What does it mean that the Lord is the God of recompense (Jeremiah 51:56)?

Chapter 51 goes deeper still into the moral degradation of Babylon, but the deliverance of God’s people is still in view. Men may think that He is showing very little care for them, but he assures such, “Israel is not forsaken, nor Judah of his God, of the Lord of hosts,” He will deal with them and He will judge Babylon, He will render recompense. “The Lord God of recompenses will certainly requite” (v. 56). She had made the nations drunken 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 (vv. 1-18).

This the answer of Jehovah follows at length in verses 36-44. "Therefore thus says Jehovah; Behold, I will plead thy cause, and take vengeance for thee; and I will dry up her sea, and make her springs dry. And Babylon shall become heaps, a dwelling place for dragons, an astonishment, and an hissing, without an inhabitant. They shall roar together like lions; they shall yell as lions' whelps. 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, says Jehovah. I will bring them down like lambs to the slaughter, like rams with he-goats. How is Sheshach taken! and how is the praise of the whole earth surprised! how is Babylon become an astonishment among the nations! The sea is come up upon Babylon: she is covered with the multitude of the waves thereof. Her cities are a desolation, a dry land, and a wilderness, a land wherein no man dwells, neither doth any son of man pass thereby. And I will punish Bel in Babylon, and I will bring forth out of his mouth that which he has swallowed up: and the nations shall not flow together any more to him: yea, the wall of Babylon shall fall." The prophet thereon exhorts the people to leave a city, which, far from sheltering any, could only expose to its own destruction. "My people, go ye out of the midst of her, and deliver ye every man his soul from the fierce anger of Jehovah. 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." (Ver. 45, 46.)

Jehovah again takes up the word of judgment for her idols in verses 47-58. "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. Then the heaven and the earth, and all that is therein, shall sing for Babylon: for the spoilers shall come to her from the north, says Jehovah. As Babylon has caused the slain of Israel to fall, so at Babylon shall fill the slain of all the earth. Ye that have escaped the sword, go away, stand not still, remember Jehovah afar off, and let Jerusalem come into your mind. We are confounded, because we have heard reproach: shame has covered our faces: for strangers are come into the sanctuaries of Jehovah's house. Wherefore, behold, the days come, says Jehovah, that I will do judgment upon her graven images, and through all her land the wounded shall groan. Though Babylon should mount up to heaven, and though she should fortify the height of her strength, yet from me shall spoilers come to her, says Jehovah. A sound of a cry comes from Babylon, and great destruction from the land of the Chaldeans: because Jehovah has 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: because the spoiler is come upon her, even upon Babylon, and her mighty men are taken, every one of their bows is broken: for Jehovah God of recompenses shall surely requite. 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, says the King, whose name is Jehovah of hosts. Thus says Jehovah 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."

It is evident there are two kinds of righteousness - justice as against evil, and adequate appreciation and even recompense of good. "Vengeance is mine, I will recompense saith the Lord" is a different thing from "The righteous Lord loveth righteousness, his countenance beholds the upright"; though both are abstractedly the just estimate of good and evil.

"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 Jehovah's vengeance; he will render to her a recompence. Babylon has been a golden cup in Jehovah's hand, that made all the earth drunken: the nations have drunken of her wine; therefore the nations are mad. Babylon is suddenly fallen and destroyed: howl for her; take balm for her pain, if so be she may be healed. 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 reaches to heaven, and is lifted up even to the skies. Jehovah has brought forth our righteousness: come, and let us declare in Zion the work of Jehovah our God." (Ver. 6-10.) Babylon's fall is the justification of Judah, who thence turns in heart to Zion, that they might there publish the work of Jehovah their God.

Babylon had need of all its military appliances now; for Jehovah had roused the spirit of her northern foes against her, and resolved to destroy her. Hence the prophet says, "Make bright the arrows; gather the shields: Jehovah has 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 Jehovah, the vengeance of his temple. Set up the standard upon the walls of Babylon, make the watch strong, set up the watchmen, prepare the ambushes: for Jehovah has both devised and done that which he spake against the inhabitants of Babylon. O thou that dwellest upon many waters, abundant in treasures, thine end is come, and the measure of thy covetousness. Jehovah of hosts has sworn by himself, saying, Surely I will fill thee with men, as with caterpillars; and they shall lift up a shout against thee." (Ver. 11-14.)

Again, from verse 21 there is a renewal of the call to go up against the imperial city, described as doubly rebellious and the object of visitation. "Go up against the land of Merathaim, even against it, and against the inhabitants of Pekod: waste and utterly destroy after them, says Jehovah, and do according to all that I have commanded thee. A sound of battle is in the land, and of great destruction. How is the hammer of the whole earth cut asunder and broken! how is Babylon become a desolation among the nations! I have laid a snare for thee, and thou art also taken, O Babylon and thou wast not aware: thou art found, and also caught, because thou hast striven against Jehovah. Jehovah has opened his armoury, and has brought forth the weapons of his indignation: for this is the work of Jehovah God of hosts in the land of the Chaldeans. Come against her from the utmost border, open her storehouses: cast her up as heaps, and destroy her utterly: let nothing of her be left. Slay all her bullocks; let them go down to the slaughter: woe to them! for their day is come, the time of their visitation. The voice of them that flee and escape out of the land of Babylon, to declare in Zion the vengeance of Jehovah our God, the vengeance of his temple. Call together the archers against Babylon: all ye that bend the bow, camp against it round about; let none thereof escape: recompense her according to her work; according to all that she has done, do to her: for she has been proud against Jehovah, against the Holy One of Israel. Therefore shall her young men fall in the streets, and all her men of war shall be cut off in that day, says Jehovah. Behold, I am against thee, O thou most proud, says Jehovah God of Hosts: for thy day is come, the time that I will visit thee. And the most proud shall stumble and fall, and none shall raise him up: and I will kindle a fire in his cities, and it shall devour all round about him." (Ver. 21-32.) Here Jehovah intimates the special ground for unsparing vengeance on Babylon for desecration of His temple, and pride against Himself, the Holy One of Israel.

Again also the prophet resumes the note of relief to Israel from the trouble of Babylon. If Assyria and her haughty rival vied in contemptuous oppression of Israel, Jehovah would plead the cause of His people thoroughly. "Thus says Jehovah of hosts; the children of Israel and the children of Judah were oppressed together: and all that took them captives held them fast: they refused to let them go. Their Redeemer is strong; Jehovah of hosts is his name: he shall throughly plead their cause, that he may give rest to the land, and disquiet the inhabitants of Babylon. A sword is upon the Chaldeans, says Jehovah, and upon the inhabitants of Babylon, and upon her princes, and upon her wise men. A sword is upon the liars; and they shall dote: a sword is upon her mighty men; and they shall be dismayed. A sword is upon their horses, and upon their chariots, and upon all the mingled people that are in the midst of her; and they shall become as women: a sword is upon her treasures; and they shall be robbed. A drought is upon her waters; and they shall be dried up: for it is the land of graven images, and they are mad upon their idols. Therefore the wild beasts of the desert with the wild beasts of the islands shall dwell there, and the owls shall dwell therein: and it shall be no more inhabited for ever; neither shall it be dwelt in from generation to generation. As God overthrow Sodom and Gomorrah and the neighbour cities thereof, says Jehovah; so shall no man abide there, neither shall any son of man dwell therein. Behold a people shall come from the north, and a great nation! and many kings shall be raised up from the coasts of the earth. They shall hold the bow and the lance: they are cruel, and will not show mercy: their voice shall roar like the sea, and they shall ride upon horses, every one put in array, like a man to the battle, against thee, O daughter of Babylon. The king of Babylon has heard the report of them, and his hands waxed feeble: anguish took hold of him, and pangs as of a woman in travail. Behold, he shall come up like a lion from the swelling of Jordan to the habitation of the strong: but I will make them suddenly run away from her: and who is a chosen man, that I may appoint over her? for who is like me? and who will appoint me the time? and who is that shepherd that will stand before me? Therefore hear ye the counsel of Jehovah, that he has taken against Babylon; and his purposes, that he has purposed against the land of the Chaldeans: Surely the least of the flock shall draw them out: surely he shall make their habitation desolate with them. At the noise of the taking of Babylon the earth is moved, and the cry is heard among the nations." (Ver. 33-46.) The allusion to the manner of Babylon's fall in the beginning of verse 38 is as plain as Isaiah's in Isaiah 44:27; yet each preserves his own characteristic style though both refer to the same remarkable fact which was yet to be accomplished. The picture of the king's anguish, in verse 43, may be compared with the description in Isaiah 21, and with the history in Daniel 5.

Then the Spirit of prophecy addresses Babylon in a minutely graphic enumeration of the ways in which she had been employed of God before her fall. "Thou [not "art" but] wast my battle axe, weapons of war: with thee I have broken nations in pieces; and with thee I have destroyed kingdoms. And with thee I have broken in pieces the horse and his rider; and with thee I have broken in pieces the chariot and its rider; and with thee I have broken in pieces the husband and the wife; and with thee I have broken in pieces the aged and the young; and with thee I have broken in pieces the youth and the maid. And with thee I have broken in pieces the shepherd and his flock; and with thee I have broken in pieces the ploughman and his team; and with thee I have broken in pieces the governors and prefects. And I have rendered to Babylon and all the inhabitants of Chaldea all the evil which they have done in Zion in your sight, says Jehovah." But this did not hinder His vengeance now. "Behold, I am against thee, O destroying mountain, says Jehovah, 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. And they shall not take of thee a stone for a corner, nor a stone for foundations; but thou shalt be desolate for ever, says Jehovah." (Ver. 25, 26.) The Medes would be joined by the nations in Asia Minor or the neighbourhood. "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 caterpillars. 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." (Ver. 27, 28.) Jehovah's purpose was fixed and sure. Babylon must be reduced to a desolation without an inhabitant. The circumstances of its fall next portrayed confirms this. "And the land shall tremble and sorrow: for every purpose of Jehovah shall be performed against Babylon, to make the land of Babylon a desolation without an inhabitant. The mighty men of Babylon have forborne to fight, they have remained in their holds: their might has failed; they became as women: they have burned her dwelling-places; 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 at one end, and that the passages are stopped, and the reeds they have burned with fire, and the men of war are affrighted. For thus says Jehovah 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." (Ver. 29-33.)

It was to be declared “among the nations” of which Babylon was mistress that she and her idols are confounded and broken in pieces (Jer. 50:1-3). Israel and Judah then seek the Lord their God. Their face is turned Zion-wards: to the One who is their only hope they are seen going and weeping as they go (vv. 4-8), The provisional centre of government is overthrown; the proper centre is established when Christ returns and Israel returns to Him who is so strikingly styled here, “The Lord, the habitation of righteousness, even the Lord, the Hope of their fathers,” against whom they had sinned. It is not simply a nation, but an assembly of great nations which destroy Babylon: so in Revelation 17:16. The holy character of this judgment is to be known in Zion, for 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, and to deliver His people and give them rest. The earth is moved at the fall of Babylon and the cry is heard among the nations (vv. 33-46). All this goes beyond the past overthrow of Babylon.

Verses 6 and 7 emphasize how apposite are God's judgments. They fit the case exactly. The same thing may be noticed in the enactments of the law of Moses, which brought upon the offender the very penalty he had inflicted on another, and relieved the offended party. Babylon is to get her exact "double" or equivalent, and her torment and sorrow is to be the counterpart of her previous self-glorification and luxury.

It is the Apostle of grace who writes: "Be not deceived, God is not mocked; whatsoever a man soweth that shall he also reap" (Gal. 6:7), and again: "He which soweth sparingly shall reap also sparingly; and he which soweth bountifully shall reap also bountifully" (2 Cor. 9:6). And even of human government he says: "Rulers are not a terror to good works, but to the evil. Wilt thou then not be afraid of the power, do that which is good and thou shalt have praise of the same: for he is a minister of God to thee for good. But if thou doest evil, be afraid, for he beareth not the sword in vain: for he is a minister of God, a revenger to execute wrath upon him that doeth evil." (Rom. 13:3-4.) Strange as this sounds in the face of the cruelties of rulers to God's people, there must be profound truth in it. "Behold, the righteous shall be recompensed on the earth: much more the wicked and the sinner." (Prov. 11:31.) "Say ye to the righteous, that it shall be well with him; for they shall eat the fruit of their doings. Woe unto the wicked, it shall be ill with him, for the reward of his hands shall be given him." (Isaiah 3:10-11.)

The important point is, then, not the order of events, but the great fact that Christ is coming, and that when He does come, He "will render to every man according to his deeds." (Rom. 2:6.) This is the invariable principle of God's righteous dealings, and is in no respect weakened by grace. Grace, it is true, lays our sins on another as our substitute, and credits us with the good deeds wrought in us by God's own power; but this confirms the principle instead of contradicting it. If an upright man winds up his affairs, he collects what is due to him, and pays what he owes. Nor is the justice of this course affected by the fact that certain debts have been remitted, or certain obligations incurred, out of kindness. So God's righteous judgment according to works is in no way impaired by the fact that the believer's sins have been put away, and the believer's righteousnesses have been wrought, by his own grace.