Jeremiah 51:11, commentary and pictures

God spoke the doom of Babylon while the city was still flourishing, calling its attackers to sharpen their arrows and fill out their shields with their own bodies for battle. He Himself stirred up the spirit of the kings of the Medes to carry out His purposed device to destroy Babylon. It was fulfilled when the Medes and Persians under Cyrus, with Darius the Mede taking the kingdom, entered along the dried Euphrates and seized the feasting city while Belshazzar was slain. That destruction was the vengeance of the Lord for His temple, for Babylon's seizure and profane use of its holy vessels and its pride and fullness of sin that refused healing. The fall of the ancient city and empire, sinking into utter desolation to rise no more, is a type of the sudden fall of mystical Babylon, the apostate religious world, at the day of the Lord foretold in Revelation 18, warning proud modern cities not to follow her course.

Words and Ancient Fall

The call to gather the shields is a call to fill them out with the fighters' own bodies, for the word means filling or abundance, not filling a place a second time. The verse belongs to God's burden against Babylon, spoken many years before Babylon fell, while the city was still flourishing. It foretells the downfall of Babylon, the head of gold, before the silver Persian empire takes its place in succession.

Its fulfillment came when the Medes and Persians overthrew Babylon under Cyrus, who acted unknowingly as Providence's instrument to carry out the divine purpose. Darius the Mede then took the kingdom after the city was entered by the Euphrates when its waters had sunk. The invaders seized the gates while the people were feasting unaware, and Belshazzar was killed. That this downfall fulfilled prediction is shown by the dispassionate testimony of heathen historians who did not know the prophecy and had no design to show its fulfillment.

What is foretold is not merely the fall of the city but the fall of the empire, coming suddenly while Belshazzar and his lords felt secure. It will not be fulfilled by a rebuilding of old Babylon on the Euphrates River followed by sudden destruction. Nor was the prophecy fulfilled in its full sense when the Persians overthrew Babylon, for Babylon was ultimately destroyed as the city gradually fell into decay and became desolate to rise no more. Its ruins by the Euphrates bear witness to the truth of the detailed prophecy of its doom, given while the city was still flourishing and including the naming of the conqueror before his birth. The sinking of the roll-bound stone in the Euphrates serves as the sign of that downfall into utter desolation.

Vengeance for God's Temple

The Lord raised up and stirred the spirit of the kings of the Medes to prepare for war against Babylon, to gather for battle and to attack and destroy the city. Their rising was not accident but divine stirring, setting rulers in motion to carry out His plan against Babylon. In this the Medes were called to make ready and to execute what He had purposed for His temple's vindication.

Their campaign was His device and purpose to destroy Babylon in fulfillment of His word spoken while the city was still flourishing. The conqueror was named before his birth, and the detailed predictions were fulfilled in Babylon's fall, whose ruins by the Euphrates bear witness to the prophecy. The Medes and Persians entered by the Euphrates after its waters had sunk, seized the gates while the people feasted unaware, killed Belshazzar, and Darius the Mede took the kingdom.

That destruction is the vengeance of the Lord, the vengeance of His temple. It came for Babylon's seizure of the holy vessels from the temple at Jerusalem and for Belshazzar's profane use of them, and for the destruction and desecration and profaning of His house. The conquest by Cyrus with the Medes and Persians fulfilled this divine purpose, even though Cyrus acted unknowingly as Providence's instrument.

Babylon fell as punishment for its sins and pride after its cup of iniquity was full and its sins had mounted to heaven and invited the foretold stroke of wrath. She had corrupted other kingdoms and persecuted God's people, and in judging her God defended His own. God would have healed her, sending through Jeremiah a divine message of impending judgment with gracious warning and proffered mercy, but she refused to be healed, slighted the message and left it unheeded, so judgments visited her and she fell to rise no more and became desolate.

Type of End-Time Babylon

The prophecy against Babylon belongs to the series of dooms pronounced from Jeremiah 46 onward against the kingdoms surrounding Israel, and the ancient empire that had corrupted other kingdoms is set forth in it as a type of mystical Babylon. That destruction of ancient Babylon in Jeremiah 50 and 51 is a type and vivid portrayal of the destruction to be visited upon modern mystical Babylon, the great confused religious world of the last days. This antitypical Babylon is the great apostate harlot-system that rules over the nations of the earth. Her sins mounted up to heaven and invited the foretold stroke of wrath after she refused to be healed, so that God's judgments were visited upon her and she fell to rise no more, with the Lord raising up the Medes against her to destroy her in vengeance for His temple.

It is a double prophecy foretelling both the fall of the ancient city and empire and the fall of antitypical Babylon, while the prophecy in Revelation foretells the fall of the apostate Babylon alone. It foretells not merely the fall of the city but the fall of the empire, coming suddenly while Belshazzar and his lords felt secure, and will not be fulfilled by a rebuilding of old Babylon on the Euphrates River followed by sudden destruction. The sentence against Babylon pronounces destruction upon literal Babylon, and in that destruction shows the fate of Babylon the great in Revelation, for the Babylon of Jeremiah's day was a type of the great mystical Babylon of the last days. The prophecy makes a sudden transition from type to antitype beyond literal Babylon to the day of the Lord in which modern Babylon and all sinners shall be punished, and must be compared with Revelation 18. The final destruction is immediately preceding and in connection with the day of Christ and the end of the world when God shall finally and forever close up all earthly accounts.

Babylon's overthrow did not end the religious system associated with it, which later kingdoms continued to support, even as God in this verse judges Babylon and defends His people by stirring the kings of the Medes to prepare for battle and destroy the city as vengeance for His temple. In that application Babylon's fall is also applied to churches that reject the Advent message, which is presented as the remedy for their confusion and worldliness, since the Lord stirs the Medes' kings to act and their attack is vengeance for His temple.

The warning of Babylon's doom is a lesson for cities and people that forget and defy God, for Babylon ignored warnings until its judgment was declared. Divine warnings may go unheeded until judgment comes, and the divine message sent through Jeremiah to ancient Babylon when it had filled the cup of its iniquity declared impending judgment with gracious warning and proffered mercy, yet the message was slighted and went unheeded, leaving the record that God would have healed Babylon but she is not healed. Because Babylon ignored warnings until judgment was declared, its fate warns other cities not to follow the same course. Its lesson applies to modern cities as well as to Babylon, including New York, Chicago, and other places, and proud, openly wicked, God-defying cities may face judgment for profaning His temple as the Lord stirs rulers against them, applying Babylon's fate to San Francisco and other modern cities.