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Book of Jeremiah – Jer 49:23-39  In The Latter Days I will Bring Again the Captivity of Elam

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Jer 49:23-39  In The Latter Days I will Bring Again the Captivity of Elam

[Study Aired September 11, 2022]

Concerning Syria/Damascus

Jer 49:23-39 Concerning Damascus. Hamath is confounded, and Arpad: for they have heard evil tidings: they are fainthearted; there is sorrow on the sea; it cannot be quiet.
Jer 49:24  Damascus is waxed feeble, and turneth herself to flee, and fear hath seized on her: anguish and sorrows have taken her, as a woman in travail.
Jer 49:25  How is the city of praise not left, the city of my joy!
Jer 49:26  Therefore her young men shall fall in her streets, and all the men of war shall be cut off in that day, saith the LORD of hosts.
Jer 49:27  And I will kindle a fire in the wall of Damascus, and it shall consume the palaces of Benhadad.

Concerning Kedar and Hazor

Jer 49:28  Concerning Kedar, and concerning the kingdoms of Hazor, which Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon shall smite, thus saith the LORD; Arise ye, go up to Kedar, and spoil the men of the east.
Jer 49:29  Their tents and their flocks shall they take away: they shall take to themselves their curtains, and all their vessels, and their camels; and they shall cry unto them, Fear is on every side.
Jer 49:30  Flee, get you far off, dwell deep, O ye inhabitants of Hazor, saith the LORD; for Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon hath taken counsel against you, and hath conceived a purpose against you.
Jer 49:31  Arise, get you up unto the wealthy nation, that dwelleth without care, saith the LORD, which have neither gates nor bars, which dwell alone.
Jer 49:32  And their camels shall be a booty, and the multitude of their cattle a spoil: and I will scatter into all winds them that are in the utmost corners; and I will bring their calamity from all sides thereof, saith the LORD.
Jer 49:33  And Hazor shall be a dwelling for dragons, and a desolation for ever: there shall no man abide there, nor any son of man dwell in it.

Judgment against Elam

Jer 49:34  The word of the LORD that came to Jeremiah the prophet against Elam in the beginning of the reign of Zedekiah king of Judah, saying,
Jer 49:35  Thus saith the LORD of hosts; Behold, I will break the bow of Elam, the chief of their might.
Jer 49:36  And upon Elam will I bring the four winds from the four quarters of heaven, and will scatter them toward all those winds; and there shall be no nation whither the outcasts of Elam shall not come.
Jer 49:37  For I will cause Elam to be dismayed before their enemies, and before them that seek their life: and I will bring evil upon them, even my fierce anger, saith the LORD; and I will send the sword after them, till I have consumed them:
Jer 49:38  And I will set my throne in Elam, and will destroy from thence the king and the princes, saith the LORD.
Jer 49:39  But it shall come to pass in the latter days, that I will bring again the captivity of Elam, saith the LORD.

Our study today begins with the judgment of the nation of Syria:

Jer 49:23  Concerning Damascus. Hamath is confounded, and Arpad: for they have heard evil tidings: they are fainthearted; there is sorrow on the sea; it cannot be quiet.
Jer 49:24  Damascus is waxed feeble, and turneth herself to flee, and fear hath seized on her: anguish and sorrows have taken her, as a woman in travail.

These are the same words used to describe judgment throughout the Old Testament. When Job was being judged of the Lord, he said:

Job 9:28  I am afraid of all my sorrows, I know that thou wilt not hold me innocent.

When Isaiah speaks of the judgment of Babylon, he likens it to the sorrows and pain of a woman in travail:

Isa 13:8  And they shall be afraid: pangs and sorrows shall take hold of them; they shall be in pain as a woman that travaileth: they shall be amazed one at another; their faces shall be as flames.

Syria and Damascus are being judged by the Lord, along with all nations of this earth:

Jer 49:25  How is the city of praise not left, the city of my joy!

There is no ‘my’ in the Hebrew, and Damascus certainly is not the city of the Lord’s joy. There is one Hebrew word which is translated ‘my joy’ here:

Damascus is called ‘the city of joy’ in the same sense that Babylon was known as:

Isa 13:19  And Babylon, the glory of kingdoms, the beauty of the Chaldees’ excellency, shall be as when God overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah.

Damascus is ‘the city of joy’, and Babylon was ‘the glory of the kingdoms’ only from a carnal perspective. When we lose our first love and we have domineering Nicolaitans among us and we are given over to false doctrines, we still think we are “the city of praise and the city of joy”. We are as blind as the church of Laodicea and do not see ourselves as the Lord sees us:

Rev 3:14  And unto the angel of the church of the Laodiceans write; These things saith the Amen, the faithful and true witness, the beginning of the creation of God;
Rev 3:15  I know thy works, that thou art neither cold nor hot: I would thou wert cold or hot.
Rev 3:16  So then because thou art lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will spue thee out of my mouth.
Rev 3:17  Because thou sayest, I am rich, and increased with goods, and have need of nothing; and knowest not that thou art wretched, and miserable, and poor, and blind, and naked:
Rev 3:18  I counsel thee to buy of me gold tried in the fire, that thou mayest be rich; and white raiment, that thou mayest be clothed, and that the shame of thy nakedness do not appear; and anoint thine eyes with eyesalve, that thou mayest see.
Rev 3:19  As many as I love, I rebuke and chasten: be zealous therefore, and repent.

Jer 49:26  Therefore her young men shall fall in her streets, and all the men of war shall be cut off in that day, saith the LORD of hosts.

Damascus is the capital of Syria, and this is what we are told of Israel’s relationship to Syria:

Deu 26:1  And it shall be, when thou art come in unto the land which the LORD thy God giveth thee for an inheritance, and possessest it, and dwellest therein;
Deu 26:2  That thou shalt take of the first of all the fruit of the earth, which thou shalt bring of thy land that the LORD thy God giveth thee, and shalt put it in a basket, and shalt go unto the place which the LORD thy God shall choose to place his name there.
Deu 26:3  And thou shalt go unto the priest that shall be in those days, and say unto him, I profess this day unto the LORD thy God, that I am come unto the country which the LORD sware unto our fathers for to give us.
Deu 26:4  And the priest shall take the basket out of thine hand, and set it down before the altar of the LORD thy God.
Deu 26:5  And thou shalt speak and say before the LORD thy God, A Syrian ready to perish was  my father, and he went down into Egypt, and sojourned there with a few, and became there a nation, great, mighty, and populous:

Once again, as Christ demonstrated in the parable of the good Samaritan, we are made to understand that all men are our brothers, and the scriptures show us how close we are and how close those ‘nations’ within us are to “our Lord and His Christ” who are symbolized by Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob (Israel), the patriarchs of the Old Testament, the old carnal covenant.

Gal 3:6  Even as Abraham believed God, and it was accounted to him for righteousness.
Gal 3:7  Know ye therefore that they which are of faith, the same are the children of Abraham.
Gal 3:8  And the scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the heathen through faith, preached before the gospel unto Abraham, saying, In thee shall all nations be blessed.
Gal 3:9  So then they which be of faith are blessed with faithful Abraham.

Abraham is an Old Testament type of our Lord Jesus Christ as Paul makes clear with these words in this same chapter which is addressed to Gentile Galatians:

Gal 3:26  For ye are all the children of God by faith in Christ Jesus.
Gal 3:27  For as many of you as have been baptized into Christ have put on Christ.
Gal 3:28  There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither bond nor free, there is neither male nor female: for ye are all one in Christ Jesus.
Gal 3:29  And if ye be Christ’s, then are ye Abraham’s seed, and heirs according to the promise.

Being “one in Christ” does not mean that men can use women’s restrooms, or that wives can be teachers in the church or become the head of the household. What the spirit is telling us is, regardless of our state in this life, we are of the one mind of Christ, and we are all ‘accepted of God in the Beloved’:

Eph 1:6  To the praise of the glory of his grace, wherein he hath made us [all] accepted in the beloved.
Eph 1:7  In whom we [all] have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of his grace;
Eph 1:8  Wherein he hath abounded toward us in all wisdom and prudence;

Since Abraham was a Syrian who went down into Egypt, he therefore signifies our own flesh which begins a relationship with God while we are still in this world and still in our sins. Our time being dominated by the sins of our flesh is called in scripture “the eon of this world”, and we are all destined to begin our relationship with God in “the eon of this world” as Syrians in Damascus.

Eph 2:1 And you, being dead to your offenses and sins,
Eph 2:2 in which once you walked, in accord with the eon of this world, in accord with the chief of the jurisdiction of the air, the spirit now operating in the sons of stubbornness (CLV)

Abraham, who typifies us in a relationship with Christ, went from Syria into the promised land, typifying the time called our “first love”. Then he went down into Egypt where he denied his wife, his first love:

Gen 12:10  And there was a famine in the land: and Abram went down into Egypt to sojourn there; for the famine was grievous in the land.
Gen 12:11  And it came to pass, when he was come near to enter into Egypt, that he said unto Sarai his wife, Behold now, I know that thou art a fair woman to look upon:
Gen 12:12  Therefore it shall come to pass, when the Egyptians shall see thee, that they shall say, This is his wife: and they will kill me, but they will save thee alive.
Gen 12:13  Say, I pray thee, thou art my sister: that it may be well with me for thy sake; and my soul shall live because of thee.
Gen 12:14  And it came to pass, that, when Abram was come into Egypt, the Egyptians beheld the woman that she was very fair.
Gen 12:15  The princes also of Pharaoh saw her, and commended her before Pharaoh: and the woman was taken into Pharaoh’s house.

This scenario happens again when Abraham returns to the land of Canaan and does the same foolish thing to Abimelech the Philistine king of Gerar. By the time he denied his wife a second time, Abraham had separated himself from Lot, and he had rescued Lot from the kings of the east. Then he married Hagar and had Ishmael. He had even been given the covenant of circumcision and was promised that Sarah would also have a son. After giving Abraham that promise, the Lord appeared to him again to tell Abraham he intended to destroy Sodom. Knowing Lot lived there, Abraham interceded with the Lord to save Sodom, but he had to witness the smoke of the destruction of Sodom.

Then after all these incredible, miraculous experiences with the Lord, Abraham, typifying each of us, again fears what men can do to him, and he denies Sarah as his wife for a second time:

Gen 20:1  And Abraham journeyed from thence toward the south country, and dwelled between Kadesh and Shur, and sojourned in Gerar.
Gen 20:2  And Abraham said of Sarah his wife, She is my sister: and Abimelech king of Gerar sent, and took Sarah.

Abraham denying that Sarah is his wife and Abimelech taking Sarah takes place immediately after the destruction of Sodom. Ishmael is a young lad, and the Lord has promised Abraham that Sarah would have a child of her own. Sarah is in the early stages of her pregnancy with Isaac at the time Abraham is denying that she is his wife. The Lord closed the wombs of Abimelech’s household at this time:

Gen 20:17  So Abraham prayed unto God: and God healed Abimelech, and his wife, and his maidservants; and they bare children.
Gen 20:18  For the LORD had fast closed up all the wombs of the house of Abimelech, because of Sarah Abraham’s wife.

By quickly closing all the wombs of the house of Abimelech there would be no doubt that Isaac was Abraham’s son and not the son of Abimelech.

The tendency of our flesh to deny our Lord and to disobey His doctrines is very strong part of our judgment because this same scenario is played out for a third time many years later with Abraham’s son Isaac:

Gen 26:6  And Isaac dwelt in Gerar:
Gen 26:7  And the men of the place asked him of his wife; and he said, She is my sister: for he feared to say, She is my wife; lest, said he, the men of the place should kill me for Rebekah; because she was fair to look upon.
Gen 26:8  And it came to pass, when he had been there a long time, that Abimelech king of the Philistines looked out at a window, and saw, and, behold, Isaac was sporting with Rebekah his wife.
Gen 26:9  And Abimelech called Isaac, and said, Behold, of a surety she is thy wife: and how saidst thou, She is my sister? And Isaac said unto him, Because I said, Lest I die for her.
Gen 26:10  And Abimelech said, What is this thou hast done unto us? one of the people might lightly have lien with thy wife, and thou shouldest have brought guiltiness upon us.
Gen 26:11  And Abimelech charged all his people, saying, He that toucheth this man or his wife shall surely be put to death.

Chapter 25 of Genesis is the story of the birth of Esau and Jacob. This is the end of that chapter:

Gen 25:29  And Jacob sod pottage: and Esau came from the field, and he was faint:
Gen 25:30  And Esau said to Jacob, Feed me, I pray thee, with that same red pottage; for I am faint: therefore was his name called Edom.
Gen 25:31  And Jacob said, Sell me this day thy birthright.
Gen 25:32  And Esau said, Behold, I am at the point to die: and what profit shall this birthright do to me?
Gen 25:33  And Jacob said, Swear to me this day; and he sware unto him: and he sold his birthright unto Jacob.
Gen 25:34  Then Jacob gave Esau bread and pottage of lentiles; and he did eat and drink, and rose up, and went his way: thus Esau despised his birthright.

In this case Abimelech did not take Rebekah, but that does not excuse Isaac’s lack of faith in God at this stage of his life, nor does it justify his fear of what men could do to him.

Once again, the denying of his wife did not take place at the beginning and immature part of his life. Isaac was forty years old when he married Rebekah. Rebekah was barren like her mother-in-law, Sarah, before her, and Isaac had prayed to the Lord to open Rebekah’s womb.

Gen 25:20  And Isaac was forty years old when he took Rebekah to wife, the daughter of Bethuel the Syrian of Padanaram, the sister to Laban the Syrian.
Gen 25:21  And Isaac intreated the LORD for his wife, because she was barren: and the LORD was intreated of him, and Rebekah his wife conceived.

At the time Isaac denied his wife, the twin brothers are old enough to be out hunting and preparing a meal of pottage. So, Isaac could very easily be in his late fifties or early sixties by the time he went to Gerar with his sons, Esau and Jacob, and at that time he denied that Rebekah was his wife. It all happened to him and it is all written for our admonition. All these stories about Abraham and Isaac denying their wives so late in their lives, tells us that is exactly what our flesh will do unless the Lord strengthens us to grow beyond our fear of men and our own propensity to deny our Lord when faced with being rejected by and being persecuted by this world. That is just what is in our corruptible flesh. That is what is signified by Damascus, the capital of Syria.

The spiritual lesson in these three denials of their wives by Abraham and by Isaac, the patriarchs of the Lord’s own people, is that our flesh, the flesh of the Lord’s own people today, is signified by Syria. The fact that these denials happened so late in life, and after being given so much knowledge, is revealing to us that our flesh is our most dangerous enemy, and that enemy will be with us until the day of our death. The spiritual admonition in all of this is that we must never think that we of ourselves are the master of our beastly flesh, no matter how long we have known the Lord and no matter how many truths and revelations He has shown us:

1Co 10:11  Now all these things happened unto them for ensamples [Greek: tupos, types of us (1Co 10:6)]: and they are written for our admonition, upon whom the ends of the world are come.
1Co 10:12  Wherefore let him that thinketh he standeth take heed lest he fall.

That is why Syria and Damascus within us must be destroyed by the brightness of the coming of Christ within our heart and mind:

2Th 2:8  And then shall that Wicked be revealed, whom the Lord shall consume with the spirit of his mouth, and shall destroy with the brightness of his coming:

Jer 49:27  And I will kindle a fire in the wall of Damascus, and it shall consume the palaces of Benhadad.

From the judgment of Syria, the nation of Abraham’s (our) own flesh, we now turn our attention to the judgment of the flesh of Abraham’s son by a “bondwoman”. This is a much closer relationship than simply being of the same nation, Syria:

Jer 49:28  Concerning Kedar, and concerning the kingdoms of Hazor, which Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon shall smite, thus saith the LORD; Arise ye, go up to Kedar, and spoil the men of the east.

Kedar and Hazor signify the judgment of that part of our flesh which is much closer to us than the nation of our birth, which is what Syria is. Abraham’s first son’s name was Ishmael, and Ishmael was the father of Kedar:

Gen 25:13  And these are the names of the sons of Ishmael, by their names, according to their generations: the firstborn of Ishmael, Nebajoth; and Kedar, and Adbeel, and Mibsam,

Kedar is Ishmael, and he and his mother were not permitted to have a part in the inheritance which was promised to Isaac, Abraham’s son by his “freewoman” wife Sarah. The holy spirit tells us plainly that these two wives of Abraham typify our own time of bondage in the flesh versus our deliverance into the inheritance of the promises of faith which were made to Abraham. Those promises made to Abraham typify the promises of “life eternal” which we are promised through “the faith of Jesus Christ”:

Gal 4:22  For it is written, that Abraham had two sons, the one by a bondmaid, the other by a freewoman.
Gal 4:23  But he who was of the bondwoman was born after the flesh; but he of the freewoman was by promise.
Gal 4:24  Which things are an allegory: for these are the two covenants; the one from the mount Sinai, which gendereth to bondage, which is Agar.

There is not one ‘Christian’ minister in a thousand who believes that Hagar, the “bondwoman” is the spiritual mother of those who were enjoined with the covenant that God made with the descendants of Abraham and Sarah at Mount Sinai. Nevertheless, let God be true and every man a liar and let us believe:

Gal 4:24  Which things are an allegory: for these are the two covenants; the one from the mount Sinai, which gendereth to bondage, which is Agar.

What is at stake if we fail to believe that the covenant made with Israel at Mount Sinai genders to bondage and “is Hagar”? This what is at stake if we refuse to hear and believe that Truth:

Gal 4:25  For this Agar is mount Sinai in Arabia, and answereth to Jerusalem which now is, and is in bondage with her children.
Gal 4:26  But Jerusalem which is above is free, which is the mother of us all.
Gal 4:27  For it is written, Rejoice, thou barren that bearest not; break forth and cry, thou that travailest not: for the desolate hath many more children than she which hath an husband.
Gal 4:28  Now we [Gentile Galatians], brethren, as Isaac was, are the children of promise.
Gal 4:29  But as then he that was born after the flesh persecuted him that was born after the Spirit, even so it is now.
Gal 4:30  Nevertheless what saith the scripture? Cast out the bondwoman and her son: for the son of the bondwoman shall not be heir with the son of the freewoman.
Gal 4:31  So then, brethren, we are not children of the bondwoman, but of the free.

It is our inheritance in Christ which is at stake. It is the honor of ruling over the kingdoms of this world and then judging angels in the lake of fire which are at risk. It is our relationship with Christ as our husband in this present time which is at risk if we are not given eyes to see that ‘Hagar answers to Jerusalem which now is and is in bondage with her children’.

1Co 6:2  Do ye not know that the saints shall judge the world? and if the world shall be judged by you, are ye unworthy to judge the smallest matters?
1Co 6:3  Know ye not that we shall judge angels? how much more things that pertain to this life?

Jer 49:29  Their tents and their flocks shall they take away: they shall take to themselves their curtains, and all their vessels, and their camels; and they shall cry unto them, Fear is on every side.

It is the Chaldeans who will “take away… their flocks, their curtains, and all their vessels and camels.” In other words, everything we value in this world will be lost. The spiritual message of Kedar and Hazor losing everything they possess is this twice repeated admonition:

Mat 10:39  He that findeth his life shall lose it: and he that loseth his life for my sake shall find it.

Mat 16:25  For whosoever will save his life shall lose it: and whosoever will lose his life for my sake shall find it.

Jer 49:30  Flee, get you far off, dwell deep, O ye inhabitants of Hazor, saith the LORD; for Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon hath taken counsel against you, and hath conceived a purpose against you.

“Dwell deep” means ‘Hide yourselves in the rocks’ for fear of your impending judgment by the wrath of God:

Rev 6:12  And I beheld when he had opened the sixth seal, and, lo, there was a great earthquake; and the sun became black as sackcloth of hair, and the moon became as blood;
Rev 6:13  And the stars of heaven fell unto the earth, even as a fig tree casteth her untimely figs, when she is shaken of a mighty wind.
Rev 6:14  And the heaven departed as a scroll when it is rolled together; and every mountain and island were moved out of their places.
Rev 6:15  And the kings of the earth, and the great men, and the rich men, and the chief captains, and the mighty men, and every bondman, and every free man, hid themselves in the dens and in the rocks of the mountains;
Rev 6:16  And said to the mountains and rocks, Fall on us, and hide us from the face of him that sitteth on the throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb:
Rev 6:17  For the great day of his wrath is come; and who shall be able to stand?

This is what we first read of Hazor:

Jos 11:10  And Joshua at that time turned back, and took Hazor, and smote the king thereof with the sword: for Hazor beforetime was the head of all those kingdoms.
Jos 11:11  And they smote all the souls that were therein with the edge of the sword, utterly destroying them: there was not any left to breathe: and he burnt Hazor with fire.

Hazor was a Canaanite kingdom which is mentioned here in association with Kedar, the son of Ishmael because Ishmael’s mother, Hagar, had taken a wife for Ishmael of Egypt, the Biblical symbol of taking a wife of this world:

Gen 21:21  And he [Ishmael] dwelt in the wilderness of Paran: and his mother [Hagar] took him a wife out of the land of Egypt.

Jer 49:31  Arise, get you up unto the wealthy nation, that dwelleth without care, saith the LORD, which have neither gates nor bars, which dwell alone.

This is the commandment of the Lord to Nebuchadnezzar. The word ‘wealthy’ is not at all a good translation of the Hebrew word:

When we feel at ease and secure in being separated from the Lord, we are not in a good position. This Hebrew word appears in the Old Testament eight times and is translated as ‘wealthy’ only once, which is right here in this verse of Jeremiah 49:31. ‘Get you up unto the nation at ease’ is a much better sense of the Hebrew in this verse.

Jer 49:32  And their camels shall be a booty, and the multitude of their cattle a spoil: and I will scatter into all winds them that are in the utmost corners; and I will bring their calamity from all sides thereof, saith the LORD.
Jer 49:33  And Hazor shall be a dwelling for dragons, and a desolation for ever: there shall no man abide there, nor any son of man dwell in it.

The Hazorites thought their lack of wealth and their remote station in the Arabian peninsula was their safety. The lesson for us is that the only safety to be had is in the Lord:

Pro 18:10  The name of the LORD is a strong tower: the righteous runneth into it, and is safe. [His doctrines]

Pro 29:25  The fear of man bringeth a snare: but whoso putteth his trust in the LORD shall be safe. [The Lord’s words]

Next, we are told of the judgment on Elam:

Jer 49:34  The word of the LORD that came to Jeremiah the prophet against Elam in the beginning of the reign of Zedekiah king of Judah, saying,
Jer 49:35  Thus saith the LORD of hosts; Behold, I will break the bow of Elam, the chief of their might.

Elam is mentioned in connection with “the bow” several times in scripture, and he is listed as the firstborn son of Shem, the son of Noah. Asshur, the father of the Assyrians was the brother of Elam:

Gen 10:22  The children of Shem; Elam, and Asshur, and Arphaxad, and Lud, and Aram.

Elam is not mentioned again until we find the “king of Elam” fighting with the king of Sodom and Gomorrah and the other cities of the plains around the Dead Sea or “the salt sea”.

Gen 14:1  And it came to pass in the days of Amraphel king of Shinar, Arioch king of Ellasar, Chedorlaomer king of Elam, and Tidal king of nations;
Gen 14:2  That these made war with Bera king of Sodom, and with Birsha king of Gomorrah, Shinab king of Admah, and Shemeber king of Zeboiim, and the king of Bela, which is Zoar.

The Elamites were known for being good archers as noted by Isaiah when he described how Sennacherib took the cities of Judah:

2Ki 18:13  Now in the fourteenth year of king Hezekiah did Sennacherib king of Assyria come up against all the fenced cities of Judah, and took them.

It was about this judgment of Judah under King Hezekiah that Isaiah made this statement concerning Elam:

Isa 22:6  And Elam bare the quiver with chariots of men and horsemen, and Kir uncovered the shield.

Elam, being the older brother of Asshur, the father of the Assyrians and the Syrians of whom Abraham came, is therefore just another symbol of the flesh of our own people, and therefore it is just another symbol of our own flesh which the Lord is judging:

Jer 49:36  And upon Elam will I bring the four winds from the four quarters of heaven, and will scatter them toward all those winds; and there shall be no nation whither the outcasts of Elam shall not come.

Being “scattered… toward… the four winds from the four quarters of heaven” is always used as a type of our judgment. It is repeated as being scattered unto all nations and scattered among the heathen:

Psa 44:11  Thou hast given us like sheep appointed for meat; and hast scattered us among the heathen.

Being judged and scattered is contrasted with being gathered from all nations and turning our captivity when we repent of our sins and seek the Lord with a whole heart:

Deu 30:1  And it shall come to pass, when all these things are come upon thee, the blessing and the curse, which I have set before thee, and thou shalt call them to mind among all the nations, whither the LORD thy God hath driven thee,
Deu 30:2  And shalt return unto the LORD thy God, and shalt obey his voice according to all that I command thee this day, thou and thy children, with all thine heart, and with all thy soul;
Deu 30:3  That then the LORD thy God will turn thy captivity, and have compassion upon thee, and will return and gather thee from all the nations, whither the LORD thy God hath scattered thee.

Every time the Lord mentions “bringing again the captivity” of these Gentile nations like Moab and Ammon, what we are being told is that the Lord is not only the Lord of physical Israel, but He is also the Lord of all Gentiles:

Jer 48:47  Yet will I bring again the captivity of Moab in the latter days, saith the LORD. Thus far is the judgment of Moab.

Jer 49:6  And afterward I will bring again the captivity of the children of Ammon, saith the LORD.

These are the same words the Lord uses in reference to the salvation of His own people:

Jer 31:23  Thus saith the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel; As yet they shall use this speech in the land of Judah and in the cities thereof, when I shall bring again their captivity; The LORD bless thee, O habitation of justice, and mountain of holiness.

As the Lord told the people of Nazareth, the woman at the well, and as He told Peter and Paul, surely, we are not to call any man common or unclean:

Act 10:28  And he said unto them, Ye know how that it is an unlawful thing for a man that is a Jew to keep company, or come unto one of another nation; but God hath shewed me that I should not call any man common or unclean.

Elam, the firstborn of Shem and the father of so many Gentile nations, is no exception to these words of the apostle Peter. No man is to be considered as being unable to have a relationship with Christ and His Father.

Jer 49:37  For I will cause Elam to be dismayed before their enemies, and before them that seek their life: and I will bring evil upon them, even my fierce anger, saith the LORD; and I will send the sword after them, till I have consumed them:
Jer 49:38  And I will set my throne in Elam, and will destroy from thence the king and the princes, saith the LORD.
Jer 49:39  But it shall come to pass in the latter days, that I will bring again the captivity of Elam, saith the LORD.

The Lord will judge “every man”, and through that judgment “every man” will then “be saved; yet so as by fire”:

1Co 3:13  Every man’s work shall be made manifest: for the day shall declare it, because it shall be revealed by fire; and the fire shall try every man’s work of what sort it is.
1Co 3:14  If any man’s work abide which he hath built thereupon, he shall receive a reward.
1Co 3:15  If any man’s work shall be burned, he shall suffer loss: but he himself shall be saved; yet so as by fire.

Isa 26:8  Yea, in the way of thy judgments, O LORD, have we waited for thee; the desire of our soul is to thy name, and to the remembrance of thee.
Isa 26:9  With my soul have I desired thee in the night; yea, with my spirit within me will I seek thee early: for when thy judgments are in the earth, the inhabitants of the world will learn righteousness.

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