Jeremiah 49:12-22 – Stay pliant before God

God’s message of judgment on Edom which started in Jeremiah 49:7-11 continued in verses 12-22. In verse 12, God asked a rhetorical question. He wanted the Edomites to have a more apt evaluation of why they deserved the coming judgment. If people who were less deceiving of the judgment had to go through those harrowing experiences, what made them think that they could avoid it? In verse 13, God then swore that the Bozrah which was believed to be a fortified city place “…become an object of horror, a reproach, a ruin, and a curse; and all its cities will become perpetual ruins.”

 

The Edomites had the delusion that the fort they had built around their rugged mountainous land would make them impenetrable and secure. Being deceived by this false notion, they reckoned that could ward off any attack.  Jeremiah in verses 14-16 then warned them that there was no place to shield them from God’s coming judgment.  No matter how high the mountain they had scaled even as high as where eagles would build their nest or how strong they thought their fortresses were, there would be no defense that could prevent God’s judgment from reaching them. There would absolutely be no safe place to shield them from God’s dealing. When God’s judgment rained on them, they would be  

 

In verses 17-22, God declared in no uncertain terms that Edom would be thoroughly overthrown.  Just like the devastation of the twin cities of Sodom and Gomorrah, Edom would be left utterly desolate leaving it unliveable. Babylon would come upon Edom like a ferocious lion pouncing upon a flock of sheep devouring them leaving them without a shepherd.  God guaranteed them that no Edomite would be able to withstand the force that He was releasing upon them to execute His judgment.  The Edomites would be rendered powerless to deal with Nebuchadnezzar’s Babylonian force.

So thorough would be the devastation and Edom would be left despairing. This is how the New Living Translation paraphrased verses 20-22:

Listen to the Lord’s plans against Edom
    and the people of Teman.
Even the little children will be dragged off like sheep,
    and their homes will be destroyed.
The earth will shake with the noise of Edom’s fall,
    and its cry of despair will be heard all the way to the Red Sea.
Look! The enemy swoops down like an eagle,
    spreading his wings over Bozrah.
Even the mightiest warriors will be in anguish

 

Like lessons we learn from God’s message to the Ammonites, we also learn from the message to the Edomites that God abhors the proud. Pride will make one put him or herself against others and even God. Stay humble and pliant and pliable before God. Remember that pride will always make us forget that we are but frail humans. Remember what  Psalm 103:15-16 said about us:

 

As for man, his days are like grass;
As a flower of the field, so he flourishes.
When the wind has passed over it, it is no more,
And its place acknowledges it no longer.