Jeremiah 46:27

PROPHECY FOR ISRAEL

"But fear not thou, O Jacob my servant, neither be dismayed, O Israel: for, lo, I will save thee from afar, and thy seed from the land of their captivity; and Jacob shall return, and shall be quiet and at ease, and none shall make him afraid. Fear not thou, O Jacob my servant, saith Jehovah, for I am with thee: for I will make a full end of all the nations whither I have driven thee; but I will not make a full end of thee, but I will correct thee in measure, and will in no wise leave thee unpunished."

These verses state emphatically that nothing whatever will be able to thwart the eternal purpose of God in providing redemption for all mankind through the posterity of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.

Despite the fact of the Chosen people having lost their status as God's wife, and the awful truth that the whole nation had become a degenerate, corrupt vine instead of the noble vine that God had planted, they will not be able to countermand or destroy God's intention. They indeed failed, but God did not fail.

Furthermore, note the fact here that God promises continued punishment of Israel, as fulfilled repeatedly throughout the long centuries between the Old Testament and the New Testament. God's marvelous achievement in bringing in at last through the precious Virgin of Nazareth, that Child who was cradled in the manger of Bethlehem, despite the absolute refusal of the Chosen People to fulfill their obligations in the project, must be ranked as the Greatest Miracle of All Time.

"These two verses are a repetition of Jeremiah 30:10-11, with those variations which Jeremiah always made when quoting himself."[21]

Keil noted that, "This promise of salvation for Israel, coming at the close of this prophecy of the judgment on Egypt, is similar to the promise of salvation to Israel inserted in the threat against Babylon (Jeremiah 50:4-7; 51:5,6,10,35,36,45,46,50); and this similarity furnishes proof in behalf of the genuineness of the verse."[22]

This chapter gives an extensive view of the turbulent times for mankind when one world-power, such as Egypt, was supplanted by another like Babylon. Human life was in all such situations considered a very cheap and expendable factor; and the sorrows of the human race appear to have been almost beyond the powers of our imagination fully to comprehend them. The tragic record of Adam's race in rebellion against their true God is the only thing needed to explain and justify the need of an ultimate Judgment in which the rebellious portion of Adam's posterity shall indeed be wiped off the face of earth (Zephaniah 1)!