The Portion of Jacob

Jeremiah 51:19 says: The portion of Jacob is not like these; for the Maker of all is He, and of the tribe of His inheritance; the Lord of hosts is His name. What is “the portion of Jacob”?
The short answer is...God! God is the Portion of Jacob. He is the God of Jacob. Jeremiah is in the midst of a context which compares the idols that men make and the One, True God, Jehovah.

The difference between Jehovah and the other so called gods is that Jehovah is real. He is the Creator of all things. He is the God of His people and they are the people of their God. His Name is “the Lord of Hosts.”

This whole section of Scripture has to do with the judgment that God would bring on Babylon. At the time of Jeremiah’s prophecy, Babylon was invading Judah. In Jeremiah 51:20-23, the prophet points out that Babylon is God’s tool for bringing judgment on His people, the Jews. However, Babylon’s judgment would not be long in coming. Verses 34,35 show what the Jewish people will say with regard to Babylon: “Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon has devoured me and crushed me, he has set me down like an empty vessel; he has swallowed me like a monster, he has filled his stomach with my delicacies; he has washed me away. May the violence done to me and to my flesh be upon Babylon,” The inhabitant of Zion will say; and, “May my blood be upon the inhabitants of Chaldea,” Jerusalem will say. Well, verse 36 says that God will plead the case of His people and will exact full vengeance for them.

What does that mean for us? We have pointed out before that sometimes we suffer the things we suffer as a direct result of our own mistakes. There are consequences to our actions that we have to live with. That is the way God designed the world in which we live. At the same time, what I want you to remember is that God will still be on your side if you will be on His. You may be able to cry out with Judah that your enemies have swallowed you up. However, when you cry out such a cry with the attitude of owning up to your own guilt, God will plead your case and will exact full vengeance for you. No enemy of yours (whether we are talking about individual people or just circumstances) can overcome you completely if you will remain faithful to God. He loves you enough to make such hope possible and I love you enough to want you to know about it.