slaughters: (v. 15.) Every one that is found alive, shall be run through, as soon as ever it appears that he is a Babylonian. Nay, because the sword devours one as well as another, every one that is joined to them, shall fall by the sword; those of other nations that come in to their assistance, shall be cut off with them. It is dangerous being in bad company, and helping those whom God is about to destroy: those particularly that join themselves to Babylon, must expect to share in her plagues, Rev. xviii. 4. And since the most sacred laws of nature, and humanity itself, are silenced by the fury of war, (though they cannot be cancelled,) the conquerors shall, in the most barbarous brutish manner, dash the children to pieces, and ravish the wives. Jusque datum sceleri—Wickedness shall have free course, v. 16. They had thus dealt with God's people, (Lam. v. 11.) and now they shall be paid in their own coin, Rev. iii. 10. It was particularly foretold, (Ps. cxxxvii. 9.) that the little ones of Babylon should be dashed against the stones. How cruel soever, and unjust, they were that did it, God was righteous who suffered it to be done, and to be done before their eyes, to their great terror and vexation. It was just also that the houses which they had filled with the spoil of Israel, should be spoiled and plundered. What is got by rapine, is often lost in the same manner.
8. The enemy that God would send against them, should be inexorable, probably being by some provocation or other more than ordinarily exasperated against them; or, however, God himself will stir up the Medes to use this severity with the Babylonians. He will not only serve his own purposes by their dispositions and designs, but will put it into their hearts to make this attempt upon Babylon, and suffer them to prosecute it with all this fury. God is not the author of sin, but he would not permit it if he did not know how to bring glory to himself out of it. These Medes, in conjunction with the Persians, shall make thorough work of it. For,
(1.) They shall take no bribes, v. 17. All that men have they would give for their lives, but the Medes shall not regard silver; it is blood they thirst for, not gold; no man's riches shall with them be the ransom of his life.
(2.) They shall show no pity, (v. 18.) not to the young men that are in the prime of their time, they shall shoot them through with their bows, and then dash them to pieces; not to the age of innocency, they shall have no pity on the fruit of the womb, nor spare little children, whose cries and frights one would think should make even marble eyes to weep, and hearts of adamant to relent. Pause a little here, and wonder, [1.] That men should be thus cruel and inhuman, and so utterly divested of all compassion; and in it see how corrupt and degenerate the nature of man is become. [2.] That the God of infinite mercy should suffer it, nay, and should make it to be the execution of his justice; which shows that though he is gracious, yet he is the God to whom vengeance belongs. [3.] That little infants, who have never been guilty of any actual sin, should be thus abused; which shows that there is an original guilt, by which life is forfeited as soon as it is had.
19. And Babylon, the glory of kingdoms, the beauty of the Chaldees' excellency, shall be as when God overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah. 20. It shall never be inhabited, neither shall it be dwelt in from generation to generation; neither shall the Arabian pitch tent there, neither shall the shepherds make their fold there: 21. But wild beasts of the desert shall lie there; and their houses shall be full of doleful creatures; and owls shall dwell there, and satyrs shall dance there. 22. And the wild beasts of the islands shall cry in their desolate houses, and dragons in their pleasant palaces; and her time is near to come, and her days shall not be prolonged.
The great havoc and destruction which it was foretold should be made by the Medes and Persians in Babylon, here end in the final destruction of it.
1. It is allowed that Babylon was a noble city; it was the glory of kingdoms, and the beauty of the Chaldees' excellency; it was that head of gold; (Dan. ii. 37, 38.) it was called the lady of kingdoms, (ch. xlvii, 5.) the praise of the whole earth, (Jer. li. 41.) like a pleasant roe; (so the word signifies;) but it shall be as a chased roe; (v. 14.) the Chaldeans gloried in the beauty and wealth of this their metropolis.
2. It is foretold that it should be wholly destroyed, like Sodom and Gomorrah; not so miraculously, nor so suddenly, but as effectually, though gradually; and the destruction should come upon them as that upon Sodom, when they were secure, eating and drinking, Luke xvii. 28. Babylon was taken when Belshazzar was in his revel; and though Cyrus and Darius did not demolish it, yet by degrees it wasted away, and in process of time it went all to ruin. It is foretold here, (v. 20.) that it shall never be inhabited; in Adrian's time, nothing remained but the wall. And whereas it is prophesied concerning Nineveh, that great city, that when it should be deserted and left desolate, yet flocks should lie down in the midst of it; it is here said concerning Babylon, that the Arabians, who were shepherds, should not make their folds there; the country about should be so barren, that there would be no grazing there; no, not for sheep; nay, it shall be the receptacle of wild beasts, that affect solitude; the houses of Babylon, where the sons and daughters of pleasure used to rendezvous, shall be full of doleful creatures, owls and satyrs, that are themselves frightened thither, as to a place proper for them, and by whom all others are frightened thence. Historians say that this was fulfilled to the letter. Benjamin Bar-Jona, in his Itinerary, speaking of Babel, has these words; "This is that Babel which was, of old, thirty miles in breadth; it is now laid waste; there are yet to be seen the ruins of a palace of Nebuchadnezzar, but the sons of men dare not enter in, for fear of serpents and scorpions, which possess the place." Let none be proud of their pompous palaces, for they know not but they may become worse than cottages; nor let any think that their houses shall endure for ever, (Ps. xlix. 11.) when perhaps nothing may remain but the ruins and reproaches of them.
3. It is intimated that this destruction should come shortly; (v. 22.) Her time is near to come. This prophecy of the destruction of Babylon was intended for the support and comfort of the people of God when they were captives there, and grievously oppressed; and the accomplishment of the prophecy was near 200 years after the time when it was delivered; yet it followed soon after the time for which it was calculated. When the people of Israel were groaning under the heavy yoke of Babylonish tyranny, sitting down in tears by the rivers of Babylon, and upbraided with the songs of Zion, when their insolent oppressors were most haughty and arrogant, (v. 11.) then let them know, for their comfort, that Babylon's time, her day to fall, was near to come, and the days of her prosperity shall not be prolonged, as they have been; when God begins with her, he will make an end. Thus it is
