Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Isaiah 13:22
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.
22. the wild beasts of the islands ] R.V. wolves. The word has certainly nothing to do with that for “island.” It probably comes from another root meaning “to howl”; but again it is impossible to specify the particular animal.
their desolate houses ] The word is ’almnth, “widows,” which A.V. following, as so often, Jewish authorities understands figuratively. It is either a by-form or a copyist’s error for ’armnth m, their palaces (see ch. Isa 34:13). For dragons render jackals (R.V.).
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
And the wild beasts of the islands – ( ‘yym); see the notes at Isa 11:11; Isa 41:1, on the word rendered islands. The word denotes islands, or coasts, and as those coasts and islands were unknown and unexplored, the word seems to have denoted unknown and uninhabited regions in general. Boehart supposes that by the word here used is denoted a species of wolves, the jackal, or the thoes. It is known as a wild animal, exceedingly fierce, and is also distinguished by alternate howlings in the night (see Bocharts Hieroz. i. 3. 12). The word wolf probably will not express an erroneous idea here. The Chaldee renders it, Cats.
Shall cry – Hebrew, Shall answer, or respond to each other. This is known to be the custom of wolves and some other wild animals, who send forth those dismal howls in alternate responses at night. This alternation of the howl or cry gives an additional impressiveness to the loneliness and desolation of forsaken Babylon.
And dragons – ( tannyn). This word, in its various forms of tannim, taninim, tannin, and tannoth, denotes sometimes jackals or thoes, as in Job 30:29; Psa 44:19; Mic 1:8; Mal 1:3. But it also denotes a great fish, a whale, a sea monster, a dragon, a serpent. It is translated a whale in Gen 1:21; Job 7:12; Eze 32:2; serpents, Exo 7:9-10, Exo 7:12; dragons, or dragon, Deu 32:33; Neh 2:13; Psa 44:19; Psa 74:13; Psa 91:13; Psa 148:7; Isa 27:1; Isa 51:9; Jer 14:6; Jer 51:34; Mal 1:3, et al.; and once sea monsters, Lam 4:3. A dragon properly means a kind of winged serpent much celebrated in the dark ages. Here it may not improperly be rendered jackal (see Bocharts Hieroz. i. 1. 9, p. 69).
In their pleasant palaces – Hebrew, Their palaces of luxury and pleasure. The following testimonies from travelers will show how minutely this was accomplished: There are many dens of wild beasts in various parts. There are quantities of porcupine quills. In most of the cavities are numberless bats and owls. These caverns, over which the chambers of majesty may have been spread, are now the refuge of jackals and other savage animals. The mouths of their entrances are strewed with the bones of sheep and goats; and the loathsome smell that issues from most of them is sufficient warning not to proceed into the den. – (Sir R. K. Porters Travels, vol. ii. p. 342.) The mound was full of large holes; we entered some of them, and found them strewed with the carcasses and skeletons of animals recently killed. The ordure of wild beasts was so strong, that prudence got the better of curiosity, for we had no doubt as to the savage nature of the inhabitants. Our guides, indeed, told us that all the ruins abounded in lions and other wild beasts; so literally has the divine prediction been fulfilled, that wild beasts of the deserts should lie there. – (Keppels Narrative, vol. i. pp. 179, 180.)
And her time is near to come – This was spoken about 174 years before the destruction of Babylon. But we are to bear in mind that the prophet is to be supposed to be speaking to the captive Jews in Babylon, and speaking to them respecting their release (see Isa 14:1-2; compare remarks on the Analysis of this chapter). Thus considered, supposing the prophet to be addressing the Jews in captivity, or ministering consolation to them, the time was near. Or if we suppose him speaking as in his own time, the period when Babylon was to be destroyed was at no great distance.
On this whole prophecy, we may observe:
(1) That it was uttered at least 170 years before it was fulfilled. Of this there is all the proof that can be found in regard to any ancient writings.
(2) When uttered, there was the strongest improbability that it would be fulfilled. This improbability arose from the following circumstances:
(a) The Jews were secure in their own land, and they had no reason to dread the Babylonians; they had no wars with them, and it was improbable that they would be plucked up as a nation and carried there as captives. Such a thing had never occurred, and there were no circumstances that made it probable that it would occur.
(b) The great strength and security of Babylon rendered it improbable. It was the capital of the pagan world; and if there was any city that seemed impregnable, it was this.
(c) It was improbable that it would be overthrown by the Medes. Media, at the time when the prophecy was uttered, was a dependent province of Assyria (note, Isa 13:17), and it was wholly improbable that the Medes would revolt; that they would subdue their masters; that they would be united to the Persians, and that thus a new kingdom would arise, that should overthrow the most mighty capital of the world.
(d) It was improbable that Babylon would become uninhabitable. It was in the midst of a most fertile country; and by no human sagacity could it have been seen that the capital would be removed to Susa, or that Seleucia would be founded, thus draining it of its inhabitants; or that by the inundation of waters it would become unhealthy. How could mere human sagacity have foreseen that there would not be a house in it in the sixteenth century; or that now, in 1839, it would be a wide and dreary waste? Can any man now tell what London, or Paris, or New York, or Philadelphia, will be two years hence? Yet a prediction that those cities shall be the residence of wild beasts of the desert, of satyrs and dragons, would be as probable now as was the prediction respecting Babylon at the time when Isaiah uttered these remarkable prophecies.
(3) The prophecy is not vague conjecture. It is not a general statement. It is minute, and definite, and particular; and it has been as definitely, and minutely, and particularly fulfilled.
(4) This is one of the evidences of the divine origin of the Bible. How will the infidel account for this prophecy and its fulfillment? It will not do to say that it is accident. It is too minute, and too particular. It is not human sagacity. No human sagacity could have foretold it. It is not fancied fulfillment. It is real, in the most minute particulars. And if so, then Isaiah was commissioned by Yahweh as he claimed to be – for none but the omniscient Jehovah can foresee and describe future events as the destruction of Babylon was foreseen and described. And if this prophecy was inspired by God, by the same train of reasoning it can be proved that the whole Bible is a revelation from heaven. For a very interesting account of the present state of the ruins of Babylon, furnishing the most complete evidence of the fulfillment of the Prophecies in regard to it, the reader may consult an article in the Amos Bib. Rep., vol. viii. pp. 177-189. (See also the two Memoirs on the Ruins of Babylon, by C. John Rich, Esq. London, 1816 and 1818.) The frontispiece to this volume, compiled from the sketches of recent travelers, gives accurate and interesting views of those ruins.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Verse 22. In their pleasant palaces – “In their palaces”] bealmenothaiv; a plain mistake, I presume, for bearmenothaiv. It is so corrected in two MSS., the Syriac, Chaldee, and Vulgate.
‘
, .
HOM. Hymn. in Apol. 77.
Of which the following passage of Milton may be taken for a translation, though not so designed: –
“And in their palaces,
Where luxury late reigned, sea monsters whelped,
And stabled.” Par. Lost, xi. 750.
This image of desolation is handled with great propriety and force by some of the Persian poets: –
[Arabic]
[Arabic]
“The spider holds the veil in the palace of Caesar;
The owl stands centinel on the watch-tower of Afrasiab.”
On this quotation Sir W. Jones observes, [Arabic] noubet is an Arabic word, signifying a turn, a change, a watch; hence [Arabic] noubet zudun in Persian signifies to relieve the guards by the sounds of drums and trumpets. Their office is given by the poet to the owl; as that of [Arabic] purdeh dar, or chamberlain, is elegantly assigned to the spider.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
Her time is near to come; so it was, though not according to mans rash judgment and impatient expectation, yet according to Gods estimation, and to the eye of faith, whereby Abraham saw Christs day as present, many ages before it came, Joh 8:56; and comparatively; for it happened within two hundred years; which is but a small proportion of time, if it be compared either with the foregoing or following ages of the world, or with the immense duration of eternity, from whence it was decreed by God, and therefore might well be said now to be near the accomplishment of it. In like manner the apostles speak of the day of judgment as near in their time, though it was at many ages distance.
Her days shall not be prolonged beyond the time prefixed and appointed by God. Compare Hab 2:3.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
22. wild beasts of theislandsrather, “jackals”; called by the Arabs “sonsof howling”; an animal midway between a fox and a wolf [BOCHARTand MAURER].
cryrather, “answer,””respond” to each other, as wolves do at night, producing amost dismal effect.
dragonsserpents ofvarious species, which hiss and utter dolorous sounds. Fable gavethem wings, because they stand with much of the body elevated andthen dart swiftly. MAURERunderstands here another species of jackal.
her time . . . nearthoughone hundred seventy-four years distant, yet “near” toIsaiah, who is supposed to be speaking to the Jews as if now captivesin Babylon (Isa 14:1;Isa 14:2).
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
And the wild beasts of the islands shall cry in their desolate houses,…. The Targum and Syriac version, “in their palaces”, and so the Vulgate Latin; or “with their widows”, such as have lost their mates: what creatures are here meant is very uncertain; we in general call them the wild beasts of the islands, because the word is sometimes used for islands; the Targum renders it “cats”, wild ones; the Syriac version, “sirens”; and the Arabic, the “hyaenae”; the Septuagint version, “onocentaurs”; and the Vulgate Latin version, “owls”, which live in desolate houses, and cry or answer to one another, which is the sense of the phrase here:
and dragons in [their] pleasant palaces; where they delight to be, though otherwise very dismal. The Septuagint and Arabic versions render it, “hedgehogs”: the Syriac version, “wild dogs”; and the Vulgate Latin version, “sirens”; the word is commonly used for “whales”, and sometimes for serpents, which seems to be the sense here; and to this agrees the account that R. Benjamin Tudelensis r gives of Babylon, who, when he was there, about five or six hundred years ago, saw the palace of Nebuchadnezzar in ruins, but men were afraid to enter into it, because of serpents and scorpions, which were within it. Rauwolff, a German traveller, about the year 1574, reports of the tower of Babylon, that it was so ruinous, so low, and so full of venomous creatures, which lodge in holes made by them in the rubbish, that no one durst approach nearer to it than within half a league, excepting during two months in the winter, when these animals never stir out of their holes s:
and her time [is] near to come; that is, the time of the destruction of Babylon, as the Targum expresses it; which, though two hundred years or more from the time of this prophecy, yet but a short time with God; and when this was made known to the Jews in captivity, for whose comfort it is written, it was not afar off:
and her days shall not be prolonged; the days of her prosperity and happiness, but should be shortened.
r Itinerarium, p. 76. s Vid. Prideaux’s Connection, par. 1. p. 569.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
22. And Iim shall cry (211) He expresses the same thing as had been formerly said, and shows how dreadful that change will be, in order to make it manifest that it proceeds from the judgment of God, and not from chance. The picture is even heightened by adding that this will take place, not in ordinary buildings, but in delightful palaces (212) While the shortness of time which is here laid down refers to the approaching calamity, it was at the same time necessary that the hope of believers should be held longer in suspense. I have said that Babylon was not so speedily overturned, and that the Medes did not inflict such a calamity upon it that it could be compared to a desert. He therefore said that it would quickly happen, because the beginnings of it were soon afterwards seen; for the Jews ought to have been satisfied with knowing that the punishment had not been threatened without good grounds.
And her time is near. The Holy Spirit also keeps in view our ardor and rashness. We would choose that God should immediately execute his judgments, and punish wicked men whenever we wish. But God knows what is the proper time, for which our eagerness does not allow us to wait. Yet if we would take into consideration his eternity, we should quickly find that by patience we laid the bridle on excessive haste; but as our eagerness can hardly be restrained in any other manner, God sometimes deals with us gently to some extent, by declaring that He will soon come. Again, let us not judge of the shortness of time according to our own views, but, disregarding the days of this life, let us raise our hearts to heaven. Especially let us learn to bow, whenever we are made to feel, even in a small degree, the judgments of God, though he delay their full accomplishment for a longer period.
And her days shall not be prolonged. This second clause is added for confirmation; as if he had said that the Lord hath appointed a day, and that none shall be admitted to obtain a truce.
(211) Bogus footnote
(212) Bogus footnote
Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary
(22) Wild beasts of the islands . . .The Authorised version rests on a false etymology of the words, which strictly mean wailers, and in its form ey probably represents the cry of a wild beast, such as the jackal, with which it is commonly identified (see Isa. 34:14; Jer. 50:39), or, possibly, the hyna. Perhaps, however, as the word jackal is wanting in the next clause, it would be best to keep wailers.
In their desolate houses.Literally, as the text stands, among their widows; but the word closely resembles that for castles or fortresses in Isa. 32:14; Isa. 34:13. The Authorised version is either an attempt to combine the two meanings, or to take the word widow figuratively, as in Isa. 47:8, for a house bereaved of its owner.
Dragons in their pleasant palaces.Better, jackals (Isa. 34:13; Jer. 51:37, and elsewhere) in their palaces of pleasure.
Her time.The appointed day of visitation (Jer. 46:21; Jer. 50:27).
The whole passage finds a singular parallel in an inscription of Assurbanipals recording his devastation of the fields of Elam: Wild asses, serpents, beasts of the desert and galhus (bull-shaped demons), safely I caused to lie down in them (Records of the Past, i., p. 80). Isaiah may have known of such boasts, and if so, his words may have pointed to the working of a law of retribution like that invoked by the Babylonian exiles in Psa. 137:8. The doom that Babylon had inflicted on others was to come upon herself. The language of modern travellers illustrates the fulfilment of the prediction. Owls start from the scanty thickets, and the foul jackal stalks among the furrows (Layard, Nineveh and Babylon, p. 484, quoted by Kay).
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
22. Beasts of the islands See note on Isa 11:11. Literally, the first idea is islands, then coasts, and, on further advance of the conception, some desolate place.
Shall cry As in responsive wailing, like that of jackals.
Dragons The word may mean serpents, and when the idea is fitted to the conditions of the place, it probably does mean this. See further in notes on Job 7:12; Job 30:29. No man ever excelled Isaiah in painting deep, strong, tragic, thrilling words into a scene. Compare Isa 10:28-32.
That Cyrus, at the head of the greet Medo-Persian army, is seen in the foreground as the commencing agency of this terrific desolation, there can be no doubt. Unbelievers admit this. But the point of chief importance in this prediction is, the thorough eventual desolation of Babylon. For hundreds of years the prophecy has been completely fulfilled. Travellers furnish a description quite well enough answering to a state of things presented in the prediction. It answers little for an objection to this, even if here and there, on the large tract once occupied by the great city, a miserable village or larger town like Hillah has now and then sprung up, for the main truth stands; and as to Hillah, a town of ten thousand inhabitants, (NEWMAN’S Babylon and Nineveh,) Rawlinson is authority for doubt whether it stands on any part of the ancient site. Be it that it does so stand, it occupies but a speck in the area of two hundred square miles or more of old Babylon. The prophet’s vision had “its appointed time;” but at the end it spake, and did not lie: it came and tarried not. Hab 2:3.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
REFLECTIONS
READER! we have been now attending to the inspired penman’s account of the burden of Babylon. And we who live in gospel days, have lived to see the accomplishment of God’s denunciation against that devoted kingdom. Here let as ponder well the solemn subject; for it is a very solemn one. Think not, Reader, that the subject is remote, and the history one in which you and I have no concern. Indeed, indeed we have the highest concern. For as Babylon became the den of dragons, which was once the glory of kingdoms, and the beauty of the Chaldees excellency; so our corrupt and fallen nature, is become the habitation of every unclean and corrupt affection, which was once beautiful and lovely. And unless this nature be changed by sovereign grace, and the heart, which is now like a cage of unclean birds and beasts of prey, be made once more the habitation of God through the Spirit; how shall we ever, see the face of God in glory, or be recovered to our original happiness?
Precious Jesus! now doth every view of our nature, and the miseries of it, tend to endear thee to the heart, and to bring home the vast, the infinite importance of thy salvation? Oh! thou purifier of our lost nature! Oh! thou almighty Jesus! thou canst cleanse, and thou wilt cleanse by thy blood, the souls and bodies of thy people! Yes! blessed Jesus, in thee, and by thee, they shall be restored, yea, more than restored, to their original purity and holiness. Thou wilt drive out the strong man armed, and subdue all our sins, under thee. Yea, the God of peace will bruise Satan under our feet shortly. Hail, thou glorious restorer of all our waste places! Hail, thou blessed Emmanuel, who hast redeemed us to God by thy blood. Ere long thou wilt take home thy Church to thine eternal kingdom, and present it to thyself, a glorious church, not having spot or wrinkle or any such thing, but that it shall be holy and without blemish. Amen.
Fuente: Hawker’s Poor Man’s Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
Isa 13:22 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.
Ver. 22. And the wild beasts of the islands. ] Heb., Ijim – i.e., desolate places and far remote.
And her time is near to come.
“ O mora! Christe veni. ”
“O delay, Christ, be come.”
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
the wild beasts = jackals.
dragons, or wild dogs.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
the wild beasts: Heb. Iim
desolate houses: or, palaces, dragons. Isa 35:7
her time: Deu 32:35, Jer 51:33, Eze 7:7-10, Hab 2:3, 2Pe 2:3, 2Pe 3:9, 2Pe 3:10
Reciprocal: Lev 11:16 – General Job 30:29 – a brother Isa 14:23 – make Isa 25:2 – palace Isa 34:13 – an habitation Isa 34:14 – the wild beasts of the island Jer 9:11 – a den Jer 48:16 – near Mal 1:3 – the Act 28:4 – beast