Jeremiah 51:43
Her cities are a desolation, a dry land, and a wilderness, a land wherein no man dwelleth, neither doth any son of man pass thereby. Her cities are a desolation, a dry land, and a wilderness, a land wherein no man dwelleth, neither doth any son of man pass thereby.
Her cities were to become an empty ruin, a parched and trackless waste where no one lives and no traveler passes. It was Jeremiah's burden against Babylon announcing the overthrow of the golden head by Persia, first fulfilled when the Medes and Persians took the city in the night of Belshazzar's feast and then through long decay into centuries of utter waste. The buried heaps by the Euphrates still stand as proof that the doom was literally fulfilled. By sudden passage from type to antitype the same desolation portrays the final destruction of mystical Babylon, the confused religious world, and of the whole earth in the day of the Lord when God closes all earthly accounts. It therefore remains a warning that pride and self-exaltation bring ruin which no might, scheme, or wealth can avert, a lesson to every God-defying city.
Ancient Babylon's Desolation
Jeremiah's burden in this place belongs to his prophecies against foreign nations, especially Babylon. It foretells the overthrow not of its city alone but of its empire as well. Spoken by God many years beforehand, it announces the downfall of Babylon as the head of gold before the silver empire of Persia takes its place.
Her cities are to become a desolation, a dry land and wilderness where no one dwells and no son of man passes thereby. It is complete and utter desolation, in keeping with the announced overthrow. The doom also stands as a type of the fate of great mystical Babylon described in Revelation.
That destruction was not completed when the Persians first overthrew it. Babylon fell suddenly while Belshazzar and his lords felt secure, humbled by the Medes and Persians, then gradually fell into decay until utterly desolate for many centuries, a literal fulfillment. The fulfillment came in the night of Belshazzar, a weak, dissolute, riotous, idolatrous blasphemer who feasted over Babylon's greatness and drank to Babylon's gods from the plundered vessels of the temple at Jerusalem. Then the handwriting of Numbered, Weighed, Divisions announced that God had numbered and finished his kingdom, weighed him and found him wanting, and divided his kingdom and given it to the Medes and Persians, so that before he rose from the banquet Babylon was taken on every quarter.
The buried heaps with their rediscovered stones and buildings, and the ruins by the Euphrates, stand as historical evidence that the prophecy of doom was fulfilled. Its fulfillment is proved even by the dispassionate testimony of heathen historians who did not know the prophecy and had no design to show its fulfillment. The once wealthy, cultured, and populous Mesopotamian center became a barren landscape of sand and dust with few people. Where soil once yielded two hundredfold and palm trees grew a hundred feet high and willows grew by the waters, now there is barren waste without a tree to be seen, and the rival city across the Tigris lies in the same condition without even a blade of grass for cover. Though its fertility remained and it could become productive with water, Babylon itself lay long lost beneath the sands with its exact site disputed even as the wider Euphrates-Tigris region was being developed and prepared for renewed settlement.
Type of Final Babylon
Jeremiah's burden against Babylon concerns not only the ancient city but its empire, which fell suddenly while Belshazzar and his lords felt secure. It is not only a prediction about the ancient Babylonian empire but also applies to antitypical Babylon, the apostate system that rules over the nations. By sudden transition from type to antitype it passes to mystical Babylon described in Revelation, whose fate is typed by Babylon's doom. The desolation foretold is that her cities become empty wilderness, dry land where no one dwells and no son of man passes thereby.
That utter desolation of ancient Babylon portrays the final destruction of modern Babylon in connection with the final judgments. Modern Babylon is the confused religious world, and its destruction comes when God closes all earthly accounts. By sudden transition from type to antitype the same prophecy describes the day of the Lord in which modern Babylon and all sinners shall be punished. Then modern Babylon and the whole earth are made desolate, dry and uninhabited, with no one passing through.
In its application to the churches, Babylon in Jeremiah 51 represents churches marked by doctrinal confusion, sectarian division, and love of the world. Their fall follows their rejection of the first angel's message. That message was meant to heal them, and because it was rejected they are left depicted as desolate and uninhabited.
Warning to Proud Cities
The message came when Babylon had filled the cup of its iniquity, announcing impending judgment yet joined with gracious warning and proffered mercy. Proud Babylon would not tremble at the voice through Jeremiah, and the warning was slighted and went unheeded. The standing record is that God would have healed Babylon and she was not healed.
The chapter sets the overthrow as God's defense of His people and as judgment upon Babylon's system. The destruction of the proud city was the final result of its pride and self-exaltation. The prediction that her cities would become a desolation, a dry land and wilderness where no man dwells, was fulfilled in the night of Belshazzar, the weak, dissolute, riotous, idolatrous blasphemer who feasted over Babylon's greatness and drank to Babylon's gods from the plundered vessels of the temple at Jerusalem. Then the handwriting of Numbered, numbered, Weighed, Divisions announced that God had numbered and finished his kingdom, had weighed him and found him wanting, and had divided his kingdom and given it to the Medes and Persians, so that before he rose from the banquet Babylon was taken on every quarter and the cry went out Babylon is fallen, is fallen. This proves that no might or scheme or power or wealth of man could save a city or nation that sowed within herself the seeds of error, confusion, destruction and death.
The desolate, dry, uninhabited cities, where no one dwells and no one passes through, stand as the fate of a proud, God-defying city under judgment. They are a picture of the doom that came upon a wicked city. That ruin remains a lesson and warning for cities and people who forget and defy God. The warning reaches modern cities, including New York and Chicago.