The Egyptians placed their confidence in the Nile River, which flooded every year, bringing water and fertile sediment to nourish their fields. In their prosperity, they assembled mighty armies, which they naturally assumed would be able to fill the earth in a similar way (Jeremiah 46:3-4, 7-8).

The Philistines were proud of their early adoption of iron technology and their powerful war chariots (47:3). Because of their military superiority, they had harassed and oppressed their Israelite neighbors for years.

The people of Moab, descendants of Abraham’s nephew Lot, despised their Israelite cousins (48:27). They had abandoned the God of Abraham to worship Chemosh, and they complacently assumed that, because they had escaped the waves of invasions that had ravaged Israel over the years, they would remain safe for years to come (48:11).

But the proud armies of Egypt were defeated by the forces of Babylon, and their land was later conquered by the Persians. Moab and the Philistines were overrun by the Babylonians. In fact, all the tribes and countries of the Ancient Near East were eventually conquered by the overwhelming might of Alexander the Great. All of Israel’s traditional rivals and enemies were eventually swept away. As God told the Israelites, “I will make a full end of all the nations where I have driven you” (46:28).

Well, what about us? We Americans have the mightiest military in the world. And even after the ravages of COVID and the succeeding bout of inflation, our Gross Domestic Product remains the largest in the world. While the rest of the world has been devastated by countless wars, we have not suffered a foreign invasion since 1812, and the last war on our own soil ended in 1865. But dare we imagine ourselves to be any more immune from the forces of history than were the great powers of the past? Is our pride or complacency or our idolatry any less worthy of condemnation than theirs?

But as God’s people saw the nations great and small collapsing all around them, God made a sure and steadfast promise to those who would trust in Him – that even though they would also be judged for their sins by being carried off into captivity, God would eventually bring them back to their own land. That’s why God urged them not to be afraid, no matter how great the calamity around them would become. And God makes the same promises to us today.

So, if we place our faith in our military power, or in our money, or in our traditions, we will eventually be as disappointed as all those proud and complacent kingdoms of old. But if we’ll trust in the One True God, we can be sure that He will save us, no matter what tragedies may come our way.

Jeremiah 46:27-47:7 (NASB)

27 “But as for you, O Jacob My servant, do not fear, Nor be dismayed, O Israel! For, see, I am going to save you from afar, And your descendants from the land of their captivity; And Jacob shall return and be undisturbed And secure, with no one making him tremble.
28 “O Jacob My servant, do not fear,” declares the LORD, “For I am with you. For I shall make a full end of all the nations Where I have driven you, Yet I shall not make a full end of you; But I shall correct you properly And by no means leave you unpunished.”

That which came as the word of the LORD to Jeremiah the prophet concerning the Philistines, before Pharaoh conquered Gaza.
2 Thus says the LORD: “Behold, waters are going to rise from the north And become an overflowing torrent, And overflow the land and all its fulness, The city and those who live in it; And the men will cry out, And every inhabitant of the land will wail.
3 “Because of the noise of the galloping hoofs of his stallions, The tumult of his chariots, and the rumbling of his wheels, The fathers have not turned back for their children, Because of the limpness of their hands,
4 On account of the day that is coming To destroy all the Philistines, To cut off from Tyre and Sidon Every ally that is left; For the LORD is going to destroy the Philistines, The remnant of the coastland of Caphtor.
5 “Baldness has come upon Gaza; Ashkelon has been ruined. O remnant of their valley, How long will you gash yourself?
6 “Ah, sword of the LORD, How long will you not be quiet? Withdraw into your sheath; Be at rest and stay still.
7 “How can it be quiet, When the LORD has given it an order? Against Ashkelon and against the seacoast– There He has assigned it.”