William Manchester, in his book The Glory and the Dream, wrote about a powerful hurricane.
On September 21, 1938, a hurricane of monstrous proportions struck the East Coast of the United States. As the torrential 40-foot wave approached, some Long Islanders jumped into cars and raced inland. No one knows precisely how many lost that race for their lives, but the survivors later estimated that they had to keep the speedometer over 50 mph all the way. For some reason the meteorologists who should have known what was coming and should have warned the public seemed strangely blind to the impending disaster. Either they ignored their instruments or simply couldn’t believe them. And, of course, if the forecasters were blind, the public was too.
Among the striking stories which later came to light,…was the experience of a Long Islander who had bought a barometer a few days earlier in a New York store. It arrived in the morning post September 21, and to his annoyance the needle pointed below 29, where the dial read, ‘Hurricanes and Tornadoes’. He shook it and banged it against the wall; the needle wouldn’t budge. Indignant, he repacked it, drove to the post office, and mailed it back. While he was gone, his house blew away. That’s the way we are. If we can’t cope with the forecast, we blame the barometer. Or ignore it. Or throw it away![i]
The bible is filled with life-giving instructions including warnings so that we will not be caught unaware. There are dangers not only to our physical well-being but also to our eternal souls. When we deal with our past in a decisive manner by repenting and turning fully to God, it creates a new and healthy path forward. What is true for individuals is also true for nations. But what happens when we do not address our past in an effective manner? What happens when we are in denial or worse, we become mockers and scoffers, deriding the whole idea that God exists and that our past will determine our future? Moses warned the two and a half tribes that if they defaulted on their promise to fulfill their oath to help their fellow tribes in possessing their inheritance in the land of Promise, they would suffer.
But if you fail to do this, you will be sinning against the LORD; and you may be sure that your sin will find you out.[ii]
In other words, to neglect or violate an oath or break God’s word means that sin will overtake the perpetrator, and punishment will be the end result. This is not only true for God’s covenant people, but for all people. There are people-groups who are no longer with us as their cultures deteriorated to such a degree that they either became enfolded into another ethnic group or became extinct.
For many years people challenged the bible’s credibility because it spoke of the Hittite empire and that there were no ancient records of such a people group aside from the bible. However, archeological discoveries have unearthed this civilization in the late nineteenth and early twentieth century. We could go on to list many ancient societies from Scripture that do not exist today. One group was the Philistines, who were constantly in conflict with the nation of Israel.
Here in one of Jeremiah’s messages to the nations, in Jeremiah 47, we have a brief word directed toward the remnant of the Philistines, who had for centuries enslaved other people groups. The Scriptures make very clear that when we sin against others, we are primarily sinning against God. If we perpetuate that behavior after repeated warnings, all that is left is for God to address our sin. In Jeremiah 47, we find God’s final message to the Philistines as their period of grace had expired and judgment was now upon them. What can we learn from this failure to listen to God’s warnings for our lives?
THE FIRST THING WE LEARN IS THAT UNREPENTANT PAST SINS HAVE NO EXPIRY DATE
People often gain a false sense of security when they knowingly do something wrong and there does not appear to be any negative consequences. There is a trend in many cultures today to disconnect the idea that punishment for crimes is a deterrent to those crimes. However, the bible speaks clearly to this issue.
When the sentence for a crime is not quickly carried out, people’s hearts are filled with schemes to do wrong.[iii]
So, why doesn’t God quickly judge us? One reason is that God give us opportunities to learn from our wrongs and turn from our sinful ways. God is loving, kind, forgiving and patient, but if we continue to disregard the warning signs, we will eventually experience negative consequences.
So, when you, a mere human being, pass judgment on them and yet do the same things, do you think you will escape God’s judgment? Or do you show contempt for the riches of his kindness, forbearance and patience, not realizing that God’s kindness is intended to lead you to repentance.[iv]
What are some things that God determines will bring judgment upon a land? In Jeremiah 46, it was the worship of false gods. In Jeremiah 47, it is not directly stated, but there are some clues from earlier warnings to the Philistines in other biblical texts. In Jeremiah 47, we have is a powerful metaphor describing the impending judgment by Babylon as God’s destroying agent. So, who were the Philistines and where did they come from and what caused God to judge them?
A. The origins of the Philistine people.
Jeremiah described the Philistines as the remnant of the isle of Caphtor. According to Amos 9:7 Caphtor was their original home. It is usually identified with Crete but may denote more generally Crete and the Aegean isles from which the Philistines and other groups of sea peoples came in the twelfth and eleventh centuries B. C. They were halted at the frontier of Egypt by Ramses III in about 1188 B. C., but many of them settled along the coastal plains of Palestine.[v]
We find this insight from the book of Amos as to the origins of certain nations, including the Philistines.
‘Are you not like the Cushites to me, O people of Israel?’ declares the LORD. ‘Did I not bring up Israel from the land of Egypt, and the Philistines from Caphtor and the Syrians from Kir?[vi]
While these seafaring people were settling in the coastal region of Canaan which is present day Israel, they developed a maritime trade in which they acquired superior weapons and therefore were able to dominate their inland neighbor, the tribes of Israel. We know from the early accounts of the tribes of Israel that they were in constant borderland warfare with the Philistines and were often subdued by them. David spent much of his earlier life battling with the Philistines until Israel prevailed.
B. So, what was one possible reason for God’s judgment upon the Philistines.
We have to go back to the prophet Amos, about 150 years before Jeremiah’s prophecy to discover that God was dealing with the Philistines living in the five cities of Gaza, Ashdod, Ekron, Gath and Ashkelon.
Thus says the LORD: ‘For three transgressions of Gaza, and for four, I will not revoke the punishment, because they carried into exile a whole people to deliver them up to Edom.[vii]
We read that they were involved in the slave trade. Smith and Page in their commentary on the book of Amos points out:
The sin of Gaza was the capture and sale of either ‘whole communities’ of people, including women and children, or people at peace with Gaza. The word šĕlēmâ may be translated either ‘whole’ or ‘peaceful.’ Deportation of an entire community (or a community keeping a covenant of peace with Gaza) was only one aspect of Gaza’s double-edged sin. Sale of captives to Edom was the other side of it. Who the captives were and what Edom did with them are left unexpressed. One clue may be found in the oracles against Tyre (1:9–10) and Edom (1:11–12). Amos accused Tyre of ‘disregarding a treaty of brotherhood’ and Edom of pursuing ‘his brother’ with a sword. These statements hint at a breach of covenant. Such a treaty was established by David with Hiram, king of Tyre (2 Sam 5:11; cf. 1 Kgs 5:1ff.). David’s friendliness with Achish of Gath suggests the possibility that such a treaty existed with the Philistines (1 Sam 27:1–7). The ‘whole communities’ may have been Israelite. …The concern of Amos seems to have been the freedom and dignity of persons regardless of their national origin. Sale of such captives for use as slave laborers was to treat precious humans made in the image of God (Gen 1:26–27) as mere commodities. The driving force behind these atrocities was nothing higher than the profit of the mighty.[viii]
So far we have been looking at a people group that no longer exists because of their unrepentant sin. What does this have to do with us? God in his love and mercy has addressed sin through by dying to redeem us from sin and its power. However, if we don’t address it in our lives, sin will destroy us. As we look at our society today, we find that we are enslaving people today for financial gain. Think of the ways people are being enslaved today: drugs, alcohol, gambling, and sex are billion-dollar industries that are wreaking havoc on our society. As we hear these warnings centuries ago and they were ignored, what will happen to us? We have greater light and understanding since Jesus’ first coming that He brings us forgiveness and eternal life, yet as a society, we also are ignoring God’s warnings and not turning to Him for forgiveness and deliverance from these sins. They will destroy us.
C. Amos prophecy toward these atrocities 150 years ahead of the actual judgment.
So I will send a fire upon the wall of Gaza, and it shall devour her strongholds. I will cut off the inhabitants from Ashdod, and him who holds the scepter from Ashkelon; I will turn my hand against Ekron, and the remnant of the Philistines shall perish,’ says the LORD GOD.[ix]
Then Zephaniah, who prophesied during Josiah’s reign somewhere in 640-630 B.C. which is only decades away from the actual judgment by the Babylonians in 601 B. C., was another opportunity to address this evil by humbling themselves and renouncing such behavior. Yet, once again this unconfessed sin and turning away from evil is addressed, this time by the prophet Zephaniah.
Gaza will be abandoned and Ashkelon left in ruins. At midday Ashdod will be emptied and Ekron uprooted. Woe to you who live by the sea, you Kerethite people; the word of the Lord is against you, Canaan, land of the Philistines. He says, ‘I will destroy you, and none will be left.’ The land by the sea will become pastures having wells for shepherds and pens for flocks. That land will belong to the remnant of the people of Judah; there they will find pasture. In the evening they will lie down in the houses of Ashkelon. The Lord their God will care for them; he will restore their fortunes.[x]
God will take the land from the Philistines and restore it to the people of Judah. Jeremiah now takes this theme and again pronounces the judgment that is about to happen.
This is the word of the Lord that came to Jeremiah the prophet concerning the Philistines before Pharaoh attacked Gaza:[xi]
We know from the remaining text that the agent in their destruction was Babylon, but the Philistines had suffered earlier attacks from Egypt. What we are getting here is a time frame. The messages of warning came earlier than the destruction under Nebuchadnezzar.
THE SECOND THING WE LEARN IS THAT UNADDRESSED SIN BRINGS JUDGMENT
How does God punish a nation? How does God after repeated warnings bring evil to an end in a nation? We can summarize and state this truism that death breeds death. If we sow to the wind, we can expect to reap a whirlwind. That is exactly what transpired with the Philistines.
A. Military conquest was a means of punishing the Philistines.
There are a number of means to diminish a country. War is one of the most painful and devastating means. Scripture reveals that war, famine, and plagues are used by God to discipline nations. Famine often is the result of war as the nation diverts its energy to self-preservation and neglects the cultivation of the land.
Jeremiah once again uses the metaphor of rising waters, as a picture of the destructive nature of raging waters. Here in our text the waters speak of a mighty army that will not be halted but will bring about devastation and total destruction.
This is what the Lord says: ‘See how the waters are rising in the north; they will become an overflowing torrent. They will overflow the land and everything in it, the towns and those who live in them. The people will cry out; all who dwell in the land will wail at the sound of the hooves of galloping steeds, at the noise of enemy chariots and the rumble of their wheels. Parents will not turn to help their children; their hands will hang limp. For the day has come to destroy all the Philistines and to remove all survivors who could help Tyre and Sidon. The Lord is about to destroy the Philistines, the remnant from the coasts of Caphtor.[xii]
Walter Brueggemann explains the power of this poetic expression of judgment upon the nation.
The poet seeks to bring the listeners into the specific action of the one-sided battle. That picture of brutal and determined force from the north is sharply contrasted with the Philistine fathers, the ones formerly of miliary prowess, now unable even to protect their own children, now utterly weak, failed, and helpless. The rhetoric draws a powerful and complete contrast between power and weakness, between success and shame, between action and passivity.[xiii]
The conflict would be so terrifying, and the cities so quickly overrun that parents would not lift a hand to help their children. They would be paralyzed and immobilized. It seems that an alliance had been made with the Phoenician cities of Sidon and Tyre, but here we read that they would be unable to help them when Nebuchadnezzar invaded their cities. The Philistines were no longer a threat as they were totally diminished. Some were taken into captivity to Babylon.
B. God used Babylon as His sword of judgment.
‘…Gaza will shave her head in mourning; in Ashkelon will be silenced. You remnant on the plain, how long will you cut yourselves? “Alas, sword of the Lord, how long till you rest? Return to your sheath; cease and be still. But how can it rest when the Lord has commanded it, when he has ordered it to attack Ashkelon and the coast?”’[xiv]
Here the cities are personified. Gaza will hang their head in mourning, referring to a ritual of mourning that may also evoke the idea of Babylon shaving them as captives. And Ashkelon will be silenced. A noisy city is silenced in only one way, by killing its inhabitants.[xv]
Here we read that this remnant is on the plain as the Philistines lived in the lowland near the coast and on the coast, while the tribes of Israel lived in the more hilly and mountainous terrain in Canaan. The expression, “how long will you cut yourselves” was a practice by certain nations expressing deep mourning of losses of loved ones. It would seem in verse seven that the cry of “how long God’s sword will continue and not find rest,” seems to be the query of the Philistines as they watch their cities destroyed. It is a petition for God to put up His sword. The answer is simply that it cannot be stop because it was commanded by God. We have seen that God had tried to arrest their attention over great expanses of time, but theirs was only a deafness to God’s plea, and now God refuses to hear their anguished cry. It is not the cry of repentance but of remorse for the situation they find themselves in.
This is so true in our lives as individuals, as well as nations. Many only weep when they are in dire circumstances, but not for the cause that brought them to those circumstances. It is the idea of being sorry for being caught, not sorry for what I did to bring about the pain and sorrow.
So, why does God always address sin? God’s nature is loving and therefore justice is a central part of love. To allow injustice to prevail in our world over the centuries would have destroyed all human life. Justice is a necessary deterrent to evil. Evil left unchecked does not just destroy those around us, evil destroys us. So, when nations become entrapped by evil, they also must be addressed. The twentieth century was one of the most brutal in all of history as we faced two world wars with nations who became engulfed in evil, and it had to be deterred. As with nations, so it is with us as individuals. We need to be saved from ourselves, for if we are not saved by God, we will destroy ourselves. May we come to walk in wisdom, which is to ‘fear God’ and ‘shun evil.’ To start this journey, we must address evil within our own souls. The good news is that Jesus came to address sin. He came to deliver us and set us free, but we must turn to him and confess our sins and ask for forgiveness, then surrender our lives to Him. Repentance is a turn away from sin by turning to God and because of His great love, forgiveness, and power, He enables us to be forgiven and delivered from sin’s hold on our lives.
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[i] https://www.sermonsearch.com/sermon-illustrations/topic/1273/warning-warnings.
[ii] Numbers 32:23, The New International Version of the Bible, Zondervan, 2011.
[iii] Ecclesiastes 8:11.
[iv] Romans 2:3-4
[v] John Thompson, The Book of Jeremiah, The New International Commentary on the Old Testament, (Grand Rapids, MI: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 1980), 697.
[vi] Amos 9:7.
[vii] Amos 1:6.
[viii] Smith, B. K., & Page, F. S., Amos, Obadiah, Jonah, Vol. 19B, (Broadman & Holman Publishers, 1995) 51.
[ix] Amos 1:7-8.
[x] Zephaniah 2:4-7.
[xi] Jeremiah 47:1.
[xii] Jeremiah 47:2-4.
[xiii] Jeremiah 47:2-4.
[xiv] Jeremiah 47:5-7.
[xv] Tremper Longman III, Jeremiah, Lamentations, New International Biblical Commentary, (Peabody, MA: Hendrickson Publishers, 2008), 285.
