20 People will never be living in it again, and it will have no more men from generation to generation: the Arab will not put up his tent there; and those who keep sheep will not make it a resting-place for their flocks.
And I will make you a heritage for the hedgehog, and pools of water: and I will go through it with the brush of destruction, says the Lord of armies.
Her towns have become a waste, a dry and unwatered land, where no man has his living-place and no son of man goes by.
It will not be put out day or night; its smoke will go up for ever: it will be waste from generation to generation; no one will go through it for ever. But the birds of the waste land will have their place there; it will be a heritage for the bittern and the raven: and it will be measured out with line and weight as a waste land. The jackals will be there, and her great ones will be gone; they will say, There is no longer a kingdom there, and all her chiefs will have come to an end. And thorns will come up in her fair houses, and waste plants in her strong towers: and foxes will make their holes there, and it will be a meeting-place for ostriches. And the beasts of the waste places will come together with the jackals, and the evil spirits will be crying to one another, even the night-spirit will come and make her resting-place there. The arrowsnake will make her hole and put her eggs there, and get her young together under her shade: there the hawks will come together by twos.
For out of the north a nation is coming up against her, which will make her land waste and unpeopled: they are in flight, man and beast are gone.
Go up against the land of Merathaim, even against it, and against the people of Pekod; put them to death and send destruction after them, says the Lord, and do everything I have given you orders to do.
For this reason the beasts of the waste land with the wolves will make their holes there and the ostriches will be living in it: never again will men be living there, it will be unpeopled from generation to generation.
See, I am against you, says the Lord, O mountain of destruction, causing the destruction of all the earth: and my hand will be stretched out on you, rolling you down from the rocks, and making you a burned mountain.
And the land is shaking and in pain: for the purposes of the Lord are fixed, to make the land of Babylon an unpeopled waste.
And after reading them, say, O Lord, you have said about this place that it is to be cut off, so that no one will be living in it, not a man or a beast, but it will be unpeopled for ever. And it will be that, when you have come to an end of reading this book, you are to have a stone fixed to it, and have it dropped into the Euphrates: And you are to say, So Babylon will go down, never to be lifted up again, because of the evil which I will send on her: and weariness will overcome them. So far, these are the words of Jeremiah.
And a strong angel took up a stone like the great stone with which grain is crushed, and sent it into the sea, saying, So, with a great fall, will Babylon, the great town, come to destruction, and will not be seen any more at all. And the voice of players and makers of music will never again be sounding in you: and no worker, expert in art, will ever again be living in you; and there will be no sound of the crushing of grain any more at all in you; And never again will the shining of lights be seen in you; and the voice of the newly-married man and the bride will never again be sounding in you: for your traders were the lords of the earth, and by your evil powers were all the nations turned out of the right way.
Worthy.Bible » Commentaries » Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible » Commentary on Isaiah 13
Commentary on Isaiah 13 Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
CHAPTER 13
Isa 13:1-22. The Thirteenth through Twenty-third Chapters Contain Prophecies as to Foreign Nations.—The Thirteenth, Fourteenth, and Twenty-seventh Chapters as to Babylon and Assyria.
The predictions as to foreign nations are for the sake of the covenant people, to preserve them from despair, or reliance on human confederacies, and to strengthen their faith in God: also in order to extirpate narrow-minded nationality: God is Jehovah to Israel, not for Israel's sake alone, but that He may be thereby Elohim to the nations. These prophecies are in their right chronological place, in the beginning of Hezekiah's reign; then the nations of Western Asia, on the Tigris and Euphrates, first assumed a most menacing aspect.
1. burden—weighty or mournful prophecy [Grotius]. Otherwise, simply, the prophetical declaration, from a Hebrew root to put forth with the voice anything, as in Nu 23:7 [Maurer].
of Babylon—concerning Babylon.
2. Lift … banner—(Isa 5:26; 11:10).
the high mountain—rather, "a bare (literally, "bald," that is, without trees) mountain"; from it the banner could be seen afar off, so as to rally together the peoples against Babylon.
unto them—unto the Medes (Isa 13:17), the assailants of Babylon. It is remarkable that Isaiah does not foretell here the Jews' captivity in Babylon, but presupposes that event, and throws himself beyond, predicting another event still more future, the overthrow of the city of Israel's oppressors. It was now one hundred seventy-four years before the event.
shake … hand—beckon with the hand—wave the hand to direct the nations to march against Babylon.
nobles—Babylonian. Rather, in a bad sense, tyrants; as in Isa 14:5, "rulers" in parallelism to "the wicked"; and Job 21:28 [Maurer].
3. sanctified ones—the Median and Persian soldiers solemnly set apart by Me for the destruction of Babylon, not inwardly "sanctified," but designated to fulfil God's holy purpose (Jer 51:27, 28; Joe 3:9, 11; where the Hebrew for prepare war is "sanctify" war).
for mine anger—to execute it.
rejoice in my highness—"Those who are made to triumph for My honor" [Horsley]. The heathen Medes could not be said to "rejoice in God's highness" Maurer translates, "My haughtily exulting ones" (Zep 3:11); a special characteristic of the Persians [Herodotus,1.88]. They rejoiced in their own highness, but it was His that they were unconsciously glorifying.
4. the mountains—namely, which separate Media and Assyria, and on one of which the banner to rally the hosts is supposed to be reared.
tumultuous noise—The Babylonians are vividly depicted as hearing some unwonted sound like the din of a host; they try to distinguish the sounds, but can only perceive a tumultuous noise.
nations—Medes, Persians, and Armenians composed Cyrus' army.
5. They—namely, "Jehovah," and the armies which are "the weapons of His indignation."
far country—Media and Persia, stretching to the far north and east.
end of heaven—the far east (Ps 19:6).
destroy—rather, "to seize" [Horsley].
6. day of the Lord—day of His vengeance on Babylon (Isa 2:12). Type of the future "day of wrath" (Re 6:17).
destruction—literally, "a devastating tempest."
from the Almighty—not from mere man; therefore irresistible. "Almighty," Hebrew, Shaddai.
7. faint … melt—So Jer 50:43; compare Jos 7:5. Babylon was taken by surprise on the night of Belshazzar's impious feast (Da 5:30). Hence the sudden fainting and melting of hearts.
8. pangs—The Hebrew means also a "messenger." Horsley, therefore, with the Septuagint translates, "The heralds (who bring word of the unexpected invasion) are terrified." Maurer agrees with English Version, literally, "they shall take hold of pangs and sorrows."
woman … travaileth—(1Th 5:3).
amazed—the stupid, bewildered gaze of consternation.
faces … flames—"their visages have the livid hue of flame" [Horsley]; with anguish and indignation.
9. cruel—not strictly, but unsparingly just; opposed to mercy. Also answering to the cruelty (in the strict sense) of Babylon towards others (Isa 14:17) now about to be visited on itself.
the land—"the earth" [Horsley]. The language of Isa 13:9-13 can only primarily and partially apply to Babylon; fully and exhaustively, the judgments to come, hereafter, on the whole earth. Compare Isa 13:10 with Mt 24:29; Re 8:12. The sins of Babylon, arrogancy (Isa 13:11; Isa 14:11; 47:7, 8), cruelty, false worship (Jer 50:38), persecution of the people of God (Isa 47:6), are peculiarly characteristic of the Antichristian world of the latter days (Da 11:32-37; Re 17:3, 6; 18:6, 7, 9-14, 24).
10. stars, &c.—figuratively for anarchy, distress, and revolutions of kingdoms (Isa 34:4; Joe 2:10; Eze 32:7, 8; Am 8:9; Re 6:12-14). There may be a literal fulfilment finally, shadowed forth under this imagery (Re 21:1).
constellations—Hebrew, "a fool," or "impious one"; applied to the constellation Orion, which was represented as an impious giant (Nimrod deified, the founder of Babylon) chained to the sky. See on Job 38:31.
11. world—the impious of the world (compare Isa 11:4).
arrogancy—Babylon's besetting sin (Da 4:22, 30).
the terrible—rather, tyrants [Horsley].
12. man … precious—I will so cut off Babylon's defenders, that a single man shall be as rare and precious as the finest gold.
13. Image for mighty revolutions (Isa 24:19; 34:4; Hab 3:6, 10; Hag 2:6, 7; Re 20:11).
14. it—Babylon.
roe—gazelle; the most timid and easily startled.
no man taketh up—sheep defenseless, without a shepherd (Zec 13:7).
every man … to his own people—The "mingled peoples" of foreign lands shall flee out of her (Jer 50:16, 28, 37; 51:9).
15. found—in the city.
joined—"intercepted" [Maurer]. "Every one that has withdrawn himself," namely, to hide in the houses [Gesenius].
16. (Ps 137:8, 9).
17. Medes—(Isa 21:2; Jer 51:11, 28). At that time they were subject to Assyria; subsequently Arbaces, satrap of Media, revolted against the effeminate Sardanapalus, king of Assyria, destroyed Nineveh, and became king of Media, in the ninth century B.C.
not regard silver—In vain will one try to buy his life from them for a ransom. The heathen Xenophon (Cyropædia, 5,1,10) represents Cyrus as attributing this characteristic to the Medes, disregard of riches. A curious confirmation of this prophecy.
18. bows—in the use of which the Persians were particularly skilled.
19. glory of kingdoms—(Isa 14:4; 47:5; Jer 51:41).
beauty of … excellency—Hebrew, "the glory of the pride" of the Chaldees; it was their glory and boast.
as … Gomorrah—as utterly (Jer 49:18; 50:40; Am 4:11). Taken by Cyrus, by clearing out the canal made for emptying the superfluous waters of the Euphrates, and directing the river into this new channel, so that he was able to enter the city by the old bed in the night.
20. Literally fulfilled.
neither … Arabian pitch tent—Not only shall it not be a permanent residence, but not even a temporary resting-place. The Arabs, through dread of evil spirits, and believing the ghost of Nimrod to haunt it, will not pass the night there (compare Isa 13:21).
neither … shepherds—The region was once most fertile; but owing to the Euphrates being now no longer kept within its former channels, it has become a stagnant marsh, unfit for flocks; and on the wastes of its ruins (bricks and cement) no grass grows.
21. wild beasts—Hebrew, tsiyim, animals dwelling in arid wastes. Wild cats, remarkable for their howl [Bochart].
doleful creatures—"howling beasts," literally, "howlings" [Maurer].
owls—rather, "ostriches"; a timorous creature, delighting in solitary deserts and making a hideous noise [Bochart].
satyrs—sylvan demi-gods—half man, half goat—believed by the Arabs to haunt these ruins; probably animals of the goat-ape species [Vitringa]. Devil-worshippers, who dance amid the ruins on a certain night [J. Wolff].
22. wild beasts of the islands—rather, "jackals"; called by the Arabs "sons of howling"; an animal midway between a fox and a wolf [Bochart and Maurer].
cry—rather, "answer," "respond" to each other, as wolves do at night, producing a most dismal effect.
dragons—serpents of various species, which hiss and utter dolorous sounds. Fable gave them wings, because they stand with much of the body elevated and then dart swiftly. Maurer understands here another species of jackal.
her time … near—though one hundred seventy-four years distant, yet "near" to Isaiah, who is supposed to be speaking to the Jews as if now captives in Babylon (Isa 14:1, 2).