The word of Jehovah that came to the prophet Jeremiah concerning the Philistines, before Pharaoh smote Gazah.
Jeremiah turns from Egypt to a nearer neighbour, Philistia. The heading fixes the moment: the word came before Pharaoh struck down Gaza. That timing raises two questions — why God speaks before any army moves, and whose hand is behind the sword.
This verse opens the second in a run of judgments that sweep through the countries around Judah. The list is not random. These were the places the Jews had been trusting.
In Jeremiah 46 we have the denunciation of Egypt, where these foolish Jews had fled for security. Jeremiah 47 then denounces Philistia. Then again of Moab (Jer. 48), because all these countries were places to which the Jews looked for security.
Philistia was small compared with Egypt or Babylon. That was no shelter:
Now the LORD was judging: who could escape? Certainly not the Philistines. They were nowhere near as important as Egypt. But this was the judgment of the nations under God's hand. Their power had shrunk since the days of Saul, and they counted for little beside a power that aimed (though in vain) to rule the world. Neither fact could give them any protection.
Gaza was one of the Philistines' royal cities. Its history of clashing with Israel ran back a long way.
One of the five royal cities of the Philistines. We read of it as early as Genesis 10:19 as a border of the Canaanites… In the time of Samson the Philistines held it, and they made him a prisoner there (Judges 16:21). Solomon held it later… but Hezekiah had to take it again (2 Kings 18:8). After that Pharaoh struck it (Jer. 47:1, 5). Because it had been a stronghold of the Philistines, the prophets pronounced woes against it.
Pharaoh's attack was the visible danger. The prophecy looks past it to something worse from the opposite direction. And it speaks before Egypt marches.
The king of the south might strike Gaza. But graver perils were coming from a wholly different quarter, and God announced this too before the king of Egypt struck. The well-known picture of rising waters and an overflowing flood… showed the overwhelming scourge, coming from "the north." By it God was going to visit the neighbours of Israel on their south-western frontier.
The chapter ends with the sword itself. The men who carried it had no idea whose orders they were obeying.
It is a tremendous thought that the LORD's sword should have no rest; but so it was. Nebuchadnezzar never guessed that the LORD arranged the campaign of that bitter and hasty nation, whose rules and greatness came from themselves alone. Ashkelon on the sea shore never saw in those swift and fiery horsemen a charge that the LORD had appointed against them.
The Philistines came from Egypt, and they entered the promised land by a short cut of their own. That shapes what they stand for.
They sprang from Egypt (Gen. 10:13-14). They had left Egypt behind and got into the land which God had promised to His people. But they had not taken His way into it. Their way had been an easy short cut, and by it they escaped the Red Sea and the River Jordan. Those two things pictured deliverance and blessing by the death and resurrection of Christ, and they had no place in Philistine history… They have the form of godliness, but deny the power.
They were enemies inside the land. One writer reads the chapter as a picture of the opposition believers face now:
Jeremiah 47 judges the Philistines, the enemies of God's people in the land. They stand for the powers that believers, blessed in the heavenly places in Christ, have to struggle against today (Eph. 6:12). Verse 1 speaks of Pharaoh striking their headquarters.
The sword of the LORD does not stay in an earthly hand:
Finally Christ will appear. The sword of the LORD to strike the nations will not then be in the hand of any earthly king, for it is seen with the King of kings and Lord of lords when He comes in victorious power and great glory (see Rev. 19:15-16).
- Announced — the word came before Pharaoh struck down Gaza. God spoke first, and the event proved Him true.
- Aimed — each nation named in these chapters was a place Judah had looked to for safety. God takes the refuges away one by one.
- Unsheltered — Philistia was small and weak, and that was no defence. God was judging the nations, and being minor did not mean being missed.
- Directed — Egypt's blow was real, but the flood from the north was the heavier judgment. Nebuchadnezzar marched under orders he never knew he had.
- Final — the sword changes hands at last. No earthly king holds it when Christ appears as King of kings. And the Philistines stand as a warning: religion by the easy way has the form of godliness without the power.
Thus saith Jehovah Behold, waters rise up out of the north, and shall become an overflowing flood, and shall overflow the land, and all that is therein; the city, and them that dwell therein and the men shall cry, and all the inhabitants of the land shall howl,
This word came to Jeremiah about the Philistines, Israel's neighbours on the coast, and it came before Pharaoh struck Gaza. So who are the waters rising in the north, and why do they sweep over a whole people?
Egypt was the threat in view, but God pointed elsewhere:
The king of the south might strike Gaza. But far graver dangers were coming from a completely different direction, and this warning came before the king of Egypt struck. The well-known picture of rising waters and an overflowing flood, which Isaiah makes so familiar to his reader, sets out the overwhelming scourge. It comes from "the north," and by it God was going to visit the neighbours of Israel on their south-western border. Utter devastation would come through their Chaldean invaders. Country and town alike would feel it, and men and all would howl in anguish.
The prophets use this image often, and it may reach back further still:
This is a figure well-known in the prophets, and used to signify overwhelming destruction by invading hostile armies. See, for example, Isaiah 8:7-8; Isaiah 28:2; Jer. 47:2; Dan. 11:22. It may also point back to the flood of Noah's day. Then the overflowing waters swept away the corrupt and the ungodly, and so purified the world that then was.
Philistia was long past the strength it had in Saul's day. Small nations do not slip past God's judgment:
Jehovah was now judging: who could escape? Certainly not the Philistines. They were nowhere near as important as Egypt. But this was the judgment of the nations under God's hand. Their might had shrunk since the days of Saul, and they were small next to a power that aspired (though in vain) to rule the world. Neither fact could give them any protection.
Philistia was not singled out. Judgment was reaching wider, and another writer explains why:
Israel was by no means the only wicked nation. All the others had departed from God, perhaps even further. So while God was chastising His own people, He took the occasion to chastise other guilty nations too.
Behind the invading army stood a hand no one on the battlefield could see:
It is a tremendous thought that Jehovah's sword should have no rest; but so it was. Nebuchadnezzar never guessed that Jehovah had arranged the campaign of that bitter and hasty nation, whose judgment and dignity came from themselves. Ashkelon on the sea shore never saw that those swift and fiery horsemen were a charge appointed by Jehovah against them.
They were not a foreign power on the horizon. They lived inside the territory God had promised to Israel:
They appear to me to represent the power of the enemy acting within the circle of God's people. They were in the territory of the Israelites — within the land, and even on this side of the Jordan. They were not, like the Egyptians or Assyrians, enemies from without. They were always hostile to Israel — to the people who by God's appointment should have owned the land of promise. They were all the more dangerous because they were always close at hand, and claimed the country as their own.
The route they took into the land is part of the picture:
The Philistines first came from Egypt by the northern road, so they never had to cross the Red Sea. They picture people who take the Christian name without facing the truth of the death of Christ for them — not redeemed, but religious. Their name means "wallowers." They wallow in the mire of empty forms and ceremonies, and they have always been a thorn in Israel's side.
Writers also read the chapter forward, to a judgment still to come:
In Jeremiah 47 God judges the Philistines, the enemies of His people in the land. They represent the powers that believers, blessed in the heavenly places in Christ, must struggle against today (Eph. 6:12)… At the end Christ will appear. Then the sword of the Lord that strikes the nations will not be in the hand of any earthly king. It is seen in the hand of the King of kings and Lord of lords, when He comes in victorious power and great glory.
- Water means war. The rising flood is not weather but an invading army. The prophets use this picture again and again for destruction that sweeps everything away.
- North, not south. Philistia watched Egypt in the south; God pointed to the Chaldeans in the north. The blow they braced for was not the blow that fell.
- No one is too small. Philistia's decline gave it no protection. God was chastising His own people, and the guilty nations around them did not escape either.
- The sword is His. Nebuchadnezzar marched as though the plan were his own. Jehovah had arranged the campaign, and the conqueror never guessed whose orders he was carrying out.
- The enemy inside. The Philistines lived in the promised land without ever passing through redemption. The most dangerous enemy is the one already at home among God's people.
at the noise of the stamping of the hoofs of his steeds, at the rushing of his chariots, at the rumbling of his wheels fathers shall not look back for [their] children, from feebleness of hands;
Jeremiah 47 is God's word against the Philistines, Israel's neighbours on the south-west coast. Verse 3 lets us hear the invasion before we see it: hooves, chariot wheels, and then a silence where a father's rescue of his child should be.
The chapter opens with an attack by Egypt on Gaza, but the horses of verse 3 come from the opposite direction. One writer traces the rising water of the opening verses to the invaders who came from the north:
The king of the south might strike Gaza. But graver dangers were coming from a completely different quarter, and God announced these too before the king of Egypt struck his blow. Under the well-known figure of rising waters and an overflowing flood, the overwhelming scourge was set out. Isaiah makes that figure very familiar to his reader. The scourge came from "the north" — the means by which God was going to visit the neighbours of Israel on their south-western frontier. Utter devastation would come through their Chaldean invaders.
The verse does not describe a battle. It describes what the sound of an army does to people who once had the upper hand over Israel. It also shows where they turn when their own hands fail:
So the Spirit sets out with force the might of the attackers, bearing down everything before them. He also sets out the helpless agony of the once proud lords who used to tyrannise over Israel. They would look in vain for help to Tyre and Sidon. Their superstitious self-humbling before their gods would be as useless as the help of their old allies, who were themselves ruined and cut off.
The Philistines heard cavalry. The Lord had sent it. Neither the empire doing the damage nor the city suffering it understood what was happening:
It is a staggering thought that the Lord's sword should have no rest, but so it was. That invading nation was bitter and hasty, and its justice and dignity came from itself alone. Nebuchadnezzar had little idea that the Lord had arranged his campaign. Ashkelon on the sea shore saw only swift and fiery horsemen, and had little idea that the Lord had appointed them to strike the city.
Philistia was not a distant empire. Its cities sat inside the land promised to Israel. That closeness made them all the more dangerous:
They appear to me to represent the power of the enemy acting within the circle of God's people. They were in the territory of the Israelites — inside the land, and even on this side of the Jordan. They were not, like the Egyptians or Assyrians, enemies from outside. They were always hostile to Israel, to those who by God's appointment should have owned the land of promise. They were all the more dangerous because they were always close at hand and claimed the country as their own.
Another writer links this same enemy to the struggle believers face now, and to the day Christ appears:
The Philistines, the enemies of God's people in the land, are judged in Jeremiah 47. They represent the powers that believers, blessed in the heavenly places in Christ, have to struggle against today (Eph. 6:12)... Finally Christ will appear. The sword of the Lord to strike the nations will not then be in the hand of any earthly king. It is seen with the King of kings and Lord of lords when He comes in victorious power and great glory.
Jeremiah 46–49 deals with nation after nation, and they do not all end the same way. Philistia is missing from the list of those with a future:
These nations were all to fall under the power of Nebuchadnezzar. But some of them are to be restored in the last days. Among them will be Elam, Egypt, Moab and Ammon. Philistia is not among them, nor Damascus, nor Hazor, and above all not Babylon. Chapters 50 and 51 set out Babylon's destruction in great detail.
- Noise — The verse works on the ear first: hooves, chariots, wheels. The sound alone is enough, because the flood God announced was rolling in from the north, not from Egypt.
- Nerve — That sound empties the hands. Fathers do not turn back for their own children. The proud lords who once tyrannised over Israel find only helpless agony.
- Nowhere — They look to Tyre and Sidon and to their gods, and find both as ruined as themselves. Old alliances and religious self-humbling save no one on that day.
- Nebuchadnezzar — He thought the campaign was his. Ashkelon thought the horsemen were Babylon's. Both were wrong: the sword had a charge appointed by the Lord.
- Now — Philistia was the enemy inside the land. It pictures the powers believers still struggle against. The final sword belongs to no earthly king, but to the King of kings.
because of the day that cometh to lay waste all the Philistines, to cut off from Tyre and Sidon every helper that remaineth; for Jehovah will lay waste the Philistines, the remnant of the island of Caphtor.
Jeremiah names a fixed day for Philistia, a day that leaves Tyre and Sidon without a single helper. The verse then looks back to where these people came from — the remnant of Caphtor — so who were they, and who is really behind their ruin?
Philistia was a small power next to Egypt. By Jeremiah's time it had long lost the strength it had in Saul's day. None of that mattered:
Jehovah was now judging: who could escape? Certainly not the Philistines. They were nowhere near as important as Egypt. But this was the judgment of the nations under God's hand. Their strength had shrunk since the days of Saul, and they were nothing beside a power that reached (though in vain) for the rule of the world. Neither fact could give them any protection.
The day also strips Philistia of its allies. Where was help to come from?
In this way the Spirit sets out with force the might of the attackers, who sweep all before them. He sets out too the helpless agony of the once proud lords who had ruled harshly over Israel. They would look to Tyre and Sidon for help, and look in vain. Their superstitious bowing down before their gods would be as useless as the help of their old allies, who were themselves ruined and cut off.
The verse traces the Philistines back to Caphtor. Nobody knows for certain where that was:
Caphtor is the country that some of the Philistines came from, as well as the Caphtorim. They sprang from Mizraim, son of Ham. Deuteronomy 2:23; Amos 9:7. In Jeremiah 47:4 the word given as "isles" in the margin may only mean "maritime border." Caphtor is thought to be somewhere in Egypt, but no one has identified it.
Their name, and the road they came by, both carry a lesson:
Their name means "emigrants" in Ethiopic, and "wanderers" in Hebrew. Exodus marks the "way of the Philistines" as the "near" way out of Egypt into the land. It was as easy as it was near: no Red Sea to cross, and no Jordan. … So the Philistines are natural men who have come into spiritual things, not by the power of God, but in a natural way.
The verse does not say Babylon will plunder Philistia. It says the LORD will. The invading army was real, but it was not the author of what happened.
It is a tremendous thought that Jehovah's sword should have no rest; but so it was. Nebuchadnezzar never thought that Jehovah had arranged the campaign of that bitter and hasty nation, whose law and honour came from no one but themselves. Ashkelon on the sea shore never saw in those swift and fiery horsemen a charge that Jehovah had appointed against them.
These enemies inside the land stand for more than themselves — a struggle now, and a victory still to come:
The Philistines, the enemies of God's people in the land, are judged in Jeremiah 47. They represent the powers against whom those who are blessed in the heavenly places in Christ have to struggle today (Eph. 6:12)… The sword of the Lord that strikes the nations will not then be in the hand of any earthly king. It is seen with the King of kings and Lord of lords, when He comes in victorious power and great glory (see Rev. 19:15-16).
- Day. God sets a day for Philistia. Being small is no shelter, because the judgment of the nations is in His hand.
- Helpers. The last helper is cut off from Tyre and Sidon. The old allies are ruined themselves, and the gods they beg prove just as useless.
- Origin. They are what is left of Caphtor, a land no one has identified. They came by the easy road out of Egypt: no Red Sea, no Jordan — natural men in spiritual things.
- Hand. Nebuchadnezzar planned a campaign; the LORD had appointed a sword. The instrument never knew whose charge it was carrying out.
- Reach. Those blessed in the heavenly places still struggle against these powers today. And the sword passes at last from an earthly king to the King of kings.
Baldness is come upon Gazah; Ashkelon is cut off, the remnant of their valley how long wilt thou cut thyself?
Jeremiah 47 carries a message against the Philistines, Israel's neighbours on the south-west coast. Verse 5 turns to two of their chief cities as the blow lands. Shaved heads and cut flesh were the usual signs of grief among the nations around Israel. The verse asks what such mourning can do when God Himself has ordered the disaster.
Gaza was no minor town. It sat on the Canaanite border in the earliest pages of Scripture, and more than one prophet had already warned it.
One of the five royal cities of the Philistines. We read of it as early as Genesis 10:19 as a border of the Canaanites… It was afterwards struck by Pharaoh (Jeremiah 47:1, 5). It was a stronghold of the Philistines, and the prophets pronounced woes against it: Amos 1:6-7; Zephaniah 2:4; Zechariah 9:5.
Baldness here can be read two ways: a judgement God sends, or a sign of mourning that people put on themselves. Either way, God had banned the practice among His own people.
God forbade the Israelites to cut themselves or to shave their heads for the dead, as the nations around them did. They were a holy people to the Lord (Leviticus 21:5; Deuteronomy 14:1; Jeremiah 16:6). Baldness is one of the judgements of the Lord: perhaps they would make themselves bald in their distress.
The verse ends by asking how long they will gash themselves. Where did that custom come from, and what did it ever achieve?
The ungodly nations practised such things as cutting themselves and shaving the front of their head. This was their way of showing respect for people who had died. This was empty hypocrisy, a show of religiousness intended to draw attention to themselves… Cutting oneself, shaving the hair, weeping and wailing, can do nothing for the person who has died.
Philistia had two hopes in a crisis: its allies up the coast and its gods. Both were about to fail.
Here the Spirit sets out with force the might of the attackers, who carried all before them. He also sets out the helpless agony of the once-proud lords who used to tyrannise over Israel. They would look in vain to Tyre and Sidon for help. Their superstitious self-humbling before their gods would prove as useless as the help of their old allies, who were themselves ruined and cut off. In truth, as the prophet tells them, it was Jehovah who would ruin the Philistines, whatever instrument He chose to use.
Jehovah's sword had no rest. The army that swept down the coast was carrying out orders it never knew it had received.
It is a tremendous thought that Jehovah's sword should have no rest; but so it was. Nebuchadnezzar never guessed that Jehovah had arranged the campaign of that bitter and hasty nation, whose judgment and dignity came from themselves. Ashkelon on the sea shore never saw that those swift and fiery horsemen were a charge Jehovah had appointed against them.
The Philistines held land that was never theirs. How they got in is the point.
It is the land of the Philistines, as you might say, and yet they had no right to it. They were intruders, or, as their name suggests, wanderers — people who had no right there at all. They had wandered in and settled down along the sea coast, where there was an easy way of getting into the land. God plainly refused to lead His people that way. They needed the training that conflict and hardship would give. They also needed to be examples for all time, showing that the only true way into God's inheritance is through death and resurrection.
The verse says Ashkelon has perished. That is not Scripture's last word over the place.
God declared His judgements against this city (Jeremiah 25:20; Jeremiah 47:5, 7; Amos 1:8; Zechariah 9:5). The remnant of Judah would live there (Zephaniah 2:4, 7).
- Blow. Gaza and Ashkelon were royal Philistine cities. More than one prophet had already marked them for judgement.
- Ritual. Shaved heads and cut flesh were mourning customs of the nations. God forbade them to Israel, and here they mark His judgement, not a cure for it.
- Futility. Tyre and Sidon could not help, and bowing to their gods did nothing. Such rites are a show that cannot help the dead.
- Command. The advancing army was a sword under orders it never suspected. The Lord Himself was ruining the Philistines.
- Warning. Philistia pictures intruders who took the easy way into the land. The true way into God's inheritance runs through death and resurrection — and that coast is promised to His people in the end.
Alas! sword of Jehovah, how long wilt thou not be quiet? Withdraw into thy scabbard, rest, and be still.
Jeremiah 47 is a short message against the Philistines, Israel's neighbours on the coast. It ends with a startling prayer — not to God, but to His weapon. Verse 6 asks the sword of the LORD how long it will keep cutting. The next verse answers: it cannot stop, because the LORD gave it orders.
The chapter that comes before this one deals with Egypt, a world power. Philistia was nothing of the kind, yet commentators note that small size bought it no exemption.
The LORD was now judging: who could escape? Certainly not the Philistines. They were very far from the importance of Egypt; but this was the judgment of the nations under God's hand, and their reduced strength since the days of Saul, or their insignificance next to a power that aimed (though in vain) at world rule, could give them no protection.
The heading of the chapter dates it before Pharaoh struck Gaza. That blow from the south was not the thing to fear.
The king of the south might strike Gaza. But graver dangers were coming from a completely different quarter, and this warning came too before the king of Egypt struck his blow. The well-known picture of rising waters and an overflowing flood set out the overwhelming scourge. It would come from "the north," and by it God was going to visit the neighbours of Israel on their south-western frontier.
An invading army fills this chapter with noise. The verse names the hand behind it.
In truth, as the prophet tells them, it was the LORD who would plunder the Philistines, whatever instrument He might be pleased to use. And this too is pointed out plainly, so that it shows all the more clearly as coming from Himself.
The appeal of verse 6 is bold, and the answer in verse 7 is sobering: the sword has a charge, and an appointed target. Neither the man swinging it nor the city receiving it understood that.
It is a tremendous thought that the LORD's sword should have no rest; but so it was. Nebuchadnezzar had no idea that the LORD arranged the campaign of that bitter and hasty nation. Its judgment and dignity came from itself. Ashkelon on the sea shore never saw that the LORD had appointed those swift and fiery horsemen to charge against them.
The same phrase is used elsewhere of violent men who had no interest in righteousness at all. Writers point out what happens to such an instrument once its task is finished.
These instruments imagined that they were carrying out their own plans. But in the final analysis, they were only the sword of the Lord to vindicate the holiness of His character by this extermination. God will also break the sword when it has finished its work. In breaking it He will show that He is a righteous God who does not leave crime unpunished.
Not every commentator reads the chapter only as past history. One traces its pattern forward and finds the sword finally changing hands.
The king of Babylon would conquer them. This is the sword of the Lord (v. 6)... Finally Christ will appear. The sword of the Lord to strike the nations will not then be in the hand of any earthly king, for it is seen with the King of kings and Lord of lords when He comes in victorious power and great glory (see Revelation 19:15-16).
Kelly reads the chapter as history, fulfilled by the invasion from the north. Commentators differ on how far its details reach into the future.
- Charge. The sword does not swing at random. It cannot go quiet because the LORD gave it orders and named the place — Ashkelon and the seashore.
- Hand. Behind the horses and chariots stands the LORD Himself. He plunders the Philistines, using whatever instrument He chooses.
- Blindness. Nebuchadnezzar never guessed who arranged his campaign. Ashkelon never saw the LORD's appointed charge in the riders bearing down on it.
- Reach. Philistia was small and long past its strength. Insignificance is no shelter when God is judging the nations.
- End. God breaks the instrument once its work is done. The last hand to draw this sword is not a king of Babylon but the King of kings.
How shouldest thou be quiet? -- For Jehovah hath given it a charge against Ashkelon, and against the sea shore, there hath he appointed it.
The chapter ends with an answer, not a threat. The prophet begs the Lord's sword to go back into its sheath. The reply is that it cannot rest: the Lord has assigned it to Ashkelon and the seacoast, cities of the Philistines. So who commands the army marching on Philistia? And why can no plea call it back?
One commentator reads the prophet's plea and the Lord's reply together. He fixes on the word "appointed" — the sword has orders, and orders name a target.
It is a tremendous thought that the Lord's sword should have no rest; but so it was. Nebuchadnezzar never thought that the Lord had arranged the campaign of that bitter and hasty nation, whose sense of justice and dignity came only from themselves. Ashkelon on the seashore never saw in those swift and fiery horsemen a charge appointed by the Lord against them.
Neither side understood what was happening. The invader thought the plan was his own; the city thought the cavalry was only cavalry.
Earlier in the chapter the same writer looks past the invading army to the One behind it.
So the Spirit sets out with force the might of the attackers, sweeping all before them. He also sets out the helpless agony of the once proud lords who used to tyrannise over Israel. They would look in vain for help to Tyre and Sidon. Humbling themselves before their gods in superstition would be as useless as the help of their old allies, who were themselves wasted and cut off. In truth, as the prophet tells them, it was the Lord who would plunder the Philistines, whatever instrument He might be pleased to use.
Two rescues fail at once: their gods, and their allies in Tyre and Sidon.
These chapters against foreign nations are not a side-track. They speak to Judeans who had run to these very places for safety.
In Jeremiah 46 we have the denunciation of Egypt, where these foolish Jews had fled for safety, and the further denunciation of Philistia in Jeremiah 47. Then again of Moab (Jer. 48), because all these countries were places where the Jews looked for security.
And this word against the seacoast is final in a way that not every judgment here is. Some nations named in these chapters have a future; Philistia does not.
These nations were all to fall under the power of Nebuchadnezzar; but some of them are to be restored in the latter day. Among these nations will be Elam, Egypt, Moab and Ammon, but not Philistia, not Damascus, not Hazor, and above all not Babylon.
The sword will not fall quiet when the prophet asks. But it does not swing forever. Writing about another judgment, one commentator turns to the instrument itself.
These instruments imagined that they were carrying out their own plans, but in the end they were only the sword of the Lord, to vindicate the holiness of His character. What is more, God will break the sword when it has finished its work. In breaking it He will show that He is a righteous God who does not leave crime unpunished.
So the One who gave the charge decides when the sword rests. The fear of its victims does not decide it, and neither does the king who holds it.
One writer follows this phrase, the sword of the Lord, from Jeremiah's day to the end.
The Philistines, the enemies of God's people in the land, are judged in Jeremiah 47. They represent the powers that those who are blessed in the heavenly places in Christ have to struggle against today (Eph. 6:12). The king of Babylon would conquer them. This is the sword of the Lord (v. 6)... Finally Christ will appear. Then the sword of the Lord that strikes the nations will not be in the hand of any earthly king. It is seen with the King of kings and Lord of lords, when He comes in victorious power and great glory (see Rev. 19:15-16).
So the chapter's closing question looks forward as well as back.
- Charge. The sword does not move at random. The Lord gave it orders against Ashkelon and the coast, so no plea can quiet it.
- Concealed. Nebuchadnezzar thought the campaign was his own idea. Ashkelon saw only horsemen — neither recognised the appointment behind the attack.
- Confidence misplaced. Their gods failed, and so did their allies in Tyre and Sidon. Judah had run to such neighbours for safety.
- Closed. Some nations in Jeremiah's list have restoration promised in a coming day. Philistia does not.
- Concluded. God breaks the sword when its work is done. In the end the sword of the Lord lies in no earthly king's hand, but in the hand of the King of kings.