Judgment on the Nations (2): Jeremiah 49 (2)

Pray Psalm 2.11, 12.
Serve the LORD with fear,
And rejoice with trembling.
Kiss the Son, lest He be angry,
And you perish in the way,
When His wrath is kindled but a little.
Blessed are all those who put their trust in Him.

Sing Psalm 2.11, 12.
(Agincourt: O Love, How Deep, How Broad, How High!)
Rejoice with fear in Jesus’ grace,
and worship before His exalted face!
Beware His anger and judgment grim:
How blessed are all who rest in Him!

Read and meditate on Jeremiah 49.7-16.

Prepare.
1. What appeared to be lacking in Edom?

2. What had the Edomites rejected that now God would force them to take?

Meditate.
God expected the Edomites to have wisdom, given that they were the closest of all the surrounding nations in blood relationship to Israel and Judah. The Edomites descended from Esau, Jacob’s brother; but they failed to uphold the reconciliation those brothers had accomplished in Genesis 33. God had favored the Edomites with a strong and secure existence (cf. v.16). He expected them to have more wisdom, but they did not (v. 7).

Instead, when the Assyrians subdued Israel in the north, then turned south seeking to overwhelm Judah and Jerusalem, the Edomites piled on and joined them in their assault (2 Chron. 28.16, 17). They were particularly violent against the people of Judah at that time (Amos 1.11, 12).

The Edomites also refused the cup of submission (Jer. 49.12) Jeremiah offered them in chapter 25. But God would force it down their throats now. When Jerusalem fell to Nebuchadnezzar, the Edomites howled and cheered (Ps. 137.7), then joined in the plunder of the city (Obad. 1.10-14). Now those unwise and treacherous actions would receive their just reward.

Calamity would befall them (Jer. 49.8). They would be stripped bare (v. 9), plundered (v. 10), wasted and reduced to a reproach (v. 13), and altogether brought down (v. 16). God would make a complete end of the nation of Edom.

God’s wrath against Edom was as strong as against Egypt and Moab, which is why He continues in an extended word of judgment against this treacherous brother of the people of Judah (vv. 17-22 – we’ll look at these verses in our next installment).

When God comes looking for wisdom in us, let’s make sure that He finds it. Jesus is the treasury of all wisdom and knowledge (Col. 2.2, 3). The better we know Him, and the more consistently we take His yoke upon us, and drink the cup of suffering He drank, the more God’s wisdom will shine through us.

Reflect.
1. How would you explain the idea of wisdom to a new believer?

2. What’s the process by which we may increase in the wisdom of the Lord? Where does that process begin (Ps. 111.10)?

3. Meditate on Ephesians 5.15-17. How can we make the best use of our time?

Here Jeremiah turns to Idumeans, who were most inveterate enemies to the chosen people, though their origin ought to have disposed them to show kindness to them, for they had descended from the same father, even Abraham. The Idumeans also gloried in their holy descent, and had circumcision in common with the Jews. It was then a most impious cruelty that the Idumeans entertained such bitter hatred towards their own blood. John Calvin (1509-1564), Commentary on Jeremiah 49.7

Help me to have the wisdom of Jesus today, Father, as I…

Pray Psalm 2.1-10.
Pray that God’s people all over the world would show His wisdom in their daily lives, and that God would use us to call the lost people of the world to Himself.

Sing Psalm 2.1-10.
Psalm 2.1-10 (Agincourt: O Love, How Deep, How Broad, How High!)
Why do the nations vainly rage,
conspiring together from age to age?
Earth’s kings and all of their counselors stand
against the Lord and His Right Hand:

“Now let us cast His yoke below,
His Kingdom authority overthrow!
Throw off His Law, reject His Word;
no more be governed by this Lord!”

The Lord in heaven laughs in wrath
at all who embark on this cursèd path.
His angry Word to them is plain:
“Yet shall My King in Zion reign!”

Proclaim the message far and wide,
that God has exalted the Crucified!
From heav’n He sent us His only Son,
Who has for us salvation won.

To Christ the Lord be given all
who humbly embrace Him and on Him call.
Be wise, be warned: His judgment comes
to break the prideful, sinful ones.

T. M. Moore

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Except as indicated, Scripture taken from the New King James Version. © Copyright 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved. All quotations from Church Fathers from Ancient Christian Commentary Series, General Editor Thomas C. Oden (Downers Grove: InterVarsity Press, 2006). All psalms for singing are from The Ailbe Psalter (available by clicking here).