The reading for day 58 was Jeremiah 48:1-Lamentations 1:22.
Chapter 48 is the pronouncement of God's curse against Moab. He says that He is going to destroy them and describes it vividly. He even curses those that would not carry out His curse in a brutal enough fashion. 48:10 Cursed [be] he that doeth the work of the LORD deceitfully, and cursed [be] he that keepeth back his sword from blood.
It's pretty scary sometimes to think that this is the God I serve...just being honest. I would not want to be Moab. In verse 26 of chapter 48 God says that He is punishing Moab for arrogance (which, as stated elsewhere in scripture, is as the sin of idolatry). 48:26 Make ye him drunken: for he magnified [himself] against the LORD: Moab also shall wallow in his vomit, and he also shall be in derision.
In verses 35-36 I see this thing again where I can't tell if the speaker is switching back and forth between God and Jeremiah or if it is just God. In verse 35 He says "I will make an end of Moab" and in verse 36 He says "Therefore my heart wails for Moab like flutes" Who is wailing? God or Jeremiah?
In verse 38 God says "for I have broken Moab like an undesirable vessel" (NASB). Could this be, as it says in Romans 9, a vessel of wrath fitted for destruction?
In verse 47 it says 48:47 Yet will I bring again the captivity of Moab in the latter days, saith the LORD. Thus far [is] the judgment of Moab.
In the NASB it says "Yet I will restore the fortunes of Moab in the latter days". This same thing is also said of Ammon and Elam. What does God mean by this?
This verse is repeated later in Jeremiah and I wonder what it might mean, so if anyone knows, their thoughts are appreciated. 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?
In chapter 50 God proclaims judgement against Babylon, His instrument of judgement against His people, and Israel's subsequent return to God.
50:4 In those days, and in that time, saith the LORD, the children of Israel shall come, they and the children of Judah together, going and weeping: they shall go, and seek the LORD their God.
50:5 They shall ask the way to Zion with their faces thitherward, [saying], Come, and let us join ourselves to the LORD in a perpetual covenant [that] shall not be forgotten.
50:6 My people hath been lost sheep: their shepherds have caused them to go astray, they have turned them away [on] the mountains: they have gone from mountain to hill, they have forgotten their restingplace.
50:7 All that found them have devoured them: and their adversaries said, We offend not, because they have sinned against the LORD, the habitation of justice, even the LORD, the hope of their fathers.
Verses 6 and 7 (especially verse 6) sound like the church in this day and age.
When God gives hope He gives it good. In verse 20 of chapter 50 God says that people will try to find sin in Israel but won't be able to because "I will pardon those whom I leave as a remnant." Wow! God is so gracious and merciful, even in His feirce anger.
50:34 Their Redeemer [is] strong; the LORD of hosts [is] his name: he shall throughly plead their cause, that he may give rest to the land, and disquiet the inhabitants of Babylon.
What do you think of these verses?
51:20 Thou [art] my battle axe [and] weapons of war: for with thee will I break in pieces the nations, and with thee will I destroy kingdoms;
51:21 And with thee will I break in pieces the horse and his rider; and with thee will I break in pieces the chariot and his rider;
51:22 With thee also will I break in pieces man and woman; and with thee will I break in pieces old and young; and with thee will I break in pieces the young man and the maid;
51:23 I will also break in pieces with thee the shepherd and his flock; and with thee will I break in pieces the husbandman and his yoke of oxen; and with thee will I break in pieces captains and rulers.
In chapter 52 verse 30 we see that the number of people who were taken captive to Babylin totaled 4600. That is a very small number out of a lot of people. Was that the majority? Is this all that was left of the Israelite community? This is a very small number of people to rebuild a nation from. God's wrath is devastating to them in every way. 1:12 [Is it] nothing to you, all ye that pass by? behold, and see if there be any sorrow like unto my sorrow, which is done unto me, wherewith the LORD hath afflicted [me] in the day of his fierce anger.
1:14 The yoke of my transgressions is bound by his hand: they are wreathed, [and] come up upon my neck: he hath made my strength to fall, the Lord hath delivered me into [their] hands, [from whom] I am not able to rise up.
1:15 The Lord hath trodden under foot all my mighty [men] in the midst of me: he hath called an assembly against me to crush my young men: the Lord hath trodden the virgin, the daughter of Judah, [as] in a winepress.
1:16 For these [things] I weep; mine eye, mine eye runneth down with water, because the comforter that should relieve my soul is far from me: my children are desolate, because the enemy prevailed.
There is definitely good reason for Lamentations to be heard among the people of God. He poured out His wrath on them and spared only a few. Behold and see indeed!
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