Jeremiah 22 - 26

Drink From This Cup

Note: This is posted a day late

The Bible is full of symbols and symbolism and Jeremiah is no exception. I find it remarkable that the sovereign Lord, who can do what He pleases, how He pleases, chooses to manifest His grace by having man participate in His plan.  Many places in the Bible, the Lord has someone do something symbolic before the actual event takes place.  In the more abstract analysis, much of the Old Testament is a Biblical type of what occurs in the new testament.

In chapter 25, the Lord tells Jeremiah, "Take from my hand this cup filled to the brim with my anger, and make all the nations to whom I send you drink from it. When they drink from it, they will stagger, crazed by the warfare I will send against them." (v.15-16) This symbolic act of Jeremiah foreshadowed the destruction of Israel and Jerusalem and the 70 year exile Jeremiah speaks of earlier in the chapter (v.11-12) which Daniel speaks about in chapter 9 of his book.

Jeremiah makes all the nations drink from the cup, from Egypt to Babylon. This sets in motion the event which ultimately come to pass in the years that occurred after the prophecy.  All the nations listed are nations that persecuted Israel and Judah over which the Lord did not leave them unpunished.