What is the context?
The warning turns toward the Ammonites and their contempt. A sword is drawn for slaughter, while false visions and lying divinations offer a very different expectation.
The Lord declares that judgment will reach them in their own land. They will be handed over to brutal men skilled in destruction, and the fire picture returns.
The sword’s direction toward Jerusalem earlier in the chapter was therefore no promise of permanent safety for Ammon. The chapter closes with the Lord’s own announcement against another people who have trusted false assurances.
How is this passage commonly understood?
Henry reads the false visions as promises of victory that cannot preserve Ammon. Wesley connects the contempt with Ammon’s response to Israel’s affliction and reads the warning as Ammon falling under judgment as well.
The reversal prevents gloating over a neighbor’s disaster. The fact that another community faces judgment is no proof that one’s own conduct or assurances are sound.
What is our position?
We don't have a position on this passage yet. When our study reaches a conclusion the text supports, it will appear here.