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. // “In progress”
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.
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Let’s get started!:
“Cursed in the lone 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 Lamenations 3: 37-28), this curse was fitting.”
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“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).”
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IN PROGRESS