Jeremiah 51:22
With thee also will I break in pieces man and woman; and with thee will I break in pieces old and young; and with thee will I break in pieces the young man and the maid; With thee also will I break in pieces man and woman; and with thee will I break in pieces old and young; and with thee will I break in pieces the young man and the maid;
The burden in Jeremiah 50 and 51 foretells the doom not of the city alone but of the Babylonian empire itself falling before the next kingdom takes its place, and its breaking in pieces of man and woman, old and young, young man and maid is her own utter desolation reaching people of every age and both sexes without distinction. With thee shows Babylon as the instrument God uses in judgment, while those who held the other sense teach that the same words expose her own cruel violence against the loyal without regard to age or sex as the mark of apostate power. The stroke came after warning and offered healing that she refused and ignored while her sins mounted up to heaven, so judgment visited her and she fell to rise no more. The word was literally fulfilled when Cyrus with the Medes and Persians took the city on every quarter in Belshazzar's night of security, as heathen historians unknowingly confirm and her ruins still attest, yet that overthrow only began a gradual decay into desolation. The prophecy passes from type to antitype with double application to ancient Babylon humbled by the Medes and Persians and finally to mystical modern Babylon the great of Revelation, whose breaking in pieces portrays the final punishment of that apostate system and all sinners in the day of the Lord, warning modern cities, nations, and churches that reject God's healing that no might, scheme, or wealth can save what sows error, confusion, and death within itself.
Context and Plain Meaning
Jeremiah 51:22 stands in the detailed burden of prophecy running from chapter 46 onward, and especially in chapters 50 and 51, in which God Himself pronounced the doom of the kingdoms surrounding Israel and specifically of Babylon. It was spoken many years before the fall, foretelling the downfall of Babylon as the fall of the head of gold before the silver empire takes its place. It foretells the fall not of the city of Babylon alone but of the Babylonian empire.
The verse describes utter desolation and judgment coming upon Babylon's own people, with destruction reaching people of every age and both sexes. It is a breaking in pieces without regard or distinction — man and woman, old and young, young man and maid. The total destruction falls on all without distinction.
The words with thee present Babylon as the instrument God uses to break peoples in pieces, within the account of a power that God afterward brings to an end. In the same words is seen Babylon's own violence, breaking people without distinction of age or sex. That violence bears witness to paganism's cruel persecution of those loyal to God, identifying such persecution as a mark of Babylon's apostate power, and the verse stands as evidence that Babylon cruelly persecuted God's people.
Its setting includes God's warning and offer of mercy and healing set alongside the record of impending judgment. Babylon refused to be healed, ignored the message, and failed to heed the warning, while her sins mounted up to heaven inviting the foretold stroke of wrath. Because she refused the means of healing, God's judgments visited her and destruction followed, and she fell to rise no more.
Fulfillment and Antitypical Babylon
The burden against Babylon was literally fulfilled in the ancient capture and fall of the city and empire. Cyrus's forces took the city as predicted concerning who would take Babylon and the circumstances of its taking. Belshazzar's kingdom was numbered and finished, weighed in the balances and found wanting, divided and given to the Medes and Persians, and Babylon was taken on every quarter and fell. The Medes and Persians were the instruments of that humbling. Its fulfillment is proved by the dispassionate testimony of heathen historians who did not know the prophecy and had no design to show its fulfillment. Babylon's ruins stand as evidence of the truth of prophecy, testifying that the foretold doom reaching people of every age and both sexes came to pass.
That overthrow by the Persians did not complete the destruction, which came ultimately as the city gradually fell into decay and became desolate. The fall of the Babylonian empire, not of the city alone, comes suddenly while Belshazzar and his lords feel secure. It will not be fulfilled by a rebuilding of old Babylon on the Euphrates River followed by sudden destruction.
The prophecy makes a sudden transition from type to antitype and has a double fulfillment and application. Primarily and typically it applies to ancient Babylon humbled by the Medes and Persians as instruments. Emphatically and finally it applies to antitypical, mystical, modern Babylon of the last days. That modern Babylon is the great apostate harlot-system that rules over the nations of the earth, the confused religious world, Babylon the great prophesied in Revelation. The Babylon of Jeremiah's day was a type of that great mystical Babylon, so the breaking in pieces reveals her fate. The total destruction falling on all without distinction is the pattern, and the ancient destruction after refusal of healing, when sins mounted up to heaven and invited the foretold stroke of wrath and judgments visited her so she fell to rise no more, is the vivid portrayal of the destruction to be visited upon modern Babylon in the day of the Lord when modern Babylon and all sinners shall be punished and God shall finally and forever close up all earthly accounts.
Warning for Today
The breaking in pieces of men and women, old and young, young men and maidens without regard to age or sex belongs to the destruction of Babylon and stands as a warning that Babylon failed to heed. That judgment is a lesson for cities and people who forget and defy God. The doom pronounced in Jeremiah 51 is set among the accounts of Babylon's judgment offered as a warning to modern cities that defy God. Its lessons of desolation therefore speak directly to present cities and to every people in the same danger.
The fulfillment, when Belshazzar's kingdom was numbered and finished, weighed in the balances and found wanting, divided and given to the Medes and Persians, and Babylon was taken on every quarter and fell, is fallen, shows that God is true and Babylon with her perverted principles is false. No might or scheme or power or wealth of man can save a city or nation that sows within herself the seeds of error, confusion, destruction, and death. The same picture of Babylon refusing the means of healing and falling describes churches that rejected the Advent message and remained in confusion and worldliness.