Sharpen the arrows; take the shields. Jehovah hath stirred up the spirit of the kings of the Medes; for his purpose is against Babylon, to destroy it; for this is the vengeance of Jehovah, the vengeance of his temple.
This verse opens with a battle order. Behind the weapons stands the Lord, who has moved the Median kings. And behind His purpose stands a reason: a house in Jerusalem that Babylon had ruined.
Who is being told to get ready? One commentator reads the rush to arms as Babylon's own, and points past her soldiers to God.
Babylon had need of all its military appliances now, because the Lord had roused the spirit of her northern foes against her, and had resolved to destroy her.
The Medes were on their way to becoming the next world power.
Cyrus the Persian was rising in power and subdued Astyages, but allowed him to reign as king... The kingdom was called at first that of the "Medes and Persians"... They conquered Babylon and Asia Minor. On the death of Astyages, Cyrus reigned alone. It became the second great empire of the Gentiles.
God stirring a king's spirit is not a one-off. One writer points back to Cyrus, whom Isaiah names as God's shepherd.
Let us pause for a moment. Whatever the outward appearances, the Lord holds the hearts of all men in His hands, and turns them wherever He will. He uses men of every rank as the instruments of His will. The very mention of Cyrus carries us a step further back. Isaiah, speaking in the name of the Lord, says of Cyrus, "He is my shepherd, and he shall fulfil all my purpose"; saying of Jerusalem, "She shall be built," and of the temple, "Your foundation shall be laid" (Isa. 44:28).
But God using a man does not make that man His own. One writer draws the line.
Cyrus is never called "the servant" of the Lord. He was His providential shepherd, for the sake of Israel His servant. ... Nor is it hard to see why this distinction matters, because even now God raises up providential authority in the world for the sake of the elect. Such authorities are called ministers of God, but never servants of Christ.
Why would God avenge a temple He let fall? One writer separates what God permitted from the way Babylon carried it out.
Then the wrath of God against the evils of His people condemned them to be carried away, and the destruction of the temple polluted His inheritance. God permitted it. The Babylonian king did it with a heavy hand. And upon Babylon will come the heavy hand of God's judgment, in the day when He carries out "the vengeance of the LORD our God, the vengeance for his temple" (Jer. 50:28).
The vessels taken from that temple still mattered to God after the building fell.
God allowed Nebuchadnezzar to destroy the temple, after the glory had departed, and to take its holy vessels into Babylon. But in His own time God brought Nebuchadnezzar low. Then Belshazzar, with no reverence for holy things, challenged the God of Israel: he used the holy vessels to praise the gods of his own making. So God stepped in to vindicate the honour of His Name in the overthrow of Babylon and its irreverent ruler.
Human armies did the work here. One writer refuses to divide the credit.
I may add here that Jeremiah calls the destruction of the Babylon of that day by the Medes the work of the LORD of hosts, His vengeance, His day come, the day that He visits her. I think anyone who reads these two chapters closely must see one judgment described there on the earthly Babylon, with the lasting consequences of that judgment, as when He overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah. But whoever the instruments were, the judgment was God's.
Commentators differ on how far these chapters reach. One writer sees a single judgment on the city of that day. Another sees principles that outlived the city and still work in the world now.
Babylon's principles hold wide sway today, and seeing God's judgment on this system keeps us clear of it with understanding. ... What belongs to Babylon is always ready to trap those who seek to exalt the Lord and call on Him out of a pure heart. But as we learn the mind of God, we are fortified against the advances of this lawless and superstitious system.
- Purpose — the Lord's purpose is against Babylon. The arrows and shields only carry out a decision already made.
- Stirring — God moved the spirit of the Median kings. He holds the hearts of all men, and turns them wherever He will.
- Instrument — Cyrus was God's shepherd for His people's sake. Rulers like him are ministers of God, never servants of Christ.
- Cause — the reason given is vengeance for His temple. God let His house fall, then judged the heavy hand that struck it and the misuse of its holy vessels.
- Reach — whoever the instruments were, the judgment was God's. And Babylon's principles are still worth knowing and avoiding.
Lift up a banner towards the walls of Babylon, make the watch strong, set the watchmen, prepare the ambushes; for Jehovah hath both devised and done that which he spoke against the inhabitants of Babylon.
Jeremiah 51:12 is a battle order shouted at the walls of Babylon: raise the flag, double the guard, post lookouts, set the ambush. Then comes the reason, and it turns the scene upside down. The attack was no accident of politics. God had already planned it, and already done it.
The verse belongs to a run of commands aimed at Babylon's fall. One commentator names the power behind the advancing armies:
Babylon had need of all its military equipment now, for the Lord had roused the spirit of her northern enemies against her, and had resolved to destroy her. So the prophet says: "Sharpen the arrows! Take up the shields! The LORD has stirred up the spirit of the kings of the Medes, because his purpose concerning Babylon is to destroy it."
The armies were not simply hungry for empire. Behind them stood a Redeemer with a case to settle.
It is not simply one nation, but a gathering of great nations that destroy Babylon: so in Revelation 17:16. Zion is to know the holy character of this judgment: it is the vengeance of the Lord, the vengeance of His temple (Jer. 50:28; 51:11). The Redeemer of Israel and Judah pleads their cause. He is strong to overthrow their oppressors in judgment, as He did Sodom and Gomorrah. He is strong to deliver His people and give them rest.
The verse calls for a strong watch. Babylon already had defences on a scale that is hard to imagine.
The wall around the city is said to have been three hundred and fifty feet high and eighty-seven feet thick. A very wide ditch surrounded it too, kept full by the river Euphrates. With all this, and its many towers and gates of brass, the city seemed impossible to capture. And so it was, in man's account; but when God speaks all things are possible to Him, and many men do not think of this.
Babylon's watch was posted, and it still missed the enemy. The attack came by a road no one was guarding.
History tells us that Babylon's walls had tall towers set at intervals, as many as two hundred and fifty. From these towers the Babylonians could watch for their enemy, and they saw no sign of danger. Yet the enemy outside had done something very simple. The Euphrates ran right through the centre of the city. Great brass gates guarded it, so no one could get in by water. Cyrus, the Persian leader, used a very simple trick. The Euphrates bends near Babylon, so Cyrus cut a new bed for the water a few miles upstream. When darkness fell, they opened the sluices and sent the river down its new course. The old river bed at Babylon was left almost dry. The Persian troops marched quietly along it, under the brass gates, and took the city. So Jeremiah's word came true: a messenger ran to tell the king of Babylon that his city was taken at one end (Jer. 51:31).
The last clause speaks of a judgment still in the future as if it were already finished. History proved God exact.
The words of Jeremiah are really the words of the Lord through him. Their exact fulfilment proves that they came from God. They were fulfilled with such precision in public, private, and personal detail that no honest person can question them. What still awaits fulfilment will no doubt come to pass with the same perfection. Our God fixed the months and years. He timed the shining of the moon and of the sun. He spoke all the words of prophecy, and His word must be done.
This prophecy reaches past the city that fell long ago. The closing book of the Bible hands down the same sentence again.
In her fall Babylon only reaped what she had sown. "For this is the vengeance of the LORD: take vengeance on her; do to her as she has done" (Jer. 50:15). The same verdict is pronounced on the Babylon of the end time... "Pay her back as she herself has paid back others, and repay her double for her deeds; mix a double portion for her in the cup she mixed" (Rev. 18:6).
- Planned. God's purpose came first. The armies only carried out what He "had both planned and done."
- Provoked. The cause was moral, not military: the vengeance of the Lord, the vengeance of His temple.
- Prepared. Babylon's own walls, towers and brass gates made her look impossible to capture, in man's account.
- Pierced. The watchmen on two hundred and fifty towers saw no sign of danger; the river bed no one guarded became the road in.
- Paid back. The same measure reaches beyond the ancient city to a later Babylon, repaid double for what she did.
Thou that dwellest upon many waters, abundant in treasures, thine end is come, the measure of thy rapacity.
Jeremiah turns from the armies gathering outside the walls and speaks straight to the city itself, naming what she sits on and what she owns. Both are about to be taken from her, and the reason given is not military weakness but the full measure of her greed.
Why is Babylon addressed as a city living "by many waters"? One writer answers from the way prophecy uses water:
In the language of prophecy, the great sea always means masses of people. So Scripture describes Babylon (Rev. 17:1, 15; Jer. 51) as dwelling (v. 13) "upon many waters." These are peoples who at the time of the vision were not yet formed into kingdoms and empires, and so not yet recognised by God as prophetic objects.
Babylon is also "rich in treasures." One writer describes the same Babylon in Revelation, setting her wealth beside what she cares nothing for:
She sits enthroned in greatness, decked out in the glories of the world. But she does not have the affection of her deluded followers. There is display, but no reality. Her supreme regard is for gold (Rev. 18:12); her least concern is for the souls of men (v. 13).
The ESV ends the verse with "the thread of your life is cut." Older translations read "the measure of your covetousness" instead. One writer sets out what Babylon did with her hold over the nations, and what her fall means for God's people:
Chapter 51 goes deeper into the moral degradation of Babylon, but the deliverance of God's people is still in view. She had made the nations drunk so that they became mad; she had corrupted them with idolatry, the work of errors. Therefore the Lord will punish Babylon, which "dwells upon many waters" (v. 13; see also Rev. 17:1). Her end shall come.
God says "your end has come" before a single wall falls. In this chapter the attack goes back past the Medes to God Himself, and He calls it payment for what Babylon did to His house:
Babylon needed all her weapons of war now. The Lord had roused the spirit of her northern enemies against her, and He had resolved to destroy her. So the prophet says: "Sharpen the arrows! Take up the shields! The LORD has stirred up the spirit of the kings of the Medes, because His purpose concerning Babylon is to destroy it, for that is the vengeance of the LORD, the vengeance for His temple."
The waters she sat among became the road her enemies walked in on:
No one expected her downfall. For twenty-four years after the death of Nebuchadnezzar, Babylon stayed the seat of the imperial court. In 538 B.C. the city fell in a remarkable way. The attackers chose a night when the people were about to hold a festival, when the whole city would give itself up to drinking and wild living. They turned the river out of its bed to make it shallow enough for the troops to walk along. The gates stood open, and the city fell.
The lesson does not stop with one ruined city. One writer applies it to readers now:
The principles of Babylon are widely at work today. As we see the judgment of God on this system, we ourselves will be kept clear of it with understanding. This matters enormously for those who seek to exalt the Lord and to call on Him out of a pure heart. What belongs to Babylon is always ready to trap them. But as we learn the mind of God, we stand firm against the advance of this lawless and superstitious system.
- Waters — reach. The many waters are peoples and nations under Babylon's power, not just the rivers around her walls.
- Treasures — display. Her wealth bought greatness on show, with her highest regard for gold and her lowest for people.
- Greed — cause. She corrupted the nations she reached, and her greed has now reached its full measure.
- End — decided. The blow goes back past the Medes to the Lord Himself, as payment for what Babylon did to His temple.
- Waters again — the way in. Her enemies turned the river aside and walked in through its bed on a festival night. Babylon's ways still trap people today, and learning the mind of God keeps us clear of them.
Jehovah of hosts hath sworn by himself, I will assuredly fill thee with men, as with caterpillars; and they shall raise a shout against thee.
God takes an oath against Babylon while the city is still rich and strong, and He swears to fill her with invaders as thick as locusts. That raises two questions: why God swears at all, and whether His words stop with the Babylon of Jeremiah's day.
An oath normally borrows weight from someone higher. God has no one higher, so the guarantee is His own being — and the added word of assurance is for our sake, not His.
Why are men put on oath in the law courts of the land? It is because they are capable of lying... In happy contrast, Scripture tells us that it is "impossible for God to lie." God cannot do the things that would deny His being, nature and holiness. God cannot swear by one higher than Himself, so He swears by Himself... Why add the word surely? On the divine side there was no need for it at all. No word can add to God's trustworthiness. His word is His bond.
Another writer explains why God can safely bind Himself:
God could swear, for He was able to carry out what He promised. He also knew every consequence of what He pledged Himself to do.
The title in this verse runs through Jeremiah's book. It belongs to the Ruler above every earthly king, who punishes one nation through another and then judges that nation in turn.
Jeremiah shows us that the Lord is the true Ruler. Above all earthly kings, He is "the King of Eternity" and "the King of nations" (Jer. 10:7-10)... In chapter 46, Pharaoh Neco, King of Egypt, is punished according to the word of "the King whose name is the LORD of hosts" (v. 18). God carries this out through the King of Babylon, who is also used to take Israel into captivity. Yet Babylon's punishment must surely follow too, and Israel be set free again, "says the King, whose name is the LORD of hosts" (Jer. 51:57).
The comparison is to a specific insect. Older translations call it a "caterpiller," but the word points to a kind of locust.
This is thought to be the 'hedge-chafer,' a species of locust. It "spoils [or spreads itself out] and flies away." It devours a great deal of plant growth, and pictures the enemies that would destroy Nineveh. The same Hebrew word is translated "caterpiller" in Psalm 105:34 and Jeremiah 51:14, 27.
The same swarm picture stands for invading peoples elsewhere in Scripture. One writer lists this verse among those places.
In verse 6 the locusts appear as a nation, mighty and without number, with lion's teeth. This confirms that they picture the Gentile nations of the future who would devastate the land. See also Numbers 13:33, Isaiah 40:22 and Jeremiah 51:14, where the same comparison is made.
The invaders came from the north, and God is the one who set them moving.
Babylon needed all its military equipment now. The Lord had stirred up the spirit of her northern enemies against her, and had decided to destroy her.
So the armies that raise the shout never own the judgment behind it.
In Jeremiah, the Medes destroy the Babylon of that day. That destruction is called the work of the LORD of hosts, His vengeance, His day come, the day that He visits her... whoever the instruments, the judgment was God's.
One writer reads these chapters as looking past the fall of the ancient city. He also draws a present warning from them.
Many details in Jeremiah 50 and 51 let us see that there is more in the mind of the Spirit than the overthrow of Babylon by Cyrus... the day is yet future, as Revelation 18 shows, when "every purpose of the LORD shall be performed against Babylon" (Jer. 51:29)... Babylonish principles are widespread today, and as we see the judgment of God on this system we ourselves will be intelligently kept clear of it... In this connection it is said, "THEIR REDEEMER IS STRONG" (Jer. 50:34).
- Sworn. God stakes Babylon's fall on Himself, since no greater name exists to swear by. The added "surely" meets our weakness, not His.
- Able. He can swear safely: He can do what He promises, and He already knows every consequence of it.
- Named. The oath comes from "the LORD of hosts," the King of nations, who used Babylon against others and now judges Babylon in turn.
- Swarmed. Locusts mean numbers beyond counting. Invading peoples cover the city and raise the shout of victory over her.
- Owned. The Medes carried it out, but the judgment was God's. The same sworn purpose still stands against Babylon's ways today — and the Redeemer of His people is strong.