Day 216: The God of Justice and Mercy

Jeremiah 52:31-34

In the thirty-seventh year of the captivity of Jehoiachin king of Judah, in the twelfth month, in the twenty-fifth day of the month, Evilmerodach king of Babylon, in the first year of his reign, lifted up the head of Jehoiachin king of Judah, and released him from prison. He spoke kindly to him, and set his throne above the throne of the kings who were with him in Babylon, and changed his prison garments. Jehoiachin ate bread before him continually all the days of his life. For his allowance, there was a continual allowance given him by the king of Babylon, every day a portion until the day of his death, all the days of his life.

Evidently, it took two days for king Evilmerodach to get Jehoiachin out of jail. I’m not sure about that but what we do know is that King Jehoiachin was released from jail on both the 25th and the 27th of the month. That’s because in 2 Kings 25:27 we read that Jehoiachin was actually released on the 27th. Perhaps it was officially decided on the 25th and ultimately executed on the 27th. I don’t believe that there is an error in the original text. It could be that the translation that we have of the original has an error but it appears to be more likely that the writers are writing from two different perspectives. One is probably talking about when the degree was issued, and the other is probably talking about the actual day that Jehoiachin walked out of jail. An accusation against the Bible, built on this alone, would be pretty pathetic since there isn’t enough information to prove that there is an error here. Still, I like to mention it so that no one is surprised when they see or hear about it.

The bigger thing to see here is the mercy and grace of God. Even here at the end of a book about the horrors of God’s judgment against sin, we read that mercy and grace was extended to Jehoiachin. This wasn’t just mercy toward this king. It was also mercy toward the nation of Israel. God had not forgotten them and He intended to do everything He said He would do

We have been following God’s story of the salvation of the human race. It’s no surprise that these events are followed by this amazing little passage. God is making it perfectly clear that He is a God of salvation. No one is beyond His mercy. Even after all of the sin and all of the prophesy that God performed against Judah, His grace came through in the end. This is the God that we have. I think that we know this in our hearts. God has put the truth in us that our God must be both a good judge and a merciful person. As a result we all have the same choice today. Either we will accept God’s mercy, or receive the judgment we deserve.

Day 195: God’s Dealings with Terrorists

Jeremiah 49:34-39

Yahweh’s word that came to Jeremiah the prophet concerning Elam, in the beginning of the reign of Zedekiah king of Judah, saying, “Yahweh of Armies says:
‘Behold, I will break the bow of Elam,
the chief of their might.
I will bring on Elam the four winds from the four quarters of the sky,
and will scatter them toward all those winds.
There will be no nation where the outcasts of Elam will not come.
I will cause Elam to be dismayed before their enemies,
and before those who seek their life.
I will bring evil on them, even my fierce anger,’ says Yahweh;
‘and I will send the sword after them,
until I have consumed them.
I will set my throne in Elam,
and will destroy from there king and princes,’ says Yahweh.
‘But it will happen in the latter days
that I will reverse the captivity of Elam,’ says Yahweh.”

Once again, we are not told why God was so angry with the nation of Elam. I did a search through the Bible, though, and found something pretty horrible from the next prophet in the Bible: Ezekiel. Listen to what he prophesied:

Ezekiel 32:24-25

“There is Elam and all her multitude around her grave; all of them slain, fallen by the sword, who have gone down uncircumcised into the lower parts of the earth, who caused their terror in the land of the living, and have borne their shame with those who go down to the pit. They have set her a bed among the slain with all her multitude. Her graves are around her; all of them uncircumcised, slain by the sword; for their terror was caused in the land of the living, and they have borne their shame with those who go down to the pit. He is put among those who are slain.

So we read that these people were known to be terrorists by God. God simply decided to give them what they gave to others. In Jeremiah we read that God decided to crush Elam and set up His own throne there. In our world, there are those in the Middle East who desire to completly crush Israel and remove the entire nation. God makes it clear that He will be crushing those who think this way. God gives terror to terrorists but that’s not all. God also gives mercy. Once again, we read that God will “reverse the captivity of Elam” someday. Once again, no reason was given. I believe that there probably wasn’t a reason other than God’s own decision. God’s grace extends to the worst of sinners. Perhaps He chose to save Elam to demonstrate His mercy and grace for all of us.

Day 191: A Very Foolish Choice

Jeremiah 49:7-14

Of Edom, Yahweh of Armies says:
“Is wisdom no more in Teman?
Has counsel perished from the prudent?
Has their wisdom vanished?
Flee! Turn back!
Dwell in the depths, inhabitants of Dedan;
for I will bring the calamity of Esau on him when I visit him.
If grape gatherers came to you,
would they not leave some gleaning grapes?
If thieves came by night,
wouldn’t they steal until they had enough?
But I have made Esau bare,
I have uncovered his secret places,
and he will not be able to hide himself.
His offspring is destroyed,
with his brothers and his neighbors;
and he is no more.
Leave your fatherless children.
I will preserve them alive.
Let your widows trust in me.”

For Yahweh says: “Behold, they to whom it didn’t pertain to drink of the cup will certainly drink; and are you he who will altogether go unpunished? You won’t go unpunished, but you will surely drink. For I have sworn by myself,” says Yahweh, “that Bozrah will become an astonishment, a reproach, a waste, and a curse. All its cities will be perpetual wastes.”
I have heard news from Yahweh,
and an ambassador is sent among the nations,
saying, “Gather yourselves together!
Come against her!
Rise up to the battle!”

Have you noticed that when Israel was being judged, it became a time of upheaval for all the nations surrounding it? Once Israel was judged, the hammer came down on the rest as well. It’s interesting that the nations were trying to destroy Israel, but what they were really doing was cutting off the branch of the tree that they were resting on. That’s how foolish it is to oppose God. Whenever we do that we destroy ourselves.

This passage is about God’s judgment of Edom which was the nation that came from Esau. A part of Edom called Teman was known for its wise sages. God mocks them here because they had rejected Him and by doing so, elected to destroy themselves. There’s nothing more foolish than that.

Here we read that God decided to destroy this people entirely. God mentions that under normal circumstances, attackers would leave some people behind when they’ve had enough, but God was going to cause them to be completely wiped out. There was one exception, however. God was going to save the widows and the orphans! The people who had no husband or father to protect them were going to continue to be protected by God Himself.

Once again, this passage reminds us of a Grand Theme of the Bible: God’s grace saves us by faith in His word. When we decide that we are strong enough on our own to oppose God, we become weak and are brought down by God Himself, but when we are weak and we trust in God for our salvation, God is gracious to us and saves us in the worst of circumstances. There is nothing more foolish than trusting in our own strength and failing to trust in God.

Day 190: The Terror of Ammon

Jeremiah 49:1-6

Of the children of Ammon. Yahweh says:
“Has Israel no sons?
Has he no heir?
Why then does Malcam possess Gad,
and his people dwell in its cities?
Therefore behold, the days come,”
says Yahweh,
“that I will cause an alarm of war to be heard against Rabbah of the children of Ammon,
and it will become a desolate heap,
and her daughters will be burned with fire;
then Israel will possess those who possessed him,”
says Yahweh.
“Wail, Heshbon, for Ai is laid waste!
Cry, you daughters of Rabbah!
Clothe yourself in sackcloth.
Lament, and run back and forth among the fences;
for Malcam will go into captivity,
his priests and his princes together.
Why do you boast in the valleys,
your flowing valley, backsliding daughter?
You trusted in her treasures,
saying, ‘Who will come to me?’
Behold, I will bring a terror on you,”
says the Lord, Yahweh of Armies,
“from all who are around you.
All of you will be driven completely out,
and there will be no one to gather together the fugitives.

“But afterward I will reverse the captivity of the children of Ammon,”
says Yahweh.

I come from a time in which great harm was done by terrorists against the United States. The word “terror” almost seems to be sinful in and of itself, but the Bible corrects this error. God brings terror upon His enemies, so terror cannot be evil in and of itself. When terror is brought against those who do good, then it is evil, but terror against those who do evil is not. That should be clear from how the United States decided to destroy terrorists.

After reading through all of the history in the Bible about Israel. It’s interesting to hear God’s thoughts. That’s what we get to do when we read what the prophets like Jeremiah said. One of the big surprises to me is how God talks to Gentiles in such a caring way. The Ammonites were one of those groups of people that were supposed to be removed from Israel’s land. Evidently, Ammon knew this. God makes it clear in this passage, that they were the occupiers because God told them to leave. Now time was up and God was going to completely ruin them. God really didn’t have to spend any time explaining things to them, yet, we read here that God had Jeremiah explain what was going on. They had been living in pride against God and God was going to send them into captivity like Moab.

God also showed His love toward the Gentile nation of Ammon by telling them that they would also be released from captivity someday. Evidently, they were going to have their own land, outside of the boundaries of Israel in the future. Not all Gentiles were to be completely destroyed. God decided to allow some of them to continue on and it appears that Ammon was one of the countries that God decided to give grace to. Ammon’s destruction reminds us that when God tells us to do something, He expects us to do it. If we don’t, we can then expect to be punished.

Day 189: The Moab Mirror

Jeremiah 48:39-47

“How it is broken down!
How they wail!
How Moab has turned the back with shame!
So will Moab become a derision
and a terror to all who are around him.”
For Yahweh says: “Behold, he will fly as an eagle,
and will spread out his wings against Moab.
Kerioth is taken,
and the strongholds are seized.
The heart of the mighty men of Moab at that day
will be as the heart of a woman in her pangs.
Moab will be destroyed from being a people,
because he has magnified himself against Yahweh.
Terror, the pit, and the snare are on you,
inhabitant of Moab,” says Yahweh.
“He who flees from the terror will fall into the pit;
and he who gets up out of the pit will be taken in the snare,
for I will bring on him, even on Moab,
the year of their visitation,” says Yahweh.

“Those who fled stand without strength under the shadow of Heshbon;
for a fire has gone out of Heshbon,
and a flame from the middle of Sihon,
and has devoured the corner of Moab, and the crown of the head of the tumultuous ones.
Woe to you, O Moab!
The people of Chemosh are undone;
for your sons are taken away captive,
and your daughters into captivity.

“Yet I will reverse the captivity of Moab in the latter days,”
says Yahweh.
Thus far is the judgment of Moab.

The crime that Moab committed that caused them to receive this horrible punishment from God was that they dared to magnify themselves against Him. In other translations it says that they exalted themselves against God. As a result, God intended to hunt them down. He even said that if they appear to have gotten away once, He would catch them again and if they get away the second time, He will catch them again. Their children would also go into captivity.

When you look at the history of Moab, you see that they actually thought that they could fight against God by harming those He had chosen to bless. They used their abilities to find a way to wage a war against the will of God, as if they could actually win that war. As we look at others, it’s easy for us to see how foolish and horrible it is to attempt to do something like that, but I have found that when I take the same measuring stick and measure myself, it doesn’t look very good.

When I have a mind to sin, I tend to do what I can get away with too. For instance, when driving on the road, do we see how far below the speed limit we can legally go, or how high above it? My mind is quite willing to work overtime to figure out a way how to live in the flesh while walking in the Spirit, which is quite impossible. Even the concept of being “neutral” is an example of this war against God and His word. God says that those who are not for Him are against Him. If we claim that we are just being neutral, we are calling God a liar because He says there is no neutral! That’s just another war against God that He will judge. Our pride is very deep and deceptive. We tend not to see it because, of course, we wouldn’t do such a thing, would we?

The truth that God has made known to us is that we were all Moab and we still have our Moab moments. We all had that pride that guided our actions as we breathed God’s air and lived in the bodies that God made while doing things we knew He didn’t like. We were fighting against Him and both sin and death took us captive too. The wonderful thing about this passage is what it says at the end. God not only promised punishment, He also promised release. After all that Moab had done to God and His people, God determined to “reverse the captivity of Moab in the latter days.” This is a big reason for us to praise God. We all have sinned and deserve God’s eternal punishment, but God intended to free us by His grace. Praise God.

Day 183: Why Israel and Egypt?

Jeremiah 46:25-28

Yahweh of Armies, the God of Israel, says: “Behold, I will punish Amon of No, and Pharaoh, and Egypt, with her gods and her kings, even Pharaoh, and those who trust in him. I will deliver them into the hand of those who seek their lives, and into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, and into the hand of his servants. Afterwards it will be inhabited, as in the days of old,” says Yahweh.
“But don’t you be afraid, Jacob my servant.
Don’t be dismayed, Israel;
for, behold, I will save you from afar,
and your offspring from the land of their captivity.
Jacob will return,
and will be quiet and at ease.
No one will make him afraid.
Don’t be afraid, O Jacob my servant,” says Yahweh,
“for I am with you;
for I will make a full end of all the nations where I have driven you,
but I will not make a full end of you,
but I will correct you in measure,
and will in no way leave you unpunished.”

One of the interesting things that I see in this passage is that God intended for Egypt to be “inhabited, as in the days of old.” His prophesy against Egypt was not permanent and God makes a small statement about that here. Then, God goes on to reassure His people Israel for the rest of this passage.

There is an interesting contrast between Israel and Egypt, and Babylon. God promises that both Israel and Egypt will rise again, and also says to Israel: “I will make a full end of all the nations where I have driven you.” God says that His punishments against Israel are measured, or have a limit. I think that this spells out the difference between how God disciplines His children and how He disciplines those who aren’t. God’s children will only be punished for a limited period of time. Those who are outside of God’s family will be destroyed forever. This brings up an important question.

What did Israel and Egypt do to deserve to continue to exist? It is obvious that they both were filled with evil. Israel had been sacrificing their own children. Egypt was worshiping everything under the sun and encouraging God’s people to do the same. How is it that they were allowed to continue to exist? Perhaps the easy way to answer this question is to point it at ourselves. Why did God allow you and I to exist as Christians? What did we do to deserve it? I hope that the answer is obvious: we didn’t do anything to deserve it and neither did Israel or Egypt. The reason they were saved is the same reason you and I were saved. God simply decided to do it. When God does things like this, it removes all pride doesn’t it? It also builds a living demonstration of His grace. Both Israel and Egypt stand today as examples of what happens when God decides to save.