Babylonian Flood
This chapter against the Philistines is fairly short. This is probably because at the time of
Jeremiah the Philistines had dwindled in power substantially. David and Solomon had done a good job in
quenching their power. Egypt had also
taken its shots against the Philistines.
Even the Phonecians and Syrians had done their part in keeping the
Philistines small and humble. Therefore,
there is not much to say to the Philistines.
Their time to be great was long past.
As bad as that sounds, this chapter doesn’t give much reason for
greater hope, either. The Philistines
are told that the forces from the north are coming and will be swift. In fact, Jeremiah calls the Babylonians a
torrent. They will rise quickly and
flood everything. They will become a super-power
in the region and consume the known world.
I don’t know if you’ve ever had the opportunity to experience a
flood first hand. It is horrible. It is next to impossible to stop the power of
rising water. Water can seep just about
anywhere. Even a thin flow of water with
a strong enough current can lift heavy objects and thrash them about. If water breaks into an area quickly it can
pour into an area and flood it before people have a time to react.
These are all images that are given to the Philistines as they
await the coming of Babylon. It won’t be
pretty. It won’t be easy. If there is any consolation, these verses
seem to indicate that it will be quick.
Unlike the siege of Jerusalem that went on in various stages for
decades, the Philistines will lose to the Babylonians very quickly.
Cutting Off Their Help
Through Jeremiah, God tells the Philistines to not get comfortable
in their alliances, either. God will see
to it that Tyre and Sidon will not be able to come to their aid. The Babylonian cavalry and charioteers will
be so swift and so destructive that there will be no time for help to
come. In fact, so thorough will be their
destruction that parents won’t be able to turn back for their children.
It is perhaps this last image that is the scariest for me. I can’t imagine being in a situation where
you feel so helpless that you wouldn’t even turn back to help your own
children. But that is precisely the image
that God gives to the Philistines. The
Philistines will be so feeble that they will be unable to do anything against
the Babylonian tide. Judgment comes, and
as I said before, it seems to come quickly.
Terror Of Judgment
The end of this chapter has much to say about the source of the
Babylonian scourge. The Babylonians come
as the sword of the Lord’s judgment. As
we’ve heard all throughout this book, the Babylonians are being raised up to
bring the whole of the land under God’s judgment. They had their opportunities to turn to God
and walk with Him. Because they refused,
judgment comes swift.
This doesn’t make the Babylonians innocent. We’ll cover that in a few chapters – and I
said often in Isaiah that the Babylonians would undergo a judgment of their own
for the cruelty with which they went about God’s judgment. But for now, we must understand that it is
the Lord who is fundamentally behind all of this judgment at the hands of the
Babylonians.
Jeremiah cries out for the sword of the Lord to be quiet. It is difficult to know judgment. It is hard to genuinely know God and watch
even your enemies be judged. This is the
sign of true compassion. Any human being
can look on with favor and approval as the enemy falls. Any human being can feel good in
revenge. It is a person in the Lord who
is truly saddened at the judgment of their enemies. Only those who are truly in the Lord can
grieve for people who are fundamentally coming under the wrath of God.
Jeremiah cries out because of the pain that he knows will be
associated with the sword of the Lord.
At the same time, though, Jeremiah knows that the sword of the
Lord must come. Jeremiah knows that if
judgment never comes, then the Lord is not truly righteous. Therefore, while Jeremiah would prefer not to
have to watch other nations come under judgment he also realizes that such
judgment is necessary. God’s judgment
must come forth. If there is any hope of
genuine repentance, God must come to us, judge us, convict us, and place us in
a position to change. If that never
happens, then we will never change.
Without judgment, repentance is almost impossible.
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