In Revelation 10:11, an angel says to John the Apostle, “You must prophesy again about many peoples, nations, tongues, and kings.” In Jeremiah 1:5, the Lord said to Jeremiah, “I ordained you a prophet to the nations.” God gave them words and a mandate to speak them.
In 1 Corinthians 15:10, Paul wrote of his calling from the Lord saying, “By the grace of God I am what I am, and His grace toward me was not in vain; but I labored more abundantly than they all, yet not I, but the grace of God which was with me.” God’s grace is the means by which He works through His messengers.
Jeremiah 49 contains prophecies for Ammon, Edom, Damascus, Kedar-Hazor and Elam.
Prophecy is good news to some, but not to others. Dr. Philip Ryken wrote, “The victory of Christ is good news. But this is only good news for God’s friends, not for His enemies. For them it is the worst possible news. If Christ will defeat all His enemies, then it is desperately important to become one of His friends. Are you a friend of God?” [1]
“Against the Ammonites. ‘Thus says the Lord: Has Israel no sons? Has he no heir? Why then does Milcom inherit Gad, and his people dwell in its cities? Therefore behold, the days are coming, says the Lord, that I will cause to be heard an alarm of war in Rabbah of the Ammonites. It shall be a desolate mound, and her villages shall be burned with fire. Then Israel shall take possession of his inheritance, says the Lord.’” Jeremiah 49:1-2
Ammon, like Moab, descended from Lot. Ammon’s land was north of Moab’s. The Arnon River was the border between their lands. The Ammonites seized the tribe of Gad’s land when Israel was conquered by Assyria. Judah was by right of kinship the heir, not Ammon, but Ammon joined with Nebuchadnezzar against Judah and Jerusalem. They rejoiced over Judah’s fall. [2]
Israel has no heir for the land of Gad because Israel had been removed by Assyria. Thus, Ammon took over the land of Gad including the cities of Heshbon and Ai. Milcom is the false god of the Ammonites. God promised in this prophecy to bring war against Ammon and to burn their capital city Rabbah down. Afterwards, God would restore the land to Israel.
The Ammonites placed their children into the hands of a metal idol whom they called Molech. Underneath its hands a fire burned. They burnt their children alive. God warned them that their villages would be burned with fire. As they did to children so it would happen to them.
One modern day abortion procedure involves injecting a saline solution into the placenta. The baby thrashes around until dead. The same Lord who held the Ammonites accountable for infanticide will hold abortionists accountable if they not repent and seek His forgiveness.
“Wail, O Heshbon, for Ai is plundered! Cry, you daughters of Rabbah, gird yourselves with sackcloth! Lament and run to and fro by the walls; for Milcom shall go into captivity with his priests and his princes together.” Jeremiah 49:3
The Lord gave Jeremiah a vision of Ammon’s future. Heshbon, Ai and Rabbah would be taken from him. They can put sackcloth on now because prophecy shall come to pass. The Lord prewarned Ammon’s idolatrous priests and princes of captivity. Captivity is a type of expulsion from paradise. When people rebel against God, He removes them from His land.
Heshbon and Ai had once belonged to the northern tribes of Israel. Ai was near to Bethel where Jeroboam set up two golden calf idols. Ammon took over Heshbon and Ai after the northern tribes were gone. Later, Moab captured Heshbon and made it part of their kingdom. Then, after that, Babylon conquered Ammon. Ai was destroyed.
“Why do you boast in the valleys, your flowing valley, O backsliding daughter? Who trusted in her treasures, saying, ‘Who will come against me?’ Behold, I will bring fear upon you, says the Lord God of hosts, from all those who are around you. You shall be driven out, everyone headlong, and no one will gather those who wander off. But afterward I will bring back the captives of the people of Ammon, says the Lord.” Jeremiah 49:4-6
Ammon enjoyed plush valleys and riches. Sadly, they trusted in these assets rather than in God. Rather than giving thanks to God, he assumed he deserved them. He fearlessly boasted, “Who shall come against me?” But the Lord promised to bring his neighbors against him and drive him out. After a time out, God would restore the land to him.
1 Timothy 6:17 warns, “Charge them that are rich in this world, that they be not high-minded, nor trust in uncertain riches, but in the living God, who giveth us richly all things to enjoy.”
Revelation 18:7 is a lament for a proud nation: “How much she has glorified herself, and lived deliciously, so much torment and sorrow give her: for she says in her heart, I sit a queen, and am no widow, and shall see no sorrow.”
Next, the Lord spoke a prophetic word for the people of Edom.
“Against Edom. Thus says the Lord of hosts: is wisdom no more in Teman? Has counsel perished from the prudent? Has their wisdom vanished?” Jeremiah 49:7
Psalm 14:1 says, “The fool has said in his heart, ‘There is no God.’ They are corrupt, They have done abominable works, There is none who does good.”
The people of Teman, a city in Edom were foolish to behave as though there was no God.
Proverbs 9:10 says, “The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom, and the knowledge of the Holy One is understanding.”
Moab lacked fear of God and knowledge of the Holy One.
Proverbs 22:15 says, “Foolishness is bound up in the heart of a child; the rod of correction will drive it far from him.”
God would apply the rod of correction to them to drive out foolishness from them.
“Flee, turn back, dwell in the depths, O inhabitants of Dedan! For I will bring the calamity of Esau upon him, the time that I will punish him. If grape-gatherers came to you, would they not leave some gleaning grapes? If thieves by night, would they not destroy until 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 descendants are plundered, his brethren and his neighbors, and he is no more.” Jeremiah 49:8-10
Esau was the grandson of Abraham and son of Isaac. Esau is the forefather of the nation of Edom. Dedan was one of his major cities. The coming calamities to Esau are not due to the greed of robbers. They are due to Esau’s “hidden” sins. Esau experienced a thorough stripping of his possessions. Hebrews 12:16 speaks of him as a fornicator.
Edom became politically extinct after the time of the Romans. He was unable to hide himself and unable to protect his treasures. The conqueror found him.
“Leave your fatherless children, I will preserve them alive; and let your widows trust in Me. For thus says the Lord: behold, those whose judgment was not to drink of the cup have assuredly drunk. And are you the one who will altogether go unpunished? You shall not go unpunished, but you shall surely drink of it. For I have sworn by Myself, says the Lord, that Bozrah shall become a desolation, a reproach, a waste, and a curse. And all its cities shall be perpetual wastes.” Jeremiah 49:11-13
The fatherless and widows reaped the results of the fathers’ and husbands’ bad choices. Psalm 68:5 says, “A father of the fatherless, a defender of widows, is God in His holy habitation.” They must rest their hope in God now. God promised to preserve them.
God promised that Bozrah, Edom’s capital, would be corrected. As goes the family so goes the nation. The fathers and husbands of Edom should have turned to the Lord when He warned them to do so.
“I have heard a message from the Lord, and an ambassador has been sent to the nations: gather together, come against her, and rise up to battle! For indeed, I will make you small among nations, despised among men.” Jeremiah 49:14-15
“The Lord is represented as sending His ambassador to the nations, calling them to attack Edom. He guides the counsels of the nations. Without their own knowledge, and often against their own inclination, they carry out His plans. The Lord’s purpose is to humble proud and cruel Edom. Therefore, He gives success to the enemy.” [3]
The hard-headed and unyielding men of Edom were about to be brought low and made to feel the shame that they brought upon their dependents. God’s correction on their nation, would help them to see the error of their folly.
In Luke 1:51-52, Mary magnified the Lord for bringing the Messiah into the world. She sang, “He has shown strength with His arm. He has scattered the proud in the imagination of their hearts. He has put down the mighty from their thrones and exalted the lowly.”
Eventually, God dethrones bullies and honors those who have honored Him.
“Your fierceness has deceived you, the pride of your heart, O you who dwell in the clefts of the rock, who hold the height of the hill! Though you make your nest as high as the eagle, I will bring you down from there, says the Lord.” Jeremiah 49:16
Some with high achievements and positions feel justified to look down on others. The cleft of the rock, the high hill and the eagle’s nest in this passage represent a place that is untouchable. But no one is beyond the Lord’s reach.
“Edom also shall be an astonishment; everyone who goes by it will be astonished and will hiss at all its plagues. As in the overthrow of Sodom and Gomorrah and their neighbors, says the Lord, No one shall remain there, nor shall a son of man dwell in it. Behold, he shall come up like a lion from the floodplain of the Jordan against the dwelling place 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 whom is like Me? Who will arraign Me? And who is that shepherd who will withstand Me?” Jeremiah 49:17-19
Plagues! An overthrow like Sodom and Gomorrah! Approaching his enemy like a lion but fleeing in fear due to the Lord being against him. This was God’s Word to Edom.
“Therefore hear the counsel of the Lord that he has taken against Edom, and His purposes that He has proposed against the inhabitants of Teman: surely the least of the flock shall draw them out; surely he shall make their dwelling places desolate with them. The earth shakes at the noise of their fall; at the cry, its noise is heard at the Red Sea. Behold, he shall come up and fly like the eagle and spread His wings over Bozrah. The heart of the mighty men of Edom in that day shall be like the heart of a woman in birth pangs.” Jeremiah 49:20-22
Hearts of the mighty men beating like hearts of birthing mothers! Jesus used similar words when He spoke of the signs of the end times. In Luke 21:26, He spoke of “men’s hearts failing them from fear and the expectation of those things which are coming on the earth, for the powers of the heavens will be shaken.” God’s wrath on sin is great.
Next, the Lord spoke a prophetic word for the people of Damascus the capital city of Syria.
“Against Damascus. Hamath and Arpad are shamed, for they have heard bad news. They are fainthearted. There is trouble on the sea; it cannot be quiet. Damascus has grown feeble She turns to flee. Fear has seized her. Anguish and sorrows have taken her like a woman in labor. Why is the city of praise not deserted, 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, says the Lord of hosts. I will kindle a fire in the wall of Damascus, and it shall consume the palaces of Ben-Hadad.” Jeremiah 49:23-26
Damascus, Hamath and Arpad were key cities of Syria. Bad news for them was bad news for the nation. Fear, anguish and sorrow were coming her way. The city of joy needed to vacate their streets because war was coming. Her defenses will be useless. Her capital will burn down.
As He does so often in Scripture, the Lord gave to Jeremiah the metaphor of a woman experiencing labor pains to help the Syrians grasp the kind of pain that was coming their way.
In John 16:19-22, Jesus spoke of His death. He told His disciples that they would weep while the world rejoiced. He compared their anguish to that of a woman in labor. But He promised that they would also experience joy like that of a new mother afterwards.
Jesus judges the world with righteousness. He allows pain to bring about new birth. He reforms marred vessels into beautiful vessels. He turns birth pangs into new life.
Next, the Lord speaks a prophetic word to the people of Kedar and the kingdoms of Hazor. The Kedarites were descendants of Ishmael, the son of Abraham and Hagar. The kingdoms of Hazor refers to a region or a network of settlements in the Arabian desert, not the Canaanite city of Hazor. These nomadic groups were known for their wealth and skill in archery. They dwelt in tents in the Arabian Desert along with their flocks and herds.
“Against Kedar and against the kingdoms of Hazor, which Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon shall strike. Thus says the Lord: Arise, go up to Kedar, and devastate the men of the East! Their tents and their flocks they shall take away. They shall take for themselves their curtains, all their vessels and their camels; and they shall cry out to them, ‘Fear is on every side!’ Flee, get far away! Dwell in the depths, O inhabitants of Hazor! says the Lord. For Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon has taken counsel against you and has conceived a plan against you.” Jeremiah 49:28-30
Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon planned to steal the wealth of these nomads. The Lord told him to do it. He could have their tents, their flocks, their curtains, their pottery and their camels.
All we have is from God. He gives and takes. He does what is right.
“Arise, go up to the wealthy nation that dwells securely, says the Lord, which has neither gates nor bars, dwelling alone. Their camels shall be for booty, and the multitude of their cattle for plunder. I will scatter to all winds those in the farthest corners, and I will bring their calamity from all its sides, says the Lord. Hazor shall be a dwelling for jackals, a desolation forever; no one shall reside there, nor son of man dwell in it.” Jeremiah 49:31-33
They were an undefended wealthy nation. Easy prey! Soon, they would be a land for jackals.
Some of the Lord’s judgments are tempered with mercy but there is no mercy expressed for the people of Kedar and the kingdoms of Hazor. As I thought about this, the story of the baker and cupbearer in Genesis 40:1-23 came to my mind. Both men had dreams. One man’s dream meant he would live. The other man’s dream meant he would die. God knew each man’s crime.
Next, the Lord spoke a prophetic word for the people of Elam.
“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 says the Lord of hosts: Behold, I will break the bow of Elam, the foremost of their might. Against Elam I will bring the four winds from the four quarters of heaven and scatter them toward all those winds; there shall be no nations where the outcasts of Elam will not go.” Jeremiah 49:34-36
Elam weapons and strength were powerless before the Lord. Their once cohesive nation would be scattered. The four winds would blow them like chaff to the ends of the earth.
“For I will cause Elam to be dismayed before their enemies and before those who seek their life. I will bring disaster upon them, My fierce anger, says the Lord; and I will send the sword after them until I have consumed them. I will set My throne in Elam and will destroy from there the king and the princes, says the Lord. But it shall come to pass in the latter days: I will bring back the captives of Elam, says the Lord.” Jeremiah 49:37-39
Elam would experience disasters. God was about to replace their king and princes with His throne. His throne would ensure that they had a place to return after their exile ended.
“Jeremiah 49 shows what happens to people who trust in anyone or anything besides the one true God.”
“Wealth did not save the Ammonites. They were unable to buy their way out of judgment. Wisdom did not save the Edomites, nor did their military might. Fame did not save the Ammonites because God is no respecter of persons. Independence did not save the Kedarites. God found them in the wilderness and destroyed them just the same.”
“Weapons did not save the Elamites. God’s judgment of these nations proved the truth of something Jeremiah said much earlier: ‘Let not the wise man boast of his wisdom or the strong man boast of his strength or the rich man boast of his riches.’ God judged these nations to show that intelligence, power and money cannot save.” [4]
God promised to restore Elam. “After 539 B.C., Elam became the center of the Persian Empire. Its capital Susa was rebuilt by Darius in 494 B.C.”
In Acts 2, “When the Holy Spirit came on the church with great power, the Elamites heard the wonders of God in their own language. Surely at least a few of those Persians were among the 3,000 who came to faith in Jesus Christ that day and were baptized by the apostles.”
“As Derek Kidner reflected on this mystery, he was reminded of the two thieves who were crucified on Calvary, one on either side of Christ. Why did Jesus save one thief and not the other? Kidner quotes an old saying: ‘One was saved, that none might despair; yet only one, that none might presume.’” [5]
In Isaiah 45:22, God says, “Turn to Me and be saved, all you ends of the earth; for I am God and there is no other.” The best option for every soul is turn to Christ for salvation. Acts 4:12 says, “there is salvation in no other name given among men.” The judgment on unconfessed and unforgiven sin in the Gospel is much more severe than Jeremiah’s.
Individuals and nations experience new life as they confess their sins to God and ask Him to forgive them in the Name of Jesus Christ His Son.
Attached is a link to a power point version of this article
which I have recorded on my YouTube channel:
https://youtu.be/Fl4mUrIt-cs
[1] Dr. Phillip Graham Ryken, Jeremiah and Lamentations from Sorrow to Hope, Crossway Books, Wheaton, IL, © 2001, p. 680
[2] Jamieson Fausset Brown Commentary. See 2 Kings 24:2; Psalms 83:4-7-8; Zephaniah 2:8-9
[3] Dr. Theo Laetsch, Bible Commentary Jeremiah, Concordia Paperback Edition, 1965, ©, page 345
[4] Dr. Phillip Graham Ryken, Jeremiah and Lamentations from Sorrow to Hope, Crossway Books, Wheaton, IL, © 2001, p. 682. See also Jeremiah 9:23a
[5] Dr. Phillip Graham Ryken, Jeremiah and Lamentations from Sorrow to Hope, Crossway Books, Wheaton, IL, © 2001, p. 684-685. See also Matthew 27:44.
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