Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Jeremiah 50:1
The word that the LORD spoke against Babylon [and] against the land of the Chaldeans by Jeremiah the prophet.
Against … against – Concerning.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
CHAPTER L
This and the following chapter contain a prophecy relating to
the fall of Babylon, interspersed with several predictions
relative to the restoration of Israel and Judah, who were to
survive their oppressors, and, on their repentance, to be
pardoned and brought to their own land. This chapter opens with
a prediction of the complete destruction of all the Babylonish
idols, and the utter desolation of Chaldea, through the
instrumentality of a great northern nation, 1-3.
Israel and Judah shall be reinstated in the land of their
forefathers after the total overthrow of the great Babylonish
empire, 4, 5.
Very oppressive and cruel bondage of the Jewish people during
the captivity, 6, 7.
The people of God are commanded to remove speedily from
Babylon, because an assembly of great nations are coming out of
the north to desolate the whole land, 8-10.
Babylon, the hammer of the whole earth, the great desolator of
nations, shall itself become a desolation on account of its
intolerable pride, and because of the iron yoke it has rejoiced
to put upon a people whom a mysterious Providence had placed
under its domination, 11-34.
The judgments which shall fall upon Chaldea, a country addicted
to the grossest idolatry, and to every species of superstition,
shall be most awful and general, as when God overthrew Sodom
and Gomorrah, 35-40.
Character of the people appointed to execute the Divine
judgments upon the oppressors of Israel, 41-45.
Great sensation among the nations at the very terrible and
sudden fall of Babylon, 46.
NOTES ON CHAP. L
Verse 1. THE WORD THAT THE LORD SPAKE AGAINST BABYLON] This is also a new head of discourse.
The prophecy contained in this and the following chapter was sent to the captives in Babylon in the fourth year of the reign of Zedekiah. They are very important; they predict the total destruction of the Babylonish empire, and the return of the Jews from their captivity. These chapters were probably composed, with several additions, out of the book that was then sent by Jeremiah to the captives by the hand of Seraiah. See Jer 51:59-64.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
The prophet having from the 46th chapter been denouncing the judgments of God against the other Gentiles, the Egyptians, Moabites, Philistines, Ammonites, Edomites, Syrians, Kedarens, Hazorites, Elamites or Persians, (the most of which had been enemies to the Jews,) in these two chapters he denounceth Gods judgments against the Chaldeans and Babylonians. These were to execute Gods vengeance on all the rest, and therefore are themselves threatened in the last place to be destroyed by the Medes the prophecy against them is mixed with many gracious promises to the Jews.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
1. Compare Isa45:1-47:15. But as the time of fulfilment drew nearer, theprophecies are now proportionally more distinct than then.
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
The word that the Lord spake against Babylon,…. Or “to”, of “of Babylon” c; the city of Babylon, the metropolis of the Chaldean empire; sometimes it signifies the whole country, here the city only, as appears by what follows:
[and] against the land of the Chaldeans; whither the Jews were carried captive, for whose comfort this prophecy is delivered out; and which had subdued other nations, and was become an universal monarchy; these people are mentioned last, because the rest of the nations were to drink the cup of God’s wrath at their hands, and then they were to drink it after them; see Jer 25:9; this is to be understood not only of Babylon and its empire, literally taken, but of mystical Babylon and its dependencies; of Rome, and its jurisdiction; of antichrist, and the antichristian states, the last enemies of the church and people of God, who will be destroyed by the pouring out of the seven vials; see Re 15:1. This prophecy, which is called “the word that the Lord spake”, for it was from him, the thing was decreed and declared by him, came
by Jeremiah the prophet, to whom the king of Babylon had been very kind; but yet he must be, and was, faithful as a prophet, to deliver what he had from the Lord concerning the ruin of his empire.
c “ad Babel”, Montanus; “de Babylone”, V. L. “de Babel”, Cocceius.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
The title, “The word which Jahveh spake concerning Babylon, concerning the land of the Chaldeans, by Jeremiah the prophet,” follows Jer 46:13 in choosing instead of the usual , and deviates from that passage only in substituting “by the hand of Jeremiah” for “to Jeremiah,” as in Jer 37:2. The preference of the expression “spake by the hand of” for “spake to,” is connected with the fact that the following prophecy does not contain a message of the Lord which came to Jeremiah, that he might utter it before the people, but a message which he was to write down and send to Babylon, Jer 51:60. The apposition to “Babylon,” viz., “the land of the Chaldeans,” serves the purpose of more exactly declaring that “Babylon” is to be understood not merely of the capital, but also of the kingdom; cf. Jer 50:8, Jer 50:45, and 51, 54.
Fuente: Keil & Delitzsch Commentary on the Old Testament
| The Judgment of Babylon. | B. C. 595. |
1 The word that the LORD spake against Babylon and against the land of the Chaldeans by Jeremiah the prophet. 2 Declare ye among the nations, and publish, and set up a standard; publish, and conceal not: say, Babylon is taken, Bel is confounded, Merodach is broken in pieces; her idols are confounded, her images are broken in pieces. 3 For out of the north there cometh up a nation against her, which shall make her land desolate, and none shall dwell therein: they shall remove, they shall depart, both man and beast. 4 In those days, and in that time, saith the LORD, the children of Israel shall come, they and the children of Judah together, going and weeping: they shall go, and seek the LORD their God. 5 They shall ask the way to Zion with their faces thitherward, saying, Come, and let us join ourselves to the LORD in a perpetual covenant that shall not be forgotten. 6 My people hath been lost sheep: their shepherds have caused them to go astray, they have turned them away on the mountains: they have gone from mountain to hill, they have forgotten their restingplace. 7 All that found them have devoured them: and their adversaries said, We offend not, because they have sinned against the LORD, the habitation of justice, even the LORD, the hope of their fathers. 8 Remove out of the midst of Babylon, and go forth out of the land of the Chaldeans, and be as the he goats before the flocks.
I. Here is a word spoken against Babylon by him whose works all agree with his word and none of whose words fall to the ground. The king of Babylon had been very kind of Jeremiah, and yet he must foretel the ruin of that kingdom; for God’s prophets must not be governed by favour or affection. Whoever are our friends, if, notwithstanding, they are God’s enemies, we dare not speak peace to them. 1. The destruction of Babylon is here spoken of as a thing done, v. 2. let it be published to the nations as a piece of news, true news, and great news, and news they are all concerned in; let them hang out the flag, as is usual on days of triumph, to give notice of it; let all the world take notice of it: Babylon is taken. Let God have the honour of it, let his people have the comfort of it, and therefore do not conceal it. Take care that it be known, that the Lord may be known by those judgments which he executes, Ps. ix. 16. 2. It is spoken of as a thing done thoroughly. For, (1.) The very idols of Babylon, which the people would protect with all possible care, and from which they expected protection, shall be destroyed. Bel and Merodach were their two principal deities; they shall be confounded, and the images of them broken to pieces. (2.) The country shall be laid waste (v. 3) out of the north, from Media, which lay north of Babylon, and from Assyria, through which Cyrus made his descent upon Babylon; thence the nation shall come that shall make her land desolate. Their land was north of the countries that they destroyed, who were therefore threatened with evil from the north (Omne malum ab aquilone–Every evil comes from the north); but God will find out nations yet further north to come upon them. The pomp and power of old Rome were brought down by northern nations, the Goths and Vandals.
II. Here is a word spoken for the people of God, and for their comfort, both the children of Israel and of Judah; for many there were of the ten tribes that associated with those of the two tribes in their return out of Babylon. Now here,
1. It is promised that they shall return to their God first and then to their own land; and the promise of their conversion and reformation is that which makes way for all the other promises, Jer 50:4; Jer 50:5. (1.) They shall lament after the Lord (as the whole house of Israel did in Samuel’s time, 1 Sam. vii. 2); they shall go weeping. These tears flow not from the sorrow of the world as those when they went into captivity, but from godly sorrow; they are tears of repentance for sin, tears of joy for the goodness of God, in the dawning of the day of their deliverance, which, for aught that appears, does more towards the bringing of them to mourn for sin than all the calamities of their captivity; that prevails to lead them to repentance when the other did not prevail to drive them to it. Note, It is a good sign that God is coming towards a people in ways of mercy when they begin to be tenderly affected under his hand. (2.) They shall enquire after the Lord; they shall not sink under their sorrows, but bestir themselves to find out comfort where it is to be had: They shall go weeping to seek the Lord their God. Those that seek the Lord must seek him sorrowing, as Christ’s parents sought him, Luke ii. 48. And those that sorrow must seek the Lord, and then their sorrow shall soon be turned into joy, for he will be found of those that so seek him. They shall seek the Lord as their God, and shall now have no more to do with idols. When they shall hear that the idols of Babylon are confounded and broken it will be seasonable for them to enquire after their own God and to return to him who lives for ever. Therefore men are deceived in false gods, that they may depend on the true God only. (3.) They shall think of returning to their own country again; they shall think of it not only as a mercy, but as a duty, because there only is the holy hill of Zion, on which once stood the house of the Lord their God (v. 5): They shall ask the way to Zion with their faces thitherward. Zion was the city of their solemnities; they often thought of it in the depth of their captivity (Ps. cxxxvii. 1); but, now that the ruin of Babylon gave them some hopes of a release, they talk of nothing else but of going back to Zion. Their hearts were upon it before, and now they set their faces thitherward. They long to be there; they set out for Zion, and resolve not to take up short of it. The journey is long and they know not the road, but they will ask the way, for they will press forward till they come to Zion; and, as they are determined not to turn back, so they are in care not to miss the way. This represents the return of poor souls to God. Heaven is the Zion they aim at as their end; on this they have set their hearts; towards this they have set their faces, and therefore they ask the way thither. They do not ask the way to heaven and set their faces towards the world; nor set their faces towards heaven and go on at a venture without asking the way. But in all true converts there are both a sincere desire to attain the end and a constant care to keep in the way; and a blessed sight it is to see people thus asking the way to heaven with their faces thitherward. (4.) They shall renew their covenant to walk with God more closely for the future: Come, and let us join ourselves to the Lord in a perpetual covenant. They had broken covenant with God, had in effect separated themselves from him, but now they resolve to join themselves to him again, by engaging themselves afresh to be his. Thus, when backsliders return, they must do their first works, must renew the covenant they first made; and it must be a perpetual covenant, that must never be broken; and, in order to that, must never be forgotten; for a due remembrance of it will be the means of a due observance of it.
2. Their present case is lamented as very sad, and as having been long so: “My people” (for he owns them as his now that they are returning to him) “have been lost sheep (v. 6); they have gone from mountain to hill, have been hurried from place to place, and could find no pasture; they have forgotten their resting-place in their own country and cannot find their way to it.” And that which aggravated their misery was, (1.) That they were led astray by their own shepherds, their own princes and priests; they turned them from their duty, and so provoked God to turn them out of their own land. It is bad with a people when their leaders cause them to err, when those that should direct them, and when those that should secure and advance their interests are the betrayers of them. (2.) That in their wanderings they lay exposed to the beasts of prey, who thought they were entitled to them, as waifs and strays that had no owner (v. 7); it is with them as with wandering sheep, all that found them have devoured them and made a prey of them; and when they did them the greatest injuries they laughed at them, telling them it was what their own prophets had many a time told them they deserved; that was far from justifying those who did them wrong, yet they bantered them with this excuse, We offend not, because they have sinned against the Lord; but they could not pretend that they had sinned against them. And see what notion they had of the Lord they had sinned against, not as the only true and living God, but only as the habitation of justice and the hope of their fathers; they had put a contempt upon the temple and upon the tradition of their ancestors, and therefore deserved to suffer these hard things. And yet it was indeed an aggravation of their sin, and justified God, though it did not justify their adversaries in what was done to them, that they had forsaken the habitation of justice and him that was the hope of their fathers.
3. They are called upon to hasten away, as soon as ever the door of liberty was opened to them (v. 8): “Remove, not only out of the borders, but out of the midst of Babylon; though you be ever so well seated there, think not to settle there, but hasten to Zion, and be as the he-goats before the flocks; strive which shall be foremost, which shall lead in so good a work:” a he-goat is comely in going (Prov. xxx. 31) because he goes first. It is a graceful thing to be forward in a good work and to set others a good example.
Fuente: Matthew Henry’s Whole Bible Commentary
JEREMIAH – CHAPTER 50
AN ORACLE CONCERNING BABYLON
The roots of Babylon reach all the way back to “Babel”, the city of confusion (Gen 11:1-9), where men, in opposition to (or an ignoring of) God, set out to make a name for themselves.
“Babylon” involves more than city, or even an empire – though both are sometimes involved. In biblical symbolism It Is the very ESSENCE of a highly-organized, humanistic world system (religious, political and commercial) that Is in total rebellion against God and His order for the universe. Unceasingly antagonistic toward God; proud in her accomplishments, and daring in her evil innovations; there is, nevertheless, abundant evidence in the scriptures that the restraint of a sovereign hand has constantly held her recklessness inside divinely-established boundaries.
Just as the Intended mischief at Babel was blocked by divine Intervention (in the confusion of tongues), so, close observation will discover, within the far-reaching ramification of her master-plan, abundant evidence of a self-destructive antagonism and division among her leading proponents. Her ultimate end is destruction – as is the end of all who succumb to the allurements of her deceptive devices.
Vs. 1-3: BABYLON IS FALLEN
1. Though Babylon has been used as an instrument of divine discipline on other nations, including Israel and Judah, she will not escape judgment upon her own sin! (Jer 25:9; Jer 25:12); nor is finite man in any position to charge God (or Jeremiah) with inconsistency concerning Babylon, (comp. Isa 10:5-27; Isa 37:22-29; Jer 51:56).
a. Jeremiah counselled Judah to submit to Babylon because He knew that God had chosen her to discipline His rebellious children to repentance!
b. He has already revealed that Judah’s captivity is to be of 70 years duration (Jer 25:12); now, the king of Sheshach (Babylon) will be numbered with those appointed to drink the cup of divine fury, (Jer 25:15 -16, 26).
2. Jeremiah is now commanded to publicize the certainty of Babylon’s fall, (vs. 2; Jer 51:28-32).
a. BEL (“lord”, a title of Merodach, or Marduk, her chief god) is shamed and dismayed! (Jer 21:9; Isa 46:1; Jer 51:44).
b. Her “idol-blocks” (images) are broken down – unable to save themselves, much less those who trusted in them!
3. Out of the north arises a nation that will make her such a perpetual desolation that man and beast will flee away, (vs. 3; Isa 13:17-19; Isa 14:21-23).
Fuente: Garner-Howes Baptist Commentary
Our Prophet has been hitherto speaking of neighboring nations who had cruelly harassed the chosen people; and it was some consolation when the children of Abraham understood that God undertook their cause and would be the avenger of those wrongs which they had suffered. But this of itself would have been no great consolation, yea, it might have been viewed as nothing by many, while there was no hope of restoration; for it would have been but a small consolation to have others as associates in misery. If, indeed, Jeremiah had only taught that none of the nations who had troubled God’s Church would escape unpunished, the Jews might have raised an objection, and said, that they were not freed from their own calamities, because the monarchy of Babylon still flourished, and that they were buried as it were in a perpetual grave. It was therefore necessary that what we read here should be predicted. And though this prophecy is given last, we ought to notice that the Prophet had from the beginning expressly spoken, as we have seen, of the calamity and destruction of Babylon. But this prophecy is given as the conclusion of the book, to mitigate the sorrow of the miserable exiles; for it was no small relief to them to hear that the tyranny by which they were oppressed, and under which they did live as it were a lifeless life, would not be perpetual. We now then understand why the Prophet spoke of the Babylonians and of their destruction.
But a longer preface would be superfluous, because those acquainted with Scripture well know that the Jews were at length so reduced by the Babylonians that their very name seemed to have been obliterated. As then they were reduced to such extremities, it is no wonder that the Prophet here affirms that the Babylonians would be at length punished, and that not only that God might show himself to be the avenger of wickedness, but also that the miserable exiles might know that they were not wholly repudiated, but on the contrary that God had a care for their salvation. We now perceive the design of this prophecy.
The word of Jehovah, he says, which he spoke concerning Babylon, concerning the land of the Chaldeans, by the hand of Jeremiah the Prophet He testifies in his usual manner that he did not bring forward what he himself had invented, but that God was the author of this prophecy. He at the same time declares that he was God’s minister; for God did not descend from heaven whenever it pleased him to reveal his favor to the Jews, but, as it is said in Deuteronomy, he was wont to speak by his servants. (Deu 18:18.) In short, Jeremiah thus recommends the things he was about to say, that the Jews might reverently receive them, not as the fictions of men, but as oracles from heaven. It follows —
Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary
CRITICAL AND EXEGETICAL NOTES.1. Chronology of the Chapter.This and the following chapter constitute one prophecy against Babylon; and the date of its authorship is given in chap. Jer. 51:59 : the fourth year of Zedekiah. Jeremiah delivered this written prophecy to Seriah, the kings chamberlain and Baruchs brother (cf. chap. Jer. 32:12), who accompanied Zedekiah the king to Babylon, probably at Nebuchadnezzars summons, for some imposing state occasion: the prophets design being to send to the exiles there His message concerning the overthrow of the Chaldean power and their return from captivity.
2. National Affairs.Jeremiah was at this time dwelling in Jerusalem (Jer. 50:5, lit. hitherwards, not as in E.V., thitherwards, the writer being in Jerusalem), yet he regards the city as already captured and in ruins (Jer. 50:11; Jer. 50:15; Jer. 50:17; Jer. 50:28, &c.), while the exiles at Babylon, taught by their sorrows and misfortunes, are seeking their God in penitence (Jer. 50:4-7). But the expressions are all general, there are none of those minute touches which would certainly have been found had the city and temple been actually destroyed (Dr. Payne Smith). The exact position of affairs will be apparent by reference to Notes in loc. to chap. 29. Comp. also Topic, Prophecy vindicated in Babylons Fall (on chap. Jer. 25:13), p. 473.
3. Personal Allusions.Jer. 50:2. Bel, the principal deity of Babylon, and Merodack (which means in Syria, little lord), another idol-god.
Literary Criticisms.Jer. 50:5. Their faces thitherward: but uniformly means hither: they look hither from scenes of exile.
Jer. 50:9. A mighty expert man The pointing of the word , maschil, appears in most of the authorities; therefore is rendered expert; but some editions read mashchil, a destroyer, or prosperous.
Jer. 50:12. Your mother: is the metropolis of the empire, Babylon.
Jer. 50:17. Devoured him broken his bones. Rather, The first, even the king of Assyria, ate him (imagery of a lion being kept up), and this last, even Nebuchadnezzar, hath picked his bones. For Israel was so wasted by Assyria, that Nebuchadnezzar had but the bones to pick.
Jer. 50:21. Marathaim. Marg. the rebels; but is doubly rebellious: it is a dual form, intended as an intensitive, and conveys the sense of the very rebellious land. Pekod signifies visitation.
Jer. 50:31. O thou most proud. Lit. O Pride; God calls Babylon by that name, .
SUBJECT OF CHAPTER 50
BABYLONS PREDICTED OVERTHROW: ISRAELS SURE REDEMPTION
Introductory considerations
i. Why was Babylons fall announced? That the exiles there might cherish hope in their captivity and nurture faith in Jehovah as still working out purposes of mercy for His covenant people. Comp. The Theocratic Purpose of the Captivity, p. 472.
ii. What was the power which should effect Babylons overthrow? A nation cometh up against her from the north (Jer. 50:3). The Median power, which Cyrus successfully led against Babylon (see Topic, Sheshach, ii. 2, p. 475). As Judahs overthrow by Babylon had always been predicted from the north (chap. Jer. 1:14), now, in turn, Babylons overthrow is to be by a power from the north. The north is the region where the sun never shines, and emblematical, therefore, of severity and gloom. The Medo-Persian empire was an aggregation of small nationalities welded into unity by Cyaxares (B.C. 633).
iii. In what light is Babylons ruin to be regarded? Comp. The Supernatural Termination of Babylons Power, p. 472. Her work was done; and, as being a graceless and arrogant power, God destroyed it when it had served the end for which He created and prolonged it. For though Babylon worked out Gods designs in Judahs punishment, it was not done by her in recognition of Jehovah and His will, but in violent lust of empire, and in disregard of the sanctity of Zions holy things.
iv. How would the exiles greet this prediction? Surely it would call them to the repentance and re-allegiance to God which Jeremiah describes (Jer. 50:4-5), and foster in them a patient waiting for the hour of their promised redemption, and restrain their souls from Babylons idolatries by fixing their expectation and trust in Jehovah.
Observation.The fate of Babylon is homiletically treated in chap. 25; hence in these two chapters the general theme will be left, and only verses selected for homilies.
HOMILIES ON VERSES IN CHAPTER 50
Jer. 50:4. Theme: WEEPING PILGRIMS. Going and weeping; they shall go and seek the Lord their God.
i. THE RETURN. Going. In part fulfilled when some few of the ten tribes of Israel joined Judah in a covenant with God at the restoration of Judah to their own land (Neh. 9:38; Neh. 10:29). Its full accomplishment is yet to come (chap. Jer. 31:9; see Homilies on The Watchmens Call and Pilgrims to Zion, pp. 518, 519. Comp also Hos. 1:11; Zec. 12:10). Its constant fulfilment is realised in souls returning to the Lord in prayer, penitence, and faith.
ii. THE TEARFUL JOURNEY. Weeping. With sorrow at the remembrance of their sins and sufferings (Ezr. 3:12-13; Psa. 126:5-6). With gladness at their restoration, after so long a delay, and in a manner surpassing all hope.
iii. THE DIVINE GOAL. Seek the Lord their God. More a going back in heart to Him, than a mere geographical return to their land. A happier goal that than to a ruined country; for the goal of piety, The Lord, is a better and more blessed one than the goal of patriotisma wasted country. God is more to the ransomed soul than Zion!
Jer. 50:4-5. Theme: SINNERS RETURNING TO GOD.
Evident that the verses allude to the return of the Jews from the Babylonish captivity. But as they interestingly describe what is manifest in the return of sinners to God, we will use them to illustrate such a circumstance.
I. Penitents going in company. In those days the children of Israel shall come, they and the children of Judah together.
There had been much dissension and great enmity between these tribes from the days of Rehoboam (see 1 Kings 12); but it had been foretold that they should again unite, and here we behold them coming together. Thus it is with sinners in submitting to the teachings of the Holy Ghost and yielding to divine influence.
Whatever was the distance, whatever the enmity existing between them before, now, as with one accord, they come together to the house of God, to the throne of grace, to the Saviour of mankind. See Eph. 2:13-14.
II. Sinners returning with weeping. Going and weeping.
What an affecting sight! Whence have they come? Why do they weep? Whither are they going? They have left the land of their captivity, where they were aliens from God, servants to idolaters, slaves to their enemies; they have left the ways of sin, the company of the wicked, the service of the devil Behold them going.
As they go they weep: not from regret that they are leaving scenes and circumstances to which they have been so long habituated, but rather because they remained connected with them so long. They are affected by a sense of Gods goodness to them and by a consciousness of their ingratitude towards God; they weep on account of their sins, and the proof of their sincerity is manifest in their movement; for as they weep they go; they leave their former sinful situation, and they are going.
III. Souls returning to the Lord. To seek the Lord their God.
The children of Israel and of Judah had wandered from Jehovah, the true God, the God of their fathers; they had provoked the Holy One of Israel to anger, especially by the folly and the infamy of idolatrous practices, and God had left them for a while captives in the hands of idolaters. But mixing mercy with judgment, He remembered them in their low estate; and here we find them again seeking the Lord their God.
Sinners may wander from God, but misery, infamy, and ruin will be the consequence; they must return again to God or perish. And they may return; for oh! how kind are the words of the Lord our God, of Jesus our Saviour, to weeping returning sinners! Ye shall seek me and find me when ye shall search for me with your whole heart (Jer. 29:13).
IV. Seekers asking direction. They ask the way to Zion with their faces thitherward.
Zion was the city of solemnities among the Jews, and God was peculiarly present there. But Zion means the Church, and it is in His Church that God may always be found. So Jesus our Saviour promises. Agreeably to this, they ask the way to Zion; and as a proof that this is not an idle inquiry, they ask with their faces thitherward. Their dispositions are turned toward God and His people; their souls are inclined to religion and its ways.
Thus disposed, they next resolve, Come and let us join ourselves to the Lord in a perpetual covenant, that shall not be forgotten.
They had been joined to idols, to sin, to wickedness. But now they say, Come let us join ourselves to the Lord.
The way to join ourselves to the Lord is, spiritually, by faith and by love; outwardly, by connecting ourselves with the Lords peoplewith those who worship God in spirit and rejoice in Christ Jesus, and have no confidence in the flesh.Altered from Sketches of Sermons.
Jer. 50:5. Theme: DIRECTIONS TO INQUIRERS. They shall ask the way to Zion, Come and let us join ourselves to the Lord. The evidences of a state of grace are the same in all ages. The thought of the numbers in heaven and the numbers on the way to it may well encourage us.
Text said of Israel in Babylon, but said spiritually of seekers in every age.
Perhaps never a day since first promise in which there has not been some inquirer to heaven.
We are compassed, etc. It is always instructive to mark the peculiar and characteristic distinctions of the people of God. Though there are some things in which they differ, there are many in which they agree. Unity without uniformity.
There may be circumstantial differences between Moses and Joshua, Paul and John, Martha and Mary, Peter and Nathaniel, but they yet possess a oneness of character. All love Christ; love prayer; love the Word of God; love the fellowship of the Gospel. All drink into the same Spirit.
Our text exhibits some of these, and we shall set before you
I. Some of the marks and characteristics of the pilgrims to Zion. Arise, let us go up to Zion. Earnestness, Union, Effort.
1. By their earnest inquiry. They inquire the way to Zion with their faces thitherward. Supposes Desire, Ignorance, Docility, Resolution.
As when the bondage of Israel was broken they began to turn homewards, so when the soul is truly converted to God it begins to turn heavenwards. Arise ye, etc.
The soul truly awakened is no longer content to sleep in sin, to linger upon the brink of perdition, to remain under the sentence and condemnation of a broken law, but determines to seek salvation and escape the wrath to come. I will arise.
Paul inquires, What wouldst Thou have me to do? Peter inquires, Lord, to whom shall we go but to Thee? The jailor inquires, What shall I do to be saved? Balak inquires, Wherewithal shall I come before the Lord?
Depend upon it, it is a great era in any mans history when he feels himself wrong, becomes aware of his danger, has strong convictions awakened, sees his need of a Saviour, feels for the first time the powers of the world to come, and earnestly resolves to make the care of his soul the first concern.
But it is of great consequence that he should at once act upon his convictions. These inquired with their faces directed thitherward. Not ask the way to heaven and set their faces to the world; not set their faces to heaven and go on at a venture without asking the way; but in all true converts there is both a sincere desire to attain the end and a constant care to keep the way. Guard against trifling with convictions. Pray that they may be deepened and confirmed, that you may be enabled to act upon them, that they may issue in sound conversion.
2. By their penitential regrets. Going and weeping.
They weep that they have been in bondage so long, that their best days have been devoted to folly and sin, that so few are found walking with them, that the way is so rough, the difficulties so great, and that they find so many traces and footprints of returning feetof those who professed to set out on pilgrimage, but whose hearts were not right. The open enemies of the way do not discourage so much as the false friends of the way (Psa. 78:8-11).
Repentance awakens a godly sorrow for sin past, a painful sense of sin present, our remaining corruption, and a holy jealousy and distrust of ourselves for the future, lest, like Lots wife, we look back, or, like Israel, in heart go back (Psa. 51:12).
3. By their mutual solicitude and concern. Come and let us. Roused themselves, they long to rouse others.
Religion delights in unity and association. It consecrates the social principle by bringing it in aid of our own and others piety. The charity of religion when it begins at home does not end there. One of the first indications of piety is a concern for the salvation of others (Joh. 1:41). Andrew first findeth his own brother. Like lighted torches spread the flame.
He who can forego the communion of saints will probably very soon be able to resign communion with God.
4. By their solemn and determined consecration to God. Let us join ourselves to the Lord in a perpetual covenant.
My understanding shall be His to know Him; my will His to choose Him; my affections His to love Him; and all my active powers His to serve and honour Him.Bishop Beveridge. Williams of Kidderminster records:I solemnly devoted and dedicated myself to Him who is the King of kings, resolving by His grace to give a full divorce to all manner of sins, and to the utmost of my power to strive and wrestle with all temptations to sin, whether from without or within; to avoid the society of vain and graceless persons; to commend myself to God by prayer at least twice a day; to be careful and constant in self-examination and meditation; particularly to meditate on the love of God in Christ, and of Christ in willingly offering Himself a sacrifice for poor sinners, and in sending the blessed Spirit, whose strivings and quickening motions I resolved, by the grace of God, never to quench. I resolved to watch narrowly against the wanderings and strayings of my heart in any duty; to make the glory of God and the salvation of my soul my chief business and design; and to account the affairs of this world but as diversions to me in my way heavenward. I determined to call myself to account for the actions of the day, and frequently to write remarks thereon. This was of excellent use to keep me close to God and duty to prevent sin; it helped me to redeem precious time, making conscience of rising betimes for communion with God.
II. Directions to those who are desirous of walking in this way.
1. Solemnly consecrate yourself to God. Join yourselves to the Lord in a perpetual covenant, &c.
2. Carefully study the directions for the way. Thy Word is a lamp to my feet. Here your course is clearly marked out all the way from the city of destruction to the heights of Zion.
The uses of the Bible read and heard are to convince of sin, to convert to Christ, to confirm in grace, to conduct to glory.
As ever you would profit by a sermon or a chapter, follow it with the tears of repentance and the prayers of faith. Remember that the Bible without its Inspirers illumination is like a dial without sunshine.
3. Keep close to your Guide. Jesus says, I am the way. He is the Lion of the tribe of Judah. Honour Christ in His prophetical office as He who loosens the seals and opens the Book, and throws light on the dispensations of God, and guides and guards the Church from earth to heaven.
Peter followed, but followed afar off.
4. Do not separate yourselves from your godward companions.
5. Keep the end constantly in view.S. Theodey, 1842.
Jer. 50:4-5. Theme: YOUNG CONVERTS STARTING ZIONWARD.
I. God reconciled to them in grace is the object of their inquiry.
II. It is usual with inquirers to associate with those who are like-minded with themselves.
III. This inquiry after God and happiness is frequently accompanied with tears.
IV. Mount Zion is the place to which they will repair for instruction and comfort.
V. Devout and sincere inquirers will gladly avail themselves of the direction and counsel of Christian ministers and of other pilgrims who have made some advance in the way to the celestial city.
VI. Young converts, having found God, to their unspeakable satisfaction, will do well to join themselves to the Lord in a perpetual covenant that shall not be forgotten.Rev. R. Frost, Dunmow, 1833.
Note
The fall of Babylon is to be immediately followed by the return of the exiles homewards in tearful procession because they go as penitents, and yet with joy because their faces are towards Zion. The cessation, moreover, of the schisms between Israel and Judah is one of the signs of the times of the Messiah (Isa. 11:12-13), and symbolically represents the gathering together of all the discordant and warring empires of the world under the peaceful sceptre of the Churchs King.Speakers Commentary.
Jer. 50:6. Theme: THE SOULS RESTING-PLACE. They have forgotten their resting-place.
The prophet speaks of the captivity of Israel in language of plaintive and poetic beauty: My people have been lost sheep; their shepherds have caused them to go astray; they have turned them away on the mountains: they have gone from mountain to hill; they have forgotten their resting-place. Jehovah had now come to seek and save them, and the first evidence that He is among them is that they return penitent to Him. As the lost child that has run hither and thither in the crowded streets, seeking in vain the parent from whom she has wandered, crying herself sick in the bitterness of her sorrow, does at the sight of the mother coming to her relief rush to her embrace, so the Jewish nation rose repentingly to meet God as He drew near, saying with earnest and devout enthusiasm, Come and let us join ourselves unto the Lord in a perpetual covenant that shall not be forgotten (Jer. 50:5). To take the text in a spiritual sense is not accommodation, but interpretation, for all this was designed to present a striking analogy to the case of the sinner and his Saviour. Viewed in this light, the text suggests
I. That the human soul needs a resting-place.
This is true of the soul
1. In innocence. As a creature he could not but be dependent. Without unquestioning trust in God, safety and happiness were impossible to man even before the Fall.
2. How much more true is this since man has become a sinner! To the sense of dependence there is now added the restlessness of a rebel, whose conscience is carrying a load it cannot shake off, whose intellect is revolving questions it cannot solve, whose heart is crying out for love that shall be worthy of its acceptance, and for an object that shall be worthy of its love. His nature is utterly weary. The past is guilty, the future is hopeless, and so the present is restless. Have you never sought to hide yourself from God and from yourself in business, pleasure, excitement, because of a consciousness of guilt, even as Adam attempted to hide himself amid the trees? You become yourself the spectre that haunts your heart, and you carry yourself for ever with you. Never, therefore, until yourself is changed can you enter into an unfailing resting-place.
II. Jesus Christ is the resting-place the soul needs.
The deliverance from the power of sin and the effects of sin can alone remove the souls distress. In Christ we have
1. Full redemption. He took upon Himself our sins and redeemed us from the curse of the law, so that there is no condemnation to them that are in Him. No anodynes of earth can give the soul the rest that the blood of Christ can. What the words of men could not do the voice of Jesus has accomplished; for when He has said, Thy sins are forgiven thee, go in peace, the heavings of the troubled heart have been stilled, as of old the rolling waves of Galilee subsided at His command.
2. In Him we also have regeneration. If any man be in Christ, he is a new creature. A new centre has been given to his heart, a new aim to his life, a new joy to his experience. In his heart Christ has opened a fountain that quenches his thirst for evermore.
3. He gives repose to the intellect. Christ is the truth. Jesus Christ alone brings to the soul the element of certainty, and, worn out by vain flights, it folds its weary wings and rests with quiet thankfulness on this tree of knowledge, which is also the tree of life.
4. He also gives repose to the affections of the soul. Earthly objects prove disappointing or fall away from us, or are torn from us and leave the soul all palpitating with agony, but no power can separate from the love of God in Christ Jesus. Earthly objects cannot last through the souls immortality, but Christ is the same yesterday, to-day, and for ever, and the repose that Christ brings is as everlasting as Himself.
III. The text implies that this resting-place of the soul is sometimes forgotten, even by those who have known and enjoyed it.
My people have forgotten their resting-place. This place can be attained even on earth by Christians. Paul, amid the damp and darkness of his prison, exclaimed, I know whom I have believed, and am persuaded He is able to keep what I have committed to Him against that day. Eminent Christians in all ages, &c. But a Christian may frequently have his peace in Christ disturbed. At moments he may be walking through darkness. Job was a true man of God even when he was crying out, Oh, that I knew where I might find Him! True, a Christian is not justified in being in this distressed state of mind.
When does a Christian forget his resting-place?
1. When he falls into perplexity, doubting whether he is forgiven or not
2. When he depends upon merely human and earthly resources.
3. When he loses his confidence in the midst of affliction.
Are there those here who have never known this resting-place? Let them seek it now. Come to Christ
Take Him for what He is; oh, take Him all,
And look above.
Then shall thy tossing soul find anchorage
And steadfast peace;
Thy love shall rest on His, thy weary doubts
For ever cease;
Thy heart shall find in Him and in His grace
Its rest and bliss.
Rev. W. M. Taylor, D.D., New York.
Jer. 50:6. Theme: ROAMING FROM GOD.
i. However unlike in all other choices and courses of action, men alarmingly concur in this, to neglect religion, forsake the fountain of happiness. They have gone from mountain to hill, they have forgotten their resting-place.
ii. We find no exception to this rule apart from individual cases in which Divine grace has worked a distinction. As in Nature we never find a stone ascend upwards or a river flow backwards of its own accord, so in the moral world we never find men prefering eternity to time, holiness to sin, the Creator to the creature of their own accord.
iii. Wherever this wrong tendency is found superseded by a supreme attachment to heavenly things, we are sure that this new bias owns a heavenly agency.
These Jews in Babylon wandered from hill to hill, from religion to religion, from comforter to comforter, from one broken dependence to another, but never by any chance wandering back to God.
I. God is the proper rest of the human spirit.
1. Every created life requires some object of hope and trust.
2. The dire effect of human depravity is to separate us from God, and to prompt us to seek some other rest.
3. Actually to know and enjoy God is the triumph of personal and experimental religion.
II. A tendency to forget and forsake God lies at the root of all our miseries.
It plunged Israel into captivity; it exposes us to ruin.
1. This is literally true of the whole world of sinners. We have all forgotten our resting-place.
2. This is practically true of the whole world of saintsthe source of their miseries. Not absolute forgetfulness, but a practical one. What makes us faint in calamity, quarrel with Providence, murmur under disappointments, betake ourselves to unworthy means to avoid calamity or obtain relief, &c.
III. Satisfaction is sought in vain while we desert God. Wander from mountain to hill.
1. Some concentrate happiness in self.
2. Others seek satisfaction in their worldly possessions and well-planned enterprises.
3. Others in their personal talents.
4. Others in their untarnished reputation.
No matter what be the object of idolatry, if God be forgotten and the proper resting-place forsaken, if the care of their soul be neglected and the cross of Christ unsought, destruction and misery are in their ways, and the way of peace have they not known.
(a.) There is criminality in this neglect of God.
(b.) There is degradation in it.
(c.) There is ruin, disaster, in it, sooner or later.
IV. Gods dispensations correct this perverse tendency in man to roam from Him.
1. The dispensations of His providence.
2. The influence of His grace and Spirit.
Comments
Jer. 50:6. My people hath been lost sheep: their shepherds have caused them to go astray. See on chap. Jer. 2:8, and especially Jer. 23:1 seq.
Jer. 50:7. Their adversaries said, We off end not, because they sinned against the Lord. It is the worst condition into which the Church of God can come when the enemies who desolate it maintain they are in the right in doing so. It is, however, a just Nemesis when those who will not hear the regular messengers of God must be told by the extraordinary messengers of God what they should have done.Naegelsbach.
Nebuzaradan urged the plea of this verse (chap. Jer. 40:2-3; cf. Zec. 11:5). The Jews guilt was so palpable that they were condemned even in the judgment of heathens. They saw they had apostatised from the hope of their fathers, from the God whose faithfulness their fathers had experienced.
Jer. 50:14. Against Babylon, for she hath sinned against the Lord. By oppressing His people; for their cause is His. Also by profaning His sacred vessels (Dan. 5:2).
Jer. 50:17. Theme: THE SCATTERED SHEEP. Israel is a scattered sheep; the lions hath driven him away.
Sin made them victims of invading conquerors. Text was fulfilled in the captivity by Assyria. Language appropriate to every lost sinner.
I. A wandering sheep is a very fit emblem of a poor sinner. Entangled in the briars of the wilderness, torn and pierced by its thorns; the lions have devoured us, &c. In plain language: mans heart, affections, powers of his mind, all are alienated from God. A wandering sheep is the emblem of
1. Indigence, perplexity, and disappointment.
2. Danger.
3. Helplessness.
4. An object of pity and anxious solicitude. God pitied the sinner (Joh. 3:16); His love is illustrated by Luk. 15:3, &c.
II. Jesus Christ is the great Shepherd, who seeks and gathers into His fold His wandering sheep. As such He is frequently described (Psa. 23:1; Isa. 40:11; Joh. 10:11).
1. He knows they are in the wilderness. He came to seek and to save that which is lost. He finds them in a ruined condition.
2. He pities them, and rescues them from their enemies. He takes the prey from the mighty, and delivers the lawful captive.
3. He restoreth the soul (Psalms 23) He came to give life more abundantly (Joh. 10:10-11). For this purpose He died, paid the price, &c.
III. How blessed is the present state of the restored sheep! Loved, redeemed, enfolded.
1. The fold of Christ is a secure enclosure. The Lord is round about His people. His perfections are on every side for their security.
2. They are in suitable and congenial society. Sheep associate not with other animals. We have fellowship one with another.
3. He will ever watch over them, guide and defend them; for they are precious to Him. He will never leave nor forsake them: be with them in the valley of death, and then enfold them in heaven.
IV. The restored sheep are amply tended and nourished.
1. They go in and out and find pasture. But they are not always fed on the same ordinance. The blessing is not confined to one means of grace.
2. All the blessings of the new covenant are for the nourishment of the soul.
3. The endearing character of Christ should engage our confidence, as our Shepherd. He is infinitely good, providentially kind, and graciously tender to His people. His bounty supplies, His wisdom orders, all things for us; and His Gospel brings us every spiritual enjoyment.
V. The sheep shall be eventually removed from the fold below to that in glory.
1. Here they have much enjoyment, but it is often imperfect and interrupted. Sin disquiets, the world disappoints, ordinances only prove a blessing occasionally.
2. The time is nearing when the flock shall be all in one fold, eternally with the Shepherd, led by Him into the eververdant pastures.
(a.) Are you one of Christs sheep? As a wandering sinner, have you been reclaimed?
(b.) Have you sensible enjoyment of the provisions of the Gospel? Are they to you green pastures, &c.?
(c.) If not identified with the flock of Christ now, at the day of division you will be severed from the redeemed of the Lord (Mat. 25:31, &c.)
From Helps for the Pulpit.
Jer. 50:20. Theme: GODS MERCY TO HIS PEOPLE. In those days the iniquity of Israel shall be sought for, and there shall be none; and the sins of Judah, and they shall not be found: for I will pardon them whom I reserve.
Gods promises seem so exceeding great that we are tempted to limit them by conditions. Men may indeed deceive themselves as to their own personal interest in them; but God is sovereign in His affluence.
This promise has been only in part accomplished; for since the Jews return from Babylon their sins have been found, and visited, too, in wrathful indignation for many hundreds of years. At a period fast nearing, Gods elect among them shall be restored to His favour, &c.
I. The extent of Gods mercy to His chosen people.
1. They are constantly represented as a remnant. Yet they are a remnant according to the election of grace (Rom. 11:5).
2. For them, however, God designs the richest mercy. A full and perfect remission of all sin (Isa. 38:17); and to remember their sins no more for ever (Jer. 31:31-34; Heb. 10:14-17). God will henceforth view them as they are in Christ, without spot or blemish (Eph. 5:27).
II. The interest which the Jewish nation has in this covenanted mercy.
1. They are the direct objects God has in view in this promise. We do right to apply these words to Gods elect generally, but wrong to overlook their primary purpose. This is emphatically a pledge to the Jews.
2. So applied, the promise should fill us with unutterable joy.
III. With what thoughts should we contemplate this promised mercy?
1. Amazement at the riches of Gods grace.
2. Humiliation, loathing ourselves for our iniquities against such a God.
3. Gratitude (Rom. 12:1).
4. Affiance. In all He has done He gives us the pledge that He will never suffer any one to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.Rev. Chas. Simeon, M.A., 1828.
Jer. 50:20. Theme: PLENTEOUS FORGIVENESS. I will pardon them whom I reserve.
I. In some cases pardon would be both unrighteous and dangerous.
The law must be honoured and the transgressor cease from the sin which needs pardon.
II. The pardon God bestows is sovereign in its exercise.
As pardon is an act of grace, not merited, it must be sovereign; bestowed according to the good pleasure of His will.
III. A universal offer of pardon is proclaimed in the Gospel.
On the ground of repentance towards God and faith towards our Lord Jesus Christ.
IV. While, therefore, Gods grace designs the scheme of pardon through Christ, the responsibility of securing pardon rests on man.
However wicked, no man need despair of obtaining it. Let him return unto the Lord, and He will abundantly pardon.
How can we doubt this when He pardoned a Manasseh, a Magdalene, a Saul? The blood of Jesus Christ cleanseth from all sin.Rev. D. Pledge. (See Addenda: SIN IN OBLIVION.)
Comments
Jer. 50:24. I have laid a snare for thee, O Babylon. Cyrus turned the waters of the Euphrates into a different channel, and so entered Babylon by the dried-up channel at night. Thus was the impregnable city taken by a stratagemThou wast not aware; for one-half of the city was in the enemys hands before the other knew of it.
Jer. 50:34. Theme: THE STRENGTH OF THE REDEEMER. Their Redeemer is strong.
I. These words suggest a difficulty. If He be strong, why does Israel so often suffer beneath the hand of the oppressor? If my father have bread, why do I hunger?
1. God does not display His strength at once, in order the more to glorify it. Lazarus dies. Jesus hastens not to him until the third day. Why? We had never known He could raise the dead if He had displayed His power always in healing the sick. Stephen dies full of faith, triumphing. God could have saved him from death, but showed His power by sustaining him.
2. God does not at once display His strength, &c., in order to make His people lay hold of it. When did Jonah, Manasseh, &c., cry loudest? Was it not when His arm seemed far from helping them?
3. Another reason is that He hereby chastens His people. There is no greater punishment than God leaving us to ourselves.
4. Hereby He instructs them. We are taught that Gods strength will never be exerted to make us secure in sin and indolence.
5. Often He does not exert His strength to liberate His people so that He may show mercy to their oppressors. He delayed to redeem Israel out of the hand of Pharaoh that Moses might reason with him.
II. These words convey a blessed truth.
1. Consider the might of the enemy from whom He delivers us. From the power of Satan, the world, our evil hearts.
2. Consider the completeness of the deliverance. He saves both body and soul, by His own arm, without the help of another. His own arm hath gotten Him the victory.
3. Consider His strength upholds to the very end all whom He hath redeemed. He brings up from Egypt to the goodly land. Was there one of all the host He brought out of Egypt that was forced back to captivity?
III. These words imply a terrible warning.
1. To all who oppress Gods people. He who blesses the giver of the cup of cold water shall punish all those who touch one of these little ones.
2. To all who reject His help. As strong to slay as to make alive. Seek His blessing. Flee to Israels strong Redeemer, lest the plagues written in the Book be experienced by you.
Say not, I am willing to enjoy life now and take the consequences of it hereafter. Say not, If it be right, I am willing to expiate my crimes. That is but hanging garlands on the sword that must enter your soul.From Stems and Twigs.
Comments
Jer. 50:39-40. BABYLON DESERTED OF INHABITANTS. This utter extinction of Babylon was not effected by one stroke, but gradually. Cyrus took away its supremacy. Darius Hystaspes deprived it, when it had rebelled against Persia, of its fortifications. Seleucus Nicanor removed its citizens and wealth to Seleucia, which he founded close by Babylon. The Parthians removed all that was left to Ctesiphon. Nothing but its walls were left under the Roman Emperor Adrian.
ADDENDA TO CHAPTER 50: ILLUSTRATIONS AND SUGGESTIVE EXTRACTS
Jer. 50:5. Faces Zionward. Among the old Romans there prevailed the touching custom of holding the face of every new-born infant towards the heavens, signifying, by their presenting its forehead to the stars, that it was to look above the world into celestial glories. It was a vain superstition; but Christianity dispels the fable, and gives us a clear realisation of the Pagan yearning. Young lives should be turned with their faces heavenwards.
Jer. 50:20. Sin cast into oblivion. Cicero said of Csar, He forgiveth nothing but injuries only.
These evils I deserve,
Yet despair not of His final pardon,
Whose ear is ever open, and His eye
Gracious to readmit the suppliant.
Milton.
Fuente: The Preacher’s Complete Homiletical Commentary Edited by Joseph S. Exell
CHAPTER NINETEEN
GOD AND BABYLON
Jer. 50:1 to Jer. 51:64 e
Eichorn was the first to deny the authenticity of chapters 5051 and he has been followed by most modern critics. Cornill affirms in regard to these chapters that their non-genuineness has been so convincingly demonstrated that now hardly anyone can be found to defend their authenticity.[400] The critics generally consider the oracle against Babylon to be a great conglomeration which cannot possibly be traced back to Jeremiah,[401] They think these chapters to be the work of an anonymous prophet of the later period of the captivity who by artistic copying and imitation attempted to pass off his writing as the work of Jeremiah.[402] Pfeiffer contends that the forger concocted this poem in order to supply the missing book Jeremiah is said to have sent to the exiles in Babylon (Jer. 51:59-64).[403]
[400] Carl Corhill, Introduction to the Canonical Books of the Old Testament (New York: Williams and Norgate, 1907), p. 308.
[401] Lawrence Cord Hay, The Oracles Against Foreign Nations in Jeremiah 46-51 (unpublished doctoral thesis, Vanderbilt University, Nashville, Tennessee, 1960), p. 187.
[402] Heinrich Ewald, Commentary on the Prophets of the Old Testament (1880), V, 1.
[403] Pfeiffer, op. cit., p. 607.
The critics contend that the historical situation of the Babylon oracle is not that of Zedekiahs fourth year as claimed in Jer. 51:59. The people are in exile (Jer. 50:4-5; Jer. 51:54), the Temple has been destroyed (Jer. 50:23; Jer. 51:11), the author looks for a speedy overthrow of Babylon (Jer. 50:8-10; Jer. 51:24). All of these considerations lead the critics to suggest a date of about 540 B.C., long after the time of Jeremiah, as the date for the composition of this poem.
This critical objection can be met by the simple hypothesis of E. J. Young.[404] Young proposes that Jeremiah wrote a first draft of this oracle in the fourth year of Zedekiah and sent it to Babylon by Seraiah precisely as recorded in Jer. 51:19-61. But during his days in Egypt, after the Temple had been destroyed and the nation had gone completely into exile, Jeremiah expanded that original draft to form the oracle as it stands in the Hebrew Bible. Another possibility is that Jeremiah regarded the exile as already in progress and considered the impending destruction of Jerusalem and the Temple as so certain that he could speak of it having already occurred in the fourth year of Zedekiah. The present writer tends to follow this latter alternative.
[404] Young, op. cit., p. 228.
A second critical contention is that the Babylon oracle is inconsistent with Jeremiahs attitude concerning Babylon. Jeremiah considered Babylon to be the servant of the Lord, appointed by God to rule the world. The Babylon oracle could hardly have come from the pen of a Chaldean sympathizer like Jeremiah. Here the critics have an erroneous view of Jeremiahs attitude toward Babylon. Jeremiah had not predicted the successes of the Chaldeans because of sympathy or admiration for them but because that nation was to be used as Gods instrument of judgment upon the nations of his day. Jeremiah certainly did not regard the world rule of Babylon as interminable. He placed a limit of seventy years on Chaldean supremacy. After other nations had tasted of the wine of Gods wrath then the king of Babylon must drink also. In the light of Jer. 25:12; Jer. 25:26, it is appropriate that the section of foreign nation oracles should conclude with an oracle against Babylon. It would be puzzling if such an oracle were absent.
The argument is made that an oracle against Babylon would only serve to undercut the strong emphasis in chapters 2729 that the exile would be of long duration. The delusion of an imminent overthrow of Babylon was rampant among the Jewish captives and Jeremiah had done all that he could to dispel the delusion. If this oracle was sent to Babylon shortly after the deportation of 597 B.C. it would only serve to reinforce that very delusion. But the text specifically declares that the Babylon oracle was not circulated throughout the exilic community but was sunk in a symbolic act in the river Euphrates.
The critics think that the length of the Babylon oracle argues against its genuineness. It is twice as long as the somewhat lengthy oracle against Moab. Furthermore, the Babylon oracle is marked by frequent repetitions: the approach of desolation is mentioned eleven times; the capture and destruction of Babylon nine times; Israels flight and return to Jerusalem seven times. Surely if this oracle as it stands is the product of the pen of Jeremiah it lacks originality. In reply to this criticism it should be pointed out that repetition is characteristic of the Book of Jeremiah. Surely it is not critically sound to declare a passage spurious because it can be found elsewhere in the writings of the same author. As for the length of this oracle, it is not surprising that it should be the longest. Babylon exerted a tremendous influence on tiny Judah and thus would demand from the prophet more than a passing allusion. Furthermore, it was necessary for this oracle to be included in the Book of Jeremiah so that later generations might be able to properly evaluate his attitudes toward the Chaldean conquerors.
The question of the genuineness of the Babylon oracle should not require much debate since the text itself (Jer. 50:1 and Jer. 51:60) attributes these chapters to Jeremiah.[405] Even the most determined negative critics admit that many Jeremian utterances, turns of thought and ideas appear in these chapters,[406] Furthermore, the narrative epilogue (Jer. 51:59-64), the genuineness of which is generally conceded, presupposes the existence of an extended anti-Babylon prophecy by Jeremiah[407] Finally, the appearance of the Medes as the conquerors (Jer. 51:11; Jer. 51:28) may be taken as proof that the oracle was written a long time before the end of the exile when the participation of the Persians would of necessity have been mentioned. On the basis of these several lines of thought the Jeremianic authorship of the oracle against Babylon appears to be fully vindicated.
[405] While the Babylon oracle is attributed to Jeremiah in the Hebrew text, the Septuagint translation omits by the hand of Jeremiah in Jer. 50:1.
[406] Ewald, op. cit., V, 1.
[407] C. von Orelli, The Prophecies of Jeremiah (1889), pp. 37475.
The background of the Babylon oracle is related in Jer. 51:59-64. Seraiah, Zedekiahs chief chamberlain, was about to accompany his king on a trip to Babylon. Jeremiah, taking advantage of this opportunity, wrote in a book all the evil that should come upon Babylon. Seraiah is commanded to read the prophetic message aloud in the face of the city. Then the book containing the message is to be sunk in the Euphrates river. By the first act Seraiah testifies that the Lord has now declared to the city its fate; by the second, that the city will sink like the stone, never to rise again. It is clearly implied that the message read by Seraiah over the doomed city was the Babylon oracle of Jer. 50:1 to Jer. 51:58.
The material in the Babylon oracle is put together in an unusual fashion. The oracle consists of a series of poems with prose sections interspersed here and there. The basic theme is the destruction of Babylon and the deliverance of Israel. Following almost every message of doom for Babylon is a message of hope for Israel. Logical progression in the theme is difficult to detect as the prophet chooses to drive home again and again his basic point. Any outline of the oracle is arbitrary and in the very nature of the case the subdivisions will overlap.
I. THE DEFEAT OF BABYLON Jer. 50:1-34
In the first part of the Babylon oracle the major theme of Babylons defeat and the minor theme of Israels return are skillfully blended. A four-fold breakdown is observable: (1) Babylons destruction and Israels deliverance (Jer. 50:2-10); (2) Babylons desolation and Israels restoration (Jer. 50:11-20); (3) Babylons visitation and Israels vindication (Jer. 50:21-28); and (4) Babylons recompense and Israels redemption (Jer. 50:29-34).
A. Babylons Destruction ad Israels Deliverance
Jer. 50:1-10
TRANSLATION
(1) The word which the LORD spoke against Babylon, against the land of the Chaldeans by the hand of Jeremiah the prophet. (2) Declare among the nations! Publish! Do not conceal it: Babylon is captured, Bel is put to shame, Merodach is dismayed; her images are put to shame, her idols are dismayed. (3) For a nation from the north has gone up against her. He shall make her land a desolation with no inhabitant in it. Both man and beast flee, they go away. (4) In those days and in that time (oracle of the LORD) the children of Israel and the children of Judah together shall go on their way weeping and the LORD their God they shall seek. (5) They shall ask the way to Zion, with their faces turned in that direction: Come! Let us join ourselves unto the LORD in an eternal covenant which shall not be forgotten. (6) My people have been lost sheep. Their shepherds have led them astray on the mountains; they have turned them to the mountains; they have gone from mountain to hill; they have forgotten their fold. (7) All who found them devoured them, and their adversaries said; We are not guilty because they have sinned against the LORD, the habitation of righteousness, the hope of their fathers. (8) Flee from the midst of Babylon and from the land of the Chaldeans go forth! Be like the he-goats before the flock. (9) For I am about to stir up and bring up against Babylon a company of great nations from the land of the north. They shall set themselves in array against her; from there she shall be taken. Their arrows shall be like a skillful warrior who does not return empty handed. (10) And the Chaldeans shall be spoiled; all of her spoilers shall be satisfied (oracle of the LORD).
COMMENTS
The oracle begins with an announcement to all the nations of the destruction of Babylon. The news spreads like wild fire as signal standards are raised in the market places of lands under Babylonian hegemony. Bel-Merodach (Marduk), the chief god of Babylon, has been shamed by what has happened to his city. The idols and images of mans making are absolutely useless when God begins to intervene in human history (Jer. 50:2). In spite of all those gods can do, an army attacking from the north, the Medo-Persian armies led by Cyrus the Great, have defeated Babylon. The picture is so plain in the mind of the prophet that he can describe those events in 539 B.C. as though they had already taken place. The defeat of Babylon by Cyrus was the first in a long series of disasters which that city would suffer and the place would eventually become an uninhabited desolation (Jer. 50:3). Jer. 50:3 is actually a generic prophecy, a prophetic snapshot of the fall of Babylon considered as a whole, Centuries would elapse between the events predicted in the first half of the verse and the desolation pictured in the second half of the verse.
The overthrow of Babylon is the signal for the deliverance and return of Israel and Judah. The passage is devastating to the Anglo-Israel theory which contends that Israel, the Northern Kingdom, migrated to Europe after the collapse of the Assyrian empire. Here both of the former kingdoms join together in returning in repentance to the Lord their God (Jer. 50:4) and to Zion the holy city. Jeremiah hears the remnant of Israel exhorting one another to join themselves to the Lord in an everlasting covenant that shall not be forgotten (Jer. 50:5). The prophecy of Israels deliverance began to be fulfilled when Cyrus, the conqueror of Babylon, issued a decree granting the captives the right to return home. From that remnant which returned, God raised Up the promised Messiah who established with spiritual Israel the New Covenant, the everlasting covenant, for Which the remnant yearns in this verse.
How did Gods people come to be captives in far off Babylon? Like lost sheep abandoned by their shepherds (their spiritual and political leaders) Israel had wandered away from the fold. on the mountains of Palestine they worshiped their pagan gods with immoral acts. Their resting place, the habitation of righteousness, the hope of their fathers was completely forgotten (Jer. 50:6). The enemies of Israel used this apostasy as an excuse for their heartless and cruel oppression of the people of God (Jer. 50:7). But now Jeremiah foresees an end to that dreary period of Israels history. The hour of deliverance will come, for the Lord will stir up a company of great nations from the north country (Jer. 50:9) who will defeat and plunder Babylon (Jer. 50:10). For this reason Israel is urged to flee from the midst of Babylon, to be as he-goats who lead the flock (Jer. 50:8). When Cyrus conquered Babylon he allowed all peoples held captive in Babylon to return to their native lands. Israel is urged to be among the first to take advantage of this gracious act, to lead the way.
Fuente: College Press Bible Study Textbook Series
(1) By Jeremiah the prophet.Literally, by the hand of Jeremiah. The phrase is not found elsewhere in Jeremiahs writings, with the one exception of Jer. 37:2. It probably indicates that the prophecy that follows was written with his own hand, and not dictated. (See Jer. 51:60.)
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
THE TITLE, Jer 50:1.
1. The word against Babylon Rather, concerning.
By Jeremiah Literally, as in the margin, by the hand of Jeremiah, suggesting not a spoken, but a written, message. The and should be omitted, and so land of the Chaldeans is simply an appositive of Babylon, which is thus shown to be not the city but the land.
The circle of the nations is completed in this prophecy against Babylon, which is much the most elaborate of all, containing one hundred verses. The genuineness of the passage is assailed by several critics on such grounds as these: 1) Elsewhere Jeremiah is the friend of the Chaldeans; here he is their enemy, and thirsts for their overthrow: 2) The style is repetitious. 3) New words and thoughts, foreign to Jeremiah, are introduced. 4) It shows a striking resemblance to certain passages in Isaiah 5) It displays an intimate knowledge of Babylonian topography and customs.
We reply: 1) Jeremiah indeed recognises the Chaldeans as the ministers of God’s justice, but still this does not change the fact that they are the enemies of the theocracy; and Jeremiah’s loyalty as a Jew and a worshipper of the Most High cannot be questioned. 2) That the style contains repetitions is eminently characteristic of Jeremiah, the warmth of whose emotional nature continually leads him to dwell on and to repeat matters of supreme interest. 3) There is no proof that new words and thoughts, novel to Jeremiah, have been introduced. 4) The introduction of passages from other prophets, such as Isaiah, Obadiah, and Nahum, has already been illustrated; and in this Jeremiah is simply consistent with himself. 5) The knowledge of Babylon is only of such general character as every intelligent Jew must have possessed.
In favor of the genuineness of this passage we may note 1) Its own distinct and formal claim, so that if it be not genuine it is a base forgery. 2) The style is characteristically Jeremiah’s. 3) The local and historical allusions are fully in harmony with this view. One illustrative passage, the fifth verse, has been repeatedly quoted: “They shall ask the way to Zion with their faces thitherward.” The exact reading is hitherward, showing that the writer was at Jerusalem.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
Introductory Words ( Jer 50:1 ).
Jer 50:1
‘The word that YHWH spoke concerning Babylon, concerning the land of the Chaldeans, by the hand of Jeremiah the prophet:
The importance of these words is underlined by the fact that Jeremiah wrote them with his own hand (‘by the hand of Jeremiah the prophet’, compare Jer 37:2). It is the prophecy of the downfall of Babylon and all that it stood for, the downfall of all that was anti-God, the downfall of secularism.
Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett
Prophecy Of Judgment On The Nations Continued ( Jer 49:1 to Jer 51:64 ).
Having learned that judgment was coming on Egypt, Philistia and Moab, we now go on to learn that it will also visit Ammon, Edom, Damascus, Arabia, Elam and then Babylon itself. None are immune from God’s judgment.
Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett
YHWH’s Judgment On Babylon And His Promises Concerning The Restoration Of The Remnant Of His People ( Jer 50:1 to Jer 51:64 ).
The series of prophecies against the nations had commenced with the prophecy against Egypt, the greatest nation of the area south of the Euphrates. It now finishes with a declaration of judgment against mighty Babylon, which at this time towered over the nations of the whole area. It was also the centre of all that was seen as debauched and debased, it magnified wealth, it engaged in all forms of idolatry and its connected features, and it was glorified by the pagan world. It is representative of much of civilisation today. Geographically Babylon was situated in the area that is now southern Iraq. At the same time, however, alongside the judgments on Babylon is the fact that the restoration of God’s people is assured. It is always God’s aim to bring His people out of ‘Babylon’ to a place where they worship Him truly.
It must be recognised, as is clear from Isaiah’s prophecy, that Babylon was seen as more than just a powerful nation that arose and fell over this period. Rather to Israel it had symbolised all that was in rebellion against God from the beginning. It was the great anti-God city which had commenced its rebellion against God at the time of Nimrod and of the tower of Babel (Babylon) as far back as Gen 10:10; Gen 11:1-9. It had led the incursion into Palestine in the time of Abraham (Gen 14:1 – Shinar = Babylon). And it would shortly underline its invidious position by its destruction of the Temple of YHWH, an act which would have so appalled all Israelites, that it would have been seen as confirming that Babylon was the great Anti-God. While not always independent its splendour and magnificence was renowned throughout the area, a symbol of all that was worldly and debauched. It contained over fifty temples to various gods, was at one stage 200 square miles in size, being built on both sides of the Euphrates, and had huge walls, containing 250 towers, along the top of which chariots could drive. Alexander the Great intended to make it the capital of his empire. Thus the fall of Babylon represented not only the cessation of a great empire, but the destruction of all that was anti-God from the beginning of recorded time. That is why prophecies against it always have such prominence. It was not just literal but symbolic. And it is significant that here in Jeremiah its judgment occupies almost as much space as the remainder of the prophecies against foreign nation put together. It is an indication that YHWH will not only restore His people, but will also finally deal with all that is ‘Anti-God’.
Thus while Jeremiah had earlier counselled submission to Babylon (e.g. Jer 29:5-7), seen as God’s instrument of chastening, it had always been in the light of the coming ultimate destruction of Babylon, and the final restoration of Israel, which are the subjects of what follows. YHWH’s purposes would finally prevail.
It should be noted that unless we dogmatically assert that predictive prophecy is impossible, there are no grounds for refusing to attribute these prophecies to Jeremiah. There are indications of his style, and, as is revealed by his letters, he was sufficiently cognisant of what was going on in Babylon to be able to speak of it with some knowledge.
One last word should be said here. The importance of these chapters lies precisely in what Babylon represented, something which is equally prevalent in the world today. Babylon turned men’s thoughts to the supernatural world which was antagonistic to God, to entering the psychic world; it turned men’s minds to the desire for building up great wealth; it raised in men’s hearts thoughts of great pride and greed. The condemnation of Babylon is therefore a condemnation of all these things. That is one of its major messages for us today. If we shy away from the continuing threats being made against Babylon, we overlook the fact that God is equally vehement in His condemnation of all these traits in our world today. Every verse of these next two chapters should hammer into us the message, ‘God will call all things into account, and here is the evidence’.
Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett
The Siege of Babylon Some Bible scholars suggest that the description of a siege against Babylon in Jer 50:1-46 is a prophecy of Desert Storm, when the United States and an alliance of nations used “smart weapons” to bomb Iraq in 1991; and it is possibly more accurate of the events of March 2003, when a coalition of approximately 45 nations, led by the U.S., Great Britain and Australia, made war against the evil Islamic regime of Saddam Hussein and overthrew his terrorist grip on the nation of Iraq. Never before in the history of mankind had such high-tech weapons been used with such accuracy. This group of developed nations used high tech missiles that rarely missed their targets. [32] I saw on the news how fighter jets were hitting tanks hidden under bridges while leaving the bridges in one piece, and using laser guided missiles designed for urban warfare to destroy one building in Baghdad while leaving one beside it intact. Within about three weeks, the nation of Iraq had fallen to this coalition which used this high-tech warfare. [33]
[32] “War Tracker: April 3, 2003,” CNN.com [on-line]; accessed 25 September 2009; available from http://edition.cnn.com/SPECIALS/2003/iraq/war.tracker/04.03.index.html; Internet.
[33] Rob Lindsted, Certainty of Bible Prophecy (Hearthstone Publishing, Ltd, 1997); Jamma Mokhriby, “ Jeremiah 50:1-21,” (Rapture Watch, Cephas Ministries, Inc, 2003-2009) [on-line]; accessed 25 September 2009; available from http://rapturewatch.cephasministry.com/333%20Jeremiah%2050.1-21.html; Internet.
Jer 50:6 My people hath been lost sheep: their shepherds have caused them to go astray, they have turned them away on the mountains: they have gone from mountain to hill, they have forgotten their restingplace.
Jer 50:6
Jer 50:7 All that found them have devoured them: and their adversaries said, We offend not, because they have sinned against the LORD, the habitation of justice, even the LORD, the hope of their fathers.
Jer 50:7
[34] “The Holocaust,” Britannica Encyclopedia 2009 [on-line]; accessed 24 September 2009; available from http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/269548/Holocaust; Internet.
Fuente: Everett’s Study Notes on the Holy Scriptures
Prophecies Against the Nations Jer 46:1 to Jer 51:64 consists of a collection of nine prophecies against the nations surrounding the land of Israel. The Lord had spoken to Jeremiah during his divine commission and said, “Then the LORD put forth his hand, and touched my mouth. And the LORD said unto me, Behold, I have put my words in thy mouth. See, I have this day set thee over the nations and over the kingdoms, to root out, and to pull down, and to destroy, and to throw down, to build, and to plant.” (Jer 1:9-10)
1. Prophecy Against Egypt Jer 46:2-28
2. Prophecy Against the Philistines Jer 47:1-7
3. Prophecy Against Moab Jer 48:1-47
4. Prophecy Against the Ammonites Jer 49:1-6
5. Prophecy Against Edom Jer 49:7-22
6. Prophecy Against Damascus Jer 49:23-27
7. Prophecy Against Kedar and Hazor Jer 49:28-33
8. Prophecy Against Elam Jer 49:34-39
9. Prophecy Against Babylon Jer 50:1 to Jer 51:64
Fuente: Everett’s Study Notes on the Holy Scriptures
Prophecy Against Babylon – Jer 50:1 to Jer 51:64 is a prophecy against Babylon.
Fuente: Everett’s Study Notes on the Holy Scriptures
Chaldea Punished; Israel Redeemed
v. 1. The word that the Lord spake against Babylon and against the land of the Chaldeans by Jeremiah, the prophet, v. 2. Declare ye among the nations and publish and set up a standard, v. 3. For out of the North, v. 4. In those days and in that time, v. 5. They shall ask the way to Zion, v. 6. My people hath been lost sheep; their shepherds have caused them to go astray, v. 7. All that found them have devoured them, v. 8. Remove out of the midst of Babylon, v. 9. For, lo, I will raise, and cause to come up, against Babylon an assembly of great nations from the North country, v. 10. And Chaldea shall be a spoil, v. 11. Because ye were glad, because ye rejoiced, O ye destroyers of Mine heritage, v. 12. your mother shall be sore confounded, v. 13. Because of the wrath of the Lord it shall not be inhabited, but it shall be wholly desolate, v. 14. Put yourselves in array against Babylon round about, v. 15. Shout against her round about, v. 16. Cut off the sower from Babylon and him that handleth the sickle, v. 17. Israel is a scattered sheep, v. 18. Therefore, thus saith the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, Behold, I will punish the king of Babylon and his land as I have punished the king of Assyria, v. 19. And I will bring Israel, v. 20. In those days and in that time, saith the Lord,
Fuente: The Popular Commentary on the Bible by Kretzmann
Jer 50:1-46. AND 51. ON BABYLON.
EXPOSITION
We have now reached a point at which some reference is necessary to the centre versies of the so called “higher criticism.” An attempt must be made to put the reader in possession of the data which are so variously estimated by critics of different schools. Theological considerations need not, and therefore ought not, to be admitted; like every other critical question, that which we are now approaching can be argued out on purely literary grounds. At first sight, indeed, it would appear not to require a long debate, seeing that in Jer 1:1 and Jer 51:60 the prophecy is expressly attributed to Jeremiah. But, on the other hand, it must be observed that the authorship of the heading in Jer 1:1 is altogether obscure; very possibly, like those of so many of the psalms, the heading may be incorrect. And as to Jer 51:60, can we be absolutely certain that the expression, “all these words,” was intended to refer to the prophecy which now precedes Jer 51:59-64? No doubt Jeremiah did write a prophecy against Babylon, and give it to Seraish with the charge described in Jer 51:61-64. But how do we know that this prophecy has come down to us in the form in which it was written?
This attitude of reserve is not assumed without substantial grounds, derived from two sourcesthe epilogue (Jer 51:59-64) and the prophecy itself. First, as to the epilogue. It is clear that the words, “and they shall be weary,” are out of place in Jer 51:64, and that they are wrongly repeated from Jer 51:58. But how came they to be repeated? Because, originally, the declaration, “Thus far are the words of Jeremiah,” stood at the end of verse 58. When the short narrative in verses 59-64 (ending at “I will bring upon her”) was combined with Jeremiah 1:1-51:58, the declaration in question was removed from Jer 51:58 to Jer 51:64, and, by accident, the preceding word (in the Hebrew) was removed with it. This leaves it open to us to doubt whether the present prophecy on Babylon is really the one referred to in Jer 51:60, supposing, that is, there are other reasons, derived from the prophecy itself, for questioning its Jeremianic authorship.
The reasons which have been adduced for doing so are analogous to those which lead so many students to doubt the Isaianic authorship of Isa 40:1-31 :46. je-5
I. The author of the latter prophecy (or the greater part thereof) writes as if he were living at the close of the Babylonian exile. So does the author of Isa 1:1-31 and Isa 51:1-23. “Yet a little while,” he says (Jer 51:33), “and the time of her harvest shall come” the time, that is, of that judicial interposition which (comp. Isa 17:5, Isa 17:11; Mat 13:39) is the heavenly antitype of harvest. He urges his fellow countrymen to flee, while there is still time, from the doomed city (Jer 51:6, Jer 51:45). He mentions, as the instruments of the Divine vengeance, the Medes (Jer 51:11, Jer 51:28), and, as it would seem, refers, though obscurely, to Cyrus (Jer 51:20-23).
2. Although the above statement is literally true of most of Isa 40:1-31 :66; yet there are some passages which are much more suggestive of a Palestinian origin than of a Babylonian (see Cheyne’s ‘Prophecies of Isaiah,’ 2:202). Precisely so in Isa 50:1-11 and Isa 51:1-23; at least according to one prevalent interpretation of Jer 50:5; Jer 51:50 (which are thought to imply a residence in Jerusalem); Jer 50:28; Jer 51:11, Jer 51:35, Jer 51:51 (suggestive, perhaps, of the continuance of Jerusalem and the temple); Jer 1:17; Jer 51:34 (implying, as some think, that Nebuchadnezzar was still alive). Still, there is so much doubt respecting the soundness of the inferences, that it is hardly safe to rely too confidently upon them. The case of Jer 1:1-19, and Jer 51:1-64. is, therefore, in so far rather less favourable to Jeremiah’s authorship than that of Isaiah 40-66, is to that of Isaiah.
3. Amongst much that is new and strange in the style of phraseology of Isaiah 40-66; there is not a little that reminds one forcibly of the old Isaiah. Similarly with Isa 50:1-11 and Isa 51:1-23, as compared with Jeremiah, “Every impartial judge,” says Kuenen (who will not be suspected of a prejudice for tradition), “must admit that the number of parallel passages is very large, and that the author of Jer 50:1-46 and Jer 51:1-64. agrees with no one more than with Jeremiah.” For instance, the formula, “Thus saith Jehovah Sabaoth, the God of Israel” (Jer 1:18; Jer 51:33), also occurs in Jer 7:3; Jer 9:15, and some twenty-six other passages; comp. also Jer 1:3 with Jer 9:9; Jer 1:5 with Jer 32:40; Jer 1:7 with Jer 2:3, Jer 14:18, Jer 17:13; and see other passages referred to in the Exposition.
The probability would, therefore, appear to be that, whatever solution we adopt for the literary problems of Isaiah 40-66; an analogous solution must be adopted for Isa 50:1-11 and Isa 51:1-23. The whole question is so large, and connects itself with so many other problems, that the present writer declines to pronounce upon it here. Only it should be observed
(1) that both subject and tone remind us of Isaiah 40-66, and the kindred prophecies scattered about in the first part of the Book of Isaiah, and more especially of Isa 13:1-22. and the closely related prophecy, Isa 34:1-17;
(2) that these two chapters, Isa 50:1-11 and Isa 51:1-23; present some striking points of contact with Ezekiel, who, though contemporary with Jeremiah, was still a later contemporary, and allusions to whom (since Ezekiel was a literary rather than an oratorical prophet) imply that his prophetic book was already in circulationin other words, suggest a date well on in the Exile for the prophet who alludes to him;
(3) that, though there are many Jeremianic allusions in Jer 50:1-46 and Jer 51:1-64; there are also several passages copied almost verbally from prophecies of Jeremiah, and applied to Babylon and its assailants (it seems difficult to believe that Jeremiah should have been such a good economizer of his literary work). It deserves to be added
(4) that, though Jeremiah is a great student of the earlier prophetic writings, and makes numerous allusions to them (see especially ch. 46-49.), nothing approaching to the mosaic work in Jer 50:1-46 and Jer 51:1-64. can be pointed to in the undoubted prophecies of Jeremiah. In fact, the Exposition will show that the author of these two chapters has borrowed almost the whole of their contents from other prophetshis own property, so to speak, being too insignificant to be worth mentioning.
Here, in justification of
(1) is a list of points of contact between Jer 50:1-46 and Jer 51:1-64. and Isa 13:1-22.:
(a) “To consecrate [or, ‘sanctify’],” used of persons, Jer 51:27; Isa 13:3. Here only (elsewhere with “war” following).
(b) “Lift ye up a banner,” Jer 50:2; Jer 51:27; also Isa 13:2.
(c) Comp. Jer 50:16 with Isa 13:14; close phraseological agreement.
(d) Comp. Jer 50:6, Jer 50:17 with first part of Jer 13:14; agreement as to sense.
(e) “Behold, I will stir up against Babylon,” Jer 51:1 (comp. Jer 50:9); so Isa 13:17. Comp. also, however, Isa 41:25; Joe 3:1-21. (Hebrew, 4.) 7-9.
(f) Comp. Jer 51:3 (Jer 50:14, Jer 50:29) with Isa 13:18; agreement as to sense.
(g) Comp. Jer 51:11, Jer 51:28 with Isa 13:17 (mention of the Medes).
(h) Comp. Jer 50:39, Jer 50:40 with Isa 13:19-22.
This last parallel may, perhaps, be questioned. At first sight it may appear that both Jer 50:40 and Isa 13:19 are based upon Jer 49:18 (which see), but when we inspect Isa 13:19 more closely in the Hebrew, we shall find reason to conclude that the original, both of this passage and of Jer 50:40, is Amo 4:11. We must, therefore, put Jer 49:18 out of the question, and learn to be on our guard against plausible inferences. The only point which remains to be decided is the relation between Jer 50:40 and Isa 13:19; which passage is the original? One important element in our decision will be the naturalness in the mode of reference to Sodom and Gomorrah; to the present writer this seems to determine the question against Isa 50:1-11 and Isa 51:1-23. and in favour of Isa 13:1-22. (The imitation is limited to Isa 13:1-22. because Isa 14:1-32. passes on to another though a related subject.)
And here, in justification of
(2) are points of contact between Isa 50:1-11 and Isa 51:1-23. and the Prophet Ezekiel.
(a) Ideas and “motives.”
() Figure of scattered flock, Jer 50:6, Jer 50:7 (Eze 34:1-31.).
() Effects of the avenging Sword of Jehovah, Jer 5:1-31 :35-38 (Eze 21:1-32 :80; Eze 33:1-6).
(b) Words and phrases
() No word is more distinctly peculiar to Ezekiel than gillulim, idol blocks, which occurs no less than thirty-nine times in his book, and elsewhere only once in Leviticus, once in Deuteronomy, six times in Kings, and once in Jeremiah (Jer 50:2).
() Anaq, to groan, occurs thrice in Ezekiel, once in Jeremiah (Jer 51:52), and nowhere else. It is remarkable that in the latter passage we find not only a word but a phrase of Ezekiel’s (see Eze 26:13).
() Pekod, the name of a Chaldean district, occurs in Jer 50:21; also Eze 23:23.
() The striking combination, pakhoth useghanim, occurs in Jer 51:28, Jer 51:57; also Eze 23:6, Eze 23:12, Eze 23:23.
() Kasdim for “Chaldea” (properly the Chaldeans), Jer 51:10; Jer 51:24, Jer 51:35; also Eze 16:29; Eze 23:16.
() Ch. 51:25, 26 seems to allude to Eze 35:3-5, Eze 35:9 (see the Hebrew, and verify the statement by the Hebrew concordance).
(c) General characteristics of style. Granting that the style of ch. 50. and It. approaches nearest on the whole to that of Jeremiah, it must be admitted, in the words of the latest German critic, Budde, that it “frequently enough declines from the simple, plain, and rather loose style of Jeremiah, to the flowery and turgid manner of speech of Ezekiel;” also that the points of contact are such as imply the originality of Ezekiel and the dependence upon him of ch. 50 and 51.
Jer 50:1
Against; rather, concerning.
Jer 50:2-10
Babylon’s fall and Israel’s deliverance.
Jer 50:2, Jer 50:3
The prophet, with the eye of faith, sees his revelation accomplished. Babylon (like Moab) is taken; her idols are destroyed. In his exuberant joy, he calls on the bystanders to proclaim the good news to the sympathetic nations, and to set up (or rather, lift up) a standard (as Jer 4:6), to call the attention of those who might not be within hearing of the proclamation. The idols have been convicted of false pretensions; they are ashamed and dismayed (so we should render rather than confounded and broken in pieces) at the terrible result to their worshippers. Bel and Merodach are not different deifies, but merely different names of one of the two principal gods of the later Babylonian empire. Bel, it is true, was originally distinct from Merodach, but ultimately identified with him. Merodach was the tutelary god of Babylon, and Nebuchadnezzar seems to have been specially addicted to his worship, though, indeed, he mentions Nebo also with hardly less honour. This is the beginning of an inscription of this king’s, preserved at the India House:”Nebuchadnezzar, King of Babylon, glorious prince, worshipper of Marduk, adorer of the lofty one, glorifier of Nabu, the exalted, the possessor of intelligence” (Mr. Rodwell’s translation, ‘Records of the Past,’ 5:113). Elsewhere Nebuchadnezzar speaks of Marduk as “the god my maker,” “the chief of the gods,” and of himself as “his (Marduk’s) eldest son, the chosen of his heart.” Her images. It is a very peculiar word (gillulim), specially frequent in Ezekiel, and also found in a chapter of Leviticus with which Ezekiel has affinities (Le 26:30). It evidently involves a sore disparagement of idol worship. The etymological meaning is “things rolled,” which may be variously interpreted as “idol blocks” (Gesenius), or “doll images” (Ewald).
Jer 50:3
Out of the north. There was a peculiar mystery attaching to the north in the Hebrew mind, as, in fact, the word very for “north” in Hebrew (literally, the hidden) indicates. The burnt offering was to be sacrificed on the north side of the altar (Le Jer 1:11), and the four cherubim, in the vision of Ezekiel, are described as coming from the north (Eze 1:4). The horror with which Babylon was regarded was intensified, apparently, by its northern position (Jer 1:14), and now the “hidden” north again pours forth its swarms of warriors against Babylon herself. They shall remove, they shall depart; rather, they are fled, they are gone; almost the same clause occurs in Jer 9:10. The prediction is realized as past.
Jer 50:4
In those days, etc. The destruction of Babylon is immediately followed by the deliverance of Israel. But the description of the latter is a remarkable one. We are by no means to regard it as an idealized picture of the return of the Jews under Zerubbabel, any more than we can suppose the glowing promises in the second part of Isaiah to have their sole fulfilment in that disappointing event. No; it is the characteristic of Messianic prophecy that, with “foreshortened perspective,” the prophets represent as equally near events which are really separated by ages. In the Book of Isaiah, for instance, preliminary judgments are repeatedly described in terms which, properly speaking, only apply to the great final judgment. In fact, each great political revolution is a stage in the Divine drama of judgment, which will reach its close in the final cataclysm. And so too here (as well as in Isaiah 40-46.) the promise of mercy to Israel, which began to be fulfilled in the edict of Cyrus, is represented as if the still future conversion of the people of Israel were actually accomplished. The description reminds us of Jer 3:18-21. Notice the penitence of the returning exiles, and the reunion of Israel and Judah (see on Jer 3:18). Going and weeping; they shall go; rather, they shall go, weeping as they go.
Jer 50:5
Thitherward; rather, hitherward: The prophet is evidently writing from Jerusalem (comp. Jer 51:50). Let us join ourselves. A conjectural emendation (nilveh for nilvu, a difficult reading, meaning, perhaps, “join yourselves”). A perpetual covenant. The same phrase occurs in Jer 32:40. The addition, “that shall not be forgotten,” reminds us of “the ark of the covenant,” which was “not to be remembered” (Jer 3:16).
Jer 50:6
Lost sheep. Not merely with reference to the scattering of the Captivity (as in Isa 27:13, where the Authorized Version has “ready to perish”), but to the transgressions of the Law of God, of which the Jews had been constantly guilty (comp. Psa 119:176; Isa 53:6). Their shepherds mountains. This is the marginal correction in the Hebrew Bible; the text has, “Their shepherds have caused them to go astray upon the seducing mountains”a strange expression, which is, however, defended by Naegelsbach on the ground of Jer 2:20; Jer 3:2, Jer 3:23; Jer 17:2. Their resting place; literally, their couching place; i.e. their pasture, Jehovah, at once their Pasture (Jer 17:7) and their true Shepherd (Psa 23:1).
Jer 50:7
We offend not; rather, we incur no guilt. As long as Israel lived a life consecrated to Jehovah, “all that devoured him incurred guilt” (Jer 2:3). But now that he had wandered from Jehovah, and so forfeited his protection, his adversaries denied that they could be brought to account. Habitation of justice; strictly, pasture of righteousness. The same title is applied in Jer 31:23 to Jerusalem. But Jerusalem’s spiritual efficacy is only derivative; rest and life flow from Jehovah alone, who is, therefore, the true Pasture of his people. In the Hebrew, “Jehovah” is placed emphatically at the end of the verse. The hope of their fathers (comp. Psa 22:4). To forsake Jehovah was an act of treason to the former generations.
Jer 50:8
The prophet returns to the fate of Babylon. He exhorts the captive Israelites to flee in time, before the hostile army reaches the city (comp. Isa 48:20). Be as the he goats before the flocks; rather, as the rams, whose example is followed unhesitatingly by the flock. The “flocks” in this case are the strangers in Babylon (Jer 50:16).
Jer 50:9
I will raise; literally, I will stir up (or, awaken); comp. Jer 6:22; Isa 13:17. An assembly of great nations. So in a parallel prophecy, “the kingdoms of nations gathered together” (Isa 13:4). Callias in Ebers’ learned story, ‘The Egyptian Princess,’ speaks of “an empire so casually heaped together, and consisting of seventy populations of different tongues and customs, as that of Persia.” From thence; i.e. from the headquarters of the array of nations. As of a mighty expert man; rather, as of an expert warrior (or, mighty man). The marginal rendering of the Authorized Version represents a various reading of the Hebrew found in three old editions, and presupposed in the Targum and Vulgate, “one making childless,” i.e. “a destroyer.” The received reading, however, is self-evidently right. None shall return in vain. It seems doubtful whether this refers to the arrow or to the mighty man. The arrow may be said to “return [or, ‘turn’] in vain” when it misses its aim or strikes the mark without piercing it; the mighty man when he retires from the field defeated. This wider use of the phrase is sanctioned by Isa 55:11.
Jer 50:11-20
Babylon’s desolation and Israel’s glorification.
Jer 50:11, Jer 50:12
Because ye were glad, etc.; rather, Truly ye may be glad; truly ye may rejoice, ye spoilers of mine heritage; truly ye may leap as a heifer at grass, and neigh as steeds; yet your mother, etc. Your triumph shall be of short duration; disgrace follows closely upon its heels. “Your mother” is a term for the nation regarded as a whole (comp. Isa 51:1; Hos 2:2; Hos 4:5). “At grass” is the reading adopted by the Septuagint and Vulgate; the pointed text has (the vowels alone are different), “(a heifer) that thresheth,” i.e. allowed to eat its fill of corn, agreeably to the direction in Deu 25:4. It is not clear why the Authorized Version deserted the received pointing. Behold, the hindermost of the nations shall be a wilderness; rather, Behold, the hindermost of the nations! a wilderness, etc. The subject understood in the first part is obviously the people, in the second the land, of Babylon.
Jer 50:13
All but the first clause of this verse is taken from Jer 19:8; Jer 49:17.
Jer 50:14
Put yourselves in array, etc. The Authorized Version, guided, perhaps, by considerations of rhythm, has misplaced the first stop, which ought to be after “bow.” The Medes are referred to in a parallel prophecy as great archers (Isa 13:18).
Jer 50:15
Shout against her; i.e. raise the battle cry (comp. Jos 6:16; Isa 42:13). She hath given her hand. This action is generally mentioned as a pledge of friendship or a ratification of a promise (2Ki 10:15; Eze 17:18; Ezr 10:19); but the notion of surrender or submission would naturally follow (so in 1Ch 29:24; 2Ch 30:8). Dr. Payne Smith well quotes the words of Turnus, when begging his life of AEneas, “Vicisti, et victum tendere palmas Ausonii videre” (‘AEneid,’ 12.936). Her foundations. The word is difficult, but a comparison with the Syriac suggests the rendering, her walls. “Foundations” is obviously wrong.
Jer 50:16
Cut off the sower, etc. “Babylon” here probably means Babylonia, for it is clear from Jer 50:12 that the curse belongs to the country as well as the city of Babylon; indeed, “Babylon” in Jer 50:13 seems to be used in the wider sense. Others think of the open spaces within the walls of Babylon, in which it is said that crops were raised to provision the city in case of a siege (see Rawlinson, ‘Ancient Monarchies,’ 2:518); but this is less natural. They shall turn, etc. The subject is, not the husbandmen, but the strangers in Babylonia; comp. the parallel passage, Isa 13:14, on which this passage is based. AEsehylus (‘Pers.,’ 53) speaks of the in Babylon. Whether brought by force from their homes, like the Jews, or voluntary residents for the sake of commerce, all should hurry from the doomed city.
Jer 50:17
Israel is a scattered sheep, etc. Here a pause in the discourse occurs. The prophet returns to the present condition of Israel, who is likened to a sheep scared away from its fold by lions. The ruin wrought by the lions is described first as “devouring” and then as “breaking the bones” of Israelin either case it is complete destruction, but the completeness is more emphasized by the second figure. In fact, when the “ten tribes” were carried captive, the elements of the theocracy still remained in the southern kingdom.
Jer 50:19
The flock restored. His habitation is an unfortunate rendering, which obscures the beautiful figure; read, his pasture (as in Jer 50:7). The places mentioned were all famous for their rich pasturage (comp. Jer 22:6; Isa 33:9; Mic 7:14 (especially); Eze 34:13, Eze 34:14; So Eze 4:1).
Jer 50:20
In those days, etc. An evangelical promise, reminding us of Jer 31:34 and Jer 33:8, and of the combination of spiritual with temporal blessings in the latter part of Isaiah.
Jer 50:21-28
The punishment of Babylon, corresponding to her crimes.
Jer 50:21
The land of Merathaim; i.e. of double rebellion. Probably enough an actual geographical name may lie at the root of this singular expression; but we are not able at present to say what it was. The prophet has, at any rate, modified it in such a way as to convey a definite meaning, symbolic of the character of Babylon (comp. on Jer 50:31). What was this meaning? According to Gesenius, there is an allusion to the two great blows inflicted on Israel and Judah by Assyria and Babylon respectively; but as these two powers were but the instruments of a higher Hand, this explanation would seem to be inconsistent with the prophetic teaching. Dahler, De Wette, and Keil take the two rebellions to be the spiritual ones of idolatry and pride; and there is no obvious objection to this. But the dual may be simply intended to express intensity; comp. Jer 17:18, “Destroy them with double destruction” (see note). The inhabitants of Pekod; i.e. of punishment. But here too a geographical name very probably lies underneath. The Taylor cylinder inscription of Sennacherib mentions a Pukudu (= Pekod), together with Havrann (Hauran) and Nabatu (Nabathaeans); but this was the name of a tribe. In Eze 23:23 we read, “The Babylonians, and all the Chaldeans, Pekod, and Shoa, and Koa,” etc.; and in ‘Records of the Past,’ 11.92, we find a town Pikudu mentioned, lying to the south of Babylon, which may, perhaps, have given its name to a district, and to this district the prophet not improbably alludes. M. Halevy conjectures that the event which corresponds to the prophecy is the decisive battle which virtually terminated the Babylonian empire. According to the newly discovered Cyrus inscription, this battle was fought near a place called Rutu, which appears to have been situated in the neighbourhood of Pukudu (‘Records,’ l.c.). About the symbolic meaning there can be no doubt: Pekod is a worthy pendant to Merathaim. Sin and punishment are so closely connected in the prophetic mind that one word sometimes covers both notions. It is doubtful, for instance, whether the better rendering of Isa 5:18 is “draw sin as with a cart rope” or “draw punishment.”
Jer 50:23
The hammer of the whole earth. So in Isaiah (Isa 14:5), “Jehovah hath broken the staff of the wicked, the rod of the rulers; which smote peoples in passion with an unceasing stroke.” In the next chapter a similar title is conferred upon Israel, with the right to retaliate upon Babylon all the evil which Babylon had done to Zion (Jer 51:20-24). Compare the epithet Martel, “The Hammer,” given to Charles, Duke of the Franks, on account of his great victory over the Saraoens at Tours; it is tempting to add “Makkabi,” the epithet of Judas (Maccabaeus), but the k is not the same letter as that in maqqab, hammer.
Jer 50:24
I have laid a snare for thee. It was very natural, as long as Cyrus’s own account of the capture of Babylon was unknown, to refer for a fulfilment to the stratagem which, as Herodotus relates, that king employed, viz. diverting the waters of the Euphrates into an already existing reservoir, and entering the city unexpectedly by the river channel (Herod; 1.191). But the cylinder inscription, translated by Sir H. Rawlinson in 1880, shows that Babylon opened its gates of its own accord, on hearing the defeat and capture of Nabonidus. There is no occasion to look for any further fulfilment of the prophecy than the surprise which must ever come upon the bystander when he sees a mighty empire suddenly pass into the hands of its enemies. The tenses in this verse are not very happily rendered. It would be better to translate, I laid a snare for thee, and thou wast taken, O Babylon, unawares; thou wast found, etc; because thou hadst striven against the Lord.
Jer 50:25
Hath opened his armoury. A truly grand figure. The north country (the “hidden” part of the earth, as it was called in Hebrew) is regarded by the prophet as a storehouse of young and “inexhaustible” nations, from which Jehovah can at any time “bring forth weapons of his indignation.” The latter phrase, occurs again in the parallel prophecy (Isa 13:5), where it is evidently applied to the army of Medo-Persian invaders. For this is the work, etc.; rather, For the Lord, Jehovah of hosts, hath a work.
Jer 50:26
Come against her; rather, Come to her. Dr. Payne Smith infers that Babylon has already fallen, and that the persons addressed are not warriors only, but plunderers of every kind. This is almost too subtle. The prepositions “to” and “against’ (literally, upon) are so frequently interchanged (comp. Jer 46:22; Jer 49:9). From the utmost border; rather, all together; it is an idiom expressing universality. Those who are spoken of are regarded as a totality, “from the utmost end” of which its members come. Cast her up as heaps; rather, Cast it up as sheaves; i.e. ransack the repositories of Babylon’s wealth, and heap it up like corn; last of all, destroy her (rather, it) utterly. The verb is a very emphatic one. Its primary meaning is “to cut off, or shut off.” Hence kherem, a devoted thing, is applied in the Law to that which is “tabooed,” as it were, cut off from any but sacred uses. In Le Jer 27:21 it is used of a field wholly appropriated to the sanctuary, and in 1Sa 15:21 and 1Ki 20:42 to living beings doomed to destruction. Destruction is generally a part of the meaning; but it is not merely destruction, but an act of homage to the Divine justice.
Jer 50:27
In this verse we are told that the kherem, i.e. the Divine ban, falls upon the entire male population, as in the holy wars of Joshua (Jos 6:21; Jos 11:11, Jos 11:20). All her bullocks. As in Jer 51:40 and Isa 34:6, the doomed people is likened to sacrificial victims (comp. Jer 46:10). The same fact is described without figure in Jer 48:15. Go down to the slaughter; i.e. be forced down to the slaughtering trough.
Jer 50:28
The voice of them that flee, etc.; rather, Hark! those that flee, etc. A confused murmur indicates the approach of the fugitives with their great tidings. The vengeance of his temple; i.e. the punishment due to Babylon for burning the temple; comp. next verse, also Jer 50:15, “The vengeance of the Lord,” and Jer 51:11.
Jer 50:29-40
The completeness of Babylon’s destruction.
Jer 50:29
Call together the archers, etc. A dramatic way of indicating that the siege is about to begin.
Jer 50:30
With the exception of “her” in the second clause, a repetition of Jer 49:26.
Jer 50:31
O thou most proud; rather, O Pride! Just as in Jer 50:21 Babylon is called Merathaim, and as Egypt is, in Hebrew poetry, called Rahab, i.e. “boisterousness” or “arrogance” (Isa 30:7; Isa 51:9; Job 26:12; Psa 87:4; Psa 89:10).
Jer 50:32
The most proud; rather, Pride. Raise him up. For the sake of uniformity, “her” would be better; for it is Babylon who is spoken of. There is an inconsistency in the use of the persons in the original. Elsewhere in this description Babylon is feminine; here it is masculine, to agree with “Pride.”
Jer 50:33
At the end of Jer 50:32 a pause occurs in the discourse. Then the prophet takes up the theme again with renewed emphasis. Were oppressed; rather, are oppressed. Because the oppression of Israel and Judah still continues, whereas Israel has by this time been amply punished (“received double,” Isa 40:2) for her transgressions, Jehovah will himself interpose. He is, in fact, Israel’s Goel (“Redeemer”), i.e. charged, like the next of kin, with the duty of recovering thy rights and avenging thy wrongs (comp. Isa 41:14; Isa 47:4). On the Goel, see Le Jer 25:25; Rth 4:6; Num 30:1-16 :19.
Jer 50:34
That he may give rest to the land; rather, to the earth. Babylon was one of the great world empires; we can hardly dispense with this convenient Germanism. It was the wont of the Chaldeans, as Habakkuk puts it (Hab 1:6), “to walk through the breadth of the earth, to possess dwelling places that were not theirs.” Observe the striking contrast”rest” to the world which has been too long deprived of it, and “disquiet” to those who have hitherto spread it far and wide (comp. Isa 14:2, Isa 14:3).
Jer 50:35-38
No human aid avails against so terrible a foe; therefore Jehovah calls upon his Sword (see on Jer 47:6) to avenge the cause of his people.
Jer 50:35
A sword is, etc; should rather be, Sword upon the Chaldea, it is an exclamation equivalent to “Let the Sword come upon the Chaldeans”that sword which never “returns empty.” The wise men are, partly the astronomers and astrologers at the various observatories in Babylonia, whose duty it was to send in monthly reports of the appearances in the sky, which were regarded as having an occult political significance (comp. Isa 47:13). In the next verse they are called liars, or praters. In Isa 44:25 this word stands parallel to “diviners.” Possibly “liars” may be a wider term than “wise men,” and includes an inferior grade of pretenders to “wisdom.”
Jer 50:37
The mingled people; rather, the foreign peoples. Even if in Jer 25:20 the Hebrew erebh is an ethnographical term reminding us of the Assyrian Urbi used of Bedouin tribes, je-6 it is clear that no such explanation will suit here (see on Jer 25:20).
Jer 50:38
A drought. The Maasoretic critics, in their prosaic realism, were unable to see how a “sword” could be “upon the waters;” hence they altered khereb into khoreb. But the sword is merely a symbol of the Divine vengeance, and may be interpreted differently according to the exigencies of the context. Render, Sword upon the waters. They are mad upon their idols; rather, through Terrors they befool themselves. “Terrors” is a synonym for the gods of the heathen, which inspired a feeling of awe rather than affection, unlike Jehovah as he revealed himself through the authors of the psalms and prophecies.
Jer 50:39
Parallel passages: Isa 34:14; Isa 13:20-22. The wild beasts of the desert; rather, wild cats. Wild beasts of the islands; rather, jackals. Owls; rather, ostriches.
Jer 50:40
A verbal copy of Jer 49:18.
Jer 50:41
Jer 51:4.The instruments of the judgment. The section is partly a cento from other prophecies. Thus Jer 51:41-43 are a repetition of Jer 6:22-24, except that what is there said of Jerusalem is here applied to Babylon; and verses 44-46 of Jer 49:19-21, the reference, however, being in the latter passage to Edom. In verse 46 At the noise of the taking of Babylon would be more literally rendered, At the cry, Babylon is taken.
HOMILETICS
Jer 50:2
The judgment of Babylon.
The position and history of Babylon give a peculiar significance to the judgment against her.
I. BABYLON HAD BEEN THE GREATEST POWER OF HER TIME.
1. Earthly greatness is transitory. The supremacy of the world is an insecure position. Rivalries and hatreds inevitably spring up about it.
2. No might nor dignity can secure a people from the judgment of Heaven. The more talents are entrusted to a nation the heavier must its responsibility be. England will have to answer to God for her use of the vast resources on which she foolishly prides itself. The wealth and population of London are no defence against Divine judgments.
II. BABYLON HAD BEEN THE MOST VICTORIOUS KINGDOM OF HER TIME. She had conquered in her wars with neighbouring nations. While they failed she had succeeded; fortune, frowning on them, had smiled upon her. Yet Babylon’s time came. No ground of confidence is more delusive than previous success. If success induces carelessness and self-indulgence, it is sure to prepare the way for future failure. The “fortunate man” has not the slightest reason for presuming that his good fortune will help him in the future life. If he can argue anything from it, he may conclude that, since he has had his good things in this life, the evils that fall to his share must await him in the next.
III. BABYLON HAD TRIUMPHED OVER THE PEOPLE OF GOD. Some might have thought that this was a victory of her patron god over the Jehovah of the Jews. But now “Bel is confounded, Merodach is broken in pieces.” For a season the evil powers of the world may triumph over the Church of Christ. But ultimately they must succumb. Persecution cannot finally crush the truth. Unbelief, proud and insolent as it may be for a while, must ultimately bow before the power of faith. For truth is great and eternal, and God is fighting on its side.
IV. BABYLON HAD BEEN AN INSTRUMENT IN THE HANDS OF GOD. Jehovah speaks of Nebuchadnezzar as “my servant” (Jer 27:6). Yet he must suffer. For he was not a deliberate, willing servant. If God overrules the action of a man for good, this result is no justification of his conduct. For he is judged by his aims and motives, and not at all by the unintentional and unforeseen results of his actions. The only service of God which renders the servant acceptable in his sight is conscious, willing, obedient service. We may be used by God for other service, and then be cast off and suffer for our sinful deeds as much as if no Divine ends had been fulfilled in in them. Thus the scourge is scourged.
Jer 50:4, Jer 50:5
Returning penitents.
This picture of the restoration of Israel is interesting for the prominence given to the spiritual reformation of the people. It would be vain for them to return to their land unless they also returned to their God. The spiritual recovery that thus forms the centre of the Messianic restoration is typical of the recovery of God’s wandering children as returning penitents. Consider the leading points of it.
I. REPENTANCE FOR THE PAST. The two elements of repentance are here indicated.
1. Sorrow for sin. The children of Israel are depicted as “weeping as they go.” A due sense of sin will produce Sorrow. The penitent will feel himself a “miserable sinner.” But to be genuine the sorrow of penitence must rise directly out of the conviction of sin. If it were induced by sympathy, by sensational influences, etc; it would be a vain and useless thing. Moreover, grief arising out of the fear of the painful consequences of sin is not the grief of repentance. This must be a sorrow of conscience directly produced by regret for the sin itself.
2. Change of conduct. The penitents are to “come” and “go,” etc. The prodigal arises and goes to his father. Mere idle tears are not repentance. Real repentance is the turning round of the soul from darkness to light, the active desire to amend one’s ways. It is true that repentance is not regeneration. It is not a renewal of nature nor is it the realization of a better life. But it is the first step towards this, and it must grow out of an honest desire to attain it.
II. AWAKENED RELIGIOUS DEVOTION IN THE PRESENT.
1. Inquiry. They “seek the Lord;” they “ask the way.” The penitent becomes the seeker after light. Truth, which was once a matter of indifference, or a subject of abstract questions, is now felt to be of great practical importance.
2. A return to God. The sinner had feared the visitation of God, but the penitent new voluntarily seeks to enter his presence. There is awakened a desire to be reconciled to God and to enjoy close communion with him.
3. A revival of interest in public worship. The penitents are described with their faces turned Zionward. Love to God induces interest in the worship at his house, no doubt a far less important thing than the spiritual return to God, yet noteworthy as an evidence of this. One of the leading signs of a change of heart is a renewed interest in the ordinances of religion.
4. Brotherly companionship. The children of Israel and the children of Judah come together. The tears of repentance melt away the old barriers of jealousy and contention. When on our knees before God we are all brethren. The forgiveness of our sin by God is conditional on our mutual forgiveness of one another (Mat 6:14, Mat 6:15). Through union with the common Saviour all the redeemed become one family.
III. A NEW COVENANT FOR THE FUTURE. Repentance is but a beginning. The wicket gate is entered; now the pilgrimage must be followed. The soldier is enlisted; the warfare lies before him. The Christian must live in the future, not wasting his remaining days in idle grief for the misspent past, but “forgetting those things which are upon the new born fervour of the hour of penitence. We need a solid conviction, a firm resolution, a covenant. He who becomes a Christian enters a covenant. He receives blessings from Christ, but he binds himself to the service of Christ. In the course of years he may be tempted to forget it. He therefore needs constant prayer and watchfulness. God will not be satisfied with the fact that some one “great transaction” is “done.” The transaction is the forming of a perpetual covenant. It brings the obligation of lifelong fidelityfaithfulness “unto death.”
Jer 50:6
Lost sheep.
I. MEN ARE LIKE GOD‘S SHEEP. In the Old Testament the Jews appear as the only flock, but Christ teaches us that all mankind is so regarded by God.
1. We are like sheep, because
(1) we are foolish and prone to err;
(2) we are weak and defenceless; and yet
(3) of some value in the sight of God.
2. We are like God’s sheep, because
(1) we are not our own masters, we belong to God;
(2) he watches over us, guides, feeds, protects, and blesses us.
II. SIN IS LIKE THE STRAYING OF LOST SHEEP.
1. It is straying from God. The shepherd goes first; the way he chooses may be narrow, steep, rugged; it may seem to lead to pastureless deserts or to dangerous forests; but it is the duty of the flock simply to follow the shepherd wherever he goes. It is our one duty to follow God in Christ. To sin is to follow the devices and desires of our own heart instead of following his will.
2. It is straying from our own vocation. There is a path for the sheep. There is a path forevery mana way of life into which he is called to walk. When he knows this, if he turn from his duty to any other way, no matter how pleasant and profitable it may be, he is failing in his mission, wandering from the right way.
III. MEN ARE LED ASTRAY BY BAD SHEPHERDS. It is terrible to think of the fatal work of men of great talents who have spent them in deluding or debasing their fellows. What vast harm has been done by the evil genius of great men! Intellectual leaders, philosophers, religious teachers, poets, directly turn men astray when their teaching is false and corrupt. Political leaders bring nations into great criminal wars. Court influence is potent for evil when the court is corrupt. Nevertheless men cannot throw off their own guilt upon their leaders. For they act with their free will.
IV. THE RESULT OF STRAYING IS HOMELESS WANDERING.
1. It is to be homeless. The sheep are lost on the mountains. God is the Home of his sheep. To be far from God is to be on the wild mountains, open to the tempest, at the mercy of the fiercest foes.
2. It is to be restless. The sheep “have forgotten their resting place.” The fascination of liberty to roam over the mountains tempts the sheep to wander from their shepherd. They soon find that this very liberty becomes a curse, and the wandering a doom of wretchedness. What the soul wants is rest, and it can find no rest but in God.
V. CHRIST RECOVERS THE WANDERING SHEEP. The sheep could not find their way back to the fold, neither could men find their way back to God. Christ came to seek as well as to save. As the good Shepherd, he gave his life for the sheep. They who have wandered furthest are not beyond recovery by Christ. If but one sheep be still straying, he will not be satisfied till that one is brought back. If, then, we have wandered, our safety will be found in hearkening to the voice of the good Shepherd and following him back to our home in God.
Jer 50:20
Perfect forgiveness.
I. IN WHAT IT CONSISTS. When God forgives a man he pardons him completely, as Christ thoroughly cured all the sick persons whom he healed in any way. There is no middle course here. Either the forgiveness is total or it is not accorded at all.
1. This is more than the remission of penalties. Some consequences of sin must still remain, though these are no longer indications of God’s anger, but converted into merciful chastisements. But the essence of forgiveness lies deeper than any manipulation of external experience. It is inward, in the relation of God to the soul.
2. This spiritual forgiveness consists in the removal of all estrangement between God and the sinner. It is perfect reconciliation with no shadow cast upon it by old offences, Many men profess to forgive and yet bear a grudge, or say they will forgive but cannot forget, or forgive partially but retain a certain suspicion and coolness. God’s forgiveness goes further. He is said to remove our sin from us “as far as the east is from the west,” to “cast it into the sea,” to “remember it no more.” He treats his guilty but penitent child as if the sin had never been committed. No record of guilt is preserved, none can be found, even if an enemy search for it. The prodigal is not made a hired servant; he is welcomed with joy. The Christian is not grudgingly received into the outer courts of God’s house; he is called to the presence of his Father and blessed with full privileges of sonship. If he is justified he is also glorified. Hence we may learn
(1) that, after genuine repentance and faith, a man need not remain in a state of fear and sadness; he may rejoice with confidence. His sin is not to be found; then he need think no more of it. If God has forgotten it he also may forget it. The typical Christian is not a weeping Magdalene, but a happy, hopeful servant of Christ. We may also learn
(2) to extend more charity and confidence to other men in their penitence. If God has forgiven them, who are we that we should treat them with contempt or anger?
II. HOW IT IS OBTAINED.
1. Often after chastisement. The promise to Judah and Israel is forgiveness after the sufferings of the Captivity. This is not invariably the case; for
(1) chastisement may fail in its work upon the soul, and then the forgiveness will not follow; or
(2) God may bring the sinner to penitence by milder means. But it is the design of chastisement to lead us to the blessedness of reconciliation.
2. After repentance. The people are first depicted as “going, weeping as they go.” Forgiveness is offered to the worst man who repents, but not to the mildest offender who remains impenitent.
3. Through the mercy of God. This forgiveness is part of the blessedness of the restoration which God promises to effect for his children. It is not earned by future good conduct nor by any sacrifice or penance. We now know that it is not cheap. The price is no less than the life of the Son of God. But to us it is a free gift of God’s love.
Jer 50:34
The strong Redeemer.
I. THE CHARACTER AND POWER OF THE REDEEMER.
1. God is the Redeemer. He is the Goel, the Friend, Advocate, Avenger, and Saviour of his children.
(1) The goel was the next of kin (Le Jer 25:25). No man is so nearly related to us as God is.
(2) The goel was bound by law to redeem or avenge the sufferer. Human laws, in so far as they are just and good, are shadows of the Divine laws, i.e. of the ways of God’s procedure. If the Jewish law of redemption was inspired by God, it was made after the pattern of God’s manner of acting. In the New Testament we see this side of God’s work brought into leading prominence. Jesus Christ is the manifestation of God in the flesh, and Jesus Christ is pre-eminently “the Redeemer” (Eph 1:7).
2. The almightiness of God is our assurance of redemption. The massive strength of the rock makes it painful for us to fall upon it, and fearful and fatal for it to fall upon us; but this very characteristic renders it a blessing if we rest under its shadow, build on its foundation, or cling to it for support in the driving tempest. Men may well shrink from the might of God when they are opposed to it, and tremble and despair when it rises up, awful and irresistible, to crush them; but if they can turn to it with trust and know it is working their good, they will find in it a ground for solid assurance. How disastrous would it be for us to have a weak God, though he might have all other Divine perfections! His love might be infinite; but if he could only pity, and not effectually save us, his grace would be of little use. But our Redeemer is the Lord of hosts. If a host encamp against us, the Lord of hosts is on our side. The strength of the Redeemer is of importance, because
(1) our foes are greatearthly trouble, sin, death;
(2) our evil state is disastrouswe have fallen far into sin, some of us, perhaps, into deep wretchedness, only a strong hand can pull us out of so horrible a pit;
(3) our own strength is slight. We are not able to cope with the dangers that beset us. In face of the great forces of evil we are like withered leaves before the autumn blast. Hence to us weaklings amid the strange and awful powers of time and eternity, what grand comfort lies in the thought that “our Redeemer is strong”!
II. THE METHOD AND FRUITS OF HIS REDEMPTION.
1. The method, “He shall throughly plead their cause.” The case is intricate, many cross issues arise. The honour of God, justice, the maintenance of respect for law, the government of the universe, the highest good of all creatures, are concerned in the sin of man and its effects, and they must all be considered and fairly treated before redemption is possible. But we have no weak Advocate. God has gone through the whole labour and sacrifice. He has paid the price even the gift of his Son to die for us.
2. The fruits.
(1) Rest. “That he may give rest to the land.” This was the greatest blessing to people who had been harried by invasions and wearied with exile. Rest is what the world most wants in its war and confusion, its toil and its sorrow. “Peace on earth” is the gospel benediction. Rest is what the soul most needsrest from sin, from self, from fear and doubt and wearing grief. Rest is the blessing Christ offers to those who will “come unto” him. Heaven is rest.
(2) The overthrow of foes. Babylon, the troubler of the nations, will be disquieted. Christ, the Rock of salvation, is to his enemies “a stone of stumbling and a rock of offence.” In the spiritual redemption of Christians the spiritual foes are vanquished; sin and death, the last enemies, are slain. We can only have rest to our souls in proportion as our sins are conquered. So the Redeemer who brings balm for our soul’s wounds brings a sword for its sins.
HOMILIES BY A.F. MUIR
Jer 50:2-5
Israel’s deliverance.
This is described as twofoldthe historical circumstances and the correlative spiritual experience. Apart from its verification in the case of ancient Israel, it is true to the actual process of many an individual conversion.
I. A PROVIDENTAL EVENT. The outward circumstances of life are altered. External tyrannies are brought suddenly to an end, and the children of God are set free to serve God or not as they please. In every life there are some such occurrences. The spell of evil is broken and moral freedom rendered possible. And this is often brought about impressively, with the stamp of the supernatural upon it. Especially was it so with Israel’s escape from Babylon, because of the permanent influence that event was to have on the spiritual history of mankind.
1. It was of world wide import. Babylon was the central world power, holding in iron subjection many nations. As a universal empire it is to be broken in pieces, and its sentence is not only announced, but published abroad as an evangel to the nations.
2. Of evidently Divine authorship. The clear prophecies; the moral recompense involved in its fall, and so wonderfully corresponding to its deserts, and the vast spiritual consequences accruing therefrom, make this indubitable. And equally, we may be sure, was the hand of God visible to those who were the subjects of the deliverance (see Psa 124:1-8.).
II. A SPIRITUAL EXPERIENCE. This corresponds to the external circumstances and gives them their real significance and effect.
1. Sorrow for past offences. “Weeping”tears of grief and shame. The marvellous grace of God has broken their hearts. Tears, too, of joy and gratitude.
2. Return to the true God. Idolatry was henceforth and forever forsaken. The sublimity and spirituality of God have taken possession of imagination and heart. Each step of the way to Palestine is a further removal from the sin which took them away. And it is not the carnal delights of the promised land which constitute its attraction. It is Zion they seek, the house of the Lord, that they may rebuild her ruins and restore her worship. This proves repentance real.
3. Renewal of the covenant. In this is repentance perfected. It is to be a new covenantmore spiritual, vital, and therefore eternal. The awful years of visitation have left an undying memory; but the interposition and grace of God have written his covenant upon their heart.M.
Jer 50:4, Jer 50:5
To Zion, with their faces thitherward.
A picture of genuine repentance. The action and attitude suit the profession. The point of attraction is Zion, not Carmel or Bashan. Repentance is
I. UNREAL. When the outward behaviour contradicts the profession, or the conduct exhibited is only conventional or intended to deceive. It is either:
1. Half hearted, not having its root in deep conviction of sin, and unaccompanied by thorough separation from carnal interests. The looks of the heart are alternately attracted towards Zion and towards the world, whilst the feet go to and fro or stand still. Or:
2. Hypocritical When there is no conviction and the behaviour is a pretence. When worldly aims are cloaked by religions profession.
II. REAL. “Their faces thitherward.” The attitude and movement correspond with the profession. Every preparation is made to go away from “Babylon,” and the journey is commenced at once. Grief and heavenly longing are the grand motives.
1. Genuine sorrow. “Weeping” as they go.
2. Pure aspiration. They seek Zion. “Seek ye first the kingdom of God and his righteousness,” etc.
3. Resolute endeavour. The return is at once made, notwithstanding its difficulties and dangers. Only in Palestine can the perfect theocracy, the spiritual future, be realized, i.e. in a true Church fellowship, which they hasten to realize.
4. Inward and eternal fidelity. Covenant relationship is renewed. A new spiritual covenant, whose provisions are written on their hearts, is entered into. They are no longer their own, but the servants of God, “bought with a price.”
5. Perfect unanimity. Both Israel and Judah. A guarantee this of success and thoroughness. The lesson has been learnt by all, and united Israel is “holiness to the Lord.”M.
Jer 50:6, Jer 50:7, Jer 50:17-20
Israel as lost sheep.
This is a favourite theocratic title of Israelthe sheep of God’s pasture. In itself an appeal to the traditional pastoral character of the nation, and to the marvellous guidance of their forefathers by Jehovah through the wilderness. He was the Shepherd of Israel. The extent of their apostasy is here described.
I. IT WAS COMPLETE.
1. They had wandered. The allurements of idolatry had led them on and on, and they had at length yielded to them. They had sought other pastures and acquired preferences for other worship. It is an evil sign when men lose taste for the simple services of a spiritual religion. God should be sought alone and for his own sake.
2. They became alienated. A natural consequence. Step by step they went so far that they could not find their way back. Spiritual unfaithfulness produces confusion and spiritual darkness. They forgot their own fold.
3. They became degraded and morally odious. They bore the sign of their spiritual fall upon them. Their history, too, was the record of their shame to the neighbouring peoples. The backslider can never erase the past. He will bear his Cain mark to the end, and even the heathen and unbeliever will despise him. Their oppressors are so struck with the justice of their sentence that they justify themselves in even greater cruelties than were warranted. There is no corner of the world where the backslider can escape God’s curse or hide his shame. Do what he may, he will not be as other men.
II. YET IT DID NOT BAFFLE THE SHEPHERDING OF GOD.
1. To avenge. The overdone punishment is not lost sight of; it will be duly recompensed. And the sacred character of the exiles will add to the guilt of those who used it as an excuse for their cruelties. God is the Judge of his lost ones even to the end. He commits his authority to no other. He who causes a child of God to go further astray, and delights in his degradation and ruin, will have to account terribly for this to his Father and Saviour.
2. To bring back. God’s arm is strong to destroy the detaining influences, and outstretched far enough to reach his wanderers, even to the extremities of transgression and ruin. And he can detect them in every hiding place and covert. He is the good Shepherd. No wilderness too wide, no mountain too high or rocky, for him to traverse. He will bring them back to righteousness and then to happiness and peace.M.
Jer 50:20
Divine forgiveness an absolute oblivion.
The attribute of completeness characterizes God’s work of destruction (Jer 50:14-16); equally does it pertain to his work of salvation (Jer 50:19, Jer 50:20). In both is manifested his righteousness in its elements of wrath and mercy. His forgiveness acts in perfect harmony with his severity.
I. HOW IT MANIFESTS ITSELF.
1. Retrospectively. Sins that are past are to be blotted out. A complete severance is to be effected between the era of apostasy and the new one upon which they are to enter. The strictest justice, the most jealous hostility, will fail to make out a valid indictment.
2. Prospectively.
(1) In the character. It will be purified and confirmed in the righteousness of God.
(2) In the conduct. There will be no more lapses or infidelities. Israel will be “a peculiar people, zealous of good works.” It is for the sake of this new future that the guilty past has been cancelled; and it is the legitimate fruit of the experience of God’s pardoning grace that the “reserved” ones shall give themselves “with a glad heart and free” to his service and glory.
II. TO WHAT IT IS DUE. Not to Divine goodness in conflict with Divine righteousness, but to the satisfaction of Divine righteousness.
1. In atonement. The sacrifice of Christ was anticipated, and for its sake the national tribulation through which Israel had passed was accounted a satisfaction for guilt incurred. In itself that tribulation could never effect such an end, nor in any sense as supplementary of the sufferings of Christ, but only symbolically and representatively, such as the lamb slain on the temple altar. The sinner is identified with the Saviour.
2. In making righteous. “Justice looking at the sinner, not simply as the fit subject of punishment, but as existing in a moral condition of unrighteousness, and so its own opposite, must desire that the sinner should cease to be in that condition; should cease to be unrighteousshould become righteous; righteousness in God craving for righteousness in man, with a craving which the realization of righteousness in man alone can satisfy. So of holiness.” (Macleod Campbell.)M.
Jer 50:21-23
The hammer broken.
Babylon was to be crushed by Persiaone hammer by another. As universal world powers, the rise and fall of these had immense importance, and they illustrate the duties and responsibilities of power.
I. ALL POWER IS A STEWARDSHIP FROM GOD. The vast extent and influence of those empires, and the special mission divinely appointed them, cannot but impress one with a sense of special responsibility. There seems something supernatural in their very origin and continuance. And yet it is equally true that the humblest power is a responsibility. It might be said that a great deal of the influence of great nations arises unconsciously, mechanically, and as it were as the result of their own momentum; and also that the distribution of official duties divides, if it does not quite dissipate, individual responsibility. Yet each contributes his quota to the general result, and in the end each will have to account for his own influence. The nation as a whole will be judged, and in that judgment each will be apportioned his due share. How much more, therefore, may the individual be held responsible for the use of those powers belonging to his own nature and person, and which are under his own control or have been in great part created by his own cultivation. We are doubly responsible, viz.
(1) for the acquisition, and
(2) for the use of power.
II. IT IS POSSIBLE TO BE THE INSTRUMENT OF DIVINE JUSTICE AND YET BE GUILTY. Babylon was clearly and definitely “commanded” to perform its work of conquest and destruction. But it overdid its task through arrogance and unbelief. It was the land of “Double defiance” (Merathaim), inasmuch as it had first illegitimately acquired its position by revolt against Assyria, and secondly it had triumphed in a cruel and unseemly manner over Israel (Naegelsbach). For this it was brought to account, and, therefore, is again named “Visitation.” This self-sufficiency and unbelief rendered it guilty (“Against Jehovah hast thou striven,” Jer 50:24), and yet the work it did, even in excess, was turned to account by God. We are responsible, not only for doing what God commands, but for doing it in the right spirit and manner. That God should overrule our evil for the good of others does not alter its character, which depends upon motives and dispositions. Especially in judging or punishing others ought we to keep watch over ourselves and examine our own hearts. National and official action will entail moral responsibility as much as personal, although, it may be, not so directly.
III. THE ABUSE OF POWER WILL BE TERRIBLY AVENGED. In the case of Babylon it involved it in complete destruction. The influence which had in part been a Divine creation rapidly degenerated into a merely human and sinful one.
1. Because the consciousness of power tempts to greater arrogance and depravity; and:
2. Because all power has. involved in it corresponding moral capacity.
3. It is the perversion and abuse of a gracious privilege.M.
HOMILIES BY S. CONWAY
Jer 50:4, Jer 50:5
Godly sorrow.
In these verses we have given us not a few of the characteristics of real repentancethat repentance which never needs to be repented of. Note some of these as seen in Israel and Judah.
I. THEY ACTUALLY SET OUT TO SEEK THE LORD. The time of thinking about it and talking of it was over. All indecision on the matter had ceased, and we see them arising and going on this blessed journey.
II. TEARS. Had there not been the actual setting out, these tears might not have counted for much. But it is said they were “going and weeping.” Too many are quite capable of the weeping, but the other and the far more important part they fail in altogether. But when the fruits go along with the signs of godly sorrow, then those signs are of real worth, telling as they do of the broken and contrite spirit with which God is ever well pleased.
III. SINKING OF ALL DIFFERENCES AND OLD RIVALRIES. Unity taking the place of strife. The old rivals, Israel and Judah, were united now. And the giving up of former grudges and grievances is a real sign of a genuine work of grace in the soul.
IV. INQUIRY. This was an open and practical acknowledgment of their former wrong, a real confession like the “Father, I have sinned,” of the returning prodigal.
V. THE ZIONWARD FACE. Jer 50:5 : “With their faces thitherward,” it is said. There are many who talk about religion, but with their faces all the while world ward. What does our common talk, our every day life, our ordinary spirit and conduct, declare? They show which way our face really is, no matter what our tears or inquiries have been.
VI. STIRRING ONE ANOTHER UP TOWARDS THE GOOD WAY. “Come, and let us,” etc. (Jer 50:5). When we see men trying to win others for God, to lead men not away from him, as heretofore, but to him, we conclude that that man’s repentance is real.
VII. SOLEMN COVENANTING WITH GOD. The value of such vows and covenants is that they render going back from God more difficult. They help to steady the will and confirm the wavering purpose. They commit us to the right side. It is a kind of breaking down the bridges behind us, a burning of the boats, so that the soldiers started on the enterprise may not be able to recross the river. Hence we urge such open and solemn avowal, consecration and covenanting with God. It tends to make your adhesion to God “perpetual,” and your holy purpose to serve him far less likely to “be forgotten.” Thus was it with Israel and Judahnever since have they fallen into idolatry, and though yet “the veil is before their faces,” they are far other than what they were. And in our own Churches such consecration has again and again been greatly blessed.C.
Jer 50:6
Forgetting our Resting place.
This chapter was written for the comfort of exiles in Babylon. They were told that their oppression was not to be forever. “God giveth songs in the night.” He will not utterly cast down. But before he gives comfort he clearly shows the people their sin. And one chief part of that sin was that they had forgotten their resting places. So many generations had lived and died in the neglect of God, their Resting place, that he had become forgotten by them. The habit of resorting to him was broken; other gods had been chosen instead. And now, in the sorrow of their exile, they knew not where to turn. Treating the subject generally, we note
I. A PRECIOUS TRUTH IMPLIED. There is a Resting place provided for us. Weary we often are, by reason of conscience and temptation and earthly trouble and fear. But there is a resting place for us. “We who have believed” in the Lord Jesus Christ “do enter into rest.” His one sacrifice gives rest as to the past, his intercession ensures grace sufficient for all the present and the future too, and his resurrection is the pledge that “he will redeem” my “life from destruction, and crown” me “with loving kindness and tender mercy.”
II. A SAD ACCUSATION MADE. That we “have forgotten,” etc. Now, this is very grievous; for:
1. It involves deep ingratitude. Think at what a cost our rest was purchased for us. Our pardon, peace, sanctification, and life eternal were not the result of a mere wish on the part of God, but they cost the life and death of the Son of God. Ponder that vast price paid for redemption, and think what must that heart be that forgets all thiswhat Christ has done for us, is doing, and will do. “The ox knoweth his owner, and the ass,” etc. (Isa 1:3).
2. And it is such folly. For no more surely do we need the bread that perisheth for our bodily life than we do “the Bread of life,” which is Christ, for the sustenance of our spiritual life. And this not mere theory, but all who have ever known him as our Rest, know what a Resthow gracious, how perfect, how constant and sure!he is. And to neglect, abandon, forget that!”Can the force of folly further go?” It is an exchange of Eden for the wilderness, of the father’s house for the swine feeding and the husks, light for darkness, life for death.
3. It causes such misery. See the picture in the verse. It is that of a hunted, worried sheep. If that were the condition of such sheep, instead of being led by the shepherd by green pastures and lying down there by the still waters, what would its life be worth? And so with our souls; their misery betrays itself in the haggard look or the flippant laugh, or the hideous attempt to stifle all thought and memory in the wild pursuit of pleasure, of business, orworst of allof sin. Conscience will rebuke; memory will recall bitter times and moan, “Oh that it were with me as in times past!” Prayer and the means of grace seem unable to help; we are powerless for good; and the scorn of men of the world. Yes; thus to forget is misery indeed.
4. And the danger is very great. For if we do not return, we are lost. The terrible words of the writer of the Epistle to the Hebrews (Jer 6:4-6) will be fulfilled in us, and then all hope is gone. “O ye children of God, ye have a Resting place; how is it that ye can forget it? Touch upon the things of nature, how they chide you! Bring to your remembrance the birds of the air, the beasts of the forest, the dumb driven cattle accustomed to the yoke, and let them chide you; for they forget not their resting place. Carried away to the city the other day, the dove was taken from its cage, and they let it loose, fastening to it the message that was to be sent. It mounted aloft, it whirled around awhile, that it might see Where it was. It was far, far away from the dove cote; it was found hundreds of miles away; but whither did it fly? Swift as an arrow from the bow, it sought its resting place with the infallibility of affection; it found its nearest way to the cote where it had been reared, and brought its message safely there. And even the dog which thou despisest, taken away from its master, carried many miles away, in darkness too, so that it might not know its way, has been known to swim rivers, cross byways it could not have known, and then is found barking for admission at its master’s door; oh, so happy when it hears its master’s voice again. It could not rest elsewhere. O my heart, wilt thou let the pigeon outstrip thee in affection? art thou more doggish than a dog? Dost thou forget thy Lord, when dogs remember well their masters? Let us learn from them and forget our Resting place nevermore” (Spurgeon).
III. EARNEST INQUIRY SUGGESTED.
1. As to the source of such forgetfulness. Sometimes it arises from mere thoughtlessness. Cf. the seed that fell by the wayside (Mat 13:1-58.). Or from the unsubdued heart, which likes not to retain the memory of God. Or from the cares of this world. The children of Israel when in Egypt could not listen to Moses by reason of the bitterness of their bondage. And yet more often from wicked worldliness. The hurry and drive, the everlasting rush of business, and the setting aside of everything that stands in its way, the determination to be rich at all hazards. Unbelief is also another cause, the materialistic doubts, the questioning that arises as to the truth of there being any such resting place at all. And the bewilderment caused by sin. The soul is stunned, dazed, and has lost its powers.
2. As to its cure. “Let the wicked forsake,” etc. (Isa 55:7).C.
Jer 50:19, Jer 50:20
The forgiveness of God.
These words are a beautiful setting forth of God’s abundant pardon. Concerning it note how
I. IT BRINGS UNSPEAKABLE JOY. In the former part of this chapter (cf. Jer 50:6) the prophet has pictured Israel and Judah like to a driven, hunted flock of sheep, never allowed to rest in peace, worried by fierce dogs, and hence in perpetual distress. But here there is a complete contrast. The flock feeds on Carmel and Bashan, the richest pastures. The most perfect rest is theirs. The lot of the flock told of in Psa 23:2 is theirs. So full of peace and joy are they. And the forgiveness of God does bring deep joy to the soul. The sense of such forgiveness is very delightfulthe realization that God doth no more remember our sin. And the manifestations of that forgiveness are also very blessed. For very generally God causes his providence to be gracious and kindly to that man whom he has pardoned. And the fruits of it are also blessed, in the character, the peace, the energy, the strength, it imparts. But
II. IT IS CHALLENGED. “The iniquity of Israel shall be sought for” (verse 20). There are those who question very much the Divine forgiveness, who maintain that the sin is still where it was. Often the forgiven man himself does this. He cannot “read his title clear;” he trembles at the future and cannot be persuaded that God has put away his sin. He is filled with doubts and fears. But often the seeking after the iniquity of God’s people is done malignantly. The enemies of God rejoice when they can find a solitary blot or blemish in the character of God’s children. What a yell of triumph they raise when they light on such a discovery! Satan is “the accuser of the brethren.” He is ever on the search for their iniquity. And they who are of him are ready with the charge of cant, hypocrisy, etc.; refusing to believe that there can be any such person as a real saint of God. And pharisaically also Israel’s iniquity is frequently “sought for.” See that elder son in the parable (Luk 15:1-32.). How slow he was to believe in anything but the hardened iniquity of his younger brother! A great deal may be urged in favour of his Slew of things. Such kindly treatment did seem unjust, putting bad and good on one level. He would not have objectedas such men, and there have been and are myriads of them, do not objectto show some little favour to a repentant sinner, after a long course of testing him and proving whether he was worthy of any further forgiveness; but to give him all at once such complete pardon, such elder sons never believe in that. And by some the iniquity of those whom God has pardoned is sought for philosophically. “Plato, Plato,” said Socrates, “I do not see how God can forgive sins.” And when we see, as we do see, how in the whole realm of nature every force goes on until it has produced its full effectthere is no loss of force anywherehow can sin be made an exception? how can it be prevented from having its due and full effect, sad and terrible as that is? Philosophically speaking, there can be no forgiveness. What a man soweth, that must he also reap, in nature and measure, in kind and degree. Thus is God’s forgiveness challenged. But
III. IT IS VINDICATED. Verse 20, “The iniquity.; shall be sought for, and there shall be none; and the sins and they shall not be found.” The sacrifice and the Spirit of Christ are the vindication of God’s forgiveness. The former by vindicating the Divine righteousness in such forgiveness. For there are two ways of accomplishing this. One is the way of condign punishment. But God desires atonement, reconciliation, as well as vindication, and therefore this way will not serve. The other the way of repentance, the accepting the contrite confession of sin, and prayer for its forgiveness. And this is the way God has chosen. Cf. “I said I will confess and thou forgavest,” etc.; “The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit,” etc. Now, this way of dealing with sinners vindicates God’s righteousness. For, though we cannot offer an adequate confession, repentance, and intercession, yet, in Christ, this has been done; and when, in sympathy with him, in “the fellowship of his sufferings,” and “made conformable to his death,” we make our confessions and prayers, they are accepted for the sake of him who has offered perfectly the spiritual sacrifice which we can offer only imperfectly. Now, this way of dealing with sinners vindicates God’s righteousness; yea, it causes sinners to be made “the righteousness of God in him,” that is, Christ (2Co 5:21). God’s righteousness is thus made illustrious, conspicuous, as by no other means whatsoever. For when it is clearly seen, as in the kingdom of God it will be clearly seen,
(1) the depths whence the sinner has been drawn, and
(2) the glorious height of purity and excellence to which he has been by this grace of God upraised, that spectacle will silence all objections, and will prove that that way must have been a righteous way which has had such righteous results. And the Spirit of Christ, producing sanctity in the hearts and lives of believers, is the vindication of this way of grace to all eider sons, and, indeed, to all else who challenge what God has done.
CONCLUSION.
1. Rejoice in such forgiveness, that you have it to proclaim, to think of, to rest your soul upon.
2. Adore. What else can we do but sing our “Magnificats” to such a redeeming God?
“Who is a pardoning God like thee?
And who hath grace so rich and free?”
3. Come away from all self-trust, all reliance on your own deeds for justification and forgiveness.
4. Tremble, O unsaved one, to be found amongst those who have despised such grace. “How can we escape if we neglect so great salvation?”C.
Jer 50:23
Hammer versus hammer.
Babylon was “the hammer of the whole earth” in the days in which and of which Jeremiah wrote. Nineveh had striven to resist, as had Tyre, Syria, and Egypt, but one by one they had been crushed beneath Babylon’s ponderous blow. And now Judah and Jerusalem were crushed likewise. But God’s Word was that other hammer, against which even the force of the hammer of the whole earth should be put forth in vain. “Is not my Word as a hammer, saith the Lord, which breaketh the rock in pieces?” (Jer 23:29). And it did thus break the power of Babylon, and made her “a desolation among the nations.” Now, all this is a parable of what is and long has been in the spiritual world. Note
I. THERE IS A HAMMER–LIKE FORCE WORKING AGAINST GOOD IN THE WORLD. See how it crushes joy, innocency, purposes of good, noble endeavours, life itself. It is the kingdom of Satan; such crushing of so much that is good is of those “works of the devil” to destroy which the Son of God was manifested.
II. BUT THERE IS A GOD–LIKE FORCE WHICH SHALL PROVE A MIGHTIER HAMMER STILL. The strong one shall be driven out by the stronger. For proof of this, see:
1. The progress of humanity. Surely he must be blind who will deny the improvement in the general condition, conduct, and character of men since Christ lived and died on this earth. Most admit it, but ascribe it to merely secular, natural, and subordinate causes.
2. The laws of civilized nations. How much more just, humane, and righteous they are than they once were!
3. The philanthropic instinct amongst men. What abundance of objects there now are on which this instinct flings itself and toils for their good! Now, these things are, at least, “aids to faith,” in a fuller and more complete deliverance of man from all evil, which it is the glory of the gospel both to promise and to promote. But see this Divine power at work in the individual soul. The fear which hath torment is taken away. The sin which tyrannizes is broken and subdued. The good which was weak is made strong, the evil which was strong is made weak. The sorrow which killed all joy is hushed. Death which destroyed is itself destroyed by the resurrection of Christ from the dead. These are some of the present trophies of the grace of God, and they are but an earnest of more and far better things to come. But in virtue of them we believe in the Son of God, who shall subdue all things unto himself. God’s Word, God’s providence, God’s Spirit, all unite to testify to the existence and by and by the exercise of that triumphant power by which all the might of evil shall be crushed, shattered, and broken forever. On which side, then, are we taking our place?C.
Jer 50:34
A strong Redeemer.
“Their Redeemer is strong.”
I. IT WAS NECESSARY THAT HE SHOULD BE SO.
1. This is true of Israel’s Redeemer. See the power ranged against them. Physical, in the might of Babylon and the many hostile nations. Spiritual, in the justice of the sentence under which they were suffering. Moral, in the enfeebling effects of their disobedience, causing despondency, despair, timidity, giving power to evil habits, and making very difficult the acquirement of such as were good. But:
2. It is true of our Redeemer. The powers by which humanity is held in captivity are more terrible and unconquerable than were those by which Israel was held. These powers are commonly classified under the threefold divisiona trinity of hellof the world, the flesh, and the devil. Consider the power:
(1) Of the world, in enslaving the soul of man. The seductiveness of its smile, the terror of its frown, the overpowering force of its rewards, the awfulness of its punishments. And yet all this might is against God and against the soul.
(2) Of the flesh. Yes; it does beat against the spirit, it warreth against the soul. If it once have gained dominion, is that dominion ever entirely destroyed while this life lasts? And in some, yea, many, its dominion is allowed as something that cannot be broken. A moral despair comes over many in regard to it, and they cease to contend against a tyranny which they affirm they are powerless to escape from.
(3) Of the devil. He is no mere imagination, or myth, or invention of a credulous and superstitious age, but a living reality, against whom our Saviour, who knew his strength and terror as none other didfor he had just come away from his encounter with himbade us in our daily prayer say, “Deliver us from the evil one.” Who but he is it that is ever plying us with unhallowed thought and suggestion, causing the will and opportunity to sin so fatally to combine? But who of us is or can be ignorant of his devices? And when the force of all these terrible foes is augmented, as it is by the force of habit, of example, of inherited tendency, of enfeebled power of resistance the result of past defeats,oh, what need, indeed, is there that our Redeemer should be strong! But
II. BLESSED BE GOD, HE IS SO. In regard to Israel, he did redeem them in part, and their more complete redemption is yet to come. In regard to humanity at large, he is strong likewise. See in proof of this:
1. His mighty power when here on earth. All those signs and wonders, those glorious miracles, were designed to confirm our faith in our Redeemer as One “mighty to save.” Hence diseases fled devils were cast out, nature obeyed, Death gave up her dead, at his word. All these things were, as St. John calls them, “signs.”
2. His might displayed in his Church. “I will build my Church,” he said; and in spite of the feebleness in numbers, in influence, in intellectual or social power, in adaptation of methods, in selection of men; in spite of all the force that numbers, wealth, power, rank, cruelty, hate, could bring to bear;still his word was accomplished and is yet being accomplished. Must we not confess, in view of facts like these, that our Redeemer is strong?
3. His power over the individual soul. How he gives strength against the terror of a violated law, the might of an indwelling sin, the crushing power of earthly sorrow, the king of terrors, death itself! “Conversion is the standing miracle of the Church”the transformations of character, condition, and conduct, which are perpetually being wrought by the power of Christ. All these compel the glad confession that Christ is “mighty to save.” Now, note
III. THAT HIS STRENGTH BECOMES OURS BY MEANS OF OUR FAITH. For faith in him brings to bear the power of:
1. The unseen.
2. Gratitude.
3. The new life. And so these marvels are wrought.
“Mighty Redeemer, set me free
From my old state of sin.”
C.
Jer 50:36
The liars’ sword.
I. IT IS ONE WHICH THEY WIELD. It cuts asunder:
1. The ties which bind man to man.
2. Those which bind the soul to truth and virtue.
3. Those which bind the heart to God.
4. Those which would lead the man to eternal life.
II. IT IS ONE WHICH THEY FEEL. It pierces the soul with shame, with anguish, with a deadly wound.
III. IT IS ONE BY WHICH THEY WILL SOONER OR LATER BE DESTROYED.
1. It is often so in this life. Men will league themselves together against a liar as against a wild beast or serpent, to destroy it. In the hearts of all men there is a protest against lies. That protest cannot be stifled universally, or for long, or over wide reaches of the world. It will break forth. It did break forth, and down went the paganism of the Roman empire, the priestly lies of the Church of Rome in the days of the Reformation, the political lies of despots as in the French Revolution, the Jesuitical lies by which that order has been disgraced and on account of which it has once and again been driven forth in shame. And the like of all this is seen in the condemnation and punishment of the convicted liars even now.
2. But yet more will it be so hereafter. See the awful doom that is pronounced against liars in the Word of God: “All liars shall have their part in the lake of fire, which is the second death.”
CONCLUSION.
1. Dread this sword.
2. Love and cherish truth, in thought, word, and deed.
3. Give yourself to him who is the Truth.C.
Jer 50:46
The fall of hell.
Babylon is continually taken in Scripture as the type of the kingdom of evil, that which our Saviour termed “the gates of hell.” Her antiquity, her vast power, her wickedness and cruelty, her utter overthrow, all justify the similitude which St. John especially so frequently employs. But the kingdom of evil is to be destroyed. For this purpose “the Son of God was manifested, that he might destroy the works of the devil.” And as when the literal Babylon fell there was a “cry,” so shall it be when that yet more dread power of which she was the type shall, in its turn, fall and perish. But that cry will be of a varied nature. On the part of all those who have trusted in and served it there will be
I. A CRY OF TERROR. Their confidence, their pride, will be shattered, and they will quail at “the wrath of the Lamb” which they have provoked. But there will be many who will behold that overthrow and from them
II. A CRY OF WONDER will be heard. That kingdom of evil so widespread, so ancient, so established, so seemingly undisputed in its possession during all the long ages hitherto, now completely overthrown. How many valiant soldiers of the cross and faithful servants of God have in past ages hurled themselves against her ramparts and tried to storm her citadel, and have, apparently, but thrown their lives away! Therefore, when at length it is proclaimed, “Babylon is fallen!” what wonder and astonishment will fill the minds of all beholders! But it will be also
III. A CRY OF JOY. It will be the day of jubilee, the setting free of the oppressed, the opening of the prison doors, the giving of liberty to the captives. Hence the psalms perpetually bid us sing unto the Lordsing a new song; “for he cometh, he cometh to judge the earth.” We are accustomed to speak of the judgment day as one of terror only; we forget that it will be a day of unspeakable joy to the multitudes of the oppressed, like as, when Israel saw the Egyptians dead on the seashore, they sang their song of triumph. And it will be also
IV. A CRY OF THANKSGIVING, of adoration and praise. How can it be otherwise? “The whole creation groaneth and travaileth in pain together” beneath hell’s dread oppression. Shall there not be unspeakable gratitude felt when the Lord crushes this awful tyranny and destroys it forevermore?
CONCLUSION.
1. Remember that this overthrow will take place. They who believe in this kingdom of evil say, “We shall never be moved.” But they are deceived and will, one day, be terribly awakened.
2. Which cry shall be ours?C.
HOMILIES BY D. YOUNG
Jer 50:4, Jer 50:5
Reunited Israel seeking Jehovah.
I. THE VOLUNTARINESS OF THIS QUEST. How it is exactly that Israel becomes master of its own choice is not indicated here. Nor need we stop to notice the indications elsewhere. The great thing to note is that Israel, being free to choose, chooses the right thing. Israel might have chosen to stop in Babylon. Thus a great difference is indicated between the circumstances in which the first covenant with Israel was made, and these circumstances of the second covenant. We search the Book of Exodus in vain for any evidence of such a free and profoundly penitent spirit as we find here. God has shown by the history of Israel that a covenant made in constraint may be necessary, but also it can only be preparatory. All the elements here are of strong voluntary action. The people come; they are not driven. They weep with the noble emotion of penitence. All the waste of past centuries stands before them, seen as it might have been seen before if only they had had eyes to see. Then there is the seeking, hoping spirit to be considered. The people are willing now to go to God, whom so long they had forsaken in idolatry and unrighteousness.
II. THE UNION OF THOSE WHO HAD BEEN UNNATURALLY SEPARATED. Why this distinction between the children of Israel and the children of Judah? The very names indicate something wrong, something having its basis in self-will and jealousy. For the children of Judah were also children of Israel. Thus the common Christianity underlies all sectarian names. These names originate in certain historical necessities, and the sects keep them because they are thinking of the different starting points whence they have come rather than of the common goal whither they tend. In uniting thus together, Israel and Judah were doing things meet for repentance. They were doing all they could do while they remained in exile. Past alienations and antipathies were submerged in the rise of a strong feeling of desire after their God. When men want to be brothers and companions, most difficulties in the way can be easily pushed aside.
III. A SUBORDINATE ELEMENT IN THE QUEST OF JEHOVAH. The people know they must turn their footsteps toward a certain place, even Zion. God is always to be sought in a certain appointed way. Seeking Zion, the people are doing a great deal towards finding God. The people knew the way to look toward Zion, even from afar; we have illustration of this in the praying attitude of Daniel, who bowed his knees three times a day, his windows being open in his chamber toward Jerusalem. Whether we shall find God depends upon where we are disposed to seek him. We shall certainly never find him apart from Jesus Christ, nor anywhere else than as connected with the heavenly Zion, the city of the living God. The vague aspirations of natural human sentiment promise a great deal, but they perform nothing. They follow an ignis futuus, and not the star that goes on till it stands over Bethlehem. God is to be found by those who will accept the guidance of his Spirit, making known to them the riches which are in Christ.Y.
Jer 50:6, Jer 50:7
The wolf excusing himself.
These verses remind us of the well known fable of the wolf and the lamb. The wolf, acting according to its wolfish nature, devours the Lamb, but first of all it makes a pretence of having some show of reason to go upon. So here the cruel spoilers of Israel try to make out that all their cruelty and rapacity were perfectly right, because Israel had done so much wrong. We have here
I. A TRUE ACCUSATION. Israel’s wrong doing is not at all overstated. They have sinned against Jehovah. Nor is this accusation left in all its wide generality. Note the rendering of Naegelshach: “Jehovah the true Pasturage and their fathers’ Hope.” Thus the figure begun in the previous verse is continued. For the sheep a true, ample, rich pasturage is provided and protected. The shepherd makes that pasturage with all its needs his peculiar charge. If the sheep will not have faith in their shepherd, submission to his ordinances, satisfaction with his provisions, and general content in all their appointed lot; if they prefer an erratic, self-providing, self-protecting lot;then they must take the consequences. There was nothing wonderful in Israel having becoming a lost and miserable flock. The wrong doing of a man does not excuse bad treatment of him by others, but it explains how bad treatment often becomes possible. If, overleaping the bounds and Laws of Divine wisdom, we go of our own choice into the way of the adversary, we must not complain of consequent spoliation and suffering.
II. A BAD REASON. The adversaries of Israel made Israel’s wickedness a plea for their own wickedness. We must distinguish between the conquerors of Israel as made use of by Jehovah and the purposes and feelings of the conquerors themselves. It is evidently God’s principle to make use of what already exists: these people were bent on attacking the land of Israel, and, when Israel had so utterly apostatized in heart from Jehovah, there was no reason why he should defend them. The wickedness of man often wonderfully serves a Divine purpose, but that does not make it wickedness any the less. Wicked men are not necessary to God, however useful they may be in the present conditions of things. Vain will it be for any man to plead that, in the event, his wickedness has brought some good thing to light. The purposes of his heart were evil and only evil, and by those purposes he must be judged.
III. INDICATION OF THE PROPER TREATMENT. The proper treatment of the sheep that have forgotten their resting place is fully revealed in the Gospels. There the true Shepherd is set before us, no self-indulgent one, no self-seeker, no hireling; but he who came to seek out the lost sheep, and who dies for his own. We must never forget, in all comparisons between straying men and straying sheep, that God means us thereby to be deeply impressed with the need of his provisions and protections. He who remembers that we are dust, remembers also that at the best we are as sheep, needing for the present to be watched very closely, and kept within a place of safety by all sorts of checks and constraints.Y.
Jer 50:11
The punishment of those who rejoice wrongly.
I. THE SPIRIT IN WHICH BABYLON SHOULD HAVE DONE ITS DESTROYING WORK. Jehovah meant Babylon for the chastisement and the humiliation of his own people, that they might be enlightened and purified through the losses they thus sustained. They lost many things they loved, but at the same time they lost things which tempted and ensnared. The description here, “Destroyers of mine heritage;” indicates sufficiently the spirit in which Babylon acted. What God wanted was the thorough purification of his heritage, not at all its destruction. Babylon cared nothing as to whether Israel was better or worse for its afflictions. It could only rejoice over another nation conquered, another territory acquired, and a fresh degree of brightness added to its military glory. It is surely a terrible thing when men do good work unconsciously and not meaning it to be good work at all. When we have to engage in any work that inflicts suffering, shame, and loss on others, it ought to be under the sternest pressure of necessity and as the sorrowing ministers of violated law. There are times when we cannot escape being the agents of suffering to wicked and foolish men; but if we only act in the right spirit, keeping our hearts free from all that is vengeful and exulting, we may even have some share in turning them from their wickedness. Everything that savours of our personal satisfaction and gain must be kept away when we have to make others suffer.
II. THE CERTAIN RETRIBUTION ON THOSE WHO REJOICE IN THE SUFFERINGS OF OTHERS. A disposition to rejoice in this way indicates, of course, a general iniquity of life which is sure to bring retribution. But retribution will take special forms according to the sin, and those who have gloated over the humiliations of others are taking a sure way to have others gloat over them in the day of their humiliation. Israel itself, which had been rejoiced over by Babylon, had first of all been rejoicing where it ought not to have rejoiced. If we exult and insult where we ought to pity, then nothing is more certain than that we shall meet with insult in turn.
III. A DIRECTION SUGGESTED IN WHICH THERE MAY BE GREAT REJOICING. Man was made to rejoice; the pity is that so often his rejoicing comes from individual and selfish considerations. When the right spirit is in our hearts, we too shall rejoice that so many are cast down, hut it will be because of the opportunities given to lift them up. There should be the greatest of gladness in serving the lowly and the needy. Thus, while there never can be joy at suffering for its own sake, there can be much joy because of the opportunities given for glorifying Christ.Y.
Jer 50:19, Jer 50:20
The feeding places of the flock.
Consider
I. WHAT JEHOVAH HAD PROVIDED AND THE PEOPLE HAD LOST. Carmel and Bashan, Ephraim and Gilead, were not something altogether new. They were memories of the past as well as hopes of the future. Israel had been a scattered sheep. Out of Christ not only are we ourselves lost, but we have lost the use of the appropriate possessions of humanity. Really what God does in restoring his people is to bring them to something a great deal better than the places mentioned; but these places represent an actual, experienced good. And it is well that God should give us, as one aspect of the future, a restoration of all that was satisfying in the past.
II. JEHOVAH IS ABOUT TO RESTORE‘ HOW WILL THE PEOPLE USE WHAT IS TO BE RESTORED? Restoration by itself will do nothing. If the man comes back to his possessions as he went away, then he can only misuse and squander as of old. The house swept and garnished only presented to the evil spirits a chance for greater riot and defilement than before. To the old land there comes back a new people. After tasting the bitterness of wanderings, they have tasted also the powers of the world to comeold carnal temptations no longer charm, new spiritual considerations stand full in view. Formerly, even on Carmel and Bashan, Mount Ephraim and Gilead, there had been discontent, because, with all the goodness in these places, there was not enough for the carnal heart. But now, when things are used spiritually, there is enough and more than enough. If only we follow where God leads there will be ample provision and ample blessedness.Y.
Jer 50:20
A vain quest.
I. IN CONTRAST WITH PREVIOUS QUESTS OF THE SAME KIND. Then hardly anything but iniquity and sin were to be found. The few righteous and godly men only called attention more emphatically to the general wickedness. God is ever seeking in the earth for all that is true and good, and whatever there be of it he is sure to find. He misses nothing, searching into every man according to the fundamental thoughts of his heart. In former days sin and iniquity had been the great burden of prophetic deliverances, and the mention of them a continual exasperation to the people.
II. THE REASON WHY THE QUEST HAS BECOME VAIN. All is pardoned. There has been deep and adequate repentance, adequate atonement, and consequently there is full forgiveness. Iniquity and sin cannot be found, because they have vanished as disturbing elements in human consciousness. What an intensely evangelical verse this is, full as it can be of one of the great results of the gospel! God, who sends prophets into the midst of sinful men, calling attention to the universal presence of evil; works remove that evil, so that it shall no longer be possible to find it. This inability to find evil is not the report of man merely; if so, we might suspect the worth of the report as being nothing more than shallow optimism. When God says that evil cannot be found he means that it has ceased to exist.
III. THIS VAIN QUEST IMPLIES OTHER GUESTS EQUALLY VAIN. No consequences of sin shall be left. When the roots are gone, clean extirpated, vain will it be to seek for the fruits. There can be no pain where there is no sin. There can be no death. Fulness of life and health will succeed. There will be no seed but good seed, no ground but good ground. And hence there will only be good fruit springing forth abundantly.
IV. ANOTHER QUEST THAT WILL BE SUCCESSFUL. The matter must be looked at positively as well as negatively. Iniquity is not to be found, i.e. complete conformity to law is found everywhere; sin is not found, i.e. every man in his own nature is fully glorifying his Maker and his Redeemer. More and more we must seek to see the depth and reality of present iniquity and sin; so shall we better understand the work whereby God will slowly removeslow]y, that is, to our apprehensionall these evil things awayand cause harmony, holiness, and happiness to rise enduringly in their place.Y.
Jer 50:35-37
The sword everywhere.
I. THE DESTROYING AGENT. Not a deluge, not fire from heaven, but an ordinary human agent, working with energy and thoroughness. The weapon which Babylon in its greed of conquest had used against Jerusalem is turned against itself. First of all, Babylon looks covetously on the land of Israel, and spoils it of its people and their possessions. And then, enriched, Babylon becomes in turn an object of desire. God has only to leave covetousness and grasping alone, whether in nations or individuals. There will generally come in some human agency to dissipate ill-gotten gains. As Babylon became richer in external goods, it became weaker in manly resources. There was more to invite attack, more need of the best defences, and yet at the same time less ability to defend. The sword stands here as the great symbol of human physical force. We must not infer that God approves it: he simply points out how it must have free scope upon the surface of things. Babylon took the sword, and she in turn must perish by the sword; and that same sword, successful against Babylon, points to the destruction of those who wielded it. Nothing abiding, nothing permanently satisfying, is to be achieved by the sword.
II. THE EXTENT OF THE DESTRUCTION. Physical force can make short work of all man’s natural treasures; all that is wanted is a sufficient amount of it. Skill compensates for force only up to a certain point. Vain was it for Babylon to count up its mighty men and parade its horses and chariots. If we would arrive at right conclusions in the matter of security we must know the strength of our enemies as well as our own. As to one element in its strength in particular, Babylon would be dreadfully deceived. It could not realize how, as the agent of a punishing Jehovah, there had been more than its wonted strength bestowed on it against sinning Israel. It plumed itself too much on conquered Israel, and thought itself stronger than it really was.Y.
Jer 50:46
Capital events in history.
Capital events in history are of two kinds.
1. Those which by the magnitude of them arrest attention and deeply impress the imagination of the world. Such was the taking of Babylon. It was like the fall of a mighty building; when the fall came, it could not but shake the earth. The effects were of necessity far reaching. The political centre of gravity got shifted. The fall of Babylon meant a new kind of government for a great many people. It meant a total change in temporal circumstances. Then the whole thing was to a large extent unexpected. Many such events have happened in history. Great struggles between nations and confederated nations, lasting for years, come to their consummation in some battle, and then for a while there is comparative equilibrium.
2. Those which excite tittle or no attention at the time. The death of Christ is the crowning instance of events of this kind. Locally and for a short time it did make a deep impression, but certainly the earth was not moved, nor was there a cry heard among the nations. The movement was in spiritual regions; heaven it was that got moved; and the cry was heard among the principalities and powers in the invisible world, whether they were good ones or bad ones. We need a divinely chosen standpoint from which to measure the magnitude of terrestrial events. We enlarge where we should diminish, and diminish where we should enlarge. It has truly been said that history is too full of wars and conquerors. These have been recorded, while other events dropped into oblivion, which now we should give a great deal to understand. We must guard against letting the deepest impression on us be produced By mere noise and hulk. As history is commonly written, critical, seminal events are to be looked for in the quiet comers of it, and often they are treated in a very hasty way. If we would discover the fountains of what is really momentous in human affairs, we must be obedient to the guidance of God’s Spirit. We must be delivered from the snares of mere national prosperity and glory. Then, conversely, in our own actions we must not be troubled if little attention is pain to them by others. A man may be sowing the seeds of immense, world wide benefits, all unconsciously, knowing only this, that he is doing the thing, the evidently appointed work for himlying nearest to his hand.Y.
Fuente: The Complete Pulpit Commentary
Jer 50:1. The word that the Lord spake against Babylon After having announced to the Philistines, Edomites, and other people, the evils which they should suffer from Nebuchadrezzar, Jeremiah proceeds to foretel what should happen to the Chaldeans themselves from Cyrus and other princes his successors. For the fullest explication of this prophesy, the reader will refer to Isaiah on the same subject; bearing in mind that the prophesy has a further respect to that mystical Babylon mentioned in Revelation; many expressions of it being applied by St. John in that book. Merodach, mentioned in the next verse, seems to have been one of the idol-gods of Babylon; perhaps a deified king.
Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke
11. Prophecy against Babylon (chh. 50, 51.)
Introduction
1. Before the battle of Carchemish Jeremiah predicted to his people a severe visitation by a people coming from the north, whom he afterwards recognized as the Chaldeans, and then constantly proclaimed that Israel and the other nations would be saved from complete destruction only by subjection to Nebuchadnezzar. It may, therefore, be said that during part of his ministry he spoke of the Chaldeans unknowingly in a manner favorable to them. There is no contradiction, however, as many suppose, in his here predicting the destruction of Babylon itself, and in the same manner by a people coming from the north (Jer 50:3; Jer 50:9; Jer 50:41, Jer 51:48). For Jeremiah would only say that for the present, in the proximate future, Babylon is the instrument of judgment on all nations (Jer 50:23; Jer 51:20 sqq.), but the time is coming when Babylon itself must drain the cup of wrath, in punishment for the sins which it has incurred in the execution of its mission (Jer 50:11; Jer 50:24; Jer 50:28; Jer 50:32; Jer 51:6; Jer 51:11; Jer 51:24; Jer 51:36; Jer 51:56). Jeremiahs declarations for and against Babylon are thus related to each other, as in Jer 25:27 the brief declaration, and the king of Sheshach shall drink after them, is to the previous announcements that Babylon shall offer the cup of wrath. It is not strange to find a prophecy against Babylon in Jeremiah, but must be regarded as perfectly natural.
2. Prophecy against Babylon has a history. First, Isaiah, probably moved by the embassy, which Merodach-Baladan sent to Hezekiah (Isaiah 39, 2Ki 20:12 sqq.) proclaimed the judgment of destruction on Babylon (Isaiah 13, 14, 21; Isa 43:14; Isa 46:1-2; Isaiah 47; Isa 48:14 sqq.). He is followed by Micah, who, in a brief declaration, comprises all which Jeremiah has said in his whole book for and against Babylon, thou shalt dwell in the field, and thou shalt go to Babylon; there shalt thou be delivered; there the Lord shall redeem thee from the hand of thy enemies. Mic 4:10. Habakkuk then, the cotemporary of Jeremiah, prophesied before him, but after the battle of Carchemish, against Babylon, characterizing it not only in the narrower sense as a power hostile to the people of Israel, but also in a higher and more comprehensive sense as a worldly power, self-deifying, and the enemy of God. Jeremiah finally appropriates his predecessors and represents the acme of Old Testament prophecy against Babylon. He thus forms the main foundation for the prophecy of the Apocalypse concerning the Babylon of the final period. It is, however, to be observed that he gives relatively less prominence than Habakkuk to the ideal significance of Babylon as a type of ungodly, self-deifying, worldly powers. The latter does this in brief but wondrously profound and significant utterances. For, lo, I raise up the Chaldeans, that powerful and irrepressible nation, which goes as far as the earth extends, to occupy dwellings which are not. Terrible and fearful are they; from themselves proceed their judgment and their dignity (Hab 1:6-7). Then he overflows with courage and transgresses and becomes guilty; this his power is unto his God (Hab 1:11). Lo, inflated, not upright is his soul within him, but the just by faith shall live (Hab 2:4). Yea also because wine stultifies a man, who is arrogant and is not contented, who enlargeth his desire as hell, and is like death and cannot be satisfied, but draweth to himself all nations and gathereth to himself all nations (Hab 2:5).Jeremiah by no means passes over this element, but he rather intimates it only in single words, in those significant names which he gives to Babylon when he calls it Double defiance (Jer 50:21), Pride (as personification in Jer 50:31-32), Heart of my opponents (Jer 51:1), Golden cup making the whole earth drunk (Jer 51:7). We may then say that of the two contemporary prophets, who lived to see the culmination of the Babylonian power, Jeremiah draws the grandest and most complete picture of the destruction menacing Babylon, but in such wise that he only intimates the ideal element which represents Babylon as the centre and type of all worldly enmity to God, while Habakkuk, who, notwithstanding the external insignificance of his little book, has a powerful and profound mind, gives us deeper glances into the inner life of the Babylonian empire.
3. It is not, however, the prophets who first stamped Babylon as a centre and type of ungodly empire. This character was impressed upon it from the earliest period. It was the locality of the first earthly princedom. That Nimrod, whose memory is preserved to the present day by the ruined tower of the Birs Nimrud, and who still lives in the traditions of the East as a great criminal and enemy of God, had, according to Gen 10:8 sqq., Babylon as the beginning of his dominion. The first aristocrat, hero of the chase and of war, conqueror, and despot, proceeded from Babylon. Add to this, that the Babylonian tower-structure is, according to its most essential nature, to be regarded as an undertaking of human pride begun without God and in mans own strength. The tower was to be a memorial of a period of gigantic effort and aspiration towards the political concentration of the human race into one irresistible power. Thus we see that the ideas of earthly power and glory were from the first native to the soil of Babylon. Comp. Naegelsb., Jer. u. Bab., S. 5 sqq.; Perizonius, Origg. Babylonic, Cap. 1012; Jahn, Archology I., 1, S. 30, coll. Deyling, Observ. Sacr., P. III., p. 19 ff.Brian Walton in his Polyglott, Lond., Prolegg. I., pag. 3; Hetzel, Gedanken ber den babylonischen Thurmbau, Hildb., 1775; Grres, Die Vlkertafel des Pent., Regensburg, 1845, 1, S. 51. The seed sowed in that primitive period reached its full bloom in Nebuchadnezzar. By him Babylon was really made the first all-devouring universal monarchy, by which I mean that his power was greater than that of the Assyrians before him, or the Persians and Romans after him. But he also devoured the theocracy, i.e., the only point on this earth where the kingdom of God was represented in the form of a human popular and civil life. Since that time the kingdom of God as such has had no place on earth. It is still as the church in the embrace of worldly power. Babylon, however, the first worldly power which brought the kingdom of God into this condition, appears from that time in the Scriptures as the worldly power, , so that not only what the Old Testament prophets declare of the different representatives of worldly dominion, of Egypt (Rev 11:8), Tyre (Rev 18:11 coll. Ezekiel 27.), Nineveh (Rev 18:3; Rev 18:5 coll. Nah 3:4, Jon 1:2), is transferred in the New Testament to Babylon, but even the name of Babylon itself is attributed to the final form of the worldly power, antichristian Rome. Comp. Rev 17:9; Rev 17:18. See in general Rev 14:8; Rev 16:9, and especially chh. 17, 18. This subject is treated more in detail in Naegelsb. Jer. u. Bab.
4. With regard to the etymology of the name Babylon there have been two opposite views. According to one, which was first broached by Stephanus Byzantinus and the Etymologicon Magn. s. v. , the name, designates Bel as the founder of the city. Eichhorn (Biblioth. d. bibl. Litt. III., S. 1001) accordingly explains as arising from Bab Bel, i.e., porta or aula Beli. Gesenius (Thesaur., pag. 212), Tuch and others modify this view, in so far that they translate domus Beli, since the word is written in Arabic bbel, and b is frequently used in Arabic names of cities for b, bt. Knobel (Gen., S. 128) derives Babel from Bar-bel, i.e., arx (, ) Beli. It is opposed however to these explanations that they are supported on partly much too recent and partly altogether insecure linguistic analogies. The other explanation is founded on Gen 11:7; Gen 11:9 ( , Jer 50:7 and ), According to this arose from . The punctuation of the first syllable is to he explained after the analogy of for , for (Ew. 158, c; Olsh. 74, 189, a). For the Segol of the second syllable appeal might be made to (Delitzsch on Gen 11:9). The meaning would be confusio. Comp. Exo 29:2; Exo 29:40; Lev 2:4-6; further, , farrago; troubling, blemish (Lev 21:20). These explanations are also favored by the ancient translations. Onkelos translates , Gen 11:7, by ,, Jer 50:9, by , confudit. Comp. Buxtorf, Lex. Rabb. et Talm., pag. 309. The Peshito version has in Jer 11:9 balbel (comp. Castelli, Lex., pag. 100); Saadiah balbala confudit.Comp. Gabler, Urgeschichte II. 2, S. 228. Haevernick, Einleit. i. A. T., I., S. 147, 8.The Babylonian monuments lead to still another etymology. According to Oppert, namely (Exp. en. Mesop. II. S. 46), the word reads on the monuments Babi-ilu, Babilu. Bab is the Shemitic door, Ilu the in Diodorus, the of the Greeks, Saturn, the god of the deluge. The meaning of the name would then be Porta Dei diluvii. Comp. Ib., S. 67, 157, 259.Which of these explanations is the correct one is by no means decided, for even the cuneiform inscriptions, presupposing that they are correctly deciphered, represent a late date in relation to the origin of the name, and it is a question whether the Babylonian scholars themselves knew the correct etymology of the word. [Comp. also Smiths Dictionary of the Bible, s. v., Babel, Babylon; Rawlinson, Ancient Monarchies, I., p. 149; Id., Herodotus, II., p. 574; Dr. Pusey, Lectures on Daniel, p. 271, n, quoted in Wordsworth ad loc.S. R. A.]
5. The genuineness of this prophecy has been shown by me in detail in my work Jeremia und Babylon, S. 69 ff. Graf also acknowledges it (S. 580 ff.). Only Ewald and Meier, so far as I know, still persist, in maintaining its unauthenticity. This portion evidently belongs to the last period of the exile, and cannot therefore proceed from Jeremiah, says the latter (Die prophet. Bcher d. A. T., S. 350, 2). I myself formerly regarded the passage Jer 50:41-46 as a gloss, but I have now retracted this opinion. But after repeated investigation I cannot regard the passage Jer 51:15-19 as original. Consult the exegesis. In respect to the word , Jer 51:41, also, my suspicions have not yet been removed.
6. In what manner the prophecy is related to its fulfilment has been fully shown in Naegelsb. Jer. u. Bab., S. 135. I add to the remark there, that according to Theodoret Jews were the last inhabitants of the destroyed city of Babylon, the following notice from Oppert (Exp. I., S. 135): Hillah fut fonde par Seifeddaulet vers lan 1100 la place de lantique ville de Babylone, . Jusque-l, des Juifs avaient habit seuls la ville ou plutt les ruines de Babylone; en 1030 aprs Jesus-Christ ils quittrent ces lieux. Many later witnesses thus corroborate the statement of Theodoret, that the people of Israel could not separate themselves from the corpse of the city, which had destroyed Jerusalem and the temple.
7. In regard to the division of the portion, I am no longer of opinion that the whole is to be discriminated into three main sections with thirteen subdivisions. I still think that three chronological stages may be distinguished, in so far as the destruction of Babylon is represented partly as future, now in the stage of preparation (comp. Jer 50:9; Jer 50:21; Jer 50:26; Jer 50:41) partly as present, in the process of execution (comp. Jer 50:14; Jer 50:24; Jer 50:35; Jer 50:43, etc.; Jer 51:1; Jer 51:11; Jer 51:27), partly as already accomplished (comp. Jer 50:2; Jer 50:15; Jer 50:46; Jer 51:39; Jer 51:41; Jer 51:46; Jer 51:57). And these three stages are so distributed that the first is chiefly in the beginning, the second chiefly in the middle, the third towards the close; but not so sharply defined that Jer 50:21 to Jer 51:33 may be regarded as the second and the foregoing and following as the first and third divisions. The single tableaux or pictures, of which, according to the peculiar style of Jeremiah, the discourse consists, are more distinct. I find nineteen of these, exclusive of the superscription and the historical close. The exegesis will exhibit these in detail.
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1. THE SUPERSCRIPTION
Jer 50:1
1The word which Jehovah spoke against Babylon, against the land of the Chaldeans, by Jeremiah the prophet.
EXEGETICAL AND CRITICAL
The form of the superscription is like those in Jer 45:1; Jer 46:13. The expression is not found in any other superscription of Jeremiahs. It occurs in this sense only in Jer 37:2. In my work, Jer. u. Bab., S. 22, I have proposed the hypothesis that there is in this an intimation that this prophecy, according to Jer 51:59 sqq., was given only by the hand, not by the mouth of the prophet. defines more particularly the idea of and guards against too narrow a rendering. Comp. Jer 50:8; Jer 50:45; Jer 51:54.
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2. THE CORD BROKEN; ISRAEL FREE (Psa 124:7)
2Declare it among the nations,
Publish it and erect a signal;
Publish it, conceal it not.
Say Babylon is taken, with shame stands Bel,
Merodach is thrown down, with shame stand her images,
Thrown down are her idols.
3For a nation cometh against her from the north,
And will make her land desolate,
That no inhabitant shall be therein
From man down to beast they flee; up, away!
4In those days and at that time, saith Jehovah,
The children of Israel shall come,
They and the children of Judah together;
Weeping shall they come
And seek Jehovah their God.
5After Zion shall they inquire,
Their faces turned thitherward:
Come, let us join ourselves1 to Jehovah
In a perpetual covenant2 that shall not be forgotten.
EXEGETICAL AND CRITICAL
The prophet in the first two verses goes to work analytically, first (Jer 50:2) causing the destruction of Babylon to be proclaimed aloud to all nations, and then (Jer 50:3) saying, how and by whom this destruction will be accomplished. This analytic description serves him, however, only as a basis for a promise important to him above all, viz., that in those days the captives of Israel and Judah being liberated, will come home and be united to their God in an eternal and unforgetable covenant (Jer 50:4-5).
Jer 50:2-3. Declare itup, away. The importance of the matter is shown in the grandeur and animation of the opening, in which the summons to proclaim and the declaration of the destruction are five times repeated. Comp. Jer 4:5-6; Jer 5:20; Jer 31:7; Jer 46:14.Erect a signal, i.e., for the rapid spread of the tidings. Comp. Jer 51:12; Jer 51:27; Jer 4:6; Jer 6:1; Isa 5:26; Isa 13:2.Conceal it not. The address seems to be to the friends of Babylon, who might be disposed to withhold this Jobs post.Taken. Comp. Jer 8:9; Jer 10:14; Jer 46:24; Jer 48:1.Bel and Merodach are not different deities, but one and the same (comp. Delitzsch on Isa 46:1). The temple of Belus (comp. Herod. I. 181, 2) was also the temple of Marduk, as he is called on the monuments. Here he was worshipped as the Bilu rabu ( ) as deus augurationis and protective deity of Babylonia. Toute la dynastie Babylonienne (says Oppert, Exp. en Mesop., Tom. II., p. 272) le met (Merodach) la tte des Dieux, et linscription de Borsippa le nomme le roi du ciel et de la terre. Nebo prend la seconde place et les autres divinits ne paraissent que rarement. Comp. Tom. 1, p. 178, 9.That he is not Mars, as I formerly supposed and Hahn in DrechslersJesaja on Jer 31:1 (II., 2, S. 212) directly maintains, is decidedly affirmed by Oppert (p. 271).The purport of the proclamation is expressed in Jer 50:2 b and 3 only. From Jer 50:4 we have the words of the prophet, who predicts in what manner these results will be attained. This is seen from the imperfects ,, etc.A nation from the north. Comp. Jer 50:9. The destroyers of Babylon are to come from the north, and in Jer 51:27-28 nations to the north and north-east of Babylonia are mentioned. Comp. the map in NiebuhrsAss. u. Bab., and S. 135, Anm. 1; 427, 8.Moreover, the remarkable parallelism should be noticed, Babylon, once the nation from the north, menacing Israel, is now attacked by such a nation, Comp. Jer 2:15; Jer 4:7; Jer 9:9; Jer 33:12; Jer 51:62.
Jer 50:4-5. In those days . forgotten. The destruction of Babylon is immediately followed by the redemption. The prophets so regard it as to comprise all the stages of its fulfilment through several thousand years in one picture. To this picture belongs above all the reunion of the tribes of the northern and southern kingdom (comp. Jer 3:14-16) and then their honest conversion to the Lord (comp. Jer 3:21; Jer 31:9-19; Hos 3:5), the return to Zion (Jer 31:8), the conclusion of a covenant with Jehovah, which shall not be broken and forgotten like the first (comp. Gen 17:10; Lev 19:5-7; Deut. 29. and 30). Comp. also Jer 20:11; Jer 23:40.
DOCTRINAL AND ETHICAL
1. Daniels Babylonian empire resumes, as it were, the thread which was broken off with the tower-erection and kingdom of Nimrod. In the Babylonian tower-building the whole of the then existing humanity was united against God; with the Babylonian kingdom began the period of the universal monarchies, which again aspired after an atheistical union of entire humanity. Babylon has since and even to the Revelation (Jeremiah 18) remained the standing type of this world. Auberlen, Der proph. Daniel, S. 230.
2. For what reason does Babylon appear as a type of the world? Why not Nineveh, or Persepolis, or Tyre, or Memphis, or Rome? Certainly not because Babylon was greater, more glorious, more powerful or prouder and more ungodly than those cities and kingdoms. Nineveh especially was still greater than Babylon (comp. Duncker, Gesch. d. Alterth. I. S. 474, 5), and Assyria was not less hostile to the theocracy, having carried away into captivity the northern and larger half of the people of Israel. Babylon is qualified for this representation in two ways: 1. because it is the home of worldly princedom and titanic arrogance (Gen 10:8; Gen 11:1-4); 2. because Babylon destroyed the centre of the theocracy, Jerusalem, the temple and the theocratic kingdom, and first assumed to be the single supreme power of the globe.
3. When God has used a superstitious, wicked and tyrannical nation long enough as His rod, He breaks it in pieces and finally throws it into the fire. For even those whom He formerly used as His chosen anointed instruments He then regards as but the dust in the streets or as chaff before the wind. Cramer.
4. No monarch is too rich, too wicked, too strong for God the Lord. And He can soon enlist and engage soldiers whom He can use against His declared enemies. Cramer.
5. Israel was founded on everlasting foundations, even Gods word and promise. The sins of the people brought about that it was laid low in the dust, but not without hope of a better resurrection. Babylon, on the other hand, must perish forever, for in it is the empire of evil come to its highest bloom. Jeremiah owns the nothingness of all worldly kingdoms, since they are all under this national order to serve only for a time. We are to be subject to them and seek their welfare for the sake of the souls of men, whom God is educating therein; a Christian however cannot be enthusiastic for them after the manner of the ancient heathen nor of ancient Israel, for here we have no abiding city, our citizenship is in heaven. The kingdoms of this world are no sanctuaries for us and we supplicate their continuance only with the daily bread of the fourth petition. Jeremiah applies many words and figures to Babylon which he has already used in the judgments on other nations, thus to intimate that in Babylon all the heathenism of the world culminates, and that here also must be the greatest anguish. What, however, is here declared of Babylon must be fulfilled again on all earthly powers in so far as, treading in its footprints, they take flesh for their arm and regard the material of this world as power, whether they be called states or churches. Diedrich.
6. On Jer 50:2. In putting into the mouth of Israel, returning from Babylon, the call to an everlasting covenant with Jehovah, the prophet causes them 1. to confess that they have forgotten the first covenant; 2. he shows us that the time of the new covenant begins with the redemption from the Babylonish captivity. He was far, however, from supposing that this redemption would be only a weak beginning, that the appearance of the Saviour would be deferred for centuries, that Israel would sink still deeper as an external , and that finally the Israel of the new covenant would itself appear as a , (1Pe 1:9-12).
7. From what Jeremiah has already said in Jer 31:31-34 of the new covenant we see that its nature and its difference from the old is not unknown to him. Yet he knows the new covenant only in general. He knows that it will be deeply spiritual and eternal, but how and why it will be so is still to him part of the .
8. On Jer 50:6. Jeremiah here points back to Jeremiah 23. Priests, kings and prophets, who should discharge the office of shepherds, prove to be wolves. Yea, they are the worst of wolves, who go about in official clothing. There is therefore no more dangerous doctrine than that of an infallible office. Jer 14:14; Mat 7:15; Mat 23:2-12.
9. On Jer 50:7. It is the worst condition into which a church of God can come, when the enemies who desolate it can maintain that they are in the right in doing so. It is, however, a just nemesis when those who will not hear the regular messengers of God must be told by the extraordinary messengers of God what they should have done. Comp. Jer 40:2-3.
10. On Jer 50:8. Babylon is opened, and it must be abandoned not clung to, for the captivity is a temporary chastisement, not the divine arrangement for the children of God. Gods people must in the general redemption go like rams before the herd of the nations, that these may also attach themselves to Israel, as this was fulfilled at the time of Christ in the first churches and the apostles, who now draw the whole heathen world after them to eternal life. Here the prophet recognizes the new humanity, which proceeds from the ruins of the old, in which also ancient Israel leads the way; thus all, who follow it, become Israel. Diedrich.The heathen felt somewhat of the divine punishment when they overcame so easily the usually so strongly protected nation. But Jeremiah shows them still how they deceived themselves in thinking that God had wholly rejected His people, for of the eternal covenant of grace they certainly understood nothing. Heim and Hoffmann on the Major Prophets.
11. On Jer 50:18. The great powers of the world form indeed the history of the world, but they have no future. Israel, however, always returns home to the dear and glorious land. The Jews might as a token of this return under Cyrus; the case is however this, that the true Holy One in Israel, Christ, guides us back to Paradise, when we flee to His hand from the Babylon of this world and let it be crucified for us. Diedrich.
12. On Jer 50:23. Although the Chaldeans were called of God for the purpose of making war on the Jewish nation on account of their multitudinous sins, yet they are punished because they did it not as God with a pure intention, namely, to punish the wrong in them and keep them for reformation; for they were themselves greater sinners than the Jews and continued with impenitence in their sins. Therefore they could not go scot-free and remain unpunished. Moreover, they acted too roughly and dealt with the Jews more harshly than God had commanded, for which He therefore fairly punished them. As God the Lord Himself says (Isa 47:6): When I was angry with My people I gave them into thine hands; but thou shewedst them no mercy. Therefore it is not enough that Gods will be accomplished, but there must be the good intention in it, which God had, otherwise such a work may be a sin and call down the divine punishment upon it. Wrtemb. Summ.
13. On Jer 50:31-34. God calls Babylon Thou Pride, for pride was their inward force and impulse in all their actions. But worldly pride makes a Babylon and brings on a Babylons fate . Pride must fall, for it is in itself a lie against God, and all its might must perish in the fire; thus will the humble and meek remain in possession of the earth: this has a wide application through all times, even to eternity. Diedrich.
14. On Jer 51:33. Israel is indeed weak and must suffer in a time of tyranny; it cannot help itself, nor needs it to do so, for its Redeemer is strong, His name The Lord Zebaothand He is, now, having assumed our flesh, among us and conducts our cause so that the world trembles. Diedrich.
15. On Jer 50:45. An emblem of the destruction of anti-christian Babylon, which was also the true hammer of the whole world. This has God also broken and must and will do it still more. And this will the shepherd-boys do, as is said here in Jer 51:45 (according to Luthers translation), that is, all true teachers and preachers. Cramer.
16. On Jeremiah 51. The doctrines accord in all points with the previous chapter. And the prophet Jeremiah both in this and the previous chapter does nothing else but make out for the Babylonians their final discharge and passport, because they behaved so valiantly and well against the people of Judah, that they might know they would not go unrecompensed. For payment is according to service. And had they done better it would have gone better with them. It is well that when tyrants succeed in their evil undertakings they should not suppose they are Gods dearest children and lean on His bosom, since they will yet receive the recompense on their crown, whatever they have earned. Cramer.
17. [Though in the hand of Babylon is a golden cup; she chooses such a cup, in order that mens eyes may be dazzled with the glitter of the gold, and may not inquire what it contains. But mark well, in the golden cup of Babylon is the poison of idolatry, the poison of false doctrines, which destroy the souls of men. I have often seen such a golden cup, in fair speeches of seductive eloquence: and when I have examined the venomous ingredients of the golden chalice, I have recognized the cup of Babylon. Origen in Wordsworth.S. R. A.]
The seat and throne of Anti-christ is expressly named Babylon, namely, the city of Rome, built on the seven hills (Rev 17:9). Just as Babylon brought so many lands and kingdoms under its sway and ruled them with great pomp and pride (the golden cup, which made all the world drunk, was Babylon in the hand of the Lord (Jer 51:7), and all the heathen drank of the wine and became mad)so has the spiritual Babylon a cup in its hand, full of the abomination and uncleanness of its whoredom, of which the kings of the earth and all who dwell on the earth have been made drunk. As it is said of Babylon that she dwells by great waters and has great treasures, so writes John of the Romish Babylon, that it is clothed in silk and purple and scarlet and adorned with gold, precious stones and pearls (Rev 18:12). Of Babylon it is said that the slain in Israel were smitten by her; so also the spiritual Babylon is become drunk with the blood of the saints (Rev 17:6). Just, however, as the Chaldean Babylon is a type of the spiritual in its pride and despotism, so also is it a type of the destruction which will come upon it. Many wished to heal Babylon but she would not be healed; so many endeavor to support the ruinous anti-christian Babylon, but all in vain. For as Babylon was at last so destroyed as to be a heap of stones and abode of dragons, so will it be with anti-christian Babylon. Of this it is written in Rev 14:8 : She is fallen, fallen, that great city, for she has made all nations drink of the wine of her fornication. And again, Babylon the great is fallen, and is become the habitation of devils and a hold of all foul and hateful birds (Rev 18:2). As the inhabitants of Babylon were admonished to flee from her, that every man might deliver his soul (Jer 51:6)and again, My people, go ye out from the midst of her and deliver every man his soul, etc. (Jer 51:45)so the Holy Spirit admonishes Christians almost in the same words to go out from the spiritual Babylon, that they be not polluted by her sins and at the same time share in her punishment. For thus it is written in Rev 18:4, I heard, says John, a voice from heaven saying, Go ye out of her, My people, that ye be not partakers of her sins and that ye receive not of her plagues, for her sins reach unto heaven and God remembers her iniquities. Wurtemb. Summarien.
18. On Jer 51:5. A monarch can sooner make an end of half a continent than draw a nail from a hut which the Lord protects.And if it is true that Kaiser Rudolph, when he revoked the toleration of the Picards and the same day lost one of his principal forts, said, I thought it would be so, for I grasped at Gods sceptre (Weismanni, Hist. Eccl. Tom. II. p. 320)this was a sage remark, a supplement to the words of the wise. Zinzendorf.
19. On Jer 51:9. We heal Babylon, but she will not be healed. Babylon is an outwardly beautiful but inwardly worm-eaten apple. Hence sooner or later the foulness must become noticeable. So is it with all whose heart and centre is not God. All is inwardly hollow and vain. When this internal vacuity begins to render itself externally palpable, when here and there a rent or foul spot becomes visible, then certainly come the friends and admirers of the unholy form and would improve, cover up, sew up, heal. But it does not avail. When once there is death in the body no physician can effect a cure.
20. On Jer 51:17; Jer 51:19-20. The children of God have three causes why they may venture on Him. 1. All men are fools, their treasure is it not; 2. The Lord is their hammer; He breaks through everything, and 3, they are an instrument in His hand, a heritage; in this there is happiness. Zinzendorf.
21. On Jer 51:41-44. How was Sheshach thus won, the city renowned in all the world thus taken? No one would have thought it possible, but God does it. He rules with wonders and with wonders He makes His church free. Babylon is a wonder no longer for its power, but for its weakness. We are to know the worlds weakness even where it still appears strong. A sea of hostile nations has covered Babylon. Her land is now a desolation. God takes Bel, the principal idol of Babylon, symbolizing its whole civil powers in hand, and snatches his prey from his teeth. Our God is stronger than all worldly forces, and never leaves us to them. Diedrich.
22. On Jer 51:58. Yea, so it is with all walls and towers, in which Gods word is not the vital force, even though they be entitled churches and cathedrals Gods church alone possesses permanence through His pure word. Diedrich.
23. On Jer 51:60-64. When we wish to preserve an archive safely, we deposit it in a record-office where it is kept in a dry place that no moisture may get to it. Seraiah throws his book-roll into the waters of the Euphrates, which must wash it away, dissolve and destroy it. But this was of no account. The main point was that he, Seraiah, as representative of the holy nation had taken solemn stock of the word of God against Babylon, and as it were taken God at His word, and reminded Him of it. In this manner the matter was laid up in the most enduring and safest archive that could be imagined; it was made a case of honor with the omniscient and omnipotent God. Such matters can, however, neither be forgotten, nor remain in dead silence, nor be neglected. They must be brought to such an end as the honor of God requires.
HOMILETICAL AND PRACTICAL
1. On Jer 50:2. This text may be used on the feast of the Reformation, or any other occasion with reference to a rem bene gestam. The Triumph of the Good Cause, 1. over what enemies it is gained; 2. to what it should impel us; (a) to the avoidance of that over which we new triumph; (b) to the grateful proclamation of what the Lord has done for us, by word and by deed.
2. On Jer 50:4-8. The deliverance of Israel from the Babylonian captivity a type of the deliverance of the Church. 1. The Church must humbly acknowledge the captivity suffered as a judgment of God. 2. She must turn like Israel inwardly with an upright heart unto the Lord; 3. She must become like Israel to all men a pattern and leader to freedom.
3. On Jer 50:5. A confirmation sermon. What is the hour of confirmation? 1. An hour which calls to separation; 2. an hour which leads to new connections; 3. an hour which fixes forever the old covenant with the souls friend. Florey, 1853.
4. On Jer 50:18-20. Assyria and Babylon the types of all the spiritual enemies of the church as of individual Christians. Every one has his Assyria and his Babylon. Sin is the destruction of men. Forgiveness of sins is the condition of life, for only where forgiveness of sins is, is there life and blessedness. In Christ we find the forgiveness of sins. He destroys the handwriting. He washes us clean. He is also the good shepherd who leads our souls into green pastures, to the spiritual Carmel.
5. On Jer 50:31-32. Warning against pride. Babylon was very strong and powerful, rich and splendid. It seemed invincible by nature and by art. Had it not then a certain justification in being proud, at least towards men? No; for no one has to contend only with men. Every one who contends has the Lord either for his friend or his enemy. It is the Lord from whom cometh victory (Pro 21:31). He it is who teacheth our hands to fight (Psa 18:35; Psa 144:1). His strength is made perfect in weakness (2Co 12:9). He can make the lame (Isa 33:23; Mic 4:7) and mortally wounded (Jer 37:10) so strong that they overmaster the sound (comp. Jer 51:45). He can make one man put to flight a thousand (Deu 32:30; Isa 30:17). With him can one dash in pieces a troop and leap over a wall (Psa 18:29). No one accordingly should be proud. The word of the Lord, I am against thee, thou proud one! is a terrible word which no one should conjure up against himself.
6. On Jer 50:33-34. The consolation of the Church in persecution. 1. It suffers violence and injustice. 2. Its redeemer is strong.
7. On Jer 51:5. God the Lord manifests such favor to Israel as to declare Himself her husband (Jer 2:2; Jer 3:1). But now that Israel and Judah are in exile, it seems as if they were rejected or widowed women. This, however, is only appearance. Israels husband does not die. He may well bring a period of chastisement, of purification and trial on His people, but when this period is over, the Lord turns the handle, and smites those through whom He chastised Israel, when they had forgotten that they were not to satisfy their own desire, but only to accomplish the Lords will on Israel.
8. On Jer 51:6. A time may come when it is well to separate ones self. For although it is said in Pro 18:1; he who separateth himself, seeketh that which pleaseth him and opposeth all that is goodand therefore separation, as the antipodes of churchliness, i.e., of churchly communion and humble subjection to the law of the co-operation of members (1Co 12:25 sqq.) is to be repudiated, yet there may come moments in the life of the church, when it will be a duty to leave the community and separate ones self. Such a moment is come when the community has become a Babylon. It should, however, be noted that one should not be too ready with such a decision. For even the life of the church is subject to many vacillations. There are periods of decay, obscurations, as it were, comparable to eclipses of the stars, but to these, so long as the foundations only subsist, must always follow a restoration and return to the original brightness. No one is to consider the church a Babylon on account of such a passing state of disease. It is this only when it has withheld the objective divine foundations, the means of grace, the word and sacrament, altogether and permanently in their saving efficacy. Then, when the soul can no longer find in the church the pure and divine bread of life; it is well to deliver the soul that it perish not in the iniquity of the church. From this separation from the church is, however, to be carefully distinguished the separation within the church, from all that which is opposed to the healthy life of the church, and is therefore to be regarded as a diseased part of the ecclesiastical body. Such separation is the daily duty of the Christian. He has to perform it with respect to his private life in all the manifold relations, indicated to us in Mat 18:17; Rom 16:17; 1Co 5:9 sqq.; 2Th 3:6; Tit 3:10; 2Jn 1:10-11.Comp. the article on Sects, by Palmer in Herzog, R.-Enc., XXI., S. 21, 22.
9. On Jer 51:10. The righteousness which avails before God. 1. Its origin (not our work or merit, but Gods grace in Christ); 2. Its fruit, praise of that which the Lord has wrought in us (a) by words, (b) by works.
10. On Jer 51:50. This text may be used at the sending out of missionaries or the departure of emigrants. Occasion may be taken to speak 1, of the gracious help and deliverance, which the Lord has hitherto shown to the departing; 2, they may be admonished to remain united in their distant land with their brethren at home by (a) remembering the Lord, i.e., ever remaining sincerely devoted to the Lord as the common shield of salvation; (b) faithfuly serving Jerusalem, i.e., the common mother of us all (Gal 4:26), the church, with all our powers in the proper place and measure, and ever keeping her in our hearts.
Footnotes:
[1]Jer 50:5. Both forms are Imperative, and there is no need either to take as Perf. or to alter into (Graf.). Comp. Ewald, 226, b; Olsh, Joel 4:11; Isa 43:9.
[2]Jer 50:5. . Accus. modalis. Comp. Naegelsb. Gr., 70, i; Jer 31:31-32; Jer 32:40.
Fuente: A Commentary on the Holy Scriptures, Critical, Doctrinal, and Homiletical by Lange
CONTENTS
Here Babylon, who had been the scourge of so many nations, now comes to be reckoned with herself. Her judgments are described. There are many sweet promises interspersed in this Chapter to Israel.
Fuente: Hawker’s Poor Man’s Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
The Chapter opens with God’s denunciation against Babylon: Israel at this time was in captivity in Babylon. But the hour is now hastening when Babylon is to be destroyed, and Israel delivered. Bel and Merodach, their two great idols, shall be destroyed.
Fuente: Hawker’s Poor Man’s Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
The Way of Contrition
Jer 50:4-5
Our spiritual life as a life of contrition is typified for us in the return of the children of Israel to Jerusalem from their long exile in Babylon.
I. Of necessity, contrition must be the first stage of spiritual life. For what is contrition? The Bible definition of contrition is, sorrow, sorrow that is in union with God. Contrition is no passing paroxysm, it is a state of abiding spiritual sorrow; we are taken by the Spirit of God into union with God, and therefore the Spirit is ever acting upon our mind and heart and will.
In its essence, contrition is the virtue that unites the sinner’s will with the Will of God. Sin, in its essence, is the variance of the will of the creature from the known Will of the Creator. As a necessary consequence, therefore, sin involves spiritual death. And equally of necessity, contrition involves the recovery of life.
II. Let us see how the Spirit leads us along this tear-stained path of penitence.
1. It is generally recognized that there are two distinct stages in the contrite life. The first is the stage of initial contrition; it is that stage into which we pass by spiritual awakening, and out of which we pass when, through the tasting of the Divine forgiveness, we enter into the peace of God. In other words, initial contrition is the contrition which precedes and leads up to a true conversion.
2. But this is a transitory stage. Does contrition then come to an end after the message of forgiveness is heard and believed in? Is the sinner set free from the guilt of sin in order that he may go forth and forget it? No, this cannot be the case, unless he is lacking in all true generosity. In every generous heart this will be the resolve: Because God forgives me so freely, I will never forgive myself; so that instead of forgiveness drying up the sorrow of contrition, it has upon it a double effect it takes out of it every low and selfish element, and it intensifies our sorrow instead of making it cease to be.
III. So the Spirit leads us along the path of contrition, and we see that our spiritual life as lived under the guidance of the Living Jesus must be always a life of sustained contrition, a contrition not only deepened and intensified, but continuous. And this for many reasons.
1. Our sin is continuous.
2. We carry into our new life a great deal of what we contracted in our evil past.
3. When we pass into union with God we do not cancel the influence which thoughtlessly or deliberately we used against Christ in our past days of disobedience.
Surely of us, as of Israel of old, it should be true that we ‘go upon our way weeping’.
George Body, The Guided Life, p. 29.
References. L. 4, 5. Spurgeon, Sermons, vol. xxix. No. 1752. H. Scott Holland, Church Times, vol. xlii. 1899, p. 273. L. 5. Spurgeon, Sermons, vol. xliv. No. 2566. W. Brooke, ibid. p. 194. L. 11, 12. J. P. Gledstone, Christian World Pulpit, vol. xxxvii. 1890, p. 230. L. 20. Spurgeon, Sermons, vol. xlviii. No. 2789.
The Unlikely Instruments of God
Question and Attitude
Jer 50:5
Inquiry and attitude should correspond. You should look as if you meant your questions. Do not let us have any discrepancy in the man himself; no asking of questions about one way whilst we are looking over the shoulder towards another. Do not mock kind Heaven. “Thitherward”: literally, Hither-ward. Jeremiah is writing in Judah, and he says the time will come when the returning ones will face this way; and they will be asking from step to step, Which is the road to Zion? Sometimes we look our prayers; sometimes we are on the right road and do not know it. There are more Christians in the world than slumber in our pews. God will interpret both the question and the man. Sometimes men will be on the right road, and be surprised to find themselves there: the answer to such will be, Go on, turn not to the right nor to the left; you are quite in the proper direction, all you have to do is to go on. Thus God delights to surprise human souls. Some questions are born in us; we know things by the very torment of our ignorance. Does that sound paradoxical? To me it is experimental. Curiously and inexplicably, we feel that there are some things we ought to know, and do not; then questions arise in our minds, as, for example, Who can tell us? Who will show us this good? Where are the men who know things that we do not know? and the re shall go forth out of the human heart a great cry for God’s prophet, the teaching man, the seer in Israel. Questions about a certain kind of knowledge seem to be born in every soul; love for certain kinds of intelligence is inborn. Here is a little creature three years old who cannot be kept away from the piano. He will be there when you are not looking; he will rise early in the morning and grope his way towards the musical instrument, Why this, thou little Mozart? I cannot help it. Would you not like to go to the gaming-table? Would you not prefer to go to the flower-house? Would it not be more in your way, poor little child, to have hoop, or humming-top, or bagfuls of marbles? He does not answer in words, but he goes back to the piano as if he had left it in some other world and was delighted to find it again; it talks to him, and he talks to it, and if you will allow the little soul to tarry there he wants no other heaven just now. Others are fond of language or science or history; there is a predestination that settles us if we will listen to it. The Lord has not turned any one of us into a pathless world; he has made little feet for every path there is up the mountains and across the deserts and through the gardenland. He says to every traveller, I want you to go down this road; do not turn to the right or the left; you must be trained in the way you should go, the predestined, foreordained road; you will find walking smooth down there, but if you get upon any other path your feet will be pricked with sharp thorns.
Then certain kinds of need seem to grow in consciousness in the soul. We do not establish prayer by argument. If a man has to argue himself into prayer he cannot pray; if a man has to reason himself up to an organ he will never be an organist; if a man has to scourge himself in order to preach he will never be a preacher. He must preach because he breathes, he must play his instrument because he cannot be happy away from it. Prayer is the impulse of the soul: it is the cry of need, it is the utterance of wonder, it is the affirmation of spiritual certainty; the soul says, I know that if I could only speak loudly enough, or softly enough, I should be heard and answered from above. It is of no avail that we tell the spiritually minded man that the air is emptiness. He does not believe us: he says, I almost see my friends there; every waft of wind is like the throb of a heart. You are fools who have no encircling hosts of spirits: they only are wise who know that the air is the upper Church. When such need makes itself felt, then we begin to ask questions.
There must be persons who can answer great questions. First find out the human instrument if you can: Where dwells the seer? who keeps God’s keys? whose tongue is learned that it can speak a word in season to him that is weary? The soul is never called upon to ask little questions. All the inquiries of the soul when the soul has fair-play are great, sublime, heaven-ascending, heaven-storming. If you are content with asking little questions, you must be content with receiving small replies. When Jesus Christ touched the human mind interrogatively, it was to call it up to some high questioning: What think ye of Christ? How does David call Christ both Son and Lord? All the questions, therefore, which Christ ever indicated showed that question-asking is right within certain limits. We do not heed the questions of mere curiosity or impertinence; we ought not to listen to the interrogatories of profanity: when the soul is really alive with interrogation it will know how to put its own questions, and it will give the Church no rest until those questions have been answered substantially. If the Church cannot answer the great questions of the soul, then it is no Church, though its spire be high as heaven. What are Christian teachers for but to answer the questions of the soul, to rebuke all the little questions, and to urge the soul to make bolder inquiries, yea, to thrust itself upon God in reverent cross-examination, that he may grant it great vision of light and great treasure of benediction? Nor must we think that only the nominally great can answer the soul’s questions. Sometimes a little child might guide a king; sometimes a native of the very humblest type and status may know more about Ms village than the most distinguished stranger that approaches its obscurity. Except ye be converted and become as little children ye cannot answer some of the greatest questions about the invisible kingdom. Not when we are intellectually greatest, but when we are spiritually tenderest and most sympathetic, can we respond to those who say in pain, Who will show us any good? and to those who ask in wonder and in hope, Which is the way to Zion? We must cultivate this grace of asking really important and even sublime questions. They will lift the mind above the world; they will send currents of fresh air, so to say, from heaven’s own sanctuary through the weary, hard-driven brain.
What are the great questions that men should ask? Men must answer that inquiry themselves. Why be so anxious about details and trivialities and frivolities? Why hold the letter in your hand and ask a score of questions about the sealing of it? You are not going to be saved by the seal; break it, open the letter, read it. He is not a student who fritters away his intellectual energy in inquiries about the sealing of the letter; he is the reverent inquirer, and therefore the deep and earnest student, who says, The seal must stand back until I have had time to make some larger inquiries; I may come back upon it and ask it questions; meanwhile, what does the letter itself say to me, what its message of love, what its stimulus to service? If you are really in earnest, if your souls be aflame with divine sincerity, you will know what questions are important and what are trivial. There shall come a time when the only questions worth asking will be religious questions: Where is Zion? Where is God? What is truth? Where is peace? Frivolities will then cease to excite our interest. The time will come when there will be a complete inversion even of intellectual relations. The first shall be last, and the last shall be first: inquiries which we now deem to be supreme we shall one day regard as insignificant. Yes, Religion, sweet, fair visitant from heaven, despised and esteemed not, shall one day have its chance. What do all your inquiries amount to when set side by side with the possibility (let us use no firmer term at this moment) of knowing and realising the spiritual and the divine? Granted, merely for the sake of argument, that it is possible to know something of God, before that possibility all other inquiry fades and perishes. Suppose that we could know everything about this handful of mud we call the globe, what does it come to? Nothing! Yet the important men now on the thoroughfare are the men who are going to the geological museum. By all means, I say to my fellow-travellers, Gentlemen, stand back and let them go. The men who are important now are the men who are going to the Houses of Parliament Hats off! Here are men who are going to make a new unintelligibility in the form of an Act of Parliament. The first shall be last and the last shall be first, and the time will come when the man who says “Let us pray” will be greatest in the kingdom of wisdom. But let us suppose, merely for the sake of acquiring information, that we know everything that can be known about the earth. The earth was formed (take down the ciphers) ten billions three millions five hundred and ninety-four thousand two hundred and seventeen years, eleven months, and three weeks ago have you got that down? What good has it done you? Do you feel better now? Can you rest? Are you satisfied? Do you say, This is heaven Oh say those sweet words again! Ten billions three millions. Yes, you may say them over and over again, until the day of doom, and you will not find one particle of real comfort in them. Now suppose you know all about the strata, how they were built, and how they were piled, and how they were coloured, and can trace every line, and discourse with eloquence upon every lamination, now how do you feel after all that? Are you at peace? are you at rest? I see your fingers going out after other worlds to clutch them because you have exhausted the little volume of the earth. But the universe is just as little to God as the earth is to you and the universe. There is nothing great beside God that is, in comparison with him, in relation to him. No: the time will come when we must know God himself; God shall be all in all, as an intellectual inquiry, as a spiritual delight, as a moral rest, as a promise of eternal growth and never-ceasing service. It is necessary that some men should be geologists; we must have all kinds of people to make up a complete world. There must be some persons who are doomed to the humiliation of breaking stones and giving fragments long names: what does it all come to? Within its own limit, useful; within its own limit, entertaining, instructive, and delightful: but when viewed in relation to what we may call the totality of things, the highest meaning and the supreme purpose, what are all these inquiries but trivialities learned, pompous, magnificent nothings!
We must prove the reality of our sincerity by the set and stress of our lives. Observe, these people do not only ask a question, they discover a disposition, they represent an attitude: “They shall ask their way to Zion with their faces thitherward.” They lose no time in asking questions; they ask them as they go: Is this the road? we know it is: and the answer is, Yes, go on; fair Zion, beautiful as heaven’s morning, stands yonder, with doors thrown back to give you welcome and hospitality. It is well thus to be doing two things at once, to be gathering information and to be realising it, to be asking questions and to be losing no time in progress. Here we have no mere speculation, no mere intellectual entertainment; here we have nothing but dead earnestness, the tongue asking the question which the face represents in action. How is it with us? We can show where we want to go. God finds our piety in the stress of our lives. How are these people looking? is the divine question: not, Are they faint, are they strong? not, Are they singing songs, or are they breathing sighs? but, Are they facing right? Then he will write in his record, “Faint, yet pursuing.” Not the man who could rise and go up to the signal was healed of the serpent-poison, but he who only could turn his closing eyes in that direction, he was saved; the moment his dying eye caught sight of the typical Saviour, the virus was cleansed from his blood, the fiery flying serpent was forgotten, and he, because of his look of faith and hope, was saved, and made a man again. We can show where we would be if we could. That is all any preacher has a right to ask of us. We follow this line of policy in all ordinary life. Here, for example, is a young man about whom I will take your judgment. He says he is most anxious to learn what the Christian religion really is. Very good: what does this young man do? He attends a course of infidel lectures. What is your judgment about him? Can the unbeliever represent faith? Can the unbeliever really do that which is fair to any question which he opposes? Can the deaf man who never heard a sound tell you what music is? I convict that young man, not of irony only, but of falsehood and of blasphemy. He does not mean what he says when he indicates his desire to know what the Christian religion is. Suppose a man says, I am most desirous to know what may be known of the Godhead, therefore I am going to listen to six lectures on Agnosticism. What do you think of that poor crippled “therefore”? Did you ever meet so base a pretender in logic? What we insist upon is sincerity.
If you want to know about the Christian religion go to a Christian church, go to Christian literature, go to Christian teachers; if you want to know about atheism, go to atheists; they ought to know their own negation. Here is your son, who longs to be an arithmetician; therefore he goes every night to the music-hall. What would you say about him as a boy as your boy? Or perhaps you could speak more freely about him if he were somebody else’s boy. But the question is, What do you think of him? He says, The desire of my soul is to be an arithmetician and therefore he spends six nights a week in the music-hall? You would not believe the witness. Suppose a man should say, I want to know what mountains really are, and therefore I am going to visit the lowlands of Holland. You would not believe the man; you would say, If you were really in earnest about seeing mountains, you would not go to Holland; if you were really in earnest, you would not go to even low-lying countries; but you would say, Where are the mountains? and I will climb them as much as I can, for I am anxious to know something of their height and something of their formation and something of the atmosphere that blows round their elevated heads. Now that you talk so you are a sincere man, you are at all events going in the right direction, and by so much you must be credited with sincerity. You can show what you would be and where you would be if you could.
If you really wanted to know about God, you would read the Bible; but if I found you reading every other kind of literature but the Bible and yet professing to want to know about God, I should not believe you: on the other side I will take this encouragement, that if we find any man in church we have a right to infer that he wants to know God, and reconciliation, and for giveness, and cleansing, and heaven. To be in the sanctuary should mean so much; it should cease to be a custom, a conventionality, or an aspect of social respectability: to be in the church should mean to have the face Zionward. Some may have their faces Zionward without having made any public declaration of that fact; some may peep into the church in the hope that they may see God. We will not say that any man goes to church out of mere curiosity; we would rather give the larger interpretation to human conduct, and say, Behold, what are these that fly as doves to the windows? What are these coming out on extraordinary occasions to the house of God? behold, these are earnest men, who are not only asking about Zion but who are setting their faces thitherward, and we know from their look, from those burning faces, that they mean to reach Zion. Accept that interpretation, and coming to church shall mean all that and all the plus which is involved in that elementary construction of human conduct.
Prayer
Almighty God, thou dost wait to be gracious; thou dost not shut the door of Zion; thou dost welcome all returning souls, for thou hast no pleasure in darkness or in death. Thou art the God of life, thou art the Sovereign of eternity. Behold, thou hast sent forth the gospel of thy love in Christ Jesus the Lord throughout all the earth. Thou dost wait for returning captives, thou dost tarry for home-coming prodigals. Give us to feel that we are all welcome at our Father’s door. We bless thee for infinite love, for love we cannot follow with our understanding, which our dreams cannot picture, from which our imagination stands back in awe and great surprise. Thou hast sent thy Son to save us, thou hast made the Cross the centre of the universe. We bless thee for that wondrous Tree; we thank thee for Golgotha. We come to the Cross for pardon, for purity, for peace, for all things needful for time and for eternity. For all thy care and patience we bless thee; we have stood only in the goodness of God; beyond that goodness we have no foothold, no hope, no light. Jesus, still lead on! Make tomorrow more abundant than today, in light, in promise, in fruitfulness; and at the end may we not know ourselves to be old, because our youth is just beginning. Comfort all that mourn: speak of rest to those who are heavy-laden: tell those who are wandering in the wrong direction that thou art waiting for them at home. Now may there be a great return of hearts, a great renewal of plighted troth at the altar which stands on Calvary. Amen.
XI
THE PROPHECIES OF JEREMIAH CONCERNING THE NATIONS
Jeremiah 46-51
We now take up the prophecies of Jeremiah to the foreign nations, recorded in Jeremiah 46-51. We note first, by way of introduction, that when Jeremiah was called to be a prophet, it was said, Jer 1:5 : “I have appointed thee a prophet unto the nations.” Note again in Jer 1:10 : “I have this day set thee over the nations and over the kingdoms, to pluck up and to break down, to destroy and to overthrow.” Thus Jeremiah’s work was not to be confined to Israel, but to comprise the known world, at least all that part of it which had any relation to or connection with Israel. So, in Jer 25 , we see him exercising this function of prophet to the nations. Jehovah speaks to him and says) Jer 25:15 : “Take this cup of wine of wrath at my hand, and cause all the nations to whom I send thee to drink it.”
We are not told that Jeremiah visited other nations. By this passage it seems that he did either visit them and deliver the prophecy, or that he wrote it and sent it to them by a messenger. Certain it is that he sent this message of destruction to all the nations that troubled Israel. He goes on, Jer 25:17 : “Then took I the cup at Jehovah’s hand and caused all nations to drink it unto whom Jehovah sent me.” In the next several verses we have all these nations named. There are twenty-one, altogether. And those nations which he names in Jer 25 constitute some of the very people to whom he is writing the messages in this section. Again in Jer 27 we have Jeremiah exercising the prophetic function to the nations. In verses 2, 4 he makes a yoke to be sent to the kings of the nations and addresses the ambassadors that have been assembled at Jerusalem to arrange a plan for rebellion against Babylon and devise methods by which they may throw off the Babylonian yoke. Jeremiah meets them and Zedekiah and says, as recorded in the latter part of Jer 27:12 : “Bring your necks under the yoke of the king of Babylon and serve him arid live.” He gave them this advice because he had said, “All the nations shall serve the king of Babylon, and all those that do not serve him shall perish, or go into captivity, at the hands of the great Nebuchadnezzar. It is interesting to note that in the Septuagint Version, made in the third century before Christ, the prophecies found in chapters 46-51 are found immediately following Jer 25:13 , where their names are mentioned. That looks as if these were written and sent to the nations about the same time that Jeremiah gives his counsel to the messengers of the nations and to Zedekiah.
The dates of these chapters range from 604 B.C. to about 594 B.C. The critics put some of them much later. But there is ample evidence to lead to the conclusion that they occurred in that period in which Pharaoh-Necho suffered defeat at the hands of Nebuchadnezzar, unto the fourth year of the reign of Zedekiah. Notice that these various prophecies to the nations are grouped together as Isaiah and Ezekiel grouped them. See Isaiah 12-23 and Ezekiel 25-32.
The date of the prophecy concerning Egypt is about 604 B.C. Probably the latter portion of the chapter was written a little later, but certainly the first twelve verses were written about 604 B.C. Compare with this Isa 19 and Ezekiel 29-32 which deal with the same subject, the downfall and punishment of Egypt. Jer 46:1 is a general introduction to all these various prophecies.
We have an account of Egypt’s defeat at Carohemish (Jer 46:2-12 ). The second verse gives the date and the occasion of the prophecy. They occurred somewhere about tour years after the disastrous defeat and death of the good King Josiah at Megiddo. Pharaoh-Necho had pressed as far north and east as the fords of the Euphrates, seeking to swell his coffers and enlarge his territory. He was met there by the invincible Nebuchadnezzar. There was fought the great battle which was to decide the fate of one or the other of these two kings. Carchemish was a large city on the banks of the Euphrates, commanding the fords of that great river, which was the dividing line between the empires. Pharaoh-Necho was overwhelmed and driven back to Egypt. Jeremiah in the spirit of sarcasm addresses the great army of Pharaoh-Necho: “Prepare ye the buckler and shield, and draw near to battle. Harness the horses, and get up, ye horsemen, and stand forth with your helmets; furbish the spears, put on the coats of mail.”
Note the tone of verse Jer 46:5 : “Wherefore have I seen it? they are dismayed and are turned backward; and their mighty ones are beaten down, and are fled apace, and look not back: terror is on every side.” Then again with a note of sarcasm he raises this question, verse Jer 46:7 : “Who is this that riseth up like the Nile, whose waters toss themselves like the rivers?” That is Egypt. Again, with a note of stinging sarcasm he continues in verse Jer 46:9 : “Go up, ye horses; and rage, ye chariots; and let the mighty men go forth: Gush and Put, that handle the shield; and the Ludim, that handle and bend the bow.” In Jer 46:10 he pictures the defeat: “For that day is a day of the Lord, Jehovah of hosts, a day of vengeance, that he many avenge him of his adversaries: and the sword shall devour and be satiate, and shall drink its fill of their blood; for the Lord, Jehovah of hosts, hath a sacrifice in the north country by the river Euphrates.” This magnificent picture is the description of the hand of God punishing Egypt. It is a sacrifice of Jehovah’s righteousness.
In Jer 46:13 he gives the occasion and the substance of the prophecy. Nebuchadnezzar would come and smite the land of Egypt. Then in Jer 46:14 he speaks of the cities of Egypt. He tells them to be ready and prepared. With a note of sarcasm he continues in Jer 46:15 by asking a question, “Why are thy strong ones [thy gods] swept away?” Then the answer follows in the same verse: “Because Jehovah did drive them.” That is the reason. In Jer 46:17 we have a striking prophecy: “Pharaoh) the king of Egypt, is but a noise.” He has no power; he is only a noise; all boast and brag and not to be feared.
In Jer 46:25 he prophesies that Pharaoh’s city, the city of Thebes, called “Noamon,” or “Amon of No,” shall perish. Of late years Egyptologists have discovered that city, and it is today just as Jeremiah described it in this prophecy. It is utterly destroyed. In the latter part of Jer 46:26 he makes a remarkable promise regarding the kingdom of Egypt. There shall not be made a full end of it; “afterward it shall be inhabited, as in the days of old”; Egypt shall not be utterly destroyed. It shall live. But Egypt was never the same after her defeat and subjugation by Nebuchadnezzar. Profane history tells us that in the year 560 B.C. or thereabout, Nebuchadnezzar defeated and overthrew Egypt. Jeremiah is vindicated in his prophecy here, since what he wrote took place beyond any doubt.
There are words of reassurance and encouragement to Israel in Jer 46:27-28 : “Fear not thou, O Jacob my servant, saith Jehovah; for I am with thee: for I will make a full end of all nations whither I have driven thee; but I will not make a full end of thee, but I will correct thee in measure, and will in no wise leave thee unpunished.” That sounds much like the second part of Isaiah. In that prophecy this same promise is worked out in the great doctrine of the servant of God. The Philistines were the old, hereditary enemies of Israel. From the days of Samuel and the Judges, David and Solomon this nation had existed and was, all the time, an enemy and troubler of Israel and Judah.
The date of the prophecy (Jer 47:1-7 ) is a little uncertain. The latter part of the first verse says that this prophecy came before Pharaoh smote Gaza. Now that was the Pharaoh-Necho who defeated Josiah, some time previous to 604 B.C. He had laid siege to Gaza, the chief city of Philistia, and had utterly overwhelmed it. Previous to that Jeremiah uttered this prophecy against Philistia. He says in Jer 47:2 , “Behold, waters rise up out of the north, and shall become an overflowing stream, and shall overflow the land and all that is therein.” Thus he pictures the invading hosts of Nebuchadnezzar coming from the north like an overflowing river, down the plains of Tyre to this Philistine city. In Jer 47:4 he says that they shall all be overthrown.
Now, we have a remarkable question on this part of Jeremiah, Jer 47:6 . He sees this fearful shedding of blood, and raises the question, “O thou sword of Jehovah, how long will it be ere thou be quiet? put up thyself into thy scabbard; rest, and be still.” Evidently this implies that God ordered this bloodshed and that the nation was doing his will in thus punishing the wickedness of the Philistines.
What the relation of Moab to Israel and what the main points of the prophecy against her (Jer 48:1-47 )? It is interesting here to compare this passage with Isaiah 15-16, and also Eze 25:9-11 . Israel had come into very intimate relations with Moab. They passed through that land, and the tribe of Reuben had the territory which joined Moab. Between these two (Reuben and Moab) there were constant feuds with intermittent friendship. Finally Moab succeeded in throwing off the yoke of Israel and absorbing the tribe of Reuben. Moab was famous for her pride, her self-sufficiency. She was one of the proudest nations of the world. It was against this pride and self-sufficiency that this prophecy was directed. It contains a great many expressions that are identical with what we find in Isaiah 15-16. In this chapter the prophet gives us much of the geography of Moab. He mentions, altogether, about twenty-six cities. The principal thoughts are these:
1. Moab’s threatened destruction and exile by Babylon (Jer 48:1-10 ).
2. Moab’s disappointed hope, and the imminence of her calamity (Jer 48:11-25 ).
3. The humiliation of Moab, and her fate described (Jer 48:26-46 ).
4. A promise of return: “Yet will I bring back the captivity of Moab in the latter days, saith Jehovah” (Jer 48:47 ).
I call attention to two or three striking passages in this prophecy against Moab. In Jer 48:10 Jeremiah is speaking of the terrible work which Nebuchadnezzar will do to Moab and he wants that work thoroughly done, and says, “Cursed be he that doeth the work of Jehovah negligently.” Now that is a fine text. He continues, “Cursed be he that keepeth back his sword from blood.” The idea in it all is that Jehovah wants these Babylonians to do their work thoroughly. Also in Jer 48:11 we have a striking passage: “Moab hath been at ease from his youth, and he hath settled on his lees, and hath not been emptied from vessel to vessel, neither hath he gone into captivity: therefore his taste remaineth in him, and his scent is not changed.” The figure here is that of fresh wine left to stand. When it is left thus, sediment gathers in the bottom. It becomes thick and stagnant and the quality is injured. Something like that had happened in Moab. She had grown stagnant; had been quiet for years. It was not good for her to remain in this condition. Self-satisfaction is not a good thing.
We have the prophecy against Ammon (Jer 49:1-6 ). The country of Ammon bordered on the land of Moab and the territory of the tribe of Reuben. There was constant strife between Ammon and Reuben. When Tiglath-Pileser invaded the land and deported the inhabitants, Ammon came up and seized the country that belonged to Reuben. Because of that incident Jeremiah uttered these oracles: “Hath Israel no sons? hath he no heir? Why then doth Malcam possess Gad, and his people dwell in the cities thereof?” He had seized the property that belonged to Israel, and that is what Jeremiah is denouncing. They shall all go into exile. He then closes this prophecy with a promise of restoration: “But I will bring back the captivity of the children of Ammon.”
Compare with the prophecy against Edom the prophecy of Obadiah, which is almost identical. Jeremiah must have been familiar with the prophecy of Obadiah. Compare also Isa 34 . Edom was a kinsman of the house of Jacob. Edom dwelt in his mountain fastnesses and impregnable heights, and was something of a military power. He never lost the bitterness of Esau against Jacob because the latter got his birthright and blessing. They first dwelt in tents and were Bedouin, but at this time most of them dwelt in cities or towns. Edom watched from his fastnesses the career of Jacob and, as Obadiah says, looked on her destruction without pity. When she had opportunity she took some of the inhabitants of Israel, made them slaves and rejoiced over the downfall of Jerusalem. For such unbrotherly conduct Judah never forgave Edom. Sufficient is it to say that we have here the pronouncement of doom upon her and there is no promise of restoration. For several centuries Edom flourished to some extent, and in the time of the restoration she occupied considerable territory of Judah. In the time of Christ an Edomite sat upon the throne of Judah, but since then Edom has gone down and today nothing remains of her but a great wilderness of mountains and deserts.
In connection with the prophecy against Damascus (Jer 49:23-27 ) we have prophecies concerning two little countries, namely, Hamath and Arpad. Damascus is to have troubles, she is to be sad in her fate and she is to wax very feeble. Her city is to be, not utterly destroyed, but greatly humbled. There is no promise of restoration.
Kedar is the name of the wandering and marauding, warlike tribes that live in the deserts east of Palestine, between eastern Palestine and the river Euphrates. They are called the “Children of the East.” They have lived there from time immemorial. They were there before the days of Abraham and are there yet. The men of Kedar are to be overwhelmed by the Babylonian power. The city of Hazor is referred to as belonging to this people. The larger portion of these Arabians lived in tents and were Bedouin, but some of them lived in cities or villages. So the prophet addresses both classes, Kedar and Hazor, pronouncing destruction upon them.
We have the prophecy against Elam (Jer 49:34-39 ). In Abraham’s time there was a king of Elam, who was the overlord of Babylon, and the over-lord of the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah. He came to the plains of Palestine and collected tribute from them. Elam was one of the principal forces that Abraham attacked and destroyed. A great many of the inhabitants were transported to northern Palestine when Samaria was destroyed by Sargon, so that Jeremiah is brought into touch with these Elamites because they lived in the northern part of the country. The fate of Elam is bound ‘up with the fate of Babylon and that of Israel. Elam is threatened with destruction, but in Jer 49:39 there is a promise of restoration. It is interesting to note that in the fulfilment of that promise of restoration, there were Elamites in the city of Jerusalem when Peter preached his great sermon at Pentecost. Doubtless there were Elamites converted at that time and brought into the fold of our Lord Jesus Christ.
The prophecy against Babylon (Jeremiah 50-51) is the longest of any of the prophecies concerning the foreign nations. Compare this with Isaiah 13-14; 40-48. The date of this prophecy is set forth in Jer 51:59 . It was in the fourth year of the reign of Zedekiah, about 494 B.C. Jeremiah penned this long prophecy and sent it by a messenger to the king of Babylon, to be read by the exiles, and he says in Jer 51:63 , “When thou hast made an end of reading this book, thou shall bind a stone to it, and cast it into the midst of the Euphrates: and thou shall say, Thus shalt Babylon sink, and shall not rise again because of the evil that I will bring upon her.” A copy of the prophecy was kept by the prophet. This action was symbolical. We cannot go into detail in the study of this prophecy. The situation is the same as that set forth in Isaiah 40-66. It presents many of the same ideas and the same problems. There are scores of similar expressions. The principal ideas are as follows:
1. The people of Israel were in exile in Babylon and the city of Jerusalem had been destroyed: Jer 50:6-7 ; Jer 50:17 ; Jer 50:28 ; Jer 50:33 ; Jer 51:11 ; Jer 51:34 ; Jer 51:51 .
2. Babylon was the instrument of Jehovah in punishing Israel and the nations, four times stated: Jer 50:7 ; Jer 50:17 ; Jer 51:7 ; Jer 51:20-23 .
3. Jehovah remains the deliverer of his people. This is stated by the prophet four times: Jer 50:34 ; Jer 51:5 ; Jer 51:15-19 ; Jer 51:36 .
4. Jehovah will execute his wrath upon Babylon and her gods and they shall be destroyed. Fully two-thirds of this entire prophecy is given to the discussion of this thought: Jer 50:2-3 ; Jer 50:10-16 ; Jer 50:18 ; Jer 50:21-27 ; Jer 51:1-4 ; Jer 51:8-9 ; Jer 51:11-19 .
5. The Modes and their allies are to break the Babylonian yoke. This is stated eight times altogether: Jer 50:3 ; Jer 50:9 ; Jer 50:41-42 ; Jer 50:44 ; Jer 51:11 ; Jer 51:27-28 .
6. Promise of release from Babylon and command to leave the city. Eleven times the prophet makes statements to that effect: Jer 50:4-5 ; Jer 50:8 ; Jer 50:19-20 ; Jer 50:28 ; and others.
7. Spiritual renewal of Israel shall follow the return from Babylon. This is stated by the prophet five times: Jer 50:4-5 ; Jer 51:10 ; Jer 51:50-51 .
In these seven divisions we have the substance of these chapters. Isaiah 40-48 contains the same thoughts, sometimes even in the same words.
Almost all the critics maintain that Jeremiah did not write these chanters. Even a Baptist professor produced a commentary that was published by a Baptist publishing house, in which it is plainly affirmed that Jeremiah did not write them. The arguments used against the Jeremiah-authorship are in substance, as follows:
1. The historical situation had not yet arrived. These chapters picture Israel in exile, the Temple destroyed and Jerusalem in ruins. If Jeremiah wrote these chapters in 594 B.C. (and it is plainly stated that he did) Jerusalem was still standing, the Temple intact, and the end of Babylon was yet seventy years more in the future. Therefore, the critics conclude that since the historical situation was not in harmony with these chapters, Jeremiah did not write them. That conclusion is undeniably based upon the assumption that Jeremiah could not see the future.
2. There is not the same point of view on the part of the prophet. The point of view of the prophet about this time was that Zedekiah and his people must submit to Babylon, and if they would submit, they would be saved. But now in these chapters the point of view of the prophet seems to be that these nations are to be destroyed and Judah triumph. Therefore, Jeremiah must have a different point of view. Did he? As in the other contention, it is based upon the assumption that Jeremiah could not see the future.
3. The temper which permeates these chapters was not that of Jeremiah. In other words, Jeremiah, during the reign of Zedekiah, had been friendly to Babylon in that he continually counseled submission to Babylon. He seems to be a friend to Babylon. Now, these two chapters were written by a man whose soul seemed to be on fire with denunciation of Babylon because of her ruthless and unrelenting cruelty to Israel. The critics cannot account for the change in the temper of Jeremiah, if it is conceded that he wrote these two chapters in question.
In reply, it may be asked, Does it follow that because he advised submission to a foreign power he loved that power and was not loyal to his own people? Jeremiah counseled submission to Babylon, not because he loved Babylon, but because he could see, in fact it was revealed to him, that Babylon was destined to prevail and that if his people would quietly submit, it would be better than to resist. By no means does it follow that he loved Babylon. He did not love Babylon; he was a patriotic Israelite and could not but have hated that savage nation that overwhelmed his own beloved kinsmen. It is easy to see how he could, with perfect consistency, thus write the doom that was coming upon this savage nation for its wickedness. Though it was a wicked heathen nation, God could overrule its cruelty to be the just punishment for Israel’s sins and wickedness.
4. It is full of repetitions and lacks logical development. And so it does. But is it not in that very fact, like the work of Jeremiah? Our critical friends have worked out a system of logical development and they make heaven and earth fit into the mold of their theory. I fear that in trying to get all heaven into their logical system, they have failed to get any of it into their hearts.
Here are five reasons for accepting the Jeremiah authorship of chapters Jeremiah 50-51:
1. It is expressly stated that Jeremiah did write it (Jer 51:59-64 ). That ought to settle the question.
2. The style is like that of Jeremiah, full of repetitions. We have called attention to that very thing over and over again in our studies of the book.
3. The prophecy is altogether appropriate. Jeremiah was a patriotic Israelite, and his feelings toward Babylon could not have been that of friendship. He must have been permeated with the spirit of denunciation.
4. Denial of his authorship is based upon a mechanical theory of prophecy and inspiration. That is, after all, the real source of these denials.
5. Granting inspiration, Jeremiah was thoroughly competent to write every word of these two chapters. We could not expect that Jeremiah, a prophet to the nations, would live and die without having something to say about Babylon.
QUESTIONS
1. What the theme of Jeremiah 46-51 and what the evidence elsewhere of Jeremiah’s call to this special function as a prophet?
2. What the dates of these several prophecies?
3. What the date of the prophecy concerning Egypt, what parallel prophecies in the other prophets and what the nature of Jer 46:1 ?
4. Give an account of Egypt’s defeat at Carchemish (Jer 46:2-12 ).
5. Give an account of the overthrow of Egypt by Nebuchadnezzar (Jer 46:13-26 ).
6. What the words of reassurance and encouragement to Israel in Jer 46:27-28 ?
7. Who were the Philistines, what the date of this prophecy (Jer 47:1-6 ) against them and what the prophecy itself, especially verse 6?
8. What the relation of Moab to Israel and what the main points of the prophecy against her? (Jer 48:1-47 .)
9. What things worthy of special note in this prophecy against Moab?
10. What the occasion of the prophecy against Ammon in Jer 49:1-6 and what the points of the prophecy?
11. What the relation of Edom to Israel and what the prophecy here (Jer 49:7-22 ) against her?
12. What the prophecy against Damascus? (Jer 49:23-27 .)
13. Who was Kedar and what the prophecy here against Kedar? (Jer 49:28-33 .)
14. Who were the Elamites and what the prophecy against Elam in Jer 49:34-39 ?
15. How does the prophecy against Babylon compare with the other prophecies here given, what the date and what the symbolical action in this connection, the meaning of it, and what the principal ideas?
16. What the arguments of the critics against the authenticity of this section and upon what is each based?
17. Give five reasons for accepting the Jeremiah authorship of Jeremiah 50-51.
Jer 50:1 The word that the LORD spake against Babylon [and] against the land of the Chaldeans by Jeremiah the prophet.
Ver. 1. The word that the Lord spake against Babylon. ] Which was built by Nimrod, as Nineveh was afterwards by his nephew Ninus. Gen 10:11 Of the greatness of this city, besides what we read in holy writ, much may be read in Herodotus and Pliny. It was the head city of the Assyrian and Chaldean monarchy, which lasted above seventeen hundred years, till Cyrus the Persian took the kingdom. Isaiah prophesied against it in several chapters. Habakkuk maketh it his whole business. Jeremiah had set forth how Sheshach, that is, Belshazzar, should drink the dregs of the cup of God’s wrath. Jer 25:26 Here, and in the next chapter, he discourseth it more at large, showing how it was that Babylon was to drink of that cup; and for more certainty, it is spoken of in this prophecy as already done.
Jeremiah Chapter 50
The last of the heathen objects of judgment is now brought before us. They had been judged chiefly by Babylon whose turn is come. It is the greatest, the earliest, and most characteristic of the world’s empires, Babylon of the Chaldees.
“The word that Jehovah spake against Babylon and against the land of the Chaldeans by Jeremiah the prophet. Declare ye among the nations, and publish and set up a standard; publish, and conceal not: say, Babylon is taken, Bel is confounded, Merodach is broken in pieces; her idols are confounded, her images are broken in pieces. For out of the north there cometh up a nation against her, which shall make her land desolate, and none shall dwell therein: they shall remove, they shall depart, both man and beast.” (Ver. 1-3.) Its doom is come under the Medes, led on by Cyrus the Persian. The consequence of deepest interest to God is, that the fall of Babylon opens the door for the return of His people from captivity. It is the type of a final deliverance, when a greater than Cyrus shall be there to the utter destruction of the last holder of the last empire. Compare Dan 2:7 .
Hence says the prophet immediately after, “In those days, and in that time, saith Jehovah, the children of Israel shall come, they and the children of Judah together, going and weeping: they shall go and seek Jehovah their God. They shall ask the way to Zion with their faces thitherward, saying, Come and let us join ourselves to Jehovah in a perpetual covenant that shall not be forgotten. My people hath been lost sheep: their shepherds have caused them to go astray, they have turned them away on the mountains: they have gone from mountain to hill, they have forgotten their resting-place. All that found them, have devoured them: and their adversaries said, We offend not, because they have sinned against Jehovah, the habitation of justice, even Jehovah, the hope of their fathers.” (Ver. 4-7.) It seems clear that, whatever the application to the past, these words cannot be satisfactorily explained without awaiting a yet larger and closer fulfilment in the last days, when the sons of both Israel and Judah shall take the place of penitence and shall return from their long and distant wanderings to Zion under the everlasting covenant and their Messiah. As Jehovah bore witness of their ruin, so they will confess their sins themselves, instead of leaving it to their enemies to make their evil an excuse for their own hatred and plunder.
Then from verse 8 the prophet calls to remove from the city devoted to so decisive a judgment. “Remove out of the midst of Babylon, and go forth out of the land of the Chaldeans, and be as the he goats before the flocks. For, lo, I will raise and cause to come up against Babylon an assembly of great nations from the north country: and they shall set themselves in array against her; from thence she shall be taken: their arrows shall be as of a mighty expert man; none shall return in vain. And Chaldea shall be a spoil: all that spoil her shall be satisfied, saith Jehovah.” (Ver. 8-10.)
From verse 11 there is a reproachful rebuke to the destroyers of Israel and their land. “Because ye were glad, because ye rejoiced, O ye destroyers of mine heritage, because ye are grown fit as the heifer at grass, and bellow is bulls: your mother shall be sore confounded; she that bare you shall be ashamed; behold, the hindermost of the nations shall be a wilderness, a dry land and a desert. Because of the wrath of Jehovah it shall not be inhabited, but it shall be wholly desolate: every one that goeth by Babylon shall be astonished, and hiss at all her plagues.” (Ver, 11-13.)
Next, all warriors are summoned against this queen of the nations. “Put yourselves in array against Babylon round about; all ye that bend the bow, shoot at her, spare no arrows; for she hath sinned against Jehovah. Shout against her round about. she hath given her hand: her foundations are fallen, her walls are thrown down: for it is the vengeance of Jehovah: take vengeance upon her; as she hath done, do unto her. Cut off the sower from Babylon, and him that handleth the sickle in the time of harvest: for fear of the oppressing sword they shall turn every one to his people, and they shall flee every one to his own land. Israel is a scattered sheep; the lions have driven him away: first the king of Assyria hath devoured him; and last this Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon hath broken his bones. Therefore thus saith the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel; Behold, I will punish the king of Babylon and his land, as I have punished the king of Assyria. And I will bring Israel again to his habitation, and he shall feed on Carmel and Bashan, and his soul shall be satisfied on mount Ephraim and Gilead. In those days, and in that time, saith Jehovah, the iniquity of Israel shall be sought for, and there shall be none; and the sins of Judah, and they shall not be found: for I will pardon them whom I reserve.” (Ver. 14-20.) The heart of the prophet, like Jehovah Himself, ever turns from the judgment of the great foe to poor guilty Israel; nor is it pity only that is pledged but restoration so truly divine that the end will far surpass all beginnings. It is moral too, not national only. The heart is to be set right with God, as surely as they are destined to refreshment and repose in their land.
Again, from verse 21 there is a renewal of the call to go up against the imperial city, described as doubly rebellious and the object of visitation. “Go up the land of Merathaim, even against it, and against the inhabitants of Pekod: waste and utterly destroy after them, saith Jehovah, and do according to all that I have commanded thee. A sound of battle is in the land, and of great destruction. How is the hammer of the whole earth cut asunder and broken! how is Babylon become a desolation among the nations! I have laid a snare for thee, and thou art also taken, O Babylon and thou wast not aware: thou art found, and also caught, because thou hast striven against Jehovah. Jehovah hath opened his armoury, and hath brought forth the weapons of his indignation: for this is the work of Jehovah God of hosts in the land of the Chaldeans. Come against her from the utmost border, open her storehouses: cast her up as heaps, and destroy her utterly: let nothing of her be left. Slay all her bullocks; let them go down to the slaughter: woe unto them! for their day is come, the time of their visitation. The voice of them that flee and escape out of the land of Babylon, to declare in Zion the vengeance of Jehovah our God, the vengeance of his temple. Call together the archers against Babylon: all ye that bend the bow, camp against it round about; let none thereof escape: recompense her according to her work; according to all that she hath done, do unto her: for she hath been proud against Jehovah, against the Holy One of Israel. Therefore shall her young men fall in the streets, and all her men of war shall be cut off in that day, saith Jehovah. Behold, I am against thee, O thou most proud, saith Jehovah God of Hosts: for thy day is come, the time that I will visit thee. And the most proud shall stumble and fall, and none shall raise him up: and I will kindle a fire in his cities, and it shall devour all round about him.” (Ver. 21-32.) Here Jehovah intimates the special ground for unsparing vengeance on Babylon for desecration of His temple, and pride against Himself, the Holy One of Israel.
Again also the prophet resumes the note of relief to Israel from the trouble of Babylon. If Assyria and her haughty rival vied in contemptuous oppression of Israel, Jehovah would plead the cause of His people thoroughly. “Thus saith Jehovah of hosts; the children of Israel and the children of Judah were oppressed together: and all that took them captives held them fast: they refused to let them go. Their Redeemer is strong; Jehovah of hosts is his name: he shall throughly plead their cause, that he may give rest to the land, and disquiet the inhabitants of Babylon. A sword is upon the Chaldeans, saith Jehovah, and upon the inhabitants of Babylon, and upon her princes, and upon her wise men. A sword is upon the liars; and they shall dote: a sword is upon her mighty men; and they shall be dismayed. A sword is upon their horses, and upon their chariots, and upon all the mingled people that are in the midst of her; and they shall become as women: a sword is upon her treasures; and they shall be robbed. A drought is upon her waters; and they shall be dried up: for it is the land of graven images, and they are mad upon their idols, Therefore the wild beasts of the desert with the wild beasts of the islands shall dwell there, and the owls shall dwell therein: and it shall be no more inhabited for ever; neither shall it be dwelt in from generation to generation. As God overthrow Sodom and Gomorrah and the neighbour cities thereof, saith Jehovah; so shall no man abide there, neither shall any son of man dwell therein. Behold a people shall come from the north, and a great nation! and many kings shall be raised up from the coasts of the earth. They shall hold the bow and the lance: they are cruel, and will not show mercy: their voice shall roar like the sea, and they shall ride upon horses, every one put in array, like a man to the battle, against thee, O daughter of Babylon. The king of Babylon hath heard the report of them, and his hands waxed feeble: anguish took hold of him, and pangs as of a woman in travail. Behold, he shall come up like a lion from the swelling of Jordan unto the habitation of the strong: but I will make them suddenly run away from her: and who is a chosen man, that I may appoint over her? for who is like me? and who will appoint me the time? and who is that shepherd that will stand before me? Therefore hear ye the counsel of Jehovah, that he hath taken against Babylon; and his purposes, that he hath purposed against the land of the Chaldeans: Surely the least of the flock shall draw them out: surely he shall make their habitation desolate with them. At the noise of the taking of Babylon the earth is moved, and the cry is heard among the nations.” (Ver. 33-46.) The allusion to the manner of Babylon’s fall in the beginning of verse 38 is as plain as Isaiah’s in Isa 44:27 ; yet each preserves his own characteristic style though both refer to the same remarkable fact which was yet to be accomplished. The picture of the king’s anguish, in verse 43, may be compared with the description in Isa 21 , and with the history in Dan 5 .
NASB (UPDATED) TEXT: Jer 50:1-3
1The word which the Lord spoke concerning Babylon, the land of the Chaldeans, through Jeremiah the prophet:
2Declare and proclaim among the nations.
Proclaim it and lift up a standard.
Do not conceal it but say,
‘Babylon has been captured,
Bel has been put to shame, Marduk has been shattered;
Her images have been put to shame, her idols have been shattered.’
3For a nation has come up against her out of the north; it will make her land an object of horror, and there will be no inhabitant in it. Both man and beast have wandered off, they have gone away!
Jer 50:2 This verse is characterized by
1. a series of imperatives from YHWH to publicize Babylon’s demise
a. declare – BDB 616, KB 665, Hiphil imperative
b-c. proclaim – BDB 1033, KB 1570, Hiphil imperative (twice)
d. lift up a standard – BDB 669, KB 724, Qal imperative
e. do not conceal – BDB 470, KB 469, Piel imperfect used in a jussive sense
f. say – BDB 55, KB 65, Qal imperative
2. a series of perfects denoting a complete action (i.e., prophetic perfects) of events yet to occur, but which surely will occur because of YHWHs stated will
a. Babylon has been captured – BDB 539, KB 530, Niphal perfect
b. Bel has been put to shame – BDB 101, KB 116, Hiphil perfect
c. Marduk has been shattered – BDB 369, KB 365, Qal perfect
d. her images have been put to shame – same as #b
e. her idols have been shattered – same as #c
Bel Below are my notes from Isa 46:1. Bel, like Ba’al, means lord, master, owner.
Isa 46:1 Bel Bel (BDB128, KB 132, Akkadian for lord) is a similar title to the Canaanite title Ba’al. This is an allusion to the chief god of the Akkadian pantheon (Enlil, who was called lord). As Babylon came to power the chief deity’s name was changed to Marduk (BDB 597, cf. Jer 50:2).
Nebo This was the son of Marduk (named only here in the OT) and was the god of learning and writing (BDB 612). Bel and Nebo can be seen in many of the Babylonian names of the period (Nebuchadnezzar [Dan 1:1]; Nebushazban [Jer 39:13]; Nebuzaradan [Jer 39:9]; Nabopolassar [first king of Neo-Babylon, and Nebuchadnezzar’s father]; Nabonidus [Beshazzar’s father, last king of Neo-Babylon]; Belteshazzar [Dan 1:7]; Belshazzar [Dan 5:1]). These were the two chief gods of the Babylonian pantheon.
NASB, TEV,
NJB, REBMarduk
NKJV, NRSV,
JPSOAMerodack
The MT has Merudack (BDB 597). It is another way to transliterate the consonants for Marduk. The Sumerian pantheon is fluid. Originally the title lord was applied to Enlil, but when the city of Babylon became more important, her chief deity, Markuk, took the place of Enlil/Bel as the head of the pantheon. For a further outline of these Sumerian gods and their myths, see my commentary on Genesis 1-11, the introduction, online at www.freebiblecommentary.org .
The last king of Babylon (i.e., Nabonidus) depreciated Marduk for the worship of the moon goddess (see Special Topic: Moon Worship ). When the Persians attacked the city of Babylon they were supported by the priests and followers of Marduk.
Jer 50:3 As the covenant people had to fear the enemy from the north (i.e., Jer 1:13-15; Jer 4:6; Jer 6:1; Jer 6:22), now that very enemy (i.e., Babylon) must fear another instrument of God’s judgment from the north (i.e., Cyrus and the armies of Persia).
Notice the two prophetic perfects, like the five of Jer 50:2.
1. have wandered off – BDB 626, KB 678, Qal perfect
2. have gone away – BDB 229, KB 246, Qal perfect
Babylon’s judgment is sure because YHWH wills it, plans it, and will bring it to pass.
The Fiftieth Prophecy of Jeremiah (see book comments for Jeremiah).
the LORD. Hebrew. Jehovah. App-4.
and. Some codices, with three early printed editions, Aramaean, Syriac, and Vulgate, read this “and” in the text.
by. Hebrew idiom = by the hand of; “hand” being put by Figure of speech Metonymy (of Cause), for the instrumentality or agency, especially in the inspiration of the written words. See note on Zec 7:12.
Shall we turn now to Jeremiah chapter 50.
Chapter 50 begins with the words,
The word that the LORD spake against Babylon and against the land of the Chaldeans by Jeremiah the prophet ( Jer 50:1 ).
The end of chapter 51 declares, “And thou shalt say, ‘Thus shall Babylon sink, and shall not rise from the evil that I will bring upon her, and they shall be weary.’ Thus far are the words of Jeremiah.” In other words, this is the completion of the words of Jeremiah. Now I only bring that up to show you the idiocy of what is known as “higher criticism” because this is one of the passages of scripture of whose authorship is questioned by these men who call themselves the higher critics. They challenge the authorship of Jeremiah of these particular two chapters. The reason, of course, for the challenge is that Jeremiah gives some pretty interesting facts concerning the destruction of Babylon and the fall of Babylon, and this is sixty-five years before the fall of Babylon. How could he know that that’s the way it was going to happen? So surely Jeremiah could not have written it. And though Jeremiah declares it at the beginning of chapter 50 there, “by Jeremiah the prophet,” and he concludes it by saying, “Thus far the words of Jeremiah.” These men who declare themselves to be Bible scholars of great intellectual prowess challenge the authorship of Jeremiah of this particular passage. Well, I have little or no respect, (and that’s putting it in a very positive way), for these men who claim to have such great understanding and all of the Bible, who take as their chief concern the challenging of everything in the Bible. It’s a stupid waste of time.
Now the problem is if you go to seminary, or most seminaries today, to study the Bible, when you study in Jeremiah, you will spend more time in their stupid speculations of why Jeremiah did not write these last two chapters than you will the study of the book of Jeremiah. And that’s what the study of Jeremiah amounts to in so many seminaries today of how that it really wasn’t Jeremiah that wrote it. And that is just, again, a waste of time and a waste of money. It’s just I get so upset with these things that I just… and these fellows. I like to just do what Jeremiah told Seraiah to do with the book. Tie a rock around it and throw it in the river Euphrates and say, “Thus shall Babylon sink.” And I’d like to tie a millstone about their necks and toss them in with the book. Of course, Jesus would be there cheering me on, for He said concerning those that would turn away the faith of a child, “It were better for them that a millstone be hung around their neck and they be tossed in the Sea of Galilee than to offend the faith or one of these little ones who believe in Me” ( Luk 17:2 ). These men who have destroyed the faith of so many young students who have gone to seminary to study the Word of God only to find that their faith in God has been destroyed through their seminary experience. I would like to take each one of those Ph.D.’s and follow the advice of the Lord.
So, “The word that the Lord spake against Babylon.” Now these are not really the words of Jeremiah. These are the words that the Lord has spoken, but Jeremiah was the instrument through which God spoke the word. We so often make the statement, “Well, Jeremiah said,” and that’s probably a wrong way to put it. In the New Testament, we find that when David was quoting the Psalms, so often rather than… beg your pardon. Peter was quoting this Psalms of David. Peter would usually say, “And the Holy Spirit spake by the mouth of David saying,” attributing the true authorship to the Holy Spirit. Recognizing that David was only the instrument through which the Spirit spoke. So that Jeremiah was the instrument through which the Spirit gave forth the word. So, “The word of the Lord against Babylon and against the land of the Chaldeans by Jeremiah the prophet.” The Lord said to Jeremiah,
Declare ye among the nations, and publish, and set up a standard; publish, and conceal it not: say, Babylon is taken, Bel is confounded ( Jer 50:2 ),
The Lord, the word means Lord. It’s the chief God.
and Merodach [another God of the Babylonians, Marduk] is broken in pieces; her idols are confounded, her images are broken in pieces. For out of the north there cometh up a nation against her, which shall make her land desolate, and none shall dwell therein: they shall remove, they shall depart, both man and beast ( Jer 50:2-3 ).
Now as Jeremiah prophesies the destruction of Babylon, this is one of those interesting areas of scripture where there is a twofold fulfillment. There is the actual destruction of Babylon as is prophesied here in these passages of scripture, but then there is that looking forward into the yet future. In Revelation chapter 17 and 18, where the Lord takes up again the destruction of Babylon, but he is talking in Rev 17:1-18; Rev 18:1-24 of spiritual Babylon, the false religious system of the last days and the great commercial system of the last days. So in Rev 17:1-18 , the fall of the religious Babylon system; in chapter 18 the fall of the commercial system which are titled Babylon in a spiritual sense, which means confusion. And so it is interesting that as you read Jer 50:1-46; Jer 51:1-64, where he tells of the destruction and the fall of Babylon, that some of these passages are parallel passages to Rev 17:1-18; Rev 18:1-24. No doubt John in his writing, of course, familiar with Jeremiah and the Lord speaking again through John of the destruction of the religious system of Babylon and the commercial Babylon, uses some of the same phrases that are used here as God here predicts the judgment of God that is coming upon this great nation, the first world-governing empire and perhaps the greatest of all world-governing empires.
Now you remember when Nebuchadnezzar had his dream and he saw the image. It had the head of gold and he said, “Thou, O Nebuchadnezzar, are the head of gold in that your kingdom is superior to all kingdoms. But your kingdom is going to be replaced by an inferior kingdom inasmuch as silver is inferior to gold, and you saw the chest of silver. Your kingdom will be replaced by an inferior kingdom.” And so the Babylon kingdom, the greatest kingdom in the history of the world and yet so thoroughly destroyed according to the prophecies of Isaiah and Jeremiah that I dare say none of you have met a Babylonian. And if you did you wouldn’t know, because as a race of people they do not exist anymore. As God’s Word said they would be completely wiped out, they were. It said the city of Babylon would be left to ruins. It would be a place for jackals and owls and so forth. And if you go there today you’ll find it’s just a place of ruins. Wild animals dwelling among the ruins of a once great city, perhaps one of the greatest cities in the world. Twelve miles square surrounded by walls that were three hundred feet high and eighty feet thick and a city of beautiful gardens and just glory, the glory of Babylon. But God declares He’s going to bring destruction upon them.
Now in those days when God brings His destruction against Babylon, God also declares that He is going to bring again His people from their captivity. Now again there is a twofold fulfillment. The prophecy has both its near and yet its yet future fulfillment. Because when the religious Babylon system is destroyed and the commercial Babylon system destroyed and the Lord comes again, He is going to gather together His people from all over the world and they’re going to come and dwell there in Jerusalem. And so there is a twofold fulfillment of these prophecies that deal with Babylon and the regathering of God’s people. And what took place in history is only sort of a type of what will yet take place in the future, as there is a twofold fulfillment to these prophecies.
So when Babylon is destroyed,
In those days, and in that time, saith the LORD, the children of Israel shall come, they and the children of Judah together ( Jer 50:4 ),
Now Israel was the ten tribes of the Northern Kingdom; Judah was the two tribes of the Southern Kingdom. And the Lord said that when Babylon is destroyed they were going to come together.
There are those today who try to identify the Anglo-Saxon race of people with the tribes of Israel, and they have a phrase which they call the ten lost tribes. That is not really a scriptural phrase. Actually, the Bible speaks of the lost sheep of the house of Israel, but not lost tribes. They’re not lost; they never have been lost. God’s always known where they were, and it would be wrong for God to talk of them as lost tribes, so He doesn’t. But they try to identify the Anglo-Saxon. So the Danish people, they say, are the tribe of Dan. Settled in Danmark. And of course, it’s close to Denmark, and so they say that the word ish in Hebrew is man, so Danish people are Dan’s men. And then, of course, they tried to identify Sweden and England and all as other tribes. Of course, Joseph Smith had an interesting… whatever he had. Nephi and so forth, you know, came across the Pacific in these reed rafts and sailed in South America and so the Indians and so forth are the lost tribes.
Yet at this time they were brought together, both Israel and Judah. It is prophesied that they would come together.
going and weeping: they shall go, and seek the LORD their God ( Jer 50:4 ).
So this marvelous restoration was promised that though they have been driven away from the land, held and taken captive by Babylon, the day would come when with weeping they would return to seek the Lord.
They shall ask the way to Zion ( Jer 50:5 )
Actually, most of them were born in Babylon. Had never seen Zion before, so really had no way to get there. So as they were journeying they would be asking people directions in how to get there. “They shall ask the way to Zion.”
with their faces thitherward [or turned towards Zion], saying, Come, and let us join ourselves to the LORD in a perpetual covenant that shall not be forgotten ( Jer 50:5 ).
The reason for their being exiled was they had forgotten the covenant of God. They had forsaken the covenant of God and turned and worshipped other gods. But now the commitment to go back and to worship God in this perpetual covenant.
My people [God declares] have been lost sheep ( Jer 50:6 ):
Still owning them as His people. Even though they have failed, even though they have been taken captive, God still recognizes as, “My people have been lost sheep.” But their problem was,
their shepherds have caused them to go astray, they have turned them away on the mountains: they have gone from mountain to hill, they have forgotten their resting place ( Jer 50:6 ).
So God places the blame upon the shepherds. James said, “Be not many masters, knowing that you will receive a greater condemnation” ( Jas 3:1 ). God has some very unkind things to say about false prophets and false shepherds. And people who pretend or presume to speak in the name of the Lord but whose real motive is only their own well-being and enrichment, who seek not the welfare of the flock of God but really seek their own welfare above everything else. God has some very heavy indictments against those kinds of shepherds–shepherds causing them to go astray, causing them to distrust the Word of God, causing them to distrust God Himself.
All that found them have devoured them: and their adversaries said, We offend not, because they have sinned against the LORD, the habitation of justice, even the LORD, the hope of their fathers. Remove out of the midst of Babylon, and go forth out of the land of the Chaldeans, and be as the he goats before the flocks. For, lo, I will raise and cause to come up against Babylon an assembly of great nations from the north country: and they shall set themselves in array against her; from thence she shall be taken: their arrows shall be as of a mighty expert man; none shall return in vain. All of Chaldea shall be spoiled: all that spoil her shall be satisfied, saith the LORD. Because they were glad, and they rejoiced in the destruction of God’s heritage, because you have grown fat as the heifer at grass, and bellow as bulls; Your mother shall be sore confounded; she that bare you shall be ashamed: behold, the hindermost of the nations shall be a wilderness, a dry land, and a desert ( Jer 50:7-12 ).
This nation that was once the glory of the earth is going to become barren.
Because of the wrath of the LORD it shall not be inhabited, but it shall be wholly desolate: every one that goeth by Babylon shall be astonished, and hiss at all her plagues. Put yourselves in array against Babylon round about: all ye that bend the bow, shoot at her, spare no arrows: for she hath sinned against the LORD. Shout against her round about: she hath given her hand: her foundations are fallen, her walls are thrown down: for it is the vengeance of the LORD: take vengeance upon her; as she hath done, do it unto her ( Jer 50:13-15 ).
Now that’s a phrase that also comes up in Rev 18:1-24 as God speaks of the destruction of that commercial system of Babylon, “As she has done, do double,” He declares, “unto her” ( Rev 18:6 ). And so here the destruction of Babylon is predicted. The walls are to be destroyed. Walls, again, as we made mention, were three hundred feet high and eighty feet thick. Yet the prophet Jeremiah had the audacity to say they’re going to tear down the walls. They did.
Cut off the sower from Babylon, and him that handleth the sickle in the time of harvest: for fear of the oppressing sword they shall turn every one to his people, and they shall flee every one to his own land. Israel is a scattered sheep; the lions have driven him away: first the king of Assyria hath devoured him; and last this Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon hath broken his bones. Therefore thus saith the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel; Behold, I will punish the king of Babylon and his land, as I have punished the king of Assyria. And I will bring Israel again to his habitation, and he shall feed on Carmel and Bashan, and his soul shall be satisfied upon mount Ephraim and Gilead ( Jer 50:16-19 ).
Now that’s Israel, that’s the Northern Kingdom. That is not Judah, the Southern Kingdom.
In those days, and in that time, saith the LORD, the iniquity of Israel shall be sought for, and there shall be none; and the sins of Judah, and they shall not be found: for I will pardon them whom I reserve ( Jer 50:20 ).
That, to me, is a beautiful passage of scripture. In that day you’ll look for their sins but you can’t find them. Not because they don’t exist, but because God has pardoned them. David said, “O how happy is the man whose transgressions are forgiven. How happy is the man whose sins are covered. How happy is the man to whom God does not impute iniquity” ( Psa 32:1-2 ). Paul, in quoting from the words of the Holy Spirit through the mouth of David, in Romans chapter 2 picks up that same refrain, “O how happy is the man to whom God does not impute iniquity” ( Rom 4:8 ). Who is that happy man? It is the man who is believing and trusting in Jesus Christ. It’s glorious to realize that as I walk in the light as He is in the light, as I believe and trust in Him, the blood of Jesus Christ, God’s Son is continually cleansing me from all of my sin. I have no sin. Why? Because God has pardoned me through Jesus Christ. And there is that continual work of God’s love being wrought in me as there is that continual cleansing from my sins. So with Judah and Israel, God said they’ll search but they can’t find their sins because I pardoned them.
Now the interesting thing, of course, is that Satan is called the accuser of the brethren. It is declared in the scripture that he seeks to accuse them before God day and night. But he must have a wild time when he’s trying to accuse us before the Lord, because the Lord says, “What sins? I don’t know of any sins, you know.” “Yeah, but didn’t you see them last week. They really blew it, you know.” “Didn’t see a thing.” “Oh, come on now, you know.” “I pardoned them.” Because of your belief and trust in Jesus Christ. Oh, if we only realize the marvelous grace of God towards us.
Now it is wrong, absolutely wrong, for us to then presume against that grace, or to use the grace of God as a cloak for our lasciviousness. That is not what the scripture is referring to at all. “Shall we sin freely that grace may abound? God forbid. How can we who are dead to sin live any longer therein?” ( Rom 6:1-2 ) I am not to take advantage. I really can’t take advantage. God won’t let me take advantage of His grace. If I’m just going out and sinning with the anticipation, “Well, God will forgive me,” then I’ve got this whole thing totally wrong and I’m in serious trouble. For whosoever is born of God does not live in the practice of sin. And the very fact that I can go out and deliberately and willfully practice sin would bring into question whether or not I am truly born again. The grace of God is not there for me to presume upon and just to make a covering so that I can sin with impunity and just say, “Well, God’s going to cover with His grace.” Never. But it’s good to know that as I’m seeking the Lord and I’m trying to follow after Him, through the weakness of my flesh I may fail or I may fall, but as I am loving and serving the Lord, God doesn’t impute iniquity against me. He’s not a Santa Claus in the sky who’s making out a list, checking it twice, finding out who’s naughty and nice. He has no list on me. He’s thrown the record away. “O how happy is the man to whom God does not impute iniquity.” That man who is seeking to serve the Lord with his whole heart. Who has denied himself to take up the cross to follow Him. “I will pardon them whom I reserve.” I love that.
Go up against the land of Merathaim, even against it, and against the inhabitants of Pekod: waste and utterly destroy after them, saith the LORD, and do according to all that I have commanded thee. A sound of battle is in the land, and of great destruction. How is the hammer of the whole eaRuth ( Jer 50:21-23 )
And, of course, Babylon was the hammer that have bludgeoned the whole earth.
How is the hammer of the whole earth cut asunder and broken! how is Babylon become a desolation among the nations! For I have laid a snare for thee, and thou art also taken, O Babylon, and thou wast not aware: thou art found, and you’ve been caught, because you have striven against the LORD ( Jer 50:23-24 ).
Isaiah said, “Woe unto the man who strives with his Maker!” ( Isa 45:9 ) How foolish it is for a person to strive with God, and yet how many people are guilty of that folly. But what a wonderful day when I quit striving with God and I just surrender and say, “O God, I don’t want to fight You anymore. I don’t want to run from You anymore. God, I’m on Your side. I surrender.” Now what’s so bad or difficult or hard about that? And yet look how hard people fight from doing that. Look how hard they resist God. But when you’re resisting God, you’re really resisting your own good, because God’s plan and purpose for you is the best that could ever happen to your life. And thus, to strive with God you’re really striving against your own welfare, your own good. And that’s sort of dumb. But people do it. And why, I don’t know. Because it is always such a glorious day when you quit striving with God and you just surrender and say, “O God, not going to fight You anymore. I just want to walk with You. I just want to live in fellowship with You. I just want to love You and know You more.” Oh, what a beautiful day. There’s got to be something, I would say diabolical but that’s very obvious, with anyone who would fight with God.
But here is Babylon being destroyed because they have striven against the Lord.
The LORD hath opened his armory, he has brought forth the weapons of his indignation: for this is the work of the Lord GOD of hosts in the land of the Chaldeans ( Jer 50:25 ).
Watch out. God is gotten out His armory now against Babylon.
Come against her from the utmost border, open her storehouses: cast her up as heaps, and destroy her utterly: let nothing of her be left. Slay all her bullocks; let them go down to the slaughter: woe unto them! for their day is come, the time of their visitation. The voice of them that flee and escape out of the land of Babylon, to declare in Zion the vengeance of the LORD our God, the vengeance of his temple. Call together the archers against Babylon: all ye that bend the bow, camp against it round about; let none thereof escape: recompense her according to her work; according to all that she has done, do unto her ( Jer 50:25-29 ):
The same phrase sort of repeated, “Do unto her as she has done.” She destroyed the temple of God in Jerusalem. They took away all of the vessels from the temple of God and carried them to Babylon. Well, not necessarily all, but many of them, the cups and so forth that were used.
for she hath been proud against the LORD, against the Holy One of Israel ( Jer 50:29 ).
Now in the time that Babylon was destroyed, in the evening that Babylon was destroyed, Belshazzar, who was a co-regent with his father, was in the city of Babylon in a great feast unto the Lord which lasted several days. And finally during the midst of this drunken party, he ordered that they bring the gold and silver vessels that they had taken from the temple of Jerusalem and poured their wine into these gold and silver vessels that they might drink their wine out of these vessels that had been consecrated unto God. In order that they might exalt themselves against the God of Israel. As they were drinking out of these golden vessels and praising the gods of gold and silver, suddenly there came the appearance of a hand upon the wall and writing upon the plaster. And oh, Belshazzar began to shake. And he called his wise men to tell him what the word said. None of them were able to do it until Daniel was finally brought in. The old man probably in his nineties now. He gave this young king a real lecture. He said, “You praised the gods of gold and silver, but the very God in whose hand your breath is you’ve not glorified. You didn’t learn the lesson of your father Nebuchadnezzar who was lifted up with pride. And because of his pride he was driven from the kingdom until he knew that it was God who ruled over the earth. And though you knew of his experiences yet you’ve exalted yourself against the Lord of heaven. Therefore has this writing come and its interpretation is, ‘Thou art weighed in the balances and found wanting. And this night, your kingdom will be divided between the Medes and the Persians.'” Solemn declaration of God which was fulfilled that night. Jeremiah’s prophecies fulfilled because they were proud against the Lord, the Holy One of Israel.
Therefore shall her young men fall in the streets, and all her men of war shall be cut off in that day, saith the LORD. Behold, I am against thee, O thou most proud, saith the Lord GOD of hosts: for thy day is come, the time that I will visit thee. And the most proud shall stumble and fall, and none shall raise him up: and I will kindle a fire in his cities, and it shall devour all round about him. Thus saith the LORD of hosts; The children of Israel and the children of Judah were oppressed together: and all that took them captives held them fast; they refused to let them go. But their Redeemer is strong; the LORD of hosts is his name: he shall thoroughly plead their cause, that he may give rest to the land, and disquiet the inhabitants of Babylon. A sword is upon the Chaldeans, saith the LORD, and upon the inhabitants of Babylon, and upon her princes, and upon her wise men. A sword is upon the liars; and they shall dote: a sword is upon her mighty men; and they shall be dismayed. A sword is upon their horses, and upon their chariots, and upon all the mingled people that are in the midst of her; and they shall become as women: a sword is upon her treasures; and they shall be robbed. A drought is upon her waters; and they shall be dried up ( Jer 50:30-38 ):
Of course, the interesting thing is that Cyrus was conquering the city of Babylon. His method of conquest was to divert the river Euphrates into canals around the city of Babylon, and in thus diverting the river Euphrates, the soldiers were able to come through on the riverbed under the walls of the city and then on up into the city and destroyed it. But here even, “The drought is upon her waters, and they shall be dried up.”
for it is the land of graven images, and they are mad upon their idols. Therefore the wild beasts of the deserts with the wild beasts of the coasts shall dwell there, and the owls shall dwell therein: and it shall be no more inhabited for ever; neither shall it be dwelt in from generation to generation ( Jer 50:38-39 ).
Now the interesting thing is that last year the Iraqi government allocated eighty million dollars to a team of Japanese engineers to draw up the plans for the rebuilding of the city of Babylon, intending to make it one of the most glorious cities of the world, intending to use all of the revenue from the vast oil reserves in Iraq to build this tremendous, glorious monument for the whole world to see. Of course, that was before Iraq got involved with the war with Iran and lost a great portion of her oil revenue. And it’s still bogged down in this conflict with Iran, and of course, is in financial difficulty as the result of the whole thing. And so there has been a postponement on the rebuilding of the city of Babylon. And I would like to suggest to you that it will never be rebuilt. As the Lord declares here, “It shall not be dwelt in from generation to generation.”
As God overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah and the neighbor cities thereof, saith the LORD; so shall no man abide there, neither shall any son of man dwell therein. Behold, a people shall come from the north, and a great nation, and many kings shall be raised up from the coasts of the earth. They shall hold the bow and the lance: they are cruel, and will not show mercy: their voice will roar like the sea, and they shall ride upon horses, every one put in array, like a man to the battle, against thee, O daughter of Babylon. The king of Babylon hath heard the report of them, and his hands waxed feeble: anguish took hold of him, and pangs as of a woman in travail. Behold, he shall come up like a lion from the swelling of Jordan unto the habitation of the strong: but I will make them suddenly run away from her: and who is a chosen man, that I may appoint over her? for who is like me? and who will appoint me the time? and who is that shepherd that will stand before me? Therefore hear the counsel of the LORD, that he hath taken against Babylon; and his purposes, that he hath purposed against the land of the Chaldeans: Surely the least of the flock shall draw them out: surely he shall make their habitation desolate with them. At the noise of the taking of Babylon the earth is moved, and the cry is heard among the nations ( Jer 50:40-46 ).
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Jer 50:1-10
Jer 50:1-5
The word that Jehovah spake concerning Babylon, concerning the land of the Chaldeans, by Jeremiah the prophet. Declare ye among the nations and publish, and set up a standard; publish, and conceal not: say, Babylon is taken, Bel is put to shame, Merodach is dismayed; her images are put to shame, her idols are dismayed. For out of the north there cometh up a nation against her, which shall make her land desolate, and none shall dwell therein: they are fled, they are gone, both man and beast. In those days, and in that time, saith Jehovah, the children of Israel shall come, they and the children of Judah together; they shall go on their way weeping, and shall seek Jehovah their God. They shall inquire concerning Zion with their faces thitherward, [saying], Come ye, and join yourselves to Jehovah in an everlasting covenant that shall not be forgotten.
Babylon is taken…
(Jer 50:2). This seemed an impossible prophecy in the fourth year of Zedekiah, because, at that time, Babylon dominated the whole known world. Yet God announced her destruction.
Bel is put to shame, Merodach is dismayed…
(Jer 50:2). Merodach in the inscriptions was the tutelary god of Babylon; and Nebuchadnezzar named a son Evil-Merodach, indicating that Nebuchadnezzar was especially devoted to that god. Merodach was actually identical with Bel. He was identified with Jupiter among the planets, and he was styled, ‘King of heaven and earth.’
Her idols are dismayed…
(Jer 50:2). The word for idols in the Hebrew literally means dung balls. This word was a favorite of Ezekiel who used it 38 times in speaking of pagan idols. The word is also used in Lev 26:30.
Out of the north there cometh up a nation against her…
(Jer 50:3). We remember that Babylon herself was the country out of the north that came against Israel. In the fall of Babylon, this was literally true, because the Medes were northwest of Babylon; and Cyrus captured the city, according to Herodotus, by diverting the Euphrates out of its channel, a diversion that took place up-stream from Babylon, which was northward.
“A mystery in the Hebrew mind attached to the north, the very word ‘north’ in Hebrew meaning ‘hidden.’ The burnt offering was to be sacrificed on the north side of the altar (Lev 1:11); and the four cherubim in the vision of Ezekiel were described as coming from the north (Eze 1:4).” In the prophecies, therefore, the mention of unknown future dangers might have referred also to the mysterious and hidden nature of the revelation.
In those days…
(Jer 50:4). These words show that the capture of Babylon, spoken of in Jer 50:2 as a past event, is still future, and that the words there are the prophetic perfects.
Thitherward…
(Jer 50:5). These words show that the writer of this prophecy was in Jerusalem, not Babylon.
Jer 50:6-10
My people have been lost sheep: their shepherds have caused them to go astray; they have turned them away on the mountains; they have gone from mountain to hill; they have forgotten their resting-place. All that found them have devoured them; and their adversaries said, We are not guilty, because they have sinned against Jehovah, the habitation of righteousness, even Jehovah, the hope of their fathers. Flee out of the midst of Babylon, and go forth out of the land of the Chaldeans, and be as the he-goats before the flocks. For, lo, I will stir up and cause to come up against Babylon a company of great nations from the north country; and they shall set themselves in array against her; from thence she shall be taken: their arrows shall be as of an expert mighty man; none shall return in vain. And Chaldea shall be a prey: all that prey upon her shall be satisfied, saith Jehovah.
Their shepherds have caused them to go astray…
(Jer 50:6). These evil shepherds here blamed for Israel’s apostasy were their kings, judges, priests, and false prophets.
I will cause to come against Babylon. they shall set themselves against her … she (Babylon) shall be taken
(Jer 50:9). There are no less than six verbs, all in the future tense, which here announce that Babylon shall be taken, making it an absolute certainty that Jer 50:2 is in the prophetic past perfect tense.
Be as the heights of the flocks…
(Jer 50:8). Judah here was admonished to be the leader (like the heights) in fleeing from Babylon. They did not heed this. As a matter of fact, they were hardly willing to leave at all, and many never left. The metaphor here is drawn from the fact that, Once the sheepfold was opened, the male goats would rush from the enclosure first.
All that prey upon her shall be satisfied…
(Jer 50:10). The total destruction of Babylon is here promised, including the destruction even of her walls (Jer 50:15, below). It is known that when Cyrus took the city, he did not need to break down the walls; and some careless commentators have faulted the prophecy in this instance; but they are in error.
“Cyrus did not destroy Babylon when he took it; but a little later in the Persian period the city revolted; and Darius Hystaspis captured it and destroyed its walls in 514 B.C. That was the beginning of the final and total ruin that eventually came to Babylon.”
GOD AND BABYLON
Jer 50:1 to Jer 51:64 e
Eichorn was the first to deny the authenticity of chapters 50-51 and he has been followed by most modern critics. Cornill affirms in regard to these chapters that their non-genuineness has been so convincingly demonstrated that now hardly anyone can be found to defend their authenticity.” The critics generally consider the oracle against Babylon to be a great conglomeration which cannot possibly be traced back to Jeremiah. They think these chapters to be the work of an anonymous prophet of the later period of the captivity who by artistic copying and imitation attempted to pass off his writing as the work of Jeremiah. Pfeiffer contends that the forger concocted this poem in order to supply the missing book Jeremiah is said to have sent to the exiles in Babylon (Jer 51:59-64).
The critics contend that the historical situation of the Babylon oracle is not that of Zedekiahs fourth year as claimed in Jer 51:59. The people are in exile (Jer 50:4-5; Jer 51:54), the Temple has been destroyed (Jer 50:23; Jer 51:11), the author looks for a speedy overthrow of Babylon (Jer 50:8-10; Jer 51:24). All of these considerations lead the critics to suggest a date of about 540 B.C., long after the time of Jeremiah, as the date for the composition of this poem.
This critical objection can be met by the simple hypothesis of E. J. Young. Young proposes that Jeremiah wrote a first draft of this oracle in the fourth year of Zedekiah and sent it to Babylon by Seraiah precisely as recorded in Jer 51:19-61. But during his days in Egypt, after the Temple had been destroyed and the nation had gone completely into exile, Jeremiah expanded that original draft to form the oracle as it stands in the Hebrew Bible. Another possibility is that Jeremiah regarded the exile as already in progress and considered the impending destruction of Jerusalem and the Temple as so certain that he could speak of it having already occurred in the fourth year of Zedekiah. The present writer tends to follow this latter alternative.
A second critical contention is that the Babylon oracle is inconsistent with Jeremiahs attitude concerning Babylon. Jeremiah considered Babylon to be the servant of the Lord, appointed by God to rule the world. The Babylon oracle could hardly have come from the pen of a Chaldean sympathizer like Jeremiah. Here the critics have an erroneous view of Jeremiahs attitude toward Babylon. Jeremiah had not predicted the successes of the Chaldeans because of sympathy or admiration for them but because that nation was to be used as Gods instrument of judgment upon the nations of his day. Jeremiah certainly did not regard the world rule of Babylon as interminable. He placed a limit of seventy years on Chaldean supremacy. After other nations had tasted of the wine of Gods wrath then the king of Babylon must drink also. In the light of Jer 25:12; Jer 25:26, it is appropriate that the section of foreign nation oracles should conclude with an oracle against Babylon. It would be puzzling if such an oracle were absent.
The argument is made that an oracle against Babylon would only serve to undercut the strong emphasis in chapters 27-29 that the exile would be of long duration. The delusion of an imminent overthrow of Babylon was rampant among the Jewish captives and Jeremiah had done all that he could to dispel the delusion. If this oracle was sent to Babylon shortly after the deportation of 597 B.C. it would only serve to reinforce that very delusion. But the text specifically declares that the Babylon oracle was not circulated throughout the exilic community but was sunk in a symbolic act in the river Euphrates.
The critics think that the length of the Babylon oracle argues against its genuineness. It is twice as long as the somewhat lengthy oracle against Moab. Furthermore, the Babylon oracle is marked by frequent repetitions: the approach of desolation is mentioned eleven times; the capture and destruction of Babylon nine times; Israels flight and return to Jerusalem seven times. Surely if this oracle as it stands is the product of the pen of Jeremiah it lacks originality. In reply to this criticism it should be pointed out that repetition is characteristic of the Book of Jeremiah. Surely it is not critically sound to declare a passage spurious because it can be found elsewhere in the writings of the same author. As for the length of this oracle, it is not surprising that it should be the longest. Babylon exerted a tremendous influence on tiny Judah and thus would demand from the prophet more than a passing allusion. Furthermore, it was necessary for this oracle to be included in the Book of Jeremiah so that later generations might be able to properly evaluate his attitudes toward the Chaldean conquerors.
The question of the genuineness of the Babylon oracle should not require much debate since the text itself (Jer 50:1 and Jer 51:60) attributes these chapters to Jeremiah. While the Babylon oracle is attributed to Jeremiah in the Hebrew text, the Septuagint translation omits by the hand of Jeremiah in Jer 50:1. Even the most determined negative critics admit that many Jeremian utterances, turns of thought and ideas appear in these chapters. Furthermore, the narrative epilogue (Jer 51:59-64), the genuineness of which is generally conceded, presupposes the existence of an extended anti-Babylon prophecy by Jeremiah. Finally, the appearance of the Medes as the conquerors (Jer 51:11; Jer 51:28) may be taken as proof that the oracle was written a long time before the end of the exile when the participation of the Persians would of necessity have been mentioned. On the basis of these several lines of thought the Jeremianic authorship of the oracle against Babylon appears to be fully vindicated.
The background of the Babylon oracle is related in Jer 51:59-64. Seraiah, Zedekiahs chief chamberlain, was about to accompany his king on a trip to Babylon. Jeremiah, taking advantage of this opportunity, wrote in a book all the evil that should come upon Babylon. Seraiah is commanded to read the prophetic message aloud in the face of the city. Then the book containing the message is to be sunk in the Euphrates river. By the first act Seraiah testifies that the Lord has now declared to the city its fate; by the second, that the city will sink like the stone, never to rise again. It is clearly implied that the message read by Seraiah over the doomed city was the Babylon oracle of Jer 50:1 to Jer 51:58.
The material in the Babylon oracle is put together in an unusual fashion. The oracle consists of a series of poems with prose sections interspersed here and there. The basic theme is the destruction of Babylon and the deliverance of Israel. Following almost every message of doom for Babylon is a message of hope for Israel. Logical progression in the theme is difficult to detect as the prophet chooses to drive home again and again his basic point. Any outline of the oracle is arbitrary and in the very nature of the case the subdivisions will overlap.
THE DEFEAT OF BABYLON Jer 50:1-34
In the first part of the Babylon oracle the major theme of Babylons defeat and the minor theme of Israels return are skillfully blended. A four-fold breakdown is observable: (1) Babylons destruction and Israels deliverance (Jer 50:2-10); (2) Babylons desolation and Israels restoration (Jer 50:11-20); (3) Babylons visitation and Israels vindication (Jer 50:21-28); and (4) Babylons recompense and Israels redemption (Jer 50:29-34).
Babylons Destruction ad Israels Deliverance
Jer 50:1-10
The oracle begins with an announcement to all the nations of the destruction of Babylon. The news spreads like wild fire as signal standards are raised in the market places of lands under Babylonian hegemony. Bel-Merodach (Marduk), the chief god of Babylon, has been shamed by what has happened to his city. The idols and images of mans making are absolutely useless when God begins to intervene in human history (Jer 50:2). In spite of all those gods can do, an army attacking from the north, the Medo-Persian armies led by Cyrus the Great, have defeated Babylon. The picture is so plain in the mind of the prophet that he can describe those events in 539 B.C. as though they had already taken place. The defeat of Babylon by Cyrus was the first in a long series of disasters which that city would suffer and the place would eventually become an uninhabited desolation (Jer 50:3). Jer 50:3 is actually a generic prophecy, a prophetic snapshot of the fall of Babylon considered as a whole, Centuries would elapse between the events predicted in the first half of the verse and the desolation pictured in the second half of the verse.
The overthrow of Babylon is the signal for the deliverance and return of Israel and Judah. The passage is devastating to the Anglo-Israel theory which contends that Israel, the Northern Kingdom, migrated to Europe after the collapse of the Assyrian empire. Here both of the former kingdoms join together in returning in repentance to the Lord their God (Jer 50:4) and to Zion the holy city. Jeremiah hears the remnant of Israel exhorting one another to join themselves to the Lord in an everlasting covenant that shall not be forgotten (Jer 50:5). The prophecy of Israels deliverance began to be fulfilled when Cyrus, the conqueror of Babylon, issued a decree granting the captives the right to return home. From that remnant which returned, God raised Up the promised Messiah who established with spiritual Israel the New Covenant, the everlasting covenant, for Which the remnant yearns in this verse.
How did Gods people come to be captives in far off Babylon? Like lost sheep abandoned by their shepherds (their spiritual and political leaders) Israel had wandered away from the fold. on the mountains of Palestine they worshiped their pagan gods with immoral acts. Their resting place, the habitation of righteousness, the hope of their fathers was completely forgotten (Jer 50:6). The enemies of Israel used this apostasy as an excuse for their heartless and cruel oppression of the people of God (Jer 50:7). But now Jeremiah foresees an end to that dreary period of Israels history. The hour of deliverance will come, for the Lord will stir up a company of great nations from the north country (Jer 50:9) who will defeat and plunder Babylon (Jer 50:10). For this reason Israel is urged to flee from the midst of Babylon, to be as he-goats who lead the flock (Jer 50:8). When Cyrus conquered Babylon he allowed all peoples held captive in Babylon to return to their native lands. Israel is urged to be among the first to take advantage of this gracious act, to lead the way.
The last of the prophecies concerning the nations has to do with Babylon. Throughout the whole of Jeremiah’s prophetic utterances, she has been seen as the instrument of God’s judgment. Finally, on account of her own sin and corruption, that judgment must inevitably fall upon her. That is the great burden of the message. It is perfectly evident throughout that the prophet had in mind the nations of Judah and Israel, and what he said concerning Babylon had its direct bearing on these as the people of God.
The prophecy falls into two parts, the first contained in chapter fifty foretelling Babylon’s doom and Israel’s deliverance; the second, in chapter fifty-one, indicating Israel’s responsibility in view of this doom determined on Babylon. The paragraph (verses Jer 50:1-20) contains the first movement of the first prophecy, in which, in general terms, the prophet announced the coming overthrow of Babylon, and foretold the repentant return of the children of Israel and Judah. He then more definitely described the destruction of the city of Babylon itself. A confederacy of nations would come against her and destroy her, and that because she had rejoiced and been wanton in her dealing with the people of God. That people, though scattered and driven away, would be gathered and restored, while the iniquity of Israel and the sins of Judah would be pardoned.
The prophecy increases in power as it proceeds, as Jeremiah foretold the completeness of the overthrow determined against Babylon. The completeness he described as consisting in the utter humbling of her pride, and the absolute destruction of her power. He recognized that Babylon had been the instrument in the hand of Jehovah as he referred to her as “the hammer of the whole earth.” But the hammer is broken, and Babylon become a desolation. He described the destruction of her strong men as bullocks going to the slaughter. Escaping captives announce in Zion the vengeance of Jehovah. Her overthrow is to be according to all that she herself had done, and the prophet reveals the reason for the divine vengeance. “She hath been proud against Jehovah.” The hammer had practically turned in rebellion against the hand that held it. There fore the pride of Babylon was to be humbled. All the things in which Babylon had put her trust, her multitudes, her princes, her wise men, her mighty men, her horses, her chariots, “the mingled people that are in the midst of her,” her treasures, her waters, are seen as under the destroying sword of Jehovah, doomed to destruction as complete as that of Sodom and Gomorrah. The instrument in the hand of Jehovah is described as people from the north, but the prophet emphatically and with great clearness declared that the judgment is to be accomplished by the invincible Jehovah.
CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE
THE DOOM OF BABYLON AND THE DELIVERANCE OF THE REMNANT
(Chaps. 50, 51)
In the New Testament two solemn chapters are devoted to an account of the worldly glory and the awful overthrow of mystical, or spiritual, Babylon (Revelation 17, 18). In our prophet, two chapters give in detail the splendor and ruin of literal Babylon, the city by the Euphrates, which answers to the Babylon of the Apocalypse as type to antitype.
It has been a question with many as to whether or not the literal city in the plain of Shinar is again to be built, and destined to become the queen city of the world. Those who think so consider the Babylon of Revelation to refer, not to Rome and its unholy politico-religious system, but to the actual Chaldean city, when it has awakened from the slumber of centuries. Such point to the fact that Babylon as well as Rome was built upon seven hills, or mounds; and as the prophecy of Jeremiah so closely connects Israel’s restoration with Babylon’s ruin, they hold that it is essential to prophetic exactness that this city shall once more become the wonder of the world.
On the other hand, the opponents of this view consider the resurrection of literal Babylon to be an idle dream, utterly opposed to the teaching of these chapters now before us. They hold that any plain man, reading Jeremiah’s vivid description of the downfall of Shinar’s capital, could but gather from it that it was cast down forever. Unless one has a theory to uphold, this would be the plain sense of the passage, in their judgment. There seems to them to be no proper reason for supposing the apocalyptic Babylon to be other than Rome, as held by the majority of Christians of all ages. The description so exactly tallies with papal and pagan Rome in the past, as well as with what one may so readily expect the papacy to develop in the future, when the Church has been caught up – and this view seems so thoroughly in accord with the predictions of Daniel and other prophets of both the Old and New Testaments – that one finds it difficult to believe in the necessity for the rebuilding of the literal city in order to carry out the “sure word of prophecy.” (2Pe 1:19)
Without desiring to be offensively dogmatic, the writer finds himself in this class, and is compelled, in what follows, to view the present portion of Jeremiah from this standpoint. Let the reader carefully seek to “prove all things, and hold fast that which is good.” (1Th 5:21) Because of these conflicting views, we shall not glance as cursorily at these chapters as we have done in regard to the others that give the prophecies of the nations; but we shall look at them verse by verse, seeking to point out the general trend of the teaching as we go along.
“The Word that the Lord spake against Babylon and against the land of the Chaldeans by Jeremiah the prophet” (Jer 50:1).
It is noteworthy that the same man who had previously predicted the ascendancy of Babylon now foretells its doom. He who had counseled submission to its authority now exhorts the remnant of Israel to flee from it, that they be not partakers of its sins and its judgment. This is all perfectly consistent. Jeremiah was no politician, no courtier, no man-pleaser. He spake “as pleasing God that trieth the heart.” (1Th 2:4) When the Lord would chasten Judah, He chose Nebuchadrezzar to be His rod, When Babylon lifted up herself against Him, she too must fall, and fall lower far than Judah, never to rise again.
“Declare ye among the nations, and publish, and set up a standard; publish, and conceal not: say, Babylon is taken, Bel is confounded, Merodach is broken in pieces; her idols are confounded, her images are broken in pieces” (Jer 50:2).
GOD speaks of the things that are not as though they were. Vividly He describes the downfall of the special form of idolatry that characterized Babylon, together with the taking of the city by the monotheistic armies of Cyrus. Bel was the sun-god worshiped under the names of Baal, Zeus, Jupiter, Osiris, etc., by various nations. Merodach is but another name for the same demon-deity. He is called Marduk in the Babylonian inscriptions. Often the two names are joined together, as Bel-Marduk. Bel was the name under which he was worshiped among the old Accadians. He is sometimes called Bel of Nippur. Before the power of the Lord’s might he is to be put to shame, and all the images broken to pieces.
“For out of the north there cometh up a nation against her, which shall make her land desolate, and none shall dwell therein: they shall remove, they shall depart, both man and beast” (Jer 50:3).
The northern nation was the Medo-Persian confederacy, whose end we have noted in chapter 49. The Persians generally were believers in one unseen GOD, whom they worshiped under the symbol of fire. They abhorred idolatry with a relentless hatred, and were a nation of iconoclasts. It was fitting that such a people should be used to overthrow the mother of all idolatrous practices – Babylon, with her powerful secret priest-caste. By this means should the way be opened for the return of the captivity of Israel and Judah to the land of their nativity.
“In those days, and in that time, saith the Lord, the children of Israel shall come, they and the children of Judah together, going and weeping: they shall go, and seek the Lord their God. They shall ask the way to Zion with their faces thitherward, saying, Come, and let us join ourselves to the Lord in a perpetual covenant that shall not be forgotten” (Jer 50:4-5).
We know that it was a mere handful that thus responded to the opportunity given by Cyrus. Nevertheless they were prospered on their way, and were settled in their land when Messiah appeared. The perpetual covenant, however, shall not be truly entered into until their future return. The first was but a picture of the final restoration, when they shall be brought into millennial blessing.
Touchingly, the Lord describes the afflicted state of His people under Babylon’s rule:
“My people hath been lost sheep; their shepherds have caused them to go astray, they have turned them away on the mountains: they have gone from mountain to hill, they have forgotten their resting place. All that found them have devoured them: and their adversaries said, We offend not, because they have sinned against the Lord, the habitation of justice, even the Lord, the hope of their fathers” (Jer 50:6-7).
Thus had the nations combined to heap ignominy and reproach upon the failed nation that had enjoyed blessing above every other. But though the Lord permitted all this for their discipline, He had not failed to note the hatred manifested toward them by the haughty Gentile powers. The time was near when He was to awake for the deliverance of His own, and the judgment of their oppressors. To the leaders among the captivity He sends the word, “Flee” (or, remove) “out of the midst of Babylon, and go forth out of the land of the Chaldeans, and be as the he goats before the flocks” (Jer 50:8). His wandering sheep are to be restored to their own fold under the guidance and care of the “Shepherd of Israel.” (Jer 31:10)
“For, lo, I will raise and cause to come up against Babylon an assembly of great nations from the north country: and they shall set themselves in array against her; from thence she shall be taken; their arrows shall be as of a mighty expert man; none shall return in vain. And Chaldea shall be a spoil: all that spoil her shall be satisfied, saith the Lord” (Jer 50:9-10).
The “assembly of great nations from the north” (Jer 50:9) under Cyrus consisted of the Persians and Medes, together with the Elamites and the surrounding nations which had become tributary to the mighty conqueror, whose triumph Daniel had plainly predicted in the very court of the kings of Babylon.
The reason for the desolation of this once glorious city is given in the next two verses, as also a Summary of her destruction. “Because ye were glad, because ye rejoiced, O ye destroyers of My heritage, because ye are grown fat as the heifer at grass and bellow as bulls; your mother shall be sore confounded; she that bare you shall be ashamed: behold, the hindermost of the nations shall be a wilderness, a dry land, and a desert” (Jer 50:11-12).
Only genuine faith in the Word of GOD could have led anyone to credit a prophecy so unlikely of fulfilment to the mind of the natural man. When Jeremiah spoke, or wrote, the words Babylon was the greatest city in the world, with apparently impregnable defenses. Her massive walls, with their hundred gates, seemed calculated to withstand the siege of centuries; especially as the vast space within, suitable for cultivation, apparently provided against all possibility of famine.
But GOD had spoken; and though her inhabitants knew it not, the doom of proud, luxurious, idolatrous Babylon was sealed. Where the city once stood, now all is desert, as foretold by both Jeremiah and Isaiah (see Isaiah 47). It was with great difficulty that archaeologists were even able to find its site, buried deep beneath the rubbish of ages. It shall never be rebuilt; for He who cannot lie hath declared,
“Because of the wrath of the Lord it shall not be inhabited, but it shall be wholly desolate: every one that goeth by Babylon shall be astonished, and hiss at all her plagues” (Jer 50:13).
In the light of this verse, if there were no other corroborative, we cannot conceive of any room for the notion that the city is yet to be rebuilt in order to be thrown down once more. No one, without a theory to maintain, could gather from these words other than that, once destroyed, it should rise no more forever. Jeremiah’s hearers must have so understood it. There was no hint that he referred to another destruction than that begun under Cyrus. It is useless to urge against this that the desolation was not accomplished at once, when Belshazzar was conquered and slain by the armies of Cyrus. The prophet does not predict a sudden blotting out. She is to become first the “hindermost of the nations;” then, eventually, “a wilderness.” (Jer 50:12) This is exactly what took place. GOD’s word was fulfilled to the letter, for “the Scripture cannot be broken.” (Joh 10:35)
As though beholding the invading army surrounding the city, Jeremiah vividly describes the onslaught of the Persian cohorts.
“Put yourselves in array against Babylon round about: all ye that bend the bow, shoot at her, spare no arrows; for she hath sinned against the Lord. Shout against her round about: she hath given her hand: her foundations are fallen, her walls are thrown down: for it is the vengeance of the Lord: take vengeance upon her; as she hath done, do unto her. Cut off the sower from Babylon, and him that handleth the sickle in time of harvest: for fear of the oppressing sword they shall turn every one to his people, and they shall flee everyone to his own land” (Jer 50:14-16).
It is the undeviating law of GOD’s government that “whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap” (Gal 6:7) – and a nation in like manner. According as Babylon had done to others, so was it done to her. The New Testament seer uses language very similar in referring to mystical Babylon. (See Rev 18:6). Retribution may be long delayed, but it is as certain as the fixed stars. God is not mocked.” (Gal 6:7) He still sits on the throne as the moral Governor of the universe. How important, then, for the nations, as well as individuals, to remember and act upon the words of our Lord JESUS: “As ye would that men should do to you, do ye even so to them.” (Luk 6:31)
Again the prophet turns to Israel to declare GOD’s unfailing promises. They have sinned, and sinned most grievously, but His Word cannot be thus made void.
“Israel is a scattered sheep; the lions have driven him away: first the king of Assyria hath devoured him; and last this Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon hath broken his bones. Therefore thus saith the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: Behold, I will punish the king of Babylon and his land, as I have punished the king of Assyria. And I will bring Israel again to his habitation, and he shall feed on Carmel and Bashan, and his soul shall be satisfied upon mount Ephraim and Gilead” (Jer 50:17-19).
As surely as Assyria’s haughty power had been broken, so should Babylon fall; and as surely as this seemingly impossible event should take place, so should Israel be brought back to the home of their fathers.
Nor was it the merely temporary return under Ezra and Zerubbabel that is here referred to, for:
“In those days, and in that time, saith the Lord, the iniquity of Israel shall be sought for, and there shall be none; and the sins of Judah, and they shall not be found: for I will pardon them whom I reserve” (Jer 50:20).
This will only be when “they shall look upon Him whom they have pierced:” (Zec 12:10) and the remnant of Judah, as later the remnant of the ten tribes, shall say, “Come, and let us return unto the Lord: for He hath torn, and He will heal us; He hath smitten, and He will bind us up” (Hos 6:1).
Reverting again to the main theme, Jeremiah goes on to picture, as in vision, the desolation of Babylon.
“Go up against the land of Merathaim, even against it, and against the inhabitants of Pekod: waste and utterly destroy after them, saith the Lord, and do according to all that I have commanded thee” (Jer 50:21).
Merathaim means “double rebellion,” according to the best authorities, and seems here to be symbolically applied to Chaldea. Pekod is said by some to mean “Visitation;” and by reference to Eze 23:23 it would appear to indicate a tributary city to the capital. If so, it is now impossible to find any trace of it. Some have thought it might simply refer to a certain quarter or suburb of the imperial city.
“A sound of battle is in the land, and of great destruction. How is the hammer of the whole earth cut asunder and broken! How is Babylon become a desolation among the nations! I have laid a snare for thee, and thou art also taken, O Babylon, and thou wast not aware: thou art found, and also caught, because thou hast striven against the Lord” (Jer 50:22-24).
It was in this that her great offence consisted. She had lifted herself up against the Most High.
In no other city did idolatry assume so fearful a form and so dreadful an aspect as in the great city Babylon. She was, as before pointed out, the mother of almost every heathen system. From her, too, mystical Babylon borrowed far more than many have any conception. Almost every unscriptural practice in the great Romish apostasy can be traced back to the Babylonish rites and ceremonies.
Because of her dreadful impiety:
“The Lord hath opened His armory, and hath brought forth the weapons of His indignation: for this is the work of the Lord God of hosts in the land of the Chaldeans” (Jer 50:25).
Not the superior strategy of Cyrus, nor yet the hardihood of his northern troops, nor the carelessness of her defenders, overcame Babylon. It was the hand of GOD that subverted that mighty empire when its iniquity had come to the full.
Though the Medo-Persian legions knew Him not, He it was who summoned them, saying:
“Come against her from the utmost border, open her storehouses: cast her up as heaps, and destroy her utterly: let nothing of her be left. Slay all her bullocks;. let them go down to the slaughter: woe unto them! for their day is come, the time of their visitation” (Jer 50:26-27).
The prophetic ear, made quick to hear things yet to come, catches the sound borne down from the years of the future, of “the voice of them that flee and escape out of the land of Babylon, to declare in Zion the vengeance of the Lord our God, the vengeance of His temple” (Jer 50:28).
That temple had been despoiled and burned with fire by the ruthless armies of Chaldea. Its sacred vessels had been carried to Babylon; and, later, we learn from the book of Daniel that the crowning act of Belshazzar’s impiety was reached when he caused these holy vessels to be desecrated at his idolatrous feasts by pouring out in them drink offerings to his false gods, and using them for the awful revels of his last great affront to the GOD of Israel.
“The vengeance of the temple” (Jer 50:28) was certain. No hand could stay it. Even as the feast went on, the wretched monarch’s doom was sealed. Weighed in the balances, he was found wanting; his kingdom, numbered and finished, was given to the Medes and Persians.
“Call together the archers against Babylon: all ye that bend the bow, camp against it round about; let none thereof escape: recompense her according to her work; according to all that she hath done, do unto her: for she hath been proud against the Lord, against the Holy One of Israel” (Jer 50:29).
It was not ignorance on her part. Testimony after testimony had been given to the true and living GOD, but she deliberately refused them all and rushed madly upon “the thick bosses of the Almighty.” “Therefore shall her young men fall in the streets, and all her men of war shall be cut off in that day, saith the Lord” (Jer 50:30).
Falling into the hands of the GOD of judgment, she learns His awful power, when repentance is forever too late.
“Behold, I am against thee, O thou most proud, saith the Lord God of hosts: for thy day is come, the time that I will visit thee. And the most proud shall stumble and fall, and none shall raise him up: and I will kindle a fire in his cities, and it shall devour all round about him” (Jer 50:31-32).
Do not the words, “The most proud shall stumble and fall, and none shall raise him up,” (Jer 50:32) clearly indicate that there can be no future rebuilding of this abhorred city? She had her day of opportunity. Blindly she refused the things that belonged to her peace.
When her time of visitation came, her fall was complete and final.
Precious is the word that follows for the remnant of Israel and for us:
“Thus saith the Lord of hosts: The children of Israel and the children of Judah were oppressed together: and all that took them captive held them fast; they refused to let them go. Their Redeemer is strong; The Lord of hosts is His name: He shall thoroughly plead their cause, that He may give rest to the land, and disquiet the inhabitants of Babylon” (Jer 50:33-34).
Israel and Judah should yet know Him as a Saviour-God, delivering them from all that oppressed them. In His love and in His pity He had redeemed them of old, He would never give them up, but in His own appointed time He should arise to their deliverance. His lovingkindness endureth forever. His grace must have its full display, however unworthy the objects of it may be.
But if we read of mercy and compassion for His own, we find His sword of wrath unsheathed for the punishment of His enemies.
“A sword is upon the Chaldeans, saith the Lord, and upon the inhabitants of Babylon, and upon her princes, and upon her wise men. A sword is upon the liars” (or, boasters); “and they shall dote” (i.e., utter nonsense): “a sword is upon her mighty men; and they shall be dismayed. A sword is upon their horses, and upon their chariots, and upon all the mingled people that are in the midst of her; and they shall become as women: a sword is upon her treasures; and they shall be robbed” (Jer 50:35-37).
It is a graphic delineation of unsparing judgment. No words of ours are needed as to what is in itself so plain.
The next verse clearly tells the reason for so frightful a catastrophe:
“A drought is upon her waters; and they shall be dried up: for it is the land of graven images, and they are mad upon their idols.” (Jer 50:38)
The Lord’s controversy was not with the people of Babylon and Chaldea alone, but with the whole demoniacal system which, from the days of Nimrod, had its center in the plains of Shinar.
“Therefore the wild beasts of the desert with the wild beasts of the islands shall dwell there, and the owls shall dwell therein; and it shall be no more inhabited forever, neither shall it be dwelt in from generation to generation” (Jer 50:38-39).
This is surely conclusive. To look for a resurrection of Babylon only that she may be again destroyed is, in our judgment, an idle dream. She has been blotted off from the face of the earth, and shall be so forever.
“As God overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah and the neighbor cities thereof, saith the Lord, so shall no man abide there, neither shall any son of man dwell therein” (Jer 50:40).
The ruin is complete and irremediable. The silent mounds by the Euphrates are as distinct witness to the holiness of GOD as the salt plains by the Dead Sea.
Jer 50:41-42 are a vivid description of the Persian cavalry, with their allies advancing to the siege of the luxurious city.
“Behold, a people shall come from the north, and a great nation, and many kings shall be raised up from the coasts” (or, uttermost parts) “of the earth. They shall hold the bow and the lance: they are cruel, and will not show mercy: their voice shall roar like the sea, and they shall ride upon horses, every one put in array, like a man to the battle, against thee, O daughter of Babylon.”
One can almost see the advancing armies, with the forest of lances and standards, as they draw near the city that proudly boasted of being impregnable.
“The king of Babylon hath heard the report of them, and his hands waxed feeble: anguish took hold of him, and pangs as of a woman in travail” (Jer 50:43).
All the might of Chaldea’s armies, the ingenuity of her officers, and the walls and bastions around her capital, could avail nothing to turn aside the dire calamity. Babylon had lifted herself up against the Lord. She sought to measure her strength with the Almighty. She must be crushed to the dust never again to lift up her head.
Cyrus, GOD’s chosen, whom Isaiah had called by name long before (Isa 45:1-4), is described as a lion coming up from the swelling of Jordan, driven into the inhabited country from the wilderness because of the rising waters.
“Behold, he shall come up like a lion from the swelling of Jordan unto the habitation of the strong: but I will make them suddenly run away from her: and who is a chosen man, that I may appoint over her? for who is like Me? and who will appoint Me the time? and who is that shepherd that will stand before Me?” (Jer 50:44).
Almost the same words are used in Jer 49:19 to describe the enemy of Edom. No strong habitation could withstand the assault of an army sent by GOD as a punishment for national iniquity.
“Therefore hear ye the counsel of the Lord, that He hath taken against Babylon; and His purposes, that He hath purposed against the land of the Chaldeans. Surely the least of the flock shall draw them out: surely He shall make their habitation desolate with them” (Jer 50:45).
Even the feeblest could overcome the mighty, when fighting the battles of the Lord. He had but to give the word, and all the defenses of Babylon became as the toppling walls of Jericho. The astonishment of the nations is expressed in the closing verse of this chapter.
“At the noise of the taking of Babylon the earth is moved, and the cry is heard among the nations” (Jer 50:46).
Jer 50:5
Those who would make their future different from the past must cultivate two things; first, the spirit of inquiry; secondly, a spirit of determination.
I. Like these Israelites-for the words are written figuratively-we have been going “from mountain to hill,” that is, from one form of idol worship to another, till we have forgotten our resting-place. There is but one resting-place for the creature, and that is the love of God revealed in Jesus Christ, apprehended by the soul, fled to, clung to, trusted. They who would find rest must find it in God. There is always something beautiful in the spirit of inquiry. The very face of the inquirer shines. That kindling of the eye as a man listens-the man who has a thirst for knowledge-the man whose soul is set on finding its way into some new region of science, or into some new joy, is a touching sight to the looker-on; and it is an inspiring influence to the teacher who feels that he has a message. Of all inquiries the way to Zion is. first and foremost. Whatever form inquiry takes, this is its meaning. Even intellectual inquiry is often either the escape from, or a substitute for, this. We all believe in a hereafter-in a heaven; the way to it is our question.
II. But it is not immaterial to find it added, that they who ask the way to Zion must also have their faces thitherward. The spirit of inquiry must be also the spirit of resolution and determination. For there is an inquiry about the way which is all speculation. There may even be a questioning about the way to Zion with the back turned upon it, instead of the face. There once was a rich young man who said to Jesus Christ: “What shall I do to inherit eternal life?” but when the terrible words came, “Go and sell…. come and follow,” then he went away sorrowful. There was inquiry, but there was no determination. He asked the way to Zion, but his face was not thitherward.
C. J. Vaughan, Christian World Pulpit, vol. xiii., p. 17.
References: Jer 50:5.-Preacher’s Lantern, vol. i., p. 258. Jer 50:23.-E. P. Hood, Christian World Pulpit, vol. xix., p. 193.
Jer 50:34
Among the remarkable provisions of the Mosaic law there were some very peculiar ones affecting the next-of-kin. The nearest living blood-relation to a man had certain obligations and offices to discharge under certain contingencies, in respect of which he received a special name, and which is sometimes translated in the Old Testament “Redeemer,” and sometimes “Avenger” of blood. In the text Jehovah is represented as having taken upon Himself the functions of the next-of-kin, and is the Kinsman-Redeemer of His people.
I. Notice, first, the qualifications and offices of the “Goel.” The qualifications may be all summed up in one-that he must be the nearest living blood-relation of the person whose Goel he was. His offices were three. The first was connected with property (Lev 25:25, Revised Version). The second was to buy back a member of his family fallen into slavery. The third was to avenge the blood of a murdered relative.
II. Notice the grand mysterious transference of this office to Jehovah. This singular institution was gradually discerned to be charged with lofty meaning and to be capable of being turned into a dim shadowing of something greater than itself. You will find that God begins to be spoken of in the later portions of Scripture as the Kinsman-Redeemer. I reckon eighteen instances, of which thirteen are in the second half of Isaiah. The reference is, no doubt, mainly to the great deliverance from captivity in Egypt and Babylon, but the thought sweeps a much wider circle and goes much deeper down than these historical facts. There was in it some faint apprehension of the deeper sense in which it was true that God is the next-of-kin to every soul, and ready to be its Redeemer.
III. We have the perfect fulfilment of this Divine office by the man Christ Jesus. Christ is our Kinsman. He is doubly of kin of each soul of man, both because in His true manhood He is bone of our bone and flesh of our flesh, and because in His divinity He is nearer to us than the closest human kindred can ever be. By both He comes so near to us that we may clasp Him by our faith, and rest upon Him, and have Him for our nearest Friend; our Brother. Because He is man’s Kinsman He buys back His enslaved brethren; He brings us back our squandered inheritance, which is God. He will keep our lives under His care, and be ready to plead our cause.
A. Maclaren, Christian Commonwealth, Aug. 20th, 1885.
References: Jer 51:50.-Spurgeon. My Sermon Notes: Ecclesiastes to Malachi, p. 285. Jer 51:51.-Spurgeon, Morning by Morning, p. 231.
CHAPTERS 50-51 Babylon
These two final chapters contain a great prophecy concerning Babylon, her overthrow and doom. The fifty-first chapter closes with the statement thus far are the words of Jeremiah. There is a direct statement that Jeremiah wrote all these words. We find it at the close of Jer 51:59-64. Jeremiah wrote in a book all the evil that should come upon Babylon, even all these words that are written against Babylon. It would be a brazen infidelity which says Jeremiah did not write all these words. Yet the almost universally accepted view of the critics is that these chapters cannot be the work of Jeremiah. The German infidel, Professor Eichhorn, the man who coined the phrase higher criticism, started this denial; Kuenen, Budde and others have followed in his steps. Others have modified this radical view and concede the possibility that Jeremiah may have been the author of these two chapters. No believer in the Word of God can have a moments doubt as to this question.
An analysis of these two chapters would be difficult to make. We therefore point out some of the leading parts of this great utterance. The prophecy covers both the doom of Babylon as it has been and the doom of another, the mystical Babylon, so prominent in the last book of the Bible, in which also two chapters are devoted to Babylon. Some hold that the literal Babylon is meant in Revelation; that the city in Mesopotamia must be rebuilt; that it will finally become the one great world center domineering the religious, commercial and political affairs of all the world, and that when this has taken place Jeremiahs prophecy will be fulfilled. A careful examination of this theory will show that it is untenable. It would mean that all the great world-centers of today must be wiped out first, and London, New York, and others would have to yield their supremacy to the restored Babylon. The chapters in Revelation show
us clearly that a Babylon of a mystical nature is meant, which in spirit, in worldly glory and corruption corresponds to the ancient Babylon. This mystical Babylon is Rome. This has been the interpretation of the chapters of Revelation from the earliest times and is still maintained, with a few exceptions, by all sound and spiritual expositors of the Word of God.
The message begins with the command to publish among the nations the conquest of Babylon, that Bel (lord) is put to shame and that Merodach (the chief god of Babylon, known as Marduk in Babylonian inscriptions) is dismayed. The gods of Babylon are put to confusion on account of the fall of the city. The disaster comes from the north (Medo Persia, the conqueror of Babylon; Dan 7:1-28). Jer 50:4-7 predict the return of the nation thoroughly penitent. That the return of a small remnant after the defeat of Babylon does not exhaust this prophecy is obvious. The return promised here comes in the day when the times of the Gentiles are over, when Babylon and the Babylon spirit will pass away, when all false gods fall and the Lord is exalted in that day. Then the lost sheep of Israel will be found and gathered again.
The invasion under Cyrus is described in Jer 50:9-10. The fall of the Babylon in Revelation is not brought about by an invasion such as is described here, but by the ten horns of the beast, the revived Roman empire Rev 17:16; Dan 7:1-28) .
Jer 50:13 announces the complete overthrow of the city, to become the hindermost of the nations, a wilderness, a dry land and a desert. This ruin was not at once carried out, but gradually ancient Babylon became all that. The ruins of this once powerful city have been located north of Hilla, a town of about 25,000 inhabitants. Koldewey, of the German Orient Society, laid bare by excavation many of the ruins, showing that the city covered twelve square miles; great streets and canals, and the ruins of the Marduk temple have been found. These ruins can never be rebuilt Isa 47:1-15). There is nothing which indicates that this once glorious city is to have a revival and then be destroyed once more and remain a wilderness after its destruction at some future time.
In her fall Babylon only reaped what she had sown. For it is the vengeance of the LORD; take vengeance upon her; as she hath, do unto her (Jer 50:15). The same verdict is pronounced upon the Babylon of the end time, when Rome will once more have supremacy, when the present day Babylon-spirit will concentrate in a great world federation. Reward her even as she rewarded you, and double unto her double according to her works; in the cup which she hath filled fill to her double Revelation 18:66). The nations will then drink of the cup of Gods wrath and judgment as the literal Babylon did. Coupled with these judgment predictions are the future blessings of Israel. When the Lord overthrows the final Babylon, as seen in the book of Revelation, when the great whore is judged and her seat, Rome, in Italy, goes up in smoke, then Israels day of glory and blessing breaks. In those days, and in that time, saith Jehovah, the iniquity of Israel shall be sought for, and there shall be none; and the sins of Judah, and they shall not be found; for I will pardon them whom I leave as a remnant (Jer 50:20; see Jer 31:34; Mic 7:18, and Rom 11:25-28). After still more predictions concerning the fall and doom of Babylon (Jer 50:21-32), we find another prophecy of comfort. When the times of the Gentiles end with the complete dethronement of Babylon in its mystical meaning as pictured in Revelation, the Redeemer of Israel will arise to plead the cause of His people Israel. The fiftieth chapter ends with an additional description of the desolation of Babylon.
The fifty-first chapter is a continued prophecy of the doom and utter desolation of the proud mistress of the nations. Much here connects with Rev 18:1-24. The remnant of Israel is addressed in Jer 51:5 and Jer 51:6. Compare with Rev 18:4. It is the same command to flee Babylon, a principle which is in force today as regards the true church and her separation from ecclesiastical evil. The golden cup mentioned in Jer 51:7 is also mentioned in Revelation in Rev 17:4, in the description of papal Rome and her evil abominations. In the rest of the chapter Gods dealing in judgment is wonderfully told out, prophetic of that coming day when the Lord will deal with the world in judgment. This must be the reason why such an extended prophecy is given. It all goes beyond the judgment of the literal Babylon. We call attention to the last verses of this long chapter. We read there that the prophet, after he wrote down all these words against Babylon, gave the book to Seraiah, chief chamberlain of Zedekiah. This was before the fall of Jerusalem. Seraiah was evidently the brother of Baruch (Jer 32:12). While Jeremiah knew the significant position that Babylonia, and especially King Nebuchadnezzar, had been given by the sovereign Lord, on account of which he urged submission to the Chaldeans; he also knew even then, before Jerusalem fell, of Babylons fall and doom. Seraiah went to Babylon and he was to read the roll there, probably not in public, but in private. After reading, he was to speak certain words (Jer 51:62), then bind a stone to the roll and cast it into the Euphrates. When the roll was sinking he was to say, Thus shall Babylon sink and shall not rise again. In our New Testament book of prophecy we read: And a mighty angel took up a stone like a great millstone, and cast it into the sea, saying, Thus with violence that great city Babylon be thrown down, and shall be found no more Rev 18:21. That great predicted end of all God-defiance and opposition, typified by Babylon and its past glory, will surely come. Jeremiah uttered his last word.
The last chapter of Jeremiah is not from his pen; some other inspired writer was moved by the Holy Spirit to add the history of the capture of Jerusalem and the fate of the people.
The substance of this appendix is found in 2Ki 24:18-20; 2Ki 25:1-30; 2Ki 25:27-30. The reader will find in the second book of Kings our annotations on this history. But why is it added here once more? Evidently to show how literally the judgment predictions and divine warnings given through Jeremiah were fulfilled. For a time the false prophets had their way; their lying messages, their words of delusion and false hope were listened to and believed. The lot of the prophet of God was a lonely lot; he was rejected and he suffered. Yea, often the weeping prophet was discouraged and filled with gloom. But the time came when he was vindicated and Gods Word was vindicated, while the false prophets were found out to be liars and deceivers.
In our own day we have the false prophets still with us, men and women, who deny the truth and teach error. They speak of world improvement, world betterment, and world conquest. What God has spoken concerning wrath and judgment to come is set aside. Those who preach and teach according to the infallible Word of God, who see no better world, no universal righteousness and peace, are branded as pessimists. The day of the LORD and the coming of the Lord are sneered at. But as the Word of God spoken by Jeremiah was vindicated, so the Word of God will be vindicated again, till all the enemies of the written Word, the Bible, and the living Word, Christ, are silenced forever.
am 3409, bc 595
against Babylon: Jer 25:26, Jer 25:27, Jer 27:7, Jer 51:1-14, Psa 137:8, Psa 137:9, Isa 13:1-3, Isa 14:4, Isa 21:1-10, Isa 47:1-15, Hab 2:5-20, Rev 18:1-24
the land: Gen 11:31, Job 1:17, Isa 23:13, Act 7:4
Jeremiah: Heb. the hand of Jeremiah, 2Sa 23:2, 2Pe 1:21
Reciprocal: Gen 11:9 – Babel Psa 87:4 – Babylon Jer 25:12 – that I Dan 5:26 – God Dan 8:4 – pushing Zep 3:15 – he hath
Jer 50:1. Various heathen powers are being threatened in the remaining chapters of this book and a large portion of the predictions wilt be against Babylon or Chaldea. It was the first Of the four world empires so well noted in prophecy and history. God was using this empire to chastise his own people, hut he never tolerated the hostile attitude of any nation toward His people, even though said people deserved the punishment.
Jer 50:1-3. The word that the Lord spake against Babylon This prophecy was delivered and sent to Babylon in the fourth year of Zedekiahs reign, as appears from Jer 51:59. Declare ye among the nations The downfall of Babylon was an event in which many nations were concerned, that empire having been a common oppressor. Set up a standard To call people together, and impart unto them these good tidings. The destruction of Babylon was likewise a sort of signal to the Jews to assemble together, in order to their return to their own land, the time of their captivity being then to expire. Bel is confounded, Merodach is broken to pieces When God punishes an idolatrous nation he is said to confound its idols, because they do not bring assistance to their worshippers, nor deliver them out of his hands. Bel is the same with Baal, a name common to the idols of the eastern countries, and at first probably given to some of the heavenly bodies: see note on Isa 39:1. For out of the north there cometh a nation against her The Medes, who lay north of Babylon.
Jer 50:1. The word that the Lord spake against Babylon. Messiah in person spake to the prophet, as is stated in Jer 48:1. But while he spake against Babylon, his lips dropped with grace and mercy upon Zion, the habitation of his holiness. Of the fall of Babylon, see on Isaiah 13, 14. 21., where the poetry is beautiful and sublime. Fragments however remain to be gleaned here. The city, according to the best accounts which can be collected from Herodotus, Xenophon, Diodorus Siculus, Josephus and others, was a regular square, forty five miles in compass, enclosed by a wall of two hundred feet high and fifty broad, in which there were a hundred gates of brass. Its principal ornaments were the temple of Belus, in the middle of which was a tower of eight stories of building, upon a base of a quarter of a mile squarea most magnificent palaceand the famous hanging gardens, which were an artificial mountain raised upon arches, and planted with trees of the largest as well as the most beautiful sorts. Bp. Lowth. Strabo fixes the height of the walls but at fifty cubits. The Euphrates, about twelve feet deep, and two hundred and fifty paces broad, ran through the city, fertilized all the plain, and contributed to the salubrity and glory of the place. Of the population I have found no estimate: it must have borne a fair proportion to the dimensions of the city. Of their commerce also no calculation can be made. Their shipping sailed from the Persian gulph to all parts; and the Tigris communicated with Babylon by a canal above the city. But all this glory, deeply tarnished by the habits of confirmed crimes, served only to make their fall the more conspicuous, and to render the oppressor an execration in all the earth. See Bp. Newton on the Prophecies.
Jer 50:3. Out of the north. Cyrus made a circuitous route by the north in his slow approaches to Babylon, and seized on the riches of Crsus, king of Lydda. Having gained every nation through which he marched, by his humanity, he turned his route against Babylon. The Chaldeans were infatuated by slumber. They perceived no danger till it entered their country. Their gods Bel, Nebo, and Merodach had given no alarm!
Jer 50:4-7. In those days the children of Israel shall comeand seek the Lord. The fall of Babylon shall be the restoration of Israel. They shall return to Zion and seek the Lord, and join themselves to him in a perpetual covenant; not the old covenant alone, with the offering of bulls and of goats, but the new covenant, which shall be written upon the heart. This, and this alone is the perpetual covenant, or the everlasting righteousness which the Messiah shall bring in. These then are the double promises of earth and heaven to an afflicted people.
Jer 50:8. Remove out of the midst of Babylon. I doubt whether Prideaux be right in referring this to the siege of Babylon by Darius Hystaspes, when they rebelled against the Medes, and when, through the pressure of famine, they slew their redundant wives as Isaiah had foretold: Isa 47:9. It might be a warning to the captive Jews to shun the siege by Cyrus, as the assemblage of the nations against the city plainly indicates: Jer 50:9. Zechariah however gives the same exhortation, in Zec 2:6-7; and it is a fact that several parts of this and other prophecies expressly refer to times when the city was utterly forsaken, which happened in the time of the Parthians: Jer 50:29; Jer 50:40.
Jer 50:12. Your mother shall be sorely confounded. Keen is the satire of the prophet. Your mother that bare you shall soon say, I travail not, nor bring forth children; neither do I nourish young men, nor bring up virgins.
Isa 23:4. No, no: Babylon shall bring up no more children, in all her sorceries and habitudes of wickedness. Behold she is become the hindermost of nations, a wilderness, a desert!
Jer 50:14. Put yourselves in array against Babylon. Every soldier was a hero, for the Lord inspired them to do his pleasure. He said to them in a high and martial spirit
Jer 50:21. Go up against the land of Merathaim. Such is the Hebrew; but the Chaldaic reads, the land of domination. The critics can only guess that it was the district adjacent to Babylon. Montanus reads, the land of rebellion. Others call it the land of disobedience.Go up against the inhabitants of Pekod, the capital of that rebellious land. Then the plowers and the reapers should cease from the devoted city.
Jer 50:24. I have laid a snare for thee, oh Babylon. While the Chaldeans were praising their gods, feasting and drinking wine, Cyrus cut the banks of the river, and let the waters into the flood-channels, which so diminished the river that the cavalry could ford it. The gates at the quays they found open, and for three days they slew all that they found in the streets. So it was foretold in Jer 50:35-38; and so it came to pass, according to the words of Xenophon in his Cyropedi.
Jer 50:26. Open her storehouseslet nothing be left. The immense treasures of Babylon was a strong inducement to the allied armies to storm the city: they did the Lords work for good hire. Her riches, like those of Crsus, were a lure to robbers; for Babylon had taught them to rob.
Jer 50:29. Call together the archers against Babylon, the far-famed Elamites for drawing the bow: Jer 49:35. The Ethiopians equalled them in archery, having bows four cubits long.
Jer 50:30. Her young men, a Hebrew word for soldiers, shall fall in the streets. This was most exactly fulfilled. Xenophon relates that they killed all they found in the streets; that Gadatus and Gobryas marched directly to the palace, made a carnage, and led Cyrus to the king. Herodotus affirms that the slaughter lasted for three days.
Jer 50:36. A sword is upon the liars. Upon the wizards, sorcerers, dreamers, and prognosticators of every description, who had promised Babylon eternal glory, having taught her to say, I AM, and besides me there is none else. The sword on them had two edges.
Jer 50:38. A drought is upon her waters, and they shall be dried up. Both Herodotus and Zenophon relate the singular circumstance of Cyrus draining the river into his trenches, till it was fordable for his army. The river also continued to flow in the new channel, so as gradually to divert its course and destroy the navigation to the city. Thus Babylon utterly became as Gomorrah, and the kindness of Persian kings could not hinder the decree of God.
Jer 50:40. As God overthrew Sodom, so shall no man abide in Babylon. Modern travel is agreed, that the mass of this bloody city is overgrown, and destitute of culture. A dead instructive extension, which lives and speaks to posterity. Though the Persians favoured Babylon, and though it feebly existed to the time of Alexander, yet Seleucia, (now Bagdad, built on its ruins on the eastern shore of the Tigris) rising as a new city at the distance of forty miles, and which Selucus made the capital of his kingdom, gradually drew off the people; so that Babylon was utterly deserted, that posterity might contemplate in its ruins the righteousness of God, and the truth of prophecy.
Jer 50:44. He shall come up like a lion from the swelling of Jordan, full of anger, the inundation having driven him from his lair. See Jer 12:5. Such was the anger of Nebuchadnezzar against every nation that dared to oppose his ambition to put the world under his feet.
REFLECTIONS.
How vain is the most impregnable fortress when God does not defend it. The Babylonians trusted in their walls and projecting towers, and they were building them for their enemies to enjoy. Wicked men may defend themselves to the utmost of their skill, but they cannot shut the avenues of divine justice.
In the fall of Babylon, Israel in particular, and all other nations, might trace a striking connection between the crimes of that empire and her punishment. This remark is the natural result of a review of all the prophecies against her collectively. The oppressor was oppressedthe plunderer was plunderedshe who opened not the prison doors, nor emancipated her captives, went herself into captivity. She who laid cities waste, filled the streets with carnage, and made the world a wilderness, was herself drenched with blood, and ultimately deserted. Thus her pride was humbled, and all her glory covered with shame, that all other nations and ages might receive instruction. Like Nineveh she was a rejoicing city; and now, being blinded, she fell at a feast. Yea, she fell when her sun of splendour shone with the brightest beams. She had filled streets, and cities, and temples with blood; now her streets and places are filled with the slain.
When God commissions an army to destroy a nation he gives them a heart to do his will. The enemies of the Medes joined the Medes, and the allies of Babylon readily followed the same example. The vulture is not more greedy of the prey, nor the hounds more eager of the chase, than all those nations were to give Babylon a fall. How then is it that the proud, the impure and profligate, can hope to escape the judgments of God. Is it because they have despised instruction till they are infatuated, and evil comes upon them when they are not aware.
In the fall of Babylon we see the absolute certainty of the scripture prophecies. Isaiahs prophecies were dispersed among the Jews, for Jeremiah frequently uses Isaiahs words. But Babylon was not totally deserted till after the scriptures were translated into Greek; hence forgery was impossible; and the Jews and proselytes of all nations were compelled to revere the memory of those men as divinely inspired by Him to whom futurity is without a veil. Let us therefore read the holy scriptures with attention and prayer, that we may behold wonderful things therein, and imbibe the spirit in which they were composed.
Jer 50:1 to Jer 51:58. Babylon.This long and monotonous prophecy, which is without order or logical development of ideas, is largely a compilation from the prophetic writings of Jeremiah and others (cf., e.g., Jer 50:41 ff., Jer 51:15). It presupposes the destruction of Jerusalem, apparently as a remote rather than a recent event. Its idea of Babylon is that of a cruel tyrant to be punished by Yahweh, not that of a Divinely commissioned agent of Yahwehs wrath against Israel, as Jeremiah teaches. We are not at liberty to make it contemporaneous with such exilic writings as Isaiah 13, 40-55, because of its obvious dependence on these amongst other prophecies (see the notes); but the survival of Babylon (under the Persian empire) in the post-exilic period would provide later occasion for such a compilation. Moreover, the narrative of Jer 51:59-64, which tells of a (private) scroll of prophecy sent by Jeremiah to Babylon, foretelling its end, would easily give rise to such a compilation by some later writer. In the present (editorial) arrangement of the text, this narrative is made to date the prophecy of Jer 50:1 to Jer 51:58 in 593 B.C., which is impossible (cf. Jeremiah 27-29 for the actual conditions about that date).
Jer 50:2-4. Declaration of the overthrow of Babylon by a nation from the north, i.e. Media, which lay north of Babylon (Jer 51:28, Isa 13:17).
Jer 50:2. set up a standard: to attract attention, but derived from Isa 13:2, where the phrase is used in a different sense.Bel: i.e. Baal, or Lord of Nippur, the earth-god; cf. Isa 46:1; his place and title were usurped by Bel-Marduk or Merodach.
Jer 50:4-7. United Israel will return to Palestine in penitence; the Israelites have gone astray and become defenceless through their sin.
Jer 50:5. Read as Syr., let us join ourselves.
Jer 50:7. Render We are not guilty, contrasting Jer 2:3.the habitation of justice: here a title of Yahweh, derived from Jer 31:23, where it is used more naturally of Jerusalem. Omit with LXX, even the Lord.
Jer 50:8-13. Let Israel be the first to go (the he-goats are the natural leaders of the flock). Yahweh brings a resistless foe from the north; Babylon, instead of enjoying her present luxury, shall be desolated.
Jer 50:9. As mg.2; the warrior comes back laden with spoil.
Jer 50:10. The spoilers are satisfied, i.e. they get all they want.
Jer 50:11. because: better though, in all cases.your mother: Babylon.
Jer 50:12. Omit she shall be, and read the following phrases as exclamatory.
Jer 50:13. Cf. Jer 19:8.
Jer 50:14-16. The foe is urged to the attack; Babylon surrenders; agriculture is brought to an end; the foreign residents (Isa 13:14) flee.
Jer 50:17-20. The second of Israels two assailants (i.e. Assyria in 722, Babylon in 586) will now pay the penalty; Israel will be restored to Palestine (cf. Mic 7:14), and pardoned (Jer 31:34).
Jer 50:19. soul: appetite.
Jer 50:21-28. The foe is summoned to attack Babylon, and the destroyer of others (Jer 50:23; cf. Jer 51:20 ff.) is now to be devoted (Deu 13:15 f.). News of this Divine vengeance for the destruction of the Jewish Temple is brought to Jerusalem (Jer 50:28).
Jer 50:21. Note the play on names as in mg.; mt marrtim, the sea-country, is a name of S. Babylonia; the Pukudu are a Babylonian people (Eze 23:23).
Jer 50:27. bullocks: figure for warriors (Isa 34:7).
Jer 50:29-32. The foe is again summoned to recompense Babylons pride (with Jer 50:30; cf. Jer 49:26, with Jer 50:31 f; cf. Jer 21:13 f.).
Jer 50:33-40. Yahweh takes up the cause of His oppressed people (Babylon continuing the Assyrian tyranny over the northern exiles, Jer 50:33). The sword destroys Babylon, leaving it desolate.
Jer 50:36. boasters: the diviners and oracle-mongers (Isa 44:25).
Jer 50:37. mingled people: foreign residents (Jer 25:20).
Jer 50:38. drought: should be sword (figuratively used) as in LXX of Lucian, Syr.they are mad upon idols: point with VSS, they boast of idols; cf. Psa 97:7.
Jer 50:40. Cf. Jer 49:18.
Jer 50:41-43 has been transferred bodily from Jerusalem (as in mg.) to Babylon; similarly, Jer 50:44-46, from Edom (mg.) to Babylon.
1. An overview of Babylon’s future 50:1-10
This oracle begins with an overview of what Yahweh would do to Babylon and Israel in the future. Much of the prophecy in this section has not yet been fulfilled.
This is a title verse for the oracle against Babylon, the land of the Chaldeans. In Scripture, "Babylon" often refers to the nation rather than the city, as this verse makes clear. Some expositors have applied almost all the prophecies to the city rather than to the whole nation. Probably both entities are in view, the city sometimes and the country sometimes.
The Chaldeans were the descendants of a semi-nomadic tribe that had settled south of Ur in Mesopotamia in the third millennium B.C. Nebuchadnezzar’s father, Nabopolassar, the founder of the Neo-Babylonian Empire (626-539 B.C.), was a native Chaldean. Nebuchadnezzar was the most illustrious and longest reigning of these Chaldean kings.
CHAPTER XXV
BABYLON
Jer 50:1-46, Jer 51:1-64
“Babylon is taken, Bel is confounded, Merodach is broken in pieces.”- Jer 50:2
THESE chapters present phenomena analogous to those of Isa 40:1-31; Isa 41:1-29; Isa 42:1-25; Isa 43:1-28; Isa 44:1-28; Isa 45:1-25; Isa 46:1-13; Isa 47:1-15; Isa 48:1-22; Isa 49:1-26; Isa 50:1-11; Isa 51:1-23; Isa 52:1-15; Isa 53:1-12; Isa 54:1-17; Isa 55:1-13; Isa 56:1-12; Isa 57:1-21; Isa 58:1-14; Isa 59:1-21; Isa 60:1-22; Isa 61:1-11; Isa 62:1-12; Isa 63:1-19; Isa 64:1-12; Isa 65:1-25; Isa 66:1-24, and have been very commonly ascribed to an author writing at Babylon towards the close of the Exile, or even at some later date. The conclusion has been arrived at in both cases by the application of the same critical principles to similar data. In the present case the argument is complicated by the concluding paragraph of chapter 51, which states that “Jeremiah wrote in a book all the evil that should come upon Babylon, even all these words that are written against Babylon,” in the fourth year of Zedekiah, and gave the book to Seraiah ben Neriah to take to Babylon and tie a stone to it and throw it into the Euphrates.
Such a statement, however, cuts both ways. On the one hand, we seem to have what is wanting in the case of Isa 40:1-31; Isa 41:1-29; Isa 42:1-25; Isa 43:1-28; Isa 44:1-28; Isa 45:1-25; Isa 46:1-13; Isa 47:1-15; Isa 48:1-22; Isa 49:1-26; Isa 50:1-11; Isa 51:1-23; Isa 52:1-15; Isa 53:1-12; Isa 54:1-17; Isa 55:1-13; Isa 56:1-12; Isa 57:1-21; Isa 58:1-14; Isa 59:1-21; Isa 60:1-22; Isa 61:1-11; Isa 62:1-12; Isa 63:1-19; Isa 64:1-12; Isa 65:1-25; Isa 66:1-24 -a definite and circumstantial testimony as to authorship. But, on the other hand, this very testimony raises new difficulties. If 50 and 51 had been simply assigned to Jeremiah, without any specification of date, we might possibly have accepted the tradition according to which he spent his last years at Babylon, and have supposed that altered circumstances and novel experiences account for the differences between these chapters and the rest of the book. But Zedekiahs fourth year is a point in the prophets ministry at which it is extremely difficult to account for his having composed such a prophecy. If, however, Jer 51:59-64 is mistaken in its exact and circumstantial account of the origin of the preceding section, we must hesitate to recognise its authority as to that sections authorship.
A detailed discussion of the question would be out of place here, but we may notice a few passages which illustrate the arguments for an exilic date. We learn from Jer 27:1-22; Jer 28:1-17; Jer 29:1-32, that, in the fourth year of Zedekiah, the prophet was denouncing as false teachers those who predicted that the Jewish captives in Babylon would speedily return to their native land. He himself asserted that judgment would not be inflicted upon Babylon for seventy years, and exhorted the exiles to build houses and marry, and plant gardens, and to pray for the peace of Babylon. {Jer 29:4-14} We can hardly imagine that, in the same breath almost, he called upon these exiles to flee from the city of their captivity, and summoned the neighbouring nations to execute Jehovahs judgment against the oppressors of His people. And yet we read:-
“There shall come the Israelites, they and the Jews together:
They shall weep continually, as they go to seek Jehovah their God;
They shall ask their way to Zion, with their faces hitherward.” {Jer 50:4-5}
“Remove from the midst of Babylon, and be ye as he-goats before the flock.” {Jer 50:8}
These verses imply that the Jews were already in Babylon, and throughout the author assumes the circumstances of the Exile. “The vengeance of the Temple,” i.e., vengeance for the destruction of the Temple at the final capture of Jerusalem, is twice threatened. {Jer 50:28; Jer 51:11} The ruin of Babylon is described as imminent:-
“Set up a standard on the earth,
Blow the trumpet among the nations,
Prepare the nations against her.”
If these words were written by Jeremiah in the fourth year of Zedekiah, he certainly was not practising his own precept to pray for the peace of Babylon.
Various theories have been advanced to meet the difficulties which are raised by the ascription of this prophecy to Jeremiah. It may have been expanded from an authentic original. Or again, Jer 51:59-64 may not really refer to Jer 50:1 – Jer 51:58; the two sections may once have existed separately, and may owe their connection to an editor, who met with Jer 50:1-46; Jer 51:1-58 as an anonymous document, and thought he recognised in it the “book” referred to in Jer 51:59-64. Or Jer 50:1-46; Jer 51:1-58 may be a hypothetical reconstruction of a lost prophecy of Jer 51:59-64 mentioned such a prophecy and none was extant, and some student and disciple of Jeremiahs school utilised the material and ideas of extant writings to supply the gap. In any case. it must have been edited more than once, and each time with modifications. Some support might be obtained for any one of these theories from the fact that Jer 50:1-46; Jer 51:1-58 is prima facie partly a cento of passages from the rest of the book and from the Book of Isaiah. {Jer 50:8; Jer 51:6, with Isa 48:20; Jer 50:13 with Jer 49:17; Jer 50:41-43 with Jer 6:22-24; Jer 50:44-46 with Jer 49:19-21; Jer 51:15-19 with Isa 10:12-16}
In view of the great uncertainty as to the origin and history of this prophecy, we do not intend to attempt any detailed exposition. Elsewhere whatever non-Jeremianic matter occurs in the book is mostly by way of expansion and interpretation, and thus lies in the direct line of the prophets teaching. But the section on Babylon attaches itself to the new departure in religious thought that is more fully expressed in Isa 40:1-31; Isa 41:1-29; Isa 42:1-25; Isa 43:1-28; Isa 44:1-28; Isa 45:1-25; Isa 46:1-13; Isa 47:1-15; Isa 48:1-22; Isa 49:1-26; Isa 50:1-11; Isa 51:1-23; Isa 52:1-15; Isa 53:1-12; Isa 54:1-17; Isa 55:1-13; Isa 56:1-12; Isa 57:1-21; Isa 58:1-14; Isa 59:1-21; Isa 60:1-22; Isa 61:1-11; Isa 62:1-12; Isa 63:1-19; Isa 64:1-12; Isa 65:1-25; Isa 66:1-24. Chapters 50, 51, may possibly be Jeremiahs swan song, called forth by one of those Pisgah visions of a new dispensation sometimes granted to aged seers; but such visions of a new era and a new order can scarcely be combined with earlier teaching. We will therefore only briefly indicate the character and contents of this section.
It is apparently a mosaic, compiled from lost as well as extant sources; and dwells upon a few themes with a persistent iteration of ideas and phrases hardly to be paralleled elsewhere, even in the Book of Jeremiah. It has been reckoned that the imminence of the attack on Babylon is introduced afresh eleven times, and its conquest and destruction nine times. The advent of an enemy from the north is announced four times. {Jer 50:3; Jer 50:9; Jer 51:41; Jer 51:48}
The main theme is naturally that dwelt upon most frequently, the imminent invasion of Chaldea by victorious enemies who shall capture and destroy Babylon. Hereafter the great city and its territory will be a waste, howling wilderness:-
“Your mother shall be sore ashamed,
She that bare you shall be confounded;
Behold, she shall be the hindmost of the nations,
A wilderness, a parched land, and a desert.
Because of the wrath of Jehovah, it shall be uninhabited;
The whole land shall be a desolation.
Every one that goeth by Babylon
Shall hiss with astonishment because of all her plagues.” {Jer 50:12; Jer 13:13; Jer 50:39-40; Jer 51:26; Jer 51:29; Jer 51:37; Jer 51:41-43}
The gods of Babylon, Bel and Merodach, and all her idols, are involved in her ruin, and reference is made to the vanity and folly of idolatry. {Jer 51:17-18} But the wrath of Jehovah has been chiefly excited, not by false religion, but by the wrongs inflicted by the Chaldeans on His Chosen People. He is moved to avenge His Temple:- {Jer 50:28}
“I will recompense unto Babylon
And all the inhabitants of Chaldea
All the evil which they wrought in Zion,
And ye shall see it-it is the utterance of Jehovah”. {Jer 51:24}
Though He thus avenge Judah, yet its former sins are not yet blotted out of the book of His remembrance:-
“Their adversaries said, We incur no guilt.
Because they have sinned against Jehovah, the Pasture of Justice,
Against the Hope of their fathers, even Jehovah”. {Jer 50:7}
Yet now there is forgiveness:-
“The iniquity of Israel shall be sought for, and there shall be none;
And the sins of Judah, and they shall not be found
For I will pardon the remnant that I preserve”. {Jer 50:20}
The Jews are urged to flee from Babylon, lest they should be involved in its punishment, and are encouraged to return to Jerusalem and enter afresh into an everlasting covenant with Jehovah. As in Jer 31:1-40, Israel is to be restored as well as Judah:-
“I will bring Israel again to his Pasture;
He shall feed on Carmel and Bashan;
His desires shall be satisfied on the hills of Ephraim and in Gilead.” {Jer 50:19}
Fuente: Expositor’s Dictionary of Text by Robertson
Fuente: The People’s Bible by Joseph Parker
Fuente: B.H. Carroll’s An Interpretation of the English Bible
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
Fuente: William Kelly Major Works (New Testament)
Fuente: You Can Understand the Bible: Study Guide Commentary Series by Bob Utley
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
Fuente: Through the Bible Commentary
Fuente: Old and New Testaments Restoration Commentary
Fuente: An Exposition on the Whole Bible
Fuente: Commentaries on the New Testament and Prophets
Fuente: The Sermon Bible
Fuente: Gaebelein’s Annotated Bible (Commentary)
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
Fuente: Combined Bible Commentary
Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
Fuente: Sutcliffe’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
Fuente: Peake’s Commentary on the Bible
Fuente: Expository Notes of Dr. Constable (Old and New Testaments)
Fuente: Expository Notes of Dr. Constable (Old and New Testaments)
Fuente: Expositors Bible Commentary