SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 8/25/2014
10:36 AM
My Worship Time Focus: Judgment of Philistia
Bible Reading & Meditation Reference: Jeremiah 47:1-7
Message
of the verses: “1 That which came as
the word of the LORD to Jeremiah the prophet concerning the Philistines, before
Pharaoh conquered Gaza. 2 Thus says the LORD: "Behold, waters are going to
rise from the north And become an overflowing torrent, And overflow the land
and all its fullness, The city and those who live in it; And the men will cry
out, And every inhabitant of the land will wail. 3 “Because of the noise of the
galloping hoofs of his stallions, The tumult of his chariots, and the rumbling
of his wheels, The fathers
have not turned back for their children, Because of the limpness of their
hands, 4 On account of the day that is coming To destroy all the
Philistines, To cut off from Tyre and Sidon Every ally that is left; For the LORD is going to destroy
the Philistines, The remnant of the coastland of Caphtor. 5 “Baldness
has come upon Gaza; Ashkelon has been ruined. O remnant of their valley, How
long will you gash yourself? 6 “Ah, sword of the LORD, How long will you not be
quiet? Withdraw into your sheath; Be at rest and stay still. 7 “How can it be
quiet, When the LORD has given it an order? Against Ashkelon and against the
seacoast-There He has assigned it."”
It is believed that the Philistines
came from Egypt, but this is not for certain.
We see them mentioned many times in the Old Testament, especially in 1
Samuel, as they were a thorn in the side of the children of Israel. In our text for today we see that God has
promised to destroy them, and perhaps it is because of the way they treated the
nation of Israel, but probably it has more to do with their idol worship. Jeremiah uses the image of a rising river to
describe how the Babylonians army will destroy Philistia. This will happen so fast that parents will
leave their children behind in an effort to flee from their enemy. “The fathers have not turned back
for their children, Because of the limpness of their hands.”
We mentioned in our last SD on the
book of Jeremiah that God would bring back a number of the nations that were
being destroyed by the Babylonian army, but that is not the case for the people
of Philistia.
I have to mention that one of the stories
from 1 Samuel is about the defeat of the Israelites in a battle with Philistia
and Philistia captured the Ark of the Covenant and they put it in with one of
their gods in its temple. In the morning
the great idol fell down before the Ark and so they put it back up only to have
it fall again. Much distress came upon
the Philistines because they had the Ark of the Covenant and so they put it on
a cart pulled by two cows who had just had new born calves, thinking that if
all their trouble was because of the God of the Hebrews that the cows would
leave and go to the Hebrews which is what happened. It took the Philistines a while to understand
that the God of the Hebrews was not to be messed with.
As far as is known there are none
left from this nation that fought against Israel in the past.
8/25/2014
10:58 AM
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