Jeremiah 51:45-58.  Two more days and we are done with the warnings and message to and about Babylon. Today’s reading contains a lot of stuff that is similar to things we have already read. First we find God calling the Jewish people to leave Babylon. Yahweh doesn’t want them there when the city is taken. It’s kind of interesting since the city itself was taken fairly peacefully by Cyrus’ army. And the real opportunity to return to Judah and Jerusalem didn’t come until Cyrus gave the Jewish people permission to return. In 538 BC Cyrus issued a proclamation that the Jewish people should return to Jerusalem and rebuild the temple. Over 42000 people returned at that time but that was not all of the Jewish people living in exile. Eighty years later there was a second return with a guy named Ezra in 458 BC and a third group returned in 444 BC. In the story of Esther we know that enough Jewish people were living scattered through out the Persian Empire to kill 75,000 of their neighbors who attacked them and tried to take their possessions. It is likely that many of these Jewish people had become comfortable where they were living and were not interested in returning to Jerusalem and Judah. Certainly many of them stayed on in the city of Babylon after it was conquered by Cyrus and his Medo-Persian Army

The fear of destruction that God talks about in verse 46 certainly applied to those in captivity before Cyrus conquest. And remember that they all didn’t live in the town of Babylon. Although the city itself was taken fairly quietly there were battles in the outlying area that would have see plenty of death and destruction. Of course these people did not have an opportunity to leave, yet. The warnings would also would apply to those that remained in Babylon after 538 BC. Verse 46 tells us that this was not all coming at once, the reports of invasion would come some in one year and other reports in another.

The fact that there would be many different rulers seems to fit the end of the Babylonian empirte better than the beginning of the Medo-Persian Empire. Nebuchadnezzar died in 562 BC and was succeeded by his son Amel-marduk (Evil-merodach, Jeremiah 52:31-34, 2 Kings 25:27-30). After two years as king he was murdered by his brother-in-law, Neriglissar (Nergal-shar-usur or Nergal-sharezer, Jeremiah 39:3,13). Nergal was succeeded by his son Labashi-marduk in 556 BC. Nabonidus assassinated Labashi a few months later and took control of the empire. He ruled for seventeen years but shared control with his son Belshazzar near the end. Then came Cyrus and a line of kings who ruled the new Medo-Persian Empire. Theses kings tended to reign for longer periods, the first five kings of the empire ruled over a period of 113 years. About 330 BC the empire was conquered by the Greeks who had given the Persians trouble for over 100 years (In the book of Esther, Artaxerxes the king of Persia, attacks the Greeks in an attempt to avenge their defeat of his father several years earlier). Most of the action with respect to these changes in leadership and conquests by other empires tended to be in areas other than Judah. Egypt was involved in some of the battles as was Syria and even one of the coastal towns, Tyre, but Judah and Jerusalem missed out on most of the action. It is clear that returning home would be the more peaceful choice for the Jewish people. From the books of Ezra and Nehemiah we do know that there were challenges there too but not nearly as great as other areas of the empire.

In verses 47-48 we see a focus on the “idols” of Babylon being put to shame. It is interesting that “heaven and Earth” will both be glad when Babylon is destroyed. Certainly the inhabitants of Heaven (angles) are fans of Yahweh, the one true God, and we can expect any victory for God to be cheered on by them. The people on earth probably were excited because of the political freedom they thought they were getting but as we have seen the real issue was the bad spiritual influence that was broken when Babylon was destgroyed. We see also that Yahweh (LORD) is giving his word that this destruction is coming.

In verses 49 we see the fairness of God. Babylon will be destroyed because she was a destroyer. In particular Babylon had killed many Jews. IN verse 50 “those who had escaped the sword” is a way of referring to Jews living in exile in Babylon, the city and other parts of the empire. They are far from Jerusalem (physically) and Yahweh (spiritually or emotionally) and need to remember both. Instead of faithful Jewish people living in Jerusalem and honoring Yahweh there the city is filled with strangers using the temple ruins to honor their false gods.

In verses 52-53 we see that this issue of idols is a big deal. The word translated “wounded” in verse 52 is interesting because it is related to a word that means polluted or unholy. These polluted people are wounded in the worst possible way, spiritually. They are groaning because the object of their worship are being judged. Verse 53 probably contains a slight hint at another problem that Babylon was had, pride. In Genesis 11 we see Babel (Babylon) as the place where mankind decided they would climb up to Heaven on their own. They were going to build a tower to God. In verse 53 there is a hint at that tower and Yahweh (LORD) tells the readers that he is sending a destroyer there.   The big picture here is us either denying God or denying that we cannot fix the broken relationship we have with God on our own. Both of these things keep us separated from God. God hates the idea of us being separe=ted from him because he loves us.

Verses 54-58 repeat a lot of the things we have seen in previous posts. We need to see that the destruction is from Yahweh (LORD). In verse 58 we see all of the hard work that people put into the building up of Babylon was for nothing. It is interesting that Babylon reappears in the Bible in the book of Revelation. During a time called the tribulation or “time of Jacobs’ trouble” Satan is going to have very open access to the world and mankind. The Bible talks about a time when a certain representative of Satan, called the Man of Lawlessness, will be unrestrained on the earth (2 Thessalonians 2:3-7). The book of Revelation describes the rise of a unified world empire. The name Babylon is applied to this new empire. There are a lot of people making a lot of effort right now in our world to unify the world under one government. These people think that “nations” are the source of the problem, we fight because we think in terms of the countries we are from. In the end their efforts will be useless because fights and quarrels come from within us (James 4:1). Our desire for pleasure, praise, and power make us fight. The solution is to allow God to heal our broken souls from within. All this trying to build ourselves up will come to nothing and leave us exhausted.

Jesus said come to me all you who are weary and weighed down and I will give you rest. Take my yoke (the thing oxen are tied to to pull wagons or plows) upon you and learn from me how to be gentle and humble and you will find rest for your souls. We can keep ignoring God, we can ignore his call to come home, we can keep trying to find peace and goodness on our own and we will suffer and fail. Or we can listen to his call, admit that we need help, and allow Jesus to be our master and savior and we will have peace in the middle of our troubling world and peace that lasts into eternity. That is why God is so hard on false religion, it keeps us separated from him and from all that is good.

God thank you for being serious about saving us. Thank you for saving me. Help us respond to your plan of salvation, help us back home. Thank you for Jesus who makes it all possible.

Jeremiah 51:34-44. A few more days and we will be done with the message/warning to or about Babylon. Remember that Babylon had been the main enemy of the people of Judah. Over a period of almost 20 years Babylon had oppressed the people of Judah and Jerusalem. Then the people of Judah were taken as captive for another 50 years (some of the captives had been in Babylon since the first invasion in 605 BC). We don’t know when Jeremiah wrote these particular words but Babylon had definitely been a problem for the Jewish people. In addition, as we saw yesterday, Babylon had been a bad influence on the world for centuries, so it is fitting that the condemnation and warnings are as long as they are.

One other little fact to remember is that Jeremiah was not one of the captives taken to Babylon, he was one of the people who remained in Jerusalem in 586 when Nebuchadnezzar invaded for the final time. After the governor that Nebuchadnezzar left in control was assassinated, the remaining Jews fled to Egypt, forcing Jeremiah to go with them. In Egypt he warned them that even there Nebuchadnezzar could reach them. In 568 BC Nebuchadnezzar did fight a successful campaign against Egypt. It is uncertain when Jeremiah died but it is pretty certain he didn’t live to see the overthrow of the Babylonian empire (Jeremiah first ministered in 627 BC putting his birth perhaps 16 years earlier around 643 BC. Cyrus conquered Babylon in 539 BC. It seems pretty unlikely that Jeremiah lived to be over 100 years of age.)

Verses 34-35 are sort of a prayer for judgment on Nebuchadnezzar and his kingdom. At the time of the destruction Nebuchadnezzar was dead (562 BC). The king at the time was technically Nabonidus but his son Belshazzar was actually in charge in Babylon. Nebuchadnezzar had been married to a woman named Nitocris. Evidently after his death either Nabonidus’ father or Nabonidus himself married her. This connection may be why Belshazzar is called the son of Nebuchadnezzar in Daniel 5. Of course he might have been a “son” in the sence that he followed in the prideful footsteps of Nebuchadnezzar (though not in in Nebuchadnezzar’s turn back to God). Although Jeremiah may have been using Nebuchadnezzar as a symbol of the evils of Babylon in this “prayer” it seems more likely that the words were written while Nebuchadnezzar was still alive. Some translations use plural pronouns in these two verses but the pronouns are actually singular. The reason they uses plurals in some translations is because Jeremiah is speaking for all the people of Judah in these verses.

In verses 36-40 the LORD (Yahweh, the one true God) answers Jeremiah’s prayer. God says he will stand up for the Jewish people and get vengeance for them. I think it is important that God is the one who presents the evidence because this isn’t some twisted personal revenge thing but a fair look at the actions of Babylon and a fair punishment handed out by God.

Verse 36 also contains what seems to be a prophetic hint at how God was going to overthrow Babylon. Part of the pride of Babylon involved the strength of the city itself. Babylon was surrounded by two walls the outside wall was twelve feet thick and the inner wall was twenty-one feet thick (evidently they used to race chariots next to each other on the top of the inner wall) with twenty-three feet between the walls. There was also a moat surrounding the city. Towers were build every sixty feet along the wall to protect the city from invasion. The city was basically impregnable. One concern for a city under siege was water. The Babylonians had that covered too, the Euphrates River flowed under the wall and through the city providing a consistent source of water. And of course the Babylonians also felt protected by their “gods”. In the end of verse 36 God says he will dry up the sea and the fountains in Babylon. Some Bible experts think the “sea” is a reference to a reservoir that Nitocris built. In Isaiah 18:2, 19:5 the Nile is called a “sea” and the reference here may be to the Euphrates River. That would be very interesting since Cyrus’ general diverted the flow of the Euphrates River in order to use the river bead to gain entrance to the city in 539 BC. According to verse 37 the ultimate end of Babylon would be total destruction and abandonment. Jeremiah wrote these words 20 to 30 years (at least) before the invasion by Cyrus and another 200 years before the total destruction that eventually came to pass. This points out two things. The accuracy of prophets of the one true God and the way prophecy in the Bible compresses time; sometimes events that span decades or centuries are brought together and sound like one event.

Verses 38-39 point out the prideful “we can do it” attitude that Babylon represented. In verse 38 the Babylonians growl and roar like Young lions, like cubs. I think the young and cub parts point out their powerlessness; “all bark and no bite”. Verse 39 takes me back to the conquest in 539 BC. If you read the history in Daniel 5 you will see that Belshazzar was having a part with his powerful buddies while the city and nation were under siege. In this party they even got out the sacred cups that they had taken from the temple in Jerusalem and used them for their drunken party. When God used a totally scary miracle to warn Belshazzar about the destruction coming his way Belshazzar seems to be totally out of it giving Daniel (the prophet who explained God’s message to him) a robe and place of power in his kingdom. Total pride right before a total defeat. In verse 39 we see a drunken party and then death (perpetual sleep). In Daniel 5:30 we are told that that very night Belshazzar was executed and the Medes became rules of the kingdom.

In verse 40 God tells us that he will bring them down like lambs, rams, and goats to be slaughtered. In the life of the Jewish people they were commanded to make certain animal offerings to God. The point of the offerings varied but generally they were there to remind the people of the consequences for sin. From the beginning death, both physical and spiritual, were the consequences for our disobedience and disrespect toward God (remember death in the Bible has the idea of separation). Here in verse 40 we see the Babylonians being their own sacrifices for their consistent rejection of the one true God, Yahweh.

Verses 41-44 get a little deeper into the reasons behind the destruction of Babylon. Jeremiah uses some contrasts from the destruction to make his point. In verse 41 we see that the kingdoms of the world basically worshipped Babylon. With the overthrow of Babylon the nations were horrified. In verses 42-43 God describes the destruction of Babylon using the idea of both a flood and a drought, sometimes authors use contrasting ideas to show how complete something is. A story might say they have everything you need from “A to Z”. In Psalm 103 we are told that God will remove our sins from us as far as the “east is from the west”. Here flood and drought may be used in a similar way to describe complete and total destruction.

Verses 41 and 44 bring home the reasons for this destruction. First in verse 41 we were told that the nations were horrified. We need to remember that God loves people and when people are misled about our broken relationship with him and his solution (Jesus) God takes it very seriously. For centuries Babylon had been a symbol and leader in making mankind think we could get back to God on our own (Nebuchadnezzar rebuilt the original tower from Genesis 11 (but not all the way to heaven)). IN verse 44 God punishes Bel. Bel means “lord” and was a name applied to Marduk the “god” of the Babylonian Empire. Here we see the real lord of the universe making the false god throw up what he has eaten. The second half of the verse gives us a hint about shat that was; the nations that had run to Babylon. The verse ends with the ultimate insult to Bel. Even the wall of Babylon has fallen down. The end of a verse is often reserved for the most important ideas, by ending the verse with a mention of the fallen wall, the wall becomes the focus of the sentence and not Marduk; the god is eclipsed by a pile of rocks.

I like it that God predicted things before they happened that helps me believe in the word that these prophets spoke. I also like it that God uses ironic things in the messages. The city that was the focus of so many people had become a joke to them. God that had devoured was now forced to “throw up” what he had eaten. Even the idea of these massive protective walls destroyed is ironic. The details show me God cares and pays attention and the irony shows that God understands how we think and wants to communicate to us in meaningful ways. Finally I like it that God takes sin seriously, he hate it because it separates us from him.

God thank you for keeping an eye on the world. Thank you for keeping the bad influences in check. We do live in a messed up world, one that we messed up. And there are still plenty of chances to ignore you. Help me never ignore you. Don’t let me be distracted by anything that can come between you and me. Help many people turn to you from the distractions of the world.