Jeremiah 50

Chapters fifty and fifty-one, appropriately, deal with Babylon, the great empire of that time. Although they were considered invincible in Jeremiah’s day, God promised that they, too, would face invasion, captivity, and humiliation at the hands of another nation. The “nation from the north” (Jeremiah 50:3) was Medo-Persia, which executed a surprise attack in 539 B.C. during Belshazzar’s great feast and captured the city in one night (Daniel 5:29-31). God promised that this would be the catalyst so “the people of Israel and Judah will return to the land together. They will come back with tears of repentance as they seek the LORD their God” (Jeremiah 50:4). Exactly as prophesied, the Persians allowed the Jews to return to Israel. This took place in three waves under the leadership of Zerubbabel, Ezra, and Nehemiah (read the story in Ezra and Nehemiah). سباق احصنة

Notes:

1. The urgency shown in Jeremiah 50:8 for the Jews to leave Babylon as quickly as possible when given the chance speaks to the spiritual situation of the Jewish people by the time of Esther. Many had ignored God’s command and chose to remain in that pagan land. ↩