Jeremiah 51 Footnotes

51:11 Critics argue that this reference to the Medes must be a later insertion, since Jeremiah (writing in 594 BC, v. 59) could not have known that the Medes would arise as a major power in the ancient Near East. It was not until around 550 BC that the king of the Medes controlled many client rulers, but the Medes in turn were subject to Cyrus of Persia. Cyrus led an army of Medes and Persians when he conquered Babylon in 539 BC. The last historical event reported in the book of Jeremiah is the release of Jehoiachin, which took place around 561 BC. At that time Jeremiah, if still living, would have been about ninety years old (he was probably born ca 650 BC), though Baruch could have recorded the event after Jeremiah’s death.

Some critics might define prophecy only as the prophet’s God-given ability to predict future events based on a wise evaluation of current trends. Certainly such insight is a factor in biblical prophecy, but it cannot explain every prediction recorded in Scripture. Prophecy also comes into being as God reveals something that would otherwise be unknowable (27:22; Am 3:7; Ac 21:10-11; 1Co 14:24-25; 2Pt 1:21). God is able to reveal specific details of future events to his prophets, including names (Is 44:28; 45:1) and dates (Jr 25:12; 29:10). Those who deny the possibility that Jeremiah could have been given knowledge of events beyond his own time operate within a worldview for whom supernatural realities and actions are an impossibility. Evidence has no bearing on their view.

51:39,57 Some take this to teach annihilationism (that there is no resurrection). However, permanent sleep is merely a metaphor or euphemism for physical death (Ps 76:5). This verse does not teach about what happens after death; that is taught in passages such as Is 66:24 and Heb 9:27.