Bible Commentaries
Jeremiah 51

Verse 1

CHAPTER LI

Sequel of the prophecies of Jeremiah against Babylon. The

dreadful, sudden, and final ruin that shall fall upon the

Chaldeans, who have compelled the nations to receive their

idolatrous rites, (see an instance in the third chapter of

Daniel,) set forth by a variety of beautiful figures; with a

command to the people of God, (who have made continual

intercession for the conversion of their heathen rulers,) to

flee from the impending vengeance, 1-14.

Jehovah, Israel's God, whose infinite power, wisdom and

understanding are every where visible in the works of creation,

elegantly contrasted with the utterly contemptible objects of

the Chaldean worship, 15-19.

Because of their great oppression of God's people, the

Babylonians shall be visited with cruel enemies from the north,

whose innumerable hosts shall fill the land, and utterly

extirpate the original inhabitants, 20-44.

One of the figures by which this formidable invasion is

represented is awfully sublime. "The SEA is come up upon

Babylon; she is covered with the multitude of the waves

thereof." And the account of the sudden desolation produced by

this great armament of a multitude of nations, (which the

prophet, dropping the figure, immediately subjoins,) is deeply

afflictive. "Her cities are a desolation, a dry land, and a

wilderness; a land wherein no man dwelleth, neither doth any

son of man pass thereby." The people of God a third time

admonished to escape from Babylon, lest they be overtaken with

her plagues, 45, 46.

Other figures setting forth in a variety of lights the awful

judgments with which the Chaldeans shall be visited on account

of their very gross idolatries, 47-58.

The significant emblem with which the chapter concludes, of

Seraiah, after having read the book of the Prophet Jeremiah

against Babylon, binding a stone to it, and casting it into the

river Euphrates, thereby prefiguring the very sudden downfall

of the Chaldean city and empire, 59-64,

is beautifully improved by the writer of the Apocalypse,

Revelation 18:21,

in speaking of Babylon the GREAT, of which the other was a most

expressive type; and to which many of the passages interspersed

throughout the Old Testament Scriptures relative to Babylon

must be ultimately referred, if we would give an interpretation

in every respect equal to the terrible import of the language

in which these prophecies are conceived.

NOTES ON CHAP. LI

Verse Jeremiah 51:1. Thus saith the Lord — This chapter is a continuation of the preceding prophecy.

A destroying wind. — Such as the pestilential winds in the east; and here the emblem of a destroying army, carrying all before them, and wasting with fire and sword.

Verse 2

Verse Jeremiah 51:2. And will send - fanners — When the corn is trodden out with the feet of cattle, or crushed out with a heavy wheel armed with iron, with a shovel they throw it up against the wind, that the chaff and broken straw may be separated from it. This is the image used by the prophet; these people shall be trodden, crushed, and fanned by their enemies.

Verse 5

Verse Jeremiah 51:5. For Israel hath not been forsaken — God still continued his prophets among them; he had never cast them wholly off. Even in the midst of wrath - highly deserved and inflicted punishment, he has remembered mercy; and is now about to crown what he has done by restoring them to their own land. I conceive אשם asham, which we translate sin, as rather signifying punishment, which meaning it often has.

Verse 7

Verse Jeremiah 51:7. Made all the earth drunken — The cup of God's wrath is the plenitude of punishment, that he inflicts on transgressors. It is represented as intoxicating and making them mad.

Verse 8

Verse Jeremiah 51:8. Babylon is suddenly fallen and destroyed — These appear to be the words of some of the spectators of Babylon's misery.

Verse 9

Verse Jeremiah 51:9. We would have healed Babylon — Had it been in our power, we would have saved her; but we could not turn away the judgment of God.

Verse 10

Verse Jeremiah 51:10. The Lord hath brought forth our righteousness. — This is the answer of the Jews. God has vindicated our cause.

Verse 11

Verse Jeremiah 51:11. Make bright the arrows — This is the prophet's address to Babylon.

The Lord hath raised up the spirit of the kings of the Medes — Of Cyaxares king of Media, called Darius the Mede in Scripture; and of Cyrus king of Persia, presumptive heir of the throne of Cyaxares, his uncle. Cambyses, his father, sent him, Cyrus, with 30,000 men to assist his uncle Cyaxares, against Neriglissar king of Babylon, and by these was Babylon overthrown.

Verse 12

Verse Jeremiah 51:12. Set up the standard — A call to the enemies of Babylon to invest the city and press the siege.

Verse 13

Verse Jeremiah 51:13. O thou that dwellest upon many waters — Thou who hast an abundant supply of waters. It was built on the confluence of the Tigris and Euphrates; the latter running through the city. But the many waters may mean the many nations which belonged to the Babylonish empire; nations and people are frequently so called in Scripture.

Verse 14

Verse Jeremiah 51:14. I will fill thee with men — By means of these very waters through the channel of thy boasted river, thou shalt be filled with men, suddenly appearing as an army of locusts; and, without being expected, shall lift up a terrific cry, as soon as they have risen from the channel of the river.

Verse 15

Verse Jeremiah 51:15. He hath made the earth by his power — The omnipotence of God is particularly manifested in the works of creation.

He hath established the world by his wisdom — The omniscience of God is particularly seen in the government of תבל tebel, the inhabited surface of the globe. What a profusion of wisdom and skill is apparent in that wondrous system of providence by which he governs and provides for every living thing.

And hath stretched out the heaven by his understanding. — Deep thought, comprehensive design, and consummate skill are especially seen in the formation, magnitudes, distances, revolutions, and various affections of the heavenly bodies.

Verse 16

Verse Jeremiah 51:16. When he uttereth his voice] Sends thunder.

There is a multitude of waters — For the electric spark, by decomposing atmospheric air, converts the hydrogen and oxygen gases, of which it is composed, into water; which falls down in the form of rain.

Causeth the vapours to ascend — He is the Author of that power of evaporation by which the water is rarified, and, being lighter than the air, ascends in form of vapour, forms clouds, and is ready to be sent down again to water the earth by the action of his lightnings, as before. And by those same lightnings, and the agency of heat in general, currents of air are formed, moving in various directions, which we call winds.

Verse 17

Verse Jeremiah 51:17. Every man is brutish by his knowledge — He is brutish for want of real knowledge; and he is brutish when he acknowledges that an idol is any thing in the world. These verses, from fifteen to nineteen, are transcribed from Jeremiah 10:12-16.

Verse 20

Verse Jeremiah 51:20. Thou art my battle axe — I believe Nebuchadnezzar is meant, who is called, Jeremiah 50:23, the hammer of the whole earth. Others think the words are spoken of Cyrus. All the verbs are in the past tense: "With thee have I broken in pieces," &c., &c.

Verse 24

Verse Jeremiah 51:24. And I will render — The ו vau should be translated but, of which it has here the full power: "But I will render unto Babylon."

Verse 25

Verse Jeremiah 51:25. O destroying mountain — An epithet which he applies to the Babylonish government; it is like a burning mountain, which, by vomiting continual streams of burning lava, inundates and destroys all towns, villages fields, c., in its vicinity.

And roll thee down from the rocks — I will tumble thee from the rocky base on which thou restest. The combustible matter in thy bowels being exhausted, thou shalt appear as an extinguished crater and the stony matter which thou castest out shall not be of sufficient substance to make a foundation stone for solidity, or a corner stone for beauty, Jeremiah 51:26. Under this beautiful and most expressive metaphor, the prophet shows the nature of the Babylonish government; setting the nations on fire, deluging and destroying them by its troops, till at last, exhausted, it tumbles down, is extinguished, and leaves nothing as a basis to erect a new form of government on; but is altogether useless, like the cooled lava, which is, properly speaking, fit for no human purpose.

Verse 27

Verse Jeremiah 51:27. Set ye up a standard — Another summons to the Medes and Persians to attack Babylon.

Ararat, Minni — The Greater and Lesser Armenia.

And Ashchenaz — A part of Phrygia, near the Hellespont. So Bochart, Phaleg, lib. i. c. 3, lib. iii. c. 9. Concerning Ashchenaz Homer seems to speak, Il. ii. 370, 371: -

Φορκυς αυ Φρυγας ηγε, και Ασκανιος θεοειδης,

Τηλ' εξ Ασκανιης.

"Ascanius, godlike youth, and Phorcys led

The Phrygians from Ascania's distant land."

Calmet thinks that the Ascantes, who dwelt in the vicinity of the Tanais, are meant.

Verse 29

Verse Jeremiah 51:29. And the land shall tremble — It is represented here as trembling under the numerous armies that are passing over it, and the prancing of their horses.

Verse 30

Verse Jeremiah 51:30. The mighty men - have forborne to fight — They were panic-struck when they found the Medes and Persians within their walls, and at once saw that resistance was useless.

Verse 31

Verse Jeremiah 51:31. One post shall run to meet another — As the city was taken by surprise, in the manner already related, so now messengers, one after another, were despatched to give the king information of what was done; viz., that the city was taken at one end. Herodotus tells us that the extreme parts of the city were taken, before those of the centre knew any thing of the invasion. Herodot. lib. i. c. 191.

Verse 32

Verse Jeremiah 51:32. That the passages are stopped — Either the bridges or slips for boats, by which the inhabitants passed from one side to the other, and may mean the principal gates or passes in the city, which the victorious army would immediately seize, that they might prevent all communication between the inhabitants.

The reeds they have burned with fire — What this means I cannot tell, unless it refer to something done after the taking of the city. Setting fire to the reeds in the marshy ground, in order the better to clear the places, and give a freer passage to the water, that it may neither stagnate nor turn the solid ground into a marsh. Dr. Blayney thinks it refers to the firing of the houses, in order to throw the inhabitants into the greater confusion; but no historian makes any mention of burning the city, except what is said Jeremiah 51:30, "They have burned her dwelling places;" and this may be a poetical expression. That they burnt nothing before they took the city must be evident from the circumstance of their taking the city by surprise, in the night time, with the greatest secrecy. Still there might have been some gates, barricadoes, or wooden works, serving for barracks or such like, which obstructed some of the great passages, which, when they had entered, they were obliged to burn, in order to get themselves a ready passage through the city. This is the more likely because this burning of reeds is connected with the stopping of the passages, burning the dwelling places, and breaking the bars.

Verse 33

Verse Jeremiah 51:33. The daughter of Babylon is like a threshing floor — The threshing wheel is gone over her; she is trodden under foot.

Verse 34

Verse Jeremiah 51:34. Nebuchadrezzar - hath devoured me — These are the words of Judea; he has taken away all my riches.

He hath cast me out. — He shall vomit all up; i.e., they shall be regained.

Verse 35

Verse Jeremiah 51:35. The violence done to me - be upon Babylon, - and my blood upon the inhabitants of Chaldea — Zion begins to speak, Jeremiah 51:34, and ends with this verse. The answer of Jehovah begins with the next verse. Though the Chaldeans have been the instrument of God to punish the Jews, yet in return they, being themselves exceedingly wicked, shall suffer for all the carnage they have made, and for all the blood they have shed.

Verse 36

Verse Jeremiah 51:36. I will dry up her sea — Exhaust all her treasures.

Verse 37

Verse Jeremiah 51:37. Without an inhabitant. — See Jeremiah 50:39.

Verse 39

Verse Jeremiah 51:39. In their heat I will make their feasts — It was on the night of a feast day, while their hearts were heated with wine and revelry, that Babylon was taken; see Daniel 5:1-3. This feast was held in honour of the goddess Sheshach, (or perhaps of Bel,) who is mentioned, Jeremiah 51:41, as being taken with her worshippers. As it was in the night the city was taken, many had retired to rest, and never awoke; slain in their beds, they slept a perpetual sleep.

Verse 41

Verse Jeremiah 51:41. How is Sheshach taken! — Perhaps the city is here called by the name of its idol.

The praise of the whole earth — One of the seven wonders of the world; superexcellent for the height, breadth, and compass of its walls, its hanging gardens, the temple of Belus, &c., &c.

Verse 42

Verse Jeremiah 51:42. The sea is come up — A multitude of foes have inundated the city.

Verse 44

Verse Jeremiah 51:44. I will punish Bel in Babylon — Bel or Belus was their supreme deity.

That which he hath swallowed up — The sacred vessels of the temple of Jerusalem, which were taken thence by Nebuchadnezzar, and dedicated to him in his temple at Babylon.

The wall of Babylon shall fall. — It shall cease to be a defense; and shall moulder away until, in process of time, it shall not be discernible.

Verse 45

Verse Jeremiah 51:45. My people, go ye out — A warning to all the Jews in Babylon to leave the city, and escape for their lives.

Verse 46

Verse Jeremiah 51:46. A rumour shall - come one year — A year before the capture of the city there shall be a rumour of war, - and in that year Belshazzar was defeated by Cyrus. In the following year the city was taken.

Verse 48

Verse Jeremiah 51:48. The heaven and the earth - shall sing for Babylon — Its fall shall be a subject of universal rejoicing.

Verse 50

Verse Jeremiah 51:50. Ye that have escaped the sword — The Jews.

Let Jerusalem come into your mind. — Pray for its restoration; and embrace the first opportunity offered of returning thither.

Verse 51

Verse Jeremiah 51:51. Strangers are come into the sanctuaries — The lamentation of the pious Jews for the profanation of the temple by the Chaldeans.

Verse 53

Verse 53. Though Babylon should mount up to heaven — Though it were fortified even to the skies, it shall fall by the enemies that I will send against it.

Verse 55

Verse 55. The great voice — Its pride and insufferable boasting.

Verse 56

Verse 56. The Lord God of recompenses — The fall of Babylon is an act of Divine justice; whatever it suffers, it is in consequence of its crimes.

Verse 57

Verse 57. I will make drunk her princes — Jeremiah 51:39.

Verse 58

Verse 58. The broad walls of Babylon — Herodotus, who saw these walls, says, "The city was a regular square, each side of which was one hundred and twenty stadia, the circumference four hundred and eighty stadia. It was surrounded by a wall fifty cubits broad, and two hundred cubits high; and each side had twenty-five brazen gates." - Herod. lib. i. c. 178. Had not Cyrus resorted to stratagem, humanly speaking, he could not have taken this city. For the destruction of this wall and its very vestiges, Isaiah 13:19.

Verse 59

Verse 59. The word which Jeremiah — On account of the message sent by Jeremiah to the Jewish captives in Babylon.

Verse 60

Verse Jeremiah 51:60. Wrote in a book — Whether this book contained any more than is recorded in this place we do not know; probably it contained no more than what is found in Jeremiah 51:62-64. A book, ספר sepher, signifies, in Hebrew, any writing, great or small.

Verse 64

Verse Jeremiah 51:64. Thus shall Babylon sink, c. — This is the emblem of its overthrow and irretrievable ruin. See Revelation 18:21, where we find that this is an emblem of the total ruin of mystical Babylon.

Herodotus relates a similar action of the Phocoeans, who, having resolved to leave their country, and never return to it again, μυδρον σιδηρεον κατεπονωσαν, και ωμοσαν μη πριν ες Φωκαιην ἡξειν, πριν η τον μυδρον τουτον αναφηναι· "threw a mass of iron into the sea, and swore that they would never return to Phocaea till that iron mass should rise and swim on the top." The story is this: The Phocaeans, being besieged by Harpagus, general of the Persians, demanded one day's truce to deliberate on the propositions he had made to them relative to their surrendering their city and begged that in the mean while he would take off his army from the walls. Harpagus having consented, they carried their wives, children, and their most valuable effects, aboard their ships; then, throwing a mass of iron into the sea, bound themselves by an oath never to return till that iron should rise to the top and swim. See Herodotus, lib. i. c. 165.

Horace refers to this in his epode Ad Populum Romanum, Epode xvi. ver. 25: -

Sed juremus in haec: simul imis saxa renarint

Vadis levata, ne redire sit nefas.

"As the Phocaeans oft for freedom bled,

At length with imprecated curses fled."

FRANCIS.

Thus far are the words of Jeremiah. — It appears that the following chapter is not the work of this prophet: it is not his style. The author of it writes Jehoiachin; Jeremiah writes him always Jeconiah, or Coniah. It is merely historical, and is very similar to 2Kg 24:18-25. The author, whoever he was, relates the capture of Jerusalem, the fate of Zedekiah, the pillage and burning of the city and the temple. He mentions also certain persons of distinction who were slain by the Chaldeans. He mentions the number of the captives that were carried to Babylon at three different times; and concludes with the deliverance of King Jehoiachin from prison in Babylon, in which he had been for thirty-seven years. It is very likely that the whole chapter has been compiled from some chronicle of that time, or it was designed as a preface to the Book of the Lamentations; and would stand with great propriety before it, as it contains the facts on which that inimitable poem is built. Were it allowable, I would remove it to that place.