Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Isaiah 14:22
For I will rise up against them, saith the LORD of hosts, and cut off from Babylon the name, and remnant, and son, and nephew, saith the LORD.
22. son, and nephew ] A phrase recurring in Gen 21:23; Job 18:19. The proper translation is progeny and offspring. In old English “nephew” means “grandson.” Comp. Spenser’s Fairy Queen, ii. 8. 29:
But from the grandsyre to the nephewes sonne,
And all his seede, the curse doth often cleave.
( Cambridge Comp. to the Bible, p. 218.)
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
22, 23. The Epilogue, going back on the concluding threat of ch. 13.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
For I will rise up against them, saith the Lord of hosts – That is, against the family of, the king of Babylon.
And cut off from Babylon the name – That is, all the males of the royal family, so that the name of the monarch shall become extinct (compare Rth 4:5; Isa 56:5).
And remnant – All that is left of them; so that the family shall cease to exist.
The son and nephew – Everyone of the family who could claim to be an heir of the throne. The dynasty shall cease; and the proud and haughty family shall become wholly extinct. This is the solemn purpose in regard to the family of the monarch of Babylon. It only remains to inquire when and how it was fulfilled.
The circumstances which it was said would exist in regard to the king of Babylon here spoken of, are the following:
(1) That he would be a proud, haughty, and oppressive prince (Isa 14:17, and throughout the prophecy).
(2) That when he died he would be east out with the common dead, and denied the common honors of the sepulchre – especially the honors which all other monarchs have in their burial Isa 14:18-20.
(3) That his posterity would be cut off, and that he would have no one to succeed him on his throne; or that the dynasty and the kingdom would terminate in him Isa 14:21-22.
In regard to the application and the fulfillment of this prophecy there have been three opinions.
I. That it does not refer to an individual sovereign, but to the kings of Babylon in general; that the description is designed to be applicable to the succession or the dynasty, as signally haughty, proud, and oppressive; and that the prophet means to say that that haughty and wicked reign of kings should cease. To this, the objections are obvious –
(1) The whole aspect and course of the prophet seems to have reference to an individual. Such an individual the prophet seems to have constantly in his eye. He descends to sheol Isa 14:9; he is proud, ambitious, oppressive, cast out; all of which circumstances refer naturally to an individual, and not to a succession or dynasty.
(2) The main circumstance mentioned in the prophecy is applicable only to an individual – that he should be unburied Isa 14:18-21. It was not true of all the kings of Babylon that they were unburied, and how could it be said respecting a succession or a dynasty at all that it should be east out of the grave as an abominable branch; and that it should not be joined with others in burial? All the circumstances, therefore, lead us to suppose that the prophet refers to an individual.
II. The Jews, in general, suppose that it refers to Nebuchadnezzar. But to this interpretation, the objections are equally obvious:
(1) It was not true that Nebuchadnezzar had no one to succeed him on the throne; or that his family was totally cut off, as it was foretold of this king of Babylon that his would be Isa 14:21-22.
(2) It was not true that he was denied the privileges of a burial which kings commonly enjoy. To meet this difficulty, the Jews have invented the following story Thev say that when Nebuchadnezzar was driven from society during his derangement Dan. 4, and when he was with the beasts of the field seven years, the people made his son, Evil-Merodach, king; but that when Nebuchadnezzar was restored to his right mind and to his throne, he threw Evil-Merodach into prison, where he lay until he died. At the death of Nebuchadnezzar, the people released him to make him king, but he refused because he did not believe that his father was dead, and said that if his father should find him he would kill him; and that in order to convince him that his father was dead he was taken out of the grave. But this is manifestly a fiction. Besides, the prophecy was not that the king should be taken out of the grave, but that he should not be buried. Nebuchadnezzar was succeeded in the kingdom by his son Evil-Merodach, and he by Belshazzar, in whom the line of kings ended.
III. The only other interpretation of which this is susceptible, is that which refers it to Belshazzar, in whose reign the city of Babylon was taken. This king, called in Scripture Belshazzar Dan. 5, was the son of Evil-Merodach, and the grandson of Nebuchadnezzar. His name, as it occurs in pagan writers, was Nabonadius. In him the circumstances of the prophecy agree:
(1) He was an impious prince (Xen. Cyr. vii. Dan. 5).
(2) In his reign the city and the kingdom came to an end, as it was foretold.
(3) Every circumstance of the taking of Babylon would lead us to suppose that he was denied the privilege of a magnificent sepulture.
(a) He was slain in the night Dan 5:30.
(b) It was in the confusion of the capture of the city – amidst the tumult caused by the sudden and unexpected invasion of Cyrus. It is therefore altogether improbable that he had a regular and an honored burial. Like the common dead, he would lie in the palace where he fell, or in the street.
(c) There is no evidence that Cyrus gave him an honorable sepulchre.
(4) none of his posterity occupied the throne to give honor to the memory of their father.
(5) in him the dynasty and the kingdom ended. Immediately the kingdom on his death was given to the Medes and Persians Dan 5:28-31. None of the names of his posterity, if he had any, are known; and God cut off from him the name and remnant, the son and nephew, as was predicted (see Prideauxs Connection, i. 2. 257-271, Ed. 1815).
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
The name and remnant; the remembrance of those that are dead, and the persons of those who yet survive.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
22. against themthe family ofthe king of Babylon.
nameall the malerepresentatives, so that the name shall become extinct (Isa 56:5;Rth 4:5).
remnantall that isleft of them. The dynasty shall cease (Da5:28-31). Compare as to Babylon in general, Jer51:62.
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
For I will rise up against them, saith the Lord of hosts,…. That is, against the children of the Babylonish monarch; and therefore they shall not rise and possess the earth, and disturb it, since he who is the Lord of armies in heaven and earth, and has all power in both worlds, and has everything at his beck and command, will rise up, who seemed, as it were, asleep, and unconcerned about the affairs of this world, and will set himself against them, and exert his power in their destruction:
and cut off from Babylon; the king of Babylon, and the inhabitants of it:
the name; not of the city, which is mentioned long after, and still is; but of the king and his family:
and remnant; his flesh, or those that were akin to him, as Kimchi interprets it:
and son, and nephew; his son, and son’s son as the Targum, and after that other Jewish writers; the whole family was destroyed with Belshazzar, after whom none of that race was ever heard of any more.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
Thus far the prophet has spoken in the name of God. But the prophecy closes with a word of God Himself, spoken through the prophet. “And I will rise up against them, saith Jehovah of hosts, and root out in Babel name and remnant, sprout and shoot, saith Jehovah. And make it the possession of hedgehogs and marshes of water, and sweep it away with the bosom of destruction, saith Jehovah of hosts.” and are two pairs of alliterative proverbial words, and are used to signify “the whole, without exception” (compare the Arabic expression “ Kiesel und Kies ,” “flint and pebble,” in the sense of “altogether:” Nldecke, Poesie der alten Araber, p. 162). Jehovah rises against the descendants of the king of Babylon, and exterminates Babylon utterly, root and branch. The destructive forces, which Babylon has hitherto been able to control by raising artificial defences, are now let loose; and the Euphrates, left without a dam, lays the whole region under water. Hedgehogs now take the place of men, and marshes the place of palaces. The kippod occurs in Isa 34:11 and Zep 2:14, in the company of birds; but according to the derivation of the word and the dialects, it denotes the hedgehog, which possesses the power of rolling itself up (lxx ), and which, although it can neither fly, nor climb with any peculiar facility, on account of its mode of walking, could easily get upon the knob of a pillar that had been thrown down (Zep 2:14). The concluding threat makes the mode of Babel’s origin the omen of its end: the city of , i.e., Babylon, which had been built for the most part of clay or brick-earth, would be strangely swept away. The pilpel (or , as Kimchi conjugates it in Michlol 150 a b, and in accordance with which some codices and early editions read with double zere) belongs to the cognate root which is mentioned at Psa 42:5, with an opening , , (cf., Isa 27:8), and which signifies to drive or thrust away. is that with which anything is driven out or swept away, viz., a broom. Jehovah treats Babylon as rubbish, and sweeps it away, destruction ( hashmed : an inf. absol. used as a substantive) serving Him as a broom.
Fuente: Keil & Delitzsch Commentary on the Old Testament
22. For I will rise up against them. The Lord now declares that he will do what he had formerly, by the Prophet, commanded others to do. Both statements ought to be observed, that it is the work of God, when wicked men are ruined, though he may employ the agency of men in executing his judgments. He formerly addressed them, saying, Prepare. (Verse. 21.) This should lead us to observe not only the power of God, but likewise the efficacy of prophecy, in consequence of which the prophets, by the appointment of God, command all nations to do this or that; and next, that men are so far from being able to hinder the accomplishment that they are even constrained to yield obedience to God. As we usually rely on men, and, by neglecting God, attribute to them the power of doing everything, we ought to hold by this principle, that since God acts by means of them, he is, strictly speaking, the Author of the work, and that they are only servants or instruments. This is clearly enough shown by the connection of what immediately follows.
I have thought it best to view the particle ו ( vau) as meaning for. He assigns the reason why he enjoins the Medes and others to prepare destruction to the Babylonians, For I will rise up against them. This mode of expression, by which the Lord says that he riseth up, is sufficiently common. By means of it, the Prophet accommodates himself to our capacity, for the majesty of God is so high that we cannot conceive of it. We think that God is idle and unoccupied, so long as he winks at men; and therefore he says that he riseth up, when he exerts his power, and manifests it by some visible act.
Saith the Lord of hosts. This title serves to confirm the statement; as if he had said that he did not, without good grounds, claim the government over the nations; for God governs all armies by his own hand. Since, therefore, he has been appointed to make known the purpose of God, it belongs to him to command men, that they may yield obedience to him. By the words saith the Lord, which he twice repeats in this verse, he affirms that he utters nothing but what has been commanded by God, that this prophecy may carry greater weight.
And I will cut off from Babylon the name and remnant, son and grandson. It has been often enough mentioned before, that this destruction did not overtake Babylon till after the death of Alexander the Great. By the phrase sons and grandsons, he means not only the posterity but the remembrance, which wicked men are so desirous to obtain, in order that they may be applauded for many ages after their death. This also the Lord took away from Babylon, that no remembrance of it might remain, but what was accompanied by dishonor and reproach.
Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary
(22) Son, and nephew . . .The latter word, as throughout the Bible, is used in its true sense as grandson, or descendant. (Comp. 1Ti. 5:4.) Every word that could express descent is brought together to express the utter extirpation of the Babylonian dynasty. The Hebrew adds the emphasis of alliteration, as in our bag and baggage, and other like phrases.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
22, 23. I will rise up against Hitherto the prophet had spoken in his own name, though not by his own authority; but now he speaks in the name of Jehovah, intimating not human agency merely, but the Lord’s
also, as concerned in Babylon’s destruction.
Cut off name remnant son, and nephew Every trace of the old empire is to go out of existence. This was literally fulfilled through Cyrus and his successors of the Medo-Persian empire. And finally the population was swept away, and the city was exterminated; so hedgehogs took the place vacated by men, and marshes the place of palaces.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
Isa 14:22-23. For I will rise, &c. Thus the prophet ends this remarkable song, and again informs us, what he had set forth in the first part of this prophesy, that the judgment should not rest in the royal house, but should pass to all the other inhabitants of Babylon; who should also be wholly cut off; and the city itself entirely wasted and destroyed. See the note on chap. Isa 13:19-22. It is remarkable, that the river Euphrates having been turned out of its course by Cyrus when he took Babylon, and never afterwards restored to its former channel, all that side of the country was flooded by it, and thence becoming boggy and marshy, this prophesy was literally fulfilled, though it was delivered by Isaiah one hundred and sixty years before, and at a time when Babylon was one of the greatest and most flourishing cities in the world: so eminently was that strong and sublime expression verified, I will sweep it with the besom of destruction. See Vitringa, and Newton on the Prophesies.
Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke
Isa 14:22 For I will rise up against them, saith the LORD of hosts, and cut off from Babylon the name, and remnant, and son, and nephew, saith the LORD.
Ver. 22. For I will rise up against him. ] And therefore it is to no purpose for them to rise up to possess the land, and to fill the face of the world with cities, as Isa 14:21 . “I will overturn, overturn, overturn,” &c., Eze 21:27 and who shall gainstand it?
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
name and remnant. Note the Figure of speech Homoeopropheron in this sentence and the next: “renown and remnant, scion and seed”.
and. Some codices, with two early printed editions, omit this “and”.
son, and nephew = scion and seed, or, son and son’s son.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
Babylon
See note 2; (See Scofield “Isa 13:1”).
Fuente: Scofield Reference Bible Notes
I will: Isa 13:5, Isa 21:9, Isa 43:14, Isa 47:9-14, Jer 50:26, Jer 50:27, Jer 50:29-35, Jer 51:3, Jer 51:4, Jer 51:56, Jer 51:57
the name: Job 18:16-19, Pro 10:7, Jer 51:62-64
remnant: 1Ki 14:10
Reciprocal: 1Sa 15:3 – slay 2Sa 14:27 – born 2Ki 10:6 – your master’s sons 2Ki 10:11 – he left Job 18:19 – neither Psa 9:6 – memorial Psa 149:9 – to execute Isa 27:7 – he smitten Isa 32:19 – the city shall be low Isa 40:24 – they shall not be planted Isa 48:19 – his name Jer 27:7 – until Jer 29:32 – punish Jer 50:3 – which Jer 50:12 – a wilderness Jer 50:25 – this 1Ti 5:4 – nephews
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
Yahweh of armies promised to do to Babylon what the speakers in the poem above said. He would cut off the name and posterity of its rulers, and He would destroy the city to the extent that only wild animals would live in the swamps that remained there. Isa 14:22-23 form a conclusion to the poem as Isa 14:3-4 a introduced it.