It took me 20 minutes to read this passage. Here God lays out in poetic but painful clarity the judgment that he has prepared for some of the countries around Judah. Elam, Kedar, Hazor, Damascus, Edom, Ammon, and Moab were all people who had heard the message of God’s glory at work in Israel but rejected the truth and laid traps for Israel and Judah. Just as today there is more than one nation whose leaders have led their people in a wrong direction. Leading them into selfish indulgences, and abuses of the weak around them. God will punish all people who reject him outright. It is not a message the church likes to share, nor it a message welcomed by the world. But it has always been God’s message since the fall of man from God’s favor. Just as God’s love for mankind has not changed over the eons of time, his just nature has been consistent in demanding punishment for the disobedient. Jeremiah doesn’t mention it here, but I am thankful that God provided a remedy for our disobedience that also brings us back into a right relationship with him; grace.
Stuart
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