Judgment on the Nations

Jeremiah 49:23-39

23 Against Damascus.

"Hamath and Arpad are shamed,
For they have heard bad news.
They are fainthearted;
There is trouble on the sea;
It cannot be quiet.

24 Damascus has grown feeble;
She turns to flee,
And fear has seized her.
Anguish and sorrows have taken her like a woman in labor.

25 Why is the city of praise not deserted, the city of My joy?
26 Therefore her young men shall fall in her streets,
And all the men of war shall be cut off in that day," says the LORD of hosts.

27 "I will kindle a fire in the wall of Damascus,
And it shall consume the palaces of Ben-Hadad."

28 Against Kedar and against the kingdoms of Hazor, which Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon shall strike.

Thus says the LORD:
"Arise, go up to Kedar,
And devastate the men of the East!

29 Their tents and their flocks they shall take away.
They shall take for themselves their curtains,
All their vessels and their camels;
And they shall cry out to them,
'Fear is on every side!'

30 "Flee, get far away! Dwell in the depths,
O inhabitants of Hazor!" says the LORD.
"For Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon has taken counsel against you,
And has conceived a plan against you.

31 "Arise, go up to the wealthy nation that dwells securely," says the LORD,
"Which has neither gates nor bars,
Dwelling alone.
32 Their camels shall be for booty,
And the multitude of their cattle for plunder.
I will scatter to all winds those in the farthest corners,
And I will bring their calamity from all its sides," says the LORD.

33 "Hazor shall be a dwelling for jackals, a desolation forever;
No one shall reside there,
Nor son of man dwell in it."

34 The word of the LORD that came to Jeremiah the prophet against Elam, in the beginning of the reign of Zedekiah king of Judah, saying, 35 "Thus says the LORD of hosts:

'Behold, I will break the bow of Elam,
The foremost of their might.
36 Against Elam I will bring the four winds
From the four quarters of heaven,
And scatter them toward all those winds;
There shall be no nations where the outcasts of Elam will not go.

37 For I will cause Elam to be dismayed before their enemies
And before those who seek their life.
I will bring disaster upon them,
My fierce anger,' says the LORD;
'And I will send the sword after them
Until I have consumed them.

38 I will set My throne in Elam,
And will destroy from there the king and the princes,' says the LORD.
39 'But it shall come to pass in the latter days:
I will bring back the captives of Elam,' says the LORD."

Three more nations and peoples were given judgment by God through Jeremiah, Damascus (Syria), Kedar (descendants of Ishmael) with Hazor of Arabia, and Elam (descendants from Shem who later would help overthrow Babylon).  This mixture of peoples under judgment only had one thing in common, that they were sinful and set against the people of the LORD.  Jeremiah pronounced God’s sentence on them with only the hope of Edom’s eventual rescue from captivity.  The others of Arabia and Syria, outside God’s family, were met with destruction and an empty end.  Damascus was driven to fear and fire for the palaces of Ben-Hadad "son of the false god Hadad" who had allied with Israel before.  Kedar and against the kingdoms of Hazor of Palestine or Arabia were to be overrun by eastern armies, that is, Babylonian under Nebuchadnezzar.  Fear would defe them and there would be nothing left of their land but utter desolation by God’s hand of judgment.  As for Elam, they were broken and scattered throughout many nations.  The wrath of God would bring disaster and their leaders would be done away with.  However, later God would bring them back out of captivity as He would with Moab in Jeremiah 48:47.  We see there is judgment for sin and also grace for deliverance in these words of the LORD through Jeremiah against these peoples just as with Moab.  This gives us hope, not as by our nationalities, but according to God’s redeeming grace to call and reconcile out of all nations (Acts 17:26, Colossians 1:19-20, Romans 1:5, 16:26, Revelation 5:9) according to His will.  Those chosen for mercy (Romans 9:23) are freed from captivity which is the bondage of sin, while those condemned as vessels of destruction (Romans 9:22) for unrepentant and hardened hearts will face the judgment which all sons and daughters of Adam deserve (Romans 3:23, 6:23).  May we be found in His atoning grace like Elam out of the nations by His calling.