Jeremiah 51:62, commentary and pictures

The verse is a solemn declaration that the Lord has spoken against Babylon to cut it off, so that neither man nor beast shall remain in it but it shall lie desolate forever. The roll containing the prophecy was to be read at Babylon on the banks of the Euphrates, then bound to a stone and cast into the river as a sign that Babylon would sink and not rise from the evil to be brought upon her. It was fulfilled when Babylon fell suddenly on a night of feasting and drunken security, taken by the Medes and Persians under Cyrus who entered by the river channel after he had been called by name to his work long before. The overthrow by Persia did not complete the ruin at once, but the city gradually decayed into utter desolation, and its bare site and ruins by the Euphrates stand as lasting visible proof of fulfilled prophecy. Ancient Babylon is a type of mystical Babylon, so the prophecy reaches beyond the city and empire to the apostate system ruling the nations, with a double fulfillment that portrays the day of the Lord and the final destruction of modern spiritual Babylon to be read with Revelation 18.

Setting and Plain Sense

Jeremiah 51:62 belongs to the prophecies against foreign nations, especially Babylon. It is part of the great burden of prophecy against Babylon uttered by God many years before its fall, concerning the downfall of Babylon, the fall of the head of gold before the Persian silver empire takes its place. 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.

The divine message through Jeremiah was sent 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, as though the walls of Babylon had nothing to fear from Jeremiah's voice. The verse itself is the declaration that the Lord has spoken against this place to cut it off, so that neither man nor beast shall remain in it, but it shall be desolate forever. It foretells that Babylon would be emptied of people and animals and left a permanent waste. The bare site and ruins of Babylon by the Euphrates display that complete fulfillment and stand as lasting, visible evidence and object-lesson of fulfilled prophecy.

The roll containing Jeremiah chapters 50 and 51 was to be read at Babylon on the banks of the Euphrates, foretelling the utter desolation of Babylon, that it should become heaps without inhabitant. After reading it was to be tied to a stone and cast into the Euphrates as a sign that thus Babylon would sink and not rise from the evil to be brought upon her. The verse belongs to predictions concerning the taking of Babylon, the people who should accomplish it, and the particular circumstances attending it. That word was exactly accomplished when the Medes and Persians under Cyrus, called by name and appointed to his work over two hundred and sixty years before though he knew it not, took Babylon after a siege of nearly two years, entering by the dried river channel on the night of feasting, drunkenness and revelry when destruction came suddenly before they were aware.

Fulfillment in Ancient Babylon

The prediction was of both the city and the empire falling suddenly while Belshazzar and his lords felt secure. It was exactly accomplished when destruction came suddenly before they were aware, on a night of feasting and drunkenness and revelry. That same night Babylon was taken on every quarter while the king was feasting in idolatrous blasphemy.

The agents were the Medes and Persians under Cyrus, who took Babylon after a siege of nearly two years by entering through the dried river channel. Cyrus had been called by name and appointed to his work more than two hundred and sixty years beforehand, though he knew it not.

On that night Belshazzar drank from the vessels of the temple to gods of gold and of wood and of stone. The handwriting on the wall numbered and finished his kingdom, weighed him and found him wanting, and divided his kingdom to the Medes and Persians.

The event was the downfall of the head of gold before the Persian silver empire took its place. 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. The fall is thus connected with the capture of the city by the Medes and Persians.

The destruction was not completed when the Persians overthrew Babylon. The city afterward gradually fell into decay and became utterly desolate, fulfilling literally the word that neither man nor beast should remain in it and that it should be desolate forever.

The bare site and the ruins by the Euphrates display that complete fulfillment. They stand as lasting, visible evidence that the declaration came true. They remain an object-lesson of fulfilled prophecy, showing Babylon emptied of people and animals and left a permanent waste.

Type Warning and Application

The decree that the place spoken against would be cut off and left desolate belongs to a prophecy against Babylon, and ancient Babylon stands as a type of mystical Babylon, so that prophecy also serves as a type of the judgment of great, mystical Babylon. The prophecy foretells not only the falling of Babylon's city but also the fall of its empire, suddenly, while Belshazzar and his lords feel secure. It reaches beyond ancient Babylon to antitypical Babylon, the apostate system described as a harlot that rules over the nations. Its declaration that ancient Babylon would be destroyed by God and left permanently desolate, with neither people nor animals remaining, portrays in its final ruin the destruction of modern spiritual Babylon at the end of the world.

The complete and everlasting desolation pronounced on Babylon has a double fulfillment, for by sudden transition the judgment on ancient Babylon also portrays the day of the Lord in which modern Babylon and all sinners shall be punished. Hence the fate of ancient Babylon foretold in Jeremiah 50 and 51 must be read with Revelation 18 for its emphatic latter-day application to the final punishment of the ungodly. The spoken purpose to bring Babylon to a complete and permanent end shows open and irreconcilable hostility to the Babylonian system of religion as opposed to the religion of Christ. It was God's defense of His people and His vengeance for His temple that overthrew the city and nation of Babylon, a judgment made necessary because states influenced by that system would otherwise crush out the last follower of Christ and deny religious rights, yet the same system was perpetuated and supported by the power of the state in succeeding kingdoms. That lamentable history answers whether paganism persecuted God's faithful people, for God had spoken against the place and would cut it off so that it becomes permanently desolate.

The spoken word to cut Babylon off into everlasting desolation means God was true and Babylon was false, and God's truth abides while Babylon's perverted principles of self-exaltation, error and confusion bring destruction. It was fulfilled when Belshazzar, the weak idolatrous blasphemous worshiper of Babylon's gods, feasted and drank from the temple vessels to gods of gold and wood and stone, and the handwriting numbered and finished his kingdom, weighed him and found him wanting, and divided his kingdom to the Medes and Persians, and that same night Babylon was taken on every quarter. 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 Lord's declaration against Babylon to destroy it, leaving no people or animals there and making the place desolate forever, is a warning for cities that forget and defy God, including New York and Chicago, which face judgment. Its judgment as God's sentence against the city is applied as a lesson to proud, God-defying cities such as San Francisco, teaching that calamity is the consequence of sin when its effects are no longer restrained.

In its application to the churches, the desolation stands within God's judgment in that Babylon refused the first angel's message, which was given to heal its confusion and worldliness, and was therefore left fallen and doomed to desolation.