Jeremiah 51:56-58

Matthew Henry's Complete Commentary - Jeremiah 51:1-58

The particulars of this copious prophecy are dispersed and interwoven, and the same things left and returned to so often that it could not well be divided into parts, but we must endeavor to collect them under their proper heads. Let us then observe here, I. An acknowledgment of the great pomp and power that Babylon had been in and the use that God in his providence had made of it (Jer. 51:7): Babylon hath been a golden cup, a rich and glorious empire, a golden city (Isa. 14:4), a head of gold... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Jeremiah 51:56

Because the spoiler is come upon her, even upon Babylon ,.... That is, Cyrus, with his army: and her mighty men are taken ; unawares, by surprise: everyone of their bows is broken ; they had no strength to withstand the enemy, and were obliged to yield at once; lay down their arms, and submit: for the Lord God of recompences shall surely requite ; that God to whom vengeance belongs, and will recompense it; who is a God of justice and equity, the Judge of all the earth; he will... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Jeremiah 51:57

And I will make drunk her princes ,.... With the wine of divine wrath; that is, slay them; though there may be an allusion to their being drunk with wine at the feast Belshazzar made for his thousand lords; who are the princes here intended, together with the king and his royal family, Daniel 5:1 ; and her wise men , her captains, and her rulers, and her mighty men : the counsellors of state, priests, magicians, and astrologers; officers in the army, superior and inferior ones; and... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Jeremiah 51:58

Thus saith the Lord of hosts ,.... Because what follows might seem incredible ever to be effected; it is introduced with this preface, expressed by him who is the God of truth, and the Lord God omnipotent: the broad walls of Babylon shall be utterly broken ; or rased up; the foundations of them, and the ground on which they stood made naked and bare, and open to public view; everyone of the walls, the inward and the outward, as Kimchi and Ben Melech interpret it. Curtius says F19 ... read more

Adam Clarke

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible - Jeremiah 51:56

The Lord God of recompenses - The fall of Babylon is an act of Divine justice; whatever it suffers, it is in consequence of its crimes. read more

Adam Clarke

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible - Jeremiah 51:57

I will make drunk her princes - See on Jeremiah 51:39 ; (note). read more

Adam Clarke

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible - Jeremiah 51:58

The broad walls of Babylon - Herodotus, who saw these walls, says, "The city was a regular square, each side of which was one hand red and twenty stadia, the circumference four hundred and eighty stadia. It was surrounded by a wall fifty cubits broad, and two hundred cubits high; and each side had twenty-five brazen gates." - Herod. lib. 1 c. 178. Had not Cyrus resorted to stratagem, humanly speaking, he could not have taken this city. For the destruction of this wall and its very vestiges,... read more

John Calvin

John Calvin's Commentary on the Bible - Jeremiah 51:56

Verse 56 He confirms the former verse; for as the thing of which he speaks was difficult to be believed, he sets God before them, and shows that he would be the author of that war. He now continues his discourse and says, that desolators shall come against Babylon. He had ascribed to God what he now transfers to the Medes and the Persians. He had said, Jehovah hath desolated or wasted, שדד יהוה, shedad Jeve; he says now, coming is a desolator, שודד , shudad. Who is he? not God, but Cyrus,... read more

John Calvin

John Calvin's Commentary on the Bible - Jeremiah 51:57

Verse 57 Jeremiah pursues the same subject, he said yesterday that desolators would come to destroy Babylon. He now confirms this by a similitude; and God himself speaks, I will inebriate the princes and captains as well as the soldiers and all the counselors. He seems here to allude to that feast of which Daniel speaks, and of which heathen authors have written. (Daniel 5:1) For while the feast was celebrated by the Babylonians, the city was that night taken, not only through the contrivance... read more

John Calvin

John Calvin's Commentary on the Bible - Jeremiah 51:58

Verse 58 The Prophet again introduces God as the speaker, that what he said might obtain more attention from the Jews; and for this reason he subjoined a eulogy to the last verse, and said that the king spoke, whose name is Jehovah of hosts We have stated elsewhere what is the design of such expressions, even that men may rise above everything seen in the world when God’s power is mentioned, that they may not try to contain it in their own small measure. Then the Prophet now again repeats the... read more

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