Jeremiah 50:1

THE TITLE, Jeremiah 50:1.

1. The word… against Babylon Rather, concerning.

By Jeremiah Literally, as in the margin, by the hand of Jeremiah, suggesting not a spoken, but a written, message. The and should be omitted, and so land of the Chaldeans is simply an appositive of Babylon, which is thus shown to be not the city but the land.

The circle of the nations is completed in this prophecy against Babylon, which is much the most elaborate of all, containing one hundred verses. The genuineness of the passage is assailed by several critics on such grounds as these: 1) Elsewhere Jeremiah is the friend of the Chaldeans; here he is their enemy, and thirsts for their overthrow: 2) The style is repetitious. 3) New words and thoughts, foreign to Jeremiah, are introduced. 4) It shows a striking resemblance to certain passages in Isaiah 5:0) It displays an intimate knowledge of Babylonian topography and customs.

We reply: 1) Jeremiah indeed recognises the Chaldeans as the ministers of God’s justice, but still this does not change the fact that they are the enemies of the theocracy; and Jeremiah’s loyalty as a Jew and a worshipper of the Most High cannot be questioned. 2) That the style contains repetitions is eminently characteristic of Jeremiah, the warmth of whose emotional nature continually leads him to dwell on and to repeat matters of supreme interest. 3) There is no proof that new words and thoughts, novel to Jeremiah, have been introduced. 4) The introduction of passages from other prophets, such as Isaiah, Obadiah, and Nahum, has already been illustrated; and in this Jeremiah is simply consistent with himself. 5) The knowledge of Babylon is only of such general character as every intelligent Jew must have possessed.

In favor of the genuineness of this passage we may note 1) Its own distinct and formal claim, so that if it be not genuine it is a base forgery. 2) The style is characteristically Jeremiah’s. 3) The local and historical allusions are fully in harmony with this view. One illustrative passage, the fifth verse, has been repeatedly quoted: “They shall ask the way to Zion with their faces thitherward.” The exact reading is hitherward, showing that the writer was at Jerusalem.