18:1. “…Babylon the great is fallen….”
2 Esdras 10:21-23: “For you see that our sanctuary has been laid waste, our altar thrown down, our temple destroyed; our harp has been laid low, our song has been silenced, and our rejoicing has been ended; the light of our lampstand has been put out, the ark of our covenant has been plundered, our holy things have been polluted, and the name by which we are called has been profaned; our free men have suffered abuse, our priests have been burned to death, our Levites have gone into captivity, our virgins have been defiled, and our wives have been ravished; our righteous men have been carried off, our little ones have been cast out, our young men have been enslaved and our strong men made powerless. And, what is more than all, the seal of Zion–for she has now lost the seal of her glory, and has been given over in the hands of those that hate us.”
18:4. “Come out of her my people….”
1 Maccabees 2:27: “Then Mattathias cried out in the city with a loud voice, saying: ‘Let every one who is zealous for the law and supports the covenant come out with me!'”
18:6-7. “Reward her even as she rewarded you, and double unto her double according to her works….”
2 Esdras 15:55-58 “…The reward of a harlot is in your bosom, therefore you shall receive your recompense. As you will do to my chosen people, says the Lord, so God will do to you, and will hand you over to adversities. Your children shall die of hunger, and you shall fall by the sword, and your cities shall be wiped out, and all your people who are in the open country shall fall by the sword. And those who are in the mountains and highlands shall perish of hunger, and they shall eat their own flesh in hunger for bread and drink their own blood in thirst for water….”
18:7. “…she saith in her heart, I sit a queen, and am no widow, and shall see no sorrow….”
This same warning was sounded in 2 Esdras 1:33-40: “Thus says the Lord Almighty: Your house is desolate; I will drive you out as the wind drives straw; and your sons will have no children….I will give your houses to a people that will come, who without having heard me will believe….(meaning the Christians).”
And again in 2 Esdras 2:5-7: “… because they would not keep my covenant, that you may bring confusion upon them and bring their mother to ruin, so that they may have no offspring. Let them be scattered among the nations, let their names be blotted out from the earth, because they have despised my covenant.
18:8-11. “…she shall be utterly burned with fire….”
2 Esdras 12:44: “Therefore if you, [the prophet], forsake us, how much better it would have been for us if we also had been consumed in the burning of Zion!” [This sounds as if the city of Jerusalem had already been burned.]
2 Esdras 15:43-44:”And they shall go on steadily to Babylon, and shall destroy her. They shall come to her and surround her; they shall pour out the tempest and all its wrath upon her; then the dust and smoke shall go up to heaven, and all who are about her shall wail over her….”
2 Esdras 15:49 “…therefore God says, I will send evils upon you, widowhood, poverty, famine, sword, and pestilence, to lay waste your houses and bring you to destruction and death.”
2 Esdras 16: 1-2 “…Woe to you Babylon and Asia! Woe to you, Egypt and Syria! Gird yourselves with sackcloth and haircloth and wail for your children and lament for them; for your destruction is at hand.”
18:12. “…merchandise of gold and silver….”.
2 Maccabees 3:3-11 tells of Simon who was captain of the temple under Onias informed the governor of an adjoining country and told him that the temple treasury was full of untold wealth. The governor reported this to the king who sent Heliodorus with a military force to claim the wealth. Onias attempted to dissuade him from robbing the temple by saying that there was only a little money besides that which was held in trust for widows and orphans and that Simon had misrepresented the facts.
Note on 3:11: “….Simon had misrepresented the facts only in part; Onias and Hyrcanus probably withheld tribute.” (OAA p. 267).
18:19. “…in one hour is she made desolate….”
2 Esdras 16:23, 32: “And the dead shall be cast out like dung, and there shall be no one to console them; for the earth shall be left desolate, and its cities shall be demolished….And the earth shall be left desolate, and its fields shall be for briers, and its roads and all its paths shall bring forth thorns, because no sheep will go along them.”
Baruch 4:12, 16, 19: “Let no one rejoice over me, a widow and bereaved of many; I was left desolate because of the sins of my children, because they turned away from the law of God…. They led away the widow’s beloved sons, and bereaved the lonely woman of her daughters…. Go, my children, go; for I have been left desolate.”
18:21. “…Thus with violence shall that great city Babylon be thrown down, and shall be found no more at all.”
2 Esdras 2:6, 10: “… that you may… bring their mother [Jerusalem] to ruin, so that they may have no offspring. Let them be scattered among the nations, let their names be blotted out from the earth, because they have despised my covenant…. 10. Thus says the Lord to Ezra: ‘Tell my people that I will give them the kingdom of Jerusalem, which I was going to give to Israel.”
18:22. “…and the voice of harpers….”
2 Esdras 10:22: “…our harp has been laid low, our song has been silenced, and our rejoicing has been ended…” Note 22: “Harp symbolizes the service of praise.” See also 18:1 above.
18:23. “The light of a candle…”
2 Esdras 10:22: “…the light of our lampstand has been put out…” Note 22: “…The extinction of the perpetually burning lamp marked the cessation of temple services.” (OAA, p. 48). See also 18:1 above.
“…the voice of the Bridegroom and of the bride… “
2 Esdras 16:33-4: “Virgins shall mourn because they have no bridegrooms; women shall mourn because they have no husbands; their daughters shall mourn, because they have no helpers. Their bridegrooms shall be killed in war, and their husbands shall perish of famine.”
Baruch 2:23: “I will make to cease from the cities of Judah and from the region about Jerusalem the voice of mirth and the voice of gladness, the voice of the bridegroom and the voice of the bride, and the whole land will be a desolation without inhabitants.”
18:24. “…And in her was found the blood of prophets, and of saints, and of all that were slain upon the earth.”
2 Esdras 1:30-32. “Thus says the Lord Almighty:…I gathered you as a hen gathers her brood under her wings. But now, what shall I do to you? I will cast you out from my presence. When you offer oblations to me, I will turn my face from you; for I have rejected your feast days, and new moons, and circumcisions of the flesh. I sent to you my servants the prophets, but you have taken and slain them and torn their bodies in pieces; their blood I will require of you, says the Lord.
2 Esdras 1:28-33 “Thus says the Lord Almighty: Your house is desolate; I will drive you out as the wind drives straw;….”
And again in 2 Esdras 2:5-7: “I call upon you, father, as a witness in addition to the mother of the children, because they would not keep my covenant, that you may bring confusion upon them and bring their mother to ruin, so that they may have no offspring. Let them be scattered among the nations, let their names be blotted out from the earth, because they have despised my covenant.” This is clearly what had happened and was happening in the earthly city called Jerusalem.
The removal of the wicked city and nation does not negate the covenants and promises of God, however. The writer of 2 Esdras goes on to say: (2 Esdras 2:10-14). “Thus says the Lord to Ezra: ‘Tell my people that I will give them the kingdom of Jerusalem, which I was going to give to Israel. Moreover, I will take back to myself their glory, and will give to these others the everlasting habitations, which I had prepared for Israel. The tree of life shall give them fragrant perfume, and they shall neither toil nor become weary. Ask and you will receive; pray that your days may be few, that they may be shortened. The kingdom is already prepared for you; watch! Call, O call heaven and earth to witness, for I left out evil and created good, because I live, says the Lord.” Clearly, the term ‘my people’ means the Church, the Body of Christ.