Context No. 3030 of 4322 · Jeremiah

Jeremiah 50:17-32: in context

17“Israel is a hunted sheep. The lions have driven him away. First, the king of Assyria devoured him, and now at last Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon has broken his bones.” 18Therefore the LORD of Armies, the God of Israel, says: “Behold, I will punish the king of Babylon and his land, as I have punished the king of Assyria. 19I will bring Israel again to his pasture, and he will feed on Carmel and Bashan. His soul will be satisfied on the hills of Ephraim and in Gilead. 20In those days, and in that time,” says the LORD, “the iniquity of Israel will be sought for, and there will be none, also the sins of Judah, and they won’t be found; for I will pardon them whom I leave as a remnant. 21“Go up against the land of Merathaim, even against it, and against the inhabitants of Pekod. Kill and utterly destroy after them,” says the LORD, “and do according to all that I have commanded you. 22A sound of battle is in the land, and of great destruction. 23How the hammer of the whole earth is cut apart and broken! How Babylon has become a desolation among the nations! 24I have laid a snare for you, and you are also taken, Babylon, and you weren’t aware. You are found, and also caught, because you have fought against the LORD. 25The LORD has opened his armory, and has brought out the weapons of his indignation; for the Lord, GOD of Armies, has a work to do in the land of the Chaldeans. 26Come against her from the farthest border. Open her storehouses. Cast her up as heaps. Destroy her utterly. Let nothing of her be left. 27Kill all her bulls. Let them go down to the slaughter. Woe to them! For their day has come, the time of their visitation. 28Listen to those who flee and escape out of the land of Babylon, to declare in Zion the vengeance of the LORD our God, the vengeance of his temple. 29“Call together the archers against Babylon, all those who bend the bow. Encamp against her all around. Let none of it escape. Pay her back according to her work. According to all that she has done, do to her; for she has been proud against the LORD, against the Holy One of Israel. 30Therefore her young men will fall in her streets. All her men of war will be brought to silence in that day,” says the LORD. 31“Behold, I am against you, you proud one,” says the Lord, GOD of Armies; “for your day has come, the time that I will visit you. 32The proud one will stumble and fall, and no one will raise him up. I will kindle a fire in his cities, and it will devour all who are around him.”

God pictures Israel as a hunted sheep, mauled first by Assyria and then by Babylon, its bones broken. So, he says, I will punish the king of Babylon as I punished Assyria, and I will bring Israel back to his own pasture. In those days the iniquity of Israel will be sought and not found, for I will pardon the remnant I leave. And against proud Babylon, the hammer of the whole earth, judgment is declared.

Two movements run through the passage. First, tender restoration for God's battered people: the hunted, broken sheep will be gathered back to good pasture, and their sins will be sought and not found, because God will pardon them. And second, judgment on Babylon, who magnified herself against the LORD. Babylon had been God's instrument of discipline, but its arrogance and cruelty would be answered in their turn. The God who disciplines his people through a nation still holds that nation accountable for its pride. The oppressor's day comes; the oppressed are restored and forgiven.

Do I trust that God both restores and pardons his battered people, and holds the proud oppressor to account, in his own time?

Sources

Jeremiah 50:20: "The iniquity of Israel will be sought for, and there will be none... for I will pardon them whom I leave as a remnant."
Jeremiah 50:34: "Their Redeemer is strong. The LORD of Armies is his name."
Jeremiah 50:31: "Behold, I am against you, you proud one, says the Lord, GOD of Armies."