Jeremiah 50:38

lon, because an assembly of great nations are coming out of the north to desolate the whole land, Jer 50:8-10. Babylon, the hammer of the whole earth, the great desolator of nations, shall itself become a desolation on account of its intolerable pride, and because of the iron yoke it has rejoiced to put upon a people whom a mysterious Providence had placed under its domination, vv. 11-34. The judgments which shall fall upon Chaldea, a country addicted to the grossest idolatry, and to every species of superstition, shall be most awful and general, as when God overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah, Jer 50:35-40. Character of the people appointed to execute the Divine judgments upon the oppressors of Israel, Jer 50:41-45. Great sensation among the nations at the very terrible and sudden fall of Babylon, Jer 50:46. Verse 1 The Word that the Lord Spake Against Babylon - This is also a new head of discourse. The prophecy contained in this and the following chapter was sent to the captives in Babylon in the fourth year of the reign of Zedekiah. They are very important; they predict the total destruction of the Babylonish empire, and the return of the Jews from their captivity. These chapters were probably composed, with several additions, out of the book that was then sent by Jeremiah to the captives by the hand of Seraiah. See Jer 51:59-64. Verse 2 Declare ye among the nations - God's determination relative to this empire. Set up a standard - Show the people where they are to assemble. Say, Babylon is taken - It is a thing so firmly determined, that it is as good as already done. Bel - The tutelar deity of Babylon is confounded, because it cannot save its own city. Merodach - Another of their idols, is broken to pieces; it was not able to save itself, much less the whole empire. Her idols are confounded - It is a reproach to have acknowledged them. Her images - Great and small, golden and wooden, are broken to pieces; even the form of them no longer appears. Verse 3 Out of the north there cometh up a nation - The Medes, who formed the chief part of the army of Cyrus, lay to the north or north-east of Babylon. Shall make her land desolate - This war, and the consequent taking of the city, began those disasters that brought Babylon in process of time to complete desolation; so that now it is not known where it stood, the whole country being a total solitude. Verse 4 In those days, and in that time - In the times in which Babylon shall be opposed by the Medes and Persians, both Israel and Judah, seeing the commencement of the fulfilling of the prophecies, shall begin to seek the Lord with much prayer, and broken and contrite hearts. When the decree of Cyrus comes, they shall be ready to set off for their own country, deploring their offenses, yet rejoicing in the mercy of God which has given them this reviving in their bondage. Verse 5 Let us join ourselves to the Lord in a perpetual covenant - All our former covenants have been broken; let us now make one that shall last for ever. He shall be the Lord Our God, and We will no more worship idols. This covenant they have kept to the present day; whatever their present moral and spiritual state may be, they are no idolaters, in the gross sense of the term. The description that is here given of the state of this people, their feelings and their conduct, finely exhibit the state of real penitents, who are fervently seeking the salvation of their souls. 1. In those days when Jesus Christ is manifested in the flesh; and in that time, when through him is preached the remission of sins, and the people who hear are pricked in their conscience. 2. The children of Israel and the children of Judah together. - No distinctions being then felt or attended to; for all feel themselves sinners, who have come short of the glory of God. Even national distinctions and religious differences, which bind men fastest, and hold them longest, are absorbed in the deep and overpowering concern they feel for their eternal interests. 3. Going and weeping shall they go. - Religious sorrow does not preclude activity and diligence. While they are weeping for their sins, they are going on in the path of duty, seeking the Lord while he may be found, and calling upon him while he is near. 4. They shall ask the way to Zion. - Real penitents are the most inquisitive of all mortals; but their inquiries are limited to one object, they ask the way to Zion. What shall we do to be saved? How shall we shun the perdition of ungodly men, etc. 5. With their faces thitherward. - They have turned from sin, and turned To God. They have left the paths of the destroyer, and their hearts are towards God, and the remembrance of his name. Thus they are profiting by that light which has convinced them of sin, righteousness, and judgment. 6. Come, and let us join ourselves to the Lord. - Religion is a social principle, and begets a social feeling in the soul. No man who feels his own sore, and the plague of his heart, wishes to venture alone in the way to heaven. He feels he wants counsel, support, comfort and the company of those who will watch over him in love. Like David, the true penitent is a companion of all those who fear the Lord. These heavenly feelings come from one and the same Spirit, and lead to the same end; hence they say, - 7. Let us join ourselves to the Lord in a perpetual covenant. It is said, that to be undecided, is to be decided. They who are not determined to go to heaven, will never reach it. If the heart be not laid under obligation, it will do nothing. "I hope I am in earnest; I trust I shall be in earnest about the salvation of my soul, it is very proper I should be so;" and such like, show an irresolute soul. Such persons are ever learning, and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth. Let us therefore bind ourselves. We have trifled too long; been indecisive too long; have halted too long between two opinions. We know now that Jehovah is God; let us, therefore, enter into a covenant with him. Let this covenant be a perpetual one: let us not make it for a day, for any particular time, but for ever; and let it never be broken. Let our part be kept inviolable: we Are and Will Be thy people; and God's part will never fail, I Am and Will Be your God. The covenant requires a sacrifice. - Hence ברית berith signifies both. Christ crucified is the great covenant sacrifice. By him God becomes united to us, and through him we become united to God. Verse 6 My people hath been lost sheep - He pities them; for their pastors, kings, and prophets have caused them to err. They have gone from mountain to hill - In all high places they have practiced idolatry. Verse 7 Their adversaries said, We offend not - God has abandoned them; we are only fulfilling his designs in plaguing them. Verse 8 Remove out of the midst of Babylon - The sentence of destruction is gone out against it; prepare for your flight, that ye be not overwhelmed in its ruin. Be as the he-goats before the flocks - Who always run to the head of the flock, giving the example for others to follow. This may be addressed to the elders and persons of authority among the people. Verse 9 An assembly of great nations - The army of Cyrus was composed of Medes, Persians, Armenians, Caducians, Sacae, etc. Though all these did not come from the north; yet they were arranged under the Medes, who did come from the north, in reference to Babylon. Their arrows - They are such expert archers, that they shall never miss their mark. Verse 10 Chaldea shall be a spoil - She has been a spoiler, and she shall be spoiled. They had destroyed Judea, God's heritage; and now God shall cause her to be destroyed. Verse 11 As the heifer at grass - Ye were wanton in the desolations ye brought upon Judea. Verse 12 Your mother - Speaking to the Chaldeans: Babylon, the metropolis, or mother city, shall be a wilderness, a dry land, a desert, neither fit for man nor beast. Verse 15 Shout against her round about - Encompass her with lines and with troops; let none go in with relief, none come out to escape from her ruin. Verse 16 Cut off the sower - Destroy the gardens and the fields, that there may be neither fruits nor tillage. Verse 17 Israel - All the descendants of Jacob have been harassed and spoiled, first by the Assyrians, and afterwards by the Chaldeans. They acted towards them as a lion to a sheep which he has caught; first he devours all the flesh, next he breaks all the bones to extract the marrow. Verse 18 As I have punished the king of Assyria - The Assyrians were overthrown by the Medes and the Chaldeans. The king is here taken for all their kings, generals, etc., Tiglath-pileser, Shalmaneser, Sennacherib, Esar-haddon, etc. To them succeeded the Chaldean or Babylonish kings. Nebuchadnezzar came against Judea several times; and at last took the city and burnt it, profaned and demolished the temple, wasted the land, and carried the princes and people into captivity. Verse 19 I will bring Israel again - This seems to refer wholly to the ten tribes; for Carmel, Bashan, Mount Ephraim, and Gilead, were in their territories. Verse 20 In those days and in that time - This phrase appears to take in the whole of an epoch, from its commencement to its end. See Jer 50:4. I will pardon them - So as to deliver them from their captivity, and exact no more punishment from them whom I reserve, namely, the remnant left in the Babylonish captivity. Verse 21 Go up against the land of Merathaim - and against the inhabitants of Pekod - No such places as these are to be found any where else; and it is not likely that places are at all meant. The ancient Versions agree in rendering the first as an appellative, and the last as a verb, except the Chaldee, which has Pekod as a proper name. Dr. Blayney translates: - "Against the land of bitternesses, go up: Upon it, and upon its inhabitants, visit, O sword!" Dr. Dahler renders thus: - "March against the country doubly rebellious, And against its inhabitants worthy of punishment." The latter of these two versions I take to be the most literal. The words are addressed to the Medes and Persians; and the country is Chaldea, doubly rebellious by its idolatry and its insufferable pride. In these two, it was exceeded by no other land. Verse 23 The hammer of the whole earth - Nebuchadnezzar dashed to pieces the nations against whom he warred. He was the scourge of the Lord. Verse 24 I have laid a snare for thee - It was not by storm that Cyrus took the city. The Euphrates ran through it; he dug a channel for the river in another direction, to divert its stream; he waited for that time in which the inhabitants had delivered themselves up to debauchery: in the dead of the night he turned off the stream, and he and his army entered by the old channel, now void of its waters. This was the snare of which the prophet here speaks. See Nerodotus, lib. i., c. 191. Verse 26 Open her store-houses - At the time that Cyrus took the city, it was full of provisions and treasures of all kinds; the walls had suffered no injury; and when the inhabitants heard that the enemy was within, they thought they must have arisen out of the earth in the center of the city! Verse 27 Slay all her bullocks - Princes, magistrates, etc., etc. Verse 28 Declare in Zion the vengeance of the Lord - Zion was desolated by Babylon; tell Zion that God hath desolated the desolator. The vengeance of his temple - Which Nebuchadnezzar had pillaged, profaned, and demolished, transporting its sacred vessels to Babylon, and putting them in the temple of his god Bel. Verse 29 Call together the archers - The preceding verses are the prediction: here, God calls the Medes and Persians to fulfill it. Verse 31 O thou most proud - זדון zadon. Pride in the abstract; proudest of all people. Verse 32 And the most proud - זדון zadon, as before. Here pride is personified and addressed, as if possessing a being and rational powers. Verse 34 Their Redeemer is strong - And it was not that he wanted power, and that Nebuchadnezzar had much, that Jerusalem was taken; but because the people had sinned, and would not return; and therefore national sins called for national punishments. These have taken place; and now the Lord of hosts shows them that the power of the Chaldeans is mere weakness against his might. Verse 35 A sword - War and its calamities, or any grievous plague; and so in the following verses. Verse 38 A drought is upon her waters - May not this refer to the draining of the channel of the Euphrates, by which the army of Cyrus entered the city. See on Jer 50:24 (note). The original is, however, חרב chereb, a sword, as in the preceding verses, which signifies war, or any calamity by which the thing on which it falls is ruined. Verse 39 The wild beasts of the desert - Dahler translates these various terms, "The wild cats, the jackals, and the ostriches." And Blayney the same. Wicklif, "Dragons, woodewoses, and ostriches." Coverdale, "Wild beestes, apes, and estriches." Verse 40 As God overthrew Sodom - As the very ground on which these cities stood, with all the plain, now lies under the Dead Sea; so Babylon and the adjacent country shall be rendered totally barren and unfruitful, and utterly incapable of being inhabited. And this is the fact concerning both countries. See Jer 49:18. Verse 41 Behold, a people shall come from the north - This and the two following verses are nearly the same with Jer 6:22-24. But here, destroyers against Babylon are intended; there, destroyers against Jerusalem. Verse 44 Behold, he shall came up like a lion - The same words as in Jer 49:19 (note), etc., where see the note. Verse 46 At the noise of the taking of Babylon - See the note on the parallel place, Jer 49:21 (note). In the forty-ninth chapter, these words are spoken of Nebuchadnezzar; here, of Cyrus. The taking of Babylon was a wonder to all the surrounding nations. It was thought to be impregnable. Introduction Sequel of the prophecies of Jeremiah against Babylon. The dreadful, sudden, and final ruin that shall fall upon the Chaldeans, who have compelled the nations to receive their idolatrous rites, (see an instance in the third chapter of Daniel), set forth by a variety of beautiful figures; with a command to the people of God, (who have made continual intercession for the conversion of their heathen rulers), to flee from the impending vengeance, Jer 51:1-14. Jehovah, Israel's God, whose infinite power, wisdom and understanding are every where visible in the works of creation, elegantly contrasted with the utterly contemptible objects of the Chaldean worship, Jer 51:15-19. Because of their great oppression of God's people, the Babylonians shall be visited with cruel enemies from the north, whose innumerable hosts shall fill th

The Judgment of Babylon. ( b. c. 595.) 33 Thus saith the Lord of hosts; The children of Israel and the children of Judah were oppressed together: and all that took them captives held them fast; they refused to let them go. 34 Their Redeemer is strong; the Lord of hosts is his name: he shall thoroughly plead their cause, that he may give rest to the land, and disquiet the inhabitants of Babylon. 35 A sword is upon the Chaldeans, saith the Lord , and upon the inhabitants of Babylon, and upon her princes, and upon her wise men. 36 A sword is upon the liars; and they shall dote: a sword is upon her mighty men; and they shall be dismayed. 37 A sword is upon their horses, and upon their chariots, and upon all the mingled people that are in the midst of her; and they shall become as women: a sword is upon her treasures; and they shall be robbed. 38 A drought is upon her waters; and they shall be dried up: for it is the land of graven images, and they are mad upon their idols. 39 Therefore the wild beasts of the desert with the wild beasts of the islands shall dwell there, and the owls shall dwell therein: and it shall be no more inhabited for ever; neither shall it be dwelt in from generation to generation. 40 As God overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah and the neighbour cities thereof, saith the Lord ; so shall no man abide there, neither shall any son of man dwell therein. 41 Behold, a people shall come from the north, and a great nation, and many kings shall be raised up from the coasts of the earth. 42 They shall hold the bow and the lance: they are cruel, and will not shew mercy: their voice shall roar like the sea, and they shall ride upon horses, every one put in array, like a man to the battle, against thee, O daughter of Babylon. 43 The king of Babylon hath heard the report of them, and his hands waxed feeble: anguish took hold of him, and pangs as of a woman in travail. 44 Behold, he shall come up like a lion from the swelling of Jordan unto the habitation 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 who is like me? and who will appoint me the time? and who is that shepherd that will stand before me? 45 Therefore hear ye the counsel of the Lord , that he hath taken against Babylon; and his purposes, that he hath purposed against the land of the Chaldeans: Surely the least of the flock shall draw them out: surely he shall make their habitation desolate with them. 46 At the noise of the taking of Babylon the earth is moved, and the cry is heard among the nations. We have in these verses, I. Israel's sufferings, and their deliverance out of those sufferings. God takes notice of the bondage of his people in Babylon, as he did of their bondage in Egypt; he has surely seen it, and has heard their cry. Israel and Judah were oppressed together, v. 33 . Those that remained of the captives of the ten tribes, upon the uniting of the kingdoms of Assyria and Chaldea, seem to have come and mingled with those of the two tribes, and to have mingled tears with them, so that they were oppressed together. They were humble suppliants for their liberty, and that was all; they could not attempt any thing towards it, for all that took them captives held them fast, and were much too hard for them. But this is their comfort in distress, that, though they are weak, their Redeemer is strong ( v. 34 ), their Avenger (so the word signifies), he that has a right to them, and will claim his right and make good his claim. He is stronger than their enemies that hold them fast; he can overpower all the force that is against them, and put strength into his own people though they are very weak. The Lord of hosts is his name, and he will answer to his name, and make it to appear that he is what his people call him, and will be that to them for which they depend upon him. Note, It is the unspeakable comfort of the people of God that, though they have hosts against them, they have the Lord of hosts for them and he shall thoroughly plead their cause, pleading he shall plead it, plead it with jealousy, plead it effectually, plead it and carry it, that he may give rest to the land, and to his people's land, rest from all their enemies round about. This is applicable to all believers, who complain of the dominion of sin and corruption, and of their own weakness and manifold infirmities. Let them know that their Redeemer is strong; he is able to keep what they commit to him, and he will plead their cause. Sin shall not have dominion over them; he will make them free, and they shall be free indeed; he will give them rest, that rest which remains for the people of God. II. Babylon's sin, and their punishment for that sin. 1. The sins they are here charged with are idolatry and persecution. (1.) They oppressed the people of God; they held them fast, and would not let them go. They opened not the house of his prisoners, Isa. xiv. 17 . This was God's quarrel with them, as of old with Pharaoh; it cost him dear, and yet they would not take warning. The inhabitants of Babylon must be disquieted ( v. 34 ) because they have disquieted God's people, whose honour and comfort he is jealous for, and therefore will recompense tribulation to those that trouble them, as well as rest to those that are troubled, 2 Thess. i. 6, 7 . (2.) They wronged God himself, and robbed him, giving that glory to others which is due to him alone; for ( v. 38 ) it is the land of graven images. All parts of the country abounded with idols, and they were mad upon them, were in love with them and doted on them, cared not what cost and pains they were at in the worship of them, were unwearied in paying their respects to them; and in all this they were wretchedly infatuated and acted like men out of their wits; they were carried on in their idolatry without reason or discretion, like men in a perfect fury. The word here used for idols properly signifies terrors—Enim, the name given to giants that were formidable, because they made the images of their gods to look frightful, to strike a terror upon fools and children. Their idols were scarecrows, yet they doted on them. Babylon was the mother of harlots ( Rev. xvii. 5 ), the source of idolatry. Note, It is the maddest thing in the world to make a god of any creature; and those who are proud against the Lord, the true God, are justly given up to strong delusions, to be mad upon idols that cannot profit. But this madness is wickedness, for which sinners will be certainly and severely reckoned with. 2. The judgments of God upon them for these sins are such as will quite lay them waste and ruin them. (1.) All that should be their defence and support shall be cut off by the sword. The Chaldeans had long been God's sword, wherewith he had done execution upon the sinful nations round about: but now, they being as bad as any of them, or worse, a sword is brought upon them, even upon the inhabitants of Babylon ( v. 35 ), a sword of war; and, as it is in God's hand, sent and directed by him, it is a sword of justice. It shall be, [1.] Upon their princes; they shall fall by it, and their dignity, wealth, and power, shall not secure them. [2.] Upon their wise men, their philosophers, their statesmen, and privy-counsellors; their learning and policy shall neither secure them nor stand the public in any stead. [3.] Upon their soothsayers and astrologers, here called the liars ( v. 36 ), for they cheated with their prognostications of peace and prosperity; the sword upon them shall make them dote, so that they shall talk like fools, and be as men that have lost all their wits. Note, God has a sword that can reach the soul and affect the mind, and bring men under spiritual plagues. [4.] Upon their mighty men. A sword shall be upon their spirits; if they are not slain, yet they shall be dismayed, and shall be no longer mighty men; for what stead will their hands stand them in when their hearts fail them? [5.] Upon their militia ( v. 37 ): The sword shall be upon their horses and chariots; the invaders shall make themselves masters of all their warlike stores, shall seize their horses and chariots for themselves, or destroy them. The troops of other nations that were in their service shall be quite disheartened: The mingled people shall become as weak and timorous as women. [6.] Upon their exchequer: The sword shall be upon her treasures, which are the sinews of war, and they shall be robbed, and made use of by the enemy against them. See what universal destruction the sword makes when it comes with commission. (2.) The country shall be made desolate ( v. 38 ): The waters shall be dried up, the water that secures the city. Cyrus drew the river Euphrates into so many channels as made it passable for his army, so that they got with ease to the walls of Babylon, which, if was thought, that river had rendered inaccessible. "The water likewise that made the country fruitful shall be dried up, so that it shall be turned into barrenness, and shall be no more inhabited by the children of men, but by the wild beasts of the desert, " v. 39 . This was foretold concerning Babylon, Isa. xiii. 19-21 . It shall become like Sodom and Gomorrah, v. 40 . The same was foretold concerning Edom, ch. xlix. 18 . As the Chaldeans had laid Edom waste, so they shall themselves be laid waste. (3.) The king and kingdom shall be put into the utmost confusion and consternation by the enemies' invading them, v. 41-43 . All the expressions here used to denote the formidable power of the invaders, the terrors wherewith they should array themselves, and the great fright which both court and country should be put into thereby, we met with before ( ch. vi. 22-24 ) concerning the Chaldeans' invading the land of Judah. The battle which is there said to be against thee, O daughter of Zion! is here said to be against thee, O daughter of Babylon! to intimate that they should be paid in their own coin. God can find out such as shall be for terror and destruction to those that are for terror and destruction to others; and those who have dealt cruelly, and have shown no mercy, may expect to be cruelly dealt with, and to find no mercy. Only there is one difference between these passages; there it is said, We have heard the fame thereof and our hands wax feeble; here it is said, The king of Babylon has heard the report and his hands waxed feeble, which intimates that that proud and daring prince shall, in the day of his distress, be as weak and dispirited as the meanest Israelites were in the day of their distress. (4.) That they shall be as much hurt as frightened, for the invader shall come up like a lion to tear and destroy ( v. 44 ) and shall make them and their habitation desolate ( v. 45 ), and the desolation shall be so astonishing that all the nations about shall be terrified by it, v. 46 . These three verses we had before ( ch. xlix. 19-21 ) in the prophecy of the destruction of Edom, which was accomplished by the Chaldeans, and they are here repeated, mutatis mutandis—with a few necessary alterations, in the prophecy of the destruction of Babylon, which was to be accomplished upon the Chaldeans, to show that though the distributions of Providence may appear unequal for a time its retributions will be equal at last; when thou shalt make an end to spoil thou shalt be spoiled, Isa. xxxiii. 1 ; Rev. xiii. 10 .

Dried - This phrase has a plain reference to Cyrus's stratagem used in the surprize of Babylon; one part of it was fortified by the great river Euphrates, which Cyrus diverted by cutting several channels, 'till he had drained it so low, that it became passable for his army; others think that a want of rain is here threatened.