No matter how perplexing, confusing, and dark the days we may be living in, God’s word will not only endure but His promises will come to pass. Even in hours where God decrees judgment, He also will show mercy. As we are coming to the end of the book of Jeremiah, we discover from chapters 46-52 God’s message to nations. We often focus, and rightfully so, on God’s covenant people in the Old Testament, the nation of Israel. However, we can quickly lose sight of the larger picture. God is a God of all the nations and in relationship to the nations, as Isaiah points out, “the nations are like a drop in the bucket (Isaiah 40:15).” Robert Davidson in summarizing these chapters gives us a sense of why their message is so important, not only in that moment of human history, but its relevancy for our time.
There are certain dangers to which all religious people are exposed, and the more passionately they believe, the greater the dangers. One of them is the danger of converting the God in whom we believe, the God in whom we worship, into our own patron saint; a God who exists primarily to meet our needs, to protect our interests to answer our prayers.[i]
In other words, we make it all about us. It becomes a very privatized faith that often disconnects from the larger drama of human life happening around us. The tragedy with this approach is that others make decisions in our community and beyond that eventually impacts our lives in very significant ways. We are all part of the larger community and need to engage with it in meaningful ways.
On the flip side, we can become fixated on the larger picture, even advocating and supporting an aggressive approach to national greatness and prosperity at the expense of other countries. Robert Davidson continues the significance of the prophetic ministry beyond the borders of Israel and Judah.
Prophets from Amos to Jeremiah insisted that to believe in the Lord is to believe in a God who is the ruler of all nations. This is a God whose purposes all nations exist to serve whether they know it or not; a God whose universal standards of justice and righteousness nations, including Israel and Judah, ignore at their peril.[ii]
So, what happens when nations go astray? What happens when pride and the lust for power motivate nations to threaten their neighbors?
There is in the present an idolatry of power which often masquerades in our world as self-interest. There is an idolatry of repression which often masquerades as the defence of law and order. There is an idolatry of economic exploitation which often masquerades as the protection of our living standards.[iii]
Leaders can communicate these ideologies and can exploit others to further their own self-interest and agenda, often at the expense of the nation. It can at times be misguided as they believe they are doing what is for the best interests of those they serve, but when it comes at the expense of others, it damages those they lead.
When we look around our world, with uncertainty, instability, and political posture, one might fall prey to fear or toward belligerence. However, neither approach is biblical nor an expression of genuine faith that God is in control of this world. In these messages to the nations we will discover that God is a God of righteousness and justice and will address all human sinfulness. In the close of chapter 45, we see that God is about to bring ‘disaster on all people.’ Walter Brueggemann in speaking to this text states: “…God is about to disrupt all present power arrangements.”[iv]
What is about to happen is far different than what they had known, and that is an unsettling thought. How will we then respond to what we have little or no control over aggressive national behavior? There are two biblical responses to these challenging times.
THE FIRST RESPONSE TO AGGRESSIVE NATIONAL BEHAVIOR IS TO TRUST GOD
Many national powers have arisen and fallen, but it is God who determines the times in which we live and what will transpire. It is not determined by human ingenuity or strength. What we are about to see is how God addressed these issues in nations, not just in individual lives. All nations are accountable to someone greater and stronger than themselves, namely to God. God’s message is specific to each nation and to their aspirations and behaviors. In Jeremiah 46 we have a specific message to the nation of Egypt.
This is the word of the Lord that came to Jeremiah the prophet concerning the nations: Concerning Egypt: This is the message against the army of Pharaoh Necho king of Egypt, which was defeated at Carchemish on the Euphrates River by Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon in the fourth year of Jehoiakim son of Josiah king of Judah:[v]
Like in Jeremiah 45, we are once again brought back in time to earlier events in the life of Judah and Egypt which gives us an understanding of God’s message to Egypt. We notice in verse two that it was during the fourth year of the reign of Jehoiakim, king of Judah.
Egypt had dominated Syria and Palestine for most of the second millennium B.C., but in the latter part of that period its power declined. After the nineteenth dynasty (ca. 1306–1200), it was never again the great power it once had been. However, its rulers still had pretensions of greatness and often engaged in political and military intrigue among the nations. Pharaoh Neco (610–594) was on his way to aid the beleaguered Assyrians in their final struggle with Babylon in 609 when he was intercepted by King Josiah at Megiddo. The battle that followed resulted in Josiah’s death and Egypt’s control of the region. The Egyptians also occupied Carchemish, located about sixty-three miles northeast of Aleppo on the upper Euphrates. …However, in one of the decisive battles of history, Babylon defeated Egypt at Carchemish in 605 B.C. and became the undisputed power in the ANE [Ancient Near East]. Nebuchadnezzar pursued Neco to Egypt but was interrupted by news that his father, Nabopolassar, had died. He immediately returned to Babylon to secure his father’s throne for himself.[vi]
Jeremiah is now depicting that major battle scene, which we now know in hindsight shifted the political landscape in powerful poetic imagery.
A. The Egyptian Self-Confidence for the upcoming battle described.
As we read these words, we gain a feeling of the heightened tension of the moments prior to the battle. Commanders are shouting their orders. There is self-confidence that they will win the day, and victory is just around the corner.
Prepare your shields, both large and small, and march out for battle! Harness the horses, mount the steeds! Take your positions with helmets on! Polish your spears, put on your armor![vii]
Four years previously, the Egyptian army had defeated the Assyrians, and the expectation was that they would win this battle as well. But as we discover, God is in the battle and the outcome is a terrifying defeat for Egypt.
What do I see? They are terrified, they are retreating, their warriors are defeated. They flee in haste without looking back, and there is terror on every side,” declares the Lord. ‘The swift cannot flee nor the strong escape. In the north by the River Euphrates they stumble and fall.’[viii]
By ignoring the battle, a subtle but ironic contrast between the elaborate preparations of the Egyptians and their humiliating defeat and flight is emphasized.[ix]
They are trapped on the shores of the Euphrates, and there is no escape for the army. We have this amazing contrast between expectation and reality. The Scriptures state it so powerfully.
‘Who is this that rises like the Nile, like rivers of surging waters? Egypt rises like the Nile, like rivers of surging waters. She says, “I will rise and cover the earth; I will destroy cities and their people.” Charge, you horses! Drive furiously, you charioteers! March on, you warriors—men of Cush and Put who carry shields, men of Lydia who draw the bow.[x]
Tremper Longman explains the meaning of this self-aggrandizement of the nation and God’s decision to discipline the nation.
In verse 7 the oracle changes tone and describes the enormous pride of Egypt. This pride takes us back before the battle. The Nile River was the pride of Egypt. All its fertility and its tremendous wealth depend on an annual flooding of the Nile. As the waters receded it left behind productive soil. …The nation of Egypt is here compared to the Nile in its rising out of its natural boundaries in order to cover the earth. In other words, the surging Nile is used as a metaphor of Egypt’s imperialistic impulses that were operative in their attempt to fight Babylon in far away Carchemish. They want to cover the earth like the flooding Nile covers the ground.[xi]
The men of Put, Lydia and Cush are mercenaries who are serving Egypt. Yet, it doesn’t matter how strong our armies are, God is the One who determines outcomes. That is why the Psalmist reminds us of this in Psalm 20.
Some trust in chariots and some in horses, but we trust in the name of the LORD our God. They are brought to their knees and fall, but we rise up and stand firm.[xii]
B. The battle is determined by God.
But that day belongs to the Lord, the Lord Almighty— a day of vengeance, for vengeance on his foes. The sword will devour till it is satisfied, till it has quenched its thirst with blood. For the Lord, the Lord Almighty, will offer sacrifice in the land of the north by the River Euphrates. ‘Go up to Gilead and get balm, Virgin Daughter Egypt. But you try many medicines in vain; there is no healing for you. The nations will hear of your shame; your cries will fill the earth. One warrior will stumble over another; both will fall down together.’[xiii]
Gilead was noted for its medicinal ointments and was located in Judah. But like Judah who had been crushed by the Babylonian army, now we see Egypt experiencing the same plight. There was no healing or answer for their demise for both Judah and now Egypt had been in rebellion against God’s purposes and are now suffering without remedy.
When the Egyptian army approached the battlefield, they looked like the Nile in flood season (46:8a). The military leaders were sure of victory (v. 8b), and their mercenaries were eager to fight (v. 9), but the Lord had determined that Egypt would lose the battle. ‘That day belongs to the Lord, the Lord Almighty’ (v. 10, NIV). It was a “holy war” in that God offered Egypt as a sacrifice (v. 10). Egypt’s wounds were incurable and her shame was inevitable (vv. 11–12).[xiv]
THE SECOND RESPONSE TO AGGRESSIVE NATIONAL BEHAVIOR IS THE REALIZATION THAT GOD WILL DISCIPLINE THE PERPETRATORS
Nations that become aggressive ultimately suffer and are addressed by God. Walter Brueggemann makes this clarifying observation from biblical and political history.
Nations which do not honor God (and God’s people) stand under judgment and will be destabilized. …Yahweh is sovereign, no nation, no matter how powerful, is finally and ultimately an absolute value.[xv]
He continues to point out from Paul Kennedy’s book, The Rise and Fall of the Great Powers, this same concept solely from a contemporary secular point of view.
Kennedy proposes that every nation-state, because of its population, territory, and natural resources, is entitled to a certain share of the world’s wealth. When a nation-state overreaches that share in an act of self-aggrandizement [self-importance], that nation places itself in jeopardy and stands at risk in the process of world politics. …Kennedy’s argument is that no nation-state dares to conduct itself as though it were an ultimate end in itself.[xvi]
A. The God factor in human affairs.
The great factor in understanding human history is that it is ultimately the story of God and His Sovereign work in the affairs of nations and people. Now we have a second conflict between Egypt and Babylon, that is about twenty years later. Jerusalem has fallen, many of the people have been taken into exile, some had escaped to Egypt. A new king is over the land of Egypt. It seems from Jeremiah that he had been making promises to the last king of Judah, Zedekiah that he would support him in his revolt against Babylon, but not much came from it, as Babylon had dominated the land of Judah and soundly defeated them.
Nebuchadnezzar now directs his focus on to Egypt. Not only has Egypt’s military expansion been halted on the banks of the Euphrates, but the conflict is now moved to Egypt. Once again, we notice in the poetic language that it is the Lord who is allowing Babylon to prevail. Babylon is seen as God’s instrument in disciplining Egypt.
This is the message the Lord spoke to Jeremiah the prophet about the coming of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon to attack Egypt: ‘Announce this in Egypt, and proclaim it in Migdol; proclaim it also in Memphis and Tahpanhes: “Take your positions and get ready, for the sword devours those around you.” Why will your warriors be laid low? They cannot stand, for the Lord will push them down. Migdol, Memphis, and Tahpanhes are all cities in Egypt that will fall to the Babylonians.’[xvii]
B. The boasts of Egypt are crushed.
They will stumble repeatedly; they will fall over each other. They will say, ‘Get up, let us go back to our own people and our native lands, away from the sword of the oppressor.’ There they will exclaim, ‘Pharaoh king of Egypt is only a loud noise; he has missed his opportunity.’ The mercenaries in Egypt’s army abandons their posts and flee for home, as they see the futility of what is transpiring.[xviii]
C. God’s promises an agent of His divine discipline.
The prophet describes Babylon, as two significant mountains in the land of Judah and Israel that tower above their surroundings.
‘As surely as I live,’ declares the King, whose name is the Lord Almighty, ‘one will come who is like Tabor among the mountains, like Carmel by the sea. Pack your belongings for exile, you who live in Egypt, for Memphis will be laid waste and lie in ruins without inhabitant. Egypt is a beautiful heifer, but a gadfly is coming against her from the north.[xix]
Like a gadfly that is a nuisance to a heifer so will the distress that Babylon will bring to the land of Egypt. Most scholars and historians point out that Babylon didn’t occupy the nation of Egypt, but they did diminish her influence and affected her economic prosperity. Babylon stripped her of her wealth. They plundered her.
The mercenaries in her ranks are like fattened calves. They too will turn and flee together, they will not stand their ground, for the day of disaster is coming upon them, the time for them to be punished.[xx]
The fattened calves are referring to Egypt’s mercenaries who enjoyed their pay, but when it came time for them to protect the land, they fled.
Egypt will hiss like a fleeing serpent as the enemy advances in force; they will come against her with axes, like men who cut down trees. They will chop down her forest,’ declares the Lord, ‘dense though it be. They are more numerous than locusts, they cannot be counted. Daughter Egypt will be put to shame, given into the hands of the people of the north.’[xxi]
Babylon is north of Egypt. Tremper Longman points out the significance of
Egypt will hiss like a fleeing serpent.’ The serpent was an important symbol in Egypt. Indeed, the pharaoh had a representation of the coiled serpent (the uraeus) on his headdress. But though the serpent hisses, it stands no chance against the enemy that comes like a locust plague, or like men who cut down trees.[xxii]
What was the Uraeus? “It is a stylized cobra headpiece that the king or people of royalty wore and was used in ancient Egypt to symbolize royalty, divinity, and protection.”[xxiii]
How many can see the irony in what Jeremiah is saying? Simply put these gods of Egypt are impotent before the true and the living God in protecting the nation of Egypt. When we put our trust in anything or anyone other than our Lord, we will be disciplined, defeated, and deeply disappointed.
D. The reason for God’s discipline upon the land of Egypt.
The Lord Almighty, the God of Israel, says: ‘I am about to bring punishment on Amon god of Thebes, on Pharaoh, on Egypt and her gods and her kings, and on those who rely on Pharaoh. I will give them into the hands of those who want to kill them—Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon and his officers. Later, however, Egypt will be inhabited as in times past,’ declares the Lord.[xxiv]
God is judging the false gods of the land in which the people have placed their trust. Ultimately, though they will be humbled, God will not completely destroy them.
E. A special word of promise of preservation for God’s people.
Though God is disciplining the nations among which his people have been scattered, God’s promise is one of ultimate peace and security, though at this time they are experiencing Divine discipline.
‘Do not be afraid, Jacob my servant; do not be dismayed, Israel. I will surely save you out of a distant place, your descendants from the land of their exile. Jacob will again have peace and security, and no one will make him afraid. Do not be afraid, Jacob my servant, for I am with you,’ declares the Lord. ‘Though I completely destroy all the nations among which I scatter you, I will not completely destroy you. I will discipline you but only in due measure; I will not let you go entirely unpunished.’[xxv]
So, we can quickly say, I know that God is over all the nations, but the reality is that we often act as if the political realities are greater in our lives. We see nations jockeying for positions of power and pre-eminence in our world. Brash statements are made. Nations flex their muscles but in the end, it is God’s world. Just as the battle of Carchemish ended the millennium of Egyptian dominance in the Ancient Near East, it came about as directed by God. Our trust cannot be in military or economic vitality, but in subservience to God. When nations walk humbly before God, God sustains and protects those nations. However, if we walk in arrogance and autonomy from God, regardless of what we have achieved, we walk on the verge of a major collapse and a shift in our place in this world. What can we do then but to trust in God and watch as God’s disciplines nations, be it our own nation or other nations.
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[i] Robert Davidson, Jeremiah, Vol. 2, The Daily Study Bible Series, (Louisville, KY: Westminster John Knox Press, 1985), 158.
[ii] Ibid, 158-59.
[iii] Ibid, 159.
[iv] Walter Brueggemann, A Commentary on Jeremiah: Exile and Homecoming, (Grand Rapids, MI: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 1998), 419.
[v] Jeremiah 46:1-2, The New International Version of the Bible, Zondervan, 2011.
[vi] F. B. Huey, F. B. Jeremiah, Lamentations, Vol. 16, (Broadman & Holman Publishers, 1993), 378.
[vii] Jeremiah 46:3-4.
[viii] Jeremiah 46:5-6.
[ix] F. B. Huey, F. B. Jeremiah, Lamentations, Vol. 16, 378.
[x] Jeremiah 46:7-9.
[xi] Tremper Longman III, Jeremiah, Lamentations, New International Biblical Commentary, (Peabody, MA: Hendrickson Publishers, 2008), 278.
[xii] Psalm 20:7-8.
[xiii] Jeremiah 46:10-12.
[xiv] Warren Wiersbe, Be Decisive, (Wheaton, IL: Victor Books, 1996), 165.
[xv] Walter Brueggemann, A Commentary on Jeremiah: Exile and Homecoming, 420.
[xvi] Walter Brueggemann, A Commentary on Jeremiah: Exile and Homecoming, (Grand Rapids, MI: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 1998), 420 as taken from Paul Kennedy, The Rise and Fall of the Great Powers.
[xvii] Jeremiah 46:13-15.
[xviii] Jeremiah 46:16-17.
[xix] Jeremiah 46:18-20.
[xx] Jeremiah 46:21.
[xxi] Jeremiah 46:22-24.
[xxii] Tremper Longman III, Jeremiah, Lamentations, 281.
[xxiii] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Uraeus#cite_note-1.
[xxiv] Jeremiah 46:25-26.
[xxv] Jeremiah 46:27-28.
