Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Isaiah 13:14
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.
14. Those who flee to their own land are the foreign residents who had been attracted by the wealth and commerce of Babylon from all parts of the world, cf. Jer 51:44; Nah 2:8; Nah 3:16.
a sheep that no man taketh up ] Better: sheep with none to gather them, Nah 3:18. For the figure cf. 1Ki 22:17; Eze 34:5; Mat 9:36.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
14 16. The dispersion and slaughter of the population of Babylon. The prophecy from this point becomes more explicit in its main reference to Babylon.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
And it shall be – Babylon shall be.
As the chased roe – Once so proud. lofty, arrogant, and self-confident; it shall be as the trembling gazelle, or the timid deer pursued by the hunter, and panting for safety. The word ( tseby) denotes a deer of the most delicate frame; the species that is most fleet and graceful in its movements; properly the gazelle (see Bocharts Hieroz. i. 3. 25). To hunt the antelope is a favorite amusement in the East, but which, from its extraordinary swiftness, is attended with great difficulty. On the first alarm, it flies like an arrow from the bow, and leaves the best-mounted hunter, and the fleetest dog, far behind. The sportsman is obliged to call in the aid of the falcon, trained to the work, to seize on the animal, and impede its motions, to give the dogs time to overtake it. Dr. Russel thus describes the chase of the antelope: They permit horsemen, without dogs, if they advance gently, to approach near, and do not seem much to regard a caravan that passes within a little distance; but the moment they take the alarm, they bound away, casting from time to time a look behind: and if they find themselves pursued, they lay their horns backward, almost close on the shoulders, and flee with incredible swiftness. When dogs appear, they instantly take the alarm, for which reason the sportsmen endeavor to steal upon the antelope unawares, to get as near as possible before slipping the dogs; and then, pushing on at full speed, they throw off the falcon, which being taught to strike or fix upon the cheek of the game, retards its course by repeated attacks, until the greyhounds have time to get up. – (Burders Orient. Cus.)
As a sheep – Or like a scattered flock of sheep in the wilderness that has no shepherd, and no one to collect them together; an image also of that which is timid and defenseless.
That no man taketh up – That is astray, and not under the protection of any shepherd. The meaning is, that that people, once so proud and self-confident, would become alarmed, and scattered, and be afraid of everything.
They shall every man turn unto his own people – Babylon was the capital of the pagan world. It was a vast and magnificent city; the center of many nations. It would be the place, therefore, where numerous foreigners would take up a temporary residence, as London and other large cities are now. Jeremiah Jer 50:37 describes Babylon as containing a mingled population – and upon all the mingled people that are in the midst of her – that is, the colluvies gentium, as Tacitus describes Rome in his time. Jeremiah also Jer 50:28 describes this mingled multitude as fleeing and escaping out of the land of Babylon, when these calamities should come upon them. The idea in Isaiah is, that this great and mixed multitude would endeavor to escape the impending calamities, and flee to their own nations.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Verse 14. “And the remnant”] Here is plainly a defect in this sentence, as it stands in the Hebrew text; the subject of the proposition is lost. What is it that shall be like a roe chased? The Septuagint happily supply it, , shear, the remnant. A MS. here supplies the word yosheb, the inhabitant; which makes a tolerably good sense; but I much prefer the reading of the Septuagint.
They shall – turn – “They shall look”] That is, the forces of the king of Babylon, destitute of their leader, and all his auxiliaries, collected from Asia Minor, and other distant countries, shall disperse and flee to their respective homes.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
And it, to wit, Babylon,
shall be as the chased roe; fearful in itself, especially when it is pursued by the hunter.
As a sheep that no man taketh up; in a most forlorn and neglected condition.
Every man; those soldiers of other and more warlike nations whom she had hired to assist her; which she used to do at other times, but especially upon this great occasion; of which See Poole “Jer 50:16“; See Poole “Jer 51:9“.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
14. itBabylon.
roegazelle; the mosttimid and easily startled.
no man taketh upsheepdefenseless, without a shepherd (Zec13:7).
every man . . . to his ownpeopleThe “mingled peoples” of foreign lands shallflee out of her (Jer 50:16;Jer 50:28; Jer 50:37;Jer 51:9).
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
And it shall be as the chased roe,…. That is, Babylon, and the inhabitants thereof, shall be like a roe when hunted by the dogs; which is a very fearful creature, and at the sight and noise of the dogs flies here and there for safety; just so should be the most courageous of the Babylonians, when their city should be taken. The Syriac version renders it, “they shall be”; and the Septuagint and Arabic versions, “they that are left shall be as the fleeing roe”, such who fall not by the sword. Kimchi interprets it of people of other nations that should be in Babylon when taken, which agrees with the latter part of the verse:
and as a sheep that no man taketh up; the Septuagint and Arabic versions read, “as a straying sheep”, that flees from the wolf; and there being none to fetch it back, and bring it to the flock, it wanders about and perishes:
they shall every man turn to his own people, and flee everyone into his own land; this is to be understood of such foreigners, who were called in by the king of Babylon to his assistance, and the defence of the city; who perceiving it to be taken, or in danger, fled to their own countries, from whence they came, and so left the city naked and defenceless, see Jer 50:16.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
“And it comes to pass as with a gazelle which is scared, and as with a flock without gatherers: they turn every one to his people, and they flee every one to his land.” The neuter v’hayah affirms that it will then be as described in the simile and the interpretation which follows. Babylon was the market for the world in central Asia, and therefore a rendezvous for the most diverse nations (Jer 50:16, cf., Isa 51:9, 44) – for a , as Aeschylus says in his Persae, v. 52. This great and motley mass of foreigners would now be scattered in the wildest flight, on the fall of the imperial city. The second disaster is violent death.
Fuente: Keil & Delitzsch Commentary on the Old Testament
14. And it shall be as the chased roe. He shows that auxiliary troops will be of no avail to the Babylonians, and by these comparisons he describes the fear which shall seize the soldiers. Babylon employed not only her own soldiers, but likewise foreign and hired soldiers. He says that they will all be like roes, which are timorous creatures, and like scattered sheep, so that they will neither repair to their standards or their post, nor preserve any order.
Every one to his own land. Hence it is easily seen that the Prophet speaks, not only of the natives, or even of the strangers who had formerly dwelt there, but of foreigners who had been brought for the protection of the city. We have formerly said that the hearts of men are in the hand of God in such a manner that, according to his pleasure, either those who formerly were timid or cowardly persons suddenly acquire fresh courage, or those who formerly boasted loudly of being bold and daring lose their fierceness and become effeminate.
Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary
(14) And it shall be as the chased roe.Better, as with a chased roe . . . . as with sheep . . . The roe and the sheep represent the mixed multitude (sch., Pers. 52) of all nations who had been carried into Babylon, and who would naturally take to flight, some, though without a leader, returning to their own lands on the approach of the invader.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
14. It shall be That is, Babylon shall be.
As the chased roe The figure is, Babylon shall be as timid and panting when seeking an escape as a “chased” gazelle. Swift enemies from the east shall play the falcon and the dogs upon her, just as does the huntsman upon the trembling gazelle in the chase.
As a sheep Strayed in the wilderness.
That no man taketh up Alone, bereft of its shepherd, exposed to wild beasts, afraid of every thing.
They shall turn Literally, Each to his people they shall turn, and each to his country they shall flee. Babylon was a great capital whither transient trading peoples gathered. And these are probably meant here. On the fall of the imperial city, this motley mass would scatter in wildest flight. Those who remained would be treated as described in the next verse.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
Against Babylon in Particular
v. 14. And it, v. 15. Every one that is found, v. 16. Their children also shall be dashed to pieces before their eyes, v. 17. Behold, I will stir up the Medes against them, v. 18. Their bows also shall dash the young men to pieces, v. 19. And Babylon, the glory of kingdoms, v. 20. It shall never be inhabited, neither shall it be dwelt in from generation to generation; neither shall the Arabians, v. 21. But wild beasts of the desert shall lie there, v. 22. And the wild beasts of the islands,
Fuente: The Popular Commentary on the Bible by Kretzmann
b) The particular part: The prophecy against Babylon
Isa 13:14 to Isa 14:23
1. THE JUDGMENT ON THE CITY AND STATE OF BABYLON
Isa 13:14-22
14And it shall be as the chased roe,
And as 11a sheep that no man taketh up:
They shall every man turn to his own people,
And flee every one into his own land.
15Every one that is found shall be thrust through;
And every one that Isaiah 12 joined unto them shall fall by the sword
16Their children also shall be dashed to pieces before their eyes;
Their houses shall be spoiled and their wives ravished.
17Behold, I will stir up the Medes against them,
Which shall not regard silver;
And as for gold, they shall not delight in it.
18Their 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,
19And Babylon, the glory of kingdoms,
The beauty of the Chaldees excellency,
Shall be as 13when God overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah.
20It 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.
21But 14wild beasts of the desert shall lie there;
And their houses shall be full of 15 16doleful creatures;
And 17 18owls shall dwell there,
And satyrs shall dance there.
22And 19the wild beasts of the islands shall cry in their 20desolate houses,
And dragons in their pleasant palaces:
And her time is near to come,
And her days shall not be prolonged.
TEXTUAL AND GRAMMATICAL
On Isa 13:14. is to be construed neuter = it shall be, it turns out, such are the circumstances. The Hoph. particip. only here; beside this in Isaiah the Niph. and Pual participles, Isa 8:22; Isa 16:3-4. with the meaning gazelle, occurs only here in Isaiah. It seems that the Prophet by here and Isa 13:19, intended a contrast. Babylon in the sense of decus, is at the same time in the sense of dorcas. occurs again Nah 3:18; Jer 49:5.
On Isa 13:15. comp. Isa 22:3; Isa 37:4. only here in Isaiah. from to snatch, seize. that occurs only in Piel and Pual, is used exclusively of dashing to pieces human bodies: Hos 10:14; Hos 14:1; Nah 3:10; 2Ki 8:12; in Isa. the word occurs only here and Isa 13:18. (kindred to ,, Isa 10:13; Isa 17:14; Isa 42:22) only here in Isa. Comp. Zec 14:2.Niph. (Kal. Deu 28:30; Pual Jer 3:2) occurs only here and Zechariah 14.
On Isa 13:19. comp. on Isa 4:2, where also Isaiah has and though not in a genitive relation, a combination that occurs in no other place. comp. on Isa 1:7. The original passage is Deu 29:22. The substantive like infinitives has retained the verbal force.
On Isa 13:20. The intransitive use of and (= to be a habitation) occurs first in Joel 4:20. It does not occur later in Isaiah; whereas in Jeremiah it is frequent (Jer 17:6; Jer 17:25; Jer 30:18; Jer 46:26; Jer 50:13; Jer 50:39): in Eze 29:11 also, and in Zec 2:8; Zec 9:5. The expression , occurs only here in Isaiah. occurs in various connections, Isa 34:10; Isa 34:17; Isa 51:8; Isa 58:12; Isa 60:15; Isa 61:4.. So still Jer 3:2; comp. Jer 25:24, otherwise in later books 2Ch 21:16; 2Ch 22:1; Neh 2:19; Neh 4:1; Neh 6:1. Because of the following , this cannot be understood to mean nomadic shepherds in general. But the word signifies the Arabian proper, because in fact Babylon lay near enough to Arabia for Arabians proper to come thither with their flocks (Gesenius). for , like Job 35:11, for . The form occurs only here The verb (Kal. Gen 13:12; Gen 13:18) is denominativum. is to make : thus it is direct causative. Hiph. (Isa 54:11).
On Isa 13:21. (from unused, from which terra arida) are dwellers in the desert; whether men or beasts is undetermined. Yet analogy favors the latter; for in what follows only beasts are mentioned. The word occurs in Isaiah again Isa 23:13; Isa 34:14; comp. Jer 50:39. Ewald, (Lehrb. 146, g. Anm.) derives , and with the meaning criers, howlers, from Arabic roots, as it seems to me, without necessity. . The LXX., evidently following a kindred sound, translate . But the parallelism demands rather some species of beast. Jerome translates dracones. Aurivillius proposed first ulula, owls, horn owls. (Lev 11:16; Deu 14:15) is the ostrich. The masculine form found only Lam 4:3. According to some, the name means the mourning daughter of the desert, (Meier, Wurzelw. p. 49); according to others, the word is related to the Syr. jaeno, greedy, ravenous. The feminine designation has essentially a poetic reason, comp. Mic. 4:14 with 2Ch 25:13. , (Eze 27:6). The word occurs in Isaiah again Isa 34:13; Isa 43:20; comp. Jer 50:39; Mic 1:8; Job 30:20. are hirsuti, pilosi, goats, i.e., goat-shaped demons. Piel only here in Isaiah; comp. Job 21:11; Joe 2:5; Nah 3:2.
Isa 13:22 are jackals. The singular seems abbreviated from from an unused , ululavit. In Arabic the jackal still is called ibn–awa. The word is found only here and Isa 34:14, and Jer 50:39. only here for (perhaps with reference to their widowhood). Comp. Isa 23:13; Isa 25:2; Isa 32:14; Isa 34:13. are also jackals (comp. Gesen. Thesaur. p. 39, 1457; 1511). The word in Isaiah again Isa 34:13; Isa 35:7; Isa 43:20.
EXEGETICAL AND CRITICAL
1. The Prophet turns from the universal judgment that comprehends all the several acts of judgment against the world-power from first to last, to portray the special judgment to be accomplished on Babylon as the climax of the world-power in its first stage, or as the head of the first world-monarchy. He begins by describing the flight out of the worlds metropolis of men that had flowed thither out of all lands (Isa 13:14). This flight has sufficient causefor whoever is taken perishes (Isa 13:15). Children are dashed in pieces, houses plundered, women ravished (Isa 13:16). The Lord particularly names the people charged with executing the judgment: they are the Medes, a people that do not regard silver and gold (Isa 13:17), but also as little the children, and even the fruit of the womb (Isa 13:18). Then shall Babylon, hitherto the ornament and crown of the Chaldean kingdom, be overthrown like Sodom and Gomorrah (Isa 13:19). It will come to be a dwelling-place for men (Isa 13:20). Only beasts of the desert and dismal hobgoblins shall revel in the spots where once luxury reigned,and in fact the time of the judgment is near, and a respite not to be hoped for.
2. And it shall beravished.
Isa 13:14-16. It is said that rats forsake a vessel that is going to be shipwrecked. When ruin impends over a community, whoever is not bound to it by ties of piety or of possession flees out of it. Thus first of all the foreigners flee. The crowd of such in Babylon will scatter like scared gazelles, like a herd panic-stricken. Babylon was the worlds capital, and consequently a resort for people of all nations. All these, therefore, will seek safety in flight. The words: every manown land are found word for word in Jer 50:16 (comp. Jer 46:16; Jer 51:9; Jer 51:44). A comparison with the context proves that these words are original with Isaiah. With Isaiah the thought is the natural consequence of the preceding image of the frightened gazelles and sheep. In Jeremiah we read: Cut off the sower from Babylon, and him that handleth the sickle in the time of harvest. To these words the thought: they shall turn every one to his people, would be joined on without natural connection, did not the inserted: for fear of the oppressing sword, (artfully) bridge over the gap.
3. Behold, I will stir upnot spare children.
Isa 13:17-18. The Prophet proceeds artistically from the general to the particular. First he describes quite in general the vast, I might say the cosmical, apparatus of war that the Lord sets in motion. To Isa 13:14 the earth in general seems to be the objective point of this military expedition. And it is, too, only not all at once. For, from the description immediately following, taken with the totality of eschatological imagery that prophecy offers, it appears that that general prophecy is realized only by degrees. From Isa 13:14 on we notice that a great centre of the world-power is the object of the execution. At Isa 13:17 we are made aware who are to be the executors, but still are in ignorance against whom they are to turn. Not till Isa 13:19 is Babylon named. Of course the superscription, Isa 13:1, is not to be urged against this statement of the order of thought.
The Medes are first named Gen 10:2; but after that the present is the next mention; afterwards Isa 21:2; Jer 25:25; Jer 51:11; Jer 51:28; 2Ki 17:6; 2Ki 18:11. Not till the books of Daniel and Ezra are they mentioned often. In Gen 10:2 they are named as descendants of Japheth. This corresponds accurately with their Arian derivation. Herodotus (Gen 7:62), who unhistorically derives the name from Medea, says that from ancient times they were named generally Arians. Medea was bounded on the East by Parthia and Hyrcania, on the South by Susiana and Persis, on the West by Armenia and Assyria, and on the North by the Caspian Sea. Comp. Lassen and Spiegel,Keilinschriften;Arnold in HerzogsReal-Encycl. IX. 231 sq. It must be particularly noted here that Isaiah makes the Medes and not the Persians the executors of judgment on Babylon. Jeremiah also, who relies on Isaiahs prophecies against Babylon, does this (Jer 51:11; Jer 51:28). In my work: The Prophet Jeremiah and Babylon I have pointed out what a strong proof lies in this fact against the view that the prophecies of Isaiah and Jeremiah against Babylon were composed during the exile. Verily, in the time of the exile, and after the event, no one forging a prophecy against Babylon that would pretend to credibility, would have named the Medes as its destroyer. Any forger must have named the Persians. But if, about the time when the Medes in a mighty uprising freed themselves from the bondage of five centuries to the Assyrians, the Prophet of Jehovah sees in this nation instantly the future conquerors of Babylon, there is a prophetic look which, justified by the present, loses none of its correctness, because, in fact, not the Medes alone, but the Medo-Persians, accomplished the deed that was predicted. When Isa 21:2 names the Elamites along with the Medes, it does not militate against what has just been said. For the Elamites are not identical with the Persians. See on Isa 21:2. And when, too, in Greek writers, the Persians often appear under the name Medes (comp. , , , Vitringain loc.), still it does not happen exclusively, but so that the Persians are named along with them, and for a special reason, viz., because the Medes were recognized as the by the Greeks. In short, with the Greeks that designation proceeds from exact knowledge. In Isaiah and Jeremiah, the way in which the Medes are mentioned makes the impression that of the Persians they knew nothing, and of the Medes not much.
By saying that the Medes regard not silver and gold, the Prophet would intimate that they are impelled by higher motives than common love of booty. What those higher motives may be, he does not say. They might have their reason in a thirst for revenge (Delitzsch); but they might also have their source in an impulse to fulfil some mission of which they were unconscious. At all events, it is strange that Jer 51:11; Jer 51:28 sq., where he mentions the Medes, gives prominence both times to this thought. For he says there: The Lord hath raised up ( as in our ver. ) the spirits of the kings of the Medes; for his device is against Babylon to destroy it; because it is the vengeance of the Lord, the vengeance of His temple. And thus, too, Jer 51:29 : for every purpose of the Lord shall be performed against Babylon. Bows shall dash the young men to pieces (Isa 13:18)!An extraordinary expression. One might suppose that means here simply to cast down, to strike to the ground, were it not (comp. on Isa 13:16 Text. and Gram.) that Piel and Pual of are constantly used of dashing to pieces human bodies. But in view of this, and moreover that bows and not the bowmen are named, one must understand an effect of crowds is meant, and an indirect dashing to pieces by precipitating those struck, say from the walls. Besides the Medes, Elamites, Persians, and later the Parthians, were celebrated in all antiquity as bowmen. Comp. Isa 22:6; Jer 49:35; Herod. 7, 61 sq; Cyrop. II. 1, 6 sq. The fruit of the womb being named along with children, makes it likely that children unborn are meant. Comp. 2Ki 8:12; 2Ki 15:16; Hos 14:1; Amo 1:13. Their eye shall not spare.By synecdoche the eye that expresses pity is taken for the efficient source. The expression is from the Pentateuch (Gen 45:20; Deu 7:16; Deu 19:13; Deu 19:21 and often; Ezr 5:11 and often).
4. And Babylonnot be prolonged.
Isa 13:19-22. The entire first half of Isa 13:20 occurs as a quotation, Jer 50:39. Babylon shall be uninhabited forever. It shall not even be used as a temporary stopping place. Not even the nomadic Arabian, nor a wandering shepherd of another race, shall camp there and rest his flocks. Goats = satyrs. Perhaps here is the source of that representation of the devil as a being furnished with horns and goats feet. Comp. Geseniusin loc.
When the Prophet at the last declares the judgment on Babylon to be near, that is only in consequence of his having said generally (Isa 13:6; Isa 13:9) that the day of the Lord is at hand. Moreover the notion near is a relative one. Here also from the Prophetic view-point that is represented as near, which, according to common human reckoning, is still far off. As regards the fulfilment of this prophecy, it is sufficiently proved that it has been accomplished, not at once, but gradually in the course of the centuries. We have thus here again an example of that prophetic gaze which, as it were, sees in one plain what in reality is extended through many successive stages of time. Comp. what Vitringa has compiled on this subject with great learning, under the title, Implementum prophetiae literale;Gesenius and Delitzsch in their commentaries; my work: Der Prophet Jeremia und Babylon. p. 135 sq.; and especially Ritter,Erdkunde XI. p. 865 sq.; Die Ruinengruppe des alten Babylon.Ritter describes the impression made by the vast extent of Babylons ruins: When one mounts one of these elevations, he beholds in the external, solemn stillness of this world of ruins the bright mirror of the Euphrates flowing far away, that wanders full of majesty through that solitude like a royal pilgrim roaming amid the silent ruins of his desolated kingdom.
[J. A. Alexander on Isa 13:20-21. The endless discussions as to the identity of the species of animals here named, however laudable as tending to promote exact lexicography and natural history, have little or no bearing on the interpretation of the passage. Nothing more will be here attempted than to settle one or two points of comparative importance. Many interpreters regard the whole verse as an enumeration of particular animals. This has arisen from the assumption of a perfect parallelism in the clause. It is altogether natural, however, to suppose that the writer would first make use of general expressions, and afterwards descend to particulars. This supposition is confirmed by the etymology and usage of , both which determine it to mean those belonging to or dwelling in the desert. In this sense it is sometimes applied to men (Psa 72:9; Psa 74:14), but as these are here excluded by the preceding verse, nothing more was needed to restrict it to wild animals, to which it is also applied in Isa 34:14 and Jer 50:39. This is now commonly agreed to be the meaning, even by those who give to a specific sense. The same writers admit that properly denotes the howls or cries of certain animals, and only make it mean the animals themselves, because such are mentioned in the other clauses. But if has the generic sense which all now give it, the very parallelism of the clauses favors the explanation of in its original and proper sense of howls or yells, viz., those uttered by the .The history of the interpretation is so curious as to justify more fulness of detail than usual. It has never been disputed that its original and proper sense is hairy, and its usual specific sense he-goats. In two places (Lev 17:7; 2Ch 11:15) it is used to denote objects of idolatrous worship, probably images of goats, which, according to Herodotus, were worshipped in Egypt. In these places the LXX. render it , vain things, i.e., false gods. But the Targum on Leviticus explains it to mean demons (), and the same interpretation is given in the case before us by the LXX. (), Targum and Peshito. The Vulg. in Lev. translates the word daemonibus, but here pilosi. The interpretation given by the other three versions is adopted also by the Rabbins, Aben Ezra, Jarchi, Kimchi,etc. It appears likewise in the Talmud and early Jewish books. From this traditional interpretation of here and Isa 34:14 appears to have arisen, at an early period, a popular belief among the Jews that demons or evil spirits were accustomed to haunt desert places in the shape of goats or other animals. And this belief is said to be actually cherished by the natives near the site of Babylon at the present day. Let us now compare this Jewish exposition of the passage with its treatment among Christians. To Jerome the combination of the two meaningsgoats and demonsseems to have suggested the Pans, Fauns and Satyrs of the classical mythology, imaginary beings represented as a mixture of the human form with that of goats, and supposed to frequent forests and other lonely places. This idea is carried out by Calvin, who adopts the word satyri in his version, and explains the passage as relating to actual appearances of Satan under such disguises. Luther, in like manner, renders it Feldgeister.Vitringa takes another step, and understands the language as a mere concession or allusion to the popular belief, equivalent to saying, the solitude of Babylon shall be as awful as if occupied by Fauns and Satyrsthere if anywhere such beings may be looked for. Forerius and J. D. Michaelis understand the animals themselves to be here meant. The latter uses in his version the word Waldteufel (wood-devils, forest-demons), but is careful to apprise the reader in a note that it is the German name for a species of ape or monkey, and that the Hebrew contains no allusion to the devil. The same word is used by Gesenius and others in its proper sense. Saadias, Cocceius, Clericus and Henderson return to the original meaning of the Hebrew wordviz.: wild goats. But the great majority of modern writers tenaciously adhere to the old tradition. This is done, not only by the German neologists, who lose no opportunity of finding a mythology in Scripture, but by Lowth, Barnes, and Stuart in his exposition of Rev 11:12 and his Excursus on the Angelology of Scripture (Apocal. II. 403).
The result apppears to be, that if the question is determined by tradition and authority, denotes demons; if by the context and the usage of the word, it signifies wild goats, or more generically hairy, shaggy animals. According to the principles of modern exegesis, the latter is clearly entitled to the preference. But even if the former be adopted, the language of the text should be regarded, not as a touch from the popular pneumatology (as Rev 18:2 is described by Stuartin loc.), but as the prediction of a real fact, which, though it should not be assumed without necessity, is altogether possible, and therefore, if alleged in Scripture, altogether credible.
Ib. Isa 13:22. As , according to its etymology, denotes an animal remarkable for its cry, it might be rendered hyenas, thereby avoiding the improbable assumption that precisely the same animal is mentioned in both clauses.]
DOCTRINAL AND ETHICAL
1. On Isa 13:2-13. The prophecy concerning the day of the Lord has its history. It appears first in the form of the announcement of a scourge of locusts (Joel); then it becomes an announcement of human war-expeditions and sieges of cities. Finally it becomes a message that proclaims the destruction of the earth and of its companions in space. But from the first onward, the last particular is not wanting: only at first it appears faintly. In Joe 2:10, one does not know whether the discourse is concerning an obscuration of the heavenly bodies occasioned only by the grasshoppers or by higher powers. But soon (Joe 3:4; Joe 3:20) this particular comes out more definitely. In the present passage of Isaiah it presses to the foreground. In the New Testament (Mat 24:29; Mar 13:24 sq.; Luk 21:25) it takes the first and central place. We observe clearly that the judgment on the world is accomplished in many acts, and is yet one whole; and as on the other hand nature, too, is itself one whole, so, according to the saying: whether one member suffer, all the members suffer with it (1Co 12:26), the catastrophes on earth have their echo in the regions above earth.
2. On Isa 13:4 sqq. God cannot do otherwise than punish accumulated wickedness. But He overthrows violence and crime, and metes out to tyrants the measure they have given to others, for He gives to them a master that the heathen shall know that they too are men (Ps. 9:21; Psa 11:5).Cramer.
[On 13 Isa 13:3. It cannot be supposed that the Medes and Persians really exulted, or rejoiced in God or in His plans.But they would exult as if it were their own plan, though it would be really the glorious plan of God. Wicked, men often exult in their success: they glory in the execution of their purposes; but they are really accomplishing the plans of God, and executing His great designs.Barnes.]
[On Isa 13:9. The moral causes of the ruin threatened are significantly intimated by the Prophets calling the people of the earth or land its sinners. As the national offences here referred to, Vitringa enumerates pride (Isa 13:11; Isa 14:11; Isa 47:7-8), idolatry (Jer 50:38), tyranny in general (Isa 14:12; Isa 14:17), and oppression of Gods people in particular (Isa 47:6).J. A. Alexander.]
3. On Isa 13:19 sqq. Imperiti animi, etc. Unlearned minds when they happen on allegories, can hold no certain sense of Scripture. And unless this Papal business had kept me to the simple text of the Bible, I had become an idle trifler in allegories like Jerome and Origen. For that figurative speech has certain allurements by which minds seek to dispose of difficulties. The true allegory of this passage is concerning the victory of conscience over death. For, the law is Cyrus, the Turk, the cruel and mighty enemy that rises up against the proud conscience of justitiaries who confide in their own merits. These are the real Babylon, and this is the glory of Babylon, that it walks in the confidence of its own works. When, therefore, the law comes and occupies the heart with its terrors, it condemns all our works in which we have trusted, as polluted and very dung. Once the law has laid bare this filthiness of our hearts and works, there follows confusion, writhing, and pains of parturition; men become ashamed, and that confidence of works ceases and they do those things which we see now-a-days: he that heretofore has lived by confidence of righteousnesss in a monastery, deserts the monkish life, casts away to ashes all glory of works, and looks to the gratuitous righteousness and merit of Christ, and that is the desolation of Babylon. The ostriches and hairy creatures that remain are Eck, Cochleus and others, who do not pertain to that part of law. They screech, they do not speak with human voice, they are unable to arouse and console any afflicted conscience with their doctrine. My allegories, which I approve, are of this sort, viz., which shadow forth the nature of law and gospel. Luther.
4. On Isa 13:21 sqq. There the Holy Spirit paints for thee the house of thy heart as a deserted, desolate Babylon, as a loathsome cesspool, and devils hole, full of thorns, nettles, thistles, dragons, spukes, kobolds, maggots, owls, porcupines, etc., all of which is nothing else than the thousandfold devastation of thy nature, in as much as into every heart the kingdom of Satan, and all his properties have pressed in, and all and every sin, as a fascinating serpent-brood, have been sown and sunk into each one, although not all sins together become evident and actual in every ones outward life.Joh. Arndts Informatorium biblicum, 7.
5. On Isa 14:1-2. Although it seems to me to be just impossible that I could be delivered from death or sin, yet it will come to pass through Christ. For God here gives us an example; He will not forsake His saints though they were in the midst of Babylon.Heim and Hoffmann after Luther.
6. On Isa 14:4 sqq. Magna imperia fere nihil sunt quam magnae injuriae.
Ad generum Cereris sine caede et sanguine pauci
Descendunt reges et sicca mente tyranni.Luther.
Impune quidvis facere id est regem esse.Sallust.
Among the Dialogi mortuorum of Lucian of Samosata the thirteenth is between Diogenes and Alexander the Great. This dialogue begins with the words: , , , ; thereupon the contrast is ironically set forth between what Alexander was, as one given out to be a son of the gods, and so recognized by men, and possessor of all highest human glories, and what he is at present. It is, as is well known, doubtful whether Lucian really was acquainted with the Scriptures. See Planck, Lucian and Christianity in Stud. u. Krit., 1851, IV. p. 826 sqq. Comp. also Schrader, die Hllenfahrt der Istar., 1874.
7. On Isa 14:4 sqq. Omni genera figurarum utitur ad confirmandos et consolandos suos, ut simul sit conjuncta summa theologia cum summa rhetorica.Luther.
8. On Isa 14:12 sqq. As early as the LXX. this passage seems to have been understood of Satan. It points that way that they change the second person into the third; , etc. At least they were so understood. See Jerome, who thereby makes the fine remark: Unde ille cecidit per superbiam, vos ascendatis per humilitatem. But Luther says: Debet nobis insignis error totius papatus, qui hunc textum de casu angelorum accepit, studia literarum et artium deccndi commendare tamquam res theologo maxime necessarias ad tractationem sacrarum literarum.
9. On Isa 14:13-14. The Assyrian monarch was a thorough Eastern despot rather adored as a god than feared as a man. Layards Discoveries amongst the ruins of Nineveh and Babylon, 1853, New York, p. 632. In the heathen period the pre-eminence of the German kings depended on their descent from the gods, as among the Greeks (Gervinus, Einleit. in d. Gesch. d. 19 Iahrh., 1853, p. 14). Christian Thomasius, in his Instit. jurispr. divinae, dissert. promialis, p. 16, calls the princes the Gods on earth. In a letter from Luxemburg, after the departure of the Emperor Joseph II., it is said (in a description of the journey, of which a sheet lies before me): we have had the good fortune to see our earthly god. Belani, Russian Court Narratives, New Series, III. Vol., p. Isaiah 125: The Russian historian Korampzin says in the section where he describes the Russian self-rule: The Autocrat became an earthly god for the Russians, who set the whole world in astonishment by a submissiveness to the will of their monarch which transcends all bounds.
Footnotes:
[11]a flock that no one collects.
[12]is caught.
[13]Heb. the overthrowing.
[14]Heb. Ziim.
[15]Heb. Ochim.
[16]horned owls, or, yells.
[17]Or, ostriches.
[18]Heb. daughters of the owl.
[19]Heb. Iim.
[20]Or, palaces.
Fuente: A Commentary on the Holy Scriptures, Critical, Doctrinal, and Homiletical by Lange
Isa 13:14 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.
Ver. 14. And it shall be as the chased roe. ] Or, “She,” that is, Babylon, “shall be,” when drunk with security, that usher of destruction, she shall be suddenly surprised. So strong were her walls and bulwarks, that she feared no irruption of the enemy; and so bold she bore herself upon her twenty years’ provision laid in beforehand that she feared no famine by the straitness of a long siege. Herodotus telleth us that when Babylon was taken by Cyrus, some part of the city knew not of their condition till the third day after: the suddenness of their surprise must needs be very dreadful. a
They shall every man,
a Herod., lib. i.; Arist. Polit., lib. ill.
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
man. Hebrew. ‘ish. App-14.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
as the: Isa 17:13, 1Ki 22:17, 1Ki 22:36
they shall: Isa 47:15, Jer 50:16, Jer 51:9, Rev 18:9, Rev 18:10
Reciprocal: Job 9:6 – shaketh Isa 14:6 – is persecuted Isa 16:2 – as Jer 51:29 – the land Nah 2:8 – Stand Nah 3:18 – thy people Luk 21:25 – signs
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
13:14 And {m} 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 to his own land.
(m) Meaning the power of Babylon with their hired soldiers.