taken ... not aware--Herodotus relates that one half of the city was taken before those in the other half were "aware" of it. Cyrus turned the waters of the Euphrates where it was defended into a different channel, and so entered the city by the dried-up channel at night, by the upper and lower gates ([Da 5:30], ).
25. weapons of his indignation--the Medes and Persians ([Is 13:5]).
26. from the utmost border--namely, of the earth. Or, from all sides [Ludovicus De Dieu].
storehouses--or, "her houses filled with men and goods" [Michaelis]. When Cyrus took it, the provisions found there were enough to have lasted for many years.
as heaps--make of the once glorious city heaps of ruins. Vast mounds of rubbish now mark the site of ancient Babylon. "Tread her as heaps of corn which are wont to be trodden down in the threshing-floor" [Grotius].
27. bullocks--that is, princes and strong warriors ([Jr 46:21]; [Psa 22:12]; [Is 34:7]).
go down to ... slaughter--The slaughterhouses lay low beside the river; therefore it is said, "go down"; appropriate to Babylon on the Euphrates, the avenue through which the slaughterers entered the city.
28. declare in Zion ... temple--Some Jews "fleeing" from Babylon at its fall shall tell in Judea how God avenged the cause of Zion and her temple that had been profaned ([Jr 52:13]; [Da 1:2]; ).
29. archers--literally, "very many and powerful"; hence the Hebrew word is used of archers ([Job 16:13]) from the multitude and force of their arrows.
according to all that she hath done--(See on [Jr 50:15]).
proud against the Lord--not merely cruel towards men ([Is 47:10]).
30. (See on [Jr 49:26]).
in the streets--The Babylonians were so discouraged by having lost some battles that they retired within their walls and would not again meet Cyrus in the field.
31. most proud--literally, "pride"; that is, man of pride; the king of Babylon.
visit--punish ([Jr 50:27]).
33. Israel and ... Judah were oppressed--He anticipates an objection, in order to answer it: Ye have been, no doubt, "oppressed," therefore ye despair of deliverance; but, remember your "Redeemer is strong," and therefore can and will deliver you.
34. strong--as opposed to the power of Israel's oppressor ([Re 18:8]).
plead ... cause--as their advocate. Image from a court of justice; appropriate as God delivers His people not by mere might, but by righteousness. His plea against Satan and all their enemies is His own everlasting love, reconciling mercy and justice in the Redeemer's work and person ([Mi 7:9]; [Zec 3:1-5]; [1Jo 2:1]).
give rest ... disquiet--There is a play on the similarity of sounds in the two Hebrew verbs to express more vividly the contrast: "that He may give quiet to the land of Judah (heretofore disquieted by Babylon); but disquiet to the inhabitants of Babylon" (heretofore quietly secure) ([Is 14:6-8]).
35-37. The repetition of "A sword" in the beginning of each verse, by the figure anaphora, heightens the effect; the reiterated judgment is universal; the same sad stroke of the sword is upon each and all connected with guilty Babylon.
wise men--([Is 47:13]). Babylon boasted that it was the peculiar seat of wisdom and wise men, especially in astronomy and astrology.
38. drought--Altering the pointing, this verse will begin as the three previous verses, "A sword." However, all the pointed manuscripts read, "A drought," as English Version. Cyrus turned off the waters of the Euphrates into a new channel and so marched through the dried-up bed into the city ([Jr 51:32]). Babylonia once was famed for its corn, which often yielded from one to two hundredfold [Herodotus]. This was due to its network of water-courses from the Euphrates for irrigation, traces of which [Layard] are seen still on all sides, but dry and barren ([Is 44:27]).
their idols--literally, "terrors." They are mad after idols that are more calculated to frighten than to attract ([Jr 51:44], 47, 52; [Da 3:1]). Mere bugbears with which to frighten children.
39. wild beasts of the desert--wild cats, remarkable for their howl [Bochart].
wild beasts of the islands--jackals (See on [Is 13:21]).
owls--rather, "female ostriches"; they delight in solitary places. Literally, "daughters of crying." Compare as to spiritual Babylon, [Re 18:2].
no more inhabited for ever--The accumulation of phrases is to express the final and utter extinction of Babylon; fulfilled not immediately, but by degrees; Cyrus took away its supremacy. Darius Hystaspes deprived it, when it had rebelled, of its fortifications. Seleucus Nicanor removed its citizens and wealth to Seleucia, which he founded in the neighborhood; and the Parthians removed all that was left to Ctesiphon. Nothing but its walls was left under the Roman emperor Adrian.
40. ([Is 13:19]). Repeated from [Jr 49:18].
41-43. (Compare [Jr 6:22-24]). The very language used to describe the calamities which Babylon inflicted on Zion is that here employed to describe Babylon's own calamity inflicted by the Medes. Retribution in kind.
kinds--the allies and satraps of the various provinces of the Medo-Persian empire: Armenia, Hyrcania, Lydia, &c.
coasts--the remote parts.
44-46. Repeated mainly from [Jr 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 language as to both.
Chapter 51
Jr 51:1-64. Continuation of the Prophecy against Babylon Begun in the Fiftieth Chapter
1. in the midst of them that rise ... against me--literally, "in the heart" of them. Compare [Psa 46:2], "the midst of the sea," Margin; [Eze 27:4], "the heart of the seas"; Margin; [Mt 12:40]. In the center of the Chaldeans. "Against Me," because they persecute My people. The cabalistic mode of interpreting Hebrew words (by taking the letters in the inverse order of the alphabet, the last letter representing the first, and so on, [Jr 25:26]) would give the very word Chaldeans here; but the mystical method cannot be intended, as "Babylon" is plainly so called in the immediately preceding parallel clause.
wind--God needs not warlike weapons to "destroy" His foes; a wind or blast is sufficient; though, no doubt, the "wind" here is the invading host of Medes and Persians ([Jr 4:11]; [2Ki 19:7]).
2. fanners--(See on [Jr 15:7]). The fanners separate the wheat from the chaff; so God's judgments shall sweep away guilty Babylon as chaff ([Psa 1:4]).
3. Against him that bendeth--namely, the bow; that is, the Babylonian archer.
let the archer bend--that is, the Persian archer ([Jr 50:4]). The Chaldean version and Jerome, by changing the vowel points, read, "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 English Version, not to the Babylonians, to warn them against resistance as vain, as in the Chaldean version. The word "bend" is thrice repeated: "Against him that bendeth let him that bendeth bend," to imply the utmost straining of the bow.
4. (See on [Jr 49:26]; [Jr 50:30]; [Jr 50:37]).
5. forsaken--as a widow (Hebrew). Israel is not severed from her husband, Jehovah ([Is 54:5-7]), by a perpetual divorce.
though ... sin--though the land of Israel has been filled with sin, that is, with the punishment of their sin, devastation. But, as the Hebrew means "for," or "and therefore," not "though," translate, "and therefore their (the Chaldeans') land has been filled with (the penal consequences of) their sin" [Grotius].
6. Warning to the Israelite captives to flee from Babylon, lest they should be involved in the punishment of her "iniquity." So as to spiritual Babylon and her captives ([Re 18:4]).
7. Babylon is compared to a cup, because she was the vessel in the hand of God, to make drunken with His vengeance the other peoples ([Jr 13:12]; , ). Compare as to spiritual Babylon, [Re 14:8]; . The cup is termed "golden," to express the splendor and opulence of Babylon; whence also in the image seen by Nebuchadnezzar ([Da 2:38]) the head representing Babylon is of gold (compare [Is 14:4]).
8-9. Her friends and confederates, who behold her fall, are invited to her aid. They reply, her case is incurable, and that they must leave her to her fate. ([Is 21:9]; [Re 14:8]; , ).