Nebuchadrezzar Is Called On To Fulfil YHWH's Purpose (Jeremiah 49:28).
“Thus says YHWH,
Arise you, go up to Kedar,
And destroy the children of the east.
Their tents and their flocks will they take,
They will carry away their curtains for themselves,
And all their vessels, and their camels,
And they will cry to them,
‘Terror on every side!' ”
YHWH's call comes to Nebuchadrezzar to arise against ‘the children of the east'. Nebuchadrezzar would not have been aware of the call. He would have seen his actions as arising out of a desire to deal with people who were a constant menace to settled people and had much wealth. It was thus a combination of self-defence and greed. But Jeremiah is revealing that it was YHWH Who was controlling events, just as God is controlling events today, in spite of the mess being made by men. He is not responsible for man's inhumanity to man, that is a consequence of man having freewill. But He is responsible for the destiny of nations.
The picture is a vivid one of the descent of the Babylonian forces (which would include contingents from vassal nations) on the tribesfolk in order to destroy them, possibly as the only way to prevent their future depredations, and certainly in order to obtain spoils. Note the emphasis on the carrying away by the Babylonian forces of ‘their tents and their flocks', ‘their vessels and their camels'. It was rich booty.
‘Terror on every side' may have been the war-cry of the Babylonian forces, as they descended on the tribes-people and sought to terrify them into submission. Or alternately it may have been the cry of the fleeing tribespeople. It is a phrase found elsewhere in Jeremiah (Jeremiah 6:25; Jeremiah 20:3; Jeremiah 20:10; Jeremiah 46:5). It may well have been a well-used war-cry which had become a stock phrase.