The Prophet Jeremiah
Monday, August 12 Jeremiah 46:1-12
“Concerning foreignnations”
Chapters46-51 contain a series of prophecies about other nations. These prophecies are not to be read asblueprints for international events in the late seventh/early sixth centuriesBC any more than they are to be read as blueprints for the twenty-first centuryAD. They do indicate elements ofhistorical relations during Jeremiah’s day, but more fundamentally theyindicate God’s resolve to judge idolatry, pride, and cruelty through thehistorical process and his intention to use that same process to reveal his glory. They speak of judgment (present or to come)and, in some cases, indicate the possibilities of restoration and renewal.
In 609BC the army of Pharaoh Necho marched from Egypt toward Syria inorder to oppose the emerging power of Babylon. The date of this prophecy is the fourth year of King Jehoiakim(605BC). The language of the prophecydepicts elements of the Egyptian army preparing to fight and then fleeing interror. The boastful pride of theEgyptians has been reversed by divine judgment against a nation that persecutedthe people of God.
You, Lord, say “Pride goeth before a fall,”and you make your word true. Amen.
Tuesday, August 13 Jeremiah 46:13-28
“I will punishEgypt”
Nebuchadnezzarinvaded Egypt in 570BC, late in his reign, but there were periodic encountersof various kinds between Egypt and Babylon throughout Jeremiah’s lifetime. Essentially the prophecy announces thatBabylon will work God’s judgment on Egypt. For some in Egypt it will be defeat and exile. Egypt is personified as a female who will beput to shame by a people from the north. Part of the judgment to come is directed at Amon, one of the Egyptiandeities. Judgment, however, is not theend of Egypt as a nation; it will again be inhabited.
Following the prophecy against Egypt is a prediction of the restorationof God’s people. Those on whom God’sjudgment has fallen have been disciplined justly, but in his mercy God will notmake an end of them. Correspondingly,those whom God used to discipline his people (such as the Egyptians) willsuffer the fate of those whose pride, cruelty, and idolatry have kept them fromacknowledging the work of God.
The nations, Lord, will be held accountableto your sovereign justice. Amen.
Wednesday, August 14 Jeremiah 47:1-7
“’The Philistineswill be destroyed”
ThePhilistines lived in some of the cities on the Mediterranean coast ofPalestine. They had been neighbors andoften enemies of Judah since the twelfth century BC, having immigrated to thearea from some of the Aegean islands and southwestern Turkey. Two Philistine cities are named here: Gazaand Ashkelon. Gaza was a trading centerand an important point of contact between Egypt, the nomadic tribes living inthe Sinai wilderness, and the states immediately to the north and east(including Judah).
Theassault being prophesied could have been perpetrated by the Egyptians between609BC, when Necho took his armies north and 605, when the Egyptians weredefeated by the Babylonians. In form andvocabulary, the prophecy against the Philistines is similar to the precedingprophecy against Egypt. The Philistineswill be defeated on some future day. People will mourn for Gaza and Ashkelon. God’s historical judgment, personified in verse six through a poeticaddress to his sword, will surely come upon this enemy of Judah.
You oppose those,Lord, who seek to do evil to your people. Amen.
Thursday, August 15 Jeremiah 48:1-17
“A message concerning Moab”
The Moabitesreceive an extensive address in this chapter, with over twenty different citiesnamed in the indictment of Judah’s eastern neighbor on the far side of the DeadSea. According to Genesis 19:30-38, adrunken Lot slept with his two daughters, and as a result they bore Moab andBen-Ammi. The child named Moab is theancestor of the Moabite people. Thus theMoabites and Israelites were distant relatives. Later, David’s family was related to the Moabites through Ruth, hisgreat-grandmother (Ruth 4:13-22), and Solomon married a Moabite princess andbuilt for her a temple to Chemosh, the chief Moabite deity.
One way to referto Moab was to call them “the people of Chemosh.” He, like his people, will suffer defeat andgo into exile, and in the future Moab will be ashamed of the god Chemosh justas the Israelites were ashamed of the golden calf that they had worshiped. The judgment language includes references tosalt, an agent that ruins agricultural products, and to curses on whoever islax in doing the Lord’s work of execution.
You, Lord, willjudge the false gods of the nations. Amen.
Friday, August 16 Jeremiah 48:18-33
“Moab lies in ruins”
Jeremiah’sprophecy contains mourning language, prediction of judgment and exile, anddisdain for those who live in opposition to the holy God of Abraham, Isaac andJacob. As with Egypt and Judah, Jeremiahuses familial language for Moab as a daughter (i.e., “Daughter of Dibon”). Her cities will be ruined, and she will waila funeral lament. Even physicalmutilation is mentioned. Moab’s “horn,”a metaphor for strength, will be cut off and her arm broken.
These propheciesdepict Moab’s humiliation and degradation. As with previous prophetic judgments, the language is graphic. Moab will wallow in vomit, and cries ofanguish over disregard for her suffering will be heard. So moved is the prophet by the intensity ofdepicting Moab’s downfall that he portrays himself in mourning. While the historical agent of all thisdestruction is not named, the first-century Jewish historian Josephus preservesan account that has the Babylonians campaigning in the region of Moab after thedefeat of Judah in the late sixth century BC.
It is a terrible thing, Lord, to come underyour divine judgment. Amen.
Saturday, August 17 Jeremiah 48:34-47
“Moab has boastedagainst the Lord”
Theprophecies against the nations are valuable for more than simply compiling achecklist to see how and when, or if, judgment befell the nationsaddressed. Like all announcements ofjudgment, these prophecies get the attention of audiences and warn them; theyalso speak of eternal truths about God and his people.
First,they assume without argument that God is the Creator of the broader historicalprocess in which the nations find themselves. This is practically the same as claiming that God is Creator of theworld, since creation in the Bible is not simply about a past act but about theongoing interaction with God and the events of history. Second, the prophecies assume that there are recognizedstandards of conduct to which any group may be held accountable. God has the right to judge the nations, hisstandards are just, and he may restore the nation as part of a future in whichhis mercy is as surprising as his judgment. As such, these prophecies play the role of protest against governmentalinjustice.
Whetherindividual or corporate, Lord, you stand against injustice. Amen.