Daily Devotions
Jeremiah
"Cry, you daughters of Rabbah"
Text: Jeremiah 49:3
MANY KINGS IN THE LAND OF CANAAN
Canaan had many kings who ruled their own small parcels of land. There were altogether 31 kings who were defeated by Joshua (Joshua 12:7-24). These little nations warred against each other from time to time. But these small nations had never come across an enemy as powerful as the Babylonians.
“Wail, O Heshbon, for Ai is plundered!
Cry, you daughters of Rabbah,
Gird yourselves with sackcloth!
Lament and run to and fro by the walls;
For Milcom shall go into captivity
With his priests and his princes together.”
Jeremiah 49:3
1. “Wail, O Heshbon, for Ai is plundered”
a) Heshbon was one of the highest mountains of Moab.
b) It was also a city that was well-protected and wealthy.
c) It had reason to wail, for Moab would be conquered by Babylon.
2. “Ai is plundered”
a) This was a reference to the time when Joshua was conquering Canaan.
b) Jericho was the city to fall.
c) Ai was also defeated by Joshua, in a second battle (Joshua 7).
d) Though the city-states were governed separately, they were
in a sense “connected”.
e) The fall of one city after another, caused fear to be felt by neighbouring states.
3. “Cry, you daughters of Rabbah, gird yourselves with sackcloth!
Lament and run to and fro by the walls”
a) Rabbah of Ammon
i) Moab and Ai had fallen.
ii) Their defeat was the harbinger of the fall of Ammon.
b) Sackcloth was the symbol of deep mourning.
c) The womenfolk of Ammon had every reason to fear.
d) They were so distracted, that they were lamenting as they raced to and fro
with the approach of the approaching powerful army of Babylon.
4. “For Milcom shall go into captivity with his priests and his princes together”
a) What made the women of Ammon weep so copiously?
b) There was one special reasons given:
Milcom, the god of the Ammonites had gone into captivity!
c) Joining the womenfolk in deep sorrow.
i) The priests of Milcom.
ii) The princes of the land of Ammon.
d) All would go into captivity when Babylon defeats nation after nation.