Jeremiah 50

REVIEW OF CHAPTER NINETEEN

I. Facts to Master

Name of the chief god of Babylon (Jeremiah 50:2; Jeremiah 51:44).

The excuse which those who attacked Israel used to justify their cruelty (Jeremiah 50:7).

The two great lions who had devoured the flock of God (Jeremiah 50:17).

Two symbolic names for Babylon (Jeremiah 50:21).

Direction from which the conquerors of Babylon would come (Jeremiah 50:41).

Nationality of the conquerors of Babylon (Jeremiah 51:11; Jeremiah 51:27-28).

Identity of the man commissioned by Jeremiah to carry a scroll to Babylon (Jeremiah 51:59).

The date when Jeremiah sent his scroll to Babylon (Jeremiah 51:59)

That which Jeremiah commanded to be done with his scroll (Jeremiah 51:63).

II. Questions to Ponder

Why does Jeremiah devote such a large amount of space to the subject of the fall of Babylon?

How would you answer the charge that what Jeremiah says here about Babylon contradicts his earlier statements about that power?

Why does Jeremiah depict the exiles weeping as they return to Zion? What is the everlasting covenant of which they speak? Jeremiah 50:4 f.

In what way had Babylon sinned against the Lord? Jeremiah 50:14

What is the main point in the comparison of the destruction of Babylon and the overthrow of Sodom and Gomorrah? Jeremiah 50:40

Explain the significance of the cryptic names Leb-kamai (Jeremiah 51:1) and Sheshach (Jeremiah 51:41).

What is the relationship between the Babylon oracle recorded in Jeremiah 50:1 to Jeremiah 51:58 and the scroll which Seraiah dropped into the Euphrates river?

Why has the authenticity of the Babylon oracle been questioned by some critics?

Why did Jeremiah order his scroll to be sunk in the Euphrates river?

Why do some commentators insist that Babylon will be rebuilt? Have the Babylon prophecies been literally fulfilled?

Jeremiah 50:1-10

CHAPTER NINETEEN

GOD AND BABYLON

Jeremiah 50:1 to Jeremiah 51:64 e

Eichorn was the first to deny the authenticity of Chapter s 50-51 and he has been followed by most modern critics. Cornill affirms in regard to these Chapter s 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 Chapter s 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 (Jeremiah 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 Zedekiah’s fourth year as claimed in Jeremiah 51:59. The people are in exile (Jeremiah 50:4-5; Jeremiah 51:54), the Temple has been destroyed (Jeremiah 50:23; Jeremiah 51:11), the author looks for a speedy overthrow of Babylon (Jeremiah 50:8-10; Jeremiah 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 Jeremiah 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 Jeremiah’s 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 Jeremiah’s 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 God’s 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 God’s wrath then the king of Babylon must drink also. In the light of Jer 25:12; Jeremiah 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 Chapter s 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; Israel’s 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 (Jeremiah 50:1 and Jeremiah 51:60) attributes these Chapter s to Jeremiah.[405] Even the most determined negative critics admit that many Jeremian utterances, turns of thought and ideas appear in these Chapter s,[406] Furthermore, the narrative epilogue (Jeremiah 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 (Jeremiah 51:11; Jeremiah 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 Jeremiah 50:1.

[406] Ewald, op. cit., V, 1.

[407] C. von Orelli, The Prophecies of Jeremiah (1889), pp. 374-75.

The background of the Babylon oracle is related in Jeremiah 51:59-64. Seraiah, Zedekiah’s 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 Jeremiah 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 Jeremiah 50:1-34

In the first part of the Babylon oracle the major theme of Babylon’s defeat and the minor theme of Israel’s return are skillfully blended. A four-fold breakdown is observable: (1) Babylon’s destruction and Israel’s deliverance (Jeremiah 50:2-10); (2) Babylon’s desolation and Israel’s restoration (Jeremiah 50:11-20); (3) Babylon’s visitation and Israel’s vindication (Jeremiah 50:21-28); and (4) Babylon’s recompense and Israel’s redemption (Jeremiah 50:29-34).

A. Babylon’s Destruction ad Israel’s Deliverance

Jeremiah 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 man’s making are absolutely useless when God begins to intervene in human history (Jeremiah 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 (Jeremiah 50:3). Jeremiah 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 (Jeremiah 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 (Jeremiah 50:5). The prophecy of Israel’s 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 God’s 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 (Jeremiah 50:6). The enemies of Israel used this apostasy as an excuse for their heartless and cruel oppression of the people of God (Jeremiah 50:7). But now Jeremiah foresees an end to that dreary period of Israel’s history. The hour of deliverance will come, for the Lord will stir up a company of great nations from the north country (Jeremiah 50:9) who will defeat and plunder Babylon (Jeremiah 50:10). For this reason Israel is urged to flee from the midst of Babylon, to be as he-goats who lead the flock (Jeremiah 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.

Jeremiah 50:11-20

B. Babylon’s Desolation and Israel’s Restoration Jeremiah 50:11-20

TRANSLATION

(11) Because you laugh, because you rejoice, O plunderer of My heritage, because you scamper about like a heifer in the grass and you neigh like mighty horses (12) your mother shall utterly be put to shame, she that bore you shall be embarrassed. Behold, the last of nations, a wilderness, a dry land, a desert. (13) Because of the wrath of the LORD she shall not be inhabited. All of it shall be a desolation; every one who passes by shall be astonished, shall whistle because of all her wounds. (14) Set your. selves in array round about, all you bowmen! Shoot against her! Do not spare an arrow; for she has sinned against the LORD. (15) Shout against her round about! She has put forth her hand. Her bulwarks have fallen; her walls are broken down; for it is the vengeance of the LORD. Take vengeance upon her! As she has done, do to her. (16) Cut off the sower from Babylon and the one who holds the sickle in the time of harvest. From before the sword of the oppressor each man shall turn to his people, yea, each man shall flee to his land. (17) A scattered sheep is Israel. Lions have driven him away. First, the king of Assyria devoured him; now at last Nebuchadnezzar has crushed his bones. (18) Therefore, thus says the LORD of hosts, God of Israel: I am about to punish the king of Babylon and his land as I have punished the king of Assyria. (19) And I will cause Israel to return unto his habitation and he will graze on Carmel and Bashan, and on the mountains of Ephraim and Gilead he shall satisfy his soul. (20) In those days and in that time (oracle of the LORD) the iniquity of Israel shall be sought but there shall be none, the sin of Judah but it shall not be found; for I will pardon those that I leave as a remnant.

COMMENTS

The Chaldeans discharged their office as chastiser of Israel with arrogant and malicious joy. The satisfaction which they received in plundering Jerusalem is compared to a heifer calf frisking about the threshing floor eating her fill. Like strong stallions which neigh in triumph and challenge, the Chaldeans raise a loud and boastful cry after they have subdued Jerusalem (Jeremiah 50:11). But God has taken note of the arrogant amusement of the Chaldean conquerors and has decreed that the mother of Babylon (i.e., the land of Babylonia) shall be utterly put to shame and confounded. Proud Babylon shall become the very least of nationsa wilderness, a dry land, a barren desert (Jeremiah 50:12). She shall experience the wrath of the God of Israel; she shall be utterly uninhabited. Visitors to the ruined city will be astonished by the desolation which marks the spot (Jeremiah 50:13).

The prophet next turns to the attacking armies and in direct address urges them to execute the divine vengeance on Babylon. He urges the nations to put themselves in battle array round about Babylon and unleash their deadly arrows for she has sinned against the Lord (Jeremiah 50:14). No defense of the city will be able to repel the attacking force for this is the vengeance of the Lord. Realizing the futility of further resistance, the Chaldeans give the hand i.e., they surrender to the invader. Subsequently the walls of the famous city are razed and Babylon experiences the same humiliation which she has inflicted on others (Jeremiah 50:15). The agricultural regions of Babylon, famous in antiquity for abundant productivity,[408] will be destroyed by the invader. When Babylon is laid waste, the exiles from all nations flee to their respective lands (Jeremiah 50:16). The picture of the destruction of Babylon in Jeremiah 50:14-16 is a composite which includes prophetic allusions to many different sieges of Babylon. These verses were not entirely fulfilled by the fall of Babylon in 539 B.C. because Cyrus did not raze the walk of the city and he was very careful to spare the rural regions of Babylonia. At least these two elements must point to subsequent sieges of the city.

[408] Herodotus (1. 193) declares that the yield in Babylonia was commonly two hundred-fold and sometimes even three hundred-fold,

In contrast to the devastation that awaits Babylon the prophet points out the glory that Israel shall experience. Hitherto Israel had been a poor, frightened sheep, driven and devoured by two mighty lions, Assyria and Babylonia (Jeremiah 50:17). But the tables are due to be turned. Assyria has already received its chastisement; that of Babylon will not be delayed (Jeremiah 50:18).[409] Then will Israel again feed peaceably on its own pasture both west of Jordan (Carmel; Mt. of Ephraim) and east of Jordan (Bashan; Gilead) where they shall enjoy the spiritual and material blessings of the Lord (Jeremiah 50:19). In the postexilic times God will provide for the remnant of His people, the spiritual Israel of God, absolute forgiveness (Jeremiah 50:20). This verse looks ahead to the cross of Calvary where the Son of God bore the sins of the world. The efficacy of that sacrifice was retroactive to sins committed under the old law as well as sins of the present and future. The remnant of Israel, the spiritual Israel, in both Testaments consists of those who turn to the Lord in faith, repent of their iniquities and obey the commandments of God appropriate to that dispensation of time. Thus Jeremiah 50:20 states the grounds of the promise of restoration in Jeremiah 50:19. God can restore the remnant of Israel to spiritual blessing and prosperity because they have repented; God can pardon this remnant because of what He knows will transpire at Calvary.

[409] Note that it is Nebuchadnezzar who devours Israel but it is the king of Babylon who is punished. This king was Nabonidus, whose son Belshazzar was co-ruler in 539 B.C. when Cyrus conquered the city.

Jeremiah 50:21-28

C. Babylon’s Visitation and Israel’s Vindication Jeremiah 50:21-28

TRANSLATION

(21) Against the land of Merathaim go up, against the inhabitants of Pekod! Slay and devote her to death (oracle of the LORD). Do according to all which I have commanded you. (22) The sound of battle is in the land and great destruction. (23) How sad that the hammer of all the earth is cut off and shattered! How sad that Babylon has become a desolation among the nations. (24) I laid snares for you, and you have been captured, O Babylon, and are not aware of it. you have been found and you have been caught; for against the LORD you have striven. (25) The LORD shall open His armory and bring out the weapons of His wrath; for it is a work of the Lord GOD of hosts in the land of the Chaldeans. (26) Go up to her from every side! Open her granaries! Pile her up as heaps of grain, utterly destroy her! Leave her no remnant! (27) Slay all her bullocks! Let them go down to the slaughter! Woe unto them; for their day has come, the time of their punishment. (28) Hark! Those who flee and escape from the land of Babylon come to Zion to declare the vengeance of the LORD our God, the vengeance of His Temple.

COMMENTS

Again the adversaries of Babylon are addressed. They are called upon to go up against the land of Merathaim (i.e., double rebellion) and the inhabitants of Pekod (i.e., punishment) and utterly destroy (Jeremiah 50:21).[410] The idea in these two enigmatic designations for Babylon is that God will punish that land because of her excessive rebellion. Following this summons the prophet describes the execution of the commission. He hears the terrible noise of war and destruction in the land (Jeremiah 50:22). How sad it is, he says sarcastically, that the hammer of the whole earth is broken and smashed. Babylon, the instrument which has smashed the whole world into submission, has served its purpose and is now broken. The once proud land has become a desolation among the nations (Jeremiah 50:23).

[410] Some think that Merathaim and Pekod refer to actual districts of Babylonia but the geographical reference seems rather doubtful.

In Jeremiah 50:24 the prophet indicates that the element of secrecy and surprise which excludes all resistance will prevail at the capture of Babylon. Like an unsuspecting beast caught in the snare of the trapper, so has Babylon been captured. The reason for the calamitous fall of the city is that Babylon had striven against the Lord. Babylon had exceeded the bounds of the divine commission to punish the nations and had thus in effect pitted herself against the Lord. The quick and surprising capture of the city will be possible because the Lord of Hosts has opened his armory and brought into use all the means of attack which it affords. Though God uses secondary agents to accomplish his purposes against Babylon that which they do there is the work of God (Jeremiah 50:25).

As the Lord has emptied His arsenal against Babylon so also shall all the storehouses in Babylon be emptied and the contents destroyed. The phrase cast her up as heaps refers to the huge piles of rubble which were left after a city had been totally demolished (Jeremiah 50:26). The doomed warriors of Babylon are compared to sacrificial animals (bullocks) to be slaughtered. Woe unto those armies! The time of their punishment has come, the day of national accountability (Jeremiah 50:27). Meanwhile the Jewish captives shall hasten to Zion to proclaim the good news that the Lord has executed vengeance upon the enemies of His people. The destruction of God’s Temple has been avenged! (Jeremiah 50:28). Israel has been vindicated by the divine visitation upon Babylon.

Jeremiah 50:29-34

D. Babylon’s Recompense and Israel’s Redemption Jeremiah 50:29-34

TRANSLATION

(29) Summon against Babylon archers, all who handle the bow! Encamp against her round about! Let no one escape! Repay her according to her work, do to her as she has done; for she has been arrogant toward the LORD, the Holy One of Israel. (30) Therefore, her young men shall fall in her streets and all her men of battle shall be silenced in that day (oracle of the LORD). (31) Behold, I am against you, O Pride (oracle of the Lord, GOD of hosts); for your day has come, the time of your punishment. (32) Pride shall stumble and fall, and no one shall raise her up. I will kindle a fire against his cities and it shall devour all round about him. (33) Thus says the LORD of hosts: Oppressed are the people of Israel and the people of Judah too; and all who have taken them captive hold them fast, they will not let them go free. (34) Their Redeemer is strong, the LORD of hosts is His name. He will thoroughly plead their cause in order to give rest to the land and to disquiet the inhabitants of Babylon.

COMMENTS

Again the prophet calls upon the archers to encamp round about Babylon and to thereby prevent the escape of any of the defenders of that doomed city. Again he calls upon the invaders to recompense Babylon, to do to her as she has done to others. The reason for the divine antagonism against Babylon is made perfectly clear: Babylon has been proud against the Lord (Jeremiah 50:29). Those who attempt to defend the doomed city will fall in the streets (Jeremiah 50:30). Behold I am against you O Pride, declares the Lord. The exact background of this formula[411] is unclear. The rather intriguing suggestion has been made that it originated in the formula of challenge with which a champion summoned his rival to combat.[412] Babylon is Pride personified and the Lord of hosts has appointed the day of her punishment (Jeremiah 50:31). The Lord will bring that proud one to totter and fall and no one will be able to lift her up again. God’s judgment, like a fire, shall consume the cities of Babylonia (Jeremiah 50:32). Thus will the pride of Babylon be humbled.

[411] The formula behold I am against you also occurs in Ezekiel 26:3; Ezekiel 28:22; Ezekiel 29:10 and with slight variation in Zephaniah 2:5.

[412] J. Eaton, Obadiah, Nahum, Habakkuk and Zephaniah, 2:5. Introduction and Commentary (Torch Bible Commentaries) (1961), p. 71.

In contrast to the recompense of Babylon is the redemption of Israel. As in the days of the Egyptian bondage the children of Israel and Judah are held fast in the iron grip of an oppressor (Jeremiah 50:33). Yet to those disheartened and discouraged captives Jeremiah strikes a note of hope. Their Redeemer, the Lord of Hosts, is strong! He will take up the cause of His helpless people. The word translated here Redeemer is the Hebrew goel, the title of the near kinsman, to whom belonged, according to ancient law, the duty of revenging a murder, as well as that of advocate and general protector. So now the Lord is about to rescue His people and take vengeance upon their foe. Actually all the nations had been troubled by the Babylonian oppressor. Therefore, when God acts on behalf of His people to disquiet the inhabitants of Babylon the world at large will reap the benefits of peace and tranquility (Jeremiah 50:34). It was the policy of Cyrus, the conqueror of Babylon, to gain the good will of subject peoples by permitting all deported people to return to their native land. This was not the first nor will it be the last time that the world has enjoyed blessing because of some action which God has performed on behalf of His people.

Jeremiah 50:35-40

II. THE DESTRUCTION OF BABYLON

Jeremiah 50:35 to Jeremiah 51:26

In this section of the Babylon oracle the major theme of the fall of Babylon becomes more prominent. The minor theme of the deliverance of Israel occurs only in Jeremiah 51:5-6; Jeremiah 51:10.

A. Thorough Destruction Jeremiah 50:35-40

TRANSLATION

(35) A sword against the. Chaldeans (oracle of the LORD), against the inhabitants of Babylon, her princes and her wisemen. (36) A sword against the boasters, and they shall become fools! A sword against her mighty men, and they shall be dismayed! (37) A sword against her horses, chariots, and all the mixed people which are in the midst of her, and they shall become women! A sword against her storehouses, and they shall be plundered. (38) A drought against her waters and they shall be dry; for it is a land of graven images and they are mad over terrors. (39) Therefore, desert creatures with wolves shall dwell there, ostriches shall dwell in it. She shall not be inhabited any more forever, nor populated for all generations. (40) As God overturned Sodom and Gomorrah and neighboring cities (oracle of the LORD), so a man shall not dwell there nor a son of man sojourn in her.

COMMENTS

The Lord will use the agents of sword and drought through the centuries to destroy all which supports Babylon’s power and glory: the inhabitants of the city as well as the civil and religious leaders (Jeremiah 50:35), the liars, boasters or soothsayers, the strong armies and foreign mercenaries, the treasures of the city (Jeremiah 50:37), and the ancient and elaborate irrigation system (Jeremiah 50:38).[413] This tidal wave of destruction will sweep Babylonia because that land was a land of graven images and they are mad over idols (Jeremiah 50:38). The Hebrew word translated idols literally means horrors or terrors. The cruel, bloodthirsty and immoral gods of Babylon were indeed horrible creations of the depraved mind of man. What a pity that the highly cultured Babylonians had not used their wisdom and knowledge to turn to the true and living God. Certainly through their contacts with the people of Israel they had numerous opportunities to come to know the Lord of glory. Surely it was of such people that the apostle Paul spoke when he wrote: Professing themselves to be wise, they became fools, and changed the glory of the incorruptible God into an image like to corruptible man, and to birds, and four-footed beasts, and creeping things (Romans 1:22-23).

[413] One of the keys to the agricultural prosperity of Babylonia was the irrigation system which dates back to the time of Hammurapi in the eighteenth century before Christ. In fulfillment of the prophecy the famous canals of Babylon have silted up and all but disappeared.

The sword and the drought will eventually make Babylon as when God overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah. The point of comparison here is not the manner of Sodom’s destruction but the results of that overthrow. Following its destruction Babylon will never again be inhabited by human beings (Jeremiah 50:40). The place will be fit only for desert creatures, the wolves or jackals (lit., howling creatures) and the owls or ostriches (Jeremiah 50:39). In this description of the desolation of Babylon Jeremiah is echoing the prophecy of Isaiah where many of the same thoughts occur (cf. Isaiah 13:19-22).

Jeremiah 50:41-46

B. Ruthless Destruction Jeremiah 50:41 to Jeremiah 51:5

TRANSLATION

(41) Behold, a people shall come from the north, a great nation and many kings shall be stirred up from the distant parts of the earth. (42) They grasp bow and spear; they are cruel and show no mercy; the noise they make sounds like the roaring sea. They ride on horses arrayed as a man for battle against you, O daughter of Babylon. (43) The king of Babylon has heard the news and his hands grow feeble, distress takes hold of him, pangs as a woman in childbirth. (44) Behold, like a lion going up from the pride of Jordan unto the perennial pasture, so will I suddenly make them run from it. The one who is chosen I will appoint over it. For who is like Me? And who will challenge Me? And who is the shepherd who can stand before Me? (45) Therefore, Hear the counsel of the LORD which He has made against Babylon and the plans which He has formulated against the land of the Chaldeans: Surely their pasture shall be shocked over what happens to them. (46) At the sound of the taking of Babylon the earth trembles and the cry is heard among the nations. (1) Thus says the LORD: I am about to raise up against Babylon and against the inhabitants of Leb-kamai a destroying wind. (2) I will send strangers to Babylon and they will winnow her and empty her land; for they shall be against her on all sides in the day of calamity. (3) Let the archer bend his bow against the archer, and against the one who rises up in his armor. Have no mercy upon her youths! Utterly destroy all of her hosts! (4) Slain shall they fall in the land of the Chaldeans, and thrust through in her streets. (5) For Israel and Judah have not been widowed of their God, the LORD of hosts; because their land is full of guilt against the Holy One of Israel.

COMMENTS

For the third time the prophet announces the approach of the conquerors of Babylon: Behold, a people shall come from the north. No doubt the prophet is presenting here a composite picture of the several conquerors who would attack the city of Babylon beginning with the Medo-Persian armies of Cyrus and concluding with Parthian armies of Mithridates II. The enemy is described as a great nation because of the size of the host. Many kings all over the world are being stirred up to the attack against Babylon (Jeremiah 50:41). The vast host surges forward towards Babylon armed for war. The sound of their coming is likened to the roar of the sea. They are cruel and ruthless warriors who show no pity to the daughter of Babylon, (i.e., the inhabitants of the city Jeremiah 50:42). The king of Babylon is petrified at the news of the approaching host. His hands become limp; distress seizes his heart like that of a woman beginning her travail (Jeremiah 50:43). One cannot read this description of the terror of the king of Babylon without thinking of what is said of Belshazzar in the Book of Daniel when he hears the prophetic interpretation of the handwriting of doom on the walls of his palace: Then the king’s countenance was changed in him, and his thoughts troubled him; and the joints of his knees smote one against another (Daniel 5:6).

Babylon’s judgment shall be that Edom (cf. Jeremiah 49:19-21). It matters nothing to the Lord whether the nation be small and insignificant like Edom or a mighty empire like Babylon. Any nation which proudly lifts itself up against the Holy One of Israel will be punished. Babylon’s conqueror will burst upon the land like a lion from the pride (jungle) of the Jordan leaping upon a helpless and unsuspecting flock. No shepherd or leader of Babylon will be able to withstand the impact of this divinely appointed one (Jeremiah 50:44). The Lord God has taken counsel against Babylon and has laid plans for the destruction of that land. The invader will make desolate the inhabitants of that land like helpless sheep (Jeremiah 50:45). The earth trembles in astonishment at the news of Babylon’s fall. The final gasping cry of Babylon is heard throughout the nations of the earth (Jeremiah 50:46).

The description of the destroyers of Babylon continues in Jeremiah 51:1-5. God is raising up against Babylon a destroying wind (Jeremiah 50:1) and strangers (Jeremiah 50:2) by means of which He will winnow or sift the inhabitants of Babylonia as a farmer winnows the chaff from the grain. The reference in Jeremiah 50:1 to Leb-kamai (ASV) is most interesting. This term means literally the heart of those who rise up against me. By this title Babylon is designated as the very heart of opposition to the Lord. But the term Leb-kamai has another meaning too, a meaning that the English reader completely misses. Leb-kamai is another example of the use of the cipher called Atbash (cf. Jeremiah 25:26) in which the first letter of the Hebrew alphabet is replaced by the last letter, the second letter by the next to the last, the third by the third from the last, etc. When Leb-kamai is decoded it spells the word Chaldeans in Hebrew.

In Jeremiah 50:3 the attacking armies are again addressed. In spite of the fact that the Babylonians stand guard with their weapons and arrayed in their armor, yet the archers are urged to attack them from without. No one is to be spared; every Chaldean soldier is to be slain in the streets of the city (Jeremiah 50:4). The reason for the slaughter is twofold. First, by means of the destruction of Babylon the Lord will prove that Israel and Judah have not been forsaken (lit., widowed) by their God. Second, the land of Babylon is full of guilt with respect to the Holy One of Israel (Jeremiah 50:5). The word translated though in the KJV and ASV is best rendered for or because and the guilt is best regarded as that of the Chaldeans and not the Israelites.