Daily Devotions
Jeremiah
"Fear is on every side"
Text: Jeremiah 49:29
MORE PEOPLE TO BE CONQUERED
Nebuchadnezzar and his armies were reaching kingdoms far and wide. Mighty nations had been conquered, one after another. Two more groups of people would fall prey to Nebuchadnezzar.
“Against Kedar and against the kingdoms of Hazor,
which Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon shall strike.
Thus says the LORD:
‘Arise, go up to Kedar,
And devastate the men of the East!
Their tents and their flocks they shall take away.
They shall take for themselves their curtains,
All their vessels and their camels;
And they shall cry out to them,
‘Fear is on every side!””
Jeremiah 49:28-29
1. “Against Kedar and against the kingdoms of Hazor,
which Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon shall strike.
Thus says the LORD: ‘Arise, go up to Kedar, and devastate the men of the East'”
a) Kedar
i) This word is used to describe a nomadic group of people.
ii) They were sometimes called, “Men of the East”.
iii) They were nomads and thus they travelled far and wide.
b) Hazor and kingdoms
i) These kingdoms were quite far away from Babylon.
ii) But the long arm of God’s justice would cause them to be struck down by Nebuchadnezzar.
c) Nebuchadnezzar was a mighty king.
i) But he still had to obey the word of the LORD.
ii) Nebuchadnezzar was told to destroy them.
2. “Their tents and their flocks they shall take away.
They shall take for themselves their curtains, all their vessels and their camels;
and they shall cry out to them, ‘Fear is on every side!'”
a) Tents were the homes of the people from Kedar (being nomads).
b) The kingdoms of Hazor were rich and they had in abundance:
i) Flocks
ii) Camels
iii) Curtains for their lavish tents.
iv) They had beautiful vessels too.
c) Under the threat of the Babylonians “Fear was on every side”.
i) The nomads of the Kingdom of Kedar.
ii) The wealthy inhabitants of the faraway kingdom of Hazor.