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Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Jeremiah 50:6

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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.

6. they have turned them away on the mountains ] The consonants of the MT. should be rendered on the seducing or apostate mountains, but the variant (as in E.VV.) is probably right. It may refer to idolatrous worship, the mountains furnishing its favourite seats. But it is perhaps better to make the expression a metaphorical one, and consider mountains to be contrasted with fertile pastures representing safe and pious lives in Jehovah’s favour. Their guides have led them to bleak, barren, dangerous regions, where they have lost themselves.

Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

Their shepherds … mountains – Some translate it: Their shepherds, i. e., civil rulers (Jer 2:8 note) have led them astray upon the seducing moutains. – the mountains being the usual places where idolatry was practiced.

Their restingplace – Their fold Psa 23:2.

Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible

Jer 50:6

My people have forgotten their resting-place.

Cannot you rest?

God has made Himself the resting-place for the human soul; and unless we fix our heart upon Him we may rest, but it is only for a time. The rest which God provides for us is a rest which satisfies us, and it is a rest which we can always have, a rest which remaineth, and which cannot be taken away from the people of God.

1. Many people are weary and very far from restful on account of business cares. You see continually in the newspapers that not only are there many bankruptcies and liquidations, and such like unpleasant occurrences, but the market reports tell us that trade is very unprofitable. Whatever happens, make the best of it. Dont wear away your soul in mourning and repining as if your soul were chained to a perpetually revolving grindstone. Look to the bright side of things. Do the best you can, and do not fear the worst is sure to happen. Remember that God still lives and cares for you. Trust in the Lord and do good; so shalt thou dwell in the land, and verily thou shalt be fed. It is a severe trial of faith in God when death removes the bread-winner from a family. Ah: at such a time of bereavement there is no consolation excepting from trust in Gods providential care. He is the Father of the fatherless and the Friend of the widow. Likewise, many a Christian man is ready to say in the desolateness of his sorrow, I have to tread my path alone! He does not say that God is dead, but be acts as if he thought so. To doubt the superintending care and consolation of God is practical atheism. When we are in trouble, that is the very time we ought to cast all our care upon Him, for He careth for us.

2. Then, some may be much troubled because of something going wrong in your family. You may have an undutiful and wicked son or daughter. A man said to me some time ago, My heart is almost broken! I asked, What is the matter? He answered, My son–has become an infidel! I would rather have given my life! Is there no resting-place in such a time of trouble? Yes; there is. Take up your Bible again, and read what God did for Davids sake, how the children of David and their descendants were blest and kept from great evil for My Servant Davids sake. The prayer of faith shall save the soul.

3. Some of the sharpest troubles experienced in this troublesome world come from misplaced or unrequited affection–what Shakespeare calls in his forcible way the pangs of despised love. Our only course in this, as in every other heartbreaking matter, is to take it to the Lord in prayer, trusting in Him, and leaving in His care all the responsibility of ones life.

4. It may be that your trouble is a sinful disposition. You feel that you cannot help yourself. But God can give you relief and rest if you trust in Him. As Jesus restored to health the man who was sick of the palsy, so God can restore your soul by heavenly grace. Lastly, I wished to give you an assurance of rest in Gods paradise. (W. Birch.)

The souls resting-place

I. The human soul needs a resting-place.

1. This is true of the soul 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. His nature is utterly weary. The cares and anxieties of life are wearing away his strength, and there is nothing binding him to earth but the fear of death The past is guilty, the future is hopeless, and so the present is restless.

II. Jesus Christ is the resting-place the soul needs.

1. In Christ we have full redemption. No anodynes of earth can give the soul the rest that the blood of Christ can.

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.

3. He gives repose to the intellect. Christ is the truth, and through confidence all mysteries are accepted as unquestioningly as a child accepts the statement of its parent. 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.

III. This resting-place of the soul is sometimes forgotten even by those who have known and enjoyed it. 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. He ought to know better, &c.

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. (W. M. Taylor, D. D.)

Fuente: Biblical Illustrator Edited by Joseph S. Exell

Verse 6. My people hath been lost sheep] He pities them; for their pastors, kings, and prophets have caused them to err.

They have gone from mountain to hill] In all high places they have practised idolatry.

Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible

My people hath been lost sheep: all men are compared to sheep that go astray, Isa 53:6; here it is applied to the Jews, who are called the Lords people, by reason of the ancient covenant God made with their fathers; they are said to be lost, either with respect to their captivity, being cast out of the land which God gave them for pastures, or in respect of their idolatry.

Their shepherds have caused them to go astray; their civil and ecclesiastical governors have been a cause of it. The former by their wicked commands forcing them to idolatry and superstition, or at least by their wicked example setting them an example, and by their ill government conniving at them in their idolatrous practices, for which they are gone into captivity. Their priests, and ecclesiastical governors, teaching them such practices, and encouraging them by their own examples, and promising them impunity and security in them.

They have turned them away on the mountains; either they have been a cause of their offering sacrifices to idols upon the mountains, or of their being carried into captivity over the mountains. They have gone from mountain to hill; either wandering up and down in a strange land, or in their way thither, or running from one species of idolatry to another. They have forgotten their resting place; they have forgotten the land of Canaan, which I gave them for a resting-place after their toilsome travel in the wilderness; or (as some would have it) they have forgotten me who am their rest.

Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole

6. (Isa53:6).

on the mountainswhereonthey sacrificed to idols (Jer 2:20;Jer 3:6; Jer 3:23).

resting-placefor the”sheep,” continuing the image; Jehovah is theresting-place of His sheep (Mt11:28). They rest in His “bosom” (Isa40:11). Also His temple at Zion, their “rest,”because it is His (Psa 132:8;Psa 132:14).

Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible

My people hath been lost sheep,…. like lost sheep, without a shepherd, going astray the fold, wandering from place to place, having none to take care of them, guide and direct them, or to go in and out before them, and lead them into suitable pastures; so it was with the Jews in the Babylonish captivity, and so it is with them now, and yet the Lord’s people still in some sense; he has a design of grace concerning them, a store of mercy for them, and thoughts of peace towards them, which will take place in due time; and such is the case of all God’s elect in a state of nature, they are sheep, but lost sheep, and yet his people;

their shepherds have caused them to go astray; from God and his worship, from the true religion; so their civil and ecclesiastical governors, their kings, princes, priests, and prophets, were the causes of leading them into errors, by their laws, doctrines, and examples; so Jarchi and Kimchi interpret it of their kings; but the Targum seems to understand it of other kings, that carried them captive,

“kings carried them away, rulers spoiled them;”

so their priests and Rabbins now cause them to err from the true Messiah, his Gospel and ordinances, as their false Christs and false prophets have done in all ages since the times of Christ;

they have turned them away [on] the mountains; or, “to” them e; where idols were worshipped, as Jarchi; this was their case before and at the Babylonish captivity, though never since: or, “from the mountains” f; from the mountains of Israel, and the good pastures there; from the Gospel of Christ, and the ordinances of it;

they have gone from mountain to hill; from one religion to another, from duty to duty, seeking rest and happiness there, in the law of Moses, and traditions of the elders; or from kingdom to kingdom, wandering about from place to place, as they do to this day;

they have forgotten their resting place; either the land of Canaan, which was their rest, De 12:9; or rather God himself, the resting place of his people, Ps 116:7; or the Lord Jesus Christ, in whose person, blood, righteousness, sacrifice, and fulness, is the true rest of his people; and which is forgotten when men rest in themselves and their duties, and seek elsewhere than in Christ for peace and comfort.

e “ad montes”, Vatablus. So R. Jonah in Ben Melech. f “A montibus”, Piscator.

Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible

THE, Prophet in the sixth verse compares God’s people to lost sheep: he therefore says, that the Jews wandered on the mountains and went from mountain to hill He throws the blame on the shepherds, by whom the miserable people had been led astray. Notwithstanding, God does not extenuate the fault of the people; nor did he accuse the pastors as though their wickedness and perfidy absolved the people; but on the contrary, he commends the greatness of his own grace, that he had mercy on a flock that was lost and without hope. We now then understand the design of the Prophet when he thus spoke in the person of God, My people have become lost sheep, and the shepherds have seduced them, on the mountains have they made them to go astray, from mountain to hill have they gone; and he says, that they had forgotten their lying down; (52) for when there is no fixed station, the sheep have no place to rest. Flocks, we know, return in the evening to their folds. But the Prophet says that the Jews, when scattered, forgot their lying down, because they had no settled habitation. It afterwards follows, —

(52) I render the verse thus, —

6. Lost sheep have become my people; Their shepherds have caused them to err, Having turned them here and there on the mountains; From mountain to hill have they gone; They have forgotten their resting-place.

The meaning of שובבים is given by the Sept. and Vulg., “causing them to wander;” the verb שב is to turn; being here a reduplicate, it means to turn much, or again and again, or here and there; and this is confirmed by what follows — they went, through the teaching of their pastors, from “mountain to hill,” that is, from one form of idolatry to another; and “forgotten their resting-place,” which was God. — Ed

Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary

(6) My people hath been lost sheep . . .We note as interesting the dominance of this imagery here as in Isa. 53:6; Eze. 34:5. The shepherds are, as ever, the kings and civil rulers of the people. In the mountains and hills we see partly the natural surroundings of the imagery, partly a special reference to the idolatrous worship of the high places (Jer. 3:2; Jer. 3:6). The Hebrew text as it stands gives, they have led them on seducing mountains, i.e., the high places which had so strange a fascination for them. The Authorised version follows the marginal reading of the Hebrew. The forgotten resting place, or, perhaps, the fold, is, as in Jer. 50:7, the habitation of justice, the true pasturage, the righteousness which is found in fellowship with Jehovah Himself.

Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)

6. Lost sheep So they have the most urgent reasons for seeking again the fold.

They have forgotten their resting place Alas, how universally true! And here is the great secret of unrest, this perpetual going from mountain to hill. The only proper resting-place of the flock of God is in his fold.

“‘Tis there, with the lambs of thy flock,

There only, I covet to rest,

To lie at the foot of the rock,

Or rise to be hid in thy breast:

‘Tis there I would always abide,

And never a moment depart,

Concealed in the cleft of thy side,

Eternally held in thy heart.” C. Wesley.

Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments

God’s Call To His Errant People To Flee From Babylon Because The Wrath Of YHWH Is Coming On It ( Jer 50:6-10 ).

Israel’s plight is described as resulting from her backslidden condition, a plight seen by onlookers as totally deserved because of her disobedience to God. Now, however, she is called on to flee from Babylon because Babylon faces judgment. God’s people should not become caught up in Babylon’s ways. Rather they should flee from them.

This call to flee from Babylon because of the disaster that is to come upon it echoes Isa 48:20 which referred not specifically to the return from exile (which was an ordered march not a flight) but to the need to come out from Babylon with all its evil and perverted ways, and to do it in haste because of the judgment that was coming on it. It did, of course, include the fact that when the opportunity arose to leave Babylonia they should take advantage of it. Babylon was exalted in men’s eyes, the seat of all that was against God (Isa 13:19; Isa 47:8-15), and men flocked there because of the pleasures and wealth that it offered. But God’s people are called on to flee such things, recognising that they can only finally lead to judgment.

Jer 50:6-7

“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 who found them have devoured them,

And their adversaries said, ‘We are not guilty,

Because they have sinned against YHWH,

YHWH, the habitation of righteousness,

Even YHWH, the hope of their fathers.’ ”

The backslidden state of Israel/Judah is described. They are ‘lost sheep’ (compare Isa 53:6; Eze 34:5), something later emphasised by Jesus (Mat 9:36; Mat 10:6; Mat 15:24; Mat 18:12-14; Luk 15:3-7; Luk 19:10). They have been led astray by their shepherds (their kings, priests, prophets and wise men) who have caused them to go astray. Thus they find themselves facing the danger of the diversified ‘mountains’ in which they find themselves, going from one mountain to another, lost and alone. They have ‘forgotten their resting-place’, their place of peace and security. This could be a covert reference to the Temple (2Ch 6:41), or to God’s land in which they had had security when they were obedient to the covenant (Isa 65:10; Exo 33:14; Deu 12:9-10; Deu 25:19; Jos 1:13). But it was probably not true that they had forgotten either, as Jeremiah well knew. In the end it was their covenant God Whom they had forgotten, their God Who should have been their resting place as Jer 50:7 makes clear.

And those who have ‘devoured’ them have been able to do so with a good conscience, because they were able to declare that what had come on Israel/Judah was due to its own failure in sinning against YHWH, their covenant God, against YHWH Who was the dwellingplace of righteousness and was the One to Whom their fathers had looked. They had forsaken Him and His way of righteousness in spite of all the promises which He had made to them, promises in which they gloried while worshipping other gods. They had ceased to be true to YHWH. They had still clung to the outward form of their religion, but they had ceased to observe its very essence, genuine spiritual response and obedience to their covenant God. As Jesus would later put it, ‘why do you call Me Lord, Lord, and do not do the things which I say?’ (Luk 6:46).

‘YHWH, the habitation of righteousness.’ This in contrast with Babylon which was the habitation of all evil and idolatry.

‘YHWH, the hope of their fathers.’ It was YHWH in Whom all the promises rested, and therefore in Whom their hopes should have lain. It was YHWH to Whom, in their best moments, their fathers had looked with such expectancy. Above all it was to YHWH that their founding fathers, Abraham, Isaac and Jacob had looked, as they had laid the foundation for what was to come. All their hopes had lain in Him.

Jer 50:8

“Flee out of the midst of Babylon,

And go forth out of the land of the Chaldeans,

And be as the he-goats,

In front of the flocks.”

Thus they are to be the first to flee from Babylon, and from Babylonia, with the same eagerness as he-goats or rams lead out the flock, giving an example to others. It is the thought of escaping from the clutches of Babylon that is pre-eminent here, not the idea of return to the homeland, although that may be seen as included. It was because Babylon was facing coming judgment. Thus they are to lead themselves and others to safety. The wording is remarkably similar to Isa 48:20; Isa 52:11 from which no doubt Jeremiah at least partly obtained these ideas.

We in this modern day are just as much in danger of God’s judgment on the Babylon that surrounds us, we too therefore need to flee from its corrupting influence and so escape that judgment. We might reinterpret John as saying, ‘Love not Babylon, nor the things that are in Babylon, for if any man loves Babylon, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in Babylon, the desires of the flesh, and the desire of the eyes, and the vainglory of life is not of the Father but is of Babylon. And Babylon passes away and its desires, but he who does the will of God abides for ever’ (see 1Jn 2:15-16). In these chapters we have a picture of God’s judgment on that Babylon.

Jer 50:9-10

“For, lo, I will stir up and cause to come up against Babylon,

A company of great nations from the north country,

And they will set themselves in array against her,

From there she will be taken,

Their arrows will be as of an expert mighty man,

None will return in vain.

And Chaldea will be a prey,

All who prey on her will be satisfied,

The word of YHWH.”

The instruments of God’s judgment are now described. They consist of a company of great nations from the area around Babylonia (the north country as far as Palestine was concerned), stirred up by YHWH, who will set themselves in array against her and take her. They will include expert bowmen (Media, Elam and Persia were renowned for their bowmen), and all will obtain satisfactory spoils. Chaldea will be like a prey being hunted down by the hunter, and the hunters will come away satisfied, loaded with spoils. And all this according to the prophetic word of YHWH, and as a result of YHWH’s prompting in order to bring judgment on Babylon.

‘None will return in vain.’ This may refer to the men themselves, or it may refer to their arrows. In the former case it refers to the fact that they will return loaded with spoils. In the latter case the point is that each will have reached its target however skilful the bowman. God will have guided his hand. Arrows were valuable and would often be collected up after a battle. Thus when they were collected they would be reveal by where they were found that they had achieved their purpose.

Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett

Jer 50:6. Their shepherdshave turned them away They have turned them aside from the true worship of God performed at Jerusalem, to sacrifice to idols upon the mountains and high-places. See chap. Jer 2:20 Jer 3:23.

Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke

3. THE CHASTISEMENT OF THE CHASTISER

Jer 50:6-13

6A lost herd3 was4 my people:

Their shepherds had led them astray on seductive mountains,5

From mountain to hill they went,
Forgat their fold.

7Whoever found them devoured them,

And their oppressors said: We incur no guilt,
Because they have sinned against Jehovah,
The true pasturage and their fathers hope, Jehovah.

8Flee out of Babylon and

Let them go6 forth out of the land of the Chaldeans,

And be as the rams before the sheep!

9For behold, I raise and lead7 against Babylon

An assembly of great nations from the north country;
They equip themselves against her, there8 she is taken

Their arrows9 like those of a successful10 hero, who returneth not empty,

10And Chaldea shall become a prey;

All that plunder her shall be satisfied, saith Jehovah.

11For thou rejoicedst,11 for thou exultedst, robber of my heritage,

For thou skippedst like a thrashing12 calf

And neighedst like the strong steeds.

12Your mother is put to great shame,

She that bare you blushes.
Behold the last of the nations, wilderness, waste, and steppe,

13Because of the wrath of Jehovah it shall be uninhabited,

And shall be wholly a desolation:
Whoever passeth by Babylon is amazed,
And mocks her on account of all her strokes.

EXEGETICAL AND CRITICAL

Israel has certainly sinned greatly by idolatry (Jer 50:6), and has therefore been deservedly chastised by his enemies (Jer 50:7). But now the hour of deliverance strikes (Jer 50:8). for the Lord sends against Babylon great hosts of nations from the north, who will attack it successfully (Jer 50:9). In consequence Babylon itself shall become a prey (Jer 50:10), and receive the punishment for having discharged its office as punisher of Israel with arrogant and malicious joy (Jer 50:11). It shall thus be the last of nations, and the country be a horrible wilderness (Jer 50:12-13).

Jer 50:6-7. A lost herd hope, Jehovah. Comp. Eze 34:4; Eze 34:16; Psa 119:176; Luk 15:4; Luk 15:6.Their shepherds. Comp. Jer 10:21; Jer 12:10; Jer 23:1 sqq.Seductive. The mountains may well be thus called, which by means of the worship of high-places practised upon them, exerted such an irresistible charm on the heart of carnal Israel. Comp. Jer 2:20; Jer 3:2; Jer 6:23; Jer 17:2.Whoever found them. Comp. Jer 2:3; Jer 10:25; Jer 30:16. In this expression there is evidently an intimation that Israel has been often devoured. The enemies had a certain degree of justification in this, but in yielding to the illusion that they could not sin against Israel, forsaken by his God, and could therefore do any thing to him, they incurred great guilt, as is seen in what follows.True pasturage. Zion is called 31:23. Here Jehovah Himself is so called, as elsewhere a fortress (Psa 18:3) sun, shield (Psa 84:11), shade (Psa 121:5).Fathers hope. Comp. Jer 14:8; Jer 17:13.

Jer 50:8-10. Flee saith Jehovah. The tables are turned. Babylon must now suffer the punishment of injustice. The hour of deliverance has struck for Israel and the other nations held in bondage. Hence the summons is made to Israel to flee. Comp. Isa 48:20; Isa 52:11; Zec 2:10.As the rams, etc. The sense is not both that Israel is to press forward in order to save himself before all, but rather that it is to go before all (comp. Jer 50:16) as an example and leader in the flight.North. Comp. rems. on Jer 50:3.Like those, etc. Comp. Jer 4:31; Jer 46:22; Naegelsb. Gr., 65, 3 Anm.Who returneth, etc. Comp. 2Sa 1:22.Chaldea, Kasdim as the name of the country, as in Jer 51:24; Jer 51:35; Eze 11:24.A prey. Comp. Jer 49:32.

Jer 50:11-13. For thou rejoicedst stroke.I take simply as for, so that Jer 50:11 gives the reason why Chaldea is to become a prey. The imperfects then designate the action as continuing in the past. Comp, Naegelsb. Gr., 87 f.: Jer 15:9; Jer 36:18.

Jer 50:12-13 conclude the discourse with a lively description, sketched in a few powerful strokes of the condition of Babylon after the attack predicted in Jer 50:9-10. The prophet beholds this as though it had been produced in his presence. Hence the perfects is put to shame, and blushes (Jer 15:9), Observe that the prophet here addresses the single individuals of the nation. Hence your mother and last of the nations. Comp. Psa 139:9; Amo 9:1; Jer 31:7.Waste (). Comp. Jer 51:43.Uninhabited. Comp. Isa 13:20; Jer 17:6; Jer 17:25; Jer 30:18.Whoever passeth. Comp. Jer 18:16; Jer 19:8; Jer 49:17.

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.

DOCTRINAL AND ETHICAL

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.

HOMILETICAL AND PRACTICAL

6. On Jer 50:33-34. The consolation of the Church in persecution. 1. It suffers violence and injustice. 2. Its redeemer is strong.

Footnotes:

[3]Jer 50:6The plural depends on the ideal plural in . Comp. Naegelsb. Gr., 105, 3; Gen 30:38; Jer 33:13; Job 1:14.

[4]Jer 50:6.The Chethibh is referred to the subject as e.g., in Gen 31:8. The Keri is therefore unnecessary.

[5]Jer 50:6. . The Chethibh is usually read (Jer 3:14; Jer 3:22) the Ker . I think, however, that we must read the Chethibh (comp. Jer 31:8; Jer 49:4), and understand it in the meaning of alienating, seductive mountains. We then take the word in the same sense as those who follow the Keri, and find our support like them in passages like Isa 47:10. Comp. rems. on Jer 31:8.

[6]Jer 50:8.Chethibh . This sudden change of person is not uncommon. (Comp. Jer 5:14; Jer 12:13; Jer 17:13; Jer 21:12 Chethibh); Jer 31:3; Jer 36:29-30; Jer 44:3-6; Jer 47:7. Naegelsb. Gr., 101, 2, Anm.

[7]Jer 50:9. Observe the paronomasia and compare Jer 51:1; Jer 51:11; Isa 13:17.

[8]Jer 50:9.. If this word is regarded as local, it is difficult after to find a suitable terminus a quo. I therefore prefer to understand it with Rosenmueller, De Wette, Umbreit, of time. Comp. Hos 2:17; Job 35:12.

[9]Jer 50:9. The suffix is to be referred to the entirety of those nations regarded as one male person.

[10]Jer 50:9.. Comp. Jer 10:21; Jer 23:5.

[11]Jer 50:11.The Keri , etc. is occasioned by , but is unnecessary, for the prophet conceives the Chaldean nation as one female individual, as in the enemies as one male. Comp. e.g., Jer 3:8-10, and in Jer 50:12.

[12]Jer 50:11.. Part. from to thrash (Hos 10:11), for as e.g., Lam 3:12; comp. Olsh 108, e, Anm. 164, b.

Fuente: A Commentary on the Holy Scriptures, Critical, Doctrinal, and Homiletical by Lange

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.

Ver. 6. My people have been lost sheep. ] Per avis peccatorum aberrantes; lost in the maze of sin and misery.

Their shepherds have caused them to go astray. ] True also of Papists and sectaries, miserably misled by their pretended pastors – impostors rather.

Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)

NASB (UPDATED) TEXT: Jer 50:6-7

6My people have become lost sheep;

Their shepherds have led them astray.

They have made them turn aside on the mountains;

They have gone along from mountain to hill

And have forgotten their resting place.

7All who came upon them have devoured them;

And their adversaries have said, ‘We are not guilty,

Inasmuch as they have sinned against the Lord who is the habitation of righteousness,

Even the Lord, the hope of their fathers.’

Jer 50:6-10 This is a poem that describes

1. the past sins of the covenant people (i.e., fertility worship, Jer 50:6 and faithlessness to YHWH, Jer 50:7)

2. YHWH commands for them to leave Babylon (Jer 50:8) because God is bringing a destroyer from the north (i.e., Persia, Jer 50:9-10)

Fuente: You Can Understand the Bible: Study Guide Commentary Series by Bob Utley

lost sheep. Compare Mat 10:6; Mat 15:24.

shepherds: i.e. rulers.

they have turned them away on the mountains = on the mountains they seduced them: i.e. by the idolatrous worship practiced there.

Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics

people: Jer 50:17, Psa 119:176, Isa 53:6, Mat 9:36, Mat 10:6, Mat 15:24, Mat 18:11-13, Luk 15:4-7, 1Pe 2:25

their shepherds: Jer 10:21, Jer 23:11-15, Isa 56:10-12, Eze 34:4-12, Zec 11:4-9

on the: Jer 2:20, Jer 3:6, Jer 3:23, Eze 34:6

have forgotten: Jer 2:32, Psa 32:7, Psa 90:1, Psa 91:1, Psa 116:7, Isa 30:15, Isa 32:2, resting place, Heb. place to lie down in, Psa 23:2, Son 1:7, Son 1:8, Eze 34:14, Eze 34:25-28

Reciprocal: Deu 13:5 – turn you 1Ki 22:17 – as sheep Eze 14:11 – the house Eze 34:5 – they were Zec 10:3 – anger Mat 18:12 – if Mar 6:34 – because

Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge

LOST SHEEP

My people have been lost sheep.

Jer 50:6

I. The sheep which wanders follows the wayward tendency of its nature.It has none of the strong instinct of affection which binds some animals to their master and other animals to their home. And is there not in me, from the earliest beginnings of conscious life, an inclination to disobey?

II. The sheep which strays is in imminent danger.The precipice, the parched wilderness, the wolf, the robberthese perils confront it. And I, tooah! mine are more grievous hazards still. The way of transgressors is hardhard in the meanwhileand hopelessly dark and sorrowful in the long hereafter.

III. The sheep which departs cannot find its path home again.More and more bewildered it becomes, more and more undone. It is lost in saddest truth. And it is not otherwise with me. I cannot redeem my bankrupt soul.

IV. How I should rejoice that there is a restoring Shepherd!

Illustration

He took me on His shoulder,

And tenderly He kissed me.

He bade my love be bolder,

And said how He had missed me;

And Im sure I heard Him say,

As He went along His way,

O, silly souls! come near Me,

My sheep should never fear Me,

I am the Shepherd true.

Fuente: Church Pulpit Commentary

Jer 50:6. This verse is a glance back over the past experiences of the nation of the Jews. The language is formed from the occupation of a shepherd and iris sheep. The leaders were the shepherds and the people were the flock, Those leaders had misled and neglected the people in the same way that an unfaithful shepherd would treat his flock. The result of such neglect would be that it would he caused to wander from one mountain to another until the sheep would lose sight of its fold or restingplace.

Fuente: Combined Bible Commentary

Jer 50:6-7. My people hath been lost sheep All men are compared to sheep that go astray, Isa 53:6. Here this character is applied to the Jews, whom God calls his people, because of the ancient covenant made with their fathers. They are said to have been lost, either on account of their captivity, being cast out of the land which God gave them, as sheep are lost out of their pasture, or in respect of their idolatries and other sins. Their shepherds have caused them to go astray Their civil and ecclesiastical governors have been the principal causes of their sins and miseries: the former, by their wicked commands and example, the latter also by example as well as doctrine. They have turned them away on the mountains They have turned them aside from the right worship of God, performed at the temple, to sacrifice to idols upon the mountains and high places. He alludes to sheep straying hither and thither, through the windings and turnings of the mountains. They have gone from mountain to hill From one species of idolatry to another. They have forgotten their resting place Or, their fold, namely, they have forgotten me, in whose love and service, in whose favour, protection; and care they could only find rest, safety, and comfort. All that found them have devoured them They have been a prey to their enemies on all sides. And their adversaries said, We offend not In making them captives. Jeremiah introduces the Chaldeans speaking thus by the truest prosopopia; for it could not be but the Chaldeans must have known those things which the prophets had foretold concerning the future captivity of the Jews; Nebuchadnezzar is a witness, who gave his captains orders to preserve Jeremiah: see Houbigant. Because they have sinned against the Lord, the habitation of justice A refuge and protection for those that are just and good, and consequently one that would not have cast off the Jews if they had not first forsaken him. This interpretation supposes God to be here called, The habitation of justice, which he undoubtedly is, but whether the Chaldeans would term him so may be a question. Others, therefore, think the preposition in is understood, making this the aggravation of the Jews sins, that they were committed in a land which ought to have been a habitation of justice. Thus it is said, (Isa 26:10,) that the wicked man will deal unjustly in a land of uprightness.

Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments

50:6 My people have been lost sheep: their {f} shepherds have caused them to go astray, they have turned them away [on] the mountains: they have gone from {g} mountain to hill, they have forgotten their restingplace.

(f) Their governors and ministers by their examples have provoked them to idolatry.

(g) They have committed idolatry in every place.

Fuente: Geneva Bible Notes

The Lord’s chosen people had gotten lost like sheep misled by their shepherds. They had wandered on dangerous mountains instead of staying in their safe places of rest. This verse reflects conditions that marked the Israelites long after Cyrus permitted them to return to Palestine. They are still scattered around the world today.

Fuente: Expository Notes of Dr. Constable (Old and New Testaments)

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