49 Concerning the Ammonites.
Thus says the Lord:
“ Has Israel no sons?
Has he no heir?
Why then has Milcom1 dispossessed Gad,
and his people settled in its cities?
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,
says the Lord.
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 his officials.
4 Why do you boast of your valleys,2
O faithless daughter,
who trusted in her treasures, saying,
‘ Who will come against me?’
5 Behold, I will bring terror upon you,
declares the Lord God of hosts,
from all who are around you,
and you shall be driven out, every man straight before him,
with none to gather the fugitives.
6 “But afterward I will restore the fortunes of the Ammonites, declares the Lord.”
7 Concerning Edom.
Thus says the Lord of hosts:
“ Is wisdom no more in Teman?
Has counsel perished from the prudent?
Has their wisdom vanished?
8 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 punish him.
9 If grape gatherers came to you,
would they not leave gleanings?
If thieves came by night,
would they not destroy only enough for themselves?
10 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.
11 Leave your fatherless children; I will keep them alive;
and let your widows trust in me.”
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. 13 For I have sworn by myself, declares the Lord, that Bozrah shall become a horror, a taunt, a waste, and a curse, and all her cities shall be perpetual wastes.”
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!
15 For behold, I will make you small among the nations,
despised among mankind.
16 The horror you inspire has deceived you,
and the pride of your heart,
you who live in the clefts of the rock,3
who hold the height of the hill.
Though you make your nest as high as the eagle’s,
I will bring you down from there,
declares the Lord.
17 “Edom shall become a horror. Everyone who passes by it will be horrified and will hiss because of all its disasters. 18 As when Sodom and Gomorrah and their neighboring cities were overthrown, says the Lord, no man shall dwell there, no man shall sojourn in her. 19 Behold, like a lion coming up from the jungle of the Jordan against a perennial pasture, I will suddenly make him4 run away from her. And I will appoint over her whomever I choose. For who is like me? Who will summon me? What shepherd can stand before me? 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. 21 At the sound of their fall the earth shall tremble; the sound of their cry shall be heard at the Red Sea. 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.”
23 Concerning Damascus:
“ Hamath and Arpad are confounded,
for they have heard bad news;
they melt in fear,
they are troubled like the sea that cannot be quiet.
24 Damascus has become feeble, she turned to flee,
and panic seized her;
anguish and sorrows have taken hold of her,
as of a woman in labor.
25 How is the famous city not forsaken,
the city of my joy?
26 Therefore her young men shall fall in her squares,
and all her soldiers shall be destroyed in that day,
declares the Lord of hosts.
27 And I will kindle a fire in the wall of Damascus,
and it shall devour the strongholds of Ben-hadad.”
28 Concerning Kedar and the kingdoms of Hazor that Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon struck down.
Thus says the Lord:
“ Rise up, advance against Kedar!
Destroy the people of the east!
29 Their tents and their flocks shall be taken,
their curtains and all their goods;
their camels shall be led away from them,
and men shall cry to them: ‘Terror on every side!’
30 Flee, wander far away, dwell in the depths,
O inhabitants of Hazor!
declares the Lord.
For Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon
has made a plan against you
and formed a purpose against you.
31 “ Rise up, advance against a nation at ease,
that dwells securely,
declares the Lord,
that has no gates or bars,
that dwells alone.
32 Their camels shall become plunder,
their herds of livestock a spoil.
I will scatter to every wind
those who cut the corners of their hair,
and I will bring their calamity
from every side of them,
declares the Lord.
33 Hazor shall become a haunt of jackals,
an everlasting waste;
no man shall dwell there;
no man shall sojourn in her.”
34 The word of the Lord that came to Jeremiah the prophet concerning Elam, in the beginning of the reign of Zedekiah king of Judah.
35 Thus says the Lord of hosts: “Behold, I will break the bow of Elam, the mainstay of their might. 36 And I will bring upon Elam the four winds from the four quarters of heaven. And I will scatter them to all those winds, and there shall be no nation to which those driven out of Elam shall not come. 37 I will terrify Elam before their enemies and before those who seek their life. I will bring disaster upon them, my fierce anger, declares the Lord. I will send the sword after them, until I have consumed them, 38 and I will set my throne in Elam and destroy their king and officials, declares the Lord.
39 “But in the latter days I will restore the fortunes of Elam, declares the Lord.”
Section Overview
Jeremiah’s international oracles (chs. 46–51) continue with the only chapter containing addresses to multiple nations: Ammon (49:1–6), Edom (vv. 7–22), Aram (vv. 23–27), Kedar and Hazor (vv. 28–33), and Elam (vv. 34–39). Although these short oracles are individualized to their respective audiences and situations, they share several features: (1) confrontation of the nations for their hubris and sins against Yahweh (e.g., vv. 1–3, 31); (2) the impending judgment they will suffer as a result (e.g., vv. 3–5, 14–16); and (3) for some of them, the restoration that Yahweh will effect in the future (vv. 6, 39). Jeremiah is indeed a “prophet to the nations” (1:5) in the service of Yahweh, whose rule extends over heaven and earth (cf. 10:10–16).
Section Outline
X.F. Concerning Ammon (49:1–6)
1. Judgment against Ammon’s Cities, People, and Gods (49:1–5)
2. Deliverance for Ammon (49:6)
G. Concerning Judgment against Edom (49:7–22)
H. Concerning Judgment against Damascus (49:23–27)
I. Concerning Judgment against Kedar and Hazor (49:28–33)
J. Concerning Elam (49:34–39)
1. Judgment against Elam (49:34–38)
2. Deliverance for Elam (49:39)
Response
Jeremiah 48–49 continues the trend begun in Jeremiah 47 of addressing a succession of Judah’s smaller neighbors. Despite the trait of geographical smallness that binds the nations in this section, the oracle concerning Moab (ch. 48) stands out for being far longer than the others (cf. chs. 47; 49). The reason for this appears to be that Moab, as the closest of relatives to Israel/Judah and ancestor of its most important king (cf. Ruth 4:18–22), serves as a mirror image to Yahweh’s people. Several descriptions of guilty Judah in the book of Jeremiah reappear in the oracle concerning Moab (e.g., Jer. 48:3, 7, 44; cf. 7:5; 14:6; 23:12).136 The rhetorical effect of such echoes is that of gathering the entire family to address one child’s misbehavior, knowing full well that the discipline of one amounts also to warning the rest who have done the same thing before and might soon do so again.
The role of Moab as representative for the whole group also finds support in how the smaller nations, like a tight-knit family, are evidently aware of one another’s highs and lows. The coming shaming of Chemosh, Moab’s national god, is compared to Israel’s shame of Bethel (48:13; cf. v. 27), the seat of the syncretistic cult in the northern kingdom (1 Kings 12:29–32). When an inhabitant of Aroer, a border region between Moab and Ammon, is summoned to witness a refugee fleeing from Moab, the implication is that all her neighbors will soon hear the news (Jer. 48:19). And lest the neighbors of Moab think themselves to be exempt, Yahweh also makes an example of Damascus as the “famous city” (49:25) to be destroyed and also summons all nations to witness and participate in the fall of Edom (49:14). Indeed, for Edom to become “small among the nations” (49:15) means that the nations must realize that their positions relative to each other could shift at any time. So, although Moab is the primary addressee in Jeremiah 48–49, all nations are being held accountable to Yahweh as children in the same Semitic family. Being less guilty than Moab is no reason for complacency—a foolish child who gloats about being right this time will quickly receive a rebuke of his own.
The case study of Moab becomes even more intriguing as mourning for this doomed nation begins to spread. Yahweh begins by summoning Moab’s neighbors to “grieve for him, all you who are around him, and all who know his name” (48:17; cf. vv. 20, 39). But just when Yahweh condemns arrogant Moab (“I know his insolence, declares the Lord; his boasts are false, his deeds are false”; 48:30) the passage takes a radical turn:
Therefore I wail for Moab;
I cry out for all Moab;
for the men of Kir-hareseth I mourn. (48:31)
The unexpected conjunction “therefore” identifies Yahweh’s condemnation of Moab as the cause that unexpectedly produces Yahweh’s grief for Moab as its effect. By the time Yahweh describes the joylessness of life in Moab and beyond that results from his judgment (48:33–39), he is clearly to be numbered among the mourners rather than being one who looks on from afar as a distant or vindictive God.
Jeremiah 48 presents the mystery of God’s agony when his justice and mercy meet one another. Like Hosea before him, Jeremiah provides a glimpse of how “the ‘pain’ of God reflects his will to love the object of his wrath.”137 This depth of emotional involvement characterizes his heart toward both his own people (31:20) and a foreign nation like Moab (48:31–32). Herein lies the ultimate answer to Marcion’s familiar heresy that the OT and NT portray different deities, for the impassioned God of Hosea and Jeremiah is the same as the one who joined justice and mercy when he “bore our sins in his body on the tree, that we might die to sin and live to righteousness” (1 Pet. 2:24).Jeremiah 49
Jeremiah 50–51