Babylon Study • Connected to God’s Image and the Ten Commandments
Leaving Babylon raises another question: Where is attention directed as people leave? Jeremiah’s instruction includes movement, remembrance, and Jerusalem coming to mind.
What Was Swallowed Will Be Brought Out
Jeremiah describes Babylon’s king devouring, crushing, and swallowing. Zion and Jerusalem speak of the violence and bloodshed inflicted upon them. YHWH (יהוה) answers with a promise to plead their cause. Read Jeremiah 51:34–36.
Later, God announces judgment upon Bel in Babylon and the removal from his mouth of what he swallowed. The call for God’s people to leave follows immediately. Read Jeremiah 51:44–45.
Keep the actions together: what was taken in is brought out, and the people are called to depart. Being swallowed does not make the captive identical to the captor.
Remember from Afar
Those who escaped the sword receive this instruction:
“remember Jehovah from afar, and let Jerusalem come into your mind.”
— Jeremiah 51:50, ASV, excerpt
Distance does not prevent remembrance. Leaving is accompanied by renewed attention to God and Jerusalem.
Captivity, the Name, and Redemption
Isaiah likewise addresses captive Daughter Zion, calling her to rise and loosen the bonds around her neck. Redemption is promised without money. Read Isaiah 52:1–3.
The passage then places oppression beside the continual blaspheming of God’s name. The response includes a promise that His people will know His name and recognize the One speaking. Read Isaiah 52:4–6.
This brings our earlier threads together: captivity, speech, God’s name, recognition, and release.
The instruction to depart also calls those bearing God’s vessels to be clean. God promises to go before them and guard their rear. Their departure includes both responsibility and His protection. Read Isaiah 52:11–12.
Leaving Babylon and Turning to God
The call to leave must remain connected with turning to YHWH (יהוה). Jeremiah directs those departing to remember Him; Isaiah identifies Him as their Redeemer, teacher, and guide. Read Jeremiah 51:50 and Isaiah 48:17–20.
Babylon’s deception leads people astray. Leaving therefore requires examining the voices, practices, and loyalties that drew them away from God. Moving elsewhere while retaining those same allegiances leaves that problem unresolved. Read Revelation 18:4, 23.
Who will we now listen to and follow? The purpose is to seek God, receive His instruction, and walk in His ways.
Questions to Examine
If I leave a harmful setting, do I continue its habits toward others?
Have I replaced one unquestioned human authority with another?
Is my attention fixed on those who harmed me, or am I seeking God’s guidance?
Am I willing to leave behind conduct I previously defended?
Can I pursue truth without turning my experience into contempt for people still within that setting?
Threads to Follow
The captor and the captive: Preserve the distinction when examining swallowing, containment, and release.
Remembrance and recognition: Follow God’s name and the identification of the One speaking.
Babylon’s announced end: Examine Jeremiah’s written words and the stone cast into the river alongside Revelation’s millstone.
The books were opened…
🌿 By Maria Emilia
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