Jeremiah 50:45
Therefore hear ye the counsel of the LORD, that he hath taken against Babylon; and his purposes, that he hath purposed against the land of the Chaldeans: Surely the least of the flock shall draw them out: surely he shall make their habitation desolate with them.
The verse declares the settled counsel and purpose of the Lord against Babylon and the land of the Chaldeans to overthrow the city and make it desolate. Even the least of the flock shall drag its people out and leave their habitation desolate with them. That word was fulfilled when Babylon fell secure under Belshazzar to Cyrus and the Medes and Persians, and then sank gradually into heaps without inhabitant until its mounds along the Euphrates became utterly desolate. The ancient city stands as a type of great mystical Babylon, so the prophecy passes by sudden transition from type to antitype and applies emphatically to the fall of the apostate harlot-system described in Revelation 18. Applied to the end, that mystic Babylon embraces its daughters and all corrupt Christianity, which after rejecting the announcement of the hour of judgment is left when God withdraws His Spirit and calls His people out, and its destruction follows.
Judgment Decreed and Fulfilled
The overthrow and desolation of Babylon come from the counsel of the Lord and His settled purpose taken against Babylon and against the land of the Chaldeans. That desolation came after her iniquity was full, having been announced through Jeremiah as both a warning and an offer of mercy, but she ignored the message and was not healed. The purpose was directed against Babylon's character and the Babylonian system, because pagan Babylon persecuted God's people, and God acted in defense of His people. Even the least of the flock shall draw them out and make their habitation desolate with them, driving its people out and leaving their dwelling place desolate.
The passage to which the verse belongs does not explain the image of the least of the flock drawing them out. The verse is part of the great burden in Jeremiah chapters 50 and 51, purposed many years beforehand, foretelling that Babylon would become heaps without inhabitant and would sink under the evil brought upon her and not rise again. As a sign of that sinking, the roll was read by Seraiah on the banks of the Euphrates in Babylon, who then tied a stone to it and cast it into the river.
The downfall was fulfilled in history when Babylon, the head of gold, fell while feeling secure under Belshazzar and his lords, with Belshazzar slain. Cyrus and the Medes and Persians captured the city, and the Persian silver empire took its place, with Cyrus's advance bringing the foretold rumors and destruction. That fulfilment is shown by the dispassionate testimony of heathen historians who did not know the prophecy. God's predictions against Babylon thus came to pass, and the city's error and wrongdoing led to its destruction.
The destruction was not completed when the Persians overthrew Babylon; the city then gradually fell into decay and became utterly desolate, so the prophecy was literally fulfilled. That desolation is now seen in the buried mounds along the Euphrates where after more than twenty centuries men dig up stones, bricks, sculptured slabs, jewelry, pottery, sarcophagi, and winged lions and bulls and carry them to London and Philadelphia as witnesses against the proud, blood-built city. The verse does not foretell a rebuilding of old Babylon on the Euphrates River followed by sudden destruction; it foretells the sudden fall of both the ancient city and the empire. In the context of Israel and Judah, the prophecy belongs to judgments that had been fulfilled: after Babylon's conquest, a remnant from each tribe returned from exile, though not all returned at once.
Type of Final Babylon
The Babylon of Jeremiah's day serves as a type of the great, mystical Babylon whose fate is prophesied in Revelation, and the doom pronounced in this prophecy belongs to that typical pattern. Prophecies on the fate of ancient Babylon, including this counsel and purpose of the Lord against Babylon and the land of the Chaldeans to make their habitation desolate, have a double fulfillment by sudden transition from type to antitype. They apply primarily and typically to literal Babylon and emphatically to modern Babylon and to all sinners punished in the day of the Lord, and are to be compared with Revelation 18.
The verse is double, foretelling not only the sudden fall of both the ancient city and the empire while Belshazzar and his lords felt secure, with no rebuilding of old Babylon on the Euphrates followed by sudden destruction, but also the fall of antitypical Babylon. That antitypical Babylon is the great apostate harlot-system that rules over the nations of the earth, which alone is the subject of the prophecy of Revelation. The final destruction of ancient Babylon is a vivid portrayal of the judgment that will destroy modern Babylon when God finally closes all earthly accounts.
Applied to mystic Babylon, Babylon includes its daughters and all corrupt Christianity. After it rejects the announcement that the hour of God's judgment has come, God withdraws His Spirit, calls His people out, and its destruction follows. Applied to the final overthrow of the nations, the prophecy supports the view that not all beasts and birds are destroyed at Christ's second coming. They remain and reproduce among the earth's ruins during the thousand years, so their numbers greatly increase before the wicked are resurrected.