Yahweh says: “Behold, I will raise up against Babylon, and against those who dwell in Lebkamai, a destroying wind.
Parallel Translations
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Yahweh says: “Behold, I will raise up against Babylon, and against those who dwell in Lebkamai, a destroying wind.
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Thus saith the LORD; Behold, I will raise up against Babylon, and against them that dwell in the midst of them that rise up against me, a destroying wind;
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Thus saith the LORD: Behold, I will raise up against Babylon, and against them that dwell in Leb-kamai, a destroying wind.
Cross-references (15)
Passages linked to Jeremiah 51:1 in the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge, ordered by reader-vote popularity; verse text shown in World English Bible.
- Jeremiah 4:11-12 At that time it will be said to this people and to Jerusalem, “A hot wind from the bare heights in the wilderness toward the daughter of my people, not to winnow, nor to cleanse; a full wind from these will come for me. Now I will also utter judgments against them.”
- Hosea 13:15 Though he is fruitful among his brothers, an east wind will come, the breath of Yahweh coming up from the wilderness; and his spring will become dry, and his fountain will be dried up. He will plunder the storehouse of treasure.
- Amos 3:6 Does the trumpet alarm sound in a city, without the people being afraid? Does evil happen to a city, and Yahweh hasn’t done it?
- 2 Kings 19:7 Behold, I will put a spirit in him, and he will hear news, and will return to his own land. I will cause him to fall by the sword in his own land.” ’ ”
- Isaiah 13:3-5 I have commanded my consecrated ones; yes, I have called my mighty men for my anger, even my proudly exulting ones. The noise of a multitude is in the mountains, as of a great people; the noise of an uproar of the kingdoms of the nations gathered together! Yahweh of Armies is mustering the army for the battle. They come from a far country, from the uttermost part of heaven, even Yahweh, and the weapons of his indignation, to destroy the whole land.
- Jeremiah 49:36 I will bring on Elam the four winds from the four quarters of the sky, and will scatter them toward all those winds. There will be no nation where the outcasts of Elam will not come.
- Jeremiah 50:9 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.
- Jeremiah 50:14-16 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.
- Jeremiah 50:21 “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.
- Jeremiah 50:24 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.
- Jeremiah 50:29 “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.
- Jeremiah 50:33 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.
- Ezekiel 19:12 But it was plucked up in fury. It was cast down to the ground, and the east wind dried up its fruit. Its strong branches were broken off and withered. The fire consumed them.
- Zechariah 2:8 For Yahweh of Armies says: ‘For honor he has sent me to the nations which plundered you; for he who touches you touches the apple of his eye.
- Acts 9:4 He fell on the earth, and heard a voice saying to him, “Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me?”
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John Calvin 1540 · Public Domain He proceeds with the same subject. Jeremiah seems, indeed,…
He proceeds with the same subject. Jeremiah seems, indeed, to have used more words than necessary; but we have stated the reason why he dwelt at large on a matter so clear: His object was not only to teach, for this he might have done in a few words, and have thus included all that we have hitherto seen and shall find in the whole of this chapter; but as it was an event hardly credible, it was necessary to illustrate the prophecy respecting it with many figures, and to inculcate with many repetitions what had been already said, and also to confirm by many reasons what no one hardly admitted.
He then says, Behold, I will, etc. God is made the speaker, that the word might have more force and power. Behold, he says, I will raise up a destroying wind against the Chaldeans. The similitude of wind is very appropriate, for God thus briefly reminded them how easy it was for him to destroy the whole world even by a single blast. The wind is, indeed, indirectly set in opposition to instruments of war; for when any one seeks to overcome an enemy, he collects many and strong forces, and procures auxiliaries on every side; in short, he will not dare to attempt anything without making every possible preparation. As, then, men dare not attack their enemies without making strenuous efforts, God here extols his own power, because it is enough for him to raise up a wind. We now, then, perceive the design of the similitude, when he says, that he would raise up a wind that would destroy or scatter the Chaldeans.
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In the following words there is an obscurity; literally, they are, the inhabitants of the heart; for as the word ישבי, ishebi, is in construction, another word necessarily follows it, as for instance, the country of the Chaldeans. But the relative, ה, He, referring to Babylon, ought to have been put down. Yet as the words occur, we are compelled to read, and against the inhabitants of the heart Some will have the relative, אשר, asher, to be understood, but that is harsh, for it is an unnatural mode of speaking. They, however, give this rendering of אשר לב, asher leb, “those who in heart rose up against me.” But what if we read the words inhabitants of the heart metaphorically, as meaning those who gloried in their own wisdom? for the Babylonians, as it is well known, thought other men dull and foolish, and were so pleased with their own astuteness, as though they were fortified by inclosures on every side. They dwelt then in their own heart, that is, they thought themselves well fortified around through their own wisdom. In this sense the Prophet seems to call the Babylonians the inhabitants of the heart
He adds, at the same time, that they rose, up against God, even because they had cruelly treated his people, and nearly destroyed them. And we know that God undertook the cause of his Church, and therefore complained that war was made on him by the ungodly, whenever they molested the faithful. It is also at the same time generally true, that all who arrogate to themselves wisdom rise up against God, because they rob God of the honor due to him. But it ought properly to be referred to the union which exists between God and his Church, when he charges the Chaldeans, that they rose up against him. 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 Or, of the land that riseth up.
Or, of the land that riseth up.
The Medes and Persians that shall destroy them as the wind doth the chaff.
Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain.
John Trapp 1656 · Public Domain Jer 51:1 Thus saith the LORD; Behold, I will…
Jer 51:1 Thus saith the LORD; Behold, I will raise up against Babylon, and against them that dwell in the midst of them that rise up against me, a destroying wind;
Ver. 1. Behold, I will raise up against Babylon, and against them that dwell in the midst,] scil., Of the land of Chaldea, in the royal seat and centre of that great monarchy.
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A destroying wind.] {a} Blasting and boisterous. See Jer 4:11-12.
{a} Ventum pestilentem. - Vulg, υβριστας. - Septuag.
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 In this chapter the prophecy of the destruction of…
In this chapter the prophecy of the destruction of Babylon is continued under new metaphors; he begins with that of a wind,
a destroying wind, ( as northerly winds are ordinarily very pernicious,) but the Hebrew idiom so ill suiteth that of other languages, that it is no easy matter positively to assert the sense of the words used. In the Hebrew they are, and to, or against, those that inhabit the heart of those that rise up. Some would have it those that are wise in their own opinion, and are therefore said to dwell in their heart; others, those that are secure; but the best interpreters judge our translation to have best hit the sense, —
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them that dwell in the heart, that is, in the midst of the Chaldeans, who are here said to have risen up against God, to strive against God. Jer 50:24.
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 The particulars of this copious prophecy are dispersed and…
The particulars of this copious prophecy are dispersed and interwoven, and the same things left and returned to so often that it could not well be divided into parts, but we must endeavor to collect them under their proper heads. Let us then observe here,
I. An acknowledgment of the great pomp and power that Babylon had been in and the use that God in his providence had made of it (Jer 51:7): Babylon hath been a golden cup, a rich and glorious empire, a golden city (Isa 14:4), a head of gold (Dan 2:38), filled with all good things, as a cup with wine. Nay, she had been a golden cup in the Lord's hand; he had in a particular manner filled and favoured her with blessings; he had made the earth drunk with this cup; some were intoxicated with her pleasures and debauched by her, others intoxicated with her terrors and destroyed by her. In both senses the New Testament Babylon is said to have made the kings of the earth drunk, Rev 17:2; Rev 18:3. Babylon had also been God's battle-axe; it was so at this time, when Jeremiah prophesied, and was likely to be yet more so, Jer 51:20. The forces of Babylon were God's weapons of war, tools in his hand, with which he broke in pieces, and knocked down, nations and kingdoms, - horses and chariots, which are so much the strength of kingdoms (Jer 51:21), - man and woman, young and old, with which kingdoms are replenished (Jer 51:22), - the shepherd and his flock, the husbandman and his oxen, with which kingdoms are maintained and supplied, Jer 51:23. Such havoc as this the Chaldeans had made when God employed them as instruments of his wrath for the chastising of the nations; and yet now Babylon itself must fall. Note, Those that have carried all before them a great while will yet at length meet with their match, and their day also will come to fall; the rod will itself be thrown into the fire at last. Nor can any think it will exempt them from God's judgments that they have been instrumental in executing his judgments on others.
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II. A just complaint made of Babylon, and a charge drawn up against her by the Israel of God. 1. She is complained of for her incorrigible wickedness (Jer 51:9): We would have healed Babylon, but she is not healed. The people of God that were captives among the Babylonians endeavoured, according to the instructions given them (Jer 10:11), to convince them of the folly of their idolatry, but they could not do it; still they doted as much as ever upon their graven images, and therefore the Israelites resolved to quit them and go to their own country. Yet some understand this as spoken by the forces they had hired for their assistance, declaring that they had done their best to save her from ruin, but that it was all to no purpose, and therefore they might as well go home to their respective countries; "for her judgment reaches unto heaven, and it is in vain to withstand it or think to avert it." 2. She is complained of for her inveterate malice against Israel. Other nations had been hardly used by the Chaldeans, but Israel only complains to God of it, and with confidence appeals to him (Jer 51:34, Jer 51:35): "The king of Babylon has devoured me, and crushed me, and never thought he could do enough ruin to me; he has emptied me of all that was valuable, has swallowed me up as a dragon, or whale, swallows up the little fish by shoals; he has filled his belly, filled his treasures, with my delicates, with all my pleasant things, and has cast me out, cast me away as a vessel in which there is no pleasure; and now let them be accountable for all this." Zion and Jerusalem shall say, "Let the violence done to me and my children, that are my own flesh, and pieces of myself, and all the blood of my people, which they have shed like water, be upon them; let the guilt of it lie upon them, and let it be required at their hands." Note, Ruin is not far off from those that lie under the guilt of wrong done to God's people.
III. Judgment given upon this appeal by the righteous Judge of heaven and earth, on behalf of Israel against Babylon. he sits in the throne judging right, is ready to receive complaints, and answers (Jer 51:36): "I will plead thy cause. Leave it with me; I will in due time plead it effectually and take vengeance for thee, and every drop of Jerusalem's blood shall be accounted for with interest." Israel and Judah seemed to have been neglected and forgotten, but God had an eye to them, Jer 51:5. It is true their land was filled with sin against the Holy One of Israel. They were a provoking people and their sings were a great offence to God, as a holy God, and as their God, their Holy One; and therefore he justly delivered them up into the hands of their enemies, and might justly have abandoned them and left them to perish in their hands; but God deals better with them than they deserve, and, notwithstanding their iniquities and his severities, Israel is not forsaken, is not cast off, though he be cast out, but is owned and looked after by his God, by the Lord of hosts. God is his God still, and will act for him as the Lord of hosts, a God of power. Note, Though God's people may have broken his laws and fallen under his rebukes, yet it does not therefore follow that they are thrown out of covenant; but God's care of them and love to them will flourish again, Psa 89:30-33. The Chaldeans thought they should never be called to an account for what they had done against God's Israel; but there is a time fixed for vengeance, Jer 51:6. We cannot expect it should come sooner than the time fixed, but then it will come; he will render unto Babylon a recompence, for the avenging of Israel is the vengeance of the Lord, who espouses their cause; it is the vengeance of his temple, Jer 51:11, as before, Jer 50:28. The Lord God of recompences, the God to whom vengeance belongs, will surely requite (Jer 51:56), will pay them home; he will render unto Babylon all the evil they have done in Zion (Jer 51:24); he will return it in the sight of his people. They shall have the satisfaction to see their cause pleaded with jealousy. They shall not only live to see those judgments brought upon Babylon, but they shall plainly see them to be the punishment of the wrong they have done to Zion; any man may see it, and say, Verily there is a God that judges in the earth; for just as Babylon has caused the slain of Israel to fall, has not only slain those that were found in arms, but all without distinction, even all the land (almost all were put to the sword), so at Babylon shall fall the slain not only of the city, but of all the country, Jer 51:49. Cyrus shall measure to the Chaldeans the same that they measured to the Jews, so that every observer may discern that God is recompensing them for what they did against his people; but Zion's children shall in a particular manner triumph in it (Jer 51:10): The Lord has brought forth our righteousness; he has appeared in our behalf against those that dealt unjustly with us, and has given us redress; he has also made it to appear that he is reconciled to us and that we are yet in his eyes a righteous nation. Let it therefore be spoken of to his praise: Come and let us declare in Zion the work of the Lord our God, that others may be invited to join with us in praising him.
IV. A declaration of the greatness and sovereignty of that God who espouses Zion's cause and undertakes to reckon with this proud and potent enemy, Jer 51:14. It is the Lord of hosts that has said it, that has sworn it, has sworn it by himself (for he could swear by no greater), that he will fill Babylon with vast and incredible numbers of the enemy's forces, will fill it with men as with caterpillars, that shall overpower it will multitudes, and need only to lift up a shout against it, for that shall be so terrible as to dispirit all the inhabitants and make them an easy prey to this numerous army. But who, and where, is he that can break so powerful a kingdom as Babylon? The prophet gives an account of him from the description he had formerly given of him, and of his sovereignty and victory over all pretenders (Jer 10:12-16), which was there intended for the conviction of the Babylonian idolaters and the confirmation of God's Israel in the faith and worship of the God of Israel; and it is here repeated to show that God will convince those by his judgments who would not be convinced by his word that he is God over all. Let not any doubt but that he who has determined to destroy Babylon is able to make his words good, for, 1. he is the God that made the world (Jer 51:15), and therefore nothing is too hard for him to do; it is in his name that our help stands, and on him our hope is built. 2. He has the command of all the creatures that he has made (Jer 51:16); his providence is a continued creation. He has wind and rain at his disposal. if he speak the word, there is a multitude of waters in the heavens (and it is a wonder how they hang there), fed by vapours out of the earth, and it is a wonder how they ascend thence. Lightnings and rain seem contraries, as fire and water, and yet they are produced together; and the wind, which seems arbitrary in its motions, and we know not whence it comes, is yet, we are sure, brought out of his treasuries. 3. The idols that oppose the accomplishment of his word are a mere sham and their worshippers brutish people, Jer 51:17, Jer 51:18. The idols are falsehood, they are vanity, they are the work of errors; when they come to be visited (to be examined and enquired into) they perish, that is, their reputation sinks and they appear to be nothing; and those that make them are like unto them. But between the God of Israel and these gods of the heathen there is no comparison (Jer 51:19): The portion of Jacob is not like them; the God who speaks this and will do it is the former of all things and the Lord of all hosts, and therefore can do what he will; and there is a near relation between him and his people, for he is their portion and they are his; they put a confidence in him as their portion and he is pleased to take a complacency in them and a particular care of them as the lot of his inheritance; and therefore he will do what is best for them. The repetition of these things here, which were said before, intimates both the certainty and the importance of them, and obliges us to take special notice of them; God hath spoken once; yea, twice have we heard this, that power belongs to God, power to destroy the most formidable enemies of his church; and if God thus speak once, yea, twice, we are inexcusable if we do not perceive it and attend to it.
V. A description of the instruments that are to be employed in this service. God has raised up the spirit of the kings of the Medes (Jer 51:11), Darius and Cyrus, who come against Babylon by a divine instinct; for God's device is against Babylon to destroy it. They do it, but God devised it, he designed it; they are but accomplishing his purpose, and acting as he directed. Note, God's counsel shall stand, and according to it all hearts shall move. Those whom God employs against Babylon are compared (Jer 51:1) to a destroying wind, which either by its coldness blasts the fruits of the earth or by its fierceness blows down all before it. This wind is brought out of God's treasuries (Jer 51:16), and it is here said to be raised up against those that dwell in the midst of the Chaldeans, those of other nations that inhabit among them and are incorporated with them. The Chaldeans rise up against God by falling down before idols, and against them God will raise up destroyers, for he will be too hard for those that contend with him. These enemies are compared to fanners (Jer 51:2), who shall drive them away as chaff is driven away by the fan. The Chaldeans had been fanners to winnow God's people (Jer 15:7) and to empty them, and now they shall themselves be in like manner despoiled and dispersed.
VI. An ample commission given them to destroy and lay all waste. Let them bend their bow against the archers of the Chaldeans (Jer 51:3) and not spare her young men, but utterly destroy them, for the Lord has both devised and done what he spoke against Babylon, Jer 51:12. This may animate the instruments he employs, but assuring them of success. The methods they take are such as God has devised and therefore they shall surely prosper; what he has spoken shall be done, for he himself will do it; and therefore let all necessary preparations be made. This they are called to, Jer 51:27, Jer 51:28. Let a standard be set up, under which to enlist soldiers for this expedition; let a trumpet be blown to call men together to it and animate them in it; let the nations, out of which Cyrus's army is to be raised, prepare their recruits; let the kingdoms of Ararat, and Minni, and Ashkenaz, of Armenia, both the higher and the lower, and of Ascania, about Phrygia and Bithynia, send in their quota of men for his service; let general officers be appointed and the cavalry advance; let the horses come up in great numbers, as the caterpillars, and come, like them, leaping and pawing in the valley; let them lay the country waste, as caterpillars do (Joe 1:4), especially rough caterpillars; let the kings and captains prepare nations against Babylon, for the service is great and there is occasion for many hands to be employed it.
VII. The weakness of the Chaldeans, and their inability to make head against this threatening destroying force. When God employed them against other nations they had spirit and strength to act offensively, and went on with admirable resolution, conquering and to conquer; but now that it comes to their turn to be reckoned with all their might and courage are gone, their hearts fail them, and none of all their men of might and mettle have found their hands to act so much as defensively. They are called upon here to prepare for action, but it is ironically and in an upbraiding way (Jer 51:11): Make bright the arrows, which have grown rusty through disuse; gather the shields, which in a long time of peace and security have been scattered and thrown out of the way (Jer 51:12); set up the standard upon the walls of Babylon, upon the towers on those walls, to summon all that owed suit and service to that mother-city, now to come in to her assistance; let them make the watch as strong as they can, and appoint the sentinels to their respective posts, and prepare ambushes for the reception of the enemy. This intimates that they would be found very secure and remiss, and would need to be thus quickened (and they were so to such a degree that they were in the midst of their revels when the city was taken), but that all their preparations should come to no purpose. Whoever will may call them to it, but they shall have no heart to come at the call, Jer 51:29. The whole land shall tremble, and sorrow (a universal consternation) shall seize upon them; for they shall see both the irresistible arm and the irreversible counsel and decree of God against them. They shall see that God is making Babylon a desolation, and therein is performing what he has purposed; and then the mighty men of Babylon have forborne to fight, Jer 51:30. God having taken away their strength and spirit, so that they have remained in their holds, not daring so much as to peep forth, the might both of their hearts and of their hands fails; they become as timorous as women, so that the enemy has, without any resistance, burnt her dwelling-places and broken her bars. It is to the same purport with Jer 51:56-58. When the spoiler comes upon Babylon her mighty men, who should make head against him, are immediately taken, their weapons of war fail them, every one of their bows is broken and stands them in no stead. Their politics fail them; they call councils of war, but their princes and captains, who sit in council to concert measures for the common safety, are made drunk; they are as men intoxicated through stupidity or despair; they can form no right notions of things; they stagger and are unsteady in their counsels and resolves, and dash one against another, and, like drunken men, fall out among themselves. At length they sleep a perpetual sleep, and never awake from their wine, the wine of God's wrath, for it is to them an opiate that lays them into a fatal lethargy. The walls of their city fail them, Jer 51:58. When the enemy had found ways to ford Euphrates, which was thought impassable, yet surely, think they, the walls are impregnable, they are the broad walls of Babylon or (as the margin reads it), the walls of broad Babylon. The compass of the city, within the walls, was 385 furlongs, some say 480, that is, about sixty miles; the walls were 200 cubits high, and fifty cubits broad, so that two chariots might easily pass by one another upon them. Some say that there was a threefold wall about the inner city and the like about the outer, and that the stones of the wall, being laid in pitch instead of mortar (Gen 11:3), were scarcely separable; and yet these shall be utterly broken, and the high gates and towers shall be burnt, and the people that are employed in the defence of the city shall labour in vain in the fire; they shall quite tire themselves, but shall do no good.
VIII. The destruction that shall be made of Babylon by these invaders. 1. It is a certain destruction; the doom has passed and it cannot be reversed; a divine power is engaged against it, which cannot be resisted (Jer 51:8): Babylon is fallen and destroyed, is as sure to fall, to fall into destruction, as if it were fallen and destroyed already; though when Jeremiah prophesied this, and many a year after, it was in the height of its power and greatness. God declares, God appears against Babylon (Jer 51:25): Behold, I am against thee; and those cannot stand long whom God is against. He will stretch out his hand upon it, a hand which no creature can bear the weight of nor withstand the force of. It is his purpose, which shall be performed, that Babylon must be a desolation, Jer 51:29. 2. It is a righteous destruction. Babylon has made herself meet for it, and therefore cannot fail to meet with it. For (Jer 51:25) Babylon has been a destroying mountain, very lofty and bulky as a mountain, and destroying all the earth, as the stones that are tumbled from high mountains spoil the grounds about them; but now it shall itself be rolled down from its rocks, which were as the foundations on which it stood. It shall be levelled, its pomp and power broken. It is now a burning mountain, like Aetna and the other volcanoes, that throw out fire, to the terror of all about them. But it shall be a burnt mountain; it shall at length have consumed itself, and shall remain a heap of ashes. So will this world be at the end of time. Again (Jer 51:33), "Babylon is like a threshing-floor, in which the people of God have been long threshed, as sheaves in the floor; but now the time has come that she shall herself be threshed and her sheaves in her; her princes and great men, and all her inhabitants, shall be beaten in their own land, as in the threshing-floor. The threshing-floor is prepared. Babylon is by sin made meet to be a seat of war, and her people, like corn in harvest, are ripe for destruction," Rev 14:15; Mic 4:12. 3. It is an unavoidable destruction. Babylon seems to be well-fenced and fortified against it: She dwells upon many waters (Jer 51:13); the situation of her country is such that it seems inaccessible, it is so surrounded, and the march of an enemy into it so embarrassed, by rivers. In allusion to this, the New Testament Babylon is said to sit upon many waters, that is, to rule over many nations, as the other Babylon did, Rev 17:15. Babylon is abundant in treasures; and yet "thy end has come, and neither they waters nor thy wealth shall secure thee." This end that comes shall be the measure of thy covetousness; it shall be the stint of thy gettings, it shall set bounds to thy ambition and avarice, which otherwise would have ben boundless. God, by the destruction of Babylon, said to its proud waves, Hitherto shall you come, and no further. Note, if men will not set a measure to their covetousness by wisdom and grace, God will set a measure to it by his judgments. Babylon, thinking herself very safe and very great, was very proud; but she will be deceived (Jer 51:53): Though Babylon should mount her walls and palaces up to heaven, and though (because what is high is apt to totter) she should take care to fortify the height of her strength, yet all will not do; God will send spoilers against her, that shall break through her strength and bring down her height. 4. It is a gradual destruction, which, if they had pleased, they might have foreseen and had warning of; for (Jer 51:46) "A rumor will come one year that Cyrus is making vast preparations for war, and after that, in another year, shall come a rumour that his design is upon Babylon, and he is steering his course that way;" so that when he was a great way off they might have sent and desired conditions of peace; but they were too proud, too secure, to do that, and their hearts were hardened to their destruction. 5. Yet, when it comes, it is a surprising destruction: Babylon has suddenly fallen (Jer 51:8); the destruction came upon them when they did not think of it and was perfected in a little time, as that of the New Testament Babylon - in one hour, Rev 18:17. The king of Babylon, who should have been observing the approaches of the enemy, was himself at such a distance from the place where the attack was made that it was a great while ere he had notice that the city was taken; so that those who were posted near the place sent one messenger, one courier, after another, with advice of it, Jer 51:31. The foot-posts shall meet at the court from several quarters with this intelligence to the king of Babylon that his city is taken at one end, and there is nothing to obstruct the progress of the conquerors, but they will be at the other end quickly. They are to tell him that the enemy has seized the passes (Jer 51:32), the forts or blockades upon the river, and that, having got over the river, he has set fire to the reeds on the river side, to alarm and terrify the city, so that all the men of war are affrighted and have thrown down their arms and surrendered at discretion. The messengers come, like Job's, one upon the heels of another, with these tidings, which are immediately confirmed with a witness by the enemies' being in the palace and slaying the king himself, Dan 5:30. That profane feast which they were celebrating at the very time when the city was taken, which was both an evidence of their strange security and a great advantage to the enemy, seems here to be referred to (Jer 51:38, Jer 51:39): They shall roar together like lions, as men in their revels do, when the wine has got into their heads. They call it singing; but in scripture-language, and in the language of sober men, it is called yelling like lions' whelps. It is probable that they were drinking confusion to Cyrus and his army with loud huzzas. Well, says God, in their heat, when they are inflamed (Isa 5:11) and their heads are hot with hard drinking, I will make their feasts, I will give them their portion. They have passed their cup round; now the cup of the Lord's right hand shall be turned unto them (Hab 2:15, Hab 2:16), a cup of fury, which shall make them drunk that they may rejoice (or rather that they may revel it) and sleep a perpetual sleep; let them be as merry as they can with that bitter cup, but it shall lay them to sleep never to wake more (as Jer 51:57); for on that night, in the midst of the jollity, was Belshazzar slain. 6. It is to be a universal destruction. God will make thorough work of it; for, as he will perform what he has purposed, so he will perfect what he has begun. The slain shall fall in great abundance throughout the land of the Chaldeans; multitudes shall be thrust through in her streets, Jer 51:4. They are brought down like lambs to the slaughter (Jer 51:40), in such great numbers, so easily, and the enemies make no more of killing them than the butcher does of killing lambs. The strength of the enemy, and their invading them, are here compared to an irruption and inundation of waters (Jer 51:42): The sea has come up upon Babylon, which, when it has once broken through its bounds, there is no fence against, so that she is covered with the multitude of its waves, overpowered by a numerous army; her cities then become a desolation, an uninhabited uncultivated desert, Jer 51:43. 7. It is a destruction that shall reach the gods of Babylon, the idols and images, and fall with a particular weight upon them. "In token that the whole land shall be confounded and all her slain shall fall and that throughout all the country the wounded shall groan, I will do judgment upon her graven images," Jer 51:47 and again Jer 51:52. All must needs perish if their gods perish, from whom they expect protection. Though the invaders are themselves idolaters, yet they shall destroy the images and temples of the gods of Babylon, as an earnest of the abolishing of all counterfeit deities. Bel was the principal idol that the Babylonians worshipped, and therefore that is by name here marked for destruction (Jer 51:44): I will punish Bel, that great devourer, that image to which such abundance of sacrifices are offered and such rich spoils dedicated, and to whose temple there is such a vast resort. He shall disgorge what he has so greedily regaled himself with. God will bring forth out of his temple all the wealth laid up there, Job 20:15. His altars shall be forsaken, none shall regard him any more, and so that idol which was thought to be a wall to Babylon shall fall and fail them. 8. It shall be a final destruction. You may take balm for her pain, but in vain; she that would not be healed by the word of God shall not be healed by his providence, Jer 51:8, Jer 51:9. Babylon shall become heaps (Jer 51:37), and, to complete its infamy, no use shall be made even of the ruins of Babylon, so execrable shall they be, and attended with such ill omens (Jer 51:26): They shall not take of thee a stone for a corner, nor a stone for foundations. People shall not care for having any thing to do with Babylon, or whatever belonged to it. Or it denotes that there shall be nothing left in Babylon on which to ground any hopes or attempts of raising it into a kingdom again; for, as it follows here, it shall be desolate for ever. St. Jerome says that in his time, though the ruins of Babylon's walls were to be seen, yet the ground enclosed by them was a forest of wild beasts.
IX. Here is a call to God's people to go out of Babylon. It is their wisdom, when the ruin is approaching, to quit the city and retire into the country (Jer 51:6): "Flee out of the midst of Babylon, and get into some remote corner, that you may save your lives, and may not be cut off in her iniquity." When God's judgments are abroad it is good to get as far as we can from those against whom they are levelled, as Israel from the tents of Korah. This agrees with the advice Christ gave his disciples, with reference to the destruction of Jerusalem. Let those who shall be in Judea flee to the mountains, Mat 24:16. It is their wisdom to get out of the midst of Babylon, lest they be involved, if not in her ruins, yet in her fears (Jer 51:45, Jer 51:46): Lest your heart faint, and you fear for the rumour that shall be heard in the land. Though God had told them that Cyrus should be their deliverer, and Babylon's destruction their deliverance, yet they had been told also that in the peace thereof they should have peace, and therefore the alarms given to Babylon would put them into a fright, and perhaps they might not have faith and consideration enough to suppress those fears, for which reason they are here advised to get out of the hearing of the alarms. Note, Those who have not grace enough to keep their temper in temptation should have wisdom enough to keep out of the way of temptation. But this is not all; it is not only their wisdom to quit the city when the ruin is approaching, but it is their duty to quit the country too when the ruin is accomplished, and they are set at liberty by the pulling down of the prison over their heads. This they are told, Jer 51:50, Jer 51:51 : "You Israelites, who have escaped the sword of the Chaldeans your oppressors, and of the Persians their destroyers, now that the year of release has come, go away, stand not still; hasten to your own country again, however you may be comfortably seated in Babylon, for this is not your rest, but Canaan is." 1. He puts them in mind of the inducements they had to return: "Remember the Lord afar off, his presence with you now, though you are here afar off from your native soil; his presence with your fathers formerly in the temple, though you are now afar off from the ruins of it." Note, Wherever we are, in the greatest depths, at the greatest distances, we may and must remember the Lord our God; and in the time of the greatest fears and hopes it is seasonable to remember the Lord. "And let Jerusalem come into your mind. Though it be now in ruins, yet favour its dust (Psa 102:14); though few of you ever saw it, yet believe the report you have had concerning it from those that wept when they remembered Zion; and think of Jerusalem until you come up to a resolution to make the best of your way thither." Note, When the city of our solemnities is out of sight, yet it must not be out of mind; and it will be of great use to us, in our journey through this world, to let the heavenly Jerusalem come often into our mind. 2. He takes notice of the discouragement which the returning captives labour under (Jer 51:51); being reminded of Jerusalem, they cry out, "We are confounded; we cannot bear the thought of it; shame covers our faces at the mention of it, for we have heard of the reproach of the sanctuary, that is profaned and ruined by strangers; how can we think of it with any pleasure?" To this he answers (Jer 51:52) that the God of Israel will now triumph over the gods of Babylon, and so that reproach will be for ever rolled away. Note, The believing prospect of Jerusalem's recovery will keep us from being ashamed of Jerusalem's ruins.
X. Here is the diversified feeling excited by Babylon's fall, and it is the same that we have with respect to the New Testament Babylon, Rev 18:9, Rev 18:19. 1. Some shall lament the destruction of Babylon. There is the sound of a cry, a great outcry coming from Babylon (Jer 51:54), lamenting this great destruction, the voice of mourning, because the Lord has destroyed the voice of the multitude, that great voice of mirth which used to be heard in Babylon, Jer 51:55. We are told what they shall say in their lamentations (Jer 51:41): "How is Sheshach taken, and how are we mistaken concerning her! How is that city surprised and become an astonishment among the nations that was the praise, and glory, and admiration of the whole earth!" See how that may fall into a general contempt which has been universally cried up. 2. Yet some shall rejoice in Babylon's fall, not as it is the misery of their fellow-creatures, but as it is the manifestation of the righteous judgment of God and as it opens the way for the release of God's captives; upon these accounts the heaven and the earth, and all that is in both, shall sing for Babylon (Jer 51:48); the church in heaven and the church on earth shall give to God the glory of his righteousness, and take notice of it with thankfulness to his praise. Babylon's ruin is Zion's praise.
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 Thus saith the Lord, behold, I will raise up…
Thus saith the Lord, behold, I will raise up against Babylon,.... This is not a new prophecy, but a continuation of the former, and an enlargement of it. The Babylonians being the last and most notorious enemies of the Jews, their destruction is the longer dwelt upon; and as they were against the Lord's people the Lord was against them, and threatens to raise up instruments of his vengeance against them:
and against them that dwell in the midst of them that rise up against me; that dwell in Babylon, the metropolis of the Chaldeans, the seat and centre of the enemies of God and his people. It is a periphrasis of the Chaldeans; and, so the Targum renders it,
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"against the inhabitants of the land of the Chaldeans;''
and so the Septuagint version, against the Chaldeans; and Jarchi and Kimchi observe that according to "athbash", a rule of interpretation with the Jews, the letters in "leb kame", rendered "the midst of them that rise up against me", answer to "Cashdim" or the Chaldeans; however they are no doubt designed; for they rose up against God, by setting up idols of their own; and against his people, by taking and carrying them captive: and now the Lord says he would raise up against them
a destroying wind; a northern one, the army of the Modes and Persians, which should sweep away all before it. The Targum is,
"people that are slayers; whose hearts are lifted up, and are beautiful in stature, and their spirit destroying.''
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 The severe judgment of God against voluptuous, covetous, tyrannical…
The severe judgment of God against voluptuous, covetous, tyrannical and idolatrous Babel, in the revenge, and for the redemption of Israel, ver. 1-58. Jeremiah delivers the book of this prophecy to Seraiah, to be cast into Euphrates, in token of the perpetual sinking of Babylon, ver. 59-64.
John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.
Adam Clarke 1810 · Public Domain Sequel of the prophecies of Jeremiah against Babylon. The
CHAPTER LI
Sequel of the prophecies of Jeremiah against Babylon. The
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dreadful, sudden, and final ruin that shall fall upon the
Chaldeans, who have compelled the nations to receive their
idolatrous rites, (see an instance in the third chapter of
Daniel,) set forth by a variety of beautiful figures; with a
command to the people of God, (who have made continual
intercession for the conversion of their heathen rulers,) to
flee from the impending vengeance, 1-14.
Jehovah, Israel's God, whose infinite power, wisdom and
understanding are every where visible in the works of creation,
elegantly contrasted with the utterly contemptible objects of
the Chaldean worship, 15-19.
Because of their great oppression of God's people, the
Babylonians shall be visited with cruel enemies from the north,
whose innumerable hosts shall fill the land, and utterly
extirpate the original inhabitants, 20-44.
One of the figures by which this formidable invasion is
represented is awfully sublime. "The SEA is come up upon
Babylon; she is covered with the multitude of the waves
thereof." And the account of the sudden desolation produced by
this great armament of a multitude of nations, (which the
prophet, dropping the figure, immediately subjoins,) is deeply
afflictive. "Her cities are a desolation, a dry land, and a
wilderness; a land wherein no man dwelleth, neither doth any
son of man pass thereby." The people of God a third time
admonished to escape from Babylon, lest they be overtaken with
her plagues, 45, 46.
Other figures setting forth in a variety of lights the awful
judgments with which the Chaldeans shall be visited on account
of their very gross idolatries, 47-58.
The significant emblem with which the chapter concludes, of
Seraiah, after having read the book of the Prophet Jeremiah
against Babylon, binding a stone to it, and casting it into the
river Euphrates, thereby prefiguring the very sudden downfall
of the Chaldean city and empire, 59-64,
is beautifully improved by the writer of the Apocalypse,
Re 18:21,
in speaking of Babylon the GREAT, of which the other was a most
expressive type; and to which many of the passages interspersed
throughout the Old Testament Scriptures relative to Babylon
must be ultimately referred, if we would give an interpretation
in every respect equal to the terrible import of the language
in which these prophecies are conceived.
NOTES ON CHAP. LI
Verse 1. Thus saith the Lord] This chapter is a continuation of the preceding prophecy.
A destroying wind.] Such as the pestilential winds in the east; and here the emblem of a destroying army, carrying all before them, and wasting with fire and sword.
Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Joseph Benson 1811 · Public Domain Jer 51:1-2. Behold, I will raise up against Babylon…
Jer 51:1-2. Behold, I will raise up against Babylon — Darius and Cyrus, who came against Babylon, came by a divine instinct. God excited their spirits to accomplish his purpose against that idolatrous city, and the oppressive government which had its seat there. Against them that dwell in the midst — Hebrew, in the heart; of them that rise up against me — That is, in the centre of the country of mine adversaries, which by a circumlocution means the same as Babylon itself. A destroying wind — See note on Jer 4:11, where the prophet describes the Chaldean army coming up for the destruction of Judea under the same metaphor. The Chaldeans had been like a destroying, blasting wind to the Jews, and now the Medes and Persians are to be like one to them. And will send unto Babylon fanners — Enemies who shall drive them away as chaff is driven away by the fan; or those who shall disperse her forces, and empty or spoil her land of all its riches, &c. This image is frequently made use of by the Hebrew prophets, to represent the ease with which the Almighty disperses and destroys his enemies: see notes on Jer 15:7; Isa 21:10; Isa 41:16. For in the day of trouble they shall be against her, &c. — Or, as the words may be rendered, When they shall come round her on every side in the evil (or adverse) day.
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 In the midst of them that rise up against…
In the midst of them that rise up against me - Or, in Leb-kamai, the cipher for Kasdim, i. e., Chaldaea. This cipher was not necessarily invented by Jeremiah, or used for concealment. It was probaby first devised either for political purposes or for trade, and was in time largely employed in the correspondence between the exiles at Babylon and their friends at home. Thus, words in common use like Sheshach Jer 25:26 and Leb-kamai, would be known to everybody.
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 Thereof. Hebrew leb kamai, "of the heart, rising up…
Thereof. Hebrew leb kamai, "of the heart, rising up against me." (Haydock) --- Many take Leb-kamai to be the enigmatical name of the Chaldeans, by a secret combination of letters, (Kimchi; Grotius) as if they were not clearly designated in the sequel. (Calmet) --- The prophet expresses more pointedly what he had declared in the preceding chapter. (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 1 Thus saith Jehovah:
11. THE HEART OF THE INSURGENTS, THE FANNERS AND THE INVIDUATE
Jer_51:1-6
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1 Thus saith Jehovah:
Behold, I raise up against Babylon,
And against the inmates of the heart of my insurgents
A destroying wind.1
2 And I sent unto Babylon fanners,2
Who shall fan it and empty out its land,
For upon it are they from all sides in the day of calamity.
3 Against him that bendeth let the archer bend his bow,
And against him who lifteth himself up3 in his harness,4
And spare ye not her young men,
Banish ye the entire host.
4 That the slain fall in the land of the Chaldeans,
And the pierced through in her streets.
5 For Israel and Judah are not widows5 from their God,6 Jehovah Zebaoth,
But their land is full of guilt on account of the Holy One of Israel.
6 Flee out of Babylon, and let every man deliver his soul;
Let not destruction come upon you through their sin.
For it is a time of vengeance for Jehovah,
He rendereth recompense unto her.
EXEGETICAL AND CRITICAL
Babylon, the heart of Jehovah’s opponents, shall be fanned like chaff (Jer_51:1-2). Without a figure; a strong, warlike power shall cast down Babylon (Jer_51:3-4). For Israel and Judah are not forsaken widows; rather shall they be delivered and Jehovah’s vengeance executed on Babylon (Jer_51:5-6).—The passage thus consists of two halves: Jer_51:1-4, and Jer_51:5-6. In the first half the judgment on Babylon is announced, (a) under the figure of fanning, Jer_51:1-2; ( b) in unfigurative language, Jer_51:3-4. The second half is related to the first as a statement of the reason (For, Jer_51:5). The judgment, namely, is impending, because the Lord will show Himself a faithful husband with respect to Israel, a righteous recompenser with respect to Babylon.
Jer_51:1-2. Thus saith … calamity. Whether לֵב קָמַי [heart of my insurgents] is to be explained by the Atbash [or principle of alphabetical inversion, according to which it is equivalent to Casdim, the Chaldeans] is doubtful, for the expression might be used by the prophet without any reference to that permutation of letters. As he called Babylon Double-defiance and Visitation in Jer_50:21 and Pride in Jer_50:31, so might he call it Heart-of-my-insurgents. This designation was a natural one. It is founded in the significance which the idea of Babylon has in the consciousness of the entire Old and New Testament prophecy. For though it is only in the Apocalypse that Babylon is distinctly set forth as the comprehensive centre of all and every hostility to the Lord and His kingdom (comp. Naegelsb. Jer. u. Bab., S. 10 ff.), this representation is rooted in the views of the Old Testament prophets concerning Babylon, and we shall not err if we regard this passage as the chief basis of this conception of Babylon by the New Testament revelator, according to which it is declared to be the “Mother of harlots and abominations of the earth” (Rev_17:5). Still it is remarkable that the name בַּשְׂדִּים should form, according to the Cabbalistic play upon words, an expression with a suitable meaning (comp. Buxtorf, Lex. Chald., p. 248, 9; Herzog, Real-Enc., VII., S. 205). The expression הֵעִיר רוּחַ signifies indeed everywhere else (Jer_51:11; Hag_1:14; Ezr_1:1; Ezr_1:5; 1Ch_5:26; 2Ch_21:16; 2Ch_36:22) “to awaken, excite the spirit.” But the expression is not necessarily restricted to this meaning. In this passage where fanning is spoken of, the context requires the meaning “wind.” It seems that the expression first began to come into use in the time of Jeremiah, for previously it does not occur. It is however quite natural that a mode of expression still in its formative state should at first waver in its signification. Only when it has become fixed by long usage in a definite sense can it no longer be taken in another sense without misapprehension.—Who shall fan. Comp. Jer_49:32; Jer_49:36.—And empty. Comp. Jer_19:1; Jer_19:7; Isa_24:1; Nah_2:3. Here the prophet passes from the figurative to the literal mode of speech, for the fanning will consist in just this, that the land will be emptied, men and property being carried away.—For upon it, etc. Comp. Jer_4:17; Jer_17:17-18.
Jer_51:3-6. Against him … unto her—Spare not, etc. Comp. Isa_13:18; Jer_1:14.—Fall, etc. Comp. Jer_51:47; Jer_51:49; Jer_51:52; Jer_37:10; Isa_13:15.—Not widows, etc. Comp. Isa_1:1; Isa_54:4-6; Lam_1:1.—Their is to be referred to Babylon. The sense of this half of the verse is: it might appear as if the Lord were better disposed towards Babylon than Israel, because the latter is a captive in the power of the former. It is not so. Babylonia is laden with guilt with respect to Jehovah, and is therefore under the curse of the Holy One of Israel. I do not see what there is unlike Jeremiah in this verse. That אָשָׁם for guilt does not occur elsewhere in Jeremiah is nothing to the point. The occurrence of the expression Holy One of Israel here, as in Jer_50:29, is not strange in view of the frequent quotations from Isaiah. With respect to the connection with the preceding and following contexts, however, it should be mentioned that Jer_51:5 in an exceedingly appropriate manner gives a double reason for the announcement contained in Jer_51:1 to Jer_4:1. a negative one (Israel is not rejected); 2. a positive one (Babylon is full of guilt). Jer_51:5 is also connected with Jer_51:6 in two ways: 1. as an integral part of the entire discourse, Jer_51:1-5, in so far that Jer_51:6 draws the inference from all that has gone before (Jer_51:1-5); 2. specially by the words, “Let not destruction come upon you through their sin,” which apparently refer to “their land is full of guilt.”—Flee, etc. Comp. Isa_13:14; Isa_48:20; Jer_48:6; Jer_1:8.—Let not, etc. Comp. Jer_49:26; Jer_50:30—Gen_19:15.—For it is a time, etc. Comp. Isa_34:8; Isa_46:10; Isa_1:15; Isa_1:28; Isa_51:11—Rev_18:4.—Vengeance, etc. Comp. Joel 4:4; Isa_59:18; Isa_66:6; Pro_19:17; Psa_137:8.
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_51:1.—רוּח as masc. also in Exo_10:13; Psa_51:12; Ecc_1:6. משׁחית, comp. Jer_51:25; Jer_2:30; Jer_5:26.
[2]Jer_51:2.—זרימ. The analogy of Jer_48:12 seems to require the punctuation זָרִים .זֹרִים is very troublesome. Although violence by strangers is spoken of in many places (comp. Jer_51:51), this idea does not at all suit this connection, and the frequent occurrence of זָיִים while זֹיִים is not found elsewhere (only זֹרֶה occurs in Rth_3:2), may indeed have occasioned the Masoretic punctuation, unless זָרִים itself may be taken as Part. Kal. after the analogy of מָלֵא ,יָרֵא ,הָרָה, etc. (comp. Olsh., § 245, a).
[3]Jer_51:3.—וְאֶל־יִתְעַל. This is the main difficulty in Jer_51:3. For, 1. this Hithp. form does not occur elsewhere, 2. the abbreviated Imperfect form, if the word comes from עָלָה, is surprising. According to the laws of the Hebrew language, however, יִתְעַל can come only from עָלָה (comp. Olsh., § 269, d). It must then signify “lift one’s self up.” Then the abbreviated form is strange, which might be in place after אַל, but not after אֵל. I do not think, however, that we need be so scrupulous in the matter. As in Jeremiah (and elsewhere) the full form stands where we should expect the abbreviated (comp. Jer_3:7; Ew., § 224, c), so may the latter stand where we should expect the former. Comp. Jer_17:8, Chethibh; Ewald, §224, c, Anm.; Ges., § 128, 2, Anm. Then the rest, according to the reading of the Chethibh, affords no difficulty. With respect to the absence of the nota relationis, comp. 1Ch_15:12; Naegelsb. Gr., § 80, 6, 2, a.
[4]Jer_51:3.—סרין. Comp. Jer_46:4; Ewald, § 49, d.
[5]Jer_51:5.—The masc. אַלְמָן here only—to be regarded as neuter. Comp. שָׁדוּד, Jer_4:30.
[6]Jer_51:5.—מאלהיו. Pregnant construction. Comp. Naegelsb. Gr., § 112, 7.
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.
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.
Daniel D. Whedon 1874 · Public Domain THE HOSTILE NATION, Jer_51:1-4.
THE HOSTILE NATION, Jer_51:1-4.
1. Against them that dwell in the midst, etc. — Literally, the inhabitants of the heart of my risers up. The original for heart of risers up is the word Chasdim, (Chaldeans,) written according to the canon Atbash, “for the purpose of obtaining the more important meaning that Chaldea is the centre of God’s enemies.” It is probable that some words in common use, written according to this cipher Atbash, were generally familiar.
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Destroying wind — Keil translates, spirit of a destroyer; but the leading Versions agree with the common English Version. The sense is a good one, and in harmony with the following verse.
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 Jer_51:1. against them that dwell in Leb-kamai] Observe mg.…
Jer_51:1. against them that dwell in Leb-kamai] Observe mg. meaning, the centre of hostility to Jehovah. See on Jer_25:26 (“Sheshach”).
a destroying wind] or better, the spirit of a destroyer, cp. Jer_51:11, and Hag_1:14.
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 (1) I will raise up . . . a…
LI.
(1) I will raise up . . . a destroying wind.—Literally, the wind of a destroyer. In Hag_1:14; Ezr_1:1; Ezr_1:5; 1Ch_5:26 the phrase is used for “stirring up the spirit” of a man, and that may be its meaning here. The context, however, suggests, in the “fanners” of the next verse, the literal meaning of “wind,” and it is quite possible that the phrase may have been used by Jeremiah in this sense, and afterwards acquired a figurative meaning. It does not appear in any earlier book of the Old Testament.
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Against them that dwell in the midst of them that rise up against me.—Literally, in the heart of my adversaries. In the judgment of most commentators the Hebrew words Leb-kamai, which answer to the last ten words of the English, furnish another example of the Atbash or cypher-writing of which we have seen an instance in the Sheshach of Jer_25:26. Interpreted by that cypher Leb-kamai becomes Chasdim or Chaldæans. Obviously the significance of the cypher-words gives force to its employment here, and presents a parallel to the use of the names Merathaim and Pekod in Jer_50:21. Some commentators, indeed, rest in that significance without recognising the hidden meaning of the Atbash. The LXX. and Syriac versions translate “against the Chaldæans,” as recognising the use of the cypher. Both this and Sheshach had probably become familiar in the correspondence between the exiles and those of their countrymen who remained in Judaea, and so both would understand them when used by Jeremiah.
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 Against them that dwell in the midst of them…
Against them that dwell in the midst of them that rise up against me. The Hebrew has leb-kamai, which is Kasdim, or Chaldea, written in the cypher called Athbash; (see on Jer_25:26) just as Sheshach in ver. 41 is equivalent to Babel. The question arises whether the prophet himself is responsible for this covert way of writing, or a scribe in later times (so Ewald). In favour of the former view it may be urged that Babylon and Chaldea receive symbolic names (though not in Athbash) in the connected chapter; (Jer_50:21, Jer_50:31, Jer_50:32) in favour of the latter, that the Septuagint has Caldaiouv in ver. 1, and does not express Sheshach in ver. 41, also that the clause to which Sheshach belongs in Jer_25:26 is of very dubious genuineness. A destroying wind; rather, the spirit (ruakh) of a destroyer (or perhaps, of destruction). The verb rendered in this verse "raise up," when used in connection with ruakh, always means "to excite the spirit of any one". (ver. 11; Hag_1:14 1Ch_5:26)
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 Let Jerusalem come into your mind.
Jer_51:1
Let Jerusalem come into your mind.
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Sacred memories
The captives in Babylon are charged to remember Jerusalem, because the temple of their God was there; to keep them from settling down in Babylon.
I. There is a Jerusalem here below which should come into our mind. The Church of the living God is our holy city, the city of the Great King, and we should have it in mind--
1. To unite with its citizens. Join with them in open profession of faith in Christ, in Christian love and mutual help, in holy service, worship, communion, &c.
2. To pray for its prosperity. Our window, like that of Daniel, should be opened towards Jerusalem.
3. To labour for its advancement. Remember it in the allotment of money, use of time, employment of talents, exercise of influence, &c.
4. To prefer its privileges above earthly gain. Consider these privileges in our choice of our residence, occupation, &c.
5. To act consistently with her holy character. Gods people must not degrade His name and cause by living in sin.
6. To lament its declensions and transgressions (Luk_19:41; Php_3:18).
II. There is a Jerusalem above which should come into our mind.
1. Let the believers thoughts often go thither, for Jesus is there, our departed brethren are there, our own home is there, and thither our hopes and desires should always tend. It should be upon our minds--
(1) In our earthly enjoyments, lest we grow worldly.
(2) In our dally trials, lest we grow despondent.
(3) In our associations, lest we idolise present friendships.
(4) In our bereavements, lest we grieve inordinately.
(5) In old age, that we may be on the watch for the home-going.
(6) In death, that visions of glory may brighten our last hours.
(7) In all seasons, that our conversation may be in heaven.
2. Let the unconverted permit such thoughts to come into their mind, for they may well inquire of themselves thus--
(1) What if I never enter heaven?
(2) Shall I never meet my godly relatives again?
(3) Where then must I go?
(4) Can I hope that my present life will lead me to heaven?
(5) Why am I not taking the right path?
(6) Unbelievers perish: why am I one of them? Do I wish to perish?
(7) How can I hope to enter heaven if I do not so much as think about it, or the Lord who reigns in it? (C. H. Spurgeon.)
Longing for heaven
It may be a sin to long for death, but I am sure it is no sin to long for heaven. (Matthew Henry, D. D.)
Blessed are the home-sick, for they shall come at last to the Fathers house. (Heinrich Stillings.)
Heaven neglected
John Eliot was once on a visit to a merchant, and finding him in his counting-house, where he saw books of business on the table, and all his books of devotion on the shelf, he said to him, Sir, here is earth on the table, and heaven on the shelf. Pray dont think so much of the table as altogether to forget the shelf. (C. H. Spurgeon.)
Jerusalem to be enshrined in memory and heart
But these captive Jews were not to be despairing Jews. In seventy years their captivity was to end. Meantime, as a resource against discouragement, against the infecting Babylonian evil with which they were to be surrounded, Jeremiah commands these Israelites, And let Jerusalem come into your minds. Think of what she has been; think of what restored Jerusalem is to be; remember that you are really citizens, not of this Babylon, but of Gods Jerusalem; and as citizens of this Jerusalem, even though you be in Babylon, endure, hope, live. Everywhere in Scripture the earthly Jerusalem is the symbol of the heavenly. We have right to generalise. From the fact that whatever God says is to be in this world comes to be, we have reason to believe that whatever God says concerning the other world certainly is. When the Scriptures tell me that the earthly Jerusalem points to a heavenly Jerusalem, because I find God s Word so true about everything in this world, I have right to believe it true about things in that; I have right to believe that there is a heavenly Jerusalem. So let the heavenly Jerusalem come into your minds.
1. Let Jerusalem come into your mind when it seems to you as though life were not worth the living. There is a better life beyond, for which this is preparation.
2. Let Jerusalem come into your mind when you seem to yourself specially baffled.
3. Let Jerusalem come into your mind when the fight with sin is sore and weary.
4. Let Jerusalem come into your mind when death seems complete victor. This is the greatest of questions for each one of us, Have we any title in that Jerusalem? Can we let it come into our minds as our own? (Homiletic Review.)
Quickened memories for Gods house and worship
Jerusalem should come into our mind so that we should prefer its privileges to earthly gain. Whenever we are about to make a settlement in any place, and have the choice of residence left to ourselves, the first matter we have to consider is the religions advantages and disadvantages. I admire the action of that Jew who, when he was about to select a city in which he would pursue his business, asked his friend the rabbi, Is there a synagogue in such and such a place? The rabbi replied, No. So the Jew said, Then I will not go to live there, for I will not settle in any place, where there is no synagogue, for I must gather with my people for the worship of God. (C. H. Spurgeon.)
The first place in our thought to be given to Christs Church
The Church of God should come into our minds as spontaneously as the recollection of our wife or mother. When we look at a map of any country, we should think of how the cause of God prospers in that region. If we make a profit in business, one of our first thoughts should be, Now I can do something more for the work of the Lord. When the newspaper is read, it should be in relation to the progress of the kingdom of God. This one thing should tinge all other things with its own colour, and draw all other thoughts into its net. The cause of Christ should be an all-absorbing maelstrom, into which all our thoughts and pursuits should be drawn. A man of one idea aces thy universe by the light of it, and he who loves the Church of God with all his heart will do the same. How can we say, Lord, remember me, to Christ in heaven, if we do not remember His Church on earth?
Looking heavenward
These words were addressed to the exiled Jews in Babylon, in view of their enfranchisement, and their return to their own country. A four months journey lay before them, a road infested by savage men and marked by many discomforts had to be trodden, and hence this counsel was given to hearten and comfort the pilgrims. Let the dear place shine before your eyes, let its spell be upon your hearts, and this will relieve the tedium of the journey, make you brave to face the foe, keep you from fainting, and secure the success of your journey. The text is relevant to all times, and especially if we think of the heavenly instead of the earthly Jerusalem. Jesus was always reminding His hearers of the upper universe. Paul admonishes us to Seek those things which are above. And again and again we are reminded of our fugitive life in this world--we are strangers, sojourners, pilgrims, and are urged to look upward. In recent years there have been those who have disparaged everything in the nature of other-worldliness. I think it was George Eliot who set this modern fashion of condemning attention to the celestial world, but her life was a sad, suggestive commentary on her loss of faith. But George Eliot has had not a few followers in her anti-heavenly propaganda. Rationalists, Agnostics, and Socialists have vetoed the other-worldly life. There was little need for this adjuration. Heaven is one of the most neglected subjects in present-day preaching. The Sunday is not more restful and healing because given up to the consideration of secular subjects; character is not more refined, ethereal, and blessed because men look down instead of up; the world is not richer but poorer for ignoring the Ideal, the Mystical, the Transcendental, the Divine. The grandest souls of the past--noble-tempered, fine-charactered men and women of majestic mien--are thus described: They looked for a city which hath foundations, whose Builder and Maker is God. There are three or four reasons why we should earnestly cultivate this other-worldly disposition.
I. It is necessary for our salvation. The Christian life is one of perpetual peril. We are menaced from every quarter. The microbe is ever on our track, and we need to be on our guard to ward off our foes. But the perils of our body are as nothing compared with our soul-perils. Our danger arises from this present evil world. It is always near us, appealing to us, setting its snares, offering us its bewildering and beguiling baits. It comes, too, in such subtle forms, in the form of a fair-faced friend; it can make use of such attractive things, and sometimes souls are ensnared before they are aware of it. Think of a man living daily in some social circles with their artificialities, their unrealities, white lies, lamentable hypocrisies; or in the world of politics with its understandings, trickeries, untruths; or in the world of business with its corners, monopolies, injustices, sharp practice! What does it mean? Full often the dulling of the mind, the paralysis of the conscience, ay, it means the heart loses its freshness, and the life its whiteness. And, mark you, it is not that one need voluntarily yield himself up to these blighting phenomena not to resist is to suffer. Then, what can be done to break the spell of this present world, and ensure our salvation? Let Jerusalem come into your mind, suffer the better world to overshadow the worse world, get into Gods own climate, cultivate the heavenly vision. Fetch heavens light down to earth. Fetch the fresh air of the eternal hills down to this stifling, stagnant scene. Fetch the music of heaven down to this terrestrial sphere. The better saves from the worse. Its glory will be glory no longer, its unreality will be sighted, and he will be saved. It is the far-off look that is needed, a vision of the eternal things which is our salvation. Sir Redvers Bullet has told us that in the late war the Boers fought better than our own soldiers, because they had better eyesight, and could see much farther, and no doubt the reason why many Christians are overtaken by spiritual calamities is because they cannot see afar off, they do not lift up their eyes on high. Let us accustom our eyes to see the glories of the New Jerusalem.
II. It is necessary for our amplification. Familiarity with the world does not broaden men, but narrows them. Born a man and died a grocer, says the epitaph, and the shrinkage of a soul is one of the painfullest features of life. Many people feel they are sadly caged up, with no poetry, romance, interests, change in their lives. Well, what are we to do? How to make life broader? Thank God, we have an answer--annex heaven. Reinforce, says one, this world with the world which is to come. What do they do in an inland state that is surrounded by other countries, and cramped in on every side? They fight to get down to the sea. Give a country only a few miles, and it is satisfied. Why? Because it will build a harbour there, and it will make ships there, and the enterprising spirits of the nation will man the ships, and the ships will go to the ends of the earth, carrying out such poor things as they have to send, but bringing home untold treasures. That single harbour holds the whole earth in its grasp. It is even so in our spiritual life. When I am linked with the skies, when I do commerce with heaven my life cannot be petty, narrow, insignificant. I am not lost in my trade, business, profession, nor does my soul undergo any shrinkage. Nay, I do my buying and selling, my getting and spending, in the eyes of heaven. A literary lady who went to consult an oculist about her eyes was told that her eye-weariness and brain-jadedness would pass away if she would now and then pause from her work, and sight the glorious hills in the distance, and she found it so. Is not this what we sorely need to save our life from getting cramped by what is sordid and petty--pauses to look away from lifes manifold engagements to the bright-topped hills of immortality? It is ours, like the apostle at Patmos, to see the fair city of our King, to fraternise with the denizens of the skies, to consort with God Himself, and to do this is to find the grandest emancipation.
III. It is necessary to our consolation. He was a wise professor who used to say to his students when going to preach, Never fail in any service to have at least a word of comfort. There is a sore, ii not a broken, heart in every religious assembly. Existence were a poor mockery if this world were all. To how many life is just one long bitter struggle. Think of those, the bruised and broken, who are on their back all their days; think of those who, through no fault of their own, are face to face with poverty most of their time; think of those who have been overtaken by a black bereavement with tragic suddenness; think of these who are left orphans when young, and are at the mercy of an unfeeling world; think of those who have secret trials--trials of which they never whisper even to their dearest friends; think of those who, in trying to live the Christian life, are sorely, buffeted! Where is the compensation? This: Let Jerusalem come into your mind. Think of it as the place where all lifes wrongs will be ended, where the weary-footed will lay aside their sandals, and the weary-hearted will find sweet rest, where the homeless will find a home, where the broken circles will be re-formed, and where the miseries of a lifetime will be forgotten in the first moment of hallowed bliss.
IV. It is necessary to our inspiration. One of our primary needs is inspiration, we so soon begin to flag and lose heart. It is needful for the maintenance of our ideals, for the shaping of a holy character, to keep us steadfast in the midst of strife and sorrow. It is painful to note how that when men forget the heavenward look, they drift from the golden life, part with their noble dreams, sink beneath their troubles, and fall into bondage to a sensuous life. There are wrecks on all sides of us--Demases who have loved this present world. We surmount the flesh by ascending with Christ to the realm of the spirit. In those who are occupied with Christ and His kingdom, who set their mind on the things above where Christ is, carnal passions cease to be nourished, the former channels of thought and desire are left bare and dry, the mans soul is caught by a keener excitement and a mightier current, he is drawn into the orbit of the Sun of Righteousness. He is absorbed in the great and entrancing things of God, and the old frivolities can no longer divert him. The same is true of every other phase of our earth-life. This was the temper of Moses, and it heartened him for the most prodigious tasks. He looked for the recompense of the reward. This was the temper of the old-world pilgrims, they desired a better country, that is a heavenly. The saints of God, the men for whom duty, religion, faith, love, character, possess their full meaning, are known by this far-away look, this detachment of spirit. At the bottom of their souls is a Divine home-sickness for the Eternal--and this made them spiritual stalwarts. This, also, was the temper of Jesus. Never for a moment did He forget the Father, the will, the home, the friendship and fellowship of the Father, I speak unto you the things that I have seen with the Father. I go to My Father. And a share of His glory He assured to all His faithful followers. I have read somewhere of a bewildered party on a mountain. Pressing on in the blinding snow, the track lost and the cold increasing, one of them at last in sneer fatigue sank flown to die. His friends coaxed him, urged him, expostulated with him so as to get him forward, but all to no purpose. But some one took from his pocket a picture of wife and children, and showed it to him. That was enough; what coaxing and threats failed to effect was done in an instant by that vision of the far-off home. He at once threw off the death-drowse that was so surely embracing him, and rousing himself with the new power that came from that vision, he pushed forward with his friends to a place of safety. And our Divine Leader, when we are flagging and wearying, gives us pictures of the heavenly home to hearten us. (J. Pearce.)
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The Biblical Illustrator, edited by Joseph S. Exell (c. 1880s–1900s) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Preacher's Complete Homiletical Commentary 1892 · Public Domain CRITICAL AND EXEGETICAL NOTES.—For Chronological Notes, see foregoing chapter.
CRITICAL AND EXEGETICAL NOTES.—For Chronological Notes, see foregoing chapter.
Geographical References.—Jer_51:27. “The kingdoms of Ararat, Minni, and Ashchenas.” These nations of Western Asia are summoned to join the Medes in their attack on Babylon. By “Ararat” is meant the region of Upper or Major Armenia, in the vicinity of the mountain; by “Minni,” Lower or Minor Armenia; and by “Ashchenaz,” probably Asia Minor, in which “Ascania” stands.
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Personal Allusions.—Jer_51:59. “Seraiah,” brother to Baruch (chap. Jer_32:12) and the king’s chamberlain; see below, Lit. Crit. on verse.
Literary Criticisms.—Jer_51:1. “A destroying wind:” possibly this should read “a destroying spirit,” i.e., Cyrus.
Jer_51:5. “Israel hath not been forsaken:” read, “Israel is not widowed nor Judah of his God.”
Jer_51:10. “The Lord hath brought forth our righteousness:” rather, righteousnesses, pl. צְדָקוֹת, i.e., proofs that we are righteous.
Jer_51:12. “Upon the walls,” should be against the walls.
Jer_51:23. “I will also break in pieces:” Henderson notes that מַפֵּץ, from נָפַץ, to scatter, break, dash in pieces, designates the war-club anciently used by warriors for the purpose of clearing away all with whom they came in contact.
Jer_51:41. “Sheshach:” vide Notes on chap. Jer_25:26.
Jer_51:50. “Remember the Lord afar off:” i.e., from afar; from Chaldea, far distant from Zion, God’s dwelling-place.
Jer_51:59. “A quiet prince,” שַׂר־מְנוּחָה, has been variously rendered. The Sept., ἄρχων δώρων, as if Seraiah were the distributor of the royal presents. The Vulg., “prince of prophecy.” Other renderings are, “chief of the caravan,” “lord chamberlain;” but there is warrant for the rendering as the E.V. Comp. אִיש־מְנוּחָה, a man of quietness, 1Ch_22:9.
SUBJECT OF CHAPTER 51: MYSTIC BABYLON; ROMANISM DOOMED
General Survey: BABYLON’S DOOM; MYSTIC BABYLON’S DESTRUCTION
i. The Median power, which Babylon formerly invited to unite with her for Nineveh’s destruction, was made the instrument for her own overthrow. So in the Apocalypse it is revealed that some of the kings who were once vassals of the mystical Babylon will be the instruments in God’s hands for chastising her (Rev_17:16).
ii. Babylon’s colossal splendour formed no hindrance to God’s purposes of her fall, for He opens unlooked-for avenues along which His judgments may invade the strongholds of evil. The Euphrates of her power, which, with mystic Babylon, has flowed on for so many centuries, and in which she has trusted as her defence, the non possumus of the Pontifical arrogance, may prove the cause of her destruction. See Rev_16:12. Nor shall all her vaunted majesty and glory save her in the hour of invasion, when God’s emissaries of judgment flow in upon her.
iii. The suddenness of Babylon’s capture (Jer_51:8; Jer_51:41) may have equal analogy. At a time when she is most exultant, revelling in some imposing festival or carnival, as Babylon was feasting at the time of its invasion, elate with pride, fearless of harm, provoking God by her sacrilege of sacred things, then the fingers of a man’s hand shall write her downfall, and she shall be ensnared. See Rev_18:10; Rev_18:17. “In one hour is thy judgment come!”
iv. As with Babylon so with Rome, her fall shall be total and final, leaving her an absolute and hopeless ruin.
The walls of Babylon, of vast dimensions, 87 feet broad and 360 feet in height, the palaces and vast architectures within (Jer_51:53), all suggested imperishable strength; as indeed the vast system of Romanism does to-day. But all her excellency became a ruin (Jer_51:58), and ancient Babylon became a dreary wilderness, unsightly “heaps” (Jer_51:37). Alexander the Great made efforts to rebuild Babylon, and employed 2000 workmen for two months in clearing away the foundations of the Temple of Belus, preparatory to his project: but he died in the midst of his ambitious scheme, and it was abandoned. Nor shall Rome ever exalt her head more when once the hand of doom lays her pride low. “It shall be found no more at all” (Rev_18:21).
v. Babylon’s ruin became the signal for Israel’s release and redemption. The faithful Jews in captivity there found liberty once more, and returned to rebuild Jerusalem and restore the desolations of Zion. Even so shall the fall of Rome set free the souls of men from the galling captivities of superstition, and the true Israel, the Church of Christ, shall rise into honour, prosperity, and power (Rev_19:1-9).
vi. Israel was admonished and enjoined to flee from Babylon and “deliver every man his soul” (Jer_51:6; Jer_51:45); so from mystic Babylon the voice of inspiration urges men to separate themselves from her sins and escape her impending destruction. “I heard a voice from heaven saying, Come out of her, my people, that ye be not partakers of her sins, and that ye receive not of her plagues” (Rev_18:4).
General Topic: THE PREDICTED OVERTHROW OF BABYLON
Probably no people were ever more luxurious and licentious than the Babylonians at the time of their overthrow. Disgusting excesses marked the pleasures of the table, and debauchery crowned the banquet. Profligacy especially characterised the female sex; hence the image in Revelation of mystic Babylon as a vile woman (Jer_17:1-2; Jer_17:18, Jer_19:2, &c.), hurled from the seat of her effeminacy into total misery and degradation, is used to represent Babylon’s doom.
I. Prophecy literally vindicated. Almost every step in the fall of Babylon, and its subsequent reverses, is the accomplishment of a prophecy.
1. The name of the victor, with his appointment by Providence to the work of retribution, was given more than a century before his birth (Isa_45:1-3).
2. The varied character of the besieging host which would be engaged in the assault is minutely described. Not only the Medo-Persian army, but auxiliaries drawn from the highlands of Armenia, the provinces of Asia Minor, and the great deserts bordering on the Indian Caucasus (Jer_50:41-42; Jer_51:11; Jer_51:27-28).
3. Some leading circumstances of the capture are also unequivocally pointed out. (1.) The intemperate festivity of the population (Jer_51:57). (2.) The negligence of the guards in charge of the portals of the river: “gates not shut” (Isa_45:1). (3) The remarkable operation upon the Euphrates (Isa_44:27; Jer_50:38; Jer_51:32; Jer_51:36). (4.) The suddenness and surprise of the capture (Jer_50:24).
Nothing can be more exact that the correspondence between the futures of Babylon and the language of prophecy. Its story, viewed in connection with the previous announcement dictated by the Spirit of inspiration, is—
i. A bright evidence of the truth of the Holy Scripture and of the divinity which breathes in its pages.
ii. A confirmation of the religious system revealed in God’s Word, from the first promise made to the first transgressor, to its perfect realisation in the Gospel of Christ.
II. Sacred lessons emphatically enforced. The records of Babylon’s overthrow should be read—
1. By the believer.
(1.) With trembling awe, as an illustration of the divine anger against the sinfulness of man.
(2.) With grateful feelings also, as strengthening the conviction that the foundations of his faith and hope are solid.
(3.) With assurance of the verity of God’s promises, that, as He fulfilled the words of awful retribution, so will He His promises of gracious deliverance: for “light is sown for the righteous, and gladness for the upright in heart.”
2. By the enemies of God’s people—with the appalling thought that as Babylon, the great oppressor of God’s ancient people, has been reduced to nothingness, so certainly will all the persecuting enemies of the Church of Christ, of which that people is the selected type, be brought to confusion.
3. By the sceptic and infidel. The whole case is abundantly admonitory to such. Well would it be for them to compare the convincing evidences of the religious system they reject with the difficulties and hollowness of their own theories; to remember that if Christianity be true, its truth is awful to those who repudiate it; and to turn from their own delusive dogmas to receive the revelation of the Bible, while yet an insulted but still merciful God is waiting to be gracious to the chief of sinners through the mediation of the Son of His love.—Babylon and Nineveh.
HOMILIES AND COMMSNTS ON CHAPTER 51
Jer_51:5. Theme: ISRAEL NOT ABANDONED.
See Lit. Cri.t on verse: “Not widowed,” not deserted by the Lord, who is her Husband.
Comp. chap. 3, Jer_5:14; Homilies on p. 60. “Banished yet still beloved;” and 66. “God a loving Husband,” et seq.
Jer_51:6. Theme: ROMANISM RENOUNCED.
“Flee out of the midst of Babylon, and deliver every man his soul: be not cut off in her iniquity.”
I. A doomed system entails the doom of its votaries. As they who will not leave a sinking vessel, sink with her.
II. Identification with a false religion is culpable in God’s regard. “Her iniquity” becomes the iniquity of each individual adherent, and each will be “cut off” as being responsible for and sharing her sins. Men cannot screen themselves on the plea that they have always been what they are, and therefore they should stay where they are. “Flee out,” &c.
III. The soul’s safety is jeopardised by delusive systems. “Deliver every man his soul.”
False beliefs are as fatal as no beliefs. “Refuges of lies” will be destroyed, and houses built on sand will fall.
IV. Prompt and earnest separation from Babylon’s errors is enjoined. “Flee out of the midst of Babylon.”
1. We have responsibilities towards truth, and should flee from error.
2. We have duties to our souls, and should separate ourselves from known spiritual delusions and dangers.
3. We have clear forewarnings of judgment, and should haste to escape from the coming tribulation.
Note—
“A time may come when it is well to separate one’s self. There may come moments in the life of a Church when it will be a duty to leave the community. Such a moment is come when the community has become a Babylon. 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.”—Article on Sects in Herzog, R.-Enc.
Jer_51:7. Theme: ROME’S LUXURIANCE.
“Babylon hath been a golden cup in the Lord’s hand, that made all the earth drunken.”
For the metaphor see Topic, chap. Jer_25:15 seq.; “The wine-cup of wrath” (p. 474).
Compare for identification of Babylon with Rome, Rev_14:8; Rev_17:4.
I. “A golden cup” dazzles and fascinates the beholder. Men’s eyes are bewitched and dazed by the glitter and splendour of gold, by the gilded errors of Rome, so that they do not inquire what the “cup” contains. (So suggests Origen.)
II. From “a golden cup” men may drink maddening intoxicants. “The nations have drunken of her wine: therefore the nations are mad.” This suggests that the errors and blandishments of Rome, her opulence and splendour, stupefy men’s reason and conscience, as “wine” does the inebriate.
III. In Rome’s golden chalice are delusive and destructive drinks. “Mark well,” says Origen, “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 the fair speeches of seductive eloquence, and when I have examined the various ingredients of the golden chalice, I have recognised the cup of Babylon.”
IV. From this “golden cup” the Lord administers judgment to Rome’s intoxicated dupes. “A golden cup in the hand of the Lord.” Jehovah used ancient Babylon to punish the godless nations and apostate Israel. He now uses Rome as an agency of judgment on faithless souls. They who will not use their endowments and opportunities aright, who prostitute their reason, conscience, and will before the fascination of these “golden” errors of Rome, who neglect the sacred chalice of the Holy Bible and prefer to drink from Rome’s cup of errors, God uses Romanism to punish such: “Therefore God sends them a strong delusion, that they may believe a lie” (2Th_2:11).
Jer_51:9. Theme: ROME’S REJECTION OF HEALING.
I. Health-giving teaching, if received, might have healed the errors of Rome. This was offered Babylon; her remedy lay in receiving God’s Word, urged upon her by God’s prophets. So with mystical Babylon: she has been offered instruction and warning by Paul (2Th_2:2-9), by the Apocalypse (Revelation 13-18) Protestantism has been attempting to heal Rome by the literature diffused and arguments addressed against Rome’s errors, and by appeals to Scripture truth.
II. Besotted attachment to wrong leads to the refusal of God’s truth. Saving doctrines are rejected when they would save from cherished errors and beloved sins and profitable lies. So still: light shines in Christian teaching sufficient to scatter the darkness. “But men love darkness rather than light, because their deeds are evil.” Rome refuses healing, rejects truth, because errors are her traffic.
III. From the outraged heavens doom hangs over deceitful and destructive Rome. “Her sins have reached unto heaven” (Rev_18:5). Therefore “her judgment reacheth unto heaven,” as if pressing upon God the urgency of executing her overthrow. And certainly God hath sent the forewarnings of Rome’s doom from the heavens in His Word, and ere long the thunders of His destructive wrath will sweep down upon the Antichrist.
Jer_51:10. Theme: ISRAEL JUSTIFIED AGAINST BABYLON. “The Lord hath brought forth our righteousness.”
I. Punishment of sinners testifies of the advantages of righteousness.
II. Overthrow of error testifies to the veracity of divine truth, on which righteous souls lived by faith.
III. Defeat of God’s foes testifies to the blessedness of His people, whom He befriends.
IV. Deliverance of the righteous testifies that, though their adversaries may for a while prevail, the injustice of evildoers and the goodness of God’s children will ultimately be vindicated.
Therefore—
1. Wait patiently under endurance of wrong. God will work your justification against evil-doers (Psa_37:7).
2. Believe in God’s watchfulness of you in the day of your oppression. He marks your conduct during your “captivity,” remembers to your account your “righteousness,” and will “bring it forth” in due season. “Then shall thy light break forth as the morning” (Isa_58:8).
Jer_51:13. Theme: ROME’S RESOURCES DESOLATED. “O thou that dwellest upon many waters, abundant in treasures, thine end is come, and the measure of thy covetousness.”
“Many waters.” Not only was Babylon protected and nourished by the mighty river Euphrates, but by numerous canals and streams. These were essential to her very existence—for drink, food, health, transit, and safety. Thus with Romanism, “that sitteth upon many waters” (Rev_17:1); and “the waters are peoples, and multitudes, and nations, and tongues” (Jer_51:15). These form the tributary streams to nourish Rome by gifts, money, popular sympathy.
“Abundant treasures.” The immense booty of Nineveh, the plunder of Jerusalem, the tributes which Syrian and Phoenician cities furnished, the fruitfulness of the Babylonian territory itself. Comp. Rev_18:12; Rev_18:19.
“Her end come.” The words are, “Thy end is come,” i.e., the retribution for (or limitation of the period of) thy covetousness. Babylon’s day for spoiling others and enriching herself closed. So shall Rome’s (Revelation 18.)
Jer_51:15-19. Theme: AN APPEAL TO GOD’S WORKS.
See Homily on p. 219, chap. Jer_10:12-16, verbatim.
Jer_51:25. Theme: VOLCANIC ROME.
“O destroying mountain.”
The imagery here is of a volcano, whose burning lava “rolls down,” itself “a burnt mountain;” lit., a mount of burning.
Such was Babylon under Nebuchadnezzar; its destructive energy was like the fierce outbreak of volcanic fires, and its rapid collapse was as a volcano whose fires had burned themselves extinct.
Rome, which has raised itself up to heaven in lofty assumption, which has surrounded itself with bewitching charms, like the luxuriancies of nature that abound in warm and fertile volcanic regions, which has proudly domineered like a lofty mountain over surrounding lands, will also, like a volcano, bring ruin on itself and on all it overshadows by the fires which are ready to burst forth in God’s time.
I. A volcano impresses beholders with its majestic beauty. So does Rome.
II. A volcanic mountain wears the appearance of enduring strength. So does Rome.
III. Near a volcano residents dwell oblivious of perils. So with the adherents of Rome.
IV. The absence of fiery portents in a volcano is a sign to the wise of gathering fury. So when Rome shows no threatening signs she is most seductive.
V. Within a volcano slumber ruinous fires. And Rome will be both destroyed herself and all who trust in her.
Note: The mystical Babylon will be overthrown with fire: Rev_17:16; Rev_18:8-9; Rev_18:18—“the smoke of her burning.”
Jer_51:30-33. BABYLON’S CAPTURE BY CYRUS.
For historic records comp. on chap. 25 pp. 473, 474.
Note: Prophets beforehand and historians afterwards coincide in describing the events.
Jer_51:33. Theme: A COMING HARVEST. “Yet a little while and the time of the hervest shall come.”
The noble practice of Jewish antiquity was that the harvest should never be gathered in till the first ripe sheaf was brought into the Temple of the Lord, and presented as an acknowledgment to the Lord of the harvest (Lev_9:14). This was to connect the Giver with His gifts, to associate our temporal mercies with the sanctuary of religion, and to hold communion with God in the enjoyment of His favours.
Ought we not to be thankful to the God of our mercies when we see a smiling spring followed by a joyful harvest, &c.? Always the practice of saints (Psalms 65)
The very constancy of Nature banishes our Creator from our thoughts. We need to be told there is going on everywhere around us a vast system utterly independent of human wisdom; need to be reminded of invisible dominion and concealed omnipotence.
Text points us to another harvest; and the plain doctrine is every man has a harvest of his own daily ripening, and may be unexpectedly gathered in:—A harvest of punishment for the ungodly (from this our only refuge is the Cross of Christ); of mercy to the penitent (through Christ); of consolation to the sorrowful; of final blessedness to the righteous.
I. There is a harvest of punishment for the ungodly. Prophecy against Babylon, type of all sinners.
Life is the seedtime of an immortal harvest. It is the scene of a mighty preparation; it is the first step of an infinite series; it is the dawn of an everlasting day. We are beginning to be what we shall for ever be. In your nature are united mortality and immortality.
God has made a seedtime of iniquity the certain forerunner of a harvest of shame and punishment—partly present, partly future. He has laid it down as an unalterable maxim of His government that what a man soweth he shall reap. The law that regulates the return of day and night and the renewal of seedtime and harvest is not more sure than that sin brings sorrow here or hereafter. These are things of every day’s experience. A wild and wasteful youth makes an unhappy and unrespected manhood. He who neglects the cultivation of his mind and the formation of his character when young can never repair the damage afterwards; just as if the husbandmen let his seedtime pass without sowing, the whole year is lost to him beyond recovery. The same law prevails in much higher matters. The man that lives without Christ usually dies without Him; and he who dies without Christ perishes to all eternity without Him. Every day the sinner carries a brand to his own burning.
Inquire what seed you are sowing? What a harvest you expect to reap? “The wages of sin is death.” “The way of transgressors is hard.” And if it be solemn now for sinners to eat the fruit of their own ways, to be caught in their own snare, and even on earth to be pierced through with many sorrows—what will it be in eternity, when “righteousness shall be laid to the line and judgment to the plummet,” when they shall be resigned to the evil they have chosen, and when God shall verify to the wicked the anticipations of their own remorse, and give them bread (the bread of sorrow) to eat unto the full? We rejoice in the return of harvest; but know you not that there is a harvest of which God is the proprietor, angels are the reapers, and the souls of men are to be gathered in? Know you not that the world is ripening for the harvest, and you are ripening with it? Know you not that that Saviour who was once crucified on Calvary, and has been often crucified by you, is about to ascend the throne of judgment, and to “send forth His angels and gather out of His kingdom all things that offend, and cast them into the lake of fire?” Soon shall the signal be given, “Thrust in thy sickle.”
“Yet a little while.” All your hope hangs upon those two short words—a little while. What a revolution may be accomplished! You may flee for refuge; may exercise repentance and faith; may obtain salvation with eternal glory; may share the sanctifying influence of the Spirit; may have the tide of damnation rolled back; may have incorruptible seed sown in your souls.
It is but “a little while.” Oh, delay not. Escape for life. Listen not to tempter. Better Councillor asks your heed.
II. A harvest of mercy to the penitent. “They that sow in tears,” &c. All the provisions of the Gospel covenant go to assure peace and pardon to those who, renouncing self-dependence and relying on the mercy of God in Christ, place all their hope where God placed all their help.
But we are no strangers to the anxiety of the penitent on this head. Our fears are usually in proportion to our hopes. You may be assaulted with many temptations, the subject of many apprehensions, doubtful whether your sins are not too many and aggravated, alarmed lest you should not have come aright. “We are not ignorant of Satan’s devices,” nor of the misgivings of the burdened mind. But “strong consolation” is promised to them that flee for refuge. Prayers and tears and desires for pardon and purity offered by faith in Christ will produce a harvest nothing else will. The promise is sure: “Him that cometh.” “Ask and you shall.”
III. A harvest of consolation to the sorrowful. “Comfort ye.” “He that goeth forth,” &c. Many afflictions are the Christian’s portion. But God “gives songs in the night.” And the time is limited—the night is followed by morning. “Our light afflictions but for a moment—far more.” God tempers and mitigates trial. God fortifies the mind under it, strengthening to bear that the prospect of which would have overwhelmed. Internal peace in outward trial. Harvest now—hereafter. No one of that palm-bearing company regrets past trials (Rev_7:9-14).
IV. A harvest of final blessedness to the righteous. “Be faithful unto death,” &c.—S. Thodey, 1825.
Jer_51:41. “SHESHACH.” Comp. p. 475.
Jer_51:45. QUITTING BABYLON. See on Jer_51:6.
Jer_51:46. Theme: FOREWARNINGS OF EVIL.
“Ye fear for the rumour that shall be heard.”
The fall of Babylon was to be preceded by a state of disquiet, men’s minds being unsettled partly by rumours of the warlike preparations of the Medes and of actual invasions, in repelling one of which Neriglissar fell; partly by intestine feuds, in which Evil-Merodach and Latorosoarchod was murdered. So before the conquest of Jerusalem by the Romans the Church had similar warnings (Mat_24:6-7).
I. Opportunity precedes impending judgment.
II. God thus ameliorates the severity of grave crises.
III. Responsibility is thereby thrown upon us to heed His warnings and utilise the interval of grace.
IV. Neglect of such interludes, during which God stays the judgment, much increases the anguish when the storm at length bursts.
V. Spiritual wisdom in discerning the propitious hour is given to and distinguishes those who are appointed to salvation.
VI. Senselessness of danger amid these forewarnings shows men to be ripe for destruction.
These Babylonians laughed danger to scorn on the very night when doom fell upon them. “Except ye repent, ye shall all likewise perish.”
Jer_51:48. Theme: JOY IN HEAVEN OVER BABYLON’S FALL.
I. Songs of judgment upon the enemies of Israel. See Exo_15:5 seq.; Psa_118:12; Psa_118:15-16; Rev_18:20.
II. Songs of deliverance for God’s people redeemed. Comp. Jer_51:49-50.
This is in effect the joy described in Luk_15:6-7.
III. Songs of celebration of God’s promises fulfilled.
For the heavenly hosts surely watch the accomplishment of Jehovah’s pledges to His afflicted people, and hail the day of their completion (Isa_43:23).
Jer_51:50. Theme: REVIVED MEMORIES OF SPIRITUAL PRIVILEGES. “Remember the Lord afar off, and let Jerusalem come into your mind.”
This is an appeal to the Jews to turn all their longings Zionward so soon as Cyrus opens Babylon for them to escape.
I. Sorrowing exiles of Zion cherish tender memories of long-lost privileges.
II. Freedom regained should be promptly used for our glad return to God.
III. Sacred heritages in God and Zion await the ransomed of the Lord on their return.
Or, Valedictory address to missionaries or emigrants.
Lange’s Commentary says—
“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 hath hitherto shown to the departing. ‘Ye that have escaped of the sword.’
“2. They may be ADMONISHED TO FIDELITY in that distant land.
“(1.) In ‘remembering the Lord,’ i.e., ever remaining sincerely devoted to Him, and trusting Him as the shield of our salvation.
“(2.) In faithfully serving Jerusalem, i.e., the Church and cause of Christ, with all their powers, keeping the progress of the kingdom of our Lord ever near their hearts.”
Jer_51:56. Theme: RECOMPENSES. “The Lord God of recompenses shall surely requite.”
I. All history illustrates and establishes this fact.
Not an evil has been committed, not a good has been done, but has been followed with recompense. The sin of Adam, of Cain, of Sodom, of the Antediluvians, all were recompensed.
Nor does good fail of reward. “He is not unmindful to forget your labour of love.” Even the gift of a cup of cold water is to be rewarded. Comp. Mat_25:35 seq.
II. The requiting of men’s deeds often finds illustration in the laws of our physical and mental being.
God has so constituted us that evil is productive of evil and good of good. By the very laws of our nature the drunkard is recompensed by loss of reason, the libertine by loss of health, &c.; so by the same laws of our being the kind, the compassionate, &c., are requited with joy, peace, &c.; a “great recompense of reward.”
These are the natural recompenses which flow from the operation of Nature’s laws apart from God’s judgments.
III. There still remains to be superadded the judicial recompense, which the Righteous Judge will administer.
“He will render to every man according to his deeds:” deeds of wickedness by the frown of His anger and the sentence, “Depart, ye cursed;” deeds of righteousness by the smile of His favour and the welcome, “Come, ye blessed.”
IV. Yet notwithstanding this natural and judicial recompense, men are not deterred from evil nor constrained to do good.
How astounding the depravity of the human heart! “Desperately wicked” indeed, when the fearful consequences of evil and the blessed results of good, here and hereafter, fail to influence the heart.
V. From the ultimate consequences of our deeds there can be no possible escape. “The Lord God of recompenses shall surely requite.” “Vengeance is mine, I will repay, saith the Lord.” “With the merciful Thou wilt show Thyself merciful, with the upright man Thou wilt show Thyself upright; with the pure Thou wilt show Thyself pure, and with the froward Thou wilt show Thyself froward.”
Compare “Walks with Jeremiah.”—Pledge.
Jer_51:58. “THE BROAD WALLS OF BABYLON.”
These walls were 85 English feet in width (according to Herodotus), 32 feet (according to Strabo and Q. Curtius). Their height was 335 feet (Herodotus), 235 (Pliny), 150 (Curtius), 75 (Strabo). But as there was an outer and inner enclosure, they may not all have been referring to the same walls, or the outer wall may have differed in height in different parts. The entire length of the walls was (according to lowest estimate) 41 miles, and by other authorities is estimated at 48, and by Herodotus at 60 miles in extent.
Berosus says that triple walls encompassed the outer, and the same number the inner city; and that Cyrus ordered the outer walls to be demolished. A cylindrical inscription records that Esar-haddon was the real builder of the walls of Babylon, and that Nebuchadnezzar only completed them.
“HER HIGH GATES.” One hundred in number, twenty-five on each of the four sides of the square-built city. An ancient inscription exists which says, “In the thresholds of the great gates I inserted folding-doors of brass, with very strong railings and gratings (?).”
Jer_51:59. SERAIAH CARRYING THE PREDICTION OF DELIVERANCE TO THE EXILES IN BABYLON.
Zedekiah the king may have journeyed voluntarily to Babylon in order to obtain some favour from Nebuchadnezzar, or because he was summoned to be present, as Nebuchadnezzar’s vassal, on some state occasion; or Nebuchadnezzar might have distrusted Zedekiah’s fidelity, and have demanded an explanation of the presence of those ambassadors who met that year at Jerusalem from Moab, &c. (chap. Jer_27:3).
Jeremiah used the opportunity for intrusting Seraiah, the king’s chief attendant, with these predictions for the exiles at Babylon. (He had already sent them a letter full of affection and hope, chap. 29.)
As Zedekiah’s retinue paused each night on the journey across the desert, it is quite conjectural that Seraiah, his chief courier, may have read to the king the contents of this prophetic roll. “What an interesting subject for conjecture (says Wordsworth) does this view open upon us! How many thoughts may have passed through the mind of the king and of Seraiah his chamberlain at the time! How many conversations may they have had—or certainly might they have had—concerning the destiny of Jerusalem and of Babylon, and concerning things in the far-off future—the liberation and return of the captives of Israel from Babylon by the same road on which they were travelling; and even with regard to blessings more remote, which Jeremiah had pre-announced—the graces and glories of the Gospel of Christ!”
Jer_51:63. THE PROPHETIC ROLL SUNK IN THE EUPHRATES.
Not in order to destroy it, but as symbolic of events to come. It signified that Babylon should be likewise overwhelmed and sink from sight. It foreshadowed the like fate of mystic Babylon—Antichristian Rome (see Rev_18:21, “A mighty angel took up a stone,” &c.) The reiteration of the weird and pensive words—
“THEY SHALL BE WEARY,” is also suggestive. They were the final words Jeremiah’s prophecy contained (Jer_51:58), and their reiteration as the roll sank would pronounce (what the words imply) the decayed energy and life of the Chaldeans, a worn-out power—a fit requiem to accompany the symbolic burial of Babylon.
ADDENDA TO CHAPTER 51: HISTORICAL SUMMARY OF EVENTS IN BABYLON’S FALL
“In his father’s absence Belshazzar took the direction of affairs within the city, and met and foiled for a considerable time all the assaults of the Persians. He was young and inexperienced, but he had the counsels of the queen-mother to guide and support him, as well as those of the various lords and officers of the court. So well did he manage the defence, that after awhile Cyrus despaired; and, as a last resource, ventured on a stratagem in which it was clear that either he must succeed or perish.
“Withdrawing the greater part of the army from the vicinity of the city, and leaving behind him only certain corps of observation, Cyrus marched away up the course of the Euphrates for a certain distance, and there proceeded to make a vigorous use of the spade. His soldiers dug a channel or channels from the Euphrates, by means of which a great portion of its waters could be drawn off, and hoped in this way to render the natural course of the river to be fordable.
“When all was prepared, Cyrus determined to wait for the arrival of a certain festival, during which the whole population were wont to engage in drinking and revelling, and then silently, in the dead of the night, to turn the water of the river and make his attack. All fell out as he hoped and wished. The festival was even held with greater pomp and splendour than usual, for Belshazzar, with the natural insolence of youth, to mark his contempt of the besieging army, abandoned himself wholly to the delights of the season, and himself entertained a thousand lords in his palace. Elsewhere the rest of the population was occupied in feasting and dancing. Drunken riot and mad excitement held possession of the town; the siege was forgotten; ordinary precautions were neglected. The non-closing of the river gates must have been a neglect of this kind. Had the sentries even kept proper watch, the enemy’s approach must have been perceived.
“Following the example of their king, the Babylonians gave themselves up for the night to orgies, in which religious frenzy and drunken excess formed a strange and revolting medley.
“Meanwhile, outside the city, in silence and darkness, the Persians watched at two points where the Euphrates entered and left the walls. Anxiously they noted the gradual sinking of the water in the river-bed; still more anxiously they watched to see if those within the walls would observe the suspicious circumstance and sound an alarm through the town. Should such an alarm be given, all their labours would be lost. If, when they entered the river-bed, they found the river walls manned, and the river gates fast locked, they would be indeed ‘caught in a trap’ (Herod. i. 191). Enfiladed on both sides by an enemy they could neither see nor reach, they would be overwhelmed and destroyed by his missiles before they could succeed in making their escape. But as they watched, no sounds of alarm reached them, only a confused noise of revel and riot, which showed that the unhappy townsmen were quite unconscious of the approach of danger.
“At last shadowy forms began to emerge from the obscurity of the riverbed, and on the landing-places opposite the river gates scattered clusters of men grew into solid columns; the undefended gateways were seized, a war-shout was raised, the alarm was taken and spread, and swift runners started off to ‘show the king of Babylon that his city was taken at one end’ (Jer_51:31). In the darkness and confusion of the night a terrible massacre ensued (Xenophon, Cyrop. vii. 5). The drunken revellers could make no resistance. The king, paralysed with fear at the awful handwriting upon the wall, which, too late, had warned him of his peril, could do nothing even to check the progress of the assailants, who carried all before them everywhere. Bursting into the palace, a band of Persians made their way to the presence of the monarch and slew him on the scene of his impious revelry. Other bands carried fire and sword through the town (Xenophon, Cyrop. vii. 5). When morning came, Cyrus found himself undisputed master of the city, which, if it had not despised his efforts, might with the greatest ease have baffled them.”—Robinson’s Ancient Monarchies, vol. iii. p. 515.
“The Persians came upon them unawares, and on account of the extent of the city, as is said by those who dwelt there, when the extremities of it were taken, the Babylonians who dwelt in the middle of it were not aware that they were captured, but were dancing at the time (for it happened to be a festival), and were rejoicing, until they perceived it in very deed.”—Herodotus, i. 191.
“Babylon was more like a nation than a city, and it is said that when it was taken, some of its inhabitants did not hear of the capture till the third day.”—Aristotle, Polit., iii. c. l.
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.
J. R. Dummelow 1909 · Public Domain 1-14. The end of Babylon arrives.
1-14. The end of Babylon arrives.
1. See on Jer_25:26.
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1, 2. The imagery is of the wind scattering the chaff on the threshingfloor. The wind and the fanners are the Medes (Jer_51:11).
3. Him that bendeth] i.e. his bow in defence of Babylon. Brigandine] coat of mail.
5. See on Jer_50:29.
7. Babylon has been God's instrument in His vengeance on the nations.
10. Hath brought forth our righteousness] has judged that the Jews' idolatry has been sufficiently punished, and that they are again to be treated as righteous.
11. The kings of the Medes] the leaders of the various tribes which together formed the nation: cp. Jer_51:28. His temple] see on Jer_50:28.
12. Upon] RV 'against.'
13. Many waters] see on Jer_50:38. Covetousness] RM 'dishonest gain.'
14. Caterpillers] RV 'the cankerworm.'
15-19. The Creator of all things is the only true God. See on Jer_10:13.
20-58. The fate appointed for Babylon.
20. My battle ax] Many commentators think that Babylon is meant, but as Babylon is in this passage not the instrument but the object of God's vengeance (Jer_51:24-26), it seems more natural to regard Cyrus as indicated here. Will I break] rather, 'I break.'
25. O destroying mountain] The same phrase is used of the Mount of Olives (AV 'mount of corruption') in 2Ki_23:13, as the scene of pernicious idolatry. Babylon here receives the title, as at once hurtful and conspicuous. Burnt] i.e. probably, burnt out, extinct.
27. Ararat, Minni, are districts of Armenia, and so probably was Ashchenaz. Minni is frequently mentioned in Assyrian inscriptions, the kings of Assyria having had to quell frequent revolts against their overlordship among its people.
28. Prepare] lit. 'sanctify': so in Jer_6:4; Jer_22:7. His dominion] referring to the king of Media, who is to gather to the attack his tribes with their leaders: cp. Jer_22:11.
31. Post] running messenger. At one end] RV 'on every quarter.'
32. Passages] with fords, or ferries. Reeds] RM 'marshes,' Heb. 'pools.' The reservoirs and pools around Babylon which prevented inundations shall disappear as completely as what is inflammable does by the action of fire.
33. It is time to thresh her] RV 'at the time when it is trodden.'
34f. Oppressed Israel speaks.
34. Dragon] here, 'sea-monster.' Delicates] dainties; here only used as a substantive in the Bible.
36. Sea] a great lake, or reservoir, made by the Babylonish queen Nitocris.
Springs] RV 'fountain,' referring to the network of canals dug for commerce and irrigation.
37. Dragons] RV 'jackals.'
39. While they are exulting and carousing, I will destroy them unawares. In their heat] when hot with wine.
41. Sheshach] see on Jer_25:26.
42. The sea] a figure for the invaders: cp. Jer_51:55, Jer_46:7.
44. Bel] see on Jer_50:2. That which he hath swallowed up] the riches of the subjugated nations.
46. Lest] RV 'let not.' Rumour] the state of unrest preceding the final catastrophe: cp. Mat_24:6, Mat_24:7.
48. Shall sing for] RV 'shall sing for joy over.'
50. Ye that have escaped the sword] by being already in exile at Babylon. Afar off] RV 'from afar,' viz. Babylon.
51. The exiles have been scoffed at for worshipping a God who has not defended His Temple from sacrilege.
53. Allusion to the height of the walls or of the tower of Bel.
55. The great voice] the hum of the city's life. When her waves] RV 'and their waves,' the surging hostB that encompass the city: cp. Jer_51:42.
58. Broad walls] They were 30 or 40 ft. wide: see Herod, i. 178.
And the people.. shall be weary] The labour expended on these splendid edifices will have been in vain.
59. Seraiah] brother of Baruch: see Jer_32:12. Went with Zedekiah] Zedekiah's visit was probably an act of homage to Nebuchadnezzar, perhaps to allay suspicions caused by the communications between the former and neighbouring peoples: see on Jer_27:3. Possibly, however, we should read 'from,' instead of 'with.'
A quiet prince] RV 'chief chamberlain,' mg. 'quarter-master,' who prepared for the king's reception at each halting-place on the journey.
61. And shalt see, and shaltread] RV 'then see that thou read,' so that the Jewish witnesses who heard could testify in after time to the prediction.
64. And they shall be weary] the last word (in Heb. but one) of the prophecy (see Jer_51:58) with which the symbolic act is thus coupled.
Thus far, etc.] showing that Jeremiah 52 is by another hand.
J. R. Dummelow, A Commentary on the Holy Bible (Macmillan, 1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Paul E. Kretzmann 1924 · Public Domain The Threat of Jehovah in its Various Forms
The Threat of Jehovah in its Various Forms
v. 1. Thus saith the Lord, Behold, I will raise up against Babylon and against them that dwell in the midst, literally, "in the heart," of them that rise up against Me, the inhabitants of the insurgent country, a destroying wind, or "the spirit of destruction,"
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v. 2. and will send unto Babylon fanners, whose work it was to separate the wheat from the chaff by casting up and scattering the threshed grain, that shall fan her and shall empty her land, sweeping away the guilty like chaff before the wind; for in the day of trouble they shall be against her round about, attacking from all sides.
v. 3. Against him that bendeth let the archer bend his bow, sure to put to death every one who attempts resistance, and against him that lifteth himself up in his brigandine, having put on his armor for battle; and spare ye not her young men, the ablest warriors, destroy ye utterly all her host.
v. 4. Thus the slain shall fall in the land of the Chaldeans, and they that are thrust through, pierced by arrow or lance, in her streets. All this would happen on account of Israel’s just cause against the Chaldeans.
v. 5. For Israel hath not been forsaken nor Judah of his God, of the Lord of hosts, the chosen people of Jehovah being still in His care, under His gracious protection; though their land was filled with sin against the Holy One of Israel, rather, "but the land of the Chaldeans is filled with guilt," because they refused to accept the true God in spite of the many manifestations of His power and glory in their midst as brought to their attention, for instance, through Daniel and his friends. Therefore the Lord addresses Himself to the members of His chosen people living in Babylon, urging the proper behavior at the time of Babylon’s downfall.
v. 6. Flee out of the midst of Babylon, and deliver every man his soul, not only his physical life, but his spiritual life as well; be not cut off in her iniquity, by taking part in the idolatry which brought destruction upon her; for this is the time of the Lord’s vengeance; He will render unto her a recompense. Note the contrast between human transgression, on the one hand, and the righteous punishment of the Lord, on the other. This is brought out most strongly by the picture of the golden cup.
v. 7. Babylon hath been a golden cup in the Lord’s hand, a nation noted for power and glory, all this due to the Lord’s blessing, that made all the earth drunken, namely, in pouring out the wine of His wrath upon all whom He desired to punish; the nations have drunken of her wine; therefore the nations are mad, intoxicated, bereft of reason, bound for destruction.
v. 8. Babylon is suddenly fallen and destroyed, no longer a golden cup, but a fragile glass; howl for her, make a lamentation for her; take balm for her pain, a balsam to heal her bruises, if so be she may be healed, if there is still a possibility of effecting a cure. But the representatives of the various nations assembled in Babylon state that their attempts are vain.
v. 9. We would have healed Babylon, but she is not healed, it is impossible to mend her hurt. Forsake her, so they now admonish one another, and let us go every one into his own country; for her judgment reacheth unto heaven, her guilt crying to the Lord to be avenged, and is lifted up even to the skies, it towers up to the clouds.
v. 10. The Lord hath brought forth our righteousness, the just cause of the captives, so the Israelites in their midst declare. Come and let us declare in Zion the work of the Lord, our God. Cf Psa 102:13-21. The Lord now calls upon the northern nations to make their attack upon Babylon.
v. 11. Make bright the arrows, polishing and sharpening them; gather the shields, literally, "fill the shields," slipping their straps over their arms for immediate use. The Lord hath raised up the spirit of the kings of the Medes, the conquerors of Babylon; for His device is against Babylon to destroy it, He has definitely made up His mind to that effect; because it is the vengeance of the Lord, the vengeance of His Temple, whose profanation at the hands of the Chaldeans must be punished.
v. 12. Set up the standard upon the walls of Babylon, raising a flag or emblem to indicate a particular point of attack, make the watch strong, so that the siege would be equally effective along the whole line, set up the watchmen, against the city, so that there would be no loophole of escape for the besieged, prepare the ambushes, in order to take the first opportunity of entering into the city; for the Lord hath both devised and done that which He spake against the inhabitants of Babylon, that is, what He had determined upon He would most certainly carry out against the wicked city.
v. 13. O thou that dwellest upon many waters, the Euphrates with all its tributary canals, irrigation ditches, and swamps being included here, abundant in treasures, both on account of its natural resources and on account of the plunder which had been amassed in the city, thine end is come and the measure of thy covetousness, for there would be no more unjust enrichment through robbery and plunder after the fall of the city.
v. 14. The Lord of hosts hath sworn by Himself, by His own soul or life, saying, Surely I will fill thee with men as with caterpillars, rather, "Have I filled thee with men as with locusts?" and they shall lift up a shout against thee, that is, numerous as the people of Babylon were, the invaders would be more numerous and would sing a "Hedad," the shout of the vine-dressers, the song of slaughter, upon the city.
v. 15. He hath made the earth by His power, He hath established the world by His wisdom, and hath stretched out the heaven by His understanding.
v. 16. When He uttereth His voice, there is a multitude of waters in the heavens, and He causeth the vapors to ascend from the ends of the earth; He maketh lightnings with rain and bringeth forth the wind out of His treasures.
v. 17. Every man is brutish by his knowledge; every founder is confounded by the graven image; for his molten image is falsehood, and there is no breath in them.
v. 18. They are vanity, the work of errors; in the time of their visitation they shall perish.
v. 19. The Portion of Jacob is not like them; for He is the Former of all things, and Israel is the rod of His inheritance; the Lord of hosts is His name. This paragraph is repeated from chapter 10:12-16, where the prophet described the almighty power of the living God and pointed to the destruction of the idols at the time of the great judgment. In chapter 10 he intended to combat the fear of the idolatrous people concerning the power of the heathen gods; here he wants to overthrow the confidence of the Chaldeans in their idols, telling them that their gods are powerless before the omnipotence of Jehovah, and that Israel would realize this fact when the judgment would be brought about. By the overthrow of Babylon, Jehovah proved Himself to be the Creator of Israel, the Former of the universe, the one true God. The next paragraph is addressed to Babylon, as the "hammer of nations," 50:23, and the narrative ought to be given in the present or in the past tense, as a prophetic statement.
v. 20. Thou art My battle-ax, a hammer, a club used for total destruction, and weapons of war, all instruments of warfare being comprehended in this term; for with thee will I break in pieces the nations, and with thee will I destroy kingdoms, Jehovah had, in fact, used Babylon to overthrow nations;
v. 21. and with thee will I break in pieces the horse and his rider, and with thee will I break in pieces the chariot and his rider, the armies of the enemies with all their divisions;
v. 22. with thee also will I break in pieces man and woman, and with thee will I break in pieces old and young, and with thee will I break in pieces the young man and the maid, every age and every station;
v. 23. I will also break in pieces with thee the shepherd and his flock; and with thee will I break in pieces the husbandman and his yoke of oxen, all the laboring classes; and with thee will I break in pieces captains and rulers, the highest dignitaries of the realm. But at the same time the hammer would itself be overthrown, both actions taking place at the same time in the sight of the eternal God.
v. 24. And I will render unto Babylon and to all the inhabitants of Chaldea all their evil that they have done in Zion in your sight, before the eyes of the Jews, when they defiled the Lord’s Sanctuary, saith the Lord.
v. 25. Behold, I am against thee, O destroying mountain, saith the Lord, Babylon called thus on account of the physical and moral destruction which it brought upon the nations by a false use of its great power, which destroyest all the earth; and I will stretch out Mine hand upon thee and roll thee down from the rocks, which it occupied, as it were, in its position on the summit of the mountains above all nations, and will make thee a burnt mountain, a volcano extinct on account of having its substance devoured by fire, so that it could no more serve as a rock-foundation for further, kingdoms of destruction.
v. 26. And they shall not take of thee a stone for a corner nor a stone for foundations; but thou shalt be desolate forever, saith the Lord, perpetual ruins. The great mass of materials of which Babylon was built to this day are lying more or less decomposed in the mountains of rubbish which mark the site of the once magnificent city. Thus the word of the Lord was fulfilled with its usual exactness.
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 General Information:
General Information:
Jeremiah often wrote prophecy in the form of poetry. Hebrew poetry uses different kinds of parallelism. (See: Poetry and Parallelism)
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See
This draws attention to what is said next. AT: "Listen carefully" or "Pay attention"
a wind of destruction
Possible meanings are 1) "a wind that destroys" or 2) "the spirit of a destroyer." This would mean that Yahweh would cause or inspire the enemy army to go and attack Babylon.
Leb Kamai
This is code name for Chaldea, a region of Babylonia. It is not clear why Jeremiah uses this name here, so you may want to translate as "Chaldea" or "Babylonia." (See: How to Translate Names)
scatter her and devastate her land ... they will come against her
The word "her," a metaphor that refers to Babylon as if it were a woman, is also a metonym for the people who live in Babylon. AT: "separate the people who live there from each other, send them in different directions, and make their land empty ... foreigners will attack the people of Babylon" (See: Metaphor and Metonymy)
on the day of disaster
The phrase "day of" is a Hebrew idiom for "when." AT: "when I destroy Babylon" (See: Idiom)
translationWords
Yahweh
Babylon
life
send
alien
devastate
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 51:1-2 The destroyer selected by the Lord was Persia,…
51:1-2 The destroyer selected by the Lord was Persia, led by Cyrus, who came against Babylon in 539 BC.
Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.