The God of Recompense Text: Jeremiah 51:34-44
Introduction: Empires of Dirt and the Divine Lawsuit
We live in an age that has forgotten what justice is because it has forgotten who God is. Our generation speaks of justice constantly, but it is a thin, whiny, therapeutic sort of justice, concerned with hurt feelings and perceived slights. It is a justice defined by man, for the benefit of man, and ultimately, for the glory of man. But biblical justice is something else entirely. It is robust, sharp-edged, and rooted in the very character of the triune God. It is a justice that deals with high treason, with cosmic rebellion, with the violation of God's own honor. And because it is God's justice, it involves God's vengeance.
The word vengeance makes modern Christians nervous. We have been taught to prefer a God who is perpetually nice, a divine therapist who would never dream of settling accounts. But the God of the Bible is Yahweh of Hosts, the Lord of Armies. He is a warrior, and He is a judge. And in this passage, we see Him rise to prosecute His case against the great pagan superpower of the day, Babylon. Babylon is more than just an ancient empire; in Scripture, it is the archetypal city of man, the great beast-empire that sets itself up against the city of God. It is the empire of pride, plunder, and paganism. It is the empire that believes it is invincible, that its walls are too high and its gods are too strong.
Jeremiah has been prophesying the downfall of this beast for chapter after chapter, and here, the lawsuit reaches its climax. We are invited to listen in on the courtroom proceedings. We hear the plaintiff, Jerusalem, lay out her brutalized condition. We hear her righteous cry for justice, a cry that our soft-handed generation would call uncharitable. And then we hear the verdict from the Judge Himself. And the verdict is total. It is a sentence of utter desolation, a promise of full and final recompense. This is not just ancient history. This is a pattern. This is how the sovereign God deals with all the proud Babylons of this world, including our own. We must therefore listen closely, because the principles of divine justice laid out here are as eternal as the God who enacts them.
The Text
"Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon has devoured me and brought me into confusion; He has set me down like an empty vessel; He has swallowed me like a sea monster; He has filled his stomach with my delicacies; He has rinsed me away. May the violence done to me and to my flesh be upon Babylon," The inhabitant of Zion will say; And, "May my blood be upon the inhabitants of Chaldea," Jerusalem will say. Therefore thus says Yahweh, "Behold, I am going to plead your case And exact full vengeance for you; And I will dry up her sea And make her fountain dry. Babylon will become a heap of ruins, a haunt of jackals, An object of horror and hissing, without inhabitants. They will roar together like young lions; They will growl like lions’ cubs. When they become heated up, I will set before them their feast And make them drunk, that they may exult And may sleep a perpetual sleep And not wake up," declares Yahweh. "I will bring them down like lambs to the slaughter, Like rams together with male goats. How Sheshak has been captured, And the praise of the whole earth been seized! How Babylon has become an object of horror among the nations! The sea has come up over Babylon; She has been covered with its tumultuous waves. Her cities have become an object of horror, A parched land, and a desert, A land in which no man lives And through which no son of man passes. I will punish Bel in Babylon, And I will make what he has swallowed come out of his mouth; And the nations will no longer stream to him. Even the wall of Babylon has fallen down!"
(Jeremiah 51:34-44 LSB)
The Cry of the Devoured (v. 34-35)
The divine lawsuit begins with the testimony of the victim. Zion, personified as a woman, takes the stand.
"Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon has devoured me and brought me into confusion; He has set me down like an empty vessel; He has swallowed me like a sea monster; He has filled his stomach with my delicacies; He has rinsed me away." (Jeremiah 51:34)
The language here is graphic and violent. This is not the language of polite diplomacy. Nebuchadnezzar is a ravenous beast, a sea monster that has swallowed God's people whole. He has not just conquered them; he has consumed them. He has taken their "delicacies," the treasures of the temple and the best of the land, and gorged himself. Zion is left as an "empty vessel," a discarded dish that has been scraped clean and "rinsed away." This is a picture of total violation and humiliation. The world sees this and assumes that Zion's God is either powerless or indifferent.
But the victim is not silent. She does not absorb this abuse with a quietistic shrug. She cries out for justice. She calls down a curse.
"May the violence done to me and to my flesh be upon Babylon," The inhabitant of Zion will say; And, "May my blood be upon the inhabitants of Chaldea," Jerusalem will say. (Jeremiah 51:35)
This is an imprecatory prayer. This is a righteous demand for God to act in accordance with His own law. "May my blood be upon them" is a legal formula, calling for bloodguilt to be assigned to the guilty party. Zion is not taking vengeance into her own hands. She is appealing to the high court of heaven, demanding that the Judge of all the earth do right. She is aligning her desires with God's revealed hatred of wickedness. This is not sinful vindictiveness; it is a passion for God's name to be vindicated. When God's people are devoured, God's reputation is on the line. This prayer is a demand that God show the world that He is not a neutered deity, but a covenant-keeping God who defends His own.
The Divine Advocate (v. 36)
And God responds immediately. He hears the cry of His people and rises to act as their champion and lawyer.
"Therefore thus says Yahweh, 'Behold, I am going to plead your case And exact full vengeance for you; And I will dry up her sea And make her fountain dry.'" (Jeremiah 51:36)
Notice the word "Therefore." The imprecatory prayer of the saints is the basis for God's action. Our prayers matter. God says, "I am going to plead your case." He is our advocate, our divine attorney who takes up our cause. And His legal argument is followed by a sentence: "And exact full vengeance for you." The Hebrew word for vengeance here is not about a petty, emotional outburst. It is about recompense, the settling of an account. God is the God of recompenses, and He will surely repay (Jer. 51:56). He promises to repay in full.
The method of this vengeance is a complete reversal of Babylon's fortunes. Babylon was a city of "many waters," built on the Euphrates with an elaborate system of canals. Water was the source of its life, its wealth, and its defense. God says He will "dry up her sea and make her fountain dry." He will strike at the very source of her strength. The God who created the world by separating the waters can just as easily uncreate a rebellious empire by removing them. He is sovereign over every source, every foundation, every spring of power that proud men trust in.
The Drunken Lions of Babylon (v. 37-40)
The Lord then describes the utter desolation that will result from His judgment. The once-glorious city will be rendered uninhabitable.
"Babylon will become a heap of ruins, a haunt of jackals, An object of horror and hissing, without inhabitants." (Jeremiah 51:37)
This is covenantal language of curse. A "heap of ruins" is what happens to a city that has been put under the divine ban. It becomes a place for scavengers, a monument to divine wrath that causes all who see it to recoil in "horror and hissing." God is going to make Babylon an object lesson for the nations.
But how will this happen? God will use their own arrogance and revelry as the setup for their destruction.
"They will roar together like young lions; They will growl like lions’ cubs. When they become heated up, I will set before them their feast And make them drunk, that they may exult And may sleep a perpetual sleep And not wake up," declares Yahweh. (Jeremiah 51:38-39)
The Babylonians see themselves as powerful lions, roaring in their strength. God sees them as beasts to be trapped. He says, "When they become heated up," in the midst of their passion, their pride, their feasting, "I will set before them their feast." God Himself will be the host of this party. He will pour the wine. But this is not the wine of celebration; it is the cup of His wrath. He will make them drunk, and their drunken exultation will be the immediate prelude to a "perpetual sleep." This is a terrifying euphemism for death and final judgment. They will not wake up. This is not a temporary setback. It is annihilation. God will turn their party into a funeral, and He will do it at the very height of their pride.
The roaring lions will become nothing more than livestock being led to the butcher. "I will bring them down like lambs to the slaughter, Like rams together with male goats" (v. 40). All their vaunted strength is nothing before the sovereign butcher.
The Idol That Vomits (v. 41-44)
The scene then pulls back to show the reaction of the world, and to reveal the ultimate theological reason for Babylon's fall.
"How Sheshak has been captured, And the praise of the whole earth been seized! How Babylon has become an object of horror among the nations!" (Jeremiah 51:41)
"Sheshak" is a cipher for Babylon. The world is stunned. The invincible has fallen. The "praise of the whole earth," the city that everyone admired and feared, has been seized. This is what happens when God decides to humble the proud. He makes them a spectacle. The judgment is described as a chaotic flood: "The sea has come up over Babylon; She has been covered with its tumultuous waves" (v. 42). The very forces of chaos, which God subdued in creation, are unleashed upon those who defy Him. The result is a land where no one can live (v. 43).
But the final verse gets to the heart of the matter. This is not ultimately a conflict between Israel and Babylon. It is a conflict between Yahweh and the false gods of Babylon.
The final verdict is against the idol.
"I will punish Bel in Babylon, And I will make what he has swallowed come out of his mouth; And the nations will no longer stream to him. Even the wall of Babylon has fallen down!" (Jeremiah 51:44)
Bel, or Marduk, was the chief god of Babylon. He was the one credited with their victories. He was the one who received the plunder from conquered nations, including the vessels from Yahweh's temple. God declares that He is not just punishing the people; He is punishing their god. And the punishment is a profound humiliation. Bel, the great swallower, will be made to vomit. All the nations, the wealth, the glory he has consumed will be disgorged. This is a picture of a powerless idol being forced to relinquish its stolen goods before the true and living God.
When the idol is exposed as a fraud, the worshippers stop coming. "The nations will no longer stream to him." False worship collapses when the false god is shown to be impotent. And when the spiritual reality is dealt with, the physical reality follows. "Even the wall of Babylon has fallen down!" The great wall, the symbol of their security and pride, is nothing. A city's true defense is its god. When the god falls, the wall is just a pile of bricks.
Conclusion: Every Babylon Must Fall
The story of Babylon's fall is the story of every proud, man-centered empire that defies the living God. Every system that builds its walls high in defiance of heaven, every culture that worships the idols of power, wealth, and sexual autonomy, is another Babylon. And like ancient Jerusalem, the church today often feels devoured, emptied, and rinsed away by the ravenous secular culture.
Our response must be the same as Zion's. We are not to despair, and we are not to compromise. We are to cry out to our God for justice. We are to pray the imprecatory psalms against the spiritual strongholds of our age, asking our Divine Advocate to plead our case. We must ask Him to vindicate His own great name.
And we must have a robust confidence that He will answer. He is still the God of recompense. He still hosts feasts of judgment for proud, roaring lions. He still delights in exposing the impotence of false gods, forcing them to vomit up what they have stolen. The walls of our modern Babylons, the institutions of secularism, the pride of godless intellectualism, may seem high and impenetrable. But their idols are hollow, and their foundations are sand.
Therefore, we must not fear. We must be faithful. We must trust the promise that the God who toppled Bel will topple every idol, and that the kingdom of our Lord Jesus Christ will ultimately fill the earth as the waters cover the sea. Every Babylon must fall, because Christ is King.