Jeremiah 51:27-33

III. THE DOOM OF BABYLON Jeremiah 51:27-58

The third section of the Babylon oracle which begins in Jeremiah 51:27 emphasizes the final doom of Babylon. The attack of the enemy is again described in vivid detail (Jeremiah 51:27-33). Israel lodges a complaint before God concerning their treatment at the hands of Nebuchadnezzar. The Lord acknowledges their complaint and assures His distressed people that Babylon will be punished for her crimes (Jeremiah 51:34-40). Babylon's demolition will mean Israel's liberation (Jeremiah 51:41-46); Babylon's retribution, Israel's return (Jeremiah 51:47-53). To all of this is added a final pronouncement against Babylon (Jeremiah 51:54-58).

A. The Attack of the Enemy Jeremiah 51:27-33

TRANSLATION

(27) Lift up a standard in the land! Blow the trumpet among the nations: Sanctify against her nations! Summon against her the kingdoms of Ararat, Minni, and Ashkenaz! Appoint over her a captain! Bring up horses like hairy locusts! (28) Sanctify against her nations, the kings of Media and her governors, and leaders and all the land of their dominion. (29) Then the land shall tremble and writhe, for the purposes of the LORD against Babylon stand to make the land of Babylon a desolation without inhabitant. (30) The mighty men of Babylon have ceased to fight; they sit in the strongholds; their strength has failed; they act like women. Her dwelling places are ablaze, her bars are broken. (31) Runner shall run to meet runner, messenger to meet messenger, to declare to the king of Babylon that his city is captured from one end to the other (32) and the passages have been seized, the reeds burned, and the men of war are terrified. (33) For thus says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel: The daughter of Babylon is like a threshing floor at the time it is being trampled upon; yet a little while and the time of harvest shall have come to her.

COMMENTS

Once again in this oracle the Lord calls upon the nations to make preparations for the final onslaught against Babylon. The standard and the trumpet were means of gathering and directing the operations of great hosts of men in antiquity (cf. Jeremiah 50:2; Jeremiah 51:12). Prepare i.e., consecrate or sanctify (ASV mar) the nations against her. It was the custom in that time to begin every war with sacred rites in which the soldiers consecrated themselves to the deity. The campaign against Babylon is viewed throughout this oracle as a holy war because it has to do with a work of the Lord (Jeremiah 50:25) and the vengeance of His sanctuary (Jeremiah 50:28). Ararat, Minni and Ashkenaz, located in present-day Armenia, were the northern allies of the Medes. The word translated marshal is an Assyrian word denoting a high military officer, perhaps an enlisting or mustering officer. The cavalry which would play such an important role in the conquest of Babylon is compared to a plague of locusts (cankerworm, ASV). The meaning of the word translated rough is unknown (Jeremiah 51:27). Led by the rulers of the Medes (Jeremiah 51:28) the vast army marches southward toward Babylon causing the land to tremble and be in pain at the news of their approach. God has determined to make the land of Babylon a desolation without inhabitant and that divine purpose is about to be fulfilled (Jeremiah 51:29).

The prophet turns his gaze to what is happening among the defenders of Babylon. At the approach of the enemy host the Babylonian soldiers become panic-stricken. Cowardice makes them withdraw into the strong fortification where they helplessly watch the bars and gates battered down and the dwelling places burned (Jeremiah 51:30). From every quarter Of the city the messengers hasten to the royal palace with the news that the city has fallen to the enemy (Jeremiah 51:31). The enemy has seized the passages across the river Euphrates[416] which ran through the city thus cutting off all hope of escape. The reedy swamps around Babylon are put to the torch both to cut off escape and to burn out fugitives who might have sought refuge there[417] (Jeremiah 51:32). But how can Jeremiah speak so confidently of the demise of Babylon which in his day was at the zenith of power? Jeremiah replies, Babylon is like a threshing-floor, a piece of ground made level by trampling or treading, which the Lord the God of Israel is already preparing for the harvest. It is yet a little while and the time of harvest and subsequent threshing shall come to Babylon (Jeremiah 51:33).

[416] At right angles with the river were the main streets of Babylon. At the end of each was a gate and probably steps leading down to the river. Transportation across the river in boats was provided at each of these points. Other commentators understand the passages to be the fords across the canals around Babylon.
[417] Considerable disagreement about the meaning of reeds burned with fire exists among commentators. The explanation offered here is that of John Bright, op. cit., p. 357.