Jeremiah 50:17-28.  For the next several days we will be continuing to look at Jeremiah’s message to the nation of Babylon. Yesterday’s part of the message focused on the refugees from Judah who should take advantage of the coming opportunity to return to the lad promised to their forefathers, a land where God would ultimately fulfill his promise to be there king forever. We also saw the Babylonians were arrogant or prideful about their conquest of the Israelites and that would be part of the reason for their destruction. We also saw the destruction of their false gods and the fact that everyone is responsible to the one true God, Yahweh. Finally we want to keep in mind that their message was addressed to the nations, think of it as a group text to the whole world.

So Bible scholars include verse 17 with verses 1-16 while some translations have it as the beginning of a new paragraph. In a way it fits in both places. Verse 11 tells us that because the Babylonians gloated over the destruction of Judah that they were going to suffer their own destruction. Verse 17 returns to the destruction of the Israel so it is sort of a link between the two sections. In verse 17 two nations are mentioned with respect to the destruction of Israel, Assyria and Babylon. Both are compared to lions who have invaded a flock of sheep, scattering the sheep. In 722 BC the Assyrian Empire conquered the northern ten tribes of Israel who had formed a kingdom usually referred to as Israel. Assyrian policy was to scatter a conquered people through out their empire. In that way they could “water down” any ethnic or national loyalties. As we have seen in Jeremiah the Babylonians had a different tactic. When Babylon conquered Judah and Jerusalem they transplanted the whole population (or at least most of it) as a group to a new region, in the case of Judah to an area very near the capital of Babylon. As I mentioned in an earlier post people in the Ancient Near East though that gods were powerful allies of the people (if the people were faithful to them) and that gods were local, only powerful in a certain area. Even though the people of Judah were left together they would have no power since their god was far away. So in a sense both groups were “scattered” since they were (in theory) separated from their god.

In verse 18 Yahweh (LORD) makes it clear that the “theory” is flawed. Yahweh was the personal name that God used to identify himself when he first appeared to Moses. It was the personal name of the God of the Israelite people (the descendants of Jacob or Israel). In this verse Yahweh makes it clear that he is the God of Israel. But he also links his name with the word “hosts”. The word really means “armies”. As we have seen in Jeremiah, God has been able to use different armies of the world to accomplish what he wants done, including the Babylonian army. But God has an army of his own made up of angelic beings, and the Bible makes it clear that this army is much stronger than any human army. The verse ends with a promise to whoever might be reading the book, just as the Assyrian Empire was defeated God would also make sure that the Babylonian Empire would be too. So Yahweh’s power is not limited to the land of Israel, he truly is the God of the whole earth.

In verse 19 God continues to show his power and concern for the Israelite people. Still using the idea of a flock of sheep God tells us that he will bring the Israelite people back to the land where they will find peace and satisfaction. It is interesting that the four area mentioned in verse 19 are all north of Judah. This does not mean that Judah as a group of people or as a territory will not be included, the territory around Judah was much dried and not really great pasture land, the areas mentioned are much better pasture land and so God uses them to indicate that the people of Israel will be taken good care of.

The days and time referred to in verse 20 probably are not the exact time of the destruction of Babylon. In fact the description of the destruction of Babylon (as a city) was not actually fulfilled when the Persians took over the Babylonian Empire. The Persians were taken over by the Greeks and eventually the Greeks were conquered by the Romans. The city of Babylon basically fell apart over the next 200 years during this time. An interesting fact about Biblical prophecy (at least the predictive part) is that it often finds fulfillment over a long span of time, or sometimes a particular prophecy is fulfilled a couple of different times. If you have ever been somewhere near a mountain range it looks like several peaks are together or near each other but when you get in the mountains you realize that they are separated by many miles some in the front and others behind them and still more further back yet.   Some scholars think that some of the events of history that prophets “saw” were like that, they saw the peaks and not the miles of time between the events. Whatever Jeremiah saw exactly and when the various parts happened we know that the once magnificent city of Babylon (the Greeks called it one of the seven wonders of their world) is no more.

So the days in verse 20 probably don’t refer to the time of Cyrus’ conquest or even the 200 years after that. Some Bible experts think that the “those days” in verse 20 refer to the time when the promise coming son of David, the Messiah or Christ, new King of Israel, actually takes over. This fits well with other prophecies in the Old Testament. Verse 20 also tells us that the sins (rebellious and disobedient actions toward Yahweh) of Judah and Israel will not be found (By mentioning both the Northern and Southern Kingdoms, Israel and Judah, Jeremiah confirms the idea that this is not just about the exiles returning from exile, though that may have been a partial fulfillment of the prediction). The fact thqt their sins are not found is not because the people have miraculously become completely obedient, verse 20 tells us it is because God has pardoned the people, he has forgiven their disobedience and rebellion. God doesn’t just forget about sin or overlooks. In Exodus 34:6-7 we are told that God is loving, patient, compassionate, gracious and forgiving but he will not leave the guilty unpunished. The answer to this dilemma is Jesus. Isaiah 53:6 tells us that God causes the sins of all of us to fall on the Messiah (a word that is translated as Christ in the New Testament). Romans 6:23 and 1 John 2:2 tell us that it was Jesus who took our sins upon himself. His death on the cross and separation from God the Father fulfilled the punishment we all deserved and allowed God to forgive as many as accept Jesus’ sacrifice.

Verses 21-27 describe the overthrow of Babylon. In verse 21 Babylon is described using two places, Merathaim and Pekod. Merathaim was a region near where the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers meet. Pekod is actually the name of a people group that was part of the Empire. Evidently there was an area where they lived also called Pekod. Jeremiah probably used these two areas to represent Babylon because of the meaning of the names (see “What’s in a Name”) The word Merathaim comes from the word for “bitter”. Most translaters say it means “doubly rebellion” but literally it is “double bitter”. I guess the idea is that often anger and bitterness are part of rebellion. Pekod means to gather together, count, visit, or punish. Jeremiah is probably making the point that the Babylonians who had once gathered Israelites and perhaps had made their lives doubly bitter would be gathered together and suffer for their extreme rebellion.

Nebuchadnezzar died in 562 BC and was succeeded by his son. The son was murdered two years later by his brother-in-law, Nergal-sharezer, who ruled for four years from 560-556 BC.  Nergal-sharezer’s son succeded his father in 556 BC but was murdered by a group that included Nabonidus. Nabonidus was king from 556-539 BC. The last seven years of his reign Nabonidus shared with his son, Belshazzar. In Daniel 5 we learn of a feast that Belshazzar had while his city was besieged by the Persian army. During the feast Belshazzar showed great disrespect for Yahweh by using items taken from the temple by his grandfather Nebuchadnezzar for his own feast. Belshazzar received a miraculous message directly from God (a disembodied hand appeared during the feast and wrote the message on one of the walls) that he would lose his kingdom. That same night the Persians took the city without a struggle, the people of the city welcomed the invaders. The Babylonian Empire was no more.

It is interesting that in Daniel chapter 5 Daniel reminds Belshazzar of a story about his grand-father Nebuchadnezzar. We can read the story in Daniel 4. In the story Nebuchadnezzar had become very proud of the great kingdom he had built. He had a dream about a great tree being chopped down and kept from re-growing for a time. Daniel interpreted the dream for Nebuchadnezzar and told him it meant that because he was not giving God the credit that he would lose his kingdom for a time and live like a wild beast. The vision came true and Nebuchadnezzar did live that way for seven years. At the end of the seven years he admitted that he had been prideful and arrogant and gave God the credit for his great power. Even though Belshazzar was aware of the event in his grandfathers life Belshazzar also praised himself as a great king and leader. I wonder if this was the “double rebellion” God had in mind when he had Jeremiah use “Merathaim” to represent Babylon.

Verses 22-23 relate a noisy battle and talk about great destruction. Most Bible scholars like to point out that the conquest of Babylon came without much fight, and that is true about that night when Belshazzar was overthrown but there certainly was fighting before. Also as we have seen the city was not destroyed at that time and these verses may be referring to later battles involving Persians and Greeks or Greeks and Romans.

Verse 24 certainly seems to match what happened to Belshazzar who was overthrown while he was drunk and partying. And notice the reason given in verse 24, “Because you have contended against Yahweh (LORD)”. That certainly matches the story in Daniel 5.

The rest of the verses continue to describe the destruction of the Babylonian or Chaldean Empire. Noting is left of the empire in terms of being under Chaldean control. The young bulls in verse 27 probably refer to soldiers and although there was no fighting in the conquest of the city that does not mean that soldiers were not captured and executed nor that there was not fighting leading up to the invasion of the city. The main thing we wqnt to see in verses 21-27 though, is that God (actually LORD, Yahweh) is active in this conquest and it is because the Babylonians have not honored him. In verse 28 we see refugees who have fled Babylon back in Jerusalem (Zion) they have brought a message back to the inhabitants of Jerusalem, “Yahweh has avenged the destruction of His Temple.”

I frequently see a bumper sticker on cars that says, “Why cant we all get along.” There is another one that says, “Coexist”, with the letters of the world made up of various religious symbols. These people want peace on earth and they think that “religion” is the problem. They view the different ways of thinking about god, and even god himself, as something we have made up. In their view we should all give up our views about god and live in peace. What they fail to understand is that God (Yahweh, the real creator God of the universe) is not something that we made up. Nebuchadnezzar tired to cut God out of his world and put himself in God’s place and he soon learned the truth. Belshazzar didn’t learn the lesson from his grandfather and suffer the consequences too. The reality is we live in a universe created by an all powerful being. According to Paul in Romans 1:19-20 we all know this truth, but like Nebuchadnezzar and Belshazzar we choose to ignore it and like Nebuchadnezzar when we become fools (Romans 1:21-25). God is gracious to us like he was to Nebuchadnezzar and if we will admit to his existence and submit or commit our lives to living for him he will allow us to return to him and have a relationship with him forever. Unfortunately many people will not respond to the truth and continue to live lives based on lies and a false reality. The result is there will be conflict. To make things worse the false ideas are not just static there is an demonic activity behind many if not all of the false ideas about God. Satan wants people to believe anything but the truth. Paul told the believer in Ephesus that our struggle isn’t against flesh and blood but against the rulers and powers and world forces of darkness, against spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavenly realm (Galatians 6:12). In Galatians 6:11 he identifies the very real being, Satan, as the mastermind of this struggle. Peace is good, Jesus told us that those who would make peace are “blessed”.   But for mankind to be at peace with each other we need to be at peace with God, not the individual gods we have invented but the one true God, Yahweh. Living in peace with each other and with Himself is what God made us for. Make peace with God through Jesus, find peace with God by honoring him with you life each day, and spread peace in the world by helping others see and make peace with the one true God, Yahweh. The angles declared at the birth of Jesus that God was pleased to offer peace to mankind. The truth about God and Jesus are the only way to get along. Share the good news about Jesus today.

God we live in a messed up world. It is filled with death and destruction but it is death and destruction that we have brought upon ourselves. You are the solution to all of the evil. We need help and you offer it through you Holy Spirit. But first we need to get right through Jesus. Thank you for forgiveness. Thank you for the helper the Holy Spirit. Help many people turn to you like Nebuchadnezzar did. Help us learn the lesson from history that giving ourselves to you is the answer. Thank you for your patience, you suffer too when you see our evil. Help us, you followers, share your love with others and lead them in a place of eternal peace and rest.

Jeremiah 50:1-16. In Jeremiah 1:4 Jeremiah was informed by Yahweh (the personal name of the one true God) that he was made by God to be a prophet (think messenger) to “the nations”. Jeremiah was a Jew and most of his messages (at least the ones that were written down and saved) were to the people of Judah. Here at the end of his book though are several messages specifically to non-Jewish nations. We have already looked at several and, beginning in chapter 50, we come to the last and longest message. This message goes through chapter 51 and makes up 110 verses in English translations of the Bible (For the most part the Bible was not divided into chapters and verses when it was written. Those divisions were added later to help study and reference the Bible. Our modern chapter divisions were developed in the early 1200’s AD and the verse numbering was added in the mid 1400’s AD). This last message to the nations is to the nation of Babylon. If you have been reading you probably remember that Babylon was the major “foe” in the book of Jeremiah. It was the Babylonian king Nebuchadnezzar who conquered the last part of the old Israelite nation, the kingdom of Judah, and took the remaining Jews captive to Babylon. Although Babylon appears as the bad guy in the story we want to remember that God was using the actions of Nebuchadnezzar to punish the Jewish people for centuries of disobedience and rebellion (sin). As we will see in this last message, however, that did not let the Babylonians off the hook for their own bad actions. God is the God of the whole universe and no one is exempt from honoring him.

Although there are minor differences the terms Babylonians and Chaldeans are used almost synonymously. Babylon is a place and Babylonians are the people from that place. Chaldeans were a tribe, family, or people group who lived in various places in the Middle East. In the time of Jeremiah the Chaldeans had taken control of Babylon and from there conquered most of the Middle East.

In verse 1 we are told that Yahweh (LORD) is the source of this message. In verse 2 we see that this message is to the “nations”. Jeremiah also uses the word “nace” to describe the message. We translate the word as “standard”, the meaning is something like flag or banner. Think of one of those inflatable animals or wiggly clown things that businesses use to get you attention and advertise a sale of some sort. Verse 2 tells us what Jeremiah is “advertising”: Babylon will be captured, Bel will be put to shame, Marduk will be shattered. Bel and Marduk were two of the Babylonian’s false gods or idols. In fact all of their false gods will be put to shame or shattered. What Jeremiah is advertising here is that everyone is responsible toward God. In verse 3 we are told that Babylon will be overthrown by another nation from the north. If you remember all the predictions of the fall of Jerusalem the invader, Babylon, always came from the north. Even though Babylon is east of Judah the road from Babylon to Judah went north and then returned south. Babylon would eventually be overthrown by the Persians (ancient inhabitants of Iran). Iran is east of Babylon but at that time the Persians king Cyrus also ruled the Medes, a people who lived to the north of the Babylonian empire. The words in verse 3 can be taken literally literally then since Cyrus’ kingdom did extend north of Babylon and it is also possible that the attack came from the north. We may also see that the idea of the attack on Babylon as coming from the north as a parallel to the attacks by Babylon on Jerusalem from the north. The parallel would be used to show a sort of irony in the overthrow of Babylon; a sort of payback.

Verses 4-5 describe one of the effects of the fall of Babylon, the Jewish people would look for Yahweh their God and ask how they could get back to Zion, another name for Jerusalem and the hill on which the Temple of God had existed (remember that the Babylonian army destroyed the temple). We also see that they actually will return to Jerusalem where they will enter into an everlasting “contract” (covenant) with Yahweh that will never be broken. This probably refers to the old promises made to Abraham and his descendants through Jacob (Israel), God keeps his promises.

Verses 6-16 are God’s personal description of the situation. In verse 6 God tells us that “his” people are like lost sheep. These sheep are lost because their shepherds (the religious leaders of Jeremiah’s time) had misled them and encouraged them to worship false gods (the idea of turning aside on the mountains probably refers to the use of hills as places to set up monuments to false gods). Because of the fake religion they had been encourage to follow they had forgotten the true resting place, probably referring to the Temple and ultimately peace with God that would come (see “The Old Testament Connection” for the connection between the Old Testament religious system and a restored relationship with God. See also Psalm 23 for a cool use of the sheep/shepherd example and the idea of rest). In verse 7 God tells us that the people who have taken the Jews captive (the Babylonians) flet that the Jews deserved to be conquered because they had defected from Yahweh, their God and the God of their fathers. It is interesting that the enemies recognized that Yahweh (LORD) was the place where righteousness (correct living in God’s eyes) lived. That is an extraordinary thing for any group to think about another groups god, of course it was true since Yahweh is the one true God. In verse 8 God tells his people to follow their desire to get back to “Zion”, they needed to flee from Babylon since an invasion of that place was coming (verse 9). In verses 10 God confirms that Chaldea or Babylon will become plunder for the invaders.

In verses 11-16 Babylon is warned that she will be overthrown because of her pride in conquering the Jewish people. In verse 13 the destruction is described as so complete that those who see it will be horrified. In verse 14 God calls the attackers to show no mercy because Babylon has disobeyed and dishonored God. In verse 15 we see that Babylon’s punishment is fair, she is getting what she gave. In verse 16 we see that the battle would interrupt the farmers from doing their job, Babylon would be in such a mess it would also be a good time for the foreigners there (think of the Jewish captives) to return to their original lands.

It is important to understand that God has standards and if we violate those standards we deserve to be punished. In this case the Babylonians had taken the Jewish people out of the land, something that needed to happen since the Jewish people had defected from God and were not obeying him. But the Babylonians also recognized that Yahweh was a true God and had standards (remember verse 7 they called him the place where true actions lived). Yet they also did not honor God’s rules and standards. Now Jeremaih is holding up the rule book and crying “foul”. And the actons of the Babylonians for the past several decades had evidently been a “gross personal foul” that deserved being kicked out of the game. They would experience the same sort of bad behavior that they had shown toward others and they would be removed from their own land, forever.

We all have shown disrespect for God and broken his rules (Romans 3:23). We all deserve to be “kicked out of the game” (Romans 6:23, the idea behind the word death is the idea of separation, in this case eternal separation from God). But God is offering a free pass back into the game, we can have a restored relationship with God because Jesus suffered the separation for us. As the eternal God-man his death was “big” enough to pay for all people an eternal (think infinite) price (Romans 6:23, John 3:16). What ewe need to do is accept the offer (John 1:12) and then let the Holy Spirit help us honor God now and in eternity.

God thank you for not leaving me expelled from the game. Thank you for offering me a place in your eternity, in your forever family, at your table, in your home. Help me honor you each day and show gratitude for your great love and patience. Help me show other the way back too.