NOTES for Jer 49:1-39
Jeremiah proclaims God's judgment on the pagan nations surrounding Israel. Chapters 46-51 describe the scenes he saw of the destruction, collapse, defeat, and captivity of powerful states hostile to Israel. These scenes are truly terrible and not easy to read. The question even arises: why should we read this? Those states have not existed for many centuries, and their judgment lies not in the future but in the past. First, knowing history, we can testify that these prophecies were fulfilled. This is already significant, because it gives all Jeremiah's other prophecies greater weight in our eyes. Second, it is always useful to remind ourselves where paganism leads, whether it is the explicit worship of other gods or the implicit worship that replaces the living God with every kind of “spiritual” substitute.