After sharing the
devastation of Jerusalem once again in the fourth chapter of
Lamentations, Jeremiah shifts his discourse and focuses on Edom. In
verse twenty one, Jeremiah shows how Edom may rejoice over
Jerusalem's falling, but the same judgment shall pass upon them as
well. We read:
Rejoice and be glad, O
daughter of Edom, that dwells in the land of Uz; the cup also shall
pass through unto you: you shall be drunken, and shall make yourself
naked.
The
verse begins, “Rejoice and be glad, O daughter of Edom, that
dwells in the land of Uz;” Edom was a land filled with the
people who were descendants of Esau who was Jacob's brother. When
Judah and Jerusalem were overthrown, Edom rejoiced over their demise.
Jeremiah told them, “Rejoice and be glad” in their
taunting like manner as when a person is happy that someone else is
suffering. The idea is they may have their time of rejoicing and
being glad over Jerusalem's fall, but it shall not last. In other
words, “go ahead and mock now, Edom” but your judgment is just
around the corner.
The
verse continues, “the cup also shall pass through unto
you: you shall be drunken, and shall make yourself naked.” Jeremiah
adds “this cup” or
“this same judgment” shall come your way, and the results of it
will be “you shall be drunken”
or “intoxicated” with the same experience. The results of their
drunkenness will be making themselves “naked”
or “uncovered, left destitute, discovered empty, razed, or
poured out”. The judgment of the Lord would fall upon Edom as it
did with Judah and Jerusalem, and the act of it would leave them in
shameful embarrassment.
As we ponder Jeremiah's
words to the people of Edom, perhaps we may think of times when we
have rejoiced over the judgment of someone. Proverbs chapter
twenty-four and verses seventeen and eighteen says:
Rejoice not when thine
enemy falls, and let not your heart be glad when he stumbles: Lest
the LORD see it, and it displease him, and he
turn away his wrath from him.
The
people of Edom were happy to see the fall of Jerusalem, and they were
glad for their defeat, however, they failed to remember the Lord was
watching them, and as a refreshing note to those who were being
ridiculed, Jeremiah let the people of Judah have hope in this: God
sees; God will avail; and those who rejoice over the fall of another
will reap what they have sown. May the Lord lead us as we consider
these things.
Next
time we will see how Jerusalem's judgment was ended and Edom's
continued, so read ahead, and we shall join together then.
Until
tomorrow...there is more...
Look
for the daily devotional book “Equipped for Battle – From
Generation to Generation”, the marriage book “So, You Want to Be
Married”, and the new devotional “One Year in the Sermon on the
Mount” in all major bookstore sites, www.amazon.com ;
www.barnesandnobles.com ; download to e-books, and find it locally at
www.mrzlc.com/bookstore
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