Monday, May 03, 2010

Pharaoh and Nebuchadrezzar - Jeremiah 46

Jeremiah 46: 1-2 "The word of the LORD which came to Jeremiah the prophet against the Gentiles; Against Egypt against the army of Pharaohnecho king of Egypt which was by the river Euphrates in Carchemish, which Nebuchadrezar king of Babylon smote in the fourth year of Jehoiakim the son of Josiah king of Judah." See also II Kings 23:29


This begins several chapters which talk about judgments against various peoples. The words seem to encourage the armies to come together so that the judgment is sure. It reads like some of the plays I've heard with its flow of words. It leaves no doubt as to where and when it happened.

v10 "For this is the day of the Lord God of hosts, a day of vengeance, that he may avenge him of his adversaries; and the sword shall devour, and it shall be satiate and made drunk with their blood; for the Lord God of hosts hath a sacrifice in the north country by the river Euphrates."

satiate: to satisfy fully or to excess

Pharaoh had become, according to history, no just a king but was worshipped as a god. They also had many gods of animals and part animals as we see in the stories of the tombs. It is a part of history that seems to have stopped suddenly.

v24 "The daughter of Egypt shall be confounded; she shall be delivered into the hand of the people of the north."

Not only was Egypt defeated by Nebuchadrezzar but the land was changed when they cut down great forest of trees.

v23 "They shall cut down her forest, saith the LORD, though it cannot be searched; because they are more than the grasshoppers, and are innumerable."

For the remnant of Judah that came to Egypt, the chapter closes with a word for them.

v28 "Fear thou not, O Jacob my servant, saith the LORD; for I am with thee; for I will make a full end of all the nations whither I have driven thee; but I will not make a full end of thee, but correct thee in measure; yet will I not leave thee wholly unpunished."

Special attention goes to the beloved of the Lord. These are the times before Christ came to redeem the world. The last part of the Bible is called the New Testament. It represents a change in how the world is dealt with. It includes a time of grace when people can turn to Christ for salvation. The book of Revelation takes us beyond this time of grace to a time when the world is judged. Everyone should consider themselves seriously while we are given this gift of grace. I prefer this time of grace to the violent times we read about in the Old Testament and in history.

Romans 3:24 "Being justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus."




2 comments:

Paul said...

Hi Milton,

Nice blog. I can see you have a passion for the bible. So what do you think of Ezekiel 18:20? I have some questions for you. I don’t want to bore your readers so please email me at pjmichaels2@gmail.com. I guess I can always stop by and ask my questions but I’m lazy and email works just as well.

Thanks, Paul Michaels

Milton said...

Ezekiel 18:20 The soul that sinneth, it shall die. The son shll not bear the iniquity of the father, neither shall the father bear the iniquity of the son: the righteousness of the righteous shall be upon him, and the wickedness of the wicked shall be upon him. My reference Bible takes me to II Chronicles 25:4 But he slew not their children, but did as it is written in the law in the book of Moses, where the LORD commanded, saying, The fathers shall not die for the children, neither shall the children die for the fathers, but every man shall die for his own sin.

I thought of Romans 14:10 But why dost thou judge thy brother? or why dost thou set at nought thy brother? for we shall all stand before the judgment seat of Christ. Revelation 20:11 And I saw a great white throne, and h im that sat on it, from whose face th earth and the heaven fled away, and there was found no place for them. And I saw the dead, small and great, stand before God; and the books were opened; and another book was opened, which is the book of life; and the dead were judged out of those things which were written in teh books, according to their works.

I have found that most answers to Bible questions are found in the Bible. Probably all of them but we can come up with some questions that a priviledged to God alone as Paul talks about those things he saw that he could not speak of.

This answer does not address the subject of the 7th generation but I suppose that is the next question. I will say that things changed when Christ came and the law was fulfilled. We are under grace if we will have it.

Thanks for the question and the visit.