The prophet, in this chapter, goes on with the prediction of Babylon's
fall, to which other prophets also bore witness. He is very copious and
lively in describing the foresight God had given him of it, for the
encouragement of the pious captives, whose deliverance depended upon it
and was to be the result of it. Here is,
I. The record of Babylon's doom, with the particulars of it, intermixed
with the grounds of God's controversy with her, many aggravations of
her fall, and great encouragements given thence to the Israel of God,
that suffered such hard things by her,
Jeremiah 51:1-58.
II. The representation and ratification of this by the throwing of a
copy of this prophecy into the river Euphrates,
Jeremiah 51:59-64.
The Judgment of Babylon.
B. C. 595.
1 Thus saith the LORD; Behold, I will raise up against Babylon,
and against them that dwell in the midst of them that rise up
against me, a destroying wind;
2 And will send unto Babylon fanners, that shall fan her, and
shall empty her land: for in the day of trouble they shall be
against her round about.
3 Against him that bendeth let the archer bend his bow, and
against him that lifteth himself up in his brigandine: and
spare ye not her young men; destroy ye utterly all her host.
4 Thus the slain shall fall in the land of the Chaldeans, and
they that are thrust through in her streets.
5 For Israel hath not been forsaken, nor Judah of his God,
of the LORD of hosts; though their land was filled with sin
against the Holy One of Israel.
6 Flee out of the midst of Babylon, and deliver every man his
soul: be not cut off in her iniquity; for this is the time of
the LORD's vengeance; he will render unto her a recompence.
7 Babylon hath been a golden cup in the LORD's hand, that
made all the earth drunken: the nations have drunken of her wine;
therefore the nations are mad.
8 Babylon is suddenly fallen and destroyed: howl for her; take
balm for her pain, if so be she may be healed.
9 We would have healed Babylon, but she is not healed: forsake
her, and let us go every one into his own country: for her
judgment reacheth unto heaven, and is lifted up even to the
skies.
10 The LORD hath brought forth our righteousness: come, and let
us declare in Zion the work of the LORD our God.
11 Make bright the arrows; gather the shields: the LORD hath
raised up the spirit of the kings of the Medes: for his device
is against Babylon, to destroy it; because it is the
vengeance of the LORD, the vengeance of his temple.
12 Set up the standard upon the walls of Babylon, make the
watch strong, set up the watchmen, prepare the ambushes: for the
LORD hath both devised and done that which he spake against the
inhabitants of Babylon.
13 O thou that dwellest upon many waters, abundant in
treasures, thine end is come, and the measure of thy
covetousness.
14 The LORD of hosts hath sworn by himself, saying, Surely I
will fill thee with men, as with caterpillers; and they shall
lift up a shout against thee.
15 He hath made the earth by his power, he hath established the
world by his wisdom, and hath stretched out the heaven by his
understanding.
16 When he uttereth his voice, there is a multitude of
waters in the heavens; and he causeth the vapours to ascend from
the ends of the earth: he maketh lightnings with rain, and
bringeth forth the wind out of his treasures.
17 Every man is brutish by his knowledge; every founder is
confounded by the graven image: for his molten image is
falsehood, and there is no breath in them.
18 They are vanity, the work of errors: in the time of their
visitation they shall perish.
19 The portion of Jacob is not like them; for he is the
former of all things: and Israel is the rod of his inheritance:
the LORD of hosts is his name.
20 Thou art my battle axe and weapons of war: for with thee
will I break in pieces the nations, and with thee will I destroy
kingdoms;
21 And with thee will I break in pieces the horse and his
rider; and with thee will I break in pieces the chariot and his
rider;
22 With thee also will I break in pieces man and woman; and
with thee will I break in pieces old and young; and with thee
will I break in pieces the young man and the maid;
23 I will also break in pieces with thee the shepherd and his
flock; and with thee will I break in pieces the husbandman and
his yoke of oxen; and with thee will I break in pieces captains
and rulers.
24 And I will render unto Babylon and to all the inhabitants of
Chaldea all their evil that they have done in Zion in your sight,
saith the LORD.
25 Behold, I am against thee, O destroying mountain, saith
the LORD, which destroyest all the earth: and I will stretch out
mine hand upon thee, and roll thee down from the rocks, and will
make thee a burnt mountain.
26 And they shall not take of thee a stone for a corner, nor a
stone for foundations; but thou shalt be desolate for ever, saith
the LORD.
27 Set ye up a standard in the land, blow the trumpet among the
nations, prepare the nations against her, call together against
her the kingdoms of Ararat, Minni, and Ashchenaz; appoint a
captain against her; cause the horses to come up as the rough
caterpillers.
28 Prepare against her the nations with the kings of the Medes,
the captains thereof, and all the rulers thereof, and all the
land of his dominion.
29 And the land shall tremble and sorrow: for every purpose of
the LORD shall be performed against Babylon, to make the land of
Babylon a desolation without an inhabitant.
30 The mighty men of Babylon have forborne to fight, they have
remained in their holds: their might hath failed; they became
as women: they have burned her dwelling-places; her bars are
broken.
31 One post shall run to meet another, and one messenger to
meet another, to shew the king of Babylon that his city is taken
at one end,
32 And that the passages are stopped, and the reeds they have
burned with fire, and the men of war are affrighted.
33 For thus saith the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel; The
daughter of Babylon is like a threshing-floor, it is time to
thresh her: yet a little while, and the time of her harvest shall
come.
34 Nebuchadrezzar the king of Babylon hath devoured me, he hath
crushed me, he hath made me an empty vessel, he hath swallowed me
up like a dragon, he hath filled his belly with my delicates, he
hath cast me out.
35 The violence done to me and to my flesh be upon Babylon,
shall the inhabitant of Zion say; and my blood upon the
inhabitants of Chaldea, shall Jerusalem say.
36 Therefore thus saith the LORD; Behold, I will plead thy
cause, and take vengeance for thee; and I will dry up her sea,
and make her springs dry.
37 And Babylon shall become heaps, a dwelling-place for dragons,
an astonishment, and a hissing, without an inhabitant.
38 They shall roar together like lions: they shall yell as
lions' whelps.
39 In their heat I will make their feasts, and I will make them
drunken, that they may rejoice, and sleep a perpetual sleep, and
not wake, saith the LORD.
40 I will bring them down like lambs to the slaughter, like
rams with he goats.
41 How is Sheshach taken! and how is the praise of the whole
earth surprised! how is Babylon become an astonishment among the
nations!
42 The sea is come up upon Babylon: she is covered with the
multitude of the waves thereof.
43 Her cities are a desolation, a dry land, and a wilderness, a
land wherein no man dwelleth, neither doth any son of man pass
thereby.
44 And I will punish Bel in Babylon, and I will bring forth out
of his mouth that which he hath swallowed up: and the nations
shall not flow together any more unto him: yea, the wall of
Babylon shall fall.
45 My people, go ye out of the midst of her, and deliver ye
every man his soul from the fierce anger of the LORD.
46 And lest your heart faint, and ye fear for the rumour that
shall be heard in the land; a rumour shall both come one year,
and after that in another year shall come a rumour, and
violence in the land, ruler against ruler.
47 Therefore, behold, the days come, that I will do judgment
upon the graven images of Babylon: and her whole land shall be
confounded, and all her slain shall fall in the midst of her.
48 Then the heaven and the earth, and all that is therein,
shall sing for Babylon: for the spoilers shall come unto her from
the north, saith the LORD.
49 As Babylon hath caused the slain of Israel to fall, so at
Babylon shall fall the slain of all the earth.
50 Ye that have escaped the sword, go away, stand not still:
remember the LORD afar off, and let Jerusalem come into your
mind.
51 We are confounded, because we have heard reproach: shame
hath covered our faces: for strangers are come into the
sanctuaries of the LORD's house.
52 Wherefore, behold, the days come, saith the LORD, that I
will do judgment upon her graven images: and through all her land
the wounded shall groan.
53 Though Babylon should mount up to heaven, and though she
should fortify the height of her strength, yet from me shall
spoilers come unto her, saith the LORD.
54 A sound of a cry cometh from Babylon, and great
destruction from the land of the Chaldeans:
55 Because the LORD hath spoiled Babylon, and destroyed out of
her the great voice; when her waves do roar like great waters, a
noise of their voice is uttered:
56 Because the spoiler is come upon her, even upon Babylon,
and her mighty men are taken, every one of their bows is broken:
for the LORD God of recompences shall surely requite.
57 And I will make drunk her princes, and her wise men, her
captains, and her rulers, and her mighty men: and they shall
sleep a perpetual sleep, and not wake, saith the King, whose name
is the LORD of hosts.
58 Thus saith the LORD of hosts; The broad walls of Babylon
shall be utterly broken, and her high gates shall be burned with
fire; and the people shall labour in vain, and the folk in the
fire, and they shall be weary.
The particulars of this copious prophecy are dispersed and interwoven,
and the same things left and returned to so often that it could not
well be divided into parts, but we must endeavor to collect them under
their proper heads. Let us then observe here,
I. An acknowledgment of the great pomp and power that Babylon had been
in and the use that God in his providence had made of it
(Jeremiah 51:7):
Babylon hath been a golden cup, a rich and glorious empire, a
golden city
(Isaiah 14:4),
a head of gold
(Daniel 2:38),
filled with all good things, as a cup with wine. Nay, she had been a
golden cup in the Lord's hand; he had in a particular manner filled
and favoured her with blessings; he had made the earth drunk with
this cup; some were intoxicated with her pleasures and debauched by
her, others intoxicated with her terrors and destroyed by her. In both
senses the New-Testament Babylon is said to have made the kings of the
earth drunk,
Revelation 17:2,18:3.
Babylon had also been God's battle-axe; it was so at this time,
when Jeremiah prophesied, and was likely to be yet more so,
Jeremiah 51:20.
The forces of Babylon were God's weapons of war, tools in his
hand, with which he broke in pieces, and knocked down, nations and
kingdoms,--horses and chariots, which are so much the
strength of kingdoms
(Jeremiah 51:21),--
man and woman, young and old, with which kingdoms are
replenished
(Jeremiah 51:22),--
the shepherd and his flock, the husbandman and his oxen, with
which kingdoms are maintained and supplied,
Jeremiah 51:23.
Such havoc as this the Chaldeans had made when God employed them as
instruments of his wrath for the chastising of the nations; and yet now
Babylon itself must fall. Note, Those that have carried all before them
a great while will yet at length meet with their match, and their day
also will come to fall; the rod will itself be thrown into the fire at
last. Nor can any think it will exempt them from God's judgments that
they have been instrumental in executing his judgments on others.
II. A just complaint made of Babylon, and a charge drawn up against her
by the Israel of God.
1. She is complained of for her incorrigible wickedness
(Jeremiah 51:9):
We would have healed Babylon, but she is not healed. The people
of God that were captives among the Babylonians endeavoured, according
to the instructions given them
(Jeremiah 10:11),
to convince them of the folly of their idolatry, but they could not do
it; still they doted as much as ever upon their graven images, and
therefore the Israelites resolved to quit them and go to their own
country. Yet some understand this as spoken by the forces they had
hired for their assistance, declaring that they had done their best to
save her from ruin, but that it was all to no purpose, and therefore
they might as well go home to their respective countries; "for her
judgment reaches unto heaven, and it is in vain to withstand it or
think to avert it."
2. She is complained of for her inveterate malice against Israel.
Other nations had been hardly used by the Chaldeans, but Israel only
complains to God of it, and with confidence appeals to him
(Jeremiah 51:34,35):
"The king of Babylon has devoured me, and crushed me, and never
thought he could do enough ruin to me; he has emptied me of all
that was valuable, has swallowed me up as a dragon, or whale,
swallows up the little fish by shoals; he has filled his belly,
filled his treasures, with my delicates, with all my pleasant
things, and has cast me out, cast me away as a vessel in
which there is no pleasure; and now let them be accountable for all
this." Zion and Jerusalem shall say, "Let the violence done
to me and my children, that are my own flesh, and
pieces of myself, and all the blood of my people, which they have shed
like water, be upon them; let the guilt of it lie upon them, and
let it be required at their hands." Note, Ruin is not far off from
those that lie under the guilt of wrong done to God's people.
III. Judgment given upon this appeal by the righteous Judge of heaven
and earth, on behalf of Israel against Babylon. He sits in the
throne judging right, is ready to receive complaints, and answers
(Jeremiah 51:36):
"I will plead thy cause. Leave it with me; I will in due time
plead it effectually and take vengeance for thee, and every drop
of Jerusalem's blood shall be accounted for with interest." Israel and
Judah seemed to have been neglected and forgotten, but God had an eye
to them,
Jeremiah 51:5.
It is true their land was filled with sin against the Holy One of
Israel. They were a provoking people and their sings were a great
offence to God, as a holy God, and as their God, their Holy One; and
therefore he justly delivered them up into the hands of their enemies,
and might justly have abandoned them and left them to perish in their
hands; but God deals better with them than they deserve, and,
notwithstanding their iniquities and his severities, Israel is not
forsaken, is not cast off, though he be cast out, but is owned and
looked after by his God, by the Lord of hosts. God is his God still,
and will act for him as the Lord of hosts, a God of power. Note, Though
God's people may have broken his laws and fallen under his rebukes, yet
it does not therefore follow that they are thrown out of covenant; but
God's care of them and love to them will flourish again,
Psalms 89:30-33.
The Chaldeans thought they should never be called to an account for
what they had done against God's Israel; but there is a time
fixed for vengeance,
Jeremiah 51:6.
We cannot expect it should come sooner than the time fixed, but then it
will come; he will render unto Babylon a recompence, for the
avenging of Israel is the vengeance of the Lord, who espouses
their cause; it is the vengeance of his temple,
Jeremiah 51:11,
as before,
Jeremiah 50:28.
The Lord God of recompences, the God to whom vengeance
belongs, will surely requite
(Jeremiah 51:56),
will pay them home; he will render unto Babylon all the evil they
have done in Zion
(Jeremiah 51:24);
he will return it in the sight of his people. They shall have
the satisfaction to see their cause pleaded with jealousy. They shall
not only live to see those judgments brought upon Babylon, but they
shall plainly see them to be the punishment of the wrong they have done
to Zion; any man may see it, and say, Verily there is a God that
judges in the earth; for just as Babylon has caused the slain of
Israel to fall, has not only slain those that were found in arms,
but all without distinction, even all the land (almost all were
put to the sword), so at Babylon shall fall the slain not only
of the city, but of all the country,
Jeremiah 51:49.
Cyrus shall measure to the Chaldeans the same that they measured to the
Jews, so that every observer may discern that God is recompensing them
for what they did against his people; but Zion's children shall in a
particular manner triumph in it
(Jeremiah 51:10):
The Lord has brought forth our righteousness; he has appeared in
our behalf against those that dealt unjustly with us, and has given us
redress; he has also made it to appear that he is reconciled to us and
that we are yet in his eyes a righteous nation. Let it therefore
be spoken of to his praise: Come and let us declare in Zion the work
of the Lord our God, that others may be invited to join with us in
praising him.
IV. A declaration of the greatness and sovereignty of that God who
espouses Zion's cause and undertakes to reckon with this proud and
potent enemy,
Jeremiah 51:14.
It is the Lord of hosts that has said it, that has sworn
it, has sworn it by himself (for he could swear by no
greater), that he will fill Babylon with vast and incredible numbers of
the enemy's forces, will fill it with men as with caterpillars,
that shall overpower it will multitudes, and need only to lift up a
shout against it, for that shall be so terrible as to dispirit all
the inhabitants and make them an easy prey to this numerous army. But
who, and where, is he that can break so powerful a kingdom as Babylon?
The prophet gives an account of him from the description he had
formerly given of him, and of his sovereignty and victory over all
pretenders
(Jeremiah 10:12-16),
which was there intended for the conviction of the Babylonian idolaters
and the confirmation of God's Israel in the faith and worship of the
God of Israel; and it is here repeated to show that God will convince
those by his judgments who would not be convinced by his word that he
is God over all. Let not any doubt but that he who has
determined to destroy Babylon is able to make his words good, for,
1. He is the God that made the world
(Jeremiah 51:15),
and therefore nothing is too hard for him to do; it is in his name that
our help stands, and on him our hope is built.
2. He has the command of all the creatures that he has made
(Jeremiah 51:16);
his providence is a continued creation. He has wind and rain at
his disposal. If he speak the word, there is a multitude of waters
in the heavens (and it is a wonder how they hang there), fed by
vapours out of the earth, and it is a wonder how they ascend
thence. Lightnings and rain seem contraries, as fire and water,
and yet they are produced together; and the wind, which seems arbitrary
in its motions, and we know not whence it comes, is yet, we are
sure, brought out of his treasuries.
3. The idols that oppose the accomplishment of his word are a mere sham
and their worshippers brutish people,
Jeremiah 51:17,18.
The idols are falsehood, they are vanity, they are the work of
errors; when they come to be visited (to be examined and enquired
into) they perish, that is, their reputation sinks and they
appear to be nothing; and those that make them are like unto
them. But between the God of Israel and these gods of the heathen
there is no comparison
(Jeremiah 51:19):
The portion of Jacob is not like them; the God who speaks this
and will do it is the former of all things and the Lord of
all hosts, and therefore can do what he will; and there is a near
relation between him and his people, for he is their portion and
they are his; they put a confidence in him as their portion and he is
pleased to take a complacency in them and a particular care of them as
the lot of his inheritance; and therefore he will do what is
best for them. The repetition of these things here, which were said
before, intimates both the certainty and the importance of them, and
obliges us to take special notice of them; God hath spoken once;
yea, twice have we heard this, that power belongs to God, power to
destroy the most formidable enemies of his church; and if God thus
speak once, yea, twice, we are inexcusable if we do not perceive
it and attend to it.
V. A description of the instruments that are to be employed in this
service. God has raised up the spirit of the kings of the Medes
(Jeremiah 51:11),
Darius and Cyrus, who come against Babylon by a divine instinct; for
God's device is against Babylon to destroy it. They do it, but
God devised it, he designed it; they are but accomplishing his purpose,
and acting as he directed. Note, God's counsel shall stand, and
according to it all hearts shall move. Those whom God employs against
Babylon are compared
(Jeremiah 51:1)
to a destroying wind, which either by its coldness blasts the
fruits of the earth or by its fierceness blows down all before it. This
wind is brought out of God's treasuries
(Jeremiah 51:16),
and it is here said to be raised up against those that dwell in the
midst of the Chaldeans, those of other nations that inhabit among
them and are incorporated with them. The Chaldeans rise up against God
by falling down before idols, and against them God will raise up
destroyers, for he will be too hard for those that contend with him.
These enemies are compared to fanners
(Jeremiah 51:2),
who shall drive them away as chaff is driven away by the fan.
The Chaldeans had been fanners to winnow God's people
(Jeremiah 15:7)
and to empty them, and now they shall themselves be in like manner
despoiled and dispersed.
VI. An ample commission given them to destroy and lay all waste. Let
them bend their bow against the archers of the Chaldeans
(Jeremiah 51:3)
and not spare her young men, but utterly destroy them,
for the Lord has both devised and done what he spoke against
Babylon,
Jeremiah 51:12.
This may animate the instruments he employs, but assuring them of
success. The methods they take are such as God has devised and
therefore they shall surely prosper; what he has spoken shall be done,
for he himself will do it; and therefore let all necessary preparations
be made. This they are called to,
Jeremiah 51:27,28.
Let a standard be set up, under which to enlist soldiers for
this expedition; let a trumpet be blown to call men together to
it and animate them in it; let the nations, out of which Cyrus's army
is to be raised, prepare their recruits; let the kingdoms of
Ararat, and Minni, and Ashkenaz, of Armenia, both the
higher and the lower, and of Ascania, about Phrygia and Bithynia, send
in their quota of men for his service; let general officers be
appointed and the cavalry advance; let the horses come up in great
numbers, as the caterpillars, and come, like them, leaping
and pawing in the valley; let them lay the country waste, as
caterpillars do
(Joel 1:4),
especially rough caterpillars; let the kings and captains prepare
nations against Babylon, for the service is great and there is occasion
for many hands to be employed it.
VII. The weakness of the Chaldeans, and their inability to make head
against this threatening destroying force. When God employed them
against other nations they had spirit and strength to act offensively,
and went on with admirable resolution, conquering and to conquer; but
now that it comes to their turn to be reckoned with all their might and
courage are gone, their hearts fail them, and none of all their men of
might and mettle have found their hands to act so much as defensively.
They are called upon here to prepare for action, but it is ironically
and in an upbraiding way
(Jeremiah 51:11):
Make bright the arrows, which have grown rusty through disuse;
gather the shields, which in a long time of peace and security
have been scattered and thrown out of the way
(Jeremiah 51:12);
set up the standard upon the walls of Babylon, upon the towers
on those walls, to summon all that owed suit and service to that
mother-city, now to come in to her assistance; let them make the watch
as strong as they can, and appoint the sentinels to their respective
posts, and prepare ambushes for the reception of the enemy. This
intimates that they would be found very secure and remiss, and would
need to be thus quickened (and they were so to such a degree that they
were in the midst of their revels when the city was taken), but that
all their preparations should come to no purpose. Whoever will may call
them to it, but they shall have no heart to come at the call,
Jeremiah 51:29.
The whole land shall tremble, and sorrow (a universal
consternation) shall seize upon them; for they shall see both the
irresistible arm and the irreversible counsel and decree of God against
them. They shall see that God is making Babylon a desolation,
and therein is performing what he has purposed; and then the mighty
men of Babylon have forborne to fight,
Jeremiah 51:30.
God having taken away their strength and spirit, so that they have
remained in their holds, not daring so much as to peep forth,
the might both of their hearts and of their hands fails; they
become as timorous as women, so that the enemy has,
without any resistance, burnt her dwelling-places and broken
her bars. It is to the same purport with
Jeremiah 51:56-58.
When the spoiler comes upon Babylon her mighty men, who should make
head against him, are immediately taken, their weapons of war fail
them, every one of their bows is broken and stands them in no
stead. Their politics fail them; they call councils of war, but their
princes and captains, who sit in council to concert measures for the
common safety, are made drunk; they are as men intoxicated through
stupidity or despair; they can form no right notions of things; they
stagger and are unsteady in their counsels and resolves, and dash one
against another, and, like drunken men, fall out among themselves. At
length they sleep a perpetual sleep, and never awake from
their wine, the wine of God's wrath, for it is to them an opiate that
lays them into a fatal lethargy. The walls of their city fail
them,
Jeremiah 51:58.
When the enemy had found ways to ford Euphrates, which was thought
impassable, yet surely, think they, the walls are impregnable, they are
the broad walls of Babylon or (as the margin reads it), the
walls of broad Babylon. The compass of the city, within the walls,
was 385 furlongs, some say 480, that is, about sixty miles; the walls
were 200 cubits high, and fifty cubits broad, so that two chariots
might easily pass by one another upon them. Some say that there was a
threefold wall about the inner city and the like about the outer, and
that the stones of the wall, being laid in pitch instead of mortar
(Genesis 11:3),
were scarcely separable; and yet these shall be utterly broken,
and the high gates and towers shall be burnt, and the people
that are employed in the defence of the city shall labour in vain in
the fire; they shall quite tire themselves, but shall do no
good.
VIII. The destruction that shall be made of Babylon by these invaders.
1. It is a certain destruction; the doom has passed and it cannot be
reversed; a divine power is engaged against it, which cannot be
resisted
(Jeremiah 51:8):
Babylon is fallen and destroyed, is as sure to fall, to fall
into destruction, as if it were fallen and destroyed already; though
when Jeremiah prophesied this, and many a year after, it was in the
height of its power and greatness. God declares, God appears against
Babylon
(Jeremiah 51:25):
Behold, I am against thee; and those cannot stand long whom God
is against. He will stretch out his hand upon it, a hand which
no creature can bear the weight of nor withstand the force of. It is
his purpose, which shall be performed, that Babylon must be a
desolation,
Jeremiah 51:29.
2. It is a righteous destruction. Babylon has made herself meet for it,
and therefore cannot fail to meet with it. For
(Jeremiah 51:25)
Babylon has been a destroying mountain, very lofty and
bulky as a mountain, and destroying all the earth, as the stones
that are tumbled from high mountains spoil the grounds about them; but
now it shall itself be rolled down from its rocks, which were as
the foundations on which it stood. It shall be levelled, its pomp and
power broken. It is now a burning mountain, like Ætna and the
other volcanoes, that throw out fire, to the terror of all about them.
But it shall be a burnt mountain; it shall at length have consumed
itself, and shall remain a heap of ashes. So will this world be at the
end of time. Again
(Jeremiah 51:33),
"Babylon is like a threshing-floor, in which the people of God
have been long threshed, as sheaves in the floor; but now the time has
come that she shall herself be threshed and her sheaves in her; her
princes and great men, and all her inhabitants, shall be beaten in
their own land, as in the threshing-floor. The threshing-floor is
prepared. Babylon is by sin made meet to be a seat of war, and her
people, like corn in harvest, are ripe for destruction,"
Revelation 14:15,Mic+4:12.
3. It is an unavoidable destruction. Babylon seems to be well-fenced
and fortified against it: She dwells upon many waters
(Jeremiah 51:13);
the situation of her country is such that it seems inaccessible, it is
so surrounded, and the march of an enemy into it so embarrassed, by
rivers. In allusion to this, the New-Testament Babylon is said to
sit upon many waters, that is, to rule over many nations, as the
other Babylon did,
Revelation 17:15.
Babylon is abundant in treasures; and yet "thy end has
come, and neither they waters nor thy wealth shall secure thee."
This end that comes shall be the measure of thy covetousness; it
shall be the stint of thy gettings, it shall set bounds to thy ambition
and avarice, which otherwise would have ben boundless. God, by the
destruction of Babylon, said to its proud waves, Hitherto shall you
come, and no further. Note, if men will not set a measure to their
covetousness by wisdom and grace, God will set a measure to it by his
judgments. Babylon, thinking herself very safe and very great, was
very proud; but she will be deceived
(Jeremiah 51:53):
Though Babylon should mount her walls and palaces up to
heaven, and though (because what is high is apt to totter) she
should take care to fortify the height of her strength, yet all
will not do; God will send spoilers against her, that shall break
through her strength and bring down her height.
4. It is a gradual destruction, which, if they had pleased, they might
have foreseen and had warning of; for
(Jeremiah 51:46)
"A rumor will come one year that Cyrus is making vast
preparations for war, and after that, in another year, shall come a
rumour that his design is upon Babylon, and he is steering his
course that way;" so that when he was a great way off they might have
sent and desired conditions of peace; but they were too proud, too
secure, to do that, and their hearts were hardened to their
destruction.
5. Yet, when it comes, it is a surprising destruction: Babylon has
suddenly fallen
(Jeremiah 51:8);
the destruction came upon them when they did not think of it and was
perfected in a little time, as that of the New-Testament Babylon--in
one hour,
Revelation 18:17.
The king of Babylon, who should have been observing the approaches of
the enemy, was himself at such a distance from the place where the
attack was made that it was a great while ere he had notice that the
city was taken; so that those who were posted near the place sent one
messenger, one courier, after another, with advice of it,
Jeremiah 51:31.
The foot-posts shall meet at the court from several quarters with this
intelligence to the king of Babylon that his city is taken at one
end, and there is nothing to obstruct the progress of the
conquerors, but they will be at the other end quickly. They are to
tell him that the enemy has seized the passes
(Jeremiah 51:32),
the forts or blockades upon the river, and that, having got over the
river, he has set fire to the reeds on the river side, to alarm and
terrify the city, so that all the men of war are affrighted and have
thrown down their arms and surrendered at discretion. The messengers
come, like Job's, one upon the heels of another, with these tidings,
which are immediately confirmed with a witness by the enemies' being in
the palace and slaying the king himself,
Daniel 5:30.
That profane feast which they were celebrating at the very time when
the city was taken, which was both an evidence of their strange
security and a great advantage to the enemy, seems here to be referred
to
(Jeremiah 51:38,39):
They shall roar together like lions, as men in their revels do,
when the wine has got into their heads. They call it singing;
but in scripture-language, and in the language of sober men, it is
called yelling like lions' whelps. It is probable that they were
drinking confusion to Cyrus and his army with loud huzzas. Well, says
God, in their heat, when they are inflamed
(Isaiah 5:11)
and their heads are hot with hard drinking, I will make their
feasts, I will give them their portion. They have passed
their cup round; now the cup of the Lord's right hand shall be
turned unto them
(Habakkuk 2:15,16),
a cup of fury, which shall make them drunk that they may rejoice
(or rather that they may revel it) and sleep a perpetual
sleep; let them be as merry as they can with that bitter cup, but
it shall lay them to sleep never to wake more (as
Jeremiah 51:57);
for on that night, in the midst of the jollity, was
Belshazzar slain.
6. It is to be a universal destruction. God will make thorough work of
it; for, as he will perform what he has purposed, so he will perfect
what he has begun. The slain shall fall in great abundance
throughout the land of the Chaldeans; multitudes shall be
thrust through in her streets,
Jeremiah 51:4.
They are brought down like lambs to the slaughter
(Jeremiah 51:40),
in such great numbers, so easily, and the enemies make no more of
killing them than the butcher does of killing lambs. The strength of
the enemy, and their invading them, are here compared to an irruption
and inundation of waters
(Jeremiah 51:42):
The sea has come up upon Babylon, which, when it has once broken
through its bounds, there is no fence against, so that she is
covered with the multitude of its waves, overpowered by a
numerous army; her cities then become a desolation, an
uninhabited uncultivated desert,
Jeremiah 51:43.
7. It is a destruction that shall reach the gods of Babylon, the idols
and images, and fall with a particular weight upon them. "In token that
the whole land shall be confounded and all her slain shall
fall and that throughout all the country the wounded shall
groan, I will do judgment upon her graven images,"
v. 47
and again
Jeremiah 51:52.
All must needs perish if their gods perish, from whom they expect
protection. Though the invaders are themselves idolaters, yet they
shall destroy the images and temples of the gods of Babylon, as an
earnest of the abolishing of all counterfeit deities. Bel was the
principal idol that the Babylonians worshipped, and therefore that is
by name here marked for destruction
(Jeremiah 51:44):
I will punish Bel, that great devourer, that image to which such
abundance of sacrifices are offered and such rich spoils dedicated, and
to whose temple there is such a vast resort. He shall disgorge what he
has so greedily regaled himself with. God will bring forth out of his
temple all the wealth laid up there,
Job 20:15.
His altars shall be forsaken, none shall regard him any more, and so
that idol which was thought to be a wall to Babylon shall fall and fail
them.
8. It shall be a final destruction. You may take balm for her
pain, but in vain; she that would not be healed by the word
of God shall not be healed by his providence,
Jeremiah 51:8,9.
Babylon shall become heaps
(Jeremiah 51:37),
and, to complete its infamy, no use shall be made even of the ruins of
Babylon, so execrable shall they be, and attended with such ill omens
(Jeremiah 51:26):
They shall not take of thee a stone for a corner, nor a stone for
foundations. People shall not care for having any thing to do with
Babylon, or whatever belonged to it. Or it denotes that there shall be
nothing left in Babylon on which to ground any hopes or attempts of
raising it into a kingdom again; for, as it follows here, it shall
be desolate for ever. St. Jerome says that in his time, though the
ruins of Babylon's walls were to be seen, yet the ground enclosed by
them was a forest of wild beasts.
IX. Here is a call to God's people to go out of Babylon. It is their
wisdom, when the ruin is approaching, to quit the city and retire into
the country
(Jeremiah 51:6):
"Flee out of the midst of Babylon, and get into some remote
corner, that you may save your lives, and may not be cut off in her
iniquity." When God's judgments are abroad it is good to get as far as
we can from those against whom they are levelled, as Israel from the
tents of Korah. This agrees with the advice Christ gave his disciples,
with reference to the destruction of Jerusalem. Let those who shall
be in Judea flee to the mountains,
Matthew 24:16.
It is their wisdom to get out of the midst of Babylon, lest they
be involved, if not in her ruins, yet in her fears
(Jeremiah 51:45,46):
Lest your heart faint, and you fear for the rumour that shall be
heard in the land. Though God had told them that Cyrus should be
their deliverer, and Babylon's destruction their deliverance, yet they
had been told also that in the peace there of they should have
peace, and therefore the alarms given to Babylon would put them
into a fright, and perhaps they might not have faith and consideration
enough to suppress those fears, for which reason they are here advised
to get out of the hearing of the alarms. Note, Those who have not grace
enough to keep their temper in temptation should have wisdom enough to
keep out of the way of temptation. But this is not all; it is not only
their wisdom to quit the city when the ruin is approaching, but it is
their duty to quit the country too when the ruin is accomplished, and
they are set at liberty by the pulling down of the prison over their
heads. This they are told,
v. 50, 51:
"You Israelites, who have escaped the sword of the
Chaldeans your oppressors, and of the Persians their destroyers,
now that the year of release has come, go away, stand not still;
hasten to your own country again, however you may be comfortably seated
in Babylon, for this is not your rest, but Canaan is."
1. He puts them in mind of the inducements they had to return:
"Remember the Lord afar off, his presence with you now, though
you are here afar off from your native soil; his presence with your
fathers formerly in the temple, though you are now afar off from the
ruins of it." Note, Wherever we are, in the greatest depths, at the
greatest distances, we may and must remember the Lord our God; and in
the time of the greatest fears and hopes it is seasonable to
remember the Lord. "And let Jerusalem come into your mind.
Though it be now in ruins, yet favour its dust
(Psalms 102:14);
though few of you ever saw it, yet believe the report you have had
concerning it from those that wept when they remembered Zion;
and think of Jerusalem until you come up to a resolution to make the
best of your way thither." Note, When the city of our solemnities is
out of sight, yet it must not be out of mind; and it will be of great
use to us, in our journey through this world, to let the heavenly
Jerusalem come often into our mind.
2. He takes notice of the discouragement which the returning captives
labour under
(Jeremiah 51:51);
being reminded of Jerusalem, they cry out, "We are confounded;
we cannot bear the thought of it; shame covers our faces at the
mention of it, for we have heard of the reproach of the
sanctuary, that is profaned and ruined by strangers; how can we
think of it with any pleasure?" To this he answers
(Jeremiah 51:52)
that the God of Israel will now triumph over the gods of Babylon, and
so that reproach will be for ever rolled away. Note, The believing
prospect of Jerusalem's recovery will keep us from being ashamed of
Jerusalem's ruins.
X. Here is the diversified feeling excited by Babylon's fall, and it is
the same that we have with respect to the New-Testament Babylon,
Revelation 18:9,19.
1. Some shall lament the destruction of Babylon. There is the sound
of a cry, a great outcry coming from Babylon
(Jeremiah 51:54),
lamenting this great destruction, the voice of mourning, because the
Lord has destroyed the voice of the multitude, that great voice
of mirth which used to be heard in Babylon,
Jeremiah 51:55.
We are told what they shall say in their lamentations
(Jeremiah 51:41):
"How is Sheshach taken, and how are we mistaken concerning her!
How is that city surprised and become an astonishment among the
nations that was the praise, and glory, and admiration of the whole
earth!" See how that may fall into a general contempt which has been
universally cried up.
2. Yet some shall rejoice in Babylon's fall, not as it is the misery of
their fellow-creatures, but as it is the manifestation of the righteous
judgment of God and as it opens the way for the release of God's
captives; upon these accounts the heaven and the earth, and all that
is in both, shall sing for Babylon
(Jeremiah 51:48);
the church in heaven and the church on earth shall give to God the
glory of his righteousness, and take notice of it with thankfulness to
his praise. Babylon's ruin is Zion's praise.
The Prophecy Sent to the People.
B. C. 595.
59 The word which Jeremiah the prophet commanded Seraiah the
son of Neriah, the son of Maaseiah, when he went with Zedekiah
the king of Judah into Babylon in the fourth year of his reign.
And this Seraiah was a quiet prince.
60 So Jeremiah wrote in a book all the evil that should come
upon Babylon, even all these words that are written against
Babylon.
61 And Jeremiah said to Seraiah, When thou comest to Babylon,
and shalt see, and shalt read all these words;
62 Then shalt thou say, O LORD, thou hast spoken against this
place, to cut it off, that none shall remain in it, neither man
nor beast, but that it shall be desolate for ever.
63 And it shall be, when thou hast made an end of reading this
book, that thou shalt bind a stone to it, and cast it into the
midst of Euphrates:
64 And thou shalt say, Thus shall Babylon sink, and shall not
rise from the evil that I will bring upon her: and they shall be
weary. Thus far are the words of Jeremiah.
We have been long attending the judgment of Babylon in this and the
foregoing chapter; now here we have the conclusion of that whole
matter.
1. A copy is taken of this prophecy, it should seem by Jeremiah
himself, for Baruch his scribe is not mentioned here
(Jeremiah 51:60):
Jeremiah wrote in a book all these words that are here written
against Babylon. He received this notice that he might give it to
all whom it might concern. It is of great advantage both to the
propagating and to the perpetuating of the word of God to have it
written, and to have copies taken of the law, prophets, and epistles.
2. It is sent to Babylon, to the captives there, by the hand of
Seraiah, who went there attendant on or ambassador for king Zedekiah,
in the fourth year of his reign,
Jeremiah 51:59.
He went with Zedekiah, or (as the margin reads it) on the
behalf of Zedekiah, into Babylon. The character given of him is
observable, that this Seraiah was a quiet prince, a prince of
rest. He was in honour and power, but not, as most f the princes then
were, hot and heady, making parties, and heading factions, and driving
things furiously. He was of a calm temper, studied the things that made
for peace, endeavoured to preserve a good understanding between the
king his master and the king of Babylon, and to keep his master from
rebelling. He was no persecutor of God's prophets, but a moderate man.
Zedekiah was happy in the choice of such a man to be his envoy to the
king of Babylon, and Jeremiah might safely entrust such a man with his
errand too. Note, it is the real honour of great men to be quiet men,
and it is the wisdom of princes to put such into places of trust.
3. Seraiah is desired to read it to his countrymen that had already
gone into captivity: "When thou shalt come to Babylon, and shalt
see what a magnificent place it is, how large a city, how strong,
how rich, and how well fortified, and shalt therefore be tempted to
think, Surely, it will stand forever" (as the disciples, when they
observed the buildings of the temple, concluded that nothing would
throw them down but the end of the world,
Matthew 24:3),
"then thou shalt read all these words to thyself and thy
particular friends, for their encouragement in their captivity: let
them with an eye of faith see to the end of these threatening powers,
and comfort themselves and one another herewith."
4. He is directed to make a solemn protestation of the divine authority
and unquestionable certainty of that which he had read
(Jeremiah 51:62):
Then thou shalt look up to God, and say, O Lord! it is thou
that hast spoken against this place, to cut it off. This is like
the angel's protestation concerning the destruction of the
New-Testament Babylon. These are the true sayings of God,
Revelation 19:9.
These words are true and faithful,
Revelation 21:5.
Though Seraiah sees Babylon flourishing, having read this prophecy he
must foresee Babylon falling, and by virtue of it must curse its
habitation, though it be taking root
(Job 5:3):
"O Lord! thou hast spoken against this place, and I believe
what thou hast spoken, that, as thou knowest every thing, so thou canst
do every thing. Thou hast passed sentence upon Babylon, and it shall be
executed. Thou hast spoken against this place, to cut it off,
and therefore we will neither envy its pomp nor fear its power." When
we see what this world is, how glittering its shows are and how
flattering its proposals, let us read in the book of the Lord that its
fashion passes away, and it shall shortly be cut off and
be desolate for ever, and we shall learn to look upon it with a
holy contempt. Observe here, When we have been reading the word of God
it becomes us to direct to him whose word it is a humble believing
acknowledgment of the truth, equity, and goodness, of what we have
read.
5. He must then tie a stone to the book and throw it into the midst of
the river Euphrates, as a confirming sign of the things contained in
it, saying, "Thus shall Babylon sink, and not rise; for they
shall be weary, they shall perfectly succumb, as men tired with
a burden, under the load of the evil that I will bring upon
them, which they shall never shake off, nor get from under,"
Jeremiah 51:53,64.
In the sign it was the stone that sunk the book, which otherwise would
have swum. But in the thing signified it was rather the book
that sunk the stone; it was the divine sentence passed upon Babylon in
this prophecy that sunk that city, which seemed as firm as a
stone. The fall of the New-Testament Babylon was represented by
something like this, but much more magnificent,
Revelation 18:21.
A mighty angel cast a great millstone into the sea, saying, Thus
shall Babylon fall. Those that sink under the weight of God's wrath
and curse sink irrecoverably. The last words of the chapter seal up the
vision and prophecy of this book: Thus far are the words of
Jeremiah. Not that this prophecy against Babylon was the last of
his prophecies; for it was dated in the fourth year of Zedekiah
(Jeremiah 51:59),
long before he finished his testimony; but this is recorded last of his
prophecies because it was to be last accomplished of all his prophecies
against the Gentiles,
Jeremiah 46:1.
And the chapter which remains is purely historical, and, as some think,
was added by some other hand.
Matthew Henry "Verse by Verse Commentary for 'Jeremiah' Matthew Henry Bible Commentary".
.