Jeremiah 50:41-46. In today’s reading the message of coming destruction to Babylon continues. In verses 41-42 we see a description of a large army that represents a “great nation and many kings”. Babylon was conquered by the Persian Empire whose king was Cyrus the Great. He was king of his empire from 559-530 BC. In the Middle East of that day the major powers were the Lydian Kingdom (the western half of modern day Turkey), the Median Kingdom (the eastern half of modern day Turkey, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Turkmenistan and Iran), Egypt, and The Babylonian Empire (Modern day Syria, Jordan, Israel, Lebanon, Iraq, part of Saudi Arabia, and part of Egypt). Nabonidus (the last king of the Babylonian Empire) felt threatened by Media to his north. It is important to remember that often these empires were made up of conquered kingdoms and that the ruling power would sometimes leave the king of the conquered kingdom in power over his region, as long as he showed obedience and respect (often by giving money) to the ruling empire. In Jeremiah 49:34-39 we saw a message to one of these smaller kingdoms, Elam. Elam was a part of the Babylonian Empire in its southeastern most part just above the Persian Gulf. Elam bordered the Persian (Iranian) part of the Median Empire. After becoming king of Elam Cyrus the Great soon took over part of Persia (Iran) to his east. Since Cyrus had taken part of the Median Empire from Astyages king of Media Nabonidus felt that he would be an asset in keeping the Medes out of Babylon. In less than 10 years Cyrus conquered the entire Median Empire. Nabonidus began to fear the power of his ally and looked to both Lydia and Egypt for help. Cyrus responded by marching his army through the northern part of his territory to Media. In spite of his riches, Croesus king of Media, was no match for Cyrus who showed great tactical wisdom. In the middle of the winter 547-546 BC his camel born troops attacked and capture the Lydian Kingdom. Cyrus now ruled all the way to the Aegean Sea. Nabonidus’ ally was defeated leaving only Egypt as a possible source of help. Over the next few years Cyrus turned his attention east and conquered territory all the way to India taking what is now Iran, Afghanistan and Pakistan, and north into what is modern Kazakhstan. In 539 Cyrus turned his attention to the Babylonian Empire. After fighting a major battle in the northern part of the Babylonian Empire Cyrus marched almost unhindered to Babylon. As we read yesterday one of his generals took the city by diverting the Euphrates River and entering under the great wall around the city. The people were ready for a new leader and Nabonidus’ son was killed by the Persian leader that very night. The eventual fate of Nabonidus is unknown.
The interesting thing for our reading today is that, although the capital of Cyrus’ empire was east of Babylon a good portion of the empire was north of Babylon, and Cyrus attacked from the north. Cyrus’ empire was also made up of many kingdoms and certainly his army consisted of men from these many kingdoms. Cyrus’ empire was the largest that had existed in the world to that date. In verse 41 we are told that a “people” was coming from the north, a great nation and many kings…from the remotest parts of the earth.” Pretty accurate prediction many years before it’s fulfillment. Even more accurate is the prediction made by Isaiah who actually named Cyrus in one of his prophecies more than a century before Cyrus lived (Isaiah 45:1).
In verse 43 we see the reaction of the king of Babylon at the invasion, he is completely upset. This is probably referring to Nabonidus since his son was completely clueless right up until the end. Even after a scary and miraculous warning by God (Daniel 5) he continued to party. I’m sure Nabonidus was distressed since even Egypt refused to help him.
Jeremiah 40:44-46 are very similar to the words of Jeremiah 49:19-21, the message to Edom. One major difference is that the destruction of Edom would only be heard as far as the Red Sea, the destruction of Babylon would be noticed by many nations. It is interesting that the verse makes it sound like the attack came from someone who inhabited the area around the Jordan River. Cyrus neither lived there nor made his campaign (invasion) from there. In Jeremiah 49:19 the lion is actually Yahweh, the one true God. I think that the image is the same here. What we see in verse 44 is Jeremiah’s way of telling us that God is the one in ultimate control, not Egypt, not Nabonidus, not even Cyrus. Verse 45 makes this even more clear when Yahweh (LORD) tells us to hear his plan. Although Babylon fell without much of a fight we don’t want to assume that there was no destruction. Outside of the Bible we only have bits and pieces of the story none of which contradict the information we see here. We need to notice that the words of verse 45 apply to the “land of the Chaldeans” not just the invasion of the city of Babylon, certainly Cyrus’ conquering army took what they wanted and needed as they took control of the Babylonian Empire. Babylon the Great was no more and the whole earth took notice, hopefully they noticed who was really behind the change in power, a change that would lead directly to the Jews being allowed to return to Jerusalem after their 70 year exile. God’s plans will all happen “no shepherd (leader) can stand up to him”.
A couple of things stand out to me in today’s reading. First is the accuracy of predictions in the Bible. They are accurate because they come from the one true God, Yahweh, he knows the end from the beginning. God is not limited by time and space and his knowledge exists about event even before they happen. Also his knowledge is complete. He know everything that has or will happen, even things that could happen but don’t, and he always has know all of this, that is how he can tell us what will happen way before it ever does. The next thing that is cool is that he does tell us. Why? So we can know that the Bible is an accurate source, we should believe what it says. That brings us to the next cool thing, what the Bible says. The Bible isn’t just a random bunch of stories it is a letter to us from God telling us about our relationship with him; where it began, how it got messed up, and how to fix it (see “The Old Testament Connection” for more). Even in our reading today we see the control of God and the consequences for disrespect toward God. God used Babylon to teach the Jews about consequences for disobedience but that didn’t let the Babylonians off the hook for their own disrespect. In Daniel Nebuchadnezzar learned the consequences for showing disrespect to Yahweh, he changed his attitude and was restored to power. His grand-son, Nabonidus, and great-grandson didn’t show God proper respect and suffered the consequences. According to Daniel 5:22-24 Belshazzar was warned by a miraculous hand writing on the wall of his banquet room because he failed to recognize the “hand” of God in the events of his family’s life. His pride led to his destruction. We need to learn the lesson from the Babylonians, whose history, began with pride at the tower of Babel and ended with pride at Belshazzar’s feast, God is God and we need to honor and respect him. We cannot build ourselves back up to God we need to let him lift us back up in his loving and forgiving arms, arms that stretched out on the cross so we could come back. Don’t be proud accept the gift that Jesus is offering today and give God your life and your eternity.
God thank you for Jesus. Thank you for taking the time to show us, to prove to us the accuracy and authority of the Bible. Thank you for the story it contains. Thank you for your love, sacrifice, and forgiveness. Help us turn to you and stop trying to get back to you our way. Help us humble ourselves and accept the free gift of a new relationship with you.