer 49:34-39 Prophecy Against Elam – Jer 49:34-39 is a prophecy against Elam. It tells of the destruction and future restoration of the people of Elam, just as the Lord told Jeremiah to do, saying, “See, I have this day set thee over the nations and over the kingdoms, to root out, and to pull down, and to destroy, and to throw down, to build, and to plant.” This prophecy is dated in the beginning of the reign of Zedekiah (597 to 587 B.C).

Jer 49:35 Thus saith the LORD of hosts; Behold, I will break the bow of Elam, the chief of their might.

Jer 49:35 Comments – We know from Scriptures that the Elamites were archers. Strabo alludes to these archery skills ( Geography 11.13.6). [31] They had born the quiver against the children of Israel (see Isa 22:6), and now they must be punished.

[31] Strabo writes, ““Media is bounded on the east by Parthia, and by the mountains of the Cosssei, a predatory tribe. They once furnished the Elymasi, whose allies they were in the war against the Susii and Babylonians, with 13,000 archers.” ( Geography 11.13.6) See Strabo, The Geography of Strabo, vol. 1, trans. W. Falconer, in Bohn’s Classical Library (London: George Bell and Sons, 1903), 264.

Isa 22:6, “And Elam bare the quiver with chariots of men and horsemen, and Kir uncovered the shield.”

Fuente: Everett’s Study Notes on the Holy Scriptures

Prophecies Against the Nations Jer 46:1 to Jer 51:64 consists of a collection of nine prophecies against the nations surrounding the land of Israel. The Lord had spoken to Jeremiah during his divine commission and said, “Then the LORD put forth his hand, and touched my mouth. And the LORD said unto me, Behold, I have put my words in thy mouth. See, I have this day set thee over the nations and over the kingdoms, to root out, and to pull down, and to destroy, and to throw down, to build, and to plant.” (Jer 1:9-10)

1. Prophecy Against Egypt Jer 46:2-28

2. Prophecy Against the Philistines Jer 47:1-7

3. Prophecy Against Moab Jer 48:1-47

4. Prophecy Against the Ammonites Jer 49:1-6

5. Prophecy Against Edom Jer 49:7-22

6. Prophecy Against Damascus Jer 49:23-27

7. Prophecy Against Kedar and Hazor Jer 49:28-33

8. Prophecy Against Elam Jer 49:34-39

9. Prophecy Against Babylon Jer 50:1 to Jer 51:64

Fuente: Everett’s Study Notes on the Holy Scriptures

Against Ammon

v. 1. Concerning the Ammonites, literally, “Against the children of Ammon,” thus saith the Lord, Hath Israel no sons? Hath he no heir? someone who may legitimately take possession of the land which was now left vacant, since Israel had been led away into exile. Why, then, doth their king, the ruler of the Ammonites, inherit Gad, the territory of this tribe, east of the Jordan, and his people dwell in his cities? “Judah was by right of kindred the heir, not Ammon; but Ammon joined with Nebuchadnezzar against Judah and Jerusalem, 2Ki 24:2, and exulted over its fall, Psa 83:4-8; Eph 2:8-9. It had already in the days of Jeroboam, in Israel’s affliction, tried to enlarge its border, 2Ki 14:26; Amo 1:1. ”

v. 2. Therefore, behold, the days come, saith the Lord, that I will cause an alarm of war to be heard in Rabbah of the Ammonites, their capital; and it shall be a desolate heap, literally, “a hill of desolation,” a pile of ruins; and her daughters, her suburbs, the smaller cities and towns within her sphere of influence, shall be burned with fire; then shall Israel be heir unto them that were his heirs, saith the Lord, be in a position once more to occupy the land which the Ammonites had gotten by unfair means. On account of this misfortune, wailing and lamenting would be in order in the land of the Ammonites.

v. 3. Howl, O Heshbon, at that time occupied by the Ammonites, for Ai is spoiled, had already been subdued by the invaders; cry, ye daughters of Rabbah, the towns and villages near the capital, gird you with sackcloth, in token of deep mourning; lament and run to and fro by the hedges, in the fenced encampment, such as were quickly erected out in the open fields, since the cities no longer offered any protection; for their king shall go into captivity, in this case their idol Melchom, with whom the heathen king was pleased to identify himself, and his priests and his princes together. Cf Amo 1:15. The reason for the Lord’s punishment upon Ammon is now set forth, as the prophet pictures the pride, the stubbornness, and the security of its inhabitants.

v. 4. Wherefore gloriest thou in the valleys, thy flowing valley, flowing with abundance, with milk and honey, O backsliding daughter? so called because the children of Ammon had denied their descent from Lot and had turned to idolatry, that trusted in her treasures, in her wealth of resources and goods, saying, Who shall come unto me? namely, in a hostile attack. The Ammonites boasted that no enemy could successfully launch a campaign against their land.

v. 5. Behold, I will bring a fear upon thee, saith the Lord God of hosts, from all those that be about thee, whose misfortune and overthrow would bring terror upon them; and ye shall be driven out, every man, right forth, straight ahead, without turning; and none shall gather up him that wandereth, make any attempt to bring about so much as a semblance of order among the scattered fugitives. According to secular accounts the overthrow of Ammon took place in the fifth year after the destruction of Jerusalem, after King Baalis had executed the murder of Gedaliah, Jer 40:14.

v. 6. And afterward I will bring again the captivity of the children of Ammon, saith the Lord, for in their case also the Messianic promises were held out to all those who would return to the Lord in true repentance.

Fuente: The Popular Commentary on the Bible by Kretzmann

EXPOSITION

On Ammon, Edom, Damascus, Kedar and Hazer, and Elam.

Jer 49:1-3

The violence of the Ammonites shall be severely punished.

Jer 49:1

Hath Israel no sons! The violent seizure, perpetrated before his eyes, of parts of the sacred territory, forces the indignant question from the prophet, “How can these things be?” It was so on a former occasion (see Jer 2:14), and it is so again, now that the Ammonites are occupying the land of the Gadites. True, the present generation has lost its property, but the next is the heir to all its rights and privileges. Their king; rather, their Kingtheir Melech or Moloch; it is the heavenly, not the earthly king who is referred to (so in Amo 1:15; Zep 1:5). The Septuagint, the Syriac, and the Vulgate, however, read Milcom, which was the name of the Ammonite deity; this is only a different vocalizing of the consonants of the text. The actual vowel points give “malcam.” This reading may, of course, be interpreted of the earthly king of the Ammonites. But this view ignores the obvious parallelism of Jer 48:7, “Chemosh shall go forth into captivity.” Inherit. The primary meaning of the word is “to take possession of, especially by force, 1Ki 21:6” (Gesenius, ad voc.), and this is the sense evidently required here (comp. Jer 8:10).

Jer 49:2

The punishment of Ammon. Its capital, Rabbah (see 2Sa 12:26, 2Sa 12:27), and the “daughter” cities, shall be laid waste. The alarm of war (“alarm” equivalent to “shout”), as in Jer 4:19. A desolate heap. Fortified towns were built on “heaps, or slight elevations (comp. on Jer 30:18), the Hebrew name for which (in the singular) is tel. The “heap” and the ruins of the town together are aptly called a “heap of desolation.” Then shall Israel be heir, etc.; rather, then shall Israel dispossess those who dispossessed him (comp. Jer 4:1). The form of the phrase reminds us of Isa 14:2.

Jer 49:3

Heshbon. Here mentioned as de jure a Gadite, but de facto an Ammonitish, town; in Num 21:26 it appears as “the city of Sihon” the Amorite. In Isa 15:4 and Isa 16:9 it is reckoned to the Moabites. There was a continual warfare between the neigh-bouring tribes of Reuben and Gad on the one hand, and the Moabites and Ammonites on the other. Let Heshbon lament, because Ai is spoiled. The introduction of At, which is only known to us as a Canaanitish town, near Bethel, on the wrong side of the Jordan for Moab, is startling. It is replied that we have no list of the Ammonitish cities, and that there may have been another town named At. The reply is valid; but loaves a second difficulty untouched, viz. that the mention of a third place destroys the continuity of thought. First, we are made acquainted with the fall of Rabbah; then Heshbon (probably the second place in the country) is called upon to wail because x has been taken by storm; then the populations of the “daughter” cities are summoned to join in the lamentation over Rabbah;is it not reasonable to conclude that the subject of the mourning is one and the same? Now, it is well known that the received text abounds in small errors arising from the confusion of similar Hebrew letters, and that among the letters most easily confounded are yod and resh. Is it not an obvious conclusion that for Ai we should rather read Ar (“the city”), a name as suitable for the capital of Ammon as for that of Moab? It is true that we have no example elsewhere of Rabbah being called by the name of Ar; but in 2Sa 10:3, 2Sa 10:14 it is described as “the city,” and we have to be on our guard against the argument a silentiothat favourite weapon of destructive criticism! Since a conjecture must be made, it is more respectful to the prophet to choose the one which is most suitable to the context. Daughters of Rabbah; i.e. unwalled towns (as in 2Sa 10:2). Run to and fro by the hedges; rather, by the enclosures; i.e. wander about in the open country, seeking a lodging place in the enclosures of the sheepfolds (so Num 32:24, Hebrew) or the vineyards (so Num 22:24, Hebrew). Their king; or, Milcom (see on 2Sa 10:1).

Jer 49:4

The valleys; i.e. long extended plains, such as were suitable for cornfields (Isa 17:5; Ps 65:14), and such as characterized the territory of the Ammonites. Thy flowing valley. “Flowing;” that is, abounding with rich crops. The meaning of the phrase, however, is only probable.

Jer 49:5

The Ammonitish community dissolved; every one earing for himself. Every man right forth; i.e. straight before him, in a wild panic which expels every thought but that of self-preservation. Him that wandereth. Collectively for “the wanderers,” i.e. the fugitives. So it is said of the Babylonians, that they are “like sheep with none to gather them.”

Jer 49:6

Revival of the Ammonites (see on Jer 48:47).

Jer 49:7-10

A startling picture of the judgment impending over Edom, the severity of which is to be inferred from the behaviour of the sufferers. Observe, no allusion is made by Jeremiah to any special bitter feeling of the Edomites towards the Israelites, such as is implied in Isa 34:1-17; Eze 35:1-15, and other passages. With regard to the fulfilment of the prophecy, we may fairly quote in the first place Mal 1:2-4. The agents in the desolation there referred to (still fresh in Malachi’s recollection) are probably the Nabathaeans (an Arab race, though writing Aramaic), who, after occupying Edom, dropped their nomad habits, devoted themselves to commerce, and founded the kingdom of Arabia Petraea. Meantime the Edomites maintained an independent existence in the midst of the Jewish colonists, till John Hyrcanus compelled them to accept circumcision about B.C. 130. In spite of this enforced religious and political union, the Edomites remained perfectly conscious of their nationality, and we find them mentioned as a distinct factor in the community in Josephus’ account of the great Jewish war. They pass away from history after the destruction of Jerusalem, A.D. 70.

Jer 49:7

Teman was celebrated for its “wisdom,” i.e. for a practical moral philosophy, similar to that which we find in the less distinctly religions portions of the Book of Proverbs. It was this “wisdom” which formed the common element in the higher culture of the Semitic peoples, and of which the sacred narrator speaks when he says that “Solomon’s wisdom excelled the wisdom of all the children of the east country” (1Ki 4:30). One of Job’s friends, Eliphaz, was a Temanite (Job 2:11). From verse 20, however, it appears that Teman is here used for Edom in general, of which it formed a part. “Wisdom” was doubtless cultivated throughout Idumaea (Oba 1:8), the “land of Uz,” in which Job dwelt, was probably in the east of Edom (see on Jer 25:20). Is their wisdom vanished? The Hebrew, with its characteristic love for material symbols, has, “Is their wisdom poured out?” So in Jer 19:7, “I will pour out [a different word, however, is used] the counsel of Judah.” The body being regarded as a vessel, it was natural to represent the principle of life, both physical (Isa 53:12) and intellectual (as here), under the symbol of a liquid.

Jer 49:8

Turn back. The grammatical form is peculiar (literally, be made to turn back). If the punctuation is not an oversight the object is to suggest the compulsiveness of the change of route of the Dedanites. Dwell deep; i.e. tarry in the deepest recesses ye can find, so as to avoid the calamities of the Edomites. The Dedanites, it will be remembered, were a tribe devoted to commerce (see on Jer 25:23). Isaiah had already, on an earlier occasion, given the same advice as Jeremiah, viz. to leave the beaten track and take refuge in a less exposed part of the desert, where shrubs and thorn bushes (“the forest,” or rather, “the thickets”) would secure them to some extent from observation (Isa 21:13). See, however, verse 10.

Jer 49:9

If grape gatherers, etc. Jeremiah modifies his original in Oba 1:5; the interrogative clauses here become affirmative. Render, If vintagers come to thee, they will not leave any gleanings: if thieves by night, they destroy what is sufficient for them.

Jer 49:10

But, etc.; rather, for. The verse gives the reason why the destruction is so complete. “It is I, Jehovah, who made Esau bare,” etc. “Esau,” i.e. Edom (Gen 25:30). His seed; i.e. the Edomites. His brethren, or kinsmen; i.e. the Amalekites (Gen 36:12). His neighbours; i.e. the tribes of Dedan, Terns, and Buz (Jer 25:23).

Jer 49:11-13

A merciful mitigation of the prophet’s stern threat. The true God will provide for the widows and orphans, if Edom will but commit them to him. And let not Edom think it strange that he is punished; for even Israel, the chosen people, has drunk of the bitter cup. Yea, Jehovah has sworn “by himself” that all Edom’s cities shall be laid waste.

Jer 49:11

Leave thy fatherless children, etc. The invitation means more than might be supposed. It is equivalent to a promise of the revival of the Edomitish people (comp. on Jer 46:26; Jer 48:47).

Jer 49:12

Whose judgment was not, etc.; rather, to whom it was not due, etc. Jehovah condescends to speak from a human point of view. ‘So, in Isa 28:21, the punishment of Jerusalem is celled his “strange work.” Have assuredly drunken; rather, shall surely drink.

Jer 49:13

Bozrah. This seems to have been at one time the capital of Edom (see Amo 1:12; Isa 34:6; Isa 63:1). It was a hill city (comp. on Jer 49:16); a village called Busaira (i.e. little Bozrah) now stands among its ruins. Perpetual wastes. A phrase characteristic of Jeremiah (see also Jer 25:9) and of the second part of Isaiah (Isa 58:12; Isa 61:4).

Jer 49:14-18

Based at first on the older prophecy (see Oba 1:1-4); then follow two verses in Jeremiah’s peculiar manner. As yet Edom feels himself secure in his rocky home. But a Divine impulse already stirs the nation, through whom Jehovah wills to humble the proud. Edom shall become a second Sodom.

Jer 49:14

I have heard a rumour. In Obadiah it is “we have heard,” i.e. the company of prophets (comp. Isa 53:1, “Who hath believed our report?” according to one interpretation). Jeremiah, to justify his adoption of the outward form of his prophecy, declares that he is personally responsible for its substance. “Rumour,” or as the word is elsewhere rendered, “report,” is a technical term for a prophetic revelation (Oba 1:1; Isa 28:9, Isa 28:19; Isa 53:1; comp. Isa 21:10; Isa 28:22); and it is from this Old Testament usage that acquires its special meaning in Rom 10:16, Rom 10:17. In fact, , or bearing, is a more exact equivalent of the original. A prophet is one who has “listened in the council of God” (Job 15:8, corrected version; comp. Amo 3:7), and “when the Lord Jehovah hath spoken, who can but prophesy?” (Amo 3:8). Prophetic perception of Divine truth is so exceptional a thing that it can only be expressed approximately in terms of everyday life. One while it may be called a “hearing,” a “report,” another while a “vision” or “intuition.” He who makes to hear or see is, of course, Jehovah, through the objective influence of his Spirit. It is important to study the Biblical phraseology, which has a depth of meaning too often overlooked, owing to the blunter edge which time has given to our modern speech. An ambassador; rather, a herald. Unto the heathen; rather, unto the nations. There is no religious idea involved; the word goyim literally means “nations,” and there is no reason for deviating from the primary sense. In the next verse it is even more necessary to make this correction.

Jer 49:16

Thy terribleness. This is certainly the best rendering of this . The “terribleness” of Edom consisted in the fact that the other nations shrank from disturbing her in her rocky fastness. In the clefts of the rock. Probably with an allusion to the rock city Sela, or Petra (“rock”); as perhaps in “the height of the hill” to the situation of Bozrah; see on Jer 49:13 (Graf). As the eagle. Not any eagle is meant, but the griffon (Gypsfulvus), or great vulture (Tristram).

Jer 49:17

A desolation; rather, an astonishment. The word is from the same root as the following verb. The phrase is characteristic of Jeremiah, who has no scruple in repeating a forcible expression, and so enforcing an important truth (comp. Jer 25:11, Jer 25:38; Jer 1:1-19 :23; Jer 51:43). What so “astonishing” as the reverses of once flourishing kingdoms! For the Bible knows nothing of the “necessity” of the decay and death of nations. The “covenant” which Jehovah offers contains the pledge of indestructibility. Everyone that goeth by it, etc. Another self-reminiscence (see Jer 19:8).

Jer 49:18

As in the overthrow, etc.; comp. Deu 29:2, which explains the reference in “the neighbour cities” (Admah and Zeboim). The verse is repeated in Jer 50:40; It does not, of course, mean that rite and brimstone should be the agents of destruction (nor is even Isa 34:9 to be understood literally), but that the desolate appearance of Edom should remind of that of the neighbourhood of the Dead Sea (comp. Isa 13:19; Amo 4:11).

Jer 49:19-22

Figures descriptive of the unique physical qualities of the destined conqueror of Edom. Both figures have been used before (see Jer 4:7; Jer 48:40).

Jer 49:19

He shall some. The subject is withheld, as in Jer 46:18 (see note); Jer 48:40. The swelling of Jordan; rather, the pride of Jordan; i.e. the luxuriant thickets on its banks. See on Jer 12:5, where the phrase first occurs. Against the habitation of the strong; rather, to the evergreen pasture. The word rendered “evergreen” is one of those which are the despair of interpreters, from their fulness of meaning. The root-meaning is simply “continuance,” whether it be continuance of strength (comp. Mic 6:2, Hebrew) or of the flow of a stream (Deu 21:4; Amo 5:24), or, as here, of the perennial verdure of a well watered pasturage. But I will suddenly make him run away from her. Make whom? The lion? Such is the natural inference from the Authorized Version, but the context absolutely forbids it. It seems useless to mention the crowd of explanations which have been offered of this “obscure and much-vexed passage,” as old Matthew Poole calls it, since in Jer 50:44 we have precisely the same phrase, but with another suffix, which clears up the meaning. We may, therefore, either read, “For I will suddenly make them run away from it” (viz. the pasture), or keep the old reading “him” for “them,” and explain “him” as meaning the Edomites. The expression used for “suddenly” is very forcible; we might render, with Ewald, “in the twinkling of an eye.” And who is a chosen man, etc.? A still more difficult clause. If the text is correct, which cannot be assumed as certain, we should probably render, with Ewald, “and will appoint over it [i.e. the land of Edom] him who is chosen,” viz. Nebuchadnezzar. Who will appoint me the time? The same phrase is rendered in Job 9:19, “Who shall set me a time to plead?” (comp. the Latin phrase dicur dicere). To drag a defendant before the tribunal implies equality of rank. One might venture to do this with Nebuchadnezzar, if he were not the representative of One still mightier. Finally, Who is that shepherd that will stand before me? The land of Edom has been likened to a pasture; it is natural that the ruler should be now described as a shepherd (comp. Jer 29:1-32 :34)

Jer 49:20

The counsel of the Lord. At first sight this appears to detract from the perfection of Jehovah. But another prophet declares that the Divine “counsels” are “framed” from eternity (Isa 22:11; Isa 37:26). Surely the least, etc.; rather, Surely they shall drag them along, the weak ones of the flock; surely their pasture shall be appalled at them. Such is the sad fate of the sheep, now that the resistance of their shepherd has been overpowered. “The weak ones of the flock” is a phrase quite in Jeremiah’s manner; its opposite is “the noble ones of the flock” (Jer 25:34).

Jer 49:21

Is moved; rather, quaketh (as Jer 8:16). It is a pity that the Authorized Version has not preserved the present tense throughout the verse. The prophet seems to see his prediction realized before him. In the Red Sea; rather, beside the Bed Sea; comp. 1Ki 9:26, “Eloth, on the shore of the Red Sea, in the land of Edom.”

Jer 49:22

Behold, he shall come up Bozrah. Repeated from Jer 48:40, with the substitution of “Bozrah” for “Moab,” and the addition of “and he shall come up” from Jer 48:19. For “Bozrah,” see on Jer 48:13. And at that day. Repeated from Jer 48:41 (latter half), with the exception that “Edom” stands for “Moab.”

Jer 49:23-27

The heading Concerning Damascus is too limited (like that of the partly parallel prophecy in Isa 17:1-11); for the prophecy relates, not only to Damascus, the capital of the kingdom of southeastern Aram (or Syria), but to Hamath, the capital of the northern kingdom. (The third of the Aramaean kingdoms, that of Zobah, had ceased to exist.) Damascus had already been threatened by Amos (Amo 1:3-5), and by Isaiah (Isa 17:1-11). We may infer from the prophecy that Damascus had provoked the hostility of Nebuchadnezzar, but we have as yet no monumental evidence as to the facts.

Jer 49:23

Hamath. Still an important city under the name of Hamah, situated to the north of Hums (Emesa), on the Orontes. It formed nominally the boundary of the kingdom of Israel (Num 34:8; Jos 13:5), was actually a part of the empire of Solomon (2Ch 8:4), and was conquered for a short time by Jeroboam II. (2Ki 14:25). Under Sargon it was fully incorporated into the Assyrian empire (comp. Isa 10:9); rebellious populations were repeatedly transplanted into the territory of Hamath. Arpad. Always mentioned together with Hamath, whose fate it appears to have shared (Isa 10:9). A tell, or hill, with ruins, about three (German) miles from Aleppo, still bears the name Erfad (Zeitschrift of the German Oriental Society, 25:655). There is sorrow on the sea, etc.; i.e. even the sea participates in the agitation of that troublous time: somewhat as in Hab 3:10 the sea is represented as sympathizing in the terror produced by a Divine manifestation. But by the slightest possible emendation (viz. of caph into beth) we obtain a more natural sense”with an unrest as of the sea, which cannot be quiet.” In Isa 57:20 we read, “For the ungodly are like the troubled sea, for it cannot be quiet;” and it can hardly be doubted that Jeremiah is alluding to this passage. If he altered it at all, it would be in the direction of greater smoothness rather than the reverse. Not a few manuscripts of Jeremiah actually have this corrected reading, which should probably be adopted.

Jer 49:25

Hew is the city of praise not left, etc.! A difficult passage. The construction, indeed, is plain. “How is not,” etc. I can only mean “How is it that the city of praise is not,” etc.?. The difficulty lies in the word rendered “left.” The ordinary meaning of the verb, when applied to cities, is certainly “to leave without inhabitants;” e.g. Jer 4:29; Isa 7:16; Isa 32:14. This, however, does not suit the context, which shows that “the daughter of Damascus” personified is the speaker, so that verse 25 ought rather to mean, “How is it that the city of praise is [not, ‘is not’] forsaken?” Either, then, we must suppose that “not” has been inserted by mistakea too arbitrary step, seeing that there is no negative in the context to account for the insertion (the case is different, therefore, from Job 21:30; Job 27:15, where such an insertion is at any rate justifiable); or else we must give uzzebhah the sense of “let go free” (comp. Exo 23:5; Deu 32:36; Job 10:1). It is the obstinate incredulity of love which refuses to admit the possibility of the destruction of the loved object. The city of praise. The city which is my “praise,” or boast. Few cities, in fact, have had so long and brilliant an existence as Damascus.

Jer 49:27

And I will kindly, etc. A combination of clauses from Amo 1:14 and Amo 1:4. Three several kings of Damascus bore the name of Ben-hadad: one the contemporary of King Baasha of Samaria; another, of Ahab; a third, of Joash.

Jer 49:28-33

Against the nomad and partly settled Arabsthe former described under the name Kedar (see on Jer 2:10), the latter under that of Hazor (connected with hazer, an unwalled village; comp. Le Jer 25:31). This use of Hazer is remarkable; elsewhere the name denotes towns in Palestine (Jos 11:1; Jos 15:23; Neh 11:33). There are two plainly marked strophes, Jer 49:28-30 and Jer 49:31-33, both beginning with a summons to the foe to take the field.

Jer 49:28

Hazer (i.e. the settled Arabs) is said to have kingdoms. “King” is used in Hebrew in a wider sense than we are accustomed to (comp. Jer 25:24, “All the kings of Arabia”). The “kings” of Hazer would be mere sheikhs or emirs. Shall smite; rather, smote. There is no justification whatever for the future. The statement is obviously a later addition, to show that the prophecy was fulfilled. On the form “Nebuchadrezzar,” see on Jer 21:2. The men of the east. A general designation of the inhabitants of all the countries in the east of Palestine (Gen 29:1; Jdg 6:3; Job 1:3).

Jer 49:29

All the possessions of the nomad are here mentionedfirst his tents and his flocks; then the hangings of which the tent is composed (Jer 4:20; Jer 10:20), and the vessels which it contains; and finally the camels which the Arab rides, not to mention their other uses. All this shall be ruthlessly appropriated by the Chaldean invaders. Fear is on every side. Again Jeremiah’s motto recurs (see on Jer 6:25). It expresses here, not the war cry itself, but the result produced by it.

Jer 49:30

The prophet turns to the Arabs in villages who have still more to tempt the cupidity of plunderers, and urges them to flee while there is still time. Dwell deep (see on Jer 49:8). Against you. This is the reading of the Septuagint (Alex. MS.), the Targum, the Vulgate, and many extant Hebrew manuscripts. The received text, however, has “against them.” Such alternations of person have met us again and again, and there is no occasion to doubt the ordinary reading.

Jer 49:31

How easy is the expedition to which the Chaldean army is invited!it is a mere holiday march. Resistance is impossible, for an enemy has never been dreamed of. The tribes of Hazer are not, indeed, a wealthy nation, for they have but little wealth to tempt either the conqueror or the merchant; they “live alone;” they are an uncommercial and unwarlike, but a profoundly “tranquil, nation, that dwelleth securely [or, ‘confidently’]”a description reminding us of Jdg 8:7; Eze 38:11. In their idyllic, patriarchal state they feel no need of walls with their accompanying double gates (the gates of ancient cities were so large that they were divided) and bars. Like Israel in the prophetic vision (Num 23:9), “they dwell alone.”

Jer 49:32

Them that are in the utmost corners. Another of Jeremiah’s characteristic phrases, which should rather be tendered, the corner clipped (i.e. having the hair cut off about the ears and temples; see on Jer 9:26). From all sides. “Nebuchadnezzar will so arrange his troops that the Bedaween [but the people of Hazer were not Bedaween, i.e. desert Arabs] will be surrounded on all sides, and, being thus unable to escape in a body, will be scattered to ‘all the winds,’ to the four quarters of the earth” (Dr. Payne Smith).

Jer 49:33

The same fate predicted for Hazor as for Edom (Jer 49:18). Dragons; rather, jackals (see on Jer 10:22).

Jer 49:34-39

Concerning Elam. The title places this prophecy later than these in Je 48:1-49:33; viz. at the beginning of the reign of Zedekiah. From this filet, and from the absence of any reference to Nebuchadnezzar as the instrument of Elam’s humiliation, Ewald conjectures that the Elamites had been concerned in the events which led to the dethronement and captivity of Jehoiachin. Dr. Payne Smith is inclined to accept this hypothesis, remarking that the Elamites “appear perpetually as the allies of Merodach-baladan and his sons in their struggles for independence.” We are not yet, however, in possession of information as to the relations of Elam to the great Babylonian empire which rose upon the ruins of the Assyrian. Ewald’s conjecture is a possibility, and no more. And what was Elam? One of the most ancient kingdoms in the world (see Gen 14:1-24.). Geographically it was the tract of country; partly mountainous, partly lowland, lying south of Assyria and east of Persia proper, to which Herodotus gives the name of Cissia, and the classical geographers that of Tusis or Tusiaua. This is clear, says Sehrader, from the Persian text of the Behistun inscription of Darius. It is fro-quently mentioned under the name “Ilam,” or “Ilamti,” in the Assyrian inscriptions, especially in those of Sargon, Sennacherib, and Assurbauipal. In B.C 721 Sargon states that he annexed a district or province of Elam (and hence, perhaps, we must explain the mention of the Elamites in the Assyrian army in Isa 22:6), which was, doubtless, one cause of the embittered feeling towards Assyria of the portion which remained independent. The annals of the heroic struggle of Merodach-baladan contain repeated reference to the King of Elam. Assurbanipal made no less than three invasions of Elam, and the singular pretext for the third is, curiously enough, associated with the remarkable fourteenth chapter of Genesis. It was thisthat the Elamite king had refused to deliver up an image of the goddess Nana, which Kudur-nankhundi, an ancient Elamite monarch, had carried oft, and which had remained 1635 or (perhaps) 1535 years in Elam. je-4 This king has been plausibly conjectured to be a member of the same dynasty as “Chedorlaomer [= Kudur-Lagamar] King of Elam.” This time it was all over with Elam; Shushan itself was plundered and destroyed, and far and wide the country was laid waste. That so restless and courageous a people should have become famous among the surrounding nations was only to be expected; and it is a striking proof of this that Ezekiel, in describing the companions whom fallen Egypt would meet with in Hades, mentions “Elam and all her multitude” (Eze 32:24). The fact that the Septuagint has the heading twice overfirst very briefly (in Jer 25:14, where it is followed by this prophecy), and then at full length (in Jer 26:1, at the end of the prophecy of Elam)has been variously explained. It is, at any rate, clear that there is some confusion in the present text of this translation. In connection with this prediction it is interesting to notice one of the results of a new cuneiform discovery among some tablets acquired in 1878 by the British Museum. At the very time when Nebuchadnezzar was taking an oath of allegiance from Zedekiah, he was also engaged in hostilities against Elam. “We do not know,” says Mr. Pinches, “what brought the Babylonians into hostilities with the Elamites, but the result of the expedition was to bring the whole kingdom of Elam within the boundaries of the Babylonian monarchy” (Transactions of the Society of Biblical Archaeology, 7.214).

Jer 49:35

The bow of Elam. So Isaiah in prophetic vision, “And Elam bare the quiver” (Isa 22:6).

Jer 49:36

An emblem of the utter hopelessness of escape. The four winds (figuratively spoken of by Zechariah (Zec 6:5) as “presenting themselves” before God, to receive his commissions) shall combine their forces to scatter the doomed nation. The outcasts of Elam. This is the marginal reading in the Hebrew Bible; the text has, “the perpetual outcasts.” No philological eye can doubt that the correction should be admitted (a yod for a vav).

Jer 49:38

I will set my throne; i.e. my tribunal (as Jer 43:10). The king and the princes; rather, king and princes. The threat is not merely that the reigning king shall be dethroned, but that Elam shall lose its native rulers altogether.

Jer 49:39

But in the latter days; i.e. presumably in the Messianic age. Into the fulfilment of this promise we need not inquire in too prosaic a spirit. It is true that “Elamites” are mentioned among the persons present on the great “day of Pentecost” (Act 2:9). But this would be a meagre fulfilment indeed. The fact is that, both in the narrative in the Acts and in this prophecy, the Elamites are chiefly mentioned as representatives of the distant and less civilized Gentile nations, and the fulfilment is granted whenever a similar people to the Elamites is brought to the knowledge of the true religion.

HOMILETICS

Jer 49:1

Israel’s heirs.

“Hath he no heir?” Most wonderful is the preservation of the Jews as a distinct race amid the strangest vicissitudes of fortune and through centuries of exilesurviving the devastating deluge of the successive Oriental monarchies, the captivity in Babylon, the cruelties of Antiochus Epiphanes, the sweep of Roman conquest, the persecution of the Middle Ages, and the cosmopolitan citizenship of our own day. Yet, much as Israel has contributed to the philosophy and trade of the modern world, and great as her future mission may yet be, we cannot blind ourselves to the fact that her lonely glory of religions preeminence has passed away. Others have entered into this proud inheritance.

I. THE INHERITANCE.

1. The knowledge of the true God. This, and not the land flowing with milk and honey, was the chief treasure of Israel’s inheritance. When all neighbouring nations were following polytheism, idol worship, and immoral rites, Israel was led by prophetic voices to look to one Goda spiritual presence who could only be in the beauty of holiness. That people, therefore, which has the highest worshipped knowledge of God, and the purest religious life and worship, wilt be the true heir of this part of the ancient possession of the Jews.

2. The mission to enlighten the heathen. The Jew was not called to his privileged position wholly for his own sake. He was an elect people that he might be an apostle to the world; that in him there might be developed the revelation of truth which was for the healing of all the nations; that he might cultivate, preserve, transmit, and disseminate this abroad. His was the proud mission of the torch bearer to the nations that sat in darkness, that through his light they might see their light and life. This mission was often ignored, and it was never perfectly developed in Old Testament times; but the work of Jonah and Daniel, and the prophecies of Isaiah and Jeremiah concerning the heathen, are partial accomplishments of it. It waited till Christ came for its full exercise. Then the Jew became the missionary of the gospel. The faith of the new age was given to the world by Jew apostles.

II. THE arms. If the Jew has lost his proud religious pre-eminence, who has become his heir?

1. The Christian is the heir of the Jew’s knowledge of the true God. He and he alone, whether he be of the stock of Shem, of Ham, or of Japheth, is the true Israelite, the “royal priesthood,” etc. For Christianity is the fulfilment and perfection of the Jewish faith (Mat 5:17-20). In the New Testament we see a higher knowledge of God, a more spiritual worship, a more devoted service. If this be true, to reject it and rest contented with the lower faith of the Old Testament must be to give way in the race.

2. The most Christian missionary is the truest heir to Israel’s mission to evangelize the world. If there be any one race upon whom the mantle of Israel has fallen, may we not think that this is the great English-speaking peoples of Britain and America? Such an inheritance is not to be made out by ingenious arguments about the fate of the lost ten tribes. If we were the descendants of those apostate Israelites, we should be none the better for the fact, nor are we under any disadvantage because the hypothesis of an Israelite origin proves to be groundless. To make much of such a point is to go back to the lower conceptions of Judaism, and to disregard the higher spiritual conditions of Christianity. The true heir of Israel is the possessor of Israel’s faith in its full development. It is not our birth and descent, but our personal religion, that can secure the inheritance to us.

Jer 49:7

The failure of wisdom.

Edom, the country of Job, the haunt of ancient lore, is to find that her learning and science will prove no safeguard against the deluge of destruction that is about to burst over the nations. The disaster which fell upon ancient “wise men” of the East may be a warning to the higher intelligences of all ages. The failure of wisdom is twofoldnegative and positive.

I. NEGATIVE; THERE ARE EVILS WITH WHICH WISDOM CANNOT COPE.

1. Physical. Science can do much to avoid troubles into which ignorance falls, to mitigate inevitable disasters, and to devise means of escape from those which are already present. Sanitary science will help to prevent disease, and medical science to cure it. Military science will put a country in a certain state of security; economical science will check dangers of poverty. But how many of the worst things in life are beyond the power of science! The philosopher cannot arrest the hand of the invader. The most terrible diseases are the most fatal. Men have long since given up the vain search for the elixir of life. Science is powerless before death.

2. Moral. Still less can science “minister to the mind diseased” What consolation is a knowledge of the processes of a malady to the mourner, the light of whose eyes is darkened forever by its fatal work? What comfort can science whisper to the widow and the orphan? The great burden of the world’s sorrow, and the weariness of the unceasing cares of life, it does not so much as touch. The deeper evil of sin flows in a foul, black stream, unchecked by science. The mission of science is great and glorious, and we should be profoundly thankful that we live in an age when its bright torch confers many a boon and relieves many a trouble. But we must not ignore the fact that the greatest ills that flesh is heir to are just those which it cannot cure.

II. POSITIVE: THERE ARE EVILS WHICH WISDOM INVOKES UPON ITS OWN HEAD. Knowledge is good and Divine, and in itself a blessing of the first order. Yet it brings a snare, and the abuse of it terrible disasters.

1. The knowledge of inevitable evil only increases distress. “Where ignorance is bliss,” etc.

2. Superior wisdom may engender pride. Hence arises a false sense of security which only increases danger. The wise man is slow to tread those lowly paths which lead to true rest. It is difficult for him to become as a little child, that he may enter into the kingdom of heaven.

3. Wisdom may come to be trusted to for help that it cannot afford. Men make an idol of science, as though it were a new evangel. The ultimate disappointment must correspond to the grossness of the delusion. We must learn, therefore, while avoiding a foolish depreciation of science and philosophy, to look still for our safety and blessedness to that higher wisdom of God, that gospel of the Crucified, which is still to some as foolishness.

Jer 49:11

A promise for orphans and widows.

I. GOD BRINGS SOME MITIGATION TO THE SEVEREST CALAMITY. The merciful assurance of care for the helpless sufferers occurs in the midst of a stern denunciation of doom upon Edom, as a strange and startling relief to the terrible words that follow and precede. Here is a rift in the cloud through which a sunbeam of Divine love falls upon the dark scene of judgment. The thunderstorm of God’s wrath never so covers the whole heavens that no ray of mercy can penetrate to the wretched sufferers. Behind the stern frown there is always the melting heart of Divine pity. God’s anger is the anger of love, not that of hatred. Wherever it is possible to give relief he will do so.

II. WHEN GOD SENDS TROUBLE HE ALSO SENDS A DELIVERANCE. Possibly the trouble is beyond escape; for a season it must be endured; but in the end there is a Divine salvation for those who will seek it aright. Repeatedly denunciations of woe against some guilty nation are followed by the promise that “in the latter day” God “will bring again the captivity” of it (e.g. Jer 46:26; Jer 48:47; Jer 48:39). The promise to Edom of the preservation of the children implies a future for the race. The widows and children are helpless sufferers, and it is for these alone that the deliverance is promised. God has peculiar pity on the most needy.

III. ORPHANS AND WIDOWS HAVE SPECIAL ENCOURAGEMENTS TO LOOK FOR HELP FROM GOD. If such a merciful promise as that of our text is made to a heathen nation, how much more assurance may the people of God feel! and if it is given to the families of the wicked and in the midst of the sentence of punishment, how much more must it apply to the families of true Christians! God is “a Father of the fatherless, and a Judge of widows” (Psa 68:5); “He relieveth the fatherless and widows” (Psa 146:9); “He will establish the border of the widow” (Pro 15:25). If God numbers the hairs of our head, will he neglect our children? If they who are desolate indeed cry unto him, can the All-merciful neglect their prayer?

IV. GOD‘S PROMISES FOR ORPHANS AND WIDOWS SHOULD ENCOURAGE FAITH IN HIM.

1. The father should trust his children to God. That is a terrible moment when the strong man feels the sentence of death within him, and bows his head, knowing that he must leave his helpless ones behind. Yes, must leave them. Then let him leave them to God. Here is a call to resignation and to trust. The promise is in a measure conditioned by it. If the dying man would have his little ones cared for when they are set adrift on the cold, homeless world, let him entrust them to God. Such a trust will never be broken. But if he refuse to do this, he cannot complain should they suffer harm after he has gone.

2. The widow must trust for herself. “Let thy widows trust in me.” The children may be too young to seek refuge in God. Their father must do this for them. But the widow must exercise her own faith. Her husband’s faith will not avail for her. Let her trust, and then, but not till then, she shall find her consolation in the great Comforter.

Jer 49:16

A people deceived by its own terribleness.

I. THEY WHO ARE A TERROR TO ALL HUMAN FOES MUST ULTIMATELY TREMBLE BEFORE SPIRITUAL FOES. Edom was to fall before Babylon, in spite of her terrible aspect. Much more must the fierce, proud sinner succumb to the unseen angel of Divine judgment. The rocks that keep back an army cannot retard the onrush of the heavenly host.

II. THEY WHO NOW STAND HIGHEST IN PRIDE AND POWER WILL FALL LOWEST AT THE FINAL JUDGMENT. Rank, social position, honour, influence, will then count for nothing. Pride may have sat high as the eagle in its eyrie, but “every one that exalteth himself shall be abased;” “The first shall be last.”

III. THEY WHO POSSESS EARTHLY GREATNESS ARE IN DANGER OF DELUDING THEMSELVES WITH AN UNWARRANTABLE TRUST IN IT. Such cities as the rock-hewn Petra, and Bozrah seated on her lofty bill, would seem by natural position impregnable. Consequently their inhabitants would grow insolent and proud, and thus deserve the more that fate which their natural resources could not avert, and their self-confidence would prevent them from mitigating. Worldly resources are dangers when they lead us to forsake the true Refuge in order to trust in them. The rich and great are not the more secure for their privileges, and they will be the less safe if they lean upon them when without them they would seek help in God.

Jer 49:29

Fear on every side.

This is a sadly familiar phrase of Jeremiah’s. It is frequently applicable. The causes of alarm are numerous; so are the sufferers.

I. FEAR IS AN EVIL. It is not only the shadow of future calamity; it is evil itselfevil even if it is not justified by the event.

1. It is distressing.

2. It is degradingdebasing the mind, crushing out all that is noble and unselfish.

3. It is paralyzing. Under the influence of fear we are confused and helpless; all energy is gone.

II. THERE ARE MANY OCCASIONS OF FEAR. Jeremiah frequently exclaims, “Fear on every side!” We know not how many dangers surround uspolitical, social, domestic, personal; dangers to property, family, health, and life. The wonder is that they who have no refuge above themselves are so complacent. Such unwarrantable calmness must be traced to moral dulness rather than to true courage. For how truly terrible is the condition of the sinner! The laws of the universe are against him. If he flees from this life new horrors await him in the dread unknown land.

III. THE DEEPEST SOURCE OF FEAR IS OUR OWN SIN.

1. This brings the greatest danger upon usthe penalty of outraged justice and broken law.

2. This awakens the feeling of terror. Conscience makes cowards of us all.

IV. IN GOD IS THE REFUGE FROM FEAR. Men fear God in their guilt. Yet it is he who alone can deliver them from fear,

(1) by removing the evil feared;

(2) or by strengthening them to endure it; and also

(3) by calming the troubled sold as one whom his mother comforteth.

It is well that we should feel fear on every side if it leads us to cry, “What must we do to be saved?” and then to hear and follow the gospel answer, “Trust to the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved.”

HOMILIES BY A.F. MUIR

Jer 49:1, Jer 49:2

The paradox of Israel’s inheritance.

The fittingness of this prediction is very striking. It is Ammon, the appropriator of Gad, who is the special subject of it.

I. ITS UNLIKELIHOOD. At the time the prediction was uttered appearances were completely against it. The original promise seemed doomed to failure. The flower and hope of Israel was in exile, and the land lay desolate. Interlopers reaped the benefit of their misfortunes, and seized upon portions of the unoccupied land. In the history of Christianity there may be perceived remarkable correspondences. Vast spaces of the civilized world have lost the spiritual traditions of the gospel in which once they gloried, and vaster regions still amongst the heathen are occupied by ancient faiths that offer a steady and powerful opposition to the missionary efforts of the Church. Yet the whole earth has been promised to the Church of Christ. The utmost zeal, devotion, and watchfulness are needed in order to prevent the inroads of worldliness and unbelief. At times the despairing cry may be heard, “Where is the hope of his coming?

II. THE METHOD OF ITS REALIZATION. It is well to ponder these facts in the light of God’s Word, for it suggests an escape from the perplexity they occasion. Where the induction of the natural reason fails to render a hopeful explanation, the Spirit of God sheds an unthought of light. Jeremiah’s interpretation, viz. that present dispossession need not mean utter disinheritance, is full of spiritual light and comfort. This impression is deepened and confirmed when he seals it with prophetic certainty and declares that Israel shall be heir to his heirs. But still remains the mystery to be solved:

1. How this will take place. Israel seems all but annihilated, or in danger of absorption into heathen nations, and his land is unoccupied. But according to promise

(1) a seed shall be preserved and shall be restored; and

(2) through the “seed of David,” viz. Christ, a new Israel will be created, in spiritual succession to the ancient people of God, and destined to redeem from heathenism not only Palestine but the whole earth.

2. What will this involve? It will involve

(1) the judgment and overthrow of Israel’s neighbours, especially such as Ammon, the traditional “land thief” of his border;

(2) the purification and discipline of Israel as the heir of the kingdom of God; and

(3) the conversion of many “out of every kindred, and tongue, and people, and nation” (Rev 5:9). In this sense also will God “bring again the captivity” of Moab, of Elam, and even of Ammon.

3. The following lessons are clearly taught by this prophecy, viz.:

(1) A unity of purpose pervades the vicissitudes of Israel’s and the world’s history:

(2) human affairs are governed by a strict and never failing justice; and

(3) a happy future awaits the children of faiththe spiritual Israeleven on earth.M.

Jer 49:7

(cf. Oba 1:8; Isa 19:11; Isa 33:18).

Where is the wise?

Edom, celebrated for its wisdom from of old (Oba 1:8; Job 11:11; Baruch 3:22, 23), had secured itself in inaccessible fastnesses of the mountains, dwelling in rock-hewn cities. Eliphaz was a Temanite. It was chiefly in international relations that the skill or subtlety of the Idumaeans displayed itself. Their diplomacy was full of craft and falsehood, and could not be relied upon. Their wisdom was essentially of this worldcold, calculating, and unscrupulous. Of this it is predicted by Jeremiah that it shall be brought to nought. How did his prophecy fulfil itself? In relation to the kingdom of God.

I. IT FAILED TO OVERTURN IT. The Edomites watched the signs of the times, and sided with what promised to be the strongest power, and in the last resort trusted to their own inaccessible position. Their ambassadors were amongst those of neighbouring nations who came to Zedekiah to advise united resistance to Nebuchadnezzar (Jer 27:3); yet they triumphed over the prostrate city when it was captured by the Chaldeans (Lam 4:2; Eze 35:15; Eze 36:5; Psa 137:7). Their country had been tributary to Israel under David, but, taking advantage of the Chaldean invasion, they appropriated much of the territory of Israel proper, and extended their territory to the Mediterranean. The same spirit seems to have actuated its remote descendants, the Idumaean princes of the Herodian line. Herod the Great “slaughtered the innocents” in hope of destroying the Christ, but was circumvented by the providence of God; and his son Antipas was the Herod before whom Christ appeared by arrangement with Pilate (Luk 23:12). In the later years of Christ’s ministry the Herodians were constantly opposed to him, and plotted with the Pharisees against him. So God has defeated the continual antagonism of worldly men, guarding the residue of his Church, and evolving new generations of faith and fresh conquests of truth from the apparent failures and ruins of the past.

II. IT FAILED TO SECURE PERMANENT ADVANTAGE TO ITSELF. The prophet declares that it was to drink of the same cup as Israel, but it is not certain as to whether Nebuchadnezzar, or Alexander the Great, or other conquerors are alluded to.

1. The movement westward of the Idumaean power, during the Babylonian exile, was the occasion of its overthrow. The Nabethaean Arabs, ruling a large part of Arabia, seized upon Petraea, and settled down as its occupants. These were in turn conquered by the Romans. In time the country fell under Mohammedan misrule, and lapsed into permanent desolation early in the Christian era. The rock cities of Petraea are amongst the most striking monuments of fulfilled prophecy.

2. The same fate has overtaken all the empires that set themselves against the kingdom of God. Their history is series of dissolving views. Failing to overthrow it, they have themselves been overthrown. And the wisdom which could not subvert has equally shown itself unable to assimilate the “wisdom that cometh from above.” The reason for all this is contained in the crowning proof of its folly, viz. that

III. IT HAS FAILED TO UNDERSTAND IT. Had the Idumaeans known the might of a spiritual religion, they would not have leagued against Israel. Had the Herodians known the wisdom of God, “they would not have crucified the Lord of glory” (1Co 2:8; Act 3:17; Act 7:51). Had Rome known the power of the truth, it would never have corrupted the religion of the cross, and thus prepared for its own disintegration and decay in the Middle Ages, and the manifold complications of worldly religion in modern times. The whole conception of God’s kingdomits spirituality, other worldliness, and purityis still a strange thing to the wise men of the world. But it continues to grow and to realize itself amongst men; and it is destined to fill the whole earth, absorbing and assimilating its ancient antagonists; for “he must reign until he hath put all enemies under his feet” (1Co 15:25).M.

Jer 49:12

(cf. Jer 25:29; Pro 11:31; 1Pe 4:18; and, for original, Oba 1:16).

Israel’s judgment an argument for Edom’s.

I. AN ILLUSTRATION OF THE CHARACTER OF GOD.

1. Proving his strict righteousness. There is no respect of persons. His love for righteousness and hatred of wrong are such that even his chosen people do not escape punishment. Salvation will not, therefore, be by favour or independent of character. The least sin will be judged. Individual saints shared in the general calamity.

2. His unfailing faithfulness. It was predicted particularly concerning Israel, and was declared as the law of his kingdom. Its fulfilment, therefore, vindicates the Divine veracity.

II. AN ARGUMENT BASED UPON IT. If such a God reigns amongst men, can any transgressor escape? To such sinners, then, as the Edomites, the heathen or worldly enemies of godliness and the truth:

1. Punishment would be certain. Their present immunity was only as the lull before the storm. Conscience gathers no comfort from apparent prosperity. Israel’s punishment is a certain guarantee of Edom’s.

2. Punishment will be proportional to the sin. In such cases as that of Edoman open, flagrant, and conscious foe to the kingdom of Godit would be far more severe. There is no promise of “bringing again their captivity.” It was to be “as if it bad not been.” Where the heathen, on the other hand, have not sinned so clearly against light, there will be condoning circumstances which will be taken into account.M.

Jer 49:23

The unrest of the wicked.

Isaiah (Isa 17:12, Isa 17:13; cf. Isa 57:20, Isa 57:21) uses the same figure of Damascus, and Jeremiah must, therefore, have either borrowed it from him or from some common source. It is possible that the figure was a common expression amongst the Jews of the time. The neighbourhood of Damascus and its associated cities was always a populous one, with a varied nationality and conflicting interests and affinities. From its character there was no religious unity, and its position exposed it to dangers on every hand, especially from Babylon and Egypt. It was a motley people, with vast commercial relations and strong tendency to pleasure, but no religious earnestness or capacity of moral influence or initiation. This is another of those phases of the world spirit which Jeremiah paints in his panorama of the nations’ judgment.

I. THE UNREST OF WORLD LIFE IS LIKENED TO THAT OF THE SEA.

1. Continual.

2. Vast and tumultuous.

3. Not to be stilled.

4. Sad and ruinous in its effects.

II. BECAUSE THE WORLDLY THEMSELVES ARE LIKE THE SEA.

1. Unstable. How easily ruffled! Uncertain, irresolute (Jas 1:6), subject to sudden panics. This is moral and spiritual.

2. With no central controlling power. The very constitution of the sea renders storms sudden and terrible. So it is with the sinner’s character. There is no central controlling influence; no moral principle or spiritual power. True calm comes from within. He of the Galilean sea can alone tranquillize the troubled nation or the alarmed sinner.M.

HOMILIES BY S. CONWAY

Jer 49:1

Might not right.

Ammon had taken possession of the territory of Israel (cf. chapter). Had done so as if it were his right, as if they were the lawful heirs of the land. Because of this judgment is denounced against them. They are to learn that might is not right.

I. THERE MAY BE RIGHT WITHOUT MIGHT. It was so with Israel at this time. Is so with the trite Church of God. “All things are yours”so we are told, but it is only de jure, not de facto. But

II. THERE MAY BE MIGHT WITHOUT RIGHT. In the case here given. And it is common enough. Perfect justice is not attainable in this life. Even in the little world of the home, the school, the Church, injustices will occur. And, painful as they are to witness and to bear, they have to be borne. It is hard sometimes to see the justice of the Divine ways; how much more, then, of human ways! Nevertheless

III. MIGHT MAY BE RIGHT. “La carriere aux talents,” said Napoleonthat was to be the law of his empire. “The tools to him who can use them”such is our common maxim. The “king,” the ruler, the lord paramount of the state, what is he butif the etymology be correctthe “can”-ning man, the man who can, the able man? And so not seldom when we see might, we see right too. In the colonization of lands inhabited by savages who are letting the capabilities of glorious territories lie unimproved or running to waste, such colonization is not wrong. Might is right. “The tools,” etc. It is a stern law to the incapable, but a just and beneficent one for the human race. “Take therefore the talent from him, and give it unto him that hath ten talents” (Mat 25:28); what is this but the sanction of this combination? “To him that hath shall be given.” There we have it once more. But

IV. GOD‘S WILL IS, AND OURS SHOULD BE, TO GIVE MIGHT TO RIGHT. Right one day shall be might as well as right.

1. This is the burden of the promises of God in his Word. “Thy kingdom come; thy will be done”the will that is ever righteous”on earth,” etc.

2. The constitution of human nature is in favour of it (cf. Butler’s ‘Analogy’).

3. Conscience ever takes the side of right, whatever our conduct may do or be.

4. And God’s providence is slowly working to this end.

5. “Faith” is simply the giving ourselves up to the righteous One, to be “his faithful servant and soldier, and to fight manfully under his banner until our lives shall end.”

CONCLUSION. Let us seek to be on the side of right always, let the cost be what it may.C.

Jer 49:8

Desirable habitations: a new year’s sermon.

“Dwell deep, O inhabitants of Dedan.” The prophet is foretelling the calamities that are to come on the different heathen nations who dwelt around the land of God’s people, and from whom they, at various times, had received sore wrong and harm. The Edomitesthe descendants of Esauwere the traditional foes of Israel, and it is they who in all probability are referred to. The country they inhabited was full of rocks, cliffs, deep gorges in the sides of which were many all but inaccessible caves. The rocky dwellings of Edom have been often told ofhow they served as an almost impenetrable fortress for the robber bands which mostly inhabited them. But now vengeance was to come on these people, and the prophet is bidding them betake themselves in flight to the far off desert, or to hide themselves in the deep recesses of their rocky caves, and there, if possible, safely dwell. “Dwell deep Dedan” (cf. also Jer 49:30). For disaster was threatening Hazer also. The ruthless King of Babylon would fall on them in his march westwards to Egypt, and well would it be for them if the forests and caverns, the lofty rocks and the deep valleys of their rugged land should provide them with secure retreat. It was in such hidden caves that David, during much of his fugitive life when hunted by Saul “like a partridge upon the mountains,” so often found refuge. And this fact he is forever commemorating in his psalms by calling God his Rock, his Refuge, his Hiding place, his Fortress, his Secret Place. And the history of these lands tells once and again of the devices of military commanders to dislodge the inhabitants of these almost inaccessible retreats. Herod, so Josephus tells, caused a number of huge timber boxes to be made, in which stood armed soldiers, and these were lowered down the precipitous sides of the cliffs in which the robber caverns were until they reached the cavern mouths. Then, rushing in, they would massacre the inhabitants, or else by huge hooks drag them forth and then hurl them down to the dread depths beneath. But generally these hidden habitations proved secure refuges for those who dwelt in them, and it is to this fact that the prophet refers. He is bidding them betake themselves thither, for danger was at handa relentless foe was threatening them. Now, the like exhortation may be addressed to us; for for us there are provided strong habitations unto which we may continually resort, sure refuges in which we may safely hide, Divine retreats in the deep recesses of which we may securely dwell. Therefore we would say

I. DWELL DEEP IN THE LOVE OF GOD. For the firm faith of the love that God hath toward us will be found to be a shelter, a solace, and a strength, such as nought else can render. St. John says concerning that love, “We know and have believed the love that God hath towards us.” Yes; sometimes we can clearly see it, we know and feel it. God’s providence, God’s grace, God’s Word, are all filled and flooded with it. But there are other times when we cannot say we know, but only that we believe the love that, etc.when providence seems adverse, when our path is rough and beset with thorns, when those you trusted prove treacherous and your own friends turn against you, when your home is left desolate and dark clouds of anxiety gather heavy and thick over you. But those times are made far less fearful for us if we will but dwell, dwell deep, in the love of God. It was through this ever cherished home of his soul that our Lord was able to endure so calmly and to meet with such meek majesty and Divine dignity the unspeakable sorrow of his earthly lot. Often did the tempter seek to drag him forth from that secure retreat by his mocking suggestion, “If thou be the Son of God,” etc. But he tried in vain. Dwelling deep in the love of God, that inaccessible refuge, that sure retreat, he looked forth upon the path he had to tread and the cross he had to bear, and he could endure the one and despise the other in the might of that love in which he ever abode. And it is well that we should dwell where he dwelt, and so be blest as he was blest. And not a few of his people have done soAbraham, David, Daniel, Paul, and myriads more, as God grant we may likewise.

II. DWELL DEEP IN THE KNOWLEDGE OF HOLY SCRIPTURE. For no surer aid to our obeying the former exhortation can be given than our obedience to this. And yet there are few books of importance that are neglected as the Scriptures are, notwithstanding the invaluable help which such knowledge has imparted and must ever impart. What is the hundred and nineteenth psalm but one long panegyric on the blessedness of this knowledge of the Word of God? And he who knows what the Word of God can do for his soul will deem no praise too extravagant, no admiration and love too enthusiastic. Oh to be mighty in the Scriptures! for that is to be mighty through them, capable and ready for all God’s will. The dark problems of life cease to dismay; the mysteries which meet us on every side cannot shake our faith; we become open eyed to signs and tokens of God’s love which otherwise we should not see. Integrity and uprightness preserve us, and we run the way of God’s commandments, because God, by means of them, hath enlarged our heart. It is this prayerful habitual study of God’s Word which is dwelling deep therein, and which is so fruitful of good to all that will ,so dwell.

III. DWELL DEEP IN THE FELLOWSHIP OF CHRIST. Cherish and guard with a holy care that communion with him which is the joy and strength of our souls. A sure test of the value of any spiritual aid is given us in the intensity of the opposition which Satan offers to our use of such aid. Now, measured by this standard it is difficult to over-estimate the value of this communion with Christ in which we say, “Dwell deep.” This is not easy to do. For persistent indeed are the endeavours which Satan makes to destroy this communion. Who that kneels in prayer is ignorant of these endeavours?thoughts wandering; desires earth bound; faith feeble; love cold. Hence many neglect prayer, or they become formal in it. But there can be no real communion with Christ without this. Therefore we must rouse ourselves to earnestness. Pray that we may pray. Kneel down again and pray once more our as yet unprayed prayer. Let us resolve we will not be conquered. Encourage Ourselves by remembering that the very difficulties we meet are evidences of the truth of true prayer. And that such difficulties can be overcome; for they have been. And not only by prayer, but by walking with Christ in obedience and sympathy and love.C.

Jer 49:11

Consolation for a father’s dying bed.

Perhaps there is no greater sorrow than is suggested herethe husband and father leaving widow and helpless children apparently without a friend to support or aid them. If it were not for the beatific vision of God, the perfect persuasion of his wisdom and power and love, which the blessed dead enjoy, they would be entreating God piteously to allow them to return hither once more, and to shelter their loved ones from the cruel hardships of this pitiless world. We wonder, sometimes, how it is possible for a loving mother who was wont to lavish her heart’s deepest, tenderest affection upon her children, to find joy and to be happy in heaven, whither she has been suddenly translated, leaving her husband and children heart broken at losing her. Here she could never be happy without her children. How can she be happy there and they yet here? Because she is at the fountain of all love, from which all her love was but a rill; she is with God, who is Love, and who she knows will deal only in the best of waysways far better than she herself could have devised, for those who are now weeping over her grave, and missing and mourning her every hour of the day. Now, of those told of in this verse we note

I. THAT TO LEAVE THEM TO GOD IS ALL WE CAN DO. We may and we ought to make provision for them to the best of our power. That is but a spurious and miserable travesty of faith in God which would neglect all such aids as life insurance and the like, on the ground that making such provision shows distrust and unbelief in God. Some speak thus, but they speak foolishly. Might we not as well refuse to work for our daily bread, on the ground that it is written, “My God shall supply all your need”? But who does not know that God’s way of supplying our need is by giving us strength to work and minds to think, enduing us with the means of gaining our bread? And is it not so in this case also? Would not a man be most wrong who, because of what is here said, neglected to make all due provision in his power? But having done this, like Jacob and Joseph, we may safely leave our children, as they did, to the care of God, confident that he will care for them according to his word.

II. AND GOD HONOURS SUCH TRUST. As a fact, and a very interesting one it is, how wonderfully such bereaved children and widows are cared for! How God raises up one friend here and another there, and probably, if a comparison could be made, it would be found that such children have been as well cared for as any others; life has been as bright to them as for those whose earlier years were clouded over by no such sore bereavement. There may be exceptions, but the rule is surely for God to honour such trust. Can he who has said, “Ask, and ye shall receive,” refuse the prayer of a believing man at such a time?

III. AND IT IS A REASONABLE TRUST. What would we desire more for our children than that they should be cared for by such a one who, so far as man can be, is like God?having the power and the will, the knowledge and wisdom, and, above all, the love, which are in God. Who would not crave for our dear ones a guardian like that?

IV. THE CONDITIONS OF THE TRUST are that he who is about to leave behind widow and children should be himself one who trusts in God; that he have trained his children in the ways of the Lord, and sought to make his home a godly home. Verily such shall have their reward, yonder in heaven and here on earth, and especially at that supreme moment when he has to leave his loved ones and to lie down and die. Then for him shall the faith of this promise be precious indeed.C.

Jer 49:16

Vain confidences.

“Thy terribleness hath deceived thee,” etc. Taking the different expressions in this verse, we can see how such confidences are begotten in men’s minds.

I. THEIR FELLOW MEN HELP TO DECEIVE THEM. “Thy terribleness,” etc. All around them held them in terror, were afraid of them, deemed them too mighty to be overcome. And the consciousness of this kept in them a confidence which now was to be shown to be but vain.

II. MEN‘S OWN PRIDE. “The pride of thine heart.” What myriads has not pride slain! what woe hath it not brought upon mankind! “Pride goeth before destruction,” etc. (Cf. homily on Pride, Jer 48:29.) See Sennacherib’s army (Isa 37:1-38.), Pharaoh’s overthrow (Exo 14:1-31.); and “all the ages all along” pride has done the like and does so still.

III. MEN‘S CIRCUMSTANCES. No dwellings could seem more secure than were theirs; their fortress seemed impregnable. Hence they said in their hearts, We shall never be moved.” (Cf. on these dwellings, introduction to homily on Desirable habitations, supra, Jer 49:8.) Cf. the rich fool (Luk 12:20). Prosperity and security do tend to beget these vain confidences.

IV. PAST SUCCESS. Not only did these Edomites dwell in the clefts of the rock, but they had held them fast hitherto against all invaders. A career of success, opponents vanquished, difficulties surmounted, wealth and honour won; who can persuade such a man to call himself a poor, lost sinner, dependent utterly on the mercy of God? It is much easier to say, “Have mercy on us miserable sinners,” than to foal and believe we are so.

CONCLUSION. There are two ways in which this spirit of false confidence may be got rid of or kept under.

1. By surrender of the soul to Christ. He makes us like himself, forms his Spirit in us, so that the truer the surrender the more we become “meek and lowly in heart” as he was. This the best way, the easy yoke, the light burden.

2. By the crushing force of God’s judgments. Edom was to be humbled thus. And there are many who will only be humbled so. They will have their own way, and they have it for their woe, and then, after a weary while, they come to themselves. They “made their bed in hell,” and as they made it so they had to lie upon it, until even there God’s band shall find them, and they shall humble themselves beneath the mighty hand they had heretofore dared to defy.

3. And in some way this humility must be wrought in us. For God will have all men to be saved; but without this lowly mind, this rejection of all vain confidences, we cannot be. Which way, then, shall it bethrough Christ or through the fire of hell?C.

Jer 49:23

Lessons from the sea.

“There is sorrow on the sea; it cannot be quiet.” We must remember that the sea to the Jew of old time was an object of almost unmixed terror. Nearly all the allusions in the Bible tell of its power and peril, never of its preciousness and value to man. The Jews were a non-seafaring people; they dreaded it. In Deu 28:68 the being taken back to Egypt in ships is held out as a great threatening. They had no seaport worth mentioning. For centuries their seaboard was held by the Philistines. All their conceptions of it relate to its hurtful and destructive power (cf. Psa 107:1-43, “They that go down to the sea in ships,” etc.; cf. also histories of the Deluge, Exodus, Jonah). The epithets applied to it are never pleasing, but all more, or less terrible. It is “raging,” “roaring,” “troubled,” “breaking ships of Tarshish.” Hezekiah failed to construct a navy. And hence St. John (Rev 21:1), when tolling of the beauty, the glory, and the joy of the new heavens and the new earth, is careful to add, “And there was no more sea.” Now, this verse 23 is an illustration of this common Jewish feeling. But this Jewish feeling was a false one, though not so to them. For the sea is one of God’s most blessed gifts to man. Life would be impossible without it. It has been justly called, “the life blood of the land, as the blood is the life of the body. It is the vital fluid that animates our earth, and, should it disappear altogether, our fair green planet would become a heap of brown volcanic rocks and deserts, lifeless and worthless as the slag cast out from a furnace.” We remember, too, how God said of the sea that it was “very good,” and no mistaken Jewish ideas must be allowed to reverse that verdict. Think of: Its vapours. Each recurring harvest is really the harvest of the sea as much as of the land. For from the sea ascend those vapours which form the clouds and which descend in the fertilizing indispensable rain. Its currents, bearing along the sun-heated waters of sub-tropical climes, far away northward and southward, and giving to regions like our own that mild and on the whole beautiful climate which we enjoy, whereas bat for these warm waters of the sea our shores would be bleak, inhospitable, barren, and all but uninhabitable, like the shores of Labrador. Its breezes, so health giving, imparting fresh life to the sick and feeble. Its beauty, ever presenting some fresh form of loveliness in colour, movements, outline, brilliancy. Its tides, sweeping up the mouths of our great rivers and estuaries, and all along our shores, washing clean what else would be foul, stagnant, poisonous. Its saltness, ministering to the life of its inhabitants, retaining the warmth of the sun, and so aiding in the transmission of those currents spoken of above, preserving from corruption, etc. But these thoughts were not those of the Jew. To him the sea was a type of manifold ills, and he rejoiced to believe that in his eternal home there should be “no more sea.” For it told of unrest, instability, painful mystery, afflictions, separation, and hence impossibility of intercourse and death. For all these the sea serves in the Scriptures as a symbol, as reference to the passages which Speak of the sea will show. But it has its brighter teachings also, Note

I. ITS WAVES. See them in their blithe merry heartedness, their buoyant spring and rush, coming in landwards from out the far distance, gleaming and sparkling as they roll along, “clapping their hands” as David would say, praising God as they leap and bound in their joy. How often we have seen them coming in such fashion, long lines of them!nearer and nearer they approach, the seabreeze filling them with vigour, and the sunshine gleaming on them and adorning them with the most exquisite colouring, until at length the shelving shore stops them, and they fall over, and in masses of snow white foam, with merry rush and roar, they dash up the beach, brightening everything they touch; and then, their strength all gone, they glide down the sands and hid away back to their ocean-home, to begin the same joyous career all over again. Now, surely this perpetual process suggests the joyful vigour of the sea. True, its waves lie broken on the beach, their spray scattered far and wide, and it would seem as if that were but a poor ending for such a career. But not heeding that at all, the waves just gather up their strength again, and, never knowing when they are beaten, return again and again to the charge. And does not this teach us how we should meet rebuff and disappointment? Not lie down and moan, but lie back again to the source of our strength once more, and then again to the work God has given us to do. They seem to say to us, “Never be discouraged; see us as we begin again after each rebuff, how we sparkle all the more that we are scattered and broken, and then go back to come on again. So do you. Hope continually, and praise God more and more.”

II. ITS MISTS AND VAPOURSits clouds and exhalationsthey also have their lessons. How common these mists are all who know the sea know well. But in and by them the sea renders up her strength, pays her tribute to the heavens. But how bountifully she is recompensed! How comes it that the sea abides wholesome, that it is not the source of malaria, a deadly mass of waters, in which no plant or fish can live? And part of the reply is in the fact that those mists and vapours which ascend from the sea descend to the earth in rain and showers, and fill the springs and fountains, which are the sources of the rivers, which are the carriers into the seadepths of those varied salts and other products which serve as ministers of health to the innumerable forms of life with which the sea abounds. Thus is the sea repaid for the tribute she renders to the heavens. And so these seamists teach the blessedness of rendering up to God all he asks for. Thy God commandeth thy strength. The recompense of the sea assures us how abundantly God will recompense all who obey this command. And they suggest the sure way of deliverance from all inward evil. They ascend from the sea, but they leave all its saltness behind; from the pools and lakes and from stagnant marsh, but they leave all their unhealthful, corrupting properties behind; and when they come back again in form of rain, they are sweet and wholesome and precious, to quench the thirst of man and beast, and to gladden the whole face of the earth. And so with ourselves. In ascending to God, in spiritual drawing near to him, we leave all our evil behind. God says to the waters, “Come up hither,” and they are cleansed in the coming. And so he says to us, “Come up hither,” and we, too, are cleansed in the coming. And when we come back our hearts and lives, our whole influence, will be healthful and salutary, a blessing to all with whom we have to do.

III. ITS TIDES. They teach the power of the unseen. Their mighty movements are all governed by a force imperceptible to our senses. And it is the unseen, the intangible, that. which the senses cannot perceivethought, which governs the world. They teach also the gradualness of the religious life. It is often hard to say, on looking at the sea, whether the tide ebbs or flows. You must compare it after a while with its present position, and then you shall know. And so it is with the religious life. There are no leaps and bounds, no great starts and strides, but gradual, slow, step by stepsuch is the Divine ordering. Now, hence a lesson:

1. Of consolation. We are not to write bitter things against ourselves because our advance is slow.

2. Thankfulness. No man can leap into hell any more than he can into fitness for heaven. God holds us very fast, and only very slowly will he let us go.

3. Caution. Judge not that all is well because of no sudden great change in you. There may be the gradual ebbing away. Are there now large portions of your life which the fear of God does not govern, though once it controlled them all? If so the tide has ebbed.

IV. THE DEPTHS of the sea tell of that complete putting away of our sin which God promises to us (cf. Mic 7:19). God will utterly put them away, casting them, not near the shore, in the shallows, or in the tide way, but in the depths, where they will be sunk out of sight and out of reach forever.

V. ITS SANDS. (Cf. Jer 5:22.) They teach how God makes our weakness strong. What more feeble than the sand? And yet by it the mighty sea is held in. “To them who have no might God increaseth strength.” But what are we and the surroundings of our lives but weak, shifting, unstable as the sand? But God can so fill them with strength that they shall beat back the fierce waves which would overwhelm us. Then let us fear not. He who makes the weak sand a sure bar against the ocean’s rage can and will make our weakness strong to triumph over all that would harm us. Such are some of the lessons of the sea.C.

Jer 49:24

The fall of Damascus; or, the lovely and the lovable lost.

Here and in Isaiah and Amos we have predictions of the overthrow of Damascus. “The burden of Damascus” says Isaiah. “Behold! Damascus is taken away from being a city, and it shall be a ruinous heap.” Jeremiah likens the agitated minds of the multitude of her inhabitants to the unquiet seastill not for one moment. And the cause of that unquietness is their sorrow at the desolations coming on them. And yet she was no mean city. No; she was distinguished indeed. The hearts of men, in all ages of the world, have been drawn to her, and are so still. For she was and is surpassingly lovely. Beautiful for situation, the joy of the whole land around, compared to the Paradise in which our first father was placed by God, and celebrated by every writer, sacred and secular, that has had occasion to speak of her or her history. “It is the oldest city in the world. Its fame begins with the earliest patriarchs and continues to modern times. While other cities of the East have risen and decayed, Damascus is still where and what it was. While Babylon is a heap in the desert, Nineveh buried beneath her mounds, and Tyre a ruin on the seashore, it remains what it is called in the prophecies of Isaiah, ‘ the head of Syria.’ And ever since, down to our own days, its praise is celebrated. It was ‘a predestinated capital.’ Nor is it difficult to explain why its freshness has never Faded through all its series of vicissitudes and wars.” Men have ever loved it and love it still. As the traveller from the west climbs up and up the steep passes of the great Lebanon range, and at length nears their eastern side, there, on the summit of a cliff, high up above the plain beneath, he looks down on the city of Damascus. “At the foot of the cliff on which the beholder stands, a river bursts forth from the mountain in which it has had birth. That river, as if in a moment, scatters over the plain, through a circle of thirty miles, the verdure which had hitherto been confined to its single channel. It is like the bursting of a shell, the eruption of a volcanobut an eruption, not of death, but of life. Far and wide extends in front the level plain, its horizon bare, its lines of surrounding hills bare, all bare, far away on the road to Palmyra and Bagdad. In the midst of this plain lies at your feet the vast island of deep verdure, walnuts and apricots hanging above, corn and grass below.” The river is its life. It is drawn out in watercourses and spread in all directions. For miles around it is a wilderness of gardensgardens with roses among the tangled shrubberies, and with fruit on the branches overhead. Everywhere among the trees the murmur of unseen rivulets is heard. Even in the city, which is in the midst of the garden, the clear rushing of the current is a perpetual refreshment. Every dwelling has its fountain; and at night, when the sun has set behind Mount Lebanon, the lights of the city are seen flashing on the water. All travellers in all ages have paused to feast their eyes on the loveliness of the city as they first behold it from the cliffs of Lebanon. Abana and Pharpar still flash and gleam as they flow along amid her fragrant gardens and by her dark olive groves. Snow-capped Hermon and the rugged range of Lebanon still keep over her their wonted watch and ward. Hence she may well be taken as the symbol of all that is lovely and fair in outward life, all that is bright and beautiful in the moral nature of man. But yet she fell, and she has lost her place amongst the nations forever. Thus she suggests to the thoughtful reader the heart searching truth that the lovely and the lovable may yet be lostthose on whom Jesus, looking, loves them, because they are so lovable, may yet miss of the life that is eternal; and he may say, as he did to one of them, “One thing thou lackest.” Observe, then

I. THERE HAVE BEEN SOULS CHARACTERIZED BY MUCH THAT IS LOVELY AND LOVABLE, AND YET HAVE NOT ENTERED INTO THE KINGDOM OF GOD. Read the history of Orpah. Then there was that young ruler to whom reference has already been made. And the many who flocked around our Saviour when he was here on earth, and whom he likened to the stony ground hearers. They all had much that was excellent and good about them, but they failed to bring forth fruit unto life eternal.

II. AND THERE ARE MANY SUCH NOW. Were our Lord amongst us now, he would love them as he did him of whom the Gospel tells. They may be young in years; in the morning of life, fair and comely to look upon, vigorous and strong, well educated, intelligent, bright and clever, cultured themselves and loving refinement and culture in others; they may be possessed of very attractive moral qualities, amiable and kindly, ready to do a kind action and scorning to do a mean one, possessed of and deserving an honourable reputation, of unquestioned veracity, of high honour, modest and pure in word and deed, gentle and courteous in manner, unassuming, thoughtful of the feelings and wishes of others; parents and friends, family and neighbours, all speak well of them, and those who know them best honour and love them most. Now, there are thousands of such as these. They are loved and lovable; they must be so. And as we picture them to ourselves we almost shrink from saying that such may nevertheless miss of the kingdom of God; like Damascus in all that is externally beautiful, and yet, like her, come under the condemnation of God. It seems scarce believable, and yet in the face of God’s Word what can we say? Nicodemus was one such, and yet our Lord told him, “Except a man be born again,” etc. We would be as charitable as the Word of Godand if we were that would make us far more charitable than the most of us arebut we would not be more so, for that would be to be uncharitable and unfaithful both to God and to the souls of men. And therefore we say that a man may be all that is externally fair and lovable, and yet, like bright beautiful Damascus, come under the condemnation of God; lovely and lovable like him whom Jesus loved, and yet, because lacking the one thing, shut outself shut outfrom the kingdom of God. And observe

III. THIS RULE OF GOD IS NOT ARBITRARY, BUT JUST AND INDISPENSABLE. For all that we have said may coexist along with the will alien from the will of God, the heart not yet truly surrendered to him. It was so in that typical instance of this character to whom we have so often referred. For when brought to the test he refused the will of God. For the proof of our loyalty to God is seen, not in the many things that we are and do which are in keeping with our own inclinations, but in those that we are ready to do when they involve a real taking up of the cross and contradict those inclinations. A cultured, refined disposition may lead us, out of regard to our own self-interest, to do and be that which wins for us the applause and favour of our fellow men. It would be a pain and grief to us to be otherwise. All the commands of the moral law we may have kept from our youth up, and hence conclude, and otherseven Christ’s disciplesmay think also, that we lack nothing. And in fact we may lack nothing but that one thing without which all else is vain and useless for our admission into the kingdom of God. But in that kingdom the will of God must be paramount, or it ceases to be the kingdom of God. Suppose one of the heavenly bodies could choose, and did so, to swerve at times from its appointed orbit, and to take a course of its own; the whole universe would be thrown out of order, and confusion and destruction must ensue. Suppose one string of harp, one pipe of organ, instead of giving its proper note, were to resolve to utter a sound different from that which was appointed for it; what jarring discord must result! no true music could such harp or organ give. And so in God’s kingdom, if there be one discordant will, how can the harmony and peace and blessedness of heaven any longer exist? If in our homes the law of the house be violated by any one of its members, how little would such a household deserve the sweet name of home! For the good of all, therefore, and not for any arbitrary reason, one law, one will, must be paramount. It is so in our earthly homes; it must yet more be so in the home of God, the kingdom of heaven. The heart, the will, must be surrendered to God if we are to be at last numbered amongst the inhabitants of God’s eternal home.

IV. WHAT, THEN, SHALL WE SAY TO SUCH? Shall we bid you set light store by those varied qualities which draw forth the affection and esteem of your fellow men? Shall we sayCare nothing for that which, when Jesus looked upon, even he could not but love? Still less shall we say that all these things are of the nature of sin. On the contrary, we would sayGive God thanks for these things. For, indeed, it is of his great mercy that you have been led to approve of them, and to turn away with disgust and abhorrence from that which is contrary thereto. Why were you made to hear God’s voice?for it was his voice which called you, and his hand which led you to this good choice. Without doubt the parents of that young ruler gave God thanks again and again when they saw the character of their son unfolding and developing in all such high minded, pure, and amiable ways. And when we see the like in our children, do we not, ought we not to, give thanks likewise? What, then, do we say to you but this?

(1) Render thanks to God that he has thus inclined your heart; and then

(2) go on to ask him who has been so good to you thus far that he will be more gracious still, and give you that one thing which yet you lackthe new heart, the perfectly surrendered will, the faith in God of which such surrender is the chief expression. Remember that the merchantman who became the happy owner of the pearl of great price was not content with the many goodly pearls after which he had been seeking and which he had already attained, No; but when he saw that pure, all-precious, lustrous pearl, he resolved that that should be his, and hence all was surrendered that he might make it his own. Now, you resemble him in two out of the three great facts of his history. Like him, you have sought and found many goodly pearls. The goodly pearls of moral excellence, virtue, amiability, many things lovely and of good report. You prize these things, as you ought to do. You have sought after them and have found them. And now, again, like that merchantman, there is shown and offered to you that pearl which is more precious than alleven the gift of God, which is Jesus Christ, the eternal salvation which comes to us alone through him. Yes, that is offered to youthat gift of the regenerated nature, that new heart and right spirit, which they who come to Christ receive. But now, in the third and chief point of all, would that you resembled that merchantman. He was willing to part with all he had for the sake of the pearl of great price. Are you? To persuade hereto we add two words.

1. The first by way of encouragement. That merchant had to part with his goodly pearls for the sake of the one all-precious one. You not only will not have to do this, but they will become more goodly and more indisputably yours than ever if the all-precious one be yours. You will have to renounce none of them, nothing lovely and of good report, nothing wherein there is any virtue or any praise. On the contrary, they shall gain an added lustre from their association with that chief excellence which we would have you win. Like as there is so great difference between a fair landscape on a bright summer’s morn, and that same scene looked upon amid the mists of winter, so shall all that is virtuous and good in us attain to a higher beauty, a more perfect loveliness, by the bright shining of the Sun of righteousness upon them. Apart from him they are cold, dim, vague, uncertain; but in him and through him they become radiant and more beautiful than ever. And not only so, but they are more securely yours; they are far less likely to be lost.

2. By way of warning, let me remind you that on the wedding garment in which we must all be clothed if we would enter in and abate in the festivities of the marriage supper of the Lambon that garment there shines resplendent but one jewel; it is this pearl of great price. If we have not that, no bedizening of ourselves with such goodly pearls as we may possess, or think we possess, will serve instead. Many will seek, do seek, so to adorn themselves. But all such righteousness is rejected, all such trust refused. Oh, then, to your virtues and other lovely and lovable qualities add thistrust in the blessed Saviours Name, which will include in it the heart perfectly surrendered, the will yielded up to him!C.

HOMILIES BY D. YOUNG

Jer 49:1, Jer 49:2

A usurper in the inheritance.

I. ACTUAL POSSESSION IS NOT THE ONLY THING TO BE CONSIDERED. Ammon is the actual present possessor of the territory of Gad. But every possessor must be ready upon occasion to show his title. With respect to the most trifling article the possessor must be able to make clear that it is his own, that he bought it, or inherited it, or had it given to him; in short, that it came to him in some entirely lawful way. Ammon had taken Gad by force, probably a very easy thing to do in the depressed condition of Israel’s fortunes. And if it be said in reply that Israel had originally taken this very territory of Gad by force, such a statement is, of course, quite correct. But then we have to keep in mind the typical character of Israel Everything depends on the point of view from which we look. Certain rules of legal ownership are an indispensable necessity of present social order, but at intervals in the course of the world revolutions come more or less extensive, and existing legal ownerships get utterly swept away. The Maker of the world, who is also the Bringer forth of the abundance of the soil, is to be looked to as the real Disposer of what he has made. And therefore, with respect to every actual possession of man, we have the question to askIs it as the possession of Ammon, or as the possession of Israel? And chiefly we should ask the question with respect to ourselves. Whatever it be, external goods, or office, or reputation, have we got it, proceeding on the very highest principles of action, those which God himself would have us to employ?

II. ABIDING POSSESSION, AND HOW IT IS TO BE GAINED. Ammon now holds Gad, as it seems, very firmly. What can Israel now do to get the territory back? That question Jehovah will answer in his own time, and Ammon will have to suffer for violently laying hold of what was not its own. And yet, bear in mind that this very action came through Ammon’s alienation from the true Lord and Guide of men. That alienation may manifest itself in different ways, but all sin and all chastisement of sin are traceable back to the alienation. Ammon was really trying to gratify a right desire in a wrong way. The desire for possession and for increase of possession, continuous and ever expanding, is a right desire. But it must be a possession assimilated to all that is best, all that is most enduring in our nature. Legal ownership is often in inverse proportion to actual enjoyment. The spiritual Israelite, the genuine, devout, habitual believer in Jesus Christ, is to be heir of all things. The things unseen and eternal are his, and they are his because a correspondence has been divinely produced between him and them (1Co 6:9-11; 1Co 15:53). Inheritances gained after the natural fashion very soon turn out delusive.Y.

Jer 49:16

The pride of apparent security.

I. THE REAL EXTENT OF THE SECURITY. Not without some cause did Edom pride itself on its position. Security is a relative word. Mountain fastnesses are a sufficient defence against such attacks as Edom can measure and understand. Mountain fastnesses have done much for the cause of national liberty and independence. They ought not to be the shelter and home of brigands; but it is right to notice their glorious place in history as the shelter and home of struggling freemen. God would not have us undervalue any security so far as it is a real security. The mistake is when we live as if all precious things could be preserved by securities which Providence has only given for the preservation of certain outward things. So far from our overvaluing securities coming from our own strength and external resources, it may truly be said that we rather undervalue them. If we could only use them in the right way, with insight and without prejudice, we should find many dangers of the present life greatly diminished.

II. THE WAY IN WHICH A SECURITY MAY BECOME A PERIL. Edom lives as it likes among its great natural strongholds. Long experience has taught it exactly how to deal with every attacking force, and it sees no danger with which it cannot effectually deal. Thus the dangers and deliverances which come out of the unseen alike escape attention. Men are protected outwardly; they have all that heart can wish; but meanwhile the heart is left exposed to every temptation. The fewer dangers there are outwardly, the more dangers there are inwardly; and the more dangers there are outwardly, the fewer there may be inwardly. For when men live amid dangers and inconveniences to the outward life, then their eyes are open to the comparative superficiality of such dangers. They see how the deepest treasures of life, the most abiding ones, may remain perfectly safe while outward things are going to pieces. Better would it have been for Edom to live in the exposed plain, if thereby it had been brought to trust and know that God who is the only true Refuge.

III. THE FALLACY OF SEEKING SECURITY IN A HIGHER DEGREE OF THE ESSENTIALLY INSECURE. The eagle dwells in inaccessible heights, and thus it may be reckoned a symbol of the greatest security attainable here below. But after all, the word “inaccessible” is only a synonym for what is exceedingly difficult of attainment. Courage, patience, and perseverance may do much to blot out the word “inaccessible.” And if this be so from the human point of view, how much plainer is it that all human securities, however high the degree they attain in our estimate, are in the sight of God as nothing! The great thing that sends us wrong in trying to make life really secure is that, instead of fixing our thoughts on an entirely different kind of danger, we allow ourselves to act as if the only thing needful was to guard against a higher degree of the danger already perceived. To God dealing with the ungodly and. the unrighteous, mountain and plain are alike.Y.

Jer 49:23

The perils of the sea.

I. THE FEELING PRODUCED BY MARITIME DANGER. Sorrow is far too vague a word for the feeling here referred to. Fear, anxiety, constant watchfulness against close and sudden and increasing danger, a sense that utter destruction may come at any moment,these are the feelings going to make up the complex state of mind with which Damascus is so profoundly disturbed. No discomposing effect produced by a land danger was enough to serve the prophet’s purpose. Not but what land perils taken in the sum of them are greater than sea ones; but they do not produce the same effect on the mind. Away out at sea one is so completely at the mercy of the waters. There is no chance to say, “Run for your life.” There is nothing left for it but patience, submission, and hope trying to rise above opposed emotions. Those who have been in such circumstances will be best able to realize the force and peculiarity of the figure here employed. The Old Testament furnishes one illustration in Jonah’s disobedient voyage, and the New Testament another in the experiences connected with the shipwreck of Paul.

II. THE WAY TO PREPARE FOR SUCH AN HOUR. The hour in which human strength and wisdom can do nothing may come on us unawares, may come fated with terrible appearances beyond all previous imaginations, but it by no means follows that such an hour is to come unprepared for. More preparation is needed than simply that of counting on the chances of escaping such an hour altogether. The hour may be escaped, but all who go down to the sea in ships cannot escape it; and therefore they do wisely to prepare for it, especially as the preparation arises from a state of mind which brings the greatest positive blessings The peace that passeth all understanding is a peace that comprehends and subdues every possible disturbing cause. The attainment of this peace and the benefits consequent upon it have been wonderfully proved in terrible cases of shipwreck. The true wisdom for us all in this world so full of perils, whether we have to face the dangers of sea or of land, is to have the real treasures of life in heaven. Then when we have done all that human resources can compass, we are sure that the most precious things remain safe beyond the reach of harm.Y.

Jer 49:34-39

The fate of Elam.

I. THE ELEMENTS OF DOOM.

1. Loss of active strength. The breaking of the bow ought, perhaps, to be taken somewhat literally. Elam may have been a people where skill in archery reckoned for much of its strength. Whatever our peculiar natural strength may be, God can break it to pieces. We should never pride ourselves on what is peculiar to us, for the really best things are those which may become common to all men.

2. The loss of all union. The two ways in which nations perish.

(1) They retain their corporate existence, remain in their country, but lose their independence and enter into servitude.

(2) They are scattered, and lose all the outward signs of a nation. Thus in this scattering we have a symbol of the way in which men who have been joined together for evil purposes may be disunited. Union itself is strength so long as it lasts, even if no actual step be taken. God can destroy the schemes of men and at the same time throw them into new relations as individuals, so that they may be forced each one into a new scheme and plan for himself. When God scatters and humbles nations, there is pain to the individual for the time in his feeling of nationality, but for all that the scattering is a good thing for the individual and for the world.

3. The destruction of the ruling men in Elam. God will set up his throne. The visible power and glory of those who represented Elam is to pass away. In a monarchy the king and his nobles give a centre, around which the whole nation gathers. When this centre is taken away there is nothing to act as a sufficient point of union for the scattered ones if they are so disposed. What God does he does completely.

II. NOTE THAT THE REASON OF ALL THIS IS NOWHERE DISTINCTLY EXPRESSED IN THE PROPHECY. And yet we know there is nothing capricious and arbitrary in all this severity. Elam must have done much wickedness in the sight of Jehovah. Wherever there is suffering there is sin; and, more than that, when God indicates his own special interference we know that he has a sufficient reason for it in the wrong doing of those with whom he thus deals.

III. THE ELEMENT OF HOPE. The captivity of Elam, as it is called, is not to endure forever. A brighter future is coming, spoken of very indefinitely, but not therefore uncertainly. Not, of course, that Elam was to be re-established literally in its old possessions and glory. Such verses as this must be taken spiritually. It is God’s way of setting before us the truth that, whatever may be lost by a particular community or a particular generation, only vanishes to reappear in a far greater gain to every individual, spiritually considered.Y.

Fuente: The Complete Pulpit Commentary

Jer 49:1. Concerning the Ammonites The evils here foretold happened about the same time with those spoken of in the preceding chapter; that is to say, about five years after the taking of Jerusalem by Nebuchadnezzar. Ammon and Moab are generally joined together, as they were united by blood, by interest, and by vicinity. Instead of their king, here, and in Jer 49:3. Houbigant reads Malkam, the idol of the Ammonites. God greatly afflicted those parts of the kingdom of Israel which lay on the east side of Jordan, first, by Hazael, then by Tiglath-pileser; and afterwards delivered up the whole kingdom to be carried away captive by Salmanezer. Soon after which time, it is probable, the Ammonites possessed themselves of Gad, or of Gilead, which belonged to that tribe, and lay near their territories. See Amo 1:13. But God’s dispossessing the Israelites gave them no right to invade their inheritance, especially when they had been so tender of the Ammonites, as not to invade their possessions in their march towards the land of Canaan. See Deu 2:19. Jdg 11:12. The reason which engaged Nebuchadnezzar to declare war against the Ammonites, was evidently to revenge the death of Gedaliah, who was killed by the order of Baalis king of the Ammonites. See chap. Jer 40:14 and Calmet.

Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke

6. Prophecy against the Ammonites

Jer 49:1-6

The Ammonites also, the brother nation of the Moabites, (Gen 19:37) after centuries of various conflict (comp. Jdg 3:13; Jdg 10:7 sqq.; Jdg 11:32; 1 Samuel 11; 2 Samuel 10, 11; 2Sa 12:26; 2 Chronicles 20; 2Ch 26:8; 2Ch 27:5) in consequence of the deportation of the East-Jordanic tribes have appropriated a part of their territory. This fact forms the point of departure for the present prophecy. Older prophecies against Ammon are extant only by Amos (Jer 1:13-15) and Zephaniah in consequence of a declaration against Moab, (Jer 2:9-10). Of these Jeremiah has made considerable use of the prophecy of Amos. Comp. the exposition. There is at most an echo of the brief utterance of Zephaniah in the expression desolation, Jer 49:2. coll. Zep 2:9. Since Nebuchadnezzar and the Chaldeans are not named, the prophecy must be older than the battle of Carchemish, and since the beginning agrees in form with the beginning of the first prophecy against Egypt (Jer 46:2), and the prophecies against Moab (Jer 48:1), Edom (Jer 49:7) and Damascus (Jer 49:23), the supposition is natural that the date of its origin is the same as that of these prophecies.

1Against the children of Ammon.

Thus saith Jehovah: Has then Israel no children, of has he no heir?
Why then does Malcom inherit Gad and his people dwell in his cities?

2Therefore behold, the days come, saith Jehovah,

That I cause the war-shout to be heard against Rabbah of the children of Ammon;
And she shall become a desolated heap,
And her daughter shall be burned with fire:
And Israel shall be heir to his heirs, saith Jehovah.

3How Heshbon, for devastated is Ai!

Cry, ye daughters of Rabbah, gird on sackcloth;
Lament and run to and fro1 on the walls;

For Malcom must go into captivity,
His priests and his princes together.

4Why boastest2 thou of the valleys?

Thy valley is flowing away,3 thou rebellious daughter,

Who trusted in her treasures;Who will come to me?

5Behold, I bring fear upon thee, saith the Lord, Jehovah Zebaoth,

From all thy neighbors;
And ye shall be driven away, each one before him;
And there shall be no gatherer of the fugitives.

6But nevertheless I will turn the captivity of the children of Ammon,

Saith Jehovah.

EXEGETICAL AND CRITICAL

Four parts may be plainly distinguished. In the first (Jer 49:1-2) the prophet alludes to the fact, from the theocratic point of view regarded as improper, that the Ammonites had taken possession of the Gadite territory (Jer 49:1), and declares that this cannot remain so. Ammon must be involved in war, the capital with the neighboring cities destroyed, and Israel again put into possession of his country (Jer 49:2). In the second part (Jer 49:3) a brief specification follows, in the third (Jer 49:4-5) a reason for the punitive judgment, with express indication, that the recompense would correspond exactly to the inculpation. In the fourth part (Jer 49:6) the prophet concludes with a consolatory outlook into the future.

Jer 49:1-2. Against saith Jehovah.The prophet here presupposes the possession of the Gadite territory by the Ammonites in consequence of the deportation of the East-Jordanic tribes by Tiglath-Pileser (2Ki 15:29; 1Ch 5:6; 1Ch 5:26. Comp. Introd. to Jeremiah 48). Amos refers to former attempts by the Ammonites for the same object (Jer 1:13).Malcom. Jeremiah has Amo 1:15 in view. In this passage Malcom appears to me to be used in a double sense. Why should the king mentioned only with the people of the Ammonites? Why does Amos say of Damascus (Jer 49:5) and Philistia (Jer 49:8), him that holdeth the sceptre, and of Moab (Jer 2:3) the judge? Did he not wish it to be understood that the expression used only of Ammon, wes to be taken here in a special sense? I believe, then, that Malcom (Am. 1:16) refers primarily to the King, but in such wise that an allusion to the God is also intended. This allusion was all the plainer, if the Ammonites really, as Movers supposes (Phnic., I., S. 323. Comp. Herzog, Real-Enc., IX., S. 714), called the god , i.e., our king. With reference to this he might fitly, when the Ammonites were spoken of, be called by the Israelites. It is, therefore, unnecessary here, and in Jer 49:3 to read , as Ewald, Graf and Meier would do, after the example of the LXX. and Syr. Since we cannot express the specific meaning of the word by the translation, we have retained Malcom as if it were a proper name.The war-shout, etc., is a reminiscence from Amo 1:14.Rabbah Beni Ammon. This was the complete name of the city (comp. Deu 3:11; 2Sa 11:1; 2Sa 12:26 sqq). It was called Rabbah, the great, the capital, in contrast to the neighboring cities. Comp. Herz., R.-Enc. XII., S. 469.A desolate heap, literally hill of desolation, therefore, heap of ruins. Comp. Jos 8:28 and Zep 2:9.Burned with fire. This also reminds us of Amo 1:14 (comp. Olsh., 242 b).

Jer 49:3. Howl Heshbon princes together. The immediate consequences of the war-shout being heard are specified. Heshbon is to howl. It was then an Ammonitish city. Comp. rems. on Jer 48:2; Jer 48:45. It is given as a reason that Ai is destroyed. What city this was is not to be ascertained. Venemas and Ewalds explanation (Rabba ita vastata est, ut jam sit tumulus ruderum) is forced. Graf would read with reference to Rabbah. But Rabbah could be called only in the appellative sense, and then it must have the article. To suppose that Ai is transferred hither from Jos 8:28, because there alone the expression heap of desolation occurs, is to attribute to the prophet either ignorance or carelessness. Many commentators therefore (J. D. Michaelis, Hitzig, comp. V. Raumer, S. 168, Anm. 150) are disposed to assume an East-Jordanic Ai, which expedient seems to me thus far the best.There is no reason for taking daughters of Rabbah in a different sense here from Jer 49:2.Sackcloth. Comp. rems. on Jer 48:37.On the walls. I do not see why these should be regarded as the walls of a sheep-fold, as many would do. What is more natural in a city, against which the enemy is advancing, than to run up and down on the walls to take measures for defence? That the city walls may be meant is evident from Psa 89:41 : Eze 42:12For Malcom, etc. These words are taken from Amo 1:15. Only in the present passage we have his priests for he, which is evidently not from misunderstanding, but to emphasize more plainly the intended meaning of Malcom. Comp. rems. on Jer 48:7.

Jer 49:4-5. Why boastest thou . fugitives. Reason of the primitive judgment. The pride, the stubbornness, the security of Ammon must be correspondingly punished. Comp. Jer 48:26; Jer 48:30.Rebellious daughter. Comp. Jer 31:22.Who will come to me? The Ammonites boast, Who will come to us? The Lord tells them, the enemies will come upon them, and that from all sides, yea, oven behind them, so that the Ammonites will be driven, straight before them, and because the enemies come from all sides will be so scattered that no one will be in a condition to collect the fugitives again.Fear. Comp. Jer 48:43-44.Each one before him. Comp. every man straight before him, Jos 6:6; Jos 6:20; Jos 5:13.Gatherer. Comp. Isa 13:14; Isa 56:8; Nah 3:18.

Jer 49:6. But nevertheless . Jehovah. Ammon also is to share in the salvation of the future, which is to issue from Israel unto all nations. Comp. rems. on Jer 48:47 and Jer 49:39.

Footnotes:

[1]Jer 49:3.. On the form comp. OLSH ., 67, Anm., 272, a.

[2]Jer 49:4.. invariably denotes to boast, to brag. The object of the boasting is most frequently connected by . Comp. Jer 4:2; Jer 9:22-23; Psa 49:7, etc.

[3]Jer 49:4. . The explanation of Ewald and Graf, of the luxuriance, the superfluity of thy valley would suit the connection, but the abstract rendering of is an objection, since this form () elsewhere is used almost wholly in the formation of participles, very rarely of substantives of concrete meaning, as people, city. occurs (in the masc. form) only of a man with emission of seed (Lev 15:4), in the fem. of a woman with emission of blood (Lev 15:19), and of Canaan as a land flowing with milk and honey (Exo 3:8; Exo 3:17; Lev 20:24; Num 13:27, etc.) Hence the explanation: thy valley flows away, passes away, or redundat sanguine confossorum, does not correspond to the use of the word elsewhere. I would, therefore, explain with Schleussner quid gloriaris vallibus tuis? (quod scilicet) fcunda sit vallis tua? Thus one idea is expressed independently of the preposition.

7. Prophecy against Edom (Jer 49:7-22)

On account of their relationship to the Israelites, the Edomites, in consequence of an express divine command, were not treated as enemies on the journey to Canaan (Deu 2:4; Deu 23:7). Saul, however, conquered them (1Sa 14:47). David subjected them entirely (2Sa 8:14). In this state of dependence they remained after Hadads attempt at revolution had failed (1Ki 11:14-22) till the reign of Joram, when they revolted (2Ki 8:20-22; 2Ch 21:8). Amaziah and Uzziah indeed made by no means unsuccessful attempts to bring them, again into subjection (2Ki 14:7; 2Ki 14:22), but their success was not lasting. In the reign of Ahaz the Edomites again invaded Judea (2Ch 28:17), and in the time of the Chaldeans we also find their ambassadors among those who came to Zedekiah to consult concerning means to be taken in common (Jer 27:3); but at the destruction of Jerusalem they are on the side of the Chaldeans, greeting the destruction of the long hostile city (comp. , Eze 35:5) with scornful triumph (Lam 4:21; Eze 35:15; Eze 36:5; Psa 137:7).

As regards the date of out prophecy, the construction of the superscription (), as well as the nonmention of the Chaldeans, point to the same. date at which the other portions with similar superscription, at the head of which is the first against Egypt (Jer 46:1-12), originated, i.e., the time immediately before the battle of Carchemish. Comp. rems. on Jer 46:1-2, and Introd. to the Prophecies against the Nations.

Of special importance for our prophecy is its relation to the prophecy of Obadiah directed against Edom. They correspond to each other as follows:

Jer 49:7 and Oba 1:8.

Jer 49:9 and Oba 1:5.

Jer 49:10 and Oba 1:6-7.

Jer 49:14 and Oba 1:1.

Jer 49:15 and Oba 1:2.

Jer 49:16 and Oba 1:3-4.

That Jeremiah drew from Obadiah, and not vice vers, has been shown by Caspari (Der Proph. Obadja ausgel. Leipzig, 1842) in such an exhaustive manner that there can be no further question on this point. The quotations then from Obadiah extend only to Jer 49:8 of his prophecy. On the other hand, the following context (Oba 1:9 sqq.) has frequent points of contact with Joel, which is not the case in the previous context, and it is just in these verses that the indubitable references to the capture of Jerusalem by the Chaldeans are found (comp. Oba 1:10; Oba 1:16). Hence recently either the old theory has been retained (held by Augusti, Krahmer, Ewald, Meier in Zellers Jahrb. I. 3, S. 526) of the use of an older source in common on the part of Jeremiah and Obadiah (comp. Meier, die proph. BB. d. A. T. bersetzt u erk., S. 368 [The proph. Books of the O. T. transl. and explained]), or it is supposed that Oba 1:9-21 was a later addition, composed after the Chaldean catastrophe. This is not the place to enter into this difficult investigation specially or with the precision which it requires. I content myself therefore with putting two questions: Is it then so decidedly demonstrated that Obadiah quotes Joel and not Joel ?Oba 1:2. How is it, that in Jer 49:12-14 Edom is only warned against committing hostilities against Judah in the day of their calamity? Such hostilities had certainly been already committed (Jer 49:10-11; Jer 49:15-16). But is it not clear from the turn which the discourse takes (with ) in Jer 49:12 that the prophet distinguishes two points of time, a past and a future? Once already have the Edomites greeted the calamity of Jerusalem with malicious joy. When now they are warned against doing this again, is it not presupposed that Jerusalem is still by no means wholly destroyed, but that the really great day of calamity is still impending (observe the repeated eight times in Jer 49:12-14)? Would it not accordingly be exegetically more exact to suppose that the prophet, finding occasion in the hostility displayed by the Edomites in a transient occupation of Jerusalem, warns them from a repetition on the great day of Jerusalem, which he foresees as in evitable, and on the presupposition that this warning will not avail, threatened them with a just recompense?

Of the other older prophecies against Edom (Isa 34:5-17; Amo 1:11-12; Joel 4:19) Jeremiah hat made no use.

The whole prophecy is plainly to be discriminated into three parts. The first (Jer 49:7-13) has for its topic the judgment to be executed on Edom according to the elements of its outward appearance (Jer 49:7-10) and itsobjective inward ground, which is the decree of Jehovah. The second part (Jer 49:14-18) is predominantly occupied with the statement of the subjective ground of the visitation, i.e., with the guilt of Edom. The third part (Jer 49:19-22) brings before us the subject of the destination, that is, the instrument thereof, chosen by Jehovah.

1. The judgment on Edom in its external appearance and objective reason

Jer 49:7-13

7Against Edom. Thus saith Jehovah Zebaoth:

Is there no longer wisdom in Teman?
Hath counsel vanished from the intelligent?4

Is their wisdom expended?5

8Flee, turn, bow low,6 ye inhabitants of Dedan! For

the destruction of Esau I bring upon him,
The time, when I visit him.

9If vintagers come to thee they will leave no gleanings,

If thieves by night they destroy their fill.

10For I have stript Esau bare, discovered his hiding places,

And he cannot hide himself.7

His seed is destroyed and his brethren and his neighbors.
And he is no more.

11Leave8 thy orphans, I will preserve their life,

And let thy widows confide9 in me.

12For thus saith Jehovah, Behold,

They, whose rule it was not to drink the cup, must drink it.
And art thou10 to remain unpunished?

No, but thou shalt drink.

13For I have sworn by myself, saith Jehovah,

That Bozrah shall become a desolation,
A reproach, a desert11 and a curse;

And all her cities shall become desolate for ever.

EXEGETICAL AND CRITICAL

The destruction of Edom is described, 1. as it appears outwardly, 2. according to its inner reason in the divine decree. First the irresistible nature of the attack is set forth, in opposition to which all the renowned wisdom of Edom will be unavailing (Jer 49:7). The Dedanites, the neighbors and commercial allies of Edom, are warned to consult their own safety (Jer 49:8). The enemies will come, and, like vintagers or thieves, make a clean sweep (Jer 49:9). It will turn out that Edoms material means of defence, his rock fortresses regarded as impregnable, together with his own and his allied offensive forces, cannot avert destruction (Jer 49:10). This must be so, because it is the will of Jehovah. This is seen in Jehovahs taking charge, as it were, of the widows and children of the Edomites, which presupposes the death of their guardians (Jer 49:11). Jehovah must permit their death, as without being unjust, He cannot spare Edom the cup which Israel had to drink. Edom must therefore drain it irrevocably (Jer 49:12) for Jehovah in accordance with the imperative demands of His justice) has sworn, that Edom will be a prey to everlasting desolation (Jer 49:13). Thus the strophe concludes, and from the similarity of this conclusion with Jer 49:18 it is seen, that in both cases we have a larger section of the discourse.

Jer 49:7. Against Edom expended. Wisdom and intelligence are necessary in carrying on war (Pro 24:6) and where these fail, all is lost. This lack is observable in Edom. This is the more striking since the wisdom of Edom and especially of Teman was celebrated from of old. Comp. Oba 1:8; Job 2:11 (Teman was the home of Eliphaz); Bar 3:22-23. On Teman comp. Herz., R.-Enc., III., S. 650. [Cowles on this verse.S. R. A.]

Jer 49:8. Flee visit him. On Dedan comp. rems. on Jer 25:23. They were not Edomites but neighbors (Eze 25:13), and at all events connected with them by mercantile intercourse (comp. Isa 21:13). Hence they are also threatened by the tempest which is breaking over Edom. They are therefore admonished to look to their own safety.For, etc. Comp. Jer 49:32; Jer 46:21; Jer 6:15.

Jer 49:9-10. If vintagers no more. Jer 49:9 is taken from Oba 1:5. The sense is clear. It could not be so if we should render the sentence interrogatively, as many do, in too servile adherence to the passage in Obadiah. Jer 49:10 reminds us of Oba 1:6, though there we read searched out and sought up for stript bare and discovered. These terms applied to Esau refer to the uncommonly strong fortress-dwellings, occupied by the Edomites. Comp. rems. on Jer 49:16.His seed is destroyed, etc. Both the real Edomites and the descendants of related and other nations, which were mingled with them, as the Amalekites, Gen 36:12; Horites, Gen 36:20; Simeonites, 1Ch 4:42 and neighboring tribes, as Dedan, Jer 49:8. Tema and Buz, Jer 25:23 are to be destroyed says Graf. He also justly remarks that the expression his brethren and his neighbors appears to have been occasioned by men of thy confederacy and men of thy peace in Oba 1:7.And he is no more. Comp. Isa 19:7.

Jer 49:11-13. Leave thy orphans desolate forever. Hitzig sees in Jer 49:11 a preliminary conclusion parallel to Jer 49:6; Jer 48:47. But Jer 49:11 is no conclusion, being followed by two sentences with for, Jer 49:12-13, of such a purport that no inference favorable to Edom can possibly be drawn from them. I therefore take Jer 49:11 with Theodoret, Neumann and others, as irony. The Edomites are called upon, the men, namely; to leave their widows and orphans. Observe that it is not said, wives and children. The death of the men is presupposed. When Jehovah immediately adds that He will care for the survivors, this is a poor consolation for the Edomites who do not believe in Jehovah. For what other care but such as slaves receive, can be expected from Him, who announces as his unalterable determination so total a destruction of Edom, as in Jer 49:13; Jer 49:17-18; Jer 49:20-21?I will preserve, etc. Comp. Exo 1:17-18; 2Sa 12:3; 1Ki 18:5; Isa 7:21. We see from these passages that the meaning of the word is primarily negative: not kill, but secondarily positive: do what is necessary for the preservation of life.Whose rule it was not, etc. It was an abnormal thing for Israel, the chosen people, to be obliged to drink the cup of wrath. I therefore take in the sense of norm, law, rule. Comp. Jer 30:11; Jer 8:7.The cup. Comp. Jer 25:15 sqq.Unpunished. Comp. Jer 25:29.Have sworn, etc. Comp. Jer 22:5.A desolation. Comp. Jer 25:11; Jer 25:18; Jer 44:6; Jer 44:22.Bozrah (Isa 34:6; Isa 63:1; Amo 1:11-12) was one of the most important cities of Edom (comp. Jer 48:24) of which there are still remains under the name of Besseyra, i.e., Little Bozrah. Comp. Raumer, Pal., S. 278.Desolate for ever. Comp. Jer 25:9.

Footnotes:

[4]Jer 49:7. Part. Kal from Instead of the more usual Part. Niph. (Gen 41:33; Gen 41:39, etc.). The form does not occur elsewhere.

[5]Jer 49:7. is to overflow, overhang. So Exo 26:12 of the overhanging curtain; Eze 17:6, , vitis patula, late effusa. Part. Pual, poured out, stretched out on the couch, Amo 6:4; Amo 6:7. , Eze 23:15, redundantes mitris d. i. gestantes mitras longe dependentes. Hence Niph. (which occurs here only), profusum, effusum esse, from , Isa 19:3 coll. Jer 19:7.

[6]Jer 49:8.As can only be Imperative, and must also be taken as such. The former (on the construction with the Inf. comp. Naegelsb. Gr., 95, e) is also used in Jer 49:30 as an Imperative. Other instances, 2Ki 2:3; 2Ki 2:5; , 2Ki 12:19; comp. Olsh., 256, a, b. is likewise a rare form, but not impossible or without analogy. Comp. , Eze 32:19; , Job 21:5; Olsh., 260, coll. S. 631.

[7]Jer 49:10.. for , comp. Olsh., 263, b. The perfect would hare to be translated: and does he hide himself, he cannot, which is forced. We should expect at least Ewald and Graf would punctuate ,comp. forms like (Olsh., 263, c), and as regards the construction, Jer 49:23. This expedient removes at least the great grammatical difficulties which affords.

[8]Jer 49:11.On the Imperative form comp. Olshausen, 234, a.

[9]Jer 49:11.. Comp. Eze 37:7. Except in connection with suffixes, we find only this and as examples of the abnormal affirmative. Comp. Olsh., S. 452 3.

[10]Jer 49:12. . Thou, such an one! Jer 14:22; Psa 44:6, comp. Naegelsb. Gr., 79, 3.

[11]Jer 49:13.Instead of we find in the parallel passages.

2. THE JUDGMENT ON EDOM ACCORDING TO ITS SUBJECTIVE REASON

Jer 49:14-18

14I have heard a report from Jehovah,

And a messenger is sent among the nations:
Assemble yourselves and come up against her,
And rise ye for the war.

15For behold, I make thee small among the nations;

Despised among men.

16Thy object of horror12 deceived thee,

The pride of thy heart,
Thou that dwellest in the clefts of the rock,
Thou that occupiest the height of the hill.
Even though, like an eagle, thou buildest thy nest high,
I will bring thee down from thence, saith Jehovah.

17And Edom shall become a wilderness;

Every one that passeth by shall be horrified,
And jeer on account of all her strokes.

18As in the overthrow of Sodom and Gomorrah,

And their neighboring cities, saith Jehovah,
No man will dwell there,
Nor a son of man sojourn in her.

EXEGETICAL AND CRITICAL

Jeremiah proclaims in the words of Obadiah, that nations will be summoned to make war upon Edom, to make her small and despised (Jer 49:14-15). To such a procedure has Edom given occasion by her idolatrous abominations and her pride. This pride is now to be punished (Jer 49:16 and Edom is now to become a horrible waste and like Sodom and Gomorrah (Jer 49:17-18). These verses are taken with modifications from Oba 1:1-4. The main thought is evidently expressed in Jer 49:16; the statement of the subjective cause of the punitive judgment, impending over Edom.

Jer 49:14-15. I have heard among men. Hemistich 1 is taken from Oba 1:1 only with the alteration of we have heard (Israel) to I have heard, and arise ye to assemble yourselves. The report which the prophet bears directly from the Lord and the message (viator, nutius, Pro 18:17; Pro 25:13; Isa 18:2; Isa 57:9) which is sent among the nations are of the same purport. We must regard the report however as expressing not only the command itself, but also that it has been issued. Hemist. 2 is extended in Jeremiah. It reads in Obadiah Arise ye, and let us rise up against her in battle. Jer 49:15, taken from Oba 1:2, states the object of the war, for the attainment of which the nations are summoned. The words correspond to Jer 49:11-13, expressing the decree of Jehovah concerning Edom, the execution of which is the object of the war. For is wanting in Obadiah. In small and despised there is evidently an antithesis to Edoms pride (Jer 49:16). Hemist. 2 reads in Obadiah, thou art greatly despised.

Jer 49:16. Thy object of horror saith Jehovah. We evidently have here the kernel of the strophe, that by which it is distinguished from the context, viz., the guilt of Edom is here stated, the subjective reason of her destruction. While Obadiah mentions as this reason only the pride of thine heart (Jer 49:3), Jeremiah mentions also the being a terror, or, as I understand the word, the horror, i.e., the idol. We may well conceive that wishing to extend the text of his source the prophet would insert a word which would state the ground of Edoms moral corruption. Whence does arise the moral pollution of the heathen world? According to Romans 1. from idolatry. Here also Jeremiah would say that it was really the idol which deceived Edom, pride being involved in idolatry.The pride of thy heart is then in apposition to horror. It is in accordance with this that inaccessible rock-castles are designated as the ground of pride, for, were not all heathen idols local deities? Was not then the idol who had built these rocks and continually protected them the real lord on whom their proud confidence was founded?Clefts of the rocks, etc. It appears to me beyond doubt that Jeremiah had here in view the peculiar character of the Edomite cities, especially the capital, which was called Sela (2Ki 14:7; Isa 16:1). Comp, the remarks on Bozrah, Jer 49:13. The second hemistich is abbreviated from Oba 1:4. Comp. Amo 9:2.

[The descriptive points in this verse are wonderfully accurate. Petra, the ancient capital of Edom, for ages the main thoroughfare of the great trade and travel between India and Mesopotamia on the East, and Egypt and North Africa on the South-West; the seat therefore of wealth and art, perhaps of wisdom also, and culture, held a position of great military strength. It was built in a vast ravine, partly on the broad area inclosed by lofty precipitous walls of rock, which by some of natures mighty convulsions had been rent asunder, and partly in those very fronts of lofty rock, chiseled out with immense labor, so that the pillars of the temples and the apartments of its tombs and dwellings were wholly cut from the solid, eternal rock. Hereher nests built high in these crags like the eaglesold Petra eat in her pride and her strength, cherishing the vain fancy that no power could ever bring her down. But the Almighty spake and it was done!The site of ancient Petra, for ages unknown, has been brought to light during the present century. A number of travelers have visited and explored it. Laborde, Dr. Robinson and others, have given full and precise statements of its wonderful ruins, placing Petra in the front rank of those ancient witnesses who bear their silent but resistless testimony to the precision of the old prophetic descriptions, and to the marvellous correspondence in the most minute details between prophecy and historythe prophecy of twenty centuries ago and the history of to-day. Cowles.S. R. A.]

Jer 49:17-18. And Edom sojourn in her. These verses do not contain any reminiscences from Obadiah, but they do from Jeremiah himself and from other writings.And Edom, etc., is formed after Jer 25:11; Jer 25:38. Comp. Jer 50:13.Every one that passeth. Comp. Jer 19:8.As in the overthrow, etc., is from Deu 29:22. Comp. Isa 13:19; Jer 50:40. The expression neighboring cities points to Deu 29:22, where Admah and Zeboim are mentioned with Sodom and Gomorrah. Comp. Hos 11:8.No man will dwell, etc. Comp. Jer 49:33; Jer 50:40; Jer 51:43.

Footnotes:

[12]Jer 49:16. does not occur elsewhere. It is usually taken in the sense of terror = (Jer 21:4) and understood to mean the terror which Edom inspires. But because the following verb is in the masc. some have thought it necessary to separate from it and regard it as an isolated exclamation (comp. , Isa 29:16), which Schleussner renders O arrogantiam tuam; Hitzig, fear to thee; Graf, horror at thee. But this exclamation appears somewhat exaggerated. Why should a people, who are deceived by pride, be especially inspired with fear? Is not this very common! Was the pride of Edom greater than that of Moab (Jer 48:29)? Or was it threatened with a worse fate? I find it more suitable to take in the sense of . The latter word in 1Ki 15:13; 2Ch 15:16 designates an idol, an idol-image. This is called a terror, an object of holy horror, as frequently , Gen 31:42; , Isa 8:13; , Jer 50:38 are used in an analogous sense. The LXX. may have the same idea, translating , i.e., risus, jocus tuus. According to Schleussner, they had Priapus in mind, for which also Jerome holds in 1 Kings 15. and 2 Kings 15. Rabbis also, according to Kimchis testimony, have understood the word of i.e., idolatry. Among the moderns, J. D. Michaelis and Meier adopt this view. The gender of the verb is no hinderance, for the prophet could properly use the masc. when thinking of the person of the idol. Comp. Naegelsb. Gr., 60, 4.

3. THE INSTRUMENT CHOSEN BY JEHOVAH FOR THE DESTRUCTION OF EDOM

Jer 49:19-22

19Behold, as a lion he cometh up

From the pride of Jordan to the evergreen pasturage,
For in a twinkling I drive him (Edom) from thence.13

And who is chosen?14 Him will I set over him.

For who is like me? And who will appoint me the time?
And who is the shepherd that would stand before me?

20Therefore hear the counsel of Jehovah which He hath counselled against Edom,

And His thoughts, which he has thought concerning the inhabitants of Teman:
Verily they will be dragged along, the feeble little sheep;
Verily their pasturage will be astounded15 at them.

21At the sound of their fall16 the earth trembles.

Crying!17 The sound of it18 is heard on the Red Sea.

22Behold, as an eagle he ascends and flies,

And extends his wings over Bozrah;
And the heart of the heroes of Edom on that day
Will be as the heart of a woman in anguish.

EXEGETICAL AND CRITICAL

This strophe also describes the destruction of Edom, but in such wise that the instrument in the hand of the Lord is prominent, without being mentioned by name. As a lion from the reed thickets of the Jordan falls upon a flock, which is pasturing on the luxuriant, ever-green meadows of the Gr, so shall Edom be surprised in his rock-dwelling and be driven away in a twinkling. So shall a new shepherd, chosen ad hoc by the Lord Himself, be set over Edom, for the previous shepherds of Edom have no prerogative to maintain their position in spite of the Lord (Jer 49:19). The new Shepherd, however, will not pasture the flock in the old way peaceably, but will drag them away, so that their pasturage will be astounded at the disappearance of the flock (Jer 49:20). Thus the fall of Edom will be a violent one, so much so that the sound of it will be heard afar (Jer 49:20). Again, in conclusion, the one who is called to the destruction of Edom is compared with an eagle (after Deu 28:49), who will extend his wings over Bozrah, which, is fortified indeed, but powerless against such an enemy, so that on that day even the heroes of Edom will be as faint-hearted as parturient women.

Jer 49:19. Behold as a lion before me. As in Jer 46:18 with Carmel, and in Jer 48:40 with an eagle, so here the instrument of the Lord is compared with a lion, one who lurks in the reedy margin of the Jordan (the pride of Jordan, the luxuriant bushes and reeds growing on its banks, by which it is enclosed as by a green garland. Khler on Zec 11:3 coll.Jer 12:5; Raumer, Pal. S. 58; Herzog, R.-Enc., VII., S. 8) and from thence makes his inroads on the flocks pasturing on the luxuriant evergreen meadows of the Jordan valley. For the Gor, though in general arid and infertile, where brooks flow down from the mountains to the Jordan has oases, which under the influence of the tropical climate are exceedingly fertile. Comp. Arnold in Herzog, R.-Enc., S. 10, etc. I am therefore of opinion that does not directly signify the land of Edom, and thus is neither to be taken as rock-dwelling nor as evergreen pasturage with sole reference to the undisturbed possession of the land for centuries. I take it in the latter meaning, but I think that the expression is chosen because it admits of a double reference, to the oases of the Jordanic valley and to Edom itself, which may be thus designated both as the ancient residence of the Edomite nation, and with reference to the strength and indestructibility of its national defences (comp. Num 24:21; Mic 6:2). In referring the expression at the same time to Edom, a transition is formed from the comparison to the thing compared.For in a twinkling. From the For we see that the prophet has in view the suddenness of the attack as a tertium comparationis. From the thickets of the Jordan lions could easily fall upon herds feeding near the bank (comp. Herzog, R-Enc. XI. S. 29). In like manner shall Edom be suddenly assailed and driven away from his pasturage.And who is chosen? We see from this expression that the prophet had no definite person in view. He does not yet know who the chosen one is, but only that there will be one. Whoever it is will really obtain the supremacy over Edom, appointed to him. (Jer 15:3; Jer 51:27). The elder commentators understood Nebuchadnezzar, or even (interprete Luthero, as Frster says) Alexander the Great.For who is like me? Edoms princes of ancient and illustrious descent (Genesis 36.) might well be caught in the delusion of inviolable security. Here they are told that they have a higher power above them, who can remove them, and set others more pleasing to him in their placeJehovah, namely, who has none like unto Him, (Comp. Caspari, Micha der Morast, S. 14 sqq.; Exo 15:11), whom no one can bring to an account (Job 9:19), whom no earthly national shepherd (Jer 10:21; Jer 25:34; Jer 23:1) can defy. [To appoint one the time is the ancient phrase for a legal indictment and summons. Who shall prosecute me before the court for this proceeding, i.e., set himself against me as an opponent, or an antagonist. CowlesS. R. A.]

Jer 49:20-21. Therefore hear Red Sea. As it is, therefore, undeniable that the Lord has power over all kingdoms of the nations, it is solemnly made known to all the world as the decree of the highest Majesty; the Edomites shall suffer the same fate from Him, who shall attack them like a lion, as the lion brings upon the weaker animals, i.e., they shall be dragged away (Jer 15:3; Jer 22:19)carried into captivity. Thus will the land be desolated, as the prophet poetically expresses it in the words, the land will be horrified at the sudden stillness and desolation. There is a similar personification in Job 7:10, (Psa 103:16). From this it follows 1. that the entire representation of these two verses is based on a figure of a place of pasturage; 2. that by the new shepherd, a conqueror is understood who will desolate the land and carry the people into captivity; 3. that the sentence with therefore, occasioned by the emphatic causal sentence of three clauses, Jer 49:19, b, contains no more than an emphatically repeated inference (A, then B, therefore A), consequently the same thought in substance, which was already expressed in I will drive him from thence. On Jer 49:20 a comp. Jer 49:30; Jer 18:11; Jer 29:11; Isa 14:26-27; Isa 19:12Teman, comp. Jer 49:7. The city lay according to Jerome, five, according to Eusebius, fifteen Roman miles from Petra, comp. Raumer, Pal. S. 279.

The little sheep. Comp. Jer 14:3; Jer 48:4. The smallest of the flock are the weakest, most helpless, who are least adapted for flight or resistance, and most for being dragged away.[Henderson adheres to the A. V., making the smallest of the flock the nominative.S. R. A.]At the sound, &c., immediate effect of the overthrow of the power of Edom. Comp. Eze 26:15; Eze 31:16; Isa 13:13; Jer 51:29.The whole passage, Jer 49:19-21, is repeated and applied to Babylon (Jer 50:44-46).

Jer 49:22. Behold in anguish. That which is in Jer 49:19 declared by means of a figure taken from a lion, is here repeated in the form of a figure derived from an eagle. The first half of the verse is taken from Jer 48:40, the second from Jer 48:41. The reason of the assailer of Bozrah appearing here as an eagle may be that the castellated rock of this city is designated as accessible only to an eagle. Comp. Raumer, Pal. S. 278; Schubert, Reise in das Morgenland. II. S. 426.

Footnotes:

[13]Jer 49:19.The construction as in Zep 3:7 coll. Pro 12:19. Comp. Naegelsb. Gr., 95 g, Anm. is undoubtedly to be referred to , although this word is elsewhere used as a masc. (Isa 27:10; Isa 33:20), since the idea of country lies at its basis. Comp. rems, on Jer 49:16.

[14]Jer 49:19. is used as e.g. in Exo 24:14. Comp. Naegelsb. Gr., 79, 6. for . Comp. remarks on Jer 10:1.

[15]Jer 49:20. Hiphil (on. the form comp. Olsh., S. 577, 8; Num 21:30) is to be taken as the direct causative: stuporem efficere, to produce astonishment and horror not in others, but in ones self, i.e., to be horrified. Comp. Naegelsb. Gr., 18, 3. [ if not, a strong mode of asseveration for the purpose of expressing the certainty of any event. Henderson.S. R. A.]

[16]Jer 49:20. is infinitive. Comp. 2Sa 1:10; Olshausen, 245 b.

[17]Jer 49:21. the main idea placed emphatically in advance, which is more accurately defined in the following context. Comp. Ewald, 309, b.

[18]Jer 49:21.[For which refers to , we find the less appropriate reading in eighty-four MSS.: it has been originally in fourteen more; it is in three by correction, and is in the text of twenty-one printed editions. The only version which supports it is the Targum. Henderson. Hitzig however approves of this reading as the more difficult, referring it to , the land, i.e. the population thereof.S. R. A.]

8. Prophecy against Damascus

Jer 49:23-27

Out of a large number of small kingdoms (thirty-two are mentioned in 1Ki 21:1; 1Ki 21:16) with which the Israelites after the period of the Judges had to endure many conflicts, (Jdg 3:8; 1Sa 14:47; 2Sa 8:10.), a large one was formed after Davids death by Rezon, with Damascus for its capital (1Ki 11:23-24). With this great Syrian kingdom also the two kingdoms of Israel had to endure many and severe conflicts, (1Ki 15:18 sqq.;1Ki 20:1 sqq.;1Ki 22:1 sqq.; 2Ki 5:1 sqq.; 1Ki 6:8 sqq.; 1Ki 8:28-29; 1Ki 12:17; 1Ki 13:3; 1Ki 14:25; 1Ki 16:5-6), till at last the Assyrians, solicited by Ahaz of Judah, (2Ki 16:7-10), fell upon Syria and brought the country permanently under their dominion (2Ki 16:9). We need not seek the fulfilment of Jeremiahs prophecy of the destruction of Damascus in a particular conquest and devastation of the country by Nebuchadnezzar. (Graf). For even if Nebuchadnezzar did seize Syria and Damascus and treat them with a certain degree of hostility (whether as an Assyrian province or as an Egyptian tributary) yet the prophets perspective extends over the whole future of Damascus (comp. the Introd. to chh. 50, 51.). He sees in one picture what in the fulfilment will be divided into many stages, comp. Herzog R.-Enc. III., S. 260.

As regards the date of the prophecy both the superscription and the purport of it indicate that it formed part of that Sepher, beginning with Jer 46:1, which owes its origin to the period before the battle of Carchemish. Comp. Introd. to the Prophecies against the Nations

23Against Damascus.

Ashamed are Hamath and Arpad,
For a bad report have they heard: they are dissolved.19

In the sea there is terror,20 it cannot rest.

24Enfeebled is Damascus, she turns to flee,

And terror21 seizes her,22

Anguish and sorrow lay hold on her like a parturient.

25How! Is not the city of renown abandoned,

The place of my delight?

26Hence her youths fall in the streets,

And all men of war shall perish, on that day, saith Jehovah Zebaoth,

27And I kindle a fire in the wall of Damascus,

Which shall devour the palaces of Benhadad.

EXEGETICAL AND CRITICAL

An enemy coming from the north threatens first Hamath and Arpad, which are thus thrown into commotion, like a tempestuous sea (Jer 49:23). This agitation reaches also Damascus, hence discouragement, anxiety, in part flight (Jer 49:24). The city is not abandoned by all the troops (Jer 49:25), hence a great blood-bath and destruction of the army in the streets (Jer 49:26) and destruction of the city by fire (Jer 49:27).

Jer 49:23. Against Damascus cannot rest. The superscription is as in Jer 46:2; Jer 48:1; Jer 49:1; Jer 49:7. I cannot at all discover that the superscription is too limited, as Graf supposes, for in fact this brief utterance is occupied only with Damascus, the cities Hamath and Arpad being mentioned only to designate the successive advance of the calamity and the direction in which the enemy comes. It is a matter of course that the fall of the capital involves that of the kingdom, hence the superscription is incorrect neither in itself nor in relation to the purport of the passage. According to Num 34:8 Hamath is to be the northern limit of the land to be occupied by Israel. The boundaries were also really extended thus far at times. Comp. 2Ki 14:28 with 2Ch 8:4. The city was situated on the Orontes to the North of Damascus, and was afterwards called Epiphania by the Greeks. Comp. Jerome on Amo 6:2; Amo 6:14. Arpad, which is always named together with Hamath (Isa 10:9, comp. Delitzsch on the passage; Jer 36:19; Jer 37:13), must have been situated in the neighborhood of this city. We thus see that the prophet expects the enemy from the North, as it was natural that the army of the Egyptians then in northern Syria should turn his gaze in that direction. Hamath and Arpad stand confounded in consequence of the evil tidings. They flow away, dissolve, pass away with anguish.The following words are taken verbatim from Isa 57:20. Jeremiah has doubtless from this passage the idea of the sea in general in his mind. The expression had directed his thoughts to that passage and still exerts some influence. He thus imagines these cities as a wildly agitated sea. In the swaying hither and thither of the waves is mirrored the inward unrest and anguish. It is not then the real sea that is meant (Hitzig), but the human multitude compared to a sea. (Comp. Isa 17:12; Isa 8:7-8).

Jer 49:24-27. Enfeebled Benhadad. The bad report reaches even the capital, and this in consequence falls into critical agitation. Despair seizes on the inhabitants. A part turns to flight. (Comp. rems. on Jer 46:5; Jer 46:21). Anguish takes hold upon them.How? Is not, etc. We are not justified in regarding the negative as a strong affirmation, or taking abandoned in the sense of, left free, spared. Rather does the prophet say really: how then is the city not forsaken? (Comp. 2Sa 1:14). He is astonished and complains, that it has not been abandoned. This would have been better for the Syrians. For just because it has not been, their youths fall in their streets and their whole army is destroyed. Flight might have saved them.City of renown, etc. Comp. Jer 51:41; Isa 60:18; Isa 62:7.My refers to the prophet and there is no irony in it. He lamented that the city was not abandoned. He has a human pity for the destroyed city as he has a human joy in its beauty. Comp. rems. on Jer 48:31. [The Vulg., Syr., Chald., omit my. Boothroyd maintains that this omission is necessary to make good sense!S. R. A.].The youths. Comp. Jer 9:20.

Jer 49:27. And I kindle. The whole verse in its main constituents is taken from Amo 1:2. Comp. Amo 1:4; Amo 1:7; Amo 1:10; Amo 1:12; Amo 1:14; Amo 2:2; Amo 2:5.In the wall, not on the wall, for the wall itself does not burn, but within the wall, so that all which the wall includes is consumed by the fire. The palaces of Benhadad are the royal palaces, since Benhadad (there were three of them, 1Ki 15:18; 1Ki 15:20; 1Ki 20:1-3; 2Ki 6:24; 2Ki 8:7; 2Ki 8:9; 2Ki 13:3; 2Ki 13:24-25) was the best known name of Syrian kings.

Footnotes:

[19]Jer 49:23. used frequently of the effect of fear in loosening the compagines corporis; Exo 15:15; Jos 2:9; Jos 2:24; Psa 75:4; Isa 14:31.

[20]Jer 49:23. Since the following words are taken verbatim from Isa 57:20, the previous words in Isaiah may rule the previous words here. There we read . It would now be certainly most convenient to read in the present passage instead of . Jeremiah however does not quote the last words accurately as a whole. And also is not without difficulty. We should expect it to be in the construct state. I therefore think that the reading in the text is the correct one. is fear, terror, unrest. Comp. Jos 22:24; Pro 12:25; Eze 4:16; Eze 12:18-19. The subst. in Jeremiah here only; the verb in Jer 17:8; Jer 38:19; Jer 42:16.

[21]Jer 49:24.. . . a Syrian word, without doubt chosen purposely. Comp. , Hos 13:1.

[22]Jer 49:24. is so punctuated by the Masoretes that it is evident they took Damascus for the subject (terrorem prehendit) having in view passages like Isa 13:8; Job 18:20; Job 21:6. But the punctuation would correspond better to Jeremiahs usage. Comp. Jer 6:24; Jer 8:21; Jer 50:43.

9. Prophecy against Kedar and the Kingdoms of Hazor

Jer 49:28-33

From Damascus the prophet turns his gaze eastward to the bordering Arabians, comprised in the designation of the title. In Jer 25:23-24 Jeremiah mentions among the populations to be subdued by Nebuchadnezzar several Arabian tribes. We feel impelled to suppose that the limits of the Arabian conquests of Nebuchadnezzar were undefined in the mind of the prophet, for we shall be obliged to distinguish a real and ideal dominion of that ruler, though the boundary line between the two is a vague one. It is unnecessary to inquire after a special occasion for this prophecy. Nebuchadnezzar being now universal ruler, the Arabs, being the immediate southern neighbors of his native country, cannot possibly be omitted from subjection to his power. Moreover, the Arabs had enough to do with the Israelites from the time of Gideon (comp. Judges 6-8; 2Ch 17:11; 2Ch 21:16-17; 2Ch 26:7).As regards the date of this prophecy we have in the mention of Nebuchadnezzars name a sure proof that it was written later than most of its sisters in chh. 4649, for only a single one of these (the second against Egypt, Jer 46:13-28) mentions Nebuchadnezzar. If his expedition against the Arabian tribes were really the first, which he made after his ascension to the throne (comp. the exeg. rems. on Jer 49:28-29) this prophecy might be ascribed most fitly to the time in which he was preparing for the undertaking.

28Against Kedar and the kingdoms of Hazor, which Nebuchadnezzar23 the king of Babylon smote,

Thus saith Jehovah:
Arise, go up against Kedar,
And spoil ye the sons of the east.24

29Their tents and their flocks shall they take,

Their curtains and all their utensils;
And their camels shall they take for themselves,25

And shall cry over them, Terror round about.

30Flee, run apace, stoop, ye inhabitants of Hazor, saith Jehovah,

For Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon hath planned a plan against you,
And hath had thoughts against you.

31Up! Move against a nation at ease,26

That dwelleth securely, saith Jehovah.
They have neither doors27 nor bolts,

They dwell apart by themselves.

32And their camels shall become a prey,

And the multitude of their flocks a plunder;
And I scatter to all (the four) winds, those with cropped hair-corners,
And from all sides I bring their destruction, saith Jehovah.

33And Hazor shall become a habitation for jackals,

A desolation in perpetuity:
Not a man shall dwell there,
Nor a son of man sojourn therein.

EXEGETICAL AND CRITICAL

Plunder, desolation and dispersion by Nebuchadnezzar are proclaimed to the pastoral tribes living in Arabia to the East of Palestine. First the enemies are called upon to advance, and with war-cries to fall upon the Arabs and spoil them (Jer 49:28-29). The Arabs, however, are admonished to flee and hide themselves, to escape the plans formed against them (Jer 49:30). Hereupon the enemies are summoned anew to the attack, and are told, as if to allure them, that they have to deal with a people at peace and not intrenched behind bulwarks (Jer 49:31). Rich booty is placed before them in prospect. Dispersion on all sides will be the result, corresponding to the attack on all sides (Jer 49:32). The land shall be devastated and cease to be a habitation for man (Jer 49:33).

Jer 49:28-29. Against Kedar terror round about. Kedar is named in Gen 25:13 as the second son of Ishmael, with which the Arabian tradition agrees. Comp. Herzog, R.-Enc. I. S. 463. [Comp. Keil and Delitzsch, Comm. on the Pentateuch (Eng. Ed) Vol. I. p. 264]. They lived in the desert between Arabia Petra and Babylonia (Knobel, Gen. S. 212), and are frequently mentioned as rich in flocks, living in tents (Son 1:5; Psa 120:5; Isa 42:11; Isa 60:7; Eze 27:21) and celebrated for their skill in archery (Isa 21:16-17). Comp. rems. on Jer 2:10.Hazor, different from the localities of this name in Palestine (Jos 11:1-3; Jos 12:19; Jos 19:36; Judges 4, 5; 1Ki 9:15; 1Ki 15:29Jos 15:23; Jos 15:25Neh 11:33), is mentioned here only as a district in Arabia. According to Niebuhr (Ass. u. Bab., S. 210 coll. 428), Hazor is the present Hadshar, a district which occupies the whole north-eastern corner of Nedshed, and to which in the wider sense the coast lands of Lachsa also belong. This corner is formed by the southern course of the Euphrates and the Persian Gulf. With regard to the meaning of the name it is natural to think of Isa 42:11 and to suppose that denotes the inhabitants of the , i.e. villages without walls and gates (comp. Gen 25:16). Delitzsch remarks on Isa 42:11, the settled Arabs are still called Hadarije in distinction from Wabarije, the tent Arabs; hadar, is the fixed dwelling-place in contrast to bed, the steppe, where the tents are erected temporarily now here and now there. Accordingly and are related not as opposites, but only as the more limited and more extended idea, and Jeremiah would address his words to Kedar and to all other Arabs dwelling in . With this would accord not only the Chaldean incursion generally, which it is easier to regard as directed against a settled people than against nomads, but especially the description of the devastation in Jer 49:23, which seems to presuppose not the pasturage of a passing horde but the abiding-place of men who build houses. It seems opposed to this, however, that in Jer 49:29 the tents and curtains of the attacked are spoken of, according to which part of them at least were tent-dwellers. It is also surprising that in Isa 42:11 the Kedarenes are inhabitants of , while elsewhere (comp. the passages cited) they are described as tent-dwellers. I believe that all may be united in the hypothesis that there were some Kedarenes living in tents and some in villages, and that the text has in view both these and also the other tribes settled in villages of northern Arabia.Which Nebuchadnezzar, etc. These words appear to be a later addition, as otherwise the prophecy characterizes itself as a vaticinium post eventum. Yet even Hitzig remarks, the addition is contained in the LXX. and preserving the older form of the proper name as in Jer 44:30 is relatively very old, and probably genuine and certainly contains historical truth, which is not handed down elsewhere. Niebuhr (Ass. u. Bab., S. 209, 10) and Duncker (Genh. des. Alterth., I. S. 827) are of opinion that Nebuchadnezzar, after returning from the victory of Carchemish, had strengthened his internal dominion, first taking into consideration the extension of his dominion over the Arabs on the lower Euphrates, in North Arabia and the Syrian desert (Duncker). It is to be remarked in this connection, that according to Ctesias, whose statement Duncker regards as credible (S. 801, 806 Anm. 2, etc.), the Babylonians had already brought Arabs with them to the siege of Nineveh.The expression sons of the East is the general designation of the Arabs, especially the nomad tribes of northern Arabia (Arnold in Herz., R.-Enc. I. S. 460). Comp. Jdg 6:3; Jdg 6:33; Jdg 7:12; Jdg 8:10; 1Ki 5:10; Job 1:3; Isa 11:14; Eze 25:4; Eze 25:10.Curtains are the mats or canvas of which the tents consist. Comp. Jer 4:20; Jer 10:20.Terror, etc. Magor missabib. Comp. Jer 6:15; Jer 20:3; Jer 20:10; Jer 46:5.

Jer 49:30-33. Flee therein. On flee, etc., comp. Jer 49:8. On planned a plan comp. Jer 49:20; Jer 18:11.At ease. Comp. Jdg 18:7.Apart by themselves. Comp. Jer 15:17; Num 23:9; Deu 33:28.And I scatter, etc. Comp. Eze 5:12; Eze 12:14.Cropped hair-corners. Comp. rems. on Jer 9:25; Jer 25:23.From all sides. Comp. rems. on Jer 48:28; 1Ki 5:4

Jer 49:8; Jer 46:21.Shall become, etc., Jer 49:33. Comp. Jer 49:18; Jer 9:10; Jer 10:22; Jer 51:37; Jer 50:40.

Footnotes:

[23]Jer 49:28.The with which the kings name is written in the Chethibh is due to a scriptural error occasioned by the word standing just before.

[24]Jer 49:28.. On the singular imperative form comp. Olsh. 235, 6.

[25]Jer 49:29. . The pronoun is grammatically more correctly referred to the enemies of the Arabs (comp. Num 16:6; Deu 2:35; Deu 3:7; Naegelsb. Gr., 81, 1 b) since the reference to the Arabs must have been expressed by .

[26]Jer 49:31.The form formed like (comp. Olsh. 180, Anm.) is found here only. Elsewhere (Job 16:12; Job 20:20) or (Job 21:23).

[27]Jer 49:31. by this are meant not house-doors, but city gates. Comp. Deu 3:5; 1Sa 23:7.

10. Prophecy against Elam

Jer 49:34-39

Elam is mentioned in the Old Testament in Gen 10:22; Gen 14:1; Gen 14:9; Isa 11:11; Isa 21:2; Isa 22:6; Jer 25:25 Eze 32:24; Dan 8:2; Ezr 4:9. Comp. supra ad Jer 25:25. It is here mentioned as the representative of the more remote populations, beyond the Tigris, all those who are enumerated in the catalogue of nations beyond the Tigris in Jer 25:25-26. M. Niebuhr assumes as certain a victorious war of Nebuchadnezzar with Elam between the ninth and twentieth years of his reign (Ass. u. Bab. S. 212). In this, however, he relies not on positive historical testimony but only on inferences, the correctness of which may be disputed. We are further in no need of an actual overthrow of Elam by Nebuchadnezzar. The kernel of the prophecy is an idea which retains its truth even if Nebuchadnezzar had never made war on Elam.

Why Jeremiah chose Elam as the representative of the eastern nations is not apparent. The supposition of Ewald (Proph. d. A. B., II. S. 130), that the wild warlike Elamites had acted as auxiliaries shortly before in the deportation of Jehoiachin and the first great deportation of the people, and in this had shown themselves particularly cruel, does not appear to be well-founded. For 1. if the Elamites already served in the army of Nebuchadnezzar they needed not to be subjugated; 2. the superscription affords no sure criterion of the date. For it is highly probable that it is placed here by mistake, as we shall show on Jer 49:34. The prophecy does not mention Nebuchadnezzar by name, and we must therefore regard it as of the same date as the others in chh. 4649. against the nations (except Jer 46:13 sqq. and Jer 49:28-33).

34The word of Jehovah which came to Jeremiah the prophet with respect to Elam,

in the beginning of the reign of Zedekiah, king of Judah, saying,

35Thus saith Jehovah Zebaoth:

Behold, I will break the bow of Elam,
The chief part of their strength.

36And I will bring upon Elam four winds from the four corners of heaven,

And will scatter them to all those winds;
And there shall be no nation whither the dispersed of Elam28 shall not come.

37And I will terrify29 Elam before their enemies,

And before those who seek their life;
And I will bring calamity upon them,
The fierceness of my anger, saith Jehovah;
And I will send the sword after them,
Until I have utterly consumed them.

38And I will set my throne in Elam,

And destroy king and prince from thence, saith Jehovah.

39And it shall be at the end of days,

I will turn the captivity of Elam, saith Jehovah.

EXEGETICAL AND CRITICAL

The bow of the Elamites, wherein their strength consists, shall be broken (Jer 49:35). They shall be attacked and scattered on all sides (Jer 49:36), and be pursued to destruction (Jer 49:37). In the country itself the Lord will hold strict judgment and exterminate all the rulers (Jer 49:38). Yet in the distant future Elam also shall be liberated and obtain salvation (Jer 49:39).

Jer 49:34. The word Judah. There are well-founded doubts as to the authenticity of this superscription. We have hitherto found without an exception, that in all prophecies which are older than the battle of Carchemish, Jeremiah never mentions Nebuchadnezzar and the Chaldeans, while in all the oracles subsequent to this catastrophe he knows and names Nebuchadnezzar as the Lords chosen instrument. If now this prophecy really dates from the beginning of Zedekiahs reign, why is not Nebuchadnezzar mentioned? Why are the agents of the punishment spoken of in as general a manner as in the older prophecies? Or must not Nebuchadnezzar be necessarily regarded as the agent, as Graf supposes (S. 576)? I hold it quite impossible for Jeremiah in the beginning of the reign of Zedekiah to have thought of any other than Nebuchadnezzar as an instrument of the execution, or to have left this point even in suspense. Compare only Jer 27:5 sqq., where the whole earth, with all that is thereon, is given over without exception or reserve to the Chaldean king. Add to this an external circumstance. Unreliable as the Alexandrian translation in general is, yet in some circumstances it may serve to indicate the original form of the text (comp. Graf, Einl. S. LVII.). This is here the case. As is well-known the prophecies against the nations have in the LXX. their place immediately after that indication of a Sepher, containing them, in Jer 25:13, and this prophecy against Elam is at their head. It is introduced with the words: . It further closes with the words: , and these words form in addition the beginning of Jeremiah 26. However severely we may judge the arbitrariness of this translator, it must be admitted that this exceeds the customary degree thereof, which is substantially confined to abridgement (comp. Graf, Einl., S. XLIII.). What could have induced him to invent this postscript, since the brief oracle was sufficiently characterized by the prefixed words (evidently corresponding to the Hebrew , but on account of its brevity added as in apposition to the preceding ? Whence now that postscript? It is remarkable that in the LXX. the first verse of Jeremiah 27. (Heb.) is wanting. It is the verse with the undoubtedly false name of Jehoiakim! Now Jeremiah 27 stands in the closest topical relation to Jeremiah 25. In the symbolic Bending of the yoke it forms an actual commentary to the symbol of the cup of wrath, Jer 25:15 sqq. Ch. 26 on the other hand belongs to a much earlier date, and is merely inserted here, because it likewise (as Jeremiah 27) has for its subject the conflict with the false prophets, and bears as date the beginning of the reign of Jehoiakim. Compare the Introduction to the Ninth Discourse (Jeremiah 25), and the rems. on Jer 27:1. This postscript now which the LXX. subjoins to the oracle against Elam suits exactly (only with the omission of the words ) in the place of the verse wanting at the beginning of Jeremiah 27, and, which is a matter of importance, it contains the right kings name, viz., that of Zedekiah. The supposition is thus pressed upon us that the prophecies against the nations originally had place immediately after Jeremiah 25, that Jeremiah 27 was connected directly therewith (without the intervention of Jeremiah 26), that the prophecy against Elam formed the conclusion of the oracle against the nations, and that by mistake the Diaskenast who altered that original order, removed Jer 27:1, and attached it, as a postscript, to the oracle against Elam. In this behalf the words against Elam, had to be inserted. This alteration must have been made in very early times, for it makes itself felt in both the Hebrew text and in the LXX. only with this difference, that in the text, on which the LXX. was based, the misplaced words still stood at the close of the word directed against Elam, so that this had a superscription and a postscript, while in our Masoretic recension the postscript is made into the title by the assumption into it of the words . For this purpose the form of the sentences must also have been altered, so that it was in correspondence with the superscription, Jer 46:1 and Jer 47:1, while in the Greek text (Jer 26:1) the old form is still perceptible. Thus substantially Movers and Hitzig, with whom I feel compelled to agree in the main.

Jer 49:35-39. Thus saith saith Jehovah. It seems to me far-fetched to take in the sense of viri fortes as Hitzig and Graf would do, after the example of the Targum and several Rabbis. This meaning also does not seem to me to be proved. For in Isa 21:17 the word is to be understood peculiarly (comp. Delitzsch, ad loc.). In 1Sa 2:4 and Hos 1:5, it stands by synecdoche for all the means of attack and defence. And it is thus to be rendered here the rather as we know from history, that the Elamites were really celebrated as archers (comp. Isa 22:6; Livy 37:27; Herzog, R.-Enc., III. S. 748). The bow was the chief part of their strength (comp. Jer 2:3; Amo 6:1; Amo 6:6). When Hitzig inquires why limit the breaking to the bow? the answer is, because it was the main element of their power. To break their bow was to render them defenceless. When this is done, the advance is made upon them positively; from the four corners of the heaven are the four winds to rage against them and drive them one to another, i.e., the four winds shall scatter them to the four winds (comp. Jer 49:32; Zec 2:10; Zec 6:5). Without a figure, they shall be attacked on all sides and scattered on all sides, so that there will be no nation in which such Elamites are not to be found. That this is the sense is clear from Jer 49:37, where the same thing is expressed without a figure.In the country itself will the Lord erect His throne (comp. the related but not identical expression, Jer 1:15 and Jer 43:10), i.e., He will sit in judgment, and the heads of the people must appear to receive their sentences. But Elam also at the end of days shall share in the salvation which the Lord shall then bring to all nations by the Messiah (comp. Jer 49:6; Jer 48:47). It is also not to be doubted that this word of consolation Applies not to Elam alone, but to all the nations before mentioned.

Footnotes:

[28]Jer 49:36. in the Chethibh has expressions such as Jer 49:13; Jer 25:12; Jer 51:26; Jer 51:62, etc., in view.

[29]Jer 49:37.On comp. Olsh., S. 563, 4,46:26; Jer 9:15.

DOCTRINAL AND ETHICAL

1. On Jer 49:1. Has then Israel no heir? So the prophet tells the Ammonites. But to Israel himself he speaks differently; I will cast you out from my presence, as I cast out all your brethren, the whole seed of Ephraim (Jer 7:15). Thus the Ammonites have no right in Israel, and Israel, although he has forfeited his claim with respect to Jehovah, still has a right to his country with respect to the Ammonites, which he will one day, through Gods grace, make good again. Israel will one day possess and rule his possessors and rulers. This is Israels eternal calling, which, in spite of every sin, must again be manifested, and is fulfilled in the Christian church to which all nations are given as a possession. Even now Jeremiah by Gods word, of which he is the bearer, has power over Ammon as over all the heathen world. He surveys their whole character, and already holds judgment. In him is Israels majesty and triumph even though on this account he is most mocked by the Jews. (Diedrich). As then the servants of Malcom occupied the territory of Israel, so since then have the servants of Mohammed occupied the territory of the Christian church in Asia and Europe. In both cases it was a judgment on the latter without conferring any right on the former. A time, however, will come when the restoration of Israel and of Christianity to their country, and their right will take place at the same time.

2. On Jer 49:4-5. The real confidence of the world is always on Mammon. They would satisfy the deity with their dead self-devised works, but with desire and the tension of all their powers does the world serve material interests, as they are now-a-days called? Soon, however, Ammons corn-fields are overflowed by enemies, then even their confidence gives way to despair. Diedrich.

3. On Jer 49:7. We see here, how God puts to shame those who depend on their wisdom and craftiness, so that we may ask: is there no more wisdom or counsel among the wise? Is their wisdom come to naught? Paul also writes of this (1Co 1:19-20) from the prophet Isaiah (Isa 24:14 coll. 9:23-24). Biblische Summarien, etc.

4. On Jer 49:7 sqq. Although Edom was the nation nearest to Israel both in relationship and acquaintance, it is thus only a precursor of Antichrist, who endeavors to hide a worldly character in Christian forms. Edom is irritated by the existence of Israel, the presence of the pure word of God is always a thorn in his conscience. From Edom came Herod who wanted to murder the child Jesus, and who also mocked the suffering Saviour. Edom was celebrated for wise proverbs; it possessed high mental endowments; but are not even these put to shame, when not accompanied by the fear of God? Diedrich.

5. On Jer 49:12. Israel was the chosen nation, the son of the house (comp. Exo 4:22; Jer 31:9), and yet he was severely chastised. Further, there were in Israel many just and pious men, who did not share the sins of their people, but zealously contended against them. But even these also had to bear the severe chastening. Prophets and priests were also carried away to Babylon; Daniel. Ezekiel and pious men like Ananiah, Azariah, Mishael, and probably very many others, says Theodoret. How then could another nation expect to be treated differently? Comp. Pro 11:31; 1Pe 4:17-18. There will, however, be a similarity also in this that finally the chastisement of both, the chosen nation and the other, will redound to their eternal welfare. Comp. Jer 49:39. Justus est Dominus et rectum omne judicium ejus! Qu etiam erat confessio Mauritii imperatoris, quam edebat, cum videret sanctum suam uxorem gladio feriri paulo post feriendus et ipse. Frster. Psa 119:137.

6. On Jer 49:16. Fortifications may be constructed and made due use of, but they must not be depended upon. For no fortification is too strong or too high when God is angry, and will punish. And he has various ways of bringing them into the hands of the enemies as, He can cause provisions to fail; or a spark to fall in a powder-magazine; water may be wanting; there may be pestilence or the dysentery or mutiny among the soldiers, or bribes may be used as scaling ladders. Then all is in vain. Cramer. What the world calls protection, cannot protect against Gods judgment; death mounts over all rocks. Diedrich.

7. On Jer 49:19. God gives all authority and respect, and takes it all away. For He it is, who poureth contempt upon princes, Job 12:21; Psa 107:40; Isa 40:23. Cramer. [We need not be surprised by such a searching question as that in the present passage concerning Christ, when we remember that Edom is the prophetical type of Christs enemies, etc. Wordsworth.S. R. A.]

8. On Jer 49:25, God can suffer moderate joyousness, but to be joyous from security and in an Epicurean manner, is commonly a preliminary to destruction, Mat 24:39. Cramer.

9. On Jer 49:30. Non est quo fugias a Deo irato, nisi ad Deum placatum, Augustin in Psalms 74.Frster.

10. On Jer 49:38. Where judgment is held there is the Lords throne. For even the idea of judgment is divine, and all judges are the lower representatives of the highest judge. Woe to those judges who proceed so as to efface the idea which they represent. Well for us that there is a superior tribunal which will reverse all unjust judgments, and in all points bring true justice to the light, before which also summum jus will not be summa injuria.

11. On Jer 49:39, In promissione spondetur Persis vocatio ad regnum Christi, cujus primiti fuerunt Magi (Matthew 2.), qui et ob id a Chrysostomo Patriarch gentium appellantur. Frster. [The fulfilment of this prophecy was seen, in part, when the Magi came to our Lord at Bethlehem; and still more on the day of Pentecost, when Parthians, Medes and Elamites listened to the preaching of St. Peter at Jerusalem, and were received into the Christian church (Act 2:9; Act 2:14). Wordsworth.S. R. A.].

HOMILETICAL AND PRACTICAL

1. On Jer 49:1-2. Lament and hope of the church with respect to lost territory. 1. The lament (Jer 49:1). 2. The hope (a) with respect to the overcoming of opponents; (b) with respect to the reacquisition of the lost.

2. On Jer 49:4-5. Warning against arrogance. 1. Whereon it depends (Jer 49:4, trusted in her treasures, etc.). 2. What its end will be (destruction of its sources of help, fear, flight).

3. On Jer 49:7. The insufficiency of human Wisdom 1. Its strength (the renowned wisdom of the Edomites was not unfounded). 2. Its weakness (it must fail before the strokes of the Lord).

3. On Jer 49:11. A word of comfort for widows and orphans. 1. They have lost their human protectors and supporters. 2. Their shield is the Lord, if they trust in him.How blessed is Gods kind promise to widows and orphans. 1. It calms the heart of every dying father; 2. It comforts the heart of all who are left, orphans; 3. It encourages us all to trust ourselves with our children more faithfully to God. Florey, Biblisch. Wegweiser fr geistl. Grabredner, 1861, S. 101.

5. On Jer 49:12. The justice of the Lord. 1. It directs its strokes with strict impartiality against the children of the house and against strangers. 2. It always has in view the true welfare of those who are smitten.

6. On Jer 49:15-16. The folly of those who would contend against God. 1. The ground of it (pride, earthly power). 2. Its fate (overthrow and destruction by divine omnipotence).

7. On Jer 49:38-39. The Lords judgments. They are 1, irresistible; 2, directed not to complete destruction, but to amelioration and true well-being.

Fuente: A Commentary on the Holy Scriptures, Critical, Doctrinal, and Homiletical by Lange

CONTENTS

The judgments of the Ammonites takes up the former part of this Chapter. In it we have also the condemnation of Edom, Damascus, Kedar, Hazor, and Elam.

Fuente: Hawker’s Poor Man’s Commentary (Old and New Testaments)

The Chapter opens in a beautiful and striking manner, for the Lord himself, Israel’s lawful Sovereign, demands, as in a court of justice, how, or wherefore it is, that the land he gave, (and as Lord and proprietor of the whole earth he had a right to give,) to Israel, is now possessed by the children of Ammon? What! saith the Lord, is it so, that Israel is childless, whose posterity God promised should be as the sand of the sea for multitude? That is impossible. And will any nation then dare to possess Israel’s birth-right? If the Reader will compare this passage with other scriptures, he will see the ground upon which Jehovah brings this charge. Amo 1:13-15 ; Zep 2:8-11 . Reader! spiritualize the passage, and it will be yet more blessed. How shall the seed of Christ be ever dispossessed of their inheritance, when they are heirs of God, and joint heirs with Christ? Rom 8:16-17 . I beg the Reader not to overlook the mercy promised to Ammon in the last verse of this passage, in the after-day dispensation. Surely we do not strain the scripture, when we refer it to the call of the Gentiles under Christ. Isa 49:6 ; Act 11:1-18 .

Fuente: Hawker’s Poor Man’s Commentary (Old and New Testaments)

XI

THE PROPHECIES OF JEREMIAH CONCERNING THE NATIONS

Jeremiah 46-51

We now take up the prophecies of Jeremiah to the foreign nations, recorded in Jeremiah 46-51. We note first, by way of introduction, that when Jeremiah was called to be a prophet, it was said, Jer 1:5 : “I have appointed thee a prophet unto the nations.” Note again in Jer 1:10 : “I have this day set thee over the nations and over the kingdoms, to pluck up and to break down, to destroy and to overthrow.” Thus Jeremiah’s work was not to be confined to Israel, but to comprise the known world, at least all that part of it which had any relation to or connection with Israel. So, in Jer 25 , we see him exercising this function of prophet to the nations. Jehovah speaks to him and says) Jer 25:15 : “Take this cup of wine of wrath at my hand, and cause all the nations to whom I send thee to drink it.”

We are not told that Jeremiah visited other nations. By this passage it seems that he did either visit them and deliver the prophecy, or that he wrote it and sent it to them by a messenger. Certain it is that he sent this message of destruction to all the nations that troubled Israel. He goes on, Jer 25:17 : “Then took I the cup at Jehovah’s hand and caused all nations to drink it unto whom Jehovah sent me.” In the next several verses we have all these nations named. There are twenty-one, altogether. And those nations which he names in Jer 25 constitute some of the very people to whom he is writing the messages in this section. Again in Jer 27 we have Jeremiah exercising the prophetic function to the nations. In verses 2, 4 he makes a yoke to be sent to the kings of the nations and addresses the ambassadors that have been assembled at Jerusalem to arrange a plan for rebellion against Babylon and devise methods by which they may throw off the Babylonian yoke. Jeremiah meets them and Zedekiah and says, as recorded in the latter part of Jer 27:12 : “Bring your necks under the yoke of the king of Babylon and serve him arid live.” He gave them this advice because he had said, “All the nations shall serve the king of Babylon, and all those that do not serve him shall perish, or go into captivity, at the hands of the great Nebuchadnezzar. It is interesting to note that in the Septuagint Version, made in the third century before Christ, the prophecies found in chapters 46-51 are found immediately following Jer 25:13 , where their names are mentioned. That looks as if these were written and sent to the nations about the same time that Jeremiah gives his counsel to the messengers of the nations and to Zedekiah.

The dates of these chapters range from 604 B.C. to about 594 B.C. The critics put some of them much later. But there is ample evidence to lead to the conclusion that they occurred in that period in which Pharaoh-Necho suffered defeat at the hands of Nebuchadnezzar, unto the fourth year of the reign of Zedekiah. Notice that these various prophecies to the nations are grouped together as Isaiah and Ezekiel grouped them. See Isaiah 12-23 and Ezekiel 25-32.

The date of the prophecy concerning Egypt is about 604 B.C. Probably the latter portion of the chapter was written a little later, but certainly the first twelve verses were written about 604 B.C. Compare with this Isa 19 and Ezekiel 29-32 which deal with the same subject, the downfall and punishment of Egypt. Jer 46:1 is a general introduction to all these various prophecies.

We have an account of Egypt’s defeat at Carohemish (Jer 46:2-12 ). The second verse gives the date and the occasion of the prophecy. They occurred somewhere about tour years after the disastrous defeat and death of the good King Josiah at Megiddo. Pharaoh-Necho had pressed as far north and east as the fords of the Euphrates, seeking to swell his coffers and enlarge his territory. He was met there by the invincible Nebuchadnezzar. There was fought the great battle which was to decide the fate of one or the other of these two kings. Carchemish was a large city on the banks of the Euphrates, commanding the fords of that great river, which was the dividing line between the empires. Pharaoh-Necho was overwhelmed and driven back to Egypt. Jeremiah in the spirit of sarcasm addresses the great army of Pharaoh-Necho: “Prepare ye the buckler and shield, and draw near to battle. Harness the horses, and get up, ye horsemen, and stand forth with your helmets; furbish the spears, put on the coats of mail.”

Note the tone of verse Jer 46:5 : “Wherefore have I seen it? they are dismayed and are turned backward; and their mighty ones are beaten down, and are fled apace, and look not back: terror is on every side.” Then again with a note of sarcasm he raises this question, verse Jer 46:7 : “Who is this that riseth up like the Nile, whose waters toss themselves like the rivers?” That is Egypt. Again, with a note of stinging sarcasm he continues in verse Jer 46:9 : “Go up, ye horses; and rage, ye chariots; and let the mighty men go forth: Gush and Put, that handle the shield; and the Ludim, that handle and bend the bow.” In Jer 46:10 he pictures the defeat: “For that day is a day of the Lord, Jehovah of hosts, a day of vengeance, that he many avenge him of his adversaries: and the sword shall devour and be satiate, and shall drink its fill of their blood; for the Lord, Jehovah of hosts, hath a sacrifice in the north country by the river Euphrates.” This magnificent picture is the description of the hand of God punishing Egypt. It is a sacrifice of Jehovah’s righteousness.

In Jer 46:13 he gives the occasion and the substance of the prophecy. Nebuchadnezzar would come and smite the land of Egypt. Then in Jer 46:14 he speaks of the cities of Egypt. He tells them to be ready and prepared. With a note of sarcasm he continues in Jer 46:15 by asking a question, “Why are thy strong ones [thy gods] swept away?” Then the answer follows in the same verse: “Because Jehovah did drive them.” That is the reason. In Jer 46:17 we have a striking prophecy: “Pharaoh) the king of Egypt, is but a noise.” He has no power; he is only a noise; all boast and brag and not to be feared.

In Jer 46:25 he prophesies that Pharaoh’s city, the city of Thebes, called “Noamon,” or “Amon of No,” shall perish. Of late years Egyptologists have discovered that city, and it is today just as Jeremiah described it in this prophecy. It is utterly destroyed. In the latter part of Jer 46:26 he makes a remarkable promise regarding the kingdom of Egypt. There shall not be made a full end of it; “afterward it shall be inhabited, as in the days of old”; Egypt shall not be utterly destroyed. It shall live. But Egypt was never the same after her defeat and subjugation by Nebuchadnezzar. Profane history tells us that in the year 560 B.C. or thereabout, Nebuchadnezzar defeated and overthrew Egypt. Jeremiah is vindicated in his prophecy here, since what he wrote took place beyond any doubt.

There are words of reassurance and encouragement to Israel in Jer 46:27-28 : “Fear not thou, O Jacob my servant, saith Jehovah; for I am with thee: for I will make a full end of all nations whither I have driven thee; but I will not make a full end of thee, but I will correct thee in measure, and will in no wise leave thee unpunished.” That sounds much like the second part of Isaiah. In that prophecy this same promise is worked out in the great doctrine of the servant of God. The Philistines were the old, hereditary enemies of Israel. From the days of Samuel and the Judges, David and Solomon this nation had existed and was, all the time, an enemy and troubler of Israel and Judah.

The date of the prophecy (Jer 47:1-7 ) is a little uncertain. The latter part of the first verse says that this prophecy came before Pharaoh smote Gaza. Now that was the Pharaoh-Necho who defeated Josiah, some time previous to 604 B.C. He had laid siege to Gaza, the chief city of Philistia, and had utterly overwhelmed it. Previous to that Jeremiah uttered this prophecy against Philistia. He says in Jer 47:2 , “Behold, waters rise up out of the north, and shall become an overflowing stream, and shall overflow the land and all that is therein.” Thus he pictures the invading hosts of Nebuchadnezzar coming from the north like an overflowing river, down the plains of Tyre to this Philistine city. In Jer 47:4 he says that they shall all be overthrown.

Now, we have a remarkable question on this part of Jeremiah, Jer 47:6 . He sees this fearful shedding of blood, and raises the question, “O thou sword of Jehovah, how long will it be ere thou be quiet? put up thyself into thy scabbard; rest, and be still.” Evidently this implies that God ordered this bloodshed and that the nation was doing his will in thus punishing the wickedness of the Philistines.

What the relation of Moab to Israel and what the main points of the prophecy against her (Jer 48:1-47 )? It is interesting here to compare this passage with Isaiah 15-16, and also Eze 25:9-11 . Israel had come into very intimate relations with Moab. They passed through that land, and the tribe of Reuben had the territory which joined Moab. Between these two (Reuben and Moab) there were constant feuds with intermittent friendship. Finally Moab succeeded in throwing off the yoke of Israel and absorbing the tribe of Reuben. Moab was famous for her pride, her self-sufficiency. She was one of the proudest nations of the world. It was against this pride and self-sufficiency that this prophecy was directed. It contains a great many expressions that are identical with what we find in Isaiah 15-16. In this chapter the prophet gives us much of the geography of Moab. He mentions, altogether, about twenty-six cities. The principal thoughts are these:

1. Moab’s threatened destruction and exile by Babylon (Jer 48:1-10 ).

2. Moab’s disappointed hope, and the imminence of her calamity (Jer 48:11-25 ).

3. The humiliation of Moab, and her fate described (Jer 48:26-46 ).

4. A promise of return: “Yet will I bring back the captivity of Moab in the latter days, saith Jehovah” (Jer 48:47 ).

I call attention to two or three striking passages in this prophecy against Moab. In Jer 48:10 Jeremiah is speaking of the terrible work which Nebuchadnezzar will do to Moab and he wants that work thoroughly done, and says, “Cursed be he that doeth the work of Jehovah negligently.” Now that is a fine text. He continues, “Cursed be he that keepeth back his sword from blood.” The idea in it all is that Jehovah wants these Babylonians to do their work thoroughly. Also in Jer 48:11 we have a striking passage: “Moab hath been at ease from his youth, and he hath settled on his lees, and hath not been emptied from vessel to vessel, neither hath he gone into captivity: therefore his taste remaineth in him, and his scent is not changed.” The figure here is that of fresh wine left to stand. When it is left thus, sediment gathers in the bottom. It becomes thick and stagnant and the quality is injured. Something like that had happened in Moab. She had grown stagnant; had been quiet for years. It was not good for her to remain in this condition. Self-satisfaction is not a good thing.

We have the prophecy against Ammon (Jer 49:1-6 ). The country of Ammon bordered on the land of Moab and the territory of the tribe of Reuben. There was constant strife between Ammon and Reuben. When Tiglath-Pileser invaded the land and deported the inhabitants, Ammon came up and seized the country that belonged to Reuben. Because of that incident Jeremiah uttered these oracles: “Hath Israel no sons? hath he no heir? Why then doth Malcam possess Gad, and his people dwell in the cities thereof?” He had seized the property that belonged to Israel, and that is what Jeremiah is denouncing. They shall all go into exile. He then closes this prophecy with a promise of restoration: “But I will bring back the captivity of the children of Ammon.”

Compare with the prophecy against Edom the prophecy of Obadiah, which is almost identical. Jeremiah must have been familiar with the prophecy of Obadiah. Compare also Isa 34 . Edom was a kinsman of the house of Jacob. Edom dwelt in his mountain fastnesses and impregnable heights, and was something of a military power. He never lost the bitterness of Esau against Jacob because the latter got his birthright and blessing. They first dwelt in tents and were Bedouin, but at this time most of them dwelt in cities or towns. Edom watched from his fastnesses the career of Jacob and, as Obadiah says, looked on her destruction without pity. When she had opportunity she took some of the inhabitants of Israel, made them slaves and rejoiced over the downfall of Jerusalem. For such unbrotherly conduct Judah never forgave Edom. Sufficient is it to say that we have here the pronouncement of doom upon her and there is no promise of restoration. For several centuries Edom flourished to some extent, and in the time of the restoration she occupied considerable territory of Judah. In the time of Christ an Edomite sat upon the throne of Judah, but since then Edom has gone down and today nothing remains of her but a great wilderness of mountains and deserts.

In connection with the prophecy against Damascus (Jer 49:23-27 ) we have prophecies concerning two little countries, namely, Hamath and Arpad. Damascus is to have troubles, she is to be sad in her fate and she is to wax very feeble. Her city is to be, not utterly destroyed, but greatly humbled. There is no promise of restoration.

Kedar is the name of the wandering and marauding, warlike tribes that live in the deserts east of Palestine, between eastern Palestine and the river Euphrates. They are called the “Children of the East.” They have lived there from time immemorial. They were there before the days of Abraham and are there yet. The men of Kedar are to be overwhelmed by the Babylonian power. The city of Hazor is referred to as belonging to this people. The larger portion of these Arabians lived in tents and were Bedouin, but some of them lived in cities or villages. So the prophet addresses both classes, Kedar and Hazor, pronouncing destruction upon them.

We have the prophecy against Elam (Jer 49:34-39 ). In Abraham’s time there was a king of Elam, who was the overlord of Babylon, and the over-lord of the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah. He came to the plains of Palestine and collected tribute from them. Elam was one of the principal forces that Abraham attacked and destroyed. A great many of the inhabitants were transported to northern Palestine when Samaria was destroyed by Sargon, so that Jeremiah is brought into touch with these Elamites because they lived in the northern part of the country. The fate of Elam is bound ‘up with the fate of Babylon and that of Israel. Elam is threatened with destruction, but in Jer 49:39 there is a promise of restoration. It is interesting to note that in the fulfilment of that promise of restoration, there were Elamites in the city of Jerusalem when Peter preached his great sermon at Pentecost. Doubtless there were Elamites converted at that time and brought into the fold of our Lord Jesus Christ.

The prophecy against Babylon (Jeremiah 50-51) is the longest of any of the prophecies concerning the foreign nations. Compare this with Isaiah 13-14; 40-48. The date of this prophecy is set forth in Jer 51:59 . It was in the fourth year of the reign of Zedekiah, about 494 B.C. Jeremiah penned this long prophecy and sent it by a messenger to the king of Babylon, to be read by the exiles, and he says in Jer 51:63 , “When thou hast made an end of reading this book, thou shall bind a stone to it, and cast it into the midst of the Euphrates: and thou shall say, Thus shalt Babylon sink, and shall not rise again because of the evil that I will bring upon her.” A copy of the prophecy was kept by the prophet. This action was symbolical. We cannot go into detail in the study of this prophecy. The situation is the same as that set forth in Isaiah 40-66. It presents many of the same ideas and the same problems. There are scores of similar expressions. The principal ideas are as follows:

1. The people of Israel were in exile in Babylon and the city of Jerusalem had been destroyed: Jer 50:6-7 ; Jer 50:17 ; Jer 50:28 ; Jer 50:33 ; Jer 51:11 ; Jer 51:34 ; Jer 51:51 .

2. Babylon was the instrument of Jehovah in punishing Israel and the nations, four times stated: Jer 50:7 ; Jer 50:17 ; Jer 51:7 ; Jer 51:20-23 .

3. Jehovah remains the deliverer of his people. This is stated by the prophet four times: Jer 50:34 ; Jer 51:5 ; Jer 51:15-19 ; Jer 51:36 .

4. Jehovah will execute his wrath upon Babylon and her gods and they shall be destroyed. Fully two-thirds of this entire prophecy is given to the discussion of this thought: Jer 50:2-3 ; Jer 50:10-16 ; Jer 50:18 ; Jer 50:21-27 ; Jer 51:1-4 ; Jer 51:8-9 ; Jer 51:11-19 .

5. The Modes and their allies are to break the Babylonian yoke. This is stated eight times altogether: Jer 50:3 ; Jer 50:9 ; Jer 50:41-42 ; Jer 50:44 ; Jer 51:11 ; Jer 51:27-28 .

6. Promise of release from Babylon and command to leave the city. Eleven times the prophet makes statements to that effect: Jer 50:4-5 ; Jer 50:8 ; Jer 50:19-20 ; Jer 50:28 ; and others.

7. Spiritual renewal of Israel shall follow the return from Babylon. This is stated by the prophet five times: Jer 50:4-5 ; Jer 51:10 ; Jer 51:50-51 .

In these seven divisions we have the substance of these chapters. Isaiah 40-48 contains the same thoughts, sometimes even in the same words.

Almost all the critics maintain that Jeremiah did not write these chanters. Even a Baptist professor produced a commentary that was published by a Baptist publishing house, in which it is plainly affirmed that Jeremiah did not write them. The arguments used against the Jeremiah-authorship are in substance, as follows:

1. The historical situation had not yet arrived. These chapters picture Israel in exile, the Temple destroyed and Jerusalem in ruins. If Jeremiah wrote these chapters in 594 B.C. (and it is plainly stated that he did) Jerusalem was still standing, the Temple intact, and the end of Babylon was yet seventy years more in the future. Therefore, the critics conclude that since the historical situation was not in harmony with these chapters, Jeremiah did not write them. That conclusion is undeniably based upon the assumption that Jeremiah could not see the future.

2. There is not the same point of view on the part of the prophet. The point of view of the prophet about this time was that Zedekiah and his people must submit to Babylon, and if they would submit, they would be saved. But now in these chapters the point of view of the prophet seems to be that these nations are to be destroyed and Judah triumph. Therefore, Jeremiah must have a different point of view. Did he? As in the other contention, it is based upon the assumption that Jeremiah could not see the future.

3. The temper which permeates these chapters was not that of Jeremiah. In other words, Jeremiah, during the reign of Zedekiah, had been friendly to Babylon in that he continually counseled submission to Babylon. He seems to be a friend to Babylon. Now, these two chapters were written by a man whose soul seemed to be on fire with denunciation of Babylon because of her ruthless and unrelenting cruelty to Israel. The critics cannot account for the change in the temper of Jeremiah, if it is conceded that he wrote these two chapters in question.

In reply, it may be asked, Does it follow that because he advised submission to a foreign power he loved that power and was not loyal to his own people? Jeremiah counseled submission to Babylon, not because he loved Babylon, but because he could see, in fact it was revealed to him, that Babylon was destined to prevail and that if his people would quietly submit, it would be better than to resist. By no means does it follow that he loved Babylon. He did not love Babylon; he was a patriotic Israelite and could not but have hated that savage nation that overwhelmed his own beloved kinsmen. It is easy to see how he could, with perfect consistency, thus write the doom that was coming upon this savage nation for its wickedness. Though it was a wicked heathen nation, God could overrule its cruelty to be the just punishment for Israel’s sins and wickedness.

4. It is full of repetitions and lacks logical development. And so it does. But is it not in that very fact, like the work of Jeremiah? Our critical friends have worked out a system of logical development and they make heaven and earth fit into the mold of their theory. I fear that in trying to get all heaven into their logical system, they have failed to get any of it into their hearts.

Here are five reasons for accepting the Jeremiah authorship of chapters Jeremiah 50-51:

1. It is expressly stated that Jeremiah did write it (Jer 51:59-64 ). That ought to settle the question.

2. The style is like that of Jeremiah, full of repetitions. We have called attention to that very thing over and over again in our studies of the book.

3. The prophecy is altogether appropriate. Jeremiah was a patriotic Israelite, and his feelings toward Babylon could not have been that of friendship. He must have been permeated with the spirit of denunciation.

4. Denial of his authorship is based upon a mechanical theory of prophecy and inspiration. That is, after all, the real source of these denials.

5. Granting inspiration, Jeremiah was thoroughly competent to write every word of these two chapters. We could not expect that Jeremiah, a prophet to the nations, would live and die without having something to say about Babylon.

QUESTIONS

1. What the theme of Jeremiah 46-51 and what the evidence elsewhere of Jeremiah’s call to this special function as a prophet?

2. What the dates of these several prophecies?

3. What the date of the prophecy concerning Egypt, what parallel prophecies in the other prophets and what the nature of Jer 46:1 ?

4. Give an account of Egypt’s defeat at Carchemish (Jer 46:2-12 ).

5. Give an account of the overthrow of Egypt by Nebuchadnezzar (Jer 46:13-26 ).

6. What the words of reassurance and encouragement to Israel in Jer 46:27-28 ?

7. Who were the Philistines, what the date of this prophecy (Jer 47:1-6 ) against them and what the prophecy itself, especially verse 6?

8. What the relation of Moab to Israel and what the main points of the prophecy against her? (Jer 48:1-47 .)

9. What things worthy of special note in this prophecy against Moab?

10. What the occasion of the prophecy against Ammon in Jer 49:1-6 and what the points of the prophecy?

11. What the relation of Edom to Israel and what the prophecy here (Jer 49:7-22 ) against her?

12. What the prophecy against Damascus? (Jer 49:23-27 .)

13. Who was Kedar and what the prophecy here against Kedar? (Jer 49:28-33 .)

14. Who were the Elamites and what the prophecy against Elam in Jer 49:34-39 ?

15. How does the prophecy against Babylon compare with the other prophecies here given, what the date and what the symbolical action in this connection, the meaning of it, and what the principal ideas?

16. What the arguments of the critics against the authenticity of this section and upon what is each based?

17. Give five reasons for accepting the Jeremiah authorship of Jeremiah 50-51.

Fuente: B.H. Carroll’s An Interpretation of the English Bible

Jer 49:1 Concerning the Ammonites, thus saith the LORD; Hath Israel no sons? hath he no heir? why [then] doth their king inherit Gad, and his people dwell in his cities?

Ver. 1. Concerning the Ammonites. ] Who are taxed in Scripture for their pride, petulance, and contempt of God’s Israel, whom they had always infested, and now grossly injured, by encroaching upon part of their country, which they had seized on, as if Israel had been heirless, and themselves next of kin, which was nothing so. See Zep 2:8 .

Hath he no heir. ] Yes, Judah and Benjamin, not yet captivated.

Why then doth their king inherit gad? ] i.e., Gilead (Gad’s portion beyond Jordan), because it lieth convenient to him. This they would have done long before – viz., in Jephtha’s days: but then it would not be. Afterwards, Saul and David subdued them; but in Jehoshaphat’s time they came again, together with the Moabites, and the men of Mount Seir, to make a disturbance; but were defeated. 2Ch 20:1 ; 2Ch 20:22-24 Now, when those Israelites beyond Jordan were carried away, and their land desolated, first by the Syrians, 2Ki 10:32-33 and afterwards by the Assyrians, 2Ki 15:29 then in likelihood it was that the Ammonites thus invaded the country, and laid it to their own, cf. Amo 1:13 that they might dwell alone in that part of the earth.

Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)

Jeremiah Chapter 49

The judgment of Moab is followed by that of Ammon, kindred alike in their source, their conduct to Israel and Jehovah, as well as in the end His mercy would assign them.

“Concerning the Ammonites, thus saith Jehovah; Hath Israel no sons? hath he no heir? why then doth their king inherit Gad, and his people dwell in his cities? Therefore, behold, the days come, saith Jehovah, that I will cause an alarm of war to be heard in Rabbah of the Ammonites; and it shall be a desolate heap, and her daughters shall be burned with fire: then shall Israel be heir unto them that were his heirs, saith the Lord. Howl, O Heshbon, for Ai is spoiled: cry, ye daughters of Rabbah, gird you with sackcloth; lament, and run to and fro by the hedges; for their king shall go into captivity, and his priests and his princes together. Wherefore gloriest thou in the valleys, thy flowing valley, O backsliding daughter? that trusted in her treasures, saying, Who shall come unto me? Behold, I will bring a fear upon thee, saith Jehovah God of hosts, from all those that be about thee; and ye shall be driven out every man right forth; and none shall gather up him that wandereth. And afterward I will bring again the captivity of the children of Ammon, saith Jehovah.” (Ver. 1-6.) Jehovah demands what right they had to the land of Gad. For this was one of their sins as we see in Amos, a violent raid on Gilead and a possession of the land and cities for a season. But they are here shown that, secure as they thought themselves, their own capital should know the alarm of war, and their daughters share its destruction, when Israel shall be heir to those that were his heirs. It is a poor interpretation which finds in the Church the accomplishment of such prophecies; but this is owing to ignorance on the part of many that God is going to bring Christ in His kingdom to inherit the earth and all nations at His coming; as distinct from the gospel now as from the eternal state which follows the judgment of the great white throne. That desolation befell Moab, Ammon, with the rest, in the day of Nebuchadnezzar, through linking their fortunes with Egypt, the great southern rival of the Chaldean, is, I suppose, the fact. Possibly the howling and lamentation and panic, the more piteous because of previous self-complacency and boast, described in verses 3-5, may also precede the return of their captivity in the last days. (Ver. 6.)

With Edom (ver. 7-22), Damascus (ver, 23-27), and Hazor (28-33), there is a different future in the sovereign wisdom of God. They are to be destroyed without remedy, though not all, it would seem, for the same reason, though all assuredly in perfect justice. Let us follow the prophet:

“Concerning Edom, thus saith Jehovah of hosts; Is wisdom no inure in Teman? is counsel perished from the prudent? is their wisdom vanished? Flee ye, turn back, dwell deep, O inhabitants of Dedan; for I will bring the calamity of Esau upon him, the time that I will visit him. If grape-gatherers come to thee, would they not leave some gleaning grapes? if thieves by night, they will destroy till they have enough. But I have made Esau bare, I have uncovered his secret places, and he shall not be able to hide himself: his reed is spoiled, and his brethren, and his neighbours, and he is not. Leave thy fatherless children, I will preserve them alive; and let thy widows trust in me. For thus saith Jehovah; Behold, they whose judgment was not to drink of the cup have assuredly drunken; and art thou be that shall altogether go unpunished? thou shalt not go unpunished, but thou shalt surely drink of it. For I have sworn by myself, saith Jehovah, that Bozrah shall become a desolation, a reproach, a waste, and a curse; and all the cities thereof shall be perpetual wastes. I have heard a rumour from Jehovah, and an ambassador is sent unto the heathen, saying, Gather ye together, and come against her, and rise up to the battle. For, lo, I will make thee small among the heathen, and despised among men. Thy terribleness hath deceived thee, and the pride of thine heart, O thou that dwellest in the clefts of the rock, that holdest the height of the hill: though thou shouldest make thy nest as high as the eagle, I will bring thee down from thence, saith Jehovah. Also Edom shall be a desolation, every one that goeth by it shall be astonished, and shall hiss at all the plagues thereof. As in the overthrow of Sodom and Gomorrah, and the neighbour cities thereof, saith the Lord, no man shall abide there, neither shall a son of man dwell in it. Behold, he shall come up like a lion from the swelling of Jordan against the habitation of the strong: but I will suddenly make him run away from her, and who is a chosen man, that I may appoint over her? for who is like me? and who will appoint me the time? and who is that shepherd that will stand before me? therefore hear the counsel of Jehovah, that he hath taken against Edom; and his purposes, that he hath purposed against the inhabitants of Teman. Surely the least of the flock shall draw them out: surely he shall make their habitations desolate with them. The earth is moved at the noise of their fill, at the cry the noise thereof was heard in the Red Sea. Behold, be shall come up and fly as the eagle, and spread his wings over Bozrah: and at that day shall the heart of the mighty men of Edom be as the heart of a woman in her pangs.” (Ver. 7-22.)

Thus wisdom would not avail the proud relentless enemy of Israel who ought to have been a friend and should have enjoyed the honour God was pleased to put on his kinsman. Esau’s calamity should be theirs in the day of divine visitation. The stripping of a vine by grape-gatherers would be light compared with what awaits Esau’s race: for if Israel drank of that cup of woe, could they go unpunished? Impossible. No clefts should hide, no heights avail. Edom should be made small, yea a waste like the cities of the plain. One should come like a lion to give effect to Jehovah’s purposes which should be so complete that even the least one should suffice against their once haughty strength. Whatever might be God’s remembrance of kin in Moab or Ammon, in Edom it tells in an opposite way; for it made their implacable hatred. of Israel unbearable and only closed in their own perdition.

Damascus and Hazor follow. “Concerning Damascus: Hamath is confounded, and Arpad: for they have heard evil tidings: they are fainthearted; there is sorrow on the sea; it cannot be quiet. Damascus is waxed feeble, and turneth herself to flee, and fear hath seized on her: anguish and sorrows have taken her, as a woman in travail. How is the city of praise not left, the city of my joy! therefore her young men shall fall in her streets, and all the men of war shall be cut off in that day, saith Jehovah of hosts. And I will kindle a fire in the will of Damascus, and it shall consume the palaces of Ben-hadad. Concerning Kedar, and concerning the kingdoms of Hazor, which Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon shall smite, thus saith Jehovah: Arise ye, go up to Kedar, and spoil the men of the cast. Their tents and their flocks shall they take away: they shall take to themselves their curtains, and all their vessels, and their camels; and they shall cry unto them, Fear is on every side. Flee, get you far off dwell deep, O ye inhabitants of Hazor, saith Jehovah; for Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon hath taken counsel against you and hath conceived a purpose against you. Arise, get you up unto the wealthy nation, that dwelleth without care, saith Jehovah, which have neither gates nor bars, which dwell alone. And their camels shall be a booty, and the multitude of their cattle a spoil: and I will scatter into all winds them that are in the utmost corners; and I will bring their calamity from all sides thereof, saith Jehovah. And Hazor shall be a dwelling for dragons, and a desolation for ever: there shall no man abide there, nor any son of man dwell in it.” (Ver. 23-33.) Here too destruction falls: no restoration is foretold; but there is no such solemn knell of judgment as in Edom’s case. They justly deserved what God did by the Chaldean, as they will whatever God may do by and by; but as they had no special tie, so they will meet with no special judgment, any more than exemption or restoration in the last days.

But the chapter closes with another. “The word of Jehovah that came to Jeremiah the prophet against Elam in the beginning of the reign of Zedekiah king of Judah, saying, Thus saith Jehovah of hosts; Behold, I will break the bow of Elam, the chief of their might. And upon Elam will I bring the four winds from the four quarters of heaven, and will scatter them toward all those winds; and there shall be no nation whither the outcasts of Elam shall not come. For I will cause Elam to be dismayed before their enemies, and before them that seek their life: and I will bring evil upon them, even my fierce anger, saith Jehovah; and I will send the sword after them, till I have consumed them. and I will set my throne in Elam, and will destroy from thence the king and the princes, saith Jehovah. But it shall come to pass in the bitter days, that I will bring again the captivity of Elam, saith Jehovah.” (Ver. 34-39.) Here mercy rejoices at length against judgment. The portion of Elam did not interfere, like Philistia, Damascus or Hazor, with the due development reserved for Israel in the latter day; and God will show His goodness in behalf of Elam when the kingdom comes. To refer its fulfilment to Act 2:9 , as Calvin and others do, is only to show how little such men enter into either the old or the new.

Fuente: William Kelly Major Works (New Testament)

NASB (UPDATED) TEXT: Jer 49:1-6

1Concerning the sons of Ammon. Thus says the LORD:

Does Israel have no sons?

Or has he no heirs?

Why then has Malcam taken possession of Gad

And his people settled in its cities?

2Therefore behold, the days are coming, declares the LORD,

That I will cause a trumpet blast of war to be heard

Against Rabbah of the sons of Ammon;

And it will become a desolate heap,

And her towns will be set on fire.

Then Israel will take possession of his possessors,

Says the LORD.

3Wail, O Heshbon, for Ai has been destroyed!

Cry out, O daughters of Rabbah,

Gird yourselves with sackcloth and lament,

And rush back and forth inside the walls;

For Malcam will go into exile

Together with his priests and his princes.

4How boastful you are about the valleys!

Your valley is flowing away,

O backsliding daughter

Who trusts in her treasures, saying,

‘Who will come against me?’

5Behold, I am going to bring terror upon you,

Declares the Lord GOD of hosts,

From all directions around you;

And each of you will be driven out headlong,

With no one to gather the fugitives together.

6But afterward I will restore

The fortunes of the sons of Ammon,

Declares the LORD.

Jer 49:1 Ammon These people (like Moab) were descendants of Lot by his own daughter (cf. Gen 19:38). Therefore, they were relatives of Abraham’s family. Their territory was northeast of Moab on the eastern side of Jordan. A group known as Amorites lived next to the Jordan River and the Ammonites to the east, closer to the desert. Their capital was Rabbath. They were a potent rival to King Saul, but a vassal to Kings David and Solomon.

The Jerome Biblical Commentary (p. 334) reminds us that Ammon

1. rejoiced at the fall of Jerusalem (cf. Eze 25:1-7)

2. their king, Baalis, encouraged Ishmael to assassinate the new Babylonian governor, Gedaliah (cf. Jer 40:11-16)

Jer 49:1; Jer 49:3

NASBMalcam

NKJVMilcham

NRSV, NJB,

JJPSOA, REBMilcom

TEVMolech

PESHITTAMalcolm

LXXMelchol

The MT has their king. All of these names are a word play on the Hebrew word for king, (BDB 572). In 1Ki 11:5; 1Ki 11:33, this Ammonite national deity is called Milcom, but in Jer 49:7 Molech (TEC), which is the more common name of this fertility god. See Special Topic at Jer 2:23.

The UBS Text Project (p. 304) gives Milcom a B rating.

Gad This refers to the tribal allocation of Gad (cf. Num 32:33-37; Jos 13:24-28). It included the territory of the Amorites and part of the territory of Ammon.

The tribes of Reuben, Gad, and half of the tribe of Manasseh asked for and received their tribal inheritance on the eastern side of the Jordan River (cf. Jos 13:8).

The exact reference to Ammon expanding into the territory once held by the tribe of Gad is during the period of Assyrian power (i.e., Tiglath-pileser III in 734-732 B.C., cf. 2Ki 15:29).

Jer 49:2 a trumpet The word is not in the MT, only the CONSTRUCT cry of battle (BDB 929 CONSTRUCT 536). It may refer to

1. a particular battle cry

2. the blast of a trumpet (see Special Topic: HORNS USED BY ISRAEL )

towns This term (BDB 123 I) is literally daughters, but is often used in an idiomatic way (i.e., BDB 123 I, #4) for surrounding villages (cf. Num 21:25; Num 21:32; Jdg 1:27; Neh 11:25-31). In Jer 49:3 it is difficult to know if the word means

1. inhabitants of Rabbah

2. villages around Rabbah

Jer 49:3 This series of IMPERATIVES calls on the Ammonites to grieve over their defeat and exile.

1. wail – BDB 410, KB 413, Hiphil IMPERATIVE

2. cry out – BDB 858, KB 1042, Qal IMPERATIVE

3. gird. . .sackcloth – BDB 291, KB 291, Qal IMPERATIVE

4. lament – BDB 704, KB 763, Qal IMPERATIVE

5. rush back and forth – BDB 1001, KB 1439, Hithpolel IMPERATIVE or possibly gash yourselves, REB, cf. Jer 48:37; this line is missing in the LXX)

Ai A city by this name is unknown in Ammon. NJB changes it to Ar. The LXX has Gai. The best explanation comes from R. K. Harrison (Tyndale OT Commentary, Jeremiah, p. 179). He notes that when Ai is used for a city it always has the ARTICLE, but there is no ARTICLE here. The word itself (BDB 743) means ruins and, therefore, is a reference to Heshbon’s destruction.

Jer 49:4 Ammon had some knowledge of YHWH. Instead of trusting in Him they trusted in

1. their geography (i.e., fertile valleys, lit. flowing, BDB 264, KB 206)

2. their treasures (i.e., possibly revenue from trading routes, cf. Jer 48:7)

The JPSOA translates the first two lines as:

Why do you glory in strength,

Your strength is drained

They interpret the Hebrew root (BDB 770) valley as coming from an Akkadian root for strength (cf. NRSV, TEV, REB, NET).

Jer 49:5 Josephus (Antiq. 10.9.7) mentions that Ammon was devastated by Nebuchadnezzar in his twenty-third year (i.e., 582 B.C.).

Jer 49:6 This is another promise of restoration like Jer 48:47 (cf. Jer 12:14-17). The same terminology is also used of Elam in Jer 49:39. These promises have an eschatological orientation, not to these specific nationalities, but to the promised inclusion of the nations through Israel’s God and His Messiah (i.e., Psa 22:27; Psa 66:1-4; Psa 86:8-10; Isa 2:2-4; Isa 12:4-5; Isa 25:6-9; Isa 42:6-12; Isa 45:22-23; Isa 49:5-6; Isa 51:4-5; Isa 56:6-8; Isa 60:1-3; Isa 66:23; Mic 4:1-4; Mal 1:11; Joh 3:16; Joh 4:42; 1Ti 2:4; Tit 2:11; 2Pe 3:9; 1Jn 2:1; 1Jn 4:14)! Hallelujah, hallelujah, hallelujah!

Fuente: You Can Understand the Bible: Study Guide Commentary Series by Bob Utley

The Forty-Fifth Prophecy of Jeremiah (see book comments for Jeremiah).

Concerning, &c. Supply the Ellipsis, from Jer 47:1.

Ammonites = sons of Ammon, north of Moab. When the tribes east of Jordan were carried away by Tiglath-pileser (2Ki 15:29), Ammon supplanted Gad. This is the sin dealt with here.

the LORD. Hebrew. Jehovah. App-4.

Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics

Chapter 49

Now in chapter 49, he speaks first of the Ammonites. Now, the Ammonites were those people who were north of Moab and east of the Jordan in the upper Jordan area, east of the Sea of Galilee and the Golan Heights, the area of the Ammonites.

Concerning the Ammonites, thus saith the LORD; Has Israel no sons? has he no heir? why then doth their king inherit Gad, for his people are dwelling in his cities? ( Jer 49:1 )

Now you remember when the children of Israel came out of Egypt, and after their forty years or towards the end of their forty-year wandering, they came north and began to conquer some of the territory on the east side of Jordan in that Golan Heights and in the area that became Ammon. And when Joshua gathered the people together to begin their invasion of the land that God had promised, the tribe of Gad, the men from the tribe of Gad and Rueben, half the tribe of Manasseh, they came and they said to Joshua, “Look, this is great cattle country and we’re cattlemen. We really don’t care to go across the Jordan and to dwell on the other side. We’re very happy here. Why don’t you just let us have this land where we are? It’s just great for us because it’s good cattle country.” Well, Joshua, his first reaction, he was quite upset. He could remember forty years earlier when they were ready to go into the land and the spies brought back the report that there were giants and the cities were high and walled. And so Joshua was upset because he thought, “Oh my, if we don’t go in now we’re never going to make it. If these guys start dissembling, then everybody will get discouraged. We won’t go in.” They said, “No, no, no, you don’t understand. We’ll send our men in to fight with you, but let our children or our family stay here and we’ll come in and we’ll fight as long as you need us until we’ve conquered the land. But then after the land has been conquered we’d like to come back and dwell here.” And so it was granted to the tribe of Gad that they could take their portion on the east side of the Jordan in the country of the Amorites and all that they had smitten.

Well, their failure to come on into the land became critical later in their history. And they were the first of the tribes to fall to the enemies. And the Ammonites came against them and took their cities. Now here is a reference of Jeremiah to the fact that the cities that belonged to the tribes of Gad were now inhabited by the Ammonites. And so he says, “Is there no heir of Gad?” and so forth. “Why is it that the Ammonites are possessing the cities of Gad?”

Therefore, behold, the days will come, saith the LORD, that I will cause an alarm of war to be heard in Rabbah of the Ammonites ( Jer 49:2 );

Now Rabbah is the modern Ammon in Jordan. So that will give you a little bit of the idea of the location.

and it shall be a desolate heap, and her daughters shall be burned with fire: then shall Israel be heir unto them that were his heirs, saith the LORD ( Jer 49:2 ).

Israel will get back that territory.

Howl, O Heshbon, for Ai is spoiled: cry, ye daughters of Rabbah, gird you with sackcloth; lament, and run to and fro by the hedges; for their king shall go into captivity, and his priests and his princes together. Why did you glory in the valleys, thy flowing valley, O backsliding daughter? that trusted in her treasures, saying, Who shall come unto me? Behold, I will bring a fear upon thee, saith the Lord GOD of hosts, from all those that be about thee; and ye shall be driven out every man right forth; and none shall gather him that wandereth. And afterward I will bring again the captivity of the children of Ammon, saith the LORD ( Jer 49:3-6 ).

Now he goes south and his next prophecy is against Edom, which is the area that is south from Moab, and probably at this time was the… where the rock city of Petra was in the boundaries of Edom, for there is a reference here to that rock city of Petra. So Edom, the descendants of Esau.

Concerning Edom, thus saith the LORD of hosts; Is wisdom no more in Teman? ( Jer 49:7 )

Now Teman was one of the cities of Edom, and this is probably a reference to Eliphaz who was one of those men who came to comfort Job. Eliphaz the Temanite. And so this is the same Teman that was the home place of Eliphaz, the counselor of Job, and this is probably a reference to the fact that Eliphaz came with wisdom of the world to counsel with Job concerning his problems. “Thus saith the Lord of hosts, ‘Is wisdom no more in Teman?'” You remember Job said to him, “Surely you are the people, and wisdom is going to die with you” ( Job 12:2 ).

is counsel perished from the prudent? is their wisdom vanished? Flee ye, turn back, dwell deep, O inhabitants of Dedan ( Jer 49:7-8 );

Dedan is interesting. Of course, this area of Edom is now the area, much of it, of Saudi Arabia. Comes up into this area, the area of Dedan. It is interesting that when you realize that Dedan is this present Saudi Arabia, Sheba and Dedan would be identified as Saudi Arabia, to me it is very interesting as we look at the prophetic overview of our present day, for God tells us in Ezekiel that there would be the rebirth of the nation Israel and when the rebirth would take place, that He would put an evil thought into the minds of the leaders in Russia. And they would come forth with a mighty invading army to invade the land of Israel. And it gives the allies that would be coming with Russia: Libya, Ethiopia, Iran, Iraq, the Balkan States, eastern European states. And it says that when Russia makes this invasion that, “Sheba and Dedan, and the merchants of Tarshish, and the young lions thereof, will say unto her, ‘What are you doing invading this little land?'” ( Eze 38:13 ) That isn’t right. It’s not fair. So right now there’s the big to-do over whether or not we should sell these AWACS to Saudi Arabia. And Israel, of course, is putting a lot of pressure against the President at the present time, because he seems to be inclined to sell these AWACS to the Saudi Arabians and Israel is fearful that with the highly sophisticated detection gear within these planes, that Saudi Arabia will be able to intercept all of the radio signals and so forth and it will be a powerful tool in the Saudis’ hands of knowing what Israel is planning. And so Israel is putting a lot of pressure against the administration to try to force them not to sell these AWACS to Saudi Arabia.

Now though I oftentimes am concerned as far as what our nation is doing in the light of Bible prophecy, this is one thing that I can’t really get upset over, because I know that when the showdown comes, Saudi Arabia will be speaking out against the Russian invasion. And so the Russian invasion of Israel. So though they may make a lot of anti-Israel noise, yet when the showdown comes, Saudi Arabia will be speaking up for Israel. Of course, Saudi Arabia is concerned because with Russia’s invasion, the real target will probably be the tremendous oil reserves down there in Saudi Arabia. But Saudi Arabia will not be an enemy to Israel in that major conflict that is coming. And thus, it doesn’t really, as I say, there are a lot of things that do concern me of supplying arms to various forces and all, but what we may supply to Saudi Arabia doesn’t really bother me from a scriptural standpoint, knowing that when the showdown takes place, Saudi Arabia will be speaking up for Israel. So that’s where, if you have the Word of God, you know you can just rest and you don’t have to get all excited or worried about the selling of these sophisticated radar planes to Saudi Arabia. Someone put a whole bunch of packets in the office, you know, of seeking to get us involved in letter writing and so forth to put pressure on them not to sell. But there’s some things I can get involved with, but this is one that it doesn’t really concern me because I know a little bit more than what the government knows at this point.

So, “dwell deep, O inhabitants of Dedan.”

for I will bring the calamity of Esau [the brother of Jacob, father of the Edomites] upon him, the time that I will visit him. If grape gatherers come to thee, would they not leave some gleaning grapes? if thieves by night, they will destroy till they have enough. But I have made Esau bare, I have uncovered his secret places, and he shall not be able to hide himself: his seed is spoiled, and his brethren, and his neighbors, and he is not. Leave thy fatherless children, I will preserve them alive; and let thy widows trust in me. For thus saith the LORD; Behold, they whose judgment was not to drink of the cup have assuredly drunken; and art thou he that shall altogether go unpunished? thou shalt not go unpunished, but thou shalt surely drink of it. For I have sworn by myself ( Jer 49:8-13 ),

Now, when God really wants to confirm what He is saying, He swears by Himself, because you should always swear by something greater than you, but there’s nothing greater than God so He is stuck to having to swear by Himself. You can’t go any higher. So, “I have sworn by myself in order to confirm the covenant, in order to just say, ‘Hey, this is for sure.'”

that Bozrah shall become a desolation, a reproach, a waste, and a curse; and all the cities thereof shall be perpetual wastes ( Jer 49:13 ).

And they are to the present day. You might find the tells, the ruins, but you won’t find any of these cities.

I have heard a rumor from the LORD, and an ambassador is sent unto the heathen, saying, Gather ye together, and come against her, and rise up to the battle. For, lo, I will make thee small among the heathen, and despised among men. Thy awesomeness hath deceived thee, and the pride of thine heart, O thou that dwellest ( Jer 49:14-16 )

And here’s a reference to that rock city of Petra. “O thou that dwellest,”

in the clefts of the rock, that holdest the height of the hill: though thou shouldest make thy nest as high as the eagle, I will bring thee down from there, saith the LORD. Also Edom shall be a desolation: every one that goeth by it shall be astonished, and shall hiss at all the plagues. As in the overthrow of Sodom and Gomorrah and the neighbor cities thereof, saith the LORD, no man shall abide there, neither shall a son of man dwell in it. Behold, he shall come up like a lion from the swelling of Jordan against the habitation of the strong: but I will suddenly make him run away from her: and who is a chosen man, that I may appoint over her? for who is like me? and who will appoint me the time? and who will be that shepherd that will stand before me? Therefore hear the counsel of the LORD, that he hath taken against Edom; and his purposes, that he hath purposed against the inhabitants of Teman: Surely the least of the flock shall draw them out; surely he shall make their habitations desolate with them. The earth is moved at the noise of their fall; at the cry the noise thereof was heard even in the Red sea. Behold, he shall come up and fly as the eagle, and spread his wings over Bozrah: and at that day shall the heart of the mighty men of Edom be as the heart of a woman in travail ( Jer 49:16-22 ).

So God speaks of His judgment coming against Edom. Now he turns north to Damascus, the capital of Syria. Damascus, of course, is already fallen to Nebuchadnezzar.

Concerning Damascus. Hamath is confounded, and Arpad; for they have heard evil tidings: they are fainthearted; there is sorrow on the sea; it cannot be quiet. Damascus is waxed feeble, and turneth herself to flee, and fear hath seized on her: anguish and sorrows have taken her, as a woman in travail. How is the city of praise not left, the city of my joy! Therefore her young men shall fall in her streets, and all the men of war shall be cut off in that day, saith the LORD of hosts. And I will kindle a fire in the wall of Damascus, and it shall consume the palaces of Benhadad ( Jer 49:23-27 ).

Which is the sort of a title like Pharaoh was a title for the Egyptian leaders. Benhadad was the title for the leaders of Assyria.

Next the Lord speaks against Kedar and the kingdoms of Hazor. Now this is probably a nomadic group of people and not the city of Hazor in the upper Galilee region.

which Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon shall smite, thus saith the LORD; Arise, go up to Kedar, and spoil the men of the east. Their tents and their flocks shall they take away: they shall take to themselves their curtains, and all of their vessels ( Jer 49:28-29 ),

Their curtains would be the curtains, of course, of their tents. They’re nomadic people. They’re Bedouin type of people.

and their camels; and they shall cry unto them, Fear is on every side. Flee, get you far off, dwell deep, O ye inhabitants of Hazor, saith the LORD; for Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon hath taken counsel against you, and he’s conceived a purpose against you. Arise, get you up unto the wealthy nation, that dwells without care, saith the LORD, which have neither gates nor bars, which dwell alone. And their camels shall be a booty, and the multitude of their cattle a spoil: and I will scatter into all winds them that are in the utmost corners; and I will bring their calamity from all sides thereof, saith the LORD. And Hazor shall be a dwelling for dragons, and a desolation for ever: there shall no man abide there, nor any son of man dwell in it ( Jer 49:29-33 ).

And so the area of Hazor and Kedar, these nomadic, Bedouin type people. Even that was not to escape from Nebuchadnezzar.

Finally in this passage he comes against Elam. Next week we turn to Babylon and the destruction that God has predicted against Babylon. And that pretty much, of course, finishes the book of Jeremiah as far as chapters 50 and 51.

But Elam,

The word of the LORD that came to Jeremiah the prophet against Elam ( Jer 49:34 )

Now Elam is in the area that a lot of the fighting has been going on in the Iran-Iraqi war. In fact, this strait that is through there that they are fighting over the control of, on the Iranian side was the area of Elam. So you’re moving over in that direction.

“The word of the LORD that came to Jeremiah the prophet against Elam,”

in the beginning of the reign of Zedekiah king of Judah, saying, Thus saith the LORD of hosts; Behold, I will break the bow of Elam, the chief of their might. And upon Elam will I bring the four winds from the four quarters of heaven, and will scatter them toward all those winds; and there shall be no nation whither the outcasts of Elam shall not come. For I will cause Elam to be dismayed before their enemies, and before them that seek their life: and I will bring evil upon them, even my fierce anger, saith the LORD; and I will send the sword after them, till I have consumed them: And I will set my throne in Elam, and will destroy from there the king and the princes, saith the LORD. But it shall come to pass in the latter days, that I will bring again the captivity of Elam, saith the LORD ( Jer 49:34-39 ).

So these prophecies, and I have to admit, that there isn’t much to get excited over as far as biblical exposition. It’s a hard nut to crack and it’s just something that because we’re going straight through, we wade through it. There isn’t a lot that you can really expound upon or exhort here. It’s just showing God’s judgment and the sureness of God’s Word as He fulfilled each of these prophecies against these particular nations. And it’s there for a reason. Thus we should read it, though it isn’t the most exciting area in the scriptures to read. And we congratulate you for going through it. Each one of you in the class get an automatic A by having gone through it. But I’m sort of happy that it will be three years before we get back to it again, and hopefully we won’t be here. And so we’ll look at the whole thing from a different perspective next time around.

And so it does, though, point out again this marvelous prophetic aspect to the scriptures, how that God speaks of events before they take place in order that when they do take place, you might believe. Prophecy has been given really as a basis and a foundation for faith. And I think one of the strongest apologetics for the scriptures is that of the fulfilled prophecies. As we look around today and we see the world in which we live and as we look at the prophecies of the Bible and see how so many of these things that we are beholding today are actual fulfillments of God’s Word is extremely exciting and it is very faith-building. Jesus said to His disciples, “I told you these things before they come to pass so that when they come to pass you might believe” ( Joh 13:19 ). And so God has given to us a good outline of what would be happening in these days in which we live. And pretty much as God has outlined, so we see it. And that should be enough to make any wise person believe. Of course, if you’re stupid you’re not going to believe anything anyhow. But any thinking person looking at the scriptures and looking at the world today is really forced to acknowledge that it’s more than coincidence. That God indeed has spoken with great clarity of this day in which we live. Such things as satellite TV, computers, super weapons were all a part of the prophetic picture for the advent of these things was in a sense predicted. God tells about the two witnesses that will be put to death in Jerusalem and the whole world will see their dead bodies lying in the streets of Jerusalem. Impossible until satellite TV. But I’ve watched the other day a live broadcast from Jerusalem right there in my own family room. Now it’s a possibility. Five years ago impossible; today possible.

The Lord said that people will be caused to receive a mark in their right hand or in their forehead and no one will be able to buy or sell without the mark. It would be totally impossible to go to a method of exchange using marks in the right hand or forehead–that would be totally impossible apart from computers. No way could you do that without computers. But now we have computers that are designed to do our banking for us. And already we are buying and selling without money using our credit cards. We’re buying and selling without money, and there’s only one step from the number on the credit card to the number inscribed in your right hand or in your forehead or the mark. It doesn’t necessarily say number, but it says a mark. And we know that the computer is able to read these marks that are on your groceries with these scanners. So these things were all figured in, but they’re here. And you could go right on down the line with the prophecies and you could show how that all around the world the events that are taking place are things that God has foretold. Things that would be taking place in the last days. So this only helps confirm the fact of the accuracy of prophecy as we look at predictions that were made and already fulfilled. They only confirm the accuracy of prophecies and confirm the fact that God is the author of the book. And it’s good to be getting into the final chapters of prophecy, and we, as Jesus said, are looking up, lifting up our heads for we know that our redemption is very close.

Father, we thank You for Your sure word of prophecy. And as we read of Your judgments upon these nations roundabout Israel, and we realize, Lord, that Your judgment was righteous, for they had forsaken You. They were worshipping and serving other gods. They had sought to live independent of Thee. Even so, Lord, as we look around ourselves today, we see that the United States has settled on its lees, beginning to live after the flesh, beginning to smell of the flesh. We realize, Lord, that we can’t escape Thy judgment, either. That in righteousness You must judge and that You will judge. Father, help us that we might be accounted worthy to escape these things that will be coming, that we might stand before Thee in that day. In Jesus’ name we pray. Amen.

The Lord bless and give you a good week. And may you live in that consciousness of God’s love. May you put God first in your life, not just as a phrase, “Oh yes, God first.” May it become a reality. Remember what Jesus said to the church at Ephesus, “I have this against you, you’ve left your first love.” There’s a lack of that fervency. There’s a coldness in your heart towards the things of God and His Spirit. There’s been a drawing away after the flesh. Beginning to just get settled. Oh, may God cause you to remember from where you have fallen and to repent and to return to that first love and commitment and excitement of the things of the Lord. May the Lord draw you back to Himself in a full and complete surrender. In Jesus’ name. “

Fuente: Through the Bible Commentary

Jer 49:1-6

Jer 49:1-6

PROPHECIES AGAINST AMMON, EDOM, SYRIA, HAZOR, AND ELAM;

PROPHECY AGAINST AMMON

Of the children of Ammon. Thus saith Jehovah: Hath Israel no sons? hath he no heir? why then doth Malcam possess Gad, and his people well in the cities thereof? Therefore, behold, the days come, saith Jehovah, that I will cause an alarm of war to be heard against Rabbah of the children of Ammon; and it shall become a desolate heap, and her daughters shall be burned with fire: then shall Israel possess them that did possess him, saith Jehovah. Wail, O Heshbon, for Ai is laid waste; cry, ye daughters of Rabbah, gird you with sackcloth: lament, and run to and fro among the fences; for Malcam shall go into captivity, his priests and his princes together. Wherefore gloriest thou in the valleys, thy flowing valley, O backsliding daughter? that trusted in her treasures, [saying], Who shall come unto me? Behold, I will bring a fear upon thee, saith the Lord, Jehovah of hosts, from all that are round about thee; and ye shall be driven out every man right forth, and there shall be none to gather together the fugitives. But afterward I will bring back the captivity of the children of Ammon, saith Jehovah.

Hath Israel no sons. no heir …..

(Jer 49:1)? To understand this, one needs to recall some of the history of Ammon.

AMMON AND THE AMMONITES

Ammon and Moab, were born to Lot by his incestuous union with his daughters (Genesis 19). Their original home was the extensive area east of the Jordan river, northward from the Moabites, and between the Arnon and Jabbok rivers. During the Amorite invasion, the Ammonites lost some of their territory to Sihon (Num 21:21-31), who in turn was conquered by Israel under Moses; and the territory was assigned to the tribe of Gad.

Thus, Israel benefited the Ammonites by destroying their old enemies, making the later conduct of Ammon even more reprehensible. Both during the days of the Judges and in the reigns of Saul and David they frequently fought against Israel (2 Samuel 10).

Amos prophesied against Ammon, particularly condemning them for “ripping up the women with child” (Amo 1:13).

The Ammonites regained their territory, and enlarged it by taking Heshbon from Moab, after Tiglath-pileser carried off the tribes of Israel that were east of the Jordan. They hated Israel and Judah continually, and their king engineered the assassination of Gedaliah (Jeremiah 40).

This prophecy, therefore, begins with the question, “Why is the pagan god Malcam and his Ammonite followers in possession of the land God gave to Gad?” Is it because Gad has no heirs? The message is that God will throw Ammon out of the land they have usurped from Israel.

Alarm of war to be heard against Rabbah…

(Jer 49:2). This was the most important Ammonite city and was defended by a strong citadel. It was here that David king of Israel arranged the murder of Bathsheba’s husband (2Sa 11:15).

Along with Damascus, this place has continued as one of the oldest continually populated cities in the entire area. The modern Rabbah is Amman, capital of the Hashemite kingdom of Jordan.

Wail, O Heshbon…

(Jer 49:3). Robinson exclaimed that, This must be corrupt, because Heshbon was a Moabite city.

But Heshbon, at the time of Jeremiah’s prophecy was occupied by Ammon. This was the royal city of Sihon, king of the Amorites, whom Israel defeated (Num 32:37). Israel assigned it to Gad; and when an opportunity came, Ammon had taken the city. Generally, however, it was a Moabite city.

Ai is laid waste…

(Jer 49:3) This is not the Ai captured by Joshua, for that was on the west side of Jordan. This place is mentioned nowhere else, and the location of it is unknown.

Malcam shall go into captivity…

(Jer 49:3). This national pagan deity of the Ammonites was exactly the same as Milcom, or Molech. Solomon erected high places in Jerusalem, not only for Molech, in the Valley of the Son of Hinnom, but also for many other pagan gods and goddesses to please his wives.

Solomon was punished for this, as indicated by Ahijah, and God rent out of the hand of Solomon ten tribes of Israel, giving the ten tribes to Jeroboam I (1Ki 11:31-33).

That the burning of infant children as sacrifices to this deity was actually practiced by the Israelites is proved by such passages as Deu 12:31; Deu 18:10-13. Also, it is quite likely that David, after the capture of Rabbah, sacrificed many of the survivors by making them “pass through the fire to Molech.” The passage on which this is based is disputed, but this writer, nevertheless, believes that is exactly what happened (2Sa 12:26-31).

Wherefore gloriest thou in the valleys…

(Jer 49:4)? The exact meaning of the text here is not known, but it is clear enough that the valleys were a possession in which the Ammonites trusted and gloried, along with the treasures mentioned in the same verse. The trusting in any material thing is sinful; and the glorying of mortals in anything whatsoever, except in the grace and forgiveness of God is likewise wrong.

I will bring fear upon thee. ye shall be driven out … there shall be none to gather the fugitives …..

(Jer 49:5). The total ruin of Ammon is prophesied here. The Bible records the fulfillment of it in 2Sa 12:25-31. The Ammonites were captured, the crown of their god Malcam, weighing a talent of gold, and set with precious stones, was given to David; and the spoil of the city was exceeding much.

But afterward, I will turn back the captivity of the children of Ammon…

(Jer 49:6). Here again, the afterward suggests the times of Messiah. The Ammonites were eventually absorbed into the peoples of Arabia, some of whom were present on Pentecost; and it is very likely that the three thousand souls saved that day included some of the descendants of the Ammonites (Acts 2).

AN ORACLE AGAINST AMMON Jer 49:1-6

The territory of Ammon lay just north of Moab with its capital Rabbah (modern Amman) on the Jabbok river. The Ammonites and Moabites were closely connected by descent and frequently united together in attacks against Israel. Prior to the Israelite invasion of Transjordan under Moses the Ammonites had been dislodged from their traditional home by the Amorite king Sihon. When the Israelites defeated Sihon, they assigned the former Ammonite territory to the tribe of Gad. With the Assyrian deportations of the northern tribes the Ammonites were able to gradually filter back into their ancient territory and occupy towns and villages which for centuries had belonged to Israel.

The oracle against Ammon lends itself nicely to an alliterative outline. Jeremiah speaks here of the crime (Jer 49:1), conquest (Jer 49:2-5), and the conversion (Jer 49:6) of Ammon.

The Crime of Ammon Jer 49:1

The crime of Ammon is infringement upon Israelite territory. From the very earliest times the Ammonites had laid claim to the territory occupied by the tribes of Transjordan. Jephthah had attempted to settle the issue by diplomacy back in the period of the Judges. To the charge that Israel had taken by force the territory of the Ammonites, Jephthah replied that as a matter of fact the Ammonites did not OCCUPY that territory when Israel had entered the land. Since Israel had not taken the land from Ammon originally and since Israel had already occupied the land for three hundred years, Jephthah argued that the Ammonites no longer had any claim to the territory (Jdg 11:12-28). The king of Ammon refused to accept this reasoning and war broke out between the two peoples with Jephthah inflicting a crushing blow upon the Ammonites. Now, centuries after Jephthah, the territorial issue has been raised again. Since the Assyrians had removed so many Israelites from the area in 734 and 722 B.C., the Ammonites were able to occupy certain villages in the tribal territory of Gad. It is to this incursion that Jeremiah refers in verse one. Has Israel no sons? Has he no heirs? the prophet asks. It is true that Israel has been carried captive but will not his descendants return to claim the land Ammon has wrongfully seized? Their king is better read as a proper name Malcam as in the ASV. Malcam or Milcom or Molech was the chief god of the Ammonites (1Ki 11:5; 1Ki 11:7) and here represents his people just as Chemosh (Jer 48:7) represents the Moabites.

The Conquest of Ammon Jer 49:2-5

The seizure of Israelite territory is an affront to the Lord for He is there (Eze 35:10), that is to say, it is His land. See 2Ki 5:17; Hos 9:3; Joe 2:18; Joe 3:2; Lev 25:23; Psa 85:1. Therefore, the Lord will bring about the conquest and destruction of Ammon. Rabbah and her daughters (minor cities depending on her) will be destroyed, burned and left desolate. Israel then will be able to recover the territory lost to Ammon (Jer 49:2). The destroyer of Ammon is not specifically named but there can scarcely be doubt that Jeremiah has in mind Nebuchadnezzar. The great Chaldean king devastated Ammon and Moab in 582-581 B.C. At this time the Ammonite king was Baalis who had been instrumental in the assassination of Gedaliah (Jer 40:14).

In view of the forthcoming destruction of the land, Jeremiah calls upon the Ammonites to cry and howl in lamentation over their fate. In uncontrollable grief Jeremiah pictures them running hither and yon trying to find safety behind the hedges or stonewalls around fields and vineyards. Though a city of Moab, Heshbon seems at this period to have been under Ammonite control. The location of Ai, mentioned only here, is unknown. The reason for the grievous lamentation is that their god Malcam (see Jer 49:1) has been carried off into captivity along with his priests and his princes (Jer 49:3). What a disconcerting discovery to find that ones god is really more helpless than the people who worship him.

The Ammonites were proud of their fruitful valleys, particularly the valley of the Jabbok river. The apostate nation had turned from the living God and placed their trust in their natural resources and treasures. Ammon boasted, Who shall come unto me? (Jer 49:4). That false confidence will be shattered when God brings a fear upon the land. It will be every man for himself. With only the thought of self-preservation in mind the inhabitants of Ammon will flee in all directions (Jer 49:5). Every man right forth probably means that each man takes what he thinks is the shortest route to safety. No one bothers to collect or rally the fugitives. What a sad future awaits those who regarded themselves as invincible.

The Conversion of Ammon Jer 49:6

As in the case of Moab, a note is appended to the oracle against Ammon indicating that the Ammonites will in the future experience the grace of God. The language here is almost identical with that of Jer 48:47 except that the phrase afterward replaces the more prophetically precise phrase in the latter days. See comments on Jer 48:47.

Fuente: Old and New Testaments Restoration Commentary

Against the children of Ammon Jeremiah raised a protest because their king was in possession of Gad. He declared that by the fierce judgment of war, they were to be dispossessed and driven forth. The message ends with a gleam of hope, in which the prophet foretold that again the children of Ammon would be made captive.

Concerning Edom, destruction is foretold, in spite of her wisdom. The reference to wisdom in Teman may be a satirical literary allusion to the fact that it was the birtbplace of Eliphaz, the counselor of Job. The destruction is described in figurative language, and the prophet declared that notwithstanding the arrogancy and security of the people, Jehovah would bring them down into the dust. The destruction of Edom is intended to be a warning to the whole earth.

Damascus is described in her decay, and in the destruction determined against her by the Lord of hosts. This reference to Damascus is brief, for it does not seem that in Jeremiah’s time there was anything like intimate relationship of any sort between her and the chosen people. It is evident, however, that as his vision swept the horizon, Jeremiah saw that she also was within the circle of the divine government, and that judgment was determined against her.

Kedar and Hazor represent the Arab peoples, the former such as were nomadic, the latter those who dwelt in settled centers, and yet not in walled cities. Against both of these Nebuchadnezzar, the king of Babylon, was to be the instrument of judgment.

The prophecy against Elam is of a judgment, ending once more with a gleam of hope. Of Elam nothing can be said with any certainty. Again, it is evident in the far-reaching vision of Jeremiah she was seen as under divine displeasure, and consequently to be visited by divine judgment.

Fuente: An Exposition on the Whole Bible

The burden of the neighboring kingdom of the

AMMONITES

is much briefer, the six opening verses of the next chapter giving it all.

As before noted, they descended from the younger daughter of Lot, and typically speak of practically the same thing as Moab, only that they might also suggest those who prey upon the true Church of GOD, like Simon Magus and his numberless kin. They ever seem to have been a warlike people, and possibly had thus been considerably decimated, as we never find them occupying as large a place as the nation we have just been considering. Restless, predatory and nomadic, they did not possess the number of fenced cities, neither did they enjoy the high state of civilization characteristic of the Moabites.

From the first they were the enemies of Israel, even though Moses sought to placate them, and directed the people to “distress them not” (Deu 2:19), as in the case of Moab also.

In the times of Jeremiah they dwelt in several of the cities of Gad, and possibly also of Reuben and Benjamin; their own capital being Rabbath as of old, which was just across the border from Gad. Bold and fearless, but with no great cities, they could not be characterized by the pride of national glory that we have seen in Moab; but the indictment here brought against them is that she “trusted in her treasures, saying, Who shall come unto me?” (Jer 49:4) They were thus independent of GOD equally with their more cultured neighbors.

In verse 1 the Lord asks, “Hath Israel no sons? Hath he no heir? Why then doth their king inherit Gad, and his people dwell in his cities?” (Jer 49:1)

The Ammonites had taken advantage of the captivity of Israel and their manifold afflictions to enrich themselves, and to occupy the territory contiguous to their own land.

“Therefore, behold, the days come, saith the Lord, that I will cause an alarm of war to be heard in Rabbah of the Ammonites; and it shall be a desolate heap, and her daughters shall be burned with fire: then shall Israel be heir unto them that were his heirs, saith the Lord” (Jer 49:2).

That is, the power of Ammon was soon to be broken, and Israel made once more to occupy the cities that had been wrested from them. This has already had a partial fulfilment. It will have a more complete one in the Millennium, when Israel shall dwell in his own land, with none to make him afraid.

Lamentation and mourning, the prophet declared, should take the place of Ammon’s proud boasting and conceit; for her king should go into captivity with the princes and priests, and their whole people that were spared from the sword should be driven out of their land, with none to “gather up him that wandereth.” Afterward, when the chastisement shall have been productive of blessing, the children of Ammon will be restored, as in the case of Moab (Jer 49:3-6).

Somewhat more lengthy is the prophetic word concerning

EDOM

The descendants of “Esau, which is Edom,” had ever been the enemies of the descendants of his brother Jacob.

By comparing the short prophecy of Obadiah with the passage before us, the reader will get a full account of the sin and the doom of this high-handed race. In type, we have the flesh symbolized – ever lusting against the Spirit. Hence there is no restoration for Edom. They were to be utterly cut off. Human wisdom could not avail to save this proud nation. All their counsels were in vain. “The calamity of Edom” (Jer 49:8) was near at hand. GOD had decreed it. None of the men should be spared. Grape-gatherers leave some gleaning grapes upon the vines. Midnight robbers do not utterly despoil those whom they wrong. But in the case of the children of Esau they would be utterly destroyed, so far as nationality is concerned (Jer 49:7-10).

It is touching to find in this connection the precious message that has been a source of untold comfort to many a tried saint in later days. “Leave thy fatherless children, I will preserve them alive; and let thy widows trust in Me” (Jer 49:11). This was GOD’s gracious provision for the helpless and feeble even of Edom. How blessedly it tells out the real compassion of His heart! Judgment is His strange work. His holiness demands that sin be dealt with. In His righteous government the nations that have practiced iniquity must perish. But He forgets not the cry of the lowly; He ever remembers the poor and the needy. The widow and the fatherless have a special claim upon His love and mercy. Never was that claim pleaded in vain.

This is the only bright light in the dark picture of Edom’s woes. They could not go unpunished, but must assuredly drink of the cup of the Lord’s wrath. The surrounding nations’ were to be the instruments used to bring this about. Though Edom should make his nest as high as the eagle, the Lord would bring him down from thence, giving up his cities and fortresses to desolation. The ruin was to be as complete as that of Sodom and Gomorrah and the cities of the plains. Like a lion coming out from the swellings of Jordan, the enemy would rise up against the habitation of the strong till the heart of his mighty men became as the heart of a woman in her pangs (Jer 49:12-22). With this the prophet abruptly concludes. There is no word of recovery. It is a ruin complete and irrevocable, as Obadiah also testifies.

DAMASCUS

is next told of her impending doom. Already this once great city was being bereft of her glory, the Syrian empire paling before Nebuchadrezzar’s rising sun. Hamath and Arpad, famous in their day, were confounded. Evil tidings had reached them of the overthrow of the Syrian armies. “There is sorrow on the sea; it cannot be quiet.” The restlessness of the sobbing surf was but a picture of the state of their inhabitants. Damascus, waxing feeble, sought to flee; but “anguish and sorrows have taken her, as a woman in travail” (Jer 49:23-24). It is too late to escape. The conqueror is at the door. “Therefore her young men shall fall in her streets, and all the men of war shall be cut off in that day, saith the Lord of hosts.” The city was to be burned, and the palaces of Ben-Hadad, Israel’s old enemy, destroyed (Jer 49:25-27). Thus briefly, in the space of five verses, does the prophet portray the downfall of one of the greatest powers of ancient times.

ARABIA

with its various tribes, is likewise apprised of Nebuchadrezzar’s purpose and ultimate victory. Kedar and Hazor are to be smitten. Fear shall be on every side. The flocks and herds of these pastoral people shall feed the conqueror’s armies. All their treasures shall be seized for a spoil: “And Hazor shall be a dwelling for dragons, and a desolation forever: there shall no man abide there, nor any son of man dwell in it” (Jer 49:28-33). (The word for “dragons” means “jackals”).

These fierce Arabian tribes’ father was Ishmael, Abraham’s first-born, by Hagar. As outlined in Galatians, they picture those who, born after the flesh, seek to obtain a place of blessing through legal works, only to find that “the son of the bondwoman shall not be heir with the son of the free woman” (Gal 4:30).

ELAM

In the beginning of the reign of the unstable Zedekiah, the Word of the Lord had come to Jeremiah against the rising power of Elam, destined to play an important part in the history of nations, as an ally of the mighty kingdom of Persia, afterwards allied with Media, assuming an imperial place under Cyrus (Jer 49:34). It was at this time a Babylonian province (Dan 8:2), though in years gone by it had flourished as an independent kingdom (Gen 14:1-12). As being part of the prophet’s testimony to the nations, the burden of Elam is introduced here in connection with the preceding kingdoms and tribes.

The Lord was to “break the bow of Elam, the chief of their might;” (Jer 49:35) and by means of the four winds He should scatter them toward every quarter of heaven, so that there should “be no nation whither the outcasts of Elam” (Jer 49:36) should not come.

Dismayed before their enemies, they should know the fierce anger of the Lord, who would send a sword after them until He had consumed them. His throne should be set in Elam, when their king and princes should be destroyed. It is the same thing as in the case of Nebuchadrezzar; they should know that “the heavens do rule” (Jer 49:35-38).

This was fulfilled when the victorious Macedonians and their allies drove the luxurious Persian armies before them, under Alexander the Great. Yet between this time and the time when the prophecy was uttered, Elam rose from the position of an insignificant kingdom to an integral part of one of the mightiest empires the world had known, overthrowing the Babylonians and ruling the entire known world, with the exception of the feeble states of Europe. In GOD’s appointed time all her power availed nothing, and she became but another witness to the truth of prophecy.

There is hope in her latter end however, for the Lord has pledged Himself to bring again her captivity.

So we see the very same people existing today, despite the changes of the centuries; and in the coming kingdom of our Lord the remnant of Elam shall have a place, when the nations that are spared shall own Messiah’s benignant yet righteous sway (Jer 49:39).

Thus GOD had revealed “things to come” concerning the Gentile nations surrounding Immanuel’s land. From one to another the cup of His vengeance should be passed. Judgment began at the house of GOD, when Israel and Judah were given up to captivity. Their heathen neighbors rejoiced in their discomfiture. But they too must drink of that cup, and learn that “those that walk in pride He is able to abase.” (Dan 4:37)

Egypt and her daughter Philistia; together with Moab, Ammon and Edom, so closely related to Israel; as also Syria, Arabia and Elam, must all alike be swept with the besom of His wrath. Jeremiah foretold it long before it became a matter of history, as it has become since.

For one more nation He has a similar word – for the very power used to chastise Judah when she departed from the living GOD: Babylon must be destroyed when her iniquity has come to the full. But we reserve this for another chapter.

~ end of chapter 24 ~

Fuente: Commentaries on the New Testament and Prophets

Jer 49:30-31

I. “Dwell deep.” Have great principles as the base of your character; have root in yourselves; see that you are not mere waifs and strays, the sport of every wind, but that you have laid hold of the very substance of life so firmly that not even storms may be able to shatter or destroy your being. Depth of life is not mystery of life; it is not unreasoning hope; it is intelligence, it is faith, it is reality. No life can be deep that is not truly religious. Religion leads us to the infinite; it challenges our strongest powers; it lures even weakness itself towards might and courage; it speaks the word of hope and inspiration when we imagine that our whole task is exhausted. To dwell in Christ is to dwell deeply.

II. “Dwell without care.” We may accept this exhortation in two different yet coincident senses. We are not to dwell carelessly, yet are not to dwell fearfully; our independence of care is to arise from trust in the love and sufficiency of God. It is possible to dwell without care, simply because we undervalue life; it is possible to dwell without care, because we hold life in subjection to the Divine will and in perfect confidence in Divine love. Our care begins and ends with God. We must be right with Him. To be right with God is to sit upon His throne, and to view the affairs of life as God views them; to regard them in their entirety and to be superior to their influence. The uncarefulness to which the Christian is called is an expression of profound trust in his heavenly Father.

III. “Dwell alone. By this exhortation is not intended a call to hermitic seclusion, to misanthropy, to churlish loneliness, or the like. Yet it may be so interpreted as to make its application of the most excellent advantage to us. Solitude is needful to the highest culture of life. When we seek to be alone, it should be that our view of the Father may be more distinct and impressive. We must never seek for the loneliness which shuns the Divine Presence, for if we find it we find the devil clothed in redoubled power. Beware of Godless solitude; it is as the very gate of hell.

Parker, City Temple, 1870, p. 341.

Reference: Jer 50:4, Jer 50:5.-Spurgeon, Sermons, vol. xxix., No. 1752.

Fuente: The Sermon Bible

CHAPTER 49

Concerning Ammon, Edom, Damascus, Kedar, and Elam

1. Concerning the Ammonites (Jer 49:1-6)

2. Concerning Edom (Jer 49:7-22)

3. Concerning Damascus (Jer 49:23-27)

4. Concerning Kedar and Hazor (Jer 49:28-33)

5. Against Elam (Jer 49:34-39)

Ammon was the younger brother of Moab, and, like the Moabites, the Ammonites were a wicked people, though they had no cities like Moab, but were restless wanderers; they were also the enemies of Israel. The predicted judgment has come. Where is Ammon today? In what tribe or nation is a remnant preserved? Only the Omniscient One knows. But their captivity, like that of Moab, will be brought back again in the days when Israel becomes the head of the nations.

Edom, springing from Esau, was the most outspoken enemy of Israel. In our annotations on the prophecy of Obadiah we return to this chapter. Their complete judgment is here announced. For, lo, I will make thee small among the nations and despised among men. Thy terribleness has deceived thee and the pride of thine heart, O thou that dwellest in the clefts of the rock, that holdest the height of the hill. Though thou shouldest make thy nest as high as the eagle, I will bring thee down from thence, saith the LORD (Jer 49:15-16). Here at least the critics concede that this is a true description of the dwelling places of Edom of old. Its capital, Petra, lay in an amphitheater of mountains, accessible only through a narrow gorge, called the Sik, winding in with precipitous sides from the west; and the mountain sides round Petra, and the ravines about it, contain innumerable rock-hewn cavities, some being tombs, but others dwellings in which the ancient inhabitants lived (Canon Driver). No restoration for Edom is promised.

Damascuss anguish and sorrow is predicted next, followed by a prophecy concerning various Arabian tribes; Kedar and Hazor are to be smitten.

The final prediction is as to Elam. Elam was east of South Babylonia and the lower Tigris, later known as Susians. This prophecy was given at the beginning of Zedekiahs reign. Elam became an ally of the Persian kingdom. Here her overthrow is foretold as well as her restoration in the latter days.

Fuente: Gaebelein’s Annotated Bible (Commentary)

am 3421, bc 583

Concerning: or, Against, Jer 49:7, Jer 49:23, Jer 49:28, Jer 48:1

Ammonites: Jer 25:9, Jer 25:21, Jer 27:3, Gen 19:38, Deu 2:19, Deu 23:3, 2Ch 20:1, 2Ch 20:23, Psa 83:7, Eze 21:28-32, Eze 25:2-10, Amo 1:13-15, Zep 2:8-11

their king: or, Melcom, Jdg 10:7, Jdg 10:8, Jdg 11:13-15, 1Sa 11:1-3, 2Ki 10:33, 2Ki 24:2, Neh 2:19, Neh 4:7, Neh 13:1, Neh 13:2

cities: Psa 9:6

Reciprocal: 2Ch 27:5 – the king of the Ammonites Jer 12:14 – that Jer 40:14 – Ammonites Jer 49:3 – their king Eze 26:2 – she is Eze 35:10 – thou hast Eze 36:2 – ours Eze 36:5 – appointed Joe 3:2 – and parted Oba 1:19 – Benjamin Mic 1:15 – will

Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge

Jer 49:1. Several noted heathen nations will be considered in this chapter because the Lord bad complaints against all of them. The first one is the Ammonites who were descended, like the Moabites, from Lot, More than once we have seen that God has used various foreign nations to chastise his own people, yet when those nations took improper joy from the misfortunes of Israel the Lord turned against them, In 2Ki 24:2-3 is an account of the punishment of the kingdom of Judah, and the Ammonites were included in the forces God used for the purpose. Previously Israel (the 10-tribe kingdom) had been taken out of their possessions and Judah would logically have been the rightful inheritor of the territory left by Israel. But Judah incurred the wrath of God and forfeited the right to it and hence He brought the nations mentioned (including the Ammonites) against the country. However, that did not justify the Ammonites in acting as if Israel had no rightful Inheritor of his estate. In seising, therefore, upon the territory of Gad (a part of the 10-tribe dominions), the Ammonites brought upon themselves the predictions here recorded.

Fuente: Combined Bible Commentary

Jer 49:1. Hath Israel no sons? Why then doth their king inherit Gad? Is there no posterity of Israel, that the king of the Ammonites hath taken possession of Gad, as if he had a right to it, and his people dwell in the cities of it? Instead of their king, here, Blaney reads Milcom, and Dr. Waterland and Houbigant Malkam, the idol of the Ammonites. God sorely afflicted those parts of the kingdom of Israel that lay eastward of Jordan, first by Hazael, 2Ki 10:33; afterward by Tiglath-pileser, chap. 2Ki 15:29; and then delivered up the whole kingdom to be carried captive by Shalmaneser, chap. 17.; after which, it is probable, the Ammonites took occasion to possess themselves of Gad, that lay near their territories. But Gods dispossessing the Israelites gave the Ammonites no right to invade their inheritance, (see Zep 2:8,) especially as they had been so tender of the Ammonites right as not to invade their possessions in their march toward the land of Canaan. See Lowth, and Deu 4:19; 2Ch 20:10. It is probable, as the king of Ammon had instigated Ishmael to kill Gedaliah, that the reason which induced Nebuchadnezzar to make war upon the Ammonites was to revenge that murder.

Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments

Jer 49:1. Hath Israel no sons; hath he no heir? In this bold and striking manner the prophet commences his elegy on Ammon. The king of Ammon had in times of war, seized the cities of Gad. By every art he had aimed at aggrandizement, but could never do it by the clashing of interests. His army had invaded Gilead, and ripped up the women with child, that they might enlarge their territory. Amo 1:13.

Jer 49:2. I will cause an alarm of war to be heard in Rabbahand her daughters shall be burned with fire. Rabbah was the capital of Ammon, and the minor cities are called her daughters, as the cities of Judah are called the daughters of Zion, and they should be utterly destroyed with fire. Rabbah was built by Ammon the son of Lot, and was in great prosperity. Deu 3:11. It was taken by David, after great insolence had been offered to his ambassadors. When Tiglath Pileser had reduced Samaria, the Ammonites cruelly made war on the remains of the Israelites, and possessed themselves of all the eastern shores of the Jordan. Now, in turn, they themselves must drink the bloody cup. The city is situate near the source of the river Arnon, and still subsists under the name of Amman; but after Antiochus had rebuilt it, the name was changed to Philadelphia. Rev 3:7.

Rabbahshall be a desolate heap. At the time the prophet wrote, this city had existed for many ages, and gave no signs of approaching ruin. It was strong by nature, fortified by art, situate on the borders of an affluent stream, and in the midst of a fruitful country. Its ancient name is still preserved by the Arabs with little variation, and its scite is now covered, says Burckhardt, with the ruins of private buildings. A few years since, when this traveller visited the spot, he discovered the remains of many idol temples, a curved wall, a high arched bridge, the banks and bed of the river still paved in some places, an amphitheatre with ornamented columns, a very ancient strong castle, many cisterns and vaults, and a plain covered with ruinsmonuments of splendour standing amidst a desolate heap. Thus it is that the truth of prophecy is confirmed by persons who intended not to pay any homage to revelation.

Jer 49:3. Ai is spoiled. The Ammonites had crossed the Jordan, and gained some possessions on the western shore.

Jer 49:6. I will bring again the captivity of Ammon. A remnant returned, but not the less at enmity with Israel; for with these Judas had wars. 1Ma 5:6. These prophecies are all proved, and true to the letter. They could not be written after the events; therefore unbelief can find no plea.

Jer 49:7; Jer 49:22. Concerning Edom, or Idumea. The prophet opens his mission by three interrogations. Is wisdom no more in Teman? Is counsel perished from the prudent? Is their wisdom vanished? Why not send ambassadors of peace to meet the invading powers? Why be infatuated to your own destruction? The warning voice of the prophet was to save the nations. He exhorts them to flee in every direction, to flee to the eastern shores of the red sea. The gleaners of the vintage were coming, a hungry army without number, who should glean the land, and scarcely spare the women. The desolation should be as that of Sodom. The velocity of the invader, flying in chariots, should be like that of the eagle, and his anger like that of a lion driven from his lair by the swellings of Jordan: Jer 12:5. Yea, the nations should be moved at the cry of Edom, and none to pity the desolations of Bozrah.

Jer 49:28. The kingdoms of Hazor which Nebuchadrezzar shall smite. In Joshuas time, Jabin king of Hazor was the most powerful prince, east of the waters of Merom, extending from the sources of Jordan towards the Euphrates, and eastward. Tadmor, afterwards Palmyra, was one of his cities. 2Ch 8:4. He claimed a sort of sovereignty over all the municipal kings of the seven nations. With this prince Joshua fought, and put all the inhabitants of Hazor to the sword. The city was however restored by the Canaanites; and under Jabin they grievously oppressed the Israelites for twenty years. Judges 4.

The different names of this kingdom, according to the city in which the king reigned, has obscured its notice in history. Hadarezer, king of Zobah, is the same power with Hazor, of which we read in 1Ch 23:3. David subdued this prince, and conquered all his dominions to the boundaries of Hamath. David also captured a thousand of his chariots, and took seven thousand cavalry and twenty thousand infantry prisoners of war. When the Syrians of Damascus came to succour their allies, David defeated them also with the slaughter of twenty two thousand. Nebuchadrezzar put a final period to this kingdom, and made it a province of Babylon.

Jer 49:35. I will break the bow of ELamentations This nation was famed for archery, as is noted by Livy, lib. 37. Of the nature and results of this prediction, sacred criticism knows but little. It regards the western parts of Persia; and from the prophecy it appears that the Elamites sustained tremendous defeats from the Chaldeans. But in half a century or more, with Cyrus at their head, they laid the glory of Babylon in the dust.

REFLECTIONS.

Moab was distinguished for her pride, which made her fall the more mortifying; but Ammon gloried in her riches, having succeeded Gad on the banks of Jordan, and sent her camels abroad with merchandise; now all this wealth served merely to make the invader more greedy of the prey. May this be a warning to our own nation, for we are both rich and proud. The ruin of my poor neighbour whose lands I buy, may possibly be but the forerunner of the fall and ruin of my own house, as eventually proved by the fall of the Ammonites. May it contribute, with all other intimations of providence, to make us seek safety in the arms of divine protection.

While Jeremiah uttered predictions against Judah, against Moab, and against Ammon, he extended his eye to the dark tempest which overspread the whole of western Asia, to Edom, Damascus, and Elam, now Persia, and saw the rolling waterspouts settle in a vortex on Babylon, the scourge of nations. Thus when God begins he finishes his strange work. How weak then for mortals to trust in riches, in power, in wisdom, or in any arm of flesh, when they have neither might nor defence in the Lord. Surely he who can say, The Lord is my rock and my strong tower, is the wisest and happiest man. But the gentile nations against which Jeremiah prophesied were all enemies of the people of God, and nine of those nations had leagued to blot out the name of Israel. Psalms 83. Hence, in their fall we have a pledge, that all the enemies of the church shall waste away, and the righteous alone be exalted in the day of the Lord.

Fuente: Sutcliffe’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments

Jer 49:1-6. Ammon.The Ammonite territory lay eastward of part of that assigned to Gad, between Heshbon and the river Jabbok; the Ammonites appear to have occupied the territory of Gad after the deportation of its inhabitants in 734 (2Ki 15:29). Why has Milcom seized the land of Gad as his inheritance (1 mg.2)? As a penalty, there shall be war against Rabbah (the chief city of Ammon, at the upper sources of the Jabbok), and it shall become a desolate mound, its dependent cities (daughters, Num 21:25) being burnt. Let there be mourning for the coming exile of the Ammonites (Jer 49:3). Rabbahs pride in her site and in her wealth is rebuked (Jer 49:4). The Ammonites shall be driven forth by their (unnamed) foe, but afterwards restored (Jer 49:5 f.; but LXX omits Jer 49:6).

Jer 49:1. Malcam: read Milcom, here and in Jer 49:3, with VSS; see 1Ki 11:5; 1Ki 11:33, for this Ammonite god, whose relation to Ammon is the same as that of Chemosh to Moab, or that of Yahweh to (early) Israel.

Jer 49:2. The last clause is perhaps a later addition (cf. Zep 2:9) since Israel, as well as Ammon, was helpless before the foe.

Jer 49:3. Heshbon: must be corrupt, as this is a Moabite city; Ai is unknown. The last clause of the verse is taken from Amo 1:15. The first clause should be emended with Duhm into Howl, O palace, for the city is spoiled.fences: folds, e.g. for sheep; the women are supposed to be fugitives from the cities, but the word folds is probably corrupt.

Jer 49:4. Read Wherefore gloriest thou in thy valley? (omitting thy flowing valley, with Syr.), i.e. in the lofty valley-plain facing NE, and drained by the Jabbok, in which Rabbah lies.backsliding: cf. Jer 31:22; we should perhaps emend to arrogant, with Duhm, as the term hardly suits non-Israelites.

Fuente: Peake’s Commentary on the Bible

49:1 Concerning the {a} Ammonites, thus saith the LORD; Hath Israel no sons? hath he no heir? why [then] doth their king {b} inherit Gad, and his people dwell in {c} his cities?

(a) They were separated from the Moabites by the river Arnon, and after the ten tribes were carried away into captivity, they invaded the country of Gad.

(b) That is, of the Ammonites.

(c) Meaning, of the Israelites.

Fuente: Geneva Bible Notes

D. The oracle against Ammon 49:1-6

The Ammonites lived north of the Moabites, north of the Arnon River for most of their history, and east of the tribal territories of Gad and Reuben. However, the Ammonites had taken over some Israelite territory in Transjordan, and their borders to the north and south also changed from time to time. Ammon extended north to the Jabbok River and east to the Arabian Desert. The Ammonites, like the Moabites, descended from Lot, Abraham’s nephew, and Israel’s relations with both nations were normally unfriendly. [Note: See Thompson, p. 715, for more history of the Ammonites. He also wrote good summary histories of the other people-groups mentioned in this chapter.]

Fuente: Expository Notes of Dr. Constable (Old and New Testaments)

The Lord asked why Malcam (lit. their king; also called Milcom or Molech, cf. Jer 19:5; Deu 12:31), the god of the Ammonites, had (from the Ammonites’ viewpoint) taken over territory that formerly belonged to the tribe of Gad. Was it that there were no descendants of the Gadites to maintain control of it? No, they had not gained it by default but by stealing it from the Israelites. The Assyrians under Tiglath-Pilesar III had removed the Israelites from Transjordan in 734 B.C., and the Ammonites had moved into their territory then. It was the king of Ammon, not its do-nothing god, who had taken possession of Gad’s territory.

Fuente: Expository Notes of Dr. Constable (Old and New Testaments)

CHAPTER XX

AMMON

Jer 49:1-6

“Hath Israel no sons? hath he no heir? why then doth Moloch possess Gad, and his people dwell in the cities thereof?”- Jer 49:1

THE relations of Israel with Ammon were similar but less intimate than they were with his twin brother Moab. Hence this prophecy is, mutatis mutandis, an abridgment of that concerning Moab. As Moab was charged with magnifying himself against Jehovah, and was found to be occupying cities which Reuben claimed as its inheritance, so Ammon had presumed to take possession of the Gadite cities, whose inhabitants had been carried away captive by the Assyrians. Here again the prophet enumerates Heshbon, Ai, Rabbah, and the dependent towns, “the daughters of Rabbah.” Only in the territory of this half-nomadic people the cities are naturally not so numerous as in Moab; and Jeremiah mentions also the fertile valleys wherein the Ammonites gloried. The familiar doom of ruin and captivity is pronounced against city and country and all the treasures of Ammon; Moloch, like Chemosh, must go into captivity with his priests and princes. This prophecy also concludes with a promise of restoration:-

“Afterward I will bring again the captivity of the children of Ammon-it is the utterance of Jehovah.”

Fuente: Expositors Bible Commentary