In Jeremiah, prophecies concerning foreign nations come at the end of the book. In the other major prophets, Isaiah and Ezekiel, they come after oracles against Israel and or Judah and before oracles dealing with Israel's restoration. Oracles against foreign nations appear in every prophetical book except Hosea. Collections of them appear in Amos 1-2, Isaiah 13-23, Ezekiel 25-32, and Zephaniah 2:2-15, as well as here. Jeremiah follows a generally geographical order dealing first with a nation in the west and then moving east.542The fact that the prophets of Israel and Judah gave oracles about other nations reflects Yahweh's sovereignty over the whole world.
"The OAN [oracles against nations] had three main purposes: (1) to pronounce doom on a foreign nation, sometimes for mistreatment of Israel; (2) to serve as a salvation oracle or oracle of encouragement for Israel; (3) to warn Israel about depending on foreign alliances for their security . . .
"While in some OAN in the prophetic books foreign nations are condemned for their mistreatment of Israel and Judah, it is remarkable that, with the exception of the Babylon oracle . . ., none of the foreign nations in the OAN in Jeremiah is to be judged for such mistreatment. The oracles are not clearly nationalistically motivated, and thus it cannot be shown that they functioned primarily, if at all, as salvation oracles for Judah. In six of the oracles in Jer 46-49, no reasons are given for judgment. The language about destruction is not strident; it gives no hint of xenophobic hatred. . . ."543
By common scholarly consensus, these chapters contain some of the finest Hebrew poetry in the Old Testament.
This chapter on Egypt contains three separate prophecies that Jeremiah delivered about the fate of that nation. Their purpose seems to have been to discourage King Jehoiakim (609-598 B.C.) and the pro-Egyptian party in Judah from forming an alliance with Egypt.
The first prophecy announced Egypt's defeat at Carchemish (vv. 1-12).
46:1 This verse serves as a title for the whole section to follow (i.e., chs. 46-51; cf. 14:1; 47:1; 49:34).
46:2 This is a title verse for the subsection dealing with Nebuchadnezzar's defeat of Pharaoh Necho at Carchemish (lit. fort of Chemosh, the god of the Moabites) in 605 B.C. (vv. 1-12). Jeremiah's prophecy apparently came after Necho's defeat, but it is possible that the past tense describes the future as certain.
Egypt controlled Canaan and Aramea (Syria) during most of the second millennium B.C. until about 1200 when internal weakness resulted in her losing her grip. Assyria, then Babylonia, then Persia took over control of this region in turn. But Egypt was still a force to be reckoned with even after she lost the upper hand. One particularly strong Egyptian Pharaoh was Shishak (945-924 B.C.) who invaded Canaan (cf. 1 Kings 14:25-26). In 609 B.C. Pharaoh Necho II (ca. 610-594 B.C.) marched to Carchemish on the Euphrates River in northern Syria (modern Turkey). On the way, King Josiah opposed him, and Necho slew the Judean king (609 B.C., 2 Kings 23:29). Necho wanted to assist the Assyrians in defeating the young and threatening Neo-Babylonian empire, but the Babylonians, led by Prince Nebuchadnezzar, won the battle in 605 B.C. This is the victory that gave Babylonia sovereignty in the ancient Near East.
46:3-4 Jeremiah called the Egyptian infantry and cavalry soldiers to prepare for battle.
46:5 He soon expressed shock, however, at seeing the Egyptians terrified and retreating.544
46:6 He called the Babylonians not to allow any of the Egyptians to escape.
46:7-8 Jeremiah asked who this was who was trying to imitate the Nile river by overwhelming its enemy. Egyptian soldiers evidently thought of themselves as capable of arising in battle like the Nile River arose during flooding. Pharaoh's proud and unrealistic intent was to sweep the enemy away (cf. Isa. 8:7-8).
46:9 The Egyptians and their allies, the Ethiopians, Libyans (or possibly residents of modern Somalia), and Lydians (cf. Isa. 66:19; or North Africans, cf. Gen. 10:13; Nah. 3:9) pressed the battle (cf. Ezek. 30:5).545
46:10 The outcome of the battle was up to sovereign Yahweh, the God of armies. He would use it to accomplish a slaughter according to His will. Part of His vengeance may have been over Necho's killing of King Josiah. The "day"in view is the day God would judge the nation; it has no eschatological connotation.
46:11 The prophet counseled the wounded Egyptians to go to Gilead to obtain healing balm (cf. 8:22; 46:11; 51:8; Gen. 37:25), but she would not recover from the wounds Yahweh had allowed her to sustain. It was ironic that Egypt could not heal herself since she boasted the most advanced medical arts in antiquity. Comparing Egypt to a virgin stressed her vulnerable and pitiable condition (cf. 14:17; 18:13; 31:4, 21).
46:12 The nations had heard of Egypt's defeat and her cry as she sought to save herself.
The second prophecy predicted Nebuchadnezzar's conquest of Egypt (vv. 13-24).
Shortly after the battle of Carchemish, Nebuchadnezzar returned to Babylon for his coronation. His father Nabopolassar had died in August of 605 B.C. Almost immediately he returned to Palestine with his army to subdue Canaan. From there he moved west against Egypt about 568-567 B.C.
46:13 This is a title verse describing the prophecy about Nebuchadnezzar's invasion of Egypt that follows.
46:14 Warnings were to go out to the major cities of Egypt that the same army that had devoured nations around her was coming. The cities are the same as those mentioned in 43:7-9 and 44:1 where Judeans had fled for safety (cf. 2:16).
46:15-16 The Egyptian gods were unable to stand against the aggressor. The bulls of Egypt, symbols of the nation, its gods, and its leaders, were in humiliating retreat. The Lord had overthrown them repeatedly. The allies of Egypt would speak of going home.
"In this oracle it is deity against deity, bull against bull, king against king."546
46:17 The allies concluded that Pharaoh was nothing but talk since he had failed to defend his nation in a timely fashion.
"Hophra was a big noise who seemed adept at missing the appointed time [cf. 37:5-6]."547
46:18 The true King, Yahweh of hosts, promised that an enemy would come against Egypt, and it would be as imposing as a mountain. Mount Tabor, which stood 1800 feet tall and towered over the Jezreel Valley below, and Mount Carmel, which rose 1700 feet beside the Mediterranean Sea, were such mountains.
46:19 The Egyptians had better pack their bags because the enemy would destroy Noph (Gr. Memphis), the capital of Lower Egypt, and burn it down. The Babylonians did this to Jerusalem too.
46:20 The enemy from the north would attack Egypt and leave a wound, like a horsefly stinging a heifer. This may be an ironical poke at Egypt since one of its deities was Apis the sacred bull.
46:21 The mercenary soldiers that the Egyptians hired to help them would turn and run from the enemy like fat, pampered calves. They would die like sacrificial animals because the Lord would punish them too.
"The mercenaries mentioned were Ionians and Carians whom [Pharaoh] Psammeticus had hired, and had been retained by his successors."548
46:22 The enemy would advance against Egypt as relentlessly as an army of lumberjacks with axes, but Egypt would only be able to hiss like a snake at the foe. The snake was important in Egyptian religion and was a symbol of Pharaoh and the nation.
46:23 The innumerable enemy soldiers would cut down all the trees to use in their warfare against the Egyptians. Their coming would resemble an invasion of locusts.
46:24 Like a young girl taken captive against her will, Egypt would suffer shame when the power from the north conquered her.
The third prophecy against Egypt promised the humiliation of Egypt and the deliverance of Israel (vv. 25-28).
46:25 The sovereign Yahweh, Israel's God, announced that He would punish the gods, rulers, and people of Egypt. Amon was the chief deity of No (Gr. Thebes), the capital of Upper Egypt. Even though there is no historical evidence that Nebuchadnezzar advanced this far in his conquest of Egypt, his invasion affected the whole nation.
46:26 The Lord would hand the nation over to Nebuchadnezzar who would kill the people. The crisis would pass, however, and life would eventually return to normal (cf. 48:47; 49:6, 39; Isa. 19:19-25; Ps. 87:4). This occurred later in Egypt's history, and the promise probably anticipates Millennial conditions (cf. 48:47; 49:39).549
46:27 The Israelites should take courage because the Lord promised to save them from afar and to bring them back from their place of captivity. Contrary Jacob would return to his land and enjoy undisturbed security. The Israelites would experience restoration as well as the Egyptians (vv. 25-26; cf. 30:10-11; Isa. 41:8-13). As in the preceding verse, eschatological blessings are undoubtedly in view.
46:28 The Lord's servant Jacob should not fear because Yahweh would be with His people. He would punish the nations where He had sent them. He would not completely annihilate the Israelites but would punish them severely. Israel would have a bright future as a nation.
"It is important to note that nowhere in these oracles is there the suggestion that Egypt faced disaster because of her mistreatment of Israel/Judah. There is no expression of hatred or vengeance against Egypt, although satire, irony, and the taunt are fully in evidence. Egypt is judged for pride and aggression as is typical in other oracles concerning the nations. In fact it is doubtful that these oracles were intended for Egyptian ears. Rather the purpose of the oracles was to lead the kings of Judah away from dependence on Egypt and toward the acceptance of vassalage to Babylon so that the nation might live."550
It is not possible to date this oracle exactly, but Jeremiah evidently gave it sometime during Josiah's reign (640-609 B.C.; v. 1).
47:1 Jeremiah received a message from the Lord concerning the Philistines before Pharaoh conquered Gaza in 609 or 601 B.C.551The 609 B.C. date is more probable since we know that Nebuchadnezzar invaded Ashkelon in 604 B.C., and an invasion of that town was still in the future when Jeremiah gave this oracle (cf. v. 7).
47:2 An invader from the north would sweep in like a flood and overwhelm the land and Gaza. Everyone would bewail this situation. After the battle of Carchemish in 605 B.C. the likely invader would have been Babylon, but this oracle may date from before that battle.
47:3 The invading horses and chariots would so terrorize the people that parents would not even think to protect their children. They would be too concerned to find safety themselves in the panic.
47:4 The day would come when the Lord would use this enemy to destroy all the Philistines who had originally fled to Canaan from the islands of the northeastern Mediterranean, particularly Crete (cf. Deut. 2:23; Amos 9:7).552Yahweh would cut off Tyre and Sidon, north of the Philistine coast in Phoenicia, from all their allies. Perhaps Tyre and Sidon were allies of the Philistines at this time and therefore fell under their judgment.
47:5 Gaza and Ashkelon, in the southern part of Philistia, would suffer ruin, and the Philistines in that area would mourn and wail for a long time. Shaving the head and cutting oneself were signs of mourning (cf. 16:6; 41:5; 48:37).
47:6 Jeremiah called on the Lord to sheath His sword, to stop the slaying. The prophet did not relish the prospect of such a slaughter.
47:7 Then Jeremiah remembered that the Lord's sword (the invader from the north) had to continue to slay the Philistines until it had finished the job He had given it to do. Nebuchadnezzar may have fulfilled this prophecy in 604 B.C. when he destroyed Ashkelon.553It was the sacking of Ashkelon at this time that precipitated a fast in Jerusalem during Jehoiakim's reign, which led to the reading and burning of Jeremiah's scroll (cf. ch. 36).
"A Babylonian prism, now in Istanbul, mentions the presence--presumably with little choice in the matter--of the kings of Tyre and Sidon (cf. v. 4), of Gaza (5) and of Ashdod, at the court of Nebuchadrezzar; while a prison list now in Berlin records the rations for the king of Ashkelon (5), among other noted prisoners (including Jehoiachin of Judah)."554
This oracle is similar to the one in Isaiah 15 and 16.555Other oracles against Moab appear in Ezekiel 25:8-11, Amos 2:1-3, and Zephaniah 2:9, but this is the longest one. It is very difficult to say when Jeremiah gave this oracle, but it may have been one complete message.
"Moab joined in the marauding bands Nebuchadnezzar sent against Judah in 602 B.C., after Jehoiakim's revolt (cf. 2 Kings 24:2; Jer 12:7-13). They joined in a plot to revolt against Babylon early in Zedekiah's reign (cf. 27:1-11)."556
The oracle begins with a general prediction of Moab's destruction (vv. 1-10).
48:1 The Lord announced the destruction of two key cities in Moab, which was Judah's neighbor to the southeast, Nebo (Num. 32:3, 38) and Kiriathaim (Josh. 13:19).557Moab's boundaries were the Arnon River on the north, the Arabian desert on the east, the Zered River on the south, and the Dead Sea on the west. At various times Moab occupied territory to its north, in the old Amorite kingdom of Sihon (Num. 21:21-31).
48:2 Heshbon, the ancient capital of the Amorites (Num. 21:25-30), would be the place where an enemy would plan Moab's destruction. It stood at the northernmost boundary of Moab during periods of Moab's expansion.558Madmen, another important Moabite town two miles northwest of Rabbah, would be the victim of warfare.
48:3-5 The town of Horonaim would also experience great devastation. Moab's children would wail because of the calamity of battle. The hills near Luhith and Horonaim would witness the cries of their inhabitants. These sites were in southwestern Moab.
48:6 The Moabites would need to flee for their lives. They would be as rare, isolated, and forsaken as juniper trees in the desert, and their safety would lie in their isolation.
48:7 The reason for Moab's destruction was her self-confidence in her deeds and riches. Yet even she would undergo capture. Moab's chief god, Chemosh, would go into captivity along with his priests and the princes of the nation. It was customary for conquerors to carry images of the gods of the people they defeated (cf. 49:3; Isa. 46:1-2; Amos 5:25).
48:8 All the cities, the valley, and the plateau--in short, the whole nation--would fall before the coming enemy, as Yahweh predicted. The valley was the Jordan Valley in which Moab had holdings, and the plateau refers to the tableland from Aroer northward to Heshbon (cf. Josh. 13:15-17). Most of Moab stood on this fertile plateau.
"For defense, Moab had towering cliffs, and for wealth, her enormous flocks of sheep [cf. 2 Kings 3:4]; riches that were self-renewing. But the shelter of these things had bred more complacency than character."559
48:9 Moab needed wings since her people were bound to fly away into captivity and her cities would remain desolate. Another translation sees Moab sown with salt, a symbol of destruction in the ancient Near East (cf. Judg. 9:45), either to destroy Moab or to prepare it for the conqueror's occupation. Salt was an abundant material in Moab just east of the Dead (Salt) Sea.
48:10 The Lord uttered a curse on any of the soldiers that would not carry out His will against Moab as He had ordered. Christians often use this verse, appropriately, as a challenge to serve the Lord diligently. The last word in the AV rendering is "slackness."
The emphasis in the next section of the oracle is on the end of Moab's complacency (vv. 11-17).
48:11 The Lord compared Moab to a spoiled child and to wine that had not been poured from one container to another to remove its sediment.560Moab was famous for its wine production (cf. vv. 32-33; Isa. 16:8-11). Its peaceful history had made Moab complacent. It was so isolated geographically that it had not experienced the discipline of frequent invasions and captivity. God sometimes sends trouble to strengthen people.
"Readers of the missionary classic, Hudson Taylor in Early Years, may remember the apt heading, Emptied from Vessel to Vessel', to a chapter describing an unsettled but ultimately fruitful few months in the missionary's second year in China."561
48:12-13 However the days would come when the Lord would upset Moab's complacency. He would send judgment pictured in terms of foreign "tilters"who would decant her wine, prepare it for distribution, and destroy its casks. Then Moab would be disillusioned with Chemosh for not protecting her even as Israel had been ashamed of the idols she had worshipped at Bethel.
48:14-15 Moab would not be able to boast about her mighty warriors in that day because others would overcome them, slay her young men, and destroy the nation. The sovereign King, Yahweh of hosts, made this promise (cf. 46:18).
48:16-17 Moab's destruction would come soon, so all her neighbor nations should mourn her destruction (cf. Deut. 32; 35). They should bewail the fall of such a strong and splendid rule.
Jeremiah next focused attention on the catastrophe coming on Moab's cities (vv. 18-28).
48:18 The prophet called the residents of Dibon to humble themselves because the destroyer would ruin their strongholds.562
48:19-20 Jeremiah appealed to the inhabitants of Aroer to inquire from fleeing residents what had happened. The answer was that Moab had fallen and was, therefore, humiliated. The news would go out in the Arnon Valley, Moab's northern border. Aroer stood southeast of Dibon on the southern boundary of the old Amorite kingdom, which was the Arnon River (Judg. 11:18-19).
48:21-24 Jeremiah listed 11 other cities of Moab that would experience destruction representing all the towns in the nation.
48:25 Moab would lose its strength, as when an animal lost its horn or when a person broke his arm.
48:26 The nation would also become an object of ridicule, like a drunkard who wallows in his own vomit, because it became arrogant toward Yahweh. Implicit here is the idea of Moab drinking from the cup of Yahweh's wrath that produces drunkenness, staggering, insanity, and vomiting (cf. 25:15-29; 49:12-13; 51:6-10, 39, 57; Isa. 51:17-23; et al.). The nation had not humbled itself under Yahweh's sovereign authority, and now judgment would come.
48:27 Moab would become just as much a laughingstock to other nations as Israel had been to Moab when the Assyrians destroyed the Northern Kingdom. The Moabite had held the Israelites in contempt ever since that defeat.
48:28 The Moabites would head for the hills and hide in the caves in view of the coming destruction of their cities. They would try to hide anywhere.
"The reputed silliness of the dove with its rickety nests is proverbial."563
Moab's pride would finally come to an end (vv. 29-39).
48:29 The sins of Moab were well-known: haughtiness, pride, arrogance, and self-exaltation.
"The sin of pride is one of the principal reasons for Moab's downfall. Had she boasted in the righteous deeds of the Lord (cf. Pss. 20:7; 34:2; Je. 9:24) she would have prospered. The Christian must avoid all false pride (cf. Mk. 7:22; Rom. 1:30; Jas. 3:5, etc.), and must boast instead in God's redemptive work in Christ (I Cor. 1:29f.; Gal. 6:14, etc.), since every human boast has been destroyed in Him (I Cor. 1:25-30)."564
48:30 Moab's arrogant anger and baseless boasts would not save her from her judgment.
48:31-33 The prophet would mourn over Moab's fate and for the fate of her people even more than people had wept over the fate of the fall of the town of Jazar. The Israelites had taken Jazar, a town 10 miles north of Heshbon, during their conquest of Transjordan (cf. Num. 21:32). Apparently the mourning over that destruction, or a subsequent one, had become proverbial. Moab was famous for its vineyards and fruit trees. Jeremiah compared the destruction to come to the cutting back of Moab's renowned products and its resulting sadness. The shouting would not be the glad rejoicing of treaders of grapes but the cries of warriors bent on destruction. Moab's tendrils stretching across the (Mediterranean) sea pictures her international trade in wine.565
48:34 The Moabites in Heshbon, Elealeh, and Jahaz would mourn her destruction as would those in Zoar, Horonaim, and Eglath-shelishiyah. Even the waters near Nimrim, evidently one of Moab's more popular sites, would become desolate.
48:35 Yahweh promised to destroy Moab because of her idolatry.
48:36 Jeremiah continued to mourn over Moab's destruction. His mourning was like the sound of flute players in that it too sounded like wailing. The abundance of Moab's lost produce was good reason to sorrow.
48:37-38 When the nation fell there would be people expressing their grief in traditional ways everywhere. They would shave their heads, cut their beards short, cut their hands, and wear sackcloth around their hips (cf. 4:8; 16:6; 41:5; 1 Kings 18:28; Amos 8:10; Mic. 1:16). People would be lamenting on their housetops and in the streets--everywhere. Yahweh would destroy Moab as a person smashed an earthenware vessel that he or she no longer desired.
48:39 The nation would suffer defeat, the people would lament, the inhabitants would repent out of shame, and the kingdom would become an object of ridicule and a fearful prospect for onlookers.
The final section of the oracle stresses the full end of Moab (vv. 40-47)
48:40 Yahweh affirmed that like a swift eagle (or vulture) Moab's destroyer would descend on her. This was a fit figure for Nebuchadnezzar (cf. 49:22; Deut. 28:49).
48:41 The hearts of even mighty men in the nation would fail, like the heart of a woman in labor, at the news that Kerieth, one of the strongest of Moab's cities, and other strongholds, had fallen.
48:42 Moab would cease to exist as a nation because it had been arrogant toward Yahweh; it had not humbled itself under the sovereign Lord of all nations.
48:43-44 Escape would be unavoidable. If a person escaped one form of judgment, another one would get him. The Lord's devices would trap the people just as certainly as hunters used terror, pits, and snares to capture animals.566This would happen at the Lord's appointed time.
48:45 Fugitives of the invasion would huddle weak in the shadow of Heshbon, the ancient capital of Sihon, king of the Amorites, because of the devastation planned and executed from there (cf. v. 2). The invasion would rob Moab and its complacent revelers of their glory, as when fire burns someone's hair off.
48:46 Moab would experience woe. The people of Moab, their god Chemosh's people, would perish, and their children would go into captivity (cf. Num. 21:28-29; 24:17).
48:47 Yet Yahweh promised to restore the fortunes of Moab in the distant future (cf. 46:26; 49:6, 39). This happened after the Exile, and it will happen in the eschaton when modern residents of Moab's territory will stream to Jerusalem to worship Messiah in the Millennium.567
The reasons for Moab's judgment were not its treatment of Israel or Judah but hubris (overweening pride) against Yahweh (vv. 26, 42), complacency (vv. 11-12), and self-sufficiency (vv. 14, 29-30). She had not bowed in submission to the Lord of all the earth.
The fulfillment of this prophecy evidently came when Nebuchadnezzar returned to Canaan in 581 B.C. to quell a rebellion by Moab and Ammon. He also took more Judahites back to Babylon with him when he returned home (52:30).
"The Moabites were conquered by Nebuchadnezzar and disappeared as a nation."568
The Ammonites lived north of the Moabites, north of the Arnon River for most of their history, and east of the tribal territories of Gad and Reuben. However, the Ammonites had taken over some Israelite territory in Transjordan, and their borders to the north and south also changed from time to time. Ammon extended north to the Jabbok River and east to the Arabian Desert. The Ammonites, like the Moabites, descended from Lot, Abraham's nephew, and Israel's relations with both nations were normally unfriendly.569
49:1 The Lord asked why Malcam (lit. their king; Milcom or Molech, cf. 19:5; Deut. 12:31), the god of the Ammonites, had (from the Ammonites' viewpoint) taken over territory that formerly belonged to the tribe of Gad. Was it that there were no descendants of the Gadites to maintain control of it? No, they had not gained it by default but by stealing it from the Israelites. The Assyrians under Tiglath-pileser III had removed the Israelites from Transjordan in 734 B.C., and the Ammonites had moved into their territory then.
49:2 Because Ammon had taken over territory that Yahweh had given to His people, the Lord would send soldiers against the capital city, Rabbah (modern Amman, the capital of Jordan). He would destroy it and the other Ammonite towns and enable Israel to repossess what the Lord had given her.
49:3 The Ammonites in chief cities would mourn over the destruction of their other towns. Heshbon was normally a Moabite city, but at certain periods the Ammonites occupied it. This Ai must have been an Ammonite town; it could not be the Ai near Bethel in Cisjordan. The enemy would take images of Malcam into captivity along with the idol's priests and the princes of the nation (cf. 46:25; 48:7).570
49:4 Ammon's sins were her boasting over her natural resources (cf. 48:26, 29, 42), her material treasures that she had accumulated (cf. 48:7; 1 Tim. 6:17), and her security (cf. 48:11). Steep valleys surrounded remote Ammon on three sides. The people of Ammon, personified as a daughter, were slipping away from their secure position, as the water in their valleys flowed away.
49:5 Yahweh promised to terrorize the Ammonites with enemies that would attack from all directions (cf. v. 29; 6:25; 20:3-4, 10; 46:5). No one would be able to organize the fugitives because the scattering would be so great.
49:6 Later, however, Yahweh would restore the fortunes of the Ammonites. This occurred briefly after the Exile. Tobiah was a Persian governor of Ammon during the postexilic period (cf. Neh. 2:10, 19; 4:7). But restoration of this region will also take place in the Millennium (cf. 46:26-28; 48:47).
Nebuchadnezzar brought the Ammonites under his authority when he advanced into Palestine in 605 B.C. After that Ammon proved disloyal to Babylon in 594 B.C. (27:3) and in 589 B.C. (Ezek. 21:18-32). King Baalis of Ammon had some part in the assassination of Gedaliah (40:13-41:15). Because of these acts of unfaithfulness Nebuchadnezzar invaded Ammon, as well as Moab and Judah, in 581 B.C.571This weakened Ammon so much that Arab tribes were able to destroy her, along with Moab and Edom. By the middle of the sixth century B.C. Ammon had ceased to exist as an independent nation.
Some reasons for Yahweh's judgment on Ammon were her military aggression (v. 1) and her proud trust in her geographical situation and her treasures (v. 4).
The Edomites lived to the southeast of Judah, south of Moab. The Zered River was their northern border, the Gulf of Aqabah (about 100 miles to the south) the southern, the Arabah the western, and the desert the eastern borders. The Edomites were descendants of Esau, and a long history of antagonism with the Israelites that reached back to the days of Jacob and Esau and Israel's wilderness wanderings marked their relationship (cf. Num. 20:14-21; Judg. 11:17).
49:7 Teman (lit. south), a town in Edom about halfway between the Dead Sea and the Gulf of Aqabah, was famous for the wisdom of its inhabitants (cf. Job. 2:11; Obad. 8).572Yet the Edomites had not behaved wisely. The name of this town was a poetic equivalent for the whole nation (cf. Hab. 3:3), and it came from one of Esau's grandsons (Gen. 36:11).
49:8 The people would have to flee because the Lord was going to bring disaster on them. The oasis of Dedan lay in Edom's southeast region close to the Arabian Desert.
49:9-10 Grape pickers and thieves normally left some things behind, but Yahweh would leave no Edomites untouched by the judgment He would bring on this nation. He would remove every covering that protected all the people (cf. Obad. 5-6).
49:11 Yahweh, or perhaps a kindly survivor, promised to care for the widows and orphans left behind during the devastation of the nation.
49:12-13 The Edomites, who formerly had escaped divine judgment, would certainly experience the wrath of God. Bozrah, the capital and chief city in northern Edom, would become a horrible ruin and an embarrassment to the Edomites for their failure to save it, as would all the towns in the nation. People would say, May you become like Bozrah, when they cursed others.
49:14-15 Jeremiah had heard a message that Yahweh had sent out by messenger to the nations ordering them to prepare for battle against Edom. Yahweh would humiliate Edom among the nations and make her an object of contempt.
49:16 Edom had deceived herself by thinking that other nations would be too afraid of her apparently impregnable location to attack her. But the Lord promised to bring her down and to humble her arrogance (cf. Obad. 1-4). "The rock"is a translation of Sela, the site of the city carved out of rock near Bozrah, later called Petra.
49:17-18 Observers would be horrified at Edom's fate, which would be destruction as complete as that of Sodom, Gomorrah, and the other cities of the plain (Gen. 19). People would no longer live in Edom.
49:19 Yahweh promised to invade Edom as a lion attacks a flock of sheep, a figure well-known in Edom. Lions repeatedly ventured out of the dense jungle foliage in the Arabah to attack sheep grazing on the pastures of that valley. Edom's shepherd leaders would not be able to resist the Lord but would run away (cf. 50:44-46). Then Yahweh would appoint over the nation whom He chose, and no one would be able to challenge or overturn His sovereign authority.
49:20-21 God's purposes for Edom were to have enemies drag all the people from their country, even the children, leaving the land desolate of people. News of Edom's destruction would spread far and have major repercussions. Even Egypt would hear of it since the news would cross the Red Sea.
49:22 The enemy would come down on Edom like an eagle (or vulture, cf. 48:40-41). Men would be as fearful as women in labor when the invader struck.
Nebuchadnezzar fulfilled the judgment predicted in this prophecy when he subdued the entire Transjordan region. Like Moab and Ammon, Edom plotted against the Babylonians who had incorporated them into their empire about 605 B.C. However, the Edomites assisted the Babylonians in attacking Judah in 588-586 B.C. (Ps. 137:7; Lam. 4:21; Ezek. 25:12-14; Obad.). Babylonian reprisals against Edom for lack of cooperation, and subsequent invasions of Arab tribes (Nabateans), drove the Edomites into Judah where they settled north of Hebron. This area later became known as Idumea. Herod the Great was an Idumean.
Misplaced trust in herself and in her reputedly inaccessible heights caused Yahweh to judge this nation (v. 16).
Perhaps this oracle is shorter because Damascus had not had the history of contact with Judah in recent years that the other nations mentioned in these oracles did. However the books of Samuel, Kings, and Chronicles document incessant hostilities between the Arameans and Israel and Judah earlier in history. Damascus was the capital of Aramea and the leader of a coalition of Aramean city states (cf. Isa. 7:8). It stood about 150 miles north-northeast of Jerusalem.
49:23 Hamath, 110 miles north of Damascus, and Arpad, 95 miles north of Hamath, were allied city states that would hear disheartening and shameful news. The sea may have been some local body of water or some local symbol that Jeremiah used as a figure of disquietude.573The lovely Pharpar River flowed through the city (cf. 2 Kings 5:12).
49:24 The bad news was that Damascus had panicked and fled before an enemy. She would behave like a woman in childbirth, namely, fearfully and helplessly.
49:25 Yahweh announced that the town that had brought joy to Him and that others praised for its beauty and leadership had become deserted. Damascus was considered to be one of the most beautiful cities of ancient times.574Even today many visitors to Damascus comment on its unusual beauty.
49:26-27 When Yahweh destroyed the city all her young soldiers would perish and it would burn down (cf. Amos 1:4), even the fortified towers named in honor of a number of great Aramean kings named Ben-hadad (lit. son of [the god] Hadad).575
Jeremiah indicated no reason for Yahweh's destruction of Damascus. One of the major reasons for divine judgment on all the nations and groups mentioned in these oracles was their hostility to the seed of Abraham. God had promised to curse those who cursed Israel (Gen. 12:3), and every one of these oracles assured the fulfillment of that promise. Judging Israel's enemies was part of covenant faithfulness for the suzerain of all the earth.
As with the previous oracle, the length of this one reflects the relative importance to Judah of those cursed by God. These Arab tribes were some of the descendants of Ishmael, Isaac's half-brother (Gen. 25:12-18). Again, antagonism marked their history with Israel.
49:28 Nebuchadnezzar also defeated Kedar, a prominent Arab tribe (2:10; Gen. 25:13; Isa. 21:16-17; 42:11; 60:7; Ezek. 27:21; et al.) and the tribes around Hazor, a place in the eastern desert (not the town in northern Galilee). The past tense in this title verse may have been added after Nebuchadnezzar's invasion, but the oracle is a promise of future destruction. Yahweh ordered the Babylonian king to devastate these eastern Arabs (cf. Judg. 6:3).
49:29 These nomads would gather up their tents and other possessions and would flee before the advancing Babylonian soldiers. Their cry of "terror on every side"was one of Jeremiah's stock expressions (cf. v. 5; et al.).
49:30 Yahweh encouraged them to flee and to hide in any recesses they could find because Nebuchadnezzar had a plan to wipe them out.
49:31 The Lord instructed Nebuchadnezzar to go against these nomads that lived at ease and securely in the desert by themselves rather than in walled cities.
"Carefree living was frowned upon in Old Testament times, since even the most heavily fortified location could be overthrown. The life of the Christian, who has been bought with a price (I Cor. 6:20; 7:23), must be spent in the service of God and man, not in selfish indulgence."576
49:32 Their camels and cattle would become booty for the Babylonians who would be the Lord's instrument in scattering and destroying the Arabs. One of their distinguishing features was that they rounded off the corners of their beards. Those who lived in the open air would scatter to the winds.
49:33 Hazor would become a desolate haunt of wild animals rather than a center for these Arab tribes.
Nebuchadnezzar raided these Arab tribes in 599 B.C., the year before he began his invasion of Palestine.577
Again the major reason for judgment, though not stated in the oracle, must be Yahweh's covenant faithfulness to His promise to punish those who were enemies of the Israelites (Gen. 12:3). They also violated the Noahic Covenant in which God decreed, "Whoever sheds man's blood, by man his blood shall be shed"(Gen. 9:6).
Elam was the land of the Elamites who lived in Mesopotamia somewhat east of the Babylonians (in modern southwest Iran). We know little about the history of the Elamites, and their inclusion in a collection of judgments against Israel's hostile neighbors comes as a surprise. The oracle is noteworthy for its strong statements of threat and judgment.
"In contrast to the other oracles concerning the nations in Jeremiah, human agency recedes drastically. The sovereignty of the LORD over the affairs of all nations is accented by the announcement that the LORD would place his throne in Elam and destroy its gods (king and princes)."578
49:34 This oracle came to Jeremiah at the beginning of King Zedekiah's reign, about 597 B.C. By this time it had become clear that the invader from the north would be Babylon.
49:35 Yahweh announced that He would break Elam's military might, like someone would break a warrior's bow. The Elamites were famous archers (Isa. 22:6).
49:36-37 God would scatter the Elamites in every direction using military attacks from many different directions to do so (cf. Ezek. 37:9; Dan. 8:8; Zech. 6:1-8). He would destroy them in battle.
49:38 Yahweh would establish His sovereignty over Elam and would destroy its ruling dynasty.
49:39 In the last days, however, the eschatological future, He would restore Elam's fortunes (cf. v. 6; 48:47). People from this area will experience Yahweh's blessing in the Millennium. Elam became a satrapy of the Persian Empire, and its capital, Susa, became the winter residence of the Persian kings after 539 B.C.579But this promise projects beyond that time.580
Why did God announce judgment on a people that were so geographically remote from Judah in this collection of oracles? There may have been more hostility in Elamite Israelite relations than history has revealed so far. However, the attack by one Elamite king on Abraham and his family (Gen. 14) may have been adequate reason for God's punishment (Gen. 12:3). Probably there was continuing hostility. Moreover, since the Elamites were ancient allies of the Babylonians, they had to share the guilt of Babylon's sins against God's people (cf. Gen. 9:6).
A promise of restoration does not appear in every oracle. Nevertheless, we should probably understand that as God judged all these nations, so He will also bless the people who will be living in these territories when Christ returns to set up His kingdom on earth.
Another difference between the oracles is that some mention the reasons for judgment but others do not. Probably the reasons for God's judgment of them all are the same, namely, failure to acknowledge His sovereignty and to live humbly by recognizing Him as the God of all the earth. He was their suzerain and they were His vassals. Other reasons were their antagonism toward His people and their brutality toward others.
"The oracles provide data that suggest that they were viewed in a treaty context. First, the oracles contain judgment statements that are similar to the curses characteristic of international treaties . . . Second, the cup-of-wrath concept may reflect the treaty and the manner in which it was imposed . . . Third, there are references to military aggression against fellow vassals that point to treaty violations (48:1-2, 45; 49:1-2).
"The conclusion reached is that the OAN [oracles against nations] in Jer 47-49 reflect the context of the international treaty, providing the prophet a metaphor for expressing his understanding of the relationship of the LORD to the nations. The oracles, whether or not they were all intended to be heard by the nations, served first of all to affirm the sovereignty of the LORD over all the world, and second, they served as a warning to Judah, to refrain from trusting in alliances with, or in dependence upon, nations that stood under divine judgment."581
Jeremiah wrote almost as much about Babylon's future as he did about the futures of all the other nations in his other oracles combined. The length of this oracle reflects the great importance of Babylon in his ministry as well as in the ancient Near East in his day.
"Fittingly, the empire which struck the most devastating blow ever suffered by the kingdom of David, receives the longest series of oracles about her own future."582
The 110 verses in these two chapters undoubtedly consist of several different messages that the prophet received from the Lord at various times, which the writer brought together in this collection. Two themes predominate: the judgment coming on Babylon, and the restoration of Israel and Judah to their homeland. The oracular material appears in three types of rhetorical statements: those dealing with war against Babylon, Israel's departure from Babylon, and historical reminiscences.583
The oracle begins with an overview of what Yahweh would do to Babylon and Israel in the future (vv. 1-10). Much of the prophecy in this section has not yet been fulfilled.
50:1 This is a title verse for the oracle against Babylon, the land of the Chaldeans.584The Chaldeans were the descendants of a semi-nomadic tribe that had settled south of Ur in Mesopotamia in the third millennium B.C. Nebuchadnezzar's father, Nabopolassar, the founder of the Neo-Babylonian Empire (626-539 B.C.), was a native Chaldean. Nebuchadnezzar was the most illustrious and longest reigning of these Chaldean kings.
50:2 The Lord commanded announcing among the nations that Babylon would be captured. Her chief idols, Bel and Marduk, as well as all her gods, would be humiliated since it was their job to protect Babylon.585Bel was the title of the storm god Enlil, the chief god of Nippur.586Marduk (Merodach) was the creator god who emerged as Babylon's chief deity and the head of the pantheon of Babylonian idols. Jeremiah used Bel and Marduk in this verse to represent all the Babylonia gods. He referred to their images as pieces of human excrement (Heb. gilluleyha, "her idols"; cf. Lev. 26:30; Deut. 29:17; 1 Kings 15:12; 21:26; et al.).587
50:3 An invader would descend on Babylon from the north and would make her an object of astonishment. All of Babylon's inhabitants, humans and animals, would leave her. Elsewhere in Jeremiah the enemy from the north is Babylon, but in the future, ironically, the invader of Babylon would come from the north.
"The reference at this stage is hardly to the Persians who came from the east, although the strategic line of attack was roughly from the north."588
Neither was the land, or even the city, totally uninhabited after the Persians took over. People did not flee because of the Persians. For example, Daniel, who had access to Jeremiah's prophecies (Dan. 9:1-2), remained in the capital city during and after its fall (Dan. 5:28, 30-31; 6:1-3).
"Several times Jeremiah repeated this fact about Babylon being without any inhabitants (cf. vv. 39b-40; 51:29, 37, 43, 62). The city was spared and made one of the ruling centers for the Persian Empire with Daniel serving there in an administrative position (cf. Dan. 5:30; 6:1-3)."589
50:4 At the time of Babylon's destruction the Israelites would leave her, both Israelites and Judahites. They would go out weeping as they left and seeking Yahweh their God. This weeping probably anticipates Israel's national repentance at the second coming of Christ. Judah and Israel did not unite as one nation after the Persians took over, and most of the exiles did not return to the Promised Land.
"The phrase, In those days(4), is nearly always a pointer to the messianic age to come."590
50:5 The Israelites would seek direction to return to Zion. They would go there to make an everlasting covenant with Yahweh, one that they would not forget as they had their former (Mosaic) covenant. This is a reference to the New Covenant (31:31-33; 32:40). Israel has not yet experienced the changes that the New Covenant promised (e.g., 32:40). She did not enter into this covenant with God after Babylon fell to the Persians.
50:6 The Lord's chosen people had gotten lost like sheep misled by their shepherds. They had wandered on dangerous mountains instead of staying in their safe places of rest. This verse reflects conditions that marked the Israelites long after Cyrus permitted them to return to Palestine. They are still scattered around the world.
50:7 Enemies had devoured these "sheep,"but had rationalized their sin by saying that the Israelites deserved what they got because they had sinned against their God. Yahweh was a dwelling place for Israel marked by righteousness and the hope of their forefathers. These conditions describe Israel's present plight as well as her state during the Babylonian captivity.
50:8 The Lord encouraged His people to leave Babylon, the land of the Chaldeans. They should step out like rams to lead the rest of the flock. People other than Israelites left Babylon after it fell, but this prediction probably points primarily to Israel's leadership of other nations to Messiah in the future.
50:9-10 Yahweh promised to become active again for His people and to bring many great nations from the north against Babylon. After a battle, Babylon would fall. The enemy would be skillful in archery and would take many captives. The enemy would take so much plunder that he would be satisfied. The references to many nations and the north point to a future fulfillment as well as to a partial past fulfillment.
The next prophecies focus on the fall of Babylon (vv. 11-16).
50:11 Babylon had rejoiced gleefully when she plundered Yahweh's heritage, behaving like a young heifer at threshing time or like a lusty stallion. In ancient Israel a man's heritage (Heb. nahala) was the land he inherited from his ancestors. Jeremiah pictured the land of Israel as Yahweh's heritage (cf. 2:7; 16:18).
50:12-13 Mother Babylon would be humbled when God would make her the least of the nations. She would be like a desert compared to a fertile field. The Lord would remove her inhabitants and make her completely desolate. Observers would marvel and whistle at the horrible condition of the once proud Babylon.
"Cyrus did not destroy [the city of] Babylon when he captured it. Later in the Persian period the city revolted, and Darius Hystaspes captured it and destroyed its walls (514 B.C.), thus beginning its decay. The city continued to decline until well into the Christian era, when it ceased to exist. The desolate ruins remained for archaeologists to uncover in the nineteenth century."591
50:14-15 Yahweh called Babylon's enemies to attack her with all their strength because she had sinned against Him. The destruction should continue until the land was thoroughly ruined. She had destroyed other nations, and now she deserved the same treatment. The clause "she has given her hand"may be treaty terminology (cf. 2 Kings 10:15; Ezek. 17:11-21).
"What is clearly in view here is treaty violation by concluding a treaty with another party."592
50:16 The agricultural cycle would end, from sowing to reaping, because of the fighting of Babylon's enemy. The enemy soldiers would return to their own lands when they finished their job.
"Cyrus, who unified the Medo-Persian Empire and then overwhelmed Babylon (ZPEB, 1:1054-56), was careful to spare the country; so the reference (v. 16) must be to a later attack."593
The next section of the oracles emphasizes the restoration of Israel (vv. 17-20).
50:17 The king of Assyria, Sennacherib, had scattered the Israelites in the Northern Kingdom like sheep (in 722 B.C.; 2 Kings 17:1-6; Isa. 5:29), and the king of Babylon, Nebuchadnezzar, had done worse to the Judahites in the south (in 605-581 B.C.; 4:7; 2 Kings 24). He had broken their bones--not just scattered the people but also slain them.
"Politically, the intrigues and treacheries of Judah's kings (shepherds', as the Old Testament regards them) had brought Assyria and now Babylon to the kill. Spiritually too (to adopt the New Testament connotation of shepherd'), a badly pastored flock is soon astray, then swiftly preyed upon."594
50:18 Because of this treatment Yahweh of armies, Israel's God, promised to punish Babylon as He had punished Assyria. Assyria had fallen to the Babylonians in 612-609 B.C., and now it was Babylon's turn to fall.
50:19 The Lord would bring His sheep back to pasture in their own land. They would enjoy peace and plenty in the best portions of the western and eastern portions of Israel.
50:20 When the Lord would do this, all the remaining remnant of His people would be free from sin; no one would be able to find any sin in them even though they searched carefully for it. The reason for the absence of their sin would be that Yahweh had pardoned it. Yahweh's pardon of the nation lies in the future (31:34).
"All this [i.e., the things predicted in vv. 17-20] will be realized in messianic times, as v. 20 declares."595
The following prophecies describe further the divine vengeance coming on Babylon (vv. 21-28).
50:21 The Lord commanded Babylon's destroyers to go up against the land of double rebellion, the meaning of "Merathaim."Assyria and Babylon both came from the same general area, Mesopotamia, and both nations had rebelled against Him. He gave their land the name Pekod, meaning "punishment."Divine punishment would mark Mesopotamia. The destroyer should carry out the Lord's directions exactly by slaying and completely destroying the Babylonians. The Persians did not do this.
Merathaim (Mat Marratim) was a region at the head of the Persian Gulf where the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers met. Pekod was a region, named after a tribe, in southeastern Babylonia (cf. Ezek. 23:23). Jeremiah made a play on these names to affirm the rebelliousness and certain judgment coming on Babylon.
50:22-23 The sounds of battle and great destruction would fill Babylonia. The nation that had been Yahweh's hammer to smash so many other nations would be broken itself. It would become an object of horror in the earth.
50:24 The Lord described Babylon as a wild animal caught in a trap and as a thief caught unaware because she had conflicted with Him. Previously Babylon had ensnared other nations.
"The point is made elsewhere in the prophets that Yahweh may appoint a nation to fulfil [sic] a purpose as his servant. But this does not absolve such a nation from the consequence of guilty acts or an insolent attitude [cf. Isa. 10:5-19]."596
50:25-26 God would bring out His heavy artillery against the Chaldeans because He is the sovereign Yahweh Almighty. Babylon's enemies would steal her resources as people from afar empty out barns piled with good things until nothing would be left.
50:27-28 The young leaders of the nation would die like bulls in a timely sacrifice. Fugitives and refugees would return to Zion from Babylon with word that Yahweh had taken revenge for the destruction of His temple.
The prophet next stressed Babylon's arrogance (vv. 29-32).
50:29 Attackers would assail Babylon with their arrows. They would surround her and allow no Chaldeans to escape. They would pay her back for all the blood she had shed because she had lifted herself up in pride against the Holy One of Israel (cf. Gen. 9:6).
50:30 Babylon's young men would die because of fighting in the streets, and her soldiers would fall silent in death (cf. 49:26).
50:31-32 Yahweh Almighty announced His antagonism against Babylon for her arrogance. She was pride personified, the epitome of arrogance. The time for her punishment had arrived. The proud Chaldeans would trip and fall--hardly a desirable action for the arrogant--and none would help them up. The Lord would burn down their cities and consume their outlying areas.
The Lord promised Israel future redemption (vv. 33-40).
50:33-34 Presently the Israelites and Judahites were oppressed, and their captors would not let them go, but their Redeemer (Heb. go'el), Yahweh Almighty, was strong (cf. Exod. 6:6; 7:14; 9:2, 13; 10:3; 15:13). He would plead their case vigorously by contending with their enemy. Formerly Yahweh had brought charges against His people as a prosecutor (2:9), but in the future He would act as their defense attorney (cf. 51:36). The Lord would bring turmoil to the Babylonians so the rest of the world could enjoy rest when Babylon fell.
"The redeemer or advocate in normal life was a kinsman who took it upon himself to avenge the murder of a kinsman, to protect him, or to secure his freedom or the release of his property (cf. Lev. 25:25, 47-55; Num. 35:21; etc. [Ruth 4])."597
50:35-36 Yahweh decreed a military invasion for all the people of Babylon, from the ordinary citizens to the officials and sages. The pagan priests would prove to be fools instead of wise men, and the bravest warriors would turn out to be losers.
50:37 Their horses and chariots would suffer defeat, and Babylon's allies would be as ineffective in battle as women. Her treasures would also perish at the hands of enemy looters.
50:38 Babylon's waters would dry up too in judgment because of the idolatry that was rampant there. The city of Babylon depended on waterways for irrigation and agriculture, as the whole nation relied on the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers and their tributaries. When Cyrus captured Babylon, he may have entered under the walls, using the dry river bed, after he diverted the Euphrates River that flowed through the city.598
50:39-40 Babylon would be inhabited only by wild animals forever, no longer by human beings. It would be as uninhabited as Sodom and Gomorrah after the Lord overthrew those cities. Babylon continued to be inhabited for many years following the Persian take-over, and the present countries of Iraq, Kuwait, and Syria currently occupy its territory. This prophecy anticipates the future destruction of Babylon (cf. Zech. 5:5-11; Rev. 16:19; 17:1-19:3).
"This prediction has not yet been fulfilled. Babylon has been inhabited throughout her history, and the government of Iraq has begun restoring some portions of the ancient city. Iraq's plans to restore Babylon are published in a pamphlet, Archaeological Survival of Babylon Is a Patriotic, National, and International Duty(Baghdad: State Organization of Antiquities and Heritage, 1982). The prophecy about Babylon's complete ruin awaits a future fulfillment during the Tribulation period."599
The next section of prophecies stresses the agony of Babylon (vv. 41-46; cf. 6:22-24; 49:18-21).
50:41-42 Babylon's invader would be a numerous mighty army that would descend on her from the remote parts of the north. The Persians and their allies did not come from remote regions; they were the neighbors of the Babylonians. This invader would come with bows and javelins and would fight cruelly and unmercifully. The sound of its approach would be like the roaring sea. The soldiers would ride horses and proceed against the Babylonians with discipline. Babylon would be like a young girl in comparison to him. Whereas Cyrus' army contained a variety of vassal contingents (cf. 51:27-28), he took the city by stealth. Thus the destruction envisioned here is probably a future one.
50:43 When the king of Babylon heard about the coming enemy, he would go limp with fear, like a woman about to give birth (cf. 6:22-24).
50:44 Babylon's enemy would come out against her like a lion coming out of the Jordan Valley jungle to a nearby pasture. The Babylonians would try to flee like sheep before the lion, but the Lord's appointed agent would overpower the Chaldeans. The Lord would sovereignly control Babylon's fate, and no one would have sufficient authority to call His decisions into question. No other shepherd of people could withstand the Great Shepherd.
50:45 God's plan for Babylon was that an enemy would carry the Chaldeans off like a lion dragging a little lamb. Yahweh would clear the pasture of Babylon of its inhabitants.
50:46 When the Lord gave the command the enemy would seize Babylon. The result would be a major upheaval in the affairs of the world and a cry of surprise from the nations (cf. Rev. 18:15-19).
The next prophecies assure the judgment of Babylon (51:1-14).
51:1 Yahweh announced that He would arouse against Babylon and Leb-kamai the spirit of a destroyer, or a destroying wind. Leb-kamai (lit. heart of my adversaries) was a code name (atbash) for Chaldea (cf. v. 41; 25:26). Here it functions as a poetic synonym.600
51:2 The Lord would send foreigners to winnow the nation, as farmers tossed their grain in the air so the wind would blow the chaff away (cf. 49:32, 36). This enemy would oppose her on every hand and would devastate her land. The wind would not just blow the chaff away but would lay waste the entire land, like a devastating sirocco.
51:3-4 The Chaldeans need not try to defend themselves because the enemy would attack too quickly. The young Babylonian soldiers would fall in the streets of their cities. Sometimes conquerors spared the young soldiers to fight for them in the future, but the destruction of Babylon's army would be thorough.
51:5 The Lord Almighty had not forsaken either Israel or Judah even though they were guilty before the Holy One of Israel.
51:6 The Israelites should flee out of Babylon when the destruction came because the Lord would pay Chaldea back for her sins. If they did not flee, they could get caught up in the fallout of divine judgment (cf. Gen. 19:26).
51:7 Babylon was responsible for seducing many other nations to join her in her sins. These nations had fallen under the power of Babylon and had behaved like drunkards (cf. Rev. 18:3). She had given the cup of God's wrath to other nations, but now she would have to drink from it herself (cf. 25:15-29). A golden cup suggests the great wealth of Babylon.
51:8-9 The fall of Babylon would be sudden and final. The cup that was Babylon would break and be irreparable. People would lament over her demise and would wish they could revive her but would not (cf. Rev. 18:11-19). Therefore, they would abandon her to her monumental judgment (cf. Num. 13:28; Deut. 1:28).
"What is special to this passage is the note of sadness over her incurable condition (8b-9a)--a note which chimes in with this book's description of sin as desperate sickness [cf. 46:11], and also with the many glimpses of God's reluctant resort to judgment when all else has failed."601
51:10 The judgment of Babylon would vindicate God's people (cf. Isa. 40:2; Rev. 19:1-3). They would call on each other to glorify God in Zion by relating His great work of judging Babylon.
51:11 This oracle names the Medes as God's instrument to destroy Babylon for destroying His temple. The fall of Babylon to the Medes was a fulfillment of this prophecy, but it did not fulfill all the prophecies about the fall of Babylon in these chapters. The Medes lived north of Babylon (in northwest Iran, Iranian Kurdistan). The Medes had been allies of the Babylonians in the destruction of Nineveh, the capital of the Assyrian Empire, in 612 B.C. Later they joined with the Persians to defeat Babylon in 539 B.C. (cf. Dan. 5:28, 31; 8:20).
"In 550 B.C. Cyrus the Persian ruler invaded the region [Babylon] and subjugated it. . . . There is some evidence that about 561-560 B.C. an invasion of Babylon by the Medes was expected. We have no historical evidence of any outcome.602On the other hand the term Medes may be a general one. It is known that the mother of Cyrus the Persian was a Mede, and the Medes and Persians were linked together several times in the book of Daniel (e.g., Dan. 5:28; 6:8, 12, 15). In that case the reference here may be to Cyrus, but the matter is still open to debate (cf. Isa. 13:17)."603
51:12 The Medes should prepare for an attack against Babylon because the Lord would fulfill His judgment of her. Jeremiah described the attack in traditional siege terms, though when the Medes took Babylon they did not use these methods.
51:13 The end of wealthy Babylon, which stood by many waters, had come. Numerous canals and waterways provided water and irrigation for Mesopotamia. Babylon's great wealth had come to her largely from the temples and palaces of other nations that she had captured (cf. 52:12-13, 17-23; 2 Kings 24:13; 25:13-17; Dan. 5:2-4). Her end would come as when someone cut a piece of cloth from a loom, a common figure for death (cf. Isa. 38:12).
51:14 Almighty Yahweh swore by Himself, the highest authority, that He would send invaders on Babylon as thick and devastating as a locust plague who would shout in victory over their foe.
The next verses emphasize particularly Yahweh's sovereignty over Babylon (vv. 15-19). The last verse of this section (v. 19) identifies the person being described as Yahweh Almighty. By referring to Him in the third person in the preceding verses, the writer built anticipation for the revelation of His identity. This prophecy is almost identical to the one in 10:12-16.604There Jeremiah reminded Judah of the impotence of idols, and here he instructed Babylon about the same thing (cf. 1 Cor. 5:10; 6:9; 8:4; 10:7).
51:15 Yahweh created the earth below with His power and wisdom, and He stretched out the heavens above with His understanding. Marduk, the Babylonian creator god (50:2), did not do this. This verse describes God's past activity with regard to nature.
51:16 This verse describes His present activity. He is the one who gathers clouds together and sends rainstorms on the earth with lightning and wind. The Babylonian storm god Bel was not responsible for this (50:2).
51:17-18 Human beings are stupid for making lifeless idols that only disappoint and shame them with their inability to control nature. These idols are worthless and mock their makers with their impotence. At the designated time they will perish.
51:19 The humble and despised nation that descended from Jacob has a better resource than idols. Yahweh Almighty is the name of his God. He is the maker of everything and the God who chose Israel as His inheritance. Thus Yahweh was Israel's portion in a unique sense.
The next two prophecies further describe Yahweh's instrument for judging Babylon (vv. 20-26).
51:20-23 The Lord addressed an entity that He did not identify in these verses as His war-club or shatterer (cf. 50:23; Isa. 10:5). He would use this entity to destroy nations, armies, and people of all ages and all types.
51:24 He would use this entity to repay Babylon and all the inhabitants of Chaldea for what they had done to Zion. The Israelites would witness Babylon's judgment.
51:25 The Lord described His antagonism against Babylon, which He likened to a mountain that towered over the other nations (cf. Dan. 2:35, 44-45). He would break down Babylon, which had destroyed the whole earth, as He might burn down a mountain. It would become like an extinct volcano that had spewed out destruction but then blew itself to bits. Yahweh would do this with His own powerful hand.
51:26 God would so thoroughly destroy this "mountain"that people would not be able to use any of its stones to build. People would not be able to use the pieces of Babylon that God would destroy to build other nations. This was not the condition of Babylon after Cyrus took the city. He left it intact. Thus this must refer to a future destruction of Babylon.
Several nations would ally themselves against Babylon (vv. 27-33).
51:27 Jeremiah called for an assembling of nations to go to war against Babylon. The kingdoms of Ararat, Minni, and Ashkenaz--all referred to in Assyrian inscriptions--were in eastern Anatolia (modern Armenia) north of Babylon. This united armed force would descend on Babylon like an army of locusts at a very destructive stage in their life-cycle (cf. v. 14).605
51:28 The prophet called these nations to dedicate themselves to their task. Another nation summoned was the Medes (v. 11), which had extensive lands and armies to Babylon's north.
51:29 The land would quake at the battle that would carry out the Lord's will against Babylon, namely, to make it an uninhabited desolation.
51:30 The strong Babylonian warriors would become exhausted, stop fighting, and retreat to their strongholds like women.606The enemy would set their houses on fire and would break down the gates of the city.
51:31-32 The king of Babylon would learn from running messengers within the city that it had fallen and that the enemy had taken the fording places of the waterways and had burned the marshy areas where refugees might hide. He would hear that his soldiers were terrified.
51:33 Israel's sovereign God announced that though Babylon had threshed other nations in the past, her own time of threshing would come.
The prophet explained Judah's complaint against Babylon (vv. 34-40).
51:34-35 Jerusalem, personified, would say that Nebuchadnezzar had destroyed her. He had eaten her up, crushed her, cast her aside, swallowed her like a monster, and washed her away as with a flood. Nebuchadnezzar had done to Jerusalem what the great fish had done to Jonah. Jerusalem wished that her blood on Babylon would identify Babylon as guilty.
51:36 Because of what Babylon had done to Judah, the Lord promised to act as her defense attorney and to get Babylon to pay full damages. He would dry up her broad river, the Euphrates, the source of her agricultural fertility.
"The LORD's promised victory over her sea' and her fountain' recalls the LORD's victory over sea at creation and in the Exodus (Exod 15:8; Pss 74:13-14; 89:9-10; Isa 27:1)."607
51:37 Babylon would become nothing more than a heap of ruins that jackals would climb on, an uninhabited place that people would whistle at when they considered what had happened to the once great city.
51:38-39 The Babylonians would growl in anticipation of their conquest, like young lion cubs did before they ate. When the Babylonians got worked up, the Lord would serve them a banquet that would finish them off. His cup of wrath would stupefy them. It was when Belshazzar was getting himself all worked up at a banquet that Daniel announced to him that Babylon would fall that very night (Dan. 5).
51:40 The Babylonians, formerly lion-like (v. 38), would fall like lambs, rams, and goats to the slaughter.
Jeremiah revealed again the fate of Babylon (vv. 41-48).
51:41 In the future people from all over the world would marvel that Babylon, the city praised by the whole earth, had been captured. Sheshak was another code name (atbash) for Babylon evidently used here for poetic variation (cf. 25:26).
51:42 It would be as though the waves of the sea had overwhelmed Babylon.
"There is probably an allusion here to the mythological chaotic waters of the primeval ocean (Tiamat) which, according to the Babylonian myth of creation, were overthrown by the god Marduk when he fought against Tiamat and destroyed her. The fall of Babylon would be of such gigantic proportions that it would appear as nothing less than a reversal of that primeval victory."608
51:43 All the cities of the land would become uninhabited, and the land would become a waterless desert. No one would even pass through the land.
51:44 Yahweh would humiliate Bel (lit. lord; cf. 50:2), the representative god of Babylon. The nation, personified as Bel, would regurgitate or give back what it had taken from other nations (cf. v. 34). Nations would no longer seek Babylon out because it would become weak and vulnerable to attack. Even her walls, which enclosed an area of 200 miles, would fall down.609
"The city wall proper was of double construction. The outer component was 12 feet thick, so that is [sic] was wide enough to allow several chariots to drive abreast along the walls. Towers were set into the walls at intervals of about 60 feet. Outside the walls lay a ditch lined with bricks and bitumen and kept filled with water from the Euphrates."610
51:45 The Lord called His people to leave Babylon because He would bring judgment on her and because He would fulfill the promises of Israel's restoration (cf. v. 6; 50:8). It was God's will for the Israelites to return to the Promised Land at the end of the Exile.
51:46-47 God announced the coming judgment on Babylon so His people would have advance warning of it even before the rumors of approaching invading enemies would reach their ears.
51:48 The whole earth and heaven would rejoice over the coming enemy of Babylon that would descend on her from the north (cf. Rev. 16:19).
Yahweh had messages for the exiles in Babylon (vv. 49-53).
51:49 Babylon would fall because she had felled Israel and many other nations.
51:50 The Israelites still alive in Babylon should remember Yahweh and return to Jerusalem before destruction came on Babylon (cf. v. 45). In the Bible remembering usually involves returning to, not just recalling.
51:51 The Israelites would be ashamed because word that pagans were desecrating the site of the temple would reach them. This would be a testimony to their sin that resulted in captivity and the destruction of the temple.
51:52 Days would come, however, when the Lord would punish Babylon's idols, and many people would die throughout the land of the Chaldeans.
51:53 No matter how heavily Babylon fortified herself, the Lord would destroy her with His appointed agents. Her attempt to ascend to heaven would prove futile (cf. Gen. 11:1-9; Isa. 14:12-14). The Babylonians built ziggurats, pyramid-shaped structures with temples on top, to get as close to heaven as possible. These structures illustrate the Babylonians' desire to get to heaven by their own works. The tower of Babel was probably a ziggurat.611
It was righteous and just for Yahweh to judge Babylon (vv. 54-58). The repetition of terms from 50:2-3 and 46 forms an inclusio(bookends) that frames the entire oracle against Babylon.612
51:54-55 When the Lord would destroy the land of the Chaldeans, there would be loud cries of anguish that would replace the loud noise of her hustle and bustle. These cries would resemble the sound of the waves of the sea.
51:56 The Lord's appointed destroyer would capture Babylon's strong men and break her military strength because Yahweh would pay her back in full.
51:57 The leaders of Babylon would become as ineffective as when people get so drunk they pass out. But they would never wake up because they would die. This is what the King of all nations, Yahweh Almighty, promised.
51:58 The enemy would raze Babylon's broad wall and set her many huge gates on fire. The captive peoples who had toiled building Babylon's defenses would have done so for nothing. They would have exhausted themselves constructing these edifices only for them to go up in flames (cf. v. 64; Hab. 2:13).
This oracle closes with a symbolic action against Babylon (vv. 59-64).
51:59 The following message was one that Jeremiah gave to Seraiah the son of Neriah when he accompanied King Zedekiah on a visit to Babylon in 593 B.C.613Seraiah was Baruch's brother (cf. 32:12). The title he held, quartermaster, probably describes the official responsible for providing quarters for the king and his companions overnight as they traveled.
51:60 Jeremiah wrote on one scroll all his prophecies about the calamity coming on Babylon.
51:61-62 The prophet instructed Seraiah to read his prophecies about Babylon there publicly.614He was to announce that Yahweh had promised to destroy Babylon completely and to make it desolate. Seraiah carried out a mission to Babylon similar to Jonah's mission to Nineveh.
51:63-64 Then Seraiah was to tie a stone to the scroll and throw it into the Euphrates River. He was to announce that as the scroll had sunk in the river so Babylon would sink and not rise again as a nation because of God's judgment on her (cf. Rev. 18:21). Babylon's saviors would only exhaust themselves trying to preserve her and to frustrate Yahweh's purpose to destroy her (cf. v. 58).
"It is remarkable that at the very time Jeremiah was advising submission to that city, he was also foretelling her final overthrow. This answers the objections of those expositors who feel that chapters 50-51 could not have been written by Jeremiah in view of his attitude toward Babylon expressed earlier in the book."615
This is the last verse in the book that Jeremiah wrote. The remaining chapter was evidently the writing of someone else, perhaps Jeremiah's secretary Baruch.
"Babylon is condemned for pride (50:13-32, 51:25-26), for idolatry (50:38, 51:17-18), and for sinning against the LORD (50:14, 24, 29; 51:5). The full extent of Babylon's sin against the LORD, other than pride and idolatry, is not clear, although it may be that Babylon's action against Judah, even though sanctioned by the LORD, may have exceeded in severity anything that the LORD had intended (cf. 50:33). In any case, for the first time in the collection of OAN [oracles against the nations] in Jeremiah is a nation judged for its treatment of the people of God."616
"None of the material [in chapters 50-51] shows any awareness of the fact that Cyrus finally captured Babylon without destroying the city, but rather these chapters speak in terms of the devastation of Babylon by its enemies. No reference whatever is made to the Persians [by name]."617
Clearly some of the prophecies in these chapters were fulfilled in the overthrow of Babylon by a northern confederation of enemies in 539 B.C. But the method and extent of overthrow was quite different from what Jeremiah predicted (cf. 50:3-10, 14-16, 19-20, 26, 39-46; 51:6, 45). Why did God not completely obliterate Babylon in 539 B.C. or at some later date?
"It is at least possible that the humbling of Nebuchadrezzar, culminating in his testimony in Daniel 4:34-37, opened the door to the mercy of 539--for it is obvious from God's generous response to even an Ahab, a Manasseh, or the city of Nineveh, that he meets a change of attitude more than halfway."618
Most expositors who take these prophecies literally, namely, premillennialists, look for a future fulfillment in an even more violent and permanent destruction of Babylon sometime in the future. Many of these expositors believe that Revelation 17-18 gives further revelation about that fall. Some look for a rebuilding of the ancient city and its subsequent destruction.
"The city of Babylon will be rebuilt only to be destroyed at the end of the Tribulation period before Christ returns to establish His millennial reign."619
Most premillennial scholars believe that the fall of some modern form of what Babylon represented in ancient times is in view.620I believe there will be an eschatological judgment of Babylon (Rev. 17-18), though not necessarily one that requires the rebuilding of the city. Destruction terminology, such as appears in this passage, is common in the annals of ancient Near Eastern nations. It speaks generally and hyperbolically of devastating defeat and destruction, but it did not always involve exact or detailed fulfillment.621
Amillennialists view these prophecies as having been fulfilled in the Medo-Persian overthrow and in the final spiritual destruction of the proud enemies of God's people through the salvation that Jesus Christ provided at Calvary.
