Jeremiah 50
Summary for Jer 50:1-16: 50:1–51:64 a This message of judgment on Babylon is the longest for any nation except Judah, and threats against Babylon are interwoven with promises for Judah’s restoration. Babylon was the Lord’s agent for destroying the other civilizations of the Near East, but it was also guilty of its own sins. The Lord would judge Babylon by doing to her what she had done to others (50:15 b).50:2 c Raising a signal flag was a favored method for warning that an enemy was approaching a city (cp. Isa 13:2 d).
• The people of Babylon would be under divine judgment because they worshiped the gods Bel (the Babylonian name for Baal) and Marduk (the Babylonian deity of wind, storm, and fertility).
50:3 e The nation ... from the north was the Persian nation led by Cyrus in 539 BC. Persia was east of Babylon, but it first struck Babylonia in the north and then moved south. The attack destroyed the powerful Babylonian Empire.
Summary for Jer 50:4-10: 50:4-10 f This poetic interlude was a message of hope for the Israelite exiles in Babylon in contrast to the judgment and oppression they had been experiencing. The divine Judge is also the divine Savior. 50:4 g In those coming days: In 538, 458, and 445 BC, some exiles of Israel moved back to their homeland.
• The people of Israel and Judah would come weeping with joy and repentance, choosing to worship the Lord their God instead of worshiping idols.
50:5 h an eternal covenant: See 31:23-34 i.
50:6 j The shepherds of Israel and Judah, such as Jeroboam I and Manasseh (see 1 Kgs 12:25–13:34 k; 2 Kgs 21:1-18 l), had led the people away from the Lord.
• The mountains were both literal and metaphorical—Baal worship tended to take place at high elevations.
50:7 m This verse continues the metaphor of lost sheep (50:6 n), connecting Israel’s vulnerability to attack with their apostasy in turning away from the Lord. Their enemies rationalized their mistreatment of Israel by saying that the Israelites had sinned against the Lord. These enemies understood that the Israelites’ true place of rest and hope was in the Lord.
Summary for Jer 50:8-9: 50:8-9 o The Lord urged the Israelites to leave when he ordered an army of great nations (Persia and its allies) to attack Babylon in 539 BC.
Summary for Jer 50:11-16: 50:11-16 p These verses describe in vivid detail the defeat of Babylon by the Persian invasion (see ch 51 q; Isa 13:14 r; 21:1-10 s; 44:28 t; 47:1-5 u; Dan 5 v). Babylon was never an important kingdom again. The city of Babylon was leveled in 485 BC. Archaeological excavation of Babylon began in 1899, and the remains of Babylon were brought to light over several decades. 50:11 w rejoice ... frisk about: The Babylonians had been light-hearted and carefree because they had plundered the Lord’s people in Jerusalem. They gave no thought to the well-being of those they conquered.
50:12 x The divine Judge rendered his verdict, describing the disgrace of a defeated Babylon.
50:14 y The Lord ordered armies to attack Babylon with a multitude of arrows, the artillery of that age.
• she has sinned against the Lord: The primary charge leveled against other nations was also directed toward Babylon.
50:15 z The Lord’s judgment was fulfilled when Babylon surrendered and her walls fell. The Lord’s vengeance carried out justice by doing to Babylon what she had done to others (cp. Deut 19:21 aa; Luke 6:38 ab).
50:16 ac As Babylon fell, farmers fled and left their crops behind. The slaughter on the battlefield caused the people to run away.
Summary for Jer 50:17-20: 50:17-20 ad Another poetic interlude laments Israel’s sufferings and promises future restoration. 50:17 ae Assyria conquered the northern kingdom of Israel in 734–722 BC, and Nebuchadnezzar conquered the southern kingdom of Judah in 605–586 BC.
Summary for Jer 50:18-19: 50:18-19 af Therefore: This word introduces two divine decrees. The first decree condemned Babylon to complete annihilation, like the punishment the Lord gave Assyria (Nah 3 ag). Assyria fell in 612 BC; Babylon fell in 539 BC.
• I will bring Israel home: The second divine decree promises restoration for Israel, specifically the people of the northern tribes, whose land was defined by the indicated landmarks.
• Carmel is a mountain range close to the Mediterranean Sea in the northwestern corner of Israel.
• Bashan was a region in the highlands rising east of the Sea of Galilee.
• The tribe of Ephraim occupied the hill country in the central part of Israel west of the Jordan River.
• Gilead was a highland area that rose on the east side of the Jordan River, opposite Ephraim.
50:20 ah The Lord would forgive the remnant of people from Israel and Judah; they would seek the Lord as they returned to their homeland (50:4-5 ai; see chs 31 aj, 33 ak).
50:21 al The judgments against Babylon continue. The divine Judge is also portrayed as the divine commander of the armies. The Persians were the Lord’s warriors against Babylon, just as Babylon had been his warriors against Judah (25:9 am).
• Merathaim (literally double rebellion) refers to the southern part of the Tigris and Euphrates river valley. Pekod (literally punishment) designates a people living on the eastern side of the same valley. These people were Babylonian.
• completely destroy: See Lev 27:28-29 an; Josh 6:21 ao; 1 Sam 15:3 ap.
50:28 aq The exiles returning to Jerusalem would be able to encourage those left behind that the enemy had been punished as God had promised and that his promised restoration of Israel was beginning.
Summary for Jer 50:29-30: 50:29-30 ar Skilled archers would kill the Babylonian soldiers even as those soldiers had killed their victims in battle. This was the Lord’s way of judging the ruthless empire builders who had defied the one true God by worshiping other deities (50:38 as).
Summary for Jer 50:31-32: 50:31-32 at Because of the Lord’s decree, the arrogant Babylonian Empire would never rise again as a mighty power in the world.
Summary for Jer 50:33-34: 50:33-34 au The people of Israel and Judah had suffered greatly. The Lord’s act of redemption would defend them and give them rest again in Israel. God is strong, and he is as able to redeem as he is to punish.
Summary for Jer 50:35-38: 50:35-38 av Babylon would experience exactly the kind of violence it had meted out. The same charges were brought against Babylon as were brought against Israel, Judah, Egypt, and their neighbors. All of them worshiped idols instead of the one true God.
• The sword of destruction refers to the Persian army.
50:38 aw The Euphrates River ran through the city of Babylon, providing its water supply. The Persians were reputed to have diverted the river during the siege by digging a canal around the city walls and then attacking through the riverbed.
Summary for Jer 50:39-40: 50:39-40 ax The doom of Babylon would be like the utter desolation of Sodom and Gomorrah (Gen 19:24-25 ay).
50:43 az The Babylonians would experience the same terror their own victims had felt (cp. 6:22-23 ba).
Summary for Jer 50:44-46: 50:44-46 bb These verses essentially repeat 49:19-21 bc, with Babylon in place of Edom.
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