Context No. 3487 of 4322 · Jeremiah

Jeremiah 25:17-26: in context

17Then I took the cup at the LORD’s hand, and made all the nations to drink, to whom the LORD had sent me: 18Jerusalem, and the cities of Judah, with its kings and its princes, to make them a desolation, an astonishment, a hissing, and a curse, as it is today; 19Pharaoh king of Egypt, with his servants, his princes, and all his people; 20and all the mixed people, and all the kings of the land of Uz, all the kings of the Philistines, Ashkelon, Gaza, Ekron, and the remnant of Ashdod; 21Edom, Moab, and the children of Ammon; 22and all the kings of Tyre, all the kings of Sidon, and the kings of the isle which is beyond the sea; 23Dedan, Tema, Buz, and all who have the corners of their beard cut off; 24and all the kings of Arabia, all the kings of the mixed people who dwell in the wilderness; 25and all the kings of Zimri, all the kings of Elam, and all the kings of the Medes; 26and all the kings of the north, far and near, one with another; and all the kingdoms of the world, which are on the surface of the earth. The king of Sheshach will drink after them.

Jeremiah is given a symbolic cup of God's wrath and told to make all the nations drink it. He begins with Jerusalem and the cities of Judah, then Egypt, the Philistines, Edom, Moab, Tyre, and on through a long list, ending at last with Babylon itself. No kingdom on the face of the earth is left off the list.

The striking thing is the universality of it. Judgment begins with God's own people and reaches to every nation, even the powers God had used as his instruments. No one is exempt; all are finally accountable to God. And notably, the cup starts with Jerusalem, God's own city drinking first. He does not play favorites; if his own people are held to account, how much more the nations, and none escapes the cup. There is a sober truth here that all peoples and powers stand under God's judgment, and that his own people are judged first, not last. Accountability to God is universal, and it begins with those nearest to him.

Do I live aware that all people, myself included and first of all, stand accountable before God, rather than imagining anyone is exempt from his judgment?

Sources

Jeremiah 25:17: "Then I took the cup at the LORD's hand, and made all the nations to drink, to whom the LORD had sent me."
Jeremiah 25:29: "For, behold, I begin to work evil at the city which is called by my name; and should you be utterly unpunished?"
1 Peter 4:17: "For the time has come for judgment to begin with the household of God."