Jeremiah 49:1 - Meaning and Application

The Ammonites came next after the Moabites, both in family ties and in geography, so they are the next brought before God’s court. Their land bordered the territory of the two and a half tribes east of the Jordan, and they proved to be bad neighbors. Still, because they lived nearby, they also come under these repeated prophecies of judgment.

This is, in effect, a lawsuit brought in God’s name against the Ammonites for taking land that belonged to the tribe of Gad, which lived next to them (Jeremiah 49:1). The question is what right they had to those lands, especially after the Gileadites were carried away by the king of Assyria and the land was left weak and unprotected (2 Kings 15:29; 1 Chronicles 5:26). Did Israel have no sons left? Were there no heirs, no Gadites, no Israelites, even no relatives from Judah who were nearer than the Ammonites? Why then did their king, or their false god Milcom, act as if they had inherited land that belonged to God’s people?

The source also points out that there were still heirs of their own blood, even children still in their mothers’ wombs, but the Ammonites killed them to keep the land for themselves (Amos 1:13). They ripped open the pregnant women of Gilead so no one could later claim the border they had stolen. In that way they boasted over a border that was not theirs and acted as if might made right (Zephaniah 2:8). Human power often tramples justice, but the Almighty rules from his throne and judges rightly. People may think anything is theirs if they can seize it, but God does not forget the rights of owners or their heirs, especially when his own people are wronged.

Because of this violence, judgment is pronounced against them. Terror will come upon them, and God will cause the sound of war to be heard even in Rabbah, their strong capital city (Jeremiah 49:2). The Lord of hosts, who commands every army, will bring fear on them from every side (Jeremiah 49:5). God has many ways to strike fear into those who have made themselves a terror to his people.

Their cities will be ruined. Rabbah, the chief city, will become a heap of ruins, and its daughter towns, which depended on it for rule and support, will be burned. The people will be forced to leave their homes, mourning in sackcloth because everything they had is gone and they do not know where to go. Their country, which they were so proud of, will also be laid waste. They are asked why they boast in their valleys and trust in their treasures, O backsliding daughter, that is, a people who have turned away from God and from his worship (Jeremiah 49:4). Though they had not been in covenant with God like Israel, their idolatry still counted as turning away, since worship of the true God came before false worship.

They were stubborn and rebellious. After turning from God, they took pride in their valleys, especially one fertile valley that supplied them with many good things. These lands had been taken from Israel, and they were proud of having seized them. They also trusted the strength of their valleys, ringed by mountains and hard to attack, and they trusted the wealth they had gathered there. They said in effect, “Who can come against me?” Living in comfort, they imagined they would never be disturbed. Their confidence made them proud, pleasure-loving, and careless about God’s warnings. But those who turn from God have no good reason to trust in any earthly comfort (Hosea 9:1).

All classes of people will be driven out, from the least to the greatest. Some will flee for safety, and others will be taken captive, so the land will be emptied out completely. Their king and princes, and even Milcom, their god, along with its priests, will go into exile (Jeremiah 49:3). Everyone will run straight away, taking the quickest route in fear (Jeremiah 49:5), and will forget their beloved valleys, which can no longer help them. To make their misery complete, no one will gather up the wanderers or open the door to shelter them. Those fleeing will be so busy saving themselves that they will not even stop to help those near them who are lost and wandering (Jeremiah 47:3).

Then the land of the Ammonites will pass into the hands of the remaining Israelites (Jeremiah 49:2). Israel will inherit those who had once acted as their heirs, and will possess the land of those who had taken Israel’s land. This is a just reversal, showing that God’s providence pays back injured people from the unjust gains of the wrongdoer. The enemies of God’s people may seem to profit for a time, but the situation will not stay that way forever.

Even so, there is still hope of mercy afterward. As with Moab, there will come a day when the captivity of the children of Ammon is brought back (Jeremiah 49:6). That is the way human affairs often go, the wheel turns round.