Charles Ellicott Commentary Jeremiah 50

By Jeremiah the prophet. —Literally, by the hand of Jeremiah. The phrase is not found elsewhere in Jeremiah’s writings, with the one exception of Jeremiah 37:2. It probably indicates that the prophecy that follows was written with his own hand, and not dictated. (See Jeremiah 51:60.)

Set up a standard. —Better, lift up a signal. The noun is the same as in Jeremiah 4:6; Jeremiah 4:21. Here, however, its use is not that of furnishing a rallying point for an army, but that of a means of rapid communication, like the succession of beacon-fires in the opening of the Agamemnon of Æschylus (Agam., 272-307). The news of the fall of Babylon is to be proclaimed as quickly as possible throughout the world.

Bel is confounded, Merodach is broken in pieces. —Strictly speaking, these, as found in the inscriptions, were names of the same deity (see Note on Isaiah 46:1). The name of Bel appears in the names of the two great walls of Babylon, Imgur-Bel and Nimetti-Bel (Records of the Past, v. 125). The latter name, sometimes in the form of Marduk, appears as lord of heaven and earth, and Nebo is subordinate to him.

Nebuchadnezzar’s devotion to him is indicated by the name he gave his son, Evil-merodach (Jeremiah 52:31), and by describing himself in his inscriptions as “worshipper of Marduk” (Records of the Past, v. 113). So we have among Chaldean names Merodach-baladan (2 Kings 20:12; Isaiah 39:1), Kurdur-Marduk, and others. The inscriptions at Borsippa speak of him as “the great lord, the most ancient of the gods, the lord of the gates of heaven,” and so on (Rawlinson’s Herodotus, Book 1, 627-631).

Idols ... images. —The words had better be inverted. The former word denotes sculptured pillars, the latter blocks or columns. (See Note on Leviticus 26:30.)

Out of the north there comes up a nation. —It is significant that the very phrase which had described the danger that threatened Judah from Babylon (Jeremiah 1:10) is now used for the danger that threatened Babylon itself from Media. It is as though the prophet watched that northern quarter of the heavens, and saw storm after storm, torrent after torrent, bursting out upon the south. The nations are named in Jeremiah 51:27-28. We are almost irresistibly reminded of the language in which the historians of the fourth and fifth centuries speak of the Gothic and Teutonic tribes that poured down upon the Roman Empire.

The children of Israel shall come ... —The union of the divided sections of the people is significant as being that which the prophet had all along hoped for (Jeremiah 3:14–16). And the united people are to return with tears of mingled joy and penitence (Ezra 8:21–23), no longer worshipping Baal and the queen of heaven (Jeremiah 7:18; Jeremiah 44:17), but seeking Jehovah their God.

They shall ask the way to Zion with their faces thitherward. —Literally, in this direction. The correction is not without significance, as it shows that the prophecy was written in Judah, and therefore, to that extent, supports Jeremiah’s authorship.

A perpetual covenant. —The prophet may have had the promise of the new covenant of Jeremiah 31:31 in his thoughts, as it was about to receive at least a partial fulfillment. In Ezra 8:21-23 and Ezra 10:3, we find what we may regard as an effort by the people to enter into such a covenant.