Jeremiah 49:7-22--Judgment on Edom

​Jeremiah 49:7-22
English Standard Version

Judgment on Edom
7 Concerning Edom.

Thus says the LORD of hosts:

“Is wisdom no more in Teman?
    Has counsel perished from the prudent?
    Has their wisdom vanished?
8 Flee, turn back, dwell in the depths,
    O inhabitants of Dedan!
For I will bring the calamity of Esau upon him,
    the time when I punish him.
9 If grape gatherers came to you,
    would they not leave gleanings?
If thieves came by night,
    would they not destroy only enough for themselves?
10 But I have stripped Esau bare;
    I have uncovered his hiding places,
    and he is not able to conceal himself.
His children are destroyed, and his brothers,
    and his neighbors; and he is no more.
11 Leave your fatherless children; I will keep them alive;
    and let your widows trust in me.”

12 For thus says the LORD: “If those who did not deserve to drink the cup must drink it, will you go unpunished? You shall not go unpunished, but you must drink. 13 For I have sworn by myself, declares the LORD, that Bozrah shall become a horror, a taunt, a waste, and a curse, and all her cities shall be perpetual wastes.”

14 I have heard a message from the LORD,
    and an envoy has been sent among the nations:
“Gather yourselves together and come against her,
    and rise up for battle!
15 For behold, I will make you small among the nations,
    despised among mankind.
16 The horror you inspire has deceived you,
    and the pride of your heart,
you who live in the clefts of the rock,
    who hold the height of the hill.
Though you make your nest as high as the eagle's,
    I will bring you down from there,
declares the LORD.

17 “Edom shall become a horror. Everyone who passes by it will be horrified and will hiss because of all its disasters. 18 As when Sodom and Gomorrah and their neighboring cities were overthrown, says the LORD, no man shall dwell there, no man shall sojourn in her. 19 Behold, like a lion coming up from the jungle of the Jordan against a perennial pasture, I will suddenly make him run away from her. And I will appoint over her whomever I choose. For who is like me? Who will summon me? What shepherd can stand before me? 20 Therefore hear the plan that the LORD has made against Edom and the purposes that he has formed against the inhabitants of Teman: Even the little ones of the flock shall be dragged away. Surely their fold shall be appalled at their fate. 21 At the sound of their fall the earth shall tremble; the sound of their cry shall be heard at the Red Sea. 22 Behold, one shall mount up and fly swiftly like an eagle and spread his wings against Bozrah, and the heart of the warriors of Edom shall be in that day like the heart of a woman in her birth pains.”

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Edom has been another thorn in Israel's side.  They are the descendants of Esau, the bother of Jacob (Israel), and they believe that the birthright and blessing given to Jacob should have belonged to them.  The LORD will destroy all the strongholds of Edom, even the places that are in caves and hidden.  There will be nowhere to hide from the LORD's wrath.  The LORD will destroy them so thoroughly that they will be used as a picture of the eternal judgment that awaits those who are are not part of the kingdom of God.  They will become like Sodom and Gomorrah that were a picture of the hellfire that awaited those who chose the way of wickedness and rebellion.

The LORD would appoint new rulers over the land of Edom, giving control over it to whomever He chooses.  The people of Edom will be killed or taken away into exile--even the little children will be taken away.  The LORD will have His day of vengeance against all of His enemies and the enemies of His people and the nation of Edom was certainly on that list as they routinely set themselves up in opposition to the LORD's plan for His people and sided with their enemies on almost every occasion.  King Herod the Great that murdered so many of the male children in Bethlehem in an attempt to try to destroy the Messiah so that He could not take His place on the throne of David was an Edomite, and we see that the LORD brought final judgment on Herod and his household so that people no longer speak of the nation of Edom or the Edomites except in connection with that place that the LORD reserves for the unclean and wicked outside the boundaries of the kingdom of His marvelous light.