Jeremiah 51:59-64

Seraiah's mission

The rejection as non-Jeremianic of the preceding prophecy against Babylon (see introd. note to chs. 50, 51) by no means need involve suspicion of this section. Here impassioned denunciation finds no place and the forecast of the overthrow of the great Eastern power is quite in keeping with the attitude of the prophet in Jeremiah 29:10 in limiting her dominion over Israel to seventy years. It is true that the latter part of Jeremiah 51:60 identifies the prophecy conveyed by Seraiah to Babylon with the preceding utterances; but see note there. That Zedekiah should himself visit Babylon at the time here specified has been already shewn to be by no means improbable (see introd. note on Jeremiah 27:2-11). Even those who doubt the king's journey thither are mostly willing to accept that of Seraiah, who, as Baruch's brother (cp. his ancestry here with that given in Jeremiah 32:12 for Baruch), would very naturally bring a message of hope from Jeremiah to the exiles.

We may summarize the section as follows.

Jeremiah 51:59. The directions given by the prophet to Seraiah when the latter accompanied Zedekiah to Babylon. He was to take with him a scroll containing the doom of the city, and after reading it aloud there, to attach to it a stone and sink it in the river as a symbol of Babylon's approaching fall.