Can I pray for you in any way? Send any prayer requests to
OurChristianWalk@aol.com.
In Christ, Mark
In Christ, Mark
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
** Follow The Christian Walk on
Twitter @ThChristianWalk
** Like posts and send friend requests
to the author of The Christian Walk, Mark Cummings on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/mark.cummings.733?ref=tn_tnmn
** Become a Follower of The Christian
Walk at http://the-christian-walk.blogspot.com
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The scriptures. May God bless the reading of His holy word.
The scriptures. May God bless the reading of His holy word.
Concerning the Ammonites:
This is what the Lord says:
“Has Israel no sons? Has Israel no heir? Why
then has Molek taken possession of Gad? Why do his people live in its towns?”
“But the days are coming,” declares the Lord, “when I will sound the battle cry against Rabbah of the Ammonites; it will become a mound of ruins, and its surrounding villages will be set on fire. Then Israel will drive out those who drove her out,” says the Lord.
“Wail, Heshbon, for Ai is destroyed! Cry out, you inhabitants of Rabbah! Put on sackcloth and mourn; rush here and there inside the walls, for Molek will go into exile, together with his priests and officials.”
“Why do you boast of your valleys, boast
of your valleys so fruitful? Unfaithful Daughter Ammon, you trust in your
riches and say, ‘Who will attack me?’ I will bring terror on you from all those
around you,” declares the Lord, the Lord Almighty. “Every one of you will be
driven away, and no one will gather the fugitives.”
“Yet afterward, I will restore the
fortunes of the Ammonites,” declares the Lord.
Jeremiah 49:1-6
This ends today’s reading
from God's holy word. Thanks be to God.
As we come down to the end of the Book of Jeremiah, we have
studied messages the Lord left for certain nations in the vicinity of Israel
and Judah. To date, we have looked at God’s communication to Egypt, the
Philistines, and Moab. Today, we find Him speaking to the people of Ammon.
Of interest, the Ammonites, like the Moabites we looked at
in Jeremiah 48, had direct connections to the Israelites when you look at their
origins. You’ll recall that Abraham’s nephew, Lot, barely escaped God’s
destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah with his family minus his wife who looked
back in violation of God’s command and was turned to salt.
Scripture tells us that Lot and his daughters settled in a
cave in the mountains and while there, Lot’s daughters got him drunk and then
slept with him so they could bear children as there were no other men where
they were. And so, the oldest daughter became pregnant and bore a son who was named
Moab, the founder of what would become the Moabites while the younger daughter,
who also became pregnant, had a son who was named Ben-Ammi. Ben-Ammi would become
the father of the Ammonites who the Lord is addressing in our devotion today (For
the account on Lot and his daughters, read Genesis 19).
The Ammonites became a pagan people who, like the Moabites,
worshiped false gods. Their gods of choice were named Molek and Milcom and as
you would guess, God had commanded His people to never intermarry with an
Ammonite, Moabite, or any other people who worshiped false gods for He knew
that this would lead to them being led astray and away from Him. Unfortunately,
we know His people failed to listen and this led the Israelites down the road
of God’s fiercest judgment as He brought them under attack of the Assyrians
(the northern kingdom of Israel) and the Babylonians (the southern kingdom of
Judah and the holy city of Jerusalem). The people of God in the north,
comprised of ten of the twelve tribes) would be taken away, never to return
while the people of Judah and Jerusalem were hauled away into a seventy-year
captivity before being allowed by God to return and rebuild their homes, lives,
and relationship with Him.
With all this as a backdrop, let’s now look at today’s
passage drawn from the opening verses of Jeremiah 49:
Concerning
the Ammonites:
This
is what the Lord says:
“Has
Israel no sons? Has Israel no heir? Why then has Molek taken possession of Gad?
Why do his people live in its towns?”
“But the days are coming,” declares the Lord, “when I will sound the battle cry against Rabbah of the Ammonites; it will become a mound of ruins, and its surrounding villages will be set on fire. Then Israel will drive out those who drove her out,” says the Lord.
“Wail, Heshbon, for Ai is destroyed! Cry out, you inhabitants of Rabbah! Put on sackcloth and mourn; rush here and there inside the walls, for Molek will go into exile, together with his priests and officials.”
“Why
do you boast of your valleys, boast of your valleys so fruitful? Unfaithful
Daughter Ammon, you trust in your riches and say, ‘Who will attack me?’ I will
bring terror on you from all those around you,” declares the Lord, the Lord
Almighty. “Every one of you will be driven away, and no one will gather the
fugitives.”
“Yet
afterward, I will restore the fortunes of the Ammonites,” declares the Lord. Jeremiah 49:1-6
Remember when I said that the Israelites in the northern
kingdom were attacked and taken away by the Assyrians, never to return?
Well, this obviously left a lot of land empty and you’ll
recall that each of the tribes of Israel were given a specific portion of the
land God had given to them. One such tribe, the tribe of Gad, were granted
this:
But to the
Reubenites, the Gadites and the half-tribe of Manasseh, Joshua said, “Remember
the command that Moses the servant of the Lord gave you after he said, ‘The Lord
your God will give you rest by giving you this land.’ Your wives, your children
and your livestock may stay in the land that Moses gave you east of the Jordan,
but all your fighting men, ready for battle, must cross over ahead of your
fellow Israelites. You are to help them until the Lord gives them rest, as he
has done for you, and until they too have taken possession of the land the Lord
your God is giving them. After that, you may go back and occupy your own land,
which Moses the servant of the Lord gave you east of the Jordan toward the
sunrise.”
Then they answered
Joshua, “Whatever you have commanded us we will do, and wherever you send us we
will go. Just as we fully obeyed Moses, so we will obey you. Only may the Lord
your God be with you as he was with Moses.” Joshua 1:12-17
Note that all the other Israelites, outside of the tribes of
Reuben, Gad, and half of the tribe of Manasseh, would cross the Jordan River
and settle east of it. Once the fighting had ended and the Israelites had
secured Canaan for themselves, the men of Reuben, Gad, and Manasseh would be
permitted to return to their families and live west of the Jordan River, a land
we know as modern day Jordan today.
Fast forward now to the scriptures for today and God’s
direct message to the Ammonites of Jeremiah’s day. It’s obvious that the
Ammonites had taken liberties with the land that rightfully belonged to the
tribe of Gad, the land that God had given them. God had not modified His lease
to allow any other people to live where the Gadites had resided. And yet, the
Ammonites had taken possession of Gad, allowing their people to settle in its
towns and produce fruit which only led to the wealth they possessed, even
though it was acquired through illegal means.
Yes, the Ammonites felt they could do whatever they wanted
to do and had no fear of anyone or anything. They boasted about their fruitful
valleys and trusted in their riches. They thought they were untouchable, even
going as far as saying, “Who will attack me?”
Well, God had seen enough and it was time for the Ammonites
to experience the power of a real God, a God who would show the people of Ammon
just how lifeless and useless their gods were, gods that had led them to
misdirected boasting and a false sense of security.
For like the other nations we have studied up to now, God
was sending the Babylonians on a tour of destruction. The fighting forces of
Nebuchadnezzar would be paying visits to all the nations God was bringing
judgment on and the results would all be the same.
A once prideful, powerful nation would be brought to its
knees and left in ruins with its people either driven away or taken away into
exile. And the so-called gods that the people worshiped would be nowhere to be
found. There would be no safety from them, only the terror that comes in
knowing you didn’t have the defense you believed you had.
In other words, the people of Ammon - just as the people of
Egypt, Philistia, and Moab would discover - were boasting about the wrong gods. They had put
their trust in the wrong places.
This reminded me of some other words of guidance the Lord gives
us as believers today, words I will close this devotion with from this same
Book of Jeremiah, words that will keep us from misdirecting our boasting as the
Ammonites did:
“Let not the wise
boast of their wisdom or the strong boast of their strength or the rich boast
of their riches, but let the one who boasts boast about this: that they have
the understanding to know Me, that I am the Lord, who exercises kindness, justice
and righteousness on earth, for in these I delight,” declares the Lord.
Jeremiah 9:23-24
Amen.
In Christ,
Mark
PS: Feel free to leave a comment and please share this with anyone you feel might be blessed by it.
Send any prayer requests to OurChristianWalk@aol.com
No comments:
Post a Comment