Jeremiah 25:8

"Therefore thus saith Jehovah of hosts: Because ye have not heard my words, behold, I will send and take all the families of the north, saith Jehovah, and I will send unto Nebuchadrezzar the king of Babylon, my servant, and will bring them against this land, and against the inhabitants thereof, and make them an astonishment, and a hissing, and perpetual desolations. Moreover I will take from them the voice of mirth and the voice of gladness, and the voice of the bridegroom and the voice of the bride, the sound of the millstones, and the light of the lamp. And this whole land shall be a desolation, and an astonishment; and these nations shall serve the king of Babylon seventy years."

"All the families of the north ... Nebuchadrezzar ..." (Jeremiah 25:9). The meaning of this is that the king of Babylon and all of his allies would come against Judah. The north was the direction from which all of the military operations against Jerusalem were to come, due to geographical considerations; and this does not mean that all of the enemies mentioned here lived in areas north of Jerusalem, for, in fact, many of them came from the east.

"The voice of the bridegroom and the voice of the bride, and the sound of the millstones, and the light of the lamp ..." (Jeremiah 25:10). The destruction about to come upon the last vestiges of the Old Israel was a very significant and historical event, because the Old Israel was a type of the New Israel, which would eventually be the Church "in Christ Jesus." Sadly enough, the scriptures teach that just as the Old Israel finally and completely rejected God, so will it be also with the New Israel when the fourth and final judicial hardening of the human race occurs, as fully prophesied in Revelation 16, at which time, God's New Israel, at that time, having become the shameless Whore of Revelation 17, and corresponding exactly to the final apostasy of Judah, then God will destroy them in the same manner that he destroyed Judah, many of these very expressions being woven into the prophecy that concludes with the last portion of Revelation 18. Those who are interested in a further study of this may wish to read our discussion of Revelation 9-11 in my commentary (Volume 12 in the New Testament Series).

"These nations shall serve the king of Babylon seventy years ..." (Jeremiah 25:11). See the chapter introduction for a full discussion of this prophecy.

"Perpetual desolations ... a desolation ..." (Jeremiah 25:9,11). A well known fact of history is that the majority of those nations which became slaves of Babylon did indeed become "perpetual" desolations, whereas, the mention of "a desolation" in Jeremiah 25:11 seems to avoid such a prophecy regarding Jerusalem; for that city would indeed be rebuilt, and God's servant Cyrus would significantly aid the restoration. Yes, Jerusalem would indeed become "a desolation"; but it would continue as a city until the Son of God should appear in her midst.

"Nebuchadrezzar, my servant ..." (Jeremiah 25:9). This glorious title was first given by God to Moses; and, in the Bible, it is usually reserved to the noblest and most faithful worshippers of the True God; but here it is thrice applied to Nebuchadrezzar, and also to Cyrus (in Isaiah). Such men were not servants of God in the highest sense of the word; but they were, nevertheless, very important servants, being, in truth, the instruments by which God punished his own rebellious children. Significantly, such persons did not consciously serve God but yet they executed his divine judgment upon others. As a rule, such "servants" became in time God's enemies and were in turn judged and punished by the will of God. As in Zechariah (Zechariah 1:18ff), the same nations might be either horns or smiths depending upon the circumstances.

A characteristic of human power is seen in the punishment that Babylon executed upon Judah. That punishment was aggravated by human lust and sadistic cruelty, greatly increasing sorrow and suffering; and the arrogant conceit and boastfulness indulged by such "instruments" of God inevitably led to their own destruction. It is this principle that led to the judgment announced in the next paragraph.