Destruction Of Babylon Continued

Jeremiah 50:21-40

“Go up against the land of Merathaim, even against it, and against the inhabitants of Pekod: waste and utterly destroy after them, saith the LORD, and do according to all that I have commanded thee.  A sound of battle is in the land, and of great destruction.  How is the hammer of the whole earth cut asunder and broken! how is Babylon become a desolation among the nations! 

“I have laid a snare for thee, and thou art also taken, O Babylon, and thou wast not aware: thou art found, and also caught, because thou hast striven against the LORD.  The LORD hath opened his armoury, and hath brought forth the weapons of his indignation: for this is the work of the Lord GOD of hosts in the land of the Chaldeans. Come against her from the utmost border, open her storehouses: cast her up as heaps, and destroy her utterly: let nothing of her be left.  Slay all her bullocks; let them go down to the slaughter: woe unto them! for their day is come, the time of their visitation.” (Jeremiah 50:21-28)

Merathaim and Pekod were Chaldean cities, and the Chaldeans were a major factor in the rise of Babylon under Nebuchadnezzar.  Though Babylon was the major world power of the time, God said it was to be broken up like a hammer under a cutting torch and Babylon would become a desolate desert.  The destruction of Babylon is directed By God because they have gone against God.  It is what God was going to do to the land of the Chaldeans.  Everything they held precious was to be taken, even tier prize breeding stock was to be slain. 

“The voice of them that flee and escape out of the land of Babylon, to declare in Zion the vengeance of the LORD our God, the vengeance of his temple.  Call together the archers against Babylon: all ye that bend the bow, camp against it round about; let none thereof escape: recompense her according to her work; according to all that she hath done, do unto her: for she hath been proud against the LORD, against the Holy One of Israel.  Therefore shall her young men fall in the streets, and all her men of war shall be cut off in that day, saith the LORD.

Behold, I am against thee, O thou most proud, saith the Lord GOD of hosts: for thy day is come, the time that I will visit thee.  And the most proud shall stumble and fall, and none shall raise him up: and I will kindle a fire in his cities, and it shall devour all round about him. ” (Jeremiah 50:28-32)

God’s people are to get out of Babylon to escape destruction when He judges it.  They are to return to Israel and remind the people of the judgment of God.  Because of her pride none are to escape, and the nations around them will be destroyed as well. 

“Thus saith the LORD of hosts; The children of Israel and the children of Judah were oppressed together: and all that took them captives held them fast; they refused to let them go.  Their Redeemer is strong; the LORD of hosts is his name: he shall thoroughly plead their cause, that he may give rest to the land, and disquiet the inhabitants of Babylon.” (Jeremiah 50:33-34)

Though God will use the Babylonians to punish Israel, he will not bless them for their treatment of her.  Both the nation of Israel and the nation of Judah were forcibly removed from their lands and were not allowed to return, to live or to worship God.  When the Babylonians took over the Assyrian Empire, they did not free the Assyrian captives.   The Lord is going to Act on the Jews behalf. Bringing peace to the land and upsetting the complacency of Babylon. 

  

“A sword is upon the Chaldeans, saith the LORD, and upon the inhabitants of Babylon, and upon her princes, and upon her wise men.  A sword is upon the liars; and they shall dote: a sword is upon her mighty men; and they shall be dismayed.  A sword is upon their horses, and upon their chariots, and upon all the mingled people that are in the midst of her; and they shall become as women: a sword is upon her treasures; and they shall be robbed.  A drought is upon her waters; and they shall be dried up: for it is the land of graven images, and they are mad upon their idols.  Therefore the wild beasts of the desert with the wild beasts of the islands shall dwell there, and the owls shall dwell therein: and it shall be no more inhabited for ever; neither shall it be dwelt in from generation to generation.  As God overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah and the neighbour cities thereof, saith the LORD; so shall no man abide there, neither shall any son of man dwell therein.”(Jeremiah 50:35-40)

Babylon will be conquered and lose all its power.  To dote means to be so enamored with something you cannot see its flaws and Babylon was mad about their idols and graven images.  They will be so wrapped up in their religion it leads to their destruction.   The mixed people that occupy the region will all be robbed of their wealth and there will be a major drought. 

Babylon is located along the Euphrates River and as a result just below the confluence of the Euphrates and Tigris rivers.  Revelation 16:12 describes the Euphrates River drying up during the Tribulation period.  “And the sixth angel poured out his vial upon the great river Euphrates; and the water thereof was dried up, that the way of the kings of the east might be prepared.”    The drying up of the Euphrates will be the final straw, ending Babylon’s power forever.  Babylon itself will become just a part of the desert, inhabited only by desert animals and plants.   Humans will never again occupy it,