What is the meaning of Jeremiah 50:15? Raise a war cry against her on every side! • The command pictures surrounding armies lifting a triumphant shout, a tactic meant to terrify and demoralize (compare Joshua 6:20; Judges 7:20). • God is summoning multiple nations to converge on Babylon, echoing earlier warnings that “nations from the north” would come (Jeremiah 50:3; 6:22). • The literal call to battle affirms that Babylon’s downfall is not random but orchestrated by the Lord who “stirs up the spirit of the kings of the Medes” (Jeremiah 51:11). She has thrown up her hands in surrender • Babylon, once proud, is pictured giving up without hope, hands lifted in helplessness. • This reverses her earlier arrogance: she boasted, “I will never be widowed or know the loss of children” (Isaiah 47:8). • The scene fulfills Proverbs 16:18—pride goes before destruction. Her towers have fallen • The defensive watchtowers, symbols of strength, collapse (Jeremiah 51:53). • Similar imagery is used when God dismantles human pride: “The lofty towers will be demolished” (Isaiah 2:15). • Historically, the Medo-Persian forces breached Babylon’s fortifications in 539 BC, validating the literal prophecy. Her walls are torn down • Babylon’s massive double walls—famed throughout the ancient world—offer no refuge (Jeremiah 51:58). • Psalm 147:13 praises God for strengthening Jerusalem’s gates; here He weakens Babylon’s. • The detail underscores that no human engineering can withstand divine judgment (2 Chronicles 32:8). This is the vengeance of the LORD • The fall is explicitly Yahweh’s retribution; He repays evil in perfect justice (Deuteronomy 32:35; Nahum 1:2). • Babylon had been God’s instrument to discipline Judah (Jeremiah 25:9), yet her cruelty exceeded divine limits (Zechariah 1:15). • Romans 12:19 echoes the principle: “Vengeance is Mine; I will repay, says the Lord.” As she has done, do the same to her • The law of measured recompense (Exodus 21:23-25) now boomerangs on Babylon. • Obadiah 1:15 and Revelation 18:6 repeat the same standard: what a nation or city dishes out returns upon its own head. • The Medes and Persians become God’s tool to mirror Babylon’s prior violence against Jerusalem (Psalm 137:8). summary Jeremiah 50:15 portrays Babylon’s siege, surrender, and collapse with vivid battlefield imagery. God gathers surrounding nations, shatters Babylon’s proud defenses, and exacts precise vengeance equal to her sins. The verse assures believers that the Lord literally governs history, humbling every power that opposes His righteousness and vindicating those wronged by human tyranny. |
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