Jeremiah 25:15-29

C. Judgment on Surrounding Nations Jeremiah 25:15-29

TRANSLATION

(15) For thus says the LORD, God of Israel, unto me: Take this cup of wine, wrath, from My hand and cause all the nations to whom I am about to send you to drink it. (16) And they shall drink and they shall stagger and behave like a madman because of the sword which I am about to send among them. (17) And I took the CUP from the hand of the LORD and I caused all nations to whom the LORD had sent me to drink it. (18) Jerusalem and the cities of Judah, and her kings and her princes, to make them a desolation, and astonishment, a hissing, and a curse, as it is this day. (19) Pharaoh, king of Egypt, and all of his servants, his princes, and all of his people; (20) and all the mingled people; all the kings of the land of Uz; and all the kings of the land of the Philistine (even Ashkelon, and Gaza, and Ekron and the remnant of Ashdod); (21) Edom and Moab and the children of Ammon; (22) and all the kings of Tyre, and all the kings of Sidon, and all the kings of the isles which are beyond the sea; (23) Dedan, Tema, and Buz, and all who clip the corners of their hair; (24) and all the kings of Arabia and all the kings of the mingled people who dwell in the midst of the desert; (25) and all the kings of Zimri, and all the kings of Elam, and all the kings of the Medes; (26) and all the kings of the north, near and far, one after another; and to all the kingdoms of the world which are upon the face of the earth. And the king of Sheshach shall drink after them. (27) Then say unto them; Thus says the LORD of hosts God of Israel: Drink, and be drunk, vomit, fall and do not arise because of the sword which I am about to send among you. (28) And it shall come to pass, if they refuse to take the cup from your hand to drink, then say unto them; Thus says the LORD of hosts: You shall surely drink! (29) For behold, if I am beginning to destroy the city which is called by My name, shall you go completely unpunished? You shall not go unpunished; for I am about to call a sword against all the inhabitants of the earth (oracle of the LORD).

COMMENTS

The figure of drinking from the wine cup of God's wrath is not one which is uncommon in prophetic literature.[230] The origin of the figure is uncertain. Some relate it to the practice recorded in Numbers 5:11-31 where a woman suspected of adultery was required to drink a loathsome potion with disastrous results to her if guilty. Bright suggests that the figure may go back to the practice of giving those who were marked for execution some brew to tranquillize them and render them incapable of struggle. Be that as it may, Jeremiah is here commanded to take the cup of wrath from the hand of God and cause the nations of the world to drink of it (Jeremiah 25:15). The nations after drinking of that brew will become as intoxicated men, like raving lunatics. Their incoherence and utter confusion is brought about by news of the approach of the sword of the Lord, the armies which He will use to execute His judgment (Jeremiah 25:16). Jeremiah relates that he complied with the commandment of the Lord and caused the nations of the world to drink of God's deadly cup (Jeremiah 25:17).

[230] Isaiah 51:17; Isaiah 51:22: Ezekiel 23:31-34; Habakkuk 2:16; Psalms 60:3; Jeremiah 49:12; Jeremiah 51:7, etc.

The real problem is to determine the nature of the episode recorded here. If the student of Jeremiah will take the time to locate all the countries named in Jeremiah 25:18-26 he will immediately see that it would have been impossible for Jeremiah to literally visit all the nations. What then took place in this passage? Is this a vision or a symbolic act or merely rhetoric? Some think that Jeremiah in a visionary experience took a wine cup from the hand of God and passed it among the nations. In this case Jeremiah is here describing what he saw in a vision. Yet no positive indication of a vision is present in the passage. Others think that a symbolic act was performed by the prophet. He actually took a cup of wine, explained its significance, and passed it around among the ambassadors of these various lands who were present in Jerusalem. It's difficult, however, to imagine that ambassadors from distant Media and Elam would have been present in Jerusalem. Other commentators think that the cup which Jeremiah is told to pass among the nations is metaphorical. The prophet passes the cup by preaching his message of God's wrath against the nations. However the account seems to bear all the earmarks of an actual experience. God told Jeremiah to pass a wine cup among the nations (Jeremiah 25:15) and he carried out the command (Jeremiah 25:17). The nations to whom he carried the cup apparently could reject it (Jeremiah 25:28). Although none of the explanations of this episode are without their difficulties it seems to this writer that a symbolic act was performed most likely involving the ambassadors of the various lands mentioned in Jeremiah 25:18-26.

In Jeremiah 25:18-26 Jeremiah enumerates the nations to whom he carried the cup of God's wrath. First, of course, stands Jerusalem and the cities of Judah. The kings (Jehoiakim, Jehoiachin and Zedekiah) and princes of Judah shall drink of that cup of judgment and their land will become a desolation, a horrible and shocking sight as at this day (Jeremiah 25:18). The last phrase of Jeremiah 25:18 implies that in the view of Jeremiah the desolation of Jerusalem had already begun in the fourth year of Jehoiakim. This episode of the wine cup of wrath must have occurred not long after the invasion of Judah by Nebuchadnezzar in 605 B.C. In the view of Jeremiah the desolations of Judah and Jerusalem began with that invasion, not with the destruction of Jerusalem in 587 B.C. The foreign nations which were required to drink the cup of God's judgment are fourteen in number.

1. Egypt is the southernmost country named. The oracles against Egypt also stand first in the collection of foreign nation oracles at the end of the Book of Jeremiah. The mixed multitudes or mingled people mentioned in Jeremiah 25:20 were probably foreigners who dwelled within the borders of Egypt. Some of these mingled people joined the Israelites during their exodus from Egypt many years earlier (Numbers 11:4).

2. The location of the land of Uz is uncertain. It seems to have been in close proximity to Edom (cf. Lamentations 4:21). Job was a citizen of this land (Job 1:1). No kingdom by this name is found in the historical records of antiquity.

3. Philistia to the southwest of Judah would next taste the cup. Four of the major Philistine cities, Ashkelon, Gaza, Ekron and Ashdod are named specifically. Gath, the fifth city of the Philistine pentapolis, is omitted here as in Amos 1:6-8. Of Ashdod only a remnant remained after the siege and capture by Pharaoh Psammetichus I (663-609 B.C.).

4. 5, 6. The transjordan kingdoms of Edom, Moab and Ammon are next named. These kingdoms are named in order from south to north.
7. Phoenicia with her two major cities of Tyre and Sidon and her overseas colonies would also drink from the cup.

8, 9, 10. Three tribes of northern Arabia, Dedan, Tema, and Buz are next named. The Dedanites were descended from Abraham and Keturah (Genesis 25:3) and had a reputation for being traders (Ezekiel 27:15; Ezekiel 27:20; Ezekiel 38:13). Tema was a tribe related to Abraham through his son Ishmael (Genesis 25:15). Buz was a tribe de scended from Nahor, Abraham's brother (Genesis 22:21). All of these tribes are identified as those who clip the corners of the hair. The custom of cutting away the hair from the temples is forbidden to the Israelites in Leviticus 19:27. No doubt the custom had some pagan religious significance.

11. The kings of Arabia and the mingled people who are associated with them will also taste of the judgment of God. These tribes dwelled almost due east of the populated region of Transjordan.

12. Zimri as the name of a people is not found else where. Some relate this people to the desert tribes just mentioned while others associate them with the two kingdoms named along with Zimri in Jeremiah 25:25.

13. Elam, east of Babylon, had already begun to fade as an independent people and was shortly to be absorbed by the Medes and later by Persia.
14. The Medes were one of the most powerful nations of Jeremiah's day. They were located east of Assyria and north of Elam. They had been instrumental in the overthrow of Nineveh in 612 B.C. Media eventually merged with Persia under the leadership of Cyrus the Great. The Medo-Persian empire fell before the armies of Alexander the Great.

In addition to the nations specifically named, the Lord indicates that many other nations must also drink of the cup of destruction. Kings of the north, some near and some distant, indeed all kingdoms of the civilized world would drink. But last of all the king of Sheshach would drink of that deadly cup. Sheshach is a cipher, a cryptic way of writing the name Babylon. In this system of writing, the alphabet is written along a line and then on another line is written again in reverse order. The first letter corresponds to the last, the second letter corresponds to the last but one, etc. When this system is followed in Hebrew, Babylon comes out being spelled Sheshech. The same device is used again in Jeremiah 51:41. It is not clear why Jeremiah chose to use this code name for Babylon. Certainly he was not afraid to speak out plainly concerning the fate of Babylon (cf. Jeremiah 25:12). Perhaps Jeremiah changed the name Babylon to Sheshach in one of the later editions of his book after this cipher came into common use among the captives in Babylon. Then too, the word Sheshach sounds in Hebrew very like a word that means humiliation. A play on words might be intended.

As Jeremiah hands his symbolic cup to each nation he is to instruct them to drink its contents. They will, he predicts, begin to act as intoxicated men, staggering, vomiting, falling. But that is one stupor from which they would never awake. Thus does Jeremiah picture in figurative language the irrational, incoherent, and helpless behavior as Nebuchadnezzar marches against these lands (Jeremiah 25:27). If the representatives to whom he offers the symbolic cup refuse to receive it from his hand, Jeremiah is to assure them that they must indeed drink of the cup of divine destruction whether or not they cooperate in sipping from the symbolic cup (Jeremiah 25:28). The rationale for the impending destruction of the nations is very simple. God had already begun to bring judgmental calamity upon the beloved city of Jerusalem, the city where His Temple stood, the city where some of His faithful worshipers lived. Jerusalem is called by the name of God i.e., it belonged to Him, it was His special city. If Jerusalem must taste of divine wrath, do the nations think that they shall escape scot-free? They too will suffer at the hands of Nebuchadnezzar, the divinely appointed sword (Jeremiah 25:29).