Text -- Isaiah 14:1-12 (NET)

14:1 The Lord will certainly have compassion on Jacob; he will again choose Israel as his special people and restore them to their land. Resident foreigners will join them and unite with the family of Jacob. 14:2 Nations will take them and bring them back to their own place. Then the family of Jacob will make foreigners their servants as they settle in the Lord’s land. They will make their captors captives and rule over the ones who oppressed them. 14:3 When the Lord gives you relief from your suffering and anxiety, and from the hard labor which you were made to perform, 14:4 you will taunt the king of Babylon with these words: “Look how the oppressor has met his end! Hostility has ceased! 14:5 The Lord has broken the club of the wicked, the scepter of rulers. 14:6 It furiously struck down nations with unceasing blows. It angrily ruled over nations, oppressing them without restraint. 14:7 The whole earth rests and is quiet; they break into song. 14:8 The evergreens also rejoice over your demise, as do the cedars of Lebanon, singing, ‘Since you fell asleep, no woodsman comes up to chop us down!’ 14:9 Sheol below is stirred up about you, ready to meet you when you arrive. It rouses the spirits of the dead for you, all the former leaders of the earth; it makes all the former kings of the nations rise from their thrones. 14:10 All of them respond to you, saying: ‘You too have become weak like us! You have become just like us! 14:11 Your splendor has been brought down to Sheol, as well as the sound of your stringed instruments. You lie on a bed of maggots, with a blanket of worms over you. 14:12 Look how you have fallen from the sky, O shining one, son of the dawn! You have been cut down to the ground, O conqueror of the nations!

Commentary -- Word/Phrase Notes (per phrase)

Wesley: Isa 14:1

Will renew his choice of them; for he had rejected them.

Wesley: Isa 14:2

Which they literally did, after their return into their own land. But this was more eminently verified in a spiritual sense, in the days of the gospel.

Wesley: Isa 14:4

As they used to call themselves; which therefore he expresses here in a word of their own language.

Wesley: Isa 14:6

With rigour and not with clemency.

Wesley: Isa 14:6

Neither the Babylonians themselves, nor their confederates.

Wesley: Isa 14:7

The subjects of that vast empire, who groaned under their cruel bondage.

Wesley: Isa 14:8

Which were felled for the service of her pride and luxury, but now are suffered to stand.

Wesley: Isa 14:9

From their graves, which he seems to call their thrones by way of irony: the only thrones now left to them. Thrones both paved and covered with worms, instead of their former thrones, adorned with gold and precious stones.

Wesley: Isa 14:11

All thy glory is buried with thee.

Wesley: Isa 14:11

All thy musical instruments, which were much used in Babylon, and were doubtless used in Belshazzar's solemn feasts, Dan 5:1, at which time the city was taken; to which possibly the prophet here alludes.

Wesley: Isa 14:11

Instead of those stately carpets upon which thou didst frequently tread.

Wesley: Isa 14:12

From the height of thy glory.

Wesley: Isa 14:12

Which properly is a bright star, that ushers in the morning; but is here metaphorically taken for the mighty king of Babylon.

Wesley: Isa 14:12

The title of son is given in scripture not only to a person or thing begotten or produced by another, but also to any thing which is related, to it, in which sense we read of the son of a night, Jon 4:10, a son of perdition, Joh 17:12, and, which is more agreeable, to the present case, the sons of Arcturus, Job 38:32.

JFB: Isa 14:1

"set His choice upon." A deliberate predilection [HORSLEY]. Their restoration is grounded on their election (see Psa 102:13-22).

JFB: Isa 14:1

Proselytes (Est 8:17; Act 2:10; Act 17:4, Act 17:17). TACITUS, a heathen [Histories, 5.5], attests the fact of numbers of the Gentiles having become Jews in his time. An earnest of the future effect on the heathen world of the Jews' spiritual restoration (Isa 60:4-5, Isa 60:10; Mic 5:7; Zec 14:16; Rom 11:12).

JFB: Isa 14:2

Of Babylon, primarily. Of the whole Gentile world ultimately (Isa 49:22; Isa 66:20; Isa 60:9).

JFB: Isa 14:2

Judea (Ezr 1:1-6).

JFB: Isa 14:2

Receive in possession.

JFB: Isa 14:2

Not by physical, but by moral might; the force of love, and regard to Israel's God (Isa 60:14).

JFB: Isa 14:3

(Isa 28:12; Eze 28:25-26).

The whole earth rejoices; the cedars of Lebanon taunt him.

JFB: Isa 14:4

The Orientals, having few books, embodied their thoughts in weighty, figurative, briefly expressed gnomes. Here a taunting song of triumph (Mic 2:4; Hab 2:6).

JFB: Isa 14:4

The ideal representative of Babylon; perhaps Belshazzar (Dan. 5:1-31). The mystical Babylon is ultimately meant.

JFB: Isa 14:4

Rather, "the exactress of gold" [MAURER]. But the old translators read differently in the Hebrew, "oppression," which the parallelism favors (compare Isa 3:5).

JFB: Isa 14:5

Not the scepter (Psa 2:9), but the staff with which one strikes others, as he is speaking of more tyrants than one (Isa 9:4; Isa 10:24; Isa 14:29) [MAURER].

JFB: Isa 14:5

Tyrants, as the parallelism "the wicked" proves (compare see on Isa 13:2).

JFB: Isa 14:6

The peoples subjected to Babylon.

JFB: Isa 14:6

The Hebrew is rather, active, "which persecuted them, without any to hinder him" [Vulgate, JEROME, and HORSLEY].

JFB: Isa 14:7

The once subject nations of the whole earth. HOUBIGANT places the stop after "fir trees" (Isa 14:8), "The very fir trees break forth," &c. But the parallelism is better in English Version.

JFB: Isa 14:8

Now left undisturbed. Probably a kind of evergreen.

JFB: Isa 14:8

(Psa 96:12). At thy fall (Psa 35:19, Psa 35:24).

JFB: Isa 14:8

As formerly, when thou wast in power (Isa 10:34; Isa 37:24).

Hades (the Amenthes of Egypt), the unseen abode of the departed; some of its tenants, once mighty monarchs, are represented by a bold personification as rising from their seats in astonishment at the descent among them of the humbled king of Babylon. This proves, in opposition to WARBURTON [The Divine Legation], that the belief existed among the Jews that there was a Sheol or Hades, in which the "Rephaim" or manes of the departed abode.

JFB: Isa 14:9

Put into agitation.

JFB: Isa 14:9

That is, "at thee"; towards thee; explained by "to meet thee at thy coming" [MAURER].

JFB: Isa 14:9

Literally, "goats"; so rams, leaders of the flock; princes (Zec 10:3). The idea of wickedness on a gigantic scale is included (Eze 34:17; Mat 25:32-33). MAGEE derives "Rephaim" (English Version, "the dead") from a Hebrew root, "to resolve into first elements"; so "the deceased" (Isa 26:14) "ghosts" (Pro 21:16). These being magnified by the imagination of the living into gigantic stature, gave their name to giants in general (Gen 6:4; Gen 14:5; Eze 32:18, Eze 32:21). "Rephaim," translated in the Septuagint, "giants" (compare see on Job 26:5-6). Thence, as the giant Rephaim of Canaan were notorious even in that guilty land, enormous wickedness became connected with the term. So the Rephaim came to be the wicked spirits in Gehenna, the lower of the two portions into which Sheol is divided.

JFB: Isa 14:10

They taunt him and derive from his calamity consolation under their own (Eze 31:16).

JFB: Isa 14:10

As a shade bereft of blood and life. Rephaim, "the dead," may come from a Hebrew root, meaning similarly "feeble," "powerless." The speech of the departed closes with Isa 14:11.

JFB: Isa 14:11

"Pomp" and music, the accompaniment of Babylon's former feastings (Isa 5:12; Isa 24:8), give place to the corruption and the stillness of the grave (Eze 32:27).

JFB: Isa 14:11

That is bred in putridity.

JFB: Isa 14:11

Properly those from which the crimson dye is obtained. Appropriate here; instead of the crimson coverlet, over thee shall be "worms." Instead of the gorgeous couch, "under thee" shall be the maggot.

The language is so framed as to apply to the Babylonian king primarily, and at the same time to shadow forth through him, the great final enemy, the man of sin, Antichrist, of Daniel, St. Paul, and St. John; he alone shall fulfil exhaustively all the lineaments here given.

JFB: Isa 14:12

"day star." A title truly belonging to Christ (Rev 22:16), "the bright and morning star," and therefore hereafter to be assumed by Antichrist. GESENIUS, however, renders the Hebrew here as in Eze 21:12; Zec 11:2, "howl."

JFB: Isa 14:12

"prostrate"; as in Exo 17:13, "discomfit."

Clarke: Isa 14:1

And will yet choose Israel - That is, will still regard Israel as his chosen people; however he may seem to desert them, by giving them up to their enemies, and scattering them among the nations. Judah is sometimes called Israel; see Eze 13:16; Mal 1:1; Mal 2:11 : but the name of Jacob and of Israel, used apparently with design in this place, each of which names includes the twelve tribes, and the other circumstances mentioned in this and the next verse, which did not in any complete sense accompany the return from the captivity of Babylon, seem to intimate that this whole prophecy extends its views beyond that event.

Clarke: Isa 14:2

For servants and handmaids - For thrallis and thrallesses. - Old Bible. Male and female slaves.

Clarke: Isa 14:3

In the day "In that day"- ביום ההוא bayom hahu . The word ההוא hahu is added in two MSS. of Kennicott’ s, and was in the copies from which the Septuagint and Vulgate translated: εν τῃ ἡμερᾳ εκεινῃ, in die illa , ( ᾑ αναπαυσει, MS. Pachom. adding ה ), in that day. This is a matter of no great consequence: however, it restores the text to the common form, almost constantly used on such occasions; and is one among many instances of a word apparently lost out of the printed copies.

Clarke: Isa 14:4

This proverb "This parable"- משל mashal , I take this to be the general name for poetic style among the Hebrews, including every sort of it, as ranging under one or other, or all of the characters, of sententious, figurative, and sublime; which are all contained in the original notion, or in the use and application of the word mashal . Parables or proverbs, such as those of Solomon, are always expressed in short pointed sentences; frequently figurative, being formed on some comparison; generally forcible and authoritative, both in the matter and the form. And such in general is the style of the Hebrew poetry. The verb mashal signifies to rule; to exercise authority; to make equal; to compare one thing with another; to utter parables, or acute, weighty, and powerful speeches, in the form and manner of parables, though not properly such. Thus Balaam’ s first prophecy, (Num 23:7-10), is called his mashal ; though it has hardly any thing figurative in it: but it is beautifully sententious, and, from the very form and manner of it, has great spirit, force, and energy. Thus Job’ s last speeches, in answer to his three friends, chap. 27-31, are called mashals ; from no one particular character, which discriminates them from the rest of the poem, but from the sublime, the figurative, the sententious manner which equally prevails through the whole poem, and makes it one of the first and most eminent examples extant of the truly great and beautiful in poetic style. See the note on Pro 1:1 (note)

The Septuagint in this place render the word by θρηνος, a lamentation. They plainly consider the speech here introduced as a piece of poetry, and of that species of poetry which we call the elegiac; either from the subject, it being a poem on the fall and death of the king of Babylon, or from the form of the composition, which is of the longer sort of Hebrew verse, in which the Lamentations of Jeremiah, called by the Septuagint Θρηνοι, are written

The golden city ceased - מדהבה madhebah , which is here translated golden city, is a Chaldee word. Probably it means that golden coin or ingot which was given to the Babylonians by way of tribute. So the word is understood by the Vulgate, where it is rendered tributum ; and by Montanus, who translates it aurea pensio , the golden pension. Kimchi seems to have understood the word in the same sense. De Rossi translates it auri dives , rich in gold, or auri exactrix , the exactor of gold; the same as the exactor of tribute.

Clarke: Isa 14:9

Hell from beneath is moved for thee to meet thee - That is, Nebuchadnezzar. "It (hell) hath raised up from their thrones all the kings of the earth; - the ghosts (rephaim) of all the mighty ones, or goats, ( עתודי attudey ), of the earth - all the oppressors of mankind."What a most terrible idea is here! Tyrannical kings who have oppressed and spoiled mankind, are here represented as enthroned in hell; and as taking a Satanic pleasure in seeing others of the same description enter those abodes of misery!

Clarke: Isa 14:11

Cover thee "Thy covering"- Twenty-eight MSS. (ten ancient) of Kennicott’ s, thirty-nine of De Rossi’ s, twelve editions, with the Septuagint and Vulgate, read ומכסך umechassecha , in the singular number.

Clarke: Isa 14:12

O Lucifer, son of the morning - The Versions in general agree in this translation, and render הילל heilel as signifying Lucifer, Φωσφωρος, the morning star, whether Jupiter or Venus; as these are both bringers of the morning light, or morning stars, annually in their turn. And although the context speaks explicitly concerning Nebuchadnezzar, yet this has been, I know not why, applied to the chief of the fallen angels, who is most incongruously denominated Lucifer, (the bringer of light!) an epithet as common to him as those of Satan and Devil. That the Holy Spirit by his prophets should call this arch-enemy of God and man the light-bringer, would be strange indeed. But the truth is, the text speaks nothing at all concerning Satan nor his fall, nor the occasion of that fall, which many divines have with great confidence deduced from this text. O how necessary it is to understand the literal meaning of Scripture, that preposterous comments may be prevented! Besides, I doubt much whether our translation be correct. הילל heilel , which we translate Lucifer, comes from ילל yalal , yell, howl, or shriek, and should be translated, "Howl, son of the morning;"and so the Syriac has understood it; and for this meaning Michaelis contends: see his reasons in Parkhurst, under הלל halal .

Calvin: Isa 14:1

1.For the LORD will have compassion on Jacob The particle כי ( ki) having various significations, we might take it as signifying But, and might connect this verse with the former verse in the following manner: But (or, yet) the Lord will have compassion on Jacob. But I consider it to be better and more appropriate to view the particle כי ( ki), in this as well as in many other passages, as used for assigning a reason; and thus the meaning will be, “God will destroy Babylon, because he will have compassion on Israel, whom he cannot despise or reject.” Hence we see that the Prophet had hitherto endeavored to soothe the grief of a wretched people, in order to inform them that they ought to entertain good hopes in the midst of their afflictions, of which God would be the avenger. (Psa 94:1.) Here, therefore, as in a picture, Babylon is contrasted with the Church of God; Babylon, I say, elevated to the highest power, which had plunged the Church into such a miserable and afflicted condition, that it was not probable that she could ever be raised up again. But the Lord casts down Babylon from her lofty situation, and thus testifies that he cares for his people, however mean and despicable they may be. It yields very great consolation to us to learn that the whole world is governed by God for our salvation. All things are directed to this object, that those whom he has elected may be saved, and may not be overwhelmed by any changes, however numerous, that shall befall them.

It will be asked, Was there a period during which God had no compassion ? Undoubtedly, he always had compassion; but while the people were distressed by heavy calamities, it was not perceived; for, having their minds previously occupied with a view of God’s anger, and, judging from outward appearances, they could not perceive God’s compassion. Yet the Lord was always like himself, and never laid aside his nature. Thus it is proper to distinguish between the knowledge which springs from faith and the knowledge which springs from experience; for when the tokens of God’s anger are visible all around, and when the judgment of the flesh leads us to believe that he is angry, his favor is concealed from us; but faith raises our hearts above this darkness, to behold God in heaven as reconciled towards us. What follows is somewhat more startling.

And will yet choose Israel, or, will again choose Israel. God’s election is eternal. He does not choose us as if this had never before come into his mind; and as we were chosen before the foundation of the world, (Eph 1:4,) so he never repents of his choice. (Rom 11:29.) But when the Lord chastises his people, this has the appearance of rejecting them; as we learn from the frequent complaints of the saints, Lord, why hast thou cast us off ? (Psa 74:1.) We look at God’s rejection or election according to our weakness, and judge of his feelings toward us by the outward action. (I speak of the knowledge which is derived from experience, and which is corrected by the light of faith.) Accordingly, when the Lord calls us, that is, confirms his election, he is said to choose us; and when he gives evidence that he is displeased, he is said to reject us. The meaning, therefore, is, “Though the Lord has treated his people so severely, as if he had rejected them; yet by the actual event he will at length show and prove that he has adopted them, by giving abundant evidence of his election, and by having compassion on them for ever.”

We now may readily conclude what we have already said, namely, that the chastisements which the godly endure are widely different from that deadly stroke, however light it may be, which is inflicted on the ungodly. The godly are immediately led to consider their election, the confident belief of which cheers their hearts; but the ungodly see nothing but darkness, bottomless pits, and frightful desolation on all sides. Whenever, therefore, the Lord chastises us, we ought immediately to call to remembrance this distinction, that we may strengthen our hearts by the hope of a happier condition.

And shall cause them to rest in their own land In their return he holds out an evidence of favor and reconciliation; for to the children of Abraham the land of Canaan was a pledge of their adoption.

And the stranger shall be joined to them The Prophet foretells the calling of the Gentiles; as if he had said, “Not only will the Lord restore them to the possession of the land of Canaan, but will enlarge them by a great increase; for he will associate the Gentiles with them, that the two peoples may become one and the same body.” This benefit, therefore, is not limited to a short period, but extends to the whole Church, which the Lord promises to place in safety; for he speaks, not of the Church in his own time, but of the Church which shall be till the kingdom of Christ, and during his kingdom; otherwise that addition would have been inappropriate.

Calvin: Isa 14:2

2.And the peoples shall take them He means that the foreign nations will be willing to become their companions, and in such a manner that they will not scruple to discharge the duties of servants. An instance of this was given, (Ezr 1:6,) when the people were brought back from Babylon; but that was only a slight foretaste of those things which were accomplished by Christ, to whom all these statements must be referred. The Lord softened the hearts of the nations, who regarded that people with deadly hatred, so that by their guidance he brought them back to their native country, and bestowed on them their former liberty. But so far were many of the nations from assisting the Jews, after their return from Babylon, that all the neighbors earnestly entered into a league to distress them. (Ezr 4:4.) They certainly attempted not only to banish them from the land of Canaan, but to drive them entirely out of the world. These things therefore were done in the kingdom of Christ, to whom

has been given all power, not only in earth, but also in heaven, (Mat 28:18,)

and by whom the Gentiles, who formerly had been strangers, were united to the Jews, so as not only to assist them in keeping their inheritance, but also to submit calmly and willingly to bear the yoke. It is with this view that he adds —

And the house of Israel shall possess them in the land of the LORD for servants and handmaids The Jews being in some sort the first-born (Exo 4:22) in the house of God, we who are joined to them appear as if we had assembled under their roof; for they go before us, and hold the highest rank above all the nations, and undoubtedly would still hold it, if they did not by their ingratitude deprive themselves of these great privileges. And yet their ingratitude did not hinder the Lord from actually performing these things; for the Apostles, being Jews, subdued foreign nations by the word of God, and even those very nations by whom they were formerly carried captive, and to whom they had been tributaries, such as the Assyrians, Chaldeans, and Persians, and finally, the Roman empire; so that all the nations might justly be called their inheritance, though they did not wish to rule over them, but to gain them to God, that they might acknowledge the same Lord and Prince as themselves. These statements must therefore be referred to the dominion and yoke of Christ, to whom the Jews subdued the Gentiles, not to a government of an outward nature, such as the Jews falsely imagine.

Calvin: Isa 14:3

3.And it shall be in that day He adds a confirmation of the former promises. In this way the Lord provides for our weakness; for we find it difficult to render a full belief to his word, especially when the state of our affairs appears to contradict it. But by this method the Lord chooses to put our faith to the test, when he still promises the salvation of which all hope has been taken away.

From thy sorrow, and from thy trembling, and from thy hard bondage He confirms what he has said by a variety of expressions, that, by removing all doubt, we may not cease to rely on his promises, even when our affairs are desperate. Yet by the same considerations he at the same time exhorts the Jews to gratitude, that they may never bury in forgetfulness a work of God so excellent and so worthy of remembrance. He expressly intended to mention the yoke and bondage, that the Jews might be fully aware that the Lord would take away these obstructions whenever he pleased, and that they could not at all prevent him from immediately delivering his people, when he thought fit. We ought also to apply this to our own use, in the present day, with reference to the wretched bondage and wicked yoke of Antichrist by which Christians are bound. Though they are confined and bound by snares and chains in every direction, they have God for their deliverer, who will quickly remove all difficulties and every kind of annoyances; and this ought to be extended to all sorrows, distresses, and afflictions.

Calvin: Isa 14:4

4.Then thou shalt take up this saying ²¹³ By the term witty saying, or parable, (for the Hebrew word משל ( mashal) denotes “sayings that are weighty and remarkable, and worthy of being observed,”) he shows that the ruin of Babylon will be so great that it will even become a proverb, which usually happens in great and astonishing events.

How hath the oppressor ceased? The word How throws it into the form of a question expressive of astonishment and ridicule. It might be thought incredible that Babylon, furnished with such abundant wealth and forces, should be overturned and fall into the hands of the enemy. Justly, therefore, does he ridicule their foolish and vain confidence, that, being swelled with haughtiness, they thought that they were invincible, and were placed beyond the reach of all danger.

Yet it may be thought to be inconsistent with the modesty of godly persons to scoff at the misery of others, for they ought rather to have pitied them. But it is not inconsistent with compassion, when our zeal is regulated by the justice of the judgment of God; for in that case we may with human feelings compassionate those who perish through their folly, and at the same time laugh at their insolence and madness. As the Lord scoffs at them, laughing at their senselessness, so he bids us, through zeal for his glory, mock at them; not that we may be swelled with impudence, but that we may praise his goodness and power. By this example, therefore, we may scoff at the enemies of God, when they are vanquished or brought down, as we may scoff at Antichrist, whose power we daily see diminished and gradually falling into decay.

How hath the city covetous of gold ceased! ²¹⁴ The word מדהבה , ( madhebah,) in this clause, might be rendered golden, or ornamented with gold; but as it is connected with the word Oppressor or Tyrant, it probably denotes covetousness and insatiable greediness for gold, to which the Babylonians were subject. It is usually the case with great empires and states and wealthy nations, that the greater their abundance, the stronger is their greediness to possess more. ²¹⁵

Calvin: Isa 14:5

5.The Lord hath broken the staff of the wicked He answers the question which has just been put; for he did not intend that believers should doubt that it would happen, but rather that they should be amazed at such wonderful works of God; for the question had a tendency to arouse their minds to more earnest attention. It is as if he had said that it did not happen at random or through the blind violence of fortune that they have not been oppressed by continual bondage, but that it ought to be ascribed to the providence of God, who hath broken that hard yoke of bondage. Now, the ungodly are amazed at such works, and remain bewildered, because they do not see the reason; but the godly know that this ought to be ascribed to God. Let us therefore learn to admire the works of God, and while we are amazed at them, let us acknowledge him to be the Author; and let us not think that any of them ought to be lightly passed over, especially when he displays his power for redeeming his Church, when by his wonderful power he delivers each of us from the bondage of the devil, from the tyranny of Antichrist, from eternal death. It is no ordinary work, of which any part ought to be ascribed to the power of man or to any other cause.

To the staff of the wicked he adds the sceptre of the rulers; and by this repetition he means that no imperial power can support unjust tyranny. And immediately afterwards he states more clearly that the monarchy of the Babylonians would be destroyed, because it was unjust and tyrannical, when he says (Isa 14:6) that the people had been struck with an incurable stroke, ²¹⁶ and that there was no limit to the violence, because they had rioted with impunity in unbounded licentiousness. This reminds us that at length God will not spare tyrants, though he may wink at them for a time. The same destruction awaits them as, we learn, befell Babylon; for the Lord is righteous, (Psa 11:7,) and is always like himself.

Calvin: Isa 14:7

7. and 8.They break forth into singing Here he shows how greatly tyrants are hated by the whole world. When they are dead or ruined, all men break forth into joy, and express the feelings which they formerly entertained towards the tyrants, and which they dissembled through fear. Then do their hatred and spite burst forth, and not only do men make known their joy, but even the dumb creatures, as the Prophet, for the sake of amplification, adds the fir-trees and the cedars. As tyranny overturns everything, so when tyranny is done away, everything appears to be restored to its original condition.

Since thou art laid down, no feller is come up against us To make the discourse more energetic, he adds a personification, in which he introduces the trees as speaking and congratulating themselves that, since the tyrant is dead, they will now stand gladly and at ease. The design of the Prophet is to show, that the Heavenly Judge cannot endure tyrants, who are abhorred by the whole world. Hence, we ought to conclude that, though under the sway of tyrants unhappy men are silent, and do not venture to open their mouths, yet the Lord listens to their secret groans. Let us not wonder therefore that tyrants come to such a dismal end; for God, who is a witness of the injuries which they have inflicted, must in the exercise of his justice assist the innocent.

Calvin: Isa 14:9

9.Hell from beneath is moved for thee ²¹⁷ As he had formerly attributed gladness to the trees, so now, by a similar figure, he attributes speech to the dead ²¹⁸ He arouses them, as it were, from their graves, to mock at the pride of this tyrant. The whole passage is ironical, and full of keen sarcasm. At the approach of kings, the people tremble, and come forth to meet and receive them with pompous display. The Prophet makes a fictitious representation, that when this tyrant shall die and go down to the grave, the dead will go forth to meet and honor him, but with such honor as he deserves. As if he had said, “Not only the living, but also the dead will rejoice at his death. The dead also will treat him respectfully according to his deserts.”

Calvin: Isa 14:10

10.All shall speak and say to thee These are taunts with which the dead jeer the tyrant who has joined them, as if they asked him what is the reason why he too is dead like other men. Struck with the singularity of the event, Isaiah pretends that they inquire with astonishment about it as something that could not be believed.

Art thou become like unto us? Tyrants are blinded by their greatness, and do not think that they are mortal, and even make themselves to be half-gods and adore themselves. On this account it is made known after their death that they shared in the condition of all mortals, to which they did not think that they were liable. It is in this sense that the dead, not without bitter scorn, reproach him for having become like unto themselves; for “death alone,” as the poet says, “acknowledges how small are the dimensions of the bodies of men.” ²¹⁹ David also, speaking of princes and their high rank, says,

I have said, ye are gods; but you shall die like men, and fall like one of the common people. (Psa 82:6.)

The bodies of princes, like those of the common people, must at length become corrupted and be devoured by worms, even though costly and splendid sepulchres be built for them.

Calvin: Isa 14:11

11.Thy pomp is laid down in the grave He mentions royal pomp, that this change may be more attentively considered by comparing the latter with the former; and he shows that that pomp could not prevent him from being reduced to the same level with other men. Under the term musical instruments, he includes all the luxuries and enjoyments in which kings are wont to indulge; because not only does the sweetness of music cause them to forget death, but the mad sound of them drives away all sadness, and in some respects stupifies the minds of men.

The worm is spread under thee, and the worms cover thee In this second clause, the dead say jestingly, “Thou hast obtained a bed worthy of thee; for the worms serve thee for tapestry or a soft couch, and the worm serves for a splendid coverlet.” In a word, there is here exhibited to us a lively painting of the foolish confidence of men, who, intoxicated with their present enjoyments and prosperity, flatter themselves. This doctrine ought to be carefully pondered; for though men be well aware of their condition, and have death before their eyes, yet overrun by ambition, and soothed by pleasures, and even fascinated by empty show, they forget themselves.

Calvin: Isa 14:12

12.How art thou fallen from heaven! Isaiah proceeds with the discourse which he had formerly begun as personating the dead, and concludes that the tyrant differs in no respect from other men, though his object was to lead men to believe that he was some god. He employs an elegant metaphor, by comparing him to Lucifer, and calls him the Son of the Dawn; ²²⁰ and that on account of his splendor and brightness with which he shone above others. The exposition of this passage, which some have given, as if it referred to Satan, has arisen from ignorance; for the context plainly shows that these statements must be understood in reference to the king of the Babylonians. But when passages of Scripture are taken up at random, and no attention is paid to the context, we need not wonder that mistakes of this kind frequently arise. Yet it was an instance of very gross ignorance, to imagine that Lucifer was the king of devils, and that the Prophet gave him this name. But as these inventions have no probability whatever, let us pass by them as useless fables.

Casting the lot upon the nations, or weakening the nations. ²²¹ Translators have mistaken the meaning of this clause, by rendering the participle הולש ( holesh) passively, Thou art become weak, for its signification is active. But as the verb from which it is derived signifies to cast a lot, and as the preposition על , ( gnal,) upon, is here added, it is best to take it in this meaning, that, as the ruler and disposer of all countries, he directed them by lot, or held them as his own possessions. And yet I do not reject the other meaning, that he weakened the nations

Defender: Isa 14:4

Isaiah 13 and 14 predict the ultimate fall of Babylon at a time even before the kingdom of Babylon became dominant. In Isaiah's time, the Assyrian empire was the leading nation."

Defender: Isa 14:7

There has never been a year since Isaiah's time that the whole earth was at rest. This prophecy can never be fulfilled until the return of Christ when Babylon and all it stands for are destroyed."

Defender: Isa 14:9

Hebrew sheol means the place of departed spirits. The picture here is a graphic description of the slain king of Babylon being welcomed into hell by the already dead kings of earlier nations."

Defender: Isa 14:12

Although the prophecy is directed toward the earthly king of Babylon (Isa 14:4), here it goes far beyond him (he could never fall from heaven) to the wicked spirit possessing his body and inspiring his actions. Just as Satan possessed and used the serpent's body in Eden, so he does here with Babylon's king.

Defender: Isa 14:12

"Lucifer" means "shining one" and is rendered "day-star" in some translations. This is the only time it occurs in the Bible, but clearly seems intended as a name for Satan and has been so used throughout history. Many New Age and pantheistic cults have adopted Lucifer as their "god.""

TSK: Isa 14:1

the Lord : Isa 40:1, Isa 40:2, Isa 44:21, Isa 44:22, Isa 54:7, Isa 54:8; Lev 26:40-45; Deu 4:29-31; Neh 1:8, Neh 1:9; Psa 98:3, Psa 102:13, Psa 136:10-24, Psa 143:12; Jer 50:4-6, Jer 50:17-20,Jer 50:33; Jer 51:4-6, Jer 51:34-37; Luk 1:54, Luk 1:72-74

choose : Isa 27:6; Zec 1:17, Zec 2:12

set : Deu 30:3-5; Jer 24:6, Jer 24:7, Jer 29:14, Jer 30:18-22, Jer 31:8-12, Jer 32:37-41; Eze 36:24-28, Eze 39:25-29

the strangers : Isa 19:24, Isa 19:25, Isa 49:16-23, Isa 56:6-8, Isa 60:3-5, Isa 66:20; Rth 1:14-18; Est 8:17; Jer 12:15, Jer 12:16; Zec 2:11, Zec 8:22, Zec 8:23; Mal 1:11; Luk 2:32; Act 15:14-17; Eph 2:12-19

TSK: Isa 14:2

and the house : Isa 18:7, Isa 60:9-12, Isa 61:5; Ezr 2:65; Rom 15:27; 2Co 8:4, 2Co 8:5; Gal 5:13

and they : Psa 68:18; 2Co 10:5; Eph 4:8

whose captives they were : Heb. that had taken them captives, they shall rule over Isa 60:14; Jer 30:16; Dan 7:18, Dan 7:25-27; Zec 14:2, Zec 14:3; Rev 3:9, Rev 11:11-18; Rev 18:20-24

TSK: Isa 14:3

Isa 12:1, Isa 32:18; Deu 28:48, Deu 28:65-68; Ezr 9:8, Ezr 9:9; Jer 30:10, Jer 46:27, Jer 46:28, Jer 50:34; Eze 28:24; Zec 8:2, Zec 8:8; Rev 18:20, Rev 19:1-3

TSK: Isa 14:4

proverb : or, taunting speech, Jer 24:9; Eze 5:15; Hab 2:6

How : Isa 14:6, Isa 14:17, Isa 47:5, Isa 49:26, Isa 51:23; Jer 25:9-14, Jer 27:6, Jer 27:7, Jer 50:22, Jer 50:23; Jer 51:20-24, Jer 51:34, Jer 51:35; Dan 7:19-25; Hab 1:2-10, Hab 2:6-12, Hab 2:17; Rev 13:15-17, Rev 16:5, Rev 16:6, Rev 17:6, Rev 18:5-8, Rev 18:20

golden city : or, exactress of gold, Isa 13:19, Isa 45:2, Isa 45:3; 2Ch 36:18; Lam 4:1; Dan 2:38; Rev 18:16

TSK: Isa 14:5

Isa 14:29, Isa 9:4, Isa 10:5; Psa 125:3; Jer 48:15-17

TSK: Isa 14:6

who smote : Isa 33:1, Isa 47:6; 2Ch 36:17; Jer 25:9; Dan 7:19-21; Jam 2:13

continual stroke : Heb. a stroke without removing

is persecuted : Isa 13:14-18, Isa 21:1-10, Isa 47:1-15; Jer 25:26, Jer 50:31; Rev 17:16, Rev 17:17, Rev 18:8-10

and none : Isa 46:10,Isa 46:11; Job 9:13; Pro 21:30; Dan 4:35

TSK: Isa 14:7

they : Isa 49:13; Psa 96:11-13, Psa 98:7-9, Psa 126:1-3; Pro 11:10; Jer 51:48; Rev 18:20; Rev 19:1-6

TSK: Isa 14:8

Isa 55:12, Isa 55:13; Eze 31:16; Zec 11:2

TSK: Isa 14:9

Hell : or, The grave

from : Pro 15:24

is moved : Eze 32:21-32

chief ones : Heb. leaders, or, great goats, Jer 50:8

TSK: Isa 14:10

Art thou also : Psa 49:6-14, Psa 49:20, Psa 82:6, Psa 82:7; Ecc 2:16; Luk 16:20-23

TSK: Isa 14:11

pomp : Isa 21:4, Isa 21:5, Isa 22:2; Job 21:11-15; Eze 26:13, Eze 32:19, Eze 32:20; Dan 5:1-4, Dan 5:25-30; Amo 6:3-7; Rev 18:11-19

the worm : Isa 66:24; Job 17:13, Job 17:14, Job 24:19, Job 24:20; Mar 9:43-48

TSK: Isa 14:12

How art thou fallen : Isa 13:10, Isa 34:4; Eze 28:13-17; Luk 10:18; 2Pe 2:4; Rev 12:7-10

Lucifer : or, day-star, 2Pe 1:19; Rev 2:28, Rev 22:16

weaken : Isa 14:4-6; Jer 50:23, Jer 51:20-24

Commentary -- Word/Phrase Notes (per Verse)

Barnes: Isa 14:1

For the Lord will have mercy on Jacob - That is, he will pity the captive Jews in Babylon. He will not abandon them, but will remember them, and restore them to their own land.

And will yet choose Israel - Will show that he regards them as still his chosen people; or will again "choose"them by recovering them from their bondage, and by restoring them to their country as his people. The names ‘ Jacob’ and ‘ Israel’ here simply denote the Jews. They do not imply that all of those who were to be carried captive would return, but that as a people they would be restored.

And set them ... - Hebrew, ‘ Will cause them to rest in their own country;’ that is, will give them peace, quietness, and security there.

And the stranger shall be joined to them - The ‘ stranger,’ here, probably refers to those foreigners who would become proselytes to their religion, while they were in Babylon. Those proselytes would be firmly united with them, and would return with them to their own land. Their captivity would be attended with this advantage, that many even of those who led them away, would be brought to embrace their religion, and to return with them to their own country. If it is asked what "evidence"there is that any considerable number of the people of Chaldea became Jewish proselytes, I answer, that it is expressly stated in Est 8:17 : ‘ And many of the people of the land became Jews, for the fear of the Jews fell upon them. Ezra, indeed, has not mentioned the fact, that many of the people of Babylonia became proselytes to the religion of the Jews, but it is in accordance with all that we know of their history, and their influence on the nations with which, from time to time, they were connected, that many should have been thus joined to them. We know that in subsequent times many of other nations became proselytes, and that multitudes of the Egyptians, the Macedonians, the Romans, and the inhabitants of Asia Minor, embraced the Jewish religion, or became what were called ‘ proselytes of the gate.’ They were circumcised, and were regarded as entitled to a part of the privileges of the Jewish people (see Act 2:9-11; compare Act 17:4, Act 17:17). Tacitus, speaking of his time, says, that every abandoned man, despising the religion of his country, bears tribute and revenue to Jerusalem, whence it happens that the number of the Jews is greatly increased.’ - ("Hist."v. 5.) That the Jews, therefore, who were in Babylon should induce many of the Chaldeans during their long captivity to become proselytes, is in accordance with all their history.

Barnes: Isa 14:2

And the people shall take them - That is, the people in Babylon.

And bring them to their place - That is, they shall attend them to the land of Judea, and aid in restoring them to their own country. There is reference here, doubtless, to the fact that Cyrus would assist them (compare Ezr 1:1-11), and that many of the inhabitants of Chaldea who would become proselytes, would be willing to accompany them to their own land.

And the house of Israel shall possess them in the land of the Lord - Not in a foreign land, and among strangers and foes, but in their own land, and among the institutions of their own religion. They would be willing to return with them, and occupy a humble place among them, as servants, for the sake of enjoying the privileges of the true religion. It was a matter of course among the Hebrews, that proselytes would be regarded as occupying a less elevated place in society than native-born Jews.

And they shall take them captive ... - That is, they shall induce them to become proselytes; to be willing to accompany them to their own homes, and to become their servants there. It does not mean that they would subdue them by force; but they would be able, by their influence there, to disarm their opposition; and to induce them to become the friends of their religion.

And they shall rule over their oppressors - This is one instance where the people of God would show that they could disarm their oppressors by a mild and winning demeanour, and in which they would be able to induce others to join with them. Such would be the force of their example and conduct, of their conversation and of their deportment, even in the midst of proud and haughty Babylon, that their oppressors would be won to embrace the religion of their captives. If, in proud and haughty Babylon, those who loved the Lord could thus do good; if, when they were "captives,"they could have such an influence over their haughty masters, where is there a place in which the friends of God may not be useful by their example, their conversation, and their prayers?

Barnes: Isa 14:3

And it shall come to pass - That is, then thou shalt take up a taunting song against the king of Babylon Isa 14:4.

That the Lord shall give thee rest - (compare Isa 38:12). The nature of this predicted rest, is more fully described in Eze 28:25-26.

From thy sorrow - The long pain of thy captivity in Babylon.

And from thy fear - Hebrew, ‘ Trembling.’ That is, the apprehension of the ills to which they were continually exposed. Trembling is usually one effect of fear.

And from thy hard bondage - The severe and galling servitude of seventy years.

Barnes: Isa 14:4

That thou shalt take up - Thou shalt utter, declare, or commence. The word ‘ take up,’ is used in the sense of utter, speak, or declare, in Exo 20:7; Exo 23:1; Psa 15:2.

This proverb - ( המשׁל hamâshâl ). Vulgate, ‘ Parable.’ Septuagint Τὸν ρῆνον ton thrēnon - ‘ Lamentation.’ The Hebrew word משׁל mâshâl , usually rendered "proverb,"is also rendered "a parable,"or "a by-word."It properly denotes "a metaphor, a comparison, a similitude;"and is applied usually to a brief and pungent sentiment or maxim, where wisdom is embodied in few words. In these the ancients abounded. They had few books; and hence arose the necessity of condensing as much as possible the sentiments of wisdom, that they might be easily remembered, and transmitted to future times. These maxims were commonly expressed in figurative language, or by a brief comparison, or short parable, as they are with us. The word also means, figurative discourse generally; and hence, a song or poem Num 23:7, Num 23:18; Job 27:1; Job 29:1; Psa 49:5. It is also used to denote a satire, or a song of triumph over enemies Mic 2:4; Heb 4:6; Joe 2:17. It is evidently used in this sense here - to denote a taunting speech, a song of triumph over the prostrate king of Babylon. In this beautiful song, there are all the elements of the most pungent satire, and all the beauties of the highest poetry.

Against the king of Babylon - Over the king of Babylon, or in regard to him. It is not certain that any particular king of Babylon is here intended. If there was, it was probably Belshazzar, in whose reign the city was taken (see the notes at Isa 14:22). It may, however, be designed to denote the Babylonian empire - the kingdom that had oppressed the Jews; and thus the king may be referred to as the head of the nation, and as the representative of the whole people.

How hath the oppressor ceased! - The word ‘ oppressor’ ( נגשׂ nogēs' ) denotes, properly, the "exactor of tribute,"and refers here to the fact that Babylon had oppressed its dependent provinces, by exacting large revenues from them, and thus cruelly oppressing them.

Ceased - Ceased to exact tribute; or (Hebrew) ‘ is at rest.’ It is now at rest, and no more puts forth its power in oppressing its dependent provinces.

The golden city - Babylon. The word used here ( מדהבה mad^e hēbâh ) occurs nowhere else in the Bible. According to the Jewish Commentators, it means "an exactress of gold,"as if derived from דהב d^e hab , used for זהב z^e hab , gold. Gesenius and Michaelis prefer another reading ( מרהבה mar^e hēbâh ), from ( רהב râhab ), and suppose that it means oppression. The Vulgate renders it "tribute"- ‘ The tribute hath ceased.’ The Septuagint Ἐπισπουδαστής Epispoudastēs - ‘ Solicitor, or exactor (of gold).’ Vitringa supposes that the word means "gold,"and that it refers to the golden scepter of its kings that had now ceased to be swayed over the prostrate nations. The most probable sense is, that it means the exactress of gold, or of tribute. This best expresses the force of the word, and best agrees with the parallelism. In this sense it does not refer to the magnificence of the city, but to its oppressive acts in demanding tribute of gold from its dependent provinces.

Barnes: Isa 14:5

The Lord hath broken - Yahweh, by the hand of Cyrus.

The staff of the wicked - That is, the scepter of the king of Babylon. The word rendered ‘ staff’ ( מטה maṭēh ) may mean either a bough, stick, staff, rod, or a scepter. The scepter was the symbol of supreme power. It was in the form of a staff, and was made of wood, ivory, or gold. It here means that Yahweh had taken away the power from Babylon, and destroyed his dominion.

Barnes: Isa 14:6

He who smote - This may either refer to the king of Babylon, or to the rod or scepter which he had used, and which was now broken. Herder refers it to the scepter, ‘ that which smote the nations.’ (On the meaning of the word "smote,"see the notes at Isa 10:20)

The people - The nations that were subject to his authority.

With a continual stroke - Margin, ‘ A stroke without removing.’ Vulgate, Plaga insanabili - ‘ With an incurable plague.’ - Septuagint the same - Πληγῇ ἀνιάτῳ Plēgē aniatō . The Hebrew is, as in the margin, ‘ A smiting without removing,’ or without cessation. There was no relaxation in its oppressions, it was always engaged in acts of tyranny.

He that ruled the nations - Babylon was the capital of a vast empire, and that empire was composed of many dependent nations.

Is persecuted - By those that make war upon it. Its turn had come to be oppressed, and overthrown.

And none hindereth - No nation opposes the invader. None of the dependent kingdoms of Babylon have any real attachment to it, but all rejoice at its downfall. The most mighty kingdom of the earth is helpless and ruined. What a change was this! How sudden and striking the revolution! And what a warning to proud and guilty cities!

Barnes: Isa 14:7

The whole earth is at rest - The kingdom of Babylonia, or Chaldea, extended nearly over the whole pagan world. Now that Babylon was fallen, and that those oppressions would cease, the world is represented as in peace and quietness.

They break forth into singing - That is, the inhabitants of all the nations that were subject to Babylon now rejoice that they are released from its galling and oppressive yoke.

Barnes: Isa 14:8

Yea, the fir trees rejoice at thee - They join with the inhabitants of the nations in rejoicing at thy downfall - for they now, like those inhabitants, are suffered to remain undisturbed. (On the word rendered "fir trees,"see the notes at Isa 1:29.) It is evident that a species of evergreen is meant; and probably some species that grew in Syria or Palestine. The idea is plain. The very forest is represented as rejoicing. It would be safe from the king of Babylon. He could no longer cut it down to build his palaces, or to construct his implements of war. This figure of representing the hills and groves, the trees, the mountains, and the earth, as exulting, or as breaking forth into joy, is common in the Scriptures:

Let the heavens rejoice, and let the earth be glad;

Let the sea roar, and the fulness thereof.

Let the field be joyful, and all that is therein:

Then shall all the trees of the wood rejoice

Before the Lord.

Psa 96:11-13.

Let the floods clap their hands.

Let the hills be joyful together

Before the Lord.

Psa 98:8-9.

Praise the Lord from the earth,

Ye dragons and all deeps;

Fire and hail; snow and vapor;

Stormy wind fulfilling his word:

Mountains and all hills;

Fruitful trees and all cedars.

Psa 148:7-12.

(Compare 1Ch 16:31; Hab 3:10-11.)

The cedars of Lebanon - (note, Isa 10:34). The cedars of Lebanon were much celebrated for building; and it is not impossible that the king of Babylon had obtained timber from that mountain with which to construct his palaces at Babylon. They are now represented as rejoicing that he is fallen, since they would be safe and undisturbed. A similar figure of speech occurs in Virgil, "Ecl."v. 68:

Peace, peace, mild Daphnis loves; with joyous cry.

The untill’ d mountains strike the echoing sky;

And rocks and towers the triumph spread abroad -

‘ A god! Menalcas! Daphnis is a god!’

Wrangham

It is a beautiful figure; and is a fine specimen of the poetry of the Hebrews, where everything is animated, and full of life.

Since thou art laid down - Since thou art dead.

No feller - No one to cut us down. Jowett ("Chris. Res.") makes the following remarks on this passage on his visit to Lebanon: ‘ As we passed through the extensive forest of fir trees situated between Deir-el-Karat and Ainep, we had already heard, at some distance, the stroke of one solitary axe, resounding from hill to hill. On reaching the spot, we found a peasant, whose labor had been so far successful, that he had felled his tree and lopped his branches. He was now hewing it in the middle, so as to balance the two halves upon his camel, which stood patiently by him waiting for his load. In the days of Hiram, king of Tyre, and subsequently under the kings of Babylon, this romantic solitude was not so peaceful; that most poetic image in Isaiah, who makes these very trees vocal, exulting in the downfall of the destroyer of nations, seems now to be almost realized anew - "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."’

Barnes: Isa 14:9

Hell from beneath - The scene is now changed. The prophet had represented the people of all the subject nations as rejoicing that the king of Babylon had fallen, and had introduced even the trees of the forest as breaking forth into joy at this event. He now transfers the scene to the mournful regions of the dead; follows the spirit of the departed king of Babylon - the man who once gloried in the magnificence of his kingdom and his court, and who was more distinguished for pride and arrogance than all other monarchs - down to the land of darkness, and describes his reception there. This portion of the ode is signally sublime, and is managed with great power and skill. It is unequalled, perhaps, by any writings for boldness, majesty, and, at the same time, for its severe sarcasm. The word ‘ hell’ here ( שׁאול sh^e 'ôl ) is rendered by the Vulgate, " infernus ;"and by the Septuagint, ὁ ᾅδης ho Hadēs , "Hades."

It properly means the grave, and then the dark regions of the lower world - the region of ghosts and shades a place where thick darkness reigns. The verb from which it is derived means, properly, "to ask, to demand, to require, to seek;"and this name ( שׁאול sh^e 'ôl ) is supposed to have been given to the grave, and to the regions of departed spirits, from the insatiable demand which they are constantly making of the living (see the note at Isa 5:14, where the word is explained). The word denotes, says Taylor ("Heb. Con."), ‘ The underground parts of the earth, otherwise called the nether, or lower parts of the earth; the earth beneath in opposition to the earth above, where people and other animals live. In "sheol"are the foundations of the mountains Deu 32:22. In "sheol "men penetrate by digging into the earth Amo 9:2. Into "sheol"the roots of trees do strike down Eze 31:16.

Into "sheol,"Korah, Dathan, and Abiram went down alive Num 16:30, Num 16:33. In "sheol"the body is corrupted and consumed by worms Job 17:13-14; Psa 16:10; Psa 49:14. They that rest together in the dust are said "to go down to the bars, or strong gates of sheol"Job 17:16. In "sheol"there is no knowledge, nor can any praise God or give thanks there Psa 6:5; Ecc 9:10; Isa 38:10-11. "Sheol"and the pit, death and corruption, are synonymous Psa 16:10; Psa 89:48; Pro 1:12; Pro 7:27; Eze 31:16; Hos 13:14. A grave is one particular cavity purposely digged for the interment of a dead person; "sheol"is a collective name for all the graves. He that is in the grave is in "sheol;"but he that is in "sheol"may not be in a grave, but in any pit, or in the sea. In short, it is the region of the dead; which is figuratively considered as a city or large habitation with gates and bars in which there are many chambers Pro 7:27.’ "Sheol"is never full, but is always asking or craving more Pro 27:20; Heb 2:5. Here it means, not a place of punishment, but the region of the dead, where the ghosts of the departed are considered as residing together.

From beneath - From beneath the earth. "Sheol"was always represented as being "in"or "under"the ground, and the grave was the avenue or door that led to it (see the note at Isa 5:14.)

Is moved for thee - Is roused to meet thee; is surprised that a monarch once so proud and magnificent is descending to it. The image here is taken from the custom of the ancients in burying, especially of burying princes and kings. This was usually done in caves or sepulchres excavated from a rock (see the notes and illustrations on Isa 66:4). Mr. Stephens, in his "Travels in Egypt, Arabia Petrea, and the Holy land,"has given an account of the manner in which he passed a night in Petra, which may serve to illustrate this passage: ‘ We ascended the valley, and rising to the summit of the rocky rampart, of Petra, it was almost dark when we found ourselves opposite a range of tombs in the suburbs of the city. Here we dismounted; and selecting from among them one which, from its finish and dimensions, must have been the last abode of some wealthy Edomite, we prepared to pass the night within its walls.

In the front part of it was a large chamber, about twenty-five feet square, and ten feet high; and behind this was another of smaller dimensions, furnished with receptacles of the dead, not arranged after the manner of shelves along the wall, as in the catacombs I had seen in Italy and Egypt, but cut lengthwise in the rock, like ovens, so as to admit the insertion of the body with the feet foremost. My plans for the morrow being all arranged, the Bedouins stretched themselves out in the outer chamber, while I went within; and seeking out a tomb as far back as I could find, I crawled in feet first, and found myself very much in the condition of a man buried alive. I had just room enough to turn round; and the worthy old Edomite for whom the tomb was made, never slept in it more quietly than I did.’ (Vol. ii. pp. 82, 83, 86.) To understand the passage before us, we are to form the idea of an immense and gloomy cavern, all around which are niches or cells made to receive the bodies of the dead. In this vast vault monarchs repose in grandeur suitable to their former rank, each on his couch, ‘ in glory,’ with their arms beside them (see Isa 14:18). These mighty shades - these departed monarchs - are represented as rising from their couches to meet the descending king of Babylon, and receive him with insults on his fall. The Hebrew word for "moved"denotes more than our translation conveys. It means that they were "agitated"- they "trembled"- they advanced toward the descending monarch with trepidation. The idea of the shades of the mighty dead thus being troubled, and rising to meet the king of Babylon, is one that is exceedingly sublime.

It stireth up - " Sheol"stirreth up; that is, they are stirred up or excited. So the Septuagint renders it ‘ All the giants who rule the earth rise up to thee.’

The dead - Hebrew, רפאים r^e pā'ı̂ym . The Septuagint renders this, Ὁι γίγαντες hoi gigantes ‘ giants.’ So the Vulgate and the Chaldee, The meaning of this word has been a subject of great difference of opinion among lexicographers. It is sometimes found as a gentile noun to denote the sons of Raphah, called "Rephaim"2Sa 21:16, 2Sa 21:18, a Canaanite race of giants that lived beyond Jordan Gen 14:5; Gen 15:20, from whom Og the son of Bashan was descended Deu 3:11. It is sometimes used to denote all the giant tribes of Canaan Deu 2:11, Deu 2:20; and is particularly applied to people of extraordinary strength among the Philistines 2Sa 21:16, 2Sa 21:18. Vitringa supposes that the term was given to the spirits of the dead on account of the fact that they appeared to be "larqer"than life; that they in their form and stature resembled giants. But a more probable opinion is, that it is applied to the shades of the dead as being weak, feeble, or without power or sensation, from the word רפא râpâ' , weak, feeble, powerless. This interpretation is strongly confirmed by the place before us Isa 14:10, ‘ Art thou become weak as we?’ The word is rendered ‘ giants’ in the following places: Deu 2:11, Deu 2:20; Deu 3:13; Jos 21:4; Jos 15:8; Jos 17:15; Jos 18:16; 2Sa 21:16, 2Sa 21:18, 2Sa 21:20, 2Sa 21:22; 1Ch 20:5-6, 1Ch 20:8. It is rendered ‘ Rephaims,’ Gen 14:5; Gen 15:20; 2Sa 5:18, 2Sa 5:22; 2Sa 23:13. It is rendered ‘ the dead’ Job 26:5; Psa 88:10; Pro 2:18; Pro 9:18; Pro 21:16; Isa. 26:29; and once it is rendered ‘ deceased,’ Isa 26:14. It here means the departed spirits of the dead - the inhabitants of that dark and dismal region, conceived by the Hebrews to be situated beneath the ground, where dwell the departed dead before their final destiny is fixed - called "sheol"or "hades."It is not the residence of the wicked only - the place of punishment - but the place where all the dead are supposed to be congregated before their final doom is pronounced.

(The author entertains unique views of the state of knowledge among the Hebrews regarding the future world - views which will be found fully canvassed in the preface to the volumes on Job. As to the alleged notion of all the dead dwelling in some dismal region before their final doom is pronounced, we have there taken pains to show that the righteous in ancient times entertained no such gloomy expectations. The opinions of the ancient Hebrews on this subject, must be taken from passages in which they expressly treat of it, and intimate plainly what their belief is, and not from passages confessedly full of poetical imagery. Nor are we to construe popular and poetical phraseology so strictly and literally as to form a theological creed out of it, in contradiction to the actual belief of those who daily used that phraseology. Because Englishmen speak of the dead "indiscriminately"as having "gone to the grave,"and "to the land of spirits,"must we, out of this, construct a Popish purgatory as the national belief?

Yet this would be just as reasonable in the case of the English, as in the case of the Jews. The reader will appreciate the following observations of Professor Alexander on the place: ‘ Two expressions have been faithfully transcribed by interpreters, from one another, in relation to this passage, with a very equivocal effect upon its exposition. The one is, that it is full of biting sarcasm - an unfortunate suggestion of Calvin’ s, which puts the reader on the scent for irony, and even wit, instead of opening his mind to impressions of sublimity and tragic grandeur. The other, for which Calvin is in no degree responsible, is, that we have before us not a mere prosopopeia, or poetical creation of the highest order, but a chapter from the popular belief of the Jews, as to the locality, contents, and transactions of the unseen world. Thus Gesenius, in his Lexicon and Commentary, gives a minute topographical description of "Sheol,"as the Hebrews believed it to exist.

With equal truth, a diligent compiler might construct a map of hell, as conceived of by the English Puritans, from the descriptive portions of the Paradise Lost. The infidel interpreters of Germany regard the scriptural and Classical mythology precisely in the same light. But when Christian writers copy their expressions or ideas, they should take pains to explain whether the popular belief of which they speak was true or false, and, if false, how it could lie countenanced and sanctioned by inspired writers. This kind of exposition is, moreover, chargeable with a rhetorical incongruity, in landing the creative genius of the poet, and yet making all his grand creations commonplace articles of popular belief. The true view of the matter, as determined both by piety and taste, appears to be, that the passage now before ns comprehends two elements, and only two religious verities or certain facts, and poetical embellishments. The admission of a "tertium quid,"in the shape of superstitious fables, is as false in rhetoric as in theology.’ )

The chief ones of the earth. - Margin, ‘ Leaders,’ or ‘ great goats.’ The Hebrew word means properly "great goats,"or goats that are leaders of the flock. Perhaps there is intended to be a slight degree of sarcasm in applying this word to princes and monarchs. It is nowhere else applied to princes, though the word is often used or applied to rams, or to the chief goats of a flock.

From their thrones - In "hades,"or "sheol."They are there represented as occupying an eminence similar to that which distinguished them on earth.

Barnes: Isa 14:10

All they shall speak ... - Language of astonishment that one so proud, and who apparently never expected to die, should be brought down to that humiliating condition. It is a severe taunt at the great change which had taken place in a haughty monarch.

Barnes: Isa 14:11

Thy pomp - Thy magnificence (see the note at Isa 5:14).

The noise of thy viols - Instruments of music were often used in their feasts; and the meaning here is, that instead of being surrounded with splendor, and the instruments of music, the monarch was now brought down to the corruption and stillness of the grave. The instrument referred to by the word ‘ viol’ ( נבל nēbel , plur. נבלים nebalı̂ym , Greek νάβλα nabla , Latin nablium ), was a stringed instrument usually with twelve strings, and played by the pecten or by the hand (see the notes and illustrations on Isa 5:12). Additional force is given by all these expressions if they are read, as Lowth reads them, as questions asked in suprise, and in a taunting manner, over the haughty king of Babylon - ‘ Is thy pride then brought down to the grave?’ etc.

The worm - This word, in Hebrew ( רמה rimmâh ), denotes a worm that is found in putrid substances Exo 16:25; Job 7:5; Job 21:26.

Is spread under thee - Is become thy couch - instead of the gorgeous couch on which thou wert accustomed to repose.

And the worm - ( תולעה tôlê‛âh ) - the same word which occurs in Isa 1:18, and rendered there as "crimson"(see the note on that verse). This word is usually applied to the insect from which the crimson dye was obtained; but it is also applied to the worm which preys upon the dead Exo 16:20; Isa 66:24.

Cover thee - Instead of the splendid covering which was over thee when reposing on thy couch in thy palace. What could be more humiliating than this language? How striking the contrast between his present situation and that in which he reposed in Babylon! And yet this language is as applicable to all others as to that prond and haughty king. It is equally true of the great and mighty everywhere; of the rich, the frivolous, the beautiful, and the proud who lie on beds of down, that they will soon lie where worms shall be their couch and their covering. How ought this reflection to humble our pride! How should it lead us to be prepared for that hour when the grave shall be our bed; and when far away from the sound of the viol and the harp; from the sweet voice of friendship and the noise of revelry, we shall mingle with our native dust!

Barnes: Isa 14:12

How art thou fallen from heaven - A new image is presented here. It is that of the bright morning star; and a comparison of the once magnificent monarch with that beautiful star. He is now exhibited as having fallen from his place in the east to the earth. His glory is dimmed; his brightness quenched. Nothing can be more poetic and beautiful than a comparison of a magnificent monarch with the bright morning star! Nothing more striking in representing his death, than the idea of that star falling to the earth!

Lucifer - Margin, ‘ Day-star’ ( הילל hēylēl , from הלל hâlal , "to shine"). The word in Hebrew occurs as a noun nowhere else. In two other places Eze 21:12; Zec 11:2, it is used as a verb in the imperative mood of Hiphil, and is translated ‘ howl’ from the verb ילל yālal , "to howl"or "cry."Gesenius and Rosenmuller suppose that it should be so rendered here. So Noyes renders it, ‘ Howl, son of the morning!’ But the common translation seems to be preferable. The Septuagint renders it, Ἑωσφόρος Heōsphoros , and the Vulgate, ‘ Lucifer, the morning star.’ The Chaldee, ‘ How art thou fallen from high, who wert splendid among the sons of men.’ There can be no doubt that the object in the eve of the prophet was the bright morning star; and his design was to compare this magnificent oriental monarch with that. The comparison of a monarch with the sun, or the other heavenly bodies, is common in the Scriptures.

Son of the morning - This is a Hebraism (see the note at Mat 1:1), and signifies that that bright star is, as it were, the production, or the offspring of morning; or that it belongs to the morning. The word ‘ son’ often thus denotes possession, or that one thing belongs to another. The same star in one place represents the Son of God himself; Rev 21:16 : ‘ I am - the bright and morning star.’

Which didst weaken the nations - By thy oppressions and exactions, rendering once mighty nations feeble.

Poole: Isa 14:1

The Lord will have mercy on Jacob God will pity and deliver his people; and therefore will destroy Babylon, which hinders it, and set up Cyrus, who shall promote it.

will yet choose Israel will renew his choice of them; for he had refused and rejected them.

The stranger shall be joined with them: so they did in part at their coming from Babylon, being thereunto moved either by the favour which the Jews had in the Persian court, or by the consideration of their wonderful deliverance, and that exactly in the time designed by their holy prophets. But what was then begun was more fully accomplished at the coming of the Messiah.

Poole: Isa 14:2

Which they might do literally, and sometimes did, after their return into their own land, either by their power with the Persian monarchs, as in the days of Cyrus and Darius, and especially of Ahasuerus; or by their own prowess, as in the time of the Maccabees. But this was more evidently and eminently verified in a spiritual sense, in the days of the gospel, when the apostles and other ministers, who were of the Jewish nation, conquered a great part of the Gentile world to the worship and obedience of their Messiah.

Poole: Isa 14:3

From thy fear; for besides their present hard service, they were in perpetual fear of further severities and sufferings, at the pleasure of their cruel lords and masters.

Poole: Isa 14:4

Shalt take up into thy mouth, as it is fully expressed, Psa 50:16 .

How hath the oppressor ceased! this is spoken by way of astonishment and triumph. Who would have thought this possible?

The golden city as they used to call themselves; which therefore he expresseth here in a word of their own language.

Poole: Isa 14:5

This is an answer to the foregoing question. It is God’ s own work, and not man’ s; and therefore it is not strange that it is accomplished.

Poole: Isa 14:6

In anger with rigour, and not with clemency, as many conquerors have done.

Non hindereth neither the Babylonians themselves, nor their confederates, could withstand the power of the Medes and Persians.

Poole: Isa 14:7

The whole earth the inhabitants and subjects of that vast empire, who groaned under their cruel bondage.

Poole: Isa 14:8

The cedars of Lebanon which were felled down for the service of her pride and luxury, but now are suffered to stand and flourish. It is a figure usual in sacred and profane writers, called prosopopaeia.

Poole: Isa 14:9

Hell or, the grave , as the same word is rendered, Isa 14:11 , and in innumerable other places; to which he elegantly ascribeth sense and speech, as poets and orators frequently do.

The chief ones Heb. the he-goats ; which lead and govern the flock. From their thrones ; from their several graves, which he seems to call their thrones by way of irony or derision, the only thrones now left to them. Thrones both paved and covered with worms, as is noted, Isa 14:11 , instead of their former thrones made of ivory or silver, and adorned with gold and precious stones.

Poole: Isa 14:10

Thou who wast king of kings, and far superior to us in power and authority, that didst neither fear God nor reverence man, that didst slay whom thou wouldst, and keep alive whom thou wouldst , Dan 5:19 .

Poole: Isa 14:11

Thy pomp is brought down to the grave all thy glory is lost and buried with thee.

The noise of thy viols all thy musical and melodious instruments, which were much used in Babylon, Dan 3:5,7,10 , and were doubtless used in Belshazzar’ s solemn feast, Dan 5:1 , at which time the city was taken; to which possibly the prophet here alludes.

The worm is spread under thee instead of those rich and stately carpets upon which thou didst frequently tread.

Poole: Isa 14:12

From heaven from the height of thy glory and royal majesty. As kings are sometimes called gods in Scripture, so their palaces and thrones may be fitly called their heavens.

O Lucifer which properly is a bright and eminent star, which ushers in the sun and the morning; but is here metaphorically taken for the high and mighty king of Babylon. And it is a very usual thing, both in prophetical and in profane writers, to describe the princes and potentates of the world under the title of the sun or stars of heaven. Some understand this place of the devil; to whom indeed it may be mystically applied; but as he is never called by this name in Scripture, so it cannot be literally meant of him, but of the king of Babylon, as is undeniably evident from the whole context, which certainly speaks of one and the same person, and describes him as plainly as words can do it.

Son of the morning: the title of son is given in Scripture not only to a person or thing begotten or produced by another, but also in general to any thing which is any way related to another; in which sense we read of a son of stripes , Deu 25:2 , the son of a night , Jon 4:10 , a son of perdition , Joh 17:12 , and, which is more agreeable to the present case, the sons of Arcturus , Job 38:32 .

Haydock: Isa 14:1

Name. It shall lose all its splendour, and be mentioned only with abhorrence, 1 Peter v. 13.

Haydock: Isa 14:1

Prolonged. Babylon was taken one hundred and seventy-two years after. (Calmet) ---

Yet this time is counted short, compared with the monarchy, which had lasted a thousand years. (Worthington) ---

Ground. Cyrus restored the Jews; yet all did not return at that time. ---

Stranger. Converts, Esther viii. 17. All Idumea received circumcision under Hyrcan.

Haydock: Isa 14:2

Place. Cyrus probably granted an escort, as Artaxerxes did, 2 Esdras ii. 7. ---

Servants. They had purchased many slaves, (1 Esdras ii. 65.) as some were very rich in captivity, and were treated like other subjects. ---

Oppressors. Stragglers of the army of Cambyses, &c., though this was chiefly verified under the Machabees, Jeremias xxv. 14., and xxx. 16. (Calmet)

Haydock: Isa 14:4

Parable. Septuagint, Greek: threnon. "Lamentation." (Haydock) ---

Or mournful canticle.

Haydock: Isa 14:6

Persecuted. The Jews read incorrectly, "is persecuted."

Haydock: Isa 14:7

Earth. Subject to, or bordering upon the Assyrian empire. Under Darius the Mede, (the Cyaxares of Xenophon) and Cyrus, the people were little molested. (Calmet) ---

The neighbouring princes ( fir-trees, &c., ver. 8.) were also at rest. (Haydock)

Haydock: Isa 14:9

Hell is personified, deriding the Chaldean monarch, Baltassar, who perished the very night after he had profaned the sacred vessels, Daniel v. 3. He probably received only the burial of an ass, ver. 11, 19. (Calmet)

Haydock: Isa 14:12

O Lucifer. O day-star. All this, according to the letter, is spoken of the king of Babylon. It may also be applied, in a spiritual sense, to Lucifer, the prince of devils, who was created a bright angel, but fell by pride and rebellion against God. (Challoner) (Luke x. 18.) (Calmet) ---

He fell by pride, as Nabuchodonosor did. (Worthington) ---

Homer (Iliad xix.) represents the demon of discord hurled down by Jupiter to the miserable region of mortals.

Gill: Isa 14:1

For the Lord will have mercy on Jacob, will yet choose Israel,.... While the Jews were in captivity, the Lord seemed to have no pity for them, or compassion on them, and it looked as if he had rejected them, and wholly cast them off; but by delivering them from thence, he showed that he had a merciful regard unto them, and made it to appear that they were his chosen people, and beloved by him: and this is a reason why Babylon should be destroyed, and her destruction be no longer deferred, because the Lord's heart of compassion yearned towards his own people, so that his mercy to them brought ruin upon others: a choice of persons to everlasting salvation, though it is not made in time, but before the foundation of the world, yet is made to appear by the effectual calling, which therefore is sometimes expressed by choosing, 1Co 1:26 and is the fruit and effect of sovereign grace and mercy, and may be intended here; the words may be rendered, "and will yet choose in Israel" ^t, some from among them; that is, have mercy on them, and call them by his grace, and so show them to be a remnant, according to the election of grace; and such a chosen remnant there was among them in the times of Christ, and his apostles, by which it appeared that the Lord had not cast off the people whom he foreknew:

and set them in their own land: or "cause them to rest upon their own land" ^u; for the word not only denotes settlement and continuance, but rest, which they had not in Babylon; but now should have, when brought into their own land; and no doubt but reference is had to the original character of the land of Canaan, as a land of rest; and hither shall the Jews be brought again, and be settled when mystical Babylon is destroyed:

and the stranger shall be joined with them, and they shall cleave to the house of Jacob; by which is meant, that proselytes should be made to the Jewish religion, who should be admitted into their church state, as well as into their commonwealth, and should abide faithful to the profession they made; which doubtless was fulfilled in part at the time of the Jews' return from the Babylonish captivity, when many, who had embraced their religion, cleaved to them, and would not leave them, but went along with them into their land, that they might join with them in religious worship there; but had a greater accomplishment in Gospel times, when Gentiles were incorporated into the same Gospel church state with the believing Jews, and became fellow heirs, and of the same body, and partakers of the same promises and privileges; and so Kimchi and Ben Melech apply this to the times of the Messiah; and Jarchi to time to come, when Israel should be redeemed with a perfect redemption: because from the word translated "cleave" is derived another, which signifies a scab; hence the Jews ^w have a saying,

"proselytes are grievous to Israel as a scab.''

Gill: Isa 14:2

And the people shall take them, and bring them to their place,.... That is, the people among whom the Jews dwelt in Babylon, who had a kindness for them, and especially such of them as were proselyted to their religion should attend them in their journey home, and supply them with all necessaries for provision and carriage, as they were allowed to do by the edict of Cyrus, Ezr 1:4 and this will have a further accomplishment in the latter day, when the Gentiles shall bring their sons and daughters in their arms, and on their shoulders, and on horses, and in chariots, to Jerusalem, Isa 49:21 which last passage Kimchi refers to, as explanative of this:

and the house of Israel shall possess them in the land of the Lord, for servants and handmaids; by the "land of the Lord" is meant the land of Israel, which was peculiarly his; for though the whole earth is his, yet he chose this above all others for the place of his worship, under the former dispensation; and where his son, in the fulness of time, should appear in human nature, preach the Gospel, perform miracles, and work out the salvation of his people; and where his feet shall stand at the latter day, when he comes to judge the world; this is the same with Immanuel's land, Isa 8:8 hither many of the Chaldeans coming along with the Jews, and having embraced their religion, chose rather to be servants and handmaids to them, than to return to their own land, and who were a kind of inheritance or possession to the Jews; though some think that these were such as they bought of the Babylonians, that came with them to be their servants, and not they themselves. It may be understood of Gentile converts in Gospel times, who would willingly and cheerfully engage in the service of the church of God, and by love serve his people, and one another. Kimchi explains this clause by Isa 61:5,

and they shall take them captives, whose captives they were; and they shall rule over their oppressors: that is, the Babylonians, who had carried the Jews captive, should be taken captives by them, and made slaves of; which might be true of those they bought of them, when they returned to their own land; or, as some think, this had its accomplishment in the times of the Maccabees, when they conquered many people, who before had carried them captive, and oppressed them; and in a spiritual and mystical sense has been fulfilled in the times of the Gospel, through the spread of it in the Gentile world, by the ministry of the apostles, who were Jews; by which means many of the nations of the world were brought to the obedience of Christ and his church.

Gill: Isa 14:3

And it shall come to pass in the day that the Lord shall give thee rest from thy sorrow,.... In captivity, and on account of that, being out of their own land, deprived of the free exercise of their religion, and at a distance from the house of God, and continually hearing the reproaches and blaspheming of the enemy, and seeing their idolatrous practices, and their ungodly conversation; all which must create sorrow of heart to the sincere lovers and worshippers of God:

and from thy fear; of worse evils, most cruel usage, and death itself, under the terror of which they lived:

and from the hard bondage wherein thou wast made to serve; as before in Egypt, so now in Babylon; but what that was is not particularly expressed anywhere, as the former is, see Exo 1:13 and when they had rest from all this in their own land, then they should do as follows:

Gill: Isa 14:4

That thou shall take up this proverb against the king of Babylon,.... Or "concerning" him, his fall, and the fall of the Babylonish monarchy with him; if we understand this of any particular king of Babylon, it seems best not to interpret it of Nebuchadnezzar, whom Jerom mentions, in whom the empire was in its greatest glory: but of Belshazzar, in whom it ended; the king of Babylon may be here considered as a type of antichrist, and what is said of the one may be applied to the other: the "proverb" or "parable" taken up into the mouth, and expressed concerning him, signifies a sharp and acute speech, a taunting one, full of ironies and sarcasms, and biting expressions, as the following one is. The Septuagint render it, a "lamentation"; and the Arabic version, a "mournful song"; but as this was to be taken up by the church and people of God, concerning their great enemy, whose destruction is here described, it may rather be called a triumphant song, rejoicing at his ruin, and insulting over him:

and say, how hath the oppressor ceased! he who oppressed us, and other nations, exacted tribute of us, and of others, and made us to serve with hard bondage, how is he come to nothing? by what means is he brought to ruin; by whom is this accomplished? who has been the author of it, and by whom effected? this is said as wondering how it should be brought about, and rejoicing that so it was:

the golden city ceased! the city of Babylon, full of gold, drawn thither from the various parts of the world, called a golden cup, Jer 51:7 and the Babylonish monarchy, in the times of Nebuchadnezzar, was signified by a golden head, Dan 2:32 so mystical Babylon, or the Romish antichrist, is represented as decked with gold, and having a golden cup in her hand; and as a city abounding with gold, Rev 17:4. The word here used is a Chaldee or Syriac word ^x, and perhaps is what was used by themselves, and is the name by which they called this city, and is now tauntingly returned; the word city is not in the text, but supplied. Some render "tribute" ^y, a golden pension, a tribute of gold, which was exacted of the nations in subjection, but now ceased; and when that tyrant and oppressor, the Romish antichrist, shall cease that tribute which he exacts of the nations of the earth will cease also, as tithes, first fruits, annates, Peter's pence, &c.

Gill: Isa 14:5

The Lord hath broken the staff of the wicked,.... This is an answer to the above question, how the exactor and his tribute came to cease; this was not by man, but by the Lord himself; for though he made use of Cyrus, the work was his own, he broke the power of the wicked kings of Babylon:

and the sceptre of the rulers; that were under the king of Babylon; or of the several kings themselves, Nebuchadnezzar, Evilmerodach, and Belshazzar; so Kimchi interprets it. This may be applied to the kingdom of antichrist, and the antichristian states, which shall be broken to shivers as a potter's vessel by Christ, the King of kings, and Lord of lords, Rev 2:27. The "staff" and "sceptre" are emblems of power and government; and "breaking" them signifies the utter destruction and cessation of authority and dominion.

Gill: Isa 14:6

He who smote the people in wrath with a continual stroke,.... The king of Babylon, who made war with the people and nations of the earth, and conquered them, smote them with the edge of the sword to gratify his passions, and satiate his bloodthirsty mind; and those that were spared, he ruled with rigour, and oppressed them with tribute and hard bondage; and, when he had conquered one nation, attacked another, and so went on pursuing his victories without intermission, giving no respite neither to his army, nor to the people:

he that ruled the nations in anger; not with justice and clemency, but in a tyrannical and oppressive way, even his own nation, as well as the nations whom he subdued:

is persecuted; is, pursued by the justice of God, overtaken and seized, and brought to condign punishment;

and none hindereth; the execution of the righteous judgment upon him; none of the neighbouring kings and nations, either tributary to him, or in alliance with him, give him the least help or assistance, or attempt to ward off the blow upon him, given him, under the direction and appointment of God, by Cyrus the Persian. So the Romish antichrist, who has made war with the saints, and has smitten them with the sword, and gone on to do so without any intermission for ages together, and has tyrannised over them in a most cruel manner, he shall be persecuted, and taken, and brought to his end, and there shall be none to help him; see Rev 13:7.

Gill: Isa 14:7

The whole earth is at rest, and is quiet,.... The troubler of them being gone; and which will be the ease of the people of God, who in the latter day will fill the face of the earth, when the beast and false prophet will be taken and cast alive into the lake of fire; and especially when Satan shall be bound, and put in prison for a thousand years, that he may deceive the nations no more, Rev 19:20,

they break forth into singing; that is, the inhabitants of the earth, because of the fall of the king of Babylon, they being delivered from so great a tyrant or oppressor; or, "utter a song of praise", as the Targum, Aben Ezra says the word in the Arabic language is expressive of "clearness", and so it does signify to speak purely, dearly, and fluently, with open, mouth, and a clear voice ^z; it is rendered in Psa 98:4 "make a loud noise"; by singing a joyful song; and such a song will be sung by the church, when the mystical Babylon is fallen; see Rev 15:2.

Gill: Isa 14:8

Yea, the fir trees rejoice at thee, and the cedars of Lebanon,.... Which by, a prosopopoeia are represented as singing and rejoicing, as inanimate creatures often are in Scripture, these being now in no danger of being cut down, to make way for his armies; see Isa 37:34 or to furnish him with timber for shipping, or building of houses: or else these words are to be understood metaphorically of kings and princes of the earth, comparable to such trees, for their height, strength, and substance; see Zec 11:2 who would now be no longer in fear of him, or in subjection to him. So the Targum,

"the rulers also rejoiced over thee, the rich in substance said;''

not only the common people, the inhabitants of the earth, as before, but the princes of it rejoiced at his ruin; and so will the kings of the earth rejoice at the destruction of the whore of Rome, when they shall hate her, eat her flesh, and burn her with fire; though others, that have committed fornication with her, will lament her case, Rev 17:16,

saying, since thou art, laid down; or "art asleep" ^a; that is, dead; it being usual in the eastern nations to express death by sleep:

no feller is come up against us; or "cutter of wood", to whom the king of Babylon is compared, for cutting down nations, and bringing them into subjection to him, in whose heart it was to destroy and cut off nations, not a few; being as an axe in the hand of the Lord, whereby trees, large and high, were cut down; see Isa 10:5 but now, since this feller of wood was gone, the axe was laid aside, and broke to pieces, there was none to give the nations any disturbance; and so it will be when antichrist is destroyed, there will be no more persecution of the church and people of God.

Gill: Isa 14:9

Hell from beneath is moved for thee,.... Or the "grave", or the place and state of the dead, and particularly of the damned, meaning those that are in such a place and state; and the sense is, that not only the inhabitants of the earth, and the trees upon it, express their joy at the fall of the king of Babylon, but those that are under the earth, in the grave, or in hell, are affected with it, and moved on account of it, not with fear and dread, as they were in his and their life time, as Kimchi suggests; but they are represented as in motion, and that as attended with a great noise, because of the multitude of them, upon hearing of his death, and his entrance into the regions of the dead:

to meet thee at thy coming: as kings used to be met when they, and as he used to be when he, entered into any city that was taken, to salute him, and congratulate him upon his entrance into the dark regions of death, the grave, and hell; a biting sarcasm:

it stirreth up the dead for thee; the dead that are in it, in hell or the grave; not to oppose him, but to welcome him into their parts, as being now one of them, and to be joined to their company; hell or the grave is said to rouse them, as if they were asleep, and took no notice of the death of so great a monarch, who was just making his public entry among them. The word "Rephaim", here used, is sometimes rendered "giants", as in Deu 2:11 and Jarchi interprets it of the Anakim; and so the Targum,

"it raiseth up unto thee mighty men;''

for not the common people among the dead, but the princes and great ones of the earth, whom the Babylonian monarch had subdued and slain, and to whom he was well known, are intended, as appears by what follows:

even all the chief ones of the earth; or the "great goats"; the leaders and commanders of the people, who, as goats go before and lead the flock, so they the people. The Targum calls them

"all the rich in substance;''

who were persons of wealth, power, and authority, when on earth:

it hath raised up from their thrones all the kings of the nations; to offer in a jeering manner their thrones to him, who had been obliged, in their life time and his, to surrender to him their crowns, and thrones, and kingdoms; but by their thrones here are meant their sepulchres, built, as many of them were, in great pomp and splendour; for kings at death have no other thrones but their graves. Aben Ezra says, it was the custom of the Babylonians to set thrones in the sepulchres of their kings.

Gill: Isa 14:10

All they shall speak, and say unto thee,.... So they would say, could they speak, and are here represented as if they did:

art thou become also weak as we? who had been more powerful than they, had been too many for them, and had subdued them, and ruled over them, and was not only looked upon as invincible but as immortal, yea, as a deity; and yet now was become "sick", as the word ^b signifies, or by sickness brought to death, and by death enfeebled and rendered weak and without strength, stripped of all natural strength, as well as of all civil power and authority:

art thou become like unto us? who thought himself, and was flattered by others, that there were none like unto him; but now as the rest of the dead, and upon a level with them. So will it be with the Romish antichrist, who now exalts himself above all that is called God, and reigns over the kings of the earth, and shows himself as if he was God, and of whom his parasites say, "who is like unto the beast? who is able to make war with him?" when he shall be consumed by Christ, and cast into the lake of fire with the devil and false prophet, he will be like the kings of the earth deceived by him, and the rest of the worshippers of him, and be as weak as they, 2Th 2:4, Rev 20:10.

Gill: Isa 14:11

Thy pomp is brought down to the grave,.... Or "hell"; all the state and majesty in which he appeared, when sitting on the throne of his kingdom, with a glittering crown on his head, a sceptre in his hand, clad in the richest apparel, and attended by his princes and nobles with the utmost reverence and submission; all this, with much more, followed him to the regions of the dead, and there it left him; see Psa 49:17,

and the noise of thy viols; or musical instruments, even all of them, one being put for all; such as were used at festivals, and at times of joy and rejoicing, of which the Babylonians had many, and very probably were used at the feast by Belshazzar, when the city was taken, and he was slain; to which reference may be had in this place, Dan 3:5 compare with this Rev 18:16,

the worm is spread under thee, and the worms cover thee; who used to have rich carpets spread for him to tread upon, and stately canopies under which he sat, beds of down to lie upon, and the richest covering over him, and now, nothing but worms over him, and worms under him; or instead of being wrapped in gold and silk, and embalmed with the most precious spices, as the eastern kings used to be, he had not so much as a grave, but was cast out of that, as is after said, and so was liable to putrefaction, and to be covered with worms at once; worms in his bed, and worms in his bed clothes! See Job 21:26.

Gill: Isa 14:12

How art thou fallen from heaven,.... This is not to be understood of the fall of Satan, and the apostate angels, from their first estate, when they were cast down from heaven to hell, though there may be an allusion to it; see Luk 10:18 but the words are a continuation of the speech of the dead to the king of Babylon, wondering at it, as a thing almost incredible, that he who seemed to be so established on the throne of his kingdom, which was his heaven, that he should be deposed or fall from it. So the destruction of the Roman Pagan emperors is signified by the casting out of the dragon and his angels from heaven, Rev 12:7 and in like manner Rome Papal, or the Romish antichrist, will fall from his heaven of outward splendour and happiness, of honour and authority, now, possessed by him:

O Lucifer, son of the morning! alluding to the star Venus, which is the phosphorus or morning star, which ushers in the light of the morning, and shows that day is at hand; by which is meant, not Satan, who is never in Scripture called Lucifer, though he was once an angel of light, and sometimes transforms himself into one, and the good angels are called morning stars, Job 38:7 and such he and his angels once were; but the king of Babylon is intended, whose royal glory and majesty, as outshining all the rest of the kings of the earth, is expressed by those names; and which perhaps were such as he took himself, or were given him by his courtiers. The Targum is,

"how art thou fallen from on high, who was shining among the sons of men, as the star Venus among the stars.''

Jarchi, as the Talmud ^c, applies it to Nebuchadnezzar; though, if any particular person is pointed at, Belshazzar is rather designed, the last of the kings of Babylon. The church of Rome, in the times of the apostles, was famous for its light and knowledge; its faith was spoken of throughout all the earth; and its bishops or pastors were bright stars, in the morning of the Gospel dispensation:

how art thou cut down to the ground; like a tall tree that is cut down, and laid along the ground, and can never rise and flourish more, to which sometimes great monarchs and monarchies are compared; see Isa 10:18 and this denotes that the king of Babylon should die, not a natural, but a violent death, as Belshazzar did, with whom the Babylonish monarchy fell, and never rose more; and this is a representation of the sudden, violent, and irrecoverable ruin of the Romish antichrist, Rev 18:21,

which didst weaken the nations! by subduing them, taking cities and towns, plundering the inhabitants of their substance, carrying them captive, or obliging them to a yearly tribute, by which means he weakened them, and kept them under. So the Romish antichrist has got the power over many nations of the earth, and has reigned over the kings of it, and by various methods has drained them of their wealth and riches, and so greatly enfeebled them; nay, they have of themselves given their power and strength unto the beast, Rev 17:12. Several of the Jewish writers observe, that the word here used signifies to cast lots; and so it is used in the Misna ^d, and explained in the Talmud ^e; and is applied to the king of Babylon casting lots upon the nations and kingdoms whom he should go to war with, and subdue first; see Eze 21:19. The Targum is,

"thou art cast down to the earth, who killedst the people:''

a fit description of antichrist, Rev 11:7.

Commentary -- Verse Notes / Footnotes

NET Notes: Isa 14:1

¹ tn The sentence begins with כִּי (ki), which is understood as asseverative (“certainly”) in the translation. Another option is to translate, “For the Lord will have compassion.” In this case one of the reasons for Babylon’s coming demise (13:22b) is the Lord’s desire to restore his people.

² tn The words “as his special people” are supplied in the translation for clarification.

³ tn Or “settle” (NASB, NIV, NCV, NLT).

⁴ tn Heb “house.”

NET Notes: Isa 14:2

¹ tn Heb “and the house of Jacob will take possession of them [i.e., the nations], on the land of the Lord, as male servants and female servants.”

NET Notes: Isa 14:3

¹ tn The verb that introduces this verse serves as a discourse particle and is untranslated; see note on “in the future” in 2:2.

NET Notes: Isa 14:4

¹ tn Heb “you will lift up this taunt over the king of Babylon, saying.”

² tc The word in the Hebrew text (מַדְהֵבָה, madhevah) is unattested elsewhere and of uncertain meaning. Many (following the Qumran scroll 1QIsa^a) assume a dalet-resh (ד-ר) confusion and emend the form to מַרְהֵבָה (marhevah, “onslaught”). See HALOT 548 s.v. II *מִדָּה and HALOT 633 s.v. *מַרְהֵבָה.

NET Notes: Isa 14:6

¹ tn Or perhaps, “he” (cf. KJV; NCV “the king of Babylon”). The present translation understands the referent of the pronoun (“it”) to be the “club/scepter” of the preceding line.

² tn Heb “it was striking down nations in fury [with] a blow without ceasing.” The participle (“striking down”) suggests repeated or continuous action in past time.

³ tn Heb “it was ruling in anger nations [with] oppression without restraint.” The participle (“ruling”) suggests repeated or continuous action in past time.

NET Notes: Isa 14:8

¹ tn Heb “concerning you.”

² tn The word “singing” is supplied in the translation for stylistic reasons. Note that the personified trees speak in the second half of the verse.

³ tn Heb “lay down” (in death); cf. NAB “laid to rest.”

⁴ tn Heb “the [wood]cutter does not come up against us.”

NET Notes: Isa 14:9

¹ sn Sheol is the proper name of the subterranean world which was regarded as the land of the dead.

² tn Heb “arousing.” The form is probably a Polel infinitive absolute, rather than a third masculine singular perfect, for Sheol is grammatically feminine (note “stirred up”). See GKC 466 §145.t.

³ tn Heb “all the rams of the earth.” The animal epithet is used metaphorically here for leaders. See HALOT 903 s.v. *עַתּוּד.

⁴ tn Heb “lifting from their thrones all the kings of the nations.” הֵקִים (heqim, a Hiphil perfect third masculine singular) should be emended to an infinitive absolute (הָקֵים, haqem). See the note on “rouses” earlier in the verse.

NET Notes: Isa 14:11

¹ tn Or “pride” (NCV, CEV); KJV, NIV, NRSV “pomp.”

² tn Or “harps” (NAB, NIV, NRSV).

³ tn Heb “under you maggots are spread out, and worms are your cover.”

NET Notes: Isa 14:12

¹ tn The Hebrew text has הֵילֵל בֶּן־שָׁחַר (helel ben-shakhar, “Helel son of Shachar”), which is probably a name for the morning star (Venus) or the crescent moon. See HALOT 245 s.v. הֵילֵל.

sn What is the background for the imagery in vv. 12-15? This whole section (vv. 4b-21) is directed to the king of Babylon, who is clearly depicted as a human ruler. Other kings of the earth address him in vv. 9ff., he is called “the man” in v. 16, and, according to vv. 19-20, he possesses a physical body. Nevertheless the language of vv. 12-15 has led some to see a dual referent in the taunt song. These verses, which appear to be spoken by other pagan kings to a pagan king (cf. vv. 9-11), contain several titles and motifs that resemble those of Canaanite mythology, including references to Helel son of Shachar, the stars of El, the mountain of assembly, the recesses of Zaphon, and the divine title Most High. Apparently these verses allude to a mythological story about a minor god (Helel son of Shachar) who tried to take over Zaphon, the mountain of the gods. His attempted coup failed and he was hurled down to the underworld. The king of Babylon is taunted for having similar unrealized delusions of grandeur. Some Christians have seen an allusion to the fall of Satan here, but this seems contextually unwarranted (see J. Martin, “Isaiah,” BKCOT, 1061).

² tn Some understand the verb to from חָלַשׁ (khalash, “to weaken”), but HALOT 324 s.v. II חלשׁ proposes a homonym here, meaning “to defeat.”

³ sn In this line the taunting kings hint at the literal identity of the king, after likening him to the god Helel and a tree. The verb גָדַע (gada’, “cut down”) is used of chopping down trees in 9:10 and 10:33.

Geneva Bible: Isa 14:1

For ^{( a )} the LORD will have mercy on Jacob, and will yet choose Israel, and set them in their own land: and the strangers ^{( b )} shall be joined with them, and they shall unite with the house of Jacob.

^{( a )} He shows why God will haste to destroy his enemies, that is, because he will deliver his Church.

^{( b )} Meaning that the Gentiles will be joined with the Church and worship God.

Geneva Bible: Isa 14:2

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 ^{( c )} servants and handmaids: and they shall take them captives, whose captives they were; and they shall rule over their oppressors.

^{( c )} Signifying that the Jews would be superior to the Gentiles and that they would be brought under the service of Christ by the preaching of the Apostles, by which all are brought to the subjection of Christ, (2Co 10:5).

Geneva Bible: Isa 14:6

He who smote the people in wrath with a continual stroke, he that ruled the nations in anger, is persecuted, [and] ^{( d )} none hindereth.

^{( d )} That is, he permitted all violence and injuries to be done.

Geneva Bible: Isa 14:7

The whole earth is at ^{( e )} rest, [and] is quiet: they break forth into singing.

^{( e )} Meaning that where tyrants reign, there can be no rest or quietness and also how detestable a thing tyranny is, seeing the insensible creatures have opportunity to rejoice at their destruction.

Geneva Bible: Isa 14:9

Hell from beneath is moved for thee to ^{( f )} 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.

^{( f )} As though they feared, lest you should trouble the dead, as you did the living and here he derides the proud tyranny of the wicked, who know not that all creatures wish their destruction, that they may rejoice.

Geneva Bible: Isa 14:11

Thy pomp is brought down to the grave, [and] the noise of thy viols: the worm ^{( g )} is spread under thee, and the worms cover thee.

^{( g )} Instead of your costly carpets and coverings.

Geneva Bible: Isa 14:12

How art thou fallen from heaven, O ^{( h )} Lucifer, son of the morning! [how] art thou cut down to the ground, which didst weaken the nations!

^{( h )} You who thought yourself most glorious and as it were placed in the heaven for the morning star that goes before the sun, is called Lucifer, to whom Nebuchadnezzar is compared.

Commentary -- Verse Range Notes

TSK Synopsis: Isa 14:1-32

1 God's merciful restoration of Israel.

3 Their triumphant exultation over Babel.

24 God's purpose against Assyria.

29 Palestina is threatened.

MHCC: Isa 14:1-23

The whole plan of Divine Providence is arranged with a view to the good of the people of God. A settlement in the land of promise is of God's mercy. Let the church receive those whom God receives. God's people, wherever their lot is cast, should endeavour to recommend religion by a right and winning conversation. Those that would not be reconciled to them, should be humbled by them. This may be applied to the success of the gospel, when those were brought to obey it who had opposed it. God himself undertakes to work a blessed change. They shall have rest from their sorrow and fear, the sense of their present burdens, and the dread of worse. Babylon abounded in riches. The king of Babylon having the absolute command of so much wealth, by the help of it ruled the nations. This refers especially to the people of the Jews; and it filled up the measure of the king of Babylon's sins. Tyrants sacrifice their true interest to their lusts and passions. It is gracious ambition to covet to be like the Most Holy, for he has said, Be ye holy, for I am holy; but it is sinful ambition to aim to be like the Most High, for he has said, He who exalts himself shall be abased. The devil thus drew our first parents to sin. Utter ruin should be brought upon him. Those that will not cease to sin, God will make to cease. He should be slain, and go down to the grave; this is the common fate of tyrants. True glory, that is, true grace, will go up with the soul to heaven, but vain pomp will go down with the body to the grave; there is an end of it. To be denied burial, if for righteousness' sake, may be rejoiced in, Mat 5:12. But if the just punishment of sin, it denotes that impenitent sinners shall rise to everlasting shame and contempt. Many triumphs should be in his fall. God will reckon with those that disturb the peace of mankind. The receiving the king of Babylon into the regions of the dead, shows there is a world of spirits, to which the souls of men remove at death. And that souls have converse with each other, though we have none with them; and that death and hell will be death and hell indeed, to all who fall unholy, from the height of this world's pomps, and the fulness of its pleasures. Learn from all this, that the seed of evil-doers shall never be renowned. The royal city is to be ruined and forsaken. Thus the utter destruction of the New Testament Babylon is illustrated, Rev 18:2. When a people will not be made clean with the besom of reformation, what can they expect but to be swept off the face of the earth with the besom of destruction?

Matthew Henry: Isa 14:1-3

This comes in here as the reason why Babylon must be overthrown and ruined, because God has mercy in store for his people, and therefore, 1. The injuries done to them must be reckoned for and revenged upon their persecutors. Mercy to Jacob will be wrath and ruin to Jacob's impenitent implacable adversaries, such as Babylon was. 2. The yoke of oppression which Babylon had long laid on their necks must be broken off, and they must be set at liberty; and, in order to this, the destruction of Babylon is as necessary as the destruction of Egypt and Pharaoh was to their deliverance out of that house of bondage. The same prediction is a promise to God's people and a threatening to their enemies, as the same providence has a bright side towards Israel and a black or dark side towards the Egyptians. Observe,

I. The ground of these favours to Jacob and Israel - the kindness God had for them and the choice he had made of them (Isa 14:1): " The Lord will have mercy on Jacob, the seed of Jacob now captives in Babylon; he will make it to appear that he has compassion on them and has mercy in store for them, and that he will not contend for ever with them, but will yet choose them, will yet again return to them; though he has seemed for a time to refuse and reject them, he will show that they are his chosen people and that the election stands sure."However it may seem to us, God's mercy is not gone, nor does his promise fail, Psa 77:8.

II. The particular favours he designed them. 1. He would bring them back to their native soil and air again: The Lord will set them in their own land, out of which they were driven. A settlement in the holy land, the land of promise, is a fruit of God's mercy, distinguishing mercy. 2. Many should be proselyted to their holy religion, and should return with them, induced to do so by the manifest tokens of God's favourable presence with them, the operations of God's grace in them, the operations of God's grace in them, and his providence for them: Strangers shall be joined with them, saying, We will go with you, for we have heard that God is with you, Zec 8:23. It adds much to the honour and strength of Israel when strangers are joined with them and there are added to the church many from without, Act 2:47. Let not the church's children be shy of strangers, but receive those whom God receives, and own those who cleave to the house of Jacob. 3. These proselytes should not only be a credit to their cause, but very helpful and serviceable to them in their return home: The people among whom they live shall take them, take care of them, take pity on them, and shall bring them to their place - as friends, loth to part with such good company - as servants, willing to do them all the good offices they could. God's people, wherever their lot is cast, should endeavour thus, by all the instances of an exemplary and winning conversation, to gain an interest in the affections of those about them, and recommend religion to their good opinion. This was fulfilled in the return of the captives from Babylon, when all that were about them, pursuant to Cyrus's proclamation, contributed to their removal (Ezr 1:4, Ezr 1:6), not as the Egyptians, because they were sick of them, but because they loved them. 4. They should have the benefit of their service when they had returned home, for many would of choice go with them in the meanest post, rather than not go with them: They shall possess them in the land of the Lord for servants and handmaids; and as the laws of that land saved it from being the purgatory of servants, providing that they should not be oppressed, so the advantages of that land made it the paradise of those servants that had been strangers to the covenants of promise, for there was one law to the stranger and to those that were born in the land. Those whose lot is cast in the land of the Lord, a land of light, should take care that their servants and handmaids may share in the benefit of it, who will then find it better to be possessed in the Lord's land than possessors in any other. 5. They should triumph over their enemies, and those that would not be reconciled to them should be reduced and humbled by them: They shall take those captives whose captives they were and shall rule over their oppressors, righteously, but not revengefully. The Jews perhaps bought Babylonian prisoners out of the hands of the Medes and Persians and made slaves of them. Or this might have its accomplishment in their victories over their enemies in the times of the Maccabees. It is applicable to the success of the gospel (when those were brought into obedience to it who had made the greatest opposition to it, as Paul) and to the interest believers have in Christ's victories over their spiritual enemies, when he led captivity captive, to the power they gain over their own corruptions, and to the dominion the upright shall have in the morning, Psa 49:14. 6. They should see a happy termination of all their grievances (Isa 14:3): The Lord shall give thee rest from thy sorrow and thy fear, and from thy hard bondage. God himself undertakes to work a blessed change, (1.) In their state. They shall have rest from their bondage; the days of their affliction, though many, shall have an end; and the rod of the wicked, though it lie long, shall not always lie on their lot. (2.) In their spirit. They shall have rest from their sorrow and fear, sense of their present burdens and dread of worse. Sometimes fear puts the soul into a ferment as much as sorrow does, and those must needs feel themselves very easy to whom God has given rest from both. Those who are freed from the bondage of sin have a foundation laid for true rest from sorrow and fear.

Matthew Henry: Isa 14:4-23

The kings of Babylon, successively, were the great enemies and oppressors of God's people, and therefore the destruction of Babylon, the fall of the king, and the ruin of his family, are here particularly taken notice of and triumphed in. In the day that God has given Israel rest they shall take up this proverb against the king of Babylon. We must not rejoice when our enemy falls, as ours; but when Babylon, the common enemy of God and his Israel, sinks, then rejoice over her, thou heaven, and you holy apostles and prophets, Rev 18:20. The Babylonian monarchy bade fair to be an absolute, universal, and perpetual one, and, in these pretensions, vied with the Almighty; it is therefore very justly, not only brought down, but insulted over when it is down; and it is not only the last monarch, Belshazzar, who was slain on that night that Babylon was taken (Dan 5:30), who is here triumphed over, but the whole monarchy, which sunk in him; not without special reference to Nebuchadnezzar, in whom that monarchy was at its height. Now here,

I. The fall of the king of Babylon is rejoiced in; and a most curious and elegant composition is here prepared, not to adorn his hearse or monument, but to expose his memory and fix a lasting brand of infamy upon it. It gives us an account of the life and death of this mighty monarch, how he went down slain to the pit, though he had been the terror of the mighty in the land of the living, Eze 32:27. In this parable we may observe,

1. The prodigious height of wealth and power at which this monarch and monarchy arrived. Babylon was a golden city, Isa 14:4 (it is a Chaldee word in the original, which intimates that she used to call herself so), so much did she abound in riches and excel all other cities, as gold does all other metals. She is gold-thirsty, or an exactress of gold (so some read it); for how do men get wealth to themselves but by squeezing it out of others? The New Jerusalem is the only truly golden city, Rev 21:18, Rev 21:21. The king of Babylon, having so much wealth in his dominions and the absolute command of it, by the help of that ruled the nations (Isa 14:6), gave them law, read them their doom, and at his pleasure weakened the nations (Isa 14:12), that they might not be able to make head against him. Such vast and victorious armies did he bring into the field, that, which way soever he looked, he made the earth to tremble, and shook kingdoms (Isa 14:16); all his neighbours were afraid of him, and were forced to submit to him. No one man could do this by his own personal strength, but by the numbers he has at his beck. Great tyrants, by making some do what they will, make others suffer what they will. How piteous is the case of mankind, which thus seems to be in a combination against itself, and its own rights and liberties, which could not be ruined but by its own strength!

2. The wretched abuse of all this wealth and power, which the king of Babylon was guilty of, in two instances: -

(1.) Great oppression and cruelty. He is known by the name of the oppressor (Isa 14:4); he has the sceptre of the rulers (Isa 14:5), has the command of all the princes about him; but it is the staff of the wicked, a staff with which he supports himself in his wickedness and wickedly strikes all about him. He smote the people, not in justice, for their correction and reformation, but in wrath (Isa 14:6), to gratify his own peevish resentments, and that with a continual stroke, pursued them with his forces, and gave them no respite, no breathing time, no cessation of arms. He ruled the nations, but he ruled them in anger, every thing he said and did was in a passion; so that he who had the government of all about him had no government of himself. He made the world as a wilderness, as if he had taken a pride in being the plague of his generation and a curse to mankind, Isa 14:17. Great princes usually glory in building cities, but he gloried in destroying them; see Psa 9:6. Two particular instances, worse than all the rest, are here given of his tyranny: - [1.] That he was severe to his captives (Isa 14:17): He opened not the house of his prisoners; he did not let them loose homeward (so the margin reads it); he kept them in close confinement, and never would suffer any to return to their own land. This refers especially to the people of the Jews, and it is that which fills up the measure of the king of Babylon's iniquity, that he had detained the people of God in captivity and would by no means release them; nay, and by profaning the vessels of God's temple at Jerusalem, did in effect say that they should never return to their former use, Dan 5:3. For this he was quickly and justly turned out by one whose first act was to open the house of God's prisoners and send home the temple vessels. [2.] That he was oppressive to his own subjects (Isa 14:20): Thou hast destroyed thy land, and slain thy people; and what did he get by that, when the wealth of the land and the multitude of the people are the strength and honour of the prince, who never rules so safely, so gloriously, as in the hearts and affections of the people? But tyrants sacrifice their interests to their lusts and passions; and God will reckon with them for their barbarous usage of those who are under their power, whom they think they may use as they please.

(2.) Great pride and haughtiness. Notice is here taken of his pomp, the extravagancy of his retinue, Isa 14:11. He affected to appear in the utmost magnificence. But that was not the worst: it was the temper of his mind, and the elevation of that, that ripened him for ruin (Isa 14:13, Isa 14:14): Thou has said in thy heart, like Lucifer, I will ascend into heaven. Here is the language of his vainglory, borrowed perhaps from that of the angels who fell, who not content with their first estate, the post assigned them, would vie with God, and become not only independent of him, but equal with him. Or perhaps it refers to the story of Nebuchadnezzar, who, when he would be more than a man, was justly turned into a brute, Dan 4:30. The king of Babylon here promises himself, [1.] That in pomp and power he shall surpass all his neighbours, and shall arrive at the very height of earthly glory and felicity, that he shall be as great and happy as this world can make him; that is the heaven of a carnal heart, and to that he hopes to ascend, and to be as far above those about him as the heaven is above the earth. Princes are the stars of God, which give some light to this dark world (Mat 24:29); but he will exalt his throne above them all. [2.] That he shall particularly insult over God's Mount Zion, which Belshazzar, in his last drunken frolic, seems to have had a particular spite against when he called for the vessels of the temple at Jerusalem, to profane them; see Dan 5:2. In the same humour he here said, I will sit upon the mount of the congregation (it is the same word that is used for the holy convocations ), in the sides of the north; so Mount Zion is said to be situated, Psa 48:2. Perhaps Belshazzar was projecting an expedition to Jerusalem, to triumph in the ruins of it, at the time when God cut him off. [3.] That he shall vie with the God of Israel, of whom he had indeed heard glorious things, that he had his residence above the heights of the clouds. "But thither,"says he, " will I ascend, and be as great as he; I will be like him whom they call the Most High. "It is a gracious ambition to covet to be like the Most Holy, for he has said, Be you holy, for I am holy; but it is a sinful ambition to aim to be like the Most High, for he has said, He that exalteth himself shall be abased, and the devil drew our first parents in to eat forbidden fruit by promising them that they should be as gods. [4.] That he shall himself be deified after his death, as some of the first founders of the Assyrian monarchy were, and stars had even their names from them. "But,"says he, " I will exalt my throne above them all."Such as this was his pride, which was the undoubted omen of his destruction.

3. The utter ruin that should be brought upon him. It is foretold, (1.) That his wealth and power should be broken, and a final period put to his pomp and pleasure. He has been long an oppressor, but he shall cease to be so, Isa 14:4. Had he ceased to be so by true repentance and reformation, according to the advice Daniel gave to Nebuchadnezzar, it might have been a lengthening of his life and tranquillity. But those that will not cease to sin God will make to cease. " The golden city, which one would have thought might continue for ever, has ceased; there is an end of that Babylon. The Lord, the righteous God, has broken the staff of that wicked prince, broken it over his head, in token of the divesting him of his office. God has taken his power from him, and rendered him incapable of doing any more mischief: he has broken the sceptres; for even these are brittle things, soon broken and often justly."(2.) That he himself should be seized: He is persecuted (v. 6); violent hands are laid upon him, and none hinders. It is the common fate of tyrants, when they fall into the power of their enemies, to be deserted by their flatterers, whom they took for their friends. We read of another enemy like this, of whom it is foretold that he shall come to his end and none shall help him, Dan 11:45. Tiberius and Nero thus saw themselves abandoned. (3.) That he should be slain, and go down to the congregation of the dead, to be free among them, as the slain that are no more remembered, Psa 88:5. He shall be weak as the dead are, and like unto them, Isa 14:10. His pomp is brought down to the grave (Isa 14:11), that is, it perishes with him; the pomp of his life shall not, as usual, end in a funeral pomp. True glory (that is, true grace) will go up with the soul to heaven, but vain pomp will go down with the body to the grave: there is an end of it. The noise of his viols is now heard no more. Death is a farewell to the pleasures, as well as to the pomps, of this world. This mighty prince, that used to lie on a bed of down, to tread upon rich carpets, and to have coverings and canopies exquisitely fine, now shall have the worms spread under him and the worms covering him, worms bred out of his own putrefied body, which, though he fancied himself a god, proved him to be made of the same mould with other men. When we are pampering and decking our bodies it is good to remember they will be worms'-meat shortly. (4.) That he should not have the honour of a burial, much less of a decent one and in the sepulchres of his ancestors. The kings of the nations lie in glory (Isa 14:18), either their dead bodies themselves so embalmed as to be preserved from putrefaction, as of old among the Egyptians, or their effigies (as with us) erected over their graves. Thus, as if they would defy the ignominy of death, they lay in a poor faint sort of glory, every one in his own house, that is, his own burying-place (for the grave is the house appointed for all living), a sleeping house, where the busy and troublesome will lie quiet and the troubled and weary lie at rest. But this king of Babylon is cast out and has no grave (Isa 14:19); his dead body is thrown, like that of a beast, into the next ditch or upon the next dunghill, like an abominable branch of some noxious poisonous plant, which nobody will touch, or as the clothes of malefactors put to death and by the hand of justice thrust through with a sword, on whose dead bodies heaps of stones are raised, or they are thrown into some deep quarry among the stones of the pit. Nay, the king of Babylon's dead body shall be as the carcases of those who are slain in a battle, which are trodden under feet by the horses and soldiers and crushed to pieces. Thus he shall not be joined with his ancestors in burial, Isa 14:20. To be denied decent burial is a disgrace, which, if it be inflicted for righteousness' sake (as Psa 79:2), may, as other similar reproaches, be rejoiced in (Mat 5:12); it is the lot of the two witnesses, Rev 11:9. But if, as here, it be the just punishment of iniquity, it is an intimation that evil pursues impenitent sinners beyond death, greater evil than that, and that they shall rise to everlasting shame and contempt.

4. The many triumphs that should be in his fall.

(1.) Those whom he had been a great tyrant and terror to will be glad that they are rid of him, Isa 14:7, Isa 14:8. Now that he is gone the whole earth is at rest and is quiet, for he was the great disturber of the peace; now they all break forth into singing, for when the wicked perish there is shouting (Pro 11:10); the fir-trees and cedars of Lebanon now think themselves safe; there is no danger now of their being cut down, to make way for his vast armies or to furnish him with timber. The neighbouring princes and great men, who are compared to fir-trees and cedars (Zec 11:2), may now be easy, and out of fear of being dispossessed of their rights, for the hammer of the whole earth is cut asunder and broken (Jer 50:23), the axe that boasted itself against him that hewed with it, Isa 10:15.

(2.) The congregation of the dead will bid him welcome to them, especially those whom he had barbarously hastened thither (Isa 14:9, Isa 14:10): " Hell from beneath is moved for thee, to meet thee at thy coming, and to compliment thee upon thy arrival at their dark and dreadful regions." The chief ones of the earth, who when they were alive were kept in awe by him and durst not come near him, but rose from their thrones, to resign them to him, shall upbraid him with it when he comes into the state of the dead. They shall go forth to meet him, as they used to do when he made his public entry into cities he had become master of; with such a parade shall he be introduced into those regions of horror, to make his disgrace and torment the more grievous to him. They shall scoffingly rise from their thrones and seats there, and ask him if he will please to sit down in them, as he used to do in their thrones on earth? The confusion that will then cover him they shall make a jest of: " Hast thou also become weak as we? Who would have thought it? It is what thou thyself didst not expect it would ever come to when thou wast in every thing too hard for us. Thou that didst rank thyself among the immortal gods, art thou come to take thy fate among us poor mortal men? Where is thy pomp now, and where thy mirth? How hast thou fallen from heaven, O Lucifer! son of the morning! Isa 14:11, Isa 14:12. The king of Babylon shone as brightly as the morning star, and fancied that wherever he came he brought day along with him; and has such an illustrious prince as this fallen, such a star become a clod of clay? Did ever any man fall from such a height of honour and power into such an abyss of shame and misery?"This has been commonly alluded to (and it is a mere allusion) to illustrate the fall of the angels, who were as morning stars (Job 38:7), but how have they fallen! How art thou cut down to the ground, and levelled with it, that didst weaken the nations! God will reckon with those that invade the rights and disturb the peace of mankind, for he is King of nations as well as of saints. Now this reception of the king of Babylon into the regions of the dead, which is here described, surely is something more than a flight of fancy, and is designed to teach these solid truths: - [1.] That there is an invisible world, a world of spirits, to which the souls of men remove at death and in which they exist and act in a state of separation from the body. [2.] That separate souls have acquaintance and converse with each other, though we have none with them: the parable of the rich man and Lazarus intimates this. [3.] That death and hell will be death and hell indeed to those that fall unsanctified from the height of this world's pomps and the fulness of its pleasures. Son, remember, Luk 16:25.

(3.) Spectators will stand amazed at his fall. When he shall be brought down to hell, to the sides of the pit, and be lodged there, those that see him shall narrowly look upon him, and consider him (Isa 14:15, Isa 14:16); they shall scarcely believe their own eyes. "Never was death so great a change to any man as it is to him. Is it possible that a man, who a few hours ago looked so great, so pleasant, and was so splendidly adorned and attended, should now look so ghastly, so despicable, and lie thus naked and neglected? Is this the man that made the earth to tremble and shook kingdoms? Who could have thought he should ever come to this?"Psa 82:7.

5. Here is an inference drawn from all this (Isa 14:20): The seed of evil-doers shall never be renowned. The princes of the Babylonian monarchy were all a seed of evil-doers, oppressors of the people of God, and therefore they had this infamy entailed upon them. They shall not be renowned for ever (so some read it); they may look big for a time, but all their pomp will only render their disgrace at last the more shameful. There is no credit in a sinful way.

II. The utter ruin of the royal family is here foretold, together with the desolation of The royal city.

1. The royal family is to be wholly extirpated. The Medes and Persians, that are to be employed in this destroying work, are ordered, when they have slain Belshazzar, to prepare slaughter for his children (Isa 14:21) and not to spare them. The little ones of Babylon must be dashed against the stones, Psa 137:9. These orders sound very harshly; but, (1.) They must suffer for the iniquity of their fathers, which is often visited upon the children, to show how much God hates sin and is displeased at it, and to deter sinners from it, which is the end of punishment. Nebuchadnezzar had slain Zedekiah's sons (Jer 52:10), and, for that iniquity of his, his seed are paid in the same coin. (2.) They must be cut off now, that they may not rise up to possess the land and do as much mischief in their day as their fathers had done in theirs - that they may not be as vexatious to the world by building cities for the support of their tyranny (which was Nimrod's policy, Gen 10:10, Gen 10:11) as their ancestors had been by destroying cities. Pharaoh oppressed Israel in Egypt by setting them to build cities, Exo 1:11. The providence of God consults the welfare of nations more than we are aware of by cutting off some who, if they had lived, would have done mischief. Justly may the enemies cut off the children: For I will rise up against them, saith the Lord of hosts (Isa 14:22), and if God reveal it as his mind that he will have it done, as none can hinder it, so none need scruple to further it. Babylon perhaps was proud of the numbers of her royal family, but God had determined to cut off the name and remnant of it, so that none should be left, to have both the sons and grandsons of the king slain; and yet we are sure he never did, nor ever will do, any wrong to any of his creatures.

2. The royal city is to be demolished and deserted, Isa 14:23. It shall be a possession for solitary frightful birds, particularly the bittern, joined with the cormorant and the owl, Isa 24:11. And thus the utter destruction of the New Testament Babylon is illustrated, Rev 18:2. It has become a cage of every unclean and hateful bird. Babylon lay low, so that when it was deserted, and no care taken to drain the land, it soon became pools of water, standing noisome puddles, as unhealthful as they were unpleasant: and thus God will sweep it with the besom of destruction. When a people have nothing among them but dirt and filth, and will not be made clean with the besom of reformation, what can they expect but to be swept off the face of the earth with the besom of destruction?

Keil-Delitzsch: Isa 14:1-2

But it is love to His own people which impels the God of Israel to suspend such a judgment of eternal destruction over Babylon. "For Jehovah will have mercy on Jacob, and will once more choose Israel, and will settle them in their own land: and the foreigner will associate with them, and they will cleave to the house of Jacob. And nations take them, and accompany them to their place; and the house of Israel takes them to itself in the land of Jehovah for servants and maid-servants: and they hold in captivity those who led them away captive; and become lords over their oppressors." We have here in nuce the comforting substance of chapters 46-66. Babylon falls that Israel may rise. This is effected by the compassion of God. He chooses Israel once more ( iterum , as in Job 14:7 for example), and therefore makes a new covenant with it. Then follows their return to Canaan, their own land, Jehovah's land (as in Hos 9:3). Proselytes from among the heathen, who have acknowledged the God of the exiles, go along with them, as Ruth did with Naomi. Heathen accompany the exiles to their own place. And now their relative positions are reversed. Those who accompany Israel are now taken possession of by the latter ( hithnachēl , κληρονομεῖν ἑαυτῷ , like hithpattēach , Isa 52:2, λύεσθαι ; cf., p. 62, note, and Ewald, §124, b ), as servants and maid-servants; and they (the Israelites) become leaders into captivity of those who led them into captivity ( Lamed with the participle, as in Isa 11:9), and they will oppress (râdâh b' , as in Psa 49:15) their oppressors. This retribution of life for like is to all appearance quite out of harmony with the New Testament love. But in reality it is no retribution of like for like. For, according to the prophet's meaning, to be ruled by the people of God is the true happiness of the nations, and to allow themselves to be so ruled is their true liberty. At the same time, the form in which the promise is expressed is certainly not that of the New Testament; and it would not possibly have been so, for the simple reason that in Old Testament times, and from an Old Testament point of view, there was no other visible manifestation of the church ( ecclesia ) than in the form of a nation. This national form of the church has been broken up under the New Testament, and will never be restored. Israel, indeed, will be restored as a nation; but the true essence of the church, which is raised above all national distinctions, will never return to those worldly limits which it has broken through. And the fact that the prophecy moves within those limits here may be easily explained, on the ground that it is primarily the deliverance from the Babylonian captivity to which the promise refers. And the prophet himself was unconscious that this captivity would be followed by another.

Keil-Delitzsch: Isa 14:3-6

The song of the redeemed is a song concerning the fall of the king of Babel. Isa 14:3, Isa 14:4 . Instead of the hiphil hinniach (to let down) of Isa 14:1, we have here, as in the original passage, Deu 25:19, the form hēniach , which is commonly used in the sense of quieting, or procuring rest. עצב is trouble which plagues (as עמל is trouble which oppresses), and rōgez restlessness which wears out with anxious care (Job 3:26, cf., Eze 12:18). The assimilated min before the two words is pronounced mĭ , with a weak reduplication, instead of mē , as elsewhere, before ח , ה , and even before ר (1Sa 23:28; 2Sa 18:16). In the relative clause עבּד־ב ך אשר , אשר is not the Hebrew casus adverb . answering to the Latin ablative quâ servo te usi sunt ; not do ב ך ... אשר belong to one another in the sense of quo , as in Deu 21:3, quâ ( vitulâ ); but it is regarded as an acc. obj . according to Exo 1:14 and Lev 25:39, qu'on t'a fait servir , as in Num 32:5, qu'on donne la terre (Luzzatto). When delivered from such a yoke of bondage, Israel would raise a m âshâl . According to its primary and general meaning, m âshâl signifies figurative language, and hence poetry generally, more especially that kind of proverbial poetry which loves the emblematical, and, in fact, any artistic composition that is piquant in its character; so that the idea of what is satirical or defiant may easily be associated with it, as in the passage before us.

The words are addressed to the Israel of the future in the Israel of the present, as in Isa 12:1. The former would then sing, and say as follows. "How hath the oppressor ceased! The place of torture ceased! Jehovah hath broken the rod of the wicked, the ruler's staff, which cmote nations in wrath with strokes without ceasing subjugated nations wrathfully with hunting than nevers stays." Not one of the early translators ever thought of deriving the hap. leg. m adhebâh from the Aramaean dehab (gold), as Vitringa, Aurivillius, and Rosenmüller have done. The former have all translated the word as if it were m arhēbâh (haughty, violent treatment), as corrected by J. D. Michaelis, Doederlein, Knobel, and others. But we may arrive at the same result without altering a single letter, if we take דּאב as equivalent to דּהב , דּוּב , to melt or pine away, whether we go back to the kal or to the hiphil of the verb, and regard the Mem as used in a material or local sense. We understand it, according to madmenah (dunghill) in Isa 25:10, as denoting the place where they were reduced to pining away, i.e., as applied to Babylon as the house of servitude where Israel had been wearied to death. The tyrant's sceptre, mentioned in Isa 14:5, is the Chaldean world-power regarded as concentrated in the king of Babel (cf., shēbet in Num 24:17). This tyrant's sceptre smote nations with incessant blows and hunting: maccath is construed with macceh , the derivative of the same verb; and m urdâph , a hophal noun (as in Isa 9:1; Isa 29:3), with rodeh , which is kindred in meaning. Doederlein's conjecture ( mirdath ), which has been adopted by most modern commentators, is quite unnecessary. Unceasing continuance is expressed first of all with bilti , which is used as a preposition, and followed by sârâh , a participial noun like c âlâh , and then with b'li , which is construed with the finite verb as in Gen 31:20; Job 41:18; for b'li châsâk is an attributive clause: with a hunting which did not restrain itself, did not stop, and therefore did not spare. Nor is it only Israel and other subjugated nations that now breathe again.

Keil-Delitzsch: Isa 14:7-8

"The whole earth rests, is quiet: they break forth into singing. Even the cypresses rejoice at thee, the cedars of Lebanon: 'Since thou hast gone to sleep, no one will come up to lay the axe upon us.'" The preterites indicate inchoatively the circumstances into which the whole earth has now entered. The omission of the subject in the case of pâtz'chu (they break forth) gives the greatest generality to the jubilant utterances: pâtzach rinnâh ( erumpere gaudio ) is an expression that is characteristic of Isaiah alone (e.g., Isa 44:23; Isa 49:13); and it is a distinctive peculiarity of the prophet to bring in the trees of the forest, as living and speaking beings, to share in the universal joy (cf., Isa 55:12). Jerome supposes the trees to be figuratively employed here for the "chiefs of the nations"( principes gentium ). But this disposition to allegorize not only destroys the reality of the contents, but the spirit of the poetry also. Cypresses and cedars rejoice because of the treatment which they received from the Chaldean, who made use of the almost imperishable wood of both of them for ornamental buildings, for his siege apparatus, and for his fleets, and even for ordinary ships - as Alexander, for example, built himself a fleet of cypress-wood, and the Syrian vessels had masts of cedar. Of the old cedars of Lebanon, there are hardly thirty left in the principle spot where they formerly grew. Gardner Wilkinson (1843) and Hooker the botanist (1860) estimated the whole number at about four hundred; and according to the conclusion which the latter drew from the number of concentric rings and other signs, not one of them is more than about five hundred years old.

(Note: See Wilkinson's paper in the Athenaeum (London, Noverse 1862).)

Keil-Delitzsch: Isa 14:9

But whilst it has become so quiet on earth, there is the most violent agitation in the regions below. "The kingdom of the dead below is all in uproar on account of thee, to meet thy coming; it stirreth up the shades for thee, all the he-goats of the earth; it raiseth up from their throne-seats all the kings of the nations." The notion of Hades, notwithstanding the mythological character which it had assumed, was based upon the double truth, that what a man has been, and the manner in which he has lived on this side the grave, are not obliterated on the other side, but are then really brought to light, and that there is an immaterial self-formation of the soul, in which all that a man has become under certain divinely appointed circumstances, by his own self-determination, is, as it were, reflected in a mirror, and that in a permanent form. This psychical image, to which the dead body bears the same relation as the shattered mould to a cast, is the shade-like corporeality of the inhabitants of Hades, in which they appear essentially though spiritually just as they were on this side the grave. This is the deep root of what the prophet has here expressed in a poetical form; for it is really a m âshâl that he has interwoven with his prophecy here. All Hades is overwhelmed with excitement and wonder, now that the king of Babel, that invincible ruler of the world, who, if not unexpected altogether, was not expected so soon, as actually approaching. From עורר onwards, Sheol , although a feminine, might be the subject; in which case the verb would simply have reverted from the feminine to the radical masculine form. But it is better to regard the subject as neuter; a nescio quid , a nameless power. The shades are suddenly seized with astonishment, more especially the former leaders (leading goats or bell-wethers) of the herds of nations, so that, from sheer amazement, they spring up from their seats.

Keil-Delitzsch: Isa 14:10

And how do they greet this lofty new-comer? "They all rise up and say to thee, Art thou also made weak like us? art thou become like us?" This is all that the shades say; what follows does not belong to them. The pual c hullâh (only used here), "to be made sickly, or powerless,"signifies to be transposed into the condition of the latter, viz., the Repahim (a word which also occurs in the Phoenician inscriptions, from רפא = רפה , to be relaxed or weary), since the life of the shades is only a shadow of life (cf., εἴδωλα ἄκικυς , and possibly also καμόντες in Homer, when used in the sense of those who are dying, exhausted and prostrate with weakness). And in Hades we could not expect anything more than this expression of extreme amazement. For why should they receive their new comrade with contempt or scorn? From Isa 14:11 onwards, the singers of the mashal take up the song again.

Keil-Delitzsch: Isa 14:11

"Thy pomp is cast down to the region of the dead, the noise of thy harps: maggots are spread under thee, and they that cover thee are worms." From the book of Daniel we learn the character of the Babylonian music; it abounded in instruments, some of which were foreign. Maggots and worms (a bitter sarcasm) now take the place of the costly artistic Babylonian rugs, which once formed the pillow and counterpane of the distinguished corpse. יצּע might be a third pers. hophal (Ges. §71); but here, between perfects, it is a third pers. pual , like yullad in Isa 9:5. Rimmâh , which is preceded by the verb in a masculine and to a certain extent an indifferent form (Ges. §147, a ), is a collective name for small worms, in any mass of which the individual is lost in the swarm. The passage is continued with אי ך (on which, as a catchword of the mashal , see at Isa 1:21).

Keil-Delitzsch: Isa 14:12

"How art thou fallen from the sky, thou star of light, sun of the dawn, hurled down to the earth, thou that didst throw down nations from above?" הילל is here the morning star (from hâlal , to shine, resolved from hillel , after the form מאן , Jer 13:10, סעף , Psa 119:113, or rather attaching itself as a third class to the forms היכל , עירם : compare the Arabic sairaf , exchanger; saikal , sword-cleaner). It derives its name in other ancient languages also from its striking brilliancy, and is here called ben - shachar (sun of the dawn), just as in the classical mythology it is called son of Eos, from the fact that it rises before the sun, and swims in the morning light as if that were the source of its birth.

(Note: It is singular, however, that among the Semitic nations the morning star is not personified as a male ( Heōsphoros or Phōsphoros ), but as a female (Astarte, see at Isa 17:8), and that it is called Nâghâh , Ashtoreth , Zuhara , but never by a name derived from hâlal ; whilst the moon is regarded as a male deity ( Sin ), and in Arabic hilâl signifies the new moon, which might be called ben- shacar (son of the dawn), from the fact that, from the time when it passes out of the invisibility of its first phase, it is seen at sunrise, and is as it were born out of the dawn.)

Lucifer, as a name given to the devil, was derived from this passage, which the fathers (and lately Stier) interpreted, without any warrant whatever, as relating to the apostasy and punishment of the angelic leaders. The appellation is a perfectly appropriate one for the king of Babel, on account of the early date of the Babylonian culture, which reached back as far as the grey twilight of primeval times, and also because of its predominant astrological character. The additional epithet chōlēsh ‛al - gōyim is founded upon the idea of the influxus siderum :

(Note: In a similar manner, the sun-god ( San ) is called the "conqueror of the king's enemies,""breaker of opposition,"etc., on the early Babylonian monuments (see G. Rawlinson, The Five Great Monarchies , i. 160).)

cholesh signifies "overthrowing"or laying down (Exo 17:13), and with ‛al , "bringing defeat upon;"whilst the Talmud (b. Sabbath 149 b ) uses it in the sense of projiciens sortem , and thus throws light upon the cholesh (= purah , lot) of the Mishnah. A retrospective glance is now cast at the self-deification of the king of Babylon, in which he was the antitype of the devil and the type of antichrist (Dan 11:36; 2Th 2:4), and which had met with its reward.

Constable: Isa 7:1--39:8

III. Israel's crisis of faith chs. 7--39

This long section of the book deals with Israel's major decision in Isaiah's day. Would she trust in Yahweh or in other nations? The decision was a matter of faith; who is more trustworthy, God or strong people? God promised that trust in the nations would result in destruction (ch. 34) but trust in Him would bring abundance (ch. 35). Israel's decision would also determine whether she had a message for the nations or not and whether she would fulfill her mission to the nations or not. This decision is, of course, one that the people of God of all ages continually face.

Constable: Isa 13:1--35:10

B. God's sovereignty over the nations chs. 13-35

This major section of the book emphasizes the folly of trusting in the nations rather than in Yahweh. The section preceding it shows how King Ahaz trusted in Assyria and experienced destruction (chs. 7-12). The section following it shows how King Hezekiah trusted in the Lord and experienced deliverance (chs. 36-39). In this section the prophet expanded his perspective from Israel to include the world. The God of Israel is also Lord of the nations.

Constable: Isa 13:1--23:18

1. Divine judgments on the nations chs. 13-23

The recurrence of the Hebrew word massa', translated "oracle" or "burden," prescribes the boundaries of this section of text.¹⁴⁰ These chapters present the nations over which Immanuel is ruler, and they expand the idea of God's hatred of Assyria's pride (10:5-34; cf. 2:6-22; 13:11, 19; 14:11; 16:6; 17:7-11; 23:9). They are announcements of doom on these nations, but they are also announcements of salvation for Israel if she would trust in Yahweh. Isaiah delivered them to Israel rather than to the nations mentioned. Thus they assured the Israelites of Yahweh's sovereignty over the nations with a view to encouraging God's people to trust in the Lord (cf. Jer. 46-51; Ezek. 25-32; Amos 1-2). It would be foolish to trust in nations whom God has doomed. The unifying theme is the pride of these nations. Exalting self and failing to acknowledge God results in destruction.

". . . He [God] will hold every nation accountable for its actions."¹⁴¹

It is helpful to notice the structure of this section and the one that follows it.¹⁴²

Babylon (13:1-14:27)Political overthrow	The desert by the sea (Babylon) (21:1-10)Religious overthrow	The city of emptiness (24:1-20)Broken laws and gates
Philistia (14:28-32)A Davidic king will yet reign in Zion	Silence (Edom) (21:11-12)Indefinite continuance of things as they are	Zion's king (24:21-23)"After many days"
Moab (chs. 15-16)Moab in need, but through pride suffers destruction in spite of shelter in Zion	Evening (Arabia) (21:13-17)Desert tribes in need: no ultimate refuge in mutual security	The great banquet (ch. 25)All nations feasted in Zion save Moab, excluded by pride
Damascus/Ephraim (chs. 17-18)Strong cities forsaken; the forgotten rock	The Valley of Vision (Jerusalem) (ch. 22)The city torn down	The city of God (ch. 26)The strong city; the everlasting rock
Egypt (chs. 19-20)Co-equal membership: Egypt, Assyria and Israel	Tyre (ch. 23)Holiness to the Lord	The final gathering (ch. 27)The harvest from Egypt and Assyria

Note that each of the first two columns of oracles (chs. 13-23) begins with Babylon, and the third deals with Israel, which the peoples of the world surround. In the first list Babylon is to Israel's north, Philistia to the west, Moab to the east, and Egypt to the south. In the second list Babylon is to the north, Edom to the south, Arabia to the east, and Tyre to the west. Thus the selection of these nations suggests that Israel occupies the central place in God's plans, and the surrounding nations are vulnerable.¹⁴³

Constable: Isa 13:1--20:6

The first series of five oracles chs. 13-20

The first series shows that God has placed Israel at the center of His dealings with the Gentile nations. The second series projects the principles revealed in the first series into the future moving from concrete historical names to more enigmatic allusions. The third series points far ahead into the eschatological future but shows that the same principles will apply then. God's dealings with the nations in Isaiah's day was a sign of His similar dealings with them in the future.

Constable: Isa 13:1--14:28

The first oracle against Babylon 13:1-14:27

The reader would expect that Isaiah would inveigh against Assyria since it was the most threatening enemy in his day and since he referred to it many times in earlier chapters. However, he did not mention Assyria in this section but Babylon, an empire that came into its own about a century after Isaiah's time. Babylon was a symbol of self-exalting pride and its glory (cf. 13:5, 10-11). Thus what he said about Babylon was applicable to Assyria and other similar powers in the eastern part of Israel's world. Similarly, what marked the Medes (13:17-18) was their fierce destruction of their enemies, which was already in view but would become more obvious in the years that followed. When the prophet wrote, Babylon was a real entity within Assyria, but Isaiah used it to represent all the nations in that area that shared its traits (cf. Gen. 9:20-25; Rev. 17-18).

The literary structure of this oracle, omitting the introduction (v. 1), is chiastic.

"A The day of the Lord: the beckoning hand, a universal purpose declared (13:2-16)

B The overthrow of Babylon: the end of the kingdom, the fact of divine overthrow (13:17-22)

C The security and future of the Lord's people: a contrasting universal purpose (14:1-2)

B' The overthrow of Babylon: the end of the king, the explanation of divine overthrow (14:3-23)

A' The end of Assyrian power: the outstretched hand, a universal purpose exemplified and validated (14:24-27)"¹⁴⁴

13:1 A general title for chapters 13-23, and particularly the oracle against Babylon (13:2-14:27), opens chapter 13. An oracle (or burden) is a heavy message of divine judgment. Babylon was at this time an ancient city, it would be an empire, and it had been in the past the historical source of arrogant self-sufficiency (Gen. 11:1-9). When Isaiah wrote, it was a town within the Assyrian Empire that was asserting itself and was a real threat to Assyrian supremacy.¹⁴⁵ Isaiah "saw" the oracle in the sense that God enabled him to understand the things he proceeded to reveal (cf. 1:1).

13:2-16 This section is an introduction to all 10 oracles that follow in chapters 13-23 as well as to the first oracle against Babylon. It explains why God will judge Gentile nations: they refuse to acknowledge Yahweh's sovereignty and instead exalt and glorify themselves. The story of the building of the tower of Babel is the classic expression of this hubris (overweening pride; Gen. 11:1-9).

Isaiah related a message from God summoning His warriors to assemble so they could carry out His will in judging those with whom He was angry. Raising a flag on a hilltop and calling warriors to assemble pictures God doing this (vv. 2-3; cf. Rev. 9:16). Many warriors from many kingdoms far away would respond to the Lord's command and gather together to do battle as His instruments (vv. 4-5; cf. Dan. 11:40-45; Rev. 14:14-20; 16:12-16; 19:17-19). The day of the Lord, the day in which He will actively intervene in history, would be close by (Heb. qarob).¹⁴⁶ Therefore everyone should wail (or howl; cf. Amos 5:16-17). It would be a day when the Almighty would send destruction (v. 6; cf. vv. 9, 13). The prospect of sudden, inevitable, inescapable destruction at the hand of the Almighty would make everyone tremble with fear. They would not know where to turn (vv. 7-8; cf. 1 Thess. 5:3). The coming judgment would desolate the whole earth and exterminate sinners from it, specifically those who miss the mark of righteousness (v. 9). This judgment would involve the darkening of the sun, moon, and stars (cf. 34:4; Ezek. 32:7; Joel 2:10, 30-31; 3:15; Zech. 14:6-7; Matt. 24:19; Rev. 8:12). Since the pagans worshipped these objects, this announcement signals the judging of them as idols as well (v. 10).

The reason for this wrathful judgment is the evil of wicked people that God will judge, especially their pride and haughtiness (v. 11). Rather than human pride resulting in increasing good for ever expanding numbers of people, it will result in the cutting back of the human population (v. 12; cf. Rev. 6:8; 9:15). The heavens and the earth would shake at the fury of Yahweh of armies when His anger would burn against the wicked (v. 13; cf. 24:18; Joel 2:10; 3:16; Hag. 2:6-7, 21-22; Rev. 6:12; 8:5; 11:13, 19; 16:18). People would scatter like frightened gazelles and sheep in that day as they seek security (cf. Rev. 6:15-17). God's warriors will slay all the wicked that they can find. Children will be unmercifully slaughtered in the sight of their parents. Houses will be looted and women raped (vv. 14-16).

13:17-22 This pericope foretells the destruction of Babylon.¹⁴⁷ This was a judgment of the Lord in a day that would be closer to Isaiah's own time, a near and limited fulfillment of the day that the prophet just described.¹⁴⁸ The same principles that operate in the eschatological day of the Lord just described also operate in the earlier days of the Lord.¹⁴⁹

Part of the Lord's warriors would be the Medes, who occupied what is now central Iran. In Isaiah's day the Medes were already a powerful people that the Assyrians dreaded. They would destroy Babylon.¹⁵⁰ They valued silver and gold less than military conquest; they could not be bought off but mercilessly slew every enemy (vv. 17-18).

"The Medes are probably mentioned here rather than the Persians because of their greater ferocity and also because they were better known to the people of Isaiah's day. According to the Greek historian Xenophon, Cyrus acknowledged that the Medes had served his cause without thought of monetary reward."¹⁵¹

In the late 700s B.C. Babylon was the showcase of the ancient world, specifically the Assyrian Empire. She was culturally and economically superior to Assyria and was ascending politically. The Chaldeans were the ruling class that had been responsible for the supremacy of Babylon. However, Isaiah announced, Babylon would experience the same fate as Sodom and Gomorrah: destruction from the Lord's hand (v. 19). After her judgment, Babylon would be uninhabitable even by nomads. Wild animals would be the only residents of the once great city. This destruction would come soon, and it would not be delayed (vv. 20-22).

Babylonia was under the Assyrian yoke when Isaiah gave this prophecy, probably during Hezekiah's reign (715-686 B.C.). She was one of the nations, along with Egypt, to which Judah was looking as a possible savior. This prophecy showed that Babylon was not a safe object for trust because God would destroy her.

Has this prophecy been fulfilled? Babylon suffered defeat in 689 B.C. when Assyria (including the Medes), under Sennacherib, devastated it (cf. 23:13), but the city was rebuilt. Many interpreters believe that the fall of Babylon in 539 B.C. to Cyrus fulfilled this prophecy,¹⁵² but Cyrus left the city intact. Others believe the destruction in 518 B.C. under Darius Hystaspes was the fulfillment. A few scholars believe that what Isaiah predicted here never took place literally, so the fulfillment lies in the future.¹⁵³ Most conservatives argue for a near and a far fulfillment. I think the destruction in 689 B.C. that resulted in Babylon's temporary desolation fulfilled this prophecy (cf. v. 22b), and I believe there will also be an eschatological judgment of Babylon (Rev. 17-18), though not necessarily one that requires the rebuilding of the city. Destruction terminology, such as appears in this passage, is common in the annals of ancient Near Eastern nations. It speaks generally and hyperbolically of devastating defeat and destruction, but it did not always involve exact or detailed fulfillment.¹⁵⁴

14:1-2 The focal point of this oracle against Babylon is Israel's security and future after this judgment.¹⁵⁵

Earlier Isaiah predicted that Israel would experience defeat and captivity. After that Yahweh would have compassion on her, choose her again for blessing, as He had following the Exodus (Exod. 19:3), and resettle her in her own land. Consequently many Gentiles would voluntarily attach themselves to God's people. The Israelites would then have authority over those who formerly had authority over them (cf. 1 Sam. 17:8-9). They would take the lead domestically, militarily, and politically.

A second Exodus took place when the Israelites returned from captivity in Babylon, but a third Exodus will happen in the future when they return to their land following their present worldwide dispersion (cf. 56:6; 60:10; 61:5).¹⁵⁶

14:3-23 Having described the future destruction of Babylon (13:17-22), Isaiah now related the coming destruction of Babylon's king.

After Yahweh gave Israel rest following her captivity, she would taunt (Heb. mashal, bring to light the truth about) Babylon's proud ruler who had formerly taunted her (vv. 3-4a; cf. Rev. 18). His death would be an occasion for joy, not sorrow. In view of the description that follows, Isaiah evidently did not describe one particular past king of Babylon but ascribed traits of many kings of Babylon to this representative official.¹⁵⁷

Verses 4b-8, the first strophe of this poem, rejoice in the peace on earth that would result from the king's death. Both animate and inanimate creatures could rest and be quiet after his reign of terror. The measure of an ancient Near Eastern king's power was how much he destroyed.¹⁵⁸

Verses 9-11, the second strophe, relate the joy in Sheol that would result when this king died. Other dead rulers there would rejoice because this great monarch now shared the humiliating fate of them all. Rather than honoring him, these dead leaders would mock him because in death he was not superior to them. Instead of an honorable bier he would get maggots for a bed and worms for a bedspread. What a final resting place for a king!

In verses 12-15, the third strophe, the scene shifts from the underworld to heaven and back to Sheol. This personification of Babylon's pride led him to exalt himself to the position of God Himself. The five "I wills" in verses 13 and 14 express the spirit of the Babylonian rulers, not that any one of them ever said these precise words. He claimed to be as Venus, the morning star, the brightest light in the night sky. However, like Venus when the sun arose, he was no longer visible when God arose in His sovereignty. Mt. Zaphon to the north of Palestine was the mythical residence of the gods (v. 13; cf. Ps. 48:2). Rather than being king of the gods, he proved to be only human having weakened nations through his domination of them. Even though he had exalted himself to near deity status, he would die and go to Sheol like every other proud person (cf. Gen. 3:5, 22; 11:1-9).

"A popular interpretive tradition has seen in the language of 14:12-15 an allusion to the fall of Satan.¹⁵⁹ However, this subject seems a bit forced in this chapter.'¹⁶⁰ Instead the language and imagery seem to have their roots in Canaanite mythology, which should not be surprising in a quotation ostensibly addressed by ancient pagan kings to another pagan king (the quotation of the kings' words is most naturally extended through v. 15) [Cf. 24:21-22; 25:8; 27:1]."¹⁶¹

"It is a strange paradox that nothing makes a being less like God than the urge to be his equal, for he who was God stepped down from the throne of his glory to display to the wondering eyes of men the humility of God (Phil 2:5-8)."¹⁶²

Verses 16-21, the fourth strophe, return to the reactions of people on the earth (cf. vv. 4b-8). They expected that such a "great man" would enjoy an honorable burial, but this man received no burial at all. He died covered with the bodies of his fellow warriors rather than with earth. The pagans of Isaiah's day believed that to leave a corpse unburied not only dishonored the dead person but doomed his spirit to wander forever on the earth seeking a home (cf. 1 Sam 31:11-13; 2 Sam. 2:4-7). Viewing his unburied corpse onlookers would wonder if this was really the infamous scourge of Babylon who had ruined his own country and ravaged his own people as well as his enemies. They would view his lack of burial as divine judgment of him. They would then take measures to assure that his sons would not rise to power by cutting off his posterity. Hopefully they could remove his memory from the earth.

The whole point of this poem is the futility and folly of self-exalting pride, which this idealized Babylonian king modeled (cf. Dan. 4:25).¹⁶³

14:22-23 Yahweh of armies promised to do to Babylon what the speakers in the poem above said. He would cut off the name and posterity of its rulers, and He would destroy the city to the extent that only wild animals would live in the swamps that remained there.¹⁶⁴

14:24-27 This section of the oracle particularizes the judgment of Babylon in Isaiah's day. Here we see the exemplification and validation of God's universal purpose to judge human hubris that the prophet earlier declared (13:2-16). The particular manifestation of Babylonian pride that threatened Israel when Isaiah wrote was Assyria.

Yahweh of armies proceeded to swear that what He had purposed would happen (cf. Heb. 6:13-14), namely, the destruction of Assyria (v. 24). A stronger assurance is hard to imagine. God would defeat the Assyrians in His land, the Promised Land (cf. 37:36-37). He would break the Assyrian yoke off His people and remove the burden the Assyrians were to the Israelites (v. 25; cf. 9:3; 10:27). This would be representative of what He would do to the whole world in judging sin and pride in the future (v. 26). No one would be able to turn aside His hand stretched out in judgment because He is God Almighty (v. 27; cf. 13:2). The fulfillment came in 701 B.C. when the angel of the Lord slew 185,000 Assyrian soldiers who had surrounded Jerusalem (37:36-37).

Guzik: Isa 14:1-32

Isaiah 14 - Babylon and Lucifer

A. The fall of the King of Babylon.

1. (1-2) Judgment on Babylon means mercy on Israel.

For the LORD will have mercy on Jacob, and will still choose Israel, and settle them in their own land. The strangers will be joined with them, and they will cling to the house of Jacob. Then people will take them and bring them to their place, and the house of Israel will possess them for servants and maids in the land of the LORD; they will take them captive whose captives they were, and rule over their oppressors.

a. Isaiah 13 ended with the desolation and gloom that would come upon Babylon. Since Babylon was Judah's great enemy, any judgment on Babylon was an expression of mercy on Israel. So, Isaiah follows the pronouncement of judgment on Babylon with the LORD will have mercy on Jacob, and will still choose Israel.

i. Will still choose Israel: Sometimes we feel that God chose us, but if He had to choose again, He would change His choice! We almost feel that God is "stuck" with us now, and would choose differently if He could. Here, the LORD reminds His children that He does still choose us, and would choose us all over again!

b. The promise of restoration to their own land was also important (and settle them in their own land). The Babylonians had forcibly exiled most of the population of Judah, so the promise of return was precious.

i. "This promise had a measure of fulfillment when Israel was brought back from Babylon; and still is it true that, when God's people come to their worst, there is always something better before them. On the other hand, it is equally sure that, when sinners come to their best, there is always something terrible awaiting them." (Spurgeon)

c. The invitation to Gentiles was precious (The strangers will be joined with them). The regathered and restored Israel would invite Gentiles to receive the goodness of God with them.

d. They will take them captive whose captives they were, and rule over their oppressors: In inviting the strangers to come and be joined with them, Israel eliminates their enemies. The ultimate way to conquer an enemy is to make them your friend!

2. (3-8) The joy of the earth at the fall of the king of Babylon.

It shall come to pass in the day the LORD gives you rest from your sorrow, and from your fear and the hard bondage in which you were made to serve, that you will take up this proverb against the king of Babylon, and say: "How the oppressor has ceased, the golden city ceased! The LORD has broken the staff of the wicked, the scepter of the rulers; he who struck the people in wrath with a continual stroke, he who ruled the nations in anger, is persecuted and no one hinders. The whole earth is at rest and quiet; they break forth into singing. Indeed the cypress trees rejoice over you, and the cedars of Lebanon, saying, 'Since you were cut down, no woodsman has come up against us.'"

a. In the day the LORD gives you rest from your sorrow, and from your fear and the hard bondage in which you were made to serve: The LORD announces a day when He will give real rest to believing Israel. They will have rest from sorrow, from fear, and from their hard bondage.

i. This rest is the birthright of every believer in Jesus Christ. Jesus said, "Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest." (Matthew 11:28). Do you have rest from sorrow? Do you have rest from fear? Do you have rest from hard bondage?

b. That you will take up this proverb against the king of Babylon: In the day of restoration, the defeat and weakness of the king of Babylon will be exposed, and Israel will rejoice.

i. As this prophecy continues from the context of Isaiah 13, it is important that we remember that Isaiah has two aspects of prophetic fulfillment in mind. First, there is the immediate and partial fulfillment regarding the empire of Babylon and its king. Second, there is the distant and ultimate fulfillment regarding the spiritual empire of Babylon - the world system - and its king, Satan.

ii. Some strongly disagree, and see this passage as only referring to the king of literal Babylon, and having no reference to Satan at all. "The exposition of this passage, which some have given, as if it referred to Satan, has arisen from ignorance; for the context plainly shows that these statements must be understood in reference to the king of the Babylonians. But when passages of Scripture are taken up at random, and no attention is paid to the context, we need to wonder that mistakes of this kind frequently arise . . . But as these inventions have no probability whatever, let us pass by them as useless fables." (Calvin) "But the truth is, the text speaks nothing at all concerning Satan nor his fall, nor the occasion of that fall, which many divines have with great confidence deduced from this text . . . This chapter speaks not of the ambition and fall of Satan, but of the pride, arrogance, and fall of Nebuchadnezzar." (Clarke) But we disagree, knowing well that prophecy often has both a near and a distant fulfillment.

iii. So, this proverb against the king of Babylon was, in a partial sense, in the mouth of the returning exiles when Babylon was finally conquered and the people of Judah could return to the Promised Land. But in an ultimate sense, this proverb against the king of Babylon will be the mouth of God's people when the world system and her king, Satan, are each conquered and destroyed.

iv. Why does God tell His people - either in an immediate or an ultimate sense - the destiny of Babylon and her king? So that we can think and live now, knowing the ultimate fate of the world system and Satan. We often have said, "If I only knew then what I know now" once we see how things turn out. Here, God is allowing us the opportunity to know now what we will see then, and to allow it to affect our thinking and our actions.

v. The literary form of this passage is important. "Its form is really that of the funeral dirge, with the characteristic limping rhythm of a Hebrew lament, so plaintive and yet ominous to the sensitive ear . . . There is a considerable element of irony, so that the whole song becomes a taunt in the guise of a lament." (Grogan) This is a funeral song that mocks and taunts the dead, who in fact receives no burial.

c. How the oppressor has ceased: God want us to know now that the king of spiritual Babylon - Satan - that his days are numbered. There will come a day when his oppression has ceased, and when the LORD will break the staff of the wicked, and the scepter of the rulers.

i. Sometimes we get so weary and discouraged from Satan's attack, it is almost as if we think his day will last forever. If we remember that one reason he works so hard is because even he knows his time is short, it is an encouragement to us. We can hang in there! We can out-last him!

d. He who struck the people in wrath . . . who ruled the nations in anger: Both the king of literal Babylon and the king of spiritual Babylon were mighty, oppressive rulers over the people and the nations. But now, the one who once persecuted is himself persecuted and no one hinders, and as a result, the whole earth is at rest and quiet, and they even break forth into singing!

i. "The whole Near East rejoiced over Babylon's fall because her rule was harsh and oppressive." (Wolf)

ii. Even the trees rejoice over the fall of the king of Babylon. This is true of the king of literal Babylon, because the attacking kings cut down thousands of trees for both fuel and lumber, leaving Israel and Lebanon deforested. "Since the twelfth century B.C. the kings of Mesopotamia had imported lumber from Lebanon. Nebudchadnezzar used large supplies of such choice timers in his extensive building efforts in Babylon after 605 B.C." (Wolf)

iii. The trees also rejoice at the fall of the king of spiritual Babylon, because the creation itself also will be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God. (Romans 8:21)

3. (9-11) Hell receives the fallen king of Babylon.

"Hell from beneath is excited about you, to meet you at your coming; it stirs up the dead for you, all the chief ones of the earth; it has raised up from their thrones all the kings of the nations. They all shall speak and say to you: 'Have you also become as weak as we? Have you become like us? Your pomp is brought down to Sheol, and the sound of your stringed instruments; the maggot is spread under you, and worms cover you.'"

a. Hell from beneath is excited about you: Hell itself is excited to meet the king of Babylon, because it can't wait to be the place where the one who tortured so many is tortured himself. This was true both for the king of literal Babylon, and the king of spiritual Babylon.

i. God wants us to know now that Satan is destined for hell. He isn't a winner, he is a loser, and he certainly isn't the boss or lord of hell. Satan will go to hell as a victim, as the ultimate prisoner in the dungeon of darkness, and hell will be happy to receive him this way!

b. Have you also become as weak as we? Have you become like us? When he went to hell, the king of literal Babylon was exposed as a mere man, though he thought of himself as greater than that. As well, when the king of spiritual Babylon goes to hell, all will be amazed to see that he was only a creature.

i. We often - to his great delight - inflate Satan's status and importance. We think of him as the opposite of God; as if God were light and Satan were darkness, as if God were hot and Satan were cold. Satan wishes he was the opposite of God, but God wants us to know now what everyone will know someday - that Satan is a mere creature, and is in no way the opposite of God. If Satan has an opposite, it is not God the Father or God the Son, it would be a high-ranking angelic being such as Michael.

c. Your pomp is brought down . . . the maggot is spread under you, and worms cover you: In the end, it just won't be defeat for the king of Babylon. Both for the literal and spiritual kings of Babylon, there defeat in hell will be disgusting and degrading.

i. Knowing this now - how disgusting and degrading the end of Satan will be - why would any of us serve him or work for his cause, even for a minute? Who wants to end up with the maggots and the worms?

d. And the sound of your stringed instruments: Before his fall, Satan was associated with music in heaven. Ezekiel 28:13 says of Satan before his fall, the workmanship of your timbrels and pipes was prepared for you on the day you were created. Apparently, the musical career of Satan did not end with his fall, because the sound of his stringed instruments is only brought down when he is imprisoned in hell.

4. (12-15) The fall of Lucifer.

"How you are fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning! How you are cut down to the ground, you who weakened the nations! For you have said in your heart: 'I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God; I will also sit on the mount of the congregation on the farthest sides of the north; I will ascend above the heights of the clouds, I will be like the Most High.' Yet you shall be brought down to Sheol, to the lowest depths of the Pit."

a. How you are fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning! Here, the prophet identifies the king of Babylon as Lucifer, son of the morning. Some debate if Lucifer is a name or a title; the word means morning star or day star, referring to a brightly shining object in the heavens. Whether it is a title or a name makes little difference; this once brightly shining king of Babylon is now fallen from heaven.

i. The prophetic habit of speaking to both a near and a distant fulfillment, the prophet will sometimes speak more to the near or more to the distant. Here is a good example of Isaiah speaking more to the distant, ultimate fulfillment. It is true that the king of literal Babylon shined brightly among the men of his day, and fell as hard and as completely as if a man were to fall from heaven. But there was a far more brightly shining being who inhabited heaven, and fell even more dramatically - the king of spiritual Babylon, Satan.

b. Fallen from heaven: In fact there are four falls of Satan, and this refers to his final, fourth fall.

i. Satan fell from glorified to profane (Ezekiel 28:14-16). This is what Jesus spoke of in Luke 10:18 when He says He saw Satan fall like lightning from heaven. This is the only fall of Satan that has already happened.

ii. Satan will fall from having access to heaven (Job 1:12, 1 Kings 22:21, Zechariah 3:1) to restriction on the earth (Revelation 12:9).

iii. Satan will fall from his place on the earth to bondage in the bottomless pit for 1,000 years (Revelation 20:1-3).

iv. Finally, as mentioned here in Isaiah 14:12, Satan will fall from the bottomless pit to the lake of fire, which we commonly know as hell (Revelation 20:10).

c. Son of the morning: This is a title of glory, beauty, and honor, which fit Lucifer well before his fall. The morning is glorious, and in Hebrew thinking, the son of "x" is characterized by "x." So, before his fall, Lucifer was characterized by the glory of the morning.

i. Jesus Himself is called the Bright and Morning Star (Revelation 22:16). Satan, though a created being, had some of these glorious qualities in himself. No wonder that Satan himself transforms himself into an angel of light (2 Corinthians 11:14), deceiving many with his apparent glory, beauty, and goodness.

d. How you are cut down to the ground: What a contrast! This being, once so high, once so shining, once so bright, is now cut down to the ground.

e. For you have said in your heart: Here, God tells us the reason behind the fall of the king of Babylon, both literal and spiritual. The fall was prompted by something he said, even though he may have never said it with his lips - it was enough that he said it in his heart.

f. I will: The pride, the grasping selfish ambition, the self-will of the king of Babylon is powerfully expressed in five I will statements. This is the essence of the self-focused and self-obsessed life.

i. I will ascend into heaven: "Heaven will be my home and my place of honor."

ii. I will exalt my throne above the stars of God: "I will be enthroned, and will be exalted above all other angelic beings."

iii. I will also sit on the mount of the congregation: "I will sit in the place of glory and honor and attention."

iv. I will ascend above the heights: "I will continue to rise, even in heaven, until all see me in my bright shining glory."

v. I will be like the Most High: "I will be glorious, and be set equal to God, far above all other created beings."

vi. We see in these statements not so much a desire to exalt one's self above God, but the desire to exalt one's self above one's peers. From this passage, it seems that Satan's desire was not so much to be above God, but to be honored and regarded as the highest angel, above the [other] stars of God, receiving the glory and attention one would receive being next to God, equal with God, like the Most High. We don't have to want to be exalted higher than God to be like Satan. It is enough to want to be exalted above other people!

vii. Lucifer was certainly a glorious angel (day star, son of the morning, and also called the seal of perfection, full of wisdom and perfect in beauty . . . the anointed cherub who covers in Ezekiel 28:12 and 14). Yet, there came a time when despite all his beauty and glory, he departed from the heart of God by wanting to exalt himself above his peers. Instead, the heart of Jesus says, "The status of equality with God is not something to hang on to. I will let it go. I will give up My reputation, be a servant, live humbly among men, and even die an excruciating and humiliating death." (Philippians 2:5-8) When Lucifer departed from this heart, he fell from glory.

viii. "It is a strange paradox that nothing makes a being less like God than the urge to be his equal, for he who was God stepped down from the throne of his glory to display to the wondering eyes of men the humility of God." (Grogan)

g. What prompted Satan's desire to exalt himself above all other creatures? What prompted the five I will statements?

i. Why did Lucifer rebel? Perhaps because he rejected God's plan to create an order of being made in His image (Genesis 1:26), who would be beneath the angels in dignity (Hebrews 2:6-7a; 2 Peter 2:11), yet would be served by angels in the present (Hebrews 1:14; 2:7-8; Psalm 91:11-12) and would one day be lifted in honor and status above the angels (1 Corinthians 6:3; 1 John 3:2). Satan wanted to be the highest among all creatures, equal to God in glory and honor, and the plan to create man would eventually put men above angels. He was apparently able to persuade one-third of the angelic beings to join him in his rebellion (Revelation 12:3-4, 7, and 9).

ii. If this is the case, it explains well Satan's present strategy against man: to obscure the image of God in man through encouraging sin and rebellion, to cause man to serve him, and to prevent the ultimate glorification of man.

h. Yet you shall be brought down: Despite Satan's desire to exalt himself, he will not be exalted at all. Certainly, there is a sense in which he is exalted right now, but this is but an eye-blink in the scope of eternity. Satan, like all those who desire to exalt themselves, shall be brought down.

i. 1 Peter 5:6 expresses the true path to being exalted: Therefore humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God, that He may exalt you in due time. In Mark 9:35, Jesus said If anyone desires to be first, he shall be last of all and servant of all.

5. (16-17) The nations are amazed at the fall of the king of Babylon.

"Those who see you will gaze at you, and consider you, saying: 'Is this the man who made the earth tremble, who shook kingdoms, who made the world as a wilderness and destroyed its cities, who did not open the house of his prisoners?'"

a. Those who see you will gaze at you . . . "Is this the man who made the earth tremble . . . Who did not open the house of his prisoners?" When the king of literal Babylon fell, his weakness was exposed and others were amazed that he once had so much power, and so many feared him. The same will happen when the king of spiritual Babylon falls. People will see him for what he really is and be amazed at how much power he actually had.

6. (18-23) The amazing and bloody destruction of Babylon.

"All the kings of the nations, all of them, sleep in glory, everyone in his own house; but you are cast out of your grave like an abominable branch, like the garment of those who are slain, thrust through with a sword, who go down to the stones of the pit, like a corpse trodden underfoot. You will not be joined with them in burial, because you have destroyed your land and slain your people. The brood of evildoers shall never be named. Prepare slaughter for his children because of the iniquity of their fathers, lest they rise up and possess the land, and fill the face of the world with cities." "For I will rise up against them," says the LORD of hosts, "And cut off from Babylon the name and remnant, and offspring and posterity," says the LORD. "I will also make it a possession for the porcupine, and marshes of muddy water; I will sweep it with the broom of destruction," says the LORD of hosts.

a. All the kings of the nations: In this brief section, Isaiah brings his focus back more upon the king of literal Babylon. He notes the comfort and ease the other kings of the earth enjoy, but not the fallen king of Babylon, who is instead cast out of your grave like an abominable branch.

i. "But now a terrible things has happened; he was not given the honorable burial deemed so important for monarchs. Even the common man regarded proper burial as essential." (Wolf) Instead of a proper burial, the king of Babylon gets a bed of maggots and a blanket of worms! (Isaiah 14:11)

ii. "The corpse of the king of Babylon would be thrown out like a rejected branch (neser). What a contrast to the Branch from the stump of Jesse that would bear abundant fruit! (Isaiah 11:1)" (Wolf)

b. The destruction of Babylon - both literal and spiritual - will be complete. The LORD will cut off from Babylon the name and remnant. There will not even be a remnant of Babylon left, when the LORD will sweep it with the broom of destruction.

i. "Rubbish fit only for the broom of judgment - this was God's verdict on mighty Babylon!" (Grogan)

ii. "If God's enemies have a bright day or two, it shall soon be showery weather with them. They may for the moment exult over God's people, but he knows that their day of reckoning is coming." (Spurgeon)

B. Judgment to come on Assyria and the Philistines.

1. (24-27) The coming judgment on Assyria.

The LORD of hosts has sworn, saying, "Surely, as I have thought, so it shall come to pass, and as I have purposed, so it shall stand: That I will break the Assyrian in My land, and on My mountains tread him underfoot. Then his yoke shall be removed from them, and his burden removed from their shoulders. This is the purpose that is purposed against the whole earth, and this is the hand that is stretched out over all the nations. For the LORD of hosts has purposed, and who will annul it? His hand is stretched out, and who will turn it back?"

a. Surely, as I have thought, so it shall come to pass: God's thoughts are as good as actions. All God has to do is think a thought, and worlds can be created. What a comfort to know that God thinks good thoughts towards His people: I know the thoughts that I think toward you, says the LORD, thoughts of peace and not of evil, to give you a future and a hope. (Jeremiah 29:11)

b. I will break the Assyrian in My land: God did this powerfully when the Assyrians invaded Judah. 2 Kings 19:35 describes how God simply sent the angel of the LORD, and killed 185,000 Assyrians in one night. When the people woke up, there were 185,000 dead Assyrian soldiers.

c. For the LORD of hosts has purposed, and who will annul it? God always accomplishes His purpose! His plan is never frustrated! Even when we have no trust at all in our own plan, we can fully trust God's purpose!

2. (28-31) The coming judgment on the Philistines.

This is the burden which came in the year that King Ahaz died. "Do not rejoice, all you of Philistia, because the rod that struck you is broken; for out of the serpent's roots will come forth a viper, and its offspring will be a fiery flying serpent. The firstborn of the poor will feed, and the needy will lie down in safety; I will kill your roots with famine, and it will slay your remnant. Wail, O gate! Cry, O city! All you of Philistia are dissolved; for smoke will come from the north, and no one will be alone in his appointed times."

a. Do not rejoice, all you of Philista, because the rod that struck you is broken: There was constant warfare between Israel and the Philistines, and so on many occasions, Israel was the rod that struck the Philistines. Now, when Israel and Judah are humbled, God does not want the Philistines to glory in it.

b. All you of Philista are dissolved: God's judgment will come against the Philistines also. They should not think that just because God was judging the Israelites, that they had somehow escaped.

c. Some see in this a future judgment for "modern Philistines," that is, Palestinians. The name "Palestine" is a Latin name from the name Philista, and this may be a prophetic warning to the Palestinians: do not rejoice in the suffering or downfall of Israel, because worse judgment will befall you.

3. (32) A word for the messengers of the nation.

What will they answer the messengers of the nation? That the LORD has founded Zion, and the poor of His people shall take refuge in it.

a. In the midst of the judgment of the nations, what will one then answer the messengers of the nation? What does God have to say to His people and to all the nations, when nations are being judged?

i. "No doubt the 'envoys' were Philistine diplomats sent to Jerusalem to encourage solidarity against the common Assyrian foe. As elsewhere, Isaiah's message encouraged trust in God, not in alliances." (Grogan)

b. God's answer is simple: The LORD has founded Zion. When judgment comes, what is founded on the LORD is made evident. The storm comes and beats against the house, and tests its foundation. When the LORD has founded something, it is evident to everyone in the midst of judgment.

c. The second part of the answer is also simple: The poor of His people shall take refuge in it. God's place of security is not for the rich and self-sufficient. It is for the poor of His people. It is the poor in spirit who find refuge in God's city.

© 2001 David Guzik - No distribution beyond personal use without permission

Commentary -- Other

Critics Ask: Isa 14:12

ISAIAH 14:12 —Who is Lucifer in this verse?

PROBLEM: Many commentators consider this passage to be a reference to Satan, because the name “Lucifer” is used. However, in Isaiah 14:4 this entire poetic section stretching from 14:4 through 14:27 is a proverb against the king of Babylon. How can this be a reference to Satan when it is against the king of Babylon?

SOLUTION: This passage is a literal reference to the king of Babylon, but its significance encompasses the ultimate defeat and fall of Satan. There have been many different views as to the identity of this king of Babylon. Some propose that this is a reference to Sennacherib, a fierce enemy of God’s people. Others see the poetic figure of personification in which the kingdom of Babylon as a whole is referred to in personal terms. The Hebrew word translated in the NKJV as “Lucifer” literally means “shining one.” Verse 12 could be translated “How you are fallen from heaven, O shining one, son of the morning.” Because the king of Babylon desired to set himself up as God, his fall would be as from heaven.

The parallels between this passage and such NT passages as Luke 10:18 and Revelation 20:2 indicate that this passage may have a broader application. The prophecy was given for those who lived in Isaiah’s day, and it had immediate significance for them. God was promising them that their enemy, the king of Babylon and the evil empire itself, would ultimately be torn down. Yet, the prophecy may have significance for us as a picture of the ultimate demise of the evil ruler of this world whom God will ultimately destroy ( Rev. 20:10 ).   

Introduction / Outline

JFB: Isaiah (Book Introduction)

ISAIAH, son of Amoz (not Amos); contemporary of Jonah, Amos, Hosea, in Israel, but younger than they; and of Micah, in Judah. His call to a higher degree of the prophetic office (Isa 6:1-13) is assigned to the last year of Uzziah, that is, 754 B.C. The first through fifth chapters belong to the closing years of that reign; not, as some think, to Jotham's reign: in the reign of the latter he seems to have exercised his office only orally, and not to have left any record of his prophecies because they were not intended for all ages. The first through fifth and sixth chapters are all that was designed for the Church universal of the prophecies of the first twenty years of his office. New historical epochs, such as occurred in the reigns of Ahaz and Hezekiah, when the affairs of Israel became interwoven with those of the Asiatic empires, are marked by prophetic writings. The prophets had now to interpret the judgments of the Lord, so as to make the people conscious of His punitive justice, as also of His mercy. Isa. 7:1-10:4 belong to the reign of Ahaz. The thirty-sixth through thirty-ninth chapters are historical, reaching to the fifteenth year of Hezekiah; probably the tenth through twelfth chapters and all from the thirteenth through twenty-sixth chapters, inclusive, belong to the same reign; the historical section being appended to facilitate the right understanding of these prophecies; thus we have Isaiah's office extending from about 760 to 713 B.C., forty-seven years. Tradition (Talmud) represents him as having been sawn asunder by Manasseh with a wooden saw, for having said that he had seen Jehovah (Exo 33:20; 2Ki 21:16; Heb 11:37). 2Ch 32:32 seems to imply that Isaiah survived Hezekiah; but "first and last" is not added, as in 2Ch 26:22, which makes it possible that his history of Hezekiah was only carried up to a certain point. The second part, the fortieth through sixty-sixth chapters, containing complaints of gross idolatry, needs not to be restricted to Manasseh's reign, but is applicable to previous reigns. At the accession of Manasseh, Isaiah would be eighty-four; and if he prophesied for eight years afterwards, he must have endured martyrdom at ninety-two; so Hosea prophesied for sixty years. And Eastern tradition reports that he lived to one hundred and twenty. The conclusive argument against the tradition is that, according to the inscription, all Isaiah's prophecies are included in the time from Uzziah to Hezekiah; and the internal evidence accords with this.

His WIFE is called the prophetess [Isa 8:3], that is, endowed, as Miriam, with a prophetic gift.

His CHILDREN were considered by him as not belonging merely to himself; in their names, Shearjashub, "the remnant shall return" [Isa 7:3, Margin], and Maher-shalal-hash-baz, "speeding to the spoil, he hasteth to the prey" [Isa 8:1, Margin], the two chief points of his prophecies are intimated to the people, the judgments of the Lord on the people and the world, and yet His mercy to the elect.

His GARMENT of sackcloth (Isa 20:2), too, was a silent preaching by fact; he appears as the embodiment of that repentance which he taught.

His HISTORICAL WORKS.--History, as written by the prophets, is retroverted prophecy. As the past and future alike proceed from the essence of God, an inspired insight into the past implies an insight into the future, and vice versa. Hence most of the Old Testament histories are written by prophets and are classed with their writings; the Chronicles being not so classed, cannot have been written by them, but are taken from historical monographs of theirs; for example, Isaiah's life of Uzziah, 2Ch 26:22; also of Hezekiah, 2Ch 32:32; of these latter all that was important for all ages has been preserved to us, while the rest, which was local and temporary, has been lost.

The INSCRIPTION (Isa 1:1) applies to the whole book and implies that Isaiah is the author of the second part (the fortieth through sixty-sixth chapters), as well as of the first. Nor do the words, "concerning Judah and Jerusalem" [Isa 1:1], oppose the idea that the inscription applies to the whole; for whatever he says against other nations, he says on account of their relation to Judah. So the inscription of Amos, "concerning Israel" [Amo 1:1], though several prophecies follow against foreign nations. EWALD maintains that the fortieth through sixty-sixth chapters, though spurious, were subjoined to the previous portion, in order to preserve the former. But it is untrue that the first portion is unconnected with those chapters. The former ends with the Babylonian exile (Isa 39:6), the latter begins with the coming redemption from it. The portion, the fortieth through forty-sixth chapters, has no heading of its own, a proof that it is closely connected with what precedes, and falls under the general heading in Isa 1:1. JOSEPHUS (The Antiquities of the Jews, 11. 1, sec. 1, 2) says that Cyrus was induced by the prophecies of Isaiah (Isa 44:28; Isa 45:1, Isa 45:13) to aid the Jews in returning and rebuilding the temple Ezr 1:1-11 confirms this; Cyrus in his edict there plainly refers to the prophecies in the second portion, which assign the kingdoms to him from Jehovah, and the duty of rebuilding the temple. Probably he took from them his historical name Cyrus (Coresh). Moreover, subsequent prophets imitate this second portion, which EWALD assigns to later times; for example, compare Jer. 50:1-51:64 with Isaiah's predictions against Babylon [Isa. 13:1-14:23]. "The Holy One of Israel," occurring but three times elsewhere in the Old Testament [2Ki 19:22; Psa 78:41; Psa 89:18; Jer 50:29; Jer 51:5], is a favorite expression in the second, as in the first portion of Isaiah: it expresses God's covenant faithfulness in fulfilling the promises therein: Jeremiah borrows the expression from him. Also Ecclesiasticus 48:22-25 ("comforted"), quotes Isa 40:1 as Isaiah's. Luk 4:17 quotes Isa 61:1-2 as Isaiah's, and as read as such by Jesus Christ in the synagogue.

The DEFINITENESS of the prophecies is striking: As in the second portion of isaiah, so in Mic 4:8-10, the Babylonian exile, and the deliverance from it, are foretold a hundred fifty years before any hostilities had arisen between Babylon and Judah. On the other hand, all the prophets who foretell the Assyrian invasion coincide in stating, that Judah should be delivered from it, not by Egyptian aid, but directly by the Lord. Again Jeremiah, in the height of the Chaldean prosperity, foretold its conquest by the Medes, who should enter Babylon through the dry bed of the Euphrates on a night of general revelry. No human calculation could have discovered these facts. EICHORN terms these prophecies "veiled historical descriptions," recognizing in spite of himself that they are more than general poetical fancies. The fifty-third chapter of Isaiah was certainly written ages before the Messiah, yet it minutely portrays His sufferings: these cannot be Jewish inventions, for the Jews looked for a reigning, not a suffering, Messiah.

Rationalists are so far right that THE PROPHECIES ARE ON A GENERAL BASIS whereby they are distinguished from soothsaying. They rest on the essential idea of God. The prophets, penetrated by this inner knowledge of His character, became conscious of the eternal laws by which the world is governed: that sin is man's ruin, and must be followed by judgment, but that God's covenant mercy to His elect is unchangeable. Without prophetism, the elect remnant would have decreased, and even God's judgments would have missed their end, by not being recognized as such: they would have been unmeaning, isolated facts. Babylon was in Isaiah's days under Assyria; it had tried a revolt unsuccessfully: but the elements of its subsequent success and greatness were then existing. The Holy Ghost enlightened his natural powers to discern this its rise; and his spiritual faculties, to foresee its fall, the sure consequence, in God's eternal law, of the pride which pagan success generates--and also Judah's restoration, as the covenant-people, with whom God, according to His essential character, would not be wroth for ever. True conversion is the prophet's grand remedy against all evils: in this alone consists his politics. Rebuke, threatening, and promise, regularly succeed one another. The idea at the basis of all is in Isa 26:7-9; Lev 10:3; Amo 3:2.

The USE OF THE PRESENT AND PRETERITE in prophecy is no proof that the author is later than Isaiah. For seers view the future as present, and indicate what is ideally past, not really past; seeing things in the light of God, who "calls the things that are not as though they were." Moreover, as in looking from a height on a landscape, hills seem close together which are really wide apart, so, in events foretold, the order, succession, and grouping are presented, but the intervals of time are overlooked. The time, however, is sometimes marked (Jer 25:12; Dan 9:26). Thus the deliverance from Babylon, and that effected by Messiah, are in rapid transition grouped together by THE LAW OF PROPHETIC SUGGESTION; yet no prophet so confounds the two as to make Messiah the leader of Israel from Babylon. To the prophet there was probably no double sense; but to his spiritual eye the two events, though distinct, lay so near, and were so analogous, that he could not separate them in description without unfaithfulness to the picture presented before him. The more remote and antitypical event, however, namely, Messiah's coming, is that to which he always hastens, and which he describes with far more minuteness than he does the nearer type; for example, Cyrus (compare Isa 45:1 with Isa 53:1-12). In some cases he takes his stand in the midst of events between, for example, the humiliation of Jesus Christ, which he views as past, and His glorification, as yet to come, using the future tense as to the latter (compare Isa 53:4-9 with Isa 53:10-12). Marks of the time of events are given sparingly in the prophets: yet, as to Messiah, definitely enough to create the general expectation of Him at the time that He was in fact born.

The CHALDÆISMS alleged against the genuineness of the second portion of Isaiah, are found more in the first and undoubted portion. They occur in all the Old Testament, especially in the poetical parts, which prefer unusual expressions, and are due to the fact that the patriarchs were surrounded by Chaldee-speaking people; and in Isaiah's time a few Chaldee words had crept in from abroad.

His SYMBOLS are few and simple, and his poetical images correct; in the prophets, during and after the exile, the reverse holds good; Haggai and Malachi are not exceptions; for, though void of bold images, their style, unlike Isaiah's, rises little above prose: a clear proof that our Isaiah was long before the exile.

Of VISIONS, strictly so called, he has but one, that in the sixth chapter; even it is more simple than those in later prophets. But he often gives SIGNS, that is, a present fact as pledge of the more distant future; God condescending to the feebleness of man (Isa 7:14; Isa 37:30; Isa 38:7).

The VARIETIES IN HIS STYLE do not prove spuriousness, but that he varied his style with his subject. The second portion is not so much addressed to his contemporaries, as to the future people of the Lord, the elect remnant, purified by the previous judgments. Hence its tenderness of style, and frequent repetitions (Isa 40:1): for comforting exhortation uses many words; so also the many epithets added to the name of God, intended as stays whereon faith may rest for comfort, so as not to despair. In both portions alike there are peculiarities characteristic of Isaiah; for example, "to be called" equivalent to to be: the repetition of the same words, instead of synonyms, in the parallel members of verses; the interspersing of his prophecies with hymns: "the remnant of olive trees," &c., for the remnant of people who have escaped God's judgments. Also compare Isa 65:25 with Isa 11:6.

The CHRONOLOGICAL ARRANGEMENT favors the opinion that Isaiah himself collected his prophecies into the volume; not Hezekiah's men, as the Talmud guesses from Pro 25:1. All the portions, the dates of which can be ascertained, stand in the right place, except a few instances, where prophecies of similar contents are placed together: with the termination of the Assyrian invasion (the thirty-sixth through thirty-ninth chapters) terminated the public life of Isaiah. The second part is his prophetic legacy to the small band of the faithful, analogous to the last speeches of Moses and of Jesus Christ to His chosen disciples.

The EXPECTATION OF MESSIAH is so strong in Isaiah, that JEROME To Paulinus calls his book not a prophecy, but the gospel: "He is not so much a prophet as an evangelist." Messiah was already shadowed forth in Gen 49:10, as the Shiloh, or tranquillizer; also in Psalms 2, 45, 72, 110. Isaiah brings it out more definitely; and, whereas they dwelt on His kingly office, Isaiah develops most His priestly and prophetic office; the hundred tenth Psalm also had set forth His priesthood, but His kingly rather than, as Isaiah, His suffering, priesthood. The latter is especially dwelt on in the second part, addressed to the faithful elect; whereas the first part, addressed to the whole people, dwells on Messiah's glory, the antidote to the fears which then filled the people, and the assurance that the kingdom of God, then represented by Judah, would not be overwhelmed by the surrounding nations.

His STYLE (HENGSTENBERG, Christology of the Old Testament,) is simple and sublime; in imagery, intermediate between the poverty of Jeremiah and the exuberance of Ezekiel. He shows his command of it in varying it to suit his subject.

The FORM is mostly that of Hebrew poetical parallelism, with, however, a freedom unshackled by undue restrictions.

JUDAH, the less apostate people, rather than Israel, was the subject of his prophecies: his residence was mostly at Jerusalem. On his praises, see Ecclesiasticus 48:22-25. Christ and the apostles quote no prophet so frequently.

JFB: Isaiah (Outline)

• PARABLE OF JEHOVAH'S VINEYARD. (Isa. 5:1-30)
• SIX DISTINCT WOES AGAINST CRIMES. (Isa. 5:8-23) (Lev 25:13; Mic 2:2). The jubilee restoration of possessions was intended as a guard against avarice.
• VISION OF JEHOVAH IN HIS TEMPLE. (Isa 6:1-13)
• PREDICTION OF THE ILL SUCCESS OF THE SYRO-ISRAELITISH INVASION OF JUDAH--AHAZ'S ALLIANCE WITH ASSYRIA, AND ITS FATAL RESULTS TO JUDEA--YET THE CERTAINTY OF FINAL PRESERVATION AND OF THE COMING OF MESSIAH. (Isa. 7:1-9:7)
• FATAL CONSEQUENCES OF AHAZ' ASSYRIAN POLICY. (Isa 7:17-25)
• THE COMING DESOLATE STATE OF THE LAND OWING TO THE ASSYRIANS AND EGYPTIANS. (Isa 7:21-25)
• CONTINUATION OF THE PROPHECY IN THE EIGHTH CHAPTER. (Isa 9:1-7)
• PROPHECY AS TO THE TEN TRIBES. (Isa. 9:8-10:4) Heading of the prophecy; (Isa 9:8-12), the first strophe.
• THANKSGIVING HYMN OF THE RESTORED AND CONVERTED JEWS. (Isa 12:1-6)
• THE THIRTEENTH THROUGH TWENTY-THIRD CHAPTERS CONTAIN PROPHECIES AS TO FOREIGN NATIONS.--THE THIRTEENTH, FOURTEENTH, AND TWENTY-SEVENTH CHAPTERS AS TO BABYLON AND ASSYRIA. (Isa. 13:1-22)
• CONFIRMATION OF THIS BY THE HEREFORETOLD DESTRUCTION OF THE ASSYRIANS UNDER SENNACHERIB. (Isa 14:24-27)
• A CHORUS OF JEWS EXPRESS THEIR JOYFUL SURPRISE AT BABYLON'S DOWNFALL. (Isa 14:4-8)
• THE SCENE CHANGES FROM EARTH TO HELL. (Isa 14:9-11)
• THE JEWS ADDRESS HIM AGAIN AS A FALLEN ONCE-BRIGHT STAR. (Isa 14:12-15)
• THE PASSERS-BY CONTEMPLATE WITH ASTONISHMENT THE BODY OF THE KING OF BABYLON CAST OUT, INSTEAD OF LYING IN A SPLENDID MAUSOLEUM, AND CAN HARDLY BELIEVE THEIR SENSES THAT IT IS HE. (Isa 14:16-20)
• GOD'S DETERMINATION TO DESTROY BABYLON. (Isa 14:21-23)
• A FRAGMENT AS TO THE DESTRUCTION OF THE ASSYRIANS UNDER SENNACHERIB. (Isa 14:24-27) In this verse the Lord's thought (purpose) stands in antithesis to the Assyrians' thoughts (Isa 10:7). (See Isa 46:10-11; 1Sa 15:29; Mal 3:6).
• PROPHECY AGAINST PHILISTIA. (Isa 14:28-32)
• THE FIFTEENTH AND SIXTEENTH CHAPTERS FORM ONE PROPHECY ON MOAB. (Isa 15:1-9)
• CONTINUATION OF THE PROPHECY AS TO MOAB. (Isa 16:1-14)
• CONTINUATION OF THE SUBJECT OF THE NINETEENTH CHAPTER, BUT AT A LATER DATE. CAPTIVITY OF EGYPT AND ETHIOPIA. (Isa 20:1-6)
• REPETITION OF THE ASSURANCE GIVEN IN THE THIRTEENTH AND FOURTEENTH CHAPTERS TO THE JEWS ABOUT TO BE CAPTIVES IN BABYLON, THAT THEIR ENEMY SHOULD BE DESTROYED AND THEY BE DELIVERED. (Isa 21:1-10)
• A PROPHECY TO THE IDUMEANS WHO TAUNTED THE AFFLICTED JEWS IN THE BABYLONISH CAPTIVITY. (Isa 21:11-12)
• PROPHECY THAT ARABIA WOULD BE OVERRUN BY A FOREIGN FOE WITHIN A YEAR. (Isa 21:13-17)
• PROPHECY AS TO AN ATTACK ON JERUSALEM. (Isa 22:1-14)
• PROPHECY THAT SHEBNA SHOULD BE DEPOSED FROM BEING PREFECT OF THE PALACE, AND ELIAKIM PROMOTED TO THE OFFICE. (Isa 22:15-25)
• PROPHECY RESPECTING TYRE. (Isa. 23:1-18)
• THE LAST TIMES OF THE WORLD IN GENERAL, AND OF JUDAH AND THE CHURCH IN PARTICULAR. (Isa. 24:1-23)
• CONTINUATION OF THE TWENTY-FOURTH CHAPTER. THANKSGIVING FOR THE OVERTHROW OF THE APOSTATE FACTION, AND THE SETTING UP OF JEHOVAH'S THRONE ON ZION. (Isa 25:1-12)
• CONNECTED WITH THE TWENTY-FOURTH AND TWENTY-FIFTH CHAPTERS. SONG OF PRAISE OF ISRAEL AFTER BEING RESTORED TO THEIR OWN LAND. (Isa. 26:1-21)
• CONTINUATION OF THE TWENTY-FOURTH, TWENTY-FIFTH, AND TWENTY-SIXTH CHAPTERS. (Isa 27:1-13)
• COMING INVASION OF JERUSALEM: ITS FAILURE: UNBELIEF OF THE JEWS. (Isa. 29:1-24)
• THE THIRTIETH THROUGH THIRTY-SECOND CHAPTERS REFER PROBABLY TO THE SUMMER OF 714 B.C., AS THE TWENTY-NINTH CHAPTER TO THE PASSOVER OF THAT YEAR. (Isa. 30:1-32)
• THE CHIEF STRENGTH OF THE EGYPTIAN ARMIES LAY IN THEIR CAVALRY. (Isa 31:1-9)
• MESSIAH'S KINGDOM; DESOLATIONS, TO BE SUCCEEDED BY LASTING PEACE, THE SPIRIT HAVING BEEN POURED OUT. (Isa. 32:1-20)
• JUDGMENT ON IDUMEA. (Isa. 34:1-17) All creation is summoned to hear God's judgments (Eze 6:3; Deu 32:1; Psa 50:4; Mic 6:1-2), for they set forth His glory, which is the end of creation (Rev 15:3; Rev 4:11).
• CONTINUATION OF THE PROPHECY IN THE THIRTY-FOURTH CHAPTER. (Isa 35:1-10)
• SENNACHERIB'S INVASION; BLASPHEMOUS SOLICITATIONS; HEZEKIAH IS TOLD OF THEM. (Isa. 36:1-22)
• CONTINUATION OF THE NARRATIVE IN THE THIRTY-SIXTH CHAPTER. (Isa. 37:1-38)
• HEZEKIAH'S SICKNESS; PERHAPS CONNECTED WITH THE PLAGUE OR BLAST WHEREBY THE ASSYRIAN ARMY HAD BEEN DESTROYED. (Isa. 38:1-22)
• HEZEKIAH'S ERROR IN THE DISPLAY OF HIS RICHES TO THE BABYLONIAN AMBASSADOR. (Isa 39:1-8)
• SECOND PART OF THE PROPHECIES OF ISAIAH. (Isa. 40:1-31)
• ADDITIONAL REASONS WHY THE JEWS SHOULD PLACE CONFIDENCE IN GOD'S PROMISES OF DELIVERING THEM; HE WILL RAISE UP A PRINCE AS THEIR DELIVERER, WHEREAS THE IDOLS COULD NOT DELIVER THE HEATHEN NATIONS FROM THAT PRINCE. (Isa. 41:1-29) (Zec 2:13). God is about to argue the case; therefore let the nations listen in reverential silence. Compare Gen 28:16-17, as to the spirit in which we ought to behave before God.
• MESSIAH THE ANTITYPE OF CYRUS. (Isa. 42:1-25)
• CONTINUATION OF THE PREVIOUS CHAPTER. (Isa. 44:1-28)
• BABYLON'S IDOLS COULD NOT SAVE THEMSELVES, MUCH LESS HER. BUT GOD CAN AND WILL SAVE ISRAEL: CYRUS IS HIS INSTRUMENT. (Isa 46:1-13)
• THE DESTRUCTION OF BABYLON IS REPRESENTED UNDER THE IMAGE OF A ROYAL VIRGIN BROUGHT DOWN IN A MOMENT FROM HER MAGNIFICENT THRONE TO THE EXTREME OF DEGRADATION. (Isa. 47:1-15)
• THE THINGS THAT BEFALL BABYLON JEHOVAH PREDICTED LONG BEFORE, LEST ISRAEL SHOULD ATTRIBUTE THEM, IN ITS "OBSTINATE" PERVERSITY, TO STRANGE GODS. (Isa 48:1-5). (Isa. 48:1-22)
• SIMILAR TO CHAPTER 42. (Isa 49:1-9). (Isa. 49:1-26)
• THE JUDGMENTS ON ISRAEL WERE PROVOKED BY THEIR CRIMES, YET THEY ARE NOT FINALLY CAST OFF BY GOD. (Isa 50:1-11)
• ENCOURAGEMENT TO THE FAITHFUL REMNANT OF ISRAEL TO TRUST IN GOD FOR DELIVERANCE, BOTH FROM THEIR LONG BABYLONIAN EXILE, AND FROM THEIR PRESENT DISPERSION. (Isa. 51:1-23)
• FIRST THROUGH THIRTEEN VERSES CONNECTED WITH FIFTY-FIRST CHAPTER. (Isa. 52:1-15)
• MAN'S UNBELIEF: MESSIAH'S VICARIOUS SUFFERINGS, AND FINAL TRIUMPH FOR MAN. (Isa 53:1-12)
• THE FRUIT OF MESSIAH'S SUFFERINGS, AND OF ISRAEL'S FINAL PENITENCE AT HER PAST UNBELIEF (Isa 53:6): HER JOYFUL RESTORATION AND ENLARGEMENT BY JEHOVAH, WHOSE WRATH WAS MOMENTARY, BUT HIS KINDNESS EVERLASTING. (Isa. 54:1-17)
• THE CALL OF THE GENTILE WORLD TO FAITH THE RESULT OF GOD'S GRACE TO THE JEWS FIRST. (Isa 55:1-13)
• THE PREPARATION NEEDED ON THE PART OF THOSE WHO WISH TO BE ADMITTED TO THE KINGDOM OF GOD. (Isa 56:1-12)
• THE PEACEFUL DEATH OF THE RIGHTEOUS FEW: THE UNGODLINESS OF THE MANY: A BELIEVING REMNANT SHALL SURVIVE THE GENERAL JUDGMENTS OF THE NATION, AND BE RESTORED BY HIM WHO CREATES PEACE. (Isa. 57:1-21)
• REPROOF OF THE JEWS FOR THEIR DEPENDENCE ON MERE OUTWARD FORMS OF WORSHIP. (Isa 58:1-14)
• THE PEOPLE'S SIN THE CAUSE OF JUDGMENTS: THEY AT LAST OWN IT THEMSELVES: THE REDEEMER'S FUTURE INTERPOSITION IN THEIR EXTREMITY. (Isa. 59:1-21)
• ISRAEL'S GLORY AFTER HER AFFLICTION. (Isa. 60:1-22)
• MESSIAH'S OFFICES: RESTORATION OF ISRAEL. (Isa 61:1-11)
• INTERCESSORY PRAYERS FOR ZION'S RESTORATION, ACCOMPANYING GOD'S PROMISES OF IT, AS THE APPOINTED MEANS OF ACCOMPLISHING IT. (Isa 62:1-12)
• MESSIAH COMING AS THE AVENGER, IN ANSWER TO HIS PEOPLE'S PRAYERS. (Isa. 63:1-19)
• TRANSITION FROM COMPLAINT TO PRAYER. (Isa 64:1-12)
• GOD'S REPLY IN JUSTIFICATION OF HIS DEALINGS WITH ISRAEL. (Isa. 65:1-25)
• THE HUMBLE COMFORTED, THE UNGODLY CONDEMNED, AT THE LORD'S APPEARING: JERUSALEM MADE A JOY ON EARTH. (Isa. 66:1-24)

TSK: Isaiah (Book Introduction)

Isaiah has, with singular propriety, been denominated the Evangelical Prophet, on account of the number and variety of his prophecies concerning the advent and character, the ministry and preaching, the sufferings and death, and the extensive and permanent kingdom of the Messiah. So explicit and determinate are his predictions, as well as so numerous, that he seems to speak rather of things past than of events yet future; and he may be rather called an evangelist than a prophet. Though later critics, especially those on the continent, have expended much labour and learning in order to rob the prophet of his title; yet no one, whose mind is unprejudiced, can be at a loss in applying select portions of these prophecies to the mission and character of Jesus Christ, and to the events in his history which they are cited to illustrate by the sacred writers of the New Testament. In fact, his prophecies concerning the Messiah seem almost to anticipate the Gospel history; so clearly do they predict his Divine character. (Compare Isa 7:14 with Mat 1:18-23, and Luk 1:27-35; see Isa 6:1-13; Isa 9:6; Isa 35:4; Isa 40:5, Isa 40:9, Isa 40:19; Isa 42:6-8; compare Isa 61:1, with Luk 4:18; see Isa 62:11; Isa 63:1-4); his miracles (Isa 35:5, Isa 35:6); his peculiar character and virtues (Isa 11:2, Isa 11:3; Isa 40:11; Isa 43:1-3); his rejection (Compare Isa 6:9-12 with Mar 13:14; see Isa 7:14, Isa 7:15; Isa 53:3); his sufferings for our sins (Isa 50:6; Isa 53:4-11); his death and burial (Isa 53:8, Isa 53:9); his victory over death (Isa 25:8; Isa 53:10, Isa 53:12); his final glory (Isa 49:7, Isa 49:22, 33; Isa 52:13-15; Isa 53:4, Isa 53:5); and the establishment, increase, and perfection of his kingdom (Isa 2:2-4; Isa 9:2, Isa 9:7; Isa 11:4-10; Isa 16:5; Isa 29:18-24; Isa 32:1; Isa 40:4, Isa 40:5; Isa 42:4; Isa 46:13; Isa 49:9-13; Isa 51:3-6; Isa 53:6-10; Isa 55:1-3; Isa 59:16-21; 60; Isa 61:1-5; Isa 65:25); each specifically pointed out, and pourtrayed with the most striking and discriminating characters. It is impossible, indeed, to reflect on these, and on the whole chain of his illustrious prophecies, and not be sensible that they furnish the most incontestable evidence in support of Christianity. The style of Isaiah has been universally admired as the most perfect model of elegance and sublimity; and as distinguished for all the magnificence, and for all the sweetness of the Hebrew language.

TSK: Isaiah 14 (Chapter Introduction)

Overview

Isa 14:1, God’s merciful restoration of Israel; Isa 14:3, Their triumphant exultation over Babel; Isa 14:24, God’s purpose against Assyria; Isa 14:29, Palestina is threatened.

Poole: Isaiah (Book Introduction)

THE ARGUMENT

THE teachers of the ancient church were of two sorts:

1. Ordinary, the priests and Levites.

2. Extraordinary, the prophets. These were immediately called by God, and inspired, as with other singular gifts and graces, so particularly with a supernatural knowledge of Divine mysteries, and of future things, and invested by God with an authority superior not only to the ordinary teachers of the church, but in some sort even to the civil powers of the nation. These holy prophets, whose writings are contained in the sacred Scripture, are sixteen. Of these Isaiah is first in place, and, as may seem probable, in time also. But undoubtedly he was contemporary with Hosea, whom others suppose to have been before him. Compare Isa 1:1 , with Hos 1:1 . The Jews tell us that he was of the blood royal of Judah, which is uncertain. But undoubtedly he was the prince of all the prophets, whether we consider the great extent and variety of his prophecies, the excellency and sublimity of those mysteries which were revealed to him and by him, the majesty and elegancy of his style, or the incomparable liveliness and power of his sermons. He doth so evidently and fully describe the person, and offices, and sufferings, and kingdom of Christ, that some of the ancients called him the fifth evangelist. And it is observed, that there are more testimonies and quotations in the New Testament taken out of Isaiah than out of all the other prophets.

Poole: Isaiah 14 (Chapter Introduction)

CHAPTER 14

Israel should be delivered from the Babylonish captivity: their triumphant insultation over Babel, Isa 14:1-23 . God’ s purpose against Assyria, Isa 14:24-27 . Palestina is threatened, Isa 14:28-32 .

MHCC: Isaiah (Book Introduction)

Isaiah prophesied in the reigns of Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah. He has been well called the evangelical prophet, on account of his numerous and full prophesies concerning the coming and character, the ministry and preaching, the sufferings and death of the Messiah, and the extent and continuance of his kingdom. Under the veil of the deliverance from Babylon, Isaiah points to a much greater deliverance, which was to be effected by the Messiah; and seldom does he mention the one, without alluding at the same time to the other; nay, he is often so much enraptured with the prospect of the more distant deliverance, as to lose sight of that which was nearer, and to dwell on the Messiah's person, office, character, and kingdom.

MHCC: Isaiah 14 (Chapter Introduction)

(v. 1-23) The destruction of Babylon, and the death of its proud monarch.

(Isa 14:24-27) Assurance of the destruction of Assyria.

(Isa 14:28-32) The destruction of the Philistines.

Matthew Henry: Isaiah (Book Introduction)

An Exposition, With Practical Observations, of The Book of the Prophet Isaiah

Prophet is a title that sounds very great to those that understand it, though, in the eye of the world, many of those that were dignified with it appeared very mean. A prophet is one that has a great intimacy with Heaven and a great interest there, and consequently a commanding authority upon earth. Prophecy is put for all divine revelation (2Pe 1:20, 2Pe 1:21), because that was most commonly by dreams, voices, or visions, communicated to prophets first, and by them to the children of men, Num 12:6. Once indeed God himself spoke to all the thousands of Israel from the top of Mount Sinai; but the effect was so intolerably dreadful that they entreated God would for the future speak to them as he had done before, by men like themselves, whose terror should not make them afraid, nor their hands be heavy upon them, Job 33:7. God approved the motion ( they have well said, says he, Deu 5:27, Deu 5:28), and the matter was then settled by consent of parties, that we must never expect to hear from God any more in that way, but by prophets, who received their instructions immediately from God, with a charge to deliver them to his church. Before the sacred canon of the Old Testament began to be written there were prophets, who were instead of Bibles to the church. Our Saviour seems to reckon Abel among the prophets, Mat 23:31, Mat 23:35. Enoch was a prophet; and by him that was first in prediction which is to be last in execution - the judgment of the great day. Jud 1:14, Behold, the Lord comes with his holy myriads. Noah was a preacher of righteousness. God said of Abraham, He is a prophet, Gen 20:7. Jacob foretold things to come, Gen 49:1. Nay, all the patriarchs are called prophets. Psa 105:15, Do my prophets no harm. Moses was, beyond all comparison, the most illustrious of all the Old Testament prophets, for with him the Lord spoke face to face, Deu 34:10. He was the first writing prophet, and by his hand the first foundations of holy writ were laid. Even those that were called to be his assistants in the government had the spirit of prophecy, such a plentiful effusion was there of that spirit at that time, Num 11:25. But after the death of Moses, for some ages, the Spirit of the Lord appeared and acted in the church of Israel more as a martial spirit than as a spirit of prophecy, and inspired men more for acting than speaking. I mean in the time of the judges. We find the Spirit of the Lord coming upon Othniel, Gideon, Samson, and others, for the service of their country, with their swords, not with their pens. Messages were then sent from heaven by angels, as to Gideon and Manoah, and to the people, Jdg 2:1. In all the book of judges there is never once mention of a prophet, only Deborah is called a prophetess. Then the word of the Lord was precious; there was no open vision, 1Sa 3:1. They had the law of Moses, recently written; let them study that. But in Samuel prophecy revived, and in him a famous epocha, or period of the church began, a time of great light in a constant uninterrupted succession of prophets, till some time after the captivity, when the canon of the Old Testament was completed in Malachi, and then prophecy ceased for nearly 400 years, till the coming of the great prophet and his forerunner. Some prophets were divinely inspired to write the histories of the church. But they did not put their names to their writings; they only referred for proof to the authentic records of those times, which were known to be drawn up by prophets, as Gad, Iddo, etc. David and others were prophets, to write sacred songs for the use of the church. After them we often read of prophets sent on particular errands, and raised up for special public services, among whom the most famous were Elijah and Elisha in the kingdom of Israel. But none of these put their prophecies in writing, nor have we any remains of them but some fragments in the histories of their times; there was nothing of their own writing (that I remember) but one epistle of Elijah's, 2Ch 21:12. But towards the latter end of the kingdoms of Judah and Israel, it pleased God to direct his servants the prophets to write and publish some of their sermons, or abstracts of them. The dates of many of their prophecies are uncertain, but the earliest of them was in the days of Uzziah king of Judah, and Jeroboam the second, his contemporary, king of Israel, about 200 years before the captivity, and not long after Joash had slain Zechariah the son of Jehoiada in the courts of the temple. If they begin to murder the prophets, yet they shall not murder their prophecies; these shall remain as witnesses against them. Hosea was the first of the writing prophets; and Joel, Amos, and Obadiah, published their prophecies about the same time. Isaiah began some time after, and not long; but his prophecy is placed first, because it is the largest of them all, and has most in it of him to whom all the prophets bore witness; and indeed so much of Christ that he is justly styled the Evangelical Prophet, and, by some of the ancients, a fifth Evangelist. We shall have the general title of this book (Isa 1:1) and therefore shall here only observe some things,

I. Concerning the prophet himself. He was (if we may believe the tradition of the Jews) of the royal family, his father being (they say) brother to king Uzziah. He was certainly much at court, especially in Hezekiah's time, as we find in his story, to which many think it is owing that his style is more curious and polite than that of some other of the prophets, and, in some places, exceedingly lofty and soaring. The Spirit of God sometimes served his own purpose by the particular genius of the prophet; for prophets were not speaking trumpets, through which the Spirit spoke, but speaking men, by whom the Spirit spoke, making use of their natural powers, in respect both of light and flame, and advancing them above themselves.

II. Concerning the prophecy. It is transcendently excellent and useful; it was so to the church of God then, serving for conviction of sin, direction in duty, and consolation in trouble. Two great distresses of the church are here referred to, and comfort prescribed in reference to them, that by Sennacherib's invasion, which happened in his own time, and that of the captivity in Babylon, which happened long after; and in the supports and encouragements laid up for each of these times of need we find abundance of the grace of the gospel. There are not so many quotations in the gospels out of any, perhaps not out of all, the prophecies of the Old Testament, as out of this; nor such express testimonies concerning Christ, witness that of his being born of a virgin (ch. 7) and that of his sufferings, Isa 53:1-12. The beginning of this book abounds most with reproofs for sin and threatenings of judgment; the latter end of it is full of wood words and comfortable words. This method the Spirit of Christ took formerly in the prophets and does still, first to convince and then to comfort; and those that would be blessed with the comforts must submit to the convictions. Doubtless Isaiah preached many sermons, and delivered many messages to the people, which are not written in this book, as Christ did; and probably these sermons were delivered more largely and fully than they are here related, but so much is left on record as Infinite Wisdom thought fit to convey to us on whom the ends of the world have come; and these prophecies, as well as the histories of Christ, are written that we might believe on the name of the Son of God, and that, believing, we might have life through his name; for to us is the gospel here preached as well as unto those that lived then, and more clearly. O that it may be mixed with faith!

Matthew Henry: Isaiah 14 (Chapter Introduction)

In this chapter, I. More weight is added to the burden of Babylon, enough to sink it like a mill-stone; I. It is Israel's cause that is to be pleaded in this quarrel with Babylon (Isa 14:1-3). 2. The king of Babylon, for the time being, shall be remarkably brought down and triumphed over (v. 4-20). 3. The whole race of the Babylonians shall be cut off and extirpated (Isa 14:21-23). II. A confirmation of the prophecy of the destruction of Babylon, which was a thing at a distance, is here given in the prophecy of the destruction of the Assyrian army that invaded the land, which happened not long after (Isa 14:24-27). III. The success of Hezekiah against the Philistines is here foretold, and the advantages which his people would gain thereby (Isa 14:28-32).

Constable: Isaiah (Book Introduction)

Introduction

Title and writer

The title of this book of the Bible, as is true of the other prophetical books, comes from its writer. The book claims to have come from Isaiah (1:1; 2:1; 7:3; 13:1; 20:2; 37:2, 6, 21; 38:1, 4, 21; 39:3, 5, 8), and Jesus Christ and the apostles quoted him as being the writer at least 21 times, more often than they quoted all the other writing prophets combined.¹ The name of Isaiah, the son of Amoz, is the only one connected with the book in any of the Hebrew manuscripts or ancient versions. Josephus, the Jewish historian who wrote at the end of the first century A.D., believed that Isaiah wrote this book. He said that Cyrus read the prophecies that Isaiah had written about him and wished to fulfill them.²

There is no record of any serious scholar doubting the Isaianic authorship of the entire book before the twelfth century when Ibn Ezra, a Jewish commentator, did so. With the rise of rationalism, however, some German scholars took the lead in questioning it in the late eighteenth century. They claimed that the basis for their new view was the differences in style, content, and emphases in the various parts of the prophecy. Many scholars have noted that it is not really the text itself that argues for multiple authorship as much as the presence of predictive prophecy in chapters 40-66, which antisupernaturalistic critics try to explain away.³ At first, there seemed to these critics to have been two writers whose respective emphases on judgment in chapters 1-39 and consolation in chapters 40-66 pointed to two separate writers, Isaiah and "Deutero-Isaiah." With further study, a theory of three writers ("Trito-Isaiah") emerged because of the differences between chapters 40-55 and 56-66. These critics sensed addresses to three different historical settings in these three parts of the book: Isaiah's lifetime (ca. 739-701 B.C.; chs. 1-39), the Babylonian exile (ca. 605-539 B.C.; chs. 40-55), and the return (ca. 539-400 B.C.; chs. 56-66).⁴

"Along with what is known as the JEDP theory of the origins of the Pentateuch, the belief in the multiple authorship of the book of Isaiah is one of the most generally accepted dogmas of biblical higher criticism today."⁵

However, internal and external evidence points to the unity of authorship. The title for God, "holy one of Israel," which reflects the deep impression that Isaiah's vision in chapter 6 made on him, occurs 12 times in chapters 1-39 and 14 times in chapters 40-66 but only seven times elsewhere in the entire Old Testament. Other key phrases, passages, words, themes, and motifs likewise appear in both parts of the book. Jewish tradition uniformly attributed the entire book to Isaiah as did Christian tradition until the eighteenth century. The Isaiah Dead Sea Scroll, the oldest copy of Isaiah that we have, dating from the second century B.C., has chapter 40 beginning in the same column in which chapter 39 ends.⁶

Isaiah was arguably the greatest of four prophets who lived and wrote toward the end of the eighth century. Amos and Hosea ministered in the northern kingdom of Israel at this time, and Micah and Isaiah served in Judah.⁷ Isaiah's name, "The Lord (Yahweh) is salvation," meaning the Lord is the source of salvation, symbolized his message.

". . . in that one name is compressed the whole contents of the book!"⁸

Isaiah lived in Jerusalem, and that capital city features prominently in his prophecies. His easy access to the court and Judah's kings, revealed in his book, suggests that he ministered to the kings of Judah and may have had royal blood in his veins. Jewish tradition made him the cousin of King Uzziah. His communication gifts and his political connections, whatever those may have been, gave him an opportunity to reach the whole nation of Judah. The prophet was married and had at least two sons to whom he gave names that also summarized major themes of his prophecies (8:18): Shearjashub (a remnant shall return, 7:3), and Maher-shalal-hash-baz (hastening to the spoil, 8:3).

Isaiah received his call to prophetic ministry in the year that King Uzziah died (740 B.C.; ch. 6). He responded enthusiastically to this privilege even though he knew from the outset that his ministry would be fruitless and discouraging (6:9-13). His wife was a prophetess (8:3) probably in the sense that she was married to a prophet; we have no record that she prophesied herself. Isaiah also trained a group of disciples who gathered around him (8:16). His vision of God, which he received at the beginning of his ministry, profoundly influenced Isaiah's whole view of life as well as his prophecies, as is clear from what he wrote.⁹

The prophet had a very broad appreciation of the political situation in which he lived. He demonstrated awareness of all the nations around his homeland. Judah and Jerusalem were the focal points of his prophecies, but he saw God's will for them down the corridors of time as well as in his own day. He saw that the kingdom that God would establish through His Messiah would include all people. He was a true patriot who denounced evils in his land as well as giving credit where that was due. He condemned religious cults yet remained neutral politically. His understanding of theology was profound. He set forth the wonder and grandeur of Yahweh more ably than any other biblical writer. As a writer, Isaiah is without a peer among the Old Testament prophets. He was a poetic artist who employed a large vocabulary and many literary devices to express his thoughts beautifully and powerfully. Most of his prophecies appear to have been messages that he delivered, which means that he was probably also a powerful orator.

There is no historical record of Isaiah's death. Jewish tradition held that he suffered martyrdom under King Manasseh (697-642 B.C.) because of his prophesying. The early church father Justin Martyr (ca. A.D. 150) wrote that the Jews sawed him to death with a wooden saw (cf. Heb. 11:37).¹⁰ Another ancient source says he took refuge in a hollow tree, but his persecutors discovered and extracted him. This may account for the unusual method of his execution.

Historical Background and Date

Isaiah ministered during the reigns of four Judean kings (1:1): Uzziah (792-740 B.C.), Jotham (750-732 B.C.), Ahaz (735-715 B.C.), and Hezekiah (715-686 B.C.).¹¹ The prophet began his ministry in the year that King Uzziah (or Azariah) died, namely, 740 or 739 B.C. (6:1).

During Uzziah's reign Judah enjoyed peace because of her surrounding nations' lack of antagonism and hostility. However, in 745 B.C. Tiglath-pileser III mounted the throne of Assyria and began to expand his empire. His three successors (Shalmaneser V, Sargon II, and Sennacherib) proved equally ambitious. Aram (Syria) and Israel (Ephraim) felt the pressure of Assyrian expansion before Judah did, but in King Ahaz's reign Judah had to make a crucial decision regarding her relationship to Assyria. Isaiah played a major role in that decision.

A second major crisis arose during the reign of King Hezekiah. By this time Babylon had defeated Assyria, and it was also expanding aggressively in Judah's direction. Again Isaiah played a major part in the decision about how Judah would respond to this threat.

". . . Isaiah exercised his prophetic ministry at a time of unique significance, a time in which it was of utmost importance to realize that salvation could not be obtained by reliance upon man but only from God Himself. For Israel it was the central or pivotal point of history between Moses and Christ. The old world was passing and an entirely new order of things was beginning to make its appearance. Where would Israel stand in that new world? Would she be the true theocracy, the light to lighten the Gentiles, or would she fall into the shadow by turning for help to the nations which were about her?"¹²

Sennacherib outlived Hezekiah, who died in 686 B.C., and Isaiah recorded the death of Sennacherib in 681 B.C. (37:38). Just how long the prophet ministered after that event is impossible to determine, but he must have prophesied for at least 60 years. However the bulk of the material in his book derives from the first 50 of those years (ca. 740-690 B.C.).

Important dates for Isaiah
Years	Events
745	Tiglath-pileser III of Assyria begins his reign
740	Uzziah of Judah dies; Isaiah begins his ministry
735	Ahaz of Judah begins his co-regency with Jotham; Pekah of Israel and Rezin of Aramea ally against Assyria
733-32	Tiglath-pileser invades Aramea and Israel
732	Damascus falls; Pekah and Rezin die; Jotham dies
727	Tiglath-pileser dies
722	Samaria falls; Shalmaneser V of Assyria dies and Sargon II begins to reign
715	Ahaz dies and Hezekiah begins his reign
711	Sargon attacks Ashdod and returns to Assyria
710	Sargon attacks Babylon
705	Sargon dies
701	Sennacherib of Assyria defeats Egypt at Eltekah and departs from Jerusalem; Merodach-baladan of Babylon sends messengers to visit Hezekiah
697	Manasseh of Judah begins his co-regency
690	Tirhakah of Egypt begins his reign
689	Sennacherib of Assyria defeats Babylon
686	Hezekiah dies
681	Sennacherib of Assyria dies and Esarhaddon begins to reign
671	Esarhaddon imports foreigners into Israel and defeats Egypt
612	Nineveh falls to Babylon
609	Nabopolassar of Babylon defeats Assyria and Assyria falls
605	Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon defeats Egypt at Carchemish; first deportation of Judahites to Babylon
597	Second deportation of Judahites to Babylon
586	Jerusalem falls to Nebuchadnezzar
559	Cyrus II of Persia begins to reign
539	Cyrus overthrows Babylon
538	Cyrus issues his decree allowing Jews to return to Palestine
530	Cyrus dies
518	Darius Hystaspes of Persia destroys Babylon

Audience and purpose

Isaiah ministered and wrote to the people of Jerusalem and Judah. His task was to explain to these chosen people that the old world order was passing away and that the new order, controlled by Gentile world empires that sought to swallow Judah up, required a new commitment to trust and obey Yahweh as His servant. The Assyrian threat called for this new dedication. This was a theological even more than a historical and political crisis for Judah. It raised many questions that Isaiah addressed.

"Is God truly the Sovereign of history if the godless nations are stronger than God's nation? Does might make right? What is the role of God's people in the world? Does divine judgment mean divine rejection? What is the nature of trust? What is the future of the Davidic monarchy? Are not the idols stronger than God and therefore superior to him?"¹³

The far-reaching nature of these questions called for reference to the future, which Isaiah revealed from the Lord. The Northern Kingdom had made the wrong commitment, which Amos announced, but the Southern Kingdom still had an opportunity to trust Yahweh and live.

"Stated briefly, the purpose of Isaiah is to display God's glory and holiness through His judgment of sin and His deliverance and blessing of a righteous remnant."¹⁴

Theology

The Book of Isaiah, the third longest book in the Bible after Psalms and Jeremiah, deals with as broad a range of theology as any book in the Old Testament. In this respect it is similar to Romans. However, there are four primary doctrines, all arising out of the prophet's personal experience with God in his call (ch. 6), that receive the most emphasis. These are God, man and the world, sin, and redemption.

Isaiah presented God as great, transcendently separate, authoritative, omnipotent, majestic, holy, and morally and ethically perfect. In contrast, he described sarcastically the stupidity of idolatry. God creates history as well as the cosmos, and He has a special relationship with Israel among the nations. The adjective "holy" (Heb. qadosh) describes God 33 times in Isaiah and only 26 times in the rest of the Old Testament. It is the primary attribute of God that this prophet stressed.

Isaiah showed the tremendous value that God places on humanity and the world but also the folly of pride and unbelief. Assuming pretensions to significance leads to insignificance for the creation, but giving true significance to God results in glory for humanity and the world. As all the other eighth-century prophets, Isaiah condemned injustice.

Sin is rebellion for Isaiah that springs from pride. The book begins and ends on this note (1:2; 66:24). All the evil in the world results from man's refusal to accept Yahweh's lordship. The prophet repeatedly showed how foolish such rebellion is. It not only affects man himself but also his environment. God's response to sin is judgment if people continue to rebel against Him, but He responds with redemption if they abandon self-trust and depend on Him. Sin calls for repentance, and forgiveness for the penitent is available.

God's judgment, the outworking of the personal rage of offended deity, takes many forms: natural disaster, military defeat, and disease being a few, but they all come from God's hand ultimately. The means of salvation can only be through God's activity. Substitutionary atonement makes possible God's announcement of pardon and redemption. This redemption comes through the promised Messiah ultimately, the Lord's anointed king. The goal of redemption is not just deliverance from sin's guilt but the sharing of God's character and fellowship. Salvation could only come to God's people as they accepted the role of servant. Deliverance cannot come to man through his own effort, but he must look to God alone for it. His emphasis on salvation has earned Isaiah the title of evangelist of the Old Testament.

Isaiah is strongly eschatological. In many passages the prophet dealt with the future destiny of Israel and the Gentiles. He wrote more than any other prophet of the great kingdom into which the Israelites would enter under Messiah's rule.

"We stand precisely on 56:1, looking back to the work of the Servant (now fulfilled in the person, life, death and resurrection of the Lord Jesus) and looking forward to the coming of the Anointed Conqueror."¹⁵

Isaiah's emphasis on the coming Messiah is second only to the Psalms in the Old Testament in terms of its fullness and variety. God revealed more about the coming Messiah to Isaiah than He did to any other Old Testament character. Messianic themes in Isaiah include the branch, the stone (refuge), light, child, king, and especially servant. In some of the passages in Isaiah, Israel is the servant of the Lord that is in view, in others the faithful remnant in Israel is the servant, and in still others a future individual, the Messiah, must be in view. As Matthew clarified, Jesus Christ was the fulfillment of what God intended the Israelites to be (Matt. 2:15; cf. Hos. 11:1-2).

"What is the overarching theme of OT theology? Perhaps it is the covenant. Here in Isaiah, God's special relationship with Israel is presupposed throughout. Perhaps it is the kingdom of God. The whole structure of the book brings out the implications of God's sovereign control of things in the interests of his kingdom. Perhaps it is promise and fulfillment. Here we see time and again the word of divine authority being fulfilled and further fulfillment thereby pledged. Perhaps it is simply God himself, Israel's Holy One. This book is one long exposition of the implications--for Israel and the world--of who and what he is. So this great prophecy--its whole structure unified by its teaching about the Holy One of Israel, who is true to his word, faithful to his covenant, and pursues the establishment of his kingdom--is a classic disclosure of the very heart of the OT faith."¹⁶

"The theological message of the book may be summarized as follows: The Lord will fulfill His ideal for Israel by purifying His people through judgment and then restoring them to a renewed covenantal relationship. He will establish Jerusalem (Zion) as the center of His worldwide kingdom and reconcile once hostile nations to Himself."¹⁷

Genre and interpretation

The book is a compilation of the visions that Isaiah received from the Lord. He presented this revelation as messages and compiled them into their present form. His disciples may have put finishing touches on the collection under divine inspiration. Most of the book is poetic in form, the prophet having been lifted up in his spirit as he beheld and recorded what God revealed to him. Much of the content is eschatological and therefore prophetic, though most of the ministry of the prophets, including Isaiah, was forth telling rather than foretelling. Much of what is eschatological is also apocalyptic, dealing with the final climax of history in the future. These portions bear the marks of that type of literature: symbols, analogies, and various figures of speech.¹⁸

Students of Isaiah have difficulty understanding the eschatological portions of the book. Some believe that we should look for a literal fulfillment of everything predicted. Others believe that when Isaiah spoke of Israel and Jerusalem he was referring to the church. More literal interpretation results in a premillennial understanding of prophecy whereas spiritualization results in an amillennial or postmillennial understanding. The problem with taking every prophecy literally is that in many places the prophet used metaphors and other figures of speech to describe his meaning; what he wrote does not describe exactly what he meant. The problem with spiritualizing all the prophecies is that the New Testament teaches that Israel will have a future in God's plans as Israel (Rom. 11:26-27). The church will not replace Israel though the church does participate in some of the blessing promised to Israel. The most satisfying position, for me, is to interpret Isaiah as literally as seems legitimate in view of other divine revelation while at the same time remembering that some of what appears to be literal description may in fact be metaphorical. This is the approach taken by most premillennialists.

"Surely God may be expected to have one basic meaning in what he says. This is true, but just as human speech, especially when it is poetical, may suggest further levels of significance beyond the meaning conveyed by the passage in its context, so may the Word of God."¹⁹

Structure

Occasional time references scattered throughout the book indicate that Isaiah arranged his prophecies in a basically chronological order (cf. 6:1; 7:1; 14:28; 20:1; 36:1; 37:38). However, they are not completely chronological. More fundamentally, Isaiah arranged his prophecies as an anthology in harmony with a unifying principle. That organizing principle seems to be that God's people should view all of life in the light of God's reality and should therefore orient themselves to Him appropriately, namely, as His servants.

Isaiah built a huge mosaic out of his prophecies and used pre-exilic material to serve pre-exilic, exilic, post-exilic, and eschatological ends. It is not unreasonable to assume that after Isaiah had completed what we now have in chapters 1-39 he received new revelations from God along a different line that led him to adopt the somewhat different style that is characteristic of the last part of the book. The first part deals primarily with the threat of Assyria and the second (chs. 40-66) with that of Babylonia, with chapters 36-39 forming a transition. Chapters 1-5 are an introduction to the whole collection of messages. Chapters 6 and 53 are the key chapters because they provide the most concise answers to the great questions raised in the book. The book contains many extended doublets: repetition of the same truth in the same consecutive steps.

Message²⁰

In contrast to the New Testament prophets, Isaiah had very little to say about an individual's relationship with God. His concern was more the relationship of God's people as a whole to the Lord, specifically the nation of Israel's relationship to God. This is true of most of the Old Testament writing prophets. Isaiah focused on Israel's past, her present, her near future, and her distant future. He also gave considerable attention to the fate of the Gentile nations.

In the first section of the book, Isaiah insists that judgment is necessary before there can be peace. He was not referring to judgment beyond this life, judgment when we die. He was dealing with judgment here and now, repentance and divine intervention. Peace on earth requires repentance and divine intervention.

In the last section of the book, Isaiah also stressed the importance of righteousness before there can be peace, righteousness here and now before there can be peace on earth in the future. Thus this emphasis on righteousness and peace acts as bookends and frames the content of Isaiah's prophecies.

The great value of Isaiah is its revelation of the throne of God. This book clarifies the principles by which God rules the universe. In chapter six, Isaiah saw the Lord sitting on His throne. This vision of God impacted the rest of Isaiah's ministry and the rest of his book. In chapter 53, the prophet revealed the Servant of the Lord in whom and through whom God reigns. Isaiah balanced the transcendence of God with the immanence of God. These great revelations of Isaiah come together in the Revelation of John, 5:6: "And I saw between the throne and the elders a Lamb standing." Revelation gives more revelation along the same lines that Isaiah gave earlier. God reigns through people, especially one crucial person. Isaiah had much to say about the coming Messiah throughout this book.

Isaiah lived the early part of his life under the reign of King Uzziah. Uzziah was a good king, and he provided stability for the kingdom of Judah. But when Uzziah died, everyone had questions about the direction Judah would go. It was in the year that King Uzziah died that Isaiah saw his vision of the throne in heaven (6:1). He realized in a deeper way than ever before that the true king of Judah was Yahweh and that Yahweh was still firmly on His throne.

There are two things that mark God's throne: government and grace. Isaiah's contemporaries needed a deeper appreciation of God's government and His grace, and so do all the readers of this book. The fact that Yahweh rules and that He rules graciously were truths that were very familiar to God's people in Isaiah's time. In fact, when Isaiah spoke of God's government and His grace the Israelites mocked him for presenting such a simple message. Their taste ran to the more esoteric, and Isaiah's repetition of basic truth bored them. God told his prophet to expect rejection, and that proved to be Israel's characteristic response to Isaiah's ministry.

We also need a reminder of the basic principles of God's government and His grace. It is not because they are unknown to us but because people do not heed these truths that they are so needful today.

Let's consider first what Isaiah revealed about the government of God.

There are three principles by which God governs. These are holiness, righteousness, and justice. Holiness is the inspiration, righteousness the activity, and justice the result of God's government.

The most outstanding characteristic of God that this book reveals is His holiness. The title "the Holy One of Israel" was Isaiah's hallmark. The angelic beings that Isaiah saw assembled around God's heavenly throne ascribed perfect holiness to Him: "Holy, holy, holy is Yahweh of Hosts" (6:3). The holiness of God describes His "otherliness" from all His creation. God is different in His essence; He is spirit, whereas the creation is material. He is also different in His morality; He is absolutely upright, in contrast to the creation that has suffered from the Fall and its contacts with sin. When Isaiah saw the Lord, in chapter 6, what impressed him was his own uncleanness and the uncleanness of his people. All of God's government, how He governs, derives from His holiness. His holiness inspires all His government.

Because God is holy, He always does what is right. Conduct issues from and reflects character. Because God is holy in His character, He conducts Himself in righteousness. He always does what is right. There is a strong emphasis on righteousness in Isaiah, God's righteousness and the need for human righteousness. Isaiah's emphasis on righteousness is one of the reasons his book has been called the Romans of the Old Testament.

The result of righteous conduct is justice. God deals with His own people and all other people in justice. A holy God can do nothing else. He will do what is fair, what is straight, what is proper. We can see the justice of God in God's call to His people to reason with Him (1:18). Because God is just, sin inevitably brings punishment. Much of this prophecy is designed to help the people of God know how to avoid sin and its punishment and how to manage sin and its punishment. Justice in interpersonal and international affairs is an important motif in Isaiah.

Whereas the principles of God's government are holiness, righteousness, and justice, the methods by which He governs are revelation, explanation, and prediction.

According to Isaiah, the outstanding characteristic of God that distinguishes Him from all false gods (idols) is that He has revealed Himself; He has spoken. Isaiah referred to three primary revelations of God to humankind: general revelation, special revelation, and incarnate revelation. God has built a revelation of Himself into His creation so that everyone can see that a true God does exist (cf. Rom. 1). Second, He revealed His will as well as His existence. The revelation of His will came to the Israelites through what God taught them, the Torah (instruction). This revelation is what we have in Scripture, and it came to Israel for Israel to share with the world for the world's blessing, not to hoard to herself for her own blessing. Third, God revealed Himself through a person: the Messiah, the Servant of the Lord, the Divine Warrior. The revelation of how God would deal with the sin problem came through this person. Isaiah reveals that God would deliver Israel from destruction, from captivity, and from sin. He would make her in the future the servant of His that He always intended her to be but which she failed to become because of her sin.

God went beyond just giving revelations, however. He also provided explanations. This was one of the major ministries of the prophets in general and of Isaiah in particular. God explained through Isaiah why the Israelites and their neighbor nations were experiencing what they were going through. He gave these explanations so they could learn from their past, walk in His ways in the present, and enjoy His blessings in the future. God explained that He not only had the ability to save Israel, but He also had the desire to do so.

Not only did God explain the past, He also predicted the future. He did this to prove that He is the only true God. In order to predict the future accurately, one must be able to control the future. Yahweh is the only true God. He is the only God who can create history in time as well as creating the material world in space. His ability to predict the future is the great testimony to His unique sovereignty. The outstanding predictions in this book concern those whom God would anoint for special ministries in the future. These individuals were Cyrus, who would be Israel's redeemer from Babylon's captivity, and the Servant, who would be Israel's redeemer from sin's captivity. The exodus motif is strong throughout Isaiah looking back to the Exodus from Egypt and forward to future exoduses.

The characteristics of God's government as revealed in Isaiah are also three: patience, persistence, and power.

God deals with people patiently. He allows them the opportunity to repent and to return to Himself. There is much emphasis in this book on the importance of returning to God. God had been very patient with Judah, but the day of His patience would end, so she needed to repent while there was still opportunity. The day of salvation would not last forever.

Second, God deals with people persistently. He does not disregard people's sin after a time, but He always deals with it righteously. Likewise He persists in blessing those who faithfully follow Him even though they live among a nation of apostates. God has a plan for Israel as a nation, and He also had a plan for the faithful among the apostates in the nation. His faithfulness to His promises is the mainspring that keeps the hands of His providence moving persistently.

Third, God ever demonstrates His supernatural power. What is natural does not bind Him. He can and does intervene to provide power that overcomes His sinful people and holds them in captivity. The expectation of more exoduses is strong throughout this book. Isaiah's audience looked forward to captivity in Babylon, but beyond that there was the promise of liberation, and beyond that there was the promise of liberation from sin. Fire is a fitting symbol of all these characteristics of God's government. It consumes patiently, it persists until it has run its full course, and it has great power. Isaiah pictured Yahweh as a consuming fire in relation to His people as well as in relation to unbelieving nations.

Parallel to these emphases on the government of God is an equally strong emphasis on the grace of God in Isaiah.

Along with the holiness, righteousness, and justice of God, we have an equally strong emphasis on the love, mercy, and goodness of God. Isaiah wrote that God's children had rebelled against Him. His wife had been unfaithful to Him. Those He had chosen to bless uniquely among all the nations of the earth had grieved His Holy Spirit. The breaking heart of God is as clear a revelation in Isaiah as are the broken commandments of God.

Similarly, God's revelations, His explanations, and His predictions arise out of His mercy. God has revealed Himself in nature so everyone can enter into relationship with a gracious God. He has explained Himself so His people can understand His dealings with them as being gracious. He has predicted the future so everyone will appreciate that His plans for humanity are gracious plans involving redemption from captivity and sin.

God's grace is the reason He is patient with people. His grace is the inspiration for His persistence with people. And His grace is the passion of His power on behalf of people. In short, all the outstanding characteristics of God in Isaiah trace back to His goodness. The Servant Songs, particularly the third one (52:13-53:12), overflow with the grace of God for His helpless and hopeless people. He is the key to their justification, sanctification, and glorification. Note again the similarity with Romans.

The living message of this book is that acknowledgment of God's sovereign rule is the key to successful human life on every level: individually, nationally, and historically. The only hope for human failure caused by enslavement to sin is divine redemption that a God of grace provides. God is not only able but also willing to save.

To enjoy the benefits of God's grace, people must submit to His government. To submit to His government, they must receive the benefits of His grace. Israel failed to enjoy the benefits of God's grace because she failed to submit to His rule. She failed to submit to His rule because she failed to trust His grace. God brings us into right relationship with His government through His grace. In order to enjoy the benefits of His grace, we must submit to His government. Both government and grace find their source in Yahweh and their expression in Jesus Christ.

Constable: Isaiah (Outline)

Outline

I. Introduction chs. 1-5

A. Israel's condition and God's solution ch. 1

1. The title of the book 1:1

2. Israel's condition 1:2-9

3. God's solution 1:10-20

4. Israel's response 1:21-31

B. The problem with Israel chs. 2-4

1. God's desire for Israel 2:1-4

2. God's discipline of Israel 2:5-4:1

3. God's determination for Israel 4:2-6

C. The analogy of wild grapes ch. 5

1. The song of the vineyard 5:1-7

2. The wildness of the grapes 5:8-25

3. The coming destruction 5:26-30

II. Isaiah's vision of God ch. 6

A. The prophet's vision 6:1-8

B. The prophet's commission 6:9-13

III. Israel's crisis of faith chs. 7-39

A. The choice between trusting God or Assyria chs. 7-12

1. Signs of God's presence 7:1-9:7

2. Measurement by God's standards 9:8-10:4

3. Hope of God's deliverance 10:5-11:16

4. Trust in God's favor ch. 12

B. God's sovereignty over the nations chs. 13-35

1. Divine judgments on the nations chs. 13-23

2. Divine victory over the nations chs. 24-27

3. The folly of trusting the nations chs. 28-33

4. The consequences of Israel's trust chs. 34-35

C. Tests of Israel's trust chs. 36-39

1. The Assyrian threat chs. 36-37

2. The Babylonian threat chs. 38-39

IV. Israel's calling in the world chs. 40-55

A. God's grace to Israel chs. 40-48

1. The Lord of the servant ch. 40

2. The servant of the Lord chs. 41:1-44:22

3. The Lord's redemption of His servant chs. 44:23-47:15

4. The servant's attention to her Lord ch. 48

B. God's atonement for Israel chs. 49-55

1. Anticipation of salvation 49:1-52:12

2. Announcement of salvation 52:13-53:12

3. Invitation to salvation chs. 54-55

V. Israel's future transformation chs. 56-66

A. Recognition of human inability chs. 56-59

1. The need for humility and holiness chs. 56-57

2. The relationship of righteousness and ritual chs. 58-59

B. Revelation of future glory chs. 60-62

1. Israel among the nations ch. 60

2. Israel under the Lord chs. 61-62

C. Recognition of divine ability chs. 63-66

1. God's faithfulness in spite of Israel's unfaithfulness 63:1-65:16

2. The culmination of Israel's future 65:17-66:24

Constable: Isaiah

Isaiah

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Watts, John D. W. "Babylonian Idolatry in the Prophets As a False Socio-Economic System." In Israel's Apostasy and Restoration: Essays in Honor of Roland K. Harrison, pp. 115-22. Edited by Avraham Gileadi. Grand Rapids: Baker Book House, 1988.

_____. Isaiah 1-33. Word Biblical Commentary series. Waco, Tex.: Word Books, 1985.

_____. Isaiah 34-66. Word Biblical Commentary series. Waco, Tex.: Word Books, 1987.

Westermann, Claus. Isaiah 40-66. London: SCM, 1966.

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Young, Edward J. The Book of Isaiah. 3 vols. The New International Commentary on the Old Testament series. Grand Rapids: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co., 1965, 1969, 1972.

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Copyright 2003 by Thomas L. Constable

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Haydock: Isaiah (Book Introduction)

THE PROPHECY OF ISAIAS.

INTRODUCTION.

This inspired writer is called by the Holy Ghost, (Ecclesiasticus xlviii. 25.) the great prophet; from the greatness of his prophetic spirit, by which he hath foretold, so long before, and in so clear a manner, the coming of Christ, the mysteries of our redemption, the calling of the Gentiles, and the glorious establishment, and perpeutal flourishing of the Church of Christ: insomuch that he seems to have been rather an evangelist than a prophet. His very name is not without mystery: for Isaias in Hebrew signifies the salvation of the Lord, or, Jesus is the Lord. He was, according to the tradition of the Hebrews, of the blood royal of the kings of Juda; an after a most holy life, ended his days by a glorious martyrdom; being sawed in two, at the command of his wicked son-in-law, king Manasses, for reproving his evil ways. (Challoner) --- He began to prophesy ten years before the foundation of Rome, and the ruin of Ninive. His style is suitable to his high birth. He may be called the prophet of the mercies of the Lord. Under the figure of the return from captivity, he foretells the redemption of mankind (Calmet) with such perspicuity, that he might seem to be an evangelist. (St. Jerome)

Gill: Isaiah (Book Introduction)

INTRODUCTION TO ISAIAH

This book is called, in the New Testament, sometimes "the Book of the Words of the Prophet Esaias", Luk 3:4 sometimes only the "Prophet Esaias", Act 8:28 and sometimes, as here, the "Book of the Prophet Esaias", Luk 4:17. In the Syriac version the title is, "the Prophecy of Isaiah the Son of Amos": and in the Arabic version, "the Beginning of the Prophecy of Isaiah the Prophet". It stands first of all the prophets; though the order of the prophets, according to the Jews ^a, is, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, Isaiah, and the twelve. But it is here placed first, not because Isaiah prophesied before the other prophets; for Joel, Jonah, Hosea, and Amos, begun before him, namely, in or before the days of Jeroboam the Second; but because of the excellency of the matter contained in it. Isaiah is called by Ben Syra ^b the great prophet, and by Eusebius ^c the greatest of the prophets; and Jerom ^d a says, he should rather be called an evangelist than a prophet, since he seems rather to write a history of things past, than to prophesy of things to come; yea, he styles him an apostle, as well as an evangelist ^e: and certain it is that no one writes so fully and clearly of the person, offices, grace, and kingdom of Christ; of his incarnation and birth of a virgin; of his sufferings and death, and the glory that should follow, as he does. John, the forerunner of Christ, began his ministry with a passage out of him concerning himself, Mat 3:3. Our Lord preached his first sermon at Nazareth out of this book, Luk 4:17 and it was in this the eunuch was reading when Philip came up to him, who from the same Scripture preached to him Christ, Act 8:28. And there are more citations in the New Testament made out of this prophecy than any other book, excepting the book of Psalms, as Musculus observes. To which may be added, as another reason, the elegance and sublimity of his style in which he exceeds the greatest of orators, Demosthenes among the Greeks, and Tully among the Romans; and this is observed both by Jews and Christians. Abarbinel ^f says, that the purity, and elegance of his diction is like that of kings and counsellors, who speak more purely and elegantly than other men: hence their Rabbins, he says, compare Isaiah to a citizen, and Ezekiel to a countryman. And Jerom ^g observes, that Isaiah is so eloquent and polite, that there is nothing of rusticity in his language; and that his style is so florid, that a translation cannot preserve it. Moreover, another reason of this book being placed first may be the bulk of it; it being larger, and containing more chapters, than any of the greater prophets, and almost as many as all the lesser prophets put together. That Isaiah was the writer of this book is not to be questioned; many of the prophecies in it are by name ascribed to him, Mat 13:14 though some others might be the compilers of it, collect his prophecies, and digest them in order: so the Jews say ^h, that Hezekiah and his company wrote Isaiah, &c. At what time, and in whose days he prophesied, may be learnt from Isa 1:1 by which it appears that he prophesied long, and lived to a good old age. He began to prophesy about A. M. 3236, and about seven hundred and seventy years before Christ. Abulpharagius, an Arabic writer, says ⁱ, he lived an hundred and twenty years, eighty five of which he prophesied. It is a generally received tradition with the Jews, that he lived to the time of Manasseh, and that he was sawn asunder by him; and which has been embraced by the ancient Christian writers, and is thought to be referred to in Heb 11:37. See Gill on Heb 11:37. But Aben Ezra on Isa 1:1 observes, that had he lived to the time of Manasseh, it would have been written, and is of opinion that he died in Hezekiah's time. According to the Cippi Hebraici ^k, he was buried at Tekoah, over whose grave a beautiful monument was erected; though Epiphanius ^l, or the author of the Lives of the Prophets that go by his name, says he was buried under the oak of Rogel, near the fountain of Siloam; and it is a tradition with the Syriac writers, that his body lay hid in the waters of Siloah; See Gill on Joh 5:4 but these are things not to be depended on; and alike fabulous are all other writings ascribed to him, besides this prophecy; as what are called the ascension of Isaiah, the vision of Isaiah, and the conference of Isaiah. This book contains some things historical, but chiefly prophetic; of which some relate to the punishment of the Jews, and other nations; but for the most part are evangelical, and concern the kingdom and grace of Christ; of which some are delivered out more clearly and perspicuously, and others more obscurely, under the type of the deliverance of the Jews from the Babylonish captivity.

Gill: Isaiah 14 (Chapter Introduction)

INTRODUCTION TO ISAIAH 14

This chapter contains prophecies of the restoration of the Jews, of the fall of the king of Babylon, and the destruction of the Assyrian empire, and of the ruin of Palestine. The moving cause of the restoration of the Jews, and their settlement in their own land, is the distinguishing mercy of God towards them; the accomplishment of it, proselytes joined unto them; the means, people of other nations, who should bring them into it, and whom they should possess and rule over; and the consequence of it, rest from sorrow, fear, and hard bondage, Isa 14:1 upon which they are introduced as taking up a proverb, or a triumphant song, concerning the king of Babylon, wondering at his fall, and ascribing it to the Lord, Isa 14:4 representing the inhabitants of the earth, and great men of it, as at peace, and rest, and rejoicing, who before were continually disturbed, and smitten by him, Isa 14:6 introducing the dead, and those in hell, meeting him, and welcoming him into their regions, with taunts and jeers; upbraiding him with his weakness, shame, and disgrace he was come into; putting him in mind of his former pomp and splendour, pride, arrogance, and haughtiness, Isa 14:9 spectators are brought in, as amazed at the low, mean, and despicable condition he was brought into, considering what he had done in the world, in kingdoms and cities, but was now denied a burial, when other kings lay in their pompous sepulchres, Isa 14:16 and then it is foretold that that whole royal family should be cut off, and Babylon, the metropolis of his kingdom, should be utterly destroyed, Isa 14:21 all which was settled and fixed by the purpose of God, which could not be made void, Isa 14:24 and next follows a prophecy of the destruction of Palestine; the date of the prophecy is given Isa 14:28 the inhabitants of Palestine are bid not to rejoice at the death of one of the kings of Judah, since another should arise, who would be fatal to them, Isa 14:29 and while the Jews would be in safety, they would be destroyed by famine and war, Isa 14:30 from all which it would appear, and it might be told the messengers of the nations, or any inquiring persons, that Zion is of the Lord's founding, and under his care and protection, and that his people have great reason and encouragement to trust in him, Isa 14:32.