Jeremias 50:41-46

10. NON TU, SED TIBI

Jeremiah 50:41-46

41          Behold, a people cometh from the north,

And a great host and many kings break up from the ends of the earth.

42     Bow and lance they bear,

Cruel are they33 and without compassion.

Their sound roareth like the sea,And on horses they ride equipped like a man for the battleAgainst thee, thou daughter of Babylon.

43     The king of Babylon hath heard the report of them,

And his hands are feeble;Anguish hath seized him, trembling as a parturient.

44     Behold, like a lion he ascends

From the pride of Jordan to the evergreen pasturage,For in a twinkling I drive her34 from thence,

And—who is chosen? Him I set over her.For who is like me, and who will order me?And who is the shepherd who may stand before me?

45     Therefore hear the counsel of Jehovah that he hath counselled against Babylon,

And his thoughts which he hath thought against the land of the Chaldeans:Yea, they will be dragged away, the weak little sheep,Yea, the pasturage will be amazed concerning them.

46     With the cry, “Babylon is taken,” the earth trembles,

And a crying is heard35 among the nations.

EXEGETICAL AND CRITICAL

This entire passage consists of quotations, Jeremiah 50:41-43 being taken from Jeremiah 6:22-24, Jeremiah 50:44-46 from Jeremiah 49:19-21. As the prophet has already repeatedly designated the enemy as one coming from the north, it was natural to apply the former prophecy of the enemy threatening Judah from the north to Babylon, and it must also be admitted that the prophet would find it appropriate to transfer the prophecy of the chosen instrument for the destruction of Edom (Jeremiah 49:19-21) to the similarly chosen instrument of the destruction of Babylon. Although thus the quotations here are accumulated to a degree greater than heretofore, I am yet convinced (contrary to my former view in Der proph. Jer. u. Bab., S. 128 ff.) that the passage is genuine and original. The idea of the unity of God’s judgments and of just recompense was to be represented here. This would receive no detriment, even if every single feature of the former prophecies did not seem adapted to be applied to Babylon. This, however, is not the case, for we find in the text such modifications as the application to Babylon required; daughter of Babylon, Jeremiah 50:42; King of Babylon, Jeremiah 50:43; against Babylon and the land of the Chaldeans, Jeremiah 50:45; Babylon is taken, Jeremiah 50:46; among the nations, for, in the Red Sea, Jeremiah 50:46. What is not altered is not then opposed, according to the author’s judgment, to its application to Babylon. The figure in Jeremiah 50:44 a is therefore not inappropriate. The pride of Jordan and evergreen pasturage belong to the picture. The lion, which, from the reed-thickets on the Jordan, falls upon the flocks feeding near the bank (comp. rems. on Jeremiah 49:19), is a figure which may be applied to any case of overpowering hostile attack. Likewise the description of the northern people (Jeremiah 6:23) is by no means so special that it may not be applied to any people advancing with warlike impetuosity. Moreover, Jeremiah, when he wrote Jeremiah 6:22-24, neither had the Chaldeans specially in view, nor are they so very different from their neighbors, the Medes.

The addition and many kings in Jeremiah 50:41 is thus explained, that in the conception of the prophet the picture was present of a host of enemies, composed of many different elements (comp. Jeremiah 51:27-28).

Footnotes:

Jeremiah 50:42; Jeremiah 50:42.—אכזרי המה. Comp. Naegelsb. Gr., §105, 4, b, 2.

Jeremiah 50:44; Jeremiah 50:44.—ארוצם is probably only a mistake, and is therefore to be read with the Keri אֲרִיצֵמ (comp. אֲרִיצֶנּוּ Jeremiah 49:19).

Jeremiah 50:46; Jeremiah 50:46.—נשׁמע is occasioned by Jeremiah 49:21, and moreover comp. Naegelsb. Gr., § 60, 4.