20151015 Thursday, October 15 2015
Jeremiah 49: What Light Through Yonder Window Breaks?

by Wayne Blank
See also 1 Year Holy Bible Reading Plan

"We have also a more sure word of prophecy; whereunto ye do well that ye take heed, as unto a light that shineth in a dark place, until the day dawn, and the day star arise in your hearts"

The English-language rendering of "gentile" is from the Biblical Hebrew word, pronounced goy-ee (or goy-im in plural), that means nation. It is first found in the Holy Bible in referring to the "gentiles," the nations, from which the people of Israel and Judah were later born i.e. Israelites were descended from people of Iraq (see A Biography Of Abraham: From Ur To Canaan), Syria (see A Biography Of Jacob: The Jacobites Of Syria), Canaan (see The First Jews), Egypt (see The Adoption Of Ephraim and Manasseh), Moab (see Ruth: Building The House Of Israel) and others.

"10:5 By these were the isles of the Gentiles divided in their lands; every one after his tongue, after their families, in their nations." (Genesis 10:5 KJV)

"Gentile" later came to be used in a way that referred to other nations as though Israel was not itself a nation, a "gentile," according to the literal meaning of their own Hebrew word. It's a common political or geographic manifestation that can happen both ways i.e. Israel refers to other nations as though it isn't itself a nation (the actual meaning of the Hebrew word), while, for example, "America" has come to be defined as just one of the 35 nations (with a population of over a billion people) of America. Israel is a "gentile" too, just as all of the other people of America, from the northern tip of Canada to the southern tip of Argentina, are Americans too.

While, in most cases, the nearsightedness ("distant objects appear blurred") is just a harmless, but very revealing spectacle of a people's ability or willingness to see the real world, it can cause distorted perceptions in matters of prophecy because, one way or the other, it causes people to lose sight of themselves as who they really are, or of the world, in which they really live. In the words of the apostle Peter (see 2 Peter: 'The Servants Of Corruption Promise Liberty'):

"1:19 We have also a more sure word of prophecy; whereunto ye do well that ye take heed, as unto a light that shineth in a dark place, until the day dawn, and the day star arise in your hearts: 1:20 Knowing this first, that no prophecy of the scripture is of any private interpretation." (2 Peter 1:19-20 KJV)

The neighboring nations around Israel shared in their blessings, or their wrath, based upon how they chose to behave toward the LORD's Kingdom - of which "Israel" was just a living prophecy of how people of all nations will be born as citizens of the Kingdom of God (see What Was The Lesson Of John 3:16? and the Fact Finder question below).

The Ammonites were the descendants of Abraham's nephew Lot (see also Moab's Babylon Lesson).

"49:1 Concerning the Ammonites, thus saith the LORD;

Hath Israel no sons? hath he no heir? why then doth their king inherit Gad, and his people dwell in his cities? 49:2 Therefore, behold, the days come, saith the LORD, that I will cause an alarm of war to be heard in Rabbah of the Ammonites; and it shall be a desolate heap, and her daughters shall be burned with fire: then shall Israel be heir unto them that were his heirs, saith the LORD.

49:3 Howl, O Heshbon, for Ai is spoiled: cry, ye daughters of Rabbah, gird you with sackcloth; lament, and run to and fro by the hedges; for their king shall go into captivity, and his priests and his princes together. 49:4 Wherefore gloriest thou in the valleys, thy flowing valley, O backsliding daughter? that trusted in her treasures, saying, Who shall come unto me?

49:5 Behold, I will bring a fear upon thee, saith the Lord GOD of hosts, from all those that be about thee; and ye shall be driven out every man right forth; and none shall gather up him that wandereth. 49:6 And afterward I will bring again the captivity of the children of Ammon, saith the LORD." (Jeremiah 49:1-6 KJV)

The Edomites were the descendants of Jacob / Israel's brother Esau (see The Birth of Jacob and Esau and The Nations Of Esau).

49:7 Concerning Edom, thus saith the LORD of hosts;

Is wisdom no more in Teman? is counsel perished from the prudent? is their wisdom vanished? 49:8 Flee ye, turn back, dwell deep, O inhabitants of Dedan; for I will bring the calamity of Esau upon him, the time that I will visit him. 49:9 If grapegatherers come to thee, would they not leave some gleaning grapes? if thieves by night, they will destroy till they have enough. 49:10 But I have made Esau bare, I have uncovered his secret places, and he shall not be able to hide himself: his seed is spoiled, and his brethren, and his neighbours, and he is not. 49:11 Leave thy fatherless children, I will preserve them alive; and let thy widows trust in me.

49:12 For thus saith the LORD; Behold, they whose judgment was not to drink of the cup have assuredly drunken; and art thou he that shall altogether go unpunished? thou shalt not go unpunished, but thou shalt surely drink of it. 49:13 For I have sworn by myself, saith the LORD, that Bozrah shall become a desolation, a reproach, a waste, and a curse; and all the cities thereof shall be perpetual wastes.

49:14 I have heard a rumour from the LORD, and an ambassador is sent unto the heathen, saying, Gather ye together, and come against her, and rise up to the battle. 49:15 For, lo, I will make thee small among the heathen, and despised among men. 49:16 Thy terribleness hath deceived thee, and the pride of thine heart, O thou that dwellest in the clefts of the rock, that holdest the height of the hill: though thou shouldest make thy nest as high as the eagle, I will bring thee down from thence, saith the LORD. 49:17 Also Edom shall be a desolation: every one that goeth by it shall be astonished, and shall hiss at all the plagues thereof. 49:18 As in the overthrow of Sodom and Gomorrah and the neighbour cities thereof, saith the LORD, no man shall abide there, neither shall a son of man dwell in it.

49:19 Behold, he shall come up like a lion from the swelling of Jordan against the habitation of the strong: but I will suddenly make him run away from her: and who is a chosen man, that I may appoint over her? for who is like me? and who will appoint me the time? and who is that shepherd that will stand before me? 49:20 Therefore hear the counsel of the LORD, that he hath taken against Edom; and his purposes, that he hath purposed against the inhabitants of Teman: Surely the least of the flock shall draw them out: surely he shall make their habitations desolate with them. 49:21 The earth is moved at the noise of their fall, at the cry the noise thereof was heard in the Red sea. 49:22 Behold, he shall come up and fly as the eagle, and spread his wings over Bozrah: and at that day shall the heart of the mighty men of Edom be as the heart of a woman in her pangs." (Jeremiah 49:7-22 KJV)

The Syrians, where most of the Israelite patriarchs, including Judah, were born (see The Syrian Connection and The Syrian Tongue Of Jesus):

49:23 Concerning Damascus.

Hamath is confounded, and Arpad: for they have heard evil tidings: they are fainthearted; there is sorrow on the sea; it cannot be quiet. 49:24 Damascus is waxed feeble, and turneth herself to flee, and fear hath seized on her: anguish and sorrows have taken her, as a woman in travail. 49:25 How is the city of praise not left, the city of my joy! 49:26 Therefore her young men shall fall in her streets, and all the men of war shall be cut off in that day, saith the LORD of hosts. 49:27 And I will kindle a fire in the wall of Damascus, and it shall consume the palaces of Benhadad." (Jeremiah 49:23-27 KJV)

Kedar, from the descendants of Abraham's son Ishmael (see A Biography Of Abraham: Hagar And Ishmael), and Hazor, a Canaanite city in Galilee (the mothers of the first Jews were two Canaanite women who had children with Judah; see Israel In History and Prophecy: Jews).

49:28 Concerning Kedar, and concerning the kingdoms of Hazor, which Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon shall smite, thus saith the LORD; Arise ye, go up to Kedar, and spoil the men of the east. 49:29 Their tents and their flocks shall they take away: they shall take to themselves their curtains, and all their vessels, and their camels; and they shall cry unto them, Fear is on every side.

49:30 Flee, get you far off, dwell deep, O ye inhabitants of Hazor, saith the LORD; for Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon hath taken counsel against you, and hath conceived a purpose against you. 49:31 Arise, get you up unto the wealthy nation, that dwelleth without care, saith the LORD, which have neither gates nor bars, which dwell alone. 49:32 And their camels shall be a booty, and the multitude of their cattle a spoil: and I will scatter into all winds them that are in the utmost corners; and I will bring their calamity from all sides thereof, saith the LORD. 49:33 And Hazor shall be a dwelling for dragons, and a desolation for ever: there shall no man abide there, nor any son of man dwell in it." (Jeremiah 49:28-33 KJV)

Elam, of the line of Noah's son Shem, through whom also the Israelites originated (see The LORD's Seed Covenants With The Two Men Of Iraq).

49:34 The word of the LORD that came to Jeremiah the prophet against Elam in the beginning of the reign of Zedekiah king of Judah, saying,

49:35 Thus saith the LORD of hosts; Behold, I will break the bow of Elam, the chief of their might. 49:36 And upon Elam will I bring the four winds from the four quarters of heaven, and will scatter them toward all those winds; and there shall be no nation whither the outcasts of Elam shall not come. 49:37 For I will cause Elam to be dismayed before their enemies, and before them that seek their life: and I will bring evil upon them, even my fierce anger, saith the LORD; and I will send the sword after them, till I have consumed them: 49:38 And I will set my throne in Elam, and will destroy from thence the king and the princes, saith the LORD.

49:39 But it shall come to pass in the latter days, that I will bring again the captivity of Elam, saith the LORD." (Jeremiah 49:34-39 KJV)

Fact Finder: What will be the only "nation" in the Kingdom of God?
See The First And Last Nation and The Patriotism Prophecy