Jeremiah 50:1 to Jeremiah 51:58 (LXX. Chs. 27, 28). Prophecy against Babylon This long and vehement prophecy, though forming a member of the group with which we have been dealing (see introd. note on chs. 46 51), stands in a somewhat different position in view of the fact that recent commentators a... [ Continue Reading ]
_and set up a standard; publish_ The LXX omit. Cp. for the "standard" Isaiah 13:2 (R.V. "ensign") as the probable origin of the expression here. It was to be a signal either to attract attention or as a point of _rendez-vous_. _Bel_ properly _lord_, apparently to be distinguished here from Merodach... [ Continue Reading ]
_out of the north_ characteristic of Jeremiah, but meaning with him first the Scythians and then the Babylonians, whereas the Persians are here meant. _they are fled, etc_.] Cp. Jeremiah 9:10.... [ Continue Reading ]
The overthrow of Babylon shall be the signal for the deliverance and penitent return of the re-united people of God. Cp. Jeremiah 3:12; Jeremiah 3:18; Jeremiah 3:21-25, and elsewhere.... [ Continue Reading ]
_thitherward_ Heb. _hitherward_, shewing that the writer was himself in Palestine.... [ Continue Reading ]
_they have turned them away on the mountains_ The consonants of the MT. should be rendered _on the seducing_or _apostate mountains_, but the variant (as in E.VV.) is probably right. It may refer to idolatrous worship, the mountains furnishing its favourite seats. But it is perhaps better to make the... [ Continue Reading ]
_We offend not We are not guilty_. Cp. Jeremiah 2:3. The enemy's plea is, Israel is no longer holy to the Lord, and thus it is no sacrilege, though we devour her. _the habitation of justice_ apparently taken from Jeremiah 31:23, where, however, the expression is used of Jerusalem. See note there.... [ Continue Reading ]
Having told of the repentance of Israel, and of their sufferings in the land of exile, the prophet now calls upon them to set out upon their return. Cp. Isaiah 48:20. _be as the he-goats_ who press to the front of the flock. So be ye the first of the exiled nations to leave before the crash comes.... [ Continue Reading ]
_an assembly of great nations_ such as Ararat, Minni, Ashkenaz. Cp. Jeremiah 51:27 f. _an expert mighty man_ better than the mg. _a mighty man that maketh childless_. In the Heb. the two readings differ by the position of a dot. _none shall return_ Rightly mg. THAT RETURNETH NOT. _in vain_ empty-... [ Continue Reading ]
Chaldaea shall be spoiled, because it rejoices in spoiling Israel.... [ Continue Reading ]
_an heifer_ LXX render _calves_, which is better. _that treadeth out_the corn] mg. _at grass_, vocalising (with LXX) the Hebrew differently. The cattle were without muzzles when treading the corn (Deuteronomy 25:4). _neigh_ See on Jeremiah 8:16.... [ Continue Reading ]
_your mother_ Babylon, as mother of the individual citizens. Cp. Hosea 2:2; Hosea 2:5. _a wilderness … a desert_ Cp. Jeremiah 2:6; Jeremiah 51:43.... [ Continue Reading ]
Cp. chs. Jeremiah 18:16; Jeremiah 19:8; Jeremiah 25:9; Jeremiah 25:11; Jeremiah 49:17, with notes. _be inhabited_ See on Jeremiah 17:25.... [ Continue Reading ]
Cp. Isaiah 13:16-22, specially Jeremiah 50:18.... [ Continue Reading ]
_submitted herself_ lit. as mg. _given her hand_. Cp. Genesis 24:2; Genesis 47:29; 2 Kings 10:15; 1 Chronicles 29:24 (mg.); 2 Chronicles 30:8 (mg.); Ezra 10:19; Lamentations 5:6. Cp. also the Latin _manus dare_.... [ Continue Reading ]
_Cut off the sower from Babylon_ Agricultural labour ceases, and foreign residents flee to their homes. Cp. Jeremiah 51:9; Isaiah 13:14. But it is perhaps better to make the reference to be to slaves or hired foreign labourers.... [ Continue Reading ]
The people of God are like a stray sheep, driven hither and thither and preyed upon by savage beasts. _first the king of Assyria, etc_.] in deporting the Northern tribes. _and last … bones_ The people, weakened by the captivity of the Ten Tribes, have afterwards had the feeble remnant of their str... [ Continue Reading ]
Assyria has already paid the penalty for its cruelty towards the people of God. Such too shall be the fate of Babylon. _pasture_ her own fertile country, Palestine. Cf. Micah 7:14. The parts of the land mentioned are those which were most productive. _soul_ as the seat of appetite. Cp. Jeremiah 31... [ Continue Reading ]
_In those days, and in that time, etc_.] See on ch. Jeremiah 23:5 and cp. Jeremiah 31:34; Micah 7:18. _whom I leave_ those who come forth at the end out of the long tribulation.... [ Continue Reading ]
Merathaim is probably the Babylonian _Marrâtim_, the land by the _nar Marrâtu_(meaning _bitter river_) in S. Babylonia. To the Hebrew ear, however, the word suggests either _Double_(i.e. intensified) _rebellion_(so mg.) or _Double bitterness_(the sense which the LXX saw in the word). _even against... [ Continue Reading ]
_the hammer_ For the figure cp. Jeremiah 23:29, and for its application to Babylon Jeremiah 51:20-23. Cp. for the title, as given in later days, Charles _Martel_(hammer), who was grandfather of Charles the Great, and conquered the Saracens in a decisive battle at Tours in 732 a.d., and Edward I of E... [ Continue Reading ]
_the weapons of his indignation_ used also in Isaiah 13:5 of the nations who unconsciously discharge God's bidding in war.... [ Continue Reading ]
_from the utmost border_ better, as mg. _from every quarter_. Heb. lit. "from the end." _storehouses_ better, as mg. _granaries_. _cast her up as heaps_ "her" meaning the whole contents of the city, including the piled up treasures of grain. _destroy her utterly_ See mg. and cp. Deuteronomy 13:15... [ Continue Reading ]
_her bullocks_ her choice youths, the flower of her army. Cp. for the figure Isaiah 34:7. For the expression "go down to the slaughter" cp. Jeremiah 48:15, and for "the time of their visitation" Jeremiah 46:21.... [ Continue Reading ]
_them that flee_ the liberated Jews. _the vengeance of his temple_ the requital for having burned it in their final capture of Jerusalem. Cp. Jeremiah 51:11.... [ Continue Reading ]
_the archers_ This is no doubt right, as against mg. _many_. Cp. Jeremiah 50:14. _proud_ PRESUMPTUOUS.... [ Continue Reading ]
Repeated from Jeremiah 49:26.... [ Continue Reading ]
_O thou proud one … the proud one_ Heb. as mg. (_O Pride_and _Pride_respectively), applied as a proper name to Babylon. With these _vv_. cp. Jeremiah 21:13 f.... [ Continue Reading ]
_hold … refuse_ The Babylonian oppressors act like Pharaoh of old.... [ Continue Reading ]
_redeemer_ The Heb. is _Goel_, the title of the near kinsman, to whom according to Jewish law belonged the duty of revenging a murder, as well as that of advocate and general protector. In like manner the Lord is about to rescue His people and take vengeance upon their foe. _may give rest to the ea... [ Continue Reading ]
_boasters_ better than mg. _boastings_. The reference is to prophets and diviners who promised permanent empire to Babylon. _dote_ The same word is rendered _are foolish_in Jeremiah 5:4.... [ Continue Reading ]
_the mingled people_ foreign mercenary troops. See on Jeremiah 25:20.... [ Continue Reading ]
_A drought_ The Heb. words for _drought_and _sword_(differing by one vowel only, _ḥôreb, ḥereb_) are sufficiently alike to make it quite possible that here as at the beginning of the two previous verses the latter should be read. In that case _sword_is thought to be used figuratively in reference to... [ Continue Reading ]
_wolves_ or perhaps jackals, lit. _howling creatures_(as mg.).... [ Continue Reading ]
These _vv_. closely resemble Isaiah 13:19-22.... [ Continue Reading ]
_a people_ the Persians. See reference in mg. _from the north_ Cp. Jeremiah 50:9.... [ Continue Reading ]
A repetition, with the necessary changes, of Jeremiah 6:22-24, where Jerusalem is the object of the threat. See notes there.... [ Continue Reading ]
_like a lion_ no longer Nebuchadnezzar (Jeremiah 49:19) but Cyrus.... [ Continue Reading ]
Adapted from Jeremiah 49:19-21 (where see notes), what is there said of Edom being here applied to Babylon.... [ Continue Reading ]
_At the noise of the taking of Babylon_ rather, _At the tidings_(viz. that) _Babylon is taken_. _among the nations_ no longer merely to the Red Sea (as in Jeremiah 49:21).... [ Continue Reading ]