Chapter 49
These two chapters will have more proclamations. probably called that instead of prophecies, because the past is part of so many of them. 2020 - Keep in mind that these are gathered and organized by geology, not by chronology.
2022 - As Chemosh, the god of Moab will go into captivity, so will Milcom, god of the Ammorites.
Yesterday we finished with Moab, and today, we start with Ammon, another son of Lot, chided for living in land granted to the tribes E of the Jordan (MSB). (Relevant references from MSB include Eze 25:1-7, Am 1:13-15; Zep 2:8-11.) Thing was, Ammon had "moved in" to the lands given to Gad, Reuben, and half Manasseh after the Assyrians took the northern kingdom away. They took advantage of the situation. They will be driven out, their cities laid waste. In vs 2, it is Israel that will dispossess those who dispossessed him. This would seem to be pointing toward the Millennial, not toward the immediate future to Jeremiah. Ezekiel's division of the land doesn't fit inside the present borders of Israel. Perhaps this is where some of that "extra" will come from, as Israel regains all she was promised. Ammon will be pushed back out, but eventually, their fortunes will be restored. This one little short verse:
6 "But afterward I will restore the fortunes of the Ammonites, declares the LORD." [Jer 49:6 ESV]
Here is that word "afterward" again. We saw it in 46:26 concerning Egypt, and here were the questions it brought up: Does this refer back to the time before the Pharoah's arose in Egypt? To the time before she was a world power. She will be inhabited as in those days after Nebuchadnezzar conquers them? Or does afterward refer to the Millennial? That in that future time, Egypt will again be a world power? As to the Ammonites, their fortunes will be restored to what level? Surely not restored to a place where they own Israeli land. So not to their current location, but their current "fortunes"? Really, the only thing we know for sure about Egypt or Ammon is that these prophecies will come before the restorations of these two countries. The MSB note on this verse says it is "a promise from God that captives would have an opportunity to return. This was partially fulfilled under Cyrus, but will be more fully in the coming kingdom of Messiah." So MSB makes this verse about Israel, about the 10 tribes being restored, NOT about the kingdom of Ammon. If that is the case, why does it refer to the "restored ones" as the "sons of Ammon"? The 10 tribes are most certainly NOT the sons of Ammon.
Edom. (Relevant references from MSB include Isa 21:11, 12; Eze 25:12-14; Am 1:11, 12; Ob 1)Bozrah will be a perpetual waste. These seem to be key verses:
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." ... 15 For behold, I will make you small among the nations, despised among mankind. ... 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. ... 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." [Jer 49:10-13, 15, 18, 21-22 ESV]
Edom was south and southeast of Israel. It sort of "touched" the very southern tip of the Red Sea and went off to the SE. Bozrah, according to a historical map I found, is over that way. All of old Edom seems to be in Jordan today. The area has had many names in the past, including Transjordan, and so on. It was not really a country. The prophecy says that Edom will no longer be a country. It will be a wasteland with no one living there. Mostly wandering people. Amman, Jordan, is in the far north of the country, more in the area whee Ammon would have been. Ammon/Amman? You tell me...Vs 21 seems to imply that Moab was going to fall suddenly, be overrun almost without a struggle, and yet destroyed completely. And there is that swift eagle again. Second time we have see that eagle as the agent of destruction. Very possibly it referred to Babylon. In Dan 7, the beast with eagles wings is thought to be Babylon. MSB gives these xrefs: Descriptions of Babylon include (lion 4:7; flooding of the Jordan, 12:5. Also "swoop like and eagle" v 22 is used of Babylon (Hab 1:8). These are all arguments to support Babylon as conqueror of Edom. These descriptions also might be of something like this, which is extant from ancient Babylon:
2024 - We can see that All the kingdoms surrounding Judah are to be conquered. Either by Assyria, or later by Babylon. Beginning in Jer 46 we have the collected prophecies about Egypt, far to the SE, then Philistia, Moab, Ammon, Edom, Damascus, Kedar, well out into the Arabian peninsula and mostly nomadic, The Kingdoms of Hazor which I cannot pin down but possibly north of Galilee, Elam, and finally Babylon - which goes on for numerous chapters. All of these but Babylon fell before Judah fell. That's how many chances God gave to Jerusalem before Neb came and finished things. I note also that Egypt, Philistia, Moan, Ammon, Edom, Elam, Kedar perhaps, are all countries. I think Hazor is a city, and Babylon, finally, is both.
Vs 16-you who live in the cleft of the rock. No man shall dwell there. Bedouins pass through, no permanent residents. (Until maybe recently. Missionary says those govt's are now insisting that the Bedouins settle in towns. ) No restoration.
2020 - Need to speed up. These chapters are very long...
Damascus. Not as specific. Doesn't say "no more", nor does it say "restored". Says strongholds devoured. Surely there is little for Syria to brag about today, though it is still there, and its King lives in Damascus.
Seems to me that the city will survive, according to this, unlike Edom and Bozrah. But it will become far less important. And you could make a case from 26 that she will never be much of a military force. In any case, the city is going to fall. Conquered by Neb in 605 BC per the MSB note.
Kedar. An Ishmaelite tribe in the deserts east of Judah, per MSB. Also, Hazor. Most, if not all these cities, were conquered by Babylon under Neb. This one is very specific about Neb. Many of the others are less certain - though Neb seems to have been the actor in most cases. Vs 33, an everlasting waste, no man shall dwell, no man sojourn. This is out in the deserts of far NW Arabia. Saudi of today.
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! ... 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." [Jer 49:28, 31-33 ESV]
Elam.
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. ... 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." [Jer 49:34, 36-39 ESV]
2024 - Notice that we are given a timestamp for this prophecy, breaking with what we have seen previously.
MSB says 200 mi E of Babylon. You wouldn't expect Jeremiah to have much direct knowledge of it. Also, you would expect it was conquered in a diff thrust than the one covered to here. Perhaps that is why this section has a timestamp, so we'll know it is being treated differently. Elam was later the home of Darius. Time of this word is stamped "in the beginning of the reign of Zedekiah." So backward from previous chapters. This verse could be a basis for arguing that these prophecies were made completely before the events they describe, and fulfilled in the next few decades. Elam's people are to be scattered. But it says in 38:
38 and I will set my throne in Elam and destroy their king and officials, declares the LORD. [Jer 49:38 ESV] Is this about the coming of Darius? Perhaps about Daniel's prophecy of the coming Medo-Persian empire when he describes the progression of history? Never seen this before. It says Elam's fortunes will be restored in the latter days. This time, the MSB note reads this way: "As with certain other peoples in this section of nations, God would allow Elamites to return to their homeland. In Ac 2:9, Elamites were among the group present at the Pentecost event. This has eschatological implications as well.". So in this case, the "restoration" is not about restoring the 10 tribes to land they previously occupied but about the actual original inhabitants of the land. Must remember though that Elam was never in the promised land, indeed not even very nearby. However, I think this kind of restoration is what Jeremiah was talking about with Ammon, also, and with Egypt. The descendants of the original inhabitants will return. How is that going to look? How could these descendants have stayed genetically true for thousands of years? And if they haven't, does just one gene from Elam make you eligible to return there in the Millennial? Sure hard to say.
2024 - This year, the "big deal" in vs 38 seems to me to be that God will set his throne in Elam? The reading makes it pretty certain that this is the LORD God setting up this throne. This is near Babylon, as things went in those days, only 200 miles away. Elam has a coastline on the Persian Gulf, in modern day Iran, across from Qatar and Kuwait. What throne would God set up there? Doesn't make sense that it is Ezekiel's temple really. MSB does not touch this verse, not even a notation. Found one commentary that put it this way: "The throne of Jehovah is, it is clear, the throne of the king who is, for the time, His chosen instrument and servant, in this case therefore the throne of Nebuchadnezzar." That is certainly a way to read it, but do we see it stated that way anywhere else? We know Neb was chosen to rule even over the animals and give a lot of power. But to say he sat upon God's throne gives me a big problem.