Jeremiah 51:3
Against him that bendeth let the archer bend his bow, and against him that lifteth himself up in his brigandine: and spare ye not her young men; destroy ye utterly all her host. Against him that bendeth let the archer bend his bow, and against him that lifteth himself up in his brigandine: and spare ye not her young men; destroy ye utterly all her host.
The verse calls the Medo-Persian besiegers to turn their bows against Babylon's own bowmen and armored men, to show no mercy but to cut off her young men and wipe out her whole army.
It stands in the burden against Babylon in Jeremiah 50-51, spoken long beforehand to foretell the fall of the head of gold and the utter desolation that would come upon her when Persia succeeded her.
It was fulfilled on the night Babylon was taken, when the waters sank, the soldiers came through the river-bed and the open gates, burst into the palace and slew Belshazzar amid his revelry, and in the darkness a helpless massacre followed that no strength or wealth could prevent.
Ancient Babylon in the verse is also the type of mystical Babylon, the great apostate system ruling the nations in the last days.
Its unsparing destruction of the ancient host therefore portrays the final judgment on end-time Babylon, to be read with Revelation 18, when God closes all earthly accounts at the day of the Lord and the end of the world.
Words and Historical Setting
Jeremiah 51:3 stands in Jeremiah 46-51, the prophecies against foreign nations, and especially in the great burden of prophecy against Babylon in chapters 50 and 51. That burden was uttered many years before the fall of Babylon to foretell its downfall, the fall of the head of gold before the silver empire of Persia takes its place in succession. It foretells Babylon's utter desolation and describes the attack that would bring about its fall.
In its plain sense it summons archers against Babylon's armed defenders, against him that bends the bow and lifts himself up in armor. It is a command to the Medo-Persian besiegers to bend the bow against Babylon's archers and armored men. Its attackers are told to fight and show no mercy, to spare none of her young men but destroy all her host utterly.
The verse belongs to the divine message sent through Jeremiah to ancient Babylon when it had filled the cup of its iniquity, declaring impending judgment with gracious warning and proffered mercy. That message was slighted and went unheeded, leaving the record that Babylon would have been healed but is not healed. The lament in chapters 50-51 answers the charge that paganism was not a persecuting power, showing that Babylon persecuted God's people.
Fulfillment in Ancient Babylon
The command was addressed to the Medo-Persian besiegers to bend the bow against Babylon's archers and armored men and to spare none of her young men but destroy all her host utterly, and it belonged to the predictions of the fall to the Medes and Persians under Cyrus describing the attack on the city and the destruction of its defenders. It was fulfilled when Cyrus's soldiers entered and conquered Babylon, in the darkness and confusion of the night in which it was taken when a terrible massacre ensued in which the drunken, reveling Babylonians could make no resistance.
On that night the waters of the Euphrates sank and Persian soldiers came through the dry river-bed, seized the undefended river-gates, raised a war-shout, and destroyed all her host without sparing her young men. The Babylonians were drunken and reveling and unconscious of danger and could make no resistance. The Persians burst into the palace and slew Belshazzar the king of the Chaldeans on the scene of his impious revelry, and Darius the Median, being about sixty-two years old, took the kingdom.
It foretells the fall of the Babylonian empire as well as the city, a sudden fall coming while Belshazzar and his lords felt secure. It fits the account of Babylon being taken by the Medes and Persians, a judgment that no human strength, plan, or wealth could prevent. The prophecy does not require Babylon to have been utterly destroyed when the Persians overthrew it, for its full meaning is an ultimate destruction, fulfilled literally as the city gradually fell into decay and became desolate. It belongs to a prophecy that foretells Babylon's doom in detail, and Babylon's eventual ruin and the heaps of ruins beside the Euphrates bear witness to the truth of that prophecy. It does not foretell a rebuilding of old Babylon on the Euphrates River followed by a sudden destruction.
Type of End-Time Babylon
Ancient Babylon was both the great world empire of its own day and a type of mystical Babylon, the great apostate harlot-system ruling over the nations, which alone is the Babylon of Revelation prophecy. In a peculiar way that ancient kingdom typified the religious world of the last days, and the unsparing destruction of its host commanded here foreshadows the judgment on mystical Babylon immediately preceding and connected with the day of Christ and the end of the world. The prophecies of Jeremiah 50-51 setting forth the final destruction of ancient Babylon are thus a vivid portrayal of the destruction to be visited upon modern Babylon in the day when God shall finally and forever close up all earthly accounts.
The prophecy has a double application and double fulfillment to the fall of the ancient city and empire and to the fall of antitypical Babylon. By sudden transition from type to antitype it introduces the day of the Lord in which modern Babylon and all sinners shall be punished, and it is to be read with Revelation 18. The final destruction described here, in which her young men are not spared and all her host is utterly destroyed, shows what the final destruction of end-time Babylon will be like.
The chapter's warning about Babylon's doom is a lesson for cities and people that forget and defy God, including New York and Chicago, whose archers summoned against armed defenders and whose young men and whole army destroyed illustrate coming judgment. Their wickedness brings judgment, warnings may go unheeded until judgment comes, and warnings should awaken people to do right. Here is part of the preliminary punishment of Babylon for her proud, beautiful, open, flaunting, God-defying wickedness, whose fate was invited by that wickedness. What befell San Francisco in earthquake ruin befell a modern proud and beautiful Babylon, the fruit of awful wickedness met by the mercy of God, and it stands as a warning lesson not for San Francisco alone but for New York, Chicago, and every other place forgetting and defying God.