Jeremiah 25 Study Notes

25:19-22 All the nations listed in chaps. 46-51, except Damascus, are included in this section. Judah heads the list and then comes Pharaoh of Egypt, perhaps because he instigated the alliance of Judah against Babylon. The list runs from south to north.

25:20 The land of Uz is mentioned in Jb 1:1. It was probably east of Edom. The remnant of Ashdod is singled out because Pharaoh Psammetik I of Egypt (663-609 BC) took the city after a twenty-nine-year siege.

25:23-24 Dedan and Tema are both in northwest Arabia, but Buz is unknown. For all those who clip the hair on their temples, see 9:26.

25:25 The location of Zimri is unknown, though the name appears in Nm 25:14 and elsewhere. Elam and Media were east of the Tigris River.

25:26 Sheshach is probably a cipher code for Babylon, written in what the Hebrews called atbash, where letters of the Hebrew alphabet are substituted for their opposite (see note at 51:1). Here the letters bet-bet-lamed of Babylon are changed to shin-shin-khet.

25:27-28 These verses are similar to vv. 15-17.

25:29 The Lord asked, How could the nations possibly go unpunished? The same principles that governed Judah must also govern the world.

25:30-33 The imagery changes from a cup of wine to a lion. This signals the Lord’s voice from on high. It changes again to an image of the Lord treading out grapes in the winepress (Is 63:3; Rv 14:19-20; 19:15), and once more to the image of a huge storm as nation after nation succumbs to Babylon’s advances.

25:34-38 Three times in these verses Jeremiah used the shepherd metaphor and then switched over to describe the nations’ impending disaster. They will be shattered like a precious vase. The nations will be shattered by the one who is Lord over all the earth.