Jeremiah 51:16, commentary and pictures

When He speaks, the waters mass in the sky, mist rises from the ends of the earth, lightning flashes with rain, and wind comes forth from His storehouses, showing His absolute power and command over the forces of nature. The word stands in the great burden against Babylon in Jeremiah 50 and 51, part of the prophecies against the surrounding kingdoms in chapters 46 to 51 pronouncing the doom especially of Babylon. It applied primarily to the humbling of proud literal Babylon by the Medes and Persians, fulfilled in its sudden capture and fall when Cyrus took the city while Belshazzar and his lords felt secure. That overthrow was followed by gradual decline into complete and perpetual desolation, cut off in name and remnant, never inhabited, a dwelling for wild beasts, owls, and dragons. The ancient fall is a type and vivid portrayal of the fall of antitypical, modern, mystical Babylon to be read with Revelation 18, and does not predict a rebuilding of old Babylon on the Euphrates to be suddenly destroyed.

Context and Plain Meaning

Jeremiah 51:16 stands in the prophecies against the kingdoms surrounding Israel beginning at chapter 46 and running through chapter 51, in which the doom of Egypt, Philistia, Moab, Ammon, Edom, Syria, and Babylon is pronounced, with special emphasis on Babylon. Within that series it belongs to the great burden of prophecy against Babylon in Jeremiah 50 and 51, which sets forth the final destruction of ancient Babylon.

It belongs to the divine message sent to ancient Babylon when it had filled the cup of its iniquity, a message of impending judgment, gracious warning, and proffered mercy that was slighted and went unheeded. The chapter to which it belongs sets forth Babylon's character and God's defense of His people.

The verse describes God's power and command over the weather and the forces of nature. When He utters His voice, there is a multitude and abundance of waters gathered in the heavens. He causes the vapours to ascend from the ends and from the surface of the earth, makes lightnings with rain, and brings forth the wind out of His treasures or storehouses.

Babylon's Fall Foretold

Jeremiah 51:16 stands in the great burden of prophecy against Babylon in Jeremiah 50 and 51 as a prediction uttered by God many years before the fall concerning the downfall of Babylon as the head of gold before the silver Persian empire takes its place, to be set against the dispassionate testimony of heathen historians who did not know the prophecy as evidence of its fulfillment. The prophecy applied primarily and typically to the humbling of proud literal Babylon by the Medes and Persians, and was fulfilled in its capture and fall when Cyrus took the city. In this way the chapter is connected with God's judgment on Babylon.

The fall foretold was the sudden fall of the Babylonian empire while Belshazzar and his lords felt secure. That destruction was not completed when the Persians overthrew the city, but came through its gradual decline and eventual desolation. The prophecy declares that Babylon would be cut off in name and remnant and left tenantless and desolate forever, never inhabited nor dwelt in from generation to generation, where the Arabian pitches no tent and shepherds make no folds, but wild beasts of the desert lie there and houses are full of doleful creatures, owls dwell there, a possession for the bittern and dwelling-place for dragons, a wilderness, dry land and desert, a burnt mountain, empty, wholly desolate, heaps, pools of water, utterly destroyed, a land where no man dwells that astonishes passersby. This was fulfilled literally, with Arabs refusing from dread of evil spirits to spend the night among the ruins and with lions, dens of wild beasts, bones of sheep, bats and owls found in its palace and cavities.

The verse does not predict a rebuilding of old Babylon on the Euphrates River followed by sudden destruction. It has a double fulfillment through a transition from type to antitype, covering not merely the fall of the ancient city but also the fall of antitypical, modern, mystical Babylon, the great apostate harlot-system that rules over the nations of the earth, which alone is the subject of the Revelation prophecy of Babylon. The Babylon of Jeremiah's day was a type of the great mystical Babylon in the present day, and its ancient final destruction set forth in Jeremiah 50 and 51 is a vivid portrayal and comparison showing what the destruction to be visited upon modern, end-time Babylon will be like in the day of the Lord when God shall finally and forever close up all earthly accounts and punish modern Babylon and all sinners, to be read with Revelation 18. In the chapter's account God's judgments bring about Babylon's overthrow, yet the religious system associated with Babylon is later perpetuated and supported by succeeding states.