Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary on the Whole Bible
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Jeremiah
Book: Jeremiah
Chapter: 51
Overview:
Babylon's doom;
God's controversy with her; encouragements
from thence to the
Israel of
God.
(1-58) The confirming of this.
(59-64)
1-58 The particulars of this
Prophecy are dispersed and
interwoven, and the same things left and returned to again.
Babylon is abundant in treasures, yet neither her waters nor her
wealth shall secure her.
Destruction comes when they did not
think of it. Wherever we are, in the greatest depths, at the
greatest distances, we are to remember the
Lord our
God; and in
the times of the greatest fears and hopes, it is most needful to
remember the
Lord. The feeling excited
By Babylon's fall is the
same with the New
Testament Babylon, Re 18:9,19. The ruin of
all who support
Idolatry, infidelity, and superstition, is
needful for the revival of true
Godliness; and the threatening
prophecies of
Scripture yield comfort in this view. The great
seat of antichristian tyranny,
Idolatry, and superstition, the
persecutor of true Christians, is as certainly doomed to
Destruction as ancient
Babylon. Then will vast multitudes
Mourn
for
Sin, and seek the
Lord. Then will the lost
Sheep of the
House of
Israel be brought back to the
Fold of the good
Shepherd, and stray
No more. And the exact fulfilment of these
ancient prophecies encourages us to
Faith in all the promises
and prophecies of the sacred Scriptures.
59-64 This
Prophecy is sent to
Babylon, to the captives there,
By Seraiah, who is to read it to his countrymen in
Captivity.
Let them with
Faith see the
End of these threatening powers, and
comfort themselves herewith. When we see what this world is, how
glittering its shows, and how flattering its proposals, let us
read in the
Book of the
Lord that it shall shortly be desolate.
The
Book must be thrown into the
River Euphrates. The fall of
the New
Testament Babylon is thus represented, Re 18:21. Those
that sink under the weight of
God's wrath and
Curse, sink for
ever.
Babylon, and every
Antichrist, will soon sink and rise
No
more for ever. Let us
Hope in
God's
Word, and quietly wait for
his
Salvation; then we shall see, but shall not share, the
Destruction of the wicked.