Chapter 50

1, 9, 21, 35 The judgment of Babylon. 4, 17, 33 The redemption of Israel.

1. Word that the Lord. See on ch. 46:1.

Many of the expressions of chs. 50; 51 descriptive of the desolation of literal Babylon appear again in Rev. 16 to 19 in John’s delineation of the fall of mystical Babylon (see on Isa. 47:1). A careful study of these expressions in their historical setting can prove of aid in clarifying the meaning of the same expressions in their setting in the book of Revelation. Note the following:

Jeremiah 50; 51

Revelation 16 to 19

1. “There cometh up a nation against her” (50:3). “Cause to come up against Babylon an as-sembly of great nations” (50:9; cf. v. 3).

1. “The kings of the earth . . . gather . . . to the battle of that great day of God Almighty” (16:14). “The ten horns . . . are ten kings. . . These shall hate the whore”(17:12, 16).

2. “Make her land des-olate” (50:3).

2. Make her desolate and naked (17:16).

3. “Go forth out of the land of the Chaldeans” (50:8). “My people, go ye out of the midst of her, and deliver every man his soul” (51:45; cf. v. 6).

3. “Come out of her, my people” (18:4).

4. “Destroys of mine heritage” (50:11).

4. “I saw the women drunken with the blood of the saints” (17:6; cf. 18: 24).

5. “Not be inhabited” (50:13). “It shall be no more inhabited forever” (50: 39).

5. “The voice of harp-ers [etc.] . . . shall be heard no more at all in thee” (18:22).

6. “Every one that goeth by Babylon shall be astonished” (50:13). “At the noise of the tak-ing of Babylon the earth is moved, and the cry is heard among the nations” (50:46). “Howl for her” (51:8).

6. “The kings of the earth . . . shall bewail her, and lament for her” (18:9; cf. vs. 10, 11, 15-19).

7. “Her plagues” (50:13).

7. “Her plagues” (18:4).

8. “The vengeance of the Lord” (50:15). “The time of the Lord’s vengeance” (51:6).

8. “God hath avenged you on her” (18:20). “Great Babylon came in remembrance before God, to give unto her the cup of the wine of the fierceness of his wrath” (16:19). “Strong is the Lord God who judgeth her” (18:8). “He hath judged the great whore” (19:2).

9. “As she hath done, do unto her” (50:15). “Recompense her according to her work; according to all that she hath done, do unto her” (50:29). “Render unto her a recompence” (51:6).

9. “Reward her even as she rewarded you, and double unto her double according to her works” (18:6).

10. “I will kindle a fire in his cities” (50:32). “A burnt mountain” (51:25).

10. “Burn her with fire” (17:16). “She shall be utterly burned with fire” (18:8). “The smoke of her burning” (18:9).

11. “They [her waters] shall be dried up” (50:38). “I will dr up her sea” (51:36). “Dwellest upon many waters” (51:13).

11. “The water thereof [the great river Euphrates] was dried up” (16:12).

12. “Be not cutt off in her iniquity” (51:6).

12. “That ye be not partakers of her sins, and that ye receive not of her plagues” (18:4).

13. “Babylon . . . made all the earth drunken: the nations have drunken of her wine; therefore the nations are mad” (51:7).

13. “The inhabitants of the earth have been made drunk with the wine of her fornication” (17:2). “All nations have drunk of the wine of the wrath of her fornication” (18:3; cf. 14:8).

14. “Babylon is suddenly fallen and destroyed” (51:8).

14. “In one hour is thy judgment come” (18:10). “In one hour is she made desolate” (18:19).

15. “Her judgment reacheth unto heaven” (51:9).

15. “Her sins have reached unto heaven” (18:5; cf. v. 2).

16. “Abundant in treasures” (51:13).

16. “So great riches” (18:17; cf. vs. 7, 14, 15, 19).

17. “Thine end is come” (51:13). “Not rise from the evil that I will bring upon her” (51:64).

17. “Shall be found no more at all” (18:21; cf. vs. 22, 23).

18. “He [the Lord] uttereth his voice (51:14, 16).

18. “There came a great voice out of the temple of heaven, from the throne, saying, It is done” (16:17). “God hath put in their hearts to fulfil his will . . . the words of God shall be fulfilled” (17:17).

19. “The sea is come up upon Babylon: she is covered with the multitude of the waves thereof” (51:42). “Bind a stone to it, and cast it ino he midst of Euphrates. . . . Thus shall Babylon sink” (51:63, 64).

19. “A great millstone . . . cast . . . into the sea, . . . Thus . . . shall that great city Babylon be thrown down” (18:21).

See also on Isa. 13; 14; 47:1; Jer. 25

Babylon. Jeremiah’s prophecy against Babylon is the longest (chs. 50:1–51:58) of his utterances against the foreign nations surrounding Israel. Babylon was at this time the dominant power in the Near East, and was the chief adversary of the people of Judah. The other nations had from time to time molested Judah, but Babylon conquered and destroyed her. This prophecy is evidently to be dated in the 4th year of Zedekiah (see ch. 51:59, 60), 594/593 b.c., autumn to autumn.

Some have wondered that Jeremiah, whose policy it was to urge cooperation with Babylon (ch. 27:12–18), should at such a crucial time as this deliver so strong a pronouncement against that country. The answer seems to lie in the fact that this prophecy was not given for the benefit of the Jews at Jerusalem, to whom Jeremiah directed his urgent messages of faithfulness to Babylon, but was intended, rather, for the Israelites who were exiles in Babylon (see chs. 50:4–8, 17–20; 51:60–64). If the message reached the Babylonians, it was to them a warning that Jehovah would still bring judgment and destruction upon them for their failure to cooperate fully with Heaven’s plan. To the Jewish exiles it was an assurance that God had not forgotten their plight, and that there would be a day of restoration for them.

2. Bel … Merodach. The Babylonian beЖlu, “lord” (related to Heb. baФal), a title applied to the chief god of Babylon, Marduk (the “Merodach” of this verse). Jeremiah repeatedly represented the punishments visited upon surrounding nations as judgments upon their false gods (see chs. 46:25; 48:7, 13, 46; see on ch. 49:1).

Babylonian mythology concerning Marduk in some respects resembles the Bible narrative. The Babylonian creation story, EnuЖma elish, recounts that before the creation of the world there was a great war in heaven, in which Marduk, the king of the gods, conquered and killed TiХa¬mat, the primeval mother-goddess of watery chaos. Then he made heaven and earth from her body, and afterward created man to serve the gods, making him from the blood of another deity. In view of these distorted similarities to Jehovah’s struggle with Lucifer in regard to the creation of man, Jeremiah’s prophecy that “Merodach is broken in pieces” becomes of particular significance.

3. The north. In 539 b.c. the Persians and Medes conquered the Babylonian kingdom. Media lay north of Babylonia.

5. A perpetual covenant. It was God’s purpose that the discipline of the exiles should lead to genuine repentance and that the remnant of Israel should, upon their return, fulfill the destiny God had planned for the descendants of Abraham (see pp. 29, 30).

6. Shepherds. Both the religious and the political leaders of Israel caused the people to stray. When the religious leaders of the nation lost their spiritual power, the rulers quickly descended morally.

From mountain to hill. The prophet may have in mind here the fact that idolatrous worship was frequently practiced on hilltops. At least the figure portrays the forlorn condition of Israel spiritually, wandering as shepherdless sheep among the mountains, restless, but not remembering their true fold. Augustine of Hippo referred to the condition of the human heart thus: “Thou hast formed us for Thyself, and our hearts are restless till they find rest in Thee.” (Confessions i. 1).

7. Habitation of justice. Or, “habitation of righteousness.” This is a rich and striking expression as used here of Jehovah. The term “habitation,” Heb. naweh, continues the pastoral theme of v. 6. Naweh is elsewhere used of an abiding place of shepherds (ch. 33:12) an of their flocks (chs. 23:3; 49:20). God is declared to be not only the true abode of lost Israel but also the source of righteousness.

8. Remove. For the picture of the people of God escaping from spiritual Babylon see on Rev. 18:4.

He goats. The picture is that of he-goats pressing ahead to lead the flock.

9. An assembly of great nations. These nations are enumerated in ch. 51:27, 28.

12. Hindermost. Babylon took pride in her world leadership. At a time when the nation was ascending to the pinnacle of her power (see on v. 1) Jeremiah in biting irony prophetically calls her “the hindermost of the nations.” Compare Balaam’s prophecy of Amalek (Num. 24:20).

A desert. By prophetic foresight Jeremiah looks down through the centuries and beholds the result of a succession of catastrophes that would cause Babylon to become “a wilderness, a dry land, and a desert.” The soil of Babylonia was highly fertile. When irrigated, the land yielded abundant crops, but when left without water, it quickly became a vast desert. From early times the prosperity of central and southern Mesopotamia depended upon the existence of a strong government that could maintain the network of irrigation canals. Periods of anarchy were periods of desolation. As the prophet predicts political disaster, he also sees the country becoming a desert.

The predicted desolation came, although not immediately upon Babylon’s fall. Under the Persians the country of Babylonia continued to be highly productive. Herodotus (i. 193), writing during that period, declared, “For the Babylonian territory, like Egypt, is intersected by canals. … It is so fruitful in the produce of corn, that it yields continually two hundred-fold, and when it produces its best, it yields even three hundred-fold. The blades of wheat and barley grow there to full four fingers in breadth, and though I well know to what a height millet and sesame grow, I shall not mention it; for I am well assured that, to those who have never been in the Babylonian country, what has been said concerning its productions will appear to many incredible. … They have palm-trees growing all over the plain” (Henry Cary, trans.).

A similar situation prevailed in Roman times; Pliny (Natural History xviii. 17), in the 1st century a.d., states that there were two harvests a year in Babylonia. Mesopotamia continued to flourish under Moslem rule until 1258, when the Mongols, under the grandson of Genghis Khan, swept over Western Asia. As part of their depredations they demolished the irrigation system. Since that time, the central and southern plains of Mesopotamia have been largely desert.

13. Not be inhabited. Whereas v. 12 seems to apply to the country as a whole, this verse apparently refers specifically to the city. Babylon was not destroyed by Cyrus, and its decline came by slow stages (see on Isa. 13:19). For many centuries the most imposing of the remains of ancient Babylon, the great mound that contains the ruins of the royal palace-fortress and the adjacent Gate of Ishtar, have been a mass of crumbling brick. No one can look upon this scene of broken walls and general desolation without realizing how completely Jeremiah’s predictions have been fulfilled.

15. Given her hand. That is, surrendered.

17. Assyria. A reference to the destruction of the northern kingdom of Israel by the Assyrian king, Shalmaneser V, in 723/722 b.c. (2 Kings 18:9–12).

18. As I have punished. Nineveh,the capital of Assyria, was destroyed by the Babylonians and Medes in 612 b.c. Within less than ten years thereafter the remnants of the empire disappeared, and soon the Assyrians as a nation were lost to history. Their fall is graphically described in the prophecy of Nahum. The kingdom of Babylon was soon to lose its independence at the hands of the Persians (539 b.c.), and in the reign of Xerxes it similarly ceased to be even a subordinate kingdom, and was merged with Assyria into a province. The city of Babylon was largely destroyed, though it continued to exist for some time after that (see on Isa. 13:19).

19. Carmel. The areas mentioned here suggest that God planned to restore the original limits of Israel. Carmel is literally, “garden land.” Bashan, Ephraim, and Gilead were noted for their fertility, forests, and herds of cattle (see Deut. 32:14; Judges 8:2; Isa. 35:2; Hosea 9:13; Micah 7:14; Zech. 11:2). These promises were conditional on obedience (see PK 704).

20. Shall be none. The forgiveness of sin here promised would have followed sincere repentance and a genuine spiritual revival. The sins that characterized Israel prior to the Exile were not to be repeated. Israel failed to fulfill the divine purpose.

Whom I reserve. Literally, “whom I shall cause to remain.” This text is an assurance of pardon to God’s remnant people; the RSV reads, “for I will pardon those whom I leave as a remnant.” The Jews who were left at the end of the Captivity were here given the promise that if they were repentant God would no longer hold against them the evil deeds of their past history.

21. Merathaim. A Hebrew dual form, probably from the Heb. marah, “to be rebellious,” and thus meaning “double rebellion.” The name may be used to emphasize the gravity of the rebellion of the Babylonians against Jehovah. The Babylonians had had ample opportunity to know and to serve the true God through the witness of the Jewish captives in their midst. The use of this name for Babylon may also be a play on words. MarraЖtim was the Babylonian name for a lagoon in southern Babylonia at the head of the Persian Gulf.

Pekod. Literally, “visitation,” here doubtless in the sense of punishment (see on ch. 46:21). Like Merathaim, it appears to be a play on a Babylonian term, probably in this case on PuquЖdu, the name of an Aramaean tribe in southeastern Babylonia. These people are mentioned in Eze. 23:23 as being in the Babylonian army.

23. Hammer. The power that once had shattered other nations is now itself broken (see Isa. 14:4–6).

24. Wast not aware. Babylon was taken by surprise by the Persians (see on Dan. 5:30, 31).

25. Lord God of hosts. See on ch. 7:3.

27. Bullocks. Possibly a reference to the warriors or princes of Babylon (see Ps. 22:12; 68:30; Isa. 37:7).

28. Voice. Those Jews who were eye-witnesses of the invasion and downfall of Babylonia could bear a striking testimony in Jerusalem to the magnitude of the punishment of the nation that had destroyed the Temple.

29. Let none. The picture is of a typical siege of an ancient city. Thus the Babylonians had overthrown the strongholds of their neighboring nations. The same tactics are now employed against them.

30. Her young men. Compare ch. 49:26, where the same prediction is made concerning the city of Damascus.

34. Redeemer. Heb. goХel. This word appears more than 40 times in the OT, although Jeremiah uses it only here. It is variously translated by the KJV as “redeemer,” “kinsman,” “revenger,” “avenger.” It is the term applied to the near relative whose duty it was to avenge a murder (see Num. 35:19), and to buy back land sold by a poor man (see Lev. 25:23–25; cf. Ruth 3:9; see on Ruth 2:20). The Lord is here presented as Israel’s kinsman, who will both avenge her persecutors and restore her to her rightful inheritance.

Lord of hosts. See on ch. 7:3.

Thoroughly plead their cause. The Hebrew is highly poetic, reading literally, “pleading he will plead their plea.”

35. A sword. Verses 35–38 are a poetic unit, as is shown by the repetition of the phrase “a sword is upon.” In consonantal Hebrew the phrase translated “a drought is upon” (v. 38) is identical with that translated “a sword is upon.” The Syriac gives the same translation throughout.

Wise men. Babylon was famous for her wise men, upon whom the kings depended for guidance (see Dan. 2:2, 12; Dan. 5:15).

36. Liars. Heb. baddim, “empty talkers.” The reference is probably to the so-called wise men of Babylon (see Isa. 44:25).

37. Mingled people. Probably a reference to foreign troops in the Babylonian army.

Treasures. The Babylonians had robbed the treasures of Judah (see Jer. 52:17–23; Dan. 1:2).

38. Waters. The prosperity of Babylonia depended upon her two great rivers, the Tigris and the Euphrates (see on vs. 12, 35).

Mad upon their idols. Or, “with horrible things they act like mad men.” The prophet probably has in mind orgies performed in the presence of grotesque, and often obscene, idols.

39. Wild beasts. The phrase “the wild beasts of the desert with the wild beasts of the islands” is the translation of the Heb. siyyim ХethРХiyyim. The sound of this passage when read in Hebrew suggests the shrill cries of wild animals as they prowl in the ruins of Babylon. Siyyim is variously derived by scholars from a Hebrew root meaning “dryness,” in which case it could indicate a desert animal (as KJV), or from another root meaning “to cry,” suggesting an animal that yelps. ХIyyim, taken by the translators of the KJV to be a form of Хi “island,” is considered by recent authorities to be from a root meaning “to cry,” and to refer to the jackal.

Owls. Heb.benoth yaФanah, probably literally, “daughters of the desert,” or “daughters of the hard, stony land.” The term denotes ostriches (see on Lev. 11:16).

No more inhabited. See on v. 13.

41. North. See on chs. 1:14; 50:3.

Coasts of the earth. Or, “the remotest parts of the earth” (see ch. 51:27, 28). When the Medes and Persians overthrew Babylon in 539 b.c., their empire in its northern and eastern reaches extended beyond the limits of any previous world power. The Persian Empire, as finally constituted, reached from the border of India on the east to Thrace and Egypt on the west, south into Arabia and north into modern Turkistan and the Caucasus. This was by far the greatest empire the world had yet known.

43. Hands waxed feeble. See Dan. 5:6, where Belshazzar’s conduct at the time of the fall of Babylon is described. Nabonidus, with whom Belshazzar shared the rule, seems likewise to have presented no strong resistance to the invaders. The Babylonian historian Berosus states that Nabonidus advanced against the Persians but was defeated in battle, whereupon he fled, and later surrendered without attempting to defend himself (see Josephus Against Apion i. 20). The so-called Nabonidus Chronicle, the cuneiform document which constitutes a primary source on the fall of Babylon to the Persians, reflects the same picture of disorganization and only half-hearted defense on the part of Nabonidus. It states: “In the month of Tashritu, when Cyrus attacked the army of Akkad in Opis on the Tigris, the inhabitants of Akkad revolted, but he (Nabonidus) massacred the confused inhabitants. The 14th day, Sippar was seized without battle. Nabonidus fled. The 16th day, Gobryas (Ugbaru), the governor of Gutium and the army of Cyrus entered Babylon without battle. Afterwards Nabonidus was arrested in Babylon when he returned (there)” (Ancient Near Eastern Texts, J. B. Pritchard, ed., p. 306).

44. Behold. Verses 44–46 are almost identical with ch. 49:19–21, where the words are applied to Edom (see comments there).

Ellen G. White comments

20  COL 205; GC 485

23–25PK 532

25   PP 509

33, 34  PK 532