Is Apostate Jerusalem the 'Daughter of Edom?'

[Savagedds]

Good Morning,

While studying Rev. 14:1-5 I was searching “Daughter of Zion”, and noticed Lamentations 4:20-22:

The breath of our nostrils, the LORD’s anointed, was taken in their pits, he of whom we said, “Under his shadow we shall live among the nations.” Rejoice and be glad, O daughter of Edom, dweller in the land of Uz; but to you also the cup shall pass; you shall become drunk and strip yourself bare. The punishment of your iniquity, O daughter of Zion, is accomplished, he will keep you in exile no longer; but your iniquity, O daughter of Edom, he will punish, he will uncover your sins. (RSV)

Church Fathers saw in this a prediction of Christ’s incarnation and passion, but I also wonder if it can be tied to Revelation and the destruction of Jerusalem in AD 70. The virgin Daughter of Zion can be seen clearly in Revelation 12:1. Since she stands for God’s people, is it possible that the ‘daughter of Edom’ represents the apostate leadership in Jerusalem, where Herod the Edomite and his dynasty were in league with pagan Rome and opposed to God’s people?

I can’t find this in any commentaries but it makes sense to me. If so, she was certainly “laid bare” when the Romans destroyed Jerusalem in 70.

Pax,

Jim

 

[Mintaka]

No… The Daughter of Edom = Edom, or the people of Edom, just as the primary meaning of the Daughter of Zion = the people of Zion. The Edomites are a whoooooole different crew.

Basically, the message here is “Laugh while you can, Edom boy. The same thing’s going to happen to you.”

I’ll be a little more explicit in a paraphrase:

“The breath of our nostrils, the LORD’s anointed, was taken in their pits, he of whom we said, ‘Under his shadow we shall live among the nations.’”

The Lord’s Messiah, who was the lifebreath in our nostrils and whom we expected to be our protection and shade as we lived among the nations, was taken in the pit traps of the Gentile men who pursued us.

“Rejoice and be glad, O daughter of Edom, dweller in the land of Uz, but to you also the cup shall pass; you shall become drunk and strip yourself bare.”

Rejoice that the Messiah was caught, Edomite woman, you resident of Uz which is part of Edom; but you will also suffer being hunted and exiled, just like us folks from Zion. You will drink suffering to the dregs as if drunk on it, and you will lose everything you own, right down to the clothes on your back.

“…The punishment of your iniquity, O daughter of Zion, is accomplished, he will keep you in exile no longer; but your iniquity, O daughter of Edom, he will punish, he will uncover your sins.”

Israel’s punishment is done and won’t get any worse, and Israel will go home. But Edom will be punished and its sins and shame revealed to the world.

Btw, Herod’s ancestry was from Moab and Edom. So you can ponder the fate of his dynasty.

 

[Savagedds]

Hi Mintaka,

Thanks for your response. I see your point about daughter of Edom referring to the Edomites. That would be the immediate and primary fulfillment of the prophecy, with the faithful remnant of the exiles in Babylon represented by daughter Zion. Daughter of Zion, God’s covenant people, will be redeemed; Daughter of Edom will be judged. The Edomites aided and abetted the Babylonians and were not real popular in Judah.

But the early Fathers also saw in this passage Christ’s incarnation and passion. In that case, “daughter of Zion” must refer to the Church and of course God’s annointed is Our Lord. But who is the one to be judged?

The harlot, of course. She appears in Revelation 17, riding the beast and drunk on the blood of the martyrs. Most orthodox commentators have associated her with pagan Rome, but now a sizable and growing minority contend she represents apostate Jerusalem.

She wears royal purple and scarlet - red is the color of Edom - and holds a cup full of abominations (Rev 17:4), just as the daughter of Edom does in Lam 4:21. Both will be forced to drink a cup of suffering and torment (Rev 18:6-7; Lam 4:21), and both will be stripped naked to reveal their sins (Rev 17:16; Lam 4:21-22).

My contention is that in Lamentations 4, Jeremiah prophesies the passion of Christ, the vindication of God’s people, and the judgment of apostate Jerusalem, symbolized as “the daughter of Edom.”

Pax,

Jim