Jeremiah 50:11-20

B. Babylon's Desolation and Israel's Restoration Jeremiah 50:11-20

TRANSLATION

(11) Because you laugh, because you rejoice, O plunderer of My heritage, because you scamper about like a heifer in the grass and you neigh like mighty horses (12) your mother shall utterly be put to shame, she that bore you shall be embarrassed. Behold, the last of nations, a wilderness, a dry land, a desert. (13) Because of the wrath of the LORD she shall not be inhabited. All of it shall be a desolation; every one who passes by shall be astonished, shall whistle because of all her wounds. (14) Set your. selves in array round about, all you bowmen! Shoot against her! Do not spare an arrow; for she has sinned against the LORD. (15) Shout against her round about! She has put forth her hand. Her bulwarks have fallen; her walls are broken down; for it is the vengeance of the LORD. Take vengeance upon her! As she has done, do to her. (16) Cut off the sower from Babylon and the one who holds the sickle in the time of harvest. From before the sword of the oppressor each man shall turn to his people, yea, each man shall flee to his land. (17) A scattered sheep is Israel. Lions have driven him away. First, the king of Assyria devoured him; now at last Nebuchadnezzar has crushed his bones. (18) Therefore, thus says the LORD of hosts, God of Israel: I am about to punish the king of Babylon and his land as I have punished the king of Assyria. (19) And I will cause Israel to return unto his habitation and he will graze on Carmel and Bashan, and on the mountains of Ephraim and Gilead he shall satisfy his soul. (20) In those days and in that time (oracle of the LORD) the iniquity of Israel shall be sought but there shall be none, the sin of Judah but it shall not be found; for I will pardon those that I leave as a remnant.

COMMENTS

The Chaldeans discharged their office as chastiser of Israel with arrogant and malicious joy. The satisfaction which they received in plundering Jerusalem is compared to a heifer calf frisking about the threshing floor eating her fill. Like strong stallions which neigh in triumph and challenge, the Chaldeans raise a loud and boastful cry after they have subdued Jerusalem (Jeremiah 50:11). But God has taken note of the arrogant amusement of the Chaldean conquerors and has decreed that the mother of Babylon (i.e., the land of Babylonia) shall be utterly put to shame and confounded. Proud Babylon shall become the very least of nationsa wilderness, a dry land, a barren desert (Jeremiah 50:12). She shall experience the wrath of the God of Israel; she shall be utterly uninhabited. Visitors to the ruined city will be astonished by the desolation which marks the spot (Jeremiah 50:13).

The prophet next turns to the attacking armies and in direct address urges them to execute the divine vengeance on Babylon. He urges the nations to put themselves in battle array round about Babylon and unleash their deadly arrows for she has sinned against the Lord (Jeremiah 50:14). No defense of the city will be able to repel the attacking force for this is the vengeance of the Lord. Realizing the futility of further resistance, the Chaldeans give the hand i.e., they surrender to the invader. Subsequently the walls of the famous city are razed and Babylon experiences the same humiliation which she has inflicted on others (Jeremiah 50:15). The agricultural regions of Babylon, famous in antiquity for abundant productivity,[408] will be destroyed by the invader. When Babylon is laid waste, the exiles from all nations flee to their respective lands (Jeremiah 50:16). The picture of the destruction of Babylon in Jeremiah 50:14-16 is a composite which includes prophetic allusions to many different sieges of Babylon. These verses were not entirely fulfilled by the fall of Babylon in 539 B.C. because Cyrus did not raze the walk of the city and he was very careful to spare the rural regions of Babylonia. At least these two elements must point to subsequent sieges of the city.

[408] Herodotus (1. 193) declares that the yield in Babylonia was commonly two hundred-fold and sometimes even three hundred-fold,

In contrast to the devastation that awaits Babylon the prophet points out the glory that Israel shall experience. Hitherto Israel had been a poor, frightened sheep, driven and devoured by two mighty lions, Assyria and Babylonia (Jeremiah 50:17). But the tables are due to be turned. Assyria has already received its chastisement; that of Babylon will not be delayed (Jeremiah 50:18).[409] Then will Israel again feed peaceably on its own pasture both west of Jordan (Carmel; Mt. of Ephraim) and east of Jordan (Bashan; Gilead) where they shall enjoy the spiritual and material blessings of the Lord (Jeremiah 50:19). In the postexilic times God will provide for the remnant of His people, the spiritual Israel of God, absolute forgiveness (Jeremiah 50:20). This verse looks ahead to the cross of Calvary where the Son of God bore the sins of the world. The efficacy of that sacrifice was retroactive to sins committed under the old law as well as sins of the present and future. The remnant of Israel, the spiritual Israel, in both Testaments consists of those who turn to the Lord in faith, repent of their iniquities and obey the commandments of God appropriate to that dispensation of time. Thus Jeremiah 50:20 states the grounds of the promise of restoration in Jeremiah 50:19. God can restore the remnant of Israel to spiritual blessing and prosperity because they have repented; God can pardon this remnant because of what He knows will transpire at Calvary.

[409] Note that it is Nebuchadnezzar who devours Israel but it is the king of Babylon who is punished. This king was Nabonidus, whose son Belshazzar was co-ruler in 539 B.C. when Cyrus conquered the city.