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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,
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,
II. The dreadfully bloody work that those forces should make in
Babylon,
III. The utter ruin and desolation of Babylon, which this should end in,
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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
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,
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
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
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,
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,
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,
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,
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,
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,
It was particularly foretold
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,
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
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,
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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