Jeremiah 49:7

Concerning Edom, thus saith the Lord of hosts,.... Or, "unto Edom" (i), thus saith the Lord; or, "against Edom" (k); all which is true, as observed on Jeremiah 49:1; meaning the Idumeans, the

Concerning Edom, thus saith the LORD of hosts; Is wisdom no more in Teman? is counsel perished from the prudent? is their wisdom vanished? Concerning Edom.

The Edomites were the posterity of Esau the eldest son of Isaac, but disinherited, the blessing being given to his younger brother Jacob, who was the head of the twelve tribes of the Israelites, . God there, , promised him that he should have a fat and plentiful country, though his brother should be his lord, and foretold that he should break his brother’ s yoke from off his neck; the land of Seir was his country, . The Edomites coasted southward upon Canaan, the Israelites passed by their coasts to go into Canaan; their way lay through Edom, but their king refusing to suffer them to go through, God ordered them to go another way. Balaam prophesied their ruin, . They were enemies to the Israelites in Saul’ s time, , and in David’ s time, , and in Amaziah’ s time, , who slew of them ten thousand, and took Selah, calling it Jokteel. Many of the prophets foretold their ruin. Jeremiah in this place, Obadiah 1,8 Malachi 1:4. Teman was a city of Edom, mentioned also . Eliphaz, Job’ s friend, was of this place, . It was a place famous for wise and prudent men, of which Eliphaz was not the meanest. The prophet asks what was become of all their counsel and wisdom, for which the Arabians, the Temanites in particular, were so famous. Now they were at their wits’ end.

Jeremiah 49:7 Concerning Edom, thus saith the LORD of hosts; [Is] wisdom no more in Teman? is counsel perished from the prudent? is their wisdom vanished?Ver. 7. Is wisdom nowhere in Teman?] The Edomites, and especially the Temanites (of whom Eliphaz, Job’ s friend, was one), were famous for wisdom, which although it be of excellent use for putting things to the best, yet without the fear of God, which is the beginning of wisdom, and his blessing, it proveth not only unprofitable, but pernicious also. It is, saith James, "earthly, sensual, and devilish." See what the Scripture speaketh of it.

(7) Concerning Edom.—A short survey of the past history is necessary that we may enter into the force of the prophet’s words. On the journey of the Israelites to Canaan the Edomites were left unmolested (Numbers 14:21; Deuteronomy 2:4). Conquered by Saul (1 Samuel 14:47), and yet more completely by David (2 Samuel 8:14), they made an unsuccessful attempt to throw off the yoke in the time of Solomon (1 Kings 11:14-22), but finally revolted with success in that of Joram (2 Kings 8:20-22; 2 Chronicles 21:8). Amaziah and Uzziah endeavoured to reassert dominion over them (2 Kings 14:7; 2 Kings 14:22), but under Ahaz they invaded Judah (2 Chronicles 28:17), and in the reign of Zedekiah appear as an independent power seeking to ally themselves with that king against their common enemy Nebuchadnezzar (Jeremiah 27:3). Soon, however, they allied themselves with the Chaldaeans, and were conspicuous for their triumphant exultation in the destruction of Jerusalem (Psalms 137:7; Lamentations 4:21; Ezekiel 35:15; Ezekiel 36:5). Obadiah had prophesied against them, probably shortly before Jeremiah’s utterance, and what we find here stands in the same relation to his language as the prophecy against Moab in Jeremiah 48 does to Isaiah 15, 16. Possibly, however, as Obadiah 1:11 seems to indicate, Obadiah was the later of the two. (See Introduction to Obadiah.) Is wisdom no more in Teman . . .?—The exact locality of Teman has not been determined, but it is always closely connected with Edom, and, as the word means “south,” may describe that region of the Edomite country. Its fame for wisdom seems to have been proverbial. So Eliphaz the Temanite appears as the chief speaker among Job’s three friends (Job 2:11; Job 4:1). So Obadiah (Obadiah 1:8) speaks of the “wise men” of Edom. So Solomon’s wisdom excelled that of “the children of the East” (1 Kings 4:30). The form of the questions implies that all three are to be answered in the affirmative.

Verse 7. CONCERNING EDOM] This is a new and separate discourse. Teman] A part of Idumea, put here for the whole country.

7–22 (= LXX. Ch. Jeremiah 29:8-23). Prophecy against Edom The fact that there is a great similarity with Obadiah (Jeremiah 49:7; Jeremiah 49:9-10 a, and 14–16 corresponding respectively with Obadiah 1:8; Obadiah 1:5 f., 1–4) raises a difficult question as to the origin of the passages common to the two prophecies. The two main views are as follows: (a) that both are based on an older prophecy, Ob. preserving a more original form (so Dr., G. A. Smith, and others), and (b) that Ob.’s original work consisted of his Jeremiah 49:1-5; Jeremiah 49:7; Jeremiah 49:10-11; Jeremiah 49:13-15 b, and was not a prophecy of coming ruin, but a description of it as already existent (so Wellhausen, followed by Gi., Du., Co. and others). Ob., as it stands, is evidently (see Jeremiah 49:10 ff.) subsequent to the fall of Jerusalem (b.c. 586). From what we have said above, it follows that the corresponding parts of this section are later, either as an addition to a genuine Jeremianic utterance of the fourth year of Jehoiakim (see introd. note on chs. 46–51), or as forming a part of the section which is wholly post-exilic; the former of these two hypotheses being on the whole preferable. Co. points out the skill with which (on the former hypothesis) the incorporator of the Ob. passages avoided all references (so Obadiah 1:10 ff.) to the overthrow of Jerusalem. The expansion in later times of a Jeremianic prophecy against Edom is a priori likely for reasons similar to those mentioned in introd. note to Jeremiah 48:1-10. The bitterness of the tone in which Edom is addressed finds parallels in Lamentations 4:21, as also in Psalms 137:7; Ezekiel 25:12-14; Ezekiel 35:15; Obadiah 1:10-16, and is no doubt based upon a sense of the closeness of the tie of kinship between Edom and Israel. The contents of the section may be summarized as follows. (i) Jeremiah 49:7-12. Have the prudent of Teman lost their wisdom? Flee into hiding from coming troubles, ye people of Dedan. Ye shall be utterly despoiled. Leave to Jehovah the charge of your widows and orphans. Ye shall yourselves assuredly drink the wine of destruction. (ii) Jeremiah 49:13-22. Bozrah and the other cities shall be laid waste. The nations are summoned to fight against her. She shall be held in contempt, though erst so proud. She shall be brought down from her loftiness and jeered at, overthrown and without inhabitant as were Sodom and Gomorrah. The foe as a lion shall drive her away. Such is Jehovah’s purpose. The far-reaching sound of her fall shall make the earth to tremble. At the swoop of the enemy the anguish of Edom shall be great. The affinity which existed between the two nations made the unnatural exultation of Edom over the fallen fortunes of the Jews most offensive. See, in addition to the above passages, Amos 1:11, and for an apparent reference to the fulfilment of this prophecy against Edom, Malachi 1:3.

Edom stretched along the south of Judah from the border of Moab on the Dead Sea to the Mediterranean and the Arabian deserts, and held the same relation to Judah which Moab held toward the kingdom of Israel.

AGAINST EDOM, Jeremiah 49:7-22. 7. Concerning Edom — This prophecy is based on the first nine verses of Obadiah, but with many changes.