Charles Ellicott Commentary Jeremiah 51

I will raise up ... a destroying wind. —Literally, the wind of a destroyer. In Haggai 1:14; Ezra 1:1; Ezra 1:5; 1 Chronicles 5:26 the phrase is used for “stirring up the spirit” of a man, and that may be its meaning here. The context, however, suggests, in the “fanners” of the next verse, the literal meaning of “wind,” and it is quite possible that the phrase may have been used by Jeremiah in this sense, and afterwards acquired a figurative meaning. It does not appear in any earlier book of the Old Testament.

Against them that dwell in the midst of them that rise up against me. —Literally, in the heart of my adversaries. In the judgment of most commentators the Hebrew words Leb-kamai, which answer to the last ten words of the English, furnish another example of the Atbash or cypher-writing of which we have seen an instance in the Sheshach of Jeremiah 25:26. Interpreted by that cypher Leb-kamai becomes Chasdim or Chaldæans. Obviously the significance of the cypher-words gives force to its employment here, and presents a parallel to the use of the names Merathaim and Pekod in Jeremiah 50:21.

Some commentators, indeed, rest in that significance without recognising the hidden meaning of the Atbash. The Septuagint and Syriac versions translate “against the Chaldæans,” as recognising the use of the cypher. Both this and Sheshach had probably become familiar in the correspondence between the exiles and those of their countrymen who remained in Judaea, and so both would understand them when used by Jeremiah.

Fanners, that shall fan her. —The Hebrew word as it stands means “strangers,” but a change of the vowel-points would etymologically give “winnowers” or “fanners,” though the word is not found elsewhere. On the whole, it would seem best to accept the meaning of “strangers,” the prophet connecting it with the verb for “fan,” which contains the same consonants, for the sake of a rhythmical assonance. The imagery in either case is that of the familiar picture of the “threshing-floor,” where the “strong wind” scatters the chaff in all directions (Psalms 1:4; Psalms 35:5; Isaiah 17:13; Isaiah 29:5). The word for “empty” is the same as that used with an emphatic significance in Jeremiah 19:7.

Let the archer bend his bow. —The words represent the sense of the original, but the Hebrew word for “archer” is literally bender, and so the iteration of the verb gains its full rhetorical force. On “brigandine,” as meaning the “coat of mail” of heavy-armed troops, see Note on Jeremiah 46:4. The two classes of soldiers describe collectively the garrison that defended Babylon.

Israel hath not been forsaken. —Better, widowed. The participle is from the word that commonly represents the idea of widowhood.

Judah and Israel, the prophet declares, were not, as people thought, abandoned by their husband Jehovah. He was still their protector.

The prophet has in his thoughts at once the image of apparent widowhood (Isaiah 54:4–6; Lamentations 1:1) and the thought that Jehovah is, after all, the husband ready to forgive (Jeremiah 3:4; Jeremiah 3:14; Jeremiah 3:20; Jeremiah 4:1).

The assurance of this returning love does not rest on any plea in extenuation of the nation’s guilt, which the words that follow admit without reserve. For “his” it would be better to read her or their, to keep up the metaphor.

Against the Holy One of Israel. —On Jeremiah’s use of the name, see Note on Jeremiah 50:29.

Flee out of the midst of Babylon. —The words reproduce the call of Jeremiah 50:8 with a fresh motive. The city was doomed. It was wrong for those who had not been guilty of her sins to involve themselves in her destruction. The call is reproduced, as referring to the mystical Babylon, in Revelation 18:4.