Jeremiah;- The cup of the wine of wrath (ch25)

The “cup” is a very important image in prophecy, finding a place in Revelation’s picture of the Harlot Of Babylon, where it is filled with abominations and impurities. So it behoves us to understand what the image is trying to tell us.

It’s all about getting drunk. “They shall drink and stagger and be crazed because of the sword which I am sending among them… Be drunk and vomit, rise no more, because of the sword which I am sending among you” (ch25 v16, v27). The Lord is going to bring them all down by excessive war, but how does “getting drunk” relate to that?

One effect of being drunk is to become prone to fighting. Another effect is confusion of judgement. One more effect, less obvious to modern readers, would be the shame of nakedness, as in the story of Noah. Presumably this must be blamed on looseness of clothing. Perhaps that is the real point. To be naked is to be weak and vulnerable.

This looks like a metaphor with two layers. “Getting drunk” stands for “becoming naked”, and “becoming naked”, in turn, stands for “losing power”. The Lord is going to bring them all down to the shame of weakness in defeat. That is why the king of Babylon is the last ruler to reach that stage.

The first half of ch25 is a prophecy which begins with “I will send Babylon against you” and ends with “I will destroy Babylon”. The second half of the chapter is a follow-up, different occasion but associated theme.

V15 “Take from my hand this cup of the wine of wrath, and make all the nations to whom I send you drink it.”
I think we can assume that this event is purely notional, and was not carried out in a physical journey around the Middle East. Jeremiah was making these things happen in the sense that he was delivering the word of the Lord, and the word of the Lord makes things happen. This is an “acted out” prophecy which is only described as a potential act. However, we should not be over-eager, like some modern commentators, to apply the same explanation to the other “acted out” prophecies of Jeremiah and Ezekiel.

The list begins with Jerusalem and the rest of Judah. Then their neighbours, who will also suffer at the hands of Babylon. Egypt, the Mediterranean coast (Tyre, Sidon, the Philistines), the inland tribes (Edom, Moab, Ammon, Arabia), the nations east


of Mesopotamia (Elam and Media), and the tribes of the northern mountains. The whole known world, in fact. Babylon is God’s instrument for this work, but in the end Babylon will also “drink”. That is, Babylon will be rendered powerless and will be destroyed.

The recipients are not allowed to refuse. God is beginning “at the city which is called by my name”. If his own people have to suffer, then their enemies will certainly not be allowed to escape.

There are supplementary expressions, perhaps from other occasions, of God’s wrath against the nations at large.

Vv30-31 This one is like an extract from one of the psalms;
“The Lord will roar from on high, and from his holy habitation utter his voice.”
He will roar against “his fold”, but also against “all the inhabitants of the earth” (compare Zephaniah ch1 v18). “Like those who tread grapes” recalls the “treading the wine-press” image of Isaiah ch63 v3. He has an indictment against the nations, and is entering into judgement with all flesh.

V32 offers the image of “a great tempest from the furthest parts of the earth”, which can be both with and against the Babylonians.

V33 The slain will extend from one end of the earth to another. They shall not be lamented or properly buried, but left as dung on the surface of the ground. Exactly the same threat has already been made (e.g. ch16 v4) against the inhabitants of Jerusalem.

Vv34-38 are a lament about “the shepherds”. Taken in isolation, this passage could be about the shepherds of Judah, as in ch23. In the context of this chapter, it must be meant to apply to the “shepherds” of the whole world. Let us read it both ways.

The shepherds must wail and roll in ashes, for the day of their slaughter and dispersion have come. They will find no way of escape. At the same time, the Lord is despoiling their pastures and their flocks are being scattered.
“Like a lion he has left his covert, for their land has become a waste, because of the sword of the oppressor, and because of his fierce anger.”