Jeremiah 25

The year would have been about 605 BC. Jehoiakim reigned from about 609-598 BC.

“Forever” gets an asterisk. The Israelite people had an obligation to obey God, according to the agreement God made with them in the time of Moses. The contract, or covenant, between God and the Jewish people was a two-way street. When Jews obeyed God, then God gave them protection and prosperity. On the flip side, the contract provided stern penalties for breach of contract—to the point of exile and the end of Israel as a nation (Deuteronomy 27—28).

“Northland” means kingdoms that will invade from the north. That includes Babylon, in the east. They travel northwest alongside their source of drinking water, the Euphrates River. Then they turn south as they approach the coastland of the Mediterranean Sea.

Many scholars say by “70 years,” Jeremiah probably meant “a long time” or “a lifetime.” The main exile lasted only about 50 years, from the Babylonian destruction of Jerusalem in 586 BC until Persians from what is now Iran defeated Babylonians from what is now Iraq in 538 BC. Persian King Cyrus freed Jews and other political prisoners and told them to go home and rebuild their temples and pray for him. Ancient Persian documents of baked clay cylinders confirm that. Jews finished rebuilding their Temple in 515 BC, 71 years after Babylonians tore down the Temple King Solomon had built.

The text doesn’t say this was a vision, but it seems a fair guess since Jeremiah writes a lot about prophets getting messages from God in dreams. Also, it’s hard to imagine Jeremiah traveling throughout the Middle East with a cup of wine for rulers of enemy kingdoms.

The land alongside the Nile River is drought-resistant because of the size of the river. So, especially in times of drought, outsiders would migrant there to survive. Hebrew ancestors of today’s Jewish people moved there in the time of Jacob, close to 4,000 years ago. They ended up enslaved until the Bible says God sent Moses to free them.

Where Buz was, no one seems to know. If the phrase following the name is correct, the people of Buz likely lived along the edge of the desert. But that phrase itself is an educated guess. Another way of translating it is to say it referred to a group of people who shaved the hair off the temples on their heads. Some herder group reportedly did that.

The Hebrew word translated in English is “Sheshack,” which many say is an alternate or coded name for Babylon.

The drink of God’s Wrath, though, will wait half a century, when Persians from what is now Iran overrun Babylon and take control of the empire.

One mourning custom was to dress in torn clothes or rough, burlap-like feed sack and put ashes on heads and face.