50:4 In those days, and in that time, saith the LORD, the children of Israel shall {d} come, they and the children of Judah together, going and {e} weeping: they shall go, and seek the LORD their God.
(d) When Cyrus will take Babel.
(e) Read Jer 31:9.
50:4 In those days - In the days wherein God shall begin to execute judgment upon Babylon, (which was in the time of Cyrus) the children of Judah shall come out of captivity, and some of the children of Israel hearing that their brethren were gone out of Babylon, shall go up also from the several places into which they were disposed by the Assyrians: weeping for their sins, or for joy that God should shew them such mercy.
50:1-7 The king of Babylon was kind to Jeremiah, yet the prophet must foretell the ruin of that kingdom. If our friends are God's enemies, we dare not speak peace to them. The destruction of Babylon is spoken of as done thoroughly. Here is a word for the comfort of the Jews. They shall return to their God first, then to their own land; the promise of their conversion and reformation makes way for the other promises. Their tears flow not from the sorrow of the world, as when they went into captivity, but from godly sorrow. They shall seek after the Lord as their God, and have no more to do with idols. They shall think of returning to their own country. This represents the return of poor souls to God. In true converts there are sincere desires to attain the end, and constant cares to keep in the way. Their present case is lamented as very sad. The sins of professing Christians never will excuse those who rejoice in destroying them.
