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Matthew Henry’s Complete Commentary
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Matthew Henry |
J E R E M I A H.
CHAP. L.
In this chapter, and that which follows, we have the judgment of
Babylon, which is put last of Jeremiah’s prophecies against the
Gentiles because it was last accomplished; and when the cup of God’s
fury went round
(
ch.25:17)
the king of Sheshach, Babylon, drank last. Babylon was employed as the
rod in God’s hand for the chastising of all the other nations, and now
at length that rod shall be thrown into the fire. The destruction of
Babylon by Cyrus was foretold, long before it came to its height, by
Isaiah, and now again, when it has come to its height, by Jeremiah;
for, though at this time he saw that kingdom flourishing “like a green
bay-tree,” yet at the same time he foresaw it withered and cut down.
And as Isaiah’s prophecies of the destruction of Babylon and the
deliverance of Israel out of it seem designed to typify the evangelical
triumphs of all believers over the powers of darkness, and the great
salvation wrought out by our Lord Jesus Christ, so Jeremiah’s
prophecies of the same events seem designed to point at the apocalyptic
triumphs of the gospel church in the latter days over the New-Testament
Babylon, many passages in the Revelation being borrowed hence. The
kingdom of Babylon being much larger and stronger than any of the
kingdoms here prophesied against, its fall was the more considerable in
itself; and, it having been more oppressive to the people of God than
any of the other, the prophet is very copious upon this subject, for
the comfort of the captives; and what was foretold in general often
before
is here more particularly described, and with a great deal of prophetic
heat as well as light. The terrible judgments God had in store for
Babylon, and the glorious blessings he had in store for his people that
were captives there, are intermixed and counterchanged in the prophecy
of this chapter; for Babylon was destroyed to make way for the turning
again of the captivity of God’s people. Here is,
I. The ruin of Babylon,
ver. 1-3, 9-16, 21-32, and 35-46.
II. The redemption of God’s people,
And these being set the one against the other, it is easy to say which
one would choose to take one’s lot with, the persecuting Babylonians,
who, though now in pomp, are reserved for so great a ruin, or the
persecuted Israelites, who, though now in thraldom, are reserved for so
great a glory.
| The Judgment of Babylon. | B. C. 595. |
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1 The word that the LORD spake against Babylon and against
the land of the Chaldeans by Jeremiah the prophet.
2 Declare ye among the nations, and publish, and set up a
standard; publish, and conceal not: say, Babylon is taken, Bel
is confounded, Merodach is broken in pieces; her idols are
confounded, her images are broken in pieces.
3 For out of the north there cometh up a nation against her,
which shall make her land desolate, and none shall dwell therein:
they shall remove, they shall depart, both man and beast.
4 In those days, and in that time, saith the LORD, the children
of Israel shall come, they and the children of Judah together,
going and weeping: they shall go, and seek the LORD their God.
5 They shall ask the way to Zion with their faces thitherward,
saying, Come, and let us join ourselves to the LORD in a
perpetual covenant that shall not be forgotten.
6 My people hath been lost sheep: their shepherds have caused
them to go astray, they have turned them away on the mountains:
they have gone from mountain to hill, they have forgotten their
restingplace.
7 All that found them have devoured them: and their adversaries
said, We offend not, because they have sinned against the LORD,
the habitation of justice, even the LORD, the hope of their
fathers.
8 Remove out of the midst of Babylon, and go forth out of the
land of the Chaldeans, and be as the he goats before the flocks.
I. Here is a word spoken against Babylon by him whose works all agree
with his word and none of whose words fall to the ground. The king of
Babylon had been very kind of Jeremiah, and yet he must foretel the
ruin of that kingdom; for God’s prophets must not be governed by favour
or affection. Whoever are our friends, if, notwithstanding, they are
God’s enemies, we dare not speak peace to them.
1. The destruction of Babylon is here spoken of as a thing done,
v. 2.
let it be published to the nations as a piece of news, true news, and
great news, and news they are all concerned in; let them hang out the
flag, as is usual on days of triumph, to give notice of it; let all the
world take notice of it: Babylon is taken. Let God have the
honour of it, let his people have the comfort of it, and therefore do
not conceal it. Take care that it be known, that the Lord may be
known by those judgments which he executes,
Ps. ix. 16.
2. It is spoken of as a thing done thoroughly. For,
(1.) The very idols of Babylon, which the people would protect with all
possible care, and from which they expected protection, shall be
destroyed. Bel and Merodach were their two principal deities; they
shall be confounded, and the images of them broken to
pieces.
(2.) The country shall be laid waste
(v. 3)
out of the north, from Media, which lay north of Babylon, and
from Assyria, through which Cyrus made his descent upon Babylon; thence
the nation shall come that shall make her land desolate. Their
land was north of the countries that they destroyed, who were therefore
threatened with evil from the north (Omne malum ab aquilone–Every
evil comes from the north); but God will find out nations yet
further north to come upon them. The pomp and power of old Rome were
brought down by northern nations, the Goths and Vandals.
II. Here is a word spoken for the people of God, and for their comfort,
both the children of Israel and of Judah; for many there
were of the ten tribes that associated with those of the two tribes in
their return out of Babylon. Now here,
1. It is promised that they shall return to their God first and then to
their own land; and the promise of their conversion and reformation is
that which makes way for all the other promises,
(1.) They shall lament after the Lord (as the whole house of
Israel did in Samuel’s time,
they shall go weeping. These tears flow not from the sorrow of
the world as those when they went into captivity, but from godly
sorrow; they are tears of repentance for sin, tears of joy for the
goodness of God, in the dawning of the day of their deliverance, which,
for aught that appears, does more towards the bringing of them to mourn
for sin than all the calamities of their captivity; that prevails to
lead them to repentance when the other did not prevail to drive
them to it. Note, It is a good sign that God is coming towards a
people in ways of mercy when they begin to be tenderly affected under
his hand.
(2.) They shall enquire after the Lord; they shall not sink
under their sorrows, but bestir themselves to find out comfort where it
is to be had: They shall go weeping to seek the Lord their God.
Those that seek the Lord must seek him sorrowing, as Christ’s
parents sought him,
And those that sorrow must seek the Lord, and then their sorrow shall
soon be turned into joy, for he will be found of those that so seek
him. They shall seek the Lord as their God, and shall now have
no more to do with idols. When they shall hear that the idols of
Babylon are confounded and broken it will be seasonable for them
to enquire after their own God and to return to him who lives for ever.
Therefore men are deceived in false gods, that they may depend
on the true God only.
(3.) They shall think of returning to their own country again; they
shall think of it not only as a mercy, but as a duty, because there
only is the holy hill of Zion, on which once stood the house
of the Lord their God
(v. 5):
They shall ask the way to Zion with their faces thitherward.
Zion was the city of their solemnities; they often thought of it in the
depth of their captivity
but, now that the ruin of Babylon gave them some hopes of a release,
they talk of nothing else but of going back to Zion. Their hearts were
upon it before, and now they set their faces thitherward. They
long to be there; they set out for Zion, and resolve not to take up
short of it. The journey is long and they know not the road, but they
will ask the way, for they will press forward till they come to
Zion; and, as they are determined not to turn back, so they are in care
not to miss the way. This represents the return of poor souls to God.
Heaven is the Zion they aim at as their end; on this they have set
their hearts; towards this they have set their faces, and
therefore they ask the way thither. They do not ask the way to
heaven and set their faces towards the world; nor set their faces
towards heaven and go on at a venture without asking the way. But in
all true converts there are both a sincere desire to attain the end and
a constant care to keep in the way; and a blessed sight it is to see
people thus asking the way to heaven with their faces thitherward.
(4.) They shall renew their covenant to walk with God more closely for
the future: Come, and let us join ourselves to the Lord in a
perpetual covenant. They had broken covenant with God, had in
effect separated themselves from him, but now they resolve to join
themselves to him again, by engaging themselves afresh to be his.
Thus, when backsliders return, they must do their first works,
must renew the covenant they first made; and it must be a perpetual
covenant, that must never be broken; and, in order to that, must
never be forgotten; for a due remembrance of it will be the means of a
due observance of it.
2. Their present case is lamented as very sad, and as having been long
so: “My people” (for he owns them as his now that they are
returning to him) “have been lost sheep
(v. 6);
they have gone from mountain to hill, have been hurried from
place to place, and could find no pasture; they have forgotten their
resting-place in their own country and cannot find their way to
it.” And that which aggravated their misery was,
(1.) That they were led astray by their own shepherds, their own
princes and priests; they turned them from their duty, and so provoked
God to turn them out of their own land. It is bad with a people when
their leaders cause them to err, when those that should direct them,
and when those that should secure and advance their interests are the
betrayers of them.
(2.) That in their wanderings they lay exposed to the beasts of prey,
who thought they were entitled to them, as waifs and strays that had no
owner
(v. 7);
it is with them as with wandering sheep, all that found them have
devoured them and made a prey of them; and when they did them the
greatest injuries they laughed at them, telling them it was what their
own prophets had many a time told them they deserved; that was far from
justifying those who did them wrong, yet they bantered them with this
excuse, We offend not, because they have sinned against the
Lord; but they could not pretend that they had sinned against them.
And see what notion they had of the Lord they had sinned against, not
as the only true and living God, but only as the habitation of
justice and the hope of their fathers; they had put a contempt upon
the temple and upon the tradition of their ancestors, and therefore
deserved to suffer these hard things. And yet it was indeed an
aggravation of their sin, and justified God, though it did not justify
their adversaries in what was done to them, that they had forsaken
the habitation of justice and him that was the hope of their
fathers.
3. They are called upon to hasten away, as soon as ever the door of
liberty was opened to them
(v. 8):
“Remove, not only out of the borders, but out of the midst of
Babylon; though you be ever so well seated there, think not to
settle there, but hasten to Zion, and be as the he-goats before the
flocks; strive which shall be foremost, which shall lead in so good
a work:” a he-goat is comely in going
because he goes first. It is a graceful thing to be forward in a good
work and to set others a good example.
| The Judgment of Babylon. | B. C. 595. |
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9 For, lo, I will raise and cause to come up against Babylon an
assembly of great nations from the north country: and they shall
set themselves in array against her; from thence she shall be
taken: their arrows shall be as of a mighty expert man; none
shall return in vain.
10 And Chaldea shall be a spoil: all that spoil her shall be
satisfied, saith the LORD.
11 Because ye were glad, because ye rejoiced, O ye destroyers
of mine heritage, because ye are grown fat as the heifer at
grass, and bellow as bulls;
12 Your mother shall be sore confounded; she that bare you
shall be ashamed: behold, the hindermost of the nations shall
be a wilderness, a dry land, and a desert.
13 Because of the wrath of the LORD it shall not be inhabited,
but it shall be wholly desolate: every one that goeth by Babylon
shall be astonished, and hiss at all her plagues.
14 Put yourselves in array against Babylon round about: all ye
that bend the bow, shoot at her, spare no arrows: for she hath
sinned against the LORD.
15 Shout against her round about: she hath given her hand: her
foundations are fallen, her walls are thrown down: for it is
the vengeance of the LORD: take vengeance upon her; as she hath
done, do unto her.
16 Cut off the sower from Babylon, and him that handleth the
sickle in the time of harvest: for fear of the oppressing sword
they shall turn every one to his people, and they shall flee
every one to his own land.
17 Israel is a scattered sheep; the lions have driven him
away: first the king of Assyria hath devoured him; and last this
Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon hath broken his bones.
18 Therefore thus saith 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 And I will bring Israel again to his habitation, and he
shall feed on Carmel and Bashan, and his soul shall be satisfied
upon mount Ephraim and Gilead.
20 In those days, and in that time, saith the LORD, the
iniquity of Israel shall be sought for, and there shall be
none; and the sins of Judah, and they shall not be found: for I
will pardon them whom I reserve.
God is here by his prophet, as afterwards in his providence, proceeding
in his controversy with Babylon. Observe,
I. The commission and charge given to the instruments that were to be
employed in destroying Babylon. The army that is to do it is called
an assembly of great nations
(v. 9),
the Medes and Persians, and all their allies and auxiliaries; it is
called an assembly, because regularly formed by the divine will
and counsel to do this execution. God will raise them up to do
it, will incline them to and fir them for this service, and then he
will cause them to come up, for all their motions are under his
conduct and direction: he shall give the word of command, shall order
them to put themselves in array against Babylon
(v. 14),
and then they shall put themselves in array
(v. 9),
for what God appoints to be done shall be done; and thence she shall
be quickly taken; from their first sitting down before it
they shall be still gaining ground against it till it be taken. God
shall bid them shoot at her and spare no arrows
(v. 14),
and then their arrows shall be as of a mighty expert man, that
has both skill and strength, a good eye and a good hand
(v. 9);
none shall return in vain. When God gives commission he will
give success. Nay, they are bidden not only to shoot at her
(v. 14),
but to shout against her
(v. 15)
with a triumphant shout, as those that are already sure of victory.
Those whom God directs to shoot may do so with shouting, for they are
sure not to miss the mark.
II. The desolation and destruction itself that shall be brought upon
Babylon. This is here set forth in a great variety of expressions.
1. The wealth of Babylon shall be a rich and easy prey to the
conquerors
(v. 10):
Chaldea shall be a spoil to all her destroyers, who shall enrich
themselves by plundering her, and, which is strange, all that spoil
her shall be satisfied; they shall have so much that even they
themselves shall say that they have enough.
2. The country of Babylon shall be depopulated and lie uninhabited:
It shall be wholly desolate
(v. 13)
to such a degree that every one who goes by shall triumph in her
fall, and, instead of condoling with them, shall hiss at all her
plagues,
v. 13.
3. Their ancestors shall be ashamed of their cowardice, in fleeing from
the first onset
(v. 12),
or, Your mother, Babylon itself, the mother-city, shall be
confounded, when she sees herself deserted by those that should
have been her guards. Thus the former ages of Christians may justly be
confounded and ashamed to see how unlike them the latter ages are, and
how wretchedly they have degenerated; and no sin brings a surer and
sorer ruin upon persons, or people, than apostasy.
4. The great admirers of Babylon shall see it rendered very despicable:
the last of kingdoms, the very tail of the nations, shall it be, a
wilderness, a dry land, a desert,
v. 11.
The country that was populous shall be dispeopled, that was enriched
with a fertile soil shall become barren.
5. The great city, the head of it, shall be quite ruined. Her
foundations have fallen, and therefore her walls are thrown
down; for how can the walls stand when divine vengeance is at the
door and shakes the very foundations? It is the vengeance of the Lord,
which nothing can contend with either in law or battle.
6. There shall not be left in Babylon so much as the poor of the
land, for vine-dressers and husbandmen, as there was in Israel
(v. 16):
The sower shall be cut off from Babylon, and he that handles the
sickle; the country shall be so emptied of people that there shall
be none to till the ground and gather in the fruits of it. Harvest
shall come, and there shall be no reapers; seed-time shall come, but
there shall be no sower; God will do his part, but there shall be no
men to do theirs.
7. All their auxiliary forces, which they have hired into their
service, shall desert them, as mercenary men often do upon the approach
of danger
(v. 16):
For fear of the oppressing sword they shall turn every one to his
people. This was threatened before concerning Egypt,
III. The procuring provoking cause of this destruction. It comes from
God’s displeasure; it is because of the wrath of the Lord that
Babylon shall be wholly desolate
(v. 13),
and his wrath is righteous, for
(v. 14)
she hath sinned against the Lord, therefore spare no
arrows. Note, It is sin that makes men a mark for the arrows of
God’s judgments. An abundance of idolatry and immorality was to be
found in Babylon, yet those are not mentioned as the reason of God’s
displeasure against them, but the injuries they had done to the people
of God, from a principle of enmity to them as his people. They have
been the destroyers of God’s heritage
(v. 11);
herein indeed God made use of them for the necessary correction of his
people, and yet it is laid to their charge as a heinous crime, because
they designed nothing but their utter destruction.
1. What they did against Jerusalem they did with pleasure
(v. 11):
You were glad, you rejoice. God does not afflict his people
willingly, and therefore takes it very ill if the instruments he
employs afflict them willingly. When Titus Vespasian destroyed
Jerusalem he wept over it, but these Chaldeans triumphed over it.
2. The spoils of Jerusalem they made use of to feed their own luxury:
“You have grown fat as the heifer at grass, and bellow as bulls;
your having conquered Jerusalem has made you very wanton and proud,
easy to yourselves and formidable to all about you, and therefore you
must be a spoil.” Those that have thus swallowed down riches
must vomit them up again. Therefore they have given their hand
(v. 15);
they have surrendered themselves to the conqueror, have tamely yielded
so that now you may take vengeance on her, now you may make
reprisals and do unto her as she hath done.
3. They aimed at nothing less than the utter ruin of God’s Israel:
Israel is a scattered sheep, as before
(v. 6),
that is not only barked at and worried by dogs, but even lions, the
most potent adversaries, have roared upon him and driven him
away,
v. 17.
One king of Assyria carried the ten tribes quite away and devoured
them; another invaded Judah, and plundered and impoverished it, tore
the fleece and flesh of this poor sheep; and now at last this
Nebuchadnezzar, that is the terror and plague of all his neighbours,
has taken advantage of the low condition to which he is reduced, and he
has fallen upon him and broken his bones, has quite ruined him,
and therefore the king of Babylon must be punished as the king of
Assyria was,
Note, Those who pursue and prosecute the sins of their predecessors
must expect to be pursued and prosecuted by their plagues; if they do
as they did, let them fare as they fared.
IV. The mercy promised to the Israel of God, which shall not only
accompany, but accrue from, the destruction of Babylon.
1. God will return their captivity; they shall be released out of their
bondage, and brought again to their own habitation as sheep that
were scattered to their own fold
They still retained a title to the land of Canaan; it is their
habitation still. The discontinuance of their possession was not the
destruction of their right. But now they shall recover the enjoyment of
it again.
2. He will restore their prosperity; they shall not only live, but live
comfortably, in their own land again; they shall feed upon Carmel
and Bashan, the richest and most fruitful parts of the country.
These sheep shall be gathered from the deserts to which they were
dispersed, and put again into good pasture, which their soul shall be
satisfied with though they shall come hungry to it, having been so long
stinted, and straitened, and kept short, yet they shall find enough to
satiate them and shall have hearts to be satiated with it. They
enquired the way to Zion
(v. 5),
where God was to be served and worshipped. This was what they chiefly
aimed at in their return; but God will not only bring them thither, but
bring them also to Carmel and Bashan, where they shall abundantly feed
themselves. Note, Those that return to God and their duty shall find
true satisfaction of soul in so doing; and those that seek first the
kingdom of God and the righteousness thereof, that aim to make
their habitation in Zion, the holy hill, shall have other things
added to them, even all the comforts of Ephraim and Gilead,
the fruitful hills.
3. God will pardon their iniquity; this is the root of all the rest
(v. 20):
In those days the iniquity of Israel shall be sought for, and there
shall be none. Not only the punishments of their iniquity shall be
taken off, but the offence which it gave to God shall be forgotten, and
he will be reconciled to them. Their sin shall be before him as if it
had never been; it shall be blotted out as a cloud, crossed out as a
debt, shall be cast behind his back; nay, it shall be cast into the
depth of the sea, shall be no longer sealed up among God’s treasures,
nor in any danger of appearing again or rising up against them. This
denotes how fully God forgives sin; he remembers it no more.
Note, Deliverances out of trouble are then comforts indeed when they
are the fruits of the forgiveness of sin,
Judah and Israel were so fully forgiven when they were brought back out
of Babylon that they are said to have received of the Lord’s hand
double for all their sins,
Isa. xl. 1.
This may include also a thorough reformation of their hearts and lives,
as well as a full remission of their sins. If any seek for idols or
any idolatrous customs among them, after their return, there shall
be none, they shall not find them; their dross shall be
purely purged away, and by that it shall appear that their guilt is so;
for I will pardon those whom I reserve; I will be propitious to
them (so the word is) and that must be through him who is the great
propitiation. Note, Those whose sins God pardons he reserves for
something very great; for whom he justifies them he
glorifies.
| The Judgment of Babylon. | B. C. 595. |
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21 Go up against the land of Merathaim, even against it, and
against the inhabitants of Pekod: waste and utterly destroy after
them, saith the LORD, and do according to all that I have
commanded thee.
22 A sound of battle is in the land, and of great
destruction.
23 How is the hammer of the whole earth cut asunder and broken!
how is Babylon become a desolation among the nations!
24 I have laid a snare for thee, and thou art also taken, O
Babylon, and thou wast not aware: thou art found, and also
caught, because thou hast striven against the LORD.
25 The LORD hath opened his armoury, and hath brought forth 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 utmost border, open her
storehouses: cast her up as heaps, and destroy her utterly: let
nothing of her be left.
27 Slay all her bullocks; let them go down to the slaughter:
woe unto them! for their day is come, the time of their
visitation.
28 The voice of them that flee and escape out of the land of
Babylon, to declare in Zion the vengeance of the LORD our God,
the vengeance of his temple.
29 Call together the archers against Babylon: all ye that bend
the bow, camp against it round about; let none thereof escape:
recompense her according to her work; according to all that she
hath done, do unto her: for she hath been proud against the LORD,
against the Holy One of Israel.
30 Therefore shall her young men fall in the streets, and all
her men of war shall be cut off in that day, saith the LORD.
31 Behold, I am against thee, O thou most proud, saith the
Lord GOD of hosts: for thy day is come, the time that I will
visit thee.
32 And the most proud shall stumble and fall, and none shall
raise him up: and I will kindle a fire in his cities, and it
shall devour all round about him.
Here,
1. The forces are mustered and commissioned to destroy Babylon, and
every thing is got ready for a descent upon that potent kingdom: Go
up against that land by Merathaim, the country of the
Mardi, that lay part in Assyria and part in Armenia; and go among
the inhabitants of Pekod, another country (mentioned
which Cyrus took in his way to Babylon. The forces of Cyrus are called
to go up against Babylon
(v. 21),
to come against her from the utmost border. Let all come
together, for there will be both work and pay enough for them all,
Distance of place must not be their hindrance from engaging in this
work. The archers particularly must be called together
against Babylon,
v. 29.
Thus the Lord hath opened his armoury
(v. 25),
his treasury (so the word is), and hath brought forth the
weapons of his indignation, as great princes fetch out of their
magazines and stores all necessary provisions for their armies when
they undertake any great expedition. Media and Persia are now God’s
armoury; thence he fetches the weapons of his wrath, Cyrus and his
great officers and armies, whom he will make use of for the destruction
of Babylon. Note, Great men are but instruments which the great God
makes use of to serve his own purposes. He has variety of instruments,
has them at command, has armouries ready to be opened according as the
occasion is. This is the work of the Lord God of hosts. Note,
When God has work to do he will make it appear that he is God of
hosts, and will not want instruments to do it with.
2. Instructions are given them what to do. In general, Do according
to all that I have commanded thee,
v. 21.
It was said of Cyrus
He shall perform all my pleasure, in his expedition against
Babylon. They must waste and utterly destroy after them; when
they have destroyed once they must go over them again, or destroy their
posterity that should come after them. They must open her
store-houses
(v. 26),
rifle her treasures, and turn her artillery against herself. They must
cast her up as heaps; let all the wealth and pomp of Babylon be
shovelled up in a heap of ruins and rubbish. Tread her down as
heaps (so the margin reads it) and destroy her utterly. See
how little account the great God makes of those things which men so
much value and value themselves so much upon. Their princes and great
men, who are fat and bulky, shall fall by the sword, not as men of war
in the field of battle, which we call a bed of honour, but as beasts by
the butcher’s hand
(v. 27):
Slay all her bullocks, all her mighty men; let them go
down sottishly and insensibly, as an ox to the slaughter. Woe
unto them! their case is the more sad for the little sense they
have of it. Their day has come to fall, the time when
they must be reckoned with, and they are not aware of it.
3. Assurances are given them of success. Let them do what God commands,
and they shall accomplish what he threatens. A great
destruction shall be made,
Babylon shall become a desolation
(v. 23);
her young men and all her men of war shall be cut off in that
day which should have been her defence,
God is against her
(v. 31);
he has laid a snare for her
(v. 24);
he has formed this enterprise against her, that she should be surprised
as a bird taken in a snare. Cyrus shall no doubt prevail, for he fights
under God. God will kindle a fire in the cities of Babylon
(v. 32);
and who can stand before him when he is angry, or quench the fire that
he has kindled?
4. Reasons are given for these severe dealings with Babylon. Those
that are employed in this war may, if they please, know the grounds of
it, and be satisfied in the justice of it, which it is fit all should
be that are called to such work.
(1.) Babylon has been very troublesome, vexatious, and injurious, to
all its neighbours; it has been the hammer of the whole earth
(v. 23),
beating, beating down, and beating to pieces, all the nations far and
near. It has done so long enough; it is time now that it be cut
asunder and broken. Note, He that is the god of nations will sooner
or later assert the injured rights of nations against those that
unjustly and violently invade them. The God of the whole earth will
break the hammer of the whole earth.
(2.) Babylon has bidden defiance to God himself: Thou has striven
against the Lord
(v. 24),
hast joined issue with him (so the word signifies) as in law or
battle, hast openly opposed him, set up rivals with him, raised
rebellion against him; therefore thou art now found, and
caught, as in a snare. Note, Those that strive against the Lord
will soon find themselves over-matched.
(3.) Babylon ruined Jerusalem, the holy city, and the holy house there,
and must now be called to an account for that. This is the manifesto
published in Zion, in the day of Babylon’s visitation; it is the
vengeance of the Lord our God, the vengeance of his temple,
v. 28.
The burning of the temple, and the carrying away of its vessels, were
articles in the charge against Babylon on which greater stress was laid
than upon its being the hammer of the whole earth; for Zion was
the joy and glory of the whole earth. Note, Whatever
wrong is done to God’s church (his temple in the world) it will
certainly be reckoned for; and no vengeance will be sorer nor heavier
than the vengeance of the temple.
(4.) Babylon has been very haughty and insolent, and therefore must
have a fall; for it is the glory of God to look upon those that are
proud and to abase them,
Job xl. 11.
I am against thee, O thou most proud!
v. 31
and again
Thou pride (so the word is), as proud as pride itself. Note, the
pride of men’s hearts sets God against them and ripens them apace for
ruin; for God resists the proud and will bring them down. The
most proud shall stumble and fall; they shall fall not so much by
others’ thrusting them down as by their own stumbling; for they hold
their heads so high that they never look under their feet, to choose
their way and avoid stumbling-blocks, but walk at all adventures.
Babylon’s pride must unavoidably be her ruin; for she has been proud
against the Lord, against the Holy One of Israel
(v. 29),
has insulted him in insulting over his people; she has made him her
enemy, and therefore, when she has fallen, none shall raise her
up,
v. 31.
Who can help those up whom God will throw down?
| The Judgment of Babylon. | B. C. 595. |
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33 Thus saith the LORD of hosts; The children of Israel and the
children of Judah were oppressed together: and all that took
them captives held them fast; they refused to let them go.
34 Their Redeemer is strong; the LORD of hosts is his name:
he shall thoroughly plead their cause, that he may give rest to
the land, and disquiet the inhabitants of Babylon.
35 A sword is upon the Chaldeans, saith the LORD, and upon
the inhabitants of Babylon, and upon her princes, and upon her
wise men.
36 A sword is upon the liars; and they shall dote: a sword
is upon her mighty men; and they shall be dismayed.
37 A sword is upon their horses, and upon their chariots, and
upon all the mingled people that are in the midst of her; and
they shall become as women: a sword is upon her treasures; and
they shall be robbed.
38 A drought is upon her waters; and they shall be dried up:
for it is the land of graven images, and they are mad upon
their idols.
39 Therefore the wild beasts of the desert with the wild beasts
of the islands shall dwell there, and the owls shall dwell
therein: and it shall be no more inhabited for ever; neither
shall it be dwelt in from generation to generation.
40 As God overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah and the neighbour
cities thereof, saith the LORD; so shall no man abide there,
neither shall any son of man dwell therein.
41 Behold, a people shall come from the north, and a great
nation, and many kings shall be raised up from the coasts of the
earth.
42 They shall hold the bow and the lance: they are cruel, and
will not shew mercy: their voice shall roar like the sea, and
they shall ride upon horses, every one put in array, like a man
to the battle, against thee, O daughter of Babylon.
43 The king of Babylon hath heard the report of them, and his
hands waxed feeble: anguish took hold of him, and pangs as of a
woman in travail.
44 Behold, he shall come up like a lion from the swelling of
Jordan unto the habitation 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? and who will appoint
me the time? and who is that shepherd that will stand before
me?
45 Therefore hear ye the counsel of the LORD, that he hath
taken against Babylon; and his purposes, that he hath purposed
against the land of the Chaldeans: Surely the least of the flock
shall draw them out: surely he shall make their habitation
desolate with them.
46 At the noise of the taking of Babylon the earth is moved,
and the cry is heard among the nations.
We have in these verses,
I. Israel’s sufferings, and their deliverance out of those sufferings.
God takes notice of the bondage of his people in Babylon, as he did of
their bondage in Egypt; he has surely seen it, and has heard
their cry. Israel and Judah were oppressed together,
v. 33.
Those that remained of the captives of the ten tribes, upon the uniting
of the kingdoms of Assyria and Chaldea, seem to have come and mingled
with t hose of the two tribes, and to have mingled tears with them, so
that they were oppressed together. They were humble suppliants
for their liberty, and that was all; they could not attempt any thing
towards it, for all that took them captives held them fast, and
were much too hard for them. But this is their comfort in distress,
that, though they are weak, their Redeemer is strong
(v. 34),
their Avenger (so the word signifies), he that has a right to
them, and will claim his right and make good his claim. He is stronger
than their enemies that hold them fast; he can overpower all the force
that is against them, and put strength into his own people though they
are very weak. The Lord of hosts is his name, and he will answer
to his name, and make it to appear that he is what his people call him,
and will be that to them for which they depend upon him. Note, It is
the unspeakable comfort of the people of God that, though they have
hosts against them, they have the Lord of hosts for them and
he shall thoroughly plead their cause, pleading he shall plead
it, plead it with jealousy, plead it effectually, plead it and carry
it, that he may give rest to the land, and to his people’s land,
rest from all their enemies round about. This is applicable to all
believers, who complain of the dominion of sin and corruption, and of
their own weakness and manifold infirmities. Let them know that
their Redeemer is strong; he is able to keep what they commit to
him, and he will plead their cause. Sin shall not have dominion over
them; he will make them free, and they shall be free
indeed; he will give them rest, that rest which remains
for the people of God.
II. Babylon’s sin, and their punishment for that sin.
1. The sins they are here charged with are idolatry and persecution.
(1.) They oppressed the people of God; they held them fast, and
would not let them go. They opened not the house of his
prisoners,
Isa. xiv. 17.
This was God’s quarrel with them, as of old with Pharaoh; it cost him
dear, and yet they would not take warning. The inhabitants of
Babylon must be disquieted
(v. 34)
because they have disquieted God’s people, whose honour and comfort he
is jealous for, and therefore will recompense tribulation to those
that trouble them, as well as rest to those that are
troubled,
2 Thess. i. 6, 7.
(2.) They wronged God himself, and robbed him, giving that glory to
others which is due to him alone; for
(v. 38)
it is the land of graven images. All parts of the country
abounded with idols, and they were mad upon them, were in love with
them and doted on them, cared not what cost and pains they were at in
the worship of them, were unwearied in paying their respects to them;
and in all this they were wretchedly infatuated and acted like men out
of their wits; they were carried on in their idolatry without reason or
discretion, like men in a perfect fury. The word here used for idols
properly signifies terrors–Enim, the name given to giants that
were formidable, because they made the images of their gods to look
frightful, to strike a terror upon fools and children. Their idols were
scarecrows, yet they doted on them. Babylon was the mother of
harlots
(Rev. xvii. 5),
the source of idolatry. Note, It is the maddest thing in the world to
make a god of any creature; and those who are proud against the Lord,
the true God, are justly given up to strong delusions, to be mad upon
idols that cannot profit. But this madness is wickedness, for which
sinners will be certainly and severely reckoned with.
2. The judgments of God upon them for these sins are such as will quite
lay them waste and ruin them.
(1.) All that should be their defence and support shall be cut off by
the sword. The Chaldeans had long been God’s sword, wherewith he had
done execution upon the sinful nations round about: but now, they being
as bad as any of them, or worse, a sword is brought upon them,
even upon the inhabitants of Babylon
(v. 35),
a sword of war; and, as it is in God’s hand, sent and directed by him,
it is a sword of justice. It shall be,
[1.] Upon their princes; they shall fall by it, and their
dignity, wealth, and power, shall not secure them.
[2.] Upon their wise men, their philosophers, their statesmen,
and privy-counsellors; their learning and policy shall neither secure
them nor stand the public in any stead.
[3.] Upon their soothsayers and astrologers, here called the
liars
(v. 36),
for they cheated with their prognostications of peace and prosperity;
the sword upon them shall make them dote, so that they shall talk like
fools, and be as men that have lost all their wits. Note, God has a
sword that can reach the soul and affect the mind, and bring men under
spiritual plagues.
[4.] Upon their mighty men. A sword shall be upon their spirits;
if they are not slain, yet they shall be dismayed, and shall be
no longer mighty men; for what stead will their hands stand them
in when their hearts fail them?
[5.] Upon their militia
(v. 37):
The sword shall be upon their horses and chariots; the invaders
shall make themselves masters of all their warlike stores, shall seize
their horses and chariots for themselves, or destroy them. The troops
of other nations that were in their service shall be quite
disheartened: The mingled people shall become as weak and
timorous as women.
[6.] Upon their exchequer: The sword shall be upon her
treasures, which are the sinews of war, and they shall be
robbed, and made use of by the enemy against them. See what
universal destruction the sword makes when it comes with
commission.
(2.) The country shall be made desolate
(v. 38):
The waters shall be dried up, the water that secures the city.
Cyrus drew the river Euphrates into so many channels as made it
passable for his army, so that they got with ease to the walls of
Babylon, which, if was thought, that river had rendered inaccessible.
“The water likewise that made the country fruitful shall be dried
up, so that it shall be turned into barrenness, and shall be no
more inhabited by the children of men, but by the wild beasts of the
desert,”
This was foretold concerning Babylon,
It shall become like Sodom and Gomorrah,
v. 40.
The same was foretold concerning Edom,
As the Chaldeans had laid Edom waste, so they shall themselves be laid
waste.
(3.) The king and kingdom shall be put into the utmost confusion and
consternation by the enemies’ invading them,
All the expressions here used to denote the formidable power of the
invaders, the terrors wherewith they should array themselves, and the
great fright which both court and country should be put into thereby,
we met with before
concerning the Chaldeans’ invading the land of Judah. The battle which
is there said to be against thee, O daughter of Zion! is here
said to be against thee, O daughter of Babylon! to intimate that
they should be paid in their own coin. God can find out such as shall
be for terror and destruction to those that are for terror and
destruction to others; and those who have dealt cruelly, and have shown
no mercy, may expect to be cruelly dealt with, and to find no mercy.
Only there is one difference between these passages; there it is said,
We have heard the fame thereof and our hands wax feeble; here it
is said, The king of Babylon has heard the report and his hands
waxed feeble, which intimates that that proud and daring prince
shall, in the day of his distress, be as weak and dispirited as the
meanest Israelites were in the day of their distress.
(4.) That they shall be as much hurt as frightened, for the invader
shall come up like a lion to tear and destroy
(v. 44)
and shall make them and their habitation desolate
(v. 45),
and the desolation shall be so astonishing that all the nations about
shall be terrified by it,
These three verses we had before
in the prophecy of the destruction of Edom, which was accomplished by
the Chaldeans, and they are here repeated, mutatis mutandis–with a
few necessary alterations, in the prophecy of the destruction of
Babylon, which was to be accomplished upon the Chaldeans, to show that
though the distributions of Providence may appear unequal for a time
its retributions will be equal at last; when thou shalt make an end
to spoil thou shalt be spoiled,
Isa. xxxiii. 1; Rev. xiii. 10.
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