Against the Nations

In context

These are Jeremiah’s words “concerning the nations” (Jeremiah 46:1). They begin with Egypt’s army beaten by Nebuchadnezzar at Carchemish on the Euphrates “in the fourth year of Jehoiakim” (46:2), about 605 BC, the battle that left Babylon the strongest power of its day. Then come words about the Philistines, Moab, Ammon, Edom, Damascus, Kedar and Hazor, and Elam, east of Babylon in what is now Iran (47–49).

It is a hard reading, full of war: the sword “will drink its fill of their blood,” and fathers “don’t look back for their children because their hands are so feeble” (46:10; 47:3). Moab “has settled on his dregs,” like wine left too long undisturbed, and will be poured off (48:11–12); Edom, though it nests “as high as the eagle,” will be brought down (49:16).

The warnings carry promises too. To Israel the Lord says, “Don’t be afraid, O Jacob my servant… for I am with you” (46:28). Of Moab, Ammon and Elam he says he will “reverse the captivity” in time to come (48:47; 49:6, 39), and to Edom, “Leave your fatherless children. I will preserve them alive. Let your widows trust in me” (49:11).