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JEREMIAH

Jeremiah 46-48

Please turn in your Bibles to Jeremiah chapter 46, as we continue our study through the Word of God. The next 6 chapters are going to deal with God’s judgment upon the gentile nations that surrounded Jerusalem. And even though these judgments occurred long ago, there are some lessons we can learn through them. And then as we conclude the book of Jeremiah, chapter 52 is going to recap for us the capture and destruction of the Southern Kingdom of Judah and Jerusalem. And so this evening lets jump right into Jeremiah chapter 46, and we will begin in verse 1.

JEREMIAH 46

VERSES 1-2

1. The first of the gentile nations that God is going to bring judgment upon is Egypt. At one point the Egyptians tried to regain their power by coming and making an alliance with the Assyrians at Carchemish. The power of the Assyrians was slipping and the power of Babylon was growing. So the Egyptians tried to destroy the Babylonians by uniting with the Assyrians. For some reason Josiah, king of Judah, decided to go and fight against Pharaoh Necho, and Josiah was killed in battle in the valley of Megiddo. This occurred around 609 BC.

(II Chronicles 35). A few years later Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon met the Egyptians and defeated them in the battle of Carchemish, leaving Babylon as a world power. And now God is going to use the Babylonians as His instrument of judgment against the Egyptians.

VERSES 3-4

1. This was a call to prepare for battle by Pharaoh Necho. He actually thought he was going to win this battle.

VERSES 5-6

1. Instead of celebrating a victory, the Egyptians were fleeing for their lives as the Babylonians defeated them in the battle of Carchemish. And remember, this was God’s judgment upon them, using the Babylonians as an instrument for His work.

VERSE 7

1. Every year the Nile River would overflow its banks, and God is using that to describe the Egyptian army, the only problem was this flood is going to be swallowed up by the Babylonians.

VERSE 8

1. Pharaoh Necho was pretty secure in this battle, he thought he could win easily. As Proverbs 16:18 says, "Pride goes before destruction, and a haughty spirit before a fall."

VERSE 9

1. Egypt was known for its horses and chariots. They were powerful weapons in battle. In fact, before the children of Israel even entered the Promised Land, God told them in Deuteronomy chapter 17 not to go to Egypt and obtain horses for battle. And the reason God said that wassimple. He did not want them to put their trust in the arm of flesh for victory, but in the power of God.

2. Not only did the Egyptians have horses and chariots to assist them in this battle, but they hired mercenaries from Libya and Ethiopia, and-so-on. It looks like the cards were stacked in their favor, but they left out one thing, GOD!

VERSE 10

1. You see, it doesn’t matter how favorable the victory may seem, God is in control and He will bring forth His plan no matter how hard you try to fight against it.

VERSE 11

1. Gilead was known for its medicinal balm that was used to heal, but God is saying that won’t even help the Egyptians, judgment is coming upon them.

VERSE 12

1. Egypt was known at one time for its power and God is saying they will never be what they once were.

VERSES 13-14

1. Why did God signal out these three cities? Because these are the cities that were located in lower northern Egypt where the people from Judah fled to for safety. God is going to judge theEgyptians and His people will also be affected by this judgment.

2. Also note that we have moved from the battle of Carchemish which was by the Euphrates River in the north, down to Egypt as the Babylonians have come down upon them.

VERSES 15-16

1. This is almost comical unless you were fighting alongside these guys. The ones that are fleeing here are the mercenaries that Egypt hired. Why did they flee? Because they saw this as a losing cause and a hired soldier will never fight as hard as one who has to defend his home and family. They have no vested interest in the war.

VERSE 17

1. These mercenaries are saying that the king of Egypt is nothing more than a bag of hot air. His words are empty now. The battle was turning against them and they turned against Pharaoh, leaving him high and dry.

VERSES 18-20

1. The Babylonians came down from the north upon Egypt and took them into captivity.

VERSES 21-23

1. The Babylonians were brutal in battle, they had these battle axes that they would use to cutdown their enemies like you would cut down a tree. Now you know why these mercenaries were fleeing!

VERSES 24-26

1. God is going to judge Egypt and He is also going to judge the god’s they worshiped. When you study the plagues that came upon the Egyptians prior to the Exodus of the Jews, they were against the god’s they worshiped. Here God speaks of Amon of No and all the god’s they have trusted in, they are not going to be able to help them.

VERSE 27

1. For the Jews who were taken away captive to Babylon already, this news of Egypt falling must have been disheartening. But God is assuring them that He has not forgotten about them. He will bring them back into the land once again and give them rest. Words of comfort and encouragement that God is giving to His people as they were captive in Babylon.

VERSE 28

1. You can’t read this and come up with a picture of a mean, vengeful God, because He is not! Notice the beautiful balance of our God. He loves us and yet, as His children He won’t let us getaway with things that are wrong. He will chasten us but only as a corrective action, to get us back on track, and not as a punitive action. He does it for our own good and that is what He is saying to the captives in Babylon, He will correct them for their sin but to bring about good and not evil. And that is exactly what happened. They went into captivity as idol worshipers and they came out men and women of faith!

JEREMIAH 47

VERSE 1

1. Now God is pronouncing judgment upon the Philistines. Many believe the Philistines came from the island of Crete. And during a time of volcanic activity on the island, in around 900 BC, they fled to the area on the shores of the Mediterranean Sea, which we call today the Gaza Strip.

VERSES 2-3

1. God pictures the Babylonians like flood waters that come sweeping down upon the Philistines. Their numbers will be suffocating and their strength will scare the people to such a degree that they will flee for their lives, abandoning their own families as they try to survive this invasion.

VERSE 4

1. Caphtor is a reference to Crete, where the Philistines came from. The reasonNebuchadnezzar is coming so hard against the Philistines may be because of their aiding the people of Tyre when the Babylonians were attacking them. In those days you would surround a city, cutting off the food supply, and then wait for them to surrender or starve to death. It was a effective way to win a battle. When the Babylonians came against Tyre, they could not completely surround it because one side opened up to the sea. Thus, food and supplies would be brought in by the sea and the Philistines assisted them in this work. This siege by the Babylonians lasted some 12 to 13 years and the people of Tyre finally had enough, and they moved their entire city to an island off shore so that when the Babylonians broke through, the city was empty. He had no spoil to show for his 12 or 13 years of fighting, so he was going to make the Philistines pay for helping the people of Tyre. One side note on Tyre, Alexander the Great took the city by making a causeway out to the Island, using all the wood and rocks from the old city, and thus, his army could walk right into their city, and they took it, defeating the city of Tyre.

VERSE 5

1. The five main Philistine cities were Gaza, Ashkelon, Gath, Ekron, and Ashdod. And as these cities are destroyed their will be great mourning in the land. Back then they would not only shave their heads, but they would cut themselves as a sign of mourning.

VERSES 6-7

1. God’s judgment won’t end until all the nation has been fully judged. (A scabbard is a sheathfor a sword or dagger to be placed in.).

JEREMIAH 48

VERSE 1a

1. Now God is going to pronounce judgment upon the Moabites, who were relatives of the Jews. If you remember the Moabites and the Ammonites were born out of a relationship between Lot and his two daughters. Lot was the nephew of Abraham. And for some reason the Moabites had it in for the children of Israel. They loved to see trouble come their way. And now God was judging them for the years of evil they perpetrated upon the Jews.

2. The area of Moab is east of the Dead Sea with its northern boarder extending to the River Arnon, and to the south, the River Zered. Now also on the east side of the Dead Sea were the Ammonites, and their territory extended from the River Arnon in the south, to the Jabbok river to the north. And we will deal with God’s judgment upon them next week.

VERSE 1b

1. God is going to pronounce judgment upon some 20 cites in Moab and the one that sticks out is Nebo. Keep in mind that this was the city of Nebo not the mountain from which Moses climbed to get a look at the Promised Land and the place where God buried him. (Deuteronomy 32:49-50).

VERSES 2-3

1. "Madmen" is not a word describing their character, but the name of a city in Moab.

VERSES 4-6

1. As this judgment comes there is a cry to flee, to try and hide yourself from the enemies! Go into the wilderness!

VERSE 7

1. Chemosh was one of the god’s they worshiped and God is saying that Chemosh can’t help, he will be taken captive.

VERSE 8

1. Most of Moab was located on a fertile plateau, which, because of its elevation, made it a difficult place to attack. For the most part, the people living on this plateau lived in ease, they had never really known difficult times, times of conquest.

VERSES 9-10

1. Here God is calling for the enemy to wipe Moab out to the fullest or they will be cursed. No half-hearted effort is to be done in this judgment.

2. Of course we are not to do the work of the Lord Deceitfully. Too often we see people making a profit off of God. That is obviously wrong. Also, this word can be translated as "slack, or slothful." We are not to do the work of God half-heartedly. When we serve the Lord it should be done with joy in our hearts and to the fullest. We are serving the King of Kings and Lord of Lords, He deserves our best!

VERSE 11

1. Moab never really had any hardships or conquests they needed to worry about. And God illustrates this by using the example of making wine. First the grapes are stomped and the juice is placed in bottles or skins so they can ferment. It is during this time that the sediment or dregssettle out to the bottom. At the end of 40 days the wine is fermented and carefully poured out so that it can be separated from the dregs. If the dregs were not removed it would ruin the wine. And what God is saying is difficult times are like a refining process. Without them our lives would tend to rot, spoil. You need that cleansing which is done through persecution, trials, judgment, which Moab had not really encountered at this point.

VERSES 12-13

1. God is saying that when this judgment comes they will tip them over, it will be a refining process as we shall see as we come to the end of this chapter.

2. Also, God is saying that their god, Chemosh, will be ashamed like Israel was with the god they had erected in Bethel. Remember when the kingdom was divided during the reign of Solomon’s son Rehoboam. Rehoboam was the king in the Southern Kingdom of Judah,overseeing the tribes of Judah and Benjamin. Jeroboam was the king to the Northern Kingdom of Israel, overseeing the other 10 tribes. Now with the temple being located in Jerusalem, Jeroboam was worried that his people might defect to the south and his kingdom would be taken away. So he erected two places of worship, one in Dan to the north, and one in Bethel to the south. And he made two golden calves, one placed in Dan and the other in Bethel to worship. And when the Assyrians came these god’s could not help Israel, and the nation was taken into captivity. Like the god that was erected in Bethel, the god of the Moabites, Chemosh, won’t be able to help them either! (I Kings 12:26-30).

VERSES 14-20

1. We see here a picture of people fleeing for their lives. They have come down from the fertile lands to the desert and as they are fleeing, the people they are passing are asking them "What is going on?" And their response is "Moab is fallen!"

VERSES 21-25

1. The horn and the arm are symbols of strength and God is saying that the strength of Moab is cut down and broken off!

VERSE 26

1. Because of their relationship with Israel they should have known better, they should haveknown God and they should have honored Him. But they didn’t and God is judging them because of it.

VERSE 27

1. The Moabites loved to mock and laugh at the Jews as difficult times came upon them. They refused to help even though they were related. They hated the Jews.

VERSE 28

1. The call is to run and hide in the caves of the mountains. In that area by the Dead Sea there are numerous caves to hide in.

VERSE 29

1. God is bringing the Moabites down because of their pride, their arrogance, their self-reliance. I pray that America would wake up because we are no different. Our pride, our self-reliance, our arrogance will bring us down. In Proverbs 6:16 it says "These six things the LORD hates, yes, seven are an abomination to Him..." And on the top of that list is PRIDE! God hates it and so should we.

VERSE 30

1. He is speaking of the boasting of Moab, but that is all going to end.

VERSES 31-32

1. This could be Jeremiah speaking here. Jeremiah had every right to call for the destruction of Moab, but as a representative of God, he had the heart of God. And if we are going to serve the Lord that should be our heart. Mourning over the death and destruction that has come upon the people and desiring to see them come to know the Lord as their Savior, entering into His peace and His rest. You see, the heart of man calls for revenge, but the heart of God reaches out in love. Now this can also be the Lord speaking, but either way, that should be what is manifested in our hearts.

VERSE 33

1. Harvest time was always a time of great celebrations. You worked hard all year and now you would take in the fruits of your labor. But no longer will their be celebrations for the people will be killed or taken into captivity.

VERSES 34-35

1. Their idolatry was another reason for this judgment.

VERSE 36

1. Some say this is Jeremiah speaking, as he is broken over this judgment. But this too could also be the Lord.

VERSES 37-39

1. Again we see the completeness of God’s judgment upon Moab.

VERSES 40-41

1. This judgment will come so quick that it will shock them. They will be surprised over it.

VERSES 42-45

1. They can try all they want to escape from this judgment, but they won’t be able to. There is no escape!

VERSES 46-47

1. Yes God brought judgment upon Moab but He was not going to completely wipe them out as a nation and in the kingdom age they will be saved and worship the Lord. Who are the Moabites today? We don’t know but God does! Let me leave you with this thought this evening. We see the fierceness of God’s wrath but it is always tempered with grace and mercy. The grace of God is awesome!