Daily Devotions
Jeremiah
"Babylon shall become a heap"
Text: Jeremiah 51:37
UTTER DESTRUCTION OF BABYLON
The LORD revealed that Babylon would become totally devastated. This was a prophecy that would be fulfilled in due course!
“‘Babylon shall become a heap,
A dwelling place for jackals,
An astonishment and a hissing,
Without an inhabitant.
They shall roar together like lions,
They shall growl like lions’ whelps.
In their excitement I will prepare their feasts;
I will make them drunk,
That they may rejoice,
And sleep a perpetual sleep
And not awake,’ says the LORD.
‘I will bring them down
Like lambs to the slaughter,
Like rams with male goats.'”
Jeremiah 51:37-40
1. “Babylon shall become a heap, a dwelling place for jackals,
an astonishment and a hissing, without an inhabitant”
a) A grim picture was painted concerning Babylon.
b) The features were described starkly:
i) The word “heap” is used to describe a scene of great devastation.
ii) Jackals are scavengers and they roam about looking for food.
iii) No human being would make his home where jackals live.
c) All who observe fallen Babylon would hiss at the once-powerful but evil city.
2. “They shall roar together like lions, they shall growl like lions’ whelps”
a) The Babylonians may roar angrily like frustrated lions.
b) But they were no longer feared lions; they were only vulnerable cubs (whelps).
3. “‘In their excitement I will prepare their feasts; I will make them drunk, that they may rejoice, and sleep a perpetual sleep and not awake,’ says the LORD”
a) In their hey-days, Babylon feasted with great excitement.
b) But their rejoicing is compared to that of drunkards.
c) They will drink and become drunk and sleep.
d) But this time round, the sleep would be perpetual.
4. “I will bring them down like lambs to the slaughter, like rams with male goats”
a) Babylon was no longer a lion.
b) They were compared to:
i) Lambs led to the slaughter.
ii) Or rams/ male goats.
c) The Babylonians would be slaughtered by their enemies in battle.