Jeremiah 50:14-16

The Call For Its Destruction (Jeremiah 50:14).

In view of the heinousness of her sins God will exact vengeance on Babylon, by exacting from her what she has exacted from others. And this was not only a message to Babylon, but to all who overrode others. Today it is a warning to all whose main interest is in secularism, self-interest and wealth that one day God will call them to account for their failure to listen to His voice.

Jeremiah 50:14

“Set yourselves in array against Babylon round about,

All you who bend the bow,

Shoot at her, spare no arrows,

For she has sinned against YHWH,

Shout against her round about,

She has submitted herself,

Her bulwarks are fallen, her walls are thrown down,

For it is the vengeance of YHWH,

Take vengeance on her,

As she has done, do to her.”

The invading armies are called on to surround Babylon, setting themselves in array against her, giving out warlike cries against her, whilst the archers are called on to pour in arrows on her in large numbers. And this because she and her inhabitants have sinned against YHWH. It is the vengeance of YHWH. For they are accountable for what they have done to His people. The consequence is then seen. Her bulwarks fall, her walls are thrown down. And this is because YHWH is taking vengeance on her on behalf of all against whom she has sinned. What she has done to others will now be done to her (compare Psalms 137:8). It is a reminder that, in the end, all, however great, come under YHWH's judgment.

When Cyrus the Persian took Babylon his general did so by his troops diverting the river and entering the city along the dried up river bed. The main buildings were preserved, and in line with his policy (which also resulted in the restoration of official worship at Jerusalem) the national gods were restored to prominence and the new year festival became once more prominent (both had suffered decline under Nabonidus and Belshazzar). It would be later under Xerxes that the city was finally destroyed in accordance with Jeremiah's prophecy.

‘She has submitted herself.' Literally, ‘she has given her hand' in submission. Compare the use of the phrase in Ezra 10:19; 1 Chronicles 29:24; 2 Chronicles 30:8; Lamentations 5:6.

Jeremiah 50:16

“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 turn every one to his people,

And they will flee every one to his own land.”

The idea of the sower and the sickle-bearer being cut off is an indication of hard times ahead when all fruitfulness will cease. There will be no joy in harvest, for there will be no harvesters. They will have been slaughtered. This was an inevitable consequence of long term invasion, but few had thought that it would ever happen to Babylon. But now it would. Babylon would find itself under siege, with food supplies growing short. Yet there would still be time for people to flee as the invading armies approached.

For Babylon was a centre to which people flocked from many nations in order to enjoy its way of life, a life of luxury, idolatry and debauchery, and in order to engage in trade (see Isaiah 47:15). Now the fear of what was coming through ‘the oppressing sword' would cause them to desert the city and return to their own peoples and to their own lands. Babylon would find herself forsaken by her erstwhile friends. The way of the transgressor is always hard in the end.