It is unlikely that the Philistines ever read or heard these words. This wasn’t the point. These things were written down for the sake of the Jews in captivity. There had always been great hostility between the Philistines and Israel, and it is possible to see a reflection of Genesis 3:15 in this enmity. The ‘seed of the serpent’ was striking at the heel of ‘the seed of the woman’. The promise in the same verse in Genesis 3, however, is that one day the seed of the woman would crush the head of the serpent. We should note that this promise is given to Adam and Eve as they were being cast out of the Garden of Eden because of their sin. Now this scenario is repeated as Judah, at the time of this prophecy, is on the eve of her own exile. But yet again, lest this be seen as a victory for the enemy, God claims ultimate victory, and this would have been a comfort for the exiles. When the Jews went into exile they wondered whether Yahweh had been defeated. Here Jeremiah’s closing oracles assure them that God’s promise was still in operation. Their wound would be a temporary one, like a poisonous snake bite that disables a person for a time but is not fatal. The enemy, however, would be crushed. God may allow you to fall but this doesn’t mean he will let the enemy have victory over your life. The path of victory is often through many apparent defeats.
Recognise and give thanks for when God has changed your defeats to victories.
Read Jeremiah 47
