ISAIAH CHAPTER 13 1) The burden of Babylon, which Isaiah the son of Amoz did see. a) This is the first appearance of Babylon in Isaiah. It is mentioned in 12 more verses. We now have a prophecy concerning Babylon. The city of Babylon is mentioned 261 times in the Bible, and 6 times in the Book of Revelation. b) burden: The hebrew word massa' {mas-saw'} was translated prophecy 2 times but burden 57 times. Notice our verse says, "which Isaiah the son of Amoz did see," which shows us that it is a prophecy. The prophecy will be a load or burden upon Babylon when it is fulfilled because Babylon will sink into utter destruction. 1) load, bearing, tribute, burden, lifting 1a) load, burden 1b) lifting, uplifting, that to which the soul lifts itself up 1c) bearing, carrying 1d) tribute, that which is carried or brought or borne 2) utterance, oracle, burden c) Babylon: The word is Babel {baw-bel'}. Babel or Babylon = "confusion (by mixing)" 1) Babel or Babylon, the ancient site and/or capital of Babylonia (modern Hillah) situated on the Euphrates d) Gill: "After some prophecies concerning the Messiah and his kingdom, and the church's song of praise for salvation by him, others are delivered out concerning the enemies of the people of God, and their destruction, and begin with Babylon the chief of these enemies, and into whose hands the people of Israel would be delivered for a while; wherefore this prophecy is given forth, in order to lay a foundation for comfort and relief, when that should be their case; by which it would appear that they should have deliverance from them by the same hand that should overthrow them." However, I did not see anything to do with the church, but rather Israel. 2) Lift ye up a banner upon the high mountain, exalt the voice unto them, shake the hand, that they may go into the gates of the nobles. a) banner: nec {nace} 1) something lifted up, standard, signal, signal pole, ensign, banner, sign, sail 1a) standard (as rallying point), signal 1b) standard (pole) 1c) ensign, signal So to put it upon a high mountain would to really lift it up. The Targum has it, "against the city that dwells securely, lift up a sign;" It is a token of war. Proclaim war against Babylon which lives at ease, and is in peace. b) exalt the voice unto them: Gill says, "the Medes, mentioned by name in (Isaiah 13:17) such as were within call, or were gathered together by the lifting up of the banner." Isa 13:17 Behold, I will stir up the Medes against them, which shall not regard silver; and [as for] gold, they shall not delight in it. c) shake the hand: To those who might not hear the voice. The word was translated "wave" more times than "shake." It is a call by the waving of the hand, to and fro as the Lexicon states. d) that they may go into the gates of the nobles: This shows us that the call is to those who would enter into the gates of Babylon where the nobels already dwell, and plunder the riches of the nobels. 3) I have commanded my sanctified ones, I have also called my mighty ones for mine anger, [even] them that rejoice in my highness. a) my sanctified ones: Gill applies this to the Medes and Persians, who he said were not sanctified by the Holy Spirit and made holy, but that they were set apart for the work that the Lord who cause them to perform on Babylon. b) Gill applies the next verses to the Medes and Persians taking Babylon, but the prophecy seems to be looking far past that to the end time. c) The angels of God are called his sanctified ones. It is the angels that rejoice in God's highness and not the medes and Persians. The Medes and Persians may have rejoiced in their highness and what they had done but not in the highness of Jehovah. 4) The noise of a multitude in the mountains, like as of a great people; a tumultuous noise of the kingdoms of nations gathered together: the LORD of hosts mustereth the host of the battle. 5 They come from a far country, from the end of heaven, [even] the LORD, and the weapons of his indignation, to destroy the whole land. 6 Howl ye; for the day of the LORD [is] at hand; it shall come as a destruction from the Almighty. a) Gill applies all of this to the Medes and Persians coming against Babylon. He says that they composed several nations, thus "kingdoms of nations gathered together." He says, to destroy the whole land of Babylon and not the entire world, and that this was the day of the Lord spoken of in verse 6. b) To me this is has it's total fulfillment in a future Babylon. Chapters 13 and 14 tell of the terrible judgment which God shall send on this city. It speaks of the total and final destruction of it. It declares that "Babylon, the glory of kingdoms, the beauty of the Chaldees' excellency, shall be as when God overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah." It shall never be inhabited, neither shall it be dwelt in from generation to generation (Isa. 13:19,20). The overthrow of Sodom and Gomorrah was sudden and by the direct judgement of God, and not by some slow and gradual decline. Altough it was taken suddenly by the medes and Persian yet it still existed and only passed from the world scene gradually. 7 Therefore shall all hands be faint, and every man's heart shall melt: a) Lu 21:26 Men's hearts failing them for fear, and for looking after those things which are coming on the earth: for the powers of heaven shall be shaken. 8 And they shall be afraid: pangs and sorrows shall take hold of them; they shall be in pain as a woman that travaileth: they shall be amazed one at another; their faces [shall be as] flames. End times: 1Th 5:3 For when they shall say, Peace and safety; then sudden destruction cometh upon them, as travail upon a woman with child; and they shall not escape. Also in Belshazzar's day: Da 5:5 In the same hour came forth fingers of a man's hand, and wrote over against the candlestick upon the plaister of the wall of the king's palace: and the king saw the part of the hand that wrote. 6 Then the king's countenance was changed, and his thoughts troubled him, so that the joints of his loins were loosed, and his knees smote one against another. 9 Behold, the day of the LORD cometh, cruel both with wrath and fierce anger, to lay the land desolate: and he shall destroy the sinners thereof out of it. a) It is called the day of the Lord, here. I wonder if when the Medes and Persians took Babylon, if thet would be called "THE day of the LORD?" If the land constituted only the Babylonian kingdom, could it be said that the sinners were destroyed out of it. Would not the pagan Medes and Persians who took over babylon be sinners also? Then we see in the next verse: 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. a) Gill says that this is not to be taken literally but that it was a cloudy day or an eclipse. But a solar eclipse would not cause the moon not to shine during the same time period. However if the sun was truly darkened and not simply by clouds, then the moon which receives it's light from the sun (reflective) would also not shine. If this is literal, then this day is another day yet future, for this has never happened. Christ prophecied saying of a future event preceeding his 2nd coming and judgement of the world: Mt 24:29 Immediately after the tribulation of those days shall the sun be darkened, and the moon shall not give her light, and the stars shall fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens shall be shaken: 30 And then shall appear the sign of the Son of man in heaven: and then shall all the tribes of the earth mourn, and they shall see the Son of man coming in the clouds of heaven with power and great glory. 31 And he shall send his angels with a great sound of a trumpet, and they shall gather together his elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other. 11 And I will punish the world for [their] evil, and the wicked for their iniquity; and I will cause the arrogancy of the proud to cease, and will lay low the haughtiness of the terrible. a) the world: Gill says the Kingdom of Babylon. b) But the book of revelation speaks of a future judgement of some Babylon, whether it is the old babylon rebuilt or some other system that has taken her place. Rev 18:2 And he cried mightily with a strong voice, saying, Babylon the great is fallen, is fallen, and is become the habitation of devils, and the hold of every foul spirit, and a cage of every unclean and hateful bird. 3 For all nations have drunk of the wine of the wrath of her fornication, and the kings of the earth have committed fornication with her, and the merchants of the earth are waxed rich through the abundance of her delicacies. 4 And I heard another voice from heaven, saying, Come out of her, my people, that ye be not partakers of her sins, and that ye receive not of her plagues. 5 For her sins have reached unto heaven, and God hath remembered her iniquities. 12 I will make a man more precious than fine gold; even a man than the golden wedge of Ophir. a) Because so many will be destroyed in battle. 13) Therefore I will shake the heavens, and the earth shall remove out of her place, in the wrath of the LORD of hosts, and in the day of his fierce anger. a) Gill says that this again is figurative at the taking of Babylon, and represents the great confusion that men would be in. b) Parallel again to Christ's words: Mt 24:29 Immediately after the tribulation of those days shall the sun be darkened, and the moon shall not give her light, and the stars shall fall from heaven, and the powers of the HEAVENS SHALL BE SHAKEN: Christ says that men would fear this day, for it must be the day of God's fierce anger as our verse says. Compare also: Re 6:13 And the stars of heaven fell unto the earth, even as a fig tree casteth her untimely figs, when she is shaken of a mighty wind. 14 And the heaven departed as a scroll when it is rolled together; and every mountain and island were moved out of their places. 15 And the kings of the earth, and the great men, and the rich men, and the chief captains, and the mighty men, and every bondman, and every free man, hid themselves in the dens and in the rocks of the mountains; 16 And said to the mountains and rocks, Fall on us, and hide us from the face of him that sitteth on the throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb: 17 For the great day of his wrath is come; and who shall be able to stand? 2Pe 3:10 But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night; in the which the heavens shall pass away with a great noise, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat, the earth also and the works that are therein shall be burned up. Lu 21:10 Then said he unto them, Nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom: 11 And great earthquakes shall be in divers places, and famines, and pestilences; and fearful sights and great signs shall there be from heaven. c) the earth shall remove out of her place: Earthquake Rev 16:18 And there were voices, and thunders, and lightnings; and there was a great earthquake, such as was not since men were upon the earth, so mighty an earthquake, and so great. 19 And the great city was divided into three parts, and the cities of the nations fell: and great Babylon came in remembrance before God, to give unto her the cup of the wine of the fierceness of his wrath. Does Revelation mean some other city somewhere else? We read of the great river Euphrates in verse 12 of the same chapter. Are not the river Euprates and Babylon in the same region? 14) And it shall be as the chased roe, and as a sheep that no man taketh up: they shall every man turn to his own people, and flee every one into his own land. 15 Every one that is found shall be thrust through; and every one that is joined [unto them] shall fall by the sword. 16 Their children also shall be dashed to pieces before their eyes; their houses shall be spoiled, and their wives ravished. a) Utter horror of war. According to Gill, a roe is very fearful when being hunted by dogs, and a sheep that is lost and wandering is in great fear at the sight of a wolf. 17) Behold, I will stir up the Medes against them, which shall not regard silver; and [as for] gold, they shall not delight in it. 18 [Their] bows also shall dash the young men to pieces; and they shall have no pity on the fruit of the womb; their eye shall not spare children. a) This is the reason Gill thinks that this was all fulfilled when the Medes and Persians took babylon. b) They did not regard silver or gold as perhaps a payment to spare lives, but slaughter men women and children. 19) And Babylon, the glory of kingdoms, the beauty of the Chaldees' excellency, shall be as when God overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah. 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. 21 But wild beasts of the desert shall lie there; and their houses shall be full of doleful creatures; and owls shall dwell there, and satyrs shall dance there. 22* And the wild beasts of the islands shall cry in their desolate houses, and dragons in [their] pleasant palaces: and her time [is] near to come, and her days shall not be prolonged. a) Gill says not as God overthrew Sodom with fire and brimstone, but of the suddenness of babylon being taken. But verse 20 says that after it is overthrown as Sodom it shall never be inhabited, yet it was inhabitated after the Medes took it. Pink: The fifth chapter of Daniel tells how Belshazzar, the successor of Nebuchadnezzar, was slain by Darius, who took over the kingdom. Neither the city nor the kingdom was then destroyed, and so far from it being made desolate and without inhabitant, it remained for long centuries a city of note. Two hundred years after its capture by Darius, Alexander the Great, after his conquest over the Persians, selected Babylon as the intended capital of his vast dominion, and, in fact, died there. In the first century of the Christian era Babylon still stood, for Peter refers to a church there! (See 1 Peter 5:13). Several of the church "Fathers" refer to Babylon, and at the beginning of the sixth century A.D. the famous Babylonian Talmud was issued by the Academies of Babylonia. Mr. Newton tells us that "Ivan Hankel in A.D. 917 speaks of Babylon as a small village. Even in the tenth century, therefore, it had not wholly disappeared." Slow and almost indiscernible was its decline and decay. Even in this day there is still a small town, Hillah, standing on the original site of ancient Babylon. b) Isaih, Jeremiah and Revelation: PINK: Isaiah, Jeremiah, and the Revelation each declare that Babylon shall be burned with fire. "And Babylon, the glory of kingdoms, the beauty of the Chaldees' excellency shall be as when God overthrew Sodom and Gomorah" (Isa. 13:19). "The mighty men of Babylon have forborne to fight, they have remained in their holes: their might hath failed; they become as women: they have burned her dwelling places; her bars are broken...Thus saith the Lord or hosts; the broad walls of Babylon shall be utterly broken, and her high gates shall be burned with fire" (Jer. 51:30, 58). "And cried when they saw the smoke of her burning, saying, What city is like unto this great city!" (Rev. 18:18). Pink says, "We know of nothing in either Scripture or secular history which shows that Babylon was burned in the past.