Jeremiah 50

Jer 50:1-46.

BABYLON'S

COMING

DOWNFALL;

ISRAEL'S

REDEMPTION.

After the predictions of judgment to be inflicted on other nations by

Babylon, follows this one against Babylon itself, the longest prophecy,

consisting of one hundred verses. The date of utterance was the fourth

year of Zedekiah, when Seraiah, to whom it was committed, was sent to

Babylon

(Jer 51:59, 60).

The repetitions in it make it likely that it consists of prophecies

uttered at different times, now collected by Jeremiah to console the

Jews in exile and to vindicate God's ways by exhibiting the final doom

of Babylon, the enemy of the people of God, after her long prosperity.

The style, imagery, and dialogues prove its genuineness in opposition

to those who deny this. It shows his faithfulness; though under

obligation to the king of Babylon, he owed a higher one to God, who

directed him to prophesy against Babylon.

1. Compare

Isa 45:1-47:15.

But as the time of fulfilment drew nearer, the prophecies are now

proportionally more distinct than then.

2. Declare . . . among . . . nations--who would rejoice at the fall

of Babylon their oppressor.

standard--to indicate the place of meeting to the nations where they

were to hear the good news of Babylon's fall

[ROSENMULLER]; or, the

signal to summon the nations together against Babylon

(Jer 51:12, 27),

[MAURER].

Bel--the tutelary god of Babylon; the same idol as the

Phœnician Baal, that is, lord, the sun

(Isa 46:1).

confounded--because unable to defend the city under their protection.

Merodach--another Babylonian idol; meaning in Syria "little lord";

from which Merodach-baladan took his name.

3. a nation--the Medes, north of Babylon

(Jer 51:48).

The devastation of Babylon here foretold includes not only that by

Cyrus, but also that more utter one by Darius, who took Babylon by

artifice when it had revolted from Persia, and mercilessly slaughtered

the inhabitants, hanging four thousand of the nobles; also the final

desertion of Babylon, owing to Seleucia having been built close by

under Seleucus Nicanor.

4. Fulfilled only in part when some few of the ten tribes of "Israel"

joined Judah in a "covenant" with God, at the restoration of Judah to

its land

(Ne 9:38; 10:29).

The full event is yet to come

(Jer 31:9;

Ho 1:11;

Zec 12:10).

weeping--with joy at their restoration beyond all hope; and with

sorrow at the remembrance of their sins and sufferings

(Ezr 3:12, 13;

Ps 126:5, 6).

seek . . . Lord--

(Ho 3:5).

5. thitherward--rather, "hitherward," Jeremiah's prophetical

standpoint being at Zion. "Faces hitherward" implies their steadfastness

of purpose not to be turned aside by any difficulties on the way.

perpetual covenant--in contrast to the old covenant "which they brake"

(Jer 31:31,

&c.; Jer 32:40).

They shall return to their God first, then to their own land.

6.

(Isa 53:6).

on the mountains--whereon they sacrificed to idols

(Jer 2:20; 3:6, 23).

resting-place--for the "sheep," continuing the image;

Jehovah is the resting-place of His sheep

(Mt 11:28).

They rest in His "bosom"

(Isa 40:11).

Also His temple at Zion, their "rest," because it is His

(Ps 132:8, 14).

7. devoured--

(Ps 79:7).

"Found them" implies that they were exposed to the attacks of those

whoever happened to meet them.

adversaries said--for instance, Nebuzara-dan

(Jer 40:2, 3;

compare

Zec 11:5).

The Gentiles acknowledged some supreme divinity. The Jews' guilt was so

palpable that they were condemned even in the judgment of heathens.

Some knowledge of God's peculiar relation to Judea reached its heathen

invaders from the prophets

(Jer 2:3;

Da 9:16);

hence the strong language they use of Jehovah here, not as worshippers

of Him themselves, but as believing Him to be the tutelary God of

Judah ("the hope of their fathers,"

Ps 22:4;

they do not say our hope), as each country was thought to have

its local god, whose power extended no farther.

habitation--

(Ps 90:1; 91:1).

Alluding to the tabernacle, or, as in

Eze 34:14,

"fold," which carries out the image in

Jer 50:6,

"resting-place" of the "sheep." But it can only mean "habitation"

(Jer 31:23),

which confirms English Version here.

hope of their fathers--This especially condemned the Jews that their

apostasy was from that God whose faithfulness their fathers had

experienced. At the same time these "adversaries" unconsciously use

language which corrects their own notions. The covenant with the Jews'

"fathers" is not utterly set aside by their sin, as their adversaries

thought; there is still "a habitation" or refuge for them with the God

of their fathers.

8.

(Jer 51:6, 45;

Isa 48:20;

Zec 2:6, 7;

Re 18:4).

Immediately avail yourselves of the opportunity of escape.

be as . . . he-goats before . . .

flocks--Let each try to be foremost in returning, animating the

weak, as he-goats lead the flock; such were the companions of Ezra

(Ezr 1:5, 6).

9. from thence--that is, from the north country.

expert--literally, "prosperous." Besides "might," "expertness" is

needed, that an arrow may do execution. The Margin has a different

Hebrew reading; "destroying," literally, "bereaving,

childless-making"

(Jer 15:7).

The Septuagint and Syriac support English Version.

In vain--without killing him at whom it was aimed

(2Sa 1:22).

11.

(Isa 47:6).

grown fat--and so, skip wantonly.

at grass--fat and frisky. But there is a disagreement of gender in

Hebrew reading thus. The Keri is better: "a heifer threshing";

the strongest were used for threshing, and as the law did not allow

their mouth to be muzzled in threshing

(De 25:4),

they waxed wanton with eating.

bellow as bulls--rather, "neigh as steeds," literally, "strong

ones," a poetical expression for steeds

(see on

Jer 8:16)

[MAURER].

12. Your mother--Babylon, the metropolis of the empire.

hindermost--marvellous change, that Babylon, once the queen of the

world, should be now the hindermost of nations, and at last, becoming "a

desert," cease to be a nation!

13.

(Isa 13:20).

14. Summons to the Median army to attack Babylon.

against the Lord--By oppressing His people, their cause is His cause.

Also by profaning His sacred vessels

(Da 5:2).

15. Shout--Inspirit one another to the onset with the battle cry.

given . . . hand--an idiom for, "submitted to" the conquerors

(1Ch 29:24,

Margin;

La 5:6).

as she hath done, do unto her--just retribution in kind. She had

destroyed many, so must she be destroyed

(Ps 137:8).

So as to spiritual Babylon

(Re 18:6).

This is right because "it is the vengeance of the Lord"; but

this will not justify private revenge in kind

(Mt 5:44;

Ro 12:19-21);

even the Old Testament law forbade this, though breathing a sterner

spirit than the New Testament

(Ex 23:4, 5;

Pr 25:21, 22).

16. Babylon had the extent rather of a nation than of a city.

Therefore grain was grown within the city wall sufficient to last for a

long siege [ARISTOTLE, Politics, 3.2;

PLINY, 18.17]. Conquerors usually spare

agriculturists, but in this case all alike were to be "cut off."

for fear of . . . oppressing sword--because of the sword of the

oppressor.

every one to his people--from which they had been removed to Babylon

from all quarters by the Chaldean conquerors

(Jer 51:9;

Isa 13:14).

17. lions--hostile kings

(Jer 4:7; 49:19).

Assyria--

(2Ki 17:6,

Shalmaneser;

Ezr 4:2,

Esar-haddon).

Nebuchadnezzar--

(2Ki 24:10, 14).

18. punish . . . king of Babylon--Nabonidus, or Labynitus.

as . . . punished . . . Assyrian--Sennacherib and other kings

[GROTIUS]

(2Ki 19:37).

19.

(Isa 65:10;

Eze 34:13, 14).

20. The specification of "Israel," as well as Judah, shows the

reference is to times yet to come.

iniquity . . . none--not merely idolatry, which ceased among the

Jews ever since the Babylonian captivity, but chiefly their rejection of

Messiah. As in a cancelled debt, it shall be as if it had never been;

God, for Christ's sake, shall treat them as innocent

(Jer 31:34).

Without cleansing away of sin, remission of punishment would be neither

to the honor of God nor to the highest interests of the elect.

whom I reserve--the elect "remnant"

(Isa 1:9).

The "residue"

(Zec 14:2; 13:8, 9).

21. Merathaim--a symbolical name for Babylon, the doubly rebellious,

namely, against God. Compare

Jer 50:24,

"thou hast striven against the Lord"; and

Jer 50:29,

"proud against the Lord." The "doubly" refers to: first, the

Assyrian's oppression of Israel; next, the kindred

Chaldean's oppression of Judah (compare

Jer 50:17-20, 33;

especially

Jer 50:18).

Pekod--

(Eze 23:23);

a chief province of Assyria, in which Nineveh, now overthrown, once

lay. But, as in Merathaim, the allusion is to the meaning of

Pekod, namely, "visitation"; the inhabitants whose time of

deserved visitation in punishment is come; not, however, without

reference to the now Babylonian province, Pekod. The visitation on

Babylon was a following up of that on Assyria.

after them--even their posterity, and all that is still left of

Babylon, until the very name is extinct

[GROTIUS]. Devastate the city,

after its inhabitants have deserted it.

all . . . I . . . commanded--by Isaiah

(Isa 13:1,

&c.).

23. hammer--that is, Babylon, so called because of its ponderous

destructive power; just as "Martel," that is, "a little hammer," was the

surname of a king of the Franks

(Isa 14:6).

24. I--Thou hast to do with God, not merely with men.

taken . . . not aware--HERODOTUS

relates that one half of the city was taken before those in the other

half were "aware" of it. Cyrus turned the waters of the Euphrates where

it was defended into a different channel, and so entered the city by

the dried-up channel at night, by the upper and lower gates

(Da 5:30, 31).

25. weapons of his indignation--the Medes and Persians

(Isa 13:5).

26. from the utmost border--namely, of the earth. Or, from all sides

[LUDOVICUS

DE

DIEU].

storehouses--or, "her houses filled with men and goods"

[MICHAELIS].

When Cyrus took it, the provisions found there were enough to have

lasted for many years.

as heaps--make of the once glorious city heaps of ruins. Vast

mounds of rubbish now mark the site of ancient Babylon. "Tread her as

heaps of corn which are wont to be trodden down in the threshing-floor"

[GROTIUS].

27. bullocks--that is, princes and strong warriors

(Jer 46:21;

Ps 22:12;

Isa 34:7).

go down to . . . slaughter--The slaughterhouses lay

low beside the river; therefore it is said, "go down"; appropriate to

Babylon on the Euphrates, the avenue through which the slaughterers

entered the city.

28. declare in Zion . . . temple--Some Jews "fleeing" from Babylon

at its fall shall tell in Judea how God avenged the cause of Zion and

her temple that had been profaned

(Jer 52:13;

Da 1:2; 5:2).

29. archers--literally, "very many and powerful"; hence the Hebrew word is used of archers

(Job 16:13)

from the multitude and force of their arrows.

according to all that she hath

done--(See on

Jer 50:15).

proud against the Lord--not merely cruel towards men

(Isa 47:10).

30. (See on

Jer 49:26).

in the streets--The Babylonians were so discouraged by having lost

some battles that they retired within their walls and would not again

meet Cyrus in the field.

31. most proud--literally, "pride"; that is, man of pride; the king

of Babylon.

visit--punish

(Jer 50:27).

33. Israel and . . . Judah were oppressed--He anticipates an objection,

in order to answer it: Ye have been, no doubt, "oppressed," therefore ye

despair of deliverance; but, remember your "Redeemer is strong," and

therefore can and will deliver you.

34. strong--as opposed to the power of Israel's oppressor

(Re 18:8).

plead . . . cause--as their advocate. Image from a court of justice;

appropriate as God delivers His people not by mere might, but by

righteousness. His plea against Satan and all their enemies is His

own everlasting love, reconciling mercy and justice in the Redeemer's

work and person

(Mic 7:9;

Zec 3:1-5;

1Jo 2:1).

give rest . . . disquiet--There is a play on the similarity of sounds

in the two Hebrew verbs to express more vividly the contrast: "that

He may give quiet to the land of Judah (heretofore disquieted by

Babylon); but disquiet to the inhabitants of Babylon"

(heretofore quietly secure)

(Isa 14:6-8).

35-37. The repetition of "A sword" in the beginning of each verse,

judgment is universal; the same sad stroke of the sword is upon each and

all connected with guilty Babylon.

wise men--

(Isa 47:13).

Babylon boasted that it was the peculiar seat of wisdom and wise men,

especially in astronomy and astrology.

36. liars--Those whom he before termed "wise men," he here calls

"liars" (impostors), namely, the astrologers

(compare

Isa 44:25;

Ro 1:21-25;

1Co 1:20).

37. as women--divested of all manliness

(Na 3:13).

38. drought--Altering the pointing, this verse will begin as the

three previous verses, "A sword." However, all the pointed manuscripts

read, "A drought," as English Version. Cyrus turned off the waters

of the Euphrates into a new channel and so marched through the dried-up

bed into the city

(Jer 51:32).

Babylonia once was famed for its corn, which often yielded from one to

two hundredfold [HERODOTUS]. This was due to its

network of water-courses from the Euphrates for irrigation, traces of

which [LAYARD] are seen still on all sides, but

dry and barren

(Isa 44:27).

their idols--literally, "terrors." They are mad after idols that are

more calculated to frighten than to attract

(Jer 51:44, 47, 52;

Da 3:1).

Mere bugbears with which to frighten children.

39. wild beasts of the desert--wild cats, remarkable for their howl

[BOCHART].

wild beasts of the

islands--jackals (See on

Isa 13:21).

owls--rather, "female ostriches"; they delight in solitary places.

Literally, "daughters of crying." Compare as to spiritual Babylon,

Re 18:2.

no more inhabited for ever--The accumulation of phrases is to express

the final and utter extinction of Babylon; fulfilled not immediately,

but by degrees; Cyrus took away its supremacy. Darius Hystaspes deprived

it, when it had rebelled, of its fortifications. Seleucus Nicanor

removed its citizens and wealth to Seleucia, which he founded in the

neighborhood; and the Parthians removed all that was left to Ctesiphon.

Nothing but its walls was left under the Roman emperor Adrian.

40.

(Isa 13:19).

Repeated from

Jer 49:18.

41-43. (Compare

Jer 6:22-24).

The very language used to describe the calamities which Babylon

inflicted on Zion is that here employed to describe Babylon's own

calamity inflicted by the Medes. Retribution in kind.

kinds--the allies and satraps of the various provinces of the

Medo-Persian empire: Armenia, Hyrcania, Lydia, &c.

coasts--the remote parts.

42. cruel--the character of the Persians, and even of Cyrus,

notwithstanding his wish to be thought magnanimous

(Isa 13:18).

like a man--So orderly and united is their "array," that the whole

army moves to battle as one man [GROTIUS].

43. hands waxed feeble--attempted no resistance; immediately was

overcome, as HERODOTUS tells us.

44-46. Repeated mainly from

Jer 49:19-21.

The identity of God's principle in His dealing with Edom, and in that

with Babylon, is implied by the similarity of language as to both.

46. cry . . . among the nations--In Edom's case it is, "at the cry

the noise thereof was heard in the Red Sea." The change implies the

wider extent to which the crash of Babylon's downfall shall be heard.