The word that Yahweh spoke concerning Babylon, concerning the land of the Chaldeans, by Jeremiah the prophet.
“Declare among the nations and publish, and set up a standard; publish, and don’t conceal: say, ‘Babylon has been taken, Bel is disappointed, Merodach is dismayed! Her images are disappointed. Her idols are dismayed.’
For a nation comes up out of the north against her, which will make her land desolate, and no one will dwell in it. They have fled. They are gone, both man and animal.
“In those days, and in that time,” says Yahweh, “the children of Israel will come, they and the children of Judah together; they will go on their way weeping, and will seek Yahweh their God.
They will inquire concerning Zion with their faces turned toward it, saying, ‘Come, and join yourselves to Yahweh in an everlasting covenant that will not be forgotten.’
My people have been lost sheep. Their shepherds have caused them to go astray. They have turned them away on the mountains. They have gone from mountain to hill. They have forgotten their resting place.
All who found them have devoured them. Their adversaries said, ‘We are not guilty, because they have sinned against Yahweh, the habitation of righteousness, even Yahweh, the hope of their fathers.’
“Flee out of the middle of Babylon! Go out of the land of the Chaldeans, and be as the male goats before the flocks.
For, behold, I will stir up and cause to come up against Babylon a company of great nations from the north country; and they will set themselves in array against her. She will be taken from there. Their arrows will be as of an expert mighty man. None of them will return in vain.
Chaldea will be a prey. All who prey on her will be satisfied,” says Yahweh.
“Because you are glad, because you rejoice, O you who plunder my heritage, because you are wanton as a heifer that treads out the grain, and neigh as strong horses;
your mother will be utterly disappointed. She who bore you will be confounded. Behold, she will be the least of the nations, a wilderness, a dry land, and a desert.
Because of Yahweh’s wrath she won’t be inhabited, but she will be wholly desolate. Everyone who goes by Babylon will be astonished, and hiss at all her plagues.
Set yourselves in array against Babylon all around, all you who bend the bow; shoot at her. Spare no arrows; for she has sinned against Yahweh.
Shout against her all around. She has submitted herself. Her bulwarks have fallen. Her walls have been thrown down, for it is the vengeance of Yahweh. Take vengeance on her. As she has done, do to her.
Cut off the sower from Babylon, and him who handles the sickle in the time of harvest. For fear of the oppressing sword, they will each return to their own people, and they will each flee to their own land.
“Israel is a hunted sheep. The lions have driven him away. First, the king of Assyria devoured him, and now at last Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon has broken his bones.”
Therefore Yahweh of Armies, the God of Israel, says: “Behold, I will punish the king of Babylon and his land, as I have punished the king of Assyria.
I will bring Israel again to his pasture, and he will feed on Carmel and Bashan. His soul will be satisfied on the hills of Ephraim and in Gilead.
In those days, and in that time,” says Yahweh, “the iniquity of Israel will be sought for, and there will be none; also the sins of Judah, and they won’t be found; for I will pardon them whom I leave as a remnant.
“Go up against the land of Merathaim, even against it, and against the inhabitants of Pekod. Kill and utterly destroy after them,” says Yahweh, “and do according to all that I have commanded you.
A sound of battle is in the land, and of great destruction.
How the hammer of the whole earth is cut apart and broken! How Babylon has become a desolation among the nations!
I have laid a snare for you, and you are also taken, Babylon, and you weren’t aware. You are found, and also caught, because you have fought against Yahweh.
Yahweh has opened his armory, and has brought out the weapons of his indignation; for the Lord, Yahweh of Armies, has a work to do in the land of the Chaldeans.
Come against her from the farthest border. Open her storehouses. Cast her up as heaps. Destroy her utterly. Let nothing of her be left.
Kill all her bulls. Let them go down to the slaughter. Woe to them! For their day has come, the time of their visitation.
Listen to those who flee and escape out of the land of Babylon, to declare in Zion the vengeance of Yahweh our God, the vengeance of his temple.
“Call together the archers against Babylon, all those who bend the bow. Encamp against her all around. Let none of it escape. Pay her back according to her work. According to all that she has done, do to her; for she has been proud against Yahweh, against the Holy One of Israel.
Therefore her young men will fall in her streets. All her men of war will be brought to silence in that day,” says Yahweh.
“Behold, I am against you, you proud one,” says the Lord, Yahweh of Armies; “for your day has come, the time that I will visit you.
The proud one will stumble and fall, and no one will raise him up. I will kindle a fire in his cities, and it will devour all who are around him.”
Yahweh of Armies says: “The children of Israel and the children of Judah are oppressed together. All who took them captive hold them fast. They refuse to let them go.
Their Redeemer is strong: Yahweh of Armies is his name. He will thoroughly plead their cause, that he may give rest to the earth, and disquiet the inhabitants of Babylon.
“A sword is on the Chaldeans,” says Yahweh, “and on the inhabitants of Babylon, on her princes, and on her wise men.
A sword is on the boasters, and they will become fools. A sword is on her mighty men, and they will be dismayed.
A sword is on their horses, on their chariots, and on all the mixed people who are in the middle of her; and they will become as women. A sword is on her treasures, and they will be robbed.
A drought is on her waters, and they will be dried up; for it is a land of engraved images, and they are mad over idols.
Therefore the wild animals of the desert with the wolves will dwell there. The ostriches will dwell therein; and it will be inhabited no more forever; neither will it be lived in from generation to generation.
As when God overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah and its neighbor cities,” says Yahweh, “so no man will dwell there, neither will any son of man live therein.
“Behold, a people comes from the north; and a great nation and many kings will be stirred up from the uttermost parts of the earth.
They take up bow and spear. They are cruel, and have no mercy. Their voice roars like the sea. They ride on horses, everyone set in array, as a man to the battle, against you, daughter of Babylon.
The king of Babylon has heard the news of them, and his hands become feeble: anguish has taken hold of him, pains as of a woman in labor.
Behold, the enemy will come up like a lion from the pride of the Jordan against the strong habitation; for I will suddenly make them run away from it. Whoever is chosen, I will appoint him over it; for who is like me? Who will appoint me a time? Who is the shepherd who can stand before me?”
Therefore hear the counsel of Yahweh, that he has taken against Babylon; and his purposes, that he has purposed against the land of the Chaldeans: Surely they will drag them away, even the little ones of the flock. Surely he will make their habitation desolate over them.
At the noise of the taking of Babylon the earth trembles; and the cry is heard among the nations.
John Calvin 1540 · Public Domain On vv1–46 Our Prophet has been hitherto speaking of neighboring nations…
Our Prophet has been hitherto speaking of neighboring nations who had cruelly harassed the chosen people; and it was some consolation when the children of Abraham understood that God undertook their cause and would be the avenger of those wrongs which they had suffered. But this of itself would have been no great consolation, yea, it might have been viewed as nothing by many, while there was no hope of restoration; for it would have been but a small consolation to have others as associates in misery. If, indeed, Jeremiah had only taught that none of the nations who had troubled God’s Church would escape unpunished, the Jews might have raised an objection, and said, that they were not freed from their own calamities, because the monarchy of Babylon still flourished, and that they were buried as it were in a perpetual grave. It was therefore necessary that what we read here should be predicted. And though this prophecy is given last, we ought to notice that the Prophet had from the beginning expressly spoken, as we have seen, of the calamity and destruction of Babylon. But this prophecy is given as the conclusion of the book, to mitigate the sorrow of the miserable exiles; for it was no small relief to them to hear that the tyranny by which they were oppressed, and under which they did live as it were a lifeless life, would not be perpetual. We now then understand why the Prophet spoke of the Babylonians and of their destruction.
But a longer preface would be superfluous, because those acquainted with Scripture well know that the Jews were at length so reduced by the Babylonians that their very name seemed to have been obliterated. As then they were reduced to such extremities, it is no wonder that the Prophet here affirms that the Babylonians would be at length punished, and that not only that God might show himself to be the avenger of wickedness, but also that the miserable exiles might know that they were not wholly repudiated, but on the contrary that God had a care for their salvation. We now perceive the design of this prophecy.
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The word of Jehovah, he says, which he spoke concerning Babylon, concerning the land of the Chaldeans, by the hand of Jeremiah the Prophet He testifies in his usual manner that he did not bring forward what he himself had invented, but that God was the author of this prophecy. He at the same time declares that he was God’s minister; for God did not descend from heaven whenever it pleased him to reveal his favor to the Jews, but, as it is said in Deuteronomy, he was wont to speak by his servants. (Deuteronomy 18:18.) In short, Jeremiah thus recommends the things he was about to say, that the Jews might reverently receive them, not as the fictions of men, but as oracles from heaven. It follows —
John Calvin's Commentaries (1540-1563) — public domain. Text from the Calvin Translation Society English edition (1840s-50s) via the Christian Classics Ethereal Library (ccel.org). Calvin's coverage is partial (roughly two-thirds of the Bible); uncommented books and verses are honest gaps, never fabricated. The 19th-century editor's footnotes and remarks are omitted so the notes are faithfully Calvin's own voice.
Geneva Bible translators 1599 · Public Domain On vv1, 2, 3, 4, 6, 7, 8, 10, 11, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 21, 23, 26, 27, 28, 34, 36, 38, 39, 41, 43, 44 Hebrew, hands.
Hebrew, hands.
Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain.
John Trapp 1656 · Public Domain On vv1–46 Jer 50:1 The word that the LORD spake against…
Jer 50:1 The word that the LORD spake against Babylon [and] against the land of the Chaldeans by Jeremiah the prophet.
Ver. 1. The word that the Lord spake against Babylon.] Which was built by Nimrod, as Nineveh was afterwards by his nephew Ninus. {Gen 10:11} Of the greatness of this city, besides what we read in holy writ, much may be read in Herodotus and Pliny. It was the head city of the Assyrian and Chaldean monarchy, which lasted above seventeen hundred years, till Cyrus the Persian took the kingdom. Isaiah prophesied against it in several chapters. Habakkuk maketh it his whole business. Jeremiah had set forth how Sheshach, that is, Belshazzar, should drink the dregs of the cup of God’s wrath. {Jer 25:26} Here, and in the next chapter, he discourseth it more at large, showing how it was that Babylon was to drink of that cup; and for more certainty, it is spoken of in this prophecy as already done.
John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Matthew Poole 1685 · Public Domain On vv1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37, 38, 40, 41, 42, 43, 45, 46 The prophet having from the 46th chapter been denouncing…
The prophet having from the 46th chapter been denouncing the judgments of God against the other Gentiles, the Egyptians, Moabites, Philistines, Ammonites, Edomites, Syrians, Kedarens, Hazorites, Elamites or Persians, (the most of which had been enemies to the Jews,) in these two chapters he denounceth God’s judgments against the Chaldeans and Babylonians. These were to execute God’s vengeance on all the rest, and therefore are themselves threatened in the last place to be destroyed by the Medes the prophecy against them is mixed with many gracious promises to the Jews.
Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Matthew Henry 1710 · Public Domain On vv1, 9, 21, 33 I. Here is a word spoken against Babylon by…
I. Here is a word spoken against Babylon by him whose works all agree with his word and none of whose words fall to the ground. The king of Babylon had been very kind of Jeremiah, and yet he must foretel the ruin of that kingdom; for God's prophets must not be governed by favour or affection. Whoever are our friends, if, notwithstanding, they are God's enemies, we dare not speak peace to them. 1. The destruction of Babylon is here spoken of as a thing done, Jer 50:2. let it be published to the nations as a piece of news, true news, and great news, and news they are all concerned in; let them hang out the flag, as is usual on days of triumph, to give notice of it; let all the world take notice of it: Babylon is taken. Let God have the honour of it, let his people have the comfort of it, and therefore do not conceal it. Take care that it be known, that the Lord may be known by those judgments which he executes, Psa 9:16. 2. It is spoken of as a thing done thoroughly. For, (1.) The very idols of Babylon, which the people would protect with all possible care, and from which they expected protection, shall be destroyed. Bel and Merodach were their two principal deities; they shall be confounded, and the images of them broken to pieces. (2.) The country shall be laid waste (Jer 50:3) out of the north, from Media, which lay north of Babylon, and from Assyria, through which Cyrus made his descent upon Babylon; thence the nation shall come that shall make her land desolate. Their land was north of the countries that they destroyed, who were therefore threatened with evil from the north (Omne malum ab aquilone - Every evil comes from the north); but God will find out nations yet further north to come upon them. The pomp and power of old Rome were brought down by northern nations, the Goths and Vandals.
II. Here is a word spoken for the people of God, and for their comfort, both the children of Israel and of Judah; for many there were of the ten tribes that associated with those of the two tribes in their return out of Babylon. Now here,
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1. It is promised that they shall return to their God first and then to their own land; and the promise of their conversion and reformation is that which makes way for all the other promises, Jer 50:4, Jer 50:5. (1.) They shall lament after the Lord (as the whole house of Israel did in Samuel's time, Sa1 7:2); they shall go weeping. These tears flow not from the sorrow of the world as those when they went into captivity, but from godly sorrow; they are tears of repentance for sin, tears of joy for the goodness of God, in the dawning of the day of their deliverance, which, for aught that appears, does more towards the bringing of them to mourn for sin than all the calamities of their captivity; that prevails to lead them to repentance when the other did not prevail to drive them to it. Note, It is a good sign that God is coming towards a people in ways of mercy when they begin to be tenderly affected under his hand. (2.) They shall enquire after the Lord; they shall not sink under their sorrows, but bestir themselves to find out comfort where it is to be had: They shall go weeping to seek the Lord their God. Those that seek the Lord must seek him sorrowing, as Christ's parents sought him, Luk 2:48. And those that sorrow must seek the Lord, and then their sorrow shall soon be turned into joy, for he will be found of those that so seek him. They shall seek the Lord as their God, and shall now have no more to do with idols. When they shall hear that the idols of Babylon are confounded and broken it will be seasonable for them to enquire after their own God and to return to him who lives for ever. Therefore men are deceived in false gods, that they may depend on the true God only. (3.) They shall think of returning to their own country again; they shall think of it not only as a mercy, but as a duty, because there only is the holy hill of Zion, on which once stood the house of the Lord their God (Jer 50:5): They shall ask the way to Zion with their faces thitherward. Zion was the city of their solemnities; they often thought of it in the depth of their captivity (Psa 137:1); but, now that the ruin of Babylon gave them some hopes of a release, they talk of nothing else but of going back to Zion. Their hearts were upon it before, and now they set their faces thitherward. They long to be there; they set out for Zion, and resolve not to take up short of it. The journey is long and they know not the road, but they will ask the way, for they will press forward till they come to Zion; and, as they are determined not to turn back, so they are in care not to miss the way. This represents the return of poor souls to God. Heaven is the Zion they aim at as their end; on this they have set their hearts; towards this they have set their faces, and therefore they ask the way thither. They do not ask the way to heaven and set their faces towards the world; nor set their faces towards heaven and go on at a venture without asking the way. But in all true converts there are both a sincere desire to attain the end and a constant care to keep in the way; and a blessed sight it is to see people thus asking the way to heaven with their faces thitherward. (4.) They shall renew their covenant to walk with God more closely for the future: Come, and let us join ourselves to the Lord in a perpetual covenant. They had broken covenant with God, had in effect separated themselves from him, but now they resolve to join themselves to him again, by engaging themselves afresh to be his. Thus, when backsliders return, they must do their first works, must renew the covenant they first made; and it must be a perpetual covenant, that must never be broken; and, in order to that, must never be forgotten; for a due remembrance of it will be the means of a due observance of it.
2. Their present case is lamented as very sad, and as having been long so: "My people" (for he owns them as his now that they are returning to him) "have been lost sheep (Jer 50:6); they have gone from mountain to hill, have been hurried from place to place, and could find no pasture; they have forgotten their resting-place in their own country and cannot find their way to it." And that which aggravated their misery was, (1.) That they were led astray by their own shepherds, their own princes and priests; they turned them from their duty, and so provoked God to turn them out of their own land. It is bad with a people when their leaders cause them to err, when those that should direct them, and when those that should secure and advance their interests are the betrayers of them. (2.) That in their wanderings they lay exposed to the beasts of prey, who thought they were entitled to them, as waifs and strays that had no owner (Jer 50:7); it is with them as with wandering sheep, all that found them have devoured them and made a prey of them; and when they did them the greatest injuries they laughed at them, telling them it was what their own prophets had many a time told them they deserved; that was far from justifying those who did them wrong, yet they bantered them with this excuse, We offend not, because they have sinned against the Lord; but they could not pretend that they had sinned against them. And see what notion they had of the Lord they had sinned against, not as the only true and living God, but only as the habitation of justice and the hope of their fathers; they had put a contempt upon the temple and upon the tradition of their ancestors, and therefore deserved to suffer these hard things. And yet it was indeed an aggravation of their sin, and justified God, though it did not justify their adversaries in what was done to them, that they had forsaken the habitation of justice and him that was the hope of their fathers.
3. They are called upon to hasten away, as soon as ever the door of liberty was opened to them (Jer 50:8): "Remove, not only out of the borders, but out of the midst of Babylon; though you be ever so well seated there, think not to settle there, but hasten to Zion, and be as the he-goats before the flocks; strive which shall be foremost, which shall lead in so good a work:" a he-goat is comely in going (Pro 30:31) because he goes first. It is a graceful thing to be forward in a good work and to set others a good example.
Matthew Henry's Commentary on the Whole Bible (1708–1710) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
John Gill 1763 · Public Domain On vv1–46 The word that the Lord spake against Babylon,.... Or…
The word that the Lord spake against Babylon,.... Or "to", of "of Babylon" (c); the city of Babylon, the metropolis of the Chaldean empire; sometimes it signifies the whole country, here the city only, as appears by what follows:
and against the land of the Chaldeans; whither the Jews were carried captive, for whose comfort this prophecy is delivered out; and which had subdued other nations, and was become an universal monarchy; these people are mentioned last, because the rest of the nations were to drink the cup of God's wrath at their hands, and then they were to drink it after them; see Jer 25:9; this is to be understood not only of Babylon and its empire, literally taken, but of mystical Babylon and its dependencies; of Rome, and its jurisdiction; of antichrist, and the antichristian states, the last enemies of the church and people of God, who will be destroyed by the pouring out of the seven vials; see Rev 15:1. This prophecy, which is called "the word that the Lord spake", for it was from him, the thing was decreed and declared by him, came
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by Jeremiah the prophet, to whom the king of Babylon had been very kind; but yet he must be, and was, faithful as a prophet, to deliver what he had from the Lord concerning the ruin of his empire.
(c) "ad Babel", Montanus; "de Babylone", V. L. "de Babel", Cocceius.
John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
John Wesley 1765 · Public Domain On vv1, 2, 3, 4, 6, 7, 8, 10, 11, 12, 15, 16, 17, 20, 21, 22, 26, 27, 28, 33, 34, 36, 37, 38, 40 The judgment of Babel, and the land of Chaldea,…
The judgment of Babel, and the land of Chaldea, for their idolatry, tyranny and pride; with gracious promises of the redemption of Israel intermixed, ver. 1-46.
John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.
Adam Clarke 1810 · Public Domain On vv1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 23, 24, 26, 27, 28, 29, 31, 32, 34, 35, 38, 39, 40, 41, 44, 46 This and the following chapter contain a prophecy relating…
CHAPTER L
This and the following chapter contain a prophecy relating to
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the fall of Babylon, interspersed with several predictions
relative to the restoration of Israel and Judah, who were to
survive their oppressors, and, on their repentance, to be
pardoned and brought to their own land. This chapter opens with
a prediction of the complete destruction of all the Babylonish
idols, and the utter desolation of Chaldea, through the
instrumentality of a great northern nation, 1-3.
Israel and Judah shall be reinstated in the land of their
forefathers after the total overthrow of the great Babylonish
empire, 4, 5.
Very oppressive and cruel bondage of the Jewish people during
the captivity, 6, 7.
The people of God are commanded to remove speedily from
Babylon, because an assembly of great nations are coming out of
the north to desolate the whole land, 8-10.
Babylon, the hammer of the whole earth, the great desolator of
nations, shall itself become a desolation on account of its
intolerable pride, and because of the iron yoke it has rejoiced
to put upon a people whom a mysterious Providence had placed
under its domination, 11-34.
The judgments which shall fall upon Chaldea, a country addicted
to the grossest idolatry, and to every species of superstition,
shall be most awful and general, as when God overthrew Sodom
and Gomorrah, 35-40.
Character of the people appointed to execute the Divine
judgments upon the oppressors of Israel, 41-45.
Great sensation among the nations at the very terrible and
sudden fall of Babylon, 46.
NOTES ON CHAP. L
Verse 1. THE WORD THAT THE LORD SPAKE AGAINST BABYLON] This is also a new head of discourse.
The prophecy contained in this and the following chapter was sent to the captives in Babylon in the fourth year of the reign of Zedekiah. They are very important; they predict the total destruction of the Babylonish empire, and the return of the Jews from their captivity. These chapters were probably composed, with several additions, out of the book that was then sent by Jeremiah to the captives by the hand of Seraiah. See Jer 51:59-64.
Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Joseph Benson 1811 · Public Domain On vv1, 4, 6, 8, 9, 12, 17, 18, 19, 21, 22, 25, 33, 35, 38, 41 Jer 50:1-3. The word that the Lord spake against…
Jer 50:1-3. The word that the Lord spake against Babylon — This prophecy was delivered and sent to Babylon in the fourth year of Zedekiah’s reign, as appears from Jer 51:59. Declare ye among the nations — The downfall of Babylon was an event in which many nations were concerned, that empire having been a common oppressor. Set up a standard — To call people together, and impart unto them these good tidings. The destruction of Babylon was likewise a sort of signal to the Jews to assemble together, in order to their return to their own land, the time of their captivity being then to expire. Bel is confounded, Merodach is broken to pieces — When God punishes an idolatrous nation he is said to confound its idols, because they do not bring assistance to their worshippers, nor deliver them out of his hands. Bel is the same with Baal, a name common to the idols of the eastern countries, and at first probably given to some of the heavenly bodies: see note on Isa 39:1. For out of the north there cometh a nation against her — The Medes, who lay north of Babylon.
Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Albert Barnes 1834 · Public Domain On vv1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 12, 14, 15, 16, 17, 19, 20, 21, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37, 38, 39, 41, 44 Against ... against - Concerning.
Against ... against - Concerning.
Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Haydock's Catholic Bible Commentary 1859 · Public Domain On vv1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 11, 12, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 23, 24, 25, 26, 28, 30, 31, 33, 34, 35, 36, 38, 39, 42, 43, 44 Prophet. He had spoken against them in the fourth…
Prophet. He had spoken against them in the fourth year of Joachim, and now is more explicit in the fourth of Sedecias, (chap. li. 60.) sending his predictions to be read, and then thrown into the Euphrates. The fall of Babylon was gradual. It was in consequence of her pride and cruelty, ver. 11, 17, 23, 29., and Isaias xlvii. 6. (Calmet) --- It had shewn the greatest enmity to the Jews, and was at last overthrown by the Medes and Persians. (Worthington)
George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).
Lange's Commentary on the Holy Scriptures 1864 · Public Domain On vv1, 6, 14, 17, 21, 24, 29, 33, 41 11. Prophecy against Babylon (chh. 50, 51.)
11. Prophecy against Babylon (chh. 50, 51.)
Introduction
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1. Before the battle of Carchemish Jeremiah predicted to his people a severe visitation by a people coming from the north, whom he afterwards recognized as the Chaldeans, and then constantly proclaimed that Israel and the other nations would be saved from complete destruction only by subjection to Nebuchadnezzar. It may, therefore, be said that during part of his ministry he spoke of the Chaldeans unknowingly in a manner favorable to them. There is no contradiction, however, as many suppose, in his here predicting the destruction of Babylon itself, and in the same manner by a people coming from the north (Jer_50:3; Jer_50:9; Jer_50:41, Jer_51:48). For Jeremiah would only say that for the present, in the proximate future, Babylon is the instrument of judgment on all nations (Jer_50:23; Jer_51:20 sqq.), but the time is coming when Babylon itself must drain the cup of wrath, in punishment for the sins which it has incurred in the execution of its mission (Jer_50:11; Jer_50:24; Jer_50:28; Jer_50:32; Jer_51:6; Jer_51:11; Jer_51:24; Jer_51:36; Jer_51:56). Jeremiah’s declarations for and against Babylon are thus related to each other, as in Jer_25:27 the brief declaration, “and the king of Sheshach shall drink after them,” is to the previous announcements that Babylon shall offer the cup of wrath. It is not strange to find a prophecy against Babylon in Jeremiah, but must be regarded as perfectly natural.
2. Prophecy against Babylon has a history. First, Isaiah, probably moved by the embassy, which Merodach-Baladan sent to Hezekiah (Isaiah 39, 2Ki_20:12 sqq.) proclaimed the judgment of destruction on Babylon (Isaiah 13, 14, 21; Isa_43:14; Isa_46:1-2; Isaiah 47; Isa_48:14 sqq.). He is followed by Micah, who, in a brief declaration, comprises all which Jeremiah has said in his whole book for and against Babylon, “thou shalt dwell in the field, and thou shalt go to Babylon; there shalt thou be delivered; there the Lord shall redeem thee from the hand of thy enemies.” Mic_4:10. Habakkuk then, the cotemporary of Jeremiah, prophesied before him, but after the battle of Carchemish, against Babylon, characterizing it not only in the narrower sense as a power hostile to the people of Israel, but also in a higher and more comprehensive sense as a worldly power, self-deifying, and the enemy of God. Jeremiah finally appropriates his predecessors and represents the acme of Old Testament prophecy against Babylon. He thus forms the main foundation for the prophecy of the Apocalypse concerning the Babylon of the final period. It is, however, to be observed that he gives relatively less prominence than Habakkuk to the ideal significance of Babylon as a type of ungodly, self-deifying, worldly powers. The latter does this in brief but wondrously profound and significant utterances. “For, lo, I raise up the Chaldeans, that powerful and irrepressible nation, which goes as far as the earth extends, to occupy dwellings which are not. Terrible and fearful are they; from themselves proceed their judgment and their dignity” (Hab_1:6-7). “Then he overflows with courage and transgresses and becomes guilty; this his power is unto his God” (Hab_1:11). “Lo, inflated, not upright is his soul within him, but the just by faith shall live” (Hab_2:4). “Yea also because wine stultifies a man, who is arrogant and is not contented, who enlargeth his desire as hell, and is like death and cannot be satisfied, but draweth to himself all nations and gathereth to himself all nations” (Hab_2:5).—Jeremiah by no means passes over this element, but he rather intimates it only in single words, in those significant names which he gives to Babylon when he calls it Double defiance (Jer_50:21), Pride (as personification in Jer_50:31-32), Heart of my opponents (Jer_51:1), Golden cup making the whole earth drunk (Jer_51:7). We may then say that of the two contemporary prophets, who lived to see the culmination of the Babylonian power, Jeremiah draws the grandest and most complete picture of the destruction menacing Babylon, but in such wise that he only intimates the ideal element which represents Babylon as the centre and type of all worldly enmity to God, while Habakkuk, who, notwithstanding the external insignificance of his little book, has a powerful and profound mind, gives us deeper glances into the inner life of the Babylonian empire.
3. It is not, however, the prophets who first stamped Babylon as a centre and type of ungodly empire. This character was impressed upon it from the earliest period. It was the locality of the first earthly princedom. That Nimrod, whose memory is preserved to the present day by the ruined tower of the Birs Nimrud, and who still lives in the traditions of the East as a great criminal and enemy of God, had, according to Gen_10:8 sqq., Babylon as the beginning of his dominion. The first aristocrat, hero of the chase and of war, conqueror, and despot, proceeded from Babylon. Add to this, that the Babylonian tower-structure is, according to its most essential nature, to be regarded as an undertaking of human pride begun without God and in man’s own strength. The tower was to be a memorial of a period of gigantic effort and aspiration towards the political concentration of the human race into one irresistible power. Thus we see that the ideas of earthly power and glory were from the first native to the soil of Babylon. Comp. Naegelsb., Jer. u. Bab., S. 5 sqq.; Perizonius, Origg. Babylonicæ, Cap. 10–12; Jahn, Archæology I., 1, S. 30, coll. Deyling, Observ. Sacræ., P. III., p. 19 ff.—Brian Walton in his Polyglott, Lond., Prolegg. I., pag. 3; Hetzel, Gedanken über den babylonischen Thurmbau, Hildb., 1775; Görres, Die Völkertafel des Pent., Regensburg, 1845, 1, S. 51. The seed sowed in that primitive period reached its full bloom in Nebuchadnezzar. By him Babylon was really made the first “all-devouring” universal monarchy, by which I mean that his power was greater than that of the Assyrians before him, or the Persians and Romans after him. But he also devoured the theocracy, i.e., the only point on this earth where the kingdom of God was represented in the form of a human popular and civil life. Since that time the kingdom of God as such has had no place on earth. It is still as the church in the embrace of worldly power. Babylon, however, the first worldly power which brought the kingdom of God into this condition, appears from that time in the Scriptures as the worldly power, κατʼ ἐξοχὴν, so that not only what the Old Testament prophets declare of the different representatives of worldly dominion, of Egypt (Rev_11:8), Tyre (Rev_18:11 coll. Ezekiel 27.), Nineveh (Rev_18:3; Rev_18:5 coll. Nah_3:4, Jon_1:2), is transferred in the New Testament to Babylon, but even the name of Babylon itself is attributed to the final form of the worldly power, antichristian Rome. Comp. Rev_17:9; Rev_17:18. See in general Rev_14:8; Rev_16:9, and especially chh. 17, 18. This subject is treated more in detail in Naegelsb. Jer. u. Bab.
4. With regard to the etymology of the name Babylon there have been two opposite views. According to one, which was first broached by Stephanus Byzantinus and the Etymologicon Magn. s. v. Βαβνλὼν, the name, designates Bel as the founder of the city. Eichhorn (Biblioth. d. bibl. Litt. III., S. 1001) accordingly explains בָּבֶל as arising from Bab Bel, i.e., porta or aula Beli. Gesenius (Thesaur., pag. 212), Tuch and others modify this view, in so far that they translate בָּבֶל domus Beli, since the word is written in Arabic bâbel, and bâ is frequently used in Arabic names of cities for bî, bêt. Knobel (Gen., S. 128) derives Babel from Bar-bel, i.e., arx (βᾶρις, בִּירַה) Beli. It is opposed however to these explanations that they are supported on partly much too recent and partly altogether insecure linguistic analogies. The other explanation is founded on Gen_11:7; Gen_11:9 (נָֽכְלָה שְׂפָתַּם, Jer_50:7 and בִּי שָׁם בָּלֵל י׳ שְׂבַּת בָּל־הָאָרֶץ), According to this בָּבֶל arose from בַּלְבֵּל. The punctuation of the first syllable is to he explained after the analogy of כּוֹכָב for טוֹטָבּוֹת כַּבְכָּב, for טָכְּטָבּוֹת (Ew. § 158, c; Olsh. § 74, § 189, a). For the Segol of the second syllable appeal might be made to כַרְמֶל (Delitzsch on Gen_11:9). The meaning would be confusio. Comp. Exo_29:2; Exo_29:40; Lev_2:4-6; further, בְּלִיל, farrago; תְּבֻלַּל troubling, blemish (Lev_21:20). These explanations are also favored by the ancient translations. Onkelos translates נָֽבְלָה, Gen_11:7, by בָּלַל ,נְבַלְבֵּל, Jer_50:9, by בִּלְבֵּל, confudit. Comp. Buxtorf, Lex. Rabb. et Talm., pag. 309. The Peshito version has in Jer_11:9 balbel (comp. Castelli, Lex., pag. 100); Saadiah balbala confudit.—Comp. Gabler, Urgeschichte II. 2, S. 228. Haevernick, Einleit. i. A. T., I., S. 147, 8.—The Babylonian monuments lead to still another etymology. According to Oppert, namely (Exp. en. Mesop. II. S. 46), the word reads on the monuments Babi-ilu, Babilu. Bab is the Shemitic בַּב door, Ilu the ·͂Ηλος in Diodorus, the Κρόνος of the Greeks, Saturn, the god of the deluge. The meaning of the name would then be Porta Dei diluvii. Comp. Ib., S. 67, 157, 259.—Which of these explanations is the correct one is by no means decided, for even the cuneiform inscriptions, presupposing that they are correctly deciphered, represent a late date in relation to the origin of the name, and it is a question whether the Babylonian scholars themselves knew the correct etymology of the word. [Comp. also Smith’s Dictionary of the Bible, s. v., Babel, Babylon; Rawlinson, Ancient Monarchies, I., p. 149; Id., Herodotus, II., p. 574; Dr. Pusey, Lectures on Daniel, p. 271, n, quoted in Wordsworth ad loc.—S. R. A.]
5. The genuineness of this prophecy has been shown by me in detail in my work Jeremia und Babylon, S. 69 ff. Graf also acknowledges it (S. 580 ff.). Only Ewald and Meier, so far as I know, still persist, in maintaining its unauthenticity. “This portion evidently belongs to the last period of the exile, and cannot therefore proceed from Jeremiah,” says the latter (Die prophet. Bücher d. A. T., S. 350, 2). I myself formerly regarded the passage Jer_50:41-46 as a gloss, but I have now retracted this opinion. But after repeated investigation I cannot regard the passage Jer_51:15-19 as original. Consult the exegesis. In respect to the word שֵׁשַׁדְ, Jer_51:41, also, my suspicions have not yet been removed.
6. In what manner the prophecy is related to its fulfilment has been fully shown in Naegelsb. Jer. u. Bab., S. 135. I add to the remark there, that according to Theodoret Jews were the last inhabitants of the destroyed city of Babylon, the following notice from Oppert (Exp. I., S. 135): “Hillah fut fondée par Seifeddaulet vers l’an 1100 à la place de l’antique ville de Babylone, τὸ ἄστν. Jusque-là, des Juifs avaient habité seuls la ville ou plutôt les ruines de Babylone; en 1030 après Jesus-Christ ils quittèrent ces lieux.” Many later witnesses thus corroborate the statement of Theodoret, that the people of Israel could not separate themselves from the corpse of the city, which had destroyed Jerusalem and the temple.
7. In regard to the division of the portion, I am no longer of opinion that the whole is to be discriminated into three main sections with thirteen subdivisions. I still think that three chronological stages may be distinguished, in so far as the destruction of Babylon is represented partly as future, now in the stage of preparation (comp. Jer_50:9; Jer_50:21; Jer_50:26; Jer_50:41) partly as present, in the process of execution (comp. Jer_50:14; Jer_50:24; Jer_50:35; Jer_50:43, etc.; Jer_51:1; Jer_51:11; Jer_51:27), partly as already accomplished (comp. Jer_50:2; Jer_50:15; Jer_50:46; Jer_51:39; Jer_51:41; Jer_51:46; Jer_51:57). And these three stages are so distributed that the first is chiefly in the beginning, the second chiefly in the middle, the third towards the close; but not so sharply defined that Jer_50:21 to Jer_51:33 may be regarded as the second and the foregoing and following as the first and third divisions. The single tableaux or pictures, of which, according to the peculiar style of Jeremiah, the discourse consists, are more distinct. I find nineteen of these, exclusive of the superscription and the historical close. The exegesis will exhibit these in detail.
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1. THE SUPERSCRIPTION
Jer_50:1
1 The word which Jehovah spoke against Babylon, against the land of the Chaldeans, by Jeremiah the prophet.
EXEGETICAL AND CRITICAL
The form of the superscription is like those in Jer_45:1; Jer_46:13. The expression בְּיַר is not found in any other superscription of Jeremiah’s. It occurs in this sense only in Jer_37:2. In my work, Jer. u. Bab., S. 22, I have proposed the hypothesis that there is in this an intimation that this prophecy, according to Jer_51:59 sqq., was given only by the hand, not by the mouth of the prophet. אֶל־אֶרֶץ ו׳ defines more particularly the idea of בַָּבֶל and guards against too narrow a rendering. Comp. Jer_50:8; Jer_50:45; Jer_51:54.
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2. THE CORD BROKEN; ISRAEL FREE (Psa_124:7)
2 Declare it among the nations,
Publish it and erect a signal;
Publish it, conceal it not.
Say “Babylon is taken, with shame stands Bel,
Merodach is thrown down, with shame stand her images,
Thrown down are her idols.”
3 For a nation cometh against her from the north,
And will make her land desolate,
That no inhabitant shall be therein
From man down to beast they flee; up, away!
4 In those days and at that time, saith Jehovah,
The children of Israel shall come,
They and the children of Judah together;
Weeping shall they come
And seek Jehovah their God.
5 After Zion shall they inquire,
Their faces turned thitherward:
“Come, let us join ourselves1 to Jehovah
In a perpetual covenant2 that shall not be forgotten.”
EXEGETICAL AND CRITICAL
The prophet in the first two verses goes to work analytically, first (Jer_50:2) causing the destruction of Babylon to be proclaimed aloud to all nations, and then (Jer_50:3) saying, how and by whom this destruction will be accomplished. This analytic description serves him, however, only as a basis for a promise important to him above all, viz., that in those days the captives of Israel and Judah being liberated, will come home and be united to their God in an eternal and unforgetable covenant (Jer_50:4-5).
Jer_50:2-3. Declare it…up, away. The importance of the matter is shown in the grandeur and animation of the opening, in which the summons to proclaim and the declaration of the destruction are five times repeated. Comp. Jer_4:5-6; Jer_5:20; Jer_31:7; Jer_46:14.—Erect a signal, i.e., for the rapid spread of the tidings. Comp. Jer_51:12; Jer_51:27; Jer_4:6; Jer_6:1; Isa_5:26; Isa_13:2.—Conceal it not. The address seems to be to the friends of Babylon, who might be disposed to withhold this Job’s post.—Taken. Comp. Jer_8:9; Jer_10:14; Jer_46:24; Jer_48:1.—Bel and Merodach are not different deities, but one and the same (comp. Delitzsch on Isa_46:1). The temple of Belus (comp. Herod. I. 181, 2) was also the temple of Marduk, as he is called on the monuments. Here he was worshipped as the Bilu rabu (בַּעַל רָב) as deus augurationis and protective deity of Babylonia. “Toute la dynastie Babylonienne (says Oppert, Exp. en Mesop., Tom. II., p. 272) le met (Merodach) à la tête des Dieux, et l’inscription de Borsippa le nomme le roi du ciel et de la terre. Nebo prend la seconde place et les autres divinités ne paraissent que rarement.” Comp. Tom. 1, p. 178, 9.—That he is not Mars, as I formerly supposed and Hahn in Drechsler’sJesaja on Jer_31:1 (II., 2, S. 212) directly maintains, is decidedly affirmed by Oppert (p. 271).—The purport of the proclamation is expressed in Jer_50:2 b and 3 only. From Jer_50:4 we have the words of the prophet, who predicts in what manner these results will be attained. This is seen from the imperfects יָשִׁית ,יִהְיֶה, etc.—A nation from the north. Comp. Jer_50:9. The destroyers of Babylon are to come from the north, and in Jer_51:27-28 nations to the north and north-east of Babylonia are mentioned. Comp. the map in Niebuhr’sAss. u. Bab., and S. 135, Anm. 1; 427, 8.—Moreover, the remarkable parallelism should be noticed, Babylon, once the nation from the north, menacing Israel, is now attacked by such a nation, Comp. Jer_2:15; Jer_4:7; Jer_9:9; Jer_33:12; Jer_51:62.
Jer_50:4-5. In those days …. forgotten. The destruction of Babylon is immediately followed by the redemption. The prophets so regard it as to comprise all the stages of its fulfilment through several thousand years in one picture. To this picture belongs above all the reunion of the tribes of the northern and southern kingdom (comp. Jer_3:14-16) and then their honest conversion to the Lord (comp. Jer_3:21; Jer_31:9-19; Hos_3:5), the return to Zion (Jer_31:8), the conclusion of a covenant with Jehovah, which shall not be broken and forgotten like the first (comp. Gen_17:10; Lev_19:5-7; Deut. 29. and 30). Comp. also Jer_20:11; Jer_23:40.
DOCTRINAL AND ETHICAL
1. “Daniel’s Babylonian empire resumes, as it were, the thread which was broken off with the tower-erection and kingdom of Nimrod. In the Babylonian tower-building the whole of the then existing humanity was united against God; with the Babylonian kingdom began the period of the universal monarchies, which again aspired after an atheistical union of entire humanity. Babylon has since and even to the Revelation (Jeremiah 18) remained the standing type of this world.” Auberlen, Der proph. Daniel, S. 230.
2. For what reason does Babylon appear as a type of the world? Why not Nineveh, or Persepolis, or Tyre, or Memphis, or Rome? Certainly not because Babylon was greater, more glorious, more powerful or prouder and more ungodly than those cities and kingdoms. Nineveh especially was still greater than Babylon (comp. Duncker, Gesch. d. Alterth. I. S. 474, 5), and Assyria was not less hostile to the theocracy, having carried away into captivity the northern and larger half of the people of Israel. Babylon is qualified for this representation in two ways: 1. because it is the home of worldly princedom and titanic arrogance (Gen_10:8; Gen_11:1-4); 2. because Babylon destroyed the centre of the theocracy, Jerusalem, the temple and the theocratic kingdom, and first assumed to be the single supreme power of the globe.
3. “When God has used a superstitious, wicked and tyrannical nation long enough as His rod, He breaks it in pieces and finally throws it into the fire. For even those whom He formerly used as His chosen anointed instruments He then regards as but the dust in the streets or as chaff before the wind.” Cramer.
4. “No monarch is too rich, too wicked, too strong for God the Lord. And He can soon enlist and engage soldiers whom He can use against His declared enemies.” Cramer.
5. “Israel was founded on everlasting foundations, even God’s word and promise. The sins of the people brought about that it was laid low in the dust, but not without hope of a better resurrection. Babylon, on the other hand, must perish forever, for in it is the empire of evil come to its highest bloom. Jeremiah owns the nothingness of all worldly kingdoms, since they are all under this national order to serve only for a time. We are to be subject to them and seek their welfare for the sake of the souls of men, whom God is educating therein; a Christian however cannot be enthusiastic for them after the manner of the ancient heathen nor of ancient Israel, for here we have no abiding city, our citizenship is in heaven. The kingdoms of this world are no sanctuaries for us and we supplicate their continuance only with the daily bread of the fourth petition. Jeremiah applies many words and figures to Babylon which he has already used in the judgments on other nations, thus to intimate that in Babylon all the heathenism of the world culminates, and that here also must be the greatest anguish. What, however, is here declared of Babylon must be fulfilled again on all earthly powers in so far as, treading in its footprints, they take flesh for their arm and regard the material of this world as power, whether they be called states or churches.” Diedrich.
6. On Jer_50:2. In putting into the mouth of Israel, returning from Babylon, the call to an everlasting covenant with Jehovah, the prophet causes them 1. to confess that they have forgotten the first covenant; 2. he shows us that the time of the new covenant begins with the redemption from the Babylonish captivity. He was far, however, from supposing that this redemption would be only a weak beginning, that the appearance of the Saviour would be deferred for centuries, that Israel would sink still deeper as an external πολιτεία, and that finally the Israel of the new covenant would itself appear as a μυστήριον, εἰς ὃ ἐπιθυμοῦσιν ἄγγελοι παρακύψαι (1Pe_1:9-12).
7. From what Jeremiah has already said in Jer_31:31-34 of the new covenant we see that its nature and its difference from the old is not unknown to him. Yet he knows the new covenant only in general. He knows that it will be deeply spiritual and eternal, but how and why it will be so is still to him part of the μυστήριον.
8. On Jer_50:6. Jeremiah here points back to Jeremiah 23. Priests, kings and prophets, who should discharge the office of shepherds, prove to be wolves. Yea, they are the worst of wolves, who go about in official clothing. There is therefore no more dangerous doctrine than that of an infallible office. Jer_14:14; Mat_7:15; Mat_23:2-12.
9. On Jer_50:7. It is the worst condition into which a church of God can come, when the enemies who desolate it can maintain that they are in the right in doing so. It is, however, a just nemesis when those who will not hear the regular messengers of God must be told by the extraordinary messengers of God what they should have done. Comp. Jer_40:2-3.
10. On Jer_50:8. “Babylon is opened, and it must be abandoned not clung to, for the captivity is a temporary chastisement, not the divine arrangement for the children of God. God’s people must in the general redemption go like rams before the herd of the nations, that these may also attach themselves to Israel, as this was fulfilled at the time of Christ in the first churches and the apostles, who now draw the whole heathen world after them to eternal life. Here the prophet recognizes the new humanity, which proceeds from the ruins of the old, in which also ancient Israel leads the way; thus all, who follow it, become Israel.” Diedrich.—“The heathen felt somewhat of the divine punishment when they overcame so easily the usually so strongly protected nation. But Jeremiah shows them still how they deceived themselves in thinking that God had wholly rejected His people, for of the eternal covenant of grace they certainly understood nothing.” Heim and Hoffmann on the Major Prophets.
11. On Jer_50:18. “The great powers of the world form indeed the history of the world, but they have no future. Israel, however, always returns home to the dear and glorious land. The Jews might as a token of this return under Cyrus; the case is however this, that the true Holy One in Israel, Christ, guides us back to Paradise, when we flee to His hand from the Babylon of this world and let it be crucified for us.” Diedrich.
12. On Jer_50:23. “Although the Chaldeans were called of God for the purpose of making war on the Jewish nation on account of their multitudinous sins, yet they are punished because they did it not as God with a pure intention, namely, to punish the wrong in them and keep them for reformation; for they were themselves greater sinners than the Jews and continued with impenitence in their sins. Therefore they could not go scot-free and remain unpunished. Moreover, they acted too roughly and dealt with the Jews more harshly than God had commanded, for which He therefore fairly punished them. As God the Lord Himself says (Isa_47:6): When I was angry with My people I gave them into thine hands; but thou shewedst them no mercy. Therefore it is not enough that God’s will be accomplished, but there must be the good intention in it, which God had, otherwise such a work may be a sin and call down the divine punishment upon it.” Würtemb. Summ.
13. On Jer_50:31-34. “God calls Babylon Thou Pride, for pride was their inward force and impulse in all their actions. But worldly pride makes a Babylon and brings on a Babylon’s fate .… Pride must fall, for it is in itself a lie against God, and all its might must perish in the fire; thus will the humble and meek remain in possession of the earth: this has a wide application through all times, even to eternity.” Diedrich.
14. On Jer_51:33. “Israel is indeed weak and must suffer in a time of tyranny; it cannot help itself, nor needs it to do so, for its Redeemer is strong, His name The Lord Zebaoth—and He is, now, having assumed our flesh, among us and conducts our cause so that the world trembles.” Diedrich.
15. On Jer_50:45. “An emblem of the destruction of anti-christian Babylon, which was also the true hammer of the whole world. This has God also broken and must and will do it still more. And this will the shepherd-boys do, as is said here in Jer_51:45 (according to Luther’s translation), that is, all true teachers and preachers.” Cramer.
16. On Jeremiah 51. “The doctrines accord in all points with the previous chapter. And the prophet Jeremiah both in this and the previous chapter does nothing else but make out for the Babylonians their final discharge and passport, because they behaved so valiantly and well against the people of Judah, that they might know they would not go unrecompensed. For payment is according to service. And had they done better it would have gone better with them. It is well that when tyrants succeed in their evil undertakings they should not suppose they are God’s dearest children and lean on His bosom, since they will yet receive the recompense on their crown, whatever they have earned.” Cramer.
17. [“Though in the hand of Babylon is a golden cup; she chooses such a cup, in order that men’s eyes may be dazzled with the glitter of the gold, and may not inquire what it contains. But mark well, in the golden cup of Babylon is the poison of idolatry, the poison of false doctrines, which destroy the souls of men. I have often seen such a golden cup, in fair speeches of seductive eloquence: and when I have examined the venomous ingredients of the golden chalice, I have recognized the cup of Babylon.” Origen in Wordsworth.—S. R. A.]
“The seat and throne of Anti-christ is expressly named Babylon, namely, the city of Rome, built on the seven hills (Rev_17:9). Just as Babylon brought so many lands and kingdoms under its sway and ruled them with great pomp and pride (the golden cup, which made all the world drunk, was Babylon in the hand of the Lord (Jer_51:7), and all the heathen drank of the wine and became mad)—so has the spiritual Babylon a cup in its hand, full of the abomination and uncleanness of its whoredom, of which the kings of the earth and all who dwell on the earth have been made drunk. As it is said of Babylon that she dwells by great waters and has great treasures, so writes John of the Romish Babylon, that it is clothed in silk and purple and scarlet and adorned with gold, precious stones and pearls (Rev_18:12). Of Babylon it is said that the slain in Israel were smitten by her; so also the spiritual Babylon is become drunk with the blood of the saints (Rev_17:6). Just, however, as the Chaldean Babylon is a type of the spiritual in its pride and despotism, so also is it a type of the destruction which will come upon it. Many wished to heal Babylon but she would not be healed; so many endeavor to support the ruinous anti-christian Babylon, but all in vain. For as Babylon was at last so destroyed as to be a heap of stones and abode of dragons, so will it be with anti-christian Babylon. Of this it is written in Rev_14:8 : She is fallen, fallen, that great city, for she has made all nations drink of the wine of her fornication. And again, Babylon the great is fallen, and is become the habitation of devils and a hold of all foul and hateful birds (Rev_18:2). As the inhabitants of Babylon were admonished to flee from her, that every man might deliver his soul (Jer_51:6)—and again, My people, go ye out from the midst of her and deliver every man his soul, etc. (Jer_51:45)—so the Holy Spirit admonishes Christians almost in the same words to go out from the spiritual Babylon, that they be not polluted by her sins and at the same time share in her punishment. For thus it is written in Rev_18:4, I heard, says John, a voice from heaven saying, Go ye out of her, My people, that ye be not partakers of her sins and that ye receive not of her plagues, for her sins reach unto heaven and God remembers her iniquities.” Wurtemb. Summarien.
18. On Jer_51:5. “A monarch can sooner make an end of half a continent than draw a nail from a hut which the Lord protects.—And if it is true that Kaiser Rudolph, when he revoked the toleration of the Picards and the same day lost one of his principal forts, said, ‘I thought it would be so, for I grasped at God’s sceptre’ (Weismanni, Hist. Eccl. Tom. II. p. 320)—this was a sage remark, a supplement to the words of the wise.” Zinzendorf.
19. On Jer_51:9. We heal Babylon, but she will not be healed. Babylon is an outwardly beautiful but inwardly worm-eaten apple. Hence sooner or later the foulness must become noticeable. So is it with all whose heart and centre is not God. All is inwardly hollow and vain. When this internal vacuity begins to render itself externally palpable, when here and there a rent or foul spot becomes visible, then certainly come the friends and admirers of the unholy form and would improve, cover up, sew up, heal. But it does not avail. When once there is death in the body no physician can effect a cure.
20. On Jer_51:17; Jer_51:19-20. “The children of God have three causes why they may venture on Him. 1. All men are fools, their treasure is it not; 2. The Lord is their hammer; He breaks through everything, and 3, they are an instrument in His hand, a heritage; in this there is happiness.” Zinzendorf.
21. On Jer_51:41-44. “How was Sheshach thus won, the city renowned in all the world thus taken? No one would have thought it possible, but God does it. He rules with wonders and with wonders He makes His church free. Babylon is a wonder no longer for its power, but for its weakness. We are to know the world’s weakness even where it still appears strong. A sea of hostile nations has covered Babylon. Her land is now a desolation. God takes Bel, the principal idol of Babylon, symbolizing its whole civil powers in hand, and snatches his prey from his teeth. Our God is stronger than all worldly forces, and never leaves us to them.” Diedrich.
22. On Jer_51:58. “Yea, so it is with all walls and towers, in which God’s word is not the vital force, even though they be entitled churches and cathedrals … God’s church alone possesses permanence through His pure word.” Diedrich.
23. On Jer_51:60-64. When we wish to preserve an archive safely, we deposit it in a record-office where it is kept in a dry place that no moisture may get to it. Seraiah throws his book-roll into the waters of the Euphrates, which must wash it away, dissolve and destroy it. But this was of no account. The main point was that he, Seraiah, as representative of the holy nation had taken solemn stock of the word of God against Babylon, and as it were taken God at His word, and reminded Him of it. In this manner the matter was laid up in the most enduring and safest archive that could be imagined; it was made a case of honor with the omniscient and omnipotent God. Such matters can, however, neither be forgotten, nor remain in dead silence, nor be neglected. They must be brought to such an end as the honor of God requires.
HOMILETICAL AND PRACTICAL
1. On Jer_50:2. This text may be used on the feast of the Reformation, or any other occasion with reference to a rem bene gestam. The Triumph of the Good Cause, 1. over what enemies it is gained; 2. to what it should impel us; (a) to the avoidance of that over which we new triumph; (b) to the grateful proclamation of what the Lord has done for us, by word and by deed.
2. On Jer_50:4-8. The deliverance of Israel from the Babylonian captivity a type of the deliverance of the Church. 1. The Church must humbly acknowledge the captivity suffered as a judgment of God. 2. She must turn like Israel inwardly with an upright heart unto the Lord; 3. She must become like Israel to all men a pattern and leader to freedom.
3. On Jer_50:5. A confirmation sermon. “What is the hour of confirmation? 1. An hour which calls to separation; 2. an hour which leads to new connections; 3. an hour which fixes forever the old covenant with the soul’s friend.” Florey, 1853.
4. On Jer_50:18-20. Assyria and Babylon the types of all the spiritual enemies of the church as of individual Christians. Every one has his Assyria and his Babylon. Sin is the destruction of men. Forgiveness of sins is the condition of life, for only where forgiveness of sins is, is there life and blessedness. In Christ we find the forgiveness of sins. He destroys the handwriting. He washes us clean. He is also the good shepherd who leads our souls into green pastures, to the spiritual Carmel.
5. On Jer_50:31-32. Warning against pride. Babylon was very strong and powerful, rich and splendid. It seemed invincible by nature and by art. Had it not then a certain justification in being proud, at least towards men? No; for no one has to contend only with men. Every one who contends has the Lord either for his friend or his enemy. It is the Lord from whom cometh victory (Pro_21:31). He it is who teacheth our hands to fight (Psa_18:35; Psa_144:1). His strength is made perfect in weakness (2Co_12:9). He can make the lame (Isa_33:23; Mic_4:7) and mortally wounded (Jer_37:10) so strong that they overmaster the sound (comp. Jer_51:45). He can make one man put to flight a thousand (Deu_32:30; Isa_30:17). With him can one dash in pieces a troop and leap over a wall (Psa_18:29). No one accordingly should be proud. The word of the Lord, “I am against thee, thou proud one!” is a terrible word which no one should conjure up against himself.
6. On Jer_50:33-34. The consolation of the Church in persecution. 1. It suffers violence and injustice. 2. Its redeemer is strong.
7. On Jer_51:5. God the Lord manifests such favor to Israel as to declare Himself her husband (Jer_2:2; Jer_3:1). But now that Israel and Judah are in exile, it seems as if they were rejected or widowed women. This, however, is only appearance. Israel’s husband does not die. He may well bring a period of chastisement, of purification and trial on His people, but when this period is over, the Lord turns the handle, and smites those through whom He chastised Israel, when they had forgotten that they were not to satisfy their own desire, but only to accomplish the Lord’s will on Israel.
8. On Jer_51:6. A time may come when it is well to separate one’s self. For although it is said in Pro_18:1; he who separateth himself, seeketh that which pleaseth him and opposeth all that is good—and therefore separation, as the antipodes of churchliness, i.e., of churchly communion and humble subjection to the law of the co-operation of members (1Co_12:25 sqq.) is to be repudiated, yet there may come moments in the life of the church, when it will be a duty to leave the community and separate one’s self. Such a moment is come when the community has become a Babylon. It should, however, be noted that one should not be too ready with such a decision. For even the life of the church is subject to many vacillations. There are periods of decay, obscurations, as it were, comparable to eclipses of the stars, but to these, so long as the foundations only subsist, must always follow a restoration and return to the original brightness. No one is to consider the church a Babylon on account of such a passing state of disease. It is this only when it has withheld the objective divine foundations, the means of grace, the word and sacrament, altogether and permanently in their saving efficacy. Then, when the soul can no longer find in the church the pure and divine bread of life; it is well “to deliver the soul that it perish not in the iniquity of the church.” From this separation from the church is, however, to be carefully distinguished the separation within the church, from all that which is opposed to the healthy life of the church, and is therefore to be regarded as a diseased part of the ecclesiastical body. Such separation is the daily duty of the Christian. He has to perform it with respect to his private life in all the manifold relations, indicated to us in Mat_18:17; Rom_16:17; 1Co_5:9 sqq.; 2Th_3:6; Tit_3:10; 2Jn_1:10-11.—Comp. the article on Sects, by Palmer in Herzog, R.-Enc., XXI., S. 21, 22.
9. On Jer_51:10. The righteousness which avails before God. 1. Its origin (not our work or merit, but God’s grace in Christ); 2. Its fruit, praise of that which the Lord has wrought in us (a) by words, (b) by works.
10. On Jer_51:50. This text may be used at the sending out of missionaries or the departure of emigrants. Occasion may be taken to speak 1, of the gracious help and deliverance, which the Lord has hitherto shown to the departing; 2, they may be admonished to remain united in their distant land with their brethren at home by (a) remembering the Lord, i.e., ever remaining sincerely devoted to the Lord as the common shield of salvation; (b) faithfuly serving Jerusalem, i.e., the common mother of us all (Gal_4:26), the church, with all our powers in the proper place and measure, and ever keeping her in our hearts.
Footnotes:
[1]Jer_50:5.—באו ונלוו Both forms are Imperative, and there is no need either to take בּאֹוּ as Perf. or to alter נִלְווּ into נִלִיה(Graf.). Comp. Ewald, § 226, b; Olsh, § Joel 4:11; Isa_43:9.
[2]Jer_50:5.—ברית עולם. Accus. modalis. Comp. Naegelsb. Gr., § 70, i; Jer_31:31-32; Jer_32:40.
Lange's Commentary on the Holy Scriptures (Critical, Doctrinal, and Homiletical), ed. John Peter Lange, English translation edited by Philip Schaff (1864–1880) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset & David Brown 1871 · Public Domain On vv2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37, 38, 39, 40, 41, 42, 43, 44, 46 Declare . . . among . . . nations--who…
Declare . . . among . . . nations--who would rejoice at the fall of Babylon their oppressor.
standard--to indicate the place of meeting to the nations where they were to hear the good news of Babylon's fall [ROSENMULLER]; or, the signal to summon the nations together against Babylon (Jer 51:12, Jer 51:27), [MAURER].
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Bel--the tutelary god of Babylon; the same idol as the Phœnician Baal, that is, lord, the sun (Isa 46:1).
confounded--because unable to defend the city under their protection.
Merodach--another Babylonian idol; meaning in Syria "little lord"; from which Merodach-baladan took his name.
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
Daniel D. Whedon 1874 · Public Domain On vv1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 8, 9, 11, 12, 14, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37, 38, 41 THE TITLE, Jer_50:1.
THE TITLE, Jer_50:1.
1. The word… against Babylon — Rather, concerning.
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By Jeremiah — Literally, as in the margin, by the hand of Jeremiah, suggesting not a spoken, but a written, message. The and should be omitted, and so land of the Chaldeans is simply an appositive of Babylon, which is thus shown to be not the city but the land.
The circle of the nations is completed in this prophecy against Babylon, which is much the most elaborate of all, containing one hundred verses. The genuineness of the passage is assailed by several critics on such grounds as these: 1) Elsewhere Jeremiah is the friend of the Chaldeans; here he is their enemy, and thirsts for their overthrow: 2) The style is repetitious. 3) New words and thoughts, foreign to Jeremiah, are introduced. 4) It shows a striking resemblance to certain passages in Isaiah 5) It displays an intimate knowledge of Babylonian topography and customs.
We reply: 1) Jeremiah indeed recognises the Chaldeans as the ministers of God’s justice, but still this does not change the fact that they are the enemies of the theocracy; and Jeremiah’s loyalty as a Jew and a worshipper of the Most High cannot be questioned. 2) That the style contains repetitions is eminently characteristic of Jeremiah, the warmth of whose emotional nature continually leads him to dwell on and to repeat matters of supreme interest. 3) There is no proof that new words and thoughts, novel to Jeremiah, have been introduced. 4) The introduction of passages from other prophets, such as Isaiah, Obadiah, and Nahum, has already been illustrated; and in this Jeremiah is simply consistent with himself. 5) The knowledge of Babylon is only of such general character as every intelligent Jew must have possessed.
In favor of the genuineness of this passage we may note — 1) Its own distinct and formal claim, so that if it be not genuine it is a base forgery. 2) The style is characteristically Jeremiah’s. 3) The local and historical allusions are fully in harmony with this view. One illustrative passage, the fifth verse, has been repeatedly quoted: “They shall ask the way to Zion with their faces thitherward.” The exact reading is hitherward, showing that the writer was at Jerusalem.
Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges 1878 · Public Domain On vv2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 19, 20, 21, 23, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 33, 34, 36, 37, 38, 39, 41, 44, 46 2. and set up a standard; publish] The LXX…
2. and set up a standard; publish] The LXX omit. Cp. for the “standard” Isa_13:2 (R.V. “ensign”) as the probable origin of the expression here. It was to be a signal either to attract attention or as a point of rendez-vous.
Bel] properly lord, apparently to be distinguished here from Merodach (Marduk), who was the tutelary divinity of Babylon. Cp. Isa_46:1, where Bel occurs coupled with Nebo, son of Merodach.
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idols] lit. idol-blocks, a term of contempt very frequently found in Ezekiel (Jer_6:4, Jer_22:3, etc.). It seems to have meant primarily something rolled, hence a long sacred stone, then a stone image, lastly an idol in general.
dismayed] better, as mg. broken down.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers 1878 · Public Domain On vv1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37, 38, 39, 40 (1) By Jeremiah the prophet.—Literally, by the hand of…
(1) By Jeremiah the prophet.—Literally, by the hand of Jeremiah. The phrase is not found elsewhere in Jeremiah’s writings, with the one exception of Jer_37:2. It probably indicates that the prophecy that follows was written with his own hand, and not dictated. (See Jer_51:60.)
A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Pulpit Commentary 1880 · Public Domain On vv1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 9, 11, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 19, 20, 21, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37, 38, 39, 40, 41, 46 We have now reached a point at which some…
We have now reached a point at which some reference is necessary to the controversies of the so called "higher criticism." An attempt must be made to put the reader in possession of the data which are so variously estimated by critics of different schools. Theological considerations need not, and therefore ought not, to be admitted; like every other critical question, that which we are now approaching can be argued out on purely literary grounds. At first sight, indeed, it would appear not to require a long debate, seeing that in Jer_1:1 and Jer_51:60 the prophecy is expressly attributed to Jeremiah. But, on the other hand, it must be observed that the authorship of the heading in Jer_1:1 is altogether obscure; very possibly, like those of so many of the psalms, the heading may be incorrect. And as to Jer_51:60, can we be absolutely certain that the expression, "all these words," was intended to refer to the prophecy which now precedes Jer_51:59-64? No doubt Jeremiah did write a prophecy against Babylon, and give it to Seraish with the charge described in Jer_51:61-64. But how do we know that this prophecy has come down to us in the form in which it was written?
This attitude of reserve is not assumed without substantial grounds, derived from two sources the epilogue (Jer_51:59-64) and the prophecy itself. First, as to the epilogue. It is clear that the words, "and they shall be weary," are out of place in ver. 64, and that they are wrongly repeated from ver. 58. But how came they to be repeated? Because, originally, the declaration, "Thus far are the words of Jeremiah," stood at the end of ver. 58. When the short narrative in vers. 59-64 (ending at "I will bring upon her") was combined with Jer_51:1-51, Jer_51:58, the declaration in question was removed from ver. 58 to ver. 64, and, by accident, the preceding word (in the Hebrew) was removed with it. This leaves it open to us to doubt whether the present prophecy on Babylon is really the one referred to in ver. 60, supposing, that is, there are other reasons, derived from the prophecy itself, for questioning its Jeremianic authorship.
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The reasons which have been adduced for doing so are analogous to those which lead so many students to doubt the Isaianic authorship of Isa_40:4-6.
I The author of the latter prophecy (or the greater part thereof) writes as if he were living at the close of the Babylonian exile. So does the author of Jer 1 and Jer 51 "Yet a little while," he says, (Jer_51:33) "and the time of her harvest shall come" the time, that is, of that judicial interposition which (comp. Isa_17:5, 11 Mat_13:39) is the heavenly antitype of harvest. He urges his fellow countrymen to flee, while there is still time, from the doomed city. (Jer_51:6, Jer_51:45) He mentions, as the instruments of the Divine vengeance, the Medes, (Jer_51:11, Jer_51:28) and, as it would seem, refers, though obscurely, to Cyrus. (Jer_51:20-23)
1. Although the above statement is literally true of most of Isa 40-66, yet there are some passages which are much more suggestive of a Palestinian origin than of a Babylonian (see Cheyne"s "Prophecies of Isaiah," 2:202). Precisely so in Jer 50 and Jer 51, at least according to one prevalent interpretation of Jer_50:5 Jer_51:50 (which are thought to imply a residence in Jerusalem); Jer_50:28 Jer_51:11, Jer_51:35, 51 (suggestive, perhaps, of the continuance of Jerusalem and the temple); Jer_1:17 Jer_51:34 (implying, as some think, that Nebuchadnezzar was still alive). Still, there is so much doubt respecting the soundness of the inferences, that it is hardly safe to rely too confidently upon them. The case of Jer 1, and Jer 51 is, therefore, in so far rather less favourable to Jeremiah"s authorship than that of Isaiah 40-66, is to that of Isaiah.
2. Amongst much that is new and strange in the style of phraseology of Isaiah 40-66, there is not a little that reminds one forcibly of the old Isaiah. Similarly with Isa 50 and Isa 51, as compared with Jeremiah, "Every impartial judge," says Kuenen (who will not be suspected of a prejudice for tradition), "must admit that the number of parallel passages is very large, and that the author of ch. 50 and 51 agrees with no one more than with Jeremiah." For instance, the formula, "Thus saith Jehovah Sabaoth, the God of Israel", (Jer_1:18 Jer_51:33) also occurs in Jer_7:3 Jer_9:15, and some twenty-six other passages; comp. also Jer_1:3 with Jer_9:9 Jer_1:5 with Jer_32:40 Jer_1:7 with Jer_2:3, Jer_14:18, Jer_17:13; and see other passages referred to in the Exposition. The probability would, therefore, appear to be that, whatever solution we adopt for the literary problems of Isaiah 40-66, an analogous solution must be adopted for ch. 50 and 51. The whole question is so large, and connects itself with so many other problems, that the present writer declines to pronounce upon it here. Only it should be observed
(1) that both subject and tone remind us of Isaiah 40-66, and the kindred prophecies scattered about in the first part of the Book of Isaiah, and more especially of Isa 13 and the closely related prophecy, Isa 34;
(2) that these two chapters, ch. 50 and 51, present some striking points of contact with Ezekiel, who, though contemporary with Jeremiah, was still a later contemporary, and allusions to whom (since Ezekiel was a literary rather than an oratorical prophet) imply that his prophetic book was already in circulation in other words, suggest a date well on in the Exile for the prophet who alludes to him;
(3) that, though there are many Jeremianic allusions in ch. 50 and 51, there are also several passages copied almost verbally from prophecies of Jeremiah, and applied to Babylon and its assailants (it seems difficult to believe that Jeremiah should have been such a good economizer of his literary work). It deserves to be added
(4) That, though Jeremiah is a great student of the earlier prophetic writings, and makes numerous allusions to them (see especially ch. 46-49), nothing approaching to the mosaic work in ch. 50 and 51 can be pointed to in the undoubted prophecies of Jeremiah. In fact, the Exposition will show that the author of these two chapters has borrowed almost the whole of their contents from other prophets his own property, so to speak, being too insignificant to be worth mentioning. Here, in justification of
(1) is a list of points of contact between ch. 50 and 51 and Isa 13:
(a) "To consecrate or, "sanctify," used of persons, Jer_51:27 Isa_13:3. Here only (elsewhere with "war" following).
(b) "Lift ye up a banner," Jer_50:2 Jer_51:27; also Isa_13:2.
(c) Comp. Jer_50:16 with Isa_13:14; close phraseological agreement.
(d) Comp. Jer_50:6, 17 with first part of Jer_13:14; agreement as to sense.
(e) "Behold, I will stir up against Babylon," Jer_51:1; (comp. Jer_50:9) so Isa_13:17. Comp. also, however, Isa_41:25 Joe 3 (Hebrew, 4) 7-9.
(f) Comp. Jer_51:3 (Jer_50:14, Jer_50:29) with Isa_13:18; agreement as to sense.
(g) Comp. Jer_51:11, 28 with Isa_13:17 (mention of the Medes).
(h) Comp. Jer_50:39, 40 with Isa_13:19-22.
This last parallel may, perhaps, be questioned. At first sight it may appear that both Jer_50:40 and Isa_13:19 are based upon Jer_49:18 (which see), but when we inspect Isa_13:19 more closely in the Hebrew, we shall find reason to conclude that the original, both of this passage and of Jer_50:40, is Amo_4:11. We must, therefore, put Jer_49:18 out of the question, and learn to be on our guard against plausible inferences. The only point which remains to be decided is the relation between Jer_50:40 and Isa_13:19; which passage is the original? One important element in our decision will be the naturalness in the mode of reference to Sodom and Gomorrah; to the present writer this seems to determine the question against ch. 50 and 51 and in favour of Isa 13. (The imitation is limited to Isa 13 because Isa 14 passes on to another though a related subject.) And here, in justification of
(2) are points of contact between ch. 50 and 51 and the Prophet Ezekiel.
(a) Ideas and motives.
(i) Figure of scattered flock, Jer_50:6, Jer_50:7. (Eze 34)
(ii) Effects of the avenging Sword of Jehovah. (Jer_5:3-5 Eze_21:30 Eze_33:1-6)
(b) Words and phrases
(i) No word is more distinctly peculiar to Ezekiel than gillulim, idol blocks, which occurs no less than thirty-nine times in his book, and elsewhere only once in Leviticus, once in Deuteronomy, six times in Kings, and once in Jeremiah. (Jer_50:2)
(ii) Anaq, to groan, occurs thrice in Ezekiel, once in Jeremiah, (Jer_51:52) and nowhere else. It is remarkable that in the latter passage we find not only a word but a phrase of Ezekiel"s. (Eze_26:13)
(iii) Pekod, the name of a Chaldean district, occurs in Jer_50:21; also Eze_23:23.
(iv) The striking combination, pakhoth useghanim, occurs in Jer_51:28, Jer_51:57; also Eze_23:6, Eze_23:12, Eze_23:23.
(v) Kasdim for "Chaldea" (properly the Chaldeans), Jer_51:10 Jer_51:24, Jer_51:35; also Eze_16:29 Eze_23:16.
(vi) Jer_51:25, 26 seems to allude to Eze_35:3-5, 9 (see the Hebrew, and verify the statement by the Hebrew concordance).
(c) General characteristics of style. Granting that the style of ch. 50 and It. approaches nearest on the whole to that of Jeremiah, it must be admitted, in the words of the latest German critic, Budde, that it "frequently enough declines from the simple, plain, and rather loose style of Jeremiah, to the flowery and turgid manner of speech of Ezekiel;" also that the points of contact are such as imply the originality of Ezekiel and the dependence upon him of ch. 50 and 51.
Against; rather, concerning.
The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Biblical Illustrator 1887 · Public Domain On vv4, 6, 17, 34 They shall ask the way to Zion, with their…
Jer_50:4-5
They shall ask the way to Zion, with their faces thitherward.
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Travelling Zionward
To return to ones land of nativity after a long absence is one of the most pleasant experiences of human life. We are all pilgrims and strangers in this land. We have wandered from our Fathers home. Let us follow the example of these two tribes, who were now united and returning to their own land.
I. Consider the first act of this liberated people. They asked the way to Zion. This was wise of them, for many try to go there without knowing the way. They did not inquire through mere curiosity, but with a determination to put their knowledge to practical use. There is not a ransomed soul around the throne to-day but who has asked this question.
II. The second act of Israel and Judah after they received their answer was to turn their faces thitherward. Their faces are Zionward now. They had been travelling in a wrong direction, and so long as this was the case it would be impossible for them to reach their destination. Satan is always trying to persuade Christians to take a slidetrack, or a side-view, and turn their backs on Zion, but so long as they keep their faces toward the city of God they are invulnerable.
III. After turning their faces toward Zion they moved on. How? Weeping and rejoicing. Weeping now and rejoicing then. Here again the life of the Christian is typified. The Christian often weeps as he marches on, but will rejoice when he obtains the crown of life at the close of the day.
IV. They decided to bind themselves in an everlasting covenant unto the Lord, having one purpose, one object, one desire in life--a perpetual covenant unto the Lord. There is no coercion in this covenant, because they said to each other, Come, and let us join ourselves unto the Lord. The word come is one of the gems that shine in the Word of God. Not do or die, but come and live. It is like the flower that blooms in the desert, or the evening that comes after the hot and weary day.
V. Some reasons why we should join ourselves unto the Lord in a perpetual covenant.
1. Because the sinner separated from the Lord misses the end of his creation.
2. Because of the everlasting relationship into which you enter.
3. Time develops strength, and the longer you put off the harder it becomes to break the chains that bind you.
4. The pleasures and benefits of a life with Christ infinitely outweigh the brief pleasures of sin. (M. C. Cameron, B. D.)
Mourners, inquirers, covenanters
The previous part of this chapter declares the overthrow of Israels cruel oppressor. Babylon is taken, Bel is confounded, Merodach is broken in pieces. The Assyrian and Babylonian power had been the great tyrant of the ages, and the Lord had employed it for the chastening of His people, until at last Israel and Judah had been carried away captive to the banks of the Euphrates, and the land of their fathers knew them no more. When, therefore, the Lord deals with Babylon in a way of vengeance it is that He may deliver His own people. See how the two things are joined together in the eighteenth and nineteenth verses. When Pharaoh is drowned, Israel is saved; when Sihon and Og are slain, the Lords mercy to His people is seen to endure for ever. To-day the power of the adversary is broken, and we may flee out of the Babylon of sin. A greater than Cyrus has opened the two-leaved gates, and broken the bars of iron in sunder, and proclaimed liberty to the captives. We may now return to our God and freely enjoy the holy and happy associations which belong to the city of our God. Every one who is really seeking the Lord desires to be sure that he is seeking aright; he is not willing to take anything for granted, since his soul is of too much value to be left at hazard. He inquires, Are my feelings like those of the truly penitent? Am I believing as those do who are justified by faith? Am I seeking the Lord in a manner which will be pleasing to Him? They have so long been as lost sheep, going from mountain to hill, that they have forgotten their resting-places, therefore in their confusion they are afraid of going wrong again, and so they inquire with eager anxiety. Perhaps we may show them from this Scripture how others sought and how others found, and this may be a guide and a comfort to them; for albeit there are differences of operation, and all do not come to Christ with equal terrors, or with equal joys, yet there is a likeness in all the pilgrims to the holy city.
I. To begin at the beginning, the Lords restored ones during the processes of grace were first of all mourners.
1. Oh, after all your sins I will not believe that you are truly coming to God if there is not about you a great sorrow for sin and a lamenting after the Lord. Some seekers are made to drink of this bitter cup very deeply; their sense of sin is terrible, even to anguish and agony. I know that there are others who do not taste this bitterness to the same degree; but it is in their cup, for all that. The clear shining in their case so soon follows the rain that they scarcely know that there has been a shower of grief. Surely, in their case the bitterness is passed; yet is it truly there, only the other ingredient of intense delight in Gods mercy swallows up all its sharpness. Oh, you cannot imagine the Jews returning from captivity without bewailing the sins which drove them into the place of their exile. How could they be restored to God if they did not lament their former wicked estrangement? While the heart feels no compunction concerning its wanderings, no mourning over its guilt, no grief at having grieved the Lord, there can be no acceptance with God. There must be a shower in the day of mercy: not always a long driving rain causing a flood, but the soft drops must fall in every case. There must be tenderness toward God if we expect reconciliation with God.
2. Observe that this mourning in the case of Israel and Judah was so strong that it mastered other feelings. Between Judah and Israel there was an old feud. Yet now that they return unto the Lord, we read, The children of Israel shall come, they and the children of Judah together. Oh, happy union in a common search for God! One of the first results of holy sorrow for sin is to cast out of our heart all forms of enmity and strife with our fellow-men. When we are reconciled to God we are reconciled to men. A penitent sense of our own provocations of God will prevent our being provoked with men. As Aarons rod swallowed up all other rods, so a sincere sorrow for sin will remove all readiness to take offence against our fellow-sinners.
3. Keeping close to the text, we notice again that the exiles on their return were mourning while marching. Observe the words, going and weeping. A true heart that is coming to God takes the road by Weeping-Cross: it feels its sin, its guilt, its undesert, and it therefore mourns. The closet is sought out and prayer is offered; but in the supplication there is a doves note, a moaning as of one sorrowing for love.
4. Turning the text round, we read not only of going and weeping. but also of weeping and going. The holy grief here intended does not lead to sitting still, for it is added they shall go. That word weeping is sandwiched in between two goings going and weeping; they shall go and seek the Lord. To sit down and say, I will sorrow for my sin, but never seek a Saviour, is an impenitent pretence of repentance, a barren sorrow which brings forth no cleansing of the life, and no diligent search after the Lord. The way to repent is with your eye upon the sacrifice, viewing the flowing of the sin-atoning blood, marking every precious drop, gazing into the Redeemers wounds, and believing in the love which in death opened up its depths unsearchable. All the while we must be saying, My God, my God, I groan within myself that such a sacrifice should have been required by my atrocious transgressions against Thee.
5. We must not pass over that last word, They shall go and seek the Lord their God. This shall be a guide to you as to whether your present state of feeling is leading you aright. What is it you are seeking? I am seeking, says one, I am seeking peace. May you soon obtain it, and may it be real peace; but I am not sure of you. I am seeking, says another, the pardon of sin. Again, I pray that you may find it; but I am not sure of you. If another shall reply, I am seeking the Lord; for I desire above all things to have Him for a friend, though to Him I have been an enemy; then I have good hope of him. Here is a little child, picked up from the gutter, diseased and filthy, unclad, unfed; and if you ask me to make out a catalogue of what the child wants you must give me a sheet of foolscap paper to write it all down, and then I fear I shall leave out many things. I will tell you in one word what that poor infant requires--it wants its mother. If it gets its mother it has all it needs. So to tell what a poor sinner wants might be a long task; but when you say that he wants his Heavenly Father you have said it all. Oh, souls, you are seeking aright if you are seeking your God. Nothing short of this will suffice.
II. Secondly, these mourners became inquirers. They shall ask the way to Zion with their faces thitherward. They knew within a little the quarter in which Zion lay, and they looked that way; but they did not know all about the road: how should they?
1. The saving point about them was that they were not ashamed to confess their ignorance. Minds that the Lord has touched are never boastful of their wisdom. There are many persons in the world who would be converted if they could but consent to be taught by Gods Word and Spirit; hut they are such wise people, they know too much to enter the school of grace.
2. It is clear from their asking their way that these inquirers were teachable. They shall ask the way to Zion: they shall therefore be conscious of ignorance, and they shall be willing to be taught; these are good characteristics, such as God accepts.
3. More than this, they will be anxious although they are right. They shall ask the way to Zion, with their faces thitherward. They are travelling in the right direction, and yet they ask the way. He that has never raised a question about his condition before God had better raise it at once. The fullest assurance of faith we can ever attain will never excuse us from the duty of self-examination.
4. At the same time, note concerning those that are coming to the Lord and His people, that they are questioning, but they are still resolved. They ask how they can be right with God, not as a matter of curiosity, but because they mean to be at peace with Him: by Gods grace nothing shall turn them aside from their God and His temple, and hence their anxiety to be surely right. True penitents will have Christ or die.
5. Though they ask the way, we may remark further that they know whither they are going. They ask their way, not to somewhere or other, but to Zion; not to some imaginary blissful shore that may be or may not be, but they seek Gods own dwelling-place, Gods own palace, Gods own sacrifice. They ask boldly too, for they are not ashamed to be found inquiring; and when they are informed, their faces are already that way, and therefore they have nothing to do but to Go straight on. May God grant us myriads of such inquirers!
III. These inquirers become covenanters, for they said one to another, Come, and let us join ourselves to the Lord in a perpetual covenant that shall not be forgotten. Oh, that word covenant! I can never pronounce it without joy in my heart. It is to me a mine of comfort, a mint of delight, a mass of joy. The doctrine of the covenant is a kind of Shibboleth by which we may know the man of God from the false prophet. Let the people of God take no delight in the man who does not delight in the covenant of grace.
1. These inquirers become covenanters, for we read that they seek to be joined unto the Lord. Come, and let us join ourselves to the Lord. Is not this the one thing you long for, that you may be so at peace with God through Jesus Christ that you may be joined with Him? You are a right-hearted seeker, in fact, you have found the Lord already, or else you would not find it in your heart to use such an expression as seeking to be joined unto the Lord.
2. Next, notice for how long a time this covenant is to be made. Let us join ourselves to the Lord in a perpetual covenant. In our English army of late they have enlisted short time men. A good brother came to join the Church last week who is in the Reserve, and I said to him, You are not coming to unite with us for two sixes, the first six with the colours, and the other six as a reserve man,--you have come, I hope, to fight under the colours as long as life lasts. Ay, sir, he said, I give myself up to the Lord for ever. No salvation is possible except that which saves the soul for ever. A real man of God has his religion interwoven into the warp and woof of his being; he could not be other than he is whatever his circumstances might be. The covenant of life requires a life-long covenant. We do not take grace upon a terminable lease; it is an entailed inheritance, an immortal, eternal possession.
3. Note, further, that this joining to God these covenanters intended to carry out in a most solemn way. Let us join ourselves to the Lord in a perpetual--agreement? or promise? No. Covenant is the word. It is a profitable thing for the soul to covenant with God. In the ordinance of baptism we have the best visible setting forth of that covenant. Circumcision set forth the taking away of the filth of the flesh; but baptism sets forth the death and burial of the flesh itself; we see in it the emblem of our death and burial with our Lord. The believer thereby says, Now I am come to an end of my old life, for I am dead and buried, and he becomes henceforth as one who has risen with Christ, to walk in newness of life.
4. Those who came mourning and inquiring, when they became covenanters, felt that they had a nature very apt to forgetfulness of good things, and so a part of what they desired in their covenanting with God was a perpetual covenant that shall not be forgotten. God will never forget, yet may you pray, Lord, remember me when Thou comest into Thy kingdom. The fear is lest you should forget. What is your view of that possibility? Would it not be terrible? (C. H. Spurgeon.)
Marks of genuine repentance
I. It is said, the children of Israel shall come, they and the children on Judah together. In other words, these two people, who, though members of the same family, had so long lived in a state of the most deadly hatred and hostility, when touched by a feeling of genuine contrition, shall come together; shall amalgamate; shall forget their former subjects of contention, and approach in one body the throne of love and compassion And such is the constant effect of genuine religion. Vice, by increasing our selfishness, by sharpening the natural irritability of the temper, by filling us with a feverish anxiety about the objects of time and sense, separateth even chief friends. In like manner, a merely speculative and ceremonial religion rarely fails to disunite its followers. But on the contrary, serious, heartfelt, spiritual scriptural religion binds and consolidates. Never, till the temper of real contrition, with all its train of accompanying graces, enthrone itself in the mind; never, till real Christianity take the place of that which is nominal; never, till we love God better than we love ourselves; never, till we choose rather to sacrifice our interest and indulgences, than to disturb the peace of the Church, and rend the seamless garment of our Redeemer.
II. It is here said of the people of Israel and Judah, that they shall come weeping. As the tenderest parent sees with joy the tear of penitence steal over the cheek of his guilty child; as no pang is deeper than that inflicted by the discovery that a state of separation from himself costs the child of his bosom neither fear nor anguish; thus our Father, which is in heaven, expects in us, the prodigal children of His family, sorrow and anguish of soul, till our reconciliation with Himself is accomplished. But how is it possible to reconcile with language such as this, the conception, so prevalent in the world, that the proper object of life is amusement, and our reasonable and legitimate temper of mind thoughtlessness and a spirit of almost ceaseless dissipation? It is indeed true, that the temper of mind becoming the man who is reconciled to God is peace, and cheerfulness, and joy:--Rejoice in the Lord; and again I say, rejoice. But peace of mind before reconciliation--peace, when the Lord has a controversy with us--peace, this is not the peace sanctioned by Scripture, but a state of repose leading to almost inevitable destruction. The true penitent is there described as going and weeping. It is not, indeed, my intention to affirm that tears are the necessary, or the only sufficient, expression of grief for sin. Many a sad heart would delight to weep, but cannot.
III. These returning penitents are described as Seeking the Lord their God. Here is one of the grand distinctions between true and false repentance. That sorrow of the world which worketh death, ordinarily evaporates in a few unmeaning words or tears. The real penitent, on the contrary, is not merely startled by his danger; he detests his offence. His soul longs for emancipation from its corruptions, and for a full and free entrance into the presence of the Lord.
IV. It is said of the returning penitents in the text, they shall ask the way to Zion. It is something in religion to have discovered that we are out of the way. The next mark of genuine repentance is a lively, persevering anxiety to be put into the way. But this anxiety will not discover itself in blind and random efforts to search out the path by our unassisted powers; but in humbly and earnestly availing ourselves of every appointed channel by which safe and sure intelligence on this all-important subject may be conveyed to the soul. The penitents in the text ask their way. Distrusting a heart which has often misled them, they go for instruction to the servants of the Lord, and especially to Him who loves to go before his sheep, and lead them to the pastures of their proper happiness. And, observe, the place which they are said to seek is Zion,--he city of their solemnities; the holy city; the city in which dwelleth the Great King; where His temple arises; where, having laid aside the thunders of His just indignation, He sits between the cherubim, to dispense mercy and love to His guilty creatures. The real penitent never stops till he reaches the city of God. And however bright the sunshine, and clear the fountains, and extensive the prospects, which cheer him on the journey; and however wise and strong and compassionate the Guide who goes with him, and delights to succour, to defend, and to bless him, he neither puts off his armour nor rests from his labour till he sits down in eternal tranquillity in the paradise of God.
V. It is said of these penitents in the text, they ask their way to Zion with their faces thitherward. In other words, they are really bent on discovering the city which they profess to seek. Their eye is upon its towers; and their hearts are honestly impelling them in the right line of direction. Their inquiry has no alliance with the empty curiosity of the man who has no intention of adopting the advice which he solicits, and follows one path when his guide directs him to another. But, hearing a voice behind them, saying, This is the way, walk ye in it, they implicitly follow the leadings of providence and the suggestions of the Spirit.
VI. The individuals in the text are described as saying, come, and let us join ourselves to the lord in a perpetual covenant that shall not be forgotten. Such is uniformly the desire of the true penitent. Are we not the sworn enemies of sin, the world, and the devil? And how have we fulfilled our engagements to God? Will any single man venture to lay his hand on his heart and say, I have fulfilled them as I ought? And, if not, what is our duty to-day? Is it not to say, as in the text, Come, and let us join ourselves, &c.? (J. W. Cunningham, M. A.)
Young Christians congratulated, encouraged, and exhorted to trust in God
I. Jehovah, as a reconciled God in Christ Jesus, is the object of their inquiry. God and the light of His reconciled countenance, in opposition to the delights of sense, the gains of merchandise, the discoveries of science, and the felicities of friendship. It is the Divine favour they seek supremely, though not exclusively; for no one enjoys, with a keener relish, the productions of nature and the bounties of providence, than a true believer.
II. It is usual with inquirers to associate with those who are like-minded with themselves.
III. This inquiry after God and happiness is frequently accompanied with tears. They shall come, they and the children of Judah together, going and weeping. They weep over the times of their former ignorance. To how little purpose have we hitherto lived, will they say; our lives have been little better than a complete blank. And now that we have at length awaked to some sense of our danger, and desire for spiritual blessings, how little do we know of God and of ourselves, of sin and the method of salvation! They weep over their numerous and aggravated transgressions. And they will weep frequently at such a time because of strong temptations, from the great enemy of souls. What a mercy is it when we are disposed to weep for sin! Many weep for pain of body, or because of the disappointments they have met with in business, but never grieve on account of their offences before God. They lament the difficulties of the times, but heave not a sigh over the hardness of their hearts
IV. Mount Zion is the place to which they will repair for instruction and comfort.
V. Devout and sincere inquirers will gladly avail themselves of the direction and counsel of christian ministers, and of other pilgrims, who have made some advances in the way to the celestial city.
VI. Young converts, having found god, to their unspeakable satisfaction, will do well to join themselves to the lord, in a perpetual covenant that shall not be forgotten They must do this, by pleading and laying hold for themselves on the blessings of the covenant of grace;--by publicly professing faith in the Redeemers name; for having first given themselves to the Lord, they should give themselves up to the Church, according to the will of God. (Essex Remembrancer.)
God proper object of human pursuit
I. God should be our supreme object of pursuit. Gods will is in everything; we should find it out, and act accordingly.
II. The supreme pursuit of God requires earnest endeavour. What of that? We should see to it that in everything we do and attend to, thought should apprehend, feeling embrace, will regard, and aim terminate in, God.
III. This seeking of God should be continuous. For what reason? The mind is susceptible of indefinite enlargement in acquaintance with God. Religion admits of eternal progress.
IV. The constant, earnest, seeking of God is, in this world, ever more difficult, and sometimes grievous. Why? Because of past neglect and failure; and because of existing contrary influences, agencies, attractions, and allurements.
V. The sincere, intelligent pursuit of God will issue in a satisfying conviction of the rightness and blessedness of subordinating everything to entire, unswerving, ever advancing allegiance to God in creation, providence, and redemption.
VI. True seekers of God, help and urge one another to abide with God in truth, and love, and deed. (W. J. Stuart.)
The Israelites returning from Babylon
I. The state of the Jews in Babylon.
1. The captive Israelites were obviously in a degraded state. And what is the state of man, but a state of degradation? He boasts of the dignity of his nature, but an angel might weep over its baseness. He has brought himself almost to a level with the brutes that perish.
2. The condition of the Jews in their captivity was as wretched as it was degrading. We too arc a suffering people. Once indeed the world was a paradise, but sin has entered it, withered its beauty, and robbed it of its happiness.
3. Our state, like that of the captive Jews, is also a guilty state. It was sin which caused them to be delivered into the hands of their enemies; and it is sin which has made us base and wretched. Our first father transgressed and died; but the vengeance which followed his transgression, deterred not his children from treading in his steps. To say nothing of the follies of our childhood and the sins of our youth, how many iniquities have we willingly and daringly committed since we attained the age of manhood!
4. The enslaved Jews were in a helpless state, or in one that appeared helpless. And what power have we to rescue ourselves from that state of guilt and wretchedness into which we are fallen? The law we have violated, denounces misery on our heads, a misery as great and lasting as our guilt; and who can resist its authority or repeal its curse?
II. The deliverance of the Israelites.
1. It was effected for them by the power of another. Cyrus was a type of Christ, the great spiritual Deliverer; and if we are ever brought out of our spiritual bondage, we must be content to owe our liberty to Him alone. He beheld them in thraldom to sin and Satan, and trembling under the power and fear of death; He came and overthrew their enemies, and burst their bonds. He made an end of sin; He destroyed death; He bruised Satan underneath their feet. Their degradation too was not overlooked by Him. They were in exile, and they were wretched there; but He raised them up from their low estate, and recovered for them the blessedness they had lost. He is now employed in restoring them to their forfeited inheritance.
2. The deliverance of the Israelites was also openly proclaimed and freely offered. To this proclamation St. Paul alludes in Rom_10:1-21., and speaks of it as a representation of the preaching of the Gospel to the enslaved nations of the earth.
III. The feelings with which this journey was commenced.
1. As we behold the Israelites leaving in a body the land of the Chaldaeans, the first circumstance which arrests our attention is their penitence. But why do they weep? The mercy they have received has softened their hearts. It has shown them the tenderness of their heavenly Father. This godly sorrow is, in every instance, one of the first fruits of genuine religion. By nature our hearts are hard, so hard that the most awful judgments can make no abiding impression on them; but when we are roused out of our spiritual unconcern by the Spirit of God, and begin to look with the eye of faith on the great Saviour of sinners, a train of new and deep emotions is excited within us.
2. Notice also in these liberated Jews, their, anxiety lest they should mistake the way that is to lead them to Jerusalem. They shall ask the way to Zion. And is not this anxiety, this spirit of inquiry, found in all who have fixed their heart on heaven? There was a time when they were destitute of all care on this subject. They thought themselves sufficiently acquainted with the way to God. They deemed it broad and plain, and looked on him as an enthusiast who bid them ask what they must do to be saved. But now all this self-confidence and imaginary security are come to an end. They know too that mistakes in this matter are not trifling errors; that there is but one way in which they can obtain the salvation they need, and that to seek it in any other way is to be for ever undone.
3. We may notice also the decision of these returning captives, the earnestness and resolution with which they seek the Lord. And no man ever arrived at the heavenly Zion without possessing such a mind as this. (C. Bradley, M. A.)
Gods deliverance of us from spiritual bondage
I. God, before He sees fit to loose the spiritual bonds of those whom He intends to deliver, is first pleased to bring them to feel their chains, and to mourn over their distance from Zion.
II. Under this painful concern of mind, they shall anxiously inquire after the means of recovery. They shall go and seek the Lord their God. The poor captives are here represented--weeping. Though depressed with their perfect thraldom, though weeping, they go; they sit not down in despondency. They set their faces towards Zion; and let them but find the Lord their God, let them but perceive His gracious intentions towards them, and they can wait His time and way of a full and final deliverance, and commit everything else to Him.
III. Animated by this Hope, they shall vigorously press towards Zion; they shall ask the way with their faces thitherward. In the ordinary affairs of life, when men have a particular object in view in which they are deeply interested, and that hope or object is merely probable, they exert every nerve; they toil by day and wake by night; they encounter dangers with resolution, and suffer hardships without complaint. And is it possible to believe that temporal considerations, which can fall under no certain calculation as to She certainty of acquiring them, should engage our affections, and employ all our active powers; and that considerations of infinitely greater moment confessedly, and certain as to their attainment and duration, should have less influence, or no influence at all, upon us? It is impossible; the idea is absurd. What mighty effects, then, it may be asked, will the Christians hope produce? They are, no doubt, various in degrees, and correspond to that hope as it is more or less vigorous; but they are the same in kind; and they may in general fall under one view,--a change of the objects of his affections and pursuits. The bonds in which he was held formerly by his passions and sensual appetites, restrain him no longer; he is no longer under their tyranny and blind impulse. He feels himself overawed by a superior authority; and he perceives objects presented to him which he had formerly viewed with indifference, or had been wholly unnoticed by him, which by a new energy seize his soul,--captivate his affections, and fix his choice. Again, animated by this hope of salvation, the soul rises superior to the world; and feels a Divine elevation that cannot stoop to it, when courted by its most flattering forms, as its ultimate object. This hope of salvation inspires the soul with a Divine zeal, a holy impatience after further attainments. The higher this hope rises, the more it enlarges the heart.
IV. In order to confirm and strengthen their resolutions, they will bind themselves by a solemn deed and covenant. Come, let us join ourselves to the Lord in a perpetual covenant, that shall not be forgotten. A personal covenant with God is inseparable from genuine closet-devotion Every prayer, every pious purpose, every devout meditation, is virtually a covenant with the Lord. And there may be certain occasions wherein devout souls may see cause to be more explicit to express at large their sense of Divine things, their present feelings, their past experiences, and to commit to writing their solemn purposes and engagements, and, to impress the whole the stronger upon their minds,--to append their names. But this I only mention, the words leading me to speak, not of a personal or closet transaction, but of a public bond of union, the common act of a religions society. Single resolutions slip easily out of the mind, and lose their hold of us; but in a public transaction, where the great God is supposed to stand on the one part, and His poor dependent creatures on the other, there is something so awful and solemn, as must leave upon a mind, not wholly hardened and insensible, some suitable impressions; especially where the transaction is accompanied and confirmed by sensible and expressive symbols. (Thomas Gordon.)
A test for true seekers
By nature all are captives under the power of Satan, sin, and death. Now, just as Israel found comfort and hope, and had an expectation of getting back to the promised land, when the might of Babylon was broken, so there is comfort for every sinner who desires to escape from the power of sin and Satan, in this great fact, that Christ has broken the power of the old dragon. He has snapped in sunder the iron yokes that His redeemed might go free. Thus Babylons destruction is Israels salvation. Notice, next, these words in verse 4: In those days, and in that time, saith the Lord, the children of Israel shall come, they and the children of Judah together,--from which I gather that, when mens hearts are set upon seeking the Lord, it is wonderful how neigh-hourly they become. Attend to this hint, then, you who are seeking the Saviour. You are encouraged by the fact that the power of Satan is broken, take care that you make up all quarrels, and put an end to all envyings and disputes, for thus you will be helped in seeking the Lord. Notice, next, that the right way for a sinner to return is, first to seek the Lord, and then to seek Zion,--that is, the Church, or heaven, whichever you understand Zion to be. They shall go, and seek the Lord their God; and then follows our text, They shall ask the way to Zion. Another remark arising out of the context is this, that many who seek the Lord seek Him weeping: The children of Israel shall come, they and the children of Judah together, going and weeping. Notice that combination, going and weeping. Some are weeping, but never going; and some are going, but never weeping; it is a blessed thing when we have the two together,--practically drawing near to God, and passively feeling deep sorrow for sin. There are two kinds of tears, and I think that they who truly seek the Lord shed both of them; the one is a tear of sorrow because of sin, the other is a tear of joy because of pardon.
I. There are some persons who neither ask the way to Zion nor set their faces thitherward. Their relationship to Christ is that of utter indifference. They regard eternal things as though they were mere trifles, and they look upon temporal things as though, these, were all-important. They call this minding the main chance, and looking after the principal thing; but as to their souls and God, and heaven, and eternity, they are utterly indifferent. Let ms think of what it is to which they are indifferent. They are utterly indifferent to God. You know how many there are who live as if there were no God at all. This is a terrible thing, because God will require all this at their hands. It is no slight thing to be utterly indifferent to Christ, to Him who loved mankind so much that He could not abide in heaven, and let them perish, but must needs come here and be a lowly, suffering, despised, crucified man, that He might redeem men Yet, after all that He has done, which must have astonished the angels in heaven, and which ravishes the heart of every gracious man on earth, these people do not care. They are utterly indifferent also with regard to themselves. They expect to have troubles in this life; but as to that which comforts many of us under these troubles, they do not wish to know about it. They see many of Gods people calm and quiet under pain and bereavement and sorrow, and they are sometimes curious to know what the secret is; yet their curiosity is not strong enough to stir them out of indifference. Often, when a man is indifferent about Divine things, it is because he vainly imagines that he is wise. I do not think that you and I ought to meddle with everything; there are some things we may as well let drift, but this will never do about God and eternity. I may be indifferent to God, but He is not indifferent to me. I may forget Him, but He has not forgotten what I do, and think, and say. Another thought that ought to come home to many is that this indifference is so foolish. When a man is indifferent to his own happiness, then he is a fool. If a man were miserably poor, although he might be rich, but he was indifferent about it, yea would think him insane. Now, there is no joy like the joy of salvation in Christ; there is no bliss under heaven that can parallel the bliss of the man who has committed himself into Christs hands, and is resting calmly in Him; yet these indifferent people do not care about it.
II. There is another set of people who ask the way to Zion with their faces turned away from it. It is a very strange thine that any should say, Tell us the way to heaven, and yet, when we have told them, that they should set off walking the other way. Go due east, you say; but they go due west directly. Now what can be the reason for that? A man is secretly a drunkard, or he is unchaste, or a woman is living in secret sin, yet always found listening to the Gospel. Why is this? Do you wish to increase your own condemnation? Do you? I cannot think that it is so. I hope that you do not come in order that you may hear of things to quarrel with and quibble over. I remember one, who was afterwards an eminent saint, who first went to hear Mr. Whitefield, because he was a great mimic, that he might take him off, and he afterwards went to the club which they called the Hell Fire Club to spend the evening. Now, my mates, said he, I am going to give you a sermon that I heard Mr. Whitefield preach yesterday; and the man repeated the sermon, but he himself was converted while he preached it, and so were several of his mates who had met for blasphemy. So, come, even if you do come for such an evil purpose as that. Still, it is a sorrowful business that there should be men who ask the way to Zion, and turn their faces in the opposite direction.
III. There is a third class of people who ask the way to Zion, but turn not their faces. What is the meaning of their conduct? Is it an idle curiosity? Do they want to understand theology as others wish to understand astronomy or botany? That is almost like drinking wine out of the sacred vessels, as Belshazzar did; and you know how that night he was slain. Why do such people ask about salvation? Do they dream that mere knowledge will save them? You may get a clear head, but if you have not a clean heart, it will not avail you at the last. Peradventure, however, some of those who are seeking their way to Zion, but have not set their faces that way, are asking with a view to quiet their consciences. It makes them feel better to hear a sermon. Oh, you are strange people! There is a man who is very hungry; does it make him feel that his appetite is appeased when he smells the dinner, when he sees the plates arranged upon the table, and hears the clatter of the knives? Is it that you are trying to store up some little knowledge to use by and by? Are you asking the way to Zion that you may run in it when it becomes convenient to you? Ah, sir! are you making a convenience of God? Do you intend to make Him stand by while you attend to more important things?
IV. There is a fourth set of people who have their faces thitherward, but they do not ask the way. Do they fancy that there are many ways? How many roads are there to heaven? This Book declares that there is only one. Do you ask, Where are we to enquire? Well, first of all, inquire of the Book. When you have inquired of the Book, then go on your knees, and inquire of the blessed Spirit who inspired the Book. If you cannot understand the Bible, ask the Author of it to explain it to you. He giveth wisdom, therefore ask the Holy Spirit for guidance. Ask the Lord Jesus Christ to manifest Himself unto you as He does not unto the world, and to lead you in His way. I may also say, but quite secondarily, inquire of His servants. And I may also add that you will do well to ask about the way from many of Gods people. Although they do not preach, they will be glad to tell you what they do know, and many godly men and women can explain to you just what you want to know.
V. Those are the best inquirers who turn their paces toward Zion, and yet are willing to ask the way. Is that your condition, dear friend? Well, then, let me say two or three things for your encouragement, and the first is, Thank God that your face is thitherward, and that you are asking the way. Set a high value on this little grace, for it is no small thing, after all; and, as you think of it, bless God for it. Remember, next, that you must act as far as you know how to act. If the Lord has shown you the right pathway, go in that pathway. Perhaps you say, There are many difficulties there. Never mind the difficulties; cross each bridge as you come to it. Oh, but there are some things that I do not understand! No doubt there are; and there are many things that I do not understand; and there are some things that I do not particularly want to comprehend. If I understand what really concerns my eternal welfare, and the good of my fellow-men, and the glory of God, it is enough for me. (C. H. Spurgeon.)
The way to Zion
Like these Israelites--we have been going from mountain to hill, that is, from one form of idol-worship to another, till we have forgotten our resting-place. There is but one resting-place for the creature, and that is the love of God revealed in Jesus Christ, apprehended by the soul, fled to, clung to, trusted to. But we thought we could find another rest, some enjoyment, some indulgence, some pursuit, some ambition, some affection, some passion, something which would be all our own, something that would fill the empty chamber, mind, heart, soul, and make us independent of all and everyone except itself. From mountain to hill we ran or we wandered; the last new idol reigned for its hour; then another showed itself in the horizon, and we thought that surely will be the real rest, the true home of this footsore, this wind-lashed and storm-tossed being. They have gone from mountain to hill, they have forgotten their resting-place. Well, then, inquiry must be the dawn of hope. We must ask the way.
I. There is always something beautiful in the spirit of inquiry. The very face of the inquirer shines. That kindling of the eye as a man listens--the man who has a thirst for knowledge--the man whose soul is set on finding its way into some new region of science, or into some new joy, is a touching sight to the looked-on, and it is an inspiring influence to the teacher who feels that he has a message. It is very delightful, indeed, to feel that inquiry is abroad. But of all inquiries the way to Zion is first and foremost. It lies at the root, I believe, of all this questioning. Whatever form inquiry takes this is its meaning. Even intellectual inquiry is often either the escape from, or is a substitute for, this. Some men say, and some men encourage the saying, Religion is all doubtful, let me enjoy myself in the study of the certain; revelation may be insoluble, let me interrogate nature, whose very mysteries are substantial. The way to Zion, such men say, has no signposts and no landmarks; I cannot guess in such matters, of doubt I am impatient; God in nature shall be my God; if there be a hereafter we will study it when we can know. And then others have no idea of any method of knowing save what they call intellectual. It is not that they profess indifference to revelation; on the contrary, they would rather call themselves inquirers into its documents and into its pretensions; they treat it just as they treat a science or a philosophy--dissect, discuss, dispute over it, and lecture upon it with all the freedom and with far more than all the positiveness which they would think becoming if the matter in hand were either geology or botany, either the telescope or the microscope. If anyone were to say, Are you aware that religion is the knowledge of a person, and that you may just as well expect to become acquainted with your friend by arithmetic or algebra, as hope to learn the way to Zion by processes of pure intellect, they would turn round and accuse you of wanting to throw in an element of romance or feeling, and so to disturb every calculation and invalidate every result. And yet, can any word be truer than this, that they who would inquire into the truth of revelation must inquire with the whole man? Intellect is one part of the man--by all means bring intellect with you--but there are other parts as distinctive, as characteristic, and far more vital. If God has spoken, be quite sure He has spoken to all parts of us, and to the sum of all--the willing, acting, feeling, Judging, reflecting, resolving, loving, and living man. Many answers might be given, all true, and all hopeful, to this question as to the way to Zion. We will suggest one. The latest chapters of the Bible tell us one or two things like this--that the glory of God enlightens that world, that the Lamb (our Lord Jesus Christ) is the Light thereof; again, that the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb are the temple of it; and, once again, that the throne of God and of the Lamb shall be in it, that His servants shall serve Him, that they shall see His face, that they shall, as it were, have His name in their foreheads. The desire of every soul surely must be to endeavour to anticipate that kind of life, to live now in the life of God, to see Him now by faith, to follow Him now whithersoever, by His prophets, by His Word, by His Spirit, by the example of Christ, He leads. This surely must be something of the way to Zion.
II. The spirit of inquiry must be also a spirit of resolution and determination. For there is an inquiry about the way which is all speculation. We can fancy some of those captives in Babylon busying themselves with conjecture as to the shortest and best way home. They sit there with a map on their knees, and discuss the Lebanon route, and the desert route, with great eagerness, with much ingenuity, with many arguments both ways, yet without an idea but that they themselves will have to end, their days as they began them, in exile. There is an asking of the way to God s Zion which is of this character. This is the case of all who can discourse about the scheme of salvation, argue for it, quarrel for it, condemn and execute for it, yet forbear altogether the weeping, which this passage tells us of, for their own sins; the going, which this passage tells us of, in the path of duty; the seeking, which this passage tells us of, as always preliminary to the finding. Their faces are not thitherward, whatever be the talk or the profession. Let each inquiry be a determination. If we hear in a sermon, if we read in the Bible, that without holiness no man can see the Lord, then let us instantly say to ourselves, What is that sin which is hindering holiness in me at this moment? and let the day not end without a struggle against it, without some special indulgence foregone in the might of prayer, some trial made of Gods promise, that whensoever we call upon Him an enemy shall be put to flight. If we hear that watching and praying can alone guard us against temptation, then let us instantly wake up the drowsy powers of earnestness and devotion, keep our loins girt, and our lamp burning, lest, perhaps, after much serving, we be found without the one thing needful; lest Satan, watching his moment, get an advantage; lest Christ, coming suddenly, find us sleeping. (Dean Vaughan.)
Seeking after finding
The singularity of the passage lies in the face of the inquirer being towards Zion, whilst he is yet forced to ask what road he ought to take. They shall ask, &c. They are in the right road, or at least are advancing in the right direction; but, nevertheless, whether through ignorance, or through fear of even the possibility of mistake, they continually make inquiries as to the path to be followed. We think that this circumstances indicates such honesty of purpose in the inquirer, such vigilance, such circumspection, such anxiety to be right, and such dread of being wrong, as should distinguish every Christian, though too often we look for them in vain. And, at the same time, we evidently learn that persons are not always fair judges of their spiritual condition; they may be asking the way like those who are in ignorance and darkness, and all the while their faces may be towards Zion. Let us consider first the case of those who, though going right, suppose themselves going wrong; and secondly, that of those who believe themselves right, but yet desire further assurance; for of both classes it may equally be said, They ask the way, &c. Now it is the object of such parables as that of the tares and the wheat, or that of the net which gathered of all kinds, to teach us that there is to be a mixture in the visible Church, and that it is not mens business to attempt a separation. We are all too much disposed to exercise a spirit of judgment, to pronounce opinions on the condition of our fellow-men, whether the living or the dead, just as though we had access to Gods Book, and could infallibly read its registered decisions. But there is everything in the Bible to warn us against this spirit of judgment, and to urge us, on the contrary, to a spirit of charity. A very comforting remembrance it is, that we are not to stand or fall by human decision, that our portion for eternity is not to be settled by what men think of us here. But not only are men likely to deliver a false judgment upon others, and therefore bound to confine their chief scrutiny to themselves, it is further very possible that they may form a wrong opinion of their own spiritual state, not only, as you all know, in concluding themselves safe whilst in danger, but, as is perhaps less suspected, in concluding themselves in danger whilst safe. They are downcast because faith seems weak, or elated because it seems strong; whereas it is not faith which is to save them, but Christ; and whilst faith, whether in itself or its evidences, may change from day to day, Christ changes not, but is the same yesterday, to-day, and for ever. And we always think it safe to tell those who are spiritually depressed, that their very depression is no mean argument of their safety; for so unnatural is it to man to feel anxious for his soul, that, wheresoever there is the anxiety, we recognise a higher agency, even a Divine, as having wrought to excite the solicitude. And over and above these cases of depression, in which one cause or another weaves darkness round a man, so that, whilst his face is towards Zion, he cannot perceive that he is on the road to the heavenly city, we nothing doubt that there are many instances of parties who have begun in true religion, and nevertheless think that the first step has not been taken. It is not always, nay, it is not, we believe, often, that conversion is suddenly effected, nor through some special instrumentality which fixes, as it were, the date of the change. In the majority of cases, the change, we are inclined to believe, is gradual, imperceptibly effected, so that, although the man becomes at length conscious of a great moral alteration, he cannot tell you when it commenced, nor by what steps it went on. Regarding conversion as a gradual work, a work in which one soweth and another reapeth, we do not look on those who are evidently confirmed believers, as the only travellers towards the celestial city: we rejoice in thinking that there are numbers in whom the moral change is not yet distinctly marked, but who are nevertheless in the act of passing the strait gate. But let us pass on to the case of men, in regard of whom there can be no doubt that they have made a beginning, and let us see what our text may indicate as to these more advanced characters. Let it first be observed, that a Christian should never be too confident; that he should never take for granted, as a point on which there could not be doubt, that he is indeed a new creature, and on the high road to the kingdom. Do you find an increasing delight in secret prayer? does sin seem to you more and more odious? are you more and more penetrated by the exceeding great love of God in giving His Son to die for your sakes? is holiness becoming your happiness, duty your privilege, and heaven the very home of your affections? These, and the like questions are those which you should be frequently proposing to yourselves. On the answer to these, an answer given as in the sight of a heart-searching God, should rest your answer to the most momentous of all questions, Are we on the way to Zion? And if the answer to this last question can only be come at through the answer to a series of inquiries, each of which may be said to need, from its very nature, the being dally proposed, it necessarily follows that you ought to be imitating the children of Judah and Israel, asking as to the road to Zion, however you may hope that your faces are already thitherward. Can this be the way to Zion in which I am? Ask the dead, who have reached that heavenly city: with one voice they will tell you, that, if it be the right way, it is a way of self-denial, leading you through mortified lusts, and over subjugated affections; and then judge ye whether or not it be such a way in which you are found. Ask the living, of whom you have best cause to believe that they are heirs of the kingdom: they will assure you that the way is one of faith and obedience, every step of which is an advance in the knowledge of your own depraved hearts, and in the sense of the worth and sufficiency of Christ; and then judge ye whether or not this can be the way in which you are walking. Ask the Bible, on whose pages the Holy Spirit hath mapped out the path, and it will tell you that the way is a narrow way, which will not admit of your encumbering yourselves with perishable things, but which can be traversed only by those who lay aside every weight; all then judge ye whether ye have obtained the description of a path which ye yourselves are pursuing. And ask ye, yet further, of God. By diligent and fervent prayer make inquiry of God as to the road which conducts to the place where He dwells. And the answer to this inquiry, an answer, which, if there be sincerity in the inquirer, shall certainly not be withheld, will expose to you the deceitfulness of all hope of reaching Zion which is not founded on the appropriation of the merits of the Redeemer, the reality of that appropriation being proved by the produced fruits of righteousness; and then determine whether such answer ought to leave you assured that you are not self-deceived, when concluding yourselves in the heavenward path. We do not wish you to be always uncertain as to whether or not your faces are turned towards Zion; hut we wish you to understand that their being so turned is a reason in favour of, not a reason against, your frequently inquiring the heavenly path. It is not sufficient that they be turned; the great matter is, that they be kept turned; and whilst such is your nature, that, without constant vigilance, the direction may be gradually changed, and yet appear to you the same--even as the eyes of a well-drawn portrait follow you as you move, and so might persuade you that you had not moved at all--it is evidently bound on you, by your regard for your safety, that you be always ascertaining the landmarks, in place of judging by your apparent position. Is my life the life of a believer in Christ? is faith producing piety, humility, charity, patience? What is this mountain before me? is it on the map? what is this valley which I have to cross, this stream which I have to ford? are they what I was to meet with, or do they show that I have wandered? And here the road divides--which turn am I to take? what is to decide me in this perplexity? Let me be firm on one point--that it is the direction of the road, not its quality, by which I will be determined. The road which leads to heaven, that is my road, be it, or be it not, strewed with the rocks, and swept by the torrents. Other paths may look more inviting: but I have nothing to do except with their termination: if they conduct not to Zion, I would not venture to follow them even a solitary step, though they might lead me to riches, or honours, or pleasures. This it is to imitate the emancipated Jews. But there is yet more to be gathered from this description, when considered as that of a believer in Christ. We will now suppose him certified as to the direction in which he is proceeding, certified that his face is towards Zion, and nevertheless busying himself with inquiries as to the way. And what would this mark? Christianity is that in which no man can be too advanced to study the alphabet. The simple and fundamental doctrines of our holy religion,--the doctrines of human corruption, of the renewing power of Gods Spirit, of the incarnation of the Eternal Word, and of the atonement effected by a Mediator,--these, which may be said to show the way to Zion, present continually new material for the contemplation and instruction of the Christian. There is a sense in which- there is no getting beyond the very alphabet of Christianity; that alphabet will always be beyond us; any one of its letters being as a mighty hieroglyphic which the prayerful student may partially decipher, but the most accomplished scholar never thoroughly expound. By this, then, amongst other tests, let those who think themselves advanced in Christianity try their spiritual condition. What ear have they for simple truths simply delivered? In their private studies, what pleasure have they in meditating the first principles of the Gospel? do they find those first principles inexhausted, inexhaustible? or is it always to deeper doctrines that they turn, as though it were only when quite out of their depth, that they gain a resting-place for the soul? But there is yet one more particular on which we wish to insist. We would direct your attention to what we may call the honesty of purpose displayed by the Jews, and hold it up for imitation to all who profess to be seeking the kingdom of God. The Jew had his face turned towards Zion, whilst he was inquiring the road: if he did not know the precise path, he knew the direction in which the city lay; and he was looking in the direction, when he asked what way he should take. We have a right to require and expect a similar conduct from all those who ask of us the way to heaven. There is such a thing as asking the way to Zion with the face towards Babylon; and if there be this dissimulation--for no milder word will express the precise truth--in vain will the preacher point out the road, and urge the traveller to decision and dispatch. We would have you distinctly understand that there is a certain part which the unconverted man has to perform if he hope for conversion; and that whilst this is undone, he has no right to look for the visitations of grace. It may not be in his power to find for himself the pathway of life; still less to take a step on that pathway when found. But he may ascertain the direction in which Zion lies, and he may be looking in that direction, if not advancing. It is quite idle to say that he knows not the direction: he knows it to be the exact opposite to that in which he naturally looks; to turn his eyes from the world is, as he must be thoroughly aware, to turn them towards Zion. (H. Melvill, B. D.)
Question and attitude
Inquiry and attitude should correspond. You should look as if you meant your questions. Do not let us have any discrepancy in the man himself; no asking of questions about one way whilst we are looking over the shoulder towards another. Do not mock kind heaven. Thitherward: literally, hitherward. Jeremiah is writing in Judah, and he says the time will come when the returning ones will face this way; and they will he asking from step to step, Which is the road to Zion? Sometimes we look our prayers; sometimes we are on the right road and do not know it. Questions about a certain kind of knowledge seem to be born in every soul; love for certain kinds of intelligence is inborn. Here is a little creature three years old who cannot be kept away from the piano. He will be there when you are not looking; he will rise early in the morning and grope his way towards the musical instrument. Why this, thou little Mozart? I cannot help it. Would it not be more in your way, poor little child, to have hoop, or humming-top, or bagfuls of marbles? He does not answer in words, but he goes back to the piano as if he had left it in some other world and was delighted to find it again; it talks to him, and he talks to it, and if you will allow the little soul to tarry there he wants no other heaven just now. Others are fond of language or science or history; there is a predestination that settles us if we will listen to it. The Lord has not turned any one of us into a pathless world. He says to every traveller, I want you to go down this road; do not turn to the right or the left; you must be trained in the way you should go, the predestined, foreordained road; you will find walking smooth down there, but if you get upon any other path your feet will be pricked with sharp thorns. When the soul is really alive with interrogation it will know how to put its own questions, and it will give the Church no rest until those questions have been answered substantially. If the Church cannot answer the great questions of the soul, then it is no Church, though its spire be high as heaven. Nor must we think that only the nominally great can answer the souls questions. Sometimes a little child might guide a king. What are the great questions that men should ask? Men must answer that inquiry themselves. Why be so anxious about details and trivialities and frivolities? Why hold the letter in your hand and ask a score of questions about the sealing of it? You are not going to be saved by the seal; break it, open the letter, read it. If you are really in earnest, if your souls be aflame with Divine sincerity, you will know what questions are important and what are trivial There shall come a time when the only questions worth asking will be religious questions. Where is Zion? Where is God? What is truth? Where is peace? What do all your inquiries amount to when set side by side with the possibility (let us use no firmer term at this moment) of knowing and realising the spiritual and the Divine? Now suppose you know all about the strata, how they were built, and how they were piled, and how their were coloured, and can trace every line, and discourse with eloquence upon every lamination,--now how do you feel after all that? Are you at peace? are you at rest? I see your fingers going out after other worlds to clutch them because you have exhausted the little volume of the earth. But the universe is just as little to God as the earth is to you and the universe. There is nothing great beside God--that is, in comparison with Him, in relation to Him. We must prove the reality of our sincerity by the set and stress of our lives. Observe, these people do,, not only ask a question, they discover a disposition, they represent an attitude. They shall ask their way to Zion with their faces thitherward They lose no time in asking questions; they ask them as they go. Is this the road? we know it is: and the answer is, Yes, go on; fair Zion, beautiful as heavens morning, stands yonder, with doors thrown back to give you welcome and hospitality. It is well thus to be doing two things at once, to be gathering information and to be realising it, to be asking questions and to be losing no time in progress. Here we have no mere speculation, no mere intellectual entertainment; here we have nothing but dead earnestness, the tongue asking the question which the face represents in action. How is it with us? We can show where we would be if we could. (J. Parker, D. D.)
Zionwards
Why ask the way to Zion when going thither? A certain inconsistency strikes us between the right movement of the foot and the confessed uncertainty o| the mind. But second thoughts show us how real is the harmony between the Zionward question and the Zionward move.
1. Is it not an experimental fact that men are often moving Zionward, whilst mentally they do not know the way? The mind of an awakening man reveals a strange commingling of truth and error, of knowledge and ignorance. There are many things he does not know--as to the nature and the law of God, as to the exact manner of life He would have us lead, as to the spirit and the employ of that new kingdom which Christ Jesus has set up--he has ever need to ask the way. On the other hand, there are some things be does know. He at least knows in what directions the road to Zion does not lie. In Bunyans great allegory Christians first idea of heavenwardness was to turn from the City of Destruction. He did not know where the Celestial City was; but he knew it could not lie anywhere near that seat of Satan. The kingdom of God must be opposite to the realm of the devil. So his first step was a step away from that repulsive spot. When soon after his feet sank in the Slough of Despond you remember he struggled to get out on the side farthest from his own home. The true inquirer reasons in the same way. Zion must be otherwhere than in the world--its way must somehow lead away from it. Now, this is, of course, only negative knowledge; but it is positive advantage. It is only half-knowledge; but it means half-salvation The first real stride towards heaven is the souls break with the world. The man who has got so far is really on the path to Zion. What is this type of man? Where do we find this class? They are men whoso way of life is out of the common run. You do not find them in the circles of frivolity or where the crowd is densest. They are men who have cast off from them that spell named Fashion, who have sought out for themselves the true standards of righteousness, who are daily preferring principle to gain and an easy conscience to a famous reputation You will find these men in the house of God as often as is possible. They are good listeners--devout, intelligent, teachable, ever willing to know the truth that they may do it. These are the people whose faces are Zionward, though they themselves are not yet there; nor do they even know with certainty its way. And these are the men who also ask. How do they so? Is not their very posture an inquiry? Is not their separation from the City of Destruction--their exodus from Satans Egypt--is not that a token that they desire a better portion? The life shows the heart. The posture indicates the will. The step denotes the aim. And it is often this which in the long-run decides the question of salvation. It is the lie of the heart, more than the achievement of the life, which approves a man to God. It is the direction of his face and not the extent of his progress which fits a man for Zions citizenship. For, indeed, it is these first motions which are the most difficult to make and the most cardinal. To go with the crowd is the easiest of all motions; to go against the stream is the hardest of all. The further inquiry of the awakened soul is usually in the line of its rudimental notion--its further steps in the direction of its first movement. For the Spirit of the Lord is in that souls uprising. It is the invisible hand of the Almighty which thrusts him from the doomed spot. It is the Saviours voice which he hears calling, Escape for thy life.
2. I have known another class of men who ask the way to Zion with their faces turned the other way. The inquiry of these is by the lip; the posture of their heart is towards the world. Some of them are consciously insincere. They are wanting in even pious motive. They may be outwardly righteous; but it is with a righteousness which they have learned in worldly schools. They pass for men of purity but their purity is the price they pay for social esteem. Their honesty is only their policy. Their action is Zionwards, their words are in heavens language; but their hearts direction is towards the world. There are some who maintain this inconsistency with a measure of pious motive. The things of their religion are really religious things. They use the means of grace as means to grace. They recognise the ways of truth and virtue as things of heaven, and they approve and love them all as such. They want to be Christians and to go to glory. They set their feet in the acknowledged ways of righteousness. They ask the way to Zion with all ingenuousness and without conscious reserve. And so far as the indicated path is a course of outer goodness and general integrity they willingly pursue it. But all the while their face and their heart are worldwards, not Zionwards. It is about the world that their affections cluster. It is the world in which they inwardly believe. They have no objection to piety plus worldliness, but they do not want a piety which is the negation of worldliness and the substitute for worldliness. What is their success? It is plainly a difficult thing to walk the opposite way to that in which you look. You see children sometimes doing that in the streets, but with many a bump and many a tumble. And quite as small success attends the experiment in spiritual things. Here and there a man may perform, for a time, the risky feat. For a while he may maintain the form of godliness and get credit for the reality of it. Neither the onlooking world, nor the man himself, knows how truly his heart is with the creature, rather than with God. He is called a seeker after Zion; but none but the All Knowing knows how completely his whole cast of thought belies that quest. But inconsistencies nearly always come into the light. It is seldom that the heart and the practice can be long disjoined. The foot and the eye generally agree. Only the eye leads the foot, and not the foot the eye. Where the heart goes the conduct will eventually follow. A man with his heart in the world usually comes out poorly even as a formal saint. Generally the man who is content to be half a Christian ends in not being one at all. Whatever we do our heart must be disposed aright. There is verily no hope of heaven and God apart from a Zionward gaze: that is sure to make our feet move Zionwards.
3. To the most sincere and whole-hearted there is need to ask the way. Gods Spirit in mans heart never supersedes Gods Spirit in His Word. Gods Spirit in His Word seldom supersedes Gods Spirit in His Church. The truth of heaven does not flow automatically into the human mind when once that mind has seen the light. The way of God is never revealed to those who do not search. Answers to our hearts most urgent problems do not come without asking. When we are but walking some common road upon some ordinary errand, we do not like uncertainty. We want to be sure that we are going right. We question many passing travellers rather than go astray, and we check one guides advice against anothers. It is vastly more important that we keep the right way in our Zion-quest. The issues of this journey surpass in moment every other, and whatever the pains we have to take, and however reiterated the inquiries we make, we must be quite sure. Happily there is assurance for us, if we will have it. There is truth and light in abundance for ready minds and docile hearts. It is stored in the Sacred Book, in the ministry of the Church, and in the experience of the faithful. The man who seeks the guidance of the Spirit through these means will not seek in vain. Those who go where the light beams are sure to get some of it into their souls. They who follow Christ shall not walk in darkness; they shall have the light of life, guiding them to the realm of perfect light and life eternal. (J. J. Ingram.)
Faces thitherward
With their faces thitherward, those words seem to me to convey a special message to us, to prescribe to us a certain attitude, to suggest to us what is possible in a day like our own. For there are so many matters in which we find ourselves in captivity. We are forced to acquiesce in evil conditions which long years have left as our inheritance. Ancient ideals have broken up in Church and State, old homes lie waste and desolate, and from them we have wandered far. They are but as lost dreams. Gods purpose was once in them, but sin was strong and stubborn, and it was fruitless work for Him to repeat forgivenesses which never availed, and to prolong His mercy. And at last the Word of God was given to let the judgments fall, and things were allowed to take their course. Gods earlier purpose was suspended and broken off, and the story of man and the story of Christs Church takes on a new development; it passes over into strange and troubled situations, and the Divine will sanctions the change, and admits of trouble. God sets to work under the conditions of the exile in captivity. Not that the sacred purpose is abandoned, but that God proposes now to reach its fulfilment by the road of surrender, by the way of captivity, through the discipline of defeat. Just as in the Gospel the blindness of the man who was sightless from his birth, though in itself a curse due to some original sin, was, as it were, cut off by the action of God from its connection with sin, and there accepted as a pitiful fact, and was turned into a new call upon the goodness of God, and became the motive for a fresh exhibition of His compassion, and an exhibition that opened out unsuspected depths of glory in the love of God for sorrowful man, so even the miserable plight of a divided Christendom gives us a deeper insight into the immeasurable patience, tolerance and burden and pity of the Divine heart than we ever could have guessed before our misery evoked it. We might have thought that His wrath would have been so hot against the Church which was divided against itself that He would have abandoned it to its proper penalty. But no, though a father and mother may forsake, though a woman might forsake her sucking child, yet will He never forsake us. He will follow us down wherever we are into our Babylons; He will put to profit disastrous situations. Babylon is but an interval and a discipline. Our Christendom must be again united, a prayer of Christ for its unity is still within it and behind it. That prayer for ever lives as a witness to the mind of God and to the end for which He is ever working. We may never forget it, we may never consider it to be the abandoned ideal. Whatever God works in us during the dismal course is still so done as to lead back the formative purpose which created the Church to be one Godhead. Though we cannot see how it would be possible, and though we can know nothing positive and practical towards its realisation, though we are hedged in by harsh, unyielding circumstances, and though it is our plain duty to learn all that God has to teach us through that harsh circumstance in which He has placed us, yet still the prophets voice cries to us to remember, even in impossible things, to look in the direction of the unforgotten vision, to turn our faces thitherward. Turn our faces thitherward! We cannot see our Zion; it is far, far away. We cannot hope to distinguish with our eyes the whole Church of earth become again what Christ meant it to be. Alas! we die in exile from our home. We shall lay our bones in Babylon. East and west and north and south we shall see only divided brothers until our eyes close in death. But before we die, the prophet says, we can at least turn those eyes thitherward. Towards the direction in which peace lies we can ever send out hearts of prayer and longings. Not always shall Christian hate Christian, not always shall altar be divided from altar, not for ever shall east, west, and north be sundered from the south. Once again we shall all understand one anothers speech, and a new Pentecost will blot out the light of Babel. What it will be like, that recovered unity, we cannot guess; it will be in some form new and strange, as was the recovered life of Israel round the rebuilt Zion. How utterly unlike was unity and the dispersion after the captivity to the earlier unity of the compact kingdom. That walled little kingdom would never come back again, but the larger spiritual union that held the dispersion together round Jerusalem was far more intense and real than was the superficial coherence of the twelve tribes and the one kingdom. We cannot forecast the changed conditions under which the Church will find herself once more at one. But still through faith, in spite of the darkness, we can look out for the dawn of a new day, we can watch the visions for ever shining, we can snatch at all that makes in that way; we can hope and believe against facts, and hope against hope, and never fail to be found praying for the peace of Jerusalem, with our faces at least turned thitherward. With our faces turned thitherward! Is not that the word by which those who held fast, who perhaps for no fault of their own that they could detect, find themselves caught in the wilderness of doubt? Doubt! It has come upon them like an enemy in the night, it has laid siege, it has encompassed them about within and without. As we have each of us so often to feel the pressure of the worlds vast sorrows, so we may have the full pressure of the worlds doubt, not, indeed, that we can enter into the cloud with a light heart, wilfully and carelessly, merely to follow the fashion. But if the doubt be real, it can only be dealt with by facing it and probing it to the end. It then passes the first stage of depression and anxiety and loss and damage. While the trial continues that must be, it must be miserable to be robbed of your gladness, to be blind to the vision, to feel far from home, to find no longer joy m going up to the temple of Zion with the multitudes on the holy day, to wander as a lonely shepherd amongst the hills, to have nothing you can follow, no kindly light about your feet. But though this trouble be allowed to fall, you have still one duty, to remember Zion, to ask the way thither, and to turn your face thitherward. Believe me, God has not forgotten or deserted you because He has led you down to Babylon, and given you over to the Chaldees. You will come out of it a far stronger man than you went in, if only you will trust with all the might of your soul that it is He who has led you to suffer this deprivation, that there is no care for the pain that you have but to be faithful to the purpose which for the time denies you the sight of your Jerusalem, and that there is a real effectual will still at work for you and upon you even where God most surely hides it from your eyes, and always you must be saying this is not the end. Death, doubt, cannot be the final stage of the soul, doubt--though it seems so drearily long while it lasts--can only be a period, an interval, for a time, a time, and half a time. Hold to that, poor blind heart; be not afraid. There shall yet come the day when the Lord will turn again the captivity of Zion; then it will all be like a dream; then will your mouth be filled with laughter, your tongue with joy. (Canon Scott Holland.)
Asking the way
Our human nature is like a ruined temple in which the echo of old hymns and prayers still lingers and where a spectral Levite walks and murmurs of a lost glory. Hence our longing to return. All souls in their lowest depths are troubled to know the way of everlasting life. This universal consensus of aspiration led Plato to speak of the wings of our pre-existent state. The world is full of men and women who as Jesus passes by are half moved to throw themselves before Him as the young ruler did, crying, What shall I do that I may inherit eternal life? It is our vocation, as ministers of the Gospel, to point out the way to Zion. A grave responsibility rests upon us. Not long ago a signalman swung a white lantern as the railroad train swept by. On it went with impetuous speed until, on a sudden, there came a shock like a thunderbolt, and the train plunged down an embankment. The cars were piled one upon another, and oh, the shrieking and praying then! Who shall depict the anguish of that scene t Its record will be told on grave-stones and in the sable garments of the mourners who go about the streets. It was all because of the mistaken signal Who is sufficient to stand in this sacred place and direct souls into the way of spiritual life? No one of us could dare do this thing were it not that we have a sure oracle. At the outset we are admonished in these Scriptures that there is only one way to Zion. It used to be a proverb, All roads lead to Rome. In the centre of the Forum was a golden mile-stone, Milliarium Aureum, whereat all thoroughfares converge. If a traveller even in a distant province should ask, Which way to Rome? the answer would be, Keep on and you will reach the golden mile-stone. There are those who seem to think that all ways, in like manner, lead to heavens gate. If you are only sincere, keep on and you will get there. But alas, the Scriptures speak with a different voice. There is a way which seemeth right to a man, but the end thereof is death. All roads lead out into the wilderness save one, and that is the Kings highway, whereof the prophets slake. A highway shall be there, and a way, and it shall be called the way of holiness.
I. the Kings highway leads down through the valley of Bochim, the place of tears. Repentance is prerequisite to an entrance into life. To repent is to make a frank acknowledgment of sin and to forsake it. Is there aught unreasonable in this? If I have wronged a fellow-man do I not count it a point of honour to make amends to him? Shall we not observe as high a rule of honour and manliness in our attitude to God as we do in our human relationships?
II. The Kings highway runs over the hill of atonement. It is the royal way of the Cross. The law speaks on Calvary. It says to the sinner, The soul that sinneth it shall die. Nor is it possible to exaggerate the dreadfulness of that death. The Lord spoke of it under the figure of fire and the undying worm To Christ also the law speaks, Thou mayest expiate the sinners guilt. The sword awakes against the Shepherd. The only-begotten Son of God, assuming our place before the law, is wounded for our transgressions and bruised for our iniquities. He dies that we may live. But between the sinner with the death sentence resting upon him and Christ suspended upon the shameful Cross there is a mighty chasm. How can the innocent suffer for the guilty! and what avails it for the sinner that Jesus dies ? Over that chasm faith springs a mighty arch. By Divine appointment the exercise of faith on the part of the sinner is made the sole condition of salvation- He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life.
III. The Kings highway runs thenceforth across the open country to heavens gate. With the heart man believeth unto righteousness and with the lips confession is made unto salvation. If I have found a Saviour, and the joy of the great discovery has come into my heart, I cannot but sing my hosannas. The power of godliness is like ointment in the hand, which ever bewrayeth itself. (D. J. Burrell, D. D.)
The way to Zion to be inquired after
I was coming to Larne from Carrickfergus in a gig. Taking for granted that I knew the road well enough, I drove right on, passing many people going to market. After a while I began to doubt whether I was right, and meeting a gentleman on horseback, I said to him, How far is it to Larne? This is not the way, said he. You are two miles past where you should have turned to the left up the hill Come back with me and I will show you the right way. Then striking his forehead with his hand he said, You could fool, why didnt you inquire in time? So you go on from day to day, thinking you are going right to heaven; but you are in the wrong way. The great God has told you the right way in His blessed Bible. The priest says you mustnt read it; but if you don t inquire, youll find youre wrong as I did. (W. Arthurs Life of Gideon Ouseley.)
Come, and let us join ourselves to the Lord in a perpetual covenant that shall not be forgotten.--
The redeemed sinner joining himself in a covenant with God
In our intercourse with the world, we seldom hear such language as this from others, or utter it ourselves. But a kinder invitation could not possibly be addressed to us; nor could we offer to those whom we love more friendly advice.
I. Why the Lord condescends to enter into a covenant with His redeemed people.
1. He has thus pledged Himself to His people to show how greatly He honours them.
2. This gracious God has entered into a covenant with His people, that He may bind them more closely to Himself.
3. But the chief reason why it has pleased God to enter into a covenant with His servants, is this--to show them the sureness of His mercy, the certainty of their receiving pardon, grace, and salvation at His hands.
II. What is implied in their availing themselves of His condescension, and joining themselves to Him in a covenant.
1. The spiritual union spoken of implies a renunciation of every covenant which is opposed to this covenant with God.
2. But before we can enter into covenant with God, we must proceed a step farther, and accede to the terms of His covenant. Now these terms are so simple, that a child may comprehend them; and so gracious, that they fill the minds of angels with wonder; but because they are opposed to the imaginations of our depraved hearts, thousands daily reject them, yea, perish rather than accept them. He that believeth shall be saved. It asks of us no merit; it demands of the penitent sinner no righteousness. It tells him to cast away all dependence upon everything that he can feel, or suffer, or do; and upon this one condition, that he heartily believes and embraces the promises of the Gospel, it assures him that all the blessings of the everlasting covenant are his.
3. And what follows? Is the believing sinner henceforth at liberty to live as he will? to be disobedient and lawless? No; the man who joins himself in a covenant to his redeeming Lord, gives himself up entirely and for ever to His service. (C. Bradley, M. A.)
Entering into covenant with God
I. What we are to understand by this union to God.
1. It must include a renunciation of all created dependencies, and of everything that stands in competition with God. We are not in danger, like Israel of old, of worshipping the hosts of heaven. The world attracts the eye and engages the heart. Its riches and honours have a charm, in which those of heaven are forgotten. Forbidden pleasures make their court in such address, that numbers are devoted to them; and some are idols to themselves, and place a dangerous dependence there.
2. A deliberate and cordial choice of God as our God.
3. A solemn surrender of ourselves, and an entire devotedness to Him.
4. A resolution to abide by the choice and surrender described, and to act as becoming those who stand in a covenant relation to God.
II. Such considerations as prove it to be the duty and interest of us all to join ourselves to the Lord in this covenant, and never forget it.
1. God has an absolute right and title to us.
2. There is everything in God that can lay claim to our supreme regards, and invite an union to Himself. All the lustre of the heavens, all the beauty and grandeur in the material world, and all the excellence to be found amidst the various orders of beings in the intelligent creation, is, as it were, but a ray from God, and is lost in the excellence and glory of the Divine nature.
3. Joining ourselves to the Lord in a perpetual covenant, will insure our safety, our honour, and out, truest happiness in the present life.
4. Joining ourselves to the Lord, will issue in a blissful union to Him for ever.
Improvement--
1. Let us examine ourselves on the subject of this discourse.
2. Let those who have not joined themselves to the Lord be prevailed on to do it immediately.
3. Let those who are joined to the Lord in this covenant, rejoice in it, often renew it, and make it their principal concern through life, to walk worthy of it.
4. We should call on each other, and on all to whom we are related, in the language of the text. Come, let us join ourselves, &c. Friendship cannot express itself better, than by well-judged attempts to engage the hearts of its objects for God, and to maintain and strengthen their attachment to Him. This is serving the best interests of others: it is gratitude to Him who has made us to differ; and carrying on, in our humble sphere, that grand design in which heaven is engaged. (N. Hill.)
The solemn engagement
I. The nature of the transaction.
1. What it is not.
(1) An engagement of the nature of a covenant of works, in which we propose to obey the law of God as the condition of our acceptance in His sight.
(2) An engagement in which we promise to love God and serve Him as a compensation for blessings already received.
(3) An engagement to believe and repent, in order to obtain salvation through Christ.
2. What it is.
(1) In joining ourselves to the Lord, we take Him as our God and portion in Christ Jesus. This is just, in other words, to acquiesce in His purpose of mercy as it is revealed and offered to us in the promise.
(2) Devoting ourselves to the service of God, as a willing and obedient people.
(a) A voluntary surrender.
(b) Universal, without exception or reserve.
(c) Renouncing every other object, in so far as an attachment to it interferes with the love and duty we owe to God.
(d) This surrender is for ever. Perpetual.
II. What respects this is the duty of those who profess to be, like the Israelites, penitents returning unto the Lord.
1. To join themselves unto the Lord in a perpetual covenant is a duty He requires of every returning penitent. It makes a part of what is required in the very first of the ten commandments. For what is the covenant we have now described but an acknowledging, worshipping, and glorifying the Lord as our God in Christ Jesus?
2. God not only requires, but the great things He has done for them give Him a right to expect that they should join themselves to Him in a perpetual covenant.
3. The advantage to be derived from such a connection, points it out as our duty to join ourselves unto the Lord. Since they are dependent upon Him for every blessing, the regard they owe to their own interest renders it necessary.
III. Encouragement to the performance of this duty. The obligations of authority, gratitude, and interest, unite in calling us to this exercise; why, then, should we hesitate a moment about taking a decided part?
1. The privileges you think it would be presumptuous to claim, God Himself freely offers. I will, says He, be your God.
2. The fear that He will reject you is no just cause why you should not now join yourselves unto the Lord. In devoting yourselves unto Him, you are only obeying His commandment; and surely you have no cause to fear that He will reject the service He Himself requires.
3. The fear of departing again from Him is no just cause why you should not now join yourselves unto the Lord, since He Himself hath undertaken to preserve you from falling, and to keep you by His almighty power through faith unto complete salvation. Even now He is opening up all the stores of His fulness to supply your need, and enable you to fulfil every engagement into which, by His grace, you are disposed to enter. (G. Campbell.)
National covenanting a national privilege
It is when Israel and Judah--the ten and two tribes--are brought to seek the Lord their God, and, ask the way to Zion with their faces thitherward, that they say one to another, Come, and let us join ourselves to the Lord in a perpetual covenant that shall not be forgotten.
I. The parties who engage in covenanting.
1. God. It is to God the people propose to join themselves. It is not, however, God absolutely considered, but a three-one God in Christ,--God, as the Creator of the ends of the earth, as having all persons and all events entirely under His control, as the Father of lights, the Father of mercies, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the God of all comfort, that in Christ is reconsiling sinners to Himself, and saying to them, I will make a covenant with you;--it is to this God that the people seek to stand in the covenant relation. How great the condescension of the three-one God--who is so high in rank, so great in wealth, in love, in wisdom, in power, in goodness--to enter into covenant with the poor worms of His footstool, and enable them to say of Him, My Beloved is mine, and I am His; He feedeth among the lilies.
2. Man. It is with men, and not with angels, that God condescends to enter into covenant. The proposal, however, to engage in covenanting, and the disposition to comply with that proposal on the part d man, must come from the Lord. For it is not until God takes hold of sinners in the covenant of grace that they cheerfully give themselves to God in a covenant of duty. The surrender they then make of themselves to God is a complete or entire surrender--a surrender, not in one, but in all the relations of life. Those, therefore, that give themselves to God in a covenant of duty, as individuals, must esteem it a privilege to be permitted to give themselves to God, in the same covenant, as families, as Churches, as nations. It is national covenanting that is referred to in our text. It is Israel and Judah, or the kingdoms of the ten and two tribes, that propose to join themselves in covenant to the Lord.
II. The warrant for covenanting. Clearly it is our first duty in considering national covenanting to ask, Have men any warrant from Scripture for claiming in their national, or in any other relation in life, to be the bride--with all the rights and privileges of the bride--of the Lord of the universe? Undoubtedly they have. The scriptural warrant for nations, as such, giving themselves in covenant to God, is of the clearest and most encouraging description. There is the great fact that God Himself proposed and entered into covenant with Israel as a nation at Sinai. But the warrant arising from the covenanting at Sinai is confirmed--
1. By many scriptural examples, as the covenanting in the days of Asa, when all Judah rejoiced at the oath; and the Lord was found of them, and gave them rest round about; in the days of Nehemiah, when the nobles of the people made a sure covenant, and our princes, Levites, and priests seal unto it.
2. By many prophecies and promises, a few of which only we can quote in your hearing. There are, for instance (Isa_19:18-21; Isa_44:3-5; Isa_45:23). And how can the kingdoms of this world become Christs kingdom, but by swearing allegiance, or giving themselves in covenant to Him? May the time soon come when Israel and Judah, when Great Britain and Ireland, when all the nations of the earth shall say one to another, Come, let us join ourselves to the Lord in a perpetual covenant that shall not be forgotten.
III. The nature of covenanting. What is a covenant! A covenant is a bargain or marriage. And a marriage is the union between two parties, or the declaring of them formally to be one. The marriage is based on mutual consent. And such, in its essence, is covenanting. It is the Lord formally giving Himself to His people, or saying of them, It is My people; and the people formally giving themselves to God, or saying of Him, The Lord is our God.
1. That in national covenanting there is, on the part of the covenanters, a formal and solemn acceptance of a three-one God in Christ as their God. As God takes hold of, and gives Himself to His people, in the covenant of grace, so there must be a faiths approbation of that covenant, or a formal and solemn acceptance of a three-one God in Christ as their God, of God the Father as their Father, of God the Son as their Saviour, of God the Holy Ghost as their Sanctifier, Comforter, Friend, in their covenant of duty. Such acceptance of God is included in the covenanting at Sinai. In entering into their covenant with God, the Israelites, in the most solemn manner, accepted of the Lord as the God who had brought them out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage, and in the most solemn manner declared that they received Him both as their Sovereign and covenant God, as the Lord, and as the thy God. It is included in the covenanting specified in Zec_13:9. And such acceptance of God must be included in all the covenanting that is acceptable to Him in all ages. For unless men are enabled cordially to receive a three, one God as revealed in Christ, He will not and cannot say of them, It is My people, nor enable them to say of Him, The Lord is my God. Some say that in thus accepting of a three-one God in Christ, covenanters do nothing more than genuine saints do, when they are enabled to accept of, and close with, Christ as their only and all-sufficient Saviour. In one sense this is true. But, at conversion, we accept of, and close with, Christ in our individual, whereas, in national covenanting, we accept of and close with Him in our corporate and national capacity. True. But, when you have been enabled to accept of and close with Him in your individual, why seek to accept of and close with Him in your national capacity? Why not be satisfied with the acceptance of Him you have already been enabled to make? Because, by doing so, we would neglect a plainly commanded duty, and deprive ourselves of a highly distinguished privilege. Every genuine Israelite that covenanted at Sinai, and in the plains of Moab, had already, as an individual, accepted of and closed with the Lord as his God. But, so far was God from being satisfied with this, that He asked the Israelites not merely in their individual, but in their public and corporate capacity, to accept of and close with Him anew. Accordingly, in Deu_26:17-19, Moses says to the Israelites, who had, in their national capacity, given themselves in covenant to God Thou hast avouched the Lord this day to be thy God.. . . And the Lord hath avouched thee this day to be His peculiar people, as He hath spoken. In other words, the Lord declared that, through national covenanting, the Israelites enjoyed a national exaltation, praise, honour, and blessing, that could not otherwise have been obtained. How clear is it, therefore, that national covenanting is the true foundation of great and permanent national blessings.
2. In national covenanting there must be, on the part of the covenanters, a formal and cheerful surrender of themselves to God in a covenant of duty. In national covenanting, as in marriage, there must be a mutual surrender. God must cheerfully give Himself to the nation in the covenant of grace, and the nation must, by faith, as cheerfully and in a constitutional manner give itself to God in a covenant of duty. What we have already said shows that there can be no doubt as to the cheerfulness with which God gave Himself to Israel, and promises to give Himself in covenant to Christian nations in all ages. But whilst God cheerfully gave Himself, as the covenant God, to Israel, He was careful to see that, by faith, Israel formally and cheerfully gave himself, as a covenant people, to Him. In Exo_19:3; Exo_19:8, we are told that Moses went up unto God, and the Lord called unto him out of the mountain, saying, Thus shalt thou say to the house of Jacob, If ye will obey My voice indeed, and keep My covenant, then ye shall be a peculiar treasure unto Me above all people: for all the earth is Mine. And ye shall be unto Me a kingdom of priests, and an holy nation. These are the words which thou shalt speak unto the children of Israel. And Moses came, and called for the elders of the people, and laid before their faces all these words which the Lord commanded him. And all the people answered together, and said, All that the Lord hath spoken we will do. And Moses returned the words of the people unto the Lord. With this full consent on the part of the people the Lord was not yet satisfied. Accordingly, in Jer_24:3, we read: And Moses came and told the people all the words of the Lord, and all the judgments; and all the people answered with one voice and said, All the words which the Lord hath said will we do. In Jer_24:7 we read again--And he (Moses) took the Book of the Covenant and read in the audience of the people: and they said, All that the Lord hath said will we do, and be obedient. After the covenant had been read for the third time, and the people had for the third time given their consent to marry the Lord on the terms proposed, it is added, And Moses took the blood, and sprinkled it on the people, and said, Behold the blood of the covenant, which the Lord hath made with you concerning all these words. How clearly do these facts show that it was with a full knowledge of what they were doing, and with the full consent of all the people, that the Israelites gave themselves in covenant to God at Sinai. (Original Secession Magazine)
The Biblical Illustrator, edited by Joseph S. Exell (c. 1880s–1900s) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Expositor's Bible 1887 · Public Domain On v1 Jeremiah 50, Jeremiah 51
CHAPTER XXV
BABYLON
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Jeremiah 50, Jeremiah 51
"Babylon is taken, Bel is confounded, Merodach is broken in pieces."- Jer_50:2
THESE chapters present phenomena analogous to those of Isaiah 40-66, and have been very commonly ascribed to an author writing at Babylon towards the close of the Exile, or even at some later date. The conclusion has been arrived at in both cases by the application of the same critical principles to similar data. In the present case the argument is complicated by the concluding paragraph of chapter 51, which states that "Jeremiah wrote in a book all the evil that should come upon Babylon, even all these words that are written against Babylon," in the fourth year of Zedekiah, and gave the book to Seraiah ben Neriah to take to Babylon and tie a stone to it and throw it into the Euphrates.
Such a statement, however, cuts both ways. On the one hand, we seem to have what is wanting in the case of Isaiah 40-66-a definite and circumstantial testimony as to authorship. But, on the other hand, this very testimony raises new difficulties. If 50 and 51 had been simply assigned to Jeremiah, without any specification of date, we might possibly have accepted the tradition according to which he spent his last years at Babylon, and have supposed that altered circumstances and novel experiences account for the differences between these chapters and the rest of the book. But Zedekiahs fourth year is a point in the prophets ministry at which it is extremely difficult to account for his having composed such a prophecy. If, however, Jer_51:59-64 is mistaken in its exact and circumstantial account of the origin of the preceding section, we must hesitate to recognise its authority as to that sections authorship.
A detailed discussion of the question would be out of place here, but we may notice a few passages which illustrate the arguments for an exilic date. We learn from Jeremiah 27-29, that, in the fourth year of Zedekiah, the prophet was denouncing as false teachers those who predicted that the Jewish captives in Babylon would speedily return to their native land. He himself asserted that judgment would not be inflicted upon Babylon for seventy years, and exhorted the exiles to build houses and marry, and plant gardens, and to pray for the peace of Babylon. {Jer_29:4-14} We can hardly imagine that, in the same breath almost, he called upon these exiles to flee from the city of their captivity, and summoned the neighbouring nations to execute Jehovahs judgment against the oppressors of His people. And yet we read:-
"There shall come the Israelites, they and the Jews together:
They shall weep continually, as they go to seek Jehovah their God;
They shall ask their way to Zion, with their faces hitherward." {Jer_50:4-5}
"Remove from the midst of Babylon, and be ye as he-goats before the flock." {Jer_50:8}
These verses imply that the Jews were already in Babylon, and throughout the author assumes the circumstances of the Exile. "The vengeance of the Temple," i.e., vengeance for the destruction of the Temple at the final capture of Jerusalem, is twice threatened. {Jer_50:28; Jer_51:11} The ruin of Babylon is described as imminent:-
"Set up a standard on the earth,
Blow the trumpet among the nations,
Prepare the nations against her."
If these words were written by Jeremiah in the fourth year of Zedekiah, he certainly was not practising his own precept to pray for the peace of Babylon.
Various theories have been advanced to meet the difficulties which are raised by the ascription of this prophecy to Jeremiah. It may have been expanded from an authentic original. Or again, Jer_51:59-64 may not really refer to Jeremiah 50:1 - Jeremiah 51:58; the two sections may once have existed separately, and may owe their connection to an editor, who met with Jer_50:1-46; Jer_51:1-58 as an anonymous document, and thought he recognised in it the "book" referred to in Jer_51:59-64. Or Jer_50:1-46; Jer_51:1-58 may be a hypothetical reconstruction of a lost prophecy of Jer_51:59-64 mentioned such a prophecy and none was extant, and some student and disciple of Jeremiahs school utilised the material and ideas of extant writings to supply the gap. In any case. it must have been edited more than once, and each time with modifications. Some support might be obtained for any one of these theories from the fact that Jer_50:1-46; Jer_51:1-58 is prima facie partly a cento of passages from the rest of the book and from the Book of Isaiah. {Jer_50:8; Jer_51:6, with Isa_48:20; Jer_50:13 with Jer_49:17; Jer_50:41-43 with Jer_6:22-24; Jer_50:44-46 with Jer_49:19-21; Jer_51:15-19 with Isa_10:12-16}
In view of the great uncertainty as to the origin and history of this prophecy, we do not intend to attempt any detailed exposition. Elsewhere whatever non-Jeremianic matter occurs in the book is mostly by way of expansion and interpretation, and thus lies in the direct line of the prophets teaching. But the section on Babylon attaches itself to the new departure in religious thought that is more fully expressed in Isaiah 40-66. Chapters 50, 51, may possibly be Jeremiahs swan song, called forth by one of those Pisgah visions of a new dispensation sometimes granted to aged seers; but such visions of a new era and a new order can scarcely be combined with earlier teaching. We will therefore only briefly indicate the character and contents of this section.
It is apparently a mosaic, compiled from lost as well as extant sources; and dwells upon a few themes with a persistent iteration of ideas and phrases hardly to be paralleled elsewhere, even in the Book of Jeremiah. It has been reckoned that the imminence of the attack on Babylon is introduced afresh eleven times, and its conquest and destruction nine times. The advent of an enemy from the north is announced four times. {Jer_50:3; Jer_50:9; Jer_51:41; Jer_51:48}
The main theme is naturally that dwelt upon most frequently, the imminent invasion of Chaldea by victorious enemies who shall capture and destroy Babylon. Hereafter the great city and its territory will be a waste, howling wilderness:-
"Your mother shall be sore ashamed,
She that bare you shall be confounded;
Behold, she shall be the hindmost of the nations,
A wilderness, a parched land, and a desert.
Because of the wrath of Jehovah, it shall be uninhabited;
The whole land shall be a desolation.
Every one that goeth by Babylon
Shall hiss with astonishment because of all her plagues." {Jer_50:12; Jer_13:13; Jer_50:39-40; Jer_51:26; Jer_51:29; Jer_51:37; Jer_51:41-43}
The gods of Babylon, Bel and Merodach, and all her idols, are involved in her ruin, and reference is made to the vanity and folly of idolatry. {Jer_51:17-18} But the wrath of Jehovah has been chiefly excited, not by false religion, but by the wrongs inflicted by the Chaldeans on His Chosen People. He is moved to avenge His Temple:- {Jer_50:28}
"I will recompense unto Babylon
And all the inhabitants of Chaldea
All the evil which they wrought in Zion,
And ye shall see it-it is the utterance of Jehovah". {Jer_51:24}
Though He thus avenge Judah, yet its former sins are not yet blotted out of the book of His remembrance:-
"Their adversaries said, We incur no guilt.
Because they have sinned against Jehovah, the Pasture of Justice,
Against the Hope of their fathers, even Jehovah". {Jer_50:7}
Yet now there is forgiveness:-
"The iniquity of Israel shall be sought for, and there shall be none;
And the sins of Judah, and they shall not be found
For I will pardon the remnant that I preserve". {Jer_50:20}
The Jews are urged to flee from Babylon, lest they should be involved in its punishment, and are encouraged to return to Jerusalem and enter afresh into an everlasting covenant with Jehovah. As in Jeremiah 31, Israel is to be restored as well as Judah:-
"I will bring Israel again to his Pasture;
He shall feed on Carmel and Bashan;
His desires shall be satisfied on the hills of Ephraim and in Gilead." {Jer_50:19}
William Robertson Nicoll, ed., The Expositor's Bible (London: Hodder & Stoughton, 1887–1910) — public domain. 65 of 66 books (1 Corinthians is not separately keyed, as that volume carries no machine-parseable verse references); section-level commentary keyed to the opening verse. Introductory and overview sections not keyed to a specific passage are excluded.
The Preacher's Complete Homiletical Commentary 1892 · Public Domain On v1 CRITICAL AND EXEGETICAL NOTES.—1. Chronology of the Chapter.—This and…
CRITICAL AND EXEGETICAL NOTES.—1. Chronology of the Chapter.—This and the following chapter constitute one prophecy against Babylon; and the date of its authorship is given in chap. Jer_51:59 : “the fourth year of Zedekiah.” Jeremiah delivered this written prophecy to Seriah, the king’s chamberlain and Baruch’s brother (cf. chap. Jer_32:12), who accompanied Zedekiah the king to Babylon, probably at Nebuchadnezzar’s summons, for some imposing state occasion: the prophet’s design being to send to the exiles there His message concerning the overthrow of the Chaldean power and their return from captivity.
2. National Affairs.—Jeremiah was at this time dwelling in Jerusalem (Jer_50:5, lit. “hitherwards,” not as in E.V., “thitherwards,” the writer being in Jerusalem), yet he regards the city as already captured and in ruins (Jer_50:11; Jer_50:15; Jer_50:17; Jer_50:28, &c.), while the exiles at Babylon, taught by their sorrows and misfortunes, are seeking their God in penitence (Jer_50:4-7). But the expressions are all general, there are none of those minute touches which would certainly have been found had the city and temple been actually destroyed (Dr. Payne Smith). The exact position of affairs will be apparent by reference to Notes in loc. to chap. 29. Comp. also Topic, “Prophecy vindicated in Babylon’s Fall” (on chap. Jer_25:13), p. 473.
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3. Personal Allusions.—Jer_50:2. “Bel,” the principal deity of Babylon, and “Merodack” (which means in Syria, little lord), another idol-god.
Literary Criticisms.—Jer_50:5. “Their faces thitherward:” but הֵנָּה uniformly means hither: they look “hither” from scenes of exile.
Jer_50:9. “A mighty expert man” The pointing of the word מַשְׁכִּיל, maschil, appears in most of the authorities; therefore is rendered expert; but some editions read מַשְׂכִּיל mashchil, a destroyer, or prosperous.
Jer_50:12. “Your mother:” אִמְּכֶם is the metropolis of the empire, Babylon.
Jer_50:17. “Devoured him … broken his bones.” Rather, “The first, even the king of Assyria, ate him (imagery of a lion being kept up), and this last, even Nebuchadnezzar, hath picked his bones.” For Israel was so wasted by Assyria, that Nebuchadnezzar had but the bones to pick.
Jer_50:21. “Marathaim.” Marg. “the rebels;” but מְרַתַיִם is doubly rebellious: it is a dual form, intended as an intensitive, and conveys the sense of the very rebellious land. “Pekod” signifies visitation.
Jer_50:31. “O thou most proud.” Lit. O Pride; God calls Babylon by that name, זָדוֹן.
SUBJECT OF CHAPTER 50
BABYLON’S PREDICTED OVERTHROW: ISRAEL’S SURE REDEMPTION
Introductory considerations—
i. Why was Babylon’s fall announced? That the exiles there might cherish hope in their captivity and nurture faith in Jehovah as still working out purposes of mercy for His covenant people. Comp. “The Theocratic Purpose of the Captivity,” p. 472.
ii. What was the power which should effect Babylon’s overthrow? “A nation cometh up against her from the north” (Jer_50:3). The Median power, which Cyrus successfully led against Babylon (see Topic, “Sheshach,” ii. 2, p. 475). As Judah’s overthrow by Babylon had always been predicted “from the north” (chap. Jer_1:14), now, in turn, Babylon’s overthrow is to be by a power “from the north.” The north is the region where the sun never shines, and emblematical, therefore, of severity and gloom. The Medo-Persian empire was an aggregation of small nationalities welded into unity by Cyaxares (B.C. 633).
iii. In what light is Babylon’s ruin to be regarded? Comp. “The Supernatural Termination of Babylon’s Power,” p. 472. Her work was done; and, as being a graceless and arrogant power, God destroyed it when it had served the end for which He created and prolonged it. For though Babylon worked out God’s designs in Judah’s punishment, it was not done by her in recognition of Jehovah and His will, but in violent lust of empire, and in disregard of the sanctity of Zion’s holy things.
iv. How would the exiles greet this prediction? Surely it would call them to the repentance and re-allegiance to God which Jeremiah describes (Jer_50:4-5), and foster in them a patient waiting for the hour of their promised redemption, and restrain their souls from Babylon’s idolatries by fixing their expectation and trust in Jehovah.
Observation.—The fate of Babylon is homiletically treated in chap. 25; hence in these two chapters the general theme will be left, and only verses selected for homilies.
HOMILIES ON VERSES IN CHAPTER 50
Jer_50:4. Theme: WEEPING PILGRIMS. “Going and weeping; they shall go and seek the Lord their God.”
i. THE RETURN. “Going.” In part fulfilled when some few of the ten tribes of “Israel” joined Judah in a “covenant” with God at the restoration of Judah to their own land (Neh_9:38; Neh_10:29). Its full accomplishment is yet to come (chap. Jer_31:9; see Homilies on “The Watchmen’s Call” and “Pilgrims to Zion,” pp. 518, 519. Comp also Hos_1:11; Zec_12:10). Its constant fulfilment is realised in souls returning to the Lord in prayer, penitence, and faith.
ii. THE TEARFUL JOURNEY. “Weeping.” With sorrow at the remembrance of their sins and sufferings (Ezr_3:12-13; Psa_126:5-6). With gladness at their restoration, after so long a delay, and in a manner surpassing all hope.
iii. THE DIVINE GOAL. “Seek the Lord their God.” More a going back in heart to Him, than a mere geographical return to their land. A happier goal that than to a ruined country; for the goal of piety, “The Lord,” is a better and more blessed one than the goal of patriotism—a wasted country. God is more to the ransomed soul than Zion!
Jer_50:4-5. Theme: SINNERS RETURNING TO GOD.
Evident that the verses allude to the return of the Jews from the Babylonish captivity. But as they interestingly describe what is manifest in the return of sinners to God, we will use them to illustrate such a circumstance.
I. Penitents going in company. “In those days the children of Israel shall come, they and the children of Judah together.”
There had been much dissension and great enmity between these tribes from the days of Rehoboam (see 1 Kings 12); but it had been foretold that they should again unite, and here we behold them coming “together.” Thus it is with sinners in submitting to the teachings of the Holy Ghost and yielding to divine influence.
Whatever was the distance, whatever the enmity existing between them before, now, as with one accord, they come together to the house of God, to the throne of grace, to the Saviour of mankind. See Eph_2:13-14.
II. Sinners returning with weeping. “Going and weeping.”
What an affecting sight! Whence have they come? Why do they weep? Whither are they going? They have left the land of their captivity, where they were aliens from God, servants to idolaters, slaves to their enemies; they have left the ways of sin, the company of the wicked, the service of the devil Behold them going.
As they go they weep: not from regret that they are leaving scenes and circumstances to which they have been so long habituated, but rather because they remained connected with them so long. They are affected by a sense of God’s goodness to them and by a consciousness of their ingratitude towards God; they weep on account of their sins, and the proof of their sincerity is manifest in their movement; for as they weep they go; they leave their former sinful situation, and they are going.
III. Souls returning to the Lord. “To seek the Lord their God.”
The children of Israel and of Judah had wandered from Jehovah, the true God, the God of their fathers; they had provoked the Holy One of Israel to anger, especially by the folly and the infamy of idolatrous practices, and God had left them for a while captives in the hands of idolaters. But mixing mercy with judgment, He remembered them in their low estate; and here we find them again seeking the Lord their God.
Sinners may wander from God, but misery, infamy, and ruin will be the consequence; they must return again to God or perish. And they may return; for oh! how kind are the words of the Lord our God, of Jesus our Saviour, to weeping returning sinners! “Ye shall seek me and find me when ye shall search for me with your whole heart” (Jer_29:13).
IV. Seekers asking direction. “They ask the way to Zion with their faces thitherward.”
Zion was the city of solemnities among the Jews, and God was peculiarly present there. But Zion means the Church, and it is in His Church that God may always be found. So Jesus our Saviour promises. Agreeably to this, “they ask the way to Zion;” and as a proof that this is not an idle inquiry, they ask “with their faces thitherward.” Their dispositions are turned toward God and His people; their souls are inclined to religion and its ways.
Thus disposed, they next resolve, “Come and let us join ourselves to the Lord in a perpetual covenant, that shall not be forgotten.”
They had been joined to idols, to sin, to wickedness. But now they say, “Come let us join ourselves to the Lord.”
The way to join ourselves to the Lord is, spiritually, by faith and by love; outwardly, by connecting ourselves with the Lord’s people—with those who worship God in spirit and rejoice in Christ Jesus, and have no confidence in the flesh.—Altered from “Sketches of Sermons.”
Jer_50:5. Theme: DIRECTIONS TO INQUIRERS. “They shall ask the way to Zion, Come and let us join ourselves to the Lord.” The evidences of a state of grace are the same in all ages. The thought of the numbers in heaven and the numbers on the way to it may well encourage us.
Text said of Israel in Babylon, but said spiritually of seekers in every age.
Perhaps never a day since first promise in which there has not been some inquirer to heaven.
“We are compassed,” etc. It is always instructive to mark the peculiar and characteristic distinctions of the people of God. Though there are some things in which they differ, there are many in which they agree. Unity without uniformity.
There may be circumstantial differences between Moses and Joshua, Paul and John, Martha and Mary, Peter and Nathaniel, but they yet possess a oneness of character. All love Christ; love prayer; love the Word of God; love the fellowship of the Gospel. “All drink into the same Spirit.”
Our text exhibits some of these, and we shall set before you—
I. Some of the marks and characteristics of the pilgrims to Zion. “Arise, let us go up to Zion.” Earnestness, Union, Effort.
1. By their earnest inquiry. “They inquire the way to Zion with their faces thitherward.” Supposes Desire, Ignorance, Docility, Resolution.
As when the bondage of Israel was broken they began to turn homewards, so when the soul is truly converted to God it begins to turn heavenwards. “Arise ye,” etc.
The soul truly awakened is no longer content to sleep in sin, to linger upon the brink of perdition, to remain under the sentence and condemnation of a broken law, but determines to seek salvation and escape the wrath to come. “I will arise.”
Paul inquires, “What wouldst Thou have me to do?” Peter inquires, “Lord, to whom shall we go but to Thee?” The jailor inquires, “What shall I do to be saved?” Balak inquires, “Wherewithal shall I come before the Lord?”
Depend upon it, it is a great era in any man’s history when he feels himself wrong, becomes aware of his danger, has strong convictions awakened, sees his need of a Saviour, feels for the first time the powers of the world to come, and earnestly resolves to make the care of his soul the first concern.
But it is of great consequence that he should at once act upon his convictions. These inquired with “their faces directed thitherward.” Not ask the way to heaven and set their faces to the world; not set their faces to heaven and go on at a venture without asking the way; but in all true converts there is both a sincere desire to attain the end and a constant care to keep the way. Guard against trifling with convictions. Pray that they may be deepened and confirmed, that you may be enabled to act upon them, that they may issue in sound conversion.
2. By their penitential regrets. “Going and weeping.”
They weep that they have been in bondage so long, that their best days have been devoted to folly and sin, that so few are found walking with them, that the way is so rough, the difficulties so great, and that they find so many traces and footprints of returning feet—of those who professed to set out on pilgrimage, but whose hearts were not right. The open enemies of the way do not discourage so much as the false friends of the way (Psa_78:8-11).
Repentance awakens a godly sorrow for sin past, a painful sense of sin present, our remaining corruption, and a holy jealousy and distrust of ourselves for the future, lest, like Lot’s wife, we look back, or, like Israel, in heart go back (Psa_51:12).
3. By their mutual solicitude and concern. “Come and let us.” Roused themselves, they long to rouse others.
Religion delights in unity and association. It consecrates the social principle by bringing it in aid of our own and others’ piety. The charity of religion when it begins at home does not end there. One of the first indications of piety is a concern for the salvation of others (Joh_1:41). “Andrew first findeth his own brother.” Like lighted torches spread the flame.
He who can forego the communion of saints will probably very soon be able to resign communion with God.
4. By their solemn and determined consecration to God. “Let us join ourselves to the Lord in a perpetual covenant.”
“My understanding shall be His to know Him; my will His to choose Him; my affections His to love Him; and all my active powers His to serve and honour Him.”—Bishop Beveridge. Williams of Kidderminster records:—“I solemnly devoted and dedicated myself to Him who is the King of kings, resolving by His grace to give a full divorce to all manner of sins, and to the utmost of my power to strive and wrestle with all temptations to sin, whether from without or within; to avoid the society of vain and graceless persons; to commend myself to God by prayer at least twice a day; to be careful and constant in self-examination and meditation; particularly to meditate on the love of God in Christ, and of Christ in willingly offering Himself a sacrifice for poor sinners, and in sending the blessed Spirit, whose strivings and quickening motions I resolved, by the grace of God, never to quench. I resolved to watch narrowly against the wanderings and strayings of my heart in any duty; to make the glory of God and the salvation of my soul my chief business and design; and to account the affairs of this world but as diversions to me in my way heavenward. I determined to call myself to account for the actions of the day, and frequently to write remarks thereon. This was of excellent use to keep me close to God and duty to prevent sin; it helped me to redeem precious time, making conscience of rising betimes for communion with God.”
II. Directions to those who are desirous of walking in this way.
1. Solemnly consecrate yourself to God. “Join yourselves to the Lord in a perpetual covenant,” &c.
2. Carefully study the directions for the way. “Thy Word is a lamp to my feet.” Here your course is clearly marked out all the way from the city of destruction to the heights of Zion.
The uses of the Bible read and heard are to convince of sin, to convert to Christ, to confirm in grace, to conduct to glory.
As ever you would profit by a sermon or a chapter, follow it with the tears of repentance and the prayers of faith. Remember that the Bible without its Inspirer’s illumination is like a dial without sunshine.
3. Keep close to your Guide. Jesus says, “I am the way.” He is the Lion of the tribe of Judah. Honour Christ in His prophetical office as He who loosens the seals and opens the Book, and throws light on the dispensations of God, and guides and guards the Church from earth to heaven.
Peter followed, but followed afar off.
4. Do not separate yourselves from your godward companions.
5. Keep the end constantly in view.—S. Theodey, 1842.
Jer_50:4-5. Theme: YOUNG CONVERTS STARTING ZIONWARD.
I. God reconciled to them in grace is the object of their inquiry.
II. It is usual with inquirers to associate with those who are like-minded with themselves.
III. This inquiry after God and happiness is frequently accompanied with tears.
IV. Mount Zion is the place to which they will repair for instruction and comfort.
V. Devout and sincere inquirers will gladly avail themselves of the direction and counsel of Christian ministers and of other pilgrims who have made some advance in the way to the celestial city.
VI. Young converts, having found God, to their unspeakable satisfaction, will do well to “join themselves to the Lord in a perpetual covenant that shall not be forgotten.”—Rev. R. Frost, Dunmow, 1833.
Note—
“The fall of Babylon is to be immediately followed by the return of the exiles homewards in tearful procession because they go as penitents, and yet with joy because their faces are towards Zion. The cessation, moreover, of the schisms between Israel and Judah is one of the signs of the times of the Messiah (Isa_11:12-13), and symbolically represents the gathering together of all the discordant and warring empires of the world under the peaceful sceptre of the Church’s King.”—Speaker’s Commentary.
Jer_50:6. Theme: THE SOUL’S RESTING-PLACE. “They have forgotten their resting-place.”
The prophet speaks of the captivity of Israel in language of plaintive and poetic beauty: “My people have been lost sheep; their shepherds have caused them to go astray; they have turned them away on the mountains: they have gone from mountain to hill; they have forgotten their resting-place.” Jehovah had now come to seek and save them, and the first evidence that He is among them is that they return penitent to Him. As the lost child that has run hither and thither in the crowded streets, seeking in vain the parent from whom she has wandered, crying herself sick in the bitterness of her sorrow, does at the sight of the mother coming to her relief rush to her embrace, so the Jewish nation rose repentingly to meet God as He drew near, saying with earnest and devout enthusiasm, “Come and let us join ourselves unto the Lord in a perpetual covenant that shall not be forgotten” (Jer_50:5). To take the text in a spiritual sense is not accommodation, but interpretation, for all this was designed to present a striking analogy to the case of the sinner and his Saviour. Viewed in this light, the text suggests—
I. That the human soul needs a resting-place.
This is true of the soul—
1. In innocence. As a creature he could not but be dependent. Without unquestioning trust in God, safety and happiness were impossible to man even before the Fall.
2. How much more true is this since man has become a sinner! To the sense of dependence there is now added the restlessness of a rebel, whose conscience is carrying a load it cannot shake off, whose intellect is revolving questions it cannot solve, whose heart is crying out for love that shall be worthy of its acceptance, and for an object that shall be worthy of its love. His nature is utterly weary. The past is guilty, the future is hopeless, and so the present is restless. Have you never sought to hide yourself from God and from yourself in business, pleasure, excitement, because of a consciousness of guilt, even as Adam attempted to hide himself amid the trees? You become yourself the spectre that haunts your heart, and you carry yourself for ever with you. Never, therefore, until yourself is changed can you enter into an unfailing resting-place.
II. Jesus Christ is the resting-place the soul needs.
The deliverance from the power of sin and the effects of sin can alone remove the soul’s distress. In Christ we have—
1. Full redemption. He took upon Himself our sins and redeemed us from the curse of the law, so that “there is no condemnation to them that are in Him.” No anodynes of earth can give the soul the rest that the blood of Christ can. What the words of men could not do the voice of Jesus has accomplished; for when He has said, “Thy sins are forgiven thee, go in peace,” the heavings of the troubled heart have been stilled, as of old the rolling waves of Galilee subsided at His command.
2. In Him we also have regeneration. “If any man be in Christ, he is a new creature.” A new centre has been given to his heart, a new aim to his life, a new joy to his experience. In his heart Christ has opened a fountain that quenches his thirst for evermore.
3. He gives repose to the intellect. Christ is “the truth.” Jesus Christ alone brings to the soul the element of certainty, and, worn out by vain flights, it folds its weary wings and rests with quiet thankfulness on this tree of knowledge, which is also the tree of life.
4. He also gives repose to the affections of the soul. Earthly objects prove disappointing or fall away from us, or are torn from us and leave the soul all palpitating with agony, but no power can separate from the love of God in Christ Jesus. Earthly objects cannot last through the soul’s immortality, but Christ is the same yesterday, to-day, and for ever, and the repose that Christ brings is as everlasting as Himself.
III. The text implies that this resting-place of the soul is sometimes forgotten, even by those who have known and enjoyed it.
“My people have forgotten their resting-place.” This place can be attained even on earth by Christians. Paul, amid the damp and darkness of his prison, exclaimed, “I know whom I have believed, and am persuaded He is able to keep what I have committed to Him against that day.” Eminent Christians in all ages, &c. But a Christian may frequently have his peace in Christ disturbed. At moments he may be walking through darkness. Job was a true man of God even when he was crying out, “Oh, that I knew where I might find Him!” True, a Christian is not justified in being in this distressed state of mind.
When does a Christian forget his resting-place?
1. When he falls into perplexity, doubting whether he is forgiven or not
2. When he depends upon merely human and earthly resources.
3. When he loses his confidence in the midst of affliction.
Are there those here who have never known this resting-place? Let them seek it now. Come to Christ—
“Take Him for what He is; oh, take Him all,
And look above.
Then shall thy tossing soul find anchorage
And steadfast peace;
Thy love shall rest on His, thy weary doubts
For ever cease;
Thy heart shall find in Him and in His grace
Its rest and bliss.”
—Rev. W. M. Taylor, D.D., New York.
Jer_50:6. Theme: ROAMING FROM GOD.
i. However unlike in all other choices and courses of action, men alarmingly concur in this, to neglect religion, forsake the fountain of happiness. “They have gone from mountain to hill, they have forgotten their resting-place.”
ii. We find no exception to this rule apart from individual cases in which Divine grace has worked a distinction. As in Nature we never find a stone ascend upwards or a river flow backwards of its own accord, so in the moral world we never find men prefering eternity to time, holiness to sin, the Creator to the creature of their own accord.
iii. Wherever this wrong tendency is found superseded by a supreme attachment to heavenly things, we are sure that this new bias owns a heavenly agency.
These Jews in Babylon wandered from hill to hill, from religion to religion, from comforter to comforter, from one broken dependence to another, but never by any chance wandering back to God.
I. God is the proper rest of the human spirit.
1. Every created life requires some object of hope and trust.
2. The dire effect of human depravity is to separate us from God, and to prompt us to seek some other rest.
3. Actually to know and enjoy God is the triumph of personal and experimental religion.
II. A tendency to forget and forsake God lies at the root of all our miseries.
It plunged Israel into captivity; it exposes us to ruin.
1. This is literally true of the whole world of sinners. We have all “forgotten our resting-place.”
2. This is practically true of the whole world of saints—the source of their miseries. Not absolute forgetfulness, but a practical one. What makes us faint in calamity, quarrel with Providence, murmur under disappointments, betake ourselves to unworthy means to avoid calamity or obtain relief, &c.
III. Satisfaction is sought in vain while we desert God. “Wander from mountain to hill.”
1. Some concentrate happiness in self.
2. Others seek satisfaction in their worldly possessions and well-planned enterprises.
3. Others in their personal talents.
4. Others in their untarnished reputation.
No matter what be the object of idolatry, if God be “forgotten” and the proper “resting-place” forsaken, if the care of their soul be neglected and the cross of Christ unsought, “destruction and misery are in their ways, and the way of peace have they not known.”
(a.) There is criminality in this neglect of God.
(b.) There is degradation in it.
(c.) There is ruin, disaster, in it, sooner or later.
IV. God’s dispensations correct this perverse tendency in man to roam from Him.
1. The dispensations of His providence.
2. The influence of His grace and Spirit.
Comments—
Jer_50:6. “My people hath been lost sheep: their shepherds have caused them to go astray.” See on chap. Jer_2:8, and especially Jer_23:1 seq.
Jer_50:7. “Their adversaries said, We off end not, because they sinned against the Lord.” “It is the worst condition into which the Church of God can come when the enemies who desolate it maintain they are in the right in doing so. It is, however, a just Nemesis when those who will not hear the regular messengers of God must be told by the extraordinary messengers of God what they should have done.”—Naegelsbach.
Nebuzaradan urged the plea of this verse (chap. Jer_40:2-3; cf. Zec_11:5). The Jews’ guilt was so palpable that they were condemned even in the judgment of heathens. They saw they had apostatised from “the hope of their fathers,” from the God whose faithfulness their fathers had experienced.
Jer_50:14. “Against Babylon, for she hath sinned against the Lord.” By oppressing His people; for their cause is His. Also by profaning His sacred vessels (Dan_5:2).
Jer_50:17. Theme: THE SCATTERED SHEEP. “Israel is a scattered sheep; the lions hath driven him away.”
Sin made them victims of invading conquerors. Text was fulfilled in the captivity by Assyria. Language appropriate to every lost sinner.
I. A wandering sheep is a very fit emblem of a poor sinner. Entangled in the briars of the wilderness, torn and pierced by its thorns; the lions have devoured us, &c. In plain language: man’s heart, affections, powers of his mind, all are alienated from God. A wandering sheep is the emblem of—
1. Indigence, perplexity, and disappointment.
2. Danger.
3. Helplessness.
4. An object of pity and anxious solicitude. God pitied the sinner (Joh_3:16); His love is illustrated by Luk_15:3, &c.
II. Jesus Christ is the great Shepherd, who seeks and gathers into His fold His wandering sheep. As such He is frequently described (Psa_23:1; Isa_40:11; Joh_10:11).
1. He knows they are in the wilderness. He came “to seek and to save that which is lost.” He finds them in a ruined condition.
2. He pities them, and rescues them from their enemies. He “takes the prey from the mighty, and delivers the lawful captive.”
3. He restoreth the soul (Psalms 23) He came to give “life more abundantly” (Joh_10:10-11). For this purpose He died, paid the price, &c.
III. How blessed is the present state of the restored sheep! Loved, redeemed, enfolded.
1. The fold of Christ is a secure enclosure. The “Lord is round about His people.” His perfections are on every side for their security.
2. They are in suitable and congenial society. Sheep associate not with other animals. We “have fellowship one with another.”
3. He will ever watch over them, guide and defend them; for they are precious to Him. He will “never leave nor forsake them:” be with them in the valley of death, and then enfold them in heaven.
IV. The restored sheep are amply tended and nourished.
1. They “go in and out and find pasture.” But they are not always fed on the same ordinance. The blessing is not confined to one means of grace.
2. All the blessings of the new covenant are for the nourishment of the soul.
3. The endearing character of Christ should engage our confidence, as our Shepherd. He is infinitely good, providentially kind, and graciously tender to His people. His bounty supplies, His wisdom orders, all things for us; and His Gospel brings us every spiritual enjoyment.
V. The sheep shall be eventually removed from the fold below to that in glory.
1. Here they have much enjoyment, but it is often imperfect and interrupted. Sin disquiets, the world disappoints, ordinances only prove a blessing occasionally.
2. The time is nearing when the flock shall be all in one fold, eternally with the Shepherd, led by Him into the eververdant pastures.
(a.) Are you one of Christ’s sheep? As a wandering sinner, have you been reclaimed?
(b.) Have you sensible enjoyment of the provisions of the Gospel? Are they to you green pastures, &c.?
(c.) If not identified with the flock of Christ now, at the day of division you will be severed from the redeemed of the Lord (Mat_25:31, &c.)
—From “Helps for the Pulpit.”
Jer_50:20. Theme: GOD’S MERCY TO HIS PEOPLE. “In those days the iniquity of Israel shall be sought for, and there shall be none; and the sins of Judah, and they shall not be found: for I will pardon them whom I reserve.”
God’s promises seem so “exceeding great” that we are tempted to limit them by conditions. Men may indeed deceive themselves as to their own personal interest in them; but God is sovereign in His affluence.
This promise has been only in part accomplished; for since the Jews’ return from Babylon “their sins have been found,” and visited, too, in wrathful indignation for many hundreds of years. At a period fast nearing, God’s elect among them shall be restored to His favour, &c.
I. The extent of God’s mercy to His chosen people.
1. They are constantly represented as a remnant. Yet they are “a remnant according to the election of grace” (Rom_11:5).
2. For them, however, God designs the richest mercy. A full and perfect remission of all sin (Isa_38:17); and to remember their sins no more for ever (Jer_31:31-34; Heb_10:14-17). God will henceforth view them as they are in Christ, “without spot or blemish” (Eph_5:27).
II. The interest which the Jewish nation has in this covenanted mercy.
1. They are the direct objects God has in view in this promise. We do right to apply these words to God’s elect generally, but wrong to overlook their primary purpose. This is emphatically a pledge to the Jews.
2. So applied, the promise should fill us with unutterable joy.
III. With what thoughts should we contemplate this promised mercy?
1. Amazement at the riches of God’s grace.
2. Humiliation, loathing ourselves for our iniquities against such a God.
3. Gratitude (Rom_12:1).
4. Affiance. In all He has done He gives us the pledge that He will never suffer any one to “separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.”—Rev. Chas. Simeon, M.A., 1828.
Jer_50:20. Theme: PLENTEOUS FORGIVENESS. “I will pardon them whom I reserve.”
I. In some cases pardon would be both unrighteous and dangerous.
The law must be honoured and the transgressor cease from the sin which needs pardon.
II. The pardon God bestows is sovereign in its exercise.
As pardon is an act of grace, not merited, it must be sovereign; bestowed according to the good pleasure of His will.
III. A universal offer of pardon is proclaimed in the Gospel.
On the ground of “repentance towards God and faith towards our Lord Jesus Christ.”
IV. While, therefore, God’s grace designs the scheme of pardon through Christ, the responsibility of securing pardon rests on man.
However wicked, no man need despair of obtaining it. “Let him return unto the Lord, and He will abundantly pardon.”
How can we doubt this when He pardoned a Manasseh, a Magdalene, a Saul? “The blood of Jesus Christ cleanseth from all sin.”—Rev. D. Pledge. (See Addenda: SIN IN OBLIVION.)
Comments—
Jer_50:24. “I have laid a snare for thee, O Babylon.” Cyrus turned the waters of the Euphrates into a different channel, and so entered Babylon by the dried-up channel at night. Thus was the impregnable city taken by a stratagem—“Thou wast not aware;” for one-half of the city was in the enemy’s hands before the other knew of it.
Jer_50:34. Theme: THE STRENGTH OF THE REDEEMER. “Their Redeemer is strong.”
I. These words suggest a difficulty. If He be strong, why does Israel so often suffer beneath the hand of the oppressor? If my father have bread, why do I hunger?
1. God does not display His strength at once, in order the more to glorify it. Lazarus dies. Jesus hastens not to him until the third day. Why? We had never known He could raise the dead if He had displayed His power always in healing the sick. Stephen dies full of faith, triumphing. God could have saved him from death, but showed His power by sustaining him.
2. God does not at once display His strength, &c., in order to make His people lay hold of it. When did Jonah, Manasseh, &c., cry loudest? Was it not when His arm seemed far from helping them?
3. Another reason is that He hereby chastens His people. There is no greater punishment than God leaving us to ourselves.
4. Hereby He instructs them. We are taught that God’s strength will never be exerted to make us secure in sin and indolence.
5. Often He does not exert His strength to liberate His people so that He may show mercy to their oppressors. He delayed to redeem Israel out of the hand of Pharaoh that Moses might reason with him.
II. These words convey a blessed truth.
1. Consider the might of the enemy from whom He delivers us. From the power of Satan, the world, our evil hearts.
2. Consider the completeness of the deliverance. He saves both body and soul, by His own arm, without the help of another. “His own arm hath gotten Him the victory.”
3. Consider His strength upholds to the very end all whom He hath redeemed. He brings up from Egypt to the goodly land. Was there one of all the host He brought out of Egypt that was forced back to captivity?
III. These words imply a terrible warning.
1. To all who oppress God’s people. He who blesses the giver of the cup of cold water shall punish all those who touch one of these little ones.
2. To all who reject His help. As strong to slay as to make alive. Seek His blessing. Flee to Israel’s strong Redeemer, lest the plagues written in the Book be experienced by you.
Say not, “I am willing to enjoy life now and take the consequences of it hereafter.” Say not, “If it be right, I am willing to expiate my crimes.” That is but hanging garlands on the sword that must enter your soul.—From “Stems and Twigs.”
Comments—
Jer_50:39-40. BABYLON DESERTED OF INHABITANTS. This utter extinction of Babylon was not effected by one stroke, but gradually. Cyrus took away its supremacy. Darius Hystaspes deprived it, when it had rebelled against Persia, of its fortifications. Seleucus Nicanor removed its citizens and wealth to Seleucia, which he founded close by Babylon. The Parthians removed all that was left to Ctesiphon. Nothing but its walls were left under the Roman Emperor Adrian.
ADDENDA TO CHAPTER 50: ILLUSTRATIONS AND SUGGESTIVE EXTRACTS
Jer_50:5. Faces Zionward. Among the old Romans there prevailed the touching custom of holding the face of every new-born infant towards the heavens, signifying, by their presenting its forehead to the stars, that it was to look above the world into celestial glories. It was a vain superstition; but Christianity dispels the fable, and gives us a clear realisation of the Pagan yearning. Young lives should be turned with their faces heavenwards.
Jer_50:20. Sin cast into oblivion. Cicero said of Cæsar, “He forgiveth nothing but injuries only.”
“These evils I deserve,
Yet despair not of His final pardon,
Whose ear is ever open, and His eye
Gracious to readmit the suppliant.”
—Milton.
The Preacher's Complete Homiletical Commentary (gen. ed. Joseph S. Exell; Funk & Wagnalls, c. 1892) — public domain (pre-1929). A full-Bible homiletical/sermon-outline anthology covering 65 of 66 books (2 John is absent from the source module). Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Sermon Bible 1900 · Public Domain On v1 Those who would make their future different from the…
Jer 50:5
Those who would make their future different from the past must cultivate two things; first, the spirit of inquiry; secondly, a spirit of determination.
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I. Like these Israelites—for the words are written figuratively—we have been going "from mountain to hill," that is, from one form of idol worship to another, till we have forgotten our resting-place. There is but one resting-place for the creature, and that is the love of God revealed in Jesus Christ, apprehended by the soul, fled to, clung to, trusted. They who would find rest must find it in God. There is always something beautiful in the spirit of inquiry. The very face of the inquirer shines. That kindling of the eye as a man listens—the man who has a thirst for knowledge—the man whose soul is set on finding its way into some new region of science, or into some new joy, is a touching sight to the looker-on; and it is an inspiring influence to the teacher who feels that he has a message. Of all inquiries the way to Zion is. first and foremost. Whatever form inquiry takes, this is its meaning. Even intellectual inquiry is often either the escape from, or a substitute for, this. We all believe in a hereafter—in a heaven; the way to it is our question.
II. But it is not immaterial to find it added, that they who ask the way to Zion must also have their faces thitherward. The spirit of inquiry must be also the spirit of resolution and determination. For there is an inquiry about the way which is all speculation. There may even be a questioning about the way to Zion with the back turned upon it, instead of the face. There once was a rich young man who said to Jesus Christ: "What shall I do to inherit eternal life?" but when the terrible words came, "Go and sell.... come and follow," then he went away sorrowful. There was inquiry, but there was no determination. He asked the way to Zion, but his face was not thitherward.
C. J. Vaughan, Christian World Pulpit, vol. xiii., p. 17.
References: Jer 50:5.—Preacher’s Lantern, vol. i., p. 258. Jer 50:23.—E. P. Hood, Christian World Pulpit, vol. xix., p. 193.
Jer 50:34
Among the remarkable provisions of the Mosaic law there were some very peculiar ones affecting the next-of-kin. The nearest living blood-relation to a man had certain obligations and offices to discharge under certain contingencies, in respect of which he received a special name, and which is sometimes translated in the Old Testament "Redeemer," and sometimes "Avenger" of blood. In the text Jehovah is represented as having taken upon Himself the functions of the next-of-kin, and is the Kinsman-Redeemer of His people.
I. Notice, first, the qualifications and offices of the "Goel." The qualifications may be all summed up in one—that he must be the nearest living blood-relation of the person whose Goel he was. His offices were three. The first was connected with property (Lev 25:25, Revised Version). The second was to buy back a member of his family fallen into slavery. The third was to avenge the blood of a murdered relative.
II. Notice the grand mysterious transference of this office to Jehovah. This singular institution was gradually discerned to be charged with lofty meaning and to be capable of being turned into a dim shadowing of something greater than itself. You will find that God begins to be spoken of in the later portions of Scripture as the Kinsman-Redeemer. I reckon eighteen instances, of which thirteen are in the second half of Isaiah. The reference is, no doubt, mainly to the great deliverance from captivity in Egypt and Babylon, but the thought sweeps a much wider circle and goes much deeper down than these historical facts. There was in it some faint apprehension of the deeper sense in which it was true that God is the next-of-kin to every soul, and ready to be its Redeemer.
III. We have the perfect fulfilment of this Divine office by the man Christ Jesus. Christ is our Kinsman. He is doubly of kin of each soul of man, both because in His true manhood He is bone of our bone and flesh of our flesh, and because in His divinity He is nearer to us than the closest human kindred can ever be. By both He comes so near to us that we may clasp Him by our faith, and rest upon Him, and have Him for our nearest Friend; our Brother. Because He is man’s Kinsman He buys back His enslaved brethren; He brings us back our squandered inheritance, which is God. He will keep our lives under His care, and be ready to plead our cause.
A. Maclaren, Christian Commonwealth, Aug. 20th, 1885.
References: Jer 51:50.—Spurgeon. My Sermon Notes: Ecclesiastes to Malachi, p. 285. Jer 51:51.—Spurgeon, Morning by Morning, p. 231.
The Sermon Bible, ed. William Robertson Nicoll (1888–1900) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Alexander MacLaren 1905 · Public Domain On v34
Jeremiah
THE KINSMAN-REDEEMER
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Jer 50:34.
Among the remarkable provisions of the Mosaic law there were some very peculiar ones affecting the next-of-kin. The nearest living blood relation to a man had certain obligations and offices to discharge, under certain contingencies, in respect of which he received a special name; which is sometimes translated in the Old Testament ‘Redeemer,’ and sometimes ‘Avenger’ of blood. What the etymological signification of the word may be is, perhaps, somewhat doubtful. It is taken by some authorities to come from a word meaning ‘to set free.’ But a consideration of the offices which the law prescribed for the ‘Goel’ is of more value for understanding the peculiar force of the metaphor in such a text as this, than any examination of the original meaning of the word. Jehovah is represented as having taken upon Himself the functions of the next-of-kin, and is the Kinsman-Redeemer of His people. The same thought recurs frequently in the Old Testament, especially in the second half of the prophecies of Isaiah, and it were much to be desired that the Revised Version had adopted some means of showing an English reader the instances, since the expression suggests a very interesting and pathetic view of God’s relation to His people.
I. Let me state briefly the qualifications and offices of the kinsman-redeemer, ‘the Goel.’ The qualifications may be all summed up in one-that he must be the nearest blood relation of the person whose Goel he was. He might be brother, or less nearly related, but this was essential, that of all living men, he was the most closely connected. That qualification has to be kept well in mind when thinking of the transference of the office to God in His relation to Israel, and through Israel to us.
Such being his qualification, what were his duties? Mainly three. The first was connected with property, and is thus stated in the words of the law, ‘If thy brother be waxen poor, and sell some of his possession, then shall his kinsman that is next unto him come, and shall redeem that which his brother hath sold’ {Lev 25:25}. The Mosaic law was very jealous of large estates. The prophet pronounced a curse upon those who joined ‘land to land, and field to field. . . that they may be alone in the midst of the earth.’ One great purpose steadily kept in view in all the Mosaic land-laws was the prevention of the alienation of the land from its original holders, and of its accumulation in a few hands. The idea underlying the law was that of the tribal or family ownership-or rather occupancy, for God was the owner and Israel but a tenant-and not individual possession. That thought carries us back to a social state long since passed away, but of which traces are still left even among ourselves. It was carried out thoroughly in the law of Moses, however imperfectly in actual practice. The singular institution of the year of Jubilee operated, among other effects, to check the acquisition of large estates. It provided that land which had been alienated was to revert to its original occupants, and so, in substance, prohibited purchase and permitted only the lease of land for a maximum term of fifty years. We do not know how far its enactments were a dead letter, but their spirit and intention were obviously to secure the land of the tribe to the tribe for ever, to keep the territory of each distinct, to discourage the creation of a landowning class, with its consequent landless class, to prevent the extremes of poverty and wealth, and to perpetuate a diffused, and nearly uniform, modest wellbeing amongst a pastoral and agricultural community, and to keep all in mind that the land was ‘not to be sold for ever, for it is Mine,’ saith the Lord.
The obligation on the next-of-kin to buy back alienated property was quite as much imposed on him for the sake of the family as of the individual.
The second of his duties was to buy back a member of his family fallen into slavery. ‘If a stranger or sojourner with thee be waxen rich, and thy brother be waxen poor beside him, and sell himself unto the stranger. . . after that he is sold, he may be redeemed; one of his brethren may redeem him.’ The price was to vary according to the time which had to elapse before the year of Jubilee, when all slaves were necessarily set free. So Hebrew slavery was entirely unlike the thing called by the same name in other countries, and by virtue of this power of purchase at any time, which was vested in the nearest relative, taken along with the compulsory manumission of all ‘slaves’ every fiftieth year, came to be substantially a voluntary engagement for a fixed time, which might be ended even before that time had expired, if compensation for the unexpired term was made to the master.
It is to be observed that this provision applied only to the case of a Hebrew who had sold himself. No other person could sell a man into slavery. And it applied only to the case of a Hebrew who had sold himself to a foreigner. No Jew was allowed to hold a Jew as a slave. ‘If thy brother be waxen poor with thee, and sell himself unto thee, thou shalt not make him to serve as a bondservant: as an hired servant, and as a sojourner, he shall be with thee.’ {Lev 25:39}.
The last of the offices of the kinsman-redeemer was that of avenging the blood of a murdered relative. If a man were stricken to death, it became a solemn obligation to exact life for life, and the blood-feud incumbent on all the family was especially binding on the next-of-kin. The obligation shocks a modern mind, accustomed to relegate all punishment to the action of law which no criminal thinks of resisting. But customs and laws are unfairly estimated when the state of things which they regulated is forgotten or confused with that of today. The law of blood-feud among the Hebrews was all in the direction of restricting the wild justice of revenge, and of entrusting it to certain chosen persons out of the kindred of the murdered man. The savage vendetta was too deeply engrained in the national habits to be done away with altogether. All that was for the time possible was to check and systematise it, and this was done by the institution in question, which did not so much put the sword into the hand of the next-of-kin as strike it out of the hand of all the rest of the clan.
These, then, were the main parts of the duty of the Goel, the kinsman-redeemer-buying back the alienated land, purchasing the freedom of the man who had voluntarily sold himself as a slave, and avenging the slaying of a kinsman.
II. Notice the grand mysterious transference of this office to Jehovah.
This singular institution was gradually discerned to be charged with lofty meaning and to be capable of being turned into a dim shadowing of something greater than itself. You will find that God begins to be spoken of in the later portions of Scripture as the Kinsman-Redeemer. I reckon eighteen instances, of which thirteen are in the second half of Isaiah. The reference is, no doubt, mainly to the great deliverance from captivity in Egypt and Babylon, but the thought sweeps a much wider circle and goes much deeper down than these historical facts. There was in it some dim feeling that though God was separated from them by all the distance between finitude and infinitude, yet they were nearer to Him than to any one else; that the nearest living relation whom these poor persecuted Jews had was the Lord of Hosts, beneath whose wings they might come to trust. Therefore does the prophet kindle into rapture and triumphant confidence as he thinks that the Lord of Hosts, mighty, unspeakable, high above our thoughts, our words, or our praise, is Israel’s Kinsman, and, therefore, their Redeemer. How profound a consciousness that man was made in the image of God, and that, in spite of all the gulf between finite and infinite, and the yet deeper gulf between sinful man and righteous God, He was closer to a poor struggling soul than even the dearest were, must have been at all events dawning on the prophet who dared to think of the Holy One in the Heavens as Israel’s Kinsman. No doubt, he was dwelling mostly on historical outward deliverances wrought for the nation, and his idea of Israel’s kinship to God applied to the people, not to individuals, and meant chiefly that the nation had been chosen for God’s. But still the thought must have been felt to be great and wonderful, and some faint apprehension of the yet deeper sense in which it is true that God is the next-of-kin to every soul and ready to be its Redeemer, would no doubt begin to be felt.
The deepening of the idea from a reference to external and national deliverances, and the large, dim hopes which clustered round it, may be illustrated by one or two significant instances. Take, for example, that mysterious and very beautiful utterance in the Book of Job, where the man, in the very depth of his despair, and just because there is not a human being that has any drop of pity for him, turns from earth, and striking confidence out of his very despair, like fire from flint, sees there his Kinsman-Redeemer. ‘I know that my Redeemer liveth.’ Men may mock him, friends may turn against him, the wife of his bosom may tempt him, comforters may pour vitriol instead of oil into his wounds, yet he, sitting on his dunghill there, poverty-stricken and desolate, knows that God is of kin to him, and will do the kinsman’s part by him. The very metaphor implies that the divine intervention which he expects is to take place after his death. It was a dead man whose blood the Goel avenged. Thus the view which sees in the subsequent words a hope, however dim and undefined, of an experience of a divine manifestation on his behalf beyond the grave is the only one which gives its full force to the central idea of the passage, as well as to the obscure individual expressions. Most strikingly, then, he goes on to say, carrying out the allusion, ‘and that he shall stand at the last upon the dust.’ Little did it boot the murdered man, lying there stark, with the knife in his bosom, that the murderer should be slain by the swift justice of his kinsman-avenger, but Job felt that, in some mysterious way, God would appear for him, after he had been laid in the dust, and that he would somehow share in the gladness of His manifestation-for he believes that ‘without his flesh’ he will see God, ‘whom I shall see for myself, and mine eyes shall behold, and not another.’ Large and mysterious hopes are gathering round the metaphor, which flash some light into the darkness of the grave, and give to the troubled soul the assurance that when life with all its troubles is past, and flesh has seen corruption, the inmost personal being of every man who commits his cause to God will behold Him coming forth his Kinsman-Redeemer.
Another illustration of the hopes which gathered round this image is found in the great psalm which prophesies of the true King of Peace, in language too wide for any poetical licence to warrant if intended only to describe a Jewish king {Psa 72:14}. The universal dominion of this great King is described in terms which, though they may be partly referred to the Jewish monarchy at its greatest expansion, sweep far beyond its bounds in exulting anticipation that ‘all kings shall fall down before Him, all nations shall serve Him.’ The reason for this world-wide dominion is not military power, as was the case with the warrior kings of old, who bound nations together for a little while in an artificial unity with iron chains, but His dominion is universal, ‘for He shall deliver the needy when he crieth, . . . He shall redeem their souls from oppression and violence, and precious shall their blood be in His sight.’ Two of the functions of the Kinsman-Redeemer are here united. He buys back slaves from their tyrannous masters, and He avenges their shed blood. And because His Kingdom is a kingdom of gentle pity and loving help, because He is of the same blood with His subjects, and brings liberty to the captives, therefore it is universal and everlasting. For the strongest thing in all the world is love, and He who can staunch men’s wounds, and will hear their cries and help them, will rule them with authority which conquerors cannot wield.
This universal King, the kinsman and the sovereign of all the needy, is not God. A human figure is rising before the prophet-psalmist’s eye, whose meekness as well as His majesty, and whose kingdom as well as His redeeming power, seem to pass beyond human limits. Divine offices seem to be devolved on a man’s shoulders. Dim hopes are springing which point onwards. So that great psalm leads us a step further.
III. See the perfect fulfilment of this divine office by the man Christ Jesus.
Job’s anticipation and the psalmist’s rapturous vision are fulfilled in the Incarnate Word, in whom God comes near to us all and makes Himself kindred to our flesh, that He may discharge all those blessed offices, of redeeming from slavery, of recovering our alienated inheritance, and of guarding our lives, which demand at once divine power and human nearness. Christ is our Kinsman. True, the divine nature and the human are nearly allied, so that even apart from the Incarnation, men may feel that none is so truly and closely akin to them as their Father in Heaven is. But how much more blessed than even that kinship is the consanguinity of Christ, who is doubly of kin to each soul of man, both because in His true manhood He is bone of our bone and flesh of our flesh, and because in His divinity He is nearer to us than the closest human kindred can ever be. By both He comes so near to us that we may clasp Him by our faith, and rest upon Him, and have Him for our nearest friend, our brother. He is nearer to each of us than our dearest is. He loves us with the love of kindred, and can fill our hearts and wills, and help our weakness in better, more inward ways than all sympathy and love of human hearts can do. Between the atoms of the densest of material bodies there is an interspace of air, as is shown by the fact that everything is compressible if you can find the force sufficient to compress it. That is to say, in the material universe no particle touches another. And so in the spiritual region, there is an awful film of separation between each of us and all others, however closely we may be united. We each live on our own little island in the deep, ‘with echoing straits between us thrown.’ We have a solemn consciousness of personality, of responsibility unshared by any, of a separate destiny parting us from our dearest. Arms may be twined, but they must be unlinked some day, and each in turn must face the awful solitude of death, as each has really faced that scarcely less awful solitude of life, alone. But ‘he that is joined to the Lord is one spirit,’ and our kinsman, Christ, will come so near to us, that we shall be in Him and He in us, one spirit and one life. He is your nearest relation, nearer than husband, wife, parent, brother, sister, or friend. He is nearer to you than your very selves. He is your better self. That is His qualification for His office.
Because He is man’s kinsman, He buys back His enslaved brethren. The bondage from which ‘one of His brethren’ might ‘redeem’ the Israelite was a voluntary bondage into which he had sold himself. And such is our slavery. None can rob us of our freedom but ourselves. The world and the flesh and the devil cannot put their chains on us unless our own wills hold out our hands for the manacles.
And, alas! it is often an unsuspected slavery. ‘How sayest thou, ye shall be made free. We were never in bondage to any man,’ boasted the angry disputants with Christ. And if they had lifted up their eyes they might have seen from the Temple courts in which they stood, the citadel full of Roman soldiers, and perhaps the golden eagles gleaming in the sunshine on the loftiest battlements. Yet with that strange power of ignoring disagreeable facts they dared to assert their freedom. ‘Never in bondage to any man!’-what about Egypt, and Assyria, and Babylon? Had there never been an Antiochus? Was Rome a reality? Did it lay no yoke on them? Was it all a dream?
Some of us are just as foolish, and try as desperately to annihilate facts by ignoring them, and to make ourselves free by passionately denying that we are slaves. But ‘he that committeth sin is the slave of sin.’ That sounds a paradox. I am master of my own actions, you may say, and never freer than when I break the bonds of right and duty and choose to do what is contrary to them, for no reason on earth but because I choose. That is liberty, emancipation from the burdensome restraints which your narrow preaching about law and conscience would impose. Yes, you are masters of your actions, and your sinful actions very soon become masters of you. Do we not know that that is true? You fall into, or walk into a habit, and then it gets the mastery of you, and you cannot get rid of it. Whosoever sets his foot upon that slippery inclined plane of wrongdoing, after he has gone a little way, gravitation is too much for him and away he goes down the hill. ‘Whosoever committeth sin is the slave of sin.’ Did you ever try to kill a bad habit, a vice? Did you find it easy work? Was it not your master? You thought that a chain no stronger than a spider’s web was round your wrist till you tried to break it; and then you found it a chain of adamant. Many men who boast themselves free are ‘tied and bound with the cords of their sins.’
Dreaming of freedom, you have sold yourself, and that ‘for nought.’ Is that not true, tragically true?
What have you made out of sin? Is the game worth the candle? Will it continue to be so? Ye shall be redeemed without money, for Jesus Christ laid down His life for you and me, that by His death we might receive forgiveness and deliverance from the power of sin. And so your Kinsman, nearer to you than all else, has bought you back. Do not refuse the offered emancipation, but ‘if thou mayest be made free, use it rather.’ Be not like the spiritless slaves, for whose servile choice the law provided, who had rather remain bond than go out free. Surely when Christ calls you to liberty, you will not turn from Him to the tyrannous masters whom you have served, and, like the Hebrew slave, let them fasten you to their door-posts with their awl through your ear. Do you hug your chains and prefer your bondage?
Your Kinsman-Redeemer brings back your squandered inheritance, which is God. God is the only possession that makes a man rich. He alone is worth calling ‘my portion.’ It is only when we have God in our hearts, God in our heads, God in our souls, God in our life-it is only when we love Him, and think about Him, and obey Him, and bring our characters into harmony with Him, and so possess Him-it is only then that we become truly rich. No other possession corresponds to our capacities so as to fill up all our needs and satisfy all our being. No other possession passes into our very substance and becomes inseparable from ourselves. So the mystical fervour of the psalmist’s devotion spoke a simple prose truth when he exclaimed, ‘The Lord is the portion of mine inheritance and of my cup.’
We have squandered our inheritance. We have sinned away fellowship with God. We have flung away our true wealth, ‘wasted our substance in riotous living.’ And here is our Elder Brother, our nearest relative, who has always been with the Father; but who, instead of grudging the prodigals their fatted calf and their hearty welcome when they come back, has Himself, by the sacrifice of Himself, won for them the inheritance, its earnest in the possession of God’s spirit here and its completion in the broad fields of ‘the inheritance of the saints in light,’ the entire fruition and possession of the divine in the life to come. ‘If children, then heirs, heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ.’
Your Kinsman-Redeemer will keep your lives under His care, and be ready to plead your cause. ‘He that touches you, touches the apple of Mine eye.’ ‘He reproved kings for their sake, saying, Touch not Mine anointed.’ Not in vain does the cry go up to Him, ‘Avenge, O Lord, Thy slaughtered saints,’-and if no apparent retribution has followed, and if often His servant’s blood seems to have been shed in vain, still we know that it has often been the seed of the Church, and that He who puts our tears into His bottle will not count our blood less precious in His sight. So we may rest confident that our Kinsman-Redeemer will charge Himself with pleading our cause and intervening in our behalf, that He will compass us about with His protection, and that we are knit so close to Him that our woes and foes are His, and that we cannot die as long as He lives.
So, dear brethren, be sure of this, that if only you will take Christ for your Saviour and brother, your Helper and Friend, if only you will rest yourself upon that complete sacrifice which He has made for the sins of the world, He will give you liberty, and restore your lost inheritance, and your blood shall be precious in His sight, and He will keep His hand around you and preserve you; and finally will bring you into His home and yours. ‘In Him we have redemption through His blood,’ and He comes to every one of you now, even through my poor lips, with His ancient word of merciful invitation: ‘Behold! I have blotted out as a cloud thy sins and as a thick cloud thy transgressions. Turn unto Me, for I have redeemed thee.’
Alexander MacLaren, Expositions of Holy Scripture (1904–1910) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
J. R. Dummelow 1909 · Public Domain On v1 The Fall of Babylon and the Restoration of Israel
The Fall of Babylon and the Restoration of Israel
The prophecy concerning Babylon is ascribed to Jeremiah in Jer_51:59. This, however, need not mean more than that it represents the tone of Jeremiah's utterances as expanded by a follower, e.g. Baruch, at a later date. The reasons for doubting Jeremiah's authorship aro: (a) he elsewhere speaks in friendly terms of the Chaldeans; here their overthrow is predicted; (b) the style and words betray another writer; (c) the knowledge displayed of Babylonian matters is greater than could be expected of the prophet; (d) the Jews are in exile far away from Jerusalem (Jer_50:4, Jer_50:6, Jer_50:17, Jer_50:33) The prophecy was fulfilled when Babylon was taken by Cyrus or his general Gobryas (perhaps the Darius of Daniel) in 539 b.c., nearly 50 years after the fall of Jerusalem.
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2. A standard] as the speediest way of calling attention to the news. Merodach] another name for Bel (Baal), the tutelary God of Babylon.
3. Out of the north] referring to the Medo-Persian power. Media was NW. of Babylon.
4. The overthrow of their captors shall free the Jews.
5. Thitherward] RM 'Heb. hitherward.'
8-16. The triumph of Babylon over Israel shall be avenged.
8. As the he goats] in joyful alacrity.
9. An assembly of great nations] see for some of them Jer_51:27. Herodotus (vii. 61f.) says there were twenty-two.
11. It is for exulting over Israel that Chaldea suffers. At grass] RV 'that treadeth out the corn.' The command in Deu_25:4 would have this effect.
12. The hindermost, etc.] RV 'She (Babylon) shall be the hindermost,' etc.
15. Given her hand] RV 'submitted herself,' surrendered. Foundalions] RV 'bulwarks.' Her walls are thrown down] not done by Cyrus, but (according to Herod, iii. 159) at the later capture by Darius.
16. They shall turn, etc.] The captives of other nations as well as of the Jews shall be released.
17-32. Babylon and her empire are doomed, while Israel shall be forgiven.
17. The lions] The sculptured winged lions (Assyrian and Babylonian) give the image a special point. Assyria had devoured the Ten Tribes, and now Babylon was crushing the feeble remnant of the people. Assyria had paid the penalty; so too shall Babylon.
20. Reserve] RV 'leave as a remnant.'
21. Merathaim.. Pekod] Proper names bearing the significant senses of 'double-rebellion' and 'visitation,' alluding to Babylon.
23. Hammer] Babylon: cp. Jer_51:20. Individuals at other times have borne this title; Judas Maccabæus for his victories over Syria; Charles Martel, grandfather of Charles the Great (Charlemagne), who conquered the Saracens in a decisive battle at Tours, 732a.d., and Edward I of England, on whose tomb at Westminster Abbey are the words, 'Scotorum Malleus,' or 'hammer of the Scots.'
27. Bullocks] i.e. her choice young warriors: cp. Jer_48:15.
28. The vengeance of his temple] the requital for having burnt it: cp. Jer_51:11.
29. The Holy One of Israel] cp. Jer_51:5, not elsewhere in this book, but characteristic of Isaiah.
33-40. Babylon shall be utterly laid waste.
34. Redeemer] Heb. Goel, the near kinsman, to whom belonged the duty of avenging a murder. So the Lord is about to avenge His people.
36. Liars] rather, 'boasters.'
37. Mingled people] see on Jer_25:20.
38. Her waters] the many canals which drained and irrigated the country around Babylon: cp. Jer_51:13.
Idols] Heb. 'terrors,' meaning their grotesque forms, such as winged bulls and humanheaded lions.
39. The wild beasts of the islands] RV 'the wolves,' Heb. 'howling creatures.' Owls] RY 'ostriches.'
41-46. The enemy approaches and fulfils God's behests.
41-43. See on Jer_6:22.
44-46. Adapted from Jer_49:19-21.
J. R. Dummelow, A Commentary on the Holy Bible (Macmillan, 1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
C. I. Scofield 1917 · Public Domain On v34 Heb. "goel," Redemp. (Kinsman type). (See Scofield "Isa 59:20").
redeemer
Heb. "goel," Redemp. (Kinsman type). (See Scofield "Isa 59:20").
The Scofield Reference Bible (1917 edition), notes by C. I. Scofield — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Arno C. Gaebelein 1922 · Public Domain On v1 CHAPTERS 50-51 Babylon
CHAPTERS 50-51 Babylon
These two final chapters contain a great prophecy concerning Babylon, her overthrow and doom. The fifty-first chapter closes with the statement “thus far are the words of Jeremiah.” There is a direct statement that Jeremiah wrote all these words. We find it at the close of Jer 51:59-64. “Jeremiah wrote in a book all the evil that should come upon Babylon, even all these words that are written against Babylon.” It would be a brazen infidelity which says Jeremiah did not write all these words. Yet the almost universally accepted view of the critics is that these chapters cannot be the work of Jeremiah. The German infidel, Professor Eichhorn, the man who coined the phrase “higher criticism,” started this denial; Kuenen, Budde and others have followed in his steps. Others have modified this radical view and concede the possibility that Jeremiah may have been the author of these two chapters. No believer in the Word of God can have a moment’s doubt as to this question.
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An analysis of these two chapters would be difficult to make. We therefore point out some of the leading parts of this great utterance. The prophecy covers both the doom of Babylon as it has been and the doom of another, the mystical Babylon, so prominent in the last book of the Bible, in which also two chapters are devoted to Babylon. Some hold that the literal Babylon is meant in Revelation; that the city in Mesopotamia must be rebuilt; that it will finally become the one great world center domineering the religious, commercial and political affairs of all the world, and that when this has taken place Jeremiah’s prophecy will be fulfilled. A careful examination of this theory will show that it is untenable. It would mean that all the great world-centers of today must be wiped out first, and London, New York, and others would have to yield their supremacy to the restored Babylon. The chapters in Revelation show
us clearly that a Babylon of a mystical nature is meant, which in spirit, in worldly glory and corruption corresponds to the ancient Babylon. This mystical Babylon is Rome. This has been the interpretation of the chapters of Revelation from the earliest times and is still maintained, with a few exceptions, by all sound and spiritual expositors of the Word of God.
The message begins with the command to publish among the nations the conquest of Babylon, that Bel (lord) is put to shame and that Merodach (the chief god of Babylon, known as Marduk in Babylonian inscriptions) is dismayed. The gods of Babylon are put to confusion on account of the fall of the city. The disaster comes from the north (Medo Persia, the conqueror of Babylon; Dan 7:1-28). Jer 50:4-7 predict the return of the nation thoroughly penitent. That the return of a small remnant after the defeat of Babylon does not exhaust this prophecy is obvious. The return promised here comes in the day when the times of the Gentiles are over, when Babylon and the Babylon spirit will pass away, when all false gods fall and the Lord is exalted in that day. Then the lost sheep of Israel will be found and gathered again.
The invasion under Cyrus is described in Jer 50:9-10. The fall of the Babylon in Revelation is not brought about by an invasion such as is described here, but by the ten horns of the beast, the revived Roman empire Rev 17:16; Dan 7:1-28) .
Jer 50:13 announces the complete overthrow of the city, to become the hindermost of the nations, a wilderness, a dry land and a desert. This ruin was not at once carried out, but gradually ancient Babylon became all that. The ruins of this once powerful city have been located north of Hilla, a town of about 25,000 inhabitants. Koldewey, of the German Orient Society, laid bare by excavation many of the ruins, showing that the city covered twelve square miles; great streets and canals, and the ruins of the Marduk temple have been found. These ruins can never be rebuilt Isa 47:1-15). There is nothing which indicates that this once glorious city is to have a revival and then be destroyed once more and remain a wilderness after its destruction at some future time.
In her fall Babylon only reaped what she had sown. “For it is the vengeance of the LORD; take vengeance upon her; as she hath, do unto her” (Jer 50:15). The same verdict is pronounced upon the Babylon of the end time, when Rome will once more have supremacy, when the present day Babylon-spirit will concentrate in a great world federation. “Reward her even as she rewarded you, and double unto her double according to her works; in the cup which she hath filled fill to her double” Revelation 18:66). The nations will then drink of the cup of God’s wrath and judgment as the literal Babylon did. Coupled with these judgment predictions are the future blessings of Israel. When the Lord overthrows the final Babylon, as seen in the book of Revelation, when the great whore is judged and her seat, Rome, in Italy, goes up in smoke, then Israel’s day of glory and blessing breaks. “In those days, and in that time, saith Jehovah, the iniquity of Israel shall be sought for, and there shall be none; and the sins of Judah, and they shall not be found; for I will pardon them whom I leave as a remnant” (Jer 50:20; see Jer 31:34; Mic 7:18, and Rom 11:25-28). After still more predictions concerning the fall and doom of Babylon (Jer 50:21-32), we find another prophecy of comfort. When the times of the Gentiles end with the complete dethronement of Babylon in its mystical meaning as pictured in Revelation, the Redeemer of Israel will arise to plead the cause of His people Israel. The fiftieth chapter ends with an additional description of the desolation of Babylon.
The fifty-first chapter is a continued prophecy of the doom and utter desolation of the proud mistress of the nations. Much here connects with Rev 18:1-24. The remnant of Israel is addressed in Jer 51:5 and Jer 51:6. Compare with Rev 18:4. It is the same command to flee Babylon, a principle which is in force today as regards the true church and her separation from ecclesiastical evil. The golden cup mentioned in Jer 51:7 is also mentioned in Revelation in Rev 17:4, in the description of papal Rome and her evil abominations. In the rest of the chapter God’s dealing in judgment is wonderfully told out, prophetic of that coming day when the Lord will deal with the world in judgment. This must be the reason why such an extended prophecy is given. It all goes beyond the judgment of the literal Babylon. We call attention to the last verses of this long chapter. We read there that the prophet, after he wrote down all these words against Babylon, gave the book to Seraiah, chief chamberlain of Zedekiah. This was before the fall of Jerusalem. Seraiah was evidently the brother of Baruch (Jer 32:12). While Jeremiah knew the significant position that Babylonia, and especially King Nebuchadnezzar, had been given by the sovereign Lord, on account of which he urged submission to the Chaldeans; he also knew even then, before Jerusalem fell, of Babylon’s fall and doom. Seraiah went to Babylon and he was to read the roll there, probably not in public, but in private. After reading, he was to speak certain words (Jer 51:62), then bind a stone to the roll and cast it into the Euphrates. When the roll was sinking he was to say, “Thus shall Babylon sink and shall not rise again.” In our New Testament book of prophecy we read: “And a mighty angel took up a stone like a great millstone, and cast it into the sea, saying, Thus with violence that great city Babylon be thrown down, and shall be found no more” Rev 18:21. That great predicted end of all God-defiance and opposition, typified by Babylon and its past glory, will surely come. Jeremiah uttered his last word.
The last chapter of Jeremiah is not from his pen; some other inspired writer was moved by the Holy Spirit to add the history of the capture of Jerusalem and the fate of the people.
The substance of this appendix is found in 2Ki 24:18-20; 2Ki 25:1-30; 2Ki 25:27-30. The reader will find in the second book of Kings our annotations on this history. But why is it added here once more? Evidently to show how literally the judgment predictions and divine warnings given through Jeremiah were fulfilled. For a time the false prophets had their way; their lying messages, their words of delusion and false hope were listened to and believed. The lot of the prophet of God was a lonely lot; he was rejected and he suffered. Yea, often the weeping prophet was discouraged and filled with gloom. But the time came when he was vindicated and God’s Word was vindicated, while the false prophets were found out to be liars and deceivers.
In our own day we have the false prophets still with us, men and women, who deny the truth and teach error. They speak of world improvement, world betterment, and world conquest. What God has spoken concerning “wrath and judgment to come” is set aside. Those who preach and teach according to the infallible Word of God, who see no better world, no universal righteousness and peace, are branded as pessimists. The “day of the LORD” and the “coming of the Lord” are sneered at. But as the Word of God spoken by Jeremiah was vindicated, so the Word of God will be vindicated again, till all the enemies of the written Word, the Bible, and the living Word, Christ, are silenced forever.
Arno C. Gaebelein, The Annotated Bible (1913–1922) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Paul E. Kretzmann 1924 · Public Domain On vv1, 21 Chaldea Punished; Israel Redeemed
Chaldea Punished; Israel Redeemed
v. 1. The word that the Lord spake against Babylon and against the land of the Chaldeans by Jeremiah, the prophet, when Seraiah, to whom it was committed, was sent to Babylon, 51:59-60. It seems that the various prophecies against Babylon were collected at this time, to be sent as one message, partly to pronounce the doom of the oppressor, 25:12, partly to console the captive Jews and to remind them of the eventual end of their captivity.
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v. 2. Declare ye among the nations and publish and set up a standard, to call the attention of all men to the importance and the significance of this announcement; publish, and conceal not; say, Babylon is taken; Bel, the chief deity of the Chaldeans, is confounded; Merodach, another name for the same idol, is broken in pieces. Her idols are confounded, covered with shame and confusion, her images are broken in pieces, powerless before the almighty power of Jehovah.
v. 3. For out of the North, whence the army of the Modes approached some sixty years later, there cometh up a nation against her which shall make her land desolate, and none shall dwell therein; they shall remove, they shall depart, both man and beast, making the former populous land a desolate waste.
v. 4. In those days and in that time, when the punishment would strike Babylon, saith the Lord, the children of Israel shall come, the members of the Lord’s Church of believers among His chosen people, they and the children of Judah together, going and weeping, with tears of joy over the restoration which had been almost beyond their hopes; they shall go and seek the Lord, their God, with a repentant heart.
v. 5. They shall ask the way to Zion, the habitation of Jehovah, with their faces thitherward, set with steadfast purpose not to be daunted or to be turned aside by difficulties along the way, saying, Come and let us join ourselves to the Lord in a perpetual covenant that shall not be forgotten, as the first covenant had been act aside by an apostate nation.
v. 6. My people hath been lost sheep; their shepherds have caused them to go astray, the very men who were entrusted with their care being guilty of this gross neglect; they have turned them away on the mountains, the places of idolatry; they have gone from mountain to hill, from one altar of idolatrous worship to the next; they have forgotten their resting-place, in the care of Jehovah, where they could lie down in safety.
v. 7. All that found them have devoured them, the enemies everywhere making a practice of preying on the Lord’s people; and their adversaries said, We offend not, because they have sinned against the Lord, the Habitation of justice, He who is the essence of righteousness, the Fountain of Israel’s salvation, even the Lord, the Hope of their fathers, in whom the true believers had ever trusted for help. Their adversaries felt that they incurred no guilt, that they were, in fact, justified in taking advantage of the children of Israel.
v. 8. Remove out of the midst of Babylon, so all Israelites in truth are now warned, and go forth out of the land of the Chaldeans, where they were as yet held in captivity, and be as the he-goats before the flocks, the leaders of all oppressed nations, as they now turned to flee.
v. 9. For, lo, I will raise, and cause to come up, against Babylon an assembly of great nations from the North country, an army composed of representatives of many nations; and they shall set themselves in array against her, with full equipment for warfare; from thence, or "there," she shall be taken, namely, where the hostile nations have assembled themselves; their arrows shall be as of a mighty expert man, one well versed in the art of warfare; none shall return in vain, none of them would fail to perform its deadly work.
v. 10. And Chaldea shall be a spoil, a prey ready for the invaders; all that spoil her shall be satisfied, saith the Lord, since they were getting all that their heart desired in the way of rich booty. In this sense the Lord now turns directly to Babylon in pronouncing sentence upon the Chaldean Empire.
v. 11. Because ye were glad, because ye rejoiced, O ye destroyers of Mine heritage, the Chaldeans called so on account of the pillage committed by them in destroying Judah, because ye are grown fat as the heifer at grass, skipping like a threshing calf or heifer, with proud insolence, and bellow as bulls, or, "neigh as steeds," in overweening, challenging pride,
v. 12. your mother shall be sore confounded, the nation as such being heaped with disgrace; she that bare you shall be ashamed, blushing with the shame of it all. Behold, the hindermost of the nations, for this was the station to which Babylon had now been reduced, shall be a wilderness, a dry land, and a desert, the nation itself, of course, having been destroyed.
v. 13. Because of the wrath of the Lord it shall not be inhabited, but it shall be wholly desolate, since His anger had caused the inhabitants to be driven away or slaughtered; every one that goeth by Babylon shall be astonished and hiss at all her plagues, in sneering derision. In order to carry out this judgment upon Babylon, the nations everywhere are now called upon to take the city.
v. 14. Put yourselves in array against Babylon round about, to surround the city and to attack her from all sides simultaneously; all ye that bend the bow, the archers representing the entire army of the enemy, shoot at her, spare no arrows; for she hath sinned against the Lord, she has fully deserved the punishment being meted out to her.
v. 15. Shout against her round about, encouraging one another with loud and fierce battle-cries; she hath given her hand, thereby submitting to the conquerors; her foundations are fallen, the fortifications in which she trusted for safety, her walls are thrown down, so that she is now helpless before the invaders; for it is the vengeance of the Lord, the destruction of Babylon was a punishment determined by Him; take vengeance upon her, retaliation being permitted in this instance; as she hath done, do unto her.
v. 16. Cut off the sower from Babylon and him that handleth the sickle, or scythe, in the time of harvest, so that both sowers and reapers would be destroyed, and there could be no harvesting in the entire country; for fear of the oppressing sword they shall turn every one to his people, and they shall flee every one to his own land, the strangers in the country getting ready to preserve their lives before the threatening catastrophe comes. Over against this fate of Babylon is placed the deliverance of Judah from oppression and exile.
v. 17. Israel is a scattered sheep, like a lonely sheep driven away from its flock, the lions have driven him away, the enemies chasing him far from his homeland; first, the king of Assyria hath devoured him, especially in the campaigns at the time of Hezekiah; and last, this Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, hath broken his bones, like a beast of prey striking down his victim.
v. 18. Therefore, thus saith the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, Behold, I will punish the king of Babylon and his land as I have punished the king of Assyria, whose judgment had already been brought about.
v. 19. And I will bring Israel, His own congregation, again to his habitation, and he shall feed on Carmel and Bashan, occupying the richest sections of his fertile land, and his soul shall be satisfied upon Mount Ephraim and Gilead, the northern part of Canaan, which included the rich Valley of Jezreel.
v. 20. In those days and in that time, saith the Lord, the prophecy now again turning to the Messianic trend, the iniquity of Israel shall be sought for, and there shall be none, no longer any guilt would be charged against it; and the sins of Judah, and they shall not be found; for I will pardon them whom I reserve, granting them forgiveness and pardon by virtue of the Messiah’s merits. If enemies of the Lord, whom He, for any reason whatever, has used as His instruments to carry out His plans, become overbearing and insolent as a consequence, He readily plunges them from the height of their pride to the depths of humiliation and confusion.
Paul E. Kretzmann, Popular Commentary of the Bible (1921–1924) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
unfoldingWord translationNotes 2017 · CC BY-SA 4.0 On vv1, 3, 6, 8, 11, 14, 16, 17, 19, 21, 23, 25, 27, 29, 31, 33, 35, 38, 41, 43, 44, 45 General Information:
General Information:
God gives Jeremiah a message about Babylon. See: Poetry and Parallelism
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This is the word that Yahweh declared
This idiom is used to introduce a special message from God. AT: "This is the message that Yahweh gave" or "This is the message that Yahweh spoke" (See: Idiom)
by the hand of Jeremiah the prophet
The hand is a synecdoche for the person. See how you translated this in Jeremiah 37:2. AT: "through Jeremiah, who was a prophet" (See: Synecdoche)
cause them to listen ... cause them to listen
This phrase is repeated to emphasize the importance of the command. (See: Parallelism)
Lift up a signal
"Put up a sign"
Babylon is taken
"Babylon is conquered"
Bel is made ashamed. Marduk is dismayed. Its idols are put to shame; its images are dismayed
These lines mean the same thing and emphasize that Yahweh has disgraced the gods of Babylon. (See: Parallelism and Active or Passive)
Bel ... Marduk
These are two names for the chief god of Babylon. (See: How to Translate Names)
translationWords
word of God
declare
Babylon
Chaldea
hand
Jeremiah
prophet
report
nation
shame
false god
image
unfoldingWord translationNotes — © Distant Shores Media and the Door43 World Missions Community, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: git.door43.org/Door43/en_tn.
Tyndale Open Study Notes 2022 · CC BY-SA 4.0 On vv1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 11, 12, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 20, 21, 28, 29, 31, 33, 35, 38, 39, 43, 44 50:1–51:64 This message of judgment on Babylon is the…
50:1–51:64 This message of judgment on Babylon is the longest for any nation except Judah, and threats against Babylon are interwoven with promises for Judah’s restoration. Babylon was the Lord’s agent for destroying the other civilizations of the Near East, but it was also guilty of its own sins. The Lord would judge Babylon by doing to her what she had done to others (50:15).
Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.