Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Isaiah 13:19
And Babylon, the glory of kingdoms, the beauty of the Chaldees’ excellency, shall be as when God overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah.
19. the Chaldees’ excellency ] The territory of the Chaldans lay near the head of the Persian Gulf. Their dominion over Babylon began with Nabopolassar, the father of Nebuchadnezzar.
as when God overthrew, &c. ] See on Isa 1:7 and cf. Amo 4:11, where the same phrase occurs (also Jer 50:40).
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
And Babylon, the glory of kingdoms – That is, the capital or chief ornament of many nations. Appellations of this kind, applied to Babylon, abound in the Scriptures. In Dan 4:30, it is called great Babylon; in Isa 14:4, it is called the golden city; in Isa 47:5, the lady of kingdoms; in Jer 51:13, it is, spoken of as abundant in treasures; and, in Jer 51:41, as the praise of the whole earth. All these expressions are designed to indicate its immense wealth and magnificence. It was the capital of a mighty empire, and was the chief city of the pagan world.
The beauty of the Chaldees excellency – Hebrew, The glory of the pride of the Chaldees; or the ornament of the proud Chaldees. It was their boast and glory; it was that on which they chiefly prided themselves. How well it deserved these appellations we have already seen.
Shall be as when God overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah – Gen 19:24. That is, shall be completely and entirely overthrown; shall cease to be inhabited, and shall be perfectly desolate. It does not mean that it shall be overthrown in the same manner as Sodom was, but that it should be as completely and entirely ruined. The successive steps in the overthrow of Babylon, by which this prophecy was so signally fulfilled, were the following:
(1) The taking of the city by Cyrus. This was accomplished by his clearing out the Pallacopas, a canal that was made for the purpose of emptying the superfluous waters of the Euphrates into the lakes and marshes formed by it in the south – west borders of the province toward Arabia. Into this canal he directed the waters of the Euphrates, and was thus enabled to enter the city in the channel of the river under the walls (see the notes at Isa 45:1-2). He took the city by surprise, and when the inhabitants, confident of security, had given themselves up to the riot of a grand public festival; and the king and the nobles were revelling at a public entertainment. From this cause, also, it happened that the waters, which were thus diverted from their usual channel, converted the whole country into a vast, unhealthy morass, that contributed greatly to the decline of Babylon.
(2) The second capture of Babylon by Darius Hystaspes. Cyrus was not the destroyer of the city, but he rather sought to preserve its magnificence, and to perpetuate its pre-eminence among the nations. He left it to his successor in all its strength and magnificence. But, after his death, it rebelled against Darius, and bade defiance to the power of the whole Persian empire. Fully resolved not to yield, they adopted the resolution of putting every woman in the city to death, with the exception of their mothers and one female, the best beloved in every family, to bake their bread. All the rest, says Herodotus (iii. 150), were assembled together and strangled. The city was taken at that time by Darius, by the aid of Zopyrus, son of Megabyzus, who, in order to do it, mutilated himself beyond the power of recovery. He cut off his nose and ears, and having scourged himself severely, presented himself before Darius. He proposed to Darius to enter the city, apparently as a deserter who had been cruelly treated by Darius, and to deliver the city into his hands.
He was one of the chief nobles of Persia; was admitted in this manner within the walls; represented himself as having been punished because he advised Darius to raise the siege; was admitted to the confidence of the Babylonians; and was finally entrusted with an important military command. After several successful conflicts with the Persians, and when it was supposed his fidelity had been fully tried, he was raised to the chief command of the army; and was appointed to the responsible office of teichophulax, or guardian of the walls. Having obtained this object, he opened the gates of Babylon to the Persian army, as he had designed, and the city was taken without difficulty (Herod. iii. 153-160). As soon as Darius had taken the city, he leveled the walls, and took away the gates, neither of which things had Cyrus done before. Three thousand of the most distinguished of the nobility he ordered to be crucified; the rest he suffered to remain. – (Herod. iii. 159.)
(3) After its conquest by Darius, it was always regarded by the Persian monarchs with a jealous eye. Xerxes destroyed the temples of the city, and, among the rest, the celebrated temple or tower of Belus (Strabo, xvi. 1, 5.) Darius, says Herodotus, had designs upon the golden statue in the temple of Belus, but did not dare to take it; but Xerxes, his son, took it, and slew the priest who resisted its removal.
(4) The city was captured a third time, by Alexander the Great. Mazaeus, the Persian general, surrendered the city into his hands, and he entered it with his army – velut in aciem irent – as if they were marching to battle. – (Q. Curtius, v. 3.) It was afterward taken by Antigonus, by Demetrius, by Antiochus the Great, and by the Parthians; and each successive conquest contributed to its reduction.
(5) Cyrus transferred the capital from Babylon to Susa or Shusan Neh 1:1; Ezr 2:8; Ezr 4:16; Ezr 9:11, Ezr 9:15, which became the capital of the kingdom of Persia, and, of course, contributed much to diminish the importance of Babylon itself.
(6) Seleucus Nicator founded Seleucia in the neighborhood of Babylon, on the Tigris, chiefly with a design to draw off the inhabitants of Babylon to a rival city, and to prevent its importance. A great part of its population migrated to the new city of Seleucia (Plin. Nat. Hist. vi. 30). Babylon thus gradually declined until it lost all its importance, and the very place where it stood was, for a long time, unknown. About the beginning of the first century, a small part of it only was inhabited, and the greater portion was cultivated (Diod. Sic. ii. 27). In the second century, nothing but the walls remained (Pausanius, Arcad. c. 33). It became gradually a great desert; and, in the fourth century, its walls, repaired for that purpose, formed an enclosure for wild beasts, and Babylon was converted into a hunting place for the pastime of the Persian monarchs. After this, there is an interval of many ages in the history of its mutilated remains, and of its mouldering decay (Keith, On the Prophecies, p. 216; Jerome, Commentary on Isa. ch. xiv.) Benjamin of Tudela vaguely alludes to the palace of Nebuchadnezzar, which, he says, could not be entered, on account of its being the abode of dragons and wild beasts. Sir John Maundeville, who traveled over Asia, 1322 a.d., says, that Babylone is in the grete desertes of Arabye, upon the waye as men gert towarde the kyngdome of Caldce. But it is full longe sithe ony man durste neyhe to the toure, for it is alle deserte and full of dragons and grete serpentes, and fulle dyverse veneymouse bestes all abouten.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Isa 13:19-22
Babylon . . . shall be as when God overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah
The re-entries of nature
All this we may say is historical and local.
On the other hand, all this is moral and suggestive. This process may take place in the Babylon of the mind. The greatest mind is only safe whilst it worships. The most magnificent intellectual temple is only secure from the judgment and whirlwind of heaven in proportion as its altar is defended from the approach of every unworthy suppliant. If we hand over Gods altar, whether mental or ecclesiastical, to wrong custodians, or devote either to forbidden purposes, then make way for Gods judgments: wild beasts of the desert shall lie there; and the houses that were full of beauty and colour and charm shall be full of doleful creatures; and the wild beasts of the islands shall cry in their desolate houses, and dragons in their pleasant palaces. This may happen to any one of us. Beware of arrogancy, pride, worldliness, self-sufficiency; beware of the betrayal of trusts: nature will re-enter if we be unfaithful. We speak of our wisdom in putting cautionary covenants into all our legal documents, and especially a man assures himself that he is doubly safe when he has secured the right of re-entry under certain breaches of agreement; he says to himself with complacency, That is justifiable; I have arranged that in the event of certain things failing I shall re-enter. Nature always puts that clause into her covenants. She re-enters in a moment. If the gardener is too late by one day with his spade or seed or other attention, nature begins to re-enter; and if he tarry for a week he will find that nature has made great advances into the property. It is so with education, with the keeping up of intelligence, with the maintenance of healthy discipline; relax a month, and nature re-enters, and nature plays the spoiler. Nature is not a thrifty, careful husbandman. Nature has a function of desolation; she will grow weeds in your richest flower beds if you neglect them for a day. God re-enters by the spirit of judgment and by the visitations of anger. Herein His providence is but in harmony with the kingdom which He has instituted within the sphere which we call husbandry, and even within the sphere which we denominate by education or discipline. It is one government. Neglect your music for a month, and you will find at the end that nature has re-entered, and you are not wanted; you have not brought with you the wedding garment of preparation up to date. There must be no intermission; the last line must be filled in. Nature will not have things done in the bulk, in the gross: nature will not allow us simply to write the name; she will weave her web work all round the garment if we have neglected the borders, and paid attention to only the middle parts. (J. Parker, D. D.)
Babylon: an Arab superstition
It is said that at this very day the Bedouin or wandering Arab has a superstitious fear of passing a single night on the site of Babylon, and that the natives of the country believe it to be inhabited by demons in the form of goats. (Sir E. Strachey, Bart.)
Satyrs
There seems to have been an ancient belief among the Jews themselves that demons took the form of goats–appeared as satyrs in fact. (Sir E. Strachey, Bart.)
Satyrs
The word which most versions and commentators agree with the LXX in rendering demons or satyrs is used in Lev 17:7 2Ch 11:15 for demons which the Jews worshipped. (Sir E. Strachey, Bart.)
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Fuente: Biblical Illustrator Edited by Joseph S. Exell
Verse 19. And Babylon] The great city of Babylon was at this time rising to its height of glory, while the Prophet Isaiah was repeatedly denouncing its utter destruction. From the first of Hezekiah to the first of Nebuchadnezzar, under whom it was brought to the highest degree of strength and splendour, are about one hundred and twenty years. I will here very briefly mention some particulars of the greatness of the place, and note the several steps by which this remarkable prophecy was at length accomplished in the total ruin of it.
It was, according to the lowest account given of it by ancient historians, a regular square, forty-five miles in compass, inclosed by a wall two hundred feet high and fifty broad; in which there were a hundred gates of brass. Its principal ornaments were the temple of Belus, in the middle of which was a tower of eight stories of building, upon a base of a quarter of a mile square, a most magnificent palace, and the famous hanging gardens, which were an artificial mountain, raised upon arches, and planted with trees of the largest as well as the most beautiful sorts.
Cyrus took the city by diverting the waters of the Euphrates which ran through the midst of it, and entering the place at night by the dry channel. The river being never restored afterward to its proper course, overflowed the whole country, and made it little better than a great morass; this and the great slaughter of the inhabitants, with other bad consequences of the taking of the city, was the first step to the ruin of the place. The Persian monarchs ever regarded it with a jealous eye; they kept it under, and took care to prevent its recovering its former greatness. Darius Hystaspes not long afterward most severely punished it for a revolt, greatly depopulated the place, lowered the walls, and demolished the gates. Xerxes destroyed the temples, and with the rest the great temple of Belus, Herod. iii. 159, Arrian Exp. Alexandri, lib. vii. The building of Seleucia on the Tigris exhausted Babylon by its neighbourhood, as well as by the immediate loss of inhabitants taken away by Seleucus to people his new city, Strabo, lib. xvi. A king of the Parthians soon after carried away into slavery a great number of the inhabitants, and burned and destroyed the most beautiful parts of the city, Valesii Excerpt. Diodori, p. 377. Strabo (ibid.) says that in his time great part of it was a mere desert; that the Persians had partly destroyed it; and that time and the neglect of the Macedonians, while they were masters of it, had nearly completed its destruction. Jerome (in loc.) says that in his time it was quite in ruins, and that the walls served only for the inclosure for a park or forest for the king’s hunting. Modern travellers, who have endeavoured to find the remains of it, have given but a very unsatisfactory account of their success. What Benjamin of Tudela and Pietro della Valle supposed to have been some of its ruins, Tavernier thinks are the remains of some late Arabian building. Upon the whole, Babylon is so utterly annihilated, that even the place where this wonder of the world stood cannot now be determined with any certainty! See also Clarke’s note on “Isa 43:14“.
We are astonished at the accounts which ancient historians of the best credit give of the immense extent, height, and thickness of the walls of Nineveh and Babylon; nor are we less astonished when we are assured, by the concurrent testimony of modern travellers, that no remains, not the least traces, of these prodigious works are now to be found. Scattered fragments of its tiles and bricks are yet to be found. Proud Babylon reduced now to a few brick-bats! Our wonder will, I think, be moderated in both respects, if we consider the fabric of these celebrated walls, and the nature of the materials of which they consisted. Buildings in the east have always been, and are to this day, made of earth or clay, mixed or beat up with straw to make the parts cohere, and dried only in the sun. This is their method of making bricks; see on Isa 9:9. The walls of the city were built of the earth digged out on the spot, and dried upon the place, by which means both the ditch and the wall were at once formed, the former furnishing materials for the latter. That the walls of Babylon were of this kind is well known; and Berosus expressly says, (apud Joseph. Antiq. x. 11,) that Nebuchadnezzar added three new walls both to the old and new city, partly of brick and bitumen, and partly of brick alone. A wall of this sort must have a great thickness in proportion to its height, otherwise it cannot stand. The thickness of the walls of Babylon is said to have been one-fourth of their height, which seems to have been no more than was absolutely necessary. Maundrell, speaking of the garden walls of Damascus, says, “They are of a very singular structure. They are built of great pieces of earth, made in the fashion of brick, and hardened in the sun. In their dimensions they are two yards long each, and somewhat more than one broad, and half a yard thick.” And afterward, speaking of the walls of the houses, he says, “From this dirty way of building they have this amongst other inconveniences, that upon any violent rain the whole city becomes, by the washing of the houses, as it were a quagmire,” p. 124. And see note on Isa 30:13. When a wall of this sort comes to be out of repair, and is neglected, it is easy to conceive the necessary consequences, namely, that in no long course of ages it must be totally destroyed by the heavy rains, and at length washed away, and reduced to its original earth. – L.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
The glory of kingdoms; which once was the most noble and excellent of all the kingdoms then in being, and Was more glorious than the succeeding empires, whence it was represented by the head of gold, Dan 2:32.
The beauty of the Chaldees excellency; the famous and beautiful seat of the Chaldean monarchy.
Shall be as when God overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah; shall be totally and irrecoverably destroyed, as is more fully expressed in the following verses; which yet was not done immediately upon the taking of the city by Darius and Cyrus, but was fulfilled by degrees, as is confessed by historians, and appears this day.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
19. glory of kingdoms(Isa 14:4; Isa 47:5;Jer 51:41).
beauty of . . .excellencyHebrew, “the glory of the pride” ofthe Chaldees; it was their glory and boast.
as . . . Gomorrahasutterly (Jer 49:18; Jer 50:40;Amo 4:11). Taken by Cyrus, byclearing out the canal made for emptying the superfluous waters ofthe Euphrates, and directing the river into this new channel, so thathe was able to enter the city by the old bed in the night.
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
And Babylon, the glory of kingdoms,…. The first and most ancient kingdom, Ge 10:10 and now, at the time of its fall, the largest and most extensive; wherefore of the image Nebuchadnezzar saw in his dream, which was a representation of several kingdoms, this was the head, the head of gold, Da 2:31 so Babylon is called the “lady of kingdoms”, Isa 47:5 the word here used for “glory” is the same with that which is rendered a “roe”, Isa 13:14. Babylon was once as a pleasant roe, but now a chased one:
the beauty of the Chaldees excellency; the glory of that nation; what they gloried in, being so famous for pompous buildings, number of inhabitants, riches and wealth, see Da 4:30. Pliny n calls it the head of the Chaldean nations, and says it obtained great fame in the whole world:
shall be as when God overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah; which, though not at once, and by fire from heaven, as that was, yet was of God, and, when completed, was, like that, irrecoverable; which was begun by Cyrus and Darius, and in after times finished; and besides there was a circumstance which made it similar to that; for as the men of Sodom were eating and drinking, when their destruction came upon them, so Belshazzar, and his nobles, were feasting and revelling when the city was taken. The Jews o say, that, after Belshazzar was slain, Darius reigned one year, and in his second year the city was overthrown, as God overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah by fire from heaven; but without any foundation; for certain it is that Babylon was in being many years after this, and continued to the time of Alexander the great.
n Nat. Hist. l. 6. c. 26. o Jarchi & Kimchi ex Seder Olam Rabba, c. 28.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
“And Babel, the ornament of kingdoms, the proud boast of the Chaldeans, becomes like Elohim’s overthrowing judgment upon Sodom and Gomorrah.” The ornament of kingdoms ( m amlacoth ), because it was the centre of many conquered kingdoms, which now avenged themselves upon it (Isa 13:4); the pride (cf., Isa 28:1), because it was the primitive dwelling-place of the Chaldeans of the lowlands, that ancient cultivated people, who were related to the Chaldean tribes of the Carduchisan mountains in the north-east of Mesopotamia, though not of the same origin, and of totally different manners (see at Isa 23:13). Their present catastrophe resembled that of Sodom and Gomorrah: the two eths are accusative; m ahpecah ( ) is used like deah in Isa 11:9 with a verbal force ( , well rendered by the lxx . On the arrangement of the words, see Ges. 133, 3).
Fuente: Keil & Delitzsch Commentary on the Old Testament
| The Doom of Babylon. | B. C. 739. |
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 (Dan 2:37; Dan 2:38); 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, Luk 17:28; Luk 17:29. 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.
Fuente: Matthew Henry’s Whole Bible Commentary
19. And Babylon, the glory of kingdoms. Here the Prophet intended to give a brief summary of his prophecy about the Babylonians, but enlarges it by some additions tending to show more fully that it will be completely destroyed. In this manner do the prophets speak of the punishment of the wicked, so as to leave no room for compassion by which they may relieve their minds. But the godly, though they may sometimes think that they are severely chastised, are yet supported by the confident hope that the Lord will have compassion on them, and will not altogether destroy them. Hence we may conclude that we ought not always to judge from outward appearances; for we would often think that the children of God are ruined when their salvation is at hand even in the midst of death.
Of Sodom and Gomorrah. This example is frequently employed by the Prophets, in order to inform us that, though the mode of punishment be not the same, yet, since the judgment of God is impartial, that memorable display which he gave in Sodom (Gen 19:24) has a reference to all the reprobate, and that not less dreadful punishment awaits those who are hardened by similar obstinacy in their sins. They distinguish between the punishment of the elect people and the punishment of the wicked by this circumstance, that God reserves some seed for the Israelites, but none for the ungodly, which agrees with the words which we formerly met with,
Unless the Lord of hosts had left us a seed, we should have been like Sodom. (Isa 1:9.)
But he pursues the wicked with vengeance that cannot be appeased, and therefore he threatens against them the same destruction which was executed against the inhabitants of Sodom, that is, utter perdition without any hope of escape.
Shall be like God’s overthrowing. (208) He says that it is God’s overthrowing, that we may not think that it happens by chance, or that it has proceeded from the will of men. As it was not at random that the thunderbolt fell from heaven on Sodom, so it was not at random that Babylon fell down, but by the righteous vengeance of God, who, being always like himself, executed righteous judgment on them; and in like manner will execute the same judgment on all the reprobate till the end.
When Babylon is called the glory of kingdoms and splendid brightness, this is added for the sake of amplification, ( πρὸς αὔξησιν,) in order to inform us, that no glory or splendor can hinder God from bringing the wicked to nought; for that overturn, having been incredible, afforded a more remarkable proof of Divine power.
(208) Bogus footnote
Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary
SODOM AND GOMORRAH
Isa. 13:19. And Babylon, the glory of the kingdoms, &c.
The anticipated destruction of Babylon is here compared to that of Sodom and Gomorrah, because of its completeness, and because of the hopelessness of any return of that city to its former glory (Isa. 13:20-22). The fate of Sodom and Gomorrah should be pondered, not merely because it is here used as a symbol of the fate of Babylon, but also because of the solemn lessons it affords in relation to sin. That memorable overthrow occurredI. As a Divine vengeance upon long-continued and unmitigated wickedness (Gen. 18:20-21). II. Notwithstanding the influence of a good man in their midst (2Pe. 2:7-8). A man like Lot, even though he perhaps suffered injury to his own character, could not live among people like the Sodomites without being a witness for better things and a testimony against their crimes. III. Notwithstanding the fervent intercessions on their behalf of an eminently godly man (Gen. 18:23, &c.). IV. The overthrow came at last without any suspicion on the part of their guilty inhabitants that their doom was so near (Pro. 29:1).
But why dwell upon a fate so awful, and that occurred so long ago? Because it is a solemn warning to men to-day. Listen to our Saviours teaching on this point (Mat. 11:20-24). From this we learn that the fate of those who reject Christ will be more severe even than that which befell those guilty cities
1. Because of clearer light against which they sinned. It cannot be in any way a trivial thing to possess the Gospel (2Co. 2:16).
2. Because of the more abundant opportunities of salvation which were afforded them.
3. Because of the more abundant and excellent examples set before them.
4. Because of the multiplied examples of warning to which they should have given heed.William Manning.
Fuente: The Preacher’s Complete Homiletical Commentary Edited by Joseph S. Exell
(19) And Babylon, the glory of kingdoms.The words paint the impression which the great city, even in Isaiahs time, made upon all who saw it. So Nebuchadnezzar, though his work was mainly that of a restorer, exulted in his pride in the greatness of the city of which he claimed to be the builder (Dan. 4:30). So Herodotus (i. 178) describes it as the most famous and the strongest of all the cities of Assyria, adorned beyond any other city on which his eyes had ever looked. (Compare the descriptive notices in Jer. 51:41, and the constantly recurring epithet of gold-abounding Babylon in the Persians of schylus.)
As when God overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah.The phrase had clearly become proverbial, as in Isa. 1:9; Jer. 50:40; Deu. 29:23, carrying the picture of desolation to its highest point. The present state of the site of Babylon corresponds literally to the prediction. It is a naked and hideous waste (Layard, Nineveh and Babylon, p. 484). The work was, however, accomplished by slow degrees, and was not, like the destruction of Nineveh, the result of a single overthrow. Darius dismantled its walls, Xerxes pulled down the Temple of Belus. Alexander contemplated its restoration, but his designs were frustrated by his early death. Susa and Ecbatana, Seleucia and Antioch, Ctesiphon and Bagdad, became successively the centres of commerce and of government. By the time of Strabo (B.C. 20) the work was accomplished, and the vast city had become a vast desolation (Strabo, xvi. 15). At no time within the range of Old Testament literature did such a consummation come within the range of the forecast which judges of the future by an induction from the past.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
19. Babylon shall be as Gomorrah With such inhuman work of the foe, Babylon becomes like Elohim’s overthrowing judgment upon Sodom and Gomorrah.
Glory of kingdoms Because it became the centre of many conquered realms.
Beauty of the Chaldees’ excellency Babylon was the seat of the ancient Chaldean culture, in which respect writers of antiquity all concur in stating she was always superior to Nineveh. All Assyrian learning and science came to them from Chaldea; but in plastic arts the Chaldeans were behind their northern neighbours. In Assyria was the birthplace of the great school of ancient art which exercised so decisive an influence on the opening period of the Grecian school. ( Lenormant.)
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
Isa 13:19-22. And Babylon, the glory The prophet in this eloquent passage describes to us the consequence of the fury of the enemy raised up by God against Babylon; namely, the devastation and desolation of Babylon; and that extreme and everlasting; so as to exclude all hope of the restoration of this once magnificent city to its former state. The prophet heightens the desolation of Babylon by the consideration of its former great and flourishing state; Babylon, the glory of kingdoms, the ornament of the excellency of the Chaldees. According to Herodotus, this city was 480 furlongs or sixty miles in compass. By one means or other it became so celebrated as to give name to a very large empire; and its beauty, strength, and grandeur, its walls, temples, palaces, and hanging gardens, the banks of the river, and the artificial canals and lake made for draining of that river when it overflowed, are described with such pomp and magnificence by heathen authors, that it might deservedly be reputed one of the wonders of the world. This prophesy has been most remarkably fulfilled; both ancient geographers, and modern travellers, informing us, that they cannot trace even its ruins, or fix upon the spot where it once stood. St. Jerome informs us from a certain Elamite, who had been in this place, that Babylon was converted into a royal chace for hunting and breeding wild beasts, which was an exact accomplishment of the words of the prophet, Isa 13:21. Wild beasts of the desert shall dwell there: he adds, Their houses shall be full of doleful creatures, and dragons shall cry in their pleasant places: and Benjamin of Tudela, a Jew, in his Itinerary, written above 700 years ago, asserts, “Babylon is now laid waste, excepting the ruins of Nebuchadnezzar’s palace, which men are afraid to enter, on account of the scorpions which have taken possession of it.” This account is confirmed by Rauwolf, who informs us, that the supposed ruins of the tower of Babylon are so full of venomous creatures, that no one dares approach nearer to them than half a league; and, to sum up the evidence of the completion of this prophesy, Mr. Hanway informs us, that the ruins of this city are so much effaced, that there are hardly any vestiges of them to point out its situation. What makes the present desolate condition of this place the more wonderful is, that Alexander the Great intended to have made it the seat of his empire, and actually set men to work to rebuild the temple of Belus, to repair the banks of the river, and to reduce the waters again to their old channel; but he met with too many difficulties. How is Babylon become a desolation! How wonderful are such predictions, compared with the events! And what a convincing argument of the truth and divinity of the Holy Scriptures! Well might God allege this as a memorable instance of his prescience, and challenge all the false gods, and their votaries, to produce the like; ch. Isa 14:21 Isa 46:10. And indeed where can be found a similar instance, but in Scripture, from the beginning of the world to this day? See Bishop Newton on the Prophesies, diss. 10 and the Observations on S. S. page 63.
REFLECTIONS.1st, A new vision here is given the prophet concerning the fate of the neighbouring kingdoms; and as the captivity of the Jews in Babylon approached, they have this prophesy to comfort them before the time arrives,that the rod of their oppressor should be broken. It is called the burden of Babylon, a prophesy concerning it, denouncing her heavy doom, crushed in pieces under the combined forces of Media and Persia; and this Isaiah saw in prophesy clearly revealed to him.
1. God gives the command; his standard is unfurled; the forces haste to join their colours, and he musters them armed for the battle. The kings of Media and Persia, with their officers, were employed to summon the soldiers, beckon them to enlist, and lead them to the gates of the nobles, the proud walls of Babel; but it was God’s secret impulse which stirred up their spirit, strengthened them for the battle, and crowned their arms with success.
2. The persons employed are his sanctified ones, the Medes and Persians; not that they were therefore gracious souls, but raised up to serve his purposes, and qualified by him for their work: his mighty ones, Cyrus, and Darius, who were instruments in his hand, and clothed with strength to execute his decree: even them that rejoice in my highness, or, as the words will bear to be rendered, that rejoice my highness; they rejoiced in their successes, whereby God was glorified; and a vast army followed them from different nations, from the ends of the earth, the farthest parts of their dominion, and very distant from Babylon; but, when sent on God’s errand, no distance or danger could deter them.
3. The design of them is, as weapons of the Lord’s indignation, to destroy the whole land of Chaldea, and Babylon the metropolis. Note; When God gives the word against a sinful nation, to pluck up and to destroy, his armies are quickly ready, and resistance is vain.
2nd, The destruction of Babylon being commanded, we have an awful account of its accomplishment.
1. It is the day of the Lord’s wrath, and therefore must be terrible; and destruction from the Almighty, and therefore irresistible. Though God for just correction suffered his people to be brought into bondage, he would fully avenge the ill usage they had received.
2. Dismay and terror would overtake the hosts of Babylon. Howling for distress, and trembling, their courage should fail them: pangs like those of a travailing woman should seize them, and each increase the panic by reciprocally communicating their fears: their faces should be dark, as if burnt to a coal, or pale as flames; the terrible wrath and fierce anger of the Lord upon them, and certain ruin, the wages of sin, approaching; the very heavens black and lowering, and the bright luminaries hid: or this is figuratively expressed to describe the ruin of their king and princes, and the dreadful gloom of horror which surrounded them, while no opening appeared for their escape; and all should be embittered by conscious guilt, of which this is the just punishment. God will lay low the arrogance of Nebuchadnezzar and Belshazzar, and bring their pride into the dust; their country and capital so ruined, that scarcely a man should be left; or so merciless their conquerors, that no ransom would engage them to spare their captives. The thunders above, and the quaking earth beneath, should help forward their destruction; or by these may be signified the utter dissolution of the government. Like a chased roe their warriors should flee; and as a sheep straying from the flock, defenceless, becomes a prey to the wolf, so should they be devoured. Their auxiliary forces shall desert their sinking cause, and, glad to escape with life to their own country, leave the devoted city to ruin. Note; (1.) That is complete misery upon earth, where the terrors of a guilty conscience are added to the heavy judgments of affliction. (2.) Sin, sin is the cause of all human wretchedness. (3.) They who never trembled before shall in the day of God be overwhelmed; and the boldest countenance turn pale at God’s bar. (4.) When God devotes a nation to ruin, all her allies will desert her, and fly as from a falling house.
3. The executioners of God’s vengeance approach: the Medes, more thirsty for blood than for the spoil, shall raven like lions; universal massacre shall ensue of all that were found in arms, whether Babylonians or auxiliaries. The laws of humanity find no place in a city taken by storm; and God in just retaliation for the violences offered to his people, (Lam 5:11; Lam 5:22.) will suffer the children of Babylon to be dashed in pieces. Note; (1.) When the native cruelty of the heart is unrestrained, no beast of the forest is more savage than man. (2.) If we shudder at the infant’s miseries, let us remember how bitter and evil a thing sin is, and read in their sufferings a pregnant evidence of original guilt. (3.) They who are companions with the wicked, will share in their plagues.
3rdly, The inimitably lively and striking images of the utter desolation of Babylon here displayed, cannot be read without admiration.
1. Her former towering height of glory serves to strengthen the contrast which should be evidenced by her fall, even the fall of Babylon, the beauty of Chaldaea. Utter destruction, like that of Sodom and Gomorrah, approached. Instead of crowded streets, not an inhabitant should remain among the dreary ruins for ever: instead of a fertile soil, such barrenness should succeed, that not even an Arab’s tent, or a shepherd’s fold, should be seen. Those late proud palaces, where riot, mirth, and pleasure reigned, abandoned, ruinous, are become the dens of ravening beasts; and owls, dragons, satyrs, and every doleful creature, occupy the desolate mansions.
2. The nearness of this heavy judgment is intimated for the comfort of God’s Israel when in their captivity. It was more than two hundred years from the time of the prophesy; but with God that is but a moment; it would be quickly at hand, for her days shall not be prolonged, but a final period put to Babylon’s prosperity and power; yea, to her very being. And thus shall mystical Babylon also perish, when the day of her recompence shall arrive, Rev 4:11.
Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke
I pray the Reader to read this prophecy very attentively, and mark well the awful destruction threatened. Sodom and Gomorrah were destroyed in a day; and Babylon in a night. In the same moment when Belshazzar was rioting, came his death. Dan 5:30 . The glory of Babylon is not only related by profane historians to have been the greatest of all monarchies; but sacred scripture makes mention of it as such. Thou saidst (saith the Lord) I shall be a lady forever; I shall not sit as a widow, neither shall I know the loss of children: but these two things shall come upon thee in a moment, in one day; the loss of children, and widowhood. See Isa 47:5 to the end; and the accomplishment, Dan 5:31 . And what is yet, if possible, more remarkable in the fulfillment of this prophecy, is the astonishing overthrow. All conquerors, when they subjugate kingdoms, conquer them to possess them; and the more splendid they are, the more they delight in their conquests. But concerning Babylon, the Lord had said, it should never be inhabited, nor . dwelt in from generation to generation; unless by doleful creatures, satyrs, and beasts of the desert; and this was literally fulfilled: for historians who have visited Babylon, all agree in one report, that the very spot where it stood, though in its splendour it covered over thirty miles in breadth; cannot now be ascertained. None indeed have ventured to explore the interior parts of it, on account of the beasts of prey, and serpents which dwell in it. There is one thought more, which this prophecy, connected with its accomplishment, furnisheth; and that is the view winch the gospel hath taken of it, when speaking of it as a type of the utter destruction of Babylon under the New Testament dispensation. If the Reader will consult Rev 17 and Rev 18 and compare them with this prophecy, and the passage already referred to, Isa 47:5 to the end, he will find abundant matter to furnish him with subjects of the most improving nature. – I only add, as a finishing comment on the whole, when the Reader hath made his own observations upon these solemn scriptures, looking up to God the Holy Ghost for instructions to improve the whole to the divine glory, and his own happiness, I beg of him to look into the human heart, yea, into his own, and see whether, by the fall of man, there is not a similar ruin induced, so that the heart which was once the temple of the living God, is now become the habitation of corrupt passions, like dragons and beasts of prey? Oh! the state, the fallen state of fallen man!
Fuente: Hawker’s Poor Man’s Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
Isa 13:19 And Babylon, the glory of kingdoms, the beauty of the Chaldees’ excellency, shall be as when God overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah.
Ver. 19. And Babylon, the glory of kingdoms. ] Those four great monarchies of the world had their times and their turns, their rise and their ruin. The Roman empire can scarce stand on its feet of clay; and by the death of the recent emperor, no King of Romans being nominated, is like to suffer great concussions.
Shall be as when God overthrew Sodom.
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
as when God, &c. Reference to Pentateuch. See note on Isa 1:9.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
And Babylon
Isa 13:12-16 look forward to the apocalyptic judgments (Revelation 6-13.). Isa 13:17-22 have a near and far view. They predict the destruction of the literal Babylon then existing; with the further statement that, once destroyed, Babylon should never be rebuilt (cf) Jer 51:61-64. All of this has been literally fulfilled. But the place of this prediction in a great prophetic strain looks forward to the destruction of both politico-Babylon and ecclesio- Babylon in the time of the Beast shows that the destruction of the actual Babylon typifies the greater destruction yet to come upon the mystical Babylons. Cf. (See Scofield “Isa 13:1”).
Babylon See note 2; (See Scofield “Isa 13:1”).
Fuente: Scofield Reference Bible Notes
Babylon: Babylon, whose destruction and utter ruin are here predicted, was situated in the midst of a large plain, having a very deep and fruitful soil, on the Euphrates, about 252 miles south-east of Palmyra, and the same distance north-west of Susa and the Persian gulf, in lat. 32 degrees 30 minutes n and long. 44 degrees 20 minutes e. According to Herodotus, it formed a perfect square, each side of which was 120 stadia, and consequently its circumference 480 stadia, or sixty miles; inclosed by a wall 200 cubits high, and fifty wide, on the top of which were small watch towers of one story high, leaving a space between them, through which a chariot and four might pass and turn. On each side were twenty-five gates of solid brass; from each of which proceeded a street, 150 feet broad, making in all fifty streets; which, crossing each other at right angles, intersected the city into 676 squares, extending four stadia and a half on each side, along which stood the houses, all built three or four stories high, and highly decorated towards the street; the interior of these squares being employed as gardens, pleasure grounds, etc. Its principal ornaments were the temple of Belus, having a tower of eight stories, upon a base of a quarter of a mile square; a most magnificent palace; and the famous hanging gardens, or artificial mountains raised upon arches, and planted with large and beautiful trees. Cyrus took it by diverting the waters of the Euphrates, which ran through the midst, and entering by the channel; and the river being never restored to its proper course, overflowed the whole country, and made it a morass. Darius Hystaspes afterwards depopulated the place, lowered the walls, and demolished the gates; Xerxes destroyed the temples; the building of Seleucia nearly exhausted it of its inhabitants; a king of the Parthians carried a number of them into slavery, and destroyed the most beautiful parts; so that modern travellers describe it as a mass of shapeless ruins, the habitation of wild beasts. Isa 14:4-6, Isa 14:12-15, Jer 51:41, Dan 2:37, Dan 2:38, Dan 4:30
when God overthrew: Heb. the overthrowing of, Gen 19:24, Deu 29:23, Jer 49:18, Jer 50:40, Zep 2:9
Reciprocal: 2Ki 20:12 – Babylon Psa 107:33 – turneth Isa 14:17 – made Isa 21:9 – Babylon Isa 23:13 – land Isa 25:12 – to the dust Isa 32:14 – for Isa 39:1 – king Isa 47:5 – for Isa 47:9 – in a moment Jer 25:12 – perpetual Jer 50:3 – which Jer 51:26 – shall not Jer 51:29 – every Jer 51:37 – become Jer 51:62 – to cut Eze 16:50 – therefore Amo 4:11 – as God Nah 2:10 – empty Zep 2:14 – flocks Luk 17:29 – General Rom 9:29 – we had been 2Pe 2:6 – turning Rev 18:2 – Babylon Rev 18:9 – the smoke
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
Isa 13:19. Babylon, the glory of kingdoms Which once was the most noble and excellent of all the kingdoms then in being, and was more glorious than the succeeding empire, and therefore is represented by the head of gold, Dan 2:37. The beauty of the Chaldees excellency The famous and beautiful seat of the Chaldean monarchy; shall be as when God overthrew Sodom, &c. Shall be totally and irrecoverably destroyed, as is more fully expressed in the following verses. Babylon, according to the lowest account given of it by ancient historians, was a regular square, forty-five miles in compass, enclosed by a wall two hundred feet high and fifty broad; in which there were one hundred gates of brass. Its principal ornaments were the temple of Belus, in the middle of which was a tower of eight stories, (or towers placed one above another, diminishing always as they went up,) upon a base of a quarter of a mile square; a most magnificent palace; and the famous hanging gardens, which were an artificial mountain, raised upon arches, and planted with trees of the largest, as well as the most beautiful sorts. What is very remarkable, this great city was rising to its height of glory at this very time, while Isaiah was repeatedly denouncing its utter destruction. From the first of Hezekiah to the first of Nebuchadnezzar, under whom it was brought to the highest degree of strength and splendour, are about one hundred and twenty years. See Bishop Lowth.