Jeremiah 47:1-7: a reflection

1The LORD’s word that came to Jeremiah the prophet concerning the Philistines, before Pharaoh struck Gaza. 2The LORD says: “Behold, waters rise up out of the north, and will become an overflowing stream, and will overflow the land and all that is therein, the city and those who dwell therein. The men will cry, and all the inhabitants of the land will wail. 3At the noise of the stamping of the hoofs of his strong ones, at the rushing of his chariots, at the rumbling of his wheels, the fathers don’t look back for their children because their hands are so feeble, 4because of the day that comes to destroy all the Philistines, to cut off from Tyre and Sidon every helper who remains; for the LORD will destroy the Philistines, the remnant of the isle of Caphtor. 5Baldness has come on Gaza; Ashkelon is brought to nothing. You remnant of their valley, how long will you cut yourself? 6“‘You sword of the LORD, how long will it be before you are quiet? Put yourself back into your scabbard; rest, and be still.’ 7“How can you be quiet, since the LORD has given you a command? Against Ashkelon, and against the seashore, there he has appointed it.”

This is a hard oracle of judgment against the Philistines, full of dread, an overflowing flood from the north, chariots rumbling, people wailing. But near the end comes a striking, almost pleading image. The prophet cries out to the sword of the LORD: how long until you are quiet? Put yourself back into your scabbard; rest, and be still. It is the longing, in the middle of turmoil, for the violence to stop, for things to be calm again.

And notice the sober answer: how can it be quiet, when the LORD has given it a charge? The sword, the instrument of this judgment, cannot simply rest, because it is acting under a command from God, appointed against a particular place for a particular time. Even this turmoil is not random or out of control; it moves at God's charge, and it will rest at his word, not before.

There is a hard comfort in that, even here. When we are in a season of turmoil and cry out how long, longing for it to be still, this passage reminds us that even the hard things run their course under God's command, not loose and chaotic, but bounded, appointed, and finally answerable to him. The sword rests when God says rest. Nothing, not even the upheaval you long to see end, is beyond his control or beyond his power to still. Cry out your how long honestly, and trust the God who both appoints the hard season and will, in his time, sheathe the sword.

Lord, in seasons of turmoil I cry out, how long? Remind me that even the hard things run their course under your command, bounded and appointed, not loose and chaotic. You will still the sword at your word. Help me trust the God who both permits the hard season and will, in your time, bring it to rest.