Jeremiah 51:3

Against him that bendeth let the archer bend his bow, and against him that lifteth himself up in his brigandine: and spare ye not her young men; destroy ye utterly all her host. AGAINST HIM THAT BENDETH - namely, the bow, i:e., against the Babylonian archer. LET THE ARCHER BEND - i:e., the Persian archer (). The Chaldean version and Jerome, by changing the vowel points, read ['al, instead of 'el], 'Let NOT him (the Babylonian) who bendeth his bow bend it.' But the close of the verse is addressed to the Median invaders; therefore it is more likely that the first part of the verse is addressed to them, as in the 'English version, not to the Babylonians, to warn them against resistance as vain, as in the Chaldaic version. The word bend is thrice repeated in the Hebrew. 'Against him that bendeth, let h...

Interpreters give various expositions of this verse. Some understand a soldier of light armor by _him who bends the bow; _and by him who _elevates himself in his coat of mail, _they understand a heavy-armed, soldier, There is also another difference; some take אל, _al, _for לא, _la, _when it is said ואל יתעל _, veal itol, _because a copulative follows; and the words seem not to be well connected, if we read thus, “As to him who raises himself up in his coat of mail, and spare ye not,” etc.; and hence they take negatively the particle אל, _al, _instead of לא _la_, “and he may not raise up himself in his coat of mail.” But it is probable that the copulative in the second place is redundant The simple meaning would therefore be, As to him who bends the bow, and who raises hims

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...

The man who bends the bow, and the heavy-armed soldier who vaunts himself in his coat of mail (Jeremiah 46:4 note), represent the Babylonians who defend the city....

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 ...

AGAINST [HIM THAT] BENDETH LET THE ARCHER BEND HIS BOW,.... These are either the words of the Lord to the Medes and Persians, to the archers among them, to bend their bows and level their arrows against the Chaldeans, who had bent their bows and shot their arrows against others; or of the Medes and Persians stirring up one another to draw their bows, and fight manfully against the enemy: AND AGAINST [HIM THAT] LIFTETH UP HIMSELF IN HIS BRIGANDINE; or coat of mail; that swaggers about in it, proud of it, and putting his confidence in it, as if out of all danger. The sense is, that they should direct their arrows both against those that were more lightly or more heavily armed; since by them they might do execution among the one and the other: AND SPARE YE NOT HER YOUNG MEN; because of their youth, beauty, and strength: DESTROY YE UTTERLY ALL HER HOST; her whole army, whether officers or...

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

AGAINST HIM THAT BENDETH, &C. The _Massorah_ (App-30), instead of cancelling the repeated word "against... and against" _('el),_ directs the substitution of _'al,_ "not... and not". The verse will then read, "Let not the archer bend his bow, nor let him lift himself up in his coat of mail" (i.e. in defence of Babylon). This is so read in two early printed editions, Chaldee, Syriac, Vulgate, and Revised Version. BRIGANDINE. coat of mail. DESTROY. break down. Hebrew. _haram._ Same word as Jeremiah 51:54. Not the same as verses: Jeremiah 51:1; Jeremiah 51:8; Jeremiah 51:11;...

_Let not the archer bend his bow, and let him not lift himself up, etc_.] As the mg., when compared with the text, suggests, the Heb. is difficult. It is in fact ungrammatical and probably corrupt. It seems best to omit the negatives, and make the whole _v_. (as the latter part must be in any case) an address to the assailants of Babylon. If we retain the negatives, the sense will be that it will be useless for Babylon's warriors to attempt her defence. _destroy ye utterly all_ For mg. _devote ye all, etc._, See on Jeremiah 25:9 and cp. Jeremiah 50:21....