Jeremiah 50:21-28

C. Babylon's Visitation and Israel's Vindication Jeremiah 50:21-28

TRANSLATION

(21) Against the land of Merathaim go up, against the inhabitants of Pekod! Slay and devote her to death (oracle of the LORD). Do according to all which I have commanded you. (22) The sound of battle is in the land and great destruction. (23) How sad that the hammer of all the earth is cut off and shattered! How sad that Babylon has become a desolation among the nations. (24) I laid snares for you, and you have been captured, O Babylon, and are not aware of it. you have been found and you have been caught; for against the LORD you have striven. (25) The LORD shall open His armory and bring out the weapons of His wrath; for it is a work of the Lord GOD of hosts in the land of the Chaldeans. (26) Go up to her from every side! Open her granaries! Pile her up as heaps of grain, utterly destroy her! Leave her no remnant! (27) Slay all her bullocks! Let them go down to the slaughter! Woe unto them; for their day has come, the time of their punishment. (28) Hark! Those who flee and escape from the land of Babylon come to Zion to declare the vengeance of the LORD our God, the vengeance of His Temple.

COMMENTS

Again the adversaries of Babylon are addressed. They are called upon to go up against the land of Merathaim (i.e., double rebellion) and the inhabitants of Pekod (i.e., punishment) and utterly destroy (Jeremiah 50:21).[410] The idea in these two enigmatic designations for Babylon is that God will punish that land because of her excessive rebellion. Following this summons the prophet describes the execution of the commission. He hears the terrible noise of war and destruction in the land (Jeremiah 50:22). How sad it is, he says sarcastically, that the hammer of the whole earth is broken and smashed. Babylon, the instrument which has smashed the whole world into submission, has served its purpose and is now broken. The once proud land has become a desolation among the nations (Jeremiah 50:23).

[410] Some think that Merathaim and Pekod refer to actual districts of Babylonia but the geographical reference seems rather doubtful.

In Jeremiah 50:24 the prophet indicates that the element of secrecy and surprise which excludes all resistance will prevail at the capture of Babylon. Like an unsuspecting beast caught in the snare of the trapper, so has Babylon been captured. The reason for the calamitous fall of the city is that Babylon had striven against the Lord. Babylon had exceeded the bounds of the divine commission to punish the nations and had thus in effect pitted herself against the Lord. The quick and surprising capture of the city will be possible because the Lord of Hosts has opened his armory and brought into use all the means of attack which it affords. Though God uses secondary agents to accomplish his purposes against Babylon that which they do there is the work of God (Jeremiah 50:25).

As the Lord has emptied His arsenal against Babylon so also shall all the storehouses in Babylon be emptied and the contents destroyed. The phrase cast her up as heaps refers to the huge piles of rubble which were left after a city had been totally demolished (Jeremiah 50:26). The doomed warriors of Babylon are compared to sacrificial animals (bullocks) to be slaughtered. Woe unto those armies! The time of their punishment has come, the day of national accountability (Jeremiah 50:27). Meanwhile the Jewish captives shall hasten to Zion to proclaim the good news that the Lord has executed vengeance upon the enemies of His people. The destruction of God's Temple has been avenged! (Jeremiah 50:28). Israel has been vindicated by the divine visitation upon Babylon.