And a great host and many kings break up from the ends of the earth.
42 Bow and lance they bear,
Cruel are they and without compassion.
Their sound roareth like the sea,
And on horses they ride equipped like a man for the battle
Against thee, thou daughter of Babylon.
43 The king of Babylon hath heard the report of them,
And his hands are feeble;
Anguish hath seized him, trembling as a parturient.
44 Behold, like a lion he ascends
From the pride of Jordan to the evergreen pasturage,
For in a twinkling I drive her from thence,
And—who is chosen? Him I set over her.
For who is like me, and who will order me?
And who is the shepherd who may stand before me?
45 Therefore hear the counsel of Jehovah that he hath counselled against Babylon,
And his thoughts which he hath thought against the land of the Chaldeans:
Yea, they will be dragged away, the weak little sheep,
Yea, the pasturage will be amazed concerning them.
46 With the cry, “Babylon is taken,” the earth trembles,
And a crying is heard among the nations.
EXEGETICAL AND CRITICAL
This entire passage consists of quotations, Jer_50:41-43 being taken from Jer_6:22-24, Jer_50:44-46 from Jer_49:19-21. As the prophet has already repeatedly designated the enemy as one coming from the north, it was natural to apply the former prophecy of the enemy threatening Judah from the north to Babylon, and it must also be admitted that the prophet would find it appropriate to transfer the prophecy of the chosen instrument for the destruction of Edom (Jer_49:19-21) to the similarly chosen instrument of the destruction of Babylon. Although thus the quotations here are accumulated to a degree greater than heretofore, I am yet convinced (contrary to my former view in Der proph. Jer. u. Bab., S. 128 ff.) that the passage is genuine and original. The idea of the unity of God’s judgments and of just recompense was to be represented here. This would receive no detriment, even if every single feature of the former prophecies did not seem adapted to be applied to Babylon. This, however, is not the case, for we find in the text such modifications as the application to Babylon required; daughter of Babylon, Jer_50:42; King of Babylon, Jer_50:43; against Babylon and the land of the Chaldeans, Jer_50:45; Babylon is taken, Jer_50:46; among the nations, for, in the Red Sea, Jer_50:46. What is not altered is not then opposed, according to the author’s judgment, to its application to Babylon. The figure in Jer_50:44 a is therefore not inappropriate. The pride of Jordan and evergreen pasturage belong to the picture. The lion, which, from the reed-thickets on the Jordan, falls upon the flocks feeding near the bank (comp. rems. on Jer_49:19), is a figure which may be applied to any case of overpowering hostile attack. Likewise the description of the northern people (Jer_6:23) is by no means so special that it may not be applied to any people advancing with warlike impetuosity. Moreover, Jeremiah, when he wrote Jer_6:22-24, neither had the Chaldeans specially in view, nor are they so very different from their neighbors, the Medes.
The addition and many kings in Jer_50:41 is thus explained, that in the conception of the prophet the picture was present of a host of enemies, composed of many different elements (comp. Jer_51:27-28).
