What I Noticed Today (Jeremiah 51-52)
Jeremiah 51
In verses 1-10, The Lord will stir up a destroyer against Babylon and the people of Leb-qamai who will winnow her (winnow is a farming reference to separate the wheat from the chaff: the good from the waste). They will come against Babylon on every side and destroy Babylon’s army.
Israel and Judah have not been forsaken. They are to leave Babylon before the destruction begins. Babylon had been the golden cup of the Lord’s judgment upon other nations, but now they face His judgment.
Note: “Leb-qamai” is a Jewish figure of speech called Atbash, where one letter is substituted for its opposite. For example, in English, an “A” would be substituted by a “Z,” and a “B” for a “Y.” Leb-qamai becomes Kasdim or Chaldea, which is Babylonia.
In verses 11-14, Jeremiah repeats the destruction of Babylon, but this time he identifies the nation that will attack Babylon as the Medes (today’s northern Iran). The Lord will bring judgment on Babylon because they destroyed His temple in Jerusalem. The army the Lord brings will be like a swarm of locusts descending on Babylon.
In verses 15-19, Jeremiah speaks of the sovereignty of God (similar language to Jeremiah 10:12-16) in creating the earth and everything in it.
In verses 20-26, Babylon is described as the hammer and weapon of war that the Lord used to shatter other nations (shatter used nine times in vv. 20-23). But the Lord promises to repay Babylon for the evil they had done in Jerusalem.
In verses 27-33, the Lord, for the third time, calls on nations to lift up their banners against Babylon (50:2, 51:12). In addition to the Medes, the attacking army will include the kingdoms of Ararat, Minni, and Ashkenaz.
Note: Ararat is in present-day Armenia, Minni is in western Iran, and Ashkenaz was between the other two.
The Lord compared Babylon to a threshing floor.
Note: This is another farming reference the threshing floor was where stalks of grain were taken to be trampled before winnowing it.
In like manner, the people of Babylon will be trampled by the invaders, and then they will know God’s judgment is upon them.
In verses 34-35, Jeremiah describes how Nebuchadnezzar had devoured Judah, crushing them.
In verses 36-44, The Lord uses courtroom language in His promise to avenge Judah. Babylon will become a heap of ruins without an inhabitant. The Lord will prepare a feast for them to make them drunk as they drink from His cup of judgment. They will be like lambs led to the slaughter. He will punish Bel (a Babylonian god) by making him vomit out the wealth he had acquired and destroyed the city walls.
Note: Some translations use “Sheshach” in verse 41, which is an atbash for Babylon, other translations use “Babylon.”
Note: The city of Babylon had two fortified walls. The outer wall was 12-feet thick, the inner wall was 21-feet thick, and there was a lane between them that was 23-feet wide, for a total of 56-feet (about the width of 4 wide freeway lanes).
In verses 45-48, the Lord repeats His order for the people of Judah to flee from Babylon to avoid the coming destruction. They were not to be afraid when they heard rumors of violence in the land. At that time, heaven and earth will sing with joy at the destruction of Babylon.
In verses 49-50, the Lord declares Babylon must fall because they were responsible for killing so many of the people of Israel.
In verses 51-53, the exiles in Babylon remembered the holy places of the temple defiled because foreigners had entered in, and they were disgraced and full of shame. But the day is coming when God will destroy Babylon’s idols. No matter how well-fortified her cities, Babylon would fall.
In verses 54-58, the Lord is laying Babylon waste, her warriors taken, and the officials judged by God. Babylon will be leveled. Even the broad city walls and the gates of the city burned with fire. (This complete destruction has not yet taken place.)
In verses 59-64, Jeremiah gives a message to Seraiah, an officer of king Zedekiah. Jeremiah says Seraiah was a son of Neriah, son of Mahesiah (Jeremiah 32:12), so Seraiah was a brother of Baruch his scribe. In this message, Jeremiah recorded on a scroll all of his prophecies and ordered Seraiah to take them to Babylon with him. When he got there, he was to read the words of the scroll aloud, then tie a rock to the scroll and throw it into the Euphrates river. After that, he was to announce that Babylon, like the scroll, would sink and never rise again.
With that, the words of Jeremiah end.
Jeremiah 52
Jeremiah 52 was written sometime after 561 B.C. The language is very similar to 2 Kings 24:18-30.
In verses 1-11, the days of King Zedekiah’s reign are recounted. He became king when he was 21-years old and reigned for eleven years. He rebelled against Nebuchadnezzar in his ninth year, and Nebuchadnezzar began his final siege against Jerusalem in his eleventh year. The famine in the city was severe, and the people surrendered. Zedekiah was taken captive, forced to watch the execution of his sons, was blinded, and taken in shackles to Babylon.
In verses 12-16, the city was cleared of its inhabitants, valuables pillaged and then set on fire. The temple, royal palace, and all the other important buildings in the city were burned. The people were carried away to Babylon as exiles, and only a few of the poorest people were left behind in Jerusalem.
In verses 17-23, describes all the furnishings and elements of the temple that were carried away to Babylon, fulfilling Jeremiah’s prophecy (Jeremiah 27:19-22).
In verses 24-27, the remaining 74 leaders of the city of Jerusalem were brought before Nebuchadnezzar at his headquarters in Riblah and executed.
In verses 28-30, a count of the exiles taken to Babylon included Jews and other people for a total of 4,600 people.
In verses 31-34, the release of King Jehoiachin from prison in his 37th year of exile was announced by Evil-Merodach king of Babylon. After his release, Jehoiachin ate at the king’s table.
What did you notice in your study today? Feel free to visit the website and leave a question or a comment.
