If you look at Israel you see that in essence it is caught between East and West. There is big ol’ Egypt and the whole of the African Continent, and then Asia to the East. It’s a key piece of land for commerce. And also for war.
Trouble was coming to Philistia who were the people who lived along the coast. The LORD had decreed judgment and it was going to come from both directions. Egypt would come from the Southwest which they did in 609 BC and the Babylonians would come from the Northeast. Not at the same time, but the destruction would be the same.
it would be so terrible that the people’s fear would be stronger than their love for their children. They would each look out for their own protection. But the sword wouldn’t stop.
Why? Because the LORD had decreed judgment.
He doesn’t pronounce judgment without reason, just as an earthly judge does not pronounce judgment without reason. In fact the LORD does everything he can to get people to repent and turn away from their evil so he doesn’t have to bring judgment. It’s just that when people fall in love with sin they rarely want to turn. Unless they face its consequences.
What we also see here is picture of Babylon. They were not just content on defeating Israel, they wanted the whole area of Israel and to kick Egypt around too. They were a powerful army and they could do. Especially as God said he was using them as his instrument of judgment.
One thing we often see in Scripture is that God judges nations. Not in a salvation sense, but in a blessing and judgment sense. He rewards and blesses nations who do right but he has to bring to discipline nations that persist in evil. And spreading evil.
Something I see over and over in Jeremiah is that He so wants to relent. He does not delight in judgment. But if people do not turn from evil and harming one another, then terrible times will come.
With that it seems like people do not learn. With thousands of years of history we keep doing the same thing over and over. So much so that people can study cycles of history.
Currently if the cycle continues as it has for 5000+ years, we will soon enter the “bondage” cycle. We have already walked through that front door with censorship. But typically it gets much more ugly and brutal. People in time eventually turn back to God but that can sometimes mean decades and even centuries. Depends on how deeply rooted the pride of that nation.
So let’s pray. Pray for God’s mercy. Pray that God will pour out His Spirit and turn hearts back to Him. Let’s see something that hasn’t happened before in history—a breaking of the cycle.
