Weeping of Lost Sheep

Jeremiah 50:1-17 

1 The word that the LORD spoke against Babylon and against the land of the Chaldeans by Jeremiah the prophet.

2 "Declare among the nations,
Proclaim, and set up a standard;
Proclaim—do not conceal it—
Say, 'Babylon is taken, Bel is shamed.
Merodach is broken in pieces;
Her idols are humiliated,
Her images are broken in pieces.'

3 For out of the north a nation comes up against her,
Which shall make her land desolate,
And no one shall dwell therein.
They shall move, they shall depart,
Both man and beast.

4 "In those days and in that time," says the LORD,
"The children of Israel shall come,
They and the children of Judah together;
With continual weeping they shall come,
And seek the LORD their God.

5 They shall ask the way to Zion,
With their faces toward it, saying,
'Come and let us join ourselves to the LORD
In a perpetual covenant
That will not be forgotten.'

6 "My people have been lost sheep.
Their shepherds have led them astray;
They have turned them away on the mountains.
They have gone from mountain to hill;
They have forgotten their resting place.

7 All who found them have devoured them;
And their adversaries said, We have not offended,
Because they have sinned against the LORD, the habitation of justice,
The LORD, the hope of their fathers.'

8 "Move from the midst of Babylon,
Go out of the land of the Chaldeans;
And be like the rams before the flocks.

9 For behold, I will raise and cause to come up against Babylon
An assembly of great nations from the north country,
And they shall array themselves against her;
From there she shall be captured.
Their arrows shall be like those of an expert warrior;
None shall return in vain.
10 And Chaldea shall become plunder;
All who plunder her shall be satisfied," says the LORD.

11 "Because you were glad, because you rejoiced,
You destroyers of My heritage,
Because you have grown fat like a heifer threshing grain,
And you bellow like bulls,
12 Your mother shall be deeply ashamed;
She who bore you shall be ashamed.
Behold, the least of the nations shall be a wilderness,
A dry land and a desert.

13 Because of the wrath of the LORD
She shall not be inhabited,
But she shall be wholly desolate.
Everyone who goes by Babylon shall be horrified
And hiss at all her plagues.

14 "Put yourselves in array against Babylon all around,
All you who bend the bow;
Shoot at her, spare no arrows,
For she has sinned against the LORD.

15 Shout against her all around;
She has given her hand,
Her foundations have fallen,
Her walls are thrown down;
For it is the vengeance of the LORD.
Take vengeance on her.

As she has done, so do to her.

16 Cut off the sower from Babylon,
And him who handles the sickle at harvest time.
For fear of the oppressing sword
Everyone shall turn to his own people,
And everyone shall flee to his own land.

17 "Israel is like scattered sheep;
The lions have driven him away.
First the king of Assyria devoured him;
Now at last this Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon has broken his bones."

You can almost hear the weeping of the lost sheep of God’s people in the words of the weeping prophet here in the judgment against Babylon and Babylonia where they were taken into captivity for their sin (Acts 7:7).  The proclamation of God was publicly broadcast for all to hear of the impending judgment on Babylon and her false gods which were mere lifeless and powerless carvings of wood and stone.  Medes of Persia from the north (Isaiah 13:11, 17) would be God’s tool to decimate the ungodly who were used to discipline the people of the LORD but who also rejected Him.  They would be held accountable.  As these things were happening, Israel was weeping and seeking the LORD once more as they learned a hard lesson on rejecting Him.  They even cried out together to make an eternal covenant with Him that they would not forget this time.  They wanted Union with God as His own once more, and God said that they were led astray by their leaders who shepherded them badly away from Him.  They were misled in the mountains (Jeremiah 2:20) from worship of one false god to another and burned incense in the unfaithfulness of spiritual harlotry.  They were truly sheep without a shepherd who forgot their resting place was in the LORD alone.  Even their enemies considered this a justification to attack Israel for their sin and rejection of hope in their God, which is how they ended up in Babylon.  Yet Babylon was judged for destroying the apple of God's eye who were His heritage and would be overrun from Persia out of the north.  In the end of time, all who set themselves against God’s people in Christ will likewise be punished by the chief Shepherd (1 Peter 5:4) for what they do to His own sheep from every nation and not just Israel (2 Thessalonians 1:5, 8-9, Revelation 6:10).  The utter desolation of Babylon was nothing compared to that to come for all those who rejected Him and refuse to repent of their sin.  This is a sobering warning to all who read these words of Jeremiah.  God’s vengeance will be swift and everlasting for the sin of rejecting Him in disbelief and disobedience.  All who reject Him will be rejected - “As she has done, so do to her.”  The solution is turning to Christ in trust as John 6:29 describes the only work we can do to be saved from the wrath to come (Revelation 6:17, 1 Thessalonians 1:10).  Israel was like a flock of sheep scattered who needed the Shepherd and Overseer (1 Peter 2:25) of their souls to come, just as we all do.  His once lost weeping sheep hear His voice and follow with rejoicing for being found in place of their former rejection of Him (John 10:3, 27).