47 That which came as the word of the Lord to Jeremiah the prophet concerning the Philistines, before Pharaoh [a]conquered Gaza. 2 Thus says the Lord:
“Behold, waters are going to rise from the north
And become an overflowing torrent,
And overflow the land and all its fullness,
The city and those who live in it;
And the men will cry out,
And every inhabitant of the land will wail.
3 “Because of the noise of the [b]galloping hoofs of his [c]stallions,
The tumult of his chariots, and the rumbling of his wheels,
The fathers have not turned back for their children,
Because of the limpness of their hands,
4 On account of the day that is coming
To destroy all the Philistines,
To cut off from Tyre and Sidon
Every ally that is left;
For the Lord is going to destroy the Philistines,
The remnant of the coastland of Caphtor.
5 “Baldness has come upon Gaza;
Ashkelon has been ruined.
O remnant of their valley,
How long will you gash yourself?
6 “Ah, sword of the Lord,
How long will you not be quiet?
Withdraw into your sheath;
Be at rest and stay still.
7 “How can [d]it be quiet,
When the Lord has given it an order?
Against Ashkelon and against the seacoast—
There He has assigned it.”
Well, that’s terrible news for the Philistines… An army is coming that will be like flood waters, a torrent to overflow the land, with stallions and chariots, and they will be but off from any allies. But that doesn’t do much for us, or have any impact on anyone today. Yet the ending is interesting for this “sword of the Lord” that will not be quiet.
The messenger (possibly an angel) asks this sword to be quiet and rest, possibly in a rhetorical way, since the answer comes back in the negative. For “how can it be quiet, when the Lord has given it an order?” It’s funny to think we could learn from a sword, but the sword is obedient and does God’s work. Too many times we can be like Moses or Gideon of old, finding every excuse in the book to not do what God asks.
Rather, we should remember that there is no contesting God’s plan. Neither Moses nor Gideon got out of what God asked, for He had thought of every eventuality. His plan is not just better than ours, it is perfect, just as He is. Whatever God is asking you and I, we should have the attitude of the sword. That is, if God has ordered it, how can we do anything else?