Jeremiah 50:9

For, lo, I will raise and cause to come up against Babylon an assembly of great nations from the north country: and they shall set themselves in array against her; from thence she shall be taken: their arrows shall be as of a mighty expert man; none shall return in vain. FROM THENCE SHE SHALL BE TAKEN - i:e., from the north country. THEIR ARROWS SHALL BE AS OF A MIGHTY EXPERT MAN - "expert" is literally prosperous. Besides "might," "expertness" is needed, that an arrow may do execution. The margin has a different Hebrew reading [ mashkiyl (H7919), instead of maskiyl (H4905)], destroying-literally, bereaving, childless-making (Je...

Here, again, God declares that enemies would come and overthrow the monarchy of Babylon; but what has been before referred to is here more clearly expressed. For he says, first, that he would be the leader of that war — that the Persians and Medes would fight under his authority. _I_, he says (the pronoun אנכי _, anki, _is here emphatical,) _I am he, _says God, who _rouse _and _bring, _and then he adds, _an, assembly of great nations _The Chaldeans, as we know, had devoured many kingdoms, for Babylon had subjugated all the neighboring nations. Except, then, this had been distinctly expressed, they might have disregarded the prophetic threatenings. But Jeremiah speaks here of the assembly of great nations, lest the Chaldeans, relying on their power, the largeness of the monarchy, and the multitude of their men, should promise themselves victory, and thus lie asleep in their indulgences. G...

8-20 The desolation that shall be brought upon Babylon is set forth in a variety of expressions. The cause of this destruction is the wrath of the Lord. Babylon shall be wholly desolated; for she hath sinned against the Lord. Sin makes men a mark for the arrows of God's judgments. The mercy promised to the Israel of God, shall not only accompany, but arise from the destruction of Babylon. These sheep shall be gathered from the deserts, and put again into good pasture. All who return to God and their duty, shall find satisfaction of soul in so doing. Deliverances out of trouble are comforts indeed, when fruits of the forgiveness of sin....

Verse Jeremiah 50:9. _AN ASSEMBLY OF GREAT NATIONS_] The army of Cyrus was composed of Medes, Persians, Armenians, Caducians, Sacae, c. Though all these did not come from the _north_ yet they were arranged under the _Medes_, who did come from the north, in reference to Babylon. _THEIR ARROWS_] They are such expert archers, that they shall never miss their mark....

I WILL RAISE - Or, stir up. AN ASSEMBLY OF GREAT NATIONS - The Medo-Persian empire was as much an aggregate of discordant nations as that of Babylon. FROM THENCE - From the north, i. e., by the great nations coming thence. RETURN IN VAIN - A proverbial expression for ill success (compare Isaiah 55:11). Here the skillful warrior returns not empty....

Jeremiah 50:1. AND 51. ON BABYLON. EXPOSITION We have now reached a point at which some reference is necessary to the centre versies of the so called "higher criticism." An attempt must be made to put the reader in possession of the data which are so variously estimated by critics of different schools. Theological considerations need not, and therefore ought not, to be admitted; like every other critical question, that which we are now approaching can be argued out on purely literary grounds. At first sight, indeed, it would appear not to require a long debate, seeing that in Jeremiah 1:1 and Jeremiah 51:60 the prophecy is expressly attributed t

FOR, LO, I WILL RAISE AND CAUSE TO COME UP AGAINST BABYLON,.... The work was of the Lord; it was he that would give a commission and a command to the enemies of Babylon; that would incline them, and stir them up, to come against her; that would direct their motions and guide them thither, so that it would assuredly be; wherefore it behooves the people of God to make haste out of it: AN ASSEMBLY OF GREAT NATIONS FROM THE NORTH COUNTRY; the Medes and Persians, with their allies and auxiliaries which came with them from the north; as also a collection of Christian nations from the north of Europe against antichrist: AND THEY SHALL SET THEMSELVES IN ARRAY AGAINST HER; draw up their army in form of battle, or prepare and dispose their instruments of war for the siege of Babylon: FROM THENCE SHALL SHE BE TAKEN; on the north side, from which quarter the enemy should come; or from the place w...

CHAPTER S 50-51 BABYLON These two final Chapter s contain a great prophecy concerning Babylon, her overthrow and doom. The fifty-first chapter closes with the statement “thus far are the words of Jeremiah.” There is a direct statement that Jeremiah wrote all these words. We find it at the close of Jeremiah 51:59. “Jeremiah wrote in a book all the evil that should come upon Babylon, even all these words that are written against Babylon.” It would be a brazen infidelity which says Jeremiah did not write all these words. Yet the almost universally accepted view of the critics is that these Chapter s cannot be the work of Jeremiah. The German infidel, Professor Eichhorn, the man who coined the phrase “higher criticism,” started this denial; Kuenen, Budde and others have followed in his steps. Others have modified this radical view and concede the possibility that Jeremiah may have b

JEREMIAH 50:1 TO JEREMIAH 51:58. BABYLON. This long and monotonous prophecy, which is without order or logical development of ideas, is largely a compilation from the prophetic writings of Jeremiah and others (_cf., e.g.,_ Jeremiah 50:41 ff., Jeremiah 51:15). It presupposes the destruction of Jerusalem, apparently as a remote rather than a recent event. Its idea of Babylon is that of a cruel tyrant to be punished by Yahweh, not that of a Divinely commissioned agent of Yahweh's wrath against Israel, as Jeremiah teaches. We are not at liberty to make it contemporaneous with such exilic writings as Isaiah 13, 40-55, because

ASSEMBLY. a gathered host, or convocation. great nations. Compare Isaiah 13:3; Isaiah 13:4. MIGHTY... MAN. Hebrew. _gibbor._ App-14. EXPERT. successful. Compare Jeremiah 10:21; Jeremiah 23:5....