I
S A I A H
CHAP. XIII.
Hitherto
the prophecies of this book related only to Judah and Israel, and Jerusalem
especially; but now the prophet begins to look abroad, and to read the doom of
divers of the neighbouring states and kingdoms: for he that is King of saints
is also King of nations, and rules in the affairs of the children of men as
well as in those of his own children. But the nations to whom these prophecies
do relate were all such as the people of God were in some way or other
conversant and concerned with, such as had been kind or unkind to Israel, and
accordingly God would deal with them, either in favour or in wrath; for the
Lord's portion is his people, and to them he has an eye in all the
dispensations of his providence concerning those about them, Deut. xxxii. 8,
9. The threatenings we find here against
Babylon, Moab, Damascus, Egypt,
Tyre, &c., were intended for comfort to those
in
Israel
that feared God, but were terrified and
oppressed by those potent neighbours, and for alarm to those among them that
were wicked. If God would thus severely reckon with those for their sins that
knew him not, and made no profession of his name, how severe would he be with
those that were called by his name and yet lived in rebellion against him! And
perhaps the directing of particular prophecies to the neighbouring nations
might invite some of those nations to the reading of the Jews' Bible, and so
they might be brought to their religion. This chapter, and that which follows,
contain what God had to say to Babylon and Babylon's king, who were at present
little known to Israel, but would in process of time become a greater enemy to
them than any other had been, for which God would at last reckon with them. In
this chapter we have, I. A general rendezvous of the forces that were to be
employed against Babylon, ver. 1-5. II. The dreadfully bloody work that those
forces should make in Babylon, ver. 6-18. III. The utter ruin and desolation
of Babylon, which this should end in, ver. 19-22.
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1 The burden of Babylon, which Isaiah the son
of Amoz did see. 2 Lift ye up a banner upon the high mountain,
exalt the voice unto them, shake the hand, that they may go into the gates of
the nobles. 3 I have commanded my sanctified ones, I have also
called my mighty ones for mine anger, even them that rejoice in my
highness. 4 The noise of a multitude in the mountains, like as of
a great people; a tumultuous noise of the kingdoms of nations gathered
together: the LORD
of hosts mustereth the host of the battle. 5 They come from a far
country, from the end of heaven, even the LORD,
and the weapons of his indignation, to destroy the whole land.
The general title of this book was, The vision of Isaiah the son of Amoz,
ch. i. 1. Here we have that which Isaiah saw, which was represented to
his mind as clearly and fully as if he had seen it with his bodily eyes; but
the particular inscription of this sermon is the burden of Babylon. 1.
It is a burden, a lesson they were to learn (so some understand it), but they
would be loth to learn it, and it would be a burden to their memories, or a
load which should lie heavily upon them and under which they should sink.
Those that will not make the word of God their rest (ch. xxviii. 12;
Jer. vi. 16) shall find it made a burden to them. 2. It is the burden of
Babylon or Babel, which at this time was a dependent upon the Assyrian
monarchy (the metropolis of which was Nineveh), but soon after revolted from
it and became a monarchy of itself, and a very potent one, in Nebuchadnezzar.
This prophet afterwards foretold the captivity of the Jews in Babylon, ch.
xxxix. 6. Here he foretels the reprisals God would make upon Babylon for the
wrongs done to his people. In these verses a summons is given to those
powerful and warlike nations whom God would make us of as the instruments of
his wrath for the destruction of Babylon: he afterwards names them (v.
17) the Medes, who, in conjunction with the Persians, under the command
of Darius and Cyrus, were the ruin of the Babylonian monarchy.
I. The place doomed to destruction is Babylon; it is here called the gates
of the nobles (v. 2), because of the abundance of noblemen's houses
that were in it, stately ones and richly furnished, which would invite the
enemy to come, in hopes of a rich booty. The gates of nobles were strong and
well guarded, and yet they would be no fence against those who came with
commission to execute God's judgments. Before his power and wrath palaces are
no more than cottages. Nor is it only the gates of the nobles, but the
whole land, that is doomed to destruction (v. 5); for, though the
nobles were the leaders in persecuting and oppressing God's people, yet the
whole land concurred with them in it.
II. The persons brought together to lay Babylon waste are here called, 1.
God's sanctified ones (v. 3), designed for this service and set
apart to it by the purpose and providence of God, disengaged from other
projects, that they might wholly apply themselves to this, such as were
qualified for that to which they were called, for what work God employs men in
he does in some measure fit them for. It intimates likewise that in God's
intention, though not in theirs, it was a holy war; they designed only the
enlargement of their own empire, but God designed the release of his people
and a type of the destruction of the New-Testament Babylon. Cyrus, the person
principally concerned, was justly called a sanctified one, for he was
God's anointed (ch. xlv. 1) and a figure of him that was to come. It is
a pity but all soldiers, especially those that fight the Lord's battles,
should be in the strictest sense sanctified ones; and it is a wonder that
those dare be profane ones who carry their lives in their hands. 2. They are
called God's mighty ones, because they had their might from God and
were now to use it for him. It is said of Cyrus that in this expedition God
held his right hand, ch. xlv. 1. God's sanctified ones are his
mighty ones. Those whom God calls he qualifies; and those whom he makes holy
he makes strong in spirit. 3. They are said to rejoice in his highness, that
is, to serve his glory and the purposes of it with great alacrity. Though
Cyrus did not know God, nor actually design his honour in what he did, yet God
used him as his servant (ch. xlv. 4, I have surnamed thee as my
servant, though thou hast not known me), and he rejoiced in those
successes by which God exalted his own name. 4. They are very numerous, a
multitude, a great people, kingdoms of nations (v. 4), not rude and
barbarous, but modelled and regular troops, such as are furnished out by
well-ordered kingdoms. The great God has hosts at his command. 5. They are
far-fetched: They come from a far country, from the end of heaven. The
vast country of Assyria lay between Babylon and Persia. God can make those a
scourge and ruin to his enemies that lie most remote from them and therefore
are least dreaded.
III. The summons given them is effectual, their obedience ready, and they make
a very formidable appearance: A banner is lifted up upon the high mountain,
v. 2. God's standard is set up, a flag of defiance hung out against
Babylon. It is erected on high, where all may see it; whoever will may come
and enlist themselves under it, and they shall be taken immediately into God's
pay. Those that beat up for volunteers must exalt the voice in making
proclamation, to encourage soldiers to come in; they must shake the hand,
to beckon those at a distance and to animate those that have enlisted
themselves. And they shall not do this in vain; God has commanded and called
those whom he designs to make use of (v. 3) and power goes along with
his calls and commands, which cannot be resisted. He that makes men able to
serve him can, when he pleases, make them willing too. It is the Lord of
hosts that musters the host of the battle, v. 4. He raises them,
brings them together, puts them in order, reviews them, has an exact account
of them in his muster-roll, sees that they be all in their respective posts,
and gives them their necessary orders. Note, All the hosts of war are under
the command of the Lord of hosts; and that which makes them truly formidable
is that, when they come against Babylon, the Lord comes, and brings them with
him as the weapons of his indignation, v. 5. Note, Great princes
and armies are but tools in God's hand, weapons that he is pleased to make use
of in doing his work, and it is his wrath that arms them and gives them
success.
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6 Howl ye; for the day of the LORD
is at hand; it shall come as a destruction from the Almighty.
7 Therefore shall all hands be faint, and every man's heart shall melt:
8 And they shall be afraid: pangs and sorrows shall take hold of them; they
shall be in pain as a woman that travaileth: they shall be amazed one at
another; their faces shall be as flames. 9 Behold, the day
of the LORD
cometh, cruel both with wrath and fierce anger, to lay the land desolate: and
he shall destroy the sinners thereof out of it. 10 For the stars
of heaven and the constellations thereof shall not give their light: the sun
shall be darkened in his going forth, and the moon shall not cause her light
to shine. 11 And I will punish the world for their evil,
and the wicked for their iniquity; and I will cause the arrogancy of the proud
to cease, and will lay low the haughtiness of the terrible. 12 I
will make a man more precious than fine gold; even a man than the golden wedge
of Ophir. 13 Therefore I will shake the heavens, and the earth
shall remove out of her place, in the wrath of the LORD of hosts, and in the day
of his fierce anger. 14 And it shall be as the chased roe, and as
a sheep that no man taketh up: they shall every man turn to his own people,
and flee every one into his own land. 15 Every one that is found
shall be thrust through; and every one that is joined unto them shall
fall by the sword. 16 Their children also shall be dashed to
pieces before their eyes; their houses shall be spoiled, and their wives
ravished. 17 Behold, I will stir up the Medes against them, which
shall not regard silver; and as for gold, they shall not delight in
it. 18 Their bows also shall dash the young men to pieces;
and they shall have no pity on the fruit of the womb; their eye shall not
spare children.
We have here a very elegant and lively description of the terrible confusion
and desolation which should be made in Babylon by the descent which the Medes
and Persians should make upon it. Those that were now secure and easy were
bidden to howl and make sad lamentation; for,
I. God was about to appear in wrath against them, and it is a fearful thing to
fall into his hands: The day of the Lord is at hand (v. 6), a
little day of judgment, when God will act as a just avenger of his own and his
people's injured cause. And there are those who will have reason to tremble
when that day is at hand. The day of the Lord cometh, v. 9. Men
have their day now, and they think to carry the day; but God laughs at them,
for he sees that his day is coming, Ps. xxxvii. 13. Fury is not with
God, and yet his day of reckoning with the Babylonians is said to be cruel
with wrath and fierce anger. God will deal in severity with them for the
severities they exercised upon God's people; with the froward, with the cruel,
he will show himself froward, will show himself cruel, and give the
blood-thirsty blood to drink.
II. Their hearts shall fail them, and they shall have neither courage nor
comfort left; they shall not be able either to resist the judgment coming or
to bear up under it, either to oppose the enemy or to support themselves, v.
7, 8. Those that in the day of their peace were proud, and haughty,
and terrible (v. 11), shall, when trouble comes, be quite
dispirited and at their wits' end: All hands shall be faint, and unable
to hold a weapon, and every man's heart shall melt, so that they shall
be ready to die for fear. The pangs of their fear shall be like those of a
woman in hard labour, and they shall be amazed one at another. In
frightening themselves, they shall frighten one another; they shall wonder to
see those tremble that used to be bold and daring; or they shall be amazed
looking one at another, as men at a loss, Gen. xlii. 1. Their faces shall
be as flames, pale as flames, through fear (so some), or red as flames
sometimes are, blushing at their own cowardice; or their faces shall be as
faces scorched with the flame, or as theirs that labour in the fire, their visage
blacker than a coal, or like a bottle in the smoke, Ps. cxix. 83.
III. All comfort and hope shall fail them (v. 10): The stars of
heaven shall not give their light, but shall be clouded and overcast; the
sun shall be darkened in his going forth, rising bright, but lost again, a
certain sign of foul weather. They shall be as men in distress at sea, when
neither sun nor stars appear, Acts xxvii. 20. It shall be as dreadful a time
with them as it would be with the earth if all the heavenly luminaries were
turned into darkness, a resemblance of the day of judgment, when the sun shall
be turned into darkness. The heavens frowning thus is an indication of the
displeasure of the God of heaven. When things look dark on earth, yet it is
well enough if all be clear upwards; but, if we have no comfort thence,
wherewith shall we be comforted?
IV. God will visit them for their iniquity; and all this is intended
for the punishment of sin, and particularly the sin of pride, v. 11.
This puts wormwood and gall into the affliction and misery, 1. That sin must
now have its punishment. Though Babylon be a little world, yet, being a wicked
world, it shall not go unpunished. Sin brings desolation on the world of the
ungodly; and when the kingdoms of the earth are quarrelling with one another
it is the fruit of God's controversy with them all. 2. That pride must now
have its fall: The haughtiness of the terrible must now be laid low,
particularly of Nebuchadnezzar and his son Belshazzar, who had, in their
pride, trampled upon, and made themselves very terrible to, the people of God.
A man's pride will bring him low.
V. There shall be so great a slaughter as will produce a scarcity of men (v.
12): I will make a man more precious than fine gold. You could not have
a man to be employed in any of the affairs of state, not a man to be enlisted
in the army, not a man to match a daughter to, for the building up of a
family, if you would give any money for one. The troops of the neighbouring
nations would not be hired into the service of the king of Babylon, because
they saw every thing go against him. Populous countries are soon depopulated
by war. And God can soon make a kingdom that has been courted and admired to
be dreaded and shunned by all, as a house that is falling, or a ship that is
sinking.
VI. There shall be a universal confusion and consternation, such a confusion
of their affairs that it shall be like the shaking of the heavens with
dreadful thunders and the removing of the earth by no less dreadful
earthquakes. All shall go to rack and ruin in the day of the wrath of the
Lord of hosts, v. 13. And such a consternation shall seize their
spirits that Babylon, which used to be like a roaring lion and a raging bear
to all about her, shall become as a chased roe and as a sheep that no man
takes up, v. 14. The army they shall bring into the field,
consisting of troops of divers nations (as great armies usually do), shall be
so dispirited by their own apprehensions and so dispersed by their enemies'
sword that they shall turn every man to his own people; each man shall
shift for his own safety; the men of might shall not find their hands
(Ps. lxxvi. 5), but take to their heels.
VII. There shall be a general scene of blood and horror, as is usual where the
sword devours. No wonder that every one makes the best of his way, since the
conqueror gives no quarter, but puts all to the sword, and not those only that
are found in arms, as is usual with us even in the most cruel slaughters (v.
15): Every one that is found alive shall be run through, as soon as
ever it appears that he is a Babylonian. Nay, because the sword devours one as
well as another, every one that is joined to them shall fall by the sword;
those of other nations that come in to their assistance shall be cut off with
them. It is dangerous being in bad company, and helping those whom God is
about to destroy. Those particularly that join themselves to Babylon must
expect to share in her plagues, Rev. xviii. 4. And, since the most sacred laws
of nature, and of humanity itself, are silenced by the fury of war (though
they cannot be cancelled), the conquerors shall, in the most barbarous brutish
manner, dash the children to pieces, and ravish the wives. Jusque datum
sceleri--Wickedness shall have free course, v. 16. They had thus
dealt with God's people (Lam. v. 11), and now they shall be paid in their own
coin, Rev. xiii. 10. It was particularly foretold (Ps. cxxxvii. 9) that the little
ones of Babylon should be dashed against the stones. How cruel soever and
unjust those were that did it, God was righteous who suffered it to be done,
and to be done before their eyes, to their greater terror and vexation.
It was just also that the houses which they had filled with the spoil of
Israel should be spoiled and plundered. What is got by rapine is often lost in
the same manner.
VIII. The enemy that God will send against them shall be inexorable, probably
being by some provocation or other more than ordinarily exasperated against
them; or, in whatever way it may be brought about, God himself will stir up
the Medes to use this severity with the Babylonians. He will not only
serve his own purposes by their dispositions and designs, but will put it into
their hearts to make this attempt upon Babylon, and suffer them to prosecute
it with all this fury. God is not the author of sin, but he would not permit
it if he did not know how to bring glory to himself out of it. These Medes, in
conjunction with the Persians, shall make thorough work of it; for, 1. They
shall take no bribes, v. 17. All that men have they would give for
their lives, but the Medes shall not regard silver; it is blood they
thirst for, not gold; no man's riches shall with them be the ransom of his
life. 2. They shall show no pity (v. 18), not to the young men
that are in the prime of their time--they shall shoot them through with their
bows, and then dash them to pieces; not to the age of innocency--they
shall have no pity on the fruit of the womb, nor spare little children,
whose cries and frights one would think should make even marble eyes to weep,
and hearts of adamant to relent. Pause a little here and wonder, (1.) That men
should be thus cruel and inhuman, and so utterly divested of all compassion;
and in it see how corrupt and degenerate the nature of man has become. (2.)
That the God of infinite mercy should suffer it, nay, and should make it to be
the execution of his justice, which shows that, though he is gracious, yet he
is the God to whom vengeance belongs. (3.) That little infants, who have never
been guilty of any actual sin, should be thus abused, which shows that there
is an original guilt by which life is forfeited as soon as it is had.
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19 And Babylon, the glory of kingdoms, the
beauty of the Chaldees' excellency, shall be as when God overthrew Sodom and
Gomorrah. 20 It shall never be inhabited, neither shall it be
dwelt in from generation to generation: neither shall the Arabian pitch tent
there; neither shall the shepherds make their fold there. 21 But
wild beasts of the desert shall lie there; and their houses shall be full of
doleful creatures; and owls shall dwell there, and satyrs shall dance
there. 22 And the wild beasts of the islands shall cry in their
desolate houses, and dragons in their pleasant palaces: and her time is
near to come, and her days shall not be prolonged.
The great havoc and destruction which it was foretold should be made by the
Medes and Persians in Babylon here end in the final destruction of it. 1. It
is allowed that Babylon was a noble city. It was the glory of kingdoms and
the beauty of the Chaldees' excellency; it was that head of gold
(Dan. ii. 37, 38); it was called the lady of kingdoms (ch. xlvii.
5), the praise of the whole earth (Jer. li. 41), like a pleasant roe
(so the word signifies); but it shall be as a chased roe, v. 14.
The Chaldeans gloried in the beauty and wealth of this their metropolis. 2. It
is foretold that it should be wholly destroyed, like Sodom and Gomorrah; not
so miraculously, nor so suddenly, but as effectually, though gradually; and
the destruction should come upon them as that upon Sodom, when they were
secure, eating and drinking, Luke xvii. 28, 29. Babylon was taken when
Belshazzar was in his revels; and, though Cyrus and Darius did not demolish
it, yet by degrees it wasted away and in process of time it went all to ruin.
It is foretold here (v. 20) that it shall never be inhabited; in
Adrian's time nothing remained but the wall. And whereas it is prophesied
concerning Nineveh, that great city, that when it should be deserted and left
desolate yet flocks should lie down in the midst of it, it is here said
concerning Babylon that the Arabians, who were shepherds, should not
make their folds there; the country about should be so barren that there
would be no grazing there; no, not for sheep. Nay, it shall be the receptacle
of wild beasts, that affect solitude; the houses of Babylon, where the
sons and daughters of pleasure used to rendezvous, shall be full of doleful
creatures, owls and satyrs, that are themselves frightened thither, as to
a place proper for them, and by whom all others are frightened thence.
Historians say that this was fulfilled in the letter. Benjamin Bar-Jona, in
his Itinerary, speaking of Babel, has these words: "This is that Babel
which was of old thirty miles in breadth; it is now laid waste. There are yet
to be seen the ruins of a palace of Nebuchadnezzar, but the sons of men dare
not enter in, for fear of serpents and scorpions, which possess the
place." Let none be proud of their pompous palaces, for they know not but
they may become worse than cottages; nor let any think that their houses
shall endure for ever (Ps. xlix. 11), when perhaps nothing may remain but
the ruins and reproaches of them. 3. It is intimated that this destruction
should come shortly (v. 22): Her time is near to come. This
prophecy of the destruction of Babylon was intended for the support and
comfort of the people of God when they were captives there and grievously
oppressed; and the accomplishment of the prophecy was nearly 200 years after
the time when it was delivered; yet it followed soon after the time for which
it was calculated. When the people of Israel were groaning under the heavy
yoke of Babylonish tyranny, sitting down in tears by the rivers of Babylon and
upbraided with the songs of Zion, when their insolent oppressors were most
haughty and arrogant (v. 11), then let them know, for their comfort,
that Babylon's time, her day to fall, is near to come, and the days of her
prosperity shall not be prolonged, as they have been. When God begins with her
he will make an end. Thus it is said of the destruction of the New-Testament
Babylon, whereof the former was a type, In one hour has her judgment come.
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