Day 225: Jeremiah 46–49 | Read The Bible In A Year | Bible Study with Commentary by Dr. Manny Arango

Hey, Bible nerds, this is Dr. Manny Arango. Welcome to the Bible Department podcast powered by Arma. We are walking through the entire Bible in a year. You can go to the description or thebibledepartment.com to download a reading plan and join the journey. Family, welcome to day 225. We are nearing the end of the book of Jeremiah. We are in Jeremiah chapters 46, 47, 48, and 49 today. I'm gonna be honest, like this isn't as interesting of content as the previous days. I feel like we've been on a roll, like this content's been incredible. I'm going to do my best to present the ideas in the most interesting light that I think I can. So if you've done the reading, everything that I'm gonna say is gonna make total sense. If you haven't done the reading, you're probably gonna be confused, okay? And we don't wanna use these episodes as a substitute for reading the word of God, but a supplemental tool to actually help you to engage with scripture in a meaningful way because we want you to know the Bible for yourself. So if you haven't done the reading, pause the audio, pause the video, read Jeremiah chapters 46 to 49, and then come on back and we'll dig into the scriptures together. Let me give you context, and then we'll kinda,

I'll probably give you a nerdy nugget for each of the chapters that are here. Context, this next section of the book is actually from chapter 46 to chapter 51, okay? Today, we're just gonna look at the front half of an entire section, okay? So Jeremiah 46 to Jeremiah 51 would be one complete scroll, okay? So remember days ago, we were kinda talking about, man, chapter 30 to chapter 33 is a scroll. Chapter one to chapter 20 is a scroll. Chapter 25 is its own scroll. Chapter 46 to chapter 51 is its own scroll, and these are gonna be prophecies against the nations, Yahweh's words to the nations that have interacted with Israel and Judah over the centuries. Now, this is not new to the prophets. Let me give you some examples of where you can see prophecies against nations that are not Israel and not Judah in other prophetic books, okay? Amos chapter one and two, Isaiah chapter 13 to 21. So a solid chunk of the book of Isaiah is dedicated not to prophecies against Israel or Judah, but prophecies against other nations, pagan nations. Ezekiel chapter 25 to 32, and a lot of Daniel is going to be dedicated

to prophetic words against the nations. It should be remembered that as with all of the prophecies, the basis of these judgments is the covenant that Yahweh has made with Israel. You may be asking, what does another nation have to do with the covenant that God's made with Israel? Well, it's not that Yahweh had a direct relationship with these nations. It's that Yahweh's relationship with these nations is through Israel. So the covenant that God has made with Israel means that Israel is now gonna be established as a nation that's gonna relay God's heart to these nations. So the way that nations interact with Israel and the way that Israel interacts with them is actually gonna be the basis of judgment because God doesn't have covenants with these nations. God has a covenant with Israel. Therefore, these nations are gonna get judged on how they interact with Israel. I hope that makes sense. Okay, Yahweh as king, Yahweh as Israel's king has a duty. He has duty bound to save Israel and fight her enemies. These are her enemies. And so Yahweh goes to war to defend or to avenge Israel and Judah. Caution, therefore, should always be taken in applying these judgments on the nations to today's world when the covenant that governed them has now been completed in Christ

and has become the new covenant, right? So that's a lot of context for Jeremiah chapters, not just 46 to 49, which is today's reading, but really Jeremiah 46 to 51, this entire section of scripture. All right, the nations that are gonna be judged in this entire section, I'll give you today and tomorrow, are gonna be geographic. So south, west, east, north, and then further away. So we'll start in the. south, okay, Jeremiah chapter 46 is gonna be prophetic words against Egypt, and then we're gonna get west, which is gonna get prophetic words against the Philistines in Jeremiah 47, and then we're going to get east, and we're gonna get prophetic words in Jeremiah 48 and 49 against Moab and Ammon. Tomorrow we're gonna get Edom, which is also east, but then we're gonna get north, which is gonna be Damascus, Qadar, Hazor, and then we're gonna get further away, which is gonna be Elam and Babylon, but we'll get there tomorrow. For today, though, we've got south, west, and east, so let's dig in. Now we'll officially enter into the nerdy nuggets of this episode. So Jeremiah chapter 46 is judgment, an oracle, or judgment oracle, against the nation of Egypt. These oracles against Egypt would have been fulfilled quite quickly as they concern Nebuchadnezzar's invasion and conquest of Egypt in 604 BC. Nebuchadnezzar had defeated Necho, Pharaoh Necho, at Carchemish in 605 BC, then took his vassals in the Levant, that actually includes Judah, and then advanced towards Egypt itself. Egypt is basically the end goal of all of the ancient Near East empires, whether it's the Assyrians, or the Babylonians, or the Persians, or the Greeks, they all want to rule Egypt. So they will take any vassal states that belong to Egypt, but really the ultimate prize was Egypt herself. Even if they were no longer the great power of the past, Egypt always remained the richest nation, especially in terms of agriculture, and it was also the gateway to Africa as a whole, which is the

richest continent on earth in terms of natural resources. So Egypt was always a prize in the ancient world. Alexander the Great definitely wanted Egypt. The Greeks, the Persians, the Babylonians, the Assyrians, they wanted Egypt, and Jeremiah's gonna prophesy that Nebuchadnezzar would invade and conquer Egypt, and he was right. That actually happened in 604 BC. Jeremiah 47, okay, next chapter, next Nerdy Nugget. The ancient enemies of Israel were also conquered by Babylon, probably around the exact same time as Israel. So this fulfillment, the Philistines getting conquered by Babylon, and the Egyptian oracles should have made Jeremiah a genuine prophet in the eyes of the people. Remember, prophets in the Old Testament have to have a sign that they are prophesying for Yahweh. They have to have things that actually come to pass in their own lifetime, and this would have been, too, a prophecy against Egypt and a prophecy against Philistia or the Philistines that actually comes to pass. So Jeremiah genuinely foretold what would happen to these nations. This is telling. The fact that Jeremiah was a proven prophet should have been seen as a genuine prophet in the eyes of the people, but still wasn't listened to. Okay, it tells us a lot about the state of Judah and its sin, that Jeremiah was not listened to even though these oracles prove that he was a genuine prophet. It goes to show just how far gone Judah actually was. Jeremiah chapters 46 and 47 may seem like small potatoes to us, but they should have actually proven to the people of Judah that Jeremiah's words came to pass. And if his judgments against Egypt and his judgments against Philistia came to pass, why would his judgments against Judah not come to pass? Alright, Jeremiah chapter 48 is against Moab. It is unknown exactly when these prophecies against Moab were fulfilled, but on a nerdy note, it is very likely that Jeremiah includes quotes from Isaiah chapter 13 to 16 in this oracle. And then we get Jeremiah chapter 49, which is all about Ammon. In this oracle we are given a definite reason for judgment. Jeremiah chapter 49 verse 1 tells us that the Ammonites had taken possession of part of Gad's tribal allotment in the past. Gad is obviously one of the tribes, okay, and God, in the book of Joshua, gave each tribe its tribal allotment. And Ammon is

going to take some of Gad's territory. This is telling us that it wasn't just the big empires like Assyria and Babylon that were taking advantage of Israel and Judah's weakness, but smaller kingdoms were taking advantage of Israel and Judah's weaknesses to steal territory from them, and that is what Jeremiah chapter 49 is all about. theme in these chapters is that of war. The judgment of Yahweh is seen in the wars the nations have with each other. The prophets paint the picture of Yahweh's sovereignty over all the nations, allowing them to rise and fall and being the weapon he uses to defeat Judah's enemies. The idea is common in scripture and hints at a few fundamental truths about the world and its relationship with God. God rarely judges a nation directly like Sodom and Gomorrah. That's very rare that God would judge a nation in the way that he judged Sodom and Gomorrah, okay? God did not use another nation to judge Sodom and Gomorrah. He himself rained down, you know, fire and brimstone on Sodom, sulfur and fire on Sodom and Gomorrah and judged it himself. But Yahweh basically does not do that. If a nation oppresses Israel or Judah, they are doing so for their own wicked purposes. This wickedness prevents any blessing or benefit they might have had through peaceful relationships with God's people. This wickedness also cuts them off from a righteous God who is the source of all life and order. Cutting themselves off in a way means that they are embracing the opposite, which is death and chaos. And so war and disorder will soon descend on them. God doesn't need to judge as the consequence of sin. The consequences of chaos handles it for him. This is actually seen really, really clearly in the book of Revelation. And I want you to see it like this. Wickedness will defeat itself, okay? Wickedness always defeats itself. If a nation fails, or sorry, if a nation falls into wickedness, the consequences are that it is attacked by another wicked nation. It is rarely a righteous nation that is God's hand of judgment. And so evil is engaged in a constant civil war of self-destruction. Man, that is helpful. So God doesn't judge himself and God doesn't send a righteous nation to judge. He always lets evil self-destruct. He lets wickedness fight wickedness. I want to read that one more time. Evil is engaged in a constant civil war of self-destruction. This picture is seen in the book of Revelation, the last book of the Bible, where the sea, okay, the sea, the abyss, or the tahom in Hebrew, is the source of chaos. It begins to burn in judgment and then begins to consume itself. It becomes a lake, then into a lake of fire, and then it's thrown symbols of chaos,

beasts, the unrighteous, and then finally Satan himself. All are consumed until there is nothing left. And this, and then the Revelation declares, the sea was no more. How did the sea become no more? Because it consumed itself. The sea is chaos. It begins to burn. It becomes a lake of fire, and all the chaos is thrown into the lake of fire, and we are now engaged in a constant civil war of self-destruction. And this is how God deals with wickedness. He allows wickedness to fight wickedness, and now wickedness is in a civil war of self-sabotage. Family, the wait is over. My brand new book, Crushing Chaos, is out now and available everywhere books are sold. Literally today I walked into a Barnes and Noble and I signed a bunch of copies at a physical location. So you can grab this book at a physical Barnes and Noble, or you can go to a Books A Million, or Amazon, or anywhere books are sold and grab a copy. If you enjoy reading the Bible from an ancient perspective, if you understand that the beauty of scripture is actually knowing it in context, then you'll love this book. And if there's any chaos in your personal life, I think that reading the Bible from an ancient perspective can actually help to crush the chaos in your life. I think this book is going to be a New York Times bestseller. I really do. I think we wrote a good one. I think you should get a copy today. All right, back to the episode. What is our timeless truth? Because this is definitely relevant for today. A fundamental truth of judgment and God's nature is revealed in these chapters. God is life. God is love and God is order. To turn away from him is therefore to abandon life, to abandon love, and abandon order. To do so means embracing death, hatred, and chaos. I want you to see those as a cocktail. Death, hatred, and chaos. The wicked are not beaten down by an angry God in the sky with a big stick who doesn't like what they're doing. The wicked are actively embracing death, hatred, and chaos. Their lives, therefore, are ones of hatred and chaos that ultimately lead to death. God is not doing that to them. They are doing that to themselves. And when we are experiencing the consequences of our own chaos, God is not attacking us with chaos, but God is simply allowing the consequences

of our chaos to consume us. It's so funny how like, and I won't say anybody's name, but I was counseling a guy actually at the previous church that I worked at in North Carolina, and this guy is HIV positive, okay? He's HIV positive because he's engaged in sexual activity that God says is chaos, is off the table, okay? So this man is now HIV positive, and even in the middle of dealing with the HIV positive diagnosis, he's angry at God. And I'm looking at him going, how are you angry at God? God did not say, it's not like you was a virgin. It's not like you've never done anything. I don't deserve HIV. Oh, you literally put yourself at risk for this chaos to ravage your body. How are you mad at God? The thing you should be doing is repenting before God. You should have humility before God. How dare you have an attitude that God didn't protect you against the own chaos of your own consequences? God is actually allowing self-sabotage to happen, and you're mad at him. This is not the active wrath of God. God is not actively punishing you with HIV or AIDS. God is simply allowing the chaos and the consequences of your own actions to just take root. And for the seeds that you've sown to bear fruit, you cannot be mad at God. But you know what?

It may not be HIV or AIDS when it comes to me, but I could go, yeah, there's times in my life where instead of just accepting blame and going, you know what, I was wrong. I could have been better. I let my chaos get out of hand. I'm mad that God didn't protect me from myself. Our timeless truth actually has a flip side, that when God does protect us from our own chaos and from our own foolishness, we should praise him. I remember I heard that Allen Iverson, you know, he spent all of his money during his career, and then he goes broke, but he had a financial consultant, like a CPA, that actually hid money for him, because the financial guy, the money guy knew, like, this guy's going broke. You know, he's spending more than he makes. And so he just shoveled away millions of dollars for Allen Iverson. Well, guess what? Allen Iverson can't get the money until he turns 50 years old, because this guy loved Allen Iverson so much that he's protecting him from his own chaos. Well, guess what Allen Iverson did? He sued the money guy because he's in his forties and he's broke and he needs access to the money. So instead of just dealing with the consequence of his chaos and being happy that someone loved you so much to protect you from yourself,

you have now bitten the hand that's trying to feed you. And we are the same exact way with God. That is not just the people of the scriptures, that is us. Number one, we are mad at God when he doesn't protect us from our own chaos and consequences of our chaos. And then when he does, we're also mad at him. So sometimes we place God in a catch-22, where we're mad at him when he protects us from our chaos, but then we're also mad when he doesn't protect us from our chaos. Man, our heart posture has to begin to develop a default setting of humility. God, you don't owe me anything. I deserve death, hell, and the grave. And every day is a blessing. And every day, I'm in the bonus round, every day is icing on the cake. Every single day I wake up with breath in my lungs, I am grateful that you have not allowed my chaos and the consequence of my chaos to consume me. And you have protected me, and so I'm gonna praise you. I'm gonna worship you, and I'll surrender to your will in my life. That is our timeless truth for the day. And I hope it challenges you, I hope it brings a level of conviction, but I also hope that it speaks to your spirit and adds value to your life. All right, tomorrow. Tomorrow is our last day in the book of Jeremiah.

Tomorrow is day 226, and we're gonna be in Jeremiah chapter 50 to 52. We get to say goodbye to the weeping prophet tomorrow. He's been awesome, actually. Jeremiah's challenged me a lot. Hope Jeremiah's challenged you a lot. If you're on a streak, I'm so proud of you. Even if you're not, I'm proud of you too. I'm proud of you for showing up. If you keep showing up, you'll keep growing up. I love you so much. I'll see you right here tomorrow for the last day of our trek through the book of Jeremiah. Love y'all, peace. Thanks so much for joining us on the Bible Department podcast. If this episode was helpful, how about you leave a comment, share with a friend, and subscribe so that you never miss an episode. To learn more about the show, head to thebibledepartment.com. We'll see you right back here tomorrow.