{"commentary":{"id":"jamieson-fausset-brown","name":"Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary","website":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jamieson-Fausset-Brown_Bible_Commentary","licenseUrl":"https://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/mark/1.0/","licenseNotes":null,"licenseNotice":null,"englishName":"Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary","language":"eng","textDirection":"rtl","sha256":"db3d4c8b3c1f32ef9d1430a57392e02bda3a17aac1f9bbe398461de021a3cb13","availableFormats":["json"],"listOfBooksApiLink":"/api/c/jamieson-fausset-brown/books.json","listOfProfilesApiLink":"/api/c/jamieson-fausset-brown/profiles.json","numberOfBooks":66,"totalNumberOfChapters":1187,"totalNumberOfVerses":17056,"totalNumberOfProfiles":0,"languageName":"English","languageEnglishName":"English"},"book":{"id":"JER","commentaryId":"jamieson-fausset-brown","name":"Jeremiah","commonName":"Jeremiah","introduction":"JEREMIAH, son of Hilkiah, one of the ordinary priests, dwelling in Anathoth of Benjamin (Jer 1:1), not the Hilkiah the high priest who discovered the book of the law (Kg2 22:8); had he been the same, the designation would have been \"the priest\", or \"the high priest\". Besides, his residence at Anathoth shows that he belonged to the line of Abiathar, who was deposed from the high priesthood by Solomon (Kg1 2:26-35), after which the office remained in Zadok's line. Mention occurs of Jeremiah in Ch2 35:25; Ch2 36:12, Ch2 36:21. In 629 B.C. the thirteenth year of King Josiah, while still very young (Jer 1:5), he received his prophetical call in Anathoth (Jer 1:2); and along with Hilkiah the high priest, the prophetess Huldah, and the prophet Zephaniah, he helped forward Josiah's reformation of religion (2Ki. 23:1-25). Among the first charges to him was one that he should go and proclaim God's message in Jerusalem (Jer 2:2). He also took an official tour to announce to the cities of Judah the contents of the book of the law, found in the temple (Jer 11:6) five years after his call to prophesy. On his return to Anathoth, his countrymen, offended at his reproofs, conspired against his life. To escape their persecutions (Jer 11:21), as well as those of his own family (Jer 12:6), he left Anathoth and resided at Jerusalem. During the eighteen years of his ministry in Josiah's reign he was unmolested; also during the three months of Jehoahaz or Shallum's reign (Jer 22:10-12). On Jehoiakim's accession it became evident that Josiah's reformation effected nothing more than a forcible repression of idolatry and the establishment of the worship of God outwardly. The priests, prophets, and people then brought Jeremiah before the authorities, urging that he should be put to death for his denunciations of evil against the city (Jer 26:8-11). The princes, however, especially Ahikam, interposed in his behalf (Jer 26:16, Jer 26:24), but he was put under restraint, or at least deemed it prudent not to appear in public. In the fourth year of Jehoiakim (606 B.C.), he was commanded to write the predictions given orally through him, and to read them to the people. Being \"shut up\", he could not himself go into the house of the Lord (Jer 36:5); he therefore deputed Baruch, his amanuensis, to read them in public on the fast day. The princes thereupon advised Baruch and Jeremiah to hide themselves from the king's displeasure. Meanwhile they read the roll to the king, who was so enraged that he cut it with a knife and threw it into the fire; at the same time giving orders for the apprehension of the prophet and Baruch. They escaped Jehoiakim's violence, which had already killed the prophet Urijah (Jer 26:20-23). Baruch rewrote the words, with additional prophecies, on another roll (Jer 36:27-32). In the three months' reign of Jehoiachin or Jeconiah, he prophesied the carrying away of the king and the queen mother (Jer 13:18; Jer 22:24-30; compare Kg2 24:12). In this reign he was imprisoned for a short time by Pashur (Jer. 20:1-18), the chief governor of the Lord's house; but at Zedekiah's accession he was free (Jer 37:4), for the king sent to him to \"inquire of the Lord\" when Nebuchadnezzar came up against Jerusalem (Jer 21:1-3, &c.; Jer 37:3). The Chaldeans drew off on hearing of the approach of Pharaoh's army (Jer 37:5); but Jeremiah warned the king that the Egyptians would forsake him, and the Chaldeans return and burn up the city (Jer 37:7-8). The princes, irritated at this, made the departure of Jeremiah from the city during the respite a pretext for imprisoning him, on the allegation of his deserting to the Chaldeans (Jer 38:1-5). He would have been left to perish in the dungeon of Malchiah, but for the intercession of Ebed-melech, the Ethiopian (Jer 38:6-13). Zedekiah, though he consulted Jeremiah in secret yet was induced by his princes to leave Jeremiah in prison (Jer 38:14-28) until Jerusalem was taken. Nebuchadnezzar directed his captain, Nebuzar-adan, to give him his freedom, so that he might either go to Babylon or stay with the remnant of his people as he chose. As a true patriot, notwithstanding the forty and a half years during which his country had repaid his services with neglect and persecution, he stayed with Gedaliah, the ruler appointed by Nebuchadnezzar over Judea (Jer 40:6). After the murder of Gedaliah by Ishmael, Johanan, the recognized ruler of the people, in fear of the Chaldeans avenging the murder of Gedaliah, fled with the people to Egypt, and forced Jeremiah and Baruch to accompany him, in spite of the prophet's warning that the people should perish if they went to Egypt, but be preserved by remaining in their land (Jer. 41:1-43:13). At Tahpanhes, a boundary city on the Tanitic or Pelustan branch of the Nile, he prophesied the overthrow of Egypt (Jer 43:8-13). Tradition says he died in Egypt. According to the PSEUDO-EPIPHANIUS, he was stoned at TaphnÃ&brvbr or Tahpanhes. The Jews so venerated him that they believed he would rise from the dead and be the forerunner of Messiah (Mat 16:14).\n\nHAVERNICK observes that the combination of features in Jeremiah's character proves his divine mission; mild, timid, and susceptible of melancholy, yet intrepid in the discharge of his prophetic functions, not sparing the prince any more than the meanest of his subjects--the Spirit of prophecy controlling his natural temper and qualifying him for his hazardous undertaking, without doing violence to his individuality. Zephaniah, Habakkuk, Daniel, and Ezekiel were his contemporaries. The last forms a good contrast to Jeremiah, the Spirit in his case acting on a temperament as strongly marked by firmness as Jeremiah's was by shrinking and delicate sensitiveness. Ezekiel views the nation's sins as opposed to righteousness--Jeremiah, as productive of misery; the former takes the objective, the latter the subjective, view of the evils of the times. Jeremiah's style corresponds to his character: he is peculiarly marked by pathos, and sympathy with the wretched; his Lamentations illustrate this; the whole series of elegies has but one object--to express sorrow for his fallen country; yet the lights and images in which he presents this are so many, that the reader, so far from feeling it monotonous, is charmed with the variety of the plaintive strains throughout. The language is marked by AramÃ&brvbrisms, which probably was the ground of JEROME'S charge that the style is \"rustic\". LOWTH denies the charge and considers him in portions not inferior to Isaiah. His heaping of phrase on phrase, the repetition of stereotyped forms--and these often three times--are due to his affected feelings and to his desire to intensify the expression of them; he is at times more concise, energetic, and sublime, especially against foreign nations, and in the rhythmical parts.\n\nThe principle of the arrangement of his prophecies is hard to ascertain. The order of kings was--Josiah (under whom he prophesied eighteen years), Jehoahaz (three months), Jehoiakim (eleven years), Jeconiah (three months), Zedekiah (eleven years). But his prophecies under Josiah (the first through twentieth chapters) are immediately followed by a portion under Zedekiah (the twenty-first chapter). Again, Jer 24:8-10, as to Zedekiah, comes in the midst of the section as to Jehoahaz, Jehoiakim, and Jeconiah (the twenty-second, twenty-third, twenty-fifth chapters, &c.) So the thirty-fifth and thirty-sixth chapters as to Jehoiakim, follow the twenty-seventh, twenty-eighth, twenty-ninth, thirty-third, thirty-fourth chapters, as to Zedekiah; and the forty-fifth chapter, dated the fourth year of Jehoiakim, comes after predictions as to the Jews who fled to Egypt after the overthrow of Jerusalem. EWALD thinks the present arrangement substantially Jeremiah's own; the various portions are prefaced by the same formula, \"The word which came to Jeremiah from the Lord\" (Jer 7:1; Jer 11:1; Jer 18:1; Jer 21:1; Jer 25:1; Jer 30:1; Jer 32:1; Jer 34:1, Jer 34:8; Jer 35:1; Jer 40:1; Jer 44:1; compare Jer 14:1; Jer 46:1; Jer 47:1; Jer 49:34). Notes of time mark other divisions more or less historical (Jer 26:1; Jer 27:1; Jer 36:1; Jer 37:1). Two other portions are distinct of themselves (Jer 29:1; Jer 45:1). The second chapter has the shorter introduction which marks the beginning of a strophe; the third chapter seems imperfect, having as the introduction merely \"saying\" (Jer 3:1, Hebrew). Thus in the poetical parts, there are twenty-three sections divided into strophes of from seven to nine verses, marked some way thus, \"The Lord said also unto me\". They form five books: I. The Introduction, first chapter II. Reproofs of the Jews, the second through twenty-fourth chapters, made up of seven sections: (1) the second chapter (2) the third through sixth chapters; (3) the seventh through tenth chapters; (4) the eleventh through thirteenth chapters; (5) the fourteenth through seventeenth chapters; (6) the seventeenth through nineteenth and twentieth chapters; (7) the twenty-first through twenty-fourth chapters. III. Review of all nations in two sections: the twenty-fifth and twenty-sixth through forty-ninth chapters, with a historical appendix of three sections, (1) the twenty-sixth chapter; (2) the twenty-seventh chapter; (3) the twenty-eighth and twenty-ninth chapters. IV. Two sections picturing the hopes of brighter times, (1) the thirtieth and thirty-first chapters; (2) the thirty-second and thirty-third chapters; and an historical appendix in three sections: (1) Jer 34:1-7; (2) Jer 34:8-22; (3) Jer. 35:1-19. V. The conclusion, in two sections: (1) Jer 36:2; (2) Jer 45:1-5. Subsequently, in Egypt, he added Jer 46:13-26 to the previous prophecy as to Egypt; also the three sections, the thirty-seventh through thirty-ninth chapters; fortieth through forty-third chapters; and forty-fourth chapter. The fifty-second chapter was probably (see Jer 51:64) an appendix from a later hand, taken from Kg2 24:18, &c.; Kg2 25:30. The prophecies against the several foreign nations stand in a different order in the Hebrew from that of the Septuagint; also the prophecies against them in the Hebrew (the forty-sixth through fifty-first chapters) are in the Septuagint placed after Jer 25:14, forming the twenty-sixth and thirty-first chapters; the remainder of the twenty-fifth chapter of the Hebrew is the thirty-second chapter of the Septuagint. Some passages in the Hebrew (Jer 27:19-22; Jer 33:14-26; Jer 39:4-14 Jer 48:45-47) are not found in the Septuagint; the Greek translators must have had a different recension before them; probably an earlier one. The Hebrew is probably the latest and fullest edition from Jeremiah's own hand. See on Jer 25:13. The canonicity of his prophecies is established by quotations of them in the New Testament (see Mat 2:17; Mat 16:14; Heb 8:8-12; on Mat 27:9, see on Introduction to Zechariah); also by the testimony of Ecclesiasticus 49:7, which quotes Jer 1:10; of PHILO, who quotes his word as an \"oracle\"; and of the list of canonical books in MELITO, ORIGEN, JEROME, and the Talmud. \n\n\n\nNext: Jeremiah Chapter 1\n\n","order":24,"numberOfChapters":52,"sha256":"c78e13c74a2800611f22cb60aa103f8a8343344fc49d4e0043f00d5c7e483f21","firstChapterNumber":1,"firstChapterApiLink":"/api/c/jamieson-fausset-brown/JER/1.json","firstChapterReference":{"commentaryId":"jamieson-fausset-brown","book":"JER","chapter":1},"lastChapterNumber":52,"lastChapterApiLink":"/api/c/jamieson-fausset-brown/JER/52.json","lastChapterReference":{"commentaryId":"jamieson-fausset-brown","book":"JER","chapter":52},"totalNumberOfVerses":1164},"chapter":{"number":51,"content":[{"type":"verse","number":2,"content":["fanners--(See on Jer 15:7). The farmers separate the wheat from the chaff; so God's judgments shall sweep away guilty Babylon as chaff (Psa 1:4).\n\n"]},{"type":"verse","number":3,"content":["Against him that bendeth--namely, the bow; that is, the Babylonian archer. \n\nlet the archer bend--that is, the Persian archer (Jer 50:4). The Chaldean version and JEROME, by changing the vowel points, read, \"Let not him (the Babylonian) who bendeth his bow bend it.\" But the close of the verse is addressed to the Median invaders; therefore it is more likely that the first part of the verse is addressed to them, as in English Version, not to the Babylonians, to warn them against resistance as vain, as in the Chaldean version. The word \"bend\" is thrice repeated: \"Against him that bendeth let him that bendeth bend,\" to imply the utmost straining of the bow.\n\n"]},{"type":"verse","number":4,"content":["(See on Jer 49:26; Jer 50:30; Jer 50:37).\n\n"]},{"type":"verse","number":5,"content":["forsaken--as a widow (Hebrew). Israel is not severed from her husband, Jehovah (Isa 54:5-7), by a perpetual divorce. \n\nthough . . . sin--though the land of Israel has been filled with sin, that is, with the punishment of their sin, devastation. But, as the Hebrew means \"for,\" or \"and therefore,\" not \"though,\" translate, \"and therefore their (the Chaldeans') land has been filled with (the penal consequences of) their sin\" [GROTIUS].\n\n"]},{"type":"verse","number":6,"content":["Warning to the Israelite captives to flee from Babylon, lest they should be involved in the punishment of her \"iniquity.\" So as to spiritual Babylon and her captives (Rev 18:4).\n\n"]},{"type":"verse","number":7,"content":["Babylon is compared to a cup, because she was the vessel in the hand of God, to make drunken with His vengeance the other peoples (Jer 13:12; Jer 25:15-16). Compare as to spiritual Babylon, Rev 14:8; Rev 17:4. The cup is termed \"golden,\" to express the splendor and opulence of Babylon; whence also in the image seen by Nebuchadnezzar (Dan 2:38) the head representing Babylon is of gold (compare Isa 14:4).\n\n"]},{"type":"verse","number":8,"content":["Her friends and confederates, who behold her fall, are invited to her aid. They reply, her case is incurable, and that they must leave her to her fate. (Isa 21:9; Rev 14:8; Rev 18:2, Rev 18:9). \n\nbalm-- (Jer 8:22; Jer 46:11).\n\n"]},{"type":"verse","number":9,"content":["We would have healed--We attempted to heal. \n\nher judgment--her crimes provoking God's \"judgments\" [GROTIUS]. \n\nreacheth unto heaven-- (Gen 18:21; Jon 1:2; Rev 18:5). Even the heathen nations perceive that her awful fall must be God's judgment for her crying sins (Psa 9:16; Psa 64:9).\n\n"]},{"type":"verse","number":10,"content":["Next after the speech of the confederates of Babylon, comes that of the Jews celebrating with thanksgivings the promise-keeping faithfulness of their covenant God. \n\nbrought forth, &c.-- (Psa 37:6). \n\nour righteousness--not the Jews' merits, but God's faithfulness to Himself and to His covenant, which constituted the \"righteousness\" of His people, that is, their justification in their controversy with Babylon, the cruel enemy of God and His people. Compare Jer 23:6, \"The Lord our righteousness\"; Mic 7:9. Their righteousness is His righteousness. \n\ndeclare in Zion-- (Psa 102:13-21).\n\n"]},{"type":"verse","number":11,"content":["Make bright--literally, \"pure.\" Polish and sharpen. \n\ngather--literally, \"fill\"; that is, gather in full number, so that none be wanting. So, \"gave in full tale\" (Sa1 18:27). GESENIUS, not so well, translates, \"Fill with your bodies the shields\" (compare Sol 4:4). He means to tell the Babylonians, Make what preparations you will, all will be in vain (compare Jer 46:3-6). \n\nkings of . . . Medes--He names the Medes rather than the Persians, because Darius, or Cyaxares, was above Cyrus in power and the greatness of his kingdom. \n\ntemple-- (Jer 50:28).\n\n"]},{"type":"verse","number":12,"content":["With all your efforts, your city shall be taken. \n\nstandard--to summon the defenders together to any point threatened by the besiegers.\n\n"]},{"type":"verse","number":13,"content":["waters-- (Jer 51:32, Jer 51:36; see on Isa 21:1). The Euphrates surrounded the city and, being divided into many channels, formed islands. Compare as to spiritual Babylon \"waters,\" that is, \"many peoples,\" Rev 17:1, Rev 17:15. A large lake also was near Babylon. \n\nmeasure--literally, \"cubit,\" which was the most common measure, and therefore is used for a measure in general. The time for putting a limit to thy covetousness [GESENIUS]. There is no \"and\" in the Hebrew: translate, \"thine end, the retribution for thy covetousness\" [GROTIUS]. MAURER takes the image to be from weaving: \"the cubit where thou art to be cut off\"; for the web is cut off, when the required number of cubits is completed (Isa 38:12).\n\n"]},{"type":"verse","number":14,"content":["by himself--literally, \"by His soul\" (Sa2 15:21; Heb 6:13). \n\nfill . . . with caterpillars--locusts (Nah 3:15). Numerous as are the citizens of Babylon, the invaders shall be more numerous.\n\n"]},{"type":"verse","number":15,"content":["Repeated from Jer 10:12-16; except that \"Israel\" is not in the Hebrew of Jer 51:19, which ought, therefore, to be translated, \"He is the Former of all things, and (therefore) of the rod of His inheritance\" (that is, of the nation peculiarly His own). In the tenth chapter the contrast is between the idols and God; here it is between the power of populous Babylon and that of God: \"Thou dwellest upon many waters\" (Jer 51:13); but God can, by merely \"uttering His voice,\" create \"many waters\" (Jer 51:16). The \"earth\" (in its material aspect) is the result of His \"power\"; the \"world\" (viewed in its orderly system) is the result of His \"wisdom,\" &c. (Jer 51:15). Such an Almighty Being can be at no loss for resources to effect His purpose against Babylon.\n\n"]},{"type":"verse","number":20,"content":["(See on Jer 50:23). \"Break in pieces\" refers to the \"hammer\" there (compare Nah 2:1, Margin). The club also was often used by ancient warriors.\n\n"]},{"type":"verse","number":22,"content":["old and young-- (Ch2 36:17).\n\n"]},{"type":"verse","number":24,"content":["The detail of particulars (Jer 51:20-23) is in order to express the indiscriminate slaughters perpetrated by Babylon on Zion, which, in just retribution, are all to befall her in turn (Jer 50:15, Jer 50:29). \n\nin your sight--addressed to the Jews.\n\n"]},{"type":"verse","number":25,"content":["destroying mountain--called so, not from its position, for it lay low (Jer 51:13; Gen 11:2, Gen 11:9), but from its eminence above other nations, many of which it had \"destroyed\"; also, because of its lofty palaces, towers, hanging gardens resting on arches, and walls, fifty royal cubits broad and two hundred high. \n\nroll thee down from the rocks--that is, from thy rock-like fortifications and walls. \n\nburnt mountain-- (Rev 8:8). A volcano, which, after having spent itself in pouring its \"destroying\" lava on all the country around, falls into the vacuum and becomes extinct, the surrounding \"rocks\" alone marking where the crater had been. Such was the appearance of Babylon after its destruction, and as the pumice stones of the volcano are left in their place, being unfit for building, so Babylon should never rise from its ruins.\n\n"]},{"type":"verse","number":26,"content":["corner . . . stone . . . foundations--The corner-stone was the most important one in the building, the foundation-stones came next in importance (Eph 2:20). So the sense is, even as there shall be no stones useful for building left of thee, so no leading prince, or governors, shall come forth from thy inhabitants.\n\n"]},{"type":"verse","number":27,"content":["(Jer 50:29). As in Jer 51:12 the Babylonians were told to \"set up the standard,\" so here her foes are told to do so: the latter, to good purpose; the former, in vain. \n\nArarat--Upper or Major Armenia, the regions about Mount Ararat. \n\nMinni--Lower or Lesser Armenia. RAWLINSON says that Van was the capital of Minni. It was conquered by Tettarrassa, the general of Tetembar II, the Assyrian king whose wars are recorded on the black obelisk now in the British Museum. \n\nAshchenaz--a descendant of Japheth (Gen 10:3), who gave his name to the sea now called the Black Sea; the region bordering on it is probably here meant, namely, Asia Minor, including places named Ascania in Phrygia and Bithynia. Cyrus had subdued Asia Minor and the neighboring regions, and from these he drew levies in proceeding against Babylon. \n\nrough caterpillars--The horsemen in multitude, and in appearance bristling with javelins and with crests, resemble \"rough caterpillars,\" or locusts of the hairy-crested kind (Nah 3:15).\n\n"]},{"type":"verse","number":28,"content":["kings of . . . Medes-- (Jer 51:11). The satraps and tributary kings under Darius, or Cyaxares. \n\nhis dominion--the king of Media's dominion. \n\nland shall tremble . . . every purpose of . . . Lord shall be performed--elegant antithesis between the trembling of the land or earth, and the stability of \"every purpose of the Lord\" (compare Psa 46:1-3).\n\n"]},{"type":"verse","number":30,"content":["forborne to fight--for the city was not taken by force of arms, but by stratagem, according to the counsel given to Cyrus by two eunuchs of Belshazzar who deserted. \n\nremained in . . . holds--not daring to go forth to fight; many, with Nabonidus, withdrew to the fortified city Borsippa.\n\n"]},{"type":"verse","number":31,"content":["(See on Jer 50:24). \n\nOne post--One courier after another shall announce the capture of the city. The couriers despatched from the walls, where Cyrus enters, shall \"meet\" those sent by the king. Their confused running to and fro would result from the sudden panic at the entrance of Cyrus into the city, which he had so long besieged ineffectually; the Babylonians had laughed at his attempts and were feasting at the time without fear. \n\ntaken at one end--which was not known for a long time to the king and his courtiers feasting in the middle of the city; so great was its extent that, when the city was already three days in the enemy's hands, the fact was not known in some parts of the city [ARISTOTLE, Politics, 3.2].\n\n"]},{"type":"verse","number":32,"content":["passages are stopped--The guarded fords of the Euphrates are occupied by the enemy (see on Jer 50:38). \n\nreeds . . . burned--literally, \"the marsh.\" After draining off the river, Cyrus \"burned\" the stockade of dense tree-like \"reeds\" on its banks, forming the outworks of the city's fortifications. The burning of these would give the appearance of the marsh or river itself being on \"fire.\"\n\n"]},{"type":"verse","number":33,"content":["like a threshing-floor, it is time to thresh her--rather, \"like a threshing-floor at the time of threshing,\" or \"at the time when it is trodden.\" The treading, or threshing, here put before the harvest, out of the natural order, because the prominent thought is the treading down or destruction of Babylon. In the East the treading out of the corn took place only at harvest-time. Babylon is like a threshing-floor not trodden for a long time; but the time of harvest, when her citizens shall be trodden under foot, shall come [CALVIN]. \"Like a threshing-floor full of corn, so is Babylon now full of riches, but the time of harvest shall come, when all her prosperity shall be cut off\" [LUDOVICUS DE DIEU]. GROTIUS distinguishes the \"harvest\" from the \"threshing\"; the former is the slaying of her citizens, the latter the pillaging and destruction of the city (compare Joe 3:13; Rev 14:15, Rev 14:18).\n\n"]},{"type":"verse","number":34,"content":["me--Zion speaks. Her groans are what bring down retribution in kind on Babylon (Jer 50:17; Psa 102:13, Psa 102:17, Psa 102:20). \n\nempty vessel--He has drained me out. \n\ndragon--The serpent often \"swallows\" its prey whole; or a sea monster [GROTIUS]. \n\nfilled his belly . . . cast me out--like a beast, which, having \"filled\" himself to satiety, \"casts out\" the rest [CALVIN]. After filling all his storehouses with my goods, he has cast me out of this land [GROTIUS].\n\n"]},{"type":"verse","number":35,"content":["my flesh--which Nebuchadnezzar hath \"devoured\" (Jer 51:34). Zion thus calls her kinsmen (Rom 11:14) slain throughout the country or carried captives to Babylon [GROTIUS]. Or, as \"my blood\" follows, it and \"my flesh\" constitute the whole man: Zion, in its totality, its citizens and all its substance, have been a prey to Babylon's violence (Psa 137:8).\n\n"]},{"type":"verse","number":36,"content":["plead . . . cause-- (Jer 50:34). \n\nsea--the Euphrates (Jer 51:13; Jer 50:38). Compare Isa 19:5, \"sea,\" that is, the Nile (Isa 21:1).\n\n"]},{"type":"verse","number":37,"content":["(Jer 50:26, Jer 50:39; Rev 18:2).\n\n"]},{"type":"verse","number":38,"content":["The capture of Babylon was effected on the night of a festival in honor of its idols. \n\nroar . . . yell--The Babylonians were shouting in drunken revelry (compare Dan 5:4).\n\n"]},{"type":"verse","number":39,"content":["In their heat I will make their feasts--In the midst of their being heated with wine, I will give them \"their\" potions,--a very different cup to drink, but one which is their due, the wine cup of My stupefying wrath (Jer 25:15; Jer 49:12; Isa 51:17; Lam 4:21). \n\nrejoice, and sleep . . . perpetual, &c.--that they may exult, and in the midst of their jubilant exultation sleep the sleep of death (Jer 51:57; Isa 21:4-5).\n\n"]},{"type":"verse","number":41,"content":["Sheshach--Babylon (compare Note, see Jer 25:26); called so from the goddess Shach, to whom a five days' festival was kept, during which, as in the Roman Saturnalia, the most unbridled licentiousness was permitted; slaves ruled their masters, and in every house one called Zogan, arrayed in a royal garment, was chosen to rule all the rest. He calls Babylon \"Sheshach,\" to imply that it was during this feast the city was taken [SCALIGER].\n\n"]},{"type":"verse","number":42,"content":["The sea--the host of Median invaders. The image (compare Jer 47:2; Isa 8:7-8) is appropriately taken from the Euphrates, which, overflowing in spring, is like a \"sea\" near Babylon (Jer 51:13, Jer 51:32, Jer 51:36).\n\n"]},{"type":"verse","number":43,"content":["Her cities--the cities, her dependencies. So, \"Jerusalem and the cities thereof\" (Jer 34:1). Or, the \"cities\" are the inner and outer cities, the two parts into which Babylon was divided by the Euphrates [GROTIUS].\n\n"]},{"type":"verse","number":44,"content":["Bel . . . swallowed--in allusion to the many sacrifices to the idol which its priests pretended it swallowed at night; or rather, the precious gifts taken from other nations and offered to it (which it is said to have \"swallowed\"; compare \"devoured,\" \"swallowed,\" Jer 51:34; Jer 50:17), which it should have to disgorge (compare Jer 51:13; Jer 50:37). Of these gifts were the vessels of Jehovah's temple in Jerusalem (Ch2 36:7; Dan 1:2). The restoration of these, as foretold here, is recorded in Ezr 1:7-11. \n\nflow--as a river; fitly depicting the influx of pilgrims of all \"nations\" to the idol.\n\n"]},{"type":"verse","number":45,"content":["(See on Jer 51:6).\n\n"]},{"type":"verse","number":46,"content":["And lest--Compare, for the same ellipsis, Gen 3:22; Exo 13:17; Deu 8:12. \"And in order that your heart may not faint at the (first) rumor\" (of war), I will give you some intimation of the time. In the first \"year\" there shall \"come a rumor\" that Cyrus is preparing for war against Babylon. \"After that, in another year, shall come a rumor,\" namely, that Cyrus is approaching, and has already entered Assyria. Then is your time to \"go out\" (Jer 51:45). Babylon was taken the following or third year of Belshazzar's reign [GROTIUS]. \n\nviolence in the land--of Babylon (Psa 7:16). \n\nruler against ruler--or, \"ruler upon ruler,\" a continual change of rulers in a short space. Belshazzar and Nabonidus, supplanted by Darius or Cyaxares, who is succeeded by Cyrus.\n\n"]},{"type":"verse","number":47,"content":["GROTIUS translates, \"Because then (namely, on the third year) the time shall have come that,\" &c. \n\nconfounded--at seeing their gods powerless to help them. \n\nher slain--in retribution for \"Israel's slain\" (Jer 51:49) who fell by her hand. GROTIUS translates, \"her dancers,\" as in Jdg 21:21, Jdg 21:23; Sa1 18:6, the same Hebrew word is translated, alluding to the dancing revelry of the festival during which Cyrus took Babylon.\n\n"]},{"type":"verse","number":48,"content":["heaven . . . earth . . . sing for Babylon-- (Isa 14:7-13; Isa 44:23; Rev 18:20).\n\n"]},{"type":"verse","number":49,"content":["caused . . . to fall--literally, \"has been for the falling,\" that is, as Babylon made this its one aim to fill all places with the slain of Israel, so at Babylon shall all the slain of that whole land (not as English Version, \"of all the earth\") [MAURER]. HENDERSON translates, \"Babylon also shall fall, ye slain of Israel. Those also of Babylon shall fall, O ye slain of all the earth.\" But, \"in the midst of her,\" Jer 51:47, plainly answers to \"at Babylon,\" Jer 51:49, English Version.\n\n"]},{"type":"verse","number":50,"content":["escaped . . . sword--namely, of the Medes. So great will be the slaughter that even some of God's people shall be involved in it, as they had deserved. \n\nafar off--though ye are banished far off from where ye used formerly to worship God. \n\nlet Jerusalem come into your mind--While in exile remember your temple and city, so as to prefer them to all the rest of the world wherever ye may be (Isa 62:6).\n\n"]},{"type":"verse","number":51,"content":["The prophet anticipates the Jews' reply; I know you will say in despair, \"We are confounded,\" &c. \"Wherefore (God saith to you) behold, I will,\" &c. (Jer 51:52) [CALVIN]. I prefer taking Jer 51:51 as the prayer which the Jews are directed to offer in exile (Jer 51:50), \"let Jerusalem come into your mind\" (and say in prayer to God), \"We are confounded.\" This view is confirmed by Psa 44:15-16; Psa 79:4; Psa 102:17-20; Isa 62:6-7. \n\nfor strangers--The \"reproach,\" which especially has stung us, came when they taunted us with the fact that they had burned the temple, our peculiar glory, as though our religion was a thing of naught.\n\n"]},{"type":"verse","number":52,"content":["Wherefore--because of these sighs of the Jews directed to God (Jer 51:21). \n\nI . . . judgment upon . . . images--in opposition to the Babylonian taunt that Jehovah's religion was a thing of naught, since they had burned His temple (Jer 51:51): I will show that, though I have thus visited the Jews neglect of Me, yet those gods of Babylon cannot save themselves, much less their votaries, who shall \"through all her land\" lie and \"groan\" with wounds.\n\n"]},{"type":"verse","number":53,"content":["We are not to measure God's power by what seems to our perceptions natural or probable. Compare Oba 1:4 as to Edom (Amo 9:2).\n\n"]},{"type":"verse","number":55,"content":["great voice--Where once was the great din of a mighty city. there shall be the silence of death [VATABLUS]. Or, the \"great voice\" of the revellers (Jer 51:38-39; Isa 22:2). Or, the voice of mighty boasting [CALVIN], (compare Jer 51:53). \n\nher waves--\"when\" her calamities shall cause her to give forth a widely different \"voice,\" even such a one as the waves give that lash the shores (Jer 51:42) [GROTIUS]. Or, \"when\" is connected thus: \"the great voice\" in her, when her \"waves,\" &c. (compare Jer 51:13). CALVIN translates, \"their waves,\" that is, the Medes bursting on her as impetuous waves; so Jer 51:42. But the parallel, \"a great voice,\" belongs to her, therefore the wave-like \"roar\" of \"their voice\" ought also belong to her (compare Jer 51:54). The \"great voice\" of commercial din, boasting, and feasting, is \"destroyed\"; but in its stead there is the wave-like roar of her voice in her \"destruction\" (Jer 51:54).\n\n"]},{"type":"verse","number":56,"content":["taken--when they were least expecting it, and in such a way that resistance was impossible.\n\n"]},{"type":"verse","number":57,"content":["(Jer 51:39; Dan 5:1, &c.).\n\n"]},{"type":"verse","number":58,"content":["broad walls--eighty-seven feet broad [ROSENMULLER]; fifty cubits [GROTIUS]. A chariot of four horses abreast could meet another on it without collision. The walls were two hundred cubits high, and four hundred and eighty-five stadia, or sixty miles in extent. \n\ngates--one hundred in number, of brass; twenty-five on each of the four sides, the city being square; between the gates were two hundred and fifty towers. BEROSUS says triple walls encompassed the outer, and the same number the inner city. Cyrus caused the outer walls to be demolished. Taking the extent of the walls to be three hundred and sixty-five stadia, as DIODORUS states, it is said two hundred thousand men completed a stadium each day, so that the whole was completed in one year. \n\nlabour . . . in the fire--The event will show that the builders of the walls have \"labored\" only for the \"fire\" in which they shall be consumed, \"In the fire\" answers to the parallel, \"burned with fire.\" Translate, \"shall have labored in vain,\" &c. Compare Job 3:14, \"built desolate places for themselves,\" that is, grand places, soon about to be desolate ruins. Jeremiah has in view here Hab 2:13.\n\n"]},{"type":"verse","number":59,"content":["A special copy of the prophecy prepared by Jeremiah was delivered to Seraiah, to console the Jews in their Babylonian exile. Though he was to throw it into the Euphrates, a symbol of Babylon's fate, no doubt he retained the substance in memory, so as to be able orally to communicate it to his countrymen. \n\nwent with Zedekiah--rather, \"in behalf of Zedekiah\"; sent by Zedekiah to appease Nebuchadnezzar's anger at his revolt [CALVIN]. \n\nfourth year--so that Jeremiah's prediction of Babylon's downfall was thus solemnly written and sealed by a symbolical action, six whole years before the capture of Jerusalem by the Babylonians. \n\nquiet prince--Compare Ch1 22:9, \"a man of rest.\" Seraiah was not one of the courtiers hostile to God's prophets, but \"quiet\" and docile; ready to execute Jeremiah's commission, notwithstanding the risk attending it. GLASSIUS translates, \"prince of Menuchah\" (compare Ch1 2:52, Margin). MAURER translates, \"commander of the caravan,\" on whom it devolved to appoint the resting-place for the night. English Version suits the context best.\n\n"]},{"type":"verse","number":61,"content":["read--not in public, for the Chaldeans would not have understood Hebrew; but in private, as is to be inferred from his addressing himself altogether to God (Jer 51:62) [CALVIN].\n\n"]},{"type":"verse","number":62,"content":["O Lord, thou--and not merely Jeremiah or any man is the author of this prophecy; I therefore here in Thy presence embrace as true all that I read.\n\n"]},{"type":"verse","number":63,"content":["bind a stone, &c.-- (Rev 18:21). So the Phoceans in leaving their country, when about to found Marseilles, threw lead into the sea, binding themselves not to return till the lead should swim.\n\n"]},{"type":"verse","number":64,"content":["they shall be weary--The Babylonians shall be worn out, so as not to be able to recover their strength. \n\nThus far . . . Jeremiah--Hence it is to be inferred that the last chapter is not included in Jeremiah's writings but was added by some inspired man, mainly at 2Ki. 24:18-25:30 to explain and confirm what precedes [CALVIN].\n\n(See on Jer 51:64). Jeremiah, having already (thirty-ninth and fortieth chapters) given the history in the proper place, was not likely to repeat it here. Its canonical authority as inspired is shown by its being in the Septuagint version. It contains the capture and burning of Jerusalem, &c., Zedekiah's punishment, and the better treatment of Jehoiachin under Evil-merodach, down to his death. These last events were probably subsequent to Jeremiah's time.\n\n\n\n\nNext: Jeremiah Chapter 52\n\n"]}],"introduction":"CONTINUATION OF THE PROPHECY AGAINST BABYLON BEGUN IN THE FIFTIETH CHAPTER. (Jer. 51:1-64)\n\nin the midst of them that rise . . . against me--literally, \"in the heart\" of them. Compare Psa 46:2, \"the midst of the sea,\" Margin; Eze 27:4, \"the heart of the seas\"; Margin; Mat 12:40. In the center of the Chaldeans. \"Against Me,\" because they persecute My people. The cabalistic mode of interpreting Hebrew words (by taking the letters in the inverse order of the alphabet, the last letter representing the first, and so on, Jer 25:26) would give the very word Chaldeans here; but the mystical method cannot be intended, as \"Babylon\" is plainly so called in the immediately preceding parallel clause. \n\nwind--God needs not warlike weapons to \"destroy\" His foes; a wind or blast is sufficient; though, no doubt, the \"wind\" here is the invading host of Medes and Persians (Jer 4:11; Kg2 19:7).\n\n"},"thisChapterLink":"/api/c/jamieson-fausset-brown/JER/51.json","thisChapterReference":{"commentaryId":"jamieson-fausset-brown","book":"JER","chapter":51},"nextChapterApiLink":"/api/c/jamieson-fausset-brown/JER/52.json","nextChapterReference":{"commentaryId":"jamieson-fausset-brown","book":"JER","chapter":52},"previousChapterApiLink":"/api/c/jamieson-fausset-brown/JER/50.json","previousChapterReference":{"commentaryId":"jamieson-fausset-brown","book":"JER","chapter":50},"numberOfVerses":53}