Jeremiah 50:1

JEREMIAH 50

PROPHECY AGAINST BABYLON

Here we have a collection of prophecies against Babylon and also many references to the deliverance of Israel from captivity. The chapter cannot be outlined. True to the pattern throughout Jeremiah, and also applicable to the whole book itself, it appears to be a somewhat haphazard collection of many prophecies including not only many which were previously spoken through Jeremiah, but also including a number of prophecies given through other prophets, notably Isaiah.

NO VALID CRITICISM

Of course, there have been assaults upon the integrity of the chapter as belonging to Jeremiah, and futile efforts to late-date it, but none of these actually has any importance. The "inherent weakness"[1] of such criticism, mentioned by Payne Smith, lies in the simple fact that there is no factual, physical, or textual evidence whatever behind any of them.

"This prophecy (both Jeremiah 50 and Jeremiah 51) contains nothing which Jeremiah could not have written in the fourth year of Zedekiah,"[2] this being the true date of both chapters, as given in Jeremiah 51:59. The subjective guesses and imaginations of men have no substantive weight at all against the plain Word of God. See the writings of C.F. Keil, in which many pages are devoted to a definitive refutation of critical denials regarding this long prophecy.

What some consider the strongest argument against Jeremiahic authorship is the assertion that Jeremiah's writings in early chapters manifest "friendliness" to Babylon, whereas, these two chapters reveal the wrath of God poured out against Babylon. This argument is false, because, "The germ of these two chapters is found in Jeremiah 25:12,26, where God's punishment of Babylon, and his making them an everlasting desolation is categorically stated."[3] In fact, both these chapters together are but an expansion of the thought given there.

All of the "hubba-hubba" about portions of Jeremiah being partly in poetry and partly in prose is absolutely useless. He was the author of both, just as Sir Walter Scott wrote both the Waverley Tales in prose and some of the best poetry in the English language. Cawley and Millard commented on all the criticisms thus: "The (alleged) reasons for rejecting the prophecy as an authentic prophecy of Jeremiah are not conclusive."[4]

This writer has not discovered any reason whatever for allowing any doubt as to the date and authenticity of this extended prophecy. The destruction of the temple and the exile of Israel are predicted in this chapter; and the allegation that those events are "spoken of as past events" is simply an unsupported error invented to support the critical falsehood that predictive prophecy is impossible.

Furthermore, Jeremiah is clearly stated to be the author of this prophecy (Jeremiah 51:60).

With regard to the alleged "literary evidence," based upon similarities of language, Cheyne remarked that, "The number of parallel passages between Jeremiah 51 and Jeremiah 52 and the other writings of Jeremiah is very large, and they agree with no one more than with Jeremiah."[5]

There are actually two themes in these chapters, "The fall of Babylon, and the return of the Jews from exile." a The same author also tells us that the critics who think of Jeremiah as pro-Babylonian, "misunderstand him."[7] Jeremiah did indeed urge the people to submit to Babylon, because it was his duty so to do. He was never pro-Chaldean, for he loved Israel with an undying love; and the same God who had commanded Jeremiah to advise submission earlier, has in these chapters commanded him to reveal the ultimate destruction of Babylon.

Jeremiah 50:1-5

"The word that Jehovah spake concerning Babylon, concerning the land of the Chaldeans, by Jeremiah the prophet. Declare ye among the nations and publish, and set up a standard; publish, and conceal not: say, Babylon is taken, Bel is put to shame, Merodach is dismayed; her images are put to shame, her idols are dismayed. For out of the north a nation cometh up against her, which shall make her land desolate, and none shall dwell therein: they are fled, they are gone, both man and beast. In those days, and in that time, saith Jehovah, the children of Israel shall come, they and the children of Judah together; they shall go on their way weeping, and shall seek Jehovah their God. They shall inquire concerning Zion with their faces thitherward, saying, Come ye, and join yourselves to Jehovah in an everlasting covenant that shall not be forgotten."

"Babylon is taken ..." (Jeremiah 50:2). This seemed an impossible prophecy in the fourth year of Zedekiah, because, at that time, Babylon dominated the whole known world. Yet God announced her destruction.

"Bel is put to shame, Merodach is dismayed ..." (Jeremiah 50:2). "Merodach in the inscriptions was the tutelary god of Babylon; and Nebuchadnezzar named a son Evil-Merodach, indicating that Nebuchadnezzar was especially devoted to that god. Merodach was actually identical with Bel. He was identified with Jupiter among the planets, and he was styled, `King of heaven and earth.'"[8]

"Her idols are dismayed ..." (Jeremiah 50:2). The word for idols in the Hebrew literally means "dung balls."[9] This word was a favorite of Ezekiel who used it 38 times in speaking of pagan idols. The word is also used in Leviticus 26:30.

"Out of the north there cometh up a nation against her ..." (Jeremiah 50:3). We remember that Babylon herself was the country "out of the north" that came against Israel. In the fall of Babylon, this was literally true, because the Medes were northwest of Babylon;[10] and Cyrus captured the city, according to Herodotus, by diverting the Euphrates out of its channel, a diversion that took place up-stream from Babylon, which was northward.

"A mystery in the Hebrew mind attached to the north, the very word `north' in Hebrew meaning `hidden.' The burnt offering was to be sacrificed on the north side of the altar (Leviticus 1:11); and the four cherubim in the vision of Ezekiel were described as coming from the north (Ezekiel 1:4)."[11] In the prophecies, therefore, the mention of unknown future dangers might have referred also to the mysterious and hidden nature of the revelation.

"In those days ..." (Jeremiah 50:4). "These words show that the capture of Babylon, spoken of in Jeremiah 50:2 as a past event, is still future, and that the words there are the prophetic perfects."[12]

"Thitherward ..." (Jeremiah 50:5). "These words show that the writer of this prophecy was in Jerusalem, not Babylon."[13]