All The Nations Will Be Made To Drink From The Cup Of YHWH's Wrath Against Sin And Idolatry (Jeremiah 25:15-29).
In these remarkable words the destinies of all nations are seen as in YHWH's hands. And their destiny is to be drunk and to reel about as a result of YHWH's wrath (antipathy against sin). None will escape. It is also an interesting summary of the nations of the area as seen by Jeremiah. The command to take the cup and make the nations drink it, and its fulfilment, is, of course, symbolic of Jeremiah pronouncing judgment against those nations. His words would have the effect of bringing what he spoke of about.
‘For thus says YHWH, the God of Israel, to me, “Take this cup of the wine of wrath at my hand, and cause all the nations, to whom I send you, to drink it.”
The visitation of God's wrath (His antipathy against sin) is often seen in terms of drinking wine from a cup. It was a fitting picture of nations reeling at the disasters that came on them. It was the cup from which our Lord Himself would drink. See Jeremiah 13:12-14; Jeremiah 49:12; Jeremiah 51:7; Job 21:20; Psalms 60:3; Psalms 75:8; Isaiah 51:17; Isaiah 51:21-22; Lamentations 4:21; Ezekiel 23:31-34; Obadiah 1:16; Habakkuk 2:16; Zechariah 12:2; Mark 10:39; Mark 14:36; Luke 22:42; John 18:11; Revelation 14:8; Revelation 14:10; Revelation 16:19; Revelation 18:6). Jeremiah would take the cup and male the nations drink of it by proclaiming YHWH's words.
“ And they shall drink, and reel to and fro, and be mad, because of the sword that I will send among them.”
The cup is defined in terms of the sword at work among them in the hands of other nations. The reeling to and fro and being mad is an apt picture of the effects of war at the hands of a powerful conqueror.
“Then I took the cup at YHWH's hand, and made all the nations to drink, to whom YHWH had sent me,”
We have no way of knowing whether Jeremiah used any prophetic symbolism in this act of making the nations drink of the cup of the wrath of God. He may have done it in vision, or by symbolically offering wine to visiting ambassadors who would arrive in Jerusalem when plots were afoot to rebel against Babylonian rule (although this would be a little pointless unless it was accompanied with an explanation), or it may simply have been by proclaiming YHWH's word ‘into the air' (Jeremiah 25:27) in the way in which the prophets often made denunciations against enemies (e.g. Jeremiah 6:18-19).
“Jerusalem, and the cities of Judah, and its kings, and its princes, to make them a desolation, an astonishment, a hissing, and a curse, as it is this day;
The first to drink are Jerusalem and the cities of Judah, along with their kings (the king and his co-regents, or alternatively successive kings) and princes. And it would result in their being desolated and becoming a spectacle to all nations, a cause for astonishment and hissing and a curse. Compare Jeremiah 18:16. The words ‘as at this day' indicate that the words were written down after their fulfilment.
“Pharaoh king of Egypt, and his servants, and his princes, and all his people; and all the mingled people, and all the kings of the land of the Uz, and all the kings of the Philistines, and Ashkelon, and Gaza, and Ekron, and the remnant of Ashdod; Edom, and Moab, and the children of Ammon; and all the kings of Tyre, and all the kings of Sidon, and the kings of the isle which is beyond the sea;”
The list commences with Judah's nearest neighbours, commencing with the most powerful. It is comprehensive in scope covering not only the kings and their peoples, but also any who had come to dwell among them (‘all the mingled people'). Once mentioned of Egypt it is assumed for the remainder in the mention of their kings.
Egypt and Uz (a part of Edom, possibly mentioned because at this time seen as under the control of Egypt) were to the south, Philistia with its principal cities to the west, Edom, Moab and Ammon to the south east and the east, and Tyre and Sidon to the north west. The isle which was beyond the sea may have been Cyprus. The description of Ashdod demonstrated how it had suffered at the hands of Egypt under Psammeticus who had subjected it to a 29 year siege..
“Dedan, and Tema, and Buz, and all who have the corners of their hair cut off; and all the kings of Arabia, and all the kings of the mingled people who dwell in the wilderness;”
The description then goes beyond the nearest neighbours to those more distant, in the south east, the Arab cities in Arabia, whose distinctive hair style is described (it was always seen as indicative of idolatry), and all the varied tribes which occupied the desert.
“And all the kings of Zimri, and all the kings of Elam, and all the kings of the Medes; and all the kings of the north, far and near, one with another; and all the kingdoms of the world, which are on the face of the earth: and the king of Sheshach shall drink after them.”
Zimri is unknown but was seemingly within the same area as the Elamites and the Medes to the north east. ‘All the kings of the north far and near' is comprehensive, and any nation omitted is swept up in the description of ‘all the kingdoms of the (known) world, which are on the face of the earth' which indicates those beyond Judah's usual purview.
Finally Sheshach (Babylon) would drink after them. Sheshach is written in ‘code' with the letters of the Hebrew alphabet reversed. Thus for Aleph Taw would be written, for Beth SHin would be written, for Gimel Resh would be written, and so on. Thus SheSHaCH signifies BaBeL. The purpose was probably not in order to hide the name from the uninitiated (the Babylonian spies were not stupid and such codes were well known) but in order to indicate that the world would be turned upside down.
“And you shall say to them, ‘Thus says YHWH of hosts, the God of Israel, Drink you, and be drunken, and spew, and fall, and rise no more, because of the sword which I will send among you.”
The picture of the drunkard drinking, and becoming more and more drunk, and vomiting, and then collapsing in a state of total inebriation is vividly descriptive of the confusion irrationality and effects of warfare. Notice that it is YHWH of the hosts of Heaven and earth, the God of Israel, Who is personally sending this sword among them.
“And it shall be, if they refuse to take the cup at your hand to drink, then you will say to them, Thus says YHWH of hosts, You shall surely drink.”
And that is why they have no choice but to drink. They cannot demur. They have no option. For YHWH of Hosts has determined that they will drink. There is an unashamed emphasis on the total sovereignty of YHWH as controller of all the hosts of men, all men's armies.
“For, lo, I begin to work evil at the city which is called by my name, and should you be utterly unpunished? You will not be unpunished, for I will call for a sword on all the inhabitants of the earth, says YHWH of hosts.”
And this had necessarily to be so because if YHWH was beginning to work evil on ‘the city which was called by His Name' (Jerusalem) because they had followed the ways of the nations, how could the nations whose ways they had followed go unpunished? It would not be so, for YHWH of hosts was calling for the sword to come upon them.
‘The city which is called by My Name.' This is an unusual phrase occurring elsewhere only in Daniel 9:18-19. Usually it is ‘the house which is called by My Name' (Jeremiah 7:10-11; Jeremiah 7:14; Jeremiah 7:30). But see 2 Kings 21:4; 2Ki 21:7; 2 Kings 23:27. It was the place where YHWH had chosen to set His Name.