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.