“Go up against the land of Merathaim,
and against the inhabitants of Pekod.
Kill, and devote them to destruction,
declares the Lord,
and do all that I have commanded you.
22 The noise of battle is in the land,
and great destruction!
23 How the hammer of the whole earth
is cut down and broken!
How Babylon has become
a horror among the nations!
24 I set a snare for you and you were taken, O Babylon,
and you did not know it;
you were found and caught,
because you opposed the Lord.
25 The Lord has opened his armory
and brought out the weapons of his wrath,
for the Lord God of hosts has a work to do
in the land of the Chaldeans.
26 Come against her from every quarter;
open her granaries;
pile her up like heaps of grain, and devote her to destruction;
let nothing be left of her.
27 Kill all her bulls;
let them go down to the slaughter.
Woe to them, for their day has come,
the time of their punishment.
28 “A voice! They flee and escape from the land of Babylon, to declare in Zion the vengeance of the Lord our God, vengeance for his temple.
29 “Summon archers against Babylon, all those who bend the bow. Encamp around her; let no one escape. Repay her according to her deeds; do to her according to all that she has done. For she has proudly defied the Lord, the Holy One of Israel. 30 Therefore her young men shall fall in her squares, and all her soldiers shall be destroyed on that day, declares the Lord.
31 “Behold, I am against you, O proud one,
declares the Lord God of hosts,
for your day has come,
the time when I will punish you.
32 The proud one shall stumble and fall,
with none to raise him up,
and I will kindle a fire in his cities,
and it will devour all that is around him.
33 “Thus says the Lord of hosts: The people of Israel are oppressed, and the people of Judah with them. All who took them captive have held them fast; they refuse to let them go. 34 Their Redeemer is strong; the Lord of hosts is his name. He will surely plead their cause, that he may give rest to the earth, but unrest to the inhabitants of Babylon.
35 “A sword against the Chaldeans, declares the Lord,
and against the inhabitants of Babylon,
and against her officials and her wise men!
36 A sword against the diviners,
that they may become fools!
A sword against her warriors,
that they may be destroyed!
37 A sword against her horses and against her chariots,
and against all the foreign troops in her midst,
that they may become women!
A sword against all her treasures,
that they may be plundered!
38 A drought against her waters,
that they may be dried up!
For it is a land of images,
and they are mad over idols.
39 “Therefore wild beasts shall dwell with hyenas in Babylon, and ostriches shall dwell in her. She shall never again have people, nor be inhabited for all generations. 40 As when God overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah and their neighboring cities, declares the Lord, so no man shall dwell there, and no son of man shall sojourn in her.
41 “Behold, a people comes from the north;
a mighty nation and many kings
are stirring from the farthest parts of the earth.
42 They lay hold of bow and spear;
they are cruel and have no mercy.
The sound of them is like the roaring of the sea;
they ride on horses,
arrayed as a man for battle
against you, O daughter of Babylon!
43 “The king of Babylon heard the report of them,
and his hands fell helpless;
anguish seized him,
pain as of a woman in labor.
44 “Behold, like a lion coming up from the thicket of the Jordan against a perennial pasture, I will suddenly make them run away from her, and I will appoint over her whomever I choose. For who is like me? Who will summon me? What shepherd can stand before me? 45 Therefore hear the plan that the Lord has made against Babylon, and the purposes that he has formed against the land of the Chaldeans: Surely the little ones of their flock shall be dragged away; surely their fold shall be appalled at their fate. 46 At the sound of the capture of Babylon the earth shall tremble, and her cry shall be heard among the nations.” Jeremiah 50: 21-46
Jeremiah 50: 21-46 Babylon
“It is to be observed that there is no gleam of hope for Babylon; that power, for some time material, and persistently spiritual, which was conceived in an attempt to make man great by frustrating Divine purpose. Her doom is irremediable in Old and New Testaments.” (Morgan)
21-27. Merathaim...Pekod -
This was a literal place, but also “There is a play on words here, for the root mrh means ‘to rebel’ and the form of the word is dual, meaning ‘(land of) double rebellion,’ or ‘twofold rebel,’ that is, ‘rebel of rebels.’” (Thompson)
· The inhabitants of Pekod: “The root pqd means ‘to punish.’ Hence the land of Pekod is the ‘land of doom.’” (Thompson)
How the hammer of the whole earth - Babylon is a tool under God's sovereignty, a super power at the time, sent to punish Judah and her neighbors.
5“Look at the nations and observe—be utterly astounded! For I am doing a work in your days that you would never believe even if someone told you. 6For behold, I am raising up the Chaldeans— that ruthless and impetuous nation which marches through the breadth of the earth to seize dwellings not their own. 7They are dreaded and feared; from themselves they derive justice and sovereignty.…Habakkuk 1: 5-7
I set a snare for you - She had set others under siege, had won great battles against some, yet like a bird she is caught by craftiness. Pride makes us all blind to the traps laid out before us, how many times have I stepped in my own snare? If God hands us over to ourselves and our fellow, that is a wretched day indeed.
“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: in the dead of the night he turned off the stream, and he and his army entered by the old channel, now void of its waters. This was the snare of which the prophet here speaks. See Herodotus, lib. i., c. 191.” (Clarke)
For their day has come - This is a blind spot of pride as well, that there is no God, or that the god you made up is not a god of wrath, and there is no judgment coming. I agree, your god will not punish you for he or she is the creation of an idolatrous mind, carved in your own image. God hates sin though and I am a sinner, dependent upon His willingness to deliver me from the very thing He will destroy. Judah listened to false prophets, so did Ephraim, Egypt, Assyria, and I am sure there were in each place those that thought their comfort would never come to an end. "Assyria is too fierce, Judah has the temple of the true God, Babylon is immense, Persia has a sea of people."
28-30. Vengeance for His temple - Though God used Babylon to punish the nations, He would also punish them for their sins. They knew from the prophets that this was God's doing, but so many start to turn the light upon themselves, and think they are great without God, yet they would not even be. Babylon was no different then the places they punished, yet maybe they thought the Hebrew God was just a localized deity. Maybe they thought their gods were greater since they captured Jerusalem, or their government so powerful that now God had to bow to their whims. Maybe they thought that God condoned their way of life because they were so prosperous in their campaigns. God let His temple be destroyed because His own people had defiled it, yet He will correct the arrogance of the destroyers.
1This is the word that came to Jeremiah from the LORD after Nebuzaradan captain of the guard had released him at Ramah, having found him bound in chains among all the captives of Jerusalem and Judah who were being exiled to Babylon. 2The captain of the guard found Jeremiah and said to him, “The LORD your God decreed this disaster on this place, 3and now the LORD has fulfilled it; He has done just as He said. Because you people have sinned against the LORD and have not obeyed His voice, this thing has happened to you.… Jeremiah 40: 1-3
All those who bend the bow - As discussed in Isaiah 13, the recurve and lamination. The prophet Isaiah had already predicted Babylon's demise.
She has proudly defied the Lord, the Holy One of Israel - Now, some may reason, that being the punisher you are also right with God, but that is not the case, if God hates the sin of His people then He will hate sin wherever else, and those whom He loves He chastens, but even those He doesn't here chasten right away, yet they will at some point fill the cup of wrath. It is given to men to die and then the judgment. Babylon was very puffed up.
1Later, King Belshazzar held a great feast for a thousand of his nobles, and he drank wine with them. 2Under the influence of the wine, Belshazzar gave orders to bring in the gold and silver vessels that Nebuchadnezzar his father had taken from the temple in Jerusalem, so that the king could drink from them, along with his nobles, his wives, and his concubines. 3Thus they brought in the gold vessels that had been taken from the temple, the house of God in Jerusalem, and the king drank from them, along with his nobles, his wives, and his concubines.…
5At that moment the fingers of a human hand appeared and wrote on the plaster of the wall, near the lampstand in the royal palace. As the king watched the hand that was writing, 6his face grew pale and his thoughts so alarmed him that his hips gave way and his knees knocked together.… Daniel 5: 1-6
31-34. O Proud one - Once God has come against you, how will you stand? Look at Nebuchadnezzar's wandering in the field, now the sight of this should have sobered his son.
Their Redeemer is strong - The kinsman Redeemer was the one with a right to redeem a family member's property, to avenge their death, and take in his widow. God is the Redeemer of Israel, His pockets are not shallow nor is His way unjust. The pride of Babylon will be found unfounded.
…24Thus for every piece of property you possess, you must provide for the redemption of the land. 25If your brother becomes impoverished and sells some of his property, his nearest of kin may come and redeem what his brother has sold. 26Or if a man has no one to redeem it for him, but he prospers and acquires enough to redeem his land,… Leviticus 25: 24-26
35-38. A sword against the diviners, that they may become fools - Every place in every age has touted those who they think are wise, but the wisdom of this world is foolishness to God.
…7The king called out for the enchanters, astrologers, and diviners to be brought in, and he said to these wise men of Babylon, “Whoever reads this inscription and tells me its interpretation will be clothed in purple and have a gold chain placed around his neck, and he will be made the third highest ruler in the kingdom.” 8So all the king’s wise men came in, but they could not read the inscription or interpret it for him. 9Then King Belshazzar became even more terrified, his face grew even more pale, and his nobles were bewildered.… Daniel 5: 7-9
A sword against her horses and her chariots - They had a great army with lots of shiny swords, fast horses and chariots.
…6Now I know that the LORD saves His anointed; He answers him from His holy heaven with the saving power of His right hand. 7Some trust in chariots and others in horses, but we trust in the name of the LORD our God. 8They collapse and fall, but we rise up and stand firm.… Psalm 20: 6-8
Against all her treasures - Materialism holds the hearts of most of the world, those that have take comfort, those that don't want to take from those that have. Greed knows no boundaries, and is not owned by any particular group. Babylon was wealthy, in money, time and power, and it was no defense for them against God. He was unimpressed.
…22But you his son, O Belshazzar, have not humbled your heart, even though you knew all this. 23Instead, you have exalted yourself against the Lord of heaven. The vessels from His house were brought to you, and as you drank wine from them with your nobles, wives, and concubines, you praised your gods of silver and gold, bronze and iron, wood and stone, which cannot see or hear or understand. But you have failed to glorify the God who holds in His hand your very breath and all your ways. 24Therefore He sent the hand that wrote the inscription.…
…25Now this is the inscription that was written: MENE, MENE, TEKEL, PARSIN. 26And this is the interpretation of the message: MENE means that God has numbered the days of your reign and brought it to an end. 27TEKEL means that you have been weighed on the scales and found deficient.… Daniel 5: 22-27
39-40. As when God overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah - Babylon's final end will be obliteration. Sodom was smashed under brimstone. Revelation 17-18 are a good study of this in its ultimate fulfilment.
41-46. Behold a people comes from the north - The Medes would be roughly north of Babylon, and Media Persia would fulfill this in 539 B. C.
His hands fell helpless -
“Small wonder that the Babylonian king, used to being the victor, is now petrified with fear as the potential victim.” (Thompson)
Whomever I choose -
…10So Pilate said to Him, “Do You refuse to speak to me? Do You not know that I have authority to release You and authority to crucify You?” 11Jesus answered, “You would have no authority over Me if it were not given to you from above. Therefore the one who handed Me over to you is guilty of greater sin.” 12From then on, Pilate tried to release Him, but the Jews kept shouting, “If you release this man, you are no friend of Caesar. Anyone who declares himself a king is defying Caesar.”… John 19: 10-12
What shepherd can stand before me - Only One that I know of, Who was worthy to open the seal.
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