October 5, 2013 – Jeremiah 51 – 51:32

If I were one of the Israelites in Egypt listening to Jeremiah prophesy about the destruction of Babylon, I would have wondered why we couldn’t have gotten that a little sooner, like when you told us not to leave Jerusalem.  Maybe we would have stayed.

Babylon is going to be punished, at least in part, on things they did against the Temple and how the treated Israel.  But they were doing God’s will in punishing Israel for their actions.  What if Babylon had simple exiled Israel and not harmed, at least severally, any of the Jews or desecrated the Temple.  Would they have escaped God’s wrath.  But part of the severity of their actions was because of the severity of Israel’s betrayal of God’s rules.  I think it looks like  Babylon gets a raw deal here.  Used by God as His instrument and then when you are done, you are punished for what you did.  Just thought that was curious.