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   Damascus,  Kedar, Elam: Unsettled, Unsecured, Unseated (Jeremiah 49:23-39)

INTRODUCTION:

Last 3 oracles before Babylon, that of Damascus, Kedar, and Elam.

Lesser known nations, cities, regions.

We’ll approach these last 3 oracles, seeking to understand

1) Their biblical background and why they’re included, particularly their relationship to God’s elect.

2) Their idolatry: specifically what they’ve placed their hope and trust in

3) The judgment pronounced again them

4) The warning and application they have for us

We begin with the most well known of these final three groups, that of Damascus. 

STAND

(Read 23-27)

DAMASCUS:

Damascus chiefly refers to the kingdom of Syria. It’s long been a major city in Syria, or your Bible might regularly use the term Aram. (That likely helps avoid the mix up between Syria and Assyria. But then we likely run the mix up between the Arameans, the people of Syria, and that of Arminians who aren’t associated with any geographical region.) I believe the term Aram is more helpful, and I’ll discuss why in a minute. 

Along with Damascus we have the cities of Hamath and Arpad, also of the kingdom of Syria. Now these people weren’t always united. You can read about that in 2 Samuel 8 in the days of King David.

But after Solomon’s straying from the Lord, the Lord raised up adversaries against Solomon. One such adversary was that of Rezon, who loathed Israel and reigned over Syria. Syria or Aram remained a hostile force against Israel and Judah until the Lord used Tiglath-Pileser, king of Assyria, as a hired razor against them in the days of King Ahaz where we find the famous Isaiah text on Immanuel.

Despite their being shaved, that was not the end of the Syria. It merely served to subdue them for a time. Hence, the oracle here in Jeremiah. 

More than one commentator has stated that the Arameans, or Syrians, did not affect Judah directly. So, it makes it difficult to account for the inclusion of an oracle in Jeremiah directed to a people who did not greatly concern Judah. But that is to overlook Judah and Israel’s past. If you read the account of Israel’s kings, you will see that the Arameans had long been a hostile neighbor to God’s elect.

Like all of these nations we have been looking at, the Lord is raising up the Chaldeans as His hammer of justice / judgment against them. And the dominant reason for this particular selection of nations is due to their hostility against the people of God.

Now, we could dig deeper and claim that the judgment is due to their idolatry, and that is also true. But each of these nations are singled out because each one has a past soiled with conflict against God’s elect. Certainly, their idolatry stood behind such conflicts. But I’m convinced we’re expected to recall these past conflicts as one of the grounds for their judgment. 

Now, that doesn’t diminish their hostility toward God. Rather, their hostility toward God, naturally overflows into hostility towards God’s people. 

Still, as has been the case with each preceding nation, God’s judgment homes in on these nations’ idolatry displayed in different ways. Sometimes the judgment oracles mention specific gods the people worshiped. Other times, the oracles aim at the very thing the nations have placed their trust in, which is every bit as much an idol as any statue of wood, stone, or metal. 

Because wherever you place your hope or your trust, that my friend is an idol, because an idol is anything and everything that takes its place before or beside the one true and living God. That’s the first commandment. Whether the affections of the heart, one’s greatest treasure, one’s provision or sustenance, or even one’s security. Anything you or I set up in place of God is an idol. 

EXPLANATION:

Let’s try to understand what’s going on in the passage. Verse 23, Hamath and Arpad have heard bad news, and they are unsettled by this news, so much so that fear seizes them, they are troubled like a sea that cannot be stilled or quieted. 

The world’s largest cruise ship, the Royal Caribbean’s Star of the Seas, made it’s debut last Sunday. This behemoth has 20 decks and eight neighborhoods with seven pools. And it accommodates 5,000 passengers. I hope everyone likes their neighbors!

Regardless of how big the boat is, beneath that boat, the sea is always moving. No sea is truly still. Perhaps if you’re on a giant luxury cruise ship, you might not notice the waves all that much. But when you walk off that big boat, you’ll notice the difference once you step foot on still quiet solid earth. 

Verse 24. We’re told that Damascus, turned to flee but are paralyzed by the news; panic seized her; anguish and sorrows have taken hold of her as of a woman in labor.

Which helps us understand verse 25. How is the famous city not forsaken? The idea here is that the people clung to the city. Despite their being unsettled by the bad news, even turning to flee, in their fear, they refused to escape from the city of destruction. Despite the warnings, people still cling to what is most precious to them. In this case, it was the city of praise, which the prophet even refers to as the city of my joy. 

That may sound like a strange word from the prophet regarding the city. But remember, God finds no pleasure in the death of the wicked. Just as the Lord Himself wailed over Moab in chapter 48, here Damascus is called a city of my joy. 

Verse 26, Therefore, her young men shall fall in her squares, and all her soldiers shall be destroyed. And the Lord Himself will kindle a fire in the famed wall of Damascus, devouring the strongholds of Ben-Hadad.

ARAM:
Now, the ESV uses the term Syria throughout Scripture. The Hebrew term is actually Aram or אֲרָם. Why do I take time to bring this up? Because Aram comes from the word,  אַרְמוֹן Armon, which is in our text. It’s used here in verse 27. It’s the word, strongholds, or your translation might read, fortresses, citadels, or fortified towers. 

The people of Aram trusted in their Armons, their strongholds. Similarly, Hamath comes from the word walls,  חוֹמָה, homah. They were famed for their walled cities. No surprise, Hamath trusted in their homah, their walls.

The judgment the Lord is bringing on the people of Aram is against, not just their deities, but those things that stood right at the center of what they trusted in, their famed fortifications. 

UNSETTLED:

A couple applications for us:

First, the Arameans were unsettled by the bad news of coming judgment. The problem in our current cultural climate is that most aren’t all that unsettled by the bad news of God’s coming judgment. Perhaps, part of the reason for that is because the world doesn’t actually hear the bad news, at least not in any serious sense in which the coming judgment is imminent. 

What’s more, how much of our Christian witness in the way we live our lives truly conveys we believe God’s judgment is coming? Our lives often look very much like the rest of the world—eat, drink, and be merry! Stop enduring life and start enjoying it! Life is better in flip flops! 

But until our neighbors, our families, our communities, the nations are unsettled by the bad news, they won’t truly embrace the good news we have to share. 

Loved ones, the gospel must include the unsettling news of warning before we can proclaim the good news of peace. There is no good news except that which pierces the bad news. That’s what makes the news good! But the gospel today has been relegated to a mere addition to an already content future. 

Much of the world, like Damascus, has long been settled and at ease in its relationship before God.

We might recall the Ninevites when Jonah came preaching, Forty days and Ninevah will be overthrown! The king of Ninevah was so unsettled, he arose from his throne, removed his royal robe, covered himself in sackcloth, and sat in ashes. 

But we see no such repentance from Damascus. They’re unsettled. But in their unsettling they retreat to those futile things in which they had placed their hope ­— their walled citadels.

It was the very walls the people placed their strong hope in, that the apostle Paul showed his weakness of humility. If I must boast, I will boast of the things that show my weakness… At Damascus, the governor under King Aretas was guarding the city of Damascus in order to seize me, but I was let down in a basket through a window in the wall and escaped his hands. 

Where the people sought refuge in their strong city, Paul sought his refuge outside of the stronghold, in the arms of the One who went outside the city to stretch out His mighty arms on the cross.

Being unsettled by the coming judgment is only the first step. The question is where you’ll take up refuge after being unsettled. 

In fear and trembling, the Arameans fled to their strong towers, which were nothing more than the fabrications of man. Don’t find your refuge with them. Instead, find your refuge in Christ. Psalm 18:10. The name of the LORD is a strong tower; the righteous man runs into it and is safe. 

Find your refuge in Him, and you’ll no longer be unsettled like the sea, but instead, you’ll find yourself at peace on a sea of glass, alongside the rest of the saints — a sea as still as dry ground, stilled by the One whom the wind and waves obey.

That’s the portrait in Revelation 15 which Matt read. And I saw what appeared to be a sea of glass mingled with fire—and also those who had conquered the beast and its image and the number of its name, standing beside the sea of glass with harps of God in their hands. And they sand the song of Moses, the servant of God, and the song of the Lamb, saying:

Great and amazing are your deeds, O Lord God the Almighty! Just and true are your ways, O King of the nations! Who will not fear, O Lord, and glorify your name? For you alone are holy. All nations will come and worship you, for your righteous acts have been revealed.

KEDAR:

Where Damascus, Hamath, and Arpad trusted in their famed walls, we now move to a nation without walls, but instead dwelt in tents—Kedar. 

(Read 28-33)

Kedar, we find from Genesis 25, is the second born son of Ishmael, the firstborn son of Abraham through Hagar.

No specific crime is laid out concerning the people of Kedar. But that’s to forget Kedar’s ancestry and what the Lord Himself says concerning Ishmael. Genesis 16:12. He shall be a wild donkey of a man, his hand against everyone and everyone’s hand against him, and he shall dwell over against all his kinsmen.

It's important to recognize that most of the Bible’s narrative is compressed. We’re not given every detail of every event. We’re given the theologically significant highlights of history. But we can accept that when the Lord prophesies that Ishmael’s descendants will dwell in hostility towards his kinsmen, then that was likely the case with the Kedarenes.

The people of Kedar appear to have lived a nomadic lifestyle. We can glean that from other portions of Scripture such as Isaiah and Ezekiel. But there’s also enough information in our text here in Jeremiah for us to see that was the case. Verse 29, speaks of Kedar’s tents. Verse 31 further speaks of a nation that dwells without gates or bars and dwells alone. 

Similar to the patriarchs, the people of Kedar appear to have been shepherds who moved from place to place with the flocks. 

What about Hazor? (Verse 28.) Hazor is the word for village or courtyard. Rightly named, Hazor was a nation of mobile villages, which is why it’s been difficult for Bible scholars to pinpoint its exact location. But perhaps that’s part of the point. 

Certainly, those in Jeremiah’s day would have known, at least the vicinity. But now, there’s hardly a trace. 

The judgment upon Kedar and Hazor is that their tents and their flocks shall become plunder, and the people themselves will be scattered (verse 32.) The irony is that they already lived a scattered lifestyle. And yet, their camp would become desolate, a haunt for jackals, where no man shall sojourn or dwell.

Judgment will come upon both the famed Damascus and those of little account like Kedar and Hazor. Judgment penetrates the big cities with their fortified walls and strongholds. But judgment also penetrates desert places and peoples. 

But you know what? So does the gospel! The gospel penetrates strongholds as well as the most remote deserts.

The word Kedar comes from the word blackened or darkened. 

In Isaiah 60, we’re given a picture of the coming kingdom. Arise, shine, for your light has come, and the glory of the Lord has risen upon you. For behold, darkness shall cover the earth, and thick darkness the peoples; but the Lord will arise upon you. And nations shall come to your light and kings to the brightness of your rising.

Do you know who is mentioned in this passage? Kedar! All the flocks of Kedar shall be gathered to you. Now, I’m convinced this refers to more than just flocks of physical lambs that baa baa, because verse 2 makes clear that nations shall come to your light.

How fitting that light comes to Kedar, the very ones whose name means darkness. That was us!

UNSECURED:

Where the security of Damascus was in its walls, security of the Kedarenes was in their nomadic carefree lifestyle. Not every fortification requires gates, at least not physical gates. Sometimes, we’re just that sure or ourselves. Other times, we think we really have nothing to lose. You see, it’s possible to believe one has reached rock bottom. I think of the so-called homeless population throughout our country. They are certainly homeless by our standards. But in a sense, many of them are living nomadic lifestyles as many throughout history have done. 

There’s a type of security sometimes found in not having any major possessions — no house to lose, no address that can be taken from me. I simply live day to day, wherever the wind might take me. I know many of us can’t relate. But listen, there are many who can. And I believe that’s part of the reason why these nomads are recorded here. 

God will bring all to account. Whether your home is enclosed by bricks or curtains, one isn’t more righteous than another. What matters is how one lives faithfully before the face of God. 

(Matthew 25.) Jesus tells a parable about a man going on a journey, and he called his servants and entrusted to them his property. To one he gave five talents, to another two, and to another one. When he called each one to account, they weren’t judged based on how much they started with, but on whether they were faithful stewards of what they had been given. 

When the servant who only receive one talent came forward, he had nothing to show but his master’s talent which he did nothing of value with. The servant sought to excuse himself. Master, I knew you to be a hard man, reaping where you did not sow, and gathering where you scattered no seed, so I was afraid, and I went and hid your talent in the ground. Here, you have what is yours. But how did the master respond? He took the talent from the servant and gave it to the one who already had ten.

The point wasn’t about how much any of them had! The master didn’t look on the poor more favorably or the wealthy more favorably. He looked upon their faithfulness. And here’s how Jesus wraps up the parable. For to everyone who has, has what? I think what’s implied is FAITH, more will be given, and he will have an abundance. But from the one who has not, even what he has will be taken away. And that poor servant was cast into outer darkness. 

It's possible for one to believe he’s reached the point he has nothing left to lose. That’s not faith! Not even close. Because God has given you more than physical possessions to steward. 

Judgment answers the mindset that I have nothing left to lose. Any loss one may have had throughout their supposedly vain life, is nothing compared to the loss they will face at judgment.

Listen loved ones, you can be somewhere or nowhere, with and address or without, no one is insulated — or in this illustration — isolated from God’s judgment. 

But neither is anyone so isolated that the good news of the gospel can’t reach them. O someone needs to carry the news to them. But no one is too far from God’s electing grace. It reached you, didn’t it?

Whether walled cities and gated communities, or desert lands and homeless camps, judgment is coming to all. Even the nothing one possesses will be plundered. Everyone needs the same unsettling before they are truly uprooted and unsettled. Everyone needs to be unsettled so that they might settle themselves on the Solid Rock of Christ. 

For those who build their houses on Christ, meaning building your life on Christ, it won’t matter if your home is walled with brick, or if it’s curtains flapping through the storm. Why? Because this is only the place of your sojourn. Your true home is the New Jerusalem. 

Psalm 147, which Samuel read. Praise the Lord, O Jerusalem! Praise your God, O Zion! For he strengthens the bars of your gates … He makes peace within your borders.

After giving the incredible measurements and makeup of the walls and gates, Revelation 21 records how the nations will bring their glory in and the gates will never be shut. And yet nothing unclean will ever enter.

Now what security are those magnificent walls if the gates are never shut? Because our security isn’t found in the structure. 

The only gate or door that ultimately matters is the gate of Christ. You know the wise and foolish virgins. The wise came prepared with oil for their lamps, but the foolish came unprepared. At the end of the age, those unprepared found themselves shut outside, with the door closed and barred. But the same was true for those who were prepared. They were shut in, secured within the wedding hall to, so that they might forever feast with the Bridegroom. (Matthew 25.)

The kingdom of heaven requires no physical bars. Why? Because a great chasm has been placed between everything unclean, those who placed their trust in walls or isolation, and those who placed their trust in Christ. Jesus’ being nailed to the crossbar in our place is the only security we need.

ELAM:

Last nation. Elam. (Read 34-38.)

Where Damascus and Kedar were at least somewhat close to Israel and Judah, Elam is a bit more remote. Elam is somewhat associated with Persia, whether there is an exact one for one correlation or various degrees of overlap throughout history. The capital of Elam was that of Susa (Daniel 8:2) which we also know as the capital of Persia.

Like the people of Kedar, many commentators bring up the concern as to why judgment is pronounced against this people who have no recorded direct encounter with Israel or Judah. Calvin himself raises this point. He hesitates to classify Elam with the Persians because they “were remote from the Jews and the Jews never received any injury from that people. There was therefore no reason why the Prophet should denounce punishment upon them.”

But I think what even Calvin is missing is that of early history of the Elamites. 

We first come across Elam in Genesis 10, as the first of the sons of Shem. Elam comes up again in the account of Abram’s rescue of Lot, when Chedorlaomer, king of Edom, allied himself with three other kings and defeated the opposing army of five kings, which included the kings of Sodom and Gomorrah. If you recall, Lot was dwelling where? Lot had moved his tent as far as Sodom. 

Well, during this battle, Chedorlaomer, king of Elam, took all the possessions of Sodom and Gomorrah, including Abram’s nephew, Lot. 

When Abram hears about it, he took his 318 trained men, who were born in his house, and pursued them, defeated Chedorlaomer, and brought back all the possessions, including Lot.

What’s the point I’m trying to make? It matters not when the transgression against God’s chosen has taken place — whether after Israel and Judah had become a nation — or in Esau’s case, before they were a people, and it was just two brothers — or in Elam’s case and the descendants of Abram were still in his loins. 

God does not have a short memory. The time between your sin doesn’t lessen the transgression. Which is why, the day and time to repent is always today, not after some lapse of time when you think the severity or memory of your sin has somehow diminished.

The first pronouncement against Elam is that of breaking Elam’s bow, the mainstay(or source) of their might. The Elamites were obviously well known for their archery. We read that in other places as well. Their trust wasn’t in walled cities, but neither was their trust in isolation. Their trust was in their military power. We best take care not to think our security rests in the War Department of the United States. If God can slay a sword wielding giant with a boy and a sling, he can just as easily bring down the most powerful superpower in history with the smallest of nations with the least artillery. 

Some trust in chariots, some in horses, but we trust in the name of the Lord our God. I hope that’s where your trust lies. 

Elam may have trusted in their bow and how far they could scatter their arrows, but the Lord would scatter them like the wind, to the point that there would be no nation in which those driven out of Elam shall not come.

The Lord will remove their king and officials and set His throne in Elam.

Now, we must take care how we understand these words. It’s always important for us to consider how we do hermeneutics. Verse 38. I will set my throne in Elam. Is that literal? Well, it depends on what one means by literal. 

Throne is a literary device — a metonymy for God’s reign. But the picture isn’t that of a physical chair. I bring this up because the same idea is used regarding the throne of David being reestablished in Jerusalem. That is fulfilled in Christ’s reign over all the earth, which includes Jerusalem and Elam. 

God is said to erect His throne when He reigns, or more precisely, when He manifests His reign, and in particularly, when He executes His righteous judgment among the nations. In one sense, God’s throne is figuratively set up in Elam, when he pronounces and executes judgment over Elam. But it is also true that God Himself is setting up His throne over all the nations. 

UNSEATED:

Elam sought to maintain its kingdom, retain its throne, through military might. But they are about to be unseated. 

How often we seek to maintain our own puny kingdoms, retain our own puny thrones? But recall the king of Ninevah. Upon being unsettled by the bad news, forty days and Ninevah is overthrown, he got up from his throne and removed his royal robe. There’s a sense in which the king of Ninevah recognized that there was a King over him, and that any throne he might sit upon, answers to a higher throne. 

Listen loved ones. It’s better that you and I are unseated now, that we climb down off our thrones now, and recognize that there’s another to whom the throne rightly belongs. Otherwise, we will be unseated on the day of judgment. 

RESTORATION:

Verse 39. But in the latter days, I will restore the fortunes of Elam, declares the Lord.

I haven’t made a big deal concerning the translation of this phrase the last few times it has come up. I covered it several times when we looked at the New Covenant in chapters 30-33. But it’s time to refresh our memories. The phrase, I will restore the fortunes is, I don’t believe, a good translation. The most literal reading would be I will turn back their captivity. Yes, that carries a sense of restoration. But the point is judgment has sent these nations into exile and captivity. 

The promise here is that the Elamites would not be captives forever. This is the same promise given to Israel and Judah, and many of the other nations. Not simply, I will restore their fortunes. 

For one, the restoration of their previous fortunes is a downgrade from what the promise actually entails. What none of us ultimately need is a restoration of any fortunes we’ve possessed here. What everyone needs is the turning back of their captivity.

The nations have long lived as captives to sin and idolatry. Giving them into the hands of their enemies only placed them in a captivity that resembled the captivity they had long chosen to live under. The promised hope is turning back that captivity. And the timing for this promise is the latter days or the last days. When are the last days? Well, I’m convinced that the New Testament places the last days beginning with the coming of Jesus … not his second coming, but his first.

There are many places we can look in the New Testament to see this, but let’s end with Acts 2. Peter speaking at Pentecost, concerning the events that had taken place that day, says, this is exactly what the prophet Joel had spoken about, that in the last days it shall be, God declares, that I will pout out my Spirit on all flesh … 

Now there were at that time, dwelling in Jerusalem, Jews, devout men from every nation under heaven. And on that day, they heard the good news proclaimed, each in his own language, among which, in Acts 2:9, are listed the Elamites. And some three thousand souls were added to the church that day. The restoration that begins with the conversion of the Jews who were once scattered among the nations will in turn spread to those very nations from which the exiles returned.

CONCLUSION:

Damascus trusted in its fame; Kedar trusted in its remoteness and its lack of gates and bars; Elam trusted in its bow, each one to be unsettled, unsecured, and unseated.

Our God has posted His fame, not on a wall, but on a cross for all to see the incredible lengths he was willing to go to both save the nations and defend His glory.

Our God removed every door, every gate that we had erected between us and Him, those gates we have so often barred shut. And in their place, He has erected a single gate, Jesus Christ. For now, the bar on that door has been nailed wide open. But the day is coming when it will be shut forever. 

Likewise, reaching back to the promise to Noah, the Lord has turned His bow away from the nations and aimed it up at Himself instead, piercing His very own Son with the arrows of judgment we alone deserve. 

While these judgment oracles against the nations are severe, don’t think it’s because God doesn’t love the nations. He’s proven otherwise. But we have to see the judgment the nations rightly deserve in order to grasp just how wide and deep His love is. 

O that we would find ourselves unsettled by the warnings, unsecured from any worldly hope, and unseated from our pathetic thrones that we might be settled, secured, and seated in Christ.

https://youtu.be/Ajm1i8_NlOY

   Edom: The Futile Fortifications of Human Pride (Jeremiah 49:7-22)

INTRODUCTION:

READ (Jeremiah 49:7-22)

WHO ARE THE EDOMITES:

So, who are the Edomites? 

If you recall, the Moabites and Ammonites were cousins of the Israelites, and their judgment was in part due to their failure to show brotherly love to their close relatives. 

Edom shares the closest of all relationships with Israel. They are the descendants of Esau, Jacob’s twin brother. The term Edom comes from Genesis 25, which Steve read for us, when Esau sold his birthright to his younger brother for a bowl of red stew. Edom means “red.” Edom also evokes Esau’s red color when he came out of the womb. 

It’s at this point in the Bible’s narrative, that we see the origin of the Hebrew term for mankind in Genesis 1. Edom and Adam are both variations of the word “adom” which means red. The only difference is the vowel markings. Mankind was named such because God fashioned man out of the earth’s red clay.

As we consider the relationship between Edom and Adam, we are reminded of the close relationship that all of mankind shares. All of us have been fashioned out of the same red clay. All of us can trace our heritage back to Adam. We all have a relational responsibility towards one another to varying degrees. 

Whereas Edom shared the closest of all relationships with Israel, Edom was also the most hardened towards his brother. 

The rivalry between these two sibling nations began as early as the womb: Jacob grasping Esau’s heel, followed by grasping for Esau’s birthright, and finally grasping Esau’s blessing. 

It’s not that Esau’s bitterness towards Jacob was without cause. But that by no means makes it excusable either.

This sibling rivalry between Edom and Israel persisted for centuries. It’s not so much that Edom sought to gain or take what belonged to Israel. Rather, Edom despised Israel, just as Esau despised his brother, Jacob. 

The prophet Amos reminds us of the ongoing hostility between Edom and Israel. For three transgressions of Edom, and for four, I will not revoke the punishment, because he pursued his brother with the sword and cast off all pity, and his anger tore continually, and he kept his wrath forever.

Psalm 137 tells us that when Jerusalem fell to Babylon, the Edomites cheered on the Babylonians saying, “Lay it bare. Lay it bare, down to its foundations!”

Lastly, the entirety of the Book of Obadiah is chiefly a prophecy against Edom. 

What’s the charge against Edom?
Obadiah 10. Because of the violence done to your brother Jacob… because you stood aloof on the day strangers carried off his wealth. When foreigners entered his gates and cast lots for Jerusalem, you were like one of them. 

FUTILE FORTIFICATIONS:

While this hostility and bitterness towards Israel isn’t mentioned in Jeremiah’s prophecy against Edom, it certainly rests in the background. What is mentioned here is the settled pride that stood behind Esau’s bitterness and hostility.

We’re going to look at the different ways Edom’s pride displayed itself, and the futile ways Edom sought to fortify its pride.

WISDOM:

The first fortification listed is that of wisdom.

Verses 7-8: Thus says the Lord of hosts: Is wisdom no more in Teman? Has counsel perished from the prudent? Has their wisdom vanished?
Flee, turn back, dwell in the depths, O inhabitants of Dedan! For I will bring the calamity of Esau upon him, the time when I visit him.

There’s a sense in which the Edomites were praised for their wisdom. You may recall one of Job’s three friends who sought to comfort Job with his “great” wisdom—Eliphaz the Temanite—or Eliphaz from Teman. Eliphaz was Esau’s firstborn. Now whether this is the same Eliphaz in Job or a later descendant, I don’t know. But at the very least, our text points us to Teman. Of course, we know Eliphaz’s counsel was not as wise as Eliphaz imagined it to be. What we can say about Job’s three friends is that they did indeed speak many wise and true sayings. Where they were misguided was in their application. 

Edom and Eliphaz both show the futility of wisdom when that wisdom stands outside of communion with the God of wisdom. If we pay attention to Eliphaz’s speeches in Job, you’ll notice that Eliphaz’s knowledge of the ways of God, as true as they might be, are very impersonal. They lack any measure of intimacy, which likely accounts for his poor advice. 

In a similar sense, Edom grew up in the same household that Jacob did. They both shared the same father and mother. They both shared in the covenant sign of circumcision. But it’s Jacob who enjoys a relationship with the Lord, not Esau.

Without letting Jacob off the hook for his misdeeds, we need to, at the very least acknowledge that for Esau to sell his birthright for a bowl of red stew was an extremely unwise act. In fact, listen to Esau’s logic. 

Genesis 25:29. Once when Jacob was cooking stew, Esau came in from the field, and he was famished. And Esau said to Jacob, “Let me eat some of that red stew, for I am exhausted! Jacob said, “Sell me your birthright right now.” Now, here’s Esau’s logic in selling his birthright. Verse 32. Esau said, I am about to die; of what use is a birthright to me?

Now, I believe Esau spoke as we might when we say, “I’m starving to death.” I don’t think any of us read the text so literally as to think this young man was really going to die if he didn’t eat something right then.

Hebrews 12 offers us insight on the foolishness of Esau’s rash decision. See to it … that no one is unholy or godless like Esau, who sold his birthright for a single meal. Scripture doesn’t simply call Esau’s action foolish, but godless! 

Esau lacked any communion with God. As such, all his so-called wisdom, all his intelligence and reasoning amounted to nothing more than foolishness.

Such is true of all worldly wisdom. And that goes for many in the church, and all those who have access to this book, and perhaps even know the words of this book. To know the words of God, and the works of God, only brings about wisdom when one communes with God in Christ through the Holy Spirit, seeking to live in His holy presence.

APPLICATION:

What sort of wisdom do you most often find yourself trusting in? I have several Christian friends who regularly back up their habits and practices by quoting secular psychologists and philosophers.

Now, listen. All truth is God’s truth. Yet, 1 Corinthians 1 makes clear that the wisdom of the world is futile. God will Himself destroy the wisdom of the wise, and the discernment of the discerning He will thwart. There’s but one wise place of refuge—the cross, which the world sees as folly. O to the world, all this crucified Savior stuff seems weak and foolish. But for those whose eyes have been opened, for those who know this Savior and have come to Him, not only for refuge but to commune in His presence, Jesus Christ is indeed the wisdom of God.

The Edomites proved their lack of genuine wisdom because they held bitterness and hostility towards God’s people. And to stand against God’s saints in anyway is indeed unwise. It’s equally unwise to think that the Lord of all nations won’t call such deeds to account.

Because wisdom is misused, God, in an act of judgment, removes it, to where it can rightly be questioned, “Is there no more wisdom in Teman? Has all their counsel and wisdom vanished?”

So, verse 8, Flee, O you inhabitants of Dedan, turn back, dwell in the depths!

No doubt a warning likely not to be heeded by most. Yet, perhaps there’s a bit of sarcasm in many of these verses, because this warning to flee also calls them to dwell further into their strongholds, in the depths, thus further settling in on their pride—thinking that in their wisdom—in their choice secret hiding places—they just might be safe.

SECRET HIDING PLACES:

Verses 9-11. If grape gatherers came to you, would they not leave gleanings? If thieves came by night, would they not pillage only enough for themselves?
But I have stripped Esau bare; I have uncovered his hiding places, and he is not able to conceal himself. His children are destroyed, and his brothers, and his neighbors; and he is no more. 

Now we can all picture this image Jeremiah paints for us. We’re not growing grapes in our backyard. But we do have quite a few tomato plants, among other things. When we harvest the tomatoes, we don’t seek to pick them all. We pick the ones that are ripe for harvesting. Some aren’t ready yet. Others, well, the birds and the bugs have decided to take a nibble or two out of, so we leave those on the vine. And then we have the cherry tomatoes which are much closer in size to that of grapes, and likely about as prolific. Even when we try to pick all the ripe ones, we’re going to miss quite a few, simply because there are so many.

And what about the thieves. We have yet to experience a thief breaking into our house, but I have had one lift some items off my work trailer while I’ve was in Home Depot. Now, I have many items that are quite easy to grab off my work truck and trailer. But most of them aren’t worth securing, and others are just too heavy for anyone to simply lift without drawing unnecessary attention to themselves. But this one time, I did have a couple tool boxes with about $1200 dollars’ worth of parts, that the average person would have absolutely no use for. But the thief didn’t take time to inspect what it was he was taking. He simply grabbed what he could quickly, leaving many items behind.

When the Lord sends the Babylonians upon Esau, they will leave nothing to glean. They will plunder even that which is concealed. For it is the Lord Himself who strips Esau bare. No fig leaves or grape leaves will be sufficient to hide behind. Any hiding place will be futile. Such will be the devastation that he enumerates those who will be destroyed in the coming judgment: his children, his brothers, his neighbors, and he is no more.

Perhaps, the only measure of grace in this entire passage is that of verse 11. Leave your fatherless children; I will keep them alive; and let your widows trust in me. 

While perhaps a measure of grace, I’m inclined to agree with Calvin, that this certainly isn’t intended as a comfort for the Edomites, rather just the opposite. Should there be any survivors at all, you will have none to care for them other than me, your enemy.

APPLICATION:
What secret hiding place do you find yourself most often trusting in? Some hide behind their wealth, some behind their poverty. Some hide within the crowd.  Some try to live out of view hoping they won’t be noticed. There’s no place outside of God’s view—not in the city, not in the desert. 

There’s no place where sin can hide. The only safe place is to bring it into the light before the Lord of Light so that it can be judged NOW!!! Let it be nailed to the cross now! If you confess your sins, he is faithful and just to forgive you your sins and cleanse you from all unrighteousness. But that’s not true for any of those things you think you might conceal from the all-knowing omnipresent God.

When the day of judgment comes, when the Lord of all nations comes to bring his recompense upon the whole earth… 

The Lord Jesus will indeed come as a thief to plunder the earth, but He won’t do so because He’s in some kind of need. He will uncover every nook and cranny, rolling up the sky like a scroll, removing the mountains and hills from their foundations. There will be no place to hide. And He will pick the earth clean.

When Jesus comes in judgment, he won’t be gathering grapes because He’s hungry. He’ll harvest the earth because it’s fully ripe for judgment. He’s allowed time for the grapes of sin to ferment. But the time is coming when the sins of the Amorites and the Edomites and all the nations of the earth will be completely filled up. And when the Lord Jesus comes to harvest the earth, he won’t leave gleanings. All who deserve judgment will be gathered into the winepress of the wrath of God. 

MISCARRIAGE OF JUSTICE:

And there will be no miscarriage of justice. The Judge of all the earth won’t fail to come to a just conclusion. Everyone without exception will be called to account. No one gets a pass from drinking from God’s cup.

Verse 12. For thus says the Lord: “If those who did not deserve to drink the cup must drink it, will you go unpunished? You shall not go unpunished, but you must drink. 

The failure to carry out justice consistently across the board is quite common among any government or polity. We need look no further than our own. Some crimes are charged while others aren’t. Two people commit the same crime but receive two different sentences. Sometimes one person gets off with the warning while another doesn’t. 

But God doesn’t govern as the world governs. God may be patient with all. But justice will most certainly be meted out in fullest measure. 

The point here is that it’s unreasonable to think that the saints would be dealt with more severely than strangers to the covenant who had entirely cast aside the yoke. God’s people are being disciplined in just measure because they have failed to keep the covenant. But the nations had spurned God for ages! (Acts 17.)

In one sense, these verses are to keep God’s faithful from total despondency in thinking they have been utterly rejected, by assuring them of God’s consistency in judgment, that the nations, such as Edom, would by no means receive a milder judgment. 

The judgment oracles against nations like Edom are, at least in part, intended to serve as a consolation to the faithful. 

I remember, as a newer believer, hearing more than one pastor say that there’s but one time in all of Scripture that God makes a declaration so certain that He swore by Himself, and that’s Genesis 22 and God’s promise to Abraham, when he did not withhold from God his only son Isaac.

Genesis 22:16. By myself I have sworn, declares the Lord, because you have done this and have not withheld your son, your only son, I will surely bless you, and I will surely multiply your offspring as the stars of heaven…

This is why it’s important that we are always striving to be good Bereans and seeing if what someone says is not only actually in the text, but accords with the whole of God’s Word. Proof texts are not enough. 

Obviously, those who promote Genesis 22 as the only place God swears by His name, have no clue that Jeremiah 49:13 is in the Bible. 

Verse 13. For I have sworn by myself (exact same Hebrew wording as in Genesis 22), declares the Lord, that Bozrah shall become a horror, a taunt, a waste, and a curse, and all her cities shall be perpetual wastes.

Hebrews 6, referring to God’s promise to Abraham, tells us that the reason God swears by himself is because God desired to show more convincingly to the heirs of the promise, the unchangeable character of his purpose. As such he swore by an oath, so that by two unchangeable things, in which it is impossible for God to lie, we who have fled for refuge might have strong encouragement and hold fast to the hope set before us, having this as a sure and steadfast anchor of the soul.

Now, if our salvation and refuge in Christ is placed on such a sure and steadfast foundation that God swore by himself, what do you suppose the surety of God’s judgment is for those who reject Christ. God has sworn by Himself to both uphold His promises and His justice. The world should tremble at such a thought.

APPLICATION:

Here's the thing. There’s really only one person who legitimately did not deserve to drink the cup, and that is Christ himself, the only truly sinless man to walk the earth. But rather than letting the cup pass over him, Jesus prayed, Father, not my will but yours be done, and he drained the cup of God’s wrath to the dregs. 

Because of how much the prosperity gospel and charismatic movement has bled over into so much of the church, even the most faithful believers and congregations think that because they are in Christ, they get a pass on suffering. But such is far from what the New Testament teaches. Rather, in Christ, we don’t escape suffering. We escape condemnation.

God’s wrath, our judgment has been dealt with on the cross. We still drink from cup of Christ’s sufferings, but instead of it being filled with the wrath of God, Jesus himself has emptied it. Instead, we suffer the reproach and condemnation of the world. 

Think of it this way. In our union with Christ, we are called to suffer with Him. But what does that suffering look like?
Everyone will either, in Christ, willing suffer the wrath of the world now during this age, or instead, face the infinitely greater wrath of God that is to come.

If God be so severe in His justice concerning sin that He did not spare His own Son from suffering the wrath our sin deserved, what will become of the wicked, those nations and people who reject the grace of God? They shall by no means be exempted from the cup but shall most certainly drink.

Verse 14. I have heard a message from the Lord, and an envoy has been sent among the nations: “Gather yourselves together and come against her, and rise up for battle!”

The Lord has the power to perform whatever He proclaims by His servant. He can rouse, draw, arm, and lead to war any He so chooses. And He can do so by a single word. Here, He is summoning the Babylonians against Edom.

For now, the cup coming on the Edomites and the rest of the nations is that of the army of the Chaldeans. But they are but a shadow of the cup yet to come. 

SELF-EXALTATION:

Last futile fortification, that of self-exaltation.

Edom is very much a parable of the irony of human pride. Hence the lexical ties between Edom and Adam. Esau sold his birthright for a bowl of stew and thus despised his birthright. Rather than repenting, he despised it!

Now, while Jacob and Esau were set apart even before birth, that never negates the fact that Esau contributed to his own curse. The Lord did indeed bless Jacob and Israel despite themselves. That’s grace!

But Esau, like the rest of humanity, is never cursed undeservingly. There’s only one person who was cursed undeservingly, and that’s Jesus Christ, who willingly took the curse the rest of us deserve. 

Esau, upon the death of his father, Isaac, moved out of the promised land of Canaan to a land (Genesis 36:6-8 tells us was) “away from the face” of his brother Jacob. With Esau’s birthright sold, and Isaac’s blessing going to Jacob, there wasn’t much left for Esau in Canaan, or so in his pride he must have thought. So, there’s likely some shame and bitterness that leads Esau to move away from the presence of his brother and settle in Mount Seir. 

In this move, we need to recognize both the providence of God, as well as Esau’s own doing. There’s that balance of God’s sovereignty and man’s responsibility. Verse 15 focuses on the former.

Verse 15. For behold, I have made you. (The ESV reads, “I will make you” but it’s the perfect tense.) I have made you small among the nations, despised among mankind. 

This was not just something God was going to do in the future. Such had long taken place. Which is what makes verse 16 so amazing. Despite Esau’s smallness, he still managed to exalt himself in his own eyes.

Verse 16. The horror you inspired has deceived you, and the pride of your heart, you who live in the clefts of the rock, who hold the height of the hill. Though you make your nests as high as the eagle’s, I will bring you down from there declares the Lord.

Mount Seir was a far cry from the abundance of the promised land. It was a rough and rugged land. It certainly wasn’t anything to boast in. 

Calvin describes Edom’s pride as that of one from among the lowest of ranks yet exalting himself above the most noble. “What have you Idumeans, that you are so proud? What do you possess? What is your glory? For God has humbled you!”

Verse 16 is loaded with imagery that well portrays the proud human heart—hardness, dwelling in the clefts of the rocks—lofty, holding to the height of the hill—exalted, nesting as high as the eagles. And as the proud often do, they sought to inspire terror in others. 

But what makes this passage so fitting regarding Esau and Edom is the word Jeremiah has chosen for “pride.”
The pride of your heart. The word pride here in verse 16 is the noun form of the verb used to describe the very stew for which Esau sold his birthright. 

It first shows up in Genesis 25:29, where Jacob was cooking stew. It’s literally the word “to boil.” But it’s most often used to describe human pride. 

What at first begins in a pot and is brought to a rolling boil becomes an image for the human heart’s arrogance and self-confidence that boils up and overflows.

When Esau sold his birthright for a bowl of boiled stew, he arrogantly proclaimed, ”What good is my birthright!”

He decided that he knew better than God’s natural design and order of things. So, from then on, Esau despised his birthright and harbored bitterness toward Jacob, which is nothing other than an expression of pride. All bitterness is pride!

APPLICATION:

“So, what if I forfeited or spoiled some of God’s good gift because I wasn’t patient enough to wait, or because I wanted to eat from the tree that was off limits. You know, I’m not so sure it was such a good gift anyway!”

Isn’t that how we often behave over such losses. It seethes within. And rather than repenting, we simply express frustration, and perhaps even tears. That’s how Hebrews 12 describes Esau’s response. He sold his birthright for a single meal. Afterwards, when he desired to inherit the blessing, he was rejected, for he found no opportunity to repent, even though he sought it with tears.

There’s no guarantee you’ll have the opportunity to repent tomorrow. Perhaps you’re here and there’s something you’ve been holding unto, some bitterness or regret that you refuse to let go of. You have hardened your own cold fortress for it in the rocky crags, high up out of anyone’s reach. Listen, if that’s you, don’t allow your pride to deceive and enslave you. So long as you seek to barricade any part of your life, whether it’s something you’re dealing with now, or something from the past, you’re not all that different from the Edomites. 

Perhaps it’s not your nearest relative like Jacob to Esau. But there are those, like Esau, you cheer on disaster for. 

Jesus makes clear, if you refuse to forgive, then neither are you forgiven. The future for the Edomites, verses 17-18, would be that of horror. Those who pass by will be horrified. Just as when God brought judgment upon Sodom and Gomorrah, when the Lord over throws Edom, no son of man shall sojourn in her.

[Everyone’s reaction as they passed by the cross and saw the horror our sin deserves…]

THE LION AND THE SHEPHERD:

Final point. The Lion and the Shepherd. 

Verse 19.  Behold, like a lion coming up from the thickets of the Jordan against a perennial pasture, I will suddenly rush against Edom. And who is the chosen one I will appoint to this?. For who is like me? Who will summon me? What shepherd can stand before me? Verse 20. Therefore, hear the plan that the LORD has made against Edom and the purposes that he has formed against the inhabitants of Teman: Even the little ones of the flock shall be dragged away. Surely their fold shall be appalled at their fate.

In one sense, the lion coming up from the Jordan is that of the Chaldeans. They are the one’s bringing God’s immediate judgment upon Edom. 

The Edomites thought themselves unassailable. In their pride they thought themselves safe from judgment. But God’s chosen one will rush upon them without warning and drag even the least of the flock away. 

The Edomites are described in this picture as sheep (v. 20). Whether by a Lion who rushes upon the sheep and drags them away, or a shepherd who rules over the sheep, all will answer to Him.

For who is like me? What shepherd can stand before me?

Now, these phrases may sound somewhat obvious and trite, where we might think, certainly even the most hardened sinners acknowledge this, the truth is mankind’s pride is so great, even though the whole world knows this to be true, most of the world refuses to concede to God that which justly belongs to Him. How do we know that? Because when the promise of salvation is offered or the warning of judgment is declared, most are barely if at all moved.

When judgment comes, verse 21, at the sound of their fall the earth shall tremble; the sound of their cry shall be heard as far as the Red Sea. All the earth will tremble and know the fear of the Lord on that day, when Jesus comes in His glory. Tremble now, that you might be saved.

One last metaphor, verse 22. Behold, one shall mount up and fly swiftly like an eagle and spread his wings against Bozrah, and the heart of the warriors of Edom shall be in that day like the heart of a woman in her birth pains.

Here, God’s agent of judgment is described as an eagle, that will swoop down and spread His Wings over them. It's a portrait of extending his dominion over Edom, indeed, all the earth.

The birth pains are coming. The whole creation has been groaning in the pains of childbirth until now, awaiting the time when God deals decisively with the pride of man. And when He does, it will be prideful man who endures such pains.

CONCLUSION:

With the possible exception of verse 11, we’re not really given much hope of restoration for that of Edom. Rather, just the opposite. We’re given hope concerning Egypt, the Philistines, Moab, the Ammonites, and later on the Elamites. But there’s not any explicit word of hope mentioned concerning the Edomites and the sons of Esau. 

Each of these nations were enemies of God. Edom was no more an enemy of God than the rest of the nations. All of the nations we have covered deserved the same judgment. Yet, some receive a promise of hope. Some do not. 

As we read in Malachi and Romans, Jacob I loved but Esau I hated. It’s not that Jacob was intrinsically more righteous than Esau. They were set apart before birth. But both were sinners. Both deserved God’s condemnation. One was set apart for a special measure of mercy, and one was not.

When we consider Jesus at his crucifixion. The two thieves crucified on either side of him, both were getting what they deserved. Both hurled insults at God, even while He hung on the cross between them paying for the sins of the world. But only one received the grace of conviction that moved him to repentance. Only one received the promise of restoration. But only one. 

To quote J. C. Ryle: One was saved, that none might despair; yet only one, that none might presume.

God’s judgment upon Edom is a reminder for us not to presume on the riches and kindness of God…

Jesus is the Lion who lays his life down as a lamb. But he is also the shepherd who not only leads and cares for his sheep. He rules the nations with an iron rod.

Do not presume on his kindness. Let go of any pride that keeps you from falling on the mercies of Christ.
Stop fortifying those walls and let love in …

https://youtu.be/SeW9Uylhx6c

   Jeremiah 49:1-6 Ammon: Sons and Heirs 

INTRODUCTION:

We need to remind ourselves of a few themes that are taking place in all these judgment oracles. 

1) Of course, God is the Lord of all nations, hence our series title. And being the Lord of all nations, God will bring every nation to justice. Every nation will ultimately give an account to Him.

2) But another theme is that of vindication for God’s people. God has made glorious promises to His people. And those promises hold true regardless of the actions and intentions of the nations that may seem to or seek to disrupt those promises, whether intentionally or unintentionally. So, God’s pronounced judgment upon those who seek to thwart His plan is a reminder that God has not forgotten His promises. The nations will give an account, not just to God in a general sense, but for their actions and dispositions towards God’s people.

3) Finally, God’s plan of redemption includes these very nations upon whom God’s judgment falls. God is both the Judge of all nations, as well as the Savior of all nations.

This morning, the particular nation we’re looking at is the Ammonites. But as we consider each nation, it’s a reminder that all the peoples of the earth bear some resemblance to these nations. As such, each of these judgment oracles apply in various ways to all nations at all times throughout history. Let’s not think that because here in 21st century U.S.A. we don’t bow down before statues of stone or offer up sacrifices before these statues of stone that our nation is all that different from the Ammonites. Because as I hope to demonstrate, we are very much in the same boat, under the same judgment as these nations. And thus, we are in need of the same grace and mercy.

READ: Jeremiah 49:1-6

I. WHO ARE THE AMMONITES:

Ammonites are distant cousins of the Jews. They stem from Lot’s younger daughter. Like Moab, the Ammonites origin arose from Lot’s daughters getting their father drunk and then lying with him.

Genesis 19:36-38. Thus both the daughters of Lot became pregnant by their father. The firstborn bore a son and called his name Moab. He is the father of the Moabites to this day. The younger also bore a son and called his name Ben-Ammi. He is the father of the sons of Ammonites to this day.

Moab means “from father.” In a similar sense, the father of the Ammonites, Ben-Ammi, his name means “son of my people.” Where most offspring are a result of two families coming together, Ammon comes solely from a single immediate family, a single people. In fact, the ESV does a bit of disservice in rendering the term Ammonites because they are most often referred to as the sons of Ammon as a reminder of their familial heritage. (105 out of 123 times according to my counting.)

This relationship to Lot is important, as it makes the Ammonites relatives of Abraham and his offspring. (Next week, we’ll look at the closest of all the relatives to Israel, that of Esau.)

But like many families, the offspring of Abraham and the offspring of Lot had their own feuds. If you recall from last week, when Israel came out of Egypt, they had to pass through the outskirts of the land of the Moabites and Ammonites on their way to Canaan, and the Lord commanded Israel (you can read about it in Deuteronomy 2:19) not to harass or contend with them, for I will not give you any of the land of the people of Ammon as a possession, because I have given it to the sons of Lot for a possession. In fact, if we continued in Deuteronomy, we would read how the Lord gave the Ammonites the land for a possession by destroying the Rephaim before them, so that the sons of Ammon might dispossess them and settle in their place.

But where Israel was commanded to show kindness to the Moabites and Ammonites out of regard for Lot, neither Moab nor Ammon showed any kindness to Israel. So that we read in Deuteronomy 23, No Ammonite or Moabite may enter the assembly of the Lord, even to the tenth generation, because they did not meet you with bread or water on the way, when you came out of Egypt… You shall not seek their peace or their prosperity all your days, forever.

The bulk of the Ammonites’ history with Israel is that of conflict. For one, God raised up the Ammonites, like He did the Philistines and the Moabites, as a discipline for His people. But in mercy, God would also raise up a deliverer for His people - not always a noble deliverer, but a deliverer nonetheless. Notable deliverers God raised up for His people are Jeptha in Judges 11, King Saul in 1 Samuel 11, and King David in 2 Samuel 10, 11, and 12.

II. DISPOSSESSED:

Perhaps the greatest conflict between the Ammonites and the people of Israel was over that of land, which is the first charge laid against the Ammonites in our passage. 

Verse 1. Thus says the Lord: “Has Israel not sons? Has he no heir? Why then has Milcom(or your translation might read, Molech) dispossessed Gad, and his people settled in its cities?

When Tiglath-Pileser, king of Assyria, took the first wave of the Northern Kingdom into exile, which included the tribes around Galilee and the Transjordan, that is, the tribes on the Eastern side of the Jordan River, that would have included the tribe of Gad. [After Tiglath-Pileser, his son and successor Shalmaneser took the rest of the Northern Kingdom into exile.]

If you recall, Reuben, Gad, and the half tribe of Manasseh chose not to cross over the Jordan for their inheritance but chose to accept their inheritance on the far side of the Jordan, neighboring the Moabites, and you guessed it, the Ammonites, inviting generations of difficulty upon themselves. Well, as soon as the people were carted off into exile, it didn’t take long for the neighboring nations to move in and occupy the land. That’s what’s going on in verse 1.

While the Ammonites may not be responsible for Israel’s exile, they are certainly guilty of stepping in and taking possession of the land God had given to Israel. 

But someone might say, “finders keepers, losers weepers.”
That doesn’t work when we’re talking about that which God has given as a gift. The people may well have been removed from the land, but God’s Word still stands. Remember, we sang this for our discipleship camp. The Word of the Lord stands forever. 

Has Israel no sons? No heirs? Yes, Israel has sons and heirs. They are in timeout in exile right now because of disobedience. But their time of discipline won’t continue forever. God’s promise still stands. And this applies to all the land. God’s Word to give the land to His people has not been repealed. 

Now a word of caution in how we are to understand this, because many tie the land promises to a literal plot of dirt and no further. And they apply the heirs of these promises explicitly to ethnic descendants. 

I would argue that is a misreading of what Scripture teaches throughout both testaments. But we’ll have to return to this at bullet point 5, when we look at just who the true heirs truly are. 

For now, the land was to be passed down in perpetuity to the sons, the offspring of Israel, because the God of all nations has given it them. To seek to take what God has given to another is to invite judgment on oneself. Which is exactly what the Ammonites had done. 

Hence, verse 2. Therefore, behold, the days are coming declares the Lord, when I will cause the battle cry to be heard against Rabbah of the Ammonites; it shall become a desolate mound, and its villages shall be burned with fire; then Israel shall dispossess those who dispossessed him, declares the Lord.

God’s people will one day reclaim the land in full and dispossess every nation and people who had sought to take what God had generously given to another. 

III. RIVAL KINGS:

Verse 3. “Wail, O Heshbon, for Ai is laid waste! Cry out, O daughters of Rabbah! Put on sackcloth, lament, and run to and fro among the hedges! For Milcom shall go into exile with his priests and officials.

Let’s get technical for a minute. Your translation, for both verse 1 and verse 3, either has the word Milcom, Malcam, Molech, or, if you have King James Version,“their king.” 

Milcom or Molech was the name of the god of the Ammonites. That’s who they worshipped. Both of these versions of the god of the Ammonites come from the Hebrew term MeLeK מֶלֶךְ, which means king. Now, we can hear this fairly clearly between the terms Molech and Melek. They both sound the same with the exception of the vows. The name Molech simply means one who reigns.

But what’s with this word Milcom or better Malcam. Well, without trying to go into a lot of details of how the Hebrew language works … just as we have suffixes and prefixes in the English language, so does Greek and Hebrew and most languages. But with Hebrew, their suffixes are most often that of pronouns. So, Milcom literally means “their king.” 

In fact, we read the exact same spelling of this word in regard to that of King David, in Jeremiah 30:9 (which I believe is one of the verses Sherif would have brought up to you in class either last week or the week before regarding Jesus as the David who is to come). But they shall serve David, their king, whom I will raise up for them. 

We have the same thing in Hosea 3:5 concerning the future restoration of God’s people. In fact, let me read verses 4 and 5 of Hosea chapter 3, speaking of Israel’s exile. For the children of Israel shall dwell many days without king or prince, without sacrifice or pillar, without ephod or household gods. Afterward, the children of Israel shall return and seek the Lord their God, (and here it is) and David their king, and they shall come in fear to the Lord and to His goodness in the latter days. 

The word we have here in Jeremiah 49, verses 1 and 3, is the exact same word as used for David, their king. The word literally means, their king. 

Now why does this matter. Well, most likely what we have going on here is a dual meaning. In one sense, in verse 1, it was their king, the king of the Ammonites who led the Ammonites to take possession of the land that belonged to Gad, when Gad went into exile. 

But it is also true that it’s the people who worship the deity Molech who sought to claim land not their own. And they did so because of the who and what they worshiped. Which is why our text plainly reads, Why then has Milcom dispossessed Gad, and his people settled in its cities?

[SUMMARIZE – Jephthah or Nahash?]

The Ammonites, like all the nations of the world, were serving a counterfeit god as their king. As such, they held no regard for the one true God or His people. They showed no gratitude for God’s kindness in giving Lot an inheritance. Their idolatry left them always longing for more. That was their king.

And to serve this king came at the highest of costs to the individual, his family, his community, indeed the world. You see, the deity, Molech was very much associated with child sacrifice, where those who worshiped Molech would literally pass their sons and daughters through fire. 

And sadly, even the people of Israel and Judah picked up this practice as they sought to be like the nations around them. You can read about it in Jeremiah 32:35. They built the high places of Baal in the Valley of Ben Hinnom, to offer up their sons and daughters to Molech, though I did not command them, nor did it enter into my mind, that they should do this abomination, to cause Judah to sin.

Ben Hinnom is the Hebrew equivalent of the term Jesus uses for hell­—Gehenna. When people serve counterfeit gods and counterfeit kings, they are sacrificing the children, their families, their communities to the fires of hell. 

Don’t believe for a moment that you and I are somehow immune to this—that this doesn’t apply to us. Our idols might not be fashioned out of stone. But whatever is king in your life, that is very much your god, whether materialism, your health, cultural approval, personal autonomy, and so on. And millions upon millions of people every day are laying their children on the altar of some counterfeit god they believe will grant them the happiness and fulfillment they lack. 

And don’t think that many who fill pews aren’t doing this very thing. Listen, people of God had often been tempted to be like and worship like the nations. That’s how Israel’s idolatry is often defined. In short, we call that covetousness.

Zephaniah 1:5 hits hard this syncretism of those who think they can serve more than one king, two masters, rival gods. Those who bow down on the roofs to the host of the heavens, those who bow down and swear to the Lord, and yet swear by Milcom.

Jesus makes very clear that no one can serve two masters. for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and money. In Matthew 6:24 he uses the idol of wealth as an example. But it’s true across the board. 

It might be material possession, or it might be physical health. I’ve spoken to a man recently, a professing believer, and he claims that the biggest issue the world is facing is that of physical health. “Forget about the whole trans issue or illegal immigration,” he said. That’s no big deal. We need to eat a biblical diet, you know, like the one in Leviticus. 

Our conversation ended pretty abruptly when I replied, “I’m pretty sure that the Bible says our biggest issue is sin, not our physical health.” 

Listen, if your health is your god, then the God of the Bible isn’t. If your income, your occupation, your lifestyle is your lord, then Jesus Christ isn’t. It’s that plain and simple. 

Now, let me make clear. The Lord of all nations has no true rivals. 

Isaiah 45. I am the Lord, and there is no other, besides me there is no God; … from the rising of the sun to its setting, there is none besides me… I form light and create darkness; I make well-being and create calamity; I am the Lord who does all these things… There is no other god besides me, a righteous God and a Savior.

Turn to me and be saved, all the ends of the earth! For I am God and there is no other. By myself I have sworn; from my mouth has gone out in righteousness a word that shall not return; “To me every knee shall bow, and every tongue shall swear allegiance.”

Do you know whom the New Testament ascribes this passage to? Paul, in his letter to the Philippians, ascribes this entire passage, and I would argue this entire section of Isaiah, to Jesus Christ. There is no god besides Him. There is no other Savior. At the name of Jesus every knee shall bow, and every tongue shall swear allegiance. 

And yet, for a time, Acts 17, (I have to keep bringing it up as we discuss the nations), God has allowed the nations to go their own way. But now He commands all people everywhere to repent. To repent of what? Their counterfeit gods, their counterfeit kings, their counterfeit saviors.

For those of you who do any sort of landscaping around your house, we have those plants and flowers that we call annuals. We have to keep planting them every year. But we also like to plant what we call perennials. You plant them once, and they’ll grow and sprout each year. Sure, they die out at the end of their season, but give them time, and they sprout right back up again next season.

Molech embodies the perennial, the persistent recurring temptation humanity has to enthrone rival kings alongside or in place of the True King. And the cost of enthroning such rival kings invites hell upon, not just ourselves, but for everyone in our sphere of influence.

What and who we worship and serve matters. And how we worship matters. Remember, that was Israel’s sin. They wanted to be like and worship like the nations. And how often the church seeks to do the same. We look out at the world, how the world tends to worship, and we say, hey, this might attract the world into our churches. Well, the warning is to do such things is to sacrifice our sons and daughters to the same fires of hell the world sacrifices their sons and daughters to. 

IV. BOASTING IN WAGON TRACKS:

Moving on. The Lord addresses Ammon’s greed in seeking to dispossess the sons of Israel. He addresses their idolatry, their king, Milcom, shall go into exile along with those who worship him. Now, the Lord addresses Ammon’s pride. 

Verse 4. Why do you boast of your valleys, O faithless daughter, who trusted in her treasures, saying, “Who will come against me?” 

Whether mountain heights in the clefts o the rocks on the highest of hills, such as the nation of Edom, which we will look at next week, or situated in the lowest valleys, humanity’s problem remains the same: pride. Pride is not tied to one’s physical heights. We’ll gladly boast in our own little ant hill, so long as we can find just one other person who’s ant hill is just a bit lower than ours. 

In fact, we’ll even boast that our own pathetic life is worthy of greater lament than our neighbors. One-upmanship shows up everywhere! “You think you have it bad … well, I’ll tell you!”

What’s ironic here is that the Ammonites were boasting in the Lord’s wagon tracks. I love the way the ESV portrays Psalm 65 which Silas read for us. 

(Psalm 65:9-11) You visit the earth and water it; you greatly enrich it; the river of God is full of water; you provide their grain, for so you have prepared it. You water its furrows abundantly, settling its ridges, softening it with showers, and blessing its growth. You crown the year with your bounty; your wagon tracks overflow with abundance.

The word the ESV translates wagon tracks carries this idea of a clearly marked path worn smooth by a cart or a wagon regularly drawn over it. It captures the immensity of God, that the valleys of the earth are nothing more than where the wheels of God’s wagon had passed over.

You’ve driven your car or truck through the mud before. You know the ruts it leaves behind. Well, that may be a valley to an ant, but it’s so insignificant compared to valleys that are miles wide, with hills and mountains hedging it in that are 100s if not 1000s of feet high. That’s what we’re talking about here. It doesn’t take much rain to flood a tire rut. But when God waters His wagon tracks, they overflow with an abundance.

The Ammonites didn’t carve out the valleys. They certainly weren’t the ones who caused the valleys to flow with abundance. All of this was an overflow of the Lord’s common grace to humanity. 

And yet, how often we boast in the rich provisions God has so graciously given us but fail to boast in the God who carved out the valleys and waters them.

Perhaps the wagon tracks you boast in doesn’t come from some harvest in your backyard. Maybe you go out and work and bring home an income that purchases the daily sustenance you and your family needs. Remember, it’s the Lord who grants the power and ability you have to get wealth. (That’s Deuteronomy 8:18.) One of the reasons the Lord fed Israel for 40 years in the wilderness was to remind them that He was their every provision and sustenance. Yes, it’s good that you go out and work, or stay home and work. The location isn’t the issue. But any provisions we receive or accumulate, we aren’t the ultimate providers. 

Ammon boasted in their provisions, and (the second half of verse 4) they boasted in their treasures, or better, her treasuries or storehouses, saying “who will come against me?” The idea here is that Ammon not only had regular provisions coming in, they had enough provisions stored up that they could buy off her enemies. But all their provision would provide absolutely no security when the Lord’s judgment came.

Verse 5. Behold, I will bring terror upon you, declares the Lord God of hoses, from all who are around you, and you shall be driven out, every man straight before him, with none to gather the fugitives. 

Listen, whatever abundance it is that you might trust in, God can dry up in an instance. You have a good income; it could be gone tomorrow. I don’t care if you’re Elon Musk. The United States feels it rests secure because of the abundance it enjoys in those great fertile plains between the Rockies and the Appalachians. Listen. Those fertile plains are nothing more than God’s wagon tracks—God’s kind and gracious provision. And the Lord who provides us with such abundance can dry all of it up in a season if He so chooses. Don’t boast in wagon tracks.

Far more importantly, our abundance and our savings, will provide absolutely no security when God’s judgment comes. 

Jesus tells the parable of the rich man who built bigger barns and thought himself secure in life to where he could relax, eat, drink, and be merry. But God said to him (Luke 12:20), “You fool! This night your soul is required of you, and the things you have prepared, whose will they be?”

Well, I’ll tell you whose they’ll be. All the wealth of the nations, all the abundance that so much of the world, like the Ammonites, have boasted in, the overflowing storehouses and wagon tracks that so many have placed their trust in, all of it will go to the true heirs. 

V. TRUE HEIRS:

Who are the true heirs of verse 1? I’d argue that they are the true sons of verse 1. Well, thanks Josh, that’s truly helpful.

New Testament takes pains. Seeds planted throughout the Old.
The people of God are not ultimately defined ethnically.

Exodus­—a mixed multitude yoked themselves.
(Didn’t finish chapter 12, but the same law applies to both the native and the sojourner.)

First. Does Israel have no sons? Israel has long awaited the coming Son. The coming heir. The whole of Scripture has awaited the coming offspring ever since Genesis 3:15. Abraham has awaited the coming offspring, the promised Son. Isaac anticipated the coming Son. Jacob, and David, they’ve all awaited to coming heir. 

Who’s the heir? Hebrews 1. Long ago, at many times and in many ways, God spoke to our fathers by the prophets, but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son, whom he appointed the heir of all things.

Jesus came as the long-awaited heir. 

Parable of the Tenants. (Perhaps the most significant of all Jesus’ parables.) The vineyard owner sends his son. What do the tenants say? This is the heir. Come let us kill him and have his inheritance. In other words, these tenants are no different than the Ammonites who sought to dispossess Israel. Well, guess who the tenants of Jesus’s parable are? Israel. (Isaiah 5 and Song of Songs.) Jesus is speaking the parable against the religious leaders of Israel, against the Jews.

And we could trace out dozen upon dozens of texts that demonstrate Jesus to be True Israel, the long-awaited Son, the heir of all the promises of Scripture. 

But here’s the beauty. The promises don’t end with Jesus. They flow through Jesus to all who are united to Him as their Savior and Lord, or in light of our passage, King.

Those in Christ, are sealed with and filled with the Spirit of Christ, and are rightfully called sons and heirs along with Christ.

Romans 8:14-17. For all who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God. For you did not receive the spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you have received the Spirit of adoption as sons, by whom we cry, “Abba! Father!” The Spirit himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God, (and here it is, verse 17), and if children, heirs—heirs of God and fellow hears with Christ, provided that we suffer with him in order that we may also be glorified with him.

But here’s the thing. Only the saints, regardless of their ethnicity, will inherit the kingdom of God. The unrighteous, 1 Corinthians 6:9, will not inherit the kingdom. But just what is the kingdom. Well among other things, it is the new creation, where we will dwell and reign with the King. 

But Scripture is quite clear, this inheritance won’t go to the proud. It won’t go to those who boast in their valleys or their treasures or any of the Lord’s gracious provisions as if they somehow had a hand in acquiring and attaining such. Jesus says, Blessed are the meek, not the proud, for the meek, they shall inherit the earth. 

Not a plot of dirt located on this or that side of the Jordan river, but the entire creation that flows with the delights of the River of Life, Jesus Himself, who brings healing to the nations.

And this includes the Ammonites. Last verse. Verse 6.
But afterward, I will restore the fortunes of the Ammonites, declares the Lord. 

This word of redemption concerning the Ammonites is the exact same promise of redemption God has offered to the Moabites and later in this chapter to the Elamites, and in other places to Egypt and the Philistines, and others. But most importantly, this is the exact same promise God gives to Israel and Judah in the Book of Jeremiah. In fact, this promise of redemption with this same wording “I will restore your fortunes,” is given 9 times to God’s chosen people from chapter 29-33.

God’s plan is and always has been to redeem the nations, including the Ammonites. But this redemption doesn’t include every individual ethnic descendant of Ammon, no more than it included every ethnic descendant of Israel. 

Like the Moabites, the Ammonites will fall of the pages of Scripture—not even mentioned in the NT. In fact the last mention is from Justyn Martyr in the 2nd-century.

VI. COST OF REDEMPTION:

So, what does this restoration of the Ammonites look like? Well, the same as it did for the Moabites … and the same as it did for the Israelites and the Jews. Their restoration, regardless of ethnicity, is found in and only in the True Israel, who is Christ, and their being united to Him in faith. 

Back up to verse 2. Rabbah shall become a heap of rubble. Rabbah means great (by the way). 

The Day is coming when all Rabbah’s of the world, all the cities great and small, shall become a heap and consumed by fire. And the earth and all its domains, its kingdom, and dominion, and the greatness of the kingdoms under the whole heaven (Daniel 7:27) shall be handed over to the people of the saints of the Most High. 

His Kingdom, speaking of King Jesus, who is the Most High, shall be an everlasting kingdom, and all dominions shall serve and obey him.

Who are the saints of the Most High. All those who yoke themselves to Christ as their True King.

All rival kings will be crushed. No more Molechs. No more sacrificing sons and daughters to the fires of hell to satisfy our idols. 

God will allow all of creation to see the horror and abhorrence of this practice by sending His own Son and allowing the peoples of the earth to, in a sense, sacrifice His Son to their idols: their desire for power, for autonomy, indeed, their desire to dispossess the true heir, seeking to take what rightfully belongs to Him.

And it’s through that sacrifice, Jesus being given over to the fires of hell, as it were, that the Ammonites and the nations can be restored and enjoy this inheritance in Christ. 

There’s hope for Ammon. There’s hope for the people of Lebanon and Tennessee and Egypt and wherever you’re from. But that hope is found in only one place… the True Heir, the True Son, who, on the cross, endured hell in our place.

[Nahash (serpent) – king of the Ammonites (1 Sam 11)

In Christ, God has made us heirs of eternal life, and no one can cause us to be dispossessed of our inheritance! Not even the king of the Ammonites—the prince of this fallen world—Nahash.]

PRAY

https://youtu.be/k-KvCRD3_xQ

   Jeremiah 48:1-47 – Concerning Moab: War, Wages, Wine, Weeping, and a Word of Hope

Introduction:

Moab seems to have taken pride of place in these war oracles against the nations here in Jeremiah’s finale, with the exception of Babylon, who is the Lord’s chosen agent of destruction upon these nations, who will serve as the grand finale to these judgment oracles. 

Moab is given even more real estate than Egypt. And just so you know, this is not a section in Jeremiah where you want first place.

I use “pride of place” deliberately, because, as we will see, the sin Moab will be judged for is that of pride. 

Due to the size of this chapter, we won’t look at every verse in any kind of detail. Instead, we’re going to look at some of the major themes found throughout this chapter (bulletin): War, Wages, Wine, Weeping, and end with a Word of Hope. 

In these 47 verses, there are over 2 dozen unique place names associated with Moab for her destruction, and most of these are not the easiest to pronounce. So, if you feel, after I stumble through them, that you could have done better, let me know. I have an assignment for you next Sunday!

READ: Jeremiah 48

I. Who are the Moabites?

Who are the Moabites? Like the Philistines, it’s important for us to understand just who the Moabites are before we seek to engage our text. Otherwise, this foreign text will be even more foreign, and we won’t be able to do any justice to understanding what the Lord intends for us to grasp.

First and most significantly, the Moabites are close relatives of Israel. They are the offspring of Abraham’s nephew, Lot. As a kindness to Abraham, the Lord spared Lot when He overthrew Sodom. Lot lived outside of the small city of Zoar, in the hills, afraid to live near any civilization after what he just witnessed with Sodom. So, his firstborn daughter concocted a plan to make their father drunk and lie with him in order to preserve offspring for their father. 

Moab means from father. (The younger sister followed suit, and we’ll look at the Ammonites next week.)

The next significant time we come across the Moabites is in Numbers 22-24 after Israel wandered in the wilderness for 40 years. When it finally came time for Israel to enter the promised land, they camped in the plains of Moab along the way. Balak, king of Moab, hires Balaam (you know Balaam, he’s the one the donkey speaks to) to pronounce a curse on Israel, that he might be able to defeat the mighty horde. For I know, says Balak, that he whom you bless is blessed, and he whom you curse is cursed. But Balaam is unable to curse the people whom God has blessed. 

Now, we find out after the fact, in Deuteronomy, that Israel was commanded on the front end not to harass Moab or contend with them. For,the Lord said, I will not give you any of their land because I have given it to the people of Lot for a possession.

And yet, despite the kindness and mercy shown to Moab, the people of Moab meet the Israelites with unkindness. So, we’re told in Deuteronomy 23 that no Moabite may enter the assembly of the Lord, even to the tenth generation, because they did not meet you with bread and water on the way, when you came out of Egypt, and because they hired Balaam to curse you.

Later, Moab will prove a stumbling block even for wise King Solomon, who yokes himself to many foreign women.

1 Kings 11:7-8. Solomon built a high place for Chemosh the abomination of Moab … and so he did for all his foreign wives, who made offerings and sacrifices to their gods.

II. War:

This is a background of who the Moabites are. Now for our text. To summarize, the King of all nations is bringing His war to Moab - or upon Moab.

Verse 1. Concerning Moab: Thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel:

" Woe to Nebo, for it is ladd waste! Kiriathaim is put to shame, it is taken; the fortress is put to shame and broken down; the renown of Moak is no more.

Madmen, (the name of a place-not a lunatic, although magnifying oneself against the Lord and against His people is certainly an insane venture), shall be brought to silence; the sword shall pursue you.

Verses 3 and 4 continue with destruction. In verse 7, even their god Chemosh shall be taken into exile along with his priests and officials. Verse 8. The destroyer shall come upon every city, and no city shall escape; the valley shall perish, and the plain shall be destroyed, as the Lord has spoken.

Are you beginning to get the point? When the King of the nations enlists an army, the success of that army is certain. Scripture even spurs on this army (v. 10). Cursed is he who does the work of the Lord with slackness, and cursed is he who keeps back his sword from bloodshed.

The army enlisted for these judgment oracles is that of Nebuchadnezzar and the Chaldeans.

Babylon will swoop in like a bird of prey (v. 40) that takes Moab’s cities and disheartens its defenders (v. 41). 

Verse 9. If Moab only had wings, she could fly away for refuge. Verse 6. Moab is warned to, Flee! Save yourselves. Verse 28. Leave the cites, and dwell in the rock.

But verse 44. The few who manage to flee the terror of God’s judgment shall fall into the pit, and he who manages to climb out of the pit, shall be caught in the snare. For I will bring these all these things upon Moab, the year of their punishment, declares the Lord. 

Catalog of cities

I mentioned that there are more than 2 dozen Moabite cities listed in this chapter. By naming the many cities, it shows that the whole land was doomed to ruin, that no corner of it would be exempt from the Lord’s judgment. And just to hammer that point home the comprehensive nature of this judgment, verse 24, after a long list of cities, the prophet adds: all the cities of the land of Moab far and near.

Application: Listen, we begin with WAR and God’s judgment brought upon the land, because this warning isn’t just a warning for Moab; it’s a warning for all of us.
No city will be left untouched by God’s final judgment. Because He is the God of all nations, He is also the God of every city and township, even those who think they might avoid such by living off the grid. There is but one place to flee in order to save yourself … there is but one city of refuge, and that is the Lord Jesus Christ. He is our City of Refuge, just as He is also the Judge of All Nations.

III. Wages:

Why was this disaster coming upon Moab? Because it’s the WAGES of sin.

What are some of the sins of Moab? Well, every single one of them fall under the category of pride. Moab trusted in his own strength and the work of his hands, and he derided God and His people. 

Verse 7. They trusted in their works and treasures.

In the second half of verse 7, their idol, Chemosh is named.

In verse 14, they boasted in their might.

Verse 29. A slew of terms is used to describe Moab’s self-exalted status: very proud, loftiness, pride, arrogance, haughtiness of heart, insolence, his false boasts and false deeds.

Twice, verse 26 and 42, Scripture specifically state how Moab had magnified himself against the Lord.

How did Moab magnify himself against the Lord? Well, it’s not so much that the Moabites openly boasted that they were somehow equal or superior to God. But through their idolatry and their derision of God’s people, they were indeed proclaiming just that.

First, all idolatry is a means of magnifying oneself against the Lord of all the earth. How? Because the creator is always greater than the created. And Chemosh, the god of the Moabites, is a created god … a created god they chose to worship rather than worshiping the uncreated Living God who created them! 

And worshipping Chemosh came at a high price. 

In 2 Kings 3, (3:26-27), you can read about a time when Moab was at war with Israel, Judah, and Edom. 

When the king of Moab saw that the war was going against him … he took his oldest son who was to reign in his place and offered him for a burnt offering on the wall. And there came great wrath against Israel. And they withdrew from him and returned to their own land.

Moab will receive such a heavy punishment because there is nothing less intolerable than for men to take the glory due to God alone and transfer it to their own inventions, offering up the most grotesque sacrifices imaginable. We’ll look at this more closely next week.

For now, verse 13, Moab shall be made ashamed of their idol, Chemosh. In fact, verse 7, Chemosh and his priests shall go into exile. For, verse 46, the people of Chemosh shall be taken into captivity. And what can a dead god do to save them! Absolutely nothing!

The second way Moab magnified itself against the Lord, verse 27, was that he held Israel in derision, mockery, ridicule, scorn. Whenever Moab spoke of God’s people, he wagged his head.

To mock God’s people is to mock God Himself. What makes Moab’s sin so lamentable is that Moab should have shown brotherly affection for Israel, just as Israel had done for Moab. Remember, God had spared Moab when the people of Israel entered into the land of Canaan. The Israelites passed through the borders of Moab without doing them any harm, because it was God’s purpose to preserve them for a time, out of His regard for Lot.

Israel didn’t seek to take from Moab. The Lord had given Lot an inheritance in the people of Moab. Yet, Moab had never proved to show any sort of kindness to God’s chosen people … with one exception. Ruth. Ruth was a portrait of what a Moabite should have looked like. She was a portrait of what a true Israelite should be like. 

Application: Listen, the whole world holds God’s people in derision. O not all of them to your face, but if they truly believed what we believe they’d yoke themselves to us, they’d be like Ruth, and our God would be their God. Instead, to them this whole following a crucified man who’s been raised from the dead, all that is foolishness to them. 

Don’t think so? They’ll take a simple symbol such as a fish that many Christians will fix to the back of the car, and they’ll put legs on it with the word, “Darwin,” inside it.

Don’t think they don’t have a sort of love for the Bible. They love to rewrite their own narratives by borrowing from this Book, and they’ll ridicule its message. 

But the wages of such pride and scorn will be returned upon them. Verse 39. The Moabs of this world will turn their backs in shame. They will become a derision and a horror to all who are around them.

Because of Moab’s great pride, verse 18, he will be brought low to sit on the parched ground. 

IV. Wine:

Moab thought of themselves safe from God’s hand of judgment. Moab had become complacent … settled like well-aged wine.

Verse 11. Moab has been at ease from his youth and has settled on his dregs; he has not been emptied from vessel to vessel, nor has he gone into exile; so his taste remains in him, and his scent has not changed.

Because of God’s kindness to Lot, things haven’t been all that bad for the Moabites. Just as Lot’s lineage was preserved through wine (Genesis 19), here Jeremiah compares Moab, Lot’s firstborn, as undisturbed wine, left to settle upon its dregs — or its preserves. The word dregscomes from the term to keep. Moab has been long kept. Perhaps too long. 

Wine often improved by being allowed to rest upon its sediment. So long as the wine is undisturbed it retains its flavor and strength, which it would otherwise lose by being poured from one vessel to another. 

The Moabites have long enjoyed the advantage of living in their own country ever since they became a people. Though surrounded by many strong nations, Moab’s relative tranquility allowed him to grow strong and prosper. Moab, for the most part, has been left undisturbed, allowing Moab to become proud. 

Moab had very much become settled in his ways … in his sins, his luxury, his idolatry, his pride. Because Moab had not been emptied from vessel to vessel, Moab has retained his strength, his same old taste, his same old scent. 

But that time was coming to an end. Verse 12. Therefore, behold, the days are coming declares the Lord, when I shall send upon Moab pourers who will pour him, and empty his vessels and break his jars. 

The word pourers and pour, are both the same word. It often means to tilt, or tip, or bend over. When used of liquid it carries the idea of lowering the top of a vessel in order to empty it. 

Well, verse 18, the glory of Moab—his lofty pride—is about to be lowered. The prideful boasts of Moab will be brought low, and Moab will be emptied into exile and shattered. Moab had been drunk on his pride, verse 26, now the Lord would make him drunk. 

Application: Why are we doing these chapters? They’re in the Bible, first of all. And they have a message we better listen to. 

See, I had two very different conversations this week with two men who are in their 70s. One explained to me how he and his wife stopped going to church decades ago, sometime in their early 20s. But about 4 years ago, they had a few friends pass within months of each other. He said, he couldn’t shake the idea that it could have been him. He said it was a wake up call he desperately needed. 

He and his wife were just going about their lives, settled into whatever their routine was, whatever worldview was guiding them, and the Lord took their vessel, and emptied out that settled worldview that sat undisturbed for decades. Listen, that was an act of God’s grace!

Another fellow mentioned how he and his wife attended the same church for decades. How they both sang in the choir for years. And later in life they sang from the pews. But one Sunday, he and his wife looked at each other, and neither one was singing. So, you know what they did, they skipped the following Sunday, which became 2 weeks, then 3 weeks, and he hasn’t been back since. 

Occasionally, they’d watch some TV preacher, and here’s his conclusion. There are two messages. One is that of God’s judgment and the need to be saved. The other is enjoying your best life now, in which he named Joel Osteen. He said he can’t do the first message. He’s turned off by the idea of judgment. And the second message is unnecessary. If I’m supposed to be living my best life now, why would I waste it listening to Osteen or spending time in church.

He lost his wife 4 years ago. It hasn’t all been roses. But for the most part, looking at his lifestyle, his comforts, listening to him share his story, he’s pretty much well-aged wine. He’s settled. And unless something comes along to lower him, he’ll continue in his settled pride that passes judgment on God’s message.

Listen, complacency can happen both in and outside the church. You can sing the songs and go through the so-called motions of worship. But until you are emptied of you and your idols, your future is as bleak as the Moabites. And here’s the scariest part of all. God might just chose to give you up to your settled ways. That’s Romans 1.

Are you a Moabite?

How do you know if you’re like the Moabites? Well, let me ask, has your life been transformed by God’s message, the message of the gospel. When you read God’s Word, when God’s Word is taught, is it changing you? Or do you still hold the same old views you’ve held for decades? Because you are either striving to be conformed to the image of Christ, or you’re just old wine, settled in your ways. And with each passing year, you just become more settled, and your pride becomes stronger. There’s no true change of taste; no fresh aroma of Christ in your life. 

You see, the world is full of Moabites. Things haven’t been all that bad for them. O there have been setbacks here and there, but nothing to really stir them up, nothing that has lowered them, tilted them over and poured them out to where there was nothing left to fall back on, leaving them empty and desperate. 

They’ve never experienced that sort of emptying. Their lives are full of pursuits and distractions, but no wake up call to rouse them from their drunken slumber from being settled on their dregs.

If that’s you, my prayer for you isn’t additional comfort. At least not while you’re in such a state. My prayer for you is that God would bring you to the end of yourself, that He would empty you so you have nothing to fall back on but Him. Why? So that you would cry out to Him for mercy, so that He might fill you with New Wine.

Moab is a portrait of those who have never seen their own emptiness, and their desperate need for the grace of God, their need to be emptied of sin and self-righteousness.

New Vessels

Not only is there a need for new wine, but new vessels. That’s why Samuel read from Luke 5 for us. 

Israel was no different than the Moabites. Israel’s religious leaders had become settled in their man-made traditions. The new wine Jesus was bringing couldn’t be poured into their traditions. New wine must go into new wine skins, otherwise the new wine will bursts the wineskins, spilling the wine and destroying the skins. 

The problem was that those who had settled on the old wine had grown accustomed to the old and had no taste for the new. The new wine Jesus brings can’t simply be poured into our old vessels. We can’t simply be poured out and refilled. Our old vessels must be broken and made new. That’s what the Spirit does. He makes us a new vessel that we might contain the fresh new wine of the New Covenant.

Jeremiah has taken us from warfare to wine, from an infantry invading the land to intoxication brought upon the people of Moab, from pursued to poured out, from inebriated to emptied. 

V. Weeping:

This wine imagery is scattered throughout this chapter. But this wine is also mixed with tears … but not just any tears, the tears of the Lord Himself … the Lord’s weeping over Moab.

Verses 31-33. Therefore I wail for Moab; I cry out for all Moab; for the men of Kir-hareseth I mourn. More than for Jazer I weep for you, O vine of Sibmah! Your branches passed over the sea, reached to the Sea of Jazer; on your summer fruits and your grapes the destroyer has fallen. Gladness and joy have been taken away from the fruitful land of Moab; I have made the wine cease from the winepresses; no one treads them with shouts of joy; the shouting is not the shout of joy.

The Lord is the One who emptied Moab and broke Moab, bringing about this utter destruction of Moab. But the Lord is also the one who plays the flute of mourning at Moab’s funeral. 

Verse 36. Therefore my heart moans for Moab like a flute, and my heart moans like a flute for Kir-hareseth. 

Who weeps over the destruction of their enemies? God does. The Lord agonizes over the lost. 

The Lord of all nations weeps over the very nations He judges. I take no pleasure, declares the Lord, in the death of the wicked.

In Matthew 23, at the end of Jesus’ ministry, he pronounces woes upon the religious leaders. But he also weeps over Jerusalem. O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the city that kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to it! How often would I have gathered your children together as a hen gathers her brood under her wings, but you were not willing!

Jesus’ Agonizing Prayer

Consider the agony with which Jesus prayed in the garden. Luke records that an angel strengthened him so he could continue agonizing in such prayer, which he did to such a degree that his sweat was like large drops of blood. 

Matthew records how Jesus fell on his face and prayed.

Now here's the thing. We know the prayer that Jesus agonized over. My Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me; nevertheless, not as I will, but as you will. 

What was Jesus agonizing over? The high cost it would take to 1) glorifying his Father, and 2) to save those he was about to die for. 

Jesus is pouring out his soul in agonizing prayer because of the immeasurable cost it will take to save some... to save you ... to save me... to save the Moabites... and even the nations. Jesus is praying that he will finish the work and not be deterred. Why? Because he cares about the souls of the lost- He weeps not only our Lazarus, not only over Jerusalem, but over the nations, and that included Moab.

And the Father answers every prayer of His son. 

VI. Word of Hope:

Which takes us to our last point, a Word of Hope. Last verse. Yet I will restore the fortunes of Moab in the latter days, declares the Lord. Thus far is the judgment of Moab.

Even before a word was on physical lips of Jesus agonizing in prayer - the Father knew-and that is why He can restore Moab-verse 47. In fact, we see the fruit of the Sons' prayer both before and after the cross. 

Don't discount the story of Ruth. For the most part, after exile, Moab falls off the pages of Scripture. So, how is verse 47 fulfilled. It’s fulfilled the same way all of Scripture is fulfilled; it’s fulfilled in Christ.

The law clearly stated that no Moabite was ever to enter the assembly of God's people. And when you read the story of Ruth, Naomi’s family, like the rest of Israel during the time of the Judges, was doing what was right in their own eyes. They had left the promised land. Her sons had taken foreign wives, and particularly from nations that were specifically forbidden.

And yet, there’s grace! Ruth, the Moabite is redeemed and even becomes a part of Jesus’ own lineage. 

But all this salvation in the past came about because the Son of God wept in a Garden and then got up and went and finished the work. Ruth, at least in part, is the answer to the eternal Son’s prayer.

All of Moab's restoration, and the same is true for any of these nations, including Israel, and all of us Gentiles, is found in our Union with Christ, and only in our union with Christ. If you are looking to understand what prophecy fulfillment looks like … that’s your answer. Any other suggested fulfillment is nothing more than a mere shadow of the true. As Paul says, All the promises of God find their yes and Amen in Christ-and only in Christ.

Hanged in the Sun before the Lord

The Moabs of this world had long led God’s people astray. 

I mentioned how Balak hired Balaam to curse the Israelites, but the Lord turned Balaam’s curse into a blessing. 

Balaam’s failure to curse Israel, however, wasn’t the end of his attempts to make Israel stumble. Immediately after his failure to curse, (in Numbers 25), Balaam devises a plan for the Moabite women to seduce the Israelites. They invited them to the sacrificial festival of their god and the indulgent and licentious worship associated with it. 

In fact, maybe we should read the first few verses of Numbers 25:1-5. 

While Israel lived in Shittim, the people began to whore with the daughters of Moab. These invited the people to the sacrifices of their gods, and the people ate and bowed down to their gods. So Israel yoked himself to Baal of Peor. And the anger of the Lord was kindled against Israel. And the Lord said to Moses, “Take all the chiefs of the people and hang them in the sun before the Lord, that the fierce anger of the Lord may turn away from Israel.”

The Lord’s anger, due to Moab’s idolatry, Israel’s idolatry, and even our idolatry—all the ways we have enticed others or have been enticed ourselves—is turned away from us only because our chief Priest, the Lord Jesus Christ, was hung in the sun on the cross before the Lord to suffer our rightful penalty in our place.

MEASURE OF GRACE

From Balak and Balaam to Solomon’s foreign wives, the Moabites have led Israel to corrupt practices and grievous sin through the worship of their idols, namely Chemosh. 

Do you see why it is absolutely necessary for God to judge the nations, such as Moab?

And just to be clear, the U.S. has its own idols, promoting sin and rebellion against the Almighty.

God allows the nations to mock Him for a time. But that day is soon coming to an end. For now, God is allowing the nations to store up wrath for themselves. And the day is fast approaching when that wrath will be poured out undiluted in fullest measure … which makes any measure of grace absolutely astounding.

The winepress of God’s wrath will be horrific. You can read about it in Revelation 14. Here, Moab is just a portrait of the judgment yet to come upon the whole earth.

The Lord of all nations not only rightfully judges the nations, He is the only deity who is able and willing to restore the nations. Dead gods not only have no power to save, they have no affection to do so either. 

You see, dead gods—lifeless idols—don’t weep.

They feel nothing for the people who make them. They care nothing about their people’s destruction. They care nothing about whether their people will be restored. They don’t even care about their own honor. They feel and know absolutely nothing, displaying not only the futility of idolatry, but the ridiculous bonds with which we enslave ourselves in our worship of such things.  

The Measurement of Grace

In 2 Samuel 8, after the giving of the Davidic Covenant, we read of David’s victories, one of which was over the Moabites.

2 Samuel 8:2. And David defeated Moab and he measured them with a line, making them lie down on the ground. Two lines he measured to be put to death, and one full line to be spared. And the Moabites became servants to David and brought tribute.

In mercy, King David spared some, some of the Moabites who were at war with him. In the same way, the Son of David, the Lord of all nations, spares some of us who were at war with Him.

[Can you imagine those Moabites who were spared going around boasting, "Well I CHOSE to lie down on the ground in this exact spot so that the king's measuring line would place me among the ones to be spared." How often do we tend to treat our salvation in a similar fashion, as if there was something particularly special about me or something I did that set me apart from those who failed to receive the same mercy.]

We were on the same battlefield opposing the Lord of Heaven’s Armies. We deserve death, not mercy.

And yet God, out of an overflow of His own divine compassion, has chosen to measure off some to be spared, who would receive a special salvific measure of His grace so that they might be His CHOSEN servants who would in turn bring tribute for such amazing grace.

There was nothing in those who were spared that set them apart from those put to death other than the King's own mercy and desire to spare them. David’s sparing of some, should have humbled Moab, but it had no such affect.

Loved ones, may we be humbled by this amazing measure of grace—being marked off by Christ’s measuring line of mercy that He stretched out with His own two hands on the cross.

https://youtu.be/EI6u5ZyY9OY

Jeremiah 47

Introduction:

Jeremiah 46-51 contains the highest concentration of material in the Old Testament God’s judgment on the nations for their sins. God judges the nations because He is God of all the nations.

In one sense, these chapters are an expansion of Jeremiah chapter 25.

(As a reminder, Jeremiah is not so much chronological as it is thematic.)

Now the largest portion of this longest book in the Bible deals primarily with God's judgment on His own people for their idolatry. The people of Israel and Judah went after the gods of the nations and were unfaithful to the Living God.

In chapter 25, the Lord sends Jeremiah to take the cup of the wine of wrath from His hands and make all the nations to whom the Lord sends him to drink. 

And Jeremiah lists the nations beginning with Jerusalem and the cities of Judah, followed by Egypt and the Philistines, as well as the rest of the nations that appear over these next few chapters, ending with Babylon.

Then in verse 28, we read these words:
And if they refuse to accept the cup from you hand to drink, then you shall say to them, “Thus says the Lord of hosts: You must drink! For behold, I begin to work disaster at the city that is called by my name, and shall you go unpunished? You shall not go unpunished, for I am summoning a sword against all the inhabitants of the earth, declares the Lord of hosts.”

If the Lord begins to work disaster and judgment at the city called by His name, how much more so will the nations receive judgment!

Peter picks this up in his first epistle (1 Peter 4:17).
For it is time for judgment to begin at the household of God; and if it begins with us, what will be the outcome for those who do not obey the gospel. 

   New Testament Judgment

God’s judgment of the nations isn’t just an Old Testament concept. God hasn’t changed with the coming of Christ. Listen to Jesus’ own words from Matthew 25:31-32.

When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, then he will sit on his glorious throne. Before him will be gathered all the nations, and he will separate people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats.

The sheep and the goats, they are separated for judgment. Some will be judged worthy to inherit the kingdom and enter into eternal life. The others will be judged worthy of eternal punishment.

Jesus will gather all the nations and judge them in righteousness. 

The Philistines are named as one of the many nations to receive this judgment. Here, in Jeremiah, the judgment is what we call, “temporal judgment.” The coming judgment pronounced upon the Philistines in Jeremiah 47 is not the eternal judgment mentioned in Matthew 25 when Jesus will judge the nations. BUT … it is certainly intended to point to that reality. 

So, we’ll approach this chapter with an eye toward this ultimate reality.

READ: Jeremiah 47:1-7

I. Who are The Philistines?

So, just who are the Philistines? I’m sure you all know.
In fact, I’m confident that average non-believer is at least somewhat familiar with who the Philistines are, even if they don’t know the term Philistine … or Phil-is-tine. The Philistines played a major role in in the history of Israel.
 

   David and Goliath

The Philistine you’re likely most familiar with is a man by the name of Goliath — a great behemoth of a man — who was struck down by the shepherd boy David … who cut off Goliath’s head with the giant’s own sword. If you recall, the rest of Israel trembled on the hillside, terrified for 40 days as this giant taunted them day after day.

Speaking of Goliath, we never truly begin to understand a passage of Scripture until we understand it theologically—in its theological context. In other words, what does this teach us about God and who we are before Him.

David and Goliath is not a story about slaying the giants in your life, as popular a message as that might be. In case you never realized, we aren’t David in that story. We’re the rest of the Israelites quaking in our sandals!

One of the major threads that runs through Scripture is that of the Seed of the Woman and the Seed of the Serpent. Both David and Goliath are types — they are shadows pointing to things far greater than themselves. 

Just as the Israelites feared before Goliath instead of fearing God, Adam feared before the serpent rather than fearing and obeying God. That’s why he failed to defend his bride. 

But David comes in the fear of the Lord, where what matters most to him is defending the honor and glory of the God of Israel, not by David himself accomplishing or even necessarily doing anything specific, but rather by displaying his faith — trusting the God who has always delivered him in the past. David comes at the giant with faith, faith in the living God.

   Ark of the Covenant / Dagon

Before that, the Philistines had stolen the Ark of the Covenant. 

Now, that didn’t work out too well for them.

In fact, the passage Chase read for us from 1 Samuel 5 regarding Dagon is the perfect illustration that the God of the Hebrews is the Lord of All Nations. 

It’s intentionally comical. The Philistines place the Ark of the Covenant in the house of Dagon, or Dagon’s temple. But the next morning, they awake to find their god, Dagon, fallen on his face before the Ark of the Lord. So, they have to lift their god back in his place. 

What sort of god has to be lifted back into his place? How is that god going to save anyone?

So, the next day, Dagon fell on his face before the Ark of the Lord again. And this time his hand and head are lying cut off on the threshold. 

So, the Philistines come to the conclusion, we don’t want the God of the Hebrews residing here. Why? Because His hand is heavy on our god, Dagon. 

No, we don’t want the God who actually has power. We don’t want to worship Him. We want powerless Dagon, who just sits in his place, never interferes with our lives. Occasionally we’ll have to lift him back into his place … but at least he’s safe, right? Or at least we tend to think so.

They were fine having the God of the Hebrews around, so long as He didn’t interfere with their idols. But start doing that… sorry, you’re out of here. 

   Judges / Samson

We also run into the Philistines in the Book of Judges

Judges 10:6 reads: Israel again did what was evil in the sight of the Lord
(That tends to be a fairly common refrain throughout the Book of Judges).
And they served … (among other gods) … the gods of the Philistines.

So, verse 7. So, the anger of the Lord was kindled against Israel and He sold them into the hand of the (you guessed it) … the Philistines. 

Time after time, the Lord would raise up a deliverer for His people, and each time, no sooner than the deliverer died, (Judges 2:19) the people turned back and were more corrupt than their fathers [before them], going after other gods, serving them and bowing down to them. 

So, it’s no surprise that three chapters later, Judges 13:1 —
The people of Israel again did what was evil in the sight of the Lord, so the Lord gave them into the hand of the Philistines for forty years.

Yet in His mercy, the Lord raises up mighty Samson to deliver His people once again. 

   Purpose of the Philistines in the History of Israel

God used nations such as the Philistines to bring judgment against His people for their forsaking Him for the idols of the nations, including the gods of the Philistines.

Now, with the task of judgment against His own people set forth and carried out, He now brings judgment against those nations.

(That’s what’s taking place in these Oracles againstthe Nations. In fact, this section, which begins in chapter 46, uses the Hebrew preposition that would be better translated against not concerning. These chapters are not so much the Lord’s word concerning the nations, but against the nations.)

   Context:

So, moving into our text. Verse 1. For further context, the Lord gave this word to Jeremiah … before Pharaoh struck down Gaza.

While there is debate among scholars just when this prophecy was given, and which Pharaoh is being referred to here, most likely, if we are to take the preceding chapter along with those that are to follow, then the most likely candidate is Pharaoh Neco, and the flood waters in verse 2 is the Chaldean army.

   Technical:

Where scholars seem to get hung up is verse 2 describes a flood coming from the North. But Egypt is in the South. 

Now if the flood—which is a metaphor for judgment form an enemy army—is intended as Egypt, then Egypt would obviously have had to taken Gaza on its way back from Carchemish after its grand defeat from Babylon.

But by that time, especially according to chapter 46, Egypt would have been too weakened to have fought against Gaza, much less capture it.

which is why many have had difficulty reconciling Jeremiah 47:1 with Pharaoh Neco.

But here's where the problem lies — they’re assuming the waters rising out of the North to be that of Egypt.

But that's to assume that v. 2 is based on an antecedent - or at least an immediate antecedent, but the rising waters in verse 2 is its own noun. 

Furthermore, the vehicle of judgment in all these chapters, on all these nations is implied as being Babylon -the hammer of the whole earth (50:22); the destroying mountain which destroys the whole earth (51:25).

Babylon is often described as a torrent or flood of judgment

So, it's best to understand verse I as primarily a timestamp, which Jeremiah records at the beginning of each section and subsection.

Why does this matter? Well, for one, context always matters. And we’ll look closer at the specifics in a minute. For now, I believe it's best to see Pharaoh in verse I as pharaoh Neco from our last chapter. 

(Remember, these chapters aren’t listed so much chronologically as thematically. They are not haphazard. We have the same Pharaoh and the same Chaldean army referenced as in the previous chapter.)

Neco would have most likely attacked Gaza on its way up to Carchemish to face Nebuchadrezzar. So, Egypt would have been the powerful army

They were known for before being severely defeated by the Chaldeans.

II. Coming Torrent:

Verse 2, The Coming Torrent. (Read verse 2)

Waters rising serves as a metaphor for the assembling of an army. 

Out of the north, suggests this is the Chaldean army that must cross the Euphrates River at Carchemish. 

The army of the Chaldeans will be like an overflowing torrent, that shall overflow the whole of the land.

To understand the metaphors of the Bible, we must keep the natural phenomena of the country in mind. We are quite familiar with flashfloods ourselves. When the ground is dry and hardened and can’t take in the water, it just builds up and overflows, taking the path of least resistance. These floods are swift and devastating. 

But this flood, this torrent, will be military in nature. The Lord hasn’t broken His covenant with Noah. These aren’t waters that will cover the whole earth, but an army. 

   Knowledge of the Glory of the Lord

And why is the Lord sending an army of judgment to cover the earth?

In order to make His righteousness and justice known on the earth. 

So that, (to quote Habakkuk) the earth is filled with knowledge of the glory of the Lord as the waters cover the sea. 

So, whether by judgment or salvation, God’s glory will be made known. Remember that. God is glorified in both His acts of judgment and His acts of mercy.

God’s judgment is often portrayed as a flood or destructive waters. It points us back to Noah, for sure. But we also have Pharaoh’s army during the Exodus drowned in the sea. Even final judgment carries this idea … in that it is called the Lake … of Fire. 

Here, Babylon portrays God’s waters of judgment upon, not just Philistia, but the whole land. Philistia just happens to be somewhat next in line after Nebuchadnezzar defeats Egypt at Carchemish. 

Which takes us to the 3rd point in our outline: Unfathomable Judgment.

III. Unfathomable Judgment:

The severity of this judgment, since the text speaks in terms of a flood, is unfathomable. 

Whatever one imagines judgment to be like, it will be far worse.

   MORE SEVERE

This is why I believe we’re given the context of verse 1.

This prophecy was given prior to Pharaoh striking down Gaza, but the destruction that comes after from the Babylonians will be far worse.

Gaza had faced a formidable opponent in Pharaoh, but Pharaoh was nothing compared to the judgment the Lord is bringing on the land through His servant Nebuchadnezzar.

   Fathers will not look back

How horrific is this judgment? 

Well, just at the noise of the stamping of hoofs and the rumbling of chariot wheels (verse 2), the fathers are so terrified and helpless, they don’t even look back to their children.

Now, there are two possible ways to understand this verse.
1) Perhaps the fathers couldn’t bear to watch the fate of their children.

Or 2) the selfishness that looks to save one’s own life at all costs won out even over their own flesh and blood. 

Sometimes, the ambiguity is deliberate, and it could be a little of both. 

   Magnification of Sin

Two things tend to magnify the sinful human heart more than just about anything else.

Prosperity—when things are going well and one feels at ease and secure—that’s when Israel often turned back to their idolatry. 

The other is grave danger—the fear of losing something one holds as utmost importance. For many, this is their own skin. 

That’s what Satan sought to demonstrate with Job’s second test. Of course, Satan failed when it came to righteous Job. But most of us aren’t Job.

When it comes down to it, many will sadly be content to save themselves regardless of what becomes of their loved ones. 

   What possible comfort

But let’s not discount the idea that when judgment comes, the horrors of watching one’s own children perish. 

Oh there are plenty of unbelievers who seek to comfort their loved ones in life threatening circumstances, even when they know the end is certain and hopeless. 

But let me try to help us think soberly about this. What comfort can one possibly offer outside of Christ? When final judgment comes, no unbeliever is going to cuddle their child and make believe that “all is good.” No unbeliever is going to want to see the fate of their loved ones.

   A Greater Judgment

So, if this is how judgment is portrayed at the hand of Nebuchadnezzar, how much more horrific will it be when Jesus gathers the nations for judgment? 

Well, I’ll tell you. You can read it in Revelation 6 regarding the sixth seal, which is the brink of final judgment. 

Revelation 6:14. The sky vanished like a scroll that is being rolled up, and every mountain and island was removed from its place. Then the kings of the earth and the great ones and the generals and the rich and the powerful, and everyone, slave and free, hid themselves in the caves and among the rocks of the mountains, calling to the mountains and the rocks, “Fall on us and hide us from the face of him who is seated on the throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb, for the great day of their wrath has come, and who can stand?”

   FARTHER REACHING

Judgment is not just more severe than anyone can anticipate, it’s also more widespread. In verse 4, judgment upon the Philistines expands to Tyre and Sidon. (Read verse 4.)

Just as Cush, Put, and Lud were lumped in with Egypt in chapter 46, here Tyre and Sidon are grouped in with Philistia.

The point is, the Lord is cutting off every ally, every possible help.

   No Remaining Allies

We have family members who don’t really have anyone to call when they are in need. Their closest family is hours away. But for the most part, they are isolated and don’t have any close friends. 

Should make each of us thankful for God’s design for the church as a family. 

But I come across people quite often, especially in my line of work, where they sadly don’t really have anyone. 

While most unbelievers aren’t quite in that situation, when judgment comes it will be even worse. Even those who are surrounded by peers who would take a bullet for them, will find no help in the day of judgment. No government will be able to step in, because the only government will be the Lord of the Nations, as all stand ready—or rather kneel with their face to the ground—waiting to give account to Him. No best friend will be able to intercede. No ally will be left. They will be naked and exposed with no one to help.

Those they’d think to turn to, the allies they thought they had, will be in the same predicament.

And just in case you’re in here but haven’t surrendered to Christ. The same will be true for you. The church will be unable to help you on the day of judgment. 

Nobody gets a pass from judgment. Don’t look to your allies; they’ll be able to say nothing in your defense. All without exception will be gathered before the Son of Man. The question is which side will you be on … the sheep or the goats. 

   MORE LAMENTABLE AND UTTERLY UNAPPEASABLE

Judgment will be more severe, farther reaching, and it will be filled with extreme lament. Verse 5. (Read verse 5.)

Baldness and gashing refer to pagan forms of mourning. The term for baldness is used with connection to pagan practices. It’s likely not that they shaved their heads in mourning—like Job did—but plucked out their hair as a form of severe asceticism, along with gashing or pressing a sharp object into oneself for cutting or piercing. 

These are pagan practices explicitly forbidden and condemned in the Old Testament. Deuteronomy 14:1. You are the sons of the Lord your God. You shall not cut yourselves or make any baldness on your foreheads for the dead. For you are a people holy to the Lord your God. 

Why were they forbidden to do these things? 

These are some of the abominable practices of the nations, in how they worshipped their gods and mourned before their gods. 

The idea was that if they lamented sufficiently, by showing enough outward contrition, their gods would be appeased and come to their aid.

But no help will come from gods made with ears but cannot hear …

All their ascetism will gain them nothing. This judgment will be completely unappeasable.

   NECESSITY OF JUDGMENT (Unwavering)

Judgment will be more severe, farther reaching, more lamentable, utterly unappeasable, and more necessary than we realize. Last 2 verses. 

An interlocutor enters the dialogue, addressing the inanimate sword of the Lord in anthropomorphic terms. Ah, sword of the Lord! How long till you are quiet? Put yourself back into your scabbard … rest and be still!

Then comes the response: How can it be quiet when the Lord has given it a charge? Against Askelon and against the seashore, he has appointed it.

This is a plea for the Lord to stay His hand of judgment. 

But how can He so long as such evil fills the land. 

What kind of evil?

Well, Jeremiah 47, interestingly enough, doesn’t specify the charges against the Philistines … or Tyre or Sidon for that matter.
But it’s fairly easy to paint a picture of their sins … they’re recorded elsewhere. They include idolatry, pride, vengeance, malice of soul, unending enmity, covetousness …

It sort of sounds like the rest of the nations. Indeed, it sounds a lot like us at times. 

   Sin Must Be Answered

All of these judgment oracles against the nations, whether that be the Philistines, or Egypt, or Babylon …
they are intended as a reminder that the Judge of all the earth cannot allow sin to go unanswered; that it must be addressed. 

For God to be faithful to His Word, it is absolutely necessary for Him to judge sin. This takes us all the way back to Genesis 2:17 — 

for on the day you eat of it you shall surely die.

God laid out the consequence for sin. It is death.

   Infinite Worth of the Holy God

Yet, even these temporal judgments do not account for the reality that all sin is first and foremost against the God Himself, the eternal God, the God of all creation. This makes even the so-called “smallest” sin deserving of eternal punishment. As such, the fullness of justice is not meted out in the temporary but in the eternal. 

And even an eternity will be insufficient to pay for the smallest of crimes against the infinite everlasting Lord of the universe. Which means, once judgment is passed, there is no escape … not even through annihilation. 

You know why there are theologians who propose doctrines such as annihilation? Because the description of hell as described throughout Scripture, in both the Old and New Testaments is so horrific, we’ll seek any means possible to lessen it.

Sadly, any means but the one God Himself has offered, which takes us to our last point: Unfathomable Mercy

IV. Unfathomable Mercy

:

Philistia was named as one of many nations, not only to be judged, but to receive mercy … salvation.

Psalm 87

On the holy mount stands the city he founded; the Lord loves the gates of Zion more than all the dwelling places of Jacob.

Glorious things are spoken of you, O city of God.

- What are the glorious things? The salvation of the very nations that received Jeremiah’s judgment oracles.

Among those who know me [says the Lord], I mention Rahab [or Egypt] and Babylon; behold, Philistia and Tyre, with Cush — 

   To Redirect Worship

God’s ultimate purpose is to bring all nations to worship Him through salvation in Christ. 

John Piper once wrote, “Missions exist because worship doesn’t.”
I believe that’s true, but I would like to qualify that statement. (And I’m sure Piper would agree with my qualification.)
It’s not that the nations don’t worship. 

The problem is that the nations, including ourselves who are from among the nations, we tend to worship the wrong things … things unworthy of worship.

We, and everyone else on the planet, are constantly revealing what we worship. Our day-to-day lives bear witness to what it is we worship. 

And our sin quickly reveals where our worship is misplaced. 

All sin is a result of misplaced worship. … All of it!

   Flood of Fire

Because of our sin against a holy God, judgment is coming. As Silas read for us from 2 Peter 3, the flood of God’s judgment will come like a thief, and the heavens will pass away with a roar, and the heavenly bodies will be burned up and dissolved, and the earth and the works that are done on it will be exposed. 

Rather than a flood of water like in the days of Noah, this judgment will be a flood of fire. 

   The Warning

In one sense, it will come without warning. People will be going about their lives, giving no thought to the day that is fast approaching — eating, drinking, marrying, having kids, sending kids off to school, taking new jobs, retiring, or whatever it is they do. And that day will sweep them away like a flash flood out of nowhere. 

In another sense, the warning has been sounded long ago and with great frequency. Just as (in verse 2) the flood was anticipated. Look, the waters are rising. But most paid no mind.

But the fact that the waters are rising should cause us to be all the more urgent in warning the Philistines! And Lebanon! And your family and friends. 

Because the coming judgment will be more severe, farther reaching (indeed universal), more lamentable, and absolutely unavoidable. 

Try as theologians and scholars may, there is no minimizing the horrors of judgment … no softening hell. 

   God’s Who Don’t Hear

The Philistines thought that by their self-afflicted severe forms of ascetism that they could appease their gods and perhaps remove the judgment they deserve. 

The idea was that if they lamented sufficiently, by showing enough outward contrition, their gods would be appeased and come to their aid.

No amount of outward contrition and ascetism will earn them a thing.

Remember the God contest between Elijah and the prophets of Baal? 

The prophets of Baal danced and cut and pierced themselves as the cried out to Baal … who never heard. Why? Because dead gods who need you to set them in place don’t hear. 

   The Living God

But the living God hears.  And He doesn’t require you to pluck out your hair or gash or pierce yourself to be heard by Him.  He hears you because He is the Living God. 

And He listens to your prayers because His only Son Jesus Christ had His flesh gashed and pierced in your place. 

Jesus bore the ugliness of the idolatrous practices of the nations in His own flesh in order to pay for our idolatry.
Indeed, he allowed himself to be set up as a worthless Dagon, hung on a mantle of wood, in order to put to death the dead idols in our lives — idols that merely appeared to have power and life because we imagine ourselves to breathe life into them. But in our sins and trespasses, we are dead ourselves. What breath of life could we possibly give them?

Only the living God of all nations can breathe life into anything, for He Himself gives all things life and breath and everything.

   The Day Approaches

A greater flood is coming than that of the Babylonian army.

The sky will be rolled back as a scroll

the question is, regardless of whether from Philistia or any other nation,

Is it well with your soul?

   The Greater David

That day will be a day of abject terror for most.

But for all those in Christ, who have trusted in the true and better 

David, it is the day of victory- final victory when our every enemy will be vanquished.

   The Enemy’s Own Sword

You see, Jesus is the greater David who cut-off the head, not of the seed of the serpent, but the serpent himself. And He did so with the enemy’s own sword. 

What was the serpent’s sword? Genesis 2:17. On the day you eat, you shall surely die. God’s righteous requirement to judge sin.

Jesus ripped the giant’s sword out of his hand when, as the sole innocent man in all of history, He was condemned to death on false charges … with Satan himself responsible for delivering Jesus into the hands of lawless men.

Jesus came to take the sword out of the hand of Goliath, the Philistine, in order to save the Philistines … indeed, even the nations. 

   Refuge from the Deluge

The Day of Judgment is coming. 

They’re both the same Day of the Lord … the same skies rolled back …

the same Lord's coming … same flood of judgment … same event.

For some it will be final salvation

For others final judgment. 

This is not some localized flood, but global and exhaustive in scale.

There’s but one true and safe refuge from this deluge of God’s wrath, and that’s the one who drank to the dregs the fullness of God’s cup of wrath in our place. His name is Jesus. He is not only Lord of All Nations, but Savior of All Nations.

https://youtu.be/DIlwNY4BiLo

The God of the Hebrews is not just the God of the Hebrews. He is Lord of all nations.

 The highest of all the blessings the gospel affords us is the blessing of adoption: that we are called children of God, and so we are. But being adopted into the family of God means more than having God as Father and Christ as Brother; it means having the entire church as our family. The relationship of brothers and sisters in Christ is the only earthly relationship that will continue into eternity; all other earthly relationships will be dissolved. Join us as we look at how the Gospel of Jesus Christ restores every relationship we get to enjoy both here on earth and in the age to come. 

 Blood relationships are secondary to blood-bought relationships. Your genealogy doesn't ultimately matter. Your birth certificate doesn't ultimately matter. The document that matters is the record of debt that stood against you due to your sins against God, and its being canceled by being nailed to the cross. And this cancellation of debt purchases for you a new birth certificate, in which you have been born again into the family of God. The invitation is to come, come join this family that will last into eternity. Don't remain outside, but come.   

  The world suggests that you can be whatever you want, but does this pursuit of self-defined identity truly lead to the endless happiness people are seeking? God has fashioned each and every human with such intricate care to image Him. To seek to be more than this is a serious downgrade to what one already is. To pursue self-worth outside of God’s design ultimately leads to restlessness, emptiness, and a lack of peace—lack of peace with the God who fearfully and wonderfully made you. But God sent His Son to free us from the lie that we can be something more, to free us from pretending we’re something we’re not, to free us from having to prove ourselves to anyone else but to simply trust Him. Together, let’s look at how God fashioned you and why His design for how He fashioned you, including your biology, gender, sexuality, and even your supposed flaws, is not a mistake but intended to display His glory.

 The Word and the Family: Biblical Foundations for the Family Genesis 2:18-25 The War on Family: Marriage 

Marriage is the first institution of creation, the building block of the family, which in turn is the building block of all society. When marriage is corrupted, so too is the family corrupted, and eventually all of society. It's not surprising that Satan continues to wage war against the family. that our sin distorts God's good design for family is to be expected. But a society's war against the family is nothing less than suicidal, a destruction of itself. We live in an age where all three—Satan, sin, and society—have sought to undermine, uproot, and ultimately redefine the family. Even much of the church is plagued with distortions of God's good design, as much of the church tends to take its cues from the world rather than from God's Word. We are in desperate need of being reminded of God's design for family, which begins with marriage. 

OUTLINE

 I.  Made for Communion (v.18, not good to be alone)

 II.  Made to Fit (v.19-20, complementarity)

 III.  Made of the Same Substance (v.21-22, out of the man)

 IV. Made for Union (v.23-24, what marriage is)

 V.  Made for Exclusivity (v.23-24, holding fast)

 VI. Made without sin (v.25, naked and unashamed) 

 In this fallen age, we can be tempted to seek great things in the here and now that are saved up, not for this age, but the age to come. The Lord's Word to Baruch serves as a correction, a call, and a comfort for life in a fallen world and the sorrows that accompany it.  

 The Book of Jeremiah, for the most part, is a very dark book. But I assure you, that's a good thing, because it's with the backdrop of the horrors of our human condition that the gospel most vividly shines in all its glory.  Chapter 44 is the last recorded event of Jeremiah's life. It contains Jeremiah's last recorded words, preaching in Egypt to deaf ears, rebellious families, hardened hearts, steeped in idolatry. While the end of the Book closes with the slightest glint of hope in chapter 52, there is no hope whatsoever presented in chapter 44. Jeremiah spent his life pleading, warning, and delivering God's Word to the people he loved. Yet to the very end, they refused to listen; they refused to repent. We might say that their settling in Egypt served as a portrait of their settling in their sin.  So, was it all worth it? Would we consider Jeremiah's ministry a failure or a success? Was his devotion to the Lord and His Word worth such a devastating conclusion? 

Jeremiah 44 

I. Unhappy Ending (v.1)

II. Failure to Learn (v.2-6)

III. Evil Against Self (v. 7-10)

IV. Faces Set (v. 11-14)

V. Vowing Rebellion (v. 15-18)

VI. Family Affair (v. 19)

VII. Faulty Logic (v. 20-23)

VIII. Confirm Your Vows (v. 24-25)

IX. Permanently Severed (v. 26-27)

X. Whose Word Stands (v. 28-30)