Jeremiah 49:34-39. We are still reading Jeremiah’s messages to the nations. Today’s reading covers a message to the people of Elam. Elam was located East of the Tigris river in the south-western part of modern day Iran. The name of the area probably comes from it’s original inhabitants, descendants of Noah’s grandson through Seth, Elam. The Elamites were a strong and enduring group who weathered many foreign dynasties including Summerians, Akkadians, Assyrians, and Chaldeans (Babylonians). In turn they also controlled much of the northern Arabian peninsula during the time of Abraham (about 2100 BC. See Genesis 14:1-11). During the time of Jeremiah they were ruled by the Babylonian government.

According to verse 34 this message was given to Jeremiah by Yahweh (LORD, the personal name of the one true God) at the beginning of the reign of Zedekiah. If you have been reading along you might remember that Zedekiah was the third son of Josiah, who had been king of Judah from 640-609 BC. Each of his three sons had a turn on the throne, Zedekiah being the last. Zedekiah succeeded his nephew as king after Nebuchadnezzar conquered Jerusalem. Zedekiah’s original name was Mattaniah that was changed by Nebuchadnezzar when Nebuchadnezzar made him king of the region. This was in 597 BC. Zedekiah was king for 11 years (2 Kings 24:18).

In verses 35-37 Yahweh (LORD) declares that he will break the bow of Elam and scatter them all over the world. The “bow” is a reference to bows and arrows, common weapons of war in those days. As we saw above the Elamites had lasted as a people though controlled my many different nations. They probably had quite a bit of national or ethnic pride and identified more with each other than with God. Imagine being able to trace your heritage all the way back to Noah, “Hey we’re descended from Noah’s grandson you know!” God is passionate about people, he wants people to know him and be a part of his forever kingdom (2 Peter 3:9-10). It’s not an ego trip for God rather he knows that the alternative to spending eternity with him is a horrid existence (Revelations 22:15; 21:8, Matthew 13:50, 22:13, Luke 13:28).

The prediction of punishment ends with hope for the Elamites though, in verses 38-39 Yahweh declares that he will one day be the king of the Elamites and in the last days would make them rich. In Matthew 6:19-20 Jesus told a large crowd that true lasting riches were those that could be kept in heaven. In Luke 18:18-23 Jesus was approached by a rich man who wanted to know how to be sure he would spend eternity in Heaven. Jesus used the Old Testament law to help the man understand the answer to his question. At the beginning of the law which God gave to Moses for the Jewish people to live (See “The Old Testament Connection”) by were 10 main commandments or rules. The first four deal with our attitudes and actions toward God and the last six are about our attitudes and actions toward each other. Jesus quoted five of the second six and told the man to “keep” them (obey them). The man said he had done just that all of his life. Then Jesus told the man he was missing one thing in his life, he should sell all of his stuff and give the money to take care of poor people. The man left very sad because he had a lot of stuff. The missing rule was, “Do not covet”. Coveting is devoting your life to getting something. This man’s god was his stuff. There was a second part to what Jesus told him to do, after he sold his stuff he should follow Jesus. In Luke 18:22 he told the man that this would be the true treasure in Heaven, not giving up the money but following Jesus.

It is interesting that in Acts 2 we see the real beginning of the “church” (the word means “picked ones”). In that chapter the disciples or student/followers of Jesus were gathered together kind of waiting, not knowing what to do next. Jesus had come back from the dead and spent many days with them then he was transported into Heave while they watched. The last thing he told them was that they would receive power when the Holy Spirit (See “Three or One?”) came into their lives ant that they would then tell others about Jesus (“be witnesses”). In Acts 2:1-4 the Holy Spirit did come into their individual lives and they began to speak. In verses 5-13 we learn that they were speaking to a crowd of people devoted to the one true God, Yahweh. At that time these people were either Jewish people of converts to Judaism (proselytes, v. 10). The crowd was filled with many foreigners and the speaking was miraculous in that each person heard what was being said in their own language. In verse 9 we see that some of he people in the crowd were Elamites. The promise made in Jeremiah 49:39 that in the last days some Elamites would “have their fortune restored” came true that day. That is amazing and awesome.

You may not be able to trace your heritage back even beyond your own life. Or you may be able to say I’m descended from … But where you came from isn’t the important thing in life, where you are going is. God is building a kingdom and it is going to be filled with his family. With respect to being part of God’s forever family none of us has an ancestor, none of us were born into God’s family but each of us has been adopted in. God drew a circle around each one of us who he knew would turn to Jesus and because of his love and kindness promised to add us to his family (Ephesians 5:5, 13; Romans 8:26-30). The offer of Heaven is open to all (1 John 2:2) unfortunately many will reject the offer and will be eternally on the outside. If you haven’t already given your life and eternity to Jesus do it today, come in out of the heat and enjoy peace with God now and forever.

Thank you Jesus for dying for me. Thank you God for the promise of eternity with you. Thank you for your Spirit who helps me see and do the things that please and honor you. Help me tell other about your love and how to get right with you; help me live and share the good news about Jesus. Help me be a part of making your forever family big.

Jeremiah 49:23-33. Today’s reading continues Jeremiah’s messages to the nations and covers two nations Syria and Arabia. Damascus was the capital of a league or confederation of three Syrian kingdoms, the other two being Hamath and Arpad. Kedar and Hazor represent a group of Arab kingdoms. We usually think of kingdoms as places with buildings and palaces but these kingdoms were made up of people who wandered in the desert east of Israel. Most were shepherds living in tents, moving from place to place with their flocks, but some had settle down a little and were farming some land.

Hamath and Arpad had become servant states (vassals) of the Assyrian empire more than a century before Jeremiah lived. In 722 BC. Damascus also became a servant state of the Assyrians. The destruction described here in Jeremiah may be a reference to the invasion by the Assyrians a century before. Assyrians usually took the inhabitants of a city or area and scattered them throughout the empire in an attempt to water down any ethnic or regional loyalties. In the battles to take control of the promised land we see the Israelites destroy or scatter entire tribes of people only to find that the people return and resettle decades later. The Assyrians would also bring people from other parts of their Empire into an area to live and maintain the area. History does not tell us when or by whom but Damascus was eventually repopulated and rebuilt. In 605 BC. The Babylonians overthrew the Assyrian Empire and took control of the area. Of course this change in leadership meant that at least some of the vassal or servant states might try to rebel. In verse 25 God calls Damascus the city of praise, this may be a hint about the situation Jeremiah is describing. It is easy to become proud and over confident when someone is praising you and in this case it looks like God is the one doing the praising. Damascus was an old and proud city and perhaps they tried to resist the new government in Babylon.

In verse 27 we get what might be a couple of other hints about what is going on. God mentions the walls and the fortified towers that he will destroy. Clearly the city was well protected and would have felt pretty secure against invasion. If this was a later rebellion against Babylon they should have remembered the destruction by the Assyrians. Whatever the situation though we want to notice that it is God who is behind the destruction when he destroys there is no real defense. The fact that God takes credit for the destruction does not mean that it was not by the hands of the Assyrians or the Babylonians. Proverbs 21:1 tells us that the “heart of the king is like a river of water in the hands of God and that he directs it wherever he wants it to go.” Although people make real choices in their lives and are accountable for them God is able to use those choices to move history toward his ultimate goals. Ben-Haddad means the “son of Haddad”. Haddad was a local god of the people of Damascus and her allies. Many of the kings of Damascus are referred to as Ben-Haddad. For 150 years this “dynasty” of kings fought against the Israelite people and ultimately against God. It was this proud rebellious people who received a reminder about who was really in control from Jeremiah.

In verse 28 we are specifically told who the earthly foe of the Arab tribes is, Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon. Verse 28 seems to refer to an event in the past in which Nebuchadnezzar overthrew these wandering shepherds living east of Israel in the desert. In verse 31 we see that these people also though that they were safe. Their safety clearly wasn’t because of walls and towers it was because they were always on the move and it was hard to catch them and control them. Also a city and all of it’s contents might seem like a real prize in a war but who wants a bunch of dirty tents and sleeping bags. In verse 32 we see the real prize in this battle, the camels and other animals that the “men of the east” owned. Camels would represent transportation and the other animals food and clothing (sheep give us wool remember). While Nebuchadnezzar often kept people groups together and relocated them in his kingdom in this case we see that he scattered the people. Most Bible experts believe that Hazor only referred to a group of people and not a particular place but verse 33 seems to indicate it was a place. It seems likely that even a group of wanderers would have some permanent settlements though no one knows where this one seems to have been. Of course that is the point of verse 33 only the wild animals would ever live there in the future.

Whether these two prophecies referred to past of future events we need to see that they clearly credit God for the action. Neither secure city dwellers in one of the oldest civilizations in the Bible (Damascus is mentioned in the story about Abraham about 2200 BC, Genesis 14:15) nor wandering tent dwellers are outside of God’s power. Neither are they beyond God’s concern. I have mentioned earlier in these posts that the existence of God is clear to all mankind. Paul makes it clear in Romans 1:19-25 that mankind has a habit of ignoring the evidence in creation about a creator God and chooses to honor pieces of the creation (or their own manmade gods) instead. According to 2 Peter 3:9 God does not want anyone to be left out of his forever kingdom, that is why he uses his power and influence in history to make it clear when we defect from him. That is why Jeremiah is writing these prophecies, to help all of us see God’s love and purity. We need to remember that prophets are not all about telling the future but they are about helping us understand our broken relationship with God and how that relationship can be fixed. Here we find two prophecies that make be predictive but certainly are instructive in the serious nature of sin (rebellion and disobedience toward God) and the extent of God’s power.

God thank you for taking the time to warn us. Thank you for caring about all of us from the most secure city dweller to those wandering in the fields. Help us all see before it is too late. Help us avoid being those who fall in the city never to rise again or those who are scattered never to be gathered again. Thank you for your love, love that is patient but also tough. Help us all hear the warnings and turn back to you.