Peter Pett's Commentary on the Bible
Jeremiah 50:21-32
YHWH Calls On The Nations To Fulfil His Will As Regards Babylon (Jeremiah 50:21).
We should note here how personal God's involvement is seen to be in the judgment coming on Babylon. It is in accordance with His commands (Jeremiah 50:22). It is He Who has laid a snare for, and has ensnared Babylon (Jeremiah 50:24). It is He Who has opened His armoury and brought forth His weapons (Jeremiah 50:25). It is He Who is against them and it is the time of His visitation (Jeremiah 50:31). It is He Who kindles a fire in their cities (Jeremiah 50:32). It is He Who gives rest to the earth and disquiet to the inhabitants of Babylon (Jeremiah 50:34). This is a reminder of the fact that while it might sometimes not outwardly appear so, God is in control of history. Nothing happens outside His cognisance, and all will eventually work out in accordance with His will.
“Go up against the land of Merathaim,
Even against it, and against the inhabitants of Pekod,
Slay and utterly destroy after them,
The word of YHWH,
And do according to all that I have commanded you.
A sound of battle is in the land,
And of great destruction.”
YHWH's command to the nations is that they ‘go up against the land of Merathaim, even against it and the inhabitants of Pekod'. The two together are probably intended to indicate the whole of Babylonia. There was a region in southern Babylonia near the mouth of the Tigris and Euphrates called ‘Nar Marratu', a name which means ‘bitter river'. It may be that Merathaim, which means ‘twofold rebellion' or ‘two rebellions' is a deliberate word play on the name Marratu indicating a land that was in total rebellion against YHWH. Alternatively the writer may simply be indicating by the name that Babylonia was a ‘land of double rebellion' against YHWH. Instead of being ‘the land of two rivers', as it was popularly known, it had become ‘the land of two rebellions'. Pekod, which means ‘punishment' or ‘visitation', was the name of a small Aramean tribe east of the lower Tigris (see Ezekiel 23:23), mentioned in Assyrian records as Puqudu. It thus indicated that YHWH Himself was ‘visiting' Babylonia to carry out His will against it. So the two name are probably intended to indicate the whole of Babylonia, being chosen because of the significance of the names, indicating a land in total rebellion against YHWH which was being visited by Him.
It is made clear that the armies of the nations who come against Babylonia are under YHWH's command. They are to slay and utterly destroy (cherem - ‘devote to destruction, devote to YHWH') in the way that YHWH has commanded them. And this will result in the sound of battle in the land and great destruction. The fact that Babylon itself was spared destruction due to the clever strategy of Cyrus' general does not alter the fact of how much Babylonia as a whole suffered. The land was filled with the sound of battle. Violence was everywhere. Babylon itself would experience its total destruction under a later Persian king, Xerxes.
“How is the hammer of the whole earth cut asunder and broken!
How is Babylon become a desolation among the nations!
I have laid a snare for you, and you are also taken, O Babylon,
And you were not aware,
You are found, and also caught,
Because you have striven against YHWH.”
YHWH here, as it were, exults over the fact that He has caught Babylonia in a cleverly laid snare, one of which they had not been aware. In spite of their pride in themselves as ‘the hammer of the whole earth' they have been taken by surprise. He has proved to be cleverer than they. In consequence, even though they were ‘the hammer of the whole earth', they have been cut asunder and broken. How the mighty have fallen. The nation of Babylon has become a desolation among the nations. And this because they had striven against YHWH. ‘The hammer of the whole earth' had come up against YHWH's word, which was itself the ‘hammer which breaks the rock in pieces' (Jeremiah 23:29). And YHWH's word would prevail.
Babylon is paralleled by the growing secularism of our day. That too sees itself as conquering the whole world with its ideas. But it too will come under the hammer of God.
“YHWH has opened his armoury,
And he has brought forth the weapons of his indignation,
For the Lord, YHWH of hosts, has a work,
In the land of the Chaldeans.”
We are left in no doubt that this was to be seen directly as YHWH's doing. He Himself had opened His armoury and brought forth therefrom the weapons of His anger, which were to be found in the armouries of many nations. And this was because as the Sovereign Lord, YHWH of the hosts of heaven and earth, He had a work to accomplish in the land of the Chaldeans. He wanted it left in no doubt as to Who was responsible for the destruction of this evil empire in accordance with its deserts.
“Come against her from the furthest border,
Open her store-houses,
Cast her up as heaps, and destroy her utterly,
Let nothing of her be left (literally ‘let there be no remnant').
Slay all her bullocks,
Let them go down to the slaughter,
Woe to them! for their day is come,
The time of their visitation.”
The fate of Babylonia was to be total and complete. The enemy would come from her furthest borders, they would open up her granaries and empty them, they would ravage the country leaving no remnant. This last in direct contrast with the remnant of Israel who would be left who would be pardoned by YHWH (Jeremiah 50:20). Here there would be none who would seek pardon. All would come under judgment.
All her livestock would be slain, or alternatively all her choicest sons, portrayed as bullocks (compare Jeremiah 50:8; Jeremiah 51:40; Psalms 22:12; Isaiah 34:7; Ezekiel 39:18). Her people would go down to the slaughter (compare Jeremiah 48:15). It was the day that was coming on them, the day of woe. It was the time when their sins would be visited on them in the day of God's visitation. The whole passage is a constant reminder that in the end God calls sin into account.
“The voice of those who flee,
And escape out of the land of Babylon,
To declare in Zion the vengeance of YHWH our God,
The vengeance of his temple.”
Escaping refugees would arrive in Palestine from Babylonia acting as heralds, declaring that YHWH had at last exacted His vengeance on Babylonia (compare Ezekiel 33:21). The destruction of YHWH's Temple, which to an Israelite would have been seen as one of the most devastating moments in Israel's history, and one which had seemed inexplicable, had been avenged.
So those of His people who had heeded YHWH's warning and had taken the opportunity to flee from Babylon (Jeremiah 50:8) would arrive in Palestine and declare in Zion that YHWH their God had indeed taken His vengeance. He had avenged the destruction of His Temple. To a people to whom the Temple had meant everything, and who had been unable to comprehend how YHWH could allow His Temple to be destroyed, this would mean so much. It would be clear that YHWH was triumphant after all.
We must recognise that the invasion of Babylon would, for the first time, have enabled those who would to flee from it. The restrictions which had previously been placed on them would no longer have been binding. So this may well have been the initial returning of refugees, prior to the more official one which would follow (Ezra 1:1). They were the firstfruits. But the emphasis here is not so much on the returning of the refugees, but on the exacting by YHWH of His vengeance on those who had sinned against Him. It had taken 48 years (587 BC to 539 BC), but it had come at last.
“Call together the archers against Babylon,
All those who bend the bow,
Encamp against her round about,
Let none from her escape,
Recompense her according to her work,
According to all that she has done, do to her,
For she has been proud against YHWH,
Against the Holy One of Israel,
Therefore will her young men fall in her streets,
And all her men of war will be brought to silence in that day,
The word of YHWH.”
Once again we are given a vivid picture of the final investment. The archers are brought together to rain death on Babylon (see Jeremiah 50:9; Jeremiah 50:14). The armies encamp round about her. She is to receive full recompense for what she has done. As she has done, so will be done to her (compare Jeremiah 50:15). And this is because she has exalted herself against YHWH, against the very ‘Holy One of Israel'. This use of a title common in Isaiah but rare elsewhere (only twice in Jeremiah) emphasises what is at stake. The uniqueness of YHWH in His holiness and righteousness is being set against the background of the debased attitudes and behaviour of His enemies, and especially against the background of her ‘pride' as she exalts herself against God, a pride revealed by her promulgation of idolatry and all its evil accompaniments such as sorcery, enchantments, witchcraft, astrology, penetration of the unseen world, etc. (see Isaiah 47:9; Isaiah 47:12). They have opposed His holiness and His righteousness. Now they will receive what is their due. That is why her young men will fall in the streets, and all her men of war will be silenced. And this is the word of YHWH.
In the event the initial taking of Babylon was far milder than this. Of course there was inevitably death and destruction, and many would die as the city was initially invested before it was taken, but by diverting the Euphrates Cyrus' general was able to enter the city along the river bed almost unopposed. The need for water always made cities vulnerable (compare 2 Samuel 5:8). And thus the city was taken by surprise, and mercy shown to its inhabitants, many of whom actually welcomed the invaders as preferable to Nabonidus and Belshazzar, who were seen as blasphemers because of their attitude towards Babylon's chief god, Marduk. We have an interesting cameo of the last night of the siege in Daniel 5. But the relief was only temporary. In the days of Xerxes the final destruction would take place. God does not always exact all His judgments at once. He gives men time to think over their position and repent.
We must not stop short at just thinking of ancient Babylon. The message is relevant to all ages. It is the case of the world in its pride in opposition to God, and is a reminder that in the end God will prevail with His remnant. To the prophets Babylon represented man's pride, man's greed and man's false ideas. Its destruction was therefore necessary. Note especially the emphasis on Babylon's pride in the following verses. Indeed she is ‘the Proud one'.
“Behold, I am against you, O you proud one,
The word of the Lord, YHWH of hosts,
For your day is come,
The time that I will visit you.
And the proud one will stumble and fall,
And none will raise him up,
And I will kindle a fire in his cities,
And it will devour all who are round about him.”
Babylon is not only proud in the general sense but is also ‘proud against YHWH' (Jeremiah 50:30). It is thus here given the name of PROUD (translated above as ‘you proud one'). Note how it is contrasted with ‘sovereign Lord' in an expansion of the usual phrase ‘word of YHWH', and contrasts with the previous reference to ‘the Holy One of Israel'. Babylon is a religious usurper. But now its day has come and it is to be ‘visited' in judgment (see also Jeremiah 50:27). Then he who is so proud will stumble and fall (see Proverbs 16:18), and ‘none will raise him up'. He will be left to himself with no one willing to come to his aid. Furthermore all his daughter cities will be put to the torch, so that all who are round about him will be devoured. Putting their trust in Babylon would prove their downfall.
Compare here Jeremiah 21:13 where similar things were threatened against Judah. All come under similar judgment in the end, whether rampant secularism, or perverted religion. Babylon will receive what she had brought upon others.