Jeremiah 49:37

For I will cause Elam to be dismayed before their enemies, and before them that seek their life: and I will bring evil upon them, even my fierce anger, saith the LORD; and I will send the sword after them, till I have consumed them: I WILL SEND THE SWORD AFTER THEM, UNTIL I HAVE CONSUMED THEM - as a distinct nation (Daniel 8:2). Fulfilled under Alexander and his successors....

This verse especially shews that the Elamites were of the number of those who had inhumanly raged against God’s people, for he did not without reason set forth the severity of his vengeance towards them. We must, then, bear in mind that the Elamites had been among the chief of God’s enemies, or at least had been in no ordinary way cruel, delighting in slaughters. Hence he says,_I will dismay_, or affright, etc. The verb חתת, _chetat_, means to tear in pieces, or to break; it may therefore be rendered, “I will break.” They who render it “I will lay prostrate,” do not seem to know the difference between _consternere_, to lay prostrate, and _consternare_, to dismay. But the most suitable meaning is, that God would terrify the Elamites, for he had spoken before of their flight and exile. He then mentions the cause of their dread, even because _God _would dismay them and frighten them before...

34-39 The Elamites were the Persians; they acted against God's Israel, and must be reckoned with. Evil pursues sinners. God will make them know that he reigns. Yet the destruction of Elam shall not be for ever. But this promise was to have its full accomplishment in the days of the Messiah. In reading the Divine assurance of the destruction of all the enemies of the church, the believer sees that the issue of the holy war is not doubtful. It is blessed to recollect, that He who is for us, is more than all against us. And he will subdue the enemies of our souls....

EXPOSITION On Ammon, Edom, Damascus, Kedar and Hazer, and Elam. JEREMIAH 49:1 The violence of the Ammonites shall be severely punished. JEREMIAH 49:1 HATH ISRAEL NO SONS! The violent seizure, perpetrated before his eyes, of parts of the sacred territory, forces the indignant question from the prophet, "How can these things be?" It was so on a former occasion (see Jeremiah 2:14), and it is so again, now that the Ammonites are occupying the land of the Gadites. True, the present generation has lost its property, but the next is the heir to all its rights and privileges. THEIR KING; rather, _their King—_the

FOR I WILL CAUSE ELAM TO BE DISMAYED BEFORE THEIR ENEMIES,.... Frightened; thrown into the utmost consternation, so that they shall have no heart nor spirit to go out against them, and meet them, and defend themselves; but make all haste imaginable to flee from them, such a panic would seize them: AND BEFORE THEM THAT SEEK THEIR LIFE; a further description of their enemies; they being such, who, not content with their substance, sought to take away their lives; nothing less would satisfy them, being: cruel and blood thirsty ones: AND I WILL BRING EVIL UPON THEM, [EVEN] MY FIERCE ANGER, SAITH THE LORD; and a greater evil than that cannot be; signifying that the destruction that should be made among them would be the effect of the wrath of God upon them for their sins: AND I WILL SEND THE SWORD AFTER THEM, TILL I HAVE CONSUMED THEM; that is, those that slay with the sword, as the Targum...

CHAPTER 49 Concerning Ammon, Edom, Damascus, Kedar, and Elam _ 1. Concerning the Ammonites (Jeremiah 49:1) _ 2. Concerning Edom (Jeremiah 49:7) 3. Concerning Damascus (Jeremiah 49:23) 4. Concerning Kedar and Hazor (Jeremiah 49:28) 5. Against Elam (Jeremiah 49:34) Ammon was the younger brother of Moab, and, like the Moabites, the Ammonites were a wicked people, though they had no cities like Moab, but were restless wanderers; they were also the enemies of Israel. The predic

ELAM. Roughly, this was the modern Khuzistan, E. of the Tigris, and N. or NE. of the Persian Gulf; the date given is c. 596, and the occasion may have been the conquest of Elam by Teispes, a Persian ancestor of Cyrus. News of this could have reached Jeremiah through Jewish exiles in Babylonia. Yahweh is destroying the military strength of Elam. He will scatter the Elamites throughout the world, and destroy them (Jeremiah 9:16), setting up His throne (for judgment): but they shall ultimately be restored. Jeremiah 49:35. the bow of Elam: Isaiah 22:6 * (Elamite archers formed part of the Assyrian force besieging Jerusalem)....

LIFE. soul. Hebrew. _nephesh._ App-13....

IX. AN ORACLE AGAINST ELAM Jeremiah 49:34-39 TRANSLATION (3?) The word of the LORD which came unto Jeremiah the prophet concerning Elam in the beginning of the reign of Zedekiah. (35) Thus says the LORD of hosts: I am about to break the bow of Elam, the chief of their might. (36) And I will bring against Elam four winds from the four corners of the heaven; and I will scatter them to all these winds, and there shall be no nation to which the outcasts of Elam will not come. (37) And I will cause Elam to tremble before their enemies and before those who seek their life. I will bring against them misfortune, My fierce anger (oracle of the LORD). I will send them the sword until I have consumed them. (38) I will place My throne in Elam and I will destroy from them king and princes (oracle of the LORD). (39) And it shall be in the latter days I will restore the fortunes of

AGAINST AMMON, EDOM, AND OTHER NATIONS 1-6. The territory of Ammon was N. of Moab, and the two peoples were connected by descent. The carrying away of the tribes on the E. of Jordan by Tiglath-pileser, king of Assyria (2 Kings 15:29), strengthened the hands of Ammon, and it is their occupation of the portion of Gad upon that occasion that forms the crime which is dwelt on in this prophecy, and which shall bring on them judgment....