OPERATION DESERT STORM TO PENTECOST ~ A Study in Jeremiah

People my age remember the Gulf War of which Wikipedia says: “The Gulf War (August 2, 1990-February 28, 1991) codenamed Operation Desert Shield (August 2, 1990-January 17, 1991) for operations leading to the buildup of troops and defense of Saudi Arabia and Operation Desert Storm (January 17, 1991-February 28, 1991) in its combat phase, was a war waged by coalition forces from 35 nations led by the United States against Iraq in response to Iraq’s invasion and annexation of Kuwait arising from oil pricing and production disputes.” Defense.gov says: “On January 15, 1991, Operation Desert Shield became Operation Desert Storm, backed by public support after diplomacy failed.” The fact that Operation Desert Shield became Operation Desert Storm made me think of the next passage in Jeremiah.

 

In Genesis 15, we see God making a covenant with Abraham. He says: “Do not fear, Abram, I am a shield to you; your reward shall be very great.” Deuteronomy 33:29—“Blessed are you, O Israel; who is like you, a people saved by the LORD, Who is the shield of your help and the sword of your majesty! So your enemies will cringe before you, and you will tread upon their high places.” 2 Samuel 22:31—As for God, His way is blameless; the word of the LORD is tested; He is a shield to all who take refuge in Him. Psalm 5:12—For it is You who blesses the righteous man, O LORD, You surround him with favor as with a shield. Yahweh, Israel’s Husband, was her Desert Shield, her greatest protection. But she chose to walk away from under His protective arm, so He became her Desert Storm. Ezekiel 23:24—They will come against you with weapons, chariots, and wagons, and with a company of peoples. They will set themselves against you on every side with buckler and shield and helmet; and I will commit the judgment to them, and they will judge you according to their customs.

 

The Chaldeans lived in southern Babylonia, today known as the southern part of Iraq. Chaldeans are sometimes referred to as Babylonians, but specifically they were a semi-nomadic tribe that lived in the southern part of Babylon. Abraham’s father, Terah, was from the “Ur of the Chaldeans”. God had called Abraham out of Ur of the Chaldeans to the land of Canaan He had promised to him and his descendants. Chaldeans were intelligent, aggressive, warlike people. Nabopolassar, a Chaldean, began his rule over Babylon in 626 BC. It was at this time that Chaldean became synonymous for Babylon. Those who succeeded Nabopolassar were Nebuchadnezzar, Amel-Marduk, Nabonidus, and then Belshazzar.

 

In that time it will be said to this people and to Jerusalem, “A scorching wind from the bare heights in the wilderness in the direction of the daughter of My people—not to winnow and not to cleanse, a wind too strong for this—will come at My command; now I will also pronounce judgments against them. (Jeremiah 4:11-12) Scorching can mean dazzling, glowing, bright, sunny, white, dry, clear, evident, or plainly. Wikipedia says a simoom is “a strong, dry, dust-laden wind. The word is generally used to describe a local wind that blows in the Sahara, Israel, Palestine, Jordan, Syria, and the deserts of Arabian Peninsula.” Also called a samum wind, its temperature often reaches 55˚C (about 130˚F), with the humidity sometimes falling below 10%. It is caused by intensive ground heating under a cloudless sky. Simoom is an Arabic word that means “poison wind.” It refers to the wind’s tendency to cause heatstroke as it brings more heat to the human body than is removed by evaporation and perspiration.¹ Terrific and destructive, this wind blows from the southeast across the sandy deserts east of Palestine. Wind in Jeremiah 4:11 can be translated Spirit or spirit, wind, or breath. Interestingly, once God is finished using Babylon for His purposes, a similar destroying wind will overcome Babylon as well (see Jeremiah 51:1).

 

Bare heights or high places are referenced several places in Jeremiah.  3:2—“Lift up your eyes to the bare heights and see; where have you not been violated? By the roads you have sat for them like an Arab in the desert, and you have polluted a land with your harlotry and with your wickedness.” 3:21—A voice is heard on the bare heights, the weeping and the supplications of the sons of Israel; because they have perverted their way, they have forgotten the LORD their God. 7:29—‘Cut off your hair and cast it away, and take up a lamentation on the bare heights; for the LORD has rejected and forsaken the generation of His wrath.’ 12:12—“On all the bare heights in the wilderness destroyers have come, for a sword of the LORD is devouring from one end of the land even to the other; there is no peace for anyone.” 14:6—“The wild donkeys stand on the bare heights; they pant for air like jackals, their eyes fail for there is no vegetation.” So, when God says that this scorching wind is to come from the bare heights in the wilderness, it seems as if He wants to make the people fully aware that their judgment is coming due to their false worship practices. It is coming not to winnow and not to cleanse because it is too impetuous a wind for those purposes. This wind would not be discriminative or useful for winnowing out the chaff from the grain. All would be affected.  The Holy Spirit is likened to the wind in many places in the New Testament and associated with bringing blessing. This is not a cleansing wind bringing blessing but a destroying wind; the Lord wants them to know that it is coming at His command to accomplish His purposes. This wind brings severe judgment.

 

John 1 says that Jesus came to His own (the Jews), but His own received Him not. Their Messiah had come to them, but the Jews, as a nation, rejected Him. Matthew 23:37-39—“Jerusalem, Jerusalem, who kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to her! How often I wanted to gather your children together, the way a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, and you were unwilling. Behold, your house is being left to you desolate! For I say to you, from now on you will not see Me until you say, ‘BLESSED IS HE WHO COMES IN THE NAME OF THE LORD!’”

 

In Acts 2 we see the birth of the church at Pentecost. We cannot fully understand what was happening unless we first look at Acts 1. After Jesus was resurrected from the dead, He appears to His disciples to tell them that they are to be witnesses to His resurrection and to the good news of the gospel to all the nations, beginning first with Jerusalem. (Remember Israel’s purpose for which God had chosen them as a nation—the purpose they failed?) In Acts 1:8, Jesus tells His disciples to wait in Jerusalem until they receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon them. Power for what? To be His witnesses both in Jerusalem, and in Judea and Samaria, and even to the remotest part of the earth. The purpose of humanity has always been to fill the earth with the knowledge of the glory of the Lord as Habakkuk 2:14 says. The disciples obediently waited until the Day of Pentecost.

Leviticus 23:15-22 tells us all about the original instructions given to the Jews for the celebration of Pentecost. Two loaves of leavened bread were to be waved before the Lord by the priest. Why two loaves? One represented Israel; the other represented the multitude of Gentiles who would turn to the Lord Jesus Christ. The church was there in the celebration of the Feast of Pentecost, although she was never mentioned or understood. Before the birth of the church on the Day of Pentecost in Acts 2, the Lord’s people were Israelites along with a few Gentile proselytes. On that day, when the church was established, (the Bride of Christ) she was made up primarily of Jews. As we have seen in Jeremiah, Israel, God’s unfaithful wife was the nation God had previously chosen to work through in His covenant relationship with her. Paul tells us in Ephesians 3:4-7 the church was a mystery; while always part of God’s plan, it was not revealed in the Old Testament. In the church, Jews and Gentiles would now be in one body, thus the two loaves.

Acts 2:1-4—When the day of Pentecost had come, they were all together in one place. And suddenly there came from heaven a noise like a violent rushing wind, and it filled the whole house where they were sitting. And there appeared to them tongues as of fire distributing themselves, and they rested on each one of them. And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit was giving them utterance. They are all together in one place (just like at the tower of Babel, though their purpose there was wicked). It is possible that the sound of this violent rushing wind would have made those present think of the presence of the Holy Spirit because of verses like Genesis 1:1-2, when the Spirit was present at creation; Genesis 2:7, when it was the Spirit of God as the breath of God who blew life into newly created man; or, Ezekiel 37:9-10, the passage of the Spirit of God moving over the dry bones of Israel bringing them to life and renewing their strength. This was not actual wind but “an echoing sound as of a mighty wind borne violently (or rushing along like the whir of a tornado),” as one commentator worded it. Holman Bible Dictionary says that wind was a symbol of transience (Psalm 78:39), fruitless striving (Ecclesiastes 1:14), and desperateness (Job 6:26). More importantly, it was a mighty force which only God could command (Jeremiah 10:13). The wind did God’s bidding (Psalm 104:4). So closely is the wind connected with God’s will that it is called His breath which He blew on the sea to cover the chariots of Pharaoh (Exodus 15:10), or by which He froze rivers (Job 37:10) and withered grass (Isaiah 40:7). Notice the next words because they are very important.

Now there were Jews living in Jerusalem, devout men from every nation under heaven. And when this sound occurred, the crowd came together, and were bewildered because each one of them was hearing them speak in his own language. They were amazed and astonished, saying, “Why, are not all these who are speaking Galileans? And how is it that we each hear them in our own language to which we were born? … we hear them in our own tongues speaking of the mighty deeds of God.” And they all continued in amazement and great perplexity, saying to one another, “What does this mean?” (Acts 2:5-12) Bewildered (confounded, confused, be in an uproar, stir up, to commingle, to disturb the mind), amazed (be beside oneself, wonder, throw out of position, displace, be out of one’s mind, insane), astonished (to wonder, to marvel) were used to describe the reaction of these Jews. In Matthew 8:27, we see the same word used for amazed as those Jews on the day of Pentecost as a response to the sound of the violent rushing wind and those speaking in unknown languages. The men were amazed, and said, “What kind of a man is this, that even the winds and the sea obey Him?”

Could their minds have gone back to the Tower of Babel and the judgment that came due to false worship there—the judgment of confusing their languages and scattering the people? Could it have gone back to the false idol worship in Jeremiah’s day when the prophet said that God was going to send a scorching wind (our passage today).

 

Paul, in Romans 11 talks extensively about how God’s turning to the Gentiles was because the Jews had rejected Christ. While the whole chapter talks about God’s full dealings with the Jews, he says that a partial hardening has happened to Israel until the fullness of the Gentiles has come in (verse 25). What was happening on the Day of Pentecost (a Jewish feast!) should have caused the Jews who were present to sit up and take notice that God was up to something. God’s purpose at Pentecost was to equip His church with the power of the Holy Spirit to be His witnesses to all the nations. This is what gives God eternal glory.

 

Jeremiah 4:12—Now I will also pronounce judgments against them. This can also be translated: Now also will I give sentence against them. They have been tried and found guilty. Because they will not repent, their sentence is being handed down. I can tell you from firsthand experience awaiting sentencing from the hands of an earthly judge was a terrifying experience; I cannot even imagine knowing I was awaiting sentencing at the hands of the universal Judge!

 

Israel had been chosen and set apart by God for Himself to glorify Him. She failed in her calling to be His witness to all the nations around her. But the church will not fail because the Lord has given us His Spirit to work in and through us empowering us with boldness to speak and be a witness for the truth of the gospel. That is our commission given us by our Beloved in Matthew 28:18-20—Then Jesus came up and said to them, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore, go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And remember, I am with you always, to the end of the age.” The end of the age could come as suddenly as the Spirit came on the Day of Pentecost. We had better be about the Lord’s business proclaiming the good news of the gospel to those around us. May He find us faithful!

 

¹https://www.britannica.com/science/simoom