Isaiah 14:1-11

CHAPTER FOURTEEN
2.

BABYLON (Continued)

a. DESPISED

TEXT: Isaiah 14:1-11

1

For Jehovah will have compassion on Jacob, and will yet choose Israel, and set them in their own land; and the sojourner shall join himself with them, and they shall cleave to the house of Jacob.

2

And the peoples shall take them, and bring them to their place; and the house of Israel shall possess them in the land of Jehovah for servants and for handmaids: and they shall take them captive whose captives they were; and they shall rule over their oppressors.

3

And it shall come to pass in the day that Jehovah shall give -thee rest from thy sorrow, and from thy trouble, and from the hard service wherein thou wast made to serve,

4

that thou shaft take up this parable against the king of Babylon and say, How hath the oppressor ceased! the golden city ceased!

5

Jehovah hath broken the staff of the wicked, the sceptre of the rulers;

6

that smote the peoples in wrath with a continual stroke, that ruled the nations in anger, with a persecution that none restrained.

7

The whole earth is at rest, and is quiet: they break forth into singing.

8

Yea, the fir-trees rejoice at thee, and the cedars of Lebanon, saying, Since thou art laid low, no hewer is come up against us.

9

Sheol from beneath is moved for thee to meet thee at thy coming; it stirreth up the dead for thee, even all the chief ones of the earth; it hath raised up from their thrones all the kings of the nations.

10

All they shall answer and say unto thee, Art thou also become weak as we? art thou become like unto us?

11

Thy pomp is brought down to Sheol, and the noise of thy viols: the worm is spread under thee, and worms cover thee.

QUERIES

a.

How would the house of Israel possess their former captors?

b.

Why was the whole earth at rest at Babylon's downfall?

PARAPHRASE

And Jehovah will have mercy upon His covenant people; He will yet fulfill all His covenant promises to them. Their blessings will one day be so glorious that those now outside the covenant of Israel will be joined to God's covenant people and become a part of them. God will cause those who once took His covenant people captive to return them to their land and eventually His people will make some of these heathen a possession of God's kingdom and servants of the Most High God. Yes, even people from those nations which once took the covenant people captive will one day be taken captive by them. Those who once ruled over God's people will one day come under the rule of God. When that day comes to pass God will have delivered His covenant people from sorrow, trouble and servitude, and His people will proclaim concerning their great enemy, At last our enemy has been defeated and his kingdom destroyed. God has broken the power of the enemy that ruled over us so long in unrestrained terribleness. The whole earth and all of nature rejoices at the rest it receives from the defeat of God's enemy. All the citizens of Hades crowd to meet him as he enters the same place where they dwell. World leaders and earth's mightiest rulers, long dead, are there to greet him. With one voice they all cry out, Are you as weak as we are? Have you become like us here? All this enemy's grandeur and power has been stripped from him and all his reveling is over. His covering now is not silk and satin, but worms and maggots.

COMMENTS

Isaiah 14:1-6 DELIVERANCE AND DOMINION: Here is an instance of the prophet's use of shortened perspective. It is a favorite vehicle of prophetic literature. The prophet first speaks of the return of the covenant people from the Babylonian captivity when the Persian emperor Cyrus (Cf. Isaiah 44:28; Isaiah 45:1 ff) took the Jews and brought them to their place by his edict and financial aid to rebuild Jerusalem. But then, skipping over some five centuries between the Persian release of the Jews to the time when their former captors will become their captives, the prophet shortens his perspective. There can be only one meaning to the prophet's indication that sojourners would join themselves to the Jews and cleave to the house of Jacob. We believe there is only one way to interpret the statement that the house of Israel shall possess them in the land of Jehovah for servants and for hand-maids: and they shall take them captive whose captives they were and they shall rule over their oppressors, and that interpretation is one that finds the fulfillment in the Messianic kingdom, the church. This is the only possible interpretation considering the fact that such widespread Jewish domination never literally occurred. This interpretation is also substantiated by parallel passages (Cf. Isaiah 2:3; Isaiah 49:22-26; Zechariah 8:20-23). All of these hyperbolic figures of speech find their fulfillment in Ephesians 2:11-14. God delivers the Jews after their period of chastening in captivity. Out of that delivered people comes a faithful remnant which will through five centuries produce a faithful progeny through which the Messiah will be born in the flesh. He will establish God's kingdom, the church, upon the earth. The Gentiles, former enemies and captors of God's covenant people, will become members of God's covenant people. What the prophet leaves out here is all the history of the Jewish people between the restoration from captivity and the establishment of the church. All this history is not important to Isaiah's purpose. The deliverance from Babylonian captivity actually becomes a type of the ultimate deliverance from the bondage of Satan and sin, man's greatest enemies. See our comments in Minor Prophets on Obadiah 1:7-21 and Amos 9:11-12.

Isaiah 14:7-11 DELIGHT AT DEGRADATION: Whenever God delivers His people and destroys His enemies the whole world is benefited, Most of the world does not realize it as a benefit because the world sees through eyes of flesh not faith. God's people rejoice when His enemies are defeated for they see through eyes of faith their deliverance. Even nature itself benefits when those in rebellion against God are defeated for rebels against God's sovereign rule usually deface and pervert God's natural creation. Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, had built a road in the Wady Brissa in Lebanon in order to plunder the territory of its magnificent cedars and take them back to Babylon to build pagan temples and palaces.

Sheol is the Old Testament place of the dead. The Old Testament speaks of life hereafter, of judgment and of resurrection. But the whole experience of the hereafter is in the shadows. Nothing really clearly outlined. Here the king of Babylon is said to be welcomed into the region of the dead with a great stirring of those who have gone on before. Especially great world rulers and leaders long ago dead now greet the king of Babylon with the taunt, So you also are as weak as we were? You died too! All your former pomp and glory has passed away like ours! Death is inevitable to all, great and small, rich and poor, powerful and weak. Every human body has a cover of worms in its destiny. We wonder which king of Babylon this is. Nebuchadnezzar seems to have acknowledged Jehovah as God in Daniel 4:34-37 (see our comments in Daniel, College Press). Perhaps Isaiah is referring to Belshazzar who would not learn from his father's experience (Cf. Daniel 5:17-23). Whoever it may be, the lesson is inescapableearthly kings and kingdoms dare not lay their hand on the apple of His eye (His covenant people) for God will bring all His enemies down to Sheol.

QUIZ

1.

What is shortened perspective as the prophets use it?

2.

Why is it improbable that this text is to be taken as figurative hyperbole?

3.

What is the Babylonian captivity and deliverance typical of?

4.

Why does the world rejoice when God's enemies are defeated?

5.

Why mention the fact that the king of Babylon was taunted in Sheol?