Chapter Fourteen

1–2. Redemption of Israel from captivity. 3–23. A song of victory by the Judeans on the occasion of the fall of the Babylonian king. 24–27. The fate of Assyria and 28–32. The Philistines.

Isaiah 14:1. The time of it draws near, and his days will not delay, for the Lord will have pity on Jacob and will again love Israel; and he will settle them on their land, and foreigners will join themselves to them and will cling to the house of Jacob. Together with the fall of Babylon, in the vision of the prophet Isaiah, the return of Israel from captivity to their country is joined. The foreigners themselves will bring Israel home, and Israel in turn will rule over them. “The time of it draws near and his days will not delay.” In the Hebrew Bible these words are attributed to the 22nd verse of the 13th chapter. “His,” that is, of Babylon. “For the Lord will have pity.” As the basis for the destruction of Babylon, here the intention of the Lord to free his people is indicated, who, obviously, is presented to the prophet as living in Babylonian captivity. Thus, according to the prophet’s understanding, the liberation of Israel from Babylonian captivity could be obtained only in the case of the destruction of the Babylonian monarchy. In the 17th verse the prophet, as it were confirming this thought, says that the Babylonian king never released his captives to go home. “And foreigners will join themselves to them.” Foreigners or aliens, strangers always lived among the Hebrews (Exod 12:19; 1 Sam 9:20; Ezek 14:7), and then, when the Hebrews would be in God’s favor again, their number would naturally multiply.

Isaiah 14:2. And the nations will take them and bring them to their place, and the house of Israel will make them their servants and handmaids in the land of the Lord; and it will take captive those who took it captive, and it will rule over those who oppressed it. “And the nations will take them,” that is, will help in every way those who are resettling from captivity to their country (cf. Ezra 1). “The house of Israel will make them their servants.” This thought represents a general view of the Old Testament Judeans, who were convinced that in the kingdom of the Messiah they would occupy a special privileged position, while all other nations would occupy a servile position in relation to Israel (1 Sam 9:20). However, in Isaiah this thought is softened by the fact that the subordination of the Gentiles to Israel will be voluntary on their part. Clearly, the prophet was given a vision of the future conversion of all nations into the Church of Christ, which in the Old Testament is generally represented as the chosen remnant of Israel, but the prophet, by reason of that imperfection in understanding future events common to all Old Testament people (1 Pet 1:11), understood this revelation as a sign of the subjection of other nations to the Hebrew people. Isa 14:3-23. The redeemed and exalted Israel will sing a triumphant, joyful song about the destruction of the tyrant, the Babylonian king, and other nations will join in this rejoicing. The cypresses and the cedars of Lebanon will be glad at the fall of the Babylonian king, and all the inhabitants of the netherworld will laugh bitterly at the tyrant descended into the abyss. The prophet himself joins his voice to this joyful chorus, pointing out how greatly the pride of the tyrant is put to shame. Other witnesses also marvel at his sad fate. Finally, as Isaiah declares, the entire dynasty of the Babylonian king will be destroyed, and then all the inhabitants of Babylon.

Isaiah 14:3. And it will be on that day: when the Lord relieves you from your sorrow and from your fear and from the hard slavery to which you were enslaved, Isaiah 14:4. You will sing a taunt song against the king of Babylon and say: How the oppressor has ceased, and the tribute-taking has ended! “A taunt song.” The Hebrew word standing here—mashal—means: a comparison, a parable, and then a mocking speech. The latter meaning is perfectly suited to the song (cf. Hab 2:6; Mic 2:4). “The king of Babylon” is not any single king, but all the Babylonian kings who acted in the same spirit. “The tribute-taking.” Correctly it should be read here: oppression, torment (as if the word merehabah stood here—from the verb rahab—to oppress). This is how the LXX, the Targums, and the Peshitta understand this place.

Isaiah 14:5. The Lord has broken the rod of the wicked, the scepter of the rulers, Isaiah 14:6. Who struck the nations in fury with unceasing blows, who ruled the peoples in anger with relentless persecution. “The rod” by which the king could strike anyone, even from his own subjects, and the scepter—signs of royal power (Num 24:17). “The wicked”—the Babylonian kings.

Isaiah 14:7. The whole earth rests, is at peace, breaks into song; Isaiah 14:8. And the cypress trees rejoice over you, and the cedars of Lebanon, saying: “Since you fell asleep, no one comes to cut us down. “The whole earth.” Here one can see an indication that the earth itself, as it were, shares in the joy of the Hebrews: it suffered greatly from the invasions of this king, who destroyed fields and pastures. “The cypresses rejoice.” The Babylonian kings, during their campaigns against Palestine, cut down the Lebanese forests along the way for the needs of their army (cf. Hab 2:17). The cypress, very strong and rot-resistant wood, served not only for building houses and ships, but also for making spears and musical instruments (2 Sam 6:5).

Isaiah 14:9. Hades below is stirred up because of you, to meet you on your entry; he wakens the Rephaim for you, all the leaders of the earth; he raises all the kings of the nations from their thrones. The prophet depicts the realm of the dead as rising up and speaking like a separate person. “Hades below”—in Hebrew sheol mittachat, that is, Sheol located below. (See Commentary on the Bible, vol. 1, p. 102). The Hebrews, even in the time of the prophet Isaiah, apparently pictured Sheol—the abode of the souls of the dead—as located beneath the earth. The origin of such a conception is probably explained by the fact that the bodies of the dead were ordinarily buried in the earth. “The Rephaim” (from rapha)—weak beings, shades. But here, apparently, the prophet used this name to designate the most prominent representatives of Sheol, as is evident from the fact that he further mentions the mighty of the earth, the kings. Perhaps he had in mind those Rephaim spoken of in the books of Moses and Joshua as giants (Gen 14:5; Gen 15:20; Deut 3:11; Josh 17:15). “Leaders”—in Hebrew attudej—goats. In a flock the goat ordinarily goes first, as a leader.

Isaiah 14:10. All of them will say to you: You too have become weak, like us! You have become like us! This verse presents an exclamation of the inhabitants of the netherworld.

Isaiah 14:11. Your pomp is brought down to Hades, along with all the noise of your harps; beneath you maggots are spread out, and worms are your covering. Isaiah 14:12. How you have fallen from heaven, morning star, son of the dawn! You are cut down to the earth, you who trampled the nations. The prophet, for his part, confirms the astonishing fact of the death of the Babylonian king. “Your pomp,” that is, all your luxury, and the noise, that is, the sounds of harps with which the Babylonian king delighted himself (cf. Isa 5:12; Isa 24:8), have descended to Hades, that is, have completely vanished. The king himself, dead, lies and is eaten by worms, like some dead carcass... But before, he shone with bright brilliance, like the morning star (in Hebrew heilel from the verb halal—to shine), that is, like the bright star Venus, which in the southern sky shines much more brightly than with us, and which the Assyrians called mustilil (bright star). “Son of the dawn.” The morning dawn is represented as, so to speak, a mother giving birth to this star. Among ancient peoples the star served as a symbol of royal power (cf. Num 24:17); therefore, Isaiah, wanting to point to the high political significance of the Babylonian king, a prototype of the antichrist, called him a star.

Isaiah 14:13. And you said in your heart: “I will ascend to heaven, above the stars of God I will set my throne, and I will sit on the mountain in the assembly of the gods, on the remote slopes of the north; Isaiah 14:14. I will ascend above the heights of the clouds, I will make myself like the Most High. “And you said in your heart,” that is, you thought, you dreamed. “I will ascend to heaven.” The Babylonian king might have dreamed of such an apotheosis as the Egyptian pharaohs arranged for themselves, and—later—some of the Roman emperors (cf. Dan 4:22). “Above the stars of God.” The ancient peoples conceived of heaven as a ceiling, on the outer side of which stars were fixed, illuminating the earth, and above this ceiling, in the higher spheres, stood, in their understanding, God’s throne. There, into these spaces inaccessible to human sight, the Babylonian ruler would have liked to ascend. “I will sit on the mountain, in the assembly of the gods,”—from Hebrew “I will sit on the mountain of assembly” (behar moed). All ancient nations believed that their gods dwell on the highest mountains. Thus the Greeks and Romans looked upon Olympus, Atlas, and Ida as the abodes of their gods. It is also known that the ancient Assyrians considered Mount Aral to be the birthplace and abode of the gods, and this mountain was in mind of the Assyrian king Tiglath-Pileser II, who in one of his inscriptions boasted that his sacred family was called to dwell in the “house of the mountain of lands (Eharsagkurkurra).” With the prophet Ezekiel, God says to the king of Tyre: “You were on the holy mountain of God, you walked in the midst of the stones of fire” (Ezek 28:14). In particular, among the most ancient inhabitants of Babylon, who had settled there around 2500 years before the Birth of Christ, we encounter views of God as a single mighty personality. They are expressed, for example, thus: God gave, God rules, God is God. (Delitzsch. Bible and Babylon. Suvorin’s edition 1906, p. 65). There, in cuneiform monuments, as long as 3000 years before the Birth of Christ, we already encounter mention of the Most High.

Isaiah 14:15. But you are brought down to Hades, to the depths of the pit. Instead of reaching the mountain of the gods, the Babylonian king is brought down to Sheol (see verses 9-). “In the depths of the pit”—literally “into the depth of the pit.” Obviously, Hades and the pit (grave)—for the prophet are similar concepts. Probably, the ancient Hebrews pictured the grave as, so to speak, a road to Sheol: where the grave ended, there the entrance to Sheol opened.

Isaiah 14:16. Those who see you stare at you, consider you: “Is this the man who made the earth tremble, who shook kingdoms, Isaiah 14:17. Who made the world a wilderness and destroyed its cities, and did not let his captives go home? “Those who see you,” that is, people who outlived the Babylonian king and have the opportunity to discuss the situation created after the death of this king. “Stare at you”—come to look at your corpse. “The world”—this is hyperbole indicating the high significance of the Babylonian king in Asia and partly in Africa (Europe remained outside the sphere of his influence). “And did not let his captives go home.” The Persian kings, as is known, allowed captives to return to their homeland, but the Babylonian king did not want to give such permission.

Isaiah 14:18. All the kings of the nations, all lie in glory, each in his own tomb; Isaiah 14:19. But you are cast out of your grave like a loathsome branch, like a corpse of the slain, like those slain by the sword, who go down to the stones of the pit—you, like a trampled corpse, “All kings”—hyperbole. “In his own tomb.” Being buried in a previously prepared grave—this, according to the views of the ancients, was highly honorable (2 Sam 21:18; cf. 2 Chr 33:20). The Egyptians and Persians made tombs for their dead far more magnificent and durable than houses for the living. “Cast out of your grave.” Denial of burial was a disgrace (1 Sam 13:24), and especially shameful was it for a king to be denied royal burial (2 Chr 21:20). The tomb, perhaps prepared for himself by the Babylonian king, remained empty, and his corpse was cast on the earth like a loathsome branch, that is, like a worthless broken twig of a tree. “Like a corpse of the slain,” that is, like clothing stained with blood and pierced by sword or spear. Such clothing the victors do not take with them, but leave lying on the battlefield. “The stones of the pit”—that is, fine tombs lined with stone inside, such as were built, for example, in Palestine, where there was much stone. Some of the newer critics attribute the words “who are lowered” to the following verse and translate as follows: “with those (honorably) buried in stone graves, you, a trampled (by the feet of passersby) corpse, will not be joined.”

Isaiah 14:20. You will not be joined with them in a grave; for you have destroyed your land, you have slain your people: the seed of evildoers will never be remembered. “You have destroyed your land.” The Babylonian king himself exhausted his own country through constant conscription of soldiers, many of whom perished in difficult military campaigns. “Will never be remembered,” that is, the dynasty of the Babylonian kings will be completely forgotten by all.

Isaiah 14:21. Prepare a slaughter for his children because of the iniquity of their father, so that they do not rise and possess the earth and fill the world with cities. “Prepare.” The prophet addresses the enemies of Babylon, who must put to death the entire family of the Babylonian king. “So that they do not rise,” that is, so that they do not gather strength again. “With cities,” in Hebrew arim—cities or strongholds, in which they could again place their garrisons and thus keep distant countries under their subjection. Some newer critics propose to read ajim—ruins—instead of arim, and this reading gives a more natural translation: the Babylonian kings indeed filled the world with ruins.

Isaiah 14:22. And I will rise up against them, says the Lord of hosts, and I will cut off from Babylon name and remnant, and son and grandson, says the Lord. Isaiah 14:23. And I will make it a possession of hedgehogs and a swamp, and I will sweep it clean with the broom of destruction, says the Lord of hosts. Babylon with all its inhabitants will be destroyed by God. Its very name and along with it its former glory will vanish forever. “I will make it a possession of hedgehogs and a swamp.” Hedgehogs indeed live on the islands of the Euphrates and reach considerable size (Echinus aquatica). Since the embankments and dams on the Euphrates, which had tremendous importance for proper irrigation of the Babylonian country, were destroyed by the Greeks during the campaign of Alexander the Great through Mesopotamia, Babylonia or Chaldea, being a low-lying country, began to be flooded with water; because of this vast marshes formed there, poisoning the surrounding area with miasmas. Isa 14:24-27. After the victory song about the fall of the Babylonian king, the prophet prophesies about the fate of Assyria, but says very little about it, because after the revelation received by the prophet about the destruction of Babylon, it became completely clear to him that not Assyria would have decisive significance for the fate of the chosen people. By its content, this brief prophecy about Assyria is a repetition of the thoughts contained in chapter 10. The prophet considered it unsuitable not to mention Assyria here, probably because almost all the subsequent prophecies about the fate of different nations have as their subject the relation of these nations precisely to the Assyrian monarchy (Isa 14:20-Isa 20:6; Isa 21 and cf. verses 22 and 23 of chapters).

Isaiah 14:24. The Lord of hosts has sworn: As I have planned, so shall it be; as I have purposed, so shall it stand, By having God swear an oath, the prophet obviously does this in order to more convince his readers that the sad fate of Assyria is unchangeable.

Isaiah 14:25. So I will break Assyria in my land, and on my mountains I will trample him; and his yoke shall depart from them, and his burden shall be lifted from their shoulders. Although after the defeat of the Assyrian army by an angel at the walls of Jerusalem, which is what the prophet has in mind, Assyria came to life again for some time, nevertheless the prophet had every reason to regard this terrible defeat as the end of Assyrian power. In fact, the blow dealt to Assyria by the Lord God aroused the energy of Assyria’s enemies, who at first began individually to struggle with it, but then, when it was possible to form a coalition of three powerful powers—Egyptian, Median, and Babylonian—completely ended the existence of the Assyrian monarchy (608 years before the Birth of Christ). “My mountains” the lands of God are called Judea—a country very mountainous. “From them,” that is, from all the peoples subject to Assyria.

Isaiah 14:26. This is the purpose that is purposed concerning the whole earth; and this is the hand that is stretched out over all the nations, Isaiah 14:27. For the Lord of hosts has purposed, and who will annul it? His hand is stretched out, and who will turn it back? The overthrow of Assyria is only one moment of God’s judgment, which will undoubtedly extend to all the peoples of the world. Isa 14:28-32. A prophecy about the fate of the land of the Philistines. In the days of Ahaz, who was pressed by the united kings of Syria and Israel, the Philistines threw off the yoke which the Judean king Uzziah had laid upon them (2 Chr 26:6), and even took possession of several Judean cities themselves (2 Chr 28 and ff.). But then they suffered a great defeat from the Assyrian king Tiglath-Pileser II. Now, says Isaiah, the Philistines are glad that this terrible enemy of theirs—is dead (in 727 BC, almost simultaneously with Ahaz), but their joy will be short-lived. After Tiglath-Pileser, his successors (Shalmaneser, Sargon, Sennacherib) will come into the land of the Philistines, and all the land of the Philistines will break apart.

Isaiah 14:28. In the year that king Ahaz died there was such a prophetic utterance: Isaiah 13:1. “A prophetic utterance”—in Hebrew massa, that is, a prophecy of sad content, see Is.13:1. Isaiah 14:29. Do not rejoice, land of the Philistines, that the rod which struck you is broken! For from the serpent’s root will come forth an adder, and its fruit will be a flying dragon. “The rod”—this is not Ahaz, who could not himself resist the Philistines when they took several cities from him, but the Assyrian king Tiglath-Pileser II, who has just died. “From the serpent’s root.” The prophet uses figurative language here, but his figures are very clear. “The serpent’s root”—this is the recently deceased Tiglath-Pileser II. “An adder”—probably Sargon, who twice defeated the Philistines (721 and 720 BC), concerning whom it was reported to him that they had formed a conspiracy against him with neighboring peoples (Schrader. The Cuneiform Inscriptions and the O.T. 2nd ed., 1883, p. 398). “A flying dragon”—this name perfectly suits Sennacherib, who for their disobedience put to death many Philistine aristocrats and exiled many Philistines from their country. Under the name “flying dragon” (saraph meophel) the prophet probably understood a winged lizard, living in Eastern India and Africa.

Isaiah 14:30. Then the poorest will feed, and the needy will lie down in safety; but I will kill your root with famine, and he will slay your remnant. “The poorest and the needy”—probably Judeans, who suffered from frequent attacks by the Philistines during the reign of Ahaz. They will rest when the Assyrian kings crush their enemies, the Philistines. “Your root,” that is, the remnant of the Philistine nation. “I will kill with famine.”—Of course, during the siege of Philistine cities, many Philistines died of hunger. “And he will slay,” that is, this flying dragon, the Assyrian king.

Isaiah 14:31. Wail, gates! Cry out, city! Melt away, all you of the land of the Philistines, for from the north smoke comes, and none is laggard in his ranks. “Gates”—here is metonymy. The prophet, of course, had in mind the people who gathered at the city gates during the day to learn all the latest news. “Smoke”—this is smoke from cities burning along the way of the Assyrian army (from north to south), which the Assyrians, according to the expression of one ancient inscription, “burned with fire, devastated, turned into ruins and plowland” (Ragozina. History of Assyria p. 60).

Isaiah 14:32. And what shall the messengers of the nation answer? “The Lord has established Zion, and in it the afflicted of his people find refuge. “What shall they answer,” that is, what reports will reach the land of the Philistines, obviously sending envoys to neighboring nations to learn about their political situation and, perhaps, to propose forming an alliance against the Assyrians. “The Lord has established Zion.” The prophet with a feeling of national pride says that the Lord will protect his city both from the Assyrian king and that in Zion the fugitives (the afflicted) from other Judean cities will find true refuge. Meanwhile, the land of the Philistines will remain without any protection, and this, of course, will be very painful for the Philistines, who must be very annoyed by the fact that their nearest neighbors will preserve their capital from devastation by the enemy. The authenticity of Isaiah’s prophecies about Babylon and the king of Babylon is disputed by criticism with all its force, because the prophet here clearly and definitively predicted historical events too distant from his time, and by this clearly testified that God actually revealed the future to his servants, the prophets (Zech 1:6). But the objections which criticism raises here are not particularly convincing. They say that the position of Babylon, as depicted in the 13th and 14th chapters of Isaiah, is sharply different from the position which Babylon occupied among other states in the epoch of Isaiah. Babylon in the time of Isaiah was not yet a master of peoples and the beauty of kingdoms (Isa 13:2). But Babylon in any case was an independent state even in the days of Isaiah, which struggled stubbornly for its independence with Assyria. And so it was revealed to the prophet that this as yet small kingdom would become mighty and devastate Judah and Jerusalem, and then would itself fall. This last circumstance needed to be communicated beforehand to the Judean people, who in the days of Hezekiah sought the friendship of the Babylonian king (Isa 39:1). Furthermore, critics dispute the authenticity of chapters 13 and 14 because the prophet speaks here as a contemporary of the Babylonian captivity of the Judeans (Isa 14:1-3). But it must be taken into account that the prophet Isaiah had already seen the fall of the kingdom of Israel and the carrying away of the Israelites into captivity. Therefore, both he and his contemporaries, the Judeans, must have been occupied with the thought of whether a similar fate did not threaten the kingdom of Judah, and on the basis of these fears, the prophet, under the action of the Spirit of God, created a picture of the future liberation of the Judeans from Babylonian captivity, which was to take place after the fall of Babylon. The prophet Isaiah in this case must have found attentive listeners for his words, also because his contemporary Micah in his prophecies likewise promoted the idea of the future Babylonian captivity of the Judeans (Mic 4:10). Consequently, the idea of the possibility of Babylonian captivity was already being spread in the epoch of Isaiah, and therefore it is very natural that the prophet painted for his kinsmen the picture of the fall of this Babylonian state, which was beginning to terrify them. They also say that Isaiah could not name the Medes by name because in his epoch this people were not known to the Hebrews. But it has now been proven by historians that the Median kingdom was even more ancient than the Chaldean. In Isaiah’s time the Assyrian kings constantly waged war with Media, and this, of course, made the name of the Medes known even in Judea, all the more so because the Israelites carried away into captivity by the Assyrian king were settled in the territories conquered by the Assyrians in Media (2 Sam 18 and book Tob 1:14). As for the positive proofs of the authenticity of chapters 13 and 14, they are as follows: 1) The title of chapter 13, where the prophecy about Babylon is attributed to the prophet Isaiah. This title undoubtedly belongs to the writer of the prophecy. Without it, the first 16 verses of chapter 13 would be incomprehensible, since the subject of the prophecy—Babylon—is not mentioned in them; 2) In the chapters under consideration there is a multitude of a) thoughts and b) expressions completely identical with the thoughts and expressions found in indisputably authentic speeches of Isaiah (cf. a) Isa 13:3-4 and Isa 17:12-13; Isa 13:2-5 and Isa 5:26; Isa 13:7-8 and Isa 19:16; Isa 14 and Isa 2:13; b) cf. Isa 13 and Isa 10:6; Isa 13 and Isa 5:30; Isa 14:1 and Isa 9:16; Isa 14 and Isa 19:1; Isa 13 and Isa 9:2; Isa 14 and Isa 11:1; Isa 14 and Isa 3:6). 3) The prophecy of chapters 13 and 14 is parallel with the prophecy Isa 21:1-10, which is undoubtedly authentic. 4) Remarkable originality and richness of creative imagination in the pictures of the destruction of Babylon and the Babylonian king. 5) The fate of Babylon and the Babylonian king in Isaiah is depicted somewhat differently than it was in reality, and this clearly testifies that the prophecy about Babylon appeared before Babylon fell (see Yungerov. The Authenticity of Isaiah’s Prophecy About the Fall of Babylon.—Orthodox Review 1886, 2). Chapter 14 can be divided into the following strophes: 1 (separate) verse 1–4a—(2, 2, 2) 1 (separate) verse 4, 6–8—(2, 2, 3) 2 (separate) verse 9–11—(3, 2, 2) 3 (separate) verse 12–16a—(2, 2, 2, 2) 1 (separate) verse 16(b)-20a—(2, 2, 3) 2 (separate) verse 20(b)-23—(3, 2, 2) 1 (separate) verse 24–27—(2, 2, 3) 1 (separate) verse 29–30—(2, 2) 2 (separate) verse 31–32—(2, 2) Verses 1–20 of this chapter are read as a paremia on the feast in honor of the holy archangel Michael and the other bodiless powers, because the Church sees in the fall of the morning star a mystical indication of the casting down from heaven of the angels who sinned, in the casting down of which the archangel Michael and the other angels who remained faithful to God took part. Verses 24–27, together with verses 13–16 of chapter 13, are read as a paremia at a thanksgiving service on the feast of the Birth of Christ, when the expulsion of the French from Moscow is commemorated. Obviously, the Church in this case compares Napoleon—with Nebuchadnezzar, or in general with the Babylonian king, known for his arrogance. * * * Notes In the Slavic translation from the Greek of the LXX, it says: “I will ascend to heaven, I will set my throne higher than the stars of heaven, I will sit on a high mountain, on the high mountains that are toward the north.” Editor’s note. The LXX translators here see the address to the Babylonian king, that he should prepare his children for slaughter (irony). Metonymy (Metonymia—a change of name)—a rhetorical figure in which the name of one subject is placed in place of another, but not on the basis of similarity, as in metaphor, but on the basis of association of contiguity, that is, on the basis of close and easily understandable relations in which the given subjects stand to each other. Editor’s note.