Isaiah 13 commentary

The threatenings of God's word press heavily upon the wicked, and are a sore burden, too heavy for them to bear. The persons brought together to lay Babylon waste, are called God's sanctified or appointed ones; designed for this service, and made able to do it. They are called God's mighty ones, because they had their might from God, and were now to use it for him. They come from afar. God can make those a scourge and ruin to his enemies, who are farthest off, and therefore least dreaded.

We have here the terrible desolation of Babylon by the Medes and Persians. Those who in the day of their peace were proud, and haughty, and terrible, are quite dispirited when trouble comes. Their faces shall be scorched with the flame. All comfort and hope shall fail. The stars of heaven shall not give their light, the sun shall be darkened. Such expressions are often employed by the prophets, to describe the convulsions of governments. God will visit them for their iniquity, particularly the sin of pride, which brings men low. There shall be a general scene of horror. Those who join themselves to Babylon, must expect to share her plagues, Rev. 18:4. All that men have, they would give for their lives, but no man's riches shall be the ransom of his life. Pause here and wonder that men should be thus cruel and inhuman, and see how corrupt the nature of man is become. And that little infants thus suffer, which shows that there is an original guilt, by which life is forfeited as soon as it is begun. The day of the Lord will, indeed, be terrible with wrath and fierce anger, far beyond all here stated. Nor will there be any place for the sinner to flee to, or attempt an escape. But few act as though they believed these things.

Babylon was a noble city; yet it should be wholly destroyed. None shall dwell there. It shall be a haunt for wild beasts. All this is fulfilled. The fate of this proud city is a proof of the truth of the Bible, and an emblem of the approaching ruin of the New Testament Babylon; a warning to sinners to flee from the wrath to come, and it encourages believers to expect victory over every enemy of their souls, and of the church of God. The whole world changes and is liable to decay. Wherefore let us give diligence to obtain a kingdom which cannot be moved; and in this hope let us hold fast that grace whereby we may serve God acceptably with reverence and godly fear.

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’s will, and doeth it not, is justly beaten with many stripes. (Luke 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. (1 Peter 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’s 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’s shoulders. The wickedness and obstinacy of the people having constrained the prophets to preach incessantly about God’s 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 Jeremiah 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.

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, “When 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, “The 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, “When 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, “This 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 נדיבים, (Nedibim,) that is, generous and bountiful, on which is also founded that saying of Christ, εὐεργέται καλοῦνται, they are called benefactors, (Luke 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 my sanctified ones. “My appointed ones.” קדש (kadash) is to select and set apart for a work, particularly for one of God’s appointment. See Jeremiah 22:7, Zephaniah 1:7. — Stock

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

FT191 From the Almighty. — Eng. Ver.

FT192 “שד משדי (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 (שדד) (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, (Deuteronomy 29:19,) add year to year, (Isaiah 29:1,) and add burnt-offerings to your sacrifices, (Jeremiah 7:21,) and his annotator Breithaupt translates the verb ספה (saphah) by a word in his native French, accueillir, which means to gather, 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.

FT199 Shall 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’s definition of Loup-garou is a curious record of superstitious belief. “A 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 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 קדש (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, “set 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.

4. The noise of a multitude in the mountains. He adds a still more lively representation, (ὑποτύπωσιν,) 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, “Now, 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’s 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. 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 heaven. There is no reason, therefore, why we should promise to ourselves a lasting and prosperous condition, though we are not threatened with any immediate danger. If this prediction had reached the inhabitants of Babylon, they would undoubtedly have laughed at it as a fable. Even if we should suppose that they paid some respect to the Prophet, yet, having so strong a conviction of their safety, they would have despised those threatenings as idle and groundless. An example may be easily found. When we preach at the present day about the Turk, all think that it is a fable, because they think that he is still at a great distance from us. But we see how quickly he overtook those who were at a greater distance and more powerful. So great is the insensibility of men that they cannot be aroused, unless they are chastised and made to feel the blows. Let the inhabitants of Babylon, therefore, be a warning to us, to dread, before it is too late, the threatenings which the prophets utter, that the same thing may not happen to us as happens to those wicked men, who, relying on their prosperous condition, are so terrified when the hand of God attacks and strikes them, that they can no longer stand, but sink down bewildered.

To destroy the whole land. When he puts the whole land for Babylon, he looks to the extent of the kingdom; that they may not think that the great number of provinces, by which they were surrounded on all sides, could ward off the attacks of enemies. But at the same time he intimates that it will be no slight calamity affecting a single spot, but will be like a deluge overwhelming a large portion of the world.

Jehovah and the vessels of his anger. {Bogus footnote} The Persians and Medes are called vessels of anger in a different sense from that in which Paul gives that appellation to all the reprobate; for, by contrasting the vessels of wrath with the vessels of mercy, (Romans 9:22,23,) he shows that the undeserved goodness of God shines in the elect, but that the reprobate are monuments of severe judgment. But Isaiah means that the Medes and Persians may be regarded as darts in the hand of God, that by means of them he may execute his vengeance.

6. Howl ye. He continues the same argument, and bids the inhabitants of Babylon howl. Not that he directs instruction to them, as if he hoped that it would be of any advantage, but, in foretelling what shall be their condition, he emphatically employs this form of direct address.

For the day of the Lord is at hand. He calls it the day of the Lord, according to the usual custom of Scripture, because when the Lord delays his judgment, he appears to cease from the discharge of his office, like judges when they do not ascend the judgment-seat. This mode of expression deserves notice, for we would gladly subject God to our disposal, that he might immediately pass sentence against the wicked. But he has his own appointed time, and knows the seasons when it is proper both to punish the bad and to assist the good.

It shall come as destruction from the Strong One. {Bogus footnote} He threatens that the severity of judgment will be such that the inhabitants of Babylon will have good reason not only to cry but to howl; because God displays his power to waste and destroy them. שדד (shadad) signifies to lay waste and plunder. From this verb is derived שדי, (Shaddai,) one of the names of God, which some render Almighty. There is therefore an elegant allusion to the derivation of the word; as if he had said, that the inhabitants of Babylon shall learn by their own destruction how appropriately God is called שדי, (Shaddai,) that is, strong and powerful to destroy. {Bogus footnote}

7. Therefore all hands shall be weakened. He shows that the power of the Lord to destroy the inhabitants of Babylon will be so great, that they shall have no means of withstanding his anger. Though they stood high in wealth and in power, yet their hearts would be so faint, and their hands so weak, that they would have neither disposition nor ability to resist. And thus he indirectly ridicules the cruelty which boiled in the hearts of the Babylonians; for it is in the power of God to soften hearts, and to crush, loosen, or enfeeble hands or arms, so that suddenly all their courage shall fall down, and all their strength shall vanish away. When the heart quakes, what will be the use of fortifications, or armies, or wealth, or bulwarks? What avails a well-stocked workshop without a workman? We see this every day exemplified in those to whom in other respects the Lord had communicated large resources. Hence we see how vain is that confidence which we place in outward resources; for they would be of no use to us, if the Lord should strike our hearts with any alarm.

8. Pangs and sorrows shall take hold of them. The word צירים (tzirim) being ambiguous, the Greek translators render it ambassadors. But the comparison of a woman that travaileth, which is added immediately afterwards, sufficiently proves that it denotes pangs; for here, as if by a single word, he explains what he had previously said, that their hearts shall be melted and their hands shall be weakened; because, he says, they shall be struck with terror and dismay. Whence comes this terror? From God. This kind of terror, for which there was no apparent cause, the ancients called a panic; {Bogus footnote} for they gave the name panes to apparitions and objects of this sort, by which men were terrified, even when there was no outward object that ought to have excited the terror. It was not without reason that they did so; but still they erred through gross ignorance, because they did not understand that it proceeded from God.

As a woman that travaileth. So far as relates to the inhabitants of Babylon, there was, indeed, just ground of fear, when they saw that they were attacked by valiant and warlike nations; but yet the Prophet threatens that, though they were able to resist, still they would be like men who were half dead, because through the secret operation of God they fainted and fell down. To the same purpose is what he adds, Every one shall be amazed at his neighbor; as when men are agitated and stare around them in every direction; and not only so, but when no hope of safety is to be seen, they are like men who have lost their senses, and abandon themselves to indolence.

Faces of flames their faces. {Bogus footnote} This clause, in which he attributes to them faces of flames, expresses still more strongly the violence of the terror. Some think that it denotes shame, as if he had said in a single word, They shall blush; but this is too feeble. Isaiah intended to express something greater and more dreadful; for when we are in agony the face glows, and the pressure of grief makes us burn. And, indeed, it would be treating the matter too lightly, when the calamity was so severe, to interpret these words as denoting shame; for he describes a calamity so distressing, that, on account of its severity, flames burst forth from the countenance, which usually happens when men are agonized by intense grief.

The comparison of a travailing woman denotes not only the intensity of the grief, but likewise the suddenness with which it seized them. As the calamity would be severe and violent, so Isaiah threatens that it will be sudden, and not without good reason; for the inhabitants of Babylon, protected by such strong defences, would never have thought that it was possible for any annoyance to reach or distress them.

9. Behold the day of the Lord will come cruel. He repeats what he had slightly noticed a little before, that though the inhabitants of Babylon are now at ease, and rely on their wealth, the day of the Lord is at hand, to terrify those who are at ease.

But a question might here be raised, Why is the day of the Lord called cruel, since nothing is more desirable than to have God present with us; for his presence alone makes us truly happy? I answer, we ought always to consider who they are that are addressed by the Prophet; for it is customary with the prophets to give various descriptions of God corresponding to the diversity of the hearers. In like manner, David also declares that God is

merciful to the merciful, and cruel and severe to the ungodly. (Psalm 18:25,26.)

What could wicked men imagine to be in God but the utmost severity? And therefore the slightest mention of God fills them with terror.

The godly, on the other hand, whenever the name of God is mentioned, derive the greatest delight and joy from hearing it; so that nothing can be more highly gratifying. Thus, when the prophets address the godly, as soon as they have mentioned God, they speak of joy and gladness, because the godly will feel that he is gracious and merciful to them; but when they address the ungodly, they hold out the judgment of God, and speak of grief and mourning. As the godly are cheered by the presence of God, because by faith they behold his goodness; so the ungodly are terrified, because the testimony of their conscience reproves and convinces them that he comes as a severe Judge. Since even hypocrites pretend that they eagerly long for the day of the Lord, and boast that he will assist them, the prophets tear off from them this disguise, and show that to them the day of the Lord will be dreadful and alarming. (Amos 5:18,20.)

Isaiah applies the usual description to this prophecy, in order to show more fully how much we ought to dread the wrath of God; for, being by nature slow, or rather stupid, we would not be powerfully affected if the Lord spoke in plain terms about his judgments. Since, therefore, an unadorned style would be too cold, he contrived new modes of expression, that by means of them he might shake off our sluggishness. When he says, and he shall destroy the sinners thereof out of it, he means by sinners not all men without distinction, but the ungodly and wicked men who inhabited Babylon.

10. For the stars of heaven. In order to strike our minds with a stronger and more distressing fear of the judgment of God, the prophets are accustomed to add to their threatenings extravagant modes of speaking, which place the anger of God, as it were, before their eyes, and affect all our senses, as if all the elements were now arising to execute his vengeance. And yet the expressions, though unusually strong, do not go beyond the dreadful nature of what took place; for it is impossible to exhibit an image of the judgment of God so alarming that the reality shall not be felt to be more revolting and terrible.

The sun, and the moon, and the stars are mentioned, because they are striking proofs of God’s fatherly kindness towards us. Hence also Christ shows that it is an eminent proof of the goodness of God that

he maketh his sun to rise on the evil and on the good. (Matthew 5:45.)

Accordingly, when the sun and moon and stars shine in heaven, God may be said to cheer us by his bright and gracious countenance. Since therefore in the brightness of heaven God shows a cheerful and friendly countenance, as if he might be said to smile upon us, the darkness which the Prophet describes conveys the thought, that God, by hiding his face, cast the men with whom he was angry into the darkness of sorrow.

A similar description is given by the Prophet Joel.

The sun shall be turned into darkness, the moon into blood, before it comes — the day of Jehovah, great and terrible. (Joel 2:31.)

We have already said that this mode of expression is frequently employed by the prophets, in order to inform us that everything will tend to our destruction, when God is against us. Sometimes indeed God gives tokens of his anger by means of the stars; but that is out of the usual course of events, and the darkness which the Prophet now describes will not take place till the second coming of Christ. But we ought to be satisfied with knowing that all the creatures, which by discharging their duties to us are proofs and instruments of God’s fatherly kindness, not only cease to be useful to us, when God arises to judgment, but in some measure are armed for vengeance.

11. And I will visit upon the world wickedness. Here the Prophet does not speak of the whole world; but as Babylon was the seat of the most powerful of all monarchies, he gives to it on that account the name of the world, and he does so emphatically, (ἐμφατικῶς,) for Babylon was a kind of world, because it appeared to occupy nearly the whole earth. And yet he means that there is nothing in this world so lofty that God cannot easily seize it with one of his fingers. At the same time he gives warning that God will punish the cruelty which was exercised by the Chaldeans. Yet we ought also to learn that the wickedness and crimes of Babylon are brought forward, in order to inform us that the Lord will not be cruel in punishing her so severely, because he inflicts the punishment which that people deserved on account of their transgressions and crimes. Every ground of calumny is therefore taken away, that we may not think that God delights in the afflictions of men; for when he thus deals with men according as they deserve, the mouths of all must be stopped, (Romans 3:19,) since the severity of the afflictions does not proceed from God, but finds its cause in men themselves.

And will cause the arrogancy of the proud to cease. We must keep in mind what I have already noticed, that the Prophet yields no small consolation to the godly by assuring them that God, though he spares the inhabitants of Babylon for a time, will at length punish them for their injustice and cruelty. He expresses this still more clearly by taking notice of a particular vice, namely, pride, in consequence of which they loosed the reins, and gave unbounded freedom to their lawless desires to oppress the wretched. For this reason also he reproves their tyranny. But we ought also to draw from it a profitable doctrine, that it is impossible for us to escape punishment from the Lord, if we are puffed up with vain confidence and flatter ourselves. The Prophet here includes every kind of pride; whether men think that they are something, or admire their riches, and despise others in comparison of themselves. God cannot endure any arrogancy, or suffer it to pass unpunished. Seeing therefore, that among a great variety of other crimes with which Babylon abounded, this was the greatest and most remarkable, it was chiefly by their pride that the wrath of God was kindled.

And will lay low the loftiness of tyrants. Arrogance was joined, as it usually is, to violence and cruelty; and therefore he adds the loftiness of tyrants; for when men despise others, this is followed by deeds of violence and injustice and oppression; and it is impossible for men to abstain from doing harm to others, if they do not lay aside all conceit and high estimation of themselves. Let us willingly, therefore, bring down our minds to true humility, if we do not wish to be cast down and laid low to our destruction.

12. I will make a man more precious than pure gold. Here he describes in a particular manner how cruel and savage will be the war that is carried on against Babylon. In like manner believers, instructed by these predictions, implore in the spirit of prophecy what is the utmost exertion of the cruelty exercised in wars, that the Persians and Medes may tear the infants from their mothers’ breasts, and dash them against the stones. (Psalm 137:9.) The general meaning is, that Babylon will not only be destroyed, but will be devoted to utter extermination; for when he says that the life of a man shall be more precious than gold, he asserts that the enemies will be so eager to shed blood, that it will be impossible to rescue a man out of their hands at any price, because they will choose rather to kill than to accept a ransom.

It may be asked, Was this destruction as cruel as Isaiah here describes it to be? For history gives a different account, and Daniel himself, who was an eye-witness of this destruction, relates that the city was only taken, for the Medes and Persians spared the citizens and inhabitants. This argument has constrained some commentators to apply allegorically to all the reprobate what is here related of Babylon; but in doing so they have overstrained the passage, for shortly afterwards (verse. 17) the Prophet names the Medes and Persians. Besides, those threatenings which will afterwards follow in their proper order, against the Edomites, Moabites, the inhabitants of Tyre and of Egypt, and other nations, sufficiently show that the present discourse is directed literally against the Chaldeans, to whom the Prophet assigns the first rank; not that their destruction was as close at hand as that of other nations, but because none of the enemies of the Church were more dangerous.

It ought to be observed that Isaiah did not utter this prediction while the monarchy of Nineveh was still flourishing; but all that he predicted against heathen nations, during the whole course of his ministry, was collected into one book. Thus the order of events was not observed, but a similarity of subject was the reason why all these prophecies were put into one place. How comes it that Isaiah takes no notice of Nineveh, since he afterwards mentions that the Assyrians alone attacked the Jews, (for the Babylonians lived at peace with them,) but because he does not relate the history of his own time till the twenty-third chapter, but prophesies about the judgments of God which happened after his death?

Now, when he declares that Babylon will be utterly destroyed, it is certain that he does not merely describe a single calamity, but includes the destruction which followed long afterwards. After having been subdued by the Persians, Babylon continued to flourish, and held the name and rank of a very celebrated city. And although the city Ctesiphon was founded for the purpose of attracting a portion of its splendor and wealth, yet the convenience of its situation, the costly buildings, and the fortifications of the city, rendered it, with the exception of royal rank, not inferior to Persis. Even after the death of Alexander the Great, when Seleucia was built at no great distance, still it could not obliterate the name and reputation of the ancient city. Hence we conclude that those events which are here foretold cannot be limited to a single period.

It is not without reason, however, that the Prophet pronounces such fearful threatening against them, since the revolution of the empire was the forerunner of the various calamities which followed afterwards. Though the people were not entirely slain, yet as the city was taken by storm, and by a sudden assault at the hour of midnight, while the whole court was carousing in drunken revels, it was impossible but that the Medes and Persians must have slain all that came in their way. There can be no doubt, therefore, that there was a great slaughter before the conquerors extended their protection to the whole of the people as having surrendered at discretion. Who can doubt that this haughty nation was roughly handled by barbarian conquerors, for in no other way could it have been reduced to obedience?

Having been gradually weakened, not long afterwards, Babylon again changed its master, and, after having been governed for a short period by Alexander, king of Macedon, immediately passed under the dominion of Seleucus, who endeavored by every method to degrade it till it was completely ruined. Thus, so long as God permitted the city to remain in existence, it presented a shameful and revolting spectacle to the whole world, that the accomplishment of the prophecy might be more evident and more impressive. Hence the Prophet Isaiah has good reason for asserting that the anger of God will not be appeased till that den of robbers be utterly destroyed.

A mortal and a man. So far as relates to the words, some translators render אנוש (enosh) a warlike or eminent man, and אדם (adam) an ordinary man. But as the etymology does not correspond to this view, and as I do not think that it occurred to the Prophet’s mind, I consider it to be rather a repetition of the same sentiment, such as we know to have been customary among the Hebrews. The word פז, (paz,) which, in common with other translators, I have rendered pure gold, is supposed by some to mean a pearl; but from many passages of Scripture we conclude that it is the purest and finest gold

13. Therefore I will shake the heavens. This is another figure of speech which contributes in a similar manner to heighten the picture. God cannot too earnestly urge this doctrine, not only to terrify the wicked, but to afford consolation to the godly, who are often distressed when it is well with the wicked, and when everything succeeds to their wish. David acknowledges that this happened to himself; for he says,

Surely in vain have I purified my heart, and washed any hands in innocency. (Psalm 73:13.)

Properly, therefore, are these pictures set before our eyes, that they may plainly declare to us the destruction of the wicked. Thus it is as if Isaiah had said, “Though heaven and earth be moved, that the ungodly may be shaken and destroyed, nevertheless this will take place.” They think that they are out of all danger, and that they have struck their roots so deep that they cannot be rooted out; but he shows that they are greatly deceived, for the Lord will move both heaven and earth rather than not cast them down headlong. Hence it follows that, though the world present to us a thousand supports both above and below, still there will be no permanency but through the favor of God. And if this is made known in judgments of God relating to particular cases, how much more in the universal judgment, when Christ will ascend his magnificent judgment-seat, to destroy the ungodly!

14. And it shall be as the chased roe. He shows that auxiliary troops will be of no avail to the Babylonians, and by these comparisons he describes the fear which shall seize the soldiers. Babylon employed not only her own soldiers, but likewise foreign and hired soldiers. He says that they will all be like roes, which are timorous creatures, and like scattered sheep, so that they will neither repair to their standards or their post, nor preserve any order.

Every one to his own land. Hence it is easily seen that the Prophet speaks, not only of the natives, or even of the strangers who had formerly dwelt there, but of foreigners who had been brought for the protection of the city. We have formerly said that the hearts of men are in the hand of God in such a manner that, according to his pleasure, either those who formerly were timid or cowardly persons suddenly acquire fresh courage, or those who formerly boasted loudly of being bold and daring lose their fierceness and become effeminate.

15. Every one that is found shall be thrust through. Here he confirms what he had formerly said, that none shall escape from Babylon, and that all who shall be there shall perish. Xenophon also relates that, by the command of Cyrus, they slew every one that they met in the beginning of the night, and next day all that had not laid down their arms. {Bogus footnote} But we have already said that the prediction extends farther; for that slaughter was only the forerunner of others, for which Babylon was purposely preserved, that it might frequently be ruined.

And every one that is joined to them shall fall by the sword. Some translators render this clause differently from what I have done; because the Hebrew verb ספה (saphah) signifies to destroy or consume, they read it, Whosoever shall be destroyed, and explain it as relating to the old men, who were already worn out with age, and could not otherwise live longer; as if he had said, “Not even the men of advanced age, who are sinking into the grave, shall be spared, even though they are half-dead, and appear to be already giving up the ghost.” But because that is a feeble interpretation, and the verb ספה (saphah) signifies likewise to add, I rather agree with Jonathan {Bogus footnote} and others, who think that it denotes companies of soldiers, as in taking a city the soldiers are collected together in the form of a wedge, to ward off the attacks of the enemy. But it will perhaps be thought better to understand by it the confederates or allies who were joined to Babylon, and might be said to be united in the same body, in order to show more fully the shocking nature of this calamity.

16. Their children shall be dashed in pieces. He draws a picture of extreme cruelty. It is the utmost pitch of ferocity exercised by an invading army, when no age is spared, and infants, whose age makes it impossible for them to defend themselves, are slain. He represents it as still more shocking, when he adds, “in the sight of their parents.” To the same purpose is what follows about plundering houses and ravishing wives; for these things happen when the enemies have forgotten all humanity, and are inflamed to cruelty, and wish that those whom they have subdued, and even their very name, should be rooted out.

17. Behold I raise up against them the Medes. The Prophet, having predicted the destruction of the Babylonians, describes also the authors, or says that God will be the author; and at the same time he explains in what manner, and by means of whom, it will be accomplished; for he says that he will raise up the Medes. He certainly could not have conjectured this by human reason, for there were no jealousies and no quarrels between the Babylonians and the Medes; and if there had been any such, what power did the Medes at that time possess that they could do the Babylonians any harm? Seeing, therefore, that no preparations had been made for the Medes carrying on war against them, it is very certain that this was spoken by divine inspiration, and more especially since he foretold these events more than a hundred years before they took place.

Who shall not think of silver, nor desire gold. {Bogus footnote} When he says that they shall not be covetous of silver and gold, he does not mean that the Medes were not guilty of plundering and covetousness, as if they were so generous that they despised gold and silver; but, on the contrary, he means that the battle will be cruel and bloody, that they will aim at nothing but a general slaughter. For example, the Spaniards of the present day, making it their chief object in war to plunder, more readily spare the life of men, and are not so bloodthirsty as the Germans or the English, who think of nothing but slaying the enemy.

We ought not to think it strange that the Lord, though he is not cruel, yet makes use of agents who are so cruel, for he acts righteously even by the agency of wicked men, and is not stained with their wickedness. It would therefore be improper to form our judgment of the work of God from the executioners of it, for they are prompted either by ambition, or by covetousness, or by cruelty; but we ought to consider God’s righteous punishment which the Babylonians deserved on account of their transgressions.

18. And with bows they shall dash in pieces the children. {Bogus footnote} Some render it, they shall cut. They think that the language is exaggerated, as if they made use of the children of the Babylonians in place of arrows, and afterwards dashed them to the ground, that they might be broken with greater violence. But I choose rather to take a more simple view of the words, that the cruelty of the Medes will be so great, that they will not spare even infant children, on whom men do not commonly lay hands unless where there is the utmost barbarity; and, in short, that no allowance will be made for age, as we have formerly said.

But we do not read that the Medes exercised so great cruelty, and Babylon stood and flourished for a very long period after that calamity; and although the seat of the empire was removed from it, still it retained its name and reputation. Besides, after the dawn of the following day, no cruelty was exercised but against those who bore arms. Though it was the Prophet’s design to include other judgments of God which awaited the Babylonians, and by which the first calamity was followed long afterwards, yet it is not improperly or unseasonably that he describes the barbarous manners of the nation, that the Jews may be more fully aware that a just reward is prepared for the tyranny of Babylon. Nor can it be doubted that it was in reliance on this promise that believers afterwards presented that prayer;

Blessed is he who shall dash thy little ones against the stones. (Psalm 137:9.)

19. And Babylon, the glory of kingdoms. Here the Prophet intended to give a brief summary of his prophecy about the Babylonians, but enlarges it by some additions tending to show more fully that it will be completely destroyed. In this manner do the prophets speak of the punishment of the wicked, so as to leave no room for compassion by which they may relieve their minds. But the godly, though they may sometimes think that they are severely chastised, are yet supported by the confident hope that the Lord will have compassion on them, and will not altogether destroy them. Hence we may conclude that we ought not always to judge from outward appearances; for we would often think that the children of God are ruined when their salvation is at hand even in the midst of death.

Of Sodom and Gomorrah. This example is frequently employed by the Prophets, in order to inform us that, though the mode of punishment be not the same, yet, since the judgment of God is impartial, that memorable display which he gave in Sodom (Genesis 19:24) has a reference to all the reprobate, and that not less dreadful punishment awaits those who are hardened by similar obstinacy in their sins. They distinguish between the punishment of the elect people and the punishment of the wicked by this circumstance, that God reserves some seed for the Israelites, but none for the ungodly, which agrees with the words which we formerly met with,

Unless the Lord of hosts had left us a seed, we should have been like Sodom. (Isaiah 1:9.)

But he pursues the wicked with vengeance that cannot be appeased, and therefore he threatens against them the same destruction which was executed against the inhabitants of Sodom, that is, utter perdition without any hope of escape.

Shall be like God’s overthrowing. {Bogus footnote} He says that it is God’s overthrowing, that we may not think that it happens by chance, or that it has proceeded from the will of men. As it was not at random that the thunderbolt fell from heaven on Sodom, so it was not at random that Babylon fell down, but by the righteous vengeance of God, who, being always like himself, executed righteous judgment on them; and in like manner will execute the same judgment on all the reprobate till the end.

When Babylon is called the glory of kingdoms and splendid brightness, this is added for the sake of amplification, (πρὸς αὔξησιν,) in order to inform us, that no glory or splendor can hinder God from bringing the wicked to nought; for that overturn, having been incredible, afforded a more remarkable proof of Divine power.

20. It shall never be inhabited any more. By the verb תשב, (thesheb,) shall sit, he means continuance; as if he had said, “There is no hope of restoring Babylon.” All these forms of expression have precisely the same object, that the Babylonians will be destroyed with such a destruction that their ruin shall be perpetual. The picture is still further heightened by adding, that the desolation will be so great that in that place neither will the Arabians pitch their tents, nor the shepherds their folds That place must have been marvellously forsaken and uncultivated, when it was disregarded by those roving tribes; for the Arabians were a wandering and unsettled nation, and had no fixed abode. Having left their native country, because it was barren, and is therefore called Arabia Deserta, (for it is of that country that we speak,) they devoted themselves to feeding flocks and to hunting, and wandered without any fixed residence; for which reason also the Greeks called them σκηνήται, (skenetai,) dwellers in tents. Now the country around Babylon was exceedingly fertile before that calamity, which rendered this change the more astonishing and almost miraculous, either because the place lost its former fertility, or because the constant slaughter made all men abhor the sight of it. Undoubtedly the Prophet means that not only will the buildings be thrown down, but the very soil will be accursed.

21. But the Ziim shall lie there. {Bogus footnote} He continues the description of a desert place, and alludes to what he had formerly said, that Babylon will be destitute of inhabitants. In what way ציים (tziim) ought to be translated I cannot easily say, on account of the diversity in the opinions of translators, who differ in this, as in various names of animals and herbs. The use of these things did not continue among them; and the Jews, who are themselves ignorant and unskilful, do not retain the knowledge of these things, though there are some of them who know nothing about either herbs or animals, and yet have the impudence to boast of being physicians. Of those who think that ציים (tziim) is the name of a wild animal, some will have it to be a quadruped, and others, a bird; but that is a matter of little importance. For my own part, I have no doubt that the Prophet means either wild beasts which cannot be tamed, or birds which build their nests in distant forests.

It will not be amiss to explain what follows about Satyrs or Pans, who are called by the French, according to the various dialects of the provinces, sometimes Luittons, sometimes Follets, and sometimes Loups-garouz {Bogus footnote} As Satan deludes men by various tricks, so he gives to them various names. It is certain that ציים (tziim) is often used in Scripture for devils; and it is derived from ציה, (tziyah,) which means dryness, or, a desert, as איים (iyim) is derived from אים, (ayam,) which means to terrify. The Devil performs strange tricks by means of Fauns and Satyrs, and on that account their names are given to him.

The design of the Prophet is to show that the solitude will be so great, that not only will the place be deserted by men, but even the devils will there deceive by their tricks; for the devils avail themselves of the tendency of solitary places to produce terror. As enemies and robbers, by sallying forth from concealed lurking-places, frighten men the more, so devils take advantage of the night and the darkness, and of places distant from the view of men, that they may be able to excite greater terror in those who are naturally timorous.

22. And Iim shall cry {Bogus footnote} He expresses the same thing as had been formerly said, and shows how dreadful that change will be, in order to make it manifest that it proceeds from the judgment of God, and not from chance. The picture is even heightened by adding that this will take place, not in ordinary buildings, but in delightful palaces {Bogus footnote} While the shortness of time which is here laid down refers to the approaching calamity, it was at the same time necessary that the hope of believers should be held longer in suspense. I have said that Babylon was not so speedily overturned, and that the Medes did not inflict such a calamity upon it that it could be compared to a desert. He therefore said that it would quickly happen, because the beginnings of it were soon afterwards seen; for the Jews ought to have been satisfied with knowing that the punishment had not been threatened without good grounds.

And her time is near. The Holy Spirit also keeps in view our ardor and rashness. We would choose that God should immediately execute his judgments, and punish wicked men whenever we wish. But God knows what is the proper time, for which our eagerness does not allow us to wait. Yet if we would take into consideration his eternity, we should quickly find that by patience we laid the bridle on excessive haste; but as our eagerness can hardly be restrained in any other manner, God sometimes deals with us gently to some extent, by declaring that He will soon come. Again, let us not judge of the shortness of time according to our own views, but, disregarding the days of this life, let us raise our hearts to heaven. Especially let us learn to bow, whenever we are made to feel, even in a small degree, the judgments of God, though he delay their full accomplishment for a longer period.

And her days shall not be prolonged. This second clause is added for confirmation; as if he had said that the Lord hath appointed a day, and that none shall be admitted to obtain a truce.

CHAPTER 14

Isaiah Chapter 14:1-32

1. For the Lord will have mercy on Jacob, and will yet choose Israel, and set them in their own land: and the strangers shall be joined with them, and they shall cleave to the house of Jacob.

1. Jam miserebitur Iehova Iacob, et eliget adhuc Israelem, et faciet eos quiescere super terram suam; adjungeturque illis advena; sociabuntur, inquam, domui Iacob.

2. And the people shall take them, and bring them to their place; and the house of Israel shall possess them in the land of the Lord for servants and handmaids: and they shall take them captives, whose captives they were; and they shall rule over their oppressors.

2. Et assument eos populi, inducentque eos in locum suum, possidebitque eos domus Israel in terra Iehovae, in servos et ancillas; et capient eos quorum fuerant captivi, imperabuntque oppressoribus suis.

3. And it shall come to pass, in the day that the Lord shall give thee rest from thy sorrow, and from thy fear, and from the hard bondage wherein thou wast made to serve,

3. Et erit in die quo tibi requiem dederit Iehova a labore tuo, et a tremore tuo, et a servitudine dura quae imposita fuerat tibi:

4. That thou shalt take up this proverb against the king of Babylon, and say, How hath the oppressor ceased! The golden city ceased!

4. Tunc sumes dictum hoc super Regem Babylonis, et dices: Quomodo cessavit exactor? Cessavit cupida auri?

5. The Lord hath broken the staff of the wicked, and the sceptre of the rulers.

5. Confregit Iehova baculum impiorum, sceptrum dominantium.

6. He who smote the people in wrath with a continual stroke, he that ruled the nations in anger, is persecuted, and none hindereth.

6. Quod percutiebat populos in ira plaga perpetua; dominabatur in iracundia Gentibus; si quis persequutionem patiebatur, non prohibuit.

7. The whole earth is at rest, and is quiet: they break forth into singing.

7. Quievit, tranquilla est omnis terra, cecinerant laudem.

8. Yea, the fir-trees rejoice at thee, and the cedars of Lebanon, saying, Since thou art laid down, no feller is come up against us.

8. Etiam abietes laetatae sunt super te, cedri Libani; ex quo quievisti non ascendit succisor contra nos.

9. Hell from beneath is moved for thee to meet thee at thy coming: it stirreth up the dead for thee, even all the chief ones of the earth: it hath raised up from their thrones all the kings of the nations.

9. Infernus subtus commotus est propter te, in occursum adventus tui excitavit tibi mortuos, et omnes duces terrae suscitavit de soliis suis, omnes Reges gentium.

10. All they shall speak and say untothee, Art thou also become weak as we? Art thou become like unto us?

10. Omnes loquentur, et dicent tibi: Tu quoque infirmitate affectus es sicut nos? et similis factus es nobis?

11. Thy pomp is brought down to the grave, and the noise of thy viols: the worm is spread under thee, and the worms cover thee.

11. Deposita est in sepulchrum magnificentia tua, et strepitus musicorum instrumentorum tuorum; subter te stratus est vermis, et operiunt te vermiculi.

12. How art thou fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning! how art thou cut down to the ground, which didst weaken the nations!

12. Quomodo cecidisti e coelo Lucifer fili Aurorae? Quomodo in terram detractus es, sortem projiciens super Gentes (vel, debilitans gentes)?

13. For thou hast said in thine heart, I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God: I will sit also upon the mount of the congregation, in the sides of the north:

13. Atqui tu dicebas in corde tuo, Ascendam in coelum: in supernis juxta sidera Dei collocabo solium meum, et sedebo in monte testimonii, in lateribus Aquilonis.

14. I will ascend above the heights of the clouds; I will be like the most High.

14. Ascendam super excelsa nubium, et ero similis Altissimo.

15. Yet thou shalt be brought down to hell, to the sides of the pit.

15. Tu vero in sepulchrum detractus es, ad latera foveae.

16. They that see thee shall narrowly look upon thee, and consider thee, saying, Is this the man that made the earth to tremble, that did shake kingdoms;

16. Videntes te inclinabunt se, et attente intuebuntur. Anne hic est vir ille tremefaciens terram, concutiens regna?

17. That made the world as a wilderness, and destroyed the cities thereof; that opened not the house of his prisoners?

17. Posuit orbem quasi desertum, urbes ejus excidit, vinctis suis non aperuit domum.

18. All the kings of the nations, even all of them, lie in glory, every one in his own house:

18. Omnes Reges gentium, ipsi, inquam, omnes jacent cum gloria; quisque domi suae.

19. But thou art cast out of thy grave like an abominable branch, and as the raiment of those that are slain, thrust through with a sword, that go down to the stones of the pit; as a carcase trodden under feet.

19. Tu autem projectus es e sepulchro tuo, tanquam surculus detestandus, tanquam vestes interfectorum, qui gladio caesi sunt, descendentes in foveam; ut cadaver proculcatum.

20. Thou shalt not be joined with them in burial, because thou hast destroyed thy land, and slain thy people: the seed of evil doers shall never be renowned.

20. Non conjunges te cum eis in sepultura; quoniam terram tuam vastasti, populum tuum occidisti, non memorabitur perpetuo semen impiorum.

21. Prepare slaughter for his children for the iniquity of their fathers; that they do not rise, nor possess the land, nor fill the face of the world with cities.

21. Praeparate filiis ejus mactationem, in iniquitate patrum suorum; ne consurgant et possideant terram, atque impleant superficiem orbis urbibus.

22. For I will rise up against them, saith the Lord of hosts, and cut off from Babylon the name, and remnant, and son, and nephew, saith the Lord.

22. Nam consurgam super eos dicit Iehova exercituum, et exterminabo e Babylone nomen et reliquias, filium et nepotem, dicit Iehova.

23. I will also make it a possession for the bittern, and pools of water; and I will sweep it with the besom of destruction, saith the Lord of hosts.

23. Et ponam eam in possessionem erinacei, et in stagna aquarum, et scopabo eam scopa evacuans, dicit Iehova exercituum.

24. The Lord of hosts hath sworn, saying, Surely as I have thought, so shall it come to pass; and as I have purposed, so shall it stand;

24. Juravit Iehova exercituum, dicendo: Si non quemadmodum cogitavi, sic factum est; et quemadmodum consultavi, ita stabit;

25. That I will break the Assyrian in my land, and upon my mountains tread him under foot: then shall his yoke depart from off them, and his burden depart from off their shoulders.

25. Ut conteram Assur in terra mea, et in montibus meis conculcem eum; et recedat ab eis jugum illius, et onus illius ab humero ejus auferatur.

26. This is the purpose that is purposed upon the whole earth; and this is the hand that is stretched out upon all the nations.

26. Hoc consilium quod consultatum est super totam terram; et haec manus extenta super omnes gentes.

27. For the Lord of hosts hath purposed, and who shall disannul it? And his hand is stretched out, and who shall turn it back?

27. Quoniam Iehova exercituum decrevit, et quis dissolvet? Manus ejus extenta, et quis avertet eam?

28. In the year that king Ahaz died was this burden.

28. Anno quo mortuus est Rex Achaz, fuit hoc onus.

29. Rejoice not thou, whole Palestina, because the rod of him that smote thee is broken: for out of the serpent’s root shall come forth a cockatrice, and his fruit shall be a fiery flying serpent.

29. Ne laeteris universa tu Philistaea; quoniam confracta sit virga percutientis te. Nam de radice colubri nascetur regulus, et fructus ejus serpens ignitus.

30. And the first-born of the poor shall feed, and the needy shall lie down in safety; and I will kill thy root with famine, and he shall slay thy remnant.

30. Et pascentur primogeniti pauperum, et inopes secure accubabunt; et fame interire faciam radicem tuam, et reliquias tuas occidet.

31. Howl, O gate; cry, O city; thou, whole Palestina, art dissolved: for there shall come from the north a smoke, and none shall be alone in his appointed times.

31. Ulula porta, clama civitas, liquefacta es Palestina, universa tu. Quoniam ab Aquilone venit fumus; nec quisquam solus praefixo ejus die.

32. What shall one then answer the messengers of the nation? That the Lord hath founded Zion, and the poor of his people shall trust in it.

32. Quid autem respondebitur nuntiis gentis? Nempe quod Iehova fundavit Sion, et in ea fiduciam habebunt pauperes populi ejus.

CHAPTER 13

Is 13:1-22. The Thirteenth through Twenty-third Chapters Contain Prophecies as to Foreign Nations.--The Thirteenth, Fourteenth, and Twenty-seventh Chapters 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 Israel's sake alone, but that He may be thereby Elohim to the nations. These prophecies are in their right chronological place, in the beginning of Hezekiah's reign; then the nations of Western Asia, on the Tigris and Euphrates, first assumed a most menacing aspect.

1. burden--weighty or mournful prophecy [Grotius]. Otherwise, simply, the prophetical declaration, from a Hebrew root to put forth with the voice anything, as in Nu 23:7 [Maurer].

of Babylon--concerning Babylon.

2. Lift ... banner--(Is 5:26; 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 (Is 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 Is 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 (Jr 51:27, 28; Joe 3:9, 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" (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.

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 (Psa 19:6).

destroy--rather, "to seize" [Horsley].

6. day of the Lord--day of His vengeance on Babylon (Is 2:12). Type of the future "day of wrath" (Re 6:17).

destruction--literally, "a devastating tempest."

from the Almighty--not from mere man; therefore irresistible. "Almighty," Hebrew, Shaddai.

7. faint ... melt--So Jr 50:43; compare Jos 7:5. Babylon was taken by surprise on the night of Belshazzar's impious feast (Da 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--(1Th 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 (Is 14:17) now about to be visited on itself.

the land--"the earth" [Horsley]. The language of Is 13:9-13 can only primarily and partially apply to Babylon; fully and exhaustively, the judgments to come, hereafter, on the whole earth. Compare Is 13:10 with Mt 24:29; Re 8:12. The sins of Babylon, arrogancy (Is 13:11; Is 14:11; 47:7, 8), cruelty, false worship (Jr 50:38), persecution of the people of God (Is 47:6), are peculiarly characteristic of the Antichristian world of the latter days (Da 11:32-37; Re 17:3, 6; 18:6, 7, 9-14, 24).

10. stars, &c.--figuratively for anarchy, distress, and revolutions of kingdoms (Is 34:4; Joe 2:10; Eze 32:7, 8; Am 8:9; Re 6:12-14). There may be a literal fulfilment finally, shadowed forth under this imagery (Re 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 Is 11:4).

arrogancy--Babylon's besetting sin (Da 4:22, 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 (Is 24:19; 34:4; Ha 3:6, 10; Hag 2:6, 7; Re 20:11).

14. it--Babylon.

roe--gazelle; the most timid and easily startled.

no man taketh up--sheep defenseless, without a shepherd (Zec 13:7).

every man ... to his own people--The "mingled peoples" of foreign lands shall flee out of her (Jr 50:16, 28, 37; 51:9).

15. found--in the city.

joined--"intercepted" [Maurer]. "Every one that has withdrawn himself," namely, to hide in the houses [Gesenius].

16. (Psa 137:8, 9).

17. Medes--(Is 21:2; Jr 51:11, 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 (Cyropædia, 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--(Is 14:4; 47:5; Jr 51:41).

beauty of ... excellency--Hebrew, "the glory of the pride" of the Chaldees; it was their glory and boast.

as ... Gomorrah--as utterly (Jr 49:18; 50:40; Am 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 Is 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 (Is 14:1, 2).

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

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

I have commanded my sanctified ones - מקדשי mekuddashai, the persons consecrated to this very purpose. Nothing can be plainer than that the verb כדש kadash, "to make holy," signifies also to consecrate or appoint to a particular purpose. Bishop Lowth translates, "my enrolled warriors." This is the sense.

Of the battle "For the battle" - The Bodleian MS. has למלחמה lemilchamah. Cyrus's 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.

They come from a far country - The word מארץ 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.

And they shall be afraid "And they shall be terrified" - I join this verb, ונבהלו venibhalu, to the preceding verse, with the Syriac and Vulgate.

Pangs and sorrows shall take hold on them "Pangs shall seize them" - The Septuagint, Syriac, and Chaldee read יאחזום yochezum, instead of יאחזון yochezun, which does not express the pronoun then, necessary to the sense.

For the stars of heaven "Yea, the stars of heaven" - The Hebrew poets, to express happiness, prosperity, the instauration and advancement of states, kingdoms, and potentates, make use of images taken from the most striking parts of nature, from the heavenly bodies, from the sun, moon, and stars: which they describe as shining with increased splendor, and never setting. The moon becomes like the meridian sun, and the sun's light is augmented sevenfold; (see Isa 30:26); new heavens and a new earth are created, and a brighter age commences. On the contrary, the overflow and destruction of kingdoms is represented by opposite images. The stars are obscured, the moon withdraws her light, and the sun shines no more! The earth quakes, and the heavens tremble; and all things seem tending to their original chaos, See Joe 2:10; Joe 3:15, Joe 3:16; Amo 8:9; Mat 24:29; and De S. Poes. Herb. Prael. 6 et IX.

And the moon shall not cause her light to shine - This in its farther reference may belong to the Jewish polity, both in Church and state, which should be totally eclipsed, and perhaps shine no more in its distinct state for ever.

I will punish the world "I will visit the world" - That is, the Babylonish empire; as η οικουμενη, for the Roman empire, or for Judea, Luk 2:1; Act 11:28. So the universus orbis Romanus, for the Roman empire; Salvian. lib. 5 Minos calls Crete his world: "Creten, quae meus est orbis," Ovid. Metamorph. 8:9.

I will make a man more precious than fine gold-wedge of Ophir - The Medes and Persians will not be satisfied with the spoils of the Babylonians. They seek either to destroy or enslave them; and they will accept no ransom for any man - either for אנוש enosh, the poor man, or for אדם adam, the more honorable person. All must fall by the sword, or go into captivity together; for the Medes, (Isa 13:17), regard not silver, and delight not in gold.

"And the remnant" - Here is plainly a defect in this sentence, as it stands in the Hebrew text; the subject of the proposition is lost. What is it that shall be like a roe chased? The Septuagint happily supply it, οἱ καταλελειμμενοι, שאר shear, the remnant. A MS. here supplies the word יושב yosheb, the inhabitant; which makes a tolerably good sense; but I much prefer the reading of the Septuagint.

They shall - turn "They shall look" - That is, the forces of the king of Babylon, destitute of their leader, and all his auxiliaries, collected from Asia Minor, and other distant countries, shall disperse and flee to their respective homes.

Every one that is found "Every one that is overtaken" - That is, none shall escape from the slaughter; neither they who flee singly, dispersed and in confusion; nor they who endeavor to make their retreat in a more regular manner, by forming compact bodies: they shall all be equally cut off by the sword of the enemy. The Septuagint have understood it in this sense, which they have well expressed: - Ὁς γαρ αν ἁλῳ ἡττηθησεται, Και οἱτινες συνηγμενοι εισι πεσουνται μαχαιρα. "Whosoever is caught shall be overthrown,

And all that are collected together shall fall by the sword."

Where, for ἡττηθησεται, MS. Pachom has εκκενθησεται, et οἱ Γ Cod. Marchal. in margine, et MS. 1. D. 2: εκκεντηθησεται, which seems to be right, being properly expressive of the Hebrew.

Which shall not regard silver "Who shall hold silver of no account" - That is, who shall not be induced, by large offers of gold and silver for ransom, to spare the lives of those whom they have subdued in battle; their rage and cruelty will get the better of all such motives. We have many examples in the Iliad and in the Aeneid of addresses of the vanquished to the pity and avarice of the vanquishers, to induce them to spare their lives.

Est domus alta: jacent penitus defossa talenta

Caelati argenti: sunt auri ponders facti

Infectique mihi: non hic victoria Teucrum

Vertitur; aut anima una dalbit discrimina tanta.

Dixerat: Aeneas contra cui talia reddit:

Argenti atque auri memoras quae multa talenta

Gnatis parce tuis.

Aen. 10:526. "High in my dome are silver talents rolled,

With piles of labored and unlaboured gold.

These, to procure my ransom, I resign;

The war depends not on a life like mine:

One, one poor life can no such difference yield,

Nor turn the mighty balance of the field.

Thy talents, (cried the prince), thy treasured store

Keep for thy sons."

Pitt.

It is remarkable that Xenophon makes Cyrus open a speech to his army, and in particular to the Medes, who made the principal part of it, with praising them for their disregard of riches. Ανδρες Μηδοι, και παντες οἱ παροντες, εγω ὑμας οιδα σαφως, ὁτι ουτε χρηματων δεομενοι συν εμοι εξελθετε· "Ye Medes, and others who now hear me, I well know that you have not accompanied me in this expedition with a view of acquiring wealth." - Cyrop. lib. v.

Their bows also shall dash "Their bows shall dash" - Both Herodotus, 1:61, and Xenophon, Anab. iii., mention, that the Persians used large bows τοξα μεγαλα: and the latter says particularly that their bows were three cubits long, Anab. 4. They were celebrated for their archers, see Isa 22:6; Jer 49:35. Probably their neighbours and allies, the Medes, dealt much in the same sort of arms. In Psa 18:34, and Job 20:24, mention is made of a bow of steel; if the Persian bows were of metal, we may easily conceive that with a metalline bow of three cubits' length, and proportionably strong, the soldiers might dash and slay the young men, the weaker and unresisting of the inhabitants (for they are joined with the fruit of the womb and the children) in the general carnage on taking the city. תרתשנה terattashnah, shall be broken or shivered to pieces. This seems to refer, not to נערים nearim, young men, but to קשתות keshathoth, their bows. The bows of the young men shall be broken to pieces.

On the fruit, etc. "And on the fruit," etc. - A MS. of Dr. Kennicott's reads ועל פרי veal peri and on the fruit. And nine MSS. (three ancient) and two editions, with the Septuagint, Vulgate, and Syriac, add likewise the conjunction ו vau, and, to על al, upon, afterwards.

And Babylon - The great city of Babylon was at this time rising to its height of glory, while the Prophet Isaiah was repeatedly denouncing its utter destruction. From the first of Hezekiah to the first of Nebuchadnezzar, under whom it was brought to the highest degree of strength and splendor, are about one hundred and twenty years. I will here very briefly mention some particulars of the greatness of the place, and note the several steps by which this remarkable prophecy was at length accomplished in the total ruin of it.

It was, according to the lowest account given of it by ancient historians, a regular square, forty-five miles in compass, inclosed by a wall two hundred feet high and fifty broad; in which there were a hundred gates of brass. Its principal ornaments were the temple of Belus, in the middle of which was a tower of eight stories of building, upon a base of a quarter of a mile square, a most magnificent palace, and the famous hanging gardens, which were an artificial mountain, raised upon arches, and planted with trees of the largest as well as the most beautiful sorts.

Cyrus took the city by diverting the waters of the Euphrates which ran through the midst of it, and entering the place at night by the dry channel. The river being never restored afterward to its proper course, overflowed the whole country, and made it little better than a great morass; this and the great slaughter of the inhabitants, with other bad consequences of the taking of the city, was the first step to the ruin of the place. The Persian monarchs ever regarded it with a jealous eye; they kept it under, and took care to prevent its recovering its former greatness. Darius Hystaspes not long afterward most severely punished it for a revolt, greatly depopulated the place, lowered the walls, and demolished the gates. Xerxes destroyed the temples, and with the rest the great temple of Belus, Herod. 3:159, Arrian Exp. Alexandri, lib. 7. The building of Seleucia on the Tigris exhausted Babylon by its neighborhood, as well as by the immediate loss of inhabitants taken away by Seleucus to people his new city, Strabo, lib. 16. A king of the Parthians soon after carried away into slavery a great number of the inhabitants, and burned and destroyed the most beautiful parts of the city, Valesii Excerpt. Diodori, p. 377. Strabo (ibid.) says that in his time great part of it was a mere desert; that the Persians had partly destroyed it; and that time and the neglect of the Macedonians, while they were masters of it, had nearly completed its destruction. Jerome (in loc.) says that in his time it was quite in ruins, and that the walls served only for the inclosure for a park or forest for the king's hunting. Modern travelers, who have endeavored to find the remains of it, have given but a very unsatisfactory account of their success. What Benjamin of Tudela and Pietro della Valle supposed to have been some of its ruins, Tavernier thinks are the remains of some late Arabian building. Upon the whole, Babylon is so utterly annihilated, that even the place where this wonder of the world stood cannot now be determined with any certainty! See also note on Isa 43:14 (note).

We are astonished at the accounts which ancient historians of the best credit give of the immense extent, height, and thickness of the walls of Nineveh and Babylon; nor are we less astonished when we are assured, by the concurrent testimony of modern travelers, that no remains, not the least traces, of these prodigious works are now to be found. Scattered fragments of its tiles and bricks are yet to be found. Proud Babylon reduced now to a few brick-bats! Our wonder will, I think, be moderated in both respects, if we consider the fabric of these celebrated walls, and the nature of the materials of which they consisted. Buildings in the east have always been, and are to this day, made of earth or clay, mixed or beat up with straw to make the parts cohere, and dried only in the sun. This is their method of making bricks; see on Isa 9:9 (note). The walls of the city were built of the earth digged out on the spot, and dried upon the place, by which means both the ditch and the wall were at once formed, the former furnishing materials for the latter. That the walls of Babylon were of this kind is well known; and Berosus expressly says, (apud Joseph. Antiq. 10:11), that Nebuchadnezzar added three new walls both to the old and new city, partly of brick and bitumen, and partly of brick alone. A wall of this sort must have a great thickness in proportion to its height, otherwise it cannot stand. The thickness of the walls of Babylon is said to have been one-fourth of their height, which seems to have been no more than was absolutely necessary. Maundrell, speaking of the garden walls of Damascus, says, "They are of a very singular structure. They are built of great pieces of earth, made in the fashion of brick, and hardened in the sun. In their dimensions they are two yards long each, and somewhat more than one broad, and half a yard thick." And afterward, speaking of the walls of the houses, he says, "From this dirty way of building they have this amongst other inconveniences, that upon any violent rain the whole city becomes, by the washing of the houses, as it were a quagmire," p. 124. And see note on Isa 30:13. When a wall of this sort comes to be out of repair, and is neglected, it is easy to conceive the necessary consequences, namely, that in no long course of ages it must be totally destroyed by the heavy rains, and at length washed away, and reduced to its original earth. - L.

Satyrs - A kind of beast like to man, which is called מרמוטש marmots, a monkey. - Rabbi Parchon.

In their pleasant palaces "In their palaces" - באלמנותיו bealmenothaiv; a plain mistake, I presume, for בארמנתיו bearmenothaiv. It is so corrected in two MSS., the Syriac, Chaldee, and Vulgate. Πουλυποδες δ' εν εμοι θαλαμας φωκαι τε μελαιναι Οικα ποιησονται ακηδεα, χητεΐ λαων.

Hom. Hymn. in Apol. 77.

Of which the following passage of Milton may be taken for a translation, though not so designed: - "And in their palaces,

Where luxury late reigned, sea monsters whelped,

And stabled."

Par. Lost, 11:750.

This image of desolation is handled with great propriety and force by some of the Persian poets: - "The spider holds the veil in the palace of Caesar;

The owl stands centinel on the watch-tower of Afrasiab."

On this quotation Sir W. Jones observes, noubet is an Arabic word, signifying a turn, a change, a watch; hence noubet zudun in Persian signifies to relieve the guards by the sounds of drums and trumpets. Their office is given by the poet to the owl; as that of purdeh dar, or chamberlain, is elegantly assigned to the spider.

The burden - This title is commonly given to sad prophecies, which indeed are grievous burdens to them on whom they are laid. Babylon - Of the city and empire of Babylon by Cyrus.

A banner - To gather soldiers together. Mountain - Whence it may be discerned at a considerable distance. Withal he seems to intimate, that their enemies should come from the mountainous country of Media. Them - To the Medes. Shake - Beckon to them with your hand, that they may come to this service, that they may go and fight against Babylon, and take it, and so enter in to the palaces of the king, and his princes.

Sanctified ones - The Medes and Persians, so called, because they were set apart by God, for this holy work of executing his just vengeance. Mighty ones - Those whom I have made mighty for this work. Highness - Or, as others render it, in my glory, in the doing of that work which tends to the advancement of my glory. Tho' the Medes had no regard to God, but only to their own ends.

Nations - The Medes and Persians and other nations, which served under them in this war.

Thy come - From the ends of the earth under heaven, which is not to be understood strictly. The weapons - The Medes and Persians, who were but a rod in God's hand, and the instruments of his anger. Land - Of Babylon.

Amazed - To see so impregnable a city as Babylon, so easily and unexpectedly taken. Flames - Heb. faces of flame, inflamed with rage and torment.

Behold - Divers words are heaped together, to signify the extremity of his anger.

Constellations - Which consist of many stars, and therefore give a greater sight. Darkened - All things shall look darkly and dismally; men shall have no comfort or hope. Going forth - As soon as he rises. As soon as they have any appearance or hope of amendment, they shall be instantly disappointed.

The world - The Babylonish empire, which is called the world, as the Roman empire afterwards was, because it was extended to a great part of the world.

More precious - The city and nation shall be so depopulated.

Therefore - A poetical and prophetical description of great horrors and confusions, as if heaven and earth were about to meet together.

It - Babylon. A roe - Fearful in itself, especially when it is pursued by the hunter. A sheep - In a most forlorn condition. Every man - Those soldiers of other nations, whom she had hired to assist her.

Found - In Babylon, at the taking of it.

Medes - Under whom he comprehends the Persians. Not delight - Which is to be understood comparatively. They shall more eagerly pursue the destruction of the people, than the getting of spoil.

Bows - Under which are comprehended, other weapons of war. Dash - Or, shalt pierce the young men through, as the Chaldee, renders it.

Glory - Which once was the most noble of all the kingdoms. Beauty - The beautiful seat of the Chaldean monarchy shall be totally and irrecoverably destroyed.

Inhabited - After the destruction threatened shall be fully accomplished. Arabian - Who dwelt in tents, and wandered from place to place, where they could find pasture.

Satyrs - The learned agree, that these are frightful and solitary creatures.

Prolonged - Beyond the time appointed by God.

THE burden of Babylon which Isaiah the son of Amoz did see.

This Title is commonly given to sad Prophecies, which indeed are grievous Burdens to them upon whom they are laid. See 2 Kings 9. 25. Ier. 23. 33, 36.

Of the City and Empire of Babylon by Cyrus, for their manifold and great Sins, and in order to the Deliverance of his People.

Marginal references: Chap. 21. 1. & 47. 1. Ier. 50. & 51.

2 Lift ye up a banner upon the high mountain , exalt the voice unto them , shake the hand , that they may go into the gates of the nobles .

To gather Soldiers together for this Expedition.

Whence it may be discerned at a considerable distance. Withal he seems to intimate▪ that their Enemies should come from the Mountainous Country of Media.

To the Medes, who are named below, v. 17.

Becken to them with your Hand, that they may come to this Service.

That they may go and fight against Babylon, and take it, and so enter into the Palaces of the King, and of his Princes, and spoil them at their pleasure; which the Medes and Persians did. The manner of Expression implies how easily and expeditiously they did their Work, that, like Caesar, they might say, they onely came, and saw, and overcame.

Marginal references: Chap. 18. 3.

3 I have commanded my sanctified ones , I have also called my mighty ones for mine anger, even them that rejoyce in my highness .

The Medes and Persians, fitly so called, because they were solemnly designed and set apart by God for his own Service, and for this holy Work of executing his just Vengeance upon them.

Those whom I have made Mighty for this Work.

Or, as others render it, in my glory, materially considered, to wit, in the doing of that Work which tends much to the Advancement of my Glory, in destroying of the Babylonian Empire. For otherwise the Medes had no regard to God nor to his Glory, but onely to their own carnal Ends.

Marginal references: Or, prepared ones. Jer. 6. 4.

4 The noise of a multitude in the mountains, like as of a great people: a tumultuous noise of the kingdoms and nations gathered together: the LORD of hosts mustereth the host of the battel.

The Medes and Persians, and other Nations which served under them in this War: of which see Ier. 25. 14. & 27. 7. & 50. 41.

Marginal references: Heb. the likeness of.

5 They come from a far Country, from the end of heaven , even the LORD, and the weapons of his indignation , to destroy the whole land .

From the ends of the Earth under Heaven, as Mat. 24. 30. Which is not to be understood strictly and properly, but popularly and hyperbolically, as such Expressions are commonly used in Sacred and Profane Authors. And yet in some respects this might be truly said of Persia, which on the South-side was bounded by the Main Ocean; as for the same reason Sheba, a Part of Arabia, is called the uttermost parts of earth, Mat. 12. 42.

The Medes and Persians, who were but a Rod in God's Hand, and the Instruments of his Anger, as was said of the Assyrian, Isa. 10. 5.

To wit, of Babylon, of which he is now speaking.

6 Howl ye, for the day of the LORD is at hand; it shall come as a destruction from the Almighty .

Or rather, a destruction or devastation shall come, as the LXX and Vulgar Latin render it. For this was not as a destruction, but was a Destruction indeed. And the Particle as is seldom used to express not the likeness, but the reality of the thing, as Ioh. 1. 14. and oft elsewhere.

Who fighteth for your Adversaries, and against you, and therefore your Destruction is unavoidable.

Marginal references: Job 31. 23. Joel. 1. 15.

8 And they shall be afraid: pangs and sorrows shall take hold of them, they shall be in pain as a woman that travelleth: they shall be amazed one at another , their faces shall be as flames .

To see so populous and impregnable a City as Babylon was, so easily and unexpectedly taken.

Heb. faces of flame, either pale with Fear, or inflamed with Rage and Torment, as men in misery frequently are. Some render it the faces of Lehabim, a People descending from Mizraim, Gen, 10. 13. 1 Chron. 1. 11. i. e. black with pain, as men use to be: of which see I[illegible: 1+ letters]el 2. 6. Nah. 2. 10.

Marginal references: Heb. wonder.; Heb. every man at his neighbour.; Heb. faces of the flames.

9 Behold, the day of the LORD cometh, cruel both with wrath and fierce anger , to lay the land desolate; and he shall destroy the sinners thereof out of it.

Divers Words are heaped together, to signifie the extremity of his Anger.

The Inhabitants of that City, who were guilty of so much Idolatry and Cruelty, and all sorts of Luxury.

10 For the stars of heaven, and the constellations thereof shall not give their light: the sun shall be darkned in his going forth , and the moon shall not cause her light to shine.

Which consist of many Stars, and therefore give a greater light.

Either, 1. properly and really, by an Eclipse; for Prodigies in Heaven do sometimes go before or accompany great and publick Calamities upon Earth: or, 2. figuratively, and in appearance. All things shall look darkly and dismally; men shall have no comfort nor hope. See the like Descriptions of a most calamitous State, Isa. 5. 30. & 34. 4. Ioel 2. 10, 31, &c.

As soon as he riseth, when he is most welcom to men, and giveth them hopes of a pleasant Day. As soon as they have any appearance or hope of amendment, they shall be instantly disappointed.

Marginal references: Ezek. 32. 7. Joel. 2. 31. & 3. 15. Mat. 24. 29. Mar. 13. 24. Luk. 21. 25.

11 And I will punish the world for their evil, and the wicked for their iniquity; and I will cause the arrogancy of the proud to cease, and will lay low the haughtiness of the terrible .

The Babylonish Empire, which is called the world, as the Roman Empire afterward was, Luk. 2. 1. because it was extended to a great part of the World, and because it was vastly populous, and Babylon it self looked more like a World than one City.

Of them who formerly were very terrible for their great Power and Cruelty.

Marginal references: Heb. visit evil upon the world, and upon the wicked their iniquity.

12 I will make a man more precious than fine gold; even a man than the golden wedge of Ophir .

The City and Nation shall be so depopulated, that few men shall be left in it.

13 Therefore I will shake the heavens, and the earth shall remove out of her place in the wrath of the LORD of hosts, and in the day of his fierce anger.

A Poetical and Prophetical Description of great Horrours and Confusions, as if Heaven and Earth were about to meet together.

Marginal references: Or, through.

14 And it shall be as the chased roe , and as a sheep that no man taketh up : they shall every man turn to his own people, and flee every one into his own land.

To wit, Babylon.

Fearful in it self, especially when it is pursued by the Hunter.

In a most forlorn and neglected condition.

Those Souldiers of other and more warlike Nations, whom she had hired to assist her; which she used to do at other times, but especially upon this great occasion▪ of which see on Ier. 50. 16. & 51. 9.

15 Every one that is found shall be thrust through: and every one that is joyned unto them, shall fall by the sword.

In Babylon, at the taking of it. The Expectation whereof made them flee away with all speed.

16 Their children also shall be dashed to pieces before their eyes , their houses shall be spoiled, and their wives ravished.

As a just Recompence for the like Cruelty acted by them upon the Jews, 2 Chron. 36. 17. which also was foretold Psal. 137. 9.

Marginal references: Psal. 137. 9. Nah. 3. 10.

17 Behold, I will stir up the Medes against them, which shall not regard silver, and as for gold, they shall not delight in it .

Under whom he comprehends the Persians, who were their Neighbours, and Confederates in this Expedition.

Which is to be understood comparatively. They shall more eagerly pursue the Destruction of the People, than the getting of Spoil; whereby it shall appear, that they are onely the Executioners of my Vengeance against them; they will accept no Ransom to save their Lives.

Marginal references: Jer. 51. 11.

18 Their bows also 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.

Under which are comprehended their Arrows, and possibly other Weapons of War; for so generally sometimes is the [illegible: 1+ letters]ow used in Scripture, as 2 Sam. 1. 18. Psal. 78. 9. Isa. 41. 2.

Or, shall pierce the young men through, as the Chaldee render it.

19 And Babylon the glory of kingdoms , the beauty of the Caldees excellency , shall be as when God overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah .

Which once was the most noble and excellent of all the Kingdoms then in being, and was more glorious than the succeeding Empires, whence it was represented by the head of gold, Dan. 2. 37.

The famous and beautiful Seat of the Chaldaean Monarchy.

Shall be totally and irrecoverably destroyed, as is more fully expressed in the following Verses. Which yet was not done immediately upon the taking of the City by Darius and Cyrus, but was fulfilled by degrees, as is confessed by Historians, and appears this day.

Marginal references: Heb. as the overthrowing.; Gen. 19. 24. Deut. 29. 23. Jer. 49. 18. & 50. 40.

20 It shall never be inhabited , neither shall it be dwelt in from generation to generation: neither shall the Arabian pitch tent there, neither shall the shepherds make their fold there.

After the Destruction threatned shall be fully accomplished.

Who dwelt in Tents, and wandred from place to place, where they could find Pasture; but shall avoid this place, either because the Land, once noted for great Fruitfulness, is now become Barren; or because the Land is accursed by God, and abhorred by all men; or for fear of the Wild Beasts, as it follows.

21 But wild beasts of the desert shall lie there , and their houses shall be full of doleful creatures, and owls shall dwell there, and satyrs shall dance there .

The Land being forsaken by Men, shall be possessed by Wild Beasts, which love solitary places.

What the Hebrew Words used here, and in the next Verse, signifie, the Learned may see in my Latin Synopsis; and for others, it may suffice to know that in which all the Learned agree, that these are frightful and solitary Creatures: Of which if I should particularly discourse, I should rather perplex than edifie the Vulgar Reader.

Marginal references: Heb. Ziim.; Heb. O[illegible: 1+ letters]him.; Or ostriches.; Heb. daughters of the owl.

22 And the wild beasts of the islands shall cry in their desolate houses, and dragons in their pleasant places: and her time is near to come , and her days shall not be prolonged .

So it was, though not according to Man's rash Judgment, and impatient Expectation, yet according to God's Estimation, and to the Eye of Faith, whereby Abraham saw Christ's Day as present, many Ages before it came, Ioh 8. 56. and comparatively; for it hapned within Two hundred years: which is but a small proportion of Time, if it be compared either with the foregoing or following Age[illegible: 1+ letters] of the World, or with the imm[illegible: 1+ letters]nse duration of Eternity, from whence it was decreed by God, and therefore might well be said now to be near the Accomplishment of it. In like manner the Apostles speak of the Day of Judgment as near in their time, though it was at many Ages distance.

Beyond the time prefixed and appointed by God. Compare Habak. 2. 3.

Marginal references: Heb. Ziim▪; Or, p[illegible: 1+ letters]ces

Isa 13:1

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. Massâh (from נסא), 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,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 Rosenmüller 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. Stähelin, 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.

Isa 13:2

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 (nedı̄bı̄m, 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.

Isa 13:3 “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” (mekuddâshim), 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). עליז is a word peculiarly Isaiah's; and the combination גאוה עליזי is so unusual, that we could hardly expect to find it employed by two authors who stood in no relation whatever to one another.

Isa 13:4-5

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.” Kōl 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.

Isa 13:6-8

Then all sink into anxious and fearful trembling. “Howl; for the day of Jehovah is near; like a destructive force from the Almighty it comes. Therefore all arms hang loosely down, and every human heart melts away. And they are troubled: they fall into cramps and pangs; like a woman in labour they twist themselves: one stares at the other; their faces are faces of flame.” The command הילילוּ (not written defectively, הלילוּ) is followed by the reason for such a command, viz., “the day of Jehovah is near,” the watchword of prophecy from the time of Joel downwards. The Caph in ceshod is the so-called Caph veritatis, or more correctly, the Caph of comparison between the individual and its genus. It is destruction by one who possesses unlimited power to destroy (shōd, from shâdad, from which we have shaddai, after the form chaggai, the festive one, from châgag). In this play upon the words, Isaiah also repeats certain words of Joel (Joe 1:15). Then the heads hang down from despondency and helplessness, and the heart, the seat of lift, melts (Isa 19:1) in the heat of anguish. Universal consternation ensues. This is expressed by the word venibhâlu, which stands in half pause; the word has shalsheleth followed by psik (pasek), an accent which only occurs in seven passages in the twenty-one prose books of the Old Testament, and always with this dividing stroke after it.For the seven passages, see Ewald, Lehrbuch (ed. 7), p. 224.

Observe also the following fut. paragogica, which add considerably to the energy of the description by their anapaestic rhythm. The men (subj.) lay hold of cramps and pangs (as in Job 18:20; Job 21:6), the force of the events compelling them to enter into such a condition. Their faces are faces of flames. Knobel understands this as referring to their turning pale, which is a piece of exegetical jugglery. At the same time, it does not suggest mere redness, nor a convulsive movement; but just as a flame alternates between light and darkness, so their faces become alternately flushed and pale, as the blood ebbs and flows, as it were, being at one time driven with force into their faces, and then again driven back to the heart, so as to leave deadly paleness, in consequence of their anguish and terror.

Isa 13:9-10

The day of Jehovah’s wrath is coming - a starless night - a nightlike, sunless day. “Behold, the day of Jehovah cometh, a cruel one, and wrath and fierce anger, to turn the earth into a wilderness: and its sinners He destroys out of it. For the stars of heaven, and its Orions, will not let their light shine: the sun darkens itself at its rising, and the moon does not let its light shine.” The day of Jehovah cometh as one cruelly severe ('aczâri, an adj. rel. from 'aczâr, chosh, kosh, to be dry, hard, unfelling), as purely an overflowing of inward excitement, and as burning anger; lâsūm is carried on by the finite verb, according to a well-known alteration of style (= ūlehashmı̄d). It is not indeed the general judgment which the prophet is depicting here, but a certain historical catastrophe falling upon the nations, which draws the whole world into sympathetic suffering. 'Eretz, therefore (inasmuch as the notions of land generally, and some particular land or portion of the earth, are blended together - a very elastic term, with vanishing boundaries), is not merely the land of Babylon here, as Knobel supposes, but the earth. Verse 10 shows in what way the day of Jehovah is a day of wrath. Even nature clothes itself in the colour of wrath, which is the very opposite to light. The heavenly lights above the earth go out; the moon does not shine; and the sun, which is about to rise, alters its mind. “The Orions” are Orion itself and other constellations like it, just as the morning stars in Job 38:7 are Hesperus and other similar stars. It is more probable that the term cesiil is used for Orion in the sense of “the fool” (= foolhardy),When R. Samuel of Nehardea, the astronomer, says in his b. Berachoth 58 b, “If it were not for the heat of the cesil, the world would perish from the cold of the Scorpion, and vice versa,” - he means by the cesil Orion; and the true meaning of the passage is, that the constellations of Orion and the Scorpion, one of which appears in the hot season, and the other in the cold, preserve the temperature in equilibrium. according to the older translators (lxx ὁ ̓Ωρίων, Targum nephilehon from nephila', Syr. gaboro, Arab. gebbâr, the giant), than that it refers to Suhêl, i.e., Canopus (see the notes on Job 9:9; Job 38:31), although the Arabic suhêl does occur as a generic name for stars of surpassing splendour (see at Job 38:7). The comprehensive term employed is similar to the figure of speech met with in Arabic (called taglı̄b, i.e., the preponderance of the pars potior), in such expressions as “the two late evenings” for the evening and late evening, “the two Omars” for Omar and Abubekr, though the resemblance is still greater to the Latin Scipiones, i.e., men of Scipio’s greatness. Even the Orions, i.e., those stars which are at other times the most conspicuous, withhold their light; for when God is angry, the principle of anger is set in motion even in the natural world, and primarily in the stars that were created “for signs (compare Gen 1:14 with Jer 10:2).

Isa 13:11-12

The prophet now hears again the voice of Jehovah revealing to him what His purpose is - namely, a visitation punishing the wicked, humbling the proud, and depopulating the countries. “And I visit the evil upon the world, and upon sinners their guilt, and sink into silence the pomp of the proud; and the boasting of tyrants I throw to the ground. I make men more precious than fine gold, and people than a jewel of Ophir.” The verb pâkad is construed, as in Jer 23:2, with the accusative of the thing punished, and with על of the person punished. Instead of 'eretz we have here tēbel, which is always used like a proper name (never with the article), to denote the earth in its entire circumference. We have also ‛ârı̄tzı̄m instead of nedı̄bı̄m: the latter signifies merely princes, and it is only occasionally that it has the subordinate sense of despots; the former signifies men naturally cruel, or tyrants (it occurs very frequently in Isaiah). Everything here breathes the spirit of Isaiah both in thought and form. “The lofty is thrown down:” this is one of the leading themes of Isaiah’s proclamation; and the fact that the judgment will only leave a remnant is a fundamental thought of his, which also runs through the oracles concerning the heathen (Isa 16:14; Isa 21:17; Isa 24:6), and is depicted by the prophet in various ways (Isa 10:16-19; Isa 17:4-6; Isa 24:13; Isa 30:17). There it is expressed under the figure that men become as scarce as the finest kinds of gold. Word-painting is Isaiah’s delight and strength. 'Ophir, which resembles 'okir in sound, was the gold country of India, that lay nearest to the Phoenicians, the coast-land of Abhira on the northern shore of the Runn (Irina), i.e., the salt lake to the east of the mouths of the Indus (see at Gen 10:29 and Job 22:24; and for the Egypticized Souphir of the lxx, Job 28:16).

Isa 13:13

Thus does the wrath of God prevail among men, casting down and destroying; and the natural world above and below cannot fail to take part in it. “Therefore I shake the heavens, and the earth trembles away from its place, because of the wrath of Jehovah of hosts, and because of the day of His fierce anger.” The two Beths have a causative meaning (cf., Isa 9:18). They correspond to ‛al-cēn (therefore), of which they supply the explanation. Because the wrath of God falls upon men, every creature which is not the direct object of the judgment must become a medium in the infliction of it. We have here the thought of Isa 13:9 repeated as a kind of refrain (in a similar manner to Isa 5:25). Then follow the several disasters. The first is flight.

Isa 13:14 “And it comes to pass as with a gazelle which is scared, and as with a flock without gatherers: they turn every one to his people, and they flee every one to his land.” The neuter v'hâyâh affirms that it will then be as described in the simile and the interpretation which follows. Babylon was the market for the world in central Asia, and therefore a rendezvous for the most diverse nations (Jer 50:16, cf., Isa 51:9, 44) - for a πάμμικτος ὄχλος, as Aeschylus says in his Persae, v. 52. This great and motley mass of foreigners would now be scattered in the wildest flight, on the fall of the imperial city. The second disaster is violent death.

Isa 13:15-16 “Every one that is found is pierced through, and every one that is caught falls by the sword.” By “every one that is found,” we understand those that are taken in the city by the invading conquerors; and by “every one that is caught,” those that are overtaken in their flight (sâphâh, abripere, Isa 7:20). All are put to the sword. - The third and fourth disasters are plunder and ravage. Isa 13:16 “And their infants are dashed to pieces before their eyes, their houses plundered, and their wives ravished.” Instead of tisshâgalnâh, the keri has the euphemistic term tisshâcabnâh (concubitum patientur), a passive which never occurs in the Old Testament text itself. The keri readings shuccabt in Jer 3:2, and yishcâbennâh in Deu 28:30, also do violence to the language, which required עם שכב and את (the latter as a preposition in Gen 19:34) for the sake of euphemism; or rather they introduce a later (talmudic) usage of speech into the Scriptures (see Geiger, Urschrift, pp. 407-8). The prophet himself intentionally selects the base term shâgal, though, as the queen’s name Shegal shows, it must have been regarded in northern Palestine and Aramaean as by no means a disreputable word. In this and other passages of the prophecy Knobel scents a fanaticism which is altogether strange to Isaiah.

Isa 13:17

With Isa 13:17 the prophecy takes a fresh turn, in which the veil that has hitherto obscured it is completely broken through. We now learn the name of the conquerors. “Behold, I rouse up the Medes over them, who do not regard silver, and take no pleasure in gold.” It was the Medes (Darius Medus = Cyaxares II) who put an end to the Babylonian kingdom in combination with the Persians (Cyrus). The Persians are mentioned for the first time in the Old Testament by Ezekiel and Daniel. Consequently Mâdi (by the side of which Elam is mentioned in Isa 21:2) appears to have been a general term applied to the Arian populations of Eran from the most important ruling tribe. Until nearly the end of Hezekiah’s reign, the Medes lived scattered about over different districts, and in hamlets (or villages) united together by a constitutional organization. After they had broken away from the Assyrians (714 b.c.) they placed themselves in 709-8 b.c. under one common king, namely Deyoces, probably for the purpose of upholding their national independence; or, to speak more correctly, under a common monarch, for even the chiefs of the villages were called kings.See Spiegel’s Eran das Land zwischen dem Indus und Tigris (1863), p. 308ff.

It is in this sense that Jeremiah speaks of “king of Madai;” at any rate, this is a much more probable supposition than that he refers to monarchs in a generic sense. But the kings of Media, i.e., the rulers of the several villages, are mentioned in Jer 25:25 among those who will have to drink the intoxicating cup which Jehovah is about to give to the nations through Nebuchadnezzar. So that their expedition against Babylon is an act of revenge for the disgrace of bondage that has been inflicted upon them. Their disregarding silver and gold is not intended to describe them as a rude, uncultivated people: the prophet simply means that they are impelled by a spirit of revenge, and do not come for the purpose of gathering booty. Revenge drives them on to forgetfulness of all morality, and humanity also.

Isa 13:18 “And bows dash down young men; and they have no compassion on the fruit of the womb: their eye has no pity on children.” The bows do not stand for the bowmen (see Isa 21:17), but the bows of the latter dash the young men to the ground by means of the arrows shot from them. They did not spare the fruit of the womb, since they ripped up the bodies of those that were with child (2Ki 8:12; 2Ki 15:16, etc.). Even towards children they felt no emotion of compassionate regard, such as would express itself in the eye: chuus, to feel, more especially to feel with another, i.e., to sympathize; here and in Eze 5:11 it is ascribed to the eye as the mirror of the soul (compare the Arabic chasyet el-‛ain ala fulânin, carefulness of eye for a person: Hariri, Comment. p. 140). With such inhuman conduct on the part of the foe, the capital of the empire becomes the scene of a terrible conflagration.

Isa 13:19 “And Babel, the ornament of kingdoms, the proud boast of the Chaldeans, becomes like Elohim’s overthrowing judgment upon Sodom and Gomorrah.” The ornament of kingdoms (mamlâcoth), because it was the centre of many conquered kingdoms, which now avenged themselves upon it (Isa 13:4); the pride (cf., Isa 28:1), because it was the primitive dwelling-place of the Chaldeans of the lowlands, that ancient cultivated people, who were related to the Chaldean tribes of the Carduchisan mountains in the north-east of Mesopotamia, though not of the same origin, and of totally different manners (see at Isa 23:13). Their present catastrophe resembled that of Sodom and Gomorrah: the two eths are accusative; mahpēcâh (καταστροφή) is used like de‛âh in Isa 11:9 with a verbal force (τὸ καταστρέψαι, well rendered by the lxx ὄν τρόπον κατέστρεψεν ὁ Θεός. On the arrangement of the words, see Ges. §133, 3).

Isa 13:20-22

Babel, like the cities of the Pentapolis, had now become a perpetual desert. “She remains uninhabited for ever, and unoccupied into generation of generations; and not an Arab pitches his tent there, and shepherds do not make their folds there. And there lie beasts of the desert, and horn-owls fill their houses; and ostriches dwell there, and field-devils hop about there. And jackals howl in her castles, and wild dogs in palaces of pleasure; and her time is near to come, and her days will not be prolonged.” The conclusion is similar to that of the prophecy against Edom, in Isa 34:16-17. There the certainty of the prediction, even in its most minute particulars, is firmly declared; here the nearness of the time of fulfilment. But the fulfilment did not take place so soon as the words of the prophecy might make it appear. According to Herodotus, Cyrus, the leader of the Medo-Persian army, left the city still standing, with its double ring of walls. Darius Hystaspis, who had to conquer Babylon a second time in 518 b.c., had the walls entirely destroyed, with the exception of fifty cubits. Xerxes gave the last thrust to the glory of the temple of Belus. Having been conquered by Seleucus Nicator (312), it declined just in proportion as Seleucia rose. Babylon, says Pliny, ad solitudinem rediit exhausta vicinitate Seleuciae. At the time of Strabo (born 60 b.c.) Babylon was a perfect desert; and he applies to it (16:15) the words of the poet, ἐρημία μεγάλη ̓στὶν ἡ μεγάλη πόλις. Consequently, in the passage before us the prophecy falls under the law of perspective foreshortening. But all that it foretells has been literally fulfilled. The curse that Babylon would never come to be settled in and inhabited again (a poetical expression, like Jer 17:25; Jer 33:16), proved itself an effectual one, when Alexander once thought of making Babylon the metropolis of his empire. He was carried off by an early death. Ten thousand workmen were at that time employed for two months in simply clearing away the rubbish of the foundations of the temple of Belus (the Nimrod-tower). “Not an Arab pitches his tent there” (‛Arâbi, from ‛Arâbâh, a steppe, is used here for the first time in the Old Testament, and then again in Jer 3:2; yăhēl, different from yâhēl in Isa 13:10 and Job 31:26, is a syncopated form of יאהל, tentorium figet, according to Ges. §68, Anm. 2, used instead of the customary יאהל): this was simply the natural consequence of the great field of ruins, upon which there was nothing but the most scanty vegetation. But all kinds of beasts of the desert and waste places make their homes there instead. The list commences with ziyyim (from zi, dryness, or from ziyi, an adj. relat. of the noun zi), i.e., dwellers in the desert; the reference here is not to men, but, as in most other instances, to animals, though it is impossible to determine what are the animals particularly referred to. That ochim are horned owls (Uhus) is a conjecture of Aurivillius, which decidedly commends itself. On benoth ya‛ănâh, see at Job 39:13-18. Wetzstein connects ya‛ănâh with an Arabic word for desert; it is probably more correct, however, to connect it with the Syriac יענא, greedy. The feminine plural embraces ostriches of both sexes, just as the 'iyyim (sing. אי = אוי, from 'âvâh, to howl: see Bernstein’s Lex. on Kirsch’s Chrestom. Syr. p. 7), i.e., jackals, are called benât āwa in Arabic, without distinction of sex (awa in this appellation is a direct reproduction of the natural voice of the animal, which is called wawi in vulgar Arabic). Tan has also been regarded since the time of Pococke and Schnurrer as the name of the jackal; and this is supported by the Syriac and Targum rendering yaruro (see Bernstein, p. 220), even more than by the Arabic name of the wolf, tinân, which only occurs here and there. אי, ibnu āwa, is the common jackal found in Hither Asia (Canis aureus vulgaris), the true type of the whole species, which is divided into at least ten varieties, and belongs to the same genus as dogs and wolves (not foxes). Tan may refer to one of these varieties, which derived its name from its distinctive peculiarity as a long-stretched animal, whether the extension was in the trunk, the snout, or the tail.

The animals mentioned, both quadrupeds (râbatz) and birds (shâcan), are really found there, on the soil of ancient Babylon. When Kerporter was drawing near to the Nimrod-tower, he saw lions sunning themselves quietly upon its walls, which came down very leisurely when alarmed by the cries of the Arabs. And as Rich heard in Bagdad, the ruins are still regarded as a rendezvous for ghosts: sâ‛ir, when contrasted with ‛attūd, signifies the full-grown shaggy buck-goat; but here se‛irim is applied to demons in the shape of goats (as in Isa 34:14). According to the Scriptures, the desert is the abode of unclean spirits, and such unclean spirits as the popular belief or mythology pictured to itself were se‛irim. Virgil, like Isaiah, calls them saltantes Satyros. It is remarkable also that Joseph Wolf, the missionary and traveller to Bochâra, saw pilgrims of the sect of Yezidis (or devil-worshippers) upon the ruins of Babylon, who performed strange and horrid rites by moonlight, and danced extraordinary dances with singular gestures and sounds. On seeing these ghost-like, howling, moonlight pilgrims, he very naturally recalled to mind the dancing se‛irim of prophecy (see Moritz Wagner’s Reise nach Persien und dem Lande der Kurden, Bd. ii. p. 251). And the nightly howling and yelling of jackals (‛ânâh after rikkēd, as in 1Sa 18:6-7) produces its natural effect upon every traveller there, just as in all the other ruins of the East. These are now the inhabitants of the royal 'armenoth, which the prophet calls 'almenoth with a sarcastic turn, on account of their widowhood and desolation; these are the inhabitants of the palaces of pleasure, the luxurious villas and country-seats, with their hanging gardens. The Apocalypse, in Rev 18:2, takes up this prophecy of Isaiah, and applies it to a still existing Babylon, which might have seen itself in the mirror of the Babylon of old.

The Doom of Babylon. (b. c. 739.)

1 The burden of Babylon, which Isaiah the son of Amoz did see. 2 Lift ye up a banner upon the high mountain, exalt the voice unto them, shake the hand, that they may go into the gates of the nobles. 3 I have commanded my sanctified ones, I have also called my mighty ones for mine anger, even them that rejoice in my highness. 4 The noise of a multitude in the mountains, like as of a great people; a tumultuous noise of the kingdoms of nations gathered together: the Lord of hosts mustereth the host of the battle. 5 They come from a far country, from the end of heaven, even the Lord , and the weapons of his indignation, to destroy the whole land.

The general title of this book was, The vision of Isaiah the son of Amoz, ch. i. 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 (ch. xxviii. 12; Jer. vi. 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, ch. xxxix. 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 (v. 17) the Medes, who, in conjunction with the Persians, under the command of Darius and Cyrus, were the ruin of the Babylonian monarchy.

I. The place doomed to destruction is Babylon; it is here called the gates of the nobles (v. 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 (v. 5); for, though the nobles were the leaders in persecuting and oppressing God's people, yet the whole land concurred with them in it.

II. The persons brought together to lay Babylon waste are here called, 1. God's sanctified ones (v. 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 (ch. xlv. 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, ch. xlv. 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 (ch. xlv. 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 (v. 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.

III. 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, v. 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 (v. 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, v. 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, v. 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.

The Doom of Babylon. (b. c. 739.)

6 Howl ye; for the day of the Lord is at hand; it shall come as a destruction from the Almighty. 7 Therefore shall all hands be faint, and every man's heart shall melt: 8 And they shall be afraid: pangs and sorrows shall take hold of them; they shall be in pain as a woman that travaileth: they shall be amazed one at another; their faces shall be as flames. 9 Behold, the day of the Lord cometh, cruel both with wrath and fierce anger, to lay the land desolate: and he shall destroy the sinners thereof out of it. 10 For the stars of heaven and the constellations thereof shall not give their light: the sun shall be darkened in his going forth, and the moon shall not cause her light to shine. 11 And I will punish the world for their evil, and the wicked for their iniquity; and I will cause the arrogancy of the proud to cease, and will lay low the haughtiness of the terrible. 12 I will make a man more precious than fine gold; even a man than the golden wedge of Ophir. 13 Therefore I will shake the heavens, and the earth shall remove out of her place, in the wrath of the Lord of hosts, and in the day of his fierce anger. 14 And it shall be as the chased roe, and as a sheep that no man taketh up: they shall every man turn to his own people, and flee every one into his own land. 15 Every one that is found shall be thrust through; and every one that is joined unto them shall fall by the sword. 16 Their children also shall be dashed to pieces before their eyes; their houses shall be spoiled, and their wives ravished. 17 Behold, I will stir up the Medes against them, which shall not regard silver; and as for gold, they shall not delight in it. 18 Their bows also 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.

We have here a very elegant and lively description of the terrible confusion and desolation which should be made in Babylon by the descent which the Medes and Persians should make upon it. Those that were now secure and easy were bidden to howl and make sad lamentation; for,

I. God was about to appear in wrath against them, and it is a fearful thing to fall into his hands: The day of the Lord is at hand (v. 6), a little day of judgment, when God will act as a just avenger of his own and his people's injured cause. And there are those who will have reason to tremble when that day is at hand. The day of the Lord cometh, v. 9. Men have their day now, and they think to carry the day; but God laughs at them, for he sees that his day is coming, Ps. xxxvii. 13. Fury is not with God, and yet his day of reckoning with the Babylonians is said to be cruel with wrath and fierce anger. God will deal in severity with them for the severities they exercised upon God's people; with the froward, with the cruel, he will show himself froward, will show himself cruel, and give the blood-thirsty blood to drink.

II. Their hearts shall fail them, and they shall have neither courage nor comfort left; they shall not be able either to resist the judgment coming or to bear up under it, either to oppose the enemy or to support themselves, v. 7, 8. Those that in the day of their peace were proud, and haughty, and terrible (v. 11), shall, when trouble comes, be quite dispirited and at their wits' end: All hands shall be faint, and unable to hold a weapon, and every man's heart shall melt, so that they shall be ready to die for fear. The pangs of their fear shall be like those of a woman in hard labour, and they shall be amazed one at another. In frightening themselves, they shall frighten one another; they shall wonder to see those tremble that used to be bold and daring; or they shall be amazed looking one at another, as men at a loss, Gen. xlii. 1. Their faces shall be as flames, pale as flames, through fear (so some), or red as flames sometimes are, blushing at their own cowardice; or their faces shall be as faces scorched with the flame, or as theirs that labour in the fire, their visage blacker than a coal, or like a bottle in the smoke, Ps. cxix. 83.

III. All comfort and hope shall fail them (v. 10): The stars of heaven shall not give their light, but shall be clouded and overcast; the sun shall be darkened in his going forth, rising bright, but lost again, a certain sign of foul weather. They shall be as men in distress at sea, when neither sun nor stars appear, Acts xxvii. 20. It shall be as dreadful a time with them as it would be with the earth if all the heavenly luminaries were turned into darkness, a resemblance of the day of judgment, when the sun shall be turned into darkness. The heavens frowning thus is an indication of the displeasure of the God of heaven. When things look dark on earth, yet it is well enough if all be clear upwards; but, if we have no comfort thence, wherewith shall we be comforted?

IV. God will visit them for their iniquity; and all this is intended for the punishment of sin, and particularly the sin of pride, v. 11. This puts wormwood and gall into the affliction and misery, 1. That sin must now have its punishment. Though Babylon be a little world, yet, being a wicked world, it shall not go unpunished. Sin brings desolation on the world of the ungodly; and when the kingdoms of the earth are quarrelling with one another it is the fruit of God's controversy with them all. 2. That pride must now have its fall: The haughtiness of the terrible must now be laid low, particularly of Nebuchadnezzar and his son Belshazzar, who had, in their pride, trampled upon, and made themselves very terrible to, the people of God. A man's pride will bring him low.

V. There shall be so great a slaughter as will produce a scarcity of men (v. 12): I will make a man more precious than fine gold. You could not have a man to be employed in any of the affairs of state, not a man to be enlisted in the army, not a man to match a daughter to, for the building up of a family, if you would give any money for one. The troops of the neighbouring nations would not be hired into the service of the king of Babylon, because they saw every thing go against him. Populous countries are soon depopulated by war. And God can soon make a kingdom that has been courted and admired to be dreaded and shunned by all, as a house that is falling, or a ship that is sinking.

VI. There shall be a universal confusion and consternation, such a confusion of their affairs that it shall be like the shaking of the heavens with dreadful thunders and the removing of the earth by no less dreadful earthquakes. All shall go to rack and ruin in the day of the wrath of the Lord of hosts, v. 13. And such a consternation shall seize their spirits that Babylon, which used to be like a roaring lion and a raging bear to all about her, shall become as a chased roe and as a sheep that no man takes up, v. 14. The army they shall bring into the field, consisting of troops of divers nations (as great armies usually do), shall be so dispirited by their own apprehensions and so dispersed by their enemies' sword that they shall turn every man to his own people; each man shall shift for his own safety; the men of might shall not find their hands (Ps. lxxvi. 5), but take to their heels.

VII. There shall be a general scene of blood and horror, as is usual where the sword devours. No wonder that every one makes the best of his way, since the conqueror gives no quarter, but puts all to the sword, and not those only that are found in arms, as is usual with us even in the most cruel slaughters (v. 15): Every one that is found alive shall be run through, as soon as ever it appears that he is a Babylonian. Nay, because the sword devours one as well as another, every one that is joined to them shall fall by the sword; those of other nations that come in to their assistance shall be cut off with them. It is dangerous being in bad company, and helping those whom God is about to destroy. Those particularly that join themselves to Babylon must expect to share in her plagues, Rev. xviii. 4. And, since the most sacred laws of nature, and of humanity itself, are silenced by the fury of war (though they cannot be cancelled), the conquerors shall, in the most barbarous brutish manner, dash the children to pieces, and ravish the wives. Jusque datum sceleri—Wickedness shall have free course, v. 16. They had thus dealt with God's people (Lam. v. 11), and now they shall be paid in their own coin, Rev. xiii. 10. It was particularly foretold (Ps. cxxxvii. 9) that the little ones of Babylon should be dashed against the stones. How cruel soever and unjust those were that did it, God was righteous who suffered it to be done, and to be done before their eyes, to their greater terror and vexation. It was just also that the houses which they had filled with the spoil of Israel should be spoiled and plundered. What is got by rapine is often lost in the same manner.

VIII. The enemy that God will send against them shall be inexorable, probably being by some provocation or other more than ordinarily exasperated against them; or, in whatever way it may be brought about, God himself will stir up the Medes to use this severity with the Babylonians. He will not only serve his own purposes by their dispositions and designs, but will put it into their hearts to make this attempt upon Babylon, and suffer them to prosecute it with all this fury. God is not the author of sin, but he would not permit it if he did not know how to bring glory to himself out of it. These Medes, in conjunction with the Persians, shall make thorough work of it; for, 1. They shall take no bribes, v. 17. All that men have they would give for their lives, but the Medes shall not regard silver; it is blood they thirst for, not gold; no man's riches shall with them be the ransom of his life. 2. They shall show no pity (v. 18), not to the young men that are in the prime of their time—they shall shoot them through with their bows, and then dash them to pieces; not to the age of innocency—they shall have no pity on the fruit of the womb, nor spare little children, whose cries and frights one would think should make even marble eyes to weep, and hearts of adamant to relent. Pause a little here and wonder, (1.) That men should be thus cruel and inhuman, and so utterly divested of all compassion; and in it see how corrupt and degenerate the nature of man has become. (2.) That the God of infinite mercy should suffer it, nay, and should make it to be the execution of his justice, which shows that, though he is gracious, yet he is the God to whom vengeance belongs. (3.) That little infants, who have never been guilty of any actual sin, should be thus abused, which shows that there is an original guilt by which life is forfeited as soon as it is had.

The Doom of Babylon. (b. c. 739.)

19 And Babylon, the glory of kingdoms, the beauty of the Chaldees' excellency, shall be as when God overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah. 20 It shall never be inhabited, neither shall it be dwelt in from generation to generation: neither shall the Arabian pitch tent there; neither shall the shepherds make their fold there. 21 But wild beasts of the desert shall lie there; and their houses shall be full of doleful creatures; and owls shall dwell there, and satyrs shall dance there. 22 And the wild beasts of the islands shall cry in their desolate houses, and dragons in their pleasant palaces: and her time is near to come, and her days shall not be prolonged.

The great havoc and destruction which it was foretold should be made by the Medes and Persians in Babylon here end in the final destruction of it. 1. It is allowed that Babylon was a noble city. It was the glory of kingdoms and the beauty of the Chaldees' excellency; it was that head of gold (Dan. ii. 37, 38); it was called the lady of kingdoms (ch. xlvii. 5), the praise of the whole earth (Jer. li. 41), like a pleasant roe (so the word signifies); but it shall be as a chased roe, v. 14. The Chaldeans gloried in the beauty and wealth of this their metropolis. 2. It is foretold that it should be wholly destroyed, like Sodom and Gomorrah; not so miraculously, nor so suddenly, but as effectually, though gradually; and the destruction should come upon them as that upon Sodom, when they were secure, eating and drinking, Luke xvii. 28, 29. Babylon was taken when Belshazzar was in his revels; and, though Cyrus and Darius did not demolish it, yet by degrees it wasted away and in process of time it went all to ruin. It is foretold here (v. 20) that it shall never be inhabited; in Adrian's time nothing remained but the wall. And whereas it is prophesied concerning Nineveh, that great city, that when it should be deserted and left desolate yet flocks should lie down in the midst of it, it is here said concerning Babylon that the Arabians, who were shepherds, should not make their folds there; the country about should be so barren that there would be no grazing there; no, not for sheep. Nay, it shall be the receptacle of wild beasts, that affect solitude; the houses of Babylon, where the sons and daughters of pleasure used to rendezvous, shall be full of doleful creatures, owls and satyrs, that are themselves frightened thither, as to a place proper for them, and by whom all others are frightened thence. Historians say that this was fulfilled in the letter. Benjamin Bar-Jona, in his Itinerary, speaking of Babel, has these words: "This is that Babel which was of old thirty miles in breadth; it is now laid waste. There are yet to be seen the ruins of a palace of Nebuchadnezzar, but the sons of men dare not enter in, for fear of serpents and scorpions, which possess the place." Let none be proud of their pompous palaces, for they know not but they may become worse than cottages; nor let any think that their houses shall endure for ever (Ps. xlix. 11), when perhaps nothing may remain but the ruins and reproaches of them. 3. It is intimated that this destruction should come shortly (v. 22): Her time is near to come. This prophecy of the destruction of Babylon was intended for the support and comfort of the people of God when they were captives there and grievously oppressed; and the accomplishment of the prophecy was nearly 200 years after the time when it was delivered; yet it followed soon after the time for which it was calculated. When the people of Israel were groaning under the heavy yoke of Babylonish tyranny, sitting down in tears by the rivers of Babylon and upbraided with the songs of Zion, when their insolent oppressors were most haughty and arrogant (v. 11), then let them know, for their comfort, that Babylon's time, her day to fall, is near to come, and the days of her prosperity shall not be prolonged, as they have been. When God begins with her he will make an end. Thus it is said of the destruction of the New-Testament Babylon, whereof the former was a type, In one hour has her judgment come.

CHAP. XIII.

Ver. 1. THe burden] That is, the burdenous Propheſie, it ſhould not have ſeemed a burden,See the Notes on Nah. 1.1. and on Mal. 1.1. Jer. 23.36. but it is a grievous burden to graceleſs perſons to be told of their ſins, and foretold of their puniſhments.

Of Babylon] Not that Babylon in Egypt (of which St. Peter, 1 Epiſt. 5.13. as ſome hold) now called Gr[illegible: 1 letter]ndcair the Soldans Seat-royal: but the Metropolis of Chaldaea▪ built by Semiramis about an hundred years after the Flood, whethe[illegible: 1 letter] the Jews were to be carried captive: and concerning which calamity they are here aforehand comforted. See Mic. 7.8, 16.

Ver. 2. Life up a Banner] Deus hic quaſi claſſicum canit, God, as Generaliſſimo gives forth his Orders to the Medes and Perſians. He is a man of War, Exod 15.3. yea the Lord victour of War, as the Chaldee there paraphraſeth. See the like, Jer. 50.2.

Ʋpon the High Mountain] Where it may beſt be ſeen, Media is a Mountanous Countrey. Or, contra montem cal[illegible: 1 letter]ginoſum, againſt the dark Mountain. i. e. Babylon, which though ſcituated in a Plain, yet was tu[illegible: 1 letter]ou[illegible: 1 letter]'d up with her wealth and power,Strabo. lib. 16. Curtius. lib. 5. Joſephus l. 10. and ſeemed unmoveable. Famous this City was for an hortus penſilis, an Artificial Garden (made by Nebuchadnezzar for the pleaſure of his Wife Nicotris) which hanging over the City darkeneth it: like as that continual Cloud doth the Iſland of St. Thomas, on the backſide of Africa:

Exalt the voyce unto them, ſhake the hand] Propinquos voce, longinquos ſignificatione adarma convocate: give the alarm to thoſe that are near-hand, and further off.

Junius. That they may go into the gates of the Nobles] Or, of the munificent or Bounteous Lords: for ſuch all Nobles are or ought to be: Our Engliſh word Lord, contracted of the Saxon word Laford, cometh of Luef to ſuſtain or ſuccour others.

Ver. 3. I have commanded my ſanctified ones] i. e. I have by my ſecret inſtinct ſtirred up and ſet on my Medes and Perſians, ver. 17. whom in my Decree I have ſet apart for this holy work of executing vengeance on the Babylonians.

I have alſo called my Mighties] My Heroes, armed with my Might.

Even them that rejoyce in my Highneſs] Heb. Exultantes ſuperbiae meos, My brave Souldiers, whom I render victorious and triumphant.

Ver. 4. The noiſe of the multitude] The Medes that come againſt Babylon are both numerous and ſtreperous: as is here graphically deſcribed by an Elegant Hypotypoſis.

The Lord of Hoſts muſtereth the hoſt of the battel] No marvel then that the Forces are ſo many and mighty. For if he but ſtamp with his foot, all creatures are up in Arms immediately.

Ver. 5. They come from a far Countrey] Heb. from a Land of Longinquity.

Even the Lord, and the weapons of his Indignation] [non-Latin text not transcribed] Veſſels of wrath, the Septuagint render them: but in another ſence then the Apoſtle uſeth that expreſſion, concerning Reprobates deſigned to deſtruction.

To deſtroy the whole Land] Or, the whole world: for ſo the Chaldees in the pride of their Empire, ſtiled it. The Romans did the like, Luke 2.1. The Turks do the ſame at this day; ſuch is their ambition.

Ver. 6. Howl ye] For the evils that are coming upon you, as Jam. 5.1. we may well ſay the ſame to myſtical Babylon.

For the day of the Lord is at hand] And yet it came not till above two hundred years after. Think the ſame of the day of Judgement: and reckon that a thouſand years with God is but as one day.

It ſhall come as a deſtruction from the Almighty] Heb. Cleſhod Miſhaddai, an elegancy that cannot be Engliſhed. Sh[illegible: 1 letter]ddai (Gods name) ſignifieth a Conqueror, ſay ſome; a Deſtroyer, ſay others, which a Conqueror muſt needs be: Eundem victorem & vaſtatorem eſſe oportet. Here is threatened a devaſtation from the Devaſtatour.

Ver. 7. Therefore ſhall all hands be faint] Baſe fear, that cowardly paſſion ſhall betray them to the enemy, by expectorating their courage, and cauſing their hearts to fall into their heels, as we ſay. But this alſo cometh from the Lord of [illegible: 2 letters]oſts, who is wonderful in Counſel, and excellent in working; for He ordereth the Armor, Jer. 50.25. and he ſtrengtheneth or weakeneth the Armies of either party, Ezek. 30.24. whenceſoever the Sword cometh, it is bathed in Heaven, Iſa. 34.5.

And every heart ſhall melt] How much more ſhall wicked mens hearts do ſo at the day of Judgement, when the Powers of Heaven ſhall be ſhaken, Luke 21.26. Allegoricè; haec veriora erunt in di[illegible: 1 letter] judicii cujus hic eſt typus.

Ver. 8. And they ſhall be afraid] Conturbabuntur — Innumerabilibus ſollicitudinibus.

They ſhall be amazed one at another] Amuſed, amazed, amated, as being at their wits ends.

Their faces ſhall be as flames] So Jer. 30.5, 6. a voyce of fear and trembling, every man with his hands on his loines (the poſture of a travelling Woman) and all faces turned into paleneſs. The Prophet here alludeth, ſaith Muſculus, to the face of a Smith at dark night, when he ſtandeth blowing his fite: for his face appears as if it had no blood in it, moſt wan and pa[illegible: 1 letter]e. Or, as others think, to a man afrighted, who firſt looketh pale (the blood running to the heart to relieve it) afterwards, upon the return of the blood to the outward parts, he looketh red, and of a flame-colour.

Ver. 9. Behold the day of the Lord cometh cruel] So it ſhall ſeem to the enemies: becauſe an evil, an only evil behold is come, Ezek. 7.5. without mixture of Mercy.

Ver. 10. For the Stars of Heaven — ſhall not give their light] They ſhall have puniſhment without pitty, miſery without mercy, ſorrow without ſuccour,Eſt Hyperbole & Hypallage. miſchief without meaſure, crying without comfort, &c. and all this ſhall be but a typical hell to them, a foretaſt of eternal torments.

The Conſtellations thereof] Which yet ſome Interpreters take for ſome ſingle and ſignal Star, magnam luceus magnae ſequuntur tenebrae.

The Sun ſhall be darkened] They ſhall neither have good day, nor good night.

Ver. 11. And I will puniſh the world] That is, the Chaldean State:Dan. 4.17. for they reckoned themſelves [non-Latin text not transcribed] or Lords of the world. See on ver. 5. Or to ſhew that if the whole world ſhould conſpire againſt the Lord, he can as eaſily puniſh them, as he did that rabble of Rebels the old world.

And lay low the haughtineſs of the terrible] Or, of the royſters, or Tyrants.

Ver. 12. I will make a man more precious] Quod rarum carum: Men ſhall be reduced to a ſmall number, not Nobles only, ſed triobolares homunciones, but Peſants; nor ſhall any money be taken in exchange for lives.

Ver. 13. Therefore I will ſhake the Heavens] i.e. for the pride, arrogancy, cruelty, and other impieties of theſe Babylonians, I will bring upon them Tragical calamities and horrid confuſions, ſo that they ſhall think that Heaven and earth are blended together, and each be ready to ſay, In me omnis terrae que poli que mariſ que ruina eſt.

Ver. 14. And it ſhall be as the chaſed Roe] Or, ſhe, that is Babylon, ſhall be, when drunk with ſecurity (that Uſher of De[illegible: 1 letter]truction) ſhe ſhall be ſuddenly ſurprized. So ſtrong were her Walls and Bulwarks, that ſhe feared no irruption of the enemy: and ſo bold ſhe bore her ſelf upon her twenty years proviſion laid in aforehand that ſhe feared no famine, by the ſtraitneſs of a long ſiege. Herodotus telleth us,Herod. lib. 1. Ariſt. Polit. lib. 3. that when Babylon was taken by Cyrus, ſome part of the City knew not of their condition, till the third day after; the ſuddenneſs of their ſurpriſal muſt needs be very dreadful.

They ſhall every man] i.e. All her Confederates and Preſidiaries.

Ver. 15. Every one that is found, ſhall be thruſt thorow] This maketh them flye for it: Quis enim vult mori? prorſus nemo. Life is ſweet: and men will rather flie then dye.

Every one that is joyned unto them] Or, that is decrepid, worn out with old age: See 2 Chron. 36.17.

Ver. 16. Their children ſhall be daſht in pieces, &c.] As had been prayd and prophecyed long before, Pſal. 137.9. and this was but lex talionis: See 2 Chron. 36.17. Lam. 5.11.

Their houſes ſhall be ſpoyled, and their wives raviſhed] As thoſe three Commandements. Thou ſhalt not kill, Thou ſhalt not commit adultery, Thou ſhalt not ſteal, are ranked together in the Law: ſo they are commonly violated together in the lawleſs violence of war.

Ver. 17. Behold I will ſtir up the Medes] together with the Perſians, under the conduct of Darius and Cyrus.

Which ſhall not regard ſilver] ſc. For a ranſom, but ſhall kill all they meet, though never ſo rich, and able to redeem their lives, as Pro. 13.8. Jer. 41.8.

Incredibilis ſanguinis aviditas in milite bacchabi[illegible: 2 letters]r.Ver. 18. Their bowes alſo ſhall daſh the yong men] They ſhall double deſtroy them. O Barbaram crudelitatem!

And they ſhall have no pitty on the fruit of the womb] Quamvis adhuc teneri eſſent & fructus novelli, ripping up their mothers, as Am. 1.13. as at the Sicilian Veſpers, and as in the late Pariſian and Iriſh Maſſacres, which were the moſt prodigious horrid villan[illegible: 1 letter]es that ever the Sun ſaw.

Their eye ſhall not spare children] In the Maſſacre of Paris, a bloody Papiſt having ſnatcht up a little child of one of the Proteſtants in his arms, the poor Babe began to play with his beard,Act. & Mon. and to ſmile upon him. But he, more mercyleſs then a Tiger, ſtabbed it with a dagger, and ſo caſt it all gore-blood into the River.

Ver. 19. And Babylon the glory of Kingdoms] Thoſe four great Monarchies of the world had their times and their turns, their riſe and their ruine. The Roman Empire can ſcarce ſtand on its feet of clay; and by the death of the late Emperour, no King of Romans being nominated, is like to ſuffer great concuſſions.

Shall be as when Gid overthrew Sodom] The deſtruction whereof was the greateſt and moſt ſtupendious, that ever we read of.

Hi[illegible: 1 letter] Babylonia contermini.Ver. 20. Neither ſhall the Arabian pitch tent there] The Scenites or vagrant Shepherds of Arabia deſerta, that oft flitted for better paſture, ſhall ſhun Babylon, as haunted with wild beaſts, or rather with Dragons, and Devils in the Revelation; all this is applyed to, and ſhall be verified of Rome, cap. 18.

Ver. 21. But wild beaſts of the Deſart] Heb. Ij[illegible: 1 letter]m, Ochim, &c. Theſe are names of wild creatures unknown to us in theſe parts.

And Satyrs] Or Devils in borrowed ſhapes, and hideous apparitions.

Ver. 22. And the wild beaſts of the Iſlands] Heb Ijim, i. e. deſolate places and far remote.

And her time is near to come] Though two hundred year hence and more, ere it commence. So Babylon is fallen, is fallen, Rev. 19.2. that is, certo, cito, penitus, ſurely, ſhortly, utterly, — O mora! Chriſte veni.