Text -- Isaiah 14:18-32 (NET)

14:18 As for all the kings of the nations, all of them lie down in splendor, each in his own tomb. 14:19 But you have been thrown out of your grave like a shoot that is thrown away. You lie among the slain, among those who have been slashed by the sword, among those headed for the stones of the pit, as if you were a mangled corpse. 14:20 You will not be buried with them, because you destroyed your land and killed your people. The offspring of the wicked will never be mentioned again. 14:21 Prepare to execute his sons for the sins their ancestors have committed. They must not rise up and take possession of the earth, or fill the surface of the world with cities.” 14:22 “I will rise up against them,” says the Lord who commands armies. “I will blot out all remembrance of Babylon and destroy all her people, including the offspring she produces,” says the Lord. 14:23 “I will turn her into a place that is overrun with wild animals and covered with pools of stagnant water. I will get rid of her, just as one sweeps away dirt with a broom,” says the Lord who commands armies. 14:24 The Lord who commands armies makes this solemn vow: “Be sure of this: Just as I have intended, so it will be; just as I have planned, it will happen. 14:25 I will break Assyria in my land, I will trample them underfoot on my hills. Their yoke will be removed from my people, the burden will be lifted from their shoulders. 14:26 This is the plan I have devised for the whole earth; my hand is ready to strike all the nations.” 14:27 Indeed, the Lord who commands armies has a plan, and who can possibly frustrate it? His hand is ready to strike, and who can possibly stop it?

The Lord Will Judge the Philistines

14:28 In the year King Ahaz died, this message was revealed: 14:29 Don’t be so happy, all you Philistines, just because the club that beat you has been broken! For a viper will grow out of the serpent’s root, and its fruit will be a darting adder. 14:30 The poor will graze in my pastures; the needy will rest securely. But I will kill your root by famine; it will put to death all your survivors. 14:31 Wail, O city gate! Cry out, O city! Melt with fear, all you Philistines! For out of the north comes a cloud of smoke, and there are no stragglers in its ranks. 14:32 How will they respond to the messengers of this nation? Indeed, the Lord has made Zion secure; the oppressed among his people will find safety in her.

Commentary -- Word/Phrase Notes (per phrase)

Wesley: Isa 14:18

That is, other things most commonly do.

Wesley: Isa 14:18

Are buried in their own sepulchres, having stately monuments erected to their memory.

Wesley: Isa 14:19

Or, cast from thy grave or burying - place. Which very probably happened to Belshazzar, when his people had neither opportunity nor heart to bestow an honourable interment upon him, and the conquerors would not suffer them to do it.

Wesley: Isa 14:19

Like a rotten twig of a tree, which he that prunes the trees, casts away.

Wesley: Isa 14:19

Which, being mangled, and besmeared with mire, and blood, was cast away with contempt.

Wesley: Isa 14:19

Who being slain, are cast into some pit. He saith, to the stones of the pit, because when dead bodies are cast in thither, men use to throw an heap of stones upon them.

Wesley: Isa 14:19

Neglected, like such a carcase. And this might literally happen to Belshazzar's dead body.

Wesley: Isa 14:20

Not buried as they are.

Wesley: Isa 14:20

Thou hast exercised great tyranny and cruelty, not only to thine enemies, but even to thine own subjects.

Wesley: Isa 14:20

Such as Belshazzar was, being descended from that Nebuchadnezzar who had made such horrid slaughters and devastations in the world, merely to gratify his own insatiable lusts, and who had been so impious towards God and his temple, and so bloody towards his church and people.

Wesley: Isa 14:20

Or, shall not be renowned for ever: although I have long borne with thee and thy family.

Wesley: Isa 14:21

Cut off all the branches of the royal family.

Wesley: Isa 14:21

Not recover their former power.

Wesley: Isa 14:22

The remembrance of those that are dead, and the persons of those who yet survive.

Wesley: Isa 14:23

A great water fowl, which delights in solitary places, as also in watery grounds. Such as those were about Babylon.

Wesley: Isa 14:23

The ground about Babylon was of itself very moist, because of the great river Euphrates, running by it, which was kept from overflowing the country with charge and labour; this being neglected, when the city was destroyed, it was easily turned into pools of water.

Wesley: Isa 14:24

This verse does not only concern Babylon's destruction, but also the overthrow of Sennacherib and the Assyrian host, which was a pledge of the destruction of the city and empire of Babylon.

Wesley: Isa 14:25

In Judea, which is my land in a peculiar manner.

Wesley: Isa 14:25

In my mountainous country, for such Judea was, especially about Jerusalem.

Wesley: Isa 14:26

Upon this vast empire, now in the hands of the Assyrians, and shortly to come into the hands of the Babylonians.

Wesley: Isa 14:26

The providence of God executing his purpose.

Wesley: Isa 14:28

This following burdensome prophecy concerning the Philistines, who in Ahaz's time, made an inroad into Judah, and took divers of their cities.

Wesley: Isa 14:29

Most understand this of Uzziah, who did then much mischief, 2Ch 26:3, 2Ch 26:6.

Wesley: Isa 14:29

two years before this time, and therefore their joy for his death was long since past. Others understand it of Ahaz: but he was so far from smiting them, that he was smitten by them. We may understand this of the royal race of Judah, who had been a terrible scourge to them, whose rod might be said to be broken, because that scepter was come into the hands of slothful princes.

Wesley: Isa 14:29

From the root of David shall come Hezekiah, who, like a serpent, shall sting thee to death, as he did, 2Ki 18:8.

Wesley: Isa 14:30

The people of the Jews, who are brought to extreme poverty.

Wesley: Isa 14:30

born is given to persons or things which are most eminent in their kinds, as to the people of Israel, Exo 4:22, to David, Psa 89:27; Job 18:13, and here to persons eminently poor.

Wesley: Isa 14:30

Shall have plenty of provisions.

Wesley: Isa 14:30

I will utterly destroy thee both root and branch.

Wesley: Isa 14:31

The gate is put for the city.

Wesley: Isa 14:31

City is here put collectively for their cities.

Wesley: Isa 14:31

From Chaldea.

Wesley: Isa 14:31

A grievous judgment and calamity.

Wesley: Isa 14:31

When God's appointed time shall come, not one of all that numerous army shall desert his colours, or lag behind the rest.

Wesley: Isa 14:32

What shall a Jew say to the people of other nations, who shall enquire concerning the state of Zion, when not only the Philistines, but even the Jews themselves, shall fall by the hands of the same enemy? That - They shall give them this answer, That although Zion at present be in a very distressed condition, yet she stands upon a firm foundation, and God who first founded her, will restore her, and his poor despised people shall resort to her, as to a strong refuge.

JFB: Isa 14:18

That is, This is the usual practice.

JFB: Isa 14:18

In a grand mausoleum.

JFB: Isa 14:18

That is, "sepulchre," as in Ecc 12:5; "grave" (Isa 14:19). To be excluded from the family sepulcher was a mark of infamy (Isa 34:3; Jer 22:19; 1Ki 13:22; 2Ch 21:20; 2Ch 24:25; 2Ch 28:27).

JFB: Isa 14:19

Not that he had lain in the grave and was then cast out of it, but "cast out without a grave," such as might have been expected by thee ("thy").

JFB: Isa 14:19

A useless sucker starting up from the root of a tree, and cut away by the husbandman.

JFB: Isa 14:19

Covered with gore, and regarded with abhorrence as unclean by the Jews. Rather, "clothed (that is, covered) with the slain"; as in Job 7:5, "My flesh is clothed with worms and clods of dust" [MAURER].

JFB: Isa 14:19

That is, "the slain who have been thrust through," &c.

JFB: Isa 14:19

Whose bodies are buried in sepulchres excavated amidst stones, whereas the king of Babylon is an unburied "carcass trodden under foot."

JFB: Isa 14:20

Whereas the princes slain with thee shall be buried, thou shalt not.

JFB: Isa 14:20

Belshazzar (or Naboned) oppressed his land with wars and tyranny, so that he was much hated [XENOPHON, Cyropædia 4.6, 3; 7.5, 32].

JFB: Isa 14:20

Rather, "shall not be named for ever"; the Babylonian dynasty shall end with Belshazzar; his family shall not be perpetuated [HORSLEY].

JFB: Isa 14:21

Charge to the Medes and Persians, as if they were God's conscious instruments.

JFB: Isa 14:21

Belshazzar's (Exo 20:5).

JFB: Isa 14:21

To occupy the places of their fathers.

JFB: Isa 14:21

MAURER translates, "enemies," as the Hebrew means in 1Sa 28:16; Psa 139:20; namely, lest they inundate the world with their armies. VITRINGA translates, "disturbers." In English Version the meaning is, "lest they fill the land with such cities" of pride as Babylon was.

JFB: Isa 14:22

The family of the king of Babylon.

JFB: Isa 14:22

All the male representatives, so that the name shall become extinct (Isa 56:5; Rth 4:5).

JFB: Isa 14:22

All that is left of them. The dynasty shall cease (Dan 5:28-31). Compare as to Babylon in general, Jer 51:62.

JFB: Isa 14:23

Rather, "the hedgehog" [MAURER and GESENIUS]. STRABO (16:1) states that enormous hedgehogs were found in the islands of the Euphrates.

JFB: Isa 14:23

Owing to Cyrus turning the waters of the Euphrates over the country.

JFB: Isa 14:23

Sweep-net [MAURER], (1Ki 14:10; 2Ki 21:13).

This would comfort the Jews when captives in Babylon, being a pledge that God, who had by that time fulfilled the promise concerning Sennacherib (though now still future), would also fulfil His promise as to destroying Babylon, Judah's enemy.

JFB: Isa 14:25

My purpose, namely, "that."

JFB: Isa 14:25

(Isa 10:27).

JFB: Isa 14:25

Sennacherib's army was destroyed on the mountains near Jerusalem (Isa 10:33-34). God regarded Judah as peculiarly His.

JFB: Isa 14:26

A hint that the prophecy embraces the present world of all ages in its scope, of which the purpose concerning Babylon and Assyria, the then representatives of the world power, is but a part.

JFB: Isa 14:26

Namely, in punishment (Isa 5:25).

JFB: Isa 14:27

(Dan 4:35).

To comfort the Jews, lest they should fear that people; not in order to call the Philistines to repentance, since the prophecy was probably never circulated among them. They had been subdued by Uzziah or Azariah (2Ch 26:6); but in the reign of Ahaz (2Ch 28:18), they took several towns in south Judea. Now Isaiah denounces their final subjugation by Hezekiah.

JFB: Isa 14:28

726 B.C. Probably it was in this year that the Philistines threw off the yoke put on them by Uzziah.

JFB: Isa 14:29

Literally, "the land of sojourners."

JFB: Isa 14:29

The yoke imposed by Uzziah (2Ch 26:6) was thrown off under Ahaz (2Ch 28:18).

JFB: Isa 14:29

The stock of Jesse (Isa 11:1). Uzziah was doubtless regarded by the Philistines as a biting "serpent." But though the effects of his bite have been got rid of, a more deadly viper, or "cockatrice" (literally, "viper's offspring," as Philistia would regard him), namely, Hezekiah awaits you (2Ki 18:8).

JFB: Isa 14:30

Hebraism, for the most abject poor; the first-born being the foremost of the family. Compare "first-born of death" (Job 18:13), for the most fatal death. The Jews, heretofore exposed to Philistine invasions and alarms, shall be in safety. Compare Psa 72:4, "Children of the needy," expressing those "needy in condition."

JFB: Isa 14:30

Image from a flock feeding in safety.

JFB: Isa 14:30

Radical destruction.

JFB: Isa 14:30

Jehovah shall. The change of person, "He" after "I," is a common Hebraism.

JFB: Isa 14:31

That is, ye who throng the gate; the chief place of concourse in a city.

JFB: Isa 14:31

Judea, north and east of Palestine.

JFB: Isa 14:31

From the signal-fire, whereby a hostile army was called together; the Jews' signal-fire is meant here, the "pillar of cloud and fire," (Exo 13:21; Neh 9:19); or else from the region devastated by fire [MAURER]. GESENIUS less probably refers it to the cloud of dust raised by the invading army.

JFB: Isa 14:31

Rather, "There shall not be a straggler among his (the enemy's) levies." The Jewish host shall advance on Palestine in close array; none shall fall back or lag from weariness (Isa 5:26-27), [LOWTH]. MAURER thinks the Hebrew will not bear the rendering "levies" or "armies." He translates, "There is not one (of the Philistine watch guards) who will remain alone (exposed to the enemy) at his post," through fright. On "alone," compare Psa 102:7; Hos 8:9.

JFB: Isa 14:32

When messengers come from Philistia to enquire as to the state of Judea, the reply shall be, that the Lord . . . (Psa 87:1, Psa 87:5; Psa 102:16).

JFB: Isa 14:32

(Zep 3:12).

LOWTH thinks it was delivered in the first years of Hezekiah's reign and fulfilled in the fourth when Shalmaneser, on his way to invade Israel, may have seized on the strongholds of Moab. Moab probably had made common cause with Israel and Syria in a league against Assyria. Hence it incurred the vengeance of Assyria. Jeremiah has introduced much of this prophecy into his forty-eighth chapter.

Clarke: Isa 14:19

Like an abominable branch "Like the tree abominated"- That is, as an object of abomination and detestation; such as the tree is on which a malefactor has been hanged. "It is written,"saith St. Paul, Gal 3:13, "Cursed is every man that hangeth on a tree,"from Deu 21:23. The Jews therefore held also as accursed and polluted the tree itself on which a malefactor had been executed, or on which he had been hanged after having been put to death by stoning. " Non suspendunt super arbore, quae radicibus solo adhaereat; sed super ligno eradicato, ut ne sit excisio molesta: nam lignum, super quo fuit aliquis suspensus, cum suspendioso sepelitur; ne maneat illi malum nomen, et dicant homines, Istud est lignum, in quo suspensus est ille , ὁ δεινα . Sic lapis, quo aliquis fuit lapidatus; et gladius, quo fuit occisus is qui est occisus; et sudarium sive mantile, quo fuit aliquis strangulates; omnia haec cum iis, qui perierunt, sepeliuntur ."Maimonides, apud Casaub. in Baron. Exercitat. 16. An. 34, Numbers 134. " Cum itaque homo suspensu maximae esset abominationi - Judaei quoque prae caeteris abominabantur lignum quo fuerat suspensus, ita ut illud quoque terra tegerent, tanquam rem abominabilem. Unde interpres Chaldaeus haec verba transtulit כחט טמור kechat temir , sicut virgultum absconditum, sive sepultum ."Kalinski, Vaticinta Observationibus Illustrata, p. 342

"The Jews never hang any malefactor upon a tree that is growing in the earth, but upon a post fixed in the ground, that it might never be said, ‘ That is the tree on which such a one was hanged;’ for custom required that the tree should be buried with the malefactor. In like manner the stone by which a criminal was stoned to death, or the sword by which he was beheaded, or the napkin or handkerchief by which he was strangled, should be buried with him in the same grave.""For as the hanged man was considered the greatest abomination, so the very post or wood on which he was hanged was deemed a most abominable thing, and therefore buried under the earth.

Agreeably to which Theodoret, Hist. Ecc 1:17, Ecc 1:18, in his account of the finding of the cross by Helena, says, "That the three crosses were buried in the earth near the place of our Lord’ s sepulcher."And this circumstance seems to confirm the relation of the discovery of the cross of Christ. The crosses were found where the custom required they should be buried

The raiment of those that are slain "Clothed with the slain"- Thirty-five MSS., (ten ancient), and three editions, have the word fully written, לבוש lebush . It is not a noun, but the participle passive; thrown out among the common slain and covered with the dead bodies. So Ecc 1:11, the earth-worm is said to be his bedcovering. This reading is confirmed by two ancient MSS. in my own collection.

Clarke: Isa 14:20

Because thou hast destroyed thy land, etc. "Because thou hast destroyed thy country; thou hast slain thy people"- Xenophon gives an instance of this king’ s wanton cruelty in killing the son of Gobrias, on no other provocation than that, in hunting, he struck a boar and a lion which the king had missed. Cyrop. 4:309.

Clarke: Isa 14:23

I will sweep it with the besom of destruction "I will plunge it in the miry gulf of destruction"- I have here very nearly followed the Version of the Septuagint; the reasons for which see in the last note on De Poesi Hebr. Praelect, xxviii

The besom of destruction, as our Version renders it. במטאטא bematate . This, says Kimchi, is a Chaldee word: and it is worthy of remark that the prophet, writing to the Chaldeans, uses several words peculiar to their own language to point out the nature of the Divine judgments, and the causes of them. See the note on Jer 10:11 (note). Sixteen of Kennicott’ s MSS., and seventeen of De Rossi’ s, and one ancient of my own, have the word במטאטי bematatey , in the plural. "I will sweep her with the besoms of destruction."

Clarke: Isa 14:25

I will break the Assyrian - upon my mountains "To crush the Assyrian - on my mountains"- The Assyrians and Babylonians are the same people, Herod. 1:199, 200. Babylon is reckoned the principal city in Assyria, ibid. 178. Strabo says the same thing, lib. 16 sub init . The circumstance of this judgment being to be executed on God’ s mountains is of importance; it may mean the destruction of Sennacherib’ s army near Jerusalem, and have a still farther view: compare Eze 39:4; and see Lowth on this place of Isaiah.

Clarke: Isa 14:28

In the year that king Ahaz died was this burden - Uzziah had subdued the Philistines, 2Ch 26:6, 2Ch 26:7; but, taking advantage of the weak reign of Ahaz, they invaded Judea, and took, and held in possession, some cities in the southern part of the kingdom. On the death of Ahaz, Isaiah delivers this prophecy, threatening them with the destruction that Hezekiah, his son, and great-grandson of Uzziah, should bring upon them: which he effected; for "he smote the Philistines, even unto Gaza, and the borders thereof,"2Ki 18:8. Uzziah, therefore, must be meant by the rod that smote them, and by the serpent from whom should spring the flying fiery serpent, Isa 14:29, that is, Hezekiah, a much more terrible enemy than even Uzziah had been

The Targum renders the twenty-ninth verse in a singular way. "For, from the sons of Jesse shall come forth the Messiah; and his works among you shall be as the flying serpent."

Clarke: Isa 14:30

And the first-born of the poor, etc. - The Targum goes on applying all to the Messiah. "And the poor of the people shall he feed, and the humble shall dwell securely in his days: and he shall kill thy children with famine, and the remnant of thy people shall he slay.

I will kill "He will slay"- The Septuagint reads המית hemith , to the third person, ανελει ; and so the Chaldee. The Vulgate remedies the confusion of persons in the present text, by reading both the verbs in the first person.

Clarke: Isa 14:31

There shall come from the north a smoke "From the north cometh a smoke"- That is, a cloud of dust raised by the march of Hezekiah’ s army against Philistia; which lay to the south-west from Jerusalem. A great dust raised has, at a distance, the appearance of smoke: Fumantes pulvere campi ; "The fields smoking with dust."- Virg. Aen. 11:908.

Clarke: Isa 14:32

The messengers of the nation "The ambassadors of the nations"- The Septuagint read גוים goyim , εθνων, plural; and so the Chaldee, and one MS. The ambassadors of the neighboring nations, that send to congratulate Hezekiah on his success, which in his answer he will ascribe to the protection of God. See 2Ch 32:23. Or, if גוי goi singular, the reading of the text, be preferred, the ambassadors sent by the Philistines to demand peace. - L

The Lord hath founded Zion - Kimchi refers this to the state of Zion under Hezekiah, when the rest of the cities of Judea had been taken, and this only was left for a hope to the poor of God’ s people: and God so defended it that Rabshakeh could not prevail against it

The true Church of God is a place of safety; for as all its members are devoted to God, and walk in his testimonies, so they are continually defended and supported by him. In the congregations of his people, God dispenses his light and salvation; hence his poor or humble ones expect in his ordinances the blessings they need.

Calvin: Isa 14:18

18.All the kings of the nations He contrasts the king of Babylon with other kings, in order to show that, after his death, he will be more wretched than all the rest. And thus by comparison he gives a more enlarged view of the judgment of God, by which he would avenge the injuries done to his Church. This passage is the reason why I do not venture to limit, what Isaiah here foretells about the king of Babylon, to the person of Nebuchadnezzar alone; because it does not appear from history that he was denied burial. The Jews, indeed, relate that Evil-merodach gave orders that he should be dug out of his grave, because the nobles of the kingdom would not venture to pay homage to him, unless there were evidence that his father was dead; but Jerome, though otherwise credulous enough, treats this as a fable.

He therefore describes, not a single man, but a whole dynasty; and, in like manner, when Scripture speaks of Antichrist, it includes the whole duration of his reign. Consequently, as if in the person of one man, the Prophet ridicules the pride of all those tyrants, and threatens what shall be their end, namely this, that they shall not have a spot of earth to bury them, though formerly they were insatiable whirlpools, and could not be satisfied with any possessions. They who have scarcely a foot of earth still retain their right to have a grave, which was also highly prized by the patriarchs; for it was reckoned disgraceful to be deprived of it.

Calvin: Isa 14:19

19.But thou art cast out of thy grave like an abominable branch He shows that the kings of Babylon will be loaded with such disgrace, that they will even be cast out of the sepulcher which they possessed by inheritance, and will exhibit a disgraceful spectacle. It may be asked, Is it of so great value in the sight of God to be buried with our fathers, that to be deprived of it should be reckoned a punishment and a curse? I answer, he does not here speak of the grave, as if it were necessary for salvation; but it ought justly to be reckoned disgraceful to be denied burial. And first, we ought to consider why burial has been so highly valued among all nations. This undoubtedly arose from the patriarchs, whose bodies the Lord commanded to be buried in the hope of the last resurrection. The carcases of beasts are cast out, because they are only fit for rotting; but ours are laid in the earth, that being kept there, they may await the last day, when they shall rise to enjoy a blessed and immortal life in union with the soul.

Various superstitions have arisen as to the interment of bodies. This has undoubtedly been occasioned by the craftiness of Satan, who usually corrupts and perverts everything that is good and useful, for he devised innumerable contrivances by which he might dazzle the eyes of men. We need not wonder that the Jews had a great variety of ceremonies connected with this subject, and they cannot be blamed on account of it, for Christ had not yet been revealed, and consequently they had not so clear a revelation of the resurrection. But in our time the case is very different, for we plainly see the resurrection in Christ, and, every vail having now been removed, we behold clear promises which were more obscure to the Jews. If any one, therefore, were again to introduce and renew those ancient rites, he would undoubtedly darken the light, and, by putting a vail on Christ who has been revealed to us, would offer to him a high insult. Yet it is not useless to pay attention to burial, for it is the symbol of the last resurrection, which we still look for; but let there be no superstition and ostentatious display in funerals, which all godly persons ought to detest.

Now, if any one has been entirely deprived of burial, we must examine the cause. Many of the prophets, martyrs, and holy men have been deprived of it. We hear the Church bewailing that

the dead bodies of the servants of God have been thrown down to wild beasts and to the fowls of heaven, and that there is none to bury them, (Psa 79:2;)

and every day we see the servants of Christ burned, or drowned, or hanged; and yet their death is glorious and blessed in the sight of God. As the cross of Christ was blessed, so crosses, chains, prisons, and deaths, which are endured by his members, share in the same blessing, and far exceed the prosperity and trappings and splendor and majesty of kings, so that, following the example of Paul, they boldly venture even to glory in them. (Rom 5:3; 2Co 12:5; Gal 6:14.)

But as to those whom the Lord permits to remain unburied, when we see nothing else than a token of his anger, we must fall back on this statement and others of the same kind. For example, Jeremiah threatened Jehoiakim with the burial of an ass, because he deserved to be ranked with beasts rather than with men, who, even after death, are distinguished from beasts by being buried. Thus it was proper that the king of Babylon, who had exalted himself above all men, should be cast down below all men, so as even to be deprived of ordinary burial. Isaiah, therefore, foretells that he will not be buried in his own house, that is, in the sepulcher of his fathers, which came to him by inheritance; for we must not suppose that sepulchres were within houses. ²²⁶ The comparisons which are added express more strongly the disgrace which was due to that tyrant. As hurtful or useless trees are rooted out, so he shows that the king of Babylon does not deserve to have any place among men.

As the garments of those who are slain They who fall in the field of battle are not buried in the ordinary way, but their bloody and stinking bodies are trodden down, and are thrown into a ditch along with their rotten garments, that they may not infect the air with their offensive smell; and no one deigns to touch the very garments defiled by mire and blood, lest he should be polluted by them. Which of the kings of Babylon it was that suffered this we cannot tell; but undoubtedly it was fulfilled.

Calvin: Isa 14:20

20.For thou hast laid thy land desolate This is the reason why he says that the king of Babylon did not deserve burial. He who has laid the earth desolate does not deserve that the earth shall receive him into its bosom and cover him. As the earth supports the living, so it covers the dead, and keeps them till the coming of Christ. It is therefore a just punishment of cruelty, when the earth refuses to receive into her bosom those who have dishonored her. There is added a threatening still more severe, that the Lord will also inflict on posterity the remainder of the punishment.

The seed of the wicked shall not be continually remembered There are two ways in which we may explain this clause, either that the remembrance of the seed of the wicked will not be of long duration, or that it will be altogether extinguished. The word לעולם ²²⁷ ( legnolam) may be translated in various ways, for it may refer either to the past or to the future. If we refer it to the past, the meaning will be, “Although the seed of the wicked be renowned, לעולם , ( legnolam,) for a time, yet the remembrance of it will at length pass away.” If we refer it to the future, the meaning will be, “God will extinguish the seed of the wicked, so that it shall never again be mentioned.” It usually happens that the Lord curses the seed of the wicked, as, on the other hand, he blesses the seed of the godly, (Pro 10:7;) and as the righteous shall be held in perpetual remembrance, (Psa 112:6,) so the remembrance of the wicked must be destroyed and cut off. (Psa 34:16.) Though we do not always behold these things with our eyes, yet there are abundant and clear proofs of the fact, by which it is fully confirmed.

But we must attend to the reason of this vengeance. The Lord punishes the pride of wicked men, who wish to spread their name, and to leave a perpetual remembrance of them; for all irreligious men have this for the object of their labors and exertions. On the other hand, the Lord blots out their name and remembrance, which appeared to be inscribed on lasting records; and the result is, that they are not only despised but even abhorred by all men. This happens to all tyrants, that though, while they live, they are universally applauded and flattered, yet after they are dead, they and their posterity are universally abhorred. It is therefore evident that they are detested by God, by angels, and by men.

Calvin: Isa 14:21

21.Prepare slaughter for his children Here Isaiah prophesies more plainly than before against the king of Babylon. He speaks of the whole of his descendants, to whom he intimates that this destruction extends. We must keep in mind what we formerly said, that hitherto the Prophet has spoken not of a single man, but of a whole dynasty; and now he removes all doubt as to the metaphorical language. The rendering given by the old translation, Prepare his children for the slaughter, does not agree well; for the preposition ל , ( lamed,) which is prefixed, evidently shows that it ought to be translated to or for the children.

We must see to whom this discourse relates. It must be understood that reference is made, though not directly expressed, to some servants as officers or executioners, whom the Lord orders to be in a state of preparation for executing his judgments. And who were they? Partly the Medes and Persians, and partly others by whom Babylon was completely overthrown; for, as we have formerly said, Babylon was not entirely destroyed when the Persians subdued it. He therefore addresses those whom the Lord, by his eternal decree, had appointed to destroy Babylon. This mode of expression is more energetic than if he had merely said that slaughter was prepared; for he shows that he not only disposes of wicked men according to his pleasure, but that he has servants at hand to punish their sins.

For the iniquity of their fathers When he says that in this manner the iniquity of the fathers is punished, it may at first sight appear to be excessively harsh to include the children along with the fathers in what relates to the infliction of punishment on them, and still more harsh, that the punishment due to the fathers should be extended even to their children and grandchildren. This inconsistency may easily be avoided if the word עון ( gnavon) be translated misery; for it denotes the punishment of sin as well as sin itself. (Exo 20:5; Deu 5:9; Jer 32:18.) But as it is frequently stated in Scripture, that God recompenses the sins of the parents into the bosom of the children, there is no necessity for evading it in this manner.

Nor is this inconsistent with what is said by Ezekiel,

The son shall not bear the iniquity of the father.
(Eze 18:20.)

God does not punish any innocent person; and this passage ought not to be understood as if the punishment due to ancestors were transferred by God to children who in other respects deserved no such punishment; for the guilt of the children is connected with the guilt of the fathers. Not to mention the universal curse of the human race, to which all are subject from the womb, let us take the example of some wicked man. When the Lord casts away that man and his posterity, we certainly have no right to remonstrate with him. If his blessing is free and undeserved, we have no right to constrain him, because he does not bestow it equally on all. His grace is free; and each of us ought to reflect, that anything good which we have, does not naturally belong to us, but, on the contrary, comes from another quarter, and has proceeded from the undeserved goodness of God. If, therefore, he cast off any one, must not that man’s seed also be accursed? When we are destitute of his grace, what remains but iniquity? And if they are liable to eternal death, much more to temporal punishments; for he who has been condemned to undergo capital punishment, deserves much more to endure imprisonment and scourging.

This ought to be carefully observed. I consider it to be a childish reply that is given by those who think that the Lord inflicts temporal punishments on the children of wicked men for the sins of their parents, and who do not look upon it as unworthy of God to inflict punishments of this nature even on innocent persons; for God never punishes those who do not deserve it, and he is by nature inclined to compassion; and how would he spare wicked men if he exercised his wrath against the innocent? We ought, therefore, to hold it as a settled point, that all who are destitute of the grace of God are involved in the sentence of eternal death. Hence it follows, that the children of the reprobate, whom the curse of God pursues, are liable to the same sentence. Isaiah, therefore, does not speak of innocent children, but of flagitious and unprincipled children, who perhaps even exceeded their parents in wickedness; in consequence of which they were justly associated with their parents, and subjected to the same punishment, seeing that they have followed the same manner of life.

It will be said, that in that case they suffer the punishment of their own sin and not of their parents. This, I acknowledge, is partly true; but it was with their parents that the rejection began, on account of which they also have been forsaken and rejected by God. Their own guilt is not set aside as if they had been innocent; but, having been involved in the same sins as to reprobation, they are also liable to the same punishments and miseries. I am aware that this solution does not satisfy those who never cease to quarrel with God; but I give myself little concern about them, provided that I satisfy godly persons and those who are not fond of disputing; and these, I hope and trust, will be well satisfied with this reply, which is true.

That they may not fill the face of the world with cities Some render it, that they may not fill the face of the earth with enemies; as if the Prophet meant that all wicked men are enemies of the human race, or rather of the whole earth; and, therefore, that the Lord provides for the safety of all, when he takes them out of the midst; for the earth would otherwise be choked by them as by thorns and briers. But this signification appears to express something more; for the earth receives us into her bosom, if we do our duty; and if we be despisers of God, the earth, even against her will, nourishes and supports us as enemies.

But I would rather follow another signification, which is more commonly received. I think that the Prophet intimates that wicked men have a numerous progeny, and that they surpass others both in numbers and in display, which we also see taking place every day, and which has originated the proverb, that “a bad reed grows quickly.” The Prophet, therefore, insinuates, that wicked men would fill the whole earth not only with men, but also with towns, if the Lord did not beforehand perceive and guard against this evil, and diminish their number. When we everywhere see a vast multitude of wicked men, by whom the earth is almost overwhelmed, it is what we richly deserve; but the Lord never deals so harshly with us as not to leave some remnant of good seed, however small, and likewise to reserve some corners of the earth in which godly men shall have a little breathing. And if the Lord did not cut off a large proportion of wicked men, the earth would undoubtedly be soon overwhelmed by them.

This confirms what we have already said, that the children of the Babylonians who were slain were not innocent, for here the cause is assigned, that they may not fill the earth with cities. It follows, therefore, that they were wicked, and are taken away by a righteous judgment, that provision may be made for the salvation of men, and that the Lord cannot be accused of harshness and cruelty.

Calvin: Isa 14:22

22.For I will rise up against them The Lord now declares that he will do what he had formerly, by the Prophet, commanded others to do. Both statements ought to be observed, that it is the work of God, when wicked men are ruined, though he may employ the agency of men in executing his judgments. He formerly addressed them, saying, Prepare. (Verse. 21.) This should lead us to observe not only the power of God, but likewise the efficacy of prophecy, in consequence of which the prophets, by the appointment of God, command all nations to do this or that; and next, that men are so far from being able to hinder the accomplishment that they are even constrained to yield obedience to God. As we usually rely on men, and, by neglecting God, attribute to them the power of doing everything, we ought to hold by this principle, that since God acts by means of them, he is, strictly speaking, the Author of the work, and that they are only servants or instruments. This is clearly enough shown by the connection of what immediately follows.

I have thought it best to view the particle ו ( vau) as meaning for. He assigns the reason why he enjoins the Medes and others to prepare destruction to the Babylonians, For I will rise up against them. This mode of expression, by which the Lord says that he riseth up, is sufficiently common. By means of it, the Prophet accommodates himself to our capacity, for the majesty of God is so high that we cannot conceive of it. We think that God is idle and unoccupied, so long as he winks at men; and therefore he says that he riseth up, when he exerts his power, and manifests it by some visible act.

Saith the Lord of hosts This title serves to confirm the statement; as if he had said that he did not, without good grounds, claim the government over the nations; for God governs all armies by his own hand. Since, therefore, he has been appointed to make known the purpose of God, it belongs to him to command men, that they may yield obedience to him. By the words saith the Lord, which he twice repeats in this verse, he affirms that he utters nothing but what has been commanded by God, that this prophecy may carry greater weight.

And I will cut off from Babylon the name and remnant, son and grandson It has been often enough mentioned before, that this destruction did not overtake Babylon till after the death of Alexander the Great. By the phrase sons and grandsons, he means not only the posterity but the remembrance, which wicked men are so desirous to obtain, in order that they may be applauded for many ages after their death. This also the Lord took away from Babylon, that no remembrance of it might remain, but what was accompanied by dishonor and reproach.

Calvin: Isa 14:23

23.And I will make it to be a possession of the hedgehog ²²⁸ He again confirms the same things which he formerly predicted, namely, that henceforth it will not be a habitation of men, but will resemble a hideous cavern, in which wild beasts shall lurk. קפד ( kippod) is rendered by some a beaver, by some a tortoise, and by others a hedgehog. From the connection of the passage, it is probable that the Prophet spoke of an animal that is found near the water; for he afterwards mentions pools of water. This applies strictly to the situation of the place, for though Babylon did not lie in a marsh, yet it lay in a moist place, the country around it being watered on one side by the Euphrates, and on the other by the Tigris. Hence the Lord threatens to bring a deluge upon it. ²²⁹

Calvin: Isa 14:24

24.The Lord of hosts hath sworn For more full confirmation an oath was necessary. There is nothing of which it is more difficult to convince us than that wicked men will immediately be ruined, when we see them flourishing, and furnished with all means of defense, and seemingly placed out of danger, and free from all fear. We are therefore stunned by beholding them, and are dazzled by their brightness, so that we can scarcely believe God when he foretells their ruin and destruction. On this account he employs an oath, that he may leave no room for doubt. Hence we learn how great is his forbearance towards us, when he aids our weakness by applying this remedy, for otherwise he might have been satisfied with simply declaring it. This tends to the consolation of the godly, as we shall afterwards see. (Isa 22:14.)

If it hath not been as I thought The elliptical form of an oath which he employs must be well known, for it occurs frequently in Scripture. The Lord purposely used this guarded language, that we might not be too free in the use of oaths, which burst from us daringly and at random. He suppresses the greater part of the oath. “If I shall not do what I have decreed, let men think that I am a liar, and let them not think that I am God;” or something of this kind (which we shudder to express) is left to be supplied. Men ought, therefore, to lay a bridle on themselves, so as not to break out at random into imprecations, or to pronounce shocking curses against themselves; but let them learn from this to restrain their insolence.

Calvin: Isa 14:25

25.That I may bruise the Assyrian in my land Some think that this relates to Sennacherib’s army, which the hand of God destroyed by means of an angel, when he besieged Jerusalem. (2Kg 19:35; Isa 37:36.) If this interpretation be preferred, the meaning will be, that the Lord will shortly give some evidence of that destruction which he has threatened against the Babylonians. Those who heard these predictions might have brought this objection: “Of what avail will it be to us that Babylon is destroyed, after Babylon has ruined us? Would it not have been better that both Babylon and we had remained uninjured? What consolation will be yielded to us by its destruction, when we, too, shall have been destroyed?” And, indeed, I have no doubt that he holds out a proof of God’s favor in destroying their enemies, which either had been already manifested, or would be manifested soon afterwards.

I dare not affirm at what time this prediction was uttered by the Prophet, but it may be conjectured with some probability that the slaughter of Sennacherib’s army by the angel had already taken place. In this way, from a striking event which they had known, the Prophet would lead them to expect a future redemption; as if he had said, “You have already perceived how wonderfully God assists his people at the very hour of danger.” I am thus prepared to assign a reason for thinking that Sennacherib’s army had been already slain. Undoubtedly this instruction must have been of some use.

But Babylon did not begin to give any annoyance to the Jews before she had subdued the Assyrians and renewed the monarchy. So long, therefore, as the Jews had nothing to do with Babylon, why did the Prophet speak of the judgment of God, by which he would avenge his people? There is no absurdity in supposing that the record of a past event is confounded with a prediction. And yet it will not be inadmissible to say that the Assyrians are here put for the Chaldeans; for though they had been deprived of the government, yet it is probable that they were always first in a state of readiness whenever there was an opportunity of attacking the Jews, and that, while they fought under foreign leaders, they formed the greater part of the army. Not only were they nearer than the Chaldeans, but those who at that time held the sway were aware that their inveterate hostility against the Jews would make them loyal and obedient in that war. Besides, it was advantageous to the conquerors to weaken the vanquished by continual wars, till they had been accustomed to bear the yoke.

Most appropriately, therefore, by a figure of speech in which a part is taken for the whole, Isaiah, though he is speaking of Babylon, describes the whole of its forces under the name of Assyria. There will thus be no argument which lays us under the necessity of explaining this passage as relating to the slaughter effected by the angel in Sennacherib’s army. The Prophet merely affirms, so far as my judgment goes, that the Lord will put an end to the tyranny of the Assyrians, so that they shall not always enjoy their present superiority. As if he had said, “Though for a time God permits wicked men to rule over you, this power will not always last; for one day he will, as it were, break the yoke, and deliver this people from this bondage under which they groan.” The Assyrians, though they were vanquished by the Chaldeans, did not on that account, as we have said, cease to be enemies of the Church; but Babylon, which had succeeded in the room of Nineveh, began at that time, by a kind of transferred right, to carry on war with the Jews.

And his yoke shall depart from them, and his burden shall be taken from their shoulder When he says that the Assyrian will be broken in Judea, this must not be understood as if they would be slain there, or that they would be instantly crushed by some calamity; but that the chosen people would be delivered from their tyranny, and that their authority would thus be taken away. The breaking, therefore, does not refer so much to persons as to the empire. What he says about the yoke and the burden would not apply strictly to the Assyrians alone, who at least never were masters of the city of Jerusalem; and therefore we must attend to the succession which I mentioned, for the Chaldeans had no right to carry on war except that right which they boasted of as having been conveyed to them by the Assyrians. Thus I think that I am justified in extending this prophecy to that deliverance by which the Lord showed that he would avenge his people against the Chaldeans and Assyrians; for at that time the yoke was shaken off by which the Jews were miserably held bound, and it even includes the redemption obtained through Christ, of which that deliverance was a forerunner.

And upon my mountains I will tread him under feet Some think that the word mountains is put in the plural number for Mount Zion; but I prefer a different interpretation. Jerusalem being situated among the mountains, the whole country around was despised for that reason. The Prophet therefore speaks contemptuously, as if he admitted that the country was regarded by the enemies as of little value because it was mountainous. But this very contempt serves to magnify the power of God; for he shakes off from his mountains the dominion of this powerful monarchy. This refers to the narrative contained in 1Kg 20:23

Calvin: Isa 14:26

26.This purpose which is purposed upon the whole earth The Lord is not satisfied with one or two confirmations, and can scarcely refrain from proclaiming it more and more abundantly, because he knows well that our minds are naturally prone to distrust. No confirmation suffices for us, even though his promises be frequent and copious and solemn. God therefore wishes to remedy this disease, and that is the design of the repetition, so that we must not think that it is superfluous. They who suppose that the Prophet, or rather the Spirit of God, uses too many words, are not well acquainted with themselves.

He declares, first, the will and purpose of God, and, secondly, his power. How comes it that we have any doubts about the word, but because we do not ascribe to God that power which belongs to him, or because we are not convinced of his power? These are the only two causes of our unbelief, with which, on the other hand, we ought to contrast the two things which Isaiah recommends to our notice, namely, the purpose and the power of God. We ought to believe, first, that God is true, for he declares nothing that is not fixed and unchangeable; and, secondly, that he is powerful, and that nothing can withstand his arm. Again, we must not inquire about the secret purpose of God: for the Prophet here enjoins us to rest satisfied with the decree which has been manifested in the word of God. We must not rise any higher, therefore, so as to penetrate into the secrets of God; but we ought to be satisfied with undoubted proofs which he declares by the mouth of the prophets. Let us therefore embrace all the promises of God with our whole heart, and let us also add to them his power; for his hand ought never to be separated from his mouth. We must not imagine his power to be, as philosophers talk, a power that is unemployed, but, as the Scriptures teach us, powerful and active.

A question may here arise, Why does he mention the whole earth and all the nations, when he is only speaking about Babylon? But we must keep in remembrance what we formerly said, that the Babylonian empire, after having swallowed up Nineveh, extended nearly through the whole of the east, and that various nations were subject to it. The consequence was, that the devastation of that empire was also the destruction of the whole world; for such great monarchies cannot fall without involving many in an extensive ruin. Accordingly, as the extent of that empire might lead men to call in question this prophecy, Isaiah shows that, though it be spread far and wide, and includes a boundless multitude of nations, that does not prevent God from executing his decree.

Calvin: Isa 14:27

27.For the Lord of hosts hath decreed Isaiah here employs what may be regarded as a concluding exclamation, to confirm more fully the preceding statement. Having said that it is the purpose of the Lord, in order to show that it cannot be broken or made void, (Psa 33:11,) he puts a question as if about a thing impossible, Who shall disannul his purpose ? or, who shall turn back his hand ? By this exclamation he speaks disdainfully of all the creatures; for as soon as the Lord has decreed, he stretches out his hand, and when his hand is stretched out, the execution of the work must undoubtedly follow. Nor is it only men whom he declares to be incapable, but he also declares everything else to be incapable of preventing the decree of God; at least if there be anything but man and Satan that opposes his will. In short, he intimates that there can be no repentance or change in God, (Num 23:19,) but that whatever may happen, even amidst an endless diversity of events, he continues always to be like himself, and that no occurrence can thwart his purpose.

If it be objected that God sometimes changed his purpose, as when he spared the Ninevites, (Jon 1:2,) Abimelech, (Gen 20:3,) or Pharaoh, (Gen 12:17,) the answer is easy. When the Lord sent Jonah to the Ninevites, he did not reveal what had been decreed in his secret purpose, but wished to arouse their minds by the preaching of Jonah, that he might have compassion on them. The same thing might be said, when he threatened Abimelech and Pharaoh, because they wished to lay hands on Abraham’s wife; for thus the Lord, by terrifying them, intended to keep them back, that they might not suffer the punishment of their obstinacy.

Calvin: Isa 14:28

28.In the year that King Ahaz died Here the fifteenth chapter ought to have begun, for the Prophet enters on a new subject; and this plainly shows how absurdly the chapters are divided, or rather torn asunder. Having spoken of the Babylonians, he passes to the Philistines; ²³⁰ or, perhaps, before speaking of the Babylonians, he addressed the Philistines, who, being the near neighbors of the Jews, cherished deadly hostility against them. They were the remainder of those nations whom the Israelites spared, though the Lord had commanded that they should be removed out of the midst of them. (Num 33:52; Deu 7:16.) Their unbelief in this matter was the reason why the Lord left these nations to be thorns, that they might prick their eyes; as the Scripture shows that the Lord had formerly threatened against them. (Num 33:55.) In consequence of the deadly animosities which existed between these two nations, whenever the Jews sustained any defeat, the Philistines reckoned it to be so much gain to themselves; for they wished the ruin of the Jews, and no occurrence could give them greater delight than when the Jews were reduced to the deepest adversity and distress. The Prophet therefore prophesies against them as against the constant enemies of the Church.

It is proper to attend to the time when this vision was exhibited to the Prophet. So long as Ahaz lived, the Philistines were victorious. That wicked hypocrite, who had forsaken God, and eagerly sought the outward assistance of man, was punished for his treachery. During his reign the Philistines (2Ch 28:18) recovered those towns which Uzziah (2Ch 26:6) had taken out of their hands; but after his death, they became still more courageous, for they expected that they would then gain all that they desired, because he who had been left as his heir was still a child; for Hezekiah, the new king, had neither shrewdness, nor authority, nor wisdom. These circumstances, therefore, ought to be carefully observed; for Isaiah has not the Philistines so much in his view, though he speaks to them, as the godly, whom he wishes to comfort and strengthen with good hope by this prophecy, who would otherwise have thought that the condition of Judea was entirely ruined, because they were attacked by enemies on all sides, and no assistance of any kind could be seen. To those persons, therefore, in their distressed and forlorn condition, Isaiah stretches out his hand, and bids them be of good courage, because the Lord would undoubtedly assist them.

This burden He calls this prophecy a burden, because it would be disagreeable and painful to the Philistines, who thought that they had got rid of every annoyance, because the Jews were hard pressed, and had no hope of bettering their condition; and therefore he threatens that the destruction of the Philistines also is at hand.

Calvin: Isa 14:29

29.Rejoice not, thou whole Philistia ²³¹ He begins by checking the vain and groundless confidence with which the Philistines were puffed up, and, by adding Thou whole, he intimates that all of them would feel a portion of this calamity; as if he had said that not only would that country be laid waste in some part, but that there would not be a corner of it exempted from the stroke, and that, in all its length and breadth, it would immediately and universally be visited with destruction.

Because the rod of him that smote thee is broken Some think that by the broken rod is meant King Ahaz, but that view is unfounded; for in all his battles with the Philistines he was vanquished. (2Ch 28:18.) It must therefore be referred to Uzziah, (2Ch 26:6,) and yet I would not choose to limit it even to him, but would at the same time refer it to the whole body of the Jewish people. It is as if he had said to Palestina, “Thinkest thou that thou art safe, when the Jews, who formerly distressed thee, have been subdued? Thou art greatly deceived; for very soon shalt thou be more severely distressed.” For this reason, as I have said, I do not limit it to any one person, but think that in the person of one man is described the whole body of the Jews.

For out of the adder’s root shall spring a cockatrice, and his fruit shall be a fiery serpent He now assigns the reason why Palestina ought not to rejoice; namely, that the Jews would have more power than ever to do injury; that if the Philistines had formerly sustained damage from them, they would afterwards sustain greater and heavier damage. The metaphor which he employs is highly appropriate; for the cockatrice is more hurtful than the adder, and the fiery serpent is more hurtful than the cockatrice. Through the kindness of God we have no animals so destructive in the countries which we inhabit. But the Prophet means nothing else than that the power of doing them injury has been taken away from the Jews; and therefore I differ from others who view the name of the adder and of the fiery serpent as applying to Hezekiah only. Though that opinion derives great plausibility from the circumstance that Hezekiah held all that belonged to the Philistines, as far as Gaza, (2Kg 18:8,) yet the Prophet intended that this promise should extend farther. Let us therefore know that the favor of which the Prophet now speaks, though it began with Hezekiah, belongs to the Jews as to one body.

We ought to draw from it a general statement, that when we are weighed down by adversity, and when the ungodly rejoice as if we were ruined, and as if they alone were prosperous, God declares that their joy is without foundation. The Church will always rise again, and be restored to her former and prosperous condition, though all conclude that she is ruined. The children of God shall acquire new vigor, that they may pierce the eyes of the ungodly; not that they wish this, or have any such intention, but because the decree of God makes it necessary that this shall take place.

The names of cockatrice and fiery serpent do not imply reproach. In their own nature the godly are not such, but they are so called, because they are hurtful to the wicked, though in themselves harmless; for it is through the fault and the malice of the wicked that what ought to have been useful and profitable is hurtful to them. Such is also the nature of God himself, (Psa 18:26,) and of the gospel, (2Co 2:16.)

Calvin: Isa 14:30

30.And the first-born of the poor shall feed The Prophet, as has been already said, has not so much in view the Philistines, to whom his threatenings were of no avail, as the Jews, whom he wished to comfort in their affliction; for they were so grievously afflicted that they were not far from despair. He therefore calls them the first-born of the poor, as being eminent for their wretchedness; for, being reduced to extremities, they held the first rank among the wretched. Now, he promises that the Lord will deliver them from such misery, and will again feed and nourish them. Hence we perceive that the Philistines were cut down and destroyed for the benefit of the people of God. In like manner, also, the Lord promised to Abraham and his posterity, I will bless them that bless thee, and I will curse them that curse thee; for those who are hostile to the children of God must find that God is hostile to them. (Gen 12:3.)

And the needy shall lie down in safety The Prophet compares his people to sheep, whom we must resemble, if we wish to have God for our keeper. No metaphor is more frequently employed in Scripture than this. When the Lord chastises us, we are like sheep that are scattered, and exposed to wolves and robbers; but when he punishes our enemies, he intends to gather us together again, that we may dwell in a safe and quiet place. This is what Isaiah means when he says, in safety. There are therefore two things which the Lord here promises; first, pastures, that is, everything that is necessary for food and raiment; and, secondly, safety and protection, that we may be protected and defended from every injury. These two things belong to the duty of a shepherd, and they include all that is necessary for our salvation.

And I will kill thy root with famine He now turns to the Philistines, whom he compares to a tree which strikes its roots so deep that we would be apt to think that it cannot in any way be rooted out. But if the root be dried up, the tree also, however deeply laid, must decay. Hence we ought to infer that the condition of the wicked is never so firmly established that the Lord cannot easily overturn it; for not only will he cut off branches, but he will also dry up and destroy the root which is hidden under ground.

And he will slay thy remnant This is commonly viewed as referring to Hezekiah; but I prefer, as I have already explained, to extend it to the whole body, of which he speaks as of one man, and of which the king was the head, and represented Christ himself. We might also refer it to the Assyrians, and to any others, whose agency the Lord employed in destroying the Philistines; for it is customary with the Jews to employ indefinite language when they speak of the agents by means of whom God executes his judgments.

Calvin: Isa 14:31

31.Howl, O gate Here the Prophet makes use of amplifications, that by means of them he may seal his predictions on the hearts of the godly, and may press with greater earnestness those things of which they might otherwise have entertained doubts. In explaining another passage, where it is said that her gates shall mourn and lament, (Isa 3:26,) we have stated that the gates mean crowded places, in which public meetings were held. ²³² He threatens that there will be mourning in each of the cities, and mourning of no ordinary kind, for it will be spread through every one of the most crowded assemblies.

For a smoke cometh from the north We may understand Smoke to mean Fire, so that the sign will denote the thing signified; for the smoke appears before the fire burns. By the north we may understand the Assyrians as well as the Jews, for both of them lay to the north with respect to the land of the Philistines. Yet I prefer to interpret it as referring to the Jews themselves, though I would not argue against the opposite exposition. The Philistines thought, as we have already said, that they were gainers by what the Jews suffered, as, for instance, when they sustained any defeat from the Assyrians; but they at length found that they suffered along with the Jews in such a defeat. Something of this kind happened, not long ago, to many nations who had taken great delight in seeing their enemies vanquished by the Turk: they found that such victories were destructive and mournful to themselves; for, after the defeat of those whom they wished to see destroyed, the road to themselves was likewise thrown open, and they also were defeated.

And no one shall be alone on his appointed day ²³³ When he adds, that at that time no one shall be solitary, ²³⁴ this relates to the enemies; and he says, that on an appointed day, that is, when God shall have determined to ruin the land of the Philistines, the enemies shall be endued with such power and authority, that no one will remain unemployed at home, but all will be ready for battle; as if one who intended to applaud the authority of some prince should say that his subjects, if he but lift up his finger, assemble and give their attendance.

Calvin: Isa 14:32

32.And what shall be answered to the messengers of the nation? I choose to interpret this of any nations whatever, and not of a single nation; for strangers, as soon as they enter into any city, are wont to ask what is done, that they may hear some news. It is as if he had said, “ What shall be answered to strangers when they shall inquire? And what report shall be spread when the Philistines shall have been vanquished?”

That the Lord hath founded Zion By this he means that the destruction of the land of the Philistines will be a signal proof of God’s compassion towards his people, that all may understand that the Lord is the guardian and protector of Judea, which he had chosen to be his own. The foundation is nothing else than God’s gracious adoption, by which he promised to Abraham (Gen 17:7) and his posterity that he would be a God to them; and next, when he determined that a temple should be built on Zion, (2Ch 3:1,) that the remembrance of his name might there be preserved. That foundation does not consist of lime or stones, but of the gracious promises of eternal life, by which his grace was always known to all the godly. The Prophet therefore shows that this destruction of the Philistines will be a signal proof, by means of which the most distant nations will learn that God preserves and guards his people whom he hath chosen.

And the poor of his people will have confidence in it ²³⁵ He does not mean that the hope of believers will be placed in Zion, as when we say that we ought to hope in God, but that the inhabitants of Zion shall dwell in a safe and quiet place, as the prophets often teach, in other passages, that salvation is in Zion. (Joe 2:32.) Isaiah, therefore, does not mean that the confidence of the godly is placed in the Church, but he shows that the godly are preserved in it, because the Lord defends it.

Yet the Lord intends to make trial of our faith, that we may not think that we are in every respect happy; and therefore he calls them poor, that we may not think that we are exempted from ordinary calamities, though we are under God’s protection. Can any higher consolation be brought to us, than to learn that the inhabitants of the Church of God, though they are liable to a great variety of afflictions, are out of all danger? Let us therefore apply that consolation to our calamities, and not faint through impatience, when we are informed that God takes care of us, and when we absolutely know that we are in safety.

Defender: Isa 14:25

The Assyrians were an even more imminent danger than the Babylonians. This prophecy also has a near, as well as a distant, fulfillment with "the Assyrian" being a title of the future Antichrist (Isa 10:5; Mic 5:5, Mic 5:6).

Defender: Isa 14:25

This may well be a reference to the primeval promise of Gen 3:15; the antichrist possessed by Satan like the king of Babylon."

Defender: Isa 14:26

The prophecy in its ultimate fulfillment applies not just to Israel, but to "all the nations," when Christ returns."

TSK: Isa 14:18

all of : Isa 22:16; 2Ch 24:16, 2Ch 24:25; Ecc 6:3; Eze 32:18-32

house : Job 30:23; Ecc 12:5

TSK: Isa 14:19

thou : The prophet having briefly set forth, in the beginning of this chapter, the deliverance of Judah from captivity, in consequence of the destruction of Babylon, then introduces this triumphant song, the beauties of which are excellently illustrated by Bp. Lowth. 1Ki 21:19, 1Ki 21:24; 2Ki 9:25, 2Ki 9:34-36; Jer 8:1, Jer 8:2, Jer 16:6, Jer 22:19

go : Jer 41:7, Jer 41:9; Eze 32:23

TSK: Isa 14:20

the seed : Isa 13:15-19; Job 18:16, Job 18:19; Psa 21:10, Psa 37:28, Psa 109:13, Psa 137:8, Psa 137:9

TSK: Isa 14:21

slaughter : Exo 20:5; Lev 26:39; Mat 23:35

do not : Isa 27:6; Hab 2:8-12

TSK: Isa 14:22

I will : Isa 13:5, Isa 21:9, Isa 43:14, Isa 47:9-14; Jer 50:26, Jer 50:27, Jer 50:29-35, Jer 51:3, Jer 51:4, Jer 51:56, Jer 51:57

the name : Job 18:16-19; Pro 10:7; Jer 51:62-64

remnant : 1Ki 14:10

TSK: Isa 14:23

make : Isa 13:21, Isa 13:22, Isa 34:11-15; Jer 50:39, Jer 50:40, Jer 51:42, Jer 51:43; Zep 2:14; Rev 14:8; Rev 18:2, Rev 18:21-23

I will sweep : 1Ki 14:10; 2Ki 21:13; Jer 51:25, Jer 51:26

TSK: Isa 14:24

Lord : Exo 17:16; Psa 110:4; Jer 44:26; Amo 8:7; Heb 4:3, Heb 6:16-18

Surely : Isa 46:10,Isa 46:11; Job 23:13; Psa 33:10, Psa 92:5; Pro 19:21, Pro 21:30; Jer 23:20; Jer 29:11; Lam 3:37; Mat 11:25; Act 4:28; Eph 1:9

TSK: Isa 14:25

I will : Isa 9:4, Isa 10:16-19, Isa 10:32-34, Isa 17:12-14, Isa 30:30-33, Isa 31:8, Isa 31:9, Isa 37:36-38; Eze 39:4

then : Isa 14:5, Isa 10:24-27; Nah 1:13

TSK: Isa 14:26

Isa 5:25; Zep 3:6-8

TSK: Isa 14:27

the Lord : Isa 23:9, Isa 43:13, Isa 46:11; Job 40:8; Jer 4:28, Jer 51:59; Rom 8:28, Rom 8:31

his : Isa 9:12; 2Ch 20:6; Job 9:12, Job 23:13; Psa 33:11; Pro 19:21, Pro 21:30; Dan 4:31-35

TSK: Isa 14:28

am 3278, bc 726, Isa 6:1; 2Ki 16:20; 2Ch 28:27

TSK: Isa 14:29

Rejoice : Pro 24:17; Eze 26:2, Eze 35:15; Hos 9:1; Oba 1:12; Mic 7:8; Zep 3:11

whole : Jos 13:3; 1Sa 6:17, 1Sa 6:18

because : 2Ch 26:6, 2Ch 28:18

for : 2Ki 18:8

cockatrice : or, adder, Isa 11:8

a fiery : Isa 30:6

TSK: Isa 14:30

the firstborn : Job 18:13

the poor : Isa 5:17, Isa 7:21, Isa 7:22, Isa 30:23, Isa 30:24, Isa 33:16, Isa 37:30, Isa 65:13, Isa 65:14

and I : Jer 47:1-7; Eze 25:15-17; Joe 3:4-8; Amo 1:6-8; Zep 2:4-7; Zec 9:5-7

TSK: Isa 14:31

Howl : Isa 13:6, Isa 16:7

for : Isa 20:1; Jer 1:14, Jer 25:16-20

none shall be alone : or, he shall not be alone

appointed times : or, assemblies

TSK: Isa 14:32

shall one : Isa 39:1; 2Sa 8:10; 2Ki 20:12-19

the Lord : Isa 12:6, Isa 37:32; Psa 87:1, Psa 87:5, Psa 102:16, Psa 102:28, Psa 132:13, Psa 132:14; Mat 16:18

and the : Isa 11:4, Isa 25:4; Zep 3:12; Zec 11:7, Zec 11:11; Jam 2:5

trust in it : or, betake themselves unto it, Pro 18:10; Mat 24:15, Mat 24:16; Heb 12:22

Commentary -- Word/Phrase Notes (per Verse)

Barnes: Isa 14:18

All the kings of the nations - That is, this is the common way in which the kings are buried.

Lie in glory - They lie in a magnificent mausoleum; they are surrounded with splendor even in their tombs. It is well known that vast sums of money were expended to rear magnificent mausoleums as the burial place of kings. With this design, probably, the pyramids of Egypt were reared; and the temple of Bel in Babylon, we are told, was employed for this purpose. Josephus says that vast quantities of money were buried in the sepulchre of David. The kings of Israel were buried in a royal burying place on Mount Zion 2Ch 21:20; 2Ch 35:24; Neh 3:16. For a description of the sepulchre of David, and of sepulchres in general, "see"Calmet’ s "Dict."Art. "Sepulchre"(compare Ezek. 32.)

Every one in his own house - In a sepulchre constructed for himself. It was usual for kings to have a splendid tomb constructed for themselves.

Barnes: Isa 14:19

But thou art cast out of thy grave - Thou art not buried like other kings in a magnificent sepulchre, but art cast out like the common dead. This was a mark of the highest infamy (see Isa 34:3; Eze 29:5; Jer 22:19). Nothing was considered more disgraceful than to be denied the privileges of an honorable burial (see the note at Isa 53:9). On the fulfillment of this prophecy, see the note at Isa 14:20.

As an abominable branch - ( נתעב כנצר k^e nêtser nı̂t^e 'āb ). The Septuagint renders this, ‘ And thou shalt be cast upon the mountains as a dead body that is abominable, with many dead that are slain by the sword, descending to Hades.’ The Chaldee, ‘ And thou shalt be cast out of thy sepulchre as a branch that is hid.’ Lowth supposes that by ‘ abominable branch’ there is allusion to a tree on which a malefactor was hanged, that was regarded as detestable, and cursed. But there are obvious objections to this interpretation. One is, that the word "branch (netser)"is never applied to a tree. It means "a shoot, a slip, a scion"(note, Isa 11:1). Another objection is, that there seems here to be no necessary allusion to such a tree; or to anything that would lead to it. Jerome says, that the word "netser"denotes a shoot or sucker that starts up at the root of a plant or tree, and that is useless to the farmer, and which he therefore cuts off. So, says he, the king of Babylon shall be cast off - as the farmer throws away the useless sucker. This is probably the correct idea. The word "abominable"means, therefore, not only that which is "useless,"but indicates that the shoot or sucker is "troublesome"to the farmer. It is an object that he "hates,"and which he gets clear of as soon as possible. So the king of Babylon would be cast out as useless, hateful, abominable; to be thrown away, as the noxious shoot is, as unfit for use, and unworthy to be preserved.

As the raiment of those that are slain - As a garment that is all defiled with gore, and that is cast away and left to rot. The garments of those slain in battle, covered with blood and dirt, would be cast away as polluted and worthless, and so would be the king of Babylon. Among the Hebrews such garments were regarded with special abhorrence (Rosenmuller); perhaps from the dread which they had of touching a dead body, and of course of anything that was found on a dead body.

Thrust through with a sword - That is, the slain thrust through. The effect of this was to pollute the garment with blood, and to render it useless.

That go down to the stones of the pit - The ‘ pit’ here means the grave or sepulchre Isa 14:15. The phrase ‘ stones of the pit,’ conveys the idea that the grave or sepulchre was usually either excavated from the solid rock, or constructed of stones. The idea is simply, that those who were slain with the sword were buried in the usual manner, though their bloody garments defiled were cast away. But the king of Babylon should not have even the honor of such a burial as was given to those who fell in battle.

As a carcase trodden under foot - Unburied; as the body of a brute that is exposed to the air, and denied the honor of a sepulchre.

Barnes: Isa 14:20

Thou shalt not be joined with them in burial - That is, even with those who are slain with the sword in battle, and to whom is granted the privilege of a decent burial.

Hast destroyed thy land - Hast been a cruel, harsh, and oppressive prince.

The seed of evil-doers - The posterity of the wicked.

Shall never be renowned - Hebrew, ‘ Shall never be called,’ or ‘ named’ ( לא־יקרא lo' - yı̂qārē' ); that is, shall never be distinguished, celebrated, or honored. This is a general proposition; but the prophet here possibly designs to apply it to the king of which he is speaking, as having been descended from ancestors that were wicked; or more probably it is a new circumstance, more fully explained in the following verse, that his posterity should be cut off from the honor of succeeding him on the throne, and that they, as well as he, should be loaded with disgrace. The design is to affirm the fact that the Babylonian dynasty would end with him; and that his posterity would be reduced from the honors which they had hoped to have inherited. At the same time, the general proposition is applicable not only to the posterity of the king of Babylon, but to all. It is a great truth pertaining to the divine administration, that the descendants of wicked people shall be dishonored. So it is with the posterity of a traitor, a pirate, a drunkard, a man of profligacy. They are involved in disgrace, poverty, and calamity, as the result of the sin of their ancestor.

Barnes: Isa 14:21

Prepare slaughter for his children - That is, cut them off not only from inheriting the honor of their father, but from life. This command seems to be directed to the Medes and Persians, and denotes that they would thus cut off his children.

For the iniquity of their fathers - On account of the crimes of their ancestors - the pride, haughtiness, and oppression of the kings of Babylon. This is the statement of a general principle of the divine administration, that the consequences of crime often pass over from the perpetrator, and impinge on his descendants (see Exo 20:5).

That they do not rise - That they do not rise to occupy the places of their fathers; that they be degraded and reduced from their elevation and honored.

Nor fill the face of the world with cities - The Septuagint renders this, ‘ And fill the land with wars.’ The Chaldee, ‘ And fill the face of the world with "enemies."’ The Syriac, ‘ And fill the face of the earth with war.’ These versions evidently took the word ערים ‛ārı̂ym to mean "enemies"or "wars"- a sense which the word sometimes may have. But the common interpretation is to be preferred. The apprehension was, that they would fill the land, if they lived, with such cities of pride, magnificence, and wickedness, as "Babylon"was, and that thus crimes would be multiplied and prolonged; and hence, the purpose of God was not only to cut off Babylon - the "model"of all cities of arrogance and pride - but also to cut off those who would be disposed to rear similar cities, and to fill the land again with crime.

Barnes: Isa 14:22

For I will rise up against them, saith the Lord of hosts - That is, against the family of, the king of Babylon.

And cut off from Babylon the name - That is, all the "males"of the royal family, so that the name of the monarch shall become extinct (compare Rth 4:5; Isa 56:5).

And remnant - All that is left of them; so that the family shall cease to exist.

The son and nephew - Everyone of the family who could claim to be an heir of the throne. The dynasty shall cease; and the proud and haughty family shall become wholly extinct. This is the solemn purpose in regard to the "family"of the monarch of Babylon. It only remains to inquire when and how it was fulfilled.

The circumstances which it was said would exist in regard to the king of Babylon here spoken of, are the following:

(1) That he would be a proud, haughty, and oppressive prince (Isa 14:17, and throughout the prophecy).

(2) That when he died he would be east out with the common dead, and denied the common honors of the sepulchre - especially the honors which all other monarchs have in their burial Isa 14:18-20.

(3) That his posterity would be cut off, and that he would have no one to succeed him on his throne; or that the dynasty and the kingdom would terminate in him Isa 14:21-22.

In regard to the application and the fulfillment of this prophecy there have been three opinions.

I. That it does not refer to an "individual"sovereign, but to the kings of Babylon in general; that the description is designed to be applicable to the succession or the dynasty, as signally haughty, proud, and oppressive; and that the prophet means to say that that haughty and wicked reign of kings should cease. To this, the objections are obvious -

(1) The whole aspect and course of the prophet seems to have reference to an "individual."Such an individual the prophet seems to have constantly in his eye. He descends to "sheol"Isa 14:9; he is proud, ambitious, oppressive, cast out; all of which circumstances refer naturally to an individual, and not to a "succession"or dynasty.

(2) The main circumstance mentioned in the prophecy is applicable only to an individual - that he should be "unburied"Isa 14:18-21. It was not true of all the kings of Babylon that they were unburied, and how could it be said respecting a "succession"or a dynasty at all that it should be east out of the grave as an abominable branch; and that it should not be joined with others in burial? All the circumstances, therefore, lead us to suppose that the prophet refers to an individual.

II. The Jews, in general, suppose that it refers to Nebuchadnezzar. But to this interpretation, the objections are equally obvious:

(1) It was not true that Nebuchadnezzar had no one to succeed him on the throne; or that his family was totally cut off, as it was foretold of this king of Babylon that his would be Isa 14:21-22.

(2) It was not true that he was denied the privileges of a burial which kings commonly enjoy. To meet this difficulty, the Jews have invented the following story Thev say that when Nebuchadnezzar was driven from society during his derangement Dan. 4, and when he was with the beasts of the field seven years, the people made his son, Evil-Merodach, king; but that when Nebuchadnezzar was restored to his right mind and to his throne, he threw Evil-Merodach into prison, where he lay until he died. At the death of Nebuchadnezzar, the people released him to make him king, but he refused because he did not believe that his father was dead, and said that if his father should find him he would kill him; and that in order to convince him that his father was dead he was taken out of the grave. But this is manifestly a fiction. Besides, the prophecy was not that the king should be taken out of the grave, but that he should not be buried. Nebuchadnezzar was succeeded in the kingdom by his son Evil-Merodach, and he by Belshazzar, in whom the line of kings ended.

III. The only other interpretation of which this is susceptible, is that which refers it to Belshazzar, in whose reign the city of Babylon was taken. This king, called in Scripture Belshazzar Dan. 5, was the son of Evil-Merodach, and the grandson of Nebuchadnezzar. His name, as it occurs in pagan writers, was "Nabonadius."In him the circumstances of the prophecy agree:

(1) He was an impious prince (Xen. Cyr. vii. Dan. 5).

(2) In his reign the city and the kingdom came to an end, as it was foretold.

(3) Every circumstance of the taking of Babylon would lead us to suppose that he was denied the privilege of a magnificent sepulture.

\tx1080 (a) He was slain in the night Dan 5:30.

(b) It was in the confusion of the capture of the city - amidst the tumult caused by the sudden and unexpected invasion of Cyrus. It is therefore altogether improbable that he had a regular and an honored burial. Like the common dead, he would lie in the palace where he fell, or in the street.

© There is no evidence that Cyrus gave him an honorable sepulchre.

(4) none of his posterity occupied the throne to give honor to the memory of their father.

(5) in him the dynasty and the kingdom ended. Immediately the kingdom on his death was given to the Medes and Persians Dan 5:28-31. None of the names of his posterity, if he had any, are known; and God cut off from him ‘ the name and remnant, the son and nephew,’ as was predicted (see Prideaux’ s "Connection,"i. 2. 257-271, Ed. 1815).

Barnes: Isa 14:23

I will also make it a possession for the bittern - The word ‘ bittern,’ in English, means a bird with long legs and neck, that stalks among reeds and sedge, feeding upon fish. The Hebrew word ( קפד qı̂ppod ), occurs but five times Isa 34:11; Zep 2:14. According to Bochart and Gesenius, it means the hedgehog. It has been variously rendered. Some have supposed it to be a land animal; some an aquatic animal; and most have regarded it as a fowl. Bochart has proved that the hedgehog or porcupine is found on the shores of the Euphrates. He translates this place, ‘ I will place Babylon for an habitation of the porcupine, even the pools of water;’ that is, the pools that are round about Babylon shall become so dry that porcupines may dwell there (see Bochart, "Hieroz."iii. 36. pp. 1036-1042).

And pools of water - Bochart supposes this means, even the pools of water shall become dry. But the common interpretation is to be preferred, that Babylon itself should become filled with pools of water. This was done by Cyrus’ directing the waters of the Euphrates from their channel when the city was taken, and by the fact that the waters never returned again to their natural bed, so that the region was overflowed with water (see the notes at Isa. 13.)

And I will sweep it with the besom of destruction - A besom is a broom; and the sense here is, that God would entirely destroy Babylon, and render it wholly uninbabitable.

Barnes: Isa 14:24

The Lord of hosts - (see the note at Isa 1:9). It is evident that this verse and the three following, is not directly connected with that which goes before, respecting Babylon. This pertains to the Assyrian; that had relation to Babylon. Vitringa says that this is attached to the prophecy respecting Babylon, and is a unique yet not altogether foreign argument, and is a sort of epilogue to the prophecy respecting Babylon. The design, he says, is this. As the events which had been foretold respecting Babylon seemed so great and wonderful as to be almost incredible, the prophet, in order to show the Jews how easily it could be accomplished, refers them to the case of Sennacherib, and the ease with which he and his army had been destroyed. Lowth supposes that the Assyrians and Babylonians here are one people. Rosenmuller supposes that this prophecy respecting Sennacherib has been "displaced"by the collector of the prophecies of Isaiah, and that it should have been attached to the prophecy respecting the Assyrian monarch (see Isa. 10.) The probable sense of the passage is that which makes it refer to the predicted destruction of Sennacherib Isa. 10; and the design of the prophet in referring to that here is, to assure the Jews of the certain destruction of Babylon, and to comfort them with the assurance that they would be delivered from their captivity there.

The prophecy respecting Babylon was uttered "before"the destruction of Sennacherib; but it is to be remembered that its design was to comfort the Jews "in"Babylon. The prophet therefore throws himself "beyond"the period of their captivity - though it was to occur many years "after"the prophecy respecting Babylon was uttered; and with this view he introduces the subject of the Assyrian. At that future time, Sennacherib would have been destroyed. And as God would have fulfilled the prophecy respecting the proud and self-confident Assyrian, so they might have the assurance that he "would"fulfill his predictions respecting the no less proud and self-confident king of Babylon; and as he would have delivered his people from the invasion of the Assyrian, even when he was at the gates of Jerusalem, so he would deliver them in their captivity in Babylon.

Hath sworn - (see Gen 24:7; Exo 13:5, Exo 13:11; Exo 33:1; Num 32:10; Heb 3:18; Heb 6:13). Yahweh is often represented as making use of an oath to denote the strong confirmation, the absolute certainty of what he utters. The oath here was designed to comfort the Jews, when they should be in Babylon, with the assurance that what he had thus solemnly promised would assuredly come to pass.

As I have thought - As I have designed, or intended. God’ s promises never fail; his purposes shall all be accomplished (compare Isa 46:10-11). This passage is full proof that God does not "change:"that whatever his purposes are, they are inflexible. Change supposes imperfection; and it is often affirmed that God is immutable 1Sa 15:29; Mal 3:6; Jam 1:17.

Barnes: Isa 14:25

That I will break - That I will break his power; that I will discomfit and destroy his army.

The Assyrian - Sennacherib (see Isa. 10.)

In my land - That is, in the land of Canaan. This is often called his land; and this expression shows that the passage does not and cannot refer to the king of Babylon, for he was destroyed in his own city Dan. 5)

And upon my mountains - That is, upon the mountains of Palestine. The army of Sennacherib was destroyed on the mountains that were near to Jerusalem (see the notes at Isa 10:33-34).

Then shall his yoke - The yoke of the Assyrian (see the note at Isa 10:27).

Barnes: Isa 14:26

This is the purpose - This is the sum of the whole design - a design that embraces the destruction both of the king of Assyria, and of Babylon.

Upon the whole earth - The successive kingdoms of Assyria and Babylonia embraced the whole earth, and to destroy them would in fact affect all the nations.

Barnes: Isa 14:27

For the Lord of hosts - (see the note at Isa 1:9).

Who shall disannul it? - Who has power to defeat his purposes? Difficult as they may be in appearance, and incredible as their fulfillment may seem, yet his purposes are formed in full view of all the circumstances; and there is no power to resist his arm, or to turn him aside from the execution of his designs. By this assurance God designed to comfort his people when they should be in Babylon in a long and dreary captivity (compare Psa 137:1-9.) And by the same consideration his people may be comforted at all times. His plans shall stand. None can disannul them. No arm has power to resist him. None of the schemes formed against him shall ever prosper. Whatever ills, therefore, may befall his people; however thick, and gloomy, and sad their calamities may be; and however dark his dispensations may appear, yet they may bare the assurance that all his plans are wise, and that they all shall stand. No matter how many, or how mighty may be the foes of the church; no matter how strong their cities, or their ramparts; no matter how numerous their armies, or how self-confident may be their leaders, they have no power to resist God. If their plans are in his way they will be thrown down; if revolutions are necessary among human beings to accomplish His purposes, they will be brought about; if cities and armies need to be destroyed in order that "his"plans may succeed, and his church be safe, they will be demolished, just as the army of Sennacherib was laid pale in death, and as Babylon - the haughtiest of cities - was overthrown. Who can stand against God? and who can resist the execution of his will?

Barnes: Isa 14:28

In the year that king Ahaz died - This is the caption or title to the following prophecy, which occupies the remainder of this chapter. This prophecy has no connection with the preceding; and should have been separated from it in the division into chapters. It relates solely to Philistia; and the design is to comfort the Jews with the assurance that they had nothing to apprehend from them. It is not to call the Philistines to lamentation and alarm, for there is no evidence that the prophecy was promulgated among them (Vitringa); but it is to assure the Jews that they would be in no danger from their invasion under the reign of the successor of Ahaz, and that God would more signally overthrow and subdue them than had been done in his time. It is not improbable that at the death of Ahaz, and with the prospect of a change in the government on the accession of his successor, the Philistines, the natural enemies of Judah, had meditated the invasion of the Jews. The Philistines had been subdued in the time of Azariah 2Ki 15:1-7, or Uzziah, as he is called in 2Ch 26:1, who was the son and successor of Amaziah. He broke down the wall of Gath, and the wall of Gabneh, and the wall of Ashdod, and effectually subdued and humbled them 2Ch 26:6. In the time of Ahaz, and while he was engaged in his unhappy controversies with Syria and Ephraim, the Philistines took advantage of the enfeebled state of Judah, and made successful war on it, and took several of the towns 2Ch 28:18; and at his death they had hope of being able to resist Judah, perhaps the more so as they apprehended that the reign of Hezekiah would be mild, peaceable, and unwarlike. Isaiah, in the prophecy before us, warns them not to entertain any such fallacious expectations, and assures them that his reign would be quite as disastrous to them as had been the reign of his predecessors.

Was this burden - See the note at Isa 13:1.

Barnes: Isa 14:29

Rejoice not thou - Rejoice not at the death of Ahaz, king of Judah. It shall be no advantage to thee. It shall not be the means of making an invasion on Judah more practicable.

Whole Palestina - We apply the name "Palestine"to the whole land of Canaan. Formerly, the name referred only to Philistia, from which we have derived the name Palestine. The word פלשׁת p^e leshet means properly the land of sojourners or strangers, from פלשׁ pālash , "to rove about, to wander, to migrate."The Septuagint renders it, Ἀλλοφυλοι Allophuloi - ‘ strangers,’ or ‘ foreigners,’ and Γῆ ἀλλοφύλων Gē allophulōn - ‘ land of strangers.’ Philistia was situated on the southwestern side of the land of Canaan, extending along the Mediterranean Sea from Gaza on the south, to Lydda on the north. The Philistines were a powerful people, and had often been engaged in wars with Judah. They had made a successful attack on it in the time of Ahaz; and amidst the feebleness and distractions which they supposed might succeed on the change of the government of Judah, and the administration of an inexperienced prince like Hezekiah, they hoped to be still more successful, and would naturally rejoice at the death of Ahaz. When the prophet says ‘ "whole"Palestina,’ he means to say that no part of Philistia would have occasion to rejoice at the succession of Hezekiah (see Isa 14:31).

Because the rod of him that smote thee is broken - It was not true that they had been smitten during the reign of Ahaz, but it had been done by his predecessor Uzziah. Perhaps the prophet refers to that prince, and to his death. He had smitten and subdued them. At his death they would rejoice; and their joy had been continued during the reigns of Jotham and Ahaz. They would now rejoice the more that a young and inexperienced prince was to ascend the throne. Their joy had been that "Uzziah"had died, and that joy had been augmenting since his death. But the prophet now tells them that they will have no further occasion for such joy.

For out of the serpent’ s root - That is, there shall spring forth from the serpent, or shall succeed the serpent, as a shoot or sprout springs from the root of a decayed tree (see the note at Isa 11:1). By the serpent here, is undoutedly intended king Uzziah, who had so severely chastised the Philistines. The word ‘ serpent’ נחשׁ nāchâsh denotes a serpent of any kind, and usually one far less venomous than that which is meant by the word translated cockatrice. Probably the prophet does not give this name "serpent"to Uzziah or to Ahaz, or the name "cockatrice"to Hezekiah, because he regarded the names as properly descriptive of their character, but because they were so regarded by the Philistines. They were as odious and offensive to them, and as destructive of their plans, as venomous reptiles would be.

Shall come forth a cockatrice - (see the note at Isa 59:5). A basilisk, or adder, a serpent of most venomous nature (see the note at Isa 11:8). That is, though Uzziah is dead, yet there shall spring up from him one far more destructive to you than he was; one who shall carry the desolations of war much further, and who shall more effectually subdue you. Most commentators have concurred in supposing that Hezekiah is here referred to, who ‘ smote the Philistines even unto Gaza and the borders thereof, from the tower of the watchmen to the fenced city’ 2Ki 18:8. This is, doubtless, the correct interpretation. The Chaldee renders it, however, ‘ Because there shall proceed from the descendants of Jesse the Messiah, and his works shall be among you as a flying serpent.’ This interpretation Rosenmuller supposes is correct; but it is evidently foreign to the scope of the passage.

Barnes: Isa 14:30

And the first-born of the poor shall feed - That is, there shall be safety to those parts of Judah which have long been exposed to the invasions of the Philistines. Philistia bordered on Judea, and was constantly making wars upon it, so that there was no safety felt. Isaiah now says, that Hezekiah would so effectually and completely subdue them that there should be no danger from their invasion. The phrase ‘ the first-born of the poor’ is an Hebraism, a strong, emphatic expression, denoting those who are the most poor; the most abject sons of poverty; those who have an eminence or a double portion of need, as the first-born among the Hebrews were entitled to special distinctions and privileges. The idea is, that even the most poor and defenseless would be safe.

Shall feed - That is, they shall be supplied with food; they shall feed safely as a flock does that is guarded from wild beasts. They shall be no longer alarmed, but shall dwell in security, peace, and plenty.

And I will kill thy root - The word rendered ‘ root’ denotes properly the root of a plant, which being dried up or killed, the plant of course withers and dies. So God says that he would effectually and entirely destroy the power of the Philistines.

Slay thy remnant - That is, shall slay all that pertains to thee. Or, he shall dry up the root, and the branches shall wither and die also. The whole power of the nation shall be withered and destroyed.

Barnes: Isa 14:31

Howl, O gate - That is, ye who throng the gate. The gates of a city were the chief places of concourse.

Cry, O city - The prophet here fixes the attention upon some principal city of Philistia, and calls upon it to be alarmed in view of the judgments that were about to come upon the whole land.

Art dissolved - The word ‘ dissolved’ ( מוג mûg ) is applied to that which melts, or which wastes away gradually, and then to that which faints or disappears. It means here that the kingdom of Philistia would disappear, or be destroyed. It probably conveys the idea of its fainting, or becoming feeble from fear or apprehension.

From the north a smoke - From the regions of Judah, which lay north and east of Philistia. The ‘ smoke’ here probably refers to a cloud of dust that would be seen to rise in that direction made by an invading army.

And none shall be alone in his appointed times - There has been a great variety of interpretation in regard to this passage. Lowth renders it, ‘ And there shall not be a straggler among his levies.’ The Hebrew is, as in the margin, ‘ And not solitary in his assemblies.’ The Septuagint renders it, Καί οὐκ ἔσται τοῦ εῖναι Kai ouk estai tou einai - ‘ And it is not to be endured.’ The Chaldee, ‘ And there shall be none who shall retard him in his times.’ The Arabic, ‘ Neither is there anyone who can stand in his footsteps.’ The Vulgate, ‘ Neither is there anyone who can escape his army.’ Aben Ezra renders it, ‘ No one of the Philistines shall dare to remain in their palaces, as when a smoke comes into a house all are driven out.’ Probably the correct idea is given by Lowth; and the same interpretation is given by Gesenius, Rosenmuller, Dathe, and Michaelis. No one of the invading army of Hezekiah shall come by himself; no one shall be weary or be a straggler; the army shall advance in close military array, and in dense columns; and this is represented as the cause of the cloud or smoke that the prophet saw rising, the cloud of dust that was made by the close ranks of the invading host (compare Isa 5:27).

Barnes: Isa 14:32

What shall one then answer - The design of this verse is obvious. It is to show that Judea would be safe from the invasions of the Philistines, and that God was the protector of Zion. For this purpose the prophet refers to messengers or ambassadors who should be sent for any purpose to Jerusalem, either to congratulate Hezekiah, or to form an alliance with the Jews. The prophet asks what answer or information should be given to such messengers when they came respecting their state? The reply is, that Yahweh had evinced his purpose to protect his people.

Of the nation - Of any nation whose ambassadors should be sent into Judea.

That the Lord hath founded Zion - That he is its original founder, and that he has now shown his regard for it by protecting it from the Philistines. It would be safe from their attacks, and Yahweh would thus show that he had it under his own protection. The Septuagint renders this, ‘ And what shall the kings of the Gentiles then answer? That the Lord hath founded Zion.’ The scope of the passage is the assurance that Zion would be safe, being founded and preserved by Yahweh; and that the Philistines had no cause of triumph at the death of Ahaz, since God would still be the protector of his people. The doctrine established by this passage is, that in all the changes which take place by the death of kings, princes, magistrates, and ministers; and in all the revolutions which occur in kingdoms, the enemies of the people of God have no cause for rejoicing. God is the protector of his church; and he will show that he has founded Zion, and that his people are safe, No weapon that is formed against his people shall prosper, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against his church.

Shall trust in it - In Zion. It was a strongly fortified city, God was its protector, and in times of calamity his people could betake themselves there in safety. In this strong place the most weak and defenseless - the poorest of the people, would be safe. In the church of God, the poor are the objects of as deep regard as the rich; the humble, the meek, the weak, the feeble, are there safe, and no power of an enemy can reach or affect them. God is their defender and their friend; and in his arms they are secure.

Poole: Isa 14:18

All of them other kings most commonly do, as the word all is frequently used.

Every one in his own house are buried in their own sepulchres, having stately monuments erected to their honour and memory.

Poole: Isa 14:19

Cast out of thy grave or, cast from thy grave or burying place; which very probably happened to Belshazzar, who was slain in the night, Dan 5:30 , when his people had neither opportunity nor heart to bestow an honourable interment upon him, and the conquerors would not suffer them to do it.

Like an abominable branch like a useless and rotten twig of a tree, which he that pruneth the trees cutteth off, and casteth away with abhorrency, and suffers to lie rotting more and more upon the ground; or, like a degenerate plant of a noble vine, which is abominable.

As the raiment of those that are slain which, being cut and mangled, and besmeared with mire, and defiled with blood, was cast away with contempt, and abominated as an unclean thing, as it was in divers respects, in that age and state of the church.

That go down to the stones of the pit which persons being slain, they, together with their garments, are cast into some pit. He saith, to the stones of the pit , either because such bodies are commonly thrown into the next pits, and pits were frequently made by digging stones out of their quarries; or because there usually are a great number of stones in the bottoms of pits, either naturally, or being cast in thither upon, divers occasions; and when dead bodies are cast in thither, men use to throw a heap of stones upon them.

As a carcass trodden under feet neglected, like such a carcass. Or this might literally happen to Belshazzar’ s dead body, through military fury and contempt, or from other causes.

Poole: Isa 14:20

Thou shalt not be joined with them not in place, for so the kings of several nations did not use to be joined in the same sepulchre; but in condition, not be buried as they are.

Thou hast destroyed thy land, and slain thy people thou hast exercised great tyranny and cruelty, not only to thine enemies, but even to thine own subjects; which it is more than probable Belshazzar did, and it is certain that his parents and predecessors had done, whose sins contributed, together with his, to bring down God’ s judgments upon that empire.

The seed of evil-doers such as Belshazzar was, being descended from that Nebuchadnezzar who had made such horrid slaughters and devastations in the world, merely to gratify his own unsatiable lusts, and who had been so impious towards God and his temple, and so bloody towards his church and people.

Shall never be renowned or, shall not be renowned for ever . Although I have long borne with thee and thy family, and suffered them to get a great name in the world, yet I will now put a period to the renown of thy family and empire.

Poole: Isa 14:21

Prepare slaughter for his children O ye Medes and Persians, cut off all the branches of the royal family of Babylon.

For the iniquity of their fathers in the guilt whereof the children are justly involved, partly because of that community of nature and interest which is between parents and children, which makes them for the most part bear a share with them, as in their rewards and advantages, so also in their punishments and miseries; and partly because they justified their sins by their impenitency, and imitation of their wicked example.

Do not rise i.e. not recover their former splendour and power.

With cities erected by them, either as instruments of tyranny, to keep the country round about them in slavery, or as monuments of their power and riches, as Babylon was, Dan 4:30 .

Poole: Isa 14:22

The name and remnant the remembrance of those that are dead, and the persons of those who yet survive.

Poole: Isa 14:23

The bittern a great water fowl, which thrusting its bill into some broken reed, or hollow thing, makes a great noise; which also delights in solitary places, as also in waterish grounds, such as those were about Babylon. Others render the word hedge-hog , or porcupine ; but this being not considerable in itself, nor at all necessary for the clearing of the text, I shall not trouble the English reader with any discourse about it; and the learned may consult my Latin Synopsis.

Pools of water: the ground about Babylon was of itself very moist and waterish, because of the great river Euphrates running by it, which was kept from overflowing the country with charge and labour; which being neglected, as it must needs be when the city was destroyed and dispeopled, it was easily turned into pools of water.

Poole: Isa 14:24

I will not repent of this threatening, as I did of that against Nineveh, Jon 3:4,10 . And this solemn oath is added to confirm the faith of God’ s people, because otherwise the destruction of this vast and mighty empire might seem incredible. But it is to be diligently observed, that this verse doth not only concern this present prophecy of Babylon’ s destruction by the Medes and Persians, but is also to be extended unto the foregoing prophecy concerning the overthrow of Sennacherib and the Assyrian host, Isa 10 , as appears by the next verse, where the sum of that prophecy is repeated. Nor is this any digression, but very pertinent to the main design and business of this chapter; inasmuch as the overthrow of that great Assyrian host, and of the deliverance of God’ s people at that time, was a pledge of the certain accomplishment of that future destruction of the city and empire of Babylon, and of their deliverance out of that captivity.

Poole: Isa 14:25

The Assyrian Sennacherib, and his Assyrian army. In my land; in Judea, which is my land in a peculiar manner, being chosen by me, and consecrated to my use and service, and inhabited by my people.

Upon my mountains in my mountainous country, for such Judea was, Deu 8:9 Psa 133:3 Eze 6:2,3 39:2,4,17 , especially about Jerusalem, Psa 125:2 , upon some of which probably his army was lodged.

Then shall his yoke depart from off them, and his burden depart from off their shoulders which words are repeated from Isa 10:27 , where they are explained.

Poole: Isa 14:26

Upon the whole earth upon this vast empire, now in the hands of the Assyrians, and shortly to come into the hands of the Babylonians.

The whole earth is put synecdochically for a great part of it. The hand; the providence of God executing his purpose.

Poole: Isa 14:28

This following burdensome prophecy concerning the Philistines, who in Ahaz’ s time made an inroad into Judah, and took divers of their cities and villages, 2Ch 28:18 .

Poole: Isa 14:29

Of him that smote thee: most understand this of Uzziah, who did them much mischief, 2Ch 26:6 ; but he was dead thirty-two years before this time, and therefore their joy for his death was long since past. Others understand it of Ahaz; but he was so far from smiting them, that he was smitten by them, as was noted on Isa 14:28 . It seems better to understand it more generally of the royal race or foregoing kings of Judah, who had been a terrible scourge to them, whose rod might be said to be broken, because that sceptre was come into the hands of slothful and degenerate princes, such as Ahaz was, who had been lately broken by the Philistines, and who probably was alive when this prophecy was delivered, because he here speaks of Hezekiah not as a present, but as a future king. It is said indeed that this burden was in the year that Ahaz died ; but so it might be, though it was before his death.

His fruit shall be a fiery flying serpent from the root and race of David shall come Hezekiah, who, like a serpent, shall sting thee to death, as he did, 2Ki 18:8 .

Poole: Isa 14:30

The first-born of the poor the people of the Jews, who are brought to extreme poverty by the cruelty and the malice of other enemies. The first-born were the chief of all the children. Hence the title of first-born is given to persons or things which are most eminent in their kinds, as to the people of Israel, Exo 4:22 , to David, Psa 89:27 , to a grievous death, Job 18:13 , and here to persons eminently poor.

Shall feed shall have plenty of provisions, in spite of all thine attempts against them.

I will kill thy root I will utterly destroy thee both root and branch, so that there shall not be a remnant of thy people reserved, as it follows. It is a metaphor from a tree, which for want of nourishment is dried up by the roots.

Poole: Isa 14:31

O gate: the gate is put either,

1. Metaphorically, for the people passing through the gates, or for the magistrates and others who used to meet in the gate for judgment, or upon other occasions; or,

2. Synecdochically, for the city, as gates are commonly put, as Jer 22:19 , and as it is explained in the next words.

O city: city is here put collectively for their cities, of which see 1Sa 6:17 .

Dissolved Heb. melted ; which may be understood either,

1. Of the fainting of their spirits and courage, as Exo 15:15 Jos 2:9,24 , &c.; or, 2. Of the dissolution of their state.

From the north either,

1. From Judea; which lay northward from some part of the Philistines’ land. But in truth Judea lay more east than north from Palestine, and therefore the Philistines are said to be on the west, Isa 11:14 , and never, so far as I remember, on the north. Or,

2. From Chaldea. as may be gathered,

1. From the Scripture use of this phrase, which generally designs that country, as Jer 1:14,15 6:1,22 , &c.

2. From Jer 47 , where destruction is threatened to the Philistines from the north , Isa 14:2 , which all understand of the Chaldeans under Nebuchadnezzar. And whereas it is speciously objected, That this suits not with the next verse, which speaks of Zion’ s safety at the time of this destruction of the Philistines, whereas Zion and the land and people of Judah were destroyed together with the Philistines by Nebuchadnezzar; I humbly conceive it may be answered, that that verse is added to express the far differing condition of God’ s people and of the Philistines in the events of that Babylonian war; and that whereas the Philistines should be irrecoverably and eternally destroyed thereby, and no remnant of them should be left, as was said, Isa 14:30 , God’ s people, though they should be sorely scourged, and carried into captivity, yet they should be strangely preserved, and after some years delivered, and restored to their own land and temple; whereby it would appear that Zion stood upon a sure foundation, and, albeit it was grievously shaken, yet it could not be utterly and finally overthrown.

A smoke a grievous judgment and calamity, which is oft signified by smoke, as Gen 15:17 Deu 29:20 Joe 2:30 , either because smoke is generally accompanied with fire, or because it causeth a great darkness in the air; for afflictions are frequently described under the names of fire and darkness. In his appointed times : when God’ s appointed time shall come for the execution of this judgment, not one person of all that numerous army, which is signified by the smoke last mentioned, shall retire and desert his colours, or lag behind the rest; but they shall march with great unanimity and alacrity, and none of them shall withdraw his hand till the work be finished, till the Philistines be utterly destroyed.

Poole: Isa 14:32

What shall one then answer the messengers of the nation? what shall a Jew say to the people of other nations, who shall either be sent or come to inquire concerning the state of Zion in that day, when not only the Philistines, but even the Jews themselves, shall fall by the hands of one and the same enemy?

Nation is put collectively for nations , as gate and city for gates and cities in the foregoing verse. They shall give them this answer, That although Zion at present be in a very distressed and deplorable condition, and seems to be forsaken by her God; yet she stands upon a firm foundation, and God, who first founded her, will again restore and establish her, and his poor despised people shall resort to her, as to a strong and sure refuge.

Haydock: Isa 14:19

Grave. Strangers seized the crown of Baltassar, and neglected his sepulchre: or if we explain it of Nabuchodonosor, his tomb was probably plundered, (Calmet) as the Persians did not spare that of Belus. In the reign of Alexander, the tombs of the kings were covered with water, and filled with serpents. (Arrian. vii.)

Haydock: Isa 14:20

Thy. Septuagint, "my." Thou hast been a murderer instead of a shepherd. ---

Ever. The children and monarchy of Nabuchodonosor presently perished. Evilmerodac and Baltassar reigned but a short time, and left no issue to inherit the throne.

Haydock: Isa 14:23

Besom. Reducing it to a heap of rubbish, (chap. xiii. 21.; Calmet) as the event shewed. (Watson)

Haydock: Isa 14:25

Assyrian. 4 Kings xix. (Worthington) ---

Sennacherib, (St. Jerome) Cambyses, or Holofernes. The sight of their chastisement would ben an earnest of the fall of Babylon. (Calmet) ---

The allies of Assyria, (Menochius) or the enemies of God's people, will also be punished, chap. xv. (Haydock)

Haydock: Isa 14:28

Achaz. When Ezechias was just seated on the throne. The preceding and subsequent predictions were then delivered, chap. xiii. 20.

Haydock: Isa 14:29

Rod. Achaz. ---

Bird. Ezechias will openly attack thee, 4 Kings xviii. 8. (Calmet) ---

Protestants, " shall be a fiery flying serpent," (Haydock) like that erected by Moses, Numbers xxi. 9. Sennacherib and Assaraddon shall lay waste Philistia, ver. 31., and chap. xx. 1. (Calmet) ---

Though Achaz be dead, Ezechias and Ozias will destroy more of that nation, 4 Kings xviii. 8., and 2 Paralipomenon xxvi. (Worthington)

Haydock: Isa 14:32

Nations. Surprised that Ezechias should escape, while the power of the Philistines was overturned so easily; or when the king sent ambassadors to his allies, to announce the defeat of Sennacherib by the angel. All confessed that this was an effect of the divine protection towards Sion. (Calmet)

Gill: Isa 14:18

All the kings of the nations,.... Of other nations, besides those he governed, and even of those whom he had subdued, at least their ancestors, the greatest part of them however; for the word "all" does not always signify every individual, though by the repetition of it, it here bids fair for such a sense, there being but very few, or scarce any exceptions to this observation; for, on some account or another, both good and bad kings are interred in great state:

even all of them lie in glory; in rich tombs and stately monuments, erected for the honour of them; and where they "sleep", as the word signifies, with their fathers, their ancestors, and are at rest, in the state of the dead, where they will continue to the resurrection:

everyone in his own house; or grave, see Job 30:23 the same with his long home, Ecc 12:5 or the house of his world: in reference to which, the Targum paraphrases it by the same phrase here; and though their graves were not in their dwelling houses or palaces, yet often near them, and in their own country, and were what had been erected, or caused to be erected by them, in their lifetime.

Gill: Isa 14:19

But thou art cast out of thy grave,.... Or rather "from" it ^d; that is, he was not suffered to be put into it, or to have a burial, as the following words show, at least not to be laid in the grave designed for him; though the Jews ^e, who apply this to Nebuchadnezzar, have a fabulous story that he was taken out of his grave by his son, to confirm this prophecy; and which their commentators, Aben Ezra, Jarchi, Kimchi, and Abendana, tell in this manner: that when Nebuchadnezzar was driven from men, and was with the beasts of the field for seven years, the people made his son Evilmerodach king; but when Nebuchadnezzar came to his right mind, and returned to his palace at Babylon, and found his son upon the throne, he put him in prison, where he lay till Nebuchadnezzar died, when the people took him out to make him king; but he refused to be king, saying, he did not believe his father was dead; and that if he should come again, as before, and find him, he would kill him; upon which they took him out of his grave, to show him that he was dead: but the sense here is not that the king of Babylon should be taken out of his grave, after he was laid in it, but that he should be hindered from being put into it; which very likely was the case of Belshazzar.

Like an abominable branch; cut off from a tree as useless and hurtful, and cast upon the ground, where it lies and rots, and is good for nothing, neither for fuel, nor anything else, but is neglected and despised of all:

and as the raiment of those that are slain; in battle, which being rolled in blood, nobody cares to take up and wear, nor even touch; for such persons were accounted unclean by the ceremonial law, and by the touch of them uncleanness was contracted; and perhaps with a view to this the simile is used, to express the very mean and abject condition this monarch should be in:

thrust through with a sword; which was added for explanation sake, to show in which way the persons were slain whose raiment is referred to; the clothes of such being stained with blood, when those that died by other means might not have their raiment so defiled. The word ^f rendered "thrust through", is only used in this place, and in Gen 45:17 where it is rendered "lade", or put on a burden; but, as the several Jewish commentators before mentioned observe ^g, in the Arabic language it signifies to pierce or thrust through with sword or spear, and so it is used in the Arabic version of Joh 19:34,

that go down to the stones of the pit; into which dead bodies after a battle are usually cast, and which have often stones at the bottom; and into which being cast, stones are also thrown over them:

as a carcass trodden underfoot; which is frequently the case of those that fall in battle; and very probably was the case of Belshazzar, when slain by the Chaldeans, whose body in a tumult might be neglected and trodden upon, and afterwards have no other burial than that of a common soldier in a pit; and instead of having a sepulchral monument erected over him, as kings used to have, had nothing but a heap of stones thrown upon him.

Gill: Isa 14:20

Thou shall not be joined with them in burial,.... The kings before mentioned; not that the sense is that he should not be interred in the same place they were, or lie in the same stately monuments they did, for that was never designed by him or others; but that he should not be buried in like manner, be embalmed as they, or have odours burned for him, or lie in such state and pomp, or have a "pyramid" or "mausoleum", or any rich monument, erected over him; unless this can be understood of his ancestors, the kings that were before him; and the sense be, that he should not have a burial with the kings of Babylon, or be inferred where they were, but, as before said, should be cast out, or be kept from the place of sepulture. The Targum is,

"thou shall not be as one of them in the grave;''

shall not be like them, or equal to them, in the glory and pomp of a funeral, not having the same funeral rites; obsequies, and ornaments they have had. So the whore of Rome shall have no funeral, but the kings of the earth will eat her flesh, and burn her with fire Rev 17:16,

because thou hast destroyed thy land; not only other lands and nations, but also his own, and the inhabitants of it, by his tyrannical government, by levies and exactions, by mulcts and fines, on various pretences: or, "hast corrupted, thy land" ^g; which phrase is used of mystical Babylon, Rev 19:2 see also Rev 11:18 whose land or earth is the whole Romish jurisdiction, corrupted by her idolatries, and wasted and destroyed by the various methods used to drain away the substance thereof:

and slain thy people; put them to death at pleasure, without any just cause, for trifling matters; which is often done by arbitrary princes. Jarchi and Kimchi apply this to Nebuchadnezzar's slaying the wise men of Babylon, because they could not tell him his dream, and the interpretation of it. It is true of antichrist slaying such, that would not worship his image, and receive his mark, Rev 13:10.

The seed of evildoers shall never be renowned; or, "not for ever"; though they may have a name, and be very famous for a while, yet not always; in process of time their honour is laid in the dust; or, "shall not be called for ever" ^h; their name and their memory shall not always last; their name shall be cut off, and their memory shall rot; they shall have none to keep up their name, and they shall not be spoken of with respect; such a seed of evildoers were Belshazzar and his family, who descended from Nebuchadnezzar and Evilmerodach, and were at once extinct, as follows:

Gill: Isa 14:21

Prepare slaughter for his children,.... These words are directed to the Medes and Persians, to prepare instruments of slaughter, and make use of them; and prepare themselves for the slaughter of the whole royal family, Belshazzar and all his children. So it is threatened to Jezebel, or the Romish antichrist, that all her children should be killed with death, Rev 2:23,

for the iniquity of their fathers; they imitating and following them in their sins, partaking of them, and filling up the measure of their iniquities:

that they do not rise, nor possess the land; stand up and succeed him in the government of the land, as their inheritance:

nor fill the face of the world with cities; as their ancestors had done, which were built by them to perpetuate their name and glory, and to keep the nations in awe subdued by them. The Targum renders it, "with enemies"; which is followed by Aben Ezra, Jarchi, and Kimchi; and so the Septuagint, Syriac, and Arabic versions, "with wars"; to the great disturbance of the peace of the world, and to the disquietude of the inhabitants of it; which is a great plague to the world, and a judgment in it.

Gill: Isa 14:22

For I will rise up against them, saith the Lord of hosts,.... That is, against the children of the Babylonish monarch; and therefore they shall not rise and possess the earth, and disturb it, since he who is the Lord of armies in heaven and earth, and has all power in both worlds, and has everything at his beck and command, will rise up, who seemed, as it were, asleep, and unconcerned about the affairs of this world, and will set himself against them, and exert his power in their destruction:

and cut off from Babylon; the king of Babylon, and the inhabitants of it:

the name; not of the city, which is mentioned long after, and still is; but of the king and his family:

and remnant; his flesh, or those that were akin to him, as Kimchi interprets it:

and son, and nephew; his son, and son's son as the Targum, and after that other Jewish writers; the whole family was destroyed with Belshazzar, after whom none of that race was ever heard of any more.

Gill: Isa 14:23

I will also make it a possession for the bittern,.... Instead of being possessed by any of the family of the king of Babylon. The "bittern" is a kind of water fowl, which, by putting its bill into mire, or a broken reed, is said to make a most horrible noise. Some think the "owl" is meant, which dwells in desolate and ruinous places; and others take it to be the "ospray", a sort of eagle that preys upon fish and ducks; according to Kimchi, the "tortoise" is meant; some will have it that the "beaver" or castor is intended; Jarchi understands it of the porcupine or "hedgehog"; and in the Arabic language this creature is called "kunphud", which is pretty near the Hebrew word "kippod", here used; to which Bochartus agrees; but, whatever creature is meant, the design is to show that Babylon should not be inhabited by men, but by birds or beasts of prey, or noxious animals; and so mystical Babylon is said to be a cage of every unclean and hateful bird, Rev 18:2,

and pools of water; Babylon being situated in a marshy ground, and by the river Euphrates; and when that river was turned by Cyrus ⁱ, and afterwards its banks neglected, in course of time the water overflowed the place where the city was, and all about it, and so easily came to be what is here predicted it should; see Rev 18:21,

and I will sweep it with the besom of destruction, saith the Lord of hosts; and so clear it at once of all its inhabitants, wealth, and riches, and entirely remove its large walls and stately buildings, no more to be seen, just as a house is swept clean of all its dust; intimating, that this superb city, and all belonging to it, should be reduced to dust, and be as easily swept away as dust is with a besom. The word for "sweep", and a "besom", is only used in this place, and has this signification in the Arabic language; it is said in the Talmud ^k, that the Rabbins knew not the meaning of this word, till they heard an Arabian girl say to her fellow servant,

"take this besom, and sweep the house.''

expressing the word here used.

Gill: Isa 14:24

The Lord of hosts hath sworn, saying,.... The Septuagint only read, "these things saith the Lord of hosts"; for, as Kimchi on the place observes, his word is his oath; but for the comfort of his people, and for the confirmation either of the prophecies concerning the fall of Babylon, or of the following concerning the destruction of the Assyrian monarchy, or both, he adds his oath to his word, to show that the sentence passed in his mind, and now expressed, was irrevocable:

surely as I have thought, so shall it come to pass; as he had shaped and schemed it, and drew the form and image in his own mind, or fixed and settled it there, so should it be done in due time, as every thing is that is determined by the Lord; and this shows that nothing is casual, or comes by chance, but everything as it is purposed of God; and that as everything comes to pass which he has resolved, so every such resolution proceeds from thought, and is the produce of the highest wisdom and prudence:

and as I have purposed, so it shall stand; or "counselled" ^l; within himself, for he does all things according to the counsel of his will; and which always stands firm, sure, and unalterable, let what devices soever be in the heart of man.

Gill: Isa 14:25

That I will break the Assyrian in my land,.... This was his thought, counsel, purpose, and decree; which must be understood either of the king of Babylon, as before, called the Assyrian; as the king of Babylon seems to be called the king of Assyria in 2Ch 33:11, but then his destruction was not in the land of Israel, or on the mountains of Judea, as is here predicted; or rather, therefore, this is a new prophecy, or a return to what is foretold in the tenth chapter Isa 10:1 concerning Sennacherib and his army, and the destruction of it; which, coming to pass long before the destruction of Babylon, is mentioned for the comfort of God's people, as a pledge and assurance of the latter: though some think that it was now past, and is observed to strengthen the faith of the Jews, with respect to the preceding prediction, and read the words thus, as "in breaking the Assyrian in my land"; and then the sense is, what I have thought, purposed, and sworn to, to come to pass, concerning the fall of Babylon, shall as surely be accomplished, and you may depend upon it, as I have broke the Assyrian army in my land before your eyes, of which ye yourselves are witnesses. Some think that Gog and Magog are intended by the Assyrian, of whom it is predicted that they should fall upon the mountains of Israel, as here, Eze 39:4 it may be, that as the king of Babylon was a type of the Romish antichrist in the preceding prophecy, the Assyrian here may represent the Turks, who now possess the land of Israel, and shall be destroyed:

and upon my mountains tread him under foot; the mountainous part of Judea, particularly the mountains which were round about Jerusalem, where the Assyrian army under Sennacherib was, when besieged by him, and where they fell and were trodden under foot; and now the Lord may be said to break the Assyrian troops, and trample upon them, because it was not only done according to his will, but without the use of men, by an angel that was sent immediately from heaven, and destroyed the whole host, 2Ki 19:35,

there shall his yoke depart from off them, and his burden depart from off their shoulders: meaning, that hereby the siege of Jerusalem would be broken up, and the city rid of such a troublesome enemy; and the parts adjacent eased of the burden of having such a numerous army quartered upon them; and the whole land freed from the subjection of this monarch, and from paying tribute to him. The same is said in Isa 10:27. This, in the Talmud ^m, is interpreted of Sennacherib.

Gill: Isa 14:26

This is the purpose that is purposed upon the whole earth, &c. Or, "counsel that is counselled". The Targum is,

"all the inhabitants of the earth;''

and the Septuagint version, "the whole world", meaning the Assyrian empire, and all states depending on it; as the Roman empire is called, Luk 2:1 for this purpose respects not the end of the world, and the judgment of it at the last day, as some have thought; but the preceding prophecy, purpose, or counsel, concerning breaking and trampling under foot the Assyrians, and delivering the Jews from subjection to them:

and this is the hand that is stretched out upon all the nations; of which the Assyrian army consisted, or which made up the Assyrian monarchy, or depended on it, and fell with it. "Purpose" denotes the counsel, will, and decree of God, about this business; and "hand" the execution of it. The Targum renders it "power"; so "hand" and "counsel" go together in Act 4:28. The Targum is

"on all kingdoms.''

Gill: Isa 14:27

For the Lord of hosts hath purposed,.... What is before declared, the fall of Babylon, and the destruction of the Assyrian, and everything else that comes to pass in this world; there is nothing comes to pass but he has purposed, and everything he has purposed does come to pass:

and who shall disannul it? not the most powerful monarch, or most powerful armies, or the most refined councils of men, or the greatest politicians on earth:

and his hand is stretched out, and who shall turn it back? or aside, from giving the blow it is designed to give; no power on earth is equal to it.

Gill: Isa 14:28

In the year that King Ahaz died was this burden. The following heavy prophecy, concerning the destruction of the Philistines; whether it was delivered out before or after his death is not certain. Here some begin the "fifteenth" chapter Isa 15:1, and not improperly; henceforward prophecies are delivered out under another reign, as before under Uzziah, Jotham, and Ahaz, now under Hezekiah. This, according to Bishop Usher, was A. M. 3278 and before the Christian era 726.

Gill: Isa 14:29

Rejoice not thou, whole Palestina,.... The land of the Philistines; the inhabitants of Palestine are meant, who rejoiced at the death of Uzziah, who was too powerful for them, and during the reign of Ahaz, of whom they had the better; and, now he was dead, they hoped things would still be more favourable to them, since a young prince, Hezekiah, succeeded him; but they would find, by sad experience, that they had no occasion to rejoice in these changes: "whole Palestine" is mentioned, because it was divided into five districts or lordships, over which there were five lords, Jos 13:3, 1Sa 6:4 and as they were all rejoicing in their late successes in Ahaz's time, and in hopes of still greater, so they would all suffer in the calamity hereafter threatened:

because the rod of him that smote thee is broken: meaning not Ahaz, for be did not smite the Philistines, but was smitten by them, for they invaded his country, and took many of his cities; see 2Ch 28:18 but rather Uzziah, who broke down the walls of their cities, and built others, 2Ch 26:6 wherefore they rejoiced at his death; and their joy continued during the reigns of Jotham and Ahaz, and was increased at the death of Ahaz, a new and young king being placed on the throne. Some understand this of the breaking of the Assyrian, the rod of God's anger, Isa 14:25 by whom the Philistines had been smitten, and therefore rejoiced at his ruin; and to this the Targum seems to incline, paraphrasing it thus,

"because the government is broken, whom ye served.''

Such that interpret in this way, by the "serpent" after mentioned understand Tilgathpilneser king of Assyria, whose successors were more troublesome to the Philistines than he; and by the "cockatrice" Sennacherib; and by the "fiery flying serpent" Nebuchadnezzar. Cocceius thinks that the sense of the prophecy is, that the Philistines should not rejoice at the sceptre being taken away from the Jews, and they being carried captive into Babylon, since it would not be to their advantage; for after Nebuchadnezzar and his sons, meant by the "serpent", should come the Medes and Persians, signified by the "cockatrice": and after them the Macedonians or Greeks, designed by the "flying fiery serpent", under Alexander, who should "kill" their "root", take Tyre their metropolis, at the siege of which was a famine; and then "slay their remnant", the city of Gaza, the last of their cities, whose inhabitants he slew; but the first sense of the prophecy, as it is most common, so most easy and natural:

for out of the serpent's root shall come forth a cockatrice: that is, from the posterity, of Uzziah king of Judah, who greatly annoyed the Philistines, for which reason he is compared to a "serpent", should arise Hezekiah compared to a "cockatrice", because he would be, and he was, more harmful and distressing to them; see 2Ki 18:8,

and his fruit shall be a fiery flying serpent; not the fruit of the cockatrice, but of the serpent; and intends the same as before, Hezekiah, likened to such a creature, because of the fury and swiftness with which he was to come, and did come, against the Philistines, and the hurt he did to them: the "serpent" to which he is compared is called "fiery", or "burning", because it inflames where it bites; of which see Num 21:6 and "flying", not because it has wings, though some serpents are said to have them; but because, when it leaps or darts upon a man, it is with such swiftness, that it seems to fly; the serpent called "acontias", or "serpens jaculus", is here alluded to. The Targum applies the passage to the Messiah, thus,

"for out of the children's children of Jesse shall come forth the Messiah, and his works shall be among you as a flying serpent.''

Gill: Isa 14:30

And the firstborn of the poor shall feed,.... That is, the Jews, who were brought very low in the times of Ahaz, reduced to the greatest straits and difficulties; for so the word "firstborn" may signify the chief, or those who were of all the poorest, and in the greatest distress; these, in the times of Hezekiah, shall enjoy abundance of good things, and under his gentle government shall feed like a flock of sheep in good pastures; this signifying, that though he should be like a serpent, harmful to his enemies, yet should be kind and tender unto, and take great care of his own subjects, and under whom they should have great plenty and prosperity:

and the needy shall lie down in safety; like a flock of sheep, secure from beasts of prey, under the care of a faithful and vigilant shepherd; this shows that the Jews should not only have plenty of good things, but should live in the greatest security, without fear of any enemy, or danger from them:

and I will kill thy root with famine; this is said to Palestine, compared to a tree, whose root is dried up for want of moisture, and so dies; and the meaning is, that a sore famine should rage in their country, and utterly destroy them:

and he shall slay thy remnant: that is, Hezekiah should slay with the sword those that were left of the famine.

Gill: Isa 14:31

Howl, O gate,.... Or gates of the cities of Palestine; the magistrates that sat there to execute judgment, or the people that passed through there; or because now obliged to open to their enemies; wherefore, instead of rejoicing, they are called to howling:

cry, O city; or cities, the several cities of the land, as well as their chief, because of the destruction coming upon them. The Targum is,

"howl over thy gates, and cry over thy cities;''

or concerning them:

thou, whole Palestina, art dissolved; or "melted"; through fear of enemies coming upon them; or it may design the entire overthrow and dissolution of their state;

for there shall come from the north a smoke; a numerous army, raising a dust like smoke as they move along, and coming with great "swiftness", and very annoying. Some understand this of the Chaldean army under Nebuchadnezzar coming from Babylon, which lay north of Judea; so Aben Ezra; to which agrees Jer 47:1 but most interpret it of Hezekiah's army, which came from Judea: which, Kimchi says, lay north to the land of the Philistines. Cocceius is of opinion that the Roman army is here meant, which came from the north against Judea, called whole Palestine; which country came into the hands of the Jews after the taking of Tyre and Gaza by the Greeks, and therefore the sanhedrim, which sat in the gate, and the city of Jerusalem, are called upon to howl and cry. But the first of these senses seems best, since the utter destruction of Palestine was by the Chaldean army under Nebuchadnezzar; and so the prophecy from the time of Hezekiah, with which it begins, is carried on unto the entire dissolution of this country by the Babylonians.

And none shall be alone in his appointed times; when the times appointed are come, for the gathering, mustering, and marching of the army, whether Hezekiah's or the Chaldean, none shall stay at home; all will voluntarily and cheerfully flock unto it, and enlist themselves; nor will they separate or stray from it, but march on unanimously, and courageously engage the enemy, till the victory is obtained. Aben Ezra understands this of the Philistines, that they should not be able to abide alone in their palaces and houses, because of the smoke that should come in unto them.

Gill: Isa 14:32

What shall one then answer the messengers of the nation?.... Or nations, of any of the nations. Not the messengers sent to Hezekiah, Isa 39:1 but rather such as were sent to him, to congratulate him upon his victory over the Philistines; or any others that were sent, and came from other nations, that inquired about these matters, and the answer returned is,

That the Lord hath founded Zion; and not Hezekiah; he had given his people victory over their enemies, and protected, defended, and established them, and therefore ought to have all the glory:

and the poor of his people shall trust in it; or, "betake themselves to it"; as to a place of safety, being founded by the Lord, and under his protection. So the church of God, which often goes by the name of Zion in Scripture, is of his founding; he has laid Christ as the foundation of it, and such as are sensible of their spiritual poverty, misery, and danger, trust in him; not in Zion, but in the foundation God has laid in Zion, or built his church upon.

Commentary -- Verse Notes / Footnotes

NET Notes: Isa 14:18

¹ sn It is unclear where the quotation of the kings, begun in v. 10b, ends. However, the reference to the “kings of the nations” in v. 18 (see also v. 9) seems to indicate that the quotation has ended at this point and that Israel’s direct taunt (cf. vv. 4b-10a) has resumed. In fact the references to the “kings of the nations” may form a stylistic inclusio or frame around the quotation.

² tc The phrase “all of them” does not appear in the Qumran scroll 1QIsa^a.

³ sn This refers to the typically extravagant burial of kings.

⁴ tn Heb “house” (so KJV, ASV), but in this context a tomb is in view. Note the verb “lie down” in the preceding line and the reference to a “grave” in the next line.

NET Notes: Isa 14:19

¹ tn Heb “like a shoot that is abhorred.” The simile seems a bit odd; apparently it refers to a small shoot that is trimmed from a plant and tossed away. Some prefer to emend נֵצֶר (netser, “shoot”); some propose נֵפֶל (nefel, “miscarriage”). In this case one might paraphrase: “like a horrible-looking fetus that is delivered when a woman miscarries.”

² tn Heb “are clothed with.”

³ tn Heb “those going down to.”

⁴ tn בּוֹר (bor) literally means “cistern”; cisterns were constructed from stones. On the metaphorical use of “cistern” for the underworld, see the note at v. 15.

⁵ tn Heb “like a trampled corpse.” Some take this line with what follows.

NET Notes: Isa 14:20

¹ tn Heb “you will not be united with them in burial” (so NASB).

NET Notes: Isa 14:21

¹ tn Or “the place of slaughter for.”

² tn Heb “for the sin of their fathers.”

³ sn J. N. Oswalt (Isaiah [NICOT], 1:320, n. 10) suggests that the garrison cities of the mighty empire are in view here.

NET Notes: Isa 14:22

¹ tn Heb “I will cut off from Babylon name and remnant” (ASV, NAB, and NRSV all similar).

² tn Heb “descendant and child.”

NET Notes: Isa 14:23

¹ tn Heb “I will make her into a possession of wild animals.” It is uncertain what type of animal קִפֹּד (qippod) refers to. Some suggest a rodent (cf. NASB, NRSV “hedgehog”), others an owl (cf, NAB, NIV, TEV).

² tn Heb “I will sweep her away with the broom of destruction.”

NET Notes: Isa 14:24

¹ sn Having announced the downfall of the Chaldean empire, the Lord appends to this prophecy a solemn reminder that the Assyrians, the major Mesopotamian power of Isaiah’s day, would be annihilated, foreshadowing what would subsequently happen to Babylon and the other hostile nations.

NET Notes: Isa 14:25

¹ tn Heb “to break Assyria.”

² tn Heb “him.” This is a collective singular referring to the nation, or a reference to the king of Assyria who by metonymy stands for the entire nation.

³ tn Heb “and his [i.e., Assyria’s] yoke will be removed from them [the people?], and his [Assyria’s] burden from his [the nation’s?] shoulder will be removed.” There are no antecedents in this oracle for the suffixes in the phrases “from them” and “from his shoulder.” Since the Lord’s land and hills are referred to in the preceding line and the statement seems to echo 10:27, it is likely that God’s people are the referents of the suffixes; the translation uses “my people” to indicate this.

NET Notes: Isa 14:26

¹ tn Heb “and this is the hand that is outstretched over all the nations.”

NET Notes: Isa 14:27

¹ tn Or “For” (KJV, NASB, NIV, NRSV).

² tn Heb “His hand is outstretched and who will turn it back?”

NET Notes: Isa 14:28

¹ sn Perhaps 715 b.c., but the precise date is uncertain.

² tn Heb “this oracle came.”

NET Notes: Isa 14:29

¹ sn The identity of this “club” (also referred to as a “serpent” in the next line) is uncertain. It may refer to an Assyrian king, or to Ahaz. For discussion see J. N. Oswalt, Isaiah (NICOT), 1:331-32. The viper/adder referred to in the second half of the verse is his successor.

² tn Heb “flying burning one.” The designation “burning one” may allude to the serpent’s appearance or the effect of its poisonous bite. (See the note at 6:2.) The qualifier “flying” probably refers to the serpent’s quick, darting movements, though one might propose a homonym here, meaning “biting.” (See J. N. Oswalt, Isaiah [NICOT], 1:332, n. 18.) Some might think in terms of a mythological flying, fire breathing dragon (cf. NAB “a flying saraph”; CEV “a flying fiery dragon”), but this proposal does not make good sense in 30:6, where the phrase “flying burning one” appears again in a list of desert animals.

NET Notes: Isa 14:30

¹ tc The Hebrew text has, “the firstborn of the poor will graze.” “Firstborn” may be used here in an idiomatic sense to indicate the very poorest of the poor. See BDB 114 s.v. בְּכוֹר. The translation above assumes an emendation of בְּכוֹרֵי (bÿkhorey, “firstborn of”) to בְּכָרַי (bekharay, “in my pastures”).

² tn Heb “your remnant” (so NAB, NRSV).

NET Notes: Isa 14:31

¹ tn Or “despair” (see HALOT 555 s.v. מוג). The form נָמוֹג (namog) should be taken here as an infinitive absolute functioning as an imperative. See GKC 199-200 §72.v.

² tn Heb “and there is no one going alone in his appointed places.” The meaning of this line is uncertain. בּוֹדֵד (boded) appears to be a participle from בָּדַד (badad, “be separate”; see BDB 94 s.v. בָּדַד). מוֹעָד (mo’ad) may mean “assembly” or, by extension, “multitude” (see HALOT 558 s.v. *מוֹעָד), but the referent of the third masculine pronominal suffix attached to the noun is unclear. It probably refers to the “nation” mentioned in the next line.

NET Notes: Isa 14:32

¹ sn The question forces the Philistines to consider the dilemma they will face – surrender and oppression, or battle and death.

Geneva Bible: Isa 14:19

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

^{( m )} You were not buried in the sepulchre of your fathers, your tyranny was so abhorred.

Geneva Bible: Isa 14:21

^{( n )} Prepare slaughter for his children for the iniquity of their fathers; that they may not rise, nor possess the land, nor fill the face of the world with cities.

^{( n )} He called to the Medes and Persians, and all those who would execute God's vengeance.

Geneva Bible: Isa 14:25

^{( o )} That I will break the Assyrian in my land, and upon my mountains tread him under foot: then shall his yoke depart from off ^{( p )} them, and his burden depart from off their shoulders.

^{( o )} As I have begun to destroy the Assyrians in Sennacherib: so will I continue and destroy them wholly, when I will deliver you from Babylon.

^{( p )} From the Jews.

Geneva Bible: Isa 14:28

In the year that king Ahaz died was this ^{( q )} burden.

^{( q )} See Isa 13:1

Geneva Bible: Isa 14:29

Rejoice not thou, all ^{( r )} Palestina, because the rod of him that smote thee is broken: for out of the serpent's root shall come forth an adder, and his fruit [shall be] a fiery flying serpent.

^{( r )} He wills the Philistines not to rejoice because the Jews are diminished in their power, for their strength will be greater than it ever was.

Geneva Bible: Isa 14:30

And the ^{( s )} firstborn of the poor shall feed, and the needy shall lie down in safety: and I will kill thy root with famine, and ^{( t )} he shall slay thy remnant.

^{( s )} The Israelites who were brought to most extreme misery.

^{( t )} That is, my people.

Geneva Bible: Isa 14:31

Howl, O gate; cry, O city; thou, all Palestina, [art] dissolved: for there shall come from the ^{( u )} north a smoke, and none [shall be] ^{( x )} alone in his appointed times.

^{( u )} That is, from the Jews or Assyrians: for they were brought to extreme misery.

Geneva Bible: Isa 14:32

What shall [one] then answer the ^{( y )} messengers of the nation? That the LORD hath founded ^{( z )} Zion, and the poor of his people shall trust in it.

^{( y )} Who will come to enquire of the state of the Church.

^{( z )} They will answer that the Lord defends his Church and those that join themselves to it.

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?

MHCC: Isa 14:24-27

Let those that make themselves a yoke and a burden to God's people, see what they are to expect. Let those that are the called according to God's purpose, comfort themselves, that whatever God has purposed, it shall stand. The Lord of hosts has purposed to break the Assyrian's yoke; his hand is stretched out to execute this purpose; who has power to turn it back? By such dispensations of providence, the Almighty shows in the most convincing manner, that sin is hateful in his sight.

MHCC: Isa 14:28-32

Assurance is given of the destruction of the Philistines and their power, by famine and war. Hezekiah would be more terrible to them than Uzziah had been. Instead of rejoicing, there would be lamentation, for the whole land would be ruined. Such destruction will come upon the proud and rebellious, but the Lord founded Zion for a refuge to poor sinners, who flee from the wrath to come, and trust in his mercy through Christ Jesus. Let us tell all around of our comforts and security, and exhort them to seek the same refuge and salvation.

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?

Matthew Henry: Isa 14:24-32

The destruction of Babylon and the Chaldean empire was a thing at a great distance; the empire had not risen to any considerable height when its fall was here foretold: it was almost 200 years from this prediction of Babylon's fall to the accomplishment of it. Now the people to whom Isaiah prophesied might ask, "What is this to us, or what shall we be the better for it, and what assurance shall we have of it?"To both questions he answers in these verses, by a prediction of the ruin both of the Assyrians and of the Philistines, the present enemies that infested them, which they should shortly be eye-witnesses of and have benefit by. These would be a present comfort to them, and a pledge of future deliverance, for the confirming of the faith of their posterity. God is to his people the same to day that he was yesterday and will be hereafter; and he will for ever be the same that he has been and is. Here is,

I. Assurance given of the destruction of the Assyrians (Isa 14:25): I will break the Assyrian in my land. Sennacherib brought a very formidable army into the land of Judah, but there God broke it, broke all his regiments by the sword of a destroying angel. Note, Those who wrongfully invade God's land shall find that it is at their peril: and those who with unhallowed feet trample upon his holy mountains shall themselves there be trodden under foot. God undertakes to do this himself, his people having no might against the great company that came against them: " I will break the Assyrian; let me alone to do it who have angels, hosts of angels, at command."Now the breaking of the power of the Assyrian would be the breaking of the yoke from off the neck of God's people: His burden shall depart from off their shoulders, the burden of quartering that vast army and paying contribution; therefore the Assyrian must be broken, that Judah and Jerusalem may be eased. Let those that make themselves a yoke and a burden to God's people see what they are to expect. Now, 1. This prophecy is here ratified and confirmed by an oath (Isa 14:24): The Lord of hosts hath sworn, that he might show the immutability of his counsel, and that his people may have strong consolation, Heb 6:17, Heb 6:18. What is here said of this particular intention is true of all God's purposes: As I have thought, so shall it come to pass; for he is in one mind, and who can turn him? Nor is he ever put upon new counsels, or obliged to take new measures, as men often are when things occur which they did not foresee. Let those who are the called according to God's purpose comfort themselves with this, that, as God has purposed, so shall it stand, and on that their stability depends. 2. The breaking of the Assyrian power is made a specimen of what God would do with all the powers of the nations that were engaged against him and his church (Isa 14:26): This is the purpose that is purposed upon the whole earth ( the whole world, so the Septuagint), all the inhabitants of the earth (so the Chaldee), not only upon the Assyrian empire (which was then reckoned to be in a manner all the world, as afterwards the Roman empire was, Luk 2:1, and with it many nations fell that had dependence upon it), but upon all those states and potentates that should at any time attack his land, his mountains. The fate of the Assyrian shall be theirs; they shall soon find that they meddle to their own hurt. Jerusalem, as it was to the Assyrians, will be to all people a burdensome stone; all that burden themselves with it shall infallibly be cut to pieces by it, Zec 12:3, Zec 12:6. The same hand of power and justice that is now to be stretched out against the Assyrian for invading the people of God shall be stretched out upon all the nations that do likewise. It is still true, and will ever be so, Cursed is he that curses God's Israel, Num 24:9. God will be an enemy to his people's enemies, Exo 23:22. 3. All the powers on earth are defied to change God's counsel (Isa 14:27): " The Lord of hosts has purposed to break the Assyrian's yoke, and every rod of the wicked laid upon the lot of the righteous; and who shall disannul this purpose? Who can persuade him to recall it, or find out a plea to evade it? His hand is stretched out to execute this purpose; and who has power enough to turn it back or to stay the course of his judgments?"

II. Assurance is likewise given of the destruction of the Philistines and their power. This burden, this prophecy, that lay as a load upon them, to sink their state, came in the year that king Ahaz died, which was the first year of Hezekiah's reign, Isa 14:28. When a good king came in the room of a bad one then this acceptable message was sent among them. When we reform, then, and not till then, we may look for good news from heaven. Now here we have, 1. A rebuke to the Philistines for triumphing in the death of king Uzziah. He had been as a serpent to them (Isa 14:29), had bitten them, had smitten them, had brought them very low, 2Ch 26:6. He warred against the Philistines, broke down their walls, and built cities among them. But when Uzziah died, or rather abdicated, it was told with joy in Gath and published in the streets of Ashkelon. It is inhuman thus to rejoice in our neighbour's fall. But let them not be secure; for though when Uzziah was dead they made reprisals upon Ahaz, and took many of the cities of Judah (2Ch 28:18), yet out of the root of Uzziah should come a cockatrice, a more formidable enemy than Uzziah was, even Hezekiah, the fruit of whose government should be to them a fiery flying serpent, for he should fall upon them with incredible swiftness and fury: we find he did so. 2Ki 18:8, He smote the Philistines even to Gaza. Note, If God remove one useful instrument in the midst of his usefulness, he can, and will, raise up others to carry on and complete the same work that they were employed in and left unfinished. 2. A prophecy of the destruction of the Philistines by famine and war. (1.) By famine, Isa 14:30. "When the people of God, whom the Philistines has wasted, and distressed, and impoverished, shall enjoy plenty again,"and the first-born of their poor shall feed (the poorest among them shall have food convenient), then, as for the Philistines, God will kill their root with famine. That which was their strength, and with which they thought themselves established as the tree is by the root, shall be starved and dried up by degrees, as those die that die by famine; and thus he shall slay the remnant: those that escape from one destruction are but reserved for another; and, when there are but a few left, those few shall at length be cut off, for God will make a full end. (2.) By war. When the needy of God's people shall lie down in safety, not terrified with the alarms of war, but delighting in the songs of peace, then every gate and every city of the Philistines shall be howling and crying (Isa 14:31), and there shall be a total dissolution of their state; for from Judea, which lay north of the Philistines, there shall come a smoke (a vast army raising a great dust, a smoke that shall be the indication of a devouring fire at hand), and none of all that army shall be alone in his appointed times; none shall straggle or be missing when they are to engage; but they shall all be vigorous and unanimous in attacking the common enemy, when the time appointed for the doing of it comes. None of them shall decline the public service, as, in Deborah's time, Reuben abode among the sheepfolds and Asher on the sea-shore, Jdg 5:16, Jdg 5:17. When God has work to do he will wonderfully endow and dispose men for it.

III. The good use that should be made of all these events for the encouragement of the people of God (Isa 14:32): What shall one then answer the messengers of the nations?

1. This implies, (1.) That the great things God does for his people are, and cannot but be, taken notice of by their neighbours; those among the heathen make remarks upon them, Psa 126:2. (2.) That messengers will be sent to enquire concerning them. Jacob and Israel had long been a people distinguished from all others and dignified with uncommon favours; and therefore some for good-will, others for ill-will, and all for curiosity, are inquisitive concerning them. (3.) That it concerns us always to be ready to give a reason of the hope that we have in the providence of God, as well as in his grace, in answer to every one that asks it, with meekness and fear, 1Pe 3:15. And we need go no further than the sacred truths of God's word for a reason; for God, in all he does, is fulfilling the scripture. (4.) The issue of God's dealings with his people shall be so clearly and manifestly glorious that any one, every one, shall be able to give an account of them to those that enquire concerning them. Now,

2. The answer which is to be given to the messengers of the nations is, (1.) That God is and will be a faithful friend to his church and people, and will secure and advance their interests. Tell them that the Lord has founded Zion. This gives an account both of the work itself that is done and of the reason of it. What is God doing in the world, and what is he designing in all the revolutions of states and kingdoms, in the ruin of some nations and the rise of others? He is, in all this, founding Zion; he is aiming at the advancement of his church's interests; and what he aims at he will accomplish. The messengers of the nations, when they sent to enquire concerning Hezekiah's successes against the Philistines, expected to learn by what politics, counsels, and arts of war he carried his point; but they are told that these successes were not owing to any thing of that nature, but to the care God took of his church and the interest he had in it. The Lord has founded Zion, and therefore the Philistines must fall. (2.) That his church has and will have a dependence upon him: The poor of his people shall trust in it, his poor people who have lately been brought very low, even the poorest of them; they more than others, for they have nothing else to trust to, Zep 3:12, Zep 3:13. The poor receive the gospel, Mat 11:5. They shall trust to this, to this great truth, that the Lord has founded Zion; on this they shall build their hopes, and not on an arm of flesh. This ought to give us abundant satisfaction as to public affairs, that however it may go with particular persons, parties, and interests, the church, having God himself for its founder and Christ the rock for its foundation, cannot but stand firm. The poor of his people shall betake themselves to it (so some read it), shall join themselves to his church and embark in its interests; they shall concur with God in his designs to establish his people, and shall wind up all on the same plan, and make all their little concerns and projects bend to that. Those that take God's people for their people must be willing to take their lot with them and cast in their lot among them. Let the messengers of the nations know that the poor Israelites, who trust in God, having, like Zion, their foundation in the holy mountains (Psa 87:1), are like Zion, which cannot be removed, but abides for ever (Psa 125:1.), and therefore they will not fear what man can do unto them.

Keil-Delitzsch: Isa 14:18-19

The prophet, whose own words now follow the words of the spectators, proceeds to describe the state in which the tyrant lies, and which calls for such serious reflections. "All the kings of the nations, they are all interred in honour, every one in his house: but thou art cast away far from thy sepulchre like a shoot hurled away, clothed with slain, with those pierced through with the sword, those that go down to the stones of the pit; like a carcase trodden under feet." Every other king was laid out after his death "in his house"( b'bēthō ), i.e. within the limits of his own palace; but the Chaldean lay far away from the sepulchre that was apparently intended for him. The מן in מקברך signifies procul ab , as in Num 15:24; Pro 20:3. He lies there like nētzer nith‛âb , i.e., like a branch torn off from the tree, that has withered and become offensive, or rather (as neetzer does not mean a branch, but a shoot) like a side-shoot that has been cut off the tree and thrown away with disgust as ugly, useless, and only a hindrance to the regular growth of the tree (possibly also an excrescence); nith‛âb (cast away) is a pregnant expression, signifying "cast away with disgust."The place where he lies is the field of battle. A vaticinium post eventum would be expressed differently from this, as Luzzatto has correctly observed. For what Seder 'Olam says - namely, that Nebuchadnezzar's corpse was taken out of the grave by Evilmerodach, or as Abravanel relates it, by the Medo-Persian conquerors - is merely a conclusion drawn from the passage before us, and would lead us to expect הוצת rather than השלכת . It is a matter of indifference, so far as the truth of the prophecy is concerned, whether it was fulfilled in the person of Nebuchadnezzar I, or of that second Nebuchadnezzar who gave himself out as a son of Nabonet, and tried to restore the freedom of Babylon. The scene which passes before the mind of the prophet is the field of battle. To clear this they made a hole and throw stones ( abnē - bor , stones of the pit) on the top, without taking the trouble to shovel in the earth; but the king of Babylon is left lying there, like a carcase that is trampled under foot, and deserves nothing better than to be trampled under foot ( m ūbâs , part. hoph . of būs , conculcare ). They do not even think him worth throwing into a hole along with the rest of the corpses.

Keil-Delitzsch: Isa 14:20

"Thou art not united with them in burial, for thou hast destroyed thy land, murdered thy people: the seed of evil-doers will not be named for ever." In this way is vengeance taken for the tyrannical manner in which he has oppressed and exhausted his land, making his people the involuntary instruments of his thirst for conquest, and sacrificing them as victims to that thirst. For this reason he does not meet with the same compassion as those who have been compelled to sacrifice their lives in his service. And it is not only all over for ever with him, but it is so with his dynasty also. The prophet, the messenger of the penal justice of God, and the mouthpiece of that Omnipotence which regulates the course of history, commands this.

Keil-Delitzsch: Isa 14:21

"Prepare a slaughter-house for his sons, because of the iniquity of their fathers! They shall not rise and conquer lands, and fill the face of the earth with cities." They exhortation is addressed to the Medes, if the prophet had any particular persons in his mind at all. After the nocturnal storming of Babylon by the Medes, the new Babylonian kingdom and royal house which had been established by Nabopolassar vanished entirely from history. The last shoot of the royal family of Nabopolassar was slain as a child of conspirators. The second Nebuchadnezzar deceived the people (as Darius says in the great inscription of Behistan), declaring, "I am Nabukudrac ara the son of Nabunita." בּל (used poetically for אל , like בּלי in Isa 14:6 for לא ) expresses a negative wish (as pen does a negative intention): Let no Babylonian kingdom ever arise again! Hitzig corrects ערים into עיּים (heaps of ruins), Ewald into עריצים (tyrants), Knobel into רעים , and Meier into עדים , which are said to signify conflicts, whilst Maurer will not take ערים in the sense of cities, but of enemies. But there is no necessity for this at all. Nimrod, the first founder of a Babylonio-Assyrian kingdom, built cities to strengthen his monarchy. The king of Asshur built cities for the Medes, for the purpose of keeping them better in check. And it is to this building of cities, as a support to despotism, that the prophet here refers.

Keil-Delitzsch: Isa 14:22-23

Thus far the prophet has spoken in the name of God. But the prophecy closes with a word of God Himself, spoken through the prophet. "And I will rise up against them, saith Jehovah of hosts, and root out in Babel name and remnant, sprout and shoot, saith Jehovah. And make it the possession of hedgehogs and marshes of water, and sweep it away with the bosom of destruction, saith Jehovah of hosts." שם ושאר and נין ונכד are two pairs of alliterative proverbial words, and are used to signify "the whole, without exception"(compare the Arabic expression " Kiesel und Kies ,""flint and pebble,"in the sense of "altogether:"Nöldecke, Poesie der alten Araber , p. 162). Jehovah rises against the descendants of the king of Babylon, and exterminates Babylon utterly, root and branch. The destructive forces, which Babylon has hitherto been able to control by raising artificial defences, are now let loose; and the Euphrates, left without a dam, lays the whole region under water. Hedgehogs now take the place of men, and marshes the place of palaces. The kippod occurs in Isa 34:11 and Zep 2:14, in the company of birds ; but according to the derivation of the word and the dialects, it denotes the hedgehog , which possesses the power of rolling itself up (lxx ἔρημον ὥστε κατοικεῖν ἐχίνους ), and which, although it can neither fly, nor climb with any peculiar facility, on account of its mode of walking, could easily get upon the knob of a pillar that had been thrown down (Zep 2:14). The concluding threat makes the mode of Babel's origin the omen of its end: the city of טיט , i.e., Babylon, which had been built for the most part of clay or brick-earth, would be strangely swept away. The pilpel טאט א (or טאט א , as Kimchi conjugates it in Michlol 150 a b, and in accordance with which some codices and early editions read וטאטאתיה with double zere ) belongs to the cognate root which is mentioned at Psa 42:5, with an opening ד , ט , ס (cf., Isa 27:8), and which signifies to drive or thrust away. מטאטא is that with which anything is driven out or swept away, viz., a broom. Jehovah treats Babylon as rubbish, and sweeps it away, destruction ( hashmēd : an inf. absol. used as a substantive) serving Him as a broom.

Keil-Delitzsch: Isa 14:24-27

There now follows, apparently out of all connection, another prophecy against Asshur. It is introduced here quite abruptly, like a fragment; and it is an enigma how it got here, and what it means here, though not an enigma without solution. This short Assyrian passage reads as follows. "Jehovah of hosts hath sworn, saying, Surely as I have thought, so shall it come to pass; and as I have purposed, that takes place; to break Asshur to pieces in my land, and upon my mountain will I tread him under foot: then his yoke departs from them, and his burden will depart from their neck. This is the purpose that is purposed over the whole earth; and this the hand that is stretched out over all nations. For Jehovah of hosts hath purposed, and who could bring it to nought? And His hand that is stretched out, who can turn it back?" It is evidently a totally different judicial catastrophe which is predicted here, inasmuch as the world-power upon which it falls is not called Babel or Chasdim, but Asshur, which cannot possibly be taken as a name for Babylon (Abravanel, Lowth, etc.). Babylon is destroyed by the Medes, whereas Asshur falls to ruin in the mountain-land of Jehovah, which it is seeking to subjugate - a prediction which was literally fulfilled. And only when this had taken place did a fitting occasion present itself for a prophecy against Babel, the heiress of the ruined Assyrian power. Consequently the two prophecies against Babel and Asshur form a hysteron-proteron as they stand here. The thought which occasioned this arrangement, and which it is intended to set forth, is expressed by Jeremiah in Jer 50:18-19, "Behold, I will punish the king of Babylon and his land, as I have punished the king of Assyria." The one event was a pledge of the other. At a time when the prophecy against Assyria had actually been fulfilled, the prophet attached it to the still unfulfilled prophecy against Babylon, to give a pledge of the fulfilment of the latter. This was the pedestal upon which the Massâh Bâbel was raised. And it was doubly suited for this, on account of its purely epilogical tone from Isa 14:26 onwards.

Keil-Delitzsch: Isa 14:28

This is one of the prophecies the date of which is fixed in Isa 14:28. "In the year of the death of king Ahaz the following oracle was uttered." "The year of the death of king Aha"Z was (as in Isa 6:1) the year in which the death of Ahaz was to take place. In that year the Philistines still remained in those possessions, their hold of which was so shameful to Judah, and had not yet met with any humiliating retribution. But this year was the turning-point; for Hezekiah, the successor of Ahaz, not only recovered the cities that they had taken, but thoroughly defeated them in their own land (2Ki 18:8).

Keil-Delitzsch: Isa 14:29

It was therefore in a most eventful and decisive year that Isaiah began to prophesy as follows. "Rejoice not so fully, O Philistia, that the rod which smote thee is broken to pieces; for out of the serpent's root comes forth a basilisk, and its fruit is a flying dragon." Shēbet maccēk , "the rod which smote thee"(not "of him that smote thee,"which is not so appropriate), is the Davidic sceptre, which had formerly kept the Philistines in subjection under David and Solomon, and again in more recent times since the reign of Uzziah. This sceptre was now broken to pieces, for the Davidic kingdom had been brought down by the Syro-Ephraimitish war, and had not been able to recover itself; and so far as its power over the surrounding nations was concerned, it had completely fallen to pieces. Philistia was thoroughly filled with joy in consequence, but this joy was all over now. The power from which Philistia had escaped was a common snake (nâchâsh ), which had been either cut to pieces, or had died out down to the very roots. But out of this root, i.e., out of the house of David, which had been reduced to the humble condition of its tribal house, there was coming forth a zepha‛ , a basilisk ( regulus , as Jerome and other early translators render it: see at Isa 11:8); and this basilisk, which is dangerous and even fatal in itself, as soon as it had reached maturity, would bring forth a winged dragon as its fruit. The basilisk is Hezekiah, and the flying dragon is the Messiah (this is the explanation given by the Targum); or, what is the same thing, the former is the Davidic government of the immediate future, the latter the Davidic government of the ultimate future. The figure may appear an inappropriate one, because the serpent is a symbol of evil; but it is not a symbol of evil only, but of a curse also, and a curse is the energetic expression of the penal justice of God. And it is as the executor of such a curse in the form of a judgment of God upon Philistia that the Davidic king is here described in a threefold climax as a snake or serpent. The selection of this figure may possibly have also been suggested by Gen 49:17; for the saying of Jacob concerning Dan was fulfilled in Samson, the sworn foe of the Philistines.

Keil-Delitzsch: Isa 14:30

The coming Davidic king is peace for Israel, but for Philistia death. "And the poorest of the poor will feed, and needy ones lie down in peace; and I kill thy root through hunger, and he slays thy remnant." "The poorest of the poor:" b^e cōrē dallim is an intensified expression for b^e nē dallim , the latter signifying such as belong to the family of the poor, the former (cf., Job 18:13, mors dirissima ) such as hold the foremost rank in such a family - a description of Israel, which, although at present deeply, very deeply, repressed and threatened on every side, would then enjoy its land in quietness and peace (Zep 3:12-13). In this sense ורעוּ is used absolutely; and there is no necessity for Hupfeld's conjecture ( Ps . ii. 258), that we should read בכרי (in my pastures). Israel rises again, but Philistia perishes even to a root and remnant; and the latter again falls a victim on the one hand to the judgment of God (famine), and on the other to the punishment inflicted by the house of David. The change of persons in Isa 14:30 is no synallage; but the subject to yaharōg (slays) is the basilisk, the father of the flying dragon. The first strophe of the massah terminates here. It consists of eight lines, each of the two Masoretic Isa 14:29, Isa 14:30 containing four clauses.

Keil-Delitzsch: Isa 14:31

The massah consists of two strophes. The first threatens judgment from Judah, and the second - of seven lines - threatens judgment from Asshur. "Howl, O gate! cry, O city! O Philistia, thou must melt entirely away; for from the north cometh smoke, and there is no isolated one among his hosts." שׁער , which is a masculine everywhere else, is construed here as a feminine, possibly in order that the two imperfects may harmonize; for there is nothing to recommend Luzzatto's suggestion, that שׁער should be taken as an accusative. The strong gates of the Philistian cities (Ashdod and Gaza), of world-wide renown, and the cities themselves, shall lift up a cry of anguish; and Philistia, which has hitherto been full of joy, shall melt away in the heat of alarm (Isa 13:7, nâmōg , inf. abs. niph .; on the form itself, compare Isa 59:13): for from the north there comes a singing and burning fire, which proclaims its coming afar off by the smoke which it produces; in other words, an all-destroying army, out of whose ranks not one falls away from weariness or self-will (cf., Isa 5:27), that is to say, an army without a gap, animated throughout with one common desire. ( מועד , after the form מושב , the mass of people assembled at an appointed place, or mō'ed , Jos 8:14; 1Sa 20:35, and for an appointed end.)

Keil-Delitzsch: Isa 14:32

To understand Isa 14:32, which follows here, nothing more is needed than a few simple parenthetical thoughts, which naturally suggest themselves. This one desire was the thirst for conquest, and such a desire could not possibly have only the small strip of Philistian coast for its object; but the conquest of this was intended as the means of securing possession of other countries on the right hand and on the left. The question arose, therefore, How would Judah fare with the fire which was rolling towards it from the north? For the very fact that the prophet of Judah was threatening Philistia with this fire, presupposed that Judah itself would not be consumed by it.

And this is just what is expressed in Isa 14:32 : "And what answer do the messengers of the nations bring? That Jehovah hath founded Zion, and that the afflicted of His people are hidden therein." "The messengers of the nations"( mal^e acē goi ): goi is to be taken in a distributive sense, and the messengers to be regarded either as individuals who have escaped from the Assyrian army, which was formed of contingents from many nations, or else (as we should expect pelitē in that case, instead of mal'acē ) messengers from the neighbouring nations, who were sent to Jerusalem after the Assyrian army had perished in front of the city, to ascertain how the latter had fared. And they all reply as if with one mouth ( yaaneh ): Zion has stood unshaken, protected by its God; and the people of this God, the poor and despised congregation of Jehovah (cf., Zec 11:7), are, and know that they are, concealed in Zion. The prophecy is intentionally oracular. Prophecy does not adopt the same tone to the nations as to Israel. Its language to the former is dictatorially brief, elevated with strong self-consciousness, expressed in lofty poetic strains, and variously coloured, according to the peculiarity of the nation to which the oracle refers. The following prophecy relating to Moab shows us very clearly, that in the prophet's view the judgment executed by Asshur upon Philistia would prepare the way for the subjugation of Philistia by the sceptre of David. By the wreck of the Assyrian world-power upon Jerusalem, the house of David would recover its old supremacy over the nations round about. And this really was the case. But the fulfilment was not exhaustive. Jeremiah therefore took up the prophecy of his predecessor again at the time of the Chaldean judgment upon the nations (Jer 47:1-7), but only the second strophe. The Messianic element of the first was continued by Zechariah (Zech 9).

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).

Constable: Isa 14:28-32

The oracle against Philistia 14:28-32

Another nation that some people in Judah wanted to trust in for protection from the Mesopotamian threat was Philistia, on Judah's west, but she too was under the judgment of God.

14:28 This oracle came to Isaiah in the year that King Ahaz died, namely, 715 B.C. The dating of prophecies is rare in Isaiah, so probably this date has some bearing on the interpretation of the oracle.

14:29-32 The Philistines were rejoicing because some king or nation that had oppressed them had lost its power. This may be a reference to David since with the death of Ahaz the power of the Davidic dynasty was at its lowest level so far.¹⁶⁵ It seems more likely, however, that Assyria is in view (cf. vv. 31-32). This setback led the Philistines to think that this enemy would not oppress them any longer. But Isaiah warned that the oppressor was not gone forever. A worse enemy would come from that nation in the future, probably Assyria or Babylon (v. 29). Only the poorest of the people would survive the coming enemy. Most of the Philistines would starve or be slaughtered (v. 30).

A disciplined enemy from the north would come against Philistia totally demoralizing its inhabitants (v. 31). Evidently messengers from Philistia (and Egypt?) were seeking an alliance with Judea for mutual protection. The Lord advised through Isaiah to trust in Him, Zion being the place of His presence on earth, rather than in Philistia since it was doomed (v. 32).

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

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

Bibliography

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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.