The Possessors Dispossessed: Text: Jeremiah 49:1-6
Introduction: The Audacity of Squatters
We live in an age of profound confusion about ownership. Men believe they own themselves. Nations believe they own their destiny. We have elaborate systems of deeds and titles, and we think that these pieces of paper settle the ultimate question of possession. But the fundamental truth of the world is this: God owns everything, and He gives it as an inheritance to whom He pleases. All sin, at its root, is a refusal to acknowledge God's property rights. It is an attempt to squat on His land, use His resources, and breathe His air, all while sending Him a notice of eviction.
The pagan nations surrounding Israel were all, in their own way, audacious squatters. They saw a piece of land they liked, a valley that was fertile, a city that was defensible, and they took it, assuming that the strength of their right arm was the final arbiter of ownership. But in this oracle against Ammon, the Lord God pulls back the curtain of history and shows us the view from the heavenly courtroom. He shows us that border disputes on earth are covenantal lawsuits in heaven. And He shows us that He is a God who jealously guards His inheritance and will not long suffer thieves.
The Ammonites were descendants of Lot, relatives of Israel. But they had long been a thorn in Israel's side. Here, they had taken advantage of Israel's weakness during the Assyrian invasions and had moved in on the territory of Gad, east of the Jordan. They set up their idols, settled in the cities, and assumed the case was closed. But Jeremiah is sent to tell them that God's memory is long, His justice is perfect, and His eviction notices are always served with power. This is not just a story about an ancient tribal conflict. This is a paradigm for how God deals with all proud nations who trust in their own strength and mock the inheritance of His people.
The Text
Concerning the sons of Ammon. Thus says Yahweh: "Does Israel have no sons? Or has he no one who can take possession? Why then has Malcam taken possession of Gad And his people settled in its cities? Therefore behold, the days are coming," declares Yahweh, "That I will cause a trumpet blast of war to be heard Against Rabbah of the sons of Ammon; And it will become a desolate heap, And her towns will be set on fire. Then Israel will take possession of his possessors," Says Yahweh. "Wail, O Heshbon, for Ai has been destroyed! Cry out, O daughters of Rabbah, Gird yourselves with sackcloth and lament, And rush back and forth inside the walls; For Malcam will go into exile Together with his priests and his princes. How boastful you are about the valleys! Your valley is flowing away, O faithless daughter Who trusts in her treasures, saying, ‘Who will come against me?’ Behold, I am going to bring dread upon you," Declares Lord Yahweh of hosts, "From all around you; And each of you will be banished headlong, With no one to gather the one who flees. But afterward I will return The fortunes of the sons of Ammon," Declares Yahweh.
(Jeremiah 49:1-6 LSB)
The Divine Indictment (v. 1)
The prophecy opens with a series of sharp, sarcastic questions from the Lord.
"Does Israel have no sons? Or has he no one who can take possession? Why then has Malcam taken possession of Gad And his people settled in its cities?" (Jeremiah 49:1)
God is speaking like a father whose children have been cheated out of their inheritance. "What is this? Do my people not have heirs? Is there no one to claim what is rightfully theirs?" Of course Israel has sons, and of course they have an heir. The problem is that Israel is in a state of covenantal discipline, and the Ammonites have misinterpreted this as God's abandonment of His people and His promises. They see a vacant property and think it's up for grabs.
But notice who God says is the real thief. It is not the king of Ammon, but "Malcam." This is another name for their chief idol, Molech, the detestable god to whom children were sacrificed. The Ammonites believed their god had given them this victory and this land. God takes this idolatry head-on. He says, in effect, "So your pathetic idol thinks he can seize the inheritance I assigned to my son, Israel?" This is not a mere property dispute; it is a spiritual war. It is Yahweh versus Malcam. Every square inch of this planet is contested space, and the battle is always between the true God and the false gods that men erect in their rebellion.
The Ammonites made the fatal mistake of assuming that because God was chastising His people, He had nullified His covenant with them. This is a folly that the enemies of the Church make in every generation. They see the Church in disarray, compromised and weak, and they assume that her God is dead and her inheritance is theirs for the taking. But God's covenant promises are not contingent on our perfect performance. He will discipline His sons, but He will never disinherit them.
The Great Reversal of Fortune (vv. 2-3)
Because the charge is theft, the sentence is restitution and ruin. God promises a stunning and symmetrical reversal.
"Therefore behold, the days are coming... I will cause a trumpet blast of war to be heard Against Rabbah... Then Israel will take possession of his possessors... For Malcam will go into exile Together with his priests and his princes." (Jeremiah 49:2-3)
The Lord Yahweh Himself will sound the alarm against Rabbah, the Ammonite capital. The very cities they stole and settled will be burned. And then comes the beautiful, iron-fisted poetry of divine justice: "Then Israel will take possession of his possessors." Those who dispossessed God's people will themselves be dispossessed. This is the Lexington and Concord of covenantal law. God is a God of righteous reversals. He exalts the humble and brings low the proud. He fills the hungry with good things and sends the rich away empty.
The judgment is total. The entire social and religious structure of Ammon will be dismantled. Malcam, the idol at the center of their national life, will be packed up and hauled off into exile, and his entire entourage, the priests who served him and the princes who trusted him, will go with him. When a nation's god falls, everything falls. An idol is nothing but carved wood or molten metal, but the demonic spirit behind it and the system of rebellion built around it are real. And when God judges a nation, He topples the whole rotten structure, from the false god in his temple to the faithless politician in his palace.
The Diagnosis of Pride (v. 4)
In verse 4, God puts His finger on the spiritual disease that produced this arrogant theft. It is the ancient sin of pride, rooted in material prosperity and godless self-reliance.
"How boastful you are about the valleys! Your valley is flowing away, O faithless daughter Who trusts in her treasures, saying, ‘Who will come against me?’" (Jeremiah 49:4)
The Ammonites looked at their fertile valleys, their abundant crops, their storehouses full of wealth, and they drew the wrong conclusion. They thought their prosperity was a sign of their own strength and their god's favor. They trusted in their "treasures." Their wealth became their theology. And from this position of comfortable self-assurance, they asked the question that is the anthem of every proud and foolish heart: "Who will come against me?"
This is the native tongue of fallen man. It is the voice of secularism. It is the spirit of our age. We trust in our technology, our economy, our military, our medicine. We look at our overflowing storehouses and our sophisticated systems, and we say, "Who will come against me?" We think we have insulated ourselves from God. We think our portfolio is a shield against providence. But God here calls Ammon a "faithless daughter." He sees this self-reliance not as strength, but as infidelity. It is spiritual adultery. And He gives a chilling answer to their arrogant question.
The Terrifying Answer (v. 5)
The answer to "Who will come against me?" is found in the name of the one who is speaking.
"Behold, I am going to bring dread upon you," Declares Lord Yahweh of hosts, "From all around you; And each of you will be banished headlong, With no one to gather the one who flees." (Jeremiah 49:5)
The one who is coming against you is the Lord, Yahweh of hosts. That is, the sovereign commander of the armies of heaven. You trust in your little army; I command all the armies of the cosmos. You trust in your walled cities; I will bring terror upon you from every direction, "from all around you." Your defenses will be useless because the attack will be total.
The result will be a chaotic, headlong rout. There will be no orderly retreat, no strategic withdrawal. It will be a panicked flight, every man for himself. And in the ultimate sign of societal collapse, there will be "no one to gather the one who flees." There will be no rallying point, no leader to restore order. The social fabric will be completely shredded. When God brings judgment, He undoes creation. He returns a proud civilization to a state of tohu wa-bohu, formless and void. This is the end of all who trust in their treasures and defy the living God.
The Postscript of Grace (v. 6)
And just when the darkness of judgment seems absolute, God adds a single, stunning sentence that changes everything. This is the gospel in the midst of wrath.
"But afterward I will return The fortunes of the sons of Ammon," Declares Yahweh. (Jeremiah 49:6)
After the judgment, after the exile, after the ruin, God promises restoration. This is utterly astonishing. He is not obligated to do this. The Ammonites have done nothing to deserve it. But God's ultimate purpose in judgment is not damnation but redemption. He tears down in order to rebuild. He wounds in order to heal.
This promise looks far beyond the return from the Babylonian exile. It looks ahead to the day of Pentecost and the age of the gospel. It anticipates the moment when the trumpet blast of war is replaced by the trumpet blast of the gospel, calling all nations to repentance and faith. The Ammonites, along with the Moabites, the Egyptians, and the Elamites, all of whom receive similar promises of restoration, represent the Gentile world that will be gathered into the kingdom of God through the work of Jesus Christ.
The true Son and Heir of Israel, Jesus, has come. He has taken possession not just of the land of Gad, but of the entire world. And in His great mercy, He dispossesses us of our sin and rebellion, and gives us a share in His eternal inheritance. He finds us as faithless daughters, trusting in our worthless treasures, and He makes us sons and daughters of the Most High. The judgment that fell on Rabbah fell in its full fury upon Christ at the cross, so that all the proud squatters and idolaters, like us, who flee to Him for refuge might hear that glorious word: "afterward." After the judgment, there is grace. After the cross, there is resurrection. After the exile, there is a restored fortune that can never be taken away.