Jeremiah 51:1

Thus saith the LORD; Behold, I will raise up against Babylon, and against them that dwell in the midst of them that rise up against me, a destroying wind; AGAINST THEM THAT DWELL IN THE MIDST OF THEM THAT RISE UP AGAINST ME - literally, in the heart of them, etc. Compare Psalms 46:2, "the midst of the sea" - margin, 'the heart of the seas;' Ezekiel 27:4, margin; Matthew 12:40, "in the heart of the earth" - in the center of the Chaldeans. They "rise up against me," because they persecute my people. The Athbash or cabalistic mode of interpreting Hebrew words (by taking the letters in the inverse order of the alphabet, the last letter representing...

He proceeds with the same subject. Jeremiah seems, indeed, to have used more words than necessary; but we have stated the reason why he dwelt at large on a matter so clear: His object was not only to teach, for this he might have done in a few words, and have thus included all that we have hitherto seen and shall find in the whole of this chapter; but as it was an event hardly credible, it was necessary to illustrate the prophecy respecting it with many figures, and to inculcate with many repetitions what had been already said, and also to confirm by many reasons what no one hardly admitted. He then says, _Behold, I will, _etc. God is made the speaker, that the word might have more force and power. _Behold, _he says, _I will raise up a destroying wind _against the Chaldeans. The similitude of wind is very appropriate, for God thus briefly reminded them how easy it was for him to destroy...

1-58 The particulars of this prophecy are dispersed and interwoven, and the same things left and returned to again. Babylon is abundant in treasures, yet neither her waters nor her wealth shall secure her. Destruction comes when they did not think of it. Wherever we are, in the greatest depths, at the greatest distances, we are to remember the Lord our God; and in the times of the greatest fears and hopes, it is most needful to remember the Lord. The feeling excited by Babylon's fall is the same with the New Testament Babylon, Revelation 18:9; Revelation 18:19. The ruin of all who support idolatry, infidelity, and superstition, is needful for the revival of true godliness; and the threatening prophecies of Scripture yield comfort in this view. The great seat of antichristian tyranny, idolatry, and su...

CHAPTER LI _Sequel of the prophecies of Jeremiah against Babylon. The_ _dreadful, sudden, and final ruin that shall fall upon the_ _Chaldeans, who have compelled the nations to receive their_ _idolatrous rites, (see an instance in the_ third _chapter of_ _Daniel,) set forth by a variety of beautiful figures; with a_ _command to the people of God, (who have made continual_ _intercession for the conversion of their heathen rulers,) to_ _flee from the impending vengeance_, 1-14. _Jehovah, Israel's God, whose infinite power, wisdom and_...

IN THE MIDST OF THEM THAT RISE UP AGAINST ME - Or, in Leb-kamai, the cipher for Kasdim, i. e., Chaldaea. This cipher was not necessarily invented by Jeremiah, or used for concealment. It was probaby first devised either for political purposes or for trade, and was in time largely employed in the correspondence between the exiles at Babylon and their friends at home. Thus, words in common use like Sheshach Jeremiah 25:26 and Leb-kamai, would be known to everybody....

EXPOSITION JEREMIAH 51:1 AGAINST THEM THAT DWELL IN THE MIDST OF THEM THAT RISE UP AGAINST ME. The Hebrew has _lēb-kāmai_, which is _Kasdim_, or _Chaldea, _written in the cypher called Athbash (see on Jeremiah 25:26); just as _Sheshach_ in Jeremiah 51:41 is equivalent to Babel. The question arises whether the prophet himself is responsible for this covert way of writing, or a scribe in later times (so Ewald). In favour of the former view it may be urged that Babylon and Chaldea receive symbolic names (though not in Athbash) in the connected chapter ...

THUS SAITH THE LORD, BEHOLD, I WILL RAISE UP AGAINST BABYLON,.... This is not a new prophecy, but a continuation of the former, and an enlargement of it. The Babylonians being the last and most notorious enemies of the Jews, their destruction is the longer dwelt upon; and as they were against the Lord's people the Lord was against them, and threatens to raise up instruments of his vengeance against them: AND AGAINST THEM THAT DWELL IN THE MIDST OF THEM THAT RISE UP AGAINST ME; that dwell in Babylon, the metropolis of the Chaldeans, the seat and centre of the enemies of God and his people. It is a periphrasis of the Chaldeans; and, so the Targum renders it, "against the inhabitants of the land of the Chaldeans;'' and so the Septuagint version, against the Chaldeans; and Jarchi and Kimchi observe that according to "athbash", a rule of interpretation with the Jews, the letters in "leb ka...

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

THE LORD. Hebrew. _Jehovah._ App-4. BEHOLD. Figure of speech _Asterismos._ ME.. Massoretic note (App-30) says that this is. cryptogram (Hebrew " _Casdim_ "), meaning "the Chaldees". See note on Jeremiah 51:41; Jeremiah 25:26. DESTROYING. laying waste. Hebrew. _shahath._ The same word as in verses: Jeremiah 51:11; Jeremiah 51:20; Jeremiah 51:25. Not the same as in verses: Jeremiah 51:3;...