Jeremiah 51:52-53

A Further Prophecy Of The Destruction Of Babylon And Its Gods (Jeremiah 51:52).

Note the similarity of these words with Jeremiah 51:47. The repetition brings out the importance and certainty of what is said. YHWH will execute judgment on the graven images of Babylon, bringing them into disrepute and shaming them utterly. Their gods would be shown up as helpless. That the destruction of Babylon would bring Bel/Marduk into disrepute was also the view of Nebuchadrezzar, for when speaking of the great walls which he had built, he stated, ‘to make more difficult the attack of an enemy against Imgur Bel, the indestructible wall of Babylon, I constructed a bulwark like a mountain'. He knew that as Babylon's protective ‘wall' Bel would have to take the shame of its defeat.

Furthermore the whole land of Babylonia was to be filled with the groans of the wounded. None of their gods would do them any good (each city would have its own gods). Why even though Babylon should mount up to Heaven it would not save her. There is a probable reference her to Genesis 11:4 in respect of the city and tower of Babel whose ‘top was unto Heaven'. Compare the similar hint in Jeremiah 51:8. So very much in Jeremiah's mind was Babylon as antagonistic to YHWH from the beginning of history, the great anti-God city. But all its attempts to make impregnable defences would prove in vain. For the destroyers who came against her would be from YHWH.

Jeremiah 51:52

“Wherefore, behold, the days come,

The word of YHWH,

That I will execute judgment on her graven images,

And throughout all her land,

The wounded will groan.

Though Babylon should mount up to heaven,

And though she should fortify the height of her strength,

Yet from me will destroyers come to her,

The word of YHWH.”

Compare for the beginning Jeremiah 51:47. Once more the prophetic word of YHWH declares judgment on the gods of Babylon which are but ‘graven images'. The humbling of Babylonia was to be the humbling of these images, and a revealing of them for what they were. We must not underestimate the effect of these words on the people of Jeremiah's day. To us they were long forgotten idols. To the people of Jeremiah's day they had great significance. Besides being huge and awe-inspiring they could be seen as the foundation of the might of Babylon, and they sustained a huge culture of soothsayers, magicians, enchanters, astrologers, stargazers, prognosticators and religious wise men (Isaiah 47:9), all at the service of the king and of Babylon. But the defeat, and finally the destruction, of Babylon would bring the whole into disrepute.

‘Throughout all her land the wounded (literally those who have been pierced) will groan.' The graven images will have proved unable to prevent the slaughter of its people, and the large number of dying wounded arising from the invasion. And this would be so whatever attempts (like that of Nebuchadrezzar above) were made to protect Babylon. Another attempt to mount up to Heaven would do her no good, and all her great fortifications would be in vain. For the destroyers who came against her would be from YHWH. And this was the assured word of YHWH.