Jeremiah 51 Study Notes

51:1-64 The judgment message against Babylon continues in the longest chapter in the book of Jeremiah, concluding with a special message to Babylon.

51:1 Leb-qamai (lit “the heart of those who rise against me”) is a figure of speech called atbash, a Jewish device where letters are substituted for their opposites in the alphabet. In the English equivalent, the letter A would be changed to Z, B to Y, and so on. “Leb-qamai” is therefore a cipher for Kasdim or Chaldea (Babylonia), just as “Zimri” in 25:25 might be a cipher for Elam, and “Sheshach” in 25:26 and 51:41 is an atbash cipher for Babylon. It is not clear why Jeremiah used atbash in these cases since elsewhere he clearly points to Babylon. The spirit or breath or wind of a destroyer is known elsewhere in the OT as the east wind or sirocco. This wind is an apt figure for the winnowing (v. 2) that God will perform on Babylon.

51:2 There is a play on words between strangers (zar) and scatter (zrh). Note the parallel to day of disaster in 17:17-18.

51:3-4 Behind the translation of completely destroy is the Hebrew word cherem (see note at 50:21).

51:5 On the Holy One of Israel, see note at 50:29-32. Unlike Babylon, Israel will not be left widowed as they were in previous days. Israel’s future restoration is the theme of this verse.

51:6 On the surface, the call to leave Babylon (see note at 50:8) seems to contradict with the prophet Daniel’s choice to remain in Babylon and serve as a top administrator. Daniel knew Jeremiah’s prophecy (Dn 9:2). This raises several possibilities, including that God did not mean for all of his people to leave Babylon.

51:7-8 Babylon’s great wealth is depicted as a gold cup. Previously, Babylon had been God’s instrument of wrath to judge the nations; now it is her turn to drink the cup of God’s wrath (25:15-29).

51:9 There was a balm in Gilead (see note at 8:22) to heal Israel’s wounds, but there would be no healing for Babylon. The phrase her judgment extends to the sky and reaches as far as the clouds is a proverbial expression indicating that Babylon’s judgment will be severe (Nm 13:28; Dt 1:28).

51:10 The vindication of Judah was their promised return after seventy years of captivity (25:11-14), because God would be their Redeemer (50:34). The goal of the return was to witness to those in Jerusalem about what the Lord our God has accomplished.

51:11-12 Babylon’s enemies are identified for the first time in these verses as the Medes. Media was a country northeast of Babylon (in modern Iran) with its capital at Ecbatana. Media rose to prominence in the seventh century BC. In 549 BC it came under Persian rule and joined Cyrus in the defeat of the Babylonian Empire. Though the Medes and the Persians were the instruments, it was God’s plan . . . aimed at Babylon to destroy her. God both designs and executes his plans.

51:13-14 The one who resided by abundant water was Babylon. The Euphrates and Tigris rivers were symbolic of her strength.

51:15-19 God is the only wise Creator who rules over all. His name is Jacob’s Portion (cp. 10:16). This makes Israel’s place in the Creator’s design of the world distinctive and perpetual.

51:20-23 The phrase with you (“you” being God’s war club) falls ten times in these verses like the beat of a heavy battle drum. Many see King Cyrus of Persia (Is 41:2-4,25; 45:1-6) as the unnamed “war club.” The verb will smash is repeated nine times, like the beat of a second battle drum.

51:24 On the theme of repaying Babylon see 25:14; 50:29; 51:6,56.

51:25-26 The image of a devastating mountain that rolls down from the cliffs and turns into a charred mountain is difficult to conceive unless the image is of a volcano that spews rock and hot coals, leaving a burned-out crater. This image matches the once-arrogant Babylon that would soon become a burnt-up, ruined empire.

51:27-28 Three kingdoms of the Median Empire—Ararat, Minni, and Ashkenaz—are invited to join battle against Babylon. These kingdoms were northwest of Babylon in what is today generally called Armenia. Ararat occupied southeastern Turkey and the northern regions of Iraq and Iran, about the same area where the Kurdish people live today. Minni or Mannaya (aka the Maneans) lived south of Lake Urmia in the southwestern regions of modern Iran. Ashkenaz generally refers to Indo-European peoples whom Herodotus called Scythians. All these names are known from cuneiform texts discovered by archaeologists.

51:29-32 Babylon was completely demoralized by this announcement of the pending attack. They stopped fighting, holed up in their strongholds, and became like women. The reed-filled marshes that surrounded Babylon were set on fire, cutting off escape and flushing out fugitives.

51:33-35 Babylon will be made ready like a threshing floor that is trampled to get ready for the threshing of the harvest—which will be the thrashing of Babylon. The Lord answered Zion’s complaint against Babylon in this way: Babylon will be given a feast, following which she “will fall asleep forever” (v. 39).

51:36-40 As Israel’s redeemer (50:34), the Lord will bring vengeance against Babylon, her enemy.

51:41 On the cipher Sheshach, see note at 25:26.

51:42-43 The reference to the sea here may be an allusion to what happened to the Egyptian army in the exodus.

51:44 God will destroy two things for which Babylon was famous—the idol Bel (see note at 50:2) and the wall around Babylon. The outer wall was twelve feet thick with a lane twenty-three feet wide between it and the inner wall, which was twenty-one feet thick. The walls were so thick that several chariots could drive abreast atop them. Towers rose from the walls every sixty feet. Outside the walls, a moat-like ditch was bricked and filled with water from the Euphrates River.

51:45 Once more there is a call for the citizens of Judah to come out from among Babylon (vv. 6,50; 50:8).

51:46-48 Rumors of feuds and revolts will come one year . . . then another the next year. No one has linked any specific event with these statements. Nebuchadnezzar’s son, Amel-Marduk (Evil-merodach) was assassinated in 560 BC by his brother-in-law Neriglissar (560-556 BC). Neriglissar’s heir, Labashi-Marduk had a short reign of a few months and was replaced by Nabonidus (556-539 BC). Things were beginning to unravel in Babylon.

51:50-58 The structure of this section is similar to vv. 45-49. It calls the people to focus on returning to Jerusalem after a time of lamentation.

51:59-64 One final symbolic act has Jeremiah speaking with Seraiah, brother of Baruch. Seraiah was to accompany King Zedekiah during the fourth year of his reign on a trip to Babylon (594/593 BC). This was the year of the plot to rebel against Babylon (2Ch 27), a plot in which Zedekiah was implicated. He would take a scroll on which the prophet had recorded his prophecies against Babylon. Seraiah was to read aloud these words, then pray that God would fulfill them, making Babylon an uninhabited place. Then he was to tie a stone to the scroll and throw it into the Euphrates River and declare, In the same way, Babylon will sink and never rise again.

The note that the words of Jeremiah end here are probably from the compiler, who wanted to separate chap. 51 from chap. 52. The final chapter parallels 2Kg 24:18-25:30, even though they differ in some respects.