The Judgment of Babylon
Isa 13:1 A prophecy against Babylon that Isaiah son of Amoz saw:
Isa 13:2 Raise a banner on a bare hilltop, shout to them; beckon to them to enter the gates of the nobles.
Isa 13:3 I have commanded those I prepared for battle; I have summoned my warriors to carry out my wrath— those who rejoice in my triumph.
Isa 13:4 Listen, a noise on the mountains, like that of a great multitude! Listen, an uproar among the kingdoms, like nations massing together! The LORD Almighty is mustering an army for war.
Isa 13:5 They come from faraway lands, from the ends of the heavens— the LORD and the weapons of his wrath— to destroy the whole country.
Isa 13:6 Wail, for the day of the LORD is near; it will come like destruction from the Almighty.
Isa 13:7 Because of this, all hands will go limp, every heart will melt with fear.
Isa 13:8 Terror will seize them, pain and anguish will grip them; they will writhe like a woman in labor. They will look aghast at each other, their faces aflame.
Isa 13:9 See, the day of the LORD is coming —a cruel day, with wrath and fierce anger— to make the land desolate and destroy the sinners within it.
Isa 13:10 The stars of heaven and their constellations will not show their light. The rising sun will be darkened and the moon will not give its light.
Isa 13:11 I will punish the world for its evil, the wicked for their sins. I will put an end to the arrogance of the haughty and will humble the pride of the ruthless.
Isa 13:12 I will make people scarcer than pure gold, more rare than the gold of Ophir.
Isa 13:13 Therefore I will make the heavens tremble; and the earth will shake from its place at the wrath of the LORD Almighty, in the day of his burning anger.
Isa 13:14 Like a hunted gazelle, like sheep without a shepherd, they will all return to their own people, they will flee to their native land.
Isa 13:15 Whoever is captured will be thrust through; all who are caught will fall by the sword.
Isa 13:16 Their infants will be dashed to pieces before their eyes; their houses will be looted and their wives violated.
Isa 13:17 See, I will stir up against them the Medes, who do not care for silver and have no delight in gold.
Isa 13:18 Their bows will strike down the young men; they will have no mercy on infants, nor will they look with compassion on children.
Isa 13:19 Babylon, the jewel of kingdoms, the pride and glory of the Babylonians, will be overthrown by God like Sodom and Gomorrah.
Isa 13:20 She will never be inhabited or lived in through all generations; there no nomads will pitch their tents, there no shepherds will rest their flocks.
Isa 13:21 But desert creatures will lie there, jackals will fill her houses; there the owls will dwell, and there the wild goats will leap about.
Isa 13:22 Hyenas will inhabit her strongholds, jackals her luxurious palaces. Her time is at hand, and her days will not be prolonged.
1 God musters the armies of his wrath. 6 He threatens to destroy Babylon by the Medes. 19 The desolation of Babylon.
The Judgment of Babylon
Isa 13:1 A prophecy against Babylon that Isaiah son of Amoz saw:
Having delivered a series of messages against Judah and Jerusalem, Isaiah now directs his attention to the surrounding nations. This section includes chs. 13–23. These messages were borne, not primarily to the nations mentioned in them, but to God’s own people, Israel, in order that they might understand God’s dealings with the nations about them.
Isaiah begins with Babylon and, in turn, discusses such nations as Moab, Syria, Ethiopia, and Tyre. In the patriarchal period Babylon had been the great power of the Orient. But about 800 years before the time of Isaiah, Babylon passed into a state of eclipse, while such nations as Egypt, Assyria, and the Hittite empire occupied dominant places in Near Eastern affairs.
Though, in Isaiah’s day, a vassal kingdom of the Assyrian Empire, Babylon was beginning to regain its lost power, and within another century was again to be the outstanding nation of Western Asia. In 729/728 Tiglath-pileser III of Assyria became king of Babylon, ruling under the name of Pulu, and in 709 Sargon became king of Babylon.
During the reigns of Sargon and Sennacherib, Merodach-baladan of Babylon posed a serious threat to Assyrian power. He was repeatedly driven from Babylon, but always came back. It was Merodach-baladan who courted an alliance with Hezekiah, to assist him in his struggles against Assyria. Infuriated by the frequent revolts of Babylon, Sennacherib, in 689, destroyed the city, which was rebuilt later in that century.
Isa 13:2 Raise a banner on a bare hilltop, shout to them; beckon to them to enter the gates of the nobles.
God was to give the signal for the destruction of Babylon. It was He who so directed affairs among the nations that one power after another was to turn its attention against the proud and wicked city until finally it would be utterly destroyed.
A banner set upon a mountain would be clearly seen, and thus it was with the Lord’s signal for Babylon’s doom. The shaking, or waving, of the hand was a gesture of anger and threatened judgment against the city (see on ch. 10:32).
Isa 13:3 I have commanded My sanctified ones; I have also called My mighty ones for My anger—Those who rejoice in My exaltation.”
The Assyrians (Isa. 10:5), the Babylonians (Jer. 25:9; Hab. 1:6), and later the Medes and Persians (Isa. 13:17; Isa. 45:1–4; cf. Dan. 5:30, 31) were ordained to play their assigned roles upon the stage of history.
Assyria (see ch. 10:7–14) and Babylon (see Dan. 4:30; 5:20–28) were haughty and arrogant in exercising the power permitted them by Heaven.
Isa 13:4 Listen, a noise on the mountains, like that of a great multitude! Listen, an uproar among the kingdoms, like nations massing together! The LORD Almighty is mustering an army for war.
The host is mustered for the battle against Babylon. It should be remembered that Isa. 13 is entitled “the burden of Babylon” (v. 1), and that in its entirety the chapter is a literal prediction of the fall and desolation of literal Babylon.
But NT writers have presented the fall of literal Babylon as a figure of the fall of mystical Babylon (see Rev. 14:8; 17:16; 18:4; 19:2). Therefore, the description here given of the fall of literal Babylon may also be considered descriptive of the fall of mystical Babylon insofar as Inspiration has made application of the details to the fall of mystical Babylon. Concerning the dual fulfillment of certain predictions, see on Deut. 18:15.
Isa 13:5 They come from faraway lands, from the ends of the heavens— the LORD and the weapons of his wrath— to destroy the whole country.
The weapons. That is, God’s means of bringing judgment upon Babylon. Compare the plagues on Egypt and God’s “indignation” against other nations and at the end of the world (see Ex. 7:19 to 12:30; Isa. 26:20; 34:2–8; Nahum 1:5–7; Rev. 14:10; 15:1).
Isa 13:6 Wail, for the day of the LORD is near; it will come like destruction from the Almighty.
This expression occurs at least 20 times in the writings of the various OT prophets. It is always used in reference to a time of divine judgment upon a city or nation (rather than upon individuals), or eventually upon the inhabitants of the whole world. In contrast, what might be called “the day of man” is described in Scripture as the “day of salvation” (Isa. 49:8; 2 Cor. 6:2), “an acceptable time” (Ps. 69:13; Isa. 49:8), the time when probation for men as individuals or as nations still lingers (see Ps. 95:7, 8, Heb. 4:7).
Conversely, “the day of the Lord” is the time when, historically, the probation of a city or a nation closes, and ultimately when the destiny of all men is forever fixed. During the “day of salvation” men and nations are free to exercise their God-given power to choose between right and wrong, but with the arrival of “the day of the Lord” God’s will becomes supreme, being no longer circumscribed by the exercise of the human will.
“The day of the Lord” against Judah (see Isa. 2:12; Joel 1:15; 2:1; Zeph. 1:7) was thus the day when, as a nation, it was no longer permitted to continue on in its reprobate course and divine judgment was meted out against it (see Eze. 12:21–28). The same was true with the northern kingdom, Israel (Amos 5:18), with Egypt (Eze. 30:3), with Edom (Obadiah 15), and with other nations of antiquity (see Dan. 5:22–31). What happens to a city or to an entire nation when “the day of the Lord” comes to it is similar to what will happen to the whole world at the close of its probation.
In Matt. 24, for instance, Christ’s description of “the day of the Lord” upon the city of Jerusalem and the Jewish nation is manifestly similar in many respects to what will also be true of the entire world at the time of Christ’s “coming, and of the end of the world” (Matt. 24:3; Luke 21:20; cf. Matt. 24:30).
Thus, principles that apply when “the day of the Lord” comes to any city or nation also apply when “the day of the Lord” comes upon the world as a whole, and an OT prophetic description of the fate of some ancient city or nation in terms of “the day of the Lord” applies also in principle to “the great day of the Lord” (Zeph. 1:14) at the end of time.
In view of the fact that NT writers make of the fate of ancient Babylon a figure of the fate of spiritual Babylon (see on Isa. 13:4), and because they apply the expression, “the day of the Lord,” to the time when Christ returns to earth in judgment (1 Cor. 5:5; 2 Cor. 1:14; 1 Thess. 5:2; 2 Peter 3:10), “the day of the Lord” upon Babylon, as described in Isa. 13 is, in many respects, also descriptive of “the great day of the Lord” at the end of time.
It will come like destruction.
“The day of the Lord” is never referred to in Scripture as a time when men will have a second chance, another opportunity to accept salvation. “The day of the Lord” is always, without exception, a day of judgment, a day of destruction, a day of darkness (see Joel 1:15; 2:1, 2; Amos 5:18–20; etc.).
Isa 13:7 Because of this, all hands will go limp, every heart will melt with fear.
This posture of the hands reflects feelings of discouragement, helplessness, and sometimes, as here, hopelessness. Men in abject despondency or terror let their hands fall helplessly to their sides (see Heb. 12:12).
Isa 13:8 Terror will seize them, pain and anguish will grip them; they will writhe like a woman in labor. They will look aghast at each other, their faces aflame.
A woman in labour. This figure of speech appears often as a description of extreme pain and anguish (see Ps. 48:6; Jer. 4:31; 6:24; 13:21; 49:24; 50:43).
Faces aflame. As men look at one another in utter horror, eyes glazed with terror, fear flashes forth with the intensity of a flame.
Isa 13:9 See, the day of the LORD is coming —a cruel day, with wrath and fierce anger— to make the land desolate and destroy the sinners within it.
The end of sin is not life and prosperity, but desolation, ruin, and death. Sin laid waste the once prosperous nations of Assyria and Babylon, it destroyed many of the greatest cities of the earth, and it will ultimately lay desolate the entire world. This prophecy, originally a description of the fall of literal Babylon, is applied by NT writers to the desolation of mystical Babylon at the second coming of Christ (see on v. 4).
Destroy the sinners.
The destruction of the sinner is not, as some think, an arbitrary act on the part of God. God loves sinners and seeks to save them (Eze. 18:23, 31, 32; 2 Peter 3:9). But it is sin that ultimately destroys the sinner. Men who walk in the ways of iniquity ultimately become so corrupt, so cruel, so devoid of reason, that the measures they take to destroy those about them involve all in a common fate.
“Whoso sheds man’s blood, by man shall his blood be shed” (Gen. 9:6). “All they that take the sword shall perish with the sword” (Matt. 26:52; cf. Rev. 13:10). History has proved these statements true. Babylon took the sword and perished by it. That was also true of the Hittites, of Assyria, of Greece, and of Rome. One day this principle will seal the fate of the sinful world.
Isa 13:10 The stars of heaven and their constellations will not show their light. The rising sun will be darkened and the moon will not give its light.
The stars. A supernatural darkness in which the luminaries of heaven withhold their light is often mentioned as one of the phenomena accompanying the great and terrible “day of the Lord” (Joel 2:10, 11; 13:15, 16; Amos 8:9; see also Matt. 24:29; Mark 13:24, 25; Luke 21:25; Rev. 6:12, 13; GC 636, 637). See EW 41.
Isa 13:11 I will punish the world for its evil, the wicked for their sins. I will put an end to the arrogance of the haughty and will humble the pride of the ruthless.
Punish the world. Justice requires that wrong be punished. God is just, and will not permit the wickedness of men to go unpunished. Sinners need to realize that a day of reckoning for their misdeeds is sure to come (see Eccl. 8:11).
Isa 13:12 I will make people scarcer than pure gold, more rare than the gold of Ophir.
The judgment upon the wicked involves the depopulation of the earth, and leaves it is a desolate ruin (v. 9). Only the righteous remnant will escape the general destruction. Few, they will be as “precious,” or “rare,” as the fine gold of Ophir.
Isa 13:13 Therefore I will make the heavens tremble; and the earth will shake from its place at the wrath of the LORD Almighty, in the day of his burning anger.
Shake the heavens.
With respect to the fall of literal Babylon, vs. 13, 14 are a figurative description of the utter desolation portrayed more literally in vs. 19–22. With respect to the end of the world, they are literal (see Heb. 12:26; Rev. 6:14; PP 340). Tremendous convulsions will mark the closing scenes of earth’s history (see Rev. 6:14; 16:18, 21). It is the voice of God that “shakes the heavens and the earth” (GC 637; cf. Isa. 2:21).
His burning anger. That is, against literal Babylon (see v. 19; see on v. 4). With respect to mystical Babylon and the end of the world, the scenes here described constitute the closing events of the seventh of the seven last plagues, wherein “great Babylon came in remembrance before God, to give unto her the cup of the wine of the fierceness of his wrath” (Rev. 16:19).
Isa 13:14 Like a hunted gazelle, like sheep without a shepherd, they will all return to their own people, they will flee to their native land.
In the last days the wicked of all nations will be scattered as sheep without a shepherd. As in fright animals seek places that have, in the past, been places of shelter and refuge, so the wicked will seek for some place to hide from the final wrath of God, but will find none.
Isa 13:15 Whoever is captured will be thrust through; all who are caught will fall by the sword.
The prophet continues his graphic description of the fall of Babylon, applied by NT writers to the second coming of Christ (see on v. 4). The Babylonians flee before their enemies.
Isa 13:16 Their infants will be dashed to pieces before their eyes; their houses will be looted and their wives violated.
Isa 13:17 See, I will stir up against them the Medes, who do not care for silver and have no delight in gold.
17. The Medes. In the time of Isaiah, Assyria was the chief enemy of Babylon. In the year 689, for instance, the armies of Sennacherib utterly demolished that city. But the Median kingdom was then a relatively insignificant power. Here, prophecy forecasts a time when Media would play a prominent part in the downfall of Babylon.
When Babylon fell into the hands of Cyrus in 539, the Medes cooperated with the Persians in bringing about its downfall. In the final struggle Darius the Mede played a very important part (Dan. 5:31). Isaiah also predicted the part that Cyrus was to play in the struggle against Babylon (Isa. 44:27, 28; Isa 45:1–3). However, the final ruin of Babylon came centuries later (see on v. 19).
Silver. The Medes are here pictured as a people whose chief concern was not booty. They sought Babylon itself, and were not primarily interested in its wealth. They sought power. They came, not to pillage, but to conquer.
Isa 13:18 Their bows will strike down the young men; they will have no mercy on infants, nor will they look with compassion on children.
Isa 13:19 Babylon, the jewel of kingdoms, the pride and glory of the Babylonians, will be overthrown by God like Sodom and Gomorrah.
It was not until a century after the time of Isaiah that, under the Chaldean dynasty, Babylon reached the peak of fame and achieved universal renown for its splendour and beauty.
Sodom. See on Gen. 19:24. Jeremiah, who saw Babylon at the height of its power, also predicted that its overthrow would be like that of Sodom and Gomorrah (Jer. 50:40). Its destruction would be absolute—it would never be rebuilt (Jer. 51:64). Such is also to be the fate of mystical Babylon at the end of the world (Rev. 18:21).
During the lifetime of Isaiah, the city of Babylon was utterly destroyed by Sennacherib (see on v. 17), yet it was soon rebuilt by Sennacherib’s son, Esarhaddon. Later, when Nebuchadnezzar became king of Babylon, he made it one of the most beautiful cities of the ancient world. Upon capturing Babylon in 539 the Medes and Persians did not destroy the city but made it their capital.
Half a century later, when the city rebelled, Xerxes partly destroyed it. Thenceforth it was never completely restored and lost its former pre-eminence. However, it became, in a partly ruined state, a capital of Alexander the Great after he took it in 331. This prophecy of Isaiah was therefore not fulfilled till some centuries after his death.
Half a century later, when the city rebelled, Xerxes partly destroyed it. Thenceforth it was never completely restored and lost its former pre-eminence. However, it became, in a partly ruined state, a capital of Alexander the Great after he took it in 331. This prophecy of Isaiah was therefore not fulfilled till some centuries after his death.
Yet Babylon continued to be of some importance for perhaps two centuries more. By the time of Strabo, about 20 b.c. or a little later, the greater part of the city had become a vast desolation (Strabo xvi. 1. 5), though still inhabited. In the reign of Trajan (a.d. 98–117) it was a complete ruin.
Isa 13:20 She will never be inhabited or lived in through all generations; there no nomads will pitch their tents, there no shepherds will rest their flocks.
When Babylon was finally in ruins it became a forsaken city. A century after Isaiah, Jeremiah uttered a similar prediction (Jer. 51:37).
The Arabian. The term “Arabian” is employed as a general designation for the nomadic tribes of Bedouins that wander to and fro in the desert east of Palestine.
Pitch tent. Since the desolation of Babylon in ancient times (see on v. 19) the site has not been inhabited. Visitors of past generations sometimes reported that Bedouins of that vicinity avoided the ruins out of superstitious horror of the place. This may indeed have been true at some time in the past, but the reason the Bedouins give today is simply that the ancient ruins do not provide a suitable place for human habitation. As in millenniums past, “the Arabian” does not “pitch his tent there.”
Nevertheless, a Bedouin settlement on the site of ancient Babylon would not invalidate Isaiah’s prediction. The prophet was not so much concerned with its impregnable walls and stately palaces as with its pagan religion, heathen culture, and military might. His graphic picture of the city as an abandoned ruin emphatically declares that the proud empire of his day would vanish from the earth. The centuries testify to the accuracy of Isaiah’s prediction, for nothing remains of that ancient civilization but its ruins. See also on Eze. 26:14.
Isa 13:21 But wild beasts of the desert will lie there, And their houses will be full of owls; Ostriches will dwell there, And wild goats will caper there.
After its desertion by men the site of ancient Babylon became the habitation of wild animals. Instead of strong men and beautiful women, beasts of the wild would inhabit the city.
Instead of the music of the gay Babylonian feasts there would be heard in the ruins of the ancient palaces the doleful wailing of the various wild creatures here mentioned.