Jeremiah 49:2

2 But a new day is coming," announces the Lord. "At that time I will sound the battle cry. I will sound it against Rabbah in the land of Ammon. It will become a pile of broken-down buildings. The villages that are around it will be set on fire. Then Israel will drive out those who drove her out," says the Lord.

Jeremiah 49:2 Meaning and Commentary

Jeremiah 49:2

Therefore, behold, the days come, saith the Lord
Or, "are coming" ^F25; as they did, in a very little time after this prophecy: that I will cause an alarm of war to be heard in Rabbah of the
Ammonites;
the metropolis of the Ammonites; it was their royal city in the times of David, ( 1 Kings 11:1 ) ( 12:26 ) ; called by Polybius ^F26 Rabbahamana; and by Ptolemy ^F1 Philadelphia, which name it had from Ptolemy Philadelphus, who rebuilt it; this the Lord threatens with the sound of the trumpet, the alarm of war, or the noise of warriors, as the Targum; the Chaldean army under Nebuchadnezzar, who, about five years after the destruction of Jerusalem, subdued the Ammonites, as Josephus ^F2 relates: and it shall be a desolate heap;
be utterly destroyed; its walls broken down, and houses demolished, and made a heap of rubbish: and her daughters shall be burnt with fire:
Rabbah was the mother city, and the other cities of the Ammonites were her daughters, which are threatened to be destroyed with fire by the enemy; or it may mean the villages round about Rabbah, it being usual in Scripture for villages to be called the daughters of cities; see ( Ezekiel 16:46 ) ; so the Targum here paraphrases it,

``the inhabitants of her villages shall be burnt with fire:''

then shall Israel be heirs unto them that were his heirs, saith the
Lord:
that is, shall inherit their land again, which the Ammonites pretended to be the lawful heirs of; yea, not only possess their own land, but the land of Ammon too: this was fulfilled not immediately upon the destruction of Ammon, but in part upon the return of the Jews from the Babylonish captivity, when they repossessed their own country; and partly in the times of the Maccabees, when they subdued the Ammonites,

``Afterward he passed over to the children of Ammon, where he found a mighty power, and much people, with Timotheus their captain.'' (1 Maccabees 5:6)

and will more fully in the latter day, when the Jews shall be converted, and return to their own land, and the children of Ammon shall obey them, ( Isaiah 11:14 ) ; so Kimchi interprets it; and other Jewish writers understand it of the days of the Messiah, as Abarbinel observes.

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FOOTNOTES:

F25 (Myab) "sunt venientes", Montanus, Schmidt.
F26 Hist. l. 5. p. 414.
F1 Geograph. l. 5. c. 15.
F2 Antiqu. l. 10. c. 9. sect. 7.

Jeremiah 49:2 In-Context

1 Here is what the LORD says about the people of Ammon. He says, "Doesn't Israel have any sons? Doesn't Israel have anyone to take over the family property? Then why has the god Molech taken over Gad? Why do those who worship him live in its towns?

2 But a new day is coming," announces the Lord. "At that time I will sound the battle cry. I will sound it against Rabbah in the land of Ammon. It will become a pile of broken-down buildings. The villages that are around it will be set on fire. Then Israel will drive out those who drove her out," says the Lord.

3 "Heshbon, sob over Ai! It is destroyed! Cry out, you who live in Rabbah! Put on black clothes and sob. Run here and there inside the walls. Your god Molech will be carried away. So will its priests and officials.

4 Why do you brag about your valleys? You brag that they produce so many crops. You are an unfaithful country. You trust in your riches. You say, 'Who will attack me?'

5 I will bring terror on you. It will come from all those who are around you," announces the Lord. He is the LORD who rules over all. "Every one of you will be driven away. No one will bring back those who escape.