Concerning the 1asons (descendants) of Ammon.Thus says the LORD:“Does Israel have no sons to reclaim Gad from the Ammonites?Has he no heir?Why then has 2Malcam taken possession of GadAnd why do his people live in the cities of Gad?When the tribes of the Northern Kingdom were taken captive in 734-732 B.C., the Ammonites, a nomadic, warlike people descended from Lot through his younger daughter, moved into the territory of the tribe of Gad east of the Jordan.Malcam or Milcom (1 Kin 11:5, 33; Zeph 1:5) was the national god of the Ammonites. Other variant forms of this name include Milcham and Malcham.Deut 23:3, 4; 2 Chr 20:1; Ezek 21:28-32; 25:2-10; Amos 1:13-15; Zeph 2:8-11
2 “Therefore behold, the days are coming,” says the LORD,“When I will cause an aalarm of war to be heardAgainst bRabbah of the Ammonites;And it along with the high ground on which it stands will become a desolate heap,And its cvillages will be set on fire.Then will Israel dtake possession of his possessors,”Says the LORD. Ezek 21:28-32; 25:1-7, 11; Amos 1:13-15; Zeph 2:8-11Num 10:9; Jer 4:19Deut 3:11; 2 Sam 11:1; Ezek 21:20Josh 17:11, 16Is 14:23 “Wail, O 1aHeshbon, for bAi in Ammon has been destroyed!Cry out, O daughters of Rabbah!cWrap yourselves with sackcloth and lament (cry out in grief) ,And rush back and forth inside the enclosures;For Malcam your powerless god will dgo into exileTogether with his priests and his princes.Originally a Moabite town, Heshbon was located south of Ammon.Jer 48:2Josh 7:2-5; 8:1-29; Ezra 2:28Is 32:11; Jer 48:37Jer 46:25; 48:74 “Why do you aboast of your valleys?Your valley is flowing away,O Ammon brebellious and faithless daughterWho trusts in her ctreasures, saying,‘dWho will come against me?’Jer 9:23Jer 31:22Ps 62:10; Ezek 28:4, 5; 1 Tim 6:17Jer 21:135 “Behold, I am going to bring aterror on you,”Says the Lord GOD of hosts,“From all who are around you;And each of you will be bdriven out headlong,And there will be no one to gather the cfugitives together.Jer 48:43f; 49:29Jer 16:16; 46:5Lam 4:156 “But 1afterward I will areverseThe captivity of the children of Ammon and restore their fortunes,”Says the LORD.As complete and continuous as the desolation of Moab and Ammon was for so many centuries, yet God is keeping His word for their restoration “in the latter days” (48:47) in a remarkable manner. For instance, Amman, the capital of the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan (formerly called Transjordania, and in ancient times, Rabbath of Ammon or the City of Waters), was a mere village in 1900, but by the year 2000 it was a city of almost 2,000,000 inhabitants.Jer 48:47; 49:39 7 Concerning aEdom.Thus says the LORD of hosts,“Is there no longer any bwisdom in 1cTeman?Has good counsel vanished from the intelligent and prudent?Has their wisdom decayed? Is 34; 63:1-6; Ezek 25:12-14; 35; Amos 1:11, 12; Obad 1-16; Mal 1:2-5Teman was an important stronghold located in central Edom. It was about three miles from Sela (Petra). Teman was also used as a generic name to represent all of Edom.Gen 25:30; 32:3; Is 34:5, 6; Jer 25:21; Ezek 25:12; Amos 1:11; Obad 1-21Job 2:11; Jer 8:9Gen 36:11, 15, 34; Jer 49:208 “Flee, turn back, dwell in the depths of the desert to escape the judgment of Edom,O inhabitants of 1aDedan,For I will bring the bdestruction of 2Esau (Edom) upon himWhen I inspect and punish him.A tribal settlement and trading center on Edom’s southeastern border.The Edomites were the descendants of Esau, Jacob’s elder twin brother. Because of his godlessness he and his descendants were cursed.Is 21:13; Jer 25:23Jer 46:21; Mal 1:3, 49 “aIf grape gatherers came to you,Would they not leave some ungleaned grapes on the vines?If thieves came by night,Would they not destroy only what is enough for them?Obad 510 “But I have astripped Esau (Edom) bare;I have uncovered his hiding placesAnd he cannot hide himself.His descendants have been destroyed along with his brothers (relatives) and his neighbors;And bhe is no more.Jer 13:26Is 17:1411 “Leave your aorphans behind; I will do what is needed to keep them alive.And let those who are your bwidows trust and confide in Me.”Ps 68:5; Hos 14:3Ps 68:5; Zech 7:10 12 For thus says the LORD, “Behold, those (Israel) who were not sentenced to drink the acup of wrath shall certainly drink it, and are you to bremain unpunished? You will not be acquitted and go unpunished, but you will certainly drink from the cup of wrath and judgment. Jer 25:28, 29Jer 25:15Jer 25:28, 29; 1 Pet 4:17 13 For I have asworn an oath by Myself,” says the LORD, “that 1bBozrah will become an object of chorror, a reproach, a ruin, and a curse; and all its cities will become 2perpetual ruins.”Located in northern Edom, between Petra and the Dead Sea, the area was famous for its dyed garments.How except by divine inspiration could the prophets have foretold that Edom’s desolation would be perpetual? After 2,500 years the statement is so literally true that in the land of Edom, where millions once lived, there are only a few people barely existing, and the land is in ruins. For there was no prophecy that Edom would recover “in the latter days” (48:47), as was predicted for Moab and Ammon, but Edom’s desolation was to be lasting. The short book of Obadiah presents an interesting further clarification of God’s reason for this exceptional treatment of Edom. It was the outcome of a deception and a family quarrel between two brothers, Jacob and Esau, which erupted into acts of violence and which continued from Genesis to the Gospels (see Gen 27).Gen 22:16; Is 45:23; Jer 44:26; Amos 6:8Gen 36:33; 1 Chr 1:44; Is 34:6; 63:1; Amos 1:12Is 34:9-15; Jer 18:16
14 I have aheard a report from the LORD,And a bmessenger has been sent to the nations, saying,“cGather together and come against her,And rise up for the battle.”Obad 1-4Is 18:2; 30:4Jer 50:1415 “For behold, Edom I have made you small among the nationsAnd despised among men. Ezek 35:916 “As for Your terror,The pride and arrogance of your heart have deceived you,O you who live in the clefts of the arock (Sela also called 1Petra) ,Who hold and occupy the height of the hill.Though you make your nest as bhigh as the eagle’s,I will cbring you down from there,” says the LORD.Petra, once an important Roman province in Edom, was lost for many centuries but rediscovered in 1812. On the height above its ruins is the great high place. Other evidence of idolatry has been found on neighboring heights.2 Kin 14:7; Jer 48:28Job 39:27; Is 14:13-15Amos 9:2 17 “Edom will become an aobject of horror; everyone who goes by it will be astonished and shall bhiss scornfully at all its plagues and disasters.Jer 18:16; 49:13; 50:13; Ezek 35:71 Kin 9:8; Jer 51:37 18 As it was in the aoverthrow of Sodom and Gomorrah with their neighboring cities,” says the LORD, “bno man will live there, nor will a son of man dwell in it.Gen 19:24, 25; Deut 29:23; Jer 50:40; Amos 4:11; Zeph 2:9Job 18:15-18; Jer 49:33 19 aSee, one will come like a lion from the bthicket of the Jordan against the enduring habitation of Edom and its watered pastures; for in an instant I will make 1him (Edom) run from his land. I will appoint over him the one whom I cchoose. For who is dlike Me, and who will summon Me into court and prosecute Me for this? Who is the earthly shepherd who ecan stand defiantly before Me?”In about 550 B.C. the Nabataeans completely overthrew the Edomites and drove them from their land. They took control of the great Middle Eastern trade routes and made Petra (Sela) their capital city.Jer 50:44Josh 3:15; Jer 12:5Num 16:5Ex 15:11; Is 46:9Job 41:10
20 Therefore hear the aplan of the LORD which He has devised against Edom, and hear what He has purposed against the inhabitants of Teman: surely they will be dragged away, even the little ones of the flock; surely He will make their dwelling place bdesolate because of them.Is 14:24, 27; Jer 50:45Mal 1:3, 4 21 The aearth has quaked at the noise of their downfall. There is an outcry! The sound of its noise has been heard at the Red Sea.Jer 50:46; Ezek 26:15, 18 22 Behold, He will mount up and afly swiftly like an eagle and spread His wings against the city of Bozrah; and in that day the bheart of the mighty warriors of Edom will be like the heart of a woman in childbirth. Jer 48:41Jer 4:13; 48:40; Hos 8:1Is 13:8; Jer 30:6; 48:41
28 Concerning 1aKedar and concerning the kingdoms of 2Hazor, which Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon defeated. Thus says the LORD,“Arise, go up against KedarAnd destroy the bmen of the east.A tribe of nomadic Arabs descended from Ishmael’s second son, Kedar (Gen 25:13).This Hazor is not to be confused with three others mentioned elsewhere (Josh 11:1; 15:23; Neh 11:33). It was a region in the Arabian Desert east of Palestine. Jeremiah’s prophecy concerning it was literally fulfilled. Nebuchadnezzar conquered Arabia, according to historians, and Hazor’s exact situation is long since unknown. Hazor is also known as that part of the Arab nation which used fixed dwellings in unwalled towns, in contrast to nomadic Arabs.Gen 25:13; Ps 120:5; Is 21:16, 17; Jer 2:10; Ezek 27:21Job 1:3; Is 11:14
29 “They (the Babylonians) will take away their tents and their flocks;They will carry off for themselvesTheir tent acurtains, all their goods and their bcamels,And they will call out to one another, ‘cTerror on every side!’ Ps 31:13; Jer 6:25; 20:3, 10; 46:5Hab 3:71 Chr 5:21Jer 46:530 “Flee, run far away! Dwell in the depths of the desert,O inhabitants of Hazor,” says the LORD,“For aNebuchadnezzar king of Babylon has planned a course of action against youAnd devised a scheme against you.Jer 25:9; 27:631 “Arise Nebuchadnezzar, go up against a nation which is aat ease,Which lives securely,” says the LORD,“A nation which has bneither gates nor bars;They cdwell apart and alone.Judg 18:7; Is 47:8Is 42:11Num 23:9; Deut 33:28; Mic 7:1432 “Their camels will become plunder,And their herds of cattle a spoil;And I will ascatter to all the four winds those who bcut the corners of their hair as evidence of their idolatry,And I will bring their disaster from every side,” says the LORD. Lev 19:27Ezek 5:10; 12:14, 15Jer 9:26; 25:2333 “Hazor will become a ahaunt and dwelling place of jackals,A desolation forever;No one will live there,Nor will a son of man reside in it.”Is 13:20-22; Jer 9:11; 10:22; 51:37; Zeph 2:9, 13-15; Mal 1:3 34 The word of the LORD that came to Jeremiah the prophet concerning 1aElam, bin the beginning of the reign of Zedekiah king of Judah, saying:Elam was located in what is now southwestern Iran (Khuzistan); however, no modern descendants remain. Susa (Heb Shushan), the ancient capital, was named for the gorgeous lilies that grew in the area. East of Babylonia, Elam was on the northern shore of the Persian Gulf in the lower Tigris Valley. After a long period of subjugation to foreign powers, it joined with Media, its northern neighbor, and ultimately captured Babylon (Is 21:2, 9). Elam became a province of the Persian Empire. Elamites settled as colonists in Samaria long before the return of the Jews from Babylon, and they joined with others in attempting to prevent the rebuilding of Jerusalem and the temple (Ezra 4:9). There were also Elamites present on the Day of Pentecost (Acts 2:9), but they became extinct in the eleventh century. Thus this prophecy of that nation’s destruction is long since fulfilled, with the restoration of Elam’s fortunes predicted in v 39.Gen 10:22; 14:1, 9; Is 11:11; Jer 25:25; Ezek 32:24; Dan 8:22 Kin 24:17, 18; Jer 28:1
35 “Thus says the LORD of hosts,‘Behold (listen carefully) , I am going to abreak the bow of Elam,The finest weapon of their strength.Ps 46:9; Is 22:6; Jer 51:5636 ‘And I will bring upon Elam the afour windsFrom the four corners of heaven;And I will bscatter them toward all those winds,And there will be no nationTo which the outcasts of Elam will not go.Dan 7:2; 8:8; Rev 7:1Jer 49:32; Ezek 5:10; Amos 9:937 ‘So I will cause Elam to be shattered (dismayed) before their enemiesAnd before those who seek their lives;And I will abring disaster on them,Even My bfierce anger,’ says the LORD.‘And I will csend the sword after themUntil I have consumed them.Jer 6:19Jer 30:24Jer 9:16; 48:238 ‘Then I will set My throne of judgment in 1ElamAnd I will destroy from there the king and princes,’Says the LORD. Neh 1:1; Esth 1:2; Dan 8:1, 2Susa (Heb Shushan), Elam’s capital, was the winter home of the Persian kings. During an excavation in 1901, the Code of Hammurabi was discovered among its ruins. Daniel’s vision of the ram and the goat was set in the great citadel of Susa (Dan 8:2).39 ‘But it will be in the last days (the end of days)That I will areverse the captivity and restore the fortunes of Elam,’”Says the LORD.Jer 48:47