Jeremiah 50:14, commentary and pictures

The call is for the nations to surround Babylon and strike her without mercy, because her unsparing destruction is the just judgment and vengeance due for her sin against the Lord. That sin included persecuting those loyal to God and wronging His temple, so in judging her God was defending His people and avenging His temple, and her fall was the harvest of the wickedness she had sown. Foretold before it happened, the summons was fulfilled in her sudden fall to the Medes and Persians under Cyrus while Belshazzar and his lords felt secure, when Persian forces took the city and replaced her empire. The overthrow by Persia did not exhaust the prophecy, for ancient Babylon was a type of the great mystical Babylon of Revelation, the apostate system ruling the nations and the confused religious world, whose final destruction comes when God closes earthly accounts at the end of the world. That mystic Babylon embraces all corrupt Christianity, mother and daughters together, and when she has rejected the announcement that the hour of His judgment is come God calls His people to come out of her and her destruction immediately follows, pointing at last to the complete destruction of Satan and his kingdom.

Meaning and Historical Setting

The summons is to all peoples and to everyone who bends the bow to put themselves in array against Babylon round about and to shoot at her and spare no arrows, because she has sinned against the Lord. The unsparing attack commanded is just vengeance and judgment for her wrongdoing, and her destruction is the due punishment for that sin. The call belongs to God's message against Babylon and stands as proof that the prophecies concerning Israel and Judah were fulfilled.

That sin against the Lord included wrongs against His temple and persecution of those loyal to God, so the judgment is God defending His people and taking vengeance for His temple. Pagan Babylon persecuted those loyal to God, and its historical fall to the Medes and Persians is presented as the harvest of the error and wickedness it had sown.

The verse belongs to the prophecies against foreign nations in Jeremiah 46-51, especially the prophecies concerning Babylon and its final destruction. It was part of a message of impending judgment, warning, and offered mercy sent when its iniquity was full, but Babylon disregarded the warning and refused the healing God offered.

Foretold before it happened, the call to attack was fulfilled when the city and empire fell suddenly while Belshazzar and his lords felt secure, when Persian forces captured the city under Cyrus and the Persian empire replaced it. The conquest by the Medes and Persians under Cyrus was judgment for Babylon's sin against the Lord. The destruction foretold followed two rumors as Cyrus advanced, the first when he delayed his march after diverting the Gyndes River and the second with the destruction itself. The prophecy was literally fulfilled as the city gradually declined into decay and became desolate.

Prophecy of Spiritual Babylon

The prophecy against Babylon was not exhausted by its overthrow by the Persians but pointed forward to Babylon's ultimate destruction. It refers both to the ancient empire and to mystical Babylon. Its summons to array against Babylon and spare no arrows because she has sinned against the Lord has a double fulfillment from type to antitype, applying first to ancient Babylon humbled by the Medes and Persians and finally in the day of the Lord when modern Babylon and all sinners shall be punished.

Ancient Babylon in Jeremiah's day serves as a type of the great, mystical Babylon whose fate is prophesied in Revelation. That antitypical Babylon is the apostate system that rules over the nations. It is the modern spiritual Babylon of the confused religious world. Its fall concerns not only a city but also an empire, as the ancient empire fell suddenly while Belshazzar and his lords felt secure, and after Babylon refused the healing God offered its sins brought judgment upon it. The destruction of modern spiritual Babylon will come when God closes earthly accounts at the end of the world.

The command to surround Babylon and shoot without sparing arrows because Babylon has sinned against the Lord places judgment on ancient Babylon alongside prophecies of its desolation. Those prophecies of doom and desolation also portray the desolation of modern Babylon and of the whole earth. They apply finally in the day of the Lord when modern Babylon and all sinners shall be punished.

The daughters of Babylon are part of Babylon itself, so great mystic Babylon embraces all corrupt Christianity, mother and daughters together. When she has rejected the announcement that the hour of His judgment is come, God leaves her and calls His people to come out of her. Her destruction immediately follows.

The overthrow for sin against the Lord is applied to the final overthrow of the nations at Christ's second coming, when the earth is left in ruins. The verse is counted among Scriptures showing that not all beasts and birds are destroyed but they continue to live and multiply in the wilderness during the thousand years.

Babylon also represents the failed effort to establish a kingdom opposed to God. Its condemnation for sinning against the Lord, with its enemies commanded to surround and attack it without sparing their arrows, belongs to the prophecy of Babylon's historical overthrow whose descriptions of desolation were fulfilled. Its destruction points to the complete destruction of Satan and his kingdom.