Judgment on Babylon (1): Jeremiah 50

Pray Psalm 2.11, 12.
Serve the LORD with fear,
And rejoice with trembling.
Kiss the Son, lest He be angry,
And you perish in the way,
When His wrath is kindled but a little.
Blessed are all those who put their trust in Him.

Sing Psalm 2.11, 12.
(Agincourt: O Love, How Deep, How Broad, How High!)
Rejoice with fear in Jesus’ grace,
and worship before His exalted face!
Beware His anger and judgment grim:
How blessed are all who rest in Him!

Read and meditate on Jeremiah 50.11-19; 29-32.

Prepare.
1. What was wrong about Babylon’s attitude toward God’s people?

2. What did God seem most to take issue with where Babylon was concerned?

Meditate.
If Nebuchadnezzar was God’s “servant” (Jer. 27.6), and doing His will, why did God judge Babylon?

Some answers emerge in our texts for today. First, God took no pleasure in disciplining His people. His desires for them – as for us – are always for good, to give us hope for a better future (Jer. 29.11). Not so the Babylonians. They “were glad” and “rejoiced” to destroy Judah, Jerusalem, and the temple of the Lord. They wanted to scrape Judah off the face of the earth, and probably hoped that taking them captive to Babylon would end up with intermarriages and gradual assimilation into that culture and lifestyle. In so doing, Babylon “sinned against the LORD” (v. 14), and she would therefore come to the same destruction she sought for God’s people.

The second reason for judgment is the pride, arrogance, and haughtiness Babylon displayed in her victory over the Jews (vv. 29-32). The Babylonians boasted in their violence against Judah; they would know equal violence as a result (v. 29). They were haughty in their triumph; they would be cut off and brought low (vv. 30-32). They devoured Jerusalem with the flames, and were proud of it; they too would be destroyed by fire (v. 32).

In Isaiah’s prophesy, Cyrus the Mede was called as God’s servant to judge Babylon (cf. Is. 45). But Cyrus’ response to the people of God would be not to gloat over them and their Babylonian hosts, but to free Israel to return to their land. Babylon’s glee and pride at Israel’s destruction would mark the end of their service to God, as He raised up a more faithful servant to bring His wrath against the Chaldeans.

The Jews of Jesus’ day were God’s servants, as were the Romans who authorized His murder. They meant it for evil, but God used it for ultimate good, in bringing life and salvation to us through Jesus, God’s true and ever-faithful Son and Servant.

Reflect.
1. Jesus calls us to serve in His Kingdom (Mk. 10.42-45). How is it evident that we are servants of God?

2. Why was God just in judging the Babylonians, whom he had called His “servant”?

3. How can we keep from becoming prideful about the service we offer in God’s Name?

Behold, he says, I am against thee, O proud one. He again calls the Babylonians proud, even because they had not been led to war by levity or folly, or vain ambition, but because they had assailed God and men without any reverence and without any regard to humanity. John Calvin (1509-1564), Commentary on Jeremiah 50.31

Keep me from all pride in serving, Lord, as today I…

Pray Psalm 2.1-10.
Pray that God would humble the proud and those who take delight in persecuting His people. Pray for the people of God everywhere, that we might wait on the Lord and live for the Gospel.

Sing Psalm 2.1-10.
Psalm 2.1-10 (Agincourt: O Love, How Deep, How Broad, How High!)
Why do the nations vainly rage,
conspiring together from age to age?
Earth’s kings and all of their counselors stand
against the Lord and His Right Hand:

“Now let us cast His yoke below,
His Kingdom authority overthrow!
Throw off His Law, reject His Word;
no more be governed by this Lord!”

The Lord in heaven laughs in wrath
at all who embark on this cursèd path.
His angry Word to them is plain:
“Yet shall My King in Zion reign!”

Proclaim the message far and wide,
that God has exalted the Crucified!
From heav’n He sent us His only Son,
Who has for us salvation won.

To Christ the Lord be given all
who humbly embrace Him and on Him call.
Be wise, be warned: His judgment comes
to break the prideful, sinful ones.

T. M. Moore

You can also now listen to a weekly summary of our daily Scriptorium study. Click here for Jeremiah 49. You can also download for free all the weekly studies in this series on the book of Jeremiah by clicking here.

Check out the special offer on our book The Church Captive. Are churches today captive like the people of Jerusalem in Jeremiah’s day? Order your copy of The Church Captive and decide for yourself (click here).

Except as indicated, Scripture taken from the New King James Version. © Copyright 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved. All quotations from Church Fathers from Ancient Christian Commentary Series, General Editor Thomas C. Oden (Downers Grove: InterVarsity Press, 2006). All psalms for singing are from The Ailbe Psalter (available by clicking here).