The Earth Trembles, and the Cry is Heard Among the Nations

Following the proclamation of judgment on the other nations, God now turns toward Babylon and the land of the Chaldeans. Although Babylon was an instrument God used to judge His people, the pride of the Babylonians caused their downfall. Contrast this to the Persians under Cyrus who were blessed due to Cyrus' obedience.

Babylon was a city of great idolatry. These idols would be completely destroyed in the coming judgment and the land made desolate. During the destruction of Babylon, the captives of Judah who are living in Babylon will again turn to God as their fate will become uncertain. A message of hope was also given within this judgment that the people of Israel will be brought back to their land. Their sins and iniquity will be pardoned.

Great details was given about the judgment of Babylon and her destruction will be complete. She will become desolate, never to be rebuild and no one would inhabit there, except animals. She will be conquered as well as facing other disasters such as drought. Her idols would be totally destroyed.

There was a hint that Babylon was destroyed because she refused to let the captives of Israel and Judah free. It appears that God had an appointed time where His will was for His people to return after a fixed period of captivity. But Babylon disobeyed and held on to the captives. There was a also a hint that the instrument of God against Babylon would be led by a specific chosen man, whom will be revealed in other places as king Cyrus of Persia.




Jeremiah 50
Judgment on Babylon and Babylonia

1 The word that the Lord spoke against Babylon and against the land of the Chaldeans by Jeremiah the prophet.

2 “Declare among the nations,
Proclaim, and set up a standard;
Proclaim—do not conceal it—
Say, ‘Babylon is taken, Bel is shamed.
Merodach[a] is broken in pieces;
Her idols are humiliated,
Her images are broken in pieces.’
3 For out of the north a nation comes up against her,
Which shall make her land desolate,
And no one shall dwell therein.
They shall move, they shall depart,
Both man and beast.
4 “In those days and in that time,” says the Lord,
“The children of Israel shall come,
They and the children of Judah together;
With continual weeping they shall come,
And seek the Lord their God.
5 They shall ask the way to Zion,
With their faces toward it, saying,
‘Come and let us join ourselves to the Lord
In a perpetual covenant
That will not be forgotten.’
6 “My people have been lost sheep.
Their shepherds have led them astray;
They have turned them away on the mountains.
They have gone from mountain to hill;
They have forgotten their resting place.
7 All who found them have devoured them;
And their adversaries said, ‘We have not offended,
Because they have sinned against the Lord, the habitation of justice,
The Lord, the hope of their fathers.’
8 “Move from the midst of Babylon,
Go out of the land of the Chaldeans;
And be like the rams before the flocks.
9 For behold, I will raise and cause to come up against Babylon
An assembly of great nations from the north country,
And they shall array themselves against her;
From there she shall be captured.
Their arrows shall be like those of an expert warrior;[b]
None shall return in vain.
10 And Chaldea shall become plunder;
All who plunder her shall be satisfied,” says the Lord.
11 “Because you were glad, because you rejoiced,
You destroyers of My heritage,
Because you have grown fat like a heifer threshing grain,
And you bellow like bulls,
12 Your mother shall be deeply ashamed;
She who bore you shall be ashamed.
Behold, the least of the nations shall be a wilderness,
A dry land and a desert.
13 Because of the wrath of the Lord
She shall not be inhabited,
But she shall be wholly desolate.
Everyone who goes by Babylon shall be horrified
And hiss at all her plagues.
14 “Put yourselves in array against Babylon all around,
All you who bend the bow;
Shoot at her, spare no arrows,
For she has sinned against the Lord.
15 Shout against her all around;
She has given her hand,
Her foundations have fallen,
Her walls are thrown down;
For it is the vengeance of the Lord.
Take vengeance on her.
As she has done, so do to her.
16 Cut off the sower from Babylon,
And him who handles the sickle at harvest time.
For fear of the oppressing sword
Everyone shall turn to his own people,
And everyone shall flee to his own land.
17 “Israel is like scattered sheep;
The lions have driven him away.
First the king of Assyria devoured him;
Now at last this Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon has broken his bones.”
18 Therefore thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel:

“Behold, I will punish the king of Babylon and his land,
As I have punished the king of Assyria.
19 But I will bring back Israel to his home,
And he shall feed on Carmel and Bashan;
His soul shall be satisfied on Mount Ephraim and Gilead.
20 In those days and in that time,” says the Lord,
“The iniquity of Israel shall be sought, but there shall be none;
And the sins of Judah, but they shall not be found;
For I will pardon those whom I preserve.
21 “Go up against the land of Merathaim, against it,
And against the inhabitants of Pekod.
Waste and utterly destroy them,” says the Lord,
“And do according to all that I have commanded you.
22 A sound of battle is in the land,
And of great destruction.
23 How the hammer of the whole earth has been cut apart and broken!
How Babylon has become a desolation among the nations!
24 I have laid a snare for you;
You have indeed been trapped, O Babylon,
And you were not aware;
You have been found and also caught,
Because you have contended against the Lord.
25 The Lord has opened His armory,
And has brought out the weapons of His indignation;
For this is the work of the Lord God of hosts
In the land of the Chaldeans.
26 Come against her from the farthest border;
Open her storehouses;
Cast her up as heaps of ruins,
And destroy her utterly;
Let nothing of her be left.
27 Slay all her bulls,
Let them go down to the slaughter.
Woe to them!
For their day has come, the time of their punishment.
28 The voice of those who flee and escape from the land of Babylon
Declares in Zion the vengeance of the Lord our God,
The vengeance of His temple.
29 “Call together the archers against Babylon.
All you who bend the bow, encamp against it all around;
Let none of them escape.[c]
Repay her according to her work;
According to all she has done, do to her;
For she has been proud against the Lord,
Against the Holy One of Israel.
30 Therefore her young men shall fall in the streets,
And all her men of war shall be cut off in that day,” says the Lord.
31 “Behold, I am against you,
O most haughty one!” says the Lord God of hosts;
“For your day has come,
The time that I will punish you.[d]
32 The most proud shall stumble and fall,
And no one will raise him up;
I will kindle a fire in his cities,
And it will devour all around him.”
33 Thus says the Lord of hosts:

“The children of Israel were oppressed,
Along with the children of Judah;
All who took them captive have held them fast;
They have refused to let them go.
34 Their Redeemer is strong;
The Lord of hosts is His name.
He will thoroughly plead their case,
That He may give rest to the land,
And disquiet the inhabitants of Babylon.
35 “A sword is against the Chaldeans,” says the Lord,
“Against the inhabitants of Babylon,
And against her princes and her wise men.
36 A sword is against the soothsayers, and they will be fools.
A sword is against her mighty men, and they will be dismayed.
37 A sword is against their horses,
Against their chariots,
And against all the mixed peoples who are in her midst;
And they will become like women.
A sword is against her treasures, and they will be robbed.
38 A drought[e] is against her waters, and they will be dried up.
For it is the land of carved images,
And they are insane with their idols.
39 “Therefore the wild desert beasts shall dwell there with the jackals,
And the ostriches shall dwell in it.
It shall be inhabited no more forever,
Nor shall it be dwelt in from generation to generation.
40 As God overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah
And their neighbors,” says the Lord,
“So no one shall reside there,
Nor son of man dwell in it.
41 “Behold, a people shall come from the north,
And a great nation and many kings
Shall be raised up from the ends of the earth.
42 They shall hold the bow and the lance;
They are cruel and shall not show mercy.
Their voice shall roar like the sea;
They shall ride on horses,
Set in array, like a man for the battle,
Against you, O daughter of Babylon.
43 “The king of Babylon has heard the report about them,
And his hands grow feeble;
Anguish has taken hold of him,
Pangs as of a woman in childbirth.
44 “Behold, he shall come up like a lion from the floodplain[f] of the Jordan
Against the dwelling place of the strong;
But I will make them suddenly run away from her.
And who is a chosen man that I may appoint over her?
For who is like Me?
Who will arraign Me?
And who is that shepherd
Who will withstand Me?”
45 Therefore hear the counsel of the Lord that He has taken against Babylon,
And His purposes that He has proposed against the land of the Chaldeans:
Surely the least of the flock shall draw them out;
Surely He will make their dwelling place desolate with them.
46 At the noise of the taking of Babylon
The earth trembles,
And the cry is heard among the nations.

And All Our Righteousnesses Are Like Filthy Rags

This is written from the point of view of a repentant people who also understand their heritage and inheritance in God. It first recognize the awesome power of God that can cause nations to tremble and shake mountains. Then the people declares that they have sinned and their righteousness are like filthy rags. Then they recognize God as their Father and that they are like clay to God the Potter. Finally it calls on God end His fury and have favour on them. They describe their present condition in whihc Jerusalem is desolate and that the Temple is in ruins.



Isaiah 64

1 Oh, that You would rend the heavens!
That You would come down!
That the mountains might shake at Your presence—
2 As fire burns brushwood,
As fire causes water to boil—
To make Your name known to Your adversaries,
That the nations may tremble at Your presence!
3 When You did awesome things for which we did not look,
You came down,
The mountains shook at Your presence.
4 For since the beginning of the world
Men have not heard nor perceived by the ear,
Nor has the eye seen any God besides You,
Who acts for the one who waits for Him.
5 You meet him who rejoices and does righteousness,
Who remembers You in Your ways.
You are indeed angry, for we have sinned—
In these ways we continue;
And we need to be saved.
6 But we are all like an unclean thing,
And all our righteousnesses are like filthy rags;
We all fade as a leaf,
And our iniquities, like the wind,
Have taken us away.
7 And there is no one who calls on Your name,
Who stirs himself up to take hold of You;
For You have hidden Your face from us,
And have consumed us because of our iniquities.
8 But now, O Lord,
You are our Father;
We are the clay, and You our potter;
And all we are the work of Your hand.
9 Do not be furious, O Lord,
Nor remember iniquity forever;
Indeed, please look—we all are Your people!
10 Your holy cities are a wilderness,
Zion is a wilderness,
Jerusalem a desolation.
11 Our holy and beautiful temple,
Where our fathers praised You,
Is burned up with fire;
And all our pleasant things are laid waste.
12 Will You restrain Yourself because of these things, O Lord?
Will You hold Your peace, and afflict us very severely?

O God, You Have Cast Us Off

This psalm appears to be regarding conquests of enemy lands. It starts off seemingly like Israel's army has displeased God in some way. Yet the psalmist is a believer and trusts God to deliver the enemy nations to his hand, such as Shechem, Gilead, Moab, Edom, Philistia and so on. Finally he acknowledges that any victory is from God, who treads down the enemy.

Psalm 60
To the Chief Musician. Set to “Lily of the Testimony.”[a] A Michtam of David. For teaching. When he fought against Mesopotamia and Syria of Zobah, and Joab returned and killed twelve thousand Edomites in the Valley of Salt.

 1 O God, You have cast us off;
         You have broken us down;
         You have been displeased;
         Oh, restore us again!
 2 You have made the earth tremble;
         You have broken it;
         Heal its breaches, for it is shaking.
 3 You have shown Your people hard things;
         You have made us drink the wine of confusion.
        
 4 You have given a banner to those who fear You,
         That it may be displayed because of the truth.  Selah 
 5 That Your beloved may be delivered,
         Save with Your right hand, and hear me.
        
 6 God has spoken in His holiness:
         “I will rejoice;
         I will divide Shechem
         And measure out the Valley of Succoth.
 7 Gilead is Mine, and Manasseh is Mine;
         Ephraim also is the helmet for My head;
         Judah is My lawgiver.
 8 Moab is My washpot;
         Over Edom I will cast My shoe;
         Philistia, shout in triumph because of Me.”
        
 9 Who will bring me to the strong city?
         Who will lead me to Edom?
 10 Is it not You, O God, who cast us off?
         And You, O God, who did not go out with our armies?
 11 Give us help from trouble,
         For the help of man is useless.
 12 Through God we will do valiantly,
         For it is He who shall tread down our enemies.

David's Song of Victory and Thanksgiving for Deliverance from Enemies

The first part of the Psalm says it all about who the LORD is to David: his strength, rock, fortress, deliverer, strength, shield, salvation, stronghold. David describes his hopeless condition of being surrounded by fierce enemies, then he described the awesomeness of God with the earth shaking and trembling as God came to save David.

David understands how to gain the favour of the LORD, which is by doing right in God's eyes, being blameless, staying away from wickedness, keeping His statutes. He understands that God will save the humble and bring down the proud. God is merciful to those who are merciful.

To David, God is his lamp and shield. David attributes all his being to God, including his strength, his agility, his war prowess. His success in avoiding Saul was attributed to God, so were all his victories against his enemies. From the victories of his conquest to his authority over a vast kingdom and empire of foreign nations - all these David attributed them to God's help. Whether as a leader of his band of misfits, or king over his empire, David had not dwell on his accumulated successes. Instead his continues to be grateful to God and depend on Him as his Rock and Salvation. David saw himself as God's king and God's anointed and no doubt lived for God's purpose.


Psalm 18

To the Chief Musician. A Psalm of David the servant of the LORD, who spoke to the LORD the words of this song on the day that the LORD delivered him from the hand of all his enemies and from the hand of Saul. And he said:

 1 I will love You, O LORD, my strength.
 2 The LORD is my rock and my fortress and my deliverer;
         My God, my strength, in whom I will trust;
         My shield and the horn of my salvation, my stronghold.
 3 I will call upon the LORD, who is worthy to be praised;
         So shall I be saved from my enemies.
       
 4 The pangs of death surrounded me,
         And the floods of ungodliness made me afraid.
 5 The sorrows of Sheol surrounded me;
         The snares of death confronted me.
 6 In my distress I called upon the LORD,
         And cried out to my God;
         He heard my voice from His temple,
         And my cry came before Him, even to His ears.
       
 7 Then the earth shook and trembled;
         The foundations of the hills also quaked and were shaken,
         Because He was angry.
 8 Smoke went up from His nostrils,
         And devouring fire from His mouth;
         Coals were kindled by it.
 9 He bowed the heavens also, and came down
         With darkness under His feet.
 10 And He rode upon a cherub, and flew;
         He flew upon the wings of the wind.
 11 He made darkness His secret place;
         His canopy around Him was dark waters
         And thick clouds of the skies.
 12 From the brightness before Him,
         His thick clouds passed with hailstones and coals of fire.
       
 13 The LORD thundered from heaven,
         And the Most High uttered His voice,
         Hailstones and coals of fire.[a]
 14 He sent out His arrows and scattered the foe,
         Lightnings in abundance, and He vanquished them.
 15 Then the channels of the sea were seen,
         The foundations of the world were uncovered
         At Your rebuke, O LORD,
         At the blast of the breath of Your nostrils.
       
 16 He sent from above, He took me;
         He drew me out of many waters.
 17 He delivered me from my strong enemy,
         From those who hated me,
         For they were too strong for me.
 18 They confronted me in the day of my calamity,
         But the LORD was my support.
 19 He also brought me out into a broad place;
         He delivered me because He delighted in me.
       
 20 The LORD rewarded me according to my righteousness;
         According to the cleanness of my hands
         He has recompensed me.
 21 For I have kept the ways of the LORD,
         And have not wickedly departed from my God.
 22 For all His judgments were before me,
         And I did not put away His statutes from me.
 23 I was also blameless before Him,
         And I kept myself from my iniquity.
 24 Therefore the LORD has recompensed me according to my righteousness,
         According to the cleanness of my hands in His sight.
       
 25 With the merciful You will show Yourself merciful;
         With a blameless man You will show Yourself blameless;
 26 With the pure You will show Yourself pure;
         And with the devious You will show Yourself shrewd.
 27 For You will save the humble people,
         But will bring down haughty looks.
       
 28 For You will light my lamp;
         The LORD my God will enlighten my darkness.
 29 For by You I can run against a troop,
         By my God I can leap over a wall.
 30 As for God, His way is perfect;
         The word of the LORD is proven;
         He is a shield to all who trust in Him.
       
 31 For who is God, except the LORD?
         And who is a rock, except our God?
 32 It is God who arms me with strength,
         And makes my way perfect.
 33 He makes my feet like the feet of deer,
         And sets me on my high places.
 34 He teaches my hands to make war,
         So that my arms can bend a bow of bronze.
       
 35 You have also given me the shield of Your salvation;

         Your gentleness has made me great.
 36 You enlarged my path under me,
         So my feet did not slip.
       
 37 I have pursued my enemies and overtaken them;
         Neither did I turn back again till they were destroyed.
 38 I have wounded them,
         So that they could not rise;
         They have fallen under my feet.
 39 For You have armed me with strength for the battle;
         You have subdued under me those who rose up against me.
 40 You have also given me the necks of my enemies,
         So that I destroyed those who hated me.
 41 They cried out, but there was none to save;
         Even to the LORD, but He did not answer them.
 42 Then I beat them as fine as the dust before the wind;
         I cast them out like dirt in the streets.
       
 43 You have delivered me from the strivings of the people;
         You have made me the head of the nations;
         A people I have not known shall serve me.
 44 As soon as they hear of me they obey me;
         The foreigners submit to me.
 45 The foreigners fade away,
         And come frightened from their hideouts.
       
 46 The LORD lives!
         Blessed be my Rock!
         Let the God of my salvation be exalted.
 47 It is God who avenges me,
         And subdues the peoples under me;
 48 He delivers me from my enemies.
         You also lift me up above those who rise against me;
         You have delivered me from the violent man.
 49 Therefore I will give thanks to You, O LORD, among the Gentiles,
         And sing praises to Your name.
       
 50 Great deliverance He gives to His king,
         And shows mercy to His anointed,
         To David and his descendants forevermore.