Jeremiah 51:35, commentary and pictures

The verse is the cry of the inhabitant of Zion and of Jerusalem that the violence done to them and to their flesh and their blood be charged upon Babylon and upon the inhabitants of Chaldea, spoken as part of Jeremiah's oracle of guilt, repayment and doom upon Babylon. It was uttered many years beforehand as a detailed prophecy of the destruction of the then-flourishing head of gold before the silver empire should take its place. The fall came suddenly while Belshazzar and his lords feasted in security, when the kingdom was numbered and finished and weighed and found wanting and divided and given to the Medes and Persians, and the overthrow then gave way to gradual decline until the desolate ruins beside the Euphrates bore witness to its fulfillment. That humbling of literal Babylon by the Medes and Persians is a double prophecy passing suddenly from type to antitype, concerning mystical Babylon the great, the apostate harlot-system of the confused religious world described in Revelation 18, whose fate is typical of the final punishment of the ungodly. The judgment came because of exaltation of self and of Babylon and her gods, idolatrous blasphemy, persecution, and sowing within herself the seeds of error and death, which no might or wealth could stay once she refused healing, and it stands as a warning to proud cities and people today who forget and defy God.

The Cry Against Babylon

The cry is uttered by the inhabitant of Zion and by Jerusalem, calling for the violence done to them and to their flesh, and for their blood, to be laid upon Babylon and upon the inhabitants of Chaldea. It charges the bloodshed inflicted on Zion's people and the violence done to Zion against Babylon and its inhabitants, asking that it fall back upon their oppressors. The violence and bloodshed suffered by Zion and Jerusalem are thus placed upon Babylon and Chaldea, to be repaid to those who inflicted them.

The utterance stands within Jeremiah's pronouncement of doom upon Babylon and the kingdoms around Israel from chapter 46 onward. It belongs to the message and oracle of judgment declaring Babylon's guilt and desolation and its coming destruction. In that setting it declares that Babylon will be repaid for what it has done, with God's defense of His people joined to judgment against Babylon.

Doom Foretold and Fulfilled

The verse was spoken by God many years before the fall as part of the great burden of prophecy against Babylon. It belongs to the detailed foretelling of the destruction of the flourishing city and kingdom, giving specific details of its doom. In that prophecy the downfall of the head of gold was foretold before the silver empire takes its place.

The fall came suddenly while its people were feasting and felt secure. On Belshazzar's night the kingdom was numbered and finished, weighed in the balances and found wanting, divided and given to the Medes and Persians. Babylon was taken on every quarter and fallen, humbled by the Medes and Persians.

That overthrow by the Persians did not complete the destruction. The city afterward gradually declined and became desolate. Its ruins beside the Euphrates bear witness to the fulfillment of the prophecy in detail. That fulfillment is proved by the dispassionate testimony of heathen historians who did not know the prophecy and had no design to show its fulfillment. Hence there is no ground for expecting old Babylon on the Euphrates River to be rebuilt and then suddenly destroyed.

Type and Warning Today

The prophecy against Babylon humbled by the Medes and Persians is a double prophecy that moves by sudden transition from type to antitype. It concerns both the ancient empire itself and Babylon as a type of mystical Babylon. It foretells not only the fall of the city of Babylon but the sudden fall of the Babylonian empire, and also foretells the fall of antitypical Babylon. There is therefore no ground for expecting old Babylon on the Euphrates River to be rebuilt and then suddenly destroyed.

Emphatically applied, the antitype is modern Babylon the great prophesied in Revelation. It is the great apostate harlot-system that rules over the nations of the earth. It is the confused religious world, whose destruction follows after it refuses healing and its sins reach to heaven. The antitypical fulfillment is to be read with Revelation 18. Like the fate of Babylon, Nineveh, and Idumea, it is typical of the final punishment of the ungodly and of formal professors in the day of the Lord. The latter part of Jeremiah to which the verse belongs reaches out to the restoration under Christ.

The destruction of the proud city is presented as the outcome of Babylon's exaltation of self and persecution. No might or scheme or power or wealth could save a city or nation that sowed within herself the seeds of error, confusion, destruction, and death, with idolatrous blasphemy against God and exaltation of Babylon and her gods. Babylon refuses the message that could heal her and is left fallen. Jeremiah's prophecies of ancient Babylon's final destruction thus present that judgment as a pattern for the destruction of modern Babylon after it refuses healing.

Jeremiah's warning of Babylon's unheeded doom is a lesson for cities that forget and defy God. It speaks to cities and people who defy God and to places that forget and defy Him. A proud, wicked city may meet the consequences of its defiance of God.