1The burden of Babylon, which Isaiah the son of Amoz saw: 2Lift up a banner on the bare mountain, raise the voice to them; wave the hand, so that they may enter the gates of the nobles. 3I have commanded My consecrated ones; I have also called My mighty ones for My anger, those who rejoice in My majesty. 4The sound of a multitude in the mountains, as of many people! A tumultuous sound of the kingdoms of nations gathered together! Jehovah of Hosts musters the army for battle. 5They come from a distant land, from the ends of the heavens; Jehovah and the weapons of His indignation, to destroy the whole land. 6Howl! For the day of Jehovah is at hand! It shall come as a destruction from the Almighty. 7Therefore all hands shall be faint, and every man's heart shall melt; 8and they shall be afraid. Pangs and sorrows shall take hold of them. They shall writhe like a woman giving birth. They shall be amazed at one another; their faces like flames. 9Behold, the day of Jehovah comes, cruel and with wrath and fierce anger, to lay the land waste; and He shall destroy its sinners out of it. 10For the stars of the heavens and their constellations shall not give light; the sun shall be darkened in its going forth, and the moon shall not shine its light. 11And I will punish the world for its evil, and the wicked for their iniquity. And I will put an end to the arrogance of the proud, and will lay low the haughtiness of the tyrants. 12I will make mortal man more precious than refined gold; even mankind than the pure gold of Ophir. 13Thus I will shake the heavens, and the earth shall move out of its place, in the wrath of Jehovah of Hosts, and in the day of His fierce anger. 14And it shall be as a hunted gazelle, and as a sheep that no man takes up; each man shall turn to his own people, and everyone flee into his own land. 15Everyone who is found shall be thrust through; and everyone who is captured shall fall by the sword. 16Their children shall be dashed to pieces before their eyes; their houses shall be plundered, and their wives ravished. 17Behold, I will stir up the Medes against them, who shall not value silver; and they shall not delight in gold. 18Their bows shall dash the young men to pieces; and they shall have no pity on the fruit of the womb; their eye shall not spare children. 19And Babylon, the glory of kingdoms, the majestic beauty of Chaldea, shall be as when God overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah. 20It shall nevermore be inhabited, nor shall it be lived in from generation to generation; nor shall the Arabian pitch his tent there; nor shall the shepherds make their flocks lie down there. 21But the wild beasts of the desert shall lie there; and their houses shall be full of howling creatures; and young owls shall dwell there, and wild goats shall skip about. 22And howling beasts shall respond from desolate places, and dragons in the delightful palaces. Indeed, her time will soon come to pass, and her days shall not be prolonged.
Jamieson Fausset Brown Bible Commentary 1 THE THIRTEENTH THROUGH TWENTY-THIRD CHAPTERS CONTAIN PROPHECIES AS TO FOREIGN NATIONS.--THE THIRTEENTH, FOURTEENTH, AND TWENTY-SEVENTH CHAPTERS AS TO BABYLON AND ASSYRIA. (Isa. 13:1-22)
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.
2 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 Israel's 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].
3 sanctified ones--the Median and Persian soldiers solemnly set apart by Me for the destruction of Babylon, not inwardly "sanctified," but designated to fulfil God's holy purpose (
Jer 51:27-
Jer 51:28;
Joel 3:9,
Joel 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 God's highness" MAURER translates, "My haughtily exulting ones" (
Zeph 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.
4 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.
5 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 (
Ps 19:6).
destroy--rather, "to seize" [HORSLEY].
6 day of the Lord--day of His vengeance on Babylon (
Isa 2:12). Type of the future "day of wrath" (
Rev 6:17).
destruction--literally, "a devastating tempest."
from the Almighty--not from mere man; therefore irresistible. "Almighty," Hebrew, Shaddai.
7 faint . . . melt--So
Jer 50:43; compare
Josh 7:5. Babylon was taken by surprise on the night of Belshazzar's impious feast (
Dan 5:30). Hence the sudden fainting and melting of hearts.
8 pangs--The Hebrew means also a "messenger." HORSLEY, therefore, with the Septuagint translates, "The heralds (who bring word of the unexpected invasion) are terrified." MAURER agrees with English Version, literally, "they shall take hold of pangs and sorrows."
woman . . . travaileth-- (
1Thess 5:3).
amazed--the stupid, bewildered gaze of consternation.
faces . . . flames--"their visages have the livid hue of flame" [HORSLEY]; with anguish and indignation.
9 cruel--not strictly, but unsparingly just; opposed to mercy. Also answering to the cruelty (in the strict sense) of Babylon towards others (
Isa 14:17) now about to be visited on itself.
the land--"the earth" [HORSLEY]. The language of
Isa 13:9-
Isa 13:13 can only primarily and partially apply to Babylon; fully and exhaustively, the judgments to come, hereafter, on the whole earth. Compare
Isa 13:10 with
Matt 24:29;
Rev 8:12. The sins of Babylon, arrogancy (
Isa 13:11;
Isa 14:11;
Isa 47:7-
Isa 47:8), cruelty, false worship (
Jer 50:38), persecution of the people of God (
Isa 47:6), are peculiarly characteristic of the Antichristian world of the latter days (
Dan 11:32-
Dan 11:37;
Rev 17:3,
Rev 17:6;
Rev 18:6-
Rev 18:7,
Rev 18:9-
Rev 18:14,
Rev 18:24).
10 stars, &c.--figuratively for anarchy, distress, and revolutions of kingdoms (
Isa 34:4;
Joel 2:10;
Ezek 32:7-
Ezek 32:8;
Amos 8:9;
Rev 6:12-
Rev 6:14). There may be a literal fulfilment finally, shadowed forth under this imagery (
Rev 21:1).
constellations--Hebrew, "a fool," or "impious one"; applied to the constellation Orion, which was represented as an impious giant (Nimrod deified, the founder of Babylon) chained to the sky. See on
Job 38:31.
11 world--the impious of the world (compare
Isa 11:4).
arrogancy--Babylon's besetting sin (
Dan 4:22,
Dan 4:30).
the terrible--rather, tyrants [HORSLEY].
12 man . . . precious--I will so cut off Babylon's defenders, that a single man shall be as rare and precious as the finest gold.
13 Image for mighty revolutions (
Isa 24:19;
Isa 34:4;
Hab 3:6,
Hab 3:10;
Hag 2:6-
Hag 2:7;
Rev 20:11).
14 it--Babylon.
roe--gazelle; the most timid and easily startled.
no man taketh up--sheep defenseless, without a shepherd (
Zech 13:7).
every man . . . to his own people--The "mingled peoples" of foreign lands shall flee out of her (
Jer 50:16,
Jer 50:28,
Jer 50:37;
Jer 51:9).
15 found--in the city.
joined--"intercepted" [MAURER]. "Every one that has withdrawn himself," namely, to hide in the houses [GESENIUS].
16 (
Ps 137:8-
Ps 137:9).
17 Medes-- (
Isa 21:2;
Jer 51:11,
Jer 51:28). At that time they were subject to Assyria; subsequently Arbaces, satrap of Media, revolted against the effeminate Sardanapalus, king of Assyria, destroyed Nineveh, and became king of Media, in the ninth century B.C.
not regard silver--In vain will one try to buy his life from them for a ransom. The heathen XENOPHON (Cyropćdia, 5,1,10) represents Cyrus as attributing this characteristic to the Medes, disregard of riches. A curious confirmation of this prophecy.
18 bows--in the use of which the Persians were particularly skilled.
19 glory of kingdoms-- (
Isa 14:4;
Isa 47:5;
Jer 51:41).
beauty of . . . excellency--Hebrew, "the glory of the pride" of the Chaldees; it was their glory and boast.
as . . . Gomorrah--as utterly (
Jer 49:18;
Jer 50:40;
Amos 4:11). Taken by Cyrus, by clearing out the canal made for emptying the superfluous waters of the Euphrates, and directing the river into this new channel, so that he was able to enter the city by the old bed in the night.
20 Literally fulfilled.
neither . . . Arabian pitch tent--Not only shall it not be a permanent residence, but not even a temporary resting-place. The Arabs, through dread of evil spirits, and believing the ghost of Nimrod to haunt it, will not pass the night there (compare
Isa 13:21).
neither . . . shepherds--The region was once most fertile; but owing to the Euphrates being now no longer kept within its former channels, it has become a stagnant marsh, unfit for flocks; and on the wastes of its ruins (bricks and cement) no grass grows.
21 wild beasts--Hebrew, tsiyim, animals dwelling in arid wastes. Wild cats, remarkable for their howl [BOCHART].
doleful creatures--"howling beasts," literally, "howlings" [MAURER].
owls--rather, "ostriches"; a timorous creature, delighting in solitary deserts and making a hideous noise [BOCHART].
satyrs--sylvan demi-gods--half man, half goat--believed by the Arabs to haunt these ruins; probably animals of the goat-ape species [VITRINGA]. Devil-worshippers, who dance amid the ruins on a certain night [J. WOLFF].
22 wild beasts of the islands--rather, "jackals"; called by the Arabs "sons of howling"; an animal midway between a fox and a wolf [BOCHART and MAURER].
cry--rather, "answer," "respond" to each other, as wolves do at night, producing a most dismal effect.
dragons--serpents of various species, which hiss and utter dolorous sounds. Fable gave them wings, because they stand with much of the body elevated and then dart swiftly. MAURER understands here another species of jackal.
her time . . . near--though one hundred seventy-four years distant, yet "near" to Isaiah, who is supposed to be speaking to the Jews as if now captives in Babylon (
Isa 14:1-
Isa 14:2).
"It moves in lengthened elegiac measure like a song of lamentation for the dead, and is full of lofty scorn" [HERDER].
a pledge to assure the captives in Babylon that He who, with such ease, overthrew the Assyrian, could likewise effect His purpose as to Babylon. The Babylonian king, the subject of this prediction, is Belshazzar, as representative of the kingdom (Dan. 5:1-31).