Verse-by-Verse Bible Commentary
Jeremiah 51:32

Clarke's Commentary

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.

Bridgeway Bible Commentary

The overthrow of Babylon (51:1-33)

When a farmer, after reaping his harvest, winnows the wheat, he throws it into the air so that as the wind blows away the chaff, he can gather the grain for himself. Similarly, when God ‘winnows’ Babylon he will make a separation between the Babylonians and his own people. He will ‘blow away’ the former in judgment, but will preserve the latter for himself (51:1-5).
God had used Babylon to punish other nations, but now Babylon itself will suffer God’s wrath. It will be like a drunken man who falls and cannot rise, like a wounded man who cannot be healed. Meanwhile the nations that Babylon afflicted will be freed from their bondage and able to return to their homelands (6-9). God makes sure that in the end justice is done (10).
Jeremiah then pictures the army of Medes and Persians preparing for the final attack on Babylon. He warns the people of Babylon that their end is drawing near and soon enemy soldiers will swarm into their city (11-14). All Babylon’s gods will be powerless to save. Such gods are lifeless, worthless and useless. There is only one true God, and that God is he who made and controls the universe (15-18). This same God has chosen the Israelite nation, the descendants of Jacob, to be his people (19). He is the God who controls history, and therefore he may use any nation to punish another, according to his purposes (20-23).
Babylon will be punished because of the way it has treated Judah (24). It appears to be as strong and unconquerable as a mountain, but God will smash it to pieces and leave it a barren waste (25-26). Again the prophet pictures the scene as nations join forces to fight against Babylon (27-29). Confusion is widespread as the attackers overrun Babylon’s strongholds, and messengers carry news to the king that his army is suffering heavy losses. It is being crushed like grain trampled on the threshing floor (30-33).

Coffman's Commentaries on the Bible

"Set ye up a standard in the land, blow the trumpet among the nations, prepare the nations against her, call together against her the kingdoms of Ararat, Minni, and Ashkenaz: appoint a marshal against her; cause the horse to come up as the rough canker-worm. Prepare against her the nations, the kings of the Medes, the governors thereof, and all the deputies thereof, and all the land of their dominion. And the land trembleth and is in pain; for the purposes of Jehovah against Babylon do stand, to make the land of Babylon a desolation, without inhabitant. The mighty men of Babylon have forborne to fight, they remain in their strongholds; their might hath failed; they are become as women: her dwelling places are set on fire; her bars are broken. One post shall run to meet another, and one messenger to meet another, to show the king of Babylon that his city is taken on every quarter: and the passages are seized, and the reeds they have burned with fire, and the men of war are affrighted. For thus saith Jehovah of hosts, the God of Israel: The daughter of Babylon is like a threshing-floor at the time when it is trodden; yet a little while, and the time of harvest shall come for her."

"Ararat" "This is an ancient name for part of Armenia, including the mountains where the ark rested. It was where the sons of Sennacherib went after they murdered him; and Jeremiah mentioned it here, along with the neighboring districts of Mini and Ashkenaz."F. N. Peloubet, Peloubet's Bible Dictionary, p. 43,

"Ashkenaz" "These people were the ancient equivalent of barbarians. Their neighbors were Ararat and Minni. They were located southeast of Lake Van."Merrill F. Unger, Unger's Bible Dictionary (Chicago: Moody Press, 1966)D, p. 98.

"Minni" "This is the same as Mannai of the Assyrian inscriptions. They were located in the vicinity of the lakes Van and Urmia and seem to have been a very capable people in warfare. They aided the destruction of Nineveh (612 B.C.) and also participated in the capture of Babylon in 539 B.C.)."The New Bible Dictionary, p. 828. They were vassals of Babylon in the fall of Nineveh, and of the Medes in the fall of Babylon.

"The rough canker-worm" This was the name of the locust in its most devastating phase. See under Jeremiah 51:14, above.

"One post shall run to meet another… one messenger to meet another" The famed courier system of Babylon brought the drunken king (Daniel 5) the news of the city's capture "from every quarter."

"The men of war were affrighted" This is no wonder. The enemy were all over the city in total control of it; they had already burned the marshes, destroying any place of hiding or of ambush; the king was hopelessly drunk; and the mighty Babylon was as helpless as a woman untrained in war, with no protection, no armor, no weapons, and no hope. Let it be remembered, however, that this was a prophecy of "what would happen," not a history of what did happen. The prophecy was so accurate, however, that some have mistaken it for history. The mention of the Medes and their allies both here and in Jeremiah 51:11 are all the proof that is needed that here we have predictive prophecy, not history. No writer, writing afterward would have mentioned the Medes without bringing in the Persians.

"Yet a little while, and the time of her harvest shall come for her" Note the future verb. We have prophecy, not history. Also, the focus upon Israel here, along with the mention of the fall of Babylon follows the pattern already mentioned, namely, (1) the fall of Babylon, followed by (2) the God of Israel's care for his children.

Barnes' Notes on the Whole Bible

The passages are stopped - The ferries are seized, occupied. The historians state that when Cyrus captured the city his troops moved down the bed of the river and occupied all these ferries, finding at each of them the gates negligently left open. See the Daniel 5:1 note.

The reeds - literally, the marshes or pools, which formed an important part of the defenses of Babylon, were dried up as completely as a piece of wood would be consumed by fire.

Calvin's Commentary on the Bible

This verse most clearly proves that Jeremiah was God’s herald, and that his language was under the guidance of the celestial Spirit; for he sets forth the manner in which Babylon was taken, as though he had witnessed it with his own eyes.

He says that the fords were taken, and that the pools were burnt with fire. We do not read that Cyrus had made use of fire; and some render pools, reeds, but there is no reason to constrain us so to render the word; for the Prophet speaks metaphorically. Their object was to give a literal rendering, by saying that reeds were burnt; but the Prophet shows, speaking hyperbolically, that the fords of the Euphrates were dried up, as though one burned wood by applying fire to it. This, indeed, is not suitable to water; but he, by a hyperbole, expresses more fully the miracle which might have otherwise exceeded human comprehension. He then says, that the fords were dried up, and then adds, that the pools were burnt. The same thing is expressed twice, but in a different way; and as I have already said, he states hyperbolically, that such was the skill of Cyrus and his army, that he made dry the fords and the pools, as though one collected a large heap of wood and consumed it with fire. ⁽⁹⁴⁾ We now perceive the design of the Prophet.

He afterwards adds, that the men of war were broken in pieces For though the fords were made dry, that is, the streams which were drawn from the Euphrates, vet. the guards of the city might have still kept possession of a part of it, and have manfully resisted, so as to prevent the soldiers of Cyrus from advancing farther; but the city was so craftily taken, that the Babylonians were so terrified as not to dare to raise up a finger, when yet they might have defended a part of the city, though one part of it was taken.

(94) The word אגמים, properly pools, is probably a metonomy for what they grow, even reeds or bulrushes, especially as the same word, in somewhat another form, אגמן, clearly means a reed. See Isaiah 9:14; Isaiah 19:15. But what these reeds were, authors are at a loss to know. It is said in the thirtieth verse, that they “burnt her habitations;” may it not have been, that they were such as were made of reeds? Then the whole verse appears intelligible; the passages (that is, the entrances from the river, whose streams were diverted) were seized on, and such houses as were in part built of reeds were set on fire; hence the men were frightened. — Ed

Dr. Constable's Expository Notes

11. God’s instruments of Babylon’s destruction 51:27-33

Several nations would ally themselves against Babylon.

Dr. Constable's Expository Notes

The king of Babylon would learn from messengers running from opposite edges of the city that it had fallen. The enemy had captured the fording places of the waterways, and had burned the marshy areas where refugees might hide. He would hear that his soldiers were terrified.

Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible

And that the passages are stopped,.... Or "taken", or "seized" o; where Cyrus placed soldiers to keep them; these were the passages leading from the river Euphrates to the city, the keys of it; the little gates, that Herodotus p speaks of, leading to the river, which were left open that night. Kimchi thinks the towers built by the river side, to keep the enemy out, that should attempt to enter, are meant; these were now in his hands;

and the reeds they have burnt with fire; which grew upon the banks of the river, and in the marshes adjoining to it. Some render it, "the marshes" q; that is, the reeds and bulrushes in them, which usually grow in such places. And Herodotus r makes mention of a marsh Cyrus came to; the reeds in it he burnt, having many torches, with which he might set fire to them; as he proposed with them to burn the houses, doors, and porches s; either to make way for his army, which might hinder the march of it; or to give light, that they might see their way into the city the better: though some think it was to terrify the inhabitants; which seems not so likely, since he marched up to the royal palace with great secrecy. This circumstance is mentioned, to show the certainty of the enemy's entrance, and the taking of part of the city. R. Jonah, from the Arabic language, in which the word t here used signifies "fortresses", so renders it here;

and the men of war are affrighted; and so fled, and left the passes, towers, and fortresses, which fell into the hands of Cyrus, as soon as they perceived his army was come up the channel and was landed, and the reeds were burnt.

o נתפשו "praeoccupata", V. L. "comprehensa", Montanus; "occupati", Tigurine version, Schmidt. p L. 1. sive Clio, c. 191. q את אגמים "paludes", V. L. Syr. Grotius; "stagna", Junius & Tremellius, Piscator, Schmidt. r L. 1. sive Clio, c. 191. s Xenophon, Cyropaedia, l. 7. c. 22. t "arundinetum feris et hinc munimentum, castellum", Camus apud Golium, col. 33. "castellum, munimentum viarum, arces", Castel. Lex. col. 29.

Henry's Complete Commentary on the Bible

      1 Thus saith the LORD; Behold, I will raise up against Babylon, and against them that dwell in the midst of them that rise up against me, a destroying wind;   2 And will send unto Babylon fanners, that shall fan her, and shall empty her land: for in the day of trouble they shall be against her round about.   3 Against him that bendeth let the archer bend his bow, and against him that lifteth himself up in his brigandine: and spare ye not her young men; destroy ye utterly all her host.   4 Thus the slain shall fall in the land of the Chaldeans, and they that are thrust through in her streets.   5 For Israel hath not been forsaken, nor Judah of his God, of the LORD of hosts; though their land was filled with sin against the Holy One of Israel.   6 Flee out of the midst of Babylon, and deliver every man his soul: be not cut off in her iniquity; for this is the time of the LORD's vengeance; he will render unto her a recompence.   7 Babylon hath been a golden cup in the LORD's hand, that made all the earth drunken: the nations have drunken of her wine; therefore the nations are mad.   8 Babylon is suddenly fallen and destroyed: howl for her; take balm for her pain, if so be she may be healed.   9 We would have healed Babylon, but she is not healed: forsake her, and let us go every one into his own country: for her judgment reacheth unto heaven, and is lifted up even to the skies.   10 The LORD hath brought forth our righteousness: come, and let us declare in Zion the work of the LORD our God.   11 Make bright the arrows; gather the shields: the LORD hath raised up the spirit of the kings of the Medes: for his device is against Babylon, to destroy it; because it is the vengeance of the LORD, the vengeance of his temple.   12 Set up the standard upon the walls of Babylon, make the watch strong, set up the watchmen, prepare the ambushes: for the LORD hath both devised and done that which he spake against the inhabitants of Babylon.   13 O thou that dwellest upon many waters, abundant in treasures, thine end is come, and the measure of thy covetousness.   14 The LORD of hosts hath sworn by himself, saying, Surely I will fill thee with men, as with caterpillers; and they shall lift up a shout against thee.   15 He hath made the earth by his power, he hath established the world by his wisdom, and hath stretched out the heaven by his understanding.   16 When he uttereth his voice, there is a multitude of waters in the heavens; and he causeth the vapours to ascend from the ends of the earth: he maketh lightnings with rain, and bringeth forth the wind out of his treasures.   17 Every man is brutish by his knowledge; every founder is confounded by the graven image: for his molten image is falsehood, and there is no breath in them.   18 They are vanity, the work of errors: in the time of their visitation they shall perish.   19 The portion of Jacob is not like them; for he is the former of all things: and Israel is the rod of his inheritance: the LORD of hosts is his name.   20 Thou art my battle axe and weapons of war: for with thee will I break in pieces the nations, and with thee will I destroy kingdoms;   21 And with thee will I break in pieces the horse and his rider; and with thee will I break in pieces the chariot and his rider;   22 With thee also will I break in pieces man and woman; and with thee will I break in pieces old and young; and with thee will I break in pieces the young man and the maid;   23 I will also break in pieces with thee the shepherd and his flock; and with thee will I break in pieces the husbandman and his yoke of oxen; and with thee will I break in pieces captains and rulers.   24 And I will render unto Babylon and to all the inhabitants of Chaldea all their evil that they have done in Zion in your sight, saith the LORD.   25 Behold, I am against thee, O destroying mountain, saith the LORD, which destroyest all the earth: and I will stretch out mine hand upon thee, and roll thee down from the rocks, and will make thee a burnt mountain.   26 And they shall not take of thee a stone for a corner, nor a stone for foundations; but thou shalt be desolate for ever, saith the LORD.   27 Set ye up a standard in the land, blow the trumpet among the nations, prepare the nations against her, call together against her the kingdoms of Ararat, Minni, and Ashchenaz; appoint a captain against her; cause the horses to come up as the rough caterpillers.   28 Prepare against her the nations with the kings of the Medes, the captains thereof, and all the rulers thereof, and all the land of his dominion.   29 And the land shall tremble and sorrow: for every purpose of the LORD shall be performed against Babylon, to make the land of Babylon a desolation without an inhabitant.   30 The mighty men of Babylon have forborne to fight, they have remained in their holds: their might hath failed; they became as women: they have burned her dwelling-places; her bars are broken.   31 One post shall run to meet another, and one messenger to meet another, to shew the king of Babylon that his city is taken at one end,   32 And that the passages are stopped, and the reeds they have burned with fire, and the men of war are affrighted.   33 For thus saith the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel; The daughter of Babylon is like a threshing-floor, it is time to thresh her: yet a little while, and the time of her harvest shall come.   34 Nebuchadrezzar the king of Babylon hath devoured me, he hath crushed me, he hath made me an empty vessel, he hath swallowed me up like a dragon, he hath filled his belly with my delicates, he hath cast me out.   35 The violence done to me and to my flesh be upon Babylon, shall the inhabitant of Zion say; and my blood upon the inhabitants of Chaldea, shall Jerusalem say.   36 Therefore thus saith the LORD; Behold, I will plead thy cause, and take vengeance for thee; and I will dry up her sea, and make her springs dry.   37 And Babylon shall become heaps, a dwelling-place for dragons, an astonishment, and a hissing, without an inhabitant.   38 They shall roar together like lions: they shall yell as lions' whelps.   39 In their heat I will make their feasts, and I will make them drunken, that they may rejoice, and sleep a perpetual sleep, and not wake, saith the LORD.   40 I will bring them down like lambs to the slaughter, like rams with he goats.   41 How is Sheshach taken! and how is the praise of the whole earth surprised! how is Babylon become an astonishment among the nations!   42 The sea is come up upon Babylon: she is covered with the multitude of the waves thereof.   43 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.   44 And I will punish Bel in Babylon, and I will bring forth out of his mouth that which he hath swallowed up: and the nations shall not flow together any more unto him: yea, the wall of Babylon shall fall.   45 My people, go ye out of the midst of her, and deliver ye every man his soul from the fierce anger of the LORD.   46 And lest your heart faint, and ye fear for the rumour that shall be heard in the land; a rumour shall both come one year, and after that in another year shall come a rumour, and violence in the land, ruler against ruler.   47 Therefore, behold, the days come, that I will do judgment upon the graven images of Babylon: and her whole land shall be confounded, and all her slain shall fall in the midst of her.   48 Then the heaven and the earth, and all that is therein, shall sing for Babylon: for the spoilers shall come unto her from the north, saith the LORD.   49 As Babylon hath caused the slain of Israel to fall, so at Babylon shall fall the slain of all the earth.   50 Ye that have escaped the sword, go away, stand not still: remember the LORD afar off, and let Jerusalem come into your mind.   51 We are confounded, because we have heard reproach: shame hath covered our faces: for strangers are come into the sanctuaries of the LORD's house.   52 Wherefore, behold, the days come, saith the LORD, that I will do judgment upon her graven images: and through all her land the wounded shall groan.   53 Though Babylon should mount up to heaven, and though she should fortify the height of her strength, yet from me shall spoilers come unto her, saith the LORD.   54 A sound of a cry cometh from Babylon, and great destruction from the land of the Chaldeans:   55 Because the LORD hath spoiled Babylon, and destroyed out of her the great voice; when her waves do roar like great waters, a noise of their voice is uttered:   56 Because the spoiler is come upon her, even upon Babylon, and her mighty men are taken, every one of their bows is broken: for the LORD God of recompences shall surely requite.   57 And I will make drunk her princes, and her wise men, her captains, and her rulers, and her mighty men: and they shall sleep a perpetual sleep, and not wake, saith the King, whose name is the LORD of hosts.   58 Thus saith the LORD of hosts; The broad walls of Babylon shall be utterly broken, and her high gates shall be burned with fire; and the people shall labour in vain, and the folk in the fire, and they shall be weary.

      The particulars of this copious prophecy are dispersed and interwoven, and the same things left and returned to so often that it could not well be divided into parts, but we must endeavor to collect them under their proper heads. Let us then observe here,

      I. An acknowledgment of the great pomp and power that Babylon had been in and the use that God in his providence had made of it (Jeremiah 51:7; Jeremiah 51:7): Babylon hath been a golden cup, a rich and glorious empire, a golden city (Isaiah 14:4), a head of gold (Daniel 2:38), filled with all good things, as a cup with wine. Nay, she had been a golden cup in the Lord's hand; he had in a particular manner filled and favoured her with blessings; he had made the earth drunk with this cup; some were intoxicated with her pleasures and debauched by her, others intoxicated with her terrors and destroyed by her. In both senses the New-Testament Babylon is said to have made the kings of the earth drunk, Revelation 17:2; Revelation 18:3. Babylon had also been God's battle-axe; it was so at this time, when Jeremiah prophesied, and was likely to be yet more so, Jeremiah 51:20; Jeremiah 51:20. The forces of Babylon were God's weapons of war, tools in his hand, with which he broke in pieces, and knocked down, nations and kingdoms,--horses and chariots, which are so much the strength of kingdoms (Jeremiah 51:21; Jeremiah 51:21),-- man and woman, young and old, with which kingdoms are replenished (Jeremiah 51:22; Jeremiah 51:22),-- the shepherd and his flock, the husbandman and his oxen, with which kingdoms are maintained and supplied, Jeremiah 51:23; Jeremiah 51:23. Such havoc as this the Chaldeans had made when God employed them as instruments of his wrath for the chastising of the nations; and yet now Babylon itself must fall. Note, Those that have carried all before them a great while will yet at length meet with their match, and their day also will come to fall; the rod will itself be thrown into the fire at last. Nor can any think it will exempt them from God's judgments that they have been instrumental in executing his judgments on others.

      II. A just complaint made of Babylon, and a charge drawn up against her by the Israel of God. 1. She is complained of for her incorrigible wickedness (Jeremiah 51:9; Jeremiah 51:9): We would have healed Babylon, but she is not healed. The people of God that were captives among the Babylonians endeavoured, according to the instructions given them (Jeremiah 10:11), to convince them of the folly of their idolatry, but they could not do it; still they doted as much as ever upon their graven images, and therefore the Israelites resolved to quit them and go to their own country. Yet some understand this as spoken by the forces they had hired for their assistance, declaring that they had done their best to save her from ruin, but that it was all to no purpose, and therefore they might as well go home to their respective countries; "for her judgment reaches unto heaven, and it is in vain to withstand it or think to avert it." 2. She is complained of for her inveterate malice against Israel. Other nations had been hardly used by the Chaldeans, but Israel only complains to God of it, and with confidence appeals to him (Jeremiah 51:34; Jeremiah 51:35): "The king of Babylon has devoured me, and crushed me, and never thought he could do enough ruin to me; he has emptied me of all that was valuable, has swallowed me up as a dragon, or whale, swallows up the little fish by shoals; he has filled his belly, filled his treasures, with my delicates, with all my pleasant things, and has cast me out, cast me away as a vessel in which there is no pleasure; and now let them be accountable for all this." Zion and Jerusalem shall say, "Let the violence done to me and my children, that are my own flesh, and pieces of myself, and all the blood of my people, which they have shed like water, be upon them; let the guilt of it lie upon them, and let it be required at their hands." Note, Ruin is not far off from those that lie under the guilt of wrong done to God's people.

      III. Judgment given upon this appeal by the righteous Judge of heaven and earth, on behalf of Israel against Babylon. He sits in the throne judging right, is ready to receive complaints, and answers (Jeremiah 51:36; Jeremiah 51:36): "I will plead thy cause. Leave it with me; I will in due time plead it effectually and take vengeance for thee, and every drop of Jerusalem's blood shall be accounted for with interest." Israel and Judah seemed to have been neglected and forgotten, but God had an eye to them, Jeremiah 51:5; Jeremiah 51:5. It is true their land was filled with sin against the Holy One of Israel. They were a provoking people and their sings were a great offence to God, as a holy God, and as their God, their Holy One; and therefore he justly delivered them up into the hands of their enemies, and might justly have abandoned them and left them to perish in their hands; but God deals better with them than they deserve, and, notwithstanding their iniquities and his severities, Israel is not forsaken, is not cast off, though he be cast out, but is owned and looked after by his God, by the Lord of hosts. God is his God still, and will act for him as the Lord of hosts, a God of power. Note, Though God's people may have broken his laws and fallen under his rebukes, yet it does not therefore follow that they are thrown out of covenant; but God's care of them and love to them will flourish again,Psalms 89:30-33. The Chaldeans thought they should never be called to an account for what they had done against God's Israel; but there is a time fixed for vengeance,Jeremiah 51:6; Jeremiah 51:6. We cannot expect it should come sooner than the time fixed, but then it will come; he will render unto Babylon a recompence, for the avenging of Israel is the vengeance of the Lord, who espouses their cause; it is the vengeance of his temple,Jeremiah 51:11; Jeremiah 51:11, as before, Jeremiah 50:28; Jeremiah 50:28. The Lord God of recompences, the God to whom vengeance belongs, will surely requite (Jeremiah 51:56; Jeremiah 51:56), will pay them home; he will render unto Babylon all the evil they have done in Zion (Jeremiah 51:24; Jeremiah 51:24); he will return it in the sight of his people. They shall have the satisfaction to see their cause pleaded with jealousy. They shall not only live to see those judgments brought upon Babylon, but they shall plainly see them to be the punishment of the wrong they have done to Zion; any man may see it, and say, Verily there is a God that judges in the earth; for just as Babylon has caused the slain of Israel to fall, has not only slain those that were found in arms, but all without distinction, even all the land (almost all were put to the sword), so at Babylon shall fall the slain not only of the city, but of all the country,Jeremiah 51:49; Jeremiah 51:49. Cyrus shall measure to the Chaldeans the same that they measured to the Jews, so that every observer may discern that God is recompensing them for what they did against his people; but Zion's children shall in a particular manner triumph in it (Jeremiah 51:10; Jeremiah 51:10): The Lord has brought forth our righteousness; he has appeared in our behalf against those that dealt unjustly with us, and has given us redress; he has also made it to appear that he is reconciled to us and that we are yet in his eyes a righteous nation. Let it therefore be spoken of to his praise: Come and let us declare in Zion the work of the Lord our God, that others may be invited to join with us in praising him.

      IV. A declaration of the greatness and sovereignty of that God who espouses Zion's cause and undertakes to reckon with this proud and potent enemy, Jeremiah 51:14; Jeremiah 51:14. It is the Lord of hosts that has said it, that has sworn it, has sworn it by himself (for he could swear by no greater), that he will fill Babylon with vast and incredible numbers of the enemy's forces, will fill it with men as with caterpillars, that shall overpower it will multitudes, and need only to lift up a shout against it, for that shall be so terrible as to dispirit all the inhabitants and make them an easy prey to this numerous army. But who, and where, is he that can break so powerful a kingdom as Babylon? The prophet gives an account of him from the description he had formerly given of him, and of his sovereignty and victory over all pretenders (Jeremiah 10:12-16), which was there intended for the conviction of the Babylonian idolaters and the confirmation of God's Israel in the faith and worship of the God of Israel; and it is here repeated to show that God will convince those by his judgments who would not be convinced by his word that he is God over all. Let not any doubt but that he who has determined to destroy Babylon is able to make his words good, for, 1. He is the God that made the world (Jeremiah 51:15; Jeremiah 51:15), and therefore nothing is too hard for him to do; it is in his name that our help stands, and on him our hope is built. 2. He has the command of all the creatures that he has made (Jeremiah 51:16; Jeremiah 51:16); his providence is a continued creation. He has wind and rain at his disposal. If he speak the word, there is a multitude of waters in the heavens (and it is a wonder how they hang there), fed by vapours out of the earth, and it is a wonder how they ascend thence. Lightnings and rain seem contraries, as fire and water, and yet they are produced together; and the wind, which seems arbitrary in its motions, and we know not whence it comes, is yet, we are sure, brought out of his treasuries. 3. The idols that oppose the accomplishment of his word are a mere sham and their worshippers brutish people, Jeremiah 51:17; Jeremiah 51:18. The idols are falsehood, they are vanity, they are the work of errors; when they come to be visited (to be examined and enquired into) they perish, that is, their reputation sinks and they appear to be nothing; and those that make them are like unto them. But between the God of Israel and these gods of the heathen there is no comparison (Jeremiah 51:19; Jeremiah 51:19): The portion of Jacob is not like them; the God who speaks this and will do it is the former of all things and the Lord of all hosts, and therefore can do what he will; and there is a near relation between him and his people, for he is their portion and they are his; they put a confidence in him as their portion and he is pleased to take a complacency in them and a particular care of them as the lot of his inheritance; and therefore he will do what is best for them. The repetition of these things here, which were said before, intimates both the certainty and the importance of them, and obliges us to take special notice of them; God hath spoken once; yea, twice have we heard this, that power belongs to God, power to destroy the most formidable enemies of his church; and if God thus speak once, yea, twice, we are inexcusable if we do not perceive it and attend to it.

      V. A description of the instruments that are to be employed in this service. God has raised up the spirit of the kings of the Medes (Jeremiah 51:11; Jeremiah 51:11), Darius and Cyrus, who come against Babylon by a divine instinct; for God's device is against Babylon to destroy it. They do it, but God devised it, he designed it; they are but accomplishing his purpose, and acting as he directed. Note, God's counsel shall stand, and according to it all hearts shall move. Those whom God employs against Babylon are compared (Jeremiah 51:1; Jeremiah 51:1) to a destroying wind, which either by its coldness blasts the fruits of the earth or by its fierceness blows down all before it. This wind is brought out of God's treasuries (Jeremiah 51:16; Jeremiah 51:16), and it is here said to be raised up against those that dwell in the midst of the Chaldeans, those of other nations that inhabit among them and are incorporated with them. The Chaldeans rise up against God by falling down before idols, and against them God will raise up destroyers, for he will be too hard for those that contend with him. These enemies are compared to fanners (Jeremiah 51:2; Jeremiah 51:2), who shall drive them away as chaff is driven away by the fan. The Chaldeans had been fanners to winnow God's people (Jeremiah 15:7; Jeremiah 15:7) and to empty them, and now they shall themselves be in like manner despoiled and dispersed.

      VI. An ample commission given them to destroy and lay all waste. Let them bend their bow against the archers of the Chaldeans (Jeremiah 51:3; Jeremiah 51:3) and not spare her young men, but utterly destroy them, for the Lord has both devised and done what he spoke against Babylon,Jeremiah 51:12; Jeremiah 51:12. This may animate the instruments he employs, but assuring them of success. The methods they take are such as God has devised and therefore they shall surely prosper; what he has spoken shall be done, for he himself will do it; and therefore let all necessary preparations be made. This they are called to, Jeremiah 51:27; Jeremiah 51:28. Let a standard be set up, under which to enlist soldiers for this expedition; let a trumpet be blown to call men together to it and animate them in it; let the nations, out of which Cyrus's army is to be raised, prepare their recruits; let the kingdoms of Ararat, and Minni, and Ashkenaz, of Armenia, both the higher and the lower, and of Ascania, about Phrygia and Bithynia, send in their quota of men for his service; let general officers be appointed and the cavalry advance; let the horses come up in great numbers, as the caterpillars, and come, like them, leaping and pawing in the valley; let them lay the country waste, as caterpillars do (Joel 1:4), especially rough caterpillars; let the kings and captains prepare nations against Babylon, for the service is great and there is occasion for many hands to be employed it.

      VII. The weakness of the Chaldeans, and their inability to make head against this threatening destroying force. When God employed them against other nations they had spirit and strength to act offensively, and went on with admirable resolution, conquering and to conquer; but now that it comes to their turn to be reckoned with all their might and courage are gone, their hearts fail them, and none of all their men of might and mettle have found their hands to act so much as defensively. They are called upon here to prepare for action, but it is ironically and in an upbraiding way (Jeremiah 51:11; Jeremiah 51:11): Make bright the arrows, which have grown rusty through disuse; gather the shields, which in a long time of peace and security have been scattered and thrown out of the way (Jeremiah 51:12; Jeremiah 51:12); set up the standard upon the walls of Babylon, upon the towers on those walls, to summon all that owed suit and service to that mother-city, now to come in to her assistance; let them make the watch as strong as they can, and appoint the sentinels to their respective posts, and prepare ambushes for the reception of the enemy. This intimates that they would be found very secure and remiss, and would need to be thus quickened (and they were so to such a degree that they were in the midst of their revels when the city was taken), but that all their preparations should come to no purpose. Whoever will may call them to it, but they shall have no heart to come at the call, Jeremiah 51:29; Jeremiah 51:29. The whole land shall tremble, and sorrow (a universal consternation) shall seize upon them; for they shall see both the irresistible arm and the irreversible counsel and decree of God against them. They shall see that God is making Babylon a desolation, and therein is performing what he has purposed; and then the mighty men of Babylon have forborne to fight,Jeremiah 51:30; Jeremiah 51:30. God having taken away their strength and spirit, so that they have remained in their holds, not daring so much as to peep forth, the might both of their hearts and of their hands fails; they become as timorous as women, so that the enemy has, without any resistance, burnt her dwelling-places and broken her bars. It is to the same purport with Jeremiah 51:56-58; Jeremiah 51:56-58. When the spoiler comes upon Babylon her mighty men, who should make head against him, are immediately taken, their weapons of war fail them, every one of their bows is broken and stands them in no stead. Their politics fail them; they call councils of war, but their princes and captains, who sit in council to concert measures for the common safety, are made drunk; they are as men intoxicated through stupidity or despair; they can form no right notions of things; they stagger and are unsteady in their counsels and resolves, and dash one against another, and, like drunken men, fall out among themselves. At length they sleep a perpetual sleep, and never awake from their wine, the wine of God's wrath, for it is to them an opiate that lays them into a fatal lethargy. The walls of their city fail them, Jeremiah 51:58; Jeremiah 51:58. When the enemy had found ways to ford Euphrates, which was thought impassable, yet surely, think they, the walls are impregnable, they are the broad walls of Babylon or (as the margin reads it), the walls of broad Babylon. The compass of the city, within the walls, was 385 furlongs, some say 480, that is, about sixty miles; the walls were 200 cubits high, and fifty cubits broad, so that two chariots might easily pass by one another upon them. Some say that there was a threefold wall about the inner city and the like about the outer, and that the stones of the wall, being laid in pitch instead of mortar (Genesis 11:3), were scarcely separable; and yet these shall be utterly broken, and the high gates and towers shall be burnt, and the people that are employed in the defence of the city shall labour in vain in the fire; they shall quite tire themselves, but shall do no good.

      VIII. The destruction that shall be made of Babylon by these invaders. 1. It is a certain destruction; the doom has passed and it cannot be reversed; a divine power is engaged against it, which cannot be resisted (Jeremiah 51:8; Jeremiah 51:8): Babylon is fallen and destroyed, is as sure to fall, to fall into destruction, as if it were fallen and destroyed already; though when Jeremiah prophesied this, and many a year after, it was in the height of its power and greatness. God declares, God appears against Babylon (Jeremiah 51:25; Jeremiah 51:25): Behold, I am against thee; and those cannot stand long whom God is against. He will stretch out his hand upon it, a hand which no creature can bear the weight of nor withstand the force of. It is his purpose, which shall be performed, that Babylon must be a desolation,Jeremiah 51:29; Jeremiah 51:29. 2. It is a righteous destruction. Babylon has made herself meet for it, and therefore cannot fail to meet with it. For (Jeremiah 51:25; Jeremiah 51:25) Babylon has been a destroying mountain, very lofty and bulky as a mountain, and destroying all the earth, as the stones that are tumbled from high mountains spoil the grounds about them; but now it shall itself be rolled down from its rocks, which were as the foundations on which it stood. It shall be levelled, its pomp and power broken. It is now a burning mountain, like Ætna and the other volcanoes, that throw out fire, to the terror of all about them. But it shall be a burnt mountain; it shall at length have consumed itself, and shall remain a heap of ashes. So will this world be at the end of time. Again (Jeremiah 51:33; Jeremiah 51:33), "Babylon is like a threshing-floor, in which the people of God have been long threshed, as sheaves in the floor; but now the time has come that she shall herself be threshed and her sheaves in her; her princes and great men, and all her inhabitants, shall be beaten in their own land, as in the threshing-floor. The threshing-floor is prepared. Babylon is by sin made meet to be a seat of war, and her people, like corn in harvest, are ripe for destruction," Revelation 14:15; Micah 4:12. 3. It is an unavoidable destruction. Babylon seems to be well-fenced and fortified against it: She dwells upon many waters (Jeremiah 51:13; Jeremiah 51:13); the situation of her country is such that it seems inaccessible, it is so surrounded, and the march of an enemy into it so embarrassed, by rivers. In allusion to this, the New-Testament Babylon is said to sit upon many waters, that is, to rule over many nations, as the other Babylon did, Revelation 17:15. Babylon is abundant in treasures; and yet "thy end has come, and neither they waters nor thy wealth shall secure thee." This end that comes shall be the measure of thy covetousness; it shall be the stint of thy gettings, it shall set bounds to thy ambition and avarice, which otherwise would have ben boundless. God, by the destruction of Babylon, said to its proud waves, Hitherto shall you come, and no further. Note, if men will not set a measure to their covetousness by wisdom and grace, God will set a measure to it by his judgments. Babylon, thinking herself very safe and very great, was very proud; but she will be deceived (Jeremiah 51:53; Jeremiah 51:53): Though Babylon should mount her walls and palaces up to heaven, and though (because what is high is apt to totter) she should take care to fortify the height of her strength, yet all will not do; God will send spoilers against her, that shall break through her strength and bring down her height. 4. It is a gradual destruction, which, if they had pleased, they might have foreseen and had warning of; for (Jeremiah 51:46; Jeremiah 51:46) "A rumor will come one year that Cyrus is making vast preparations for war, and after that, in another year, shall come a rumour that his design is upon Babylon, and he is steering his course that way;" so that when he was a great way off they might have sent and desired conditions of peace; but they were too proud, too secure, to do that, and their hearts were hardened to their destruction. 5. Yet, when it comes, it is a surprising destruction: Babylon has suddenly fallen (Jeremiah 51:8; Jeremiah 51:8); the destruction came upon them when they did not think of it and was perfected in a little time, as that of the New-Testament Babylon--in one hour,Revelation 18:17. The king of Babylon, who should have been observing the approaches of the enemy, was himself at such a distance from the place where the attack was made that it was a great while ere he had notice that the city was taken; so that those who were posted near the place sent one messenger, one courier, after another, with advice of it, Jeremiah 51:31; Jeremiah 51:31. The foot-posts shall meet at the court from several quarters with this intelligence to the king of Babylon that his city is taken at one end, and there is nothing to obstruct the progress of the conquerors, but they will be at the other end quickly. They are to tell him that the enemy has seized the passes (Jeremiah 51:32; Jeremiah 51:32), the forts or blockades upon the river, and that, having got over the river, he has set fire to the reeds on the river side, to alarm and terrify the city, so that all the men of war are affrighted and have thrown down their arms and surrendered at discretion. The messengers come, like Job's, one upon the heels of another, with these tidings, which are immediately confirmed with a witness by the enemies' being in the palace and slaying the king himself, Daniel 5:30. That profane feast which they were celebrating at the very time when the city was taken, which was both an evidence of their strange security and a great advantage to the enemy, seems here to be referred to (Jeremiah 51:38; Jeremiah 51:39): They shall roar together like lions, as men in their revels do, when the wine has got into their heads. They call it singing; but in scripture-language, and in the language of sober men, it is called yelling like lions' whelps. It is probable that they were drinking confusion to Cyrus and his army with loud huzzas. Well, says God, in their heat, when they are inflamed (Isaiah 5:11) and their heads are hot with hard drinking, I will make their feasts, I will give them their portion. They have passed their cup round; now the cup of the Lord's right hand shall be turned unto them (Habakkuk 2:15; Habakkuk 2:16), a cup of fury, which shall make them drunk that they may rejoice (or rather that they may revel it) and sleep a perpetual sleep; let them be as merry as they can with that bitter cup, but it shall lay them to sleep never to wake more (as Jeremiah 51:57; Jeremiah 51:57); for on that night, in the midst of the jollity, was Belshazzar slain. 6. It is to be a universal destruction. God will make thorough work of it; for, as he will perform what he has purposed, so he will perfect what he has begun. The slain shall fall in great abundance throughout the land of the Chaldeans; multitudes shall be thrust through in her streets,Jeremiah 51:4; Jeremiah 51:4. They are brought down like lambs to the slaughter (Jeremiah 51:40; Jeremiah 51:40), in such great numbers, so easily, and the enemies make no more of killing them than the butcher does of killing lambs. The strength of the enemy, and their invading them, are here compared to an irruption and inundation of waters (Jeremiah 51:42; Jeremiah 51:42): The sea has come up upon Babylon, which, when it has once broken through its bounds, there is no fence against, so that she is covered with the multitude of its waves, overpowered by a numerous army; her cities then become a desolation, an uninhabited uncultivated desert, Jeremiah 51:43; Jeremiah 51:43. 7. It is a destruction that shall reach the gods of Babylon, the idols and images, and fall with a particular weight upon them. "In token that the whole land shall be confounded and all her slain shall fall and that throughout all the country the wounded shall groan, I will do judgment upon her graven images," Jeremiah 51:47; Jeremiah 51:47 and again Jeremiah 51:52; Jeremiah 51:52. All must needs perish if their gods perish, from whom they expect protection. Though the invaders are themselves idolaters, yet they shall destroy the images and temples of the gods of Babylon, as an earnest of the abolishing of all counterfeit deities. Bel was the principal idol that the Babylonians worshipped, and therefore that is by name here marked for destruction (Jeremiah 51:44; Jeremiah 51:44): I will punish Bel, that great devourer, that image to which such abundance of sacrifices are offered and such rich spoils dedicated, and to whose temple there is such a vast resort. He shall disgorge what he has so greedily regaled himself with. God will bring forth out of his temple all the wealth laid up there, Job 20:15. His altars shall be forsaken, none shall regard him any more, and so that idol which was thought to be a wall to Babylon shall fall and fail them. 8. It shall be a final destruction. You may take balm for her pain, but in vain; she that would not be healed by the word of God shall not be healed by his providence, Jeremiah 51:8; Jeremiah 51:9. Babylon shall become heaps (Jeremiah 51:37; Jeremiah 51:37), and, to complete its infamy, no use shall be made even of the ruins of Babylon, so execrable shall they be, and attended with such ill omens (Jeremiah 51:26; Jeremiah 51:26): They shall not take of thee a stone for a corner, nor a stone for foundations. People shall not care for having any thing to do with Babylon, or whatever belonged to it. Or it denotes that there shall be nothing left in Babylon on which to ground any hopes or attempts of raising it into a kingdom again; for, as it follows here, it shall be desolate for ever. St. Jerome says that in his time, though the ruins of Babylon's walls were to be seen, yet the ground enclosed by them was a forest of wild beasts.

      IX. Here is a call to God's people to go out of Babylon. It is their wisdom, when the ruin is approaching, to quit the city and retire into the country (Jeremiah 51:6; Jeremiah 51:6): "Flee out of the midst of Babylon, and get into some remote corner, that you may save your lives, and may not be cut off in her iniquity." When God's judgments are abroad it is good to get as far as we can from those against whom they are levelled, as Israel from the tents of Korah. This agrees with the advice Christ gave his disciples, with reference to the destruction of Jerusalem. Let those who shall be in Judea flee to the mountains,Matthew 24:16. It is their wisdom to get out of the midst of Babylon, lest they be involved, if not in her ruins, yet in her fears (Jeremiah 51:45; Jeremiah 51:46): Lest your heart faint, and you fear for the rumour that shall be heard in the land. Though God had told them that Cyrus should be their deliverer, and Babylon's destruction their deliverance, yet they had been told also that in the peace there of they should have peace, and therefore the alarms given to Babylon would put them into a fright, and perhaps they might not have faith and consideration enough to suppress those fears, for which reason they are here advised to get out of the hearing of the alarms. Note, Those who have not grace enough to keep their temper in temptation should have wisdom enough to keep out of the way of temptation. But this is not all; it is not only their wisdom to quit the city when the ruin is approaching, but it is their duty to quit the country too when the ruin is accomplished, and they are set at liberty by the pulling down of the prison over their heads. This they are told, Jeremiah 51:50; Jeremiah 51:51: "You Israelites, who have escaped the sword of the Chaldeans your oppressors, and of the Persians their destroyers, now that the year of release has come, go away, stand not still; hasten to your own country again, however you may be comfortably seated in Babylon, for this is not your rest, but Canaan is." 1. He puts them in mind of the inducements they had to return: "Remember the Lord afar off, his presence with you now, though you are here afar off from your native soil; his presence with your fathers formerly in the temple, though you are now afar off from the ruins of it." Note, Wherever we are, in the greatest depths, at the greatest distances, we may and must remember the Lord our God; and in the time of the greatest fears and hopes it is seasonable to remember the Lord. "And let Jerusalem come into your mind. Though it be now in ruins, yet favour its dust (Psalms 102:14); though few of you ever saw it, yet believe the report you have had concerning it from those that wept when they remembered Zion; and think of Jerusalem until you come up to a resolution to make the best of your way thither." Note, When the city of our solemnities is out of sight, yet it must not be out of mind; and it will be of great use to us, in our journey through this world, to let the heavenly Jerusalem come often into our mind. 2. He takes notice of the discouragement which the returning captives labour under (Jeremiah 51:51; Jeremiah 51:51); being reminded of Jerusalem, they cry out, "We are confounded; we cannot bear the thought of it; shame covers our faces at the mention of it, for we have heard of the reproach of the sanctuary, that is profaned and ruined by strangers; how can we think of it with any pleasure?" To this he answers (Jeremiah 51:52; Jeremiah 51:52) that the God of Israel will now triumph over the gods of Babylon, and so that reproach will be for ever rolled away. Note, The believing prospect of Jerusalem's recovery will keep us from being ashamed of Jerusalem's ruins.

      X. Here is the diversified feeling excited by Babylon's fall, and it is the same that we have with respect to the New-Testament Babylon,Revelation 18:9; Revelation 18:19. 1. Some shall lament the destruction of Babylon. There is the sound of a cry, a great outcry coming from Babylon (Jeremiah 51:54; Jeremiah 51:54), lamenting this great destruction, the voice of mourning, because the Lord has destroyed the voice of the multitude, that great voice of mirth which used to be heard in Babylon, Jeremiah 51:55; Jeremiah 51:55. We are told what they shall say in their lamentations (Jeremiah 51:41; Jeremiah 51:41): "How is Sheshach taken, and how are we mistaken concerning her! How is that city surprised and become an astonishment among the nations that was the praise, and glory, and admiration of the whole earth!" See how that may fall into a general contempt which has been universally cried up. 2. Yet some shall rejoice in Babylon's fall, not as it is the misery of their fellow-creatures, but as it is the manifestation of the righteous judgment of God and as it opens the way for the release of God's captives; upon these accounts the heaven and the earth, and all that is in both, shall sing for Babylon (Jeremiah 51:48; Jeremiah 51:48); the church in heaven and the church on earth shall give to God the glory of his righteousness, and take notice of it with thankfulness to his praise. Babylon's ruin is Zion's praise.