The Demise of Babylon And Humiliation of Its Boastful Kings ( Isa 14:3-23 ).

The coming of the Babylonian ambassadors to Hezekiah had had a profound influence on Isaiah. As he thought on the future, with the Assyrians seen as a doomed empire because of what God had revealed to him, he began to realise that Babylon, the permanent enemy of God, the city with great ambitions, of which he was keenly aware through their recent visit, would take advantage of it, and again rise to prominence. Great Babel would rise again to seek to restore its glorious past and would in turn crush the people of God, as God had revealed to him (Isa 39:6-7), and entangle them in what Babylon stood for (which is why later he would warn them to flee from it – Isa 48:20). It was an idea that took possession of him with all its consequences, so much so that later he would seek to prepare God’s people for those consequences. Others no doubt thought that he had become obsessed with the idea. But if so his obsession was of God. And included in that obsession was the certainty that Babylon must finally be destroyed.

He had already prophesied Babylon’s downfall (chapter 13). But now he was beginning to realise that its final downfall, although finally certain, would not be yet. This might well partly have resulted from the fact that although Babylon was defeated by the Assyrians, first under Sargon II, and then under Sennacherib, it became clear that it was not the final downfall of which God had assured him. Thus he began to realise that there would have to come a further rise in power and glory before its final fall. And he clearly began to link that with the downfall of Assyria (Isa 14:24-27).

The result was that he even perhaps began to visualise something of Babylon’s future greatness, (although he never depicts it as in quite the league of Assyria) of which there were already traces in its pride and boasting, and the devastation it would then wreak on the world of those days, as the pride and arrogance of Assyria had before it. He had the example of Assyria to go by, and it was not an encouraging one. And he knew that the judgment that was to come on Judah (Isa 6:10-11) would be at the hands of the very kings of Babylon to whom Hezekiah was looking for support. That indeed is what he informed Hezekiah quite clearly (Isa 39:6-7). And as all he knew of great conquering overlords was gleaned from his knowledge of Assyria and their ways, he foresaw the inevitable carrying away into exile of people from Judah, as spoils for the king of Babylon.

Thus he felt it necessary to issue this declaration that any coming greatness of Babylon should not be seen as too great a concern as it would be only temporary. It would be followed by God’s certain judgment. Babel could not, and would not, be allowed to prosper permanently.

Analysis of Isa 14:3-23.

a And it will come about in the day that Yahweh will give you rest from your sorrow, and from your trouble, and from the hard service with which you were made to serve (Isa 14:3).

b That you will take up this parable against the king of Babylon, and say, “How has the oppressor ceased, how has the exactor (or ‘place of gold’) ceased” (Isa 14:4).

c Yahweh has broken the staff of the wicked, the sceptre of the rulers, (Isa 14:5).

d Who smote the peoples in wrath with a continual stroke, who ruled the nations in anger with a persecution that none restrained (Isa 14:6).

e The whole earth is at rest and is quiet, they break out into singing. Yes, the fir trees rejoice at you, and the cedars of Lebanon, saying, “Since you are laid down, no feller has come up against us” (Isa 14:7-8).

f Sheol from beneath is moved for you, to meet you at your coming. It stirs up the shades (Rephaim) for you, even all the he-goats of the earth. It has raised up from their thrones the kings of the nations (Isa 14:9).

g They all will answer and say to you, “Are you also become as weak as us? Have you become like us?” (Isa 14:10).

h Your pomp is brought down to Sheol, and the noise of your harps. The worm is spread under you, and worms cover you (Isa 14:11).

i How are you fallen from heaven, O day-star (helel), son of the morning (shahar – dawn). How are you cut down to the ground, who laid low the nations (Isa 14:12).

j And you said in your heart, “I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God” (Isa 14:13 a).

j “I will sit on the mount of the assembly in the uttermost parts of the north” (Isa 14:13 b).

i “I will ascend above the heights of the clouds, I will be like the Most High” (Isa 14:14).

h Yet you will be brought down to Sheol, to the uttermost parts of the pit (Isa 14:15).

g Those who see you will look on you narrowly, they will consider you, saying, “Is this the man who made the earth to tremble? Who shook kingdoms?” (Isa 14:16).

f “Who made the world as a wilderness, and overthrew its cities. Who did not loose his prisoners to their home?” (Isa 14:17).

e All the kings of the nations, all of them sleep in glory, every one in his own house, but you are cast out, away from your sepulchre, like an abominable branch, clothed with the slain who are thrust through with the sword, who go down to the stones of the pit, as a carcass trodden underfoot (Isa 14:18-19).

d You will not be joined with them in burial, because you have destroyed your land, you have slain your people. The seed of evildoers will not be named for ever (Isa 14:20).

c Prepare slaughter for his children, because of the iniquity of their fathers, that they rise not up nor possess the earth, and fill the face of the world with cities (Isa 14:21).

b “And I will rise up against them,” says Yahweh of hosts, “And cut off from Babylon name and remnant, and son and son’s son,” says Yahweh (Isa 14:22).

a “And I will also make it a possession for the hedgehog, and pools of water, and I will sweep it with the broom of destruction,” says Yahweh of hosts. (Isa 14:23).

In ‘a’ in the day that Yahweh will give them rest from their sorrow, and from their trouble, and from the hard service with which they were made to serve, that in the parallel He will make Babylon a possession for the hedgehog, and pools of water, and will sweep it with the broom of destruction (He will perform His hard service on Babylon). In ‘b’ they were to take up this parable against the king of Babylon, and say, “How has the oppressor ceased, how has the exactor (or ‘place of gold’) ceased”, and in the parallel their oppressor has ceased and his son, and his son’s son. Even their name has been cut off.

In ‘c’ Yahweh has broken the staff of the wicked, the sceptre of the rulers (of Babylon), and in the parallel He has prepared slaughter for his children because of their father’s iniquity so that they may not rise up or possess the earth or fill the face of the world with cities. In ‘d’ the tyrant had smitten the peoples in wrath with a continual stroke, and ruled the nations in anger with a persecution that none restrained, and in the parallel, it was precisely because the tyrants had destroyed their land, and slain their people that they would not be joined with them in burial, and would not be named for ever.

In ‘e’ The whole earth is at rest and is quiet, the people break out into singing, the fir trees rejoice at him, and the cedars of Lebanon, saying, “Since you are laid down, no feller has come up against us”, (all is at peace), and in the parallel all the kings of the nations, all of them sleep in glory, every one in his own house, (all are at peace), while in contrast the Babylonian tyrants are cast out, away from their sepulchre, like an abominable branch, clothed with the slain, thrust through with the sword, and go down to the stones of the pit, as a carcass trodden underfoot.

In ‘f’ Sheol (the grave world) from beneath is moved to meet the tyrant at his coming. It stirs up the shades (Rephaim) for him, even all the he-goats (chief men) of the earth, and has raised up from their ‘thrones’ the kings of the nations, in order to challenge him and in the parallel we are told why they are stirred up, it is because he had made their world as a wilderness, and overthrew its cities, and did not loose his prisoners to their home, (which is one reason why they want to challenge him). In ‘g’ they ask him “Are you also become as weak as us? Have you become like us?” while in the parallel they look on him narrowly, and consider him, saying, “Is this the man who made the earth to tremble? Who shook kingdoms?”

In ‘h’ his pomp is brought down to Sheol, and the noise of his harps. The worm is spread under him, and worms cover him, and in the parallel he is brought down to Sheol, to the uttermost parts of the pit. In ‘i’ the prophet says, “How are you fallen from heaven, O day-star (helel), son of the morning (shahar – dawn)? How are you cut down to the ground, who laid low the nations?” and in the parallel he had said “I will ascend above the heights of the clouds, I will be like the Most High”. In ‘j’ he had said in his heart, “I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God”, and in the parallel he had said “I will sit on the mount of the assembly in the uttermost parts of the north”.

It is quite clear that some of these parallels cannot possibly be written off as a coincidence. There is on the whole a remarkable equation between them.

Isa 14:3

‘And it will come about in the day that Yahweh will give you rest from your sorrow, and from your trouble, and from the hard service with which you were made to serve, that you will take up this parable against the king of Babylon, and say, “How has the oppressor ceased, how has the exactor (or ‘place of gold’) ceased.” ’

There is no thought here of exile. However, at the time of the visiting ambassadors from Babylon Isaiah had informed Hezekiah of the fate that awaited Judah as a result of Hezekiah’s folly. Everything that he and Judah had would be carried off to Babylon along with his sons and the nobles of their people, and they would become slaves in Babylon (Isa 39:6-7). Thus now he seeks to bring some comfort on the back of his warning, both on behalf of those who would be taken (he had no conception of the full exile) and on behalf of those who would be hardly treated in Judah itself.

Isaiah must have been well aware that any return of Israel/Judah from Assyrian territory would not happen until Assyrian domination has ceased (Assyria would not allow it), that Assyria would be limited in its treatment of Judah because of Yahweh’s help (Isa 37:6-7; Isa 37:33-35), and that on Assyria being weakened Babylon would inevitably rise again. Or perhaps he is just seeing Babylon as exerting itself in its periods of independence. Either way he knows that both Israel and Judah will at some stage suffer under the hand of Babylon, and that if any royal exiles are to return from Babylon (as opposed to returning from elsewhere) it will have to be connected in some way with the demise of Babylon, for such royal exiles were to be the direct consequence of Hezekiah’s action, and they would also result from Babylon’s belligerence (39).

Note that in fact in context here no mention is made of any other exiles from Judah, but even though not exiled they were still under bondage to Assyria and, once freed from Assyria would be to Babylon (for that was the implication of the royal exiles being taken). On the other hand Isaiah may have seen what would happen to Judah as simply a continuation of what had happened to Israel, seeing all as the one people of God, and thus have connected exiles from Israel with Judah. This would explain further why he realises that the return of all exiles cannot happen until Babylon’s future power is broken.

He speaks of the tribulation that Israel/Judah are going through. They are enduring sorrow (see 1Ch 4:9) including painful toil (compare Gen 3:16; Gen 5:29), great trouble (inner fear and rage) and oppressive bondage in their ‘service’. But this will be removed. (But there is no mention of exile).

He puts words about the king of Babylon into their mouths because he knows that by the time deliverance from oppression comes it is Babylon who will be responsible for oppression, as he had told Hezekiah (Isa 39:6-7). Although not mentioned here Judah will be included in the punishment. For Judah must be punished for relying on Babylon, and the exiles of Israel will share in that punishment because Babylon has taken over as their oppressor because they are connected with Judah (compare Isa 11:12). Thus it is from Babylon overlordship that they will finally have to be delivered. And anyway in Isaianic terms in the end all who would be redeemed must be redeemed from ‘Babylon’, for Babylon is the great enemy of God who must rise at the end prior to its doom.

The word for ‘parable’ is mashal meaning a parable, a saying, a way of expressing things. Thus this is an expression of what the king of Babylon is seen to be. He is an oppressor and an exactor. The latter word is of unknown meaning. Some take it as from the root thhb (gold) and read ‘place of gold’ (RV ‘golden city’). In that case there would be an ironic contrast, the place of oppression and the golden place. But the stress is undoubtedly on oppression.

Isa 14:5-6

‘Yahweh has broken the staff of the wicked,

The sceptre of the rulers,

Who smote the peoples in wrath with a continual stroke,

Who ruled the nations in anger with a persecution that none restrained.’

The exultation is in the fact that Yahweh has stepped in to act. He has broken the staff of the wicked. The staff was broken when a man was removed from office, as a sign that his authority was over and done with, and here it was the wicked ruler’s sceptre that was broken. Thus here in vision the king of Babylon’s power has been broken. He has been removed from office.

He is described in strong terms. He had beaten the people continually and unmercifully, he had persecuted the peoples without restraint, and all because of the anger that bubbled up within him. He is seen as a raging tyrant. No wonder then that the nations rejoiced at his removal from power. Thus we have here his presentiment that Babylon will yet seek to lord it over the nations. In view of how he saw Babylon it was inevitable.

Later he will make clear that in fact Yahweh will ensure that the very names of these tyrants will be wiped out, with the further guarantee that their sons will be prevented from following in their footsteps (Isa 14:21-22).

Isa 14:7-8

‘The whole earth is at rest and is quiet,

They break out into singing.

Yes, the fir trees rejoice at you,

And the cedars of Lebanon, saying,

“Since you are laid down,

No feller has come up against us.” ’

All creation (the known world) will rest and relax, and rejoice at the tyrant’s downfall. ‘Laid down’ here signifies the sleep of death. Now that the Babylonian tyrant has been dealt with the world can be spared God’s wrath. This suggested comparison sees the feller as God’s instrument of judgment as in Isa 10:33-34. Others however consider the feller to be descriptive of oppressive kings, and their rejoicing to be because now that he is dead there is no oppressor.

Isa 14:9-10

‘Sheol from beneath is moved for you,

To meet you at your coming.

It stirs up the shades (Rephaim) for you,

Even all the he-goats of the earth.

It has raised up from their thrones the kings of the nations.

They all will answer and say to you,

“Are you also become as weak as us?

Have you become like us?” ’

Sheol is the world of the grave, the shadowy underworld where life is not real life but a half-life as a shadow. The dead kings have thrones but they are not reigning. Their thrones are but the identifying shadows of what once was.

So the idea is that the shadowy world of Sheol is all that awaits him. Sheol is depicted here as moving in order to welcome the king of Babylon. It stirs up the shadows, but only in order to ask the question which demonstrates that he too has become like them, a shadow without reality (they could not imagine nothingness). Could such a king become but a shadow? The answer expected was ‘yes’. It was a way of emphasising just what he had become.

Later in Isa 14:16 the question will be, ‘Is this the man who made the earth tremble?’ as they see in his present state his total lack of any power.

‘He-goats’. With their fierceness and strength and vigour these are often used to depict powerful leaders.

This is not to be seen as an accurate picture of the world beyond the grave. It was rather the picture given by those who could not imagine such a world, to whom death was really the end, but who also could not imagine nothingness. The recognition and conversation is but a way of getting over the message. We may gather from it the idea of future life and future recognition, but it is doubtful if Israel saw it in that way. Their point was that the only world left to them after this life was the shadowy world of the grave.

Isa 14:11

‘Your pomp is brought down to Sheol,

And the noise of your harps.

The worm is spread under you,

and worms cover you.’

The picture is sarcastic. The king so splendid and gorgeously arrayed in life had as it were brought his pomp down to the tomb, but it was a pomp of worms. And his ears still rang with the sound of the musical instruments that had comforted him on earth, but what crawled over him was worms. Now the maggots covered him, crawling over him both above and below in his cold, unwelcoming tomb. All his oils and his perfumes went for nothing here. Compare here Eze 32:18-31. It was a world of graves.

Isa 14:12

‘How are you fallen from heaven,

O day-star (helel), son of the morning (shahar – dawn).

How are you cut down to the ground,

Who laid low the nations.’

While on earth the unidentified king of Babylon had depicted himself as semi-divine. He had seen himself as the equivalent of Helel, the day-star, the shining one. Helal, the son of Shahar (the Dawn) is known from the Ugaritic texts, and the whole account is based on the myth of the lesser deity who seeks to depose the chief gods only to be hurled from the heavens. The comment is sarcastic. The king’s claims to semi-deity are revealed as nonsense by his descent into the grave. He had not really ‘fallen from heaven’, that was sarcasm, he had rather fallen from earth into his grave.

It is possible that we are to see Isaiah here as representing the king’s false claims in terms of a Canaanite myth known to his readers, rather than as the king actually claiming to be that particular god. The king would think in terms of his own gods. But whichever way it was the point is clear. All his claims to any kind of divinity have proved false.

More realistic was his claim to have laid low the nations. But now this too has collapsed about him for he himself is laid low.

Isa 14:13-14

‘And you said in your heart,

“I will ascend into heaven,

I will exalt my throne above the stars of God,

I will sit on the mount of the assembly in the uttermost parts of the north,

I will ascend above the heights of the clouds,

I will be like the Most High.’

The king’s fivefold claims are indicative of a false covenant, for five is the number of covenant. They are in contrast with the five titles of Immanuel (Isa 9:6). Note the continual ‘I’. He has eyes only for himself. He is his own god. First we find the king’s decision to ‘ascend into heaven’, to become a wonder. This is followed by placing his throne above the lesser deities, to become the counsellor. Then he ascends further to the ‘mount of the assembly in the uttermost parts of the north’, which was a description of the home and gathering of the gods as described in the Ugaritic texts, thus becoming the mighty god. Then he ascends above the heights of the clouds which surround the chief gods, seeking to be the everlasting father. And in the end he challenges the chief god himself, he seeks to be the great prince. Thus this is a depiction of the gradual climb of the ambitious ‘semi-deity’ towards his ultimate goal of being the chief god, before being cast down for his presumption. Isaiah sets it in a context where his challenge is to the Most High God Himself.

It may well be that this was to some extent acted out ritually in the temple of Marduk, but men were expected to see beyond the depiction and recognise a greater ‘reality’, just as the Egyptians were expected to accept that the visible Pharaoh was Horus. The picture is thus drawn by Isaiah of the overweening pride of the kings of Babylon, and the proof of their falsehood in the fact of their deaths and descent into the grave.

It should be noted here that there are no Scriptural grounds for referring this description to Satan, although certainly we may consider that it is an apt picture of rebellion against God, and as such illustrative of how Satan might have behaved. But we can go no further than that.

Isa 14:15-17

‘Yet you will be brought down to Sheol,

To the uttermost parts of the pit.

Those who see you will look on you narrowly,

They will consider you, saying,

“Is this the man who made the earth to tremble?

Who shook kingdoms?

Who made the world as a wilderness, and overthrew its cities.

Who did not loose his prisoners to their home?” ’

Here it is made clear that the king is but a man. Isaiah has no time at all for his false claims. Rather than reaching ‘to the uttermost parts of the north’, he will be brought down to Sheol, to ‘the uttermost parts of the pit’. ‘The pit’ is one name for Sheol which reflects its worst aspect. And it puts his career into perspective. He had been great on earth, and his greatness is emphasised in question form, but now he had been levelled by the great leveller. Note the five questions which deliberately contrast with the king’s own five statements of intent. Their basis was that, rather than rising to be with the gods, had he not in reality caused trouble on earth? Had he not made the earth tremble, had he not shaken kingdoms, had he not turned the world into a wilderness, had he not overthrown its cities, had he not refused to release the prisoners so that they could return to their own countries? The criticism is of that which is earthly, destructive and evil, revealing his real nature as a tyrant, not as a god. The nations do not see him as a god. But he had so shocked by his cruelty even these men of war, who were used to violence, that he was seen as a destroyer and as utterly callous.

Isa 14:18-20

‘All the kings of the nations,

All of them sleep in glory.

But you are cast out, away from your sepulchre,

Like an abominable branch,

Clothed with the slain who are thrust through with the sword,

Who go down to the stones of the pit.

As a carcass trodden underfoot.

You will not be joined with them in burial,

Because you have destroyed your land,

You have slain your people.

The seed of evildoers will not be named for ever.’

And because of his life of shame he will not be allowed proper burial. All the kings whom he defeated and who slavishly served him will be buried in honour and ‘sleep in glory’, in the gorgeous clothing and jewels in which kings were buried, and in their great mausoleums, their splendid buildings for the important dead. But he is to be cast out, his clothing to be that of the bodies of the slain killed with the sword, their blood testifying to his evil ways and his lust for conquest. And he himself will be tossed into the bottom of a forgotten pit to be trodden underfoot because men have forgotten where he is buried.

‘Because you have destroyed your land, you have slain your people.’ This was why his fate was as it was. He had brought destruction on his own people. Possibly the thought includes that he is to so be humiliated because he has tried to ensure that his chosen heirs inherited the throne, resulting in a failed civil war. Or it may simply mean that he brought destruction on his people and land because of his own warlike ways, and the arousing of the enmity of others. But either way he who thought of himself as so successful had failed as a king and destroyed his own people.

‘Like an abominable branch.’ He is the total opposite of the righteous branch of Isa 11:1. Instead of being righteous and introducing righteousness like the righteous branch, he will introduce evil and do iniquity, encouraging others to do the same.

We are not necessarily to see here any particular king of Babylon. It is the kingship as a whole that is being described, with its continued arrogance through the centuries, and its final shame and ignominy that is being emphasised. It is not necessarily a specific, real burial that is in mind, but the picturing of a worthy end for such a tyrant, (although Isaiah may have known more than we do).

‘Because you have destroyed your land, you have slain your people. The seed of evildoers will not be named for ever.’ What he has brought on his own land means that his seed must be wiped out, not even to be named. This may suggest that the reason why he does not have a proper burial is due to the practise of kings, who sought to ensure the appointment to the throne of their chosen heirs by getting rid of rivals towards the end of their reign, which often involved civil war. It may possibly be suggesting that he had attempted that here and had failed, being usurped by a rival, and that his own ignominious death and the death of his children had resulted (compare 2Ki 10:1-14). The final comment is then Isaiah’s comment on the situation, amplified in the next verse. His chosen descendants will lose even their name because he has been so evil in his deeds that Yahweh has determined that his seed will not inherit.

On the other hand the suggestion may simply be that by his activities each king has brought destruction and suffering on his own people. Their grandiose ideas had ended again and again in misery for their people. Thus God will not allow their dynasty to continue.

Isa 14:21

‘Prepare slaughter for his children,

Because of the iniquity of their fathers,

That they rise not up nor possess the earth,

And fill the face of the world with cities.’

In any successful rebellion not only would the king be disposed of, but any possible heirs would also be slaughtered. There was always the possibility that such might rally support and rebuild Babylon. Thus to ensure that they did not seek to take possession of the land or to build strong cities in order to establish their position, they too would be put to death. They suffered for the sins of their fathers as well as for their own. We should always remember that what we do with our lives and the way we behave often affects our children’s destiny.

Or this may simply be a general statement that God’s sentence is on all related to the kings of Babylon. They are doomed by the sins of their fathers which they share. The result being that Babylon will never finally rise again to possess the earth or build its fortresses.

‘And fill the face of the world with cities.’ There may well here be a reference to Gen 10:11-12.

Isa 14:22

‘ “And I will rise up against them,”

Says Yahweh of hosts,

“And cut off from Babylon name and remnant,

And son and son’s son,” says Yahweh.’

Yahweh was determined to ensure that the dynasty in Babylon could never rise again. Their name would be cut off by removing all traces of the royal house. Every last remnant would be removed. The point being made here is that God would make so sure that the end of Babylon really was the end of Babylon, that no sons of the royal house would be allowed to survive so as to restore it. In no other way could it be ensured that Babylon would not rise again.

Isa 14:23

‘ “And I will also make it a possession for the hedgehog,

And pools of water,

And I will sweep it with the broom of destruction,”

Says Yahweh of hosts.’

Babylon would finish up as waste ground where the hedgehog would live in holes, and pools of water would form in hollows, because God had swept it clean with the broom of destruction. The picture of the broom sweeping clean emphasises the completeness of the judgment. This picture of God hard at work ‘spring cleaning’ Babylon parallels the hard labour that Israel and Judah had performed for Babylon (Isa 14:3). Babylon’s extraction of labour from Yahweh’s people was now receiving its own reward.

It is clear from all this how infamously special Babylon was seen to be. It was seen as the great enemy of God. It was a picture of all that was bad in the world, and its end was in accordance with the picture. It illustrated all sinfulness and was a warning of what sinfulness would bring men to. And in the end, although it would take many centuries, all was fulfilled. But in all that is written here we should note that there is no hint of Judah’s exile in Babylon.

Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett

3. THE JUDGMENT ON THE KING OF BABYLON

Isa 14:3-23

3And it shall come to pass in the day that the Lord shall give thee rest

From thy 4sorrow, and from thy 5fear,

And from the hard bondage

6Wherein thou wast made to serve,

4That thou shalt 7take up this 8proverb 9against the king of Babylon, and say,

How hath the oppressor ceased!
The 1011golden city ceased!

5The Lord hath broken the staff of the wicked,

And the sceptre of the rulers.

6He who smote the people in wrath

With 12a continual stroke,

He that 13ruled the nations in anger,

14Is persecuted, and none hindereth.

7The whole earth is at rest, and is quiet:

They break forth into singing.

8Yea, the fir trees rejoice at thee,

And the cedars of Lebanon, saying,

Since thou art laid down,
No feller is come up against us.

915Hell from beneath is moved for thee

To meet thee at thy coming:

It stirreth up the 16dead for thee,

Even all17 18the chief ones of the earth;

It hath raised up from their thrones
All the kings of the nations.

10All they shall 19speak and say unto thee,

20Art thou also become weak as we?

kArt thou become like unto us?

11Thy pomp is brought down to the grave,

And the noise of thy viols:

The worm is spread under thee, and the worms 1cover thee.

12How art thou fallen from heaven,

21O Lucifer, son of the morning!

How art thou cut down to the ground,

Which didst 22weaken the nations!

1323For thou 24hast said in thine heart,

I will ascend into heaven,
I will exalt my throne above the stars of God.
I will sit also upon the mount of the congregation, in the sides of the north:

14I will ascend above the heights of the clouds;

I will be like the Most High.

1525Yet thou 26shalt be brought down to hell,

To the 27sides of the pit.

16They that see thee shall narrowly look upon thee, and consider thee, saying,

Is this the man that made the earth to tremble,

That did shake kingdoms;

17That made the world as a wilderness,

And destroyed the cities thereof;

That 28opened not the house of his prisoners?

18All the kings of the nations, even all of them,

Lie in 29glory, every one in his own house.

19But thou art cast out of thy grave

Like an 30abominable branch,

And as the raiment of those that are slain, thrust through with a sword,

That go down to the stones of the pit;
As a carcase trodden under feet.

20Thou shalt not be joined with them in burial,

Because thou hast destroyed thy land,

And slain thy people:

The seed of evil doers shall never be 31renowned.

21Prepare slaughter for his children

For the iniquity of their fathers;
That they do not rise, nor possess the land,
Nor nil the face of the world with cities.

2232For I will rise up against them,

Saith the Lord of hosts,
And cut off from Babylon the name and remnant,
And 33son, and nephew, saith the Lord.

23I will also make it a possession for the 34bittern, and pools of water:

And I will sweep it with the besom of destruction, saith the Lord of hosts.

TEXTUAL AND GRAMMATICAL

Isa 14:3. calls to mind Deu 25:19. in the sense of dolor, labor, only here in Isaiah. It is not to be confounded with idolum (Isa 48:5).Also , which often occurs in Job, does not again occur in Isaiah. does not stand for as Gesenius supposes. And is not to be rendered by the ablative, but it is accusative according to the well-known construction of the Passive with the accusative of the nearer object (comp. Isa 21:2; Gen 35:26).

Isa 14:4. Whatever may be the fundamental meaning of , and whether , to rule, and , to compare, come from one or from two roots (Gesen. Winer, Delitzsch assume constitit erectus as the common radical meaning; comp. Del. Commentary and Zur Geschichte d. jud. Poesie, p 196), the word any way signifies a dictum in terse language, distinguished from a merely prosaic statement, let the dictum be fable, parable, allegory, aphorism, proverb, riddle, didactic poem, or satire. It is here used in the last named sense, i.e., sarcastic address, as in Hab 2:6; Mic 2:4; comp. Deu 28:37; Jer 24:9; Psa 69:12; 1Ki 9:7. [Its most general sense seems to be that of tropical or figurative language. Here it may have a special reference to the bold poetic fiction following.J. A. A.]. The word does not again occur in Isaiah. is . . The LXX., translates , which means the driver, inciter. It is thus synonymous with . Vulg. tributum, according to which the word is derived either from = . gold, or from insistere, opprimere, so that the notion oppress would be taken in the sense of collecting tribute. In the latter sense the meaning as regards etymology would coinclde with the Greek . For, according to the sense, the Greek translation seems to signify rather the driver who urges prisoners or slaves to make haste. The Peschito also, which translates operis exactor, and the Targ. Jonathan which translates fortitudo peccatoris appear to have read . So, too, perhaps Saadia (timiditas). As Aquila translates , he must either have taken = , or = , from , languere. Delitzsch sides with the last meaning, construing as Mem loci, and translates, place of torture. Yet it seems to me that locus languendi, even if one overlooks the permutation of and , is still a vocabulum satis languidum for place of torture. I would like therefore, with J. D. Michaelis, Gesenius, Knobel, Meier and others, to assume that is an error of transcribing for , as also an old edition (Thessalon, 1,600) actually reads. It favors this, too, that (superbire, opprimire) and also correspond in parallelism, Isa 3:5.

Isa 14:5. (comp. Eze 19:11), as epexegesis of is any way to be understood as a tyrants sceptre. This is confirmed by the statement of Isa 14:6.

Isa 14:6. The expression occurs only here: in Isa 1:5; Isa 31:6; Isa 59:13, in the sense of revolt. On see at Isa 10:4. The conjecture of Doederlein, that instead of we should read has, according to the analogy of , much plausibility. The confounding of and might easily happen in the unpointed text. Neither nor occur elsewhere. is nom. passivum: the being pursued, being hounded on, like being scared off, cast away, 2Sa 23:6. stations, Isa 29:3. , stirred in, Lev 6:14, etc. occurs again Isa 54:2; Isa 58:1. kindred to (comp. Ewald, 322, a.), is poetic negation. It occurs in Isaiah, again only Isa 32:10. See on Isa 14:21.

Isa 14:7. is an expression peculiar to the second part of Isa. (Isa 44:23; Isa 49:13; Isa 52:9; Isa 54:1; Isa 55:12) and does not occur elsewhere.

Isa 14:8. with involves the notion of rejoicing at misfortune: Psa 30:2; Psa 35:19; Psa 35:24; Psa 38:17; Mic 7:8; Oba 1:12.

Isa 14:9. after is constructio praegnans. (comp. Mic 7:14), however is the nearer qualification of the : hell gets into uproar toward thee, that is in order to welcome thee as an arrival. Isa 10:26; Isa 23:13. is, in the first half of the verse, like Isa 5:14, construed as feminine. But when the discourse continues with the masculine form , the reason can hardly be because elsewhere (Job 26:6) is used as masculine. For the question still arises, why does the Prophet vary the gender? I think the Prophet in the first clause has the totality in mind, whereas in he means that special dominant will that he ascribes to Sheol as to a person. The former, as with all collectives, he conceives as feminine: but this person, as a ruler he conceives of as masculine. [Hitzig explains this on the ground that in the first clause Sheol is passive, in the second active: Maurer, with more success, upon the ground that the nearest verb takes the feminine or proper gender of the noun, while the more remote one, by a common license, retains the masculine or radical form, as in Isa 33:9, (see Gesenius, 141, Rem. 1).J. A. A.]

Isa 14:10. is employed according to well-known usage, whereby, not only the discourse responsive to other discourse, but discourse responsive to action is designated as answer (Isa 21:9; Deu 21:7; Deu 26:5; Job 3:2; Mat 11:25; Mat 22:1, etc.).The Pual only here. Comp. passages like Isa 53:10; Isa 57:10; Gen 48:1, etc.; Deu 29:21, etc., and the meaning cannot be ambiguous: tu quoque debilitatus es. Also is a pregnant phrase: thou art made like us and brought to us. [Of this constr. praegn. J. A. A., says: this supposition is entirely gratuitous.]

Isa 14:11. from strepere, synonymous with (Isa 13:4), is . . Concerning comp. at Isa 5:12. only here in Isaiah., Isa 41:14; Isa 66:24.

Isa 14:12. is by some expositors (Jerome, Aquila, Rosenmueller, Gesenius) taken as imperative from = howl, in which sense, in fact, the word occurs Eze 21:17; Zec 11:2. But this meaning is forced and mars the context. Only that meaning will correspond with the context which takes this word in the sense of bright star, from to shine (Job 29:3, etc.). The form can be formed after analogy of , (Mic 1:8 Kthibh). It is, however, possible, too, that is derived from , although there is no analogy for this, for , are not analogous, and i before strong consonants always lengthens to i as substitute for doubling (Ewald, 84 a.). It must only be that at the same time a sort of attraction took place, and thus the Tsere of the final syllable conformed to the vowel of the preceding syllable. Then helel could be identical with the name Hillel (Jdg 12:13; Jdg 12:15); to which the remark may be added, that Rabbi Hillel the younger (in the 4th Cent., after Christ) is named by Epiphanius (Adv. Haer. II. p. 127. Ed. Paris.). Also Buxtorf (Lex. Chald. talm. et Rabb. p. 617) writes: Hillel, olim Hellel ut Emmanuel et Immanuel, de qua scriptione vide Drus. Observ. L. IX. 100:1. That this bright star is the morning star appears from the addition . with Accus. Exo 17:13 : with only in this place, which seems to depend on the latent notion of lording it, like ,, are construed with the Accus., and .

Isa 14:15. The adversative thought is introduced by . The restrictive fundamental meaning (only, which receives adversative force in such a connection = nisi rectius dixeris i.e. sed. comp. Jer 5:5) seems to involve here a certain irony: but pity, that thou must own to Orkus. stands opposed to . The deepest corner of the deep grave. properly, pit, grave, but the underworld, is, so to speak, the deepening and extending of the grave Isa 38:18 and often.The imperf. , according to Delitzsch, comes unsuitably both from the mouth of the dwellers in Hades, and from Israel that sings this Maschal; it is therefore to be construed as resumption of the discourse by the Prophet, who has before his mind as future, what the Maschal recites as past (comp. Isa 14:11). But this departure from the role is improbable. Moreover it is grammatically unnecessary to take as future. It is present. It describes the descent into Hades as something now taking place, a movement not yet concluded. Thus Joshua (Isa 9:8) questions the emissaries of the Gibeonites ; but Joseph his brethren (Gen 42:7) . The former regarded those questioned as arrivals, as it were still in the act of coming; the latter as ones who had arrived.

Isa 14:16. (only here in Isaiah; beside this in Psa 33:14; Son 2:9), with in connection with evidently means attentively gazing. The same thought is still more strongly emphasized by . The word occurs in Isaiah again Isa 1:3; Isa 43:18; Isa 52:15. With or it signifies an intent, scrutinizing contemplation (1Ki 3:21; Psa 37:10; Job 31:1). comp. on Isa 13:13, where it is associated with .

Isa 14:17. The masculine suffixes in and refer to a latent masculine notion in , probably to , which Isaiah is wont to use as parallel with (Isa 18:3; Isa 26:18), and uses as masculine oftener than all other Old Testament writers (Isa 9:18; Isa 18:2; Isa 26:18; Isa 66:8, beside these only Gen 13:6). This is favored, also, by , for there is no , but occurs (Lam 3:34). [The anomaly of gender may be done away by referring both the pronouns to the King himself, who might just as well be said to have destroyed his own cities, as his own land and his own people (Isa 14:20), the rather as his sway is supposed to have been universal.J. A. A.].Concerning the pregnant construction comp. Jer 50:33.

Isa 14:19. is an exclusively Isaianic word. It occurs, beside the present, only Isa 11:1, Isa 60:21, except where Dan 11:7 quotes Isa 11:1., in Isaiah only here, is probably chosen for the sake of the alliteration. in Isaiah again Isa 63:12. only here. in is Kaph veritatis (comp. on Isa 13:6) and what has been said figuratively is now said without figure. occurs again Isa 34:3; Isa 37:36; Isa 66:24. Part. only here; other forms of Isa 14:25; Isa 63:6; Isa 63:18.

Isa 14:20. from only here in Isaiah. Comp. Gen 19:6. Isa 14:21. poetic = ; occurs again Isa 26:10-11; Isa 26:14; Isa 26:18; Isa 33:20-21; Isa 33:23-24; Isa 35:9; Isa 40:24; Isa 43:17; Isa 44:8-9; comp. on Isa 26:8.

Isa 14:22. Of the pairs of alliterated words is a current word with Isaiah (comp. at Isa 7:13; Isa 10:19), stand together in the three passages where they recur: Gen 21:23; Job 18:19 and here.

[The specific meaning son and nephew (i.e., nepos, grandson), given in the Engl. Version, and most of the early writers, and retained by Umbreit, is derived from the Chaldee Paraphrase ( ). Aben Ezra makes the language still more definite by explaining to be a man himself, a father, a son, and a grandson.But the more general meaning of the terms now held to be correct, is given in the LXX. ( ) and the Vulgate (nomen et reliquias et germen et progeniem.)J. A. A.]

Isa 14:23. is Pilp., of a root () pellere, protrudere, that occurs only here, from which also the substantive is formed. Some have justly found in this word a reference to clay, out of which the brick-builded Babylon emerged. But the broom, of which Jehovah makes use, is (infin. nomin.), destruction.

EXEGETICAL AND CRITICAL

1. In that day wherein the Lord will grant Israel the deliverance described in Isa 14:1-2, Israel shall sing a song of derision about the king of Babylon (Isa 14:3-4 a). The Prophet has no particular king in mind, but the king of Babylon in abstracto. With wonderful poetic vigor and beauty he shows how the proud possessor of the world-power, who in titanic arrogance would mount to equality with the very Godhead, shall be cast down to the lowest degradation and wretchedness by the omnipotence of the true God. He begins with a joyful exclamation that the scourge of the nations is broken (Isa 14:4 b 6). The earth now has rest; the very cypresses and cedars rejoice that they are no more felled (Isa 14:7-8). On the other hand, the under-world, the kingdom of the dead, rises in commotion at the new arrival. Spectres hurry to meet himthe princes under them rise off their seats (Isa 14:9). Thou, too, comest to us, they call to him (Isa 14:10). Then the Prophet takes up the discourse again, personating Israel, into whose mouth he puts the words, and brings out the contrast in the history of the Babylonian: Thy pomp is cast down to hell, the sound of revel in thy palaces is hushed, and thy body moulders in the grave, a star cast down from heaven (Isa 14:10-12). Thou wouldst raise thyself to the level of the Godhead, and now descendest into the deepest depth of the lower world (Isa 14:13-15). Also the subjects of the dead king express their thoughts at the spectacle of the unburied, cast-away corpse, seeing in this present wretchedness the punishment of past wrong-doing: Is this the man that shook and desolated the earth (Isa 14:16-17)? While the bodies of other kings lie quiet in their graves, his corpse, without a grave, is cast away as a despised and trampled carcase (Isa 14:18-19). This is the punishment for his having ruined land and nation. Therefore shall his generation be exterminated (Isa 14:20-21). Finally Jehovah Himself confirms the announcement of destruction, extending the warning of punishment to Babylon entire, and presents to it the prospect of desolation in the same manner as occurs chap. 13. Isa 14:21 sq. (Isa 14:22-23).

2. And it shall come to passhindereth.

Isa 14:3; Isa 14:6. A song of derision about the representative of the Babylonish world-power cannot be appropriate while one is in its power. When one is out of reach of his arm, then the long pent-up resentment may find expression. The service (. comp. Isa 28:21; Isa 32:17) is also called hard (, Exo 1:6; Exo 6:9; Deu 26:6) in the description of the Egyptian bondage. Thus we have a reminder of the resemblance between the first and the second exile.

3. The whole earthagainst us.

Isa 14:7-8. But not merely the world of mankind, the impersonal creatures were disquieted by this world-despot, who knew no law but his own passions, and they, too, rejoice, jubilant at the repose. Representative of all others, the elevated giants of the forest high up on Lebanon speak, to utter their joy that, since the end of the tyrant, they are no more felled. Cypress (Isa 37:24; Isa 41:19; Isa 55:13; Isa 60:13), a hard and lasting wood, was used, not only for house and ship-building (1Ki 5:8; 1Ki 5:10; Eze 27:5), but also in the manufacture of lances (Nah 2:4) and musical instruments (2Sa 6:5; comp. Isa 14:11). [According to J. D. Michaelis, Antilibanus is clothed with firs as Libanus or Lebanon proper is with cedars, and both are here introduced as joining in the general triumph. J. A. A.]

4. Hell from beneathlike unto us.

Isa 14:9-10. On Sheol see Isa 14:14. [The English word Hell, though now appropriated to the condition or place of future torments, corresponds in etymology and early usage to the Hebrew word in question. Gesenius derives it, with the German Hlle, from Hhle, hollow; but the English etymologists from the Anglo-Saxon helan, to cover, which amounts to the same thing,the ideas of a hollow and a covered place being equally appropriate. As Sheol, retained by Henderson, and the Greek word Hades, introduced by Lowth and Barnes, require explanation also, the strong and homely Saxon form will be preferred by every unsophisticated taste. Ewald and Umbreit [and Naegelsbach] have the good taste to restore the old word Hlle in their versions. J. A. A.] As the Prophet has before personified the trees of Lebanon, so here he personifies the world of the dead. He presents it as governed by a common will. This will, so to speak, the will of the ruler, roused by the appearance of the king of Babylon, electrifies the entire kingdom, so that it gets into unusual commotion and turns to the approaching king in wonder (comp. Isa 14:16). Especially the kings already there in the kingdom of the dead, the colleagues of the Babylonian, are in commotion. (Isa 26:14; Isa 26:19) are the lax, nerveless, powerless, who have no body, and thus no life-power more, who are only outlines, shades. The word is without article, likely because not all , but only a part of them, i.e., all (the strong ones, or he-goats) shall be made to rise. These are called he-goats (Isa 1:11; Isa 34:6), not only because on earth they were the leader-goats of the nation-flocks (Zec 10:3; Psa 68:31; Jer 50:8), but because they are still such. It seems to me that there underlies here the representation of Psa 49:15 (14) : Like sheep they are laid in the grave; death shall pasture them [feed on them, Eng. Version.]. Therefore, perhaps it reads , earth, and not the earth, for the latter would be the earth as abode of the living. In the kingdom of the dead the dead are like a great flockdeath pastures them: but those that were he-goats on earth are such also in the under-world. For the latter has no independent life. It only reflects in outline what life accomplished in complete, corporeal existence. Only to the end of Isa 14:10 do the words of the shades extend. For, on the one hand, much discourse does not become them (Knobel), and, on the other, much of what follows does not become the mouths of shades, viz.: the derision of the Babylonian that would retort on themselves, and because Isa 14:16 a and 20a they would speak of themselves in the third person. Therefore from Isa 14:11 on the author of the Maschal again speaks. [The ancient versions and all the early writers understand to mean giants. Its application to the dead admits of several explanations equally plausible with that of Gesenius (who in the earlier editions of his Lexicon and in his Commentary on Isaiah derives it from , but in the last edition of his Lexicon derives it from , to be still or quiet, a supposititious meaning founded on an Arabic analogy); and entitled to the preference according to the modern laws of lexicography, because instead of multiplying, they reduce the number of distinct significations. The shades or spectres of the dead might naturally be conceived as actually larger than the living man, since that which is shadowy and indistinct is commonly exaggerated by the fancy. Or there may be an allusion to the Canaanitish giants who were exterminated by divine command, and might be chosen to represent the whole class of departed sinners. Or, in this case, we may suppose the kings and great ones of the earth to be distinguished from the vulgar dead as giants or gigantic forms. Either of these hypotheses precludes the necessity of finding a new root for a common word, or of denying its plain use elsewhere. As to mere poetical effect, so often made a test of truth, there can be no comparison between the description of the dead as weak or quiet ones, and the sublime conception of gigantic shades or phantoms. Some comment on the text as if it were not a mere prosopopia or poetical creation of the highest order, but a chapter from the popular belief of the Jews as to the locality, contents and transactions of the unseen world. Thus Gesenius, in his Lexicon and Commentary, gives a minute topographical description of Sheol, as the Hebrews believed it to exist. With equal truth a diligent compiler might construct a map of hell, as conceived by the English Puritans, from the descriptive portions of Paradise Lost. This kind of exposition is chargeable with a rhetorical incongruity in lauding the creative genius of the poet, and yet making all his grand creations commonplace articles of popular belief. The true view of the matter, as determined both by piety and taste, appears to he that the passage now before us comprehends two elements, and only two: religious verities or certain facts, and poetical embellishments. It may not he easy to distinguish clearly between thesebut it is only between these that we are able or have any occasion to distinguish. The admission of a tertium quid in the shape of superstitious fables is as false in rhetoric as in theology. J. A. A.]

5. Thy pompof the pit.

Isa 14:11-15. The contrasts between what the Babylonian would be and what he now is are here set forth. The pomp he prepared for his eyes to see, and the glorious sounds he let his ears hear are swallowed up by hell. His body, once so dearly cared for and couched, has now maggots for a couch and worms for a covering. Passages from Job (Job 7:5; Job 21:26) seem here to present themselves to the Prophets mind. Shining and high was he once, like the morning star; now he is fallen from heaven. , shining star, is called son of the morning, because it seems to emerge out of the morning dawn (comes et alumnus aurorae). In the southern heavens, when mirrored in the waves of the sea, this planet has a brighter gleam than with us (Leyrer in Herz.R. Encycl. XIX. p. 563). Tertullian, Gregory the Great, and latterly Stier, with reference to Luk 10:18, have taken the star fallen from heaven for Satan. Hence originates the name Lucifer (Vulgatealthough , Job 38:32, is also so rendered), (LXX.). Once he was mighty over the nationsbut now he is himself broken and cast to the earth (Isa 22:25).

The following And thou hast said,etc. (Isa 14:13) seems at first sight to stand in antithesis to what precedes (Isa 14:12). But examination shows that Isa 14:13-15 belong together. For the , thou art brought down, Isa 14:15, corresponds to the , I will ascend, of Isa 14:13-14, and Isa 14:12 is complete in itself, each clause of it containing a complete antithesis; the lofty star is fallen, the conqueror lies prostrate on the ground. Thus the before is not adversative, but simply the copulative: and thou who thoughtst to mount to the heavens must go down to hell. The world-power is by its very nature inimical to God: its aim is to supplant God and put itself in His place. This tendency is indwelling in the world-power derived from its transcendental author, Satan, and is realized in every particular representative. Thus, then, here the Babylonian expresses his purpose of assuming the highest place, not simply on earth among the lords of the world, but in heaven itself, and that above the stars, which seem here to be conceived of as the residences of the spirits of God, the , Job 38:7, and the spheres of their manifestation, according to heathen notions, which very well suit in the mouth of the Babylonian. Let him be enthroned above the stars, and he, too, is god of hosts. Let the throne of the potentate be above the stars; then he shall stand on the pinnacle of the sacred mountain of the gods, about which the constellations circle, and which the heathen notions of the Orient represent as in the North. This mountain is variously named by the different nations. It is called Meru (Kailasa, in the direction beyond the Himalaia) by those in India, Alburg by the others; nor does the Olympus of the Greeks stand wholly disconnected herewith. Comp. Rhode,Heil. Saga des Zendvolkes, p. 229 sq.; Gesenius,Jes. II. p. 516 sqq.; Lassen,Ind. Alterthumskunde I. p. 34 sq.; Movers,Phn. II. 1, p. 414; Kohut,Jd. Angelol. u. Daemonol. in den Abhh. f. d. Kunde des Morgenl., 1866, p. 57.

Many expositors down to Fuerst (Conc. p. 501) and Shegg [J. A. A. states both views without deciding; so also substantially Birks] have been led by the expression to hold that the mountain meant in the text is Zion, as the gathering place of the Israelites, for which they appeal especially to Psa 48:3. But Zion lay neither to the north of Palestine nor to the north of Jerusalem, nor does the mention of Zion in this sense become the lips of the possessor of the world-power. (remotest corners, Eng. Vers.sides), are the thighs, which (considered from within outwardly), form the extremest boundaries, as well as (regarded in their junction), the extremest points. Thus the word stands for the inmost corner (e.g., of a cave, 1Sa 24:4) as well as for the extremest boundary of a land. Thus Jer 6:22; Jer 25:32 says (sides, coasts of the earth); and here Isa. (and after him Eze 38:6; Eze 38:15; Eze 39:2) says (extremest, highest North). The expressions above the stars of God and mount of the congregation signify the loftiest height intensively, the heights of the clouds ( an expression found only here), in an extensive sense. For as far as the clouds extend (Psa 35:6; Psa 57:11; Psa 108:5) the dominion of the true God reaches, and everywhere the clouds are His air chariots and air thrones (Isa 19:1; Psa 97:2; Psa 104:3; Dan 7:13). If, then, the Babylonian reigns in the loftiest heights and every where, he has become like the highest God. But thereby he has supplanted the highest God: for two cannot at once occupy the highest place. And this, as remarked above, is the aim of Satan and of his earthly sphere of power, the world-power, which culminates in Antichrist (Dan 11:36; 2Th 2:3 sq.). This tendency of the world-power explains how, not only heathen, but now and then also Jewish and Christian princes, have laid claim to divine honors, or at least have suffered such to be paid them. Curtius (VIII. 5) praises the Persians because: non pie solum, sed etiam prudenter reges suos inter Deos colunt. In inscriptions Persian kings are explicitly called , , and even . Comp. Hengstenberg,Introd. to the O. Test. I. [p. 124 sqq. of the German Ed.]. This is well known in regard to the Roman Emperors. Such deification had its extremest illustration in the case of Diocletian, who made himself an object of divine worship as a representative of the highest God. Comp. Alb. Vogel,Prof., Der Kaiser Diocletian, ein Vortrag, Gotha, 1857. Herod let himself be called God, and had to suffer dearly for that assumption of honor such as belongs to God alone (Act 12:21 sqq.). In Christian Europe, too, there have not been wanting instances of such heathenish adulation of princes. See under Doctrinal and Ethical remarks below.

Isa 14:15 expresses, in contrast with the pretensions of the Babylonian, what his actual fate shall be. [See above in Text. and Gram.]

6. They that seewith cities.

Isa 14:16-21. They that see are not the denizens of hell, for they have before them the dead as an unburied corpse. The underlying thought of the passage is, however, that the sins of the deceased are enumerated (Isa 14:16-17), and his fate is designated as their merited punishment. Thus it says, they that see thee, i.e. they that see thee lying an unburied corpse look upon thee. Because he destroyed the rest of countries, he himself now finds no rest in the grave. Because he made a desert of the fruitful land ( to be taken in this sense here in contrast with , comp. on Isa 13:11), he lies himself a deserted carcase; because he showed no pity to prisoners, he is himself pitilessly dealt with.

I do not think it probable that the following words are to be ascribed to others than the , those seeing thee, Isa 14:16, e.g. to the Prophet. The internal connection with Isa 14:16-17 is too close. Is this the man, says Isa 14:16? What kind of man? Why just that one who, according to Isa 14:19, lies as a trampled carcase. Then Isa 14:22, what the Prophet says in the name of the Lord, comes in all the more emphatically as confirming this. It is then the subjects of the king that remark, that whereas all other kings lie in state in the tombs of their ancestors (comp. 2Ki 21:18, 2Ch 33:20) their king is cast away far from his grave (=procul, Jer 48:45; Lam 4:9).

But he is cast away as a despised branch. When trees are felled, or pruned, many a small branch, which compared to the whole tree is worthless, is cast aside and trampled in the mud.
Most expositors in explaining the following words take as part. pass. But it seems to me that then the two following participles appear very superfluous. For what does it amount to to describe the Chaldean as covered with the slain that are thrust through and carried down to the pit? It is otherwise if, with Aqu., Theod., Luther, Fuerst (conc.), and others, we take as substantive. Then it is said that the corpse of the Chaldean is cast away, not only as a despised branch, but also as the garment of the slain who were thrust through with the sword and buried. For were they thrust through with a sword, then, too, the garment would be cut into holes, and at least spotted with blood, and if they are buried, it is explained how their garment comes into the hands of others. When the dead are buried on the field of battle, their clothes are taken off them, but those that are torn and cut in holes and smeared with blood, are cast away, while those unharmed are retained as valuable booty. The stones of the pit cannot be the stones of a grave on the top of the earth. For neither the rock-hewn grave, nor a walled-up tomb, nor a grave covered with stones to avoid the trouble of shoveling up a mound, has any meaning in this connection; though it may be said by the way, that heaping up stones is no less troublesome than shoveling up a mound. Buried in general is the chief thing. But there is only one , pit, that has stones under all circumstances. It is the widening and deepening of the grave ( see Isa 14:15), that is on the surface. This is in the interior of the earth. This interior is any way closed about by the , pillars, (Job 9:6), foundations, (Psa 104:5) of the earth; but these are the mountains (comp. Pro 7:25) which are thence called strong foundations of the earth Mic 6:2. But that the foundations or the roots of the earth consist of rock was known to the ancients as well as to us. The king, as an unburied, thrown away corpse, shall not be reunited in the grave with those other dead which, according to Isa 14:19, are buried.The king destroyed his land by despotism and wars, and sacrificed his subjects in masses. Thus, not only himself, but his entire dynasty shall be destroyed. The name of his race shall become extinct as godless. To this end his seed must be slain. The people themselves demand it. They resolve that this generation shall not be raised up to possess the land and fill it with cities. Building cities contributes to security, the establishment of dominion, the interests of trade, and the cultivation of the ground. A builder of cities must ever be a mighty man. There is no need, therefore, to change , as some would do, to (Ewald), (Hitzig), (Meier). On the other hand one must be careful not to press all the particular traits of this prophecy. What we said above concerning the ideal coloring of prophecy is appropriate also here.

7. For I willsaith the Lord of hosts.

Isa 14:22-23. These are words of the Prophet which he speaks in the name of Jehovah. Therefore the word of God constitutes the, formal conclusion of the prophecy, the Prophet resuming the thread of discourse and keeping it to the end. He confirms thereby the words of the people by giving them a general and more comprehensive direction. What they had said only against the royal race is changed to a denunciation of punishment against the kingdom of Babylon in general. Its cities shall become the possession (Job 17:11; Oba 1:17) of the porcupine (Isa 34:11; Zep 2:14), and, (in consequence of the ruin of the embankments of the Euphrates), swampy marshes (Isa 35:7; Isa 41:18; Isa 42:15). By the porcupine appears to be meant the echinus aquatica, which was found of unusual size (according to Strabo, Isa 16:1) on the islands of the Euphrates. Comp. Bochart,Hieroz. II., p. 454 sqq.

Footnotes:

[4]labor.

[5]unrest.

[6]which was wrought by thee.

[7]raise.

[8]Or, taunting speech.

[9]upon.

[10]Or, exactress of gold.

[11]oppression.

[12]Heb. a stroke without removing.

[13]trod down.

[14]by persecution without sparing.

[15]Or, The grave.

[16]spectres, or giants.

[17]Heb. leaders.

[18]Or, great goats.

[19]answer.

[20]Thou art.

[21]Or, O day star.

[22]subdue.

[23]And yet.

[24]saidst.

[25]Only.

[26]art.

[27]remotest corners.

[28]Or, did not let his prisoners loose homewards.

[29]in state.

[30]despised.

[31]named.

[32]And.

[33]issue and offspring.

[34]porcupine.

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.

Fuente: A Commentary on the Holy Scriptures, Critical, Doctrinal, and Homiletical by Lange

Isa 14:3 And it shall come to pass in the day that the LORD shall give thee rest from thy sorrow, and from thy fear, and from the hard bondage wherein thou wast made to serve,

Ver. 3. That the Lord shall give thee rest, &c. ] The Church hath her halcyons here; neither is she “smitten as those are that smote her, but in measure, in the branches,” &c. God “stayeth his rough wind” Isa 27:8 that is, such afflictions as would shake his plants too much, or quite blow them down. Yea, whether south or north wind bloweth, all shall blow good to them Son 4:16 Blow off their unkindly blossoms, and refresh them both under and after all their sorrow, fear, and hardship.

Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)

NASB (UPDATED) TEXT: Isa 14:3-27

3And it will be in the day when the LORD gives you rest from your pain and turmoil and harsh service in which you have been enslaved, 4that you will take up this taunt against the king of Babylon, and say,

How the oppressor has ceased,

And how fury has ceased!

5The LORD has broken the staff of the wicked,

The scepter of rulers

6Which used to strike the peoples in fury with unceasing strokes,

Which subdued the nations in anger with unrestrained persecution.

7The whole earth is at rest and is quiet;

They break forth into shouts of joy.

8Even the cypress trees rejoice over you, and the cedars of Lebanon, saying,

‘Since you were laid low, no tree cutter comes up against us.’

9Sheol from beneath is excited over you to meet you when you come;

It arouses for you the spirits of the dead, all the leaders of the earth;

It raises all the kings of the nations from their thrones.

10They will all respond and say to you,

‘Even you have been made weak as we,

You have become like us.

11Your pomp and the music of your harps

Have been brought down to Sheol;

Maggots are spread out as your bed beneath you

And worms are your covering.’

12How you have fallen from heaven,

O star of the morning, son of the dawn!

You have been cut down to the earth,

You who have weakened the nations!

13But you said in your heart,

‘I will ascend to heaven;

I will raise my throne above the stars of God,

And I will sit on the mount of assembly

In the recesses of the north.

14I will ascend above the heights of the clouds;

I will make myself like the Most High.’

15Nevertheless you will be thrust down to Sheol,

To the recesses of the pit.

16Those who see you will gaze at you,

They will ponder over you, saying,

‘Is this the man who made the earth tremble,

Who shook kingdoms,

17Who made the world like a wilderness

And overthrew its cities,

Who did not allow his prisoners to go home?’

18All the kings of the nations lie in glory,

Each in his own tomb.

19But you have been cast out of your tomb

Like a rejected branch,

Clothed with the slain who are pierced with a sword,

Who go down to the stones of the pit

Like a trampled corpse.

20You will not be united with them in burial,

Because you have ruined your country,

You have slain your people.

May the offspring of evildoers not be mentioned forever.

21Prepare for his sons a place of slaughter

Because of the iniquity of their fathers.

They must not arise and take possession of the earth

And fill the face of the world with cities.

22I will rise up against them, declares the LORD of hosts, and will cut off from Babylon name and survivors, offspring and posterity, declares the LORD . 23I will also make it a possession for the hedgehog and swamps of water, and I will sweep it with the broom of destruction, declares the LORD of hosts. 24The LORD of hosts has sworn saying, Surely, just as I have intended so it has happened, and just as I have planned so it will stand, 25to break Assyria in My land, and I will trample him on My mountains. Then his yoke will be removed from them and his burden removed from their shoulder. 26This is the plan devised against the whole earth; and this is the hand that is stretched out against all the nations. 27For the LORD of hosts has planned, and who can frustrate it? And as for His stretched-out hand, who can turn it back?

Isa 14:4 taunt This is the Hebrew Wisdom Literature term mashal (BDB 605), which is usually translated proverb. However, the poetic structure of Isa 14:3-21 is in the meter of a funeral dirge (i.e., chapter 47 and Lamentations).

against the king of Babylon The identity of this title is uncertain. Please read Contextual Insights, C, second paragraph of chapter 13. Notice how in Isa 14:24, without any oracle formula, Assyria is addressed directly. After the fall of the city of Babylon to Assyria in 689 B.C., the Assyrian kings took the added throne title of king of Babylon.

fury has ceased The MT has the word , but this is used only here in the OT. If the (d) is changed to (r), like the scroll of Isaiah in the Dead Sea Scrolls, then (BDB 923) becomes arrogant or insolent. The UBS Hebrew Text Project gives this reading a C (i.e., considerable doubt) rating.

The NKJV follows a possible Aramaic root that refers to gold. No other major translation has followed its lead.

Isa 14:5 The LORD has YHWH is the controller behind human history (cf. Isa 14:22-24). He may be unseen to those who lack faith, but He is directing history for the coming of Messiah (first coming) and the consummation of the age of righteousness (second coming). See Special Topic: Righteousness .

The staff (BDB 641) and scepter (BDB 986) were symbols of kingly power (cf. Isa 14:6). They are used of YHWH’s use of Assyria in Isa 10:5.

Isa 14:7 The whole earth is at rest and is quiet The rest (BDB 628, KB 679, Qal PERFECT) refers to a time of peace from invasion. This same VERB is used in Isa 14:3 (Hiphil INFINITIVE CONSTRUCT) to refer to the rest/peace of the covenant people. Here it refers to the whole ANE (i.e., the whole earth).

The fall of the Mesopotamian powers causes rest, quiet, and joy throughout the ANE. The oppressor is defeated (cf. Isa 14:8).

They break forth into shouts of joy Isaiah speaks often of the joy of deliverance (cf. Isa 44:23; Isa 49:13; Isa 52:9; Isa 54:1).

Here, it has an element of an eschatological joy (i.e., the whole earth). YHWH’s will for mankind was rest, peace, abundance, and joy (cf. Genesis 1-2)!

Isa 14:8 no tree cutter comes up against us This can mean one of three things.

1. Babylon exported many trees for her own building projects (literal)

2. the enemy will not cut lumber to build siege equipment (literal)

3. the land will prosper in peace (symbolic)

Isa 14:9 Sheol Sheol is personified as preparing a welcoming gathering for the fallen kings. It (BDB 982) refers to the holding place of the dead. In the OT life after death is described as being a conscious existence, but with no joy; people being a mere shadow of their former selves with enforced equality in silence (cf. Isa 14:10-11, Job 3:17-19; Job 10:21-22; Job 21:23-26). See Special Topic: Where Are the Dead? .

NASBspirits of the dead

NKJVthe dead

NRSVthe shades

TEV, NJBghosts

LXXmighty ones

REBthe ancient dead

The term (BDB 952 I, cf. Isa 26:19) is used in poetry for

1. dead kings, TEV, NJB

2. dead warriors, LXX

3. dead ancestors, REB

4. the dead in general, NASB, NKJV

In historical texts it refers to the Rephaim, an ethnic group associated with the giants.

SPECIAL TOPIC: Terms Used for Tall/powerful Warriors or People Groups

NASB, NRSVleaders of the earth

NKJVchief one of the earth

TEVthose who were powerful

NJBrulers of the world

This is literally rams (BDB 800, cf. Eze 34:17). It referred to the leader of a flock and then metaphorically of human societies.

Isa 14:11 The first two lines denote the lavish and extravagant lifestyle of the eastern kings. They lay on pillows and slept on soft beds.

The last two lines describe the new bed of the kings in Sheol/grave (i.e., worms). Even the monarchs who saw themselves as gods, will one day be in a bed of worms! Mortality is a leveler of all mankind (cf. Isa 5:14). What a contrast!

worms Here it is used literally as an idiom for death and metaphorically of fear of death and transitoriness of all human life.

Isa 14:12 How you have fallen from heaven The VERB (BDB 656, KB 709, Qal PERFECT) denotes a settled condition. The question is, Is this literal or figurative? The VERB is used for a violent death (BDB 657, Isa 14:2 a). Isaiah uses it in Isa 3:8; Isa 8:15 for the destruction of a city. But the added phrase, from heaven, is what causes commentators to assert an angelic being, see Special Topic: Personal Evil , as well as the similar words of Jesus in Luk 10:18.

NASBO star of the morning

NKJV, Vulgate O Lucifer

NRSVO Day Star

TEVbright morning star

NJB, LXXDay star

REBBright morning star

The Hebrew NOMINATIVE MASCULINE term is (BDB 237, KB 245). This form is found only here in the OT. The VERBAL root, can mean

1. shine, possibly referring to the new moon

2. be boastful or to praise, from which we get the Hallel psalms (i.e., praise psalms)

The KB mentions several options as to the origin of this root.

1. from a Ugaritic root, hll

2. from an Arabic root, the crescent of the new moon

3. from a Hebrew root, uncertain, but probably refers to Venus the morning star (son of the dawn)

4. from the Latin, Lucifer referring to Venus (i.e., lit. light-bearer)

The whole point of the title is that this heavenly light is quickly eclipsed by the morning light. Its splendor is brief! There is a new, brighter, and better light coming!

You The next two lines of Isa 14:12 obviously refer to an earthly king of Assyria or Babylon (cf. Isa 14:16-17). The imagery of the poem (Isa 14:4-21) is taken from Canaanite mythology (esp. Isa 14:13-14), which is known from Ras Shamra Tablets dating from the fifteenth century B.C. found at the city of Ugarit.

The terms star of the morning (Helal) and dawn (Shabar) are both the names of deities in Canaanite mythology, as is a mountain of the gods in the north (Mount Zaphon, cf. Psa 48:2). Also the title for deity, Most High, is common in Ugaritic poems and refers to Ba’al Shamim (Lord of heaven). In Canaanite mytho-poetry Helal, a lesser god, tries to usurp power, but is defeated. This is behind Isaiah’s imagery of an arrogant eastern potentate.

This description of a proud, arrogant Near Eastern king is extended from Isa 14:8-11. Only Isa 14:12, taken literally following the Vulgate, and a lack of knowledge of Ugaritic literature can use this context as referring to a rebellious angelic leader. See Contextual Insights, B.

Isa 14:13-14 These two verses show the arrogance and pride of the ANE kings.

1. I will ascend to. . ., BDB 748, KB 828, Qal IMPERFECT

2. I will raise my throne. . ., BDB 926, KB 1202, Hiphil IMPERFECT

3. I will sit on. . ., BDB 442, KB 444, Qal IMPERFECT

4. I will ascend above…, same VERB as #1

5. I will make myself like. . ., BDB 197, KB 225, Hiphil IMPERFECT

Arrogance and pride are the essence of the fallen human spirit. YHWH uniquely judges this human self-deification!

Isa 14:13 stars of God The title for Deity is El, (BDB 42), which was a common designation of deity throughout the ANE. This, too, could reflect the Canaanite mythology from Ugarit.

The stars were viewed as angels/gods who controlled human destiny (i.e., Babylonian astral worship from Ziggurats). This person wanted total control over the earth.

I will sit on the mount of assembly

In the recesses of the north This is a symbol of God’s abode (cf. Psa 48:2; Eze 28:14). The surprising thing is its location in the recesses of the north. This mountain of the gods in the far north was part of Canaanite mythology, similar to the Greek Mount Olympus.

Isa 14:14 Most High This title Elyon, (BDB 751 II), is used by Balaam in Num 24:16 and is parallel to Shaddai (i.e., Almighty, BDB 994). It is used by Moses in his Song before his death in Deu 32:8, as well as David in 2Sa 22:14 and in several Psalms.

It is also used in the Ras Shamra Tablets for the Canaanite High god.

Isa 14:15 Instead of going to the mountain in the far (BDB 438) north, he will go down to the depths (BDB 438), Sheol. See Special Topic: The Dead, Where Are They? (Sheol/Hades, Gehenna, Tartarus) .

The term Sheol (BDB 982, see Special Topic at Isa 5:14) is parallel to the pit (BDB 92, cf. Eze 31:16), which is another name for the grave (cf. Pro 28:17). The same term is used in Isa 14:19 and is parallel to tomb/sepulcher (cf. Isa 14:18).

Isa 14:16-19 This is the forth strophe; it refers to the astonishment of the on-lookers in Sheol at the body of the dead King of Babylon. It is similar to Isa 14:9-11.

Isa 14:17 This verse denotes the aggressive deportation practices of both Assyria and Babylon. This population control mechanism is reversed by Cyrus II (Medo-Persia) in 538 B.C.

Isa 14:19 a rejected branch This same term (BDB 666) is used in Isa 6:13 of the holy seed in the stump and in Isa 11:1 of the stem/shoot from Jesse, both of which refer to the Messiah, the true King. The kings of ANE are a rejected branch!

Like a trampled corpse This speaks of the humiliation of an improper burial (possible reference to Sargon II). Not only did the king miss the royal funeral, he missed burial altogether!

The term trampled (BDB 100, KB 115, Hophal PARTICIPLE) is also used in Isa 14:25 (Qal IMPERFECT). It was a metaphor of YHWH’s judgment (cf. Isa 63:6, Qal IMPERFECT and Isa 63:18, Polel PERFECT). The Psalms use it regularly for the covenant people’s victory over enemies through YHWH’s power and presence (cf. Psa 44:5; Psa 60:12; Psa 108:13). A disobedient covenant people trample God’s land (cf. Jer 12:10; Polel PERFECT).

Isa 14:20 Not only will the arrogant king be denied a proper burial, he will not be succeeded by a family member. He and his family will be cut off. His own country will not remember him!

Isa 14:21 The king’s descendants will be killed because of their father’s sins. This reflects Exo 20:5. The king and his wicked nation must not be allowed to prosper. YHWH wants the earth full, but not of unrighteousness.

Isa 14:22-23 This forms a prose conclusion. It seems to me that Isa 14:23 is related to Isa 13:21-22, which is a metaphor to describe the total desolation of this nation, this king, and his city.

Isa 14:22 offspring and posterity These two terms (BDB 630 and 645) refer to descendants.

1. the first, current children

2. the second, the family tree or lineage

Loss of descendants was seen as a great shame and curse (cf. Isa 47:9). It may even have been thought to affect one’s afterlife.

Isa 14:23 I will sweep it with the broom of destruction YHWH is depicted as a wife/child cleaning the house by sweeping (BDB 370, KB 367, Pilpel PERFECT). All the trash is removed. What a domestic, but powerful domestic metaphor (unique to Isaiah).

Isa 14:24-27 Most English translations make a paragraph change here. But notice there is no oracle marker, which implies that Isa 13:1 to Isa 14:27 is one literary unit dealing with the destruction of Assyria. See Contextual Insights, C.

Isa 14:24 This verse asserts that God’s will will be accomplished. His word is sure (cf. Isa 46:11; Isa 55:8-9; Job 23:13; Psa 33:9; Act 4:28).

The LORD of hosts has sworn By the power and authority of Himself, YHWH states His plans and purposes (cf. Isa 14:24; Isa 45:23; Isa 62:8; Deu 1:8; Deu 1:35; Deu 2:14; Deu 4:31; Deu 6:10; Deu 6:18; Deu 6:23; Jer 51:14; Amo 4:2; Amo 8:7).

Isa 14:25 to break Assyria in My land This may refer to the plague which devastated 185,000 troops of Sennacherib in one night before the gates of Jerusalem in Hezekiah’s day (cf. 2Ki 18:13 to 2Ki 19:37, esp. 2Ki. 19:35-37; 2 Chronicles 32).

his yoke will be removed from them This is a recurrent theme (cf. Isa 9:4; Isa 10:27). Yoke, like staff or rod, was a symbol of foreign oppression.

Isa 14:26-27 This Assyrian king had a plan for world domination (Isa 14:26), but YHWH had another plan (cf. Isa 8:10), a plan for world redemption (Isa 14:27)! Assyria, Babylon and Persia are tools in YHWH’s plan and no one can withstand His hand (i.e., power, see Special Topic: Hand ).

Fuente: You Can Understand the Bible: Study Guide Commentary Series by Bob Utley

Anticipating the great day of restoration, the prophet puts into the mouth of Israel the great parable or song which celebrates the downfall of Assyria. This moves in five distinct strophes. In the first (verses Isa 14:4-8), the deliverance wrought for the whole earth through the overthrow of Assyria is described. The golden city had been the seat of widespread oppression, and when by the action of Jehovah it is destroyed, the whole earth is at rest. In the second (verses Isa 14:9-11), the consternation of the underworld at the fall of Assyria is described. All the great dead ones are astonished that at last even Assyria had become weak. In the third, the sin which had culminated in such destruction is revealed (verses Isa 14:12-15). The sin was that rebellion against God, the ambition which attempted to thwart His purpose and contest with Him the right of empire. The completeness of Assyria’s destruction is the subject of the fourth (verses Isa 14:16-19). While other kings sleep in glory, the king of Assyria is to be flung out unburied as utterly evil. The fifth strophe (verses Isa 14:20-21) announces the utter extermination of Assyria, even to its name and remnant.

The prophecy concerning Assyria ends with a summary of the sentence which affirms the act of Jehovah and the consequent doom of Assyria. While the first application of this great prophecy was undoubtedly to the actual kingdom of Assyria, it is impossible to study it without seeing how graphically it sets forth the ultimate issue of the principle of rebellion which is based on unbelief.

Fuente: An Exposition on the Whole Bible

Isa 12:1, Isa 32:18, Deu 28:48, Deu 28:65-68, Ezr 9:8, Ezr 9:9, Jer 30:10, Jer 46:27, Jer 46:28, Jer 50:34, Eze 28:24, Zec 8:2, Zec 8:8, Rev 18:20, Rev 19:1-3

Reciprocal: Est 9:22 – the days Job 3:18 – they Job 34:29 – When he giveth Psa 72:6 – like Isa 9:4 – the staff Isa 14:15 – thou Jer 17:4 – and I Eze 34:27 – when I

Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge

Isa 14:3-5. And in the day that the Lord shall give thee rest from thy sorrow From thy grief, fear, and the hard bondage of former times; wherein thou wast made to serve According to the pleasure of thy cruel lords and masters; thou shalt take up this proverb Into thy mouth, as it is expressed; Psa 50:16; and say, How hath the oppressor ceased! This is spoken by way of astonishment and triumph, as if he had said, Who would have thought this possible? The golden city ceased! So they used to call themselves; which he expresses here in a word of their own language. The Lord hath broken the staff, &c. This is an answer to the foregoing question. It is Gods own work, and not mans; and therefore it is not strange that it is accomplished. But before we proceed with our remarks on some particular passages of this song, we shall present our readers with the general view which Bishop Lowth has given of its unparalleled beauties, which he has pointed out, in a very striking manner, as follows: A chorus of Jews is introduced, expressing their surprise and astonishment at the sudden downfall of Babylon, and the great reverse of fortune that had befallen the tyrant, who, like his predecessors, had oppressed his own, and harassed the neighbouring kingdoms. These oppressed kingdoms, or their rulers, are represented under the image of the fir-trees, and the cedars of Libanus, frequently used to express any thing in the political or religious world that is super-eminently great and majestic: the whole earth shouteth for joy: the cedars of Libanus utter a severe taunt over the fallen tyrant; and boast their security now he is no more. The scene is immediately changed, and a new set of persons is introduced; the regions of the dead are laid open, and Hades is represented as rousing up the shades of the departed monarchs: they rise from their thrones to meet the king of Babylon at his coming; and insult him on his being reduced to the same low estate of impotence and dissolution with themselves. This is one of the boldest prosopopias that ever was attempted in poetry; and is executed with astonishing brevity and perspicuity, and with that peculiar force which, in a great subject, naturally results from both. The Jews now resume the speech; they address the king of Babylon as the morning-star fallen from heaven, as the first in splendour and dignity in the political world, fallen from his high state: they introduce him as uttering the most extravagant vaunts of his power, and ambitious designs in his former glory: these are strongly contrasted in the close with his present low and abject condition. Immediately follows a different scene, and a most happy image, to diversify the same subject, and to give it a new turn and an additional force. Certain persons are introduced, who light upon the corpse of the king of Babylon, cast out, and lying naked on the bare ground, among the common slain, just after the taking of the city; covered with wounds, and so disfigured, that it is some time before they know him. They accost him with the severest taunts, and bitterly reproach him with his destructive ambition, and his cruel usage of the conquered; which have deservedly brought upon him this ignominious treatment, so different from that which those of his rank usually meet with, and which shall cover his posterity with disgrace. To complete the whole, God is introduced declaring the fate of Babylon, the utter extirpation of the royal family, and the total desolation of the city; the deliverance of his people, and the destruction of their enemies; confirming the irreversible decree by the awful sanction of his oath. I believe it may, with truth, be affirmed, that there is no poem of its kind extant in any language, in which the subject is so well laid out, and so happily conducted, with such a richness of invention, with such variety of images, persons, and distinct actions, with such rapidity and ease of transition, in so small a compass as in this ode of Isaiah. For beauty of disposition, strength of colouring, greatness of sentiment, brevity, perspicuity, and force of expression, it stands among all the monuments of antiquity unrivalled.

Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments

Having described the future destruction of Babylon (Isa 13:17-22), Isaiah now related the coming destruction of Babylon’s king.

After Yahweh gave Israel rest following her captivity, she would taunt (Heb. mashal, bring to light the truth about) Babylon’s proud ruler who had formerly taunted her (Isa 14:3-4 a; cf. Revelation 18). His death would be an occasion for joy, not sorrow. In view of the description that follows, Isaiah evidently did not describe one particular past king of Babylon, but ascribed traits of many kings of Babylon to this representative official. One writer believed Isaiah described Sennacherib (705-681 B.C.), but there are many differences between what Isaiah wrote here and what Sennacherib experienced. [Note: J. Martin, pp. 1061-62.] Another identified him as Merodach-Baladan, who sent the delegation to King Hezekiah in Jerusalem (cf. ch. 39). [Note: Watts, p. 204,] The king in view may be the eschatological Antichrist, since these verses describe conditions that will exist during the first half of the Tribulation.

Fuente: Expository Notes of Dr. Constable (Old and New Testaments)