“The Word that the Lord spoke against Babylon and against the land of the Chaldeans by Jeremiah the prophet. ‘Declare among the nations, proclaim, and set up a standard. Proclaim —do not conceal it—say, ‘Babylon is taken, Bel is shamed. Merodach is broken in pieces. Her idols are humiliated. Her images are broken in pieces.’” Jeremiah 50:1-2
“Declare among the nations, proclaim... proclaim... do not conceal it... BABYLON IS TAKEN. Bel and Merodach are two names for the same Babylonian god. “Bel” means “lord.” God connects the news of Babylon’s fall with the breaking of her idols. In Jeremiah 18:1-10, the Lord speaks of Himself as a potter who has the right to destroy a marred pot and reform the clay into a new pot. Babylon is broken. God is going to do a new work in the earth without her.
“For out of the north a nation comes up against her, which shall make her land desolate, and no one shall dwell therein. They shall move, they shall depart, both man and beast. In those days and in that time, says the Lord, the children of Israel shall come, they and the children of Judah together; with continual weeping they shall come, and seek the Lord their God. They shall ask the way to Zion, with their faces toward it, saying, ‘Come and let us join ourselves to the Lord in a perpetual covenant that will not be forgotten.’” Jeremiah 50:3-5
The Medes was the nation from the north of Babylon. King Cyrus brought the first wave of devastation. King Darius brought a second and even more thorough wave of destruction. He mercilessly slaughtered the inhabitants. He hung 4,000 nobles.
As this devastation takes places, Israel’s and Judah’s exiles will begin to weep and seek the Lord. They will want to return to the Promised Land. They are now willing to enter a perpetual covenant with the Lord. This is what the Lord was longing for way back in Jeremiah 2:2-3, where He said to them, “I remember you, the kindness of your youth, the love of your betrothal... Israel was holiness to the Lord.” Holiness means separated unto Him for a special purpose... set apart to be in a committed relationship with God.
In Acts 11:23, Barnabas exhorted the new believers in Antioch to cleave unto the Lord. Cleaving to someone is marriage language. In 2 Corinthians 8:5, Paul speaks of those who gave their selves to the Lord. The first commandment is to the love the Lord with all our being. This is what God wants. He wants to love us and be loved by us.
“My people have been lost sheep. Their shepherds have led them astray; they have turned them away on the mountains. They have gone from mountain to hill; they have forgotten their resting place. All who found them have devoured them; and their adversaries said, ‘We have not offended, because they have sinned against the Lord, the habitation of justice, the Lord, the hope of their fathers.’” Jeremiah 50:6-7
The previous shepherds of Israel and Judah did not guide the Lord’s flock to love Him and trust Him. Going from the mountain to the hill may refer to going from His commandments that were given to them on Mount Sinai to going to the groves on the hills where they worshiped idols. The shepherds failed to model how to rest in the Lord. They did not protect the sheep from false teaching. Those who hurt them felt justified in doing so because they had turned their back on the God.
“Move from the midst of Babylon, go out of the land of the Chaldeans; and be like the rams before the flocks. For behold, I will raise and cause to come up against Babylon an assembly of great nations from the north country, and they shall array themselves against her; from there she shall be captured. Their arrows shall be like those of an expert warrior; none shall return in vain. And Chaldea shall become plunder. All who plunder her shall be satisfied, says the Lord.” Jeremiah 50:8-10
The Lord tells His people to move away from Babylon. A very similar word appears in Revelation 18:4, “I heard another voice from heaven saying, ‘Come out of her, My people, lest you share in her sins, and lest you receive of her plagues.’” In the Book of Revelation, Babylon refers to an evil empire that enforces its agenda on the world. God promises to end that empire as well. In Jeremiah and Revelation, the downfall of Babylon precedes the Promised Land being restored.
“Because you were glad, because you rejoiced, you destroyers of My heritage, because you have grown fat like a heifer threshing grain, and you bellow like bulls, your mother shall be deeply ashamed. She who bore you shall be ashamed. Behold, the least of the nations shall be a wilderness, a dry land and a desert.” Jeremiah 50:11-12
The Lord is speaking to Babylon here. He is destroying her because she had a sinister joy in destroying His people. He appointed Babylon to humble His people but she went too far. She grew fat by exploiting them. Even the mothers of Babylon were ashamed of their behavior. The Lord prophesied that this great nation would become the least. She will dry up.
After the Lord has chastised His wayward people, He rescues them from Babylon. “While the enemies of Israel had been instruments of God, yet they had pursued their own selfish interests in self-aggrandizement, and now the Covenant God is ready to punish Babylon as He had punished Nineveh. Koldewey reports that the ruins of Babylon in many places were covered with forty to eighty feet of sand and rubble.” [2]
“Because of the wrath of the Lord she shall not be inhabited, but she shall be wholly desolate. Everyone who goes by Babylon shall be horrified and hiss at all her plagues.” Jeremiah 50:13
One planted seed doesn’t just yield one seed in return but a plant that produces many more seeds. Babylon was going to reap a great harvest of plagues. In Revelation 18:6, God speaks a similar word of the end times Babylon, saying, “Render to her just as she rendered to you, and repay her double according to her works; in the cup which she has mixed, mix double for her.”
“Put yourselves in array against Babylon all around, all you who bend the bow. Shoot at her. Spare no arrows, for she has sinned against the Lord. Shout against her all around. She has given her hand. Her foundations have fallen. Her walls are thrown down for it is the vengeance of the Lord. Take vengeance on her. As she has done, so do to her. Cut off the sower from Babylon, and he who handles the sickle at harvest time. For fear of the oppressing sword everyone shall turn to his own people, and everyone shall flee to his own land.” Jeremiah 50:14-16
In Ephesians 6:16, the Lord says to take up the shield of faith with which you will be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked one.” Without faith in God, there is no atonement for sin, and without forgiveness of sin, the devil feels free to fire arrows at people. The Babylonians had put their trust in the one who wanted to destroy them, that is, the devil.
Shouters were to shout at Babylon. God’s instructions to Babylon’s attackers was, “Take vengeance on her. As she has done, so do to her.” Only under the blood of Christ do we receive God’s grace which is much better treatment than we deserve. Revelation 18:2, 7 says, “Babylon the great is fallen, is fallen... In the measure that she glorified herself and lived luxuriously, in the same measure give her torment and sorrow.”
“Israel is like scattered sheep; the lions have driven him away. First the king of Assyria devoured him; now at last this Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon has broken his bones. Therefore thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: behold, I will punish the king of Babylon and his land, as I have punished the king of Assyria. But I will bring back Israel to his home, and he shall feed on Carmel and Bashan. His soul shall be satisfied on Mount Ephraim and Gilead. In those days and in that time, says the Lord, the iniquity of Israel shall be sought, but there shall be none; and the sins of Judah, but they shall not be found; for I will pardon those whom I preserve.” Jeremiah 50:17-20
Despite Israel’s short-comings, the Lord saw His people as a flock that had been scattered by a lion. It was time for God to punish those who mistreated them and bring the tribes back to their homeland. He prophesies of pardoning Israel’s and Judah’s sin. No sin would be found in them.
“Go up against the land of Merathaim, against it, and against the inhabitants of Pekod. Waste and utterly destroy them, says the Lord, and do according to all that I have commanded you.” Jeremiah 50:21
“Merathaim and Pekod were real locations in Babylon. Ironically, those place names sounded like the Hebrew words for ‘double rebellion’ and ‘punishment.’” [3]
“A sound of battle is in the land, and of great destruction. How the hammer of the whole earth has been cut apart and broken! How Babylon has become a desolation among the nations! I have laid a snare for you; you have indeed been trapped, O Babylon, and you were not aware. You have been found and also caught because you have contended against the Lord.” Jeremiah 50:22-24
“Babylon was used to doing the hammering, but the hammer itself would be pounded into submission. Babylon was also used to doing the trapping. But God said: “I set a trap for you, Babylon, and you were caught before you knew it. You were found and captured because you opposed the Lord.” [4]
“The Lord has opened His armory and has brought out the weapons of His indignation; for this is the work of the Lord God of hosts in the land of the Chaldeans. Come against her from the farthest border. Open her storehouses. Cast her up as heaps of ruins and destroy her utterly. Let nothing of her be left. Slay all her bulls. Let them go down to the slaughter. Woe to them! For their day has come, the time of their punishment. The voice of those who flee and escape from the land of Babylon declares in Zion the vengeance of the Lord our God, the vengeance of His temple. Call together the archers against Babylon. All you who bend the bow, encamp against it all around; let none of them escape. Repay her according to her work; according to all she has done, do to her; for she has been proud against the Lord, against the Holy One of Israel. Therefore her young men shall fall in the streets, and all her men of war shall be cut off in that day, says the Lord.” Jeremiah 50:25-30
Babylon ruled the world so the Lord speaks of opening up His armory and grabbing His weapons. Leveling evil global empires is God’s work. The Lord slays her bulls meaning her mighty men who used to bully the nations. Now, they are fleeing and describing what happened to them. God surrounds Babylon with archers. He orders them to shoot. She has been proud against the Lord, but she will be proud against Him no more.
“Behold, I am against you, O most haughty one! says the Lord God of hosts; for your day has come, the time that I will punish you. The most proud shall stumble and fall, and no one will raise him up; I will kindle a fire in his cities, and it will devour all around him.” Jeremiah 50:31-32
The Lord appoints an expiration date for Babylon’s use. In that day, even her most mighty men stumble and fall. Her capital city is burned to the ground.
“Thus says the Lord of hosts: the children of Israel were oppressed, along with the children of Judah; all who took them captive have held them fast; they have refused to let them go. Their Redeemer is strong; the Lord of hosts is His Name. He will thoroughly plead their case, that He may give rest to the land, and disquiet the inhabitants of Babylon.” Jeremiah 50:33-34
The Lord speaks of Babylon as a trapper who captured His people and held them captive. No manner of negotiations with her would convince her to let them go. But she underestimated the Redeemer’s love for Israel. She saw no worth in them, but they were the apple of God’s eye. The Lord took on the role of being Israel’s defense lawyer. He pled their cause. The Lord reversed their roles. Israel would enjoy freedom. Babylon would be ruled by others.
“A sword is against the Chaldeans, says the Lord, against the inhabitants of Babylon, and against her princes and her wise men. A sword is against the soothsayers, and they will be fools. A sword is against her mighty men, and they will be dismayed. A sword is against their horses, against their chariots, and against all the mixed peoples who are in her midst; and they will become like women. A sword is against her treasures, and they will be robbed.” Jeremiah 50:35-37
Who shall the sword of the Lord pursue? Pursue Babylon’s ruling class (the Chaldeans)! Pursue her common people. Pursue her politicians (princes and counselors). Pursue her soothsayers (cult leaders). Pursue her mighty men. Pursue her mobile militaries units (horses and chariots). Pursue her hired soldiers from other countries (mixed people). Pursue her financial reserves. The Lord’s sword would hit Babylon from every angle until she became very small.
“A drought is against her waters, and they will be dried up. For it is the land of carved images, and they are insane with their idols. Therefore, the wild desert beasts shall dwell there with the jackals, and the ostriches shall dwell in it. It shall be inhabited no more forever, nor shall it be dwelt in from generation to generation. As God overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah and their neighbors, says the Lord, so no one shall reside there, nor son of man dwell in it.” Jeremiah 50:38-40
Babylon was dried up before the flames of God’s judgment ignited her. She needed the living waters of God’s Spirit. In John 7:38, Jesus said, “He who believes in Me, as the Scripture has said, out of his heart will flow rivers of living water.” The Babylonians trusted in lifeless idols. Idols lack living water. John 7:39 says, “He spoke this [about living water] concerning the Spirit, whom those believing in Him would receive.” Idols have no water of God’s Spirit to give.
Psalm 106:36-37 associates idol worship with demon worship. “They served their idols, which became a snare to them. They even sacrificed their sons and their daughters to demons.” 1 Corinthians 10:20 is a second witness to this, “The things which the Gentiles sacrifice they sacrifice to demons and not to God, and I do not want you to have fellowship with demons.”
Babylon’s worship of idols yielded curses. They lost their minds. Their land was taken over by wild animals. As God overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah, He was about to overthrow them.
“Behold, a people shall come from the north, and a great nation and many kings shall be raised up from the ends of the earth. They shall hold the bow and the lance; they are cruel and shall not show mercy. Their voice shall roar like the sea; they shall ride on horses, set in array, like a man for the battle, against you, O daughter of Babylon. The king of Babylon has heard the report about them, and his hands grow feeble; anguish has taken hold of him, pangs as of a woman in childbirth.” Jeremiah 50:41-43
The Lord raised up a coalition of kings from the north of Babylon to execute His judgment on her. They had ample weapons. They were bloodthirsty. They were coming with a mighty roar of a wave to crush them. Even before they arrived, Babylon had become weak and fearful.
“Behold, he shall come up like a lion from the floodplain of the Jordan against the dwelling place of the strong; but I will make them suddenly run away from her. And who is a chosen man that I may appoint over her? For whom is like Me? Who will arraign Me? And who is that shepherd who will withstand Me?” Jeremiah 50:44
The king coalition of forces that comes against Babylon is as mighty as a lion, but the Lord will protect His people in the midst of Babylon. No one, not even a lion, can stand against the Lord.
“Therefore hear the counsel of the Lord that He has taken against Babylon, and His purposes that He has proposed against the land of the Chaldeans: surely the least of the flock shall draw them out; surely He will make their dwelling place desolate with them. At the noise of the taking of Babylon the earth trembles, and the cry is heard among the nations.” Jeremiah 50:45-46
The Lord brings down cruel empires. In Genesis 6:5, God destroyed the people whose thoughts were evil continually in the day of Noah. In Genesis 10:8-11, 11:1-9, God reduced Nimrod’s tower of Babel to rubble. In Revelation 18:8-10, God ends the last ungodly empire, “Therefore her plagues will come in one day—death and mourning and famine. She will be utterly burned with fire, for strong is the Lord God who judges her. The kings of the earth who committed fornication and lived luxuriously with her will weep and lament for her, when they see the smoke of her burning, standing at a distance for fear of her torment, saying, ‘Alas, alas, that great city Babylon, that mighty city! For in one hour your judgment has come.’”
“The story of the fall of Babylon in 539 B.C. is a remarkable one. The attack, which came from the northern side of the city, was made by a coalition of armies led by Cyrus the Persian.”
According to one account: “Cyrus made his successful assault on a night when the whole city, relying on the strength of the walls, had given themselves up to the riot and debauchery of a grand public festival, and the king and his nobles were reveling at a splendid entertainment.” Cyrus redirected the waters of a canal that flowed under Babylon’s wall to another direction. That canal became a road for his troops to enter the city and conquer it.
The contrast between Babylon’s ancient magnificence and its future desolation is great. This was quite a reversal. At the beginning of Jeremiah’s book, God brought charges against His people in Judea. By the end of the book, He has become their legal defender or advocate. He has gone from prosecuting attorney to defense attorney.” [5]
Who made the difference between Babylon and Israel? The Lord did! The Lord forgave Israel’s sins and gave Israel a new heart for Him. They professed that they wanted to be in a covenant relationship with Him once again. So, He brought them back to the Promised Land. All praise, glory and honor be to the Lord!
[1] Jeremiah 32:12; 36:4-26; 43:3; 45:1; 51:59
[2] Dr. Theo Laetsch, Bible Commentary Jeremiah, Concordia Paperback Edition, 1965, ©, pages 354-355
[3] Dr. Phillip Graham Ryken, Jeremiah and Lamentations from Sorrow to Hope, Crossway Books, Wheaton, IL, © 2001, p. 688
[4] Dr. Phillip Graham Ryken, Jeremiah and Lamentations from Sorrow to Hope, Crossway Books, Wheaton, IL, © 2001, p. 688
[5] Dr. Phillip Graham Ryken, Jeremiah and Lamentations from Sorrow to Hope, Crossway Books, Wheaton, IL, © 2001, p. 696-697
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