ISAIAH 13 COMMENTARY

EDITED BY GLENN PEASE

A Prophecy Against Babylon

13 A prophecy against Babylon that Isaiah son of

Amoz saw:

1.BARNES, The burden of Babylon - Or, the burden respecting, or concerning Babylon. This prophecy is introduced in a different manner from those which have preceded. The terms which Isaiah employed in the commencement of his previous prophecies, were vision (see the note at Isa_1:1), or word Isa_2:1. There has been considerable diversity of opinion in regard to the meaning of the word burden, which is here employed. The Vulgate renders it,

Onus - Burden, in the sense of load. The Septuagint Horasis - Vision. The Chaldee,

The burden of the cup of malediction which draws near to Babylon. The Hebrew word

mas's'a', from nas'a', to lift, to raise up, to bear, to bear away, to suffer, to endure), means properly that which is borne; that which is heavy; that which becomes a burden; and it is also applied to a gift or present, as that which is borne to a man 2Ch_17:11.

It is also applied to a proverb or maxim, probably from the weight and importance of the sentiment condensed in it Pro_30:1; Pro_31:1. It is applied to an oracle from God 2Ki_4:25. It is often translated burden Isa_15:1-9; Isa_19:1; Isa_21:11, Isa_21:13; Isa_22:1; Isa_23:1; Isa_30:6; Isa_46:1; Jer_23:33-34, Jer_23:38; Neh_1:1; Zec_1:1; Zec_12:1; Mal_1:1. By comparing these places, it will be found that the term is applied to those oracles or prophetic declarations which contain sentiments especially weighty and solemn; which are employed chiefly in denouncing wrath and calamity; and which, therefore, are represented as weighing down, or oppressing the mind and heart of the prophet. A similar useage prevails in all languages. We are all familiar with expressions like this. We speak of news or tidings of so melancholy a nature as to weigh down, to sink, or depress our spirits; so heavy that we can scarcely bear up under it, or endure it. And so in this case, the view which the prophet had of the awful judgments of God and of the calamities which were coming upon guilty cities and nations, was so oppressive, that it weighed down the mind and heart as a heavy burden. Others, however, suppose that it means merely a message or prophecy which is taken up, or borne, respecting a place, and that the word indicates nothing in regard to the nature of the message. So Rosenmuller, Gesenius, and Cocceius, understand it. But it seems some the former interpretation is to be preferred. Grotins renders it, A mournful prediction respecting Babylon.

Did see - Saw in a vision; or in a scenical representation. The various events were made to pass before his mind in a vision, and he was permitted to see the armies mustered; the consternation of the people; and the future condition of the proud city. This verse is properly the title to the prophecy.

2. CLARKE, The burden of Babylon - The prophecy that foretells its destruction by the Medes and Persians: see the preceding observations.

3. GILL, The burden of Babylon,.... That is, a prophecy concerning Babylon, as the word is rendered, Pro_31:1. The Septuagint and Arabic versions translate it "the vision"; it signifies a taking up (w) a speech against it, and pronouncing a heavy sentence on it, such an one as should sink it into utter destruction; which will be the case of mystical Babylon, when it shall be as a millstone cast into the sea, never to be brought up again, Rev_18:21. The Targum is, "the burden of the cup of cursing to give Babylon to drink:'' after some prophecies concerning the Messiah and his kingdom, and the church's song of praise for salvation by him, others are delivered out concerning the enemies of the people of God, and their destruction, and begin with Babylon the chief of these enemies, and into whose hands the people of Israel would be delivered for a while; wherefore this prophecy is given forth, in order to lay a foundation for comfort and relief, when that should be their case; by which it would appear that they should have deliverance from them by the same hand that should overthrow them: which Isaiah the son of Amoz did see: by a spirit of prophecy; for this he saw not with his bodily eyes, though it was as clear and certain to him as if he had. The Targum is, "which Isaiah the son of Amoz prophesied.''

4. HENRY, The general title of this book was, The vision of Isaiah the son of Amoz, Isa_1:1.

Here we have that which Isaiah saw, which was represented to his mind as clearly and fully as if

he had seen it with his bodily eyes; but the particular inscription of this sermon is the burden of

Babylon. 1. It is a burden, a lesson they were to learn (so some understand it), but they would be

loth to learn it, and it would be a burden to their memories, or a load which should lie heavily

upon them and under which they should sink. Those that will not make the word of God their

rest (Isa_28:12; Jer_6:16) shall find it made a burden to them. 2. It is the burden of Babylon or

Babel, which at this time was a dependent upon the Assyrian monarchy (the metropolis of which

was Nineveh), but soon after revolted from it and became a monarchy of itself, and a very potent

one, in Nebuchadnezzar. This prophet afterwards foretold the captivity of the Jews in Babylon,

Isa_39:6. Here he foretels the reprisals God would make upon Babylon for the wrongs done to

his people. In these verses a summons is given to those powerful and warlike nations whom God

would make us of as the instruments of his wrath for the destruction of Babylon: he afterwards

names them (Isa_13:17) the Medes, who, in conjunction with the Persians, under the command

of Darius and Cyrus, were the ruin of the Babylonian monarchy.

5. JAMISON, Isa_13:1-22. The thirteenth through twenty-third chapters contain prophecies as to foreign nations. The thirteenth, fourteenth, and twenty-seventh chapters contain prophecies as to Babylon and Assyria. The predictions as to foreign nations are for the sake of the covenant people, to preserve them

from despair, or reliance on human confederacies, and to strengthen their faith in God: also in order to extirpate narrow-minded nationality: God is Jehovah to Israel, not for Israels sake alone, but that He may be thereby Elohim to the nations. These prophecies are in their right chronological place, in the beginning of Hezekiahs reign; then the nations of Western Asia, on the Tigris and Euphrates, first assumed a most menacing aspect.

burden weighty or mournful prophecy [Grotius]. Otherwise, simply, the prophetical declaration, from a Hebrew root to put forth with the voice anything, as in Num_23:7 [Maurer].

of Babylon concerning Babylon.

6. K&D, The heading in Isa_13:1, Oracle concerning Babel, which Isaiah the son of Amoz did see, shows that chapter 13 forms the commencement of another part of the whole book.

Massah (from ), efferre, then effari, Exo_20:7) signifies, as we may see from 2Ki_9:25, effatum, the verdict or oracle, more especially the verdict of God, and generally, perhaps always, the judicial sentence of God,

(Note: In Zec_12:1. the promise has, at any rate, a dark side. In Lam_2:14 there is no

necessity to think of promises in connection with the mas'oth; and Pro_30:1 and Pro_31:1 cannot help us to determine the prophetic use of the word.)

though without introducing the idea of onus (burden), which is the rendering adopted by the Targum, Syriac, Vulgate, and Luther, notwithstanding the fact that, according to Jer_23:33., it was the scoffers who associated this idea with the word. In a book which could throughout be traced to Isaiah, there could be no necessity for it to be particularly stated, that it was to Isaiah that the oracle was revealed, of which Babel was the object. We may therefore see from this, that the prophecy relating to Babylon was originally complete in itself, and was intended to be issued in that form. But when the whole book was compiled, these headings were retained as signal-posts of the separate portions of which it was composed. Moreover, in the case before us, the retention of the heading may be regarded as a providential arrangement. For if this oracle of Babel lay before us in a separate form, and without the name of Isaiah, we should not dare to attribute it to him, for the simple reason that the overthrow of the Chaldean empire is here distinctly announced, and that at a time when the Assyrian empire was still standing. For this reason the majority of critics, from the time of Rosenmller and Justi downwards, have regarded the spuriousness of the prophecy as an established fact. But the evidence which can be adduced in support of the testimony contained in the heading is far too strong for it to be set aside: viz., (1.) the descriptive style as well as the whole stamp of the prophecy, which resembles the undisputed prophecies of Isaiah in a greater variety of points than any passage that can be selected from any other prophet. We will show this briefly, but yet amply, and as far as the

nature of an exposition allows, against Knobel and others who maintain the opposite. And (2.) the dependent relation of Zephaniah and Jeremiah - a relation which the generally admitted muse-like character of the former, and the imitative character of the latter, render it impossible to invert. Both prophets show that they are acquainted with this prophecy of Isaiah, as indeed they are with all those prophecies which are set down as spurious. Sthelin, in his work on the Messianic prophecies (Excursus iv), has endeavoured to make out that the derivative passages in question are the original passages; but stat pro ratione voluntas. Now, as the testimony of the heading is sustained by such evidence as this, the one argument adduced on the other side, that the prophecy has no historical footing in the circumstances of Isaiah's times, cannot prove anything at all. No doubt all prophecy rested upon an existing historical basis. But we must not expect to be able to point this out in the case of every single prophecy. In the time of Hezekiah, as Isa_39:1-8 clearly shows (compare Mic_4:10), Isaiah had become spiritually certain of this, that the power by which the final judgment would be inflicted upon Judah would not be Asshur, but Babel, i.e., an empire which would have for its centre that Babylon, which was already the second capital of the Assyrian empire and the seat of kings who, though dependent then, were striving hard for independence; in other words, a Chaldean empire. Towards the end of his course Isaiah was full of this prophetic thought; and from it he rose higher and higher to the consoling discovery that Jehovah would avenge His people upon Babel, and redeem them from Babel, just as surely as from Asshur. The fact that so far-reaching an insight was granted to him into the counsels of God, was not merely founded on his own personality, but rested chiefly on the position which he occupied in the midst of the first beginnings of the age of great empires. Consequently, according to the law of the creative intensity of all divinely effected beginnings, he surveyed the whole of this long period as a universal prophet outstripped all his successors down to the time of Daniel, and left to succeeding ages not only such prophecies as those we have already read, which had their basis in the history of his own times and the historical fulfilment of which was not sealed up, but such far distant and sealed prophecies as those which immediately follow. For since Isaiah did not appear in public again after the fifteenth year of Hezekiah, the future, as his book clearly shows, was from that time forth his true home. Just as the apostle says of the New Testament believer, that he must separate himself from the world, and walk in heaven, so the Old Testament prophet separated himself from the present of his own nation, and lived and moved in its future alone.

7. BI, The prophets burden

Whenever we find the word burden in this association it means oracle, a speech of doom; it is never connected with blessing, hope, enlarged opportunity, or expanded liberty; it always means that judgment is swiftly coming, and may at any moment burst upon the thing that is doomed. (J. Parker, D. D.)

The power to see

Which Isaiah did see. How did he see it? The word see needs to be defined every day. Blind men may see. We do not see with the eyes only, else truly we should see very little; the whole body becomes an eye when it is fun of light, and they who are holiest see farthest. Blessed are the pure in heart: for they shall see God. Men see morally, intellectually, sympathetically, as well as visually. How could Isaiah see this burden of Babylon when it did not fall upon the proud city for two centuries! Is there, then, no annihilation of time and space? Are we the mean prisoners we thought ourselves to be is it so, that we are caged round by invisible iron, and

sealed down by some oppressive power, or blinded by some arbitrary or cruel shadow? We might see more if we looked in the right direction; we might be masters of the centuries if we lived with God. Isaiah is never weary of saying that he saw what he affirms. He does not describe it as having been seen by some other man; having written his record he signs it, or having begun to deliver his prophecy he writes it as a man writes his will; he begins by asserting that it is his testament, his own very witness, for he was there, saw it, and he accepts the responsibility of every declaration. (J. Parker, D. D.)

Babylon stands for the spirit of the world

In the New Testament, Babylon, more than any other city, stood for the personification of the forces of the world against God. In the history of Israel Babylon was the scourge of God to them. They were as grain under the teeth of the threshing machine. In the Captivity the Jews felt the weight of Babylons cruelty, so that in the prophetic literature of the Exile, Babylon became the type of oppression and of the insolence of material force. Thought is carried back to primitive times in the Book of Genesis, in which Babylon is pictured in the vain and arrogant attempt to rival God: Go to, let us build us a city, and tower whose top may reach unto heaven; and let us make us a name, lest we be scattered abroad upon the face of the whole earth. So deeply had the experience of Babylons cruelty entered into the heart of Israel that even in the New Testament, St. John, in the Book of Revelation, uses the word Babylon to describe the material power of Rome. He could not get a better word than just the old word Babylon to represent the overwhelming force of the great Roman Empire, with its legions of soldiers, with its policy which made the whole world a network of nerves running back to their sensitive centre in the haughty city on the Tiber. St. John saw past the glitter and the conquest, and recognised in pagan Rome the mighty Babylon which lifts her impious head against God. To him she was the scarlet woman; he heard, her say in the pride of her heart, as the prophet had heard Babylon say, I sit a queen and am no widow, and shall see no sorrow. Thus the very name Babylon came to take on the religious signification of the spirit of the world; it stood for the dead weight of the material which resists the spirit. (Hugh Black, M. A.)

The doom of Babylon

Here the prophet pronounces doom upon the bloated empire which seemed to stand so secure, and notes the evidence of weakness in spite of apparent prosperity and careless trust in material resources. Disregard of human rights, lusts, and selfishness and pride of life, and the impious atheism which disregarded all this he declared would all exact their inevitable price. Cruelty and oppression would react upon the tyrant after their usual historic fashion. The huge accumulations on which they rested would only attract the foe, would weaken her hands in her hour of trial, and make her, in spite of her wealth, an easy prey to the spoiler. To Babylon would come a time when she would have more money than men. It is a picture of absolute ruin which the prophet gives, when the great city would be depopulated (Isa_13:12). (Hugh Black, M. A.)

The Babylonian spirit

The Babylonian spirit has not left the world, and every great civilisation (for it is not confined to one) is menaced in the same way by the temptation of forgetfulness of God, cruelty of sheer force, insolence of pride, and the empty trust of wealth. Our foes are the old foes with a new face on them. (Hugh Black, M. A.)

8. CALVIN, 1. The burden of Babylon From this chapter down to the twenty-fourth, the Prophet

foretells what dreadful and shocking calamities awaited the Gentiles and those countries which were best

known to the Jews, either on account of their being contiguous to them, or on account of the transactions

of commerce and alliances; and he does so not without weighty reasons. When various changes are

taking place, some think that God sports with the affairs of men, and others, that everything is directed by

the blind violence of fortune, as profane history sufficiently testifies; very few are aware that these things

are appointed and regulated by the purpose of God. There is nothing of which it is more difficult to

convince men than that the providence of God governs this world. Many indeed acknowledge it in words,

but very few have it actually engraven on their heart. We tremble and shudder at the very smallest

change, and we inquire into the causes, as if it depended on the decision of men. What then shall be

done, when the whole world is thrown into commotion, and the face of affairs is so completely changed in

various places, that it appears as if everything were going to ruin?

It was therefore highly useful that Isaiah and other prophets should discourse about calamities of this

nature, that all might understand that those calamities did not take place but by the secret and wonderful

purpose of God. If they had uttered no prediction on those subjects, such a disordered state of affairs

might have shaken and disturbed the minds of the godly; but when they knew long beforehand that this

would happen, they had in the event itself a mirror of the providence of God. When Babylon was taken,

which they had previously learned from the mouth of the Prophet, their own experience taught them that

the prediction had not been made in vain, or without solid grounds.

But there was also another reason why the Lord commanded that the destruction of Babylon and other

nations should be foretold. These predictions were of no advantage to Babylon or the other nations, and

these writings did not reach them; but by this consolation he intended to alleviate the grief of the godly,

that they might not be discouraged, as if their condition were worse than that of the Gentiles; which they

would have had good reason to conclude, if they had seen them unpunished escape the hand of God. If

the monarchy of Babylon had remained unshaken, the Jews would not only have thought that it was in

vain for them to worship God, and that his covenant which he had made with Abraham had not been

fulfilled, since it fared better with strangers and wicked men than with the elect people; but a worse

suspicion might have crept into their minds, that God showed favor to accursed robbers, who gave

themselves up to deeds of dishonesty and violence, and despised all law both human and divine. Indeed,

they might soon have come to think that God did not care for his people, or could not assist them, or that

everything was directed by the blind violence of fortune. Accordingly, that they might not faint or be

thrown into despair, the Prophet meets them with the consoling influence of this prediction, showing that

the Babylonians also will be punished.

Besides, the comparison taught them how severe was the punishment that awaited them, which they had

knowingly and willingly brought upon themselves. For if God pronounces such dreadful threatenings

against the unbelieving and irreligious Gentiles, who wandered in darkness, how much greater will be his

rigour and severity against a rebellious people who have intentionally sinned against him!

The servant who knoweth his master will, and doeth it not, is justly beaten with many stripes.

(Luk_12:47.)

Thus when God threatened such dreadful punishment against the blind Gentiles, the Jews, who had been

instructed in the law, might behold as in a mirror what they had deserved.

But the chief design which Isaiah had in view in these predictions was, to point out to the Jews how dear

and valuable their salvation was in the sight of God, when they saw that he undertook their cause and

revenged the injuries which had been done to them. He spoke first of the desolation and ruin that would

befall the kingdom of Judah and of Israel, because judgment must begin at the house of God. (1Pe_4:17.)

God takes a peculiar care of his own people, and gives his chief attention to them. Whenever therefore

we read these predictions, let us learn to apply them to our use. The Lord does not indeed, at the present

day, foretell the precise nature of those events which shall befall kingdoms and nations; but yet the

government of the world, which he undertook, is not abandoned by him. Whenever therefore we behold

the destruction of cities, the calamities of nations, and the overturning of kingdoms, let us call those

predictions to remembrance, that we may be humbled under God chastisements, may learn to gather

wisdom from the affliction of others, and may pray for an alleviation of our own grief.

The burden. As to the word burden, which frequently occurs, I shall state briefly in what sense it ought to

be understood. It was generally employed by the prophets of God, whenever they threatened any

afflictive event, in order to inform the people that no afflictive event happened which the Lord himself did

not lay as a burden on men shoulders. The wickedness and obstinacy of the people having constrained

the prophets to preach incessantly about God chastisements, the consequence was, that as a matter of

ordinary jesting they called all the prophecies by the name of a burden; as is evident from Jer_23:36,

where the Lord kindles into fierce indignation, because they not only spoke of his word contemptuously,

but also held it up to dislike. This word makes known to the godly, that the Lord appoints all calamities

and afflictions, that every one may suffer the punishment of his own sin.

Which Isaiah, the son of Amoz, saw. He expressly states that what he is about to utter was revealed to

him by a heavenly vision, that the weight which is thus given to it may render it victorious over all the

judgments pronounced by the flesh. It was difficult to believe that a monarchy so flourishing, and so

prodigiously rich, could be overturned in any way. Their eyes being dazzled by beholding such vast

power, the Prophet draws away their attention from it to believe the heavenly revelation, that they may

expect by faith the judgment of God which they could not comprehend by the unaided exercise of their

own minds.

9. PULPIT, THE BURDEN OF BABYLON. The series of prophecies which commences with this chapter and continues to the close of Isa_23:1-18; is connected together by the word massa, burden. It has been argued that the term "burden" is an incorrect translation of massa, as used by Isaiah and later prophets (Nah_1:1; Hab_1:1;Zec_9:1; Zec_12:1; Mal_1:1); and that "utterance," or "prophecy," would be more suitable (comp. Pro_30:1; Pro_31:1, where massa is thus rendered in the Authorized Version). But the facts remain that massa means a "burden" in the ordinary sense, and that the prophecies to which it is prefixed are generally (in Isaiah always) of a denunciatory character. The translation may therefore be allowed to standat any rate in the present chapter. It is remarkable that Babylon heads the list of the Church's enemies in the present catalogue. Dr. Kay supposes the term "Babel" to be equivalent to "Asshur-Babel," and to designate "the Assyro-Babylonian Empire." He thinks that "Babel" heads the list on account of Assyria's position, under Tiglath-Pileser and Shalmaneser, in the van of Israel's adversaries. But neither Isaiah nor any other sacred writer knows of an Assyro-Babylonian kingdom or empire. Assyria and Babylonia are distinct kingdoms in Genesis (Gen_10:8-12), in 2 Kings (18-20.), in 2 Chronicles (2Ch_20:12.), in Isaiah (36-39.) and in Ezekiel (23; 30; 31.). They had been at war almost continuously for above seven centuries before the time of Isaiah. Assyria had, on the whole, proved the stronger of the two, and had from time to time for a longer or a shorter period held Babylonia in subjection. But the two countries were never more one than Russia and Poland, and, until Tiglath-Pileser assumed the crown of Babylon in 729 B.C; they bad always been under separate monarchs. Individually, I can only account for the high position here given to Babylon by the prophet, on the supposition that it was thus early revealed to him that Babylonia was the great enemy to be fearedthe ultimate destroyer of Judah and Jerusalem, the power that would carry the Jewish people into captivity. Isa_13:1

Which Isaiah J did see (comp. Isa_1:1; Isa_2:1, etc.). Isaiah always "sees" his prophecies, whether they are of the nature of visions (as Isa_6:1-13.) or the contrary. The word is probably used to express the strong conviction that he has of their absolute certainty.

10. EBC, PROPHECIES NOT RELATING TO ISAIAHS TIME

In the first thirty-nine chapters of the Book of Isaiah-the half which refers to the prophets own career and the politics contemporary with that - we find four or five prophecies containing no reference to Isaiah himself nor to any Jewish king under whom he laboured, and painting both Israel and the foreign world in quite a different state from that in which they lay during his lifetime. These prophecies are chapter 13, an Oracle announcing the Fall of Babylon, with its appendix, Isa_14:1-23, the Promise of Israels Deliverance and an Ode upon the Fall of the Babylonian Tyrant; chapters 24-27, a series of Visions of the breaking up of the universe, of

restoration from exile, and even of resurrection from the dead; chapter 34, the Vengeance of the Lord upon Edom; and chapter 35, a Song of Return from Exile.

In these prophecies Assyria is no longer the dominant world-force, nor Jerusalem the inviolate fortress of God and His people. If Assyria or Egypt is mentioned, it is but as one of the three classical enemies of Israel; and Babylon is represented as the head and front of the hostile world. The Jews are no longer in political freedom and possession of their own land; they are either in exile or just returned from it to a depopulated country. With these altered circumstances come another temper and new doctrine. The horizon is different, and the hopes that flush in dawn upon it are not quite the same as those which we have contemplated with Isaiah in his immediate future. It is no longer the repulse of the heathen invader; the inviolateness of the sacred city; the recovery of the people from the shock of attack, and of the land from the trampling of armies. But it is the people in exile, the overthrow of the tyrant in his own home, the opening of prison doors, the laying down of a highway through the wilderness, the triumph of return, and the resumption of worship. There is, besides, a promise of the resurrection, which we have not found in the prophecies we have considered.

With such differences, it is not wonderful that many have denied the authorship of these few prophecies to Isaiah. This is a question that can be looked at calmly. It touches no dogma of the Christian faith. Especially it does not involve the other question, so often-and, we venture to say, so unjustly-started on this point, Could not the Spirit of God have inspired Isaiah to foresee all that the prophecies in question foretell, even though he lived more than a century before the people were in circumstances to understand them? Certainly, God is almighty. The question is not, Could He have done this? but one somewhat different: Did He do it? and to this an answer can be had only from the prophecies themselves. If these mark the Babylonian hostility or captivity as already upon Israel, this is a testimony of Scripture itself, which we cannot overlook, and beside which even unquestionable traces of similarity to Isaiahs style or the fact that these oracles are bound up with Isaiahs own undoubted prophecies have little weight. "Facts" of style will be regarded with suspicion by any one who knows how they are employed by both sides in such a question as this; while the certainty that the Book of Isaiah was put into its present form subsequently to his life will permit of, -and the evident purpose of Scripture to secure moral impressiveness rather than historical consecutiveness will account for, -later oracles being bound up with unquestioned utterances of Isaiah.

Only one of the prophecies in question confirms the tradition that it is by Isaiah, viz., chapter 13, which bears the title "Oracle of Babylon which Isaiah, son of Amoz, did see"; but titles are themselves so much the report of tradition, being of a later date than the rest of the text, that it is best to argue the question apart from them.

On the other hand, Isaiahs authorship of these prophecies, or at least the possibility of his having written them, is usually defended by appealing to his promise of return from exile in chapter 11 and his threat of a Babylonish captivity in chapter 39. This is an argument that has not been fairly met by those who deny the Isaianic authorship of chapters 13-14, 23, 24-28, and 35. It is a strong argument, for while, as we have seen, there are good grounds for believing Isaiah to have been likely to make such a prediction of a Babylonish captivity as is attributed to him in Isa_39:6, almost all the critics agree in leaving chapter 11 to him. But if chapter 11 is Isaiahs, then he undoubtedly spoke of an exile much more extensive than had taken place by his own day. Nevertheless, even this ability in 11 to foretell an exile so vast does not account for passages in 13-14:23, 24-27, which represent the Exile either as present or as actually over. No one who reads these chapters without prejudice can fail to feel the force of such passages in leading him to decide for an exilic or post-exilic authorship.

Another argument against attributing these prophecies to Isaiah is that their visions of the last things, representing as they do a judgment on the whole world, and even the destruction of the

whole material universe, are incompatible with Isaiahs loftiest and final hope of an inviolate Zion at last relieved and secure, of a land freed from invasion and wondrously fertile, with all the converted world, Assyria and Egypt, gathered round it as a centre. This question, however, is seriously complicated by the fact that in his youth Isaiah did undoubtedly prophesy a shaking of the whole world and the destruction of its inhabitants, and by the probability that his old age survived into a period whose abounding sin would again make natural such wholesale predictions of judgment as we find in chapter 24.

Still, let the question of the eschatology be as obscure as we have shown, there remains this clear issue. In some chapters of the Book of Isaiah, which, from our knowledge of the circumstances of his times, we know must have been published while he was alive, we learn that the Jewish people has never left its land, nor lost its independence under Jehovahs anointed, and that the inviolateness of Zion and the retreat of the Assyrian invaders of Judah, without effecting the captivity of the Jews, are absolutely essential to the endurance of Gods kingdom on earth. In other chapters we find that the Jews have left their land, have been long in exile (or from other passages have just returned), and that the religious essential is no more the independence of the Jewish State under a theocratic king, but only the resumption of the Temple worship. Is it possible for one man to have written both these sets of chapters? Is it possible for one age to. have produced them? That is the whole question.

Isaiah 13:1-14:23

BABYLON AND LUCIFER

DATE UNCERTAIN

THIS double oracle is against the City (Isa_13:2-22; Isa_14:1-2) and the Tyrant (Isa_14:3-23) of Babylon.

I. THE WICKED CITY

(Isa_13:2-22; Isa_14:1-23)

The first part is a series of hurried and vanishing scenes-glimpses of ruin and deliverance caught through the smoke and turmoil of a Divine war. The drama opens with the erection of a gathering "standard upon a bare mountain" (Isa_13:2). He who gives the order explains it (Isa_13:3), but is immediately interrupted by "Hark! a tumult on the mountains, like a great people. Hark! the surge of the kingdoms of nations gathering together. Jehovah of hosts is mustering the host of war." It is "the day of Jehovah" that is "near," the day of His war and of His judgment upon the world.

This Old Testament expression, "the day of the Lord," starts so many ideas that it is difficult to seize any one of them and say this is just what is meant. For "day" with a possessive pronoun suggests what has been appointed beforehand, or what must come round in its turn; means also opportunity and triumph, and also swift performance after long delay. All these thoughts are excited when we couple "a day" with any persons name. And therefore, as with every dawn some one awakes saying, This is my day; as with every dawn comes some ones chance, some soul gets its wish, some will shows what it can do, some passion or principle issues into fact: so God also shall have His day, on which His justice and power shall find their full scope and triumph. Suddenly and simply, like any dawn that takes its turn on the round of time, the great decision and victory of Divine justice shall at last break out of the long delay of ages. "Howl ye, for the day of Jehovah is near; as destruction from the Destructive does it come." Very savage and quite universal is its punishment. "Every human heart melteth." Countless faces, white with terror,

light up its darkness like flames. Sinners are "to be exterminated out of the earth; the world is to be punished for its iniquity." Heaven, the stars, sun and moon aid the horror and the darkness, heaven shivering above, the earth quaking beneath; and between, the peoples like shepherd-less sheep drive to and fro through awful carnage.

From Isa_13:17 the mist lifts a little. The vague turmoil clears up into a siege of Babylon by the Medians, and then settles down into Babylons ruin and abandonment to wild beasts. Finally (Isa_14:1) comes the religious reason for so much convulsion: "For Jehovah will have compassion upon Jacob, and choose again Israel, and settle them upon their own ground; and the foreign sojourner shall join himself to them, and they shall associate themselves to the house of Jacob."

This prophecy evidently came to a people already in captivity-a very different circumstance of the Church of God from that in which we have seen her under Isaiah. But upon this new stage it is still the same old conquest. Assyria has fallen, but Babylon has taken her place. The old spirit of cruelty and covetousness has entered a new body; the only change is that it has become wealth and luxury instead of brute force and military glory. It is still selfshness and pride and atheism. At this, our first introduction to Babylon, it might have been proper to explain why throughout the Bible from Genesis to Revelation this one city should remain in fact or symbol the enemy of God and the stronghold of darkness. But we postpone what may be said of her singular reputation, till we come to the second part of the Book of Isaiah where Babylon plays a larger and more distinct role. Here her destruction is simply the most striking episode of the Divine judgment upon the whole earth. Babylon represents civilisation; she is the brow of the worlds pride and enmity to God. One distinctively Babylonian characteristic, however, must not be passed over. With a ring of irony in his voice, the prophet declares, "Behold, I stir up the Medes against thee, who regard not silver and take no pleasure in gold." The worst terror that can assail us is the terror of forces, whose character we cannot fathom, who will not stop to parley, who do not understand our language nor our bribes. It was such a power with which the resourceful and luxurious Babylon was threatened. With money the Babylonians did all they wished to do, and believed everything else to be possible. They had subsidised kings, bought over enemies, seduced the peoples of the earth. The foe whom God now sent them was impervious to this influence. From their pure highlands came down upon corrupt civilisation a simple people, whose banner was a leathern apron, whose goal was not booty nor ease but power and mastery, who came not to rob but to displace.

The lessons of the passage are two: that the people of God are something distinct from civilisation, though this be universal and absorbent as a very Babylon; and that the resources of civilisation are not even in material strength the highest in the universe, but God has in His armoury weapons heedless of mens cunning, and in His armies agents impervious to mens bribes. Every civilisation needs to be told, according to its temper, one of these two things. Is it hypocritical? Then it needs to be told that civilisation is not one with the people of God. Is it arrogant? Then it needs to be told that the resources of civilisation are not the strongest forces in Gods universe. Man talks of the triumph of mind over matter, of the power of culture, of the elasticity of civilisation; but God has natural forces, to which all these are as the worm beneath the hoof of the horse: and if moral need arise, He will call His brute forces into requisition. "Howl ye, for the day of Jehovah is near; as destruction from the Destructive does it come." There may be periods in mans history when, in opposition to mans unholy art and godless civilisation, God can reveal Himself only as destruction.

II. THE TYRANT

(Isa_14:3-23)

To the prophecy of the overthrow of Babylon there is annexed, in order to be sung by Israel in the hour of her deliverance, a satiric ode or taunt-song (Hebrews mashal, Eng. ver. parable) upon the King of Babylon. A translation of this spirited poem in the form of its verse (in which, it is to be regretted, it has not been rendered by the English revisers) will be more instructive than a full commentary. But the following remarks of introduction are necessary. The word mashal, by which this ode is entitled, means comparison, similitude, or parable, and was applicable to every sentence composed of at least two members that compared or contrasted their subjects. As the great bulk of Hebrew poetry is sententious, and largely depends for rhythm upon its parallelism, mashal received a general application; and while another term - shir- more properly denotes lyric poetry, mashal is applied to rhythmical passages in the Old Testament of almost all tempers: to mere predictions, proverbs, orations, satires or taunt-songs, as here, and to didactic pieces. The parallelism of the verses in our ode is too evident to need an index. But the parallel verses are next grouped into strophes. In Hebrew poetry this division is frequently effected by the use of a refrain. In our ode there is no refrain, but the strophes are easily distinguished by difference of subject-matter. Hebrew poetry does not employ rhyme, but makes use of assonance, and to a much less extent of alliteration-a form which is more frequent in Hebrew prose. In our ode there is not much either of assonance or alliteration. But, on the other hand, the ode has but to be read to break into a certain rough and swinging rhythm. This is produced by long verses rising alternate with short ones falling. Hebrew verse at no time relied for a metrical effect upon the modern device of an equal or proportionate number of syllables. The longer verses of this ode are sometimes too short, the shorter too long, variations to which a rude chant could readily adapt itself. But the alternation of long and short is sustained throughout, except for a break at Isa_14:10 by the introduction of the formula, "And they answered and said," which evidently ought to stand for a long and a short verse if the number of double verses in the second strophe is to be the same as it is-seven-in the first and in the third.

The scene of the poem, the underworld and abode of the shades of the dead, is one on which some of the most splendid imagination and music of humanity has been expended. But we must not be disappointed if we do net here find the rich detail and glowing fancy of Virgils or of Dantes vision. This simple and even rude piece of metre, liker ballad than epic, ought to excite our wonder not so much for what it has failed to imagine as for what, being at its disposal, it has resolutely stinted itself in employing. For it is evident that the author of these lines had within his reach the rich, fantastic materials of Semitic mythology, which are familiar to us in the Babylonian remains. With an austerity, that must strike every one who is acquainted with these, he uses only so much of them as to enable him to render with dramatic force his simple theme-the vanity of human arrogance.

For this purpose he employs the idea of the underworld which was prevalent among the northern Semitic peoples. Sheol-the gaping or craving place-which we shall have occasion to describe in detail when we come to speak of belief in the resurrection, is the state after death that craves and swallows all living. There dwell the shades of men amid some unsubstantial reflection of their earthly state (Isa_14:9), and with consciousness and passion only sufficient to greet the arrival of the newcomer and express satiric wonder at his fall (Isa_14:9). With the arrogance of the Babylonian kings, this tyrant thought to scale the heavens to set his throne in the "mount of assembly" of the immortals, "to match the Most High." But his fate is the fate of all mortals-to go down to the weakness and emptiness of Sheol. Here, let us carefully observe, there is no trace of a judgment for reward or punishment. The new victim of death simply passes to his place among his equals. There was enough of contrast between the arrogance of a tyrant claiming Divinity and his fall into the common receptacle of mortality to point the prophets moral without the addition of infernal torment. Do we wish to know the actual punishment of his pride and cruelty? It is visible above ground (strophe 4); not with his spirit, but with his

corpse; not with himself, but with his wretched family. His corpse is unburied, his family exterminated; his name disappears from the earth.

Thus, by the help of only a few fragments from the popular mythology, the sacred satirist achieves his purpose. His severe monotheism is remarkable in its contrast to Babylonian poems upon similar subjects. He will know none of the gods of the underworld. In place of the great goddess, whom a Babylonian would certainly have seen presiding, with her minions, over the shades, he personifies-it is a frequent figure of Hebrew poetry-the abyss itself. "Sheol shuddereth at thee." It is the same when he speaks (Isa_14:13) of the deeps great opposite, that "mount of assembly" of the gods, which the northern Semites believed to soar to a silver sky "in the recesses of the north" (Isa_14:14), "upon the great range which in that direction" bounded the Babylonian plain. This Hebrew knows of no gods there but One, whose are the stars, who is the Most High. Mans arrogance and cruelty are attempts upon His majesty. He inevitably overwhelms them. Death is their penalty: blood and squalor on earth, the concourse of shuddering ghosts below.

The kings of the earth set themselves

And the rulers take counsel together,

Against the Lord and against His Anointed.

He that sitteth in the heavens shall laugh;

The Lord shall have them in derision.

He who has heard that laughter sees no comedy in aught else. This is the one unfailing subject of Hebrew satire, and it forms the irony and the rigour of the following ode.

The only other remarks necessary are these. In Isa_14:9 the Authorised Version has not attempted to reproduce the humour of the original satire, which styles them that were chief men on earth "chief-goats" of the herd, bellwethers. The phrase "they that go down to the stones of the pit" should be transferred from Isa_14:19 to Isa_14:20.

And thou shalt lift up this proverb upon the king of Babylon, and shalt say, -

I.

Ah! stilled is the tyrant,

And stilled is the fury!

Broke hath Jehovah the rod of the wicked,

Sceptre of despots:

Stroke of (the) peoples with passion,

Stroke unremitting,

Treading in wrath (the) nations,

Trampling unceasing.

Quiet, at rest. is the whole earth,

They break into singing;

Even the pines are jubilant for thee,

Lebanons cedars!

"Since thou liest low, cometh not up

Feller against us."

II.

Sheol from under shuddereth at thee

To meet thine arrival,

Stirring up for thee the shades,

All great-goats of earth!

Lifteth erect from their thrones

All kings of peoples.

10. All of them answer and say to thee, -

"Thou, too, made flaccid like us,

To us hast been levelled!

Hurled to Sheol is the pride of thee,

Clang of the harps of thee;

Under thee strewn are (the) maggots

Thy coverlet worms."

III.

How art thou fallen from heaven

Daystar, sun of the dawn

(How) art thou hewn down to earth,

Hurtler at nations.

And thou, thou didst say in thine heart,

"The heavens will I scale,

Far up to the stars of God

Lift high my throne,

And sit on the mount of assembly,

Far back of the north,

I will climb on the heights of (the) cloud,

I will match the Most High!"

Ah I to Sheol thou art hurled,

Far back of the pit!

IV.

Who see thee at thee are gazing;

Upon thee they muse: I

s this the man that staggered the earth,

Shaker of kingdoms?

Setting the world like the desert,

Its cities he tore down:

Its prisoners he loosed not

(Each of them) homeward.

All kings of people, yes all,

Are lying in their state;

But thou! thou art flung from thy grave,

Like a stick that is loathsome.

Beshrouded with slain, the pierced of the sword,

Like a corpse that is trampled.

They that go down to the stones of a crypt,

Shalt not be with them in burial.

For thy land thou hast ruined,

Thy people hast slaughtered.

Shall not be mentioned for aye

Seed of the wicked!

Set for his children a shambles,

For guilt of their fathers!

They shall not rise, nor inherit (the) earth,

Nor fill the face of the world with cities.

V.

But I will arise upon them,

Sayeth Jehovah of hosts;

And I will cut off from Babel

Record and remnant,

And scion and seed,

Saith Jehovah:

Yea, I will make it the bitterns heritage,

Marshes of water!

And I will sweep it with sweeps of destruction.

Sayeth Jehovah of hosts.

2 Raise a banner on a bare hilltop,

shout to them;

beckon to them

to enter the gates of the nobles.

1.BARNES, Lift ye up a banner - A military ensign or standard. The vision opens here; and the first thing which the prophet hears, is the solemn command of God addressed to the nations as subject to him, to rear the standard of war, and to gather around it the mighty armies which were to be employed in the destruction of the city. This command, Lift ye up a banner, is addressed to the leaders of those armies to assemble them, and to prepare them for war.

Upon the high mountain - It was customary for military leaders to plant a standard on a tower, a fortress, a city, a high mountain, or any elevated spot, in order that it might be seen afar, and be the rallying point for the people to collect together (see the note at Isa_11:10). Here, the prophet does not refer to any particular mountain, but means simply, that a standard should be raised, around which the hosts should be assembled to march to Babylon. The Chaldee renders it, Over the city dwelling in security, lift up the banner.

Exalt the voice - Raise up the voice, commanding the people to assemble, and to prepare for

the march against Babylon, Perhaps, however, the word voice here ( qol) refers to the clangor, or sound, of a trumpet used for mustering armies. The word is often used to denote any noise, and is frequently applied to thunder, to the trumpet, etc.

Unto them - That is, to the Medes and Persians, who were to be employed in the destruction of Babylon.

Shake the hand - In the way of beckoning; as when one is at so great a distance that the voice cannot be heard, the hand is waved for a sign. This was a command to beckon to the nations to assemble for the destruction of Babylon.

That they may go into the gates of the nobles - The word rendered here nobles (

ned)yb)ym) means, properly, voluntary, free, liberal; then those who are noble, or liberally-minded, from the connection between nobleness and liberality; then those who are noble or elevated in rank or office. In this sense it is used here; compare Job_12:21; Job_34:18; 1Sa_2:8; Psa_107:40; and Pro_8:16, where it is rendered princes; Num_21:18, where it is rendered nobles. Lowth renders it here princes. Noyes renders it tyrants - a sense which the word has in Job_21:28 (see the note at that place). There is no doubt that it refers to Babylon; and the prophet designs probably to speak of Babylon as a magnificent city - a city of princes, or nobles. The Chaldee renders it, That they may enter its gates, which open to them of their own accord; retaining the original signification of voluntariness in the Hebrew word, and expressing the idea that the conquest would be easy. Our common translation has expressed the correct sense.

2. CLARKE, Exalt the voice - The word lahem, to them, which is of no use, and rather weakens the sentence, is omitted by an ancient MS., and the Vulgate.

3. GILL, Lift ye up a banner upon the high mountain,.... Or "upon the mountain Nishphah"; some high mountain in Media or Persia, proper to set a standard on, or erect a banner for the gathering men together, to enlist themselves as soldiers, and so form an army to march into the land of Chaldea. Vitringa thinks there may be an allusion to the mountain Zagrius, which divides Media and Persia from Assyria, mentioned by Strabo (x). Or "upon a high mountain"; any high mountain fit for such a purpose; or "against the high mountain", as some (y) read it; meaning Babylon, called a mountain, Jer_51:25 not because of its situation, for it was in a plain; but because of its eminence above other cities and states. The Targum is, "against the city that dwells securely, lift up a sign;'' a token of war, proclaim war against it, that lives at ease, and is in peace; and so the word is used in the Talmudic language, as Kimchi observes; and to this agrees Jarchi's note, "to gather against the mountain that is quiet, and trusts in its tranquillity, lift up a banner to the nations.'' Exalt the voice unto them; the Medes, mentioned by name in Isa_13:17 such as were within call, or were gathered together by the lifting up of the banner; such were to be urged with great vehemency to enlist themselves, and engage in a war against Babylon: shake the hand; beckon with it to them that are afar off, that cannot hear the voice: that they may go into the gates of the nobles; that dwell in the city of Babylon, where they might expect to find rich plunder; though some understand this of the nobles or princes of the Medes and Persians, as Kimchi observes, that should enter through the gates of Babylon into the city; and by others it is interpreted of the soldiers coming to the doors of the leaders or generals of the army, to give in their names, and enlist themselves in their service; which well agrees with what goes before.

4. HENRY, The place doomed to destruction is Babylon; it is here called the gates of the nobles (Isa_13:2), because of the abundance of noblemen's houses that were in it, stately ones and richly furnished, which would invite the enemy to come, in hopes of a rich booty. The gates of nobles were strong and well guarded, and yet they would be no fence against those who came with commission to execute God's judgments. Before his power and wrath palaces are no more than cottages. Nor is it only the gates of the nobles, but the whole land, that is doomed to destruction (Isa_13:5); for, though the nobles were the leaders in persecuting and oppressing God's people, yet the whole land concurred with them in it.

5. JAMISON, Lift ... banner (Isa_5:26; Isa_11:10).

the high mountain rather, a bare (literally, bald, that is, without trees) mountain; from it the banner could be seen afar off, so as to rally together the peoples against Babylon.

unto them unto the Medes (Isa_13:17), the assailants of Babylon. It is remarkable that Isaiah does not foretell here the Jews captivity in Babylon, but presupposes that event, and throws himself beyond, predicting another event still more future, the overthrow of the city of Israels oppressors. It was now one hundred seventy-four years before the event.

shake ... hand beckon with the hand - wave the hand to direct the nations to march against Babylon.

nobles Babylonian. Rather, in a bad sense, tyrants; as in Isa_14:5, rulers in parallelism to the wicked; and Job_21:28 [Maurer].

6. K&D, The prophet hears a call to war. From whom it issues, and to whom or against whom it is directed, still remains a secret; but this only adds to the intensity.On woodless mountain lift ye up a banner, call to them with loud sounding voice, shake the hand, that they may enter into gates of princes! The summons is urgent: hence a threefold signal, viz., the

banner-staff planted on a mountain made bald (nishpeh, from which comes shephi, which only occurs in Isaiah and Jeremiah), the voice raised high, and the shaking of the hand, denoting a violent beckoning - all three being favourite signs with Isaiah. The destination of this army is to

enter into a city of princes (nedb m, freemen, nobles, princes, Psa_107:40, cf., Psa_113:8), namely, to enter as conquerors; for it is not the princes who invite them, but Jehovah.

7.PULPIT, Lift ye up a banner; rather, a standard"an ensign," as in Isa_5:26 : Isa_11:12. "Ensigns"

were used both by the Assyrians and the Egyptians. "Banners," or flags, do not seem to have been

employed in the ancient world. Upon the high mountain; rather, upon a bare mountainone that was

clear of trees, so that the signal might be the better seen from it. God's army having to be summoned

against Babylon, the summons is made in three ways:

(1) by a signal or ensign lifted up on a high hill;

(2) by a loud call or shout; and

(3) by waving or beckoning with the hand.

The whole description is, of course, pure metaphor. That they may go into the gates of the nobles.

Either that they may enter into the palaces of the grandees in Babylon, or that they may take the towns of

the tributary princes.

8. CALVIN, 2.Lift ye up a banner upon the high mountain. The word mountain contains a metaphor;

for the discourse relates to Babylon, which, we know, was situated on a plain; but with a view to its

extensive dominion, he has assigned to it an elevated situation, like a fortress set on high above all

nations. But perhaps it will be thought better to take the word mountain as used indefinitely; as if he had

said, a signal is given there will be a vast assemblage from very distant countries, because all men will

be attracted towards it by the wide and extensive influence of the sight; and, indeed, I consider this

opinion to be more probable, but I chose to mention at first the opinion which had been commonly

received. Yet it might be thought absurd that the Prophet here enjoins the creatures to yield, as it were,

obedience to him, if God had not fortified the Prophet by his instructions and authority. A private man here

commands the Medes and Persians, assembles armies, orders a banner to be lifted up, and sounds the

trumpet for battle.

This should therefore lead us to consider the majesty of God, in whose name he spoke, and likewise the

power and efficacy which is always joined with the word. Such modes of expression are frequently found

in the Prophets, that, by placing the events as it were before our eyes, he may enable us to see that God

threatens nothing by his servants which he is not ready immediately to execute. Isaiah might indeed have

threatened in plain and direct terms, Persians and Medes will come, and will burst through the gates

of Babylon, notwithstanding the prodigious strength of its fortifications. But those exclamations are far

more energetic, when he not only assumes the character of a herald and proclaims war, but, as if he

exercised the highest authority, orders the Medes and Persians to assemble like hired soldiers. Not only

does he show that they will be ready at the bidding of God, because they are moved by his secret

influence; but, having been sent by God to announce the ruin of Babylon, he claims for his own voice the

accomplishment of what appeared to be beyond belief. It amounts to this, God hath spoken about what

shall happen, we ought to entertain no doubt concerning it. It deserves our notice also, that he describes

the Persians and Medes, without mentioning their names; for that threatening is more emphatic, when he

points them out, as it were, with the finger, as when we say, and that man. This contributes to the

certainty of the prophecy, when he points out such distant events as if they were at hand.

Shake the hand, that they may enter within the gates of the nobles. When he says, Shake the hand, and

they shall enter, he means that the Persians and Medes shall no sooner begin to advance at the

command of God than their road shall be plain and easy in spite of every obstruction. Though the

Hebrews call Princes, (Nedibim,) that is, generous and bountiful, on which is also founded that

saying of Christ, , they are called benefactors, (Luk_22:25,) yet I think that the

Prophet draws our attention to the splendor of power in which the Babylonians gloried. They were

furnished above others with forces and warlike armaments, so that it appeared to be incredible that they

could ever be vanquished. But the Prophet threatens that nothing shall hinder God from opening up a

way and entrance to the enemies.

3 I have commanded those I prepared for battle;

I have summoned my warriors to carry out my

wrath

those who rejoice in my triumph.

1.BARNES, I have commanded - This is the language of God in reference to those who were about to destroy Babylon. He claimed the control and direction of all their movements; and though the command was not understood by them as coming from him, yet it was by his direction, and in accordance with his plan (compare the notes at Isa_10:7; Isa_45:5-6). The command was not given by the prophets, or by an audible voice; but it was his secret purpose and direction that led them to this enterprise.

My sanctified ones - The Medes and Persians; not called sanctified because they were holy, but because they were set apart by the divine intention and purpose to accomplish this. The

word sanctify ( qadash) often means to set apart - either to God; to an office; to any sacred use; or to any purpose of religion, or of accomplishing any of the divine plans. Thus, it means to dedicate one to the office of priest Exo_28:41; to set apart or dedicate an altar Exo_39:36; to dedicate a people Exo_19:10-14; to appoint, or institute a fast Joe_1:14; Joe_2:15; to sanctify a war Joe_3:9, that is, to prepare ones-self for it, or make it ready. Here it means, that the Medes and Persians were set apart, in the purpose of God, to accomplish his designs in regard to Babylon (compare the note at Isa_10:5-6).

My mighty ones - Those who are strong; and who are so entirely under my direction, that they may be called mine.

For mine anger - To accomplish the purposes of my anger against Babylon.

Even them that rejoice in my highness - It cannot be supposed that the Medes and Persians really exulted, or rejoiced in God or in his plans, for it is evident that, like Sennacherib Isa. 10, they were seeking to accomplish their own purposes, and were not solicitous about the

plans of God (compare the note at Isa_47:6). The word rendered my highness ( ga'a.va0

th)y) means, properly, my majesty, or glory. When applied to people, as it often is, it means pride or arrogance. It means here, the high and exalted plan of God in regard to Babylon. It was a mighty undertaking; and one in which the power, the justice, and the dominion of God over nations would be evinced. In accomplishing this, the Medes and Persians would rejoice or exult, not as the fulfilling of the plan of God; but they would exult as if it were their own plan, though it would be really the glorious plan of God. Wicked people often exult in their success; they glory in the execution of their purposes; but they are really accomplishing the plans of God, and executing his great designs.

2. CLARKE, I have commanded my sanctified ones - mekuddashai, the persons

consecrated to this very purpose. Nothing can be plainer than that the verb kadash, to make holy, signifies also to consecrate or appoint to a particular purpose. Bishop Lowth translates, my enrolled warriors. This is the sense.

3. GILL, I have commanded my sanctified ones,.... The Medes and Persians, so called, not because sanctified by the Spirit of God, or made holy persons, through the regenerating and renewing grace of God, or purified by the blood of Christ, and prepared for glory; but because they were set apart in the mind and counsel of God for a special work and service, and were qualified by him with courage and strength to perform it, and therefore said to be his; and this command that was given them was not by a voice from heaven, or in a message by one of his prophets; but by a secret instinct, and, by the power of his providence, stirring them up to engage in such an enterprise (z). I have also called my mighty ones; meaning Cyrus and Darius, and the officers of their armies, with the common soldiers, who were furnished with might and strength to do his will, to which they were called in his providence: for mine anger; to execute his wrath upon the Babylonians; so the Targum, "that they may avenge my wrath upon them:'' or, "in mine anger"; which being stirred up, put him upon calling those mighty ones to his service, and fitting them for it: literally it is, "to my nose" (a); to be before him, to be at his beck and will, and to minister his wrath and vengeance: even them that rejoice in my highness; in doing that which tended to the exaltation and glory of God; they went cheerfully about the work, and exulted and triumphed in their success: or, "that rejoice my highness" (b); make me glad, because I am glorified by them. So seven angels, the Lord's holy and mighty ones, will be employed in pouring out the vials of his wrath on mystical Babylon, Rev_15:1.

4. HENRY, The persons brought together to lay Babylon waste are here called, 1. God's sanctified ones (Isa_13:3), designed for this service and set apart to it by the purpose and providence of God, disengaged from other projects, that they might wholly apply themselves to this, such as were qualified for that to which they were called, for what work God employs men in he does in some measure fit them for. It intimates likewise that in God's intention, though not in theirs, it was a holy war; they designed only the enlargement of their own empire, but God designed the release of his people and a type of the destruction of the New Testament Babylon. Cyrus, the person principally concerned, was justly called a sanctified one, for he was God's anointed (Isa_45:1) and a figure of him that was to come. It is a pity but all soldiers, especially those that fight the Lord's battles, should be in the strictest sense sanctified ones; and it is a wonder that those dare be profane ones who carry their lives in their hands. 2. They are called

God's mighty ones, because they had their might from God and were now to use it for him. It is said of Cyrus that in this expedition God held his right hand, Isa_45:1. God's sanctified ones are his mighty ones. Those whom God calls he qualifies; and those whom he makes holy he makes strong in spirit. 3. They are said to rejoice in his highness, that is, to serve his glory and the purposes of it with great alacrity. Though Cyrus did not know God, nor actually design his honour in what he did, yet God used him as his servant (Isa_45:4, I have surnamed thee as my servant, though thou hast not known me), and he rejoiced in those successes by which God exalted his own name. 4. They are very numerous, a multitude, a great people, kingdoms of nations (Isa_13:4), not rude and barbarous, but modelled and regular troops, such as are furnished out by well-ordered kingdoms. The great God has hosts at his command. 5. They are far-fetched: They come from a far country, from the end of heaven. The vast country of Assyria lay between Babylon and Persia. God can make those a scourge and ruin to his enemies that lie most remote from them and therefore are least dreaded.

5. JAMISON, sanctified ones the Median and Persian soldiers solemnly set apart by Me for the destruction of Babylon, not inwardly sanctified, but designated to fulfil Gods holy purpose (Jer_51:27, Jer_51:28; Joe_3:9, Joe_3:11; where the Hebrew for prepare war is sanctify war).

for mine anger to execute it.

rejoice in my highness Those who are made to triumph for My honor [Horsley]. The heathen Medes could not be said to rejoice in Gods highness Maurer translates, My haughtily exulting ones (Zep_3:11); a special characteristic of the Persians [Herodotus, 1.88]. They rejoiced in their own highness, but it was His that they were unconsciously glorifying.

6. K&D, I have summoned my sanctified ones, also called my heroes to my wrath, my proudly rejoicing ones. To my wrath is to be explained in accordance with Isa_10:5. To

execute His wrath He had summoned His sanctified ones (mekuddashim), i.e., according to Jer_22:7 (compare Jer_51:27-28), those who had already been solemnly consecrated by Him to go into the battle, and had called the heroes whom He had taken into His service, and who were His instruments in this respect, that they rejoiced with the pride of men intoxicated with victory

(vid., Zep_1:7, cf., Isa_3:11). is a word peculiarly Isaiah's; and the combination 8 is so unusual, that we could hardly expect to find it employed by two authors who stood in no relation whatever to one another.

7. PULPIT, I have commanded my sanctified ones. The pronoun "I" is emphatic"I myself." Not only

will an external summons go forth, but God will lay his own orders on them whom he chooses for his

instruments, and bid them come to the muster. All who carry out his purposes are, in a certain sense,

"sanctified ones" (comp.Jer_22:7; Jer_51:27; Zep_1:7, etc.). Here the Modes and Persians are specially

in. tended (see Isa_13:17). For mine anger; i.e. "for the purpose of executing my anger." Even them

that rejoice in my highness; rather, my proudly exultant ones (Cheyne, Rosenmller,

Gesenius). AEschylus calls the Persians ; Herodotus, (1. 41). The high spirits,

however, natural to gallant soldiers on going out to war, rather than any special haughtiness or arrogancy,

are intended.

8. CALVIN, 3.I have commanded my sanctified ones. (198) Here the Prophet introduces the Lord as

speaking and issuing his commands. He calls the Medes and Persians sanctified ones, that is, those

whom he has prepared. The verb (kadash) is used in various senses; for sometimes it refers to the

spirit of regeneration, and this belongs peculiarly to the elect of God. But sometimes it means

to wish or prepare, and that meaning is more appropriate to this passage. All who are created by the Lord

are likewise appointed by him for a fixed purpose. He does not throw down men at random on the earth,

to go wherever they please, but guides all by his secret purpose, and regulates and controls the violent

passions of the reprobate, so as to drive them in whatever manner he thinks fit, and to check and restrain

them according to his pleasure. He therefore calls them sanctified ones, apart and prepared to execute

his will, though they had no such intention. Hence also we are taught to ascribe to the secret judgment of

God all violent commotions, and this yields wonderful consolation; for whatever attempts may be made by

wicked men, yet they will accomplish nothing but what the Lord has decreed.

I have also called my mighty ones. The phrase, I have called, conveys more than the phrase, I have

commanded, which he had used in the former clause. It means that they will be roused to action, not only

at the bidding of God, but by the very sound of his voice; as if I were to call a person to me, and he were

immediately to follow. He threatens, therefore, that Babylon shall be destroyed by the Medes and

Persians, in the same manner as if they obeyed the call of God; for though they were prompted to battle

by their own ambition, pride, and cruelty, yet God directed them, without knowing it, to execute his

judgment.

(198) My appointed ones. (kadash) is to select and set apart for a work, particularly for one of God

appointment. See Jer_22:7, Zep_1:7. Stock

FT190 The LORD and the weapons of his indignation. Eng. Ver.

FT191 From the Almighty. Eng. Ver.

FT192 (shod mishshaddai). This title of God is here employed for the sake of the

alliteration, destruction from the destroyer, from him who is all-powerful to destroy ( ) (shadad) as well

as to save. Rosenmuller

FT193 By a happy coincidence, the English word panic conveys exactly the meaning of the Latin

adjective Panicus , which is here said to be derived from the name of the heathen God Pan, the god of

the mountains, cattle, &c. Ed

FT194 Their faces shall be as flames. (Heb. faces of the flames.) Eng. Ver. Faces of flames shall be

their faces. Stock

FT195 See Xen. Cyr., book 7, chapter 5.

FT196 Jarchi quotes the words, to add the drunken to the thirsty, (Deu_29:19,)add year to year,

(Isa_29:1,) and add burnt-offerings to your sacrifices, (Jer_7:21,) and his annotator Breithaupt translates

the verb (saphah) by a word in his native French, accueillir , which means togather, or flock together.

Ed

FT197 Which shall not regard silver; and as for gold, they shall not delight in it. Eng. Ver.

FT198 Their bows also shall dash the young men to pieces. Eng. Ver.

FT199Shall be as when God overthrew. (Heb. as the overthrowing.)--Eng. Ver.

FT200 But wild beasts of the desert (Heb. Ziim) shall lie there. Eng. Ver.

FT201 It is a gratifying proof of the progress of knowledge and of the decay of superstition, that such

words as Hobgoblins, Hob-thrushes, Robin-goodfellows, and even Fairies, answering to the grotesque

names which Calvin has brought from his own vernacular, have grown antiquated, and are not likely to be

replaced by terms of modern date. Howell definition of Loup-garou is a curious record of superstitious

belief. mankind Wolfe, such a one as once being flesht on men, and children, will rather starve than feed

on any thing else; also, one that, possessed with an extream and strange melancholy, beleeves he is

turned Wolfe, and as a Wolfe behaves himselfe, etc. Ed

FT202 And the wild beasts of the islands (Heb. Iim) shall cry. Eng. Ver.

FT203 And hyoenas shall cry in their palaces, and jackals in their tabernacles of delight. Stock

4 Listen, a noise on the mountains,

like that of a great multitude!

Listen, an uproar among the kingdoms,

like nations massing together!

The LORD Almighty is mustering

an army for war.

1.BARNES, The noise of a multitude in the mountains - The prophet here represents himself as hearing the confused tumult of the nations assembling to the standard reared on the mountains Isa_13:2. This is a highly beautiful figure - a graphic and vivid representation of the scene before him. Nations are seen to hasten to the elevated banner, and to engage in active preparations for the mighty war. The sound is that of a tumult, an excited multitude hastening to the encampment, and preparing for the conquest of Babylon.

Like as of a great people - Hebrew, The likeness of a great people. That is, such a confused and tumultuous sound as attends a great multitude when they collect together.

A tumultuous noise - Hebrew, The voice of the tumultuous noise of the kingdoms of nations gathered together.

The Lord of hosts - Yahweh, the God of hosts, or armies (note Isa_1:9).

Mustereth - Collects; puts in military array. Over all this multitude of nations, hastening with confused sounds and tumult like the noise of the sea, putting themselves in military array, God, unseen, presides, and prepares them for his own great designs. It is not easy to conceive a more sublime image than these mighty hosts of war, unconscious of the hand that directs them, and of the God that presides over them, moving as he wills, and accomplishing his plans.

2. CLARKE, Of the battle For the battle - The Bodleian MS. has lemilchamah. Cyruss army was made up of many different nations. Jeremiah calls it an assembly of great nations from the north country, Jer_50:9. And afterwards mentions the kingdoms of Ararat, Minni, and Ashchenaz, (i.e. Armenia, Corduene, Pontus or Phrygia, Vitring.), with the kings of the Medes, Jer_51:27, Jer_51:28. See Xenophon. Cyrop.

3. GILL, The noise of a multitude in the mountains, like as of a great people,.... That is, like the noise of a very numerous people; this noise was heard either on the mountains

of Media, where they flocked in vast numbers to the standard set; or on the mountains upon the borders of Chaldea, when the army under Cyrus was marching towards Babylon: a tumultuous noise of the kingdoms of nations gathered together; for Cyrus's army consisted of several kingdoms and nations; for besides the thirty thousand Persians he brought with him into Media, where he was made general of the Medes also, and was sent with the joint forces of both nations against Babylon, the kingdoms of Ararat, Minni, and Ashchenaz, were prepared, gathered together, and called forth against it, Jer_51:27, the Lord of hosts mustereth the host of the battle; or the warlike army: it was the Lord, that has the armies of heaven and earth at his command, who in his providence caused such a numerous army to be formed, directed them where to march, and put them in battle array, and gave them the victory.

4. HENRY, The summons given them is effectual, their obedience ready, and they make a very formidable appearance: A banner is lifted up upon the high mountain, Isa_13:2. God's standard is set up, a flag of defiance hung out against Babylon. It is erected on high, where all may see it; whoever will may come and enlist themselves under it, and they shall be taken immediately into God's pay. Those that beat up for volunteers must exalt the voice in making proclamation, to encourage soldiers to come in; they must shake the hand, to beckon those at a distance and to animate those that have enlisted themselves. And they shall not do this in vain; God has commanded and called those whom he designs to make use of (Isa_13:3) and power goes along with his calls and commands, which cannot be resisted. He that makes men able to serve him can, when he pleases, make them willing too. It is the Lord of hosts that musters the host of the battle, Isa_13:4. He raises them, brings them together, puts them in order, reviews them, has an exact account of them in his muster-roll, sees that they be all in their respective posts, and gives them their necessary orders. Note, All the hosts of war are under the command of the Lord of hosts; and that which makes them truly formidable is that, when they come against Babylon, the Lord comes, and brings them with him as the weapons of his indignation, Isa_13:5. Note, Great princes and armies are but tools in God's hand, weapons that he is pleased to make use of in doing his work, and it is his wrath that arms them and gives them success.

5. JAMISON, the mountains namely, which separate Media and Assyria, and on one of which the banner to rally the hosts is supposed to be reared.

tumultuous noise The Babylonians are vividly depicted as hearing some unwonted sound like the din of a host; they try to distinguish the sounds, but can only perceive a tumultuous noise. nations Medes, Persians, and Armenians composed Cyrus army.

6. K&D, The command of Jehovah is quickly executed. The great army is already coming down from the mountains. Hark, a rumbling on the mountains after the manner of a great people; hark, a rumbling of kingdoms of nations met together! Jehovah of hosts musters an army, those that have come out of a distant land, from the end of the heaven: Jehovah and His

instruments of wrath, to destroy the whole earth. Ko0l commences an interjectional sentence,

and thus becomes almost an interjection itself (compare Isa_52:8; Isa_66:6, and on Gen_4:10). There is rumbling on the mountains (Isa_17:12-13), for there are the peoples of Eran, and in front the Medes inhabiting the mountainous north-western portion of Eran, who come across the lofty Shahu (Zagros), and the ranges that lie behind it towards the Tigris, and descend upon the lowlands of Babylon; and not only the peoples of Eran, but the peoples of the mountainous north of Asia generally (Jer_51:27) - an army under the guidance of Jehovah, the God of hosts of spirits and stars, whose wrath it will execute over the whole earth, i.e., upon the world-empire; for the fall of Babel is a judgment, and accompanied with judgments upon all the tribes under Babylonian rule.

7. PULPIT, The noise of a multitude in the mountains. I do not know why Isaiah should not have been

"thinking of his geography" (Cheyne). As soon as the Greeks knew anything of the Persians, they knew of

them as a mountain people, and attributed their valor and their handy habits to the physical character of

their country (Herod; 9.ad fin.). Jeremiah connects the invading army which destroyed Babylon with

mountains, when he derives it from. Ararat (comp. Gen_8:4), Minni (Armenia), and Ashchenaz

(Jer_51:27). At any rate, the mention of "mountains" here is very appropriate, both Media and Persia

being, in the main, mountainous countries. A great people; or, much peoplenot necessarily of one

nation only. The host of the battle; rather, a host of war; i.e. a multitude of men, armed and prepared for

war.

8. CALVIN, 4.The noise of a multitude in the mountains. He adds a still more lively representation,

( ,) that is, a description by which he places the event as it were before our eyes. The

prophets are not satisfied with speaking, without also giving a bold picture of the events themselves.

Words uttered plainly, and in the ordinary manner, do not strike us so powerfully or move our hearts so

much as those figures which delineate a lively resemblance of the events. As if he had said, indeed, you

hear a man speaking, but know that this voice will be so powerful that at the sound of it nations shall be

roused, peoples shall make a noise, and in vast crowds shall shout and roar to bring destruction on the

inhabitants of Babylon. This proclamation, therefore, will be as efficacious, even after that I am dead, as if

you now saw what I foretell to you.

In this event, therefore, we see how great is the efficacy of the word, which all the creatures both in

heaven and in earth obey. We ought to be more strongly confirmed in the belief of this doctrine, by

perceiving that every one of the events which had been predicted many centuries before has taken place.

For this reason he declares that the Lord of hosts mustereth the host of the battle, that the various nations

are moved by God direction, and that, although nothing was farther from their intention than to inflict the

punishment which he had appointed, still they do nothing but according to his command, as if some

earthly general were to draw up his forces.

5 They come from faraway lands,

from the ends of the heavens

the LORD and the weapons of his wrath

to destroy the whole country.

1.BARNES, They come - That is, Yahweh and the weapons of his indignation - the collected armies come. The prophet sees these assembled armies with Yahweh, as their leader, at their head.

From a far country - The country of the Medes and Persians. These nations, indeed, bordered on Babylonia, but still they stretched far to the north and east, and, probably, occupied nearly all the regions to the east of Babylon which were then known.

From the end of heaven - The Septuagint renders this, =??A??K?LK Ap'

akrou themeliou tou ouranou - From the extreme foundation of the heaven. The expression in the Hebrew, From the end, or extreme peri of heaven, means, the distant horizon by which the earth appears to be bounded, where the sky and the land seem to meet. In Psa_19:6, the phrase, from the end of the heaven denotes the east, where the sun appears to rise; and unto the ends of it denotes the west:

His going forth is from the end of the heaven; And his circuit unto the ends of it.

It is here synonymous with the phrase, the end of the earth, in Isa_5:26.

Even the Lord - The word even, introduced here by the translators, weakens the three of this verse. The prophet means to say that Yahweh is coming at the head of those armies, which are the weapons of his indignation.

The weapons of his indignation - The assembled armies of the Medes and Persians, called the weapons of his indignation, because by them he will accomplish the purposes of his anger against the city of Babylon (see the note at Isa_10:5).

To destroy the whole land - The whole territory of Babylonia, or Chaldea. Not only the city, but the nation and kingdom.

2. CLARKE, They come from a far country - The word meerets is wanting in one MS. and in the Syriac: They come from afar.

From the end of heaven - Kimchi says, Media, the end of heaven, in Scripture phrase, means, the East.

3. GILL, They come from a far country, from the end of heaven,.... The east, as Kimchi observes; the Targum is, from the ends of the earth; the furthermost parts of it, as Persia and Media were: the former is bounded on the south side by the main ocean; and the latter, part of it by the Caspian sea; and between Babylon and these kingdoms lay the large kingdom of Assyria; so that this army might be truly said to come from a far country: even the Lord, and the weapons of his indignation; the Medes and Persians, who were the instruments of his wrath and vengeance against Babylon; just as Assyria is called the rod of his anger, Isa_10:5 with these he is said to come, because this army was of his gathering, mustering, ordering, and directing, in his providence; the end and design of which was, to destroy the whole land; not the whole world, as the Septuagint render it; but the whole land of Chaldea, of which Babylon was the metropolis. The Targum is, "to destroy all the wicked of the earth.''

4. KRETZMAN, They come from a far country, from the end of heaven, from beyond the

horizon, where the earth appears to be hounded by the sky, even the Lord, and the weapons of His

indignation, to destroy the whole land, literally, "to overturn the whole earth," for the entire world, then

known, would feel the ravages of the war of destruction determined upon by Jehovah. The prophet now

turns directly to the heathen nations, with Babylon in the lead:

5. JAMISON, They namely, Jehovah, and the armies which are the weapons of His indignation.

far country Media and Persia, stretching to the far north and east.

end of heaven the far east (Psa_19:6).

destroy rather, to seize [Horsley].

6. PULPIT, They come from a far country (comp. Isa_46:11). Both Media and Persia were "far

countries" to the Hebrews, Persia especially. There is no indication that they knew of any countries more

remote towards the East. Hence the expression which follows, "from the end of heaven"the heaven

being supposed to end where the earth ended. Isaiah, like the other sacred writers, conforms his

language on cosmical subjects to the opinions of his day. Even the Lord. With a most effective

anthropomorphism, Jehovah is made to march with the army that he has mustered (verse 4) against the

land that has provoked his wrathi.e. Babylonia. The weapons (comp. Isa_10:15; Jer_1:1-

19 :25; Jer_51:20). To destroy the whole land. Many critics would render ha-arets by "the earth" here. It

may be granted that the language of the prophecy goes beyond the occasion in places, and passes from

Babylon to that wicked world of which Babylon is a type; but, where the context permits, it seems better to

restrict than to expand the meaning of the words employed.

7.CALVIN, 5.Coming from a distant country. He repeats and confirms more fully what I stated a little

before, that the operations of war do not spring up at random from the earth; for though everything

disorderly is vomited out by the passions of men, yet God rules on high; and therefore Isaiah justly

ascribes sovereignty to God. Next, he adds, that armed men are nothing else than the weapons of his

indignation. He says that they will come from a distant country, to overturn the monarchy of Babylon,

because we are not afraid of dangers unless when they are close at hand. Babylon was so strongly

fortified, and was surrounded by so many kingdoms and provinces which were subject to it, that it

seemed as if there were no way by which an enemy could approach. In short, as if she had been situated

in the clouds, she dreaded no danger.

From the end of heaven. There being no trouble all around that threatened them, he gives warning that

the calamity will come from a distance. Though everything appears to be calm and peaceful, and though

we are not at variance with our neighbors, God can bring enemies from the end of h