Concerning Edom. Thus saith Jehovah of hosts Is there no more wisdom in Teman? is counsel perished from the prudent? is their wisdom spent?
God's word against Edom opens with a question, not an army. He asks whether the nation's famous wisdom is still there. Behind that question sits a harder one. Can cleverness save a people when God sets a day to judge them?
Teman was both a man and a place, and both belong to Esau's family line:
Son of Eliphaz, a son of Esau, and a chief of Edom; also his descendants and the district where they lived. Scripture connects it four times with Edom and twice with Dedan, which places it in the south. The Bible speaks of its wisdom, and God pronounces His judgements on it.
The same reputation appears in the book of Job. One writer draws a lesson from what the name Teman means:
Job's friends came from districts noted for men of wisdom… Teman means "the south," the country lying under the sun, open to the light. But while the south country is open to the light, it is apt to be dry and arid, as Arabia was. It needs "springs of water." Light without life can never help.
God asks because the answer is already settled. Edom's good sense could do nothing against the judgment He announces next:
So wisdom would not help Israel's proud, relentless enemy. Edom should have been a friend. He should have enjoyed the honour God was pleased to put on his relative. Esau's calamity would be theirs on the day God came to judge… If Israel drank that cup of sorrow, could Edom go unpunished? Impossible. No rock cleft would hide them. No height would help them.
Edom's wisdom and prudence were its pride. Both failed when Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, marched against Judah — and the story does not end there:
They had prided themselves on their special wisdom and prudence; but it failed them in the hour of their need. When the tide turned against Judah, they tried to use Judah's enemies for their own gain. This also fed their undying hatred of the fallen. They made friends with the Babylonians, with Nebuchadnezzar and his captains who came up against Judea. But this is the retribution God will award them… What happened then was not the end. Scripture shows that when the final scene comes at the end of the age, Edom is one of the objects of God's judgment on earth. What took place under Nebuchadnezzar is a remarkable foreshadowing of what will happen again.
Teman's wisdom was borrowed from other people, not drawn from faith. One writer explains why that leaves it unsteady:
Teman's wisdom must lean on something outside itself. But it is Edomite, not Israelite — so it leans on man, not on God. He has no faith in God to keep him steady, no fixed points to reason from. He is born into a world where he must take most of what he knows from other people. He inherits the thoughts of men — men who are fallible, often deceived, sinful, and able to deceive. Yet men pride themselves upon this godless wisdom.
In the verses that follow, the prophecy stops saying "Edom" and says "Esau." One writer finds a lesson for today in that change of name:
The Lord says, "I will bring the calamity of Esau upon him." This is instructive. The use of the name of the nation's father, Esau, shows what is in the mind of the Spirit. Here we have a vivid description of God's judgment on Edom through Nebuchadnezzar. But there is always a deeper lesson in these records. They are written for our learning, for the learning of those who have to meet the Esau character now.
God promises some nations that He will bring them back one day. He makes no such promise to Edom:
Compare Jeremiah 49:7-22. Unlike the hope held out to some enemies, the Lord does not say He will bring back their captivity in the latter days… Their fate is sealed, though for different reasons. Edom in particular must bear this clear, settled judgment. The joy of the age to come will not reverse its sad sentence.
- Famous — Teman came from Esau's line, and the whole region knew its wise and prudent men. Job's counsellors came from districts like it.
- Borrowed — that wisdom had no fixed point to reason from. It inherited the thoughts of men, and men pride themselves on this godless wisdom.
- Useless — it failed in the hour of need. No cleft could hide Edom, no height could help.
- Misused — their best counsel was to side with Babylon against their brother Judah. That choice brought God's retribution on them.
- Final — the name "Esau" points to the character behind the nation. Even the joy of the age to come will not reverse this sentence.
Flee, turn back, dwell deep down, ye inhabitants of Dedan! For I will bring the calamity of Esau upon him, the time that I visit him.
God tells the people of Dedan to run, double back, and hide underground, because a fixed day of reckoning is coming on Esau. Who are Dedan, why does God name Esau instead of Edom, and can anyone hide once God sets the day?
Dedan is not a household name. The prophets place them next to Edom, and their family line goes back to Abraham.
A district mentioned in Jeremiah 25:23; Jeremiah 49:8; Ezekiel 25:13. These prophecies link it with Edom more than once, so it was probably connected with the descendants of Abraham.
So the warning goes out to near neighbours and kin. The storm breaking over Esau will sweep them in too.
"Dwell in the depths" is not poetry. Edom's homeland was riddled with shelters carved into stone, and the people had learned to disappear into them.
Their homeland once belonged to the Horim, a people who lived in caves in the mountains. Edom then had cave dwellings cut into the sandstone cliffs. These rocky homes suited their warlike character and gave them the shelter they needed... The judgment pronounced on Idumea, their homeland, has found a startling fulfilment.
But the God who sets the time knows the caves.
Esau's calamity would be theirs in the day when God visits them. Grape-gatherers stripping a vine would be a light thing next to what awaits Esau's race. Israel drank that cup of sorrow; could Edom then go unpunished? Impossible. No cleft would hide them, no height would help.
The nation was called Edom. God reaches past the nation's name to the man it came from, and that choice is deliberate.
The Lord says, "I will bring the calamity of Esau upon him." This is instructive. The use of the name of the nation's father, Esau, shows what is in the mind of the Spirit. We do have a very vivid description of God's judgment on Edom at the hand of Nebuchadnezzar. But there is always a deeper lesson to learn in these records. They were written for our learning — for those who have to meet the Esau character now.
What was that character? Vine points to a warning the Spirit gave long after Esau died:
Even in the days of the apostles the Spirit gave warning about this — "that no one is sexually immoral or unholy like Esau, who sold his birthright for a single meal. For you know that afterward, when he desired to inherit the blessing, he was rejected, for he found no chance to repent, though he sought it with tears" (Hebrews 12:16-17).
The calamity carries his name because it matches his character.
Moab and Ammon are judged in these same chapters, but Edom's sentence is heavier. The reason lies in how a brother behaved toward a brother.
God's judgment on Edom is much more severe than that on Moab. Edom "pursued his brother with the sword, and cast off all pity, and his anger tore perpetually, and he kept his wrath forever" (Amos 1:11).
Nearness of blood did not soften Edom. It sharpened the hatred, and so it sharpens the judgment.
Commentators read Edom as more than an ancient tribe. The name itself carries the point, and the application lands close to home.
Edom is the same name as Adam, only somewhat disguised. So the nation stands for the flesh, and "those who are in the flesh cannot please God." The flesh may appear in many convincing forms. It pleases the natural senses and appeals to the reasoning minds of men.
Read that way, the call to dwell in the depths is what human nature always tries. We look for a hole deep enough to sit out the day when God visits.
Other nations in these chapters — Elam among them — get a future. Edom does not, and that marks this calamity out as different in kind.
Obadiah 5, 6, 9, 18 and Jeremiah 49:9-10, 22 also declare that none of Edom shall be left. Notice that there is no restoration of a remnant here, as there is with Elam and others (Jeremiah 49:39). In these chapters, and in Isaiah 63 too, we see that it is Jerusalem's cause that the Lord takes up with Edom. In these passages the Lord does not forget His thoughts of love towards Zion and His people.
So Edom's end is also Zion's comfort. The God who fixes the day of reckoning has His people in mind when He fixes it.
- Hide — God tells Dedan, Edom's neighbours and kin, to run and go to ground. Their sandstone caves were real, tested shelters.
- Found — no cleft would hide them, no height would help. The God who sets the day knows every hiding place.
- Named — God says "Esau," not "Edom." The nation's father gave it his character, and God judges that character.
- Deserved — Edom's judgment is heavier than Moab's. He hunted his own brother with the sword and kept his anger forever.
- Final — Elam and others get a remnant back; Edom gets none. The flesh, which Edom pictures, has no future before God — but Zion still has His love.
If grape-gatherers had come to thee, would they not have left a gleaning? If thieves by night, they would destroy only till they had enough.
Jeremiah speaks here against Edom, the nation descended from Esau, Jacob's brother, and the verse uses two everyday pictures: grape pickers and night thieves each leave something behind. So why does this nation, of all those in Jeremiah 46–49, end with no remnant at all?
Obadiah 5 makes the same point in almost the same words. One writer takes each half in turn:
Even those who normally live by plunder would stop once they had taken all they could carry off in their hurried raid. And those who honestly work among the vines do not strip them bare. They leave a few grapes here and there, for "if grape gatherers came to you, would they not leave gleanings?"
Edom's spoilers will outdo both the thief and the harvester:
His destruction would be complete. The spoilers would not be like the thieves, who steal till they have enough, or like the grape-gatherers who leave something behind. There would be a clean sweep, everything searched out, even the hidden things.
Edom also stands apart from the other nations of these chapters:
None shall be left of Edom. Obadiah 5, 6, 9, 18 and Jeremiah 49:9-10, 22 all declare it, and there is no restoration of a remnant, as in the case of Elam and others (Jer. 49:39).
Another writer ties this severity to the way Edom treated its own kin:
Edom is the only one of all the nations reappearing at the time of the end for judgment that will have no "remnant" preserved. God will judge the Edomites without mercy because of the way they behaved toward His people. They were the most wicked, and the most eager to destroy Israel.
Edom is not singled out at random. One writer weighs Edom's judgment against what Israel had already suffered:
The stripping of a vine by grape-gatherers would be light compared with what awaits Esau's race. For if Israel drank of that cup of sorrow, could they go unpunished? Impossible. No clefts should hide them, no heights help them.
Elsewhere Scripture uses the same picture the other way round. Writing on Isaiah 17, one commentator shows what gleanings left on the vine mean for Israel:
In verses 4-6 we see the judgment of Israel, but gleaning grapes are left there. God chastises His people till they stop resting on their own strength, and rely on God alone. Yet they will dwindle down to a remnant of two or three here and four or five there. Then they shall look to Himself, the only source of strength, the Holy One of Israel.
The prophecy names Esau, the nation's father, not only the nation. One writer draws out the lesson for today:
The use of the name of the nation's father, Esau, shows what is in the mind of the Spirit... but there is always a deeper lesson to be learned in these records. They are written for our learning, as we are told — for the learning of those who have to meet the Esau character now. Even in the days of the apostles, the Spirit gave warning about this: "See to it... that no one is sexually immoral or unholy like Esau, who sold his birthright for a single meal. For you know that afterward, when he desired to inherit the blessing, he was rejected, for he found no chance to repent, though he sought it with tears" (Heb. 12:15-17).
- Gleanings. Thieves stop when they have enough. Harvesters leave stray grapes. Edom's end will be worse than both.
- Hidden things. Ordinary looting misses things. This judgment searches out even what is hidden.
- No remnant. Elam and other nations keep a remnant and are restored. Edom alone has none.
- Reason. Edom hated its own brother Israel without letting up. Israel had already drunk the cup, so Edom could not escape it.
- Esau now. God's chastening leaves Israel a remnant that turns back to Him. Esau sold his birthright and found no chance to repent. That character still turns up today.
But I have made Esau bare, I have uncovered his secret places, that he is unable to hide himself his seed is wasted, and his brethren, and his neighbours, and he is not.
Here the message against Edom reaches its darkest line. God says that He Himself stripped Esau bare and searched out every hiding place, until nothing of the nation was left. Two questions follow: why Esau above all other enemies, and why no remnant is left at all.
The prophecy does not only say "Edom." It names the man the nation came from, and one writer takes that choice as deliberate.
The Lord says, "I will bring the calamity of Esau upon him." This is instructive. The use of the name of the nation's father, Esau, shows what is in the mind of the Spirit. It is true that we have here a very vivid description of the judgment of God that fell on Edom through Nebuchadnezzar. But there is always a deeper lesson to learn in these records. They were written to teach us — to teach those who have to meet the Esau character now. Even in the days of the apostles the Spirit gave a warning about this: let no one be unholy like Esau, who sold his birthright for a single meal. Afterwards, when he wanted to inherit the blessing, he was rejected, for he found no chance to repent, though he sought it with tears (Hebrews 12:15-17).
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Edom lived among rock fortresses and thought itself out of reach. One writer weighs that confidence against what is coming.
The stripping of a vine by grape-gatherers would be light compared with what awaits Esau's race. If Israel drank that cup of sorrow, could Edom go unpunished? Impossible. No clefts will hide them, no heights will help. Edom will be made small, yes, a waste like the cities of the plain. Whatever God remembered of family ties in Moab or Ammon, in Edom it works the opposite way. Their family tie made their relentless hatred of Israel unbearable, and it only shut them up in their own ruin.
Another writer notes how deep this searching goes, quoting Obadiah 6 in an older wording:
God takes account, not only of their flagrant outward wickedness, but of the secret motives of the heart: "How is Esau searched! his hidden things sought out!"
The closing words use a familiar Old Testament expression.
"He was not," a phrase anyone familiar with Old Testament wording would understand. Enoch "was not," when he ceased to live on this earth.
Other nations in these chapters get a closing promise that their fortunes will return. Edom gets none.
Obadiah 5, 6, 9, 18 and Jeremiah 49:9-10, 22 also declare that none of Edom will be left. Notice that there is no restoration of a remnant here, as there is for Elam and others (Jeremiah 49:39).
One writer gives the reason, and says how long the sentence lasts.
Edom especially must have this marked and definite character of judgment. The joy of the age to come will not reverse its sad sentence. As long as the earth lasts, Edom will lie desolate. The relentless, unyielding hatred of Edom's sons for the Jews will bring on them the destruction they deserve.
The words came true under Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon. But the same writer looks further ahead.
All this came true in the government of God. In the last days too, when the Lord Himself returns to save Israel, He will judge Edom far more terribly than happened under Nebuchadnezzar… Esau must fall, and Jacob be delivered and blessed. The overthrow of Edom will then be final, as the overthrow of Sodom and Gomorrah was.
- Named — the word is "Esau," not just Edom. It points past one ancient nation to a character we still meet today.
- Searched — God calls the stripping His own act. No rock cleft, no height, and no secret motive of the heart stays hidden from Him.
- Emptied — "he is no more" is the ordinary Old Testament way of saying someone has ceased to be here. Scripture uses the same words of Enoch.
- Unrestored — this chapter promises other nations a return home. Edom alone gets no remnant and no reversal.
- Deserved — the cause is Edom's endless hatred of its own family. The sentence stands until the day the Lord returns to save Israel.
Leave thine orphans, I will preserve them alive; and let thy widows trust in me.
Jeremiah 49:11 sits inside a message of doom on Edom, the nation descended from Esau. Why does God stop in the middle of that ruin to promise care for the orphans and widows the disaster will leave behind?
Edom's ruin is total. Commentators tie that severity to Edom's long hatred of Israel, a people they were related to by blood.
Wisdom would not help this proud, relentless enemy of Israel. Edom ought to have been a friend, and should have enjoyed the honour God chose to put on his relative. Esau's calamity would be theirs in the day of divine visitation. The stripping of a vine by grape-gatherers would be light compared with what awaits Esau's race. If Israel drank that cup of sorrow, could Edom go unpunished? Impossible. No clefts would hide them, no heights would save them. Whatever God's remembrance of family ties meant for Moab or Ammon, in Edom it works the opposite way. That bond of blood made their unrelenting hatred of Israel unbearable, and it only sealed their own ruin.
The promise rests on who God is, not only on what He does. One writer names the title God takes for Himself and ties it straight to this verse.
"Father of the fatherless and protector of widows is God in His holy habitation." This is the character of God as Preserver of the desolate. It is what He is toward the true Jews in that day; see Jeremiah 49:11.
(An older rendering of that line calls God "a Father of orphans, and Judge of widows.")
Why the orphan and the widow? They had lost every human support. God gives such people a special place.
He has a heart for the widow and the fatherless. They are helpless people, stripped of every earthly and natural support — the poor, grieving, broken-hearted widow, and the orphan left alone. God thinks of them and cares for them in a very special way; they have a claim on His loving heart and mighty hand. "She who is truly a widow, left all alone, has set her hope on God and continues in supplications and prayers night and day."
God does more here than describe His kindness. He invites trust, and faith can take Him at His word.
Faith and obedience would have seen such a case as an opportunity to show grace, especially to a poor widow. But the compassions of God are deeper and richer than even the most merciful of His people. Faith sets up its claim on the heart of Him who has said, "Leave your fatherless children; I will keep them alive; and let your widows trust in me."
Should you save money and insure your life for the family you leave behind? One writer answers straight from this verse.
Suppose someone cannot fully trust the Lord for the future, for himself and for his family. Suppose he has no such sense of what God is, and of what the life of faith is, as would lift his heart above human confidence, human hopes, and earthly expectations. Then of course he can only lay up money or insure his life. We believe it is better to trust in the Lord than to put confidence in a store of money or in an insurance policy. "Leave your fatherless children to me, and let your widows trust in me."
One widow wrote to a friend about these words. Her own loss taught her what they were worth.
I have got the promise I want more than all others — "let your widows trust in me." I once wished there were a richer, sweeter promise for widows. But you have to be brought into different circumstances before you feel the force of a promise. The Lord knew that no words suited widows as well as these few. It is not like Him to invite us to trust Him and then let any evil come near us.
- Judgment. God announces Edom's total ruin. A nation that should have been Israel's friend nursed unbending hatred instead, and that hatred "only sealed their own ruin."
- Mercy. In the middle of that ruin God makes a promise to the two most defenceless people left: the orphan and the widow.
- Character. The promise rests on a name God has taken: "Father of the fatherless and protector of widows" — the Preserver of the desolate.
- Claim. Because He said it, faith may hold Him to it; faith "sets up its claim on the heart of Him who has said" these words.
- Trust. Trust the Lord for what you cannot guard. That is better than a store of money or an insurance policy.
For thus saith Jehovah Behold, they whose judgment was not to drink of the cup shall assuredly drink; and thou indeed, shouldest thou be altogether unpunished? Thou shalt not go unpunished, but thou shalt surely drink.
Jeremiah 49:12 sits in the middle of God's word against Edom. It reasons from one hard fact to another: others have already drunk the cup of judgment, so how can Edom expect to go free?
The cup is not new here. Earlier in the book it stands in the Lord's hand for the nations, and the order of drinking is the shock. The ones who seemed least fit to drink — God's own city — drink first.
So the cup of vengeance is in the Lord's hand (Jer. 25), ready to give to the nations in His judgment. And the Jews come first among the nations — not for blessing, but for chastening and punishment. That is why God appointed Jeremiah a prophet to the nations. The distinctive mark of his prophecy is that Jerusalem comes first for judgment when God takes up the world to deal with its sins.
Edom should have been a friend to Israel, not an enemy. When even Israel drank the cup, Edom's wisdom and rock strongholds were no defence.
So wisdom would not help the proud, relentless enemy of Israel. Edom should have been a friend, and should have enjoyed the honour God gladly put on his relative. Esau's calamity would be theirs in the day of divine visitation. Grape-gatherers stripping a vine would be a light thing next to what awaits Esau's race. If Israel drank that cup of sorrow, could Edom go unpunished? Impossible. No clefts should hide them, no heights help them.
Edom's people came from Esau, so the tie to Israel was blood. That tie did not soften the sentence. It sharpened it.
Edom is next threatened with a judgment no less extreme. Here the sin was closer, because the tie was of blood, not of covenant only — the pitiless pursuit of his brother, and the keeping up of undying anger. "Thus says the Lord: For three transgressions of Edom, and for four, I will not revoke the punishment, because he pursued his brother with the sword and cast off all pity, and his anger tore perpetually, and he kept his wrath forever. So I will send a fire upon Teman, and it shall devour the strongholds of Bozrah."
Edom cheered as the city of God fell. That cheering is why the cup passes to her.
Edom had rejoiced in the day of Judah's calamity. The cup should soon pass to her. She must be made drunk and naked because of her delight in the downfall of the city of God, and because of her many sins. The punishment of the daughter of Zion was completed. Restoration in place of captivity should soon be her portion, but Edom's judgment was just about to begin. "If the righteous is scarcely saved, what will become of the ungodly and the sinner?"
For Judah the cup ended and restoration followed. God promises some other enemies a similar turn, but Edom hears no such promise.
Notice the contrast with the hope held out to some enemies. The Lord does not say that He will bring back Edom's captivity in the latter days, and He says no such thing for Philistia, Damascus, or Hazor. Their fate is sealed, though for different reasons. Edom especially must have this marked and definite character of judgment. The joy of the age to come will not reverse its sad sentence.
The same reasoning reaches past Edom. God chastened Israel and judged the nations; anyone who trifles with His word now stands in greater danger.
Yet I may add a warning for any careless soul who glances over these pages. It was awful to learn this way that He who had so spoken and acted is the Lord, shown in the chastening of Israel and the judgment of the nations. His dealing with everyone in the Christian world who trifles with the name and word of the Lord now must be more awful still, beyond all comparison.
- The cup starts near. God pours it first for those closest to Him — Jerusalem heads the list of nations that must drink.
- The cup passes on. What fell on Judah does not stop there; Edom, who cheered at Judah's fall, is next in line to drink.
- The cup spares no one. If the people in covenant with God were not exempt, a nation outside that covenant has no case for exemption at all.
- The cup exposes. No rock cleft, no height, no cleverness hides Edom; wisdom and pride both fail on the day of visitation.
- The cup is a warning. God chastened the nation He had owned. That measures what awaits anyone today who treats His word as a small thing.
For I have sworn by myself, saith Jehovah, that Bozrah shall become an astonishment, a reproach, a waste, and a curse; and all the cities thereof shall be perpetual wastes.
Here Jeremiah's word against Edom reaches its most solemn point. The Lord stakes His own name on the ruin of Edom's royal city. Two questions press: why does God swear an oath to destroy, and why does He leave Edom no way back?
Bozrah was no ordinary town, and its name reappears in a scene far beyond Jeremiah's day:
Royal city of Edom, on which the prophets pronounced judgements. Jeremiah 49:13, 22; Amos 1:12; Micah 2:12. Scripture pictures Christ coming from there with stained garments, having trodden the winepress of His wrath on the nations.
The verse says, "I have sworn by myself." Why does God swear by His own name and by no one else?
God cannot swear by one higher than Himself, so He swears by Himself. He said to Abraham, "Surely… I will bless you." Why add the word surely? On the divine side there was no need for it at all. No word can add to God's trustworthiness. His word is His bond. It is unchangeable and divine. God confirmed His word with an oath, graciously given for our sakes, because we are naturally "slow of heart to believe" (Luke 24:25).
The same kind of oath can promise blessing or shut people out:
God's oath to Abraham is clearly meant to contrast with Hebrews 4:3: "As I swore in My wrath, 'They shall not enter My rest.'" In that second case, God's oath raises a solemn question for those who in unbelief have doubted His faithfulness.
The verse opens with "For," tying the oath to the cup of judgment just mentioned. Edom had watched God's own people drink that cup:
Edom was the proud, relentless enemy of Israel. He should have been a friend, and should have enjoyed the honour God was pleased to put on his kinsman. Grape-pickers stripping a vine would be a light thing compared with what awaits Esau's race. If Israel drank that cup of sorrow, could Edom go unpunished? Impossible. No cleft would hide him, no height would help him. Edom would be made small — a waste like the cities of the plain.
Jeremiah promises some nations a remnant brought back. Edom gets none:
Obadiah 5, 6, 9, 18 and Jeremiah 49:9-10, 22 also declare that none of Edom will be left. Notice that there is no restoration of a remnant, as there is for Elam and others (Jeremiah 49:39). In these prophecies, and in Isaiah 63, we see that the Lord is pleading Jerusalem's cause with Edom (Ezekiel 35:12; Isaiah 34:8; 63:4). In them the Lord does not forget His thoughts of love for Zion and His people.
Edom and Egypt show two different sides of God:
There is not a word of hope for Edom. Edom has followed in the footsteps of profane Esau, and found no place for repentance. If Egypt is a witness to the goodness of God, Edom witnesses to His severity.
The sentence fell once through Babylon's armies. Commentators see a further, final stage still to come:
All this came true in the government of God. In the last days, when the Lord Himself returns to save Israel, He will judge Edom far more terribly than Nebuchadnezzar did. Isaiah 63:1 asks, "Who is this who comes from Edom, in crimsoned garments from Bozrah?"… Edom's overthrow will then be final, like the overthrow of Sodom and Gomorrah (v. 18).
Writers see in Edom a picture of something that outlives the ancient kingdom:
Mount Seir is the stronghold of the flesh, the fortress of godless man. But Edom would be pulled down from his eagle's nest (see Obadiah). At his end he would be forced off his high perch and brought low. And so all proud thoughts and boastful strongholds of the flesh will come down into the dust!
- Sworn — God backs this sentence with His own name. There is no greater name to swear by. His word already stood; the oath makes its certainty unmistakable.
- Sworn in wrath — the same unchanging oath that promised Abraham blessing can also shut a people out. It did so with those who doubted God's faithfulness.
- Sworn justly — Edom watched God's own people drink the cup of judgment and expected to escape. No cleft in the rock and no height would shelter him.
- Sworn without recall — God promises Elam a returning remnant; Edom gets none. Egypt shows God's goodness, Edom shows His severity.
- Sworn to the end — Babylon struck first. The last blow falls when the Lord Himself comes from Bozrah, and every proud stronghold of the flesh comes down with it.
I have heard a rumour from Jehovah, and an ambassador is sent among the nations -- Gather yourselves together, and come against her and rise up for the battle.
Commentary for this verse has not been generated yet.
For behold, I have made thee small among the nations, despised among men.
Jeremiah 49 turns to Edom, the nation descended from Esau, Jacob's twin brother. God speaks here in the first person, and one question runs through the verse: why does a nation fall, and who brings it down?
The previous line calls the nations to gather for battle. But the armies are not the cause; they are the tool:
The Lord uses the nations to make Edom small; Jeremiah 49:14-15, and Obadiah 1-3.
Edom was a small people holding the mountain strongholds of Seir. The words "I will make you small" fall on a nation that refused to stay the size God had made it:
"A messenger has been sent among the nations: 'Rise up! Let us rise against her for battle!'" This comes because Edom resisted God's clear will. God had made Edom a little people, with the fortress of Mount Seir as a natural hiding place and security. But they sought great things and detested the dignity of Israel. "Behold, I will make you small among the nations; you shall be utterly despised." Being despised is not what happens to a man or a people content with the place assigned to them and fitting for them. It is especially the doom of those who reach beyond their measure.
An older translation reads the line as a finished act: "I have made you small." Either way, Edom's size is God's doing.
The verse ends with contempt, not only defeat. Edom made itself useful to the powers attacking Jerusalem, and that partnership turned on Edom:
Edom planned to take advantage of the attack of the nations on Jerusalem and to seize the land for itself. So it joined them in the attack. Its men lay in wait to cut off the escape of those fleeing. They seized their goods where possible, and handed them over to their enemies. The men of Edom did not know that the day of the LORD was upon all the nations. They did not know that this conduct would only bring down a special curse on their own heads… But it appears that their allies deceive them (v. 7). Edom, mistreated by its former partners, becomes "small among the nations."
There is a pattern in such contempt:
They seem to have been, after all, what paid strangers usually are — despised by those who used them for their own ends. It is the doom of a man who is false to his own family to sell himself to strangers for a hateful task, and then to be thrown off completely once he has served their purpose and seems of no more use.
The next verse names what deceived them: the terror they caused and their own pride. The place fits the picture:
This verse announces their complete judgment. "For behold, I will make you small among the nations, despised among mankind. 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" (49:15-16). Even the critics admit this is a true description of Edom's old dwelling places. "Its capital, Petra, lay in a ring of mountains. The only way in was a narrow gorge called the Sik. The mountain sides and ravines around Petra hold countless hollows cut into the rock. Some are tombs, others are homes where the ancient people lived."
These chapters promise other nations a surviving remnant. Edom has no such promise:
Obadiah 5, 6, 9, 18 and Jeremiah 49:9-10, 22 also declare that none of Edom shall be left. Notice that there is no restoration of a remnant here, as there is for Elam and others (Jeremiah 49:39)… In these passages the LORD does not forget His thoughts of love towards Zion and His people.
The chapter names Esau, the father, and not only the nation. That name points past ancient history:
The use of the name of the nation's father, Esau, shows what is in the mind of the Spirit. We have described very vividly the judgment of God that fell on Edom at the hand of Nebuchadnezzar. But there is always a deeper lesson to learn in these records. They are written for our learning, as we are told, for the learning of those who have to meet the Esau character now.
- Small already. God had made Edom a little people in a safe mountain corner. The judgment falls on a nation that reached beyond its measure and "sought great things."
- Pride deceived. The terror they caused and the height of their home looked like strength. God says He will bring the nest down, even if it is as high as an eagle's.
- Despised by partners. Edom served the attackers of Jerusalem. Those same allies then deceived it, and Edom became small among the nations.
- No return promised. These chapters promise a remnant to other nations, not to Edom. Yet God still holds His thoughts of love toward Zion and His people.
- Written for us. The record names Esau the father, not only the nation. It is written for those who meet the Esau character now.
Thy terribleness, the pride of thy heart, hath deceived thee, thou that dwellest in the clefts of the rock, that holdest the height of the hill. Though thou shouldest make thy nest high as the eagle, I will bring thee down from thence, saith Jehovah.
Edom's people came from Esau, the brother of Jacob. They lived in a natural fortress of cliffs and caves. God's word looks past those walls to the real problem: a heart that had talked itself into feeling untouchable.
This picture matches Edom's real homeland. Even the critics admit it.
Here at least the critics concede that this is a true description of the dwelling places of Edom of old. "Its capital, Petra, lay in a ring of mountains. The only way in was a narrow gorge called the Sik, which twisted in from the west between sheer rock walls. The slopes and ravines around Petra hold countless caves cut into the rock. Some are tombs; others were homes where the people of that time lived" (Canon Driver). God promises Edom no restoration.
Edom did not carve these homes. They took over the mountain caves of an earlier people.
Their home had belonged to the Horim, an earlier people who lived in caves in the mountains... Edom took over these cave homes cut into the sandstone cliffs. Such homes suited their warlike character and gave them the shelter they needed. That is why Obadiah speaks of them as living "in the clefts of the rock." The ruins of Petra still show how grand it once was.
Two things deceived Edom: the terror they inspired in others, and the pride of their own heart. Pride promised safety. That promise failed the moment God acted.
"The pride of your heart has deceived you, you who live in the clefts of the rock." Their position looked impossible to attack. But it gave them no protection when God called in those He would use to pull them down from their proud heights.
The same writer traces the sin deeper. Edom refused the place God gave them.
But they wanted great things, and they hated the honour God gave Israel... Contempt like this does not fall on a man or a people content with the portion assigned to them and fitting for them. It is above all the doom of those who reach beyond their measure.
God answers the boast on its own terms: go as high as an eagle, and the height changes nothing.
Living in the rocks, they thought they were safe. They boasted about it and said, "Who will bring me down to the ground?" But the Lord had decreed Edom's humiliation, and no power could stop it. Their nests were as high as an eagle's — so high that their homes seemed to sit among the stars. Yet the Lord would bring them down.
The judgment reaches inward as well as upward. God searches out what the heart hides.
Notice that God takes account not only of their open wickedness, but of the secret motives of the heart. Esau is searched, and his hidden things are brought to light (Obadiah 6).
One by one, every defence Edom trusted fails — even their wisdom.
So wisdom would not help this proud, relentless enemy of Israel, who ought to have been a friend... No cleft would hide them, no height would help them. God would make Edom small — a wasteland like the cities of the plain.
God promises other nations in these chapters a future. Edom gets none. The reason is family: God showed Edom kindness for the sake of their tie to Israel, and Edom abused it.
God had spared Edom. Israel could even welcome their descendants in the third generation. But their hatred of Israel knew no limits, so they would be destroyed completely in the judgment of that day. Compare Obadiah throughout, especially verse 18. Their land was to be part of Israel's territory, and in fact it was. God spared the people themselves at the start, since they were Israel's brothers — but they only abused this favour. So the judgment would fall on them more terribly than on the rest.
The record is not only about an ancient nation. The Esau character still turns up today.
There is always a deeper lesson to be learned in these records. They are written for our learning, as we are told, for the learning of those who have to meet the Esau character now. Even in the days of the apostles, the Spirit gave this warning — "See to it that no one fails to obtain the grace of God; that no root of bitterness springs up and causes trouble... that no one is sexually immoral or unholy like Esau, who sold his birthright for a single meal" (Hebrews 12:15-16).
- Rock. Edom lived in the cliff city of Petra, reached through one narrow gorge. Even the critics admit the description is accurate.
- Deception. The stronghold did not lie; the heart did. Pride told them the position meant safety, and the position gave no protection once God moved.
- Measure. The root sin was refusing the place God assigned and reaching for greatness that was never theirs.
- Reach. No height outruns God, and no secret hides from Him. No cleft conceals, no eagle's nest is beyond reach, and He searches out hidden motives.
- Finality. God spared Edom at first as Israel's brother. Edom repaid that mercy with endless hatred, so unlike other nations here, Edom has no promised return.
And Edom shall be an astonishment every one that goeth by it shall be astonished, and shall hiss, because of all the plagues thereof.
Jeremiah 49 moves through the nations around Judah, and verses 7–22 settle on Edom — the people descended from Esau, Jacob's brother. Here the sentence is not a passing setback but a ruin that travellers stare at — so why Edom, and does the judgment ever lift?
Edom belongs to a group of nations in this chapter with no promised return:
With Edom (verses 7-22), Damascus (verses 23-27), and Hazor (28-33), the sovereign wisdom of God gives a different future. God will destroy them without remedy. Not all for the same reason, it would seem, but all of them in perfect justice.
Edom's judgment is heavier than the rest because of the favour it abused:
God spared Edom. They were even to be received among Israel in their third generation. Yet their hatred of Israel had no limit, so in the judgment of that day they will be destroyed completely. Compare Obadiah throughout, especially verse 18. Their land was to form part of Israel's territory, and in fact was part of it. They themselves were spared at the beginning as the brothers of Israel — but only, sadly, to abuse this favour. So the judgment on them would be more terrible than on the rest… Grace abused brings down the most terrible judgments; and so it was with Edom.
Some enemy nations in this chapter are promised a return from captivity. Edom is not:
Compare Jeremiah 49:7-22. Notice that, unlike the hope held out to some enemies, the Lord does not say He will bring back their captivity in the latter days. He says it no more of them than of Philistia, Damascus, and Hazor. Their fate is sealed, though for different reasons. Edom above all must have this marked and definite character of judgment. The joy of the age to come will not reverse its sad sentence. As long as the earth lasts, Idumea (Edom) will be left desolate.
Set beside Egypt, the contrast becomes a lesson about God Himself:
Edom's case is very different from Egypt's. According to "the counsel of the Lord" Edom shall be a desolation, as in the overthrow of Sodom and Gomorrah (Jeremiah 49:17-22). No word of hope is held out to Edom. It has followed in the footsteps of godless Esau, and found no place for repentance… If Egypt is a witness to the goodness of God, Edom witnesses to His severity.
The verse puts the ruin where everyone passing by will react to it. One writer turns that lesson on the reader:
While a remnant of the other nations will come in for blessing in a future day, Edom will not — "Edom shall become a horror. Everyone who passes by it will be horrified and will hiss because of all its disasters" (Jeremiah 49:17). Because of their perpetual hatred of God's people, He says, "When the whole earth rejoices, I will make you (Edom) desolate" (Ezekiel 35:14). Let us take the lesson to heart, for we can easily fall into the same spirit as the Edomite. Jeremiah saw the failures and sins of God's people, but he wept over them. Daniel and other godly men confessed them as their own. But the spirit of the Edomite is bitter hatred against those who, however they may have failed, are still the people of God. This spirit is especially displeasing to Him.
The judgment fell in history, yet the chapter keeps naming the father, Esau:
The use of the name of the nation's father, Esau, shows what is in the mind of the Spirit. The judgment of God that fell upon Edom at the hand of Nebuchadnezzar is described here very graphically, but there is always a deeper lesson to be learned in these records. They are written for our learning, as we are told, for the learning of those who have to meet the Esau character now. Even in the days of the apostles, the Spirit gave warning about this — "See to it that no one fails to obtain the grace of God; that no 'root of bitterness' springs up and causes trouble… that no one is sexually immoral or unholy like Esau, who sold his birthright for a single meal. For you know that afterward, when he desired to inherit the blessing, he was rejected, for he found no chance to repent, though he sought it with tears" (Hebrews 12:15-17).
- Brotherhood. Edom shared Israel's family line and was spared at the start. Abusing that favour makes its judgment heavier than the rest.
- Hatred. Edom's endless hatred of God's people is why the sentence falls.
- Sealed. Where other nations in this chapter are promised a return, Edom is not; the coming age of joy will not reverse it.
- Severity. Egypt is a witness to God's goodness; Edom witnesses to His severity.
- Spectacle. The ruin stays in public view as a warning. Judge the Esau spirit in yourself: bitterness toward failing believers instead of tears over them.
As in the overthrow of Sodom and Gomorrah, and their neighbour cities, saith Jehovah, no one shall dwell there, neither shall a son of man sojourn therein.
Jeremiah's word against Edom reaches its sharpest image here: the cities of the plain, burned out and never rebuilt. Why does Edom, a nation descended from Jacob's own brother, get a sentence with no survivors and no return?
These closing chapters move through the nations around Judah, and history bore out every oracle. One writer points to that accuracy as evidence that world events are not random:
Jeremiah foretells that the Lord "will punish all those who are circumcised merely in the flesh — Egypt, Judah, Edom, the sons of Ammon, Moab, and all who dwell in the desert" (Jer. 9:25-26). Then we see Babylon, still a young power, rise up and do exactly this. It is enough to fill us with astonishment. It carries conviction to any thoughtful person that God rules in the kingdom of men. Chapters 45 to 49 all had their fulfilment in this way in a most remarkable manner.
Sodom is not named for shock value. Its ruin left nothing behind to find:
Once the angels had pulled Lot out of Sodom, "the LORD rained on Sodom and Gomorrah sulfur and fire from the LORD out of heaven, and He overthrew those cities, and all the valley, and all the inhabitants of the cities, and what grew on the ground" (Gen. 19:24-25). In almost a moment God's judgment wiped several once-prosperous cities so completely out of existence that today we have no certainty about the spot where they stood. The apostle may well exclaim, "It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God" (Heb. 10:31).
Edom, Moab and Ammon were all relatives of Israel. For Moab and Ammon that tie softened the sentence. For Edom it did the opposite:
Wisdom would not help the proud, relentless enemy of Israel, who should have been a friend and should have enjoyed the honour God was pleased to put on his kinsman. Esau's disaster would be theirs on the day God visits them in judgment… No rock crevices would hide them, no high places help them. God would make Edom small, yes, a waste like the cities of the plain… Whatever God's remembrance of kinship might mean for Moab or Ammon, in Edom it works the other way. Their kinship made their unrelenting hatred of Israel unbearable, and only sealed their own ruin.
Within this same chapter, God promises Elam a restoration of its fortunes. Edom gets no such promise, and that silence is deliberate:
Obadiah 5, 6, 9, 18 and Jeremiah 49:9-10, 22 also declare that none of Edom shall be left. Notice that there is no restoration of a remnant for Edom, as there is for Elam and others (Jer. 49:39).
The coming age of blessing for the earth will not undo the sentence either:
Edom especially must have this marked and definite character of judgment. The joy of the age to come will not reverse its sad sentence. As long as the earth lasts, God will give Edom up to desolation. The unrelenting, unforgiving hatred of Edom's sons for the Jews will bring on them the destruction they deserve.
Nebuchadnezzar carried out part of this. One writer reads the full force of the sentence as still ahead, tied to the Lord's own return:
In the latter days, when the Lord Himself returns to save Israel, He will judge Edom in a more terrible way than under Nebuchadnezzar. Isaiah 63:1 asks, "Who is this who comes from Edom, in crimsoned garments from Bozrah, he who is splendid in his apparel, marching in the greatness of his strength? It is I, speaking in righteousness, mighty to save."… Esau must fall, and Jacob be delivered and blessed… The overthrow of Edom will then be final, as the overthrow of Sodom and Gomorrah was (v. 18).
Edom's story is Esau's story continued. Character, not just a border quarrel, explains the verdict:
Edom's case is very different from Egypt's. According to "the plan of the LORD," Edom shall be a desolation… God holds out not one word of hope to Edom. Edom has followed in the footsteps of godless Esau and found no place for repentance. Therefore the Lord has said, "I have sworn by myself… that Bozrah shall become a horror, a taunt, a waste, and a curse, and all her cities shall be perpetual wastes" (verse 13). If Egypt is a witness to the goodness of God, Edom is a witness to His severity.
- Character — Edom followed in the footsteps of godless Esau and found no place for repentance.
- Kinship — the family tie softened judgment on Moab and Ammon. In Edom it did the reverse: brotherhood turned into settled hatred.
- Sentence — Sodom is the yardstick: God wiped out those cities so completely that no one today can say where they stood.
- Finality — God promises no remnant, unlike Elam in the same chapter. Even the coming age of joy will not reverse the sentence.
- Witness — Egypt shows God's goodness; Edom shows His severity. The last act of that severity comes at the Lord's own return.
Behold, he shall come up like a lion from the swelling of the Jordan against the strong habitation; for I will make them suddenly run away from it; and who is a chosen [man] whom I shall appoint over her? For who is like me? and who will assign me a time? and who is that shepherd that will stand before me?
Jeremiah 49:7-22 is God's word against Edom, the nation descended from Esau, Jacob's brother. Verse 19 gives one picture, a lion driven out of the Jordan thickets onto quiet pasture, and three questions no one can answer.
The picture starts with the Jordan in flood:
The "swelling" of Jordan is mentioned as causing dangers or difficulties. It stopped people from crossing at the usual fords. It also disturbed the wild beasts in their dens on its banks, as three passages mention. Jeremiah 12:5; Jeremiah 49:19; Jeremiah 50:44.
So the lion does not stroll in. The flood drives it out of the thicket onto quiet grazing land.
Commentators differ on who the lion is. One writer leaves it unnamed and stresses how little force God needs to finish the work:
One would come like a lion to carry out Jehovah's purposes. Those purposes would be so complete that even the least one would be enough against their once proud strength.
Others read the lion of verse 19 and the eagle of verse 22 as one picture of a single empire:
In Jeremiah 4:7 the prophet pictures Babylon as a lion. Ezekiel 18 pictures Babylon as an eagle. In Jeremiah 49:19 and 22 both figures stand for Babylon in its power and majesty, and for the swiftness of its conquests.
"I will appoint over her whomever I choose" puts the attacker on a leash. Edom's fall matches Edom's pride:
To be made small and despised is not the lot of a man or a people content with the place assigned them. It is above all the doom of those who aspire beyond their measure... By nature their position could not be taken. But it would give them no protection when God invited the instruments to pull them down from their proud heights.
The conqueror is not the story. The One who invites him is. The verse names no empire; it names the God who hands out the assignment.
"Shepherd" in Jeremiah is not a farming word. It stands for rulers:
Jeremiah 23 pronounces a woe upon the pastors in general. By the pastors, the prophet means the kings who ought to have provided protection and food for the people. But they scattered and destroyed the sheep of Jehovah's flock.
So the closing question of verse 19 faces every king. No king can summon God. No king can stand in front of Him.
God promises several of these nations a future restoration. Edom gets no such promise:
Look at Isaiah 63. It is the prophecy of Jehovah's return after He has carried out the judgment first threatened in Isaiah 32. In Jeremiah 49:7-22, notice that, unlike the hope held out to some enemies, Jehovah does not say that He will bring back their captivity in the latter days. Edom especially must have this marked and definite character of judgment. The joy of the age to come will not reverse its sad sentence.
One writer takes Edom's mountain home as a picture of something bigger than the nation:
If we trace the history of Edom through the Bible, we always find the same features — in Edom's refusal to let Israel pass through the desert, and later in the Herods. We always find the profane and coarse worldly element together with opposition to God. Mount Seir is the stronghold of the flesh, the fortress of godless man. But Edom would be pulled down from his high nest, and at his end driven from his high perch and brought low. And so shall all proud thoughts and pretentious strongholds of the flesh be laid in the dust!
- Pride builds the height. Edom trusted its position. It gave no protection once God invited the instruments to pull them down.
- God chooses the lion. The attacker comes suddenly, like a beast driven from the flooded Jordan thickets. God chooses who it will be.
- The instrument is small. God's purposes are so complete that even the least one is enough against their once proud strength.
- No shepherd stands. "Shepherd" in Jeremiah means king. The closing question tells every ruler he cannot summon God or stand before Him.
- The sentence stands. Unlike other nations here, Edom gets no promise of a restored captivity. The flesh it pictures is brought low too.
Therefore hear the counsel of Jehovah, which he hath taken against Edom, and his purposes which he hath purposed against the inhabitants of Teman The little ones of the flock shall certainly draw them away; he shall certainly make their habitation desolate for them.
Jeremiah 49:20 summons the hearer to listen to a decision already made in heaven — what the LORD has planned against Edom and against the people of Teman. The ESV says the little ones of the flock will be dragged away, and their fold will be appalled at what happens to them. Older translations read it the other way round: the least of the flock drag Edom out, and God leaves their home a ruin. The writers quoted here follow that older reading.
One writer traces the whole sentence against Edom. Its wisdom fails. Its hiding places are stripped. And the instrument God uses is surprisingly small:
So wisdom would not help this proud, relentless enemy of Israel. Edom should have been a friend. Edom should have enjoyed the honour God was pleased to put on his relative. Esau's calamity would be theirs in the day of divine visitation. The stripping of a vine by grape-gatherers would be light compared with what awaits Esau's race. If Israel drank that cup of sorrow, could Edom go unpunished? Impossible. No clefts should hide them, no heights help them. God should make Edom small, yes, a waste like the cities of the plain. One should come like a lion to carry out the LORD's purposes. They should be so complete that even the least one should be enough against their once proud strength.
Teman is not a vague term. It marks out a family, a district, and a reputation:
Son of Eliphaz, a son of Esau, and a chief of Edom; also his descendants and the district they lived in. It is connected four times with Edom and twice with Dedan, which places it in the south. Scripture speaks of its wisdom, and God pronounces His judgements on it.
The prophecy names the nation's father, Esau, and one writer says the name is chosen on purpose:
The Lord says, "I will bring the calamity of Esau upon him." This is instructive. The use of the name of the nation's father, Esau, shows what is in the mind of the Spirit. The chapter gives a very vivid description of the judgment of God that fell on Edom by the hand of Nebuchadnezzar. But these records always hold a deeper lesson. They are written for our learning, as we are told — for the learning of those who have to meet the Esau character now.
A plan this settled has a cause. The prophets who speak of Edom agree on what it is:
All the prophets who have spoken of Edom give that people the same character. They find in them the same causes of God's dispute with them. Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, Joel, Amos, Obadiah, and the Psalmist all carry a similar burden about Edom. Profanity, pride, hatred of Israel — these are Edom's common marks. The world was Esau's portion, while Israel was still a stranger and a pilgrim. His children had their chiefs. They had kings too, and cities of their own. They lived settled lives, like eagles nesting in the clefts of the rocks. And all this time Jacob's children were still homeless wanderers, in lands that were not theirs or in wasted deserts.
Teman had a name for wisdom. That wisdom failed at the moment of need:
They had prided themselves on their special wisdom and good sense, but it failed them in the hour of their need. When the tide turned against Judah, they tried to use Judah's enemies for their own gain. It also fed their undying hatred of the fallen. They made friends with the Babylonians, with Nebuchadnezzar and his captains who came up against Judea. But this is the repayment God will give them.
God promises some of these nations a future after judgment. Edom gets none:
Obadiah 5, 6, 9, 18 and Jeremiah 49:9-10, 22 also declare that none of Edom shall be left. Notice that Edom has no restored remnant, unlike Elam and others (Jer. 49:39)… We see in these chapters, as well as in Isaiah 63, that it is Jerusalem's cause the LORD takes up against Edom.
What Nebuchadnezzar did is not treated as the end of the matter:
All this came true in the government of God. In the latter days the Lord Himself will return for the salvation of Israel. Then He will execute judgment on Edom in a way more terrible than what happened under Nebuchadnezzar. Isaiah 63:1 asks, "Who is this who comes from Edom, in crimsoned garments from Bozrah, he who is splendid in his apparel, marching in the greatness of his strength?"
- Counsel. The verse asks us to hear a decision God has already made. The armies that arrive carry out His purpose. They do not make it.
- Cause. God's plan has a reason. The prophets name Edom's marks together: profanity, pride, and hatred of Israel.
- Collapse. Teman was famous for wisdom. Wisdom is what failed in the hour of need.
- Least. God picks a small instrument. The least one is enough against strength that once looked untouchable.
- Last. Commentators read the fall under Nebuchadnezzar as real but not final. Scripture promises Edom no remnant, and a heavier reckoning still lies ahead.
The earth quaketh at the sound of their fall; there is a cry, the sound whereof is heard in the Red sea.
Jeremiah 49:21 ends God's sentence of doom on Edom, the nation descended from Esau, Jacob's brother. Two questions follow: why is Edom judged so harshly, and does the noise belong only to ancient history?
This chapter is part of a run of verdicts on the nations around Judah. God used one man to carry them out:
God had raised up the King of Babylon to carry out His righteous and necessary judgments upon the peoples. He judged Israel and Egypt. He judged "all the mingled peoples, and all the kings of the land of Uz, and all the kings of the land of the Philistines" — yes, "all the kingdoms of the world" (Jer. 25:20-26). The state of things was such as to call for this from God's hand.
Yet Edom stands apart from its neighbours. Elam and others in this chapter have a remnant restored. Edom has none:
Obadiah 5, 6, 9, 18 and Jeremiah 49:9-10, 22 also declare that none of Edom shall be left. Notice too that there is no restoration of a remnant, as in the case of Elam and others (Jer. 49:39).
The noise in verse 21 follows an oath. God swears by Himself, and the result is a silence where you would expect a promise.
Not a word of hope is held out to Edom. It has followed in the footsteps of profane Esau and found no place for repentance. So the Lord has said, "I have sworn by Myself… that Bozrah shall become a desolation, a reproach, a waste, and a curse. All its cities shall be a perpetual waste" (verse 13). If Egypt is a witness to the goodness of God, Edom witnesses to His severity.
The chapter argues from Israel's own judgment. If God did not spare His people, Edom could not hope to escape:
Esau's calamity would be theirs in the day of divine visitation. The stripping of a vine by grape-gatherers would be light compared with what awaits Esau's race. If Israel drank of that cup of woe, could Edom go unpunished? Impossible. No clefts would hide them, no heights would help. Edom would be made small, yes, a waste like the cities of the plain.
Edom trusted its cliffs. Its capital could be reached only one way:
Its capital, Petra, lay in a ring of mountains. The only way in was a narrow gorge called the Sik, which wound in from the west with steep sides. The mountain sides round Petra, and the ravines about it, contain countless rock-cut cavities. Some are tombs, but others are dwellings in which the ancient inhabitants lived.
The Red Sea is not a random horizon. Edom's own land ran down to that water, so the cry carries to the far end of Edom's own territory.
Edom's territory extended from the land of Moab southward to the Gulf of Akaba, about 100 miles in length… It is a very mountainous district with high peaks and deep valleys, but also with very productive plains. It had been called Mount Seir. Bozrah and Sela, or Selah, were its chief cities.
Babylon's stroke was not the last word on Edom. One writer looks on to a heavier judgment still to come:
In the latter days the Lord Himself will return for the salvation of Israel. Then He will carry out judgment upon Edom in a more terrible way than took place under Nebuchadnezzar. Isaiah 63:1 asks, "Who is this that comes from Edom, with dyed garments from Bozrah? this that is glorious in His apparel, travelling in the greatness of His strength? I that speak in righteousness, mighty to save."
The prophecy names Esau himself, not only his nation. That naming carries a lesson:
Using the name of the nation's father, Esau, shows what is in the mind of the Spirit… There is always a deeper lesson to be learned in these records. They were written for our learning, as we are told — for those who have to meet the Esau character now. Even in the days of the apostles, the Spirit gave warning about this: "that no root of bitterness springs up and causes trouble, and by it many become defiled; that no one is sexually immoral or unholy like Esau, who sold his birthright for a single meal" (Heb. 12:15-16).
- Pride climbs. Edom built high in the rocks of Petra and felt safe. The prophecy aims straight at that height.
- Pride is judged. If Israel itself drank the cup, no cleft and no height could save Esau's race.
- Pride falls. God swore by Himself over Bozrah, and no word of hope follows — Egypt shows His goodness, Edom His severity.
- The fall carries. The cry runs the full length of Edom's own land, from Moab down to the gulf at the Red Sea.
- The fall repeats. Babylon's sword fell first. The One who comes from Bozrah in Isaiah 63 comes last. Between the two, readers still have to meet the Esau character.
Behold, he shall come up, and fly as an eagle, and spread forth his wings against Bozrah; and at that day the heart of the mighty men of Edom shall be as the heart of a woman in her pangs.
Jeremiah's word against Edom ends with an eagle spreading its wings over Bozrah, Edom's royal city, while the nation's best soldiers lose their nerve. The verse raises three questions: who the eagle is, why Edom, and whether the sentence is spent or still waiting.
The figure is not vague poetry. The same prophet uses both a lion and an eagle for the power God raised up to sweep the region, and commentators identify that power with Babylon.
In Jeremiah 49:19 and 22, both figures are used to represent Babylon in its power and majesty, as well as the swiftness of its conquests.
The same words appear a chapter earlier, against Moab. There too an eagle spreads its wings, and warriors' hearts become like a woman in labour. A commentator explains what that pair of images does.
In verses 40-46 we get a vivid sketch of the enemy's unstoppable march to victory, and of Moab's foreboding of helpless ruin. Behind it is the Lord's resolve against those who exalted themselves against Him.
Two pictures sit side by side. Nothing can stop the attack, and the men who were the nation's defence lose their courage.
The city named in the verse is not incidental. It is the seat of Edom's power, and Scripture returns to it.
Royal city of Edom, on which the prophets pronounced judgements... Scripture pictures Christ coming from there with stained garments, having trodden the winepress of His wrath on the nations.
Edom lived among cliffs and caves, and the chapter mocks the nest built high as an eagle's. The judgment answers the boast point by point.
Wisdom would not help the proud, relentless enemy of Israel, who should have been a friend and should have enjoyed the honour God was pleased to put on his kinsman... No cleft would hide them, no height would save them. Edom would be made small — yes, a waste like the cities of the plain.
The eagle comes down on the nation that thought its heights put it out of reach.
Jeremiah's words against the nations do not all end the same way. Some end with a promise that God will bring the captives back. Edom's does not.
Edom's case is very different from Egypt's. According to "the counsel of the Lord," Edom will be a desolation... Not a word of hope is offered to Edom, which has followed in the footsteps of profane Esau and found no place for repentance... If Egypt is a witness to the goodness of God, Edom witnesses to His severity.
One writer sets Edom apart from enemies who were given some hope, and names the cause:
Unlike the hope held out to some enemies, the Lord does not say that He will bring back Edom's captives in the last days... Edom especially must have this marked and definite character of judgment. The joy of the age to come will not reverse its sad sentence... The relentless, unyielding hatred of Edom's sons for the Jews will bring on them the destruction they deserve.
The prophecy landed in real history when Babylon's king Nebuchadnezzar struck. Writers also see a second and final fulfilment still ahead.
All this came true in the government of God. It will happen again in the last days. When the Lord Himself returns to save Israel, He will judge Edom even more terribly than happened under Nebuchadnezzar.
The chapter keeps calling Edom by its ancestor's name, and that choice is read as pointing past politics to character.
The use of the name of the nation's father, Esau, shows what is in the mind of the Spirit... there is always a deeper lesson to learn in these records. As we are told, they are written for our learning — for those who have to meet the Esau character now. Even in the days of the apostles the Spirit gave a warning about this: "See to it that no root of bitterness springs up and causes trouble, and by it many become defiled; that no one is a profane person like Esau, who sold his birthright for a single meal."
- Eagle. The bird over Bozrah stands for Babylon — power, majesty, and above all the speed of its conquests.
- Heights. Edom trusted cliff and rock. The judgment answers that exact boast: no cleft hides it, no height helps it.
- Heart. Nothing stops the strike from outside, and courage fails inside — strong men left as weak as a woman in labour.
- Silence. Other nations get a promise of return from captivity; Edom does not. Egypt shows God's goodness, Edom His severity.
- Esau. The name is the lesson. Readers in every age still meet the grudge-holding, birthright-selling character. The final reckoning with it comes the day the Lord returns from Bozrah.