God judges the Gentile nations before He turns to Israel. In Amos, Syria, Philistia, Tyre, Edom, Ammon, and Moab are condemned before seven chapters address Israel's own judgment. Apart from Judah, none of these nations ever knew the true God as Israel did. Yet God is not unfair, because every person, to a greater or lesser degree, knows right from wrong (Romans 2:14-15), and silencing conscience is no excuse for depravity (Romans 1:18, 20-32). The Gentiles are held accountable not for the finer points of understanding God, but for failing in their moral responsibility toward their fellow man and thus toward Him. Their sins were moral: Syria's total war, Philistia's and Edom's slave trading, Tyre's dishonest business dealings, and Ammon's cruelty to expectant mothers and the unborn. Similar sins appear today in terrorism, the sale of girls into prostitution, and abortion. Calamity falling on Gentile nations, such as the devastation in southern and southeastern Asia, does not mean God has forgotten modern Israel (America, Britain, and the other nations descended from the Lost Ten Tribes). His real focus remains on Israel's transgressions. Judgment on the Gentiles shows that sin will find a nation out (Numbers 32:23) and, in mercy, gives Israel more time to repent. Ancient Israel ignored the calamities of surrounding nations and was devastated and carried into captivity. Modern Israel will meet the same end unless it takes the destruction of the Gentiles as a warning.

God set Jeremiah over the Gentile nations to root out, pull down, destroy, throw down, build, and plant, and his commission in Jeremiah 25 names the nations that must drink the cup of God's fury, from Egypt, Philistia, Edom, Moab, and Ammon to Elam, the Medes, and Babylon. Isaiah first trumpeted the times of the Gentiles through Assyria, the first great Gentile power. During the Axial Period, roughly 800 to 200 BC, ancient civilizations such as the Assyrian, Egyptian, Hittite, Elamite, Philistine, and Moabite vanished from view, and new powers rose: Babylon, Persia, Greece, Rome, China, India, Europe, and Russia. This simultaneous destruction and creation was God's work, not merely human history. Babylon, the head of gold in Daniel 2, became the fountainhead and yardstick that stamped its character on every culture since the sixth century BC. Luke 21:24 calls this era the times of the Gentiles, and Revelation 17:5 names its system Mystery, Babylon the Great. Its ways remain embedded in the nations, even Israel's. In the last two hundred years the Israelitish nations have dominated, with a syncretism of Christian and Babylonian concepts. God is now maneuvering the nations into their end-time positions, as Habakkuk's raising up of the Chaldeans foreshadows. Blinded by spiritual depravity and material success, the nations are drunk with Babylon's wine and ignorant of coming judgment. At Christ's return the Babylonian image will be smashed on its feet and blown away, replaced by the Kingdom of God.

The rise and fall of nations during the Sixth Century BC marked a significant shift in history, ushering in the times of the Gentiles. Assyria emerged as the first great Gentile power, though not the most influential, as seen through the warnings of prophets like Isaiah to Israel and Judah. Babylon became the head of gold, the fountainhead influencing new civilizations, as noted by Daniel. This Babylonian image has shaped the world since that era, giving character to the times and establishing standards socially, politically, economically, philosophically, and theologically, as confirmed by the New Testament reference to MYSTERY, BABYLON THE GREAT. Jeremiah, a key prophet during this tumultuous period, was appointed by God not only over Israel and Judah but also over Gentile nations and kingdoms to root out, pull down, destroy, throw down, build, and plant. God set Jeremiah over nations such as the Assyrians, Egyptians, Hittites, Elamites, Midianites, Phoenicians, Philistines, Ammonites, and Moabites to pronounce His judgments, leading to their disappearance. Meanwhile, new powers like Babylon, Persia, Greece, Rome, China, India, Europe, and Russia ascended to greatness. This period saw dramatic changes orchestrated by God's sovereign authority, reshaping the world into what exists now. The influence of Babylon persists, blinding many to impending judgment due to spiritual drunkenness, as described in Revelation 18, where people mourn the material loss of Babylon without recognizing its lack of spiritual vitality. God's purpose in these historical shifts prepares the world for the end times and the return of Jesus Christ, when the Babylonian image will be replaced by the Kingdom of God.