CHAPTER L _This and the following chapter contain a prophecy relating to_ _the fall of Babylon, interspersed with several predictions_ _relative to the restoration of Israel and Judah, who were to_ _survive their oppressors, and, on their repentance, to be_ _pardoned and brought to their own la... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Jeremiah 50:2. _DECLARE YE AMONG THE NATIONS_] God's determination relative to this empire. _SET UP A STANDARD_] Show the people where they are to assemble. _SAY, BABYLON IS TAKEN_] It is a thing so firmly determined, that it is as good as already done. _BEL_] The tutelar deity of Babylon i... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Jeremiah 50:3. _OUT OF THE NORTH THERE COMETH UP A NATION_] The _Medes_, who formed the chief part of the army of Cyrus, lay to the _north_ or _north-east_ of Babylon. _SHALL MAKE HER LAND DESOLATE_] This war, and the consequent taking of the city, _began_ those disasters that brought Babylon... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Jeremiah 50:4. _IN THOSE DAYS, AND IN THAT TIME_] In the times in which Babylon shall be opposed by the Medes and Persians, both Israel and Judah, seeing the commencement of the fulfilling of the prophecies, shall begin to seek the Lord with much prayer, and broken and contrite hearts. When th... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Jeremiah 50:5. _LET US JOIN OURSELVES TO THE LORD IN A PERPETUAL_ _COVENANT_] All our _former covenants_ have been broken; let us now make one that shall _last for ever_. He shall be the LORD OUR GOD, and WE will no more worship _idols_. This covenant they have kept to the present day; whateve... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Jeremiah 50:6. _MY PEOPLE HATH BEEN LOST SHEEP_] He pities them; for their pastors, kings, and prophets have caused them to err. _THEY HAVE GONE FROM MOUNTAIN TO HILL_] In all _high places_ they have practised idolatry.... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Jeremiah 50:7. _THEIR ADVERSARIES SAID, WE OFFEND NOT_] God has abandoned them; we are only fulfilling his designs in plaguing them.... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Jeremiah 50:8. _REMOVE OUT OF THE MIDST OF BABYLON_] The sentence of destruction is gone out against it; prepare for your flight, that ye be not overwhelmed in its ruin. _BE AS THE HE-GOATS BEFORE THE FLOCKS._] Who always run to the head of the flock, giving the example for others to follow.... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Jeremiah 50:9. _AN ASSEMBLY OF GREAT NATIONS_] The army of Cyrus was composed of Medes, Persians, Armenians, Caducians, Sacae, c. Though all these did not come from the _north_ yet they were arranged under the _Medes_, who did come from the north, in reference to Babylon. _THEIR ARROWS_] They... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Jeremiah 50:10. _CHALDEA SHALL BE A SPOIL_] She has been a spoiler, and she shall be spoiled. They had destroyed Judea, God's _heritage_; and now God shall cause her to be destroyed.... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Jeremiah 50:11. _AS THE HEIFER AT GRASS_] Ye were wanton in the desolations ye brought upon Judea.... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Jeremiah 50:12. _YOUR MOTHER_] Speaking to the Chaldeans: BABYLON, the _metropolis_, or mother city, shall be a wilderness, a dry land, a desert, neither fit for man nor beast.... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Jeremiah 50:15. _SHOUT AGAINST HER ROUND ABOUT_] Encompass her with lines and with troops; let none _go in_ with relief, none _come out_ to escape from her ruin.... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Jeremiah 50:16. _CUT OFF THE SOWER_] Destroy the gardens and the fields, that there may be neither fruits nor tillage.... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Jeremiah 50:17. _ISRAEL_] All the descendants of Jacob have been harassed and spoiled, first by the Assyrians, and afterwards by the Chaldeans. They acted towards them as a lion to a sheep which he has caught; first he devours all the flesh, next he breaks all the bones to extract the marrow.... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Jeremiah 50:18. _AS I HAVE PUNISHED THE KING OF ASSYRIA._] The Assyrians were overthrown by the _Medes_ and the _Chaldeans_. The _king_ is here taken for all their kings, generals, c., Tiglath-pileser, Shalmaneser, Sennacherib, Esar-haddon, c. To them succeeded the Chaldean or Babylonish kings... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Jeremiah 50:19. _I WILL BRING ISRAEL AGAIN_] This seems to refer wholly to the ten tribes; for Carmel, Bashan, Mount Ephraim, and Gilead, were in their territories.... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Jeremiah 50:20. _IN THOSE DAYS AND IN THAT TIME_] This phrase appears to take in the whole of an epoch, from its commencement to its end. See Jeremiah 50:4. _I WILL PARDON THEM_] So as to deliver them from their captivity, and exact no more _punishment_ from _them whom I reserve_; namely, the... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Jeremiah 50:21. _GO UP AGAINST THE LAND OF MERATHAIM - AND AGAINST THE_ _INHABITANTS OF PEKOD_] No such _places_ as these are to be found any where else; and it is not likely that _places_ are at all meant. The ancient _Versions_ agree in rendering the first as an _appellative_, and the last a... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Jeremiah 50:23. _THE HAMMER OF THE WHOLE EARTH_] Nebuchadnezzar dashed to pieces the nations against whom he warred. He was the scourge of the Lord.... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Jeremiah 50:24. _I HAVE LAID A SNARE FOR THEE_] It was not by _storm_ that Cyrus took the city. The _Euphrates_ ran through it; he dug a channel for the river in another direction, to divert its stream; he waited for that time in which the inhabitants had delivered themselves up to debauchery:... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Jeremiah 50:26. _OPEN HER STORE-HOUSES_] At the time that Cyrus took the city, it was full of provisions and treasures of all kinds; the walls had suffered no injury; and when the inhabitants heard that the enemy was _within_, they thought they must have _arisen out of_ _the earth_ in the cent... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Jeremiah 50:27. _SLAY ALL HER BULLOCKS_] Princes, magistrates, c., c.... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Jeremiah 50:28. _DECLARE IN ZION THE VENGEANCE OF THE LORD_] Zion was desolated by Babylon; tell Zion that God hath desolated the desolator. _THE VENGEANCE OF HIS TEMPLE._] Which Nebuchadnezzar had pillaged, profaned, and demolished, transporting its sacred vessels to Babylon, and putting the... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Jeremiah 50:29. _CALL TOGETHER THE ARCHERS_] The preceding verses are the prediction: here, God calls the _Medes_ and _Persians_ to fulfil it.... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Jeremiah 50:31. _O THOU MOST PROUD_] זדון _zadon_. PRIDE in the abstract; proudest of all people.... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Jeremiah 50:32. _AND THE MOST PROUD_] זדון _zadon_, as before. Here _pride_ is personified and addressed, as if possessing a being and rational powers.... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Jeremiah 50:34. _THEIR REDEEMER_ IS _STRONG_] And it was not that he _wanted power_, and that Nebuchadnezzar had _much_, that Jerusalem was taken; but because the people had _sinned_, and would _not_ _return_; and therefore _national sins_ called for _national_ _punishments_. These have taken... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Jeremiah 50:35. _A SWORD_] War and its calamities, or any grievous plague; and so in the following verses.... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Jeremiah 50:38. _A DROUGHT_ IS _UPON HER WATERS_] May not this refer to the _draining of the channel of the Euphrates_, by which the army of Cyrus entered the city. See on Jeremiah 50:24. The original is, however, חרב _chereb_, a sword, as in the preceding verses, which signifies war, or any c... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Jeremiah 50:39. _THE WILD BEASTS OF THE DESERT_] _Dahler_ translates these various terms, "The wild cats, the jackals, and the ostriches." And _Blayney_ the same. _Wicklif_, "Dragons, woodewoses, and ostriches." _Coverdale_, "Wild beestes, apes, and estriches.... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Jeremiah 50:40. _AS GOD OVERTHREW SODOM_] As the very _ground_ on which these cities stood, with all the _plain_, now lies under the _Dead_ _Sea_; so _Babylon_ and the _adjacent country_ shall be rendered totally barren and unfruitful, and utterly incapable of being inhabited. And this is the... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Jeremiah 50:41. _BEHOLD, A PEOPLE SHALL COME FROM THE NORTH_] This and the two following verses are nearly the same with Jeremiah 6:22. But _here_, destroyers against _Babylon_ are intended; _there_, destroyers against _Jerusalem_.... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Jeremiah 50:44. _BEHOLD, HE SHALL CAME UP LIKE A LION_] The same words as in Jeremiah 49:19, c., where see the note. Jeremiah 49:19.... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Jeremiah 50:46. _AT THE NOISE OF THE TAKING OF BABYLON_] Jeremiah 49:21. In the _forty-ninth_ chapter, these words are spoken of _Nebuchadnezzar;_ _here_, of _Cyrus_. The taking of Babylon was a wonder to all the surrounding nations. It was thought to be impregnable.... [ Continue Reading ]