Jeremiah 25, Seventy Years (DRAFT)

(This DRAFT study has been done fairly quickly, without the further guide of commentaries. I hope to improve on it later.)

Jeremiah describes, in further detail, the invasion of Babylon. In this chapter, it is still in the future.

Jeremiah 25:1-6, Twenty three years

The word came to Jeremiah concerning all the people of Judah in the fourth year of Jehoiakim son of Josiah king of Judah, which was the first year of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon. So Jeremiah the prophet said to all the people of Judah and to all those living in Jerusalem: 

For twenty-three years--from the thirteenth year of Josiah son of Amon king of Judah until this very day--the word of the LORD has come to me and I have spoken to you again and again, but you have not listened. And though the LORD has sent all his servants the prophets to you again and again, you have not listened or paid any attention. They said, "Turn now, each of you, from your evil ways and your evil practices, and you can stay in the land the LORD gave to you and your fathers for ever and ever. Do not follow other gods to serve and worship them; do not provoke me to anger with what your hands have made. Then I will not harm you." 

The fourth year of Jehoiakim is about 605 BC. Jeremiah has spoken for 23 years, since about 627 BC. He has repeatedly warned the kings about their disobedience.

Jeremiah 25:7-11, Seventy years in Babylon

"But you did not listen to me," declares the LORD, "and you have provoked me with what your hands have made, and you have brought harm to yourselves." 

Therefore the LORD Almighty says this: 

"Because you have not listened to my words, I will summon all the peoples of the north and my servant Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon," declares the LORD, "and I will bring them against this land and its inhabitants and against all the surrounding nations. I will completely destroy them and make them an object of horror and scorn, and an everlasting ruin. 

I will banish from them the sounds of joy and gladness, the voices of bride and bridegroom, the sound of millstones and the light of the lamp. This whole country will become a desolate wasteland, and these nations will serve the king of Babylon seventy years. 

YHWH gives Jeremiah a prophecy about the future. Soon (it will be about twenty years) Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon will invade Judah and carry off the people. The country will then be desolate for seventy years. 

Jeremiah 25:12-14, Eventual judgment on Babylon

"But when the seventy years are fulfilled, I will punish the king of Babylon and his nation, the land of the Babylonians, for their guilt," declares the LORD, "and will make it desolate forever. I will bring upon that land all the things I have spoken against it, all that are written in this book and prophesied by Jeremiah against all the nations. 

They themselves will be enslaved by many nations and great kings; I will repay them according to their deeds and the work of their hands." 

Seventy years after Babylon is used to bring down Judah, that nation will also be punished. They too will face inslavement and other kings; they will reap the oppression that they have sown.

Daniel 9:1-2 is probably reading Jeremiah 25:8-14 or Jeremiah 29:10-14. (The passage in Jeremiah 29 is part of a letter to the exiles.)

Jeremiah 25:15-26, Cup of wrath on all the nations

This is what the LORD, the God of Israel, said to me: "Take from my hand this cup filled with the wine of my wrath and make all the nations to whom I send you drink it. When they drink it, they will stagger and go mad because of the sword I will send among them." 

So I took the cup from the LORD's hand and made all the nations to whom he sent me drink it: 

• Jerusalem and the towns of Judah, its kings and officials, to make them a ruin and an object of horror and scorn and cursing, as they are today; 
• Pharaoh king of Egypt, his attendants, his officials and all his people, and all the foreign people there; 
• all the kings of Uz; 
• all the kings of the Philistines (those of Ashkelon, Gaza, Ekron, and the people left at Ashdod); 
• Edom, Moab and Ammon; 
• all the kings of Tyre and Sidon; 
• the kings of the coastlands across the sea; 
• Dedan, Tema, Buz and all who are in distant places; 
• all the kings of Arabia and all the kings of the foreign people who live in the desert; 
• all the kings of Zimri, Elam and Media; 
• and all the kings of the north, near and far, one after the other--
• all the kingdoms on the face of the earth. 
• And after all of them, the king of Sheshach will drink it too.

The list of nations eventually experiencing God's wrath is extensive, and a review, at the time, of the kingdoms that held sway in the ancient Near East. After a specific list of about a dozen kingdoms, the next to last line simply covers "all the kingdoms on the face of the earth." And then is mentioned a strange name, Sheshach. This is apparently a cryptic code for Babel, and represents Babylon. (See the Wikipedia article on Sheshach.)

Jeremiah 25:27-29, Drink the cup

"Then tell them, `This is what the LORD Almighty, the God of Israel, says: Drink, get drunk and vomit, and fall to rise no more because of the sword I will send among you.' 

But if they refuse to take the cup from your hand and drink, tell them, `This is what the LORD Almighty says: You must drink it! See, I am beginning to bring disaster on the city that bears my Name, and will you indeed go unpunished? You will not go unpunished, for I am calling down a sword upon all who live on the earth, declares the LORD Almighty.' 

The cup of God's wrath represents judgment of the nations. It appears in Isaiah 51:22 and is implied in Obadiah 1:15-16. In the New Testament, we see it in Revelation (eg. Revelation 14:9-10, Revelation 16.)

Jeremiah 25:30-31, Charges against the nations

"Now prophesy all these words against them and say to them: 

"`The LORD will roar from on high; 

he will thunder from his holy dwelling

 and roar mightily against his land. 

He will shout like those who tread the grapes, 

shout against all who live on the earth. 

The tumult will resound to the ends of the earth,

 for the LORD will bring charges against the nations;

 he will bring judgment on all mankind 

and put the wicked to the sword,'" 

declares the LORD. 

When the judgment finally comes, is will come from the One who created everything and has all power. He will "tread the grapes" and kill the wicked.

Jeremiah 25:32-38, Destruction

This is what the LORD Almighty says: 

"Look! Disaster is spreading from nation to nation; 

a mighty storm is rising from the ends of the earth." 

At that time those slain by the LORD will be everywhere--from one end of the earth to the other. They will not be mourned or gathered up or buried, but will be like refuse lying on the ground. 

Weep and wail, you shepherds; roll in the dust, you leaders of the flock. For your time to be slaughtered has come; you will fall and be shattered like fine pottery. The shepherds will have nowhere to flee, the leaders of the flock no place to escape. Hear the cry of the shepherds, the wailing of the leaders of the flock, for the LORD is destroying their pasture. The peaceful meadows will be laid waste because of the fierce anger of the LORD. Like a lion he will leave his lair, and their land will become desolate because of the sword of the oppressor and because of the LORD's fierce anger. 

The eventual disaster will spread from nations to nation, a war across the entire world. There wil be no place to flee.