that you will take up this parable against the king of Babylon, and say, “How the oppressor has ceased! The golden city has ceased!” Yahweh has broken the staff of the wicked, the scepter of the rulers, who struck the peoples in wrath with a continual stroke, who ruled the nations in anger, with a persecution that no one restrained. The whole earth is at rest, and is quiet. They break out in song.
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Isaiah 14:4-7 sits inside this longer paragraph.
It will happen in the day that Yahweh will give you rest from your sorrow, from your trouble, and from the hard service in which you were made to serve, that you will take up this parable against the king of Babylon, and say, “How the oppressor has ceased! The golden city has ceased!” Yahweh has broken the staff of the wicked, the scepter of the rulers, who struck the peoples in wrath with a continual stroke, who ruled the nations in anger, with a persecution that no one restrained. The whole earth is at rest, and is quiet. They break out in song. Yes, the cypress trees rejoice with you, with the cedars of Lebanon, saying, “Since you are humbled, no lumberjack has come up against us.” Sheol from beneath has moved for you to meet you at your coming. It stirs up the departed spirits for you, even all the rulers of the earth. It has raised up from their thrones all the kings of the nations. They all will answer and ask you, “Have you also become as weak as we are? Have you become like us?” Your pomp is brought down to Sheol, with the sound of your stringed instruments. Maggots are spread out under you, and worms cover you.
Parallel Translations
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that you will take up this parable against the king of Babylon, and say, “How the oppressor has ceased! The golden city has ceased!”
Yahweh has broken the staff of the wicked, the scepter of the rulers,
who struck the peoples in wrath with a continual stroke, who ruled the nations in anger, with a persecution that no one restrained.
The whole earth is at rest, and is quiet. They break out in song.
-
That thou shalt take up this proverb against the king of Babylon, and say, How hath the oppressor ceased! the golden city ceased!
The LORD hath broken the staff of the wicked, and the sceptre of the rulers.
He who smote the people in wrath with a continual stroke, he that ruled the nations in anger, is persecuted, and none hindereth.
The whole earth is at rest, and is quiet: they break forth into singing.
Show all 3 translations
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that thou shalt take up this parable against the king of Babylon, and say: How hath the oppressor ceased! the exactress of gold ceased!
The LORD hath broken the staff of the wicked, the sceptre of the rulers,
That smote the peoples in wrath with an incessant stroke, that ruled the nations in anger, with a persecution that none restrained.
The whole earth is at rest, and is quiet; they break forth into singing.
Cross-references (59)
- Daniel 7:19-21 (v6) “Then I desired to know the truth concerning the fourth animal, which was different from all of them, exceedingly terrible, whose teeth…
- Psalms 125:3 (v5) For the scepter of wickedness won’t remain over the allotment of the righteous; so that the righteous won’t use their hands to do evil.
- Psalms 126:1-3 (v7) When Yahweh brought back those who returned to Zion, we were like those who dream. Then our mouth was filled with laughter, and our tongue…
- Isaiah 9:4 (vv4–5) For the yoke of his burden, and the staff of his shoulder, the rod of his oppressor, you have broken as in the day of Midian.
- Psalms 96:11-13 (v7) Let the heavens be glad, and let the earth rejoice. Let the sea roar, and its fullness! Let the field and all that is in it exult! Then all…
Show all 57 cross-references
- Psalms 98:7-9 (v7) Let the sea roar with its fullness; the world, and those who dwell therein. Let the rivers clap their hands. Let the mountains sing for joy…
- Isaiah 49:13 (v7) Sing, heavens, and be joyful, earth! Break out into singing, mountains, for Yahweh has comforted his people, and will have compassion on…
- Isaiah 49:26 (v4) I will feed those who oppress you with their own flesh; and they will be drunk on their own blood, as with sweet wine. Then all flesh shall…
- Jeremiah 50:31 (v6) “Behold, I am against you, you proud one,” says the Lord, Yahweh of Armies; “for your day has come, the time that I will visit you.
- James 2:13 (v6) For judgment is without mercy to him who has shown no mercy. Mercy triumphs over judgment.
- Revelation 17:16-17 (v6) The ten horns which you saw, and the beast, these will hate the prostitute, will make her desolate, will strip her naked, will eat her…
- Revelation 18:8-10 (v6) Therefore in one day her plagues will come: death, mourning, and famine; and she will be utterly burned with fire; for the Lord God who has…
- Revelation 18:20 (vv4, 7) “Rejoice over her, O heaven, you saints, apostles, and prophets; for God has judged your judgment on her.”
- 2 Chronicles 36:17 (v6) Therefore he brought on them the king of the Chaldeans, who killed their young men with the sword in the house of their sanctuary, and had…
- 2 Chronicles 36:18 (v4) All the vessels of God’s house, great and small, and the treasures of Yahweh’s house, and the treasures of the king, and of his princes,…
- Job 9:13 (v6) “God will not withdraw his anger. The helpers of Rahab stoop under him.
- Psalms 98:1 (v7) Sing to Yahweh a new song, for he has done marvelous things! His right hand and his holy arm have worked salvation for him.
- Proverbs 11:10 (v7) When it goes well with the righteous, the city rejoices. When the wicked perish, there is shouting.
- Proverbs 21:30 (v6) There is no wisdom nor understanding nor counsel against Yahweh.
- Isaiah 10:5 (v5) Alas Assyrian, the rod of my anger, the staff in whose hand is my indignation!
- Isaiah 10:14 (v6) My hand has found the riches of the peoples like a nest, and like one gathers eggs that are abandoned, I have gathered all the earth. There…
- Isaiah 13:14-18 (v6) It will happen that like a hunted gazelle, and like sheep that no one gathers, they will each turn to their own people, and will each flee…
- Isaiah 13:19 (v4) Babylon, the glory of kingdoms, the beauty of the Chaldeans’ pride, will be like when God overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah.
- Isaiah 14:6 (v4) who struck the peoples in wrath with a continual stroke, who ruled the nations in anger, with a persecution that no one restrained.
- Isaiah 14:17 (v4) who made the world like a wilderness, and overthrew its cities, who didn’t release his prisoners to their home?”
- Isaiah 14:29 (v5) Don’t rejoice, O Philistia, all of you, because the rod that struck you is broken; for out of the serpent’s root an adder will emerge, and…
- Isaiah 21:1-10 (v6) The burden of the wilderness of the sea. As whirlwinds in the South sweep through, it comes from the wilderness, from an awesome land. A…
- Isaiah 33:1 (v6) Woe to you who destroy, but you weren’t destroyed, and who betray, but nobody betrayed you! When you have finished destroying, you will be…
- Isaiah 45:2-3 (v4) “I will go before you and make the rough places smooth. I will break the doors of bronze in pieces and cut apart the bars of iron. I will…
- Isaiah 46:10-11 (v6) I declare the end from the beginning, and from ancient times things that are not yet done. I say: My counsel will stand, and I will do all…
- Isaiah 47:1-15 (v6) “Come down and sit in the dust, virgin daughter of Babylon. Sit on the ground without a throne, daughter of the Chaldeans. For you will no…
- Isaiah 47:5 (v4) “Sit in silence, and go into darkness, daughter of the Chaldeans. For you shall no longer be called the mistress of kingdoms.
- Isaiah 51:23 (v4) I will put it into the hand of those who afflict you, who have said to your soul, ‘Bow down, that we may walk over you;’ and you have laid…
- Jeremiah 24:9 (v4) I will even give them up to be tossed back and forth among all the kingdoms of the earth for evil; to be a reproach and a proverb, a taunt…
- Jeremiah 25:9 (v6) behold, I will send and take all the families of the north,” says Yahweh, “and I will send to Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon, my…
- Jeremiah 25:9-14 (v4) behold, I will send and take all the families of the north,” says Yahweh, “and I will send to Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon, my…
- Jeremiah 25:26 (v6) and all the kings of the north, far and near, one with another; and all the kingdoms of the world, which are on the surface of the earth.…
- Jeremiah 27:6-7 (v4) Now I have given all these lands into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon, my servant. I have also given the animals of the…
- Jeremiah 48:15-17 (v5) Moab is laid waste, and they have gone up into his cities, and his chosen young men have gone down to the slaughter,” says the King, whose…
- Jeremiah 50:22-23 (v4) A sound of battle is in the land, and of great destruction. How the hammer of the whole earth is cut apart and broken! How Babylon has…
- Jeremiah 51:20-24 (v4) “You are my battle ax and weapons of war. With you I will break the nations into pieces. With you I will destroy kingdoms. With you I will…
- Jeremiah 51:34-35 (v4) “Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon has devoured me. He has crushed me. He has made me an empty vessel. He has, like a monster, swallowed…
- Jeremiah 51:48 (v7) Then the heavens and the earth, and all that is therein, will sing for joy over Babylon; for the destroyers will come to her from the…
- Lamentations 4:1 (v4) How the gold has become dim! The most pure gold has changed! The stones of the sanctuary are poured out at the head of every street.
- Ezekiel 5:15 (v4) So it will be a reproach and a taunt, an instruction and an astonishment, to the nations that are around you, when I execute judgments on…
- Daniel 2:38 (v4) Wherever the children of men dwell, he has given the animals of the field and the birds of the sky into your hand, and has made you rule…
- Daniel 4:35 (v6) All the inhabitants of the earth are reputed as nothing; and he does according to his will in the army of heaven, and among the inhabitants…
- Daniel 7:19-25 (v4) “Then I desired to know the truth concerning the fourth animal, which was different from all of them, exceedingly terrible, whose teeth…
- Habakkuk 1:2-10 (v4) Yahweh, how long will I cry, and you will not hear? I cry out to you “Violence!” and will you not save? Why do you show me iniquity, and…
- Habakkuk 2:6-12 (v4) Won’t all these take up a parable against him, and a taunting proverb against him, and say, ‘Woe to him who increases that which is not…
- Habakkuk 2:17 (v4) For the violence done to Lebanon will overwhelm you, and the destruction of the animals, which made them afraid; because of men’s blood,…
- Revelation 13:15-17 (v4) It was given to him to give breath to it, to the image of the beast, that the image of the beast should both speak, and cause as many as…
- Revelation 16:5-6 (v4) I heard the angel of the waters saying, “You are righteous, who are and who were, O Holy One, because you have judged these things. For…
- Revelation 17:6 (v4) I saw the woman drunken with the blood of the saints, and with the blood of the martyrs of Jesus. When I saw her, I wondered with great…
- Revelation 18:5-8 (v4) for her sins have reached to the sky, and God has remembered her iniquities. Return to her just as she returned, and repay her double as…
- Revelation 18:16 (v4) saying, ‘Woe, woe, the great city, she who was dressed in fine linen, purple, and scarlet, and decked with gold and precious stones and…
- Revelation 19:1-6 (v7) After these things I heard something like a loud voice of a great multitude in heaven, saying, “Hallelujah! Salvation, power, and glory…
57 distinct cross-references across this passage (59 total citations).
Cross-references from openbible.info (CC BY 4.0)
Explain this passage (18 sources)
Historical commentary, presented as a primary source — not an endorsement.
Private notes
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Geneva Bible translators 1599 · Public Domain On vv6–7 That is, he suffered all violence and injuries to…
That is, he suffered all violence and injuries to be done.
Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain.
John Trapp 1656 · Public Domain On vv4–7 Isa 14:4 That thou shalt take up this proverb…
Isa 14:4 That thou shalt take up this proverb against the king of Babylon, and say, How hath the oppressor ceased! the golden city ceased!
Ver. 4. That thou shalt take up this proverb.] Or, Taunting speech; {a} this exultatory and insultatory song, which upon the fall of Babylon shall be in every man’s mouth.
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How hath the oppressor ceased!] q.d., This is wonderful and beyond all expectation.
The golden city.] Or, Gold thirsty city. {b}
{a} Carmen, ελεγκτικον και ονειδιστικον.
{b} Aurata vel auri avida.
John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Matthew Poole 1685 · Public Domain On vv4–7 Shalt take up into thy mouth, as it is…
Shalt take up into thy mouth, as it is fully expressed, Psa 50:16.
How hath the oppressor ceased! this is spoken by way of astonishment and triumph. Who would have thought this possible?
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The golden city, as they used to call themselves; which therefore he expresseth here in a word of their own language.
Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Matthew Henry 1710 · Public Domain On v4 The kings of Babylon, successively, were the great enemies…
The kings of Babylon, successively, were the great enemies and oppressors of God's people, and therefore the destruction of Babylon, the fall of the king, and the ruin of his family, are here particularly taken notice of and triumphed in. In the day that God has given Israel rest they shall take up this proverb against the king of Babylon. We must not rejoice when our enemy falls, as ours; but when Babylon, the common enemy of God and his Israel, sinks, then rejoice over her, thou heaven, and you holy apostles and prophets, Rev 18:20. The Babylonian monarchy bade fair to be an absolute, universal, and perpetual one, and, in these pretensions, vied with the Almighty; it is therefore very justly, not only brought down, but insulted over when it is down; and it is not only the last monarch, Belshazzar, who was slain on that night that Babylon was taken (Dan 5:30), who is here triumphed over, but the whole monarchy, which sunk in him; not without special reference to Nebuchadnezzar, in whom that monarchy was at its height. Now here,
I. The fall of the king of Babylon is rejoiced in; and a most curious and elegant composition is here prepared, not to adorn his hearse or monument, but to expose his memory and fix a lasting brand of infamy upon it. It gives us an account of the life and death of this mighty monarch, how he went down slain to the pit, though he had been the terror of the mighty in the land of the living, Eze 32:27. In this parable we may observe,
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1. The prodigious height of wealth and power at which this monarch and monarchy arrived. Babylon was a golden city, Isa 14:4 (it is a Chaldee word in the original, which intimates that she used to call herself so), so much did she abound in riches and excel all other cities, as gold does all other metals. She is gold-thirsty, or an exactress of gold (so some read it); for how do men get wealth to themselves but by squeezing it out of others? The New Jerusalem is the only truly golden city, Rev 21:18, Rev 21:21. The king of Babylon, having so much wealth in his dominions and the absolute command of it, by the help of that ruled the nations (Isa 14:6), gave them law, read them their doom, and at his pleasure weakened the nations (Isa 14:12), that they might not be able to make head against him. Such vast and victorious armies did he bring into the field, that, which way soever he looked, he made the earth to tremble, and shook kingdoms (Isa 14:16); all his neighbours were afraid of him, and were forced to submit to him. No one man could do this by his own personal strength, but by the numbers he has at his beck. Great tyrants, by making some do what they will, make others suffer what they will. How piteous is the case of mankind, which thus seems to be in a combination against itself, and its own rights and liberties, which could not be ruined but by its own strength!
2. The wretched abuse of all this wealth and power, which the king of Babylon was guilty of, in two instances: -
(1.) Great oppression and cruelty. He is known by the name of the oppressor (Isa 14:4); he has the sceptre of the rulers (Isa 14:5), has the command of all the princes about him; but it is the staff of the wicked, a staff with which he supports himself in his wickedness and wickedly strikes all about him. He smote the people, not in justice, for their correction and reformation, but in wrath (Isa 14:6), to gratify his own peevish resentments, and that with a continual stroke, pursued them with his forces, and gave them no respite, no breathing time, no cessation of arms. He ruled the nations, but he ruled them in anger, every thing he said and did was in a passion; so that he who had the government of all about him had no government of himself. He made the world as a wilderness, as if he had taken a pride in being the plague of his generation and a curse to mankind, Isa 14:17. Great princes usually glory in building cities, but he gloried in destroying them; see Psa 9:6. Two particular instances, worse than all the rest, are here given of his tyranny: - [1.] That he was severe to his captives (Isa 14:17): He opened not the house of his prisoners; he did not let them loose homeward (so the margin reads it); he kept them in close confinement, and never would suffer any to return to their own land. This refers especially to the people of the Jews, and it is that which fills up the measure of the king of Babylon's iniquity, that he had detained the people of God in captivity and would by no means release them; nay, and by profaning the vessels of God's temple at Jerusalem, did in effect say that they should never return to their former use, Dan 5:3. For this he was quickly and justly turned out by one whose first act was to open the house of God's prisoners and send home the temple vessels. [2.] That he was oppressive to his own subjects (Isa 14:20): Thou hast destroyed thy land, and slain thy people; and what did he get by that, when the wealth of the land and the multitude of the people are the strength and honour of the prince, who never rules so safely, so gloriously, as in the hearts and affections of the people? But tyrants sacrifice their interests to their lusts and passions; and God will reckon with them for their barbarous usage of those who are under their power, whom they think they may use as they please.
(2.) Great pride and haughtiness. Notice is here taken of his pomp, the extravagancy of his retinue, Isa 14:11. He affected to appear in the utmost magnificence. But that was not the worst: it was the temper of his mind, and the elevation of that, that ripened him for ruin (Isa 14:13, Isa 14:14): Thou has said in thy heart, like Lucifer, I will ascend into heaven. Here is the language of his vainglory, borrowed perhaps from that of the angels who fell, who not content with their first estate, the post assigned them, would vie with God, and become not only independent of him, but equal with him. Or perhaps it refers to the story of Nebuchadnezzar, who, when he would be more than a man, was justly turned into a brute, Dan 4:30. The king of Babylon here promises himself, [1.] That in pomp and power he shall surpass all his neighbours, and shall arrive at the very height of earthly glory and felicity, that he shall be as great and happy as this world can make him; that is the heaven of a carnal heart, and to that he hopes to ascend, and to be as far above those about him as the heaven is above the earth. Princes are the stars of God, which give some light to this dark world (Mat 24:29); but he will exalt his throne above them all. [2.] That he shall particularly insult over God's Mount Zion, which Belshazzar, in his last drunken frolic, seems to have had a particular spite against when he called for the vessels of the temple at Jerusalem, to profane them; see Dan 5:2. In the same humour he here said, I will sit upon the mount of the congregation (it is the same word that is used for the holy convocations), in the sides of the north; so Mount Zion is said to be situated, Psa 48:2. Perhaps Belshazzar was projecting an expedition to Jerusalem, to triumph in the ruins of it, at the time when God cut him off. [3.] That he shall vie with the God of Israel, of whom he had indeed heard glorious things, that he had his residence above the heights of the clouds. "But thither," says he, "will I ascend, and be as great as he; I will be like him whom they call the Most High." It is a gracious ambition to covet to be like the Most Holy, for he has said, Be you holy, for I am holy; but it is a sinful ambition to aim to be like the Most High, for he has said, He that exalteth himself shall be abased, and the devil drew our first parents in to eat forbidden fruit by promising them that they should be as gods. [4.] That he shall himself be deified after his death, as some of the first founders of the Assyrian monarchy were, and stars had even their names from them. "But," says he, "I will exalt my throne above them all." Such as this was his pride, which was the undoubted omen of his destruction.
3. The utter ruin that should be brought upon him. It is foretold, (1.) That his wealth and power should be broken, and a final period put to his pomp and pleasure. He has been long an oppressor, but he shall cease to be so, Isa 14:4. Had he ceased to be so by true repentance and reformation, according to the advice Daniel gave to Nebuchadnezzar, it might have been a lengthening of his life and tranquillity. But those that will not cease to sin God will make to cease. "The golden city, which one would have thought might continue for ever, has ceased; there is an end of that Babylon. The Lord, the righteous God, has broken the staff of that wicked prince, broken it over his head, in token of the divesting him of his office. God has taken his power from him, and rendered him incapable of doing any more mischief: he has broken the sceptres; for even these are brittle things, soon broken and often justly." (2.) That he himself should be seized: He is persecuted (v. 6); violent hands are laid upon him, and none hinders. It is the common fate of tyrants, when they fall into the power of their enemies, to be deserted by their flatterers, whom they took for their friends. We read of another enemy like this, of whom it is foretold that he shall come to his end and none shall help him, Dan 11:45. Tiberius and Nero thus saw themselves abandoned. (3.) That he should be slain, and go down to the congregation of the dead, to be free among them, as the slain that are no more remembered, Psa 88:5. He shall be weak as the dead are, and like unto them, Isa 14:10. His pomp is brought down to the grave (Isa 14:11), that is, it perishes with him; the pomp of his life shall not, as usual, end in a funeral pomp. True glory (that is, true grace) will go up with the soul to heaven, but vain pomp will go down with the body to the grave: there is an end of it. The noise of his viols is now heard no more. Death is a farewell to the pleasures, as well as to the pomps, of this world. This mighty prince, that used to lie on a bed of down, to tread upon rich carpets, and to have coverings and canopies exquisitely fine, now shall have the worms spread under him and the worms covering him, worms bred out of his own putrefied body, which, though he fancied himself a god, proved him to be made of the same mould with other men. When we are pampering and decking our bodies it is good to remember they will be worms'-meat shortly. (4.) That he should not have the honour of a burial, much less of a decent one and in the sepulchres of his ancestors. The kings of the nations lie in glory (Isa 14:18), either their dead bodies themselves so embalmed as to be preserved from putrefaction, as of old among the Egyptians, or their effigies (as with us) erected over their graves. Thus, as if they would defy the ignominy of death, they lay in a poor faint sort of glory, every one in his own house, that is, his own burying-place (for the grave is the house appointed for all living), a sleeping house, where the busy and troublesome will lie quiet and the troubled and weary lie at rest. But this king of Babylon is cast out and has no grave (Isa 14:19); his dead body is thrown, like that of a beast, into the next ditch or upon the next dunghill, like an abominable branch of some noxious poisonous plant, which nobody will touch, or as the clothes of malefactors put to death and by the hand of justice thrust through with a sword, on whose dead bodies heaps of stones are raised, or they are thrown into some deep quarry among the stones of the pit. Nay, the king of Babylon's dead body shall be as the carcases of those who are slain in a battle, which are trodden under feet by the horses and soldiers and crushed to pieces. Thus he shall not be joined with his ancestors in burial, Isa 14:20. To be denied decent burial is a disgrace, which, if it be inflicted for righteousness' sake (as Psa 79:2), may, as other similar reproaches, be rejoiced in (Mat 5:12); it is the lot of the two witnesses, Rev 11:9. But if, as here, it be the just punishment of iniquity, it is an intimation that evil pursues impenitent sinners beyond death, greater evil than that, and that they shall rise to everlasting shame and contempt.
4. The many triumphs that should be in his fall.
(1.) Those whom he had been a great tyrant and terror to will be glad that they are rid of him, Isa 14:7, Isa 14:8. Now that he is gone the whole earth is at rest and is quiet, for he was the great disturber of the peace; now they all break forth into singing, for when the wicked perish there is shouting (Pro 11:10); the fir-trees and cedars of Lebanon now think themselves safe; there is no danger now of their being cut down, to make way for his vast armies or to furnish him with timber. The neighbouring princes and great men, who are compared to fir-trees and cedars (Zac 11:2), may now be easy, and out of fear of being dispossessed of their rights, for the hammer of the whole earth is cut asunder and broken (Jer 50:23), the axe that boasted itself against him that hewed with it, Isa 10:15.
(2.) The congregation of the dead will bid him welcome to them, especially those whom he had barbarously hastened thither (Isa 14:9, Isa 14:10): "Hell from beneath is moved for thee, to meet thee at thy coming, and to compliment thee upon thy arrival at their dark and dreadful regions." The chief ones of the earth, who when they were alive were kept in awe by him and durst not come near him, but rose from their thrones, to resign them to him, shall upbraid him with it when he comes into the state of the dead. They shall go forth to meet him, as they used to do when he made his public entry into cities he had become master of; with such a parade shall he be introduced into those regions of horror, to make his disgrace and torment the more grievous to him. They shall scoffingly rise from their thrones and seats there, and ask him if he will please to sit down in them, as he used to do in their thrones on earth? The confusion that will then cover him they shall make a jest of: "Hast thou also become weak as we? Who would have thought it? It is what thou thyself didst not expect it would ever come to when thou wast in every thing too hard for us. Thou that didst rank thyself among the immortal gods, art thou come to take thy fate among us poor mortal men? Where is thy pomp now, and where thy mirth? How hast thou fallen from heaven, O Lucifer! son of the morning! Isa 14:11, Isa 14:12. The king of Babylon shone as brightly as the morning star, and fancied that wherever he came he brought day along with him; and has such an illustrious prince as this fallen, such a star become a clod of clay? Did ever any man fall from such a height of honour and power into such an abyss of shame and misery?" This has been commonly alluded to (and it is a mere allusion) to illustrate the fall of the angels, who were as morning stars (Job 38:7), but how have they fallen! How art thou cut down to the ground, and levelled with it, that didst weaken the nations! God will reckon with those that invade the rights and disturb the peace of mankind, for he is King of nations as well as of saints. Now this reception of the king of Babylon into the regions of the dead, which is here described, surely is something more than a flight of fancy, and is designed to teach these solid truths: - [1.] That there is an invisible world, a world of spirits, to which the souls of men remove at death and in which they exist and act in a state of separation from the body. [2.] That separate souls have acquaintance and converse with each other, though we have none with them: the parable of the rich man and Lazarus intimates this. [3.] That death and hell will be death and hell indeed to those that fall unsanctified from the height of this world's pomps and the fulness of its pleasures. Son, remember, Luk 16:25.
(3.) Spectators will stand amazed at his fall. When he shall be brought down to hell, to the sides of the pit, and be lodged there, those that see him shall narrowly look upon him, and consider him (Isa 14:15, Isa 14:16); they shall scarcely believe their own eyes. "Never was death so great a change to any man as it is to him. Is it possible that a man, who a few hours ago looked so great, so pleasant, and was so splendidly adorned and attended, should now look so ghastly, so despicable, and lie thus naked and neglected? Is this the man that made the earth to tremble and shook kingdoms? Who could have thought he should ever come to this?" Psa 82:7.
5. Here is an inference drawn from all this (Isa 14:20): The seed of evil-doers shall never be renowned. The princes of the Babylonian monarchy were all a seed of evil-doers, oppressors of the people of God, and therefore they had this infamy entailed upon them. They shall not be renowned for ever (so some read it); they may look big for a time, but all their pomp will only render their disgrace at last the more shameful. There is no credit in a sinful way.
II. The utter ruin of the royal family is here foretold, together with the desolation of The royal city.
1. The royal family is to be wholly extirpated. The Medes and Persians, that are to be employed in this destroying work, are ordered, when they have slain Belshazzar, to prepare slaughter for his children (Isa 14:21) and not to spare them. The little ones of Babylon must be dashed against the stones, Psa 137:9. These orders sound very harshly; but, (1.) They must suffer for the iniquity of their fathers, which is often visited upon the children, to show how much God hates sin and is displeased at it, and to deter sinners from it, which is the end of punishment. Nebuchadnezzar had slain Zedekiah's sons (Jer 52:10), and, for that iniquity of his, his seed are paid in the same coin. (2.) They must be cut off now, that they may not rise up to possess the land and do as much mischief in their day as their fathers had done in theirs - that they may not be as vexatious to the world by building cities for the support of their tyranny (which was Nimrod's policy, Gen 10:10, Gen 10:11) as their ancestors had been by destroying cities. Pharaoh oppressed Israel in Egypt by setting them to build cities, Exo 1:11. The providence of God consults the welfare of nations more than we are aware of by cutting off some who, if they had lived, would have done mischief. Justly may the enemies cut off the children: For I will rise up against them, saith the Lord of hosts (Isa 14:22), and if God reveal it as his mind that he will have it done, as none can hinder it, so none need scruple to further it. Babylon perhaps was proud of the numbers of her royal family, but God had determined to cut off the name and remnant of it, so that none should be left, to have both the sons and grandsons of the king slain; and yet we are sure he never did, nor ever will do, any wrong to any of his creatures.
2. The royal city is to be demolished and deserted, Isa 14:23. It shall be a possession for solitary frightful birds, particularly the bittern, joined with the cormorant and the owl, Isa 24:11. And thus the utter destruction of the New Testament Babylon is illustrated, Rev 18:2. It has become a cage of every unclean and hateful bird. Babylon lay low, so that when it was deserted, and no care taken to drain the land, it soon became pools of water, standing noisome puddles, as unhealthful as they were unpleasant: and thus God will sweep it with the besom of destruction. When a people have nothing among them but dirt and filth, and will not be made clean with the besom of reformation, what can they expect but to be swept off the face of the earth with the besom of destruction?
Matthew Henry's Commentary on the Whole Bible (1708–1710) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
John Gill 1763 · Public Domain On vv4–7 That thou shall take up this proverb against the…
That thou shall take up this proverb against the king of Babylon,.... Or "concerning" him, his fall, and the fall of the Babylonish monarchy with him; if we understand this of any particular king of Babylon, it seems best not to interpret it of Nebuchadnezzar, whom Jerom mentions, in whom the empire was in its greatest glory: but of Belshazzar, in whom it ended; the king of Babylon may be here considered as a type of antichrist, and what is said of the one may be applied to the other: the "proverb" or "parable" taken up into the mouth, and expressed concerning him, signifies a sharp and acute speech, a taunting one, full of ironies and sarcasms, and biting expressions, as the following one is. The Septuagint render it, a "lamentation"; and the Arabic version, a "mournful song"; but as this was to be taken up by the church and people of God, concerning their great enemy, whose destruction is here described, it may rather be called a triumphant song, rejoicing at his ruin, and insulting over him:
and say, how hath the oppressor ceased! he who oppressed us, and other nations, exacted tribute of us, and of others, and made us to serve with hard bondage, how is he come to nothing? by what means is he brought to ruin; by whom is this accomplished? who has been the author of it, and by whom effected? this is said as wondering how it should be brought about, and rejoicing that so it was:
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the golden city ceased! the city of Babylon, full of gold, drawn thither from the various parts of the world, called a golden cup, Jer 51:7 and the Babylonish monarchy, in the times of Nebuchadnezzar, was signified by a golden head, Dan 2:32 so mystical Babylon, or the Romish antichrist, is represented as decked with gold, and having a golden cup in her hand; and as a city abounding with gold, Rev 17:4. The word here used is a Chaldee or Syriac word (x), and perhaps is what was used by themselves, and is the name by which they called this city, and is now tauntingly returned; the word city is not in the text, but supplied. Some render "tribute" (y), a golden pension, a tribute of gold, which was exacted of the nations in subjection, but now ceased; and when that tyrant and oppressor, the Romish antichrist, shall cease that tribute which he exacts of the nations of the earth will cease also, as tithes, first fruits, annates, Peter's pence, &c.
(x) (y) "Tributum", V. L. Cocceius; "aurea pensio", Montanus; "aurum tributarium", Munster.
John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
John Wesley 1765 · Public Domain On vv4, 6, 7 Golden city - As they used to call themselves;…
Golden city - As they used to call themselves; which therefore he expresses here in a word of their own language.
John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.
Adam Clarke 1810 · Public Domain On v4 Verse 4. This proverb - "This parable"] משל mashal,…
Verse 4. This proverb - "This parable"] משל mashal, I take this to be the general name for poetic style among the Hebrews, including every sort of it, as ranging under one or other, or all of the characters, of sententious, figurative, and sublime; which are all contained in the original notion, or in the use and application of the word mashal. Parables or proverbs, such as those of Solomon, are always expressed in short pointed sentences; frequently figurative, being formed on some comparison; generally forcible and authoritative, both in the matter and the form. And such in general is the style of the Hebrew poetry. The verb mashal signifies to rule; to exercise authority; to make equal; to compare one thing with another; to utter parables, or acute, weighty, and powerful speeches, in the form and manner of parables, though not properly such. Thus Balaam's first prophecy, (Nu 23:7-10,) is called his mashal; though it has hardly any thing figurative in it: but it is beautifully sententious, and, from the very form and manner of it, has great spirit, force, and energy. Thus Job's last speeches, in answer to his three friends, chap. 27-31, are called mashals; from no one particular character, which discriminates them from the rest of the poem, but from the sublime, the figurative, the sententious manner which equally prevails through the whole poem, and makes it one of the first and most eminent examples extant of the truly great and beautiful in poetic style. See Clarke on Pr 1:1.
The Septuagint in this place render the word by θρηνος, a lamentation. They plainly consider the speech here introduced as a piece of poetry, and of that species of poetry which we call the elegiac; either from the subject, it being a poem on the fall and death of the king of Babylon, or from the form of the composition, which is of the longer sort of Hebrew verse, in which the Lamentations of Jeremiah, called by the Septuagint Θρηνοι, are written.
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The golden city ceased] מדהבה madhebah, which is here translated golden city, is a Chaldee word. Probably it means that golden coin or ingot which was given to the Babylonians by way of tribute. So the word is understood by the Vulgate, where it is rendered tributum; and by Montanus, who translates it aurea pensio, the golden pension. Kimchi seems to have understood the word in the same sense. De Rossi translates it auri dives, rich in gold, or auri exactrix, the exactor of gold; the same as the exactor of tribute.
Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Joseph Benson 1811 · Public Domain On v6 Isa 14:6-11. He that ruled the nations in anger…
Isa 14:6-11. He that ruled the nations in anger — With rigour, and not with clemency; is persecuted and none hindereth — Neither the Babylonians themselves nor their confederates. The whole earth is at rest — The subjects of that vast empire who groaned under his cruel bondage. Yea, the cedars of Lebanon — Which were felled for the service of his pride and luxury, but are now suffered to stand and flourish. It is a figure usual in sacred and profane writers. Hell — The invisible world, or rather, the grave, as the same word is rendered Isa 14:11, and in innumerable other places; to which he elegantly ascribes sense and speech, as poets and orators frequently do; is moved to meet thee at thy coming — And to compliment thee on thy arrival in their dark regions. “This image of the state of the dead, or the Infernum Poeticum of the Hebrews, is taken from their custom of burying, those at least of the higher rank, in large sepulchral vaults hewn in the rock. Of this kind of sepulchres there are remains at Jerusalem now extant; and some that are said to be the sepulchres of the kings of Judah: see Maundrell, p. 76. You are to form to yourself an idea of an immense subterraneous vault, a vast gloomy cavern, all round the sides of which are cells to receive the dead bodies; here the deceased monarchs lie in a distinguished sort of state, suitable to their former rank, each on his own couch, with his arms beside him, his sword at his head, and the bodies of his chiefs and companions round about him: see Eze 32:27. These illustrious shades rise at once from their couches, as from their thrones; and advance to the entrance of the cavern to meet the king of Babylon, and to receive him with insults on his fall.” — Bishop Lowth. All they shall say, Art thou become weak as we? — Thou, who wast king of kings, and far superior to us in power and authority? that didst neither fear God nor reverence man, but rather didst rank thyself among the immortals; thou, before whom all people, nations, and languages trembled and feared, art thou come to take thy fate with us poor mortal men? Where now is thy power and thy glory? Thy pomp is brought down to the grave — Is lost and buried with thee; and the noise of thy viols — All thy musical instruments, which were much used in Babylon, and were doubtless used in Belshazzar’s solemn feasts, (Dan 5:1,) at which time the city was taken; to which possibly the prophet here alludes. The worm is spread under thee — Instead of those stately carpets upon which thou didst frequently tread.
Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Albert Barnes 1834 · Public Domain On vv4–7 That thou shalt take up - Thou shalt utter,…
That thou shalt take up - Thou shalt utter, declare, or commence. The word ‘take up,’ is used in the sense of utter, speak, or declare, in Exo 20:7; Exo 23:1; Psa 15:2.
This proverb - (המשׁל hamâshâl). Vulgate, ‘Parable.’ Septuagint Τὸν ρῆνον ton thrēnon - ‘Lamentation.’ The Hebrew word משׁל mâshâl, usually rendered “proverb,” is also rendered “a parable,” or “a by-word.” It properly denotes “a metaphor, a comparison, a similitude;” and is applied usually to a brief and pungent sentiment or maxim, where wisdom is embodied in few words. In these the ancients abounded. They had few books; and hence arose the necessity of condensing as much as possible the sentiments of wisdom, that they might be easily remembered, and transmitted to future times. These maxims were commonly expressed in figurative language, or by a brief comparison, or short parable, as they are with us. The word also means, figurative discourse generally; and hence, a song or poem Num 23:7, Num 23:18; Job 27:1; Job 29:1; Psa 49:5. It is also used to denote a satire, or a song of triumph over enemies Mic 2:4; Heb 4:6; Joe 2:17. It is evidently used in this sense here - to denote a taunting speech, a song of triumph over the prostrate king of Babylon. In this beautiful song, there are all the elements of the most pungent satire, and all the beauties of the highest poetry.
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Against the king of Babylon - Over the king of Babylon, or in regard to him. It is not certain that any particular king of Babylon is here intended. If there was, it was probably Belshazzar, in whose reign the city was taken (see the notes at Isa 14:22). It may, however, be designed to denote the Babylonian empire - the kingdom that had oppressed the Jews; and thus the king may be referred to as the head of the nation, and as the representative of the whole people.
How hath the oppressor ceased! - The word ‘oppressor’ (נגשׂ nogēs') denotes, properly, the “exactor of tribute,” and refers here to the fact that Babylon had oppressed its dependent provinces, by exacting large revenues from them, and thus cruelly oppressing them.
Ceased - Ceased to exact tribute; or (Hebrew) ‘is at rest.’ It is now at rest, and no more puts forth its power in oppressing its dependent provinces.
The golden city - Babylon. The word used here (מדהבה madehēbâh) occurs nowhere else in the Bible. According to the Jewish Commentators, it means “an exactress of gold,” as if derived from דהב dehab, used for זהב zehab, gold. Gesenius and Michaelis prefer another reading (מרהבה marehēbâh), from (רהב râhab), and suppose that it means oppression. The Vulgate renders it “tribute” - ‘The tribute hath ceased.’ The Septuagint Ἐπισπουδαστής Epispoudastēs - ‘Solicitor, or exactor (of gold).’ Vitringa supposes that the word means “gold,” and that it refers to the golden scepter of its kings that had now ceased to be swayed over the prostrate nations. The most probable sense is, that it means the exactress of gold, or of tribute. This best expresses the force of the word, and best agrees with the parallelism. In this sense it does not refer to the magnificence of the city, but to its oppressive acts in demanding tribute of gold from its dependent provinces.
Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Haydock's Catholic Bible Commentary 1859 · Public Domain On vv4, 6, 7 Parable. Septuagint, Greek: threnon. "Lamentation." (Haydock) --- Or mournful…
Parable. Septuagint, Greek: threnon. "Lamentation." (Haydock) --- Or mournful canticle.
George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).
Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset & David Brown 1871 · Public Domain On vv4–7 A CHORUS OF JEWS EXPRESS THEIR JOYFUL SURPRISE AT…
A CHORUS OF JEWS EXPRESS THEIR JOYFUL SURPRISE AT BABYLON'S DOWNFALL. (Isa 14:4-8)
proverb--The Orientals, having few books, embodied their thoughts in weighty, figurative, briefly expressed gnomes. Here a taunting song of triumph (Mic 2:4; Hab 2:6).
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the king--the ideal representative of Babylon; perhaps Belshazzar (Dan. 5:1-31). The mystical Babylon is ultimately meant.
golden city--rather, "the exactress of gold" [MAURER]. But the old translators read differently in the Hebrew, "oppression," which the parallelism favors (compare Isa 3:5).
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
Daniel D. Whedon 1874 · Public Domain On vv5–7 5. Staff… wicked — This means the imperial power…
5. Staff… wicked — This means the imperial power of Babylon. In this verse is apparently the answer to the exclamation of the preceding verse.
Rulers — Who claimed absolute dominion over all minor kingdoms of the East.
Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges 1878 · Public Domain On vv4–7 4. this proverb] The Hebrew word (mâshâl) is used…
4. this proverb] The Hebrew word (mâshâl) is used in a variety of senses. Originally signifying a similitude, it came naturally to denote a popular proverb or gnomic saying, and finally acquired the sense of a satire or taunt-song, as here (Hab_2:6; Num_21:27). In ancient Israel wit seems to have passed into sarcasm as readily as in more recent times. The poem which follows might with equal propriety be described as a dirge (qînah, θρῆνος in LXX.), commencing as it does with the characteristic word ’êkh, and exhibiting the peculiarity of the elegiac measure (the line is broken by a cæsura in such a manner that the second member is shorter than the first. See on ch. Isa_1:21). Such ironical elegies are common in the prophets of the exile. Another striking example will meet us in ch. 47.
4. The line may be rendered:
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How is the oppressor stilled,—stilled the insolent rage!
The translation golden city is an attempt to render the received text, but can hardly be justified. All the ancient versions read instead of madhçbâh, marhçbâh, a word which combines the ideas of restlessness and insolence (see ch. Isa_3:5).
4b—8. The first strophe is like a sigh of relief breathed by the whole of creation, when the disturber of its peace has vanished from the scene.
4b—21. The song of triumph over the king of Babylon is one of the finest specimens of Hebrew poetry which the Old Testament contains. A division into five strophes, each containing seven long lines, is distinctly recognisable, and the occasional deviations from strict symmetry of form are probably due to defects in the text.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers 1878 · Public Domain On vv4–7 (4) That thou shalt take up this proverb against…
(4) That thou shalt take up this proverb against the king of Babylon.—The prophet appears once more (comp. Isa_5:1; Isa_12:1) in his character as a psalmist. In the mashal or taunting-song that follows, the generic meaning of “proverb” is specialised (as in Mic_2:4; Hab_2:6; Deu_28:37, 1Ki_9:7, and elsewhere) for a derisive utterance in poetic or figurative speech. The LXX., singularly enough, renders the word here by “lamentation.”
How hath the oppressor ceased.—If we take “the golden city” of the English version as the correct rendering, it finds a parallel in the epithet of “gold abounding” applied to Babylon by Æschylus (Pers. 53). The word so translated is, however, not found elsewhere, and the general consensus of recent critics, following in the wake of the Targum and the LXX., is in favour of the rendering, the task-master, or the place of torture. The Vulgate, how has the tribute ceased, expresses substantially the same thought. The marginal reading, exactress of gold, seems like an attempt to combine two different etymologies.
A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Pulpit Commentary 1880 · Public Domain On vv4–7 Thou shalt take up this proverb; rather, this parable,…
Thou shalt take up this proverb; rather, this parable, as the word is translated in Numbers 23, and 24.; in Job_26:1 Job_29:1 Psa_49:4 Psa_78:2 Eze_17:2 Eze_20:49 Eze_21:5 Eze_24:3 Mic_2:4 Hab_2:6; or "this taunting speech," as our translators render in the margin. (see Cheyne, ad loc.; and comp. Heb_2:6) The golden city. There are two readings heremad-hebah and marhebah. The latter reading was preferred anciently, and is followed by the LXX, the Syriac and Chaldee Versions, the Targums, Ewald, Gesenius, and Mr. Cheyne. It would give the meaning of" the raging one." Madhebah, however, is preferred by Rosenm Vitringa, and Dr. Kay. It is supposed to mean "golden," from dhab, the Chaldee form of the Hebrew zahob, gold. But the question is pertinent Why should a Chaldee form have been used by a Hebrew writer ignorant of Chaldee and Chaldea?
Vers. 4-23. Triumph over enemies.
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The "taunt-song" of Israel, as it has been called (Cheyne), like the "song of Deborah" in the Book of Judges (5.), raises the question how far triumph over a national enemy is a feeling that can be indulged with propriety. There can be no doubt that it is
I A NATURAL FEELING. "The song of Deborah and Barak" expresses the feelings which have usually animated the victors in national contests from the beginning of the world to the present day. The poems of Homer show us the great warriors of the heroic age giving the freest possible vent to their passions of scorn and hatred on such occasions. The heroes of Germany and Iceland indulge in the same strain. North American Indians are said to have been equally outspoken. The "natural man" would, beyond all question, on every occasion of the kind, give free and unfettered expression to his feelings of triumph and delight, nor would he see any reason for checking his feelings, or making any effort to moderate them. There is also a good side to the feeling, inasmuch as it is
II CONNECTED WITH THANKFULNESS TO GOD FOR DELIVERANCE. In the song of Deborah and Barak, and again in the song of Moses, (Exo_15:1-21) this is very marked. "Praise ye the Lord for the avenging of Israel, when the people willingly offered themselves. Hear, O ye kings; give ear, O ye princes; I, even I, will sing unto the Lord; I will sing praise to the Lord God of Israel". (Jud_1:5:2, 3) "The Lord is my Strength and Song, and is become my Salvation: he is my God, and I will prepare him an habitation; my father"s God, and I will exalt him. The Lord is a man of war: the Lord is his Name". (Exo_15:2, Exo_15:3) "Sing ye to the Lord, for he bath triumphed gloriously; the horse and his rider hath he thrown into the sea". (Exo_15:21) It is not their own valor, or strength, or prudence, and warlike skill that the Hebrew leaders vaunt in their songs of triumph, but the greatness and strength and wisdom of the God who has given to them the victory over their enemies. And so the Christian song of joy for a victory has ever been the "To Deum praise thee, O God; we acknowledge thee to be the Lord." So long as wars continue, so long as swords are not beaten" into ploughshares, or spears into pruning-hooks, (Isa_2:4) it must be right for the combatants to look to the God of battles for aid and countenance and success; and if so, it must be right for them to return him thanks for his aid given, which can best be done by songs of praise and psalms of thanksgiving. On the other hand, there can be no doubt that the feeling of triumph is one which ought to be very carefully watched and kept under control, since it is
III LIABLE TO DEGENERATE INTO SELF-GLORIFICATION. When Assyria was victorious, her song of triumph was as follows: "By the strength of my hand I have done it, and by my wisdom; for I am prudent: and I have removed the bounds of the people, and have robbed their treasures, and I have put down the inhabitants like a valiant man: and my hand hath found as a nest the riches of the people; and as one gathereth eggs that are left, have I gathered all the earth; and there was none that moved the wing, or opened the mouth, or chirped". (Isa_10:13, Isa_10:14) There is something of the same spirit in the song of Deborah and Barak: "The inhabitants of the villages ceased, they ceased in Israel, until that I Deborah arose, that I arose a mother in Israel". (Jud_1:5:7) "Awake, awake, Deborah, awake, awake, utter a song; arise, Barak, and lead thy captivity captive, thou son of Abiuoam". (Jud_1:5:12) Weak human nature is apt to have its head turned by success, and to attribute the result to its own prowess, instead of the mercy and goodness of God.
IV LIABLE TO DEGENERATE INTO SCORN OF, AND INSULTATION OVER, THE ENEMY. Scorn and insult are utterly unchristian, and a Christian "song of triumph" should most carefully avoid them; but they are very dear to the "natural man," and very apt to show themselves in the outpourings of a human heart on the occasion of a triumph. The closing passage of the song of Deborah is of the nature of insult, and so is a considerable portion of Isaiah"s "taunt-song." The "evangelical prophet" was not himself fully possessed of the evangelical spirit. In his time the precept had not yet gone forth, "Love your enemies", (Mat_5:44) and men believed it to be natural and right to hate them. (see Psa_139:22) Insult and scorn were but indications of hate, or of hate mingled with contempt for those who had been proved weal; and so seemed to be legitimately bestowed on beaten foes. But the Christian may hate no man, may despise no man, knowing that each human soul is in God"s sight of priceless value. Consequently, although he may rejoice in victory, and even compose songs of triumph, he is bound to avoid anything like insultation over the defeated. They are his brethren, they are souls for whom Christ died; they may be among those with whom he will hold sweet converse in the world to come.
Vers. 4-23. Sin and its humiliations.
This strong, poetical utterance of Isaiah, though primarily directed against one particular city and, probably, one individual king, may convey to us all some serviceable lessons respecting sin generally, and more especially the humiliations which are in its train. We gather there from
I THAT THE OPPRESSIVENESS OF SIN, THOUGH LONG CONTINUED, WILL CERTAINLY BE BROKEN DOWN. (Vers. 4-7.) Sin is constantly, naturally, oppressive. It grasps at power that it may wield it to its own satisfaction, irrespective of the rights of the weak and the helpless. Often its usurpation, like that of Babylon, is very long continued. The oppressed are weary under their affliction; they cry patiently to Heaven for deliverance and redress; they are sometimes apt to think that they are forgotten by the righteous and merciful One. But they are not unobserved by him. (Exo_3:7) He hears their cry; he determines on their relief; at the right moment he intervenes. The staff of the wicked is broken." He who smote" is smitten down, and the whole earth is at rest.
II THAT SIN MAKES NO TRUE FRIENDS. Adversity is the test of faithfulness. Until the dark hour comes we cannot be quite sure whether our acquaintances are, or are not, our friends; then we know the proof" of them. In the hour of Babylon"s discomfiture there would be found none to hinder" (ver. 6) her destruction. Her allies would fail her then; her dependencies would make no effort to save her; she would be "alone when she fell". (Ecc_4:10) The "friends" whom sinners make are not friends in deed," for they will not prove to be friends in need." If financial ruin, the loss of his good name, overwhelming bereavement, protracted sickness, the near prospect of death, should overtake a man, it is not to his ungodly companions he would resort, for to them he would look in vain. The man of God will not be without those who will graciously and generously intervene to hinder" the calamity which impends, to alleviate the sorrows which are wounding the spirit.
III THAT THE REACH OF SIN, IN ITS EFFECTS, IS EXCEEDINGLY WIDE. (Ver. 8) The trees of the mountain forest rejoice in the downfall of Babylon. The requirements of that selfish and remorseless power extended even so far as to the cedars of Lebanon. They felt the weight of its tyranny, the edge of its exactions. The evil consequences of the unlawful exercise of power are never confined within a narrow compass; they spread far and wide; they reach places, people, generations, which we might have supposed they would not touch. No man who uses his powers wrongfully can calculate how far the evil will extend, or how many will be glad when there is "no more strength in his right hand." The most striking lesson in this vivid and eloquent passage is
IV THAT SIN CARNIES SAD HUMILIATIONS IN ITS EVIL TRAIN. (Vers. 9, 19.) The humiliation to which the proud monarch of Babylon is subjected is painted in rich and glowing colors (see Exposition). From the loftiest height of honor he is cast down to the lowest depth of shame; from the softest bed of luxury to the narrow house of death," where the worm will be his couch and his coverlet (ver. 11). God abases the sinner; to whatever height he climbs, from that summit he must come down to the ground and suffer the painful smart of humiliation.
1. It may be from the point of impious assumption. (Vers. 13-15, 18, 19 Dan_5:22, Dan_5:23, 30 Act_12:21-23)
2. It may be from the summit of human, authority and power. (Vers. 9-12, 16, 17.)
1. It may be from the position of the common heritage of man. They who have climbed the highest must fall the furthest, but inasmuch as we have all sinned we must all pay one of the invariable penalties of sin. We cannot continuously ascend, we cannot maintain our position at a certain height. The hour comes when we must decline. Even if there be not for us a sudden and precipitous fall as to most of the vain-glorious and oppressive there will be there must come the gradual descent: the fading of faculty, the diminution of strength, the waning of influence, the advance of conscious feebleness, increasing dependence on others, the sick-chamber, death, and the dark, lonely grave. Nothing can save us from this declension, this dishonor. But there are in the gospel of Christ blessed and glorious compensations. Instead of death, is life eternal; instead of humiliation, everlasting glory. C.
God"s judgments on other nations than our own.
The "burdens" are given as a series of prophetic visions; events pass before the prophet"s mind as in a moving panorama, and he notes down just the things that more particularly arrested his attention. A prophetical description of an event will differ from a historical account of the same event, by being an irate outline, or else a vigorous word-painting of certain salient features, rather than a circumstantial detail. Prophetical work is akin to poetical work, and its due apprehension depends on spiritual sympathy rather than on logical precision. The passage commencing with ver. 4 is perhaps the most striking passage in this series of burdens. It is an ode of triumph on the fall of the Babylonian monarch. Bishop Lowth says of it that he "knows not a single instance, in the whole compass of Greek and Roman poetry, which in every excellence of composition can be said to equal or even approach it. 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 variety of images, persons, and distinct actions, with such rapidity and case of transition, in so small a compass, as in this ode of Isaiah. For beauty of disposition, strength of coloring, greatness of sentiment, brevity, perspicuity, and force of expression, it stands among all the monuments of antiquity unrivalled." Babylon may be treated as a representative of all the nations surrounding and related to Israel. They are the great nations of the ancient world, but they fringed round the land of Canaan on the north, the east, and the south. The prophet denounces Babylon, and Moab, and Syria, and Egypt, and Tyro, and solemnly warns Edom.
I AS NEIGHBORING NATIONS, THEIR PROPHESIED DESOLATION BECAME A POWER ON THE JEW. At the time that Isaiah wrote his first prophecy the nation of Israel was in a perilous and painful position. The consequences of prolonged national self-will and idolatry were pressing heavily upon it. The great Asiatic nation, which was to be the Divine agent in their punishment, was coming nearer and nearer to them, swallowing up, in its irresistible progress, the intervening kingdoms. The northern portion, that called Israel in distinction from Judah, was about this time subdued by Shalmaneser, King of Assyria, and its people were carried away captive. The kings of Judah only secured a temporary respite by paying a heavy tribute, and the one or two good kings of the period, such as Hezekiah and Josiah, did but, as it were, make the dying taper flare up for a while ere it suddenly went out in darkness. It must have been a hard thing for a godly man to live in such a time, and in the midst of such surroundings. We can imagine the pious Jew in such an age saying, "Are we not the covenant people of God? Have we not been, through long years, the special objects of his guidance, defense, and care? Yet it seems now as if God had forgotten us. These surrounding nations are in the height of prosperity. See Babylon the magnificent! See Damascus the wealthy! See Tyre the commercial!" To such as these, in Jerusalem and in Judaea, the prophecies of Isaiah, charged with the "burdens" of these prosperous nations, would come as a Divine consolation, and would say to them, "Do not confine your thoughts to that only which you can at present see; take in the future; view things in the larger light of him who has all men and nations in his control, and the long ages in which to work his purposes." Isaiah shows them that sin is sin everywhere, it carries its tremendous consequences everywhere. Delays are, everywhere, but the long-suffering patience of God that loudly calls to repentance. For the unrepentant everywhere call him Gentile or call him Jew, be he covenanted or be he uncovenanted there is only a "fearful looking for of judgment and fiery indignation, which shall devour the adversaries." But these prophecies were intended to be a power upon the many as well as upon the few. The many were heedless and blind, puffed up with their apparent security. For long years the warnings of their earlier national history had been neglected. In their self-security they had even ceased to fear the "Judge of all the earth." To them there came the voice as of a man rapt in sublime vision: "I see the burden of Babylon. Exalted to heaven in privilege; thrust down to hell in disgrace, I see the place of Babylon. Behold, it is not: the hand of the Lord hath swept it away." "Howl ye, for the day of the Lord is at hand: it shall come as a destruction from the Almighty.
II AS GREAT AND PROMINENT NATIONS, GOD"S DEALINGS WITH THEM CARRY LESSONS FOR ALL AFTER GENERATIONS. In order to reach us with helpful moral influences, God finds it necessary to set the little matters concerning the progress of our little life in large before us in the histories of nations. A nation is, as it were, a man whose entire life-course can be watched through from childhood to decay. The invisible things of morals may be made manifest in the visible scenes of history. An old divine has the following remark: "God can punish nations in this world, but for the punishment of individuals he wants both this world and the next." We live such brief lives here on earth that we cannot get extensive and worthy ideas of the issues of sin from studying merely our own experiences. Nor can we, even from the most striking cases of individual suffering, as a result of sin, discern the full majesty of the Divine indignation. But the life of a nation can be set forth in its completeness; it is a finished whole. We can read the story of Babylon and Tyre, from cradle to grave. The life of a nation is long enough for us to trace in its history its growth, its sin, its fall, and its woe. And the calamities that come at last upon sinful nations are figured in such aspects of terror as to create the profoundest impression on us. This may be illustrated by the Persian overthrow of Babylon, or the Roman siege of Jerusalem, or the manifest decay of the Turkish empire in our own times.
1. From this subject we learn to have faith in God about the nations of the earth. God has set England in the very midst of the world-kingdoms, very much as he set old Canaan in the center of the great ancient empires, on purpose that we might be a gracious power on them, and learn wise lessons from them. God is painting truth for us in his dealings with them. And God"s ways, whether in the small for individuals, or in the large for nations, are ways of chastisement, are instinct with love; are intended to do them good. in their latter end. So we may have faith in God concerning the nations of the earth.
2. And we learn to have faith in God about a true and godly life. If we only see lives in the little, as Asaph did, who wailed out the seventy-third psalm, we may easily be bewildered. But see lives in the large, in the mass, and then we are assured that iniquity never flourishes through; at the last it always "biteth like a serpent, and stingeth like an adder." Many a man dies without the suffering and punishment exhausting itself. But a nation never dies without the sin-degradations and the sin-judgments being plain to view upon it. It is true, forever true, that "righteousness tendeth unto life." Sin is simply a tremendous, awful burden, more than any man can bear, such as no man can bear away. Kept, it must crush unto wounding and woe. Somehow, somewhere, outside ourselves, we must find a sin-bearer, who can carry our sin away. R.T.
The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Biblical Illustrator 1887 · Public Domain On v4 Thou shalt take up this proverb against the King…
Isa_14:4-23
Thou shalt take up this proverb against the King of Babylon
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The proverb against the King of Babylon
Lowth is generally thought not to speak with exaggeration when he calls it the finest [song] of its kind extant in any language.
It is a song of triumph in the form of a dirge, and therefore involves an undercurrent of sarcasm or irony. (Sir E. Strachey, Bart.)
An ode of triumph
This ode, if it is to be admired as it deserves, must be read as a whole: its perfection as a work of art, its picturesque imagery, the delicate and subtle vein of irony by which it is penetrated--it is called a taunt song--will not endure partial quotation or paraphrase. The line of thought is as follows. In the first strophe (Isa_14:4-8), the prophet declares exultingly how at length the tyrant is stilled, the earth is at peace; only the sound of rejoicing is heard. In the second (Isa_14:9-11), he accompanies in thought the Shade of the King of Babylon as it journeys to the Underworld, and imagines the ironical greeting which there meets it from the lips of the other kings--still, as on earth, supposed to be invested with the panoply of State. The third strophe (Isa_14:12-15) depicts the abasement of the Babylonian monarch in its full magnitude: he who would have joined the ranks of the gods, is east down to the inmost recesses of the pit. In the fourth and last strophe (verse 16-20), the prophets thought passes to the battlefield--from the feeble Shade to the unburied, dishonoured corpse: the passers-by express their amazement at the contrast which its fate presents to that of other kings after their death; it is excluded from the royal burial place, flung aside as a worthless bough, hidden amongst the bodies of slain, common soldiers, The prophet concludes with an epilogue, spoken in his own person, and re-asserting emphatically the final and irretrievable ruin of the great city (Isa_14:21-23).
The best commentary on this prophecy is the long and impassioned invective against Babylon contained in Jer_50:1-46; Jer_51:1-58.(Prof. E. R. Driver, D. D.)
Destruction of the King of Babylon
The Babylonian monarchy bade fair to be an absolute, universal, and perpetual one, and in these pretensions vied with the Almighty; it is, therefore, very justly not only brought down, but exulted over when it is down. (M. Henry.)
The golden city
(Isa_14:4) is a graphical description of that city, which was renowned for its immense riches and intern parable splendour. (R. Macculloch.)
Deliverance from an evil dominion
If the nations rejoice at the overthrow of a haughty, tyrannical prince, and the re-establishment of tranquillity and liberty, how much greater ought to be the triumph of those who are delivered from the dominion of divers impetuous lusts, and enjoy the earnests of spiritual and eternal rest! (R. Macculloch.)
Hell
(Isa_14:9), as always in the Old Testament = the Greek Hades; not a place of torment, but the meeting place of all living (Job_30:23). The prophets representation is based upon the ideas current among the people. See Bishop Lowths Lectures on the Sacred Poetry of the Hebrews, Lecture 7. The same idea is elaborated in greater detail by Eze_32:17-32. (Prof. S. R. Driver, D. D.)
An image of the soul
The mythological idea of Hades proceeds on the two-fold truth, that what and how man has been in this world is not obliterated in the other world, but becomes essentially manifest, and that there is an immaterial self-formation of the soul in which all that the individual man has become through his own self-determination under God-given relations is reflected as in a mirror, and that in an abiding figure. This image of the soul, to which the dead body is related as the shattered form of a mould, is the shadowy corporeity of the inhabitants of Hades, in which they appear essentially, although in the condition of spirits, as what they were in this life. (F. Delitzsch.)
Hell
Hell is moved as a city is moved when a great king is brought prisoner thither, and everyone runs out of his house to see him. (W. Day, M. A.)
Lucifer
(Isa_14:12):--In his splendour [the King of Babylon] is likened to the morning star, which was worshipped by the Babylonians under the name of Istar. (Prof. J. Skinner, D. D.)
Impious expectations disappointed
(Isa_14:13-15):--That he should go to Sheol at all was a fate never contemplated by his soaring and self-deifying pride. (Prof. J. Skinner, D. D.)
Pride
Pride and ambition know no bounds (Isa_14:14). (R. Macculloch.)
The bittern
(Isa_14:23), Hebrews kippod. The word occurs also in chap. Zep_2:14. It has been rendered otter, tortoise, owl, beaver, porcupine (R.V.). No one of the renderings proposed is satisfactory. Bittern is freer from objection than any other bird which might be proposed. It is a solitary bird, and loves such haunts as would be supplied by the marshes which were found in districts of Edom and Babylon and Nineveh, as the fruit of the desolation sent on them. It feeds at night, and hides during the day among the long grass and rushes of its favourite habitats. (J. Duns, D. D., F. R. S. E.)
The bosom of destruction
(Isa_14:23):--When a people have nothing among them but dirt and filth, and will not be made clean with the besom of reformation, what can they expect but to be swept off the face of the earth with the bosom of destruction? (M. Henry.)
The Churchs exultation over her foes
Surely, in some such terms as these, the Church shall one day exult over all her foes, and especially over the great apostate power of Babylon the Great, the City of the Seven Hills. And still more, over the cast out prince of this world, of whom the King of Babylon and other princes of this world have been the types and representatives. (F. B. Meyer, B. A.)
The Biblical Illustrator, edited by Joseph S. Exell (c. 1880s–1900s) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
unfoldingWord translationNotes 2017 · CC BY-SA 4.0 On vv5, 7 Connecting Statement:
Connecting Statement:
This is part of the taunt song that the Israelites will sing to the king of Babylon.
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Yahweh has broken the staff of the wicked
The staff of the wicked probably refers to a stick that wicked people would hit other people with. Breaking that stick represents destroying their power to treat people cruelly. AT: "Yahweh has destroyed the power of the wicked" (See: Metonymy)
the scepter of those rulers
A scepter represents a ruler's power to rule. Breaking the scepter represents destroying the ruler's power. AT: "Yahweh has destroyed the power of the wicked rulers" (See: Metonymy)
that struck the peoples
"who struck the peoples." Wicked people struck the peoples with their staff.
with unceasing blows
"without stopping" or "again and again"
that ruled the nations
"who conquered other nations"
with an attack that was unrestrained
"attacking them without stopping"
translationWords
Yahweh
staff
evil
scepter
rule
people group
wrath
nation
anger
unfoldingWord translationNotes — © Distant Shores Media and the Door43 World Missions Community, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: git.door43.org/Door43/en_tn.
Tyndale Open Study Notes 2022 · CC BY-SA 4.0 On vv4, 7 14:4 A taunt is a mocking comparison in song…
14:4 A taunt is a mocking comparison in song form. In this instance, the king of Babylon is compared to a dead man entering the world of the dead.
Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.