Jeremiah 50:26, commentary and pictures

Jeremiah's word belongs to his prophecies against the nations pronouncing Babylon's doom, character and certain destruction as a divine judgment with warning and offer of mercy. It commands attack against her from every direction, to open and plunder her storehouses, pile her up as heaps, and destroy her utterly with nothing left. The prophecy was given before Babylon fell and was fulfilled when Cyrus with the Medes and Persians captured the city, Belshazzar was slain in the midst of security, and the kingdom was given to the Medes and Persians. It applies both to the ancient empire and, as a type, to mystical Babylon whose fate is foretold in Revelation, primarily and typically to literal Babylon humbled by the Medes and Persians, and emphatically and antitypically to modern Babylon in the last days just before the day of the Lord. After she rejected the announcement that the hour of judgment has come, God called His people to come out of her, and her utter destruction immediately follows as the type of the final punishment of modern Babylon and all sinners in the events leading up to the end of the world.

Ancient Prophecy and Fulfillment

Jeremiah 50:26 stands within the prophecies against foreign nations in chapters 46-51, and especially within the prophecy pronouncing Babylon's doom. It is part of the prophecy describing Babylon's character, its certain destruction, and God's defense of His people, presenting her overthrow as divine judgment upon the system that opposed His people and religion. It belongs at the same time to a divine message warning Babylon of impending judgment and offering mercy. The prophecy of Babylon's certain destruction declares that the city is to be attacked and utterly destroyed.

The command is to come against her from the utmost border, that is from every direction. Her storehouses are to be opened and plundered, her wealth and possessions piled up for destruction, and her ruins piled into heaps. Nothing is to be left, but she is to be left utterly ruined and desolate. The prophecy was given before Babylon fell.

Its fulfillment came when Cyrus with the Medes and Persians captured the city, conquering it so that the Persian empire replaced Babylon. Belshazzar and his lords were in the midst of security when the sudden fall came, Belshazzar was killed, the city was taken, and the kingdom was given to the Medes and Persians. In this way the prophecy predicted and fulfilled the fall of the Babylonian empire as well as the city. After its rulers and people defied God and worshiped Babylon's gods, its error and corruption brought its ruin as God had foretold.

The destruction was not completed when the Persians overthrew the city, but the city gradually fell into decay and became desolate literally. Its coming was signaled by two rumors as Cyrus marched toward Babylon. The first came when he diverted his army to channel the Gyndes River, delaying his advance until the following spring, then came the second rumor and Babylon's destruction. Seraiah read Jeremiah's prophecies against Babylon and symbolically sent them into the Euphrates to signify that Babylon would sink and not rise again.

Babylon ignored the warning of impending judgment and was not healed, refusing God's offer of healing. She opposed God's people and religion, defied Him, and worshiped her own gods. When her sins were complete, judgment came and she fell never to rise again. The prophecy is fulfilled in the history of Israel and Judah, not as a prediction of their future return to Canaan. Nor does it predict a rebuilding of old Babylon on the Euphrates River followed by sudden destruction.

Type of Modern Babylon

Jeremiah 50:26 belongs to a prophecy against Babylon that speaks both of the ancient empire and, as a type, of mystical Babylon whose fate is foretold in Revelation. Babylon in Jeremiah's day serves as a type of the great, mystical Babylon. The prophecy has a double application through sudden transition from type to antitype. It applies primarily and typically to literal Babylon humbled by the Medes and Persians, and emphatically and antitypically to modern Babylon in the last days just before the day of the Lord, while the prophecy of Revelation refers to apostate Babylon alone. It does not predict a rebuilding of old Babylon on the Euphrates River followed by sudden destruction, but predicts the fall of the Babylonian empire as well as the city, fulfilled in a sudden fall in the midst of security on the part of Belshazzar and his lords.

Antitypical Babylon is the great apostate harlot-system which rules over the nations of the earth. It is the confused religious world of modern Babylon in the events leading up to the end of the world. As the daughters of Jerusalem and the daughters of Rabbah are part of Jerusalem and Rabbah, so the daughters of Babylon and the daughters of mystic Babylon are part of great Babylon itself. Great Babylon therefore embraces all corrupt Christianity. Babylon refused God's offer of healing, and when its sins were complete, judgment came and it fell never to rise again.

After she rejected the announcement that the hour of judgment has come, God left her by His Spirit and called His people to come out of her, and her utter destruction immediately follows. The overthrow of literal Babylon is a type of the final punishment of modern Babylon and all sinners. The prophecy also portrays that final destruction of modern Babylon in the events leading up to the end of the world. It belongs to a prophecy of final overthrow that applies to the destruction of the nations.

That final overthrow does not mean that every beast and bird is destroyed at Christ's second coming. Creatures remain and multiply amid the earth's ruins during the thousand years. Some provision will sustain the wicked when they are raised.