Isaiah 13:10

For the stars of heaven and the constellations thereof shall not give their light: the sun shall be darkened in his going forth, and the moon shall not cause her light to shine. THE STARS ... SHALL NOT GIVE THEIR LIGHT ... - figurative for anarchy, distress, and revolutions of kingdoms (Isaiah 34:4; Joel 2:10; Ezekiel 32:7; Amos 8:9; Revelation 6:12). There may be a literal fulfillment finally, shadowed forth under this imagery ...

10._For the stars of heaven. _In order to strike our minds with a stronger and more distressing fear of the judgment of God, the prophets are accustomed to add to their threatenings extravagant modes of speaking, which place the anger of God, as it were, before their eyes, and affect all our senses, as if all the elements were now arising to execute his vengeance. And yet the expressions, though unusually strong, do not go beyond the dreadful nature of what took place; for it is impossible to exhibit an image of the judgment of God so alarming that the reality shall not be felt to be more revolting and terrible. _The sun_, and _the moon_, and _the stars _are mentioned, because they are striking proofs of God’s fatherly kindness towards us. Hence also Christ shows that it is an eminent proof of the goodness of God that he maketh his sun to rise on the evil and on the good. ...

6-18 We have here the terrible desolation of Babylon by the Medes and Persians. Those who in the day of their peace were proud, and haughty, and terrible, are quite dispirited when trouble comes. Their faces shall be scorched with the flame. All comfort and hope shall fail. The stars of heaven shall not give their light, the sun shall be darkened. Such expressions are often employed by the prophets, to describe the convulsions of governments. God will visit them for their iniquity, particularly the sin of pride, which brings men low. There shall be a general scene of horror. Those who join themselves to Babylon, must expect to share her plagues, Revelation 18:4. All that men have, they would give for their lives, but no man's riches shall be the ransom of his life. Pause here and wonder that men should be thus cruel and inhuman, and see how corrupt the nature of man is become. And that...

Verse Isaiah 13:10. _FOR THE STARS OF HEAVEN_ - "Yea, the stars of heaven"] The Hebrew poets, to express happiness, prosperity, the instauration and advancement of states, kingdoms, and potentates, make use of images taken from the most striking parts of nature, from the heavenly bodies, from the sun, moon, and stars: which they describe as shining with increased splendour, and never setting. The moon becomes like the meridian sun, and the sun's light is augmented sevenfold; (see Isaiah 30:26;) new heavens and a new earth are created, and a brighter age commences. On the contrary, the overflow and destruction of kingdoms is represented by opposite images. The stars are obscured, the moon withdraws her light, and the sun shines no more! The earth quakes, and the heavens tremble; and all things seem te...

FOR THE STARS OF HEAVEN - This verse cannot be understood literally, but is a metaphorical representation of the calamities that were coming upon Babylon The meaning of the figure evidently is, that those calamities would be such as would be appropriately denoted by the sudden extinguishment of the stars, the sun, and the moon. As nothing would tend more to anarchy, distress, and ruin, than thus to have all the lights of heaven suddenly and forever quenched, this was an apt and forcible representation of the awful calamities that were coming upon the people. Darkness and night, in the Scriptures, are often the emblem of calamity and distress (see the note at Matthew 24:29). The revolutions and destructions of kingdoms and nations are often represented in the Scriptures under this image. So respecting the destruction of Idumea...

EXPOSITION THE BURDEN OF BABYLON. The series of prophecies which commences with this chapter and continues to the close of Isaiah 23:1; is connected together by the word _massa_, burden. It has been argued that the term "burden" is an incorrect translation of _massa_, as used by Isaiah and later prophets (Nahum 1:1; Habakkuk 1:1; Zechariah 9:1; Zechariah 12:1; Malachi 1:1); and that ...

FOR THE STARS OF HEAVEN,.... This and what follows are to be understood, not literally, but figuratively, as expressive of the dismalness and gloominess of the dispensation, of the horror and terror of it, in which there was no light, no comfort, no relief, nor any hope of any; the heavens and all the celestial bodies frowning upon them, declaring the displeasure of him that dwells there: AND THE CONSTELLATIONS THEREOF SHALL NOT GIVE THEIR LIGHT; which are assemblages of stars, or certain configurations of the heavenly bodies, devised by the ancients; to which each of the names are given for the help of the imagination and memory; the number of them are forty eight, twelve in the Zodiac, twenty one on the northern side of it, and fifteen on the southern. R. Jonah, mentioned both by Aben Ezra and Kimchi, says that "Cesil", the word here used, is a large star, called in the Arabic languag...

2. THE JUDGMENT OF THE NATIONS AND THE FUTURE DAY OF JEHOVAH (13-27) CHAPTER 13 The Burden of Babylon 1. _Jehovah's call to the judgment of Babylon (Isaiah 13:1)_ 2. _The day of Jehovah: When Babylon falls (Isaiah 13:6)_ 3. _Babylon overthrown (Isaiah 13:17)_ The great judgments announced in this part of Isaiah were only partially fulfilled in the past. The great Babylon which came into existence as the mistress of the world after this prophecy had been given, fell by the Medes (verse 17 and Daniel 5:1. The judgment of this Babylon is meant here first. But the Babylon of the past is the type of a Babylon of

ISAIAH 13:1 TO ISAIAH 14:23. THE UTTER RUIN OF BABYLON AND TRIUMPHAL ODE OVER HER MONARCH'S DEATH. Historical conditions are here presupposed entirely different from those of Isaiah's time. The subject of Isaiah 13 is the overthrow of Babylon by the Medes a century and a half after his age. Since the downfall is said to lie in the near future, the prophecy must have been written very near the close of the Exile. The description of Babylon is also not true to the situation of Isaiah's day. The great oppressing empire, whose downfall he predicted, was Assyria. Babylon was subject to it, though it revolted from time to time, and it was united in friendly relations with Judah by hate for the common oppressor. In our prophecy Babylon is no longer a subject state, but the glory of kingdoms, the beauty of the Chaldea

SHALL NOT GIVE THEIR LIGHT. Quoted in Matthew 24:29. Shall not celebrate [Thee]. Compare Psalms 19:1; Psalms 145:10. Hebrew. _halel._ Occurs twice in "former" portion (here and in Isaiah 38:18 "celebrate") and four times in "latter" portion (Isaiah 41:16; Isaiah 45:25, "glory"; Isaiah 62:9; Is