Call to Commitment

Ruins of ancient Babylon

Chapter 50

 

The value of faithful reporting

 1.      The word that the LORD spoke against Babylon and against the land of the Chaldeans by Jeremiah the prophet. 

 2.      "Declare among the nations, Proclaim, and set up a standard; Proclaim—do not conceal it—Say, 'Babylon is taken, Bel is shamed. Merodach is broken in pieces; Her idols are humiliated, Her images are broken in pieces.' 

 3.      For out of the north a nation comes up against her, Which shall make her land desolate, And no one shall dwell therein. They shall move, they shall depart, Both man and beast. 

 A principle is taught in this chapter that we will attempt to learn. Paul encounters it and a false interpretation of it in Romans, because he taught that “by the deeds of the law no flesh will be justified in His sight” (Ro.3:20). Since we are justified without doing good works, some Jews interpreted Paul’s teaching to mean, "Let us do evil that good may come"? (Ro.3:8). The questions follow, ‘Is the glory of God promoted by sin? If so, should man be counted guilty for his sin? If not, then should he do all the sinning that he can, in order that God be glorified?’ Paul says that this is not gospel teaching; it is ridiculous, damnable doctrine, and Paul shows that God will righteously judge sin. It is true to a certain point that man’s sin does amplify the holiness of God, but He does not, for this reason, excuse it, but He will bring judgment upon it.

 Similarly, we have seen in these chapters in Jeremiah, that God has called evil Nebuchadnezzar His servant, because He has used him to carry out His judgment upon many nations, including Judah, because of their sin. The prophet advised Judah to submit to the emperor and they would find protection and even prosperity in Babylon. Serving and exalting God in His justice, is he to be excused from his own evil deeds? No, we will now see that Nebuchadnezzar and Babylon will be judged, because of their own sin.

 It is clearly factual that God has allowed the enemy, Satan, to exist for a reason. As an example, we read how he was permitted to test Job (Job 1:12, 2:6). God gave Paul a messenger of Satan to buffet him, “lest I should be exalted above measure” (2 Co.12:7). In 2 Thessalonians 2, Paul teaches that the Lord will permit that Antichrist deceive the world, “because they did not receive the love of the truth… God will send them strong delusion, that they should believe the lie, that they all may be condemned who did not believe the truth” (2 Th.2:11,12). After he has played his part, Antichrist will be thrown into the Lake of Fire (Rev.19:20). God allowed a lying spirit to deceive the prophets of Ahab, to destroy the evil king (1 K.22:20-22). So, the Lord is sovereign over the kingdom of darkness, utilizes it to perform His will, then condemns it to everlasting fire. 

 A proclamation is to be circulated among the nations that God has spoken against Babylon through Jeremiah (1 & 2). The Lord expected faithful and true reporting from the news media in that day and it continues to be His purpose today. We can see how the media defies the truth of God by bias and humanistic reporting.

 Bel and Merodach, gods of Babylon, are shamed through the defeat of the nation that trusted in them and the Lord wants it published among the nations. God’s servants, the prophets, are faithful in their reporting. Isaiah saw the defeat of Babylon one hundred years before Jeremiah (Is. 46) and has very colorful things to say about it as a demonic habitation. Bel is the same as the infamous Baal, his more common name in Scripture, and Merodach is the guardian of Babylon. Nebuchadnezzar named his son, Evil-Merodach, after this god. Commentaries tell me that he was equal with Bel and exists through Roman times as Jupiter, “king of heaven and earth”.

 Prophecy doomed Babylon from the north through Persia, who devastated all of Chaldea (3). Babylon is ruined and continues in ruin to this day, uninhabited in Iraq in 2023. Isaiah reported in chapter 13: Like wild animals and sheep without a shepherd, the Babylonians will scatter as before a hunter. Those who are found and caught, will be executed on the spot (13:14-15). Isaiah 13:16 is almost too horrible to contemplate, as homes are destroyed, infants are massacred and women are raped.

 The invaders are the Medo-Persians, who cannot be bought or caused to accept a ransom, because of their bloodthirsty love of violence (v.17). They will kill the young, abort the babies in the womb and have no mercy for little children (v.18). Ah, but if you will go back to the Babylonian conquest, you will see Nebuchadnezzar’s similar behavior against Judah. “Vengeance is mine, I will repay, says the Lord.” (Is.63:4).

 

Israel’s brokenness, remorse and repentance

 4.      “In those days and in that time,” says the LORD, “The children of Israel shall come, They and the children of Judah together; With continual weeping they shall come, And seek the LORD their God. 

 5.      They shall ask the way to Zion, With their faces toward it, saying, ‘Come and let us join ourselves to the LORD In a perpetual covenant That will not be forgotten.’ 

 6.      “My people have been lost sheep. Their shepherds have led them astray; They have turned them away on the mountains. They have gone from mountain to hill; They have forgotten their resting place. 

 7.      All who found them have devoured them; And their adversaries said, ‘We have not offended, Because they have sinned against the LORD, the habitation of justice, The LORD, the hope of their fathers.’ 

 8.      “Move from the midst of Babylon, Go out of the land of the Chaldeans; And be like the rams before the flocks. 

 Jeremiah predicts the return of the children of Israel to the northern kingdom as well as to Judah, in the south. The prophecy is beautiful as it promises that they will come with remorse, repentance and brokenness and they will come seeking their God, Jehovah (4). Many were born in Babylon and those who were natives of Israel, after 70 years of captivity, will no longer remember the way home and must ask directions. See the Holy Spirit’s inspiration, describing “with their faces toward it (Zion),” they come, with the express purpose, “let us join ourselves to the Lord in a perpetual covenant that will not be forgotten” (5).

 The heart of God aches, as did Jesus’ in His day, as He saw the people as lost sheep without a shepherd. Kings, priests, and prophets did worse than simply fail to guide them, they actually led them in the wrong direction. The flock no longer remembered their fold, but went far astray over mountains and hills (6).

 They were exposed to the wild animals, that is, the enemy nations, who excused their exploitation by pointing to Israel’s sin against God, thinking that they were doing justice to the Lord’s cause. They went back to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob in their argument, saying that the Israelites had abandoned the patriarchs’ covenant of hope (7).

 At various times in the Bible, including in the book of Revelation, God calls his people to abandon Babylon. He calls for leaders to guide the rest in the journey home (8). We can read it from the book of Ezra: “Then the heads of the fathers’ houses, of Judah and Benjamin, and the priests and the Levites, with all whose spirits God had moved, arose to go up and build the house of the Lord which is in Jerusalem” (Ezra 1:5). In Revelation, God cautioned them to leave, so as not to take part in the judgment upon Babylon.

 

A fearful curse upon Babylon

 9.      For behold, I will raise and cause to come up against Babylon An assembly of great nations from the north country, And they shall array themselves against her; From there she shall be captured. Their arrows shall be like those of an expert warrior; None shall return in vain. 

 10.  And Chaldea shall become plunder; All who plunder her shall be satisfied," says the LORD. 

 11.  "Because you were glad, because you rejoiced, You destroyers of My heritage, Because you have grown fat like a heifer threshing grain, And you bellow like bulls, 

 12.  Your mother shall be deeply ashamed; She who bore you shall be ashamed. Behold, the least of the nations shall be a wilderness, A dry land and a desert. 

 13.  Because of the wrath of the LORD She shall not be inhabited, But she shall be wholly desolate. Everyone who goes by Babylon shall be horrified And hiss at all her plagues. 

 14.  "Put yourselves in array against Babylon all around, All you who bend the bow; Shoot at her, spare no arrows, For she has sinned against the LORD. 

 15.  Shout against her all around; She has given her hand, Her foundations have fallen, Her walls are thrown down; For it is the vengeance of the LORD. Take vengeance on her. As she has done, so do to her. 

 16.  Cut off the sower from Babylon, And him who handles the sickle at harvest time. For fear of the oppressing sword Everyone shall turn to his own people, And everyone shall flee to his own land. 

 In verse 9, He warns of the Medes and Persians, coming from the north to attack with entire success. Babylon’s fall will be complete and they will be stripped bare by their adversaries. It is vengeance, because of their joyful and horrible defeat of Judah and the prosperity that they gained through the Jews (10). We have mentioned earlier, the expert archers from Persia and in verse 9, we read of their victory. The entire land of Chaldea will be plundered, as they had spoiled Judah (11).

 Babylon, depicted as the mother city of Chaldea, who birthed prosperity for the entire nation, now sees it shamed in poverty.  From being the empress of the world, overnight, she has been transformed into what we would call a ‘third-world country’ in modern terms (12).

 The Lord’s wrath is perpetual; we can witness it today as a wasteland and so it will remain to the end of time. Several years ago, I gathered reports from Albert Barnes, who provided a number of interesting accounts written by travelers, who visited Babylon, in his time or before (13):

 ‘There are many dens of wild beasts in various parts.’ ‘There are quantities of porcupine quills.’ ‘In most of the cavities are numberless bats and owls.’ ‘These caverns, over which the chambers of majesty may have been spread, are now the refuge of jackals and other savage animals. The mouths of their entrances are strewed with the bones of sheep and “goats;” and the loathsome smell that issues from most of them is sufficient warning not to proceed into the den.’ - (Sir R. K. Porter’s “Travels,” vol. ii. p. 342.)

 ‘The mound was full of large holes; we entered some of them, and found them strewed with the carcasses and skeletons of animals recently killed. The ordure of wild beasts was so strong, that prudence got the better of curiosity, for we had no doubt as to the savage nature of the inhabitants. Our guides, indeed, told us that all the ruins abounded in lions and other wild beasts; so literally has the divine prediction been fulfilled, that wild beasts of the deserts should lie there.’ - (Keppel’s “Narrative,” vol. i. pp. 179, 180.)

 From Rauwolff’s testimony it appears, that in the sixteenth century ‘there was not a house to be seen;’ and now the ‘eye wanders over a barren desert, in which the ruins are nearly the only indication that it had ever been inhabited. It is impossible to behold this scene and not be reminded how exactly the predictions of Isaiah and Jeremiah have been fulfilled, even in the appearance Babylon was doomed to present, “that she should never be inhabited.”’ - (Keppel’s “Narrative,” p. 234.)

 ‘Babylon is spurned alike by the heel of the Ottoman, the Israelites, and the sons of Ishmael.’ - (Mignan’s “Travels,” p. 108.)

 ‘It is a tenantless and desolate metropolis.’ - (Ibid. p. 235; see Keith “On Prophecy,” p. 221

 ‘Ruins composed, like those of Babylon, of heaps of rubbish impregnated with nitre, cannot be cultivated.’ - (Rich’s “Memoir,” p. 16.)

 ‘The decomposing materials of a Babylonian structure doom the earth on which they perish, to lasting sterility. On this part of the plain, both where traces of buildings are left, and where none stood, all seemed equally naked of vegetation; the whole ground appearing as if it had been washed over and over again by the coming and receding waters, until every bit of genial soil was swept away; its half-clay, half-sandy surface being left in ridgy streaks, like what is often seen on the flat shores of the sea after the retreating of the tide.’ - (Sir R. K. Porter’s “Travels,” vol. ii. p. 392.)

 ‘The ground is low and marshy, and presents not the slightest vestige of former buildings, of any description whatever.’ - (Buckingham’s “Travels,” vol. ii. p. 278.)

 ‘The ruins of Babylon are thus inundated so as to render many parts of them inaccessible, by converting the valleys among them into morasses.’ - (Rich’s “Memoir,” p. 13.)

 They traverse these ruins by day without fear; but at night the superstitious dread of evil spirits deters them from remaining there. ‘Captain Mignan was accompanied by six Arabs completely armed, but he “could not induce them to remain toward night, from the apprehension of evil spirits. It is impossible to eradicate this idea from the minds of these people, who are very deeply imbued with superstition ... And when the sun sunk behind the Mujelibe, and the moon would have lighted his way among the ruins, it was with infinite regret that he obeyed the summons of his guides.”’ - (Mignan’s “Travels,” as quoted by Keith, pp. 221, 222.)

 ‘All the people of the country assert that it is extremely dangerous to approach the mound’ (the mound in Babylon called Kasr, or Palad) ‘after nightfall, on account of the multitude of evil spirits by which it is haunted.’ - (Rich’s “Memoir on the Ruins of Babylon,” p. 27.)

 Joseph Wolff, speaking of his visit to Babylon, says, ‘I inquired of them (the Yezeedes), whether the Arabs ever pitched their tents among the ruins of Babylon. No, said they, the Arabs believe that the ghost of Nimrod walks amidst them in the darkness, and no Arab would venture on so hazardous an experiment.’

 The Septuagint renders it Δαιμόνια  Daimonia - ‘Demons, or devils.’ The Vulgate, Pilosi - ‘Shaggy, or hairy animals.’ The Chaldee, ‘Demons.’ The essential idea is, that such wild animals as are supposed to dwell in wastes and ruins, would hold their revels in the forsaken and desolate palaces of Babylon. The following remarks of Joseph Wolff may throw light on this passage: ‘I then went to the mountain of Sanjaar, which was full of Yezeedes. One hundred and fifty years ago, they believed in the glorious doctrine of the Trinity, and worshipped the true God; but being severely persecuted by the neighboring Yezeedes, they have now joined them, and are worshippers of the devil. These people frequent the ruins of Babylon, and dance around them. On a certain night, which they call the Night of Life, they hold their dances around the desolate ruins, in honor of the devil. The passage which declares that “satyrs shall dance there,” evidently has respect to this very practice. The original word translated “satyr,” literally means, according to the testimony of the most eminent Jewish rabbis, “devil worshippers.”’

 I leave these reports as sufficient testimony of all the retribution that the Lord has brought upon Babylon. He commanded the archer to shoot until she was disinhabited. He encouraged those harmed by the Chaldeans to take vengeance, and we read the same in Revelation 18:2, 4, 6. God still sees spiritual Babylon in the Apocalypse, that same spirit that was in Nimrod, when he built the city. Babel brought renewal to it and it became the great physical empire, about which we have been studying. Once more, it will manifest itself spiritually at the end of time, long after physical Babylon has been destroyed, when once and for all, her spirit will be snuffed out, the world will cry in dismay, and the saints of God will rejoice:

"Babylon the great is fallen, is fallen, and has become a dwelling place of demons, a prison for every foul spirit, and a cage for every unclean and hated bird!... And I heard another voice from heaven saying, "Come out of her, my people, lest you share in her sins, and lest you receive of her plagues… Render to her just as she rendered to you, and repay her double according to her works; in the cup which she has mixed, mix double for her.” 

 

Israel and Babylon

 17.  "Israel is like scattered sheep; The lions have driven him away. First the king of Assyria devoured him; Now at last this Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon has broken his bones." 

 18.  Therefore thus says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel: "Behold, I will punish the king of Babylon and his land, As I have punished the king of Assyria. 

 19.  But I will bring back Israel to his home, And he shall feed on Carmel and Bashan; His soul shall be satisfied on Mount Ephraim and Gilead. 

 20.  In those days and in that time," says the LORD, "The iniquity of Israel shall be sought, but there shall be none; And the sins of Judah, but they shall not be found; For I will pardon those whom I preserve. 

 21.  "Go up against the land of Merathaim, against it, And against the inhabitants of Pekod. Waste and utterly destroy them," says the LORD, "And do according to all that I have commanded you. 

 22.  A sound of battle is in the land, And of great destruction. 

 23.  How the hammer of the whole earth has been cut apart and broken! How Babylon has become a desolation among the nations! I have laid a snare for you; 

 24.  You have indeed been trapped, O Babylon, And you were not aware; You have been found and also caught, Because you have contended against the LORD. 

 25.  The LORD has opened His armory, And has brought out the weapons of His indignation; For this is the work of the Lord GOD of hosts In the land of the Chaldeans. 

 26.  Come against her from the farthest border; Open her storehouses; Cast her up as heaps of ruins, And destroy her utterly; Let nothing of her be left. 

 27.  Slay all her bulls, Let them go down to the slaughter. Woe to them! For their day has come, the time of their punishment. 

 28.  The voice of those who flee and escape from the land of Babylon Declares in Zion the vengeance of the LORD our God, The vengeance of His temple. 

 29.  "Call together the archers against Babylon. All you who bend the bow, encamp against it all around; Let none of them escape. Repay her according to her work; According to all she has done, do to her; For she has been proud against the LORD, Against the Holy One of Israel. 

 30.  Therefore her young men shall fall in the streets, And all her men of war shall be cut off in that day," says the LORD. 

 31.  "Behold, I am against you, O most haughty one!" says the Lord GOD of hosts; "For your day has come, The time that I will punish you. 

 32.  The most proud shall stumble and fall, And no one will raise him up; I will kindle a fire in his cities, And it will devour all around him." 

 33.  Thus says the LORD of hosts: "The children of Israel were oppressed, Along with the children of Judah; All who took them captive have held them fast; They have refused to let them go. 

 34.  Their Redeemer is strong; The LORD of hosts is His name. He will thoroughly plead their case, That He may give rest to the land, And disquiet the inhabitants of Babylon. 

 35.  "A sword is against the Chaldeans," says the LORD, "Against the inhabitants of Babylon, And against her princes and her wise men. 

 36.  A sword is against the soothsayers, and they will be fools. A sword is against her mighty men, and they will be dismayed. 

 37.  A sword is against their horses, Against their chariots, And against all the mixed peoples who are in her midst; And they will become like women. A sword is against her treasures, and they will be robbed. 

 38.  A drought is against her waters, and they will be dried up. For it is the land of carved images, And they are insane with their idols. 

 39.  "Therefore the wild desert beasts shall dwell there with the jackals, And the ostriches shall dwell in it. It shall be inhabited no more forever, Nor shall it be dwelt in from generation to generation. 

 40.  As God overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah And their neighbors," says the LORD, "So no one shall reside there, Nor son of man dwell in it. 

 41.  "Behold, a people shall come from the north, And a great nation and many kings Shall be raised up from the ends of the earth. 

 42.  They shall hold the bow and the lance; They are cruel and shall not show mercy. Their voice shall roar like the sea; They shall ride on horses, Set in array, like a man for the battle, Against you, O daughter of Babylon. 

 43.  "The king of Babylon has heard the report about them, And his hands grow feeble; Anguish has taken hold of him, Pangs as of a woman in childbirth. 

 44.  "Behold, he shall come up like a lion from the floodplain of the Jordan Against the dwelling place of the strong; But I will make them suddenly run away from her. And who is a chosen man that I may appoint over her? For who is like Me? Who will arraign Me? And who is that shepherd Who will withstand Me?" 

 45.  Therefore hear the counsel of the LORD that He has taken against Babylon, And His purposes that He has proposed against the land of the Chaldeans: Surely the least of the flock shall draw them out; Surely He will make their dwelling place desolate with them. 

 46.  At the noise of the taking of Babylon The earth trembles, And the cry is heard among the nations. 

The prophecy returns to Israel, because the sin and judgment of Babylon is fused to its cruelty and conquest of God’s people. Israel has been scattered by its enemies. The northern kingdom was carried captive by Assyria, Judah by Babylon. Down through the ages and up to the present day, world empires have fomented antisemitism. It is becoming increasingly prominent in this century, but at the same time, Israel is enjoying and prospering in its Promised Land (17-19).

Jeremiah’s prophecy now reaches to the end of time, when Israel through their Messiah will find forgiveness and a complete annihilation of its sin. It will be thrown behind God’s back and buried in the depths of the sea, never to appear again. Down through the ages, He has preserved His people from all assaults and will preserve them to the end. There has been no indication of the replacement of Israel by the church. He is seen clearly involved with physical Israel at this time and He cannot break His promises to them (20). Merathaim means double bitterness and symbolizes the bitter end to Babylon. Pekod, meaning visitation, has already been visited by the Lord’s judgment. As the world marvels at the destruction of Babylon in Revelation, so the great empire, destroyed and wasted, was a wonder in ancient times (21-23).

 It could not be allowed to continue to exist, so the divine trap has been set and the snare laid, as God did justice to Babylon’s rebellion (24). God brought the armory out of its storehouse that would effectively destroy it. The world is to recognize it as something beyond the work of man, but need to recognize the devastation of God (25-26). It reaches the highborn “bulls”, meaning princes in the Lord’s vocabulary (27). The Jews escape and testify of the vengeance of God against the nation that destroyed His temple (28). Once again, the famous Persian archers are called upon to demonstrate their skill, because God will not allow Babylon’s pride to continue (29).

 Read the background of the witnesses, who actually saw this prophecy fulfilled in the very night that Belshazzar held his feast, using the golden vessels of Jerusalem’s temple in Daniel 5. The hand of the Lord wrote on the palace wall and Daniel was called in to interpret the writing. That night, Belshazzar was killed and Darius of Persia received the kingdom. Jeremiah prophesies in detail, so that Israel will be informed well before the night, in which it took place.

 The choice young men will fall in the streets, including the Chaldean soldiers, who had conquered so many lands (30). No one can remain beyond the time that the Lord has declared in which he will be punished (31). As we have learned about how God has dealt with pride in other lands, in Babylon, God is dealing with the pride of conquerors, and they stumble and fall. The little poem we learned in Grade School was more than just a rhyme for children… it depicted an irreparable fall. “All the king’s horses and all the king’s men, couldn’t put Humpty together again.” Nothing survives the ravages of fire; all is turned to ashes (32).

Pharaoh refused to let the children Israel go; he exploited them as slaves. Babylon has kept them for seventy years but (34), as so many times in the past, God will lay bear His arm… “Their Redeemer is strong.” He redeems His people from physical captivity; He will effectively redeem His people from spiritual bondage. He will thoroughly plead their case… He is their defense attorney. Jesus was our defense attorney also and in the court of eternal justice, He gained for us a “not guilty” verdict. He said, I will give you another defense attorney, Who continues to protect us from the accusatory attorney, who accuses us before God, day and night (34).

 Pharaoh refused to let the children Israel go; he exploited them as slaves. Babylon has kept them for seventy years but (34), as so many times in the past, God will lay bear His arm… “Their Redeemer is strong.” He redeems His people from physical captivity; He will effectively redeem His people from spiritual bondage. He will thoroughly plead their case… He is their defense attorney. Jesus was our defense attorney also and in the court of eternal justice, He gained for us a “not guilty” verdict. He said, I will give you another defense attorney, Who continues to protect us from the accusatory attorney, who accuses us before God, day and night (34).

 Notice three times a sword in verses 35-37, which comes from His mouth in Revelation and with His word, He vanquishes His enemies. It is against the Chaldeans, against the citizens of their city, Babylon, and against the leadership. It is against the diviners, the demon-inspired witches of Babylon, and the strength of her defenders. It is against the chariot cavalry, the foreign residents who serve the city, and against those, who guard her financial strength.

 The waters that brought Babylon life and protected her were literally dried up. The Persians turned the course of the Euphrates that ran along Babylon’s walls, allowing the enemy to enter underneath the walls. The Babylonians were insanely religious, fanatical idolaters (38). The city will eventually lose any human mentality to rule it and will be governed by the law of the beasts. The ruin will be total and infinite (39).

 The overthrow of Sodom and Gomorrah, which the Scripture held before us from the book of Genesis, will now be joined by the fate of the Babylonians (40). God not only uses armies, but He trains them. In the north, the Persians, a great nation along with kings, are being raised up. We can see the hand of God upon some of them in the Bible, particularly Cyrus and Ahasuerus (41).  The emphasis is always on the bow… the archers, and her the Lord adds the lancers. As the Chaldeans were cruel, so these will be cruel. King Belshazzar, for instance, was dragged behind a horse around the city streets, until dead (42). His intelligence department has informed him of what is coming, and his hands became feeble (43). When the Lord gave him information, his knees knocked (Dan.5:6).

 From verses 44-46, we have a repetition, of that which we read in chapter 49:19-21, only now the application is against Babylon, which was the aggressor in the former chapter. God will work through the Persians, as He worked through the Babylonians against Edom. The attackers may differ, but the Lord’s characteristics are the same.

 It is the Persians now, instead of the Babylonians, who come up like a lion, which is disturbed from his lair. Now, the Babylonian defenders rise to challenge the attackers, but then turn to flee. We will repeat the comments regarding Edom: Who can challenge God, as to His purposes in these matters. He will determine, who will govern in the land and, what leader can stand against His purpose? Then, He reveals His plan to weaken the prey, so that the least of the enemy army will be able to displace them from their land. However, now the news reaches beyond the Red Sea, as was the case with Edom. This is the fall of a great empire and the news reaches the entire known world!