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Day 255: God is Good
Jeremiah 49-50
Chapter 49: The Prophecies Against Ammon, Edom, Syria, and the Arab Tribes
Jeremiah 49:1-6 ~ Oracle Against the Ammonites
Question: According to Genesis, what was the origin of the Ammonites?
Answer: They are the descendants of Abraham's nephew Lot from his incestuous union with his younger daughter.
The question in verse 1b refers to the Ammonites who took over the lands of the Israelite tribe of Gad when the Assyrians deported the tribe into exile in 734 BC and then the remainder in 721 BC. By taking away land awarded to the tribe of Gad, Yahweh accuses the Ammonites and their nation god, Milcom, of acting as unjust usurpers. Yahweh declares that the time for them to pay a penalty for their wrong is coming when the "war cry" will be sounded in the Ammonite capital. Rabbah/Rabbath-of-the-Ammonites means "capital of the Ammonites. Today it is called Amman and is the capital of the nation of Jordan.
Jeremiah 49:7-11 ~ Oracle Against Edom
This is the first of two oracles. The first is in the poetic form. Edom was apparently well-known for its sages. In verse 7, Teman is probably modern Tawilan near Petra, and Dedan in verse 8 is an oasis (El-Ela) in Arabia. In other words, the destruction will come from the north and progress to the south of Edom. Yahweh warns the people of Edom to have the good sense to run and hide because the time of judgment is coming (verse 8). Unfortunately, even if they do hide, their hiding places will be discovered, and they will be destroyed. Unlike grape-pickers and robbers who do not strip the vines or houses completely bare, Yahweh will find all who try to evade judgment. They are urged to leave their children behind; God will take care of their orphans who will be safely led away into exile.
Jeremiah 49:12-13 ~ Oracle 2 for Edom
Edom was the nation bordered by the Dead Sea to the north, the Sinai to the west, Moab to the northeast, and the Arabian Desert to the south and west. In the second oracle, Yahweh asks the rhetorical question: "Why should Edom go unpunished?" Then He answers His own question with the statement that Edom will not go unpunished. The oracle refers to one of the symbolic images of the Old Testament prophets dealing with the covenant people's relationship or lack of a relationship with Yahweh. In this case, the Edomites are not a covenant people, but the symbolic imagery for drinking Yahweh's "cup of wrath" is also used for judgment on any wicked people. References to drinking the cup of God's wrath are found in Psalm 75:9; Isaiah 51:17-23; 63:2-3; Ezekiel 23:31-34; Joel 4:13; and Habakkuk 2:16. In the Book of Jeremiah the link between drinking and judgment is found in five different passages: see 13:12-14; 25:15-31; 48:26; 49:12; 51:6-7.
Jeremiah 49:14-16 ~ Edom Condemned
These verses are in prose. The Rock in verse 16 is the city of Joktheel in 2 Kings 14:7, and it may be the city later called Petra by the Nabateans. The city and its monuments are literally carved out the limestone rocks.
Jeremiah 49:17-22 ~ Edom's Destruction Compared to Sodom and Gomorrah
Verses 17-18 are in prose and then verses 19-22 return to the poetic form. In verses 14-22, a dialog passes back and forth between Jeremiah and Yahweh. Verse 14 must be Jeremiah speaking, having heard Yahweh's message, but the speaker in verses 15-16 is Yahweh. The speaker in verses 17-18 is Jeremiah again but returns to Yahweh in verses 19-22. The destruction of the cities of Edom will be like the total destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah and the cities of the plain in Genesis 19:23-29a. The sound of the destruction will be heard as far away as the Red Sea.
Jeremiah 49:23-27 ~ Oracle Against Damascus (Syria)
Verses 23-25 and 27 are in the poetic form, but verse 26 is in prose. Damascus, the capital of Syria (Is 7:8), represents the entire nation. The city is one of the oldest continuous inhabited cities in the world. From the time of King Solomon (970-930 BC) until the rise of the Neo-Assyrian Empire in the mid-eighth century BC, the Aramaeans of Damascus were Israel's greatest enemy. Damascus, like the other nations and city-states in the Levant became a vassal of the Babylonians. In 599-598 BC, the Syrians joined a Babylonian campaign to harass the towns of Judah (2 Kng 24:2).
Jeremiah laments over an already fallen Damascus. The Damascus sister cities of Hamath and Arpad heard the tragic news and are struck with terror.
Jeremiah 49:28-33 ~ Oracle Against Kedar-Hazor (Arab Tribes)
The oracle is against a group of North Arabian tribes recorded in Genesis as descending from "the sons of Ishmael" (Gen 25:13; 1 Chr 1:29). The Kedarites lived in the Syrian-Arabian Desert east of Edom in northern Arabia. They were a nation with no gates because they were pastoral nomads who lived in tents and towns without walls. They were known for their flocks, tents, and tent curtains woven from black goat hair (Ez 27:21).
Jeremiah 49:34-39 ~ Oracle Against Elam
The oracle is in the poetic form except for verses 34-35 and 39. During the 7th century BC, the Elamites and Medes occupied land that later became the Persian Empire and is present-day southern Iran. In the Table of Nations in Genesis Chapter 10, Elam is listed as one of the sons of Noah's righteous firstborn son, Shem (Gen 10:22). Shem is also an ancestor of Abram/Abraham (Gen 11:10-26). The kings of Elam and Media are listed among those destined to receive Yahweh's "cup of wrath" (Jer 25:25).
Chapter 50: Oracles Against Babylon
There are two major themes in the oracles against Babylon:
- The destruction of Babylon.
- The restoration of Israel and Judah in their return from exile.
Jeremiah 50:1-3 ~ The Fall of Babylon
Question: What is ironic about the prophecy of the enemy from the north marching on Babylon?
Answer: In Jeremiah's previous prophecies, the enemy from the north was Babylon marching against Judah, but now the tables are turned and another enemy from the north is marching on Babylon.
Bel and Marduk (Merodach) are Babylon's chief national gods who will be broken and shamed in the same way the Babylonians broke and shamed the idols of other peoples.
Jeremiah 50:4-5 ~ Promise of the Everlasting Covenant
Yahweh links Babylon's fall to Israel/Judah's return. God will bring the covenant people back and bind them to Him by an everlasting covenant that will never be forgotten. It is a promise that recalls and repeats the covenant promises by the prophets Isaiah, Jeremiah, and Ezekiel:
- The promise of the new covenant in Jeremiah 31:31.
- The promise of the everlasting covenant in Jeremiah 32:40.
- The promise of an eternal covenant in fulfillment of the Davidic covenant in Isaiah 55:3.
- The promise to make a covenant that will last forever in Ezekiel 16:60.
- The promise that David will be their prince forever when God makes a covenant of peace with them, an eternal covenant when God will set His Sanctuary among them forever in Ezekiel 37:25b-28.
Question: When are the promises of a New and Eternal Covenant and an everlasting kingdom fulfilled?
Answer: They are fulfilled in the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ and the establishment of His eternal Kingdom that is the Church.
Jeremiah 50:6-10 ~ The Lost Sheep of Israel and Babylon Punished
Chaldaea and Babylonia are synonymous. The covenant people of Israel and Judah were led astray by their rulers like sheep led astray by negligent shepherds. They abandoned God, and so they had no protection against their enemies. The mountains and hills that "misled them" are the high places where they offered sacrifices to idols.
Question: In verse 7, Babylonians claim they are not to blame for the suffering of the Judaeans; why? Does God accept their excuse?
Answer: They claim the Judaeans brought their suffering on themselves because they sinned against Yahweh. No, He does not accept their excuse. If they know He is the "Home of Justice" they should know that He will judge them for their lack of mercy for the weak and vulnerable.
Jeremiah 50:11-16 ~ Babylon Has Sinned Against Yahweh
Israel is Yahweh's heritage (51:19; Dt 32:9), and Yahweh is addressing those who plundered His heritage. He ridicules them for enjoying their triumph like "playful heifers" enjoying the pasture and neighing stallions. However, their joy will be short-lived. He brings an indictment against these unnamed destroyers who will become "the least of nations." The oracle leaves the audience to surmise that the nation in question is Babylon until verse 13 when Yahweh identifies the nation who will be the recipient of his fury.
Jeremiah 50:17-20 ~ Yahweh's Pardon for the Remnant of Israel
Israel and Judah were the straying sheep and Assyrian and Babylon the lions. Lions were the symbolic images of both Assyria and Babylon. The Assyrians destroyed the Northern Kingdom of Israel "first" in 722 BC, and the Babylonians destroyed Judah "last" in 587 BC. God used Babylon as His instrument of judgment to destroy the Assyrians, and He will punish the Babylonians in the same way (verse 18). In verse 19, God promises to return His people to the areas of Carmel, Bashan, Ephraim, and Gilead, all known for their rich pasturelands. When the restoration takes place, God will pardon the returning remnant of the covenant people who will have atoned for their sins.
Jeremiah 50:21-28 ~ The Fall of Babylon Proclaimed to Jerusalem
Merathaim in verse 21 is likely a play on the Babylonian word "marratu," a reference to a region in southern Babylonia that was known for its salty waters. Pekod is a pun on Puqudu, the Babylonian name for an Aramaean tribe on the eastern bank of the lower Tigris River. The "hammer of the whole world" is Babylon, and the "snare" that will trap Babylon in verse 24 takes place in 539 BC when the Persians take the city of Babylon by surprise.
Jeremiah 50:29-32 ~ The Sin of Babylon's Arrogance
The oracle begins with Yahweh summoning a might army to make war against Babylon. He calls up in particular expert archers to surround the city. The passage envisions a siege in which escape is impossible. The speaker of the oracle (probably Jeremiah) calls for judgment according to the ancient law of Lex Talionis: the law of reciprocal punishment that limited punishment to fit the crime. The Babylonians must receive punishment in like measure to what she delivered against other nations. In the Law of the Sinai Covenant this law is referred to as "an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth" (Ex 21:24; Lev 24:20; Dt 19:21). It is a law that called for just punishment and was part of the Hammurabi Code of ancient Babylon.
Jeremiah 50:33-40 ~ Yahweh, the Redeemer of Israel
In this oracle, Yahweh delivers a series of curses upon Babylon, first naming the proud and arrogant ruling class of the Chaldaeans in the south who were the nation's elite war machine. The oracle also calls a curse against Babylon's beautiful canals, it's "many waters", the national treasure that made the city famous in the ancient world (verse 38). In verse 40 is comparison is made to God's judgment on the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah in Genesis chapter 19, two cities whose names came to symbolize God's judgment of the wicked.
Jeremiah 50:41-46 ~ The Enemy from the North and the Lion of Jordan
Yahweh will bring an enemy from the north against Babylon, a nation that was itself an enemy from the north against Judah. The King of Babylon will find himself helpless, like a woman in labor (a repeated theme in the oracles). The audience must have appreciated the irony that what Babylon did to others will now be done to her.
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A Daily Defense
DAY 255 The Old Testament Canon in Jesus’ Day
CHALLENGE: “There were two Old Testament canons in Jesus’ day—the Palestinian canon and the Alexandrian canon. As Palestinian Jews, Jesus and his disciples would have accepted the Palestinian canon, which excluded the deuterocanonical books. Therefore, they are not Scripture.”
DEFENSE: This claim is based on outdated scholarship and is false.
In Jesus’ day different groups of Jews held that different collections of books were canonical, and some of these collections had fuzzy boundaries. It is more accurate to speak of there being different canonical traditions rather than different canons. There were four prominent traditions:
1. The Sadducee/Samaritan tradition: This included the Torah or Pentateuch (Gen.-Deut.) and only those books. Thus the Sadducees rejected doctrines like the resurrection of the dead (Matt. 22:23; Acts 23:8), which are clearly attested outside the Torah (Dan. 12:2; 2 Macc. 12:43–45). This is why Jesus only quoted from the Torah when refuting them (Matt. 22:31–32; cf. Exod. 3:6). The Samaritan tradition was identical except for using the Samaritan edition of the Torah.
2. The Pharisee tradition: This canonical tradition was still being formed in Jesus’ day. It was broadly similar to the canon later adopted by rabbinic Judaism (used in Protestant Old Testaments), but precisely which books belonged to it was debated until at least the third century.
3. The Septuagint tradition: This tradition also was still being formed in Jesus’ day. It was broadly similar to the canon later used in the Christian church (including the deuterocanonical books), though precisely which books belong to it was also debated. (Note: We may refer to this tradition by the name of the major Greek translation of the Old Testament, but virtually all its books were written in Hebrew or Aramaic; see Day 27).
4. The Qumran tradition: This tradition was used by the Qumran sect (commonly identified as the Essenes). We do not know whether it was closed. It was similar to the Pharisee tradition but also included certain other books, including 1 Enoch, Jubilees, and the Temple Scroll (James VanderKam, The Dead Sea Scrolls Today, 149–57).
All four traditions were used in first-century Palestine, and many individuals undoubtedly held to further variations that are no longer identifiable. The New Testament reveals that Jesus and his followers used the Septuagint tradition, which they passed on to the Church (see Days 273 and 305).
Jimmy Akin, A Daily Defense: 365 Days (Plus One) to Becoming a Better Apologist
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