Judah’s Border, Babylon’s Fall

Judah receives a border, Babylon receives a sentence, and the servants of the Lord receive a charge: praise his name from sunrise to sunset. These belong together. God marks out a people for himself, not so they may live carelessly at the edge of the nations, but so they may be kept from idols and taught to glorify him in all the earth. As Origen says, ““The boundaries of Judah,” it says, “were made according to their people from the borders of Edom and from the wilderness of Zin to the west.” Therefore, the borders of Judah are next to the borders of Edom. But Edom, as we have already often said, means “earthly things.”” The inheritance of God’s people lies hard against earthly things; therefore watchfulness is always needed.

Jeremiah shows what becomes of proud kingdoms and their images. Babylon seemed strong, but her gods are shattered, her boasting silenced, her violence remembered before God. No wall, wealth, or multitude of horses can save a city that exalts itself against the Lord. Yet judgment is not the last word for those who return. Clement says, “And in that time, says the Lord, they shall seek for the iniquity of Israel, and it shall not exist;” God does not only cast down the proud; he also receives the penitent and removes their sin.

So let praise be joined to repentance. Let the mouth bless God, and let the life forsake Babylon. If his name is to be praised in every place, then every place must also be cleansed of idols: greed, impurity, false speech, revenge, luxury without mercy. The Lord who lifts the poor from the dust also brings princes low. Therefore keep within the lot of Judah, far from the pomp of Babylon, and offer God the pure sacrifice of an obedient life.