Jeremiah 50:29
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.
The verse commands the bowmen, identified as the Medes and Persians, to be called together to encamp round about Babylon, let none escape, and recompense her according to her work and all she has done. The reason given for this repayment is that she has been proud against the LORD, against the Holy One of Israel, a pride shown in violence, oppression and persecution of His loyal people that calls forth His defense of them. That sentence was exactly fulfilled when the work was appointed to Cyrus, who laid regular siege to the great walled city for nearly two years until Babylon alone held out, then took it suddenly while Belshazzar and his lords felt secure in revelry, by drying the Euphrates and entering through the river gates left open on the feast night. The prophecy has a double application from type to antitype, for ancient Babylon is a type of present mystical Babylon, the great apostate harlot-system ruling over the nations, which embraces all corrupt Christianity, mother with daughters together. Its emphatic fulfillment is therefore in Revelation 18, when modern Babylon and all sinners shall be punished in the day of the Lord at the final overthrow of the nations.
Meaning and Ancient Fulfillment
Jeremiah 50:29 stands within Jeremiah's prophecy announcing Babylon's judgment, doom, and destruction, a prophecy of its fall, its being judged and laid waste. It declares the downfall of the city, that attackers would surround it, prevent escape, and repay it for its deeds because of its pride against the Lord, the Holy One of Israel. That call to repay Babylon according to her work reflects her pride against the Lord and the violence and oppression associated with her rule.
The plain command is to call together all who bend the bow, the archers, to camp round about Babylon, let none escape, and recompense her according to her work and according to all she has done. The attackers so summoned are identified as the Medes and Persians. The stated reason for this repayment is that she has been proud against the LORD, against the Holy One of Israel. That pride was shown in violence, oppression, and persecution of God's loyal people, with pagan Babylon persecuting those who remained loyal to God, and the judgment belongs to God's defense of His people and the account of His judgment against Babylon's character.
The verse belongs to a divine message of impending judgment, warning, and offered mercy sent to Babylon through Jeremiah, which Babylon ignored and so was not healed. The taking of Babylon was exactly fulfilled when the work was appointed to Cyrus, general of the Medes and Persians. He laid regular siege to the great walled city for nearly two years until Babylon alone held out in the East. Fulfillment came suddenly while Belshazzar and his lords felt secure in revelry, by drying the Euphrates and entering through the river gates left open on the feast night, when the city was given to revelry in apparent security. The course to that sudden overthrow included a first rumor followed about a year later by another rumor and then Babylon's fall, as Cyrus marched toward the city.
The fulfillment proved the fall was foretold before it happened. It occurred despite Babylon's power and wealth, with Babylon judged for its pride and wrongdoing in fulfillment of God's predictions. The destruction was not completed when the Persians overthrew Babylon; the prophecy pointed to its eventual ruin, which came as Babylon declined over time and became desolate, fulfilling the prophecy literally. It foretells the fall of the Babylonian empire as well as the city, and does not foretell a rebuilding of old Babylon on the Euphrates River followed by a sudden destruction. Nor is it a promise of a future return to Canaan, but evidence that Jeremiah's prophecies concerning Israel and Judah were fulfilled in Babylon's besieging and punishment.
Antitype and Final Judgment
Jeremiah's prophecy against Babylon concerns both the ancient empire and mystical Babylon, with a double application and a double fulfillment from type to antitype. Ancient Babylon serves as a type of the great, mystical Babylon of the present day, whose fate is also described in Revelation. The fall of ancient Babylon portrays the destruction of modern Babylon when God brings earthly history to an end.
That antitypical Babylon is the great apostate harlot-system that rules over the nations of the earth, the confused religious world. Because the daughters of a city are included in the city itself, great Babylon embraces all corrupt Christianity, mother with daughters together. The judgment that fell on ancient Babylon did not end the religious system associated with it, for that system was later supported by states and continued to oppose faithful worshippers.
After treating the humbling of proud ancient Babylon, the prophecy by an easy transition introduces the day of the Lord in which modern Babylon and all sinners shall be punished. Its emphatic fulfillment is in Revelation 18, which concerns that apostate Babylon alone. The chapter is applied to the final overthrow of the nations and the earth's ruin, when not all beasts and birds are destroyed at Christ's second coming but live and multiply amid the wilderness ruins during the thousand years.