Is Jeremiah 49:34-39 A Prophecy Of Today’s Iran?
Word-of-the-Day: ‘(35) This is what the LORD Almighty says: “See, I will break the bow of Elam, the mainstay of their might. (36) I will bring against Elam the four winds from the four quarters of heaven; I will scatter them to the four winds, and there will not be a nation where Elam’s exiles do not go. (37) I will shatter Elam before their foes, before those who want to kill them; I will bring disaster on them, even my fierce anger,” declares the LORD. “I will pursue them with the sword until I have made an end of them. (38) I will set my throne in Elam and destroy her king and officials,” declares the LORD. (39) “Yet I will restore the fortunes of Elam in days to come.” declares the LORD.’ (Jeremiah 49:35-39)
I was asked about this prophecy this morning, as Elam is an ancient nation that was located in today’s southcentral/western Iran, on the northeastern coast of the Persian Gulf. The question was could the prophecy of Elam given to Jeremiah by God in Jeremiah 49:34-39 be about the current conflict occurring between Iran and the US and Israel; is this prophecy by Jeremiah discussing this very episode of history and time?
Shem, a son of Noah, founded one of the three foundational nations after the flood, with his brothers Ham and Japheth founding the other two. The nation of Shem was focused in the Persian Gulf region, and his eldest son Elam (Genesis 10:22) and his sons settled in this region next to the Persian Gulf. The descendants of Shem are known as Semites, which covers the lineage of both sons of Abraham, Ishmael (from the maiden Hagar) and Isaac (from his wife Sarah). From these two sons, come the Israelites or Jews (those descending from Jacob, the son of Isaac) and the Arabs (those descending from Ishmael). Others who are Semites come from Shem’s other sons (with the nations they fathered); Ashur (Assyria), Arphaxad (Babylonia), Lud (Persia) and Aram (Syria). Edomites, like the Elamites, also were Semites, from Jacob’s older brother Esau.
Arphaxad was the ancestor of Abram (Genesis 11) and also is considered the founder of the ancient city of Ur (a settlement on the banks of the southern end of the Euphrates River, in modern-day Iraq), the ‘hometown’ of Abraham at the Mesopotamian delta of the Tigris and Euphrates at the top of the Persian Gulf. The nation of Elam was east of Ur and the Mesopotamian delta region.
Elam is mentioned in the Bible several times, mostly in prophecies. In Genesis 14, Edom was one of four kingdoms whose armies fought against the kingdoms of Sodom and Gomorrah, defeating them and taking Abraham’s nephew Lot as a hostage. Abraham and 318 men chased after the Elamite coalition and near Damascus overtook them, freeing Lot and plundering them of goods and livestock.
God, through Isaiah per Isaiah 11:11, promises to retrieve the remnant of Israel from Elam and other parts of the world, a prophecy of Jesus, as the ‘branch of Jesse’ will bring God’s people from across the globe to him, a reference to the End Times of Jesus gathering His people, those who accept Him as Lord, unto Him for Eternity. Isaiah also provides the prophecy of Elam as part of the nations that will conquer Babylon (Isaiah 21:2).
Daniel’s End Time prophecy includes Elam, where his vision placed him at the citadel of Susa (Daniel 8:2) in the northern lands of Elam bordering Babylon, where he then received the terrifying prophecy of the two-horned ram (the kingdoms of Media and Persia) was trampled by the one-horned goat (Greece), which is seen as the coming of the Antichrist, before being overcome by the Messiah (Jesus).
Elam, however, in Jeremiah 49:34-39 and in Ezekiel 32:34 refer to Elam as not only defeated but dead and buried, as Ezekiel 32 describes Egypt’s fall and it joining Elam and other fallen nations ‘under the earth’ in burial. It is considered Jeremiah’s prophecy is talking of Elam’s defeat by the hands of the Achaemenid (Persian) Empire around 550 BC, soon after Elam played a part in the defeat of Babylon along with the Medes and the Persians. Elam’s people were considered to be scattered throughout the Persian Empire by its conquerors after its defeat, to prevent them from reforming and restrengthening.
Another diaspora occurred in 1979, after the overthrow of the Shah and the creation of the Islamic Republic of Iran. Many Iranians, both secular and Christian Persians, fled the nation. Like other prophecies, there are often several historical events that a prophecy can be attributed to, and some prophecies are realized over and over, not just tied to one historical event. One can debate whether these scatterings are related to Jeremiah’s prophecy or not.
Yet, per Jeremiah 49:39, God discusses restoring power to Elam. Elam as a standalone nation has not regained power and essentially is relegated only to the history books. However, Elam did become an early Christian center for the Syriac Church, which grew in influence from Asia Minor to India, promoting the Bible in Aramaic, the language of the Middle Eastern region during and after the Earthly ministry of Jesus. Elam, being in the center of the region and at a crossroads of trade between Rome, the Middle East and the Far East, helped grow the church until the rise and spread of Islam in the region. Islam again provided a cause of the people in Elam to scatter, yet another diaspora of the Elamite and Persian people.
While Jeremiah’s prophecy may not be pointing directly to the current situation in Iran but to its defeat at the hands of the Persians, we do know that God has plans for Elam. In Jeremiah 49:38, God “will set His throne in Elam and destroy her king and officials.” Many scholars consider this to be a prophecy concerning the End Times, where Elam is a representation of the restoration of the Eternal Kingdom on Earth, not necessarily the physical location but a symbol of Jesus’ return. Then Jeremiah 49:39 can be seen as Jesus’ reign on Earth, again not Elam but what it represents, restored.
The takeaway in this is, does Jeremiah’s prophecy regarding Elam apply to the current Iranian conflict and the aftermath of what will happen when the fighting stops? History has a tendency to repeat itself, sometimes with different locations and different actors but usually with similar results. Certainly, the bow has broken on the Islamic Republic of Iran, their people have been scattered many times, and there have been disasters, natural and manmade, upon them, including the ‘sword’ being upon them now. For verses 38 and 39, it remains to be seen; God once had Elam at the center of Christian activity, and he could do so again, and that may provide the prosperity the people of Iran are currently lacking.
In the tradition of one of my former favorite TV shows, we’ll say this (the question of the US/Israeli action against Iran as covered under prophecy) is ‘plausible’.
