Jeremiah 50:40

Most of Jeremiah’s book warns Judah and Jerusalem of judgment, and Babylon was the power that carried that judgment out. God even calls Nebuchadnezzar his servant when he sends him against Judah (Jeremiah 25:9). The oracle that begins at Jeremiah 50:1 turns to the oppressor itself. In Jeremiah’s day Babylon was the greatest power on earth, “the hammer of the whole earth” (Jeremiah 50:23), and its capital was famous for its massive walls, its wealth and its Hanging Gardens.

Being God’s instrument gave Babylon no shelter for its own sin. The LORD judges it for its pride, its idols and its cruelty, and above all for its treatment of his people (Jeremiah 50:29). Just before this passage he calls himself Israel’s Redeemer, who will plead their cause against those who hold them captive (Jeremiah 50:33–34), and in the next chapter he promises to render to Babylon all the evil it had done in Zion (Jeremiah 51:24). For the exiles this was a word of hope. Their time under Babylon had an end, and God had plans for their future (Jeremiah 29:10–14), while Babylon’s ruin would last for ever.

“Therefore” ties verse 39 to the judgment just pronounced. The verb yâshab means to sit down, and so to dwell or remain, and it stands behind both “shall dwell” and “inhabited”. Where people once lived, creatures of the wilderness will settle in their place. The wild beasts of the desert are tsîyîy, a word from a root meaning dryness, so a desert-dweller. The “wild beasts of the islands” are ʼîy, howling creatures of lonely places, often identified as jackals or hyenas. The owls are bath yaʻănâh, literally “daughter of the ostrich”, a bird of the desert and of ruins. Wild animals moving into a city was a picture everyone understood. It meant a place given back to the wilderness, emptied of human life and lying under a curse.

The prophets use this picture more than once. Isaiah says the same of Babylon, that it will never be inhabited and that the wild beasts of the desert will lie there (Isaiah 13:19–22). Zephaniah says it of Nineveh, which God will make “a desolation, and dry like a wilderness” (Zephaniah 2:13–15). And Revelation says of Babylon the Great that she “is become the habitation of devils” (Revelation 18:2).

The verse then speaks of time. “For ever” is netsach, a word of long duration that is usually rendered “continually”, and elsewhere it can speak of eminence or glory. The verse pairs it with “from generation to generation”, a Hebrew way of saying time without end. Many ancient cities fell and were built again. The LORD declares that Babylon will stay empty.

Verse 40 gives Babylon’s ruin a pattern. “As God overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah” uses mahpêkâh, a noun for an overthrow or destruction, the turning upside down of a place. The story is told in Genesis 19: “Then the LORD rained upon Sodom and upon Gomorrah brimstone and fire from the LORD out of heaven; And he overthrew those cities, and all the plain” (Genesis 19:24–25). The “neighbour cities” are the other cities of the plain, such as Admah and Zeboiim. In Scripture that overthrow stands as the plainest picture of God’s total and final judgment, and the land was left desolate. Babylon was far greater than Sodom in power, and its end would be just as complete. Isaiah draws the same comparison: “And Babylon, the glory of kingdoms, the beauty of the Chaldees’ excellency, shall be as when God overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah” (Isaiah 13:19–22). There God also says, “I will cause the arrogancy of the proud to cease” (Isaiah 13:11). “Saith the LORD” sets his own name on the sentence, so the prophecy is as sure as he is.

The second half of the verse uses two verbs. “Abide” is yâshab again, to settle and live in a place. “Dwell” is gûwr, to turn aside for lodging, to stay as a guest or a sojourner. Together they say that the city will be empty both of settled residents and of travellers passing through. The nouns widen it further. “Man” is ʼîysh, an individual man, and “son of man” is ben ʼâdâm, the general term for a human being. Every kind of person is meant.

Verse 41 opens with “Behold”, calling for attention to what is coming. “A people” is ʻam, a people gathered as one, a congregated unit. “A great nation” joins gâdôwl, great in size, status or might, to gôwy, a nation, so an established power with organized strength. “Many kings” is rab, many, and melek, king, so a coalition of rulers under one command.

They come “from the north”, tsâphôwn, a word Strong’s links to a root meaning hidden or dark and which is used for the north as a quarter of the world. In Jeremiah the north is the direction of judgment. At his call the LORD told him, “Out of the north an evil shall break forth upon all the inhabitants of the land” (Jeremiah 1:14), and that evil turned out to be Babylon. Now judgment comes from the north against Babylon itself. The army gathers “from the coasts of the earth”. The word yᵉrêkâh is the feminine of the word for thigh and means the rear, side or far end of a place, so these forces come from the remotest regions as well as from near neighbours.

“Shall be raised up” is ʻûwr, to wake, to stir up or to arouse. These kings have their own ambitions, and the passive verb shows whose hand is behind them. God wakes them and sends them. Daniel says that God “removeth kings, and setteth up kings” (Daniel 2:21), and a psalm says, “But God is the judge: he putteth down one, and setteth up another” (Psalm 75:6–7). Paul writes, “For there is no power but of God: the powers that be are ordained of God” (Romans 13:1). In this way “the LORD is known by the judgment which he executeth” (Psalm 9:16).

Verse 42 shows the army up close. They carry the bow and the lance, weapons for fighting at a distance and hand to hand. They are “cruel”, ʼakzârî, a word from one meaning fierce or terrible, and they “will not shew mercy”. Earlier the chapter spoke of an assembly of great nations gathered against Babylon (Jeremiah 50:9) and of “a sound of battle” in the land (Jeremiah 50:22), and here that army is described in full.

The cruelty fits the crime. Babylon showed its captives no mercy, and now it will receive none. A psalm of the exiles says, “O daughter of Babylon, who art to be destroyed; happy shall he be, that rewardeth thee as thou hast served us” (Psalm 137:8). Paul states the principle: “whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap” (Galatians 6:7). Revelation says the same of Babylon the Great: “double unto her double according to her works” (Revelation 18:6).

“Their voice shall roar like the sea” uses hâmâh, to make a loud sound and so to be in commotion or uproar. A great army on the move sounds like crashing waves. They ride on horses, with speed and reach, and every one is “put in array”, set in battle order like a disciplined army trained for war. “Like a man to the battle” pictures each soldier ready and set on the fight.

All of it is “against thee, O daughter of Babylon”. The word bath means daughter, and Strong’s derives it from bânâh, to build, as the feminine of bên, son. Scripture often calls a city or nation a daughter, as Jerusalem is the daughter of Zion. Here the LORD addresses Babylon directly, as if face to face.

In verse 43 the melek, the king who stood for all Babylon’s power and pride, hears “the report of them”, the news of the advancing army. “His hands waxed feeble.” The hand, yâd, is often a picture of power and the ability to act, and râphâh means to slacken, to grow weak, to lose courage. The ruler whose word moved armies can no longer lift a hand to command or defend. “Anguish took hold of him” uses tsârâh, distress and trouble, the feeling of being hemmed in on every side. Then come “pangs as of a woman in travail”. The word chîyl is a throe, the pain of childbirth, sudden in its onset, impossible to escape, and taking over everything.

The prophets use this picture often. Isaiah says of the day of the LORD against Babylon, “pangs and sorrows shall take hold of them; they shall be in pain as a woman that travaileth” (Isaiah 13:6–8). Paul uses it of the coming of the Lord: “For when they shall say, Peace and safety; then sudden destruction cometh upon them, as travail upon a woman with child; and they shall not escape” (1 Thessalonians 5:3).

To Babylon’s people, whose kings claimed the favour of their gods and absolute authority, a terrified king would have been a shocking picture. The one who had brought terror on others is now overcome by it. Isaiah describes the king of Babylon who said in his heart, “I will ascend into heaven”, and was told, “Yet thou shalt be brought down to hell” (Isaiah 14:12–15). A psalm says of God, “He shall cut off the spirit of princes: he is terrible to the kings of the earth” (Psalm 76:12). Daniel tells of the last night of Babylon’s empire, when the writing on the wall declared, “God hath numbered thy kingdom, and finished it”, and “In that night was Belshazzar the king of the Chaldeans slain” (Daniel 5:26–31).

Verse 44 begins with a picture. “He shall come up like a lion from the swelling of Jordan unto the habitation of the strong.” The word gâʼôwn means majesty or pride, and here it is the thick growth along the Jordan’s banks, the “pride” of the river, where lions had their lairs. When the river flooded, the lions were driven out into the open country and struck suddenly and fiercely. Jeremiah uses the same picture of judgment against Edom (Jeremiah 49:19). The lion is the invader God sends, and Babylon is “the habitation of the strong”. The word ʼêythân means permanent and so strong, hard or mighty. Babylon trusted its walls and thought its strength would last, and the God who made the strong city’s strength can bring it to an end in a day.

Then the LORD speaks for himself. “I will make them suddenly run away from her.” He is bringing the event to pass as well as foretelling it, and the defenders of the strong city will flee in sudden panic.

Four questions follow, and each one declares a truth about God. “Who is a chosen man, that I may appoint over her?” God alone chooses who will rule and who will conquer. “For who is like me?” There is no rival to him, human or divine. God asks the same thing through Isaiah: “To whom then will ye liken me, or shall I be equal? saith the Holy One” (Isaiah 40). And again, “I am God, and there is none like me, Declaring the end from the beginning” (Isaiah 46:9–10).

“Who will appoint me the time?” Nobody sets God’s schedule, hurries his purposes or delays them. His judgments and his acts of rescue come when he decides. “Who is that shepherd that will stand before me?” The word for shepherd, râʻâh, means to tend a flock, and more generally to rule. In Israel a shepherd was a common picture of a king. Every ruler of Babylon, however strong and however well advised, is summoned before the LORD and cannot stand. “The counsel of the LORD standeth for ever, the thoughts of his heart to all generations” (Psalm 33:10–11). Nebuchadnezzar himself came to confess that God “doeth according to his will in the army of heaven, and among the inhabitants of the earth: and none can stay his hand, or say unto him, What doest thou?” (Daniel 4:34–35).

Verse 45 calls everyone to listen: “Therefore hear ye the counsel of the LORD.” Counsel, ʻêtsâh, from the verb yâʻats, to advise, is a well-considered plan. Purposes, machăshâbâh, from châshab, to think or devise, is an intention or plan. The verse doubles both: the counsel “that he hath taken” and the purposes “that he hath purposed”. Babylon’s fall is God’s settled decision, and it is aimed at “the land of the Chaldeans”, the people who ruled the empire. Babylon’s own chief god was Marduk, and the LORD’s counsel overrules every god and every king. “There are many devices in a man’s heart; nevertheless the counsel of the LORD, that shall stand” (Proverbs 19:21). “For the LORD of hosts hath purposed, and who shall disannul it? and his hand is stretched out, and who shall turn it back?” (Isaiah 14:27).

Twice the verse says “Surely”. “Surely the least of the flock shall draw them out.” The least of the flock are the young and small of the sheep and goats. To “draw them out” is to drag them forth, out of their strongholds and away from the place where they felt safe. “Surely he shall make their habitation desolate with them.” The verb is shâmêm. Of a place it means to be left desolate, and of people to be appalled or deeply shocked. The people and their homes, their cities and their land, go down together.

The passage ends with sound. “At the noise of the taking of Babylon the earth is moved.” Noise, qôwl, is a voice or sound, here the din of a great city taken in war. Moved, râʻash, means to tremble or quake, as the ground does in an earthquake. The fall of the world’s greatest power shakes the whole order of the nations, as if the earth itself trembled. “The cry is heard among the nations.” The cry, zaʻaq, is a shriek or outcry of distress. The nations, gôwy, are the peoples of the world beyond Israel. Some among them cried out in grief because they had relied on Babylon. Others cried out in fear or astonishment as they watched it fall, and the peoples it had oppressed cried out in relief.

Isaiah heard the same news ahead of time: “Babylon is fallen, is fallen” (Isaiah 21). His whole burden of Babylon (Isaiah 13) runs parallel to these chapters, and both prophets show that God’s word comes to pass, whether in judgment or in blessing.

In Jeremiah, Babylon is the real city and empire on the Euphrates. In Revelation, “Babylon the Great” stands for the whole world system that rebels against God, with Babylon’s own marks of pride, luxury and persecution of God’s people (Revelation 17–18). Her fall is told in the language of this passage: “Thus with violence shall that great city Babylon be thrown down, and shall be found no more at all” (Revelation 18:21). Every Babylon falls, and the kingdom God sets up stands, “a kingdom, which shall never be destroyed” (Daniel 2:44). The Son of man receives “an everlasting dominion, which shall not pass away” (Daniel 7:13–14), and Christ “must reign, till he hath put all enemies under his feet” (1 Corinthians 15:25).

The questions of verse 44 find their answer in him. All things were created by him and for him, and by him all things consist (Colossians 1:16–17). He says, “All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth” (Matthew 28:18), and the Father “hath committed all judgment unto the Son” (John 5:22). Before him all nations will be gathered (Matthew 25:31–34), and he will be revealed from heaven with his mighty angels (2 Thessalonians 1:7–10). Revelation shows him riding out as Faithful and True, ruling the nations with a rod of iron, with “KING OF KINGS, AND LORD OF LORDS” written on his vesture (Revelation 19:11–21). At his name every knee will bow (Philippians 2:9–11, Romans 14:11). Where verse 44 asks what shepherd can stand before the LORD, Jesus is the shepherd who stands with him: “I am the good shepherd: the good shepherd giveth his life for the sheep” (John 10:11).

The passage also throws the cross into sharp relief. The king of Babylon is seized with anguish at the report of an earthly army. Jesus, “the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world” (John 1:29), went willingly into the anguish of the cross out of love and obedience, “obedient unto death, even the death of the cross” (Philippians 2:8). As God brought down mighty Babylon by the least of the flock, so he won his greatest victory through what looked like weakness. On the cross Christ “spoiled principalities and powers” and made “a shew of them openly, triumphing over them in it” (Colossians 2:15), and he said of that hour, “now shall the prince of this world be cast out” (John 12:31). The army against Babylon showed no mercy, and Christ’s first coming poured out mercy on the world, “that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life” (John 3:16).

The desolation of Babylon looks forward to the end of all that opposes God, and to “new heavens and a new earth, wherein dwelleth righteousness” (2 Peter 3:13), where “there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying” (Revelation 21:1–4). At Babylon’s fall the earth is moved. Those who belong to Christ are “receiving a kingdom which cannot be moved” (Hebrews 12:28), and the God who leaves the king of Babylon in anguish keeps in “perfect peace” the one “whose mind is stayed on thee” (Isaiah 26:3).

This passage shows a God who sees what is done to his people and remembers it. Babylon was the strongest city of its age, and its walls, its armies and its king all gave way before the counsel of the LORD. The exiles who first heard these words had every reason to think Babylon would last. God told them that its ruin was certain, and history shows that he kept his word to the letter.

It shows a God who has no equal. He stirs up kings from the ends of the earth, he chooses the least of the flock to do his work, and he sets the time. Each question of verse 44 has the same answer, and that answer is the LORD himself.

It also shows how passing human power is. The city once called the hammer of the whole earth is a home for owls and jackals. The same God who brought it down has given his people a kingdom that cannot be shaken, and a Shepherd who laid down his life for the sheep. When the powers of this world rage and look as if they have their way, the end of Babylon stands as God’s own answer.