Jeremiah 4:13, commentary and pictures

The verse pictures Babylon sweeping up from the north against Judah and Jerusalem as clouds and whirlwind with horses swifter than eagles, bringing woe and spoiling until the whole land is laid waste in its final decline in 586 B.C. The invader is the lion, the first of the successive world empires before the little horn in Daniel 7, whose swift wings portray the speed, power, ferocity and soaring pride of Babylon and Nebuchadnezzar in conquest. That same lion character reappears in the lion mouth and lion symbolism of the composite beast of Revelation 13. As part of the charge in Jeremiah 2 to 4, the warning stands against the church's union with the world as adultery against God her husband, with Zion and Jerusalem representing the church through the ages unto the end. The destruction of ancient Jerusalem is a faint shadow of terrible last-day desolations just before the day of the Lord, when the nations prepare for Armageddon and naval and military buildup stirs boasting and counter-preparation unto the breaking down of earthly kingdoms, leaving the land desolate with the wicked slain at Christ's coming with clouds and chariots like a whirlwind.

Babylon's Swift Invasion

Jeremiah 4:13 pictures an invader coming up as clouds, with chariots as a whirlwind and horses swifter than eagles, bringing woe and spoiling upon the people. The advance is overwhelming in speed and force, rushing to ruin, desolation and destruction. The trumpet and alarm of war bring destruction upon destruction until the whole land is laid waste.

The destroyer is Babylon coming from the north against Judah and Jerusalem. The kingdoms of the north come to possess Jerusalem and all the cities of Judah and to make the land desolate. That invasion brought the final decline of Judah, which closed in 586 B.C. It brought Israel's destruction and scattering as the consequence of disobedience to God's commandments.

The swift nation so pictured is the same nation foretold in Moses' warning. Its advance is pictured as cloudlike, its chariots as a whirlwind, and its horses faster than eagles. The winds in the surrounding passage are wars, political feuds and rivalries that make nations surge and bring the rise and fall of kingdoms and rulers.

Even as a prophecy of oft-repeated evil and spoiling, the warning offered a way of escape. Jerusalem must wash the heart from wickedness in repentance in order to be saved and avert the calamity. Unless the people ceased from their evil ways, the swift, overwhelming destruction and spoiling by the destroyer from the north would be repeated over and over.

Lion of Daniel and Revelation

The surrounding lion context identifies Babylon as the lion, the first of the successive world empires whose invasion comes up as clouds with chariots as a whirlwind and horses swifter than eagles to spoil and desolate with swift, devastating force. That lion imagery marks Babylon as the first of the four great world monarchies, the lion kingdom of Daniel 7. It gives the identification of the first of the four kingdoms symbolized in Daniel before the rise of the little horn. That same lion character reappears as the lion mouth and lion symbolism in the composite beast of Revelation 13, which incorporates the Babylonian power.

The clouds, whirlwind, and eagle-swift horses explain why the lion with eagle's wings is a fitting symbol of Babylon and Nebuchadnezzar's strength and rapid conquests. The symbols of lion and eagle portray the speed of its conquests, rushing against Judah with overwhelming speed and force. That character was swift, powerful, and at times ferocious, as displayed in Babylon's conquests and its treatment of God's people, yet also marked by soaring pride.

The same swift, destructive advance describes Babylon nearing its end, with the image of overwhelming invasion supporting the identification of the eagle-winged lion kingdom in Daniel 7. The verse therefore belongs with the passages associating Babylon with the lion with eagle's wings in Daniel 7.

Warning to Church and World

Jeremiah 2 to 4 is God's charge against unfaithfulness, in which union of His church with the world is fornication and adultery against Him as her husband and brings judgment. The swift coming up as clouds with chariots as a whirlwind and horses swifter than eagles belongs to that warning.

The destruction of ancient Jerusalem is a faint shadow of terrible last-day desolations that will break down the world. That chapter shows awful confusion and trouble coming upon the earth when people are set aside as no longer worthy of favor, and the earth remains rejected until God creates new heavens and a new earth.

The prophecy belongs to the time just before the day of the Lord, when the nations prepare for the battle of Armageddon. Present naval buildup and military preparation fulfill it, and carried to the ultimate they mean the destruction of earthly kingdoms, because becoming well prepared stirs boasting and aggressiveness and drives other nations to prepare in turn. The great coming war is therein warned of when all the nations of the earth shall be prepared for battle.

After Christ's coming the land is left desolate with no people on earth, the wicked having been slain by the brightness of His coming. The same coming is promised as the Lord's coming with clouds and chariots like a whirlwind.

The trumpet and alarm of war bring destruction upon destruction until the whole land is laid waste, with woe and spoiling from a destroyer coming up as clouds. This applies not only to old Jerusalem but to the cities of the world made Sodom-like cesspools of corruption by entrenched vice, prostitution and murder. Their widespread wickedness calls for the personal visitation of Jehovah in fierce anger just before the second coming of Christ, when all the cities are broken down and the whole land is made desolate.

In that end-time application Zion and Jerusalem represent the church through the ages. The swift, overwhelming approach of judgment comes as God visits widespread wickedness with destruction. The sins and judgments described serve as warnings for people living near the end of the ages.