Judgement on Babylon
- 50:2 “her idols” - literally “rollers”, the little balls that sheep and goats
drop. It does not mean “idols”, there are other words for that, like
“her images” in the previous phrase which is normally translated “idols”.
The translators are afraid of using coarse language, even when God
Himself uses it. Modern rendering: “balls of shit”.
- 50:3 “a nation from the North” - Medes and Persians, or modern Iran.
- 50:4 “weeping as they come” - both then and as prophesied by Zachariah
- 50:8 “flee from the midst of Babylon” - while not destroyed when
captured by Cyrus, ultimately it is destroyed during a rebellion.
- 50:11 “because you rejoice” - one reason for judgement: rejoicing over
plundering Zion.
- 50:12 “least of the nations” - like Egypt, from a world power to
a small power.
- 50:28 “vengeance for His temple” - Belshazzar defiled the temple utensils.
- 50:29 “she has defied the Lord” - another reason for judgement on Babylon.
- 50:30 “all her warriors will be silenced” - and the politicians (“young
bulls”), all drunk in the banqueting hall.
- 50:37 “her treasuries … will be plundered” - all that gold from Egypt
will now be for the next world power.
- 50:39 “never again be inhabited or lived in” - Alexander the Great defied
this, as did Saddam Hussein.
- 50:43 “anguish gripped him” - Daniel 5
- 50:44 “come up like a lion” - last chapter Babylon was the lion, this
time Cyrus.