11/23/2024 – Day 153 – Jeremiah – Chapters 47 – 52 / What a journey it has been! : We conclude 10 weeks of Saturday fellowship in, the lengthiest book of the Bible, and perhaps longest daily reading in the 365 days as well. // Themes: 1) Our God reigns! / 2). Same song, different verse: “I don’t have nearly enough faith to be anything but a Christian!”
Recall we start with a continuation from chapter 46 last week – “Prophecies against other nations”. The theme will continue through chapter 51 today, in order: The Philistines; Moab; Ammon; Edom; Damascus; Kedar, Hazar; Elam and finally Babylon in Chapters 50 and 51. We conclude with Chapter 52 – “The Fall of Jerusalem”. Last cycle, our posting for this reading can be found, dated “07/31/2022”. Our tools included excerpts from William Wiersbe’s commentary , his book – “Be Decisive” through Chapters 51, with a Chapter 52 commenary from “Enduring Word”.
For our conclusion this cycle, I am going to focus exclusively on selective footnotes in the “Apologetics Study Bible” in chapter order. I encourage you to look for re-occuring themes as you read on. The the biblical text itself, notice how many times the LORD promises that he will not only destroy the nation, but also to restore them in the future, much as he does for his “covenant” people, the people of Israel. From Isaiah to Jeremiah, into the New Testament, particularly through Paul as messenger in the books of Roman, we learn that prophecy reveals that gentiles are grafted into the main branch – the Jewish people. I haven’t decided yet, whether to use Wiersbe’s fellowship generating questions or our usual set of questions. I don’t know if I will complete this length list of excerpts today. If not, I will put “In Progress” at the end of the title and at the bottom of the post so you know I have more to come.
_______________________________________
Let’s get started!:
“Cursed is the one who does the Lord’s business deceitfully, and cursed is the one who withholds his sword from bloodshed.” (Jeremiah 48:10)
“48:10 Some scholars contend that this verse is an editorial insertion. However, since the nation that destroyed Moab was doing the Lord’s work (see note on Lamentations 3: 37-28), this curse was fitting.”
_____________________________________________________________
“Yet, I will restore the fortunes of Moab in the last days. This is the LORD’s declaration. The judgment on Moab ends here.” (Jeremiah 48:47)
(Comment: Catch the counter to biblical “critics” here!)
“48:47 Some critics note that this verse is missing from the Septuagint (LXX) text and therefore argue that it was added to the Hebrew text after the LXX was translated. However the LXX includes a similar message about Elam’s restoration in 49:39. It is harder to explain how a copyist in the Hebrew tradition would add such a verse than to explain why one of the Greek translators might drop it. Only a true prophet is likely to prophesy welfare for the enemies of Judah, and only a faithful copyist would preserve such a statement. The presence of this verse supports the reliability of the Hebrew text.
Critics also content that this message of Moab’s restoration was out of character for Jeremiah. However, those who proclaim only good concerning their homeland and only bad about their enemies were likely to be false prophets (1 Kings 22: 11-18). A prophet who had truly heard from the Lord would proclaim the truth, even if it was judgment from his own country and well being for his enemies (22:14; cp. Numbers 22:38; Jeremiah 1:7). At Jeremiah’s commissioning (1:10), God told him he was ‘to uproot and tear down, to destroy and demolish, to build and plant,’ so it was not outside Jeremiah’s job description to ‘build and plant.’ that is, to proclaim welfare. His messages of doom for Israel and Judah were also followed by proclamations of future restoration (30:31, as were his messages against Egypt (46:26), Ammon (49:6) and Elam (49:39). Further words concerning the destiny of other peoples were consistent with what Jeremiah was teaching throughout the book and especially in this section: God is sovereign over all nations (27:5-6; cp. 23: 23-24; 27:8; 46:13).”
_____________________________________________________
“But I will strip Esau bare; I will uncover his secret places. He will try to hide himself, but he will be unable. His descendants will be destroyed along with his relatives and his neighbors. He will exist no longer. Abandon your orphans; I will preserve them; let your widows trust in Me.” (Jeremiah 49:10)
“49:10 During the exile and into the post exilic period, Arabs overran the land of Edom (descendants of Esau) and the Edomites retreated into Judah, where they became known as Idumeans. at the the time of the Macabees, John Hyracanus compelled the Idumeans to become Jews and to submit to circumcision. Herod the Great, ruler at Judea at the time of Jesus’ birth, was an Idumean. When the Romans subdued the Judea’s in A.D. 70, the Idumeans ceased to exist although the Herodian dynasty ruled elsewhere until the death of Herod Agrippa II in A.D. 100. Jeremiah’s prophecy that Esau would ‘exist no longer’ was eventually fulfilled.
_________________________________________
“See 49: 16-17 – Petra in Edom is indeed still deserted except for tourists and passersby.
_________________________________________________
Chapter 50 – Prophecies against Babylon
“For a nation from the north will come against her; it will make her land desolate. No one will be living in it— both man and beast will escape. (Jeremiah 50: 3)
“50:3. Babylon became a desolate place though not immediately. When Cyprus arrived in 539 B.C., the city capitulated without resistance, and was not destroyed. But the last mention of Babylon was a city comes from 10 B.C.., by which time it had become a ruin, and it has remained so. (For the nation from the ‘north” see note on v. 41.)
“50:41 … Mention of ‘many kings’ gives further insight into the nature of the biblical covenant, which is like an ancient treaty (see Deuteronomy 11:26; 13:5). In the ancient word a ‘great king,’ or emperor, did not make a treaty with common people or peasants but with other subordinate rulers or kings. Their main treaty obligation was to maintain unswerving loyalty to the overlord and to support him in warfare (Jeremiah 51; 27-28). By analogy, to be in covenant with the Lord was not to be in a position of abject servitude; it was, in a sense, a mark of high status (Psalm 147: 19-20) accorded people made in God’s own image (Genesis 1:26-27). Thus, those who belong to the new covenant are not commoners but ‘royalty’ (1 Corinthians 4:8; 1 Peter 2:9; Revelation 5:10).
________________________________________________________
Chapter 51 – “God’s Judgment on Babylon”
“Sharpen the arrows! Fill the quivers! The LORD has put it into the mind of the kings of the Medes because His plan is aimed at Babylon to destroy her, for it is the LORD’s vengeance, vengeance for His temple.” (Jeremiah 51: 11)
“51:11. ….. Some critics might define prophecy only as the prophet’s God-given ability to predict future events based on a wise evaluation of current trends. Certainly such insight is a factor in biblical prophecy, but it cannot explain every prediction recorded in Scripture. Prophecy also comes into being as God reveals something that would otherwise be unknowable (27:22; Amos 3:7; Acts 21: 10-11; 1 Corinthians 14:24-25; 2 Peter 1:21). God is able to reveal specific details of future events to His prophets, including names (Isaiah 44:28; 45:1) and dates (Jeremiah 25:12; 29:10). Those who deny the possibility that Jeremiah could have been given knowledge of events beyond his own time operate within a worldview for whom super natural realities and actions are an impossibility. Evidence has no bearing on their view.”
_______________________________________
“… Then they will fall asleep forever and never wake up again.” (both: Jeremiah 51:39 and 51:57)
“51: 39,57. Some take this to teach annihilations (that there is no resurrection) However, permanent sleep is merely a metaphor or euphemism for physical death (Psalm 76:5). This verse does not teach about what happens after death; that is taught in passages such as Isaiah 66:24 and Hebrews 9:27.” (*A) ( (*A) comment: hell and heaven for two verses, respectively. Similarly, Jesus made note to the people around him, just before raising Jairus’ daughter and also with Lazarus from the dead: “She (he) is only sleeping.” So likewise, I have read about Christians who use these verses to explain their belief in “soul sleep”, in this case, for those who are ultimately destined to heaven upon the 2nd coming of Yeshua (Jesus) the Christ.
________________________________________
“Jeremiah wrote on one scroll about all the disaster that would come to Babylon; all these words were written against Babylon.” (Jeremiah 51: 60)
“51:60 If this refers to ‘all these words’ of chapters 50-51 according to this reference to the reign of Zedekiah they were written by 594 B.C. Some commentators cannot accept that date because they believe Jeremiah could not have known ahead of time the facts about how Babylon would fall, but see note on verse 11.” (Comment: Deja Vu – over and over again. Their argument breaks down to: “Are you going to listen to me or are you going to listen to reason!” That should sound familiar to us as well in this age we live in! )
__________________________________________________
Chapter 52 – The Fall of Jerusalem
“The whole Chaldean army with the commander of the guards, tore down all the walls surrounding Jerusalem.” (Jeremiah 52:14)
“52:14. Archaeological excavations on the east side of Jerusalem overlooking the Kidron Valley verify this destruction.”
________________________________
“On the twenty-fifth day of the twelfth month of the thirty-seventh year of the exile of Judah’s King Jehoiachin, Evil merodach king of Babylon, in the first year of his reign, pardoned King Jehoiachin of Judah and released him from the prison.” (Jeremiah 52:31)
“52:31 Independent archaeological evidence supports the imprisonment of Jehoiachin in Babylon. An inscription references Ya’ukinu, king of the land of Yahudi, and it lists the rations provided for him and his five sons.”
(Comment: // Same song, different verse: “I don’t have nearly enough faith to be anything but a Christian!”)
Soli Deo Gloria!