You Can Read the Bible

If you’ve never before read through the prophets, take stock of what you’ve been feeling the past few weeks. There is something stirring about how prophecy and narrative are woven together in this unique book.

Whether the camera is focused on the prophet or is expanded over the whole story, Jeremiah’s story is intense on multiple levels. A nation falls, a victim of its own infidelity to its true King. The kings, the officials, the people and even the other prophets refuse to heed Jeremiah’s warnings. That he is constantly proven true reveals nothing but their glaring stubbornness. Again, take stock of what you’re feeling.

Baruch’s lament, which we read yesterday in chapter 45, serves as both the closing scene in Jeremiah’s story and as a bridge to the oracles at the end of this book. Just before it we saw the remnant of Judah disobeying God and fleeing to Egypt. Now after it are a series of oracles promising Egypt’s demise.

The first of these is set in that same fateful year of Jehoiakim’s reign, at the moment when power in the region shifted from Egypt to Babylon. Given the prophetic activity at the time this must have been a dramatic political and social upheaval for Judah. Egypt had been Israel’s fallback plan since the Exodus, the safest territory in the region. In the first oracle Egypt is wounded; in the second, it is laid waste, “The LORD of Hosts, the God of Israel…bringing punishment upon Amon of Thebes, and Pharaoh and Egypt and her gods and her kings, upon Pharaoh and those who trust in him.”

The people of the coast – generically called Philistines – are the next nation on which the LORD promises judgment. Like Egypt, Gaza, Tyre and Sidon were often attacked but rarely conquered. The prophet echoes the words of Nebuzaradan: this is not an act of Babylonian strength, but of the LORD’s will.

Likewise in chapter 48 Moab shall be destroyed and be no longer a people, because he magnified himself against the LORD. Pay attention to specific images, like swords, and water, that are revisited throughout these oracles.

Pay attention also to the historical upheaval that is occurring. Moab was already a settled kingdom in the time of Moses. Tyre and Sidon had traded with King David. And Egypt had not been conquered from the north in recorded history. Something significant is happening on the Biblical and world stage, and the prophet insists that all of it is being orchestrated by the LORD of Hosts, the God of Israel.

Our verse for this week is Psalm 51:10: Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within me.

Jeremiah 46 through 48. Now let’s read it!

Jeremiah 46 - 48

Jehovah's word which came to Jeremiah the prophet concerning the nations. Of Egypt: concerning the army of Pharaoh Necoh king of Egypt, which was by the river Euphrates in Carchemish, which Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon struck in the fourth year of Jehoiakim the son of Josiah, king of Judah. "Prepare the buckler and shield, and draw near to battle! Harness the horses, and get up, you horsemen, and stand up with your helmets. Polish the spears, put on the coats of mail. Why have I seen it? They are dismayed and are turned backward. Their mighty ones are beaten down, have fled in haste, and don't look back. Terror is on every side," says Jehovah. "Don't let the swift flee away, nor the mighty man escape. In the north by the river Euphrates they have stumbled and fallen. "Who is this who rises up like the Nile, like rivers whose waters surge? Egypt rises up like the Nile, like rivers whose waters surge. He says, 'I will rise up. I will cover the earth. I will destroy cities and its inhabitants.' Go up, you horses! Rage, you chariots! Let the mighty men go out: Cush and Put, who handle the shield; and the Ludim, who handle and bend the bow. For that day is of the Lord, Jehovah of Armies, a day of vengeance, that he may avenge himself of his adversaries. The sword will devour and be satiated, and will drink its fill of their blood; for the Lord, Jehovah of Armies, has a sacrifice in the north country by the river Euphrates. Go up into Gilead, and take balm, virgin daughter of Egypt. You use many medicines in vain. There is no healing for you. The nations have heard of your shame, and the earth is full of your cry; for the mighty man has stumbled against the mighty, they both fall together." The word that Jehovah spoke to Jeremiah the prophet, how that Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon should come and strike the land of Egypt: "Declare in Egypt, publish in Migdol, and publish in Memphis and in Tahpanhes; say, 'Stand up, and prepare, for the sword has devoured around you.' Why are your strong ones swept away? They didn't stand, because Jehovah pushed them. He made many to stumble. Yes, they fell on one another. They said, 'Arise! Let's go again to our own people, and to the land of our birth, from the oppressing sword.' They cried there, 'Pharaoh king of Egypt is but a noise; he has let the appointed time pass by.' "As I live," says the King, whose name is Jehovah of Armies, "surely like Tabor among the mountains, and like Carmel by the sea, so he will come. You daughter who dwells in Egypt, furnish yourself to go into captivity; for Memphis will become a desolation, and will be burned up, without inhabitant. "Egypt is a very beautiful heifer; but destruction out of the north has come. It has come. Also her hired men in the middle of her are like calves of the stall, for they also are turned back. They have fled away together. They didn't stand, for the day of their calamity has come on them, the time of their visitation. Its sound will go like the serpent, for they will march with an army, and come against her with axes, as wood cutters. They will cut down her forest," says Jehovah, "though it can't be searched; because they are more than the locusts, and are innumerable. The daughter of Egypt will be disappointed; she will be delivered into the hand of the people of the north." Jehovah of Armies, the God of Israel, says: "Behold, I will punish Amon of No, and Pharaoh, and Egypt, with her gods and her kings, even Pharaoh, and those who trust in him. I will deliver them into the hand of those who seek their lives, and into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, and into the hand of his servants. Afterwards it will be inhabited, as in the days of old," says Jehovah. "But don't you be afraid, Jacob my servant. Don't be dismayed, Israel; for, behold, I will save you from afar, and your offspring from the land of their captivity. Jacob will return, and will be quiet and at ease. No one will make him afraid. Don't be afraid, O Jacob my servant," says Jehovah, "for I am with you; for I will make a full end of all the nations where I have driven you, but I will not make a full end of you, but I will correct you in measure, and will in no way leave you unpunished." Jehovah's word that came to Jeremiah the prophet concerning the Philistines, before Pharaoh struck Gaza. Jehovah says: "Behold, waters rise up out of the north, and will become an overflowing stream, and will overflow the land and all that is therein, the city and those who dwell therein. The men will cry, and all the inhabitants of the land will wail. At the noise of the stamping of the hoofs of his strong ones, at the rushing of his chariots, at the rumbling of his wheels, the fathers don't look back for their children because their hands are so feeble, because of the day that comes to destroy all the Philistines, to cut off from Tyre and Sidon every helper who remains; for Jehovah will destroy the Philistines, the remnant of the isle of Caphtor. Baldness has come on Gaza; Ashkelon is brought to nothing. You remnant of their valley, how long will you cut yourself? "'You sword of Jehovah, how long will it be before you are quiet? Put yourself back into your scabbard; rest, and be still.' "How can you be quiet, since Jehovah has given you a command? Against Ashkelon, and against the seashore, there he has appointed it." Of Moab. Jehovah of Armies, the God of Israel, says: "Woe to Nebo! For it is laid waste. Kiriathaim is disappointed. It is taken. Misgab is put to shame and broken down. The praise of Moab is no more. In Heshbon they have devised evil against her: 'Come! Let's cut her off from being a nation.' You also, Madmen, will be brought to silence. The sword will pursue you. The sound of a cry from Horonaim, desolation and great destruction! Moab is destroyed. Her little ones have caused a cry to be heard. For they will go up by the ascent of Luhith with continual weeping. For at the descent of Horonaim they have heard the distress of the cry of destruction. Flee! Save your lives! Be like the juniper bush in the wilderness. For, because you have trusted in your works and in your treasures, you also will be taken. Chemosh will go out into captivity, his priests and his princes together. The destroyer will come on every city, and no city will escape; the valley also will perish, and the plain will be destroyed, as Jehovah has spoken. Give wings to Moab, that she may fly and get herself away: and her cities will become a desolation, without anyone to dwell in them. "Cursed is he who does the work of Jehovah negligently; and cursed is he who keeps back his sword from blood. "Moab has been at ease from his youth, and he has settled on his dregs, and has not been emptied from vessel to vessel, neither has he gone into captivity; therefore his taste remains in him, and his scent is not changed. Therefore behold, the days come," says Jehovah, "that I will send to him those who pour off, and they will pour him off; and they will empty his vessels, and break their containers in pieces. Moab will be ashamed of Chemosh, as the house of Israel was ashamed of Bethel, their confidence. "How do you say, 'We are mighty men, and valiant men for the war'? Moab is laid waste, and they have gone up into his cities, and his chosen young men have gone down to the slaughter," says the King, whose name is Jehovah of Armies. "The calamity of Moab is near to come, and his affliction hurries fast. All you who are around him, bemoan him; and all you who know his name, say, 'How the strong staff is broken, the beautiful rod!' "You daughter who dwells in Dibon, come down from your glory, and sit in thirst; for the destroyer of Moab has come up against you. He has destroyed your strongholds. Inhabitant of Aroer, stand by the way and watch. Ask him who flees, and her who escapes; say, 'What has been done?' Moab is disappointed; for it is broken down. Wail and cry! Tell it by the Arnon, that Moab is laid waste. Judgment has come on the plain country-- on Holon, on Jahzah, on Mephaath, on Dibon, on Nebo, on Beth Diblathaim, on Kiriathaim, on Beth Gamul, on Beth Meon, on Kerioth, on Bozrah, and on all the cities of the land of Moab, far or near. The horn of Moab is cut off, and his arm is broken," says Jehovah. "Make him drunk, for he magnified himself against Jehovah. Moab will wallow in his vomit, and he also will be in derision. For wasn't Israel a derision to you? Was he found among thieves? For as often as you speak of him, you shake your head. You inhabitants of Moab, leave the cities, and dwell in the rock. Be like the dove that makes her nest over the mouth of the abyss. "We have heard of the pride of Moab. He is very proud in his loftiness, his pride, his arrogance, and the arrogance of his heart. I know his wrath," says Jehovah, "that it is nothing; his boastings have done nothing. Therefore I will wail for Moab. Yes, I will cry out for all Moab. They will mourn for the men of Kir Heres. With more than the weeping of Jazer I will weep for you, vine of Sibmah. Your branches passed over the sea. They reached even to the sea of Jazer. The destroyer has fallen on your summer fruits and on your vintage. Gladness and joy is taken away from the fruitful field and from the land of Moab. I have caused wine to cease from the wine presses. No one will tread with shouting. The shouting will be no shouting. From the cry of Heshbon even to Elealeh, even to Jahaz they have uttered their voice, from Zoar even to Horonaim, to Eglath Shelishiyah; for the waters of Nimrim will also become desolate. Moreover I will cause to cease in Moab," says Jehovah, "him who offers in the high place, and him who burns incense to his gods. Therefore my heart sounds for Moab like flutes, and my heart sounds like flutes for the men of Kir Heres. Therefore the abundance that he has gotten has perished. For every head is bald, and every beard clipped. There are cuttings on all the hands, and sackcloth on the waist. On all the housetops of Moab, and in its streets, there is lamentation everywhere; for I have broken Moab like a vessel in which no one delights," says Jehovah. "How it is broken down! How they wail! How Moab has turned the back with shame! So will Moab become a derision and a terror to all who are around him." For Jehovah says: "Behold, he will fly as an eagle, and will spread out his wings against Moab. Kerioth is taken, and the strongholds are seized. The heart of the mighty men of Moab at that day will be as the heart of a woman in her pangs. Moab will be destroyed from being a people, because he has magnified himself against Jehovah. Terror, the pit, and the snare are on you, inhabitant of Moab," says Jehovah. "He who flees from the terror will fall into the pit; and he who gets up out of the pit will be taken in the snare, for I will bring on him, even on Moab, the year of their visitation," says Jehovah. "Those who fled stand without strength under the shadow of Heshbon; for a fire has gone out of Heshbon, and a flame from the middle of Sihon, and has devoured the corner of Moab, and the crown of the head of the tumultuous ones. Woe to you, O Moab! The people of Chemosh are undone; for your sons are taken away captive, and your daughters into captivity. "Yet I will reverse the captivity of Moab in the latter days," says Jehovah. Thus far is the judgment of Moab.

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