Jeremiah 50-52
Babylon is the last nation to receive a message from the Lord through Jeremiah! God and Jeremiah have saved their longest and harshest prophecy for the nation God called and used to punish His people.
These words against Babylon roll relentlessly from God’s heart and Jeremiah’s mouth. I imagine his secretary, Baruch, writing furiously to keep up with the prophet. Though God allowed Babylon to be His instrument of discipline, God will hold Babylon accountable for the atrocities they committed against God’s people!
Just as Babylon came from the North to destroy Jerusalem, so armies from the North will bring Babylon to its knees (50:3, 9, 41; 51:48).
Just as the gods of other Gentile nations will be shamed, so Bel and Marduk, the gods of Babylon, will be shamed (50:2; 51:44).
Just as Jerusalem was besieged, Babylon will be besieged; her famous walls will not defend her. She will be so destroyed that “no one will live there” except the animals (50:39-41; 51:37, 43).
All this will happen because Babylon has defied the Lord (50:29), mistreated Israel (51:24, etc.), acted in arrogance (50:31), and destroyed the Temple.
Jeremiah 52 recounts the siege and destruction of Jerusalem, what the Babylonians took, and who was carried away into exile.
The only note of hope comes at the very end. King Jehoiachin, exiled as an 18-year old, is released and treated kindly by the Babylonians. Is there hope? Yes, indeed!
Tomorrow, we read Jeremiah’s “Lamentations.”
Your fellow pilgrim through the Prophets,
Pastor Gary
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