Behold, he shall come up like a lion from the swelling of Jordan unto the habitation of the strong: but I will make them suddenly run away from her: and who is a chosen man, that I may appoint over her? for who is like me? and who will appoint me the time? and who is that shepherd that will stand before me?
Repeated mainly from Jeremiah 49:19-21. The identity of God's principle in His dealing with Edom, and in that with Babylon, is implied by the similarity of the language used as to both.
Verse 46. The cry is heard among the nations - in Edom's case it is, "at the cry the noise thereof was heard in the Red sea." The change implies the wider extent to which the crash of Babylon's downfall shall be heard than that of Edom's.
Remarks:
(1) The prophet, though he had been treated with respect and kindness by the Babylonian king and the captain of his guard, yet does not shrink from declaring, without reserve, the coming doom of Babylon, revealed to him by God. Just as before he had not shrunk from the painful duty of announcing the ruin of his nation by Babylon, at the cost of provoking the bitter persecution of his countrymen, so with equal faithfulness he announces also Babylon's own destruction, at the risk of provoking the wrath of the great king who, he foresaw, was so soon to have him entirely in his power. The faithful servant of God is sure to stir up the ill-will of the most opposite classes: still, he has a duty to his God to fulfil, which is paramount to all other considerations. If even those to whom we owe a debt of kindness be enemies of God, we must not speak peace to them, but tell them the whole truth, however unwelcome.
(2) When Babylon falls then Israel rises. When God inflicts the long-deferred judgment on the enemy of His people, there is rich mercy in store for His people. Though Babylon was then in the full swelling tide of her prosperity and pride, and Judah was in captivity to her, yet ere long their relative conditions would be reversed: Babylon, after her long course of unsanctified prosperity, was doomed to fall utterly and forever: Israel, after her long period of affliction, which shall in the end be sanctified to her, shall rise to fall no more. Let us hence learn to "choose rather to suffer affliction with the people of God, than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season" (Hebrews 11:25).
(3) The steps of Israel's coming restoration are most instructive to trace. Heretofore they have turned their back, and not their face, to God, but at the time appointed by God "they shall ask the way to Zion, with their faces thereward" (Jeremiah 50:4-5). So the believing elect once were "without God in the world," and "strangers from the covenants of promise" (Ephesians 2:12), but God has turned them to Himself by His Spirit, moving them to "ask" that it may be given them. The desire after God, embodied in prayer for direction as to "the way" to Him and to the heavenly "Zion," is the first sure mark of a work of grace begun in the soul. Not only do such awakened souls desire salvation as the end, but they desire also to be taught by the Spirit the right way, in order that they may walk in it continually. Then, too, there is a thirst after communion with their fellow-believers. They do not wish to go to heaven alone; but as Judah is represented as stirring up Israel, and Israel Judah, to go "together" to "seek the Lord" as "their God," so Christians stir up one another, "Come, and let us join ourselves to the Lord, in a perpetual covenant that shall not be forgotten."
(4) "Weeping" shall be a marked feature in the Jews at the time of their future turning to the Lord. "They shall look upon Messiah whom they have pierced, and they shall mourn" (Zechariah 12:10) as "one mourneth for his only son." They shall first return to their God with weeping for their sins, and then they shall return to their own land weeping with joy at their restoration beyond all hope. So believers "who sow in tears" the seed of repentance "shall reap in joy" (Psalms 126:5). They not only "weep," but they "go" to Him who will "give them beauty for ashes, the oil of joy for mourning, the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness" (Isaiah 61:3).
(5) Israel heretofore had been as "lost sheep" which "have forgotten their resting-place" (Jeremiah 50:6). They had "sinned against the Lord, the habitation of justice, the hope of their fathers" (Jeremiah 50:7). It was this that gave the enemy all his power against Israel. So long as they rested in God, in whom their fathers, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, had hoped, so long their adversaries could not do them the least hurt. But once they forsook the God of their salvation, they were the rightful prey of every aggressor. So believers, as long as they are faithful to their God, have in Him a perfect security against every fear. But once that they make compromises with the world, and forget Christ, their true and only "resting-place," they give an advantage to Satan and the world over them. The very agents and instruments of their sin are made the agents and instruments of their punishment, and are the first to triumph over their fall.
(6) But the enemies of Israel, in their triumph over her, unconsciously utter words which suggest sure ground of hope to her. God was the "hope of her fathers," the enemy admits; and just because of the everlasting covenant made by God with her fathers, God has mercy in store for her, and vengeance for her adversaries. Their very "joy" and 'gladness in having destroyed the Lord's heritage' (Jeremiah 50:11) shall move the Lord to avenge her cause on Babylon, and to confound with shame (Jeremiah 50:12) her proud destroyer (Jeremiah 50:15): while, on the contrary, Israel's "iniquities" and "sins" shall be as completely forgiven and forgotten as if they had never had any existence at all (Jeremiah 50:20): she and Judah shall, as the Lord's own sheep, "feed" and "be satisfied" with the rich pastures supplied by the good Shepherd in their own land (Jeremiah 50:19). Spiritually, this most comforting promise belongs to the believing elect also, the remnant whom God reserves (Jeremiah 50:20) for mercy, while the rest are given up to condign punishment. Their debt of sin is completely cancelled, because their atoning Surety has paid it for them with His life-blood. "Their soul shall be satisfied," as with marrow and fatness, in the heavenly land which God has appointed as their own land of "habitation" forever (Jeremiah 50:19).
(7) In the judgment on Babylon God vindicates His own righteousness in "recompensing the proud" (Jeremiah 50:31-32) rebel "against the Lord," "according to her work" (Jeremiah 50:29). It is an eternal principle in God's moral government of the world, to visit the proud and cruel oppressor with retribution in kind sooner or later. The people of God are at times tempted to despair when they see "continually every day the fury of the oppressor, as if ready to destroy" (Isaiah 51:13). But let them remember the comforting consideration suggested by the prophet both to the literal and to the spiritual Israel, "Their Redeemer is strong; The Lord of hosts is His name: He shall throughly plead their cause, that He may give rest" to them, "and disgust" their enemies (Jeremiah 50:34).
(8) When God had used Babylon as His "hammer" (Jeremiah 50:23), in executing judgment on the nations of the earth, He then visited herself with judgment. Of the Babylonian king it may be said:
While he his own arm trusted, God wrought His purpose high; Then, like a sword-blade rusted, Cast him dishonoured by.'
We are not to look merely to the present temporary appearances of the people of God and of the people of the world respectively: the end of both is the true test. The elect of God, however weak they seem now, have the strong Redeemer on their side, with whom it is a righteous thing to recompense tribulation to them that trouble His people; and to the latter, who are troubled, rest when the Lord Jesus shall be revealed from heaven with His mighty angels (Jeremiah 50:34; 2 Thessalonians 1:6-7). Who of the spiritual Babylon, in that great day of His wrath, shall be able to stand before Him? (Jeremiah 50:44; Revelation 6:17:) for He is Lord of lords and King of kings; and they that are with Him are called, and "chosen" (Jeremiah 50:44), and faithful (Jeremiah 17:14). Let us see that we be among the latter, owned as His, and forming part of His glorious retinue, in the day when He shall come to be glorified in His saints, and to take vengeance on them that know not God (2 Thessalonians 1:8-10).