Monday - Jeremiah 46 - Who Has a Drunken Sword?

H

ERE in the book of Jeremiah we have prophecies concerning the conquest of Egypt by the mighty Babylonians (Jeremiah 46:13). As we have already seen in the previous prophecies of Jeremiah, it did the Jews no good to flee to Egypt in their efforts to protect themselves from the ire of Nebuchadnezzar. God simply brought Nebuchadnezzar right on down into Egypt to deal with His rebellious children there. Here in chapter 46, the emphasis is on God's attitude toward Egypt itself though.  They had been guilty of an adversarial relationship with Jehovah for many generations (Jeremiah 46:25). He had dealt with them harshly before, as you will remember from the stories of the 10 plagues during the days of Moses. But they had learned nothing.

So, here we have some incredibly violent words of judgment against the Egyptians. Their demise was to come on a day of God's vengeance, "the sword shall devour," Jeremiah wrote, "and it shall be satiate and made drunk with their blood" (Jeremiah 46:10) He was speaking of the sword of God's vengeful anger (Jeremiah 46:14). The imagery here is best seen in the gruesome picture of a bloody sacrifice. It's so difficult for modern men to grasp it, I suppose, but God literally hates sin this much.