Jeremiah 50:1-64

YHWH's Judgment On Babylon And His Promises Concerning The Restoration Of The Remnant Of His People (Jeremiah 50:1 to Jeremiah 51:64).

The series of prophecies against the nations had commenced with the prophecy against Egypt, the greatest nation of the area south of the Euphrates. It now finishes with a declaration of judgment against mighty Babylon, which at this time towered over the nations of the whole area. It was also the centre of all that was seen as debauched and debased, it magnified wealth, it engaged in all forms of idolatry and its connected features, and it was glorified by the pagan world. It is representative of much of civilisation today. Geographically Babylon was situated in the area that is now southern Iraq. At the same time, however, alongside the judgments on Babylon is the fact that the restoration of God's people is assured. It is always God's aim to bring His people out of ‘Babylon' to a place where they worship Him truly.

It must be recognised, as is clear from Isaiah's prophecy, that Babylon was seen as more than just a powerful nation that arose and fell over this period. Rather to Israel it had symbolised all that was in rebellion against God from the beginning. It was the great anti-God city which had commenced its rebellion against God at the time of Nimrod and of the tower of Babel (Babylon) as far back as Genesis 10:10; Genesis 11:1. It had led the incursion into Palestine in the time of Abraham (Genesis 14:1 - Shinar = Babylon). And it would shortly underline its invidious position by its destruction of the Temple of YHWH, an act which would have so appalled all Israelites, that it would have been seen as confirming that Babylon was the great Anti-God. While not always independent its splendour and magnificence was renowned throughout the area, a symbol of all that was worldly and debauched. It contained over fifty temples to various gods, was at one stage 200 square miles in size, being built on both sides of the Euphrates, and had huge walls, containing 250 towers, along the top of which chariots could drive. Alexander the Great intended to make it the capital of his empire. Thus the fall of Babylon represented not only the cessation of a great empire, but the destruction of all that was anti-God from the beginning of recorded time. That is why prophecies against it always have such prominence. It was not just literal but symbolic. And it is significant that here in Jeremiah its judgment occupies almost as much space as the remainder of the prophecies against foreign nation put together. It is an indication that YHWH will not only restore His people, but will also finally deal with all that is ‘Anti-God'.

Thus while Jeremiah had earlier counselled submission to Babylon (e.g. Jeremiah 29:5), seen as God's instrument of chastening, it had always been in the light of the coming ultimate destruction of Babylon, and the final restoration of Israel, which are the subjects of what follows. YHWH's purposes would finally prevail.

It should be noted that unless we dogmatically assert that predictive prophecy is impossible, there are no grounds for refusing to attribute these prophecies to Jeremiah. There are indications of his style, and, as is revealed by his letters, he was sufficiently cognisant of what was going on in Babylon to be able to speak of it with some knowledge.

One last word should be said here. The importance of these Chapter s lies precisely in what Babylon represented, something which is equally prevalent in the world today. Babylon turned men's thoughts to the supernatural world which was antagonistic to God, to entering the psychic world; it turned men's minds to the desire for building up great wealth; it raised in men's hearts thoughts of great pride and greed. The condemnation of Babylon is therefore a condemnation of all these things. That is one of its major messages for us today. If we shy away from the continuing threats being made against Babylon, we overlook the fact that God is equally vehement in His condemnation of all these traits in our world today. Every verse of these next two Chapter s should hammer into us the message, ‘God will call all things into account, and here is the evidence'.