But it shall come to pass in the latter days, that I will bring again the captivity of Elam, saith the LORD.
In the latter days ... I will bring again the captivity of Elam - the full restoration belongs to Gospel times: Elamites were among the first who heard and accepted it (Acts 2:9).
Remarks: (1) Ammon seized greedily on the land of Gad when Israel was dispossessed of it, and carried away captive into Assyria. But Judah, not Assyria, was the rightful successor to Israel's forfeited inheritance (Jeremiah 49:1). Therefore, in righteous retribution, Ammon was doomed to be dispossessed of her own possessions, and Israel was appointed as the ultimate "heir of them that were" once by usurpation "his heirs" (Jeremiah 49:2). It is right that they who make might their sole standard of right should in their turn be deprived by might of their proper rights, which by injustice they have forfeited. They who treat everything as their own, upon which they can with impunity lay their hands, have sooner or later the hand of the Almighty laid on themselves, to their destruction. The valleys of Ammon, in which she had gloried as flowing with milk and honey, were doomed, for her iniquity, to "flow" with the blood of the slain (Jeremiah 49:4, note); and her "treasures," in which she had "trusted" as ensuring her from the approach of an invader, were to be the spoil of her conqueror.
(2) Yet, for the sake of her righteous ancestor, Lot, mercy was to be extended to Ammon also, as to Moab, in the latter days (Jeremiah 49:6; Jeremiah 48:47). Thus judgment against the transgressors, and at other times mercy rejoicing against judgment" (James 2:13), are the great attributes of God's perfect character, which are manifested in the great cycle of the world's history.
(3) Edom. the descendant of profane Esau, and the ancient enemy of Israel, even as Esau was of his brother Jacob, was doomed to extinction as a nation (Jeremiah 49:9-10; Jeremiah 49:18), because of the unnatural hatred which it bare to the people of God, though being so closely allied to Israel by blood. Not a vestige of Edom's greatness should be left. No promise of restoration is given to Edom, such as there was to Moab and Ammon. For God is a Sovereign, having mercy on whom He will have mercy, and hardening whom He will (Romans 11:18; Malachi 1:2-4). Not that any of His decrees or appointments are arbitrary, but that we have not minds to comprehend His stupendous counsels, and He will not give an account of them to His creatures who dare to call Him to account. "Who," is His challenge to the universe, "will appoint me a time," when he dares to summon me to enter into judgment with him?
(4) Yet, even in Edom's case, there breaks forth from the lurid cloud of the divine wrath a bright gleam of light, which was designed for the comfort not only of Edom, but of all fathers and husbands who, in the near prospect of death, are filled with fears and sadness when they think of the forlorn and helpless state of the dear ones whom they must soon leave behind. "Leave thy fatherless children," saith the great Father and Husband of the friendless and bereaved, "I will preserve them alive; and let thy widows trust in me."
(5) Still judgment must be the portion of Edom for his "pride" (Jeremiah 49:16), "for God resisteth the proud." Highly as the sinner may exalt himself, and secure as he may make his habitation, Gad will surely "bring him down from thence," (Jeremiah 49:16); None can withstand the instruments "chosen" of God for executing His vengeance (Jeremiah 49:19). The very "least" of God's agents is sufficient against the greatest (Jeremiah 49:20). The " wisdom" of the worldly wise and "the counsel" of the prudent perish when God pleases (Jeremiah 49:7); and it is His pleasure that when the people of His covenant, to whom it does not naturally belong to drink the cup of vengeance, have yet for their unfaithfulness been compelled to drink it, much more should aliens and enemies to God have to drain the cup of wrath to its dregs (Jeremiah 49:12).
(6) "Suddenly" (note, Jeremiah 49:19), "in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump" (1 Corinthians 15:52), when sinners are least expecting it, the day of judgment shall overtake the unbelieving. "The breath of the Lord, like a stream of brimstone, will kindle a fire" (Jeremiah 49:27; Isaiah 30:33) more awful even than that which turned Damascus, 'the city of joy," into a city of mourning, and consumed the gorgeous "palaces of Ben-hadad" (Jeremiah 49:25; Jeremiah 49:27). Men's hearts shall then indeed fail them for fear (Jeremiah 49:23; Luke 21:26), and for looking for those things which are coming on the earth; and the wicked, "like the sea" when "it cannot be quiet" (note, Jeremiah 49:23), shall "have no rest day nor night," for "the smoke of their torment ascendeth up forever and ever" (Revelation 14:11); while believers shall be an eternal "name of joy, a praise, and an honour" to forever and ever" (Revelation 14:11); while believers shall be an eternal "name of joy, a praise, and an honour" to the Lord.
(7) How many sinners, like Hazor, dwell 'at ease' (Jeremiah 49:31, margin). and "without care" (Jeremiah 49:31) when destruction as impending! Suddenly shall "fear on every side" (Jeremiah 49:29) startle them, as it did the Kedarenes and Hazor, who fancied themselves secure in their isolation and scanty means (Jeremiah 49:29-31). The poor have no more exemption than the rich from God's judgments on selfishness, worldliness, and unbelief. Not only "the kings of the earth, and the great men, and the rich men, and the chief captains, and the mighty men," but also "every bondman, and every freeman," shall hide themselves in vain from the wrath of the Lamb, when the great day of His wrath shall have come (Revelation 6:15-17). Ammon with her "treasures," Edom with her "wisdom," Elam with her warlike prowess and skill in "the bow" (Jeremiah 49:35), and Kedar and Hazor in their "deep" wilderness solitudes and nomadic life in tents (Jeremiah 49:29-31), alike fell under God's judgments; whence we learn that there is no security for nations or individuals, under any circumstances, so long as they are unreconciled to God. Evil pursues sinners-there is no hiding place from it except in Christ the Rock of ages.
(8) God will soon set up His throne on earth (Jeremiah 49:38), and make all men to knew that the Lord God omnipotent reigneth. The issue of the conflict between light and darkness is not doubtful. All the events of history and politics are, in spite of the intrigues of ambitious and unscrupulous men, and the commotions of earthly affairs, being overruled to the grand end of setting up the throne of Him to whom the kingdom of right belongs. Let us see that we are decidedly on the Lord's side, and, amidst all the clouds that obscure the vision now, let us by faith see Him who is invisible to the men of the world, and look for the blessed day when His people shall see Him in glory, and at the name of Jesus every knee shall bow.