Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Isaiah 13:16
Their children also shall be dashed to pieces before their eyes; their houses shall be spoiled, and their wives ravished.
16. That the capture of Babylon should be marked by the atrocities here spoken of was no doubt to be expected from the character of the Medes ( Isa 13:17 f.), but no such crimes appear to have stained the actual victory of Cyrus. According to Babylonian records he took possession of the city peacefully. ( Records of the Past, New SeR.V. 144 ff.) Cf. Psa 137:9; Nah 3:10; Hos 13:16; 2Ki 8:12. The last half of the verse is repeated in Zec 14:2.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
Their children also shall be dashed to pieces – This is a description of the horrors of the capture of Babylon; and there can be none more frightful and appalling than that which is here presented. That this is done in barbarous nations in the time of war, there can be no doubt. Nothing was more common among American savages, than to dash out the brains of infants against a rock or a tree, and it was often done before the eyes of the afflicted and heartbroken parents. That these horrors were not unknown in Oriental nations of antiquity, is evident. Thus, the Psalmist implies that it would be done in Babylon, in exact accordance with this prediction of Isaiah; Psa 137:8-9 :
O daughter of Babylon, who art to be destroyed:
Happy shall he be who rewardeth these as thou hast served us;
Happy shall he be who taketh and dasheth thy little ones
Against the stones.
Thus, also, it is said of Hazael, that when he came to be king of Syria, he would be guilty of this barbarity in regard to the Jews (2Ki 8:13; compare Nah 3:10). It was an evidence of the barbarous feelings of the times; and a proof that they were far, very far, from the humanity which is now deemed indispensable even in war.
Their houses shall be spoiled – Plundered. It is implied here, says Kimchi, that this was to be done also before their eyes, and thus the horrors of the capture would be greatly increased.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Their children also shall be dashed to pieces before their eyes, as a just recompence for the like cruelty acted by them upon the Jews, 2Ch 36:17, which also was foretold, Psa 137:9.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
16. (Psa 137:8;Psa 137:9).
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
Their children also shall be dashed to pieces before their eyes,…. Upon the ground, or against the wall, as was foretold should be, Ps 137:8 and in way of retaliation for what they did to the Jews, 2Ch 36:17 and this was to be done “before their eyes”, in the sight of the inhabitants, which must make it the more distressing and afflicting; and, as Kimchi observes, this phrase is to be applied to the following clauses:
their houses shall be spoiled; plundered of the substance, wealth, and riches in them, by the Persian soldiers:
and their wives ravished; by the same, and both before their eyes, and after that slain, in like manner as they had ravished the women in Zion, La 5:11.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
16. Their children shall be dashed in pieces. He draws a picture of extreme cruelty. It is the utmost pitch of ferocity exercised by an invading army, when no age is spared, and infants, whose age makes it impossible for them to defend themselves, are slain. He represents it as still more shocking, when he adds, “ in the sight of their parents.” To the same purpose is what follows about plundering houses and ravishing wives; for these things happen when the enemies have forgotten all humanity, and are inflamed to cruelty, and wish that those whom they have subdued, and even their very name, should be rooted out.
Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary
THE DOOM OF THE CHILDREN OF BABYLON
Isa. 13:16. Their children also shall be dashed to pieces before their eyes.
Consider this terrible declaration
I. As it regards man.
1. As a revelation of the degradation of which he is capable. History may be said to be a manifold revelation to this effect; the Bible alone gives hope for man, by disclosing his capabilities of development and exaltation.
2. As a remindal that no earthly empire is in and of itself secure against utter over throw.
3. As a remindal that what are called national disasters, are made up of sufferings endured by a vast number of individuals.
II. As it regards God. So considered, it should be remembered
1. That His permission of such things is, when viewed comprehensively, only part of the great mystery of the permission of evil.
2. That this is an instance of the working of one of the great natural laws by which God governs the universethe law of retribution.
3. That in the heart of this terrible prediction there is a bright ray of hope. When you see a surgeon performing a terrible operation on a patient, you are sure that he is confident that the patient will be restored to health. So when we look at the world as it is, we are certified that there is a better world to be. God would never have permitted the world to be, if He did not see how out of this present misery He could educe eternal and triumphant blessedness. Towards that better future God is leading on the world (H. E. I., 34213423). The revulsion of feeling with which we read this prediction is one proof of it; there was a time when such incidents in the prosecution of a war would have been regarded as a matter of course. That it should not be so now marks an advance, and is a prophecy of further advances.
Fuente: The Preacher’s Complete Homiletical Commentary Edited by Joseph S. Exell
(16) Their children also shall be dashed.Better, their sucklings. The words of the prediction seem to have been in the minds of the exiles in Babylon when they uttered their dread beatitude on those who were to be the ministers of a righteous vengeance (Psa. 137:9). Outrages such as these were then, as they have been ever since, the inevitable accompaniments of the capture of a besieged city.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
16. Their children Whose children? Either those of foreigners, or of foreigners and natives, according as slaughter was seen to be restricted or general. It was likely to be general, in which case all children are to be slain, every house despoiled, and every woman ravished.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
Isa 13:16 Their children also shall be dashed to pieces before their eyes; their houses shall be spoiled, and their wives ravished.
Ver. 16. Their children shall be dashed in pieces, &c. ] As had been prayed and prophesied long before Psa 137:9 and this was but lex talionis. See 2Ch 36:17 Lam 5:11 .
Their houses shall be spoiled, and their wives ravished.
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
children = babes.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
children: Psa 137:8, Psa 137:9, Hos 10:14, Nah 3:10
and their: Lam 5:11, Zec 14:2
Reciprocal: 2Ki 8:12 – dash Psa 37:25 – yet Isa 13:18 – shall dash Isa 47:6 – thou didst Jer 39:6 – before Jer 51:52 – the wounded Hos 13:16 – their infants Amo 7:17 – Thy wife Hab 2:7 – they
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
13:16 Their {n} children also shall be dashed to pieces before their eyes; their houses shall be plundered, and their wives ravished.
(n) This was not accomplished when Cyrus took Babylon, but after the death of Alexander the great.