Isaiah 13:20

It shall never be inhabited, neither shall it be dwelt in from generation to generation: neither shall the Arabian pitch tent there; neither shall the shepherds make their fold there. IT SHALL NEVER BE INHABITED, NEITHER SHALL IT BE DWELT IN FROM GENERATION TO GENERATION - literally fulfilled. NEITHER SHALL THE ARABIAN PITCH TENT THERE - not only shall it not be a permanent residence, but not even a temporary resting-place. The Arabs, through dread of evil spirits, and believing the ghost of Nimrod to haunt it, will not pass the night there (cf. ). NEITHER SHALL THE SHEPHERDS MAKE THEIR FOLD THERE. The region was once most fertile; but owing to the Euphrates being now no longer kept within its former channels, it has become a stagnant marsh, unfit for flocks; and on the wastes of its ruins, bricks and cement,...

20._It shall never be inhabited any more. _By the verb תשב, (_thesheb_,) _shall sit_, he means continuance; as if he had said, “There is no hope of restoring Babylon.” All these forms of expression have precisely the same object, that the Babylonians will be destroyed with such a destruction that their ruin shall be perpetual. The picture is still further heightened by adding, that the desolation will be so great that _in that place neither will the Arabians pitch their tents, nor the shepherds their folds _That place must have been marvellously forsaken and uncultivated, when it was disregarded by those roving tribes; for the _Arabians _were a wandering and unsettled nation, and had no fixed abode. Having left their native country, because it was barren, and is therefore called Arabia _Deserta_, (for it is of that country that we speak,) they devoted themselves to feeding flocks and

19-22 Babylon was a noble city; yet it should be wholly destroyed. None shall dwell there. It shall be a haunt for wild beasts. All this is fulfilled. The fate of this proud city is a proof of the truth of the Bible, and an emblem of the approaching ruin of the New Testament Babylon; a warning to sinners to flee from the wrath to come, and it encourages believers to expect victory over every enemy of their souls, and of the church of God. The whole world changes and is liable to decay. Wherefore let us give diligence to obtain a kingdom which cannot be moved; and in this hope let us hold fast that grace whereby we may serve God acceptably with reverence and godly fear....

IT SHALL NEVER BE INHABITED - This has been completely fulfilled. It is now, and has been for centuries, a scene of wide desolation, and is a heap of ruins, and there is every indication that it will continue so to be. From Rauwolff’s testimony it appears, that in the sixteenth century ‘there was not a house to be seen;’ and now the ‘eye wanders over a barren desert, in which the ruins are nearly the only indication that it had ever been inhabited. It is impossible to behold this scene and not be reminded how exactly the predictions of Isaiah and Jeremiah have been fulfilled, even in the appearance Babylon was doomed to present, “that she should never be inhabited.”’ - (Keppel’s “Narrative,” p. 234.) ‘Babylon is spurned alike by the heel of the Ottoman, the Israelites, and the sons of Ishmael.’ - (Mignan’s “Travels,” p. 108.) ‘It is a tenantless and desolate metropolis.’ - (Ibid. p. 235;...

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 ...

IT SHALL NEVER BE INHABITED,.... As it has not been since its utter destruction. Pausanias p, who lived in the times of Adrian, says, Babylon, the greatest city that ever the sun saw, that then there was nothing left of it but a wall: what is now called Babylon is a new city, and built in another place: NEITHER SHALL IT BE DWELT IN FROM GENERATION TO GENERATION; which is the same thing repeated in other and stronger terms, for the confirmation of it: NEITHER SHALL THE ARABIAN PITCH TENT THERE; that sort of the Arabians called Scenitae, because they dwelt in tents, and moved from place to place with their flocks, for the sake of pasture; but here there should be none for them, and therefore would not pitch their tents at it: NEITHER SHALL THE SHEPHERDS MAKE THEIR FOLDS THERE; as they had used to do in the pastures adjoining to it, which were formerly exceeding good, but now would be ba...

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

NEVER. See note on Isaiah 25:8....

_the Arabian_ Cf. Jeremiah 3:2. The word seems originally to mean "dweller in the desert," but ultimately acquired the force of a proper name (see Jeremiah 25:24; 2 Chronicles 9:14, &c.). The site of Babylon will be shunned even by the wandering nomad, as an accursed and "uncanny" place....