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 flood the earth in a similar way (Jeremiah 46:3-4, 7-8).

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 the land was later conquered by the Persians. Moab was 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, such as the Philistines (47:1-7), 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, our Gross Domestic Product remains the largest of any other country. 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. No, 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 46:27-28 (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.”