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<center><h1>Matthew Henry's Complete Commentary
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on the Whole Bible</h1>
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[<A HREF="MHC00000.HTM">Table of Contents</A>]<BR>
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Matthew Henry<BR><I>Commentary on the Whole Bible</I> (1712)
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<!-- (Begin Body) -->
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<CENTER>
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<BR><FONT SIZE=+3><B>J E R E M I A H.</B></FONT>
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<BR>
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<BR><FONT SIZE=+2>CHAP. LI.</FONT>
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<HR SIZE=1 WIDTH=50>
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</CENTER>
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<FONT SIZE=-1>
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<P>
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The prophet, in this chapter, goes on with the prediction of Babylon's
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fall, to which other prophets also bore witness. He is very copious and
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lively in describing the foresight God had given him of it, for the
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encouragement of the pious captives, whose deliverance depended upon it
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and was to be the result of it. Here is,
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I. The record of Babylon's doom, with the particulars of it, intermixed
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with the grounds of God's controversy with her, many aggravations of
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her fall, and great encouragements given thence to the Israel of God,
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that suffered such hard things by her,
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Jer+51:1-58">ver. 1-58</A>.
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II. The representation and ratification of this by the throwing of a
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copy of this prophecy into the river Euphrates,
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Jer+51:59-64">ver. 59-64</A>.</P>
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</FONT>
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<A NAME="Jer51_1"> </A>
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<A NAME="Jer51_2"> </A>
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<A NAME="Jer51_3"> </A>
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<A NAME="Jer51_26"> </A>
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<A NAME="Jer51_38"> </A>
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<A NAME="Jer51_44"> </A>
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<A NAME="Jer51_46"> </A>
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<A NAME="Jer51_47"> </A>
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<A NAME="Jer51_48"> </A>
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<A NAME="Jer51_49"> </A>
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<A NAME="Jer51_50"> </A>
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<A NAME="Jer51_51"> </A>
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<A NAME="Jer51_52"> </A>
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<A NAME="Jer51_53"> </A>
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<A NAME="Jer51_54"> </A>
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<A NAME="Jer51_55"> </A>
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<A NAME="Jer51_56"> </A>
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<A NAME="Jer51_57"> </A>
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<A NAME="Jer51_58"> </A>
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<A NAME="Sec1"> </A>
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<TABLE WIDTH="100%" BORDER=0>
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<TR><TD><FONT SIZE=+1><I>The Judgment of Babylon.</I></FONT></TD>
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<TD ALIGN=RIGHT><FONT SIZE=-1>B. C.</FONT> 595.</TD></TR>
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<TR><TD COLSPAN=2><HR SIZE=1></TD></TR>
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</TABLE>
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<P>
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<FONT SIZE=+1>1 Thus saith the L<FONT SIZE=-1><B>ORD</B></FONT>; Behold, I will raise up against Babylon,
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and against them that dwell in the midst of them that rise up
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against me, a destroying wind;
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2 And will send unto Babylon fanners, that shall fan her, and
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shall empty her land: for in the day of trouble they shall be
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against her round about.
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3 Against <I>him that</I> bendeth let the archer bend his bow, and
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against <I>him that</I> lifteth himself up in his brigandine: and
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spare ye not her young men; destroy ye utterly all her host.
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4 Thus the slain shall fall in the land of the Chaldeans, and
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<I>they that are</I> thrust through in her streets.
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5 For Israel <I>hath</I> not <I>been</I> forsaken, nor Judah of his God,
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of the L<FONT SIZE=-1><B>ORD</B></FONT> of hosts; though their land was filled with sin
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against the Holy One of Israel.
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6 Flee out of the midst of Babylon, and deliver every man his
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soul: be not cut off in her iniquity; for this <I>is</I> the time of
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the L<FONT SIZE=-1><B>ORD</B></FONT>'s vengeance; he will render unto her a recompence.
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7 Babylon <I>hath been</I> a golden cup in the L<FONT SIZE=-1><B>ORD</B></FONT>'s hand, that
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made all the earth drunken: the nations have drunken of her wine;
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therefore the nations are mad.
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8 Babylon is suddenly fallen and destroyed: howl for her; take
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balm for her pain, if so be she may be healed.
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9 We would have healed Babylon, but she is not healed: forsake
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her, and let us go every one into his own country: for her
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judgment reacheth unto heaven, and is lifted up <I>even</I> to the
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skies.
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10 The L<FONT SIZE=-1><B>ORD</B></FONT> hath brought forth our righteousness: come, and let
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us declare in Zion the work of the L<FONT SIZE=-1><B>ORD</B></FONT> our God.
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11 Make bright the arrows; gather the shields: the L<FONT SIZE=-1><B>ORD</B></FONT> hath
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raised up the spirit of the kings of the Medes: for his device
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<I>is</I> against Babylon, to destroy it; because it <I>is</I> the
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vengeance of the L<FONT SIZE=-1><B>ORD</B></FONT>, the vengeance of his temple.
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12 Set up the standard upon the walls of Babylon, make the
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watch strong, set up the watchmen, prepare the ambushes: for the
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L<FONT SIZE=-1><B>ORD</B></FONT> hath both devised and done that which he spake against the
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inhabitants of Babylon.
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13 O thou that dwellest upon many waters, abundant in
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treasures, thine end is come, <I>and</I> the measure of thy
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covetousness.
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14 The L<FONT SIZE=-1><B>ORD</B></FONT> of hosts hath sworn by himself, <I>saying,</I> Surely I
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will fill thee with men, as with caterpillers; and they shall
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lift up a shout against thee.
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15 He hath made the earth by his power, he hath established the
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world by his wisdom, and hath stretched out the heaven by his
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understanding.
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16 When he uttereth <I>his</I> voice, <I>there is</I> a multitude of
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waters in the heavens; and he causeth the vapours to ascend from
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the ends of the earth: he maketh lightnings with rain, and
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bringeth forth the wind out of his treasures.
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17 Every man is brutish by <I>his</I> knowledge; every founder is
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confounded by the graven image: for his molten image <I>is</I>
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falsehood, and <I>there is</I> no breath in them.
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18 They <I>are</I> vanity, the work of errors: in the time of their
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visitation they shall perish.
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19 The portion of Jacob <I>is</I> not like them; for he <I>is</I> the
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former of all things: and <I>Israel is</I> the rod of his inheritance:
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the L<FONT SIZE=-1><B>ORD</B></FONT> of hosts <I>is</I> his name.
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20 Thou <I>art</I> my battle axe <I>and</I> weapons of war: for with thee
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will I break in pieces the nations, and with thee will I destroy
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kingdoms;
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21 And with thee will I break in pieces the horse and his
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rider; and with thee will I break in pieces the chariot and his
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rider;
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22 With thee also will I break in pieces man and woman; and
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with thee will I break in pieces old and young; and with thee
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will I break in pieces the young man and the maid;
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23 I will also break in pieces with thee the shepherd and his
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flock; and with thee will I break in pieces the husbandman and
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his yoke of oxen; and with thee will I break in pieces captains
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and rulers.
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24 And I will render unto Babylon and to all the inhabitants of
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Chaldea all their evil that they have done in Zion in your sight,
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saith the L<FONT SIZE=-1><B>ORD</B></FONT>.
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25 Behold, I <I>am</I> against thee, O destroying mountain, saith
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the L<FONT SIZE=-1><B>ORD</B></FONT>, which destroyest all the earth: and I will stretch out
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mine hand upon thee, and roll thee down from the rocks, and will
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make thee a burnt mountain.
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26 And they shall not take of thee a stone for a corner, nor a
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stone for foundations; but thou shalt be desolate for ever, saith
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the L<FONT SIZE=-1><B>ORD</B></FONT>.
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27 Set ye up a standard in the land, blow the trumpet among the
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nations, prepare the nations against her, call together against
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her the kingdoms of Ararat, Minni, and Ashchenaz; appoint a
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captain against her; cause the horses to come up as the rough
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caterpillers.
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28 Prepare against her the nations with the kings of the Medes,
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the captains thereof, and all the rulers thereof, and all the
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land of his dominion.
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29 And the land shall tremble and sorrow: for every purpose of
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the L<FONT SIZE=-1><B>ORD</B></FONT> shall be performed against Babylon, to make the land of
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Babylon a desolation without an inhabitant.
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30 The mighty men of Babylon have forborne to fight, they have
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remained in <I>their</I> holds: their might hath failed; they became
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as women: they have burned her dwelling-places; her bars are
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broken.
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31 One post shall run to meet another, and one messenger to
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meet another, to shew the king of Babylon that his city is taken
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at <I>one</I> end,
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32 And that the passages are stopped, and the reeds they have
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burned with fire, and the men of war are affrighted.
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33 For thus saith the L<FONT SIZE=-1><B>ORD</B></FONT> of hosts, the God of Israel; The
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daughter of Babylon <I>is</I> like a threshing-floor, <I>it is</I> time to
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thresh her: yet a little while, and the time of her harvest shall
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come.
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34 Nebuchadrezzar the king of Babylon hath devoured me, he hath
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crushed me, he hath made me an empty vessel, he hath swallowed me
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up like a dragon, he hath filled his belly with my delicates, he
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hath cast me out.
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35 The violence done to me and to my flesh <I>be</I> upon Babylon,
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shall the inhabitant of Zion say; and my blood upon the
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inhabitants of Chaldea, shall Jerusalem say.
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36 Therefore thus saith the L<FONT SIZE=-1><B>ORD</B></FONT>; Behold, I will plead thy
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cause, and take vengeance for thee; and I will dry up her sea,
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and make her springs dry.
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37 And Babylon shall become heaps, a dwelling-place for dragons,
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an astonishment, and a hissing, without an inhabitant.
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38 They shall roar together like lions: they shall yell as
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lions' whelps.
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39 In their heat I will make their feasts, and I will make them
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drunken, that they may rejoice, and sleep a perpetual sleep, and
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not wake, saith the L<FONT SIZE=-1><B>ORD</B></FONT>.
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40 I will bring them down like lambs to the slaughter, like
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rams with he goats.
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41 How is Sheshach taken! and how is the praise of the whole
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earth surprised! how is Babylon become an astonishment among the
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nations!
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42 The sea is come up upon Babylon: she is covered with the
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multitude of the waves thereof.
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43 Her cities are a desolation, a dry land, and a wilderness, a
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land wherein no man dwelleth, neither doth <I>any</I> son of man pass
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thereby.
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44 And I will punish Bel in Babylon, and I will bring forth out
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of his mouth that which he hath swallowed up: and the nations
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shall not flow together any more unto him: yea, the wall of
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Babylon shall fall.
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45 My people, go ye out of the midst of her, and deliver ye
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every man his soul from the fierce anger of the L<FONT SIZE=-1><B>ORD</B></FONT>.
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46 And lest your heart faint, and ye fear for the rumour that
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shall be heard in the land; a rumour shall both come <I>one</I> year,
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and after that in <I>another</I> year <I>shall come</I> a rumour, and
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violence in the land, ruler against ruler.
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47 Therefore, behold, the days come, that I will do judgment
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upon the graven images of Babylon: and her whole land shall be
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confounded, and all her slain shall fall in the midst of her.
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48 Then the heaven and the earth, and all that <I>is</I> therein,
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shall sing for Babylon: for the spoilers shall come unto her from
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the north, saith the L<FONT SIZE=-1><B>ORD</B></FONT>.
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49 As Babylon <I>hath caused</I> the slain of Israel to fall, so at
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Babylon shall fall the slain of all the earth.
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50 Ye that have escaped the sword, go away, stand not still:
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remember the L<FONT SIZE=-1><B>ORD</B></FONT> afar off, and let Jerusalem come into your
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mind.
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51 We are confounded, because we have heard reproach: shame
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hath covered our faces: for strangers are come into the
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sanctuaries of the L<FONT SIZE=-1><B>ORD</B></FONT>'s house.
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52 Wherefore, behold, the days come, saith the L<FONT SIZE=-1><B>ORD</B></FONT>, that I
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will do judgment upon her graven images: and through all her land
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the wounded shall groan.
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53 Though Babylon should mount up to heaven, and though she
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should fortify the height of her strength, <I>yet</I> from me shall
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spoilers come unto her, saith the L<FONT SIZE=-1><B>ORD</B></FONT>.
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54 A sound of a cry <I>cometh</I> from Babylon, and great
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destruction from the land of the Chaldeans:
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55 Because the L<FONT SIZE=-1><B>ORD</B></FONT> hath spoiled Babylon, and destroyed out of
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her the great voice; when her waves do roar like great waters, a
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noise of their voice is uttered:
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56 Because the spoiler is come upon her, <I>even</I> upon Babylon,
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and her mighty men are taken, every one of their bows is broken:
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for the L<FONT SIZE=-1><B>ORD</B></FONT> God of recompences shall surely requite.
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57 And I will make drunk her princes, and her wise <I>men,</I> her
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captains, and her rulers, and her mighty men: and they shall
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sleep a perpetual sleep, and not wake, saith the King, whose name
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<I>is</I> the L<FONT SIZE=-1><B>ORD</B></FONT> of hosts.
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58 Thus saith the L<FONT SIZE=-1><B>ORD</B></FONT> of hosts; The broad walls of Babylon
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shall be utterly broken, and her high gates shall be burned with
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fire; and the people shall labour in vain, and the folk in the
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fire, and they shall be weary.
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</FONT></P>
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<P>
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The particulars of this copious prophecy are dispersed and interwoven,
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and the same things left and returned to so often that it could not
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well be divided into parts, but we must endeavor to collect them under
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their proper heads. Let us then observe here,</P>
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<P>
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I. An acknowledgment of the great pomp and power that Babylon had been
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in and the use that God in his providence had made of it
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(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Jer+51:7"><I>v.</I> 7</A>):
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<I>Babylon hath been a golden cup,</I> a rich and glorious empire, <I>a
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golden city</I>
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(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Isa+14:4">Isa. xiv. 4</A>),
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<I>a head of gold</I>
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(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Da+2:38">Dan. ii. 38</A>),
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filled with all good things, as a cup with wine. Nay, she had been <I>a
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golden cup in the Lord's hand;</I> he had in a particular manner filled
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and favoured her with blessings; he had made the earth <I>drunk with
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this cup;</I> some were intoxicated with her pleasures and debauched by
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her, others intoxicated with her terrors and destroyed by her. In both
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senses the New-Testament Babylon is said to have made the kings of the
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earth drunk,
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Re+17:2,18:3">Rev. xvii. 2; xviii. 3</A>.
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Babylon had also been God's <I>battle-axe;</I> it was so at this time,
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when Jeremiah prophesied, and was likely to be yet more so,
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Jer+51:20"><I>v.</I> 20</A>.
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The forces of Babylon were God's <I>weapons of war,</I> tools in his
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hand, with which he broke in pieces, and knocked down, <I>nations and
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kingdoms,</I>--<I>horses</I> and <I>chariots,</I> which are so much the
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strength of kingdoms
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(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Jer+51:21"><I>v.</I> 21</A>),--
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<I>man and woman, young and old,</I> with which kingdoms are
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replenished
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(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Jer+51:22"><I>v.</I> 22</A>),--
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<I>the shepherd and his flock, the husbandman and his oxen,</I> with
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which kingdoms are maintained and supplied,
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Jer+51:23"><I>v.</I> 23</A>.
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Such havoc as this the Chaldeans had made when God employed them as
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instruments of his wrath for the chastising of the nations; and yet now
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Babylon itself must fall. Note, Those that have carried all before them
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a great while will yet at length meet with their match, and their day
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also will come to fall; the rod will itself be thrown into the fire at
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last. Nor can any think it will exempt them from God's judgments that
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they have been instrumental in executing his judgments on others.</P>
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<P>
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II. A just complaint made of Babylon, and a charge drawn up against her
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by the Israel of God.
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1. She is complained of for her incorrigible wickedness
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(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Jer+51:9"><I>v.</I> 9</A>):
|
|
|
|
<I>We would have healed Babylon, but she is not healed.</I> The people
|
|
of God that were captives among the Babylonians endeavoured, according
|
|
to the instructions given them
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Jer+10:11">Jer. x. 11</A>),
|
|
|
|
to convince them of the folly of their idolatry, but they could not do
|
|
it; still they doted as much as ever upon their graven images, and
|
|
therefore the Israelites resolved to quit them and go to their own
|
|
country. Yet some understand this as spoken by the forces they had
|
|
hired for their assistance, declaring that they had done their best to
|
|
save her from ruin, but that it was all to no purpose, and therefore
|
|
they might as well go home to their respective countries; "for <I>her
|
|
judgment reaches unto heaven,</I> and it is in vain to withstand it or
|
|
think to avert it."
|
|
|
|
2. She is complained of for her inveterate malice against Israel.
|
|
Other nations had been hardly used by the Chaldeans, but Israel only
|
|
complains to God of it, and with confidence appeals to him
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Jer+51:34,35"><I>v.</I> 34, 35</A>):
|
|
|
|
"<I>The king of Babylon has devoured me, and crushed me,</I> and never
|
|
thought he could do enough ruin to me; <I>he has emptied me</I> of all
|
|
that was valuable, has <I>swallowed me up as a dragon,</I> or whale,
|
|
swallows up the little fish by shoals; <I>he has filled his belly,</I>
|
|
filled his treasures, <I>with my delicates,</I> with all my pleasant
|
|
things, <I>and has cast me out,</I> cast me away as a <I>vessel in
|
|
which there is no pleasure;</I> and now let them be accountable for all
|
|
this." <I>Zion and Jerusalem shall say,</I> "Let <I>the violence done
|
|
to me and</I> my children, that are <I>my</I> own <I>flesh,</I> and
|
|
pieces of myself, and all the blood of my people, which they have shed
|
|
like water, <I>be upon</I> them; let the guilt of it lie upon them, and
|
|
let it be required at their hands." Note, Ruin is not far off from
|
|
those that lie under the guilt of wrong done to God's people.</P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
III. Judgment given upon this appeal by the righteous Judge of heaven
|
|
and earth, on behalf of Israel against Babylon. He <I>sits in the
|
|
throne judging right,</I> is ready to receive complaints, and answers
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Jer+51:36"><I>v.</I> 36</A>):
|
|
|
|
"<I>I will plead thy cause.</I> Leave it with me; I will in due time
|
|
plead it effectually <I>and take vengeance for thee,</I> and every drop
|
|
of Jerusalem's blood shall be accounted for with interest." Israel and
|
|
Judah seemed to have been neglected and forgotten, but God had an eye
|
|
to them,
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Jer+51:5"><I>v.</I> 5</A>.
|
|
|
|
It is true <I>their land was filled with sin against the Holy One of
|
|
Israel.</I> They were a provoking people and their sings were a great
|
|
offence to God, as a holy God, and as their God, their Holy One; and
|
|
therefore he justly delivered them up into the hands of their enemies,
|
|
and might justly have abandoned them and left them to perish in their
|
|
hands; but God deals better with them than they deserve, and,
|
|
notwithstanding their iniquities and his severities, <I>Israel is not
|
|
forsaken,</I> is not cast off, though he be cast out, but is owned and
|
|
looked after by his God, by the Lord of hosts. God is his God still,
|
|
and will act for him as the Lord of hosts, a God of power. Note, Though
|
|
God's people may have broken his laws and fallen under his rebukes, yet
|
|
it does not therefore follow that they are thrown out of covenant; but
|
|
God's care of them and love to them will <I>flourish again,</I>
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ps+89:30-33">Ps. lxxxix. 30-33</A>.
|
|
|
|
The Chaldeans thought they should never be called to an account for
|
|
what they had done against God's Israel; but there is <I>a time</I>
|
|
fixed <I>for vengeance,</I>
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Jer+51:6"><I>v.</I> 6</A>.
|
|
|
|
We cannot expect it should come sooner than the time fixed, but then it
|
|
will come; he <I>will render unto Babylon a recompence,</I> for the
|
|
avenging of Israel is <I>the vengeance of the Lord,</I> who espouses
|
|
their cause; it is <I>the vengeance of his temple,</I>
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Jer+51:11"><I>v.</I> 11</A>,
|
|
|
|
as before,
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Jer+50:28"><I>ch.</I> l. 28</A>.
|
|
|
|
<I>The Lord God of recompences,</I> the <I>God to whom vengeance
|
|
belongs, will surely requite</I>
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Jer+51:56"><I>v.</I> 56</A>),
|
|
|
|
will pay them home; he will <I>render unto Babylon all the evil they
|
|
have done in Zion</I>
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Jer+51:24"><I>v.</I> 24</A>);
|
|
|
|
he will return it <I>in the sight</I> of his people. They shall have
|
|
the satisfaction to see their cause pleaded with jealousy. They shall
|
|
not only live to see those judgments brought upon Babylon, but they
|
|
shall plainly see them to be the punishment of the wrong they have done
|
|
to Zion; any man may see it, and say, <I>Verily there is a God that
|
|
judges in the earth;</I> for just as <I>Babylon has caused the slain of
|
|
Israel to fall,</I> has not only slain those that were found in arms,
|
|
but all without distinction, even <I>all the land</I> (almost all were
|
|
put to the sword), so <I>at Babylon shall fall</I> the slain not only
|
|
of the city, but of <I>all the country,</I>
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Jer+51:49"><I>v.</I> 49</A>.
|
|
|
|
Cyrus shall measure to the Chaldeans the same that they measured to the
|
|
Jews, so that every observer may discern that God is recompensing them
|
|
for what they did against his people; but Zion's children shall in a
|
|
particular manner triumph in it
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Jer+51:10"><I>v.</I> 10</A>):
|
|
|
|
<I>The Lord has brought forth our righteousness;</I> he has appeared in
|
|
our behalf against those that dealt unjustly with us, and has given us
|
|
redress; he has also made it to appear that he is reconciled to us and
|
|
that we are yet in his eyes a <I>righteous nation.</I> Let it therefore
|
|
be spoken of to his praise: <I>Come and let us declare in Zion the work
|
|
of the Lord our God,</I> that others may be invited to join with us in
|
|
praising him.</P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
IV. A declaration of the greatness and sovereignty of that God who
|
|
espouses Zion's cause and undertakes to reckon with this proud and
|
|
potent enemy,
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Jer+51:14"><I>v.</I> 14</A>.
|
|
|
|
It is <I>the Lord of hosts</I> that has said it, that has <I>sworn
|
|
it,</I> has <I>sworn it by himself</I> (for he could swear by no
|
|
greater), that he will fill Babylon with vast and incredible numbers of
|
|
the enemy's forces, will <I>fill it with men as with caterpillars,</I>
|
|
that shall overpower it will multitudes, and need only to <I>lift up a
|
|
shout</I> against it, for that shall be so terrible as to dispirit all
|
|
the inhabitants and make them an easy prey to this numerous army. But
|
|
who, and where, is he that can break so powerful a kingdom as Babylon?
|
|
The prophet gives an account of him from the description he had
|
|
formerly given of him, and of his sovereignty and victory over all
|
|
pretenders
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Jer+10:12-16">Jer. x. 12-16</A>),
|
|
|
|
which was there intended for the conviction of the Babylonian idolaters
|
|
and the confirmation of God's Israel in the faith and worship of the
|
|
God of Israel; and it is here repeated to show that God will convince
|
|
those by his judgments who would not be convinced by his word that he
|
|
is <I>God over all.</I> Let not any doubt but that he who has
|
|
determined to destroy Babylon is able to make his words good, for,
|
|
|
|
1. He is the God that made the world
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Jer+51:15"><I>v.</I> 15</A>),
|
|
|
|
and therefore nothing is too hard for him to do; it is in his name that
|
|
our help stands, and on him our hope is built.
|
|
|
|
2. He has the command of all the creatures that he has made
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Jer+51:16"><I>v.</I> 16</A>);
|
|
|
|
his providence is a continued creation. He has <I>wind and rain</I> at
|
|
his disposal. If he speak the word, there is a <I>multitude of waters
|
|
in the heavens</I> (and it is a wonder how they hang there), fed by
|
|
<I>vapours out of the earth,</I> and it is a wonder how they ascend
|
|
thence. <I>Lightnings and rain</I> seem contraries, as fire and water,
|
|
and yet they are produced together; and the wind, which seems arbitrary
|
|
in its motions, and we <I>know not whence it comes,</I> is yet, we are
|
|
sure, brought <I>out of his treasuries.</I>
|
|
|
|
3. The idols that oppose the accomplishment of his word are a mere sham
|
|
and their worshippers brutish people,
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Jer+51:17,18"><I>v.</I> 17, 18</A>.
|
|
|
|
The idols are falsehood, they are vanity, they are <I>the work of
|
|
errors;</I> when they come to be visited (to be examined and enquired
|
|
into) <I>they perish,</I> that is, their reputation sinks and they
|
|
appear to be nothing; and those <I>that make them are like unto
|
|
them.</I> But between the God of Israel and these gods of the heathen
|
|
there is no comparison
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Jer+51:19"><I>v.</I> 19</A>):
|
|
|
|
<I>The portion of Jacob is not like them;</I> the God who speaks this
|
|
and will do it is the <I>former of all things</I> and <I>the Lord of
|
|
all hosts,</I> and therefore can do what he will; and there is a near
|
|
relation between him and his people, for he is <I>their portion</I> and
|
|
they are his; they put a confidence in him as their portion and he is
|
|
pleased to take a complacency in them and a particular care of them as
|
|
the <I>lot of his inheritance;</I> and therefore he will do what is
|
|
best for them. The repetition of these things here, which were said
|
|
before, intimates both the certainty and the importance of them, and
|
|
obliges us to take special notice of them; <I>God hath spoken once;
|
|
yea, twice have we heard this, that power belongs to God,</I> power to
|
|
destroy the most formidable enemies of his church; and if God thus
|
|
<I>speak once, yea, twice,</I> we are inexcusable if we do not perceive
|
|
it and attend to it.</P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
V. A description of the instruments that are to be employed in this
|
|
service. God has <I>raised up the spirit of the kings of the Medes</I>
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Jer+51:11"><I>v.</I> 11</A>),
|
|
|
|
Darius and Cyrus, who come against Babylon by a divine instinct; for
|
|
<I>God's device is against Babylon to destroy it.</I> They do it, but
|
|
God devised it, he designed it; they are but accomplishing his purpose,
|
|
and acting as he directed. Note, God's counsel shall stand, and
|
|
according to it all hearts shall move. Those whom God employs against
|
|
Babylon are compared
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Jer+51:1"><I>v.</I> 1</A>)
|
|
|
|
to a <I>destroying wind,</I> which either by its coldness blasts the
|
|
fruits of the earth or by its fierceness blows down all before it. This
|
|
wind is <I>brought out of God's treasuries</I>
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Jer+51:16"><I>v.</I> 16</A>),
|
|
|
|
and it is here said to be <I>raised up against those that dwell in the
|
|
midst of the Chaldeans,</I> those of other nations that inhabit among
|
|
them and are incorporated with them. The Chaldeans rise up against God
|
|
by falling down before idols, and against them God will raise up
|
|
destroyers, for he will be too hard for those that contend with him.
|
|
These enemies are compared to fanners
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Jer+51:2"><I>v.</I> 2</A>),
|
|
|
|
who shall <I>drive them away as chaff</I> is driven away by the fan.
|
|
The Chaldeans had been fanners to winnow God's people
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Jer+15:7"><I>ch.</I> xv. 7</A>)
|
|
|
|
and to empty them, and now they shall themselves be in like manner
|
|
despoiled and dispersed.</P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
VI. An ample commission given them to destroy and lay all waste. Let
|
|
them <I>bend their bow</I> against the archers of the Chaldeans
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Jer+51:3"><I>v.</I> 3</A>)
|
|
|
|
and <I>not spare her young men,</I> but <I>utterly destroy them,</I>
|
|
for the Lord has <I>both devised and done what he spoke against
|
|
Babylon,</I>
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Jer+51:12"><I>v.</I> 12</A>.
|
|
|
|
This may animate the instruments he employs, but assuring them of
|
|
success. The methods they take are such as God has devised and
|
|
therefore they shall surely prosper; what he has spoken shall be done,
|
|
for he himself will do it; and therefore let all necessary preparations
|
|
be made. This they are called to,
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Jer+51:27,28"><I>v.</I> 27, 28</A>.
|
|
|
|
Let <I>a standard be set up,</I> under which to enlist soldiers for
|
|
this expedition; <I>let a trumpet be blown</I> to call men together to
|
|
it and animate them in it; let the nations, out of which Cyrus's army
|
|
is to be raised, prepare their recruits; let the kingdoms of
|
|
<I>Ararat,</I> and <I>Minni, and Ashkenaz,</I> of Armenia, both the
|
|
higher and the lower, and of Ascania, about Phrygia and Bithynia, send
|
|
in their quota of men for his service; let general officers be
|
|
appointed and the cavalry advance; let the horses come up in <I>great
|
|
numbers,</I> as the <I>caterpillars,</I> and come, like them, leaping
|
|
and pawing in the valley; let them lay the country waste, as
|
|
<I>caterpillars</I> do
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Joe+1:4">Joel i. 4</A>),
|
|
|
|
especially rough caterpillars; let the kings and captains prepare
|
|
nations against Babylon, for the service is great and there is occasion
|
|
for many hands to be employed it.</P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
VII. The weakness of the Chaldeans, and their inability to make head
|
|
against this threatening destroying force. When God employed them
|
|
against other nations they had spirit and strength to act offensively,
|
|
and went on with admirable resolution, conquering and to conquer; but
|
|
now that it comes to their turn to be reckoned with all their might and
|
|
courage are gone, their hearts fail them, and none of all their men of
|
|
might and mettle have found their hands to act so much as defensively.
|
|
They are called upon here to prepare for action, but it is ironically
|
|
and in an upbraiding way
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Jer+51:11"><I>v.</I> 11</A>):
|
|
|
|
<I>Make bright the arrows,</I> which have grown rusty through disuse;
|
|
<I>gather the shields,</I> which in a long time of peace and security
|
|
have been scattered and thrown out of the way
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Jer+51:12"><I>v.</I> 12</A>);
|
|
|
|
<I>set up the standard upon the walls of Babylon,</I> upon the towers
|
|
on those walls, to summon all that owed suit and service to that
|
|
mother-city, now to come in to her assistance; let them make the watch
|
|
as strong as they can, and appoint the sentinels to their respective
|
|
posts, and prepare ambushes for the reception of the enemy. This
|
|
intimates that they would be found very secure and remiss, and would
|
|
need to be thus quickened (and they were so to such a degree that they
|
|
were in the midst of their revels when the city was taken), but that
|
|
all their preparations should come to no purpose. Whoever will may call
|
|
them to it, but they shall have no heart to come at the call,
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Jer+51:29"><I>v.</I> 29</A>.
|
|
|
|
<I>The</I> whole <I>land shall tremble, and sorrow</I> (a universal
|
|
consternation) shall seize upon them; for they shall see both the
|
|
irresistible arm and the irreversible counsel and decree of God against
|
|
them. They shall see that God is making <I>Babylon a desolation,</I>
|
|
and therein is performing what he has purposed; and then <I>the mighty
|
|
men of Babylon have forborne to fight,</I>
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Jer+51:30"><I>v.</I> 30</A>.
|
|
|
|
God having taken away their strength and spirit, so that they have
|
|
<I>remained in their holds,</I> not daring so much as to peep forth,
|
|
the might both of their hearts and of their hands fails; they
|
|
<I>become</I> as timorous <I>as women,</I> so that the enemy has,
|
|
without any resistance, <I>burnt her dwelling-places</I> and <I>broken
|
|
her bars.</I> It is to the same purport with
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Jer+51:56-58"><I>v.</I> 56-58</A>.
|
|
|
|
When the spoiler comes upon Babylon her mighty men, who should make
|
|
head against him, are immediately taken, their weapons of war fail
|
|
them, <I>every one of their bows is broken</I> and stands them in no
|
|
stead. Their politics fail them; they call councils of war, but their
|
|
princes and captains, who sit in council to concert measures for the
|
|
common safety, are made drunk; they are as men intoxicated through
|
|
stupidity or despair; they can form no right notions of things; they
|
|
stagger and are unsteady in their counsels and resolves, and dash one
|
|
against another, and, like drunken men, fall out among themselves. At
|
|
length they <I>sleep a perpetual sleep,</I> and never <I>awake</I> from
|
|
their wine, the wine of God's wrath, for it is to them an opiate that
|
|
lays them into a fatal lethargy. The <I>walls of their city</I> fail
|
|
them,
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Jer+51:58"><I>v.</I> 58</A>.
|
|
|
|
When the enemy had found ways to ford Euphrates, which was thought
|
|
impassable, yet surely, think they, the walls are impregnable, they are
|
|
<I>the broad walls of Babylon</I> or (as the margin reads it), <I>the
|
|
walls of broad Babylon.</I> The compass of the city, within the walls,
|
|
was 385 furlongs, some say 480, that is, about sixty miles; the walls
|
|
were 200 cubits high, and fifty cubits broad, so that two chariots
|
|
might easily pass by one another upon them. Some say that there was a
|
|
threefold wall about the inner city and the like about the outer, and
|
|
that the stones of the wall, being laid in pitch instead of mortar
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ge+11:3">Gen. xi. 3</A>),
|
|
|
|
were scarcely separable; and yet these shall be <I>utterly broken,</I>
|
|
and <I>the high gates and towers shall be burnt,</I> and the people
|
|
that are employed in the defence of the city shall <I>labour in vain in
|
|
the fire;</I> they shall quite tire themselves, but shall do no
|
|
good.</P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
VIII. The destruction that shall be made of Babylon by these invaders.
|
|
|
|
1. It is a certain destruction; the doom has passed and it cannot be
|
|
reversed; a divine power is engaged against it, which cannot be
|
|
resisted
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Jer+51:8"><I>v.</I> 8</A>):
|
|
|
|
<I>Babylon is fallen and destroyed,</I> is as sure to fall, to fall
|
|
into destruction, as if it were fallen and destroyed already; though
|
|
when Jeremiah prophesied this, and many a year after, it was in the
|
|
height of its power and greatness. God declares, God appears against
|
|
Babylon
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Jer+51:25"><I>v.</I> 25</A>):
|
|
|
|
<I>Behold, I am against thee;</I> and those cannot stand long whom God
|
|
is against. He will <I>stretch out his hand upon it,</I> a hand which
|
|
no creature can bear the weight of nor withstand the force of. It is
|
|
his purpose, which shall be performed, that <I>Babylon</I> must be a
|
|
<I>desolation,</I>
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Jer+51:29"><I>v.</I> 29</A>.
|
|
|
|
2. It is a righteous destruction. Babylon has made herself meet for it,
|
|
and therefore cannot fail to meet with it. For
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Jer+51:25"><I>v.</I> 25</A>)
|
|
|
|
<I>Babylon</I> has been <I>a destroying mountain,</I> very lofty and
|
|
bulky as a mountain, and <I>destroying all the earth,</I> as the stones
|
|
that are tumbled from high mountains spoil the grounds about them; but
|
|
now it shall itself be <I>rolled down from its rocks,</I> which were as
|
|
the foundations on which it stood. It shall be levelled, its pomp and
|
|
power broken. It is now a burning mountain, like Ætna and the
|
|
other volcanoes, that throw out fire, to the terror of all about them.
|
|
But it shall be a burnt mountain; it shall at length have consumed
|
|
itself, and shall remain a heap of ashes. So will this world be at the
|
|
end of time. Again
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Jer+51:33"><I>v.</I> 33</A>),
|
|
|
|
"<I>Babylon is like a threshing-floor,</I> in which the people of God
|
|
have been long threshed, as sheaves in the floor; but now the time has
|
|
come that she shall herself be threshed and her sheaves in her; her
|
|
princes and great men, and all her inhabitants, shall be beaten in
|
|
their own land, as in the threshing-floor. The threshing-floor is
|
|
prepared. Babylon is by sin made meet to be a seat of war, and her
|
|
people, like corn in harvest, are ripe for destruction,"
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Re+14:15,Mic+4:12">Rev. xiv. 15; Mic. iv. 12</A>.
|
|
|
|
3. It is an unavoidable destruction. Babylon seems to be well-fenced
|
|
and fortified against it: <I>She dwells upon many waters</I>
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Jer+51:13"><I>v.</I> 13</A>);
|
|
|
|
the situation of her country is such that it seems inaccessible, it is
|
|
so surrounded, and the march of an enemy into it so embarrassed, by
|
|
rivers. In allusion to this, the New-Testament Babylon is said to
|
|
<I>sit upon many waters,</I> that is, to rule over many nations, as the
|
|
other Babylon did,
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Re+17:15">Rev. xvii. 15</A>.
|
|
|
|
<I>Babylon is abundant in treasures;</I> and yet "<I>thy end has
|
|
come,</I> and neither they waters nor thy wealth shall secure thee."
|
|
This end that comes shall be <I>the measure of thy covetousness;</I> it
|
|
shall be the stint of thy gettings, it shall set bounds to thy ambition
|
|
and avarice, which otherwise would have ben boundless. God, by the
|
|
destruction of Babylon, said to its proud waves, <I>Hitherto shall you
|
|
come, and no further.</I> Note, if men will not set a measure to their
|
|
covetousness by wisdom and grace, God will set a measure to it by his
|
|
judgments. Babylon, thinking herself very safe and very great, was
|
|
very proud; but she will be deceived
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Jer+51:53"><I>v.</I> 53</A>):
|
|
|
|
<I>Though Babylon should mount</I> her walls and palaces <I>up to
|
|
heaven,</I> and though (because what is high is apt to totter) she
|
|
should take care to <I>fortify the height of her strength,</I> yet all
|
|
will not do; God will send spoilers against her, that shall break
|
|
through her strength and bring down her height.
|
|
|
|
4. It is a gradual destruction, which, if they had pleased, they might
|
|
have foreseen and had warning of; for
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Jer+51:46"><I>v.</I> 46</A>)
|
|
|
|
"<I>A rumor will come one year</I> that Cyrus is making vast
|
|
preparations for war, <I>and after that, in another year, shall come a
|
|
rumour</I> that his design is upon Babylon, and he is steering his
|
|
course that way;" so that when he was a great way off they might have
|
|
sent and desired conditions of peace; but they were too proud, too
|
|
secure, to do that, and their hearts were hardened to their
|
|
destruction.
|
|
|
|
5. Yet, when it comes, it is a surprising destruction: <I>Babylon has
|
|
suddenly fallen</I>
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Jer+51:8"><I>v.</I> 8</A>);
|
|
|
|
the destruction came upon them when they did not think of it and was
|
|
perfected in a little time, as that of the New-Testament <I>Babylon--in
|
|
one hour,</I>
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Re+18:17">Rev. xviii. 17</A>.
|
|
|
|
The king of Babylon, who should have been observing the approaches of
|
|
the enemy, was himself at such a distance from the place where the
|
|
attack was made that it was a great while ere he had notice that the
|
|
city was taken; so that those who were posted near the place sent one
|
|
messenger, one courier, after another, with advice of it,
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Jer+51:31"><I>v.</I> 31</A>.
|
|
|
|
The foot-posts shall meet at the court from several quarters with this
|
|
intelligence to the king of Babylon that his <I>city is taken at one
|
|
end,</I> and there is nothing to obstruct the progress of the
|
|
conquerors, but they will be at the other end quickly. They are to
|
|
tell him that the enemy has <I>seized the passes</I>
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Jer+51:32"><I>v.</I> 32</A>),
|
|
|
|
the forts or blockades upon the river, and that, having got over the
|
|
river, he has set fire to the reeds on the river side, to alarm and
|
|
terrify the city, so that all the men of war are affrighted and have
|
|
thrown down their arms and surrendered at discretion. The messengers
|
|
come, like Job's, one upon the heels of another, with these tidings,
|
|
which are immediately confirmed with a witness by the enemies' being in
|
|
the palace and slaying the king himself,
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Da+5:30">Dan. v. 30</A>.
|
|
|
|
That profane feast which they were celebrating at the very time when
|
|
the city was taken, which was both an evidence of their strange
|
|
security and a great advantage to the enemy, seems here to be referred
|
|
to
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Jer+51:38,39"><I>v.</I> 38, 39</A>):
|
|
|
|
<I>They shall roar together like lions,</I> as men in their revels do,
|
|
when the wine has got into their heads. They call it <I>singing;</I>
|
|
but in scripture-language, and in the language of sober men, it is
|
|
called <I>yelling like lions' whelps.</I> It is probable that they were
|
|
drinking confusion to Cyrus and his army with loud huzzas. Well, says
|
|
God, in their heat, when they are inflamed
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Isa+5:11">Isa. v. 11</A>)
|
|
|
|
and their heads are hot with hard drinking, I will <I>make their
|
|
feasts,</I> I will <I>give them their portion.</I> They have passed
|
|
their cup round; now <I>the cup of the Lord's right hand shall be
|
|
turned unto them</I>
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Hab+2:15,16">Hab. ii. 15, 16</A>),
|
|
|
|
a cup of fury, which shall <I>make them drunk that they may rejoice</I>
|
|
(or rather <I>that they may revel it</I>) and <I>sleep a perpetual
|
|
sleep;</I> let them be as merry as they can with that bitter cup, but
|
|
it shall lay them to sleep never to wake more (as
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Jer+51:57"><I>v.</I> 57</A>);
|
|
|
|
for <I>on that night,</I> in the midst of the jollity, was
|
|
<I>Belshazzar slain.</I>
|
|
|
|
6. It is to be a universal destruction. God will make thorough work of
|
|
it; for, as he will perform what he has purposed, so he will perfect
|
|
what he has begun. <I>The slain shall fall</I> in great abundance
|
|
throughout <I>the land of the Chaldeans;</I> multitudes shall be
|
|
<I>thrust through in her streets,</I>
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Jer+51:4"><I>v.</I> 4</A>.
|
|
|
|
They are <I>brought down like lambs to the slaughter</I>
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Jer+51:40"><I>v.</I> 40</A>),
|
|
|
|
in such great numbers, so easily, and the enemies make no more of
|
|
killing them than the butcher does of killing lambs. The strength of
|
|
the enemy, and their invading them, are here compared to an irruption
|
|
and inundation of waters
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Jer+51:42"><I>v.</I> 42</A>):
|
|
|
|
<I>The sea has come up upon Babylon,</I> which, when it has once broken
|
|
through its bounds, there is no fence against, so that she is
|
|
<I>covered with the multitude of its waves,</I> overpowered by a
|
|
numerous army; <I>her cities</I> then become <I>a desolation,</I> an
|
|
uninhabited uncultivated desert,
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Jer+51:43"><I>v.</I> 43</A>.
|
|
|
|
7. It is a destruction that shall reach the gods of Babylon, the idols
|
|
and images, and fall with a particular weight upon them. "In token that
|
|
<I>the whole land shall be confounded</I> and all <I>her slain shall
|
|
fall</I> and that throughout all the country <I>the wounded shall
|
|
groan, I will do judgment upon her graven images,</I>"
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Jer+51:47">
|
|
<I>v.</I> 47</A>
|
|
|
|
and again
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Jer+51:52"><I>v.</I> 52</A>.
|
|
|
|
All must needs perish if their gods perish, from whom they expect
|
|
protection. Though the invaders are themselves idolaters, yet they
|
|
shall destroy the images and temples of the gods of Babylon, as an
|
|
earnest of the abolishing of all counterfeit deities. Bel was the
|
|
principal idol that the Babylonians worshipped, and therefore that is
|
|
by name here marked for destruction
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Jer+51:44"><I>v.</I> 44</A>):
|
|
|
|
<I>I will punish Bel,</I> that great devourer, that image to which such
|
|
abundance of sacrifices are offered and such rich spoils dedicated, and
|
|
to whose temple there is such a vast resort. He shall disgorge what he
|
|
has so greedily regaled himself with. God will bring forth out of his
|
|
temple all the wealth laid up there,
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Job+20:15">Job xx. 15</A>.
|
|
|
|
His altars shall be forsaken, none shall regard him any more, and so
|
|
that idol which was thought to be a wall to Babylon shall fall and fail
|
|
them.
|
|
|
|
8. It shall be a final destruction. You may <I>take balm for her
|
|
pain,</I> but in vain; she that <I>would not be healed</I> by the word
|
|
of God <I>shall not be healed</I> by his providence,
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Jer+51:8,9"><I>v.</I> 8, 9</A>.
|
|
|
|
<I>Babylon</I> shall <I>become heaps</I>
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Jer+51:37"><I>v.</I> 37</A>),
|
|
|
|
and, to complete its infamy, no use shall be made even of the ruins of
|
|
Babylon, so execrable shall they be, and attended with such ill omens
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Jer+51:26"><I>v.</I> 26</A>):
|
|
|
|
<I>They shall not take of thee a stone for a corner, nor a stone for
|
|
foundations.</I> People shall not care for having any thing to do with
|
|
Babylon, or whatever belonged to it. Or it denotes that there shall be
|
|
nothing left in Babylon on which to ground any hopes or attempts of
|
|
raising it into a kingdom again; for, as it follows here, <I>it shall
|
|
be desolate for ever.</I> St. Jerome says that in his time, though the
|
|
ruins of Babylon's walls were to be seen, yet the ground enclosed by
|
|
them was a forest of wild beasts.</P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
IX. Here is a call to God's people to go out of Babylon. It is their
|
|
wisdom, when the ruin is approaching, to quit the city and retire into
|
|
the country
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Jer+51:6"><I>v.</I> 6</A>):
|
|
|
|
"<I>Flee out of the midst of Babylon,</I> and get into some remote
|
|
corner, that you may save your lives, and may not be cut off in her
|
|
iniquity." When God's judgments are abroad it is good to get as far as
|
|
we can from those against whom they are levelled, as Israel from the
|
|
tents of Korah. This agrees with the advice Christ gave his disciples,
|
|
with reference to the destruction of Jerusalem. <I>Let those who shall
|
|
be in Judea flee to the mountains,</I>
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Mt+24:16">Matt. xxiv. 16</A>.
|
|
|
|
It is their wisdom to <I>get out of the midst of Babylon,</I> lest they
|
|
be involved, if not in her ruins, yet in her fears
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Jer+51:45,46"><I>v.</I> 45, 46</A>):
|
|
|
|
<I>Lest your heart faint, and you fear for the rumour that shall be
|
|
heard in the land.</I> Though God had told them that Cyrus should be
|
|
their deliverer, and Babylon's destruction their deliverance, yet they
|
|
had been told also that <I>in the peace there of they should have
|
|
peace,</I> and therefore the alarms given to Babylon would put them
|
|
into a fright, and perhaps they might not have faith and consideration
|
|
enough to suppress those fears, for which reason they are here advised
|
|
to get out of the hearing of the alarms. Note, Those who have not grace
|
|
enough to keep their temper in temptation should have wisdom enough to
|
|
keep out of the way of temptation. But this is not all; it is not only
|
|
their wisdom to quit the city when the ruin is approaching, but it is
|
|
their duty to quit the country too when the ruin is accomplished, and
|
|
they are set at liberty by the pulling down of the prison over their
|
|
heads. This they are told,
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Jer+51:50,51">
|
|
<I>v.</I> 50, 51</A>:
|
|
|
|
"<I>You</I> Israelites, <I>who have escaped the sword of the
|
|
Chaldeans</I> your oppressors, and of the Persians their destroyers,
|
|
now that the year of release has come, <I>go away, stand not still;</I>
|
|
hasten to your own country again, however you may be comfortably seated
|
|
in Babylon, for this is not your rest, but Canaan is."
|
|
|
|
1. He puts them in mind of the inducements they had to return:
|
|
"<I>Remember the Lord afar off,</I> his presence with you now, though
|
|
you are here afar off from your native soil; his presence with your
|
|
fathers formerly in the temple, though you are now afar off from the
|
|
ruins of it." Note, Wherever we are, in the greatest depths, at the
|
|
greatest distances, we may and must remember the Lord our God; and in
|
|
the time of the greatest fears and hopes it is seasonable to
|
|
<I>remember the Lord.</I> "And let Jerusalem come into your mind.
|
|
Though it be now in ruins, yet <I>favour its dust</I>
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ps+102:14">Ps. cii. 14</A>);
|
|
|
|
though few of you ever saw it, yet believe the report you have had
|
|
concerning it from those that <I>wept when they remembered Zion;</I>
|
|
and think of Jerusalem until you come up to a resolution to make the
|
|
best of your way thither." Note, When the city of our solemnities is
|
|
out of sight, yet it must not be out of mind; and it will be of great
|
|
use to us, in our journey through this world, to let the heavenly
|
|
Jerusalem come often into our mind.
|
|
|
|
2. He takes notice of the discouragement which the returning captives
|
|
labour under
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Jer+51:51"><I>v.</I> 51</A>);
|
|
|
|
being reminded of Jerusalem, they cry out, "<I>We are confounded;</I>
|
|
we cannot bear the thought of it; <I>shame covers our faces</I> at the
|
|
mention of it, for <I>we have heard of the reproach of the
|
|
sanctuary,</I> that is profaned and ruined by strangers; how can we
|
|
think of it with any pleasure?" To this he answers
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Jer+51:52"><I>v.</I> 52</A>)
|
|
|
|
that the God of Israel will now triumph over the gods of Babylon, and
|
|
so that reproach will be for ever rolled away. Note, The believing
|
|
prospect of Jerusalem's recovery will keep us from being ashamed of
|
|
Jerusalem's ruins.</P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
X. Here is the diversified feeling excited by Babylon's fall, and it is
|
|
the same that we have with respect to the <I>New-Testament Babylon,</I>
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Re+18:9,19">Rev. xviii. 9, 19</A>.
|
|
|
|
1. Some shall lament the destruction of Babylon. There is <I>the sound
|
|
of a cry,</I> a great outcry coming from Babylon
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Jer+51:54"><I>v.</I> 54</A>),
|
|
|
|
lamenting this great destruction, the voice of mourning, because the
|
|
Lord has <I>destroyed the voice</I> of the multitude, that great voice
|
|
of mirth which used to be heard in Babylon,
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Jer+51:55"><I>v.</I> 55</A>.
|
|
|
|
We are told what they shall say in their lamentations
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Jer+51:41"><I>v.</I> 41</A>):
|
|
|
|
"<I>How is Sheshach taken,</I> and how are we mistaken concerning her!
|
|
How is that city surprised and become an <I>astonishment among the
|
|
nations</I> that was the praise, and glory, and admiration of the whole
|
|
earth!" See how that may fall into a general contempt which has been
|
|
universally cried up.
|
|
|
|
2. Yet some shall rejoice in Babylon's fall, not as it is the misery of
|
|
their fellow-creatures, but as it is the manifestation of the righteous
|
|
judgment of God and as it opens the way for the release of God's
|
|
captives; upon these accounts <I>the heaven and the earth, and all that
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is in both, shall sing for Babylon</I>
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(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Jer+51:48"><I>v.</I> 48</A>);
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the church in heaven and the church on earth shall give to God the
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glory of his righteousness, and take notice of it with thankfulness to
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his praise. Babylon's ruin is Zion's praise.</P>
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<A NAME="Jer51_59"> </A>
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<A NAME="Jer51_60"> </A>
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<A NAME="Jer51_61"> </A>
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<A NAME="Jer51_62"> </A>
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<A NAME="Jer51_63"> </A>
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<A NAME="Jer51_64"> </A>
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<A NAME="Sec2"> </A>
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<TABLE WIDTH="100%" BORDER=0>
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<TR><TD><FONT SIZE=+1><I>The Prophecy Sent to the People.</I></FONT></TD>
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<TD ALIGN=RIGHT><FONT SIZE=-1>B. C.</FONT> 595.</TD></TR>
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<TR><TD COLSPAN=2><HR SIZE=1></TD></TR>
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</TABLE>
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<P>
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<FONT SIZE=+1>59 The word which Jeremiah the prophet commanded Seraiah the
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son of Neriah, the son of Maaseiah, when he went with Zedekiah
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the king of Judah into Babylon in the fourth year of his reign.
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And <I>this</I> Seraiah <I>was</I> a quiet prince.
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60 So Jeremiah wrote in a book all the evil that should come
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upon Babylon, <I>even</I> all these words that are written against
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Babylon.
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61 And Jeremiah said to Seraiah, When thou comest to Babylon,
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and shalt see, and shalt read all these words;
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62 Then shalt thou say, O L<FONT SIZE=-1><B>ORD</B></FONT>, thou hast spoken against this
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place, to cut it off, that none shall remain in it, neither man
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nor beast, but that it shall be desolate for ever.
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63 And it shall be, when thou hast made an end of reading this
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book, <I>that</I> thou shalt bind a stone to it, and cast it into the
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midst of Euphrates:
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64 And thou shalt say, Thus shall Babylon sink, and shall not
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rise from the evil that I will bring upon her: and they shall be
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weary. Thus far <I>are</I> the words of Jeremiah.
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</FONT></P>
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<P>
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We have been long attending the judgment of Babylon in this and the
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foregoing chapter; now here we have the conclusion of that whole
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matter.
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1. A copy is taken of this prophecy, it should seem by Jeremiah
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|
himself, for Baruch his scribe is not mentioned here
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(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Jer+51:60"><I>v.</I> 60</A>):
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<I>Jeremiah wrote in a book all these words that are here written
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|
against Babylon.</I> He received this notice that he might give it to
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|
all whom it might concern. It is of great advantage both to the
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|
propagating and to the perpetuating of the word of God to have it
|
|
written, and to have copies taken of the law, prophets, and epistles.
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|
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|
2. It is sent to Babylon, to the captives there, by the hand of
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Seraiah, who went there attendant on or ambassador for king Zedekiah,
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<I>in the fourth year of his reign,</I>
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Jer+51:59"><I>v.</I> 59</A>.
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He <I>went with Zedekiah,</I> or (as the margin reads it) <I>on the
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|
behalf of Zedekiah, into Babylon.</I> The character given of him is
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|
observable, that this <I>Seraiah was a quiet prince,</I> a prince of
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|
rest. He was in honour and power, but not, as most f the princes then
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|
were, hot and heady, making parties, and heading factions, and driving
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|
things furiously. He was of a calm temper, studied the things that made
|
|
for peace, endeavoured to preserve a good understanding between the
|
|
king his master and the king of Babylon, and to keep his master from
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|
rebelling. He was no persecutor of God's prophets, but a moderate man.
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|
Zedekiah was happy in the choice of such a man to be his envoy to the
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|
king of Babylon, and Jeremiah might safely entrust such a man with his
|
|
errand too. Note, it is the real honour of great men to be quiet men,
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|
and it is the wisdom of princes to put such into places of trust.
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3. Seraiah is desired to read it to his countrymen that had already
|
|
gone into captivity: "<I>When thou shalt come to Babylon, and shalt
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|
see</I> what a magnificent place it is, how large a city, how strong,
|
|
how rich, and how well fortified, and shalt therefore be tempted to
|
|
think, Surely, it will stand forever" (as the disciples, when they
|
|
observed the buildings of the temple, concluded that nothing would
|
|
<I>throw them down</I> but the end of the world,
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|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Mt+24:3">Matt. xxiv. 3</A>),
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|
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"<I>then thou shalt read all these words</I> to thyself and thy
|
|
particular friends, for their encouragement in their captivity: let
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|
them with an eye of faith see to the end of these threatening powers,
|
|
and comfort themselves and one another herewith."
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|
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4. He is directed to make a solemn protestation of the divine authority
|
|
and unquestionable certainty of that which he had read
|
|
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(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Jer+51:62"><I>v.</I> 62</A>):
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<I>Then thou shalt</I> look up to God, and say, <I>O Lord! it is thou
|
|
that hast spoken against this place, to cut it off.</I> This is like
|
|
the angel's protestation concerning the destruction of the
|
|
New-Testament Babylon. <I>These are the true sayings of God,</I>
|
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|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Re+19:9">Rev. xix. 9</A>.
|
|
|
|
<I>These words are true and faithful,</I>
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|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Re+21:5">Rev. xxi. 5</A>.
|
|
|
|
Though Seraiah sees Babylon flourishing, having read this prophecy he
|
|
must foresee Babylon falling, and by virtue of it must curse its
|
|
habitation, though it be <I>taking root</I>
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Job+5:3">Job v. 3</A>):
|
|
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|
"<I>O Lord! thou hast spoken against this place,</I> and I believe
|
|
what thou hast spoken, that, as thou knowest every thing, so thou canst
|
|
do every thing. Thou hast passed sentence upon Babylon, and it shall be
|
|
executed. <I>Thou hast spoken against this place, to cut it off,</I>
|
|
and therefore we will neither envy its pomp nor fear its power." When
|
|
we see what this world is, how glittering its shows are and how
|
|
flattering its proposals, let us read in the book of the Lord that its
|
|
<I>fashion passes away,</I> and it shall shortly be <I>cut off</I> and
|
|
be <I>desolate for ever,</I> and we shall learn to look upon it with a
|
|
holy contempt. Observe here, When we have been reading the word of God
|
|
it becomes us to direct to him whose word it is a humble believing
|
|
acknowledgment of the truth, equity, and goodness, of what we have
|
|
read.
|
|
|
|
5. He must then tie a stone to the book and throw it into the midst of
|
|
the river Euphrates, as a confirming sign of the things contained in
|
|
it, saying, "<I>Thus shall Babylon sink, and not rise;</I> for they
|
|
<I>shall be weary,</I> they shall perfectly succumb, as men tired with
|
|
a burden, under the load of <I>the evil that I will bring upon
|
|
them,</I> which they shall never shake off, nor get from under,"
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Jer+51:53,64"><I>v.</I> 53, 64</A>.
|
|
|
|
In the sign it was the stone that sunk the book, which otherwise would
|
|
have swum. But in <I>the thing signified</I> it was rather the book
|
|
that sunk the stone; it was the divine sentence passed upon Babylon in
|
|
this prophecy that sunk that city, which seemed <I>as firm as a
|
|
stone.</I> The fall of the New-Testament Babylon was represented by
|
|
something like this, but much more magnificent,
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Re+18:21">Rev. xviii. 21</A>.
|
|
|
|
<I>A mighty angel cast a great millstone into the sea, saying, Thus
|
|
shall Babylon fall.</I> Those that sink under the weight of God's wrath
|
|
and curse sink irrecoverably. The last words of the chapter seal up the
|
|
vision and prophecy of this book: <I>Thus far are the words of
|
|
Jeremiah.</I> Not that this prophecy against Babylon was the last of
|
|
his prophecies; for it was dated in the <I>fourth</I> year of Zedekiah
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Jer+51:59"><I>v.</I> 59</A>),
|
|
|
|
long before he finished his testimony; but this is recorded last of his
|
|
prophecies because it was to be last accomplished of all his prophecies
|
|
against the Gentiles,
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Jer+46:1"><I>ch.</I> xlvi. 1</A>.
|
|
|
|
And the chapter which remains is purely historical, and, as some think,
|
|
was added by some other hand.</P>
|
|
|
|
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