Jeremiah 25:11, commentary and pictures

The verse foretells that Judah and the surrounding nations would be made a desolation and an astonishment and would serve the king of Babylon for seventy years, with many carried captive and the land laid waste. The sentence was pronounced in the fourth year of Jehoiakim, soon after the first captives were taken, after more than twenty years of rejected warnings and calls to repentance. The captivity was punishment for unrepented sin and refusal to heed God's word through His prophets, measured to their knowledge and warnings despised, yet the lightest a merciful God could inflict after long delaying judgment to turn them from evil. The seventy years plainly fixed the captivity from Nebuchadnezzar's first taking of Hebrews to Babylon until Cyrus, exposing as false those who promised a speedy return, and closing with deliverance for Israel and punishment upon Babylon. Daniel studied this plain testimony in books and understood in the first year of Darius the Mede that the end was near and prayed for pardon and restoration, and the same dealing continues now as God warns and reproves through chosen servants and in mercy withholds retribution for a time, but will at last visit persistent iniquity with righteous judgment.

Setting and Sentence Pronounced

Jeremiah 25:11 foretells that Judah and the surrounding nations would become a desolation and an astonishment and would serve the king of Babylon seventy years. Because Judah refused to heed the word of the Lord, many Jews would be carried captive and the whole land made desolate, with the Chaldeans used as the instrument to chastise His disobedient people. The Babylonian king serves in this way as God's instrument of judgment against the unrepentant nation.

The sentence was announced during Jehoiakim's reign, in the fourth year, very soon after the first captives were taken to Babylon in the third year. It came after more than twenty years of warnings and calls to repentance had been rejected, as a warning given before punishment came. Its awful import the multitudes who heard could scarcely understand.

The judgment would begin with Jerusalem and the cities of Judah and its kings drinking first from a cup filled with the wine of divine wrath. It would then pass to Pharaoh king of Egypt with his servants and princes and people and to many other nations of earth until God's purpose is fulfilled. Its coming is swift and total, like a potter's earthen bottle dashed to pieces in the valley of the son of Hinnom, so that people and city are broken as a vessel that cannot be made whole again, because they hardened their necks that they might not hear God's words.

Judah with Edom, Moab, Ammon, Tyre, Zidon and other nations were given to Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon and his descendants to serve for seventy years as a yoke of servitude. Nations that brought their neck under the yoke and served Babylon would be left to remain, till, and dwell in their own land. Nations that refused to serve would be consumed with sword, famine, and pestilence. The captives already in Babylon and the vessels of the Lord's house taken there would remain in Babylon until the seventy years elapsed.

The conquest unfolds through repeated invasions and captivity culminating in Jerusalem's destruction. The city would be burned, Solomon's temple destroyed, and Judah fall, with the land made desolate under Babylonian rule for the appointed seventy years.

Cause and Seventy-Year Fulfillment

The servitude of seventy years was punishment for unrepented sin, for refusing to heed the word of the Lord and continually rejecting His counsel through His prophets. The Chaldeans were the instrument by which God chastised His disobedient people. The punishment was measured in proportion to the people's intelligence and knowledge and to the warnings they had despised, and it was the lightest punishment a merciful God could inflict.

God long delayed His judgments from unwillingness to humiliate His chosen people, withholding retribution for a time in mercy. That delay was a final effort to turn them from their evil course and to check them in evil. The seventy years plainly fixed the duration of the captivity. By doing so it exposed as false the prophets in Jerusalem and in Babylon who claimed the captivity would be short and encouraged hope of speedy deliverance.

The seventy years was a predicted prophetic time period whose events were fulfilled and completed in accordance with the prediction. It runs from the time Nebuchadnezzar first took a company of Hebrews from their Judean home to Babylon to the beginning of the reign of Cyrus. It closes with judgment on Babylon after the seventy years were accomplished, when God would deliver Israel from captivity and punish their oppressors and bring the proud king of Babylon into subjection.

Daniel offered his prayer for pardon and restoration in the first year of Darius the Mede, whose general Cyrus had wrested universal rule from Babylonia and whose reign was honored of God. Gabriel was sent to confirm and to strengthen Darius. Upon the death of Darius within about two years of the fall of Babylon, Cyrus succeeded to the throne, marking the completion of the seventy years. The return and rebuilding under Artaxerxes came after the seventy-year captivity had ended, and his decree was the third decree issued since that captivity and provided for the restoration of Jerusalem and the return of Israelites who wished to serve God there.

Daniel's Study and Present Warning

The testimony that God would accomplish seventy years in the desolations of Jerusalem is very plain and recorded in the books. Daniel, still burdened in behalf of Israel, studied that testimony anew and understood from it the number of the years. In the first year of Darius the Mede after the fall of Babylon he recognized that the appointed end was nearing. He understood that the time was at hand for God to give Israel another trial. Then he offered prayer for pardon and restoration.

By that first year of Darius he understood from Jeremiah that the captivity was nearing its end. At the same time he connected with those seventy years the 2300-day period shown in his own vision. In this he mistakenly thought that the 2300 days would also end with the seventy years.

The seventy years of desolation and service to Babylon followed repeated rejection of God's counsel through His prophets. The punishment was proportioned to the people's knowledge and to the warnings they had despised, and it had been delayed in mercy as a final effort to turn them from evil and check them in their course. God warns His professed people through His servants and may withhold judgment for a time, but He will ultimately punish persistent sin with righteous judgment. The same dealing continues now, as God entreats the erring to repent and turn from evil ways, warns of dangers and faithfully reproves sin through chosen servants, in mercy withholding retribution for a time, yet He will not always stay His hand but will visit iniquity with righteous judgment.